Week 86

[We got to Skype on Elder Newman's P-day this week, so he didn't have time for an email. He has a little bit of a cold right now, but he still sounded great and he loves his mission. He and his companion are currently teaching six investigators. They both love baseball and had plans for a member to pitch some softballs to them after Elder Leal had his Skype call. He said they were going to go hit some "dingers." Elder Newman hasn't played any baseball since he left, so he was pretty excited. Hopefully he will tell us how it went in next week's email.:)]

Week 85

This week not a whole lot happened, just normal everyday occurrences, nothing out of the ordinary. But this upcoming week we are going to be trying some new things. And we have come up with some new goals that we have for this area, so we will see if we can help this area progress.

Next week is Mother's Day, and on that Sunday is our invite Sunday, so we will be going around this week trying to get people to come to that. Our goal as a ward is to get 250 in attendance. We will see how that goes.

Other than that, nothing new this week. I love you all. Sorry for the short email. I will find something new to talk about next week. Have a great week everyone!

Elder Newman

My old comp, Elder Cook

Our District.. back, left to right: Elder Derieg, Elder Leal, Elder Newman, Elder McGregor, Elder Foa'i
Front left to right: Elder Scofield, Sister Oswald, Sister Afatasi

Week 84 - Transfers!

This week was good. We were able to get some solid lessons and set some baptismal dates with people. We are going to be very busy very soon. It’s going to be a lot of fun with my new companion, Elder Leal. He is a great missionary and knows how to teach simply for everyone to understand. That is something that I can learn from him because that is something that I have struggled with. So there is going to be a lot going on this transfer, and with an awesome ward behind us it’s going to get done.

Elder Leal is from Shelley, Idaho (he is a spud), and he entered the MTC the same day as me. In fact, we were roommates in the MTC. He loves baseball as well, so we can talk a lot about that. But I am still getting to know him, so I will let you all know more about him when I can.

I hope you all have a great week because I know that I will! It’s going to be a great transfer!

Love,
Elder Newman

[Elder Iino was Elder Newman's trainer when he first got to Australia. They have been serving in the same zone, so Elder Iino was able to visit and tell Elder Newman goodbye before he goes home to Japan tomorrow.]

Week 83 - Church History/Miracles

For some reason this week I don't know what to talk about. The only thing that I can think of was our mission conference with the church historian, Elder Snow and another guy, I forgot his name. But we were able to hear from them and their spouses and got to learn a lot. What I liked most about the meeting was the question and answer section where we got to ask questions about the history of the church. That was really great because there are all these little facts about the Prophet Joseph Smith’s life that not a lot of people know about. It was good to hear from some of our leaders about the stories and  the cool miracles that took place in our history as a church.

Other than that not a whole lot happened, but we did see some success one of our investigators, Werner and his son Bruno. They are the best, they love coming to church! We went to their house to invite them to come to church, and when we got there they were already ready to go and were going to catch a bus to get there. But we said we would get them a ride. They are an excellent example of being proactive, and I am not talking about the face wash.

They have made me look back to before my mission, how some days I didn't want to go to church. I felt that it was a burden. These guys are an excellent example of how we should act about church. They love coming and being in the environment. They notice everything, and they are very sensitive to the spirit and don't know how to describe it. But that then gives us missionaries the opportunity to testify and to teach a gospel principle.

Those were the two biggest things that have happened this week, and that might be the reason why I can’t think of what else to write. I love you all and hope that you have had as good of a week as I had, and an even better week coming!

Love, Elder Newman

Elder Olsen and I at the mission conference.

 I thought that you would enjoy a picture of our toilet.

 

Week 82

This week was a great week, it being the week of Easter. Every Christian was open for a talk about Easter and the significance of it. I believe that people are good at heart and they want to help other people, but because pride gets in the way they turn away to act cool. This week I saw both sides: one where someone didn't give into peer pressure and the other where they did give into it.

The first one was, we were at the train station handing out the Easter pass-along cards and talking to people, and I walked up to this group and was talking to them and they were kinda shut off to me. But I kept talking, explaining Easter and what I do as a missionary, and I asked everyone if they wanted to learn more. All of them said no except one. She accepted a pass-along card, but I couldn't get her number, but she accepted the card.

Another one was, we were visiting some potentials in the ghetto, and this gang of 13 or 14 year olds blocked the road off and were trying to get into the car when we tried to get around it, haha. They weren't very big, but there was a lot of them. This isn't the first time that missionaries have had trouble with them, but it’s all peer pressure, trying to be cool living in the hood. But yeah, that was a fun experience.

Also this week we had Zone Conference which was a lot of fun. We got to see President and Sister Back, and they gave really excellent trainings, one being consecrated missionaries. I believe that we have heaps more of those today than we had a year ago. There is a lot more power in a consecrated missionary in the way that he talks and the way that he acts and the way that he teaches and testifies. There is greater power in two consecrated missionaries than there is in 100 average missionaries. Why would you want to be average in anything that you do? We are trying to save souls here.

That was my week. It was a good one! Talk to yous next week!

Love,
Elder Newman

I got to meet up with the Shoobridge family for a short time, and it made my whole day!

 

 
Our ward had a picnic and an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

Week 81 - General Conference

Saturday morning started off pretty good with the story of the fire fighters and their respect for our meeting houses and our religion. It’s a good example for how we should respect others, everyone around us, whether of our faith or not. He also talked about how the atonement fixes everything, and that is something that we are sharing with everyone at the moment with the new Easter video that is out on Mormon.org. It talks about the Prince of Peace and the enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ is what gives him the ability to help us overcome sin and death, to give peace to all that will repent and believe on his name and follow him and that is when we receive peace. Russell M. Nelson talked about how we can draw in the power of Jesus Christ, and I was really inspired from that talk. 

The Saturday afternoon session was special because I saw heaps of people from home singing in the choir. Great job everyone! I also liked how Jeffrey R. Holland talked about singing next to a perfect singer (Jesus Christ), and as we try to match his pitch we become better. I also have a question for you all: Are we freezing for hours to save five minutes of work? -Gary B Sabin. I was also really inspired by Valeri V. Cordon's talk on preserving our languages.

Then on the Sunday morning session, Joy D. Jones, I had a lot of notes on her. She had a lot of good quotes, but I liked how she talked about creating a sin-resistant generation. There were a lot of talks that talked about the rising generation and how we need to prepare them. This was not all that I have learned. I definitely want to watch it all again and try to get more notes. But I took to heart that we have all been warned by the watchmen, and it’s now our responsibility to act. We are warned all the time by the Spirit and by representatives. We just need to do our part now and apply what we have learned into our lives. I know that as we do so we will be on our way to becoming like the Savior, and we will be gaining more peace in our lives. And that's my short testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

My week was great. I’m still trying to get to know the area and the people in it, but I will get there soon.

I love you all and have a great week!

Love,
Elder Newman

Bowling on pday...

District photo...

I need a haircut...

Week 80 - Life Down Under

[It has been] quite a slow week knowing that everyone back home is able to watch general conference this week; and then I have to wait another week to even hear it. I hope that you all learned something from it and that you all took questions to it.

This week we have been making good progress with a potential family. They are Chinese and are going through some struggles. What an opportunity to testify about how much God loves us, and how much he knows and cares about every individual on earth, and how we are all sons and daughters of our father in heaven. The mom loves us coming over. She feeds us every time. Haha. She feeds us more than the members. Her son is 19 years old, loves hunting and backpacking, and cars, so we have a little bit in common. We just need to inspire him to love Jesus Christ just as much. They are always so nice to us when we come over. They are a great family that would benefit heaps from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We also had a Baptism this week. His name is Jackson. It was such a great experience for him, as well as for his mom and sister. That is another great family that is on fire with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That was a week in the Life Down Under. Have a great week!
Elder Newman