Week 41

July 20, 2016
Wednesday, Day 281
Day 268 in NY

Pday!
We went to the 87th St. chapel to email and play some Ping-Pong. Elder Dutson and I played for a good hour and a half. Meanwhile other missionaries were in the gym with Jay getting haircuts. President Smith’s son, William, was also in the gym-playing ball with the missionaries waiting for haircuts. Around our hour and a half mark of playing Ping-Pong, President Smith showed up. He brought some pizza for everyone. But we kept playing Ping-Pong. He came into the room we were playing in and chatted with us for a little bit. Just to talk about our investigators and such. Soon after we left and went to go to Burlington to do some shopping for Elder Dutson's return home. After about an hour of shopping we needed to head back home to have dinner and get ready for our appointments. Being unsure of transit getting us home in time and being tired and lazy, we paid for another cab to take us home. It took us 15 minutes, which saved us like 30 minutes, so it was definitely worth it. After getting home we ate and got ready to go to our appointments. We met with a family at 6:15. It's always so interesting meeting with them. We can NEVER get the whole family home together in the same room. All we want to do is get to know them and share a quick message. But instead the mother wants to sit on the computer playing games like a 5 year old, the father isn't home, the oldest son sits in and is one of 2 participants, his younger brother reads with us and has questions, and the rest are too young. It tests our patience for sure because they know we are coming but they don't do anything to prepare for our visit. Our next appointment was with Tiffany, an investigator who has a baptismal date. She's seems to be doing well, but with her it's hard to tell because we will meet with her and invite her to church, then she won't come and for 4 days she won't respond to us. Then we end up catching her some time and talk then she disappears again for a while. But it's Patience. Love. & Faith. that will help us through.

July 21, 2016
Thursday, Day 282
Day 269 in NY

Planning day... After studies we do half an hour of daily contact. Where we call/text our investigators and people we meet with to see how they are doing and to follow up with them and the commitments they accepted. After that we send in any orders we need for this coming week, like copies of The Book of Mormon, pamphlets, pass along cards, etc. Then we begin planning; our planning can take up to 3 hours, which is normal, but it gets so boring and tiring so we usually take quick little breaks in the middle to get us through it. Because our apartment doesn't have Wi-Fi we either stay and plan then head to the church to sync or we just go to the church, plan and sync our iPad’s there. After planning we had lunch then got ready to go see Michael. Michael is doing so well! He's been cutting back on smoking and has been reading the Book of Mormon. He's learning a lot from it and it's so cool to see the change he's making! He is so great! When we finished our appointment with Michael we had to catch a bus home. Which takes us a little over 30 minutes to get home. Meanwhile standing under a tree for shade we feel weight escaping our bodies as we wait there sweating in 95° with ridiculous humidity. It's been so hot lately. When we finally got home we changed out of our drenched clothes and ate dinner. After an hour we changed back into our clothes and headed out to see this awesome family. The Ducassas, they are so sweet. This time I got to meet the wife. Last week she was at job training. They are both Doctors and are working through getting licensed since they came from the Dominican Republic. They are just the sweetest; when we come over they make little snacks for us. They put out fruit, crackers, and cheese and some juice. It's the couple and their daughter who I don't think is older than 8. They both love the Savior and have so much faith in him. They are both Catholic and aren't necessarily looking for change but they are so open minded and willing to hear our message. This visit we invited them to come to church sometime and we could give them a tour. They said they would love to come check it out sometime. We didn't rush them and set a date to come but we kept it open for discussion in the future. Afterward we went and stopped by this kid Rhamelo's apartment and followed up with his Book of Mormon reading. He said he reads a little bit but has a hard time remembering all of it. We explained it will all come but not at the exact time. He told us what he could remember and from what we could tell he had been reading from the testimony of Joseph Smith in the front of the book. It was a quick visit and we headed home to nightly plan.

July 22, 2016
Friday, Day 283
Day 270 in NY

Happy birthday to me!
Birthdays on the mish are so different. All throughout this week I didn't think much of my birthday coming up. In fact this morning I woke up and had totally forgotten it was my birthday till companionship study, which is about 3 hours after I woke up. We were in our living room/kitchen and before we sang an opening hymn the guys sang happy birthday. Then shortly after I forgot again. We just have so much more important things to be doing than my birthday. (So when I get home, we can have 2 birthday parties for me to make up for the 2 on the mish). After studies we called some peeps for daily contact then we had lunch. Thanks to Jen we went and got chipotle and we came back to the apartment with chipotle for the apartment, our roommates gave us money to grab them stuff while they did language study. By the time we got back they were done and we celebrated. Afterwards we went out to do some look ups around the church and since it's Friday that means "ice cream with Bae". Ice cream with Bae is how we strengthen our companionship unity. Every Friday we go to McDonalds or a near by "coco-helado" (Mexican ice cream stand). Since McDonalds was out of ice cream on the hottest day of the freakin year (99° w/ humidity) we went and got coco-helado, which is cheaper and so much better anyway. After ice cream with Bae, we did some more look-ups before we went and met with crazy Willy. Crazy Willy is this guy we met with, with the Sisters. They passed him off to us. He just talks the whole time about random things and most the time hasn't made sense haha. He says he appreciates our visits but he really hadn't showed any interest, we will see how this goes. We had a few more appointments before we came home for dinner and went back out again. By 9pm we were back in the apartment for nightly planning.

Happy birthday to me!

July 23, 2016
Saturday, Day 284
Day 271 in NY

Today was slow but we made the most of what we could. We had 8 lessons planned, but only had 5 work out. It was like every other lesson worked out. After lunch we had an appoint man with Ellenia it was awesome, we gave her a church tour and she had so many awesome questions. As we got to the next room her question always had to do with what we planned on talking about next. So as we left the primary rooms upstairs and came downstairs she asked about tithing. It was perfect, we were just around the corner coming up to the clerks office and so we grabbed a tithing envelope and taught her about tithing, as we moved forward to the next room she asked about the baptismal font which was where we were heading next. As we opened the doors we explained where we were and then we opened the doors to the font. She stood back and in awe just loved the scene in front of her. It was such a sweet experience; the room was the quietest room we had been in. Everything felt still and the spirit was just so strong. After the baptismal font we entered the sacrament room and she began asking questions, so we one by one answered each of her questions. Then we went to our next appointment, which cancelled so we continued on to our next appointment. After a short visit we headed home for dinner. After dinner we worked on planning our lesson for third hour of church. Our subject was service. We planned to talk a lot about what service means to us and experiences we've had while serving. We think it would be a great lesson.

July 24, 2016
Sunday, Day 285
Day 272 in NY

Church was great! Daryl, our investigator, who at first had a problem with organized religion, but ended up coming to church! It was awesome to have him there. He said he enjoyed it he came and stayed for all 3 hours. We had our lesson the 3rd hour and he said he really enjoyed it. We talked about service, asked everyone what came to their mind when they heard the word service after all the great responses we read some scriptures and then we watched the Mormon message "Lift" and let people think about their feelings. It felt like such a great lesson! Everyone was really into it and participated.  After church we made our way home and had lunch. Then prepared for our next appointment. Was a bit of a slow workday, afterwards we came home for dinner. It was pretty hot today to. This week has been above 90°... With no Wi-Fi in our apartment I can't check the weather but I've noticed after a few days of hot weather it starts to pour down rain the next day. Even though one day it's bright out and the sky is blue. Then the next it's grey and rainy. So I'm thinking tomorrow will be the day!

July 25, 2016
Monday, Day 286
Day 273 in NY

District meeting this morning was good! We have a zone conference tomorrow and we are supposed to have a 5-minute talk written and study why and how the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost are the most powerful tools in teaching. During district meeting we discussed some things along the lines of our zone conference subject. So we read through parts of the Book of Mormon and talked about Lehi's dream, while talking about his dream we compared his dream and his reaction to how we should act. When Lehi partook of the fruit of the tree he DESIRED that his family should come and partake. The scriptures say that he beckoned to his family, calling for them. Then with a loud voice he yelled for them to come and partake. It shows the desire he has for his family to partake of salvation and that's the desire we should have. We should go out and desire salvation for everyone by talking to everyone we can and inviting them to partake of the fruit, to learn of the words of God. After our meeting we went home for lunch and cleaned out the area book, contacting people who hadn't been taught in a while, calling referrals, and so on. We then went out to meet with Michael. We talked more about his reading with the Book of Mormon. He's been doing well with it, he reads and understands it for the most part and has great questions. When we finished answering his questions we talked about the restoration for review and invited him to answer the questions in the back of the pamphlet. He accepted. Like I had predicted! In the middle of our lesson with Michael it began dumping rain! It was crazy! Full on thunder/lightening storm. When we got outside we got lucky it stopped pouring and was lightly sprinkling. Once we had finally caught a bus it began pouring again… Because of the rain and traffic, it took us an hour to get home. Once we got home it was time for dinner. The rest of the night it lightly rained and eventually stopped. Our lesson fell through this evening so we came home and looked someone up that lived in our apartment building. She was home luckily and we were able to teach her we shared a scripture and invited her to read before we left. Then we went down to the 8th floor and went inside our apartment and nightly planned.

July 26, 2016
Tuesday, Day 287
Day 274 in NY

This morning we woke up at 6am and got ready for the zone conference. We met at the Temple chapel at Lincoln Square. Got there at 8 and didn't start till 9. The meeting went till 4:30pm, but it was a great meeting. I didn't end up giving my talk but I'll share it here. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the spirit being the most powerful tool especially together. It was awesome, 2 talks were given and they were great, full of awesome insights. Around 1pm we had lunch and about 2 we came back together for the conclusion of the meeting. The meeting was so awesome, the spirit was so strong and the entire time the spirit bore to me over and over again that the Book of Mormon is true and never will I doubt it. I feel that President Smith could feel my testimony grow during this meeting, because at the end of it he asked me as well as 2 Sisters to bare our testimony. When he concluded his council to us with his testimony, one by one we shared our testimonies with the other missionaries. It was such a powerful experience, I learned so much about how we could be using the Book of Mormon to teach and other ways of doing so that I haven't yet done. It was such a great conference! It took most of our day and left us with time to take mail home, eat a bowl of cereal, and make it to 3 appointments. Thanks all for the packages and letters! It means a lot! Thank you family! And 2nd family (Halls)! Love you all!


Here's what I wrote for my talk:
Talk - The Book of Mormon combined with the spirit is our most powerful tool.

" Our purpose is to, "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel though faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

So if this is our purpose, how do we fulfill it? We can't, but through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Having faith in Christ and His Atonement we can know that it is the ultimate place of healing and hope and growth and purpose, which leads us to repentance.

Because of our faith in Christ and His Atonement, we recognize our sins, we recognize His power of healing and we repent knowing that we can be healed and forgiven as Enos did.

[Enos 1:4-8] "4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. 5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. 6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away. 7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?
8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole."

When we recognize the power of the Atonement in repentance it will drive us to the waters of baptism as we come to know that after baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost we become purified.

As we feel the Saviors love and the love of our Father in heaven during this way of life, we accept its goodness and desire to share it with others as we continue up the spiral ladder.

As said in PMG
As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase. You will feel, as Lehi did, the “great … importance to make these things known unto the
inhabitants of the earth” (2Nephi 2:8).

And how is it that we make it to all these things, the Holy Ghost bares witness to us of truth, the truth of the Book of Mormon. As we study the Book of Mormon to help others understand and recognize the goodness of the Book and Christ and His Atonement the spirit will "carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men." (2Nephi 33:1).


Elders and Sisters, it is only by helping your investigators recognize the spirit and teach them to accept it that they will have truth born to them by the Holy Ghost. "



Thanks again for everything! Y'all are awesome! Thanks for the prayer, love, and support! Love you all! Have a wonderful week!



Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Week 40

July 13, 2016
Wednesday, Day 274
Day 261 in NY

PDAY!
So today ended up being one of those days everyone has over summer. You’re at home chillin with your friends (or fellow Elders) and one of them asks the question, "What do you want to do today?" And we each give the answer, "I don't know, what do you want to do?" This went on for about 45 minutes... Even after deciding to go to the MET. Sitting on the bus on the way to the MET we continued to ask what we wanted to do today. I guess we expected to do more than just go to
the MET. Having gone to the met 3 or 4 times now and seeing the same exhibits I walked around following the Elders as I tried to finish typing my journal. After the museum we went and got Chipotle for dinner then took it to the 87th St. chapel and ate. When we finished eating we went and played Ping-Pong. As soon as we stepped into he room to play Ping-Pong the fire alarm went off. So the 4 of us checked the rooms up stairs and went down the stairs to the 4th floor and checked the rooms there after not finding anyone we went down one more and found a lady at her desk, I think it was some kind of public affairs office or something or other. We asked if she knew why the alarm was going off, she said since it's gone off before we got there she thinks they might be testing them. But she asked if we could go down the stairs again and ask to make sure. After doing that we were told that they were just testing the alarms so we went back to playing Ping-Pong. After Pday we went and met with this amazing lady named Ellenia. Before I came to Harlem she showed up to church on her own. No one knew her but the members of the church had met her when she walked in and when they found the elders they told them that they needed to come meet her and teach her. So they did and now we are meeting with her for the second time I believe. She is so faithful and willing to accept and learn everything she needs to. She's committed to baptism and can't wait! Her date is August 13! After meeting her we had another appointment with this family who we are teaching 2 of the kids because really they are the only ones who stay and listen. I believe the father is less active but I'm not sure whom or if anyone else in the family are members. But I know none of the kids are. When we got there everyone was in the room listening while we talked to them and taught them more about reading the scriptures and it's importance. Minute after minute each family member walked out of the discussion and never came back. From having 5 in the beginning we were left down to 2 by the end. After this appointment we came home and had our apartment cereal. (The four of us come together and have a nightly bowl of cereal.)

July 14, 2016
Thursday, Day 275
Day 262 in NY

After studies we had an early lunch and started cleaning the apartment. Our roommates, the zone leaders, told us they were bringing home this kid from Texas that's visiting President Smith and his family. They will be going on a split with him. So, after they went to a meeting they came home with this 16-year-old kid named Nathan. He spent the whole day with them. We stayed home and weekly planned for a couple hours. After wards we went to meet with this investigator named Tiffany. She too is so awesome! She has come a long way from what I know; she's changing habits that she has and she has been meeting with missionaries. She has a baptismal date for the end of this month and she's looking forward to it! She says she's happy and can't wait to be baptized. Shortly after meeting with Tiffany we met with Michael, another awesome investigator with a baptism date for the end of the month. He is also excited and getting ready for the date. From what I know so far, he has also come quite a way from where he is today with the missionaries. I'm looking forward to continue meeting with these people. After wards we came home for dinner and later went out to meet with a family. When we got there it was just the husband and his daughter, he let us in. Since his wife wasn't home we changed our plans and just went over the scriptures with him. When we left the appointment I could see potential and Elder Dutson’s thoughts were the same. I just love seeing the change people are making out here in NY.

July 15, 2016
Friday, Day 276
Day 263 in NY

This week has gone by quick and it has been so busy! We've been going from appointment to appointment. Our goal is to get 24 other lessons this week. We are getting pretty close to it. Today we had 6 appointments. We were just running all over the city teaching! It felt good to be out and just doing work. Finding young single adults last cycle was tough. But now that I'm in a family Ward again it's been so packed with teaching.

July 16, 2016
Saturday, Day 277
Day 264 in NY

Elder Dutson picked up the phone after getting a missed call from Bishop Day, and called him back. When bishop answered he then asked Elder Dutson if he could give a talk tomorrow. Haha Elder Dutson almost asked me to call him back but he called instead and he got asked to give a talk. So our plans quickly changed half way through the day so that Elder Dutson could write a talk. After a couple appointments we went to the church and he wrote his talk while I called some people in our area book. During the hand full of calls I made I was able to teach a lesson over the phone and set up a few appointments during the week. When Elder Dutson got most of his ideas written out we went on with the day and made it to our next appointment before going home for dinner and having nightly planning.

July 17, 2016
Sunday, Day 278
Day 265 in NY

1st day in the Harlem Ward! A very interesting Ward. A lot of families were on vacation so there weren't enough priesthood holders to pass the sacrament so I helped out. Elder Dutson had to give a talk, so he was already up on the stand and couldn't help. But it was just me, this kid, and 2 other guys passing the sacrament. After joining the congregation I sat next to Ellenia. When the meeting ended one of the Counselors, who's actually Walter Rane, the artist who painted the Book of Mormon paintings hanging in the temple building, stood up at the pulpit and announced to the congregation "we would like to have all the visitors or new members joining our Ward to stand and introduce themselves." I thought that was odd, but I stood anyways and introduced myself. After my short introduction, the entire congregation in unison said, "welcome!" I love New York; no matter where you are you'll have an interesting experience. After church we came home and had lunch, finished studies, had dinner, and then went out for the night to some appointments. After our nightly planning we had our nightly cereal session. Eating as an apartment.

July 18, 2016
Monday, Day 279
Day 266 in NY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH!! Can't believe this kid is 15. Time is flying by. Had district meeting this morning and it was nice cause I didn't have to prepare for it since I'm not really a district leader anymore. So Elder Arines is our DL here and we just went over our numbers and talked about how our investigators are. We read from the scriptures and PMG for a bit. It was a good meeting. Afterward we came home and had lunch, after lunch we went back out and went to some appointments. Then we came home had dinner and went back out again. We taught like 3 lessons and then came home. Had nightly planning and once again had our nightly cereal party. Our days are packed with things to do so we stay busy but nothing too exciting happens, just some awesome people and lessons all day.

July 19, 2016
Tuesday, Day 280
Day 267 in NY

This morning we got up at 6 and by 7 we left to meet some Elders for a split since Elder Dutson had his "What's Next" meeting. All the missionaries going home this cycle go to this meeting and talk about their concerns for going home and any questions they have about life after the mission to help prepare them for the day. So me and this new stud missionary Elder Murray went back to our apartment. When we got home we had studies, after studies we changed into service clothes and headed over to The Common Pantry where we helped out and moved produce around and helped clean. It was super awesome, we got assigned to sort through the lettuce and it was disgusting! All the lettuce was rotten so it didn't need sorting at all; it just needed to be thrown out. So after filling big black bags and bags we made a pile for them to take out to the dumpster. When we finished up there it was about 12:45, we headed home for lunch ate some food, got changed, and was out the door around 2:30 when we made it to the bus to do some look ups and got a call from our companions, their meeting was over and were on their way to the Metro North station. Before we got there they called again and said they were already there. So they met us half way and we split back to our companions. Elder Murray is an awesome missionary hopefully we will serve around each other more. Once Elder Dutson and I were together we went to the church, dropped off his suit coat, went to a pass off lesson, went home to eat and then came back to the church to get mail and head home. It's about 9:00 when we left the church and we needed to be home by 9:30. So after waiting about 15 minutes for a bus, we decide to take a cab home and be on time. So I flagged a minivan cab and we threw in the huge carpet rug we ordered for our apartment and the other house appliances and got in. We gave him our address and were home by 9:26. It was great!

Had a wonderful week and we exceeded our goal of 24 lessons this week we reached over 30 lessons.

Have a great week everybody! Love you all!


Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Week 39

July 6, 2016
Wednesday, Day 267
Day 254 in NY

PDAY!
Today was crazy! This morning we left quick to start our laundry and when we finished we came straight home, folded clothes, put them away, and got ready to leave again. Our next objective was to exchange the shoes dad sent me. So we headed out the door with this Macy's box with 2 pairs of shoes in it. As we got out the door we took into consideration how long it may take, so we decided we would go eat lunch really quick and then exchange the shoes. We went into a near by deli grabbed some sandwiches and headed back up to the apartment.  After eating we went back down stairs and grabbed a train to Macy's, where we then exchanged the shoes and went back home, again. When we got home we changed our clothes and went to the church to play gator ball. There were supposed to be a lot of missionaries there, but it was just Elder Tatafu and I for a while. So for about a half hour we played one on one. Eventually everyone showed up and we started playing gator ball. About an hour later we needed to leave to go home, change and head over to the freedom tower! We left with enough time to get there on time. Got home, changed really quick and we were out the door in minutes. We hit the pavement and made our way to the train. Knowing we have to be there at 5:15 for our session to go to the top, we waited for the train for 15 minutes, which was okay we started on the train and made about 5 stops and around the 5th or 6th stop the train stopped at the platform and we waited... We then waited for 25 minutes! Which made us extremely late and we missed our session and we still had to make 4 more stops before we got there. While on the train I just knew we wouldn't make it, so I just prayed and prayed to be able to somehow make it there or get our money back. After the train finally started moving we got off about another 10 minutes later. After a five-minute walk we found our roommates waiting for us... When we got them they said they got out session time changed and we could still go up. We were so grateful to have our prayer answered that although we were 30 minutes late we were still able to make it to the top. It was such an awesome view! The elevator ride was sweet! You go up to the 102nd floor. I've got tons of pictures for you
all to see.

July 7, 2016
Thursday, Day 268
Day 255 in NY

Weekly planned. Met with Mia had a very uplifting and spiritual lesson. We didn't really have lunch, I had a couple quesadillas but we took like 20 minutes to eat so we could get back to planning. Then we got a call from Elders Richards and Burton saying they wanted to take us out to Johnny Rockets so we did that then went to dinner with a member at 8. We met at chipotle and he had a friend with him from work. I had so much food today it was wonderful! When we got home we planned and when we finished planning we received one of the best texts ever! Sister Smith, President Smith’s wife, text us and said "I heard you Elders gave a blessing to a girl visiting for dance camp. She is the friend of my childhood friend. It meant so much to them and they were touched by the blessing. She is doing much better and has been able to perform. Thank you for being worthy to be called upon at a moments notice. Love you both!" Usually missionaries don't get to hear the ending story of what happens to people they meet. So I just thought it was so cool to get this text. Later tonight when my iPad connected to some wifi I got an email from mom with a similar update on the same girl!

July 8, 2016
Friday, Day 269
Day 256 in NY

I can't remember anything about this day... Because of transfers I don't have my original schedule to remember. I really wish I could remember what happened today because in my little notepad I carry I wrote, "This week we have been so blessed especially today." Not sure what happened but it must have been a wonderful day.

July 9, 2016
Saturday, Day 270
Day 257 in NY

Weird day... Transfers are among us. We are supposed to be getting calls today about what's going to be happening this transfer. Elder Tatafu and I went out tracting today. We tried looking up some less actives and we looked up this one guy who we've tried to find for a while now. We stopped by and his dad was home. He said his son Ivan, who we were looking for, wasn't home, but that if we came back tomorrow he would be home after 12. At the end of the day we received a call from president. Elder Tatafu grabbed the phone and answered it, president told him he was being transferred and that he would be going to Samford Connecticut, which was totally unexpected. Elder Tatafu has only been in this area with me for 1 cycle, (6 weeks) and he's already leaving. Then he gave me the phone and I spoke to president, he told me that I would be getting transferred also and that I would be going to Harlem with Elder Dutson. Completely unexpected! We have 2 days to pack and get out.

Tonight was so crazy! After going to bed at 10:30pm. I'm woken up at 12:30am by Elder Richards shaking me and telling me I needed to get up. He said "Elder Newbold, Elder Newbold! Get up! You gotta get up, there's something big in the kitchen!" Half asleep I roll out of bed thinking there's someone in the apartment. I slip on my moccasins and grab a flashlight. We get into the kitchen and I'm looking around and see nothing, so I turn to Elder Richards and I'm like dude there's nothing here what's up? He said "I got up for my 12:30 pee and when I got to the kitchen I heard something really big so I flipped out and got you." With both our companions passed out asleep, Elder Richards quickly goes to the bathroom now that the coast is clear and at this point we are both wide awake. We just stayed up and chatted for a about 15 minutes. Then Elder Richards offered me some ice cream so of course I'm like why not. We get into the kitchen he opens the freezer and grabs his ice cream. I walk over to the sink where our dishes are in a drying rack and reach for a spoon. Just in time my eyes are locked on the cockroach sitting on my spoon before my hand reached it. Fishing around for this cockroach with a fork in the drying rack, after scaring it off, I stab at it, thinking I got it I move around some silverware to confirm its death when all of a sudden, it jumps straight out of the silverware right at me! With our hearts beating at a million miles an hour we decided to take a minute to recover... Deciding there's an easier way to finish off this cockroach, I walk out of the bathroom and up to the dish rack with Raid in my hand and drench the dishes in Raid as I spray the roach. After that little exciting adventure we went back to the other room and chatted some more. About 30 minutes later we heard something big coming from in the bathroom. We grabbed our flashlights and quietly came to the doorframe of the bathroom when all of a sudden we see the trash is hopping
around. With Elder Richards filming behind me I walk up closer to the trashcan and stop. After a moment of stillness and suspense... Out of the trashcan hops a mouse and darts straight for my foot! Surprised I lift my foot to step back and instinctively stepped down. Now with a mouse under my foot, there was no other option but to press down and put it out. After a crack of some bones we thought it was over for the mouse. Lifting up slowly and relieving pressure with my foot I could feel it start to move again. Pushing down again, Elder Richards places his foot on mine and drops all his weight down and that was the end of that. What a crazy night! Woke up at 12:30 to Elder Richards and ended the night at 2:30am after our crazy adventures.

July 10, 2016
Sunday, Day 271
Day 258 in NY

Not falling asleep till about 3 I woke up about 2 and a half hours later and began getting ready for church. Once we were at church we set up chairs and welcomed members. After sacrament we began saying goodbyes and telling the members that we were both getting transferred and the area would be getting white washed. After church we came home, had lunch, finished some studies, and went out for the day. After getting to 100th St. we went and looked up Ivan again. Waiting at the door for a few minutes after knocking a few times Ivan's mom comes to the door. We talked to her and she said he wasn't home (even though his dad said he would be) we told her we would come back tomorrow. We explained to her that we would be getting transferred on Tuesday so we would love to come back and sit down with Ivan and her. We then decided to knock a couple doors before heading home. The 1st door we knocked a couple answered, they were on their way out the door so we walked out with them. We found out they just got married and returned the other day from where ever they went for their honeymoon. After we left and went our separate ways we had this crazy guy approach us and ask for a Book of Mormon. We gave him a copy and talked for a bit. He took us to his apartment, which was so weird, haha he soon explained that he was on some medication. After that weird little event we met up with a member from our Ward. Jeff Derricott, (Clayton Fox served around him on his mission. [You can literally meet everyone in NY]) When we met up with Jeff we went back to the same building we were at to look up Ivan and we went to a random floor and tract the whole floor. After a few doors we met 2 people! We taught 2 lessons with him. It was awesome, we could tell he was and still is such a great missionary. He had so much to share with us as we spoke and even just by watching him. It was great getting to know him while we were there. After about 45 minutes with him we needed to head home. So we went on home and ate and finished off our night.

July 11, 2016
Monday, Day 272
Day 259 in NY

we had our last district meeting today! We talked about change and how it's only through the atonement we can fully change, change our nature. It was a good meeting. After district meeting we went down to the 15th St. chapel to meet with Elders Casper and Casela for our last lunch together. We went down the street and got some dollar slice. After retiring to the chapel we ate and chatted. After lunch we went to the Lincoln center chapel to meet a member for a lesson. We sat down in a nearby park. He told us that he is giving a talk on Sunday on prayer and asked if we could help. He's a convert of 2 years and this will be his 1st talk in church. We told him how exciting that is and that we wish we could be there for it... We shared some scriptures with him on prayer and showed him some resources on LDS.org about preparing for talks. As we discussed the topic of prayer he said something that was very profound. Something that made me think more about prayer. He said that as he pondered on this topic he realized that with prayer there's meditation involved. As we pray we communicate with God but when God communicates with us it's through our part of meditation. In order for us to recognize and receive answers to prayers we need to meditate. We sit, wait, and listen. He went on and explained more of his thoughts and it was awesome! After meeting with Scott we made our way back to Ivan's place for the 3rd day in a row. When we got there Ivan and all of his family were home, all sitting on the couch ready for us. It was so awesome! We sat down and just talked, we got to know the family and share a message with them. Ivan is the only member in his family, so we invited them all to come to church and they all agreed. We told them that we wouldn't be there because we were being transferred but that 2 other missionaries would be there. It was such a great experience. After meeting with them we rushed home to start packing so we could be ready to leave tomorrow.

July 12, 2016
Tuesday, Day 273
Day 260 in NY

Transfer day! Woke up at 6:30. The usual. Got ready and put our suitcases out by the door. Did a quick run-through with the apartment. Made sure we weren't leaving anything behind. My suitcases were ridiculously heavy... I'll be needing to send things home. And one of my suitcases broke... A set of wheels came off... So dad, if there's no warranty on them then let's pray I stay in this area the rest of my mission. Haha I hate packing and unpacking. We went to the Inwood chapel with our suitcases and said goodbye to our companions. Grabbed my new companion and headed to my new area. Harlem! It's the top of Manhattan so I'm in between my last 2 areas, the Bronx and South Manhattan. My companion is Elder Dutson he's awesome he served with Elder Richards so I was excited to be with him. When I got home I unpacked for the most part and got ready to do some look ups and visit an investigator. I already love the area! I'm excited to have a busy schedule every day. I'll now be in a family Ward again, so there's no focus for YSA age people. The interesting part is there's a district leader here who ended up staying in the area and then there's me who got transferred here and is a district leader. I haven't been released so we are in the process of finding that out. Looking forward to a great cycle. Elder Dutson goes home at the end of this cycle and it's a short cycle so we have 5 weeks together.

Sorry it's been a short letter and that I've been busy. I'll get to responding as soon as possible! Love you all! Have a wonderful week!


Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Freedom Tower

The view from 102 stories up

Week 38

June 29, 2016
Wednesday, Day 260
Day 247 in NY

Pday! A special day is among us! Today, after finishing our laundry we went to the temple! It was such a great and special time for Elder Tatafu and I. The last time I went through the temple was, I believe right before I got to the MTC. Or during the MTC I don't remember... But what matters is that I finally went! Our temple time was 2pm so before that we just kind of hung out till our session.

After our session, we made our way to the elevator where this woman was standing waiting for it to come to the floor we were on. Once we got there it opened up. While in the elevator she said to us, "I was just telling the man here before you that this elevator was taking much longer than usual" (and the church elevators are fast) while exiting the elevator with her on the same floor she said "I was just asking Heavenly Father who he was going to send to me today, because after every session I do in the temple a set of missionaries appear and I take them out to lunch. Now I know why the elevator took much longer today, he was making me wait for you Elders. So, where are you going? Can I take you to lunch?" We told her we hadn't eaten yet but would love to go out. She took us to this restaurant just outside the church. It's part of the building but outside on the corner. We sat and ordered and chatted for some time while our food came. While we ate she asked us about where we were from, Elder Tatafu responded first, saying Alaska. She took a look at his nametag and said that's not an Alaskan name where are you from? (Elder Tatafu is a funny guy, he asks me often the same question "what should I tell people when they ask where I'm from?" I always tell him the same thing, just tell them you’re from American Samoa. Or you can tell them "I'm a Tongan, born in American Samoa that moved to Cali, and currently lives in Alaska.") So after he told her all about where he was from and where he's lived. She got excited because she was going to Tonga soon and wanted to see if she would meet any Tatafu's. Then she asked where I was from, I told her California and with wide eyes she asked where in California? I said Sacramento. She now with excitement in her voice asked where in Sacramento!? I said Wilton and she said her daughter lives in Elk Grove and has been thinking about moving to Wilton. She then asked for my address, which I thought was so funny, so I gave it to her.

Shortly after finishing lunch we went back into the church, we just went upstairs to the gym and hung out with everyone playing ball. Elder Wulff came up to me and asked if I had checked my email, I hadn't. So I checked and there was an email from him and in the mail was that picture "Find the Boss in you, ElderNewbold.com". It was a picture he took on his camera at the Alma Academy I wrote about last month, when I drew the family tree with chalk. That was pretty great, after coming out of the temple it was a great way to keep my smile on! Lol.

When 6pm hit we stayed at the church and waited for Brian to show up. When he arrived we found a room and talked and had a discussion about the scriptures, he wanted to make a focus on Joseph Smith and Alma. Which I thought was interesting so we talked for a while about these 2 significant servants of the Lord and he was pleased with the scriptures we shared.

After our lesson with Brian we had a dinner appointment at 8 with Jeff, another member in our Ward who will only be here another 2 weeks. We met him over at chipotle. It was an awesome dinner and we talked about his mission and how things are going for him. We then shared a message with him about missionary work like we've done with a lot of the members so far. He told us about these guys he works with and how he's actually been sharing his beliefs with them and invited them to church. He said they had plans for the 4th so they wouldn't be sober enough to join us but they said probably next week. Lol we will see.

June 30, 2016
Thursday, Day 261
Day 248 in NY

This morning we had a conference call after companionship study. President talked about a little change in our weekly emails to him. Instead of sharing a miracle with him he wants us to write about
change. Whether it's the change we see in our investigators or the change we see in ourselves, he just wants to hear about what we've noticed.

After the call we went to the church to do some weekly planning before we started lunch. Since I was sick last week or 2 weeks ago now. (Time flys too quickly I can't remember.) Whenever it was I was home in bed all day on the day we weekly plan. So that never got done so today we planned for the rest of this week and we will plan next week soon! We made a lot of phone calls during planning, trying to clean out our area book. After some time of planning we took dinner and then continued on calling people and working on area book.

July 1, 2016
Friday, Day 262
Day 249 in NY

Good day!
Elder Burton started packing his bags. He heads home this cycle, so in about 2 weeks. After studies I was helping him out a little bit since Elder Richards wasn't feeling well. Then went over to the temple to meet Elders Casper, Casela, Driggs, & Stevens for an APF. We grabbed the world map board and went to the Bethesda fountain. After about 2 and a half hours we went back to the temple to put the board away and have a lesson at 4 with Scott, one of our members. After our lesson we headed home for dinner when we got a message from Oliver Samples, a member in our Ward, to have dinner at his place at 6. So we went home, it started dumping down rain and I needed to change my shoes. My shoes are hilariously ruined. I have yet to go to Macy's to exchange my shoes for the right size, (I'm doing that next week!) Then we headed over to Oliver's.

When we got to Oliver's his roommates had some friends over, they all went to the back room and we ate dinner. After dinner he took us to the roof like usual and we shared a message with him and a friend of his that was visiting. After dinner we made it back to our apartment to change and pack for a
split with the Zone leaders. We left with time to be at grand central just in time. Making our way to Grand Central, and with just one stop on the train to go, the train flies passed Grand Central with no
warning and we found our selves leaving the mission. When we got off the next stop we had to exit the station to get on the opposite side to go back to the east side of Manhattan. We walked up the stairs of the station and found our selves in the streets of Queens. Elder Tatafu being still new to the subway system, and getting a good look of Queens for myself, I told Elder Tatafu "get a good look around Elder, we aren't in our mission anymore..." Being caught off guard by that, he said "what?! Where are we?!" I laughed to myself and said, "welcome to Queens!" We then walked across the street and down to the downtown station to head back over to Manhattan. Late, we arrived to grand central and began our split.

July 2, 2016
Saturday, Day 263
Day 250 in NY

Woke up in another mans bed this morning... Thankfully I was only me. Lol We were on a split today. I was over on the East side of Manhattan, in Elder Burt and Elder Cheney's area and I was with Elder
Cheney. When we finished our studies we had lunch and then went to Washington Square Park and did the "Good Deeds Dare" APF. We were supposed to be there for 2 hours then go home and change to go to the church to play ball with an investigator and some members, but that ended up falling through so we stayed at the park for 4 hours total. We passed out a lot of little cards that had pre written dares. For example: "Call your parents and tell them you love them" "Write a thank you letter or text and send it to a friend" "compliment someone on how they are dressed". Things like that were written on these pieces of paper and those who wanted to do one picked a random one and had to do
it. It was a great experience being able to help others do good deeds and its so sad to ask everyone that walks by if they would like to do a good deed and hear 90% of them say No. After the APF we went to a dinner appointment with one of their members who was also their mission Ward leader. We met at Shake Shack. While there we ate and Elder Cheney and him discussed things about their investigators and other things for the last time before this member moved to Utah for the next month to be with his family before he permanently moves to Japan for work. After dinner we made our way home, grabbed my belongings and met back at Grand Central station to unsplit for the night.

July 3, 2016
Sunday, Day 264
Day 251 in NY

Church was great as always! Brandon Harrison, one of the members, asked if one of us could help pass the sacrament since not enough priesthood members were present. So I had the opportunity to pass the sacrament. Which was awesome! It's been a little while. After lunch and studies we called some investigators and people in our area book to set up some appointments. Then we headed over to the church for wifi to sync our iPads and while we were there we ran into some return missionaries and their nonmember friend. We talked to them for a bit and they told us that they were living in Pennsylvania doing sales and had an extra day off and wanted to explore NY. So they came to the temple and were lucky enough to come in before they locked up. So we gave them a quick tour, showed them all the art, and just to know them a little more as we talked. It was pretty cool. After they left we headed downstairs with them as we shut the doors behind us they locked. As we waited for someone to come out a couple from Utah wanted to see the temple and hope to go inside and look around the chapel. They explained all this and that they were leaving tomorrow morning, I saw a member who we knew had the keys. We asked if he wouldn't mind letting us in, hesitant he unlocked the doors to let us in. It was so cool since we've never really given people tours before. We were able to give 2 groups of members a quick tour of the building. They were so nice and sweet telling us how awesome we are for making their whole trip here worth it just because we were able to get them in the building. Our tours completed our night and we went home, ate and had nightly planning.

July 4, 2016
Monday, Day 265
Day 252 in NY

Happy fourth!
This morning during studies we ignored 2 phone calls from the office followed by a call from one of the APs Elder Sorenson, which we answered. On the phone Elder Sorenson said "Hey Elders I'm here with Elder Larsen from the mission office. He would like to speak with you." In my head I'm thinking oh crap… Not knowing what he wanted but realizing it was important. Elder Larsen now was on the phone and said "Hey Elders, I received a phone call from a Sister visiting here in NY, she has a girl who needs a blessing. Can you Elders get on that for us?" We agreed to. We called the Sister that called the office and talked to her she told us the situation; that she has a girl with her who's here for a dance performance (of some kind) and fainted yesterday and woke up this morning so sick and unable to move her neck very easily. They being members and having great faith in the priesthood thought to call the Missionaries since the men they were with didn't have oil on them. When we arrived they had a chair waiting for us and she came and sat down. We asked her a few questions and continued on with the blessing. I was trying to explain my feelings about this situation to another Elder along with my companion and with out it sounding weird this is what I told them. I expressed that when I came into the room where she was sitting on the hotel bed. She didn't look well; she sat there with a face expressing her discomfort and pain. She just needed help. When I saw her, I felt what she was feeling and immediately loved her. I thought it was the most unique experience being able to feel with others, specifically her at that moment.

After giving this special blessing to this girl we made our way back to our apartment feeling good and in no hurry to do anything. We got home and met with our roommates and headed over to the 15th St. chapel where we had zone meeting. It was a good meeting we had some missionaries give a little training on what they had learned from their conference with president. Then the missionaries that are leaving this cycle bore their testimonies and we finished the meeting. After the meeting we gathered around the kitchen and shared some snacks that we all brought. Today felt good and continued to be good to us. We went to get lunch soon after our meeting and came back to the church to eat. When we finished lunch we joined some other missionaries at Columbus Circle for a 4th of July APF. We had a big American flag painted ply wood board and invited people to come take pictures with it. As people came up, if the opportunity came, we brought something that we could talk to them about the church. It attracted a lot of people's attention and it was fun. While we were there some time after we started a man behind us started playing some music on his big speaker. At first the music wasn't bad but soon, after a few songs, they slowly got worse and worse with language, he then came up and asked to take a picture with the board. We let him and then he returned back to his speaker, I went over to him and gave my email to him and asked if he could send me the picture. Then Elder Casper came up behind me and asked the man if he could request a song. The guy playing music stopped the song and played a sky full of stars, lol. Which was nice then the music wasn't bad after that. Our night concluded by going to get a couple dollar slices for dinner with Elders Casper and Casela. It was a wonderful day!

July 5, 2016
Tuesday, Day 266
Day 253 in NY

Today I about threw up because of how horrible our kitchen smelt. I only go through the kitchen to go to the bathroom. The garbage piles up because no one takes care of it and we are just too busy and don't make time for it. But I decided we would clean, so as we started cleaning it up after studies we found just swarms of fruit flies and gunk everywhere from something that spilt behind all the trash. Elder Richards isn't feeling well so he's passed out in bed and Elder Burton is just in the other room doing whatever he was doing while Elder Tatafu and I attacked the kitchen (wishing I had dad’s medical masks and gloves). After about an hour and a half we just about cleaned up everything, took the trash out that stunk and then all together we got the other Elders up to help us take out all the rest.
When we finished scrubbing down the kitchen we took off to the church at 15th St. to get mail. Then we went to do another APF at Washington Square Park and after a couple hours we returned to the church, dropped off the board, and took our mail back to our chapel. Then we went home to have dinner. Short day by writing but it was a good one.


Sorry this is so late; we had a fun and very safe day! I exchanged my shoes and have ECCO's on my feet, thank you so much Dad! We also went to the Freedom Tower and went to the top! I'll tell you all about it next week!

So sorry, I know you were worrying mom! I'm okay, I'm healthy, I just got fed, and I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

I'll respond to other emails I guess next week!


Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Week 37

June 22, 2016
Wednesday, Day 253
Day 240 in NY

Pday!
Today I woke up feeling like I was getting sick... My head hurt and I just felt "bleh". But we had plans for the day so I went with it. Our roommates said they had a surprise for us. But wouldn't tell us what it was, so we planned to follow them around all day. During laundry we had an appointment with a member for lunch, so we met with her at Subway and chatted a bit. We ended up having Elder Richards and Burton finish banging out our laundry and taking it to the apartment for us as we made our way home. When we got home they led us to the surprise! It took some walking but we finally got there. When we entered the doors we were still pretty clueless as to where we were. Then my best friend Elder Richards handed Elder Tatafu and I a ticket to the MoMA. (The Museum of Modern Art). Which we kept even until after the museum. We walked in and didn't see anyone asking for or checking tickets so we walked around and found ourselves in the museum and we just kept exploring. When we finished we remembered that we still had our tickets and that they don't expire so we can come back. After the Museum we went for a walk and found some stores, we went to Hollister and Elder Richards and I got matching shirts, they had a sale, 2 for $14 so we just split it. Then we found a Nike store and we just explored around that, I think there were like 3 or 4 floors. I just remember going up so many escalators. After Pday we had a dinner appointment with Ray Smith! So we went over to the East side of Manhattan and met him at his apartment, then we walked to Mole and had some really good Mexican food. I ordered the Burrito (Enchilado style) and that was way good! After a good meal and a good chat with Ray he took us back to his apartment where he needed to grab his stuff to then catch a train upstate. So while in his apartment we shared a message, one that he expressed great appreciation toward and that he enjoyed greatly. Which made us feel great! We have been sharing he same scripture with different people and have been applying it to them all differently as well and we felt that this one definitely was the greatest yet. After a prayer we all walked down to the train station where we caught a train and parted ways a few stops later and made our way home.

June 23, 2016
Thursday, Day 254
Day 241 in NY

Today I woke up feeling much worse then yesterday, my head hurt, my body ached, I got up to take shower and felt lightheaded... After a shower I just got back in bed and slept from 8-12pm my poor companion was probably so bored! I woke up to our roommates coming home for lunch, we asked each other what our schedules were and after talking Elder Richards said that they had a dinner appointment the same time that we did. My plan was to find out their plans, hoping they wouldn't
have a dinner planned so that we could go on a split, one of them to stay home with me, and the other to go out for dinner with our member. But they said they had dinner plans with their Branch President, so we decided to cancel our appointments. After doing so, and a nice long nap, I wake up to our roommates once again returning from their appointments and the first thing from their mouths were "do you still have a dinner tonight?!" Responding with no, they shrunk and encouraged Elder Tatafu to ask the member to see if she was still okay to take us out for dinner. She responded yes, and we conducted a split. Elder Burton went with Elder Tatafu to dinner and that was great because then Elder Tatafu was finally able to get out of the apartment and do something other than be bored. When they returned for the night, I asked if they would give me a blessing. I didn't want to spend another day in the apartment... After the blessing it was a little after 9:30, so we all did our nightly planning. Planning on playing it by ear, we had a set appointment with Mia, a recent convert, at 2:30. I planned on getting up when I had enough rest and was able to go out for the day. After sleeping all day I wasn't tired for bed at 10:30... So around 1AM I ended up in the bathroom looking for NyQuil, after taking a swig I was sound asleep in bed.

June 24, 2016
Friday, Day 255
Day 242 in NY

I slept in his morning, just till about noon. Then slowly but surely I was able to get out of bed and ready for the day. Still not feeling 100% better, but knowing that with out the blessing I was given last night I would not be out of bed, we made our way to meet with Mia. We met at Bryant park cafe, where we ate lunch and we shared a message with her. Not feeling up to eat all day yesterday I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and I was in heaven! Our message was on the sacrament. We asked how she prepares herself for the sacrament and we discussed some more things that she could do even through out the week. She shared some really good things with us about how she knows we need to repent daily even up until we partake of the sacrament. It was really neat to hear that from someone who has only been a member for 6 months!

After meeting with Mia we went to the church and just relaxed... After being in the sun with Mia and walking so much, my body was not functioning. So we sat down at the church, drank our water, and did some planning until we had another appointment at 5pm with Brandon H. He was taking us out to Mighty Quinn's BBQ. He being from Texas and knowing what true BBQ is said that it's not the best but it's good for what's in NY. So we took his word for it and agreed to meet there. (For being sick I was well treated today with food). When we got to Mighty Quinn's I ordered a brisket sandwich, which was pretty good with there Mighty Quinn BBQ sauce. We talked about our mission and how it's going and we talked about his mission in Reno and it was just a good time. He also told us that he would be moving tomorrow, so of course we offered to help him out at 9 am. When we got home from dinner we planned for tomorrow and I laid back in bed and made sure I got the rest my body needed to recover so that we could help Brandon move.

June 25, 2016
Saturday, Day 256
Day 243 in NY

Woke up this morning and got ready like any other day, since we were meeting at Brandon's at 9 we pushed back studies. We got to Brandon's at 9 and helped him pack up his apartment and fill up the
U-Haul. After a couple hours of that we had everything packed up and ready to go... Except his carpet that he wanted to take. It was too long to fit in the truck and he didn't want both of us to carry it 11 blocks to his new apartment and with me still not feeling 100% he told me to ride his bike alongside him and my companion as they walked from his old apartment to his new apartment, while Elliot drove the U-Haul. When we got to his new apartment we started unloading the truck and putting everything inside, by the elevator. As we started unloading the truck they would take things up to the room after filling the whole elevator. After more than a few rides up and down we had the truck unloaded and the apartment filled with his things. We were finished up around 1 o'clock and Brandon felt bad that "he made us work" all day with out feeding us lunch, even though he bought us donuts for breakfast. So as we got ready to leave he gave us a 20 and said go get lunch. He insisted and wouldn't take it back so we held onto it. Not feeling very hungry we decided to keep it till we needed it. After a long morning of hard work we went home to clean up and rest again... I ended up falling asleep again and waking up just in time to go to dinner with a member. We met at her apartment with Brian; it was such a good meal. She made chicken pasta, apricots, and garlic bread. Afterwards we talked with them about any missionary experiences they've had lately, after a moment they both had one and Brian told us that because he's a recent convert he shares with a lot of people he meets about his story and how he found the church and what a great difference it is to him in his life. Kalena works finances for the Broadway industry and she says there's rarely anyone religious in the industry she works in. So she went on to say that since the Book of Mormon play is crude and not friendly she has decided to never watch it, because of that decision she's able to share with her co-workers that she is a member and she's answered some of the questions her co-workers have had about the church. After our visit we hit the pavement, praying for a bus… After about 15 minutes a bus came, we were all the way at the end of our area. We had walked from dinner at 110 st. down to 100 st. and we were saved by a bus. When we got on the bus we took a seat and immediately I was exhausted. Being sick has just drained me. This whole time Elder Tatafu has been telling me to take it slow and just rest my body till I'm better and then we can start going out. That being the best thing to do, I just didn't want to get in a habit of being inside all the time and wanting to do nothing. But we came home and I went to sleep.

June 26, 2016
Sunday, Day 257
Day 244 in NY

Sunday! We went to church and had a great sacrament meeting! Elliot played the violin for a musical number, which I didn't know he could do, so that was awesome to hear. Feeling slow and out of energy we made our way to our classes and after church went home. Then Elder Tatafu made me lay down and rest since I did too much the last couple days. Today we just stayed home and I was able to rest and he did his studies. The Ward had a lunch planned at 2 at the park, which would have been fun, but I fell asleep and didn't wake up for a while, so we missed out on that. I'm feeling better; I'm just out of energy.

June 27, 2016
Monday, Day 258
Day 245 in NY

Woke up this morning and my head was still hurting so I kept trying to keep my self hydrated, when I stood up and walked around I'd feel a little uneasy. We had our studies and I planned out district meeting. We went to the church to have our leadership meeting and the zone leaders came to join us for district meeting. We FaceTimed the other districts in the zone and had our meeting, I think I was nodding off to sleep during it because I don't remember much about it lol. When we finished leadership meeting, I conducted district meeting. I didn't plan on speaking a whole lot because I sound sick and my head hurt. We went around the room and as a group read Alma chapter 18. After reading I asked the question "What were Lamoni’s feelings at the beginning of the story?" As the question was thought about, one by one they began to share thoughts and ideas to this question, which lead to other questions. It was really great! As the comments came to a long pause I'd throw in the next question "How did Lamoni's feelings change?" Again a great discussion continued as they opened up and shared their thoughts. Then we read Alma 34:15–16, and compared it with Lamoni’s story. Then I asked "How does Christ’s Atonement enable us to obtain mercy?" and we talked a little bit about that and how the atonement is the only way that we are able to obtain mercy then I bore my testimony and just expressed my love for them and to them about my love for this work. Preach my gospel is the greatest! Everything we talked about and the questions I asked were all inspired from Preach my gospel.

For lunch, after district meeting Elders Richards and Burton and Tatafu and I went to Chick fil a which was so satisfying! I felt like I hadn't eaten in days, but I had! After we ate we came home and had to do some planning since I was asleep all day Thursday for weekly planning. And that was basically our day. Over the past few weeks, we've lost contact with some of our investigators and found out that one of them is moving so we are down to one progressing investigator, who we are hoping will keep us busy.

June 28, 2016
Tuesday, Day 259
Day 246 in NY

Today we have our interviews with President. So we were supposed to meet with President for our interviews at 10:10 but we got a call from Elder Stevenson last night asking if we could switch times so that they could reserve the time they would have their interviews to help one of the members in their ward move. I agreed and switched with them. At 11 am we went to the church where we had zone study, which is where President takes a break from interviews, and addresses the zone with any remarks and teachings he feels the need to discuss. As planned according to the schedule, we should have been done at 12. He ended up going an hour over time and we finished at 1. So now with all the
interview times unknown and pushed back, we quickly left and grabbed the Cazba, which is just another type of street meat. After grabbing our food we went back to the church and waited for our interviews round 3:20 pm he was finally down to Elder Tatafu's interview and then mine 10 minutes later, by the time I got out it was about 3:50 and we needed to go downtown to 15th street to pick up mail from the Union Square Chapel. I got a package from home with some goodies; a new pair of slacks, new socks, and the best pair of stance socks out there (THANKS DAD!), a sweet tie from Miranda and her sweet family! And my annual Pizza my heart T-shirt that I'm so stoked about! Thanks y'all! I also got a letter from my roommate Elder Richards, which cracked me up! He lives with me and he sent me a letter last week, which I didn't know about. Last week when we picked up mail, Elders Richards and Burton came to help because our district had so much. While we were getting mail, going through the letters, Elder Richards came up to me and said "Dude! Why don't you ever send my a letter?" I told him "because you never asked!" Secretly he wrote me a letter that day and sent it. So, today when we got mail I found this little letter, I checked the sender and it said Elder Richards, he cracks me up! Inside was a 3x5 card and not even a full line was used on it, his card said "Elder Newbold. I asked you why you never send me any letters and you told me that I never ask. So I am hereby asking for a letter. -Elder Richards This dude cracks me up! I'm making so many good, fun memories with many good friends.

Well by the time we got home we had time to get ready and head out as a group to a members apartment for dinner. Will C. invited the 4 of us over for dinner, the weather was unknown, it was saying it was going to rain so he called off our plans to go to pier 45 and check out the sunset. We instead, met at his apartment and he made a sweet summer salad with watermelon and oranges! We ate the salad with some really good sandwiches he bought. It was a great dinner! We then shared a scripture with him and invited him to continue to increase his foundation in the church. He shared some great goals with us and we said a closing prayer, then he offered to take us out to ice cream
and of course we couldn't pass that up. We all left together and on the way to the train he bought us ice cream and we headed to the train as he headed back home. What an awesome guy! There are so many great members here; we are so blessed to serve where we do.


Hope you all enjoy another week! Thanks for all the feedback and compliments about my emails. I'm now considering writing a book when I get home, so stay tuned! Thanks again to all! Love you all!


Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Things missionaries do

He's still so fun!! He doesn't really have his website...

Take a selfie in the Subway!

Elder Richards had tossed his cup to Elder Newbold not realizing it still had water in it.