November 11, 2015
Wednesday, Day 29
Day 16 in NY
PDAY! I always look forward to this day!
REGULAR DAILY ROUTINE:
Wake up at 6:30, try to limit my prayer to 10 minutes instead of 30,
so I have time to work out. Then I stretch, do my 50 push-ups,
stretch more. I'll be honest I hate working out in morning. No amount of
stretching can take the stiff muscles away at 6:30 in the morning. Well after
we work out, depending on who showered 1st the day before we switch, (that way
the other person can "nap"). So I showered, got ready, went to the
couch to wake up Elder Tabor ha ha and then he gets ready. Then I
"nap" while he gets ready. Then when he's done we both start personal
study on time at 8. After all our studies, we finish about 10 AM and we head
over to the laundry mat to do laundry. While we are waiting on laundry we will
go across the street and buy some groceries or snacks. Then we come back,
switch to the dryer. Then go out for lunch. We ran into the Spanish Elders
(Elder Rankins and Elder Guerra) while we were doing laundry, so we met up with
them for lunch at this super good pizza place!
Then we came home to email... And we had issues with wifi… So we
hurried over to the church, had better luck there with wifi. Sent and received
some emails, then changed into PDAY activity clothes for the 1st time in 2
weeks! Ha ha we played this game called Gator ball! Soooo fun! (And as
missionaries, we can't let games get competitive because people get hurt, but
people get hurt doing anything) so even tho I wasn't getting
"competitive" I still played super hard so I should probably repent.
Lol.
GATOR BALL:
So gator ball is a game of 2 mixed sports. Football and soccer.
There's 1 chair on both sides of the court or (playing field; where ever you
play). There are 2 teams. Amount of players can be how ever many. You can start
with the ball in your hand; you can walk, run, move, jump, whatever you want
with the ball in your hand. But if someone from the opposite team tags you with
the ball in your hand you have to drop it. (You keep possession of the ball,
but the ball gets placed on
the ground) then you have to kick it to the other side for your
teammates. The other teams goal is to keep you from scoring or steal the ball
from you. The goal of the game is to touch the chair on the opposite side of
the field (court) with the ball. Then that's a point and the other team gets
the ball. If you are holding the ball and you get tagged the ball gets put on
the ground, if you pass the ball from your hands to your teammate and they miss
it or drop it and it touches the ground it stays on the ground and it becomes
soccer until you either kick it up to another
one of your teammates. You can't kick the ball up to yourself. But
you
can kick it up to your teammates. When scoring a point, you can
either touch the ball to the chair, kick the ball at the chair, roll the ball
to the chair, anyway you want. As long as the ball touches the chair, at any
point during the game.
Such a fun game!
(If clarification is needed please email me questions, I'll be glad
to help!)
THAT NIGHT:
We went home after our PDAY activity (gator ball) and ate dinner,
got ready for our appointment, then took off to do some look-ups. "Look
ups" are people we look up, that are either investigators or referrals in
the area around where ever we are. So we had a set appointment but he wasn't
home... Or didn't answer, so that's when we usually do look ups. So we just did
that till 8:30 then went home. Did our nightly planning. Then got ready for
bed, did our nightly calls.
NIGHTLY CALLS:
Because Elder Tabor is the district leader. Each night after our
planning, he/we make calls to the other companionships to make sure they all
got home safe and we just ask them how their day went. Maybe share some stories
or experiences. Then we ask them if there's anything we can do for them. If
anything, their response is usually just "pray for so-n-so", so we
do. It's one of my favorite parts of the day.
November 12, 2015
Thursday, Day 30
Day 17 in NY
Same old same old morning routine, get up, make my bed, pray,
"nap" (sit on the couch with my eyes closed while my companion
showers), get ready, personal study, companionship study, then we had
missionary (ward) coordination.
MEETING AT THE CHURCH: (Ward coordination) We go to the church in
Parkchester to meet for this meeting. We take the train over there. Then walk a
quarter of a mile or so. Talk to Bobby the Hobo every time that we see he's
awake. Sometimes Bobby is sleeping with all his blankets pulled over him like a
taco. I told him I'll bring him a big bag of Doritos, so I owe him Doritos.
Since I brought him Doritos twice before, he jokingly asked where his next bag
was. Then that's what I said I'll bring you one.
WARD COORDINATION:
Our meeting at the church consists of the missionaries in our
district. (Sister Morgan, Sister Ballou, Elder Buckley, Elder Sorensen, Elder
Gallardo, Elder Dominguez, Elder Tabor and I, Elder Newbold) We all meet up in
the relief society room. Our ward missionary leader is always there to conduct
out meeting, His names Michael. This meeting SHOULD take about an hour like
I've mentioned last week. But because Michael is a jokester and story teller,
we usually take about 2 hours or so. We
just go over our Progress Reports, which are Reports we write about our
investigators, and how they are doing, when and how often we've met with them,
are the progressing or not. Just things like that.
Michael, (when he actually takes the time to get serious lol) he
reads our reports and we talk about them. We get information as to how we can
maybe do better, or help a certain person or situation.
LOVETH:
Loveth is an investigator, I'm not sure how long she's been an investigator.
But we went to her apartment, (and this was the first time I've met her) we
ring her bell, through the speaker she says "who is it?" We respond
"the missionaries" she buzzes us in and we met her right there at the
front of the apartment on the lobby floor.
I think she's a single mother, she said something about her kids going to
stay with their dad. (It's so hard to understand people sometimes, because they
either don't speak good English or they don't speak English at all, in this
case her accent was rough) Anyways, we didn't have a 3rd male for our lesson so
we just stood in the lobby and taught her The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We taught
from the pamphlets, so we gave her one to follow along with. After talking a
little bit with her we began with a prayer. Then we went right into it, in the
beginning of the lesson she didn't seem very in to it, she looked tired, not
very interested or focused. When Elder Tabor asked her questions she just kind
of nodded and answered with something brief. Not much meaning. So I wasn't
quite sure what was happening, was I not doing anything? Was I doing something
wrong? Is Elder Tabor talking too much? Or maybe she thought she already knew
this stuff? Because she's nodding and saying she has faith in Christ. These
were just questions that came to mind as we taught her. We went over Faith in
Jesus Christ, The atonement and repentance. But it was when I began to read the
section of Baptism and the Holy Ghost, she became more attentive. She looked
more interested.
November 13, 2015
Friday, Day 31
Day 18 in NY
This morning around 11 we had an appointment with Chef Bean, his
real name is Melvin Bean, but we call him Chef Bean, or Bean; Chef Bean cause
he's a chef.
So we met with him, this was my second time meeting with him. He already
has a Baptism date for December 5th, he's excited but still wants to find peace.
Elder Tabor told me I was going to be the one to lead the discussion... so I
did, we talked on three very important commandments. Prayer, (praying often),
reading the scriptures, and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy; then we talked about
obedience over all. It was a really good lesson! He had come to church a couple
times before I think.. I know for sure he came once, but that was before I got
here to NY. But since the last time he came he has had things come up, which kept
him from coming. Two weeks ago he didn't come cause he had to take his brother
to the ER the night of Halloween so he was in the hospital for a while. Then
last week he didn't come because every year he does this thing for charity and
he couldn't give that up, which was understandable. But the lesson went super well, we had him
read sections from Preach My Gospel, powerful stuff!! Then we would ask him
what stood out to him or how he felt about it. He really liked all of it and
shared some awesome input. The spirit was strong! So when the spirit is strong that’s
when we get inspired to invite our investigators. "Chef Bean, will you
commit to follow Jesus Christ's example by being obedient and keeping his
commandments, by praying often with a sincere heart, reading your scriptures
daily, and coming to church on a weekly basis?" Nodding his head, and with a sincere smile,
he said he will commit to doing the things which we discussed and will be at
church this Sunday.
GOAL:
I want to be a Preach My Gospel missionary! I’m going to teach from,
follow, and live by Preach My Gospel.
LUNCH:
We went to this awesome pizza place, ate pizza, and these things
called Zepolies. They are like scones, and they just cover them in powdered
sugar! sooooooo goood! So if you’re wondering, my lunch was pretty awesome!
AFTER:
By the time we got done it was probably about 2:30-3:00 ish, that
was with the hour it took to get to his apartment have the lesson and come back
to eat lunch. After lunch we walked home and got ready for our next
appointment.
BROTHER FORD:
Brother Ford is this new member (convert) who was recently baptized
and is in our ward. He's an older guy, 60's I think he said. Single,no kids.
Has some kind of issue with his foot so he is in pain a lot, (he has gout). He
lives in an apartment with a cool muslim roommate. But we didn't meet with him in his apartment
this time. He had asked us to meet him
somewhere at a certain bus stop. So that he could take us to the hospital, he
wanted us to give his "auntie" a blessing. It's such a sweet/funny
thing to hear him call his aunt, "auntie". (Sweet and funny?? haha I
know 2 very different things. Sweet because he's a grown man and he calls her
auntie. Funny because he's a grown man, who acts like a kid.) He's so funny! I
wish you all could meet this guy! Crackin' jokes always!
MY 1st CRAZY:
So we finally meet him at the bus stop, the bus he was on, was
taking forever to get to us. Then the 3 of us all got on a bus and went from
one stop, to some other bus stop, transferred buses. Brother Ford was leading
the way; tall, black, 60 year old man, limping with his cane, begins loudly
telling these Bronx people to move so we can get off. He got off about 3 people
ahead of me and my companion, he sees the bus ahead which we need to get on so
he starts limp-jogging. By the time he got to the bus ahead I was just getting off
the bus. I hear, as I'm making my way to the bus, Brother Fords voice;
exclaiming, "CALL THE COPS, SOMEONE SPRAYED THE BUS DRIVER!" Apparently
someone getting off the bus that we needed to get on, sprayed the bus driver
with something unknown.. and took off running.. there was some white foamy
substance all over the seat and window where the driver sat. (my guess is that
is wasn't pepper spray, because the bus driver would not have been able to chase
after the man.) So I guess the bus driver took off after the guy leaving a bus full
of people. I see it as a blessing that I was too far behind to catch the
action, because if you know me, my natural instinct would have been to catch the
guy... Then leading into more trouble.
HOSPITAL:
We had to wait for the next bus on that route, so we waited for
about 10 minutes and a bus showed up. I guess the bus drivers all are aware of
what just happened because there was an MTA worker (Metropolitan Transit Authority)
standing at the front of the bus just kind of making sure everything was under control. Finally we get to the hospital, the hospital
was called Calvary Hospital, I guess it's a normal thing to have religious
hospitals. (I said something about it to Brother Ford and he told me there's a number
of hospitals like this) There’s crosses and things hung up all over. It was
interesting.
THE BLESSING:
We took the elevator up to the floor his aunt was on. Walked into
the room she was in and found her sleeping, he tried talking to her and shaking
her a little just to wake her, (YES SHE WAS BREATHING, don't worry) she stayed
asleep, so we decided to go on with the blessing. Brother Ford asked if we had oil, we responded
yes, assuming he would give the blessing.
We asked him what he would like us to assist or help with. He said "you
both figure it out, that’s why you’re here" So Elder Tabor said he will
anoint.. so I looked over at Brother Ford
and said "she's your aunt, would you like to give the
blessing?" he said "no, you do it, I trust your authority more than
my own." I kinda laughed to myself and said "okay". I took off
my jacket and met Elder Tabor at her side. She was still sleeping... But we
proceeded. (I will say that I was a little nervous at first... When I saw this
poor old lady I just had this feeling that her time was soon, I didn't know
when but soon.. I wasn't sure about me being the one to give the blessing.. but
I
remembered what Grandpa Babcock told me right before I came out on
my mission, he explained to me that when we give blessings we shouldn't be
afraid of what to say or what we end up saying. If we give a blessing with the
spirit present then what we say is just what was needed to be said. He said
that the Lord has a plan for everyone, he may not reveal to us what the plan
for them is, but the spirit will be there to comfort those in that time for
whatever may be in store.) I stepped up to her bedside, placed my hands on her head.
Elder Tabor
then placed his on mine and with a few seconds of silence I began to
speak, I don't remember exactly what I said but peace filled my heart. I just
felt good about everything. Elder Tabor gave me the look, that he felt that one
was strong. Brother Ford thanked me and was so glad we could come do this for
him and his aunt. Right after the blessing we gave a short spiritual thought.
Then we started on our way out. When we got to the lobby he offered us a drink
or something from the snack bar. We said we were okay but he really insisted
that he buy us something, so he got us a Gatorade each. Which was nice of him.
TIME:
Most of our day was taken up from being with Brother Ford, which was
a good and successful time! It was just a lot of traveling time. So we didn't
have time for anything else because we had to get home so I could pack for our
split.
SPLIT:
We walked to the train, rode to Parkchester to go to the church.
When we got to the church we got a call from the other Elders, they said they
were running late so we just walked to their apartment.
November 14, 2015
Saturday, Day 32
Day 19 in NY
RUNNING:
Woke up and went for a run with Elder Buckley. Elder Buckley ran
cross
country and track in High School. He runs a 4:15 mile, the kid’s an animal!
What’s super dope about his companion Elder Sorensen is that they were friends
before the mission! They both competed against each other in track and cross-country. So he wanted to go for a run, surprising
enough that was the first
time he had ran on his
mission, haha he's a big runner but for some reason wanted to now go for a run.
So that was fun! It was nice and cold this morning lol. Thank goodness for
thermals.
MAIL:
He's a zone leader so we left the apartment at 10 after comp. study,
to go to the church and get mail! So of course I was pumped! I haven't gotten
mail since I’ve been in NY. We get to the front of the church and see the
Office Elders in their van. We got over there and one of them said, Oh speaking
of Elder Newbold. He opens the trunk and there were boxes on boxes... I had so
much mail because it all finally came at once.
Then we took all the mail and dropped it off inside the church. Then Christmas began, I went through all my
mail, haha it was so fun to see these packages and the letters. THANK YOU ALL
SO MUCH!
TODAY THE SPIRIT TAUGHT ME:
Study the lesson, don't plan it, trust the spirit. I find that I try
to plan a lesson too much, when I should just trust the spirit and what he
wants me to teach.
LONG STORY SHORT:
We had lunch then, 12 week. After all our studies and planning, we finally
left the house. We had a couple referrals we looked up. So we went to see one
guy, he ordered a Bible from one of our LDS websites. So we gave him the Bible and he was really
excited and wanted to talk more. We set an appointment with him and went to the
next person. This kid named William was
a referral from the sister missionaries, they met him and his sister on the
bus. But he's in Elder Buckley's
area so we rang the bell and this William comes to the door. I think
this kid is like 12 but he's interested in learning more about Jesus Christ. So
we set an appointment to come back. We
picked up and went to the corner of the street, we stopped and Elder Buckley
said.."okay we have someone else we can see, but it will be a gamble. We
don't know if they are home and it takes an hour to get there and if they
aren't home we've gone all that way for nothing" Now at the moment he said
gamble my mind said take it. I wasn't sure if that was just me wanting to
gamble or the spirit.. so I stood there in silence to pray in my mind.. and I
felt good about going so that's what I told him. LETS GO! So he said okay.
Elder 1:1-2
1 Nevertheless we Elder's started our journey, in such we walked for
the course of 6 blocks and got on the train.
2 And it came to pass that in as much as we did sit for the space of
fifty and three minutes we did travel no more, for we Elder's did settle in the
ghetto promised land.
When we got to our destination we had no such horrible feelings as
to this trip being a gamble. We took the elevator to the floor and walked down
the hall, knocked on the door and just the kids we were looking for opened the
door. These two kids were about 11-12 years old... and man do they have mouths.
They just have a horrible vocabulary filled with profanity. Elder Buckley did
tell them to not say those words, so they watched their mouths but my,oh my.
They are punk kids lol one loves Jesus and the other needs Jesus. But the one
that loves Jesus talked his buddy into wanting to learn about Jesus. So from us
just
standing there in the hall talking to them, became a lesson it was really
cool! We taught them the restoration. (You’re probably wondering where their
mother was.. she was just in the other room busy with something, but when we
were just about finished she came to the door and we set an appointment to come
back.
TWO OTHER LESSONS:
We met with this one guy named Cameron Craig, we taught an awesome lesson
about the Plan of Salvation. It was perfect because his wife had recently
passed so he was at ease because he believes he will see her again.
Our next lesson was crazy cool. We got to this guys house (Joseph
was his name apparently this guy is a recent convert) and before we knocked on
the door. Elder Buckley said, we will teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So
I'm thinking, alright sweet! Fast forward into his home. We are sitting on the
couch, we opened the meeting with a prayer. Then I guess we somehow started
talking about what he had been reading about in Jacob he was in chapter 5, it
was talking about the olive tree. He had some questions. Elder Buckley then
leans over to me and says this is what our lesson will be about. I freaked out
for a bit inside because I knew nothing really about that story... I've read it
but I didn't know what the symbols were and how to answer any questions... So I
put down my "Gospel of Jesus Christ" pamphlet.. (Then I remembered a
very important principle I learned about "teaching people not
lessons" Elder Holland once said "sometimes its more important to
listen then it is to speak" so I applied that.
Brothers and Sisters, TRUST IN THE SPIRIT. This lesson we taught him
was inspired. Elder Buckley had recently found a symbolism chart with very
minimum explanation. But he passed his Ipad over to me and said "here
Elder Newbold will explain the next couple symbols of the tree" ...I
whispered over to him, dude I don't know anything about this.. He responded in
whisper "fake it till you make it"... at that moment I felt hopeless,
but I did my part in listening to the lesson this far... so I looked at the
chart and saw the only words for that part, "Branches" and next to it
said "group of people" in my mind during the few seconds it was quiet
I heard my self say open your mouth, my mouth opened up and I started off with
"okay so the branches..." everything else that I said only made sense
to Joseph. I had no idea what I was saying, but even Elder Buckley thought I
knew what I was talking about. The spirit works in mysterious ways!!
SPLIT ENDS: (not referring to hair)
We made our way back to the church to split again back to our
original companions. It was an awesome successful day!
November 15, 2015
Sunday, Day 33
Day 20 in NY
We had I believe 4 people committed to coming to church, when we called
all of them to check/remind them. None of them answered.. The night before we
did get a text from Bean saying he'll be there..
EARLY MORNING:
The sisters set us up for an appointment at 7 AM! So I was a little upset
because they didn't ask, they just set it up and told us to go. So we got up at
5:30, we didn't even get to do personal study or comp study... So my day starts
off horrible with that... And of course it can only get worse, we get to the
appointment... The lady doesn't answer... We call the number we had and
apparently we were given the wrong name. So what a waste!!!! We then had a meeting at the church at 8 we
had to be at.. So we got back on the train and went to Parkchester, got to the
church...
And no ones there... We were 15 minutes early... But still, 8
o'clock rolls around and the bishop wasn't here, neither were the counselors...
So by 8:30 the meeting starts, we had things to do by 9:30 so we left the
meeting early (we didn't even need to be at the meeting, we weren't directly
talked to or anything it didn't involve us) so still upset about the whole
morning so far.. We left, went home got home about 10, did a little bit of
studying, planning and ate lunch around 11:30, got ready and had to be back at
the church 45 minutes early.
WHY SO EARLY:
We had to be early to everything and nothing benefited us from doing
that, everyone else either bailed or were late.. So we get to church early, the
sisters had asked for a blessing, just for Sister Morgan. So Elder Buckley,
Elder Sorensen, Elder Tabor, and I went ups stairs to an empty room with the
sisters so we could do the blessing. Elder Tabor said who would you like to be
involved and who to a anoint and who to do the blessing. She said Elder Tabor will
you anoint and then Elder Newbold will you give the blessing. I said of course.
(Surprised but willing) Elder Tabor anointed then I stood in and placed my hands
on her head then he placed his on mine, and I began the blessing. During the blessing
I heard sister Morgan sniffling, she's sick but I wasn't sure if that was why,
I guess the blessing went well, which made my whole day better, because when
she stood to shake my hand and thank me she had tears down her cheeks.
#PriesthoodPower
BLESSINGS:
So that was legit! 2 unexpected blessings this week. Always on my toes,
ready for the next one haha.
November 16, 2015
Monday, Day 34
Day 21 in NY
We had district meeting this morning. Last night during our studies Elder
Tabor asked me to give a lesson on inspired questions. And what's the
difference between regular questions and inspired questions. So I spent my
whole personal study on that topic.. We went to the church and during district
meeting, I could really tell that Elder Tabor’s lesson was really inspired and
that even though I ended up not giving my lesson that it was also inspired for
me to make a lesson, because I was then impressed to share a short thought of
my lesson at the end. And it was super awesome! I invited everyone to read
Preach my Gospel chapter 5. When we
finished district meeting it was about 2, then because Elder Tabor is the
district leader, he has interviews throughout our 6 weeks, so we had an interview
with Elder Nalaza and Elder Hughes. We just made sure everything was going well
between their companionship and their area. Gave some good inspired advice,
because today's just an inspired day! It was all so good! It was about 2:30 and
the four of us went to lunch, got some Chinese food! Which was super good!
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:
You are to build up the Church by finding “them that will receive
you” (D&C 42:8). Such people will recognize that you are the Lord’s servants.
They will be willing to act on your message. It's so true!! We were walking
home and these 2 guys sitting on the steps of a store saw us walking by and
stopped us saying "hey we
respect you" we both were like well thanks! We appreciate that!
We respect you. Hey kept saying that we are good people. They could just tell
we were missionaries, one of them was Mexican and spoke little English so I did
my best to speak Spanish and he did his best to speak English it was pretty
cool! We invited them to church and they were super excited they said yes, we
gave them our number (because he didn't know the number to his phone) and the
address to the church and then we went on our way.
FHE:
When we got home after lunch, we planned our family home evening for
a family. This lady Jean Smith, (Sister Smith) has a couple young special needs
kids, so we prepared a really fun game, sang an opening song and taught them
the actions to the song "the wise man and the foolish man" (they
loved that!) and an awesome and simple object lesson. The lesson was on Prayer,
reading he scriptures, and going to church. They loved it so much! The spirit
was strong! I loved it! So we plan on going back for another next week. Her
kids are 18, 8, and I think 6. The little girl is the youngest. We will soon be
going back to talk about baptism. Super stoked!
CARLITO:
Carlito is the guy we met at the grocery store, he works there, his father
owns it. His store is where I found my 99¢ simply lemonade, so we stopped by to
check up on him. We talked for a bit, he said that his buddy just died.. His
buddy has been doing drugs for a long time, and then Carlito was able to help
him out for awhile, got him into rehab. He
told his buddy that he's not like other drug users, he was a very good guy,
just confused.. He had a really good job, worked really hard in construction
was super detailed, cleaned up everything while he worked so there was no mess,
he said that if he was doing floors, and noticed something wrong or crooked
about it that he would take it all apart and redo it till it was perfect. He
sounded like a really good guy, he just had a bad habit. Well it turns out he
eventually relapsed and ended up dying from it... The whole time we talked to
him I was being told to make an appointment and teach him about the plan of
salvation.. It was awesome! So we asked if there was anything we could do for
him.. He said nothing at the moment... So we talked about getting together some
time he agreed and invited us over for lunch on Thursday. So after our conversation I realized I needed
some things from the store, went looking around and ended up finding some
TruMoo chocolate milk, with a stamp that said (Best sold by Nov. 16) well
that's today, so I grabbed it. When I got in line Carlito was checking items,
so I said hey Carlito I found some milk that needs to be gone by today, so he marked
my $4 half gallon of chocolate milk down to 99¢ ! Score!!
This guy is so awesome! He's been telling us that he's been acting
in a new movie but that he can't tell us much about it so he didn't. But this
guy is so dope,
he's girlfriend I guess has money and she works at this really nice clothing
store. So when people try on white button up shirts and stuff they put in a box
to get rid of because it's "damaged" (meaning they took all the pins
and cardboard out of the shirt and didn't buy it, and they don't want to re pin
it, so they out them in boxes and she takes them home to give to Carlito) they
also do that with ties and
stuff so he said he will hook us up with shirts and ties!
November 17, 2015
Tuesday, Day 35
Day 22 in NY
Today is the day of our split! We were out looking for houses of referrals.
And on our way to a house this black lady from across the street saw us, and I
don't remember what she said but she got our attention. I think she was about
20 something. She said where are you from?
The church? Elder Hughes responded yea The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints. She said "ha! I knew it looking back at the man she was talking to
earlier" she was saying how much she loves people like us and appreciates
what we do. She said its so awesome to see such young and handsome boys like
you out here doing is kind of work!
I guess she really thought we were handsome... Because when we finished
talking to her, she said "okay have a wonderful day sexies" haha
ummmm. Well that was that. Lol
TOUGH LUCK:
I was in Elder Hughes area serving with him on this split, so he had
a full day planned for us. Their area is so tough!! The referrals they get are
also a lot of fake addresses, or people they previously met with don't come to
the door, aren't home, or aren't interested anymore. They don't get a lot of
action out in their area. It's a tough place to find people. The very 1st appointment we did have set was
successful though. It was a couple that had special needs, they were slow and
had such different personalities, the husband was a member but hasn't been
active. The wife was not a member but was interested. But we talked to them about
the restored gospel, and before we had finished the lesson, the wife just said
out loud, "I want to be baptized!" It was so legit! Haha so we
restated her comment of being baptized at the end of our lesson, (we talked to
her alot about how baptism is important and such in the lesson) she was
excited!
BUS RIDES:
They remind me of a ride at Disneyland, like the Indiana jones ride
or something haha. The bus drivers are crazy.
#KEEPTHEHYPE:
We always say Keep the hype, because we get this spiritual hype and
we want to stay on it. After the split we met back at the church at 8:00PM to
un-split. While we were there since it's Tuesday we got mail, our order of Book
of Mormons came in and so I opened it up to make sure it was right, and it was.
So I grabbed it and met Elder Tabor in the front of the church. We started home
with the Spanish Elders because they were also at the church and they head the
same
direction as us. So we went to the train and talked. The Hype was so
strong!
Elder Tabor at first questioned why I brought the Book or Mormons,
as he reached down into the box and grabbed one. He looked up and asked the
lady to his left if she wanted one, she politely said no thank you. So he asked
the lady in front of him she said sure, what is it? BAM!!! Missionary moment!
So he began to explain the Book of Mormon, she was thrilled and grateful, he
exchanged numbers and address with her. He referred her to the sisters since
she lives in their area, but that was awesome! So the Spanish missionaries and
me were just
laughing to each other and admiring Elder Tabors boldness, at the next
stop the lady had got off. So then he offered the man to my right a Book of
Mormon, he didn't speak English, so the Spanish missionaries got their
opportunity to talk to him, they ended up giving him one of their Spanish Book
of Mormons. Then Elder Tabor grabbed another and walked up to this teen girl
and asked if she wanted one, she asked what it was and he said The Book of
Mormon, he asked if she was religious she said no, she doesn't belong to a
church, but she has read the Bible, long story short, she got super excited and
accepted to read it pray, about it, and to be baptized when she receives an answer
if it's true. We had given 2 Book of Mormons with in 10 minutes of being on the
train. It was so cool!!! #KeepTheHype
The church is true!!
November 18, 2015
Wednesday, Day 36
Day 23 in NY
During our morning companionship, we were talking about how our days
went the other day on our split and about our appointments. Elder Tabor said he
met with Brother Ford... He told me that his Aunt had passed away on Sunday
morning. As sad as it was to hear that I had given this poor helpless women a
blessing it was relieving to know that the Lord had plans for her soon. Looking
back at the blessing and trying to think of what I said, I remember that I said these words "your Heavenly Father wants
you to know that everything will be okay from this point on, that whatever
happens he will take care of you and that everything will happen according to
his plan". Then the comfort came and helped me realize that she's no longer
suffering and she's now being taken care of.
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
