August 2nd 2017~August Already!?! Thanks so much for your incredible email!!
Hello my dear and amazing family! What an amazing email! Thanks you so much for the pictures, videos, and everything that you said in your email! It was all so great and I loved reading it so much! A ton has happened this week and I can't wait to tell you about everything! It has been quite the adjustment from taking busses and trains, to driving a car wherever we need to. Houses are a lot more spread out but it is so much quicker to get around!
Last P-Day was so awesome!!! I enjoyed emailing you all so much and I loved reading your email and just taking a load off! I got so much done around the apartment! First of all, I just want to say that I LOVE this area so much! I have met so many cool people and have felt the spirit so strong! After our P-Day ended, we headed out for the evening to 2 lessons with 2 very very awesome people! It is so different up here. It feels like a completely different mission. I will be sitting in my bed trying to fall asleep and just listen to how quiet it is and....nothing. Complete silence. Then I will imagine that I'm hearing sirens and honking. I will think: "Those sirens sound pretty close" and then realize that there isn't any noise. I hope that I'm not going crazy! 🤣 Just kidding! I have just gotten used to constant noise like sirens and honking that when it is peaceful, I imagine different sounds. So we hopped in the Nissan and took off for a less active member named Richard. His wife's name is Lisa and they have little 2 year old daughter and huge dog, Mugsley. They live in the back country roads of Kingston out in the middle of absolute nowhere but it didn't take us very long to drive there. It was so awesome to see some new faces and be able to start off with a clean slate and start fresh. I have gotten so much better with talking to people and have loved getting to know them. So we walked into their little house and their front room is actually the kitchen and then they have a small living room and 2 small bedrooms. It is very humble and Richard works very hard as a contractor to make ends meet. So I introduced myself and got to know them better. Richard Dahl is a great guy! He hasn't been to Church in a long time and so we went over to help him see the importance of coming to church and partaking of the Sacrament. His girlfriend that he wants to marry someday, Lisa, have a cute little 2 year old daughter. We talked with them and Richard is a very cool guy! He works as a carpenter and loves cars and motorcycles. He said that he owns a bike that was built in the 60s that can go over 200 miles per hour! And that was back in the 60s. He told us that the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah were named after the maker of his bike because it set all kinds of land speed records. He is only in his mid 30s and is working really hard to support his family. We had an awesome chat with them and invited them to church. I can't wait to go back over and teach them some more. Then, we headed down the street to a guy named Ryan. What can I say about Ryan other than he is SO prepared to receive this Gospel. Elder Howard was telling me how they found Ryan. Elder Howard and his old companion, Elder Hughes, were at the Church one evening and a member of the Bishopric in the New Paltz branch up the street, got talking with them when he really wanted them to go visit a less active member. So they got into contact with her and then she referred them to Richard, the less active, and then Richard said: "I have a friend who you need to meet that just lives up the street from here." It was such a cool string of events to say the least! So Ryan was found that way and so we went over to teach him the 2nd lesson which is the Plan of Salvation. The only thing I can say about this lesson is that the spirit was so strong! Ryan had been taught the Restoration before I got here and so he already had that basic foundation. He had some great questions and we answered them and he knew that it was true. We could tell that he was feeling the spirit. Heavenly Father definitely knows when and where we are supposed to be! I just kept thinking to myself: "I need to be here in this area at this exact moment." We are praying about a baptismal date for Ryan as well! It was such an amazing evening here in Kingston with TONS of cool experiences! It was so amazing to see how well Elder Howard and I worked together.
Thursday was another awesome day! It was chucked full of meeting awesome and new people! Missionary work is pretty different upstate than down in the city. Things are a lot more spread out and so it is so nice to have a car! Our apartment has been so nice and I have gotten along with Elder Howard so well. It was so nice last P-day to have a washer and dryer in our apartment! Our whole apartment is just so nice and we have really good air conditioners and so it makes those hot days a lot cooler! So we woke up, excercied, did our studies and then we headed out the door to visit a lady named Lisa Miller! I have some really exciting news! I got the area book the night of last P-day and so I knew very little about the area and how all of the investigators were doing and where they are at. I was so happy and surprised to see that we had not 1, not 2, but 3 BAPTISMAL DATES scheduled with 3 investigators!!! We have 3 people that have accepted a baptismal date before I got here! They have about the same amount of people in our area book as I did in the Bronx but the people are a lot different. So right now, we have Lisa Miller's baptism on the 12 of August which isn't going to happen unfortunately because she kind of fell away from the Missionaries about a month ago and has been so hard to contact. So we will have to push the baptismal date further away with her. We need to find out her desire to learn and progress toward baptism. But we have 2 baptisms scheduled with 2 different people who aren't related on September 2nd with Felix Duran and David Salas. Felix is 8 years old and is a part member family. His mom is a Catholic and his Dad is a less active member. Felix is such a great kid! I got to meet him at our weekly correlation meeting with the Ward Mission Leader. So that has been the most exciting thing to see so far is that the work in this area has been doing really well!!!! No pressure! 
I need to keep the good work going! So, Lisa wasn't home unfortunately so we went to the Church to have our 1st weekly planning session of the cycle together! I have really loved this area! In case that you wanted to see the Church, the address is: Fording Place Rd, Lake Katrine. It is a very pretty area! The church is pretty old but is still an awesome church! This area is so cool! It has the bigger stores like Walmart and the Home Depot but then it has lots is smaller stores as well. The people here are very nice and friendly! So after we planned and called lots of members and investigators, it was 3:30 and we had a dinner appointment scheduled at 5:00 and so we decided to do a few lookups on our way back to a dinner appointment! We looked up a few people and they were home! Elder Howard didn't know them very well, (that makes 2 of us! ) and so we introduced ourselves. They had been in contact with missionaries a while ago but lost contact. So after that we had a dinner appointment scheduled with an awesome family from the ward! There names are the McClure family. They have 2 kids and their oldest, his name is Skye-Daniel (pretty interesting name right!) He went on a mission but only lasted about 2 and a half months in the Honduras Mission. He came home because of some of the things he saw and experienced. It was a really tough life and Skye-Daniel just couldn't handle the poverty and the tough times so he came home and has been working ever since. Their family is really great! They made us some really good homemade chili with rice . It was tasty and it hit the spot. Then we shared with them some scriptures from the Book of Mormon and talked to them about the Plan of Salvation and how much it blesses our lives! We had an awesome chat with them and I got to know them really well! They are an awesome family! Then after visiting with them and having dinner, we finished our day by visiting a lady who lived pretty far away from where we were but it was close by our apartment. She is a less active member and her name is Sister Martin. So we did a few lookups on our way which took about an hour with travel time and knocking on some doors along the way to schedule a few appointments for next week. I can't believe how thick the trees are up here. We will be driving and there will be walls of trees to the left of us, and the right f us. We can't even see past them so it is pretty crazy. It was about 7:30 when we got to her house but since we lived so close, we could leave at like 8:45 and still get home on time which is so nice! In the Bronx, we would have to leave sometimes at 8:00 or 8:15just to get back for our 9:00 curfew. We had an awesome get to know you lesson with Sister Martin. She is kind of interesting though. She was converted about 8 years ago but fell away from the Church and hasn't been in a really long time and so we go over to show her support and love so that she knows she is welcome to come to Church. She has been divorced 2 times and told us straight up that she wanted to divorce her husband. It is a pretty sad story because she is a very nice lady and has 3 kids all under the age of 6. She has a little girl that is just about to go into Pre-school and 2 little toddlers both under the age of 2. We just really want her to come to Church so she can be able to have those blessings like the Sacrament in her life. She runs a day care out of her home and so on most days, she has 15 kids running around her house and it is just her that is usually home. Her husband was home but he didn't want to talk to us. He isn't a member and isn't very supportive of his wife. It made me so sad to see that. The whole time I kept thinking of you Mom and Dad and how you always love and support one another and always treat each other with love and respect. It was just sad to see a family so torn apart in a way. We are trying our best to help them and be able to find peace and happiness again in their lives through the Gosp. We had a great visit and lesson with them and then it was time to head back to the apartment for the night. We were both so tired and so we fell right to sleep after a great day of missionary work! 
Friday I have some really exciting news and was such an awesome day! I got to start driving!!! You know how much I love to drive! We had a really awesome and productive day of missionary work! On Thursday, Elder Howard told me that the driver's side door got recalled a while ago before he got here and so they took it in to get fixed. Well the same problem started happening again. The door wouldn't open at all. So we called Elder Miles, who is our vehicle coordinator, and he told us to take it in to get it fixed again. It had been working for a while but then Elder Howard told me that it hasn't been working for the whole last cycle. So we scheduled an appointment to get it fixed during weekly planning and so after we got ready for the day and did our studies, I got to drive and take it to the Nissan dealership just down the street! It was so weird to drive again. I hadn't driven in over 6 months but I got the hang of it pretty quick. It was so much fun to get driving again! I couldn't believe that I was driving in New York, hopefully I don't come home driving like a crazy New Yorker! 🤣 The dealership didn't take long at all. While they were checking to see why the door wouldn't open, we called a whole bunch of people and Elder Howard talked to me about some of our investigators that I haven't met yet. The car dealership was really awesome! They had free doughnuts and water and so of course, we helped ourselves to a doughnut. The lady came back and told us that it was a quick fix and they weren't even going to charge us for it so we were so happy! The mission would have paid for it but it was still so nice to have them fix the problem for free. The problem was when they rolled down the window about a month ago, the window unhooked a rubber connector that latches and unlatches the door. So the dokr handle would move, but nothing was unlatching the door. Since it was on the recalled door that they already fixed, they just did it for free! We called Elder Miles the day before and asked him if we could take it in to get fixed and he told us not to worry and just get the work done to fix it. So then after the car dealership, we went to go see a lady named Candy Rittie. She was found sitting on her porch a few weeks ago by Elder Howard and Elder Hughes. She was very nice and was setting up a bird feeder on her front porch. We talked to her and she is having lots of health problems and the doctors are all telling her the same thing. We told her that she has a loving Heavenly Father and wants to share his love for her. She asked us why people go through hard times and we told her that it is to make us stronger and learn how to be patient and trust in Heavenly Father's timing. It was a great visit and lesson! Then we had an appointment with our amazing investigator named Ryan! I cannot tell you enough how awesome this guy is! He is so ready and so prepared! He is one of the coolest investigators I have met so far! So we went over to his house and had one of the best lessons I've ever had! The spirit was definitely there and we knew that Ryan was feeling the spirit and knew what we were teaching him was true. He has some of the best questions you will ever hear and wants to be a good person but he says that he gets mixed up with the wrong people and the choices of others influences him to go along with the crowd. He is about 30 years old and lives with his Mom in a trailer. It is a small neighborhood of about 5 trailers out by a nearby lake called "Mirror Lake." It is such a pretty area and we love driving over there! I got to drive the whole day and so that made the day even better! We talked to Ryan about TONS of aspects of the Gospel. He kept asking really good questions like: "What happens if you don't get baptized on this earth or have never been taught the Gospel." He is a very smart guy! Then he told us how he still lives with his Mom because he has a back problem and his spine isn't aligned correctly. He said that he has had this problem his whole life but just takes it one day at a time. He is a really great guy and really wants to do the right thing and be a good person. We had such a great lesson with him and talked to him about a ton of stuff! By that time, it was time to drive back home and have dinner. We were both just so excited for Ryan and we said a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for allowing us to teach Ryan because he really is a once in a lifetime investigator. We tried to extend a Baptisimal date to him for September 2nd but he says that it will take him longer to read the Book of Mormon and the rest of the Bible. We told him that he doesn't have to read the entire Book of Mormon before he can get Baptized, he just had to gain a testimony 1st and then come to Church. He still wanted to prepare himself to become worthy to come to Church and read and pray about the Book of Mormon before he accepted a date. We respected his choice and told him that we will always be here for him. He was so appreciative and kept telling us that this is what his life needed at this exact moment. I was so thankful for that lesson and for Ryan because it just makes it all worth it to see someone so happy because of the message that you bring them! It put a mile wide smile on my face the rest of the day! After our lesson with Ryan, it was time to head back to the apartment for dinner. Then after dinner, we had a cool little miracle happen! There is a recent convert named Sister Irene Gonzolez and an investigator that has a baptismal date, Lisa Miller. They are both really good friends which is awesome! We have been trying to get a hold of both of them to schedule a lesson with them but we haven't been able to ever since I got here. So we went to go visit an investigator who works at a restraunts and really likes us to come over during his breaks. So we went to a really nice part of Kingston where a lot of the money is, and went into this restraunt to find one of our investigators. A friend of Elder Hughes and Elder Howard, Alfredo, told us that he wasn't working that day. So we thanked him and then started to walk back outside. We knew that Heavenly Father needed us there in that spot for a reason, and sure enough, we step foot outside of the restraunt and we hear: "Hey Elders!" We turn our heads to the right and there were 3 people sitting on a bench down the street waving at us. Elder Howard recognized them immediately and it was Sister Gonzalez, Lisa Miller, and their friend, Billy! We were so lucky to be inntjat spot just at the right time for them to see us! So I got to know them a little bit better and then we scheduled an appointment for the very next day. They are very nice people and I really look forward to getting to know them better! Then, after we talked with them for a little while, we went to go lookup and try to schedule an appointment with a couple named Lorenzo and Sierra. We knocked on their door and Lorenzo Jr answered the door. He is such a funny kid! He is 4 years old and loves to trick missionaries by telling us that there is something behind us and then he will laugh and laugh. He is a really funny guy! Lorenzo was home but he told us that they were just about to hear out for the night. We scheduled another time to come back and then said goodbye to them. By this time, it was 8:45 so we decided that it was time to head back to the apartment for the night. I was exhausted and ready for a nice sleep! It was a really awesome day and we got a lot done!
Saturday was such an awesome day! I was thinking about you all day and wishing you a fun and safe trip to American Fork and Brandon a safe trip back home from camp! I was hoping that he and Dad had a great time! We had a really awesome day on Saturday! It was completely jam packed with awesome lessons and we barely had time to fit them all in which was awesome! It is always great to have days filled to the rafters with lessons because it makes us feel so much more productive than if we were just doing lookups or door to door knocking. It was awesome! So first, after we did our studies, we drove to Staples because we needed to copy a blank progress report so we could have some to fill out for Ward Correlation. So we got our copies and then a member took us out for lunch! Let me give you some back story on this member. Elder Howard told me that she actually takes the missionaries out to eat at this really good all-you-can eat buffet every single Saturday for lunch. I couldn't believe it! She has been taking the missionaries out to this 1 specific restraunt every single Saturday for years now. She is such a nice lady! Her name is Sister Wooton just like the Wootons in our Ward! So we met Sister Wooton at a buffet called "The Mid Hudson Buffet". First of all, it was so tasty! We met Sister Wooton at the restraunt and what is funny is that she doesn't even eat. She just takes us out to eat and then talks to us about how are missionary work is going. She got to know me really well and then we talked about our investigators and then we're she is from and how she came to be a member of the Church. She was a member of the Catholic church and then her Dad found the LDS church and then the rest of the kids started going and really liked it and now she has been a member ever since she was a little girl! How cool is that! She used to be a Temple worker in the Boston Massachusetts Temple but the drive was so long that she stopped doing that a few years ago. So now she takes the missionaries out to eat lunch. The lunch was so good! It reminded me a lot of Golden Corral but the owners are Chinese and so the restraunt has a Chinese feel to it. They have all kinds of food like chicken nuggets, pasta, sushi, rolls and so much more! Sister Wooton told us that she used to have the missionaries come over to her house but she said that she didn't have much variety in her cooking and so it was much easier for her to just bring us to a buffet. They even had soft serve ice cream with tons of toppings and so that was awesome! The buffet was surprisingly really cheap. It was only $8.00 per person. We thanked her for her kindness and then headed on our way. We were so grateful that she does this for missionaries. Elder Howard has already been there 7 times and so I'm not sure if he will get sick of it or not by the time he goes home in November. He and I really think that I will be his last companion and this will be his last area of his entire mission which is pretty cool to think about! So after lunch, we had Ward Correlation at the Ward Mission Leader's house and it was awesome! Usually we would have Ward Correlation just right after Church and so it was nice to switch things up and have it on a Saturday. So we headed over to Brother Lopez' house and I met the Ward Mission Leader! He is such a great guy! He is very young and has 3 kids. The funny thing is, is that he speaks very little English. Elder Howard called it "Spanglish" you have to speak as many words in Spanish as you know for him to understand. I knew a few words in Spanish since I have been studying Spanish while Elder Dick studied his Portuguese. We even sang the opening hymn in Spanish. I did the best I could but ohhhh, it was rough. I guess that you could say that "Mi Espanol es basura!!! 
" It was so different to be the only missionaries in the whole Kingston area. It is so much area that we cover! So we talked about the Ward and how our investigators were doing and then we hurried over to another appointment with an investigator that came to church a few weeks ago named Kim Damon. So I introduced myself and then we sat down and got to know each other a little bit better. Her boyfriend, Harley was over and so we had an awesome lesson with both of them. This is one of the things that I love about being a missionary, getting to know so many different people and hearing their story and where they come from. Harley was born in a small town in Texas and Kim was born just down the street from where we were. They live in a very nice apartment, it is pretty much brand new and is very nice! So we got to know them better and we read some verses in Moroni about the Book of Mormon and how coming to Church is so important. We really focussed on getting them to church since Kim had been before. She even told us that she really liked Relief Society and enjoyed how friendly everyone was. They said that they may be ready to come to Church in a little while but they have been really busy. We had a really good chat with them and I enjoyed getting to know them better. Then, we had a dinner appointment with a really nice lady in the ward named Sister Cross! We were so excited to go and Elder Howard even made some muffins for desert for after dinner. The appointment wasn't until 5:00 and it was about 4:15 and so we decided to go look up an investigator named Knowledge. Yes that is his real name! 
We got to his house and some kids were outside swimming in a pool and they said that Knowledge was in the house but then a few minutes later, his Mom told us that he had just left to go camping with a friend. We were pretty sad that we couldn't teach him really quick before our dinner appointment so we got in the car and decided what to do. As we were driving, we got a call from Sister Cross and she said that she was feeling sick and so she really didn't feel like cooking and making us sick. We totally understood and so we just went back to the apartment and had dinner there. Then, we enjoyed the muffins! 🤣 The whole day I was thinking about you and everything that you had going on. I really was hoping that you were having a great day and that Dubbie and Dad got home safely and then you had a great trip to American Fork! So then after dinner, we had a really awesome rest of our evening. I think that since this is my 2nd area, I already know how to do missionary work and so it has made it even more fun to jump right into a new area and already know what to do! It has been a ton of fun to get to know brand new ward members, investigators, and see a new beautiful part of New York! We drove to Lisa Miller's house for a lesson that we had scheduled with her and her 2 friends, Sister Gonzalez, and Bill. So we went over to their house and had an amazing lesson with them! It went so well and I have really start to notice that my teaching skills are improving. I have really been working hard on explaining things clearly, simply, and by the spirit. I think moving me to a new area has helped a lot with that just because I can teach different people. I do have to tell you about Sister Gonzalez' dog. His name is Brownie and he is this tiny little brown dog that is half Chihuahua and half dauschhound. So it is like a Chihuahua wiener dog. The thing I was going to tell you about him is that he is the calmest dog I have ever seen. He isn't old either. He is a fully grown dog but I just can't believe how calm he is. Parker, you would really like him because he doesn't even run around or bark. So we had a great lesson about the Restoration with the 3 of them, 4 if you count Brownie! 
Then we drove to visit a member who is struggling with some health issues and her Dad who has been very sick. So we drove over to her house and talked with her. She told us that she had an appointment with Bishop the following morning but didn't have a way to get to Church. So we called around to see if anyone could take her and everybody was either out of town or just didn't answer their phone so we decided to go visit the Elder Quorum President just around the corner and ask him if he could take her. I was excited to meet him because I had heard so many great things about him from Elder Howard. His name is Brother Monterroza. We knocked on his door and he was home!!! We were so excited to see him. He is a very nice guy and is from El Salvador and always has a big smile on his face, we asked him if he could bring Sister Heil to Church and he said "Absolutely!" He was so happy and willing to do it which was awesome! So we called Sister Heil feeling really happy and away we went back to the apartment for the night after an incredible day!
Sunday was a really awesome but eventful day! We had an absolute miracle happen and we were in the right place at the exact same time that Heavenly Father needed us to be! I'm so excited to tell you all about it! It was my 1st time going to the Kingston Ward and I loved it! The members are so awesome but we didn't have very many people. The attendance was about the same as the Ward in Olmstead so I'm used to only have 40-50 members there. The ward members are all so nice and welcomed me to Kingston! It was a lot of fun to get to know them all! I met lots of good people! I was thinking about you Matt all day and hoping you were having an awesome farewell talk and Dinner! I was hoping that you were all having a great time with the family! I met a really awesome member and his name is Brother Thompson. He such a cool guy and really loves the missionaries. He made Elder Hughes and Elder Howard a meatloaf about a week before I got here and guess what he made it out of?? Venison! It sounded pretty good but then I found out that he had hunted it that very morning. He is a really great guy! We had an awesome day at Church! A 12 year old Deacons' President spoke and he did a really great job! Then I got thinking of Brando and the good job that he does in his calling. There are only about 2 deacons that are active and come to Church each week and so our job is to help re-activate those deacons who haven't been coming. Then we had the 1st counselor in the Bishopric speak about the Book of Mormon and Oliver Cowdry. It was a really interesting talk! Then after Church, we set up tons of appointments for the upcoming week and then headed back to the apartment for lunch. Our church goes from 10:00-1:00 which is so nice. This ward is the only ward that meets in this building and so they get to pick what time they meet! The Bishop is a really nice guy as well! We are actually in the Newburgh stake and then the Kingston Ward. I can't remember if that is what I had told you in last week's email but sorry if I confused you. So after Church, we came back to the apartment to have lunch and then we headed back out to do a ton of lookups and try to look through our area book to see if we feel like we need to visit anyone that night. We said a prayer and asked where needed to be that night. We didn't have any set lessons so it was completely up to us as to where we should go and what we should do. We decided that Heavenly Father needed us to be in a town about 15 miles away from our apartment. Our area covers more than just Kingston but Kingston is our main area. There is a town 15 miles north of us and it is actually at the very tip top of the mission! Isn't that crazy! I am literally at the very top of the New York New York North Mission. Elder Howard was driving that day and he said that if we missed our exit to the town that we were going to, we would be out of the mission before we realized it. That is how close we are to the border of the New York New York South Mission. So we drove the 15 miles to an area where we work and it is the town of Saugerties. It is an awesome little town and in some parts, it REALLY reminds me of Star Valley with all of the pretty trees and back country woods. We drove around the main part of the town and knocked on some doors with very little success of finding anyone home. But we knew that is were we were supposed to be for the rest of the evening, we just had to find out why and who needed us. We had a profile for a 23 year old girl who had recently had her Grandma pass away and so missionaries shared with her a quick message about the Plan of Salvation and then put her information into Area Book. Then we realized that her address was for a Rite-Aid store where she worked. So we were just sitting in the car outside the store and read her profile and then I noticed that the missionaries had found her EXACTLY TO THE DATE AND TIME the same time that we were there. Complete coincidence!! We got looking at the time that missionaries had found her a year ago and it said 6:30 July 30th 2016. We said: "Wait a minute, that's right now!!!" We couldn't believe how unbelievably crazy it was! So we went inside and asked for the person that we were looking for and they told us that she used to work there but moved a few months ago. We were so hoping that she would still be working there so we could talk to her and possibly set up another time to teach her. It was just a really cool coincidence that it had been a year exactly that missionaries found her. Then, we drove around and looked at our area book of investigators that had contact with missionaries before or had been taught lessons. So we did this for a few hours and then we felt like we should go knock on the doors of 2 investigators that had been taking lessons but the notes in their profile said that they weren't interested in having lessons anymore and so missionaries hadn't gone over in over a year. So we took lots of back roads to find these people and then we finally came across their house. It had such an amazing view with a cool deck that overlooked everything. The house was a cabin style house with lots of 4th of July decorations. We knocked on the door and the lady that we were looking for, Cheri, answered the door and was so happy to see us! Then the husband came to the doormand started talking with us. They are both really cool people. They are both in their 60s and the Dad, Pete, looks a lot like the farmer from the painting "American Gothic." Just to give you an idea of what he looks like. So we got talking to them and they said that they stopped having missionaries over because they felt like the missionaries that would come over were sort of like robots. They said that the missionaries a long time ago just said scripted phrases. They wanted to learn but it just wasn't working out. So he told us that if we could sit down and have a friendly conversation with them and just teach them, then we could start going over to their house again! Then, the wife invited us over for dinner tonight and so we are very excited for that! Their names are Cheri and Pete Sagazie and we are very excited that we found them! Here comes the cool miracle that we needed to be in the right place for. As we were talking with the Sagazies, I felt the phone in my pocket vibrate. I checked to see who it was and it was the less active member, Sister Shambo, who we tried to go visit that night but she didn't answer the door. So we tried calling her right before we rang her doorbell. She lives in an apartment building and so we buzzed up to her room in the lobby but she didn't answer so we couldn't go in. Well, while we were talking with the Sagazies the phone rang and it was from Sister Shambo. So after we were done chatting with the Sagazies, they invited over for dinner and then we headed outside to finish our lookups. When we got in the car, we got a call again from Sister Shambo. I answered the phone and she was frantic to say the least. We couldn't believe what she told us after that. She told us that she had fallen on accident the night before, so it would have been Saturday night, and she still couldn't get up. So this poor lady had been stuck on the floor for an entire day. We felt so bad and rushed back over to her house which was just 2 miles away! But the miracle was that we were so close to her house, otherwise, we would have been 15 miles away if we wouldn't have been guided to drive to Sagerties that evening. So we drove over as fast as we could and knocked on her door. She yelled to us that she was crawling to the door to try to open it. We felt so bad for her! It took her about 30 minutes to reach the door handle with a cane that she had close by to open up the door. When she opened opened up the door, she was so relieved and she knew that everything was going to be ok. We just couldn't believe that she had been stuck on the floor for an entire day without food or water. We helped her up and she regained her balance but because she was so hungry, she was weak and could barely stand. We sat her down on her bed and then asked her all about what had happened. She said that she fell and hurt her arm and her ankle very bad and so she couldn't move around on the floor very well. She had been to the hospital a few days earlier because her arm was hurting. So she had fallen on Saturday night and spent the night on the floor but luckily she had some blankets nearby. She was a bigger lady and so that made it even more difficult for her to get up. Then, she finally got to a phone and we were the first ones she called because she had missed a call from us after we buzzed up to her room. She didn't want to call an ambulance because she just needed help up and knew how expensive it would be. So we were the first ones she called and luckily we were so close. By the time we helped her up onto a chair, she was so hungry and thirsty and so we gave her a glass of water and asked her what sounded good to eat. She told us that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sounded best and so we made one for her and she ate it so fast because of how hungry she was. We just couldn't believe that she had been lying on the floor for an entire day. Poor lady! So we asked her if she needed any medical attention and she told us that she was feeling so much better. She was just relieved that she was up and moving around. Her arm and ankle were hurting her a little bit but she said that she wanted to get some rest. Then she asked us for a Preisthood Blessing and so we gladly gave her one. It was a special time to help someone in need! We were just so glad that she was ok and that we were so close to her house. Otherwise, it would have been a 15 mile drive to get there. We were also really glad that we weren't in a lesson and called her back after the lesson because it would have been too late to drive that far. But we would have gladly done it anyways! It was a crazy way to end the day to say the least. It was such an awesome day and I had a great time meeting all of the ward members! I was going to tell you something so cool about 1 of the members of our ward. His name is Michael Young and he is a descendant of Brigham Young! Isn't that so cool! I think I heard that he is the great great grandson of Brigham Young. It was an awesome day and I was thinking about you guys all day!
Monday was a great day! It was my 1st District Meeting of the cycle! I was excited to get to know the members of the District and zone! For District Meeting each week, we actually meet in a small town called New Paltz. It is about a half hour drive from our apartment. It is a really cool area though! I took some pictures outside of the chapel so you can picture where everything is. New Platz is such a small town that it isn't a ward yet and so the building is pretty small. I have never been to a branch building before so that was fun! So we headed in for District Meeting and I got to meet everyone in the zone! We have such an awesome zone! Our District Leader's name is Elder Newbold and he is a really great guy! His companion is Elder Wallace who was in the sign language program and now he gets a break from the ASL program for a while. Then we have 2 really awesome Sister Missionaries. Sister Ho is from Taiwan and Sister Johnson is from Farmington! I asked her if she new Lonna and Shannon but she doesn't. That would have been really cool if she knew who they were! So we had District Meeting and talked about all of our investigators and then got to know each other better. The district as you can tell is pretty small. It is just the 6 of us in the whole District. I didn't get to talk to our Zone Leaders for very long but I'm sure that I will get to next week so I can tell you all about them. Then after District Meeting, we drove back to Kingston and went to the Church to share a quick message with a group of guys that play basketball over at the Church with Brother Larin, who is the 1st counselor in the Bishopric. We shared about how important families are and how much love and support they can give one another. I told them how appreciative I was of my own family for everything that they give me. You guys are truly the best family ever and I just want you to know how much I love each and every one of you. We shared our testimony of eternal families and then we said a prayer and then headed out to eat for lunch. Elder Howard took us to a really cool restraunt called Moe's! It was all so good! It is kind of like a Chipotle or a Cafe Rio. They have this deal every Monday that you can get one of their huge burritos with chips and salsa for $5.99. It is an amazing deal because I could barely finish it all. It was a ton of food for only $5.99! So that was a lot of fun! Then, we drove to have another lesson with our awesome investigator named Ryan. We had a really good lesson with Ryan! We are kind of stuck with him because we know that he is ready for a baptismal date but he says that he needs more time and he wants to be sure that he is ready to make that commitment. We respected his choice and told him that if he reads and prays about the scriptures and he is diligent, he will be blessed and he will be ready to get baptized. We read with him in the Book of Mormon and he really enjoyed it because we were there to help him along the way understand more about what he was reading. He has been reading on his own which is awesome! We were so excited for him! Then, it was time to head back to the apartment for dinner and then to change into some clothes to do service in because we had a less active member named Richard who needed us to stack some wood behind his house for firewood. But then as we were driving back, he texted us and said that he got stuck at work and couldn't get out in time. So, we went to our backup plan and Elder Howard made some muffins and we took them over to our friend and less active member Lisa Martin. She had told us the last time that we came over that she really needed an ottoman moved from her kitchen to her upstairs storage room. So we brought her a treat and then helped her move her ottoman. It was a great opportunity to serve! We had a good visit and lesson with her and then it was time to head back to the apartment for day after an awesome day of missionary work!
Tuesday was a really awesome day! I was so very excited to get you email and see all of the awesome pictures that you took! Tuesday nights are always my favorite because I know that your email is coming soon!! On Tuesday, we had to take the Altima to get the oil changed for Elder and Sister Miles. They told us that we were allowed to drive to Poughkeepsie and get whatever work needed to be done. The oil needed to be changed and the brakes were a little squeaky so we gladly helped them out! Poughkeepsie is a really cool place! It is very similar to Kingston and has lots of cool sights to see. So we took the car in and they inspected it and then called Elder Miles to double check if the work could be done. They said to go ahead and fix any problems that it had. So they changed the oil and then aligned the tires and we were all set to go! So we drove back to Kingston and then we had 3 back to back lessons with Mario, Lisa Miller, and Manny Styles. Only 1 of the 3 were home and so we taught Manny the Restoration. He and his family just moved into Kingston a few days ago and got into contact with our District Leader were they lived in New Paltz. Well when they found out that they were moving to Kingston, they gave us their information so now we get to teach them! Manny dropped out of High School last year and so he is living with his Mom and brother at the moment. It is pretty sad to see him because he told us that he doesn't have much of a future. He wants us to teach him and give him some hope and peace in his life. We were so happy that he was willing to meet with us. He told us that he just wasn't good at school and so he thought it would be best to drop out. So we taught him the Restoration and he remembered tons of points from when the New Paltz Elders taught him. He remembered that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He really is a smart guy. So we taught him and then headed to our other 2 appointments but neither of them were home. So we left notes on their doors and then went around to knock on some investigators doors who we had the records of. Then we called some less active members that had moved in the past year from a list that the Ward Clerk printed off for us. We knocked on lots of doors and then we headed back to the apartment for dinner. Then after dinner, we had basketball scheduled in because we had some non members show up last week and so we thought it would be a great opportunity to get to know them so we texted them and they told us that it was one of the boys' Birthday and so they were going out to eat andnwouldnt play basketball. They are about 14-17 years old and so we wanted to help strengthen the young men group. So instead, we went around and did more lookups. We met a really nice lady named Janyce and she answered the door and her 2 little kids thought we were cops!
It was really funny. They said: "Mom, are those cops?" She had met with the sister missionaries when they were in this area about a year ago. Well missionaries lost contact with her and so now we scheduled an appointment with her so that was really exciting! So towards the end of the night, we knocked on a really nice guys' door named Carmello. He is Hispanic and doesn't speak very much English. Since we are the only missionaries in the whole Kingston area, we cover everyone no matter what language they speak. We had a nice lesson with him since he was home and then we headed back to the apartment after a really awesome day! I was so excited to get home and read your email! I couldn't wait!
Well my dear family! Looking back in this email I realized how long it is. I hope it doesn't bore you! A lot of great things have happened and so I wanted to make sure that I remembered everything. I forgot to mention that our Zone Conference is tomorrow in Newburgh! I also found out the Elder Kirkham is in my Zone so I will get to see him tomorrow! It will be a really good time! I have really been loving Kingston and Elder Howard is a great companion! It was so much fun to read your email, watch your video, and look at your pictures because they were all awesome! Your emails are always so good and I love all of the details t hst you include! I'm so glad that you all had a fun week and I'm so glad that you got a week off of work Dad! I appreciate you all so much and miss you every day. I am adjusting just fine and really enjoying serving! It may be hard at times and sometimes I want to be with you but I know how amazing missions are and I know that this church is true! I hope you all have another awesome week and enjoy your summer! It has been really weird not having a summer. In fact, missionary work is best when it is done when kids are home for the summer. That way, we can go teach them and their families! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL TONS AND TONS!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Friday I have some really exciting news and was such an awesome day! I got to start driving!!! You know how much I love to drive!
Saturday was such an awesome day! I was thinking about you all day and wishing you a fun and safe trip to American Fork and Brandon a safe trip back home from camp! I was hoping that he and Dad had a great time! We had a really awesome day on Saturday! It was completely jam packed with awesome lessons and we barely had time to fit them all in which was awesome! It is always great to have days filled to the rafters with lessons because it makes us feel so much more productive than if we were just doing lookups or door to door knocking. It was awesome! So first, after we did our studies, we drove to Staples because we needed to copy a blank progress report so we could have some to fill out for Ward Correlation. So we got our copies and then a member took us out for lunch! Let me give you some back story on this member. Elder Howard told me that she actually takes the missionaries out to eat at this really good all-you-can eat buffet every single Saturday for lunch. I couldn't believe it! She has been taking the missionaries out to this 1 specific restraunt every single Saturday for years now. She is such a nice lady! Her name is Sister Wooton just like the Wootons in our Ward! So we met Sister Wooton at a buffet called "The Mid Hudson Buffet". First of all, it was so tasty! We met Sister Wooton at the restraunt and what is funny is that she doesn't even eat. She just takes us out to eat and then talks to us about how are missionary work is going. She got to know me really well and then we talked about our investigators and then we're she is from and how she came to be a member of the Church. She was a member of the Catholic church and then her Dad found the LDS church and then the rest of the kids started going and really liked it and now she has been a member ever since she was a little girl! How cool is that! She used to be a Temple worker in the Boston Massachusetts Temple but the drive was so long that she stopped doing that a few years ago. So now she takes the missionaries out to eat lunch. The lunch was so good! It reminded me a lot of Golden Corral but the owners are Chinese and so the restraunt has a Chinese feel to it. They have all kinds of food like chicken nuggets, pasta, sushi, rolls and so much more! Sister Wooton told us that she used to have the missionaries come over to her house but she said that she didn't have much variety in her cooking and so it was much easier for her to just bring us to a buffet. They even had soft serve ice cream with tons of toppings and so that was awesome! The buffet was surprisingly really cheap. It was only $8.00 per person. We thanked her for her kindness and then headed on our way. We were so grateful that she does this for missionaries. Elder Howard has already been there 7 times and so I'm not sure if he will get sick of it or not by the time he goes home in November. He and I really think that I will be his last companion and this will be his last area of his entire mission which is pretty cool to think about! So after lunch, we had Ward Correlation at the Ward Mission Leader's house and it was awesome! Usually we would have Ward Correlation just right after Church and so it was nice to switch things up and have it on a Saturday. So we headed over to Brother Lopez' house and I met the Ward Mission Leader! He is such a great guy! He is very young and has 3 kids. The funny thing is, is that he speaks very little English. Elder Howard called it "Spanglish" you have to speak as many words in Spanish as you know for him to understand. I knew a few words in Spanish since I have been studying Spanish while Elder Dick studied his Portuguese. We even sang the opening hymn in Spanish. I did the best I could but ohhhh, it was rough.
Sunday was a really awesome but eventful day! We had an absolute miracle happen and we were in the right place at the exact same time that Heavenly Father needed us to be! I'm so excited to tell you all about it! It was my 1st time going to the Kingston Ward and I loved it! The members are so awesome but we didn't have very many people. The attendance was about the same as the Ward in Olmstead so I'm used to only have 40-50 members there. The ward members are all so nice and welcomed me to Kingston! It was a lot of fun to get to know them all! I met lots of good people! I was thinking about you Matt all day and hoping you were having an awesome farewell talk and Dinner! I was hoping that you were all having a great time with the family! I met a really awesome member and his name is Brother Thompson. He such a cool guy and really loves the missionaries. He made Elder Hughes and Elder Howard a meatloaf about a week before I got here and guess what he made it out of?? Venison! It sounded pretty good but then I found out that he had hunted it that very morning. He is a really great guy! We had an awesome day at Church! A 12 year old Deacons' President spoke and he did a really great job! Then I got thinking of Brando and the good job that he does in his calling. There are only about 2 deacons that are active and come to Church each week and so our job is to help re-activate those deacons who haven't been coming. Then we had the 1st counselor in the Bishopric speak about the Book of Mormon and Oliver Cowdry. It was a really interesting talk! Then after Church, we set up tons of appointments for the upcoming week and then headed back to the apartment for lunch. Our church goes from 10:00-1:00 which is so nice. This ward is the only ward that meets in this building and so they get to pick what time they meet! The Bishop is a really nice guy as well! We are actually in the Newburgh stake and then the Kingston Ward. I can't remember if that is what I had told you in last week's email but sorry if I confused you.
Monday was a great day! It was my 1st District Meeting of the cycle! I was excited to get to know the members of the District and zone! For District Meeting each week, we actually meet in a small town called New Paltz. It is about a half hour drive from our apartment. It is a really cool area though! I took some pictures outside of the chapel so you can picture where everything is.
Tuesday was a really awesome day! I was so very excited to get you email and see all of the awesome pictures that you took! Tuesday nights are always my favorite because I know that your email is coming soon!! On Tuesday, we had to take the Altima to get the oil changed for Elder and Sister Miles. They told us that we were allowed to drive to Poughkeepsie and get whatever work needed to be done. The oil needed to be changed and the brakes were a little squeaky so we gladly helped them out! Poughkeepsie is a really cool place! It is very similar to Kingston and has lots of cool sights to see. So we took the car in and they inspected it and then called Elder Miles to double check if the work could be done. They said to go ahead and fix any problems that it had. So they changed the oil and then aligned the tires and we were all set to go! So we drove back to Kingston and then we had 3 back to back lessons with Mario, Lisa Miller, and Manny Styles. Only 1 of the 3 were home and so we taught Manny the Restoration. He and his family just moved into Kingston a few days ago and got into contact with our District Leader were they lived in New Paltz. Well when they found out that they were moving to Kingston, they gave us their information so now we get to teach them! Manny dropped out of High School last year and so he is living with his Mom and brother at the moment. It is pretty sad to see him because he told us that he doesn't have much of a future. He wants us to teach him and give him some hope and peace in his life. We were so happy that he was willing to meet with us. He told us that he just wasn't good at school and so he thought it would be best to drop out. So we taught him the Restoration and he remembered tons of points from when the New Paltz Elders taught him. He remembered that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He really is a smart guy. So we taught him and then headed to our other 2 appointments but neither of them were home. So we left notes on their doors and then went around to knock on some investigators doors who we had the records of. Then we called some less active members that had moved in the past year from a list that the Ward Clerk printed off for us. We knocked on lots of doors and then we headed back to the apartment for dinner. Then after dinner, we had basketball scheduled in because we had some non members show up last week and so we thought it would be a great opportunity to get to know them so we texted them and they told us that it was one of the boys' Birthday and so they were going out to eat andnwouldnt play basketball. They are about 14-17 years old and so we wanted to help strengthen the young men group. So instead, we went around and did more lookups. We met a really nice lady named Janyce and she answered the door and her 2 little kids thought we were cops!
Well my dear family! Looking back in this email I realized how long it is. I hope it doesn't bore you!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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