November 8th 2017~Really Awesome Week! Thanks For The Awesome Email!!
Hello my dear and amazing family!! What an awesome week it has been! Thank you so much for your email and all of the details you included! Today is Elder Brown's Birthday and so we are going to have an awesome day celebrating it! Today for P-Day, Elder Palmer and Elder Rocha are going to the Temple and then we are going next week since that is our day to go and so Elder Brown and I are going to go shopping and then I let Elder Brown pick whatever he wants to do and he decided that he wants to go see the Intrepid Air and Space museum. Then we are going to eat out for his Birthday dinner at a waffle place that looks so good! It is going to be a really awesome day and we can even chat back and forth as well! Well, here it goes:
Last P-Day was so very awesome! I loved emailing you back and forth and was so glad that you all had a great week! I loved everyone's costumes and it looked like a blast! We had a really great and fun day! I am pretty sure that I remembered to tell you everything that happened and that we got to do. We had a really fun time buying some cool souvenirs and spending time in the big city! Then after our P-day ended, we went to go drop off a Bible to a man who ordered one online named Marcus Fitch. We went to the address and it was for a hotel so we gave him a call and told him to meet us outside the hotel. He walked up and was really nice and friendly! He told us that he is homeless and recently lost his job. But then he said he read the Bible and they gave him his exact job back. So now we wants to start reading scriptures again because he felt the spirit so strong! So we gave him his Bible and then introduced the Book of Mormon to him. We read a scripture with him and he thought it was so powerful! We shared Helaman 5: 12 and he really liked it! Then we had something sad happen. We had plans to just do lookups around where we were but then we got a call from Sister Honeycut who takes care of the medical needs of the missionaries. She called us and said that there was a lady in the ICU in a coma and the family wanted us to give her a blessing. She was only 38 years old and has stage 4 lung cancer. We were so sad to hear that and so we went to the hospital to give her a blessing but they told us that she had passed away just 20 minutes before we got there. It was so very sad and We were both in shock. We didn't know what to say or do. We said a prayer with the family but they did believe that she was in a better place and that there is a life after death. We testified of the Plan of Salvation and told them that they would get to see their Mom/Wife again. We said a prayer with the family and it brought them a lot of comfort and peace. It was just a crazy time and then we called Sister Honeycut to thank her for the opportunity to serve. We tried to go visit Charles and Monae again because we hadn't seen them in a few days so we just did some street contacting where we just talk to anyone and everyone we see and share our special message! We met a really cool guy on the bus and he owns a business. He was pretty young and really friendly! So after that, it was time for us to head in for the night and so we called it a day! We were both really tired and ready for some Zzzzzzzzzzs! 
P.S: if there is anything that you want to know or ask, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have! I hope you can picture where I am at. Love ya!
Thursday was a really awesome day! I was SO VERY excited to get an email from you! I loved the quote a lot and it is now my screensaver on my tablet! I really, really appreciated the email and it seriously made my whole day! I have been so lucky to have people that recognize how much sending a picture to you throughout the week means! I have loved having so many people send pictures to you! I'm so glad that you have been loving them because it is really fun! I woke up and was SO excited because it was Zone Conference! I was thinking about you the whole time because Mom helped out with the last Zone Conference for the Logan missionaries and it made me appreciate the food a lot more! They always have such nice lunches for us and we are always stuffed to the rafters! So we got up at our normal time and then headed over to the Manhattan Temple Chapel and got there by 8:00 which is right when breakfast starts. So we enjoyed bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese that Sister Smith always makes and then we had a really awesome Zone Conference! They talked about just what I needed! Since we are in the city, they focussed on starting conversations with people on the busses and trains and then talked about talking to people on the street. Then they focussed on the Book of Mormon! They are always so great and I love Zone Conference so much! Then we found out that we got 4 new Sister Missionaries from the Temple Square Mission! Also, we got a new senior couple and they are really awesome! They stood up to introduce themselves and they are from.......Powell Wyoming! I told them that Dad was from Kemmerer and Grandpa was from Afton and they thought that was really cool! They are in the sign language mission and so I won't get to see them very often but it was so nice to meet them and hear we have some fellow Wyoming-ites! Zone Conference lasted until about 4:15 so then we took the subway back to our apartment to change out of our suits and then plan for the rest of the day. Then we had a dinner appointment at 6:00 with the Toomey family! They are a young couple who have been married for about 3 or 4 years now. Sister Toomey went to Byu and served in Brazil and Brother Toomey went to Utah Valley and served his mission in Tennessee. We walked in and Brother Toomey was wearing a Joe Namath jersey and so I started talking football with him but apparently he doesn't know a thing about football is what he told me. He said the only reason why he was wearing it is because his friend got him some really cheap tickets for the NFL game that night!! So he bought a jersey online just because he got cheap tickets. It was Thursday Night Football and it was the Jets VS Bills. I was so jealous and really wanted to go as you could imagine. Our appointment was from 6:00-7:00 and so he left right when we did to get to the game on time. It was really cool! We had pasta and salad and cheesecake for desert! Cheesecake and New York really go together.....especially when it's homemade! Then we met a member on the streets who is on a business trip from Washington. He wished us luck and gave us a boost of confidence and away we went! We knocked on the doors of 2 part member families that live just down the street from each other and they both answered! The first door was a guy named Kevin who is a senior in high school and hasn't been to Church in a long time. Then we found a guy named Shaun! His wife is a member but he isn't and they just had a baby literally 4 days ago. He was a really nice guy so hopefully we can go back and teach him even though they may be busy with work and the baby. Then we taught Charles and Monae about patience and how the blessings don't always come immediately and how we have to be patient and trust in Heavenly Father's timing. We showed them the Dieter F Utchdorf talk about the little kids and marshmallows and they really enjoyed it. Our lesson last about 45 minutes and so then we walked back to our apartment after another really great day! Thanks again for your awesome picture and email!!
Friday was a really great day!! I was thinking about Grandpa Evans a whole lot and I wore his tie in his honor. I really, really miss him and I know that you all do to. We got a text early that morning from Sister Parks and she told us that she wanted to take us out to lunch! She was taking a trip to do some sightseeing! I was so excited to see them because they are a really great family! So we headed over to the Church after our studies to do our weekly planning and then we took the train down to the World Trade Center and met Sister Parks and her Mom and and niece! They are both from Poland and don't speak any English. It was so great to see Sister Parks again and hear how the ward is doing! We ate at a really cool Restauraunt right by the 9/11 Museum and memorial. It was a diner called "Essex World Cafe". I got chicken fingers with fries and honey mustard sauce. It was such a cool store and had tons of 9/11 memorabilia up with lots of pictures of what the Restauraunt looked like after the attacks. We had a great chat and then we took the subway to deliver a few Books of Mormon! On the way, I saw that I had an email from you and was so excited to get it! I loved the quote so much and saged it for my tablet background! Then on the way, I saw a girl wearing a Utah Utes shirt and so I said "Go Utes!" I knew Puck would love me saying that! She told me that she was living in Spanish Fork going to a private school and she is moving to New York City in about a month. We had to get off really quick and so we didn't have much time to talk. Then I saw a guy with a Texas Longhorns shirt on so I told him "Go Longhorns!" Then we tried to drop off some Books of Mormon to those that ordered them but we didn't find anybody at home. Then we knocked on some doors but everyone was so busy and didn't want to talk. Then we took the bus back to the apartment for some dinner and saw something so crazy. We were just about home and on Avenue D there were tons and tons of police and fire trucks everywhere. They were roping everything off with crime scene tape and everyone was gathered and taking videos and pictures. We got off at our stop and walked right past it and there was a guy on the ground on his back. We aren't sure what happened but they put him in a stretcher and took him to the hospital. It was quite the scene and there were hundreds of people gathered and a few police helicopters circling the area. I hope he is ok! Then we had dinner and then we picked up Monae to drop her off at the Church for young women's. She has been having a hard time finding someone to take her so we were so happy to! So she dropped her off at the Church and then we went to Battery Park City to knock on some doors and find people to teach! We knocked on a door of a guy named Hector Colon. His name is pronounced cologne. We knocked on his door and he was so happy to see us and let us right in! He lives in kind of a rough part of Manhattan in a project building but is a really great guy! He is Catholic but says that all churches are great and have lots of truth. We talked about Priesthood authority and I cleared up so many things for him. We could really really feel the spirit and it was so awesome to be able to teach him! We had a great discussion and he told us that it was meant to be that we were there. He told us that he was going to try to read the Book of Mormon and come to Church and so we were really excited for that! Then it was time to head back to the apartment after a really awesome day! I really appreciated the email you sent so much!!
Saturday was really great!! We got a call the night before from our Zone Leaders telling us that we were having a service project that next morning in Central Park raking leaves! So cool! So we woke up really excited to go and see all of the pretty sights of New York! So we planned and then headed out the door to take the train up to Central Park! It was a pretty chilly day but the leaves were so amazing! We got there and there were tons and tons of runners training for the New York Marathon! It was really cool to see so many people training and out and about! Saturdays have especially been a little hard for me during football season because I love Saturday morning so much when we make smoothies. I am so grateful for all of the fun times we watched College Gameday! I can't wait to resume all of those fun times when I get home! Those are such amazing memories that I will never forget! They had lots of people to run the service project and they gave us a rundown and had us sign waivers and fill out an information chart. It was such a pretty day and we had 2 whole zones of missionaries show up and a few members from the Manhattan wards! Since it is fall and it is going to be winter soon, it really made me think of all the Christmas movies that have been filmed there. We got to work and got all of the leaves raked in about 3 hours. I took lots of pictures because we had so many trash bags full of leaves. Then we had something really cool happen that I especially think Parker would think is so cool!!!! I couldn't believe it!! So a guy from the Manhattan YSA showed up and he was a very tall and skinny guy. I asked him where he was from and he said that he grew up in lots of places but he played football for.......the.....Utes!!! So I got talking to him and his name is Gregory Newman. Maybe you could look him up because I hadn't ever heard of him before but I still thought it was so cool to shake his hand! So I asked him when he played for the Utes in 2008. Then I asked him if he played in the 2008 Sugar Bowl vs Alabama when the Utes beat Bama and he said "I didn't just play, I started in that game". I tried to get a couple of discrete pictures of him but I thought it was so cool, especially for Puck! So after our service, we decided to go eat at a really cool Restauraunt right by Central Park called Big Daddy. It is a pretty famous place and they have really good food! It tasted especially after a great day of hard work! The workers there were so nice and really appreciated our help! So we ate and then had our companionship study and then we took the subway to visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes again. Brother Forbes has been having some pretty bad health challenges with his legs and he has had some ulcers so he has had a really hard time getting around. The doctor told him to stay at home so we really wanted to cheer him up by sharing a message with him. So we talked about a conference talk from this last conference. It talks about how hard is good and not everything will be easy but everything will be worth it and work out in the end. Then we helped him clean up his apartment a little and help him organize some things. We love helping him with the things that he physically can't do because he really appreciates it so much. So after our appointment, we called lots of people and tried to find more people to teach. We have called and called a lot of people who we have records for but they just aren't interested or have the time. It has been hard to find solid, good investigators to teach but we are slowly but surely making progress with Godson, Francis, and Hector. We really want to focus on them and just try our best to teach them and help them feel the spirit. It's a work in progress that takes a while but they will hopefully get baptized one day. So after dinner, we called lots of people and one of the people we called was Godson and we invited him to Church and he said that he was going to come for the last 2 hours! Then we called a guy who sent us a referral who lives in New York named Kalvin. The guy who sent it to us in named Jordan and he had just gotten off of his mission 2 days before sending us the referral. We are so excited to go teach him and hopefully we can set a Baptisimal date with him! We had such an awesome day and I was thinking about you the whole time and hoping you were having a great Saturday!
Sunday was so awesome!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your email!!! I cannot believe that it is snowing! I seriously feel like time has just flown by because I feel like it was just snowing and summer had just come and now we are back to snow again! There hasn't been any rain or snow coming up this way yet but I know it's coming soon. I remember like it was yesterday when it was snowing On my farewell day and what a special day that was! I will never forget those amazing memories! I loved your picture that you sent because I could see what it looks like up there in Nibley! I was so shocked to see that you had snow!! On Saturday night, we remembered that it was daylight savings and we were all SO excited to fall back and have an extra hour of sleep! I have to say, I haven't felt this well rested since I have been home. I woke up Sunday morning feeling so well rested and it really recharged me even though it was only an hour! So we woke up and got ready for the day and then headed off to church! We had a dinner appointment that night that we were both really looking forward to with the Doxford family! I have been meaning to tell you a little bit more about the area and about Elder Brown. The area is so full of tourists and so it has been really fun to ask people where they're from. I always love it when members come up to us and say "Hey Elders"! Or people wave at us in passing! Saturdays are absolutely crazy here and the streets, busses, and subways are jam packed! Elder Brown is such a great guy and we get along so well! We haven't had any problems at all getting along and we have a lot in common! He was a lifeguard at his local pool in Orem and loves to ski. He also volunteered at the hospital and delivered meals to hospital patients. He is so considerate and humble. He is also really funny jokes about himself whenever he makes a mistake or says something funny. He really is a great guy and hopefully you may get to see him on the Skype call! The area is also full of people from Puerto Rico and Africa. It is very similar to the Bronx where we live but once you get into Lower Manhattan and the Financial District, the demographics totally change. I have loved having so many people from Utah in our ward because it makes me feel right at home. The members are so awesome and kind to missionaries! It has been so great to work here and I have loved every second of it! So we headed over to Church and I have a really cool experience! You got a picture of me and Brother Arnell!! I went up to him after our awesome fast and testimony meeting and said "How are the Arnells doing?" I thought he was Bishop Arnell's brother who lives in our stake but it is actually his other brother who lives in Hyrum! It was so awesome to see him!! He and his wife are so nice and Sister Arnell even remembered all of your names! She said "Your Mom is Wendy and your Sister is Abby right?" This world is getting smaller and smaller.........and smaller! I was so excited when they sent you a picture to let you know right after it happened! Sister De Jesus bore an awesome testimony! She is the member from Idaho and she lives right where the accident happened on the bike path. She bore her testimony that Heavenly Father is always watching out for us because she walks that very same bike path, every single day to pick up her 6 year old from school but decided to go a different route. Then we had Godson come to Church again and he stayed for all 3 hours! His faith is growing so much each time he comes! He is an Uber driver and doesn't get off work until really early in the morning but still comes to Church. Then I got to know Brother Andersen a lot better! He is such an awesome guy and I have to tell you something really cool about him! So he is a huge guy! He is so muscular and loves football with a passion. That makes 2 of us! Hehe! So we got talking and I told him I was huge Utah State fan and he said that he grew up in Idaho and so he is a huge Boise State fan and goes to a lot of their games. Here is the cool part, he was in the stands for when Wyoming beat Boise State last year in football with a game winning safety! He told me that he loves War Memorial Stadium and really gave Josh Allen and the Cowboys a ton of credit! He told me how fun it was and how much he enkoyed the game! We had a lot of great testimonies and our classes were really great as well! Sister Dastrup and Brother McKnight both taught and they gave really great lessons on faith and President Nelson's talk about joy and spiritual survival. Then we took Monae back home since she lives right by us and then we changed and went to visit Andy. He is the member who has cerebral palsy. He was pretty mad and upset because he found out that the Prophet and his apostles get paid for what they do and were making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from our tithing. We of course cleared that up but we had a hard time explaining it so he could understand. It was a very interesting lesson and he had lots of questions and concerns. Then we had an amazing dinner with the Doxford family! So we went over to their apartment and had a really great discussion! It is so fun to get to know people! They had over Sister Welch and her little son and daughter, Addy and Jackson. The Doxfords have 2 little kids as well. We had enchiladas with jalapeno peppers and lots of toppings! We got talking about school and both Brother and Sister Welch graduated and met at Utah State! Sister Welch works from home and Brother Welch is a banker. We got talking about Utah State and all of the traditions that they have like homecoming parades and how amazing it is up there! Who knew that even in New York City, your names would be coming up at the dinner table! Then after dinner, we shared a message about the Restoration and then it was time for us to head back to the apartment for the night. It was such amazing day! As we were waiting for the bus, we couldn't help but notice how quiet it was. We got out our cameras and recorded how quiet and peaceful it was. It was about 8:00 and we were right by the One World Trade Center and ground zero and it was just so quiet. I don't think New York City will ever be that quiet again. It was a really great day! I was thinking about you all day Mom as you got your new calling! I was updating LDS tools all day to see if they had changed it! Congratulations! I know you will do an awesome job!
Monday was really great! I really couldn't believe that it was District Meeting again. I was so excited for your email the very next day! We did our usual morning run and excersice, and then did our studies and then we took the subway to 66th street for our District Meeting! It is always so great to hear from other missionaries and hear how they find success and hear some different ideas. I always love taking the subways and trains because there are always so many people to talk to! The subways are so iconic and historical to New York City! It is always a lot to fun to feel like a real New Yorker! Another interesting thing is that there are tons of food carts and vendors on the streets as well. They have lots of little bodega shops who are run by people from Bangladesh. I have always found that interesting how they are always older men from Bangledesh. There are always tons of businessmen in suits headed off to work on Wall Street and it is just SO cool to me and to be a part of it! The busses and subways are usually jam packed and I always think to myself "There is no way that we can fit another person in here." Sure enough, 2 or 3 more people will cram on and then we are all squished. Sometimes we will be so packed into a subway or bus. It is always so crazy when that happens but hey.....this is New York, and if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere right???
District Meeting was really awesome and we got some great ideas to help Charles quit his smoking addiction. We are going to try to have him quit for just 1 day and then take it step by step. Then after our meeting, we went to Subway for lunch near Columbus Circle and I got a really good Rueben! I highly recommend it! Then we were in the train station and I was just enjoying the moment and I was looking up at the date that they put on the subway signs and it just hit me that it's already November 6th. I just still can't believe how fast time is going. Then we noticed that there was a deaf guy on the train so we showed him a video from the ASL Elders and they thought it was really cool! I don't know any sign language but it was still really fun to show him the video! Then we headed over to an appointment to visit and teach a lady named Sharice but unfortunately, she wasn't home. So on the way to our next activity, we were waiting at a stop talking to lots of people and a huge group of 3 couples and I said hi to them and they said "Hey Elders!". They were visiting from Salt Lake and one of the guys graduated from Utah State! We talked for a minute and they said they were having an awesome time! Then we went to go try to find Linal, Carlos, and Joshua home but none of them were home. Then as we were walking around, we saw a lady who was probably 80, and she was turned around backward and sitting in her walker using her legs to push herself backwards down a sidewalk. We ran up to her because she couldn't see where she was going and so we didn't want her to get hurt. So we offered to help and she told us that she was starving and hadn't had the energy to go and buy food for almost 4 days. She only had a little bit of food in her house and so she was so thankful that we pushed her walker to the store. She was a very nice lady and has lived in Manhattan her whole life. She appreciated our help so much and was so thankful to be able to buy food! Then we came back to the apartment to have dinner and we got home right when our roommates did! I finally got a picture of them so you can see what they look like! So very sorry but I have been a slacker. After dinner, the 4 of us went to the Church because they had some stuff to out away in the Church after one of their activities that they did for the YSA. On the way there, I saw a lady wearing a Michigan sweatshirt so I told her "Go Wolverines!" She asked if I was from Michigan and wondered how I knew that even though Michigan is a powerhouse team. Then I said "I love the Maize and Blue!" Apparently her Dad is from Michigan and used to be one of the managers for the football team about a decade ago. So after we unlocked the Church, we sat down and called a lot of people! We are working and trying so hard to find people who are willing to meet with us. We work so hard each and every day to find someone to teach and help them progress toward baptism. Then we had a really awesome lesson with Charles, Charlene, and Monae and it went so well! We are trying to help them remember how special Monae's baptism was and help them toward baptism as well. Things are going really well with them! We taught them all the Restoration since we need to detach everything since Monae was baptized. Once a person is baptized, we go over the different lessons again so they can become more familiar with them. The lesson went really well and we all felt the spirit so strong! I finally got to meet Charlene and she is a very nice lady! Then after our lesson, it was time to head back to the apartment for the night and have a nice sleep!
Tuesday was so awesome! We had a really great day and what made it even better was your amazing email and pictures! We headed out the door ready for another awesome day! We did some lookups and met a really nice less active member. Then as we were walking back for lunch, a really nice guy from Equador walks right up to us and shakes our hands! He told us that he was a member in a Spanish ward in Queens. He told us that he was from Equador and asked if we had eaten anything. He was very nice and wanted us to buy us an ice cold drink! So we went to the nearest bodega and he bought us a drink which we enjoyed while eating our lunch back at the apartment! After lunch we did our companionship study and then had a lesson with Neal and it went really well! So, Neal is an atheist and doesn't allow any religion into his house whatsoever. Well he met Elder Brown and Elder Costa on the bus before I got to this area and he completely changed his view about Mormons. So he has been inviting us over but we aren't allowed to talk about religion at all while we are at his house. He is such a nice guy and what I think is really cool about him is that he sounds a lot like Al Michaels. Dad, Dubbie, and Puck would really like that!
So we went over to his apartment and it is the one with the amazing view of the Empire State Building and we talked about how his week went. The New York marathon was last Sunday and so he talked about how he enjoyed that. Then we talked about our missions and how we get to leave home for 2 years and leave our awesome families. Then we got talking about how often we can Skype and email and he was just amazed at us. He always tells us how refreshing it is to have youth go out and teach people about Jesus Christ. He has been really impressed and told us to tell you what an amazing job you did! He told us that our parents and families are so awesome and he admires all of you! He is in his mid 60s and really enjoys having us over. He always has a fresh cup of orange juice for us while he drinks his coffee. He offered us some but he really respected the fact that we don't drink coffee. Then after our really awesome visit, we headed over to visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes. On the way, we got talking to a lady on the bus and then she brought up that her Mom passed away about 17 years ago. She was probably in her mid 40s and had her 12 or so year old son with her. She told us how much she misses her Mom and then she said "Treasure your parents. They are the most important people in your life." It just got me thinking about how much I treasure my family more than anything. I always have you on my mind and I care so much about each and every one of you! Then we taught Brother Eades and Brother Forbes about sealings in the Temple since they are both preparing to go within the next few months. Then we came back to the apartment for dinner and then headed out for more work! It was raining pretty hard but we bundled up and had our trusty umbrellas. Then we went to go lookup a ton of less active members! We had a lot of people at home but didn't get any positive responses. I think that a lot of them have either just gotten offended by the Church or lost interest. It is really sad to think about people not partaking of the many blessing and happiness that come from going to church. I just think back and I'm so grateful that we went to Church each week and we made it a priority because it has blessed my life in numerous ways! Then after a few hours of door knocking with little success, we cheerfully headed back to the apartment even though we didn't have many people to talk to, especially because it was raining so hard. It was such an awesome, bit cold day! We were so excited for P-Day and I couldn't wait to get your email and pictures! One cool thing is that it is Elder Brown's birthday today! He is deciding what he wants to do but I know it is going to be a really fun day!
Well my dear and amazing family! It was so fun to hear from you and hear about your awesome week! I hope you all have another awesome week full of fun! I just want you to know how proud I am to be your son and to be able to serve a mission! I love and miss each and every one of you so much and I feel so many prayers! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
P.S: if there is anything that you want to know or ask, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have! I hope you can picture where I am at. Love ya!
Thursday was a really awesome day! I was SO VERY excited to get an email from you! I loved the quote a lot and it is now my screensaver on my tablet! I really, really appreciated the email and it seriously made my whole day! I have been so lucky to have people that recognize how much sending a picture to you throughout the week means! I have loved having so many people send pictures to you! I'm so glad that you have been loving them because it is really fun! I woke up and was SO excited because it was Zone Conference! I was thinking about you the whole time because Mom helped out with the last Zone Conference for the Logan missionaries and it made me appreciate the food a lot more! They always have such nice lunches for us and we are always stuffed to the rafters! So we got up at our normal time and then headed over to the Manhattan Temple Chapel and got there by 8:00 which is right when breakfast starts. So we enjoyed bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese that Sister Smith always makes and then we had a really awesome Zone Conference! They talked about just what I needed! Since we are in the city, they focussed on starting conversations with people on the busses and trains and then talked about talking to people on the street. Then they focussed on the Book of Mormon! They are always so great and I love Zone Conference so much! Then we found out that we got 4 new Sister Missionaries from the Temple Square Mission! Also, we got a new senior couple and they are really awesome! They stood up to introduce themselves and they are from.......Powell Wyoming! I told them that Dad was from Kemmerer and Grandpa was from Afton and they thought that was really cool! They are in the sign language mission and so I won't get to see them very often but it was so nice to meet them and hear we have some fellow Wyoming-ites! Zone Conference lasted until about 4:15 so then we took the subway back to our apartment to change out of our suits and then plan for the rest of the day. Then we had a dinner appointment at 6:00 with the Toomey family! They are a young couple who have been married for about 3 or 4 years now. Sister Toomey went to Byu and served in Brazil and Brother Toomey went to Utah Valley and served his mission in Tennessee. We walked in and Brother Toomey was wearing a Joe Namath jersey and so I started talking football with him but apparently he doesn't know a thing about football is what he told me. He said the only reason why he was wearing it is because his friend got him some really cheap tickets for the NFL game that night!! So he bought a jersey online just because he got cheap tickets. It was Thursday Night Football and it was the Jets VS Bills. I was so jealous and really wanted to go as you could imagine. Our appointment was from 6:00-7:00 and so he left right when we did to get to the game on time. It was really cool! We had pasta and salad and cheesecake for desert! Cheesecake and New York really go together.....especially when it's homemade! Then we met a member on the streets who is on a business trip from Washington. He wished us luck and gave us a boost of confidence and away we went! We knocked on the doors of 2 part member families that live just down the street from each other and they both answered! The first door was a guy named Kevin who is a senior in high school and hasn't been to Church in a long time. Then we found a guy named Shaun! His wife is a member but he isn't and they just had a baby literally 4 days ago. He was a really nice guy so hopefully we can go back and teach him even though they may be busy with work and the baby. Then we taught Charles and Monae about patience and how the blessings don't always come immediately and how we have to be patient and trust in Heavenly Father's timing. We showed them the Dieter F Utchdorf talk about the little kids and marshmallows and they really enjoyed it. Our lesson last about 45 minutes and so then we walked back to our apartment after another really great day! Thanks again for your awesome picture and email!!
Friday was a really great day!! I was thinking about Grandpa Evans a whole lot and I wore his tie in his honor. I really, really miss him and I know that you all do to. We got a text early that morning from Sister Parks and she told us that she wanted to take us out to lunch! She was taking a trip to do some sightseeing! I was so excited to see them because they are a really great family! So we headed over to the Church after our studies to do our weekly planning and then we took the train down to the World Trade Center and met Sister Parks and her Mom and and niece! They are both from Poland and don't speak any English. It was so great to see Sister Parks again and hear how the ward is doing! We ate at a really cool Restauraunt right by the 9/11 Museum and memorial. It was a diner called "Essex World Cafe". I got chicken fingers with fries and honey mustard sauce. It was such a cool store and had tons of 9/11 memorabilia up with lots of pictures of what the Restauraunt looked like after the attacks. We had a great chat and then we took the subway to deliver a few Books of Mormon! On the way, I saw that I had an email from you and was so excited to get it! I loved the quote so much and saged it for my tablet background! Then on the way, I saw a girl wearing a Utah Utes shirt and so I said "Go Utes!" I knew Puck would love me saying that! She told me that she was living in Spanish Fork going to a private school and she is moving to New York City in about a month. We had to get off really quick and so we didn't have much time to talk. Then I saw a guy with a Texas Longhorns shirt on so I told him "Go Longhorns!" Then we tried to drop off some Books of Mormon to those that ordered them but we didn't find anybody at home. Then we knocked on some doors but everyone was so busy and didn't want to talk. Then we took the bus back to the apartment for some dinner and saw something so crazy. We were just about home and on Avenue D there were tons and tons of police and fire trucks everywhere. They were roping everything off with crime scene tape and everyone was gathered and taking videos and pictures. We got off at our stop and walked right past it and there was a guy on the ground on his back. We aren't sure what happened but they put him in a stretcher and took him to the hospital. It was quite the scene and there were hundreds of people gathered and a few police helicopters circling the area. I hope he is ok! Then we had dinner and then we picked up Monae to drop her off at the Church for young women's. She has been having a hard time finding someone to take her so we were so happy to! So she dropped her off at the Church and then we went to Battery Park City to knock on some doors and find people to teach! We knocked on a door of a guy named Hector Colon. His name is pronounced cologne. We knocked on his door and he was so happy to see us and let us right in! He lives in kind of a rough part of Manhattan in a project building but is a really great guy! He is Catholic but says that all churches are great and have lots of truth. We talked about Priesthood authority and I cleared up so many things for him. We could really really feel the spirit and it was so awesome to be able to teach him! We had a great discussion and he told us that it was meant to be that we were there. He told us that he was going to try to read the Book of Mormon and come to Church and so we were really excited for that! Then it was time to head back to the apartment after a really awesome day! I really appreciated the email you sent so much!!
Saturday was really great!! We got a call the night before from our Zone Leaders telling us that we were having a service project that next morning in Central Park raking leaves! So cool! So we woke up really excited to go and see all of the pretty sights of New York! So we planned and then headed out the door to take the train up to Central Park! It was a pretty chilly day but the leaves were so amazing! We got there and there were tons and tons of runners training for the New York Marathon! It was really cool to see so many people training and out and about! Saturdays have especially been a little hard for me during football season because I love Saturday morning so much when we make smoothies. I am so grateful for all of the fun times we watched College Gameday! I can't wait to resume all of those fun times when I get home! Those are such amazing memories that I will never forget! They had lots of people to run the service project and they gave us a rundown and had us sign waivers and fill out an information chart. It was such a pretty day and we had 2 whole zones of missionaries show up and a few members from the Manhattan wards! Since it is fall and it is going to be winter soon, it really made me think of all the Christmas movies that have been filmed there. We got to work and got all of the leaves raked in about 3 hours. I took lots of pictures because we had so many trash bags full of leaves. Then we had something really cool happen that I especially think Parker would think is so cool!!!! I couldn't believe it!! So a guy from the Manhattan YSA showed up and he was a very tall and skinny guy. I asked him where he was from and he said that he grew up in lots of places but he played football for.......the.....Utes!!! So I got talking to him and his name is Gregory Newman. Maybe you could look him up because I hadn't ever heard of him before but I still thought it was so cool to shake his hand! So I asked him when he played for the Utes in 2008. Then I asked him if he played in the 2008 Sugar Bowl vs Alabama when the Utes beat Bama and he said "I didn't just play, I started in that game". I tried to get a couple of discrete pictures of him but I thought it was so cool, especially for Puck! So after our service, we decided to go eat at a really cool Restauraunt right by Central Park called Big Daddy. It is a pretty famous place and they have really good food! It tasted especially after a great day of hard work! The workers there were so nice and really appreciated our help! So we ate and then had our companionship study and then we took the subway to visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes again. Brother Forbes has been having some pretty bad health challenges with his legs and he has had some ulcers so he has had a really hard time getting around. The doctor told him to stay at home so we really wanted to cheer him up by sharing a message with him. So we talked about a conference talk from this last conference. It talks about how hard is good and not everything will be easy but everything will be worth it and work out in the end. Then we helped him clean up his apartment a little and help him organize some things. We love helping him with the things that he physically can't do because he really appreciates it so much. So after our appointment, we called lots of people and tried to find more people to teach. We have called and called a lot of people who we have records for but they just aren't interested or have the time. It has been hard to find solid, good investigators to teach but we are slowly but surely making progress with Godson, Francis, and Hector. We really want to focus on them and just try our best to teach them and help them feel the spirit. It's a work in progress that takes a while but they will hopefully get baptized one day. So after dinner, we called lots of people and one of the people we called was Godson and we invited him to Church and he said that he was going to come for the last 2 hours! Then we called a guy who sent us a referral who lives in New York named Kalvin. The guy who sent it to us in named Jordan and he had just gotten off of his mission 2 days before sending us the referral. We are so excited to go teach him and hopefully we can set a Baptisimal date with him! We had such an awesome day and I was thinking about you the whole time and hoping you were having a great Saturday!
Sunday was so awesome!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your email!!! I cannot believe that it is snowing! I seriously feel like time has just flown by because I feel like it was just snowing and summer had just come and now we are back to snow again! There hasn't been any rain or snow coming up this way yet but I know it's coming soon. I remember like it was yesterday when it was snowing On my farewell day and what a special day that was! I will never forget those amazing memories! I loved your picture that you sent because I could see what it looks like up there in Nibley! I was so shocked to see that you had snow!! On Saturday night, we remembered that it was daylight savings and we were all SO excited to fall back and have an extra hour of sleep! I have to say, I haven't felt this well rested since I have been home. I woke up Sunday morning feeling so well rested and it really recharged me even though it was only an hour! So we woke up and got ready for the day and then headed off to church! We had a dinner appointment that night that we were both really looking forward to with the Doxford family! I have been meaning to tell you a little bit more about the area and about Elder Brown. The area is so full of tourists and so it has been really fun to ask people where they're from. I always love it when members come up to us and say "Hey Elders"! Or people wave at us in passing! Saturdays are absolutely crazy here and the streets, busses, and subways are jam packed! Elder Brown is such a great guy and we get along so well! We haven't had any problems at all getting along and we have a lot in common! He was a lifeguard at his local pool in Orem and loves to ski. He also volunteered at the hospital and delivered meals to hospital patients. He is so considerate and humble. He is also really funny jokes about himself whenever he makes a mistake or says something funny. He really is a great guy and hopefully you may get to see him on the Skype call! The area is also full of people from Puerto Rico and Africa. It is very similar to the Bronx where we live but once you get into Lower Manhattan and the Financial District, the demographics totally change. I have loved having so many people from Utah in our ward because it makes me feel right at home. The members are so awesome and kind to missionaries! It has been so great to work here and I have loved every second of it! So we headed over to Church and I have a really cool experience! You got a picture of me and Brother Arnell!! I went up to him after our awesome fast and testimony meeting and said "How are the Arnells doing?" I thought he was Bishop Arnell's brother who lives in our stake but it is actually his other brother who lives in Hyrum! It was so awesome to see him!! He and his wife are so nice and Sister Arnell even remembered all of your names! She said "Your Mom is Wendy and your Sister is Abby right?" This world is getting smaller and smaller.........and smaller! I was so excited when they sent you a picture to let you know right after it happened! Sister De Jesus bore an awesome testimony! She is the member from Idaho and she lives right where the accident happened on the bike path. She bore her testimony that Heavenly Father is always watching out for us because she walks that very same bike path, every single day to pick up her 6 year old from school but decided to go a different route. Then we had Godson come to Church again and he stayed for all 3 hours! His faith is growing so much each time he comes! He is an Uber driver and doesn't get off work until really early in the morning but still comes to Church. Then I got to know Brother Andersen a lot better! He is such an awesome guy and I have to tell you something really cool about him! So he is a huge guy! He is so muscular and loves football with a passion. That makes 2 of us! Hehe! So we got talking and I told him I was huge Utah State fan and he said that he grew up in Idaho and so he is a huge Boise State fan and goes to a lot of their games. Here is the cool part, he was in the stands for when Wyoming beat Boise State last year in football with a game winning safety! He told me that he loves War Memorial Stadium and really gave Josh Allen and the Cowboys a ton of credit! He told me how fun it was and how much he enkoyed the game! We had a lot of great testimonies and our classes were really great as well! Sister Dastrup and Brother McKnight both taught and they gave really great lessons on faith and President Nelson's talk about joy and spiritual survival. Then we took Monae back home since she lives right by us and then we changed and went to visit Andy. He is the member who has cerebral palsy. He was pretty mad and upset because he found out that the Prophet and his apostles get paid for what they do and were making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from our tithing. We of course cleared that up but we had a hard time explaining it so he could understand. It was a very interesting lesson and he had lots of questions and concerns. Then we had an amazing dinner with the Doxford family! So we went over to their apartment and had a really great discussion! It is so fun to get to know people! They had over Sister Welch and her little son and daughter, Addy and Jackson. The Doxfords have 2 little kids as well. We had enchiladas with jalapeno peppers and lots of toppings! We got talking about school and both Brother and Sister Welch graduated and met at Utah State! Sister Welch works from home and Brother Welch is a banker. We got talking about Utah State and all of the traditions that they have like homecoming parades and how amazing it is up there! Who knew that even in New York City, your names would be coming up at the dinner table! Then after dinner, we shared a message about the Restoration and then it was time for us to head back to the apartment for the night. It was such amazing day! As we were waiting for the bus, we couldn't help but notice how quiet it was. We got out our cameras and recorded how quiet and peaceful it was. It was about 8:00 and we were right by the One World Trade Center and ground zero and it was just so quiet. I don't think New York City will ever be that quiet again. It was a really great day! I was thinking about you all day Mom as you got your new calling! I was updating LDS tools all day to see if they had changed it! Congratulations! I know you will do an awesome job!
Monday was really great! I really couldn't believe that it was District Meeting again. I was so excited for your email the very next day! We did our usual morning run and excersice, and then did our studies and then we took the subway to 66th street for our District Meeting! It is always so great to hear from other missionaries and hear how they find success and hear some different ideas. I always love taking the subways and trains because there are always so many people to talk to! The subways are so iconic and historical to New York City! It is always a lot to fun to feel like a real New Yorker! Another interesting thing is that there are tons of food carts and vendors on the streets as well. They have lots of little bodega shops who are run by people from Bangladesh. I have always found that interesting how they are always older men from Bangledesh. There are always tons of businessmen in suits headed off to work on Wall Street and it is just SO cool to me and to be a part of it! The busses and subways are usually jam packed and I always think to myself "There is no way that we can fit another person in here." Sure enough, 2 or 3 more people will cram on and then we are all squished. Sometimes we will be so packed into a subway or bus. It is always so crazy when that happens but hey.....this is New York, and if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere right???
Tuesday was so awesome! We had a really great day and what made it even better was your amazing email and pictures! We headed out the door ready for another awesome day! We did some lookups and met a really nice less active member. Then as we were walking back for lunch, a really nice guy from Equador walks right up to us and shakes our hands! He told us that he was a member in a Spanish ward in Queens. He told us that he was from Equador and asked if we had eaten anything. He was very nice and wanted us to buy us an ice cold drink! So we went to the nearest bodega and he bought us a drink which we enjoyed while eating our lunch back at the apartment! After lunch we did our companionship study and then had a lesson with Neal and it went really well! So, Neal is an atheist and doesn't allow any religion into his house whatsoever. Well he met Elder Brown and Elder Costa on the bus before I got to this area and he completely changed his view about Mormons. So he has been inviting us over but we aren't allowed to talk about religion at all while we are at his house. He is such a nice guy and what I think is really cool about him is that he sounds a lot like Al Michaels. Dad, Dubbie, and Puck would really like that!
Well my dear and amazing family! It was so fun to hear from you and hear about your awesome week! I hope you all have another awesome week full of fun! I just want you to know how proud I am to be your son and to be able to serve a mission! I love and miss each and every one of you so much and I feel so many prayers! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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