New York
Showing posts with label Book of Mormon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book of Mormon. Show all posts
Friday, February 23, 2018
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
Sunday, February 4, 2018
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
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
Friday, January 19, 2018
Week 94
This week was pretty great! We’ve had some great experiences and have been working on helping the ward and future missionaries by recreating a list of all the members with simple and helpful information. For example, we have over 800 members in our area. Not all of them are still living or currently living here, contact info has been changed... etc. so we’ve been reaching out to members and trying to find them all to make it clear where people are and how we can continue to help them each make it to church or have their records moved to their local church.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
We visited Brother C just to share a brief message and get to know him a little more. We shared a video of the Last Supper and talked about the sacrament and focused on why it’s important to each of us. It was great to hear his response in making it clear that it’s personal and is similar but different for everyone. We had a great visit with him. He’s been returning to activity recently so it’s been great to have him around at church more.
After meeting with Brother C we decided to go to another place in our area close by to look up some members and make contact with them. We felt to look up this guy named M, he lived in one of the apartments underground behind the building so it took a little bit to find it. We then gave him a call, while I was on the phone with him and trying to communicate with M (who speaks mostly Spanish) my companion met this young lady opening the gate to where we needed access to get to find M’s door. While he was talking to her he was able to find that she was interested in coming to church and they exchanged information. Meanwhile I was still trying to let M know we were coming by to visit. On the phone he said he wasn’t home, but we tried to knock his door anyway. He opened the door and he was home! He invited us in and we did our best together to speak with him. We sat on his couch and Elder Stokes offered a simple sweet prayer in the little Spanish he knew. We then shared a video in Spanish and testified of it. We invited him to allow the Spanish missionaries to stop by, he agreed and set a time for them to come tomorrow.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
We’ve been meeting with a young converts younger brother. A, he’s 14 and has shared with us his interest in being baptized. He’s young and doesn’t understand much of the commitment of baptism but we’ve been working with him to learn. We had a great little discussion on the Book of Mormon and it’s importance. We left him with a little assignment to read the introduction. We then scheduled another time to come back and talk about it. He also said he would come to church on Sunday.
Later that evening we visited a man named N, he is from Africa and was interested in receiving a Bible. I had called him some time earlier in the day or even yesterday and set the appointment. Soon before we arrived at his apartment I realized I didn’t pack a Bible with me. So we got to his door, he invited us in. We talked about what inspired him to order a Bible, he shared with us why and we then talked about the Book of Mormon. We gave him a copy and told him we would come back and deliver a Bible. We ended up teaching him the whole Restoration very briefly and setting a return appointment. We will see how he feels about the Book of Mormon and find whether he has real intent to continue learning.
Friday , January 12, 2018
Today was a special day and one to remember. We had the opportunity to watch at the chapel the funeral of President Thomas S. Monson. It was really neat! The speakers were great and I just loved hearing about their experiences serving with President Monson and testifying of how Christ leads His church.
After the funeral we stuck around waiting for a guy named C. He is one of our recent Bible & Book of Mormon referrals. We met at the church in a classroom, we opened up with a prayer and then we asked some questions to get to know him and find out why he felt to request the scriptures. He then spent the next half hour sharing with us his life story. Which was just, wow. It was so personal and he said he had never opened up to anyone about his life. We testified to him of the love his father in Heaven has for him and scheduled another day to meet and he committed to come to church on Sunday.
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Today we had correlation for the first time in about a month since our ward mission leader had been gone in Utah for the holidays.
Early that afternoon we went to Bishop Ferguson’s and visited with him for a bit. We wanted to speak with him about his goals this New Year for the ward and how we can help him to achieve them. It was a pretty great meeting as helped us make a plan to know where we should focus.
Later in the evening one of the members, Frank brought us dinner at the church, a box of pizza for each of us. It was very nice of him!
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Elder stokes gave a talk today, his topic was focused toward general conference and the importance of reviewing the messages given. We are led by a prophet today and how important it is that we not only read the scriptures of old (because they were written for our day) but how important it is that we listen to the current prophet today and what they have to teach us. We should most definitely be viewing conference both times a year but also in between, be reviewing and studying them.
Later that evening we met with a man named S, he was a referral from the sisters in Manhattan. They met him while they were meeting with one of their investigators. Right after a lesson S walked into the room and they met him and talked to him. He’s recently become sober and is working on changing more in his life to follow God. He told the sisters he would love to meet with us. So we met with him that evening and he told us his story about he was and what led him to make changes in his life.
We introduced the Book of Mormon and taught him a little bit about it. We were running short on time and set an appointment to come back next Sunday.
I find it so amazing how people we don’t know are so comfortable telling us their lives to the very details without us even asking them too because they recognize us as Christ’s representatives.
Monday, January 15, 2018
After district meeting we went on a split with Zone leaders and Elder Murset and I met M & M. They are members who haven’t been to church in some time. We talked a bit and got to know them. We asked what they remember about their baptism. They both said they were baptized at 16 and 14 (they are now 31 and 29) and they were very nervous, but excited. They said in the moment they were baptized they recognized the spirit strongly. We asked them if they had felt that way recently? One of them made a face and said naa it’s been a while. While the other one said yea, whenever I feel down and I open up the scriptures or pray, I feel the spirit. It was a nice experience and they enjoyed being with us, as did we with them.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
We had a great experience this evening!
We had just stepped out of an appointment when I answered the phone to a call from President Smith last night. After ending the conversation with him, I felt great about the decision I made to just wait and hear from my family later about Josh’s mission call and was determined to find a miracle. Very soon after my call with President, Elder Stokes and I found ourselves on a train ride to deliver a Bible; while on the train we met a man named R, he actually started the conversation. “You both are getting off at Kingsbridge right?” We replied saying “actually we are going to deliver a Bible to someone, but we do have a church over on Kingsbridge.” He said “yea I know, I had a friend drag me there a few times in the past to play basketball and stuff, I’ve never gone there for the right reasons though, just to play basketball and goof around with some friends. But hey, take down my number so we can get together another time, maybe sit down and talk more about what the church is like, I’m interested in learning.”
I just love that! Had I made a different decision on the phone that night, Elder Stokes and I would have missed that opportunity.
Grateful for these wonderful experiences that I’m having here in NY and pray that I may “Never slow down and Never stop”.
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
We visited Brother C just to share a brief message and get to know him a little more. We shared a video of the Last Supper and talked about the sacrament and focused on why it’s important to each of us. It was great to hear his response in making it clear that it’s personal and is similar but different for everyone. We had a great visit with him. He’s been returning to activity recently so it’s been great to have him around at church more.
After meeting with Brother C we decided to go to another place in our area close by to look up some members and make contact with them. We felt to look up this guy named M, he lived in one of the apartments underground behind the building so it took a little bit to find it. We then gave him a call, while I was on the phone with him and trying to communicate with M (who speaks mostly Spanish) my companion met this young lady opening the gate to where we needed access to get to find M’s door. While he was talking to her he was able to find that she was interested in coming to church and they exchanged information. Meanwhile I was still trying to let M know we were coming by to visit. On the phone he said he wasn’t home, but we tried to knock his door anyway. He opened the door and he was home! He invited us in and we did our best together to speak with him. We sat on his couch and Elder Stokes offered a simple sweet prayer in the little Spanish he knew. We then shared a video in Spanish and testified of it. We invited him to allow the Spanish missionaries to stop by, he agreed and set a time for them to come tomorrow.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
We’ve been meeting with a young converts younger brother. A, he’s 14 and has shared with us his interest in being baptized. He’s young and doesn’t understand much of the commitment of baptism but we’ve been working with him to learn. We had a great little discussion on the Book of Mormon and it’s importance. We left him with a little assignment to read the introduction. We then scheduled another time to come back and talk about it. He also said he would come to church on Sunday.
Later that evening we visited a man named N, he is from Africa and was interested in receiving a Bible. I had called him some time earlier in the day or even yesterday and set the appointment. Soon before we arrived at his apartment I realized I didn’t pack a Bible with me. So we got to his door, he invited us in. We talked about what inspired him to order a Bible, he shared with us why and we then talked about the Book of Mormon. We gave him a copy and told him we would come back and deliver a Bible. We ended up teaching him the whole Restoration very briefly and setting a return appointment. We will see how he feels about the Book of Mormon and find whether he has real intent to continue learning.
Friday , January 12, 2018
Today was a special day and one to remember. We had the opportunity to watch at the chapel the funeral of President Thomas S. Monson. It was really neat! The speakers were great and I just loved hearing about their experiences serving with President Monson and testifying of how Christ leads His church.
After the funeral we stuck around waiting for a guy named C. He is one of our recent Bible & Book of Mormon referrals. We met at the church in a classroom, we opened up with a prayer and then we asked some questions to get to know him and find out why he felt to request the scriptures. He then spent the next half hour sharing with us his life story. Which was just, wow. It was so personal and he said he had never opened up to anyone about his life. We testified to him of the love his father in Heaven has for him and scheduled another day to meet and he committed to come to church on Sunday.
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Today we had correlation for the first time in about a month since our ward mission leader had been gone in Utah for the holidays.
Early that afternoon we went to Bishop Ferguson’s and visited with him for a bit. We wanted to speak with him about his goals this New Year for the ward and how we can help him to achieve them. It was a pretty great meeting as helped us make a plan to know where we should focus.
Later in the evening one of the members, Frank brought us dinner at the church, a box of pizza for each of us. It was very nice of him!
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Elder stokes gave a talk today, his topic was focused toward general conference and the importance of reviewing the messages given. We are led by a prophet today and how important it is that we not only read the scriptures of old (because they were written for our day) but how important it is that we listen to the current prophet today and what they have to teach us. We should most definitely be viewing conference both times a year but also in between, be reviewing and studying them.
Later that evening we met with a man named S, he was a referral from the sisters in Manhattan. They met him while they were meeting with one of their investigators. Right after a lesson S walked into the room and they met him and talked to him. He’s recently become sober and is working on changing more in his life to follow God. He told the sisters he would love to meet with us. So we met with him that evening and he told us his story about he was and what led him to make changes in his life.
We introduced the Book of Mormon and taught him a little bit about it. We were running short on time and set an appointment to come back next Sunday.
I find it so amazing how people we don’t know are so comfortable telling us their lives to the very details without us even asking them too because they recognize us as Christ’s representatives.
Monday, January 15, 2018
After district meeting we went on a split with Zone leaders and Elder Murset and I met M & M. They are members who haven’t been to church in some time. We talked a bit and got to know them. We asked what they remember about their baptism. They both said they were baptized at 16 and 14 (they are now 31 and 29) and they were very nervous, but excited. They said in the moment they were baptized they recognized the spirit strongly. We asked them if they had felt that way recently? One of them made a face and said naa it’s been a while. While the other one said yea, whenever I feel down and I open up the scriptures or pray, I feel the spirit. It was a nice experience and they enjoyed being with us, as did we with them.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
We had a great experience this evening!
We had just stepped out of an appointment when I answered the phone to a call from President Smith last night. After ending the conversation with him, I felt great about the decision I made to just wait and hear from my family later about Josh’s mission call and was determined to find a miracle. Very soon after my call with President, Elder Stokes and I found ourselves on a train ride to deliver a Bible; while on the train we met a man named R, he actually started the conversation. “You both are getting off at Kingsbridge right?” We replied saying “actually we are going to deliver a Bible to someone, but we do have a church over on Kingsbridge.” He said “yea I know, I had a friend drag me there a few times in the past to play basketball and stuff, I’ve never gone there for the right reasons though, just to play basketball and goof around with some friends. But hey, take down my number so we can get together another time, maybe sit down and talk more about what the church is like, I’m interested in learning.”
I just love that! Had I made a different decision on the phone that night, Elder Stokes and I would have missed that opportunity.
Grateful for these wonderful experiences that I’m having here in NY and pray that I may “Never slow down and Never stop”.
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Week 92
What a fast cycle it’s been! It felt like Elder Davis and I were only on a 2-hour split. It’s crazy to look back and think it’s been 5 weeks and how much we accomplished together in that time.
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
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
Friday, December 22, 2017
Week 90
We’ve just been having a blast together! Elder Davis and I are seeing so many great things!
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
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
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Week 86 and 87
WEEK 86
Thankfully they were able to add my money to my companion’s card and we could access it. But it wasn’t much, it was towards the end of the month and I didn’t have much anyway.
On pday we went to Manhattan and had a great time! We ended up splitting with some Elders! I got to be with Elder Gentry, we decided to go visit Michael S. who we taught together in Harlem over a year ago! It was awesome to catch up with him.
WEEK 87
This week has been pretty crazy! It’s the week of transfers!
Thanksgiving was great we spent our evening and dinner with our bishop, his wife, and their son A. They had a wonderful meal prepared, it was way good! We spent some time visiting some members and we were actually able to meet with Brother C, a member who hasn’t been to church for some time... He used to be in the Bishopric and then I guess when the Bishopric was changed he left and hadn’t been back since. We were able to meet with him twice in the week. We went over to do some service. And then Elder Patterson was giving a farewell talk on Sunday so we invited him to that and he came! It was so awesome! We walked into the chapel and there he was! It was so awesome! People and missionaries have been working with him for a while trying to get him back to church.
Sunday and Monday were packing days. Elder Patterson was packing up all he had and getting his suitcases to the right weight.
Tuesday morning we got up and went to the Inwood chapel with Patterson’s luggage. Around 12:30 missionaries started showing up for transfers.
Soon after Elder Davis arrived to the Inwood chapel we decided we would go and contact some people around the block, before the UHAUL showed up with his luggage. With-in about the first 10 minutes the first 2 people we approached shut us down. As we made our way back around the block where we started we came across this man walking our direction. His name is B, he stopped and we introduced ourselves. When he told us he was on his lunch break we told him we would walk and talk with him. So we walked and talked and taught him about the Book of Mormon, we offered him a copy and he accepted it. We told him that as representatives of Jesus Christ we visit with people and teach them how they can follow the Savior. He accepted our invitation to have us over to share a message with he and his family. As we quickly exchanged information before letting him order his lunch we found that he lives in our area. We were blessed to cross paths with B.
The rest of our day together was just awesome! We made our way home after getting Elder Davis’s luggage, when we got home I made myself a quick snack for lunch while he got himself situated. When we finished we had a quick companionship study, we talked about the plans we had for the evening and we went out and got to work. We had some referrals we went to T’s first because a referral we had scheduled to visit called and rescheduled. We knocked T’s door and he answered, like the first time we stopped by about a month ago, he said it wasn’t a good time and briefly explained why; he just had some teeth pulled that day and was in some pain. We respected his current situation and offered to just say a prayer with him. Similar to our first visit, his countenance began to change; he smiled and let us into his home. Standing in the doorway I offered to say the prayer. Then T hopped in and said he would like to say it. So I gladly let him and it was a sweet and humble prayer. I definitely felt that he was happier because of our visit. We followed the spirit and were led to see him today. We will make plans to visit with him regularly. We made an appointment for Friday! After leaving his home, we looked up a former investigator and quickly found he didn’t live there anymore. We then looked up a member in our area and also found that she didn’t live there anymore either, but we met a young pregnant lady who said some Sister missionaries came by a few times looking for the same person. We got to talking with her and found that she enjoyed the Sisters coming by and became good friends with them and would love for them to visit her.
It was a little after 5 so we went towards the church and got a sandwich for dinner, we then went to the church to eat and prepare more for our appointment with D at 6:30.
Our visit with D was solid! He is so prepared and just truly wants to follow the Savior. He keeps the commitments we extend to him and he does his research. He loves the community here in the church and the feelings he’s had while worshiping here with us. We extended the invitation to him to be baptized on December 23rd and he accepted it. He said he would pray about it. He is seriously so awesome!
It was just after 7 when we finished meeting with him so we decided we could look up a couple referrals we had. In the process, we received another referral, P. So we called him and were able to stop by his apartment to deliver a Bible and a Book of Mormon. He was an interesting guy. We had asked what inspired him to seek for a copy of the Bible. He said, “It’s just good to have in your home. It brings good vibes, especially when you just leave it open on your table.” It was an interesting response.
It was a successful day to us! We set a baptismal date with an investigator and were able to make some solid contacts with people along the way.
I am truly so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m grateful for the knowledge I’ve received as I’ve studied and have lived the gospel. I’m grateful for the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the healing we can receive from it.
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
Sorry about last week, I didn’t have much to talk about. I couldn’t remember anything. But the only thing at this point that I can remember is sometime last week someone found access to my church fund debit card and emptied out my account… I called the office; they canceled my card and were able to refund it all. I cut my card and have to wait 2 weeks to get a new one… so in the mean time I am literally living the life of a man with no money! #LoveBeingPoor
Thankfully they were able to add my money to my companion’s card and we could access it. But it wasn’t much, it was towards the end of the month and I didn’t have much anyway.
On pday we went to Manhattan and had a great time! We ended up splitting with some Elders! I got to be with Elder Gentry, we decided to go visit Michael S. who we taught together in Harlem over a year ago! It was awesome to catch up with him.
WEEK 87
This week has been pretty crazy! It’s the week of transfers!
Thanksgiving was great we spent our evening and dinner with our bishop, his wife, and their son A. They had a wonderful meal prepared, it was way good! We spent some time visiting some members and we were actually able to meet with Brother C, a member who hasn’t been to church for some time... He used to be in the Bishopric and then I guess when the Bishopric was changed he left and hadn’t been back since. We were able to meet with him twice in the week. We went over to do some service. And then Elder Patterson was giving a farewell talk on Sunday so we invited him to that and he came! It was so awesome! We walked into the chapel and there he was! It was so awesome! People and missionaries have been working with him for a while trying to get him back to church.
Sunday and Monday were packing days. Elder Patterson was packing up all he had and getting his suitcases to the right weight.
Tuesday morning we got up and went to the Inwood chapel with Patterson’s luggage. Around 12:30 missionaries started showing up for transfers.
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Soon after Elder Davis arrived to the Inwood chapel we decided we would go and contact some people around the block, before the UHAUL showed up with his luggage. With-in about the first 10 minutes the first 2 people we approached shut us down. As we made our way back around the block where we started we came across this man walking our direction. His name is B, he stopped and we introduced ourselves. When he told us he was on his lunch break we told him we would walk and talk with him. So we walked and talked and taught him about the Book of Mormon, we offered him a copy and he accepted it. We told him that as representatives of Jesus Christ we visit with people and teach them how they can follow the Savior. He accepted our invitation to have us over to share a message with he and his family. As we quickly exchanged information before letting him order his lunch we found that he lives in our area. We were blessed to cross paths with B.
The rest of our day together was just awesome! We made our way home after getting Elder Davis’s luggage, when we got home I made myself a quick snack for lunch while he got himself situated. When we finished we had a quick companionship study, we talked about the plans we had for the evening and we went out and got to work. We had some referrals we went to T’s first because a referral we had scheduled to visit called and rescheduled. We knocked T’s door and he answered, like the first time we stopped by about a month ago, he said it wasn’t a good time and briefly explained why; he just had some teeth pulled that day and was in some pain. We respected his current situation and offered to just say a prayer with him. Similar to our first visit, his countenance began to change; he smiled and let us into his home. Standing in the doorway I offered to say the prayer. Then T hopped in and said he would like to say it. So I gladly let him and it was a sweet and humble prayer. I definitely felt that he was happier because of our visit. We followed the spirit and were led to see him today. We will make plans to visit with him regularly. We made an appointment for Friday! After leaving his home, we looked up a former investigator and quickly found he didn’t live there anymore. We then looked up a member in our area and also found that she didn’t live there anymore either, but we met a young pregnant lady who said some Sister missionaries came by a few times looking for the same person. We got to talking with her and found that she enjoyed the Sisters coming by and became good friends with them and would love for them to visit her.
It was a little after 5 so we went towards the church and got a sandwich for dinner, we then went to the church to eat and prepare more for our appointment with D at 6:30.
Our visit with D was solid! He is so prepared and just truly wants to follow the Savior. He keeps the commitments we extend to him and he does his research. He loves the community here in the church and the feelings he’s had while worshiping here with us. We extended the invitation to him to be baptized on December 23rd and he accepted it. He said he would pray about it. He is seriously so awesome!
It was just after 7 when we finished meeting with him so we decided we could look up a couple referrals we had. In the process, we received another referral, P. So we called him and were able to stop by his apartment to deliver a Bible and a Book of Mormon. He was an interesting guy. We had asked what inspired him to seek for a copy of the Bible. He said, “It’s just good to have in your home. It brings good vibes, especially when you just leave it open on your table.” It was an interesting response.
It was a successful day to us! We set a baptismal date with an investigator and were able to make some solid contacts with people along the way.
I am truly so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m grateful for the knowledge I’ve received as I’ve studied and have lived the gospel. I’m grateful for the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the healing we can receive from it.
Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,
Elder Newbold
***Elder Davis and Elder Newbold are companions again! Elder Newbold was Elder Davis's trainer (almost 2 years ago) and now they are serving together again for Elder Davis' last cycle. They will be together for 5 weeks and then Elder Davis will go home and then Elder Newbold will have 1 cycle left that will be 7 weeks and then he comes home to us the end of February!
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| Elder Davis and Elder Newbold |
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| Elder Davis and Elder Newbold |
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