Our Christmas tree, now with lights and ornaments!
Birthday pictures
Wringing out my tie after yet another huge rainstorm!
First off, a huge thank you to the tons of you who wished me a happy birthday!! Thank you so so so so much!! I don’t get a ton of time to write, but thank you so much, and you are all such a blessing in my life! I read every single email, and even if I don’t have time to respond, know that I greatly appreciate all of your wishes!! Birthdays in the mission are kind of weird.. Because we don’t have a ton of time to celebrate, the work is too important to stop for anything!!! With that being said, until about four in the afternoon here, we hadn’t really done anything, because we had been so busy. I was feeling kind of bummed out, when Elder Maravilla told me we were going to the bishops house really quick. We rode over in a taxi, and when we walked in, there was the other Elders that serve close to us, and the Hermanas. They sat me down in a chair for what had to be one of the weirdest birthday traditions of my life.. They began to sing Happy Birthday to me while I was blindfolded. Then, instead of bringing out a cake and candles like the states, they started to absolutely destroy me with flour and eggs and other cake ingredients. After, they took off the blindfold and brought out the real cake! Awesome stuff, I definitely think we need to bring that tradition to the States!!!
So with our area right now, we don’t have a ton of investigators that are progressing right now, with the obstacle of nobody in this country is married, and nobody wants to. Kind of a tough challenge, because we have like four or five families that are super awesome, but have that obstacle of not being married, so they can’t progress until they get married... Rough stuff. But we did have a really funny experience this week!!! One of these couples we were teaching had their door open, and their kid came through and closed the door.... locked.... with the key inside..... So I can definitely say that was the first time I had to help someone break into their own house...
Russian Roullette. Sometimes, the food we receive here isn’t always prepared super well... It’s kind of a Russian roulette with the food we receive. After a service project, we were given some refresco... Well, the bullet hit. It put Elder Maravilla and I out of service for a solid three hours.
I had a cool experience studying the story of Job. For those who aren’t familiar, Job was an extremely righteous man of the Old Testament, who was wealthy, had a great family, handsome, and with all of that, loved God more than anything. Then, came the trials. He lost everything. His flocks, his family, he became sick, and lost everything. In the midst of his trials, he never lost his faith. He never turned his back on God just because things got hard, he continued to praise him. How many of us can say that we would do the same? Remember to thank God in your days of plenty, and never forget him in your times of trouble!
Thank you again for the Birthday wishes!! I love you all so much! Have a great Christmas!!!!
Love Elder Christian Duvall Newman
Mom’s Questions:
1. It was so nice to meet your landlord on FB. My first Bolivian FB friend. Great pic by the way. Does she also cook for you? Is she endowed and able to do your laundry or are you still doing wash by hand?
Ok, that’s Iblis. She is the wife of our bishop, and is our pensionista, so she does our lunches everyday. She is endowed, but prefers not to wash our garments, but washes everything else.
2. When did you feel the Spirit most this week?
When we were teaching the brother of our recent convert hermana Zulma
3. Any fun plans for your birthday?
Didn’t have a ton of plans, but had a great time getting wrecked by flour and eggs.
4. What are your Christmas plans?
Not a ton! for Noche buena, we will be eating with one of the members.
Madre, so awesome what you did for those missionaries!!! And what a fun time at the Christmas parties!! So excited to talk to you this week!! Love you Mom!!
Dad, Enjoy your time in London!! Dang Sarah is growing a ton!! Hopefully she keeps growing like brother number two!! Can’t wait to talk with you guys!! Love you Dad!!
Sarah, Good job with those saves!!! Looking good!!! And yes, I did have to memorize the Night before Christmas, it’s definitely a challenge, but I know you can do it!! We do a lot of that here with scriptures! Love you bear!!
Callie! Good job not having any cavities! and way to share your christmas spirit through song!! Love you Callie!!
Emma!! Great job with drill!!!! Good job with your grades too!! Stud in sports, and in the classroom! That’s the Jackson Newman way!! Love you Emma!!
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