Family, 

Hope that you are all doing so well and are enjoying this beautiful new baby who came straight from the presence of our Heavenly Father. Congratulations Jason and Krista with the new baby. It is so crazy to realize how our family is growing in this time and how much all these little ones will grow in this time while I am here in Chile. This week has been super crazy. Not quite as successful as last week but it was great anyway. Monday night I left for Antofagasta around 9:30 at night and then got there the next morning at about 9:00. Ha ha man those bus rides are sooooo long. 12 hours! I forget how insanely huge our mission is. 

It was a long ride and the bus was super super hot but we all survived the trip back to Antofagasta  When we got there the assistants picked us up and I got to see Elder Pope who is now one of the new assistants. He is from our stake and is such a great missionary. I am excited to be able to serve with him in these upcoming months. After that we went to the church and I got to see Elder Congleton and Elder Mccusker from my group. It was so great to see them and to be able to talk with them and catch up on life in the mission. 

Later we had a lunch with the new missionaries that arrived. They arrived in their fresh suits and shirts and were all looking tired from the long trip down here to Chile  Little did they know that they were about to all get on a bus for another 8-12 hours. My new companion is Elder Stratford! Elder Stratford is a stud! Ha-ha I am excited to be able to work with him. Elder Stratford is from California and he played football in high school and then went to BYU for a year. He is just great. We laugh a lot and joke around with each other and we get along super well. I am excited to be able to work with him and serve with him.

We took the 12 hour bus ride from Antofagasta to Arica and we got here at 9:30 Wednesday morning. It was also a very long trip but we got here, did a few quick things and then went straight to work. We had a very successful first day as we found 6 new investigators in one day. He was pretty excited and is all ready to do the work. We have found some great people but all of our investigators bailed on us on Sunday  But we are opening this sector so we are starting from zero. I am excited for this and am excited to be able to see the  work here that we will do as we try to get the work spinning here in Zapahuira.

Friday I went and did an exchange with some of the elders in the district and we went to Pukarani to visit some of the people that I had worked with. When we arrived to the house, the family wasn't there. Then the elder said great, now what are we going to do. I then thought and then I felt like we should go visit the columbian friend who lived a few doors down named JR. We have never shared with him but I had talked to him a few times. So we went and knocked on his door and he let us in immediately. He started to tell us that his girlfriend who was living with him cheated on him and then he was really sad and just looking for help. I knew that the Lord had prepared this guy to receive the gospel and then we had arrived precisely. We then started to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with him and just as we had started the door knocked. Then he opens the door and justo the friend of Jr. who is also columbian comes in and sits down with us. But heis a member of the church in a different ward! So we started teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to this guy and it was so great! The spirit was strong and the member was able to bear testimony to his friend who was in need. By the end of the lesson we put a baptismal fecha for February and then as I was sitting there I realized that his friend could baptize Junior! We had shared the idea with Jr. and he was so happy by the end of the lesson. To see his smile by the end of the lesson was priceless! 

I am so grateful for the opportunities that the Lord is giving me! It is so exhilarating to feel and know through experiences in the mission field that we were tools in the Lords Hands. I try to refine myself everyday so I can be a more effective tool in His hands. There are many who are waiting for this restored gospel and healing power of the Atonement. I am so exciting to be able to train Elder Strattford here in Arica and help him catch the fire and vision to Baptize. I love you all so much. Thank you for the emails and small notes that you send me! It is always good to feel of your love and to know that all is well. Onward and Upward.

Elder Newman

WHATS UP MY FAMILY! I hope that you are all doing so great! Holy smokes Alyssa you are just a dancing fool! Don´t dance yourself to death girl take a pit stop! Sheesh hope that you are doing all right! Man it sounds like you are all freezing your tootsies off up there and I am burning down here! The sun is soooooo sooo soo stong here. It is crazy. I have started to now put sunscreen on my arms now instead of just my face cause it worries me how much the people tell us to put on sunscreen. Like every person tells us put on bloqueador 50 times a day. But man.. It is hot! I am definitely in the driest desert in the stinking world. I wish you guys could just see this place you would all die. 

Wow. Where to begin with this week. I keep saying that the weeks keep getting more and more successful. But they do and I do not understand why we are receiving such blessings from the Lord up here in Arica. Thank you so much all of you for your prayers and continual concern on my behalf. You are all wonderful. 

So Tuesday morning I tell elder Sunderland that we need to go to Sodimac which is like a south american Home depot. So we go to home depot and then I am over there scouting out to buy some wood. Yep you guessed it. We´re breaking boards! I tried to remember what in the world the wood was that dad bought when we did boards. I was pretty sure it was pine. Ha ha couldn't remember. So I buy some pine wood have the guy cut it and walk out of there with 10 boards for my district meeting. The whole zone met together.  So I just try to be full of excitement and energy for these people to get them excited about the work. We go into our room and then I explain the whole breaking boards analogy with the scriptures and the barriers that we face as missionaries  So then they all write on their boards and then we go outside to break them. So I teach them everything about how we need to break it and what we need to do and how they need to go full out and try to hit me in the chest or they will not break the board. So Elder Marsee he decides that he is going to go first. I am holding the board and he prepares up. Booom. Doesn't break. I am like oh shoot please break this board elder please break this board. He tries again. Nothing. I am thinking oh great now what are we going to do. He wants me to try. I am thinking to myself. Are you kidding? I did this when i was 12 years old. So i go full out. Boom. Doesn't break. I try again. I am thinking oh great. What did i do. I bought the wrong stuff. Kids are going to break their hands. My district meeting was a failure. Then the Hermana Cram who is this little Hermana from South Jordan Utah starts saying how maybe we should try and break the board a different way. I am thinking to myself oh Hermana please don't do anything I don't want to  hurt yourself  Then has a different elder hold it a different way and she tries it and breaks the stinking board!! Everyone was so shocked!! I was blown away. Immediately I said, well its obviously just our mindes because hermana cram just broke her board. Later Elder Quiro from argentina who took Tae Quan Doe broke his board the way that I showed him, and then Elder sunderland broke it the way hermana cram showed him. So then I am like, Alright I am not leaving here without breaking my board. (ps my board has like 3 massive knots in it) So Everyone is getting all excited trying to cheer me on and I literally go full speed. Full speed like I am going to break someone. And I hit my board and I hear a crack and the rest of the elders too. But it does not fall apart. I try more time. And I cannot break this stinking sucker. Ha-ha i decided I better stop before I fracture a bone in my hand. Ha-ha so 3 people had broken the board. But I am convinced that I probably bought the wrong wood. But everyone thought that it was the coolest thing ever. So thank you Dad. I gave all the compliments to you. They were thanking me and I just said, "yeah.. my dad is the coolest ever"

There were a bunch of Elders who were up here in Arica doing their paperwork for their visas and they had some problems so they had to stay with us for a night. So there were two elders from Iquique and one of them was Elder Tymczyszyn´s kid who he is training. I went with the other elder and that day we stinking went crazy. We found 8 news in like 5 hours and taught 6 lessons. The Lord was definitely guiding me that day as 2 of the new investigators were prepared perfectly. I had been contacting a street, and was going to turn to go to a different one, but the spirit told me to keep going down this street. So I kept going. And about 4 doors later this lady opens a door and says hello come in come in. So we go to her patio and she tells me that her neighbors boyfriend dies 5 days before and she was having a rough time. She asked us to teach them. So we taught them. The lady who let us in has been con vive.. shoot whats that word.. living with someone for 6 years and she is getting married on the 1st of Feb so she is perfect to get baptized. 

Later that week in the morning we were doing contacts and we had finished and were trying to decide what to do. Then the thought came to me that we should go this hermana who is reactivating in the church. So we went over there and she opens the door and tells us that she tried to call us yesterday but her phone didn't have anymore minutes so she was praying and praying to Heavenly Father to send us to her house so we could give blessings to her grand kids who were really sick and her daughter. So we gave them all blessings and shortly after they were all better. It was very cool. Sunday we had another experience with another hermana who was also sick. This week alone I gave 6 blessings to people who were in need of them. I have been thinking about what President Gottfredson about me being blessed to heal and help others through the priesthood  I have given so many blessings through my mission. It has been a wonderful experience to be able to help all of these people through the power of God. 

The other day as well we were walking past a street. Then I saw two lady's who were talking and then I felt impressed to go talk to them. They were both real nice and then I got their information and they both lived in the street were I talked to them. So then the next day in my morning prayers they had both come to my mind and I had felt like I needed to go visit them. So after one of our citas we went straight to that street but when we touched their doors they weren't there. I was confused. But then we kept going and then I saw this lady and I just felt impulsed forward to go talk to her. She then explained to be that she had assisted church in antofagasta and here in our ward like 3 times. She asked if we could come back another time, and I said sure then as we walked away she asked if we could return back that next day. So the next day we went back and we put a baptismal date with her for the 26th and later that day we took her to a baptismal service and she really liked it. 

Sunday was a day full of miracles. Sunday morning we went to our Columbian family friends and we just had about everything go right. They all came to church, and we brought many others as well. We had 10 investigators in church! We could have had 14 and there were honestly people who told us that they were going to go but Sunday morning some complications came up so we only brought 10.  It was so great. I felt so good. I broke my record. The new one to shoot for will be around 15 in think. But it was so great. I don't know why the Lord is blessing us here in this sector Pukarani. This sector is one that usually struggles and I was able to accomplish my goals and desires for this sector for the 4 weeks I was here. I am now leaving this sector with 8 Fechas and 14 progressing investigators. Transfers were on Saturday and I am now going to Re open Zapahuira B and train! I will continue as district leader and now move over to Zapahuira. I leave tonight for Antofagasta and then I will pick up my companion tomorrow! It was great to see Elder Sunderland and I finish as number 2 in the mission with the Celestial 7. I hope that my new comp is ready to work hard. I hope that you are all doing so well! I have been studying the life of the Savior and I have really come to understand more the love that he has for each and everyone of us! I hope that in some way or another each of us can remember Him and help others reach His help. I love you all so much. Have a great week! 

Love Elder Newman

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Family! That week was very fast and it was so fun to see all of your sweet faces on Skype Christmas day. I honestly cannot believe that 2012 has already finished! Much of it feels like a blur and I can´t believe we are entering 2013. 

This week was very crazy as we all were focusing very much on concluding the month and year with baptisms. This week we spent much of it in other sectors helping the people with baptismal fechas close out strong with their fechas so we could complete the goal as a zone and then conclude strong as a mission. Thursday i interviewed 7 different people for baptism and it was a very busy day! Friday we worked in our sector for a little bit and we are working with a less active family who wants to return to church. They also have a family friend named Jorge who is also one of our investigators. He is now reading the book of Mormon and is progressing really well. He has accepted a challenge to be baptized and is progressing well but the problem is that he works in the mines so it is really hard because he can only come to church every other week. The other day we were doing street contacts and then i had the idea to go one street over and then one of the members found us from the other ward telling me that she had a reference for us! I was excited and then we set a cita with her and the friend for Saturday morning. Friday night i had to do two more interviews for the other hermanas. It was fun to meet all of these people and to see the progression of these people as they make their journey unto the savior. 

Saturday morning we taught the reference from the member and she is already reading the book of Mormon thanks to the help of this wonderful member. The lesson went really well and the investigator accepted all of the commitments. Saturday night we went the capilla of the hermanas because one of their baptismal fechas wanted that i baptize her and my companion would baptize her little sister. I had helped the girl with her English studies and helped her prepare for a test and the scored a 7/7 on her test so she was really happy. So Saturday night we went over to the chapel of the hermanas and we baptized over there. It was really cool we took a bunch of pictures there were so many of us just dressed in full out white.  

Sunday we brought a Colombian to church one that we are working with and he is progressing gradually. He loves us to come to his house and teach him more about the savior and whenever we go over all of the friends and family come to listen to us. I hope that we can see some progression with this family. We completed the goal as a mission and a zone! We baptized 21 as a zone and then as a mission we finished with 1029 baptisms! I am excited to see what ideas and vision president has for the beginning of the year this next year. 

This morning for p day and to celebrate as a mission we went paint balling! The pappitos took us paint balling it was so much fun! They took us all in his micro thing that he has and the majority of the 2 zones went and it was very cool. There was this course thing in the middle of the desert and it was great to have a fun activity like that with all of the missionaries. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Newman