December 27th, we met with this guy named K. The Spanish Sisters ran into him some time recently and they sent us over to meet with him. He met some missionaries in the past and looked forward to meeting with us. We came by around 6:30pm and talked to him a bit, he told us that he enjoyed meeting with the missionaries before. We simply taught a short version of the Restoration since he was starting his online course soon. As we came to the conclusion of our discussion, he said, “I look forward to meeting with you next week”, before we even talked about scheduling another appointment. He seems like he has potential to progress and continue learning.
Later that evening we went to M’s home and visited with he and his wife G. M again asked how we came to know Joseph Smith was a true prophet. We talked about the spirit and shared our experiences of how we’ve come to know the truth of the things we know. We invited G to sit with M and read the Book of Mormon together then to kneel and pray about it. They accepted and we told them we would follow up the next visit.
On the 28th we just met with D early in the morning. We shared a message with him and focused on committing him to read the Book of Mormon daily and as he does Heavenly Father will bless him to be able to understand English and the scriptures. He committed to do so and we invited him to be baptized on February 10th.
We came home and did weekly planning and then went out and visited members and others around the area.
Friday the 29th we went to M’s again and met with him. We followed up with him and his wife reading together. He said they read together and they prayed and they had a neat experience. He really enjoyed that with his wife, he said they haven’t done that before.
Well about half way into our visit, P (M’s Mom) came in and had all these other unrelated questions and misconceptions about the church and so we helped her understand those and then tried to gain control of the environment.
M’s wife had called while we were speaking and he was getting a little upset because P was interrupting him on the phone... so things got a little out of hand. We finally were able to gain control enough to say a prayer and get out.
When we returned home that night we received a text from President informing Elder Davis that he has felt that he and Elder Pina should go on a split tomorrow for a special assignment. We weren’t given much information then but were told we would receive a call tomorrow from someone who would give us further information.
On the 30th we went about the day and around 3pm I split with Elders Clark and Windsor. Elder Davis split with another Elder and went to Harlem for a commercial the church is making. I don’t want to share too much about it, but one day I’m sure we will see it completed but he said he thought it was really cool.
When he finished they came back to the church around 6pm and we went home to eat and then went to P’s to visit him. When we showed up he seemed really out of it and we noticed just above his eyebrow his head was split and had a nice cut parallel to his nose and a couple teeth missing. The blood looked recent like it must have happened earlier that day. We asked him about it and he didn’t say anything, we asked if he had fallen or something and then he hesitated to respond and then said he fell and hit his head on the table. He wasn’t really in the right state of mind to speak to him. So we prayed with him and we left.
Sunday the 31st we received a call from the Spanish Elders saying they met with a kid who wanted to be baptized, he even set his own date to be baptized. We messaged him and invited him to church but he couldn’t come, his mom needed his help with setting up a party for New Years.
Elder Davis was giving a talk on one of our favorite topics! REPENTANCE! He gave a great talk and we had a couple investigators show up during it.
After the sacrament meeting we came down from the stand and talked with some members, the Ardinez family invited us over that night for dinner. (Since it’s New Years Eve and The Bronx gets a bit crazy. We’ve been asked to be in a couple hours earlier tonight to avoid getting caught up with the partiers.)
After church we came straight home and changed out of our suits and got on our coats and dressed warm to go back out, we did a couple look ups and then went to the Ardinez families home. This family is so great! They are from the Philippines and are just so sweet. They have 3 boys and 2 twin girls. For dinner they cooked a lot of food! Since it was New Years they went big. The entire dinner table was covered in food. Everyone ate either on the floor or the couch. Elder Davis and I were fed 6 difference typed of meat! Chicken, goat, pig feet, beef, liver, fish, and tripe, along with all the meat we had Filipino spaghetti and rice. Elder Davis is a pretty fast eater so he finished pretty quickly and was sitting around. While I was finishing up and trying to hurry so we could leave. They thought it would be fun if Elder Davis sang karaoke while I finished eating... to save him from doing that I tried to eat as fast as possible. I finished and we ended up having to sing, “imagine”. Then we fast walked home!
Monday, the 1st of the New Year, Elder Davis was taken from me by the assistants at 8am and I spent the rest of the day with Elders Clark and Windsor in a trio till transfers. We spent all day in their area.
Tuesday the 2nd was transfers. We went to meet with D that morning and taught him the rest of the Plan of Salvation. Then we went to Inwood for transfers. My new companion by the way is Elder Stokes! (He was trained by Elder Davis!) We are gonna rock this area! After transfers we had enough time to get home have lunch and head to the church for district meeting at 2:30. After district meeting we went home for dinner around 5pm and then headed out for the night. We had an awesome experience looking up people. We met this lady J who hasn’t been attending church for the last year. She explained why and we testified to her how personal salvation is and that when we attend church it must be for ourselves and not for anyone else. The Savior knows us personally and we must strive to know him personally and to accomplish that we must attend church to partake of the sacrament. It was a neat experience to stand there in her doorway and testify to this daughter of God.
We look forward to this wonderful last cycle together!!
Elder Stoker and Elder Newbold serving their last cycle together.
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
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