Happy New Years!

 New Years Resolution, with the conference talk that inspired it!

 We received permission to attend the baptism of one of my old investigators in San Bernardo!

 Packages from both sets of Grandparents

Hello Friends and Family!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday, and a big Happy New Year from Bolivia!!!

Time for the update on the week!! Well, starting with Monday, we had our Christmas call, and I was able to not just call the family back home in Utah, but also to coordinate it with Elder Newman in Uruguay so we could talk a little bit!!! Holy cow, it was so good to talk with the family and cry and laugh and just the best!! The feelings after you finish the call are kind of indescribable. It’s like, just so so so happy, everyone is happy healthy and just awesome, but you miss them a ton. So luckily by the time Elder Maravilla finished his call, it was time to go back to the house and hit the hay. That helped a ton, to just kind of hit a restart, wake up that morning (Tuesday) and just get back to work! Getting back immersed in the work helped a ton!!

So our investigator (Darìo) who told us that he wanted to get baptized last week, had his interview and he is all good to go! We talked to him more yesterday at church, and this Saturday he will be getting baptized! How exciting is that?!? So cool to have had a piece of his progress here. He has taken the lessons for more than a year, and he is finally taking those steps to show his faith and start his journey towards our Heavenly Father!! The Lord's timing doesn’t always match with our own, but His timing is always what we need!

Another cool experience this week was receiving a reference from one our members, Hermano Sergio. He came to us seeking help. His addiction to alcohol has destroyed his family, and he came to us in tears, humble and ready to change. We offered our words of comfort, and showed him what we can do with the help of the Savior. We shared Phillippians 4:13, and he began to cry again. He told us that he knew we were angels sent to give him one more chance, and that he wasn’t going to let the Savior down this time. We were amazed by his faith, and even more amazed when he came to church this Sunday!! Talk about faith!!!

So, one of the best parts of the week was receiving my packages from my Grandparents!! The amish bread from Gr Newman fed us physically, and the conference talks from Gr Jessop fed us spiritually! Reading the talks again gave me a huge spiritual boost. Especially the talk "Be Ye Therefore Perfect, Eventually" By Jeffrey R. Holland. It’s easy to get caught up in our own shortcomings. I do it all the time. But in the words of Elder Holland, "the principles taught by the Savior were not intended to be a verbal hammer, battering in our own shortcomings". Don’t get caught up in weakness. Focus on the Savior, try to improve a little bit everyday, and we will be perfected by his grace, eventually.

In this time of goals and resolutions this time of year, I thought I would share one of my goals for this year! I have read Jesus the Christ 3 times here in the mission. The Book of Mormon twice. But all in English. This year in 2018, I will read the Book of Mormon, cover to cover, in Spanish! I know it’s going to be a challenge, and I’m not going to understand everything, but I know the Lord is going to strengthen me in this process!!

Have a great week everyone, and have a happy New Year!!! Remember this quote from President Uchtdorf. "This is your great adventure. Please heed the call of your Savior. Follow Him."

Love, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, Glasses again?? Matching your second missionary son! It was so so good to talk to you guys on Christmas, everyone is so happy and healthy, which is definitely an answered prayer for me!! Thank you for sharing your new talent on the guitar with me! It sounded great!! Love you Mom!!

Dad, Glad to hear that my room is now officially the gym of the house! And dang, I wish I could have heard Brother Pearce on the organ on Christmas, that man can play!!! And yes I know Sister Treseder’s Grandaughter! Thats Abby, She’s super cool!! So good to hear that you were able to catch up with Liv and Chris a bit this week! Those were some sweet pictures from shooting!! Love you dad!!

Emma, Well, not all dates go well, but Im sure youll have a good one soon! (To any of my football boys reading this email, you are now responsible for taking my sister out on a nice date.) And getting up on top of the High school, you are more like me everyday!! You truly have been blessed with great friends. I know what that is like, it’s one of the biggest blessings in the world! Love you sis!!

Sarah! Ukelele, Christmas Eve breakfast with June, hitting the thousand twice! Dang sounds like someone had a great week!!! I was very happy to see your smiling face on the call too Bear! Holy cow I was amazed at how tall you are now!!! Just remember, in 7th grade, I passed Jackson in height, and it looks like you are on track to beat that record to pass up Emma! For my favorite songs, have Emma show you my Spotify playlist with Chris, there’s some good stuff there! Love you Bear!

Callie!!! Glad you enjoyed the call, I sure did too!! I was impressed with your splits!!! Christmas break is the best huh? It’s always hard to go back to school after! But glad you had a great break! It is still summer here in Bolivia, my companions name is Elder Maravilla! Love you Cal!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. Have you had more time for teaching and proselyting this week?

Yes it has been a lot better

2. How was your Christmas Eve sacrament meeting?

Really good!! Lots of good songs!

3. What did you spend your Christmas money on? What did you get for your companion?

Haven’t spent it yet. Waiting for the prices to go down a little.

4. Were you able to refocus after the call? I hope it didn’t make you homesick!

All refocused! Took a good night of sleep and back to normal! :)

5. What are your new year’s goals?

Read the Book of Mormon in Spanish cover to cover!