I'm still alive

Hola friends and family!!

We saw some big time miracles this week, especially in church this Sunday with lots of investigators that were able to come to church. The Familia Ochoa came again, and they are very excited about their baptism coming up in two weeks here. It will be super awesome to have some future priesthood holders and to prepare Igor and Fernando to receive the Aaronic Priesthood, they are super super awesome!!

Our big time miracle this week happened this past Thursday. We didn’t have any appointments, so we decided to go and visit Jimena Vargas. It’s been a quick minute since the last time we visited her. Luckily she was home, and after introducing Elder Davila, we began to read in the Book of Mormon a little. We felt inspired to ask her about how her faith has grown since she began meeting with the missionaries. She responded and told us that her faith had grown a ton, and that during the time that we had stopped going to visit her as often, she had begun to think about that question. She told us that she had analyzed our church and the Book of Mormon with other Churches, and everything kept coming back to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She told us she felt ready to accept baptism, and had even begun thinking about what a mission would be like!!! We placed a baptismal date for this coming Saturday (the 1st of September) and she is very excited, but still a tad nervous, but nothing that prayer can’t fix! My companion shared a great scripture to help her overcome her fears. It’s found in Isaiah 41:10. I invite you all to give it a read. She wasn’t able to come to church on Sunday, but we have a visit with her tonight, so we will see how things go! I will be very surprised if she isn’t baptized either this week or the following week. It was an experience that testified to me that even though her progress was slower than others that I’ve taught, the Lord was visibly present in her conversion. The Lord touched her heart, and now she is ready to accept the ordinance and covenant of baptism!!

The Lord is here carrying out his work in Villamontes! Even though I’m very, very imperfect, I have felt the hand of the Lord help me here as his instrument to bring souls unto Christ. I’m grateful for the many blessings of the Lord that I have seen here in the mission. It’s been the biggest growing experience of my life!!

Scripture of the week for me: Proverbs 30:5

I hope you all have a great week!!! Love you all tons, remember to put the Lord first!

Love, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Mom, Sounds like the weather out in Utah has been even crazier than it has been here!!! Behold the Man, that was by far my favorite talk of the conference. Priesthood blessings are the best!!! Love you Mom!!!

Dad, Good to hear that the PG boys killed it this weekend!! And that HD Team Sports is up and running well!! Sounds like a great ward barbecue as well!! Love you tons Dad!!

Jackson, that’s my boy, Dane balling out with 5 touchdowns!!!!! Good to hear that you are keeping yourself busy with exercise, work, and studies! Things are going really well, the comp is a total stud!! Love you Jackson!!

Emma, Awesome to hear that things are up and rolling with your senior year!! You aren’t the only one who got fried by the sun this weekend, the sun is coming out with all its fury here in Villamontes haha. Love you Emma!!!

Sarah, Awesome talk!! It truly is the small and simple things that make the difference! Good job in your games this week!! Love you Bear, enjoy your second week of Junior high, I know you won’t get lost as much this week.

Callie, Good job winning your soccer game!!! Four recesses? Thats super awesome!! I’m excited to see your gymnastics and dance tricks!! Love you Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:
1. What is the best thing you ate this week? Not to make you jealous, but we had steak tonight. YUMMM! 

Sounds delicious!! our pensionista made us a really really good lasagna this week!

2. What is your favorite scripture from this week? 

Probably the scripture my companion shared in the lesson with Jimena, Isaiah 41:10

3. When did you feel God’s hand in your life this week? 

Seeing how he touched the heart of Jimena.

4. What made you laugh this week? 

Our zone activity today, playing volleyball with the zone :)

5. Are you still washing your clothes in a bucket or do you have someone to wash them now? 

Still washing my clothes by hand, probably will be that way until I leave Villamontes haha.

Intercambios, Familia Ochoa

  

Hello Friends and Family!!

Well, this was kind of an interesting week, because this week was a big Catholic festival, and not a ton of people were home (or sober enough) to receive us, but with that being said, we were able to have some success even with the circumstances we faced.

This week, we had the blessing of being able to do exchanges with our zone leaders. I had Elder Gonzalez in our area, and Elder Davila went to the other side of Villamontes with Elder Dubiel. Elder Gonzalez is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is finishing his mission this coming transfer in September. It was a good learning experience. I love being with the "old" missionaries. They always have great examples, scriptures, and super powerful testimonies. They teach so powerfully, and I love learning from their examples. It was a good learning experience spending the day with Elder Gonzalez, and we were able to have some solid lessons and find a pair of new investigators.

We had a great blessing of being able to teach the Familia Ochoa this Wednesday after the exchange, and Elder Davila and I taught about the Restoration of the Gospel. They had read the folleto before, and we had a great discussion, with a powerful telling of the First Vision. Those words are truly inspired, and always invite the spirit super strongly to the lesson. We invited them to prepare to be baptized, and they accepted a date to be baptized!! The 8th of September they will be getting baptized! They also came to church with us this week, which was super awesome!!! President Silva, one of President's counselors, (and one of my good friends from the offices) was here in Villamontes this weekend, and he gave a fantastic talk that the Familia Ochoa really enjoyed. Really excited to see their progress!!!

Scriptures of the week!!

Mosiah 23:21-22

and

Isaiah 55:8-9


Have a fantastic week everyone!! Remember to put the Lord first this week, and accept his will in your life!

Con mucho amor, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Dad, HD sports is up and running!! Its true, something about new companions give me a new energy. It’s a fresh start to knock that door one more time, and set the bar high so we work hard the whole transfer. Love you tons Dad!!

Mom, well, things are about to get quiet in the Newman home!! That’s crazy that school is starting!!! I love that quote. "Never let your faith be difficult to detect". Love you Mom!!!

Jackson, well, that’s good news that the temp job is all finished up! That’s awesome that you got to see some of your buds, and thanks for your stake conference notes!!! Love you Jackson!!

Emma, I’m going to have to see some pics of that sweatshirt!!! Congrats on getting put in front in drill, and on directing the music for the youth session!! Love you Emma!!!

Sarah, Congrats on winning your tourney!!!!! I heard you played outstanding!! Have a great first week of JR HIGH!!!! Love you Bear!!

Callie, I hope you have a great first week of school!!! That’s super fun that you got to go to PG pool with Jackson!! Love you Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:
1. In what ways has your testimony grown this week?

Sharing studies with Elder Davila. Testimonies grow as we share them!!

2. What do you love about your companion, Elder Davila?

His sense of humor, his hunger to learn, and his maturity.

3. Does Elder Davila have a sense of humor? Do you laugh together?

He is hilarious! We have a great time together haha

4. Do you buy your food together and cook for each other, or do your own thing for meals? 

We work together for the meals. We need all the help we can get since neither one of us can cook.

5. How are your investigators doing? Any baptism dates coming up? 

Familia Ochoa, and Felipa. Rufino couldn’t come to church, so his baptismal date fell through. We will be passing by this week to help him out a little more.

Calorsango y Elder Davila

Pics of Elder Newman with his new companion, Elder Davila

Hello Friends and Family!!!!

Well, this past week, my new companion Elder Davila arrived!!! He is from Peru, and is a convert of 2 years. He has a super cool conversion story that is more evidence for me that the Lord has his hand in every step of our lives. Elder Davila was a stud soccer player, he was working his way up the levels, and was even getting paid to play. When he was 23, he tore his ACL, and had to go and get surgery in Lima, and ended up having to give up soccer. But in Lima, he met the missionaries, and was baptized. One year later, he left for the mission!! He has about 8 months in the mission, and this is his third area. We get along super great, we have spent like this whole week laughing, and the week just absolutely flew by. It’s going to be a super fun transfer!!

So a couple updates on the area!!

Felipa and Rufino accepted a baptismal date this past Tuesday! We had a great lesson at their house, with a few members that came with us. We explained about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited the members to share their testimonies about how the being baptized has changed their lives. It was a super powerful lesson, the members really made the difference. Their testimonies connected with them, and Felipa and Rufino both accepted a date for the first of September!!!

We were able to visit the Familia Ochoa yesterday, and we were able to teach the husband, and we received the best news ever...... THEY ARE MARRIED!!! It’s so great to finally have another family that is actually married!! We are going to visit them this coming Wednesday, and they seem like they have lots of potential. I’m really excited to see what the Lord has in store for them!

Sebastian is an absolute stud. He gave us another reference, his aunt. Her name is Edith, and she is... Interesting.. She took lessons from the Jehovah's Witnesses for some time, and she has lots of questions and doubts that they left with her. It’s kind of hard to keep the lessons on track, because she hits us with a question every couple of minutes that doesn’t have anything to do with the material that we are explaining, so right now we are just trying to answer some of her questions so we can move forward with the Restoration. We gave her a Book of Mormon, and she said she was going to read, so that was a success. We are going to meet with her again tomorrow, so we will see how it goes!!

Well, I hope you all have a great week!! I cant believe how fast the time keeps on passing me by, just got to take advantage of every moment I have, because before I know it, my time as a full time missionary will be coming to an end! I love this work, I love this people, but most of all, I love my Savior and I feel so grateful for all he has done for me, and for all of us. Let us all press on!!!

Con Amor, Elder Newman

Mom, I can’t believe that summer is winding down, and school is about to get started again!! I love that quote, that imperfect faith is still faith. I love that! Having faith is so important, but what I’ve seen is that it is more important what we do with that faith! Love you Mom!!

Dad, that’s so awesome that you got to see Elder Wolford this past week!! He looks great, I’m sure he is killing it out there in Australia! Love you Dad!!!

Jackson, that’s so awesome that you have been able to go to the temple a bunch!! Bro, I miss the temple alot.... Love you Jackson!!

Sarah, how fun that you got to go boating!! Im sure your team is going to do well, just needs time! Love you Bear!!

Emma, I‘m learning lots from Elder Davila, it’s going to be a good time!! That’s so cool that you guys had the family party with Cheryl and Wasim! Te amo hermanita!!

Callie, I hope you had a great time at your sleep over!! Nice job with your talk about prayer!! Super proud of you!! Love you Callie!!


Mom’s Questions:

1. Tell us about your new companion. What is he like? Is he a convert or life-long member? 

Elder Davila is 25 years old, he is from Peru, he is a convert of two years. I really admire his humility and desire to learn!!

2. How are you doing with your new responsibilities as DL? 

Going good. My district is literally just Me, my comp, and the Zone Leaders.

3. Is it starting to warm up at all yet? 

Yes, it’s getting pretty hot, yesterday was pretty brutal.

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

Our lesson with Familia Tejerina

5. Do you dream in Spanish or English? 

Spanish. I only speak spanish now, my english is pretty awful now haha

Conferencias y Cambios

Hello Friends and Family!!

Well, I don’t have a ton to say this week, because pretty much the whole week we were traveling back and forth for conference!!! Here in Villamontes, we are about 8 hours from the mission offices, so each time we have to go in to Santa Cruz when we have conferences, we lose Tuesday traveling, Wednesday in conference, and Thursday traveling again. But our district is super fun so it’s a blast traveling to Santa Cruz.

In our Conference, we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon in the conversion of our investigators. Our mission President always says, "The Book of Mormon is the best missionary in the mission." President, before starting his message, asked his son Moises who just returned from his mission in Montevideo, Uruguay (sound familiar?) who he thought was the best missionary in the mission. Moises answered, "Well, I don’t know many of the missionaries... ummmm, Elder Newman. I think Elder Newman is the best missionary in the mission. I knew his brother in the mission, and he was a machine." All of the missionaries started laughing and I turned bright red and just started laughing. President laughed too, and then said, "well, Elder Newman is pretty good, but we have a missionary that is even better. The Book of Mormon is the best missionary we have in this mission."

How true that is!! As missionaries, we come and go, and if the testimony of our investigators is based in the missionaries that taught them, when we leave, so will they. If our investigators are truly converted to the Book of Mormon, and the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, that convert will stay even when the winds of life and temptation come.

We had cambios this week, and I will have a new companion! His name is Elder Davila, he is from Peru, and I’m really excited to meet him! Here’s to the next six weeks!!!

Lucas 18:27

Con mucho Amor, Elder Newman

Mom, sounds like the family reunion was tons of fun!!! That’s crazy that summer is almost over, and school will be starting up all over again! Crazy how the time flies! Love you tons Mom!!

Dad, Glad to hear that you arrived safe and sound on your trip!! Excited to hear about the replay system and how things go this season!! To answer your question, in our mission we have a goal of 1100 baptisms this year. Our mission achieved the goal of 1000 last year, so we upped our game this year! Love you dad!!!

Emma, Hope you enjoyed your senior retreat!!! Hope the pictures turned out good, even though y’all wrecked the stage doing water shots, lol. Work hard, enjoy this last season!!!! Love you Emma!!

Jackson, Work hard, play hard is right!! So fun that you got to enjoy some hamburgers, temples sessions, and a date!! love you Bro, enjoy these next couple weeks before starting up at BYU!

Callie, WOOOHOOO basketball! That’s so fun that you are going to play this year, I’m sure Sarah will be a great coach for you! Good job as a goalie!! hope you had fun at the family reunion!! Love you Callie!!

Sarah, Jackson sent me the video of the sky coaster, that was pretty awesome!! That’s so crazy that you will be starting JR High!! Have so much fun and enjoy it tons!! Love you Bear!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. With transfers tomorrow, have you heard if you or Elder Tovar are staying and going? 

Elder Tovar is heading to Santa Cruz, I’ll be staying here.

2. How are Sebastian’s parents, Jimena and Familia Ochoa doing this week? 

We weren’t able to meet with Jimena or Familia Ochoa this week, but Sebastian’s parents are doing really well.

3. Any new investigators?

Sebastian’s Aunt. The little guy is always giving us referrals, I love him so dang much!!

4. What is your favorite hymn in Spanish? 

Jesus es mi luz :)

5. What is your favorite thing about your current area?

The members. Our relief society president is the best!!