Week 34: The Edge of (Being a) Teen

This is the last day my angst can be socially acceptable.

I got to hold a hamster owned by one of the people we’re teaching! When I took off my mask to take the photo, the kids said that I looked like “the girl from the movie.” Very specific, I know. They showed me the DVD case, and they were talking about Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz”!

That’s right! Tomorrow, I will have officially been alive for two decades. That’s a whole score, for those of you who aren’t aware. I have been sitting with anticipation since Saturday afternoon to open my birthday package, but I have withheld, and tomorrow, I’ll finally be able to crack open that bad boy, along with other events. I won’t spoil all of the surprises I have in store for my festivities, but tomorrow, I’ll be on exchanges with Sister Smith! I’m sure that’s going to be one hoot and a holler.

A birthday letter?! How exciting!

As always, what a fun week this has been! So much has happened. Probably too much. But I’ll cover as much as I can for the viewers at home.

First of all, I really love my district so much. Elder Gambill and Elder Yanez are the funnest district leaders. Definitely in my top five out of the four that I’ve had. They’re so kind and thoughtful, and so is everybody else in our district. It’s such an amazing gift to know all of those missionaries!

Hermana Aguilera taking a picture of me taking a picture of Hermana Aguilera

Also, I got to sing in church! The elders’ ward had asked Elder Yanez to do a special musical number because he’s a phenomenal pianist, but he didn’t want to brave through it alone, so he asked if one of us hermanas would be willing to sing with him, and of course I volunteered because (spoiler alert) I love to sing!

Anyway, we performed “I Will Walk with Jesus,” which is such a sweet song. It’s a little newer, so some of the older kids on this list may not know it, but trust me, it is so good. And it was so fun to sing! Shout out to Sister Haver, a member of the 2nd Ward who’s related to one of my mom’s friends, Ronna Park! We were able to say quick hellos after sacrament meeting, and she said hi from my mom! Which was so fun.

Getting Dairy Queen to celebrate Hermana Reddish’s nine months!

We also got to meet with Caleb, whom the sisters who were previously in BG1B were teaching, but he had been up in Alaska bear hunting, so we hadn’t been able to meet with him. But let me tell you: I am meant to be here for Caleb. He has some really good questions, and a lot of them can be addressed by just becoming a member of the Saints book club. Which he now is.

We happened to be in a lesson with Caleb on Monday when, as we were finishing up, we got a call from President Weaver. Caleb was kind enough to let us answer. I was very confused as to what President Weaver could possibly be calling for, because I legit had no clue. But then he asked to specifically speak to me, and it turns out that they’re starting to process my visa application for Guatemala!!! I don’t know when I’m leaving or anything, but for now, it sounds like I’m going to be making it. I am just so grateful and excited and in awe of this amazing blessing. Talk about a birthday present.

Riding up to district council, as per usual

For district council this week, Hermana Aguilera and I got to do part of the training. As part of it, we shared the story of Naaman, found in 2 Kings 5. Naaman is a captain for the Syrian army. He’s pretty highly regarded, but he has contracted leprosy, which, at this time, is an uncurable disease. So he goes to the prophet Elisha to heal him:

10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

I love this story, and in part, I think it’s because I’m very much Naaman. Both of us had an expectation of how the Lord would treat us. I expected to go to Guatemala, and Naaman expected for a prophet to come out of his house and grandiosely heal him. But that’s not what we received.

Expectations are really hard to combat. We’re always trying to anticipate what comes next and to make things go our way. But if things had gone my way, I never would have served with the missionaries here. I never would have had the experiences I wrote about this week in my weekly email, or any of my weeklies. I never would have gotten to meet the amazing people of Tennessee and Kentucky, who have changed my life in a very real way.

I am so grateful for my mission, and I am so grateful for the journey ahead. That, above all, is the best birthday present I could ever ask for.

— Still 19,

Hermana Newton

Week 33: Seeing Clearly

Good afternoon!

What’s this? A scenic view of Kentucky as we drive along? Groundbreaking.

There are so many trains in Bowling Green, and they seem to be loudest right when we need to be going to bed.

Can you believe we’re already halfway through this first transfer in Bowling Green? But I was only referring to myself, so I guess this was a use of the royal we.

Happy to report that all the hermanas I live with are all so beautiful and lovely!

Anyway, May is drawing to a close, and summer is here! It’s been in the high 80s and low 90s all week. I can’t believe how fast time is moving. My most avid readers will remember back when I had barely made it through a transfer, and now I’ve been a missionary for almost eight months. Truly astounding, and truly so much more to learn.

Hermana Aguilera and me after giving our talks!

I feel like I say this every time, but seriously: So much happened this week. Hermana Aguilera and I hosted one of the live events, We Believe Live, for the page, because Hermana Reddish needed to get mouth surgery. I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for the first time in my life and learned that sports bar trivia is astonishingly easy. I gave my first talk as an official missionary, and it was really fun! But you’d think you would have much more time to work on a talk than you actually do. Apparently missionary work is very busy.

Franklin South reunion with Elder Myers!

Zone conference was this week! And it was truly one of the best times of my life. Hardcore fans might remember Elders French, Nelson and Myers. Well, they were all this zone conference, along with my beloved Hermana Petersen! It was so exciting and happy. I’ve also felt so blessed that even though I’ve been put into a completely new zone and basically flung across to the other side of the mission, I still had so many friends to say hi to and show my love!

Look at me and Hermana Petersen!

Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis came to speak for this conference, and I think that the word powerful is still an understatement. Elder Aidukaitis has a spirit that completely dominates. I sincerely believe he’s one of the most Christlike people I’ve ever had the pleasure to be in the same room as. I learned so much about how to become the missionary that I want to be, and the entire experience made me so excited to improve! I felt encouraged to do and be better in every aspect of missionary work, instead of hopelessly writhing around at my lack of ability, which sometimes happens when I’m trying to take advice to heart.

A typical day in missionary life.

There were so many things that I needed to hear from this zone conference, but one of my favorites was found in a thought that stems from this verse in Ether 12:

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

“Dispute not because ye see not.” As a missionary, you have to work all the time. Especially on yourself. And sometimes the fruits of our labors aren’t evident right away. As I try to improve the way I teach, serve, and love, it isn’t automatically clear. But that doesn't mean it’s not there.

Life is so much about trust. In God, in other people, and in yourself. I’m growing in that, and as I do, my mission and my life get better. And it can do the same for you, too.

— Always and forever,

Hermana Newton

Week 32: Cross My Heart

Hello to all!

This week’s definitely one for the books! First off, it’s Hermana Aguilera’s birthday! She's a whole 22 years of age! Those of you who still have access to Taylor Swift songs, please listen to her title of the same name and enjoy by way of celebration. Additionally, this means that my birthday is in two weeks (and one day). Any suggestions as to how to commemorate my last days of true teenagedom? Is the idea to share the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? If so, the Bowling Green sisters are on the case! But on to what we actually did.

This was before our lesson with Liam, the coolest guy ever, whom we have to pass off because he lives in the other mission, but it’s OK.

First off, I love the people! They are seriously the best! The missionaries, the members, the people we’re teaching. It’s been awesome. We got to attend the baptism of the youngest kid in a member family that was so tender. Their daughter who’s 15 gave a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost that was super powerful. Shoutout to Moira. Also, the opportunity to attend a baptism is one of the sweetest experiences to have ever, especially as a missionary.

The Primary children decorated copies of the Book of Mormon for us and wrote their testimonies inside. It’s so tender.

Our friends have been progressing so well! I’m excited about Angel and Liz in particular, who are two of the sweetest women on the planet! They have such awesome member friends in the ward who are starting to strengthen their involvement in the gospel, and I’m so happy just seeing them progress and become happier with what they’re learning.

A couple of cuties on a walk

Even though this week has been beautiful, there are hard parts to it. We’ve been rejected, frustrated, and grown physically, spiritually and emotionally tired. It’s part of missionary work. Something that was especially difficult is that we had to cancel the baptism for someone we were teaching because they aren’t ready for various reasons. They had chosen this Saturday before Hermana Aguilera and I even came to Bowling Green. It’s definitely not fun to see someone's actions not align with their desires. But the day we put this person off date, someone who was previously taught reached out to us. He’s been having a hard time, but he told us that he opened his Book of Mormon and turned to this scripture in Helaman 3:

28 Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

He then wrote:

“I’m glad Heavenly Father reminded me the gate of heaven is open. 

It isn’t closed. 

His blessing, grace, peace are open to me. Not closed.”

It reminded me of a scripture in Alma 37 that I really love:

17 For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers.

Heavenly Father loves us. I say that to people all the time. But it’s real. It’s eternal. It’s personal. And it applies to you.

— I promise,

Hermana Newton

Week 31: So Much to Do, So Much to See

Hey now!

Here’s my greenie the day I got her! Hermana Aguilera is from Fresno, California. She’s a native speaker and is so pure and bubbly and lovely (:

I’m coming to you, for the first time in the history of these weekly emails, from the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky! It’s such a happening town that we have at least two of everything, as well as one precious Target. What a blessing to live near a typical middle-class department store. I will surely cherish it during the months I am here.

Bowling Green is radically different from Columbia, and I absolutely love it here. I miss many things from the equivalent of my hometown during my mission, but I’m also happy to see and experience new things. If anything, BG reminds me a lot more of West Valley than Columbia. It’s not really famous for anything*, but the people are kind and amazing, and by and large, I feel extremely loved.

New quad! L-R: Hermana Reddish, yours truly, Hermana Aguilera, Hermana Reidhead

The process of starting the work here has been an equal extreme in terms of stress. For those of you who aren’t caught up! I am whitewashing in this area, which means that my companion and I are both new to the area. And I’m training her, which is a lot of responsibility that intimidates me way too much if I think about it too hard. Oh, and I forgot to get the SIM card for the area, which meant we had to rely on the other companionship if we wanted to call anybody, and then Hermana Aguilera’s Facebook wasn’t working on her phone, so in a word, the first week has been hard.

Goodbye to Franklin South and some of my favorite people ever.

I think what I’ve been learning this week is that I really have to give everything to Heavenly Father. Which is something I’ve learned and relearned the entirety of the seven months I’ve been doing this. 

In Alma 17, the sons of Mosiah and other Nephites are about to start missions serving among the Lamanites, who are their generations-old enemies. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of anxiety for them in this moment. They’re unsure about their future, whether their message will be accepted, whether they’ll be safe and well. Not much is certain as they begin their journey. But it goes on to say:

10 And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.

…

12 And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God.

I think if my experience in adulthood has taught me anything, it is that there is a lot to have fear over. But that gives us the opportunity to have courage. And I hope that all of us will be able to be brave going forward, whatever challenges we're facing. Because, dear reader, I know that you have it in you.

A fan favorite, Cathy Newton, cheering all of us on!

— You’re an All-Star,

Hermana Newton

* To be fair, Bowling Green is the home of the National Corvette Museum.

Week 30: Bare Bones

This is being written a day in advance.

Now, this isn’t a big deal on its own. Most people try to write their weekly emails ahead of time, so it’s not exactly strange. But I always write my weekly day of, which raises the question: What’s caused me to change my ways?

All of us hugging Hermana Likes while I cry

But before we get into that crazy news, let’s address the saddest fact, which is that we had to drop Hermana Likes off at the mission office, and it was so hard, and I’ll be crying about the whole endeavor for a while. She’s somebody I’m so grateful I came to Tennessee to meet. She has helped me to become more of the person I want to be, and I’ll love her forever.

Me hugging Hermana Likes and crying

Because Hermana Likes is leaving, the quad is a temporary trio (for only a day), and because of that, Hermana Stevenson planned with Hermana Fellars this morning while Hermana Likes finished packing. As we sat in the STLs room talking about our day, one of the office elders called Hermana Stevenson. We were little confused, and it turned out he was asking her if she’d be willing to train! That’s such happy news because it’s something Hermana Stevenson has wanted so badly, and this transfer will be her last one. As we were congratulating Hermana Stevenson, the elder called back, and we assumed it was because had forgotten some information, but then he asked to talk to me, and it turns out that I’m training too! In an entirely new area called Bowling Green, which is in Kentucky. So that will be an absolute trip. I need many, many prayers. So does this hermana I’ll be training!

This moment of us just laughing at each other was 87% of our time together

But, something stressful: Normally, transfers happen the morning after P-Day, or Thursday. That way, there’s time to pack. But for some reason, transfers are happening ON P-Day at 3:00. I’ll have half the time people normally do to pack. Suffice it to say I’m more than a little bit terrified. I won’t know the members, our teaching pool, the most effective finding methods for the area. I'm going into this area with only the Lord to rely on. Which might be what I'm supposed to learn.

In Doctrine and Covenants Section 11, it says:

12 And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.

How true this is, especially about missionary work! There is little that I can do on my own. It's pretty embarrassing. But if I'm accomplishing anything out here, it is only through God. And it takes being stripped down to the most bare of bones to accomplish that.

My bones might be bare. They feel battered and broken and buried under centuries of sedimentary deposits. But I know that Heavenly Father will make something useful out of them. And He will do that with you, too. He is our Maker.

We watched “Coco” en español with the people we’re teaching!

— In the making,

Hermana Newton

Week 29: Work This Out

April’s almost over already?

I feel like I often marvel at the passage of time in these emails, and I’m sure everyone is sitting here reading this and just nodding, because of course that’s how it works. But all the moments, good and bad, feel so short-lived while serving a mission.

Franklin South bowling and squad goals

Anyway, this week, Wendy, the daughter of one of our members who just moved here a month ago, was able to be baptized on Saturday! It was such a gift to be able to see her make that promise we talk about with other people all of the time. She’s such a sweet spirit, and we’re so happy that she’s the newest member of the Columbia Ward!

Playing soccer with some people we’re teaching. Nothing builds trust like playing soccer.

We’ve also been busy at work! There are so many people to teach who are willing to listen, and it’s such a blessing. We were able to put our friend Jasmine on date yesterday, and it was amazing. We were having a lesson about how God loves her, and we briefly mentioned baptism, and as soon as it came up, she told us very excitedly that she had never been baptized and she had been thinking she needed to do it. We set her on date, and immediately she put it in her phone. We arranged to have a lesson with her today, so please pray for Jasmine! I’m so excited for her.

This was the word of the day from SpanishDict on Shakespeare’s birthday! Beautiful : )

This week, we read from Ether 12 with someone we’re teaching named Tia’Yana. The chapter has a lot of great lessons about faith and putting your trust in God. I have a lot of parts that I appreciate and love in this chapter, but I especially love this verse:

9 Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith.

Sometimes we feel like blessings are barred from us, and we aren’t able to achieve that which we want to. A few weeks back, I definitely felt as though I was somehow being kept from seeing success in missionary work. And while I haven’t taught someone who’s been baptized (yet!), I have definitely seen success. There are people who are progressing, there are those who are changing for the better, and I am becoming a person who I want to be. And the trick to it isn’t crazy at all. It’s applying the advice of Moroni, and it’s having hope.

Me and Mom during the Newton family call. (It might look like Mom is eating a potato chip, but it’s a cucumber with hummus)

And I have hope for a lot of things! For the world, for the people we teach, and for you reading this. If things are bad, they will get better, and if things are good, you can always treasure and be thankful for it! I know I’m grateful for the joy that I’ve found.

— The sun will shine,

Hermana Newton

Week 28: Breaking Free

What a wild week! I can’t believe everything that happened was only condensed into seven days. Like I said, wild.

I’ve already taken so many pictures in front of the square but here’s yet another one.

I got my fingerprints for my visa application, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation sent me a very official-looking envelope, and within it was another official-looking piece of paper that says I’m not a criminal! We’ll see what the fingerprints conclude.

We passed the cutest random smoothie place after zone conference! I got the peanut butter and jelly one. I’m a woman of taste, what can I say?

We had so many good lessons this week! Our friend Wesley is reading from the Book of Mormon and asking questions, as well as receiving answers and comfort to help him with the challenges going on in his actual life. Another friend, Jason, is absolutely loving going to church these last few weeks and is excited to continue being part of the Columbia Ward family! We got back into contact with José, who has just been so busy with work but is so ready for the gospel.

I got my KAVU BAG!!!

Just me in front of the Columbia building because I love it here. (:

I was so worried about being a page admin, but I’ve found that being busy with one thing has resulted in me being busy overall! And being a busy missionary is definitely being a happy missionary! This calling has been such a blessing, and I’m very grateful to see that from my Heavenly Father.

In my personal study this morning, I was reading Mosiah 4 in preparation for a lesson, and I loved this verse:

3 And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come. …

I read this, and I was immediately reminded of the story we read during a Family Home Evening lesson with a recent convert family. We read the story of Enos together, and in it, it says:

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?

8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.

We need to have faith in order to have repentance. I teach that constantly. But what these verses from this week have taught me is that being forgiven and changing is largely dependent on our ability to believe that we can. It’s hard to have faith, because it’s hard to let go of the control that we think that we have. But at the end of the day, it’s liberating.

I’m so thankful to be freed through Jesus Christ. It blesses me every day, and it can bless you, too! If you only have the faith to see it.

— Soaring, flying,

Hermana Newton