Elder Tyler Newbold NY NY North Mission: Week 27

April 13, 2016
Wednesday, Day 183
Day 170 in NY

Pday!! (ELDER BELL’S BIRTHDAY!)
Today was by far the best Pday I've had! After studies we quickly knocked out laundry and groceries. Elder Davis and I planned with our roommates, Elder Bell and Elder West to just go to Manhattan and check it out. So we celebrated Elder Bell’s birthday on Pday, in Manhattan, and ate at this place called Shake Shack!

9/11 MEMORIAL:
So to show how amazing it was, I will say I know very little about 9/11, but to be at the site of the towers and see the memorial waterfalls with the waist high borders around the waterfall covered in
the names of those who were lost in the tragic incident. It was really cool! Knowing very little of it, I felt its importance. It was really fun to be able to experience more of NY. After the memorial we went to Century 21 and looked around. Well I ended up finding bow ties... 1. I love how ties 2. They were on sale and 3. I love bow ties.... So I found as many as were visible to me and bought them all. I can't wear them on my mission so enjoy my brothers! There were 10 of them and they were being sold for $2.59 each! Originally $45 each! I ended up saving $479.12! How nuts! Super legit tho!

Shake Shack! So since it was Elder Bell’s birthday we went to this restaurant called Shake Shack, there burgers are small but totally filling, super good place! We had a blast this Pday! This is all we had time for so after we ate we got back on the subways and headed home.

TRAINER CALLS!
So, we make it home with about an hour till 6 and we start emailing. During this time we get a phone call from President Smith. So I answer, "Elder Newbold and Elder Davis" and President said, “Elder
Newbold how's it going?” We talked about Pday for a bit and he asked for Elder Davis, so I threw the phone to Elder Davis and he looked a bit confused maybe nervous and he answered the phone and President asked him about his day and said "well Elder Davis, I was in the temple today... And the Lord is calling you to be a trainer" Elder Davis didn't know how to react so he semi causally said "let's do it, l get'er done" it was so great! So by this phone call I knew that I would be transferred because he would be training.

April 14, 2016
Thursday, Day 184
Day 171 in NY

SAME OLD SAME AS OLD!
We had ward correlation, lunch, then we had weekly planning. So we went about our day. We had some time with Brother Ford so he came out with us and we had some plans to look up people, and we had plans to teach people. But our appointments fell through and nothing went as planned. So we thanked him for coming with us and we went our separate ways.

THE CALL:
Later tonight we went and visited Ricky we had to tell him the exciting/sad news... We told him that yesterday we received a call that Elder Davis would be training... Which means that I'll be leaving... He wasn't too happy about that... But, we told him we would come by each night before I leave. So during this time with Ricky the phone rings and I pick up the phone and it's President again. I answer and he says "Elder Newbold! Guess what!" I said "what?" He said, "I need you to be a leader in this mission, so I'm calling you to be a District Leader, are you willing to take this calling?" I said, "absolutely President! He said, "that’s great, you will be transferred to Manhattan, you'll be serving in Lincoln Square, and will be in the Lincoln YSA ward. Your companion will be Elder Moss!" I just about had a heart attack! This is a dream transfer! Haha I'm going to serve in Manhattan and I absolutely love Elder Moss so I'm totally stoked! President said, "How does that sound?" I said "wonderful! That's perfect!" It was really cool to get that call! And I put it on speaker for Elder Davis and Ricky to hear, so it was nice for Ricky to be apart of it!

April 15, 2016
Friday, Day 185
Day 172 in NY

DUE TO TRANSFERS:
Life gets even busier! So today we got a call from the AP's and they informed us that they would be shutting down our apartment. We don't know why, but we are being told to move out completely… So now with transfers and closing down the apartment, we had very little time to go teach and make appointments. So we had to pack our stuff, deep clean the entire apartment, and be ready to leave by
Tuesday morning at 6am. So, today Elder Davis had the train the trainers meeting, so we went and
met up with 2 Elders and we went on a split. Elder Davis went with Elder Howard and went to Scarsdale, while Elder Brown and I stayed in the area.

Elder Brown and I went to the church, had ward correlation. We went to that and they surprised me, because I didn't know what area I was in exactly, Elder Tabor walked in to the room we were waiting to start ward correlation and so I got to be with Elder Tabor and his companion Elder Pulu. Thinking I'd only see him during the meeting they then told me we were going to do service together! So we went to their apartment we got changed out of our Pros clothes (proselyting clothes) and put on service clothes. We then went over to this place; I'm not even sure what it was. It was this property owned by someone… There was this big building on it and a huge tree that had snapped and they had it cut up. So we went around picking up wood! Lol it was fun, Elder Tabor, Elder Pulu, and I got to be together again!

April 16, 2016
Saturday, Day 186
Day 173 in NY

HOME BOUND:
We got up this morning, had studies and began packing up the apartment. We stayed home most of the day; we were home from 6:30 AM to 2 PM. Then we did have a couple people to see, but after that we were home again from 3:30 PM to 8 PM.

Rough day, stayed home most of the time but we got a lot done. It was so hard to stay focused on cleaning one thing. When we had to clean the kitchen we had to clean and pull things out of cupboards. So it's like while we were cleaning, we were making more of a mess, because the kitchen counter was just covered with food that we had taken out of the fridge and cupboards.

We had our suitcases out and we were just packing as much of our stuff in them as we could. I ended up having no room for some things so I put them in boxes so I could send them home.

April 17, 2016
Sunday, Day 187
Day 174 in NY

GOODBYE TO THE BRONX:
Woke up, got ready for church and by 9 we were out the door. Our ward starts at 10 but we like to be 30 minutes early to help out and greet people. Church was good! It was weird because as I started saying goodbye to people in the ward, I started to realize how much I actually love these people... And how much I'm really going to miss them. I didn't think it would be so hard to say goodbye to everyone… But it was, and in a way it was good because I really did recognize how much love I have for the people here in the Bronx.

BROTHER FORD:
So Brother Ford has this traditional way of saying goodbye, to Elders. I asked to take a picture with him before I left and he said yes. With Elder Davis at the camera, Brother Ford says, "ready? 1...2...(Muah!)" and gives me a big kiss on the cheek! I'm going to miss the Olmstead 2nd ward.

April 18, 2016
Monday, Day 188
Day 175 in NY

PACKING:
We woke up, had studies and began to finish packing and cleaning!! This is all we did, till 8pm. When I got my suitcases as tight as they could be without them exploding open. I realized I had extra things I had no room for. I filled up 3 boxes to send home.

FEDEX:
FedEx in the Bronx? Never again! After packing and cleaning as much as we could, Elder Davis and I left the apartment I believe around 6:30. We carried the 3 boxes and started our ride on the train. We rode down to the bottom of our boundary and there we began our wild goose hunt for the FedEx building… After 20 minutes or so of walking we found it! But wait! Where's the entrance... I see the FedEx building but no entrance... It surrounds itself with other large company buildings and gates.
We started walking to this fence that we thought maybe we could see a way in when 2 guys stopped us from inside another building. We asked how we could get to FedEx and he told us we would need to walked down a few blocks more and make a left...

After doing so we later found ourselves at an entrance... But was it FedEx? It advertised itself as FedEx, but was it? I don't know... We began walking to this security guy for directions, he said "make a left at the corner and go all the way down to the office. So we began walking to the corner, took a left, and saw no FedEx. So once again, we continued our journey. Not knowing how far down we had to walk, we began to speed walk, hoping that if it were far we would save some time. After about a 10-minute speed walk we saw FedEx. We then made our way to the office and I was able to send home my packages.

By the time I finished sending them home it was a little after 8pm. And we had an appointment to see Ricky one last time before I left. He said that we were still good to come by; he made dinner for us. So we rushed back to his side of the area and visited Ricky and had dinner. Oh man! Ricky makes some goooooood food! So that was an awesome way to finish off the night.

April 19, 2016
Tuesday, Day 189
Day 176 in NY

EARLY START:
Woke up at 4:30, got ready and was out of the apartment with my stuff by 6. Then we made our way to the train and went to Kingsbridge again to meet with Elders Brown and Howard. Elder Davis and Elder Howard went to the church and picked up their new companions and Elder Brown and I, along with their other two roommates, Elders Olsen and Allen stayed at their apartment for a couple hours before we left. Elders Olsen and Allen still had some packing to do so Elder Brown and I just talked and ate breakfast. When we were all ready we started our way to the door... Apparently the building management planned on painting apartment doors today... So the door was all wet with paint so we one by one passed each suitcase very slowly through the tiny door way. After some time of passing 60-80 lbs. suitcases through a 2ft door way we were on our way to load the elevator with 10 suitcases and 4 Elders. (Wish we had a photo!)

Well, after a long journey of suitcase dragging. (Meanwhile, I'm wearing my suit in what feels like 90°). We made it to the train. Trying to find a spot on the train for all of us, my companion, Elder Brown and Elder Olsen’s companion Elder Allen both hopped on somewhere and Elder Olsen and I were stuck behind as the doors closed and the train left the station… With our companions on their way, we waited and waited. Another train finally came and we rode that to the next stop, fast forward, then we made it to the church where I then received my new companion. ELDER MOSS!

ELDER MOSS:
I've known Elder Moss from sometime in the beginning of my first cycle as a missionary. Elder Tabor knew him for a while and he introduced me to him in our next meeting. We hit it off so fast! The three of us together is just too much fun!
Well long story short! He's awesome and I'm so excited to be companions with him. The crazy part is, he goes home in 5 weeks... And so that means I'm now most likely going to be taking over the area. So, I have 5 weeks to get to know the area, members, and investigators! Whoop whoop! I'm stoked it's going to be a great cycle!

Sorry I missed you all last week with my email... Transfers took too much time this week and I had no time to write.

Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,

Elder Newbold