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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

October 28, 2015 Transfers! Kinda...

So today's transfer day, but not a lot changed for me.  Only one person in our entire zone got changed and it was one of the English sisters.  I'm super happy though, Elder Mackintosh and I are doing really well together, our roommates are awesome, and all the other Elders are pretty cool too. To answer your question, I've loved training so far, it's truly a growing experience. It's like jumping into a really cold pool instead of slowly letting yourself in. Since Elder Mackintosh is so awesome it hasn't been very hard but, especially at first, it was very nerve racking to be forced to speak Spanish without a safety net.  The Lord will do his part though, as long as you're striving to be your best.

It's great hearing about back home, what an exciting week. Good Luck with the new Job, Dad, I'm sure you'll kill it! Cole has got to be the busiest person on the planet! How does he do all that without being tired all the time? I'm so proud of Ike, remember a few years ago when we were all worried that he would really really struggle in school?  Look at him now, doing well in school, and still being awesomely crazy. Mom, sounds like you're having a great time teaching young women's. That system kind of sounds how a perfect lesson with an investigator should go, follow up, teaching, application and commitments. Can I make one suggestion? Always encourage them to pay attention and see if the things they learn apply to people they know, and then to act on the promptings they receive and share it. The Gospel's a gift and it's free to give and happily accepted by the people that need it.

Halloween here is a mission wide curfew. From what I hear people are nuts on Halloween, so they just try to keep the missionaries out of the fire. Our plans consist of making a cheesecake, going to bed early, and maybe playing Jenga. I bet the house is super decorated, it feels weird not having a bunch of decorations up haha.

I've gotten my haircut twice and both times we've gone down to this barbershop in Harlem that's owned by a member named Evaristo, they give any missionary that shows up there on Wednesdays a free haircut.  Both times I've gone Evaristo's Ben there and if he cuts your hair it's basically no choice you get a "Dominicut" which is basically just a normal really short haircut but with the front of your hair left really long.

I did get my shoe fixed. I took it in and they said they were going to glue the piece back down so it was only $5 but when I went to pick it up we had to wait forever but they replaced the entire leather piece for no extra charge.

I Love you so much! Have a great week!

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

October 21, 2015 Busy Pdays

Hey Family! 

What's happening? I'm happy that you had an awesome trip, Elder Mackintosh went on one of those bus rides across America church tour things and saw a bunch of the stuff that you guys saw haha. What does it feel like to ride in a car for that long? I can't even remember it's been awhile since I've been in a car for more than a few minutes.


There's not a whole lot to update you about but, we did set a baptismal date with a friend of some young men in our ward and we had a bunch of less actives that we've been working with at church this last week. We've got transfers next week, I'm not to sure how much is going to change but it's always fun meeting new people. We're not expecting too much change, but I learned last cycle that really anything can happen.

I loved the weather this last week, I don't know how long I'll like it because in the next few months it's going to get really cold but, as of now I love how the weather is here.  I'm sorry this is such a short email, we're really busy today running around and getting winter clothes. Sometimes Pdays can be super super busy out here in the city because there's just so much you have to do and so little time to do it.

I love you and pray for you all the time.  
Thanks for the care pack Dad, it was great.

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride





I took a selfie to show you the "Dominicut" I got this morning.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

October 14, 2015 Lots of Learning for Just a Week

This week was pretty awesome. On Thursday the Bench's took us out to dinner, they were super sweet. I told Sister Bench that Dominicans make great chicken parmesan, and I was right, but, when they brought out her plate it had 3 full breasts and there was no way she was going to be able to eat it all. So she made us eat the rest of what she didn't eat, which was most of the plate. 

Friday was that special zone conference with Elder Arnold of the 70. It was great, we learned a ton and he just kind of refocused the entire mission on some teaching and planning principles that we've been trying to apply and have had some really good success with so far. On Saturday, Elder Mackintosh's best friend's parents took us out to lunch and were really nice.  They had been planning it for more than a week. The rest of the weekend was good, nothing too exciting happened. Then on Monday, we found out that the old paper Area Book had never been transferred into the iPads, even though we've been using them for more than 2 years. So we're hoping to capitalize on some seeds planted by some other missionaries in the next few weeks. And Yesterday we had 2 fantastic lessons with some in/less active members and it's looking like we're going to be rounding in some lost sheep, which, in my opinion, is just as good as baptisms, especially in a ward like ours which is like 20% active. So yeah, that's my missionary report of the week. 

We're heading down to the temple to play some basketball and to pick up the box that dad left for me at the Bench's apartment. We were going to go to the Met but, we ran out of time to go all the way to the East side today, maybe next week.

It was great to hear from you. Mom those decorations looked great, that's such a perfect job for you. How often are you working? Is it mostly just shopping? Or do you mostly just rearrange the decorations that you already have? Cole! Keep it up you stud! I wish I had had the drive to get straight A's. I'm jealous of Ike's music stuff too, it would be so helpful to be able to play the piano.   Nobody in our entire zone can play well enough to play more than a couple hymns. Dad, why were you in NY? It's a bummer that it was such a surprise, otherwise we would've been able to meet up.

It's getting to that time, I'm going to need to start buying winter clothes. Elder Mackintosh and I, since we're both new, are going to go winter shopping next week. I'm kind of worried because other than that coat, I've got nothing haha. Have a great week. I love you. Happy Birthday Mom!

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride

I'm going to include a couple pictures, they're not super exciting.  Just a selfie that Elder Mackintosh took with just a little warning and a couple pictures we took around the GW bridge the other day while we were looking for a member who lived super out of the way. They didn't turn out too great, but, maybe you'll like to see the area a bit.





Wednesday, October 7, 2015

October 7, 2015 Conference!

Hey Family! 

Everything's going well out here in New York. Conference was really cool. We watched every session at the church, because we weren't supposed to watch it at a members house, but a bunch of our members came out to the church anyway so it wasn't super weird in the Spanish room. Though we watched the English feed in the chapel (because neither of us can really follow well enough to get a lot out of a talk), and it was pretty much completely empty except for missionaries and a handful of English members. 

President approved us to go to the Priesthood session past curfew, which I'm super thankful for because president Monson's talk was really good. Some awesome members fed us in between sessions and in between the Saturday afternoon and the Priesthood session there was a baptism with dinner after. So, with the baptism, all the food, conference sessions, and the extra training studies we're supposed to do, we didn't even make it to our area all weekend. We did have a few people make it out to conference though and we taught a lesson or two in between sessions, so it wasn't a complete lack of missionary work we just didn't get to do any "normal" proselytizing.

I loved this conference, there were so many great talks. I loved the new apostles, each one of them said something that has stuck with me, and Elder Rasband shouted our mission out. Elder Holland's talk was
great, I bet it made mom feel great. The scripture I'm "ponderizing" is Alma 33:10. The President Monson thing was pretty sad but, he finished his talk, considering what he must've been feeling that's amazing. That man is living example of divine support.

Other than Conference we had our interviews with the president this last week, this was my 2nd one and it's always a great experience. This week is going to be pretty cool, on Friday we have a special zone
conference because Elder Arnold from the quorum of the 70 is coming to the mission. We had a bunch of things to study and I'm sure it's going to be awesome.

It's great hearing from you. Thanks for writing to us Ike, you're awesome!

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride

P.S. President Bench called us a couple of days ago and said that he called president and got approval to take Elder Mackintosh and I out to dinner tomorrow, and I just saw him in the temple so that's pretty awesome. What a small world.