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

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.

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.

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.

September 30, 2015 Hello Family

Hey Family, 

It's great to hear everybody's got their thing going on back home. Mom has a job, Ike's playing music, Cole's getting straight A's while playing the 2 most exhausting sports I've ever played, and Dad's job shopping. It's like everyone's lives got a lot more interesting now that me and Max aren't there. I'm jealous that Ike's actually doing musical stuff, I feel like I say this every week but, I wish I had. Which companies are Dad interviewing with?

Over here we had a solid but slow week. The first part of the week was pretty standard, until Friday when we got to go up to Scarsdale to have Elder Mackintosh's new Missionary meeting. It was pretty sweet.  I've really been blessed with a lot of opportunities to go to a bunch of meetings with President Smith in the opening months of our missions. Besides that, it was a pretty standard week of teaching, studying, and knocking on doors when we have appointments cancel. The works going pretty well, we're trying to find that golden investigator that's ready to receive us.

Well there's not a whole lot more to add today except for that we went to the natural history museum and somebody mistook us for being with the huge group of messianic Jews that were already in the museum so a lady came up and handed us some tickets and told us to go in and it wasn't until after we got into the museum that we realized that when they asked us if we were with the others they weren't talking about other missionaries. We didn't feel too bad because it was donation day anyway and we were only planning on paying $5.

I'm going to throw a panorama that we took of our zone from Fort Tryon park near the Cloisters.

I love you!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride

September 23, 2015 Training

The first week of training was pretty good. It's a real testimony strengthener, training. Especially when you feel like you should still be being trained. Elder Mackintosh is awesome, I couldn't have asked for a better trainee. He's really patient with me and understands that I'm still learning too. My Spanish has really started taking off, the gift of tongues is real, I wouldn't have been able to do it without a
bunch of extra help.

So this week has been pretty nuts with the new missionary and all that stuff but there isn't a whole ton to update you guys on because if you want to know what we did you can just go back 12 weeks and look at my old emails about what we did on my first week... Except my new companion's IPad isn't working yet because it came with IOS 9 installed on it which doesn't get along very well with the Church's security
software. He's going to get it on Friday at the New Missionary Meeting.

The cool story from this last week is basically the miracle that I'm actually able to speak good enough Spanish and do the things you need to do to be a missionary, while teaching a new missionary. Sometimes things get stressful then you sit back and think. "Why am I stressed? Look what the Lord has helped you do, if he made it able for you to do/learn that he will help you do/learn [insert struggle here]. You'll be fine, just try your best." And then you lift your head up, smile, and go to work.

So yeah, other than that I don't have a ton to update on, I'm doing great, I love you. I hope you're  all safe, happy, and not too stressed. Cole, don't stress about missing school, you have class every day there will always be time to make it up. Ike, keep up the music, I wish I had. I'll answer those questions that you have. The Q&A's make it so easy.

1.  Where are your companions from?

Elder Mackintosh From Lehi, Utah. The English District leader in our zone called that I would be training him when they saw his picture on Facebook like 4 weeks before we even knew I would be training, pretty crazy.


How old are they?


He turned 19 in the MTC and he's fresh out of High School


How about the other guys in your apartment?


Elder Smith is 20, from Salt Lake and he went to a semester of college at the U before.  Elder Colson is also 20, from Albuquerque New Mexico, and He worked a year before coming out

2.  What are your Sundays like?

Pretty much a normal day except we go to church from 11-2 then come home and do language study and 12 Week. We almost always tract on Sunday nights because everyone's home.

Do you attend multiple wards?

Nope we only go to 1 ward and there's 8 missionaries in it. So it's actually the complete opposite haha

Where do you attend? 

Our building is by 200th and Dyckman and we're in
the Inwood 2nd Ward.

Is it a building like we are used to or something different?

The building is a lot like a normal one except it has 3 levels. The bottom one is a garage and the top two are like a regular church building.

3.  How much do you knock on doors?

A lot

Someone mentioned to me that they didn't think that tracting was part of the program anymore and I laughed out loud.  Do you mostly contact on the street?

The goal nowadays is to do the majority of your finding through the members. In some places they don't need to tract anymore because member referrals but in places where the Ward is small and shared with other missionaries, there just isn't really going to be a lot of work unless you tract. Some missions in other countries I've heard also don't tract because it's too dangerous (MTC teacher went to Mexico and wasn't allowed to tract).

How safe do you feel knocking on doors?

I feel super safe. I've never once been straight up yelled at or threatened or anything really scary.

4.  What kind of service activities do you participate in?

We haven't done a whole lot of service but, we do teach English Classes twice a week and have service opportunities with members sometimes.

Are there organized projects?

Usually no

Do you go to certain places over and over? Or is it just case by case?

Case by case usually except for English class our companionship teaches every other Thursday.

5.  How do you divide up the cooking and cleaning duties?

We kind of just do our own thing and then sometimes we work together and make something special. Ideally we just clean up after we do whatever and it never gets to bad but, that doesn't always happen so when we need to do a special cleaning on a pday we divide up what we need to do and get it done. And every transfer the day or two before the transfer the people who aren't cleaning the apartment do a really deep clean.

Do you feel like you know how to clean?

I'm not the one to ask that would be my roommates. I feel like I'm fine at cleaning though.

6.  Have any of your roommates been good cooks?

Elder Smith is a really good cook, so sometimes he'll make something really good, but usually we don't have the time or the energy to cook anything more complicated than Mac and cheese.

7.  What do you do on P-days besides write to us?

Sometimes we'll go do something cool like my first pday when we went to the 9/11 memorial or go play some sport. But a lot of the times we do our laundry and get our groceries and just kind of relax.

8.  What do you do for exercise?

I mostly just do some push ups in the morning because we walk around all day and a lot of buildings don't have elevators, so I kinda count that as my working out, and do some push ups for obedience's sake.

9.  Have you heard from any friends?

Ha but not for a bit I shot off a couple how are you doing emails today

10.  People always say that crazy things happen on the mission that its best for moms not to know.  Like crazy people being taught or crazy comps or missionary associates.  So are there any crazy things you are not telling me?

Crazy stuff happens, but nothing you need to be worried about.

11.  What are your feelings about fasting?

Fasting is awesome, I've really gained a testimony of it these last couple of weeks ever since I was called as a trainer. I fasted the Sunday before and it really reassured me.

12.  Packages.  Did you finally get our packages, Max?  And Sam, I sent one to you too with your coat in it.

Yes. Thank you, you guys are so nice.

I Love you so much,
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride

September 16, 2015 Some Big News

So on Wednesday after I sent off my email I got a call from President Smith and he called me as a trainer. It's been a stressful but exciting week. I might not be able to send off a long email this week but I'll try to send you some pictures of my companion and some of the members/investigators that we teach. Pray for me... This'll be fun.

Con Amor,
Elder McBride


Ok sweet I got a second to write. Yep I'm training Elder Mackintosh from Lehi Utah, here in Washington Heights. It's kinda crazy and super unlikely for someone to train right after they got finished being trained but, if the Lord calls you, it means it's for a reason right?

Elder Buckley went up to Holmstead in the east Bronx to be a Zone Leader and Elder Gallego went up to New Rochelle to be one of the Westchester Zone Leaders. It's a bummer to see them go, but change is good. Training's going to be crazy. My Spanish isn't really all that great yet, but, from what Elder Buckley told me, I'm doing well for only being out 2 transfers. We're going to learn a lot together and I think that my Spanish will take off, now that I don't have a safety
net.  We said goodbye to a bunch of Members and investigators so that means I have a few pictures to send home to you. I'll put them in some other emails so the caption goes with the picture.

This is me and my trainee Elder Mackintosh. He seems pretty awesome and ready to put a lot of effort in. We're going to learn a lot together. It's going to be really funny to listen to Hispanics try to say our names.

Of course me and Elder Gallego had to take a picture before he left for upstate. It's so crazy that I started my mission in the same apartment as him, what a blessing.

This is Elder Buckley and one of the Recent Converts we teach, Hermano M...