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 

Mexican Flower Girl

Selfie's with Snacks

Complimentary Hats

Domestic Giraffe's

Thumbs Up

To touch the water or not touch the water, this is the question.

3/11/2014 - San Cabos Letter & Pics

Zone Meeting!! Investigadores!!......Cockroaches!?!?!?

Hey Everyone,

  Well this week has been crazy, not to say the least. We received a telephone call that President Velez wanted a zone meeting with everyone on the peninsula. We were so excited this meant a three hour bus ride to La Paz crammed with Missionaries from other districts. A time to catch up and talk wit Elders and Hermanas about the last time we meet. Anyway, we left Sunday in the afternoon and arrived in La paz at night it was great the sun was just setting and we were able to take a couple of photos of what seemed like paradise in that moment. In the morning we went running and took photos of the pier and the art work.

  President Velez talked with all of us the next day and taught us about pride, and being more intrepid!! with our investigators, about being bold and looking for families in the street to talk to and preach them the gospel.  I am excited to start work this week. Our bus ride back was about 4 hours long because the bus driver took a different way that was more curvy and lets just say that i got a little car sick and had a really bad headache, due to the fact of not eating enough, and not enough water and sleep, I had a really bad dream about ants. That was scary. Anyway we made it home and that day was suppose to be our preparation day and we didn't get a chance to  wash our clothes or the house. So i rigged up a light so i could see what i was washing in the dark. It was my flashlight tapped to a pole, i thought it was pretty smart. Anyway, that was exciting. 

  Today we went to San Lucas and took more pictures of the ocean and the american made mexico. Anyway, oh funny story we have visitors all the time in our house and lets just say that my companion is a little scared of them. It was hilarious the first time, i grabbed the broom and started to sweep it away and it ran underneath my be i had to get down and brush it out, once i did, my companion was standing in the doorway, and i swept it out and Hna Ruiz, jumped about 2 feet in the air squealing and shouting, anyway, that was the first one, the second one, she promptly ran to her bed and stayed there until i had swept it out the door and down the drain hole that we had. It was great next time i'll try and get a picture of it! 

  This week has been great, hard and difficult at sometimes and other times blissful and wonderful, i have made goals and i hope to accomplish them this week. I love my companion, she is amazing, patient and willing to help me, but sometimes i don't look for help and i am just quiet and don't say anything. I think this is kinda like the holy ghost, he is always there patient and willing to help but because we don't seek for help we don't receive the blessings from Heavenly Father, i could have the blessing of learning Spanish better but i don't because i don't seek help. Likewise, during our daily routines, sometimes we need to stop and seek the help and guidance of the Holy Ghost and the Help of Heavenly Father, it is okay to ask for help He is always there to help us and we need to let Him help us. 

  I love you all and i hope that you are doing great! I miss everyone. Please stay strong in the faith of Jesus Christ, know that He lives and is there for us. Look for opportunities to share his love.

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Zone Conference on the Peninsula

Zone Conference on the Peninsula

On Top of the World

Americanized Mexico

Early Morning Excercise

Sunrise

Snack Time

Traveling to Zone Conference

Sunrise

3/3/2014 - San Cabos Letters & Pics

Hey Everyone!!

   This week has been Crazy!! First off we had tons of appointments this week and they were separated from one end of our area to the other and sometimes you can reach the area with the bus and other times it's walking up hill both ways to reach the person.  Anyway we started out and house after house no one was home and our appointments started to dwindle and our backup plans were not coming through. It was hot and long and I sweated.  It was looking pretty bleak, kinda like my first week except i looked like a deer in the headlights then and now i look Chinese because my eyes are almost closed because the sun is so bright.  
  
   We had a service project this past week and we painted a whole house!! that was exciting, it was fun, we were there from 3 in the afternoon to 9.30 at night, it was long and very exhausting, but it was fun. We painted our investigators house, i painted the whole front part with a small hand brush, so that was great practice for my karate. I kept thinking while i was painting, "wax on, wax off," It was great, we had a member help and a menos active member come to. My clothes were speckled with white dots of paint and my shoes looked really cool! Haha my glasses were the best i was surprised that i could look through them. It was a great service project and I prayed that the whole family would come to church that Sunday and feel the spirit. 

    Anyway, we changed houses this past Saturday and that was exciting we had a small ford pick up and another tiny car to help move our two dressers, two beds plus frames, two tables, a small refrigerator, antique desk, fans, and five big boxes that had all of our missionary stuff, oh also our personal belongings suitcases and blankets. Anyway we piled everything in the back of the tiny pick-up and of course not everyone packs like Dad, so i was starting to get stressed because we only put our beds in and some other boxes and there was already no room so, here in Mexico they just pile everything on top and then tie it down with cords tied together to make one long rope. 

   So there we were going down steep, and i mean steep hills with Topes on top of that, topes area like speed bumps in america but worst, if you go to fast the back of your car kinda does a small air lift and then comes crashing down and anything not tied down flies off. So we had all of our stuff piled on top and tied down and i was watching it the whole time. I'm pretty sure i lost some hair during the experience. 

 Anyway we made it to our new apartment which i have dutifully nicknamed it Araña Casa, I already have two bites on my leg, hopefully i'll get powers like Peter Parker. That would be cool. Anyway, that was the end of our week and we had Sunday the next day and we had invited our investigators to church and to activities the whole week and some come and most of the time they don't show. You are lucky to your investigators in church. So the next morning around 8 we got a call saying we had three investigators at church waiting for us. So we quickly got ready and heady over. It was great they were the three children of a menos active member that we had been visiting with for the past three weeks. 

  During church we had a member come up and introduce her friend that she had invited to church so we swapped names and numbers and set up an appointment and she stayed for the whole three hours which was amazing!! So after church we waited for the next meeting because we had another investigator that liked to come to the later meeting. So we met her and she brought her little sister and another friend!! So we swapped names and numbers again and set up another appointment to teach her friend. It was fantastic we had 6 investigators in church!!! We were thrilled, after sacrament meeting our investigator had to leave so she left and the Elders were over the later ward and they said that there was an older man out side saying that we had invited him to church. 

    So we rushed outside and to our amazement it was a guy we had talked to when we bought water from him the other day during changing of apartments. He had lived in California and had attended Church for four weeks. Anyway, he stayed for the Gospel principles class and it was great and he had many questions, thankfully the Elders taught the lesson.  Afterwards he left and said that he would like us to teach him more. I was so happy!!! 

   It was about 4 in the afternoon and we headed over to an area and started to knock on the doors of menos active members and investigators. And my companion remembered a reference we had received earlier in the week and we headed over and there was a whole family inside. I said a silent prayer and they let us in!!! we taught them the first lesson and restoration of the gospel and it went great, me and my companion were on fire, we felt the spirit and it was just an awesome feeling during the whole day!  Thus we acquired 4 more investigators, so in totally we have 17 investigators. 

  This has been an amazing week, i can feel Heavenly Father helping me during the day, before my shoulder and back would hurt along with me feet. The language would be a struggle and i would cry sometimes to sleep because I couldn't understand anyone, and i wanted to help them so bad and talk with them about their week and their families.  The Lord truly loves his children, he wants us to touch certain individuals in our lives here on this earth and we can help them if we listen inside to the Holy Ghost.  The holy Ghost reveals all things that are true and that testify of Christ. 

    I know this Church is true I know that it is hard sometimes but the blessings at the end of the tunnel, is far greater and exceeds our imagination. This is truly an amazing experience, one i will not forget. I love you all, please remember who you are and where you came from. Thank you for being in my life. I love you all.

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Hey Mom,

This week we changed apartments and we found a new internet place which is amazing! and now i can upload pictures way faster and email better.

This week has been crazy! but wonderful and full of blessings from Heavenly Father and I know that he is watching over me the whole time. Its been amazing. We didn't change transfers so i am staying here in San Jose!! so beautiful and in the same ward. We get a new elder because our district leader left for home this week he was excited and happy. The ward after ours was his and everyone was crying and they wrote him a letter and everyone signed it and they all sang to him it was great i want to be able to touch the hearts of the people like that. Anyway, i have a little book that i write what i am thankful for and its amazing how simple they are, like laying on the carpet in the theatre room, and just feeling the carpet between my toes and the softness and just laying there. Also another thing that I am grateful for is communication, sometimes its taken for granted and we read into everything so much, when its just a simple miscommunication.  

 There are a couple of lady's here that remind me of you and i just want to run up and hug them sometimes. Anyway, the lord has truly blessed me this week, i can feel my shoulders receive strength and my feet are not as sore from walking and my back can carry the weight of all of my stuff. The Lord is always with us and i have been too ignorant to see him and acknowledge him in everything that I do. 

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Prepping to Paint

Painted House - 6 1/2 hrs Later

Speckled Shoes and Nametag

Speckled Glasses

Home Cooking - Chicken

New Apartment

New Neighborhood

1/16/2014 - MTC Letter & Pics

Hey Dad, Family and Friends,

    I leave this Monday to MEXICO!!!!! So excited to go and serve the people and get to know them and love them.  So much has happened this week its hard to recap everything and figure out what I should write in the hour of writing i have.  Well, this last Monday, I went to Las Vegas to the Mexico Consulate to get my visa. It was wonderful the day started out with getting up at 4:00 am and getting to the ride before 4:30.  I was the only one going out of my District to go on Monday, everyone else was going on Tuesday and Wednesday. So we went and we had to wait at the airport for a couple of hours before my plane left and there were 8 Elders and 4 Sister's that were in our group and all of them were going to Culiacan as well, besides three of them. It was great! we had so much fun, once we got to the Las Vegas we meet an older gentleman called Elder Greer, he does this everyday all week long, picking up Elder's and Sister's and taking them to the Consulate. We got Del Taco for lunch and then we waited for about 2 hours and then we went to the consulate they took our finger prints and our picture, and we got our visas. We were in and out withing an hour, it was pretty quick. Usually it would take about 2 hours to get the visas. After we had our visas we were taken back to the Airport and we waited for about 4 hours for  our plane to leave, i didn't get home till about 10:00 at night. It was a really long day, but it was so much fun and I made friends with everyone, we talked the whole time and i am so excited that they are going to Culiacan with me as well.

   The next day my companion and another Hermana went and then on Wednesday the rest of our district went. It has been a crazy week, but i love it! While we were at the airport heading home we were waiting and me and Sister Benally were talking about what we had learned so far while being here at the MTC and it was an amazing experience. The spirit was there and we were so excited to go and be with the people in Mexico.  

   This week we were playing Basketball and as we were playing the sister's are only allowed to guard each other and i was guarding Hermana Morgan and out of the side the basketball came and hit me square on the side of my face, my glasses flew off and luckily they didn't break. It was great, the elders gave me two free-throw shots and I only made one. But this would be the 5th or 6th time while being here at the MTC that i have been hit with some form of sports ball, Volleyball, basketball, four-square ball. I'm prone to getting hit and having accidents. 

   It's so much fun hearing from everyone, and getting letter's from Mom and Dad. I will only be able to receive mail through the Missionary Pouch mail which is in the the booklet in the Red Book of Everything that I gave you.  I have my Travel plans and I will be leaving this Monday at 6:30 am to the Airport and then my flight leaves at 11:30 to Los Angeles and then I have a layover for 2 hours and then my flight leaves at 2 in LA to Mexico Culiacan and I should get there at 7 in the evening. I'm really excited and I can't wait. I will be calling home around 9 in the morning on Monday and maybe 1:00 right before I leave to Culiacan. I will call Dad's Cell phone and I only get one chance because they give us calling cards and it takes off a lot of time when ever i use it.  Hopefully I will be able to talk to you for about an hour or so. And I don't know if I am allowed to call you once I get to Mexico we shall see, i will probably call around 7:30-8pm if I do. 

   I went to the Temple last "P" day and it was so beautiful and amazing, I loved going. We were able to sit inside for awhile and just think about everything that has been going on and all of the many wonderful experiences that I have had and how grateful I am to be here.  Classes are ending and we have In-Field Orientation Tomorrow on main campus, that should be fun we get to eat there and I am pretty excited!  Hahaha so get this, Anna you will probably remember him but in 8th grade do you remember JR with red hair and he moved to Utah, well he saw me on Sunday night devotional and he asked if I remembered him and I said sort of but couldn't remember, he said he was in Mr. Duke's Kenpo class with me and Xanadu, I couldn't believe it. He has joined the Army and is on leave of absence for his mission, he is going to Korea i think. But it was amazing I put a picture up with us standing together. 
    
  Also, on Tuesday night Devotional we had Elder Bednar come and talk to us. It was great, do you remember about my last email on Christmas where he passed out 200 cell phones, well he received about 1,000 emails and messages with questions for him. And he answered more of them that night about 10 or so and it was great.  Sister Bednar answered a few of them as well and she had two companions come up and say why they liked their companion, the one set of Elders had a new missionary and he still had his orange sticker on that meant he was new and all new missionaries come in on Wednesday and it was Tuesday night, so he had it on for about a week, and Elder Bednar gets up after his wife is done and looks down at the Elder and says "Elder your not a dork, take off the dork-sticker, you don't need to be wearing that around." Everyone started laughing and Elder Bednar asked why that was so funny, we just kept on laughing. It was great, the part I loved the most about his talk was when he bore witness of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon. It was such a powerful and spiritual experience, you knew the moment he said "I witness that The Book of Mormon is true" I wish I could write down word for word what he said and how, but all i can do is testify with him, what little I do know of The Book of Mormon and the confirmation that I have received. I know that this is true, I know that the Lord called Joseph Smith to be a Prophet for this dispensation like prophets of old and I know that I am suppose to be here, loving the people, serving the people to the best of my ability. I know this is true, in 3 Nephi 27:21 it says "verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;"  That which ye have seen me do. I will go and do that which the Lord commands, follow his example and do that which he has done. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Brother and that he Died for me. I love Him. I love my family, I love the gospel. And i say these things in the name Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love Always,

Hermana Newmeyer

Elder JR

The following pictures are of missionaries in Las Vegas for the day to get their travel Visa's

1/2/2014 - MTC Letter & Pics

Hey Dad,

    Time has flown by so much and yet it feels like I have been here forever.  I love it here, the blessings and wonderful miracles I have witnessed are truly amazing. Well before I get to them I'll just start off with things about my week. So as I have been here I realized that almost all of my clothes don't follow mission rules/standards and i have sent almost half of what i have to Sheyla Wager, she works at the BYU laundry and I can just send it over without paying for shipping, its great.  So now I only have 5 skirts and 5 shirts altogether, all the ones I got with Mom while shopping and a few exercise clothes.  They have a store here for clothes and i'm thinking of buying two more skirts and two more blouses, but i have to save my money I get on my card every week, it will be great. They have everything here and I am truly grateful that they do.  The food is wonderful!! yet everyone in my district complains about it, especially my companion and another sister.  I think they are trying to have a competition on who can not eat for the whole day, or week, its crazy.  Anyway, our district is kinda troublesome, everyone got in trouble for playing UNO during planning time (I was studying) and our Branch President came over and took some stuff from one of our Elders, he had a package from his aunt with food and party hats for New Year's Eve and he came and took it. Everyone was a little shocked. 

    I feel really bad, more like sorrow and downhearted.  The spirit in our district is almost like they don 't want to be here and that sadden's me a lot because I love it here, I love the food, the weather, the Teacher's, the Apartments we live in, everything and the overall feeling is ingratitude for what they are here for. I pray for everyone every night and I ask that the spirit may be with us always and that we can make good decisions.  Anyway, I know why I came here, and I know that if i keep the rules and know where i am suppose to be I will be safe. We went to main campus today and we came across some Elders who were from Culiacan!! I was so excited he said that we are going to the best place ever and that we will be baptizing a lot of people and busy the whole time, he said it is very green and that there are animals everywhere, iguanas, dogs, lizards, bugs, everything. He also said that it is extremely hot and I'm thinking that I got this because I'm from Arizona!! hehehe everyone is going to die because of the heat, and he said it really wasn't that humid. I am so excited to go we only have 2 and a half weeks till we ship out, and we still haven't received our travel papers for when we go down, all i know is that it is a totally of 25-30 hour travel just to get down there.  The mountains are so beautiful here and i love it them so much, we have sunsets and the mountains turn pink and orange and they are so peaceful to look at, i wis h i could hike them! 
     
   So funny story, every time I go to gym I get hit in the face with the Volleyball, and it's usually hard. Elder Smith threw me the ball and i reached out to catch it and i somehow flinched and it hit me right in the face. And another time I was playing and the other game that was going on, their ball came over and hit me on the top of the head. Another time we were playing and an Elder kicked the ball and it hit square in the face. I just have fond memories of getting hit in the face! This might go back to the time when i was hit in the eye when we were playing baseball with Dad and he hit it and i was right under it and my glove was off and it hit me in the eye. That was a great day, but surprisingly it doesn't hurt and I never get a headache or like it hurts or anything, that is a blessing of its self. I haven't fallen yet but there are times when I look like i'm trying to take off the ground and fly when i'm on ice, just flailing my arms around trying to keep my balance, its really funny to see.

    Our teachers are so great! we have two regular teachers that teach and they are our investigators that we have to teach in Spanish the gospel. Hermano Peterson, and Hermana Avery, although, we have had a lot of substitute teachers this past week because Hma Avery was out of town.  They are the nicest people every and they take time and they let us know that they love us and that they are here for us.  I'll try and get a picture with them before i leave they are great! The lesson's are going great and my Spanish is definitely better then when i first got here that's for sure, I know that i still need a lot of help and it's going to be hard and will take me a long time to finally speak it but i will speak it.  The gospel studies are going good, i love learning about the restoration and getting it memorized. I have the first vision, James 1:5, my purpose and the lesson headings memorized in Spanish. The power that comes when you recite the first vision and you are able to stare into your investigators eyes and say with your heart that this is what I believe and I want to share it with you, it is the most amazing feeling, i know that the spirit testifies so strongly about this and you can see it stir inside of them and that they feel the spirit as well.  I love teaching about the gospel, I have this hunger in me like Alma the Younger when he was going about preaching with the sons of Mosiah and they rejoiced and wanted to share with everyone, they served for so long and I can only hope that I can do at least a tenth of what they did. 

    So one of the miracles I have seen here i s the amazing power of Heavenly Father, Me and my companion were not getting along at all the whole time we have been here. And it has been a struggle and a really trying time to be patient and to be willing to help her in anything.  So I prayed for her everyday, every meal, every personal study, every night, every morning, and I could see the other teacher's trying to help, they talk to us one on one and they give encouragement and they were always there. One day it was going good, but the spirit was not with us and we fought, it was the worst ever and I wanted to just tell her how much I loved her and yet she didn't like to share feelings at all, and its easy to point a finger and say it was her fault, but I know that it was mine as well. The Sister Training Leaders came over on that night and they talked with us for over two hours, we missed dinner and they had amazing insights and they brought the spirit with them and they shared their testimonies of why we are here and our purpose.  They shared love and peace and the most amazing thing happened the next day, the lord softened both our hearts and we are not like best friends but we have this respect for each other, and this knowledge that we are here for a purpose and we talked for a long time and it was good, i could feel the spirit and the lord reaching out and saying that I love both of you, please d on't fight.  I know that this could have only worked because the lord was there for us and he loved both of us equally. 

    This last miracle is a personal one.  Every since I can remember i have had headaches, and these are the kind that are normal i would say not a migraine but they were headaches. And i had these normal ones about 4-3 times a week and then once a month I would get these huge migraines that would knock me out for a couple of days and I would come back feeling awful and exhausted and tired.  I counted headaches from when I was 7 to about 15 or 16 and I calculated that I had over 1,500 headaches in that time and they ranged from sharp intense pain to dull throbbing ones, with light and sound sensitivity and food never sounded good to me sometimes and that was hard because I love food!  I didn't count the headaches i received afterwards, and I went to College so there was definitely more.   The night before I flew out to Utah to start my mission, I received a father's blessing, and in that blessing Dad promised me that I wouldn't suffer any severe headaches while i serve my mission.  Ever since that blessing I have not received one headache since I've been here and it's been a month I would have at least one.  I know that the Lord blessed me and that to feel this relief from something that I had been struggling with my whole life, is a miracle, and I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and He hears and answer's the desires of our hearts, and He knows who we are, He knows that we can become greater than who we are, He knows us.  I never thought that I could be healed in this way from headaches that I knew that I would have the rest of my life, and that i could be healed spiritually as well, to know that he has an immense love for us is overwhelming and that we can return to live with him again. I am over joyed and filled with gratitude and love and contentment and peace and happiness. This is what I am teaching to the people of Mexico, this is why I am here.

   I love you all, and I love hearing from you and receiving letters. That is an amazing experience to receive a letter. The district leader goes during meal time and gets the letters and everyone is waiting in anticipation, and he comes in with white envelopes and we all get excited trying to see if any are for us and then there are the colored slips of paper and you know someone received a package. I am reminded of the scripture "oh what joy fills my heart.." and everyone is so excited, we receive letters and usually the whole cafeteria is quiet reading their letters, you can here people laughing, crying and some shouting out " ;WHAT" its amazing. Letter's have such an impact on the missionaries lives, its knowing that someone loves you and that they care about you and they are thinking of you. It's one of my favorite things in the MTC, to watch everyone receive letters. 

   I love you so much, and I know that the Lord will bless you and that we are here for a purpose. 

With Love,

Hermana Newmeyer

Jammed door knob is no more - Stuffed mittens to keep out the cold

Elders Kennedy & Smith sleeping - We are so tired sometimes

Jumping in front of the MTC World Map

Brigham's Landing for lunch on P-Days - I take a sack lunch with salad, it's good

1/27/2014 - San Cabos Letter & Pics

Hey Dad,

Wow its been a week and the time has already flown by. Its amazing here and I can't believe the place i've been and what the people are living in. They are so humble and always see the good in everything.  There are dogs everywhere, i saw this dog that looked like moe and it was the scarriest thing i have ever seen, it was like no hair and what little hair it did have was like a toupae on someones head just right along the back side. I had real mexican food for the first time a couple of nights ago........ it was delicious!!!!!!!! I love the food, its amazing what they make iwht so little and it fills you up right away. i haven't got sick yet but i know it will come, i just have to wait.  I also recieved a good tan or burn line whatever you want to call it. hahaha you will get a kick out of this so i washed my clothes by hand for the first time and i loved it, really tiering and hard, especially when the sink feels like its down to your knees and you have to bend over, my companion is a pro, she did all her laundry and half of mine in under an hour, i was impressed. We do have warm  water for the showers which is really nice but it floods all the time so the bathroom  floor is like a tub we have to mop it everytime and only take about 5/10 min showers or it will come into the rest of the apartment.  The language is hard but I can understand them and get the general idea as to what they are saying. but i can't speak anything, its hard especially when you want to express yourself to others or ask a question, also my vocabulary needs to expand, but that's okay my goal is two months to be able to speak the language and understand the people enough to give lessons and testify of christ. 

So a little bit about the people, they are awsome we are teaching this one sister, Martha, and she is in a wheelchair with only one leg, she lost her other one to cance, she lives in a concrete hut with a thactched roof. its tinier than our tv room, about a third of it and she has a big stove and two tables where she puts her food and dishes, she has a fridge, tiny and a sink, but she can barely reach it because of her wheel chair. Oh and she has about 12 dogs and 6 cats, and lives on a dirt hill intbetween two big houses.  She is amazing, she is grateful for everything. We were teaching her about the restoration and we watched the video of it the short version and at the end my compainon said some things and then i caught her saying that my compaion is now going to testify, i propbably looked like a deer in the headlights and i remember thinking just start talking and the lord will help,  i said,  I don't know much spanish but i know this is true, i know the lord loves us and is looking over us. I know that he wants us to live with him. I know that he has restored the church here on earth. This is ture, I know it is true, I know with all my heart and soul.  That was about it and the spirit was so strong and i could see that he r coutenance had changed and that she felt the spirit as well. It was great, and then i didn't understand anything else afterwards, but i know i can do it, i just have to wait and be patient and listen. 

Thats about it, sorry for the misspelled words, im using a spanish keyboard and its is a little different so i keep pushing the wrong buttons sometimes. I love your picture of the Gilbert Temple i can't wait to go through it when i come back, i am meeting missionaries who have about a month left and they say don't rush, it goes by so fast and that pretty soon ill be home. They are awesome they know what to do and they can talk the language and understand the people. I love it here, I am happy, excited, tired, and feel great. I know this church is true, I know it is hard, I know that challenges are coming, I know i will fall on my knees, but I also know that God loves me and wouldn't put anything in front of me that is too hard. I know he lives.

Love always, 

Hermana Newmeyer

Hermana Ruiz

Hermana Newmeyer

Mexican Food - The Best

Laundry

Kitchen Comforts - Microwave & Fridge

1/23/2014 - San Cabos Letter & Pics

Hi Dad! 

   I'm in Mexico! super fun, i love it here, the area that i am in is san cabos, im on the penninsula! We left utah in the morning and arrived in culiacan at night. It was long and i was upset to my stomach and i almost threw up at the presidents house. Yeah that would have been a great memory but luckily i didn't. We went tracking the next day and i loved it. I actually understand quite a bit but i can't speak anything. We had our meeting with the Mission president and he is awesome, he has been the president for about 7 months now and he is great, his wife is so nice. We left culiacan on wedensday and flew to laz paz, so beautiful!!! and then me and Hma. Wall took a three hour bus ride to Los Cabos, we got there at 1030, it was a really long day, we slept in one room that had three beds and the other hermana slept on the floor and the shower was in the bathroom, i have pictures it was great i loved it. This apartment was were Hma Wall and her companion are staying and my companion are in San Cabos another hour away from Los Cabos. we have a really nice apt.  My companion is Hermana Ruiz, she is amazing, i love her. She is really patient and kind and listens and is really trying to help me with spanish. The people here are so nice and friendly, the temperature is amazing, although i did get some bug bites in laz paz and they itch like crazy. my preparation day is on monday so i will check again for emails and I am loving it here, i am excited to get to work and do what the Lord wants me to do. I am so grateful to be here and I know the Lord is looking after me. I love you and I hope that all is well. by the way, the food is amazing!!!!!!

love Hermana Newmeyer

Hermana Apartment in Los Cabos

Hermana Kitchen in Los Cabos

Hermana Bathroom/Shower in Los Cabos

San Cabos Beach

Hermana's Newmeyer & Ruiz

Apartment Bathroom/Shower in San Cabos

Hermana's in San Cabos Apartment

2/17/2014 - San Cabos Letter & Pics

Hey Dad,

  Wow this week has been amazing and wonderful and hard and tiring all at once. So along with dogs that roam the streets there are also cows, and crazy ones too. Me and my companion were walking and just talking and we turned the corner and almost ran into it, it was just sitting there eating out of the trash and its eyes were red and it was really fat, like bloated, and my companion said that it was enfermo, sick, we made sure to stay away, it was crazy.  

   We also had a zone meeting this last week and it was great we learned so much well i listened and then my companion explained later in easier terms what we learned and then i learned much. Anyway, it was great, they were passing out mail and i guess for the missionaries on the peninsula they have to wait for the mail to arrive at the president's office and then every month or every six weeks they send all of it over and they pass it out to the elders and hermana's.  So many blessings this week, first, my bag ripped wide open and i needed another one and we were teaching a less active member and she owned a small store and she had a backpack that she had bought for about 200 pesos and said that i could have it for 100 pesos, i was so happy, its a lovely bright pink American princess bag, i love it. Anyway, so that was one miracle, the next i had lost my favorite bow earrings from DisneyWorld and then about two weeks ago i love my favorite pink earrings and this past couple of days i lost another one and it was in the apartment and i looked everywhere, i mean i looked and i couldn't find it, so i closed my eyes and said a little prayer in my heart and i heard some thing on my dresser and i opened my eyes and there was the lost earing, there was no way it could have been there a few seconds ago but there it was, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that Heavenly Father cares even about the littlest problems that we have and if we bear it with patience and a good attitude he will bless us, i was going to accept the fact that I don't need earrings to do lesson's and i can go on but the lord blessed me and I am ever so grateful. It's amazing that by small and simple things the lord brings about his work. 

  So this past week was valentine’s day, yeah! and my companion and i made cards for our investigators and menos active members and we took strips of paper and rolled each one and then we wrote Feliz Dia de San Valentin de Hna Ruiz y Hna Newmeyer, on 25 cards, it took a while, but we had pizza at Soriana (like Walmart) and we made the cards there in the cafeteria area and everyone saw us making them and we just rolled away and kept making them. We then bought heart shaped Palpas (i think) they are succors, and we walked and delivered all of our cards and succors, it was fun everyone liked them. So we had two of our investigators come to church and it was wonderful we were able to show them around and all of the rooms and they are a great family. Hna Laura and her son Israel (11) who is 4 foot really tiny but normal here. Anyway, we have been teaching them for the past two weeks and hopefully they will feel that this is right we have their baptism date for March 22, but they have to come to church for 5 weeks in order to be baptized. We also have this other Hna Conchita/ Concepcion, just think of Sheyla and this is who she is, just friendly and really great and wonderful. She owns her own Lavandaria (Laundromat) and so its opened most of the time and so we are able to talk to her more often.  Anyway, we are still working on getting her to come to church.  

  Anyway, for 'P' day today we cleaned out the fridge and the freezer had this huge ice chunk in it and i broke it off. We also had found some coupons for burger king and they were a really good deal so we picked up a couple for the hermanas and the other elders and we ate at Burger King, oooohhh so good, let’s just reminisce for a minute, its like In'n'Out here, i miss good hamburgers, the hamburgers here are just tiny and not even meat i think they are mashed up intestines but there good. I really like Chirozo, mix that with your eggs in the morning with tortillas, mmmm so good. I love it here, we have transfers next week or so and i really hope that i stay with my companion in this area, i am finally understanding through body language what most people are saying and a little of what they are actually saying as well. I love the people here, sometimes i am walking and i see people and i have to do a double take because they look just like my friends back home but Mexican version. It’s weird. 

   I love the work, I love the people, I want to do all that I can. I have been blessed with hard times and with good times. I keep thinking of what Elder Holland said "Salvation is not a cheap experience, why would we think it was ever going to be easy when it was never ever easy for Him," I testify that the Lord Savior Jesus Christ lives, and that he hears and answers our prayers and is always there for us. I know that this Gospel is true, I know that this is hard, I know that the Lord blesses those who keep the Commandments and Endure to the End. I know He lives. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

  I love you Dad, I pray for everyone in my prayers, all the family. This is it, I am here on a mission, my heart’s desire since i can remember. I'm doing it Dad, and it’s amazing, fun, hard, difficult, wonderful and spiritual all at once. Thank you for being there for me. I love you.

Love Always,

Hermana Newmeyer

Street in San Cabos

New Pink Back Pack

Zone Conference

Valentine's Day Cards

Mickey Mouse Tree

Burger King with the Elders

Burger King with the Hermana's