The Lord's Timing

Hello Friends and Family!!!

I hope you all had a great week talking to your missionaries (and for my missionaries, talking to your families haha). It was truly an invigorating experience having the opportunity to talk to my family this past Monday, the Lord is truly hastening his work!!

I was pondering this past week all of the adjustments and changes that the Lord is making in His church. As I was thinking about it, I was reading the book Saints (or the title in spanish Santos). One thing that called my attention was that the Church was not restored in one sweeping movement, rather, little by little. As the saints were ready to receive more and obey, the Lord blessed them with additional knowledge, and gave them more commandments and more light.

The Restoration of the Lord's church has not finished. He continues to give us more as we are ready to receive it. We can clearly see this in the revelations that we have been receiving, and in the increased agency that the Lord gives us in our day to day lives, and in our religious observance. The Lord will continue to hasten his work as we are ready to receive more light and obey.

We saw a big miracle this week. His name is Fermin Lara. He is been investigating the church for a LONG time. Recently, Elder Amasifuen and his previous companion had left him for a time. He had some bad experiences with some of the members, and "didn’t believe that this could be the true church with people like that" were his words.. Now, with that being said, he continued coming to church, and we always said hi to him and talked to him at church, but we have never had the opportunity to teach him. This Tuesday, we finally had the opportunity to visit him, and we truly saw a different person. Who we saw was a submissive, humble seeker of truth. He told us that he had some time to think, and that "I go to church for my salvation, and not for the people that are there." We extended the invitation to pray about baptism, and he accepted. I am very very grateful that the Lord touched his heart, and prepared him for us. We will see how he continues progressing in these coming weeks.

Thank you so much for your continued love and support! I love this work, it’s the most important thing in the world; bringing the light of the gospel to all!

D&C 58:28

Love, Elder Newman.

Dad, Sounds like a good time being DJ bishop!!! I heard about the picture that Zai sent, that’s so so awesome! It’s true, we all have trials, but those who fight on will always triumph. Love you Dad!!

Mom, Thank you so much for helpíng us out finding the apartment! It’s going to be so, so awesome!! What a good time doing the campus tours with Emma, I remember when we went to go and do campus tours! Love you mom!

Jackson, Sounds like a good/stressful week! Way to keep a journal! I am Impressed that you keep up on that, I need to be better about that haha, I write like two or three times a week, but not every day haha. Love you dude!!


Emma, what a fun week! Way to party it up in your Vikette Formal! Sounds a great week sis. Keep enjoying your senior year!! Love ya!!

Sarah, Its hard when you get out of the routine huh? After Monday and Wednesday of no school, I bet it was hard to be at school! You'll get right back into it. Have a great birthday on Friday! Looking forward to talking to you to celebrate your 13th birthday! Love you Bear!!!

Callie, I’m glad that you are feeling better! Look at us! we are twinners with the moccasins! How fun that you got to play with your friend, and get a cookie in Primary! Love you Callie!!

Hello friends and family!!

I hope you all had a great week, we are all pretty floored with the new announcement on the new communication rules!

This week we had some big successes, and some great spiritual moments with some of our investigators, so I’m just going to get right to it!

This past week, I carried a small notebook with me to record my spiritual impressions that I receive during the day. Its helped me to notice that the Spirit really is constantly helping us as we move forward His work! One of the cool experiences we had was with one of our investigators, Vida Valle. She comes from a very Catholic background, and she has some problems with praying in public... We were teaching about prayer and the blessings we can receive by praying and expressing our feelings to Him. She expressed to us worries that she isn’t good at expressing herself vocally, and I related to her my feelings at the beginning of my mission is spanish. I told her, "God understands the feelings of the heart, even if we can’t find the words to express them."

We were teaching Mariela this week about the Plan of Salvation, and she was understanding really well. As we were telling her about the Resurrection, we told her, "Every person who has ever lived upon the face of the earth. will be resurrected, and we will see our families and loved ones again." And the smile that came to her face was unmistakable. I love the happiness that the Plan of Salvation brings to all the people we teach!

We had the baptism of the Familia Villarroel. We had filled up the font partially, planning to come by Saturday in the morning to finish filling it up before the service at 11 am. We arrived to the chapel, and the water had been cut off in the whole city. We were pretty panicked, with only 30 cm of water. So, we called President, and he gave us permission to go to the river and do the service there. We started the service all normal in the chapel, with the talks and Elder Amasifuén and I did a musical number. After, we piled all the people in the four cars, and we headed to the river to do the baptismal ordinance. It was a really cool experience.

A scripture I really liked from my study this week:

Mosiah 24:10-12

Love you all so much! Have a great week!!

Elder Newman


Mom’s Questions:

1. The biggest question of the week: When did you find out about the new rule about missionary communication with families and what was your reaction? 

I found out on Saturday right before the baptism, and we were all super excited!

2. How was the baptism this weekend? 

Really cool, one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had.

3. Do they celebrate Valentine’s Day in Bolivia? 

Not really, hahah.

4. What do you do on P-day in your new area? 

We play soccer in the afternoons.

The Book of Mormon does its job!

Hello Friends and Family!

I hope you all had a fantastic week, we sure had a good one this past week as well!!

We saw TONS of miracles using the Book of Mormon this past week! We have a Family that we are teaching, the Familia Sanchez. We have taught the mom (Rosa) a couple of times, and Jimena and Sandy, her two daughters only once. We taught them about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon the first time, and invited them to read and pray to know of the truthfulness of the Book, and we arrived to teach Rosa this week, and she told us that she hadn’t prayed yet, but that Jimena had, and she received an answer! We were pretty surprised, and thrilled at the same time! Right then, Jimena arrived home from school, and we asked her about her experience. She told us that she went into her room after reading, she prayed. She told us of an overwhelming peace that she felt. We testified of the peace she felt, and she is now being prepared for baptism! Just needs to come to church and she will be good to go with the rest of her family!!

Another cool experience that we had was with Mariela Guzman. We were teaching her about the Book of Mormon, and as we were testifying of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, she told us that she had seen the Book of Mormon two times before, and this was the third time in her life that she was seeing it. She asked if it was a sign, and then answered her own question saying, "I think God wants me to read this book if this is the third time seeing it" She then accepted a baptismal invitation, and came to church this week! Just needs to get married and she will be totally ready to be baptized!

We have a baptism this weekend for The Familia Villaroel, and partial member family that was baptized a month ago, but one of the daughters and the dad (Elida and Jorge) weren’t baptized yet. We have been preparing them, and this weekend they will be baptized! We are truly seeing lots of miracles here in Camiri!!

Here are some of the scriptures I liked from my personal study!
Matthew 28:5-6
Alma 29:9-10
Psalms 118:24

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Newman

Dad, Those are some super awesome pics of the Jazz game! Looks like you and Sarah had a great time! Thats crazy that Eli is home! I want to see a picture of the missionary board back home. Love you Dad!!

Mom, WOW! 10 inches of snow?? Thats crazy!!! Well done on your midterm and thank you for sharing your studies! Love you mom, have a fantastic week!

Jackson, well done this week! Sounds like a very full and very productive week! Well done on your Spanish midterm, and sounds like a great spiritual weekend! Love you Bro!!

Callie, how fun that you got to go to the BYU basketball game and see Malli!! But not so fun the headache afterwards! Look at you! You are very good at saving money!! Love you Callie!!

Sarah, nicely done in practices, and sounds like a very fun week with the Boat show and the Jazz game, getting to talk with the players and everything!!! Super cool, love you Bear!!


Emma, sounds like a super good time at sweethearts! That’s super cool that you got to go with KK! He’s super funny! Nicely done on giving a talk! Love you sister!!!

Mom’s Questions:
1. Was Cristian able to get permission from his parents to be baptized? 

Unfortunately we were not able to get in touch with Cristian or his parents this week, so no baptism yet. We will be talking to them this week.

2. Do you have other investigators right now? Tell us about them. 

Sergio is another one of our investigators. He is super great! He is from Paraguay, and he just ended up right where he needed to be! God put him right into our path!

3. What was the hardest challenge you overcame this week? 

Probably not being able to get in touch with Cristian or his parents this week. Little frustrating, but we will get it figured out.

4. What made you laugh this week?

Elder Amasifuen and I announced our English class to people in the street by me pretending to not speak spanish, and then Elder Amasifuen "translating" me.

"I will go and do....because I KNOW"

Hello friends and family!!!

This was another fantastic week here in paradise. I’m just going to hop right into the good stuff:

A couple weeks back, I bought a hard cover Book of Mormon in English, with the intention of reading the Book of Mormon for the 10th time in that copy, marking up my spiritual impressions, and upon finishing, writing my testimony inside. I thought it would make a great memory for post mission life, and for the generations to come. Well, on Wednesday, I completed my goal, and finished the Book of Mormon once again, and once again my testimony has been strengthened and fortified by the words of those ancient prophets who recorded their prophecies and revelations and testimonies of Christ. The Book of Mormon gives me a deeper understanding of who I am, and what God wants for me and just how much He loves me. I’m so grateful for the Book of Mormon in my life. I honestly don’t know where I would be without it!

This week, we had the opportunity to go to a special Multizone Conference with Elder Alonso from the Quorum of the Seventy. It was a great conference and we were all edified by the inspired words spoken and the Holy Spirit. President Rodriguez talked about a talk given by Elder Holland to new mission presidents. The message was that every companionship of missionaries  should be a trio, with the third companion being the Holy Ghost. We talked about the importance and just how amazing it is that we have the privilege of bringing a member of the Godhead with us to our lessons, and that we should always do everything possible to let him influence what happens in the lessons, and NEVER do anything to offend him.

Elder Alonso gave us a great training, but what impressed me most was his testimony. He spoke about his love for the Savior, saying things like, "He is a very happy person, and He loves to smile" It impressed me a lot the personal relationship that Elder Alonso has with the Savior. The final thing he shared was the scripture 1 Nephi 3:7, "I will go and do.... because I KNOW" He then said, "I like Nephi, KNOW." It was truly a powerful testimony that struck me personally, and touched my heart.

This past week, I had the opportunity to bless the Sacrament for the first time since the Grove Creek 5th ward. I absolutely love blessing the Sacrament. It’s such a beautiful, intimate moment with the Spirit as I had the opportunity to exercise my Priesthood to help the members of the branch renew their covenants. I’m grateful for the blessing that the Lord offers us as we worthily partake of the Sacrament.

Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you all and Keep the Faith!!

Love, Elder Newman

Dad, wow, lots of sports this week! That’s awesome that you got to watch the Utes and the Jazz play this week, and what an exciting moment for Emma and the team in state! Love you Dad!!

Mom, that’s so fun that you got to spend some time with Callie this week! I really loved the pictures from this week. What an awesome moment for Aunt Gabby and Micheal in the blessing of Benson. Love you Mom!!

Jackson, what a crazy week! Thats crazy that you had to call 911! Well done on cleaning checks, and sounds like a great date!!! That’s so cool that you will be working as a temple worker!! Well done on sharing your testimony! Love you Jackson!!

Emma, CONGRATS ON DRILL! EMMA THATS SO AWESOME!!!  Well done in the Drill down as well!!! Love you emma!!

Sarah, well done in your tourney!!! That’s super cool that you guys had a great time and played super well! Love you Bear!!!

Callie, sounds like you watched lots of basketball this week!!! So cool that you high fived Donovan Mitchell! That’s awesome that you got to go to a birthday party and Benson's blessing! My favorite food here is something called Picante de Pollo. It’s really good! I’ve seen lots of dogs, and not really anything scary this week, but I’ll let you know if something happens! Love you Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. How is Cristian doing? When is his baptismal date? 

He has is date for this coming weekend, the only thing that we are missing is permission from his parents, but we are going to talk to them this week.


2. Tell us about your ward. How many attend? How helpful are the ward members? 

Depends on the weather. This week it was kind of rainy, so not a lot came this week. But they are very faithful, and help when we ask.

3. You said it is super hot in your area. Do you have A/C or a fan to stay cool? 

We thankfully have AC in the house, one of my only houses with AC I have had

4. How do you like your washing machine? 

It’s THE BEST!!!!!

Back in the Gran Chaco :)

Hello friends and family!!!

I’m really excited to be back here in what is known as the Gran Chaco. It’s a zone of our mission that is very VERY spread out, but its cultures and traditions stay pretty much the same from place to place. It consists of three pueblos (or like small cities) and lots of tiny little villages in between. The three cities are Camiri, VillaMontes, and Yacuiba. Previously I was in VillaMontes, and it was quite honestly one of my favorite areas. I am now here in Camiri, which is about an hour and a half north from VillaMontes. It is super similar in a lot of ways, but I will go ahead and say, Camiri is much prettier than VillaMontes. The city is right in the middle of the mountains, everything is so green, it’s absolutely gorgeous! I’ll be sure to attach some pics.

One thing about the Gran Chaco, is it's the hottest region of our mission. And this week has been SUPER hot!! My goodness, I’m very grateful for the fan each time we arrive back to the house in the night. But, the good news is, the people recognize how hot it is as well, so they find it very impressive that we are out teaching and knocking doors and climbing mountains not just in the heat, but also in a shirt and tie. We have had lots of people say to us, "How are you even outside right now??" Our response is always, "This message is something that’s really important, and it will change your life. And that’s how we are out in this heat." I love this place so much!!!!

So, I’m going to take a quick second and talk about my new companion Elder Amasifuén. He is a total stud!! He is from Lima Peru, and has about 9 months in the mission! He has a totally clear vision of his missionary purpose, has tons of energy, and knows how to direct in a productive manner. He is the second of five children. He has one older sister who is 24, and a younger sister that just left for her mission in Columbia this past week! He is super cool, we get along great, and I think we could have lots of success together. We had a very productive first week together, and we are looking to keep it up with these coming weeks.

Here are a couple of scriptures I really liked from my studies this week.

Mark 10:27, Anything is possible with God.
Romans 8:18, Maintain an eternal perspective.
Alma 26:36-37, The Joys of beings a missionary.

I love you all tons! Hope you all have a fantastic week! Keep the faith!!

Love, Elder Christian Newman

Dad, ICE IS BACK!!! Sounds like a fun time going shooting with the work guys. I want to try that .50 Cal handgun. Love you dad, have a great week!!

Mom, sounds like you had a great week! Lots of fun moments for the girls, and a great weekend with the drill moms and in church. Love you tons mom!!

Jackson, wow, what an awesome FHE activity, breaking out the soccer skills from the mish, and getting onto the basketball court! I’m sure you guys had a great time on the blind date, and you are ministering super well. Love you bro!!

Sarah, that’s so awesome that you got the braces off! Mom sent me some pictures, you look so pretty and grown bear! I’m sure that it’s much easier to brush your teeth now haha. Love you bear!!

Emma, what a crazy week! Sounds like it was pretty fun-filled and packed full of things to do! Those videos of Save Ferris were WILD! Looks like you had a killer time! Love you Emma!!

Callie, nice job doing your family history work! That’s so cool that you got to perform at halftime! Have a great time at the Jazz game! My new companion is super awesome! He is really funny, he plays soccer and he boxed before the mission. Love you Callie!!


Mom’s Questions:

1. How was your first week in Camiri? What is the city like? How big is it geographically and population wise? What’s your favorite thing about Camiri? 

My favorite thing about Camiri would be the view. It’s absolutely amazing!

2. How was your first Sunday in Camri? What is the ward/branch like? 

Its a bigger branch than Villamontes, and seems a little more organized.

3. What are some interesting things about your companion? Is he a convert or life-long member? 

He is a convert, he was baptized with his family when he was 9. He loves soccer, and also boxed before the mission. He is super funny and has lots of funny stories, so it keeps things interesting!

4. Does your companionship and the other companionship live in the same house or different houses? 

We live in separate houses, but it’s an awesome house (bless up for a washing machine for the first time in my whole mission).

5. Do you have any investigators in your new area? 

We do. Cristian is one of our best investigators right now. He is 14, accepted a baptismal date last week, and recently received an answer to his prayer about the Book of Mormon.