Hammock Gang, Día de Acción de Gracias, and the Random Prayer Cirlce in Avenida

 Hammock Gang

 Thanksgiving Day feast

 Futbol

 Preparing the stand for #IluminaElMundo​  (Light the World) 

 ​

*In Jackson’s voice recording this week, he talked about how he’s trying to take a more active role in their street contacting and listening to the promptings of the Spirit instead of allowing his senior companion to always be the one to make the contact. He said while it can be awkward, he realizes the only way to get better and more comfortable with it is to jump right in and practice. This has led to some great opportunities with some new possible investigators.

Also, although not addressed in this letter, he talks about how they put up hammocks in their house to sleep in, and about a random guy who was smoking marijuana that asked them to pray with him in the streets. He said they had the prayer and then the guy kissed them each on the cheek.

¡Hola mi querida familia y queridos amigos! ¡me alegre muchísimo para hablar con vosotros esta semana! ¡He visto muchos bendiciones y milagros en la obra esta semana! Espero que vuestro Día de Acción de Gracias fue muy especial, porque ¡hay mucho para agradecer nuestro Padre Celestial! (Translation: Hello my dear family and dear friends, I am very happy to talk to you this week! I have seen many blessings and miracles in the work this week! I hope your Thanksgiving was very special, because there is so much to thank our Heavenly Father!)

Christian, nice job doing work at the Turkey Bowl and representing the Newmans! Snow only adds to the fun nature of the game in my opinion. I saw the intro and your Senior Highlight and heard Coach Wooten`s comments about you, and I am receiving fanfares of how you did this season. Well done buddy, I couldn`t be prouder. I wish I could`ve been there to help with the Christmas lights; they look SICK! 

Emma! Your Spanish is really coming along well! ¡Has lorgado mucho progreso! ¡Bien hecho! (Translation: You've made a lot of progress! Well done!)

Best of luck with all your dances and stuff; I can`t wait to hear how they go! I can`t wait for the Skype either; it´s been so long since I`ve talked with y'all face-to-face! ¡Estoy muy animado! ¡Te quiero mucho!(Translation: I'm very excited! I love you so much!)

Sarah! Uruguay is kinda 50-50 on Thanksgiving; some people celebrate it, others don`t even know what it is. Did you get a pic of the turkey? I`d love to see your new goalie gloves!

Callie! $2 from the toothfairy!? Thats so amazing! I`m so happy you had fun at Grandma Jessop´s for Thanksgiving and turkey! Did you get the drumstick? I hope you´'re okay from your playhouse fall!

Mom, sadly Hma Cabrera`s friend has fallen through. She heard about baptisms for the dead and didn`t want anything else. That story from Mormon really does comfort me, because although you see some amazing things here in Uruguay, you also see a LOT of wickedness and disbelief. That story reminds me that all hope is not lost. As I`ve strived to be more patient, I`ve seen more miracles and blessings in my life and mission.

Pap, the highlights looked incredible; once again a job marvelously done. Cool experience this week (actually yesterday): so it turns out that because of the wacky Uruguayan sleep schedules, they moved our dinner hour up to 1, between lunch and language hours, so we still come in at 9. Didn`t know this until the ZL`s told us, but we are now following the rule, and they said no harm done because we didn`t know. Anyways, yesterday we were approaching the house and I noticed we were a minute early. I made mention of this to my companion and received in reply, "It`s fine, Elder, it`s only a minute." But I refused, and we turned the corner and made one more contact before turning in. I hope my companion wasn’t irritated with me, but I felt peace and approval from God.

Things have definitely turned upwards this week! With 4 nuevos and more people being interested, we`re starting to see the fruits of our labors! Love y'all soo much! 

Elder Newman

P.S. I’m sorry I didn’t get much time to read emails today. I will catch up next week. Thanks for writing me!

Mom’s Questions:

1. Were you able to do anything to celebrate Thanksgiving or was it just like any other day in Uruguay?

Yes we were! We used chicken instead of turkey, but it was wonderful nonetheless.

2. How often are transfers? Every month? Or is a certain number of weeks? I was just thinking you may be a couple weeks away from another transfer which means Elder Poulson will be leaving soon. 

Every 6 weeks. This upcoming week is the last full week, and then transfers are the week after

3. Have you had any miracles happen this week?  

Most definitely. 4 nuevos with promise and a baptismal date. The fruits of our labors are starting to blossom!

4. How have you felt the Spirit prompting you this week?

Certain people that I have felt impressed to contact have turned out to have a little to a lot of interest in the gospel. Always be listening to the Spirit!