Week 52: 369 Days Later …

I’ve been a missionary for a year.

What?

Hermana González and I are known to take pictures of each other from a distance

My absolute shock at this news out of the way, it’s been a fun week! A very busy one, full of office exertions, nurse duties, service, and a severe lack of contact time. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some of that done in the week Hermana González has left. Oh yeah.

Hermana González finishes her mission next week.

What?

Hermana González made fun of my pinkie 😤 No companionship can be perfect ig

But back to the exciting exertions of the past seven days! A bird somehow flew into our apartment (even though all of the windows were closed?), and I was worried about reliving the pooped-on treatment (true fans of the weekly already know), but that was miraculously avoided. Hopefully that means God has decided I only need to be pooped on once in my mission? Perhaps for my entire life? Fingers crossed.

To paraphrase the song, “painting down the house”

We did service for a member with the district, and we got to paint and sweep! I got myself covered in paint, to no one’s surprise, but I honestly find a lot of joy in getting covered with art supplies, so I didn’t mind at all. Then we had to rush home to take a shower so that we could have a spiffy night at the restaurant that’s the talk of the town: POLLO CAMPERO.

Me taking pictures with the Pollo Campero himself!

Real talk, Pollo Campero is this wings place that has the décor sensibilities of Village Inn. It was a really fun night, though! And I got to pose for a photo op with the gaudy golden statue of a chicken in the front while we were waiting for the family we were eating with to show up, so it’s all good.

The improvised party to celebrate my one-year mark!

For my year mark, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of announcing it or anything, but when we went to our member lunch, Hermana González clued in Hermana Vilma, the Relief Society president, and she set off straight-away. She made me a balloon animal bunny rabbit and gave me pancakes with sprinkles and a candle! Then she and Hermana González sang me “Cumpliste años” (“You’ve Had a Birthday”) and it was honestly super sweet. Basically, everything the members did this week was sweet.

In John 15, Christ says:

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I am so grateful for all of the expressions of love I’ve been able to give and receive on my mission. This country, this city, and these people are so beyond wonderful. I think back to when I was on that crazy bus from the hotel back in June, and when I stepped off the plane in Nashville last November, and when I opened my call on August 11, 2020. There is no way to explain the changes in the world that we’ve experienced. But what’s even more miraculous has been the change in me. I hope I’m kinder, more patient, and more like Christ.

— 369 days wiser,

Hermana Newton

Week 51: In General

Happy Birthday, Dad (and Summer)!

It takes forever for mail from the U.S. to get to Guatemala, but I finally got another letter from Mom!

And happy late birthday to Mom. I happen to know a lot of people with October birthdays, so I might be mentioning them a lot this month. Get ready to celebrate, is all I’m saying.

Also a mysterious package. With letters! Thanks to the Jordan North 6th Ward Young Women and their leaders.

This has been a fun week, as my weeks usually are here in Xela. We’ve had some really awesome lessons, eaten some really good pupusas, and baked! Sadly, no photographic evidence of the cookies. Yet again, we just keep on eating them before I think to take a picture for all the world to see. But they tasted really good!

Here’s all of Bosque after a combined district council.

On Saturday night, I was having serious cravings for a Frosty. I decided to order one, but here’s the thing: Takeout Wendy’s in Xela only offers a one-liter bucket of Frosty. The size of a liter did not really register to me until I had the Frosty on my desk in the apartment, but it was incredibly satisfying, in the typical Frosty way. I love comically large portions of food.

Our district!

Speaking of Saturday … General Conference was this weekend? And it was such an absolute blast! I’m also a wee bit nervous, because that means that the next conference will be going on in the week I’m getting ready to … um … go home from my mission. But we don’t have to think about that hahahaha. Especially since a whole lifetime of stuff happened between the April conference and this one (although time did actually pass fairly quickly too and I’m a little psyched out). All of that aside, it was a really rewarding and refreshing experience. I got 18 pages of notes, and I’m sure that in the coming months, I'll find even more gold nuggets as I study. Which talk will be the one I constantly quote and reference within these next six months during lessons? Vote on your phones now!

It was such a blast spending the day in Panorama with Hermana Ney!

I always love Elder Gerrit W. Gong’s messages, and his most recent one is no exception. One of my favorite quotes was when he said, “Trust becomes real when a person does hard things with faith.” I think I’ve mentioned it before in my weekly emails, and I’ve definitely talked about it with a lot of people in person throughout my mission, but when you have faith, you do something about it. Especially if it’s hard. Because you trust God and what He has promised you. I think that the story from Matthew 14 that Elder Carlos G. Revillo Jr. mentioned illustrates that really well:

25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

…

28 And Peter … said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

The Lord trusts us, but that relationship is still a two-way street. Sitting in the boat — or on the sidelines — might make the things we have to do seem easier, but the actual action can be overwhelming. And the falling we can experience is scary and hard. But the good news is that he will always be there to catch us when we fall. His arm is outstretched. We just have to make sure that we’re willing to take it.

Catch me exactly matching the exterior walls of buildings.

— Same as always,

Hermana Newton

Week 50: ¡Chale! A Chucho Chomped My C(h)ompañera

Newsflash! Guatemalans love the “ch” sound!

With Hermana Vilma, Baul’s Relief Society president and an utter gem! Her kids playing FIFA in the other room while we ate lunch reminded me of my younger brother, Jonah.

How is everybody doing? I’m sure the subject line has led to a number of questions. Good thing I’m here to answer!

Hermana González has some very inventive uses for her resistance bands.

What a week. We went through all of the nurse punches. From your standard diarrhea, to having to send a missionary home on medical release, to elders getting COVID and reaching a fever well over 104° F, to a severely sprained ankle, to what we thought was appendicitis, but turned out to be severe period cramps! Bet you weren’t expecting that one, right?

Can’t believe I was out here matching the bougainvillea.

But what I found to be the most exciting medical emergency was the one I got to experience firsthand, not just from a phone call’s length. What can I say? I like talking about things that have to do with me.

Look closely for the hidden gem of this picture.

Here I was. Walking down the street with Hermana González at 1 p.m., just before lunch. We were trying to get in some street contacting and ended up walking down this alleyway. We’ve walked our fair share in my time here, so we didn’t really think much of it. Hermana González pointed out a house with the number 0-12, and we started talking about how we should come back and take a picture under it for when I hit my one-year mark (in less than two weeks ackkkkk), when suddenly this street dog (or chucho) came crawling out from under a car and started barking at us like crazy and getting his friends to join him. So there were roughly eight dogs in hot pursuit of us.

Here’s a word of advice: As tempting as it is to run away Scooby-Doo!-style from aggressive canines, you never start running away. That just aggravates them even more. So Hermana González and I started a typical slow-walk away from the scene. We’ve had a fair share of run-ins with angry animals in the streets. Normally, that works out pretty well, and I think it served us well this time around as well, but one chucho was able to barely graze Hermana González. It mainly got her skirt, but two of its teeth managed to puncture her leg.  And you know what that means. A rabies shot! 

I don’t know how to define the word “chale,” but this pic best describes the emotion of it.

Hermana González was pretty freaked out that she had to go in for the shot because we went to the member lunch right after these traumatic events, and one of the sons told her that she’d have to get a shot in her stomach. But off to the health center we went. I had to stand outside and wait, and during that time, a little kid threw up in front of me, so that’s cool. But Hermana González is getting the second shot today, and she is alive and happy. Except for when it comes to the appointment for the shot.

What an incredible original design this company came up with! I hope it takes off!

2 Nephi 2 is one of my favorite chapters in the scriptures, and the entire last half is absolutely phenomenal, but I really love this verse:

26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

Our ability to act for ourselves is such a gift. It’s literally priceless, and the one thing that God will never interfere with because of its value. There is power in the fact that we are able to always choose the path we take, the values we have, and the person we want to be. That doesn’t mean smooth sailing from here on out, but what it does mean is that God trusts us. We just have to decide if we trust Him.

— Chugging along,

Hermana Newton

Week 49: The Hermana Mary Newton Film Festival

Good morning, everyone!

L-A-N, C-E-R, LANCERS!*

I know a good number of you might be surprised at how early this email is coming. I wouldn’t say I procrastinate it, but this is normally my right-before-lunch P-Day activity. But I had to be speedy and write this in advance because …

(pause for effect)

I’m going to the big city!!!

That’s right, I’ll be driving down to la capital so that I can do some paperwork and remain in Guatemala legally as a missionary. Should be pretty fun. And by fun, I mean exhausting and that I will miss Hermana González, but I guess this is a practice run for when she goes home in October (super sad boi hours).

Anyway, this has been a wonderful week, on all accounts. Wednesday was the bicentennial celebration of Guatemala’s independence, and members fed us very well.

Exhibit A: This fettuccine was, and I cannot stress this enough, delicious.

Exhibit B: The Mena family’s submission for the Great British Bake-Off

I don’t know why we were eating all of this food from other countries while celebrating a national holiday. I’m definitely not complaining about being fed, though.

We got to go on exchanges (see the outtakes from our video introductions above), and this was my first time actually leaving my apartment overnight! I technically left my area back in Columbia, Tenn., but since I lived with the STLs, it was not a crazy trip. But this time I got to get packed, and during our exchange, Hermana De Leon and I discovered that day was exactly 100 days before Christmas. To say I was shook cannot stress this enough. And I had the nurse phone that entire 24-hour exchange without Hermana González to consult, and no one died! I’m pretty proud of myself, I gotta say.

I’ve been studying in the New Testament this week, and the Sermon on the Mount has this one part in chapter 5 that I absolutely adore. It says:

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

…

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

I think that approximately a million different things can be said about these verses, but the point the Savior is making here is really similar to this sentiment in James 2:

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

No matter how you slice it, the difference between a disciple of Jesus Christ and someone who is not is their actions. If you have true faith in Christ, you will do something about it. It’s not so much a measure of getting it right every time. Like anything in the Gospel, it’s about becoming. We are made to be more. We shouldn’t just settle for a bare minimum because, at the very least, we can be better. And if we can, then we absolutely should try.

— Lots of love!

Hermana Newton

* A Lancer (the knight, not the car) is the mascot of Hermana Newton’s high school.

Week 48: Like the Other Girls

Happy … Monday?

That’s right, everybody, eleven months into my mission, and this is when I finally have the universal P-Day!

This letter from Mom was two months in the making!

I am still the mission nurse with Hermana González, but we have moved areas. Instead of the beloved Calvario, we are in el Baúl! Which is such an amazing area. It basically has everything consolidated into a pretty small space. You have typical cityscape, neighborhoods, a college campus, and we border the forest! Baúl is also more in the mountains, which means we walk a lot of hills, but it also means that there are a ton of views of Xela and the temple. It’s especially impressive at nighttime, but unfortunately, my camera has not been able to capture the in-person experience.

The temporary Rivera/Juarez companionship while waiting for their greenies to arrive was nothing short of iconic.

Eighteen new missionaries came in this transfer, and only two of them were native Spanish speakers. Because of flight plans, we got to have two orientations with nine missionaries. To be honest, it is a lot to move into an entirely new area (that was previously closed) and have to do an orientation, let alone two. But we persevere, and hey! I’m still alive at the end of it.

Sorry, I’m in a call.

Shockingly, I knew someone in both of these groups of new missionaries. More accurately, they knew me. Shoutout to Elder Blaylock, who was in the same ward as my cousin Daniel, and to Elder Fleischel, who’s from my home stake! Both of them have names I’m positive the natives will have a great time figuring out how to pronounce.

You ever walking along the street and see the name of an important location in church history?

This week, while studying for a lesson, I was thinking about faith. While looking through the scriptures, I found this verse in Alma 5:

15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

I also found this story in President Nelson’s most recent conference talk:

Two years ago, Sister Nelson and I visited Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and Tahiti. Each of those island nations had experienced heavy rains for days. Members had fasted and prayed that their outdoor meetings would be protected from the rain.  

In Samoa, Fiji, and Tahiti, just as the meetings began, the rain stopped. But in Tonga, the rain did not stop. Yet 13,000 faithful Saints came hours early to get a seat, waited patiently through a steady downpour, and then sat through a very wet two-hour meeting. 

 We saw vibrant faith at work among each of those islanders—faith sufficient to stop the rain and faith to persevere when the rain did not stop.

What I love about this scripture and this story is that they remind us what our faith is for. I think it’s easy to view faith as the fuel for a miracle machine. And that’s not exactly inaccurate. But it’s an incredibly selfish motivation.

We don’t have faith in Christ in order for Him to give us what we want. We don’t use it as this bargaining tool to make demands. Faith, more than anything else, is about perseverance. It is about the strength and meaning we gain from believing in something. We ascend from simply seeing the world as it is, and we gain the optimism of viewing things as they could be if we just wait a little longer, do something a little differently, and put our trust in God.

I have used that faith a lot this week, and a lot during my mission in general. I’m grateful for how it inspires me, and I hope it can inspire you too, as we all keep moving forward, knowing that it can and will get better.

— Yours sincerely,

Hermana Newton

Week 47: The Pavilion

Happy fall, y’all!

We love shopping at Megapaca (aka Guatemalan DI) and taking a selfie with the temple!

I know we’ve still got a couple of weeks before the Autumn Equinox passes, but September does not have the vibe of a summer month in the slightest. Because I’m always in school by the time we’ve reached that point. Or on a mission.

Here we are with San Carlos Sija and the Sister Training Leaders (wow I love them)

This week was admittedly stressful. We had a couple of pretty big emergencies on the medical side of things (that I won't get into for confidentiality and it’s-really-gross reasons), and it’s been hard, because Hermana González really wants me to take a bigger part in some of the nursing responsibilities. I do, too, but there’s a huge lack of language mastery, and I haven’t been able to effectively communicate with the Spanish-speaking missionaries when something is going on. They normally just ask me to pass the phone to Hermana González, which is #embarrassing.

These flip-flops had me cackling for what I think are obvious reasons.

Our last comp inventory was about that, because, whether I like it or not, I’m going to have to fulfill this responsibility without Hermana González in about seven weeks. I’ll have another companion to support me, but she probably won’t know as much English for me to use as a crutch if I need to explain something, and she won’t have as much experience as I do. It’s hard, because it’s not as if I can set aside hours on end to study medicine and its specialized vocabulary. I’m a whole missionary on top of everything. I came to realize, as we were talking, that there simply was not a catch-all solution. We can’t magically have the calling be easier, or for me to perfect conversational Spanish overnight. Life just doesn’t work like that.

Xela Centro all together (the most ambitious crossover of all time)

We had Zone Conference this week, and one of the things we did was watch a virtual tour of the Nauvoo Temple and Carthage Jail. When I think about Joseph Smith’s martyrdom, and all of the trials of the early Saints, I can only imagine how overwhelmed and stressed and abandoned they felt. I think that the beginning of Section 121 in Doctrine and Covenants is pretty well-known, but I love it:

1 O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?

It is very easy to feel alone. Each person is so uniquely themselves. There is no one like you. But within the beauty with that truth, there’s an integral challenge our souls experience. No one is like you. No one has lived your life. No one has experienced what you’ve gone through. It is impossible for anyone to truly know and to understand your pain, your suffering, and your complete story.

That’s why I think it's so amazing that the Atonement of Jesus Christ exists. He experienced complete loneliness, and was forsaken so that we never have to be (Matthew 27:46). He is a perfect person with perfect empathy. What he sacrificed is infinite and all-encompassing. It is the pavilion. And it covers what the early Saints experienced. It covers hate and persecution in all its forms. It covers stubbing your toe as you’re walking up the stairs. It covers that embarrassment when you forgot to do the math homework. It covers the tears and heartache of a broken relationship. It covers everything that I lack.

What I learned is that I am not suddenly going to turn into the person I want to be. I don’t think I’ll ever quite get there, in my mission, or in my life. But I realized that if I “trust in the Lord with all [my] heart; and lean not unto [my] own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5), everything really will be OK. As I’ve focused on the small things, like reading my scriptures, and making my bed, and talking to everyone I pass on the street, my burdens become so much lighter. They’re still real, but I’m not alone in them. I never was.

— Have a great week!

Hermana Newton

Week 46: Paciencia y Fe

Hello, friends!

San Martín gang rise up (ft. Mr. Worldwide — if you know, you know)

And welcome to another email! This week literally feels like it barely even happened, so I’m pretty surprised that it’s already Saturday, to be quite honest with you.

This photo isn’t high-quality, but President Roden was taking the other picture and I wanted to include him.

We actually spent time in the office this week! A lot of time. We had to drop in to pay for medication, attend meetings, do presentations, prepare for a mountain of missionaries who will be arriving this next transfer, and have interviews with President Roden. Actually, interviews with President Roden are in the mission home, but if you’re making the trip (I say as if a 20-minute walk were equivalent to the pioneer trek of the 1840s), you’ll often also have something to do at the offices.

Hermana González and I have been scouring the clovers here since day one, and she finally spotted a trébol de cuatro hojas!

One of our many office events was a program called Four Week. It’s basically when all the trainers and their greenies come in to test what they’ve learned in these first four weeks of the mission. Hermana González had the Christlike Attributes station, and I had Area Book. Probably bc no one wants the Area Book station (just kidding I love Area Book haha). Hermana González found a four-leaf clover, which is one of the hypest things I’ve seen happen. Later that day, a bird pooped on me, which is one of my greatest fears. Hermana insisted that this is also a sign of good luck, but I think that’s just perpetuated by people who have gotten pooped on by birds and need to feel better after a traumatic experience.

Just me waiting to test people’s Area Book knowledge.

We aren’t teaching too many people right now, and we weren’t in the area enough to do much finding, but that’s what the next week is always for, right? Even though next week will also be busy because we have zone conference. …

The APs dropped off something to us at Parque Calvario, and they were just sitting on that fountain all movie-like.

I sometimes wonder why it’s so hard to find people to teach, even in the weeks when we’re not in the office most of the time. I understand that not everybody is interested in the message of the Gospel, but every now and then you think about how nice it would be if people who wanted to listen would just appear. I like this verse from Alma 38, where Alma is giving counsel to his son Shiblon:

4 For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that thou wast stoned for the word’s sake; and thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee.

No one has stoned me in Calvario. They’ve just glared at me, walked away silently, or even waggled a finger to say “no’ (shoutout to that lady because that might have been the funniest moment of my life). But rejection is hard! I’m really happy, though, and I think that a lot of the reason is because of the second half of the verse. I know that the Lord is with me.

We have daily zone calls in Xela Centro, and I won’t pretend San Carlos Sijo aren’t my favorite companionship.

I’ve been thinking about patience a lot this week. Why miracles don’t happen when we’d like them to, when prayers aren’t answered how we’d envisioned, when our imperfections don’t simply vanish, no matter how much we pray and work and hope for them to go away.

In then-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “Continue in Patience” from April 2010, he teaches such profoundly good lessons, but I especially love this quote.

“Patience [is] far more than simply waiting for something to happen—patience require[s] actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results [don't] appear instantly or without effort.”

Patience is active! It is not sitting around passively. It’s not just this intrinsic thing you do or don’t have. Like all things in the Gospel, it is something you can exercise and work on obtaining! And that’s why we wait. So we learn to do more, and to be more, and to actually try when we desire something. It helps us do and be better. Patience allows us to become more like Jesus Christ.

The michis that live with Hermana Irma (our landlady) and, by extension, us! Meet Biden, Bidina, Buddy and Boris.

I love you all, and I patiently look forward to the day I get to see you again! To talk, to laugh, to enjoy each other’s company. You’re all amazing, and I hope you have a great rest of your week.

— Best wishes!

Hermana Newton