The cool part about being in the offices‏...

...is that Saturday feels like Saturdays again and it's a lot like what the after-mission-life is going to be like, as stated by my dad: We work hard all day on a computer, and then I go out to work on my equally demanding Church calling. w00t for preparedness!

I also get to program a bit to help the mission out. Turns out, I like working with C#.

Also, the past few weeks, in regards to physical health, have been... interesting. I'll sum it up this way:

1) Feel a sharp pain in my stomach; nothing can be seen on the surface. Blood and pus come out. TMI, I know. Deal with it.

2) The mission doctor (who is in charge of all the missionary medical stuff in Mexico) tells me to do a thing I thought I would never do: get an ultrasound.

3) I get the results: It's an abscess! Wee!

4) Talk with the Doctor again; I tell him story (and here my abscess is hurting me again, real time), tell him this actually started in Atlacomulco (about two transfers ago) and that it hasn't really gone away. He then drops his judgement:

5) We've got an appointment with the surgeon next Wednesday to figure out when and how we're removing this foul health issue. *wincing smile*

So... that's been my health over the past two or three weeks.

Also we've got some really good investigators and the quickest way to shoo a missionary out of your local housing complex is by sending your large aggressive dog after them. If you're not a member, please don't do that because we don't like getting bitten by dogs.

And we've got an American family making us food today, so it's about time I head off.

Elder Newman

Look! I'm in a cathedral!‏

You gotta give them credit for their fantastic sense of architecture.

Well, things are going great in the offices and I wanted everyone to see that I was still alive and that I feel fantastic here in the offices.

Thanks for all the support that y'all have been giving me, be it in remembering that one kid that was in that one class or praying for me, it helps.

Even if I don't know that you've been doing it.

See you all soon,

Elder Newman

A Typical Discussion I've Been Having Since Yesterday:‏

Caller: "Hey, Elder Hansen?"

Me: "No, Elder Newman."

Caller: "...Oh. Well, I just had a question."

Me: "It's about the rent, right? It'll get there on Monday."

Caller: "...Oh, well that was my question. Thanks!"

Me: "Okay, see you later."

Caller: "Bye!"

*click*

...

I sent in the rent a day late so now everyone's asking me about it. Just a little frustrating, but hey, live and learn.

First thing, as you've read, I'm now the mission clerk out here. So far, it's pretty fun. I spend all my time working on the computer and sometimes filling in financial reports while listening to MoTab on the computer.

So, responsibilities: I need to verify all of the expenditures of President, his wife, and the mission's miscellaneous cards, organize what money was spent from which account and from which card, I manage all the reimbursements of the missionaries in the field, make sure they get their transport money, and make sure that their rent gets to them on time as well... *cough* oops.

So yeah, already made several mistakes, but I'm learning little by little and soon I'll be at top working level. I love working here; it's very similar to the times when I was ward clerk and when I was working for the Sayers right before I left. Probably because it's the exact same thing as those two combined. But yeah, I get to know pretty much everything that's happening in the mission before hand, including who's coming, who's going, whose visa is about to expire, etc. It's also been great having Elder E nearby again - he's the Assistant to the President right now, but he'll be leaving at the end of the change. He's been there since... last July, I believe. That's a long time.

We also spent about 3 hours last night trying to reconcile the budgets and all sorts of stuff and... bluh. This week, I've been able to leave the offices to work about... twice-ish. This is because President Whitehead wanted everything that was backed-up done so that I could have a fresh start on Monday when Elder Hansen, the old financial secretary, gets sent into the field again. Thankfully, for two days, people came in that were able to help me out with this task, so I was able to get it all done and now, next week, I should probably be able to get to work again. ...unless everything explodes and I somehow get buried in a lot of work.

There was a lot of backed-up work.

We also need to go out and work in the normal way, if we can. We generally leave about 6-ish, I believe, or around 5. But yeah, life is good here, we never have cold water in the house, it's always warm, we got CostCo and other amazing things, the English ward is going to start giving us food now, and there's Panda Express somewhere nearby and we're going to buy it. YUM.

 And you know that song that you love that you heard on your way down to the mission field? The MoTab has a version of it called Nella Fantasia from their album Glory! and it sounds absolutely amazing. Really, the Glory! CD is fantastic.

In terms of the ward(s), we've got two: English and Spanish. The Ward Mission Leader and his assistant in the Spanish ward are actually Americans. It's fantastic; the ward is doing tons of work. We're also going to be baptizing three people tomorrow - two sisters and a young girl whose parents are already members.

This week, I was feeling pretty down because I was feeling slightly confused about where I was and if I was doing well. I suppose that, like always, I'm too hard on myself, but it did help me realize one thing: I wasn't being to active in my repentance, so I've been working on that quite a bit more to get myself back on the track of progression. So that's been what I've been focused on recently.

In addition, the wards here are fantastic - I ate lasagna one day. With homemade french bread. Now some of you may be thinking, "So?" Well, I'll tell you that lasagna is a rare-to-never occurrence here in Mexico. I also taught my first lesson in English.

I read a talk called "Look forward and believe." It's been helping me out quite a bit recently.

Well, I got one last thing to do, so I'll talk to you all soon!

Elder Newman