Family,

How are you ?  Well I Teared up a bit when dad wrote me the
news about Max. Just get rid of the remains like leash, kennel etc.or  I'll
be a mess when I get home. I was sad to hear that, but I knew that it
was coming at some point. I loved that dog. He taught me a lot. But
the wonderful memories we have stored are still there.

Sounds like you were all pretty busy. Crazy to hear that your summer
is winding down and its starting to get cooler in the nights up at the
cabin etc. We are just in the opposite we are entering into spring and
it has been nice. Still cold sometimes in the morning, but we have a
basketball court like a 3 min jog from the apartment and so sometimes
if its not too nippy outside we go and shoot a few hoops. Elder
McCusker has helped me a lot with my shot so I can whoop dad, Jason,
and Krista when I get home. Ha ha we have a good time together. Not
sure if you´ve noticed that.. Hope that Dad and Jason get lucky hunting
this weekend so you can eat some elk sandwiches mmm... tasty. I
imagine Alyssa has been super busy with drill and stuff. Is she going
to dance at the scrimmage or just the first game?

Well the week was a blink of an eye. Serious don't know where it went.
We had a great week as a zone. Tuesday we had a zone training meeting
where Elder McCusker and I teach the zone all of the things that we
learned in the conference. There was tons of material to cover so it
lasted about 3 hours. We had breaks and everything to keep the
missionaries attention. But they all received it very well and are
implementing everything that we have covered and taught them.

During the week we struggled to find new people to teach. One night as
we were planning, I looked at my planner for suggestions to find
people and I looked down and it talked about using family history as a
resource to find people to teach. I felt a strange desire to read more
about it in Preach My Gospel and see and think of ways to apply it in
our area. There was a video that we watched in the MtC about using it
but I never thought in a million years that I would use it  being
down here in Chile. However we learned about it and studied up on it
and made a few phone calls and got in contact with the stake family
history consultant, the guy who is in charge of the center. The family
history center is in our building which is the stake and there are
about 5 computers there and some tools for indexing etc. Yesterday we
met with the consultant and we got a plan for some of the things that
we could do so that our ward gets pumped in this. The bishop is 100
percent on board because it will help people prepare for their temple
trip as a stake next year. So we will see how this works. We are doing
it in our sector because it is quite rich and we believe that with
time and a lot of effort we will see miracles and great results.

Our amigo Enrique is doing quite well. We are really trying to help
him understand the restoration and accept the book of Mormon. We have
shown him scriptures from the bible to try and help him but we have
told him that the only way that he will receive this conviction that
he wants is if he reads the book, kneels down and humbly asks our
heavenly father if the book is true. I gave him one of my short
sleeved shirts, and a tie. We found him some shoes in the apartment to
give him and he came to church all dressed up he looked awesome. He is
a lot like my convert from Antofagasta Mariluz. But they are very
committed and dedicated.

The elder that was struggling has improved so very much. He is doing
great and is going to stick it out. We are so very happy that we could
help him and that he is doing better every day.

We had another great day in church yesterday. We brought Enrique,
Juan, Javier, and then a new investigator named Sebastian. We are
still working with the other girls too and their mom. They came to a
mutual activity this last week and integrated so well with the kids
from the ward. We are still preparing all of them for baptism. We had
31 investigators in church yesterday as a zone. It was awesome. We are
so happy with all of our missionaries and we are being so very
blessed.

Ha ha so down here in Chile they find about any reason to celebrate a
holiday. They get out of school for Columbus day and stuff like that.
So yesterday was "Children´s Day". Ha ha yep like mothers and
fathers´day. So after church they had all of these treats and food to
give out to the kids. We had some members give us a candy bar I
thought it was so interesting. A member family that we have been
working with gave us some chips and Tostitos Spinach Dip. Wow it was
so tasty. It was the most flavorful thing that I have eaten in a long
time. It was like an explosion in my mouth!!!!!! Ha ha the food isn't too
flavorful here. Kinda bland.

Next week Elder Viñas from the seventy and the South American
presidency is coming to our mission. We will have a conference with
him next Thursday. That will be really cool I am excited for that.
Yesterday President Dalton was in Calama and while they were here they
dropped off the pouch mail to us. There was a scale and a picture from
Elder Smith (my trainer) haha it was really funny. Elder McCusker was
pumped because we are now going to be able to measure my weight progress
each day it was funny.

Anyways we are doing fantastic here down in the beautiful desert. I
hope that you are all doing well it was great to hear from each of
you. I love you all so much and am so grateful for the support and
prayers that you give in my behalf. I love this work and I know that
it is true. Have a great week.

Elder Newman