Week 72

This week was transfers! I am still in the same area, but my companion got changed. Elder Cook went back out into the bush area to a place called Dapto, and he is with his trainer again.

My new comp is Elder Olsen, and he is from Wellsville, so another Cache Valley Elder that I am comps with. He likes archery hunting, so that is something that we talk a lot about. It’s been awhile since I have been able to talk about things like that. He has been out about 7 months, so just barely got rid of the green, but he is still a pretty cool guy. It’s going to be a fun transfer.

Not a lot happened last week besides heaps of meetings. A lot of our investigators are progressing slowly, but they are still progressing, so that’s good. Not a whole lot else to say about the week, but I love you all, and have a great week!

Elder Newman

Water fight at the church last week...

 (Mom asked if he was playing basketball in his slides, and he answered: “yeah I gave my shoes to another Elder that needed them. I will just buy some new ones from payless.”)

Week 71

Well this week was a lot of fun. We taught like 5 lessons to our investigators, and we were finding the rest of the week, tracting for like 5 hours a day. We had a goal to get 20 potentials. but we fell short and only got 18. But that’s still a record high for us in our missions. None of them have turned into anything yet, but we will keep pushing along.

We had one girl come to church this week, and in the opening song she kinda went crazy. (That’s the only kind of people who talk to us I guess.) But anyways, in the opening song she started to yell "Africa Africa Asia Asia Africa..." The members that she was sitting with had to calm her down, and she left halfway through sacrament meeting. Welcome to Australia, haha.

Other than that this week was good. Just yesterday we were talking to a lady from Peru, and as soon as we started to talk to her about Jesus Christ she started to cry and tell us about her struggles that she has been having. We weren't able to get her number, but we did give her ours. Hopefully she calls us. We will wait and see. But that was one miracle about the Lord putting us in the right place at the right time.

I love you all. Have a great week.

Love, Elder Newman

Week 70

This week was a good week. Yesterday everyone we talked to had something nice to say. We got on the train and started talking to one guy who had to get off on the next stop. So he asked us where we were headed, and he said he would give us a ride if we got off with him so that he could talk with us some more. He loves our temples and has a friend on a mission. We will be in contact with him pretty soon because he would love to hear about what we have to share. So that was a great experience.

But the day before that, so Saturday, I had a guy educate me in the way of Islam and told me to take off my badge and go to a Muslim place of worship and read the Koran. We didn't talk for very long after that. I told him to have a great day and I left. Haha, the people you meet on the mission.

But yesterday when we met that guy on the train, and a couple people after that, it showed me that the Lord has a plan. He puts you in places at certain times to meet the people that he has prepared, and that’s why we need to open our mouths and talk to everyone. That was the jest of my week.

I love you all, have a good one.
Elder Newman

Week 69

Well this week was pretty normal. It seems like there hasn't been very much variety here in our daily schedule. This week we didn't get a whole lot accomplished numbers wise, but we do feel pretty successful this week.

We have been making heaps of progress with this one part-member family, and our new bishop is the man. He gets stuff done. There is a lot of times in this ward where there is a lot of talk and no action, so he is a great bishop to get the ward into action. We should be expecting some big changes pretty soon.

Some of you may have heard that all around the world there has been some big changes in the missionary schedule. We no longer plan at night; that is something we do in the morning. I will give you our schedule.

6:30 Arise, exercise, and prepare for the day
8:30 Daily Planning
9:00 Personal Study
10:00 Begin proselyting
 (Lunch is for 30 minutes and comp study is for 30 minutes where it fits your schedule best, and dinner before 6pm.)
9:00 Return to the flat
10:30 Lights out

That’s our schedule. We will be getting some training on it pretty soon, with a missionary broadcast to all the missionaries in the world.

That’s what this week has been like for us. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week.

Talk to yous next time.
Elder Newman

Me and Elder Ledbetter doing trade-offs.

The D family gave me treats and a birthday cake on my birthday.

 

Week 68

Well this week was pretty calm, not as on the edge as last week; but we did have a good time, and we got some new investigators. One investigator, his name is Simon, he is from the Middle East and he speaks Arabic and Syrian, something that we need [to allow us] to teach a lot of people around here.

Elder Cook says he is golden. We will have to see about that. But if he is, then the missionary work here will explode. We have heaps of potentials, and we can’t help them progress because of the language barrier, but this will help.

We also got another Member Referral. It’s starting to feel a lot like Utah, haha, just heaps of referrals.

I am doing good. Sorry for the short letter.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Newman

A little birthday gift for myself. I needed new shoes for rugby.

Elder Cook let me tie him up, but he couldn’t get out, haha.

The card is what my flat mates got me for my birthday.

The cat is one of the strays that we have in our back yard.

Week 67

Well this week was great. It was kinda hard to teach people because they are all gone to parties and such for the holidays, but we did have some crazy experiences this week. The first one started on Tuesday of last week when me and Elder Cook were looking for a Recent Converts house. I was crossing the road and wasn't really paying attention, and I almost walked into a moving car, haha. That will teach ya to look where you are walking.

But then the other couple of experiences happened yesterday when we were knocking the housing commission units, and to enter the building we had to step over a guy that was passed out in the entry way. Then we knocked on a couple doors, and on one in particular we knocked three times for their salvation. Just as we were about to leave, she answered the door, and she was really hesitant to shake our hands. She was acting really timid and scared, but eventually we got talking to her. She talked about her sister and how she is a member of our faith, and then out of nowhere she says, “Excuse me, sorry” and shuts the door.

So we thought that she was coming back in a little bit to continue talking with us, but after 15 minutes we decided to knock again, and she answered it the same as the first time, very timid and scared. We got talking to her again, and she eventually told us that we shouldn't be here, that it’s a dangerous area, and then she told us something that made us realize why she was acting scared. She said that she had informed the cops about someone there and that since she did that, they were going to kill her. She told us to leave this area and don’t come back because it is very dangerous. Just before she shut the door we gave her a B.O.M and told her to read it when she needed strength. She then talked to us for a little longer and then one of her neighbors opened the door, and she quickly got inside and ended the visit.

Needless to say, we were a little scared for the rest of the tracting in that building. The only reason that we stayed was because we knew that we would be protected by the Lord.

That was my week. I hope you all had an even better one. Have another fantastic week!

Love Elder Newman

This is me sitting on a motor bike just after I cleaned it a little bit.

This is Elder and Sister Mansel. They are from Elwood, and they are the office missionaries here.

Week 66

[Elder Newman didn’t have time to write a group email this week, but he did send a BUNCH of pictures. Their Mission Christmas Conference was on December 20, and it looks like he got pictures with most of his former companions. He said the conference was fun. Sometime in the last week he saw, "Spirit of the Game", the movie about the missionaries in Australia that formed a basketball team, which he loved. On Christmas Eve they were allowed to watch "The Lion King", which he was pretty excited about. We talked with him over Skype on Christmas Eve (Christmas Day in Australia), and he is doing well. Having spent so much time in Merimbula, which is “the bush”, and now being back in the city, he has lost his gift of talking to random strangers. But his companion, Elder Cook, is helping him learn to have that gift again. He said it is a bit of struggle for him, but it is something that he is working on, and he is pushing himself to get out of his comfort zone again. After talking to us, he went to dinner with a Tongan family. He said that the Tongans always insist that they eat more, so he got a pretty full belly for Christmas.]

Elder Cook, Elder Famasasa, Elder Bagshaw, Elder Newman at the Sydney Temple.

First and second transfers (Camden), trainer Elder Iino from Japan (middle).

Third transfer (Camden), Elder Melville from Orem.

Fourth transfer (Hurstville), Elder Brown from Sandy (3rd from left); MTC Companion Elder Delahunty from Provo (on the right).

Sixth and seventh transfers (Merimbula), Elder Plata from the Philippines.

Eighth and ninth transfers (Merimbula), Elder Stott from Smithfield.

Transfer 10 and 11 (Villawood), Elder Cook from Arizona (his family has since moved to Pleasant Grove) on the left. Elder Rea is on the right. A lot of people think these three look like triplets.

 
President Back (middle) and Elder Famasasa, current flatmate in Villawood.

 

 

Elder Cook, Elder Famasasa, Elder Bagshaw, Elder Newman at the Sydney Australia Temple.

Christmas Eve movie/pizza night with the flatmates.. Elder Newman, Elder Famasasa, Elder Cook, Elder Bagshaw.

The Lion King.

 Christmas Day Skype with the family and Elder Newman in Neuquen, Argentina.

Yes it’s a pig head. We are going over today to try horse.