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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

February 24, 2016 Hi Family

It's great to hear from you. The house is going to look so different by the time we get back, I don't think I'm going to recognize it. We had a pretty cool week this week.

The stuff that wasn't the just usual miraculous missionary things that happen every week started on Sunday. Julio Came to church! He's awesome and seemed to really enjoy coming back. Also Craig Bench came and spoke to our branch, he gave a great talk, his Spanish is perfect. He asked me to stand up part way through and basically said "I've known Elder McBride since he was really little and I know his parents really well. His parents are awesome therefore he's awesome so listen to his message, I know it's true." that's not word for word but that's the gist of it, pretty big compliment to you guys, just sayin. In that same meeting A--- also got confirmed! It's the 3rd confirmation I've gotten to be a part of as a missionary 5th all time, and they're always a really cool experience. To cap off that awesome Sunday when we got our zone's numbers from the week and totaled them all up it turned out that our zone had better numbers than any other week in our zone leader records. I'm proud because even though numbers don't mean everything they do tend to indicate a combination of effort and how much the Lord trusts us with blessings, so it's good to see growth.

We found some sweet people over the weekend and so far this week. We're looking for that next person that's just super prepared for the Gospel. Some good hope coming out of Danbury. Next week we have transfers, I don't expect to move but there might be quite a bit of change around me. I've come to really appreciate change, usually when it's looked at positively something positive comes out of it, but when someone doesn't want something to change and it does something negative comes out of it. I've decided to choose to like change.

I love you family. Have a great week! Good luck with the house!

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride




Sam with Craig Bench
Sam with Old Friends, Craig Bench and Julio Martinez

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

February 17, 2016 Pretty Cool Week

So I'm not going to be writing a whole ton this week but I have a bunch of pictures from the photo scavenger hunt zone activity that we did. A quick rundown of what happened this week. We had Zone Conference on Friday, the picture of me on the blog was a picture of me conducting it. On Friday night we drove down to the Stamford chapel and started a companion exchange with the Assistants. It was a good
exchange. I went to New Rochelle for the day with Elder Wulff and we set a baptismal date. Since we started and ended the exchange at the Stamford chapel I got to see the chapel that we were blessed in, it seemed a little familiar. On Sunday A--- got baptized! She has been investigating for 7 years and she finally got baptized. This last weekend was crazy cold. On Sunday the low with windchill was -25. On Monday it snowed but then it warmed up really quick and rained so basically all the snow is already gone. The weather is really weird here. I'm going to send a bunch of pictures to make up for the short email. Love you!

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride


Baptism Day
Zone Conference
Companions!





Zone Scavenger Hunt Activity

Abraham & Isaac


Tying Your Comp's Tie

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

February 10, 2016 - Zone Leader Duties

 Hey Family! That's crazy how much you're changing the house! Are we even going to be able to recognize it when we get back? Thanks for all the updates on things, it sounds like a crazy week for the B Mcbrides. I hope everything goes great.

We had a good week filled with stuff that I have to do as a zone leader that's not a super exciting to write about but not boring to do. On Friday I went to my first MLC (Missionary Leadership Council), which is a monthly meeting that all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders go to in Scarsdale. It was a good meeting, but the exciting part was the ride down. We got pounded by snow on the way down, we made it on time because we left super early but it took twice as long to get there. The Mondays after MLC we have Zone Meetings instead of District Meetings. It's basically supposed to be a repeat of MLC, but crafted for our zones specifically. It went pretty well, I gave a training on Goal setting and Accountability. After Zone Meeting I went on a Companion Exchange with Elder Michia, whose the companion of one of the District leaders. I was in their area for the day with Elder Michia. Since the exchange was for 24hrs I stayed in their apartment for the night which is in Peekskill New York.  The building that it's in was built in 1846 and has a great view of this lake and the nuclear power plant. I wish I had gotten a picture. We had a good exchange.  The coolest part was when we found a less active member whose Mom is an active member in the last ward that I served in. It was a pretty cool miracle. Elder Michia's a pretty interesting guy, he's from Buenos Aires Argentina.  Argentinians speak Spanish but it's very different from the Spanish spoken in most other countries, so sometimes people don't understand him perfectly. It's kind of a funny situation sometimes, but it always turns out well.

We have a pretty big week ahead of us. We have Zone Conference on Friday. And a Baptism Sunday! It's the same investigator whose baptism got canceled because of the storm. She's been investigating for 7 years, so many missionaries have taught her but now she finally feels ready. It's super cool to see.

I did get my glasses figured out. And thanks for getting me new insoles, I haven't gotten them yet but thanks in advance. I hope everyone has a great week!

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride

Mission Leadership Council


Selfie Time with Pres Smith

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

February 3, 2016 - Hey, I'm In Danbury!

Sorry about that whole Fiasco last week. The software that the church has put on the iPad's decided to force update all of the iPads in the entire mission at 5 o'clock on Pday, so the email I had written up got erased. I'll update you a little on what happened that week. It was a good week, we had a baptismal date scheduled for the that weekend, but it got canceled because of the storm. We reset it for February 14th and she's pretty determined to get baptized that day. The snowstorm was pretty crazy even though we didn't get it that bad. We weren't allowed to drive basically that entire day, so instead we did our weekly planning. It was a pretty intense storm but all the snow is already pretty much gone. I started driving again for the first time in more than 8 months. It's been a good time. We have this little box in our car that tells us to slow down when we go too fast and gets mad and sends a report to president when we hit the brakes too hard or accelerate too fast. So it's been little bit different of an experience since last time I drove but not a bad one just a different one. Missionary work itself is also a little bit different here than in the city and that's a little bit of an adjustment too. There's not thousands of people walking around on the street, everyone has cars, and people have more normal hours. So in some ways it's a lot harder but in others it's a whole lot easier.

This week so far has been a pretty normal week. On Wednesday night we visited J---. He's awesome. He has a few things that are keeping him from coming to church but he'll get there. Later in the week we helped a member paint an apartment, and we were supposed to have our fancy meeting with the stake presidency and President Smith, but it got canceled last second on Sunday.

Yesterday I had a pretty cool experience. We went on a companion exchange with Elder Baldwin and Elder Viera, two of the Portuguese speaking elders in our zone. It was the first exchange that I've ever "been in charge of" and it went really well. You learn a lot when you're trying to teach others. The Elder that I was with was having a little difficulty with something and I had no clue how I could help him. Then at the end of the exchange we did a little debrief and I remembered a section of Preach My Gospel that perfectly answered the problem that he was having. We were able to set some goals and make some plans to help him improve and it was a pretty cool spiritual experience.

I love you. It's great to hear from you and hear that everyone's doing well. Have a great week. Thanks for coming in clutch with the glasses and insurance thing I was able to go and order them.

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride


Transfer Day!