Elder Newman Has Come Into Possession of a Car's Side Mirror‏

My companion was hit by a car yeseterday (he's alright) and the side mirror was torn off by who knows what. As the little coward sped off without doing anything legal, I gathered the pieces and put it together. I'm bringing it home with me.

So, what else happened? Well... we've got two people lined up for baptism this week. Domingo and Griselda (prayers appreciated). That's the big news. It's going to be a tough week - we fell into a slump last week, and we need to recover from it and do all that we can in order to help the sisters in our district do better as well. So, we'll be working a ton.

Especially since Elder Rizabal's bike was trashed and my bike's chain completely fell off for no reason whatsoever. So... we've got no bikes now. But that's okay, there are some others.

Thanks for all your support!

Elder Newman

¡MÁS PODER!‏

So, what does that have to do with anything? Well, it's quite simple, my dear [insert your name here]. During a Zone Meeting last week, I was feeling quite down on myself. And then, somewhere towards the start, the words "Más poder" entered my mind. And I couldn't get them out. It began to fill me with excitement, happiness, and desire. And to prove that it helped, our numbers (we report how much we did a certain task every now and again - lessons taught, people contacted, etc.) were a lot better. Every time I felt down, I needed to contact, or something like that, I just told myself, "Más poder. ¡Más Poder!"

For you non Spanish-speakers, 1) learn Spanish, and 2) it means "More power."

Más Poder, in this case, means working harder. Más poder means loving the people more. Más poder means doing more than normal. Más poder means being obedient. Más poder means being patient while the owners of the ciber café keep on trying to discover what a certain song is through a ridiculous playlist while someone listens to Gangnam Style on another computer. Más poder is simply that: more power gained from doing more.

Also, here's my journal entry from when I fell in the mud:

SO... YES. Más poder is pretty much my catch phrase or whatever you want to call it. It's helped me quite a bit, actually.

Well, that's all I've got for right now. We're teaching two fantastic people right now, the father of a member and a woman whose familial religious diversity is quite amazing. And all are telling her, "No, come with us / stay with us / don't even think about going there / etc." Nonetheless, she's staying strong, saying, "The truth is here." She's fantastic.

Thank you all for your support and help!

Elder Newman

8/11/14

And I'm still losing weight. Elder McKinley gave me a belt that fit perfectly 6 weeks ago, but now it's too big. I'm going to need new pants.

What else is up? Well, things are going well in the area. Better than before. We had 3 people fall through on Sunday, but then God sent 2 more people to Church, so that made me and Elder R happy. I'm beginning to see some more areas where we can improve - obedience being a key one. What I mean to say is that I'm going to drag us to be obedient, if necessary. As one man who I interviewed last week said, "[We're] too old. [We] don't have time to break the commandments of God!"

Everyone's too old to break themselves against the commandments.

(I think I get some points for that statement, right?)

I like progress. And now I'm realizing again just how much the Mission has changed me.

... I'm so incredibly happy for this.

Well, I've got to write some other emails, so that's it for now.

Elder Newman

I Drew a Picture‏

...But that's no surprise.:

 ​One of my recent projects is drawing all 42 principles found in Preach My Gospel on small cards, to use in lessons and in contacts. I've still got a lot of work (and practice) to do, but here's one of my favorites:

​Translated: "Our Loving Heavenly Father Reveals His Gospel in Every Dispensation."

For those of you who don't know, a "dispensation", in simple terms, is a time when God's authority is here on the Earth. The opposite is Apostasy, which is when God's authority is absent from the earth. Both have happened quite a few times.

Anyways, this is one of my favorites so far. My other favorite is the one about Apostasy. I'll have to send that soon.

Also, we got lost a couple days ago, and we found some beautiful landscapes:

​Clear skies, green trees, dirt roads, bicycles... things are pretty nice out here.

All that's left is to baptize the entire pueblo.

Thank you all for all your support!

Elder Newman