Elder Newman and his new companion Elder Mereles from Paraguay
Mozzarella Pizza at Zone Activity
Marona's Zone Activity
Hey everybody! So great to be talking to you all this week;
I had a great first half-week in Toledo! Such a killer district; I figured out
that I am actually district leader of two studs in Bella Italia, as well as the
Zone Leaders and the Assistants! That will be fun, because every single one of
those guys is a ¡CAPO!
Christian, interesting that graduation was earlier in the
day! Glad to see that you enjoyed it, I'm so proud of you for finishing strong.
Now you get to play a little before you work for 2 years! (P.S. that's exactly what Pap said to me after
I graduated.) I didn't know you guys were using jet skis at Lake Powell! Little
jealous, not gonna lie. Oh well, have a blast! Love you Christian.
¡Hola Emma! No, soy un líder de distrito, y un líder de zona
es un líder de los líderes de distrito. ¡Las fotos salieron muy buenas! (No, I am a district
leader, and a zone leader is a leader of district leaders. The photos came out
very good!) I did not know you were also an officer for dance
company! As a junior, that is really impressive; Way to go! Well, I don't
remember ever being given the responsibility to Powell grocery shop, so that
speaks a lot of the trust Mom and Dad have in you. ¡Te quiero mucho! (I love you very
much!)
3rd in the fun run! Way to go Bear, that is fantastic! You
will need to send me a pic of your matching tank tops you bought for Lake
Powell. Love you!
Callie! I'm so happy that you get your neighbor as your 1st
Grade Teacher! That is a lot like my mission president; he is the dad of Jess
Eddy, one of my choir friends. Did you know that? Love you!
Mom, best of luck with houseboat spot searching at Powell! I
have faith in you. Toledo is an amazing branch; there is such a strong
missionary spirit here, and I was warmly welcomed. Exciting week! Love you mom.
Pap, I still have the letter you gave me before my mission and
will most definitely read it. And Elder
Mereles is from Emboscada, Paraguay. It sure was fun to drive the boat; now
it's Christian's turn to master it at Lake Powell! Yes, I still remember
vividly the Europe trip. Have fun in Powell! Love you!
Power Branch: Toledo is a branch of about 80 active members,
but the members here are so humble and SOO involved in the work! Their goal is
to make our burden as light as possible: they always have missionary activities
in the capilla, divisions with us, and do everything in their power to help and
retain our converts. The ward mission leader, Adolfo Campo, is especially capo;
he always makes sure that we have every division, lunch, etc. taken care of,
and you can sense that he truly cares for and loves us. This will be amazing!
Converso Capito: Leonardo Rodriguez is a recent convert here
of 2 months that already has the Aaronic Priesthood. He is so humble; his
testimony is basic yet unshakeable; we had an amazing L2: Plan of Salvation,
and then he went with us to some charlas! He has truly found the Pearl of Great
Price in his life; even though he has very little and is currently w/o job, he
said, "With the gospel, I have everything." It reminded me of the
story in Our Search For Happiness with Elder M. Russell Ballard, two
millionaires, and one billionaire and how he felt he was the true richest of
all. (Read it, it's truly amazing.)
O Futebol e A Pizza: We had our first Maroñas Zone Activity
today with fútbol, mozzarella pizza, and were about to play basketball until it
started raining. How much fun was that! We have a gigantic zone of about 20
missionaries, and all of them are ¡capos! Truly great getting to know my new
friends!
We also currently have 2 stick-out investigators!
1) Victor is the novio (boyfriend) of a re-activating member,
Patricia who is currently reading the Book of Mormon and progressing very well.
I was teaching the Gospel Principles class chapter 20 Baptism (yep, on the
first Sunday), and he was making great comments and even slipped in,
"Cuando me bautice..." (When you baptize me…) And in the first charla,
they pranked me pretty good; Victor sat down and immediately started asking
hard, fast questions like: Who is God? Is Christ the Eternal Father? What is
God expecting of me? During all this, Patricia went outside, shot the shotgun,
came back into cook, and said, "I don't wanna listen, I'm athiest."
(Elder Mereles had told me that she was less active). I was honestly soo
confused, and Elder Mereles left me to answer everything. Then they finally
smiled, congratulated me for my satisfactory answers, and we had an amazing L1
charla.
2) Raúl is an older gentleman who is reading the Book of
Mormon and understanding perfectly what he reads; when we came for L3, he had
read 2 Nephi 31 and basically taught L3 for us. What a fast learner! We now
have a baptismal date set for 17/6/17.
Quick experience: when I was doing splits with our capo DOM
(ward mission leader), and all our charlas had fallen through, he asked me
where we wanted to go (and admitted later that he was expecting that I would
visit a MA (less active member) or miembro). I said, "déjeme escuchar y
sentir," (“Let
me hear and feel”) and we continued onward and were able to find
Sofia and Sofia and teach about God's love for them, introduce the Book of
Mormon, and set another charla to bring them each a Book of Mormon (we were
out). From small acts of faith, we can see miracles!
Well, what a great week, and I'm excited for the rest of
this new change! I hope you all have a great week, ¡os quiero muchísimo! ¡Vamo
arriba! (I love
you very much! Let's go upward!)
Con amor,
Elder Newman :)
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