8/25/2014 - Los Pinos Letter & Pics

Baptism! Pranks! and Mosquitos!

Hey Everyone!

  This week was great! we had another baptism and it was amazing to see the change in this wonderful woman that we taught. She is about 70 years old, has two teeth in the front and a couple on the bottom, she has an infection in her leg that makes it quite impossible to walk, lives in a place that most people would never think about living, sleeps on the floor and she smells. But the first time we met her she was very unsure and just willing to say yes to everything and she liked what she felt every time we were there. Little by little we saw a change in this woman, she grew more confident, she was more happier her infection didn't get better but she could not feel as much pain.  After she was baptized, she bore her testimony and it was simple and sweet, she said that she knew what she felt and she could not deny what she knew in her heart. It was so amazing.

    So no pranks this week, but probably this next week, we will see....... ;) So we have a lavadora out back in our patio, and its what everyone here uses to wash their clothes with, well we had rain this past couple of days and we forgot to let out the water, and when you don't do that you get mosquitos! it was crazy! there were tons inside the basin, we had to scrape them out and put them on the cement to fry and then die. I love being a missionary, oh so Independence day is coming here and there are tons of memorabilia stuff and it is literally a party for two days i can't wait to take fotos!  

    One of the neatest thing about being a missionary is that you get to see CHANGE. Did you know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can change our desires, and by so doing, can change who we are. But when we focus on changing who we are, it doesn't work. Because we become more loving by desiring charity, the pure love of Christ, and turning outward, as Elder Bednar says, to love others. We can inspire others by listening to the Holy Ghost and focusing on their needs. We can do bold and amazing miracles when we turn to have faith in the commandments of God and put obedience to Him before our fears. And then you look back and have one of those moments...where would I be if I hadn't listened, if I hadn't come? 

   This was a wonderful week with lessons learned and experiences to share, i hope that everyone is having a wonderful time! Adiós! hasta próximo Semana! 

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

8/18/2014 - Los Pinos Letter & Pics

No Cambios! Los Pinos!

Hey Everyone,

  Well this week was amazing and wonderful, menos the difficulties of a missionary! but that is normal, like not listening to your alarm clock and then realizing it was 8 in the morning and you jump out of bed thinking "oh darn where has the morning gone." or realizing that the food you are eating has some kind of living animal inside that will probably make you have the runs for the next three weeks of you life!! oh here is a good one, you know when your a missionary when you are sore getting off your knees every night and morning because you actually are talking to Heavenly Father, i actually count that as a blessing. Its amazing what prayer can do only if you just talk and let him hear you. 

  So this week another ward had a pastry class oh i learned so much it was fantastic! i know now how to make a whip cream base for cakes and cupcakes with yogurt! it was awesome! we also had a day where we were cleaning the Church and it was two other sisters one was a recent convert and the other was the relief society presidente and then the sister missionaries. we cleaned the whole church! it was a stake center!! the four of us! and of course the two gringa's don't know really how to clean so i was in charge of bringing the water from outside to inside and we had one of those yellow bucket things on wheels, well i started to push it in the foyer and the ledge was just up enough that i dumped the whole thing of water all over the foyer that was just newly washed and cleaned. Yeah, thank you sister Newmeyer! It was hilarious. 

  We also have been experiencing some major storms lately, one was really intense and the lightening and thunder were right above our house so the second the light would strike we would have thunder immediately and it would be so intense that our windows would shake and we could feel everything vibrate. It was awesome and pretty scary. So my companion and i are pretty crazy, we found this cereal box with a samba work out disk inside and so now we are awesome samba dancer's for our workouts every morning! its hilarious!  we are also good on pranks, my companion has gotten me twice now with the flour in the shower, well she doesn't know whats coming, i bought a squirt gun he he he he, i'm just trying to decide in the night when she is sleeping or in the morning, >:] this is my evil grin, i will let you all know next week, i will make sure to have pictures and maybe a video!

  Well thought for this week,  Don't let the little things bother you, and if they do, talk about it. If you are having problems maybe they are too. Literally put yourself in their shoes, and not only walk in them but feel what they are feeling too. Well that is all, i love you all, have a good week!

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer 

My Mexican Mama

Missionary District

The after-affects of working outside

Shower Companion

A little weather in Culiacan

Hermana x in a blanket chasing Hermana Newmeyer around the room

8/11/2014 - Los Pinos Letter & Pic

ZOO!!

Hey Everyone,

   So this week surprisingly enough was pretty normal for a missionary, get up read your scriptures, companion study, language study, and then work. Its so great, i love having a schedule and knowing what we are doing everyday, i now know why our family plans every Monday morning for the whole week just to know what goes on in our lives is a comfort and security that helps us.  So nothing out of the ordinary.

  We had one woman, she is kinda old and you know what she said she actually started reading the Book of Mormon, and she accepted baptism and everything, there is power when you read the word of God, you just feel it in your heart and down to the marrow of your bones, it was amazing. She comes out and was like, "I have a question, in the book that you gave me there is this guy who is he?" it was perfect we were able to talk about prophets and how they receive revelacion and so forth. It was great. We then talked with her daughter later that week and she had a question about what her pastor said, so her pastor told her that her mom is not really her mom but a man from another life who killed people and had to become a mother to know how to love like a mother did.  I remember looking at my companion like, "did we just hear what i think we heard?" it was a good opportunity to share about our first parents Adam and Eve and how they never had another life before this one, why would they have another one after. We said that we lived with Heavenly Father before but we never had another life before this one on earth. It was great, the spirit helped us answer this question with clarity and direct principles. 

  So that was one story, we had another and we were sitting with our investigators in church in the Gospel Principles class and they bore their testimonies of how this is the true church of God and they could now say that they belonged to the True church because they knew that it was right. That was an amazing experience you could feel the spirit testify of the truthfulness of it.

 We headed to the Zoo today, wow it was cool! we got to feed a pig! and touch a lot of animals, you could literally reach over and touch a lot of the cages, especially me, because i am tall and i have long arms so.... hehehe it was great! there were a lot of monkeys! it was cool. There was also a walk through an aviary and there was this bird that pooped on one of the girls that came with us and it was all over her hair and arm but the picture that i took was erased so sorry.  Anyway, it was a blast and i was happy that we went it was only about 20 pesos, so that was a little over 1 dollar in the USA, it was great!!! 

   Well don't have much to say so just want you all to know that i love you all and can't wait to write next week, we have cambios this week so don't know if i am staying or not, well just like my dad always says Work Hard, Do Your Best, Never Give up!

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Feeding a Pig

left to right, Heira (she was baptized two weeks ago) my comp, me, and Romina (she is getting baptized in september!) the two girls on the ends are sisters!

8/4/2014 - Los Pinos Letter & Pics

Decorated, Ticks, Emergency Transfer!?!?!

Hola Todos los personas que leer esta carta!!! (Translation)

   jajaja! Anyway, this week was crazy, emotional and just down right awesome! Well first, you all know that my companion has been sick, well we went to the hospital again and found out that nothing is wrong with her, soooooo i don't know for sure really if she is sick or not.  When she was sick, i would have about 6 hours of alone time until she woke up at 12 or 1 in the afternoon, hehe i found this book, really old book that had pictures in it, from the bible through the Book of Mormon and the restauracion! i took the book apart and hung the pictures up and now our house looks fabulous! my companion came out one afternoon and was like, woah! it was great!

    So we have been playing pranks on each other and its been hilarious! so while she was in the bathroom, we had a window that opened from outside in our little patio, i took a big bucket of water and a cup and slowly started to pour water through and it just went through the drain, but i did that twice and the whole time she is saying "what are doing? wait..... what?!?! no don't do that!" it was hilarious, so the third cup i chucked the water at her really fast and i almost got her, it was so close.  Well three nights later i was taking a shower and the next thing i knew there was flour all over the floor and a good majority on my face, she got me good! It was hilarious i just wish that i took a picture, sorry!

   So we went to a members home to eat and it was good, but i was noticing little black things in my sopa and i pulled one out and realized it was a tick in my sopa, yuck!!! i found six more, the whole thing was just unsanitary! there were also ants in my drink, so that dinner was by far the most hardest to eat, i just wanted to chuck it all back up.

    We were going to have an emergency transfer and i was going to go to Mazatlan and switch with a companion down there and the other sister was going to come to Culiacan, well i went home and packed in one hour and was ready to leave the next morning. Our presidente came by and told us everything and then left and about 5 minutes later he called and said that the transfer was cancelled and that there was no transfer. I had always heard about them but never thought it would happen to us. Anyway, it was crazy, i was ready to go and everything! Well, at least the president knows that we are willing to do anything at the drop of a hat and do what we can to help. 

   This whole week was crazy and full of wonderful things. We also had three young children, ages ranging from 9-11 accept a baptism date and are eager to learn about the gospel. Whats more amazing is that with every lesson with one of them the parents are coming out and listening to our lessons and slowly are saying that what we are teaching is good and they can see a change in their children's attitude and everything. This is what is the most precious above all, is that we can see the love of the Lord reach out and touch a family that is suffering and that if we live by the simple truths and principles of the gospel, He will bless us. I know, i see it change lives everyday. 

 I love you all, thank you for everything! remember this is it!

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Food is so good

Newly decorated apartment

New sun glasses with soccer tag

Thumbs Up

My Mexican Mamma

Love this Family

Transfers??? Not this time.