Anti-Mormon Doctrine Sucks

Hello Friends and Family!!!

Well, this was an interesting week, with lots of ups and downs, but that’s the life in the mission. I’ll just get right to the highlights for the week!

Well, this past Tuesday, we brought the Teachers Quorum president to the lesson with Familia Ochoa to help befriend them and help them feel comfortable with the transition to Aaronic Priesthood following baptism, and we practiced the baptismal interview questions. They crushed it, and we were super excited after the lesson. Then, Thursday morning, the day of the interview, we received a text message from Juana telling us that they wouldn’t be attending the interview, and they would be attending a different church. We were heartbroken... We couldn’t even believe it... It honestly felt like a dropkick to the stomach. We (Elder Davila and I) talked, and we decided that we would pass by in the night time to visit, but until then we weren’t able to do much so we just had to press on and not be super depressed. We worked hard, and arrived to their house to visit. We chatted, and Juana told us she had seen an article on the internet, and she didn’t feel very sure about baptism. Fernando and Igor still had big desires, but were a little confused. We decided to postpone the baptism, and we passed by again on Saturday to see what the article said. When we passed by, she showed us the article, and it talked about polygamy, and slandered the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We explained that polygamy wasn’t a new thing, that it was practiced in the Old Testament and only with the authorization of God through his prophet. We testified that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Book Of Mormon was the word of God. Fernando and Igor seemed really excited, but Juana still seemed unsure. We testified again that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We showed her the way to see. We read Moroni 7:13, talking about how everything that invites us to do good is inspired of God, and then read 2nd Nephi 33:10-11, which contains some of the last words of Nephi, and his final testimony. I invite all of you to give it a read. We have an appointment with them today, so we will see how things go. If all goes well, they will be baptized this weekend.

So to explain why I’m writing on a Tuesday: we had a special conference with Elder Teixera from the Quorum of the Seventies. He gave a great training, and I was really impressed with his wife, who gave her entire talk in English, her third language! Lots of great scriptures and stories shared, it was really uplifting. We weren’t able to go to Santa Cruz to see it in person, so we had to watch in Yacuiba with the district out there, about an hour and a half away from Villamontes. Even with being in a sauna of a chapel with sound that wasn’t all that great, it was a really uplifting conference where we talked about the spirit of conversion. Each time our investigators feel the Spirit testify that something we have taught is true, the missionaries feel it as well. I know this to be true, and because of this, I have had the blessing of growing and strengthening my testimony of the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. I love this church so much!!!


Some scriptures I loved from my personal study of the New Testament :)

Acts 20:24

Romans 8:38-39

Love you all so much, hope you have a fantastic week, keep the faith and remember to put God first!

Love Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Dad, wow, lots of travel!!! Hope you are enjoying it, those pictures are super cool!!!!! Good to hear about the PG boys, sounds like they are getting rolling!! That is an awesome catch by my Boy J Hill!!!! Love you tons dad!!! have a great week.

Mom, Sounds like a great week!! Im grateful that you were able to make Emma's birthday special, and for all of the spiritual experience you were able to have this week. Thats cool that you got to see Mrs. Hays, and that she still remembers me! Love you so much mom, have a great week.

Sarah, Nice job in your games, and good luck against Celtic! Have a great week Sarah, Love you tons!!

Callie, woohhoooo basketball practice!!!! That’s super fun!! Good luck performing at the Football game!! Love you Callie!!

Emma, Hope you had a great birthday!! I was a little bummed out I wasn’t able to tell you happy birthday in person, but it makes me really happy that you were able to have lots of fun experiences. Sounds like you will have a great time at Homecoming with Dustin! Love you Sis!!

Jackson, Sounds like craziness with the college classes and homework! Glad you are enjoying it though! Love you tons Jackson, have a great week! Also, remember who you are and who you stand for, GO UTES!!


Mom’s Questions:
1. How was the baptism? 

No baptism this week, we'll see about this week.

2. What did you learn at your mission conference yesterday? 

Be an active part of the sacrament meeting with our investigators, and teaching simply and clearly.

3. Were you able to ease Jimena’s concerns about her family’s objection to baptism? 

Yes, we had a great FHE with the young women's president, and she helped out a lot.

4. Are the Familia Tejerina still progressing well? 

They haven’t had a lot of time to meet with us, but they have come to church 3 weeks straight now!

5. Did anything out of the ordinary happen this week? 

Conference weeks always bring their craziness, but outside of that, not a ton.