Hello to All The People‏

Well, this week went along quite nicely.

Christmas has come and gone, Pres. and Hna. Vásquez invited us over for dinner (and also to help get some stuff ready for the Ward Christmas Activity). It was a very good dinner. I ate a fair bit of potatoes.

We had the Ward Christmas Activity, skyped home, had to handle a ton of work for people who had problems calling home. It is really stressful arranging international calls between people who hadn't planned anything like that. :/ But everyone called home by the end of it.

I'm doing some end of year reports and taking advantage that I now have 2 years of data to work with, I'm doing some statistical analysis! I've found that quite entertaining.

We're working and finding a few positive families so we'll see how that comes along!

OH. I almost forgot: last Wednesday, at night, we went to visit some less active members and when we got there, they were tearing their house apart. (Here, moving as a poor person means tearing your old house down, recycling what you can, and building the same thing somewhere else). They didn't really want to ask us for help but we knew they needed it so we managed to wait outside there door long enough for them to tell us what to do. I tore out bamboo braces that sustained the dirt walls, which Elder F proceeded to knock down with a 15 pound shaft with an iron head. He also managed to kick a few walls in which was quite entertaining. As shown in the photo, his part was a fair bit dirtier than mine. As a blessing, the cough I had didn't seem at all affected by all the dirt clouds. That was a very nice way to spend the 23rd. And I have now torn down a house. Oh, and their backyard had the best view of San Salvador at night that I've ever seen.

The other photo is a thing I did for a quick Christmas present for one of the families we visit. Office advantages: being able to edit in your drawings to a temple photo.

Another innovation is that I've decided to ponderize (o algo parecido) Conference talks. Every day in the morning, I get up and listen to The Tongue of Angels (Jeffrey R Holland, April 2007) to start everything up. I figure I'll listen to that for a week and then choose another Monday. I've also changed my alarms to the audio ripped from some Mormon Messages. It's pretty tranquilo. And if you're familiar with Earthly Father, Heavenly Father (https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?lang=eng), it's a pretty appropriate thing to wake up to.

Well, have a great week!

Elder NEWMAN

Charity:Christmas:Christ:Jesus:Noel:Love‏

This is Elder F's friend. He was chilling by our study tables yesterday.

Temple detail! This is from the Temple Activity from a while back. La flor de izote makes a lovely motif.

This week was quite nice, fairly relaxed. We found a family of 6+ (well, we taught 6) on Sunday and the mom explained for us the reason why authority is necessary in baptism :> The only shame is that we can only visit them on Sundays! We're finding some good new families :>, especially since some others we were visiting chilled a bit on us :<.

L moved away... we're trying to figure out where so as to send missionaries.

I'm working on pass-along cards for the Sabbath Day, Internet resources from the Church, and a Plan of Salvation fold-open brochure for teaching. Also, consolidating reports.

Last night was the Ward Christmas activity! It was a lovely devotional and 3 investigators, 2 less actives came! 2 of them have almost come to Church twice but la joven of the family was super friendshipped by the young women and was ecstatic by the end.

But yeah, it has been a good week and further Christmas joy awaits :>

The light of Christ burns bright in Christmas. John 16:33.

Elder Newman

Also, something I've found useful, you judge- from time to time, I have an idea about stuff I want to do as a parent and I keep a list of said things.

Buenas taaaaaaaaaaaaaardes‏

Hola, ¿cómo les va?

This last bit went bien rápidito. There's not really much too report though. We did a service activity cleaning up a neighborhood on Saturday. Improved our numbers reports.

Probably the coolest thing is that one of Pres. Vásquez's counselors, Presidente López, invited us to a Christmas dinner Sunday night. It was extremely good. I didn't know the family before but they have very light, lovely souls. We watched a movie that apparently everyone except me has heard, the Little Drummer Boy.

We have a lot of good families we're working with. It's just hard helping them to get to Church, which is frustrating since they can't progress spiritually and less towards baptism unless they come. In the eternal words of the District 2, "Just come to Church!"

I took a few scene photos from our house. The country is lovely and the architecture, even if it's not sophisticated, is wonderful.

I found to my pleasure that there is a bus route we take normally that is sufficiently calm to read the Scriptures on the ride.

Talk of the week: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/be-not-afraid-only-believe?lang=eng

Pues, work hard, live by the Spirit! Keep organized, have a daily plan, remember that you are really cool people! Give people things just because! We don't need a lot of the stuff we have and a lot of what we have would make someone much happier than it's making us!

Love all y'all!

Elder Newman

Previous messageNext messageBack to messages A long list of things went wrong but it all worked fine, ya know?‏

BUENAS TARDES.

Today was a week in which many things happened without them needing to happen, but we've gotten along well. I haven't exactly had much the luxury of waking up at 6:30, but the world is quite lovely in the early diurnal hours.

The Temple Activity went along smoothly, despite being planned kind of last minute. We had an attendance of over 1000 and at least the missionaries really liked my ordinances sheet (we almost didn't get it on time, but the printing company brought it to the Temple). I didn't see a ton of converts, but I saw some friends from Villa Mariona and Usulután, including E G, plus a super good family we found in Apopa while I was in companion exchanges. They've had some difficulties getting married, but they've almost got it. It was a bit different running the whole show as a secretary.

L's baptism was con todo! She's really great and the familia G (the children of a recent convert) and some less actives and L's daughter all came.

Changes prep went pretty normal until we were driving to President's house to receive the new missionaries and we get a phone call telling us that the news weren't coming due to protests on the Guatemalan border. Hmm.

So we had to receive the news on Wednesday as well as send off the missionaries who are going home, then have changes a day late (and change everything to make that work). The new missionaries ended up staying in our house, which has never housed more than 5 missionaries (suddenly, 16). Attached is a photo of Elder N, who actually does live with us and appears to have found my camera without me knowing. And at 12 AM, Elder F got a call saying that 2 Elders who are going home had lost their suitcases on the Temple grounds. Well, at that point, there's nothing you can really do but Elder F tried for like an hour and a half.

Yesterday we finally got to changes. That was nice but since Leadership Council was today, I had to stay late in the Office getting stuff ready and when we left there was some very very beautiful traffic.

Today was Leadership Council. Last month I kind of invited myself by giving a presentation in the Council, but when President went to the Mission Pres. Conference, the Area said that Secretaries should attend Leadership Council so we now get to go. Also, since Pres. and Hna. Vasquez´s grandchildren are here for the month, A had his 6th birthday party right after with all of us singing to him and Hermana Vasquez slamming his face into the cake. Pretty great stuff.

Now I finished some reports, did some birth certificate stuff, and I guess we'll go to the area as soon as we finish up here

Also Elder B left us and is now in Ilopango! It feels very different without him. And Elder B is being trained as the new financial secretary. He was my Zone Leader for two changes in Apopa. He's super chill :>

Hualahuala huashington (to be spoken in Spanish)‏

First: Happy Thanksgiving!

Second: I found this just like 2 hours ago! I didn't know there was a fine art culture in the Church like this. It's so fantastically cool: https://history.lds.org/exhibit/iac-2015-tell-me-the-stories-of-jesus?lang=eng
Art is marvelous.

Third: the Mission is great and we found a ton of very good people! The only problem is that we barely have time to visit them all! We're trying to work more with members so as to be able to cover everything. Last weekend was miraculous. We hadn't found any new investigators all week, but Saturday we found 6 and 10 on Sunday, including some super positive people!

My special thanks right now is for the Mission because it is a very great thing finding the Lord's escogidos (elect). I have met a bajillion people in the last year and some undetermined amount of time, and most of them were dormant children of God, but when you start finding the princes of the Kingdom of God, it's marvelous marvelous marvelous (it's worth at least 2 more marvelouses than fine Gospel art).

Have a great week! Work hard! Choose not what is good, not what is better, but that which is best!

Como decimos aquí,

¡saluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuú!

Elder Newman

Fotos: people I worked with in other areas who got baptized last month :>
(Office perk 1: seeing baptismal photos of old investigators after you have changes)

Piedra Angular‏

Well, it hasn't been exactly what you would call a ton of time since my last letter. But I am happy to report that Saturday and Sunday we found some people very likely to be baptized. We found 5 old investigators who already know that they should be members of the Church and a little girl who has attended Church a ton.

Also, an investigator named Lidia está con todo. She told us that she hald felt really really happy while getting ready for Church and is now just waiting for her baptismal date on Dec. 4. We've been teaching everyone the Word of Wisdom right quick to make sure they don't have problems. It's pretty exciting. I'm also processing a metric metaphorical ton of referrals from the previously mentioned cemetery activity. I wish Google Earth had just slightly better coverage of Eastern El Salvador.

:>

Be happy!

Ponderizing: Helaman 5:6-7

Since this transfer is only four weeks long, it'll be a bit hectic, but ni modo. We'll just have to be happier for it.

How Firm a Foundation is a wonderful hymn and my appreciation for it has soared since I sung it for President Nelson.

I hope you all keep well and receive a healthier portion of the Spirit. Let's work hard in the best of causes, because the better the cause and the harder the work, the more fruitful our future.

Elder Newman

Fare thee well, Saints in Zion. :>

I like life‏

Well, changes week is pretty ridiculous as far as workload goes.

A new area got opened and to free up a house in the Zone (since it's a Sister companionship and there are no other Sisters that live nearby) I moved our storehouse of house materials (beds, fridges, etc) to our house and then moved over 120 boxes of proselyting material to the Change Meeting, all on Tuesday. Props of being a Secretary is having contacts with guys with trucks.

We're still in trio. Elder Hilton left but Elder Frazier came in (Elder Barwick is training him to be the next Migration Secretary). We've been pretty busy, but we're getting along. I created and updated reports, generated the Mission directory, taught the Zone Leaders about the Referral Manager system and caring for materials, President and I decided not to update the changes board since he does that online anyway, I have a birth certificate that I am trying really hard to get to the West Mission but it's not getting there, and President started doing interviews yesterday. I actually started writing yesterday but that got interrupted by said interviews. I cleaned out my desk, filed some reports, and stuff. The weird thing is that I still haven't talked with President in the interview setting, I just talked with Hermana Vásquez and as soon as I left the interview I found out everyone had decided to leave the Office right then and I had 30 seconds to wrap up for the Weekend. And that's why I'm writing Saturday. I will write next Wednesday as normal.

Ponderizing: Matthew 9:36-38

Well, that's the week. We haven't had as much time as I'd like in the area, but we have been able to help the positive investigators we have to progress.

It's time to get back to work soon. It's really uncomfortable writing on Saturday and in an Internet café (I'm already used to writing in the Office).

Follow the Gospel. Take in the words of life. Love God and do what He asks because it will be satisfying, happy, and meaningful. If you aren't being taught by Him actively, search out His Spirit. A week wasn't worth it if the heavens did not open and pour out knowledge on your soul.

De Sión,

Elder Newman

SALUTATIONS‏

This week was pretty spiffy.

Ponderizing: Isaiah 1:16-19. I realized that this verse is just an exposition of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in reverse order (baptism, repentance, and faith by prayer). Another good thing: what justice can a man do if he is alone?

Monday was FAMILY HISTORY DAY. Because the 1nd and 2nd were Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead), President arranged with the cemeteries so that we could put up stands and teach about family history. I was expecting a kind of memorial day experience, but it was a lot like a festival. I also half-attended Mass for the first time, since they did it about 10m from the stand. And the traditional food is giant corn flakes, like 1 foot in diameter. You put some kind of syrup on them.

We got called to Office due to an Insurance Card problem and since we had nothing else to do in the Office besides wait for the Insurance Company to respond to us, I learned how to do family history! I found the three names that were missing in my 6 generations chart. I found Ellen Weaver´s parents and Mary Ann Davis´ mother. Ellen Weaver now can get sealed to her parents! Mary Ann already was. So I know all my ancestors for six generations. It's super cool. And I saw some of Uncle Roland'
s research on there. That was the first time I've looked for my own family names.

Final request: If you could, please send me your testimonies! I want to send them to converts.

And next week is changes! That means a ton of work! And I will probably write home on Friday since Wednesday is Change Meeting and we will be very busy! Elder Hilton assumedly has changes.

A good article in the Liahona that Sister Hoagland reminded me of:
https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/04/the-power-of-faith?lang=eng

God has provided us with approx. one really prepared or willing family every week this transfer cycle. They're not ready to be baptized, but seeing their repentance process begin is wonderful.

There is no joy so sweet as seeing the Works of the Holy Ghost in people. After all, a traditional name for the Book of Acts is "The Acts of the Holy Ghost through the Apostles." When they begin to do works, when they leave evil behind, when they keep commandments, and when you start to see the light of Christ enter into them...

pues, no hay nada mejor.

Elder Newman

The Church in El Salvador Salutes Thee‏

So, this was a good week. Just to specify, it was indeed a cold day in the Office when I last wrote, but I also had a fever which supplied most of the discomfort. The three of us in my companionship got amoebas! Assumedly an investigator gave us an insufficiently cooked soup. But we've all gotten over it, pretty much. And I learned about amoeba infection development cycles, since my amoebas were immature and caused less harm than they did to Elder Barwick, who had a mature infection.

I am ponderizing: D&C 67:13-14 (10-14).

The Relief Society President's son is moving to the States. It is a sad thing, although he'll probably be happier there, being fluent in English and the youth culture there probably being safer.

The doctrine of covenants is wonderful and clear and precious. We should probably focus on it more, since the corruption of the ordinances was, after all, one of the chief causes of apostasy (1 Nephi 1:27-28, verses 24-26 suggest that materialism and pride were the other significant cause).

It is well after my birthday, but a nifty gift would be sending me all-time favorites from General Conferences and Scriptures. I love scriptures and talks and have free access to them right now.

It's fun being in the Office after having spent so much time near San Salvador. I usually see a member from one of my old Wards about once a week.

I blessed the Sacrament on Sunday, for the first time since the MTC, over a year ago. It was wonderful, passing the cloth and meditating on the Sacramental Prayer with all the delicacy and meditation I could muster. Two of the talks were from members whom I believe are members of the Temple Presidency. It was good.

We're changing a lot in the weekly reports in the Office. We're also trying to run some inventories and we're thinking about creating materials to teach about the Sabbath Day, as the Church has not produced any pamphlets or stuff like that. Pass-along cards and pamphlets about the Sabbath Day would be wonderful!

Enduring to the End, Rejoicing to the End:

Making, Keeping, Renewing Covenants.

Let us live as the Lord's Covenant People!

Elder Jacob Thomas Newman

FOTOS: 

It was Elder Hilton's birthday yesterday. We bought a bunch of crepes.

A sheet I made for teaching about the ordinances of the Gospel.

The Annual Cold Week in El Salvador‏

El Salvador chose this week as the one week in the year that is cold. I don't know why, but the administration of the building the Office is in has us freezing. Or at least me, because my corner is the coldest part for some reason. :<

It's rained a lot. I went to Church in suit and sweater. That felt really good. It feels more powerful.

The last week we lost contact with almost all of our new investigators and couldn't find any more, but yesterday we found a really good family that a recent convert brought to Church on Sunday.

Elder Hilton is sick, as is Elder Gomez (Migration Secretary).

There isn't a ton to report, more so because my brain is frozen. I'm working on some sheets to explain the progression of ordinances and then we're going to work on Sabbath Day materials next week. We're starting to get things ready for changes.

So, have a good day and week and life!

And I'm meditizando [meditating]Juan 14:12-13. I found more Teachings of the Prophets books so I'm reading those. And I want to be better at using the Scriptures and Inspired Questions in teaching.

Elder Newman

Hello World

Today is Wednesday, the normal, common weekday used for Preparation Day by missionaries.

Well, this week is going along. I've learned how to handle telephone robberies, made pupusas, started an inventory of fire alarms in the mission houses, started prepping some proselyting materials, bought stuff for the mission, got my driver's license, drove, and modified the numbers reports.

We also did divisions with the Young Men and their leaders Sunday. That was cool, even if we didn't find anyone to teach.

We're working a lot with converts and less-actives. We have 3 who are working on being reactivated, and a convert who we're prepping to receive his Patriarchal Blessing and the Melchizedek Priesthood. Even though we're opening the area, we have a lot of appointments, which makes it pretty hard to find new investigators, but we'll figure it out.

Ponderizing: Moses 7:62

Elder Newman

No Subject

First: the funny thing about having you all write on Friday is that President gave us a PDay on Wednesday so this is the 2nd and last time I expect to write on Friday. Assumedly, I'll write next Wednesday. (It's a good change, given that last PDay on Monday we didn't leave the Office until 7 PM).

We have had General Conference, a Multizone Conference, and a pretty busy week. I'm fairly in the swing of things in the Office. I am working on D&C 20:37 for my ponderization. I loved something that was said in one of the prayers: Let us not only endure to the end, but enjoy to the end.

It seems to me that 3 significant themes were:

1. Women

2. Sabbath Day Observance
(after all, the Sabbath Day is the only day of the week where we are limited to the things we will do in the Celestial Kingdom. If we cannot enjoy them now or make them a priority, how will we be able to enjoy the Celestial Kingdom? God will not be so cruel as to assign us to the highest joy if we are not prepared or willing to understand it.)

3. Renewing Spiritual Happiness

The nice thing about being in the Office is that I know that a lot of my investigators in Villa Mariona went to Church :>

In our area, we've had some difficulties in finding a lot of positive people, but we do have a few good families. We taught a brief English class to 3 niñas yesterday. We've also moved houses (since we're opening a new area), moved a bunch of supplies (since we're trying to compact our material storage because we like to save money).

In theory, I should get my Salvadoreño Driver's License today. ¡Que chafa! I don't want to drive- I haven't driven for almost 2 years :y

It's really cool being in my old Ward, although 2/3 converts are inactive. But the members are all pretty great and it's great to see them again.

And to any missionaries or RMs interested, you could send me your baptism photos for a thing I'm doing. And photos in general are also appreciated.

And I felt a strong impulse a few days ago to extend my mission. I want your take on the idea, because I'm not sure yet.

We proselyte generally from 4 to 9, though we've gotten back 3 times at 8 PM, since this last week was beyond busy.

Conference was great, although there were some hiccups. A lot of my investigators from Villa Mariona went.

Elder Newman

Hello. I have an abundance of time to write you all and nothing to say.‏

Hello, everyone! I now write on Fridays! Isn't that wonderful?

Well, changes came and the long-anticipated suprise-to-no-one event occured: I am now in the Mission Office. I will be the new General Secretary, which means I do everything nobody else does (materials, references, numbers, reports). It's kind of weird doing a desk job, especially since I was feeling pretty good about the work, but así que se vaya. El Señor doesn't change things up if there is no potential to increase your happiness.

The most surprising part about that is that I already have a lot of time in the mission. The General Secretary who's leaving the Office is Elder Hilton, who came with me to the mission. One is usually in the Office for 4+ transfer cycles, and I only have 5 left. I'll probably spend 4 changes here and leave to work hard my last change. That means if you happened to be planning to send me something, right now would be quite opportune, as I am the one who processes mail.

The other surprise is that they closed the old area of my group of secretaries. That means I am simultaneously opening area, learning secretary work, and doing said work. We also have the luck that it is the beginning of both the month and the transfer, which means all the monthly reports are due and all the transfer specific reports have to be updated and issued. To this point, we have left the Office no earlier than 6 PM. I have: copy-pasted a bajillion times, remembered how to use Excel, checked a mission vehicle, organized a bunch of packets, answered a ton of calls to a business called Manpower who used to have our number, and yeah.

The third sorpresita is that the new area we're opening happens to be the other area of my 2nd Ward! I'm back in Los Alpes, San Marcos, just on the other side. I still haven't seen too many people, because, well, we've only gotten back to the area at 7 and have had to leave at 8 given that we have no house, but I've seen Bishop and a few more people. And we've found 1 investigator. Yeah!

A picture on LDS.org (of President Nelson meeting with the mission presidents of the area). If the camera were angled 20° or so to the right, I'd be there.

In the photos: some photos from Villa Mariona (I really liked that area) and my trio, Elder B (the migration secretary), Elder H, and myself.

I suppose that's everything. It's weird having a desk job, using a computer, and all that, but at least it means I'll be more prepped for coming home. :/ I just don't like the prospect of having to drive a car again, which assumedly I'll do soon.

Elder Newman

Remember, Fridays are the day!

God has ever more ready‏

We found a ton of fantastic people this week, including a reference from Pres. Vásquez! It's an hermana named F, who works in the Temple's cafeteria! We found the inactive granddaughter and her husband of some super powerful members, and wow! A lot of people are also committed to come to Conference and are showing a lot of interest.

The only downside is that I have transfers this Wednesday, which means I will not see the 5 or so people probable for baptism be baptized, but we'll just have to catch up in the Celestial Kingdom! The blessings of hard work aren't diminished just because you're not present to see the fruits! But I loved this area and I guess I now get to learn to love a ton of new people and a new area!

But E and P got baptized! Everything went perfect, which is perfect because E had a commitment from 3 months ago for yesterday and almost didn't come to be confirmed, but she has her faith where it needs to be. We got them giant sheets of paper and invited all the members to write a message to them on it, and I drew something chiquito for the both of them. The grandma of P has decided to be an active member of the Church again! She'd been inactive for something like 10-20 years. Elder R and I sung a special piece for the service.

This week was kind of weird since we got lost in San Salvador Monday, trapped in Quezaltepeque due to transportation problems Wednesday, and we went to San Salvador again Friday and had a significant hiccup in the Mission Office, but it was a great week in all respects.

Memorizing scriptures is a really good way to integrate the doctrine they teach into your life. I've been focusing on making time to do so, and I've now memorized Moroni 7:45-48 and DyC 121:41-46. They bring a lot of strength and improve your memory. 1 or 2 verses a day adds up really fast.

I also spoke yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, about the premortal love in our families and how we can remember and increase that love (charity) in this life so that we might be restored to eternal families in the next life, since we will all be restored to a more glorious form of what we now have. If there is no eternity, no eternal love in us, then we will simply not exist in the next life. Si no tenéis caridad, no sois nada.

Charity is one of the most important themes we could possible practice or study. Also Leviticus 26 is a cool exposition on the universal effect of obedience and disobedience.

Nos veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemos for this week!

Elder Newman

Jehová proveerá‏

This week was good! God provides!
(I love the history of the Akedah (the binding of Isaac), since there is a very Christian prophecy in the declaration that God would provide a lamb. Also considering yourself as Isaac- God provided a Lamb in the precise moment that he was to be destroyed to fulfill the justice of God. If you want to know how it feels to be saved from the Fall, remember Isaac and how it would feel to be sacrificed by your father and accept it for your meekness before God.)

E and Pa are almost certain to be baptized! They're really marvelous and have come a long way. Also, an old investigator that the Ward had taught named F came back to Church yesterday! He's practically a member- he had received a testimony by prayer and study, knows the whole Ward, everything, but because he made some bad decisions, he went away from the Church. He realized how much he had lost and repented and came back! We're preparing him to be baptized for the 17! Another investigator we found is super positive! Her daughter was excommunicated from the Jehovah's Witness and because she didn't want to break contact with her daughter, she went inactive in that organization. She actually talked to us in the street and really wants to find the truth. She's named O. Another is named C, who is a young woman who's really enthusiastic to study the Gospel and came to Church the first time we invited her! Her family has had hard times and she's never found a church she's been entirely comfortable in.

Today I got 2 ingrown toenails out! And the person who the Mission works with does it 500 times better! I have 0 days of rest and can wear my shoes the whole time! Yeah! And it was way cheaper than last time! I also bought a watch since mine broke forever ago! Yay! And 1.5 weeks less in the transfer!

It's been kind of rainy.

It's raining right now. That's pretty early.

Also: I don't know what you people look like now. It's been 2 years for most of you. So, if you want and happen to have a photo already attached to your reply to this email, you have my permission to send it to me. :>

Edifiquen SIÓN

Elder Newman

°wow°‏

I love fall I miss it so much :<

Last week went pretty quick.

We found various new families, very positive some of them. Pres. Vásquez in a Zone Conference taught a new first lesson method and has established that we should always sing in all the lessons (since Pres. Nelson said that we should bring music into the homes of our investigators). It's really cool reading the Himnal Prologue where it talks about singing to invite the Spirit and inspire repentance with investigators. It's fuerte. It's a lesson bien focused on obedience and baptism. We even leave them all 6 pamphlets from the 1st lesson with the Book of Mormon so that they have everything in their hands necessary to be baptized and understand that theirs is the burden of sacrifice unto redemption.

Our Ward might be changed to another Stake (due to transportation difficulties). The big question for me is based on the fact that the other Stake belongs to the San Salvador Oeste Mission. We'll see what it means for Elder Newman!

There's now a Papa John's in Apopa. We're moving up in the world.

Our plumbing got fixed.

Tomorrow is Central America's Independence Day (even though they're different countries, they have the same Independence Day).

I drew the Plan of Salvation on some posters and put it in the windows of our house. Maybe someone'll read it and get interested :>

Hno. Ascencio is the best- he's a convert of 14 months, who is over 70 years old and is with us sometimes from 12.30 to 9 at night almost every day. He's a powerhouse. He never complains about walking and we always tell him to drink more water.

And a bat woke us up last night since it was banging into the walls repeatedly until we opened a door to let it out. Stupid. This month, I've found 2 dead bats. FACT: Dogs and bats are the 2 species that carry rabies in El Salvador. Stupid bats. But I guess I still like them.

Elder Newman

The Plan of Salvation, the house, my Haz lo Justo ring has gone from silver and green to gold and silver. 

Presenting: Jacob Newman´s THE WEEK‏

This week was principally running around. Our area continues to not decide between being rural and urban, and we live in one corner of our area 15 minutes away from the main block of dense neighborhoods, which in turn is about 15 minutes away from various other blocks. So we walk :>

We spent most of the week just getting to know new families (less active and investigator) and working with those who are progressing. The members are helping a ton and we seem to have more confidence with them now.

We moved into our house! It's the most American house I've lived in. It has wood. We have a large garage open to our patio. We have fancy lights and it has two floors, and given that it's a cement building, the bottom floor remains cool even during the hottest hours of the day! QUÉ PODER. The house hadn't been used for 5 years so we're still cleaning a bit and the plumbing isn't actually operable (we have to provide the toilet with water from the shower). We live right next to a school so we always get to hear el himno nacional de EL SALVADOR during studies. And a lightning bolt struck like our neighbor's house or something the other night during planning because huela it was close. But my favorite part of the new house is that I can sleep in jeans :> Jeans are the most comfortable for sleeping. (All my other houses were way too hot).

Emma de García and Patricia are almost sure to be baptized on the 26th. They're super. Emma is the young wife of a member who was activated recently and she really wants God's help to have a good marriage and family. She's felt the Spirit, has begun to live the Word of Wisdom, todito. She just has problems finding time to read the Book of Mormon, given she has a 6 month old baby, but she even attends the marriage classes in the chapel.

Patricia is a niña and everyone in the family but her aunt is inactive, but she is echando ganas (really motivated) to learn the Gospel, live it, and be baptized.

One cool experience we had was while we were walking down the road, a guy in a truck stopped by us. It was Walter, a guy we had taught once, our first Sunday in the area. He apologized for not being in home and said he was going to quit his job and focus on the little shop they have in his house so that he could focus more on God (during the brief lesson we had, I mentioned 2 or 3 times why the Sabbath Day is important). It's incredible when people want to talk to you, rather than suffer you to talk to them.

We also found some old investigators that my old companion, Elder E, had taught. They didn't end up coming, but they really like the Church and accepted the church and baptismal invite. We set the baptismal goal for the 10 of October (my birthday :>). When we found them, we taught 4, but the whole family is composed of some 14 people.

Let's hope throughout the world for an experience as found in Helaman 5!

Work hard, live the Gospel, enjoy the journey! Don't do what you enjoy, rather enjoy what you do.

And a good quote from the Liahona of this month, which I recommend to you all (esp. the articles on family): "The Atonement allows us to learn from our experiences without being condemned by them."

Elder Newman

wow I actually wrote a lot this week. and my camera memory got ruined in the last cyber we used so quedamos pendientes con respecto a fotos.

Sing Hymns‏

So this week was quite spiffy.

Monday- Interviews with President! Felt a bit more confident going out, but we ending up not having PDay. C'est la vie.
Tuesday- Bishop introduced us to more less active members! Surprise, one of them never got baptized! I think they'll come back to Church. We just need to give them un empujoncito.
Wednesday- We went to the Temple! It was my 2nd favorite session of all time. I just feel an incredible love for Adam and Eve. They're magnificent. We spent the afternoon in more baptismal interviews for Quezaltepeque. All came out well.
Thursday- Met some new people! Final choir practice!
Friday- President Russell M. Nelson of the 12, Elder Ochoa and Elder Alonso of the 70 gave a marvelous conference. Moreso, we sang Que Firmes Cimientos (How Firm a Foundation) after the opening prayer and it was so incredible. It came out magnificently (after the conference, we sung Cual rocío que destila (As Heaven´s Dew Distilling) to the tune of Guard Him, Joseph). It was very well received. Everyone got to shake his hand, and it was amazing to meet someone who has such an intimate and close relationship with Christ. One of the key instructions we received is that, en sí, half of our daily plans should be lessons to less active members, because they are beyond important.
Saturday- A few 2nd lessons
Sunday- We gave a part of the 3rd hour to encourage members to invite everyone. We talked about why and how it's best just to be quick and direct in the invitations, with a brief testimony.
Monday- today

We still don't live in our area but tomorrow sí.

God is the best. For those who truly love Him, He will send a 2nd Comforter, that is, occasional visits and care from the Lord Himself.

Elder Newman

Fotos:
  1- La Familia V, from my last area in Refinería. I forgot to send the photo.

  2- A photo of the photo that the Ward sent me :>

  3- The Mission Choir of San Salvador Este más poderoso

  4- Housemates: Elder M, Elder R (my companion), myself, and Elder R

Villa Mariona‏

Changes were this week! But surprise, I'm still in the same Zone! Also surprise, I'm opening an area again! That means I've opened 1/4 of the Zone (2 out of 8 areas)!

I'm now in an area called Villa Mariona. It was closed for a few months, but we've been able to communicate well with the Bishop and Ward Missionaries. We think we have a house but we haven't moved in yet.

But this last week was crazy as will the current.

Elder Pérez was sick up until changes, but we got to do some good lessons on the way. I left some letters to some people and left a last lesson for as many as I could.

Day of changes Bishop just took us to different houses of members to get to know them. The area is kind of ridiculously organized (almost no useful bus routes, various rivers with a small number of bridges, lots of hills, etc). And we crossed a really dangerous bridge for no reason because there is an alternate route that takes like 2 minutes more. :<

Thursday! Finding people! We went with an elderly member who pretty much just wants to go with the missionaries all the time and likes to walk. But we found a great investigator named E de G, who is this brothers granddaughter (Hno. A) and is married to an active member. They have a 6 year old son. It's pretty great.

Friday! Choir practice! We're learning also As Heaven's Dew Distilling or whatever it's called in English to the tune "Guard Him, Joseph." One lesson with Emma, then we spent 3 hours doing baptismal interviews in Quezaltepeque. A member in Quezaltepeque was going to drive us home, since Quezalte is 40 minutes from home, but he took a pill and when he told us that he couldn't, the last bus had already left. So we slept with the Elders in Quezalte. ... and we had the keys to the house so the Elders in whose house we live slept with the other Elders in their District.

And yeah, Saturday and Sunday was finding more people.

This week: Today- Interviews with President. Tuesday- Final Choir

Practice Wednesday or Thursday- Temple Trip Friday- Elder Nelson comes to give a Multi Mission Conference, and somewhere during all this are 3 more baptismal interviews in Quezalte and moving to our new house in our area. Buena vida. :>

And I've completed approximately 2/3 of my mission :< math has betrayed me

but yeah that's how it's goind down here. Enjoy everything up there! or wherever you are relative to me! Echen fuego!

Elder Newman

que lástima pero adiós‏ (What a Shame, But Goodbye)

Fotos: Elder P wins over the camera, I can´t flip pancakes, pictures of El Salvador.

This week was starting to pick up, though we're still not at 100%. The Choir practices are progessing, Elder P is going to train, and that means I have changes. These are the last 2 days in the area- I've never lasted more than 4 months in an area (and it's the 2nd time in a row that I've had changes because my companion was going to train). I was seriously expecting to actually stick with my companion for once jaja.

We visited some parts of our area that we're not very familiar with. There's a town called Nejapa (where they have the Fireball Festival), but it´s pretty far from town and en sí, during these expeditions, we were unsuccessful in finding investigators to teach. The area just past the Río Tomayate is a bit more promising though since there are so many members, less actives, and it's fairly safe. We're also getting more cooperation from the Ward. It's a bit of a shame that I won't be hear to see everything develop, but I feel like the nuevito will inherit fairly decent work.

Elder P got pretty sick yesterday. He had a 104 degree fever yesterday, but by the afternoon it got down to 100, and we left a little bit in the night and found a family of 7. We hope that they progress!

Also, sad news: Hno. Jesús died 2 weeks ago. After his confirmation, he couldn't even attend Church due to failure in the knees and his family kind of just ignored him all the time, so he just layed in a hammock all the time. I hope that he can progress much more now.

Elder Newman

Pictures Posted on Facebook

Sisters Vazquez, wife and daughter of the Mission President, President Vazquez, posted these pictures on Facebook, along with many others pictures of other missionaries. Some were taken during an event they arranged at the San Salvador LDS Temple. Missionaries were asked to bring anyone interested to see the temple and to learn about the plan of salvation while there. Lots of people came, some from far away. Elder Newman was able to participate in the event this time. Other photos were taken during zone conferences. (This is the main reason I put up with Facebook! :D )

vaya pues‏ (go for it)

The curfew was just because the gangs had declared a stop on public transport and some buses got burned. We weren't really ever at risk, but it was just a precaution. 

So last week was the slowest week I've had in the mission :>

Well, the curfew ended, but as a consequence, we lost contact with all the new investigators we had found, and given we had dropped nearly all of our old investigators... and it was the week of las fiestas de San Salvador, which means everyone is on vacation except for our positive investigators. It was weirdly difficult. But we have high hopes for this week and by the weekend it stopped being quite so ridiculous. My fever was gone by Monday or Tuesday and it was replaced by a full body rash for a while but that`s gone too so I am now fully healthy :>

Oh, and Elder W went home Tuesday after choir practice, so it's just Elder P and I in a duo. It's weird going from a trio to a duo (more than going from a duo to a trio).

I'm also practicing in a choir. A General Authority is coming to the mission in a few weeks and we're prepping How Firm a Foundation. I'm doing the tenor part, and this experience has actually taught me quite a bit about singing. It's a bit chafa since we have to go to Ilopango for the practices (an hour or more in bus, one way), which made us lose a good bit of time last week too, but así que se vaya. I like singing anyway.

There isn't too much more that's happened. Hope to follow the Spirit and feel a bit more of the fire this week :> So, echen fuego, hagan lo mejor que puedan, y vayan con todo! (Throw fire, do the best you can, and go with everything!

Elder Newman

And remember to hear the music of the Gospel! If you don't enjoy what you have to do in the journey, you won't enjoy the end product very much either!


OH AND THE BAPTISM PHOTO FROM LAST WEEK

it is preparation day today‏

This week was a week.

More than anything, we´re under a curfew again. We had to enter at 7 all week, which is a bit of a shame because most of the investigators we had found the week before as well as la familia V were only available in that time period. And I´ve had a low fever since Thursday but that´s not that big a deal. Just means I´m a bit more tired than I´d be anyway, since I´m always tired.

But R S had a wonderful baptism. He has a teacher age son who has been baptized for 5 years and he finally decided to do it as well. The whole family came, as the mother and an older daughter who are still very Catholic. He thanked us at the end for helping him make the right decision. It was the first time I saw him in a white shirt :>

We also saw a weird pigeon. It had an extremely long and bloated neck which made it nearly incapable of flight. It tried to fly onto a roof and after a very slow ascent tried to land but fell too quickly and hit the wall. :< poor pigeon. It was a really weird looking thing. There´s also a chicken that looks like it has white fur and blue skin. Elder W calls it the abominable snowchicken.

It was a good week.

Elder Newman

"kiwi is the father of all fruit" - I don't remember why someone was talking to us about fruit‏

So I actually could have been loading photos most Mondays but I was so used to computers not having an SD port that I didn't check in the ciber that we currently use. :> So here's a brief summation of these pictures:
a picture of Elder W and Elder P doing nothing, Pollito (Little Chicken), Elder V burning trash in the backyard, and me with the Ward Mission Leader of Los Alpes during the change meeting with an investigator who just got baptized! I started teaching him when I was over there, and he got baptized a week before changes and wanted to come to the change meeting to see the mission.

Important news: we found a lot more people this week. Most of them were kind of weird, but así que se vaya (that's how it goes). Jehovah´s Witness, Catholics, Evangelicals, etc. Last night we found a self-proclaimed hippie who is super cool. We were looking for another reference when he saluted us with "Elder" and when we couldn't find the reference, we went and talked with him. He used 2 arm-canes to walk and has crazy hair and had an ash tray and a pistol on a table in front of him, while watching the Tour de France, but it worked out well. A large chunk of his family just got baptized in another area, and he liked the talks he had with the Elders there.

So yeah. Life is liffing at a rather liffy pace.

And yesterday all of our plans exploded and came to naught (which was ok in the end) because we were asked to attend a training meeting for Ward Councils by Pres. Vásquez and we also attended a Stake Bishopric Meeting. It was cool seeing how Stakes work even though we didn't strictly do anything.

And of course we're now in a trio, since Elder P joined us due to emergency changes Tuesday. He's the first person I've met from Belize! Belizeños speak British English with a Latino accent! So we all still speak too much English. His mother is from Ahuachapan, El Salvador, and his paternal grandparents are from México.

And R S is all clear to get baptized this Saturday! It's super great because he's had a ton of contact with the Church but only recently decided to try it out and repent! His 14 year old son was baptized 5 or so years ago.

And Antonio Ayala, a recent convert, finally received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday! That's super important since that was like my first assignment from the Bishop when I got here 4ish months ago, preparing him for that.

And Familia V came to Church and C U will probably get married which means he can get baptized! Yay!

That's all for now!

Elder Newman

I also found this on the Meet the Mormons disk it's so perfect
Mormon Messages for Youth