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