Week 66: Huehue, Don’t Tell Me!

I had literally no time to take pictures this week. But does anyone remember that time I mentioned Hermana Noyola and I did a Christmas-themed photo shoot and I promised I’d attach the pics in my weekly, and then I didn’t? No one? Well, you’re in luck! I promise there will be photos of Hermana Herrera and Huehue next week, though. 

Good morning, good evening, good night!
That opening doesn’t sound right.
But I’ve said my hello,
So on with the show
Because this week, there’s so much to write!

I’m sure including a limerick at the start of this email only makes sense to a select group of people, but either way, I’m pretty sure it gets the job done! In case it didn’t, bienvenidos a todos from Huehuetenango, where my new area is!

It turns out I was doing a little foreshadowing last week without even knowing it when I was talking about the Cerro, because my new area is Cerrito/La Viña. Why’s there a slash? Thank you for asking, my dear reader. I’m serving in two wards at once! Is it stressful? Obviously! But hey, double the area, double the baptisms? We’ll have to wait and see!

The week started out with a bang because one of the APs tested positive for COVID. (': And then the nurse phone died. It just got too stressed from all the chaos, I guess, and decided it wasn’t going to charge anymore. And so then the Baúl phone was ringing up a storm as we got prepared for transfers. Hermana Noyola got to basically be an AP for a day, because all of the other office missionaries had to quarantine. Her new companion is Hermana Dunford, who I knew would be my replacement the moment I met her. Everyone thought I’d be an STL or training, but instead, I get to take a break! Or as much of a break as you can have when you’re in charge of two new areas.

My new companion is Hermana Herrera! She was trained by Hermana Ramirez, who just so happens to be Hermana Noyola’s trainer. Cerrito/Viña also happens to be where Hermana Noyola was born (mission-wise, not literally), and the area Hermana Dunford just left. President Roden just played an Uno Reverse card on us, as if no one would notice. What a trickster.

But Hermana Herrera is great! She is Hermana Gonzalez-level calm, which is an achievement I didn’t think was possible, yet here we are. She’s also a fantastic cook, amazingly organized, and can cut a perfectly straight line without drawing it out with a ruler first! And she has a killer testimony. In one of our first lessons together, she shared a scripture that I love in Mosiah 4:

9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

Most people just stop there, but Hermana Herrera is a go-getter, and she included verse 10, which reads:

10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

Some of you might remember me talking about my time in Tennessee, where a lot of people think that having a testimony in Jesus Christ only consists of verse 9. But it doesn’t. If we believe in God, we believe that we need to repent, because true forgiveness and pardon can only come from him. There are so many things that we know are true, but that only takes you so far. You also need a leap of faith.

Being a missionary means taking that leap, and I’ll be honest, I’m freaking out most of the time. But I’m also learning to trust, and that the unknown isn’t so bad. Especially when you have someone by your side.

—Thank you, Carl,

Hermana Newton

Week 65: ABC

Good morning!

We went bright and early to fill the baptismal font. It literally took four hours, and it never warmed up! 

This week has had an alphabetical quality to it. A lot has happened, so I figured I’d take an abecedarian stroll down memory lane.

One of the necessary missionary/convert photo ops you were all waiting for.

A is for Angie

I don’t know if I’ve talked about Angie a whole lot, but she is the sweetest girl in the universe. We met her at the end of last transfer after an extensive battle to have our schedules line up. Her grandma is a church member, and she was so excited to learn (or review) gospel principles. We set her on date for this Saturday, and lo and behold:

B is for Baptism (and Baul)

Angie isn’t the first person I’ve taught who’s gotten baptized (shoutout to Angela and Alex), but she’s the first person I’ve taught whose baptism I was able to attend. Funny how getting transferred and moving to a different country can hinder that. But Angie was able to complete her first covenant with God, and it was so pure. The district was so supportive, and all of us baptized this transfer! Which was a really cool miracle, especially since I have gotten the official news that I’m getting transferred. I know it would be easy to think that I would stay in Baul forever, but unfortunately, I cannot. Or so it has been explained to me.

Hermana Paty let us use her house (and her oven) to make my mom’s chocolate peppermint cookie recipe. Thanks to her and Mom!

C is for Cookie (and Cerro and Cliffhangers)

With me leaving the area and all, we've been trying to jam pack as many fun activities as possible for the next couple of days. That included baking cookies with the familia Aguirre Recinos, as well as them taking us up to the Cerro El Baul!

Hermana Paty is part of the ward missionary leadership, and she is a total sweetheart. So is her daughter Nahomy!

“Cerro” is a Spanish word for “hill,” which is funny, because the Cerro here is actually a mountain. It’s obviously the reason Baul has the name it does, which means it’s the claim to fame of our area. But the funny thing is that I’ve somehow managed to evade hiking it my entire time here? But this morning, I said enough was enough! We rose bright and early and we climbed that mountain, and the view was absolutely gorgeous!

Up the Cerro!

One of my favorite things about Xela, but specifically Baul, is how you’re able to see the temple from everywhere. In my normal, proselytizing, day-to-day, I can just look off in the distance, and there it is. I was able to see the temple pretty well until we got on the trail to the Cerro. Suddenly, there were all of these trees surrounding me, and it became a lot harder to spot. I was still able to make out the white dot in the distance in between the branches, but the higher up we went, the harder it was to see. I realized that my life often follows a similar pattern. I'm probably progressing, and getting closer to my goal, but it's easy to lose sight of the thing that really matters. Philippians 3 says:

13 … but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

When I reached the top of that mountain, I was able to look over all of Xela. All of the roads I’ve trod looked so inconsequential and small, but at the end of the journey, the temple beamed more brightly than ever, even from so far away. And there was nothing keeping me away from it.

Hermana Noyola is the best!!! I will miss my friend :'(

There is so much that my mission has taught me, and even with the grief of having to leave an area behind, I know what’s in store. Even if the picture isn't as clear as I would like. Especially since I don’t even know where I'm going! I guess we’ll have to wait until next week. But until then …

I’ve made it to 15 months? Sorry, it didn’t fit in with the alphabet thing I planned.

—Absolutely, Brightly, Compassionately,

Hermana Newton

Week 64: The Year Without a Mary Claus

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

First picture of me in 2022!

Can you believe we’re in 2022? Can you believe that 2021 is done? A whole year in the service of the Lord. Absolutely crazy how time works like that.

Hanging out with Luna (one of the dogs we took care of this week)

This week was characterized by dogsitting. Members go out of town, but do you know who doesn’t do that and provides free service? You’re absolutely right if you guessed certain pro bono lawyers, as well as the missionaries! So we stopped by houses and fed the dogs, and gave them some belly rubs for good measure. 

If you don’t know about the obscenely large New Year’s hat I own that is still in my house … now you know.

We heralded in the new year by going to bed early and getting a good night’s sleep. We also had a fun zone activity where we made churrasco and got temporarily locked inside the courtyard of the stake center, but no worries! Look who made it out safely!

I waited behind the door so Hermana Noyola could try to take a picture with both dogs without being distracted by another human

But you know how the saying goes. New year, new standard works to study. I am absolutely ecstatic, because we’re reading from the Old Testament this year. Even better, we’re starting off studying in the Pearl of Great Price as well! Can’t get much better than that, ladies and gents.

I love being able to always see the temple, even if the camera doesn’t always portray it well.

For the first week of 2022, one of the assigned chapters was Moses 1. That entire chapter absolutely stellar, but I know that one verse is particularly famous:

39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Which is all good and fine. But true fans who pay attention to my Facebook captions might remember verses that precede it:

37 And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.

38 And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.

We are children of an infinite God with infinite possibilities. And we should never cut Him short, but rather trust in His promise, and know that He’s numbered us. More than that, we are His.

We were driving by the Marimba (a statue of a lady playing the marimba), and I wanted to take a picture of the sky. Little did I know that someone was hanging out in the corner of my shot.

— Prospero año,

Hermana Newton

Week 63: Have Yourself a ‘Mary’ Little Christmas

Happy Boxing Day!

Zona El Bosque truly killing it after our outstanding performance.

Technically, it was yesterday, but since it fell on a Sunday, it was not officially recognized until today.

More next week, but we had a photo shoot with some members who own a photography studio, and this was us pre-fashion moment.

I also hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas! I certainly did. Fun fact: In Latin American culture, there are two of them (more on that later)! But there was also basically a third, because on the 23rd, we had zone conference! It was an absolute blast. Each zone prepared its own special performances. There were a carol medley, a popsicle-stick puppet theater of the nativity, a live-action nativity with cardboard-box sheep, and, last but not least, the BOSQUE ZONE Christmas performance of Dr. Seuss’ seminal classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” directed by yours truly, complete with face paint for our Grinch (portrayed wonderfully by Elder Mecham), a Christmas tree (played by Elder Danielson) with functioning Christmas lights, noise makers, Hermana Noyola as the most cheerful chimney ever, my district leader Elder Soto as Cindy-Lou Who (complete with an Elmo toy), Elder Bosh giving the performance of a lifetime as Max the dog, and me as a rat! It was stressful and chaotic to put together, but the end result was a highlight of my mission. Never did I think I would make a Guatemalan directorial debut, but here we are.

On Christmas Eve, we stopped by with Menas (so basically we were just staying home jaja), and Luna was pooped at the end of the day.

We had a feast of paches this year, both for Christmas Eve (aka Noche Buena) and then again on Christmas Day! The bishop’s family also stopped by to give us a turkey dinner, complete with gravy! That’s right, Christmas celebrations are two days in a row of nonstop partying here. This tradition includes staying up until midnight on Christmas Eve. When I’ve pointed out to families how they’ll literally have to do the same thing a week later, without the promise of presents, the adults all nodded solemnly while the children seemed very content.

We needed to buy stuff at the distribution center, which is closed on P-Day, so we eased on down on Wednesday. I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE!

There is a lot to learn about and gain from the Christmas season, even if it doesn’t feel nearly cold enough for it to be Christmastime. I've been going back to a verse in Luke 2:

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

The sky never ceases to amaze me.

I’ve always been drawn to the character of Mary in the scriptures for what I think are obvious reasons. But I think that within these few words, there’s a lesson to be learned for all of us. There’s a lot happening in this world, all of the time. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by it. But if we simply acknowledge the good and the bad, and consciously take time to understand them, there are more than arbitrary lessons to be learned. There’s growth to be experienced.

—Feliz Navidad,

Hermana Newton

Week 62: Deck the Hall

Season’s greetings!

We got milkshakes at Xelapan that had little candy canes and were very festive!

My companion is very beautiful, and it needed to be appreciated.

Christmas is in five days, and I’m extremely excited! My highly anticipated box came to the office, which I was absolutely stoked for, and am still so happy about. Hermana Noyola has done the service of hiding it for me so that it’s out of sight, out of mind. Although there aren’t really that many places where a package can be hidden in this apartment. What I’m saying is that if I really wanted to know where the package was, I could. But gifts are meant to be opened the day they were intended to be, so we wait.

“When I rule the world, I’ll plant flowers!” So strange to see so many things in bloom when it’s *supposed to be Christmas*! But it’s all good, even though time doesn’t feel like it’s passing at all.

I am astonished at the pace at which time is moving. In a lesson the other day, someone asked me how long I’ve been out on my mission, and I almost told her eleven months? Which was the time I was at when I started serving in Baul. I have no clue what was going on in my brain.

I just think the sky is very pretty

This week, we’ve been visiting all the members we possibly can. It turns out there’s a ward mission budget, and we used it to buy nativity sets to give everybody. Along with that, we’ve been telling the nativity story, over and over again, and I am shocked by how much there is to learn and apply in every single lesson. Every time, we share something different, that feels specially made for the people we’re talking to. I love it.

John 8 says:

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Again, the sky is very pretty

There’s very clear symbolism in the star indicating Christ’s birth. And while it seems silly to point it out, I think it’s a very important element to recognize. As we’ve been able to give this week, both by sharing a message and providing a physical object, I have seen that light in the homes, faces and words of others. So decorate your homes, and decorate your hearts, with light! Not only does it make things obviously brighter. It makes it happier too.

—Feeling jolly,

Hermana Newton

Week 61: We Rise and We Fall

Well, hello there!

Ready to meet the public.

Welcome to another week in the life of Hermana Mary Newton. As per usual, it was very busy, and I had a grand old time with it. We had zone council, went on exchanges, visited the temple grounds with an investigator, did a service project in the middle of nowhere, and had interviews with President Roden! All in all, a pretty good time.

The view was absolutely gorgeous from up on the mountain!

We saw some amazing miracles this week! On Tuesday, we got home after a long day of being in the offices and going to meetings, and had a dinner appointment with the Relief Society president, Hermana Vilma. Only when we got to her house, we saw the Biggest Pot in the World on her stove. We were like, “Whom else did she invite?” But it turned out the contents of the pot were punch for a neighborhood party that Hermana Vilma invited us to so we could contact her neighbors!!! We got to watch kids absolutely destroy a piñata, received a take-home basket of goodies (and tamales!), and contacted 18 people in like half an hour! It was so cool!!! 

A cool geographical feature up in Zunil.

But this week was really hard, too. When I was on exchanges, everyone we contacted seemed to already have a church they regularly attended or were a member (which also means they already have a particular church jaja). Our teaching appointments kept on falling through, and I took a spill walking in front of the mission home. My knees are scraped up in classic child-on-playground fashion. However. Things being hard or stressful does not mean that there is not joy, or laughter, or good experiences that are just as meaningful (if not more so).

The farming techniques are so cool!

Isaiah 54:7 reads:

7 For a small moment have I foresaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

Shakespeare says it best in “Henry IV, Part 1”:

If all the year were playing holidays,

To sport would be as tedious as to work;

But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,

And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.

If you don’t speak Shakespeare, the long and short of these lines is that variety is the spice of life! We endure the bad because we know it gets better, and we treasure the good because we know it’s not forever. And through all of it, the good times and the bad ones, we can still find joy, and we can still value the things that we have. We just have to be willing to see it.

—Wait for it,

Hermana Newton

Week 60: Huey Lewis and the News' "The Power of Love" (1985)

Ho, ho, ho!

This field was literally living Doctrine and Covenants 4!

Welcome to December, everybody! Now that we’ve entered the final month of the year and the Light the World Calendar is out, I can be comfortable with celebrating the holidays. No matter how many businesses were pulling out Christmas carols as early as October here.

December also means that I’ve made it to fourteen months on my mission (tomorrow)! And now everyone and their uncle is letting me know that there isn’t a lot of time left, which is terrifying. After a little bit, you sort of get used to being a missionary. Luckily, I still have four more months to keep on doing what I’m doing!

Throw it in the comments when you see it.

Hermana Noyola and I have been to the office almost every single day this week. We only didn’t make an appearance during the weekend. It’s funny, because I think most missionaries assume that I spend most of my time working there, but the APs always seem so surprised to walk in and see us at a computer. What can I say? We’re unpredictable. 

But during our time having to go to the offices, we had the orientation for the new missionaries! Orientation is probably one of the most stressful and rewarding parts about being the nurse. I just love those kids so much, and I hope they’re all doing amazing this week. In one of the trainings during orientation, a scripture was shared from D&C 121, and I loved it so much that right when I heard it, I said, “That’s going in my weekly.”

41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

I love the priesthood, and I love talking about it! It is the power of God, and it is not manifested by its sheer existence, but by these virtues listed in the previous verses. This whole section reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ:

“When a woman is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she acts under priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. Anyone with a calling received from someone holding priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties.”

I know this isn’t something talked about a ton, and it’s especially not a common weekly email subject, but I am very proud and humbled to have the power and authority of God with my calling. I hold sacred keys that I won’t be able to hold for the rest of my life. It’s a precious gift, as is any service opportunity we have. I am grateful that we have the knowledge and understanding that influence and money are not the things you can use to possess the priesthood. It’s through the gentle kindness of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and being His disciple.

There are so many cool views, from anywhere you can see!

We all have more potential than we give ourselves credit for, but I really do hope that all of you can see the effect that you make with all of your actions. At the very least, it will mean something to someone. 

— Thanks for changing my life,

Hermana Newton