The fourth missionary and the ease of the Restored Gospel

LUIS GILLON, Argentina — I don’t want to say it but here it goes again.... FELIZ AGOSTO! 

Yes, like always, weird to say another month and transfer has whizzed by! I don’t think I will understand time my whole life. I guess I will stop trying to understand it and just go with the flow ;) 

Sunrise in Argentina.

How are you all doing? I was super surprised and got some extra awesome emails from my family this week. THANKS! I loved hearing how you are doing and hearing about your families. I miss you all like crazy! Hermana Mills and I talk about you all the time. We are working hard as ever and trying to find more families to bring this happiness of the Gospel to!

This week was great. We had our own Capilla Abierta (Open House) this week here in Luis Guillon. It was awesome. I sent a few pictures of it, so I hope you can see them. It was a big success. We had active members, less active members, investigators and contacts off the street there. It was fun to see the ward come together in unity for this great cause. The capilla abierta is to invite people to come and see what we believe and do in the Church. All of the auxiliaries do a room to explain that part of the church and then us sisters do a tour with short explanations of the charlas (what is that word... bah.... lesson. Nope.. discussions sorry) and then the Christus with the audio. It's nothing like Temple Square, but it's all we have available here and it is amazing. I love that I get to be part of it because I can always feel the Spirit SO strong.

Hermanas Newman y Mills with the elder at the Capilla Abierta.

We are still working with the Valasquez family, and they are progressing well. Still keep them in your prayers, please! I will try and send a picture next week of them. They are great little family. I think they are about Nick and Juli's age, and with two kids. They came to the open house this week and loved it! Everyone thought they were members, which was funny when she said she wasn’t, everyone was so suprised. They still have their date for the 30th, but Satan is a stinker and she is having problems with her work now.

We had a meeting this week with the Zone Leaders, President and his wife, and the Sister Training Leaders this week. It was GREAT! I love working with the girls and learning from them, but also I love going to meetings and hearing from President. He is a very smart and inspired man, that is for sure! We felt the Spirit lots, and it gave us a good way to start the week off again.

Hermana Newman shows off postre celestial (heavenly dessert).

This week has been crazy with temperatures. It was freezing and I have been wearing tights for a month or so straight now, but we had a random heat flash and I was dying! Good thing I won't be here for summer or I think I might melt again!

I read a talk this week called the Fourth Missionary. I remembered it from the MTC (one of my teachers told me to read it) I had Brittany send it to me last week. This week, I am nothing but smiles. It is AMAZING to say the least. It is for missionaries and what kind of missionaries we can be. It’s hard to explain here over email but its great and I learned a lot. I think we can all apply it as members, too though. 

Hermana Newman with all her companions, except her trainer, who is serving in Salta, Argentina.

What kind of members are we? The best (#4) or are we just getting by or even being disobedient?  (#1) I invite you to all read it. It looks long, but it’s a fast read and well worth your time, I promise. It helped me realize I am doing great as a missionary and person but of course I have got to keep it up and keep getting better and being that person that God needs me to be! I am working hard at it everyday. 

One quote I loved and want to share is very short and sweet... ¨Life is hard, not the gospel. ¨ 

How true that is. The Gospel is not hard, it's what makes life good and helps us return back with Him. I'm going to share this video with you because it is powerful and better than what I could ever try to say or express! This just gave me the chills and I felt the Spirit soooo strong. This is what I mean when I shared the quote, ¨LIFE IS HARD, NOT THE GOSPEL.¨ He is there for us ALWAYS.

Make sure you are doing what you need to be doing. Do the small things daily. I PROMISE they make a difference! Be that person that you need to be but most important, who God needs you to be!

Love you with all my heart! Have a good week! Tear it up! Hugs and kisses to you all! 

Chau Chau

-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