Hey Family,
We had a mini Pday today because the whole mission will switch to Wednesday Pdays starting this week. It sounds like this week will be a whole lot of fun. I'm excited to see you. I'm going to write a little testimony rather than write about my week.
I have come to know through the Holy Ghost that Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Gospel has been restored to the earth. The Keys of the kingdom are here and will never leave again. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for my sins so that I can change. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love you,
Elder Sam McBride
Monday, May 1, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
April 24, 2017 Home Stretch
Hey Family,
Thanks for the updates and love this week. My condolences, love and prayers go out to the Heaps. She'll live again.
This last week was great. We had a huge miracle on Wednesday night. We were on our way back from a baptismal interview we had in Olmstead (I was translating for President). By the time we got out of the interview and President dropped us off at the subway station it was pretty late. On the subway after getting ignored or rejected by a couple people we were just standing there on the train when this young man gets on and stands right next to us. We felt a prompting that this man wanted to talk to us, so we started talking to him about why he was dressed up. Unfortunately, just as we started talking about being ministers for our church, we got to the train station and he was gone. Somewhat disappointed, we started heading up to the street. As we got to the top of a flight of stairs we noticed him walking really slowly and looking backwards for someone. He saw us and waved us down and said " I know you guys are good guys. When I got on that train I felt a peace that I can't really describe". We told him that we had a special message to share with him about how God speaks to man on earth and he excitedly gave us his contact info. It was a super cool experience.
We were assigned to help for a wedding going on in our YSA Ward. The bride went to Mountain View so there were bound to be some people who knew some people there. That's where I met the husband of one of the bridesmaids who knew Matt in high school. I have a video at the venue for you, Mom.
Also this weekend there was another Sister baptized into our Ward. It was awesome. There are some really great things happening here in Manhattan.
Today is my last full Pday. Starting next week they are changing Pday back to Wednesday. We will have a couple hours on Monday to get some things done so... This is going to be my last full email home. At least we had a great day today though. President invited us to come golfing with him and the Assistants. It's been almost 2 years since I have swung a golf club, I was a little rusty, haha, but so was everyone else.
Looking forward to seeing you soon! Love you.
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
Monday, April 17, 2017
April 17, 2017 My Emails Are Numbered
Hey Family,
Thanks for sending some questions they are going to help me a lot. So, my companion is Elder Newbold from Wilton California which is a suburb of Elk Grove California which is a suburb of Sacramento California. He tells people he's from Sacramento. He's been out a little more than a year and has never left the city. He's pretty awesome. His trainer and one of his trainees are two of my best Mission buddies that I've never been companions with, Elder Tabor & Elder Davis.
Speaking of Elder Davis, I went on a split with him this week. He's from Houston Texas and just passed his 3rd anniversary of his baptism. He's the coolest, I'll send you a video. We had a pretty interesting week. On Wednesday we went on a split with the Harlem YSA Elders. It was awesome, their ward covers my old area in Inwood so we got some Dominican food for old times sake and even got to see a member that used to go to my old ward but is now going to the YSA. It was a great split.
The next day we started a split with some Elders in my district. The Elder I was with, Elder Clark, is a super scout. By super I mean super. 87 Merit badges, career scout camp staffer, 7 years of counseling for the Environmental Science Merit Badge and in as deep as possible with the order of the arrow. He's a cool guy. Coincidentally half of his assigned ward's scout troop are non-members. I smell a missionary opportunity.
On Saturday a Sister got baptized in our Ward that has been waiting for her parents to consent to her baptism for 3 years. It was a cool miracle to take part in, even though my part was little.
Elder Mackintosh will hopefully go to BYU Hawaii. He had been accepted to BYU Hawaii before his mission and had deferred. Unfortunately BYU Hawaii has no record of his having been accepted so his Mom is trying to get that figured out for him. If worst comes to worst he will go to UVU for a semester then transfer. I love Elder Mackintosh. His family seems awesome.
In other past companion news my trainer, Mike Buckley, is engaged. He's supposed to be getting sealed on May 26, but, due to some interesting, non-sinful on their part, complications they may be moving it back a little bit.
Love You family! Thanks for the update! I'm happy to hear you've had a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
Thanks for sending some questions they are going to help me a lot. So, my companion is Elder Newbold from Wilton California which is a suburb of Elk Grove California which is a suburb of Sacramento California. He tells people he's from Sacramento. He's been out a little more than a year and has never left the city. He's pretty awesome. His trainer and one of his trainees are two of my best Mission buddies that I've never been companions with, Elder Tabor & Elder Davis.
Speaking of Elder Davis, I went on a split with him this week. He's from Houston Texas and just passed his 3rd anniversary of his baptism. He's the coolest, I'll send you a video. We had a pretty interesting week. On Wednesday we went on a split with the Harlem YSA Elders. It was awesome, their ward covers my old area in Inwood so we got some Dominican food for old times sake and even got to see a member that used to go to my old ward but is now going to the YSA. It was a great split.
The next day we started a split with some Elders in my district. The Elder I was with, Elder Clark, is a super scout. By super I mean super. 87 Merit badges, career scout camp staffer, 7 years of counseling for the Environmental Science Merit Badge and in as deep as possible with the order of the arrow. He's a cool guy. Coincidentally half of his assigned ward's scout troop are non-members. I smell a missionary opportunity.
On Saturday a Sister got baptized in our Ward that has been waiting for her parents to consent to her baptism for 3 years. It was a cool miracle to take part in, even though my part was little.
Elder Mackintosh will hopefully go to BYU Hawaii. He had been accepted to BYU Hawaii before his mission and had deferred. Unfortunately BYU Hawaii has no record of his having been accepted so his Mom is trying to get that figured out for him. If worst comes to worst he will go to UVU for a semester then transfer. I love Elder Mackintosh. His family seems awesome.
In other past companion news my trainer, Mike Buckley, is engaged. He's supposed to be getting sealed on May 26, but, due to some interesting, non-sinful on their part, complications they may be moving it back a little bit.
Love You family! Thanks for the update! I'm happy to hear you've had a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
Monday, April 10, 2017
April 10, 2017 Hey Family!
Hey Family,
We had a pretty normal missionary week. With the new Easter video we did a couple of Missionary activities. Nothing too exciting or remarkable though. We did have a cool Stake Conference. The Stake President, David Buckner, was called as an area 70 at General Conference so we knew that a new Stake President would be called. His 1st Counselor, Colin Cropper, became the new Stake President. The General Authority overseeing the reorganization was Elder Pearson (Pierson?). He gave an awesome talk about faith. He said that in order to fully exercise faith we need to understand 2 things. We need to know who god is (what his attributes, perfections, and abilities are) and that our lives are in harmony with his will. It was pretty powerful. He said that through our personal prayers we should be aligning our will with God. General Authorities are awesome.
I'm happy everybody is staying busy! Love you! Have a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
P.S. I'm running out of things to write about so... Questions would be appreciated, otherwise I'm not sure how satisfied you'll be with my emails. Sorry.
We had a pretty normal missionary week. With the new Easter video we did a couple of Missionary activities. Nothing too exciting or remarkable though. We did have a cool Stake Conference. The Stake President, David Buckner, was called as an area 70 at General Conference so we knew that a new Stake President would be called. His 1st Counselor, Colin Cropper, became the new Stake President. The General Authority overseeing the reorganization was Elder Pearson (Pierson?). He gave an awesome talk about faith. He said that in order to fully exercise faith we need to understand 2 things. We need to know who god is (what his attributes, perfections, and abilities are) and that our lives are in harmony with his will. It was pretty powerful. He said that through our personal prayers we should be aligning our will with God. General Authorities are awesome.
I'm happy everybody is staying busy! Love you! Have a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
P.S. I'm running out of things to write about so... Questions would be appreciated, otherwise I'm not sure how satisfied you'll be with my emails. Sorry.
Monday, April 3, 2017
April 3, 2017 Conference is the Best as a Missionary
Mi Familia,
It's great hearing from all of you! Happy birthday Isaac & Grandma! I love you both so much. Did Grandma bring her picture frame? I sent a bunch of pictures to it today.
Thanks for all of your insights from conference. It was such a good one wasn't it? My favorite talks were Elder Hales, Elder Costa & Elder Palmer. I loved Elder Hales' so much, he talked about simple obedience without being "selective" and how faith can be measured by what it drives you to do. I'm pretty sure Elder Costa wrote his talk with one of our investigators in mind and he said "Repentance clears the path to growth and happiness" and "nothing draws you closer to Christ like the desire to change". Elder Palmer in the Sunday afternoon session spoke about "Then Jesus beholding him, loved him" that struck a chord with me. Other good quotes from Elder Palmer were "How can I be worthy of Christlike love so that others can feel his love through me?" "Those that are hardest to love need love the most" "The Lord expects much from us because he loves us". It was such a great conference.
We had a pretty good week. On Thursday we had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators. We had him read part of 2 Nephi 31 in his native French then pray about a baptismal date in French. The spirit was so strong! He's pondering and praying about being baptized on April 22nd. We're super excited for him!
I pray you have a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
I thought I would follow Mom's example and send pictures first. Brother Ward has a connection with the Empire State Building which gets us up for free and lets us skip the lines. It was awesome.
It's great hearing from all of you! Happy birthday Isaac & Grandma! I love you both so much. Did Grandma bring her picture frame? I sent a bunch of pictures to it today.
Thanks for all of your insights from conference. It was such a good one wasn't it? My favorite talks were Elder Hales, Elder Costa & Elder Palmer. I loved Elder Hales' so much, he talked about simple obedience without being "selective" and how faith can be measured by what it drives you to do. I'm pretty sure Elder Costa wrote his talk with one of our investigators in mind and he said "Repentance clears the path to growth and happiness" and "nothing draws you closer to Christ like the desire to change". Elder Palmer in the Sunday afternoon session spoke about "Then Jesus beholding him, loved him" that struck a chord with me. Other good quotes from Elder Palmer were "How can I be worthy of Christlike love so that others can feel his love through me?" "Those that are hardest to love need love the most" "The Lord expects much from us because he loves us". It was such a great conference.
We had a pretty good week. On Thursday we had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators. We had him read part of 2 Nephi 31 in his native French then pray about a baptismal date in French. The spirit was so strong! He's pondering and praying about being baptized on April 22nd. We're super excited for him!
I pray you have a great week!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
I thought I would follow Mom's example and send pictures first. Brother Ward has a connection with the Empire State Building which gets us up for free and lets us skip the lines. It was awesome.
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| Selfie with our area... +a double chin. |
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| W/ Elder Mackintosh. This is mostly his area but we cover the World Trade Center and down. |
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| Our recent convert J---'s wife works in the American Eagle right next to the Empire State Building, so we stopped by and said hi. I'm afraid to by normal people clothes again... |
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| Another picture of the north part of our area. |
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| South part of the island. Our area is East (left side of the picture) of 5th Ave. |
Monday, March 20, 2017
March 20, 2017 Hey Family!
Hey Family,
We survived the "blizzard". It actually wasn't even close to as bad as everyone thought it was going to be but it was enough to have to wear my boots and some thin thermals. We shoveled the chapel out and helped a ton of people get their cars unstuck. We had an awesome miracle this week. One of our investigators named Charles was able to get a new job and will be able to attend church. We are hoping to set a date with him this week.
Transfers are tomorrow and since Elder Wilson is going home I'll will be receiving new companion. His name is Elder Newbold and he is a legend. I'm super excited to have him. Also I got called to be the east Manhattan District Leader. I've never been a District Leader so we'll see how it goes.
Today has been awesome! We got a private tour of the UN from a member here in the city. I have a few pictures, he offered to take the family when we come in June. I have a bunch of pictures to make up for the short letter. Love you!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
We survived the "blizzard". It actually wasn't even close to as bad as everyone thought it was going to be but it was enough to have to wear my boots and some thin thermals. We shoveled the chapel out and helped a ton of people get their cars unstuck. We had an awesome miracle this week. One of our investigators named Charles was able to get a new job and will be able to attend church. We are hoping to set a date with him this week.
Transfers are tomorrow and since Elder Wilson is going home I'll will be receiving new companion. His name is Elder Newbold and he is a legend. I'm super excited to have him. Also I got called to be the east Manhattan District Leader. I've never been a District Leader so we'll see how it goes.
Today has been awesome! We got a private tour of the UN from a member here in the city. I have a few pictures, he offered to take the family when we come in June. I have a bunch of pictures to make up for the short letter. Love you!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
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| UN General Assembly Room |
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| If you look carefully, there is a little family praying in the center of the mural. It's to remind the members of the UN that their purpose is supporting and preserving the family. Hmm. Interesting. |
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| Sam at the UN Podium |
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| The United Nations |
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| Blizzard! |
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| District! |
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| World Trade Center |
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
March 1, 2017 Elder Gong Was Here!
Hey Family,
It's still blowing my mind that Max will be home next week. That's so crazy. Time goes quick. Our Pday was changed to Wednesday this week because Elder Gong was in town and we had a Zone conference with him on Monday. He is awesome. On Sunday we had a Devotional with him where he met every missionary in NYC, shook their hand, and asked a question. Then we had the Devotional part about the importance of the sacrament followed by ice cream served personally by Elder & Sister Gong. It was pretty great.
It's still blowing my mind that Max will be home next week. That's so crazy. Time goes quick. Our Pday was changed to Wednesday this week because Elder Gong was in town and we had a Zone conference with him on Monday. He is awesome. On Sunday we had a Devotional with him where he met every missionary in NYC, shook their hand, and asked a question. Then we had the Devotional part about the importance of the sacrament followed by ice cream served personally by Elder & Sister Gong. It was pretty great.
Zone conference was also an awesome experience. They spoke to us about the importance of following the spirit, improving our studies & "Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts" which is the new theme of the missionary department. Elder Wilson, Elder Pulu (we are in a trio for the time being) & I got invited to MLC on Tuesday where Elder Gong spoke about how missionary leaders can beat help their missionaries. We also set a new Mission Baptismal goal (because we hit our last one!).
In other news, I spoke on Sunday. I think it went pretty well. I shared a few conversion stories and tried to point out how Members had influence on them throughout their lives. It was pretty good timing as well because the sister who spoke right before me is a recent convert and has a very Member missionary work heavy story. Great set up.
I have some videos to send this week. We're trying to not look like tourists so instead of stopping for a picture I just start up a video and keep walking. Love you family! Don't spoil Max too much!
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
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