¬Keep moving forward¬‏

This week was cool but I don't have too much time to tell you about it because there is no time.

Selections from the Multizone by Elder Alonso:

Once, he went to the hospital and they told him that he had depression. He replied and said "How can I be depressed? The Church is true, the Book of Mormon is the word of God, Joseph Smith was a prophet, Thomas S Monson is a living prophet today, and Christ lives. Why would I be depressed?"

So the point is, he's not depressed. He decided not to.

Also I'm reflecting a lot on the deadness of the law. Obeying the commandments, being dipped in water, all this stuff, in and of itself, just makes us happier, but has no eternal significance. The law has life in Christ, when we love Him, and draw nearer to Him by our obedience. The scriptural commentaries on Mosaic law apply to the Higher Law as well. Sealings are not effective because we follow the rules, but because Christ has mercy on us and binds us if we do what He asks. He is always the agent of our salvation, whereas we do nothing that truly saves us. Rather, He asks us to do certain things and then He blesses us with His power. It makes sense, I promise, in my mind.

Also, I was curious if any one had had strong experiences with living the commandments.

The Book of Mormon is so full of the Spirit.

I drew a football player to help a kid with his physics homework and they gave us homemade chocolate in return.

Cool life.

Elder Newman

I've been having trouble sleeping but it's a cold giving me mischief. It should pass, and now I sleep in a bed, in contrast to the mattress on the floor that I was sleeping on.

La Refinería 1‏ (Oh, and they robbed us on a trip to the temple!??)

SOOOOOOO Changes happened and a great many things changed.

Elder Paiz and Elder Maldonado continue in Soyapango, Elder Paiz is training.

I have left Soyapango after 4 months for Apopa (20 minutes to the north). It's a bit more suburban here, cus Soyapango was way more densely packed. I'm in Barrio Refinería (the Refinery, though I have yet to see a Refinery in the Ward). The Stake Center is right in the middle of our area, plus a shopping center, so that's pretty luxurious.

My new companion is Elder Campbell from Orem, Utah. He has 7 months in the mission and spent them all in good old Usulután (but he was in the other Branch). Allegedly, District Usulután is going to become a Stake. Chivo, chivo.

It's a bit extra weird since we're half-opening the area. There haven't been Elders in the Ward for 12 or so years, only Sisters. The area belonged to the Training Leaders of the Sisters, but they were sent out to San Miguel (since they're moving more Sisters out East). This has had certain consequences:

1. Neither I nor my companion knew anything about the Ward

2. We don't have a house, since the old house is still occupied by the other companionship of Sisters

3. Everyone is in shock because we are not female

Right now we live in a different Ward with the Zone Leaders, about 10 minutes in bus or 20 by foot from our area. It's extra special because they're a trio right now, so we're 5 to a rather small house.

The good thing is that the area is very healthy. Good converts, various progressing investigators, yeah. The members help a ton here, so we know where most everyone lives. I suppose the biggest challenge'll be keeping it as good as when the Sisters were here. But I feel good about the change and hope to become a much better missionary. Something I'm doing again is making a chart out of graphing paper to track how well I'm doing in all the day to day stuff, like exercise, reading the Book of Mormon, language study, etc. It's super helpful to see where I need to try harder  (you just need to check it more than daily to do what you haven't done).

It's been a very tired but good week. I've been having trouble sleeping. Once every 3-5 weeks, I just wake up in the middle of the night with extremely strong leg pain, and that happened Thursday. So I got some pills from the Mission Nurse and the last two days I just had nightmares. But I'm not feeling as tired right now, at least.

OH it's raining a bit here now. But we sleep with the door open, my companion with a fan, and I never use more than sheets. Once in a while in San Marcos I wanted a blanket, but not enough to get one. We wear suits to Church, baptisms, and the Temple. OH and they robbed Elder Paiz and I a trip to the Temple. If we baptize twice in a month, we go. We baptized twice in March but cancelled our trip last minute and now that changes have come, it prolly won't happen. Rude. :y

Oh, and I spent last Tuesday closing contracts in 2 houses and moving a ton of furniture by hand. That was a bit pesado (heavy).

If I find an adapter, I'll send photos, cus something happend to my old one.

A ver (We will see).

Bueno, echen fuego esta semana! Vivan por el Espíritu! (Well, throw fire this week ! Walk in the Spirit!)

Hijos de luz! (Children of light!)

Adiós,

Elder Newman

EMail Conversation That Makes Mom Wonder If Things Are Worse Than They Sound

Elder Newman: the second package arrived. I'm basically living off of it :y

Mom: Reese's for breakfast ? :D

Elder Newman: and dinner :y that's exactly how it is right now

Mom: Yay for you! Unless it's because you really don't have enough food...do you have enough food?

EN: well I have about 15 dollars to finish off the month and no matter how I cut the budget I should probably just take out 20 dollars :(

Mom: Is there a special reason why it's close this month?

EN: In Soyapango, we had to pay for lunch and dinner, entering at 6, but some of our plans for lunch fell through and we had to go out to eat, which is way too expensive/

In my other areas, I'd usually save about 10 or 20 dollars each month for emergencies, but I used up my savings in March.

Mom: Please....use whatever you need! Eat!

(Post-Edit: He did, and all is well!)

Yes‏

Well, it was a week after its own style.

Something happened Tuesday but I know longer remember that far back.

But Tuesday in the afternoon the Assistents called Elder Paiz to tell him that he's going to train.

Wednesday was a day. Elder Paiz went to the trainers meeting in the morning but at the same time I received Elder Maldonado. The other area in our Ward had some problems so one Elder was sent to some other zone and Elder Maldonado came with us in trio. He's still in his first change, so I'm currently training 2 Elders (though since Elder Paiz is going to train, it's basically certain that I have changes this Wednesday. Me vooooooooooooooy, que lástima pero adiós).

Thursday we changed houses. We're renting a member's house who moved out of the Ward, and since our old house wasn't exactly sanitary, we moved. We have 2 showers. Showers are pretty incredible, and we always have water since it has a backup supply. There's also a water heater, but I've just taken cold showers to keep the habit.

Friday, Zone Conference.

Saturday, went to help with a blood donation. Gave a blessing to a sister missionary. She wanted it in English, which I more or less managed. There hasn't been a gringo in my District for 4 months. Otherwise, nothing happened at the blood drive. Almost nobody came.

Sunday, baptisms (which were from the other area in our Ward, but since the other area is closed, they corresponded to us).

Today, we'll see what happens.

Pascal Lamb‏

This week was full. Wednesday, we did a District Activity in which we all made shirts matching the pass along cards about questions of the soul and ran all over the city talking with people. Super cool, and we learned a lot of people's favorite colors.

Thursday was the Temple trip. We were teaching the class on the Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was super strong, plus Usulután was there so I got to see a ton of people that I worked with. We have pictures of B, B, and T H (T still isn't baptized :( ), plus Hna T, one of the super helpful members over there. N was also there but we didn't take photos. But it feels so good to see converts still being 100% active. I'm hoping to hear of mission calls from B, and maybe B in a few years. The members brought a ton of people, which was great, since everyone but D H turned us down, plus the L


family who are less active.

Conference was fantastic, although no investigators came. I watched it in English with our District Leader. Make sure to keep watching it, everyone! Write questions you have, pray about them, watch Conference again, and God will answer!

Also, Friday they did alfombras all over our area. We didn't take out our camera for the coolest ones since it was super busy where they were, but we got some good pictures of the area. The world stops here for Holy Week.

But yeah, that's my week! It was very good, even though not so successful on our part. We're gonna work harder, pray always, and live by the Spirit!

Build Zion!

Elder Newman