is this going to be forever??

We've been having fun with our new Toa Payoh area! It's crazy busy now, trying to juggle two wards that both meet at 9:00 am on Sundays, so we'll always be on splits on Sundays now. My companion this last week was the lovely Callie Moore! She was great. And a HUGE cockroach just crawled out from under the computer, the Indian man who works at the computer shop wouldn't stop laughing at me because I was maybe freaking out a bit. Ewww.

Ok, bust it out. First to answer the Mommy's questions, my Malay is ok...I get chances here and there to practice, usually with Y & I, but sometimes on the train or with taxi drivers. Mandarin is not as ok as Malay, but it's coming along. I did learn how to pray in Mandarin by my goal date, and it was so good that I did! You'll see why if you keep reading :) TT is not back from China yet, but we did hear from her and she misses us and can't wait to meet when she gets back. That's always good to hear. We're expecting about two weeks or so on that one. NG still doesn't answer calls or respond to SMS. It seriously breaks my heart. I feel like such a baby because I just cry about it sometimes, especially when her baptism date came and passed and no word. It's got to work out eventually though. I know that she felt this is the truth, so she'll come back. Maybe I won't be the one that gets to see her baptism, but it will happen eventually. I wasn't able to see Y & I this past week, but the other sisters did and they're still doing well. Rindu kamu!

Friday night was such a treat. We were finally able to meet with J, she's been coming to church for quite a while with a member, but has been very reluctant to let people in. When we told our ward mission leader that she had invited us over for dinner, he was shocked. And it was so great! She made popiah and shark fin soup and made us eat so much I wanted to die, but it was delicious. We were able to share one of our favorite scriptures with her (Ether 12:4) and her brother and sister-in-law and talk a bit about what faith in Jesus Christ can do for us. Then she came to Relief Society on Sunday, which is a huge step because she usually only goes to Sunday School. She's a sweetheart. It's going to be very slow with her, but she's ready to start learning. I can't wait to help her along the way, she's so eager to understand more about the gospel.

Saturday morning we went out to the Chinese Gardens and walked around the lake with L. We met her a little over a week ago on the MRT. She was standing facing us but a few people were standing in between, so she leaned through them and smiled and just said, "Hi!" Then she asked us who we were and what were we doing? We had to get off the train, but we were able to get her number and give her a call so we could meet up. On Saturday, she told us that she had wanted to say hi to us on the train because we had "shining smiles" and she knew we were good people. She's incredible. She's from China and living here with her husband right now. So at the lake, we talked a little bit about who God is and what we do as missionaries, helping people understand how they can have a relationship with God and learn of the plan that He has for them. It was such a foreign idea to her, but she embraced it and just kept saying how hopeful it all seemed and she wanted it. She introduced us to her husband too, he's also very nice. Then yesterday, we went back to teach her more. We covered a lot of material, but after, she said that she wanted to know more, and then she prayed for her first time in her life with us. It was awesome. The Mandarin came in handy when we were trying to explain a few different parts of the gospel, and I told her that she can pray in Mandarin or English, whichever is more comfortable for her. She said she wouldn't know how to pray because she's never learned words for God or anything like that in Mandarin, so I was able to teach her how to pray very simply in Mandarin. So, definitely a blessing that I learned that last week. We'll see her again on Friday night and Sunday, but then she'll go back to China next week for anywhere from 1-6 months....so....we'll see.

Our friend, C, has been here all summer for a dance internship and we got permission to go see it on Saturday night. It was amazing! There was no stage and no seats, so you just couldn't stand in a spotlight in the room because that's where the dancers would be and other than that you could walk around and see the dance from different angles. It was incredible. And she got an offer to come back and dance with their company permanently after she graduates! So proud of her. She'll leave tomorrow for the states and hopefully continue learning about the gospel there. C is very artistic and naturally spiritual, just not very religious. I was kind of thinking about something that we have in common, we both really loved the book Eat, Pray, Love and that kind of quest for inner peace and understanding. That's something that's always interested me. So many world religions are focused on finding that, kind of a nirvana idea. I've come to learn more and more out here that that inner peace comes from having harmony in your life, and for me, it's harmony with the plan that God has for me. Just knowing that I'm on the path that He wants me to be on, the one that leads back to Him. That's the most beautiful thing about the gift of the Holy Ghost. When you have the Holy Ghost with you, you feel peace. I truly believe that it's the same peace everyone else is searching for, and it's something that's attainable in this lifetime, it's a gift that's there to help us. I think some of the people out here would be shocked to see how easy it is to have once you begin following Jesus Christ. Just a thought.I hope you're all doing well! I love you so much!! Have a great week :) Email me early if you're going to email this next week, we've got zone conference so it will need to be on Tuesday. Sarah love, please know that I love you and am praying for you. I'm so excited for your mission to start. I would write you now, but it wouldn't get to you before you enter the MTC, so just send me your MTC box # and all that and I'll get one to you there. Do it fast though :) You'll be there a short amount of time so I need to get it off soon. CADE. I need your address. Someone send it to me please? I doubt he reads this. The giant cockroach is now sitting on the wall next to me, I can't take my eyes off it. Why did God create cockroaches?!

Sayangi semua kamu!

Sister Norton

HFI

This guy is way cool! Check it out ~ http://mormon.org/me/3D6F/

Another beautiful night!