Week 75

Well this week was good and interesting. To start off we were able to help get two more people to church this Sunday. Their names are Hector and Alicia. Hector is a special needs guy and is awesome. His mom died about 10 days ago, so whenever he remembers about that he gets super sad. Alicia is his aunt. Alicia really loved the church. She liked how clean it was, and she found a few old friends and some new ones at church.

Luciano and Graciela didn’t come to church though. They said they were packing to [get ready to] go home Tuesday. But Luciano is ready to receive the priesthood, and he will do that when he gets to Buenos Aires. Tomorrow we are going to the terminal with them to say good bye and give them a Book of Mormon with some fotos of them and us, with our testimonies.

Also this week me and the financial secretary went on a bus trip to Catriel and then back to do an errand for President. It’s about a two and a half hour bus ride just to go there. We got there, got the documents and papers we needed, and we were back on a bus to take another bus ride back to Neuquen. We weren’t off the first bus for more than a minute before we got on the next one.

Well that’s about all for this week.

Love you all,
Elder Newman

   

[Elder Newman fixed lunch for everyone today.]

Week 74

Well this week was a great week. To start off we baptized a mom and her son. It was great! Me and my comp practiced and memorized a song in sign language, and we did it for her at her baptism. It turned out really great. Then the members that were there learned how to say “welcome to the ward” in sign language, and welcomed her in that way. She was so happy that we learned a little sign.

Everyone here thinks that I learned sign language before the mission. When I was helping Graciela understand what the people were saying in their talks at the baptism, the bishop thought it would be a great idea if I had the assignment to stand next to the pulpit on Sunday and translate everything that they said. So guess what I did. Sunday I was up there standing the whole meeting doing signs to her.

It was in that moment I realized I had learned a lot of sign while teaching her. I think that when I was [set apart as] a missionary and they said I would be able to grasp the language well and fast, they were talking about literally grasping this language because I still have some troubles with Spanish, but I learned this in about 3 weeks. Now I have to teach the ward members on Friday. We scheduled a little class so that everyone could start talking with her. Her son, Luciano is super ready. He already wants to go to the temple, and I believe he will go on a mission when he is older.

I have been District Leader for about 8 or 9 months now. I am still here in the office.

Well that is basically all that happened this week. I guess I made empanadas and we visited a few people.

One of the families you can all pray for is Naohuel, Natalia y Maohue. They really need a big answer that they need a church in their lives and that God exists and has commandments that we need to follow. Thanks for all the support back home.

Love You All,
Elder Newman

 
A Valentine's Day activity at their ward.

 

 

Week 73

Well, this week we didn’t do a whole lot of teaching because first we were dealing with all the new missionaries. We also had to close 2 apartamentos y we had to take a bunch of desks and closets all over the mission. We did get some teaching in though.

This Saturday we are going to baptize a mom and a son. The mom is deaf, and we have learned a good amount of sign language to help talk to her. She has dreamed of the Book of Mormon before, and she really likes the church. Her son, Luciano, is super smart. He loves God and is willing to do anything to follow him, and he is 13. He asks a lot of questions that a grown man wouldn’t even think of here. Next week I’ll send you all some pics of the baptism.

Elder Newman

 

 

Week 72 - Happy Transfers!

Well this week was busy with transfers. We are going to get 12 new missionaries this week. They get here Tuesday......and no one is leaving the office, but 8 missionaries are going home Tuesday...no of this has happened yet. I just finished all the plans and stuff so they can get where they are going. I’m here another transfer, maybe 2. I like it. I could stay here for a bit longer.

We weren’t able to teach much, but we are helping a lot of new people we have found. Daniel is coming to church this Sunday, same with Luciano y Graciela. We really want to go back to Nahuel y Natalia, but they have family that is visiting them from Chile so they asked us not to come visit this week. But next week we are definitely teaching them.

Ya, that’s about it. We are planning an activity in the church with our investigators at 7 today. I’m making muddy buddies and [we’re] watching The Restoration. Yep that’s about it.

Love you all- Elder Newman

Last meeting as a district and some weird graffiti.

Week 71

Well not a whole lot has happened this week. We were able to help 4 people get to church this week, so that was great. One guy was an older dude that was all broken and could barely walk. So me and my comp did divisions with members, and me and a member went to help him get out of bed, get in a car, and come to church.

I also learned quite a bit of sign language Sunday. The kid we used to communicate with the mom went with all the younger kids to his class, so me and my comp were left with his mom and dad that are deaf. When we were reading she would show me what every word was. By the end of the day I was translating what everyone was saying and having conversations with them. The gift of tongues is real. I learned how to teach the Plan of Salvation in sign and a bunch of other stuff in just 2 hours. They are hopefully going to get baptized on the 11 of February.

I took a few pictures with our investigators. We have found a few more families that we want to teach. They are all young families, and I’m hoping they will be baptized:)

Well that’s all for now.

Love You All- Elder Newman

  

Week 70

Well last p-day we went and played paddle ball in a place we found near the office. It was really fun. This week we worked a ton with investigadores. We have Luciano y Andrea. They are progressing very well, along with Johnny y Maira and Daniel. I believe that every one of them will get baptized. They just need to be able to get to church.

During intercessions (I don’t know what is called in English) I met some interesting people. I met a guy that was super nice and super honest. He had been in jail a few times because he uses drugs and then does knife fighting; you can see that he has a ton of scars from doing that. Later we found a guy that just got done buying drugs. He stopped us and told us he wanted to change his life, and told us a little about his story, showed us his tattoos that he got in the prison, the tattoo he got for killing a cop, and all this stuff. But I’m glad to say that both of these men felt really bad for what they have done and are really trying to find God in their lives. I never once felt like I was in danger. I could just feel how much they were longing to come to know our Savior and his love. I have also talked to a few ignorant people too, but those are stories for when I get home jaja.

We were able to contact a reference that we got of a man that is being separated with his wife. He has 3 kids. The oldest is I think 11, and the youngest is 6, and his wife is basically tired of him and wants to get to know other people. She still wants to go to parties and stuff. The guy is really, really sad. He broke down in tears when we gave him the Book of Mormon and told him that through reading the BOM and praying that everything will work out for the better. We then left him with our testimonies, and we are hoping to go back to his house with one of his good friends who is a member that lives by him. She basically raised him as a kid with her sons. His name is Juan. If you guys could pray for him, that would be great.

We also went to Plaza Huincul to open a pension. We loaded the truck up with a ton of things and then we hit the road. We were driving for about an hour and a half when I heard the change of sound coming from under the hood. So we turned all the music off and all the fans so I could hear it better. We then basically lost all power. I could not speed up, I could only change the RPM and that was it. I still don’t know what was wrong. Later the transmission light came on. I pulled over to see if I could see anything obvious that happened under the hood, and I couldn't see anything wrong, but I could only hear it. So we got there and went back home driving super carefully and slow. We have a day to take the truck to the mechanic, and it is this Thursday.

Well, that’s basically it for this week.

Love You All.
The one but not the only, Elder Newman

Happy Birthday little sis. Hope you had a great one. Know your brother loves you.

 

Week 69

Well to start off, I want to say sorry because I didn’t take pictures this week, woops. But I will say that this week was full of work.

We taught 20 lessons and found 11 new investigadores hicimos 72 contactos, and we invited 4 people to baptism. The only goal we didn’t come close to meeting is investigators in the church.

My new comp is great. He is helping me leave from my comfort zone a little bit more and actually talk to every living soul that walks by us. Some reject us very coldly, some say some crazy stuff about something their pastor told them, but there are a lot that accept to let us come to their house to talk to them. We have a few families that we just barely started teaching that look like they are going to progress really well.

We really didn’t do anything for my birthday. We did drop Angel y Victor. They weren’t progressing anymore, so we had to drop them. Then we went and had dinner with President and the Hermana. We celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary. It’s the same day as my birthday. Then after [that],we ate cake.

Yep, I actually got a sunburn last Monday. [It was the] first time in a long time since I’ve got burnt. It’s probably because I’m in the office all day during the hottest part of the day menos lunes [except Monday].

Well that’s about it. I’ll let you all know how these new investigadores turn out.
Elder Nuevohombre

[As it turns out, Elder Newman did send pictures that he must have gotten from some of the other elders.]