Tho I should give all I have, it would be a small price to pay to learn to love‏

Pictured: Elder L and I after doing exchanges, with the highest grade of photography employed.















List of every temple I've entered:

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/redlands-california?lang=eng (only in the Open House)

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/oklahoma-city-oklahoma?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/boise-idaho?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/twin-falls-idaho?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/provo-utah?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/guatemala-city-guatemala?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/san-salvador-el-salvador?lang=eng

So yeah, here we are. First, for all the missionaries: it's really really weird contacting without La Dádiva (He is the Gift).

Thought: To believe that God is a God of Miracles is to believe that whatsoever thing that is good in His eyes is possible. If you want to be baptized in 3 weeks, you can do it. If you don't believe you can be ready without an extensive training period, where is your faith? God works as quickly as we let Him.

Also: Thought is power. To think on oneself is like a power plant being connected to itself. A power plant easily supplies its own needs and using its surplus on itself will only destroy the electrical system of the plant, then unable to produce power whatsoever.

This week was cool. We worked with one of the companionships a ton, doing 1 hour of exchanges, then a day, then we sent the whole district to work there for 2 hours. It was pretty great and we got a lot of progress done there. We found 9 new investigators in just those 2 hours.

Christmas was chill. We ate a ton of Panes con Pollo (chicken sandwiches), some Tres Leches, painted a house, cleaned another, donated some Panes con Pollo, and skyped home. Calling home was really nice, just a general comfort. It's infamous for making people baggy (trunky) but I didn't feel like that.

We have 2 families likely for baptism, one the 17 of January and the other the 14th of February. We've worked with F. A. a ton, and I think they'll finally get baptized (they've been interviewed once but needed more time). F M, we've only visited a little bit, but they've committed to read the Book of Mormon con todo. Also, Hno. E will probably be baptized, but he hasn't set a date. He believes in the Book of Mormon, is good with all the commandments, he just needs to say the word. There are a lot of good people here, and we hope to work super hard with them so that they might achieve EXALTATION. (almost everyone will achieve salvation in the last day so that's really not the goal here)

Saluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu pues (traditional Salvadoreño goodbye :y  )

Elder Newman

I hope it's a very, very lovely year.

Mas Fotos!

This week was pretty chill. I kind of messed up my first District Meeting (which is pretty great since one of the Assistents to the President was there), but I managed to make it somewhat useful. We also had a service activity painting a school Saturday with half the zone. That was pretty cool. A lot of people are busy with Christmas, so we haven't been able to find as many people,.but that's how it goes. The Ward also had it's Christmas activity. We ate well and some investigators came, and that's what's important.

From what I understand, Christmas really isn't anything special in the mission here. I just figure I won't sleep because it's the culture here to do fireworks alllllllllllllllllll night. Also our Zone Conferences are maximo 1, 2 buses away, so like $3 at worst wherever in the mission. I feel like the point of money is pretty easy here. I always have left over money.

The most positive families right now are the familia Ayala, Hermano Edihim, and the familia Monterosa. F. Ayala has been visited by the missionaries hace rato (for quite a bit. Elder Rojas contacted them a year ago in a different area and then they moved here and other Elders contacted them again, including Elder Beecher who was with me in the MTC.). They're not so good for reading the Book of Mormon, but they attend church by their own choice (we don't have to provide transport or bother them or anything), and they're reading the Conference Liahona. They're progressing a lot. Hno. Edihim is super positive, he's been visited for a month I think, but yesterday was the first time he came to church. I feel like the Gospel Principles class' theme of the Final Judgment was actually just what he needed to hear. F. Monterosa we just found, but they're very friendly, investigated the Church in the past, and are quite sincere. So yeah, keep moving forward! I'm getting better at doing street contacts, and we could have 3 baptisms this change.

Always remember to pray! Try to have as few prayers per day, i.e., aim to have one, continuous prayer from dawn til dusk. For those of you with Patriarchal Blessings, remember to live such that you may receive the blessings thereof! And always be making yourself worthy of your (future/current - select one) spouse! Just do all the things in their good and proper order!

CON TODO,

Elder Jacob Newman

fotos yeeeeeeeeeeeah, some shots of the Aguas de Ilopango, San Marcos, Elder R, and after our house in Soyapango, Elder R, and a service activity painting a school.

have fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun Christmas was meant to be coooooooooooold

I hope that it might be an absoultely wonderful Christmas back home :>

Soyapanico‏

URGENT: Why is James called Santiago in Spanish

I also forgot my agenda today so I don't remember all the things I wanted to tell you. Also this computer can't accept my flashdrive so I can't send you all my pictures (I have some pics from my old area and of my new house and Elder R, my new companion, from when he was doing stuff)

But yeah, I'm now in Prusia II, in Soyapango. It's another city connected to San Salvador, but it's like 40 minutes from San Marcos. I'm District Leader of 4 companionships, and our Zone has 2 districts in total (the other district has only 2 Latinos but I'm the only gringo in my district. The Zone Leaders are also in my district). It's super urban, has a ton of stores, and 3 different gangs. But the Ward is pretty healthy, with between 170 and 200 assistence, and the people here give us a ridiculous amount of food. Leaving San Marcos and Elder R was a shame, but this is a very good area. Oh, and I almost had sisters in my district, cus the other district is half sisters. In Usulutan, there were 30 missionaries and 0 sisters, and in San Marcos, they were just not that close. Oh, and my old Zone got divided. But yeah, being a District Leader is interesting, and I'm trying hard to put forward the best example.

My companion is Elder R from Peru, and this is his last transfer. He goes home with Joseph I think. But he's great, we're working hard, and I'm super tired. He is not currently trunky. :> I'll probably be here at least 3 months though, since he'll be leaving.

The best pupusas I've had so far are garlic pupusas. Jalapeño is más o menos, and just a note, there is barely any spicy food in El Salvador. Tried them both this week. I want to try the carrot pupusas but haven't found them.

This week we have our Christmas meeting with Presidente Vásquez, so that's exciting.

Even though we have our own chapel, it's like 20 minutes by foot and half of our area is another 20 minutes (mixed bus and foot).

With contacting, we've been doing better in my new area, and it really helps, because other finding methods are less continuous and require more time to prep. In the past, I've primarily had referrals from members, but always fairly low values there.

As far as El Salvador goes, the two real problems are low education levels (it stops in high school usually) and the gangs. The gangs are really paralysing the nation, because it's gotten much worse the last few years, and given that people can't trust in their own security in the majority of the country, tourism, business, etc just doesn't work, and it just stimulates stuff like youth pregnancy, lower education levels, higher crime rates, etc.

Starting with the important things like always:

It's getting close to New Years, so make sure to have the Little Matchstick Girl at the ready.

I don't remember the words to Alouette at all. I love the tune though. I don't even remember if the lyrics are in French or translated. :y

Elder Romero just has a ton of pills but going to the neurologist here isn't a big deal because medicine is kind of weird generally in this country.

I got one of my Christmas packages and I want to open it cus it has ties (and I heard that the other's in the mission office) but you can't open Christmas presents until Christmas :<

Anyway, the most important thing I've heard this week goes as follows:

"charity=consecration"

or something like that because I hear everything in Spanish and that's more or less how it translates (caridad=consagración)

But it's a lovely thought

It feels like everything's harder here than it should be. Especially all the gangs. Apparently, Honduras applied the death penalty to being a gangster, so like all their gangsters moved to El Salvador and that's why everything has gotten really bad here. Here's pretty chill, once and a while we get an impression not to go to tal y tal lugar, but ni modo (such and such a place, but I did so). We've got a few neighborhoods still made of dirt and some champas, generally thin pasajes (passages) for all the housing, but we do have a freeway right though the area. We live in a gated community with guards.

Last PDay we had a Pumpkin Pie as a kind of super late half Thanksgiving, and I've already gotten one of my Christmas packages. As far as teaching goes, it's been pretty slow, with a low number of scheduled visits, but c'est la vie. This week I expect to be much better. There's one pair in particular that's moving along nicely. They've come to Church twice already, the wife is the cousin of a member and has known various members, they're reading the Book of Mormon, and watched the Christmas Devotional last night. The only thing is that they aren't married (people should just get married if they're going to have a family. It's like 400000 times easier.). Journal writing is still A+, and I feel most particularly that it helps me regulate my moods and stay happier more. It's important.

Oh, and we're going to help a member put up Christmas lights tomorrow. Yes.

And transfers are Wednesday. Throwing everything in the air like always.

Gonna have a good weeeeeeeeeeek yesh

Elder Newman

Fotos son aburridas y nunca jamás se las enviaré a Uds. (photos are boring and never ever will send it to you again)

articulations and gestures communicate thoughts and meanings.‏ (Photos!)

Important questions first:

What is inverse sugar? (It's in Swedish Fish)

How does the saying "If wishes were fishes..." end?

Favorite statements:

A living prophet is of greater value than a dead one, e.g., Adam was not given revelation to build the Ark of Noah. (Pres. Benson)

The worth of a human soul is its potential to become like God. (cited by Pres. Monson)

Otherwise, things have just been going along. My goal this week is to develop goal following habits. I know a lot of stuff that I could do better, and I make pretty good goals sometimes, so I guess I just need to apply them better. Also work more by the Spirit.

Things that are going better this week: consistent journal writing (it is a commandment), contacting a little bit. Otherwise same old. My goal for the week is to set 1 daily goal to improve on, then continue it for the rest of the week and así voy mejorando (so I'm getting better).

Speaking of Spanglish, sometimes it's really fun being the only English speaker. A member asked me to sing Teach Me to Walk in the Light in English (she asked in Spanish), but I only remembered the opening and closing lines to the hymn, so I sung the main body about how I'm the only one who's aware that I'm not singing the lyrics correctly. But that's just shenanigans.

Oh, and Friday we just spent the whole day in buses because my companion went to the neurologist for migraines. And one of my shirts got a small puncture because bus chairs here are ghetto and have stuff sticking out and they decided to be rude. Saturday, the part of my watch that holds the strap broke. Then Sunday, one of my two long sleeve shirts got a massive tear in the sleeve because it caught on a parked truck that also had a thing just jutting out for the sake of it. Fortunately, our laundry lady said she knows someone that might be able to clean them up well. Fingers crossed. (but really, after 7 months without incident, 2 shirts in a weekend). We passed by the Mission Office while going to the neurologist and picked up 2 packages, particularly my birthday package. Chivo (literally translates "kid." Probably like saying "dude" here).

We'll see how everything goes this week! Hoping it'll be something different! 

Exchanges still haven't happened. I most of all hope to lift my faith. It feels like things are a bit overstressed here and we don't end up working super quality, so I really want to fulfill my goals. I'm pretty rubbish at changing my lifestyle to meet them, so I don't know. Work more on having the Spirit and all that. Though I'm doing pretty well with respect to my journal writing.

Oh, and I have my BDay package and the envelope filled with stuff from the Liahona. Thanks a lot :>

Hope your week goes very spiffingly.

Adiós (siempre se me olvida que adiós tenga acento), y dele con todo (Goodbye ( I always forget goodbye has accent) , and give all)

Elder Newman

photos:

1. my companion likes plastic animals and stuff like that. If we're still together for Christmas, I'm going to buy him Monopoly.

2. parked trucks are rude.

3. my companion messing with my camera.

I want a Pumpkin Pie but I am denied it‏

This past week hasn't been to particularly eventful, as I am given to say. Lots of appointments fell through but a lot also turned out well, no investigators came to Church but like 40 less actives came so that's pretty great, given that our chapel is right there.

We have a few contacts that are quite promising. We hope to meet a bunch this week and met one last night (follow up visit this evening about BAPTISM yeah), and yeah. Oh, and S M was baptized of course but I already sent that email :>

Our new building is awesome and entirely better than taking a 30 minute bus ride.

Going to work hard and remember things to write in the email home! YEAH!

All in all, it's been quite tranquilo (tranquil). Normal missionary stuff I guess. We have a visit to the Temple in December planned for investigators (just to tour the grounds and teach a bit about the Temple) and I think we have exchanges tomorrow. Probably. Quizas (maybe). We were supposed to have them twice last week but since one of the companions in Santo Tomas has only been there 1-2 weeks due to emergencies (Elder Wikan was sent home due to health problems), he isn't confident in the area.

I'll take pics of drawings one day because I'm still doing it but I'm too lazy.

Adios,

Elder Jacob Newman

Regina Spektor and Les Mis play in my head once in a while but I can't remember the lyrics except for Eet which is pretty appropriate if you ask me.‏

Things are going along. We're already almost halfway through this transfer which is super weird, 

The Open House went pretty fantastic Friday and more or less Saturday. There were some organization problems, but Friday was quite sublime, and Saturday had some success. The important thing is that there are more than a few referrals from members waiting to be filled and now that it's so close, it'll be way easier for everyone to attend. The Dedicación fue buena (the Dedication was good).

We're trying to build our relationships with quite a few investigators. We had some good talks with individual members of the Familia Lemuz, and 2 are close to accepting a baptismal date and we talked with one who had almost never talked with us. A Familia Lino we reeeeeeeeally hope to find and work with them this week. The father has read the Book of Mormon, has a testimony, and would be baptized in an instant, but they're not married (why is this a thing El Salvador being married is pretty good) and the wife doesn't have a testimony. They've been visited by the missionaries off and on for a very long time. Then Familia Perez Cañas has a lot of potential too, but we haven't found them in a while. Same with Ricardo Martinez. He's always busy as a mechanic but he's sincerely interested. Stupid gentile world.

Bagged liquids continue to be a bad idea but I continue having to use them.

Adios Elder Newman

I have absolutely no photos for you‏

I´m a dark blonde now. It's weird; I was just looking in the mirror in the church bathroom and my hair isn't brown. I'm so used to dark brown and here the sun went and bleached it. The mission changes people. :y

Not too much to report this week. Most of it was pretty slow, with a bit of lethargic sickness, meetings with Ward leaders, etc. Monday was intense, because we visited a Sister who's having a lot of problems right now and is falling out of Church attendance (we've also been visiting an investigator with her) and it was basically the Spirit requiring everything we had. We could barely move that night, we were so tired, and the next 3 days were the same, but now I'm back to normal energy levels.

Our local chapel is finally ready and we're having an open house this weekend. Here's hoping that all goes extremely well. All the people in the street are really interested, and it's a big deal to have meetings there again, since at the moment, we have to take a 30 min bus ride to our chapel and almost nobody has cars. It means like 0 investigators come to church too. But yeah, the 23 or 24th whichever is a Sunday we'll be meeting there again (for some reason they decided to dedicate the chapel at 2 this Sunday, i.e., after meetings).

Still not super good at doing street contacts (last night I had my first experience where I just couldn't do a contact. Like, I started talking then got 100% tongue-tied and couldn't speak worth beans. The one after that was a ton better. *shrug*) There's also some misunderstandings dealing with the open house between the various Wards and the Mission Leadership, but we just pray that they work out and I'm pretty sure they'll work out because prayer is a big deal and we all agree that the enemy is doing all he can to make sure that the Open House fails so yeah.

Scripture of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 10:5 (Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.)

PRAY ALWAYS AND YOU SHALL CONQUER (interesting to relate to Romans 8:36-39)

Adios,

Elder Jacob Newman

P.S. I have drawn things but not taken pictures of anything so yeah

hay un feliz pulpo que se halle en la tierra?‏ (Is there a happy octopus in the earth?)

This week went pretty well. Working with Elder V and Elder E was fantastic, but they both had changes. I'm staying in Los Alpes while Elder V went to Santo Tomas (which is still in our District so ni modo) and Elder E to somewhere in Apopa (probably. we didn't go to the transfers meeting and Elder F isn't 100% sure if he went to Apopa. Elder F is training right now :>).

Other news, Elder E taught me to light matches with one hand, peanut butter syrup is a thing, Scheherezade is still the best name ever and if one were to name a child that they could just go by Sche (pronounced Shay) if they wanted but it's still probably a bad idea to name a child that.

Bro. M made me feel really good. I didn't feel like I'd contributed to his baptism because Familia M is super awesome and all but he said that something I said in the second lesson I had with them (he didn't specify what) was what inspired him to make the decision to be baptized in the end. I mean, patently that's just the Spirit working but it's cool anyway.

Elder R is my new companion. He has 2 weeks more than me in the mission, is from Honduras, and the most active member of his family. We're getting along super well and he wants to learn English so we've been singing a lot in English.

Tuesday before changes we also contacted an inactive Sister based on some member localization sheets the Elders Quorum gave us and it was awesome. She was sick from a miscarriage (though they managed to save the child), and expressed a desire to return to Church. She went inactive when her first child was born, but now that he's a teenager, she wants him in the church so that he doesn't go off doing crazy stuff. Her husband isn't a member, but they're legally married (like 10% of El Salvador is actually married) and he left his old church because they didn't accept their marriage (he's a fair bit younger than her). But yeah. Lots of potential. Second visit fell through but that's par for the course. Gonna keep working there.

That's it for this week, minus that today was my first time showering with a pila. We didn't have water this morning so I had to use water from the pila. Pilas are a thing here where it's basically a large basin of stagnant water reserves that's always super cold and you just use a bowl kind of thing to scoop water to wash your hands, throw water on yourself, pour it in the toilet to make it flush, etc. It's pretty ghetto but it's better that we're using the pila cus if you don't mosquitoes just start breeding in them (we also have a thing that prevents them from breeding in the pila but it only like half works).

Adios,

Elder Jacob Thomas Newman

Los Tres Amigos

Having fun during Day of the Dead

New Companions

Vaya Pues‏

We had one small earthquake. shrug

so emergency changes equals being in trio for a week. Elder Velasquez is from Guatemala and came from Chelatenango because things are crazy in El Salvador. I took a picture of us in trio but it didn't save or something so that's that.

changes are Wednesday

nothing happened p much cus after buying $27 sandals, having the surgery (to fix ingrown toenails on both feet), and eating Papa Johns, I didn't do anything until Wednesday night when I left with the Ward Mission Leader to have all our lessons fall through in our neighborhood. I did read 4 Liahonas in 3 days though. Plus other stuff. Work was pretty meh because I'm out of touch right now and we're recovering the area after 2.5 weeks of bad work, so yeah. Vamos pues.

There is no time for all the details on the surgery. Just did digital blocks on my toes and pulled em out yeah then couldn't leave for 2 days or resume normal work til Saturday. Today is día numero uno (day number one) wearing shoes again. Had to spend $27 getting suitable sandals for the recovery in an Adidas store. We weren't told to bring any to the surgery, but we needed them, so we had to run to this upscale mall quick and find some that wouldn't bother my toes during healing. Being in malls is super unpleasant now. So much commercialism and stuff. Too American. Too much pisto. (pisto=money in El Salvador. Like half of the vocabulary changes from country to country in Centroamerica it's crazy. And it changes entirely, like words change to swears and back, or they won't even recognize the word at all.)

Might get packages at changes. Vamos a ver.

Adios

Elder Newman

meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh

shrug

things are pretty cool though don't get me wrong

That was spiffy‏

So, Elder E taught me how to snap on Friday. I'm figuring that out. I can now do a Z snap sometimes and synchronized West Side snaps. I have to catch up on a life of practice, but I still couldn't provide the snaps for a Poetry Slam or a spunky small choir.

We also had an earthquake Tuesday. That was spiffy. We had some pretty good lateral movement, but it only lasted about 25 seconds, so it didn't do real damage. We were about to leave the house when it started calming down, so it was kind of just an experience without consequence.

Work's been a bit hard. We've dropped a lot of investigators since they were either uninvested in their search or they were never at home, so we're trying to build ourselves back up. Did a ton better talking with people in the street. Going to keep that up.

Also had interviews with the Presidente y Hermana Vásquez. That was super good. Still on watch for training in the future.

Going to have my ingrown toenails taken out today, Gonna ruin my Pday and not be able to work for 2 days but whatevvvvvvvvvvvvs y'all

Oh, and it's been fresquiiiiiiiiito (cool) over here. Overcast and a bit rainy. Super comfortable.

Have some pictures cus I still mess with coins a lot and tried drawing with highlighters to mixed success.

Adios,

Elder Jacob Newman

Link to News about the El Salvador Oct. 13, 2014 Earthquake

7.4 Earthquake Hits El Salvador

(Click on the link and it will open the site in another tab.)

We have not heard anything from the mission president, and in cases such as these, no news is always good news.

you could even say that things *happened*‏

So, I'll be brief in describing this week because a ton happened.

First, we had exchanges Tuesday, so I was with Elder W in Santo Tomas for the day. He's still in training, we got rained on since San Salvador decided it was winter again after not raining for like 2 weeks and my himnal was quite put out by the experience.

We also had my birthday, which was pretty chill. We bought some Ding Dong knockoffs and put 19 matches in it, plus ordered le Pizza Hut. (also Sunday night my companion conspired against me and threw a birthday party thing.)

Zone Conference Saturday, plus the baptism of the M family!!! They'll be super good members. They were thinking about their sealing in the temple before their baptism even happened :>

There's these "houses" here called champas or champitas (example above) that are just made out of a wood frame and putting laminates as walls, roof, doors, etc, a few meters in dimension. My companion wants to live in one to get through college, just build one in the USU fields. (it's weird to go into a champa and see a Plasma TV but that happens)

Anyway, it was a pretty busy week and as such there are pictures (incredible).

My current goal is getting better at repentance. I have a hard time talking to the people in the street, but I hope to get better at that. Praying a lot. Elder E is super chill, and we get along well enough together that he's starting to pull minor pranks on me :y

I hope everything goes well, have a great week! Do the best with what you already have and make something more of it :> Happy October, the best month of the year (Christmas is the other best month)

Elder Jacob Newman, más o menos salvadoreño

I don't understand email titling well‏

We saw all of Conference in English, but there was a blackout for a few minutes of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk in Priesthood Session and we had to use church internet for the Sunday Morning Session, and it was really bunk, so we missed like 2 or 3 talks. Conference was pretty fantastic, but the rest of the week already feels like ancient history, beyond living memory. That's usually why I don't feel like there's much to write. But Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on Saturday Morning was super good. Light is one of my favorite gospel images, and astronomy one of my favorite sciences. He was speaking my language. There were also some really good tests and principles that are easy to apply. And listening to the 2 Spanish talks was good. Pres. Uchtdorf does his own translations in German, and his German voice is quite distinct from his English one (and some others do it for Spanish and Portuguese).

We have a baptism coming up this 11th. (and my birthday the 10th but that scarcely matters) The couple is beyond ready. The husband has a progressive lung disease that causes his lungs to shrink with time, and he has an incredible faith that his disease will die in the waters of baptism. He's already lucky that he doesn't use a respirator already, since they're usually necessary at 18 years (he's 28).

I don't really know what to do about my feet at this point more than pray and do feet baths. I also didn't know that ingrown nails are caused by them being too short, so I've definitely been making things worse this whole time. Elder E is also having weird stomach problems but we determined last night that it might be the chili he uses. The other elders in the Ward have it worse. One had Dengue last month and now Chinkongunya. It's also warming up since it's not raining much now.

But I feel generally happier right now. Gonna apply daily repentance and change some things from here on.

Have a good week! Feel the Spirit, and have continuous revelation!

Elder Newman

Trees have presented more danger to me in El Salvador than any other given thing‏

So, the big news'd be the following:

Tuesday: First time in the San Salvador Temple.

Wednesday: Had donuts because we went to cover Elder Edwards´ migration status in San Salvador properly.

It's been a pretty calm week in general. Really long though, since we woke up early 4 times and I dunno. I'm still arranging my spare change into little urban scenes, like plazas and stuff. My companion has admitted to being tempted to take his bus fare from the change I haven't involved in construction, but has heretofore denied said temptation. (Important note: heretofore is a wonderful word). American food is something every norte misses though. So donuts was a big deal, and I really want bagels.

So I figured out why the story of the Rich Youth in the New Testament is awesome. He had kept all the laws of commandments, i.e., the law of chastity, law of sacrifice, law of the gospel, etc., so he wanted to figure out what yet remained to him. Christ answered that he should give all that he has to the poor. In other words, he yet lacked the highest law and covenant outside of marriage, that is, the law of consecration. This, he still had to learn and live.

Piracy is still pretty ridiculous here. Some members were showing us their movie collection, and they'd just have a single DVD with 15 Disney movies pirated that they bought for 50 cents. Quality. There was another one with the Avengers, Thor, and Captain America in one, with the label "totalmente original" (totally original), but in the center of the DVD case was the logo of the Pirate Bay. 

Weekly reading assignment: Doctrine and Covenants 67 because it is a great section.

Photos featured: Temple photos, coin building, maybe something else I can't remember.

I want to get a picture of San Marcos since there are some really good lookouts but we haven't headed out there yet.

Adios, do the best you can, Zion is important, thanks for being you people,

Elder Jacob Newman

my turtleneck doesn't have enough power to raise your cat from the dead‏

I am entirely unsure as to why I write phrases like the one above in my agenda but they keep appearing there and they don't stop. :y Allí está.

But yeah so transfers happened and I am currently very much not in Usulután anymore. I'm in an area called Los Alpes 1, which is in San Marcos, a suburb of San Salvador. It's super different here. The Ward feels almost like an American one. We have a chapel close that's under construction, but we're currently leaving the mission to go to church :y (and PDay because everything's in the other mission rude). But it's super cool here, weather wise. There's been a consistent and light rain, and even the shower's warm. People give us too much food and I can't eat b.c I never ate dinner in Usulutan. It's a very comfortable area, as far as it goes. The only problem is that, being in rather pretty valley, it is a valley and we have to go up and down a ridiculous amount. There are 2 streets in particular which are purely ridiculous. But yeah, it feels a lot more like a city here, and we jaywalk highways p much all the time it's great. City life. Oh, and it's pretty safe, esp. in our immediate neighborhood. They even have really good stores right there. And there's a neighborhood named 10 de Octubre (October 10), which being my birthday, is pretty awesome.

Anyway, I'm with Elder E right now. Things are going well with him. No pictures of him, but we've got pictures of Elder C, Elders from the MTC days, and some of my house and some things I did with coins. It's a new change and we're going to do all the things and there's no time to write anything but Joshua was really cool adioooooooooooooos

Elder Newman

Baptism of B, J, and B. B worked with the Zone Leaders but was baptized w/ J.

A clean sword is beautiful where a stained one is terrible - the key observation in how the people of Ammon testified of their repentance, that their swords were unstained, because truly, the sword is a beautiful device.‏

So. first matter of business, I've decided that the whole condemnation of riding on others´ testimony is sophistry. It's important to be firm in the faith such that if someone falls, you don't, but if you know that someone knows, then it's identical to knowing yourself. As the Army of Helaman said, "We do not doubt that our mothers knew it." And when Alma was blessed in believing that Abinadi knew it, as well as the wife of Lamoni, etc etc. If you know that someone else knows that God is true and this is His Church, then you know as well.

Anyway, it was a hard week. Had a fever Monday and Tuesday, but kept working. Did exchanges with the Zone Leaders Tuesday. Then had a crisis in Jucuapa with the missionaries there so that was a thing and I won't go into detail on that. Then Friday and Saturday, Elder C was bedridden and being a good missionary is so hard when you have absolutely noooooooooooooooothing to do. It appeared to be a disease named Chinkungüya (I have no clue how to write its name), but it was a high fever and strong bodily pain and looked dreadful on Friday. It's supposed to last 2 weeks though, so we're not sure if that's what it was. The Zone Leaders brought us ice cream though so that was great because it's so expensive down here and I've had no ice cream proper since leaving. Yesterday we didn't have PDay because it was Independence Day here, so the city was filled with PARADES and CELEBRATION and INIQUITY because in Central America it appears that the first two guarantee the existence of the third. Transfers are tomorrow, and the Zone Leaders are going to tell us about changes in like an hour but have heretofore withheld that information. Happily, I remember the word catharis still. Oh, and Elder G, one of the Zone Leaders, is going home tomorrow. Our entire District is guaranteed transfers, so we'll see how that goes. It's gon be different tomorrow.

Oh, and J was baptized. She almost cancelled due to cold feet, but she went through with it and the Spirit blessedly confirmed her choice.

Adios entonces,

Elder Newman

Designing matrixes with nonimaginary eigenvalues is hardmode when you randomly assign values to the matrix. Just so you know. Don't have much for pictures. Just a bit of drawing. I also say Graci a lot instead of Gracias because I am Italian obviously. And apparently my hair is also special down here :y

The Fiscal Cliff is just next month and Congress still isn't doing anything‏

The Fiscal Cliff was a dark time for news buffs because Fiscal Cliff was such an overused, overreported, thingy in general.

I got a bit sick. I've been running around with a head cold and last night was pretty sketchy. We expect a baptism this week, of a young woman. She's quite prepared, so that's good :>

I read Jacob 5 before going to sleep Tuesday in one sitting, and goodness that was incredible. Felt the Spirit of Revelation in strength and now have notes explaining just about the whole chapter. Really good emphasis on the covenants of Israel, and I was surprised by the precision and breadth of the parable. Been reading a lot more, and since then have read through Mosiah.

Last full week before transfers, and only one more P-Day. Elder G will be headed home this transfer, so yeah. Expect lots of changes there.

Adios,

Elder Jacob Newman

This week for photos, we have my desk after 2 changes, the board where I like to make charts and stuff, a decent picture of our backyard this time, and Elder S and I after a companion exchange. 

Sep. 1, 2014

Not too much too report for this week. We're getting close to the end of my training, so that's pretty good. Probably? I guess.

Not raining much again. Didn't find that pastor in the end. We've also found that visiting members in our branch is just about the same thing as contacting less actives or investigators. That's nice and efficient :>

I translated "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" a few weeks ago since it isn't in Spanish. I miss that hymn and goodness putting a syllable limit on Spanish is suicidal. They just throw syllables out there like it's nothing. (looking at the conditional tense, let's just take a full length word and add 2-3 more syllables and change the accent entirely that's just perfect :y )

We're kind of just pushing forward over here. I'm seeing some definite patterns in my stress levels and I'm praying and working to rein them in a bit better. Speaking of rein, I'm pretty sure that's how you spell it and I think haft is a word but I'm not sure if it's a mix of huft and shaft and if huft is how it's spelled

Tamales are really good here, whereas Cafe de Maiz is más o menos. It's not even coffee they shouldn't call it that.

We'll see how this week goes.We're going to teach an investigator how to use a computer. LDS.org also allows you to download pretty much anything in audio so haha music from General Conference time having a flash drive is important. If you have really good talks in mind send me their names so I can download them and listen to them all the time yeah. Maybe I'll tell you guys something next week :>

Adios,

Elder Newman

I Have Special Eyes

This title is both a reference and fact. Having hazel eyes is money in El Salvador, especially if they notice that they change color in different lighting.

So, I still can't send pictures right now b.c this computer can't read SD cards, and I'm a bit tapped for time because I'm also helping my Zone Leader reformat his flash drive. He had like 4 GB hidden and registered as system files on it so that's a problem.

Not too much to report. When I have a working SD drive, I'll have some pictures, but yeah. One of the Seventy, Elder Ochoa, came Wednesday. That was pretty good, and we're all working to implement his counsel.

I don't think there's too much else to report. We contacted a positive investigator whose brother is a local pastor who is quite set on converting us tomorrow so that's probably going to be a dreadfully unproductive lesson. I feel like showing up 30 minutes early to see what happens. Also working with a Jehovah's Witness, but he actually listens to us so who knows?

So that's where we are. Thinking of stories, doing the work, all that. Oh, Galatians 4:6-7 is really good, and literally everything John wrote of course. I was reading the Discourse on Living Water yesterday in John 4 and goodness there are so many truths implied but not outright stated. Like, what does "Salvation is of the Jews" mean, and why does Jesus respond to the Samaritan woman's request for living water by asking for her husband? I've got my answers for that but I'll leave you guys to think about that :>

So cool stuff yeah

I really don't know

Have the best time

The best time is in Zion

because Zion is the best

(maybe if I use the enter key excessively, it'll appear that my email is long and worth your time)

Elder Jacob Thomas Newman

fibanaki is math - it has been discovered‏

Preface to the letter proper: none of you are ever allowed to consume alcohol ever because it is the biggest lie that anyone has ever conceived just DON'T

I will never cease to amuse myself by imagining return missionaries doing the exact same stuff in their dating life, e.g., leaving commitments and pamphlets, asking references from everybody, keeping an area book, all that. :y Also, I realized that Meet the Robinsons is a pretty fantastic explanation of human potential and the importance of hope and all that.

I met the nephew of the Bells. He just shipped in this change, plus I found another missionary who went to Late Summer Honors and left after first semester, so that explains why he looked so familiar.

Not too much to report. Things are continuing pretty normally, though a convert relapsed into alcohol. Nothing gives you a testimony of anti-alcoholism like a mission. Helping drunks walk, watching a friend turn anti-American, Anti-Semite, filled with anger and losing everything he'd gained in the past few months, yeah. Don't touch alcohol please unless it's hand sanitizer or something like that.

Had lots of ideas and a bit more opportunity to draw. Today I just wrote hypotheses about generating numbers that are a power of variable degrees, like 64 (being a power of 2,3, and 6), based on the uniqueness of prime factorizations wheeeeeee I just determined a correction/clarification I need to make.

So I feel like I become exceedingly eccentric during the hour I have to write so you have my apologies for when I send you something particularly strange or you don't understand the title of the email (or worse, you do understand :y)

Been raining a lot. Some investigators are deciding for their own initiative to start changing, which is what we really want. Working a lot more with the Spirit.

Keep moving forward and have the objectively best week to date and then have a better one next week cus then it kind of resembles an infinite progression or at least a strictly positive one yeah

Yeah

Elder Jacob Newman

P.S. No pictures cus the computer isn't reading my SD card cus that's how things work down here. I did enough of them though. Got a picture of my Zone Leader in sports clothes, a pink umbrella, talking on the phone. Que triste.