"Walk Faster, Teach Slower, Pray Harder."

Hello Friends and Family!!!

Well, I'll go ahead and start out my subject line. Last week, my dad put a phrase that I absolutely loved right at the end of his weekly letter to me. "Walk Faster, Teach Slower, Pray Harder". It really stood out to me, and I took it as a personal challenge to get out and really put forth an additional effort in each of these three aspects. I've seen that as we walk with a purpose and get to our citas right on time or even a little early, we have been blessed with more opportunities of service and teaching. We have been flying around the area, and it shows as we get back to the house each night super tired. Poor Elder Pántano is doing his very best to keep up, and he gets back to the house each night absolutely wiped out.

As I have tried to focus on the people and slow down the teaching to their needs, we have seen many people understand more deeply and profoundly our message. Its been a blessing. "Pray harder" has shown to be a great blessing as well as I tried to break the repetition that I sometimes fall into in my personal prayers. I truly feel grateful with my Father in Heaven for the blessing of being a missionary in this great Latter-Day work!!

We had a blessing of having the baptism of Alex Polanco.  We coordinated with our Primary President, who happens to be our pensionista, and we made the baptism part of the Primary Activity, so we had almost all of the kids of the Primary in the baptismal service. Kevin Abasto, the returned missionary who gave us the referral, performed the ordinance, and it was a really special moment for the two of them. I had the blessing of confirming Alex a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What an amazing weekend for us and the Polanco family.

Something I really liked from my personal study is found in 2 Nephi 25:13, "..My heart doth magnify His Holy name." This Easter season, I have been focusing my studies on Christ's life and doctrine, and I feel like Nephi, my heart also magnifies the Holy Name of our Lord. I feel so grateful for the Savior and His Atonement.

I hope you all have a great week! Keep the faith!

Elder Newman.

Mom, what an exciting week full of mission calls! The mission call season is so exciting, I remember two years back the excitement of opening up the mission call and seeing all of my peers open theirs. What an exciting time! How fun to go and visit SUU with Emma as well, sounds like a really fun week! Love you Mom!!

Dad, wow, Sarah is awesome huh.  Enjoy the trips coming up! Love you so much Dad. It was so good to talk to you on Monday for your birthday. I hope you had a great birthday!

Jackson, nice job on the projects!! That's super cool that Dylan will probably be in our ward! Keep up the good work on the exams! Love you man!!

Emma, wow, first drill tryout in four years where you won't be taking part, that's wild!! That's fun that you got to go with Mom to visit SUU. Pray lots, and the Lord will help you to know where you need to go to school.) Love you Emma! Enjoy these last few weeks of school!

Bear, I'm sure it was tough getting back to school after spring break, but I'm sure you will get right back into the groove of things. Nicely done in your soccer games! Love you Sarah!!!

Callie, how fun that you got to see Brother Chun! He was my seminary teacher, he is super super cool!! That's awesome that you got to celebrate Dad's birthday at home with him.) Love you sooo much, Callie!!

Mom’s Questions:

1. How was the baptism?? 

It was super awesome, Ill be sure to attach some pictures.

2. Did you meet any new people this week and what were they like? 

We met some good people this week, very receptive to the Restoration.

3. When did you laugh this week? 

We had a good laugh as we flew around the area and got some funny looks from the College students as we hustled through the crowd to a visit.

4. What are you teaching your investigators right now?

Lots of them are learning about the importance of the Book of Mormon.