Hermana Newman's New Door Approach

TEMPERLEY, Argentina - HELLO FAMILY! :)

How is everyone doing this beautiful fall day? ;) I can’t remember what the weather is there, but I am guessing it is turning into spring? I hope you are enjoying it for sure! It’s weird to be on the opposite side of the world and hear about your weather there but it's different here. Anyways.... this week was GREAT! 

First I want to start off with some ¨funnies¨ from the week and then after I will tell you about our miracles. 

No Power for Two days. Fun.

First, we learned something new this week. :) ...  It is not a good idea to throw rocks at people’s doors. bahaha I can just imagine your faces. 

Yes, Hermana Calderon and I were desperate so we started throwing rocks at an investigator's door to get her attention. You do what you got to do as a missionary right? ;) I think I told you this before but here in Argentina instead of knocking on a door or ringing a doorbell, we clap. Well, we had an appointment and she wasn’t responding to clapping so we threw rocks. Oh dear. Bad idea. She was mad and cussing us out until she came to the door and saw who it was. She apologized quickly and said, "Oh my angels, come on in." ha-ha Quite the adventure. I don’t think we will be using that as our contacting technique in the future ;) 

Sister Calderon and me with unique ways of using candles.

Second, I think I have been hit-on my mission more times than in my entire life. Hermana Calderon and I are going to start keeping track this week. It’s pretty ridiculous. This week we got some whistles and a ¨Hey Mormons, how you doin?¨ Oh dear, I love being a missionary. All the adventures and randomness keeps me on my toes :) 

Okay, time for some miracles :) 

We found a new investigator who is ¨De Oro¨(golden) Her name is Lidia. (Yes we threw rocks at her door). We smiled at her on the street and said hello and miracle happened .... she asked us who we were, and what we were doing. We explained our purpose as missionaries is to invite people unto Christ, to have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end.  She smiled and asked us to come back. We have been really trying to work with members and get them to friendship our investigators. Well, it worked! We had a member come with us. We talked about the Restoration and invited her to be baptized. The Spirit was strong as she looked up at us and replied, “Yes, yes I will prepare to be baptized on March 29!”  
WAHOOOOOO! We are praying for her and working hard with her to make her date. I am pretty sure she will have no problem. She is solid. I love seeing little miracles like this. God putting us in the right place at the right time! 

Baptism with the Elders

Next up... Less active work. You all know how I love working with less actives. It’s the best! We have been working with a bunch of less-actives in the area. Our district had a goal to get two investigators or more per companionship at the sacrament meeting. Well all of ours canceled like 15 minutes before church, so we were kind of bummed. but God had other plans in store. 

We went to go pick up a less active — and surprise! — her less active brother came also with their children and we got to church and another less active and her son were there. It was so good to see three less actives and their children at church! I was super-happy. 

And the miracle doesn’t end there... One of them got up to bear her testimony and was telling us how the Lord works in mysterious ways. She was looking for a new place to live and bam!... she is the missionaries neighbors (us). I agree the Lord is aware of everyone and everything. I feel so blessed to have her as our neighbor and watch her change and come back to church. LIFE IS SO GREAT, ISN'T IT? :) 

Okay, I have already made this email super long so I will share more next week. We got a special visit this week from Elder Evans (the head of the missionary board). He was awesome and so inspired. I will share what he said next week for sure! Love you all! 

Have a  great week! Remember who you are. Go out and help build the Lord's Kingdom this week. Can’t wait to hear from you again!

Chau!

Your favorite ¨gringa trucha¨:) (Editor: I think this means Trout. More on this next week)

-Hermana Newman 

Baptism and daily bread

TEMPERLEY, Argentina — Hola familia, Feliz Febrero!!
 

Can you believe it is already February? I can't! Craziness! I always say this but it is true... time is just flying. Transfers are next week already. Wow.

Hermana Calderon and I are hoping to stay together one more transfer at least in this area, but you never know. I will update you on that next week.

This week has been great. We just got done bowling with our district. Way fun! I haven’t been bowling in forever, and of all places I got to go in Buenos Aires!

We are at a different cyber again today in another city because of the activity and unfortunately, they won't read my camera card, so I can’t send pictures. Bummer, because I have some I wanted to send.

Especially because... Evelyn was baptized and confirmed this weekend! Wahooo!

Everything went well and it very nice.I am having a hard time describing it in English ... in Castellano, easy... it was muy lindo!! (very cute).

I love baptisms. They are wonderful. Always something crazy, but you can always feel the Spirit. My first baptism with Jennifer was crazy because nobody showed up until like 5 minutes till.

This time, people came on time, but we almost flooded the church. Ha-ha no joke.

We went running at the church that morning so we could turn on the water to start filling. My companion said it would be fine to leave and come back after we had showered and gotten ready. I thought, "Ok it should be fine. In Maryland it took 2.5 hours to fill." Ha Wrong-o! Here, the fonts are much smaller. We got to the church and I opened the door to see how the font was. Bahhhh! Water to the very top. I had to quick take off my shoes and go a little ways in to start draining the font. Oh dear. Good times :) Got to love being a missionary!

But yes, everything went well and she was happy as can be.

What a blessing it is to be baptized. I can’t remember a ton about my baptism to be honest, but I can remember how happy I felt. That’s how I feel every time I see my investigators go into the waters of baptism. We have some other investigators that we are working with. Right now, a few of them are being stinkers and not progressing, but we are praying that they will kick it into gear soon.

One of my favorite parts of this week was just seeing the Gift of the Holy Ghost in my life. There were many times, but I can remember in particular two times where the Spirit led us somewhere we needed to be at the right moment.

First, we were walking around deciding where to go and who to visit, because our plans and backup plans fell through. Hermana Calderon and I both thought maybe we could visit a potential investigator nearby. We were almost to her house when a sweet little old lady said, ¨How are you doing? Who are you girls?"

We explained that we were missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that we had a message to share with her. She invited us to sit down and share it with her right then and there in front of her bakery. We shared a short message about the Restoration and she invited us to come back in the following week.

My favorite part was just before we left she said, ¨Thank you hermanas. I was feeling really sad and was praying for someone to help me feel better. You are an answer to my prayers. I know that God sent you over here today."

Yes. Yes m'am!! We are here for a reason! I can’t even describe how I felt. What a wonderful experience. I love that we can be put in the right place at the right time.

Next was right after that visit, we decided to visit a less active member: Hermana Galvez. Such a sweetheart. We began talking (also about the Restoration) when we heard a knock at the door. Her neighbor had come over to visit. So we invited her to sit down and talk with us. We talked about families, prophets, Jesus Christ, the Atonement, apostasy, all of it. At the very end, we told her that she could know all of this was true by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to Heavenly Father to know for herself. Right as I was about to mention the Holy Ghost she said, ¨I feel something in my chest. I feel peace and happy. I don’t know what it is but I like it. ¨ I just gave her my big ol´cheesy Hermana Newman grin and explained that it was the Spirit testifying to her.

I feel like I am not doing a very good job at telling my stories or expressing myself today. Sorry. I hope you can understand what I am trying to say. Everything is going well here in Argentina. We have had some rainy coolish weather for a few days, which has been quite lovely. Working hard and trying to bring more people unto Christ.

How are you all doing? I hope sooo great. I miss you all and love you even more. Hope you know it!

Before I go I want to share a little video with you.


I had the opportunity to share and translate this for some people in my ward yesterday because it is not available in Castellano. I love it! Such a great message and reminder of the small things we need to be doing daily. Just like we need to eat, we need spiritual nourishment as well. It's a process, for sure, but I know that if we do the small things EVERY DAY and make them our priorities, we can and will be blessed and will become closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior.

Remember who you are, who you represent. Go out and give it all you got! Have a wonderful week.

Love ya - Chau!

-Hermana Newman

Basketball and bugs

TEMPERLEY, Argentina — This week like many others has just flown by. I cannot even believe it. Argentina is as great as ever. Hot and sunny but sooooo good! I have had quite a few adventures this week and lots of hard work so I am nothing but smiles! :)

Let me start by just telling you a few of my adventures.

- I went on exchanges this week. Very fun! Two white girls in a new area makes for quite the adventure, let me just tell you. But luckily, it's not just two white girls — two white girls and the Holy Ghost is all ya need. We were able to talk to lots of people and get some new investigators. Whooo! It wasn’t my area, but it was great!

- Bugs love me! Mosquitoes galore, of course... what’s new. But my newest adventure... attack of the cockroach. Ewwww. (Juli you might squeal haha) I was drying off after my shower when I felt something weird on my face. SUPRISE- yep cockroach. I about died. I was surprised I didn’t scream just a silent panic attack. Good times.

Hermana Newman with the bishop's daughter

 - I got to play ¨basket¨ this week! I was so excited. I haven’t been able to play basketball in ages. It was lots of fun. One of the Elders looked at me and said, ¨Hermana Newman, you played basketball in high school didn’t you?" I laughed and smiled. Nope... Just with the Elders Quorum every Wednesday night. Thank you Bishop Frandsen and Elders Quorum.

- Rain here is crazy! I think I better go buy me some boots. The streets looked like a river and then it was super muddy. No complaints here. I’ve always loved playing in the mud.

- Lots of nurse calls this week. Bah!! I love being a missionary and I love being the nurse. Good times. Keeps me on my feet.

- We went to Capital Federal this week... yep Buenos Aires! Crazy. It was fun to go, but WOW... can you say big city? I would love to go back and visit one day, but I am pretty sure I am still the same old small town Hermana Newman. It was quite the adventure to get there as it almost took 3 hours on the colectivos. (buses) 

- I am absolutely positive there were more stories but my little brain has forgotten them. Sorry. Next week I will write my adventures down. I have at least one adventure every day. Livin' the life here in Temperley.

This week was great, like I said. We were able to visit with lots of people. My favorite part of the week was on Saturday. We had an open house for the church, since it was just rededicated. It was AMAZING! We invited everyone and their dog to come, and it was a pretty good turn out. (The picture I sent was of the ward members who came out to support the activity) It was like a little mini visitors center, but at the church. Each room had different information for the different auxiliaries. Hermana Calderon and I had the job of a little tour/mini discussion. There were three boards that had pictures on them, front and back. I don’t know if you can imagine that or not. Anyways, it was basically the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, families and temples. We got to tell people about all of it in a mini tour. It was kinda fun, I felt like a visitor center sister. Those sisters are awesome, let me just tell you! It takes some skill! 

The ward after its open house.

But yes, great turn out. We even got some referrals and new investigators. The Spirit was strong and I could not just help but smile big as ever. I love activities like this!

Then on Sunday, one of our investigators came to church again and she has a baptismal date for the 25 of this month! So excited for her. She is almost ready. Just gotta get her to stop smoking. 

Sara, Hermana Calderon and their "abuelita" investigator

 I LOVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It changes people’s lives everyday — including mine. Heavenly Father sure is helping me change into the person he needs me to be! 

Life is good... oh so good! Thanks for all of your support and prayers. I love you all sooo much. Have a fabulous week. Keep it up, work hard!

Love ya long time,

-Hermana Newman

Snow and Saints

COLUMBIA, Md. — Happy day for Hermana Newman!  I woke up Sunday morning to white stuff all over the ground... yep- SNOW! :) WAHOOOOOOOO 

I have missed it so much. It is stinkin' cold here, but the snow makes it worth it, indeed. Funny story about Maryland: they freak out when it snows. Seriously, I about died laughing. The mission grounded our cars for the day (which was understandable), so we were on foot the whole day, which was interesting considering I cover the entire stake. But hey, what an adventure. Out of 21 years, I can only remember church being canceled once and that is because the bishopric got stuck in the snow driving to church. Well, we got to church yesterday. Sang a song, prayed, took the sacrament and then went home. Yep... they canceled church, and we woke up this morning to find out school was canceled and most of the libraries didn’t open until noon. In the words of my branch mission leader, "Yeah Hermanas, it's the end of the world when it snows here."

Yesterday was quite the adventure. I wish I could send videos home but they are too big. We were told we needed to still proselyte, but no cars. Which is just fine by me but definitely interesting because my area is HUGE and we live near the freeway. Missionaries crossing the freeway is probably not the best idea, so we started our journey walking to the nearest area with members and investigators. What we thought would take us about 30 minutes ended up taking 2 hours in the snow to walk. I was just laughing and grinning the whole way. Life is good! 

I was thinking about the pioneers a lot as I was walking and how amazing they are. They had it WAY worse then having to walk a couple hours in a snowy day. They are amazing! It made me think of the hymn of course:
 

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!

All is well! All is well! How true that is! We are SO very blessed :) I am thankful for the pioneers and all they did for what they knew to be true. I hope we can be a little more like them and stand up for what we know to be true. Stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The pioneers had it hard, but they endured the trials they had and made the best of it all. I definitely look up to those pioneers!

On another note, we had another great week here in Maryland. The snow has got my attention, so I am having a hard time thinking about what else went on this week. 

Oh! Soila! We had a great experience this week with her. We went over to her house to visit and see how she was doing. We planned on watching The Restoration video with her and reading the scriptures. This woman absolutely LOVES The Book of Mormon. It is quite the humbling experience to me because she only has a 3rd grade education from Honduras, yet she loves to read The Book of Mormon and has a big smile on her face every time she reads. She is amazing to say the least! A

During the video, she kept looking back at me and smiling. At the end she had a big grin and the first words that came out of her mouth was, "Que Bonita." (Beautiful) My favorite part of the night was when we gave her a card and invited her to the temple lights. She looked at the building and asked if she could go inside. I told her that she wasn’t able to right now but that she could someday. She looked at me and said, "Hermana Newman, I want to go there. I will go there after I am baptized." 

Yes! Yes Yes! Slowly but surely she will get there. She knows this is what she wants and needs in her life and I absolutely love watching her makes changes and use the Gospel. I have the best calling in the world: full time missionary! :)

The work is great and moving forward every day. Thanks for letting me be part of this great work and supporting me. I know you all are being great missionaries back at home too! Keep up the work and keep praying for those opportunities! I love you all!

Con Amor,

Hermana Newman :)

Patience and pedicures

COLUMBIA, Md. — How are you doing? From what I hear, it sounds like you are all doing pretty good.

Mom: Thank you for your fun little package. Sister Crotzer and I had fun with the stuff for sure.

Juli: Loved your letters and blog and pictures. Gracias. I especially loved the picture of your baby belly. Ha soooo cute! So weird to think that I will have another niece or nephew by the time I get home.

Thank you everyone for your letters and support every week. You are the best and I LOVE hearing how everything is going.

Everything in Maryland is going well. We are having lots of success with our less active members. We have one whole family who have been to church 4 times in a row and are receiving callings! Happy day for sure.

We are still working with a few investigators as well. Some are more prepared than others, but they know the Gospel is true. They just have to take it step by step and gain that conversion and testimony for themselves.

It sounds like you are all doing great with missionary work as well! Wahoooo! Keep it up! I love hearing all the stories.

We have been having some weather that can't decide what it wants to do. It was super hot and then the last couple of days have been rather chilly. But you won't hear me complaining, I am loving chilly... very nice change for sure! :)

I am still here in the good ole' Columbia 3rd Spanish Branch and I am loving every second of it. No word on the visa, so I think I am still needed for someone or something here in Maryland. It's weird to think I have been here so long. I sometimes wonder why I am still here but, I just have to trust in the Lord. Everything in his timing for sure! Best way to go, no doubt. He knows what he is doing!

We had a man from the high council come speak in our branch yesterday, and it kind of went along with what I just said. He was a great speaker and I — as well as many people in the meeting — needed to hear his message! He was talking about how everything in his life never went according to plan. He liked having a plan and was frustrated that everything never worked out. He gave some examples from his life, like not getting into medical school his first try, or not getting the residency he wanted, etc. Long story short: Nothing went according to HIS plan. But it was according to the Lord's plan.

He had an experience in Haiti, doing an operation on a young boy's femur where he discovered how amazing the Lord's timing truly is. If all the things he wanted to do went according to his plan, he would have never had the opportunity to go to Haiti and help this young boy.



It got me thinking a lot. I know we all do it. We get frustrated or bummed out when things don't "work out" but, I promise that things will work out. The Lord is just making it work out the best way possible. He knows what needs to happen, who you need to help, who you need to meet, who you need to say hello to or give a smile to. Don't ever doubt that the Lord knows what He is doing. He definitely does! I know that I am supposed to go to Buenos Aires, Argentina! And I am SOOOOO excited to help my brothers and sisters there. But I also know that someone needs me here too!

What a blessing to have Heavenly Father's hand in our lives. If you are confused or need some reassurance, just get down and pray. He is always willing to answer and listen to you. He is our Father, and we are his Children. Like the saying goes: "when life gets too hard to stand... kneel!"

We had some interesting experiences this week for sure. Hermana Crotzer and I were going to visit one of our investigators. We started walking towards her apartment when, in the distance, I saw some Hispanic ladies sitting on the sidewalk. We started to head over to them, and it turned out to be our investigator and her friend. They welcomed us and invited us to sit down. We gabbed for a bit and then the friend asked if she could paint my toenails. HA! What? That's random and ridiculously awesome all at the same time :) Of course you can paint my toes! So, yes, I had the opportunity to get a pretty awesome lil' pedicure and talk about the Restoration of Jesus Christ. Ya, don't have that happen everyday, that's for sure.

That's a silly little example, but it kind of helped me realize something. You can bring up the Gospel to people always, no matter what you are doing. Sometimes it seems a little easier as a missionary because we have the name badge and that is our job 24-7, but anyone can do it. You can bring up the Gospel at church, at school, at the grocery store, in the neighborhood,  or even while you are getting your nails painted. ;) The Gospel is for everyone. God will help us know who is ready. If we are willing to open our mouths, He will fill them! D&C 84:85!!!



The work is moving forward here in Maryland Baltimore Mission, as well as all over the world!! How cool is that to think about!?! I have people ask me all the time. "Is your church only here in Maryland? Oh, then only here in the U.S." You should see their faces when I tell them there are missionaries and members all over the world spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All so different too: young, old, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, tall, short, English speaking, Korean, Finnish, French — the list goes on and on. We are all SO different in everything! But the cool thing is that there is one thing that unites us as one. WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD AND WE ARE ALL THE SAME IN THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST! We are followers and disciples of Him. And we are here to help ourselves, our families and everyone else we meet and share the message we all know to be true.


We have a saying in my family: "We are Newmans, and we can do hard things!" Well I would just like to rearrange it a little and say, "We are Mormons and we can do ALL things!"  Or again, in the words of Sis. Dibb, "I am a Mormon. I know it, I live it, I love it!"

Don't forget who you are, who you represent and whose help you have! We are soo blessed to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Keep being awesome and working hard! Have a great week! Give em a little bit of Heaven!

Con Amor,

-Hermana Newman :)

Like unto Moroni

COLUMBIA, Md. — Well hello :) How are you lovely people? As I am sitting here in the library thinking of what to say this week, I can’t help but just have a big grin on my face. I have the best family ever! :) Boy am I so lucky! Thanks for all you do. I really miss you a lot — but in a good way, no worries ;) Not home sick, I just know my family is stinkin' awesome! I hope you are all doing well. You are in my prayers daily! Know that I am thinking of you and love you lots!

Another great week here in Maryland. It’s finally starting to cool down and be autumn. I love the weather of autumn, mostly because it is not as hot and the humidity is bearable. And it helps that it is gorgeous here! The weeks are starting to mesh all together in my brain, so I am not sure what happened this week and what happened before. If I repeat something — sorry in advance :)

Studying outside of a McDonalds

I honestly cannot think of what happened this week. I do remember it was pretty stressful, but that’s okay, nothing prayer and some Oreos can't fix!

We had three member presents in our lessons this week. Members totally make the difference. Lessons are WAY better when members are with us. I love it. We are going to try and keep getting the members to come out with us. It was another great week visiting both less actives and investigators. It’s amazing what a little bit of love can do. We had 3 investigators at church and between us and the elders, 13 less actives again at church.

Solve life's problems with prayer and Oreos, Sara says.

We sure are seeing miracles in this little branch. This branch has grown to be my family. I really love the people here, and I think they kind of maybe like me too. Who knows? Sorry I don’t have any specific stories this week for you, but I would like to share a thought I had this week during personal study.

Right now, I am reading in the Book of Mormon in Alma. I have read in Alma lots before, but something stood out to me this week was in Chapter 44 in the first few verses. Moroni is talking to Zerahemnah, who is being a stinker and wants to fight the Nephites and have power of the land.

"Ye are angry with us because of our religion.

But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.

 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith." (Alma 44:3-4)

 
(Gotta love seminary videos, right?) 
 

I love this promise. And I know that it is true! If we are faithful in our religion — faithful to God and Jesus Christ — our faith will not be destroyed and we have the promise that God will SUPPORT, KEEP, AND PERSERVE us.

We live in an interesting world, for sure. There is a lot going on. I get to see a lot every day both good and bad. There are a lot of people who will hate us simply because we are LDS, but that is okay. As long as we stand firm and keep living as we need to be, all will work out. We need to fear God and not man. As it was said in last General Conference. We are Mormon... We KNOW IT, LIVE IT and we LOVE IT! Make sure you remember whom you represent. You are never alone and God will be your strength. Rely on the Lord and he will never let you down.

I still don’t know a lot. But my testimony of this Gospel keeps growing every day! When it all comes down to it, I KNOW that this Gospel is true and that it has been restored through Joseph Smith. I know that it is Jesus Christ’s original church restored to the Earth today. The Book of Mormon is evidence of this and I love that book! I still have lots to learn, but I cannot deny that the Book of Mormon is from God. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and He lives. I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us and knows us individually. He knows us by name and cares what we are doing in life. He wants nothing more than to see us return back to him again. He has given us the tools we need and I know if we use them, we can have everything He has promised.

 I don’t care who you are, what you have done or what you are doing. The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone and will change your life! I feel so blessed to be sharing His message with people from all over the world!

This message is simple, it is true and it is for everyone. Don’t be shy. Share what you know to be true!

Have a great week and remember how blessed you are. Make the changes you need to make, keep doing what you are supposed to. Be that person God needs you to be. Don’t stress too much, He will help you every step of the way. Smile and don’t forget to laugh. Have fun, life is good. The gospel is exciting!

Con Amor,

Hermana Newman

This means, "um, well" in Spanish. Sara thought it was funny.

Going and doing

COLUMBIA, Md.  — Another wonderful week in Maryland has passed. I can’t believe I have been in Maryland for 2 months. It’s not very long, but time is flying for sure! The weather here is still hot, but thankfully not as hot as a couple weeks ago. It is bearable and I don’t mind it at all.

I would now just love to get rid of the yucky mosquitoes. I don’t have eczema on my legs anymore, but they are infested with mosquito bites. Dumb bugs! All is well, though, as long as I don’t get mosquitoes in Argentina and get dengue, I think I will be good.


This week has been great. Guess where I got to go?!? Don’t be too jealous.

Yes, got to go to the DC Visitor Center. The temple is beautiful just like everyone has told me :) I wish we could have gone inside! I miss going to the temple. I haven’t been in 2 months, which is the longest time I have ever been without going to the temple. It is killing me. But it’s okay because I am a missionary and get to help the people here in Maryland instead. But one day, I am coming back to Maryland and going to the DC temple. It is way pretty! We went with a member in the branch and a family from Mexico. It was really nice, and I think they liked it a lot. They were really shy and didn’t talk too much, but we are going to start teaching them this week. I am really excited!

It has been a little hard to find new investigators and visit members and less actives because it is summer. And apparently, people like to leave and go on vacation in the summer. What? Who do they think they are? Don’t they know that we need them here and we have a message to change their lives? ;)

I can't think of a particular story to tell this week, but I have definitely learned a few things. One big lesson I have learned again this week was the easiest and best way to do things is just by following the Spirit. We found one family and two ladies this week to teach because we went by the Spirit and were not afraid to open our mouths. I Love it!

We were walking around trying to find a potential investigator's house. That’s when we happened upon a lady named Sara. I had the impression to say hello and talk to her. I was scared for some reason though. I kept fighting with myself while we were walking up to her what I would do. Finally we caught up and it was go time. What am I going to do? Talk to her or just smile, say hi and keep walking?

What kind of question is that, Hermana Newman? 

Luckily, I had my head on straight and I listened and I talked and walked with her for a bit. Asked her how she was doing and who we were etc. I asked if she lived close and if we could share a message with her and her family. She smiled and me and said, "Claro, Hermana. Pasen." (Of course sister, come in) My heart stopped for a split second.

What? Did she really just say yes? That doesn’t usually happen. 

A lot of times they are not interested, too busy or ask us to come back a different day. I was so happy. We met with her family and got to know them better and started teaching them about the Restoration. Long story short, we have a new family to teach. I know it is not because of me: totally the Spirit guiding two 'lil sister missionaries. I know that when we forget ourselves, not worry about it and just go and do what Heavenly Father needs us to, we can see miracles and have blessings.

Another cool blessing I have noticed this week was my Spanish. Trust me, I am nowhere near fluent. I have quite a ways to go, but I can definitely get around and talk to people. I mess up sometimes and people love to help me. A lot of the times I am so scared and just have to pretend I am not. But this week, as I put my fear aside, the Lord helped me open my mouth and speak.

My Spanish is slowly increasing and getting better. I love leaving appointments and thinking back, "Wow, we just taught that whole thing in Spanish."  Or just walking around outside talking to everyone and having conversations in Spanish. I really do love these people already. They are awesome! 

By the time they get to Argentina, they might not need these coats.

My absolute favorite thing is when people look at us with weird faces and are just staring. It’s the best. They are staring because they see two lil white girls speaking to them in Spanish. I love when people ask, "Where did you learn to speak Spanish?" Or "How long have you known Spanish?" It’s the best! Testimony to me of how much God really can help us. I have only been out 3 months and my language still needs a lot of improvement, but from going from zero Spanish to where I am now? I am grateful to my Heavenly Father every day! What a blessing.

The cool thing is that Heavenly Father wants to bless us all every day, but we just have to ask. This week, ask for specific blessings — do your part and I know that God can bless you with what you need if it is His will. God is so loving and wants to help us. Don’t think if you don’t get it right away that He doesn’t care. I absolutely know 100% He does care! God is a God of miracles and blessings. He loves me and He definitely loves you. Be good, do what you are supposed to, strive everyday to be a little better and you will see blessings, and your life will change for the better.

I love you with all my heart!  Have a fabulous week! Until next time: Give em Heaven!

Con Amor,
Hermana Newman :)