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!!