Trip to Manhattan!

Tanner got to go into Manhattan today for his p-day. He had a great day and sent lots of pictures.

I'm so glad that you all had a great day! I was so glad to hear all about your day and what you have been doing around the house! It is really fun to hear all about It! We had a great time and just got back and now we are just about to head over to the Tsakpoe's apartment for a lesson! Today was incredible! As we were traveling and looking around at all of the sights, we had so many people come up to us and say: "How's it going Elders!" We stopped and talked to a lot of cool people. We were at a crosswalk and a man walked up next to us and asked us where we were from. 3 of the 4 of us are from Utah and when we said where we were from, he said: "Me too!" He is from Cedar City and was on vacation and he was just heading over to his hotel. We talked with him for a little while and then a few blocks later we met a family from Los Angeles and they were on vacation before their daughter reports to the MTC before she goes to the Port of Trinidad Spain Mission. Her and her family were on vacation. It was so cool because here we were standing in the middle of Manhattan and have someone come up and talk to us! It was really cool! We also had lots of people just say: "Hey Elders" as we passed them. So this morning we woke up and did laundry and grocery shopping. Then after we folded our laundry, we headed to the train station and first went all the way down to the very bottom of Manhattan and went to the 9/11 Memorial, Chipotle, The Federal Reserve Bank, The Charging Bull Statue, and the Battery Park where we got to see the Statue of Liberty even closer! It was all so amazing and hard to take it all in. You were right when you said that it is like a mini vacation. Then after that, we decided to do another really fun thing. We had a little bit of time left and none of the 3 other Elders have been to The Museum of the City of New York. So we decided to really quickly start heading back to the apartment for dinner and so we stopped and watched the really cool "Timescapes" in the museum. They all enjoyed it so much! It was really crazy to see so many people and tourists out and about. Battery Park was so cool because they had the monument that was in between the 2 World Trade Center Towers. It was so crazy to see because this solid steel globe had been pierced when the towers collapsed. That was one of my favorite parts about our trip that I didn't know that we would be able to see. I was sure to take lots of pictures because there was something to take a picture of wherever I turned! On top of that.....the weather was so nice and cool! There was a nice breeze. Well everybody! It has been a blast to hear from you and read you emails! I am so glad that you all had a great and fun week! I just want you to know how much I miss you. I wish you could be here to see all of this because it is amazing! I know that you are all here in spirit. I hope you all have an amazing and fun week. Happy 4th of July of Tuesday and shoot off lots of fireworks. Maybe if you shoot them high enough, I will be able to see them all the way over here! I can't wait until next week when I can email you again. I look forward to your emails and pictures so much! I think I already mentioned this but we are having a really big, missionwide sacrament meeting and we are pretty sure that someone BIG will be there. I can't wait to tell you all about it. Happy 4th of July everyone! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL TONS!! ♥️




Love Always From New York!
~Elder Lindberg


P.S: I just got all of my pictures that I took today uploaded! I hope you enjoy! I left the ones that I just took out of the folder and put the other ones in the folder. I hope I remembered everything that I wanted to ask you and I hope that I answered your questions. Love ya!

Having a Great Week!

June 28th 2017~Happy 4th of July! Congrats Abbs on your promotion!

Hello my dear family and Happy 4th of July!! It is pretty crazy to think that I have to wish you Happy 4th of July almost a week before since I won't have P-Day until it is over. Thank you so much for your amazing postcard! It was SO much fun to get! It was so fun to think that you were in such a fun place! Also, I need to congratulate Abbs on your promotion! Congrats Sis! I am so happy to hear that you are doing so well! I loved seeing the picture frame that you made for Mom and Dad for their Anniversary! I loved all of the pictures and it was so cool to see some that I have taken! You did a really great job. It has been really fun and gives me an extra boost to get your emails during the week. They help me so much and I appreciate them a ton. I loved the gif picture! It was really cool how it flashes. Well, I hope I can remember everything that happened and I explain everything well.

So I have some really exciting news! This Sunday, President Smith announced something really awesome that all of the missionaries get to do! So every single missionary in the whole mission is coming to Manhattan this Sunday! It will be a special Missionary Sacrament Meeting at the Temple Chapel! How cool is that?!?! So we will get to go to Manhattan and have our Sacrament Meeting and then head back to our church! It starts at 9:00 and lasts an hour. We are all really excited and it will be so cool to have every single missionary there!

I have some more exciting news! I can't believe that I am saying this but, this coming Saturday will be my official 1/4 of the way done with my mission! Grandma Evans mentioned it a few emails ago and I thought it was so crazy! I can't believe that I'm already a fourth of the way there! When did this happen!?! Time has just been going by so quick and so it seems crazy that I'm already so far in!

I am so excited for P-Day! I am so excited to say that we may go to........wait.......The 9/11 Memorial!!! Elder Dick really wants to go see it and so we are going to try to go to the High Line, and the 9/11 Memorial. We have a few different things we want to do so we are trying to decide but that is in the mix! I will be sure to let you know how everything goes! We are just doing laundry and so we will go grocery shopping in a few minutes and then we will head to Manhattan!! So we are still trying to solidify a plan and where we want to go so we can see lots of stuff! I'm so excited!!

Last P-day was awesome! We woke up and did our laundry and grocery shopping. Then we cleaned the whole apartment and then we emailed! It was so nice to clean and get the apartment ready for the next week! Before we went grocery shopping, Elder Jackman and Elder Knudsen wanted to buy some potting soil and some watermelon seeds to grow watermelons. So we headed over to the Home Depot that is right next to Aldi's and bought some pots and seeds. It was pretty fun! Then as we were emailing, all 4 of us ended up falling asleep! We were only asleep for an hour but it was very nice to recharge. We were really excited for today to roll around because it was our Manhattan day! We were very excited and couldn't wait! Then we talked about our plans and mapped out a schedule for today so we would be able to spend as much time as possible in Manhattan! I enjoyed your treats and typing on my new keyboard so much! It works awesome and I love how quick I can type!

Thursday was a very awesome day! We started the day by exercising, getting ready for the day, and studying. Then we did our weekly planning session and planned everything out for the week! We planned lots of lessons with some great people! Then after we planned everything out we had such an amazing rest of our day! Elder Dick and I headed over to the church to start our split with the Zone Leaders! They decided that Elder Davis would come into my area and Elder Dick would go with Elder Stevens to their area! So we started our split and dropped off Elder Davis' stuff at the apartment and then headed to a lesson with an awesome lady named Gloria! So we headed over to her apartment and her son wasn't home so we couldn't go in so we talked with her about the Restoration pamphlet that she read and answered any questions that she had. She asked lots of very good questions! She is from Nigeria just like Osagie so it was really great to get to know her better! After our great lesson with Gloria, we had a very busy and great rest of our evening! It was jam packed with lots of lessons and we met lots of great people! I hope I can remember all of the details because it was a very special night that really strengthened my testimony! So we headed over to another lesson with a guy that we found tracting just a few days ago named Mark! We stopped by and he said that visitors were not allowed to come inside for that specific part of the day. He was really sorry and we rescheduled for another day! Then as we were walking down the street for our next lesson, we saw the Grand Daughters of the other lady named Madeline Lopez. Since she lives alone with her Grand Daughters, we could never go inside so we passed her records off to the Sister missionaries so they could start going over. So we talked with her Grand Daughters for a little while and shared with them the Prince of Peace video and they really liked it! Madeline was actually sleeping so we weren't able to talk with her. We told them that the Sister Missionaries would start coming over and then said goodbye to them because we had another lesson that we needed to be at. We then walked a ton!! As we were leaving we got a call from Sister Figuero and she said that she needed some help setting up a new home phone. We knew that we couldn't go inside but she said that we could do it in the hallway. She just didn't know how to do it. We were so glad to help her out! We were in a spot in Co-Op City that we couldn't take a bus to her apartment so we decided to walk the 2 miles to her apartment. We had a really nice walk and the weather was so beautiful! I got to know Elder Davis really well! So we got to Sister Figuero's house and set up her phone. It was pretty easy and we shared a quick message and then headed over to our next appointment. But before our 8:00 lesson, we decided to stop at Subway that was right next to where we were so we got Subway and it was so good! Then we headed to an apartment complex that was pretty close to our apartment and taught a 26 year old named Mike! We found Mike when we were looking for his parents. He is a great guy! He wasn't feeling the best so we just had a quick 20 minute lesson with him. He is from Sierra Leone Africa and loves soccer. We taught him the Restoration and we all felt the spirit so strong! Elder Davis is a very powerful teacher and I learned so much from him. It was a great night and we left Mike's apartment ready for a good night's rest! As we were leaving, there were a whole bunch of kids riding bikes and playing basketball. It was a project building complex and so these kids have come from pretty rough circumstances. These kids came up to us and wondered what we were doing and asked us lots of questions. It was a great moment and we enjoyed getting to know these kids better. There was 1 kid who was 8 years old and he loves basketball. He reminded me of Brandon and Parker because he knew so much about basketball and he was telling us all about how he is going to play in the NBA and how much he loves Kyrie Irving. We then gave them all a fist bump and then headed back to the apartment for the night. It was an amazing and busy day of missionary work! I learned a lot and I feel like I have really gotten the hang of things now that I have some time under my belt!

Friday was a really awesome day! I continued to learn so much from Elder Davis! He is from Arizona and has been on his mission for about 10 months now. He is always such a great example! So we finished our split by waking up and heading to Co-Op City because we had a guy who really wanted a Bible but he was very busy so we met him at 10:00 am to accommodate his schedule. So Elder Davis and I headed over to a Dunkin' Doughnuts that was right by his house. His name is Lawrence Williams and we were really looking forward to meeting him! I have been meaning to tell you this for a while but I can't believe how diverse this area is! We have met so many people from Nigeria, Jamaica, Antiga, Africa, Bangladesh, and Albania! It has been so cool to get to know lots of different cultures because we run into people from all over the place everywhere we turn! It has been great to talk with so many different people with different backgrounds! So we headed to Co-Op City and sat down and talked with Lawrence for a little while. He told us that he just ordered a Bible because the one he has is very old and it falling apart. So we gave him the Bible that he ordered and then introduced the Book of Mormon to him. The whole reason why Bible referrals are so important is because it allows us to give them a rundown of the Book of Mormon and set up another appointment! But Lawrence did not want to meet with us because he just wanted a free Bible and that was it. When we told him about the Book of Mormon, he said: "Why do I need a 2nd book when all of the answers that I need are in the Bible?" We testified of the Book of Mormon and how it can bless his life! He said that he wasn't interested so we thanked him for his time and then headed back to the apartment for our studies! Then after that, it was time for Elder Davis and I to head over to the Church and unsplit. I learned a lot and have really been enjoying my time here! Like Dad said in his last email, I'm definitely not a greenie anymore! I still feel so new! So after we unsplit, we headed to the apartment to drop off Elder Dick's overnight bag and then headed back out for more work! We then did our language study and then had dinner. Then we headed to drop off another Bible and see if we could schedule an appointment! We went to the address that we had for a lady named Fantaisha, and it was for a hair salon business but it was closed. So we decided what to do next and quickly headed to do some lookups of some investigators that lived near where we were. We looked up a lady named Jennifer Bailey. She had ordered a Bible a while ago and we dropped it off about a month ago and so we wanted to go over and set another appointment. She answered the door and told us that she just wanted a Bible and politely said that she wasn't interested in having us over. So then we headed to a bunch of apartments of Charmaine, a less active couple, and then we stopped by to see Mona. Mona is a very nice lady! We talked for a little while about her son and how she was doing. Her son is going to college and is pretty successful in his movie making. He wants to be a film director and has been really successful so far. So we talked with her for a little while and then we decided to compile a list of investigators and less active members that we could call and visit. Then after we did that it was time to head back to the apartment for the night. We had a great day and I learned a ton from our split!

Wow! Saturday was another great day! We woke up to pouring rain and then got ready for the day, did our studies, and then had lunch! Then after lunch we had an appointment with our new investigator named Mark! So we headed over to his apartment and talked with him for a little while and we found out that he read most of the Restoration pamphlet! We always love it when out investigators read on their own. It is a great feeling! So we taught him the Plan of Salvation and answered any questions that he had about the Restoration. We had a great lesson with him and then we went over just down the street and visited Madeline since we were right there. Madeline was home and told us that the Sister Missionaries had just been over to teach a lesson! They even brought Sister Figeuro and then taught them a great lesson. We talked with her for a little while and invited them to Church and to our ward activity that we had right after Church. She said that they really needed to go to church and that her and her Grand Daughters would really benefit from going. We were really excited because we just knocked on their door a few days ago and here they are coming to church all because we felt like we should knock on their door! It was a really cool experience to see them come to church! Then after we got done sharing a quick message with them, we saw something really crazy! We were walking back to the bus stop and saw a man sitting on the curb in handcuffs. There were tons of undercover police officers standing around him checking his pockets and asking him questions. Then they put him inside of an unmarked police van and away they went. It was pretty crazy to see! There have been so many parties and tourists all around us wherever we look. It is pretty crazy to think that it is summer vacation and so everyone is out and about. Then after we got back to the apartment, we called a bunch of investigators and less active members. We found some numbers that were either disconnected or not in service and so our investigators with just phone numbers and no address had to be "dropped". Our area books on our tablets have what's called "drop". Whenever an investigator tells you that they are not interested or you can't contact them, then we drop them and so it keeps our area book less crowded. So we called a bunch of people and then we headed over to Matt's house for another lesson! We are just trying to figure out what he needs so he can progress and get baptized soon. He has been meeting with missionaries for the past year but just doesn't want to take that next step and come to church or be baptized. He is a great guy and loves hearing our lessons but he says that Sundays are his days to get things done around the house and so he says that it would take his whole Sunday just to get to and from church since it is so far away. We promised him that if he made that sacrifice then he would be blessed. So we headed over to City Island and it took us forever because it was a Saturday and everyone and their dog was headed over to the beach and restraunts. So when we got there, it was already 6:20. So we had a great lesson with Matt and then he made us a quick dinner which was really good! He mashed some potatoes then added some eggs and onions then he put the mixture inside some of his homemade dough and then fried them! It was really good! We knew that to get back to the apartment on time, we had to leave City Island no later than 7:30. Especially on a Saturday we have to make sure we plan in lots of time to travel since it takes longer to get places on the weekends. So we got on a bus and slowly but steadily we got to Pelham Bay station and we saw something else that was even crazier! There were about 10 police cars and lights flashing everywhere. We got off the City Island bus and had to transfer to another bus that would take us back to the apartment. We carefully got off the bus because there were TONS of teenagers all over the place. There were probably close to 500 teenagers waiting for busses. There was a police barricade and close to 20 police officers all over the place. We found out that there was a huge fight between a few groups of teenagers and so the police were there to break it up. The police were there to get all of these kids onto busses to go home. So we all crammed into a few busses and made our way back to the apartment. It was crazy and I couldn't believe how many kids and police officers there were. We made it back with a few minutes to spare before our curfew! We had a great day!

Sunday was such a great day! I couldn't believe that it had been a whole week since I gave my talk and Father's Day. We had such a great day and we even had a surprize visitor at Church today!!! So we got up and did our studies and then we headed off to Church! It was such a beautiful day and we enjoyed being outside so much! So we got to Church and the Spanish ward had just gotten out and Elder Brown and Elder Munoz were at the door and they told us that a lady was looking for us. We weren't sure who it was so we headed around the corner and there was Arthel Francis!! She said: "Surprise!" We were so happy to see her at Church. She says that she felt like it would be a good idea for her and her 10 year old daughter to come since we shoveled her snow. We have been trying to get them to Church for a while now and so it was so great to see them. They have 3 daughters and only her and her youngest daughter came so we showed them around the church really quick before it started. We had no idea that they would come and so it was awesome to see them. So then we went into our Gospel Doctrines class and she really enjoyed it! She is actually a nurse at a local hospital and we were talking about the Word of Wisdom! Sister Rocchi did a great job teaching it and Arthel really enjoyed it! While we were having the lesson, a lady named Sister Fryer and her cute little baby Nathan were sitting next to Elder Dick and I. Nathan kept coming over to me and giving me his tiny shoe and thought it was SO funny when I would pretend to walk the shoe on the chair. He laughed and laughed! He is very young still and can only balance for just a few seconds so it was really funny to have him laugh so much! Then after the lesson, we went to our Elders Quorum class taught by Brother Tueller. He did a great job and then we went to sacrament meeting. We had some great talks! We sat by Dalton and it was so great to see him. Then after Sacrament Meeting, we had our Ward Activity! We watched "The Work and the Glory". It was combined with the Spanish ward and so it was really fun to get to know everybody better! It was a great time and then we headed back to the apartment to have a quick dinner and then we headed to give Sister Johnson the sacrament. We had a great visit and then we decided to head back to the apartment to plan and prepare for Monday's District Meeting. We were enjoying a nice walk back and there was nobody in sight. It was so quiet and peaceful which is very rare and un-heard of for the Bronx. It was a really nice night! Then as Elder Dick and I were enjoying the walk, we noticed a grey 2006 Honda Civic just like yours stop up ahead of where we were. He pulled over and as we got closer I noticed that he had 2 Miami Dolphins bumper stickers and then I quoted Brian Regan and said: "Looks like we got ourselves a Dolphins fan." It would have been really funny if Elder Dick had heard that Brian Regan joke but he hadn't. So we got closer and as we passed the Civic, the guy who was driving asked us if we were on our missions. We told him yes! He had his daughter and his son in the car with him and all 3 of them were totally decked out in Yankees gear. He then said: "So do you know someone who lives in Ogden Utah named Ross Porter." It was really funny that he just assumed that we lived in Utah and that I knew this guy that he did. He had never been to Utah but he said that he really wants to sometime. We chatted with him for a little while and then they headed home. It was awesome to talk to them and we were glad that they stopped for a while. So we headed back to the apartment to finalize District Meeting. It was a great day and we enjoyed working so much!

Monday was another great day! I have been feeling so many prayers and I have felt so blessed. I haven't been feeling homesick! But that doesn't mean that I don't miss you so much because I still miss you all so much. I have felt so much love and support each and every day! I get up and I have such a boost of motivation and determination to do my best! It has been great! So we woke up, got ready for the day, did our studies, and then headed to the Church to set up for District Meeting and to go to Leadership Meeting! So we headed over to the Church and practiced our role play that we were in charge of. I was in charge of demonstrating of how to properly extend the invitation to be baptized. The Zone Leaders asked if I would demonstrate during our leadership meeting and how can I say no to that! I thought it was pretty cool that they chose me! So we practiced for that and then we set up chairs for District Meeting. We had a great Leadership Meeting and talked about our investigators and my role play went great! So then after Leadership Meeting, we headed upstairs and Elder Dick did a really great job at District Meeting! He keeps things lively and does a great job! So after District Meeting, we headed back to the apartment to do our studies. Then we had something really awesome planned! About 2 weeks ago, Sister Ampah invited us over for dinner! So we headed over to the Ampah family's house and their 2 little sons, Ellis and Moses were so happy to see us! They came running at us and have Elder Dick and I a ton of high fives! So we sat down and then Sister Ampah brought us a huge plate of food. We had some really good rice but I can't remember the name of it. It is a classic African recipe that she made with her Mom when she was growing up. Then we had baked chicken, baked beans, and really good watermelon! It was a great time and we enjoyed getting to know them better. We then taught them about prayer and scripture study as a family! They didn't need much teaching because they already read the Book of Mormon and pray before they head out the door every day so it was a nice reminder for them. We had a great time and then we said goodbye and Moses and Ellis didn't want us to leave. We had another lesson to go to so we said goodbye and headed back to a project apartment complex right by our apartment. Elder Knudsen and Elder Jackman found a lady named Kay on a bus and got to know her a little better. She said that she was interested in meeting with missionaries and so they got her address and found out that she lives in our area! We were really excited to get to know her better and start teaching her! So we headed over to her apartment and she was actually sitting on a bench right outside her apartment so we just taught her right there on the park bench. She is a really nice Baptist lady from Jamaica who is just trying to find her purpose in life is what she told us. We were so happy to hear that she had that desire. We taught her the Restoration and it went so well! We all felt the spirit so strong and enjoyed getting to know her better. Here is some really exciting news!!! We invited her to be baptised and she told us that if she found for herself that our message is true then she would get baptized! We hadn't prayed about a Baptismal date yet so we just stuck with the invitation. It was really exciting to see her faith and her desire to want to learn more! So after our lesson with Kay, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night after a great and productive day!

Wow! What an incredible day yesterday was!! We had such an amazing Zone Conference! So we had to wake up really early in the morning and get ready because the office Elders told us that they would pick all of the Elders up at the Church at 7:15. So we hurried over to the church and met Elder Kirkham and his new Office Elder companion, Elder Gappeldt! It is always so good to see Elder Kirkham! He has been doing really well and loving the Office! This will most likely be his last cycle in the office so that means that there will be an opening for someone to take his place. I'm not going to lie, but being an office Elder would be awesome! The mission actually just bought a really nice, new, van for the Office Elders to use! It is really nice! So we drove to Scarsdale and then President Smith started the Zone Conference! He and Sister Smith always do an incredible job! They are always so interesting to listen to and they always help us improve and become better as missionaries. Zone Conference lasted pretty much the whole day by the time we got back to our apartment. It lasted from 9:00-4:30. It was SO great and I learned a ton as usual! We learned a lot about setting goals and then we went into the chapel and learned about the sacrament and how we can help members and investigators get more out of the Sacrament. It was all really great! So after our Zone Conference, we all loaded up into the van and by the time we got back to the apartment for dinner and to change out of our suits, it was 6:30. We helped take everything down and put away tables and chairs and so that took about an hour and then an hour to get back to the apartment. Then, Elder Dick had wanted to talk with President Smith so we actually headed over to the Church to Skype President Smith. President Smith talked to him about being a District Leader. It was such a great day! We hurried back to the apartment and I was SO excited to read your email and then it came right after I wrote in my journal! I loved reading it so much!

Well everyone! It was SO fun to email you and to hear all about your week! I am so glad that you have all been doing well! I pray for you in every single one of my prayers and I am so happy that my prayers have been answered! You are the best family ever and I love you all so much! I can't believe how fast time is going and how long I have already been on my mission. I can't believe that I'm already at 5 months!!! I miss you all every single day and I want you to know how much I appreciate you. I have enjoyed my mission so much so far and I appreciate the sacrifices you made and continue to make to allow me to be out here! It is always so hard to be away from you and home but I know that I will look back on my mission fondly and how much I enjoyed it. It is always hard to miss events and not being there for you but I'm always there in spirit. I am working hard and trying my best so I guess I can't fail. It is so comforting to know that you are all doing well and enjoying your summer break. Your email help me so much and I enjoy reading all of your detailed letters. I hope you have an amazing week! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!! ♥️

Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg

Birthday Success!

June 21st 2017~THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE AMAZING 

                                         BIRTHDAY PACKAGE!!

Hello my dear Family! Wow! What an amazing week! Thank you all so much for you amazing email, pictures, and videos and your amazing Birthday package! I had so much fun looking though them all! I had a wonderful Birthday and had so much fun looking at everyone's cards and opening packages! I felt like you were all here with me celebrating! I'm so glad that you had an amazing and safe trip! It looked like so much fun! I was so surprised at how much you got to do and what you got to see! You sure did fit a lot of fun stuff into just a few days! I am very glad that you got to go and see so many cool sights! I was very jealous though that you got to go to the Beaurau of Engraving and Printing!! That has been on my bucket list my whole life! It looked like it was so much fun! We had a great week and had lots of cool and amazing things happen! I am so excited that we get to chat back and forth today! Today for P-Day we are still deciding what to do. We just got back from shopping and we already have our laundry done so now we get to just have fun!


WOW! What can I say about your Anniversary and my Brithday other than it was so fun! I appreciated so much all of your Birthday wishes and your pictures and videos that you sent! It was SO fun to hear you wish me a Happy Birthday in person!!! It was such a fun day and I loved every second of it! I think I told you about most of the day last week as it was happening. I had such a great Birthday and I appreciated so much all of the amazing Birthday wishes! It was SO fun to look through all of your pictures from your trip and then see videos as well! I was thinking about you all day and thinking what fun thing you were doing at that moment! So we went to this really cool Hall of Fame just down the street from our apartment and looked at many different famous people like authors, aviators, Presidents and so much more! It was right on the campus of Bronx Community College and so it made me feel like I was back at Utah State! They had tons of cool sculptures of famous and historical Americans! It was all really cool! So after we looked at all of them it was time to head to Red Robin for a Birthday dinner! We got to Red Robin and It wasn't very busy and so we got seated and our orders taken really quick. I decided to get the Tavern Burger meal with the endless fries and a pear lemonade that was so good! The whole time we were eating, I was thinking of you. I just couldn't believe how close you were! It was such a fun time and i had a great Birthday! It was so much fun to be able to email you on your actual Anniversary! It was the best! So after our delicious dinner, we were already in Co-Op City so we went and found a bench to call and text some of our investigators. We do this thing called daily contact where we call and text our investigators a scripture or an inspirational quote. So as we were doing that, an older guy with a button up shirt and a Yankees baseball hat came up to us and started talking with us. He jokingly said: "What are ya sellin'?" He knew that we weren't selling anything and then he wondered where we were from. We told him and he was so nice! He was very friendly and started talking to us about the Bronx because he has lived there his whole life. He had a very cool voice that sounded like a P.A announcer voice or a sports radio broadcaster. He told us that Co-Op City used to be an amusement park before they built all of the apartment buildings. He had a really cool New York accent and was really fun to listen to. We chatted with him for a while and then he said that it was time for him to head home for the evening. We then knocked on some doors around Co-op but not very many people were home even though it was the evening. We texted Osagie and Kojo to see if they were home when We could visit them but they were both working until really late. So we just knocked on some doors of people we had in our area book. Then after that we headed back to the apartment for the night and then Elder Dick, Elder Jackman, and Elder Knudsen did something so nice for me! Without me knowing, Elder Knudsen and Elder Jackman went into the kitchen and made a pan of brownies from a Ghirardelli box mix and put some candles on it and came out singing Happy Birthday! It was a great surprise and we had a fun time celebrating! I even had some ice cream and so we had a really fun time! It was a great Birthday and I appreciate all of the love and birthday wishes so much! It was a very fun day!!


Thursday was AWESOME!, I was SO excited to get your package!!! I couldn't wait to open it! I got it right after lunch and brought it home and opened it right up! We had a celebration and everyone was there when I opened it! I can't thank you enough for everything that you put in there!!! I loved it all so much and it was a ton of fun to read all of the cards you made for me! So we got a call from Elder Kirkham and his new office Elder, Elder Gappeldt and they said that we could come let them into the church and get our mail! So we picked up all of the mail for the apartment and I excitedly took your package back to the apartment! I loved everything that you put in it! I was so excited to get a Bluetooth keyboard (which I am using right now as we speak!) It works so great and is so much easier to email you now! I was lso so excited to get some nice slippers t wear aroud the apartment and a nice new journal to write in! Let's just say that I really loved everything that you put in! I have been enjoying all of the treats SO much! Everyone was especially jealous of the milk chocolate Riesens and the red velvet cookies! I shared with them and they thought that everything was so good! I also loved the new ties as well! I loved them both so much and have enjoyed honoring Grandpa every time I wear it! I am so excited to say that I made your delicious funfetti cake and we had a celebration! They look so good and I loved the candle idea! The confetti was a fun suprise too. I loved the awesome cards that you all wrote and decorated for me! I loved reading all of your kind words so much! I will save them forever! I have really been enjoying using my pens to write in my journal! I keep one at my desk just for my journal and then I use the other one thrughout the day and keep it in my pocket. I just can't thank you all enough for the many Birthday wishes and for the amazing packge! You definately spoiled me and guess what......I'm 2000 miles away and I felt so much love! We woke up and headed outside to play some baseball on the baseball field that we have right down the street from our apartment and It was so fun! There is just something about baseball and the Bronx. They go hand in hand! It was a really fun time and then we headed back to the apartment to get ready for the day. Then after we planned and did our studies, we started our weekly planning. Man, I am typing this so much faster on my new keyboard than I was just with my 2 thumbs. So we planned out half of our week and then we took a quick break and had some lunch. I had some really good Texas toast that I found at Aldi's and then some yogurt with granola. I know that sounds like a wierd combonation but it sounded really good! So after we had lunch, we got a text from the office Elders telling us that mail would be there in just a little while so we quickly headed over to the church to get my package! So we headed back to the apartment and I opened up my package and then we finished weekly planning and did our language and companionship study. Then by that time it was dinner and so we had dinner while I read through all of the amazing cards that you sent and then I had some treats! You guys know exactly which candy I like because you got ALL of my favorites! I loved the cards so much and then I tried on my slippers and tried out my new keyboard! Then we headed out to Co-Op City for the night! We did a ton of lookups and tried to schedule some appointments but not a lot of people were home. We knocked on Gifty, Deinde, Kojo, Hector, Charles, and Adrian's door but only a few of them were home. We had really fun though talking with people because is was SO pleasant to be outside. There was an amazing sunset and the temperature was so cool. Elder Dick and I continue to get along.....even though he goes to a school down south that is rivals with Utah State. He is a great guy and we enjoy each others' company! We headed back to the apartment on the most crowded bus I have ever seen in my life. Just when you think that not a single person could get on the bus.....more people would pile on! It was crazy! So we got back to the apartment and I put on my new slippers, wrote in my journal and typed up the day on my new keyboard! It was such a fun and exciting day!


Guess what we got to do on Friday?!?! Go to Manhttan! I totally forgot to tell you last P-Day that all of the newly called district leaders have a meeting in the Manhattan Temple Church Chapel and so we got to go for a quick trip! It just always amazing me: "Oh I'll be in Manhattan one day and then back to the Bronx the next." It is so thrilling to go to such a famous and historical place! So we woke up, got ready for the day, did our studies, and then got to take the train all the way down to the Temple! We were both really excited to hear from President Smith! Elder Dick has never held a leadership position before and so this was the 1st time for both of us. So we took the train and headed into the Temple and up to the 3rd floor to where the church is. I always love the hustle and bussle of New York City. There is so much going on around you every second! Then once you walk into the Temple......complete scilence and peace. It really is amazing how much sound is blocked out when you are inside the Temple. There were tons of sirens going off and once you walked through the big, thick doors, you couldn't hear a thing. So we went into the Relief Society room and got the meeting started. President Smith gave an amazing talk on leadership and how much the leaders of the mission can impact the other missionaries so much. It was an amazing lesson and I learned a lot! The meeting lasted until 2:30 and so we headed back into the Bronx and we had an appointment with Clifford and Nina Oti. They moved here from Ghana 5 years ago and were baptised right after they moved here and he been members ever since then. Clifford is 17 and Nina is 18 and getting ready to go to college. We have been wanting to have an appointment with them for a really long time and we finally got to! So we headed over to their apartment and had a Restoration lesson with them. We atually did someting really cool with them. We pretended to be investigators and they were the missionaries teaching us. They did a great job! Then they told us that we couldn't leave thier home without eating something so they warmed up some leftover ham fried rice and some really good chicken. It was really good and we had a great lesson with them and then we headed back to the apartment for language study and by the time we got back, we were a little hungry so we had a snack and then headed out for the night. We had a great night! While we were waiting for a bus, we saw something really cool! We saw a team bus for Sacred Heart University Pioneers! We weren't sure which sports team was in the bus but it was pretty cool to see! So we headed out to do some lookups. We knocked on a ton of doors! We went to a ladies' house who ordered a Bible and we knocked on her door and a man yelled: "Who is it?" We told him that we were the missionaries and we were wanting to drop off a Bible that a lady named Ikiddeh ordered. He wasn't sure who that was so we gave her a call and she told us that she never ordered a Bible. We were really confused because we had all of her information and we were calling her so she had to of put in her information on mormon.org. So we continued down the street and knocked on some more doors. We went to a lady named Sandra's house and she was busy making some candy for a baby shower that she was going to so we set up another time to come back. After we knocked on tons of doors, we headed back to the apartment for the evening. It was a great day!

Saturday was another great day! I was thinking about you all day because I knew that you were flying home from your fun trip. It has been so much fun to know that you were in D.C this whole week seeing so many famous landmarks! We woke up and headed out to the baseball field again to play some baseball! It was really fun and then we came back and showered and got ready for the day. Then after our personal study we did companionship and language study and then we headed out in the pouring rain but it wasn't too bad since we have nice umbrellas! So we headed out to do lots of tracting and all I can say is that is was so successful! We headed over to Gun Hill and Boston Road and we knocked on a ton of doors! My testimony was really strengthened and I learn a ton about listen to the spirit about where to go. So we were out in the pouring rain and we had planned to do this for 3 and a half hours. We were nice and dry though! So the 1st door that we knocked on we had a man named Mark answer and we asked him if we could share a quick message with him and he excitedly invited us in! We couldn't believe our luck! We could knock on door after door and people wouldn't even answer let alone let us in. So we headed inside and got to know Mark a little better. Mark was in the marines for about 7 years until he had to go home because he had a sickness. He has been looking for a job now and so it has been hard on him. He told us that he goes to a Muslim church every Saturday. Then we taught him a great Restoration lesson and he really enjoyed it! We felt the spirit so strong and we know that he did too! We were so excited to meet him and get to know him more. After we got done with our lesson with Mark we headed down the street and knocked on tons of doors. Elder Dick and I switched off who took the lead in talking to whoever answered the door. We knocked on many doors before someone answered. A lady named Madeline Lopez answered the door. Her house smelled really good! She was cooking something and It smelled like really good garlic bread. We talked to her and told her that we were sharing a message and wondered if she had time to hear it. She said that she was busy cooking but then she told us that her kids really needed a church to go to and she wanted to start coming back to church but she wasn't sure which one!! We scheduled another time to come back to teach her and her family and then she said: "I'm counting on you to come back because the last time I had an appointment, they cancelled". We assured her that we would be back! So we knocked on so many more doors and down the street we felt like we should knock on this one particular door. A guy in his mid 20s named Alex answered the door. We got to know him a little more and he is from Haiti and speaks Creole. His English was very good and he had a really cool accent. What was really cool to see is how much he enjoyed listening to us talk about prophets and how we have a loving prophet on the earth today! He said: "You mean to tell me that there is a modern day Moses and Abraham??" We said yes and his eyes lit up and he said "Wow! That's amazing!" He said that he goes to a church that is actually in Creole, his native language, and he likes that church but he is open to many religions. We hadn't had much success in the past with tracting and so it was a very successful day! We found 3 new people to come back and teach in only a few hours. I know that doesn't sound like very many but most people just don't answer their door or aren't interested. So we headed back to the apartment really quick to dry off and then we had a dinner appointment with Matt but he cancelled because he was in Brooklyn for a Birthday celebration for one of his co-workers and wouldn't have gotten home for a while. So we decided to head to Co-op City and see a few of our investigators! We headed to Kojo, Deinde Coker, Gifty, and The Ampah's apartments. The Ampah family was home and were very happy to see us! A few days ago, Brother Allah called us and guess what!?! He called us to speak in sacrament meeting on Father's Day! So when we got to his apartment, their 2 little kids were so happy to see us! They have a 5 and 4 year old son, and a 2 year old daughter. They really like it when we come over. We chatted with them for a few minutes to see if there was anything that we could do for them. They asked us if we had our talks ready and we said yes! He then gave us a carton of cranberry juice and package of graham crackers as a snack. We were very appreckative and then headed bacl out. Elder Dick and I both had the feeling that we should go visit Osagie since he lives just down the street. We found out some sad news about Osagie. So we headed all the way up to the 20th floor where he lives and knocked on his door. The lady that lives there was home and we asked for Osagie and she said: "Osagie moved 2 weeks ago." WE WERE SHOCKED! I didn't know what to say. She said that it was too expensive for him to live in Co-Op City and so without telling anyone he just up and moved to Brooklyn. So we thanked her for the information and then we went straight outside and called him. He answered and said exactly what the lady at the door said. We had been in contact with him every day but just hadn't been able to go over to his apartment because he was very busy. So we had been calling him and sending him texts every day to keep his spirits up. He has been pretty discouraged because the rent was so high and he was working so much that it didn't seem like he was getting anywhere. So hopefully now that he has a cheaper apartment, he will be able to save more money. But I was pretty sad because that means that not only is he out of our area, he is completely out of our mission and so we can't even talk with him anymore. He will still continue to work at the car wash until he can find a better and more stable job. But once he gets a new job, I don't think I will ever be able to talk to him again until I come home. So we were pretty sad and shocked about that but it was comforting to know that he had found a cheaper place to live because the rent was really steep! So it was time to head back to the apartment for the night. We had a GREAT and productive day!

Sunday was a great and very busy day! First off: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! I was so glad to hear that you got my card in the mail. I was thinking about you and wishing the best father ever and a great day! I was thinking about Dad and who the new Bishop would be all day! I was so excited to find out who the new members of the Bishopric were going to be! I thought it was really cool that the Bishopric that got called on Sunday would still be there when I get home! It was really crazy to think about! So we had a really busy day especially at Church. A few days ago, Brother Allah who is the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric, called Elder Dick and I to speak again in Sacrament Meeting. We said that we would be glad to! So we have been finding time to write our talks. I couldn't have asked for a better topic: Fathers! I thought and thought about what would be the best thing to share. So we wrote our talks throughout the week and then went to church. Sunday was probably the most humid day I have experienced so far. It was 82 degrees but the air would just feel sticky. We were wearing our hot suits with long sleeve white shirts.....lets just say that it was hot! So we headed over to church and we got there a little early and so we welcomed everyone to church and wished all of the Fathers a Happy Father's Day! Then we went into our Gospel Principles class and realized that there wasn't a teacher. Brother Danquah, the ward mission leader, was standing right next to us and asked us if we would teach the class. We weren't sure which lesson it was on so we chose the Holy Ghost out of the Gospel Principles book. So we taught the lesson and had great participation! Then Elder Coleman asked us if we would come teach part of the Preisthood lesson on families and the importance of marriage. So we headed upstairs for our next class and Elder Coleman taught an amazing lesson on families and how much he loves his family. You may have seen some pictures of him and his wife in some of my pictures. He is a great guy! Then I shared how much I admire you all and look up to you guys. I'm not going to lie, I got a little teary eyed when I talked about how much I loved and missed you. It is always a little hard to talk about home when you are away. I talked about how much I admired you relationship that you have with each other and Abby, Brandon, and Parker. Then Elder Dick talked about his family and how excited he is to start his own family when he gets home from his mission. So after our Priesthood Meeting, we had sacrament meeting and Elder Dick and I spoke. Elder Dick did a great job and he talked about his own father and how he helped a lady in their ward mow her lawn. So he did a great job and then we had a great intermediate hymn from the primary. There were only 4 kids from the entire junior and senior primary. Can you believe that?! Then it was my turn to give my talk. I was looking on family search and I came across a story about Axel Lindberg and how he and his family came to America to have a better life. I thought it was pretty cool to be talking about Star Valley and Logan over the pulpit......in the Bronx! I had a fun time telling the story! Then I talked about Dad and how much you have influenced my life! I told the story of when we hauled in the rocks from the Backus' yard and what a great experience that was. I really enjoyed talking to everyone! Then once church was over, the Relief Society put together a big Father's Day lunch for everyone! We had chicken salad wraps, rice, salad, chicken, lemonade, and cake! It was really fun and we enjoyed talking with everyone! Then Elder Stevens, who was companions with Elder Kirkham and just got transferred here and is now our new zone leader, heard me talk about Star Valley and Afton in my talk. This is so crazy! So he said that he had family in Star Valley too just down the street from the church. I said that Grandma and Grandpa owned a house just down the street as well. I told him that it was the big green barn with the "L" on it and he said: "Oh yeah! I know exactly which one you are talking about! Small world! So he knew exactly which house was Grandma and Grandpa's in Star Valley! It was pretty neat! So we finished eating and then Brother Allah told everyone to keep Bishop Jessop in our prayers. Bishop wasn't at Church and so we all wondered what happened. Brother Ampah said that Bishop had surgery a few days ago. Everyone looked at each other because nobody knew that he was going to have surgery. Then we had the thought to go give him and his wife the sacrament. So we headed over to give Sister Johnson the sacrament and it went really well! Sister Johnson is always so happy to see us and loves the sacrament. Then we headed over to Bishop's house and knocked on their door. He opened up the door and was wearing what looked like to be 3D glasses for a movie. But then he told us that he and his wife had Lasik eye surgery just a few days ago. So we went inside and they have been doing really well. The pain is pretty bad with this kind of surgery so they have been stuck inside for a few days now. So we talked with them for a while about the ward and how church went! These glasses kind of looked like the glasses from 2015 in Back to the Future. They were pretty funny. Every time we go over to their apartment I always love seeing their 2 Utah State University degrees displayed proudly on their wall! They both graduated from Utah State just a few years ago and now Bishop is working as a doctor at a Manhttan hospital. I always comment and tell them that it is good to have some Aggies in the ward! So we gave them the sacrament and had a great discussion with them and then we headed out to do a few lookups and try to schedule some more lessons. We went to a lady named Shalva Coleman and we found out that she moved and the people that lived there were Jewish and not interested. So we continued down the street and were happy to see our friend Fitz-Roy Francis out on his porch. So we said Happy Father's Day to him and got to talk to him for a little while. It was getting pretty late so we had a quick chat with him and then we headed back to the apartment for the night! It was a great and busy day! I was really excited to find out who the new Bishopric was! I was wishing Dad a Happy Father's Day and hoping you had a great day!

Monday was our first District Meeting with Elder Dick as our District leader! We woke up and went outside to play some baseball on the baseball field again and we had a great time! Then we came back to the apartment and got ready for the day and did our planning. Elder Dick was really excited for District Meeting! It was his first District Meeting that he had conducted and so we're both really looking forward to it! So we headed over to the church after our planning and to set up for district meeting. Elder Dick bought a cord to hook up his tablet to the tv so he could play hymns and show everyone our goals and numbers for the week. But unfortunately, the cord didn't plug into his tablet and so he will have to buy another one sometime today. So we got District Meeting all set up and then we had leadership meeting with our Zone Leaders and the District Leaders from the Spanish ward. We had a great leadership meeting and we talked about our splits that we will be going on and what we can do to help the ward. It was great and then we headed upstairs for our District Meeting and Elder Dick did such a great job! We talked about the ward and our investigators and what we could do to help them. It was great! Then we did something really fun! Elder and Sister Coleman ordered Dominoes since it was our 1st District Meeting of the cycle. We had a bacon lovers pizza and a brownie cookie. It was a fun time! Then we had to hurry over to an appointment we had way into our area. It was with Madeline Lopez that we found tracting on Saturday. We were really excited! It was SO hot and humid. I have never felt so much humidity and I knew that it was going to get much worse. By the time we got to her house, we were so hot and thirsty. Luckily I brought my water bottle that you gave me and had ice cold water to drink. So we got to her house and she answered right away and felt so bad because she had to go run an errand for her Grand Daughter and so she couldn't have our lesson. She said that she was just headed out the door and so we scheduled another appointment for yesterday afternoon! So then, we headed back to the apartment to do our studies. We did language study, personal study, and companionship study. As we were studying, a whole bunch of dark storm clouds rolled in from out of no where. It had been so hot and sunny all day and now It was looking pretty stormy. Then out of no where, a sheet of rain all fell at once. It wasn't like it slowly trickled in, it just all fell at once. Then the wind really picked up and there was a ton of thunder and lightning. I even got a video of it and put it on my drive so hopefully you can see how crazy it was. So it rained the rest of the day but it died down towards the evening. Then we had dinner and then headed to Co-Op City to see if Kojo was home. It took us forever to get there. It took us over an hour and a half to get there which is crazy! So by the time we got there, we had just enough time to knock on his door to have a quick chat with him and share a message. Unfortunately he wasn't home and so we decided to head back to the apartment but along the way we planned to talk to as many people as we could. At the bus stop we met 2 really nice Jamaican ladies who were coming home from work. It was fun to talk to them and get to know a little bit more about Jamaica! So we took the bus back to the apartment and had a nice chat with them. Then didn't understand much English and so we knew that it would be hard to teach them and they might not know some of the words. So we headed inside after a productive day! I was getting more and more excited for P-Day! Tuesday was another great day! We had 3 lessons back-to-back-to-back! We always love it when we have so many lessons! So we woke up, excercied, got ready for the day, did our studies and then headed out the door for another great day! So we had lots of tracting to do so we can have lots of people to teach! I'm not going to lie, it takes A LOT of patience to knock on lots of doors and only have 1 or 2 people even talk with us for a few minutes so we can tell them about our message. So we had 3 lessons scheduled and after a few hours of tracting out in the beautiful weather, we went to our 3 back to back lessons. We knocked on the 1st person's door, Gloria Udotia, her son was just about to leave and so our rule for missionaries is that we can't go inside if there is only 1 female present. So we just had to teach her a quick message of the Restoration. She really enjoyed it and then we got a text from our other investigator that we had a set lesson and she said that she had something come up and so she was unable to meet. She felt bad so we rescheduled with her. We then decided to do some more tracting for a few hours and then we did something really fun! We headed to eat dinner at Popeyes! I am a really big fan of Popeyes! They have really good food and a $5.00 that fills me up every time. It was really good and then we headed over to City Island to do some more tracting before we met with Matt! We knocked on a few doors but not very many people were home. We then saw something really cool! We saw a North Carolina licence plate on a car that was parked outside of a house so we decided to knock on their door but they weren't home. We would have had an instant connection since Elder Dick is from there. Then we headed over to the white mansion and met with Matt! He told us that the owner of the mansion actually moved in and she brought her dog. Before I talk about the dog, let me talk about the owner. Her name is Michelle and she owns the white mansion. She is very nice and loves it when we come over. I have only met her a couple of times since she loved in Manhattan. But she decided to move in. She brought her dog. This dog is unlike I have ever seen before. I is called a Doberman and apparently it is a REALLY expensive dog. We are talking like $10,000 just for 1 dog. It is a really rare Albino Doberman and to be completely honest, it is pretty funny looking. I guess I don't know what to look for in an expensive dog. Matt told us that Michelle has had her car almost broken into just so people can get this dog. I will be sure to take a picture of it soon. He said that when you take it out for a walk, you have to be careful so no one takes it because dog owners will definitely identify it as an expensive dog. But can you believe that?? $10,000.........for a dog! It is white and has these light blue eyes. I'm sure that if you googled: White Albino Doberman dog, it would probably come up with what it looks like. Her name is Jupiter and she is a very friendly and tall dog! So we had a great visit and lesson with Matt and we couldn't stay for too long since we did lots of tracting and finding. So we headed back to the apartment and I was so excited to read your email! I loved every single word and it was so much fun to read all about your amazing week and all of the fun and amazing things you got to see and do!

Well everyone! I think I got to everything that I wanted to say. I just want you to know how much I love and miss you! You are so loving and supportive! I appreciated so much all of the Birthday cards, treats, pictures, and videos! It was SO neat to have everyone wish me a Happy Birthday on your videos that you sent! I had an amazing Birthday! It was so fun to have my Birthday land on a P-day! I just appreciate you all so much and everything that you do for me! I feel so many prayers each and every day! I pray for you and everything that you do in every single one of my prayers. I am so blessed to have a family like you! I hope you all have an amazing week and enjoy your summer vacation! I cant beleive that I hit my 5 month mark! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! ♥️

Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg

Happy Birthday Tanner!

June 14th 2017~HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!! 

                                            HAPPY TRIP IN WASHINGTON D.C!! Lots of big news!
Hello my dear and amazing family! First and foremost: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the most amazing parents ever!!!!!! I am so excited to be able to email you today! I can't believe that I am 19 today?? As Dad would say: "When did this happen?" I have been waiting so patiently to talk to you about your trip and wish you a Happy Anniversary! I am so excited that P-Day landed on my birthday and your Anniversary! I wasn't sure if they would switch it back to Monday but we found out that they are keeping P-Day to Wednesday! So I'm not sure if they will switch it back in the future but for this cycle at least, it will be on Wednesday which I am really happy about! I am so happy to be able to email you on your actual special day! I couldn't have asked for better timing for P-day! I have been so excited for you to be on your trip and hearing about all of the amazing things you have been able to see and do! I can't wait to hear all about the game tonight and the rest of your trip! You are having such a fun time together! You deserve a nice trip and I was so happy to hear that you had a fun and safe flight! I hope you have so much fun seeing the Arlington Cemetery and the Monuments! I will be thinking about you all day!
I am so excited for today!!! I loved watching the videos that you posted so much! I watched them all and then watched Parker's Utah Program again and the video of the backyard as well! It was so fun to see your pictures and hear the kids on video! You were talking about metro cards and then I saw the video of the subway and said: "That looks just like where I am right now!" I have been watching them and looking through your pictures. You are so close to me that you could come spend birthday lunch with me! Maybe you could sneak down and see me! Hehe! Today we are deciding what to do and everyone says that it is up to me to decide where we go! So I decided to go to Red Robin for dinner and get the Tavern Burger deal with endless fries! Then we found something really fun and cool to do! We decided to take a bus just down the street about 2 miles and go to the "Hall of Fame for Great Americans" from the Bronx!! Doesn't that sound like a cool place! We were actually going to go to Manhattan but we didn't want to spend our 1 Manhattan day on the first P-Day of the cycle. It would have been really fun to say that I spent a Brithday in Manhattan but this will be just as fun! I can't wait! It is so cool to think that we are now in the same time zone and so you will be at the game when we head out for the night! It is going to be a blast! You can cheer extra loud for me at the game! ️

Last P-Day was so great! I had such a fun time reading your amazing email and hearing all about your week! So we woke up, really excited for a nice P-Day! We got ready for the day and then did our studies and then we threw in our laundry! Then we came back upstairs and emailed! Then after our laundry was done we headed for the grocery store to do our weekly shopping. It was a little different shopping last week because I wasn't sure how much food I should buy since I may or may not be getting transfered. It was really crazy to think about! So after shopping, we came home and folded our laundry. We didn't have anything planned besides cleaning the apartment and so it was really nice to take a load off and talk!

Thursday was such a great day! We started off the day really great and we had a conference call! President Smith shared some miracles that were sent to him by missionaries in the mission! It was so amazing to hear all off the cool things that were going on all around us! So we woke up, got ready, and then had our awesome conference call! Then after the conference call was over we had Sister Coleman come over and inspect our apartment! We knew she would be give us a passing score since all 4 of us cleaned like the wind yesterday! So we were especially excited for our inspection! She was really impressed and said to keep up the good work! I just really appreciated you teaching me how to be a tidy and clean person! You always have the house and yard looking so nice! I appreciate it so much! So after our inspection, we started our weekly planning session and it went great! The only problem was that we weren't sure if we should plan lessons for Monday or Wednesday because we weren't sure when P-Day would be! I hope I didn't confuse you in my last email. So we texted the Zone Leaders and asked them if they knew and they said that P-Day would stay on Wednesday for 1 more week! I can't even describe how excited I was to find out that P-Day would be on my Birthday and your Anniversary! We all thought that they would change it to Monday but then we got thinking that it wouldn't make much sense to have P-Day right before transfers because we can't go grocery shopping because we would have to leave or food there. So I was SO excited to find out that P-Day was on Wednesday!!!! So we planned out our week and planned out our lessons. It was so crazy to think that this could be my last weekly planning in this area with these specific investigators! So we planned for a couple of hours and called lots of people and then we did companionship and language study! Then we had dinner and prepared for our lesson that we were really excited about with the Oti family. The Oti family are members that we have really wanted to go and visit this whole cycle. So we scheduled an appointment after church a few weeks ago! We were excited to go over and we planned out a good lesson for them about the Restoration! Then while we were eating dinner we thought that we should text them and confirm our appointment. We got a text back a few minutes later and they felt so bad because they completely forgot about our appointment and they headed out for the night. They truly felt bad and said that we would have to reschedule for another time. So we headed out and did some lookups near our apartment! Even though our lesson cancelled we still had such an amazing night! What made it even better was the beautiful weather! It was so nice outside! There was an amazing sunset and the temperature was perfect! Then we got a text telling us that mail came so we quickly hurried over to the church to get our mail!!! I got Grandma's package and then looked all over your package but it hadn't come yet. I texted the office Elders and they said that it showed up to the Mission Home the night that they dropped off mail. I am so excited to open it tomorrow! I hope there wasn't anything in your amazing package that I needed to open today. Thank you so much in advance! I got to open Grandma's package and so now I get 2 days of fun! I don't want you to feel bad at all because it works out perfectly that I get 2 days of celebration! I just can't believe that it showed up right after they delivered mail. So I am so excited for that! So after we got our mail we headed to the Francis Family's home to see how they were doing. We have kept in really good contact with them ever since we shoveled their driveway and they have been so fun to meet with! So we set up another appointment with them! Then after we picked up mail and went to check up on the Francis family, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night! It was such a great day and we got a TON done! I just couldn't believe that transfer calls were only 2 days away!

Friday was another incredible day! We woke up, exercised, got ready for the day, did our studies and then we had an awesome service project! A few days ago we got a text from the Sister missionaries in our district and they said that a recent convert, Sister Barnes, needed some help moving. We said that we would be glad to and so the 4 of us headed over to Sister Barnes' apartment and helped her move! So when we got there it was 1:00 right in the dot and the Sister Missionaries were already there but Sister Barnes hadn't shown up yet. The Sister Missionaries said that Sister Barnes was out getting some boxes and some oranges for us to eat after we were done helping her. Then they got a call from her and she said that she wasn't able to make it back home anytime soon. We were really confused as to why she wouldn't be able to come back home but she said that she was really sorry. We were really hoping to help her out but we headed back out for some Missionary work! Boy was it a nice day! The weather was so beautiful but VERY hot! It was so humid and was up in the mid 80s. I checked the weather for good old Nibley and it was about the same temperature! It was so nice! So we headed over to the Church since we were right there and we made a calender for Kojo! We wanted to map out all of Kojo's lessons so he can progress toward batism! He is so close but the only thing that is keeping him from baptism is coming to church. We sort of lost contact with him a while ago because he was REALLY busy and hadn't had any time at all to meet with us. So now, we met with him a week ago and he is so excited to learn more. But we would really love it if he came to church so he can progress to baptism! So after I made him a calender to give him, we decided to eat an early dinner at George's Diner before we headed out for the night! It was so yummy! I decided to get the......Rueben Sandwich! It was so good! Then after we paid, a recent convert member walked in! He was so happy to see us! His name is Brother Ilekwu and he is a very nice guy! He was just headed in for a quick bite to eat after a long day of work! So after we ate, we headed back out into the beautiful weather! I always love days like this were everyone is outside because I get to say Hi to everyone! I have made it a habit to say "Have a nice day!" or "How are you doing today?" It is always fun to talk with as many people as I can! It is such a cool area and I still can't believe that I am in the Bronx! We had a lesson scheduled with our good friend and member, Sister Tobias. She really wanted us to come over to help her with her sacrament meeting talk that she was going to give the next Sunday! So we went to her apartment and she had just gotten home from work. So we helped her with her talk and the topic was prayer! We showed her some resources from the Gordon B. Hinckley book and the Gospel Principles book. So we helped her write it all out and gave her some ideas and then here son, Ashonie, came out of his room and told us that he had been sick for a while now and he hurt his wrist the day before at work and he felt like he needed a blessing so I got to give him a blessing! He is a great guy! So after we visited Sister Tobias and helped her, it was time to head back to the apartment but we had some time to look in our area book and find someone to go visit. We decided to visit the recent convert, Yolanda, but she wasn't home. So after that we headed back to our apartment for the night! It was a great day and I couldn't wait to hear all about your trip and how your flight went!! I have been excitedly counting down the days because I know how much fun your trip will be! I was so excited for you to fly closer to me as well! It is so cool to think that you are so close! I couldn't believe that it was transfer calls the very next day!

Wow!! Saturday was an incredible day!! It was the big day! Transfer call night! I don't even know where to start! It was a HOT but beautiful day! It was so pretty with all of the flowers and trees in full bloom! It has been such a different atmosphere in the summer than it was in the winter. There is so much going on all of the time! We have been noticing Puerto Rico flags, t-shirts, hats, and so much Puerto Rican stuff literally all over the place! It has been really cool because there are tons of tourists coming in and out of the big city! People have been waving Puerto Rican flags out their window and even tied them to their car hoods. So many people have tons of little mini flags that they fly everywhere. It has been so cool to see! We woke up and we were so excited for transfer calls that night! We were ready for another great day! So we woke up and got ready for the day and then headed over to the Salinas' house to do some more service! They wanted us to clear out the back of their yard with the weed wacker and so we each took turns with it while the other 3 of us picked weeds with our hands. So we helped them out for an hour and a half and then they ordered pizza! We walked over with their youngest son, Joe-Joe, who is 14 and we headed around the corner to an awesome pizza place! It is called "Bronx Pizza" and it was so good! They ordered a ton of food for us which we didn't expect them to but they really wanted to give us a nice lunch! So they ordered two 2 liter bottles of soda, a meat lovers pizza, buffalo wings, and some really good Italian pasta! It was all SO good! As we were talking guess what I found out??? I was talking with Sister Salinas and they mentioned that they were going to be away for 2 weeks on a business trip for her husband and she got to tag along and have a nice vacation while Brother Salinas worked. So then I said: "Oh where are you going?" And she said: "Washington D.C!" I couldn't believe it! I said no way and told them that you were going this week for your anniversary and then I told them about how my birthday was on your 1 year anniversary and she said: "Oh, when is their Anniversary?" I told her June 14th and she said that June 14th was her Birthday too! Isn't that so cool!?! I couldn't believe it! So I got thinking, you could run into them! If you do happen to run into them, it will be so cool to think that I was at their house just a few days ago! I know you don't know what they look like but hey, stranger things have happened! Then we got a do something really special. Sister Salinas' parents stayed this last week at their house and they were just about to drive back to Virginia were they live. But the night before, their Grandpa got really dizzy and actually passed out. He was having a hard time breathing and so they wanted us to give him a blessing. So the 4 of us gave him a blessing to comfort and strengthen him. It was a special time for all of us to exercise our Priesthood! So after the blessing, we were all in need of a shower so we headed back to the apartment to shower and then we headed to a lesson we had with the Francis family. On Friday, we stopped by their house and they were home but didn't have any time for a lesson so we asked them if we could stop by the next day, which was Saturday. So we walked down the street to their house and unfortunately, they weren't home. We knew that they must have had something come up and weren't home. So we headed over to our other lesson that we had scheduled with Matt! He has been progressing really good but still hasn't come to church so we are just really trying to get him to church. He says that Sundays are his only day to get things done around the house. We promised him that he would be blessed so much if he started coming to church! So we headed over to his house and then the thought came across that this may have been my last time going over to his house. I really have gotten attached and loved our investigators so much! They are great people! I think the main reason why so many people have a hard time with meeting with us is work. People around here work so much more than usual. They usually don't get weekends off and so it is really hard for them to commit to coming to church. So I think that is the biggest concern. We really love teaching people and watching them change but it is all up to them to find the time. When they do, they will be blessed so much! So after we had a great lesson with Matt, it was time to head back to the apartment for the evening and hear the news! So we got back to our apartment and waited eagerly to hear the news! Then, we got the call at 9:45! I was nervous Our Zone Leaders called and told us all of the changes in our zone!.......are you ready? They started off with our apartment! They started off by saying: "Elder Knudsen will be receiving....." and so right off the bat we knew that Elder Smiley was getting transfered. "Elder Knudsen will be receiving.......Elder Jackman!!" We were so excited but sad at the same time that Elder Smiley was leaving. So now it was time to find out where Elder Smiley was going. Elder Smiley got called to serve in the Stamford Connecticut Zone as their District Leader! Elder Smiley has been a District Leader his whole mission besides his training cycles! How crazy is that? So then the BIG news. They then said: "Elder Lindberg is going..................to.............STAY!!!" I was immediately relieved to know where I would be! I am so excited to continue to serve in this ward and area! Mom and Grandma totally called it! They said that they both had a feeling I would stay for 1 more! Then they said: "Elder Dick will be......staying as well, and he will serve as District Leader!" Isn't that cool! I am so excited to still be serving with Elder Dick! He has taught me so much! I am really glad we get to stay together for at least 1 more cycle! So do you know what Elder Smiley leaving means??? It means I have been in this apartment for the longest! It used to be Elder Bradley, then Elder Kirkham, then Elder Smiley and I were tied since we moved in together but now that he is leaving, but have been here the longest! I can't wait to tell you all about Elder Jackman! It is always a big change to have someone move in or out. I can't wait to get to know him! We are all really excited for Elder Dick! He is going to be such a great District Leader and it will be fun to be companions with a missionary that has a leadership position! We were all excited for each other and the changes that were made! All of the Sister missionaries in our zone will be staying and Elder Costa is the only Spanish missionary that will be leaving. He is going to Manhattan! Here is some other big news! Elder Stevens, who is Elder Kirkham's companion right now in the office just became our new Zone Leader! So Elder Castro is going to serve in Connecticut and Elder Stevens will be Zone Leader with Elder Davis! Lots of good changes are coming up! It was a great night and we all had a great time hearing about all of the transfers!

Sunday was such a great day! We heard from a lot of people that it was going to be SO HOT! We woke up, got ready for the day, did our studies and then Elder Dick and I headed off to Church. The Sunday after transfer calls are always full of goodbyes from the missionaries that are leaving. So we got to church and before our Gospel Principles class started, everyone was anxious to hear which missionaries were staying and who would be leaving. It is always hard for missionaries to move in and out because we spend so much time together that we all become such good friends. Church was really good! Church just has a different feel in the Bronx! There are so many different kinds of people from all over the world. So at church we had a great lesson on Baptism in Gospel Principles and then a great lesson on Obedience in Elders' quorum! Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen have an investigator named Oscar who has been coming to church for the past couple of weeks and we have really enjoyed talking and getting to know him better! He is a great guy! Then, sacrament meeting was so good! The 2 speakers that spoke are in our area and so it was fun to hear them speak! First, Sister Tobias gave her talk that we helped her with on prayer! She gave an experience where prayer has helped her in her life. She said that she wasn't able to go to college and none of her siblings did as well. So she really wanted her own kids to have that opportunity. They came from Jamaica with only 2 suitcases and $200 and that was it. She tried to get her daughter into college but just didn't have money so she asked her own Mom if she could help pay for part of the cost. Well, her daughter wrote an entrance essay and was so good that she got a full ride scholarship!! She told us that she never had to pay another penny for her daughter to go to college. It was a great story! Then we had Brother Tsakpoe give a talk on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was really good! Then we had a high councilman from the New Rochelle 2nd Ward give a really good talk on the Sabath Day! Then after church, our good friend Dalton said that he wanted to have us over for dinner! He said that he had been cooking all morning and would love to have us over! So of course we couldn't say no to that! Luckily we didn't have any set appointments so we thought we could eat and share a message with him! So after church, we headed over to Dalton's apartment for some dinner! He had some really good food! He made us curry chicken, a summer salad, rice, and a watermelon sangria. It was all really good. It has been so cool to eat Jamaican food. His food always has a lot of ginger in it so it makes it spicy. We had a great time with Dalton and after we ate, we shared a quick video with him and it talked about the Sermon on the Mount. He really enjoyed it and then we thanked him for the dinner and then headed to our next appointment. We hurried back to the apartment to change out of our suits because it was HOT! So we changed and grabbed some bread for the sacrament for Sister Johnson. We were really thinking about her a lot this week because last week she wasn't feeling the best so we were really hopping that she felt better. So we headed over to the care center where she is staying. She was doing much better! She felt bad that we showed up when she wasn't feeling well. We were just glad to see her doing better! So we have her the sacrament and talked with her for a little while. She said that she recently had a minor surgery and so she was recovering from that. Her daughter had just left right before we came and so she told us that if we showed up a little bit earlier, we could meet her daughter! By that time, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night so we decided to walk home and talk with people. We enjoyed the nice night so much! I always love talking with people and starting conversations with people. I ALWAYS love commenting on people's hats or jerseys. Sometimes it catches them off guard because they don't think that we would know about sports. The other day I commenting on someone who had on a Doug Martin Buccaneers jersey and he said: "Well thank you!" It is always fun and easy way to start conversations! So we walked back to the apartment and a guy commented on Elder Dick's shoes. We started talking with him and he was really nice. He talked to us about the days that he would go to work with his Dad who owned part on the subway train stations at Pelham Bay and so he would go to work and help his Dad. So after we chatted with him for a little while, we walked the rest of the way back to our apartment. It was such a great day!

Monday was a great day! I had been dying to email you all week since it is such a special week! I wanted to chat with you about your trip. It is always hard to wait for P-Day to email you! I'm just so glad we are able to read emails that we get throughout the week! I was thinking about you all day long because I knew that you would be getting ready for your awesome trip and then flying out later in the evening! I have missed you all so much! So since our P-Days will stay of Wednesdays, we had District Meeting on Monday! Elder Smiley asked me if I would give the spiritual thought on humilty. I said I would be glad to! So we headed over to the church for district meeting and we had one of the craziest things I have ever seen after District Meeting!! I can't wait to tell you all about it! So we actually got to go to Leadership Meeting to get a taste of what it will be like next week when Elder Dick starts his duties as District Leader! I am so happy and excited that he got called to be the District Leader! He is going to do such a great job. So we headed to Leadership Meeting and it was so good! We talked a lot about the ward and how we can help our investigators that come feel the spirit and have a good experience. Here comes the craziest thing I have seen so far on my mission!!! So then after District Meeting, Sister Coleman made us all some really good jelly filled powder doughnuts since it was our last district meeting! They were so good! So, as we were eating, Elder Smiley and Elder Knudsen went to go take care of something in the clerk's office but they quickly came back with a shocked look on their face and said "Everyone come to the foyer quick!!!" So we all went down the hall and looked out the windows and WE COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT WE SAW!! There was a police cruiser completely engulfed in flames right in front of the church! Can you believe that!?!? There were tons of police officers out but it had just caught fire but we have no idea how. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen! We aren't sure how it caught on fire but no firefighters had shown up yet so we just watched as the police car burned. It was SO HOT outside. By noon, it was into the mid 90s. Then as the police car was burning, the tires started blowing out and you could hear the car horn going off. I even took a few crazy videos and you can hear one of the tires blowing out. So we watched all of the fire fighters show up and they quickly put out all of the flames. It was SO crazy and unbelievable! We were all just watching from the church foyer in disbelief. There were tons of people standing in shock and taking pictures. We watched them put out the flames and soak the whole car but as you can see, that car will never drive again! So after that crazy event we went back to the apartment for a quick lunch and then we did companionship and language study. Then Elder Dick got everything organized to become District Leader by getting the information from Elder Smiley. They coordinated and exchanged the District's goals and investigator numbers. I have to admit, it is going to be a lot of fun being the District Leader's companion! I will learn a lot and enjoy working with the District. Then we quickly hurried to Staples to buy a cord so Elder Dick can hook up his tablet to the tv for our District Meetings! It will be really cool and help a lot! Then we headed over to Bishop Jessop's house to see if he was home so we could talk to him and see how he was doing. Nobody was home and so we figured that he was at work. Then we decided to do something really fun! Since it was Elder Smiley's last evening here, we decided to go to Wendy's for one last dinner together! So we all got our favorite meal! The 4 for $4.00! So we all are our food and then headed out for the rest of the night! It was a great and HOT night. So we went and looked up tons of people from a certain area in our area book! We looked up Mordi, Dave, Katrina, and a lady named Amoy. None of them were home but we can't get desquarged because we are finding those that are interested and not. We can put in notes of what happened and if they say that they are not interested then we can put that in and so then missionaries will stop going over or go over less frequently. So it was a great night and I was thinking about you all day! I was so excited and couldn't wait for you to fly! Then when we got home, it checked my email and was so excited to see I had an email from you!

Tuesday was a great but sad day because we had to say goodbye to Elder Smiley. We did something really fun in the morning! We woke up really early and headed over to the church and the whole zone played sports together! We had a blast playing sports together and it was a great last hoorah for the 3 missionaries that were leaving us! We played chair soccer for 45 minutes and then we played gator ball for the last 15 minutes. We had to wake up really early in order to get to the church on time to play and then head back to the apartment to shower and get read for the day! We all had a blast and said goodbye to our awesome Zone Leader, Elder Castro, and then said goodbye to Elder Costa, who is from Brazil that had been in the Spanish ward but now he is going to English. So after we played, we headed back to the apartment for some lunch and then did our companionship and language study and then we did something really awesome! A few days ago, we had a guy send us an email saying that he wanted to meet with missionaries and so we set up a time to give him a tour of the church and teach him the Restoration! So we gave him a tour and he really enjoyed it and then we had a discussion. He really just wanted to learn more about our religion and so we answered some of his basic questions that he had. We actually found out that he was an Orthodox Jew and goes around learning about other religions so we knew we weren't going to convert him any time soon. So after our discussion, we said goodbye to him and then headed back to the apartment for some dinner. Then I saw that I had a wonderful email from you! It was SO much fun to read how your trip went and the amazing sights you have been able to see! So we had dinner, and then we headed to City Island for a lesson with Matt! We got to the island a little early so we went and checked up on Sister Kreig to see how she and Charlie were doing. So we headed to their house and Sister Kreig had just gotten home from the hospital. She said that Charlie was doing better but it was just a long recovery. We asked her of there was anything that we could do and she said to just pray for them. They are such an awesome couple but are just going through a hard time right now. So after we had a visit with Sister Krieg, we headed over to Matt's house and taught him a really good Plan of Salvation lesson! It went really well and I know that he felt the spirit because we sure did! So we had a great lesson with him and then we caught a bus and away we went back to the apartment for the night. I was SO excited and couldn't wait for today to come! When we got back to the apartment, we got to meet our new roommate! So we walked in and Elder Jackman gave us all a big bro hug! He is such a great guy! I always love telling you about our new missionaries that come into our apartment. I just couldn't help but think that I could have been somewhere completely different with another companion today. It would have been a hard adjustment especially on such a special day! I could be in Connecticut or lower Manhattan right now! Elder Jackman is really great! He is from West Jordan Utah and get this, he has been on his mission only 1 cycle more than I have! He came out just 6 weeks before me. He turns 19 in July so I am actually older than he is. He is a great guy! We had a great day and I couldn't wait for today to come!!!

It has been so much fun to email you and hear all about your week! I am so excited for you and all of the fun things you get to do! I will be thinking about you all day and wishing you a happy trip and fun time! I appreciate so much all of the Birthday wishes and packages yoi have given me! It is going to be a great day! Thank you so much in advance for your package that you sent! I can't wait to open it! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! ♥️ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!


Love Always!
~Elder Lindberg