On December 15th we had the mission Christmas Devotional. As a mission we gathered in the Ossining chapel. President Smith and his family each spoke to us and bore their sweet simple testimonies on the Savior Jesus Christ. In between each of them speaking a musical number was performed. It was a really great devotional.
Tonight I finished reading the Book of Mormon! I started 110 days ago on August 17, 2017 and tonight before going to bed I finished reading it. It’s been so awesome to read it through once again. I’ve received so much greater insights and knowledge from the scriptures this time around and I plan to begin reading from the beginning again tomorrow and hopefully finish before I come home.
The next day we met with this referral we received a couple weeks ago, we were finally able to get in contact with him. We met with him at 10am and it was a pretty cool meeting. He comes from a Muslim background but is searching out Christianity. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he has shown to be fairly interested.
We then went to another referrals place to deliver the Large Print copies of the Bible and the Book of Mormon that she ordered and visit with him to see his interest level. We had a pretty good visit with him. His name is M.
We then took a mini road trip on the bus to get to the very top of our area and help a member move into their new home. They had already been unpacking for a little while so we were only there about 15 minutes and then we were offered a ride by another member to drive us to the church. Driving in a car in the city is pretty crazy. People don’t know how to drive here. When we got to the church we walked down to Fordham Rd. and met with some other missionaries for an APF. We had set up tables on the sidewalk and were offering to wrap Christmas gifts for free! It was so solid! We showed up and there were a handful of people surrounding these tables in line to have their gifts wrapped. So while the Sisters were wrapping, Elder Davis and I would talk to the people in line and share the Christmas initiative, talk about their plans for Christmas, ask if they have any party’s coming up (if not invite him to our church Christmas party), ask them if they are going to church Christmas Eve, etc. everyone was so nice and open, because it’s Christmas! Everyone’s hearts are being softened. It’s so much easier to find people who will let us share the gospel. It was such a great service APF. About an hour into us being there one of the Sister companionship’s had to leave and the line of people was growing so I hopped behind one of the tables and started wrapping some gifts and talking to people. It was one of the best things we’ve done, everyone loved it. People getting their gifts wrapped were saying how great an idea this was and that they love it!
After about another 45 minutes my hands were pretty cold and another companionship showed up to take our spot. So Elder Davis and I then went back to the church for our Christmas party.
Sunday was pretty good! I was asked to give a talk earlier in the week, here are my notes:
The topic is Trusting in the Lord.
Have you ever wondered why people respond differently to the same set of circumstances? Such was the case with Lehi’s family. During their trials, some of the family members looked to God and trusted in Him while others complained, lacked faith, and rebelled. Our response to circumstances should produce growth and greater faith rather than an attitude of complaining and rebellion.
We’ve been given so many wonderful examples of Heavenly Fathers children showing trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. We see this all throughout the scriptures both the Book of Mormon and The Bible.
We see it here:
In 1Nephi 17:8-9
Nephi writes...
8 “...the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters.”
9 “And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?”
Did you listen closely?
The Lord commanded Nephi to build a ship.. that was the commandment, it was easier said than done, but Nephi‘s trust was in the Lord, he shows how much he trusted the Lord in his simple response “...Lord, whither shall I go...”
Nephi’s confidence did not likely come from any previous ship-building experience. Rather, his confidence stemmed from tremendous faith & trust he had in the Lord.
We see how much trust and faith the Brother of Jared had in the Lord,
In Ether 3:4 we read
“O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness;...”
The brother of Jared’s trust was in the Lord. He knew that the Lord had power to do whatsoever was asked of Him, if it be to benefit Heavenly Fathers children.
Because of his trust, the brother of Jared’s request was not only granted of the Lord, but he also saw the Lord in this experience...
Brothers and Sisters, at times we may become discouraged because we compare ourselves and our circumstances to the countless demonstrations of great faith and trust in the Lord that we see in the scriptures so long ago.
But I strongly encourage each of us to take the Lord’s word.
2Nephi 4:4
“...Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.”
May we each trust in the Lord and His promises. They weren’t given just for the time of those people, the commandments were given for us all and for now.
Alma 38:5
5 “And now my [brothers & Sisters], I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”
After church we were asked by a member, Brother B to go to the hospital with he and his wife to help give his mother a blessing. It was super awesome, it was Brother B’s first time anointing for a blessing. (He’s a convert of 2 years and his mother is not a member) it was really neat to be there with him and participate in blessing his mother.
December 19th 2017
It’s Tuesday! Which means Elder Davis is going with his group of missionaries who will be going home with him. We went to Manhattan for the day; we arrived at the temple and waited for the others to show up. When they did they all went inside and I joined Elder Espinoza and Elder Smiley for the day. We went upstairs and had companionship study and talked about the day and who we will see. We had a look up to do and then we went to a member’s for lunch. This member was so awesome, he is a Green Beret and he’s from, or his parents are from/currently live in Citrus Heights. He is such a great guy and in his last visit with the Elders he told them about his current goals in life and we did this really awesome game to relate to life and including Heavenly Father in our goals and looking out for His helping hands.
After returning to the temple to meet up with Elder Davis again we immediately returned to Kingsbridge where we met with K, a referral we received more recently. We followed up with him for the 2nd time to see if he had read the Book of Mormon. He said he had not, but is going to make time to read soon. We began testifying of the importance of this book and how it will bless him spiritually. It will give him a better understanding of Christ. He then had all these questions about who Joseph Smith was, who wrote the Book of Mormon, etc. all the questions that could be answered in the introduction of the Book of Mormon, so we invited him to read the introduction to have all his questions answered.
After meeting with him we left to our next appointment with M and he is just so awesome! He’s got all these great questions! (He has been in and out of prison twice because of false charges, yet he continues to smile through it all. He was locked up for a number of years in total and is just searching for truth. He said he was baptized while he was in prison but while we were meeting with him yesterday he said that he is thinking about being baptized again.) He’s just so awesome and is being prepared to receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Then we went to the church to meet with Brother B, soon after we got there so did he and he brought a box of pizza for each of us and then said he needed to leave back to the hospital to be with his mom. He’s so awesome!
It’s truly been a wonderful week. A scripture that I’ve loved this time around reading the Book of Mormon is in Ether 12:41. “And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.”
My invitation to those who read this is the same… seek this Jesus of whom the prophets have written. It is only by our personal search, ponder, and prayers that we may receive our own witness of the truth and divinity of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. As promised by Moroni “And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
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