uhhhh guys? chad fell down.

I write to you this rainy Saturday morning with a baseball-sized lump on the side of my ankle. Why, you ask? Because I didn't listen to all the warnings of "never play volleyball without your ankle braces. (Especially with a bunch of Tongan elders)." But we can start this exciting week back on Saturday.

This week has definitely been a struggle. I just read through my journal and I kid you not, every other day is different. If I felt like I had a good day on Monday, you better believe that Tuesday was crap. Wednesday would be good and look out for Thursday. You get the picture. On Saturday, I decided to fast for a few personal reasons. Without going into detail, we can just sum it up by saying I'm trying to get out of my own head and maybe humble myself a little. It was really rough and maybe I was beating myself up a little more than I needed to. My teacher is oh so wise and sat me and Sister Jensen down to talk to us. We told him that we were studying pride and humility and we get it, we see the need for it, but we don't understand how to do it. Brother Maynes said, "Sisters, if you can't think of any ways to humble yourselves, do you think that feeling of inadequacy is from the Lord??" Blew my mind. I know I have a great work to do out here and I'm not through the fight to get to it yet.

Maybe the rest of the week wasn't so bad until yesterday. I was playing volleyball in gym and went up to block a Tongan elder. I was tight, he was tight, so you can guess what happened. The second I heard the popping noises in my ankle, I thought I was done. No more Singapore, no more MTC. (Maybe a bit dramatic). Then I hit the ground and just lied there thinking how stupid it was. I was really angry. I don't get mad but I was like fuming. Not at anyone but myself. To add to the humor, the trainers rush over and tell the elders to help me into the wheel chair and I heard a bunch of them say, "We don't know if we can touch her!" Now I am all for following rules, don't get me wrong, but there are exceptions, elders! Get me into the dang chair!! Turns out I have a 2nd degree sprain and maybe a few frayed ligaments. But it will be fine and it won't affect my departure date at all. So if I wanted to be humbled, I guess prayers are answered ;) I hate having people help me, so it's not going to be my favorite thing having the sisters in my district carry everything for me for the next little bit.

Here's where the love comes though. I have an amazing zone of elders. The elder who took me out got me a get better card and wouldn't stop asking what he could do for me. All the elders were offering the same thing. I asked for a priesthood blessing and my zone leaders gave it to me, but Elder Lefrandt asked if he could hop in on it too. I don't know why he did, but I'm so grateful for it. I still connect him to Dax a little bit (plus he looks and acts like Cody), so it was just comforting. Look here folks. The priesthood power is the same power from God that Jesus Christ gave to his apostles when He was here on earth. It's one of the main reasons I'm out here, because if this church didn't have that same power, it wouldn't be true. And why would I waste my time trying to spread a message that isn't true? I know that God is our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ is our Savior through the loving act of the Atonement, but what hope would we have to follow their plan if this gospel wasn't restored in its entirety? When I received that blessing, those elders weren't the ones speaking. I heard what they said but the Holy Ghost was whispering everything else I needed to hear. God wants me to succeed in all the struggles I'm having right now and I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to always be faced with this challenges so I can learn from them and grow stronger and smarter.

Now let's see if you can help me a bit. I don't communicate well. When I'm teaching, I can get the doctrine, that's great and all, but I don't connect with the people I'm teaching. I love them, I'm teaching out of charity and my love for my Savior, but I can't figure out what things I need to ask to help lead them to the doctrine. As much as I say to them, it's not going to internalize until the Spirit teaches them. So, any advice would be gladly accepted. Send me a dearelder.com ~

Sister Mikelle Dionne Norton

MTC Mailbox # 84

SING-APR 0505

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

(My MTC address is also listed on the right side of this blog for future reference.)

Cool Malay fact. We say we feel things in our "hati". I thought this meant heart, because they use it in all the places they would use heart. Nope! It means liver. Man my people are cool. So with a very happy liver, I send my love to you all. You're in my prayers and I know God is watching over you.

Dengan kasih,

Sister Norton

HFI