10/27/2014 - Mazatlan Letter & Pic

Cucaracha and KFC

Hey Everybody,

  So this week has been amazing! we have had miracle after miracle, way cool. One of those experiences way awesome. We worked all morning and we were super tired and my feet were hurting really bad, we headed home to change shoes grab some water. While we were there we decided to pray and ask for help that we might be able to find someone. So we left and worked for about three more hours, while we were walking down a street we saw a girl sitting on the side of the road. This is not unusual as everyone here in mexico is outside of their house, sitting down, talking with their neighbors and having a good time, this miracle usually happens between 7-9 at night. The perfect hour to contact :) awesome experiences! Anyway, we sat down and talked with this girl, 22 and lives alone, with a desire to know what to do with her life, right now she is in a factory canning tuna for her work. We talked about everything with her, she had question after question of who is God, what do we need to do here on earth and in general what is the gospel of Jesus. Amazing, we were able to explain about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how we can return to him, we all felt the spirit. It was amazing!

  This experience happened about 3 more times during the week and we could see that certain people were being prepared for us at times during the week, we also were able to help with service this week, really awesome, painting a kitchen! from lime green to lime yellow, super great! Anyway, we are going to change houses this week yeah! no more spiders and cucarachas in your bed! oh funny story, so last night i was sleeping and woke up to a clicking noise, i thought to myself "oh no the air conditioning is broken", after hitting it a couple times and the noise continued i was too tired to do anything so i went back to sleep with the ticking in my ears. In the morning when i raised my head from my pillow i was greeted by a lovely cucaracha right where i had my head. I know now what that clicking noise was in the night. Thankfully it wasn't as big as the spider.

   So today for "p" day we headed to the church and played the famous questions and answers game, it was great later we all headed out to KFC yeah they have it here in mexico!!! the only thing that caught my attention was that the intestines were still inside the bird, and i was the lucky one to have that one piece, to have everything inside! Super good, still tasted like chicken! Well, that is all for this week i love you all thanks for everything. So one last thing that i would like you all to do. Read 1 Nephi 8:10-12 and think "how can i apply this to my life?" Well this is all, thank you so much for everything and all of your letters! i love you all.

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Missionaries at KFC a la Mexicana

10/20/2014 - Mazatlan Letter & Pics

10 lesson day!!!‏


Hey Everybody!

  This week was especially awesome and one to date. Mi and my companera opened a new area and are slowly learning the streets and people that live here.  We also have the ocean in are area! definitely beautiful and love to watch it. 

   So one night me and my companion wanted to go contacting for people because we haven't been having success this week with numbers and people who want to hear about Jesus. So we decided to pray specifically for a colonial and a street we both felt impressed for one street in specific and a colonial, it was awesome, we both felt the same thing. So the next day we headed out and looked all up and down this street contacting people and giving very brief lessons in the street. We worked all morning in this street and we really didn't find anyone who wanted to hear the Gospel. Me and my companion felt a little desanimada, or in English 'with out excitement' or 'put down a bit' anyway, we both discussed what we needed to do better and how we can improve our contacting skills.  I was still put down a bit and then a thought came to my mind and said 'it does not matter where i send thee, so long as you are doing My Will'  hopefully the people that we contacted in that day were touched by the Lord and we were able to show the Love that Heavenly Father has for us. 

  Later that week we had found out that we had scheduled 10 lessons in one day, it was amazing and fantastic. We had a lesson every half hour from 3:30 to 8 in the night. We were so pumped and ready, we headed out and taught very short but powerful lessons, we were able to teach about the sacredness of talking with our Heavenly Father through Prayer and that we can receive revelation and answers to every prayer. We also taught about the Word of Wisdom and how it helps us to stay alert and with our free agency. It was a really cool day! Later on Sunday we were able to bring 5 people to church and they were able to feel the Spirit and the Love that Heavenly Father has for us. Awesome!

   Another day we headed out to contact and look for some people and we were walking along the boardwalk next to the ocean and i noticed a fisherman and he was pulling in his line, in which there was nothing. I then observed the carefulness that he took with his line and then proceeded to walk into the ocean. The waves came crashing on him and twice he fell but got back up and continued to walk into the ocean. Here i am thinking, 'what is he doing?! he is going to drown, he shouldn't go out that far' he kept on walking until the water was just below his armpits and then with all his might he flung his fishing line out to sea. And then proceeded to walk back to the beech falling again because of the waves that came crashing down.  

  I thought to myself, why is it so important for a fisherman to have his line out as far as he can? its dangerous, he could die, and there might not be any fish. I then thought about what Jesus said to Peter and James saying 'follow thou me and i will make thee fishers of men.'  It is not enough that we just fish lazily on the seashore, hoping that something will happen. What we need to do is actually go and look with all out might, flinging our line out as far as we can with the water to our chins. Knowing that there might not be people to teach, there might not be people to contact, to share, to bring to Christ. We might not ourselves come back, beaten down with every wave, with our beliefs criticized, judged, and smashed against the shoreline again and again. And yet we persist, because we know there are fish out there waiting to be caught to come unto Christ. Being a missionary, or a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is more than the fisherman who sits on the shore. 

  I know that this Church is the true church of Jesus Christ. He is our Redeemer and loves us. He wants us to come unto him, and partake of Eternal Life with Him and our Heavenly Father. I know that My Redeemer Lives! I love you all thank you for everything! Have a Good week and don't wait by the seashore!

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Missionary Zone Mtg

Postcard Perfect - Ocean view near our apartment

Bowling with the missionaries

10/14/2014 - Mazatlan Letter & Pic

Miracles!

Hey Everybody,

   This week has been amazing and i have loved every minute of it. So living underneath the Elders is not that bad, but having a small rainforest on the side of our house is not too nice, since that is where we have found all of our eight legged friends. We also have found a couple of people who want to hear more about Jesus Christ and how to come unto him. We also had a search this week for a new house, since with rules of the mission we can't live under the Elders, and with spiders.  

    So a couple of nights ago, me and my companion finsihed looking for all the people that we had listed for the day, and we had about an hour and a half left before we needed to go home, we didn't know quite what to do. So we headed home and started our planning for the next day, when we started to pray, i had a feeling that we needed to go out one more time and look for people. My companion felt the same way and so we grabbed a couple pamphlets and cards of Jesus Christ and headed out. At first i had no idea and my companion said lets go to this one street we headed over and started walking down, then down another street and another, the third street i had a prompting to return back to the other street. We headed back and by now it was quite a bit dark they had the street lamps on and house lights on. We continued to walk and i saw a single man sitting down on the curb and we walked up and started talking with him. We found out that he was divorced, single, works in the hospital, quit drinking and is looking for another chance, and has a name that means alien in Spanish. It was amazing to find him, he was really interested and wants to hear more, we have a lesson with him tomorrow! Miracle! The Lord wants us to work to are full potential and when we say that we have done all that is required in our agendas we think we deserve praise, when really we need to focus more on the Lord's Agenda. I was so excited afterwards i wanted to shout out and do everything! i can't really explain the emotions that i felt only that it was amazing and i knew that i was doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do.

   So my birthday was this last Thursday, and it was awesome! i was able to receive a package from home on that same day! miracle! so excited i was able to share my candy with my companion and the elders that live above us. The rest of the day was normal and we had found a couple of apartments that the Zone Leaders needed to check, while we were waiting for the ZL's we received a call from them and they had asked that we go to the church immediately because there was a problem with one of my investigators in my other area, i was really nervous and wondering which investigator it was. Anyway, we showed up and and they explained everything again and we headed to a room to talk well when i opened the door the whole district was there and they had made a sign that said "feliz cumpleaños" and there was a cake! cheesecake with strawberries, delicious. It was awesome! first surpise birthday party! anyway we continued and took some pictures with the cake and everybody.  Well, this is the slushy story of my life, kinda like dads story about the frosty. I was kneeling down with the cake in my hands and i don't know what happened really, i started to get up and the cake just kinda slipped from my hands and fell to the ground. The whole cake just kinda splatted and the Strawberries went everywhere, everyone was saying "sass" and "la fresas!!!" or in English "snap, oh no" and "the strawberries!!!" Least to say it was a fantastic party!

    One elder was able to take a picture right when it fell it was hilarious. I wasn't able to put up any other pictures because my camera ran out of battery, oops. Next time guys, sorry. Also this week we were able to find a new apartment that has 4 air conditioners, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, a front room, and here is the bonus! a washer machine and a dryer! miracles do happen!! we were so excited, we also were able to rent the apartment at 2,500 pesos ($179), per month, and the landlady said she could pay for the water as well, we just pay for the electricity. It was amazing, she is a die hard catholic and is so sweet, when she found out that we were needing to move soon she offered her personal house for us so that we had a place to stay, while the apartment was getting cleaned. 

   This week has been amazing and wonderful, i love my companion she is amazing and in a way a lot like me, we are able to communicate and talk to each other without any confusion and she is amazing! I love Mazatlan, we are in the ward called Albatros. I love it here, thank you everyone for your support and letters i love them so much!!! take care this week and remember always that He lives and loves us!! i know its true!

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

10/6/2014 - Mazatlan Letter & Pics

Light House! Aquarium! Spiders!...Oh No

Hey Everybody,

   So this week has been hilarious and amazing! First off, me and my companion are opening a new area and so we have no idea where the streets are or who the people are, everything, also we are living in a very small living space, underneath the Elders. Yeah i never believed that i would be living anywhere near the Elders. They are looking for another house and are moving at the next transfer because they had already paid the landlady for the month. 

  So the elders said that they cleaned our apartment and that there are no animals in our house. well about 1 in the morning i had to go, so i went and closed the door of the bathroom and there was this huge spider on the back. about the size of my hand. I would definitely say it was the spider of all spiders, hairy, long legged and had an evil look in all of its 8 eyes.The picture does not do it justice. I freaked out. ran out of the bathroom got my companion up and we both spent about an hour watching it just trying to figure out where it was going. It also carried an egg sack with it. We were scared to kill it so we left it in the bathroom and closed our door and just hoped that it would go back outside. We still haven't found it. Needless to say that i don't really get any sleep at night. keep dreaming of spiders. The Elders tried looking for it as well, they couldn't find it either. 

   So today we headed to the Lighthouse, so beautiful Mazatlàn, took about 20 minutes to climb it and sweating the whole way but refreshing up top, we had all of the missionaries in two zones at the lighthouse. Awesome. We then all decided to go to the aquarium, it was legit! we watched a fish presentation, a man in a tank, normal. We then went and watched a sea Lion show, it was awesome, i got kissed by a sea lion! and i thought i had to wait 18 months for that! it was awesome. lots of whiskers. We then went to a bird show, and they asked for volunteers to come down and feed the Guacamayas the big Colorful Parrots, i volunteered! i went down and the guide said to put the sunflower seed in my mouth and the bird would take from my mouth, that was exciting definitely not expecting it at all. Super fun, we then headed to the animal show, and they brought out an iguana and i was able to feed it a grape.

  Today was awesome! definitely one of the times i will remember. So one lesson i learned is to have fun. I love you all.

Always Happy,

Hermana Newmeyer

Lunch Time

Super Big Spider with an egg sack full of babies

Zone Conference Photo

Hermana Newmeyer and her new companion

The bay near Mazatlan