Mis angeles, Intercambios, Coca, La milagro de Paula

 "Authentic" Alex Smith jersey for $1

 View of Tarija

 Me and Elder Timana on our roof

 Stylin scarf

 Intercambios with Elder Mercau

 Personalized Preach my Gospel cover

 Elder Timana and I in front of the church

Plaque picture with the plaque on the church

Hello friends and Family!

So good to talk to you all again!! We had a lot more success this past week, so I am really excited to tell you all a little bit about it!!!

First off, I cannot stress just how amazing the members here are, they are literally the nicest people on the planet. Every time we have an appointment with a member, they start putting food in front of us, telling us references for us to go and teach, and always greet us with a warm smile! We had an experience that was just awesome this past week, where we were kind of disappointed after our third appointment of the day fell through, and we walked around the corner to see one of our members sitting at the corner selling food, and she exclaimed when she saw us, "oh, mis angeles, mis angeles!! Venga venga!!" which means, "Oh my angels, my angles, come come!!" She proceeded to give us food from her stand for free, and asked how we were doing, and was just so happy to see us. Literally changed my day, she brightened my day so much with her simple kind words, and and her act of Christlike love. She is absolutely incredible.

Intercambios!! We had our first companionship exchange this past week, and it was really cool to go on splits with our District Leader Elder Mercau. He is from Argentina, and has two transfers left in the mission. He knows a ton about the work, so it was really cool to talk to him about the mission, some things we can do to improve our abilities as missionaries, and to watch him at work. Learned a ton from him. We had a cool chance to have a visit with a family that he and his companion have been teaching one night before their baptismal interview, then to attend their baptism this past Saturday. Awesome experience to watch investigators exercise their faith in our Heavenly Father and make life changing covenants with him.

So one of the biggest obstacles we face here in Bolivia with our investigators is word of wisdom. They love their Coca here, which is just straight cocaine leaf, and that’s an obstacle we face with a lot of our older investigators, because they have physical ailments, and coca is a painkiller, and it’s cheaper than actual medicine. One of our investigators right now by the name of Edgar, he is super awesome, and he has this deep desire to know more about our Savior and about the nature of God. We had an appointment with him yesterday, and Elder Timana had me lead our discussion about the Plan of Salvation, so it was great practice to teach the Plan of Salvation, and to answer his MANY questions about it. Also good practice for understanding Spanish, because he had a mouthful of Coca during the lesson, making it a little difficult to understand him. We`ll have some fun trying to tackle that issue when it comes.. but it was a great stretching experience, one of the most exhausting lessons I have ever taught.

We have a ton of new investigators right now, because our progressing investigators from when I got here weren’t progressing at all, and we’ve had to drop all but one. Our one progressing investigator (Paula) had a baptismal date, but this past week went totally off the radar, not home, not answering calls, nothing. We were pretty disappointed, so we got to work inviting our news to church, and we were outside the church waiting for investigators to come, and none of our new investigators came. We were pretty disappointed, but then around the corner, with no warning at all, comes Paula! This last Sunday, she got her final attendance she needed before we can baptize her. We have a couple more things to teach her and some issues to tackle still, but fingers crossed for her baptismal date on October 6th!

It was a great week of finding, with us finding 3 families and 19 new people to teach this past week! There are some awesome new investigators in this group, and I’m excited to help them progress!!

Love you all so much! Remember to watch Conference and seek for revelation this coming weekend as we listen to the words of our living prophet and apostles! Just want to share one quote before I sign off here. "Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all of your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can testify that enthusiasm is one of the most powerful traits we can develop. Let that light of Christ within you shine bright!!

Love, Elder Newman

Mom’s Questions:

1. Does your pensionista cook and do laundry for you?

So our pensionista cooks our lunch, but we do our own laundry.

2. Do you ever have to cook for yourselves?

Yes, Lunch is the only meal we don’t cook for ourselves.

3. What is the strangest thing you’ve eaten so far?

So we had fish, but you don’t eat fish here with a fork, because all of the bones are still in, so you eat it with your hands. Little weird, but hands down best thing I’ve eaten here, it was super super good.

4. Do you have enough money right now? I’m assuming you got a replacement missionary debit card, if that’s how you receive your missionary funds there.

Yes as of right now, I’m doing fine, they wire my mission money right now to Elder Timana`s card until my new one comes, so I’m all good. But I am still waiting for my replacement card

5.How often do you see your zone and Elder Dibb?

Quite a bit actually. We see our zone at least once a week at district meetings, and we also have zone activities every other pday, so I see Elder Dibb a fair bit.

Mom, what a cool experience in the temple this week. It’s only been a little more than a month from my last time visiting the temple, but man, I miss it!! And what an awesome picture of Elder Coombs and Uncle Jeff!! Glad he found them! Love you Mom!!

Dad, Sarah looks absolutely studly!! Looks like you really have had quite the change of dynamic over in the Newman household. and also good to hear that our PG boys finally got one in the win column! How are our Utes doing?? Love you Dad!

Emma, looks like you and Kyle had a great time at Homecoming!! Going with friends is the best, some of my best experiences at dances were when I went with good friends!!! And Mathlete? Sounds like we have our second well rounded Newman in high school! You get to join Jackson in that category. Love you Em!!

Sarah, nice job at your game!! Dad sent me the highlights, you are looking awesome!! Keep working hard!! Love you Bear!!

Callie!! Looks like you had a great time at your field trip!! My favorite food here in Bolivia, is called Karpil. It’s like a smoothie in a bag! And it’s spring time here in Bolivia right now. Love you Callie!!

Domingo Llegarà, Anullar, Dunking for the niños

 Elder Timana and I in our coats on top of our apartment!

 We found a restaurant with cheesesteaks!!

Basketball today

Hello friends and family, I don’t have a ton of time this week, but I’ll try to give you all the break down real quick!!

This was a pretty tough week not going to lie, but when you are working in the vineyard of the Lord, there are always positives! I want to end with the good stuff, so the first part of this email might be a tad depressing.

Our investigator that we had a baptism planned for this past Saturday fell through. He is a fifteen year old kid, who absolutely loves the lessons and really wants to be baptized, but his mom won’t allow it because she is strongly Catholic. He left town for about a week, and we are going to try to talk to his mom and convince her, but it’s not looking very good as of right now. Hoping for the best though!

So I learned a new word this week. anullar: to cancel or to anull. Now the problem is I learned this word because I lost my wallet yesterday, and have had to cancel all the credit cards that were in it. Kind of a tough experience to have happen on a day that we weren’t really having a ton of success anyways, but we will get it figured out!!! I’m learning to rely on the Lord a lot these days, because there are many things that happen in the mission that are out of our control, and you just have to say, “alright, Lord`s timing, everything is going to be okay!”

Ok, on to the good stuff!!

The members here are literally so nice, they are always giving us references and food, they absolutely love the missionaries, because the majority are converts! We had some awesome visits with the members this week, and they are all so, so incredible!! We love working with the members here, which is great because members play a crucial role in missionary work!!

Dunking for the niños: so as we were passing by a gym to pick up one of our investigators for an appointment, he tossed me a ball, (basketball is actually pretty popular, which is very nice!!!) and told me to dunk it, so I put my things down, grabbed the ball, and rose up and dunked in my white shirt and tie. Do it for the niños.

We have a saying here in the mission, Domingo Llegará, this means, Sunday will come, this has reference to the Savior and His resurrection, and how dark those three days were, and then how bright it gets when He does come. We use this phrase to help us when we are struggling, to know that Sunday will come!

It’s been hard, but it’s always good here in Tirija, even though it’s actually been so cold as of late!!

Love you all so much!!

Love, Elder Newman

Madre, thank you so much for the voice recordings, they are so nice to listen to, it’s great to hear your voices, and it sounds like things are going great! Hope you had a good trip, and by the way, on my google drive, there is a file with my voice recording for you guys, it’s titled, my voice recordings.

Love you mom!!

Pappie, sounds like you had a great trip to Powell!! That storm looked pretty insane!! Glad to hear everyone is alright and safe!! You are right, I have progressed so much in the language that my head usually hurts at the end of the day, because the only day I get to speak any English is Thursdays, when I see the other North American missionaries!

Love you Dad!!

Emma, mom for the week! good job juggling all of the tasks of drill, school, and the two little sisters! And good job with the Dominoes, sounds like there is going to be more pizza in the Newman house.

Love you sister!

Sarah, Hope you had fun at Grandmas! Sounds like you had a good week, go have some more fun, and good luck at bantam tryouts!!

Love you sis!!

Callie, Hope you had a great week! It looks like your leg is feeling a little better!!! Good job being a big girl while Mom and Dad were gone, sounds like you are all grown up!!

Love you Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. What is your daily schedule like in the field?

We wake up, exercise for thirty minutes, shower, get ready for the day, and then do our daily planning, study, practice lessons, then go to lunch, after we do language study, then its off to go tracting for the rest of the day until 9:30, in bed by 11

2. What is the best thing you’ve eaten so far in Bolivia?

Probably the giant pasta and chicken we got fed on my first Sunday

3. How many members come to church on Sunday?

About 50 give or take, it’s not a huge ward.

4. What have you done to serve Elder Timana this week?

I have been doing his dishes, and I’ve been helping him practice his English! We bring those inspiring quotes you gave me with us and while we walk, he practices his English pronunciations, and I try to translate it for him, it’s great practice!!

5. How are you sleeping at night? Is it warm enough?

Yes it’s warm enough, and the trick is if you’re working hard, it’s not very hard to sleep at night. I’ve been sleeping great!

6. Where do you access your emails each week? The church or an internet cafe?

Internet Cafe. It’s about 1 us dollar for 2 hours of internet time

Tarija!!!

 Tour of the my new apartment in Tarija

 Our own little Vasa Fitness

 View from the window

 Me with Elder Dibb (friend from PG who is in my zone!)

 Me and my trainer, Elder Timana (from Peru)

 P-day adventures

Hello friends and family!!

Well, I am officially in the field!!! This is so crazy, and so different, but this is what I came here to do, so lets do this!

Our week has been absolutely crazy, it all started with Mondays travels, where from Mexico, we flew from there to Peru, landing at about 10pm, but i had an awesome experience being able to talk to a man next to me for a few hours, and even give him a Book of Mormon! We had a quick two hour layover, and were on another plane to Santa Cruz, landing there at about four in the morning. Our mission Pres was there waiting for us, and we took a photo, and headed over to the mission home, where he allowed us to get some actual sleep, which felt amazing.  Later that day we had interviews with Pres, and went contacting with some of the office missionaries, which was super fun!!

The next day we met our trainers, and my trainer is Elder Timana!!! Elder Timana is from Peru, and he is absolutely awesome!!! He comes from a big family, and doesnt speak a word of English! This has led to some pretty funny encounters, because at times its actually easier to understand our investigators, because Peruvians talk really fast. Its good practice for me though!! He is so so awesome, and super patient! My spanish is doing well, every person we have talked to is super suprised that Ive only been here a couple days! But I still have a ton to learn!!!

We have a bunch of investigators right now, 3 with baptismal dates, and probably 5 or 6 others. Bolivians are some of the nicest people I have ever met. I have never met people so willing to give everything for a couple of missionaries, even though they have so little... And the members are so devoted to their faith. I had an experience yesterday talking with one of the older women from the ward, and she told us so much about what was going on in her life, things that would shake anybody's faith, but she was still so strong. It brought me to tears during the final prayer.

Sometimes its hard, because I have been so blessed in my life, so its hard to share personal experience, because I literally have no idea how it feels to be them, but its strengthened my testimony of the Atonement, because even though I have no idea, Christ knows perfectly, and He can succor the needs of any person, because He knows.

I love this work, and even though its hard at times, when nobody wants to hear us, or when our appointments fall through, I know that God is refining me, and helping me to draw closer to Him. I have spent a ton of time on my knees, trying to gain strength and peace. And let me tell you, God is in the details.

I love you all so much!!

Love, Elder Newman

Mom, First off, I am so sorry I wasn’t able to call on Monday, by the time we found phones in Peru (there weren’t any in Mexico) and finally figured out how to use the cards, we only had five minutes until we were boarding our plane, so I let the other guys call their family. I used the voice recorder though, so I’ll try to send it so you can hear my voice!  By the way, thank you for the arrival package!! The kids love the CTR rings, and Elder Timana and I love the candy! Sounds like Callie has had a rough couple days!! Oh, and GO UTES!!! Love you Mom   

Dad, Good to hear our Utes are still going strong!! I heard that the Huntley kid is a stud!! However, unfortunate to hear about our PG boys!! Hopefully they can turn it around and finish the season strong!!  Looks like you guys had a good boating trip! Looking good in the Red also!! Love you Dad!!

Emma, I hope your birthday was stellar!! Good job getting up skiing without the V rope!!! It depends on the day in this area, it’s spring time right now, so sometimes it’s super hot, and others I have to use the sweater! Love you Hermana!!

Sarah, Sorry to hear that the coach you guest played for was a jerk!!! Hang in there! Nice job on the goal!! Keep working hard and having fun!! Love you Bear!

Callie!!  Sounds like you have had a rough couple days!! Glad you had fun on the boat!! I love it here in Bolivia!! Love you Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. What is your companion like? Is he a convert? How long has he been on his mission? Are you able to communicate with him ok?

Elder Timana is so awesome!! He has been on the mission for 9 months and yes I can communicate.

2. What is your apartment like? Is it just the two of you in the apartment? Is it close to the church or any members?

Our apartment is pretty awesome, its just the two of us in there, and we are only about a block away from the church. We have a sweet weight room (See the pic)

3. What is the food like? Are you eating enough?

Ok so thats actually kind of interesting!! Yes I am eating enough, actually alot of missionaries gain weight here, but they eat their meals kind of different. they have a decent breakfast, but they dont really have a dinner here, so lunch is massive. we always eat at the end of the day too, but its usually not till about 10.

4. What is the weather like? Is it hot and humid? I looked up your city online and it looks like it’s still averaging 82 degrees during Sept.

Its spring time here, and it actually feels kind of like utah! Its not very humid here, and sometimes its way hot, and somedays its actually a little bit nippy!

5. What is your ward/branch like? How many members? Do you have their help and support?

The ward here is incredible! They are so kind, and we totally have their support in everything we do!

HELLO!!!

This is my final email from the MTC! It’s so crazy to me that this is my final day, and I am down to hours before I leave here, and I go to Bolivia!! I am way stoked to get started and to meet my trainer and do all these cool missionary things. I know I have so much to learn and it’s so crazy to think of it all, but I cannot wait to get started!!

I had some fun experiences this week, and it’s going to be sad to leave the missionaries here. I have had the amazing opportunity to get to know the other missionaries here. They are great people, and I have loved the amazing friendships I have made here. In just 6 short weeks, I have come to absolutely love the people here, and I can’t wait to do the same with the people of Bolivia!

Cool experiences of the week:

1. So I have been sick this week (which shouldn’t be surprising, because there are 700 missionaries and we are constantly shaking hands), but it hasn’t been affecting me too bad, nothing that the cough drops that were packed in my bag (Thanks Mom!) couldn’t help with. But on Thursday I started to lose my voice, and I didn’t want my first week in the mission to not only struggle to know what to say, but to be able to say it too! I asked the guys in my apartment to give me a blessing, and Elder Hansen offered a beautiful blessing. And the good news is that today I am feeling great!! Priesthood blessings are truly incredible and they can truly heal both physical and spiritual ailments!

2. More blessings! We did a district blessing night on Saturday night. We gave blessings of comfort to each other. It was so amazing, and we had a great spirit in there. Priesthood is powerful, and missionaries have an incredible spirit.

3. Fast and Testimony meeting. The first fast and testimony meeting here, I bore my testimony in my extremely broken week 2 spanish. Yesterday, we gave our final testimony here in the CCM, and I was able to get up and stand and bear testimony in the best Spanish that I have spoken since I got here. I can’t believe how far I have come and how much I have grown!!!

Thank you all so much for everything that you have all done for me! I have loved receiving all of your letters and notes. They have been a huge comfort for me, and I love hearing how everything is going back in the USA! I love you all so much, and next time I write, I will be in the field! Love and prayers to you all!

Love, Elder Newman

Dad, excited to finally get started!! I know I am going to see things that are going to change me forever, and I know I have absolutely no idea what I am doing yet, but I am so excited to get started. Here we go! Fist forward!! Love you dad!!

Mom, sounds like an eventful week of injuries in the Newman household this past week! Hope everyone is ok!!! I’m glad you had a great experience in the temple. Spanish is a truly beautiful language, and I am glad you got to appreciate it in the house of the Lord! Good to see the backyard is almost back in shape! Love you mom!!

Emma, first off, since I probably won’t get to write you on Wednesday, HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY!!!!! You are an amazing person, and you are growing into the beautiful young woman that Heavenly Father is so so proud of. Enjoy your special day, and I hope you have an incredible birthday!! I am glad you are enjoyed your time in Mr. Newman’s class. Tell him I said Hi!! Love you sister!!

Sarah, congratulations on student council! That’s so awesome. You are truly a light to your classmates!! Looks like that spacer is doing its job!!! And forward in your soccer scrimmage? Interesting!! Keep having fun!! Love you!

Callie, sounds like you had a fun week!! I hope you had a good time at your dance classes!! For Labor day, I am traveling to Bolivia, and writing you!! Pretty good if you ask me!! :) Love you Callie!

Mom’s Questions:

1. Did you get your last package and letters Friday?

I did, thank you so much!!  I am so grateful for the packages and letters you have sent during my time here in the MTC. They have been a true blessing!

2. Are you nervous about traveling to Bolivia?

A little, but not really! It’s just new, but I am really excited to get started!

3. Do you know what your first day will be like when you get there? Are you staying at the mission home overnight or heading right out to your new area?

I'll be honest, I actually have no idea.

4. What is your favorite thing about the MTC that you will miss?  

I am totally going to miss all of these missionaries. They are incredible people!! I am also going to really miss seeing my PG boys everyday, because it’s awesome to see them as often as I do!