Letter 9/20/2010

Spencer sent a letter a couple of weeks ago telling about his first weeks in Kiribati and the journey there. He started with thier time n Hawaii. When they got to Hawaii. they stayed with some Elders there. Spencer went with one set of Elders to the Bishops house for dinner and then they went to visit a familyin a place called the KTP. They said it is basically the ghetto of Honalulu and there are no white people there, everyone is Polynesian or Micronesian. The only white peopl allowed to go there are the missionaries. As they went in and waited for the family to gather he saw mice running across the floor and said it was very humbling. The family was from Chook in Micronesia so he couldn't understand anything they said. One of the Elders was from Chook so he taught them and Spencer said it was a really cool experience. They left for Fiji the next day at noon. They on Air Pacific, they call themselves the world's friendliest airline and Spencer said it was true. They got a hot meal, drinks and a sandwich later. They stopped on Christmas Island, the airport was only two tiny buildings, then flew on to Fiji. They stayed the night there and left early the next morning for Tarawa. There was a Senior missionary on the flight with him on his way to Tarawa to do missionary work. The airport there was not much bigger than the one on Christmas Island. The Zone Leaders weren't at the airport so they went with the senior missionary to Moroni, the church school where the senior missionaries stay, until the zone leaders got there. They took them back to there flat and a kid brought them some coconuts so they got to drink their first coconuts. He said it was okay. They had lunch with the Phipens, they ate little meatloaves that tasted a lot like Grandma Norton's meatballs so he really liked that. Then they talked with President and Sister Shaw on the computers. The Elders said they might be able to do that on Christmas instead of calling. They went on splits with the ZL's and then met there trainers. They had dinner with a lady they call aunty Fahteli. She teaches at Moroni and spoke english really well. She had a lot of food and it was all good. The next day they had an orientaion with the Zone Leaders. They took them to Batio, the "big city" of Tarawa. The area was just divided so they are in the west half. He shares a flat with his companion and two other missionaries. It is one of the nicer flats in the mission but there is no running water. Their drinking water is rainwater that they filter, for everything else they go out to the well, showers are a bucket and a little cup. He said he hasn't had a problem with any of the conditions there but it does make him appreciate all of the things we take for granted at home. They have a drink called kaevethatthey get from coconut trees that he said is really gross but it is important to their culture so everyone gives it to them. He always drinks it even though he doesnt like it since it is so important to them. He says the people are very kind, welcoming, and patient when he doesn;t understand. He talked about his first baptism, Kakai, and even though he messed up and felt really bad her mom was the first one to come up to him and tell him thank you. He told an experience that they had with some girls they are teaching that had a hard time coming to church. One week these 4 girls said they would come to church and didn't come. The next sunday the Elder's came to their house to walk with them. They were all ready to go but on the way to church one of the girls disappeared because she felt like her clothes were not good enough. But the other 3 came as well as Atuti so they had a really good day. It sounds like he is doing really well and enjoying his mission so far.

Email 9/18/2010

Sorry to everyone who checks this blog for updates on Spencer, I haven't been very good at keeping it up. This is the first of three emails and one letter that I need to get on here. I promise to try to be better and to not keep getting that far behind.

Dear Family,
My week has gone really well here. I got your package mom, it was awesome, thank you so much. The president brought it with him, he's here for zone conference. I guess Emily's package wasn't there yet but thank you for sending one. Packages come from the Marshall's whenever the plane flies between or when the president comes so I'm not sure when things will get here. There are about 40-50 active members in our branch, the ones I've met have been awesome. Hopefully with four of us in the branch that number will go up. Our housing is actually pretty good. I talked about it in the letter I sent last week but one thing has changed, in the letter I said that we had no running water but our tanks got filled the other day so now we can, we haven't really used it because with four in the house it would go pretty fast so we still shower with the bucket of well water but it's really not bad. The food so far has been pretty good, so far I've eaten tuna, flying fish, chicken, breadfruit, a ton of rice and a lot of other stuff I can't count. The weirdest thing has been octopus, you have to squeeze out the little beak before you eat it and it has a very rubbery texture, but really the people here always give the missionaries the best that they have. It makes me feel kind of bad sometimes but the people love the missionaries. We've gotten free bus rides and free pictures just because we're missionaries. The members here are awesome. So we have zone conference on Wednesday, Elder Hamula of the Seventy comes tomorrow so that will be cool, everyone says he's awesome. I met with the president for the first time, he seems like an awesome guy, I'm excited to work with him. The work has been going well, Atuti should be baptized this week so I'm really excited about that. So, I'm doing great, I love you all and hope everyone keeps doing well.
Love, Elder Norton

Pictures from the MTC

Here are a few pictures Spencer sent from the MTC.

Classic map shot

Spencer's Companion Elder Green.

The whole District.

Email 9/11/10

Dear Family,
I'm doing great here on Tarawa. First off to answer your questions Kakai is a girl. She's really cool, we had dinner with her family last Sunday. They're all really great her uncle just got released as a counselor in the branch presidency. I guess that answers your other question, we just have a branch in our area but hopefully it will soon be a ward.The members we have are awesome they feed us all the time and are really good about finding us people to teach. I don't really know how to describe Tarawa, it's hot all the time, They call the towns here villages. They are all mostly really small and they just kind of flow into each other, but my area is really spread out it's like small pockets of houses quite some distance apart. There are a few people here who speak English but even if they're really good they are to shy to use it. The language is going really slowly but I'm working at it and Elder Rameka has been really great at working with me. I've already had a ton of cool and interesting experiences. I wish I was fast enough to write them all here but I'll be sending a letter probably on Wednesday. It's been hard to find time to write so its taken me a while. I'm glad to hear that everyone doing well, tell Matthew Durrant congratulations from me that's awesome. I'm not sure what to write all the interesting stuff is in the letter I wrote. Like I said I'm doing really well. We have some great people we're teaching, there's one kid named Atuti who's been awesome. We met him just this week and he already has a baptismal date. He came to church on Sunday so I'm way exited about him. Well I'm sorry this is so short I hope you all continue to do well I love you all and thank you for all your prayers in my behalf.


Love, Elder Norton

Email 09/05/10

Here Is the latest Email from Spencer, we received it on the 5th even though he sent it on the 6th. It's crazy to think that he is a day ahead of us.

Dear Family,
I don't really know where to begin, when we got here we stayed with the zone leaders Elders Vinici and Green, Elder Green is white but he jokes and tells everyone that he and the Elder Green who came with me are brothers. After we met them they took us to the Phipens they are a senior couple who I guess kind of stand in for the Mission President in Kiribati. After we met with them we talked with the Mission President on skype. He will be coming in a couple of weeks so I will meet him then. My area is a part of Tarawa called Temwaiku. My trainers name is Elder Rameka he is from New Zealand, so far he has been really cool.

I had my first baptism already, an 8 year old named Kakai. They wanted the Elders to do it so they asked me. I had to say it in Kiribati so I had to do it a couple of times but it was really cool. The people here are incredible. They are so kind and welcoming ,they feed the Elders almost every night. The Elders say that we don't really go out tracting here, we usually always have lessons lined up because the members are really good about finding people for us to teach. I know this is all really random but I'm just so slow. If you send a package send it to the mission home address, if your sending a letter you can send it to P.O. Box 217 Bikenbeu, Tarawa Kiribati.
I'm doing really well ,I'll try to get a letter out that has more info. I love you all and hope you all are doing well

Love, Elder Norton

P.S. I forgot to say mauri that means hi and ti a bo which means goodbye the ti makes an s sound.

Journey to the Islands

On Monday mom waited anxiously by the phone all morning in anticipation of Spencer's call. He called around 9:30 The phone kept disconnecting so after a couple of calls he finally went to another phone and was able to get through. He was pretty Emotional about leaving to an unknown place and knowing he wouldn't see us for two years ,but I think that's normal. He told us that he would be going to the Kiribati Islands and that is where he will be serving. He will be learning the native language there. He flew to Honolulu and someone from the mission there picked them up from the airport since their layover was over 24hrs. The Next day He called from the airport in Honolulu .He said that some senior missionaries picked them up and and took them to the Elders apartment where they would be staying for the night. Spencer and the other missionaries went with the Elders to teach a lesson. The Elders taught in marshallese and that kinda freaked Spencer out. After his call they all flew to Fiji and from there he and his companion flew to Tarawa.

When he arrived in Tarawa he sent this Email letting us know he arrived safe.

Dear Family,
I have arrived in Tarawa safely. This is where I will be serving. I don't think I have a lot of time right now but my p-day will be on Monday. I have not met my companion yet. Kiribati is beautiful but very different, the language is crazy but I hope I will able to get it eventually.Well I love you all and hope that you all are doing great.

Love, Elder Norton

Letter 8/27/10

Spencer sent us a letter just before leaving the MTC. It was pretty basic he didn't really say much that was new. He got himselt a nice new haircut, and has had a bad cold, Most of his district has been sick.He says thanks for all the letters "it is always good to hear from home" Elder Holland came to speak and it was really good. He also told us he would be calling from the airport so to be ready on monday.

He also included a few pictures from the MTC, However we still need to scan them in so they will be coming shortly.