Summer!

May 31st 2017~Happy Summer Vacation!!! Happy Trip Dad!!! And Happy June!


Hello my dear and amazing family! Thank you SO VERY MUCH for your amazing email and pictures! I loved every single word as always and loved seeing your amazing pictures! You guys sure had an amazing week! I hope I can remember everything that happened and it all makes sense! I really love sharing with you all the details from the week but I don't want to bore you. If there is anything that I didn't talk about that you would like to know, I would be more than happy to answer them! Love you! I wish I had more time to chat back and forth to talk about you email and the great week you had! I have been doing really great! I haven't been as homesick because I knew Dad was flying closer and closer to where I am so that made me feel really good! I miss and love you all so much! Enjoy!


Last P-Day was really great! We had such a great time! It was really fun to see all of the fans decked out in Yankees gear for the game! I loved looking through the Yankee store! It was all so amazing! I couldn't believe how much Elder Dick's tablet cost to fix either! I have no idea why it cost him so much to have them unlock it. He was frustrated that it cost so much. So we had to drop it off and they had to keep it for a few days because the workers that fix tablets are only there in the mornings. So since they had to keep it for a few extra days, it meant that he come get it until next P-Day which is today. So he hasn't even had his tablet at all this whole week. So today after the Temple, we got permission to go to Best Buy and pick up his tablet and then go get it fixed. So we are really hoping that we can get it fixed!! I hope I remembered everything that I was going to tell you about last P-Day but I think I covered everything in the last email I sent last week. Let me know if you want to know anything else and I would be more than happy to tell you all about it! I felt bad that I didn't answer your questions about Elder Dick's tablet last week. We were out and about at a lesson and so I couldn't respond to it. I feel kind of silly! I was looking back in some of my earlier emails last night and I totally forgot to tell you something about P-Day. Our P-Day is from 8:00-6:00. So from 6:00-9:00, we go out and proselyte. It is an interesting rule but they always say that after 6:00 is the best time to catch people at home! I could have sworn that I mentioned it in one of my emails but I totally spaced it. So I can only send emails from 8:00 am-6:00 pm. I'm sure Dad would remember when it was an entire day. That rule came out a few years ago. I just felt bad because I couldn't respond to one of your emails until today. So sorry!


I am so excited for today!! I wish I had more time to chat back and forth but we will be traveling and in the Temple for most of the day! Sorry! I am so excited though to be able to chat back and forth while you are on summer vacation! Which by the way, I got the dates mixed up so I thought that the kid's last day of school was Tuesday! I hope you all have a great last 2 days of school! Then it's on to a fun summer! I'm so excited for you Mom! I was so happy to hear that you were done with school earlier than you thought! So today, we will do our laundry really quick, change into our suits, and then get on a train and head for the Temple! I always love going to the Temple! It is such a cool experience! So we will head down and then on our way, we will pick up Elder Dick's tablet at Best Buy right when they open. Then President Smith asked us during his interview with Elder Dick, if we could do 3 initiatory ordinances. We said sure! So we will be at the Temple by 11:00 and then our session starts at 12:30. Then after the Temple we will go to a Samsung store and try to fix his tablet. I hope we can fix it! Then we will hurry to do our grocery shopping! Hopefully we can fit it all into our schedule!

First of all, I need to thank you for all of your pictures and videos you sent! They were all so great!I loved seeing Parker and his Utah Program! It brought back so many memories and I was seriously singing then "Utah, is the greatest state ever!" song all day! It was a ton of fun to watch him give his part and sing! Also, thank you so much for your emails throughout the week! I think I have told you this before but they give me such a boost! I was so happy to hear Mom that you got to start summer vacation earlier than you expected! It was a really fun email to get! Also, thank you so much for the Nephi picture quote! It is always fun to get those! I also really loved the Memorial Day picture quote! I set it as my tablet background! Also, it has been so cool because I have been chatting back and forth with Elder Houser and Elder Gillingham! I got an email from them both a few weeks ago and so I have stayed in touch with them! It has been really neat to hear how they are doing! I thought to myself how cool it was that the 3 Bishopric's sons were all emailing back and forth!

I can't believe that I am saying this but I am less than 2 weeks away from finishing my 3rd cycle! I can't remember if I've told you how cycles work. Each transfer cycle lasts 6 weeks. Our next transfers are June 13th. A day before your Anniversary and my Birthday! Isn't that crazy! So, I may or may not be getting transfered this cycle! It is pretty nerve racking! So a week from this Saturday, we will get our transfer calls. I can't tell if I'm going to stay or get transfered but I still can't believe that I have been here for 3 cycles already! So Tuesday, June 13th will be a cycle and then every 6 weeks after that will be our cycles. They always land on a Tuesday. I hope all of this makes sense! So I looked ahead and figured out that because there are 17 transfers for each missionary. That puts my 17th transfer end date on January 22nd 2019. It's so crazy because transfers go by so quick and we only have a total of 17 of them. So I am on the edge of my seat because I may be getting transfered a day before my Birthday! Then that got me thinking, if we transfer on Tuesday, then that means my birthday may or may not be on a P-Day. I'm not sure but it will be interesting to see how it all works out! Pretty excited thought to think that I could be in Manhattan, Poughkeepsie, Darien Connecticut, Harlem......or anywhere else! It will be very exciting! I do have a feeling though that I will stay here for 1 more. Dad, how you your transfers like?

Thursday was another great day! The time keeps going by faster and faster. So we woke up and did our studies and then started planning for the next week. We are getting pretty quick at planning everything out and we are working together really well! So we started weekly planning and it went great! We planned a few lessons and scheduled another appointment with the Ampah family. Then we decided we would do something fun and something that we normally wouldn't do. So we scheduled in basketball with the young men. They play basketball every Friday night at 7:00 and so we thought it would be a great idea to go get to know them better and see if there is anything that we can do to help them. So we got about halfway done with planning and then we had some lunch. We have gotten really efficient with weekly planning and have really clicked! It is always nice to have the time set aside each week to take a step back and focus on all of our promising investigators! So after lunch we finished up all of our planning and then we did language and companionship study! Then we headed out for some more missionary work! It had been raining off and on throughout the day and when we went outside it was just sprinkling so we stayed nice and dry under our umbrellas! It was such a dark day. It almost looked like everything was black and white and we were in an old time movie. It was pretty cool! So we headed out and went to a lesson with a really nice member named Alvin Linton! He is from Jamaica and has lived her in the Bronx for about 30 years now. We had a great lesson with him! We taught him about the Priesthood, the sacrament, and how coming to church will bless his life! He has been less active for a few years now and so missionaries are trying to get him back to church. So after Alvin, we headed to an apartment complex right next to his house and we knocked on some doors of investigators that are in our area book. Then after that we went to a lady's house who ordered a Bible online and so we went to go deliver it. Her name is Kavian Dobson and she ordered a Bible through LDS.org. We really like these referrals because we can drop off their Bible and then try to give them a Book of Mormon and set up another appointment in they another reason interested. The majority of people just want their Bible, but some tell us that they would like to know more! So we gave her the Bible that she ordered and then she told us that she was looking for a church to join. We were so excited to hear that because most people tell us that they already have a religion and so when somebody tell us that they are looking for are church, we get really excited! So we got to know her a little better and we found out that she is from Jamaica. She was very young, maybe mid 20s. It was really nice to get to know her and find out that she was looking for a church! Unfortunately, we had to send her records over to the Sister missionaries in our district because there isn't a male that lives in the house. Mission rules say that there has to be a 3rd male whenever a female is present and so we wouldn't have been able to teach her. So we sent her off to the Sisters and then headed over to another apartment complex and did knocked on Yenice's door to see how she was doing. I can't remember if I have told you about Yenice. She is a very nice lady and has 4 kids. Elder Kirkham and I found her while we were knocking on doors. So we knocked on her door and her son answered and said that they were dealing with a family emergency and weren't available to meet at the moment. So we gave him a card to give to his mom and we said that we would come back another day. So we headed back outside and it wasn't raining anymore! The weather was nice and cool! Then after we knocked on some more doors of investigators in our area book, we decided to go to the church and pick up mail! So we picked up our mail and Elder Dick got an English name tag that he ordered and then we got a ton of cleaning supplies that we ordered. Whoever the office Elders are right now.....wink......wink....are doing a great job!! Every week at district meeting we send in our ordered for anything that we need for our apartment. We can order a lot of stuff that our apartment needs. My MSF funds has been holding out really well! I haven't ever felt like I needed more money. Thanks to you all, I haven't even needed to buy toothpaste, deodorant, shaving cream, or razors. Thank you so much for always looking out for me! So after we picked up mail we headed back to the apartment for the night after a great day of missionary work! Then after we got back to the apartment for the night and then Elder Smiley planned a split! So Elder Dick went with Elder Smiley to his area and Elder Knudsen came to my area! We always enjoy splits and learning from each other!

Friday was such a great and successful day!! We woke up and had a great start to our day! We had a Conference call from President Smith and it was so great! He talked about effective studies and how we can get more out of our studies. It was a great conference call and we learned a lot! It is always so nice to hear from him and his guidance! Then after the Conference call we did our companionship study and then headed out to do lots of lookups! It was such a beautiful day! It was really warm and nice fluffy white clouds in the sky! It was a nice day to be outside! So Elder Knudsen and I went to East Gun Hill Road to look up a recent convert, Yolanda, and a few other investigators that hadn't been contacted by missionaries in a while. We had a great time outside and knocking on doors! As we were knocking on doors, we had the feeling that we should go down the street a ways to see if a Bible referral, named Ikeddeh Ikeddeh, happened to be home. We didn't know which floor she lived on so we rang all 3 bells and a man opened the door. He was so nice! We asked him if he knew Ikeddeh Ikeddeh and he said that she doesn't get home until 6:00 most days. We got talking with him and we found out that he has a daughter. He and his wife moved from Jamaica a few years ago. He said that he was Christian and loved going to church. We quickly reached into our bags and pulled out a Restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon! He accepted them and said that he wanted to learn more sometime but he did say that he was very busy with work. We were so excited to have found a new investigator!! So after we found him we were so excited to have found him and then we headed back to the apartment and had dinner. We got back to the apartment and Elder Knudsen chugged a ton of water. I brought my awesome water bottle that you gave me for Christmas and used that! It has been so nice to have especially because it keeps water so cold even in 80 degree heat. It has been very nice! So after we had dinner it was 6:00 and we had an appointment with Matt at 7:00 and so we headed over to City Island. We got right on the bus and drove over to Pelham Bay Station and then got on a bus that takes us to City Island! We got there a lot quicker than we thought and so we decided to call Matt to see how close he was to getting home from work. He told us that he was running a little late and the trains were very busy so he said that he would be home at 7:30. We got there at 6:40 and so we decided to go tracting around the Island! We walked down the street a few blocks and then Elder Knudsen felt prompted to knock on a certain door that he had seen but it was tucked away and behind a gate. So we went up to the door and the door was open but there was a screen door. When we knocked on the door, a man that spoke only Spanish came up to the door......along with a ton of dogs! Then his teenage son came to the door and started talking with us. We asked him a little bit about his religious background and he said that him and his family have been Catholic their whole lives. We then gave him a brief rundown of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of our church. You could tell he was pretty interested and liked what we were teaching him. He told us that his name was Caesar and he would be interested in learning more sometime on the weekends! We thanked him for taking the time to talk with us! We were so happy that we found him! So after I got done talking with him, we headed back to Matt's house and had an awesome lesson with him! We really want him to get baptized since he has had so much contact with missionaries. He said that he just doesn't have time for religion at this time in his life. He has had a long history with missionaries and has been in contact with us for many years. But he says that he will be ready sometime but not at this time in his life. We had a great lesson with Matt! We talked about the Book of Mormon and showed him a video about the Book of Mormon. Then we talked about church and how important it is. He was very grateful for us coming over to see him! We felt the spirit so strong and we could tell that he did too! Then after our lesson, it was time to catch a bus and head back to the apartment for the night. It was a great day!


Saturday was a great and interesting day! A few days ago, Elder Dick told me that he had some really bad pain. He knew exactly what it was. It was an ingrown toenail. He had been in pain for a while but he thought it would go away on its own. Well, It never did so on Thursday, he scheduled an appointment with a podiatrist for Saturday. We had planned a few weeks ago to do a service project at a soup kitchen and so we signed up! He thought he would be OK to walk around and do missionary work after he got it fixed. So we woke up and got ready for the day and then headed out the door to go to his appointment at 8:00. We got permission from the Zone Leaders to go to a podiatrist just outside of our zone. So we headed over to the appointment and he had the procedure done. It only took 15 minutes and was really quick! Elder Dick said that the doctor did a local anesthesia and numbed him. So he felt fine and was able to walk around just fine! He walked out and said: "Well that went well!" So we got home to plan and do our studies and just before we started, he started to have excruciating pain. The doctor told him that he would be fine and shouldn't feel too much pain. He said it was some of the worst pain he has ever felt. Poor guy! I wish I could have done something for him but there really wasn't much I could do. I didn't know it had been bothering him so much since he hadn't told me until he said that he needed to get an appointment on Thursday. So I asked him if he was able to walk around at all and he thought it would be best for him to not walk around for the day. We read in the medical missionary health guide that every apartment has and it said to stay off of it for a day. We had no idea that he would be out of commission the whole day. So, while he recovered, I cleaned the entire apartment from top to bottom! It was so nice to have some time to study, clean, and talk with Elder Dick. He was in a ton of pain the whole day so there is no way he could have been out and about. The problem just kind of came up and luckily we were able to get an appointment so quickly! I remember vaguely Dad getting an ingrown toenail removed and how painful it was for him. Elder Smiley thought that Elder Dick should rest as well. So while they went out, we stayed at the apartment and I cleaned like the wind! I got the whole apartment nice and clean! Then after a few hours, Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen came home for lunch. Then Elder Smiley had a great idea! He asked me if we had any appointments that we would be missing. We had some service planned for a member named Sister Sangster and then Elder Smiley said that we could go on a split so we could make it to the service. So after they went out and came back and had some dinner, Elder Smiley and I went on a split and headed over to Sister Sangster's house. We went over and had dinner with her about a week ago, and she said that her house had some water coming in from all the rain we got a few weeks ago. So we offered to come help her reorganize and move furniture. As we were heading over to her house, we got a call from her saying that her co-worker's wife just passed away. So she was on her way to be with the husband so she couldn't have us help her. We wished we could have helped her out but we did schedule another appointment for next Saturday. So instead, we walked down her street and we knocked on a ton of doors and talked with everyone that we saw. We were at a crosswalk waiting to cross and a car pulls up beside us and yells: "Hey! Are you Mormon?" We told him yes and he said that he wanted to know more so he pulled over and got out and we started talking with him. It's experiences like these that are really cool! Because even though our service cancelled, we knew that we were supposed to meet somebody that needs and wants the Gospel in their life. We knew that we were supposed to be there! So we gave him a rundown of the Book of Mormon and then have him a copy and a Restoration pamphlet! He was very appreciative! He thanked us for talking with him. His name was Brunden......made me laugh in my mind because of Night at the Museum! So after we talked with him and knocked on a ton of doors, not very many people wanted to chat or they said that they were not interested, we headed back to the apartment for the night. It was a great and crazy day!

Wow, Sunday was such a great day! We had a really fun day! We woke up, got ready for the day, did our studies, and were out the door by 10:20 to go to Church! We were so excited for our combined ward activity that we had right after church! I can't remember if told you about the ward activity in last week's email. The 1st ward, which is the Spanish ward, set up an activity to have a pot luck lunch/dinner and then watch 17 Miracles! So we headed to church and it was so great! We got to the church and there was hardly anybody there. So we went into our Gospel Principles class and there were only 6 members and 2 investigators that came. Then Brother Danquah realized that the teacher that was supposed to teach didn't show up and so he asked us if we could teach on the fly. We were so glad to help out and teach! So he told us the lesson and then we had a song and prayer and then we were up to teach. We taught on chapter 18, Faith in Jesus Christ out of the Gospel Principles book. We taught about planting our seeds of faith and watching them grow. It was a fun lesson to teach and we had a ton of participation! Then we had a great sacrament meeting! Elder Davis and Elder Castro spoke and did a really good job! They talked about the atonement and the Plan of Salvation! Then after church we helped set up tables and chairs for the activity! Then the activity started at 3:00 and there was a ton of good food! We had salad, chicken, lemonade, bread and butter, and cupcakes. It was all so good! Then after our luncheon, they started the movie! I kept thinking about the time that we all watched this movie together! So we watched 17 Miracles and it was so good! It was a great and well attended activity! So after we put away tables and chairs and help get the church nice and clean again, we headed back to the apartment really quick to change out of our suits and head over to see Sister Johnson! We took her some oatmeal raisin cookies on Mother's Day and so we wanted to see how she liked them! So we went over to the care center where she is and talked with her for a little while. She was so appreciative of the cookies and said that they were delicious! They were Pillsbury pre-made cookies so it was really easy! It was fun to bring her a treat and she said that they were so good that she wants some next week! So we took her the sacrament and and then left her with a prayer. She is always so nice and friendly! I will have to get a picture with her one of these times so you can see her. Then after a 45 minutes visit with her, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night. It was such a great and fun day!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I was thinking about you all day! I couldn't believe when we woke up on Monday that it was already district meeting again! We woke up, got ready for the day, studied, and then headed out the door to the church for district meeting! We had such a great and fun day of working with members and some non members! In district meeting, we talked about how all of our investigators were doing and we even did some role plays! It was a great district meeting! After district meeting, we had a quick lunch and then President Smith wondered if we were available to meet! He said that he was going to meet us at the church at 1:30. We weren't sure exactly what he was going to tell us. So Elder Dick went in with President Smith and I got to stay and talk with Sister Smith! It was so awesome to talk with her and get to know her better! We talked about how our area was going, then we talked about you all and how you were doing back at home! She asked me what admired most about my family and what they mean to me! I told her that my family means everything to me and that you are always so loving and cheerful! She thought it was so cool that I have such a close relationship with my family! So after our interview, we headed back to the apartment to do our companionship study! As we were walking to the bus stop, we talked about what we talked about in our interviews. We just had our regular interviews just last Tuesday and so these were just extra interviews to get to know us better and talk with us one on one. It was a great time to talk with the leaders of the mission! So then right after our interviews, we headed back to the apartment and I saw that I had an email from you! I was SO excited to see it! It was such good timing since I had just gotten done talking with Sister Smith about you all! It was so fun to get! I loved the picture quote that you sent me! I wished I could have been there to celebrate with you! So we got back to the apartment and we did our companionship study and then we called a few of our investigators and sent out some texts to say hi to Osagie and Matt! Then we got a text from Elder and Sister Coleman saying that they were having a Memorial Day Barbecue for Family Home Evening! We were so excited to go and spend some time with all of the members! So after we did our studies and knocked on some doors to try to find some investigators and people that would be interested in hearing more of our message, we headed over to the church and went to the barbecue! It was such a fun time! There weren't a ton of people that showed up but it was still such a great time! The Colemans really put on a good barbecue! They had a ton of good food like hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, fruit salad, cupcakes, lemonade, and chips! They spent a lot of time putting it together and it sure paid off because we all had a great time! They are such good people! The party went from 6:30-7:45 and so by the time we got everything out away, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night. It was a really fun evening talking with the members and we even had some investigators come which was great! We played a little volleyball and spent lots of time getting to know investigators! It was a great and fun Memorial Day! I was really hoping we would get to do something like this like Dad said! I took you up on your offer! It was a really great and fun day!

Tuesday was a great day as well! I was so excited to get your email later that night! It makes my whole day so much better because I know that there is an amazing email coming! So we woke up, got ready for the day, and then did our studies and then headed out to do some lookups! The weather was pretty cloudy but luckily it never rained! Then after we knocked on many doors we came home for lunch! Then we found out that we got paid for the month of June and I said to myself....IT CAN'T BE JUNE, CAN IT?? Time really has been flying by! I feel like I have really gotten into the swing of things and so now time is just going by so fast! So we headed over to the bank to pull out some cash for laundry, we walked in and a homeless lady was standing in the doorway of the bank. We walked in and she said: "My prayers have been answered!" We started talking with her and she just expressed to us how hard it was to be homeless. Then she started asking us questions like, will you let me stay in your house for the night? Can I cook for you? She even asked us if she could use our debit cards for the day so she could go buy herself some new clothes and a laptop! Isn't that crazy!?! She seriously asked us if she could borrow our debit cards. I mean, she was standing inside of a bank and so she knew that everyone that walked in and out would have money. So she knew that we had money but it was just a really crazy experience!!!! So then after that, we headed to Co-op City and then we came back for a quick dinner and then we headed over to Matt's house! We got there and we taught him an amazing lesson! It went so well! Elder Dick and I are really getting along well and teaching by the Spirit! It has been so amazing! We asked him to read 1 Nephi 2,3, and 4 before our next lesson which is Saturday! It was a great lesson! Then it was time to head back to the apartment for the night! It was such a great day!

Well everyone! It has been a blast to email you today and hear how your week went! I just want you to know that I am always thinking about you all and what you are doing. I love and miss you all tons but your emails always make me feel like I am right with you! Dad, I hope you have an amazing and safe trip! I can't believe how close you are right now as I am typing up this email! 115 miles is a lot closer that you would think! I will yell hello to you! I hope Abby, Brand, and Puck have a great last few days of school! You are so almost there! Mom, I hope you have a wonderful week and are able to get everything done that you want! It will be so nice for you! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe week! You are in my every prayer. I am not sure if I will have time to tell you all about my P-Day trip today but if not then I will tell you all about it next week! I really hope that I can talk with you some more today! I will be thinking about you all day! I am a little nervous because Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen already took their Temple trip and so it's up to me to navigate through Manhattan! That seems so crazy to me that I am in the thick of New York! It will be an amazing time and I can't wait to tell you all about it! I hope I got to reply and say everything that I wanted to! I am typing pretty fast because we are going to leave as soon as our laundry is done. It will be such a great day! Have a great week everyone! And HAPPY SUMMER! Have a safe and fun trip Dad! It really is amazing to think how close you are! Happy Summer Vacation! LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!


Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg

Awesome Week!

May 24th 2017~Almost Summer! Almost Summer! Almost SUMMER!

Hello my dear family! Wow, I miss you all so much! Thank you very much for your amazing email! I loved hearing about your great week that you had! This week, I have been thinking a lot about you all and the amazing Skype call we had! I still am so glad that everything worked so well and we were able to talk about so much! Can you believe that it was a week and a half ago that we Skyped??? Because I can't! It was the best time ever Skyping and seeing you all! Thank you so much for the "4 months" picture! It is so crazy to think that I have already been out for 4 months! It was really fun to get!

I have some really exciting news! Next week we get to go to the Temple! We scheduled a temple day for next P-Day and I'm so excited to get to go back! Every time I go to the Temple I think of you because I always remember how special it was to go through with you for the first time. It is such a great memory! So we will get to go to Manhattan and do a session! It will be great!

I'm so excited for you to be done with school! It will be so fun for you to have a break! I am way excited to hear all of the fun things you get to do!

We have something really fun coming up! The Spanish ward put together a pot luck and a movie night and then invited our ward! Brother Danquah invited all of the missionaries! It is a really smart idea because we can invite our investigators! It will be a really fun time! Right after church we will have a pot luck with lots of food from both wards. Then after we eat we will watch 17 Miracles! So we are all getting really excited for that!

Last P-Day was so great! We all had a blast at the zoo! So we woke up, got ready for the day, did our laundry, and then went shopping! After we got everything done we were so excited to go to the Bronx Zoo! We were so happy that it was free day! We actually got to walk over there since it is so close to our apartment! So we walked over and got our tickets! The zoo is amazing! They have a ton of animals! We couldn't believe how hot and humid it was! The temperature said it was 94, but it felt so much hotter. Then to think that you were getting snow was crazy! Even though it was very hot, we still had a great time! We saw so many animals like seals, bears, giraffes, monkeys, lions, birds, fish, tigers, and my favorite....the red panda! I remember that they have a red panda at the Boise zoo when we went! So we looked all around the zoo for about 4 hours then as we were walking a really nice lady with her son and Grandson , stopped us and said: "Hello Elders!" She asked us where we were from and told us that she was from the New Canaan stake. We talked with them for a few minutes and then said goodbye. We went in the opposite direction as them and went to go look at a few more exhibits. Then as we were walking we saw them again. They approached us and said: "You need something to eat and drink!" She handed us $40.00 and said that she really wanted us to treat ourselves. We told her that it was very nice of her but we couldn't accept her money. She said that she really wanted us to go eat somewhere. So we accepted! She was so nice and thoughtful to do that! We originally thought that we would go find a food stand somewhere in the zoo but everything was so expensive. For us all to eat at the park it would have been very expensive. So we decided to go to Outback Steakhouse in Co-op City! So we looked around for a bit longer and then headed back to the apartment to cool off then we headed to Co-op City! We were really excited! We were so hot and hungry after a fun day! So we got to our table and ordered. I ordered the house salad, potato soup, steak, and cheesecake for desert! They had a really good $14.99 deal that we all got. We each had to pay a few dollars but it was such a good dinner! After dinner we had an appointment with Matt! So we headed over to City Island. We wanted to have a quick lesson with him and see how interested he was in progressing in the Gospel. He is just really nice and loves having missionaries over! So we asked him a little more about his religious background and he said that he likes church but he has a hard time understanding some of the people in the ward when they teach. He has been to Church a few times but not since I have been here. We really want him to progress toward baptism since he has had so much interaction with missionaries. So we had a really nice lesson with him and then it was time to catch a bus and headed back to the apartment for the night. It was an amazing day!

Thursday was another great day! Having P-Day on Wednesday makes time seem even faster. We had a great weekly planning session! So we woke up, got ready for the day, and then did weekly planning. We planned for all of our investigators and scheduled in service, and APF activities. We always love spending time planning everything out! While we were weekly planning, Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen went over to the Church and split with the Zone Leaders! So Elder Smiley went over to their area with Elder Davis and Elder Castro came over here! Then after we got everything squared away with our week, we had an appointment with a really nice member! We scheduled this lesson with her a while ago and she even had her nephew come over so we could go into her house. So we headed over to Sister Sangster's house and she made us dinner! We were so grateful for her hospitality! So we talked with her and her nephew, Kenny, while we ate. She made us Jamaican cabbage, rice and beans, and Jamaican pork chops. It was very tasty! We taught her about family history and Temple work! It was a great lesson and we enjoyed getting to know her more! We had a goal for this cycle to visit all of the active members and so far we are doing great and we are going to hit that goal! After our lesson with Sister Sangster, I couldn't believe my eyes what I saw as we were walking to the bus stop! We were walking and I got looking at all the different license plates. It has been so cool to see license plates from all over the place. I've seen so many from Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, and Pennsylvania. It has been really cool! But as I was looking at all of the cool license plates, guess what I saw!?!? A Utah licence plate! Then, we walked a few more blocks, and what do I see?? Another Utah license plate! How cool is that!? I completely forgot to take pictures of them but I thought it was so cool! It was a great day and we were beat and ready for a nice long sleep!

Friday was a great day! We woke up and did our studies and then we had a conference call from President Smith! It is always so great to hear from him! He talked about the many miracles that are going on in the mission! It was so great to hear from him! So after the Conference call, we did an APF activity! So we gathered some Books of Mormon, and headed over to Pelham Bay Park train and bus station. We set up shop and started talking with everyone to try and set a return appointment with them! I always love talking to so many people! We talked to a lot of cool people from Jamaica, Dominican Republic of Congo, and Puerto Rico! We got a few phone numbers and so hopefully we can set some return appointments! So after our APF activity we headed back home for some lunch and then we did our companionship study, and language study. After that we headed over to the church and we had a split! I got to go over to Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen's area and Elder Smiley went to our area with Elder Dick! I was really excited to go to their area! While we were splitting to go to our areas for the night, we had something so cool happen! We heard piano music coming from the relief society room and we went in and they were getting ready for Francisco Molina's baptism!!! How cool is that!?!? Francisco was the investigator who was in our area book and had just been sitting there and I felt like we should call him and so I called him and he was so on board to have lessons! But since he didn't understand English very well, we sent him to the Spanish Elders and Friday was his baptism! It was such a miracle that we called him because now he is baptized! It was so cool to see! So after we split, I went with Elder Knudsen and we had a lesson with their investigators named Freddy and Carla! They are so cool! I got a picture with Freddy and Carla when we saw them when we were waiting for a bus! They are such cool people! So we headed over to their apartment and they had some treats for us! They had oreos, juice, and Pringles! We had a great lesson with them! We taught them about prophets! They have both loved coffee their whole lives and so the last lesson that Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen taught them, they committed them to stop drinking coffee and so we followed up to see if they kept their commitment and they did! We were so happy that they are working toward baptism! It was a great lesson and after the lesson, we walked back to the apartment for the night! It was such a great and productive day!

Saturday was another great day! We woke up, got ready for the day, did our studies and then we headed out for another great day of missionary work! It was really nice to be in someone else's area! I learned so much! Elder Knudsen is a great missionary and it was really nice to get to know him better! We first headed over to the church and had a lesson with a great guy named Oscar. Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen scheduled this lesson a few days ago. So we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless his life if he reads and prays about it. We had a great lesson with him and I really enjoyed getting to know him more as well. Then after the lesson with Oscar, the zone leaders had a baptism!! We always love to see baptisms happening in our zone so much! Her name is Elisa and she is a great lady! So we had the baptism at 1:30 and it went great! During the baptism Elder Davis called me over and said that the member who was supposed to bring the refreshments hadn't shown up yet so he told Elder Knudsen and I to run to the Chang Li supermarket just right down the street and buy some cookies if they didn't show up. They didn't show up and so we hurried to Chang Li and we bought some Pepperidge Farm cookies and hurried back to the Church and put them on a platter for everyone that was there! We were happy to help! So after the baptism we enjoyed the cookies and talked for a little bit and then we headed back near our apartment and we had a quick lesson with a really cool guy named Tony! We met him on a park bench and had a great lesson with him! He has been taught about half of the lessons and he is in their area. He is a great guy! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he really enjoyed it! Then we headed back to the apartment and had some dinner and then we unsplit! So after our lesson we had the adult session of Stake conference but we needed to find someone to go with. President Smith told us that we could go to the conference if we brought an investigator or less active member. So we called around but nobody was available tonight so we were bummed about that. Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen had Freddy and Carla to go with but when they got to the Kingsbridge Church, they weren't there unfortunately. So they came back and got home at 8:00. Since we didn't have anyone to go with, we headed out and looked up a few people. We even found someone in our area book that spoke Portuguese so we knocked on his door but he wasn't home so we gave him a call and he answered! So Elder Dick spoke with him in Portuguese and found out that he moved to Brooklyn a little bit ago. He was such a cool guy! After we looked up a few people we walked home all the way down Gun Hill Road and said hi to everyone we saw! It was such a great day!

Sunday was such a great day! We had such a cool miracle happen! We had our Stake Conference! I was so excited for Stake Conference because I was really hoping to see Jamie and her family! I hope I didn't confuse you in one of my emails. We had the Multi-stake broadcast a few weeks ago but this was our actual stake conference! Sorry about that! So we were really excited for Stake Conference! We woke up and headed out the door by 9:00and then Stake conference started at 10:00! So we headed over to the Kingsbridge Church and got to our seats at 9:45. I was looking all over for Jamie and her family but I never saw them. Stake conference was so great!
We had Gordon H. Smith from the area seventy there and he did a great job! I enjoyed his talk SO much! Before stake conference started, we were standing at the doorway of the chapel welcoming people in which was so fun! Then a man walked in and he looked so familiar but I wasn't sure where I had seen him. It bugged me for about 5 minutes until it clicked. I shook his hand and then he went to go sit down in the congregation. It clicked and I remembered that he played Adam in the Temple endowment video! How cool is that!?! Elder Dick also recognized him but he wasn't sure where he knew him from either. It was pretty cool! Then Elder Dick told me that he is a Bishop in one of the wards in the mission. It was really cool to meet him! He was a very nice guy and was so friendly! Before the conference started, President Smith walked in with his family! It was so nice to see them as always! The Stake President, President Jeffries, started the meeting and welcomed everyone. We had some really great speakers! 2 returned missionaries from the Stake spoke and they did a great job! One missionary served in Florida and the other served in Guatemala. It was so fun to hear returned missionaries speak and hear of their experiences! They told us how fast missions go. He said that it is so amazing to come home and see you family! He said to enjoy all of these missionary experiences because we will be home before we know it. Then after they spoke we heard from the Manhattan Temple President and his wife! They did a really good job! Then we heard from President Jeffries and the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency. Then we heard from Gordon H. Smith and he did a really good job! His theme was.........missionary work!! He spoke about his experiences in New Zealand and how he had a hard time on Christmas of 1971. He had been feeling so homesick and considering going home. He said when he woke up, it felt like a regular day and didn't feel like Christmas since there wasn't any snow or presents so it was really hard. He read the Christmas Story in the Bible and then he said that his homesickness and depression completely went away! It was a great and powerful story! Then after our amazing Stake Conference, I looked all around for Jamie and her family but I didn't see them. There weren't a ton of people there so I was pretty sure that they weren't there. I was really hoping to see them! So after Stake Conference, we headed back to the apartment and had some lunch. Then we did our companionship study and then language study. I have been loving learning some Spanish while Elder Dick practices and keeps up on his Portuguese. I have been learning quite a bit! Then we had something really cool happen! We called a lady about a month ago and she said that said she would be really busy until this last Saturday when her schedule freed up. We called her and she was so excited to hear from us! We set an appointment with her and she was so on board to learn more! We are really excited to teach her! Then after that we had a great evening! We went over to see Sister Johnson for our weekly visit and she was so happy to see us as usual! We talked with her and showed her a video and then we headed over to see a few less active members! We had a great evening and as we were heading back to the apartment, we decided to walk the rest of the way. We both felt like walking since the weather was so beautiful! As we were walking back to the apartment, we saw a car up ahead of us with it's hazard lights on. We got closer to their car and noticed that a man was trying to jack their car up to change a flat tire. We were so happy to help them out! It was a really nice Mexican family with their Granddaughter in the car. The wife spoke very little English but the husband spoke pretty good English. We stopped and said: "looks like you need a hand!" So we stopped and started helping them! We were so glad that we walked because we knew that this family was put in our path on purpose! He was just started to change the tire so we were there to help through the whole process! So we helped them change the tire and while we did that we talked with them and Elder Dick spoke Spanish to the wife. It has been so great to have a companion that speaks another language! He has been really handy! So after we got the tire fixed, we gave them our card with our number on it and told them to give us a call if they have any more troubles. We were so happy that we had the opportunity to help them out! Afterwards, they offered to drive us home but we were just right down the street from our apartment. It was a great experience! The weather was so nice and beautiful as well! We headed back to the apartment for the night with big smiles on our faces!


Monday was another great day! We had another really cool experience later in the evening! We had our weekly district meeting and it was great! So we woke up, and headed to our district meeting and we talked about our investigators and how they were doing. We had the Sister Training Leaders there as well! So we had a great district meeting and then afterwards, Elder and Sister Coleman made us a delicious lunch! It was so good! So we headed downstairs into the gym and we had a pasta bake, chicken alfredo, garlic bread, salad, and Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars! It was all so good! Then after our delicious lunch we thanked Elder and Sister Coleman and we went and made some flyers for the weekly Family Home Evening. We really wanted to hand out some flyers to let everyone know about the class that the Colemans teach. So we made some flyers and then we headed back to the apartment and did our daily contact to our investigators, language study, and companionship study. It was great! Then we had an APF activity planned but then.......it started to rain. We were sad that we couldn't go out and find some people to teach but we knew nobody would want to stand out in the rain and talk with us. So we decided to go knock on some doors and find and schedule some appointments. We knocked on some doors for an hour or 2 and then came back for some dinner! Then after we had some dinner, we decided to do something really cool! We decided to call every single potential investigator that we have in our area book! Potential investigators are people who have their information in our area books but haven't been taught anything. So we wanted to schedule a time to teach them and invite them to family home evening. So we started calling around and lots of people answered which we were so happy about! It was so amazing how many people could meet with us this week! I am so excited to say that we scheduled 5 lessons for this week! We called over 50 people and had lots of nice people that we called! It was so great! So we set our lessons and then we had a great Skype call with Matt! We talked about the Great Apostasy and the Restoration with him. After our lesson it was 9:00 so we decided to head back to the apartment for the night. It was such a great and successful day of missionary work!


Tuesday was another great day! A few days ago we got an email that said we would be having interviews with President Smith! I always enjoy them very much! He always is so caring and open to helping us with whatever we need! So after we did our studies, we headed over to the church and had our interviews with President! Elder Dick's interview was at 10:10 and mine was at 10:20. So after we studied for about a half an hour, we headed over to the church. We got to the church right on time and Elder Dick went in for his interview. Then it was my turn! I always enjoy talking with President Smith one on one! We talked about how the ward was doing and all of our investigators were doing! Then we talked about you all and how you were doing! I told him that you were all doing great and getting excited for summer! Then after our great interview, we finished making our family home evening flyers to hand out to people! We bought some colored paper like green and orange and printed out some flyers. Then Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen had an appointment with Sister Oppenheimer to give her a blessing and asked Elder Dick and I if we would like to go with! So we all headed over to her apartment to see how we could help her. When we got there she told us that she wanted a blessing because she has been taking a blood thinner and every time she sneezes or blows her nose, her nose will start bleeding. We were so happy to give her a blessing! Elder Knudsen performed the anointing and then Elder Smiley gave her a blessing. Then afterwards we asked her if there was anything that we could do for her. She said that some movers were supposed to come and remove an old couch that was sitting in her living room a while ago and they never showed up. So we took her couch and threw it in a dumpster across the street. She was so appreciative and said that she really wants to make us a big nice dinner sometime. We were so happy to help! It was a great experience! Then after that we headed back to the apartment and had some lunch and then did our companionship study and language study. Then we went to a neighborhood where Bishop Jessop lives and we knocked on many doors to invite them to family home evening at the church! Then we went to go visit the Francis family! They were the family that we helped shovel their driveway when that really bad snow storm hit. We have kept in touch with them and they are so nice! We knocked on their door and the wife, Arthel, answered and was so happy to see us! We invited her and her family to the ward activity pot luck and movie on Sunday and they were thrilled to come! They said that they would love to come but they didn't have much money. We told them that it was completely free and just a good and fun time for her and her family! She couldn't believe that we did things like that! She asked us what she could do to repay us and we said that if she wanted, she could bring a favorite dish that they make in Jamaica. We are really excited to have investigators come! So after the Francis family, we headed over to Bishop's house but unfortunately he wasn't home. He is always so busy with his job and so he is hardly ever home. We enjoyed being outside so much! It was so nice and pretty! Every time we are out walking in the nice cool evening, I always think of you taking walks! I wish I could go on walks with you, but we can when I get home! It was such a great day! By the end of the night we were ready for an awesome P-Day! I was so excited to read your email! I get so excited to see them every Tuesday!

Guess what we get to do today!!! So, a few days ago, Elder Dick was using his tablet and the battery died. So he plugged it in to charge it. Well, he had been relying on his fingerprint for so long that he forgot his word password. When our tablet batteries die, and then you turn it back on again it requires you to put in your word password. Well since he forgot his password.......he couldn't get in. Poor guy! So he has been without a tablet for over 5 days now. It has been a pain! So he sent in an error report email to Salt Lake and they never got back to him. So he called the assistants and they said to take it to a store like Best Buy, Radio Shack, or a Samsung store. So I was hoping that today when we go get it fixed that the store we go to would be next to something really cool........and sure enough........it's right next to Yankee Stadium!!! We searched for the nearest Best Buy Geek Squad, and it is just down the street! So we will get to go fix his tablet and then go see Yankee Stadium again! Would it be OK if I spent $15.00 on 2 mini bats? They were very good quality! I was so excited to go back and see it again! I'm not sure if I should just put it on my credit card or take out cash from my debit card. I am so excited! I'm hoping that there is a game today so there will be TONS of fans and tailgating! It should be a really fun time! I will be sure to tell you all about it!

I dropped the ball this week at taking pictures. Sorry! I have my camera with me all the time but I just never saw anything to take a picture of that you haven't seen. But, I did upload all of the pictures that I took! I even got a picture with Francisco Molina! I still can't believe that he was just sitting in our area book for so long and now he is baptized! He is a really great and loving guy!

Well everyone! I think that is everything that happened this week. I hope everything makes sense and it doesn't seem too choppy. I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate you all! You are in every single one of my prayers! I am so excited for you to be done with school! I hope you have a great last full week of school! I will be thinking about you the whole time! I get to email back and forth today! I hope you all have an amazing week! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg

Skype Success!

To Skype Tanner was probably the best missionary experience for us as a family so far! It was so fun to talk to Tanner in "person" and get answers to questions on the spot and to just feel of Tanner's excitment and love. We had such a wonderful time talking and laughing as a whole family! I am so thankful and grateful for the many prayers that were offered that the technology would work so we could enjoy our call. Everything went so smoothly! I know prayers are answered.

 May 17th 2017~ What an incredible Skype call!!

Hello my dear family! WOW! That's about all I can say about Sunday!! It was the best time ever! It was so incredible to see you all! I can't even describe how exciting it was to Skype and talk with you all! I am SO grateful that everything went so smooth! I couldn't have asked for a better day! Thank you so much for your incredible email! It is always so exciting to get and read your emails! I loved all of the pictures as well! I loved the picture that you took of me and Mom! I am so grateful for technology! It was so cool to think that we were 2,000 miles away from each other and yet we were having a "Face to face" chat! It was so much fun! I loved everything that we talked about! After the call, I felt so recharged!

Last P-Day was great! We woke up and put in a load of laundry and then we had a conference call from President Smith! We always look forward to his calls so much! He talked about Mother's day and how important and amazing our Mothers are! Then after the Conference call we got our laundry, folded it and put it away and then we got to email! Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen headed to the Temple to do a session but before they left we all did our grocery shopping. So we headed over to Aldi's and did our grocery shopping then we came back to the apartment and emailed for a little while longer. It was very relaxing!

I really hope that I can remember everything that happened this week! I am pretty sure that I told you most of this stuff in our awesome video call.

I have some really exciting news! We decided to go to the Bronx Zoo today! Like you said in our video call, you never know if I will have the opportunity to do fun stuff like this in my next area! It will be so much fun! It is absolutely beautiful weather today and it is supposed to be hot, Hot, HOT! I'm sure that the zoo will be pretty packed but since it is free, we could always go next week as well! So we are all really looking forward to it! The weather feels so nice outside! Birds are chirping and the flowers and trees are blossoming like crazy! The sky is so nice and blue! So we are doing our laundry right now, then we will go shopping and then head to the zoo! I will be sure to take lots of pictures! I can even email you back and forth as well!

Thursday was such an amazing day! We had 3 lessons and they all went really well! After we did our studies, we had our weekly planning! It didn't feel like weekly planning since we had just had P-Day. It threw me off! So we started our weekly planning session and planned out all of our investigators' lessons. We always enjoy this time to take a step back and focus on the whole week and plan it out! It is really nice! So after we scheduled in some lessons next week with our investigators, we got to a good stopping point and we were all starving! So we decided to go to a local pizza shop called "Anthony's Pizza"! So we headed over just down the street from our apartment and we ordered! They have really good prices! We had always seen this pizza place every time we passed it and said: "let's go there sometime!" So we finally did! I ordered a sausage, peppers, and cheese calzone for $3.50 and it was huge! It was a real bang for your buck! It was so good! The owner was a really nice guy and had a really cool New York accent! He sounded just like Buddie Valastro! So after we had our delicious lunch we headed back to the apartment and finished our weekly planning. We planned in some member lessons, service, and APF activities. So after we finished all of our weekly planning, it was 2:00 and so we started our split! Elder Smiley came with me and Elder Dick went with Elder Knudsen. I always enjoy splits because I get to know everyone really well! So after we broke off, we had an early dinner because we had a busy night with lots off appointments! I was so excited to have so many appointments all in 1 night! So after dinner, we headed over to Co-op City. We had 3 families that we had scheduled lessons with! First, we went to one of our investigators named Marcus Daley. He and his family are very busy and so they haven't been able to progress as fast as we would like but we are certainly working hard! So we knocked on their door and their little daughter who is 4 answered the door. Marcus gladly let us in and greeted us with a smile! He is such a great guy but is always working. He knew that he would be off that day so we scheduled this lesson just under 2 weeks ago. We sat down and talked with him and he said that he was so happy we could come over! We started talking and he said that he and his family have been doing really good just very busy. We then taught him about the sacrament and read 3 Nephi 18: 1-21 with him. It talks about Jesus Christ when he administered the sacrament to the Nephites. He really enjoyed reading these scriptures and he kept stopping us and said: "Tell me about that verse" or "let's stop there and talk about it." It was really cool to see how much he enjoyed reading those scriptures. We invited him and his family to church this Sunday and he said that he would try to make it if his work schedule would allow time for him to come. We felt the spirit so strong in that lesson. We could both tell that he felt the spirit too! So after our lesson we had 2 more lessons, both with members! We always enjoy getting to know the members better! So we went over down the street to a really nice older member's apartment. Her name is Sister Figuero. She is always so nice and loves all of the missionaries! She knew that we couldn't come inside because there is a rule that if a woman is alone, there has to be a 3rd male. So we couldn't go inside but we taught her at the doorway. She was so nice and made us some pasta bowl to go because she knew that we couldn't come in. She had 2 bowls of vegetables with pasta and pasta sauce and did then gave us a huge container of apple juice. We were so appreciative and thought it was so nice of her to do! After we got back to the apartment, we enjoyed her pasta bowls! They were really good! So we taught her about service and small acts of service we can provide to those around us. We said that she was providing an act of service to us so it was perfect! We showed her a video about Thomas S. Monson and service. She really enjoyed the video and after we left her with a prayer about then headed straight over to our next appointment! The last family that we visited with was the Danquah family! Brother Danquah is the ward mission leader and is such a great guy! So we knocked on their door and they welcomed us in! They have 2 kids. Madison who is 12 and Michael who is 10. They are very nice kids and are very polite. It was so nice to get to know them better! Brother Danquah served a mission in Ghana and was a convert at age 8. Sister Danquah was converted at age 10. We found out something interesting about Sister Danquah. She is actually Brother Ampah's Sister. Brother Ampah is the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric. We talked with them and got to know them a little better and then we talked to them about Mother's day! We showed them a video about President Utchdorf and how his Mom accidentally left them on a train because she was finding food for them but she showed her faith by praying and she found her 4 little kids. It is a great video! We talked to them about how much Mothers do for us! After our lesson was over it was time to head back to the apartment for the evening. It was such a great day! We had a lot of fun teaching back-to-back-to-back lessons!


Friday was another great day! By this time I was even more excited to Skype you! So we woke up, got ready for the day, and did our studies and headed out the door! We were still on our split and we decided to end our split at 4:00. The weather was so nice and pretty and we enjoyed being out in it! We went over to Evans' house but he wasn't home so we went to a man named Ryan Armstrong. We knocked on his door and a really nice lady answered the door. We asked her if Ryan was home and she said that Ryan had moved a while ago. We talked with Gloria and she said that she would be interested in learning more! She told us that she lived in Co-op City and was visiting her Daughter. We were so glad to meet her! So after we knocked on a few more doors, we headed back to the apartment and had some lunch. So we had some lunch and then went to an apartment complex right by our apartment, just down the street. We knocked on a lady's door named Mona. She was very nice but she had been very sick this past week. She said that it has been hard to be so sick. We said a prayer with her and then we headed to a few more apartments. Then after we knocked on some doors we headed over to the church to unsplit with Elder Dick and Elder Knudsen. We always enjoy splits and learning from one another! So after we unsplit, we headed back to the apartment and had some dinner. After dinner, we went to go see one of our investigators named Michael McNeil. He hasn't really been interested in coming to church but he enjoys having us over. We hadn't been over to see him in a while. When we got there he was practicing his guitar! He has the exact same guitar that I have! He even has the same guitar book! We talked with him for a while and then talked about gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. We left him with Moroni 10 to read! It is a great chapter! So after we met with Michael we knocked on a few more doors but we were pretty sure that there was a Yankees game yesterday because not very many people were home and tons of people had lots of Yankee gear on! It was a great and productive day!


Saturday was another great but rainy day! It poured again and there were rivers flowing down the sidewalks and streets. On Saturday I couldn't wait any longer to Skype! I was so very excited to Skype you all! We had our service orientation at a local library so we can find more service opportunities when we plan in service! It will be so nice! So we headed out the door and got on a train that takes us to the library. So we took the train to the Yankee Stadium stop! It was so cool to see it again! So after the service orientation we headed back to the apartment for some lunch. Then we did companionship study and language study. Then after that it was time to get ready and head over to the church to go to Quincy's baptism! So we headed over to his baptism and it went great! Elder Dick and I actually got to be witnesses for it! Everything went smoothly then they had cupcakes afterwards which was great! Then after the baptism we had an appointment with Osagie at 7:00 so we hopped on the train and went to visit Osagie! He has been doing great just really busy with work. He is working so hard and long hours but the pay isn't very much. He is doing really well though! So we taught him about Tithing and fast offerings and he enjoyed our lesson! He is so faithful that he says he will willingly pay his Tithing which is so awesome! After we visited with Osagie we headed back to the apartment! It was a great day and I knew it would be hard to fall asleep that night!


SUNDAY WAS AMAZING! Skyping you all was the best experience so far! It was so amazing to see and hear you all! It was so much fun! I loved talking with you all so much! I enjoyed seeing you all so much and actually being able to talk with you! It was definitely hands down the best experience so far on my mission! We woke up at 6:00 so we could all shower, eat breakfast, and get ready to be out the door by 7:45! We were all SO excited! We couldn't wait to get over to the church! I so didn't want the Skype to end but I knew it had to at some point. It was so much fun and I enjoyed every minute of it! I loved seeing you and talking to you all so much! I was so grateful that the WiFi worked perfectly and the video and audio was so clear! It was such a blessing to be able to talk to you all on such a special day! I am already looking forward to Christmas so much! It was an experience that I will never forget! I loved every second of it! So after I Skyped you we headed downstairs and waited for church to start. We enjoyed welcoming in all of the mothers and saying: "Happy Mother's Day!" So when church started we actually had the most people I have ever seen so far in this ward! We had close to 100 people! Sacrament meeting was really great! Fortunately we had everyone show up so Elder Dick and I didn't have to speak. We enjoyed talks from the 1st counselor's wife, the Elders quorum President, and a priest. All of the talks were really good and they focused so much on Mothers which was awesome! I was still so excited from our video call! I was on cloud 9! We taught all of the young men in the 2nd hour of church and it went great! We taught them about prophets and the blessings that they are in our lives! Then after church, we had a really nice Mother's day celebration! They had cake and ice cream which was so good! Then they had a tribute on mothers and some of the ward members shared memories about their mothers! In my talk that I was going to give, I said that I was so grateful for you and I was grateful that you have taught me so much! Then I gave the example of how you taught me to cook and clean! Then after the party, Elder Dick and I headed upstairs to do his Skype call! He said his family is doing great! He enjoyed seeing them so much! After his Skype call we headed back to the apartment and had some dinner and then I baked some oatmeal raisin cookies for Sister Johnson! I used Pillsbury pre-made cookie dough and they turned out really well! So we went over to see Sister Johnson and she was so grateful for the cookies! We wished her a happy Mother's Day and then gave her the sacrament. We always enjoy going over there! We had something really cool happen as we were walking back to the apartment! Then after we visited with her, we started walking back to the apartment and as we were walking, a lady stopped her car once she passed us. She got out and said: "Hey are you the Mormons?" We said yes we were and she said: "Oh, I've read a lot about you and I have a ton of respect for you and the work you do!" She had just gotten back from grocery shopping and she said she wanted to give us something. She pulled out an back and gave us a bottle of water, an organic banana, and a container of almonds! It was so nice of her and we were so appreciative! It was such an amazing day! I had the best time Skyping you all! It was the best experience I've had so far on my mission! I felt your love and prayers so much!

Monday was another incredible day! We had our weekly district meeting and it went great! We woke up, and did our personal study and then Elder Smiley asked Elder Dick and I to prepare a short role play to present at district meeting. So we headed over to the church for our weekly district meeting! We talked about how the ward was doing and we all talked about our Skype calls! Everyone had such a fun time calling their families! So after district meeting, we headed back to the apartment and had some lunch and did our language study. I have enjoyed learning a little bit (Poquito) of Spanish! So after our language study we were so excited to go over to City Island to go visit the Krieg family! They didn't know we were coming because their schedule isn't very stable so they didn't know when they would be available this week. If they weren't home, we had plans to go look up some investigators that hadn't been visited in a while. So we went over to the Kreig's house and knocked on their door and luckily they were home! We were really excited to get to know them a little better because I met them a few weeks ago but they had to hurry off so I didn't get to talk with them for very long. Charlie let us in and we started to talk. Charlie is the Dad and he and his wife, Regina live alone. Charlie isn't a member but Sister Krieg is! They have 2 sons that live out of the house and aren't members either. Sister Krieg hasn't been to Church in a few years but they are such good and kind people. City Island is TOTALLY different from all of the Bronx. The people that live there are also very different. Charlie was born in the Bronx and then lived in Puerto Rico for a few years then has lived in City Island since 1988. Then Sister Krieg came home from doing some shopping. It was so nice to sit down and talk with the both of them! We got talking and I couldn't help but notice all of their amazing antiques that they had! You know me and how much I love that kind of stuff! Everywhere you look, there were tons of amazing old bottles that all had different companies on them, so I asked them what the story was behind all of these cool bottles. Well, come to find out, Charlie is an underwater welder and find most of these bottles while he is out walking or while he is underwater! It was so amazing to see how many bottles he had! He had cupboards and cupboards full of cool bottles. He showed us some of his most amazing bottles and he found one that had a date on it of 1861! Can you believe that!?!? I loved looking at all of his cool stuff! We had a really nice chat with them and then talked about family history a little bit. Then they ordered some really good pizza from a local pizza shop! It was seriously some of the best pizza that I have ever had! It was such a classic New York style pizza! It didn't have any sauce. It just had a thick layer of mozzarella cheese and then it had ricotta cheese on top! It was so good! Then it was time for us to head out and do some more missionary work! We were so grateful for their hospitality! It was a really fun time! Then we headed over to the bus stop to head back to near our apartment. After we got off the bus though we had something crazy happen. We got off the bus and as the bus was pulling away from the curb, it sides wiped a car that was parked right in the bus lane. There was about 8 adults in the car. It really wasn't very bad. Just some surface paint chipped off but still would be pretty pricey to fix. But the bus driver didn't realize that he had it them and he had to turn around to go the other way and so the 8 guys got out of the car and started waving and yelling at the bus driver to get out. We thought for sure that we were going to see a fight because they were very angry. They shouldn't have been parked there in the first place but it still stinks. So they got the bus driver to pull over and they started yelling at him. The bus driver was very nice, calm, and collected. The guys were yelling at him and said: "You hit our car!!" He said: "Yeah because you were parked where you shouldn't be." A bus came before we could see the result of what happened but it was still pretty crazy! Then we headed back to the apartment after a great day of missionary work! We were so excited for Zone Conference the very next day! I was still on cloud 9 all day on Monday from the Skype call! I just couldn't help but think how much of a blessing it was to have everything work so smoothly! The WiFi worked perfectly, we talked about everything that we wanted to, the picture was clear, and we all had a great time together! I felt so recharged and my homesickness pretty much went away! I can definitely say that has been the best and most fun experience I have had so far! I loved hearing and seeing you all so much! We had a great Skype call! I love and miss you all so much!


Tuesday was such a great day! We didn't have much going on since it was Zone Conferences! We woke up really excited for that! We always love hearing from President and Sister Smith!! So we had to wake up really early because we got a call from the office Elders and they said that they were going to pick us up! I was so excited to see Elder Kirkham again! So we had to wake up at 5:30, be out the door by 6:15, and over to the church by 7:15. So we got all ready and headed off to the church! When we got there it was exactly 7:15 so we headed off to the Scarsdale chapel! When we got there, they had such a nice breakfast for us all! They usually have Chobani yogurt and granola which is so good but this time, Sister Smith made us some really good homemade chocolate chip cream cheese spread to go on bagels that they bought! It was so good! So while we were eating breakfast, all of the missionaries with leadership positions had a quick meeting and then zone conference got started at 9:00. We enjoyed zone conference so much! It lasted until 3:30 and so by the time we got all of the tables and chairs put away, and got home it was about 5:00. Zone Conference was so great as usual! They talked about sharing the Restoration to all the members that we set appointments with! They showed us how to teach by the Spirit and teach it in 4-6 minutes! It was really interesting! The Scarsdale Church is really pretty! It was such a pretty day! They had the doors to the gym open and the birds were chirping.......or should I say, the chirds were birping! So after we got back to the apartment, we had some dinner and then headed back out for some more missionary work! We stopped by a few investigator's houses and we saw Jose! He told us that he has been going through some trials and really wanted us to start coming back over. He is a very quiet and humble guy! So we talked with him and he just said he just really wanted peace. We assured him that this Gospel can and will bring him that peace that he is looking for to his life. Then we headed back to the apartment for the night. We are always really good at getting back right at 9:00! It was such a great day but it went by very fast since we were in zone conference for the majority of the day! I was so excited for P-Day! I couldn't wait to read your amazing email!

Well everyone! It was so much fun to email you today! I hope you all have a great day! I will be thinking about you all day! I still am just on cloud 9 about our video call! It was such a special time and an amazing experience! You are all looking so happy! It was so much fun to be able to talk to you and hear from you! It was a moment that I will never forget! I hope you all have a great and safe week with all of your activities! You are so almost done with school, and then it's summer vacation time! I hope you are planning a really fun trip for your anniversary! I hope you get to do something really fun! I can't believe that tomorrow is my 4 month mark! Time has just been flying by. I love and miss you all so much and appreciate all of the love, support, and prayers you send my way each and every day! Not a moment goes by that I'm not thinking about you and cheering you on from New York! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg