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