Week 7: Doc, Doc, Shoe

 Hey, y’all!

Here’s me pointing at a map and having no clue what serving in Columbia means!

I’m writing this from the bustling city of Columbia, Tennessee. It’s about an hour south of Nashville, and I still can’t really believe that I’m here! Air travel really is a miracle that I can’t quite wrap my head around. But here I am, for at least two transfers! Columbia is the hometown of James K. Polk AND a location for the “Hannah Montana” movie, so it’s really cemented itself as a national treasure.

I do own a pair of Timberlands, which sort of makes up for my lack of Docs, according to Hermana Petersen, because they’re cousins.

So, was anyone going to tell me that all the sister missionaries wear Docs now? I guess it’s the hottest new trend, because all of the hermanas I live with (Yay everyone I serve with is serving a Spanish-speaking mission!) own at least one pair, and when I showed up, they were not prepared for my lack thereof.

Hermana Petersen is a strong woman. Do not mess with her.

My companion and trainer is named Hermana Petersen, and she’s *amazing*. She’s from Washington, and she has seven siblings, so we’re balancing out the stereotypes of members here. She does everything so well and with so much heart, and I feel so loved and watched over by her, which I’m sure my mom will be very grateful for as she’s reading this.

Speaking of gratitude! The prophet’s message on Friday was amazing! I’ve watched it a few times, and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t make me tear up for 100% of those instances. President Nelson’s kindness, intelligence, and empathy have given the encouragement that I and countless others have needed.

There are horses next to the church??? Super fun to meet them.

Honesty hour: Missions are hard. I feel kind of embarrassed stating this as if it’s a surprise, but this week has really been me digesting that fact. I’ve always understood that it’s challenging, but it is a whole different kind of difficult that I’ve never had to face before. I’ve been thinking about that verse in Malachi 3 that’s in Handel’s “Messiah”:

2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire …
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

I haven’t even done it a full week yet, but what I have found myself met with the refiner’s fire already. It can definitely be intense, and sometimes it leaves me feeling weaker before I become stronger, but I can’t wait to see the gold and silver that come from it.

Tennessee sunsets are already the best thing ever!

So much love to all of you reading this, wherever you may be, and whatever fire is refining you. I hope that you’ll all stay safe and well this Thanksgiving, and shoot me an email if you get the chance! I’d love to hear what’s happening in your lovely lives.

— Thankful for you,

Hermana Newton

Week 6: At the Eleventh Hour

Hey, everyone!

I know this letter isn’t super late, but since it’s nighttime and I try to send these midafternoon, it feels especially tardy. Also, winter in Utah means that it gets dark fast. Is Tennessee particularly mountainous? I didn’t think it was, but if I’m wrong, I’d love to be informed on the actual geographical layout.

This is me trying to keep it together on the day of the second talent show (and also when I received my patriarchal blessing), which was the last time everyone saw each other. :’)

Pleasantries aside, I can’t believe I’m getting on a plane tomorrow! At first, our flight plans said we’d be leaving Wednesday. As in today. But the Tennessee Nashville Mission has transfers on Thursdays, so they changed our tickets. I’ll be leaving at the lucky time of 11:11 a.m. I know that saying your wish is bad luck, but let’s just say mine will be themed around flights.

I also can’t believe the CCM is over! I thought it was going to be stressful and hard and scary. It was definitely the first two, but it was not scary at all, especially at the end. I’ve grown to love my district so so much. They’re all such amazing disciples of Christ. I even found myself appreciating gym, specifically Elder Miklich keeping us from doing burpees on the last day! That was truly a gift he gave us.

Besides gym, everyone provided such amazing spiritual thoughts and experiences that entire week. Hermana Volk and I got the opportunity to lead a Book of Mormon read on Saturday, our final day of classes. A Book of Mormon read is basically when one companionship leads a discussion about a piece of scripture. It was such a powerful testament to me, and I definitely cried a lot haha. I read from Moroni 10:32-33:

32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

I was killing it in the fashion department this week, but here’s a picture of me pouting over the fact that my pictures weren’t capturing how 🔥 my outfits were.

 

For a lot of my life, I’ve struggled with this principle of the gospel. It is so hard to be perfect, and I’ve often put on this burden of needing to never make a mistake. So when I inevitably fall short, it’s crushing. Something I’ve been learning, and something that’s been especially clear to me with this experience in the CCM, is how important it is to accept the mercy of Christ. Perfection is not achieved by sheer will. It’s achieved by supplication. Patience. Mercy. In Spanish, the verb for “to try” is “intentar.” When we have the intent to change, to become better, that’s when we can truly repent and be perfected in Christ.

I don’t know if it is, but this email is feeling long, so I’ll bullet-point everything else from the week!

• I got my patriarchal blessing! It was an amazing, wonderful, loving experience. I’m so grateful I was able to do it.

Here's a #CandidLook at everyone during the talent show. S/o to Hermana Palmer for being especially “Brady Bunch”!

• We had another talent show! I sang “Beauty and the Beast” and Jonah was awesome enough to accompany me. He’s the best little brother. Highlights include Hermana Reichner’s turtle, Elder Young’s moonwalking, and Hermana Roe’s recorder. In truth, everything shared was the best.

• Hermano Cervantes wrote a song for the district! It’s super catchy, and I’ll definitely be bragging about it when I’m out on the field.

• My mom finally trimmed my bangs, so I won’t be arriving in Tennessee looking like the latter part of “Lady and the Tramp.”

Again, I absolutely love all of you! To quote the amazing Mister Rogers:

You make each day a special day. You know how, by just your being you. There’s only one person in this whole world like you. And people can like you exactly as you are.

I got dressed, then looked up at my wall and realized I was matching my Guatemala flag. Had to capture the moment! <3

Keep on being you,

Hermana Newton

Week 5: *Now* Is the Winter

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

For those of you who haven’t been keeping track at home, I’ve started Week 6 of the online CCM. Which happens to be the final week. There’s still a lot to learn, and there’s definitely much, much more Spanish to be spoken in the coming months (and the rest of my life, I guess), but this part of the mission has treated me so well! I love my district and my teachers, and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye. More on that in my next letter, I’m assuming.

But the good news is that the Tennessee Nashville Mission is ready to welcome me with open arms! I still don’t have my flight plans. Maybe I’ll have to run all the way there instead, like Forrest Gump. But I’ll definitely be going there, and I was able to talk with President and Sister Weaver on Sunday! They were both very kind during our video call, and I’m excited to meet them and everyone else next week.

It feels like Christmas!

Before my interview, I decided to look up the temperature in Tennessee, and it was 79 degrees! This was especially insane to me, since it was snowing here at the time. Suffice it to say that I’m going to be having a holiday season unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I know some people don’t like the snow, but I think it’s magical, and I’ll be treasuring it up while I can before I fly out to the South and learn how to deal with humidity.

A few fun things happened this week! Hermano Rivera told us the story of how he and his wife met, then his wife came and told us the story of how they met, and we also got to see their baby, Ariel. She is adorable. I can’t believe I won’t be able to hold a baby for the next 17 months. At some point we’ll get the reward of learning how the Riveras got engaged! 

My favorite development is when Hermana McCauley gives out devotional assignments at the end of Hermano Cervantes’ class. She gives the person their assignment, and then says something she appreciates about them, and then everyone else in the chat includes what they appreciate as well! Hermana McCauley gave me an assignment for Thursday’s devotional, and I felt such an outpouring of love and friendship from everyone. Our district is literally the best.

We had our last workshop with Hermano Alarcón on Friday, and even though we were sad to say goodbye, it was awesome. In his words, he deserved all the “spiritual cookies”! The topic of the workshop was working with members, which is one of the biggest things we can do now during the pandemic. One of the activities we did was to look through our friend list on Facebook and send someone an uplifting message. The scripture I found and sent to one of my friends was in Alma 34, but it was so good, I decided to share it with everyone!

41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

It is so easy to get caught up in the stress of everything. I should know. I’m one of the most high-strung people I've ever met. But I also hold a lot of optimism, and a similar firm hope to the one that’s described in this verse. And being hopeful can sometimes be discouraging. It includes you having to come face-to-face with a lot of pessimism that can make it hard to truly believe that it will all turn out all right in the end. But Heavenly Father blesses us with reprieve, and guarantees that good will prevail. And I know it will, because it has before. If you don’t see the end in sight, be patient. It’s something that’s been promised to you.

— Stay cool warm,

Hermana Newton

Week 4: I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Hi, everyone!

This has been such a fun week! I ended up writing 26 pages in my journal this time around, which is a pretty substantial increase. At the beginning of my online CCM experience, I was showing my dad how much I’d written in my journal already, and he joked that I would fill up the entire thing before I left Utah. I don’t think that will happen exactly, but this journal is about two-thirds of the way full. Looks like I’ll have to hit up some good stationery stores in Tennessee!

Speaking of Tennessee, I heard from TNM (that’s what the cool kids are calling the Tennessee Nashville Mission) right after I finished my weekly email last week, and I learned that there are bikes in my mission! I’m not exactly sure how riding a bike in a skirt is supposed to work, but I’m sure my trainer will have some tips.*

I got new glasses! You’ve heard of “two heads are better than one.” Get ready for “two pairs are better than one”!

And no, I still don’t have my flight plans. I’ve been able to connect with some other missionaries headed for Nashville, and Hermana Gomez (resident cool girl of district 8E) is also reassigned there, so at least I know that all of us have no clue what the future holds together. What’s also nice about Hermana Gomez being around is that she was able to warn me before the TNM called on Sunday to schedule an interview with the mission president! So that’s fun.

I’m sure you’re all wondering about gym (I’m sure me complaining about it is the highlight of your week), but this week I have good news! Our instructor’s WiFi wasn’t working, so we had to watch a video he’d previously recorded. The routine was much less intense, and I actually felt happy after working out. The blessings given to us by the Lord.

My Phoebe costume (with a helpful “Magic School Bus” background so it’s clear who I am).

Halloween was super fun! Before I started my mission, I put some thought into what I could possibly dress up as, because Halloween costumes are very important to me. I ended up going as Phoebe from “The Magic School Bus,” which was a costume nobody could guess but would make everyone go “Ohhhhh” once I told them who it was. Gotta love a collective “Ohhhh” moment.

An inside look at Elder Young’s “exclusive” birthday festivities.

But the highlight of the week was definitely Elder Young’s birthday on Tuesday. We celebrated by playing “Las Mañanitas” in Hermano Rivera’s class, and Hermana McCauley put together a video of everyone in the district saying their favorite thing about Elder Young! Our district is so close, and they’re really all the best . I hope that we’ll be able to have a little reunion after we finish our missions.

What? A “Happy New Year” hat? This is clearly a “Happy B-Day” hat of the highest quality.

I also had a great time representing the district during a meeting some of the CCM teachers were having. The hermanas I met were very nice and complimented my Spanish, which I don’t think I necessarily earned, but I was happy to accept their kindness.

This week, I learned something very cool, which was that one of the elders we have our weekly workshops with, Elder Murdock, sang on the 2020 Youth Album! I have to be real with you guys, I’ve never really liked the Youth Album songs. I can appreciate the sentiment, but if I’m having a spiritual moment with music, it’s more often while listening to the Tabernacle Choir. How grandmotherly of me, I know. But now that I’m a missionary and can only listen to certain types of songs, I’ve given this genre a second chance. I’ll be honest: I don’t like every song. But there are some that will definitely be on my mission playlist, including this song. Give it a listen, and see if you can find songs this week that help you feel the Spirit where you might not have expected it!

An especially important scripture to me this week is found in 3 Nephi, when Christ appears before the Nephites. It says:

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

I know it’s easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed right now, and I know it’s easy for that to devolve into feeling hopeless. And it’s OK to be scared. It’s OK to not know everything. It’s OK for things to not make sense. Something I’ve been learning (and trying to accept for myself) is that being brave isn’t being foolhardy. It’s living and fighting what you believe, and continually working toward becoming the person you want to be. And something that I’ve felt testified to me again and again is the reality of Christ. How we can come unto him and know for ourselves of his life and his love. I hope we can all be partakers of the gift that knowledge is.

So much love,

Hermana Newton

* The dress code for sister missionaries includes trousers now.