Another P-day is upon us my dear family! Thank you so much for your amazing email and pictures! They are always so great and I really appreciate the time you spend to write me such detailed letters! I'm so glad that you all had a great and fun week with everything going on! I'm so glad that you loved conference as much as I did and that you got my package! It was a lot of fun to put together and I thought you would like some conference treats! I'm so glad that work, school, and football is going so well for everyone! I am so grateful for everyone's good health and that every one is safe and sound! I thank Heavenly Father every day that you are all all healthy and safe! I have been so grateful for everything that you do for me! I hope I can remember everything that happened this week because we had such an amazing week full of hard work! There are always tough times as a missionary but like we learned in Conference, we shouldn't be surprised when hard times come our way. My testimony has grown so much especially because I feel like every single talk was like they were speaking directly to me! It meant so much for them to talk about recent converts and missionary work! It was fun to know that Bill was sitting right next to us and his eyes were seriously GLUED to the tv the whole time. I'm not even exaggerating.....glued to the tv the whole time. It wasnso great! In one of my videos, I recorded part of one of the songs and you can see Bill in one of them! I hope you like my email, pictures, and videos! Well, here goes my week!!!
Last P-Day was great! I read your email over and over again and loved your pictures so much! We did our weekly grocery shopping and then we emailed and cleaned the apartment and got it all ready for the week! It was such a great P-Day! Then, we had an appointment with one of our investigators named Carmelo. His wife is a member but hasn't been to Church in many years. She is from El Salvador and Carmelo is from Puerto Rico. He has been going through a really hard time because his family is in Puerto Rico in the hurricane and so he hasn't been able to call them and see if they are ok. He has been wanting to take us out to eat since we have been teaching him! He is really attached to his religion and loves going to their church on Sunday. So we got to his house for our lesson and he surprised us and said that we were going to eat out that night! We were excited for it! They thought about where to go and they settled on the Mid Hudson Buffet! Hehe! I'm pretty sure that everyone in Kingston loves this buffet because the prices are cheap and the food is great and always fresh! I am going to gain so much weight if I keep this up!
Thursday was so amazing as well! We woke up and did our usual morning routine and then we drove back over to David's house to see if he would be home since we had missed him the night before. After our studies, I really wanted to post on Facebook about General Conference! I love using Facebook and it is such a great tool for missionaries! We stopped by David's house and he was home! We scheduled another time to come back and then we drove to knock on a few more doors before we drove to the Mid Hudson Buffet to meet Sister Wootton for lunch! We had a great discussion as usual and then we drove over to the church for our usual weekly planning. It went so well and we have another great week planned with lots of lessons! Then we went to go to our lesson with Nick but he told us that he had an emergency doctors appointment come up and he was looking all over his house to find our phone number to reschedule the appointment. So then we went to visit Jonathan but the door was locked so we couldn't get in. Then we went to go try the less active member, Alison Teetsel, who has been trying to move for a while. We gia ply found her at home but she was almost done moving and didn't have anything for us to do so we got to know her better. Then we drove back to the apartment and Elder Howard made some muffins to take to Sister Hoskin's daughter, Nyaja, for her Birthday! It was really fun to surprise her! She is turning 12. Then we went to our weekly Ward Correlation meeting at the church and it went very well! We talked about the English class thst we want to set up and start having on a weekly basis! It was also so fun to talk about how the work is going and all of the amazing things going on in this area! Then we drove over to visit Richard Dahl really fast and we saw how he was doing and then we drove over to the Larin's house for another amazing lesson with Mike! He is GOLDEN! I can't think of a more perfect investigator! He has all of this love and support from Graciella and the whole Larin family! He is incredible to say the least! Very humble and nice guy who can't wait to get baptized! We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he understood it and accepted it all! He does have a problem with coffee and tea but he is going stop completely just based on faith! Isn't that cool!?! So we taught him and then Sister Larin had some really good El Salvadorian Chow Mien noodle dish thst was really good! We had ice cold ginger ale to top it all off and it was such an amazing night! I am so blessed to be here because the work is going so well! It has been so great to see so many cool people come to Church and start meeting with us!
Friday was so amazing!!! We were SO excited for Conference the very next day! I couldn't wait and was really looking forward to it! We had another great and busy day! All of the days that are really packed seem to go by in the blink of an eye! We woke up and after our morning routine, we drove over to the Parks' house to do some service and it was great! I always love helping people out and making their day! Elder Howard doesn't know how to use a riding lawnmower so I get to mow it every time they have us come over which is awesome! I'm so thankful that I know how to use a riding lawnmower! It brings back so many great memories of helping you in the yard! I'm very grateful that you thought me how to work!! We raked their leaves and then I got to mow their lawn and it went really well! Then Sister Parks fed us a really nice light lunch and then we chained and then drove over to the Mid Hudson Buffet to meet Sister Wootton and we had another great discussion about how the work is going and about General Conference! I'm not gaining any weight by eating at the buffet because they do have healthier options and I have been taking advantage of those! They even have really good Califronia roll sushi with wasabi and I can't help but think of the movie Cars because it looks like pistachio ice cream! "IT HAS TURNED!" Hehe! So after the buffet, we decided to go buy a couple of treats at Walmart to share with some of the members that would be coming to conference! Since it was Bill's first time, we really wanted to make it special so we had some treats for him! I am so excited for him to get his letter that you sent! So we bought our treats and then had an amazing Plan of Salvation lesson with Ann, Sister Shambo, and Sister Wootton! The spirit was really strong and Ann really enjoyed it! Since we had so many people for the lesson, it took a little longer than we expected and we were a good 30 minute drive back to Kingston. After our lesson, we said goodbye and then had something really cool happen as we walked outside! We always see lots of older ladies sitting on 2 benches thst they have just outside of the apartment complex. We always say hi to them but this time, there was another lady that I had never seen before. They are all in their 80s and 90s and they just sit quietly and chat for most of the day outside. So I said hi to this lady and she was so nice and friendly! She started to talk and I noticed that she had an accent! I was excited to ask her where she was from but I said "It that a German accent?" She wondered how I knew that! She said that she was from Frankfurt and has loved in the United States for over 60 years. Her accent was really thick. We got talking and she had a really amazing story! Then a car pulled up along side the curb and another older lady in her 90s got out. She said hello to us and was really good friends with the lady we were just talking to. She had an accent as well and told us she was from east Germany. Of course, you know me and how much I love Night Crossing so I asked them all about their experience and if they remember when that happened! And they both knew and remembered the event and they were there when the Berlin Wall fell. They hadn't ever seen the movie but they remember both of those events! It was really cool to see and talk to people that were around when Night Crossing happened! It was a really cool experience! Then we shared a quick message with them and found out they were Lutheran. Then we drove back to Kingston and had a great lesson with Bill! We read from the Book of Mormon with him and talked about General Conference and got him a ride to the Church so he could watch all 3 of the sessions! He was willing to sacrifice a whole day just because he was so excited for it! Then after our lesson, it was pretty late so we drove back to the apartment and had dinner and then I saw your amazing email! I'm so glad that you got and liked my package! It was so much fun to put together and I can't believe how fast you got it! It came a whole day early! I was so excited! It was such an amazing day and we couldn't wait for conference! It was so fun to think that you were watching it at the same exact time!
General Conference!!! It is finally here! We woke up really looking forward to Conference! Conference is so much fun especially as a missionary and I can't believe that this is already my 2nd out of 4! We had a really cool service project at 9:00 with the whole ward and it ended at 11:00 and then we had an hour to eat an early lunch before the 1st session started! I was thinking about you Brandon the whole day buddie! I also saw that Utah State was playing that day against Byu and so I was cheering on the Aggies from New York! We woke up and drove over to the church and got there by 9:00 and did something really cool! Every year, this ward cleans up the trash on the highway so we grabbed our vest, helmet, and gloves and we drove to the highway that the church owns and took a few pictures and then got to work! I couldn't believe what I saw!! I have something really cool! We were just doing our work and the cars were zooming by at 55 miles per hour. There was some slight traffic and so the traffic slowed down a little bit and a car drove by at about 30 miles an hour and I just about waved them down because of their licence plate! It was a......Wyoming county 3 licence plate! Can you believe that there was a car all the way from Wyoming in New York!?! It was so cool! We continued on our work and cleaned up lots of trash and garbage that was on the side of the road! Elder Howard and I were in charge of a specific area of the road and we got it all looking nice and then we tied up the garbage bags and as we were walking, I got a really cool souvenir! I looked down and saw a licence plate that was for a trailer! It was in pretty rough shape but still really fun to find! Then after we got tons of trash picked up from the side ofnthe highway, we stopped off at Wendy's for a bite to eat and then we drove over to the Church for the 1st session! General Conference was SO amazing! We had Brother Webb, Brother McClure, Brother Van Etten and Bill all came to the 1st session and it was all so amazing!! I was thinking about you the all the whole time! The talks were so amazing and we had a great time together! We only had a few people show up but it was a really special time! We loved the talks and Bill was amazed at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! Then after the session, we had to stay with Bill because there weren't any Preisthood holders in the building because everyone left to go eat. So we stayed with Bill and did some family history and got everything squared away with his account. Then we watched the 2nd session. I can't tell you everything I liked about conference because that would take way too long! There were so many amazing talks and I loved every single one of them and I learned a lot! Bill's eyes were glued to the screen the whole time! We didn't have as many people for the 2nd session but it was still a great time! We loved spending time together and watching and listening to the great talks! My testimony was strengthened so much and I couldn't believe that I was on my 2nd conference already on my mission! I mean, I really can't believe thst conference was a whole 6 months ago and I was in the middle of my training and BOOM, here we are to another conference! It was all so amazing! Then, in between the 2nd session and the Priesthood Session, we had an ice cream party and it went so well! Elder Howard and I eat bought a half gallon of Blue Bunny ice cream that was on sale but only 1 other person brought another half gallon of ice cream. So if Elder Howard and I hadn't brought anything, we would have only had a half gallon of ice cream for everyone. It was all so good and they had toppings for us to put on! We enjoyed talking with everyone and talking about the talks we liked! I was so excited to see your email that you sent me! I was so happy to hear thst Dubbie won! I was thrilled! I also loved seeing the boys watching conference! You made my day by sending that email! The Priesthood Session was Soooooo good! I saw tons of people I knew!!! Thanks so much for telling me because I was watching out for people I knew! I saw Austin Fronk, Clay Hopkins, Adam Hegeman and so many more people that I knew from our Stake! It was so cool! It was a great time and we had about 15 men their watching! Marco and Mike came to watch and they said they really enjoyed it! It was such an amazing day and I learned so much and felt the spirit! Thanks so much for all of your love and support!
Sunday was AMAZING as well! Conference is the best! I was thinking about you all the whole day and was wishing I could be there to watch and spend time with you! We woke up and had a breakfast at the Lopez' house bright and early at 8:00! They invited us over because it was Elder Howard's Birthday yesterday! They wanted to give him a nice dinner and we were so appreciative! We had such a great time and they made it really special and made us feel right at home! They had a candle for Elder Howard on his french toast with whipped topping! They had some really good Mexican hot chocolate, French toast with bananas, strawberries, and then bacon, eggs, and sausage! We had a great visit and then we drove to the Church to set up for Conference and then we had a Priesthood Executive meeting on home teaching and who we need to visit. It was a really great meeting and we talked about everyone in the ward who needs help and who we are teaching. After our meeting, we started the 1st session of Conference and it was so amazing as well! I wish I could tell you everything that I liked but that would take a really long time because everything was so great! We had some really amazing miracles happen as well and I can't wait to tell you! I have some extremely exciting news! I just want to take the time to thank all of you for your love and support! The work couldn't be going better here in good old Kingston and the members have really enjoyed Elder Howard and I! I have come to know from some of the members that missionaries in the past haven't dine their best jobs and only connected and spent time with a few members. So now that we have been more friendly and become really great friends with a lot more people than missionaries have is the past! We are really connecting with them and everyone really trusts us! Which is so important because we are the only set of missionaries for all of Kingston! I loved the 1st session! I was seriously thinking about you all the whole time! I really missed not being there and watching it with you! It was so much fun to watch with the members and Bill had the most amazing time ever! Then, we had a pot luck lunch and it went really well and we had great food! Then, our 1st cool miracle happened! Sister Wootton invited Sister Falatyn to come and she did! The 1st time we met her, she said there is no way she was ever coming back to church our even stepping inside the building itself. Ever since we have started helping her and showing our love to her, she has really opened up and taken a liking to us and some of the ward members! So she came for the lunch and decided to stay for the 2nd session! It was all so amazing and we had a really great time in every single session! I especially loved Elder Ellis' talk on doing hard things and how things weren't meant to be east. I applied it to missionary work and how hard it can be to tough things out and keep going. He said that hard things shouldn't be a surprise. I'll be honest, it is so hard to be away from you and miss events but I have been so blessed to be able to be a missionary and I'm so blessed that you are my amazing family! I was so sad that conference was over and couldn't believe that the next session I watch, I will be over a year and a quarter in! So crazy! During the closing song, I couldn't help but think of you all and I said a prayer for you! I said a prayer that you would continue to be safe and protected and that you will know how much I love and appreciate you! I was so sad to hear about the passing of Elder Hales. He is such a great man and I love him so much! He was actually born in Manhattan and so he has ties to many of these areas. Then we had our 2nd string of cool miracles!! First of all, Mike is probably one of the coolest, most prepared, willing to listen and get baptized a missionary could ever dream about! He just started dating Graciela Larin and she brought him to church and he has loved it so much! We have become really good friends and I am so excited to say that he is right on track for his baptism! We are so blessed to know him! Mike pulled Brother Larin aside without us knowing and ask him if he would baptize him! Then we got talking to Brother Larin after conference was over and he said that he talked to both Jonathan and Marco's parents, and by the way, Marco and Jonathan were at all the sessions of Conference and they aren't even members! They are both 11 and are really good friends! We even got lots of cool pictures right after conference! I uploaded them to my drive and so know you can see them! Jonathan is the kid on the left in the white shirt and Marco is the kid with the grey vest on! Then Mike is the older one standing up in between us! Isn't that so cool though!! We may have 3 convert baptisms in 1 day! The work here is seriously unlike anything that I have ever seen and I can't describe how blessed and happy I am! Words can't even describe it! So Brother Larin was talking to them and he said that they would give us permission to baptize them and so all we need to do is set dates with them and then teach them the lessons! We were so thrilled and couldn't believe how well the work is going and how blessed we are! Thank you all so much for your love and support! It was one of the best days on my mission and we really bonded with the Larin family and we have such a strong friendship and trust with them! It was such an amazing day and I enjoyed every single talk so much!!!!
Monday was really awesome! I was so sad that Conference was over and I couldn't believe it was already October! Then I realized something that blew my mind! It was on October 6th that I got my mission call!! What??? How is that possible!?! That was such a fun and exciting time that I will never forget! I wish I could replay that whole day over again because it was so amazing! Time absolutely flies by! We had a really great day! We drove to District Meeting and Elder Wallace asked me if I would do a 15 minute training on prayer. So I had been preparing for it during the week and found a really cool video of a lady who lived in New York and prayed to find the missionaries because she lots contact with them. After our studies, we drove to New Paltz for our weekly District Meeting and I got to do a training on prayer and so I showed a video about prayer and then asked everyone to share an experience they have had with prayer. It went really well and then I was so happy to see that I got a card from Grandma Evans! Then we drove back to Kingston and drove over to the Church to share a message with the basketball guys and then we were off to a lesson with Bill Smith! He is doing so well and has been loving being a member of the Church. He was in shock when we got there and then he told us about the tragic events that happened in Las Vegas the night before. We obviously have no way of finding anything out unless someone tells us. I was in shock and couldn't believe how terrible an event it was. I couldn't stop thinking about it the whole day. We had a really great and positive lesson with Bill! We talked about conference and asked him about everything that he learned and what he liked. His testimony is so strong and very interesting to listen to! He is going to continue to be such a strong member for the ward! So we taught him the Restoration again since we are supposed to teach the lessons over again kind of as a refresher and then we went to visit Lisa Martin. She is doing very well but it always so hard to teach. She is hard to teach because her kids are always vying for constant attention and it is just really hard to share a message. Then we drove to Sister Cross' house for a really fun dinner! She wanted to surprise Elder Howard since it was his birthday the next day and so she organized a really nice dinner and even had a small, personal birthday cake for him! We pulled into the apartment complex and got some news from Sister Cross. She told us that a lady had barely side swiped her car and left a tiny scratch on her left bumper and door. It was very minor but still took a while for the police officer to fill out the form. We both felt so bad for her! She was on her way home from picking up the cake and balloon for Elder Howard and then something like that had to happen. It was pretty crazy but Sister Cross was still in such a great mood! We got to see Stella again and we had a lasagna with garlic bread! It was really good! She had some apple cider freshly made right down the street which was delicious also! Then after our dinner, we took some pictures and then drove to visit and help pack up Charlie Lippman because he called and asked if he would help since he is moving at the end of the month. First of all, Bill has a really beat up, old couch thst he wants to get rid of but hasn't had the money to buy a new one so he has just been dealing with having a broken couch. Well, we got a call from Charlie a few days later and told us that he was moving into a fully furnished apartment and so he doesn't need any of his stuff so he asked us if we wanted a free couch! We were thinking "Are you kidding!?!" Bill has been looking everywhere and has been needing a new couch and here someone is just giving one away! We couldn't believe it! We were wondering what shape it was in and surprisingly, it is in very good condition and practically brand new! We were thrilled! So we are working on finding someone who has a truck to deliver it to Bill! We were so excited and happily drove home after another amazing day of missionary work!
Tuesday was Elder Howard's Birthday! Wow, we had a really jam packed day with lots going on! We woke up and did our usual morning routine and then we had lunch with Sister Wootton scheduled and it just happened to be on Elder Howard's Birthday! Thank you so much for the email and sending that cool picture! He really enjoyed it and thought it was so nice of you! We had a really great and fun day of missionary work! After our studies, Elder Howard quickly opened up his 3 Brithday presents from his Family, Grandparents, and best friend and then we did a few lookups but nobody was home and then we met Sister Wootton at the buffet for Lunch! It was so fun especially on Elder Howard's Birthday! We talked about Mike and how Bill got a couch for free and that we were organizing for it to be delivered but we needed to find a truck. Then we drove to Manny and David's houses and they were both home! We scheduled an appointment with them and then put on our service clothes and drove over to do some service for Sister Falatyn. It went so well and we had a great lesson with her and her older son, Ben! Since she made us dinner, it took a while so we helped her and it just reminded me of making dinner with you and how much I love it! It was a great time and we talked about conference and how much she enjoyed it! She made us salmon, salad, and sweet potato fries with garlic! It was quite the meal and I really enjoyed it! It was a great Birthday dinner for Elder Howard! Then after our lesson, we quickly drove back to our apartment and changed back into our white shirt and ties and then we hurried over to our 8:00 lesson with Mike and the Larin family! During the last session of Conference, Graciella told me that they were organizing a surprise for Elder Howard and so they told us to keep our lesson really short. Since we were starting the lesson at 8:00, we had to hurry and share the lesson because we had to be back by no later than 9:30. So we read a few chapters from the Book of Mormon and then it was "dinner time." They eat really late and so even though we already had dinner at about 6:00, we were having another big Birthday dinner! Hehe! So they brought out the chicken, mashed potatoes, pina colada soda, and then French bread. It was all really good! Then, they brought out a surprise red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting with lots of candles! It was really weird to think that Elder Howard is 21. His parents sent him a package and it had a note in it that said to take me out to a restauraunt of our choice and to go buy 2 root beers because that is the only beer that we will ever drink!
Today for P-day we are doing something really fun and exciting! First, we are getting haircuts again so we will look all sharp! Then we get to go over and help Charlie move his couch to Bill's house and then put his old one out on the street. Then we are going down to what's called "The Strand." It is the marina and boat section of Kingston where they have the barber shop that we are going to and then they have some really nice restaurants and little shops. His parents gave him some money to buy a few souvenirs and so he wants a t-shirt that says Kingston on it and one that says Woodstock! I will be looking out for some cool souvenirs as well! It is so cool to think that the Woodstock concert happened just down the street in a small town called Bethel. I remember learning about it in my History class at Utah State. We talked about what impacts it had on society and the whole 60s movement! So we may even go to Woodstock and check it out even though the actual concert didn't happen there. It is going to be a really fun day!
Well my dear family, it has been a blast to email you and read your email! I'm sad that conference is over. I hope you all have such a great day and thst everything goes well! I really appreciate all of the love and support so much! You arenthe best family every! I hope that we can chat back and forth a little bit too! We are going to have a really fun and relaxing day! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Here is another email Tanner sent later in the afternoon. He had a great p-day!
No comments:
Post a Comment