Hello Family! 

What a wonderful weekend it was with general conference!! Wow what an incredible conference! Every talk was absolutely incredible! This was probably the best session of conference I have ever watched! Maybe its just cause I´m in the mission field but it was absolutely incredible! Missionaries at 18?? I knew this was coming! Would have loved it a year earlier but everything has its time and season! Girls at 19 too? It was so sweet when president Monson was talking about it and then said these changes are taking place now effective immediately. I wonder how much this will increase the numbers of the mission. Chileans have been able to leave at 18 for the last 6-9 months and so Chile was one of the places where 18 year olds where tested. Crazy, with time i could be training an 18 year old young in. Haha crazzyy!!  Like you said mom there were so many wonderful talks about true discipleship and following the savior. Elder Bednars talk was incredible about conversion vs. testimony. Elder Nelsons about ask the missionaries! Ha! I loved that! There were so many wonderful messages and it truly was a wonderful conference! The sessions went by so fast! 

These last 2 days have felt like a half day! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves up in Utah! No i did not feel the earthquake last night. Haha I probably slept through it. There have been many times when elders have come in and out of our pension during the middle of the night and I have just completely slept through everything. The other thing is that our pension is right on the coast so we don't really feel stuff where we are at. Haha kinda scary huh. We are definitely in the danger zone as far as tsunami. I´ll try not to scare ya mom!!! The flees are gone from my bed I think. My bites have been disappearing so that is good. I probably need to up my consumption of protein, fruit and vegetables. All they eat here is bread, avocados, soup, churassco which is like a fatty steak that is transparently thin, and some lettuce with lemon sauce on it. Ha ha i need to eat some more bananas and fruits too. 

This week was not quite what we hoped for but we are still pursuing forward. Last Monday night we went to a family home evening with some less actives we are working with and a investigator. The lesson was based of the movie only a stone cutter about John Moyle. I got excited as I told the people there that he lived in my hometown beautiful Alpine Utah. They were all excited. The following day I decided to implement a technique that the bishop had taught our ward. He said that a stake president had taught him to carry a pencil and paper with him wherever he went and when he recognized a prompting of the spirit to write it down and then at the end of each day he could look back and remember how the spirit had guided him that day.

Something that I have noticed lately is how the spirit has been guiding me to talk to certain people. Walking down the street we contacted a lady and she seemed like a potential investigator but while we were talking I felt prompted to ask her for a reference if she knew anyone that could use our message. She talked about her mom and we wrote it down. Last night we taught the mom after the last session of conference and the lesson went really well. At first when we went to contact her she seemed a little hesitant but then the spirit guided me to continue talking and with persuasion and the spirit she decided to let us in. I felt the spirit as I told her about in reality how our message is centered on Jesus Christ and his gospel and how it could help her life. I believe the spirit bore witness to her as i talked to her and then she decided to let us in. We then taught her about the Restoration and she was pretty knowledgeable about the bible compared to most Chileans. Most Chileans say they know about the bible but in reality they know little or nothing. Another example of this was thursday I was on Splits with Elder Spolemann our district leader. As we were walking down the street a man passed us and i just kind of felt my mind/body just stop and i felt talk to that man. I went back and began talking to him. He said that lately he had been reading in the bible and had been thinking about religion and Joseph smith and other religions had come across his mind. He said that he was wondering about the truth. He has a family who lives in a city next to ours but he is moving to Iquique in January. He said he would love to have the missionaries come by. Coincidence?! I think not haha! It really is an incredible feeling though to have the spirit direct you to certain people and to learn of their personal interest in the gospel. 

Mary our recent convert is incredible. She is doing so great! She went visiting teaching last week with a member in the ward and went around and visited less actives! She told me that her son in Bolivia is going to get baptized in December and that her daughter is still taking the lessons. What joy it brings me to see lives changes and families unite in the gospel! Leninka her friend is ready to be baptized. We have taught her all of the lessons and I am just helping her build a solid testimony on the Book of Mormon. I know that if i can keep my investigators and converts solid on the book of Mormon and converted unto its teachings or unto the savior as demonstrated yesterday by Elder Bednar they will never fall away. Alma 23:6. 

We have two baptismal dates for the 20th of October. Leninka and José. José is the husband of the less active. We are really trying to help his progress and prepare for his baptism. This last week we saw him with his cousin as he went to the supermarket and had a cigarette in his mouth. We were pretty bummed but this week we are going to give him a little palito charla franca haha.  

Last night we met with the ward mission leader and created some plans for this ward. We are going to go with the youth on divisions/exchanges probably 2 times a week. We want to prepare these priests for missions and we also have so much work to do in this sector that we don't have enough time to cover everything. We have been praying and fasting for this sector so that we can find those who are prepared to receive and hear our message. We have faith that this week we will find great investigators to teach. 

Conference was absolutely incredible! I loved it so much! We had a gringo room with all of the Americans where we were able to watch it in English! Oh how blessed it was to hear that beautiful language with the Mormon tabernacle choir! Conference seemed to absolutely fly by! It was incredible! Elder Hollands talk! WOW. So powerful! I hope you all enjoyed your wonderful conference weekend! I love being a missionary! I love sharing this message with people! I love this work! There is so much to learn and apply as we strive more to be like our savior Jesus Christ. I know he lives. As we strive to become more converted to the gospel we will fill that heavenly father is pleased with our lives. I hope that you are all well. Keep up the great work.The field is white and ready to harvest! If ye have desires to serve then ye are called to the work! There is a work that each of us can do, no matter what calling we hold. As we seek the guidance of the spirit, we can help our Father in Heavens Children wherever we may be. Pray for opportunities to serve those around us, to lift one anothers burdens and to know what we can do to help build the kingdom of God here on earth. 

Much Love, 

Elder Newman