9/30/13

I've recently figured out a way to use my talent of drawing to help people out during lessons. Which is nice, because while my companion's explaining a principle, I can draw what it is in correlation with whatever we're talking about.

Or, the Misioneras Capacitadoras (Mission Trainers) can learn of my drawing, get me some really nice paper and colored pencils, and then ask me to draw them a flagship they're going to show to all the leaders in the mission for the council they have today (Hence the attachment). Got it done in about half an hour or so. Ten minutes were spent waiting for the pen ink to dry. Another two were used erasing the pencil marks that I traced over.

I really enjoy being able to draw to help, but I also love it when a less active member that's returning says that she's there to stay active. It feels really nice, especially when you can feel the emotion she's saying it with.

And yes, the English is intentional.

Well, that's about it. I haven't gotten sick recently, I had mashed potatoes three times this week.

Well, I'm having a great time here, so... that's about it.

Thanks for all your support, and I'll just sit here eating KFC from time to time and blueberry muffins from Starbucks (30 pesos each. SO WORTH IT) and searching for more souls to help out.

Lovingly like a missionary loves,

Elder Newman

9/23/13

SO I GAVE MY FIRST MISSION TALK YESTERDAY AND IT ONLY TOOK ME SEVEN MONTHS

I had about an hour to prepare it, so that was fun. I was sick, too. So, while I was taking the Sacrament, I said a quick prayer to give me the health I needed to be able to give the talk and to give it well. And what do you know? IT WORKED! I was well enough to give the talk, and then right after, I began dying again. 

It's interesting, really, how you and your companion get sick at the exact same time and then you also get the same impressions and then you eat costco muffins.

And then you talk for like... two hours about the state of the Ward. And then Darth Vader.

Yes it's relevant.

9/16/13

Anyways, I've got less time today because I had to fill out a questionaire... or however that's spelled. We get American Sisters next change - evidently, it's something that they've been preparing for quite some time now.

In terms of how I've been doing, things have been going great! Except Mexican Independence Day is awful. Because nobody wanted to let us in, if they were even home. NOBODY was home, not even the people that said they'd be home. So basically, we got very little work done. Thankfully, there was one person we could talk with so that we weren't wandering around the area doing nothing productive. So that was good.

As for the hurricane... well, I just heard Veracruz got hit, and we were getting the storms as a result of it. And yes, my gear is holding up quite fine. The thing I've been hearing more than anything about was the war in Syria or something like that? I dunno, neither me nor Elder McKinley know anything about it. Just that there was something going on there or something and the US wanted to get involved?

Recently, I've been focusing on truly learning Preach My Gospel and I read the Book of Abraham, which, to my surprise, I'd never done before. Apart from Abraham's tone in the book, which I love, the doctrine held inside is awesome, and I love how it explains a lot and clarifies some things about Abram's history in Genesis. It's cool.

As for experiences, we've been working on getting less active members to come back to Church, and we managed to get one back on Sunday! It was kinda hard, since yesterday was Noche Mexicana and today is Independence Day here. It seems like everyone celebrates it on the 15th though in the city, which is weird. Also, have you heard anyone use the future subjunctive in regular speech? I don't think so, but I just want to make sure.

Enjoying the Work

Yesterday we had a pretty interesting experience. While my compa and I were hunting down an apartment for some of the sister missionaries in our district, we came across a drunk guy (and for once, the drunk guy's not the focus of the story). As we're trying to see if he's got a deal for us or not, one of our old investigators who we lost contact with ran up to us and shooed the drunk away (she already knew him and he wasn't helping us at all so it was all good). As we chatted with her, we found out that she'd run away from her aunt because her aunt is absolutely crazy. She told us she didn't know where she was going to sleep that night, and Elder M and I had the exact same thought about who we could take her to. We took her to the house, and there, the family immediately accepted her, but she was slightly reluctant to accept. After a chat (where I used the story of Alma and Amulek's first meeting to help) she eventually decided to stay there while she waited to get things set up with one of her friends.

As I looked back on the situation, everything looked like the Lord put us, the sister missionaries, our investigator, that drunk, and a whole lot of other people in the right places, situations, and times at the the exact right moment not just once, but many times as well. I couldn't help but think of a masterpiece grandfather clock, with all the cogs and gears moving in unison and harmony to keep the clock moving, ticking, and working to fulfill its purpose. It was an experience that brought Small and Simple Things to life for me yet again. I must say, Alma 36:6-7 may well be my favorite scripture now.

Well, I still got to write everyone else, so I'll leave you with that. I'm super excited to get back to work soon, because I absolutely love the work now. There are still some times when I'm less than excited, but then I remember experiences like that, and it makes me want to work some more to find one of those events again. It's kinda like computer programming, but that's a subject for another time.

UNEVENTFUL WEEK THING‏

Nothing much happened. I had no money (do now) helped some people, taught some things, unoccupied mornings, absolutely booked afternoons. My companion and I also found a lot of old cassettes from the 80s and early 90s.

Let's see... in terms of my week... what happened that is actually shareable? Well, my companion and I are together for another change (six weeks) here in C, so that's going to be pretty sweet. Also, I shout in my sleep, which can keep my companion awake sometimes (I woke him up three times one night... poor guy). I already feel sorry for my future wife. She'll definitely need some earplugs.

What else do I have...? Well, our investigator got confirmed on Sunday, and we've been working with someone that spent five years in prison for a crime he didn't even commit. He's had a really rough life, but he's super eager to get baptized and super humble. He's a really nice guy, and I'm glad I get to stay here to watch his progress - which is kinda like being a parent, getting joy from watching people - in the case of a parent, their kids - grow up and make the right decisions.

I finished Jesus the Christ a while back - like a week or two ago. I really love that book - teaches us so much about the Lord and what his point of view might have been and what he was like on the Earth and nowadays. I really appreciate the doctrine it holds within as well, and among all the other nice truths and explanations within.

As for J, it sounds like he might be going on a lot more dates (I hope) or something like that. (Here he's referring to the news that J's college church congregation has 120 gals to 40 guys.) That ratio is almost the opposite of my YSA wards - in my Fall Ward, we had barely more guys than we did girls, so some of the people didn't have any opportunities to home teach the girls. I'm glad Jesse and I did - so many fun times while home teaching (checking in on other congregation members on a monthly basis). I really enjoy working for the Lord; it always makes me feel like I've accomplished something and I almost always come out knowing something more or with a more fortified testimony. Or at least a fun memory.

8/26/13

Changes come next week (meaning he'll mostly likely move to a different area to work)... but my companion and I are pretty sure where I'll be assigned (as one of the assistants called and asked my compa if I'm any good with computers. He replied "he studied Computer Science at college"). Well.

(First version of following story) Anyways, about this week. It was pretty good, especially since we found a miracle that got baptized on Sunday! We were going to look for her friend's brother in law, and we went to where we thought they lived (they don't live there anymore, but they're looking for an apartment with the ward boundaries). We got to the house where we found a less active member, and then her friend was there, she wasn't baptized but desperately wanted to be (she had all the lessons about twice, and couldn't get baptized until now - first because of her grandparents, then because she wasn't married and her husband didn't want to get married, and then she dumped him about two months ago so now she got baptized)! And that's how that went.

Also, on Thursday and Saturday, the Lord showed us his sense of humor - on Thursday, we didn't eat until 8 at night, but on Saturday, everyone was giving us food. We ate a lot. It was quite funny, actually. We got Puebla-style filled peppers - they're quite delicious.

Well, I don't have much time today, as we're going to buy a lot of ties today, and one of the members is going to help take us there. I'm quite excited.

As for my rain equipment... well, I use my replacement umbrella ('cause I lost my really cool one on a bus a couple months ago) and that's about it. I love it when people ask if I'm cold, because it really isn't all that cold when they think it is.

...I'm returning home in the middle of Winter. Fun. I get the Focus when I get home, right? :D

(Second version of above story) Anyways, we had a miracle on Friday! Last week, someone brought their husband who just got released from prison (or so we hear) and isn't a member to Church. So, what we did was plan to visit him, and Friday came around with him as one of our plans. We had two choices as to where to go - a house of the members, to whom he was related and found him in most often, or the house where we never found him in but the Church records said he lived in. We chose the second option - clearly a spiritual guidance, as while we didn't find him, we did find his wife's sister's friend there, who'd always wanted to get baptized but couldn't (she had no choice) until now. So, on Sunday, we baptized her! She said she needed the peace that she knew having all her sins cleaned off would bring. She had to postpone it by a couple hours, but nevertheless, she was dead set on the Baptism. It was quite amazing.

(Later that day, in another email...)

We found her on Friday looking for someone else due to whisperings of the Spirit. And then she got baptised at 7:00 yesterday.

I also bought 12 ties today for 300 pesos, and they're pretty good quality.

It is amazing here.

(To those that got an e'mail way earlier today, we only used 50 minutes of our hour and then we came back and now I've got two minutes but I don't type all that fast okay yes I do but not enough time to tell a story kthxbye)

8/19/13

REAL QUICK ABOUT THE MASS E'MAIL: I haven't had much time to do that over the last two weeks, but seeing as there were three great developments, I'll at least send some pictures.

So, about the week. It was the busiest one we've had in a while - we got 20 lessons taught in one day (the last one we taught was at like... 9:15 at night; we didn't really get a new investigator out of it though), and on Tuesday we had to get new insoles for my companion (as he has flat feet, as we recently discovered). I also finally finished Jesus the Christ - such a great book. But now, I'm going back to focusing on the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel and Church magazines (if you could send me the August Ensign, that'd be absolutely fantastic - Ensigns have more articles than Liahonas [international version of the Ensign], and I absolutely loved the Liahona for this month and would like my own copy).

Basically, the thing I'm focusing on is becoming a better teacher so as to further the Work of Salvation.

We had a Zone Conference (meeting of missionary companionships from many areas) the last week. Basically, the big theme was not doing Missionary Work, but the Work of Salvation, meaning working with Members, making it more likely for the people that we baptize will stay active in the church, and so on. That includes waiting until the Saturday after their second assistance to Church to baptize the investigators. The Work of Salvation basically means searching for and making converts, not just baptizing. It was a really good conference on Thursday... which was also the day we got the insoles.

...We hardly got anything done that day, but as President said, "If we're doing the Work of Salvation, we're not wasting time."

So, that's about what I've got for this week. We don't really have any investigators right now - we kinda dropped a lot of them. But that's okay - there's always someone waiting.

P.S. I make my own breakfast and cena (dinner). The comida (lunch) is usually provided by the members. And yes, I eat well :D

Well, we got three baptisms and three confirmations this week! (Insert Mega Smiley Face here). Just the confusing thing is... we haven't really brought ANYONE to Church since the change  began. And now it's week five. For those that don't know, going to Church at least twice is a requisite for baptism. These three had already gone a ton of times - but they mostly came because their Dad/husband was already a member. So... I have no idea how that works, other than miracles. OH WELL!

Also this week was quite exhausting. And I don't have much time left so my parents will put more details on the blog (you got homework now, Mom and Dad).