Week 16: For the Better

Why, hello there!

This week has absolutely flown by! It seems like I wrote my last email to you all much less than a week ago, but the calendar says we're at Jan. 27, so I guess we’ll go along with that.

The Linden Elders have an impressive collection of characters (basically they have lots of stuffed animals) that I can’t really explain but are something of celebrities for our district.

The real crowning event of this week was most definitely district council. The Linden Elders (Elder Parkin and Elder Myers) were running low on miles*, since Linden is virtually in the middle of nowhere. So we did them a favor and all drove down this week! And boy, what a treat it was. We got to see the Linden Horse (sadly, no pictures, only memories) and the rest of the reported sights that we Columbia Hermanas didn’t get to be witness to until Monday. 

This district is definitely the best one in the TNM, if not the entire world (since my CCM one is disbanded). Words can’t express how much I love and care about all of them: their service, their insights, their stories. I’m so grateful to serve with them and have their support as we work together to invite others to Christ!

You already know I love these beautiful women!

The work has been awesome, as per usual. I absolutely love it in Columbia, and it’s definitely starting to feel more and more like home to me. The other day, when Hermana Petersen and I were outside doing our daily exercise, I was thinking about how grateful I was that President Weaver was set to be my mission president for my remaining 15 months as a missionary, only to remember that I’m reassigned here, so this is technically temporary. But that train of thought was honestly a huge testament to how transformative doing the Lord's work can be.

It was pouring rain this week! Hermana Petersen and I love being part of the elements, so we walked through the elements, and afterward, I was pulling a Keira Knightley. 

Change is something I’ve thought about a lot since I’ve been out in field. When I first arrived in Tennessee, I was not excited about it at all. I was happy with who I was, and I didn’t want that to not be the case anymore. I was afraid of turning into someone I didn’t really like. More than that, I didn’t want to turn into someone that the people I love didn’t like.

President Nelson has an amazing talk from April 2019 General Conference titled “We Can Do Better and Be Better,” which talks about the process of repentance. Here are parts I especially like:

“Too many people consider repentance as punishment—something to be avoided except in the most serious circumstances. But this feeling of being penalized is engendered by Satan. He tries to block us from looking to Jesus Christ, who stands with open arms, hoping and willing to heal, forgive, cleanse, strengthen, purify, and sanctify us.

“The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metanoeo. The prefix meta- means ‘change.’ The suffix -noeo is related to Greek words that mean ‘mind,’ ‘knowledge,’ ‘spirit,’ and ‘breath.’

“Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to ‘repent,’ He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. …

“When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy—the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ!”

I know firsthand how daunting change can seem. And how often it’s something you really don’t want to do. But Heavenly Father is only inviting us to become our best selves. He’s never going to make us into a person who will be detrimental to our happiness! And the people who love us will not abandon us as we go along this journey of becoming.

I hope you all have a spectacular week, and that you’ll learn to be happy as you grow—because it’s really the most joyful experience you can have.

— As always,

Hermana Newton

* Missionaries in the Tennessee Nashville Mission have cars, but are limited in how many miles they can drive in a month.

Week 15: A Great and Marvelous Work

¡Buenos días a todos!

The parks in Tennessee are beautiful, and I’m happy to be able to appreciate them!

To begin, I’d like to wish a happy birthday to the “High School Musical” franchise! That’s right, the Disney Channel Original movie “High School Musical” premiered on this day, January 20, 2006. That means it’s 15 years old! Does that mean we should throw a quinceañera?

It’s also my older brother Adam’s 23rd birthday! Celebrate that in any way you deem appropriate. Now, back to the missionary work.

We had zone conference Tuesday! It was so fun, so edifying. I got called on a lot for some reason? It was such a good time! Here’s the district having a little photo shoot because they’re the best and I love them all dearly.

This week has been absolutely amazing! I sometimes feel like that’s something I could say every week, but seriously. This week? The best! I loved the whole thing, but most of what I want to talk about happened on Sunday, so let’s skip to that!

Hermana Petersen and I had focused on getting better sabbath attendance this week, which basically means that we had been mentioning and encouraging attending sacrament meeting all week, especially since this week was entirely in Spanish, and we’re teaching a lot of Spanish speakers. Lots of people canceled, and it was really disheartening, but we ended up having four people attending church in person! That’s a huge deal! And it was especially amazing seeing our members immediately start fellowshipping them. They’re all the best.

After sacrament meeting, Hermana Petersen and I decided to drive out to some formers. Those are people who have been taught in the past, but for whatever reason, they didn’t continue to be taught by the missionaries. So we were giving them another chance to see if they’d be interested! We dealt with a few people clearly in the house not coming to the door (classic), and had an address that was clearly wrong. After yet another rejection, Hermana Petersen and I were walking along the street, getting ready to get back into the car and go home for dinner, when we saw a Hispanic family walking into their home. I definitely felt some trepidation, but Hermana Petersen grabbed my arm, eyes wide open, and we went up to their door and knocked. The dad answered, and Hermana Petersen told him we had a message about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ we wanted to share, and he gathered the whole family into their living room and we taught the Restoration! Miracles, everybody!

Later that night, we had a lesson with Stacee. We actually met her because she’s friends with another person we’re teaching, JD, and she was at his house on Thursday night when we stopped by for a lesson. We didn’t think too much would happen during the lesson, but we started talking about baptism. Stacee had recently been baptized in another church, and she mentioned that, so we explained priesthood authority and what a huge blessing it is. We also had a member teaching with us, and her testimony was so powerful. As we were wrapping up the lesson, Stacee said, “I think I need to be baptized again!” and we put her on date! It was amazing!

Our quad has a lot of love for each other. That means sitting on Hermana Harris’ bed for Facebook contacting sometimes.

This email is becoming a bit of a novella, but miracles have not ceased, y’all! Some are big, some are small, but they are all such precious gifts from Heavenly Father to us, and the joy that they bring is incomparable. Doctrine and Covenants 6 begins with the promise:

1 A great and marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.

Guess what? The work is here! And I’m here to do it the best that I can, with the strength of the Lord standing by me. And just so you know, He’s standing by you, too. 

— We’re all in this together,

Hermana Newton

Week 14: Soul-er Power

Hello, hello, hello!

It snowed this week! Twice! What?!

All is well here in beautiful Columbia! Every day I’m growing more in love with missionary work, and every day I’m dreading having to leave Hermana Petersen at the end of the transfer. But I try not to think about that too much.

It was Hermana Petersen’s birthday! We celebrated with sugar-free treats and miniature sombreros.

This week has truly passed by in a flash. As I’ve spent this P-Day thinking about what I wanted to talk about and share, I couldn’t really think of anything. Hermana Petersen and I were intensely busy, though, which is so awesome! We’re finally starting to see people progressing in our teaching pool. We have high hopes for a few of them. Hopefully by Saturday some of these wonderful souls will be invited to be baptized! There is so much joy in sharing the gospel with people. And even though you get many, many nos, that one yes is always worth it. I can’t even describe the happiness I share with Hermana Petersen when someone accepts any of our invitations.

Hermana Petersen and I have Tech Decks now, following the trend of many other missionaries.

I think back to Monday night, when Hermana Petersen and I had just gotten hung up on/yelled at by a good dozen people. We decided to respond to people on Facebook, and through that, we found JD! We had a super out-of-order lesson with him, where Hermana Petersen gave the most Spirit-led invitation, and right after we ended the call, Hermana Petersen and I jumped out of our chairs and cheered with pure joy. It was the best feeling. Doctrine and Covenants 18 says:

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

I’ve always viewed the one soul described in these verses as my own. It is so joyous to come unto Christ and the gospel. But the thing is that this message is a gift, and the point of it is that you share it. And that’s why being a missionary is so awesome! It is hard, and it is long. But wow, is my joy so great. 

I made more rolls! Here I am posing with a Literal Perfect One.

I love all you guys who are reading this, and I hope that me expressing my own joy has helped you gain some of your own!

— Find your happy,

Hermana Newton

Week 13: I Don't Wanna Taco ’bout It

Why, hello there!

As of today, I have been set apart as a missionary for three months! That’s a quarter of a year, for all those reading this who I’m sure were wondering. Don’t fret, though. There’s still plenty of time left in this hermana’s mission. And I’m sure happy that that’s the case! Because there’s still so much I want to do and explore. And, as Hermana Likes reminded me last night, you only get this experience once.

Wow, who are these styling youths at the bowling alley? That’s right, it’s Franklin South!

I’m sure you’re wondering what the Franklin South District has been getting up to lately for fun. In more prominent news, we went bowling! I definitely was in the lower rung of bowlers, but I did manage to get two strikes that day. This is my long way of saying I will be pursuing a bowling career instead of continuing my theatre arts major once I come back home.

Gotta love the ZLs outside the gyro shop with us. (ft. Hermana Likes’ hand on my shoulder)

Besides bowling this past week, we had a district council with the zone leaders! Elders Forese and Oilar are the best (and Hermana Petersen and I are totally their favorite companionship). Their insights are always really helpful, and I love how they encourage us to do better, but that I never question how much they care about us. Again, the best.

In ways of the actual work part of missions, Hermana Petersen and I are trying our hardest to find people who are prepared for the gospel. Which is sometimes really fun! On Monday, we talked to a lot of people on the square, who were for some reason all eating ice cream? Like, most of the people we were talking to had bought some from the creamery. I don’t know what caused this, because it wasn’t particularly warm, but treats are fun.

Hermana Petersen and I made the best Sunday dinner ever! She prepared a soup, and I made rolls using a recipe given to me by my great-aunt Linda. Thanks, Linda! They were a success!

Obviously, though, there has to be opposition in all things. Surprisingly, when you bring up a personal topic like religion, people can be very rude. Sometimes, though, you don’t even have to bring up religion for things to get awkward. What do I mean, you ask?

So, Hermana Petersen and I have been trying our hardest to have a variety of finding methods. We’ll go to parks, the square, do phone and Facebook tracting. And one day, we set off for the restaurant La Superior. It's one of the most happening spots for Latinos in Columbia, so we went there for our lunch break (and to contact), and let me tell you: I do not recall feeling more awkward. Basically, the restaurant was packed, so we came in, two white girls in business clothes surrounded by construction workers on break. They seemed very confused as to why we were there, to the point that I was sort of confused, too. Every time I looked up from my burrito, someone was staring at me in obvious confusion. We talked to people, but … wow, was it uncomfortable.

Basically, that experience has caused me to think a lot about a verse in Deuteronomy 14:

2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

Even though it’s hard sometimes, the Lord asks us to be weirdos. He asks us to walk around a wall and scream so that we’ll reach our promised land. He asks us to build a boat in the middle of the desert with no tools or experience. He asks us to be a pair of white girls with gringa accents sharing His gospel in a grocery/panaderia/restaurant.

Being different can be isolating, but it also offers an unprecedented freedom. When you allow yourself to live in a way that makes Heavenly Father (and, by extension, you) happy, there’s so much peace to feel from it.

Hermana Petersen made this smoothie bowl that looked like a Pokeball, and she didn’t even do it on purpose?

I hope you can all find that solace this week and beyond, and that you’ll continue having an awesome 2021!

— Keep being weirdos,

Hermana Newton

Week 12: Dance Dance Resolution

Happy New Year!

I don’t know how it feels for y’all, but I cannot believe that it’s 2021. Maybe that’s a universal sentiment, but I also know that missions feel like this timeless vacuum. At least, that’s what mine has felt like.

Me trumpeting in the new year

Anyway, on to whatever I got up to! For those of you who don’t have a perfect memory of these weeklies (as in these email updates), several weeks ago I mentioned creating a music group with Hermana Likes called Lil Men. I also joked that we would have a single coming out shortly. Apparently I shouldn’t do that, because the TNM* put together a music video of missionaries singing Lauren Daigle’s song “Light of the World” that includes the two of us! Give it a good ol’ watch and keep an eye out for the final shot recorded by yours truly.

Hermana Petersen and I enjoying some cheese and grape juice like high-society women

New Year’s Eve was so much fun! There was no karaoke à la “High School Musical,” but we did have noisemakers, 2021 tiaras, and some killer cheese dip, thanks to one of our members, Sister Woodmansee! And we had an indoor snowball fight with these fake snowballs that another member, Sister Reeves, bought us. All in all, a pretty good holiday!

3/4 of the Columbia crew celebrating!

Transfers happened, but our district basically stayed the same. Apparently things changed up a lot when I got here, so we weren’t due for any major shake-ups. But we did have to say goodbye to Elder French. #gonebutnotforgotten. (We’ll see him at zone conference.) But this means I’ve been here a transfer.† Crazy!

Hermana Petersen and I really put our shoulder to the wheel this week. We’ve been finding and teaching like crazy. And I have some good news because of it!

We’ve been teaching this incredibly nice old man named Howard, and as soon as we met him, we could tell that he was super prepared to hear our message. But we hadn’t been able to contact him this weekend because of the telephone lines being down across Tennessee.‡ We were finally able to have our second lesson on Tuesday, which was about the Plan of Salvation. But halfway through it, we shifted into explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we got to invite Howard to be baptized, and he accepted! I can’t even begin to describe how joyful that moment was. My chest felt like it was on fire (in a good way)! It turns out that Howard doesn’t live in our area, so we sent him over to another companionship to see him through, but I’m so grateful we got to invite him to the message of the restored gospel!

Something great about the new year? We’ve got a new standard work to study for “Come, Follow Me.” And this year it’s Doctrine and Covenants! I am extremely excited, in large part due to my “Saints” reading, but also because all of the scriptures are awesome.

In the spirit of D&C, I figured I’d share a scripture from it. It’s found in Section 64:

33 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Not every day of missionary work is as obviously joyful as the day we invited Howard to be baptized. When I think back to it, we still had to face a lot of rejection, even an hour before we had our lesson with him. Most days in the vineyard, you aren’t harvesting. Sometimes the small things feel like they’re worthless. But I assure you, they aren’t. One might say that they’re the start of something new.

There are a lot of fun signs like this around Tennessee!

I’m so grateful to be a missionary, and I’m so grateful to have so many people supporting me through this effort. I hope that 2021 will bring forth that which is great.

— Auld Lang Syne!

Hermana Newton

 

* Tennessee Nashville Mission

† Missionaries serve in a given area for six weeks at a time. They might be transferred to another area at the end of the six weeks; hence, each six-week segment is called a transfer. It is typical for a missionary to remain in the same area for several transfers.

‡ AT&T’s internet and phone service in three states was disabled for several days after a Christmas morning explosion in Nashville.