Week 75

This week has been hard and fun, new ideas for finding and new ways to teach. [We have been] getting some new investigators and making a little progress with the old ones. I will start off with the new finding idea. We had to get permission for it because it’s a little sketchy, but it is dealing with finding people to teach on the train.

Two missionaries are in P day clothes (normal clothes) and have their badges in their pockets. Then the missionaries get on the train and say that they are going around sharing a message about the Book of Mormon and about Jesus Christ and ask if anyone is interested. Then what usually happens is nobody raises their hand to talk to the missionaries except the two undercover Missionaries, and [we] talk a little louder than normal so that everyone else can hear. The undercover missionaries try to involve the people around them. It’s pretty hard to do, but it is pretty effective and getting people involved with our message. We did that on Saturday and placed 5 Book of Mormons! What a day!

We also got some new investigators. We will see if we can get them to progress. We were also finally able to introduce Elder Olsen to Simon and taught him a great lesson and inspired him to try harder to make time for us and to also read the Book of Mormon. It’s been great!

[I have] nothing else to report on. I love you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Newman

[Elder Newman broke his glasses a couple weeks ago playing basketball, and he had to go get new ones. We like the new look!]

Week 74

This week was pretty good. We got a lot done, and a lot of families are starting to progress a little bit. Monday we played basketball like we always do for P-day.

Tuesday was a little rough. My glasses broke, and on the way back from an appointment I was kinda riding the bike a little funny. The back tire was flat so I was riding on the front tire, and I needed to stop and so I pulled the brake, and I pulled a stoppy and end-overed. Nothing happened, just my pride got hurt a little bit because it was at a busy intersection. But I didn’t get hurt. I just sat there for a little bit laughing, then I got up. I only had 1 hole in my shirt, but no scratches, so I was pretty lucky for that one. There is another elder that did the same thing and it cost 6000$ to fix his face. He was all I was thinking about as I was going over the handlebars. That’s all the happened that day.

Then the next day I went on splits with Bishop, and he is the man! He has helped us make heaps of progress with the less active members of our ward. We also contacted the potentials that we got last week, and we might be getting a couple more investigators, 2 families and another guy. They are still just potentials, but they are pretty interested in learning.

We also went over to help Bishop fix his wife's car this week. We had to replace the ball joint because it had broken. So we got that done, and then someone must have talked because at church yesterday we got two more members that want Elder Olsen to help fix their cars. It looks like we are going to be getting a lot of referrals pretty soon.

That was our week. I hope you all had one just as good as that or better. I love you all! Talk to yous next week!
Elder Newman

Week 73

This week was a scorcher mate!! A total scorcher! We have had like four days that have been over 40! On Saturday the thermostat in the car said 48 degrees Celsius.

Not a whole lot went on this week, just getting Elder Olsen introduced to the area and introducing him to members. Other than that, we did a lot of finding on Saturday. We knocked 100 doors and got 6 potentials. We will probably be able to get 1 investigator from that, so we will have another person to teach, which is good. We will be following up with those this week.

But other than that we are trying to find some creative finding ideas for being able find people. We might try to cowboy it up a bit. We made our own ropes, and we are going to go and rope us some investigators. We will see how that goes. Other than that.. loving the area, loving the members, and my comp is the best!

Have a great week everyone!
Elder Newman

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.