April 10th 2017: Happy 10th Birthday Parker!!
I'm so excited to say that I got your wonderful package! I cannot thank you enough for everything that you sent! I made a list throughout the week of things I needed to buy today at Aldi's and bar soap and shampoo was on the list but you've got me covered! You guys are the best and are always so thoughful! I loved everything that you put in there so much! I have been enjoying all of the treats so much since zone conference! I love all of the treats and have been enjoying them SO MUCH! I opened it up and everyone said: "Woah! You have the best family ever!" I quickly agreed because you are all incredible! You made an entire apartment full of missionaries VERY happy because I have been sharing with them all! It was so fun to open up a fun package with so much cool stuff and yummy treats! The white shirts and sweater fit me great! I have been nice and cool all week because the weather has been warm but beautiful! I have enjoyed wearing the sweater and thermal under clothes a lot because they keep me nice and toasty so it is so nice to have 2 nice sweaters! They are so nice and comfortable! Elder Kirkham was wondering when I was going to buy some short sleeve white shirts because he knows how hot and humid it gets and then I told him that you were sending me some and he thought that was really cool! I appreciate you so much for doing that for me! Thank you all so much! The package and signed card really made me feel close to home! All the treats you put in there are Easter traditions so it was fun to get them! I can't believe how much you packed in there also! It means so much to have fun packages to open! We are so blessed to have such quick shipping! I can't believe that you sent it on Monday and it got here on Wednesday!
I also need to give a shout out to Abbs! Congratulations on your new job! I'm so excited for you! I am so honored that you chose to work there! It is a great place to work and I know you are going to love it! I appreciate your email that you sent on Friday! It was so much fun to get and read! If you have ANY questions just let me know and I would be more than happy to answer them! I know you will love working there!
We had such a great week this week! It has been so fun to be here in the Bronx and meeting tons of different people! It is such a cool and historical area. I hope I can remember everything that happened this week because we had a lot of cool events going on! I have missed you all a ton! I have been feeling pretty homesick (I'm sure every missionary gets homesick. I remember Dad telling me that he got homesick so it is pretty normal.) these past few weeks because I miss you all so much! I have been doing just fine though! I think every single missionary gets homesick. I just want you to know that I love you so much and I miss you so much. I know homesickness is very normal. I just miss seeing you all everyday and being there but your emails are so amazing and so it makes me feel right at home! It is so hard to be away from you and home and miss events but I know that you all are having a good time! I miss being there in Church and seeing you every day but I know you are being blessed! I miss not spending time with you and being there at all of your activities! I am always there in spirit and thinking about what you are doing all the time. Your emails help me out so much! I appreciate you all so much and everything you do! You are the best! I can't tell you how excited I am for Mother's Day! It is coming right up and I can't wait to Skype you all! It is going to be incredible!
I am so excited to say that we are planning another trip to Manhattan 2 weeks from today! We were going to go next week but we realized that kids will be out of school for Easter break. I thought it was very interesting that they get some time off from school for Easter. Pretty cool! I'm so excited to say that we are going to.....wait for it.... THE MET!!!! I AM SO EXCITED! The Met is such a famous museum and it is right in Central Park! It is just down the street from the museum of the city of New York is! I can't wait to go! Today for P-Day a really nice barber that lives in Queens is coming to the Bronx and so he is going to cut all of our hair! I forgot to tell you a while ago that Elder Bradley gave us all haircuts about a month ago because he has his own clippers! It was really weird getting a haircut from someone else than you Mom. I am so grateful that you know how to cut our hair. So we are all excited to get our hair cut today! And we are all really excited to go to Manhattan again!
I was so excited to hear that North Carolina won the National Championship! I was hoping Gonzaga would win but I'm so glad Dad won the whole thing! I felt like I was a part of the action even though I wasn't there watching the games! Sounds like it was a great season with lots of action! Congrats Dad for winning the whole thing and congrats to Mom for coming in 2nd! It was fun to look at Dad's winning bracket! I really felt like I was a part of it! Thanks again for filling one out for me!
What a great week! Last P-Day was so awesome! We were going to go down to Manhattan and go to a museum but we realized that it was Spring Break so we decided not to go because of all of the crowds. It would have been really hard to do or see anything with huge crowds. We woke up and got ready for the day and then studied for only a half an hour and then we got ready to go shopping! We decided since we weren't going to Manhattan we would sleep until 6:30 instead of waking up early to quickly get our laundry in. So we headed off to the grocery store to do our shopping! It always fun to go grocery shopping and find good deals! After we got home from doing our shopping we headed downstairs to the basement to do our laundry. After we got our laundry all done, we decided to go to Kmart and check out the awesome shirts they had! We had been to that Kmart before and so I had my eye on these really cool Bronx tee shirts for a while now. So we decided to go check them out! They have a whole bunch of designs but it hough the blue and black ones were the coolest! They were only $3.33 per shirt so I definitely had to get 2 of them! Then after we got done with Kmart we just relaxed and sent the rest of our emails, folded laundry and had dinner! We didn't have much going on so it was a really nice P-Day! We all had a great time as usual!
We were really excited for Tuesday because it was Zone Conferences! I always love spending time with President Smith and his wife! He is so fun to listen to and be taught by him and his wife! So on Tuesday we woke up at 5:30 because we had to be to the Scarsdale Church by 7:20. So we got ready for the day and headed over to the church because the office Elders decided to pick us up at the church which was so nice because we didn't have to pay for a train ticket to Scarsdale! So we got to the church about a half an hour early so we had some time to look over our talks that everyone prepares before coming to Zone Conference. We all prepare a 3-5 minute talk and then President Smith calls on 1 Elder and 1 Sister to give their talks. I haven't gotten chosen the last 2 Conferences but this Conference I was the Elder that got chosen! I have to admit....it is pretty nerve-racking giving a talk to the President of the mission and 30 other missionaries! I was really excited to give my talk though! We were supposed to prepare a talk on a Christ like attribute from Preach my Gospel and I chose "Hope." I chose hope because it has been a topic that most of the people we talk to say that they really need hope in there lives and everyone is looking for hope. Also, the new Easter video talks a lot about hope and peace so I thought it would be cool to talk about hope! I got up there and started my talk and then I noticed that all 3 Elders in our apartment were all taking pictures. I thought it was pretty funny! So I have some pictures that I uploaded that they took while I was giving my talk. So after my talk, President Smith and Sister Smith did some training about teaching people how to pray and the role prayer plays in our investigators' lives. It was great! They always do such a great job of explaining and teaching us principles that will help our missionary work because there is always room for improvement! Then he talked about Conference and the comment Elder Rasband made and his shout out to the Bronx! Conference was so good and I learned so much! It was a great time to hear from the leaders and President Monson! I loved every single talk so much especially all of the talks about missionary work! Then, for lunch we had some really good food! The Yonkers Spanish ward provided a huge lunch for all of the missionaries! It was delicious! They had rice with bacon, Mexican meatballs, potato salad, and salad with lots of dressings! It was all so good! Then after our delicious lunch, our zone leaders had a great lesson about teaching prayer to investigators as well! It was a really great conference and I learned a ton! The conference lasted from 9:00-4:30 so by the time we got back to the apartment and got settled, it was about 6:00 so we decided to have some dinner and since we didn't have a ton of time after dinner we decided to do another finding activity where we set up a table near our apartment and hand out Books of Mormon and talk with everyone! It was fun because we had our tablet playing the Easter video on replay with a speaker so we invited people to watch it and it was a big success! People really enjoyed the video and wanted to know more! So we wrote down their phone numbers and their addresses so we may have some lessons coming up soon! It was such a great day! We are always beat by the end of the day so we just relax and I eat the treats that you got me! It is always very nice to take a load off once we get back to the apartment!
On Wednesday we had our weekly district meeting to talk about all of our investigators, Conference, and Zone Conference! We had the best news EVER on Wednesday!!! It was weird because we hadn't taught a lesson in a while because we had Conference on Saturday and Sunday, P-Day on Monday and Zone Conference on Tuesday. So we didn't teach very many lessons this week because we were pretty busy. So we woke up, got ready for the day, and did our studies then we headed off to District meeting. Our district meeting was awesome as usual! We talked about all of our investigators and how they were doing. There was a common theme from all of the companionships. Everyone was having a hard time getting a hold of their investigators these last few weeks. It has been really hard to meet with our main investigators because of work and other things that they had going on. Then after district meeting, we headed back home for some lunch....and of course, treats that you sent me! Then after we had some lunch we decided to do another finding activity where we set up a table with Books of Mormon and we actually thought of something cool! Since the new Easter video came out we decided to have the video playing on repeat so we could just say to people : "Hey do you want to come watch a quick video about Easter?" Elder Kirkham brought his Bluetooth speaker and had that on so it made it so much cooler! It worked out really well! We had a ton of people stop by and we handed out close to 40 Book of Mormons! It was a great activity and we enjoyed teaching people right there on the streets! Then, right in the middle of our finding activity we had the best news EVER! We got a call from Brother Lazu, who was helping Osagie find a job, and he called us and said that he found Osagie a job!!! He told us that his friend's car washing business was starting to really pick up now that all of the snow finally melted! One of the workers moved and so there was an opening and Brother Lazu said that Osagie was a great worker and he said he could start work on Friday! So on Friday morning, we met Osagie at the Church and then walked him over to the car washing business so the manager could give him a rundown of exactly what he would be doing each day! Elder Kirkham and I were so excited for Osagie!! We could see all of the blessings that he was being given from living the Gospel! Right after Osagie was baptized we assured him that things would start to fall into place for him! Sure enough, everything has fallen into place for him and it has been amazing to see! I forgot to mention in my last email that he was starting to go hungry because he didn't have very much money for food so he talked with Bishop and he now has food coming directly to the apartment he is renting! It has been amazing to see all of these blessings that he has been given because of the Gospel! Then by the time we passed out all of our Books of Mormon that we had it was time to head in for the night. We were all in such a great mood knowing Osagie had a job! It was such a great day!
On Thursday we had our weekly planning session so that took up the majority of our day and we got a lot done! So we woke and unfortunately, Elder Knudsen wasn't feeling very well and could hardly get out of bed. We were all hoping that he would get better soon and we hoped nobody else caught the bug that he had. By the end of the day he was already starting to feel a little better. So after our studies we started our weekly planning and Elder Kirkham had some great news! He said now that we are 8 weeks into my training, it was time for me to start taking over the area!! He said that I would start taking the lead on our daily planning, weekly planning, and traveling to our appointments! So normally he spearheads the planning and traveling but now I get to start taking the lead! So Elder Kirkham and I planned our entire week with me spearheading it! It is a big responsibility but he is such a great trainer! We called a ton of people and planned a ton of cool events for this upcoming week! Our planning usually takes about 2-3 hours depending on how many people are able to meet. It was a great planning session! After our planning session we had one of the CRAZIEST rain storms I have ever seen! In the morning, there were a few clouds but it didn't look like we were going to get any rain but right after planning the clouds really started to move in. It started to rain just a little bit but then it was a downpour! There was winds of up to 45 miles per hour and a ton of water. I don't think I have ever seen so much rain coming down all at once and then to add really high speed winds to it made it even crazier! I tried to get a video of it but the wind was smacking the rain up against the window and you couldn't even see outside because it was pretty foggy as well. And then after about an hour into this crazy storm, TONS of lightning started to hit really close to our apartment. We enjoyed just watching the lightning while we ate our lunch! It was so loud! Not quite as loud as that one storm we had before I left and that bolt of lightning that hit right by what seemed to be the Backus's house. One bolt of lightning hit right across the street in the Bronx Zoo.☇☈ It was really crazy! There is absolutely no way Elder Kirkham and I would ever be able to go anywhere because it was so bad but after lunch we knew we had to get out there and do some missionary work so we started to put on our shoes and then out of no where the storm just stopped. It stopped as quickly as it started but we thought it was really cool that it stopped right when we needed to get back out there and get working! Really awesome experience! For lunch we went to Tacos El Bronco again for some Tacos and it was so good! So after the rain stopped, we headed to Co-op City for some lookups! Lookups are where we look through our area book and find anybody that missionaries haven't visited for a while and we go see if they are home and have some time that we could get to know them a little better. We knocked on some less active members and unfortunately they weren't home so we went to the next apartment and the person that we were trying to teach was actually away for school in Albany and wouldn't be back until the semester ends. Elder Kirkham told me that gathering information like that is really helpful because we just type it into our area book that he is away for school and so the next missionaries will be able to know when to come back! So even if we don't see them, we can still be productive by gathering information like that. After we did some lookups for a few hours we headed back to the apartment for the night. We are always beat by the end of the day but which is great because it means we did our job! It is a very satisfying feeling!
We had another great day on Friday! We woke and were so excited for Osagie and his new job! Brother Lazu called us on Wednesday night and said to have Osagie at the car washing business by 9:00 in the morning. Osagie didn't know where exactly the car wash was so we decided to meet him at the Church and walk him over to the car wash. So we showed him where the car wash was and wished him luck! Brother Lazu is such a great guy! We were so grateful for him finding this job for him! Osagie was so excited and grateful to finally have a job! So after we got back to the apartment, we did our daily studies and then planned out our day! We got some really exciting news right after we planned! We got a call from the Zone Leaders and they said that they scheduled an appointment with an new investigator for 1:30 but when they checked out the address, they found out that he was in our area! His name is Temitope Omotayo. He is a really nice guy from Nigeria just like Osagie! So we headed over to his house and knocked on his door. He answered right away and was so nice and friendly! He reminded Elder Kirkham and I of Osagie so much! He even acted like him! We started talking with him and getting to know him a little better and he is a really amazing guy! He was busy at the moment so we didn't have time to sit down with him and teach him the first lesson so we just shared a scripture from the Bible at the door! It was a really great lesson and we can't wait to start teaching him more! We shared the scripture Amos 3:7 with him and he really liked it! It talks about how Heavenly Father speaks through the Prophet! Then it reminded me about Conference and I kept thinking about how great conference was! This last Conference was so amazing and I loved every single talk! I felt like all the talks were talking to all of us! I especially loved hearing the missionary count as well as you all did! I forgot to thank you in my last email for sending me that really cool picture of the missionary count and I thought it was cool that I was a part of that number! I have enjoyed so much going back and listening and reading all of the Conference talks! It was such a great Conference and I thought it was so cool that you were watching it at the same time! After we talked with Temetope for about 20 minutes, we headed over to Co-op City to do some trackting and try to find some more people that would be interested in learning more about how Jesus Christ can bring peace to our lives. So we knocked on a few floors of doors and had really good success! It was really fun to see how much people enjoyed the video! The people that we did show the video to said that they already go to different Christian Churches and were happy with their religion and didn't want to change. We totally understood and said that if they ever need help with something then they could just give us a call and we would be glad to help! So we gave them a card and told them to have and great day! A lot of the people that we meet really already love the Churches they go to like Catholic or Jehovah's Witness and so they aren't interested in changing their religion. We had a lot of fun showing the Easter video to everyone! After that, we headed home for some dinner and some treats! Every morning when I study at my desk I always enjoy the treats you sent! So after we had some dinner it was about 6:30 and we had an appointment with Brother Tsakpoe at 7:00 so we hurried over to Co-op City and met with Brother Tsakpoe. We always enjoy going over to his house! We shared with him the Easter video and he really enjoyed it! We talked about how Jesus Christ can bring peace to us and comfort us in our trails. I can't remember if I told you this in my last email but his sister in law passed away about a month ago so they have been needing a lot of peace in their life. He really appreciated us coming over and sharing a message about peace. I always look forward to meeting with members and sharing with them a message! Elder Kirkham and I only have a few members in our area so we get to know them really well which is great! After we finished visiting with Brother Taskpoe, we went over to another member's home and her name is Sister Roche. We had seen her at church before but really wanted to get to know her a little better. We actually found out that she served a mission about 40 years ago in California! It was really neat to here about her experience and how it has blessed her life so much! After we got done showing her the Easter video and chatting with her for a little bit, we headed back to the apartment for the evening and we were both beat after a long days work! It's always satisfying to be tired when we get back for the night because it means we're workin hard and doing what we are supposed to. It was a great day!
Saturday the weather was so beautiful! It really made me miss playing football in the backyard with Dad and the boys.
Sunday was such a great day! The weather was absolutely beautiful! I could not have asked for nicer weather! There wasn't a cloud in the bright blue sky and was 60 degrees! It was awesome! We woke up and did our studies and planned out our day. Then by that time is what time to head over to Church! Church was great as usual! It is very different than what we are all used to in good old Utah. The chapel doesn't even have benches, it just has folding chairs like the overflows. Very different! I'm so excited to say that Sister Oppenheimer came to Church yesterday and was doing just fine! She even bore her testimony and mentioned us in her talk! I was so glad to see that she was doing better! Then after we had church we had 2 appointments that we were REALLY excited for! We had 2 set appointments with Richard and Francisco Molina! So we headed back to the apartment for some dinner and then quickly hurried over to Richards apartment for our lesson. We headed up to the 32nd floor of a Co-op apartment and knocked on his door. A really nice guy answered the door and we asked if Richard was there and he said that Richard got called into work unexpected and was really sorry that we couldn't meet. We were bummed about Richard but we were really excited to go visit Francisco! We had never been to this specific part of the Bronx where he lived. We walked into a really rough neighborhood but then tucked away down the street a little ways, we saw a really nice apartment complex with green grass and really nice landscaping that I'm sure you would all appreciate! It made me think of you to see such a nice yard! I can't believe what we saw when we were walking to his apartment! A beaver! I took a picture of it but it's hard to tell what it is! Really cool though to see a beaver in the Bronx! So we headed inside a really nice apartment complex and found his room number. He was waiting for us in the hallway! What a nice guy! He is in his mid 60s and is from Puerto Rico. His girlfriend who is actually a member of the Church referred him to missionaries which we thought was really cool! So we went inside his apartment and he had a ton of cool stuff in there! He had tons of old radios and clocks from the 20s 30s and 40s which I thought was the coolest! We got to know him a little better and he is such a great guy! We taught him the Restoration and I had the opportunity to give the account of the first vision. There is so much power in the first vision. After I said: "This is my beloved son, hear him." tears started to form. He really felt the spirit as did Elder Kirkham and I! We definitely felt the spirit as you could tell Francisco did too. It was an amazing experience! It reminded me of The Best Two Years! We then asked if he would be baptized and he said yes!! We didn't set a date with him yet but we did invite him to Church and read the Book of Mormon and he said he would be glad to! Then by that time it was time to head back to the apartment for the night. I always think about you all going to church! It's fun think about what you are all doing! It was such a great day! This next week will be awesome! I can't wait to tell you everything! We have interviews with President Smith this week and the Easter Egg Hunt and dinner that we are putting together is this Saturday so we are really excited for that!
Well everyone! I have loved being able to email you all today! I hope I remembered everything that I wanted to tell you! If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them! It was a blast to email you all today! I just want you all to know how much I love and appreciate you all! I think about you all each and every day and pray for you! I hope you are blessed for everything that you do! Thank you again so much for the wonderful package, email, and pictures! It was so fun to get your package and read your email! I hope you all have an amazing week at work and school! I hope Abby has an amazing first day at Arby's today! I will be thinking about her all evening! So cool to think that she will be working there! I loved and enjoyed my time there so much! I hope you all have an amazing Easter! I will be thinking about you all week! I love you all so much and miss you all each and every day! Thank you again for the amazing email you sent! I always look forward to Sunday when I get to read your email about the week! They are always so great! You are always in my prayers! I appreciate you all so much and everything that you do! You are a incredible! I hope you have such a great birthday Puck! I will be thinking about you a day! Have so much fun celebrating Parker's birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday Puck and Happy Easter Everyone! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Well everyone! I have loved being able to email you all today! I hope I remembered everything that I wanted to tell you! If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them! It was a blast to email you all today! I just want you all to know how much I love and appreciate you all! I think about you all each and every day and pray for you! I hope you are blessed for everything that you do! Thank you again so much for the wonderful package, email, and pictures! It was so fun to get your package and read your email! I hope you all have an amazing week at work and school! I hope Abby has an amazing first day at Arby's today! I will be thinking about her all evening! So cool to think that she will be working there! I loved and enjoyed my time there so much! I hope you all have an amazing Easter! I will be thinking about you all week! I love you all so much and miss you all each and every day! Thank you again for the amazing email you sent! I always look forward to Sunday when I get to read your email about the week! They are always so great! You are always in my prayers! I appreciate you all so much and everything that you do! You are a incredible! I hope you have such a great birthday Puck! I will be thinking about you a day! Have so much fun celebrating Parker's birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday Puck and Happy Easter Everyone! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Congrats to Matt and his mission call! He will do amazing in the Dominican Republic! I was so excited to hear that he got his call! Thanks for sharing the news!
Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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