August 26th, 2013

Hello everyone!

This week has been really great and sundays are always especially wonderful to me!! I have really felt the power of the sacrament more on my mission than ever before. The sacrament and church meetings really help me feel recharged and clean. I am so grateful for the Atonement and the opportunity to be weekly cleansed and purified. I've been thinking a lot about being pure in heart and having pure desires. I've been striving to think, with every decision, if what I'm doing is for the benefit my investigators or recent converts, and that I'm not doing something for my own benefit. We've been really praying for our investigators and for them to feel the spirit. i've noticed a change in the way a teach. a slow change. i'm really seeking the spirit. we were teaching a less active sister last night and it was haihao. but as we kept talking with her and seeking to ask inspired questions, she really opened and there was a difference in the spirit of the lesson. it became more about her having a spiritual experience talking with her Heavenly Father and less about us getting a less active sister to agree to pray daily. The spirit is so key in our lives. we're going over to this less active sisters house on wednesday and doing some service. she says if we can get her back yard cleaned before moon festival then we can have a BBQ there. THAT is enough motivation for me to do any service.

I'm learning from Sister Hill that being on the same page as the investigator and really knowing how they feel is so important. She is really good at asking inspired questions that help the person feel the spirit and help us better understand how they are feeling. When we are more focused on others and not so much on ourselves, God can truly guide us to know what is best for THEM. Charity is vital. a sister in our ward just returned from her mission to canada and it is really fun to be around her. she is a great example of charity and hearing her talk about her investigators is really special. i'm so grateful for all the people (members, investigators, missionaries, companions) that i've been able to have on my mission. i think Heavenly Father's greatest blessings are the people that each of us get to interact with.

I had a really great experience on sunday. I was fasting for some people we were working with and also for myself to have a increase of the spirit. I'm learning how very VITAL the spirit is in our work. Yesterday, we had the miracle of all our recent converts attending sacrament meeting. We also met an amazing woman on the street. I have really learned the power of fasting and prayer on my mission. As one lady in our ward said yesterday "Most people would just look at our blessings as coincidences. But WE know that they are blessings from a loving God who knows us personally." I've really learned that Christ has the power to change us- moment by moment. And it's so amazingly fun to try to be better daily.

we had the opportunity to go participate in a youth conference on friday. we got home SO LATE!! i haven't been out past 10:00 in about a year! it felt really weird. haha the life of a missionary. anyway, there were about 400 youth there and it was so fun to be around them. they had all those that were planning on going on missions stand. it was really powerful! the youth in our ward all stood. I love it! 80% of taiwanese young men and women in the church are second generation members. SO COOL! i love the church in taiwan

i love each of you so much. i'm praying for you as school starts and things get busy. I know that God can give us opportunities to bless the lives of others, no matter what we are doing in our life. i love you mom dad blake kenzie kelly davis luke and carli. you are my heroes and i love you! i am so grateful that i get to be with my BEST friends for eternity.

love

sister Newman