Merry (Bolivian) Christmas!!

Hello Friends and Family, and a very Merry Christmas to all that may read this email!!!!

I’m super grateful for how loving and awesome this ward here in Cortez is!! They totally spoiled me for my birthday!! I was fed until I literally couldn’t fit more food in me (and for those who know me, that is not very common), and then fed some more. I was very well taken care of. Here’s to one more year here on this beautiful earth that the Lord has given us!

So, lots of people are traveling this week for Christmas, but we were still able to have some funny and cool experiences! We had a kind of funny experience that taught us a valuable lesson. On Saturday we were studying after lunch, (and sometimes we leave the door unlocked when we know that we are going to be leaving shortly after) and I saw someone walking in the hallway. I turned around, and saw a very lost, forgetful, and deaf old woman walking around our house. We talked to her and she told us that she was looking for her apartment... We assured that she was not in her apartment, and she left. The lesson is, always lock the door, haha!!

This last week, we had our Christmas Conference with President Rodriguez. He talked to us about the importance of our faith in the Lord, and about having a personal relationship with the Savior. There are many people in the world that know about Jesus Christ, but knowing him personally is a different thing. President then shared three videos of the testimonies of Gordon B. Hinckley, Bruce R. McConkie, and David O. McKay. It is very apparent by the conviction of their powerful testimonies that they most certainly had personal relationships with the Savior. I’m grateful for the opportunity to come to know the Savior, to come to have a personal relationship with Him here as a missionary in Bolivia.

Have a very Merry Christmas, Love you all tons!!!

Love, Elder Newman

Dad, can’t wait to hear from you tomorrow in the Christmas call!!! Love you Dad!!

Mom, I was definitely very blessed on Tuesday. I love this ward so much! I love these people so much. I hope I stay here one more transfer. Sounds like some fun plans for Christmas Break! Love you Mom, talk to you tomorrow!!!

Jackson, well done on your finals my brother!!! Nicely done singing tenor in the Fifth ward Christmas program! Can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow!!! Love you dude

Emma, sounds like an eventful week, that's awesome that you are officially back home! Can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow, love you sis!!

Sarah, nicely done getting all A's!!! I'm very excited to talk to you tomorrow too! And I’m very excited to meet the new member of the family that was snoring in the mudroom while you wrote your email! Love you Bear!!

Callie, I can’t wait to see you and your new haircut in the call tomorrow! I will need to hear your jokes tomorrow from your new joke book! Love you Callie!!!

Its either true or none of it is

Hello friends and Family!!

First things first, thank to all who sent notes for my birthday tomorrow, you guys are the best! Love you all so much, I’m grateful for the greatest support system ever!!

This week was kind of a tougher week. Right now we are in a restart phase here in the area. We are trying to determine which investigators will continue to progress, and which ones are just listening to listen, and will need some time to reflect on the things we are teaching. But still had some cool moments this week, so we will go ahead and hop right into the update for this week!!

This past week, I did an exchange with some of the Elders in my district. I had the opportunity to work with Elder Lisonbee, an elder that was in my district in the MTC but went home to take care of some stuff, but returned here to Bolivia in April. He is a FANTASTIC missionary, he has such a love for everyone that he comes in contact with, and it was great to work with him and catch up on everything.

We had a lesson with a family that we have been teaching recently. They hadn’t received us in a week or two, so we returned, and to get in the door, we decided to sing a hymn with them and share a little bit about Christmas. They let us in. We sang, talked about Christmas, and we talked about some of the traditions in our homes that we celebrate at Christmas time. As we were finishing, I asked when we could return and teach more about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Church, to which she responded, "Why does it always have to be about the Book of Mormon? I just want you to know that Im Catholic, and you will never convince me to be part of your church. I like learning more, but Im Catholic."

I just smiled and said to her, "You like learning more? That’s why we are here. That’s why we want to talk about the Book of Mormon. Hermana, if you want to know more, if you want to know if this church is true, read the book. Because this book is the word of God like we say it is, or not. And if it’s true, everything we teach is true. Its either true or none of it is." We'll see if she reads. If not, we will probably give them some time to think about what we have been teaching and visit them again later on.

There was a scripture that I read in my personal study. In Jacob 7:5, we read, "And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken." I absolutely love what Jacob says in response to those trying to shake him from his faith. WHEREFORE, I COULD NOT BE SHAKEN. What a response! We would do well to have a faith and a firmness like Jacob!

Love you all tons! Hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love, Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Dad, wow, what a change! Only five deacons? But sounds like the Priest quorum is still giant! Hopefully Sarah gets better fast! Love you tons Dad!!!

Mom, I definitely would have loved a Donut cake! Maybe I’ll make myself one, haha. Sounds like a busy week, and that the Holiday break will be very appreciated! Love you tons Mom. Have a great week!!

Jackson, what an awesome week! Nice job on your finals, keep up the great work!! Sounds like a good time at the Friendsmas with the mission pals! Love you dude!! Good luck on your finals!!

Emma, thank you for the Birthday wishes, and for bringing all the memes back! Sounds like an eventful week, and that the team is going to do well!!! Love you sis!!

Sarah, well done in your games, nice job banking in a three! Hopefully your leg gets better really soon so you can get back in there, your teams need you!! Love you sis!!

Callie, darn, I’m sorry that the puppy destroyed your shoe, kind of frustrating, but she'll learn! Nice job in your dance recital! Love you tons! I'm super excited to talk to you all on Christmas!

Mom’s Questions:

1. What are you doing for your birthday? 

My converts invited me over for dinner, so that’ll be fun. Not lots going on, it will be pretty normal.

2. What is your favorite Bolivian Christmas tradition? Do they decorate much? Have parties?

Truthfully, not a lot. The Bolivian tradition is more celebrating the 24th in the night time with family.

3. How is your ward preparing for the new changes to church times and such? Are you involved with that? What is your Bishop and other leadership like? 

Our leadership is fantastic! We have a great bishop. We are excited to implement the new schedule this January

4. Did you have any Light the World activities this week? 

 Noche de Talentos (Talent night) with the Ward! :)

Drop Everything and Go

Hello friends and family!

I hope you are all doing well and getting into the Christmas spirit! This was kind of interesting week, but with lots of really good things happening here in Cortez.

So this week, on Thursday, there was something called "Paro Civico". It’s basically a giant nationwide work strike due to the political issues happening here in Bolivia, and all public transport gets shut down, all businesses get closed down, and there’s a bunch of public protests, and sometimes things get kind of crazy.. So, we weren’t allowed to leave on Thursday. Kind of a looooong and boring day, but it gave us the chance to get some super studies in!

We received some great news this past week, we found out that our convert Nathan Alvarado got to go to the temple with the youth of our ward this weekend! When we talked to him about it in Church, he told that he LOVED it! Super exciting for him to enter into the house of the Lord!!

On Friday, we got a call from our Elders quorum president, and he told us that he needed our help getting his moving truck unloaded, and if we didn’t have any citas, that he could really use our help. I looked at our agenda, and we did have citas, and I was about to say that we were busy, when I received the prompting, "Drop everything and Go." I was confused, because we had what seemed like pretty important citas that day, but I told him, "Don’t worry, we will be there". We went and found him, his wife, and his two small girls there alone. Nobody else was there. We got to work helping unload the truck, and then loading it and unloading it once more. I know that they needed us really badly in that very moment, and I’m very grateful I didn’t ignore the prompting we received in that moment.

We had our Light the World activity, which turned out pretty well!! We had a church movie, treats, and LOTS of contacting cards and pamphlets! It was a big success, lots of members made it out to the activity as well!!

Hope you all are enjoying the Christmas Season! Remember the reason for the season!

Love Elder Christian Duvall Newman

Dad, Wow, the pictures did turn out really well!! That's crazy to hear that Cougar is home! Love you dad, can’t wait to talk to you soon!!

Mom, well, puppy training will help out Reese a lot! Sounds like things are still staying interesting! Love you tons mom, thanks for sharing your studies!!

Jackson, Good luck on your final projects and exams, and very well done in the weight room!! That’s so awesome that you got to go up to Temple Square! Love you dude!!

Emma, Well, I’m sure you will be back into shape before you know it! Sounds like Preference was a blast! Love you Sister!!

Sarah, Well done in Soccer and Basketball! I bet you were really tired after all of those games!!! Love you Bear

Callie, Good luck in your Christmas dance recital!! I’m glad you are having fun with the puppy and holding it like a baby! I will be staying in my area again with Elder Yucra, so no changes :) Love you Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. What have you heard about transfers this week? Are you staying and do you get to keep your same companion? 

I will be staying here in Cortez with the same companion. The only change is that now I will be serving as the district leader.

2. What investigators do you have right now? How is the work? 

Work is going good. Not a lot of people progressing right now, lots of new people. I think there are a couple in Spanish.

3. What is your favorite Christmas hymn in Spanish? 

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

4. How many missionaries are in your district? In your zone? How big geographically is your district? What about your zone? 

Our district has 8 missionaries. Our Zone has 26 missionaries, 18 elders, 8 sisters. on terms of geographical area, I have no idea.

Fourth Time's a Charm

 Pizza with the Alvarado family

 BBQ and party with the Zone

Hello  Friends and Family!!!

Well, it was a pretty run of the mill week, so this week's update won’t be nearly as extensive as the previous weeks, but we will go ahead and give the rundown of some of this week's highlights.

So this week we have been working with the Light the World campaign, doing services, Family home Evenings with the members, and just trying to spread some Christmas spirit with everyone that we can. It’s been really awesome, and we can feel that the ward is really excited and is trusting us a lot. It seems like EVERYONE wants to accompany us right now, which is a nice change from some of my other areas. Right now we are planning a big Light the World activity with all of the organizations of the ward. I can see what some of my friends here in the mission were saying that the best part of the mission starts right after hitting a year. I am loving this so much. Although everyday Im still learning, it’s nice to have a handle on the language and the doctrine and to be able to focus 100% on the people. It’s a great time to be a missionary!!!!

So we had an interesting fast Sunday. One of the sisters decided to get up front and tell the story of her conversion. Actually, it was not as much of the story of her conversion as it was the story of how she swallowed a bug before her baptism..... Yeah, a liiiiiiittttle cringy, but made me laugh!!

Well, here are some of the scriptures I liked from my personal study this week!!!

Jacob 4:10
D&C 64:33

I hope you all have a great week, remember to Light the World this week!

Love, Elder Newman

Mom, 11 years without a dog, and now that I’m in the mission we FINALLY have one? Well, darn. Guess I’ll see it here in eight months. Sounds like the girls were really excited to see her! Love you Mom!

Dad, Sounds like an eventful week for you! WOW, Sarah is looking really good in both soccer and basketball!! Hope you get feeling better, and thank you for the advice dad, Love you so much!!

Jackson, wow, crazy week with not a lot of sleep, but sounds like things went well! I did see the celebration, and I’m down to do it when we see each other in the airport for the first time in 3 years! Love you dude, enjoy the snow!!!

Emma, sounds like you had quite the week! I bet you will have a blast at Preference and sounds like you had a really fun time on Saturday and being with your drill team again! Love you sis, have a great week!!

Sarah, don’t worry, I’m not mad about the puppy! Sounds like she will be quite the addition to the family. Well done in your game against Lone Peak, way to get the W, and 2 goals scored as the goalkeeper is pretty impressive!! Well done! Love you Bear!!

Callie, It was a really good week! We do eat barbeques as well. We actually just had one in our zone activity! Sounds like you had a good time at your friend’s house, and in your first activity days! Love you Callie!!


Mom’s Questions:

1. Tell us three interesting things about your new companion. 

Elder Yucra is from Cochabamba, Bolivia. He is 20 years old, his birthday is the 21st of August. He has 5 months in the mission, this is his second area.

2. What is the funniest thing that happened this week? 

Probably the bug story in our Fast and Testimony meeting.

3. What is an interesting Bolivian Christmas tradition that you are looking forward to for your second Christmas season in the mission? What about for your birthday? Any flour plans for this month?

We are probably going to spend Christmas with our pension, which is where we are going to do the video call :). The Familia Alvarado already invited me to come over for my birthday, so we should have a good time for my 20th birthday and second one here in the mission.

4. For Light the World, do you have any suggestions for us on ways we can light the world in another part of the world for this first week? 

Simple acts of service are always some of the best ways we can light the lives of others. Doesn’t have to be something big or super extravagant :)