Familia,

Thanks for the update and it is good to hear that you are all doing well. I cant believe that it is still snowing up there. Down here it is finally starting to cool down a bit in the mornings. We like to open our window at night to cool down the pension but then the mosquito come in and attack us and then we find them all on the ceilings and then they are just nice and fat with our blood. I don't know how many mosquito I have killed in the last 2 weeks but it has been a lot. I kill them with my flip flops or with my hands and then there is just this splatter of our blood all over because they are nice and fat from our blood. It´s pretty gross then we clean the ceilings so there aren´t any marks. 

Well if you didn´t remember, this week is transfers. And it turns out... I am leaving Arica! I am headed for Antofagasta tonight at 9 pm and I´ll get ready for a beautiful 12 hour bus ride. Wooohoooo! My sector is called Angamos and it is the richest sector in the mission. They are a lot of the top business people who own the mining companies and apparently they have houses that are just unbelievably huge. I know it is a tough sector, but i am up for the challenge. I am going to be with an Elder named Elder Sylvester. He is a Texan and has about 3 months in the mission field. I am going to be the district leader of 8 hermanas apparently so that is going to be crazy. I have learned how to work with hermanas here in Arica and so I guess they are taking advantage of that. I am excited for this new sector and to be able to get to know another city in Chile and hopefully meet some wonderful new people. I am excited for the experiences that await me there. 

This last week went really well and was a great week to leave here in Arica. I am going to miss this desert paradise up here. It has been nice living so close to the beach in both of these sectors. In the mornings we go running and we will go running up to where the sand starts to the beach and then back to the pension. While we go running there is this little tiny equestrian park on the side that has all this green grass and places for horses and stuff. Pretty cool. 

This past week we put a baptismal date with Aldrin our investigator. Originally we had put the fecha for the 30th of march but then we found that it was pretty quick so we then pushed it back to the 13th of April. Aldrin is awesome, he really wants to get baptized and also talked to us about the potential of serving one day as a missionary. He just barely turned 18 so i hope that with his conversion process he can experience that change of heart and feel those desires to serve a mission. We went to an activity that the Hermanas of the ward next to us had organized, and it was like a little fireside thing on the beach on Friday night. It was awesome. The bishop from Constanera gave a great talk about sacrifice and repentance and we also had some little relay games and one of the elders also brought an American football and we threw that around for a little bit with Aldrin. Aldrin plays rugby and he loves American football and thinks that it is the coolest thing. We had a great time on the beach on Friday night and then finished up and then went to the apartment. 

Francisco gets baptized on Saturday. I´ll attach some pictures of little Francisco. We also put another baptismal date this last week for the son of some less actives we are reactivating for this Saturday as well. So elder Stratford will baptize 2 this Saturday and then Aldrin on the 13th after general conference. 

We had this little dinner thing to finish up the transfer the other night. We ate some Chilean tacos and boy o boy were they soo good. I am quite certain that I ate around 15 tacos and by the end i was soooooo full. The hermana made some guacamole stuff that was soooo amazing. I could have just eaten it by the spoonful. I love these Chileans so stinking much. haha. 

I had a cool little experience the other night that elder stratford pointed out to me. We were teaching a less active hermana who we are helping and we finished our lesson and then the husband who is not a member comes over and then sits down and told me he had seen something on television about Joseph smith and he began to ask me some questions. I then started to teach him and in about 5 minutes i basically explained the entire purpose of prophets, the church that Christ established, the apostasy, the restoration and the book of Mormon, and i taught it in a way like i have never taught before. It came out so very smoothly and flowed perfectly. As we were walking back to the pension Elder Stratford started to ask me how i did that and really it was credit to the Lord. 

I am excited for the new change that awaits me as i go to Antofagasta. I am actually going to be in President and Sister Bruce´s ward. I am so excited and happy to be able to have this wonderful blessing to be in the same ward as president Bruce. I will be able to see him a lot more and he will come to our ward normally 2 times per month. I love you all so much. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of each and every one of us. He knows where we are, what we desire, and who we want to become. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Chile, and to strive to bring the gospel to my brothers and sisters here. I am so happy that I can be apart of the promise that the Lord made like showed in Enos 1:16-18. 

16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records; and he covenanted with me that he would bring them forth unto the Laminates in his own due time.

 17 And I, Enos,knew it would be according to the covenant which he had made; wherefore my soul did rest.

 18 And the Lord said unto me: Thy fathers have also required of me this thing; and it shall be done unto them according to their faith; for their faith was like unto thine.

I testify of the power of the Book of Mormon. This book is key in our lives, and if we do not read and study it every single day. We are in danger. We truly are in the last days and we must have these habits of daily study from the Book of Mormon. Its divinity of Christ is powerful and its ability to convert men to God is amazing. Have such a great week, I love you all so much! 

Elder Newman