Being prepared

TEMPERLEY, Argentina —  Well, it’s the last week of May and I can hardly believe it! It’s a really nice day here in Temperley. Lots of sun, but it's pretty cold. Good thing I have warm clothes and boots to go out with :) 

Sara's best friend in an Argentine fall

This week has been pretty great. We had an activity on Saturday that turned out awesome. We had Family Home Evening and about 60 people more or less came! WAHOOO! We even had two investigators and a less active member there. It was a lot of fun.

We had an ice breaker activity and  got to know each other. Then we had a spiritual thought about prayer and ended with refreshments and a game. I was very impressed with how it turned out. Even better — we had two investigators at church the next day and the less active member is coming next week! :) I love it! So great is the work of God!

Cool story real quick: We have a new investigator this week. His name is Pablo. We found him through another investigator. We met him on Wednesday, he agreed to come to the activity Saturday, came to church Sunday. We had a lesson on Sunday, have a lesson on Wednesday and he is coming to the temple with us on Saturday this week. WOW!!! 

Sara and her companion get ready for the rain

I love how God prepares people. Seriously, we can’t do anything as missionaries unless the people are prepared. Just another testimony to me of how involved God is in our lives. 

I am so grateful that we were able to meet Pablo. He told us he is searching for God and for an answer. He told us he got down on his knees for the first time last night and prayed. I was so humbled to hear that experience and I know that God will answer and that we can help him find what he is looking for!

Our other investigators are doing great. We are working hard every day with them. I truly feel blessed to know the people I do here in Argentina. They are my friends and my family. I am sooo lucky to be here and am blessed every day. We have seen many miracles this week and I am excited to see even more in this next week!

A few of you have asked about the nursing side of my mission. Let me fill you in real quick. I am first and foremost a full-time missionary. And lucky me, I get to be a nurse on the side. I don’t really do much hands-on nursing because our mission is spread out. But I get to take phone calls from the missionaries every day. It’s pretty interesting. Sometimes, there are not many phone calls and other days I don’t know even how to keep up. 

The coolest thing I have learned from it all is that our Heavenly Father helps us in all aspects of life. He helps me daily in the Gospel, but also as a nurse here. There are times that I don’t know how to say medical words in Spanish and I find myself just talking and understanding everything. I know that I can only do this part of my calling with my Heavenly Father. I cannot be a nurse or a missionary without him! :) I LOVE being a missionary and a nurse. The best ever! What more could I ask for? :)

I truly feel blessed in every aspect. I do have hard times still, and sometimes I just have to push through, but I do know that every trial or hard time we have is to make us stronger and become more like our Heavenly Father. We just have to make sure we are doing everything we can to grow from these experiences. Remember to live life and be happy. Give it your all and choose the right! 

Love you all! Hope you have a great week. I better get to the district activity. Mmmmmm Brazilian food and Soccer! :)

-Hermana Newman

Reminded of God's Plan

TEMPERLEY, Argentina — Hola fam bam! How goes it up there in the North? :) 

I hope you are enjoying some nice spring weather! Pretty flowers and sun, perhaps? It is still fall here, but we are looking at some winter weather coming up. Its pretty stinkin' cold in the mornings and nighttime, but during the day is fine. Everyone thinks I am crazy because I am walking around with a cardigan and nothing more, and everyone else has coats and scarves. Gotta love it! 

Hermanas Newman y Kent on a rainy Buenos Aires night

This week went well. But to be honest, I can’t remember much of what went on. We are working hard with our investigators and a few a progressing right now, so that is good to see. We are working hard with the ward as well to strengthen the ward missionary program and use the new pilot program here in Buenos Aires South Mission. Like I said before, we are focusing on the priesthood holders or those who have been to the temple first, and then others. It’s definitely a work in progress, but hopefully we will be able to see some fruits of our labors here soon. 

Playing futbol on a for a district activity

We had a pretty good lesson with one of our investigators this week. We talked about The Plan of Salvation. It’s very interesting, because she believes in reincarnation. But we explained The Plan to her and when we got to the part when we talk about the Spirit World, where we wait for the Second Coming, everything just clicked. Her eyes lit up and she just seemed to understand it all. Like it was familiar to her. Funny story — because it is familiar to her. I love it! 

We all learned this plan once, and now I get to help people be reminded of the plan! :) How cool! She told us that she was going to pray about the plan and the Book of Mormon and would let us know what she thought about it. We have an appointment tomorrow, so we are hoping that goes well. 

Well, I will keep it short and sweet this week. I wanted to send some more pictures, but I don’t think we had time to take pictures this week ;) Thanks for all your prayers and all you do. Go have some adventures, and I want to hear all about them! 

Love you lots!

-Hermana Newman :)

Prayer and happiness

TEMPERLEY — Hello and Happy Monday! 

It seems a little weird to be writing today, because I got to call home yesterday on Skype, but here I am in the cyber writing nevertheless :) Yesterday was SO good to talk to you all! I loved seeing your faces. So crazy but good! Happy Mothers day to my amazing mother, grandmothers and all you other moms out there! You are all special daughters of God!   

Hermana Newman Skyping on Mother's Day

I Skyped from my investigator's house. Her name is Débora. She is awesome!! Love that girl! She is 21 years old, and I am teaching her English as well as the gospel :) Perfect! Speaking of her, I have to tell you a quick little miracle. I wanted to tell you this yesterday on Skype but I didn’t want it to be weird that I was talking about her at her house.

Ok, so she is still a little embarrassed/nervous to pray out loud. We are working with her on it, but she doesn’t like to. She is awesome and praying every day, but silently. Well, she told me a little story yesterday that I loved! It was a miracle for me. 

A rainy day in Temperley

She said that this week she didn’t pray. (And it just so happened that we couldn’t teach her much this week.) But she came to church on Sunday again and liked it. She told me that one night, she just knew that she needed to pray. So, she asked her sister if she wanted to pray with her. Her sister said yes... then her brother asked them what they were doing so they invited him to pray, too. They were praying at nighttime and their mom heard them talking so she starts yelling ¨go to sleep, go to sleep. Then the mom called them on the phone to tell them to be quiet and go to sleep. She said to her mom, ¨mom, we are praying. ¨ Her mom began to weep with tears of joy at the beautiful sight of her kids praying together. 

I am amazed with them and was so happy to hear this tender mercy. It is yet another testimony to me that our Heavenly Father is real and that when someone feels the Holy Ghost with an open heart, they can't deny it and can only change and follow it more.

Service! They got to paint a fence

I hope you all know how much I love you! Sorry this is a short one again, but we got to get going to the church to play futbol! :) I hope you all have a fabulous week! More adventures to come I am sure!

Love ya,  Tear it up!

-Hermana Newman

Finding the lost sheep

TEMPERLEY, Argentina — Feliz 5 de Mayo!! That’s not a holiday here in Argentina, but hey, it is in Mexico so happy day to you all! ;) 

Well, I think I told you that today was transfers and we were waiting to hear what would happen with us all. Well I have some news.

Fall in Buenos Aires with Hermana Dias

... drum roll please...

I am staying here in Banfield 1 again and I will be training Hermana Kent. I think I wrote about her in my last letter. Yep, two Norte Americanas here in Temperley ;) Awesome. Good thing a lot of people think I am Latina or we might have some problems. All is well here in Banfield 1! 

The trio of Newman, Dias y Kent says goodbye

We have a new pilot program that we will be using from May until December that should be interesting. I think they are trying it out with 3 missions in South America, and we happen to be one of them. They really want to focus on the less-active members and bringing them back. So obviously we will be looking for and teaching investigadores, but we will also be putting more emphasis en the less actives as well, especially those who don't have the priesthood or who have been to the temple. 

I am excited because I LOVE less active work. It’s the best ever! I will let you know how it is going and if we are able to see a difference in the work and with retention of members here in South America. 

Hermanas Kent and Newman enjoy cooler temperatures

This week has been great! Working as hard as ever. Some days are easy to teach people, and some days are harder to find people, but we are working hard nonetheless. We just had stake conference, which really focused in missionary work, so I am hoping we can get the members a little excited in helping us. 

They gave a good example that I really liked. They said that we as missionaries need to work with the members, because we are new in the areas and a lot of missionaries are not even from Argentina. They said imagine yourself in a new place and not knowing anyone and having to preach the gospel. They said that is why we have members who know the area and the people, to help the missionaries who don’t. 

Hermana Newman with "Mis Hijas" — the girls she's trained

 I don’t know if I explained that very well, but I hope you can understand what I mean. I am excited to work with the members because really, that is the only way to do missionary work. TOGETHER. President has a phrase he always says CON MIEMBROS (with the members).

Let's get on the ball and help the work move forward together! :)

I had tons of pictures I wanted to send but I can't figure out how to send them on this computer :/ But I will try next week. Sorry so short but I gotta get going. Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Newman