Butterfly Wrangler, Stickers, and Almost Bolivia Time

 Hermano De Santiago, with his new ties! We each gave him a tie as a farewell gift.

 Me goofing around with another Elder

Elder Slye just got here yesterday!

Hello my beloved friends and family!!!!

It is so good to hear from you all in my final pday here at the MTC! It’s been quite the experience, but I am really looking forward to getting to Bolivia and serving the people there! I have learned so much here, and I cannot wait to take the things I have learned and apply them out in the field!! We had some cool experiences here this week, and I can't wait to share them with you all!

First off, our teacher left this week for BYU Idaho. We love Hermano De Santiago with all of our heart, and we were really sad to see him go, but we can’t wait to hear from him and his new adventures in America. He is one of the most loving people we have ever met, and he taught us so much. Now, we begin the adventure of having a brand new teacher for our last three days of class here!

Second off, we got our flight plans yesterday! We depart from the MTC at noon on Monday, September 4th, our flight takes off at about 4:00, and we fly to Lima Peru! From Lima, where we land at about 10pm, we have a two hour layover, where we will take off at about midnight for Santa Cruz, putting our arrival time in Bolivia at about four in the morning, September 5th! It was a great experience and challenge to get our flight plans, because we are all so excited to get to the field, but we have the challenge of maintaining that work ethic that got us to where we are now! We are striving to finish strong!

Funny story of the week, Elder Hansen and I were walking back from one of our meetings with district leaders, and as we passed one of the classrooms with one of the newer districts, we saw and heard just absolute chaos happening in their classroom. We peeked in there to see what was happening, and we saw what looked like a bat flying around their classroom. We opened the door to see what was happening, and upon further inspection, we saw that it wasn’t a bat, but a GIANT BLACK MOTH. It was flying around, terrorizing the youngins, so Hansen and I called in the rest of our District. We waited for it to land on the ceiling, and from there, I grabbed a trash can, climbed on top of a desk, and trapped the moth with the garbage can. Hansen, Pacheco, Marberger, and Harper each grabbed a corner of a desk, and slowly scooted me towards a window, where they opened it, and let that dragon of a moth fly off into the night. So that’s the story of how District 10B saved the youngins.

Some cool spiritual experiences from this week!

1. Surprise TRC! As a result of having close to 700 missionaries in the MTC, we don’t usually get to do TRC every week. But Hermano De Santiago was able to call in some favors, and get some members to come in from the surrounding wards and be our investigators! Elder Hansen and I were able to teach a 14 year old girl about the Book of Mormon, and talk to her about what it’s like serving a mission, which was super cool!!

2. Achieving goals. I had a couple of cool moments this week looking back on my goals from the first couple of weeks. First was a language goal, looking back at my week 2 vision for what I wanted to leave the MTC with, and seeing that in every category, I have more than just achieved it, but surpassed it by quite a bit! Amazing what the Lord can do through us by working hard!! My second goal, was during my MTC experience, I wanted to read the whole Book of Mormon (in English this time) before I left. Well, last Thursday, I finished my goal. Amazing to see how goals can stretch us, and help us achieve more than we ever thought possible!!

3. Faith is the center of our gospel. A cool thought that we had is how everything starts with faith. We invite our investigators to exercise faith, accept commitments and act. But nobody will accept the commitments to read the Book of Mormon, Pray, or prepare for Baptism without first having faith. So strive to do the things to increase your faith today!!

4. Saying goodbye to our Latino Family. Our Latino friends across the hall are officially in the field, and we are so proud of them, even though we miss them alot!

Thank you all for your emails this past week! I love you all, and I will be able to write again on Monday, September 4th, before I depart for Bolivia! Can;t wait to start this next chapter of my mission!! Love you all!

Love, Elder Newman

Mom, Glad to hear that the yard is finally getting pieced back together!!! We have also talked a lot about Joseph Smith here. One cool thought is that save Jesus Christ himself, no man has done more to help build the kingdom of God on the Earth today than Joseph Smith. Thank you so much for the package! It’s been so nice to have some food to snack on during the day, and I am so grateful for the support you give me even though I am far away! Love you mom!

Dad, Glad to hear that the ward party was a success! And so awesome to hear that your ear is healing well! The Lord blesses those who are faithful! And ouch!! I’ll be sure to keep Easton in my prayers this week! Love you Dad!

Emma, Sounds like you have got quite the schedule for school! Keep working hard at both drill and your school work! Remember, take time to enjoy the little things about high school, because it will be over before you know it!! Love you Em!

Sarah, Mrs. Rooke definitely does a good job of preparing you for Jr High! Keep working hard, and keep killing it in your soccer games!! Love you bear!

Callie, great job at your soccer game!!! Sounds like you have a fun team, and a fun class for first grade!! And to answer your question, I am very excited to go to Bolivia! Love you Callie!!

Moms Questions

1. What is something you are looking forward to this week?

I am really looking forward to fast sunday! I love fast sundays here in the MTC, there is a powerful spirit here when you have 700 missionaries all fasting for the spirit to be with them!!

2. What is something you won’t miss about the MTC?  

I for sure am not going to miss the repetitive nature of the MTC.. a lot of times we do the exact same stuff every single day, so I am looking forward to having some variety!

3. What is something that made you laugh this week?

I definitely was laughing the whole time during our moth experience, and we also laugh a ton during our personal time while we swap stories. Or when we play soccer and watch me and a couple other guys just absolutely look like fools!

4. What is something new you learned about your companion this week?

Well, Hansen can tell stories like nobody else. He has a lot of great stories, and we love hearing them!

5. What is your favorite hymn to sing in Spanish?

Paz, Calmense. (Master The Tempest is Raging). It’s my favorite hymn in both English and Spanish, and I love not just the song, but the message of it. Even when life feels like it’s all coming in on you, stretch forth your hand and call out to the Savior, and He can calm the storm in your life.

Night Class with the Latinos, District Family, The best high five ever

 Elder Newman and Elder Hansen

 One last temple visit for two years

 District

 So very happy about their package of chocolate milk and cookies

 Tradition Mexico MTC District picture

Hey everyone!!!

So good to be talking with you all again this week! There was a ton of cool things this week, and I can’t wait to tell you all about what has been happening here at the MTC!! We have had a very busy week, and we are almost finished up here at the mtc!

Some new things around here:

1. Unfortunately, one of our elders in our district had to go home this week. It was really hard, it felt like losing a brother.. When you spend 5 weeks with the same group of people every day, all day, you become like a big district family, so it hurt to lose one of our district brothers.. Luckily, he will be joining us again in Bolivia, so we will be able to see him again!!

2. New assignment here in the MTC, Elder Hansen and I have been called to be Zone Leaders here! Its different, but it’s very fun to have some new assignments here! We have been striving to administer one by one just like we were called to do, and it’s been very fun to meet with and get to know all the new missionaries! We actually get to go and welcome a new district tonight, which will be super awesome! We have been loving the new responsibility, and it’s really nice to have some new things to do, because things can get a little bit repetitive here!

3. Night class with the Latinos. So we have a Latino class right across the hall from us, and we started getting to know them last week, but this week, we have been doing our nightly study after dinner with them! It’s been super fun to get to know them, and practice our Spanish, and help them learn some English! There’s a running joke between our two districts, and it started when the hermanas in the Latino district asked if I was friends with Elder Miranda (Elder Miranda is a small, kind of shy Elder from Guatemala), to which I responded that we were actually brothers, and that I am from Guatemala too. The hermanas thought that was the funniest thing ever, and ever since, they have called me Elder Miranda's brother, not Elder Newman.

Couple of other fun things here:

There’s huge rainstorms here, that hit really hard, really fast. They are super awesome, and actually do the opposite of what rain usually does, the entire MTC comes alive, and starts playing in the rain a little bit! We have had four this week (one in the middle of a practice lesson, which turned into me protecting my scriptures), and they are so so so fun!!!

The other thing is I have been seeing everyone's favorite, Elder Jensen, a lot more as of late! Anybody who knows me and Elder Jensen knows about our quest for the world’s greatest high five. We have sprinted across parks, schools, and met in the middle with a huge high five. But two days ago, we did it. We got the world’s greatest high five. We started at opposite ends of the building, ran as fast as we could, and high fived so hard, that it bruised both of our hands, Elder Jensen's arm was completely red, and it threw me so off balance that I toppled to the ground. But we had done it--the best high five ever.

There’s so many cool spiritual thoughts I want to share, but I’ll just stick to my favorite one. Our MTC president is an absolute stud, and has this quote that is one of my favorites. "Don’t accept the common thinking". I love this thought. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are not common thinkers. We hold ourselves to a high standard, do things that may seem weird to the rest of the world, and love people like nobody else. In this gospel, we are not common, so why think common? We have so much to offer this world, don’t get caught up in thinking small, THINK BIG!

I love you all, and love hearing from all of you! I'm sorry if I can’t get back to some of you, we don’t get a ton of time to write in the mission, so I put most my time and effort into this email and writing my family, but I do love hearing from everyone, and I will try my best to get a personal note to you as time permits! Much Love!!!

Love, Elder Newman

Dad, I have been trying to use your advice, and it’s been paying off. I have been talking with the Latinos here, and man, I can hold an entire conversation! I need to keep working, but it’s nice to see hard work pay off! Hard to believe what happened to our PG football boys! But they will bounce back! Love you!

Mom, Thank you so much for the cookies and chocolate milk!! It was really nice to have, and once again, my district thanks you! Sounds like you have a lot of time on your hands now with all the kids at school! Love you mom!

Sarah, Congrats on winning your Tournament!!! Thats amazing!! Tell Mrs. Rooke I said hi!! Enjoy your first week of school!!! Love you!

Emma, Good job with drill!! Good to see that you guys have a good focus for drill! Work hard! Love you!

Callie, nice job on your reading!!! You are one smart cookie!!!! And speaking of cookies, that is very nice of you to send cookies to Isaiah! Love you!!

Mom's Questions

1. Any new responsibilities to report this week?

Yep!! Elder Hansen and I are now Zone Leaders, I guess Elder Hansen was just too good of a district leader!

2. From Emma: Have you started dreaming in Spanish yet?

Not really, I have Once! But honestly, I almost never remember my dreams anyways.

3. Do you have goals as far as how much or little you speak English in the MTC?

We do, we actually have a game where our district is split into two teams, and one person from each team is only allowed to speak spanish, and the goal is to guess which person it is, which means every person on the team tries to only speak spanish as to not give it away. Its pretty fun!

4. Still eating as many salads? Or have you found some other things to eat there?

I still usually have a salad with every meal, but now that my stomach is a little more accustomed to the food, its usually a smaller part of my meal :)

5. How’s your weight? :)   

I actually don’t weigh in very often, but I feel and look almost the exact same as I did when I left, actually, I think if anything, I might have lost some weight!

Hamburgers, Devotionals, Soccer with the Latinos

 Some pictures around the MTC

 P-day adventures

Tag pic at night

Hello hello!!

To clear up any confusion, my pday will be on Wednesday for the remainder of my time here in the mtc, last weeks pday on Friday was a one time thing.

What a jam packed couple of days!!! It’s only been five days since last pday, but man, we have been getting after it here in the MTC! We just sent off one of the biggest groups in the MTC, only to receive 170 new missionaries yesterday!! It’s a little bit crowded right now, but having too many missionaries is a pretty good problem to have!

We had two awesome evening devotionals these past couple days, hearing from Elder Ballard talk to the missionaries about staying focused on the work, and locking our hearts for the next two years, and Elder Neil L. Anderson talk to us about the importance of faith in missionary work! Two members of the twelve talking to us (via satelite broadcast) in the past three days!

Yesterday was a monumental day here in the MTC... We had hamburgers for the first time. After three straight weeks of eating Mexican food, it was a relief and a joy that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know that I have ever seen the MTC so happy!!

Our District has really been turning up the heat on our goals. We have been working really hard, including me and another Elder in our distract learning 600 words in two days!! Our goal is to learn 2000 words in a week, and I think we can do it!! The gift of tongues is real, as we put in the work to learn the language, and open our mouths to speak, the Lord will fill us with the words that we need to say!

Exercise here has taken a swift turn. We went from playing basketball everyday, which has been fun because I can play really well against pretty good competition, to now playing soccer with the Latinos to practice our Spanish and help them with their English. I went from one of the best athletes on the court, to probably the hands down worst, haha. It’s been super fun though! The Latinos are super nice and cool, and they get a lot of laughs at my expense, so it’s really fun! It helps my Spanish a ton too!

One spiritual thought I want to share with you all is the concept of the light of Christ. We watched a talk by David A. Bednar, and he said that the light of Christ is in every person on the Earth. As we do Christ like things, and serve our fellow man, we feel really good, and that light increases. Its a visible transformation, we can see it on peoples faces! But the same goes in the opposite too. So go and serve and share the gospel, share that light of Christ!

With Love, Elder Newman

Callie, Yay for seven peaks! Youll have to tell me which of the slides are your favorite! I am glad you enjoyed the Wedding! Te Amo Hermanita!!

Sarah, So cool that you got to see Jace and Mitch at the Provo MTC openhouse!! They are awesome!! You are going to love sixth grade! Keep the faith! Te Amo!

Emma, I was just talking to a couple of the guys in the district about how much i miss football! The team looks like they are going to be pretty good this year!! So excited for Isaiah, and for Cam! Glad drill is going well, sounds like you guys have a good bond! Te Amo hermana!

Mom's questions

1. What things do you and your district like to do in your free time?

Our district likes to swap stories from home, play some games as a district, and sing! We love to sing especially, and our teachers seem to enjoy it too!

2. How’s the laundry going? Did you figure out ironing a shirt? How are the pants?

Laundry has been going great!! Yes, I do know how to iron a shirt, but I will only have an iron for about three more weeks, so won’t get to use that skill a whole lot longer. And Golf pants might be the most comfortable pants ever. It’s like sweats for church.

3. How are you sleeping at night?

I am sleeping great!! Part of the benefit of working really hard throughout the day, is that when my head hits the pillow at night, I am so tired I sleep all the way till the alarm in the morning!

4. Have you been reading Jesus the Christ or any of the other books you were required to bring to the MTC? What insights have you gained?

Unfortunately not a ton. Our day is scheduled really tight, and most of the time, when its free study time, we are so busy with language study we don't really have a ton of time! But I am going to try to incorporate those books into my personal study.

5. What new things have you learned about Elder Hansen?

Not only was Elder Hansen a stud football player, but he was in his high school show choir, and he has a voice like an angel!!

District 10B, Hard pressed humor, and almost Halfway done with the MTC!

Mexico City MTC Complex

 View of Mexico City from the MTC

 Visit to the Mexico City Temple

 All the PG boys at the Mexico City MTC

Hello Everyone!!!

Well, we found out why our pday was moved to Friday, the missionaries who are serving in Mexico have to take a pday and go to the customs office here in the city, and do visa stuff. We have 5 missionaries in our district going to Mexico, so our whole district got our pday moved to today.

The nice thing is that because our pday is on Friday this week, we don’t have any other missionaries in the lab today to email, which is nice, because I get a little more time to go in depth on stuff that happened this week!!

Some cool things that happened this week:

1. Memorizing the First vision, and four other scriptures in spanish this week. I couldn’t memorize anything for the life of me before the mission in English, but now, in the language of my mission, with the help of the Lord, I can memorize just about anything in Spanish!!

2. Fast Sundays. Sundays here in the MTC are super super cool. It’s kind of weird, because before the mission, a Sunday scheduled from 7:15am until 9:00pm full of meetings might have been my worst nightmare, but here, it’s the best thing ever!!! And Fast Sundays here are incredible. The Spirit here is absolutely amazing, and I love every second of it. It was probably my favorite thing to happen yet.

3. The power of music. Wow, the spirit that is felt through music is absolutely amazing!! One thing that our district does that is really interesting and kind of unique is each morning during our personal study right after breakfast (while everyone is still kind of waking up) we sing. We do acapella renditions of everything from the Lion King, Billy Joel, to Praise to the Man. It’s kind of a fun unique way our district gets up and going for the day.

4. Teaching with Glenn. So Elder Livingston is in district 14B, and they are our sister district if you will (meaning that they are on the same schedule as us, and when it’s time to practice teaching with another district, they are the ones we practice with.) The nice thing about that, is that I get to see a lot of Elder Livingston throughout the day. And Yesterday, for the first time, Elder Hansen and I got to teach Elder Livingston, which was so much fun, and the Spirit was way amazing as I bore testimony to one of my best friends.

5. Reading the Book of Mormon as a missionary. I started the Book of Mormon over 5 days ago, and I love it so much. It is amazing to read it again. It takes a whole new meaning as you read it with not just yourself and your questions in mind, but the questions and needs of your investigators.

I got to see Elder Jensen more this week, and it doesn’t matter where we are in the MTC, if we see each other, we run over, give each other a huge hug, and wish each other well for the rest of the day, and it’s the same for the rest of our PG boys here in the MTC! It’s so nice to have a bunch of familiar faces on top of all of the great people in my district. And allow me to let you all in on something on the MTC-sometimes, after a long day of practice lessons, language study, and all sorts of other mentally taxing things, you really need something to laugh at. And we are all so hard pressed for some humor, that literally anything is funny at that point. We have had times in our district, where for 15 minutes, we can’t even look at each other without laughing!

A couple of cool quotes and scriptures from this week.

"When we join this church, we leave neutral ground forever." -Joseph Smith

"Remember who you are, but more importantly, remember whose you are."

2nd Nephi 31:19

Love and miss all of you!

Love, Elder Newman

Moms Questions:

1. Have you been able to go to the temple there yet?

Yes, we went to the temple right after we emailed last week on pday, and it was truly incredible!! It was awesome to do it in Spanish too!! I’ll be sure to attach a picture of the Temple.

2. Did you get your package and letters from the delivery service on Monday?

Yes I did, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! It was really nice to hear from each of you, is was a nice boost to get me through the week, and it’s very nice to have some granola bars to snack on during the day, so thank you very much!!!

3. How is basketball? What other activities do you do for physical activity?

Basketball is super super fun, But yesterday without even thinking about it, I accidently broke the MTC rule of no dunking in pretty spectacular fashion, haha. We all felt like we were getting out of shape still, so we have thrown some soccer into the mix a couple times a week to get some more cardio, which helped alot!

4. What is your district like? How many people are in it? Where are they all going to after the MTC?

My District is amazing!!!! We have 12 people, 10 elders and 2 hermanas. Elder Lisonbee, Elder Beazer, Elder Mortensen, Elder Van Alfen and Elder Hansen and I are all going to Bolivia together. Elder Marberger and Elder Harper are both going to Mexico City East. Elder Shupe is going to Vermosilla Mexico. Elder Pacheco is going to Cuernivaca Mexico. Hermana Benavidez is going to Guadalejara Mexico, and Hermana Kofford is going to Uruguay Montevideo West (so close!)

5. What is your favorite food and least favorite food at the MTC? Is your stomach doing well?

Lets just say Pizza night here doesn’t seem to like me very much. but everything else has been good, haven’t had too many problems!

6. Have you joined the MTC choir?

Unfortunately no. Elder Shupe really wanted to, and so did my companion, But Elder Pacheco (Shupes Companion) didn’t want to, so I do a companionship exchange with Elder Pacheco, so the other two are able to.

Mom,

Thank you so much for the package again!! I love the pictures of the wedding, Gabby looks so so happy!!! And the cardboard cutouts are the best!!! Everything is going really well, and I love this work so so much...So cool that you saw Elder Price!! Te amo Madre!!

Dad,

I have been taking your advice from the Day 1 letter to heart, and been trying to dedicate every minute of my day to the Lord. This has resulted in learning 350 words in the past week, and getting to Alma 10 in my nightly scripture study. Te amo Padre!!!

Sarah,

Sounds like an awesome week!! By the way, you look beautiful in the wedding family photo! Have fun with the expanders!! Te amo Sarah!

Callie,

Nice job in your soccer game!! I remember when you and me went to the PG pool!! Te amo Callie!!

Emma,

CONGRATS ON DRILL!! THAT IS SO AWESOME THAT YOU ARE IN THE DANCE NUMBER!! Sounds like a pretty awesome week!! Hope you sent my love to Peter Hollens, because he is the man! Hope you had fun at CVX! All you sisters look so grown up and Beautiful in the wedding family photo! Te amo Emma!!

Not the Newbies anymore, Mucho español, and trial by fire

 Pictures from the gate at the Salt Lake Airport

 Pictures from the Mexico City Airport

 Bus ride to the Mexico CCM

  Look how clean Elder Newman's closet is!

 Elder Newman and his companion, Elder Hansen

Hello, hello, hello!!!!

It is so good to finally get to talk to you all today!!!! We don’t get a ton of time to write here in the MTC, so the majority of my time will be put into this group email and writing to my family, but I love and appreciate all of the emails, and I read every single one, so please keep writing, and I will try to write each of you! Also thank you all so much for the letters and notes that I brought with me, I read them often, and draw a lot of strength from them!

This week has been quite the whirlwind, and I can’t believe I have already been here a week, it has been quite the adventure, learning more Spanish is the past 8 days than I did in four years in Spanish class. It has been amazing though, the Spirit here is truly incredible, and there’s been so many great teaching moments already!!

Here’s a couple lessons I have learned already.

1. "Your comfort zone will kill you". This is a quote from my branch president, and I have been trying to take it to heart. It basically means that you will never progress or grow if you don’t get out of your comfort zone, so whether it be Spanish, talking to someone, or your study habits, get out of your comfort zone and strive to grow!!

2. Listen to the Holy Ghost. Several times while doing role play investigator lessons with our teacher, Elder Hansen and I ended up listening to the spirit, and taking the lesson a completely different route, or sharing a scripture we weren’t planning on, or extending commitments we didn’t think we were going to.

3. El Don de Lenguas. This means, the gift of tongues. And let me tell you, it’s really real. But one thing about it is it’s when you are working HARD at the language, and striving to do your part to learn. Then, once you’ve done that, you will have things brought back to your remembrance that you forgot you even knew.

A couple of amazing things that are happening here. I have the best companion and district. My district is an amazing group of missionaries, and we work really hard, and have a ton of fun!! We are becoming like a little family here in the CCM!! And a little story from this week to give you an idea of how awesome my companion, Elder Hansen is. One time during class, I messed up on of the easiest words in the Spanish language, and I was really frustrated with myself. We all went to companionship study, and I guess I still looked pretty frustrated, and Elder Hansen asked if I was feeling alright. I told him I was, and that I was just frustrated with myself. He told me that it was okay, and that I had only been here 6 days, and I was totally fine. I appreciated the comment, but I guess I still looked pretty mad, so he said, "Elder Newman, look up the word, sonreír. I did, the word only had one definition. Smile. I was so appreciative for a companion who was looking out for me, and it changed my whole day around. I felt so much better, and we had the best lesson to that point right after, where we both spoke some of our best Spanish!!! It was amazing!!

While the MTC is one the hardest things I’ve ever done, it is so amazing and so much fun. I love it here so much, it has been truly incredible! I love and miss you all, remember to sonreír today!!

Te Amo!!

2nd Nephi 22 2

Love, Elder Newman

Mom’s Questions:

1. Did you get your packages we had delivered to you? There should have been two so far.

YES I DID THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Both packages were big bright spots in my week, thank you so much! I shared the donuts with my district, and they all say thank you too.

2. What is your daily schedule like?

My daily schedule is starts with classes in the morning about doctrine, Spanish, and adjusting to missionary life out in the field. Then we have lunch, and planning meeting on what we want to teach, gym time, then lessons with "investigators". We then have dinner, language practice, and personal study to finish the day.

3. Have you seen the other PG missionaries much? Any basketball with any of them?

I see a lot of Elder Livingston, our districts are on the same schedule, so I’ve talked to him a lot, but unfortunately, no basketball with Elders Coombs, Jensen and Lord. They are on a different schedule with a different gym times and their pday is tomorrow. I still see them at meals though! I yell vanilla bear to Elder Jensen every time I see him, and he yells back to me with a resounding chocolate bear!!

4. What is the best thing about the MTC?

The best thing about the MTC is the spirit here. Everyone here is so kind and friendly, It’s like having 700 new best friends.

5. What did you think of Sunday in the MTC?

Sunday in the MTC was incredible!!! Sacrament meeting was truly amazing.

6. Did your bus from the airport get in a wreck? I heard a rumor that Elder Livingston’s bus did and I wondered if you were on that bus since you didn’t mention anything about a wreck in your first quick email.

Yes, I was on the same bus as Elder Livingston, and we hit and run someone. Roads in Mexico are insane, haha.

EMMA!!! Glad to hear that youth conference was amazing. I’m glad things are going well, even if it is really quiet around the house right now, haha. Good luck with drill mi querido hermana!! Te amo!! (My dear sister !! I love you!)

Sarah!!! Congrats on the semi finals at Park City Cup!!! What an awesome accomplishment against really good competition! Te amo!!!

Callie!!! How did you like soccer?? Here in the MTC, I speak a ton of Spanish, but I do still speak some English. When it’s day time for you, I’ts day time here too!!! I remember doing that punishment (hugging timeouts with the sibling they are fighting with) with Jackson, it’s fun huh? ;) Love you Callie!!!

Mom, Sounds like a fun eventful week!! Glad to see that the hug punishment is still in use, because it sure is effective!! I am loving it here, and I’ve grown so much already! You would be proud of me, I’ve had a salad at almost every meal! It’s an adjustment not being able to snack all day, so I really have to load up at meal times. And yes, I am getting used to being called Elder Newman, It’s weird to get called Christian by anyone at this point, haha. Te amo mom!!​​​​​​

Dad, So good to hear about Elder Coon!!! And wow!!! The expedition was really that stuck in the mud!! How did that even happen??? And I’ve been trying to live your advice: You will never regret working a little harder. Te amo Dad!!