Week 64

June 14, 2017
Wednesday, Day 447
Day 87 back in NY

Pday!

Today, after laundry and grocery shopping… we came t the church to email for just a little bit... well that turned into... an hour and a half, then 2 hours, then 3 hours, then 4, then 5 hours! The wifi was funky, then Elder Murray’s tablet wasn't working so we didn't spend 5 hours emailing… but we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get his email to work… there was a laptop at the church that Brother J leaves here for public use, so we got on that and figured that it should work from there. So he had to rewrite his emails because his drafts all deleted… so it was a pretty sad and poopy pday for him. I didn't mind having a day to sit back.

By 5pm we went home to eat and change. We then drove by brother D’s to confirm our appointment for next Wednesday. Then we went to this woman named S’s home. She's an elderly lady who has been going through cancer treatments. She's weak and can't do the things she'd like done.

While we painted her garage door she sat outside with us on the front patio and we talked about the Savior. We shared scriptures and experiences and it was just the perfect service! She has a love for the Savior, we have a love for the Savior and we each have a desire to share that love, so we did, one with another, till the sun went down and we had to go home.

June 15, 2017
Thursday, Day 448
Day 88 back in NY

After studies we went to Brother H's and helped him lay down gardening tarp. Then he ordered food for us and we went to go pick it up. We ate and shared a message with him. He's been planning a lesson that he will be teaching in Elders quorum on Sunday and we came across a talk recently that spoke about some of the things Brother H wanted to focus on with the priesthood brethren. “The powers of Heaven” by Elder David A. Bednar. A wonderful talk given on the powers of heaven and the responsibility of living up to the priesthood by fulfilling your responsibilities.

We left and made our way to our next service appointment, at Brother E’s home. Years ago he was working as a logger and was hit in the shoulder by a large fallen tree branch and chipped his shoulder socket after dislocating it in the moment. It's given him problems since, so we came by to help clean up his drive way and rake a bit. Afterward we gave him a blessing for his pain. (My first time meeting brother E I felt like we had little care from him, but as we've continued to reach out to him and serve him I now feel like we have a much better relationship with him and his family! It's so awesome!)

We came home to get changed and ready then we went to the church and did weekly planning for about 2 and a half hours before having dinner. After dinner we went on a crazy goose chase trying to print/make stencils for the big Book of Mormon board we are trying to make. We went to J's, but couldn't get it to print, then we stopped by Brother W’s work and he wasn't there, so we went to the library and finally got them printed, it cost me a couple bucks but finally got it done. 

We then met up for branch correlation at Brother W's. He didn't tell us, but he made dinner for us, we had to go so we took it with us, we went to the church to do some daily contacting and we ate dinner, it was a Jamaican dish. I can't remember what they called it, but it was great!

June 16, 2017
Friday, Day 449
Day 89 back in NY

This morning we had a leadership meeting in Ossining, so we drove down there and for about an hour met together and discussed questions that district leaders/Zone Leaders had. Like, “how might President Smith expect a district meeting to be conducted?” The meeting was brief and great! We found out from President that we would be having a Special Sacrament meeting as a mission. In 2 weeks we will come together as a mission and have our own sacrament meeting!! How sweet!! I'm excited! That's all he told us for now, so we will wait to hear more.

When we left our car about putted it's way to a gas station. To Ossining, it's about an hour drive and we forgot about getting gas last night. So we finally got to a gas station, then found something to eat on the way home and continued our day. We went to the church and worked on getting the Book of Mormon board all figured out. Finally we got the right font for the Book of Mormon printed, and then we started cutting them out. The Sisters took the unfinished few home and did them. We worked on the stencils until our APF at 3:30pm. 

We went to Main St. and stood out in the corner and had a white board with a question written on it. As people walked by we stopped them and talked with them and asked them the question on the board, which they could then write down on the board. Around 7 we went to Brother Walkers for Correlation. We discussed the people we are working with and talked about our Branch Mission Plan. 

June 17, 2017
Saturday, Day 450
Day 90 back in NY

After studies we went to the church, met up with the Sisters there and worked on the Book of Mormon board. We finished around noon and it looks pretty sweet! We wrote up our progress Record, had companionship study, and then finally around 2 or so we had lunch. We then had an appointment with K, a former investigator, who had been a former investigator 6 or 7 different times... K is a X-Pro Tennis player. He got into a bad accident and since hasn't been the same. He isn't 100% there… it's sad and missionaries kept meeting with him and preparing him for baptism, then K flakes out. One time the baptism was all set up and ready and he never showed up... another time he showed up but was then too afraid to get into the water... so before I came into the area he had already been set aside. Then out of he blue he contacted us and wanted us to come teach him. He's already had he discussions like 7 times, so we decided to read the Book of Mormon with him.

Following our appointment we went around the area and looked up some people we haven't met yet they are in our area book. We finally made contact with a Less Active family, the mother wasn't home but the kids were, so we talked with them for a bit and invited them to the church linger longer.

June 18, 2017
Sunday, Day 451
Day 91 back in NY

Church was great as always! Happy Father's Day Pops!

As of a week or 2 ago… (They all blend together; I can't tell the difference between the 1st week back in the mission from last week. Time is going by fast.) But a couple weeks ago a member reached out to us and said she had some food for us. After church we stopped by her house and she had this big cardboard box full of food. Frozen meat, vegetables, fruit, prepackaged meals... since then it's become a regular thing, every Sunday she calls us over to come pick up this big box of food.

Like every Sunday we stopped by Brother M to give him the sacrament and his roommate in the old home said he wasn't here today, he was with his family for Father's Day.

For dinner we went home, we cooked up some pork from the stash of meat in the freezer, had mashed potatoes, and threw together a salad. It was a pretty nice meal for us. We left the apartment and went to Brother W’s home. We planned to stop in ask for 3 families or names of people we could go look up.  We pulled up into his driveway he was out on the deck BBQ’n. As we approached, he saw us coming and said, “you’re just in time! Have you eaten yet?” We said yes we have and we felt bad for stopping by because it's father’s day and he was making dinner. But he INSISTED, well more like commanded that we come in and join them for dinner. When we came in the H's we're there too. They all in sync began preparing the table for 2 more. (We literally just came from home where we just had dinner) and they didn't just make us a small plate, they told us after making our own plate to put more on it. (Now I’m not complaining, I may have just eaten… but I still had plenty of room for more... now my companion on the other hand, has no appetite, ever! He has the stomach of a grasshopper.) We had a great time with the W's and H's, we got to know them and we found out that they know a family that we have been visiting.

June 19, 2017
Monday, Day 452
Day 92 back in NY

Today was pretty good. I guess it was better in the evening around dinnertime. We went to the O’s for dinner. We had spaghetti and salad. Then they took us to this gas station for desert… sounds funny, but inside the market is an ice cream shop. So we went in ordered some ice cream and we shared a message in the parking lot before we left. We talked about praying in our families and for our families. We kicked it off with the scripture 3 Nephi 18:21 “pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.” I shared my experience about how as I've been on my mission I've made a point, since day 1 to pray every night by name for each of my family members. As I have done that, I have been blessed with a stronger relationship and understanding of each of my siblings and parents and I've also seen the blessings that they have received. We invited them tonight to pray together and for each other before they went to bed.

We then needed to take off to the church to split with the Kingston Elders. It started to rain lightly during our message, then for a short time it rained and when we got to the church it stopped and there was a beautiful rainbow. A few minutes later the Elders showed up, we split and Elder Hughes and I drove up to Kingston.



June 20, 2017
Tuesday, Day 453
Day 93 back in NY

Today was okay! We were on a split and everything we had planned fell through, so we walked around the neighborhood where we were and talked to people, did look ups and had a good time! One of the senior couples came by and did an apartment inspection. They asked if we were home and we weren't at the time, they told us when they would be coming by so we made sure we were home. We ate lunch then waited and waited and waited… they ended up being about 45 minutes late... which kind of stunk... but the inspection was short so it worked out.

After dinner we grabbed my stuff and headed back to New Paltz. We met at our apartment I dropped my stuff and when Elder Murray and Elder Howard showed up we unslpit and went to the church to do daily contact!

Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,

Elder Newbold

Week 63

June 7, 2017
Wednesday, Day 440
Day 80 back in NY

We quickly got groceries this morning and bagged up our laundry. We began driving to Poughkeepsie to hang out with Zone Leaders. We were driving for about 15 minutes when I looked off to the side of the road and saw this FAT 20lb-snapping turtle. I pulled off and we went over to it and took some pictures and stuff. This time of year the turtles lay their eggs and so a lot of them are migrating to water. So we have been stopping every time we find one to get it out of the road, because sadly people don't care enough and they run them over. And this snapping turtle would have wrecked some cars if it got in the road. So very carefully, knowing I could loose some fingers or worse, if this thing caught a hold of my hand, I grabbed toward the back of the shell above its hind legs. It's neck is extremely long and would snap back to try and get me. But I got it out of the road. Elder Murray, being the nature boy that he is wanted a turn with it lol. So I put it down and he picked it up and we took some pictures. (He said he was taking a video of me when I had it, but it apparently never recorded) so he's got pictures of him with it. We then made our way to the car and we started back to Poughkeepsie. We started our laundry when we got to the Zone Leaders beloved abode and then we went to a park and played Spike Ball and Football 3 on 3. We were probably there about 3 1/2 hours. It was a good pday! After our laundry we made it home and went to the church to help out with Scouting. It was Brother J (who's our 1st counselor) and Q (the only scout) lol. We unfolded a flag and put it up the pole. We also recited the scout Oath and Law. It was kind of fun to relive the short Scouting moments of my “youthier” youth haha.

June 8, 2017
Thursday, Day 441
Day 81 back in NY

When we finished our studies we called onto the conference call and listened to it as we drove to Sister P's. President shared some miracles and he shared ours of finding the apartment (35C) while looking for B (who we have yet to find). But it was cool to hear him share the miracle to the mission. Sister P had a window replaced in her house and so new wood was put in around the window and it needed painting so we painted that part of her house. She fed us pizza for lunch, (I'm just now starting to realize that we are being fed pizza more often) Wahoo! We then rushed home to get cleaned up and ready for an APF. We drove down Main St. and found a spot to do our APF, so we stopped there, set up our table and began talking to people on the street. It was much more effective than last week at the campus. We will probably do it here more often and continue to look for more popular places. After the APF we had companionship study and then went to Brother H's to give him a blessing, he went into the hospital the other day for a procedure and asked if we could come by. He had dinner ready for us, so we gave him a blessing, ate dinner and spent some time with him so he had company. Toward the end of the night, our last look up for the day we talked to this guy who has had missionaries stop by in the past, he loved to talk and to listen to our message but we weren't too sure he had much of a desire to have us over often and apply the gospel to his own life. He said his family lives nearby and that we could stop by them and share a message. After leaving his home it was about time to head home.

June 9, 2017
Friday, Day 442
Day 82 back in NY

Yesterday we would have had weekly planning but because we were at Sister P’s we scheduled to plan today. We planned for a few hours, had lunch, and continued planning till we were done. Then we went to Lowe’s and looked to see how much it would cost for Plywood, paint, brushes, etc. for our Book of Mormon board project. That didn't take more than 15 minutes. We went to the car and had companionship study. We then had planned to do some tracting near a former investigators home. We knocked a few doors and the last door that we talked to someone was a very interesting experience… the man came out in a bikers outfit and immediately said “let me guess, your Latter Day Saints” Elder Murray “jokingly” said “how'd you know” the man responded “I can read” as he pointed to our tags. Well about 10 minutes later we walked away with wide grins on our faces with the thought of, what a waste of time. (Every now and then you find a person so “devoted” to their faith that they, right off the bat begin “teaching” you... more or less telling you, that you’re wrong and that their religion is the true religion and that no matter what we say we won't convert them and that it wouldn't matter anyway because “they are already saved”. Then when they finally take a breath we say that we 1st off aren't here to convert them and we begin to testify of the Savior to find a common ground… more often than not it seems that the majority find that they'd rather not listen to anything we have to say, for whatever reason. So we testify and leave with that.)

We came home for dinner and then went to the church for weekly correlation with Brother W.

June 10, 2017
Saturday, Day 443
Day 83 back in NY

After studies we wrote up our progress report for the branch council. We had a couple people we wanted to contact on our way to an appointment toward the top of our area. We made contact with both of them then made our way to Brother B’s home. He lives way “out of the way” from everyone else. On our area map there isn't anybody that lives very close to him. The next closest member to him is Brother K, we drive over to Brother K’s and helped him prepare for his lesson tomorrow. He's blind but has an incredible memory. So we read him the lesson outline and he gave a great lesson summary and was able to teach off of it, he will be ready for tomorrow! Around 2pm we went to the H’s to help chop wood. We loaded their truck bed twice with wood from trees they cut down, chopped them up and stacked them in their shed. We were finishing up and Sister H came out and said she had burgers ready for us. When we were all done, we went in and washed up and ate dinner with the family. This was our first meal of the day… I think I had a snack for breakfast but we skipped lunch since we were behind a bit in our schedule. We made our way home to shower and change, then we went back out and did some look ups and met with Brother E and his family.

June 11, 2017
Sunday, Day 444
Day 84 back in NY

Church was great, after coming home for lunch we went to take the Sacrament to Brother M. We visited with him for a bit and shared a message. We talked about prayer and building our relationship with Heavenly Father. We had companionship study in the car, and then did some look ups on our way home to dinner. The rest of the evening was look-ups; we were able to make contact with some people finally, which is always good.

June 12, 2017
Monday, Day 445
Day 85 back in NY

This morning before district meeting we called Brother R to see if he still wanted us to come by tonight and help him with his refrigerator. He answered and told us yes that would be great, so we planned to see him at 7:30pm. After our district meeting, we met up with a member, Brother W, for lunch. We met him at their Indian food restaurant near our apartment.  We talked about the scriptures with him and invited him to read daily. He's a very interesting guy. Today has been ridiculously HOT and gross… it was 96° with 100% humidity… heat+humidity=Death. And we made the dumb decision to begin working on our Book of Mormon board… we drove to the church quickly laid down the board and began painting it blue... by the time half of it was painted and we moved on the other half, the first half was completely dry… we loosened our ties, unbuttoned our collar and finished the 2nd half. Then we went inside the church for a break, some water, and gave it a few minutes before we did another coat. We finally cooled off enough and went back out to finish… when we finished the 2nd coat, back inside we went to take a break and wash off the brushes. We then went out again, grabbed the board, brought it inside the church and stuck it in a storage room, till we come back to work on it again. 

Then we had an appointment at a nonmember family’s home. We met the son of the C family for the first time; we talked with him for a bit, he had a Mormon friend in Honduras who served his mission in Brazil. We continued to talk about him and his family, and then we briefly taught the restoration. His mother doesn't speak a lick of English, she can understand less than I can in Spanish. So her son, C, and her friend who speaks a little bit of English and Spanish translated for her. Because of the language barrier it was hard to keep the focus on the teaching to help them understand. C seemed to understand fairly well because he speaks English very well for studying/speaking it for only 5 years. But overall it went well. They live just a few apartments over, so we walked home to eat dinner. Leaving our apartment we got a text from O, a Turkish girl we met during our last APF. She found interest in the church because of The Book of Mormon play. She wanted to know if the things they said and made jokes about the church were true of not. So every now and then we've talked with her to clarify some things. We think she will get baptized! She leaves at the end of July to go back to Turkey. So we met with her to answer some of her questions and she is just so great and sincere! 

We made our way to Brother R’s and ended up stopping by this other investigator named J. Elder Murray said he doesn't have much interest because he thinks he knows what he needs to from researching our faith on google (which by the way for anyone who thinks that's a good idea, ITS NOT. We have websites like www.lds.org & www.Mormon.org for a reason, they have truth. Google is not reliable for ANY religious information.)  So we stopped by, introduced myself, got to know him a bit, and his family. (The whole time we met outside we were getting eaten by mosquitoes…) Well a short expected visit turned into an hour on his front lawn trying to help him understand that we don't believe in the trinity. (I had just studied about it his morning to, so luckily the scriptures were fresh on my mind). But he didn't care, he told us we would never convince him… which made me mad that he said that, because that's not what we are about, we don't go around convincing people that we are the true church, and he even asked us to share what we believe. Lol some people man… well I finally saw the sun set below some trees and told J we needed to go, so we left and went to Brother R’s.

On our way we called him and told him we were a little behind, Brother R said oh yea I forgot you were coming. When we got there it was still light enough outside, but it was going to be dark soon. We went inside, cleared out the fridge and freezer in his basement than wheeled it to his back door, set on the bucket of his tractor and he drove it to his front door. We got it up to the first step and tied some straps around it, so we had something to hold onto…and it wouldn't budge much, we got it up a few steps but at this rate it wasn't really going to make it into the house before midnight (and this fridge was massive…) he called his son and about 15 minutes later he showed up. Another 15 minutes later, we had the fridge inside the house. When we finished it was just after 9:15 so we started home.

June 13, 2017
Tuesday, Day 446
Day 86 back in NY

Yesterday was 96° today wasn't much cooler I think it was about 94° and still 100% humidity… we try, every Tuesday to go to Sister M's and help her with her yard or anything she needs… well we unknowingly chose the 2nd hottest day of the year to wear pants, long socks over our pants, and move her burn pile... I love helping people!! I promise!! But just to give you an idea of what it was like, imagine taking a HOT shower with all your clothes on. When we came in for water we were drenched in sweat. I was afraid I would loose weight! When we finished we went inside and made sandwiches. We had lunch and shared a message with her and her daughter L. Tired and gross we went home and cleaned up so that we could then go to the chapel to help the Bishop’s storehouse and fill orders. While we were wrapping up, it started pouring rain outside, still 90° and raining. Around 5pm we finished up and went to visit the H family then went home for dinner. We did some look ups and ended the night with daily contact!

I have this week to write about and then I'm caught up! Love y'all!

Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,

Elder Newbold

Week 62

May 24, 2017
Wednesday, Day 426
Day 66 back in NY
Pday!

I remember slowly opening my eyes to see my companion standing in the doorway of our room, as I came to from waking up, he said "should we get our laundry going?" I had no idea what time it was because I never heard the alarm and I was more tired than usual, I reached for my glasses to see the clock, it was 6:15am, but it felt like 4am. Elder Murray realized if we did laundry first he wouldn't have a towel to shower with so he got in and I laid back down till he was ready. When he got out, I got up, splashed my face, and we loaded our laundry. We then realized we had no money on our card, so we quickly went down the road and filled our card then went back to start our load. We came back, I got ready, and then we studied for half an hour. We went back, put our clothes in the dryer and went grocery shopping. Then we quickly made a trip to the church, we sent off quick emails explaining our day and the little time we would have to email because we were going to the temple! We rushed home, grabbed our laundry and dropped it off in the apartment, grabbed our suit coats, and out to the car we went. We were putting our stuff into the car and Elder Murray said, "You've got your recommend right?" I said "yep you?" He responded, uhhh I don't think so… so we ran back to the apartment, pushed open the door and immediately he realized he didn't remember where he put it. I started laughing because of course this was bound to happen. So I joined in helping him search for it, I turned over his scriptures and shook them around, nothing fell out so I flipped through some pages and nothing! He kept looking through his stuff, I went through his bag, and other things on his desk... he then went to his scriptures and he opened just the cover and found it right there. He put it in his pocket and back to the car we went.  We were about 10 minutes behind and had a 30-minute drive to make, so we went as fast as we could without TIWI telling me to "Check your speed". We finally got to our ZL's apartment where Ray Smith and the Elders were patiently waiting. Then we began the nearly 2-hour drive to the city.

While at the temple I happened to see Sister Orhn. She's the lady who, while I was with Elder Tatafu, she took us out to eat after the temple. And while I was home for my “intermission” she visited the Sacramento Temple and I came to the front desk to surprise her. She was excited to see me and to see me back in the mission.



After our session, which was wonderful! We came down to the front desk to meet with a recent convert from Elder Murray's previous area in Yonkers. His name is R, he had just recently received his recommend and hadn't been to the temple yet. (Yesterday, Elder Murray was on the phone with him and tried to plan to have him come do baptisms, well it was late notice and we weren't sure if we would need an appointment with the temple, but we tried it anyway). So we came down after our session and met R there! He said he had been here since 9AM doing family history! His first time doing it and he found 7 names!! 3 males and 4 females!! It was so awesome! It was a miracle and a huge blessing to be apart of and for him of course! It was such a neat experience! He felt the Spirit and really enjoyed it! The 3 names he found and was able to do were his great grandfather, his great-great grandfather, and his great grandfather’s brother! How flippin' sweet is that!!?? After the temple we went to meet up with the group for lunch and drive back to our areas.

May 25, 2017
Thursday, Day 427
Day 67 back in NY

This morning we got up at 5:30am. Quickly got ready and went to the Precour family home for seminary. Our lesson this morning was out of Revelations, which is always an interesting book. I laugh when I say this, but sadly today was the last day we had to teach seminary, school is coming to an end… I now know just a little bit of what it's like to be a seminary teacher… and if any of my seminary teachers read this I want you to know how sorry I am for being late so often and sleeping in class.

In this seminary class we have 4 kids. The 3 sisters and B. It's a small class and I love these kids, they are all so awesome, but we've experienced a hint of what it's like, and to be among zombie-like teenagers, who don't always want to be here, and would rather not participate. These kids fortunately opened up more and were more awake and willing to participate with each week we taught, but like I said we caught a glimpse of the seminary teacher life… and knowing the kind of student I was. I apologize for even showing up! But I want to also express my appreciation for what you seminary teachers do. I know now what a blessing seminary is and what a blessing it is to be a teacher. As hard as it may be at times and as unrewarding as it may seem just know you’re making an impact on the kids that attend and that one-day they will look back and realize how important and necessary it was to attend. So once again, thank you!

After coming home from seminary we had our planning session and personal study, then we went to the church to begin weekly planning. When we finished planning we went over to Brother W’s and shared with him one of our more recently found favorite talks. "Write down a date" given in General Conference in October 1984. (If you are or are trying to be more missionary minded, I invite you to study this talk! Otherwise read or listen to this talk anyway!)

The rest of the night was having companionship study, look-ups, dinner, and finishing the night off with daily contact.

May 26, 2017
Friday, Day 428
Day 68 back in NY

This morning after studies we had the miracle line conference call! We took the call to the car and we listened as we drove. We planned to make a couple of stops to drop off some stuff to Salvation Army and do a couple looks-ups. When we finished, we came back for lunch and made some phone calls. Then we drove to SUNY New Paltz College for an APF. We had a white board with the question "How do you find truth?" written on it. We would take turns as companionships (Elders and Sisters) taking the shift at the white board. While the other companionship walked around the campus talking to everyone they could. It being the summer and graduation was just last week there weren't very many students on campus, just the few that were taking summer courses… we had some great conversations with people. The first person we talked to was pretty nice, her name was C. It was kind of funny, (I say this without confidence that it really happened this way) but, we approached her as she was at this large vending machine looking to buy something; when we began talking to her, the item on the screen of the vending machine was a tea drink of some kind. By the end of our conversation we thought it was safe to say that she felt the Spirit and desired not to buy the tea, because after talking with us she walked away without buying anything from the vending machine. Later in the day we were asked by Brother H to make a stop by this old person care home and check on a member of the church who hasn't been seen for some time. We stopped by and met Brother M. We made an appointment to come back and visit him on Sundays to bring the sacrament and a message.

We then went to the church, we were supposed to have branch correlation but our leader never showed up... we each, the sisters too, had called Brother W 3 times. After 6 attempts to contact him and receiving no response, we conducted our own meeting and went home.

May 27, 2017
Saturday, Day 429
Day 69 back in NY

Last Monday Elder Vieira, asked me to give a training during district meeting on "Trusting in the Lord". So throughout the week I was trying to be mindful of the topic and I began thinking of experiences that I've had where I have put my trust in the Lord and where I have been fearful and put little to none of my trust in the Lord. Well this morning I wasn't thinking much at all about the topic or district meeting, but I was reading in the Book of Mormon, in 2Nephi 18. (Some of the chapters of Isaiah, which I can never understand with out the Institute manual). So as I'm going along reading this section, I came across this scripture, 2Nephi 18:17 and in the manual it said this:

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the spiritual strength that follows when we place our trust in the Lord:
“As we put our faith and trust in the Lord, we must battle our pain day by day and sometimes hour by hour, even moment by moment; but in the end, we understand that marvelous counsel given to the Prophet Joseph Smith as he struggled with his pain of feeling forgotten and isolated in Liberty Jail:

“‘My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

“‘And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes’ (D&C 121:7–8).

“My dear brothers and sisters, when pain, tests, and trials come in life, draw near to the Savior. ‘Wait upon the Lord, … look for him’ (Isaiah 8:17; 2 Nephi 18:17). ‘They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:31). Healing comes in the Lord’s time and the Lord’s way; be patient” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 19; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 17).

It was perfect. I wasn't thinking about the topic at the moment but I was able to find answers and insights on the topic.

After our studies we went to sister P's to help her. She was having a Sauna delivered. When the couple delivering it showed up we helped unload it and place it in her home. It didn't take long at all, maybe 15 minutes, so we stayed and put it together with her. It's pretty sweet, we told her we'd have to come by some pday and test it out, lol.

She so kindly made us lunch while we wrapped up the last bit of putting light bulbs in and setting up the radio and plugging everything else in. We took our sandwiches to go and went to the home of a brother in our Branch. We shared the talk “Write down a date” with him and invited he and his dad to pick a date and be prayerful to have the Lord show them who would be prepared at that time to receive the gospel.

We had some look-ups to do, so we did some tracking around them. Then we went to the church to do our progress report and meet with Brother W for correlation.

May 28, 2017
Sunday, Day 430
Day 70 back in NY

Happy birthday Shua!

Church was great! Elder Murray and I taught gospel principles, it was a great lesson. After 3rd hour we went home for lunch and companionship study. We then prepared ourselves to visit Brother M and take him the sacrament. Before leaving we shared a message with him about the sacrament and showed a children's bible video about the sacrament. The rest of the day we did look-ups, met with J, and had dinner. At J’s we showed up while he was outside finishing up some yard work. Before he left he asked if we would be available tomorrow morning to help move the chassis of a Datson onto a trailer when someone from Virginia comes to pick it up. We put it in our plans and went to dinner.

May 29, 2017
Monday, Day 431
Day 71 back in NY

This morning we went over to J’s, the guys picking up the car had their trailer all lined up and ready. We each got on an end and picked it up and placed it on the trailer. With the 4 of us it was very light, much lighter than we expected. It took all of 15 seconds. Before heading out we shook the guys hands and said goodbye to Jackson. The guy who bought the Chassis from J came up to us before we left and offered us EACH $20 for helping out. $20 for 15 seconds of work!!?? He was very generous and persistent, even with our effort to nicely decline is offer, but we were able to talk him into us just sharing a $20. He told us to get some breakfast or something so that's what we did. Elder Murray wanted Mickey D's McMuffins so we had breakfast a Mickey D's and then we went home. We got ready, and had studies. After lunch we had a handful of look-ups. Brother J asked us this morning if we wanted to have family Branch game night. Well since it was so late notice for everyone else it was just he and Elder Murray and I. So we met at the church, made popcorn, had some root beer floats, and played this game called The Crazy Cat Lady, which, I sadly won... and became the crazy cat lady.

May 30, 2017
Tuesday, Day 432
Day 72 back in NY

Instead of having district meeting yesterday like usual we had it today. So after studies we went to the church and had companionship study, then at 11 we had district meeting it was pretty good! Today I gave my training on trusting in the Lord. And here were my notes for my training.

What is trust?
A firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength in somebody or something.

Are trust and faith related? If so, how are they?
Trust is like having faith and confidence. Neither of them just appears, but by experience we increase them.

What are some examples or experiences you've had that involved putting trust in someone you know?
Simple: I leave my wallet on my desk around people I trust.

In what ways have you put trust in the Lord?
Less simple: I left my family expecting to be away for 2 years, after a year I returned home for a brief intermission. Prior to going home I feared what my family and others would think of my return, but after much prayer and preparation I eventually was able to put all my trust in the Lord. And he blessed me beyond my comprehension.

2Nephi 4:34
O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

After reading this scripture I think, how different and possibly how difficult would my experience have been if I had put my trust in the arm of flesh? How different and difficult would my experience have been if my trust wasn't in the Lord?

Ask yourself these questions:

Do I trust in the Lord and His Atonement?

Am I taking full advantage of the redeeming power of repentance in my life so that I can have greater peace and joy?

In what ways can I put more trust in the Lord?

How can we have greater faith and put our trust in the Lord?
I think of all the blessings the Lord has promised me and covenants that I've made with him. And I trust him.

2 Nephi 18:17. “I Will Wait upon the Lord”

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the spiritual strength that follows when we place our trust in the Lord:

“As we put our faith and trust in the Lord, we must battle our pain day by day and sometimes hour by hour, even moment by moment; but in the end, we understand that marvelous counsel given to the Prophet Joseph Smith as he struggled with his pain of feeling forgotten and isolated in Liberty Jail:

“‘My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

“‘And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes’ (D&C 121:7–8).

“My dear brothers and sisters, when pain, tests, and trials come in life, draw near to the Savior. ‘Wait upon the Lord, … look for him’ (Isaiah 8:17; 2 Nephi 18:17). ‘They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:31). Healing comes in the Lord’s time and the Lord’s way; be patient” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 19; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 17).

Now I of course am still working on always putting my trust in the Lord. But in certain moments I know that I can fully trust in the Lord. And I think that's where we can draw the line for ourselves to know where we have a testimony and in what principles of the gospel we are fully converted too. Our district leader said to take whatever time I needed. I wasn't sure how long I'd need or how long it'd take, but it created a 30-minute discussion on trusting in the Lord.

After District meeting, we had lunch, more look-ups for the week, and dinner. But before we went home for dinner we stopped by this former investigators home, he called us his morning actually and asked if we could help him with his computer. When we finished we stuck around the neighborhood and knocked a few doors. The first door we knocked had one of the sisters pass along cards in the door... lol the sisters beat us here. Well we went to the next house and knocked, when the door opened for a very brief moment a large man stood in the doorway, we heard the words "not interested!" And the door SLAMMED shut…

Making our way to the car we saw a man mowing his lawn, we approached him and he quickly killed the mower and walked our way. We introduced ourselves; we learned his name and a little bit about him. We briefly shared a message and set an appointment to come back. (His name is K).

Then we came home for dinner. And ended the night with some look-ups and phone calls.

Working on the rest! Love y'all! 

Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold