Unexpected things happen

Hello Friends and Family!!

Well this is going to be just a quick update, because I only have a little time to write due to the fact that I had to use my whole P-day yesterday to travel to my new area here in Villamontes.

We had a good week of cambios, everything went smoothly, and we got all of the missionaries into their new areas, new missionaries with their trainers, and the old missionaries headed home with no hiccups. I had one of the funnest weeks of my life with Elder Decocq, and we had things really clicking in our companionship and our teaching. We had a companionship study at three in the morning while we were picking up one of the old missionaries to take him home, and we quoted Hot Rod for literally an hour straight. Good times with Elder DeCocq!

Well, I didn’t see it coming, but yesterday, I got onto a bus, and rode 8 hours to the little pueblito of Villamontes, and now I’m here with my now newer companion Elder Tovar!! He is a recent convert from El Salvador, and he is super awesome!!

Have a great week everyone!! Work hard, keep the faith, spread Christ's love to all you see!!

Love, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

(Christian forgot his camera adapter and so no pictures this week)

Semana de Cambios

Hello Friends and Family!

First off, very happy Mother's day to all the moms out there!!! I hope you felt the Savior’s infinite love this weekend. I know that the Lord is grateful for the incomparable job of nurturing God's children here in the earth.

So this week is transfer week!! Which means it’s two weeks where we can barely even get into our area. We spent this whole past week planning for the cambios, and this week is just craziness. And to add to it, we have a new secretary and a new assistant. So, in other words, Elder Johnston and I are going to be pretty swamped out this week with stuff to do. It’s going to be interesting that’s for sure, haha. I have a new companion! His name is from Elder DeCocq and he is from California! My first American companion since the MTC!

So we were able to get out of the offices on Wednesday, and we went to teach the Familia Santiago, and we showed them the video of the Restoration of the gospel that talks about the life of Joseph Smith, all of the hardships that he went through just to translate the Book of Mormon, and restore the church. I know that man to be a prophet of God. No man could undergo that much persecution and pain if the things he were teaching weren’t true. Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.

It was so good to be able to call home and wish my Mom and Grandmas a very happy mothers day! I was so happy and grateful to talk to the family, and it was a ton of answered prayers to see that everyone is happy and healthy!

3 nephi 5:13

Have a fantastic week everyone! And a huge congratulations to everyone that is receiving their mission calls right now! 

Con Amor, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, I’m sure that you are very relieved to have the house almost back to normal! Jackson and I are so dang happy, even though there are definitely hard times, there is always joy to be found in the work of the Lord! Love you so much Mom, hope you had a great Mothers day!

Dad, It was so good to talk to you guys too!! Sounds like we will both be having a pretty intense week! That’s so awesome that you were able go and get dinner with the Doxey's, King's and Chadwick's! I hope to have that opportunity too, but the plan is that we all live in the same street, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. ;) Love you Dad!!

Sarah, I loved talking to you too!! I’m sure you will bounce back in your next few games. Night games sounds like a ton of fun!! Love you Sister!!

Callie, That’s so exciting that you have your dance recital. I’m so excited to see the video!! That’s so super awesome that you are reading the Book of Mormon!!! Love you Callie!!

Emma, It was so good to talk to yall too!! You guys all look so good and happy! Nice job in your Dance Co. performances! I’m sure you crushed it in your AP test! Have a great week Emma! Love you!!

Conferencias, Mimi Zhang, and Cristian Sacerdocio

 Lunch!

 Pics of Christian's comp

Hello Friends and Family!!!

We had an awesome week! We had our multizone conferences, which was super awesome! It was great to listen to President Rodriguez talk about the things that he learned during his time in Peru in his conference with the Area Presidency. We talked about the things we can do to help the members get involved in missionary work, and one of the ideas that was brought up is that we can make a list of 100 ways that members can help with missionary work. I love that there is no one set way to help, but that we all have different talents that we can use to help the work move forward.

So we received a reference from the North mission, and on Friday, we went and visited her! Her name is Mimi, she is from China, but she speaks perfect Spanish, and perfect English, and his learning French too. She is crazy smart, and very fun to teach. The one thing is, she comes from a very atheist family, and doesn’t have a very big Christian background like most of the people that we teach here. So we have had to start basically from scratch and explain who is God, who is Jesus Christ, why they are important.  It’s a tad different, but its very cool to see the way she changes with all this new information. She was amazed that we can talk to God, and we didn’t need anything special to talk to him, we just had to pray. She came to church this Sunday too, and even though she was pretty confused with some of the things that happened (sustainings, the sacrament, why an old lady stood up and sang her testimony (that was a fun one to explain), she really liked it, and is very interested in hearing more!

So our convert family, la Familia Hurtado came to church this week! Cristian received the Aaronic priesthood this Sunday, which was super super awesome. I’m so proud of them and for the decisions that they are making to draw nearer to Christ.

Love you all so much!! Have a great week, and remember to tell your Moms that you love them!!!

Con mucho amor, Elder Newman

Mom, Callie was the spotlight!! Woo hoo! I’m sure she was very excited about that!! And so happy to hear about Tiana, Josie, and Cassidy! I’m very proud of the 3 of them, and I’m sure they will be fantastic missionaries!!!! Love you Mom!!

Dad, Productive weekend and sounds like a fantastic Sunday!! Time to get out boating!!! Send my love to Brother Dennis, prayers are going his way here in Bolivia!! Love you Dad!!

Sarah, I remember that activity!! Hope you are feeling better this week! Congrats on winning your soccer game!!! Love you Sarah!!

Callie, WOOOHHOOO spotlight!!! Sounds like a super fun week! Love you tons Callie!!!

Emma!!! Congrats on being voted a drill president. Way to lead your team in your own way, I’m so proud of you!!! Te amo mucho!!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. How are your investigators doing? Did they come to church? 

Pedro came to church, so did Mimi, and Herman did too:)

2. How is the weather treating you? 

Hot and humid. Like always haha

3. Did you get your chairs in the office fixed? 

Yes they took my broken chair back haha

4. The most of important question from Mom: when are you calling on Sunday for Mother’s Day?

6:15 bolivia time, 4:15 utah time