Greetings Friends!

I hope that your Easter was absolutely fantastic! A friend at my church decided to bring her rabbit, Lily, to church that day. It was fantastic

Things have really been picking up this month. This week we started training Christian groups on the CSUF campus on how to make disciples through doing Bible dialogues. Grace taught this week, I’ll teach next week, and Erik will teach the week after that. Nick has been there to help but has been throwing us in and having us do things more independently. That’s the biggest prayer request that I have for you at this time. The groups that are there represent both Catholics and Protestants, and we are so very thankful to be able to come together as brothers and sisters without any animosity or reservations about the other!

Last Tuesday night, our team had the pleasure of hosting Samson and Priscilla Retnaraj while they were in the area! They say hello!

As far as fundraising goes, I’m 97% funded! I’m so very close! I’m still very much in need of more prayer partners who would be willing to partner with me in this ministry that I’m doing here in California. If you know of anyone that’d be interested, would you send them my way? Anyway, feel free to reply and send me prayer requests or updates! We’re partners, after all!

By the Light,

Garry

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You can support me through prayer and financial giving. I need and appreciate both so that I can reach 100% in both areas. I currently have 137 prayer partners and have a goal of 250. If you know anyone who would like to pray for me, please forward this form to them.

I am currently 97% fundraised for my ten-month apprenticeship. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. If not, it would bless me tremendously if you would sign up for a recurring gift. I am currently looking for financial supporters to support me through October 2024.

There are four ways to partner with me: Online. Visit our personal support webpage at https://catalog.friendsmission.com/apprentice. Please select my name “Garry Norton” at check out. You’ll be given the opportunity to indicate whether you are making a recurring or one-time gift. Credit Card. This may be given online (as stated above) or by calling the EFM office (303-421-8100) to give your information to a live person. Automatic Bank Transfer. Download the form here and email it to Debby McElroy (EFM Bookkeeper) at debby@friendsmission.com. Please note that ACH payments are processed on the 10th or 25th of the month. Check. Mail a check to EFM, P.O. Box 771139, Wichita, KS 67277. Make sure to mark your check “Garry Norton Apprenticeship Support” and note if you will be giving on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Pay to the order of “EFM.”

The post Garry Norton Apprenticeship Update: April 2024 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. My director Nick got struck by a car (thankfully he only broke his shoulder blade), and has been taking his time to rest. That being said, our schedule has been impacted. We still go and do campus evangelism twice a week, and we meet twice a week at the house to study the Gospel (on Wednesdays) and a book that Alan has for us (on Sundays).

I’ve spent a fair amount of time working with a local church in LA County and have been asked to work as director of the community garden there. It has so far been an excellent place to go and contemplate and reflect on all that’s going on around me and a great way for me to do my favorite hobby back home. I get to make friends with birds, lizards, and bees, and I get to connect with nature in the second-largest metropolis in the country. Above is one of the garden plots that I’ve been cleaning out as we get ready to invite people to come back in and garden again. Below is one of my friends that I made while gardening, and I call him Ernest.

Please be in continued prayer for Nick as he recovers, as well as the rest of the North County Project as we continue to adjust. As of today, I’m 94% fundraised, and I’m so thankful for all the support that I’ve received so far. I can’t imagine doing this without the amazing support from all of my friends and family.

By the Light,

Garry

You can support me through prayer and financial giving. I need and appreciate both so that I can reach 100% in both areas. I currently have 119 prayer partners and have a goal of 250. If you know anyone who would like to pray for me, please forward this form to them.

I am currently 94% fundraised for my ten-month apprenticeship. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. If not, it would bless me tremendously if you would sign up for a recurring gift. I am currently looking for financial supporters to support me through October 2024.

The post Garry Norton Apprenticeship Update: March 2024 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

It’s lovely to be able to sit down at the end of the week and sift through all of the wonderful things that I’ve experienced recently. The basic beginning training has finished, and so now we’re able to get our feet wet. We were each tasked to practice what we had learned: how to conduct a Bible dialogue. So naturally, I had no idea who to practice with, and that was the fun part. After a couple of days of prayer and contemplation, a friend popped into my head. Over the years, he’s given me the impression of being agnostic or simply not one to care about spiritual things, and as we were talking, I realized that he knew all the Sunday school answers and totally understood what the text was saying! We ended up going through that whole first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, and he ended up excited about reading God’s story, not to mention, that he prayed for the first time in years! To say that I was humbled to be facilitating that would be an understatement.

Another important thing that we’ve been focusing on out here is cultural immersion. I think you’ve noticed by now that I’m not in Kansas anymore, and this place is still quite new to me even though I’m getting more and more used to it each day. One thing I learned is that out here people pay eight dollars to go around on a big spinning circle three times. Was it worth an hour’s wages after taxes? Sure, it was, if only for the bonding experience with the other apprentices. When in Rome, right? Perhaps “When in Irvine?” would be more fitting. Here’s a picture I took of the three of us at the top of the Irvine Wheel.

I had a blast in that part of town, I promise. The sun was incredibly bright and kind of hot in January. Grace, Erik, and I also went and got great Japanese food and walked around UC Irvine, which is a different but still massive college in Orange County. I remember my head swimming while trying subconsciously to compare it to Barclay and be able to find common ground with students from a completely different perspective from my own. However, I smirked as I crossed a bridge and saw a gentle reminder that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

While I’m talking about our immersion trips, I think it’d be a shame to leave out the trip to Fashion Island and Balboa Island/Newport Beach. I rode across to the beach while being surrounded by expensive yachts and very expensive houses. I felt out of place, but it was a total blast. The most meaningful thing that I learned from these immersion trips so far has been that as dauntingly different as I am from the people around me, it’s not hard at all to be missional and hold conversations with the people around me. I know that’s absolutely true for all of us, and I’m so grateful to be able to share that with all of you.

The last thing that I’d like to share is what it’s been like to go on to campus at Cal State Fullerton. I just used Google and found out that there are 40,738 students enrolled there. That’s almost four times the population of the three different counties put together! More people go to that school than live in Hutchinson, so I’m still reeling a bit from the culture shock, but I’m adapting. After a couple of times primarily observing, I feel much more comfortable approaching people who might be open to the Gospel. We spent a lot of time at an event called Discoverfest where different clubs and Greek life options have tables and present who they are. I spent hours talking to different people: Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, LGBT+, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Central Americans, Native Americans, gamers, larpers, and political activists, oh my! There were people I stood there and talked with for long amounts of time, and I’d like to think that if several of them saw me on campus, they’d smile and say hello. Through conversation, they asked what I was doing in California, and it was a lot easier to tell them that I’m a missionary than I thought. I can’t express how refreshing I found it to be able to have good and wholesome dialogue without any conflict. I hope that you feel encouraged when you read that since in this day and age, we see how polarized everything has become. Lastly, I wanted to thank all of you. I couldn’t do any of this without the support that you’ve given me, and for that, I am so very grateful.

By the Light,

Garry

It is very important for me to get to 100% in recurring gifts for my apprenticeship so that I can continue on in this amazing experience!
Due to some cost of living adjustments, I am still in need of funding and would greatly appreciate your support!

You can support me through prayer and financial giving. I need and appreciate both so that I can reach 100% in both areas. I currently have 113 prayer partners and have a goal of 250. If you know anyone who would like to pray for me, please forward this form to them.

I am currently 48% fundraised for my ten-month apprenticeship. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. If not, it would bless me tremendously if you would sign up for a recurring gift. I am currently looking for financial supporters to support me through October 2024.

The post Garry Norton Apprenticeship Update: February 2024 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

As some of you know, I have now been in California for a whole week! It’s been a lot to discover, and I’m overjoyed to tell you about it!

This is the team that I am part of (below). Erik Nilsen, a native of Orange County, is pictured on the left. Grace Anderson of Newberg, Oregon is in the middle. I am on the right, and we’re all surrounded by redwoods that were planted in the area as part of the nature trail that we were on a few miles from where we all live.

Most of this week has been about familiarizing myself with this area and getting into a routine. This has included things like starting our weekly meetings at Alan’s house (North County Project Director) where we do a Bible study and meal. We have been given books to read and the schedule for that, as well as going over the passage each day of the week. On Friday we started our weekly meetings at Nick’s house (the other North County Project Director) where we go through the disciple-making process.

I got to attend a Sons of Norway meeting last night as Erik is a proud member, and I had a wonderful time meeting new people, experiencing new food, and having a cross-cultural dialogue with a few people from Norway!

Above is the table prayer that we all said before the meal, and I tried to speak (and miserably failed) from the Norwegian line. After that, we hopped in line to try some soups and other dishes that I never would have heard of had I not gone to the meeting.

For transportation, I use a bicycle with a battery attached called an e-bike. It can go up to 28 MPH but don’t worry, I have a nice green helmet to keep me safe. Everything here is so new and so strange to me. The houses look different, there are palm trees everywhere, and I can buy plants and garden year-round here. Did I mention that it stays around 60 degrees here? The locals ask me if I’m cold all the time because I came here without a jacket (Sorry Dad, I forgot), but I’ve shown them pictures of the blizzard that we had back home with a smile and said, “I’m perfectly warm.”

The people here are kind and generous; my hosts made sure that I took one of their extra jackets. Please know that I am doing well here where the Lord has asked me to go and that I thank God for you always.

By the Light,

Garry

You can support me through prayer and financial giving. I need and appreciate both so that I can reach 100% in both areas. I currently have 109 prayer partners and have a goal of 250. If you know anyone who would like to pray for me, please forward this form to them.

I am currently 62% fundraised for my ten-month apprenticeship. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. If not, it would bless me tremendously if you would sign up for a recurring gift. I am currently looking for financial supporters to support me through October 2024. Would you please prayerfully consider supporting me as I begin my apprenticeship?

The post NCP Apprentice: Garry Norton’s January Fundraising Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.