Letter home May 10-14, 2012

Hello! or Kumusta!
I hope everything is going well for all of you. Today has been an excellent day. We taught "Dennis" about prophets this morning. It was difficult but we didn't worry about having perfect Tagalog. We just wanted to make sure he felt our love and his Heavenly Father's love and that he understood the doctrine. Our lesson was very slow but heart felt. Your prayers are working. I can feel it. Brother Trebas says it was a good lesson. We did well and he is glad we didn't let the language get in the way.
Yesterday we taught "Randy" and it wasn't great but when we sang I am a Child of God and I bore my testimony I felt my Heavenly Father's love so strongly it almost hurt. I started crying and I hope he got the right message.
Everything is going pretty well. The language is still hard but it is coming. I love the letters from the kids. They are wonderful! I absolutely love the artwork!
Tell Uncle Mike that Sister Tivalu is from Ipswitch.  She thinks it is so cool that my uncle served in Australia. She was also excited to hear that he still continues to study the scriptures and chooses to follow the Lord. It is such a good example for all missionaries.  That they don't forget what they learned and how much they grew on their missions. That they keep the habits they made in those 2 years. It makes her sad that all too often they revert back to old ways and habits and get lazy. So, good for him! Oh, and everyone is in love with Jennifer!
I don't know if I mentioned this in my other letters, but I busted my finger playing volleyball. Don't worry nothing is broken itwas just huge and purple. Now the swelling has gone down so it is getting better.
I eat far too much here. Everyone says eat it now because they won't have it in the Philippines. But I have fries nearly everyday. Pop is readily available but I just drink water. It tastes better anyway.
My Kasama (companion) is always tired. She falls to sleep a lot. I think she is eating too much and not getting enough exersize.  Maybe we need to workout together. That seems like an awesome idea. She is really great. She has saved me more times than I can count.
I love the Book of Mormon so much it isn't even funny. I love having that time to read it everyday. It is my me time. My mini vacation. I get my bottle of water, head over to 9M thinking "oh, I am going to my easy class. It's gonna be a little vacation!" And then we read and I feel so good. I fee renewed on Sunday, Tuesday, and when I get to read the Book of Mormon.
My kasama just gave an inpiring spiritual thought tht I want to share with you. 2 Timothy 4: 7
"I have fought a good ^afight, I have ^bfinished my course, I have kept the faith" I want to be able to say that to the Lord. Do you?
I love Alma 26. It is one of my all time favorites. Read it. You will quite enjoy it.  My heart is full and I am still a bit nervous about teaching "Randy" on . . . tomorrow, YIKES!!! We will pray lots and lots and hopefully he will get our message. Hopefully he will feel our love and his Savior's love. That is the most important.
May 12, 2012
Tomorrow is Mother's Day. You won't get this letter in time but I still love you. This morning has been kind of hard. Our lesson didn't go well because we don't know hot to get to know people. We have to practise over and over back and forth in English then Tagalog. I am trying to be happy, but I am very discouraged. Don't worry, I will keep working :) I will learn from my mistakes. I will grow and become someone the Lord can be proud of. (silly girl. I'm going to let her know He is already proud of her!)
My favorite scripture of all time is still Doctrina at Mga Tipan 24:8 but now I include 7 in it too. "For thou shalt devote all thy ^aservice in Zion; and in this thou shalt have strength.

8 Be ^apatient in ^bafflictions, for thou shalt have many; but ^cendure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the ^dend of thy days."

It is nice to know the Lord will give me strength if I devote my whole self to Him. And, as always, I am never alone. "Endure them, for lo, I am with thee, even to the end of thy days." I take great comfort in that.

I saw Sister Talanoa the other day. I hope she remembered to tell you. It made me so happy! I really have had a great week. The Lord has truly blessed me. I am happy.

Lots of our people are leaving this weekend so the sisters who are staying are going to sing on Sunday and for those leaving we are going to sing as they get on the bus. They are my friends and family and I love them very much. I will miss them, but I believe we will all see each other again.

We just had a lesson about real personal study and it was great. I am going to study today and tomorrowabout how I can trust more in my Heavenly Father. I am excited.

So, we didn't end up singing in Sacrament meeting. Branch President Stott sang Love One Another with 2 extra verses he wrote because he got released today. I finally figured out why I always cry in front of him. It is because he truly loves us with the Savior's love and it just emanates. He makes me feel so wonderful and now he is gone.

May 13

There were so many things I wanted to put into this letter but I can't remember what they all were. We watched The Testaments today and it was very awesome. It made me think of good memories at home. It is always nice to have that. I love you.

Happy Mother's Day! We watched Music and the Spoken Word today. It was dedicated to mothers and they had clips of kids saying things like "I love my mom because she reads to me."  "I love my mom because she takes care of me and talks to me." "I love her hugs." "She takes me on walks." And I thought "My mom does that too! And I'm 21 years old!" It made me giggle.

May 14

I must say I NEED LETTERS! Please oh please have mercy please. We have an Elder who gets an average of 4 lleters a day! Help me out here! I love you and want news please! Please don't read this as angry. I'm in my excited state because tomorrow is P-day. It's P-day, p-day, gotta get down on p-day.

3 weeks down, 6 more to go. Then we start the real count down of everlovin' righteousness. You know, I hope I have conveyed in this series of written pages, the fact that this week has been a wonderful week. I have been very happy. don't get me wrong, things haven't gone that great, in fact, things have been very difficult to learn and apply. The gospel is very plain and simple, but difficult in a new language. But I am strooing on the path! Anyway, I love the gospel and I know that my Heavenly Father made this not so great week an excellent feeling week. He answers my prayers.

Sorry that this letter might have to be split between 2 envelopes. It is becoming pretty big even though I have nothing to say.

I really love it when I hear from you all. I hope you can all send me one big awesome letter pretty soon. With pics of your life. My oh my that is so awesome when there are pics on my emails from you. It is super fun to see. I have a wall of home pics & I want to add to it, so help me.

You never told me how Becca's wedding is coming. I hope things are going well. It is coming up. Wow! Things are happening so quickly and yet so so slowly. I really love it here sometimes and sometimes not so much. But things are growing on me. I love the people so much though! I just adore them! They are my new MTC family.

Now you are thinking, "what was the point of this letter." Well, I just really wanted to talk.

Mahal Kita,

Sister Brittany Newman 

I couldn't resist! Note the nametag.

This was a card I found in a shop.  It was not personalized.

Letter home May 6, 2012

Family,
So Nathan now holds the priesthood huh?  That ispretty awesome! I love you and miss you much.  We are going to the fireside soon. That should be good. I got a blessing to help me through the next week. I was told to remember that the Lord walks with me every step of the way.
I love the gospel. I love the Lord's mercy. I love my family, and I have a testimony of the truth.
May 8
I love devotional. We have to write a baptism for Sunday. We never know if we are going to be chosen until after the Sacrament so we have to be prepared.
How is Nathan liking being a priesthood holder? He will pass the sacrament this Sunday, won't he? that is so cool!
We teach 2 investigators now. (our 2 teachers) We can't use notes. We are learning to struggle. When you struggle you become worthy for the gift of tongues. Well. . . We are struggling! Our new teacher, Brother Trebas, laughs at me when I get frustrated because I act so weird. You know me. Funny story! We had to teach him yesterday night and the Elders that were supposed to go before us were called to the travel office. Oh man, it was going to be us. . . until my dear sweet companion was also called to the travel office. I raised my hands to heaven and whispered with a blowhorn, "thank you! I believe!" and Brother Trebas lost it. He was laughing so hard it was hilarious. I had to sit on the stairs to stop my laughing. I tell you what, that built my testimony. As sinful as it is to say that. We did teach him and it wasn't very good, but we will keep working hard.
I got flash cards today to be able to study more. Hopefully I start getting things. Last night after teaching I decided that the small, one lady bathroom with the lights off is my new sacred grove. I can hide in there for 5 minutes, pray, and calm down with the assurance that the church is still true. No matter what happens, this is the true church. The Lord is here, I am not alone, and none of you are either.
I pray for you always and would love to hear from all of you.
Mahal Kita,
Sister Newman

Letter home May 3, 2012

Momma & Papa,
Brother Sales wants to be baptised. The Elders all asked him yesterday if he would be, but he said no he was already baptised as a baby. I was so sick last night trying to think of what we could teach this morning, but nothing was coming. Then I prayed for guidance (patnulay) and for the Holy Ghost (Espiritu Santo) to take this lesson. I knew we sould talk about baptism again. I was ill. What could we say or do? Well, we just studied in English and found it in Tagalog and took our stuff, prayed, let the spirit lead, and it was awesome. He told us his concerns and we bore testimony about the proper authority of God through the priesthood. We let the Spirit be the teacher and he agreed to be baptized. Cloud 9!
The Spirit is real. The church is true and it changes lives. I can't do this but the Lord can. We spoke a lot of broken Taglish but it felt good. He is a good young man (we are pretty sure he is already a member, but that doesn't matter). I know there will still be rough days but I will be happy and I will not give up. The Lord will not forsake me. I will not forsake Him.
I love you all so much and thank you for your love and prayers. I feel them every moment. I will continue to pray for you all. This really shall be but a small moment.
Love,
Sister Brittany Nichole Newman
P.S. Tell Nathan his birthday is lucky and I hope it was a good one.  We were right, Brother Sales is our other teacher. How embarrassing. But now we will be humble and learn more.

Just me and my boys

Elder John, Elder Steltzer, Elder McCulloch, me,

Elder Mills, Elder Chlarson, & Elder Cosman

My personal hairdresser -- Elder John

May 1, 2012

Dear Brittany,
I am so glad you finally had p day!  It's been rough not knowing how you are doing!  Keep working hard and I'll keep praying hard.  You keep praying hard and I'll keep working hard too ;o)
Nathan will be ordained on May 6 after Stake Conference.  We are taking him to dinner and to Mr. Mac's to get a suit tonight.  I hope he enjoys it.  Thursday will be temple night so we will be having pizza in his honor along with cake and icecream.  It should be really fun.
 Jennifer turned 1 Sunday.  She was soooooooooooo cute.  I'll attach a picture for you.
Lilly had an awesome prom date.  Pictures attached.
Love you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!  Keep being a good missionary.  We are so proud of your decision!
Love,
Mom

 Oh mom this was so awesome.  Just what I needed. I dont have much time but I am sending you letters so its ok.  Email people  and tell them it was a rough first week but I made it and I will work hard and work to have the spirit by my side, and in all things I will be happy.  I love you all so very much.  Tell dad I      loved his testimony I needed it and it helped me feel more confident I will keep trying to become a good missionary.  I will work my very best and have no regrets, even if I fail miserably I will have no regrets if I try hard and stay happy through thick and thin.  Things are getting better especially since I started      making friends.  I think they will help me through.  Be excited to get my second letter just to you I have some fun stuff in there for your eyes only, ya hear!  I love the pics!  I am singing in the devotional tonight in the choir.  If you can find an email for brother Eggett from institute tell him I am here and was happy to see his smiling face even if he doesn’t  remember me from Teachings of Pres. Monson.  It was nice to see a familiar face, and here is joking again.  It made me feel more at home.  Anyway we should probably head over there so we aren’t late. I love you so much, and thank you for your prayers.  Have a      wonderful week and smile often.  Tell everyone I love and miss them.  Send pics ofVince and Ty when you can.

Love, Sister Newman