May 1st 2017~Where did April go?? LOTS OF BIG AND EXCITING NEWS!
Hello my dear family! Wow what an incredible week it was! I have so much exciting news to tell you all! I am so glad I am able to email you on this short 2 hour P-Day! It will be fun to have P-Day switch to Wednesday! Thank you so much for your incredible email! It was fantastic and I loved every word! I was so glad to hear that you all had an amazing week and had fun along the way! I can't believe that it is already May!! I have a LOT of great news about our tranfer! I am going to love Wednesday P-Day so much! It will be an awesome change! I have missed you all so much and I miss seeing you every day! I have missed spending time with you and being there for sports, school, holidays, and everything else so much! But I know this is the right mission for me just like you said! I still can't believe that you guessed it right on the nose Mom! The weather this week has been so pretty! It rained on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week but other than that it has been so pleasant to be outside! I have been doing really great this last week I love being here around all of this amazing history! I have still been homesick but I loved in your email how you told me that you wanted to be here with me! It made me feel a lot better and your email made me feel right at home! I just want to be there for every single thing that you have going on, even the little stuff. I am always so happy to see that you all had a great week! Your emails make me feel tons better but I just miss you all so much! I know it is normal to get homesick but it still kind of stinks! I just appreciate you and everything you have done for me!! I appreciate all of the memories that we have all made together! I have been thinking a lot about how amazing you all are and how much I love all of the many incredible memories we have made! I appreciate so much the emails you send and all the cool picture quotes and motivation throughout the week! It means so much to have you right behind me! I feel so much love and support from you all every single day! Thank you so much for the funny Napolian Dynamite picture! I loved getting it! It was so funny and I laughed and laughed! I always love the picture quotes that you send to me! Thank you so much! I also loved the 100 days picture as well! It was so cool to see Abbs, Dubbie, and Puck holding up the 1s and 0s! It was so awesome and I thank you! Can you believe that I've been out for over 100 days now?!?! Because I can't! I loved getting them so much! I have been doing great this week and have loved experiencing everything New York has! It has been amazing like you said to serve in such an amazing area! I'm so glad that I get to email you today and on Wednesday! It will be so nice! I loved hearing about everything that you got to do this week!
Now on to the news that you've all been waiting for!! Is Elder Kirkham staying or going??? We got our tranfer calls on Saturday and Sister Perez and Sister Heiner are both leaving from our district and Elder Kirkham is.......wait.....for........it........going to be an OFFICE ELDER! I was so sad to hear that he would be leaving but I know he will do great as an office Elder! I have enjoyed him as my companion so much! He has taught me so much! He is going to be companions with Elder Stevens who was actually in the same apartment as Elder Kirkham when he was being trained by Elder Wulff! So he was excited for that! Now on to some more exciting news!! Who will my companion be?? They called us and said that the 2 Sisters will be getting transfered and then our Zone Leaders said: "Elder Kirkham will be getting transfered to the office and Elder Lindberg will be companions with...........Elder Dick!" I have never met him before but I did remember seeing him on the Christmas card and so I am really excited! Elder Knudsen told me that he had met him before and said that he was awesome and they are really excited for him to move in! He told me that he has been out for about 10 months. I will be sure to tell you all about him on our new Wednesday P-Day! He is going to be an awesome companion! I am really looking forward to meeting him and serving with him! Isn't that awesome! So that changed our whole day tomorrow! We will wake up and get ready for the day and then we will head to the Church and then the Office Elders will pick us up and take us to the Inwood Chapel and then we will say goodbye and then I will get to meet my new companion! It will be a great time!
I forgot to mention in my last email that had to use my own personal credit card last week while we were a Arby's! Elder Honeycut, who is charge of all of the missionaries money, took out $30.00 from my account to pay for the rest of my bedding and sheets. I found out something really cool! We get to keep our sheets for our whole mission! The first month he didn't take any money out but my last 2 months he has taken $30.00 out each time so I am good to go! I wasn't sure if Dad had gotten on and seen my account yet but I thought I would let you know. I just wanted to try out my credit card and see if the travel plans that we set would send you any notifications. I thought it would be cool to use my own personal credit card, in New York, at Arby's! I have the best parents to be watching over my account! I appreciate it so much!
This next Sunday, we will be having a multi-stake conference in the Kingsbridge chapel! It will be awesome because I will get to see your cousin Dad! It is being broadcast from Salt Lake which will be so cool! So we are all looking forward to that! I have been wondering for a while when we were going to have it.
I also thought it would be a ton of fun to put together a package for you so I sent it off on Saturday and it should get to you by tomorrow! I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate and love you all! I did put in some wheat pennies and a bicentennial quarter that I found and I thought it would be fun for you to have them! I loved finding them! I thought Dad, Brandon or Parkie would want to have them! It was so much fun to put it together and I hope you enjoy it! It is so nice that we are able to buy postage with our MSF cards!
I have some great news about the bed bugs that we had! Elder Kirkham told me how much of a pain it is to get rid of them and then in your last email you said that they are really hard to get rid of as well. So when we washed our sheets we washed them in really hot water so we were hoping that took care of the problem. The next morning I woke up.......I had 3 more bites! I couldn't believe it! We sprayed down our bed frames with so much bed bug spray. So I had about 10 bites all over and we couldn't figure our where the bed bugs were. But that same night when I said my nightly prayers, I kneeled down and just looked all around to see even the smallest little bugs. And sure enough, I looked closely and there were 2 little red bugs right in the middle of my bed. We found the culprit but I didn't know if there would be more. The bugs were so small that they could probably fit on the head of a pin. I was so hoping that they were the only ones and there weren't more. So I looked all over my bed and didn't see any which was great! So I just thought if I got any more bites then we would have to call the exterminator and have them take care of them. So the next morning I woke up.....no bites!.......the whole past week.....no bites as well! I was so glad that we found them before it spread to everyone else's beds! It was a huge relief!
Now on to the news that you've all been waiting for!! Is Elder Kirkham staying or going??? We got our tranfer calls on Saturday and Sister Perez and Sister Heiner are both leaving from our district and Elder Kirkham is.......wait.....for........it........going to be an OFFICE ELDER! I was so sad to hear that he would be leaving but I know he will do great as an office Elder! I have enjoyed him as my companion so much! He has taught me so much! He is going to be companions with Elder Stevens who was actually in the same apartment as Elder Kirkham when he was being trained by Elder Wulff! So he was excited for that! Now on to some more exciting news!! Who will my companion be?? They called us and said that the 2 Sisters will be getting transfered and then our Zone Leaders said: "Elder Kirkham will be getting transfered to the office and Elder Lindberg will be companions with...........Elder Dick!" I have never met him before but I did remember seeing him on the Christmas card and so I am really excited! Elder Knudsen told me that he had met him before and said that he was awesome and they are really excited for him to move in! He told me that he has been out for about 10 months. I will be sure to tell you all about him on our new Wednesday P-Day! He is going to be an awesome companion! I am really looking forward to meeting him and serving with him! Isn't that awesome! So that changed our whole day tomorrow! We will wake up and get ready for the day and then we will head to the Church and then the Office Elders will pick us up and take us to the Inwood Chapel and then we will say goodbye and then I will get to meet my new companion! It will be a great time!
I forgot to mention in my last email that had to use my own personal credit card last week while we were a Arby's! Elder Honeycut, who is charge of all of the missionaries money, took out $30.00 from my account to pay for the rest of my bedding and sheets. I found out something really cool! We get to keep our sheets for our whole mission! The first month he didn't take any money out but my last 2 months he has taken $30.00 out each time so I am good to go! I wasn't sure if Dad had gotten on and seen my account yet but I thought I would let you know. I just wanted to try out my credit card and see if the travel plans that we set would send you any notifications. I thought it would be cool to use my own personal credit card, in New York, at Arby's! I have the best parents to be watching over my account! I appreciate it so much!
This next Sunday, we will be having a multi-stake conference in the Kingsbridge chapel! It will be awesome because I will get to see your cousin Dad! It is being broadcast from Salt Lake which will be so cool! So we are all looking forward to that! I have been wondering for a while when we were going to have it.
I also thought it would be a ton of fun to put together a package for you so I sent it off on Saturday and it should get to you by tomorrow! I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate and love you all! I did put in some wheat pennies and a bicentennial quarter that I found and I thought it would be fun for you to have them! I loved finding them! I thought Dad, Brandon or Parkie would want to have them! It was so much fun to put it together and I hope you enjoy it! It is so nice that we are able to buy postage with our MSF cards!
I have some great news about the bed bugs that we had! Elder Kirkham told me how much of a pain it is to get rid of them and then in your last email you said that they are really hard to get rid of as well. So when we washed our sheets we washed them in really hot water so we were hoping that took care of the problem. The next morning I woke up.......I had 3 more bites! I couldn't believe it! We sprayed down our bed frames with so much bed bug spray. So I had about 10 bites all over and we couldn't figure our where the bed bugs were. But that same night when I said my nightly prayers, I kneeled down and just looked all around to see even the smallest little bugs. And sure enough, I looked closely and there were 2 little red bugs right in the middle of my bed. We found the culprit but I didn't know if there would be more. The bugs were so small that they could probably fit on the head of a pin. I was so hoping that they were the only ones and there weren't more. So I looked all over my bed and didn't see any which was great! So I just thought if I got any more bites then we would have to call the exterminator and have them take care of them. So the next morning I woke up.....no bites!.......the whole past week.....no bites as well! I was so glad that we found them before it spread to everyone else's beds! It was a huge relief!
I have some awesome news about this coming P-Day! It will be great but different to have P-Day on Wednesday! So this coming P-Day we deciding since I was getting a new companion that we would do something REALLY fun and awesome! Also, since it is a new cycle we get another Manhattan trip for this cycle and so since we have a short 2 hour P-Day today we thought it would be a great idea to get all of our laundry and shopping done today and then use our Manhattan day on Wednesday so we get more time! We thought it was a great idea! So on P-Day, we will wake up first thing and do our half an hour of studies that we do on P-Day and then head off to Manhattan by 8:00 when our P-Day starts! I am so excited to say that we are going to go to......THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM!! We were thinking for a while what to do and we thought it would be so much fun! Elder Smiley, and Elder Knudsen have both been there before but they said it takes days to go through everything and so they really wanted to go again! I am SO excited to go! It is so cool to think that it is the same museum that is in Night at the Museum! We all love those movies so much and now I get to go to the actual museum! We aren't sure if Elder Dick will want to go but I'm sure he will be up for it! I love how most of the museums here in New York you can get into for free or donate! It is so amazing to me that we can go to such famous museums for free or donation! I can't wait to take a picture with the Easter Island head! 
(Dum-Dum, you give me gum gum? ) We all love those movies so much! I can't wait to see so much cool stuff! It is going to be a blast and I can't wait to tell you all about it!
I can't even describe how excited I am for Mother's Day!!! We are less than 2 weeks away from Skyping! It will be so awesome to hear a familiar voice and see familiar faces! I am so stoked to see you all! I found out that some mission Presidents only let their missionaries Skype for 30 minutes on Mother's Day but President Smith gives us the full hour which is AWESOME! I am all set up and ready to call you! I am so excited and I can't wait to talk and see you all!
LAST P-DAY WAS INCREDIBLE!! I really felt bad that I couldn't tell you more about the day we had last week! I have been so looking forward all week to tell you more! It was so much fun I can't even put it into words! It was so amazing to see so many iconic and historical New York City landmarks! So we woke up on P-Day and got the usual P-Day activities taken care of like laundry and shopping! Then we came back to the apartment and emailed while everyone showered and got ready for the day! We all got ready really quick which was awesome because we were able to spend so much time in Manhattan! We were all so excited to go! (Me especially!)
So after we got everything done it was only 9:00 so we sent off all of our emails and hopped on the train and we were ready for a great P-Day! The train ride is always so cool and amazing because it stops and so many cool and iconic stations! So we took the subway from our apartment just around the corner all the way to.....Grand Central Station! We got off the subway and walked up the stairs and there it was! The famous and iconic train station! It was so amazing! I could only think of Madagascar while we were in there! In Madagascar there is a scene where they run through Grand Central! So that was so cool to see! Then we walked over to Arby's and had such a great time there! It is the first Arby's that I've had since I worked there! This Arby's was so cool! It was a very nice building and even had a second floor to it! So we all ordered and Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen got the meat mountain combo meal! They were definitely hungry because they both ate that sandwich so quick! Elder Kirkham and I both got the same sandwich but I got mine in a meal. We both ordered the Beef n' Cheddar max sandwich but they gave us roast beef max sandwiches instead and so they just gave us a cup of cheddar and red ranch (RED RANCH!) They said that because the worker typed in our order wrong we would of had to pay the extra to make them beef n' cheddars and so it made it a good deal to have them give us the red ranch and cheddar! So we had a really fun time at Arby's and it brought back so many memories of working there! So after we got done eating our delicious food, we walked right outside of Arby's and there was the Empire State Building! You could see it right from outside the Arby's! It was so cool! The Empire State Building is so iconic and it was so amazing to see it in person! So we took lots of pictures as we were walking passed it and as we were on our way to the Museum! So after that we made our way to the Met! It is such an amazing building all in itself! So once we got there we took lots of pictures outside the museum and we headed inside! All I can say is WOW! There is so much to do and see that it is impossible to see everything in a week, let alone a day! It is ginormous! The museum is broken up into many different sections and we only had time for 2 sections! We were there at the Museum from 11:00-3:30! It was a much fun! We loved every second of it! The museum has so much to look at! So first we went to an exhibi called "Age of Empire!" It was so amazing! They had so many actual artifacts from the Han Chinese dynasty! They had everything you could imagine from everything like coins, bowls, tiles from building and so much more! They had so many amazing artifacts! After that we had something so cool happen! You won't believe who we saw!! We were approached by a group of high school age kids and they said: "Missionaries!" They told us that they were students from American Fork!!! They were staying here in New York and they were performing in Carnegie Hall for their choir class! We thought it was s cool of them to stop and talk with us! They said that they were junior and senior students from American Fork and their chior class was on a tour with their school and they were performing in Carnegie Hall! How cool is that!?! So we talked with them for a good 15 minutes and they said that they were all members and preparing to all serve missions! I asked them if they new any Evans and they said that they didn't but it was so cool to see them there! I thought of you Mom and Grandma! It was so cool! So after we got done chatting with them for a few minutes we headed over to the arms and armour section of the museum and it was so cool! They had so many amazing guns and old armour from the Renaissance! It was all so amazing but we only saw a sliver of everything they had. It was interesting because on the ticket prices, it is by donation only but it suggests donating enough money for a weeks worth of tour days! So they obviously have a ton of stuff that takes days even weeks to see because the museum is so huge! After we got done at the awesome museum, we didn't want to leave but Elder Kirkham said that we were going to go see his Aunt and 3 little cousins that live on Greenwich Street right along the Hudson River so of course, I was all for it!! So we took the same train that we took down to the 9/11 museum over to where they live! It is such an amazing area! So we went to his aunt and uncle's apartment and spent about an hour with them and we played soccer! It was so fun! So we walked outside and as we were walking, Elder Kirkham's aunt said that the huge river that was in front of us was the Hudson River! I was so excited to see it! Then as we got closer I could see more and more of the city! We were literally at the bottom of lower Manhattan! It was so cool! So we set up some cones and played soccer with Elder Kirkham's 3 cousins for a while and then we enjoyed the amazing view! As you can tell I took quite a few pictures! 
Then as I was looking around at the city my eye caught the Statue of Liberty!!! I have been waiting to see it and I have been wanting to see it so bad! So we played soccer for about an hour then it was time to head back to the apartment for some dinner and then it was off to our appojntments! We didn't want to leave but we knew we had to. We had the best day ever and it was so much fun! We experienced so much of the big city in 1 day! I hope I explained everything well! So after we had some dinner and then we headed out to do a few lookups! We went to a less active member's house and a guy answered the door and told us that the family we were looking for actually moved. Even though they moved it is still beneficial for us to do so the next missionaries will be able to have that information! So after we found that out we decided to go to a member who has been in a dialysis center for a few years and so we really wanted to go see her! We have never met her before now so we were really anxious to meet her! So we walked in and we had to sign in since we were visiting and we got visitors tags and headed to here room! We walked in and she was SO happy to see us! Her name is Lois Johnson. She was born and raised here in the Bronx and has been here ever since! She is such a nice lady! We got to know her a little bit and then we offered to bring her the sacrament every week and she was so excited! We were so excited to meet her and we were so glad we stopped by! So after we got done talking with her for a while, we decided to head back to the apartment for the evening. Elder Kirkham and I just looked and each other and just said: "Wow what a great day!" It was such an amazing and incredible day! I am so blessed to be here in this mission and I know I was called here for a reason and this is where I am supposed to be!!
Tuesday was a great and very rainy day! We woke up and the weather was so dark and dismal. It had been pouring rain all night and very windy. So we woke up, got ready, and then did our studies and then we headed off to our weekly district meeting. The storm calmed down for a little while and it was so pleasant to be outside! I have loved the spring weather we have been having! I love all of the flowers and trees blooming! It reminds me of home and spending time with you all in the backyard! We had a great district meeting! I couldn't believe that it was the last one of the cycle! So we talked about all of our investigators and we have been noticing that it has been really hard for everyone in the district to get lessons and finding people to teach. I wish I had more investigators to talk to but they have all been so busy in the big city. Mostly everyone in the Bronx travels to Manhattan to work and so it is hard to catch them home. But I know the work will pick up! 
So after our district meeting we headed back to the apartment and we had some lunch and then started my last week of my 12 week program! I CANNOT believe that I'm done with it! Then we did an hour of companionship study and by that time it was 3:00 and so we went and did some more lookups and go visit some less active members of our ward! It was really fun to walk around the Bronx and visit members! It was pouring rain the whole time but luckily we had our umbrellas to keep us nice and dry! So after we went all over the Bronx we headed back to the apartment for some much needed dinner because we were starving! Then we cleaned up the whole apartment because Elder and Sister Coleman came over to inspect our apartments on Thursday and so we really wanted to get a head start on cleaning! I am so grateful that you taught me to be nice and organized! I am so grateful for everything you have taught me! So after we cleaned up most of the apartment, we were beat and it was time to start getting ready for bed! It was a great....but wet day!!
Wednesday was another great day! It rained a ton again on Wednesday. It was still a great day! We woke up, got ready for the day, and then did our studies! Then we had a plumber come to our apartment right after our personal study to fix our leaky faucet that we have. This last week our faucet leaked constantly and so we called the Superintendent of our building and she had him come over and fix the leak! So after he fixed the leak we headed over to Co-op City and did some finding! We looked up a few members and talked with them and it was awesome! As we did these lookups I kept thinking about the 2 missionaries stopped by our house a few months before I left! It was so cool to be in their same position! So after we did some lookups of members we knocked on a LOT of doors but nobody was interesting in hearing about what we had to say or nobody answered their doors. We just kept saying: "Well! They all can't be winners!" I know that sometimes it's hard to find people that want to hear from us but the most important thing that I have learned so far is just keep trying! Not all days are going to be filled with lessons or people to teach but I just love the experience of being a missionary! This week for my last week of 12 Week program we have been watching all of the District part 2 and I love it! And it has been interesting to see how similar they are! Even though they are in San Diego, they still have the same work to do! It has been really fun to watch! So we kept knocking doors but nobody wanted to talk for some reason. Usually we have 1 or 2 people that seem interested or chat with us for a few minutes but nobody wanted to talk. But the important thing to do is keep going!! So after we did this for a few hours, we headed back over to the apartment and had some dinner from 6:00-7:00 and then we did 12 Week and watched the District! Then after that we had the office Elders text Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen and said that they wanted to drop off a dresser that Elder Knudsen ordered! So after they dropped it off we chatted for a little while about how the missionary work was going! It was a great day!
Thursday was an amazing day! We always enjoy our weekly planning day to take a step back and focus on everyone that we have! It was a crazy to think that it was my last weekly planning session with Elder Kirkham! He has been such a great companion! So we weekly planned and called all of our investigators and set up some appointments for next week and then we scheduled in our study times! It was a great planning session and it got a ton of good practice because Elder Kirkham let me lead the whole time since he was maybe going to get transfered! So after we planned for a few hours, the 4 of us were really hungry so we decided to go out to eat at....Wendy's! It is kind of a tradition that we go out to eat somewhere on weekly planning days! So we went over to Wendy's and we all got the 4 for $4.00! It was so good! Then after that we headed back to the apartment to finish and finalize all of our plans for this week! Then as we were finishing up, Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen got a phone call from our Zone Leaders and they said that they wanted to do a split with them that night! We thought it was very short notice for them to be doing a split. So Elder Smiley was going to go to the Zone Leader's apartment with Elder Castro and then Elder Davis came over to our apartment and was companions with Elder Knudsen! Then about 20 minutes later, they got a call from the Assistants to the President and said that they also wanted to do a split Friday morning at 10:00. We couldn't believe it! 2 splits in 1 day! So on Friday morning, Elder Tabor, came over to our apartment and had a trifecta split! It was so cool because Elder Tabor is actually going home this coming Wednesday! So it was really fun to spend time with a missionary that is just about to go home! So right now, because Elder Tabor is going home, there are 3 Assistants to the President. Elder Tabor, Elder Ksrymowski, and a new assistant that will take Elder Tabor's place, Elder Chambers! So since there are 3 assistants, they just had Elder Tabor break off and come with Elder Davis and Elder Knudsen for a day! So it was a pretty crazy split! A split within a split! So after we got all of our weekly planning done we had an apartment inspection and Elder and Sister Coleman came over and inspected our whole apartment. I am so grateful for you teaching me how to be neat and tidy! Then after the apartment inspection we made some brownies from a box mix and as our apartment was being inspected, we had them baking in the oven and we planned to take them over to Bishop Jessop! We thought it would be really fun to take some over and have a lesson with him! So after our lesson with Bishop we headed over to the street right behind our apartment and we had another APF! Which is where we set up a table and talk to everyone we see! Elder Davis was with us because of the split and so it was really awesome to learn so much from one of our Zone Leaders! We had a great day and I learned a ton from having a Zone Leader in our apartment!
Friday was another great day! Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen took and bus to the Kingsbridge chapel to pick up Elder Tabor to start their trifecta split! So, we woke up and got ready for the day and did our studies and then we went out to a few apartments and looked up a few people. Then after we knocked on a few doors we headed back to the apartment for some lunch! When we got back for lunch Elder Tabor, Elder Davis, and Elder Knudsen were all at our apartment when we got there! It is always kind of nerve racking the have an Assistant to the President in our apartment! So while they studied, we ate and then started our 12 Week! This week we have been watching the whole season 2 of The District and it has been great! So after we did our 12 Week we headed back over to Co-op City and visited a lady named Dalia and then we headed all the way over to the very tip top of our area and we tried to visit a less active member's house and unfortunately he wasn't home so we headed back to the apartment and we did our companionship study! It was great and then a few days ago we had Matt call us and say that he wanted us to come over for dinner since he wasn't sure if Elder Kirkham was getting transfered so he really wanted to see him again! So we had it planned for a few days so we headed over to Matt's awesome old house in beautiful City Island and had dinner with Matt! He is a great guy! Then Elder Kirkham said goodbye to Matt and then we headed back to the apartment for the night after another awesome day!
Saturday was a great but nerve racking day because we both knew that there was a chance that Elder Kirkham would get transfered. So we woke up, got ready for the day and then studied really quick and we headed out the door for Manhattan. We got a text from President Smith about a week ago and he said that an investigator that Elder Kirkham found and later got baptized sadly passed away this last week and so President Smith wanted everyone that knew him to come to his funeral which I can't remember if I told you in my last email about him. So we actually got to go to Manhattan again! So we got on the train and headed for the church that Elder Kirkham went to each week and so I got to see where he served in his first area! I am going to miss him so much but he has trained me well, and like you said, he has set my while mission on the right path! So we took the subway train right underneath Central Park and then walked a few blocks to the amazing Church! Elder Kirkham was telling me that his church was actually going to be the Temple so they started to build it then the church purchased the land where the Temple is now and then they turned this Church into a regular church building! It is so pretty inside! So after the funeral they had a huge lunch for everyone! They had sandwiches with different meats and cheeses, salad, cupcakes, chocolate covered raisins, and my personal favorite.....cheesecake! So after the huge lunch and funeral we headed back to the apartment and did 2 and a half hours of studies since we couldn't do our personal study in the morning because we had to leave early. So after we did companion study, personal study, and my 12 week program, it was time for dinner. It takes us just under an hour to get to Manhattan so we spent about 2 hours traveling. So after we did all of our studies, we had a dinner with Dalton! Elder Kirkham really wanted to go and see all of his favorite people this week since we knew that he might be leaving so we headed over to Dalton's house! The sunset when we were walking over was incredible! It was so amazing! So after we had our dinner that he made us, we went out and just watched the sunset while we taught him about faith and fasting! The spirit was so strong and made it even more amazing because of the sunset! We had to make sure that we were back to the apartment for the night for transfer calls! I was really hoping that Elder Kirkham would stay but since he has been here for 4 cycles and trained me, we were pretty sure that he was getting transfered. So we waited until we got a call from our Zone Leaders and they said that he would be leaving. It is a very nerve racking wait! So after we heard the news we headed off to bed excited for transfers! So tomorrow at 1:30 we will get picked up by the office Elders and they will drive us to the Inwood Chapel and then I will say goodbye to Elder Kirkham. 
It will be a good change just like you said!
Sunday was a great day! I'm sorry that I don't have very many teaching lessons stories lately! It has been hard work trying to schedule appointments. I was really blessed to have a baptism so early on in my mission. Elder Kirkham just thinks that it is a busy time for people and they don't have time to have a sit down lesson. But we are working hard to find that golden investigator. We will keep trying! On the way to church we met Luis. He tapped us on the shoulder and couldn't believe that he was talking with real Mormons! He is about 22 years old and was born here in the Bronx but his parents are from Ecuador! He was just getting home from a date and we talked with him and got to know him a little better. Then I handed him our card with our phone number and a Restoration pamphlet, and a Book of Mormon. I have such a strong testimony about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon! I bore my testimony to him about how the Book of Mormon can bless his life and how much this Gospel has blessed yours and my life so much! He said that he would be interested in learning more so we were so excited for that! Church was great as usual and Elder Kirkham said goodbye to his many friends that he has made. So after church and our ward correlation meeting, it was time for a quick dinner and then we headed off to see Sister Johnson. She is really nice and wants us to come over and give her the sacrament each week and so we were happy to! We talked with her for a while, gave her the sacrament, and then she mentioned that she really likes oatmeal raisin cookies so we are planning to take some over to her next week! It was a great day!
Well everybody! It has been so much fun as usual to email you all and hearing how your week went! I loved your email and pictures so much! Thank you again for organizing my Google Drive! I hope you got to see all of my pictures from last week in the week 12 file! It was so much fun! I love and appreciate you all so much! I miss you all a ton and think about you all the time! You are so supportive and loving! Even though I miss you all and miss being there with you so much, I keep doing the work and working hard and I feel much better! I have felt so many blessings and prayers! Thank you all again for your email and pictures! I loved everything that you said! I'm so excited to be able to email you again on Wednesday! It's not for sure set that we will be in Manhattan on P-Day but I will definitely keep you posted! I love and miss you all so much and I hope you have a great week with work and school!
LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!
Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg
P.S: I found out that we get to schedule our Skype calls! I am waiting to talk with Elder Dick to find out when he wants to do it! I am so excited for it and I can't wait! It is going to be so awesome! So I was wondering what time works best for you? I have church from 11:00-2:00 so it would be 9:00-12:00 Utah time and you have church so I would be happy to work around that! I will definitely talk with Elder Dick and then set up a time on P-Day!
Also, I just uploaded all of this week's pictures! Elder Kirkham took pictures with some members since he was leaving so I decided to take some as well! I also took 2 videos of the beautiful sunset that we saw at Dalton's house! It was so pretty! Then I got a picture with Bishop Jessop who is from Logan and graduated from Utah State! and Brother Tsakpoe as well! It was a great week and I had a great time! Love and miss you all so much!
I can't even describe how excited I am for Mother's Day!!! We are less than 2 weeks away from Skyping! It will be so awesome to hear a familiar voice and see familiar faces! I am so stoked to see you all! I found out that some mission Presidents only let their missionaries Skype for 30 minutes on Mother's Day but President Smith gives us the full hour which is AWESOME! I am all set up and ready to call you! I am so excited and I can't wait to talk and see you all!
LAST P-DAY WAS INCREDIBLE!! I really felt bad that I couldn't tell you more about the day we had last week! I have been so looking forward all week to tell you more! It was so much fun I can't even put it into words! It was so amazing to see so many iconic and historical New York City landmarks! So we woke up on P-Day and got the usual P-Day activities taken care of like laundry and shopping! Then we came back to the apartment and emailed while everyone showered and got ready for the day! We all got ready really quick which was awesome because we were able to spend so much time in Manhattan! We were all so excited to go! (Me especially!)
Wednesday was another great day! It rained a ton again on Wednesday. It was still a great day! We woke up, got ready for the day, and then did our studies! Then we had a plumber come to our apartment right after our personal study to fix our leaky faucet that we have. This last week our faucet leaked constantly and so we called the Superintendent of our building and she had him come over and fix the leak! So after he fixed the leak we headed over to Co-op City and did some finding! We looked up a few members and talked with them and it was awesome! As we did these lookups I kept thinking about the 2 missionaries stopped by our house a few months before I left! It was so cool to be in their same position! So after we did some lookups of members we knocked on a LOT of doors but nobody was interesting in hearing about what we had to say or nobody answered their doors. We just kept saying: "Well! They all can't be winners!" I know that sometimes it's hard to find people that want to hear from us but the most important thing that I have learned so far is just keep trying! Not all days are going to be filled with lessons or people to teach but I just love the experience of being a missionary! This week for my last week of 12 Week program we have been watching all of the District part 2 and I love it! And it has been interesting to see how similar they are! Even though they are in San Diego, they still have the same work to do! It has been really fun to watch! So we kept knocking doors but nobody wanted to talk for some reason. Usually we have 1 or 2 people that seem interested or chat with us for a few minutes but nobody wanted to talk. But the important thing to do is keep going!! So after we did this for a few hours, we headed back over to the apartment and had some dinner from 6:00-7:00 and then we did 12 Week and watched the District! Then after that we had the office Elders text Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen and said that they wanted to drop off a dresser that Elder Knudsen ordered! So after they dropped it off we chatted for a little while about how the missionary work was going! It was a great day!
Thursday was an amazing day! We always enjoy our weekly planning day to take a step back and focus on everyone that we have! It was a crazy to think that it was my last weekly planning session with Elder Kirkham! He has been such a great companion! So we weekly planned and called all of our investigators and set up some appointments for next week and then we scheduled in our study times! It was a great planning session and it got a ton of good practice because Elder Kirkham let me lead the whole time since he was maybe going to get transfered! So after we planned for a few hours, the 4 of us were really hungry so we decided to go out to eat at....Wendy's! It is kind of a tradition that we go out to eat somewhere on weekly planning days! So we went over to Wendy's and we all got the 4 for $4.00! It was so good! Then after that we headed back to the apartment to finish and finalize all of our plans for this week! Then as we were finishing up, Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen got a phone call from our Zone Leaders and they said that they wanted to do a split with them that night! We thought it was very short notice for them to be doing a split. So Elder Smiley was going to go to the Zone Leader's apartment with Elder Castro and then Elder Davis came over to our apartment and was companions with Elder Knudsen! Then about 20 minutes later, they got a call from the Assistants to the President and said that they also wanted to do a split Friday morning at 10:00. We couldn't believe it! 2 splits in 1 day! So on Friday morning, Elder Tabor, came over to our apartment and had a trifecta split! It was so cool because Elder Tabor is actually going home this coming Wednesday! So it was really fun to spend time with a missionary that is just about to go home! So right now, because Elder Tabor is going home, there are 3 Assistants to the President. Elder Tabor, Elder Ksrymowski, and a new assistant that will take Elder Tabor's place, Elder Chambers! So since there are 3 assistants, they just had Elder Tabor break off and come with Elder Davis and Elder Knudsen for a day! So it was a pretty crazy split! A split within a split! So after we got all of our weekly planning done we had an apartment inspection and Elder and Sister Coleman came over and inspected our whole apartment. I am so grateful for you teaching me how to be neat and tidy! Then after the apartment inspection we made some brownies from a box mix and as our apartment was being inspected, we had them baking in the oven and we planned to take them over to Bishop Jessop! We thought it would be really fun to take some over and have a lesson with him! So after our lesson with Bishop we headed over to the street right behind our apartment and we had another APF! Which is where we set up a table and talk to everyone we see! Elder Davis was with us because of the split and so it was really awesome to learn so much from one of our Zone Leaders! We had a great day and I learned a ton from having a Zone Leader in our apartment!
Friday was another great day! Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen took and bus to the Kingsbridge chapel to pick up Elder Tabor to start their trifecta split! So, we woke up and got ready for the day and did our studies and then we went out to a few apartments and looked up a few people. Then after we knocked on a few doors we headed back to the apartment for some lunch! When we got back for lunch Elder Tabor, Elder Davis, and Elder Knudsen were all at our apartment when we got there! It is always kind of nerve racking the have an Assistant to the President in our apartment! So while they studied, we ate and then started our 12 Week! This week we have been watching the whole season 2 of The District and it has been great! So after we did our 12 Week we headed back over to Co-op City and visited a lady named Dalia and then we headed all the way over to the very tip top of our area and we tried to visit a less active member's house and unfortunately he wasn't home so we headed back to the apartment and we did our companionship study! It was great and then a few days ago we had Matt call us and say that he wanted us to come over for dinner since he wasn't sure if Elder Kirkham was getting transfered so he really wanted to see him again! So we had it planned for a few days so we headed over to Matt's awesome old house in beautiful City Island and had dinner with Matt! He is a great guy! Then Elder Kirkham said goodbye to Matt and then we headed back to the apartment for the night after another awesome day!
Saturday was a great but nerve racking day because we both knew that there was a chance that Elder Kirkham would get transfered. So we woke up, got ready for the day and then studied really quick and we headed out the door for Manhattan. We got a text from President Smith about a week ago and he said that an investigator that Elder Kirkham found and later got baptized sadly passed away this last week and so President Smith wanted everyone that knew him to come to his funeral which I can't remember if I told you in my last email about him. So we actually got to go to Manhattan again! So we got on the train and headed for the church that Elder Kirkham went to each week and so I got to see where he served in his first area! I am going to miss him so much but he has trained me well, and like you said, he has set my while mission on the right path! So we took the subway train right underneath Central Park and then walked a few blocks to the amazing Church! Elder Kirkham was telling me that his church was actually going to be the Temple so they started to build it then the church purchased the land where the Temple is now and then they turned this Church into a regular church building! It is so pretty inside! So after the funeral they had a huge lunch for everyone! They had sandwiches with different meats and cheeses, salad, cupcakes, chocolate covered raisins, and my personal favorite.....cheesecake! So after the huge lunch and funeral we headed back to the apartment and did 2 and a half hours of studies since we couldn't do our personal study in the morning because we had to leave early. So after we did companion study, personal study, and my 12 week program, it was time for dinner. It takes us just under an hour to get to Manhattan so we spent about 2 hours traveling. So after we did all of our studies, we had a dinner with Dalton! Elder Kirkham really wanted to go and see all of his favorite people this week since we knew that he might be leaving so we headed over to Dalton's house! The sunset when we were walking over was incredible! It was so amazing! So after we had our dinner that he made us, we went out and just watched the sunset while we taught him about faith and fasting! The spirit was so strong and made it even more amazing because of the sunset! We had to make sure that we were back to the apartment for the night for transfer calls! I was really hoping that Elder Kirkham would stay but since he has been here for 4 cycles and trained me, we were pretty sure that he was getting transfered. So we waited until we got a call from our Zone Leaders and they said that he would be leaving. It is a very nerve racking wait!
Sunday was a great day! I'm sorry that I don't have very many teaching lessons stories lately! It has been hard work trying to schedule appointments. I was really blessed to have a baptism so early on in my mission. Elder Kirkham just thinks that it is a busy time for people and they don't have time to have a sit down lesson. But we are working hard to find that golden investigator. We will keep trying!
Well everybody! It has been so much fun as usual to email you all and hearing how your week went! I loved your email and pictures so much! Thank you again for organizing my Google Drive! I hope you got to see all of my pictures from last week in the week 12 file! It was so much fun! I love and appreciate you all so much! I miss you all a ton and think about you all the time! You are so supportive and loving! Even though I miss you all and miss being there with you so much, I keep doing the work and working hard and I feel much better! I have felt so many blessings and prayers! Thank you all again for your email and pictures! I loved everything that you said! I'm so excited to be able to email you again on Wednesday! It's not for sure set that we will be in Manhattan on P-Day but I will definitely keep you posted! I love and miss you all so much and I hope you have a great week with work and school!
LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!
Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg
P.S: I found out that we get to schedule our Skype calls! I am waiting to talk with Elder Dick to find out when he wants to do it! I am so excited for it and I can't wait! It is going to be so awesome! So I was wondering what time works best for you? I have church from 11:00-2:00 so it would be 9:00-12:00 Utah time and you have church so I would be happy to work around that! I will definitely talk with Elder Dick and then set up a time on P-Day!
Also, I just uploaded all of this week's pictures! Elder Kirkham took pictures with some members since he was leaving so I decided to take some as well! I also took 2 videos of the beautiful sunset that we saw at Dalton's house! It was so pretty! Then I got a picture with Bishop Jessop who is from Logan and graduated from Utah State! and Brother Tsakpoe as well! It was a great week and I had a great time! Love and miss you all so much!
No comments:
Post a Comment