Vengeance of the Lil' Sprite Bottle, The Return of District Toddy Time, and Straight-Up Miracles!

 District meeting

 Toddy time with the District

 

 Elder Newman with Pres. Eddy

​Gorgeous sunsets in Chuy​

 ​The best and cheapest haircut I`ve ever gotten. 150 pesos (or just over $5) by Gilberto, one of our new investigators and complete ¡capo!​

 ​¡Alfajores Fritas! Fried Alfajors! I will never go back to plain alfajors ever again; ¡que riquísimo!​

 ​¡Alfajores fritas con Steven, Manuel, Natalia y Jeferson!​

 ​Elder Estouco likes to take many random pictures with my camera, especially close-ups. In this case the lucky subject is the one and only Guillerme

 Luis is a big Nacional fan. But we still get along pretty well :)​

 ​New lawn chair to fill the gap of the one Elder Poulson had and then broke​

 We received a visit from Elder and Sister Wainker, and they were very impressed with our clean house. #WOOT​

César y María Louisa (sorry about the blurry)​

*In Jackson’s voice recordings he gave us some updates on his investigators. As you may recall, the holidays made it tough to teach because of how busy everyone was and many were traveling to visit family. This week has definitely picked back up and been a week of miracles in Chuy. He said it has been the best week of his mission so far.

They have one investigator who didn’t seem interested a while back when they taught him the first lesson. However, they felt prompted to stop by his house and ask for a drink of water and were invited in to visit. As they were leaving, the man called them back to the house and asked them when they could come back and teach him some more lessons because he wanted to be baptized.

Two other investigators that they couldn’t get ahold of during the holidays were actually on vacation in another part of Uruguay and went to church on their own while on vacation. So they are still on track for their baptism date.

Jackson said that he has learned this week to never make assumptions about people because they can and do sometimes surprise you in wonderful ways.

¡Hola mi querida familia y queridos amigos! ¡Estoy muy animado para hablar con vosotros! ¡Realmente ha sido una semana milagrosa! (Translation: Hello my dear family and dear friends! I'm very excited to talk to you! It really has been a miraculous week!)

Hey Christian, so happy to hear about your basketball successes! The other team can do whatever they want, but we win and do it silently; way to go. Quite the wreckage dealt out by both teams PG and Orem! Nice job keeping up on the schoolwork; it's always much better and easier to maintain than to catch up. The sledding gig sounds like an absolute party! Where did you guys do it at, and what type of pizza did y'all get? Love you buddy, continue to work hard, have fun, and trust in the Lord. Oh btw, did you know that Phil Collins knows Spanish too? Elder Estouco has all his Tarzan songs on his Flash Drive in English AND Spanish! Legend increased!

Emma! Way to go on the (almost) sweep in your competition! I'm excited to hear about Region and State coming up; may you avenge the competition for the bogus results last year! (still seething over that) How lucky to have Sisters Asbell and Norton; they are two incredible ladies! I love you!

Bear! Way to go in the tournament! 1st place! All the happenings at Mesquite sound absolutely fantastic; wish I could've been there! Way to be tough with that kick to the chin. That kind of tough and fearless play will intimidate opponents every time. Heard about the crazy sand storms! Good luck with the wax museum; Virginia Apgar sounds like an incredible lady. Love you!

Callerist! Yes, I do remember the Wimmers; how lucky you are to have them for primary teachers! I am so glad you were able to go with Sarah to Mesquite and cheer her on! That breakfast sounds so delicious! Loved your photo as well! I love you!

Mom, thank you so much for that story/talk by Sister Faerber; that is an outstanding analogy! Not quite sure how I can translate that into Spanish, but wonderful nonetheless! I had to teach Gospel Principles yesterday and had quite the challenge! Chuy A brought a Brazilian investigator that had a lot of questions that had nothing to do with the Millenium (our topic), and all these in Portuguese. I was completely lost! Elder Estouco helped me out big time in the lesson. She is otherwise a very promising investigator who even had a dream of our exact chapel before she came here, and she recognized it perfectly! Single digit weather honestly sounds so nice right now; I don't think it's hit 100* here yet, but with the humidity, it feels like 120*! Tell AJ that I say hi! Love that kid.

Pap, sweet video with the suppressor; that thing is incredible! Glad you had so much fun shooting with Brett and Christian. I didn't know you were coaching Christian; Newman family sports flourishing once again! Awesome to hear about the missionaries from our ward! Where is Eli going? I never ended up hearing! Love you Pap.

Sadly, we have had to drop Catia this week, but we have had a flourishing of existing and new investigators this week that has left me in awe and deep gratitude. All the details are in the audio, but we have truly been blessed this past week! We also had a District Intercambio as well as an Intercambio with the Zone Leaders, so I got to work with Elder Saeteros and Elder Perez. Incredible men and fantastic missionaries! I truly had a great day with each one of them! In addition, we had interviews with the President right here in Chuy, and he brought the whole family up! Truly refreshing experience; they are absolutely wonderful!

Hopefully y'all are doing well in all your resolutions this great year of 2017! ¡Os quiero muchísimo! ¡Que tengan un buen año nuevo!, y ¡Que Dios para siempre esté con vosotros! ¡Ciao! (Translation: I love you very much! Have a good new year, and may God be with you always! Ciao!)

Elder Newman

Mom’s Questions:

1. It was so fun to see you open your presents on the video you shared with us. Have you tried any of the recipes in the recipe book yet? Are they simple enough and do they call for ingredients you can come by easily? 

Absolutely! I made grilled cheese with green apple and onions and am going to take on spaghetti today.

2. How are your resolutions coming along now that it’s week two? 

J Eteee..... The cooking ones are coming along well! Haha, just kidding, they have been coming along very well. Not perfect, but successful so far.

3. I gather from your last letter that you and the other elders take turns making meals. Is this different than last transfer with the other Elders where it seemed like everyone did their own thing?  

Yes indeed. And it's a lot more fun now this way; we get to bond more as a district.

4. How have you served Elder Estouco this week?  

He says that I always buy him stuff, like when I get an alfajor, I buy 2.