Hermana Rebecca Newmeyer: 3/18/2014 - San Cabos Letters & Pics

Hey Everyone,

This week has been a miracle to say the least. I had a hard time communicating with my companion and the work was slow and we were not going anywhere with our investigators and not progressing. You cannot work when there is a spirit of Contention!! never! But when there is a Spirit of Unity, oh what miracles and joy you feel, the peace that it brings to your soul and you feel like you are gliding. We had a heart to heart and in broken Spanish i conveyed my feelings and she conveyed hers as well, there were no hard words, no anger, just wanting to know what the other thought and felt and we both knew that we needed to change and we were willing to share that we have faults and asked for forgiveness.

After this we had an appointment with a meno active member and her husband that was not a member. Our eyes were red from crying and our faces red from walking in the heat and we looked liked we walked out of a sauna, sweaty and tired. We were definitely a sight to see. They were doctors and were very smart and they had a nice house, we started the lesson and it was one of the lesson's that the spirit was so strong you could feel it, it was almost tangible. We testified of the truth of the Gospel and that Jesus Christ Lives and the Atonement and that we need to have repentance in our lives. The husband was very pensive during this time of the lesson and i had a thought that he had done something that he might have thought repentance might not cover it, a chapter in the book of mormon came to my mind and i wrote it down and gave it to him after the lesson for him to read. It talked about Alma the younger's repentance progress Alma 36. The spirit was so strong, my companion bore her testimony about how she saved money to come on her mission and the Wife started to cry. You could feel the spirit it was urging and saying this is true just listen to them. We closed and we all knew that we had felt something during the lesson, the wife gave us a ride to our next appointment, which was really nice.

After the lesson, we were just glowing, and we were on air the rest of the day. my companion told me more about the family and that the husband had gone off with another person and they were having a hard time forgiving each other and moving on. The spirit testified to both us that day that we need each other to work together to bring the spirit into other's lives and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to let others know that He lives and that he loves them and has a plan for them and we can live with him for eternity with our families.

The rest of the week has been great, every lesson we have taught has been amazing. So they have a saying here the more Salsa you eat the more Mexican you are and the more you speak like a Mexican. Sooo i tried one salsa and lets just say it was a little spicy and hot and there were definitely tears and my ears were burning. My face was probably red as well. We helped the Relief Society make Shoes this week and they were great. Also, we walked in the american made mexico part it was nice we took photos with the other Hermana's it was fun. Oh so we wash our clothes by hand and there is only one lavanderia :( which is not good, so my companion went first and she had more clothes to wash then me and she took about 2.3 hours to wash all of her clothes, and then i washed my clothes, it took about 1.3 hours for me, and we were so hungry afterwards but we didn't have any food in the house so we walked to the store and bought food for the next two weeks and we carried it all back, which was about a mile walk one way, we were tired and hungry. We had tuna fish and crackers for lunch, it was so delicious. So while walking we have found out that I am a bit clumsy, and i am always tripping over my feet and falling, which has been great, something to laugh about.

So this past Sunday i was asked to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon, I was scared out of my wits! there is no way that i could convey what i felt about the Book of Mormon in Spanish. As i got up and started i fumbled around for words to express my Love for this book and how it is my Standard by what I live through and the joy it brings to my life. I stated a scripture and a quote from Preach My Gospel and then i bore my testimony and sat down it was probably the longest 3 minutes of my life. My companion said that I had talked for about 10 minutes and i was in shock that that could happen and she also said that the spirit was there when i bore my testimony. I was so glad that the spirit could testify in their hearts what i couldn't convey through words. After the sacrament i had a Brother come up and say that in all the three years of being converted he had never heard a testimony with so much passion and love for the Book of Mormon. I was shocked again, i thought i had delivered a small simple testimony and it had touched the Hearts of so many of the people in the ward.

I know that when we bear our testimony of the truth and nothing but the truth, those sacred truths of the Gospel, the Spirit enters the hearts and testifies that what is being said is true. So simple yet powerful. It makes me think about the laws we have and how many words there are that are to suggest one thing but if thought differently is a different sentence completely. We don't need to make it grand or awesome to show that this is it. Through the small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

This week has been amazing and I have been truly blessed, I love it here and I want to be able to do the best that I can and work hard and bring the love of Christ into the lives of the people here. Elder Jeffery R Holland said "... mission presidents, you will have an occasion to ask and your missionaries will have many occasion's to ask, Why is this so hard? It's true, Why don't the people just flock to the font? Why isn't the only risk in the mission field that of pneumonia? being wet all day and all night in the font, Why don't the people just listen president? Why can't we have success president? Why is this so hard? ... because Salvation Is Not A Cheap Experience, why do we think that this would be easy when it was never ever easy for Him..."

I want to testify that when times get hard and we are swallowed up in our grief and our guilt and thinking that there is no way out for us, Remember Him!!! Remember what he went through for us and that there is always hope for us and he loves us, that is why it is so hard, we have to feel just an ounce of what he went through, feel sorrow and longing for our investigators to come unto Christ, to let them know that we can have eternal joy and happiness if we just Come unto Christ. I know He lives, I know that we can be happy. I know that the Book of Mormon is true!

Hermana Newmeyer

Hey Mom!

I love your letter, thanks so much writing in green, i totally forgot that today was Saint Patrick's day, wow, at least I'm wearing green!! soooo i have a huge favor to ask you mom, :) I have been craving payday's and licorice (twizzlers), i was wondering if you could send me some if not that's totally fine. Also, i was wondering if you could send my recipe book, its the pink one that Emma had made me, the sisters here in the ward ask me every week if i have any recipes in English and if i could make something, they love the bread one and the no bake cookies, i can't remember any others. But I have their recipes as well for their food, oooohhh i am so excited to share them with you. I bet you remember the food here and how good it tastes, i want to be able to make you some when i come home. Also, could you send me a small children's hymn book, if not that's totally fine, the ward doesn't have a piano player and now that i am here, they are always playing different hymns so they could learn new ones and they asked if i had the other hymns for the children, its crazy. They love English, when one of the hermana's brought out her English hymn book the missionaries all wanted to read it and find their favorite song, they all want a copy of a English hymn book. I asked Rachel to buy and send me one for my companion her birthday is this month and she loves the hymns. They all do.

Oh i forgot to mention in well all of my emails that i am the first north american girl in this area!! well that doesn't put any pressure at all, hehe. oh well. This week has been great, i am slowly understanding the language, i can carry on a small conversation but other times i have no idea what they are saying, so playing charades is my favorite game, i add sound affects so they know what it sounds like as well. its great. Thank you for your thought. I absolutely love it. I miss the temple so much!!! i shared the pictures of the temple with my companion and other investigadores and they love them. Thank you so much mom for everything. I love you!! This is awesome! i am on fire, well with the holy ghost, its amazing to feel it guiding me. I love you!!!

Love always,

Hermana Newmeyer