Hey everyone!

Hope everyone had a Good week!

this week was another good one here in Chihuahua...cloudy, and it rained every night...but it was good. alot of good things are happening in our area, and it is really cool to see people change everyday, and come closer to Christ. 

Tomorrow we will have transfers and Elder Loveless and I are convinced/just have this gut feeling that I will become District leader here (and maybe train), while E.L.L will go to another area, maybe to the offices. we will see what happens, but im pretty nervous if i do become District Leader, cause I only have 3 weeks in the area...

...but thats ok, because faith is whats important! So we are excited to keep on working and to see where the Lord will take us next. actually, its with faith, and when its centered in Jesus Christ, in how we can become better disciples of him and follow him better. Having Faith means Having trust in God, and thats something that I learned this last week. 

Really, the biggest newa is our investigator, Eleyne. She has been to church twice, is progresing very well, and i remember in a lesson about the Plan of Salvation with her, when we asked her if she had ever heard of the terms "resurecction, celestial kingdom, judgement, spirit world", etc, she said yes and ended up teaching US parts of the lesson! haha we were like "wow, howd you know all that?!" she told us that she had actually studied the Plan of salvation pamphlet and read the scriptures. we were amazed. She has a baptismal date for the 5th of july. cant wait :?

Also, another investigator, Elisa, is supposed to be baptized this saturday, but due to satan and his pesky tricks, we will be passing by everyday to help her get there. no worries, she is just nervous. but we hope to see her make that specuial commitment with God and be baptized. 

well...i know this weeks email doesnt seem too exciting, but know that I love you all, I LOVE being a missionary, nad I love the Savior Jesus Christ and what he did for me. for ALL of us. 

 sincerely, 

Jason 

Elder Newman

-- 

**Elder Newman**

Other pictures of our house

Photos taken June 17, 2014

it rained a TON last week!

Photos taken June 17, 2014

E. Hoopes, E. Ruiz, E. Loveless, and E. Newman

Photo taken june 18, 2014

One of the members has a turtle!

Photo taken June 21, 2014

E. Loveless and E. Newman to the rescue!

Photo taken June 10, 2014

Spaghetti and bananas.....What a combination!

Hey everyone! 

So, just to explain, in regards to the subject of the email, haha so we were eating at this one hermanas house, and i swear she looked for everything and anything to feed us with, she made so much food! but its not uncommon for a family to serve spaghetti here. Its not the same though...thin of it as spaghetti-os, but with spaghetti noodles. thats what it tastes like. Anyway, she asked us shes like "would you like a banana with it?" and we just thought she was kidding or something, but she was serious and so were like "ok!" and let me tell ya, its actually pretty good! Call me crazy, but youve got to try it! 

So it has been cloudy the last few days, and it has even rained a little bit! what a blessing, seeing as how its so hot almost everyday. 

So, being part of this mission choir, we had an awesome opportunity: we all were invited to the Mission presidents house to have Carne Asada! (a BBQ). there are about 20 of us in this choir. oh man, it was so amazing the feeling we got when we walked into his house. I almost felt like i walked into the temple, the spirit was so strong. and he had carpet!-which NOONE has here in Mexico. Anyway, we had a great time and as strange as it may sound, we all had a great spiritual experience as we ate with the President. He is so awesome and I am so glad to have him as my leader here. 

Eleyne, Elisa, Ruth, and Alicia - four of our investigators, who all felt like miracles this last week. We were able to have a day where we taught all 4 of them in the same day, and Each one is unique and special in their own way. Ruth is really special, for she has a desire to really listen to the missionaries and to hear us. Its because some of her family members are members but she just never wanted to listen to the missionaries. but now, two kids later, as a mom she wants the best for her kids and wants to have God in her life again. I cant wait to work with her and to see the spirit work with her. 

there are so many changes going on! its kind of hard, but i know when we put our trust in Christ and Heavenly Father, everything works out. But yeah, my first week in the new area, the ward split, and we got a new ward. the next week, we got an addition to our area and moved into a new house. now, starting next week, our area will be divided and we will get 2 more missionaries. aaah! we were pretty stressed out about it, and still kind of dont know which half of the area we are going to keep, but i realized that you know, it really doesnt matter. what matters is that we just work and do the Lords will wherever he sends us, and I know when we do that, and are obedient to his commandments, He blesses us abundantly. but were not in it for the blessings-were in it for the well being of the investigators! 

This area has taught me a lot, and it continues to humble me and help me to realize even more that really nothing is about me here. Its all about the Savior, and what he wants me to do. I hope everyone has a good week and that everyone recieves the help they need!  I love you all!! 

sincerely, 

Elder Newman 

Jason :)

-- 

**Elder Newman**

Natalie's farewell

Natalie's farewell has been confirmed for the 27th of July at 12 p.m.

Seeing as how the 3rd of August is a fascinating it will be the week before.

Still scheduled to enter the MTC on Wednesday the 6th of August.

42 Celsius and climbing!

first off, so the pictures i sent to everyone are of the place called the deportiva. i think i may have explained a bit of it last email, but yeah its a humongous park thats so green! makes me happy when we walk in it. Also, the members here are great! we have a fair share of little old ladies in our ward who are so cute, and who always enjoy our visits. my favorite one, Hermana Acuña, has been bedridden for a while, but she is a great example to me of enduring to the end. she always says that when dhe does go to the other side, she hopes to convert everyone and be a great missionary. haha shes adorable...i know she will be though. 

we changed houses again and got more area. its because the other missionaries got sent somewhere else, so we inherited half of their area, and we moved in to their house. we are excited though to keep working and doing our best. It has been a little hard because we didnt have too many investigators, and literally all of our plans fell through everyday, but the Lord has been working with us and we know that it is His time, not ours. We have been striving to work with Faith, Patience, and diligence - 3 very important principles - burned into our minds, and sure enough this week the Lord lead us to one sister who speaks perfect english and has been prepared to hear us. We dont have a baptismal date for her yet, Ruth, but we hope to put one soon. I know that out here, its not our will, and really if we juat do what we know how to do, whoich is work, and we do it with faith and diligence, that eventually we will find more investigators and will be able to teach more people, thus fulfilling our purpose. We learned this past week that there is a big difference between what we think is success and what God knows is success. This email will be a bit shorter but i know that either way, we are having a blast and we continue to do our best. I hope everyone is doing well and i wish everyone the best of luck this next week! 

also, dont know if i mentioned before, but our mission has a FACEBOOK page! itsfacebook.com/misionmexicochihuahua1316 thanks everyone!

with love :) , 

Elder Newman 

Jason 

-- 

**Elder Newman**

1. football stadium 2. cant believe there are som many trees... 3. racquetball courts! 4. basketball court 5. soccer field 6. most beautiful park ive ever seen -- **Elder Newman**

Photos taken on June 2nd 2014

New ward/ area/ companion!!

Wow what an exciting time!! 

So, last wednesday night, Elder womack and i got home from a lesson and the assistants called. last thing we expected...but they called and told E. Womack that he was going to go to be ZONE LEADER in another zone!! so then i thought i would stay, but it turns out that I was going to have transfers too! AAAH! haha we were excited yet sad at the same time because we were on our way to completing 6 months together, and all of a sudden we had transfers. but hey, life goes on and if there arent changes, there is no progress. So, we packed our things and we went to the offices the next morning. 

My new area is called Lagos 2 (lagos means lakes in spanish), and the ward is called the Lagos ward. Its more in the center of the city of chihuahua, and it is a LOT nicer--meaning alot of people here are chorcho (that means rich here in mexico haha). I will definitely take more pics of the area and send them. 

its kinda hard though, because they got rid of the lagos ward right when i got there, and so half the people went to the Del Norte ward, and the other half to the rio sacramento ward (including us). so My comp and i have to both learn a new ward, and im already trying to learn the area. 

My new companion...aah, elder Loveless. he is so awesome! he is from saratoga springs and has about 9 months in the mission. he has been here in this area for 2 months and so its possible that he might change in 3 weeks (when the cycle ends), leaving me a very short time to learn the area. but i will do my best. 

My favorite thing about the area so far is the Deportiva (sports park). i like to think of it as the central park of chihuahua (like in NYC), because it is HUGE!! i want to find out how big it is, but elder  says its like 6 football fields. i didnt know so much green and trees existed her in this heat of mexico. 

ugh, and speaking of heat, it is starting to be the summer here, which means anywhere from 90 to 105 degrees daily (the highest ive heard people say is 115 degrees) ! holy cow, haha its hot but hey i love it and cant wait. I am very sad to leave my old ward and area and zone, but i know that they will all be fine and that they are doing well. at least im in the same stake! haha. 

we have a few investigators in our area, namly Elisa, Brillanda, and Oscar. We hope to place a baptismal date for elisa tonight for the 14th, and we had a sweet lesson on the restoration of the gospel with brillanda in the deportiva park last saturday. the work here is a little bit of a slower pace, and Elder loveless told me that almost everytime we contact someone in our area, they live somewhere else, as well as this area doesnt baptize very much. well...im looking to change that! haha not change the will of the lord, of course, but i hope that we can see miracles come in the not too distant future. 

welll, my friends, that is the biggest announcement is that i am in a new area, my new comp is Elder Loveless, and I know it will be hard at first but i will put my trust in the lord, and with Patience, faith, and diligence (Alma Chapter 32, more towards the end), i will be able to be a stronger instrument in the lords hands. 

I love you all and thank you al for your support! have a great week! 

Elder Newman

Jason 

-- 

**Elder Newman**

Love me some futbol with the zone :)

Photo taken May 26, 2014

One with her mom, blanca

Photo taken May 24,2014

Elder womack, Ilse, Elder Newman

Photo taken May 24, 2014

Its a very city like ares. ..cool bridge in our area.

Photo taken May 30, 2014

my new ward/chapel--ward Rio Sacramento --

Photo taken May 31, 2014

There's a KFC in my new area

Photo taken May 30, 2014

The two sides of my new house

Photos taken May 30, 2014

Elder Loveless and Jason

Photo taken June 2 2014

90 degrees at 10 in the morning....bienvenidos a la mision!

Hello everyone!! 

This week was great! first and foremost, we had another baptism! ilse was baptized and confirmed in only 3 weeks. She showed a lot of faith, kept her commitments, so we asked president if we could baptize her sooner and he gave us the green light! She is awesome, and Im so so glad we had the opportunity to teach her. Our next hope and goal is to help her mom to see the blessings from living the gospel, and so hopefully soon she can be baptized too. she is Catholic, but she came to the baptismal service and she teared up a lot, along with her daughter, ilse. It was a small baptism, for ilse was the only one, but it was definitely Elder Womack and I´s favorite, for the spirit was so strong! So she is doing well and also, another goal of ours is to help Carlos get to baptism too. he has 3 times assisting church and so hopefully soon we can get him there. We contacted 23 people in the streets last week, and so we have a lot of work to do. Also, we went through our area book and wrote down all the addresses of the former investgators, to see if we can find even more people to teach. the work is going great! 

Another thing i forgot to mention last week is that the president wants a choir for the mission, and so he asked the zone leaders if anyone in their zone could sing. needless to say, there are 20 people in the choir, and 10 are from our zone alone )including me. we´ve only had 2 practices but we love it and are very excited. thats something cool here is that my companion, one of our zone leaders and I can sing and we always love getting together when we can and singing hymns and such. Music has always been a huge part of my life, but i havent appreciated it as much as i thought i would until now. 

It is getting sooo hot out here! its commonly in the 90´s everyday, but the hottest month is in july. One sister in the ward said it gets up to 113 F in july and august...oh boy, am i in for it! haha there are days that go by where we literally sweat for 24 hours straight. we dont even use sheets or blankets anymore, and thats with our fan going all night. p.s. elder womack and I had a wrestling match...i say it was a tie, but of course he says he won. i think ill just let him have it. gotta keep ourselves entertained out here, ya know! 

I love the bus system here. its a great way to get around the huge city of Chihuahua, and its also great for contacting! there are 2 types of cards that you can buy to scan on the bus (thats how you pay, have a card, charge it, and then wave it in front of a scanner that takes off a certain amount of money.)  there is a gen. admission card, and a student card. the student cards charge half the price, and although we arent students, president issued this thing where he printed off a paper for each one of us, stating that we are ¨students of theology¨ and that anything we do is for the benefit of the People of Chihuahua. Love it! so hopefully we will be getting those cards soon. 

well...thats all for now, but i am glad that everyone is doing well, and know that I am doing well too. I love it here, and we are so excited to keep working together and doing our best. The Lord lives and loves us, and knows us each personally better than we know ourselves. therefore, he knows whats best for us (the Gospel of Jesus Christ!). take care, everyone-I love you ALL! 

Elder Newman

Jason 

Natalie's New Dates

Missionary farewell is August 3rd
Report to the MTC August 6th

Wow what a week! We went to the SIERRA . We samiti (how pretty)

Whoa! yesterday was so cool! sorry i wasnt able to write yesterday but we were literally gone all day. You see, in our raramuri class there are 26 of us and our teacher chose 14 of us missionaries to go to the sierra and teach the oh so little that we know to the tarahumaras (tah-rah-ooo-mah-das). the sierra is the northern mountain range here in the state of Chihuahua, and it was so pretty to see.

We woke up at 5 am in order to be at the offices at 6:30 am, then left at around 7:15 amand arrived at about 12. it was a great little road trip and we got to see more parts of the state. But we had arrived, got out of the car, and tried talking to some of the people there in that little village (i forgot what the name was called), and it was in that moment we realized that we really didnt know the language haha...but we said the little that we could and though some of the ladies giggled a bit, they enjoyed it. Most of them understood spanish though, so that was a huge blessing. we sang a few songs to them in english and spanish and they loved it. Oh man, and the kids were just adorable. it was just a humbling experience the whole time to be art of their culture for a little bit. 

we then split up to teach for a little while. 6 of us went up to the school, and we raced all the kids there, while the others stayed to talk to the older folks. i got to go teach the kids and the look in their eyes just makes your heart melt. really...i mean, you look at their feet and didnt think anything could be so dry and dusty, but then you look at their smiling face and you cant help but smile too. but anyway, we taught them about Jesus Christ and what he did for us and how we can follow him and be happy. It was so fun, and then they all gave us these little bands that they make out of yarn. (see the pictures). 

then we all went back down to the main part of the village and they all ate together. we helped serve it and had an assembly line going, and they all lined up and man i just cant stress enough the humility of these people. i wish i could be more like them, in the sense of their gratitude and happiness. we then after a few hours of being there had to go back to chihuahua because it takes like 4 hours to travel. 

but it was good. i mean, great! this quick little trip was a great experience to use our raramuri, to grow closer to our Heavenly Father, and to really learn just what humility, gratitude, and hope means. I will always remember them and have a love for those people. 

in terms of everything else here in our area, ilse is going to get baptized this saturday and we are very excited. She is so ready and has definitely felt the spirit in these weeks of teaching her. also we are still working with carlos, another teenager, and hope that he can keep coming to church with us. We love our area, and Elder Womack and I are learning more and more everyday. We are all god's Children, and He lives and loves EACH AND EVERY ONE of us, no matter what. may you all have a good week and keep smiling! 

love, 

Elder Newman

Jason  

-- 

**Elder Newman**

some Tarahumara women

Photo taken May 19th 2014

the kids make these everyday. they are called fajas (strips in spanish). They gave us one!

Photo taken May 19th 2014

we taught all the kids in their school!!!

Photo taken May 19th 2014