Family!!

Whats up how are you all doing? I hope that you all enjoyed your conference weekend! It was incredible! The music, the messages, it seems like it means more to me every year! It was so incredible! We had a lot of investigators go to the conference. 2 references that we have received from members went to the conference and then the Salamanca family, and some old investigators also went to the conference. The Salamanca family is closer than ever to getting married. We are still working on some logistical issues but the desire is there and they both want to get married and baptized. I know that the Lord will provide us with the miracles to get that accomplished. 

This last week was super busy but it was a great week i really enjoyed it. I am so happy to be with Elder Gálvez he is such a great companion and we push each other to be our best self. On Monday we had to help a little bit in the office because the old missionaries were getting ready to go home. That same night we contacted another reference that we received from a member. His name is Herbert. We have a lesson with him on Monday. He is awesome! We are receiving so many blessings it has been incredible. I feel like we have done very little to deserve so much. 

Tuesday we got up real early to go drop off the old missionaries. We dropped of 5. One of them was Elder Tymczyszyn who was my second companion. It was sad to know that I will probably never see him again. He helped me a lot and was a great companion. That same morning a few hours later we picked up the 16 new missionaries. Three or four of them told me that the Jones said hi. Haha the Jones are so awesome. It seems like they are doing great things in that mexico MTC. That afternoon Elder Galvez and I took two of the new elders from chile with us to work. The gringos were really tired from their long travel, so they went to go rest. But there were only two Latin elders so we took them out to go to work with us. It was awesome I went out with Elder Ortega. He is from Santiago and was baptized 2 years ago. He is 18 years old and seems like he has become truly converted to the gospel since his baptism. We found a new investigator and we taught a family and got a few referrals. It was so fun to see the glow in his eyes and the enthusiasm that he has to go out and save some souls. 

On Wednesday their trainers got to Antofagasta and picked them up. Elder Mangum is training this transfer so i got to see him and talk with him. He is very humble and asked for some counsel. Haha I just told him to be obedient and to work hard and everything will work out. 

Thursday we had our mission leadership council. We had moved it from last week to this week because of the earthquake and everything. So in the meeting we talked a lot about the emergency plan that was created and how it works and everything. Elder Gálvez and I taught some leadership principles from the scriptures and about how to conduct some of the meetings that we have in the mission. But earlier in the meeting I talked for about 5 minutes on something that i think touched the missionaries heart, and I hope changes will be made. What happens is that there is a bad habit in our mission of calling missionaries only by their last names. I started by sharing a couple scriptures, one is 2 Timothy 1:6-8, and one in D&C 58:16 talking about how we were foreordained to be missionaries and to come to this mission, that we have a great work to do and the sacredness of our calling. I also said that this opportunity is once and we will never have it again. I said to them that "Elder Newman" is only for a small time. "Newman" is anywhere. I told them that my friends call me Newman, and I will always be able to be called Newman. But "Elder Newman" is only for an extremely short period of time. I had them read a paragraph from the missionary handbook that states: 

"Also express respect for others by the way you refer to them. Refer to other missionaries, including your companion, as “Elder” or “Sister”"

I told them that although they may not intentionally do it or think about it that way, when we call

 other missionaries by their last names only, we are disrespecting the sacred calling. The same principle with apostles and prophets. I told them that I have started to feel that when missionaries call me only by my last name, it hurts me. I said that i recognize that the time is short and that Elder Newman is only for a time more. I got a little emotional and I asked for forgiveness for the times that I had maybe called any of them by their last name only. Anyways after I had several missionaries come up to me after thanking me for the talk and later that day when by habit anyone called me Newman, they immediately said Elder Newman and asked for forgiveness. I am so grateful for the spirit that touched the hearts of some of those missionaries and I hope it sends a message to some of the other mission and helps them realize a little bit more the sacredness of our calling. 

On Friday we had a long planning meeting with President and Sister Dalton. As we planned our meeting our agenda really started to fill up for this next transfer and i started to realize that we aren't going to have much time to work in our sector this transfer. We are going to be travelling a lot this next transfer with the Daltons. While president interviews the missionaries we are going to to a training meeting with them and then in the afternoons we will go out and work with missionaries. I then said to my companion that we will need to work with Elder Packard and Elder McConkie (who are the zone leaders that share a sector with us) to show them our investigators and people that we teach so they can take care of the sector while we are gone and help our families and people progress towards the Savior and to those covenants. My heart was a bit saddened to see at first that we were going to have no time to work, but then i had that subtle feeling/reminder, "remember what your calling is". After that i felt better and reminded myself that I have a different assignment and that the Lord is still going to bless us. 

Anyways family, life is great. I couldn't ask for anything else. I was studying this morning about Charity and how fundamental in charity is our ability to see others not as they are, but rather as they can become. I know that is something the Savior saw and sees in each one of us and that is a part of the love that motivated him to perform the Atonement. It is why Heavenly Father would send his only Begotten Son here to the earth, to die, so that we may live. His work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He sees our eternal potential, and his work is to help us achieve it. His infinite love is what helps us. The Savior is the great Encourager of men. He loves us so much because he sees so much in us, as literal Sons and Daughters of God. How desperately each of us need this quality. There is so much for us to do. The Lord is hastening his work and there is so little time!! I NEED MORE TIME!!!!! 

The Savior lives, this is his church. Miracles occur as we act in faith. I love each one of you and am grateful for the continual support that I receive from each of you. Have a great week!

Elder Newman

EARTHQUAKES AND GENERAL CONFERENCE

Dear Family, 

Wow what a crazy and unusual week! But full of adventures! Monday was pretty calm, but everyday since then has been pretty crazy.

On Tuesday i had an exchange with Elder Packard from my group. We met up in the office and we went to his area and Elder Galvez and Elder Mcconkie stayed in ours. We share the same ward but we just work in different areas. Anyway I went with Elder Packard and we were having some great lessons. It is so cool to see how everyone has developed as missionaries and as servants of the Lord especially those from my group. Elder Packard is a stud and is a great teacher. He is doing an incredible job in his area with Elder Mcconkie.

We were in a middle of the lesson teaching about the atonement and Elder Packard had put on a small video that shows the atonement.  While we were sitting there watching the video it started to shake.  We were sitting there and then it kept going! Haha it lasted about a minute and then it finally finished. Earthquake!!!!  We finished the lesson and then as we started to leave the house i thought oh boy I am going to have to make a lot of phone calls it is going to be a long night.

Immediately i started calling and I told elder Packard that we needed to go to the church and we went there and our companions also came there as well. We were calling for the next 6 hours trying to get a hold of missionaries and ensure that each was okay and was in the safety zone. There was a lot of people evacuating to get to the safety zone as a precaution for tsunami.

Anyway around 2:30 i had finished a report on the computer in the church and i sent that to the Daltons and then we were able to go rest for a few hours. A few hours later we met with president and sister Dalton to be able to talk a little bit about what we were going to do and some changes we were going to have to do. 

To be honest the news kinda overdoes things so don't worry to much. They show the worst of the worst. I mean there was definitely an 8.2 earthquake but we are OK.  The next day we were able to work a little bit in our sector. It was awesome! We had left a lesson and as we were walking up a member called out to us and we went over to his car and started talking with him. He was with his friend in the car and it was a referral that he wanted to give us that he had talked to us about. The Lord had put us there in the right place at exactly the right time.

After getting to know him a little bit we set an appointment with the member and yesterday we had a lesson with them in the house of the member along with 2 other referrals which became new investigators as well. Jeremy (the member) is from Angamos, the ward where i served in Antofagasta a year ago with Elder Silvester.

Jeremy told us that he has like 3 more referrals that he wants us to teach and they are all men with families. We are so stoked! The majority of them live in our area as well! What great blessings! We had a couple investigators to teach and the Lord just blesses us, just like that! 

From nothing we have all of these people to teach! Obedience truly brings miracles. The Lord is so good to us. All of these men are supposed to come to a session of general conference 

this afternoon. 

Anyways things are great here in the mission and everyone is okay. With the other earthquake that happened, it caught us in the night and we just got up and left the building and then we got in the cars and went for high ground and spent the night in the car. We were with President and sister Dalton and we called and communicated with the missionaries to account for all of them. 

That first session of General Conference was incredible! Wow! This is better than Christmas! So far here are a few of my favorite quotes "Pure Christlike love flowing from righteousness can change the world"-Elder Holland and when President Ereying said something like You hold in your hands the happiness of more people than you can ever imagine. How true is that statement. How many people we can reach with small acts of service, and also the future generations that will enjoy the gospel because of our faithful living. 

The church is true my friends! I love you all! I am so happy!!!! As we maintain the spirit of the Lord in our lives we will be directed for good and will be blessed in many aspects. I pray that you continue to receive guidance and answers to your prayers. 

Oh yeah, this next transfer I will stay here in Antofagasta with Elder Galvez! Yahoo!!!

Onward and Upward, 

Elder Newman