Dang Quesadillas
Life is grand when you have french toast, grander when you're the one who made it!
Spaghetti round 2!! E' Christesen was really happy
Zona La Costa
Christmas Stocking from the Newmans including...
GRANDMA NEWMAN'S AMISH BREAD!!!!!
Anchors aweigh!
When a member has a missionary son that served in Provo and has visited our dear Mt. Timp Temple! REALLY weird to see here in Uruguay, but fantastic a la vez!
¡Hola, mi querida familia y queridos amigos! ¡Me alegre
muchísimo para hablar con vosotros sobre la vida de un misionero Uruguayo! Esta
semana ha sido un poquito duro, pero también ¡hemos tenidos muchas experencias
dulces! (Translation: Hello, my dear family and dear friends! I was very happy to
talk with you about the life of a missionary Uruguayan! This week has been a
little hard, but we have also taken many sweet EXPERIENCES!)
Hey buddy! That does sound like a fantastic sacrament
meeting! Tell Eli that I love him and am so stoked for him to join the army!
Dude, I cannot even express how excited I am for you and your progress towards
the mission. Time is flying, and before you know it, you'll be out doing the
work like myself! It would be sweet if you could join me in Uruguay and I could
train you, but I know that the Lord knows best where you will be the most
needed. Can't wait for the call and the video!
I also want to see the videos of Jake, Isaiah, and Lucas; great young
men that are going to do some serious work in the field! Dude, I'm so freaking proud of you; you will
be in the best place possible for this time of your life, and you will receive
blessings that you cannot even imagine. Love you Christian!
Emma! Way to sweep Region! (I called it, btw) I am also
calling a State Victory; you girls will do great no matter what the judges say.
State Week! Reminds me of playoff games for football or the wrestling state
championship; what excitement! My comp broke a wooden chair. He didn't even do
anything. He had been sitting in it for ever and all of a sudden it snapped and
he went to the ground. He's only 130 lbs. I'm 205. You could say I was sweating
bullets for the rest of the time. ¡Te quiero muchísimo!, y ¡que tengáis una
buena compiteción en Estado! (Translation: I love you very much !, and that you have a good competition
in state!)
Bear da Bear! Nice victory in futsal, and sweet revenge!
#muahahahaha You can control the outcome of the game despite what the refs do.
Nice offense AND defense in bantam this week, as well as going for 3 loose
balls! There may be girls bigger, faster, or more experienced, but you can beat
them with your heart and effort, which is EXACTLY what you're doing right now.
Great work! I'm excited to see the wax museum speech; I'm sure it's gonna be
fantastic. Love you!
Callie, I'm so sorry the scary movie made you sad. I hate
scary movies too. But how great that Mom was able to make you feel better. And
how lucky that you got a Kit Kat Candy Bar! Wow! You need to talk with Mrs.
McCoy about Europe and she to which countries she went, and then tell her where
I went. I LOVE Europe! I love you Callie!
Mom, glad to hear you've recovered; being sick is NEVER any
fun. Makes me remember my post-Christmas episode. So excited for the Valentine
package! YOU HAD AN ALFAJOR!? YES. THIS IS AMAZING. I wasn´t kidding when I
said they were good! Now step two: fried alfajors! Not kidding, if an alfajor
is a level 7 or a level 8, a fried alfajor is a level 20! INCREDIBLE! I'm so
excited for Christian and all his friends working on their papers. Huge step in
their lives! Tell Josh congratulations on his call and that Elder Newman says
good luck! Thanks for the songs you have sent thus far; I've really enjoyed
them! Crazy to think that I compete 6 months this Thursday. It seems like
yesterday that I left the Mexico MTC and got shipped out to Chuy; time flies!
Love you Mom!
Pap, so awesome to hear about the Bear's style of play.
Perfect. Reminds me of that one incident out at Wasatch (or wherever it is)
when I levelled the kid. Maybe you could send me some videos of her going to
town? So awesome to hear about all the youth preparing themselves to serve;
what a magnificent time of year! Hope you enjoyed your first (I think?)
alfajor, fantastic! I have finally found out what you were talking about with
Coco de Leche; mate celestial! I am so excited to try it! ...in the winter
(because hot milk doesn't go well with hot, humid sun). Love you Dad.
Well, the contacting experience here has had some bright
days and some dark times. Especially yesterday: there were very few people
home, most of the people home wanted nothing, and the people that took a
folleto took it reluctantly. And not a single charla. I'm not gonna lie, it was
pretty tough for me to stay positive, and one of the hardest, longest days I've
had on the mission. But I know as I strive to do better in staying positive and
bearing these trials with patience, the Lord will bless me with growth in the
moment and success in the future.
But let us talk happy things! On to miracles: I had a
contact in English! You read that right: we contacted a youth named Juaquim,
and he started speaking English to us! Turns out that he had learned from
YouTube and TV shows, and so I tested himself and myself by making a
Restoration contact and setting a charla all in English! And boy, let me tell
you: I STRUGGLED! The gift of tongues has been so prevalent that it is now
easier for me to pray and to preach the gospel in Spanish than English! And Juaquim
has been fantastic; we had an incredible L1 with him and set a baptismal date
for the 25th of February! He didn't come to church and couldn't have another
charla, but he lamented the fact that he couldn't come when we visited and said
that he really wanted to! He will be out of town this coming week, so we have
invited him to attend church wherever he is at, and we will have another charla
with him not this week, but the next. Woot!
We met this guy named Julio Cesar contacting, and he poured
out his entire heart and soul to us. He has had a rough life and acknowledges
that he's made a mess of his life, and that he wants to change. He set the
charla and he asked when church was! We have not seen him since, but we have
faith that we will find him. And we are planning on talking L3: The Gospel of
Jesus Christ and setting a baptismal date with him! Truly exciting to see
someone who is humble enough to admit they've messed up and ask help to change.
Recently we had a charla with Laura and tried to quickly
teach L1 because she said she had very little time. That was quickly derailed
and we abandoned the lesson plan, because she poured out her entire soul to us;
she has had a very hard, sad, trial-filled life and is impatient with God for a
lack of answers or comfort. I was able to share an experience about an answered
prayer I had had, and the Spirit was SO present; I nearly choked on my words
and almost cried as I expressed God's love with her, taught about the Spirit's
role in bringing us answers, and begged her to not give up because of delay,
because the answer would come. We have started praying personally for her as
well, and will be stopping by this week to see how's she's doing.
The ward here has continued to be just incredible; these are
wonderful people with a love for missionary work. Rare are the days in which we
are not fed, we recently had a Family Home Evening with the Ward Mission
Leader's family and their non-member friend, and we have a meeting coming up
this Thursday with the WML and all the Ward Missionaries. So vital and amazing
to have this great support!
Well, that's about all; thank you so much for all of your
support and prayers; they truly keep me going strong even through tough times!
¡Os quiero y os amo muchísimo! ¡Que Dios os bendiga con sus bendiciones más
ricas!, y ¡que tengáis una buena semana! ¡Ciao! (Translation: I love you and love
you very much! May God bless you with His richest blessings !, and that you
have a good week! Ciao!)
Con amor,
Elder Newman :)
Mom´s Questions:
1. We heard there was a new missionary training last Wednesday.
Did you receive that training? Does that change anything for the missionaries
in Uruguay?
Yes, and some big changes have occurred! For the
missionaries all around the world, we now have a much more flexible schedule;
the purpose is that we can use our agency and make a better transition to
post-mission life. Normally you'd have something like: wake up and exercise at
6:30, breakfast at 7, personal study at 8, etc. Now, we have to do breakfast,
exercise, personal study, and planning (this is different because it was
usually at the end of the day) between 6:30 and 10, but it doesn't matter the
exact hour. Same with the rest of the day. Also, P-Day's are now 2 hours
longer!!! We also now report less key
indicators each week, only focusing on the ones that are truly "key":
baptisms and confirmations, investigators with baptismal date, investigators
that attended sacrament meeting, and new investigators. Less about numbers, and
more about fulfilling our purpose as missionaries. Love it!
2. What are Elder Christesen’s interests? What is his family
like back home?
He is big into baseball and soccer, and that's about all
he's giving me ;)
3. How have you seen miracles this week?
There have been a few people that have wanted to change
their lives, including Julio Cesar, and it's amazing and miraculous to see this
kind of humility here in Uruguay.
4. What is your house/apartment like in El Pinar?
We have the main room/kitchen, our bedroom, our study room
(which ironically hs the refrigerator), and a bigger backyard. For 4 people it
would be stuffed, but it is very comfortable with 2.
5. How big is your district? How many missionaries?
El Pinar (us), Parque De Plata A, and Carrasco A (Hma's) So
3 areas, 6 missionares, and two of them are travelling sisters!
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