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 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

Week 95

January 17, 2018
Last pday around 1pm, we went to a member’s home to help him move his old bed out of his apartment. We went over with our roommates; it was one of those heavy-duty hospital like beds with a motor attached to the frame so it was heavy. We carried it out his room and into the elevator, then down to the basement. He flipped on an LDS movie said he’d be right back and took off and came back 15 minutes later with a bucket of Chicken. We had lunch at his place and then we had to head out to finish our pday plans.

January 18, 2018
A day to remember!
We had weekly planning at the apartment and around lunchtime Elder Stokes said we would go out to eat. I was down to go out, and then he said, “Where do you want to go? I got some money as a gift, it’s on me.” We talked about places we could eat; I told him down on Fordham Rd was where some nicer places were, like Chipotle and Applebee’s. He said okay we can walk there and look at places on the way.” We walked for about 25 minutes and pointed out places to each other, nothing really stood out to us that we wanted. Then when we got to Fordham we made our way over to Applebee’s and Chipotle, I was thinking Chipotle and then saw a sign in the window for a deal at Applebee’s, so Elder Stokes said okay Applebee’s it is and quickly walked to the door. I followed in and was going to wait to be seated, but Elder Stokes kept walking and said over here, we can sit here. Not paying too much attention but then following my companion, I was surprised by Ray Smith sitting in the booth where my companion pointed! 

They had planned a surprise to meet up with Ray before I head home next month! We sat down and talked and ordered lunch. We continued catching up and in our conversation Ray brought up something I wasn’t expecting to hear... he informed me that a member in New Paltz, R R, had passed away. He was in his home while it caught fire and was able to call 911 but when they got to him he had been unconscious in his stairwell. They believe because of his older age his lungs couldn’t take the fumes he was inhaling.
He was a well-known and wonderful man! He was the first member and person in New Paltz that I met after arriving in the area. I remember parking the car in his driveway, walking up to his front door, and knocking. When he came to the door I introduced myself right away and shook his hand. He expressed to me right there that he knew I was a good and confident man by the way I was quick to introduce myself and the way I shook his hand. He brought even more confidence to myself that day with his comments and I appreciated very much the time we spent together that day. He made us a steak for dinner and we shared a message with him in his front room. There was something about him that reminded me about my Gramps and it may have just been his personality.
Throughout my service in New Paltz Brother R would share with me poems, some of which he wrote on his own. One Sunday, I believe it was my last, he approached me with a poem in his hand, he said read this one. And I did, when I finished with a smile on my face he said, you like that one don’t ya? Keep it, it’s yours.
I truly enjoyed the time spent in New Paltz and getting to know Brother R. It’s nice to know he is now reunited with his wife.

Brother Smith, Elder Stokes and Elder Newbold

We continued on with our lunch surprise talking about experiences we’ve had in our service as missionaries. Then Ray asked me the question, “what is one or two take-aways from your service in this last year since you’ve returned, that you could share?”

I thought about it till the end of our meal and while dessert was being served, I was ready to give my response. I said one of my take-aways I feel to share is “having an eternal perspective”. When we can understand our purpose here on earth and the plan our Heavenly Father has for us, individually, I feel we receive a determination to work hard to serve him and his children.

The second thing I shared was “obedience brings forth blessings & miracles” as we are obedient to our Father in Heaven we receive promised blessings. When we choose, because we have a choice, we decide whether we want to accept or deny opportunities to be blessed.

It was a great question that gave me the opportunity to reflect on my life and service in the mission field. 

I’m so grateful for people who are diligent in serving Heavenly Father’s children. Brother Ray Smith most certainly has blessed my life spiritually and physically. Each time we meet he blesses me with food for the body and food for the soul. I’m uplifted and inspired by his example and inspired questions.

Talking to the Hostess

We finished up with our visit and dessert and made our way out one set of doors where we were stopped by one of the workers. Her name was T, she asked what church we were from, we told her, and she got excited and said she was given a copy of the Book of Mormon by a Sister and was given a card but she said she can’t find the card with the church information on it. So we gave her a card and told her about the church and when it starts services. It was a pretty sweet miracle; we were there for a reason other than to surprise me!

Later that evening we met with some members, Brother J took us out for dinner and we had a sweet discussion about his mission! Then we met with Brother and Sister K

January 19, 2018
This morning we had a miracle line conference call, which we listened to on the way to an appointment, to see D. It was Elder Stokes first time meeting with D so it was nice to get to know him a little more. We then began to ask him questions about what he remembered from our first visit, as we tried to review he said he couldn't remember. There’s a very obvious language barrier and it makes it hard for him to remember since he’s still learning English. So we introduced him to the Book of Mormon stories and we read together from the book and he seemed to get the concepts and story much better, but being able to retain what he learns is what will be a little tricky at this point, but he’s just so awesome and willing to learn.

Around 1pm we went to the church and had another Hot Chocolate and chapel tours APF. It was pretty fun like last time! We talked to a lot of people and were able to show them inside the church. Then once they were in the building other missionaries would get them a cup of hot chocolate and offer to show them the chapel. It was pretty effective! We did that for a few hours rotating with different missionaries.

January 20, 2018
This morning we had correlation meeting at the church and then about half way through we got on a conference call with the mission. President Smith informed us of some news from the Prophet, that our mission would be reorganized, that the name of our mission would change to the New York City Mission and the boundaries would be remade and we would combine certain areas with other missions around. These changes would take place after I’m home and just before President Smith and his family leave in July.

While we were out and about today we came across 2 different groups of kids who we challenged to play some basketball with. We were pretty sure the first group wasn’t going to show. But the second group seemed promising. We set the game for Tuesday at 7pm.

January 21, 2018
This Sunday was pretty great! I loved the talks that were given. It was centered on the new ward mission plan, which simply is to encourage members to find opportunities or recognize the opportunities they have throughout the week for “friendship moments” where they don’t necessarily need to share the gospel, but be a friend to someone, an investigator, other members that they usually don’t associate with, etc. our ward doesn’t do too much missionary work, so this is the plan the ward council came up with to help members out.

January 22, 2018
Monday morning we had leadership and district meeting. After lunch the couple appointments we had set fell through. Around 7pm we had FHE at the church it was pretty great. We had a brief message shared by Elder Richards and then a game (we had to match a few questions to certain scripture references), and then we had treats after.



January 23, 2018
Last night we had an appointment planned with D because he wasn’t at church on Sunday. So we planned to go over and see how everything was, he ended up not being home. And forgot to tell us. But we felt while we were in his area to look up someone, who by the name wasn’t familiar, but after getting to the door we realized who Sister P was. She’s a wonderful member, very active, and absolutely loves the missionaries and being involved in the work. We asked if she had any friendship moments since Sunday and she did! She shared with us 2 different experiences where she befriended one of the people Elder and Sister Richards had invited to church and she sat in during a discussion with the Sister’s investigators. It was so awesome! We shared a brief scripture with her and said a prayer for her. It was a very short and simple stop by visit, but we felt lifted by it.

Later in the afternoon we met with E A, he’s so freaking prepared! He understands the Restoration so well! He’s an investigator Elder Patterson and I taught twice but due to his work schedule with the MTA it was near impossible to meet and for him to come to church. So we let him go for a bit and then all of a sudden he was showing up to church on his own every now and then. So we called to meet with him today during his break to catch up and see how he is and what we can do to help him continue learning. We didn’t even ask about the teachings we last taught, but he shared with us an experience he had recently when he invited his mother to our church, she was hesitant because she had heard “things” about our church that weren’t true and E knew they weren’t true, so from memory he taught his mom the Restoration. It was so awesome! He’s so great and we look forward to him continuing his journey in the gospel! We pray his schedule will become more flexible.

That evening at 7 we went to the church and the kids we challenged on Saturday showed up. Elder Stokes and I changed and met them in the gym. We gathered the seven of them together and laid out some rules. (When we approached them on the street that night they were smoking and swearing). We told them, “this is a church so we won’t tolerate foul language, smoking, inappropriate behavior, or trash talking. We are here to have some fun so keep it a clean game. Before we start we are going to share a video with you all about Christ and then we will teach you all how to pray.”

We shared the video and proceeded to teach them to pray, after which we asked who would volunteer to open this game with a prayer. Immediately the oldest one (J who’s 16) threw his hand in the air and said I will. He offered a great prayer!

And we played some ball! We had another one of our guys show up who we invited earlier that morning (A). So we played 5 on 5. We had a lot of fun!

It was a great week! Y’all know better than I when I’ll be home so I’ll see y’all soon!

Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,

Elder Newbold

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

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

Week 89

This week was another one for the books, pretty full of miracles. We see so many great things each day. It also started snowing this week! 

The first snow of the winter for 2017

One of the really sweet opportunities we had this week was on our way to go toward the top of our area. We were waiting for a bus at a stop near our apartment when a woman came to the stop as well. We had a few minutes before the bus came so while we stood waiting so we began talking to her. She’s lived in NY her whole life, grew up in Washington Heights in Manhattan. Moved to The Bronx later on and served as a Police Officer in the area she grew up for 25 years. She appreciated her job and has enjoyed her life so far. She said she wasn’t religious but that she was spiritual. The question we asked her was “what do you do each day to strengthen your spirituality?” She stopped and thought about it for a minute. She wasn’t exactly sure how to respond, but she threw out that she does pray often and that helps. Prayer is something Elder Davis and I have experienced personally and that’s something we had in common with her so we taught simple doctrine, that God is our Eternal Father and prayer is a 2-way communication with Him. We testified of prayer and continued to ask inspired questions. We then introduced the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy, she was very appreciative toward our offer and she took the copy and said she would definitely begin reading it. It was a pretty powerful experience for the 3 of us.

Also this week we met with P again! In this visit we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He agreed with the principles we taught and we invited him to be baptized on January 13th. He was excited about that and accepted it. At the end of what turned out to be a short but powerful lesson we invited him to pray. He then prayed and in his prayer he said “I ask you Father to bless these brothers of mine to be able to visit me daily so I may learn of you.” it was a pretty sweet and sincere prayer.

We visited Brother M this week as well and had a sweet experience, come to find the next day. In our visit we talked about the Book of Mormon, he got a little off subject but he wanted to test our ability to relate the gospel to an episode of Godzilla. In the episode they talked about how great the destruction made by Godzilla and so they needed to destroy him. They led Godzilla to a volcano to have him destroyed. After Godzilla fell into the volcano, they spoke of how great an influence he made and what a lesson was learned by many. We related this experience to Jesus Christ and his influence. We said something along the lines of Jesus Christ has made the greatest influence in History, though he is no longer on earth his influence made a lasting impression in the word that will last through eternity. As we directed the conversation back to the Book of Mormon we continued discussing some of our experiences that we’ve had by reading the Book of Mormon daily.

Before leaving I offered a prayer. Beforehand I asked if there was anything we could pray for specifically. He said just his mom who was still in a nursing home waiting on a list for surgery for her colon cancer.
The next day we received a text from him saying his mother had been approved to move into surgery. It was a miracle! 

We also were receiving a good amount of referrals. We were making contact with them all and delivering their requested items. We met this one referral named R. He requested a Bible soon after having a heart attack. He felt it was a sign from God to get his life together again. We brought the Bible and talked about it as well as the Book of Mormon and left him a copy as well. He said he was just trying to get back into the scriptures so he asked to have some time to read, but that we could stay in contact. 

Another referral we received was M; we met with him last week for the first time. We brought his Bible but the text was too small to read. We taught the Restoration and told him we would be back next Sunday with a Large Print Bible and Book of Mormon. So in this visit we had both books. He was so excited; it was like an early Christmas gift. He ripped open the plastic wrap around it and just loved it! We taught the Plan of Salvation and invited him to church. He said he would love to come but just had surgery on his back recently, so the cold hurt his back. He said pray for good conditions next week and I’ll come.

Last night we met this referral named A. He is super interested. He came as a Bible Referral. He comes from a Muslim background so he’s trying to secretly learn about Christianity because his family will disown him... but he just doesn’t believe in the religion he was raised in. We met with him last night and it was just so cool. He had all these questions and just so badly wants to be a Christian. He was asking about church and baptism and all these things. We loved his desire and excitement. We told him that we could meet often to prepare him to move forward in learning of Christ and His church. We will see him at church Sunday!

It was a pretty great week! Lots of fun and success!!

Obedience brings forth blessings, exact obedience brings forth miracles.

Patience. Love. Faith
Much love,

Elder Newbold