It always amazes me that Tanner has such a good attitude! I love to hear how excited he gets about the work he is doing. It has been hard having him gone for all of our birthdays and now Easter but I know he will be a better person because of the awesome missionary he has turned out to be. I love him so much and am so proud he is my son!
April 17th 2017~Happy Birthday Dad!! Love you!
Hello once again my dear family! I'm so excited that it is P-Day again! Thank you SO much for your amazing email and pictures! I always love all of the details you include and everything you say! It was amazing as usual! I was so glad to hear that you all had a great week and Easter! I have missed you all so much each and every day! It is always so hard to miss events but I know you are all having a great and fun time together! So thank you so much for all of your amazing detailed emails and pictures! I loved all of the pictures that you sent as well! It was so much fun to see everyone! I especially loved the "Love you sign" picture! It meant so much! I love how motivating and uplifting your email are! I absolutely love to sit quietly and read your email after a nice Sunday evening! I look forward to Sunday nights more than anything! Your emails are incredible! Thank you so much for everything that you wrote! I'm so glad that everyone had a fun Easter and Puck had a great Birthday!! Thank you so much for sending the quote about courage on Friday! It was so fun to wake up and see that I had a message from you! Then on Easter I was so excited to get your email with the really cool quote! I loved it! Then when we got to Church on Sunday, guess what was on the front of the program? The exact same picture! I have had such a great week this week! Lots of amazing and fun things have happened this week! We had something really funny and unbelievable happen on Saturday! I have been doing great this last week! We have been really busy which is great! I have been loving the Bronx and all of the people that I have been meeting. I can't say that I am a "City boy" just yet! I have been working on my Bronx accent and I can't wait for you to hear it in less than a month when we get to Skype!! I'm so excited for that! I am counting down the days!
I was so happy to see pictures from Puck's birthday! It was so much fun to see everything that he got! He got spoiled! It made me feel so close to home! I'm so glad you had a great day Puck and that you got so many cool and fun presents! Your cake looked AMAZING! I wanted a piece so bad after seeing it! I bet it was so tasty! I loved every single picture that you took!
First of all, I have some REALLY exciting news! We were talking on Thursday about what to do today for P-Day and we decided to do something really fun! We aren't going to Manhattan today because of all the crowds and tourists for Spring Break. We weren't sure exactly which week their Spring Break would be so we just decided to go to Manhattan next week! So, this week for P-Day we decided to go to.........wait for it......Yankee Stadium!!!! I'm so excited! Elder Kirkham has already taken a tour that costs $25.00 with his last companion so he didn't want to pay that much again but he said that if I wanted to take the tour with my next companion then I of course could! But today, we are going to go to Yankee Stadium and walk around it and take some pictures by the really cool Yankee logos that they have! It is going to be a blast! Last week when we were getting our hair cut, the Elders that work in the Kingsbridge area had just gotten back from playing football in the park right next to the stadium and they said that it was opening day for major league baseball and there was actually a game going on while they were there! How cool is that!?!? So he recorded the stadium and you could hear the National Anthem playing in the background! It was so very cool! So we decided to just walk around the Stadium and then I will actually get to take a tour with my next companion if he wants! I am so excited! It is so cool to think that our apartment is just a few miles away from the stadium! The stadium is out of our area and zone so we can only go to it on P-Day!
Last P-Day was another amazing day! I loved being able to relax and get lots of stuff done! It was great to email you all! I enjoyed every minute of it! We woke up at 6:00 and got ready for the day and then studied for a half an hour and then headed off to do our grocery shopping! I love how close the grocery store is! The grocery store: "Green Apple" that is just right around the corner from our apartment actually went out of business and got bought by a really awesome grocery store called "C-Town". We compared the 2 stores and Aldi's prices are still way better so it is worth the trip to go to Aldi's! Then after we got back from our grocery shopping we headed downstairs to do our laundry. Then we typed up the rest of our emails and then switched our laundry to the dryers. I love emailing you all so much! Then after we got our laundry all folded and put away we decided to go to Subway for some lunch! It was so good! We got the $6.00 footlong of the day! Then after we ate our lunch we got an email from Jay, who is the really nice barber who loves cutting all of the missionary's hair, and he said he just made it to the Kingsbridge Church! So we hurried over to the church to get our hair cut. It was a really cool trip just down the street because the Kingsbridge Elders work over there on we don't get to go over there very often. We passed Fordham University and it was so cool! There was a lot going on in the city! Lots of cool street vendors and people out and about. It was a really cool sight to see and have the weather so beautiful and a nice cool breeze! When we got there, there was only 4 other missionaries there to get their haircut! We met Jay and he is such a good guy! He told us that he found the Chinese missionaries in China Town and got talking with them and he was so surprised that missionaries pay to be out here! He said: "Well do missionaries pay for there own haircuts??" and the missionaries said: "Yes" He owned a barber shops and said: "Well I can help you all with that!" So for 3 years now he has been cutting missionaries hair and is REALLY good friends with President and Sister Smith! After we got our haircuts we were lookin' pretty snazzy! We thanked him for serving the missionaries and we told him how cool it was that he was cutting all of the missionaries hair for free! He said that every single missionary he has met, has been the nicest person he has ever met! We really enjoyed talking with him and getting our hair cut at the same time! After our haircuts it was about 4:30 so we had just enough time to hurry home and grab some dinner and send off one more quick email before we headed to our evening appointments which we have almost every P-Day. So after we headed back out we went to go see Dalton but unfortunately he wasn't home but we still had a great night! It was perfect weather! There were tons of cool cars out driving around and everyone was out and about! It was so cool to have such a cool night! It was such a nice time to be outside talking with people!
Wednesday was such a great day as well! We woke up, and got ready for the day, did our companionship study and headed out the door by 11:00! We had another full day of missionary work! We had a really awesome activity planned with the Zone Leaders, and Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen! We were really excited for it! We planned and activity last week were we set up a table right by the entrance of a big train station down the street from the Church! So we went to the Church and borrowed a table and brought TONS OF Books of Mormon, card with our phone number, and pamphlets! So we grabbed all of our materials and by this time it was about 1:30 so we hurried over to the train station and set up shop. This particular area of the Bronx is so cool! It just has that classic Bronx feel to it. Trains roaring down the tracks, cars honking, and street performers playing guitar and singing! I have absolutely loved the Bronx! It is such a cool and amazing place to be serving a mission! Just like you said Mom and Dad, the New York, New York North mission is the PERFECT place for me to serve! I am so blessed to be able to serve here just like you said! I have loved this cool area! It had been raining off and on the whole morning so we were hoping it would stop before we set up our activity. So after we set up shop one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Castro, had a great idea! He brought some chalk and said that we could write "Prince of Peace" and "Mormon.org" on the sidewalk! It was so cool! I took a few pictures of our setup. So we started talking with everyone that walked by! I love having other companionships with us because I learn so many teaching styles and I learn lots of different techniques! People were flooding in and out of the train station because this is one of the more popular and busy train stops in the Bronx so there is always something going on. It is great! We talked to a ton of people and passed out a ton of cards! We would ask people if they wanted to watch the Easter video and most people agreed to because they said: "Why not, everyone needs more peace in their lives!" So we had a lot of people stop and watch the video and everyone that watches it loves it! These videos really help us out a lot! So after we talked with people and showed them the video for a few hours we decided to head home for some dinner because it was 4:30. But Elder Kirkham had a great idea! None of us had ever tried Checker-Rallys before so we all decided that we really wanted to go try it out! We pass a really cool Checkers on our way to Co-op right off of the highway and have always wanted to try out their 4 for $4.00 deal that they have going on right now! We were all really excited to go! So we picked up all of our stuff from the activity and we headed back to the Church to drop everything off and then head to Checkers! We got to Checkers and the weather was beautiful! The sky was so blue and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky! It turned out to be such a nice day! So when we got to Checkers we all new exactly what we wanted. We all wanted the 4 for $4.00 which came with a drink, fries, an apple pie, and a bacon cheddar burger. It was so good! We all had a great time eating together outside in the beautiful weather! Then after we got done eating dinner, we went back to our apartment to do 12 Week. I have really enjoyed the 12 Week program because it really helps me be able to teach a lot better. I can't believe I am starting week 11 this week! Time is flying by! So after we did our 12 Week, it was 9:00 so we got ready for bed after a long but fun days work! We had a great day! I loved spending so much time out in the nice weather just talking with people and inviting them to the Easter Egg Hunt and Dinner that was on Saturday!
Thursday was another incredible day! We had our weekly planning session and it was great! We planned out a ton of great lessons, finding, and looking people up! So we did our weekly planning from 10:00-1:00 and called all of our investigators to set up an appointment! Then after our weekly planning, we had a really awesome activity planned! We planned to do another activity where we set up a table at the train station that we were at on Wednesday. This time, the traveling Sister Training Leaders wanted to join us! So we headed over to the church and grabbed some materials and a table and then hurried over to the Castle Hill train station and set up our activity. We set up a tablet with the Easter video playing with a speaker, lots of Books of Mormon, pamphlets, and lots of cards with our phone number on it! It was really fun and cool to have so many missionaries in one spot talking with people and inviting them to watch the video and attend the Easter Egg Hunt. We had Elder Kirkham and I, Elder Castro, Elder Davis, Elder Smiley, Elder Knudsen, and the 2 Sister Training leaders! It went really well! It was so cool to have that many people we could talk to and share a message about the Gospel! We knew a flood of people would be coming out the doors when we heard a train pulling into the station right above us! We talked with a TON of people with many different backgrounds! We met a ton of cool people and invited large families to the Easter Egg Hunt and dinner! We did this activity for a few hours and by that time we were really hungry so we decided to head back to the apartment for some dinner! We really enjoyed meeting a ton of people! Most of the people we met were busy and in a hurry to get to work or other activity but we had lots of people stop just because they wondered what we were doing. We gave a lot of people a Book of Mormon and taught them about our church and then invited them to the Easter Egg Hunt. So after we got back to the apartment we ate dinner and then hurried over to our appointment with the Tsakpoe family! By the time we got to the Tsakpoe's house it was 7:45 and so we only had a little while to talk with them. The Tsakpoe family is awesome and they are fun to talk with. Their daughter, Rachelle, wasn't there for our last lesson so we showed them the Easter video and talked about what brings them peace to their lives. They just lost their Aunt about a month ago and so they shared that they found peace knowing she was having a great reunion up in Heaven with their family. We all got a little teary eyed when she shared their story. I have a strong testimony that we will see our loved ones again. It was a GREAT lesson! I have enjoyed so much the many people that I have come into contact with and all of the cool people I have met! By the time we got to the bus stop we were both sleepy and ready for a long sleep! So we left the Tsakpoe's apartment at 8:45 so we assumed that we would be a little late getting back to our apartment by 9:00 but when we got to the bus stop there was our bus just down the street! We were so lucky that we got there when we did. Then we had to get off that bus at the main bus hub and then we noticed the bus we needed to take to get home was right there! We couldn't believe our luck! A trip that normally would have taken us 30-45 minutes to get home only took us 20 minutes because of the perfect timing! So we walking in the apartment door at 9:05! It was a great day filled with lots of memories and talking with a lot of great people!
Friday was another great day! The weather has been so beautiful the entire week! It has been pretty hot but the humidity hasn't been too bad but I'm sure when we get to June and July it will be VERY humid! We had an awesome day planned and we were excited for the day! We woke up, got ready for the day, and studied and then headed out the door by 11:00. We got a text on Friday morning from President Smith and told us that he really wanted to have a Conference Call with everyone in the mission! So after we studied, we called into the Conference Call and listened to President Smith! It was great! He talked about the many miracles and blessings that have taken place in our mission over the last few weeks! He told us that our families were all wonderful and so supportive and loving! He said that our families were right behind us cheering us on every step of the way! It was great to hear him talk about our families! It went along great with the quote picture that you sent me that same morning! Then after the Conference call, Elder Knudsen and Elder Smiley had a service project at a less active family's home. So we decided to join them! We headed over to their house not knowing exactly what they were going to have us do. So when I get their we went through their apartment and into the backyard and there was a ton of garbage everywhere and lots of leaves. They really wanted us to clean up their yard so that they could have a birthday party for their daughter that just turned 8 so we were glad to help out! So we got busy and started raking leaves and picking up garbage. The work went really fast since there was 4 of their. So after we got garbage and the leaves out into garbage bags, they had some green astro turf that they wanted us to lay down over the nice raked dirt. It looked a ton better than what it was before we got there! We were so happy to help out and left feeling really good about spending a few hours helping the Pena family out! Then after our service project we headed back to the apartment to change back into our white shirts and ties! We had to hurry because we had a dinner with our good friend Matt! We hadn't seen him since the first week of my mission so we were excited to see him again! So we took a bus over to his house and the traffic was completely backed up. There was so much traffic since it was a Friday evening and everyone was headed to City Island for dinner. City Island is really amazing and has tons of cool seafood restraunts! I have only been to City Island once since I have been here because it takes us a while to get there and we don't have any investigators over in that area so we always enjoy going over there! So when we got to Matt's house, it was 6:45 so we had to hurry because of the traffic. Matt and a few other people rent a room in this huge mansion from the lady that owns it. The mansion is amazing and has so many cool antiques in it! Matt told us that it was built in 1850 and has had several movies filmed in it. I can't remember the names of the movies but I do know that Carrie Grant was in one of them. Isn't that cool! The house was actually like a Downton Abbey style house back in the day so I always think of you when we go there! It is such an amazing house! So we talked with Matt while he made us dinner in the huge kitchen! He made us a really good omelet casserole. He mashed some potatoes and then cooked eggs, peppers, onions, and spices and then put them all together. We had and good time but we had to hurry because not very many buses come to City Island that late at night so we said goodbye to Matt and headed back to the apartment for the evening. It was a great day!
We got up on Saturday really excited for the Easter Egg Hunt and dinner that we had planned! We had a crazy but great day! We had something really funny happen later in the day! We woke up and got ready for the day, planned, and then studied, and headed out the door for some lookups within walking distance of our apartment. So we went over to some houses right next to each other and knocked on some doors but not very many people were home so we assumed it was because everyone was out of town for the holiday but we still had a great time walking around the Bronx! So after we knocked on some doors, we headed back to the apartment for some lunch. Then after we had some lunch, we headed over to the church to start setting up for the Easter Egg Hunt! We were really excited for the Easter dinner and the Easter Egg Hunt! We got over to the church and the 4 of us were the first ones there so we started setting up tables and chairs. After we set up the tables and chairs we started filling the eggs with candy that some of the members brought! Then after we filled almost 200 eggs we headed outside across the street to hide them all! I really enjoyed putting together this event with all of the other missionaries! It was fun to coordinate with all of the ward leaders! So we went outside and another family was setting up for a baby shower so we were wondering if we were even going to be able to have the Easter Egg Hunt because there is very limited room in the Bronx. So we went and asked them how much of the little park they were going to be using and they told us that they didn't need very much room so we were glad that we could still do the Easter Egg Hunt! So we started hiding eggs all over the place and since we had so many eggs in such a small space, they were everywhere! It was fun to scatter them everywhere! Then after we hid and placed most of the eggs......................people started taking the eggs. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen! We couldn't believe our eyes! Random people were literally stopping their cars, getting out, and taking our eggs right in front of our eyes! People walking their dogs were taking tons of eggs as they were walking. We were just looking at them in shock and saying to each other: "Are they really stealing the eggs!?!?" It was sort of like a stampede of people as soon as we s We started walking towards the GROWN MEN to ask what they were doing and they just took off running and drove away in their cars! Then it got crazier! When we turned around there was a homeless lady stuffing the eggs into her bag and then the people that were setting up for the baby shower, their kids were grabbing eggs and handing them to their parents! Then their parents told them to run and get more. Their daughter was stuffing eggs and candy into her coat like crazy. It was quite the sight to see. Can you believe that??? It was really crazy! Then we quickly picked all of the eggs because we decided to have a mini Easter Egg Hunt in the upstairs of the church because they were getting stolen. We couldn't believe what we were seeing! So after we gathered up the eggs as quickly as we could we noticed that we didn't have as many as we started with. The other missionaries and I couldn't believe what just happened! It's not like they were little kids stealing the eggs, it was older people stopping their cars, getting out, and taking them! It was crazy! So we hurried into the Church, and hid the eggs in the upstairs of the church. Then after we did that LOTS of people started to show up! We were really hoping that the event would be well attended! Right at 4:00 there were lots of members there and tons of kids! So we got started and all of the kids started finding eggs. The kids got a ton of candy and had a great time! Then after the Easter Egg Hunt, we started the dinner! Since it was combined with the Spanish ward, there was a ton of food! So we started the dinner and everyone had a great time! We had lots of chicken, rice with beans, and tons of deserts! Then after we ate dinner, we showed the Easter video and they all loved it! It was a great time! After the video, everyone started trickle out and head home for the night. We cleaned up and vacuumed and made the gym look really nice! We all had a great time but after we were all tired after a busy day! So we headed back to the apartment for the night and we were excited for Easter!
I am so excited for P-Day! I can't wait to go to Yankee Stadium!!! It is so famous! The New Era Pinstripe Bowl is played in Yankee Stadium so I can't wait to see it! We woke up and got ready for the day and now we are just about to go shopping! It is going to be such a fun day! I will definitely let know how Yankee Stadium went and I will be sure to take lots of pictures! Then, next week we are going to go to Manhattan and go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art that is actually partially in Central Park! I'm so excited for today and next P-Day! I'm so excited to say that Elder Kirkham and Elder Smiley got talking where we should eat next P-Day and they chose........ARBY'S!!! They looked to see if there was an Arby's close by and there is one pretty close!! So next week we will be in Manhattan! I can't wait! The best part about the New York, New York North mission is there is always something amazing to see! Another awesome thing I was going to tell you is that The Met museum is really close by to the fountain where they filmed the opening credits of Friends! It's so amazing to think that we live so close to such amazing and famous landmarks! It's also really crazy to think that our apartment is only 4 miles away from Yankee Stadium! It is going to be a blast!
Well everyone! It was a blast as usual to email you and tell you everything that has been happening this last week! I just want you all to know that I love and miss you all so much. I loved your motivating email and pictures! I feel so much love and support! I have been blessed so much! You are in my prayers day and night. It is hard to wait and tell you everything on only Mondays but it is worth it! I think of you all each and every day! I am so proud to be your son! I hope you all have such a great week and I hope Dad has an amazing Birthday! I will be thinking about you all day! I hope you all have a great week with work, school, and everything else that you have going on! I can't believe that you are almost done with school here in just a few weeks! It will fly by! I hope I remembered everything that happened this week! If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them! I have been doing great but just missing you all a lot but I can feel so many prayers and blessings! Thank you again so much for the amazing package! I have been enjoying so much the treats! The shampoo that you sent smells so good! Thank you again so much for the email and all of the amazing pictures you sent! Have an incredible week and have an amazing Birthday Dad! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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