HOLA FAMILIA!

COMO ESTAIS!? Los falto muchisimo y quierro estar con vosotros, pero se que necesito estar aqui!

HOW ARE YOU!? I miss you a lot and want to be with you but I know this is where I need to be.

I just got the package and am chowing down on the pretzels now. I can't believe these things exist. They're awesome, thanks. And the flip flops are great! Thanks tons! My feet thank you for the lack of crazy fungus growing down in Mexico.

Nothing yet on the visas front, but on our letters they are saying the 22nd instead of just delayed, so that's kind of encouraging. Everyone's going a little crazy in the meantime. Tuesday was especially bad. Then when we were all laying in Bed at 10:30, Elder Tibbits just starts laughing and says, "I was thinking that we've been here for so long, we were supposed to leave on the 15th! And today's already the....16th..." So hopefully we can really buckle down and study this last week. It's an awesome opportunity we have to just study our brains out since we don't really have teachers coming in for us. We just wander around the MTC, so lots of time for studying. It's already helped me so much though, my spanish has improved like Crazy. We were investigators last night for some Elders at the TRC and they could barely understand me because I was using words they didn't understand and was talking quickly. So that was a nice ego booster .

I know it's going to be very humbling when I get down to Mexico, but whatever. Mostly we're just excited to get down to Mexico. We got to end (hopefully) on a high note though for our devotional on Tuesday. All 10 weeks here we haven't had an apostle speak, but last tuesday Elder Cook came by and spoke, so that was awesome. It is so interesting to see that ultimate spirit of humility they have. You can just feel when they walk in a room, they know exactly who they are, and nothing more. Servants of the Lord. It's a great lesson to me to not let myself ever think I'm anything more than a servant to the Lord and to the people of Mexico during these two years. Of course, that wouldn't be possible without all of you, so thank you sooooo much

OH! We got released as Zone Leaders! IM A REGULAR MISSIONARY YAAAAAAAAAAY! Now don't get me wrong, I loved serving the Elderes y hermanas aqui, pero I have wanted to be able to be relatively selfish for a while now. We have sooooo much more study time now.

On monday one of the Elders of our district, Elder Combe, left for Mexico. The only one to get his Visa when they needed it. It was a huge blessing, because he is such an outdoors guy, and he has been looking forward to leaving the MTC so much, his stress was apparently really building in here without the sun. But that left his companion alone, so Elder Aguilar (our district Leader) put him with us. We are now in a trio. It's definitely very interesting getting a new companion, especially while you still have your old one sitting right across from you. It's very good though, we have all learned a lot from each other already.

Sounds like everyone is doing great back home, stress filled, but still great. Good luck with those deadlines Dad! That is something I've always admired, is that you just always got the job done, no matter what you needed to do. Remember that 6th grade report I had to write on Greece that was supposed to be like, 6 pages long, we had the whole year to do it, and I had done practically nothing on it. You came down at like, 7 o'clock with Mom and realized it was due tomorrow and we stayed up all night writing it? That was fun.

Thank you all for being such great examples to me, and for showing me who good people are. Without you, and without the Gospel I know I would not be a good person today.

No puedo esperar hasta podriamos hablar otra vez! Posible manana(lo siento, este computadora no tiene accentos) si recibimos nuestros plans de viajar.

Os amo mi familia!

Hasta luego!

I can't wait until I can talk to you again! Maybe tomorrow (I'm sorry, this computer doesn't have accents) if we receive our travel plans.

I love you, my family!

Elder Joseph Neil Newell

HOLA!

HOLA MI FAMILIA!

How's the digitizing process coming?

I don't have much time so, I'm going to have to respond tothe letters in tapes, sorry!

Life has been great here, we got our travel plans 4 hours after the last email, and about 18 hours ago we found out we are being delayed...indefinetely...apparently they can't get appointments with the Mexican Consulate, and something with Visas. So I might be sticking around Provo for a while.

BUT! I get to call home! I'm going to becalling tomorrow evening! So I hope everyone's home, I'll try and call after 7 o'clock so everyone's home!

The MTC is still greatthough, we got a new solid group of Elders in who are going to San Diego/Washington. OH! I also hosted new missionaries coming in this week. I don't know if you remember that Elder that carrid me off, I did that. It was cool, I hope I helped them a little bit on that tough day.

By the way, I can't even respond on the tapes until Thursday, so please don't get offended if yu don't hear responses right off, it's coming, I assure you!

I heard from both brothers this week, yay! Thanks guys! Emily, I haven't heard much from you though. How's work doing? How's your health? Still working at the same place and all?

Anways, I guess I'll talk to you all tomorrow,

HASTA LUEGO!

Hola!

I want to be with you but I know this is where I need to be. This week went really well. The new elders are good and we are happy to have them here. I don’t have much time to write, therefore this message will be short. But I’m sending a tape for you to listen to.

HOLA MI FAMILIA! COMO ESTAN!? Los amo tan! Quiero estar con vosotros pero se que este is donde necesito estar. Este semana fue muy bueno. Los Elderes nuevos son bien, y estamos animado a tener ellos aqui. No tengo much tiempo para escribir, entonces este carta va a ser muy poco. Pero estoy envio una tape para ustedes a escuchar. We're going to be recieving our travel plans today! HOPEFULLY! There are some rumors floating around that Mexico is withholding visas for a while, so we might get reassigned for a few months until we get our visas. Hope not! Thank you all for your packages and supporting letters! Seriously! Thank you so much! I can't honestly think of much that I haven't said on the tape, so I hope you have the opportunity to listen to it soon. Did the pictures ever get there? And the disc? I sent them both in the same envelope so...I guess they should have both gotten there or not. Let me know what you want to hear more of! What do you want to hear less of! Mas espanol o no? It's been really interesting serving here. I have been humbeled...alot...and I am starting to see how much farther I have yet to go. I realized that I really don't help anyone. Even the investigators, I don't do jack. They get helped by the spirit, on their own time. I have learned that by myself I can't do anything. It's when they ponder on the word, when they exercise acts of faith that they will gain a surer knowledge of the gospel. Or of the importance of obedience, long suffering, patience, or other attributes of Christ. Anyways, just to let you know, the tape has much more humor. It's hard to type good jokes...but I would just like to end by saying that I know this Church is true. I know that this is the Lord's work that we are embarking on and that it is the Spirit of God that guides us. Without it there is no point in being here, but with it we are doing the work of the Master, and it is the most important thing we could be doing right now. It is Eternal Salvation, and eternal happiness as well. That is what this gospel is all about. Pointing people back to happiness. Anyways, I love you all so much! Please keep writing letters, I love getting them every day! LOVE YOU! Elder Joseph Newell