Tightroping, Specific Prayers, and Hail Mary´s

Hey hey hey everybody! My heart is filled with joy talking with y´all again! I have tons of stuff to tell y´all about, but first I need to tell y´all something: my next P-Day will be on Wednesday!

Now we have 4 investigators! Carlos and César obviously, and now we have switched up companionships just for the other two! I am now teaching Miguel (Elder Nadauld) with Elder Denham, and Isabel (Elder Ogborn) with Elder Cocheran! Miguel is a successful dentist who isn´t sure why he needs religion but is super friendly, and Isabel is a sultry girl with member parents, and she is not in favor of religion. It is interesting, but also good experience! Carlos is progressing very well, and we have committed him to be baptized! He remains my favorite investigator, so open and friendly! Our first lesson with César this week was a struggle as we realized that we needed to change up the way we taught. I´ve been writing a lot in my notebook what to say and haven´t relied strongly on the Spirit. We shed a few tears together, but our next lesson was way better. He has been talking with his wife about divorce and watches pornography (but we didn´t know that) and our next lesson was on the law of chastity, and we brought a member (Elder Martin) and simply wrote down questions and scriptures and let the Spirit guide our words. It was soo powerful; he finally admitted to us he viewed bad stuff and promised to change. Incredible.

I have gained a little weight! And not muscle either! Obviously I haven´t had much exercise opportunities because of my walking boot and I have been eating well, and recently I weighed in at 200 lbs.! (I entered the MTC at 195) Since then, I´ve watched my eating and done more ab workouts, and my belly has gone back down a little. I´m now probably around 195 or less.

I´ve forgotten to mention: the rain here is CRAZY! Since we are in the tropics, we tend to have sunshine in the mornings and monsoons in the evenings! The rain is sometimes so bad that there are literally rivers of water flowing down the streets! What an adventure!

I had some unique experiences this Sunday: Elder Nadauld told us a really cool story about Charles Bendam. This French guy was a tightrope walker, and was so good that he would bring a grill out on a tightrope over Niagra Falls and cook omeletes. One day the Emperor of France came to see Charles do his thing. On this day, Charles tightroped with a wheelbarrow right up to the Emp. and said, "Do you believe I can tightrope with this wheelbarrow?" The Emperor responded, "Yes, I just saw you do it," to which Charles rejoined, "No, do you believe I can do this?" The Emperor repeated his response. This happened once more, and then Charles said, "Get in the wheelbarrow." The Emperor´s stance at once changed, and he profusely refused. Charles commanded him again to get in, and he persistently refused. But then Charles´ mom, without a word, got into the wheelbarrow. I love this story because: Charles represents Christ. We can believe in Him and His power without actually acting on that faith, and if we don´t, it profits us nothing. The one who acts prospers.

Also on Sunday, we heard from President Tenorio the crazy power of specific prayer! The more specific your prayers are, the more likely you are to receive positive answers! (Read Genesis 24 for example). I thought it was especially cool because that morning, before I heard his talk, I had been struggling not to fall asleep through sacrament meeting. Then in district meeting, Elder Adams asked me to say the opening prayer, and in that prayer, I prayed for us to not fall asleep. I wasn´t sure why I had said that, and I heard a snicker or two, but the moment I said Amen and opened my eyes, I felt great, alert, and awake! I gained a testimony right then, and hearing President Tenorio´s talk just strengthened it! I would advise you to read Genesis 24, then think of a righteous desire and pray for it in a specific way! 

In gym time, I have continued to have a blast! This week I threw up 275 lbs. on bench! (new PB) I am trying to bench 305 before I leave the MTC. In addition, there was a legendary moment in speed this week: I had just missed a shot, and it had bounced 3/4 down the court before I finally got it. And I was first to shoot. In desperation I chucked it from right there, and just as my would-be killer´s ball had hit the backboard and was coming down, my ball swished in, nothing but net, closely followed by his! Everyone was SHOCKED! (including myself) xD #laseraim  And then today, we had a soccer game against district 14C, who has some pretty big and athletic guys! We called it cage soccer (because it was literally a caged-in basketball court with goals built in underneath the baskets). We ended up winning 6-2, and I was the goalie and had a lot of saves! It was such a blast and they were so funny and cool about it.

In TALL (the language training lab), I have finished all the grammar lessons, and now Hmo. Tapia has authorized me to use the last 20 minutes of TALL each day to walk around the lab and help others like the teachers do! Pretty cool!

This past Tuesday, my 2nd and last time directing the choir, was so sweet and tender as we had 350! people singing the EFY Medley en Español! From what I heard, there were tears in the eyes of people in the audience and on the stand. It has been such an incredible experience.

Welp, I´m out of time again, but always a joy to speak with you all again! Keep me updated on all the happenings back home! I love you all!

Con amor,
Elder Newman

Dad’s Questions:

1.  Here’s the challenge: When I was in the MTC, I could do over 60 pushups in a minute and my comp could do 72. (He played football for Airforce) What do you got?

I got 79 pushups the day you issued the challenge. Going to try to beat it

2.  I noticed a tall guy in some of your pictures. Is that the kids from Skyview?

Yes, it is! Elder Barfuss

Mom’s Questions:

1. Did you take the boot off? How's the foot? Are your missionary shoes fitting well?          

Yes, great, and YES! It feels so nice to be walking normally now

2. How did the choir do this last week? I wish I had a recording of the EFY medley.        

VERY WELL! We had about 350 singers this past week. 350! It was the most powerful song I may have ever been a part of.

3. Have you tried out your voice recorder? I would love to hear your voice. Maybe you could have your district sing a song for us. Or you could send a little message to each of your siblings.          

I have not yet! I will try to remember!

4. Are you getting excited for Uruguay?    

You know it :):):)

5. Have you seen anymore elders from PG coming into the CCM?      

YUP! Elder Brayden Llewelyn arrived this week!

Mom asked for some close up name tag pictures

Elder Cheney had my camera pointed at me, so I did this pose and then Elder Barfuss decided to hug me around my waist. I was as confused as you probably are.​

                                           Dulces de la tienda​

                                  Our district is pretty awesome. Not sure who wrote this.

                                          Planking. Only Office lovers will get it​

                                          Our gameplan for soccer against district 14C​

 We found Hmo. Hernandez´s missionary pic in the hallway of our class building, and I make his pose about half the time I pass it

 We found out that Elder Barfuss sorta looks like this Nephi​

 Elder Ogborn with his sunglasses on looks a lot like the dude from the Matrix (Theollo?); the dude that informs Neo about the Matrix

                                                      District 14A Soccer team​

                                         Mom, thought you´d like a pic of algunos de los Uruguayos​

We´ve made some new friends! Elder Mozo (left) y Elder Bautista (right). They are soo funny and their English is really good! (Especially Mozo, porque es de California) It was so fun the day we met them to try to speak in our broken Spanish and hear them respond in their far superior English (to our Spanish, anyways)