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