Mission destroyed

So the mission was DESTROYED this transfer! Nearly every companionship had missionaries transfer out and it was cray cray! We got a third missionary. His name is Elder Barrow and he's cool!

Today for P-day we went to Swan Falls which is a dam. There are these things called whistle pigs and they're like these little cannibalistic Guinea pigs that live in holes in the ground. I think they're known as ground squirrels or something. 

Elder Savage is going home three weeks into this next transfer because of school and whatnot. He'd be leaving at the end of the transfer in six weeks anyway but oh well. 

So we moved about a third of a mile down the road today so that's cool. We are living with an Elderly couple now and they seem nice. We had a good time moving. Elder Savage was trying to remove a stopper on the legs of the bed with a knife and I was like "Elder Savage we can find a better way to do this." and Elder Savage was like "Nah" and I said "don't cut yourself." and then the knife slipped and he cut his hand. Looks like I was right but I'll never say it. I'm the one that tries to think of the best way to do something and Elder Savage is the one that just does it with brute force. What I'm trying to say is that we compliment one another.

This week I found investigators while on splits! A mother and son living with the less active member boyfriend. Confusing right? But seriously this lady was praying for help and then a day later we showed up. Prayer ANSWERED! Cause that's what we do. They are all super awesome and are willing to come to church and do what it takes to get Christ back into their lives. I mean you can give me all of the reasons not to believe or have faith but this kind of miracle has been happening often soooo I can't deny it nor do I want to.

This week has been amazing and I love you all! I hope life is going well! feel free to send me mail and a personal email!

Love you all so much!!

Love, Elder Norrell!

Mailing address is : 

Elder Joshua Norrell

1008 W Sanetta St. 
Nampa, ID 83651-5047

Fasting and praying

Hello!

I have to make it quick this week because all of the computers were taken for EVER!

Anywho so this week was good! I fasted and prayed for patience because I was feeling super impatient with EVERYTHING you know the whole "Me want cookie NOW!" deal. So I was fasting, I was hungry, nothing was happening, and I was bummed but I decided to keep trying and see how things turned out. So nothing had happened and it was time to break my fast. I was disappointed to say the least but I am not allowed to fast more than 24 hours (missionary rules) and THE SECOND I prayed to end my fast I felt absolutely fine. And that's when it hit me that being patient is all about knowing that God is in control and that as long as you keep the faith and endure, things will be fine! It is an absolute testament that God is there and that he wants to bless us but He will do it in his time and only when we are obedient and have faith in Him.

Love,
Elder Norrell

The simple truths

Hey all you people! Hey all you people! Hey all you people, won't you listen to meeeee!!!

This week has been good! I'm getting a watch tan line and stuff! So this week was pretty fun and challenging. It's getting kinda warm outside, like I had a pit stain the size of a quarter. It's legit. Sorry for being gross. So all of our families are doing well. We got a referral for a guy that just got out of prison, we taught a young sixth grade girl who had just been adopted by a member family (She was baptized just before we got here so we are just reviewing stuff with her) and she's so cool! We also taught an Elderly woman who is not a member with her husband who is a member. She wants to be baptized and she knows what we teach is true but she feels like she needs to know everything about everything first. It ain't gonna happen. The Crawly's are also doing well Brother C. hurt his shoulder and was cheated out of some overtime at work and was feeling down so we gave him a blessing Sunday morning before he and his wife attended church. It went over very well. There were no super insane people this week but it did rain twice! So that's good (just so you know it's nothing like the rain back home).

I had a neat experience with reading this morning. I have been rereading the New Testament as well as a book called Jesus The Christ and I realized when reading about Christ's childhood that all that is said about Him between the age of twelve and thirty is that (probably not an exact quote but you get you get the point) "He increased in wisdom and in stature". What this means is that even Christ, being always perfect and diligent in learning, was still learning about The Gospel and Himself at least until He was thirty years old. That being said, none of us are greater than Christ. So how could we ever possibly hope to know everything there is to know about God, Christ, the Spirit, and the Gospel? Simply put, we can't. We cannot ever hope to fully comprehend any of it because we are physically limited to mortal understanding and capacity to comprehend spiritual matters. The only thing we truly have are the simple truths. Christ knew we would never understand; that is why He taught us to focus on the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. That is why he taught us by parables and example. That is why it is necessary for us to focus on Gospel truths that we do know rather than be frustrated about we do not know. Christ put it simply for us so that we could stay on the strait and narrow path when he stated that the most important commandments were to love The Lord thy God with all they heart, might, mind, and strength. And like unto it, love they neighbor as thyself. Contained within these simple commandments is the spirit of the law. If we truly love God, we will obey all of his commandments as well as all of the promptings he gives us and we will love everyone else to the degree in which we will do them no wrong but forgive and love them continually to which extent we will be willing to lay down our property, our time, and even our very lives for them.

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's Church and that there is none other like it. I love The Lord and his example. He is perfect and His love for each of us is perfect. Always always ALWAYS pray sincerely to know what you should do and how you can do the will of God. I love you all so very much and I love your support!

Love,
Elder Norrell

Elders come here!

Hello!

So this week has been good! Biking at least five miles gets easier every day and now that it's warming up I'm sweating a lot. I never realized I could sweat so much but what can you do? One day it felt like everyone had something to say to us when they drove by! It was interesting to get so many opinions and most of them make Elder Savage and I laugh and give us something to talk about so that's good! We had to get Kevlar bicycle tires because we kept getting flats from these little thorn things called goat heads. So far no flats!

We met a RM (return missionary) the other day while we were going to contact someone and he was just standing on the street corner yelling "ELDERS COME HERE! ELDERS! ELDERS! ELDERS!" When we spoke to him he had been back from his mission in Portugal for a whopping seven HOURS. He had been home seven hours and here he was walking down the street at eleven O'clock looking for something to do and apparently talking to himself. It was a little weird like "Guy, you just got home at four O'clock and you got up at six thirty to go tracting in your own companionship. You're crazy." He was practically begging us to take him with us to go do contacting which was actually pretty funny. So we are going to get in touch with his dad so that we can get together since he doesn't have a phone of his own.

Oh my goodness so many blessings. It was weird because this past week I realized that before my mission I absolutely did not care much for talking to people. And then I think about what even motivated me to serve a mission. I'll be honest with you. I'm not doing it for myself. If this was about me I'd be out of here. I'm on a mission because I love God and in turn am obligated to love his children and that is what nobody around here seems to understand. They act as though you are trying to be sneaky and trick people into doing the wrong thing. Behind this badge is a person and he cares. I'm not a robot, just in case there were any doubts. If I could somehow make people understand my intentions I think they'd be a lot more receptive. All of the time we get people who want to use baseless facts and words that have been taken out of context and I wonder "What are they trying to accomplish?". They want to confuse me or shake my faith because I don't know why. Don't you know I have a big 'ol rock that I sit on? Don't you know that Christ is the foundation? You will never break me as long as I've based my faith on Christ. If all you want is to confound me, what do you accomplish? Did Christ himself not say that a tree that brings good fruit is good and likewise a tree that brings forth corrupt fruit is corrupt itself? Did he not say that if the blind lead the blind that they both fall into a ditch? Sometimes we are too busy focusing on little things that we fail to see the big picture. Are you or are you not trying to bring others unto Christ? Don't worry about who has a degree in whatever or who claims to know what's best for you. Do what YOU feel God wants you to do and always pray to know if what you are doing is correct. If it brings you closer to God it is right.

Sorry about my ranting! I meant it in the best way possible and in no way is it directed at any one person or event. You all are wonderful and I know that our Heavenly Father looks out for us and wants us to be happy. Just accept Him into your life, live the gospel, love your neighbor, and know that I love you. Do what is right, not what is easy.

Love,
Elder Norrell

P.S. I've given up on correcting people about the pronunciation of my name. It can be whatever you want.