August 16th 2017~
Hello my awesome family!! Thank you so much for all of your amazing videos and pictures that you sent! I can't beleive that Matt took off for his mission yesterday! It really is crazy to think that he is or was in New York not too long ago! I loved looking at all of your pictures and watching your videos! You guys had such a fun week and I loved reading all about It! Thank you so much for your amazing email as well! You always take the time to write me such nice emails to get each week and i appreciate it very much! I love hearing about everything that you got to do! I miss you all very much and seeing Matt heading off just put into perspective how fast time flies because I feel like that was me yesterday! So crazy to think that I will have been home for almost 7 months before he gets back! Isn't that crazy?? We had an amazing and successful week and I can't wait to tell you all about it! Lots of cool things are going on in this area and Elder Howard and i are aorking hard and trying our best! I do have to tell you soemthing really quick anout yesterday. We had our interviews with President Smith and I can't beleive I'm saying this but that was my 5th out of 17 interviews. It doesn't seem like I've had that many. Well, President Smith felt like he should ask me if I was homesick or getting over homesickness. It goes away and comes back at random times but I have it under control. It was perfect for him to talk with me about because I just miss you all so much! He did something really cool that helped a ton! He asked me to close my eyes. He said "Imagine 22 years from now, you will be 41 years old. Imagine you are saying goodbye to your son, give him a big hug, what would you say to him?" Then he told me about his experience with homesickness. He told me that he was so homesick and cried himself to sleep most night for the first 5 months of his mission. Now I definately haven't cried myself to sleep like he did but everyone gets homesick sometimes. It was very encouraging to hear of his experience. Even though I haven't been feeling really bad homesickness for about a month now, it was just cool to have him talk to me about it since I did have some pretty bad homesickness a while ago. It was a neat experience!
Last P-day was so much fun! I already let you know about everything that we did but I thought I would tell you a little more! We woke up and I got laundry started right at 8:00 because we had to meet Sister Parks at her house at 11:00. So we didn't do shopping until after we spent some time at the waterfall. So we drove to the Parks' house and everyone else showed up right after we did. The Parks' house is so nice and pretty! Brother Parks is a anesthesiologist and so he makes a lot of money! So we took off and followed them through the twisty roads of the back country of Kingston and then we walked about a quarter of a mile to the beautiful waterfall. As you can see from the pictures, it was so pretty up there. We had a great time looking around since Elder Howard and I couldn't swim. So we spent a few hours there and Sister Parks even brought us some really good Walmart sandwhiches and a Gatorade. It was so nice of her! So we enjoyed that and then we left at around 2:30 and went grocery shopping. It has been SO nice to have a Walmart so close by. I really appreciated your offer of sending me stuff that I needed through Wal-Mart's website. It's so nice to have one! So then after our P-Day ended, we got a text from a less active member, Lisa Martin, who really needed a blessing because she has been going through some really hard times. We gladly went over and gave her a blessing and the spirit was so strong. She knew that it was just what she needed. Then we had a lesson with a lady named Janyce Hess and it went so well! She is very busy and so she isn't going to be able to come to Church but hey, miracles happen! So by that time it was time to head back to the apartment for the evening after a really fun P-Day!
Thursday was a really awesome day as well! I love it when everything goes well and our day is "stuffed to the rafters" with lessons and activities! We woke up, got ready for the day and then we had a Conference call! It has been a while since President Smith has done one and so it was really great to have one! He read through all of the cool experiences and miracles that have gone on in the last few weeks in the mission. It was a really great conference call and we learned a lot! It was one of the hottest days so far here in Kingston. It got up to the high 80s but with the humidity.....let's just say that I was very grateful for the air conditioned car!
So we had a lesson first thing in the morning after our studies with aimless active member, Sister Falatyn. Sister Wootton and her are really good friends and so Sister Wootton came with us. Sister Falatyn loves in a beautiful and huge home! It is so secluded in a very nice area of Kingston. I could not beleive the size of her house. So we all had a great lesson with Sister Falatyn. She had a pretty and amazing view of Kingston from her window and so I took a few pictures so you could see. Sister Falatyn told us that she got offended many years ago by some of the ward members and so she doesn't want anything to do with the Church. She was very bitter and explained to us her frustration about the Church. It was so sad to hear her talk so negatively about the Church. We assured her that the people in the Church aren't perfect, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. So we had a great lesson with her and then she told us that she would think about coming back to church. She was even in the Relief Society Presidency when she was active. We had a great lesson with her and then we drove back to the apartment for lunch. Then we drove to the Church to do our weekly planning. We planned and called lots of people which is always so nice to have that time set aside to focus on our next week! Then, after our weekly planning, we drove all over the place and knocked on tons of doors to try to find people at home. We had a great time talking to people and setting up our visits! Then, we had another dinner appointment with the McClure family. They are a really great and nice family. They love having the missionaries over. This is the family that had their son, Skye-Daniel leave on his mission and then came home a few months in. It was really tough of him and when we come over, we can tell that he wishes that he stayed. It is tough at times but it is all worth it and we could tell that Skye-Daniel really wanted to finish his mission. I can imagine how tough it would be to come home early. We had a great lesson with them about the Restoration and Joseph Smith and then we had just over an hour and a half left until we needed to head in for the night and so we knocked on a few more doors and set 2 more appointments with some investigators that we had on our list. Then we had a lesson with a lady named Dorette. We got a call a few days prior from a member of the New Paltz branch. They told us to go visit and teach her and so we were glad to! So we went over to her house and got to know her a little better. She is from Kingston Jamacia, pretty funny that she moved from Kingston to Kingston! We taught her an awesome Restoration lesson and she understood most of it since she has a great Christian background! We had a great lesson and we got to know her really well! By that time, it was time to head back to the apartment and we were beat! 
It was a great day!
Friday was such an exciting day!!. I have to tell you about a dream I had that night! It was a great dream! I have noticed that ever since I have been out, I haven't been dreaming as much. I had a dream that you all flew out and visited me in the mission field. You came to church and sat in the front row and I gave you all the biggest hug ever! Then we all went out and piled into the Altima and we drove around and visited people. It was a really awesome dream but totally against mission rules! Sister Wootton called us the day before and wondered if we could switch the day that we go out to eat to Friday. We said we would love to and so we went out to eat for lunch on Friday instead of Saturday. So our day started off my trying to visit Lisa Mille who we had to take off of baptismal date since we have been unable to contact her for so long. So we tried to call her and she didn't answer so we left her a note. Then we tried to go visit David Salas and he didn't answer either. My that time, it was time to drive over to the Mid-Hudson buffet and meet Sister Wootton for Lunch! I still can't beleive that she takes us out every single week and has been for years now. It costs her just over $16.00 to take the both of us out each week. She is so nice and generous! I will be sure to get a picture with her soon! We had a great lunch and talk with her and then we headed over to a lesson with our new investigator Manny Styles! He was referred to us from some members in New Paltz. Our District Leader and his companion talked with him right before he moved here to Kingston. So we called him and set up an appointment last week and so we were really excited to go over and teach him and get to know him better! Here is the exciting news! He told us in our 1st lesson that he wants to be baptized and wants to be a missionary! His Mom and one of his Brothers are members and so he really wants to get baptized. His Mom hasn't been to Church for many years and so we are working really hard to get them to come back to Church. We felt prompted to extend a Baptisimal Date to him and........he accepted! We extended the invitation for September 16th. It was an exciting time because now we have 4 baptismal dates! Bill Smith, Manny Styles, Felix Duran, and David Salas! I still haven't seen David and so we may have to move his baptismal date since we haven't been able to get in contact with him. We were so excited that he wants to be baptized! We had a great lesson with him and then we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and read a pamphlet that we gave him. It was an exciting time! After our lesson with Manny, we knocked on a few more doors and then we drove to the Parks' house to do some service! They are a really great and nice family! We weeded their front flower beds and then weeded around their decorative curbing that they had around their walkway.s it didn't take us very long since their yard has been taken care of and kept up on. After we weeded, Sister Parks made dinner for us! She made us really good enchiladas just like you make Mom and Dad! They were identical to what you make! They were so good! Then after dinner, it was time to head to our next appointment with Bill Smith! We said goodbye and then thanked them for the meal and then drove to Bill's apartment. He was eagerly waiting outside for us to get there. He really does enjoy having us come over which makes us feel great and we know that he is feeling the Holy Ghost! We asked him how his reading of the Book of Mormon was going and We were shocked what he told us! He said that he has already read to Alma! He has been reading like the wind! He told us that he felt bad because he didn't think he was going to finish before his Baptism. We assured him that he doesn't have to finish, he just has to gain a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He has been doing so well and we are right on track to have his Baptism on September 23rd! It will be a really exciting day! Some of the problems that we encounter with baptismal dates is sometimes the investigator will just forget about the date and won't answer their phone or door and so we are hoping that we can keep meeting with Bill, Manny, and Felix so we can keep their dates on track! We could have 3 baptisms within the next month and a half and so we are very excited for that! It is a lot of work to make sure baptisms go smoothly and the investigator understands everything. We are very excited and can't wait to see what happens! So we taught Bill about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then talked about the Sacrament. The lesson went really well and he really enjoyed it! By that time, it was time to head back to the apartment for the evening after an awesome day! We were so excited to have another Baptisimal Date!
Saturday was another amazing day! It was another jam packed day and we were bouncing from appointment to appointment. We woke up ready and excited for another great day of missionary work! We started the day by going to visit Felix who is preparing to get baptized. His older brother is a member and so we are really helping him make that exciting step! So we went over to his house but wasn't home and so we decided to go see if Ryan and Deborah were home and luckily they were! We hadn't seen Ryan in almost a week and a half and we couldn't get a hold of him and so we wondered why he stopped meeting with us. We talked with him and he said that he was going good but he was embarrassed and didn't want to meet with us because he wasn't reading his scriptures. He felt like if we were to meet, then he should be reading his scriptures. We told him that he was doing a great job and that Heavenly Father is proud of him for trying his best. We set a return appointment for last Monday so we could come over and continue teaching him! We were so grateful that he was still willing to meet with us! Then after we talked with Ryan for a little while, we went to go visit David Salas but he wasn't home. I have yet to meet him and we have tried calling him and knocking on his door almost every day and we haven't been able to reach him. His baptism is scheduled for the 2nd of September and so we really want to achieve that goal. Then after that, we headed back to the apartment for lunch. Then we had a crazy busy schedule for the rest of the day. We visited with Sister Heil becauee she called us the day before and said that she had some really bad back pain. We asked her if she wanted a blessing but she told us that she would be ok. So we went to go check up on her and she was just fine. She went to the doctor and they gave her some medicine to help with the back pain. It was a pretty quick visit because we had Ward Correlation right after that. One interesting and funny thing was when her older son that lives there opened the door, guess what was standing there??? A FERRET!! I didn't know that ferrets were nice but they are actually so nice and like to be held. His ferret would let us pick him up and hold him. It was just really funny because how often do you get to hold someone's pet ferret. So after we visited with Sister Heil, we went to the Lopez' house and had Ward Correlation. Brother Lopez is such a good guy! He gave us a really good watermelon drink and then gave us a fresh peach as we left. We talked about our investigators and what they needed in order to progress and learn. It was a great discussion and then we had to leave for another appointment that we had with Knowledge Cook. He is a teenager and is entering his junior year this year just like Abbs! We went to his house but there wasn't any sign of anyone home. He has been really hard to meet with. The cool part about Knowledge is that he is on the Kingston Tigers football team. The 1 time that I have met with him, we talked a lot about football and how Kingston was looking this year. He wasn't home unfortunately so we headed back to the apartment and did our companionship study and then grabbed something for our dinner that night! I can't even tell you how nice this ward is! They are always so willing to feed us dinner! About a week ago, we got talking with Sister Cross who is from South Jordan and so we got talking about some of our favorite restraunts that they don't have here in New York. She said that her favorite was Cafe Rio and so then we got talking about sweet pork salads and how we had those for my last meal before I left. She asked me if you made them and I proudly said YES! She was so excited and asked if she could have the recipe. Elder Howard's Mom sent him the recipe while he was serving in Manhattan and so he just gave her that one and it was pretty close to how we make them. She really wanted to make them for us and so she set up a time for us to come over on Saturday. We were really excited and Sister Cross even invited Kim and Harley who we are teaching just down the hall. So after we did a few lookups, we ran back to the apartment and got our ingredients to make the cilantro lime rice! Then we headed over to Sister Cross' house and had a really good sweet pork salad burritos! The pork was so good but no where near yours. We had a really good time and then Sister Cross told us some unbelievable news! As we were eating, we got talking about her son, Logan, who has Cerebral Palsy. She said that it has been really hard recently because she just got a divorce and her husband took the one and only car that they had. So she has been without a car for a few months now. Luckily, she has a really good neighbor who let's her barrow her brand new Honda Civic to use for grocery shopping. Apparently, the last set of missionaries that were here, never really spent much time with Sister Cross. But ever since we have been meeting with her, she has been seeing cool things happen in her life and I can't wait to tell you about the miracle that she had! First of all, the last time that we met with Bill Smith, he said that ever since we have been coming over, really cool small miracles have been happening. He has really seen our Heavenly Father's love in his life. He said that he went to get his mail the other day and there was a pretty large check in mail addressed to him. He said he had no idea what it was for but then he read the letter and it said that he was overcharged on his Medicaide in 2013! Isn't that cool! They said that he paid too much and so they were just returning the money that they owe him. So that was a fun surprise for him! Then here is the amazing part, Sister Cross has been looking to buy a van that has a lift so she can lift Logan's wheelchair up into the van. She has been looking and looking for a while now. She was on Facebook one day and saw that one of the pages t hst she was apart of who receive donations and then use those donations to help other families in need who have children with disabilities. They were having a grand prize giveaway for a 2005 Chevy van with a seat that comes out using a remote so you can sit Logan on it and then lift him up. Well Sister Cross signed up thinking it was a long shot for her to win but she got a call a few days later and was told out of 20 or so people that signed up, she was the winner!!! How cool is that!? So she won a really well taken care of 2005 Chevy van with a wheelchair lift! She was some excited and couldn't beleive how blessed she was. Her life has been very hard and this will make it so much easier! So we had a great lesson with her, Kim, and Harley and then we helped her clean up and I did all of the dishes for her and then we went out to knock on a few more doors. After that, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night after another great day!
Sunday was another really awesome day! We had to wake up a little bit earlier since we had Ward Council at 8:30. So we woke up, got ready for the day, and then drove over to the Church and had a great meeting! I was excited to give my talk because I always enjoy introducing myself and telling everyone a little bit about me and my awesome family! We had a great ward council and we talked about the Ward and some of the people that need our support. Then, I got to pass the sacrament in Church before giving my talk. Something absolutely amazing to do every week is talk to Michael Young. I think I already told you about him but if I haven't, he is a driect descendant to Brigham Young. He is such nice guy but the crazy thing is, is that he's not a member. He is very knowledgeable about the Church but just doesn't want to get baptized because he likes learning about all churches. It is just really cool each week to talk to someone related to Brigham Young. Then I got to give my talk! It went really well and there weren't very many people there so I didn't have too much pressure. My topic that I was assigned was: "Faith in Adversity." I enjoyed giving my talk very much and I got many compliments. A member of the Stake Presidentcy was there and so that added a little pressure. The rest of church was really great as well! We taught Gospel Principles class and it went really well. The 2nd counselor in the Bishopric, his daughter's boyfriend Mike was there and he isn't a member so we taught him. It was on Heavenly Father which is the 1st lesson in the Gospel Principles book. Then after church, we got to go with Brother Thompson to give a blessing to a non member lady who lives right across the street from the Church. She is going in for surgery in a few weeks and so she asked us for a blessing. We were happy to give her one! Brother Thompson gave her a great blessing and then we came back to the apartment for lunch. Then after lunch, we went to an appointment with a really nice Hispanic guy named Lorenzo. They have a little tiny Chihuahua and then their son's name is Lorenzo Jr. He reminds me a lot of Madden Baugh because of his voice. He is Hispanic and so he has a pretty funny accent with his raspy voice. Every time we come over Lorenzo Sr. will say: "Hello my friend" or "My friends, how are you my friend?" They are really good people but they are very set in the Catholic religion. We don't think that there is anything that we could say or do that would help them change their way of thinking about our Church. We testified of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and then he thanked us for coming over. As we were walking to our next lookup, we said hello to a guy who was sitting on his front porch couch. He asked us in a very polite way who we were and what we were doing. We told him we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He asked us if we were 7th Day Adventists. We told him that our nickname was the Mormons and then he asked us why everyone made such a big fuss about Mitt Romney being LDS. He then asked us a ton of different questions about our Church. He said that he had seen us around before and always thought we were 7th Day Adventists. We cleared up a lot for him because after we were done answering his questions, he said: "Well what's the big deal? You guys are completely normal and I now have a ton of respect for what you do!" You guys seem to be like any other Christian faith. He couldn't understand why people make such a big deal and attack people like Mitt Romney for being LDS. He then asked us about missionary work and if we live in an apartment and how we saved up money before to come out. He said: "Wow, I seriously respect you guys so much more now. When I see you walking around, I will know what you are all about." He told us that he was Greek Orthodox and respected all other religions. It was a great unexpected encounter that enabled us to clear up his ideas on who we were. Then we went over to visit Knowledge but he wasn't home again. Then, it was time to head over to the Parks' house for dinner! They invited us over for dinner because she asked us what we were going to do for dinner and we said that we would just eat at our apartment. She told us that she could fix that and that we could eat over eat their house! We were really grateful and excited to go over! So we went over to their beautiful house and then had dinner! She made us lemon and pepper fish fillets which were really good and then fresh watermelon, and seasoned rice with peppers. It was all really good! Then for dessert we had........CHEESECAKE!! It was pretty good but I know that no cheesecake that I will ever eat in my life will be as good as yours. Brother and Sister Parks are so nice and have 3 kids. Ryan, Brandon, and Isabell. They are all under the age of 11 and every time that I talk to Brandon or say his name, I always think of you Dubbie. I said goodbye to Brandon and then I said: "Wow! I haven't vocally called anyone Brandon since January." It was a really fun dinner and lesson! Then before we left, we stuck some cookie dough in the oven that Elder Howard brought and made cookies for a couple of members who live in a town called Saugerties. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to drive there and so after the Parks, we took fresh cookies to Brother Van Etten in celebration to his birthday the very next day. On the back of our Church programs, it has everyone's Birthday on it and so we try to tell people Happy Brithday! So we took cookies to him and he was so appreciative! Then we went to visit Sister Shambo but we didn't have much time so we dropped them off and shared a quick message with her and then headed back to the apartment after a really awesome and busy day!
Monday was so awesome! I woke up and was so excited to see Dad's email! I loved reading all about your week and that you would be so close to New York again! I was thinking about you all day and hoping all of your flight went smooth! We had such a busy day on Monday! It was GO, GO, GO time the whole day! First, we woke up did our studies, got ready for the day, and then drove to New Paltz for our District Meeting! We got an email that morning that said that President Smith was going to do a Conference Call during our District Meeting. We knew that he had some big news if it was right in the middle of our meeting. So we had the 1st half of our District Meeting and then we had an exciting call from President Smith! He told us that we were privileged to have a general authority come tour our mission again! Since Elder Gong is assigned to our area, he was assigned to come her again but then the really exciting part was that Bishop Waddel of the Presiding Bishopric would be coming as well! He said that the mission tour is in 4 weeks from Monday so we are really excited about that! We had the rest of our Meeting and then we drove back to Kingston and went to the Church to share a message with the guys that play basketball with Brother Larin. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and trying to make prayer and scripture study a habit. We had a great lesson with them and then we headed back to the apartment for lunch. Then we had a lesson right after that with Ryan so we drove over to his house and had an amazing lesson with him! His problem right now and one of the only things that is keeping him from getting baptized is his self esteem. He is 32 years old and still lives at home with his Mom and sometimes thinks he is not good enough to go to church or be baptized. We assured him that Church and baptism are just ways to show our Heavenly Father how much that we want to follow Him and Jesus Christ. He understood it very well and appreciated pur honesty. We didn't set a baptismal date with him yet but we are trying really hard to help him understand that he is good enough and Heaveny Father wants him in Church. Then after that awesome lesson, we had an even busier night! We headed to Brother Lopez' house, our ward mission leader, and had dinner! We were expecting that their nephew, Felix, who is on baptismal date right now would be there but Brother Lopez was home alone and so we just had dinner with him. We were really hoping to teach Felix so he can continue to progress. He made us a really good dinner! It was authentic molė with rice! It was all really good! After we ate, since we couldn't teach Felix, we asked Brother Lopez if he wanted to come with us to an appointment we had. Brother Lopez speaks very little English and so we thought it would be a good idea to bring him with us to a family who also speaks very little English as well. So we drove him to a really awesome family who we have been unable to teach since we don't speak Spanish, so it worked out PERFECTLY! Brother Lopez talked to them about the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well and then we brought Brother Lopez back home. Then we drove to our next appointment and on the way, the entire street was absolutely filled with protesters on the rode with signs that were trying to end racism. It was a positive message but it was pretty distracting to the drivers. People were honking like crazy and giving them the thumbs up. So we drove to a lady named Linda Buley's house but her daughter told us that she was really sick. So we scheduled a time tonight to go back and visit her. I just have to say how much I love Kingston! It is so pretty but I definately miss the Cache Valley and the beautiful Wasatch Mountains! So now that we had our lesson cancel, we decided what to do. We knew that we were supposed to be somewhere that night to visit a specific person but we didn't know who. We thought it would be a good idea to visit Richard Dahl but he wasn't home. Then we decided to visit a less active member named Crystal Hoskins. We got out of the car and Sister Hoskins said: "Look! There are the missionaries!" It was so nice to have a warm welcome! Her 2 little daughters ran up and gave us big high 5s and were so friendly right off the bat! They are both going into Kindergarten and then she has a daughter who is going into the 8th grade named Nyaja. Sister Hoskins just recently had a little many and they have a tiny white dog named Sugar. We had an awesome visit and lesson and got to know them so much better! The ward loves her and her family so much so we aren't sure why they don't come to Church. She then invited us over for dinner tomorrow! We are having a big steak and potatoes meal! I have to say, the missionaries get fed REALLY well up here! It has been so fun to have so many dinner appointments and get to know so many people! It was a really aweosme and productive day!
Tuesday was really awesome as well! We had our interviews with President Smith in New Paltz! So we woke up, got ready for the day, and then went over to visit Alejandro and Felix but unfortunately, they weren't home again. It is really hard because Alejandro works and so if he is working, then we can't meet with Felix. He doesn't have a ride and so if his brother doesn't take him to church, then he is stuck at home. So we decided to run over to Manny's house and set an appointment for yesterday afternoon. He wasn't home and so we left him a note and then tried to go over again. It was my turn to drive and so I was really excited about that! I have loved cruising around all over Kingston! Then, we came home and had lunch and then we heard that a less active member really loves dried cherries and so we thought it would be a good idea to take him some. We had some cherries left over from the Relief Society activity and so we cut them in half and put them in the oven on a very low temperature so they would dry out just in time to take them to him the next day. After lunch, we did our companionship study and then drove back to Manny's house for our appointment. He never responded to our messages so we just tried to catch him at home but he wasn't there. So we did lots of lookups and talked with lots of people! Since we are in a car for most of the day, we dont come into contact with as many people since we aren't on crowded buses and trains so we enjoy talking to people whenever we can! We talked with lots of people and also had many doors slammed in our face and yell "Not Interested!" But other were so nice and friendly and really were glad to see young men dressed up talking to people about Jesus Christ. We had a great few hours of lookups and then the rest of our day was so awesome from then! We drove to New Paltz for our interviews with President Smith which takes about 30 minutes to get there. 5 minutes before we pulled into the Church parking lot, we got a text telling us that President Smith was running 45 minutes late due to traffic and other things out of his control. So we spent that time fixing our area book like reporting on lessons and updating profiles. Right after we got the news that he would be late, we stopped to knock on a door of a lady that was in our area book but by mistake was added to it. She was in the New Paltz Elders' area but never visited her because they didn't have her information. So we knocked on her door but she wasn't home so we knocked on the 2 doors around her. A lady answered the door and was very polite and told us that she was Catholic and had her own religion and didn't need anyone else's. So after that, we drove over to the New Paltz church and then President Smith showed up and did interviews! My interview went really well! We mostly just talk about how the work is going and what he can do to help us. So after our interviews, we had a dinner that we scheduled earlier with a really awesome family! Here comes some more sports trivia! I always love telling you about these! They are the Goodin family and they have 4 kids. Their oldest is starting the 8th grade and then they have 3 younger girls. They are a really awesome family! We went over and got to know them really well! They made us some really good homemade pizza with homemade sauce and dough. It was so good and then for dessert, they made us some oatmeal chocholate chip M&M cookie bars that were really awesome! We had a great talk and lesson! I asked them where they were from and Sister Goodin is from Kingston but Brother Goodin is from New Mexico. So then I said???......Are you a Lobo or an Aggie? He said "Neither, I'm a Notre Dame fan!" I told him that he was a Fighting Irish and he thought that was pretty cool! We all got to know each other really well and clicked from the beginning! After our visit, it was time to make the journey back to the apartment for the night after a great day! I got back to the apartment and was thinking about Matt the whole time and wishing him a safe and fun flight! I was in the exact same position just a few months ago and I couldn't beleive that he was leaving already. I was wishing him well and good luck on his mission! It was crazy to me that he didn't take off until 1:55 in the morning our time and so I was sound asleep as he took off!
Well my dear and amazing family! I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate everything that you do for me! I am so grateful for the amazing family that you are and everything you have taught me in my life. I'm trying my best and being the best missionary that I can be. It may be hard at times, but the rewards of missionary work have blessed and will continue to bless my life for years to come! It is so amazing to teach people and I will catch myself looking down at my nametag every once in a while and just smile. I hope you all have an amazing and fun last week before school starts! I will be thinking about you the whole week and wishing you well as you start a new year! I wish I could email you on Tuesday night and tell you good luck but since you go back on a P-day, I may not get to talk to you until after you get home. Have a great week and good luck on your trip Dad! Take care and good luck with school! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Thursday was a really awesome day as well! I love it when everything goes well and our day is "stuffed to the rafters" with lessons and activities! We woke up, got ready for the day and then we had a Conference call! It has been a while since President Smith has done one and so it was really great to have one! He read through all of the cool experiences and miracles that have gone on in the last few weeks in the mission. It was a really great conference call and we learned a lot! It was one of the hottest days so far here in Kingston. It got up to the high 80s but with the humidity.....let's just say that I was very grateful for the air conditioned car!
Friday was such an exciting day!!. I have to tell you about a dream I had that night! It was a great dream! I have noticed that ever since I have been out, I haven't been dreaming as much. I had a dream that you all flew out and visited me in the mission field. You came to church and sat in the front row and I gave you all the biggest hug ever! Then we all went out and piled into the Altima and we drove around and visited people. It was a really awesome dream but totally against mission rules! Sister Wootton called us the day before and wondered if we could switch the day that we go out to eat to Friday. We said we would love to and so we went out to eat for lunch on Friday instead of Saturday. So our day started off my trying to visit Lisa Mille who we had to take off of baptismal date since we have been unable to contact her for so long. So we tried to call her and she didn't answer so we left her a note. Then we tried to go visit David Salas and he didn't answer either. My that time, it was time to drive over to the Mid-Hudson buffet and meet Sister Wootton for Lunch! I still can't beleive that she takes us out every single week and has been for years now. It costs her just over $16.00 to take the both of us out each week. She is so nice and generous! I will be sure to get a picture with her soon! We had a great lunch and talk with her and then we headed over to a lesson with our new investigator Manny Styles! He was referred to us from some members in New Paltz. Our District Leader and his companion talked with him right before he moved here to Kingston. So we called him and set up an appointment last week and so we were really excited to go over and teach him and get to know him better! Here is the exciting news! He told us in our 1st lesson that he wants to be baptized and wants to be a missionary! His Mom and one of his Brothers are members and so he really wants to get baptized. His Mom hasn't been to Church for many years and so we are working really hard to get them to come back to Church. We felt prompted to extend a Baptisimal Date to him and........he accepted! We extended the invitation for September 16th. It was an exciting time because now we have 4 baptismal dates! Bill Smith, Manny Styles, Felix Duran, and David Salas! I still haven't seen David and so we may have to move his baptismal date since we haven't been able to get in contact with him. We were so excited that he wants to be baptized! We had a great lesson with him and then we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and read a pamphlet that we gave him. It was an exciting time! After our lesson with Manny, we knocked on a few more doors and then we drove to the Parks' house to do some service! They are a really great and nice family! We weeded their front flower beds and then weeded around their decorative curbing that they had around their walkway.s it didn't take us very long since their yard has been taken care of and kept up on. After we weeded, Sister Parks made dinner for us! She made us really good enchiladas just like you make Mom and Dad! They were identical to what you make! They were so good! Then after dinner, it was time to head to our next appointment with Bill Smith! We said goodbye and then thanked them for the meal and then drove to Bill's apartment. He was eagerly waiting outside for us to get there. He really does enjoy having us come over which makes us feel great and we know that he is feeling the Holy Ghost! We asked him how his reading of the Book of Mormon was going and We were shocked what he told us! He said that he has already read to Alma! He has been reading like the wind! He told us that he felt bad because he didn't think he was going to finish before his Baptism. We assured him that he doesn't have to finish, he just has to gain a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He has been doing so well and we are right on track to have his Baptism on September 23rd! It will be a really exciting day! Some of the problems that we encounter with baptismal dates is sometimes the investigator will just forget about the date and won't answer their phone or door and so we are hoping that we can keep meeting with Bill, Manny, and Felix so we can keep their dates on track! We could have 3 baptisms within the next month and a half and so we are very excited for that! It is a lot of work to make sure baptisms go smoothly and the investigator understands everything. We are very excited and can't wait to see what happens! So we taught Bill about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then talked about the Sacrament. The lesson went really well and he really enjoyed it! By that time, it was time to head back to the apartment for the evening after an awesome day! We were so excited to have another Baptisimal Date!
Saturday was another amazing day! It was another jam packed day and we were bouncing from appointment to appointment. We woke up ready and excited for another great day of missionary work! We started the day by going to visit Felix who is preparing to get baptized. His older brother is a member and so we are really helping him make that exciting step! So we went over to his house but wasn't home and so we decided to go see if Ryan and Deborah were home and luckily they were! We hadn't seen Ryan in almost a week and a half and we couldn't get a hold of him and so we wondered why he stopped meeting with us. We talked with him and he said that he was going good but he was embarrassed and didn't want to meet with us because he wasn't reading his scriptures. He felt like if we were to meet, then he should be reading his scriptures. We told him that he was doing a great job and that Heavenly Father is proud of him for trying his best. We set a return appointment for last Monday so we could come over and continue teaching him! We were so grateful that he was still willing to meet with us! Then after we talked with Ryan for a little while, we went to go visit David Salas but he wasn't home. I have yet to meet him and we have tried calling him and knocking on his door almost every day and we haven't been able to reach him. His baptism is scheduled for the 2nd of September and so we really want to achieve that goal. Then after that, we headed back to the apartment for lunch. Then we had a crazy busy schedule for the rest of the day. We visited with Sister Heil becauee she called us the day before and said that she had some really bad back pain. We asked her if she wanted a blessing but she told us that she would be ok. So we went to go check up on her and she was just fine. She went to the doctor and they gave her some medicine to help with the back pain. It was a pretty quick visit because we had Ward Correlation right after that. One interesting and funny thing was when her older son that lives there opened the door, guess what was standing there??? A FERRET!! I didn't know that ferrets were nice but they are actually so nice and like to be held. His ferret would let us pick him up and hold him. It was just really funny because how often do you get to hold someone's pet ferret. So after we visited with Sister Heil, we went to the Lopez' house and had Ward Correlation. Brother Lopez is such a good guy! He gave us a really good watermelon drink and then gave us a fresh peach as we left. We talked about our investigators and what they needed in order to progress and learn. It was a great discussion and then we had to leave for another appointment that we had with Knowledge Cook. He is a teenager and is entering his junior year this year just like Abbs! We went to his house but there wasn't any sign of anyone home. He has been really hard to meet with. The cool part about Knowledge is that he is on the Kingston Tigers football team. The 1 time that I have met with him, we talked a lot about football and how Kingston was looking this year. He wasn't home unfortunately so we headed back to the apartment and did our companionship study and then grabbed something for our dinner that night! I can't even tell you how nice this ward is! They are always so willing to feed us dinner! About a week ago, we got talking with Sister Cross who is from South Jordan and so we got talking about some of our favorite restraunts that they don't have here in New York. She said that her favorite was Cafe Rio and so then we got talking about sweet pork salads and how we had those for my last meal before I left. She asked me if you made them and I proudly said YES! She was so excited and asked if she could have the recipe. Elder Howard's Mom sent him the recipe while he was serving in Manhattan and so he just gave her that one and it was pretty close to how we make them. She really wanted to make them for us and so she set up a time for us to come over on Saturday. We were really excited and Sister Cross even invited Kim and Harley who we are teaching just down the hall. So after we did a few lookups, we ran back to the apartment and got our ingredients to make the cilantro lime rice! Then we headed over to Sister Cross' house and had a really good sweet pork salad burritos! The pork was so good but no where near yours. We had a really good time and then Sister Cross told us some unbelievable news! As we were eating, we got talking about her son, Logan, who has Cerebral Palsy. She said that it has been really hard recently because she just got a divorce and her husband took the one and only car that they had. So she has been without a car for a few months now. Luckily, she has a really good neighbor who let's her barrow her brand new Honda Civic to use for grocery shopping. Apparently, the last set of missionaries that were here, never really spent much time with Sister Cross. But ever since we have been meeting with her, she has been seeing cool things happen in her life and I can't wait to tell you about the miracle that she had! First of all, the last time that we met with Bill Smith, he said that ever since we have been coming over, really cool small miracles have been happening. He has really seen our Heavenly Father's love in his life. He said that he went to get his mail the other day and there was a pretty large check in mail addressed to him. He said he had no idea what it was for but then he read the letter and it said that he was overcharged on his Medicaide in 2013! Isn't that cool! They said that he paid too much and so they were just returning the money that they owe him. So that was a fun surprise for him! Then here is the amazing part, Sister Cross has been looking to buy a van that has a lift so she can lift Logan's wheelchair up into the van. She has been looking and looking for a while now. She was on Facebook one day and saw that one of the pages t hst she was apart of who receive donations and then use those donations to help other families in need who have children with disabilities. They were having a grand prize giveaway for a 2005 Chevy van with a seat that comes out using a remote so you can sit Logan on it and then lift him up. Well Sister Cross signed up thinking it was a long shot for her to win but she got a call a few days later and was told out of 20 or so people that signed up, she was the winner!!! How cool is that!? So she won a really well taken care of 2005 Chevy van with a wheelchair lift! She was some excited and couldn't beleive how blessed she was. Her life has been very hard and this will make it so much easier! So we had a great lesson with her, Kim, and Harley and then we helped her clean up and I did all of the dishes for her and then we went out to knock on a few more doors. After that, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night after another great day!
Sunday was another really awesome day! We had to wake up a little bit earlier since we had Ward Council at 8:30. So we woke up, got ready for the day, and then drove over to the Church and had a great meeting! I was excited to give my talk because I always enjoy introducing myself and telling everyone a little bit about me and my awesome family! We had a great ward council and we talked about the Ward and some of the people that need our support. Then, I got to pass the sacrament in Church before giving my talk. Something absolutely amazing to do every week is talk to Michael Young. I think I already told you about him but if I haven't, he is a driect descendant to Brigham Young. He is such nice guy but the crazy thing is, is that he's not a member. He is very knowledgeable about the Church but just doesn't want to get baptized because he likes learning about all churches. It is just really cool each week to talk to someone related to Brigham Young. Then I got to give my talk! It went really well and there weren't very many people there so I didn't have too much pressure. My topic that I was assigned was: "Faith in Adversity." I enjoyed giving my talk very much and I got many compliments. A member of the Stake Presidentcy was there and so that added a little pressure. The rest of church was really great as well! We taught Gospel Principles class and it went really well. The 2nd counselor in the Bishopric, his daughter's boyfriend Mike was there and he isn't a member so we taught him. It was on Heavenly Father which is the 1st lesson in the Gospel Principles book. Then after church, we got to go with Brother Thompson to give a blessing to a non member lady who lives right across the street from the Church. She is going in for surgery in a few weeks and so she asked us for a blessing. We were happy to give her one! Brother Thompson gave her a great blessing and then we came back to the apartment for lunch. Then after lunch, we went to an appointment with a really nice Hispanic guy named Lorenzo. They have a little tiny Chihuahua and then their son's name is Lorenzo Jr. He reminds me a lot of Madden Baugh because of his voice. He is Hispanic and so he has a pretty funny accent with his raspy voice. Every time we come over Lorenzo Sr. will say: "Hello my friend" or "My friends, how are you my friend?" They are really good people but they are very set in the Catholic religion. We don't think that there is anything that we could say or do that would help them change their way of thinking about our Church. We testified of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and then he thanked us for coming over. As we were walking to our next lookup, we said hello to a guy who was sitting on his front porch couch. He asked us in a very polite way who we were and what we were doing. We told him we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He asked us if we were 7th Day Adventists. We told him that our nickname was the Mormons and then he asked us why everyone made such a big fuss about Mitt Romney being LDS. He then asked us a ton of different questions about our Church. He said that he had seen us around before and always thought we were 7th Day Adventists. We cleared up a lot for him because after we were done answering his questions, he said: "Well what's the big deal? You guys are completely normal and I now have a ton of respect for what you do!" You guys seem to be like any other Christian faith. He couldn't understand why people make such a big deal and attack people like Mitt Romney for being LDS. He then asked us about missionary work and if we live in an apartment and how we saved up money before to come out. He said: "Wow, I seriously respect you guys so much more now. When I see you walking around, I will know what you are all about." He told us that he was Greek Orthodox and respected all other religions. It was a great unexpected encounter that enabled us to clear up his ideas on who we were. Then we went over to visit Knowledge but he wasn't home again. Then, it was time to head over to the Parks' house for dinner! They invited us over for dinner because she asked us what we were going to do for dinner and we said that we would just eat at our apartment. She told us that she could fix that and that we could eat over eat their house! We were really grateful and excited to go over! So we went over to their beautiful house and then had dinner! She made us lemon and pepper fish fillets which were really good and then fresh watermelon, and seasoned rice with peppers. It was all really good! Then for dessert we had........CHEESECAKE!! It was pretty good but I know that no cheesecake that I will ever eat in my life will be as good as yours. Brother and Sister Parks are so nice and have 3 kids. Ryan, Brandon, and Isabell. They are all under the age of 11 and every time that I talk to Brandon or say his name, I always think of you Dubbie. I said goodbye to Brandon and then I said: "Wow! I haven't vocally called anyone Brandon since January." It was a really fun dinner and lesson! Then before we left, we stuck some cookie dough in the oven that Elder Howard brought and made cookies for a couple of members who live in a town called Saugerties. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to drive there and so after the Parks, we took fresh cookies to Brother Van Etten in celebration to his birthday the very next day. On the back of our Church programs, it has everyone's Birthday on it and so we try to tell people Happy Brithday! So we took cookies to him and he was so appreciative! Then we went to visit Sister Shambo but we didn't have much time so we dropped them off and shared a quick message with her and then headed back to the apartment after a really awesome and busy day!
Monday was so awesome! I woke up and was so excited to see Dad's email! I loved reading all about your week and that you would be so close to New York again! I was thinking about you all day and hoping all of your flight went smooth! We had such a busy day on Monday! It was GO, GO, GO time the whole day! First, we woke up did our studies, got ready for the day, and then drove to New Paltz for our District Meeting! We got an email that morning that said that President Smith was going to do a Conference Call during our District Meeting. We knew that he had some big news if it was right in the middle of our meeting. So we had the 1st half of our District Meeting and then we had an exciting call from President Smith! He told us that we were privileged to have a general authority come tour our mission again! Since Elder Gong is assigned to our area, he was assigned to come her again but then the really exciting part was that Bishop Waddel of the Presiding Bishopric would be coming as well! He said that the mission tour is in 4 weeks from Monday so we are really excited about that! We had the rest of our Meeting and then we drove back to Kingston and went to the Church to share a message with the guys that play basketball with Brother Larin. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and trying to make prayer and scripture study a habit. We had a great lesson with them and then we headed back to the apartment for lunch. Then we had a lesson right after that with Ryan so we drove over to his house and had an amazing lesson with him! His problem right now and one of the only things that is keeping him from getting baptized is his self esteem. He is 32 years old and still lives at home with his Mom and sometimes thinks he is not good enough to go to church or be baptized. We assured him that Church and baptism are just ways to show our Heavenly Father how much that we want to follow Him and Jesus Christ. He understood it very well and appreciated pur honesty. We didn't set a baptismal date with him yet but we are trying really hard to help him understand that he is good enough and Heaveny Father wants him in Church. Then after that awesome lesson, we had an even busier night! We headed to Brother Lopez' house, our ward mission leader, and had dinner! We were expecting that their nephew, Felix, who is on baptismal date right now would be there but Brother Lopez was home alone and so we just had dinner with him. We were really hoping to teach Felix so he can continue to progress. He made us a really good dinner! It was authentic molė with rice! It was all really good! After we ate, since we couldn't teach Felix, we asked Brother Lopez if he wanted to come with us to an appointment we had. Brother Lopez speaks very little English and so we thought it would be a good idea to bring him with us to a family who also speaks very little English as well. So we drove him to a really awesome family who we have been unable to teach since we don't speak Spanish, so it worked out PERFECTLY! Brother Lopez talked to them about the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well and then we brought Brother Lopez back home. Then we drove to our next appointment and on the way, the entire street was absolutely filled with protesters on the rode with signs that were trying to end racism. It was a positive message but it was pretty distracting to the drivers. People were honking like crazy and giving them the thumbs up. So we drove to a lady named Linda Buley's house but her daughter told us that she was really sick. So we scheduled a time tonight to go back and visit her. I just have to say how much I love Kingston! It is so pretty but I definately miss the Cache Valley and the beautiful Wasatch Mountains! So now that we had our lesson cancel, we decided what to do. We knew that we were supposed to be somewhere that night to visit a specific person but we didn't know who. We thought it would be a good idea to visit Richard Dahl but he wasn't home. Then we decided to visit a less active member named Crystal Hoskins. We got out of the car and Sister Hoskins said: "Look! There are the missionaries!" It was so nice to have a warm welcome! Her 2 little daughters ran up and gave us big high 5s and were so friendly right off the bat! They are both going into Kindergarten and then she has a daughter who is going into the 8th grade named Nyaja. Sister Hoskins just recently had a little many and they have a tiny white dog named Sugar. We had an awesome visit and lesson and got to know them so much better! The ward loves her and her family so much so we aren't sure why they don't come to Church. She then invited us over for dinner tomorrow! We are having a big steak and potatoes meal! I have to say, the missionaries get fed REALLY well up here! It has been so fun to have so many dinner appointments and get to know so many people! It was a really aweosme and productive day!
Tuesday was really awesome as well! We had our interviews with President Smith in New Paltz! So we woke up, got ready for the day, and then went over to visit Alejandro and Felix but unfortunately, they weren't home again. It is really hard because Alejandro works and so if he is working, then we can't meet with Felix. He doesn't have a ride and so if his brother doesn't take him to church, then he is stuck at home. So we decided to run over to Manny's house and set an appointment for yesterday afternoon. He wasn't home and so we left him a note and then tried to go over again. It was my turn to drive and so I was really excited about that! I have loved cruising around all over Kingston! Then, we came home and had lunch and then we heard that a less active member really loves dried cherries and so we thought it would be a good idea to take him some. We had some cherries left over from the Relief Society activity and so we cut them in half and put them in the oven on a very low temperature so they would dry out just in time to take them to him the next day. After lunch, we did our companionship study and then drove back to Manny's house for our appointment. He never responded to our messages so we just tried to catch him at home but he wasn't there. So we did lots of lookups and talked with lots of people! Since we are in a car for most of the day, we dont come into contact with as many people since we aren't on crowded buses and trains so we enjoy talking to people whenever we can! We talked with lots of people and also had many doors slammed in our face and yell "Not Interested!" But other were so nice and friendly and really were glad to see young men dressed up talking to people about Jesus Christ. We had a great few hours of lookups and then the rest of our day was so awesome from then! We drove to New Paltz for our interviews with President Smith which takes about 30 minutes to get there. 5 minutes before we pulled into the Church parking lot, we got a text telling us that President Smith was running 45 minutes late due to traffic and other things out of his control. So we spent that time fixing our area book like reporting on lessons and updating profiles. Right after we got the news that he would be late, we stopped to knock on a door of a lady that was in our area book but by mistake was added to it. She was in the New Paltz Elders' area but never visited her because they didn't have her information. So we knocked on her door but she wasn't home so we knocked on the 2 doors around her. A lady answered the door and was very polite and told us that she was Catholic and had her own religion and didn't need anyone else's. So after that, we drove over to the New Paltz church and then President Smith showed up and did interviews! My interview went really well! We mostly just talk about how the work is going and what he can do to help us. So after our interviews, we had a dinner that we scheduled earlier with a really awesome family! Here comes some more sports trivia!
Well my dear and amazing family! I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate everything that you do for me! I am so grateful for the amazing family that you are and everything you have taught me in my life. I'm trying my best and being the best missionary that I can be. It may be hard at times, but the rewards of missionary work have blessed and will continue to bless my life for years to come! It is so amazing to teach people and I will catch myself looking down at my nametag every once in a while and just smile. I hope you all have an amazing and fun last week before school starts! I will be thinking about you the whole week and wishing you well as you start a new year! I wish I could email you on Tuesday night and tell you good luck but since you go back on a P-day, I may not get to talk to you until after you get home. Have a great week and good luck on your trip Dad! Take care and good luck with school! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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