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!:)