hard-boired eggs

Fourteen hours on a bus = hard-boired eggs...man r's are so hard to say. Oh, that's an L huh?" Sorry. Too many languages in our heads.

Sister Song and I had to go to Singapore this past week! She only gets 30 days at a time here in Malaysia, and there's nowhere for me to go if she isn't here, so I got to tag along. I always love Singapore of course, but it turned out to be such a headache. We left Sunday night around 10:30 on a bus that was not so clean, had the coldest night of our lives, got harassed at the border and told we'd never be let into Malaysia again, got into Singapore around 10 in the morning, went out working with the sisters there on Monday, slept on rug in their apartment Monday night, then took a bus back across the border with SO MANY PRAYERS they'd let us in. And they did. It was the first time they haven't even said one word to me at the border. I believe in prayers. President and the AP's were praying for us too, so I guess Heavenly Father wanted both of us to get back here to Penang. It was good for me. I owe more than I've been giving for the help I'm getting back. I'm glad I still have time to try and correct that. After we made it through, we got on a bus bound for Penang. It should have been about 9 hours from that point, but 7 hours later we were stuck in KL on a broken bus (it should only take 4 or so to get there). So we ended up being on that bus for 14 hours. BUT we did get to teach two lessons to a loan shark and a tour guide. Can.

So J (not the one that just got baptized....different one) has been meeting with us for about two months and has just been so reluctant about everything. She met with us last week and after we taught the lesson, we talked more about the Book of Mormon and her reading. She told us that she had planned on dropping us that day (she was going to tell us she didn't want to meet anymore), but I think she must have felt something different and I am almost positive it's the Book of Mormon that's keeping her. She is still so confused by things she hears from people at her work and church, but she's hanging in there. That's the power of the Book of Mormon. She's going to try to come to see what church is like this Sunday and we're meeting with her again tomorrow.

Our branch president introduced us to one of his friends last week, Ms. S, and we were able to meet with both of them. Ms. S then gave us two referrals and we're planning on meeting with all of them! The lesson was awesome, in Mandarin so I couldn't contribute much, but I could understand her questions and see the things she was understanding. Ahhh I love when members help us :)

J (Nigerian J) is gone...we don't know if she'll be coming back. We went over for an appointment and her roommate told us she'd left for KL. Bummer.

MS is still doing great but we're having trouble with the fact that he's a teenage boy and wants to stay up late playing computer games so then he sleeps in and misses church. What to do with this boy!

I don't remember if I've talked about N before, she's a friend of a member in the Butterworth Branch from Indonesia. She came to church three weeks ago and we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. Well....we went to go teach her again two weeks ago and she wasn't at home for the confirmed time. We thought we had lost her because she maybe felt shy or in the wrong for not being there and she wouldn't answer our calls or SMS's for the next week. On Saturday we were on our way home and I thought it was time to try calling again and she answered!! Everything is fine now and we went to teach her this morning. After we taught about the Book of Mormon, she got this huge smile on her face and almost started laughing like a little kid does when they're excited about something so I asked her how she felt about what we had taught. She hugged the book and said, "I can't wait to start reading this book." Ahh the feeling in the room was so great. I love the Book of Mormon.

Church on Sunday was awesome. We had two inactive families we've been working with come, one of them hasn't been for years. AND one of our investigator's sons came to church too. M is waiting for him to be baptized with him but he hasn't been making any progress. I think there's still hope!

I hope you all enjoy conference this weekend! Don't spoil it for me...I won't see it till next weekend. Maybe longer if I get transferred next week. It's such an awesome opportunity we have twice a year to hear from living prophets and apostles. I've been reading the Old Testament lately and it's given me such a greater appreciation of the Lord's chosen leaders and what a big deal it is to have them leading us once again. I hope we can all have the humility and faith to listen to them and heed their counsel. I love you all! Have a great week.

Sister Norton

HFI

demam

I got to see a Penang hospital on Saturday night because I was sick. While waiting for my turn with the doctor I saw that the door I was about to go through said, "ambil darah" ... or "take blood". I almost fainted. Luckily they didn't. I think I'll be ok, not going back there though...there was definitely urine on the floor.

J GOT BAPTIZED!! Everything went through after we fasted for her on Friday. She's awesome. Already has such a strong testimony of the restored gospel.

Things are going just ok with everyone else...it's been a frustrating week with people wanting to build their faith and follow Christ ... better, but not willing to do anything to help that desire. There's nothing more frustrating than when people you are teaching and you love are no longer progressing simply because they're lazy. And I mean that in the nicest way possible, of course. But still lazy.

Sorry I don't know what else to write and I'm out of time! I love you all and appreciate the letters and emails and comments. Sorry so lame this week! Still recovering.

Jaga diri baik baik,

Sister Norton

HFI

ji pi gu

I ate chicken butt. You know what? I have had much worse things. Not bad lah.

This week has been a roller coaster. Here's a surprise...J is getting baptized on Saturday!! As long as there isn't too much opposition from her husband. Ohh I want her to have this so badly. She's a kingdom builder. As we taught her the law of tithing this week, she asked how she can still pay it even though she doesn't have an income. We explained it's only a tithe on her increase and she said she needs the blessings that come from it. She is going to be ok for a long long time.

We met with J&S and had such a sickening conversation with S about the weakness of the flesh and basically his indesire (uhh I don't know the opposite of desire) to repent and let the gospel change him. It sounded exactly like 2 Nephi 28:8. Such a misunderstanding of the Atonement and what our Saviour really suffered for. He gave us the freedom and power to change, not to be ruled by the flesh and other circumstances around us. Sure, we still will fail sometimes, but we have to at least try.

We visited a less-active family that we've been seeing a few times and shared the Restoration with them again. THEY CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY. The first time in years. My heart almost jumped out of my body.

MS is a new investigator who we met on a bus. Sister Song sat next to him and talked a little bit about the gospel and invited him to church. He came! And brought a friend! The amazing part is the SMS that we got from his mom after she picked him up from church. She told us that he came from a broken family and needed love and she was grateful for what we were trying to share with him. Then she asked us to save him. This from his Buddhist mother. WOW. We met with him on Monday and taught about Heavenly Father and as we were talking about how he felt about it, he said, "Great. That means I do have a father." Oh my heart. I love being a missionary.

A friend of a member in Butterworth also came to church on Sunday. N. She's from Indonesia and she's adorable. We sat down with her before church and before we even taught her anything really, we felt like she just needed to hear about baptism. So...she's on date for 5 May and excited to meet with us every Wednesday night to prepare for that.

The not-so-fun parts of this week...I was attacked by a Buddhist monk from Brooklyn yesterday. We were talking to people in a mall and he came up and just started verbally abusing us. To the point that Sister Song sms'd the elders to get someone to call us so we could get out. He caught that part and was so awful about it. I just stood there through it all. Man I felt so sad for him. Obviously hasn't found nirvana yet. He even shouted something about my mother as we walked away after telling him we weren't looking to argue. Grow up, man. Then today...as we were teaching our investigator on her break at work...same thing happened, this time coming from her boss. Man he had some crazy anti-Mormon stuff. I think the annoying part about him and the monk both was that they told me I didn't know my own beliefs and I needed to re-evaluate my decisions. It felt so good to just stand my ground and calmly tell them I knew exactly what I'm doing and I know what I believe and I hope they can come to understand it also someday. I really do believe it all. I know it's true. It was fine. Just annoying. Some people...

I don't have time for anymore. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Happy half-birthday to me on Saturday! :) You all can celebrate if you want.

So much love,

Sister Norton

He really does.

Stuck!

Sister Norton & Sister Song

ok have a nine days!

Back from KL! It was such a great conference with Elder Perkins, the area 70 here in Asia. I was one of the missionaries he chose to interview, don't know if that's good or bad...but it was a good experience for me to spend some time asking him questions I have about missionary work and the gospel. We stayed the night at the Puchong sisters' apartment. I GOT TO SEE JENSEN. Ohhh it was soooo good. It can last me till August hopefully. I love her. It helped me so much to just hear about how she's doing and spend some time lifting each other.

Ok it's going to be super quick this week, I've got like five minutes left.

Sister Song is loving Penang and I'm loving having her here. We have so much fun. We work hard and just laugh the whole day. It's a dream.

Last week we went to M's house for his birthday. There were fireworks and cake and ghee thosai, this time I only had to eat five...I feel like there's still ghee in me. (It's Indian butter pretty much.) We invited him and his family to be baptized again, but there's a hold-up. He likes to go to the pub and "dance with girls." This was said in front of his wife and three daughters and it broke my heart a little. It's hard when people don't want to change their life...that doesn't leave much else for us to do.

Things went interestingly with S&J. The other S had to go back to Nigeria :( He was on date to be baptized at the end of this month and was doing so well, but then he couldn't get his visa renewed. Nooo! So susah. At our lesson with the others, there was just interesting talk about "yellow people." I think Sister Song felt slightly uncomfortable. It's a good thing she has a sense of humor and didn't let it bother her too much.

Another lesson with KC...we had a hard time teaching him about the Restoration because he answered the phone mid-lesson and said "Shut up. I slap you. Shut up. I'm coming. Ten minutes." It was a spirit-killer for sure.

A whole new world has been opened with Sister Song and her blessed

Chinese-speaking skills. We taught two lessons in Mandarin last week. One with CC and one with LC and W (they're boyfriend and girlfriend from China...the girl more interested than the boy). I wasn't able to add much other than a simple testimony, but I'm starting to remember enough to at least know where the lesson is going and what they're talking about. It's been soooo good. Penang has needed this.

I don't have anymore time, sorry! I love you all!

Sister Norton

HFI

Mikelle and Sister Wilkes at the airport as Sister Wilkes leaves for Miri.

transfers

Not me, I'm still in Penang. Happily also :) At zone conference, the AP's pulled Sister Wilkes and I aside and said, "There's going to be a transfer next week." Of course I didn't believe them so it took about 30 seconds for them to convince me to the point that they could tell what was going to happen. "Sister Wilkes will be going to Miri and Sister Song will be coming to serve with you, Sister Norton." Oh my goodness I couldn't believe it. My greenie is in Sarawak! Soon she'll speak better Malay than I do, and Iban too! AND SISTER SONG IS WITH ME! I love Sister Song. She's from Singapore and I served in her home ward, met her once before she went into the MTC and she was trained by my MTC sister, Sister Kubota. So this is a very good thing. We just have to make sure that we don't have too much fun, that will be the only problem! Then of course I wanted to know if Jensen was still in Miri. She's opening Puchong (KL) for the sisters!!!! Which means I GET TO SEE HER NEXT WEEK. I might cry. It's been since last July. Too too long. So good things all around.

Sister Wilkes left yesterday, had to be at the airport at 9:30 and Sister Song didn't get in until about 1:30, so I sat in the Penang airport for four hours, companion-less, all alone. It was the weirdest feeling. But now I'm all caught up in my Jesus the Christ reading. We got her back and all settled, then met with A&D and their family and had an awesome lesson. They're just still getting tripped up on one verse in the bible that says we all have the priesthood...so they don't see the need to be baptized into this church, even though they believe the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. So they're going to try church. And next time we're pulling out the big guns. D&C 1:30. Pray pray.

Sister and I are off to a good start. It's p-day, we've been companions for just about 24 hours, and we've already found two new investigators. We're ready to work hard and see some miracles. March Madness isn't just for basketball.

Zone conference was incredible. We talked about the Atonement. It just made me want to be a missionary forever. I don't think I can say anything to do it justice. Sorry!

J is doing awesome. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom on Saturday and she was ready to try, but still just in love with her coffee and also feeling like she needs it so she doesn't get dizzy. Well she had some on Sunday morning before church and said during church she just prayed for helping to stop drinking it and afterwards, started getting dizzy, the same as if she hadn't had any coffee even though she had. So it's a weird answer to a prayer, but we'll take it. She says she's done and hasn't had since then. Ahh she's just amazing. I love her so much.

And some not so good news....S had to go back to Nigeria because they wouldn't renew his passport. We didn't even get to say goodbye :( We have hopes that he'll be able to come back in five weeks, but we don't know at this point.

That's it. I really will try to write something a little more meaty next week ok? I love you all. Have a great week!

Sister Norton

HFI

it was a good sunday lah

So we were on a bus on Saturday night coming back from Paya Terubong, a little outside of our area. A group of Nigerians got on the bus and one came and sat next to me. I started talking to him and he said he was going to church right then. Oh such an easy transition. I pulled out a Book of Mormon pass along card and before I could really share what it is he cut me off with, "Latter-day Saints? I was baptized into that church in Nigeria in 2008!" What?! "I'm a Priest." So, he didn't know that there was a church in Penang (it's been a while I think...) so we gave him the address and invited him to come the next morning. He was there along with three of our Nigerian investigators and some others. It was a good Sunday lah. We thought there would be no one coming. We had worked so hard to get as many of them at church and woke up to some calls and SMS's that left us hoping for at least two there. Then bam, with some major help from our Heavenly Father, seven! It was a miracle. Happy girl here.

Another happy thing...the English class size once again grew by two students. Huzzah.

We met a way cool Nepalese guy last week while going to visit a family that we teach. He said he was Christian also so we set up a time to meet with him and when we sat down to talk, he put his bible on the table and said, "I've only been Christian for about four years but I don't really know which one to follow. Can you help me know which one to join?" Ohhhh such a magical thing to hear. So he's on date to be baptized at the end of March.

And some more: J is awesome. We've had some great faith-building experiences with her this last week. We haven't taught her about fasting but she knew that we were fasting for a friend one day so she called on Tuesday night saying she needed to fast for her family...how can she do it? Golden. Still doing great.

Our Indonesian family, A&D...A's wife hasn't been joining our discussions but when we went last week, she was out in the living room and had questions for us. Then she asked if it's too late in the lessons for her to learn too. So big progress made there. We saw them again last night and they wanted to feed us before our bus to KL. I again wanted to cry afterwards. They told us flat out that if we don't eat it all, they'll know we didn't like it. Aduh.

Here we are in KL now. Maybe I'll have some cool stuff to share about it next week. All we've done so far was have Pday at the Batu Caves. I'll send pictures.

I love you all! Enjoy the cold.

Sister Norton

HFI

The hill we bike ... a lot.

rain's back

When we first got to Penang it was the end of the rainy season. So much rain everyday. Then it stopped and it was dry. For Malaysia at least. Then everyone said it would get ridiculously hot for Chinese New Year. And it did. And now it's still that hot and it's raining a ton again. I hate biking in the rain.

We met with A&D last week. A's father was a member of the church but we recently found out that he and his wife and A's older sister have all passed away. We felt like they needed to know about the blessings of the temple and the connection between that and the spirit world that we taught them about a couple of weeks ago. I took a really awesome temple edition of the Ensign and we had a great lesson. Tonight is kind of our last chance to invite them once again to be baptized and be a part of the true church that his father found so many years ago.

We had such a great lesson with JN last week, but now she's moving back to KL! I was impressed with her understanding of what it means for us to pray about the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart and real intent. That's how she'll get an answer. Luckily we are going there next week for a zone conference, so we're trying to set up a time to meet her there and introduce her to the missionaries so she can continue to learn.

English class was even more of a success last week, we had a whole five in attendance. It's growing lah :)

On Saturday morning a member took us on a hike with a university classmate of his. Ummm … Penang is SO beautiful! I wish I wasn’t so frustrated with this island so often so that I could really just enjoy it a little more. The hike was good and the friend had some interesting questions, but we weren’t able to get a return appointment with her yet. We’ll see.

J came to church again! We naik bas together. Got some cute pictures of her little boy. It's going well.

We got a referral to go visit a family that lives near our building so gave him a call on Sunday and tried to get a confirmation on the address. No street name, just the building name. Problem, there are two complexes with the same name in our area. Another problem, people here don't know directions, if you said south of Georgetown, no one would know what you're talking about. So he said "after USM." Ummm after USM coming from where? North? South? He doesn't know. I can't speak Tamil. So we've yet to be able to make it there. Aduuuuh. Terus cuba.

S&Y? Apa khabar? Masih baca ini? Saya rindu kedua kamu! Ada jumpa dengan Sister Kubota? Ada cakap dengan Sister Wong atau Sister Howard? Harap kamu sihat dan gembira!

I can't hear people. I think I'm going deaf. It makes me want to cry sometimes.

S&J. We've got a sad situation here. We had another good lesson with them, just talking about what it means to be a disciple of Christ and the sacrifices they'll need to make if they really want the witness they're looking for. They're in this time, I hope. But S's visa is up next week and the government is giving him a really hard time with it. If he doesn't get it renewed, he's back to Nigeria and I think I'll cry. I understand that there are problems here with people from his country, but I know he isn't involved with those problems, and I hate the racism he's facing from the stereotype. Please just pray for these friends of ours.

Hopefully I'll be able to email next week from KL. I love you all.

Sister Norton

HFI