he's not the brightest pea in the pod

THANK YOU FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES, EVERYONE! It was one of my most favourite birthdays yet. Starting with the picnic with F on Wednesday, then teaching some awesome lessons on my actual birthday, and getting so many nice cards and letters from everyone in the mail! I have the best ward back home! I promise I'll be writing you all back, it just might take a while, please be patient with me :) ... Thank you! You made my day and I love you!

I guess we'll start where last week left off. Last Wednesday, we met with L&E again to read Alma 32 together and talk more about faith. Before we could even start, L told us that she has decided to move back to the Philipinnes because she can't find a job here. She told us with tears in her eyes, it's been so hard on her here, so then I just started crying and it was all down hill from there. We all kind of just ate in silence and then pulled out The Book of Mormon to read. It's been very slow teaching these two because of the negative opinions they've had of the Church in the past. When we got to verse 28, I lost it again, trying to explain to them how this verse has come true for me. It says that the word "beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." I have recognized that so much as I've been reading The Book of Mormon more. It enlarges my soul. I understand who I am as a daughter of God when I read that book. And I really do just crave it in my life now. It finally got through to L&E. I don't know what it was about that chapter, but they both agreed that it's beginning to be delicious to them too :) In those exact words. So it was a bittersweet night. We'll get to see her one more time, tonight.

We had a bit of a surprise on Thursday. The elders gave us a referral of a man they met, so we called him while planning our next week to set up an appointment and he said that he wanted to meet that night. So we did! We'll call him D, hoping that we don't already have one of those. He is the most adorable man ever. He's in his 70's and I think he's just beautiful. He told us that we were his angels and we talked about God. Good night! And after yesterday he's getting baptized on 22 October!

Friday was another great lesson with YL and we finally got to the Restoration of Christ's gospel. She was eager to pray about what we told her and understood the importance of what the message meant for her if it is true, so that's always a good sign. She was planning on going to Indonesia for a visa chop that night and wasn't sure if she would make it back. We have kind of a bad history of people just leaving the country on us, so you better believe we prayed hard that night for her and were so worried when we didn't hear back from her until yesterday when she finally made it back in the country. But she made it back! And she told us she's excited to meet again this Friday. So things are looking good.

Friday night was another great faith find. We only had about twenty minutes at Harbour Front so we prayed and went to work trying to find someone who needed us. We found R, the third person we talked to. He also told us that he thinks we're angels sent to him. (Hearing that repeatedly in a week starts to give you the feeling that you must be doing something right.) We met with him on Saturday and had an awesome lesson with the help of Alison and then he came to church on Sunday! Praying really is the only way to go.

Speaking of Alison....I love her! She made my birthday! You should see the cutest gift she gave me! I'll try to send pictures, mommy. It was so great to be able to see her and also to have her come teach with us that day. I love you, Alison!

The other sisters also did so much to make sure I had a great birthday, including getting me the tackiest blanket in the world (desired), because they know how much I don't like the air con at night. And the birthday call from Y was so nice, thank you! (Have you had a chance to look up the CES Fireside by Elder Oaks yet? It should be on lds.org.) I think that's it. I tried to come up with something inspiring to write, but I'm out of time. Sorry, next week eh? I am so thankful for all the cards and letters this week! You all make it so easy to be out here serving and having this incredible experience. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Dengan kasih,

Sister Norton

HFI

Sister Norton & Alison :)

Sweet!