Santa Cruz, Weather change, Cambios

 Massage chair at the Tarija airport

 E

 Zone

Elder Newman found alphahores (which his brother Jackson loves in Uruguay and now Christian loves them too)

 One of many meals the missionaries had with ward members to say goodbye to Elder Talaverano

 Samuel, the stray dog is actually not a stray. He is the ward mission leader's dog.

Elder Newman and Elder Talaverano (who is heading home to Peru this week)

Hello Friends and Family!!

So I know a lot of you are on Jackson`s email list also, and he always does this with Cambios (transfers), so I’m going to roll with it too! In this cambio, I am going to.......

...stay here in Tarija to finish my training! Yeah not a surprise, but I had to keep it going!

It was definitely an interesting week, with my trip to Santa Cruz getting delayed to Tuesday, and doing all of my stuff on Wednesday. (Christian’s trip was delayed because he lost his wallet and id his first week in Tarija and his new id and cards haven’t arrived yet, so he had to wait for the office to send him his passport so he could travel (by plane) up to Santa Cruz.) Basically what I was doing was finishing my immigration papers, and then returning back here to keep on going with the work! But something interesting about the trip to Santa Cruz. It’s hot there. Like stupid hot. I left the plane, and went outside of the airport to meet the Hermano who was going to take me to the offices to meet up with the secretaries, and holy cow, it was so hot and humid. I went on splits with two of the secretaries for the night, and the next morning, we went to the building for Immigration stuff. I can only describe the experience like this. It was like the DMV, except hotter, absolutely no AC, and the people at the desks were less friendly. We were there for almost 6 hours... Needless to say, I was very happy to return to Tarija!

So I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about Paula. So we had our interview with her for her baptism on Thursday, with her baptism planned for Friday. While we were practicing the interview with her before our district leader came to do the interview, she told us about something that she had in her past that she had never told us. She told our district leader about it, and the thing was, in order to give her the good to go, she had to have an interview with President. We scheduled it for Friday, and then began the process of praying our guts out for her. We prayed for her in every single prayer we had, which in the mission field, is a lot. The next day, we picked her up for her interview with President, and then waited, and waited, and waited. She finally came back, gave the phone to our district leader, and shortly after, he came back and told us that she is all good! We have her baptism this coming Friday, and we are super super excited for her.

Cambios, so one of my best friends in our district, Elder Talaverano, finished his mission today! Hard to see him go, because he is super cool, and has been a great friend to me from the moment I arrived here in Tarija, but he is super excited to start life at home, and it’s been amazing to watch him work his hardest in his final week, where a lot of missionaries slack off that last transfer. Something truly inspiring to see!

Well, thank you so much to all of you for your support! I can’t tell you how grateful I am to read your letters and to just have the best support system in the world!

Keep the Faith!

Love, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, that’s an awesome picture of Caleb and the Temple! and so so cool with Elder Coombs and Aunt Erin!! Have a great trip!! Love you mom!

Dad, rough situation with the filming, but good that you were able to pull it all together! Bummer that the boys lost, but good to hear they are playing hard. Are they going to State? Love You Dad!!

Sarah, sounds like you had a great week! Ooooooh braces, I remember the days!! That’s super fun, hope your teeth feel better!!! And Mr Manning!! Oh, isn’t he awesome??? If you see him again, tell him I said hi!! Love you sister!!

Callie! Yeah we had some fun things happen this week!! I found out Samuel has a home! He is the dog of our ward mission leader!! I hope you have a great trip!! Love you Call!!

Emma, Sounds like you have been super busy!! Remember to always to take time to relax, and to hang out with your friends!! It’s important to work hard, but also to be balanced!! The Canyon looks beautiful right now!! Are you enjoying having the car to yourself? Love you Em!

Mom’s Questions:

1. Were you finally able to make it to Santa Cruz to finish up your paperwork?

Yes I did.

2. Did Paula get baptized Friday? How did it go?

This Friday! :)

3. Is the 9 year old boy still on track for his baptism on the 21st?

Unfortunately he didn’t attend church last Sunday, so we have to move it to the following week.

4. Is the weather changing? Starting to get warmer? Or does it stay cooler because of the elevation of your city?

So Tarija is kinda crazy. Sometimes, we are wearing coats, and others it’s short sleeves and  sweating. It’s kind of like fall or spring in Utah to be honest.

5. Have you cooked anything new this week? Are you making your bed each morning? :)  

Not really, there isn’t really much to buy or cook, because you can’t really buy in bulk here. And yes I am making my bed each morning :)