"Glory to God"

 Elder Lewis and Elder Newman

Hello friends and Family!!

Hope you all had a great week!! It was kind of a long week for me, but we still had some good successes! We'll get right to it!

So, with Elder Lewis still getting recovered from his surgery, we haven’t been able to get out and work nearly as much as I would have like to. I’ve been really appreciative of him putting in as effort as much as he could this week. We have gotten out to a couple of appointments with some of our progressing investigators which was really good!

We had a really good cita with the Familia Alvarado, we taught them about the Plan of Salvation, and they understood it really well. When we finished up, we asked if they had any questions. They asked us about what happened to the people who weren’t baptized, if they would be able to return to the presence of God and Jesus Christ in the Celestial Kingdom. We smiled, and explained that though God is a just being and holds us accountable for our actions, but that He is also perfectly merciful to those who don’t have the chance to accept the Gospel and be baptized during their earthly life. We talked about how the Lord ministered in the Spirit World and that the people there are receiving the Gospel, and that here in holy places called Temples we have the opportunity to perform baptisms for them. We asked them if they had family members that had died without the opportunity to receive the Gospel, to which they responded that their Mom had recently passed away. We testified that she is receiving the Gospel right now, and that after Isabel is baptized, she will be able to go to the Temple and be baptized for her mother. She smiled and simply said, "Gloria a Dios", or, "Glory to God".

I feel so grateful for the opportunity that I have to testify of God's great plan that He has for each and every one of us! There are so many people that dont have the knowledge of what God has prepared for us, and seeing that light in their eyes, how their countenance just changes when they recognize these truths that they learned in the pre-mortal life and are now remembering again. I love being a missionary!!!!!

We are going to keep doing what we can this week, I hope Elder Lewis starts to feel better so we can get out and work a little bit more this week. As he has been resting, I’ve had lots of down time to study the scriptures and Jesus the Christ. Here are some of my favorites from this week!! :)

Hebrews 5:8-9
1 John 5:5
and Ephesians 5:8

Go give them a look!

Love you all tons! Have a great week!!!

Love Elder Newman

Dad, wow! That’s awesome that Jenna is heading out to the mission field! She’s going to be an excellent missionary! What an awesome list of things you are grateful for. :) Love you tons dad!!

Mom, that’s so awesome that you got to spend some time with the girls at the football game and celebrate Callie's birthday eating some Sonic. ;) Love you Mom, have a great week!!

Jackson, have a great blind date dude, and have an excellent week my dude! That’s a really cool perspective that you heard! I’ll be sure to look that up in my studies this week! Love you Jackson!!

Emma, That makes me so happy that you were able to go to the game and spend some time with your team! Enjoy seminary with Brother Siebert, that will be super awesome!! Love you Emma!!

Sarah, lots of practices!! That's awesome! 2 and a half hours of soccer is a lot!! Love you Sarah, have a great week!

Callie! Hope you had a great Birthday, sounds like some cool presents!! Good luck in your primary program!! Love you Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:
1. You said you are on the outskirts of Santa Cruz. How far are you from the mission offices?

 about 30 minutes.

2. Is your comp starting to feel better? Are you able to go out and find investigators? 

We were able to go and teach some of the set appointments, but not alot more.

3. What is your comp’s personality like? Is he reserved, funny, or what? 

Really funny and outgoing, we get along really well.

4. Do you have a pensionista in your new area? Does she cook and do laundry? Or are you still washing clothes by hand? 

She just cooks for us, but there is another member that washes my clothes, so bless up, Im not washing my clothes by hand right now.

5. What is your apartment like? 

Its big, and no AC, so it gets really hot in there, haha.