February 25th, 2013

oh my goodness, how is feb already almost over? i can't even believe how fast time goes by and how much happens in so little time. the weeks go by so fast and it's already preparation day again. so much happens in a week. it's amazing all the little blessings God gives us like the strength to get through a day or the ability to know just what to say at just the right time. He is so aware of all of us because we are His children

this week, i had a really special experience with my companion. i felt the power of the spirit as i offered her counsel and support and love. i've never felt that i am very good at giving people advice- what do i know? i'm on a 21 year old girl! :) but i feel that what i said didn't come from me. i found that as i sought to help her, general conference talks or scriptures came to my mind and i was able to use God's word to help her. He is so wise and as she read the talks i suggested, she was comforted. i realized that the spirit is the true teacher and the true comforter. but we can be the instrument that God uses to bring the spirit into a person's life. we should always be ready to serve others. as i have been studying charity and service, i am learning that that is really what life is all about. true happiness is found by seeking the happiness of others (true to the faith)

sister gc and i both fell off our bikes this week. haha our kness are black and blue but we are totally fine! it was weird because nothing was in the road or anything. we just kind of ran into one another and then stumbled over and all our stuff went flying- including sis gc's shoes haha. we are so grateful that there were no cars on the road and that some really nice people stopped and helped us. the first thing that came to our minds as we were standing up was "SAVE THE BAPTISM RECORDS" haha it's funny sometimes being a missionary. we were laughing so hard. and i'm so grateful that God was protecting us. mom- i'm feeling the power of your prayers. thank you so much for keeping your daughter safe :)

i'm loving being a missionary in tanzi. the ward is absolutely amazing. they are like a family and it's so great to feel a part of it. our members seek to serve one another and lift one another. we had a sister who was having a hard day on sunday and as us missionaries were talking to her, another member came up (Cai JM) and took over. there is great power in a unified, loving ward. one of the less actives we have been working with is a youth and she came to church yesterday for the first time in months. she is so amazing and smart and the young woman are working on including her and helping her feel accepted. her name is YiNing. she is amazing. i love the people that God has given us to work with and learn from. their are so many amazing examples in this ward of dedicated member missionaries. they are so willing to help and we are seeking to meet with their friends and family. this missionary work is so special and is the work of the restored church of Christ. it's great how clear everything is.

i love you all so much. i truly felt the power of your prayers this week. i have felt comforted and strengthened and assured. i have truly felt the power of the atonement in my life this week and the love that God has for us. do not feel discouraged or forgotten. God is aware of you. He is proud of you as you progress, no matter how small that progression may seem. He is proud as we strive to keep our covenants and remember what is most important. i am so grateful that you are my family. i have such a deep love for each of you and think about each of you every day. it's so great the little things that God puts in my life that remind me of you all. thank you for your letters and love. i love you all

yours,

Sister Newman

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! i love you so much. Your letters are so wonderful every monday and i feel such strength from your example and love. you are such a support to me. i am so grateful for your encouragement and your love. i could not ask for a better mother and example. i have a present that i should be sending out today- i'm sorry that it is late but it will get to you! haha i love you so much. happy birthday- i hope it is a wonderful day

this week has been amazing. seeing everyone get ready for Chinese new year is so fun. LOTS OF CLEANING! and dejunking and visiting family. it is the most wonderful time of the year (for taiwan). their new year is exactly like our christmas and thanksgiving. we are seeing families every where and it's just so happy. tracting this week has been really fun as we have been visiting LA's and tracting in their area. we see a lot of families together- eating, liao tian-ing, cooking. i love this time of the year. we truly have been led this week to prepared souls. we found one woman Zhang JM who was just resting in her home. SHE invited US in and we ended up talking about God and prayer. She told us that she knows other people say that there are multiple gods or that our God is different from the 'asian god', but she believes that there is only one God :D we told her that we believe the same thing- we know it is true! we are meeting with her next saturday. we are so excited.

a lot of our investigators and members are out of town this week- visiting family or just vacationing. those members that AREN'T out of town are all feed us. haha we have lunch and dinners taken care of for the rest of the week. it doesn't beat dad's 5 meals/day but i feel very taken care of. i love meeting with members and just spending time with them. our ward here is amazing. they are so willing to help and sacrifice for our missionary work. i feel very honored to have their support. Sister GC is amazing and she knows everyone's name and story and family. i'm really praying for that gift and it is coming slowly :) i love the members here in tanzi. the picture of the boy with the cake is a part member family we are teaching. the grandmother is our RC and she invited us over for an AMAZiNG meal and cake (celebrate birthday and new years) the grandson, yoyo, is so guai. he is so well behaved and is so much fun to teach. they are praying together and he loves coming to church. the mother Zhang JM is also amazing and so fun- but she is also really busy. we are trying to teach her when we can.

i love serving with sister GC. you will all love her. she is graduated but is going back to school for nursing- my soul sister. so right now we're studying medical terms and anatomy in language study. haha it's so great. she's going home after this move call. we are working and teaching in unity and it feel so great! we decided to set some un-goals for chinese new years. it's like a bucket list of sorts. we want to have a foot spa- we're doing that later today. we are also eating chocolate fondue for valentine's day. we are also going to learn one un-vocabulary a day. i love it. our ward has a goal to have every family be doing FHE weekly and so we made them the FHE charts. we've been passing them out as we go over for dinner or visiting...along with cookies. the examples of faithful families in this ward are amazing. so many of the members are referrals from family members. this ward is a testimony to the power of referrals. they are so strong. our RC from last week (who got confirmed this week :D) is a referral from her sister. they are now strengthening each other and helping their other family members. i love our church's emphasis on families. i know that helping family members grow in the gospel is one reason that we are put in families. i love you.

we have mission tour next week on monday so we'll be doing emails on wednesday. this work is amazing. i learned so much about goals this week. i am always so amazed and grateful for how the Lord helps us accomplish our goals. HE does so line upon line, one step at a time. we don't set goals for the week to accomplish them on the first day. He helps us one step at a time. as we make a daily effort, He helps us accomplish our desires. whether it's developing a christ-like attribute, getting a good grade, or finishing the Book of Mormon, Christ will help us accomplish our goals. success comes as we make the effort and have faith in Him. I have learned that from sister GC- she sets goals and hits them. love her. 

this work is good. families are forever. Jesus Christ lives. keep the faith

i love you more than i can say. thank you for your support and prayers.

yours

Sister Newman    

Febuary 4th, 2013

Happy February! it is a wonderful month :) sister GC and i have decided to celebrate everyday. we celebrated the beginning of Feb by eating subway. so good. for some reason, our celebrations always involve eating something delicious. haha oh well. being her companion is so amazing. i love my new area and i'm really excited for the next 5 weeks.

we had a week full of miracles. we set goals on friday for the month of february. we have so many wonderful investigators and less active members that we are working with and we really feel like we can help them progress to the next step in their progression. as we were praying about the goals that we made and wondering if it was God's will, our phone rang. when we called the number back, it was an investigator that sister GC has been trying to get in touch with fo forever. she told us that she wanted to get baptized before guonian. oh my goodness. i have never seen a person so prepared for baptism. the first time i met her was when she was getting ready for her baptismal interview. she had already heard all the lessons and had stopped meeting with the missionaries for a time. she took that time to completely change herself-quitting all her old habits and developing her relationship with God. she was truly prepared and she was baptized on Sunday. I have never seen someone glow like she did. she got to church early and we standing in front of the elevator (we have church on the 15th floor of a dalou) greeting everyone as they arrived for church. she couldn't stop smiling and it was wonderful. it was a real reminder that this is the Lord's work. i feel like i had no part in this sister's progression. God prepared her and i feel so lucky that i was able to be here. Our God is a God of tender mercies. this move call is a tender mercy. i love my companion so much. she is teaching me so much from her wonderful example and we have such a wonderful district.

we are working with the ward right now to do mormon.org. we helping everyone create profiles and it is so fun to talk with the members about their faith and make plans about how they are going to share it. i really feel like the spirit is directing our work. i am learning how important the spirit is and what a difference it makes in our lives. learning how to recognize the spirit is the work of a lifetime but it is the whole point of this life. i love being cleansed at sacrament meeting and striving to listen to the spirit. it can truly direct us in all things and bring all things to our remembrance. God is so interested in our lives. i wrote ont he front of my planner for this month the quote from president Uchtdorf- compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God. He loves us and will help us accomplish our desires. we just need to ask for His help. He is waiting to help us. I love it.

i told Heavenly Father about my desire to know the members of this ward by their full names and i really felt His help. I LOVE THIS WARD SO MUCH! it's amazing how fast you come to love those you serve. God's power is real and He wants to help us. He is so great- I am not amazed that He CAN help us but I am always amazed that He DOES.

I am so grateful for your support and love. you are all such examples to me. keep the faith

sister Newman