It’s the last week of the cycle and we were expecting no changes for us since Elder Patterson only has 1 cycle left. Saturday night we expected transfer calls. As District Leader I get a call from the Zone Leaders informing us of the changes happening in my district. So around 10:15pm we got a call from the APs it was a short call and they told us that we need to move out... not a call we were expecting and not one we were happy about... during call we got a call from the ZLs, when we called them back they told us about the changes happening. Then I called everyone in the district and told them who was leaving and who was staying.
Sunday we went to church and during Sacrament meeting we watched the primary program. Then the Spanish Elders came in and told us someone came to church and so we went out to the hall and talked to this guy. After talking with him for a bit, (not knowing who he was) we found out that he lives in a shelter and was looking for some money to go to an interview tomorrow. We talked to our bishop and I guess the guy didn’t want to wait so when we came back he was gone. We stayed in the back and then noticed that bishop’s wife was gone... we went and found her in the foyer and she was on the phone with her doctor, she was in pain. She has some knee problems and we asked if we could do anything to help. She asked for a blessing, bishop was near by and we grabbed him and he opened up his office and we gave her a blessing.
I enjoyed 3rd hour, we were being taught out of the Teachings of the Presidents, Gordon B. Hinckley chapter 18 and it was about Virtue and what I got from it was simply, we need to overcome the common distractions of the world that society accepts and rise above and strive to be who we are expected to be by our Heavenly Father.
After church we went home and started cleaning up to prepare the apartment for the Sisters that are moving in on Tuesday. Late Sunday night we got a text from the APs it said, Elders please be moved out by tomorrow so the Sisters can just move in Tuesday. We weren’t to happy about these last minute changes... having spent money on groceries and putting money on our laundry card and now having to leave a lot behind.
After District Meeting on Monday we went home and started packing, Elder Richards said he could come by in the afternoon and pick up our stuff and drive it over to our next apartment so we didn’t have to haul it over there by train. Which was so nice! We left the church around 1, after district meeting and went to check out our next apartment, around 1:30 we made it back to our current apartment and began packing. Elder Richards would be over around 4:30 so we quickly packed up and cleaned as much as we could and loaded his car up… we had just enough room to fit with our stuff in the car and he drove us over. Elder Clark and Elder Matson came out side and met us at the car to help load the elevator. We made it all in one trip and began settling in.
Tuesday was a bit odd; waking up in this other apartment was weird, just because of how quick the move was, and it just felt weird. We went out and attempted to contact some referrals and we had a really cool contact with this guy named G. He is Puerto Rican and he was really cool… He opened up a lot to us and shared his life situation and how he is searching for God. He has a strong belief in God, at least in a supreme being. We brought him both a Bible and a Book of Mormon and we testified to him of the knowledge we have that there is a God, that He is our loving Heavenly Father, and that He desires us to be like Him. He asked Elder Patterson how he came to know that and it was a really neat experience, the Spirit was there and it touched G. He had lots of questions and he asked us to come back and begin teaching him more. We shared some scriptures and invited him to read before we come back. We are excited to have someone who has expressed real interest to teach!
Around 7pm we went to the church and played basketball. I’m slowly becoming professional...
Today was pretty great! This morning we went to the park across from Yankee Stadium and played soccer with all the Elders in the Zone. It was pretty fun; we invited a few random people to play with us. It was sweet, one of the randoms was really good and we had a few really good Elders who played soccer before the mission. One of the randoms and one of the Elders hit faces, busting the random kids lip... but they were all good and we kept playing.
Before they all left I had done a couple back flips and the kid we played soccer with came over and asked for some tips, he said he’s not afraid to backflip, he just can’t get his legs around fast enough and he lands on his knees. So I helped him out and he said he would practice. For lunch we went to subway and then went to the church to play basketball with the bishop’s son Antonio, who isn’t a member.
It’s been a good week, with some ups and downs but overall finding G made this week worth it!
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
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