Elder Tyler Newbold NY NY North Mission: Week 19

February 13, 2016
Saturday, Day 123
Day 110 in NY

BAPTISM:
Woke up and right after studies went to the church to attend a baptism. The Sisters’ investigator was being baptized! How awesome! So that was super exciting, baptisms are the best! After the baptism, we un-split so Elder Davis and I went home and began weekly planning.

February 14, 2016
Sunday, Day 124
Day 111 in NY

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
I had to be reminded that it was Valentine's Day by many people today; 1. I'm not good with dates, I can't remember when holidays are, nor is my memory good in the first place. 2. I'm serving a mission, as every other missionary, we don't really celebrate holidays, we work everyday. Inviting people to come unto Christ. The only thing we celebrate is Jesus Christ.

AIDA:
So like I said before I didn't realize it was Valentine's Day, neither did it cross my mind that other people may celebrate Valentine's Day. So when we talked to Aida about visiting her today, like we visit her every Sunday, she said that today wouldn't work for her because she wouldn't be home, after telling someone that she, for the first time has rescheduled our appointment, they said maybe she really isn't home, it is Valentine's Day. Then of course I realized, you’re right it is Valentine's Day and I hoped that was the case.

After we had text Aida about another day we could reschedule... She responded with "I'll just call you when I want to take the lessons again." Missionaries never like to hear that, because really that means "I don't want to meet with you anymore". We keep praying that she continues to read the Book of Mormon and has a desire to follow the Savior Jesus Christ. But for now all we can do is wait on her to be ready.

February 15, 2016
Monday, Day 125
Day 112 in NY

SNOW DAY!
Went out tonight and looked up a referral, he wasn't home…so we walked home in the snow and passed out Jesus pass along cards to EVERYONE we saw... Well everyone that took them... Which was like 15 people out of 20. People just don't understand that holding Jesus pass along cards is just like holding hand warmers! They should be asking to have one card for each hand! It was snowy and getting late and we had the goal to pass out 1 Book of Mormon before we went back to the apartment.
We saw this lady standing under an overhang. We came up to her and asked if she'd like a picture of Jesus, her response was completely unexpected. "Oh yes, he's my boyfriend, my hubby! I love him". A
little out of the ordinary, but its New York, it's really not that weird here. Well we started to talk to her about Jesus Christ and we talked about church, she shared some interesting experiences that she had when she first went to church. She explained that she "was overcome with the spirit and fainted to the ground while talking to the pastor". She described it as a feeling that she would like to have again. Elder Davis pulled out a Book of Mormon and we told her that she could have this book because when you read this book you can feel the Holy Spirit and you can have many more experiences to share. She seemed interested in it and took it. She said she was going out of town the next day and would be gone for about 2 weeks, but would definitely give us a call when she gets back. Her name was Anna, so we pray that she does call us.

LANGUAGES:
Same night, within about minutes after that conversation with Anna, we ran into this guy named Junior.
We didn't know him, but we wanted to see if he wanted a card. I said, "Excuse me sir" (he turned around) "would you like a picture of Jesus?"

So since I was in the Spanish program for 2 weeks, when I would talk to people and they didn't understand me, I, out of habit would begin speaking whatever Spanish I knew to try and talk to them...

Junior responds, "huh?" So who knows for what reason, instead of repeating myself in English, I repeated my self in Spanish... "¿Te queres un foto de Jesu Cristo?"

He then says, "What language do you want to speak to me in, English or Spanish?" (Trying so hard not to sound like a smart A) I said, "Which ever you prefer." He then responded with something I couldn't understand, but sounded close to Spanish.

Me: Was that Italian?
Junior: No! It was French!
Me: oh that's cool! I don't speak French…
Junior: Oh you don't do you? (With attitude)
Me: Nope, I only speak English.
Junior: (Holding the Jesus Card in his hand he said) Can I call you?
Me: yea of course.
Junior: Good, I'm gonna call you about my personal problems.
Me: (wishing I said nothing I said) sounds good.
Junior: (looks to Elder Davis and says) You see, you gotta be confident in yourself to be able to talk to people, I don't like that guy (referring to me) but we connected.

Well he straight up told me he doesn't like me, which made me laugh. We walked away and wished him a good night!

February 16, 2016
Tuesday, Day 126
Day 113 in NY

BISHOP:
We got a text from bishop asking if we would be available tonight to give him a blessing. We told him of course. We didn't have any set plans for the night.

So right after dinner we went to the train station and got on the 5 train and headed over to Bishop’s house. When we got there we talked and asked about how he's doing and what he would like the blessing for.

He said, he had been having some odd thing going on with one of his eyes. It sounded like, a curtain being dragged across one of his eyes, blurring his vision to a great extent. So the bottom half of his eye was loosing vision. (Bishop, going to school to become some kind of Dr. Says that he remembers learning about what it was) realizing it was something that needed immediate attention he looked up some eye doctors and found a really good one. Then he made the soonest appointment he could, when he was seen by the eye doctor, he was told that a nerve in the back of his eye had come "unplugged" he would need to go into surgery ASAP. The next day he was scheduled in, the expert Doctor that diagnosed his issue was a fan of Mormons and paid off the $80,000 surgery and bishop only had to pay $1,200 for anesthesia. WHAT A MIRACLE!!

He said that he wanted the blessing to help him be comforted and that he will be able to heal and recover quickly to return back to school. So after we talked we gave him the blessing, then we sat and talked for a little more as he shared his gratitude for us and the gospel. I love Bishop Jessop.

February 17, 2016
Wednesday, Day 127
Day 114 in NY

PDAY!
These days really do come so fast! It's insane!

Same old Same old.
Laundry. Groceries. Home. Lunch. Church. Gator ball.

PROGRESS IN THE HOOD:
We met with these less actives who have been meeting with missionaries for a while. They love missionaries they just DO NOT like church. They have refused to go since who knows when. But missionaries have been trying to get them to church since at least 2014. As soon as Elder Davis and I met with them they agreed to come to church. It was a miracle that they even agreed to come!

February 18, 2016
Thursday, Day 128
Day 115 in NY

We had coordination then came home for lunch. After lunch but before weekly planning we had 20 referrals... So we decided that we would just take the time to call them all. We set up appointments with about half of them. We had a packed and set schedule for the week just from our referrals. That helped weekly planning go by.

WEEKLY PLANNING:
Always takes time... But it's good; with out weekly planning we would be nowhere near as busy as we are each day. We would probably have like no plans at all. It would be horrible.

DIVINE EARTH:
We have this investigator who requested a Bible. Her name is DivineEarth. How cool of a name! Haha I've never heard of a name like that. She's 18 and she's apparently interested in coming to church. We
are teaching her lessons and have met with her a few times. We pray that she will make an effort to attend church.

February 19, 2016
Friday, Day 129
Day 116 in NY

REFERRALS:
We had an appointment with one of our referrals this morning. Sophia, she ordered a Bible. So we gave her the Bible and she set up another time with us that she could meet, when she doesn't have work.

We met with DivineEarth again. Before we left her house yesterday, we asked when would be another time we could meet. She said that tomorrow would be good. So here we are again with her. We were able to come in the apartment because her older brother was home, and we got to meet her mom. She says her mom might be interested as well. So we will see, we should be meeting with her again on Sunday if she doesn't come to church.

February 20, 2016
Saturday, Day 130
Day 117 in NY

RAMDHANS: (readers discretion is advised...I warned you)
So, I am not a fan of eating at other people’s apartments. After a few of my first dinner appointments I decided I wouldn't eat anywhere else but my own apartment. The Bronx, is NOT a clean place, never has been. NY buildings/apartments have been around for about, forever! And I guess people don't like to clean. Well, there's this member who cooks for the missionaries every Saturday. But she asks each companionship to help her on a different week. Before this time, I had only been over there once. And I was hoping I would keep it that way… I love helping people. But I'm NOT a fan of Indian food or dirty
plates and utensils...

Since I've been out here, I've cleaned so many dishes. My own and even other people's dishes who have claimed that they are clean..

***Hair is NOT an ingredient in preparing food!!!!! Please keep it on your own body***
*Nuf' said*

February 21, 2016
Sunday, Day 131
Day 118 in NY

CHURCH:
Guess who came to church! The less active members who claimed they hate church and don't want to come. Showed up to sacrament! When we got to church we received a call from Magdalena, the mother. She asked, "How did you get to church?" We told her that the local trains aren't running on her side of town, but that we took the BX 19 bus to the Hunts Point stop and rode up to Parkchester. Her response was short, "okay, we will see you soon". I thought okay great! Less than 15 minutes later, they show up! Which was unexpected. I asked how they got here and they're response was "we just took a cab” that made my heart warm! Because these members never wanted to come to church and then all of a sudden decided they do and they made the perfect effort to get there.

February 22, 2016
Monday, Day 132
Day 119 in NY

CHARITY IS ABOVE ALL:
In Moroni 10, it's said that if you have not charity, we can in no way be saved in the kingdom of God.
I always look for opportunities to serve, not to boast in that way, but I love service and if you don't know that by now, let me serve you. For if you deny charity how can we give charity. For if we don't
give charity how can we be saved?

So, all our plans for today fell through so hard! It bit us bad today... We just didn't know what to do, so we started by going to an investigators apartment and see if they were home. Well, just as I had my hand up to knock on the door the neighboring door was opened and suitcases were pushed out. Elder Davis and I immediately reached forward and offered our service. For the first time, someone has accepted our charity. We helped her carry out all her luggage down the elevator to the taxi out front. She continually thanked us over and over again, in between short moments of silence between our conversation. She told us she was going on vacation to Santiago for a month, we gave her a card and told her to give us a call if she ever needed any help. With a day of fallen through appointments it was so nice to be able to serve someone.

February 23, 2016
Tuesday, Day 133
Day 120 in NY

FUNERAL:
The day we went to give bishop a blessing, he told us that a family who lived in our ward my first week in the mission, the mother of the family had passed away from a heart attack. To represent the ward and to show our love and support to the family, Elder Davis and I were asked by President to attend the Funeral. Earlier in the week, I received a call from Elder Tabor and Elder Moss (the ZL's of the Kingsbridge Zone) informing us of the funeral time and date. They said that they too would attend the funeral. So I was excited, not for the funeral but too be able to see Elder Tabor and introduce Elder Davis to him. We were at the funeral from 1:30-4. We didn't get home till 5.

But the funeral was very interesting. I don't really think it's the funeral that's so interesting but the people who attend the funeral. This is the 2nd funeral I've attended on my mission so far... And they
are so different. This funeral was a member family, with MANY nonmember friends and family.

A member from our ward offered to drive us home; since it was raining we accepted their invitation. They took us to McDonalds lol, even McDonalds is more expensive then McDonalds back home. There isn't a dollar menu and drinks aren't a dollar!! How crazy!

Well that's all for this week!!! Love you all; I'm working on writing letters back! Enjoy your week! Peace out!

Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold