What a week! I turned 19!

Wow... just wow. these weeks just go by quicker and quicker. Preparation days just truly melt together. Just turned 19 this morning so i am starting a resolution to get my weekly email done before the last 10 minutes that i have to email haha

What a week though. It's been so fun. Every single second is just so fun. I could not be more grateful to be placed where I am. I say it every week but it's because it's true, I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE. LOVE THEM.

Monday- we went to white castle....ummm yeah that's all I really have to say about Monday. ordered 30 sliders and I ate 10 and it was umm quite the experience. I'd pick a McDonald's any day every day lets just say that.

Tuesday- we filled out the entire baptismal program with the S's:) they are so amazing and are progressing so well. They love coming to church and so do all 5 of their children. They are such a sweet family and their baptism is this Saturday, June 2nd and I will be giving the talk on baptism so I'm really excited for that.  Today was also the beginning of our companion exchanges. I was with Elder Brian and Elder Burgess went with Elder Clegg. It was a pretty fantastic day and I was able to learn a lot from Elder Brian. I love him and his energy. He is absolutely hilarious and I am so thankful for the district and zone i have been placed in.

Wednesday- exchanges started Tuesday evening so all of Wednesday was also exchanges. Elder Brian and I had no car or bike so we walked everywhere and it was great...love humidity..... hahaha we are close to Mizzou so that's dope! We got a little tour because we met with the ward mission leader at the university.

Thursday- Today we started the morning off by going to the food bank to do service! We bagged like 12,493 chicken strips seriously never seen so much chicken in my life. Anyways that's always fun and we were with the zone leaders. While bagging this frozen chicken Elder Brian begins teaching the plan of salvation to the people around him. It was legendary  it's so crazy how talking about the gospel becomes so easy and so normal that it comes up almost every conversation.

Friday- Today was mission training orientation in St. Louis. But....we are out of miles in our car....so we needed to get a ride. Well the only one from our ward that was making the 2 hour drive to St. Louis was Sister Eschrich and the Huighes. They picked us up at 4:30am and we drove to S.t Louis. We didn't have the meeting until 1pm but we had no other way of getting there, so we got to do scripture study outside of the temple for a little bit while we waited for the AP's to pick us up. Then we headed to church building and planned for the week for a few hours. It was a long daybut pretty fun. The orientation went very well and it was very helpful and a spiritual experience getting to meet with the mission president and his wife. They are absolutely legendary we got back to the temple around 4  then drove home in traffic and didn't get back until 7:30. Long day aha

Saturday- oh my gosh the weekend!!!... haha jk there is no such thing as a weekend out here. There are busy days and then days that are ummm even more busy. But it's ALL FUN there is nothing more joyful than sharing the gospel. The gospel has completely changed my life and i want nothing more than to be able to share that with those around me. We helped president Jenkins move a member out of his house into another one. It was 400 degrees outside with 89% humidity so that was pretty amazing.... lol we went and had lunch with the Jenkins family and then went back to our apartments. We went and walked my favorite street in Columbia, Quail Dr. We met new people and they loved to talk about Jesus and to hear our message. We scheduled a lot of return dates. Had dinner at the Bells too and they fed us a billion calories it was amazing.

Sunday- Today was the Sabbath day and so this day wins. My companion and I got to bless the Sacrament in church because they didn't have enough priests. It was special to be able to be a part of the sacrament since I've been away from home. We ended church around 4 and then went home to have dinner. We went over to a members house to help him take down his AC unit. Then went back to quail Dr. We were walking through the street and ended up on someone's front lawn. They were listening to tupac and young geazy and we provided the Jesus :) we talked to them and they were so sweet and nice to us. They gave me and my companion THS BEST EVER bbq and I think I'm gonna live here forever just for that reason alone

Monday- This day was... oh wait that's today hahaha it's p day, memorial day and my birthday so it's a pretty legit day. Thank you everyone for sending me emails. I love you all and your support you provide to me.

This week has been hectic with switching companions for a day and traveling down to St. Louis so the only really important thing I want to share about this week is that we all need to be able to realize that everybody goes through trials. We are not alone in anything we do. I have been reading from the book of Alma in The Book of Mormon and  I was given so much confidence and so much motivation to see that there were prophets that taught of Christ. Their words were rejected. They were looked down upon. But they knew their purpose and with the tremendous Faith they had, nothing could stop them from continuing to preach the word of God. If we can all focus on what our purpose is, whether it be preaching the words of Christ, getting through school, avoiding peer pressure, sports, anything you do passionately. If we can truly focus on what means the most to us and stay true to that, nothing will turn you astray with the help of God. Pray and ask for comfort. Ask for guidance, support, to feel his love. He is there. He loves you. He wants what is best for you, and you'll be able to achieve that if you recognize he's there to help you. Whatever it is you're going through, understand someone else is going through that same thing. You can do it. You can get through it. You are so capable.  It is the Lord's work, through our efforts. We have to turn to him and trust He'll be there to guide us.

Love you all. Love you so much. I'm enjoying the mission sooooo much.

- Elder Newbold

TRUST THE LORD

Hello hello hello hello!!!!

I love you so much! I love the replies I've been getting from my weekly emails! I love it when you email me :) I love hearing from everyone it's now my 2nd p day in the mission field so I'm managing time a little better aha but I have an even busier day today so hopefully I can type everything I want to say in time.

To start, we had zone conference this week, so every missionary in our zone combined with 2 other zones met together in Lake St. Louis and President and Sister Bateman were there. It was all day and was a very spiritual experience. Something we discussed as a mission is our mission culture.

Our zone leaders, Elder Clegg & Elder Brian, lead the meeting with our zone talking about what our mission culture is. Basically talking about what our mindset should be, what our attitudes should be, and to basically set the tone for missionaries all around us.

It was so amazing what they talked about. They showed us a video of Sister Ward, from our zone, opening her mission call from back home. As she read the letter, the spirit surrounded the entire room. I instantly felt so loved and so comforted.

They explained to us that the feeling we all received when we opened our mission call is something  we need to recognize and reflect on as often as we can. Our missionary culture is to understand why we are out here serving a mission. To remember that we as missionaries are called by a Prophet of God to serve in a specific area.

I remember opening my call and thinking of every place in the world where I might serve. As I continued to read my heart began to race. I read the words, "you are assigned to labor in the Missouri St. Louis mission." I instantly knew that is where i needed to go. I knew that there was a reason I was called here. I knew that if I trusted the Lord that he would help show to me, why I was sent there.

I think this very well relates to each of us individually. Serving a mission or not, we are all children of God. He loves you. He wants what is best for you. And you can find out what your plan is, you can receive guidance, you can feel comforted and his love with you constantly...IF you are going to put 100% of your trust in him. Have Faith in Jesus Christ. Use that Faith each and every day. Wake up and think to yourself what you can do to better your relationship with your Father in Heaven. Be ready to receive guidance, because he is ready to give it to you, if you're ready to accept it.

This week has been amazing. My bike chain broke while I was riding so we walked home aha but right when I got home it started pouring and thunder and lightning. So that was a blessing.

I have met so many wonderful individuals and families that have made such amazing changes in their lives to come closer to Jesus Christ and they can already see blessings in their life because of it.

I am so wealthy. I am so wealthy it's not even funny. I have taken so much for granted. So much. Yes you were right, mom, just like i knew you would be but I refused to listen aha I should have spent more time with the family. Sometimes those don't exist out here. Single parents, divorced parent's, duct tape windows, section 8 housing every corner, cigarettes every where, broken into homes, trailer parks....And everyone seems happy. Because what they have is enough. And they are all thankful to God and are willing to listen to our message.

There are tender mercies left and right. Blessings every where.

The Missouri st Louis Missouri missions standard of excellence has been for years; 

New investigators: 2

Invitations to be baptized: 2

Investigators attended church: 2

Investigators with a baptism date: 2

The mission president announced at the last zone conference that it's changing to all 1's because everyone is getting 0's and there is no imprpovents. So they basically said we are routinely making our weekly goal 2 and not achieving it.

He wants us to set realistic goals and have a better reason to achieve them. So they got cut in half basically long story short.

Well me and elder Burgess said HAHAHA we have one purpose, to invite others to come into Christ. So umm let's friggin do it. Who cares what the standard is. Let's set our own goal and talk to every single person. Not only talk to every person, but check this out aha this is where it gets crazy, we made a goal to invite each person we met with to be baptized within our first conversation! Not the next day, not the next lesson, I mean.

"Hey how's it going?"

"Good"

"We are missionaries of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints,  we'd like to share a message with you about Jesus Christ."

"Sure.."

Then we explain the restoration in 4 minutes and ask them

"So if you read this book and came to know for yourself that it's true, would you want to be baptized?"

"I mean yeah I guess...if it's true."

"Sweet well we know it's true and we promise if you read it and pray you'll know too. So Will you be baptized?"

Just like that aha we literally first time talking are inviting people to be baptized. It is something that seemed so scary to me before but its so simple and Christ wants us to follow his example, well what better way then to be baptized aha so cut the craplet's get straight to baptism.

Anyways this week our results were:

An entire family at stake conference

3 with a baptismal date

7 new investigators

And over 15 people invited to be baptized.

How's that for standard of excellence 

This is not to brag or to be boastful, it is to show that we have all been given soooooo much by the Lord, the absolute we can do is invite our friends to be baptized. Invite them to follow Christ's example. Christ doesn't roam this earth and minister his gospel like he did before the great apostasy, but this restored gospel is still here. It is here and it is true. And we have been called to share that message. He loved us so much he gave us his gospel. It's selfish to not share it. Bare your testimony on Facebook, I invite you and the family to do that. Instagram or Snapchat.  Don't be light about it. Tell them its true, tell them it will change their life, PROMISE them it will being blessings.

My back is hurting. A lot. I'm praying each day that i get through and its working but yeah it's definitely pushing me to my limits. I scheduled an appointment with a chiropractor in the ward that said he'll work with me for free  So hopefully that helps, I just gotta be faithful and pray it's fine haha

We have 3 people that have committed to be baptized in June and I am so excited to watch them come closer to the savior. I'm so excited for them and I have loved getting the opportunity to help them through it.

Next p-day is memorial day and my birthday so that'll be dope that I can email on my birthdayaha 

I MISS ALL OF YOU! AND I LOVE YOU!

So does Heavenly Father.

Elder Newbold

My First Real Week

Well this has been quite an eventful couple of weeks! I left the MTC on Tuesday and my p-day switched to Monday so it's been like almost 2 weeks since I last emailed 

Anyways....

I absolutely love Missouri!

I left Sacramento and missed home immediately. Then I got to the MTC and felt at home.  Then I left the MTC and was sad again, then landed in Missouri, and I've never felt so at home.

I could immediately feel the Lord's comfort and love with me. I knew that St. Louis was where I needed to be.

I arrived to the airport around 6 and I was greeted by some missionaries and the Bateman's (my mission president and his wife) we drove to the mission home and had dinner and got to meet them :) it was so awesome. They're absolutely amazing and so sweet.

I went out with some elders and walked the streets of downtown St. Louis 30 minutes after being there aha

It was soooooo amazing! We got the opportunity to talk to so many people on the street and to share a message about Jesus Christ. I passed out a book of Mormon and it was the best feeling ever.

I got assigned my trainer on Wednesday and he's been so awesome. We got assigned to serve in the Bear Creek area so I'm 2 hours west of St. Louis. But I love it here! Everyone is so sweet and loving and takes time to listen to us. I love everyone here and can't wait to meet more people in the area. I'll be here for 12 weeks :)

I apologize for the lack of organization and how short this is but its been a crazy week and I'm just now seeming to settle in. So the emails will get longer and more detailed as the weeks go on.

There is a family we have scheduled a baptism with on June 2nd :) that's awesome and they're so sweet! The wife works 80 hours a week at the hospital. Such a hard worker.

I met a member of the ward named K that is from Africa and he is so unique. I'll leave you with his conversion story and my testimony.

K was fleeing a country in Africa during a terrorist attack. And he was leaving his town, he noticed two elders in white shirts and ties. They approached him and gave him a Book of Mormon. He took the book without much conversation and kept going forward. A few days later he eventually got to an airport. He had started reading the Book of Mormon and loved the way it made him feel prior to the airport. When he arrived to the airport, they said he could only bring one thing...He left his bag and got onto the plane with just his book of Mormon. When he arrived to America he moved into an apartment in Missouri. A few weeks later missionaries went knocking on his door thinking it was another member. Well that member had moved and no one knew. Anyway,  Kenny answered the door and said "you're Mormon?!?!" He ran to his room and grabbed his book of Mormon and told them he loved it and wanted to learn more about the church. It's all history from there :) He was baptized a few weeks later!

I know this gospel changes lives. It has changed mine and it will change yours, if you let it. I walk around in the rain and hot humid weather sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, for one reason. And that is to provide others with the opportunity to accept the message I share. I have found for myself the importance of this gospel. But invite everyone that is reading this to reflect on your life and think about how you have seen God's hand in it. Pray and let yourself feel God's love for you. I know he loves you. And I love you so much. Don't forget to send me pics whenever you want.

LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Newbold

Elder Newbold arrived safely in Missouri

May 9, 2018

Dear Newbold Family:

We want to let you know that your son Elder Joshua Newbold has arrived safely to the mission field.  This is a great group and they are ready to go.  The 2 Elders went out last night after dinner to share a Book of Mormon and had a great experience, I am sure he will tell you all about it when he talks to you on Mother’s Day.  After breakfast, studies, and an orientation they were introduced to their trainers.  By noon today they were off to their area to go to work.  Thank you for sharing him with us in the Missouri St. Louis Mission.

Love,

The Bateman's

Elder Newbold with the new Sisters that arrived in MO with him. 

Elder Newbold with his President and Sister Bateman (His mission President)

Week 2 Time is Precious

May 3, 2018

"I know you're having a rough time right now missing your family and these first few days will be very slow, but trust me it will start to fly by and before you know it you'll be out of the MTC!"

.....

I 137% thought that was the biggest lie to keep me distracted from missing my family. Well, I was so wrong. Like completely wrong ahah

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!?!?!

P-day sets you back so much, because you go from 200mph days busy with gospel study, to a slow morning with emailing all day and laundry. I am beyond enthusiastically excited to go to Missouri! I wanna be there already. The chocolate milk is sooooooo good here, but the people of St. Louis, MO are going to be wayyy better LOL

One of my teachers just got back from St. Louis, Missouri 6 months ago and had the same mission president that I am about to have. He texted a picture of my companion and I to President Bateman and said, "these elders are heading to you in a week! they are amazing and you're going to love them!" he responded with "Great!!!" 

ummm yeah that's right, THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS! he's like older than 50 too so, even one exclamation point would have been crazy LOL i can't wait to meet him.

So i am not going to do a day by day explanation like last email, but just share some of the Most Spiritual experiences that I have had so far.

Time started flying right after P-day and i couldn't believe it. Like literally THE WEEKS WERE DAYS!

So each week a companionship is assigned an investigator or two. We were scheduled to meet with Benjamin and Chelle Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. They were going great and we were making slow but amazing progress. It made me sooooooo happy to watch as they were growing in knowledge of this gospel and also in their desire to want to learn more. The first couple days were a little nerveracking but were good. Chelle was so sweet and is a diver at BYU. We only met with her for 3 days and for only 20 minutes, but she is so sweet and was very hopeful in finding a relationship with God. As we approached the weekend my companion and I had made the goal to invite Benjamin to be baptized. We had a 45 minute lesson planned out and we felt really good. We got into the lesson and at like 25 minutes in there was an emergency and Benjamin needed to leave... :( so we quickly made our closing comments, bore our testimonies and invited him to say the closing prayer. HE DID!! and it was so awesome. I couldn't stop smiling. Hearing him find that relationship with God made me so happy. SO FOR EVERYONE READING THAT DOES NOT PRAY DAILY, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?! GOD LOVES YOU. HE IS YOUR LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER THAT WILL BE BY YOUR SIDE EVERY SINGLE STEP OF THE WAY ON YOUR JOURNEY IN LIFE. If you ever feel that God hasn't really been there for you and that you feel he doesn't trust you,... maybe it is because you need to trust him. ;) i promise you, God will never turn you down.

So unfortunately we didn't get to invite him to be baptized, but we planted a seed and he is seeming much happier now :)

We are now meeting with a new investigator this week, his name is Andrew and he is pretty dope. He loves fitness and he was very understanding to our message. We have only met with him once this week, Monday. So I will email next week how it ends up going. We meet with him again tomorrow. WE GOT HIM TO SAY THE CLOSING PRAYER WITH US AFTER NOT PRAYING FOR  YEARS! so that was superrrrr awesome too!

Other than classes being amazing! The BIGGEST highlight has definitely been HOSTING!

Our district got invited to host the incoming missionaries. It is picked by random so I am so blessed for that.

I will never ever forget how emotional I was when I got out of the car at the MTC. But i will also never ever forget how quickly I was comforted and felt welcome because of my host, Elder Mcbride. He was smiling and laughing and having soo much fun and I saw him every day after the first day and our districts became really good friends and would work out together. He just left for the mission field yesterday morning. I wanted so badly to be able to provide that same joy and comfort I received when I first got here to someone else, and my prayers were answered with a hosting invitation.

It was raining, but i was running around in my short sleeve shirt with a huge smile on my face. I went to the car garage and welcomed missionaries as they pulled up in the car. I opened the door and said hi to the parents and walked the elder around the campus touring them. took them to their residence and showed them where their classes are. It felt so good to welcome them and show them that the MTC really is so fun and that you really will learn to just dive into the gospel.

Elder Mamula

Elder Lane

Elder Weaver

that was the 3 elders i got to welcome in and ill never forget them. hopefully they are doing great today :)

OH MY GOSH BEFORE I FORGET AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THE MTC FOOD IS HILARIOUS

I love it and much appreciate it and if you are reading this and work at the MTC cafeteria, I am proud of you and love you. But holy dang the food here is the most random food i have ever seen in my life.

I swear they roll dice every morning and pick the most random ingredients then blindfolded they continue to put together all of the already random ingredients. BAM and you got yourself MTC food :) ahahaha

one time there was a turkey patty, with a pineapple slice on it with teryaki sauce on top in a slider bun.

then there was chicken and waffles.... but not fried chicken... it was just a chicken breast with a side of peas and carrots. BREAKFAST FOOD WITH LUNCH APPETIZERS

donuts are served every single meal

Me and my canadian buddy elder companion laugh about it every day. its literally the funniest thing.

OHHHHH ONE DAY THERE WAS MANGO SALSA ON WHAT LOOKED LIKE WAS CHICKEN. i was so proud, they finally had a 5 star looking meal....well of course aha it wasn't chicken. it was a porkchop with fried tomatoes and sour craut!

at least the chocolate milk is absolutely amazinggggggggg

i love it here and the food is good just hilarious to me.

I know that God loves me. I know that God also loves you. I know that we have been given the very simple direction to follow the example of Jesus Christ. As we strive to be more Christ-like, read The Book of Mormon, and pray we will come closer to our Father in Heaven. I am so thankful to be doing the Lord's work for the next 24 months. I have been so blessed by it and want nothing more than to provide that peace and joy to others around me. If you don't have a book of Mormon and are reading this, then call my mother and I will have her get you one ;) because i know you will love it and it will change your life if you have a true desire to learn about this Gospel. I love you and I love this mission i have been called to serve.

HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK!

Elder Newbold met one of the brother's to his BYUI room mate! 

Elder Newbold and his Zone