He's HOME!

It can't put into words how amazing it is to have Tyler home with us. Watching his growth and his love for the Savior over the last 2 1/2 years has been such a special experience. I'm so grateful for his willingness to serve. I'm grateful for his example. I know that he will go on to do many wonderful things. We are so happy to be a whole family once again, even though it will only be for 7 weeks, as we are preparing to send Joshua off on his mission to Missouri, St. Louis. I will be a missionary mom once again and I am so happy! Thank you to all of you who love and support our family. We feel it and we are grateful for it!

NYNY North Mission accomplished!

He's home and in my arms! 

So happy!

Family at the airport

The boys are back together

Cousins 

Big sister Courtney got to finally tell the world she is expecting #2, and it's a BOY! We are all so excited! 

Elder Newbold with his Stake President 

Last picture with the tag!

Final email

February 21, 2018

Well this is it. These last 2 weeks have been a wonderful conclusion to my full time service. I had been training a new missionary and have truly enjoyed that privilege. I was afraid this would happen, AND it did... I don’t remember what happened these last 2 weeks, but I know they felt rewarding and that I accomplished what needed to be done. Something I’d love to share is this:

The last few days we had in the cycle before transfers we spent a good amount of time out side, in front of the church, contacting people. We felt, as we were contacting people on the street, to bring them in just through the front doors and stand directly in front of a picture of Christ (the one with him ascending from heaven with the angels around him). Each of the people we brought in stood directly in front of the large painting. As they stood there for a short moment we would ask, “what comes to your mind when you look at this? Or what feelings might you have toward this painting?” I can’t tell you how many people we brought in through the front doors of the church that day. But I can tell you how I felt, how each of them felt. Each response to the questions we asked were all very similar. They would say something like, “It’s very welcoming” “He is welcoming me to heaven” “He wants me to be closer to Him”... etc.

We did this for a couple hours and the feeling that filled my heart and that room in those moments was so precious. I could have continued it all day and I would have loved to. It truly was such a special thing, each person we brought in, we focused on, individually, one by one. As they shared things with us that were personal we testified to them, one by one. We enjoyed this so much and found such great success we continued doing it and planned to do it again each day. I find it hard at the moment to articulate each of these experiences or even remember the fine details of them, but I know for a surety it was through the simple act of testifying of My Savior, Jesus Christ that the spirit was most definitely present and He bore witness of truth as we testified.

My simple invitation to those who read this is: First, take a few minutes and look at this very picture.
Second, look deeper, say to yourself the things you notice, and third, ask your self this; What would I like Jesus Christ to say to me if I stood before Him, with His arms extended outward, inviting me to come to Him and showing forth His hands? What would I like to hear Him say to me?

I’d like to conclude this brief message with my simple testimony, that I Know that the Savior lives. That He is very real! That He cares, even about the very details of our lives. I know that He is so personal and that each of our relationships with him can be personal. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ I can be healed. I know that, I have experienced it. He desires to come close to you and He will, as you come closer to Him. Take the time to know the Savior, He is waiting for you. This I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Week 97 Final 2

This week has been wonderful, I’m enjoying every possible moment of my time in New York, and time is becoming more and more precious to me, being that my time is very limited.

January 31, 2018
Last week Wednesday we finished up pday and went over to the church so Elder Stokes could conduct a couple baptism interviews for two 10-year-old twin brothers. They are so awesome and understanding so much of what they’ve learned. They are so ready!

February 1, 2018
Thursday morning we were heading to MLC, we got to the Metro North station at the Botanical Garden Stop, we met this guy waiting for the same train as us, named K, and he’s 20. We began talking to him, finding out his religious background. He was really interested in what we had to share; he even mentioned his mom and brother who he knew would also be interested. He sat just a seat behind and one over from us, Elder Stokes sat next to him and taught him the Restoration, every 3 minutes or so Elder Stokes leaned over to me, asking for a pamphlet, then a Book of Mormon, and a pass along card. He taught the first lesson and got his contact info and then we had to get off the train. But it was a pretty sweet experience.

Elder Stokes and I had just finished the meeting we had for MLC and we were eating lunch. I had gotten up from my seat at the end of the table and went to throw away my plate. While away from the table I began talking to another missionary, President Smith took my seat and asked Elder Stokes “where is your companion, I have some news for you both?” Elder Stokes pointed me out and I then heard “Elder Newbold!” I looked in his direction and he waved me over. I quickly went and sat next to Elder Stokes in front of President Smith. President then said “I have a special assignment for you.” Before he even continued we accepted the assignment. He said “we will be receiving a new missionary on Tuesday, he’s been visa waiting in Finland (where’s he’s from) for 2 months. He will be arriving in the mission Tuesday afternoon and I feel to have you both continue his training. He is on week 10 of the new missionary training so you will continue from there for the next 2 weeks of his 12 weeks.” That was pretty much all the info we were given. President asked if we had room for another missionary and we do, so we will just need to rearrange our room to fit him but it will work great!

February 2, 2018
Friday, we had a sweet little experience. Last week we were out looking up an address that didn’t exist, where we were looking. We went to the street of the address and spent maybe 25 minutes walking up and down and back and forth looking for what seemed not to exist. We asked some people around and no one could tell us where it was. We about gave up, then my wonderful and inspired companion thought to look up the address on maps to see if just maybe there was another address similar but spelt different or something like that... lo and behold, there was another address very similar. We planned to look him up another day, being that it was late and the address was far out of the way. So we retuned home.

February 2, 2018
Friday, Elder Clark and I were on a split. Planned in our schedule was to try looking up this other address, which we hoped would be where he actually lived. We found the building, but had no way in the building. We waited for about 15 minutes, when finally someone was coming into the building; we followed in behind them and went to the floor where the address was listed. We knocked the door and a young lady answered, we showed her the name and asked if he lived here by chance. She responded, S. Yes that’s my Father; he lives here but is at work right now. I was pretty stoked! We found the right address! It was a miracle! Now we are just praying to find him home some day. We’ve called multiple times and has yet to answer or respond.

February 3, 2018
Saturday was one of those days! Man we had 7 set appointments and all of them fell through, we were able to make 1 of the appointments worth while by teaching the roommate to one of our investigators which was cool! But literally everything else fell through.

February 4, 2018
Sunday, we had a great sacrament meeting! 2 of our investigators came, A and D. They are both so great! After church we stuck around for a few minutes, Elder Stokes and I did a mini split with the ward Clerk, Elder Stokes stayed in the clerks office helping the clerk transfer a handful of records of members who we found out moved, while I went out on an errand with the 1st counselor of the bishopric. Later that evening, we went towards the bottom of our area to look up a guy who the clerk said he thought had passed away, but I told him I had met him recently. Our objective for the night was to find this member and figure out whether he was alive or not. Well, we found a guy who fits the profile, has the same first and last name but the last name is spelt “Leavy” and not Levy, but the birthday matches. So we are trying to figure out what happened to this guy.

February 5, 2018
Monday, we had a great district meeting this morning, we had a great time making plans as to how we can best help one of our investigators. He hasn’t been progressing so we are trying to decide how best we can help him or let him know he isn’t ready and to let him go for a little bit.

Also during district meeting we set a goal as a district to pass out 80 copies of the Book of Mormon this week, but meaningfully. We want to find people who are interested and share a scripture with them before giving it to them. Today as a district we passed out 12 copies. We found this awesome guy named E just before we went to FHE at the church. We stood at a bus stop for about 30 minutes with him, teaching him about the church and the restoration. We were able to find out his mother was a member of the church, but we believe he said she passed away. We also got his contact info to send him over to another area where he lives, he was so cool, and we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon as well.

February 6, 2018
Tuesday, after studies we went to the church for interviews with President. I didn’t have an interview because I will have my exit interview this cycle, but Elder Stokes had his interview, following his interview we had a district leader meeting about how to make district meeting more effective and help the district be more involved and excited. It was a very helpful meeting now that more recently a meeting outline has been made.

We went out for a few hours and did some contacting and then came back to the church to meet President, after he finished interviews we got in the car together and drove straight to the airport to pick up our new companion! We talked on the way about going home and preparing for it, whenever President wasn’t on a very important phone call, lol (sounds like my Dad).

Our new companion’s name is Elder Ihalmo (E-halm-mo), he’s from Finland. Being from Finland it is mandatory to serve at least a year in the Army right out of High school. So he served a year and came out on his mission. He waited for his visa for 7 months and began the first 2 months of his mission in Finland. His birthday is February 21st, so he will turn 21 the day I fly home.

We were running behind and his plane already landed. When we got there, Elder Stokes and I talked with a man from Jamaica; we talked about the Book of Mormon. President went and found our companion and joined us after our discussion with this man H in the airport.

I am so grateful to be apart of this work, I know that the Lord leads His church and qualifies those He calls. He sure has trust in His children. I’ve now had the opportunity to be apart of training 3 missionaries. And this time is also special, Elder Stokes has trained once before and we get to train together! We are so exited!

See y’all in 2!
Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,
Elder Newbold

Elder Newbold is wearing the Armor of God for the FHE lesson 

Week 96 FINAL 3

January 24, 2018
Wednesday evening after all preparations were made we had an appointment set with a single lady from our ward so we had planned to have this awesome member Brother W come with us so we could go in and meet with her. On our way there we called to make sure she was still expecting us. When she answered she apologized and said her family had just shown up and surprised her from out of state so she asked to reschedule. Brother W had already made it there before us and was waiting. When we got there we told him she had rescheduled and that we had a few people in the area we could look up instead. After trying to find an apartment of a member, we soon found it didn’t exist. We then went and looked up another member and found that they had moved at least 5 years ago. We then decided we would stop by a potential investigator we’ve had trouble getting in contact with. Soon after knocking the door we were let in and met D, our investigator and his wife and daughter. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and Brother W was so awesome and was able to relate to them by sharing his experience of when the missionaries 1st found him and invited him to read from the Book of Mormon when he was 16. His life has changed from that moment. It was really neat to hear him testify to this family about his experience.

January 25, 2018
Thursday, we did our weekly planning and then all our appointments fell through and so we did a lot of contacting and calling people.

January 26, 2018
Friday morning we met with D, he is so awesome! He’s just so willing to learn and live the gospel. We are aware that a family from his country loves 5 minutes from him and they are members of the church but attend the Inwood ward, in Manhattan. Our goal is to get them introduced to each other so D can make a friend in the church and have someone to relate to. The problem right now is their work schedules are about the opposite, when one of them works the other has off and is sleeping. We have some options we are considering to help D continue learning in a better way.

January 27, 2018Saturday after correlation we went to A’s home to meet with him. We had a great lesson with him, teaching him about the plan of salvation. E, his older brother who is a member, came in a few minutes into the lesson and helped A understand some things, and then he left and came back again at the end and testified more about the plan of salvation. It was really sweet to see him be apart of helping his brother understand the teachings.

E leaves in 4 days to Florida to go to school and work. But after a conversation E and I had after a family home evening this week he came to me at the very end of meeting with A and told me he was praying about serving a mission. We talked a little more about a mission and we headed out to our next appointment.

Our next appointment fell through and on our way to our final set appointment we received a text that he needed to reschedule because an emergency with work came up. We were very close to his home and decided we would stop by, I could use the bathroom and Elder Stokes would have an opportunity to talk to him for a few seconds. When finished I joined them in his room and was able to reschedule a day to meet.

January 28, 2018
Sunday was great! We had a great Sabbath; unfortunately our appointments were falling through again so we decided to just street contact for a while. We stuck around a particular spot on Grand Concourse and talked to everyone that walked by. After some time we met this guy named S he seemed a little interested in our message. We talked about church and the importance of it; he said he had been thinking about going to church a little more often. We invited him and will hopefully see him around soon. We took down his information and hope to meet sometime soon.

January 29, 2018
This morning we went to the church for leadership and district meeting, which were great. I gave a spiritual thought in leadership meeting. What I shared was this, “Attaining what the Apostle Paul described as “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ challenge us to become something.”
(General Conference April 2017 - Elder Dallin H. Oaks)

We need to stand above the world and it’s teachings of thinking it’s everything to KNOW something and do as Christ invites us and BECOME something.

Later this evening before FHE started we met with this kid named K who the sisters have been visiting, we went and played some basketball in the gym while we waited for FHE to start. E and A came a few minutes after we started, we listened to the message shared by Elder Richards and then played a quick game. A ball was passed around the room and who ever caught it had to say a name of a person in either the Bible or Book of Mormon, without repeating any names. After the game we had treats and mingled with each of our investigators and members.

January 30, 2018
This morning right after our studies we went down the street a couple blocks and helped Sister M move from her apartment to her new apartment. We did 3 loads with the large mission van, it took us about 4 hours. We had to go up her 2 story walk up and get everything from inside, outside to the van, then walk and meet the van at her other apartment 10 minutes away and unload the van and carry everything into her other apartment on the 2nd floor. Afterward she took us down the street to Little Cesar’s pizza and got some food and took it to the church for lunch. We shared a large pizza, crazy bread, and a 2-liter and waited for Emmanuel, our investigator to come to the church so we could meet during his break from work.

A very simple experience but an important lesson was learned. Before we left Little Cesar’s we called E to see how he was doing and confirm our appointment at the church, he said it would still work great, we told him we would be at the church in about 6 minutes. We quickly walked and found an open from where we started our lunch it was 2:20pm and we started eating. Assuming when E, got to the church would either ring the bell or call us to let him in, we continued eating. Twice that I recall during our lunch I had the thought, E is at the door, but I then thought well if that’s true, he will call or ring the bell. Again this same thing went through my mind and I decided I would check, to my surprise E had been standing at the front of the church.

It wasn’t anything major, we had a very limited amount of time with E, because he only has an hour break and we were already 30 minutes into his break. But with the simplest thing, the Spirit places in my mind, E is at the door. When I came to the realization that he may actually be at the door and the Spirit was trying to tell me so, I stood and went out to check and there he was.

Again, a simple experience with an important lesson learned. I am never to assume others choices. “Let the Holy Spirit Guide.”


I’m grateful for the experiences I have been blessed with in my service to the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m grateful to be able to recognize even the simplest promptings of the Holy Ghost and I know these simple moments are but practice for larger and more significant opportunities of service in the future. Christ led His church in His ministry and He leads His church today.

May I invite you all to never allow yourselves to be too busy to recognize the promptings of the Spirit.

Have a wonderful week!
Patience. Love. Faith

Much love,

Elder Newbold