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!

Putting off the Cave-man, The Return of the Canela Cake, and Phone-ception

Uruguay Montevideo Missionaries at Mission Conference with Elder Rasband

 Three Generations: Elder Newman's dad, Elder Anderson, and Elder Anderson's dad, Elder Cary

 MTC Reunion

 Elder Newman and Elder Fonseca

 Elder Newman with the Eddy boys

Pizza with the Zone

 Super Moon

 Elder Poulson and Elder Saeteros had a baptism!

 Hermana Cabrera came to help with a charla Elder Anderson and Elder Newman had with her friend.

In his voice recording, Jackson talked about Elder Rasband's message to them at the mission conference last Thursday. He told them that any good prompting they have comes from the Spirit and to feel confident to act on it. He also talked about how every assignment, transfer, companionship assignment their leaders give them is just as inspired as their mission call to Uruguay was and so there is always a divine reason for where they are serving and who they are serving with.  

¡Hola, mi querida familia y queridos amigos! ¡Es muy bien otra vez para hablar con vosotros! ¡Esta semana fue muy especial, dura, y milagrosa a la vez! (Translation: Hello, my dear family and dear friends! It's great again to talk to you! This week was very special, hard, and miraculous at the same time!)

Christian, I cannot wait to see the highlight intro, it sounds amazing. I hope that you guys haven`t been too stressed on the video effort without my small part I usually played! Dude, that Rec Ball team is the most loaded squad ever; I feel soo sorry for every one you guys face. Glad you`re enjoying being a manager for all those reasons! You always gotta find something to keep you busy, even if it’s something simple like being a manager. Tell Jake congrats, that`s my boy! I remember when I took a trip up to SUU, such a fun time! I`d love to hear the funny stories, and I`m glad you enjoyed the trip! Much love!

Emma! It is just as weird to hear about choir and to not be there! Please send my love and my best wishes to the members of the choir and to Sister Reay. I love choir always, but it`s especially indescribable and amazing during Christmas time. I`m kinda surpirsed that you convinced Mrs. Stanton-McAtee to let you guys go! The power of teamwork is real! Happy that you are enjoying drill and dance co; the stress of being busy with the things you love is both the hardest and best thing you can experience in high school. Bloody noses for the win! ¡Gracias a ti por todo las detalles de todo en PG! ¡Te amo mucho tambien! (Translation: Thank you for all the details of everything in PG! I love you too!)

Bear da Bear! Tell Ms. Day I say hi as well! ¿¡9 a 1!? Holy cow, that is a BEAT DOWN! Great work! I can`t wait to hear how Bantam goes! Just relax, play hard, and have fun! I love the topic of reverence and how it brings the Spirit. It doesn`t mean that we can never goof around and have fun, we just need to know when such things are appropriate. Balance is key :) Enjoy your break from school!

Callerist! I`m so happy that you had such a great birthday dinner and birthday party! Spaghetti and meatballs are MM MM GOOD, and there is no better dessert than the one you had! Way to go, doing it right!  Take care of and enjoy your watch, that is soo cool! Also safeguard and try not to spend your $2 bills, those are very special. I love you Callie!!

Mom, so cool to hear that life has been busy but treating you well. Truly amazing to watch life pass by and experience these small miracles in life. Tell Scott congratulations! I love that thought by Sister Rachel Hall - she is a spiritual rock star! - concerning bringing souls to Christ. I tend to get really sad when people choose to reject baptism, and that might not go away entirely, but that thought will truly help to control my sadness and find comfort and joy in its midst. Exactly what I needed right now, so tell her thank you from her former student now in Uruguay! Thanks for sharing.

Pap, I hear you are doing mad work on the highlights; I can`t wait to see them! I know for a fact that you will knock it out of the ballpark once again. Hope you enjoyed your trip in London! Tell Steve I say hi and much love!

This was kind of a quack and tough but awesome week! We got to do intercambios with the Zone Leaders in 33 and also attend the Mission Conference with Elder Rasband. Amazing experiences! (more details in audio) However, I had no idea upon arriving for intercambios on Wednesday that I would be staying that night AND the next to save time, travel, and money! So I didn`t pack change of clothes or toiletries for those days, and I arrived home in Chuy feeling like a Caveman. And upon arriving home, I immediately commenced Operation Put Off the Caveman and Become A Missionary Again. This I did through the fruits of: an extensive hot shower & much shampoo, a purging of the teeth through vigorous brushing, thorough flossing, & Listerine mouthwash, and a much-needed shave. Rarely have I felt so clean in my entire life.

We have been doing a lot of contacts and visiting references lately because our investigator list right now is not doing very well, and with hard work and dilligence, I have hope and faith that everything will turn out okay and start to turn around! With faith in the Lord, anything is possible!

Thanks again for your emails and thoughts and prayers, they truly do make a difference for me! ¡Os quiero mucho! ¡Que Dios os bendiga siempre y para siempre esté con vosotros! ¡Ciao! (Translation: I love you! May God bless you always and forever be with you! Ciao!)

Elder Newman

Mom’s Questions:

1. How was the conference with Elder Rasband? What did he speak about? Was it just one day?  

It was soo amazing! He talked a lot about how to recognize the Spirit more fully and how our assignments, right down to the area and comp., are inspired of the Lord and revealed through the Holy Ghost. It`s never a mistake. The conference was only one day

2. How are things progressing with the Vincente family? How about Gislaine? Were you able to meet with the father and Mateo that you played basketball with?  

Gislaine is currently at a standstill; we´re trying to get more charlas in and hopefully help her progress. Vincente family is on the edge; more details in audio. We have not been able to meet with Mateo, sadly; probably because we didn`t snag their number or address. We`ll definitely do better the next time we try such a contact.

3. In one of your recordings you talked about your meetings with Gislaine, you mention that Elder Anderson is leaving, if I heard correctly. Is he getting transferred? Or what did you mean?   

More likely than not he will get transferred, because he has been here in Chuy for 3 changes

P-Day with investigators, the Unquenchable Fire and the Golden Contact

 Pictures from p-day with the Vincente family to Santa Teresa and Punta Diablo

**Sorry I’ve been so slow to send out Jackson’s letter this week. Because of time restrictions on pdays, Jackson has been sending more details about their work with investigators in his voice recordings he sends us each week. So here’s a summary of some of the things he has told us in those recordings:

The Vincente family consists of Alberto (dad), Alejandra (mom) and Lucia (14 year old daughter). They started teaching Alejandra and Lucia and both have been receptive—especially Lucia. Alberto is an atheist but has started listening to their lessons, however he admits he likes the ideas of eternal families. The family took Jackson and his companion on their pday to see Santa Teresa and Punta Diablo and then they had another charla where the Elders found out that Alberto and Alejandra aren’t married so that will slow things down a little bit. Lucia has a baptismal date, but is trying to decide if she will wait for her parents to get married and hopefully get baptized with her.

Gislaine is a lady they are teaching who has been pretty receptive and open to their lessons, but believes in reincarnation so they are teaching her about the resurrection. The other bomb that was dropped on them was that she is also being taught by two other religious groups right now: Jehovah’s Witnesses and another group that I didn’t recognize. So, that’s a bit interesting.

Elder Anderson and Elder Newman had a great contact with a teenage boy named Mateo who was playing basketball outside and they started talking to him and he asked them to play some basketball with him. The dad came to pick up his son and they talked to him for quite a while and consider him and his son, Mateo great prospects for them. He referred to them as their “golden contact and slam dunk contact”.

Hello friends and family! ¡Me hace muy feliz hablar con vosotros otra vez! Esta semana fue un poquito difícil, pero ¡tengo esperanza que cosas van a mejorarse! Si tenéis algunos discuros o canciones de alguno sesión de Conferencia General, decidme para que yo pueda descargarlos. ¡Gracias!

(Translation: It makes me very happy to talk to you again! This week was a bit difficult, but I have hope that things will get better! If you have some speeches or songs from any General Conference session, tell me so that I can download them. Thank you!)

Christian! I`m so stoked to hear about all your opportunities to bear your testimony as of late! The best way to build a testimony is to share it often. These will be great preparations for you as you prepare to serve. I fully expect to receive your call video. ;) Love you buddy! BTW, just saw your answer to Tianna for Preference. Atta boy, that`s the way to do it.

Emma! ¡Estoy feliz que tuviste un tiempo maravilloso con Kyle; ¡ese chico es buenazo y muy chistosísimo! ¡Tu grupo apareció muy divertido! ¡Buena suerte con tus bailes futuros en Drill y Dance Company! ¡Continua disfrutar tu año décimo en el liceo (high school en Uruguay)! ¡Te quiero mucho!

(Translation: I'm glad you had a wonderful time with Kyle; That boy is good and very funny! Your group was 

very funny! Good luck with your future dances at Drill and Dance Company! Continue to enjoy your tenth year

in high school in Uruguay! I love you so much!)

Sarah, I hope you had such a fun time at Chuck`s! I haven`t been there in ages, even without the mission. 

I`m so touched that you chose my number for your bantam jersey. :) Now make me proud with it ;) 

#nopressure You´ll have to let me know how your state report goes!

Callie! Thanks for writing me first! I love Chuck E Cheese! The ticket machine sounds like soooo much fun! Have fun with that disco globe! I love you!

Mom! Thank you so much for the Google Drive and recipes and all you do! The recipes would be easier as pictures for future reference, thanks for asking :) So great to hear about Kegan`s progress; I`m sure he`s itching to get back out there! Yaco is so awesome; I`m glad you got to be friends with him!

Pap, hope you enjoy your stay in London! 11 hour flights are always brutal. Wish you luck with After Effects! If your son can get it done, you`ll be fine. ;) Very cool story about the followed prompting; it’s amazing the things that can happen when we listen intently to the Spirit. I need to do better for sure in that regard.

Well, we are down right now to 4 solid investigators: the Vincente family (Alberto, Alejandra, y Lucía) and Gislaine. All the others have been falling through on charlas that have been set; in Uruguay, there`s not really a standard to follow concerning time. If you think lateness in Utah is bad, you ain`t seen nothin yet. Also, you can set a charla and write it down in your planner and fix it for a certain time and date, and the odds are that they will forget or even avoid you at that time. So it’s been kind of tough so far, and we`re doing a lot of finding, but finding is how people begin to receive the gospel! So although we´re in a bit of a rough spot, we press on steadfastly!

Also, really excited for this Thursday: we will be receiving Elder Ronald A. Rasband from the Quorum de los Doce for a multi-mission conference (Montevideo y Montevideo Oeste)! Extremely excited for that!

Thanks once again for all your prayers and support; it means the world to me! ¡Os quiero mucho! ¡Que tengáis suerte en todos aspecto de vuestras vidas! ¡Para siempre Dios esté con vosotros! ¡Ciao!

(Translation: I love you! May you have luck in every aspect of your lives! Forever God be with you! Ciao!)

Love, Elder Newman

Mom's Questions: 

1. It’s been great to see the progress in Alejandria and Lucia this week. Is Lucia still on track for baptism on Nov. 19th? How is Vincente coming along? Is he starting to believe in God? Is he ok with Lucia and Alejandria progressing? 

Lucía is not on track for that day, she`ll  probably have to be baptized in December if she doesn`t want to wait for her parents. They are not married, so that kinda throws a wrench in there. The family is Vincente and I think the dad`s name is actually Alberto, and he wants to have an eternal family but is struggling with faith right now. He has no problem with the others progressing and wants to try to progress, but is just hesitant on religion.

2. Loved hearing the story of you giving your Spanish Triple Combination to Carlos and Alecia. Have you been able to pick up a new one for yourself yet? Will you be able to attend their temple sealing?  

Not yet, but I probably will this week. And we`re not sure yet about being able to attend

3. That’s so exciting about Guermo’s call to Canada, French Speaking. Can you get me his lds email account? I would love to send him a letter of encouragement while he is in the Provo MTC and maybe drop off a package for him since his family probably won’t be able to send something from Uruguay.  

I will do my best

4. Were you able to visit Carlos’s friend that lived on the outskirts of Chuy?  

They´re actually in the other Elders´ area, but they did it

5. Were you able to get your new music off of your lds google drive ok?  

YES! Thank you soo much!

6. What’s the weather like right now?  

Most days it is very hot and humid. Kind of a struggle; I´ve been washing my clothes twice as much!

Guaraná en Piñas, Osama Bin Laden, y Bombachos

 The Birthday Boy

 Guaraná en Piñas

 Elder Newman sporting his new Peñarol bucket hat

 What people will do to keep electricity going

¡Hola familia y amigos! ¡Me hace felicísimo hoy para recibir vuestros mensajes y escribiros! Esta semana fue un poco más difícil, pero tambien ¡hemos experimentado unos milagros! ¡La obra anda continuamente!

Christian, nice work perfecting the dunk; no go find some random people to throw down on! ;) xD And I don`t even want to imagine you in No-Shave November; scruff-tastic. I`ll be having nightmares for the next few days xD

Emma! So cool to hear about Bryce being one of your teachers; he is going to be a superb missionary! Tell him and Jenna good work! So happy to hear about all the happenings in drill! Don`t even sweat the pressure; they put you there for a reason. Just take a deep breath, smile, and dance your heart out. Imagine success and it will be yours. And don`t even worry about your math scores; I once scored a 64 percent on a math test. I was not happy for days xD You´re doing great things!

Bear da bear! Nice work in futsal! Once again locking down the goal! I always take opportunities here to brag about you playing goalie and how awesome you are (because EVERYONE and their dog plays soccer here). Thanks for using my jokes! :) xD Good luck in Bantam this week!

Callerist girl! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! The great 6! That is sooo amazing!!! I hope you have amazing parties and that it is all you want it to be! I can`t say that I share your feelings on M&M`s, but I`m happy to hear you had a fun Halloween!

Mom, thanks again for all the amazing gifts. I blew up the beach ball right away and loved the messages! Did I ever tell you that Hermana Eddy gave me a birthday call and sent me a card from the family? So neat! That steak place sounds amazing, especially the onions! #mmmm But the asados here are pretty steller, and we`re having another one this Saturday! #WIN I loved the thought about prayer; I definitely need to do more listening in my prayers.

Pap: yes, I am going all the way down on my pushups ;) Hope everything back home is going well! Keep me updated on how the wrestling team is doing, okay?

This week was a little tough for us. Rocío is nowhere to be found, many of our investigators have fallen through on charlas, and contacts have become more hostile. And it was like that all this week until Sunday, when Alejandra y Lucía came to church and we found a promising nuevo Luticia! So we were stretched a little this week, but I see great things coming to us in the near future!

Fun fact I learned from E' Poulson: Chuy is a notable habitation for Arabic and Islamic people; you`ll find a lot of them in the rich houses on the Brazilian side. This is because after the Vietnam War, many of them were expulsed into Uruguay because no other country would accept them. (The same thing happened earlier with a lot of Nazi prisoners) Anyhow, one day, Osama Bin Laden came here to Chuy as refuge from his hunters and dumped a ton of money into the laps of the Arabians here! So we are walking the streets that OBL himself walked! Pretty crazy!

Thank you once again for all your support and prayers! ¡Os quiero mucho! ¡Para siempre Dios esté con vosotros! ¡Ciao!

Elder Newman 

P.S. Also the story of the dead frog:

E' Anderson has made it a habit of picking up frogs at night and throwing them at me. So one night, I saw a frog on the ground, and just as his hand went for it, I used my foot and soccer-dribbled it to the side. And he didn`t move afterwards. Oops xD

Mom’s Questions:

1. What were you able to spend your birthday money on? Hope you had a great day. We really enjoyed your videos of you opening your presents. I’m so glad you liked your Uruguay tie—I have been so excited about it for months now and was so happy to get to see the video of you opening it and your reaction to it.

 I spent it on a Brazilian Soccer Jacket, a Peñarol bucket hat, and a cowboy hat

2. How many miles do you think you walk in a day?  

I would say around 5

 

3. Have you played soccer with any Uruguayan kids yet?   

Nope

4. How did you serve the other elders this week?      

I shared my birthday chocolate with E' Poulson

Born to Bake Cake, Sin Luz, and Shooting the Breeze

 Elder Poulson who has joined the Chuy district after Elder Fonseca left

 The new Chuy District

 Toddy Time in its finest. Post-district meeting tradition​

 Studying old school​ (power was out)

Birthday time

​Elder Poulson: Born to Bake Cake​

 ​Red Velvet Cake for my birthday that I actually baked myself! (dust off shoulders) ;) 

 New birthday tie

Elder Guillerme Durangt, you are assigned to labor in the Canada Montreal Mission, French Speaking! (And he already knows Portuguese, Spanish, and English) What a stud!​

We are now without power because a pole that was on the fritz from the crazy windstorm finally fell. And great was the fall thereof!​

So, I killed a frog the other day.... On accident. Oh well.

¡Hola mis queridos amigos y familia! ¡Me hace felicísimo para hablar con vosotros otra vez! ¡Muchísimas gracias por todos los mensajes de Feliz Cumpleaños! ¡Ha sido una semana duro pero tambien bueno!

So we have made contact with Rocío! Turns out she was up in Montevideo for the birth of her granddaughter! But she does seem less enthusiastic to meet up with us. My hope is that it’s just because she hasn`t felt the Spirit in a little while. High hopes for her! We`ve also received a few awesome nuevos as well, and are up to 5 baptismal dates! But we will need to change those dates because nobody showed up to church this past week. And it’s really tough to get investigators to church for some reason. But we`ll find a way!

So there was a rumor that there was going to be a huge tornado in another part of Uruguay. Well, I think it hit us; we had a MASSIVE windstorm on Thursday that knocked out the power and water in most of Chuy (except our block) and put our lightpole on the fritz. (And today it fell and we now have no power) We could hardly walk at some points against the wind, and when the wind was at our backs, we thought it would take us into flight. CRAZY!

We also have met this menos activo named Katherine. She`s a young mother of three in her 20`s that hasn`t been to church for 2 years. However, she has strong desires to come back; she said she will be at church this week, asked us to pray for and visit her menos activo mother, and she actually set up a charla with us, her, and her nonmember marido! She warned us that he usually wasn`t interested in religion, but we will give it a go anyways, for eternal families are always worth it!

One last thing: I got my first haricut from this awesome dude on Wednesday; he looks like Larsen Price if Larsen had tattoos or earrings. This dude was AMAZING! He gave me the best haircut I have ever had, and you could see he was invested in his work: he used tools I`ve never seen and closely watched and scrutinized his work to perfection. He had a Beatles poster and other England stuff on the wall, which was sick. And the final price: 150 pesos. $5.36. INCREDIBLE!

Thank you all once again for what you do and who you are! I feel your prayers and support in tough times, and it helps me conquer each day! ¡Os quiero! ¡Para siempre Dios esté con vosotros! ¡Tened un buen Día de las Brujas! ¡Ciao! 

Elder Newman

Mom’s Questions:

1. Where did Elder Fonseca end up going? Who is the new missionary in your district? Is he Latin or American? What's he like and how long has he been in the mission?  

    

E' Fonseca went to Rio Bronco, another Brazilian frontier more northern. We have received E' Poulson, another gringo from Smithfield Utah who will be going home after this change. He is freaking sweet! ;)

2. Did you get to use your birthday package to have a party? Did you open your present?     

Not yet the party, but I did open my presents! Actually wearing the tie you gave me, ¡muchísimas gracias! ¡Es buenaso!

3. Were you able to listen to our audio files? 

Nope, didn`t work on mp3 player. Going to try different method.

4. How did the first two recipes work out? What type of recipes would you like me to continue to send? Are there certain foods that sound good or that are easier for you to come by?   

I actually haven`t been able to use the first two yet, been really focused on the work. If anything, I would love to receive desserts or meals without canned food; canned food is hard to find here.

5. Have you experienced the whisperings of the Holy Ghost prompting you to act or speak? 

Yesterday I was prompted to bear testimony to the girl Katherine about how Heavenly Father loves her and is ready to help her come back. Also that the Book of Mormon can solve any trial she is facing in her life.