greetings from hogwarts!

Here's a little update. We have officially been sorted. Serindipitously there are four sisters in our district ... four houses ... get it? Ok so Sister Kubota was called to Slytherin (ha! called? mtc brain), Sister Fergusen to Ravenclaw, Sister Jensen to Hufflepuff (with some disputation), and I'm GRYFFINDOR!! Oh baby.

I've come up with a timeline to chart out our language progress:

Week 1: Deer in headlights. English fully intact. No speak Malay.

Week 2: Language limbo. Still no speak Malay. No speak English no more.

Week 3: English more bad. Saya pandai bercakap Bahasa Malay!

Pretty much no one would understand me over there though, my vocabulary consists largly of English idioms and colloquialisms translated into Malay, such as: "Kata untuk ibu kamu!" (word to your mother) or "Saya tidak tahu kehidupan kamu!" (I don't know your life). It's highly intelligent. We've also found that I speak in an Indian accent by default when I speak Malay. Basically we're just having a lot of fun making witty little jokes and sayings. I have caught on to some actual Malay idioms though. Like "it's only a peanut" or "we are a circle of voice."

So, the other two sisters in our branch leave for Indonesia on Monday; the four of us will be the only sisters in our branch! That's right, branch. That's big folks. Basically I'm getting spoiled wrotten, I never have to open up doors or take my tray back after meals. Tis the life. I am going to miss the Indonesian district though. It's so weird to think they won't be here anymore! Soon the Malagasy district will leave, then the Fijians ... then the Samoans. Then we'll be all alone!! Who will Sister Kubota and I play volleyball with?? (My jump serve is well on it's way back.)

Speaking of the meals. Don't worry, Mama. I eat all my greens. Greens are all I eat ... I strongly dislike most of the food here, so I have them make me a spinach salad at the wrap bar for basically every meal. We don't need to talk about the jolly ranchers that are my salvation in class though.

We had our first TRC appointment last week. For those of you who don't know, that's an opportunity to practice teaching the gospel to "investigators." We had to start out getting to know them in Malay. Fail. Then we switched into English and it went much better. I'm just excited to get another try this week. Oh except this week we have to teach them to pray in Malay! Wooohoo.

Malay. I really like Malay. Like possibly more than Chinese. It's just the coolest language ever. We found out that we'll never really be teaching people whose first language is Malay because all native speakers are Muslim and we're not allowed to teach them in Malaysia. So, I am just keeping my fingers crossed that I get a ton of people who speak Malay AND Mandarin. I think I could teach a wicked first lesson if I switched back and forth between the two.

THANK YOU for the update on Japan. I was worried about Matt, but they did tell us that all the missionaries were safe. It is weird because it's not like we've seen any pictures of it. We've heard it's bad, but that's all we have to go on. You better believe that the people of Japan have been in all our prayers. God looks out for his missionaries. The reason none of them were hurt was they had headed inland for a zone conference. Keep praying for them please!

I ran into more friends this past week! I swear I've seen at least ten people I know. Logan Law teaches here so I saw him, then William Lam, and then Clark Manwaring ... excuse me, Elder Manwaring! He came in last Wednesday and he's headed to Mexico.

AMAZING SUNDAY last week. Don't have time to explain, but Joseph Smith was a prophet of God! Read the JSH if you haven't in a while.

Thank you for the 1/2 birthday package papa!! I hope you all enjoyed my card ... to myself ... to you :)

I'm so grateful that I get to learn to teach in this language. This gospel is beautiful and simple. Learning to teach it in another language forces me to teach it simply. God is our Father in Heaven. He has a plan for us to return to Him. He loves us and sent His Son to die so we can live with Him again. I love it! And I love you all! Please feel free to send me dearelders :) I want to beat Sister Kubota someday. Oh, and tell Zak Corbridge I'm looking for him if you see him!

Dengan kasih,

Sister Norton

HFI