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! 
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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!
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!
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!
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
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.
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
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