Family, 

It sounds like you all had a great week! Alyssa you look so good in your dress! I don't know what to do since i cant protect you from all of the boys down here. I loved hearing all that you were able to do and that Nate and Jason had a good time together hanging out. 

Well as far as this week. Crazy stuff! The week has gone by very fast and we did have a great week. Tuesday we had our district meeting and it went very well. I knew that it was going to be the last district meeting would give, As I  prepared for it I had the idea of teaching plow. So i worked with the ward mission leader, he is a pretty tech savvy guy and knows quite a bit so he was able to help me get the clip from the movie war horse where it shows the guy plowing the field. The ward mission leader brought a mini projector he had to the district meeting and he helped me present the little clip. The meeting went so well and it was definitely the best district meeting we have had.

Wednesday we had this ward activity that the missionary group had created and designed. There was an activity where families brought typical food from another country. In our ward there are many people who are from different countries and so everyone brought food. Mariluz our investigator went and had a great time.  The activity was very successful and many people came. 

On Saturday we had the baptism of mariluz. It went really well. I had the thought that Elder Silvester and I should do some type of musical number and so we were able to create a musical number that we did. We did I am a child of God. It turned out really well and mariluz was very happy and the best is to hear things that they say after their baptisms. As we were walking back after the baptism she said "From here on out my life has changed today". I love to hear stuff like that as a missionary.

Saturday night we were working in this part of our sector called Jardines del Sur. And we had recently just taught a member and we received a reference. After we got out of the house, i asked elder Silvester "Hey doesn't president live around here somewhere" he said yeah its real close i think. It was just down the street, (hermana bruce had told us last week to pick up a something for elder Silvester at her house) anyways I was a little nervous but we rang the doorbell and president comes and opens the gate and says come on in. president sits me down on his couch in the living room and he says" well elder the assistants and the entire office are the most excited about your transfer." I am thinking to myself at this point, what is going on? He says, "your going to be a zone leader, and you are going to go up to serve with Elder Mccusker in Calama." I was shocked! I could not believe it! I am going to serve with my best friend in the entire mission! He is the biggest stud and we are going to do work together! Elder McCusker as you should remember is from my group and the kid is a freaking machine

He just got bumped up to Zone Leader in a special transfer 4 weeks ago, and now i am going to work with him. We are so excited, he called me yesterday morning to talk to me about it and we are chomping at the bit ready to go work! We thought that maybe at the end of our missions we would have the chance to serve together we are so excited we are going to baptize together! We have high goals for this month or so, we are quite certain that we will only be together one transfer, but we will make the most of it. 

I have never been so excited for a transfer in my entire mission. I am so pumped, the bummer is that i wont get there till tomorrow night so we lose a day of work. Calama is 3 hours away from Antofagasta so it is relatively close. But it is soooo cold up there. It is very high in altitude and very cold in the mornings and then warm in the afternoon. I hear it is soooo dry too. But I don't care i am just so happy and excited that i am serving with elder mccusker. Anyways we talked with president for a bit and then he told my comp that he would stay in Angamos for a 4th transfer. Elder Silvester is a little bummed that he is staying in this sector because of its difficulty but he is still doing great. Anyway after about 5 minutes talking with president and sister Bruce i was on the edge of my seat getting ready to leave and asked them if we could share a quick scripture with them. He said yes and then he would share something with us. Sister Bruce said the first prayer, it was cool to hear such a heart felt prayer as he prayed for the missionaries of our mission. I shared something that i had learned in my personal study the other morning and then we talked about that for a bit and then president started talking to us about the scriptures and he just kept talking and talking and talking haha and then they started to tell us funny stories and we were just laughing and having a good time. Various time i tried to end it as if we were going to leave and then president would just keep talking and telling us stories with him and sister Bruce! We were there for like an hour! Haha it was so cool though just to talk with them and enjoy some time with them. At the end president Bruce said well elders would you like a ride to the pension and i said "no we still have like an hour and a half to work so we are going to go find someone to teach and we will take the micro" 

I talked with elder stratford and they baptized all of the investigators we had and he is also headed to calama. He is going to be sr. companion to a latino who has been here for 2 transfers. I love you all so much and am so excited for this upcoming transfer! I am going to be back in Antofagasta on Thursday for a zone leader council meeting! Have a great week! I love the Lord and this great work! Talk to you on Sunday!!!

Elder Newman