Exciting News!

September 20th 2017~Bill's Baptism!!! EXCITING NEWS!!

Hello my dear family! What an awesome week it was! Thanks so much for your amazing email! I loved every single word as I always do and loved watching the video and looking at your pictures! I'm so excited to tell you all about the great week that we had! I hope my emails don't get tedious or monotonous. I try to not sound repetitive but we do have some things the same each week. I'm so happy for you all and that you got to do so many fun things! Lagoon and Football!!! What's not to love? I have a feeling that Mountain Crest and Ridgeline is already brewing into quite the rivalry! I'm so happy for you all that you got to go to Lagoon! I loved the video by the way! It has been such a great week and I don't know where to start! Today for P-day, we did have plans to go to a reservoir and take a short little hike with Sister Cross and Sister Parks but Sister Cross got some really exciting news! She applied for a job a while ago and just found out that she got it! I am not sure what she will be doing but I'm sure we will hear all about it. So she starts work today and so our plans went out the window. We are doing laundry right now then we are going to clean the apartment and go grocery shopping. So I will have lots of time to chat back and forth! Elder Howard did get permission to get on a computer and go onto the Byu website and look at some classes since he will start a few weeks after he gets home. So I can email while he reads about some classes. It should be a really awesome P-Day! We will also get to rest for a little bit to recharge our batteries! Sorry it's a little boring but it will be great! I love and miss you all so much each and every day and think about you constantly! Here it goes:

Last P-Day was really great! I don't have much more to say about it other than that is was really fun and I loved emailing you back and forth! I also wanted to tell you something a little bit sad that we found out the day before at our Zone Conference. Apparently the Smith's car got broken into a few weeks prior and it has been especially hard on Sister Smith because her set of nice leather and engraved scriptures that she had on her mission were stolen out of the car as well as her Preach My Gospel and a few other books that had been so carefully marked. She teared up and was so sad that her unreplacable scriptures had been stolen. It was really crazy to hear about. After our amazing P-Day ended last week, we drove to the Sagazie's house and had another great lesson and dinner with them! They fed us beef, broccoli, potato wedges, and baked beans that were pretty good but no where near the ones we make at home! Then we read 1 Nephi Chapters 3 and 4 with them and they really enjoyed it and felt the spirit. After that, we had a great discussion and enjoyed each other's company! They are really great people and are so nice to have us over for dinner but they aren't really interested in coming to church or switching religions, even though they haven't been to Church in years. Hehe. So we said goodbye to them and then drove the long drive back to the apartment after a really amazing P-Day!

Thursday was awesome!! I just have to say that this ward and the people in it are so nice and really love and care about missionaries. It makes it so much easier to have people that love and support you in the ward you are serving as well as all of the love and support from home. You all are so loving and supportive and I can't thank you enough! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I could keep going but my fingers would get sore for typing so much! We woke up to cloudy skies and later in the day it rains and you know when it rains......it pours. We did have service with Sister Falatyn again but she was out of town for the week and so we decided to do our weekly planning and work on Bill's Baptisimal program and make some flyers for the event. So we planned out our week and had some really awesome lessons and events planned! Then we made and printed off Bill's Baptisimal program and it turned out really nice! I will be sure to keep one as a momento! That took a good portion of the day to plan and make the program and so then we did lots of lookups but not a single soul answered the door. Hey, I thought this was the city that never sleeps......but it seems like everyone is sleeping because nobody will answer their door. Then we had a really good dinner appointment with the McClure family! Their son, Skye-Daniel, who is about 19 years old, went on a mission and came home early due to depression and anxiety. He has been going through a really tough time and his parents are really concerned about him. He wants nothing to do with us because he gets a little jealous thst we are serving missions and he wants to serve and finish his 2 years but just can't get himself to do it. He said that coming home early has been the hardest thing he has ever had to do. He said just stick it out and keep going and everything will work out better than if you came home early. He wishes that he could finish and be an R.M! We had some really good homemade chili on rice and then read Alma 36 with them. We talked about faith and how we need lots of faith to endure our trials. They really appreciated us coming over and we were appreciative of them too! Then we drove back over to the church and had a great conversation with Michael Young. I need to get a picture with him because he is such a great guy! I found out that he isn't the Great Great Grandson, but the Great Great Great Grandson of Brigham Young. He feels a lot of pressure to get baptized but he wants to do his own thing and as soon as we start talking about anything related to the Gospel, he takes off or says he has somewhere else to be. There were lots of people at the Church because it was the Spanish family history night and so Brother Monterroza and his wife were over there. Michael is in his mid 60s and is really fun to talk to. Just to know he is directly related to Brigham Young is just amazing! Then Brother and Sister Benincasa invited us over because they wanted to give us some groceries! We were so excited and grateful to get them! I have had plenty of money each month and haven't ever felt like I was running out. We went over and talked to them and had a great conversation! They are about as close to your own Grandparents as you can get. They make you feel like you are their own Grandchildren and so it makes me feel right at home! So we went over and Brother Benincasa, poor guy, isn't feeling well. He had radiation to cure his cancer but it left him with no teeth and he has to cover up his traque each time he talks. He sounds like the lady on the smoking commercial. Even though he has never smoked a cigarette in his life, he still got some cancer in his throat. He is one of the most cheerful guys I have ever met. We had a great discussion with them and they made us feel right at home. They gave us 4 grocery bags full of food! It was so nice of them and we thanked them a ton for their kindness! The 4 bags consisted of cereal, bread, eggs, toilet paper, oatmeal, chips, salsa, and a cantaloupe! We drove back to the apartment so happy and grateful for their service! We are so blessed!


Ok, Friday was probably one of the quickest days OF MY LIFE!! It was such an amazing day and we were bouncing from appointment to appointment! First off, we drove over to Brother and Sister Wootton's house to help them with some service! It's a really long story but one of the recent converts in our Ward, Irene Gonzolez, ended up putting most of her furniture into the Wootton's garage and she is way, WAY, overdue at getting it out. The Woottons originally thought that it would only be about a month that she would have all of her stuff in there but that was back in March. The Woottons got really frustrated and told her that she needed to get all of her stuff out because winter is approaching and they wanted to park their cars in the garage. So we drove over to their house and they rented a U-haul for us to use. Brother Hickey, Brother Larin, his friend, and Brother Wootton and I all helped move Irene's furniture and stuff into the moving van. She rented a storage unit for us to put all of her stuff in but she didn't even bother to show up and direct us. She just expected us all to move her stuff, buy a U-haul, put it away in the storage unit. It was hard to get a hold of her to find out which unit we needed to put her stuff in. So we loaded up her furniture, bags, and totes into the trailer and then drove it to the storage unit and unloaded it into a huge storage unit that she rented. It took us all a good 2 and a half hours to move all of her furniture and everything else. Then we found out that she had a smaller 2nd unit full of stuff and so once we were done unloading the 1st load, we loaded up the truck again and unloaded it into the main, big one. She cancelled her 2nd u it and so she now only has to pay for the 1 big one. It worked out really smooth! I really love Brother Hickey's car! He used to be the Bishop of the Olmstead ward and is such a great guy! He owns a manuel 2003 BMW Z4! I took some pictures of it! It is just like Brother Reese's 2004 Honda S2000. After we were all done, we were tired.....and hungry! So Brother Hickey and Brother Larin decided to take us all out to lunch at the Mid Hudson Buffet! It's really funny how that is the go-to restaurant of choice around Kingston. Everyone loves it and it is soooo good! We had a great time and ate lots and lots of food! Then we said goodbye to Brother Hickey and Brother Larin and then we headed over to the Velasco's Restaurant and helped them with some service! We helped the owner organize lots of stuff that he had in his basement. Then he had us carry lots of metal pieces upstairs and then into their van. Their restraunt is going out of business soon and so they wanted to get everything organized and throw some stuff away so it can be moved out easier in a few weeks. They were so nice and grateful for our service and then they made us a huge dinner! It was really good! They made us grilled chicken, rice with corn, peas, and carrots, and then a salad. We enjoyed it so much! By that time, we were filthy from all of the heavy lifting and so we came back to the apartment, showered, and then went to go visit the Larin family. Their daughter, Graciella, served a mission and has been back for a couple of years now. She is dating a guy who isn't a member and so we are teaching him and giving him the lessons! Graciella makes sure that he is in Church every week and he is really enjoying it! So we went over and Sister Larin had a big sandwich for our 2nd dinner of the night. We weren't very hungry but it was so good that we found some room in our stomachs. She made us a dish from El Salvador. It is a chicken sandwich with coleslaw as the base and it was really good! We had a great lesson on the Restoration and Mike really felt the spirit! Here is the exciting part! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! We didn't set a date with him yet but we will soon! It was really excited! After we visited with their family for a while and after our lesson, it was time to head back to the apartment after a long day of heavy lifting and lessons! It was a really awesome day!

Saturday was so great and jam packed!!! I couldn't help but think of you Dubbie and I was cheering for you all day! I was hoping that you were crushing Sky View! I was cheering on the Aggies and Pokes as well! I was also thinking about you and wishing that I could be there at Lagoon with you! I really missed not being there. We woke up and first thing we had Ward Correlation at the church.we talked about our investigators and then we discussed starting a ward English class! Elder Howard and I thought it would be a great idea and lots of people would come! So we talked about that and then we met Sister Wootton at the buffet for our weekly lunch with her! She is always so nice and we love talking with her! She just has a genuine care for everyone around her! Then we went over to Bill's house and gave him his white shirt that we got at Goodwill and he couldn't believe it and was so grateful! He is getting so excited for his Baptism this Saturday and can't wait to hold the Priesthood! We taught him about missionary work, temples, and the priesthood and just went over the basic so he had an idea of what they are! Then we drove over to the Parks' house to mow their huge lot for them! I got to mow since Elder Howard has some pretty back allergies when it comes to cut grass and so he weeded in their flower beds. They have a really nice and we'll taken care of yard and so it remind me of you every time we go over. Then we headed back to Bill's house because we forgot his Baptism invitations. We picked them up really quick and when we got out of the car, there was a man limping with a huge bag of plastic bottles and aluminum cans and he didn't look very good. We said hello to him and he looked up so we asked him how his day was going. He gave us a big smile and started talking to us. What a great guy! He has been out of work and so he does everything he can to save and make money. His name is George and is from Washington State. We ended up having a really good conversation with him and testified to him that he has a Heavenly Father that knows and loves him. He happily agreed with us and gave us a big smile! He said that he was in a really bad accident and was brought back to life 6 times. He was in cardiac arrest and didn't have a heartbeat. It was really traumatic and he has lots of painful scars from it but he continues to move forward! I love meeting people like George because sometimes we can give hope and lift those without any. Then we showered and met Sister Cross, Grace, and Logan at the Olive Garden since it was Sister Cross' Birthday on the 13th. Since we couldn't go out to eat on her actual birthday since we were picking apples, we decided to go on Saturday! She was so nice and took pictures and said that she was going to send them to you! I was SO excited knowing you were at Lagoon or driving home from Lagoon when you got to see what we were up to! It was such a fun evening! I got some really good fried calimari and unlimited breadsticks! We had a great time and loved having a birthday dinner with a great family! We shared a spiritual message and talked about how our trials may be hard but they will make us stronger! We were so excited and ready for Sunday!

Sunday I woke up and was SO excited to see your email! It was so much fun to get and I'm so glad that you got the pictures from Sister Cross! I was really hoping you were still at Lagoon when you got them! Sunday was really awesome and your email made it even better! We woke up excited because we were 1 day closer to Bill's baptism! We woke up, got ready, and then headed over to the Church! Brother Monterroza brought Bill and he was proudly wearing the white shirt that we gave him and we tied his tie and he was looking really sharp! We needed to have President Smith give Bill an interview before he could get baptized but he couldn't make it so he sent one of his counselors in the mission presidency from Darien Connecticut to give him the interview! His name is President Potter and he is such a great guy! He gave Bill the interview and everything went so smooth! Then President Potter came to our Sacrament Meeting and enjoyed visiting a new ward! I'm so excited to say that we had 7 investigators that came to Church today! We have really been emphasizing church attendance and it has been paying off! We had Bill, Marco, Jonathan, Felix, Mike, Haleena, and Dianne in Church! I know you haven't heard of some of those names but we were so excited to have them in Church! Dianne isn't interested in switching her church but she will come every once in a while with her husband who is a member, Brother Van Etten. Marco, Jonathan, and Felix are all under the age of 11 and none of their parents want them to get baptized but they have some family in the ward and so they come most Sundays but we aren't teaching them because their parents don't want them to get baptized. Happens is Sister McClure's sister and she comes when she is visiting their house. Mike and Bill you have heard about but it was so excited to have that many people! We had Sister Lopez who is the ward mission leader's wife and she did a great job! She was nervous because she was worried thst nobody would understand her English even thought it is very good! Then we had a Stake High Counselor speak and he did a great job! He and his whole family were baptised after the missionaries came and taught them and so it was really amazing to hear! I found out something so cool! He told me that the missionary that baptized him is from Malad!!!! His last name is Jensen! Who knew!! Such a small world! We had a great time at Church and really had some great talks and lessons! Then we quickly came back to the apartment and changed out of our suits and then had lunch at the Lopez' house! The food was so amazing!! They had tacos just like the ones you make and they were so amazing! I have to tell you something funny! I really like good food and love trying new foods! They had cow tongue for the meat which I had tried before from the Tacos El Bronco truck and it was really good! They also had chicken but my favorite was the cow tongue! Then they had something that I'm sure that Dad has tried on his mission: "Chapulines". They are dried and seasoned grasshoppers! They pulled them out to put on our tacos and there is no way that Elder Howard was going to eat the cow tongue or chapulines but I wanted to try them. They also had Oaxaca cheese which was really good! We had a great discussion and lesson with them and then we went to do lots of lookups! Not very many people were home and we made lots of phone calls but nobody really answered. Then......we had one of the craziest visits ever!! We met a guy a few weeks ago named Charlie Lippman. He seemed really nice and was very knowledgable about our church and knew a ton of the members. He called us over a few weeks ago as we were getting into the car. So today we decided to and visit him. Well.....it was pretty crazy! We stopped by and he was home and welcomed us in. We showed him the Restoration video and the spirit was really strong. He had been taking lessons from the missionaries a long time ago but is very devoted to his church. He is a Greek Orthodox Jew. We were just about to leave after 20 minutes and then.....this guy just went on and on about anything and everything. He didn't make any sense whatsoever and was completely ranting about his religion. He was explaining to us about all kinds of crazy ideas and how the world is going to end this coming Saturday. He said he was reading all kinds of conspiracy theories about how September 23rd is the end of the world and why we need to convert to his church to be safe from the end. Crazy..... I know. He said it, not me! Hehe! We finally had to cut him off and tell him that we had to go but he just wouldn't stop for anything. We said "We really have to go" and he pretty much blocked the doorway and said "I have a few more things to say to you though". He is on oxygen and may have a few mental disabilities but is such a nice guy nonetheless. I can't even remember what he talked about exactly but all I know is that it didn't make any sense and he talked about all of the Jewish customs. We asked if we could leave with a word of prayer and he just kept going on and on. We shook his hand and continued talking to him as we were walking outside and onto the sidewalk. We were trying to be as respectful as we could but we weren't sure how to get out of there. It was all really crazy! Then we did some more lookups and went to go visit Knowledge and he was home so we invited him to the Baptism and asked him how his games were going. Then we went to go visit a guy named Donald who isma friend of Brother MClures. He answered the door and said "no thanks" and then asked if we were "Mormons" or "Witnesses". We told him that his friend sent us over and that we wanted to share a really special message about families. He was an older guy and perked up when we said that we were friends of Brother McClure. He said thst he wasn't interested in hearing about anything about religion because he already has his own religion. We gave him our phone number and away we went. We were really hoping that we could go back and start teaching him but he just wasn't ready. So we went on our way and knocked on a lot more doors but nobody even answered. We were trying to find anyone to teach but nobody was answering. Then we got lied to. Hehe! We knocked on a Hispanic families' door named Sierra and Lorenzo. We haven't really been able to teach them but they do have a Book of Mormon and Lorenzo has been reading a little bit of it. We knocked on their door and their 10 year old daughter, Juana, answered the door. We asked if her parents were home and she said that "some guy" came over to their house to baby sit them while her parents were out babysitting another family. Pretty crazy huh! Then we looked and Lorenzo came around the corner. We thought it was pretty crazy that a 10 year old would lie to us and tell us that her parents weren't home. We tried to share a quick message to help bring the spirit butnthe dog was barking like crazy and Lorenzo didn't want us to come in. The best thing to do in that situation is just smile and be happy! Then we went to go visit Dorette. She is a great lady and is from Jamaica but says she doesn't want to be "converted". She is really frustrated because she feels like the Bible, along with many others, is the final say and we shouldn't add or take away from the Bible. We explained to her that the Book of Mormon is just another witness and we can learn more by reading them both. She said that she would try to read it if she had time but she always puts the Bible first. We said a prayer with her and away we went back to the apartment after such an amazing day!

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! 8 Months?!?!? How did that happen? Just like that, I'm 8 months into my mission. What an incredible day!!! I have some amazing news and I can't wait to tell you! I'm typing this up just moments after it happened and I can't wait for you to read it! I woke up and was so excited to see your email! Thank you so much! I loved the picture and set it as my background! We had a really great day! We drove down to New Paltz and had a really awesome District Merting! We were excited to talk about Bill and how he is doing and we also invited everyone to come! Then, some members from Ohio drove all the way to install a new satellite dish for General Conference and asked if we could help. We tried to lift the huge dish up but it wouldn't budge. Then, we drove back to Kingston and tried to have a lesson with the guys who play basketball but they decided to leave early and so we missed them. We still had a great discussion with Brother Larin about Mike and what we can do to best help him feel the spirit and want to get baptized. We are really focussing on him right now and are helping him see the many blessings that come from living the Gospel. Brother and Sister Larin really want him to get baptized so they can get married in the Temple in a year! They also want him to be a Priesthood holder so there is a lot to look forward to! Then, we got a call from Bill saying that he got invited short notice to a dinner at a restauraunt and didn't want to miss it so he was wondering if we could reschedule. We were going to do service but we never heard back from them so we decided to go over and teach him! He is getting so close to baptism and we are getting so excited! This is such a big step for him and such a special time! We have grown to love this good man so much! So we went over and worked out some logistics for his Baptism and he chose Brother Monterroza to do the Baptism and chose a few other people to give some talks. Then we read in Heleman with him since that is where he is at in his personal reading. It was a great and spiritual lesson and we felt so much love for Bill! He is such a humble person with lots of faith! After our awesome lesson with Bill, we went to the Church to work on his program and fill out all of the speakers and add a picture to the front that we took last Sunday! He was looking so good in his white shirt and tie! We got that all squared away and then went to our dinner and lesson with the Larin family and Mike! Here comes the really exciting part! We got there and noticed that Robert's friend Marco was there as well who isn't a member! Robert is the Larin's 11 year old son. They also have a disabled 10 year old son named Nene and he is one of the funniest kids ever! I got a picture with him while we were eating dinner! We will say hi to him and he will say "BYE!" He is a really great kid! So Marco was there and then Graciella who is the Larin's 24 year old daughter, came home with Mike! We started the lesson and it was one of the most amazing lessons and spiritual experiences I've ever had! Mike is such a humble and quiet guy and has a strong Baptist background. He has a great support system in Graciella and the Larin family to teach him. We read with him in the Book of Mormon about Baptism and why it is so important to be baptized by the proper Priesthood authority. We felt prompted to set a Baptisimal date with him and he accepted for the 28th of October!!!! It was seriously one of the coolest lessons on my mission! Graciella and Brother Larin helped so much and really brought the spirit. He accepted and we are pretty much locked in on that date and there isn't anything holding him back! Since Marco was there, he's 11, we decided to extend a Baptisimal date to him as well but they thought it would be a good idea to get permission from the parents first. He accepted the baptismal invitation but we didn't set a date with him. This area is really coming together and Elder Howard says he sees a big difference in how the member treat the missionaries. It has been such a positive thing for this ward! I am truely so blessed to be a part of this exciting work going on in Kingston! We then had a great dinner that Sister Larin prepared and we had rice and chicken. We got to know Mike more and he loves cars so I showed him a picture of Blackey and thought it was really cool! Mike works for the USPS and is a mail carrier. He is really down to earth and loves people! We are so excited to have another baptism to plan for! We keep working hard and never giving up on these great people that we have to teach! Thank you all so much for your prayer and love you always send my way!
Tuesday was another great day! I was so excited to get your amazing email that night! I always wake up Tuesday morning excited for the night when your email and pictures come! Sister Wootton felt really bad that she was only taking us out to eat once a week and so she by ped it up to twice a week! We told her that once a week was plenty and she said that she feels like she should do it 2 times a week. Pretty funny though! She is so nice and generous and always makes sure we are well fed! So we did some morning lookups and only 1 person was home and that was David Salas! We set another time to come back and then knocked on lots of doors and then met Sister Wootton at the buffet and had a really great time! It was so yummy! Then we drove over to the Parks' house and helpednthem clean their windows. We had a nice chat with Sister Parks while we cleaned! It was a great service project because she had lots of windows. Hehe! Then we did another really cool and unexpected service project! Sister Martin wanted us to come over for a visit and a lesson so we gladly went over! She had a house full of kids because she was babysitting them all. We had a great lesson with her and then we noticed a huge box sitting in the corner. She got a bunny about a week ago and the thing is really cool! Her 3 little kids just love the bunny! We asked her what the huge box was and she said it was a 2 story double decker house for the bunny! She told us that she really didn't have the time or motivation to put it together. We offered to put it together and you would have thought she won a million dollars!! She kept chanting "I don't have to put the house together!" We unboxed it and away we went! It was a really hutch and had nice wood. The instructions were very clear and simple. We just had to make sure the right pieces were together and then we used a screwdriver to put them in. I have a few pictures of me putting it together. So we put that together and then hurried over to our dinner appointment and lesson with the Weston family! We didn't know them very well and so we were excited to get to know them better! We drove over and had an amazing dinner and lesson with them! How cool is this??? They both graduated from Utah State! They were both there when you were! The reason why they are all the way out here is because Brother Weston got a job for IBM right out of college. They are such a great family and we even got a picture with them! Their youngest son wasn't cooperating very well with the picture and he was being goofy. We had some tomato spaghetti, bread, and salad and it was really good! We taught a lesson about prophets and General Conference coming up. They asked all about our families and It was fun to tell them about you! Brother Weston served his mission in Chile right about the same time Glenn was there! He didn't recognize the name but said he may have met him before! Such a small, small world! It was a great time! Then we read the Book of Mormon with Carmelo and then headed back to the apartment and I couldn't wait to read your email! It was a really great day!

Well my dear and amazing family! I'm so excited for you to read my email but I'm sad thst I'm done writing it because I love looking back on the week and typing everything up! It is always so much fun knowing you are reading them! Thank you again for your wonderful email, pictures, and videos! It has been a great week for us all and I can't wait to hear about this week! It has been so weird not watching Dubbie play or watching the other games that are on. I also wanted to thank you for the email you sent on my 8 month mark and the email about Brandon's game! Getting emails throughout the week is the best! I miss you all like crazy but you emails make me feel so close to you and like I was there! I hope I remembered everything that I wanted to say and that I answered your questions. I hope you all have a great week at work and school and everything else that is going on! It will be a great week and we can't wait for Bill's baptism! It is going to be so great! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!

Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg