Oficinas

 Distance to Dad's mission and Jackson's mission

 Elder Newman and Elder Maravilla

 Elder Newman and his trainer, Elder Timana 

 New Apartment

Hi Friends and Family!!!

Oh my gosh. Literally one of the craziest weeks of my life... So I arrived to the offices last Monday, and I have had exactly 25 seconds to even breath. With welcoming new missionaries, civil demonstrations, and shipping the old missionaries home, we have been so, so, so busy this week. I’ll try to give a brief summary of what’s happened this week, but mostly what’s happening in our area, because everything happening in the offices is boring administration stuff.


Holy cow, all I can say about the offices is that it’s an extremely humbling experience. I feel a lot like my first week in the mission all over again, with tons of stuff happening all around me, but like no idea how to do it all. I have received like exactly one hour of training on what my job entails, and I’m constantly receiving calls from missionaries with questions about financial stuff, and most of the time, I just have to be humble, and admit that I have no idea what I’m doing. Yeah, pretty sure most of the Missionaries here think I am an idiot, but that’s alright, haha.

One giant bright spot here in this insane week, was finding Jose Luis. Jose is an investigator that literally fell right into our laps. We were teaching a couple of our investigators, and he walked in to their house, because they are renting an apartment to him. When he saw us, he said, "Elders!! Good to see you!! You have to come visit me, I love the church, but I’m not a member yet!" So, so awesome!!! He invited us over to breakfast before church, and we have our first lesson with him on Tuesday!! Talk about a miracle!!!!

Well, It’s been a humbling week, and I sure haven’t slept a lot, but I’m looking forward to learning more and growing here in the office!!  Love you all, have a fantastic week!!!

Con mucho amor, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, How cool that you got to go to the temple with Liv!!!! And Emma’s patriarchal blessing too??? Sounds like a spiritual week!!! And your study is right on. Satan wants us to think that we can’t do this alone. And he’s right, but the thing is, we don’t have to do it alone.. Man, I’m going to apply that this week!! Love you Mom!!

Dad, Loved your talk!! I’m going to have to print it out to read throughout the week!!!! Super awesome!! I would love some Sarah highlights, she sounds awesome!!!!! Love you Dad!!

Callie, Very well done in the story telling festival!! How fun that you get to have the cousins over!!! Have a great week!! Love you Callie!!

Sarah, Since I won’t be able to write you on Thursday............. HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!!!!!! I’m so excited for you to go to the temple, and enter young womens!! You have grown up so much, and I’m so proud of you!! Enjoy your special day!! Love you!!!

Emma, 29?????? Ok I get it, you are way smarter than me 😉 Enjoy these last few days of drill season!! Love you sis!!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. In what way have your served your companion this week? 

I’ve tried to help in whatever I can, but Elder Lozano has served me more this week than I can ever repay. I’m really grateful for him.

2. Tell us about your new responsibilities? What is your daily schedule like?

We are in the offices from 10 until about 4. If we can finish our stuff, we can leave as early as two, but usually we are here a little longer.

3. What is your companion like? Is it just the two of you in your apartment? 

We share an apartment with the APs.

4. Is the weather different in Santa Cruz? 

Much hotter, Much more humid

5. We saw some news about some political demonstrations in Santa Cruz. Someone said that the missionaries were not allowed to leave their apartments. Was this the case for you? Have you been able to get out and proselyte yet? 

Yeah this Wednesday we couldn’t leave, so we had a barbecue with the missionaries heading home. The weekends are when we get to have our proselyting time

Hurricane Willy, Carnival, and BIG TIME CHANGES

Saying Goodbye to Senac Friends

 Always #12-gift from Senac

Hello Friends and Family!

So this is going to be a pretty short email, due to cambios this week!!

Yeah, I’m not sure what I did, but on Saturday when the Zone Leaders called us to inform us of the transfers in the mission, I was shocked to find out that I will be heading to Santa Cruz to be the new Financial Secretary!!! (Sound familiar Jackson? 😉) I was shocked to hear the news, and Im still trying to take it all in, but later today I will be flying back to Santa Cruz, and hopping right into the mix of it with new missionaries coming in, and that always brings tons of fun challenges to the offices as the previous secretary told me. Excited for the new challenges, but not going to lie, it was heartbreaking to have to say goodbye to Senac after only 2 cambios here. I love the ward here so much, and loved my time with Elder Maravilla, and I was so not ready for it to all end. I hope I can have a chance to come visit this area again, because I love the people here so much!!

So not a ton of updates this week, because we finally got out of solitary confinement during Carnival and not a lot happened this week. My one update for the week is that we were in the first hurricane to hit a landlocked country! (joking, but the rainstorm was pretty wild). We literally saw and heard it coming, because when a big storm rolls in here in Tarija, the raindrops on the tin roofs from far away sound like the ocean. When that storm finally hit, boy did it hit!! We quite literally got destroyed by the wind and the rain, we could only see about 15 feet in front of us. The wind was so strong, that IT TORE THE ROOF OFF OF A HOUSE. It was pretty wild to watch, haha.

Ok, I’ll talk to you all soon! Looking forward to the new adventures that the office will bring!!

Con Mucho Amor, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, Sounds like a pretty hectic week!! Sarah is a fireball, hopefully we can direct a little more of that energy, haha. Thank you for sharing the football story, I loved it tons! I’ll be sure to keep my eye on the ball with all of these changes!! Love you Mom!!

Dad, So excited for Chris!!! Glad you had a good trip to Houston, and I’ll be sure to get after it this week! Love you dad!!

Callie!! How fun to learn about the Presidents!! Great job in the story telling festival!!!! Hope you enjoyed going to the theater!! Love you Callie!!

Emma, Ah, the Mission call season.. Be sure to throw my name and my mission on the maps when you go to seminary!! My goodness, Black Panther.... How trunky hahah, Enjoy it!!! Love you sis! You look great in your dance pictures, looks like you and Caleb had a great time!

Sarah, Nicely done on making girls cry in soccer! Sounds like you had a good Valentines day!! That’s awesome that you are playing ward ball. You’ll be 12 here pretty soon!! Love you sis!!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. Do you have transfers this week? Do you know if you are staying or going? 

Sadly, I’ll be going....

2. Did Edgar make it to church last Sunday? 

Unfortunately no. He is being evicted from his house so he’s having some challenges.

3. Why are there so many moves happening with the missionaries right now? Is it because they found better housing?

Because our zone leader doesn’t think any house fits mission regulations, so he is constantly moving and approving others to move. And since he knows that I’m one of the strongest people in our Zone, he is constantly calling us to help.

4. What was your favorite thing that happened this week?

Getting back outside :)

Carnival, Elder's Moving Company

 Elder Newman loves Coke

 New basketball so Elder Newman can now play ball

 Moving Day for the Zone Leaders

Hello Friends and Family!!!

So good to be talking to you all! It’s been a very very strange week, but thankfully I was healthy, so that’s pretty much all I could ask for!! With Carnival this week (starting today, through Tuesday) we are writing today (Saturday), and doing basically our Pday now, because Sunday through Tuesday, we aren’t allowed to leave the house. So what’s going to be happening is lots of cleaning, lots of studying, and LOTS of cabin fever. Going to be a fun couple of days, haha.

Due to Carnival, and everyone partying and being drunk or hung over, we didn’t have a ton of lessons this week. But we did have the blessing of being able to put a baptismal date on Edgar Avan! Super exciting to see him working hard to make the changes in his life to get ready for baptism. We have had a lot of contact with him these past few days, and he promised us that he was going to come to church this Sunday!!

We had an interesting charla with on of our investigators this week, where he expressed to us some hard feelings towards God, because of the MANY problems happening here in Bolivia. Later, during the night, I was studying in Mosiah about the people of Alma, shortly after they left facing all sorts of trials and being captured by the Lamanites. But through their prayers, they received strength to bear up their burdens. I thought to myself, "Maybe that’s what I need to do. Stop asking God to take away my trials, and ask for strength to bear them up faithfully."

Ok, I’m pretty sure Elder Maravilla and I are now pros at moving, and could start up our own moving company. In the past two weeks, we have moved missionaries in and out of five houses. Yesterday, we had to help our Zone leaders move, and I’ll just say right now, I do not appreciate their choice of where they moved. Fourth floor, and no elevators. So all of their closets, beds, shelves, and tons and tons of pamphlets were taken up four flights of stairs. Fun stuff.

Alright, wish me luck as I will be in my apartment for the next three days! Have a great week!!

Con mucho Amor, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, Thank you for sharing your study with me. Awesome to hear that the Vikings won state in wrestling!! Hope you enjoyed the boat show with Callie, and LIV'S MISSION CALL OPENING!!! Sounds like an awesome week! Love you mom!!

Dad, Good to hear that the Jazz are playing better!! And that Sarah is still making other girls cry in her games, wonderful haha. Love you Dad!!

Sarah!! Kill it in your soccer tourney!! Love you tons, have a great time with your team!! Good luck! Love you Bear!!

Callie, I remember Huhot! It’s super super yummy!! Hope you enjoyed the boat show with mom and dad too! I don’t think we are doing anything for Valentines day... Oh well!! Love you Callie!!

Emma!! Good luck in the ACT, and have a great time at Sweethearts this week!! Hope you are feeling better from your ear infection! Love you sis, have a great time!!

Mom’s Questions:
1. Are you feeling better this week? Has your spider bite healed? 

Yes it has, all healthy this week

2. What has been the biggest lesson you have learned so far?

God's timing is different than ours. Be patient and success will come, in one way or another.

3. When did you laugh this week? 

While we were moving the Zone leaders this week.

4. When did you feel the Spirit most this week?

With Edgar Avan

5. Who is my new FB friend that sent me pictures of you this week? Is she in your ward?

Yes, she is a less active, but loves seeing the elders:)

Siento Diferente, The Seven Plagues

 Spider Bite

 Zone activity for pday today

 This young elder has been here one month.

Hello Friends and Family!

Alright, to be honest, I don’t have a ton to report this week. This was one of the toughest weeks yet. I was sick almost the whole week, Monday and Tuesday I had a fever, and right when that was passing, Wednesday and Thursday, my whole arm flamed up with an allergic reaction to a spider bite, and then Friday and Saturday, all sorts of stomach problems. Yesterday I was finally feeling good after a lot of medicine, shots, and a priesthood blessing from Elder Maravilla.. Hoping I’m a little more healthy this coming week!

I do have a couple of cool experiences to share this week!

So we were teaching a family that is 1. Partial Member (the mom is a member) 2. Not married. We had lent our DVD with a bunch of videos from the Church, and we had come to follow up and to talk to them about what they had liked and what called attention. The mom told us about how her kids love the video of Christ's Baptism, and said they needed to follow his example. We told them that they were exactly right. We continued to teach and talk, and as we were finishing up, the Mom told us, "I don’t know what it is about you two, but when you are here, I feel so peaceful. When you leave, all the problems and things I have to do come flooding back, but while you are here, I don’t feel any of that.." We were so thrilled to hear that, and we testfied of the power of the Holy Ghost. And the thing is, she is baptized (but very inactive), but she recognized the difference.

Another experience this week. We had set up a family home evening with one of the families that had come to church the past week, but when we called them to confirm the appointment, we were informed that the dad had gone to go drinking with his buddies. We have seen a ton of this right now with Carnival coming up, thats been another thing we have been trying to tackle. But as we walked past a street we had passed by like 45 minutes before, one of our investigators we have been searching for was outside his house and called us over. He told us, "My son told me that you two passed by, and I felt like you would be passing by again. I’ve only been outside for 10 minutes. Would you like to come in?" I know that the Lord put us in the right path, because if the appointment would have happened, we would not have passed by for his house again.

Even though it was definitely a tough week, I drew some strength from this quote from Elder Eyring. "The best days are ahead for the kingdom of God on Earth. Opposition will strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ, as it has since the days of Joseph Smith. Faith always defeats Fear. Standing together produces unity. And your prayers are answered by a loving God. He neither slumbers nor sleeps."

Love you all tons!! Thank you for the continued support and prayers! Have a great week!

Con mucho amor, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, Sounds like a good week for the Newman sisters in sports!!!! Glad to know that you are loving studying!! it reminds of a scripture in Proverbs I read, talking about how the wise are never content to stop learning! Love you Mom!!

Dad, Glad to see that the Tickle fight in Rexburg left no injuries! Haha, gave me a good laugh. Hope work is all good! Love you Dad!!

Emma, Sorry to hear that the judges were garbage again for state, but Mom told me you guys crushed it! Proud of you sister! Enjoy Sweethearts with Caleb!! Love you sis!!

Callie! I love being a missionary! It’s awesome being able to share the things that make us so happy with those who have never had the chance to hear it! Love you Callie!!

Sarah! Glad to hear that you won your basketball game. Sometimes its hard when the ball just won’t fall through the hoop, but way to continue to be a factor on Defense! Love you Sarah!!


Mom’s Questions:
1. There have been some stories posted on the missionary moms Bolivia FB page about the rainy weather down in the southern part of your mission that caused lots of flooding and houses getting washed away. Have you seen any of this in your area? Are you doing any service for the members that might be dealing with this? 

Havent seen any of that this week.

2. How are your shoes holding up with all the rain?

Doing solid still!

3. Any nuevos this week? 

Found a family this week! A reference from a member!

4. How many members are there in your ward? How many of them come regularly? 

About 300 members, regularly we have 150

5. What is the most entertaining thing that happened this week?

Feeling healthy on Sunday!:)