Week 45: Before the Flood

Welcome back to another weekly!

You can always count on your comp to catch you at your finest moments.

It was definitely a rollercoaster of experiences. We had lots of lessons, encountered people who were at the very least interesting (shoutout to the drunk guys who stopped their other drunk friend from driving — true heroes; negative shoutout to the drunk guy we heard puking behind us on the way to a lesson), successfully baked brownies in our toaster oven, and, notably, were flung about by the forces of nature.

We love a good mural!

Basically, it’s very rainy here in Xela. For my first transfer, it was pretty dry, but these last couple of weeks have had some crazy downpours. This week was a perpetual case of buckets, followed by sunny skies, followed by more buckets. The sunny skies element is key, though. Basically, every day, we’d be getting ready to go out, and it would be ridiculously warm. I’m sure it’s not actually super hot, but I’ve gotten used to the temperate climate, so subjectively, it is. And because of that, cumbersome rain jackets are not comfortable. Which means that we’d bring an umbrella, but not a rain jacket. And then, during the course of the day, the rain would come, and it would not hold back any punches. On Tuesday specifically, we got absolutely drenched. You see, we were walking to visit a member referral — Hermana Villatoro’s mom. So it was a pretty big deal. It started raining, and we were like, “Maybe we should go home and visit another day,” but then Hermana Gonzalez reminded me of something I say all the time, which is, “No effort is wasted,” and with that inspirational quote and our meager umbrella in hand, off we went. We kind of looked like stray dogs standing in front of that door, but it was a really good conversation and experience! And after, we were able to go home and change into dry clothes, so all’s well that ends well.

Here I am with a brownie (full pan not pictured; we were ravenous).

Tempests are commonly talked about in the gospel. They’re full of some pretty nice metaphors. I think what I’ve learned from the ones I’ve been in this week is that we sometimes handle them imperfectly. We shrug off the things that will ultimately make us happier because of the more immediate gratification of an easier way. But that doesn’t change the reality that the trial will come. And it also doesn’t detract from the good you have done. A little pink umbrella is so much better than nothing at all. And of course, keep in mind what Helaman 5 says:

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

A lot of things in life are hard. I think that goes without saying. But trials do not mean you can't find calm. My mission has been chock-full of discomfort. A lot of tears, a lot of fears, a lot of growing pains. But it has also been a time where I have gained genuine peace. I am so grateful for what this adventure has taught me, and I’m grateful for the storms. After all, it’s the water that makes us grow.

— As always,

Hermana Newton

Week 44: Want vs. Will

Happy Saturday the 14th! 

I know that’s not really a thing, but I didn’t write on Friday the 13th, and I figured I could make it a thing. Just to be a trendsetter. We’ll see how it plays once your responses start rolling in.

I love this poster outside the stadium so much.

As I’ve said in two previous email subject lines, what kind of week has it been? Well, my beloved brothers and sisters, a truly wilding one. Let me break it down for you.

So Gloria and Manuel, the couple we’ve been teaching, have been doing super well, when suddenly their phone number stopped working. They had given us a vague address, but they hadn’t given us their exact address, and all of our lessons were in the church. We were pretty lost as to what to do. Thankfully, we knew where Manuel worked, so we went over to the restaurant at dinner and asked if he was working. The waiter came back and told us that Manuel had straight-up disappeared. We were like, that’s not bueno. Finally, Gloria responded on WhatsApp, and it turns out that they’re spending some time on the coast. We’ll see what happens with them.

Amazingly enough, we found another family to teach! Jesús, Sandi, and their little 3-year-old, Lisbet. They are progressing really well. They just moved to Xela, and they have a lot of trials they’re going through, but their faith is so remarkable. That family reminds me why I love being a missionary every time I talk to them.

Intercambios were super fun! (Also taking over an area in a place where you can’t rely on Google Maps)

I was able to go on exchanges with the lovely Hermana Ramírez! She’s so fun, and she was very patient with me when I had to slowly tell all of my silly stories in Spanish. Hermana González is very good at understanding English, and so I’m often able to rely on that to explain more complex things. It was not the case with Hermana Ramírez. But we were still able to do the work and have fun.

Still confused about the Korean-Guatemalan connection I didn't know existed until I came here.

These last few days, Hermana González and I have been hitting the streets hard. Our mission has standards of excellence in different categories. They’re basically weekly expectations. We’re asked to have 10 effective contacts a day. That means you have the person’s name and number and/or address. The entire time we’ve been together, Hermana González and I have had to work really hard to meet this, and most days, we don’t. But our focus changed to talking to everyone, and suddenly, the game changed. In the last two days, we’ve had 40 contacts, which is over half of what we’re asked to reach weekly. I can’t really explain the change that I’ve felt in myself because of this. Not in having a number that’s higher than normal, but in the shift in perspective. Every goal we set in finding really comes down to us reaching out and offering what we have to all of God’s children here. We’re still not perfect, but we’re trying our best, and it turns out that it’s a lot more than we realized.

Who knew we were so global?

The people we talk to have wants, too. They want a happy family, a good education, a relationship with God. And Hermana González and I have always wanted to reach the standards of excellence. But the difference in this week was that we actually did something about it.

One of my favorite scriptures is in section 4 of Doctrine and Covenants (the missionary section, haha). It reads:

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.

I am most definitely not a perfect person, and I’m an equally imperfect missionary. But I have found a desire to share the gospel, over and over again on the mission, and each time I rediscover it, the more my joy grows. I’m thankful for that joy, and I’m thankful that I get to have more as I cultivate and work for it, one footstep at a time.

— Sharing that joy with you,

Hermana Newton

Week 43: On the Prize

Hello, August!

Both of us forgetting to bring an umbrella and getting absolutely drenched while street contacting.

Today officially marks 10 months!!! That is both exciting and completely terrifying. How is it that I’ve been a missionary for so long that I’ve entered the double digits in months? I have no clue what’s going to happen in my brain when I hit a year.

The Real Deal (pronounced “Ray-all Day-all”; merch from Real Salt Lake, Utah’s Major League Soccer franchise, in a Xela shop)

This week has been hard and wonderful. Cesar is doing well, and so are Gloria and Manuel. When we taught the Restoration this week, Manuel was paying such close attention as we were explaining, and it was very tender, because during our chapel tour, he had been busy taking care of their little boy, Angel, so he wasn’t following as well as Gloria had. Going into that lesson, we were concerned that he wasn’t as interested, but he definitely is!

All of these absolute units at our special zone council (which was super fun)!

The real big deal, though, was the mission tour we had with Elder Brian K. Taylor. Let me just say, his wife, Jill, is an absolute unit. So is Elder Taylor, but seriously. Jill was slaying the game.

Elder and Sister Taylor were basically covering the missionary purpose, which is finding, teaching and baptizing. We focused a lot on finding, which was an interesting shift for me. In the TNM, we were sort of finding machines who needed to be reminded about the teaching and baptizing all the time. But as part of the discussion on finding, they talked about the importance of member referrals, and their thoughts and concepts were super refreshing!

Then, Elder and Sister Taylor invited us to contact 50 members for referrals using what they had taught. Which is a lot of people. And I’m not gonna lie, it was really hard. Especially when Hermana González and I didn't come close to reaching the goal. There were a lot of reasons (us having a lot of lessons that day, nurse responsibilities, not getting the member list, sharing a ward with the APs* and them not telling us which members they’d already contacted until super late in the day), but I ended up feeling absolutely defeated. Because we worked our tails off and reached out to around 80 members, and only 25 of them responded. There are those days when you thrust your sickle in and do everything you possibly can, and it feels like your effort was wasted.

But when I look back on this week, there were literally so many miracles. Setting people on date for baptism, the people we found and talked to, the members who actually answered us and were so grateful to have us talking to them, and the referrals they gave. This week was full of Heavenly Father’s blessings. And they weren’t one specific number of members answering our calls and texts. Because they didn’t have to be.

Doctrine and Covenants 8 says:

8 Therefore, doubt not, for it is the gift of God; and you shall hold it in your hands, and do marvelous works; and no power shall be able to take it away out of your hands, for it is the work of God.

I am still remarkably bad at goal-setting. But I’ve learned a lot about it on the mission. And they have a lot more to do with us working toward who we want to become than the number in question. Because becoming perfected isn’t a quantifiable thing. And if we want to become like Christ, we need to make sure there’s room for Him in His work. Elder and Sister Taylor weren’t asking us to set a goal to talk to 50 members because passing that marker would magically make us worthy of entering the Celestial Kingdom. It was about raising our vision to the possibilities. Things will go imperfectly. They always will. But, if you’re looking for it, you’ll always find Him helping you out, somewhere along the way. Even if it isn’t where you expected.

— Keeping my eyes open,

 Hermana Newton

* assistants to the [mission] president

Week 42: Somebody Told Me

Happy Harry Potter Day!*

That’s right, I might be on a mission in a foreign country thousands of miles away from home, but I would never in my life forget that it’s my boy’s 41st birthday. Don’t worry, though, he’s not the subject of this email.

With our favorite secretaries (who are about to be replaced by old people)

Today is actually going to be pretty crazy, because we’re doing the orientation for the new missionaries. Both the greenies and some more North Americans who are getting shipped in. We’re also welcoming a senior couple, the Carpenters. This unfortunately means that Elder Juarez and Elder Herrera are leaving the office, and I am super sad about it because they’re the best! But it’s OK. As Céline Dion once said, my heart will go on.

RIP to my bestie who always talks to me in English :'( Hope he has fun being a branch president with his gringo!

This week we had some seriously good lessons, including a church tour! We had scheduled with this woman named Gloria, and were ready for her, and then she showed up with her husband, Manuel, and their adorable little boy! What? Straight-up just giving us her family to teach? That’s a pretty all-star move, if you ask me. Anyway, they’re the cutest, and Manuel’s boss is a member, which is the neatest little in.

We also had a really good time calling former investigators in our area book this week. I cannot stress how much I've grown to absolutely love formers. All you have to do is call a number, and 95 percent of the time you schedule another lesson, and it’s great and everyone is happy. I just think they’re so neat.

A little miracle I absolutely loved this week happened a couple of nights ago. We were at home, it was the end of the day, and we still had a good half-hour before it hit 9. We were trying so hard to think of who else we could call, because we’d either had lessons with our progressing people that day or they were busy that night. Hermana Gonzalez asked whom we should call, and then, out of nowhere, Alex popped into my mind.

Alex is someone we had found weeks ago and tried so hard to keep into contact with. We messaged him a lot, but he was pretty spotty about replying, and he never answered our calls. I’m pretty sure we’d called him a solid seven times. So from a logical standpoint, reaching out to Alex again made no sense.

But then Hermana Gonzalez suggested, “Hermano Alex?” We both laughed, but I told her I was thinking the same thing, and so then we called him, and he answered right away. We had a really good lesson with him, and the entire time, as we were sitting there talking to him, I just kept on thinking how much of a miracle it was. It may seem small, but for Alex’s life, this is huge. It was a reminder to me that we can never give up on people and that we should always, always listen to what the Spirit tells us. Even when there’s a little bit of doubt in our minds, or even when we think we’ve already done all we can. 1 Nephi 4 says:

1 Let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?

2 Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea.

3 ...wherefore can ye doubt? Let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers.

— Thanks for listening,

 Hermana Newton

* Harry Potter was born July 31, 1980.

3. Sometimes you run into things that aren't in your job description in the mission office.