Family, 

I am glad to hear that you all had a great week and that each of you are doing well. Happy Birthday Mom! I hope that you guys have some great cake and have a great time together. You guys are still young and hip! Crazy to see the snow on those mountains already. I swear we were just in winter? It is getting hotter and hotter every day here. Ha ha but we are doing great. 

On Tuesday we had a zone conference. It was great. It was super special and super spiritual, one of the assistants said that he hadn't felt the spirit so strong in any other zone in the mission and Sister Dalton could barely talk. We really do have great missionaries in our zone, and the Lord has blessed us with His spirit. We received some great instruction from President Dalton and we are really striving to work on families and focus on finding families. He told us not to have fear of the "leon en el sillon" (the lion in the chair). Referring to that many missionaries pass by the fathers and go straight for the wives and the children because the fathers may be more difficult. We need to saddle up, get courage and work with the fathers, and as we do so we will see miracles. Just like what has happened with Juan. So we are doing really well and we are working to pray and find families. I know that we will see miracles soon as we continue for this search. 

Our English classes have been going super well. We have received so many references from doing them. It is incredible the results that we have seen. We are so glad that we stuck with it. In the beginning we had 2 to 4 people that would come and it was that way for about 3 weeks and we asked ourselves if it was worth it. However we stuck with it and now it is incredible and we have seen amazing results. The other day while we were advertising for the class we had a few inactive members come up to us and told us that they wanted to reactivate and also this older woman came up to my companion and said that a number of years ago she had received the missionary lessons from sister missionaries and was about to get baptized but that week  of her baptism her husband took her to Antofagasta because he didn't want her to get baptized and then when she got back the missionaries had been transferred and she lost contact. She said that while she was in the centro she felt the need to come talk to us and she couldn't ignore the feeling. She lives in our area and we are hoping to meet with her this week. She is awesome we are super pumped. 

Enrique got interviewed and will receive the priesthood the week after conference. We are stoked for him. Also the mom of the girls (kattya, karla, and kiara they were baptized like a month ago). But she is reactivating and doing better and becoming stronger and stronger. The litlte girls are reading their Book of Mormons and are doing great. 

We are super excited for general conference this weekend. We have been trying to prepare ourselves every day and i have been pondering about questions i have and answers and direction i would like to receive. We are like little kids on Christmas morning we are super excited for conference. 

I have been having some great personal studies these last few days. In Preach My Gospel chapter 3 and in lesson 2 on the plan of salvation there are some chapters it says that we should study in the Book of Mormon that teaches a lot about the plan of salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It has been amazing the things that the spirit has taught me and the blessings that i have received as i have studied it. This morning i finished up Moroni 7. I would say that is one of my favorite chapters of the Book of Mormon. I believe that Moroni 7:48 was the scripture i chose for the missionary plaque It talks about charity. I thought I understood it, but i have come to understand the scripture even at a deeper level while being a missionary. 

Charity is everything as disciples of Jesus Christ. Just like it says if we have not charity we are nothing. Charity is what helps us focus on others and their eternal welfare and it is what helps us serve with the correct motivation.  However just like Moroni says at the end of the chapter in verse 48. "Therefore" or in other words, knowing this about the importance of charity and how it weighs in our eternal salvation, we must pray unto the father will all energy of heart that we may be filled with this love. It is something we have to work every day to obtain. The Lord gives this love to his true disciples, those who really want to follow and serve Him. As as we obtain this love, and serve as the savior would, we become the sons of God, and obtain the hope of the celestial kingdom, and eventually we become like the savior and we learn to know him, and when he appears, we will know Him, for we shall see Him as He is, and we will have the hope of being purified as he is pure. 

I love the Book of Mormon. I hope that each of you are reading and studying it each day. Its power changes lives and ours if we allow it. I love you all and hope that you have a great week. 

Love, 

Elder Newman