Coming into the mission and starting off in Hunts Point, The Bronx... I was confused, I walked around and questioned if I had actually made it to New York! It was nothing like I imagined and what I saw in the movies... I can look back and say that I definitely wasn't disappointed, I just kept walking with the idea that eventually these buildings would start to look a little familiar! In the Bronx, they never did.
New York looked familiar in Manhattan and only there. But here I am! Once again in the Bronx where I started a journey I will never forget. Where a lot of questions were answered and experiences unrolled. Where I gained a testimony of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon there in the first 12 weeks. It was the first time that, on my own, cover to cover that I read The Book of Mormon.
It was here that I learned the importance of obedience and witnessed the miracles and blessings that came from my effort to be the best I could be. It was where a brotherhood started that would last through the eternities. Most importantly it was the beginning of my journey to finding my Jesus.
Just as any change takes place, adjustment is expected... even serving upstate for 4 1/2 months it took me out of the city living experience and the first couple days took some readjusting. I had to start using my legs again. My butt has been stuck in a car for the last few months and it's good to be back on my feet.
I guess I am a city missionary! I've served so far a total of 14 months in New York City and I've got just less than 6 months left. I may be in the city till I'm done.
Well this week has been great!! We've got this investigator named IK, he's 21, and he's on date to be baptized this month on the 23rd. Our first lesson together with him was my first night here, it was awesome. We talked about repentance and the sacrament and how important it is to never stop trying. Never stop trying to be better. After our lesson with him we went into the gym and played some basketball. It was 3 on 3. Elder Patterson and I with IK, against Elders Clark and Matson with their investigator C. It was pretty solid; we had a lot of fun!
Pday it rained so we were just chillin. After getting groceries and laundry done we just hung out inside, took a nap, and whatever.
Thursday we had weekly Planning so we made a goal for the cycle that we wanted to increase our wards home teaching by 10% and help a few members get their home teaching done. So we made some daily, weekly, and monthly goals to achieve our cycle goal. It's going to be a sweet cycle together!
Thursday evening we went to a member’s home and helped him take out some walls in his apartment so he can remodel. So we were there for a couple hours and when we left we had sheet rock dust all over us!
On Friday we met down at the temple for a leadership meeting at 1pm and came back up to Kingsbridge to clean the chapel.
Saturday was pretty awesome! It truly was a blessing to have President Nelson, his wife, Elder Gong, his wife, and Bishop Waddell and his wife this past weekend and what a blessing it's been to have my thoughts throughout the week turned toward that experience. I loved and felt the truth of Sister Waddell’s testimony of the Book of Mormon and enjoyed Bishop Waddell’s words as he testified of his eternal companion’s words on the Book of Mormon, what a beautiful thing to see and feel their love for The Book of Mormon.
I loved Sister Gong’s invitation to pay attention to the blessing of repentance throughout the Book of Mormon and Elder Gong’s words of learning the language of the Spirit and what a blessing to hear from President and Sister Nelson as they talked about Temple and Family History and making it a focus as we contact people.
Something I really benefited from was something Elder Gong said on Sunday in Kingsbridge during our special stake conference, "Tomorrow no one has sinned." I've been thinking about that and how true it is. Keeping it in mind, that I haven't made a mistake tomorrow brings hope for a better day, "a new day" and I am grateful for that!
This week has been great! I've really enjoyed being back in the Bronx, with a relatable companion, and having joy in the work! The Lord is pouring out blessings upon my companion, this area, and me!
The last few days we've been getting a lot of referrals from headquarters and other missionaries it's been sweet, we've been contacting people left and right and visiting some solid people.
Monday was my first district meeting in this area, it was pretty good. We have 8 missionaries (including myself) and a senior couple, so 10 people at District meetings. It was great, we started off with introductions to get to know everyone a little bit, each companionship talked about 2 people they've been focusing on and their progress and or their concerns, then Elder Matson gave us a great training on the topic "We invite, they commit, we follow up". We talked about extending invitations and commitments to our investigators and members and how we can show them the importance of the things we commit them to do and that as we follow up it shows them that we care. It was a pretty solid meeting, just before we closed up, I passed out paper to everyone and had them write their testimonies/feelings about the area they are serving in and to fold the paper, tape it shut, and stick it in a jar I had labeled time capsule. The plan is to, in 6 weeks or so, do it again and review our 1st written testimony and see the change.
After our meeting we split with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Murset in his area and Elder Baker came to our area with Elder Patterson. It was a pretty cool split, they are Spanish missionaries so we visited/taught people in Spanish. It's been so long that I really didn't say much until the end, I would bare my testimony in English and Elder Murset would translate. Overall it was a great split. Tuesday around noon we met up with our companions at Panda Express for lunch and to un-split.
It's really been a great and enjoyable week! I'm so grateful for the opposition and trials that I've faced in my life, because without the bad we couldn't know the good, without pain we wouldn't know relief.
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
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