Narrow Escape; Apartar Las Cizañas de Los Trigos; e Cultivando os Seus Talentos

Hello fam bam and friends!  Another good week, although it can be more accurately described as a sifting of the wheat and the tares. We dropped some and were dropped by some others, but we are exercising our faith to find with our faith to baptize, and the wheat that remains is still very dedicated and excited for their baptisms! Margarita continues to fly high and is just about ready for her baptism this Saturday; we are working with the 18 de Mayo Elders to get a ton of people from both wards to attend. And as a couple investigators have accepted an invitation to attend her baptism, it should be a great missionary opportunity as well. This is gonna be good!

Cinthia didn't show up for church nor answer any of our calls Saturday or Sunday, so we decided to change plans on Sunday and visit her. When we found her, she began to apologize a million times, explaining that she had gotten very little sleep over the past 3 days and had slept in for that reason, but saying that she would do better and attend the remaining 2 times to qualify for her June 9th baptism. We were relieved and delighted to see that her desire was there. What's more, she had only smoked 2 cigarettes up until that point in the day! (Her previous low was 16) ¡Super capa! We invited her to Margarita's baptism, and she instantly accepted with delight. Glad we followed prompting for sure.

We had a very narrow escape as well. From a pitbull, that is. I honestly thought we were done for. Afterwards, we realized just how epic it all had been.

Another surprise for Mom and those back home: I played piano in church yesterday for the first time ever! The ward pianist came late, so Elder Chandía played Nearer, My God, To Thee to start the meeting, and I played Come, Follow Me for the sacramental hymn. Then a lady giving her talk praised us for cultivating our talents (which just happened to be the theme of her talk). Super cool moment and something I never would've imagined happening.

¡Les quiero a todos! ¡Nos vemos este martes que viene! (I love you all! See you next Tuesday!)

Con amor,

Élder Newman :)

Bear! Super cool that you got to play close up by the U and get Pizza afterwards!  And I am super excited for Kegan and Liv too! They are going to shred it out there!  Love you tons!

I will be praying for you with your four tests, Emma!  Haha, POM should be interesting for sure, but I am excited to see it when I get home! I will definitely have to give Phantom of the Opera a look when I get back. ¡Te amo!

Blue pancakes? Man, that reminds me of when I had green pancakes with Grandma Jessop a long time ago! Look at you, maybe you should try softball! And your persuasive essay was really good too! I loved it!  Love you Callie, have a great week!

Way to go with your guitar as well, Momma's still got it! That's an exciting vision from President Nelson that Christ is going to do some of His greatest works in our day! We better get caught up! Love you so much.  Remember that my P-Day for the next two weeks is gonna be Tuesday due to the Holland conference and cambios.

Wow. 8 hours of carpet cleaning. Glad to see that everything is back in order at last. Love you Pops!

Mom’s Questions:

1. How is Cinthia doing? Did she come back to church again this week?

She didn't come to church this week, but promised she would the next week, and she is killing it with her goal to quit smoking!  Her cousin who gave us the referral even said that she had noticed Cinthia's improved peace and confidence. Super excited for her.

2. What was your favorite principle that was taught at church on Sunday?

Probably developing talents, or learning from what was NOT said in a talk (i.e. the Holy Ghost).

3. How have you served your companion this week?

I watched over him when he was sick on Friday, and cooked him chocolate chip banana pancakes on Saturday. :)

4. What evidence of the Lord’s hand have you seen in your life this week?

Protecting us from the pitbull and stopping both dogs at the exact same time (see the video), and helping Cinthia maintain her excitement about everything. :)

5. When did you laugh the most this week?  

I was writing in my journal one night, and Elder Chandía randomly opened the window, stuck his head out, and yelled, "¡Tengo hambre!" (I'm hungry) It was so unexpected that I burst out laughing and couldn't stop for like 5 minutes. That kid cracks me up.

Fruit Snacks and Eggs do NOT Mix Well; La Lluvia y la Fe Traen Milagros; e A Promessa Cumprida

Uruguayan Sunsets and Flowers

 With Rossana

 With Victor and Patricia at Victor's baptism

Zone Activity

Hey fam bam and friends! I hope you all had a splendid Mother's Day; I surely enjoyed mine. So amazing to see through Google Hangouts how my family in Utah and my little bro in Bolivia have grown and progressed. The Lord truly keeps his promises, especially the one He makes to missionaries in D&C 100:1. And I am forever grateful for loving mothers all over the world, and most especially my own. It was such a joy to talk with you yesterday. I love you, Mom.

Man, what a great week this was! We had a zone conference this week and decided to put President Eddy's counsels concerning faith to find and baptize into play, and we had an immediate payoff as we went from 0 to 5 fechas (dates) in 5 days. 3 are still going strong, and one of them, Cinthia, has been el propio milagro (the miracle itself). When we had first met her a week before, she had declined going to church because she really didn't like them, but she has read the Book of Mormon, felt the Spirit, and accepted baptism in order to quit smoking and find peace in her life. And she came to church this Sunday with her two little kids! (She actually beat us to the building, haha.) It's amazing to see the difference a little faith makes in everything. With all these miracles, and being able to travel back to Toledo to baptize Victor (that was also the PROPIO milagro [own miracle]!), this was probably the favorite week of my entire mission. We spent over 3 hours in our weekly planning trying to prepare for each person we're teaching. Truly blessed in the work.

Been quite a rainy week as well, but that doesn't stop us, for every missionary knows that faith and rain bring miracles.

Victor in itself was one of the greatest joys I have experienced, for almost a YEAR ago, I met him for the first time and proceeded to teach and help him for almost 5 months as he struggled to get married with his pareja and quit smoking for good. And when I came to Toledo to baptize him, he reminded me that he had promised that one day, while I was still in the mission, that I would come back and baptize him. Very humbling to see how the Lord honored that promise and put me just 30 minutes away so that I could obey mission rules and still go and baptize him. Very grateful.

(Not so) fun fact: eating fruit snacks and eggs together will kill your stomach. Do not try it.

I am so grateful for the miracles that the Lord has granted us, and I'm excited to see what He can help us do in these last 66 days of my mission. Such a blessing to be a missionary, and I can't believe that it's almost over. Gotta make every day count for sure. ¡Les quiero a todos! ¡Vamo arriba!

Con mucho amor,
Élder Newman :)

Hey Mom, good luck with your guitar recital! And I have a firm testimony of the law of the harvest as well.  Love you soo much.

Bear, I loved talking with you as well, it was awesome!  And when I get home, I can help you with your goalie training, and you can help me with mine!  Deal? Haha night games were the best with my homies, glad you enjoyed yours. Have a great week, love ya!

Callie, look at you, soo tall! Runs in the family, I guess  It was soo great talking with you! Way to go reading the Book of Mormon! Keep it up and let me know what you learn! Love you!

Haha, the AP US History test is a doozy for sure; best of luck, Emma! If you get a 3 you will have beaten me!  I thought that Vines had been discontinued...? ¡Te amo!

The Power of Prayer; "María, ¡Por Favor!"; e Bênçãos

 District Picture

 Zone Activity

Hello my people!  Definitely a week of stretching and growth, filled with a dash of miracles as well.

This week, we had lots of fallen charlas (not kidding, like 80% of them) and lots of trials. On Wednesday I had gotten quite upset after an older man had insulted us in a contact, and I was still irate as we walked away (although I didn't let the man see it) when Elder Chandía saw that I was not doing good, and suggested that we pray right there, right then. Well, we did, with him as voice, kneeling down in the street, and the rest of that day was great: charlas and news and miracles. Then, on Friday, believe it or not, I was once again grumbling and criticizing under my breath against people who had set charlas with us and bailed out at the last minute. Now that I think about it, I was quite like Laman in that moment. Elder Chandía ONCE again suggested we pray. I felt a little foolish for having allowed myself to get to this point again, and this time I offered to be voice. I prayed for forgiveness for my bitter feelings and started to ask the Lord to bless those that had bailed out. And OH, what peace and healing instantly took place in my heart. Later that day, we found another new investigator as well. I've learned much about the power of prayer this week, and am going to try to be more diligent in that light. It reminds me of Captain Moroni's experience with the Lamanites in Alma 43:48-51 (which I strongly encourage y'all to go read) and something my zone leader Elder Hunt once said, "Every miracle is preceeded by a prayer."

Funny story: we were teaching Ana the 10 Commandments this week with a sign game, and an inactive girl named María came over randomly; she was only there for like 5-10 minutes. But whenever Ana struggled to remember a commandment, María would blurt it out, and Ana would say in frustration, "María, ¡Por Favor!" Good times.

We also had a powerful opportunity to give a blessing of guidance to Rosana and of health to Raúl following some difficult trials they've had. The power of the priesthood is so real.

Bright side: we got an investigator, Debora, to church for her first time, and she liked it so much and was so well fellowshipped that she raved to her mom (who lives in 18 de Mayo) all about it, and her mom wants to attend church! Blessings for sure!


Love you all so much, hope you all have a good week!

Mucho amor,
Élder Newman :)

Mom, Primary is such a joy. "Gordon Hayward...?"  And soo cool for Callie as well being the spotlight.  Getting old here too, crazy to be with a ton of missionaries today on P Day and realize that only Elder Estouco was older than me. Countdown continues! Love you so much.

Bear, I remember when we did a mutual activity like that. Fun stuff. Way to get that 2-1 victory!  And that presentation looks super good too! Love you!

Callie! Congrats on the spotlight! I told you you'd get it someday!  I love you!

Emma, nice job with the 4's.  Haha good ol' seniors  And WAY TO BE CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE PRESIDENTS! ¡CAPA!  Lots of love!

Mom’s Questions:

1. How is Santiago doing? Is he ready to commit to baptism?

 We've kind of lost contact with him, so we'll see what we can do.

2. Did Esteban come to church again this week? 

Nope. :/

3. How is Margarita? Were you able to coordinate with the 18 de Mayo missionaries? 

She's doing good. Understood super well when we taught the Plan of Salvation, but for some reason didn't come to church (Debora was the only one). And we haven't had time to coordinate with the other Elders yet. Still a process.

4. Is Rossana a member in your ward? I got a nice email from her this week (and some pictures).

She's a dry member! Once she gets married to Raúl, she'll be ready for baptism. She's like a 2nd mother to all the missionaries, super loving.

5. The most of important question from Mom: when are you calling on Sunday for Mother’s Day?

8:00 PM here, which is 5 PM your guys' time.