A Week of Enduring

Hey first off, in your email to elder whitaker´s mom, tell her to tell him that he has no idea how many seeds he sowed while he was here. We just found someone out in Restinga who he and elder carlos taught the second lesson to and when we knocked his house, he come out with the plan of salvation pamphlet in his hand. To make a long story short, he has a baptismal date now so we´re really excited for that. The cool thing was that we didn´t even set the date, he did. At the end of the second teaching visit, we asked him if he had any questions and he said, "yeah. I would like to be baptized" Ha! music to a missionary´s ears. Oh and tell him I finally confirmed someone and that it wasn´t so bad but I´m still glad I didn´t do it with Patricia haha.

Anyway, I loved hearing about kyle´s farewell. I´m also excited to get ryan´s letter. Speaking of letters, I´m sending kyle´s letter today but it´s addressed to his home so tell sister clements to be looking for it to send it on to him in the mtc. To answer one of your questions, one thing that everyone could send me is pictures of their family. That is, pictures of them on vacations, playing sports, everything. Also, I thought I would be more specific of the pictures I want from you. Pictures of moab (especially the pictures of us jumping off the huge rock), other vacations, pictures of football, pictures of snowboarding, snow, stuff like that. People here like to see what it is like in Utah.

Hey is there any way that you could ask Nick if he got my letter I sent to him? also, did you get sean halbleib´s address for me?

So it´s still not sure if I´m leaving or not. sometimes i really really want to leave and then other times I really really want to stay. We´re starting week 5 of the transfer now and we´ll find out if i´m going saturday of week 6. It´s is way weird that I´ve been out for almost 6 months, it´s just flown by.

Hey next week, could you send me a list of everything that is going to be in the next package and also everything you sent in the last package. You sent that last one like three weeks ago right? I´m keeping my eye open for it.

Well, we´re just working hard. The wind has been absolutely crazy here lately. I think when it begins to transition from one season to the next, the wind picks up a ton. On sunday, there was quite honestly the most powerful wind I´ve ever felt.

I don´t have a ton of stories for the week, but we´re working hard and I´m having a good time. Sometimes my comp still bugs me but we´re getting along all right. Thanks for everything, i´ll write more next week. love you

elder newey

Yeah I´m wishing for warmth still. It´s getting a lot hotter but the problem is one day it will be roasting hot and the next will be bitterly cold so you never know when you´re getting ready in the morning what kind of day it will be, so sometimes I just guess and dress for warmth when it turns out to be really cold or the other way around haha. It´s not for sure that I leave this transfer but I´m pretty sure I´m going. That´s the pattern at least and I think I´ll follow it. I will be happy for a change. Tell me all about Kyle´s farewell this next week and I really liked Brady´s facebook status.

Anyway now for the family email. I´m attaching some pictures of the baptism we had on Saturday and also some other pictures I have taken. One is of something I made to hold all of the coins I have because as a missionary you save every bit of money you have haha but I sewed a broncos symbol on it that I´m kind of proud of. I think it looks pretty good at least.

So we baptized David and Alicia Peña this saturday, elder rengifo baptized David and I baptized Alicia. Then I also had to confirm Alicia in Sacrament meeting yesterday which I was really worried for but it was all good, I shouldn´t have worried.

Other than the baptism, nothing really happened. I´m getting really anxious for a change so I´m really hoping I get transferred in a few weeks. The office is now keeping our passports safe in the office so I don´t have to worry about that anymore.

Oh hey, elder Slater´s friend, elder justice, is writing him a letter but he doesn´t know his home address so he´s going to send it to you and then you can give it to elder Slater. I thought that would be easier than asking you to find out his address so be looking for that letter in a month or so.

Everything is good though, I feel good, working hard, having fun. I´m so excited for Kyle! I´m going to write short so I can work on sending the pictures, so bye for this week, love you and thanks for everything
Elder Newey

So Billy´s getting married in the temple? that´s excellent. Did he go back to college or what is he planning on doing for a career? I´m excited for him either way, he´s basically like an uncle to us haha.

So the other day I was writing in my journal and realized that it had been exactly one year since I started working at the developemental center. Can you believe that was a year ago? It´s going to be like that in March when I complete a year. I already almost have 6 months on the mission. Oh hey, elder justice wanted me to pass a message to elder slater (i know he isn´t an elder anymore but i don´t know his name) that he is writing him a letter right now so it just get there in about a month or so.

Oh man i´m so excited for Kyle! He´s probably so prepared it is going to be awesome to hear stories from him in Japan. Do you know what his mail address is giong to be in Japan so I can write him? But yeah, tell him happy birthday from me on the 10th, and i´m going to be sending a present, or maybe just a picture, i don´t know yet. Oh man he´s going to love the mtc. Hey also, could you try to find out Sean Halbleib´s address? He´s my friend who is serviing in Russia and I want to write him but I don´t know his address. He almost has a year already on his mission.

Well, about my comp. At the beginning of this last week, i honestly wanted to kill him. I don´t know why but everything he did just rubbed me the wrong way. Everything he said seemed so self righteous to me and I just couldn´t stand it. So I was going to get really mad at him on Thursday during our comp inventory but that morning I decided that I was the one who was being really proud haha so quite literally, I forced myself to get along with him. It wasn´t easy but I think I accomplished it. I humbled myself and now I really like the guy, and I´m learning a lot from him. He still likes to complain a lot but He´s a good missionary and he teaches really well and we´ll have a lot of success together.

This week we found an old guy in his 70´s who had already been taught by a bunch of other missionaries. We didn´t know about it, but he was in our area book, he was about to be baptized even but he can´t give up smoking. So we put another fecha with him and are working with his smoking problem now. The problem is that I would like to give him like a nicotine patch or that nicotine gum stuff that helps people stop smoking easier but it doesn´t exist down here. It´s frustrating but I think we can get him to stop. He told us that he went a whole day smoking only one cigarette, but the problem is that we honestly don´t know if he is lying or not. I hope he´s not. He´s way awesome, he already knows everything and has a way strong testimony.

It´s been really rainy here and I´m still waiting for it to warm up. We have our baptism this saturday with david and alicia so next monday i´ll send you some pictures of it.

I think that´s it for the week though. the time is flying by, before we know it, I´ll have 1 year out, then 1 and a half, and then I´ll be home! Thanks for everything, love you
Elder newey

Almost September!

wow where to begin? ok first off, i do indeed know elder justice! he´s my zone leader here and he´s way awesome. Did he say how he knows elder justice? ha it´s a small world I guess. The thing you´ll be doing with elder whitaker´s mom is a good idea because I want to know what he´s doing and what he thinks of his new comp. His new companion was with me in the mtc and is a little on the stranger side haha but he´s a good kid.

My new companion is named Leonardo Rengifo from Colombia and no, he doesn´t speak a lick of english. He was supposed to arrive monday night at ten but his bus didn´t get to comodoro until twelve thirty about so we didn´t get to sleep that night until around one thirty haha. But yeah, it was a little sad tuesday and wednesday because i just wanted to be able to talk to someone in english, because i still can´t express myself exactly like i want to in spanish. But it´s good, my spanish is cruisin along much faster with him as my comp, he talks as fast as lightening so i have to ask him to repeat stuff a lot but I like him. We´ve already seen a ton of miracles together. Our first week together, we set two baptismal dates (we call them fechas) with a brother and a sister named David and Alicia. David is 12 and Alicia is 13. There dad already approved of the baptism but we want to get him baptized too it is just hard because he works so much. But yeah, we´re way excited. Their baptisms are set for the 11 of september so you can tell Kyle that I´ll be celebrating his birthday with a couple baptisms! When does he go into the mtc again? I just got his letter from dear elder last week so i´m still in the process of writing him back but when my letter gets to him he´ll probably already be in the mtc. I am way excited for him.

But yeah, what else to tell you? I´m really really glad i have my personal atm card because i´m out of money for the month. Some unforseen expenses came up that drained the savings I had been working so hard on, like i had to pay both gas and light because elder whitaker was gone. I´ll get that money back but it will take a week or two so without my atm card, I wouldn´t be eating breakfast for a while haha. But everything is good here. Patricia is doing good too, her mom from peru came down this week to visit so we´re trying to teach her but we haven´t been able to find her in a good moment.

Oh yeah and while we were waiting for my comp in the bus station I heard someone say in english, "what are you elders doing out so late?" I was with the zone leaders and we turned around to see an american sitting in one of the chairs by this way pretty latin girl. Well we started talking to him and it turns out he served here like a year ago and came down to visit(probably just to visit the girl he was with haha) but yeah, I got to hear all about the states. We told me all about politics and he had this sweet new phone that had just come out. It made me a little trunky to see such awesome technology and to talk about the states but it was fun at the same time.

Uh what else? oh yeah my comp wants to find a different pension to move into because, as you can tell from the pictures i sent, our pench is worthless. Haha elder whitaker never complained about it so i never did either but now elder rengifo is telling me about his other penches he´s had and i realize we can find something better i bet. So yeah we´ll be working on that for the next couple weeks. I actually hope i´ll be leaving this transfer which ends right after general conference in october. I just want a change of scenery. Quite honesty, I love my area, but i´m getting just a little tired of the wind and just comodoro in general.

But i think that is it for this week. I can´t wait for that package to arrive, the members bug me so much about when my pictures are going to arrive. That will be one hard part about leaving though, is that the members here aare so excellent and chances are i´ll be going to a branch not a ward but it will be exciting either way. Thanks for everything, I love you.
love elder newey

My Ears
to answer your questions, yes i got into the doctor this time. It was an ear specialist and she looked at both ears under this high powered microscope thing and said my ears looks "perfecto" which wasn´t what a wanted to hear. I wanted something easy that i could just take some medicine for and feel better. Then she looked at my throat and mouth and said it could be something in my mouth causing the pain like my wisdom teeth but i told her i had them taken out and there wasn´t infection where they were. So i started to really try to pinpoint the pain and realized it wasn´t my ears, it was my tonsils. So i told this to hermana peterson and she had me call the area doctor who is in buenos aires and told him how i was going to have them taken out and stuff and he put me on penicilin for a month and i´m supposed to gargle with hot salt water morning and night. so far, they´ve felt kind of better so i hope i can get it worked out and not have to have them taken out on my mission! haha. Also, it´s pretty guaranteed i´m not leaving. our area is too big to take both missionaries out at the same time, you need a guide or you´ll have no idea where you are. it´s also guaranteed elder whitaker is leaving so he´s going to start packing up this week and be ready for monday.

So just some things about what´s happened this week. We were accompanied by Brandon Day who is 13 and reminds me a ton of kaleb, i don´t really know why. But it was obviously his first time accompanying elders because he didn´t quite know what to say when we asked him to bear testimony or something. I´m not bagging on him because i wouldn´t have even gone with the elders with i was 13, i just thought it was funny some of the stuff he said. Like we asked our investigator what he liked from what he had read in first nephi and when he didn´t say anything, brandon burst in, quoting nephi 3:7. elder whitaker tried to salvage it by saying, ok what do you like about that scripture brandon? and he just said, yeah, i like that. haha it was funny, he´s such a good kid.

Also, i´ve been waiting for a story when i say something dumb on accident in spanish and it finally happened. This week, I was showing what few pictures i have of the family and i told an investigator that Holli is my daughter! My comp started laughing so hard and the people were like "what? you have a daughter?" and then i realized what i said and tried to change it but it was too late. I thought it was really funny though.

I´m not sure what else to say. Pretty soon i won´t be with elder Whitaker anymore. it´s crazy how fast the time went by, before you know it, i´ll have been out a year and a half like him. Hey you never answered my question about whether kyle got my letter i sent to him or not. I still haven´t gotten the letter from brady, maybe this week i´m hoping.

About the christmas package. You don´t need to send it in october, i´ll just get it around thanksgiving time and it will be all gone before christmas. But some things i want in it:
1. tons of pictures of the family. also a copy of that huge family picture we took on our stairs that has kirsten and everyone in it.
2. a six pack of country time strawberry lemonade
3.chocolate oranges
4. a bag of bacon bits to put in breakfast burritos
5. some more of those french vanilla hot chocolate packets you sent. the brand is land o lakes. they were soooo good.

so yeah, i´m sure i´ll think of more stuff. You can send the package around the middle of november and i´ll be sure to get it before christmas. thanks for everything you do, i love hearing all the news about how school is starting and everything. love you all
love elder newey

Another Week Gone in August

first to answer your questions. my ears are ok they really only hurt in the morning and then fell good usually for the rest of the day. I didn´t get into the doctor last week because the social healthcare here blows. We set up an appointment for two oclock and when we showed up, we waited for the doctor to get there until 230. i guess she was off taking a lunch break or something but there really isn´t anything to make them get there on time. so then we waited another hour until we found out that we weren´t even on her list even though we had been there forever so we just set up another appointment for today and left. so after email, we should be going to the doctors again. I actually don´t use the liner for my sleeping bag, it´s actually really hot in our pension at night because i have my nice sleeping bag which i really love and my thich blanket as well. and yes, we do have water now thank goodness. we also took the showerhead off and cleaned out the hard water buildup inside it so now we get awesome water pressure in the shower i feel like i´m taking my first real showers since i got here. oh and about elder whitaker going to neuquen, they changed it so he´s not going at all anymore. they decided it would cost too much money or something so they´re changing how it´s going to be done but yeah, he´s not going which i´m disappointed about and thankful for at the same time. it´s crazy that school is starting so soon oh and make sure kaleb takes the act again after about december because college writing will help him a ton, and i´m sure he´ll do awesome. he´ll probably get a 39. I got another package but it´s up at the zone leader´s pension so we have to go get that today so i don´t know which one it is yet. i still haven´t gotten brady´s letter but the zone leaders said i had a letter up there too so maybe it came this week. Also, did ryan and kyle ever get my letters?

So i came to the realization last week that i have equal time out in the mission field as i had in the mtc. That´s so weird. I thought the mtc went by quickly, but the field is three times faster! I´m enjoying my last couple weeks with elder whitaker since it´s guaranteed he leaves august 23rd. i decided that i don´t like change but i´m sure it´s going to all be fine. It will be strange working with someone else though, i´m used to how elder whitaker teaches and everything so it will definitely be a change.

let´s see, not a lot has happened this week. i got a stomach bug friday night and puked that next morning. Getting sick on the mission is the worst because if at all possible, you´re expected to go out and work, which i did. it was a miserable day but i´m feeling good now. All the members and investigators we went to gave me their home remedies which i´m sure i won´t be trying haha but they were all really nice and caring. I´m going to be really sad when i have to leave this area the people are so great when they aren´t throwing rocks at you.

but other than that, i´m just working hard. how are things back home? i really like hearing about what´s going on there. I hope everything is going good. Oh i do have one story. Elder whitaker and i were knocking doors one day and i leaned up against a cement post to rest and unknown to me, a gigantic spider was on the other side. it was about the size of a golf ball and hairy and gross. elder whitaker saw it only when it had climbed onto me and crawled all the way up my arm to the collar of my coat where my tag hangs. then he told me about it and i freaked out. i was jumping everywhere and screaming i´m sure i looked ridiculous but i didn´t care. i was just glad i got it off me before it crawled down my shirt haha. oh it was so big. but yeah, that´s my story. how´s the psych season so far? i´m sad i´m missing it but at least i´ll have something to do when i get home.

anyway, i love you all. thanks for the emails, i find myself looking forward to mondays just to read about the family.

love, elder newey!

Another Month Gone??
I´ll answer questions first. The baptism was good, everything worked out, i´ll write more about that in a minute. I did get the package with candy and mac and cheese in it. I´ll probably have another but we have to go check the bolsa. Our pday will be cut a little extra short because I have to go to the doctor today. Don´t be worried, it´s nothing serious, my ears have just been hurting for a while so they want to check them out. I thought i would tell you because they´re going to be billing our insurance so don´t be surprised when you see that haha.

California sounds like it was a lot of fun even though Kaleb had to go to the hospital. I would do anything for some warmth right now. I haven´t showered in two days because the pipes have frozen EVERYWHERE. The sun is out today though so maybe our water will be running when we get home today. That´s funny that Kyle would just go stand by a group of Asians i can see him doing that haha. Speaking of him, did he ever get my letter? I´m still waiting for the letter from brady but hopefully it is here today.

Alright, now about the baptism. So in ward counsel on Tuesday, we told the bishop how we needed to clean the font out before the baptism because someone had left the window open in there to help it air out from the last baptism. That´s all well and good aside from the fact that the last baptism was last November. Elder Whitaker had seen through a top window a thick layer of dirt covering the font and apparently the bishop didn´t understand that because on tuesday, he said he would clean it out friday. So we get there saturday at twelve thirty...and the font wasn´t cleaned out. Do we called the bishop so we could unlock the door and get into the font to clean it and we spent the next two hours doing that. Then we started filling the font and after a little, we realized the water heater wasn´t on and elder whitaker and i tried to turn it on ourselves and almost blew up the church haha. Elder whitaker was messing with it and we didn´t know he was holding a button that ran the gas and then he hit the ignite button and we heard a big boom and a big fireball inside the heater. It´s kind of hard to explain what the heater is like but luckily it was all trapped inside the heater haha. Then the bishop turned it on for us and the water in the font got hotter. It took like two hours to fill up so it´s a good thing the baptism was scheduled for 5:00. But yeah, Patricia got a ride from a member and then she got changed and I got changed into my all white stuff. We had two talks about baptism and the holy ghost and then us and the other elders in our district sang "I like to look for rainbows" but in spanish it´s called "cuando me bautice" not exactly the same thing but it was good. Patricia said that when we started singing, it wasn´t us singing. She´s heard us sing and she said that definitely wasn´t how we sound, it was really cool. But after all that, we went to the font and I did the baptism. I didn´t have to repeat it at all so that is good haha. And for converts we don´t confirm them until the next day at church so we did that yesterday. Elder whitaker confirmed her and it was really good. Things we kind of rushed at the baptism because we were behind schedule so i didn´t get as many pictures as I wanted to but I´ll send some with this email.

Other than that, not a lot happened this week. We found some new investigators that will hopefully start progressing. I think I told you about how elder whitaker has to go on the 10th and 11th to a training thing up in a city called Trelew. I´ll be with elder Moncur who only has 4 months in the mission so neither of us will be able to talk fluently. Another problem is that we found out this week that the training thing is now up all the way in Neuquén so elder whitaker will actually be gone for a week haha...it´s going to be bad. He had a good point though, maybe our lessons will be better because we´ll have to rely on the spirit more than normal, I hope he´s right.

i had something to write to kaleb and kessa but i kind of forgot what I was going to say haha. When i remember it, i´ll write it down so i can remember to include it in the next letter. I hope everyone is good back home, be safe!

love, elder newey