Elder Tanner Paul Lindberg: April 2017

April 24th 2017~Thank you for your amazing email everyone!

Hello my dear and wonderful family! I have missed you all so much! I had such a great week! Thank you so much for your amazing email and all of the pictures you sent! It is always the highlight of my week being able to read everything that happened and everything you have been doing! I love every single word! It was really busy with lots of great and amazing things going on! I have been doing great just missing you all lots and I have still been a little homesick. Thank you SO MUCH for the emails you sent me throughout the week! It is so motivating to see an email from you! I love it! I loved the picture quote that you sent to me and pictures of Dad's Birthday! I really loved what it said! I set it as my tablet background! I love all of the pictures you send because I switch out my tablet's background! I was so glad to hear that Dad had a great Birthday! It was so much fun to get your email with all of your pictures! I loved to see everything that you got! It looked like a blast! I love and miss you all so much! I have a lot of fun news and I hope I can remember everything that happened!

First of all, I am SO excited to Skype you all coming up really quick and I'm so excited also that you are almost done with school! So I found out that we just use Skype to video chat with you all on Mother's Day which I am SO excited for!! I can't wait! So I downloaded the Skype app and created an account so I'm account all set to Skype you! It was really easy to set up! So I found a couple options for you all! You could either just download the app on your phone and do it that way or just buy a video camera that you can hook up to our computer and then just Google Skype and do it that way! Either way, I am so excited!! I LOVE what you did to my Google Drive! I love how organized and nice all of the pictures are now! It will make it so much easier! Thank you so much for taking the time to do that! I love it!

I have some more exciting news! I can't believe that I'm saying this but I'm so almost done with my 2nd cycle! I'm sad to say though that my time with Elder Kirkham may be almost over. He has been such a great example to me! So we had a video call on Friday and it was chucked full of news from President Smith!! Lots of news and important events coming up! So this coming Wednesday he and the Assistants will be calling and assigning trainers! Throughout the day President Smith will call all of the missionaries that will be training so it will be fun to hear who gets called! Then this coming Saturday will be our transfer call night. I am so hoping that Elder Kirkham stays with me!!! He is just finishing up his 4th transfer cycle so unfortunately he will most likely leave sadly. So on Saturday we will for sure know if he stays or goes! Then we got some crazy news! President Smith told us that this next transfer, we will have our P-days on Wednesday! This transfer they are trying to get all of the missionaries to the Temple so because they are closed on Mondays so we switch our P-Day to Wednesday and now we can go!! So we are really excited for that! So we will now have Wednesday P-Days from now on! But this next Monday since it is the beginning of the transfer and transfers are on Tuesday, May 2nd. So this coming Monday we will have only a 2 hour P-Day to do laundry, grocery shopping, and emails from 8:00-10:00. Then that next Wednesday we will have our regular P-Day! Then after next week, our P-Day will be on Wednesday until the end on the transfer! Did ya get all that? I hope I didn't confuse you! So I'm not sure when we will be able to go to the Temple and do a session but all we know is that it will be this transfer cycle! I'm so excited!

Last P-Day was incredible! And today's P-Day will be so awesome as well! Last P-Day was so much fun! We woke up and did our usual P-Day activities like laundry and shopping. I had such a fun time reading your email! I always look forward to your emails more than anything! So we got our grocery shopping done and got cash back so we could do our laundry! I can't remember if I've told you this but it only costs us $3.00 each week to do our laundry! It is a very good deal! So we threw in a load of laundry then headed upstairs to email! Emailing is so much fun! I love telling you everything that happened! So after we emailed for about a half an hour we went back downstairs to switch our laundry to the dryers. Then after we got laundry all done, we headed to Aldi's to do our shopping! I always enjoy shopping! Their food is so cheap but it all tastes like the regular brands! It is an awesome store and I wish we had one in Logan! So after we got back from grocery shopping and we got our groceries put away, we emailed some more and then we went to the post office to send some mail! Elder Kirkham had some shirts to send home and then I sent Dad's package! By this time it was about 2:30 so we headed back to the apartment to have a quick late lunch and then.........we made our way toward Yankee Stadium!! I have been wanting to go so bad every since I got here but we just haven't made the journey over that way. So last Friday we decided what we were going to do for last P-Day and I suggested that we go see Yankee Stadium! So everyone of course was on board with that idea because who doesn't want to go see Yankee Stadium?? Everyone in the apartment has been to Yankee Stadium at leads once so they knew exactly how to get there. It is so crazy to me that we only live 4 miles away! It is in the Kingsbridge Zone. So we hopped on a train and made our way toward the stadium! I was so excited! It took us about 20 minutes to get there and once we made it to our stop, THERE WAS YANKEE STADIUM! It was right outside the train stop. The train is above ground but in a tunnel so we walked down a flight of stairs and then out the exit. It was so amazing! The stadium is huge! We walked around for a little but and took lots of pictures and it was so fun to be there because there was a game against the White Sox later in the evening so fans were getting ready to go into the Stadium! It was quite the sight to see! There is a huge park right next to the stadium and tons of people were out playing football, soccer, and baseball. We walked into the really cool Yankee store that they have and it was incredible! It was so cool to see all that Yankee gear! I went straight toward the minimum bats and started looking at those. They had a really good deal going on, 2 bats for $15.00. I was picking out 2 that I really liked and then Elder Kirkham mentioned that they would be cheaper at a store across the street that is much cheaper. So we left the Yankee store connected to the stadium and went across the street to another store. I was looking at their mini bats and they were really cool but they felt cheaper and I felt like the paint would chip off really easily. They were $7.00 per bat but the quality wasn't as good as the others. So I decided to get the 2 bats for $15.00 at the actual store. So we went back over to the Yankee store and we went to pull on the handle, and they were closed. They closed the store to the public and only had it open to those that had tickets and could get inside the Stadium. So I ended up not getting the bats. I know I will go back soon so I can get them then! So after we took some pictures, we decided to head back to the Church for our interviews with President Smith. So we left the amazing stadium and went back to the Church. It was such an amazing time! When we got to the church, we were a little early so we sent a message to Evans, who we haven't seen in a while because he has been really busy. He has been pretty hard to get a hold of. So we sent him a message and asked him if he would be able to come to the church and we could have a lesson. We didn't hear anything back from him so we decided to wait for our interviews. My interview went great! Well, It isn't really an interview because President Smith asks us if he can help with anything and we just talk about how the work is going. I really enjoy this one on one time with him! I told him how everything was going and how much I enjoy working with Elder Kirkham and how much I miss you all! Then after the interview, we headed over to Bishop Jessop's house to pick up a check for Osagie. He has been loving his new job and there have been so many blessings that have come into his life. The Bishopric wanted to help this month pay for a portion of the rent that he owes for his apartment that Osagie is renting. It was so nice of them! So after we picked up Osagie's check, we headed back to the apartment for the night. It was an incredible day and I loved every second of it!

Tuesday was another great day! Unfortunately, Elder Smiley woke up with a really bad cold. He could barely get out of bed just like Elder Knudsen about a week ago. I have been so lucky to not get sick since I have been out here! So we woke up and Elder Smiley just stayed in bed because he was so not feeling well. We did our studies and got ready for the day and then had our weekly district meeting. Elder Smiley is our district leader and he physically could not make it to District meeting so Elder Knudsen and I went on a mini split and went to District meeting together while Elder Kirkham stayed with Elder Smiley and got some things done around the apartment! It looked so nice when we got back! Since Elder Knudsen has been a district leader before, Elder Smiley just gave him the notes that he was going to use and delegated him to conduct district meeting. District meeting is always fun because we get to hear about everyone's investigators. Everyone is struggling as well to have lessons with their investigators. We all think it is just a really busy time for people because the holidays are over. So after district meeting, Elder Knudsen and I went back to our apartment and unsplit and had some lunch. I have been so grateful for you teaching me how to cook!!! It has been so much fun to show people some cooking skills that they can use! Everyone always asks me questions about cooking and it is fun to have an answer! So after we had lunch we had an appointment with our awesome investigator, Temitope! So we took a train over to his apartment and about 5 minutes before we go there, Elder Kirkham decided to call him to let him know that we were close by. He answered and said that he was in Chicago and wouldn't be back for a week. We were bummed that we couldn't teach him. He felt bad but we weren't sure why he didn't remember that we had a lesson scheduled. So then after that we went to see Osagie at his new job! We didn't want to bug him but we thought we would just stop by and wave. So we went over to the car wash were he works and said hi! He was really happy to see us! He was vacuuming car mats of a really nice Mercedes Benz and a BMW! It was cool to see him at work! Then we went back to the apartment for some dinner and then we started the 11th week of my 12 Week program and did our companionship study! I can't believe that I have been here for 11 weeks already! Time has been flying by! Then after we did all of that, it was time to start getting ready for bed! We were all really tired as usual! It is always satisfying to be tired at the end of the day because it let's me know that I'm working hard! It is so nice to unwind and write in my journal for an hour! It is so nice! We were ready for another great day!

Wednesday was another great day! Happy Birthday to Dad! I was thinking about him all day and hoping his day was going great! I appreciated so much the email you sent with all of the pictures! I loved to see them and it made me feel like I was there! I was so glad to hear that he had a great day! Elder Smiley was still very sick during the day but by the end of the day he was feeling much better! We had such great news! I can't wait to tell you all about it!! So we woke up, got ready for the day, and did our studies then we headed out the door to see Evans for a 10:30 drop by. He didn't know that we were coming and we couldn't get a hold of him through the phone so w thought maybe we could catch him home. So we headed over to his house and unfortunately he wasn't home. He has been such a great investigator and a really fun guy to talk to but he is just SO hard to meet with. So we take every opportunity and we always try to be so nice and friendly. He is such a great guy but has just been really busy. So we knocked on a less active member's house and she wasn't home either. So we headed back to the apartment for lunch and our companionship study. After companionship study we decided to go out to Gun Hill Road and share with as many people as we could, a Easter video from a few years ago. We were so excited to find people to show the video to! We went outside and it was pretty chilly and windy but we still went out anyway. When we got to the street that we wanted to find people to share the video with.....it started to rain. ⛆ In New York, I have noticed that when it rains, NOBODY is outside. So we were pretty sad that the weather wasn't cooperating with us so we headed back to the apartment to call and set up appointments with our investigators because the weather was just not good to be out in. Then as we were calling people, I started itching on certain spots on my arms and hands. For the last week I have gotten one or two of these mosquito like itches on my arms and hands. I thought they were just mosquito bites all along because we spend most of the time outside. But as we were calling people, my leg started to itch. I thought it was really wierd because the only time I am wearing shorts is at night for bed. Elder Kirkham then told me that before I got here they had bed bugs in all 4 of their beds. It was a huge nightmare for them to call an exterminator to fix the problem. Elder Kirkham suggested that we wash our sheets. So after we had some dinner, we spend the rest of the night washing our sheets and spraying down our bed frames with a beg bug spray. Elder Kirkham and I were hoping that it killed all of the bugs before it got too bad! But luckily I haven't had any more bites since then! So while we were spraying down our beds, we got an amazing text from Elder Brown and Elder Munóz, the two Spanish Elders. They said that they just had a lesson with Francisco and they committed him to baptism on May 27th!! How cool is that! Francisco was the guy that we found in our area book and had never visited before but then we called him and told us to come over! He is such a nice guy! So Elder Kirkham and I sent him over to the Spanish Elders because he spoke mostly Spanish. I can't remember if I told you that we sent him over. At the Easter dinner he got talking with Elder Brown and Elder Munóz and they told us that Francisco speaks mostly Spanish so we sent him over to them. We were so excited to hear that someone that has just been sitting in our area book for months is getting baptized! It was such a great day minus the bugs!

On Thursday we woke up and it was POURING rain again! We were glad it was raining so much on a day where we spend the first half inside for weekly planning. So we woke up, got ready for the day, and studied. Then we started our weekly planning session. Elder Kirkham has been "passing the baton" to me and I have been doing a lot more planning and taking the lead in teaching! Each companionship in the mission has their own cell phone to call investigators and President Smith. They are great tools and he gave it to me to start using. So we started weekly planning and calling our investigators and setting up appointments and lessons. This week was really hard to get in touch with our investigators. First for weekly planning we write down all of our investigators and plan times the go over and see them, then we schedule in 12 Week and companionship study. I cannot believe that I'm almost done with the 12 Week program! Time has been flying by! So after we planned out our whole week we were all starving! We kept planning for a little bit so we were still trying to decide where to eat! It is kind of a tradition to eat out somewhere on weekly planning or district meeting days. We all looked at each other and said: "Cross-Bronx!!" So we headed to the bus stop to get some Cross-Bronx! As we were standing at the bus stop we had something really cool happen! We had a guy riding a bike and he stopped dead in his tracks and said: "You guys are Mormons right?" We said "Yes we are!" Then he said that he was really happy to run into us! His name is Gino and he has a friend that is a member who lives in Manhattan and Elder Smiley and Elder Kirkham knew the guy he was talking about! So we chatted with him for a minute and we found out that he is and tally in Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen's area. We were so happy that he came up and talked with us because he was a really cool guy and he was open to learn more about the Gospel! We were so excited! Then after we got done talking with him for a good 20 minutes, we went over to Cross-Bronx and got our huge pieces of pizza! After we had our delicious lunch we came back to the apartment and finished our weekly planning! Then after we got everything squared away with the week, we had an appointment scheduled with Matt that night and he said that he wanted to make us dinner! So we made the long journey over to the awesome City Island! I love City Island! It is such a cool historical fishing town that has such an incredible view of Manhattan! I actually have yet to see the Statue of Liberty but hopefully I will be able to soon! Elder Kirkham told me that you have to be at certain spots and you have to get the perfect angle to see it. There are only a few spots that you can see it while you are in the city or on this side of the city. But City Island has such an incredible view of the whole cityscape! So we went over to Matt's house and he made us a really good dinner! Matt is a great investigator but he hasn't progressed as much. We are just trying to be there for him and let him know that we like spending time with him! He said that he would be glad to be baptized but he would feel like he would do it just to get us another baptism. He says that he would be converted to the people not the Gospel. He is a great guy and we enjoy getting to know him better! So he made us refried beans and then put cabbage, onions, and spices, then he made his own bread dough and put the bean mixture in the dough and then put cheese in it and then rolled it up and fried them like Navaho Tacos! They were really tasty! It was a great night! We talked to him about how everything is going and it was awesome! We both had a great and productive day!

What a great day Friday was!! It was really foggy and rainy pretty much the whole day. Time has been flying by so fast! We woke up and got ready for the day and then we did our studies! Then we had a conference call with President Smith! It is always so great to hear the leader of our mission! He gives such great talks and always helps all of the missionaries out! So we had our conference call at 10:00 and it ended at 10:30. It was a great conference call! Then after that we had another split! Elder Knudsen came to our area and so I got to be the leader! Elder Kirkham went with Elder Smiley! It was a great split! So after we did our regular day events we decided to go and get mail!! Whenever we hear that mail is coming we get SO excited! So we made the tourney over to the Church to pick up our mail! When we got there, the office Elders were just leaving the church so we went inside to get our mail! I need to give a special thanks to the Dunns and Grandma Evans! Thank you so much for the Ghirardelli chocolates Dunn family! You know how much I love Ghirardellis! Also, thank you so much Grandma Evans for the Easter card! It was so thoughtful of you all! We also got a new wall clock for our bathroom and a floor lamp for our apartment! Since our apartment was built during World War II, it doesn't have a light in the main room so we just use floor lamps and our Christmas lights to light the main room. So after we got all of our mail we were all so excited for everything that we got! Then we headed back to the apartment for some dinner! Then after dinner it was 6:00 so we headed over to Co-op City for our appointment with Brother Tsakpoe! We always love going over to Brother Tsakpoe's apartment! He really likes to have us over so his daughter, Rachael, can go to the Temple. Brother Tsakpoe told us that his lifelong dream is to go to the Manhattan Temple with his wife and daughter. We are always so happy to help him out! I need to take a picture with him and I so you can see him because he is a really awesome guy! We had a great lesson with him! We were still on our split so I was the area leader with Elder Knudsen! It was really fun to practice all of the many things that Elder Kirkham has taught me! It was fun to know which busses to take and navigate the busy Bronx traffic! He has been the best trainer and he has, like you said, set the whole course of my mission in the right direction! We taught only Brother Tsakpoe because his wife was at work and his daughter had a really bad migraine so we just taught him. We shared and read the funny story about the sleeping bag from this last General Conference. He remembered it and really loved reading it again! We talked about how he has "rolled out his spiritual sleeping bag?" He said by loving and providing for his family, saying his prayers, and going to Church. We had a great time with him! It's so funny, every time we go over to his house I ALWAYS think of Dad because he always gives us a soda. But he keeps his soda right in front of his heater so they are always hot. Since it was a cold day, the heater was on and so our sodas were extra hot. It always remind me of you Dad drinking your warm Dr. Pepper right after mowing a ladies lawn in your ward. So we took our warm sodas and headed back to the apartment for the night and put our sodas in the fridge so they would be nice and cold in the morning. We had a great and did busy day full of awesome events! We were really tired after a great day of missionary work!

I couldn't believe how fast Saturday rolled around again! It has been over a week now since out Easter Egg Hunt and dinner! On Saturday we woke up and got ready for the day and then we did our studies! Then we had an appointment with Evans that we were really excited about because we haven't seen him for a while! So we planned our our lesson with him and then sent him a Facebook message to confirm our appointment and then we were just about to leave but then we got a message back from him and he said that he has had a lot going on and so he wasn't up to having us over. So we were kind of disappointed that we couldn't go see him. So we decided to do something really awesome! Elder Knudsen and I were still on our split until 1:30so we decided to go to City Island and do some lookups for the remainder of our split! So we made our way to City Island and started looking at our area book. We looked through lots of names and found some people that might be interested so we went and knocked on their doors. Not very many people were home but we noticed a lady in our area book and the notes for her said that the previous Elders could not get in. We decided to try it and we got to the building and it was a smaller building. We tried opening the back door and it opened! But the only problem was that there wasn't an apartment number for her. So we said: "Well, there aren't very doors so we could knock on all of them until we find her apartment!" So we started knocking on doors and out of the 6 doors that we knocked, not a single person answered. But Elder Kirkham has taught me well because he always says that even though nobody answered doesn't mean it was a failure. He says to always look on the bright side. So I thought how this situation was a success even though we didn't talk to people. So I thought: "Well, we did get inside the building and the other Elders before us couldn't so now we know how to get into the building so now the next missionaries after us will be able to get inside and then they may be able to catch her at home!" It's the small and simple things that build on each other sometimes in missionary work. Nobody knew how to get inside but now the next missionaries will! So I always try to have that positive outlook and it works really well! So after we knocked on all of the doors on the floor, we headed to a member's house named the Kreigs! So we went over to their house and they were home! It was so nice to meet them! We got talking and they LOVE to collect antiques and they have a lot of really cool stuff on their front porch and so I commented on all of their cool stuff and they thought it was really cool that I liked to collect to and then we got talking about old money and they said that they have a really big collection and so they wanted Elder Kirkham and I to come over sometime and have a lesson! Isn't that cool!?! So after we talked with them for a little while we headed back to the apartment for a later lunch. Then after we had lunch, we did our companionship study and then 12 Week! After we got all of that done we had a dinner with Dalton planned! Dalton is always so nice and loves cooking for us! So we headed over to his apartment and got there at 6:30 to have dinner! It was so good! He made us a really good stir fry (or stir nasty as Parker would call it) with fresh garlic! Then he put some really good shrimp in it and served it over some really good rice called jasmine rice! We had a nice talk with him and had and great dinner appointment! It is always really fun to eat at member's houses! Then after that it was time to head in for the night! It was an awesome and busy day!

Sunday was such a great day! We didn't have a lot going on because we had church and then the Zone Leaders actually had a baptism! So we headed over to the Church and got there right on time. Church was really good! Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen taught the Gospel Principles class and it went really well! It was funny! The relief society sang a musical number and it was really good! But since there were mostly new converts and people that hadn't been there for very long started clapping and cheering once the song was over! The zone leaders had some investigators that attended church and they were all clapping as well! It was pretty funny! We are really trying to make Osagie feel welcome each and every week! Dad, you were telling me how some recent converts felt abandoned, so we are making sure he fills welcome! It was so cool because he came to Church wearing all new clothes and had a nice backpack that he bought with his first paycheck! So after Church we came back to the apartment and had a quick snack and then we did our companionship study and then had and linner! We were really excited for the baptism! So after we did our companionship study and ate dinner, we went back to the Church for the baptism that started at 6:30! The baptism was for a woman with 3 kids. She is only about 40 years old and her husband didn't really want to learn much about the church. It was so cool because they planned the baptism around him so he could come! So the wife, Marissa, and her 11 year old son, Desmond, got baptized! Desmond REALLY reminds me of Brandon! He is just a nice kid and is always so friendly! Her other 2 kids are still really young. It was a great baptism and it was fun to have one! Then after the baptism it was 8:00 so we decided to head back to the apartment for the night. While Elder Kirkham and I were standing at the bus stop, we got a text from President Smith asking him if he knew a Michael Meme who was a 71 year old recent convert in Elder Kirkham's last area, which is Manhattan. Elder Kirkham texted him back and said yes, and then President Smith told us that sadly he had passed away. Elder Kirkham was the one that found him but since he was serving in the YSA ward, he had to pass him off to the regular missionaries. It was pretty sad. President Smith said that they want all of the missionaries that knew him to attend his funeral this coming Saturday in lower Manhattan. So Elder Kirkham and I will get to go back to Manhattan this coming Saturday!

I am so excited for today! We are just typing up emails while we wait for our laundry to be done and then we are going to quickly go shopping and then go to Manhattan!!! We are so excited! We will take the train all the way to the same stop that we got off at for the Museum of the city of New York! Then we will walk down the Central Park sidewalk all the way to The Metropolitan Museum of Art! We can't wait! I think I have already told you this but this museum is one of the biggest art museums in the world and is really close to the fountain where they shot the opening theme for Friends! I will be thinking about you all the whole time! Elder Kirkham and Elder Smiley have both already been to this museum so they know where all of the cool parts to the Museum are! It is going to be a blast! I'm not sure if I will be able to email there unless there is WiFi! I really hope I can let you know how everything goes! I'm so excited that we are going to Arby's! It will be so fun to eat at an Arby's in Manhattan! We are going to have a great day! I really hope that I can chat back and forth and email you again! It is going to be such a fun day! There is always so much to see and so much to do! I thought it would be fun for you to see where the museum is! It is right on the edge of Central Park! I always think of Elf and Home Alone every time we go there! It is so iconic! It is still crazy to me that I'm actually here amongst all of these famous landmarks! I am so excited for Arby's and the Museum!

Well my dear family! I really hope that I remembered everything that I was going to say! It was a fun and busy week of missionary work! I miss you all so much and pray for you all every single day. I appreciate everything that you do for me so much! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I was so glad to hear that Dad had a great birthday and he had a fun time! He really got spoiled! I hope you all have an amazing week with work, school, and all of your other activities! I will be thinking about you all week! I just want you to know how much I miss and love you all! You are all amazing! I hope you all have a great and safe week! I think about you all the time and you are always in my thoughts and prayers! I have felt so many blessings and I know you have too! Thank you again for your incredible email and all of the pictures that you sent! I loved every single one! I just got done uploading all of my pictures and I actually created a folder a few day ago and noticed that you had organized them so I put them in week 12. Thank you again for all of the love and support you give to me! You are the greatest family ever! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg