Week 34

June 1, 2016
Wednesday, Day 232
Day 219 in NY

P-day!
NEW MONTH:
Its June! My goodness time flies. I don't know whether to think it's a good thing or bad thing. But I like it so I'm not complaining! For our day we planned to go do laundry then head home, drop our clothes off and go to the MET museum again. Right before we left the apartment, we got a text from Ryan K. he works for the church's technology department. He said there was gentleman who showed up and said he was interested in learning about the church. So we took about an hour out of the beginning of our P-day and hurried over to the church where we found one of our returned sister missionary YSA members teaching this man the 1st lesson and giving him a Book of Mormon. When we walked in she handed him off to us. We talked to him about the church and asked where he lives. He said he's from the Bronx. Which means he's out of our area, so we told him that we would have missionaries in the Bronx contact him and get him to the church in Olmstead. It was an awesome way to start off P-day!

After this awesome event occurring, we went to do laundry and then hurried home, dumped our clothes on our bed (sorry mom, I know, I know you taught me better) and went to the MET! After spending about 4 hours or so there, we came home and got ready to go to our lesson at 6:30 with a recent convert Brian, had our lesson with him and went on to dinner.

DINNER:
There's this awesome member in our ward, okay all of them are awesome! This member’s name is Brent and he had us over for dinner. He's so great and funny; he's just an overall great guy. For dinner he made us breakfast, he made eggs, waffles, potatoes, and bacon. It was a great meal! After dinner we shared a quick message with them about missionary work and invited them to pray for a missionary opportunity. He and his roommate Shawn accepted and we went on our way.

June 2, 2016
Thursday, Day 233
Day 220 in NY

PLANNING:
We went to the church today to do our weekly planning. After some hours (2) we became a little impatient and moved on. We then began calling investigators and random people in the area book to see whom we could visit. Very few people answered their phones. So we planned what we could with whom we could visit and moved on from there. After planning we went to the clerks office and did some online missionary portal stuff. There were some things Elder Tatafu never finished in the MTC so we took some time to get them started on. He didn't have much time to finish, so he did what he could and we left to dinner.

DINNER:
For dinner another one of our members invited us over. His name is Oliver and he too is a super great guy! This is the 2nd time I've been over for dinner at his place. He makes home cooked meals so it's
always great! He made us turkey burgers, which were super good, just as much protein in beef burgers but healthier. So we ate and chatted for a bit, then when we finished eating he took us to the rooftop to share a message.

June 3, 2016
Friday, Day 234
Day 221 in NY

MEALS ON WHEELS:
After personal studies this morning we went down a few streets to do our weekly service for meals on wheels. It's often an interesting experience... And by interesting, I mean weird, odd, creepy, etc. lol.
So I believe the purpose of meals on wheels is to deliver meals to elderly people or people who aren't able to cook for themselves. So we volunteer to walk around pushing dollies with these big bags of meals. We follow our given route and deliver each of the meals. Well most of these people that we deliver to are handicap in some way or another and sadly, I believe they live alone with out a home attendant... So often times these people come to the door unclothed... Hiding nothing. They don't even try to hide behind the door lol, they just open up and grab their meals. It's hilarious, then there's this older women who every week we come to her door, she says "ooo the handsome young men
are here." Lol gross! These people crack me up!

After coming home for lunch we went and met with Mia. She's a recent convert and has been so great! We met at Bryant Park and talked about faith and how we can exercise our faith to strengthen it.  After our appointment with Mia we went over to the chapel where our mail gets delivered. When we came back to the church to drop off mail, there was a crowd of people dressed all-nice. They were crowded around the temple doors and a bride and groom came out the doors. It was super cool to watch!

MORONI 7:29:
"And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men."

We didn't have a dinner appointment tonight so we went out and ate and when we came back we came to the church to let Elder Tatafu finish up his online training. While he was doing that I did some studying. During this time there was a knock at clerks office door (where we were). I got up and opened the door and there stood a man and a Chinese woman. The man was a member of one of the wards that met in this building. When I opened the door he said "hey! So this is Catherine she just
came in and asked about our church she said she's interested. I've talked a little bit about what I could but was hoping you would be here to teach her. Could you Elders do that?" We said of course and
got to work, we walked out into the hall and got to know her a little bit. She's from Beijing China and she's been in New York for a few months now. She's been looking for a church so that she can bring her daughter and husband here from Beijing to New York for church. So we took a seat and briefly taught her the restoration. We gave her the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and visit out church on Sunday for our service. She agreed to read and come to church and it was a great opportunity. We got her information and told her we would stay in contact.

June 4, 2016
Saturday, Day 235
Day 222 in NY

MEALS ON WHEELS:
We got up and had studies then went to do service again this morning. Which we've decided we probably won't do anymore on Saturdays. On Fridays it's great because they give us the same route and it's easy because everyone lives in the same building. But on Saturday we get like double the amount of deliveries and the route gets us to walk like 20 blocks and go down all these streets, it's crazy. It took too long to do and it was super hot.

APF:
We had an APF planned so when we finished up our route, we came back home really fast, got washed up and went to the Bethesda fountain to die in the heat again. We got to the fountain and there was a wedding going on, so we had a lot of competition with people there for the wedding. I met a lady and her daughter who are friends with Elder Burton. It was a good time! After the APF we had a little more weekly planning to finish up. And that was my day!

June 5, 2016
Sunday, Day 236
Day 223 in NY

FAST SUNDAY:
Sunday was great we went to church! One of our investigators came! It was great to see Jeffery again.
After our 3rd hour we were in the hall talking to members and meeting the new ones. As we were leaving, Brent reached out and stopped us. He asked if we were having dinner with anyone tonight. We said no, cause we didn't. And he said okay come over at 5:30 and we will have dinner! He is so awesome! It makes me hope that he and other members see us as great missionaries and want to have us over. This was the 2nd time this week that Brent fed us so it made us feel good! This time he fed us chicken, potatoes, and salad. It was great! A perfect way to end a fast! We got there at 5:30 and he said that the chicken wasn't done yet, so we waited about 15 minutes before we could eat, which was nice. We got to talk to him and his roommate Elliot for a bit and got to know them both a little better. Well it was pouring down rain like crazy while we were visiting during dinner... We were hoping it would stop soon and so we went on over to the couch after dinner and shared a message. When we finished our message the rain lightened up and we walked to the train station. Miracles are all around us! All we have to do is open our eyes!

June 6, 2016
Monday, Day 237
Day 224 in NY

DISTRICT MEETING:
In personal studies this morning I prepared and studied for district meeting. I called and talked to the members in my district after pondering what we should discuss and what came to my mind was to talk about personal studies and how to better them. When I called the sisters last night they told me that they would like to discuss studies, so it was perfect. We went through the announcements of district meeting and then got into talking about studies. We have Elder Bennett, a member of the seventy, coming to the mission to speak with us. So we tied into our discussion on our studies the things we were asked to study for the meeting tomorrow. We focused on how we can improve our studies, how we can stay awake, and how we can get deeper into the Book of Mormon. I love district meetings because when I pray for what to discuss I learn a lot from the other missionaries when we come together and share our thoughts.

MINI SPLIT:
Elder Richards has been sick for the past 3 or so days. He's had a bad stomachache and has been in bed all day since it started. So poor Elder Richards hadn't been feeling good and his companion Elder Burton had been stuck inside all day for like 3 days so. Elder Tatafu and Elder Burton went on a split to get Elder Burton out of the apartment. I stayed home with Elder Richards and cleaned the apartment. I guess cleaning is a hobby of mine. When I have any down time, it's all I do. The Elders had a great time together, they taught a lesson and Elder Burton got to practice a song on the piano for the meeting with Elder Bennett tomorrow. It was a great day.

June 7, 2016
Tuesday, Day 238
Day 225 in NY

DAY OF WONDER:
Woke up early this morning and went for a run. We got to the church and balled it up and did some workouts. Then the AP's showed up and started setting up for the meeting with Elder Bennett. So we helped out for a bit then left at 7 went for another run home, and the last 2 blocks we sprinted. When we got home we got ready and changed. We left the apartment at 8:15 and got back to the church at 8:30. We found a seat and waited in silence for Elder Bennett and his wife to come. It was such a great time! It was 8 hours... But it was so awesome! In preparation for this meeting we, as a mission studied Alma 39-42 and pondered and studied the word "desire". I love being taught from on high, by the spirit, through a called general authority of God. What a wonderful experience it was! It's just so cool that New York is a popular place for the general authorities of the church to visit. In the last 7 and a half months I've met Elder Jeffery R. Holland, Bishop Gérald Caussé, and Elder Randall K. Bennett.  By the time we were done it was about 4PM so we went home and got ready for our dinner appointment. Dinner was great; Lorina took us to Sweetgreen, which was great I love this salad place! And that was our night. I did something to my back when I got home so I couldn't stand up very easy without falling over again... So we stayed home and made some phone calls…

RICKY:
I hadn't talked to Ricky in a while, so I gave him a call and left a voicemail. A little while later I got a call back from him and he said "Hello Elder Newbold, what's up?" I was excited to talk to him again! And guess what?!? Ricky said he had some good news! He has been progressing so much that they changed his date and so he's getting baptized this week, Sunday the 12th! How awesome!! I was so excited!! I'm going to contact president and see if I can get permission to attend his baptism. Hopefully all goes well!

That's all for this exciting and wonderful week! Love you all! Enjoy your week! Find the miracles!

Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Central Park

Elder Newbold cradling his new niece Akayla 

Always on the search for Flamingos #broflamingo

His district