Working Hard!

February 28th 2018~Thanks So Much For The Fun Card, Email, & Pictures! Another Amazing Week From Manhattan!

Hello my dear and awesome Family!!!! What an awesome and fun email to read! You guys are the best! It is the best news ever to hear that you if a fun, safe, and productive week! You have been in my every thought and prayer and every time that I read your emails, I feel like you are talking right to me! Pretty soon, we will be able to have a real conversation face to face and I'm really excited about it! You all mean everything to me and I just want you to know how much I love and miss you! This week has been so awesome as usual and we have been so busy! Probably the busiest I've ever been in my life. We are constantly on the move and I talk 95% of the day whether it be to members, investigators, or even strangers. I take pride in working as hard as possible and always strive to make you proud of me. The weather has been a little up and down but for the most part, it has been so nice to be out in and definitely feels like spring! We are gearing up for General Conference and I'm getting the feeling like my days here in Manhattan are numbered. I am pretty sure that I will be transferred the Tuesday right after conference on April 3rd. I'm enjoying every second and I still pinch myself every day as we go to work. I've noticed that the work doesn't get any easier, I feel like I'm getting stronger. Both spiritually and physically. I love just being myself and connecting to the many different types of people that live in this huge city! Today for P-day, the 4 of us want to quickly go back to Brigandi coin store because me buying a few silver certificates gave Elder Williams and our roommates the idea to buy some as well. Hehe! So we are going back to the coin store and we either want to throw around the football on some turf near the East river or find a fun and free museum to go to. I feel bad because Elder Williams wants to go to the top of the World Trade Center but it is really expensive for me to go a 2nd time. He says that he will go with his next companion.

Last P-Day was a ton of fun! I hope that I mentioned everything that we got to do because it was a lot of fun! We spent most of the time in the dinosaur exhibit and also the native American exhibit which was really cool! I think we could spend 2 full days in there and still not see everything because it is so huge! It was a really awesome and fun day! I read your email over and over and enjoyed every word! The museum was packed because we found out that the whole city has this whole week off from school and so there were lots of tourists which was really fun! After our fun P-Day ended, we had 3 back to back appointments that we were really excited about! Robert, Nelson, and the McClain family were all on the list of investigators that we had appointment for! So we headed to our appointments and had a great time teaching! First, we had a lesson with Robert but he wasn't feeling well and so we had a quick visit and shared a few scriptures and then left with a prayer. After our lesson with Robert, we had a really nice guy come up to us and ask us if we had anything for him to read because he recently found out that he has cancer and so he was going through a hard time and so we explained that the Book of Mormon can bring peace to his life during this trial. He walked away and told us that is just what he needed! Then we dropped off a Bible to a man named Nelson Sanchez and he even accepted a Book of Mormon and a Restoration Pamphlet! We taught him about the Restoration and even set up a return appointment and invited him to Church and the Linger longer! Then we had our final appointment of the night with the McClain family. We showed them 30 minutes of the Restoration video and it really brought the spirit in! Their eyes were glued to the screen and they learned a lot about Joseph Smith that they didn't know before! Then I got a really fun surprise when I saw your email! I am so happy that Neal emailed you! He was a really nice and friendly guy and it was so fun to talk to him! I really appreciated you sharing that with me so much! It was the perfect way to end a fun day! It was really warm and pretty humid and so we left the windows open but we saw on the forecast that it was supposed to rain and so we left them open just a crack to let some cool air in. Thanks again for all of your fun emails and pictures!

Thursday was a really great and fun day! We had a really busy day planned and so we were excited to get going! When I got into this area, we were having about 1 lesson per day and today we had 4! I was thinking about you all a lot and hoping you were having a fun day at work and school! So we did our studies and then had lunch before doing our weekly planning session at the Church. It is always really nice to take a step back and see how we can progress this work even further. I'm hoping that Elder Williams Gets to train a new missionary right after he gets done with getting trained! It should be fun to see where I end up because I might get transferred this transfer but I also could stay 1 more. We were able to call lots of people and got a hold of quite a few people before going to get our mail! I was really excited to get your letter! Thanks so much for everything that you wrote and I will buy something fun with the money! You guys are the best and I really appreciated the card so much! Then we went to knock on Steven Rosa's door to try and set up an appointment to teach him! Then we had a set appointment with a new investigator, David. He was still in Queens when we got there and so then we went to our next appointment with Robert! He is doing so well and we even got to listen to a voice message that Brother Guynn left him and he shared his favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon and it was so cool because Robert started crying! He just needs people to love and support him because he feels so alone but all of the love and support really helps him! Then we went to our dinner appointment with the Toomey family and we shared a Bible video about trusting Heavenly Father! It was a really nice dinner and we had homemade pizza and we got to put on lots of different toppings. I even got a picture with the Toomey family for you to see! I am slowly trying to get pictures of a lot of our investigators and members! We always ask Brother and Sister Toomey what we can do for them or what we can help them with and they always have us take out their garbage since it is harder to find service in the big city. It was a really great time! Then we headed back near our apartment for our last lesson of the day with Charles and Monae! We didn't have time to sit down and have a lesson but we visited with them for a few minutes to see how they were doing. We ran into Antoine and also a homeless man approached us and asked for food and we told him that we were having a ward linger longer activity and so we invited him to that. He was really nice and even served in a few wars. Thanks again so very much for the fun card and all of the nice things you said! Then it was time to head off to bed after a great and hard day's work!!

Friday was another really great and productive day! We did all of our studies first thing in the morning and then we had lunch before going to our first lesson of the day with Andre Cox! There has been a really exciting event coming up that we decided to invite a lot of people to! It is a special fireside for the CEO of the Philidelphia 76ers and we could go only if we brought a less active member or investigator! So we tried really hard to get as many people as we could to go because we were really excited to hear him speak up at the Lincoln Center! Then after we texted lots of people, we got a few responses from our investigators and they said that they could come and so we got really excited! It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear from the CEO of a NBA team! Then we went to where Andre lives and we knocked on the door of a record that we had for a kid who is 16 or 17 named Alex Almonte. He wasn't home and Andre was running late so we knocked on a lot of doors for people we had records for. We found Benny at home and so we invited him to the fireside with the CEO of the Philidelphia 76ers. Then we visited with Andy Lam and had a nice conversation with him and then went to our Church because we had a guy that wanted us to give him a Bible and a Book of Mormon so we got to the Church and did our 12 Week and watched a few videos from the District about helping people keep commitments and how important they are. We had a man ask us to order him a quad last Sunday and so we told him that we would order one for him at District Meeting but we found out that those aren't covered and so he would have to pay for it. Only Bibles and Books of Mormon are covered by church funds. He didn't have a phone number but we had an appointment with him at the Church at 3:30 and so we needed to be there to meet with him! We got to talk with him for a little while before going to visit Edwin Roa and Kevin but neither of them were home. Then we came back to the apartment for dinner and then we went do more lookups and invite more people to Church, the baptism, and the 76ers fireside. We saw one of our investigators, Radames and we invited him to the fireside and he said that he would come because he is a really big NBA fan. He told us that he is a huge Chicago Bulls fan but he thought it would be really fun anyway! Then we did some lookups and then invited more people to Church and the fireside and then it was time to head back to the apartment for the day! We had a really great and productive day and we were hoping and praying that we had some people come to Church, the baptism and the fireside!

Saturday was really awesome! We were really looking forward to the baptism at the Manhattan Temple since we had a few people commit to coming and so we were excited to have some people there! The baptism was of 2 sets of twins. 11 year old girls and 8 year old boys and so we hoping that it would be a packed house! So we did our morning studies and then took the 1 train to the Manhattan Temple Chapel and waited for Andre and the rest of our investigators to come. Unfortunately, Andre took the bus and the traffic was really bad and so he missed the baptism but we still had a great time and the baptism went really well! It was a family of 4 and the Dad is a member but his wife isn't and so it was really cool to see! They even had a nice lunch for everyone and so we enjoyed a nice meal and then we went down to the very bottom of Manhattan to visit Andy again. He asked us if we could help him plug in his computer and his WiFi modem since he is in a wheelchair and can't do it. We went over and we were so happy to help! It was a lot of fun to see all of the tourists on the way to Andy's apartment! There were lots of families out and about and it really made me think of you all! This city is so amazing and is so fun to live in! We helped Andy hook up his VCR and DVD player and then we went to our next appointment with Brother Eades and we shared a Bible video called "Wherefore Didst Thou Doubt" and it was really cool! Our lesson with Nelson Sanchez fell through because he had to go to an appointment and so we had plenty of time to get over to visit with Brother Eades. It was such a busy day and we were go, go, go the whole day which is always nice! He was doing really well but Brother Forbes wasn't able to come and so we had a nice conversation with Brother Eades and showed him a Bible video and how we can put our trust in Heavenly Father. It was pretty quick because we had a dinner appointment with the Bryan family and we had an amazing time! I even got a picture with them and their daughter Riis. We had some yummy enchiladas, corn on the cob, watermelon, and Gatorade. It was really tasty! We shared a video called ""Going To Grandma's" and Riis especially loved it. Riis just turned 1 and they have another daughter along the way who is due in July! Brother Bryan works for Goldman Sachs as a financial banker and works a lot with loans for major companions. We had a really great time and then we got some news that President Smith wanted to have a mission wide fast and a conference call at 9:30 and so we were excited for that! As we walked out of the Bryan's apartment, we walked right passed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and so we took a few pictures! It is SOOOO cool! Then we went back to the apartment and filled out our progress record and make some Pillbury cookies for our Ward Linger Longer activity and then listened in to the conference call! President Smith asked the whole mission to fast for our investigators and then he told us how much he appreciated all of our hard work. I recorded it and so I can listen to it many times! Today was a really great day and I thought a lot about each of you and how much you mean to me! Love you all tons!

Sunday was such an amazing day! We woke up to pouring rain but we were really excited for the day! We planned for our day and then headed off to Church! We were really excited for the Linger Longer and the fireside! Church was really good and we had some great talks from Brother and Sister Ford and then we had the delicious linger longer! We had meatball subs with salads and tons of deserts! It was a really fun time! We had a visitor from San Antonio and his son who is from Utah and the guy from San Antonio told us that he has a guy named Ron Lindberg in his ward who was on the District episodes! It was cool to talk to him! I found out that he is a surgeon in Texas and was here on vacation with his son! It was a really fun time and we had a great turnout of people! Then after the party, we called some investigators and set up who was going to be at the fireside and called those members who weren't in Church. We called the Ford Family and thanked them for their awesome talks about families and raising children! It was a lot of fun to surprise them and thank them for their great talks! Hardly anybody answered their phones but we were still really excited for the 3 potential investigators that said would come to the 76ers fireside! We did our personal and companionship study and learned more about the importance of commitments and then headed over to the fireside! We had heard from many people how cool he is! He is a convert of just 2 years and is very well known in the sports marketing world so we were really looking forward to hearing from him! So we took the train up to the Manhattan Temple and we were hoping that Fabhaa would be able to come but he told us that he would be a little late so we decided to go in while we waited for him. Fabhaa got stuck on a train in Queens and so he wasn't able to make it but we still really enjoyed the firside! It was so cool to hear from a CEO of an NHL and NBA team! He did a really great job and talked about his journey to baptism in 2016. He has a wife and 3 daughter's and his wife and Sister Smith grew up together! He talked about how he surprised his wife with the decision to get baptized while his wife was going through the Temple to Recieve her endowments. President Smith and his whole family were there and it was really fun to hear how he has built the 76ers into what they are today! I recorded the whole devotional on my recorder for you to listen to when I get home! He showed a really cool video of the 2 teams and the huge arena that he owns and talked a lot about missionary work and how grateful he is for the missionaries that taught him. He now has the Priesthood, been sealed to his family, and has a calling! It was a really cool night and I wish you all could have been there! Then we went to go see how Robert Torres was doing and also a new referral that we received, Patterson Nelson. They Weren't home and when we knocked on Patterson's door, we had a very rude lady yell at us and tell us "NO THANK YOU!!!" and walked away. We couldn't even ask her if Patterson was home but it is always funny to get yelled at. Hehe! It was a really great day and we got a lot done! I couldn't help but think how your Sunday was going and I loved reading your fun card again! We headed off to bed ready to conquer another day! The days just keep getting faster and faster and time is really picking up speed now! It is so hard for me to believe that I might potentially only have about 30 more days in this great area! I really hope that I can stay for 1 more transfer with Elder Williams because my companion is awesome, this area is awesome, and the Ward is awesome! Things are going so well and I really feel like I've gotten the hang of things! Love you guys so very much!!

Monday was a really fun and awesome day of hard work! The weather was really nice and we enjoyed some warmer weather! After our studies, we took the train up to district meeting. It felt like we just had it and here we were again having district meeting! This new District is a lot different because of the recent transfer but it just takes some getting used to. I send some letters last P-day and so I was excited for you to get them on Monday! On our way to district meeting I got your really fun email! Thank you so much for thinking of me! I loved the picture and I was sending love your way! We had a really great district meeting and got to talk a lot about how our investigators are doing and what they need to progress. Then we had lunch and did our companionship study at the Church and got to finish week 8 of 12 the 12 Week program and had a great time studying! Time was flying by and it went by really fast! We learned about church attendance and how we can help others see the importance of coming to Church and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Then we went to go visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes but Brother Forbes was still in the Bronx visiting his family and so we taught Brother Eades about the Plan of Salvation and he really enjoyed it. He has had some liver problems and his liver hasn't been working properly and so he has been having lots of doctors appointments. So we gave him a blessing and then came back to the apartment for dinner and then we got a text from Brother Wood and he asked us if we wanted some white shirts from his company and he even said that he would have some brownies and ice cream for us and so how can we say no to that?? They don't fit me but we are planning on giving them to some of our investigators but before we went over, we went to check on Robert to see how he was doing since we hadn't seen him for a few days. Robert wasn't at home which might have been a good thing because that means he was at a doctor's appointment getting some help with his alcohol addiction and some were praying that he was at an appointment. So then we checked up on Charles and Monae but Monae was out with some friends and Charles asked us if we could go find her. Monae wasn't anywhere in sight and so we called Charles and he told us that she would come back eventually so we went to the Wood's apartment for some brownies, ice cream, and a spiritual message. We were glad that we could go over and see them because they are really aweosme members! Their apartment is right next to the Friends apartment where the show was filmed on the West side of the island and so we enjoyed seeing it again! It is so historical and is one of the coolest parts of the whole city. They have preserved these really old building that were a part of the original construction of Manhattan and so it is so cool to see! We had some really good brownies and Haagan Daas ice cream and then he gave us 4 plad shirts from his company called Woodies! Then we shared a message and on the way home, I was SOOOO very excited to see your fun email! Thank you so very much for sending it! It was so fun to hear from you and I loved your email! I'm so happy that you got my cards and that Abbs liked my drink money! I thought it would be really fun for you to go get an ice cold nummy sodie watie after her ACT test! Go get em Abbs!

Tuesday was another really great day! As usual, I couldn't wait until Tuesday night so I could read your fun email! I was saying my morning prayer to start my studies and after I finished, I got a notification saying that I had an email from Abby! It was so exciting to hear from her just moments before taking her huge test! I was thinking about her a lot and sending my prayers her way! After our studies, we called a few former and potential investigators and then went to do some lookups. Robert has been hard to contact and so we have been knocking on his door and 2 times per day to reestablish contact. Robert wasn't home but we were able to knocked on a door a few buildings down and we found Jose at home where Evelyn loves and then we came back to the apartment for lunch before going to the Church to do our studies. The weather was so pretty and the temperatures were in the mid 50s and there were bright blue skies! It was so nice and I was getting so excited for your email and pictures! I couldn't wait to hear all about your week and hear how Abby's ACT was going! Then we went to visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes again and we wanted to share the "Wherefore Didst Thou Doubt" video since we prayed to know which video would best help them and that is the one we felt to share. We had a great talk with them but Brother Forbes told us that his family is struggling and so he goes up to the Bronx to visit them often to comfort them. Then we got to go to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream! They have a buy 1 sundae, get 1 free and so we enjoyed some delicious ice cream on the way back to the apartment for dinner. I am just still in awe that I'm actually in New York City! It amazes me every single day and there is so much variety all around! After dinner, we went to go see Robert again because he is our main focus and we know how many blessings Heavenly Father has in store for him! He was home and we were able to show a video about addiction and how to combat the temptation! He was doing really well and he told us that it was all because of us that we are giving him hope! It was so great to see him! Then we had an appointment with the McClain family and Brother Guynn met us there but they ended up cancelling and so we were able to go back to visit Robert with Brother Guynn and it worked out so great! Brother Guynn served in Spain and moved here about 2 years ago from Oregon but he is originally from Utah. He is a lawyer and so it was really fun to talk with him! Then we excitedly came back to the apartment and I was so excited to read your fun email! Your email was so much fun to read as always and I enjoyed every single word! It amazing me how much goes on and how fast the weeks are flying by! I love you all so much and can't wait to see you and give you a huge hug!

Well my dear loved ones! I loved being able to email you today and I'm so grateful for technology that I have to communicate with you! I hope you all have another awesome and fun week! You are in my every thought and prayer and I will always be there for you! LOVE AND MISS YOU TONS AND TONS MY DEAR FAMILY!!!!!!


Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg

Doing Well in the Big Apple!

February 21st 2018~Baptismal Date With Robert Torres!!!

Good morning my dear and amazing Family! Thank you so very much for the fun and exciting email! It was so much fun to hear from each of you and see how much snow you got! Wow! Thanks so much for every detail that you included! It is always so fun to have awesome news each week and to hear that you are all doing great! Today for P-day, we are doing something really fun! It has been so cool to be able to show Elder Williams around and take him to all of the different museums! Today we are going to go to the Museum of Natural History and what makes it even better is that's it's free! So we are really looking forward to that! After we do our laundry and go shopping, then we will head up to the museum! It will be a really fun P-Day and we will get to see lots of fun sights! This week has been very warm and really humid and we have even had some record breaking highs during the day for how early it is! Elder Williams even wore a short sleeve shirt yesterday and today. Today it is supposed to get up to about 70 degrees and so we are really looking forward to that! It feels like April or June and not February!

Last week was so much fun and we had a really great P-Day! We got haircuts from Jay and then went to the collectible shop and it was so amazing! I hope I remembered to talk about everything that happened but I'm pretty sure I covered everything! After our fun day ended, we had 2 set appointments that we were really excited about! We had the Ingram family to teach and so we prepared for their lesson and practiced how to teach the Restoration before we left. We couldn't get a hold of them and so we were a little worried that they might forget about our appointment. We got to their apartment and they didn't answer so we called them and they didn't answer either. So then we knocked on their door 1 more time and Antoine answered and he was leaving right then to do a Valentine's Day street performance and so he had to cancel. He and his family have been so hard to meet with and so we are going to try and keep contact over the phone and help him do the smaller things like say his prayers. Then we had seriously one of the coolest things happen so far on my mission!!!! So we lost contact with Robert Torres for about 2 and a half weeks and so we have been a little worried. The last time we saw him was when he asked us to find him a phone number for the detox center so he could get some help. Well, we hadn't talked to him for a long time and so we felt prompted since our appointment fell through to visit him. We have been knocking on his door and calling him for the last 2 weeks with no luck. He answered the door and we could immediately tell a huge difference in him! I got a picture with him and I in his apartment so you can see him because he is so awesome! Every time we go over, he is very drunk and slurs his speech but everything he says is Gospel related and he thanks us every time we come over. But this time, he was coherent and he smiled and let us right in! We went inside and we couldn't beleive the night and day difference it was for him when he wasn't drunk! He told us that he took our advice and because we came over 2 and a half weeks ago, he was able to get the detox treatment! We couldn't even believe it and he just sat there smiling at us and began to cry. He thanked us and told us that we have changed his life because we are the only people that care about and love him. He cried and let us know how grateful he was! Then he said that he needs to do his part and not drink alcohol and continue down this path. We taught him about prayer and how he can overcome temptation by praying. There was a moment of silence and he looked right into my eyes and he said "Do you know what I just saw??" He grabbed a sheet of paper and began to draw a familiar object. It was a lightbulb. He told us that he had just felt a light switch turn on and he felt like it was a new start to his life, he then promised us that he was going to quit alcohol because we have helped him. It was one of the coolest testimony builders that I've had on my mission! Then Charles canceled on us and so we did a few more lookups before returning to the apartment. Thanks so much for all of your emails throughout the day! They were so much fun to read! Love you all tons and Happy Valentine's Day!

Thursday was really incredible! We started off with a really cool conference call from President Smith! He talked about the Book of Mormon and how powerful it is to give an investigator an actual copy of the Book of Mormon. He didn't share our miracle that we had with Robert but it was still really cool! Then we met a really awesome guy named Derek while on the bus and he is from Boston Massachussets and used to meet with missionaries while living in Florida! He was so nice and told us that our church feels different because we don't ask for money like a lot of other Churches and he feels like that is all Churches want is money. It was really cool! Then we did our weekly planning and it went so well! We got in touch with lots of people and set a few appointment which is always so great because people are really busy! Then we saw something really crazy on the way to pick up our mail! We saw 2 different fights of teenage girl hitting each other. It's always so sad to see people treating each other so poorly. They broke it up and went their separate ways but it was still really crazy. Then we picked up our mail and I was so excited to get your card!!!! We got there and it must have just gotten to the mission home or they sorted main just after it came so I'm really excited to get it tomorrow when mail comes! So then we delivered the Sisters' mail and dropped it off at the Church and then came home to deliver the rest of our orders and then we went out for some more fun work! I was so excited to see your fun email and all of your pictures! That dinner looked so very incredible! I could almost smell it! Yummy! Thanks so much for sending me an email! It means so very much to have you send me emails! I was thinking about you all day and so it was especially fun to have an email in my inbox! Then we had a crazy thing happen with Robert. We dropped off our mail at our apartment which is really close to where Robert lives. We had in our plans to give him a call and set up a 5:00 appointment for the next day. We gave him a call and he was not doing well at all. He had some thoughts about hurting himself and had been drinking again and so we asked if we could come over. He gladly asked us to come over and when we got there, he was in bad shape. He had gone out and bought some alcohol even though he said that he was going to stop because he felt so good the day before but he fell into temptation. He asked us if we could say a prayer with him because he was having panic attacks and messed up and practically destroyed his whole apartment and so he had one of his friends over to help clean up. It is just a huge testimony builder for me to truly see how much the Gospel can bless lives because his life is a mess right now because of the things he has allowed into his life and ultimately take control of his thoughts and actions. He is so nice and is always happy when we are around. He could hardly walk because he had been drinking so much and he walked us out into the hallway and looked right into our eyes and said while crying "Don't you ever give up on me!" He cried and cried and gave us each a hug and thanked us for coming over. He told us that he may be in bad shape now and he keeps making mistakes but he is going to get better! It was really cool! Then we went to our dinner appointment with Brother and Sister Toomey and we had an all vegetable meal with pudding shakes for desert! It was such a great day and we saw a lot of cool things happen! It started to rain right as we got back to the apartment at 9:00 and so we were happy we were nice and dry!

Friday was awesome! We have some really excited news! I was hoping you were having a great day off from school and having lots of fun! We started out by doing a few lookups at the very bottom of the island. We are trying to start teaching Carlos again because he is really awesome but he was gone for the holidays and now he is back. We were able to share a quick message and teach a guy named David at the door and even gave him a Book of Mormon! Carlos wasn't home so we came back to the apartment for lunch and on our way we saw a really cool Chinese parade! They had tons of streets blocked off and everyone was off from school. I was hoping that you were having a fun time and playing some board games or watching a movie or two. Then we got a Facebook messege from Matt and he said that he wanted to meet with us since he works in our area! We had an appointment with a guy named Shaun Ennis who is married to a less active member and so we were excited about our appointment but he ended up cancelling and so we went to the Church to do our 12 Week and companionship study and we learned about the Book of Mormon. We messaged Matt to see if we could meet him somewhere. He was the awesome investigator that we had in the Bronx but didn't progress very much because he made up his mind about religion and he just likes talking with missionaries. We were at the Church doing our studies and Matt told us that he wanted to come and see us and so we got to talk to him and it was really good to see him! Then we had an appointment with the Esteves family who are in our AreaBook and we felt prompted to go and visit them and one of the older sons answered the door about a week ago and we were able to set up an appointment with the 4 of them! So we hurried over to Pitt Street after talking with Matt to our appointment. We had a great lesson with Evelyn Esteves at the door since we couldn't go in because we thought that her son's would be home. We taught her the Restoration and gave her a Restoration Pamphlet and then passed her records off to the Sister Missionaries and then had one of the most amazing lessons that I've ever had on my mission! Heavenly Father is so mindful of us as individuals and knows exactly what we need! We went over to see Robert Torres and it was a night and day difference from how he was doing the day before. He only drank a little bit that day but he was doing so well! It was a tender mercy because on our way, the train track power was lost for about 20 minutes and so it allowed us to have perfect timing! We knocked on Robert's door and he didn't answer for about 20 seconds and then we heard the elevator come up and there was Robert, happy as could be! We read the 1st chapter of the Book of Mormon with him and then.......we.......set a baptismal date with him!!! It is pretty far down the road but the spirit told us to set a date for April 21st. I unfortunately probably won't be here then because of transfers but I am really hoping and praying that he gets baptized on that date! It was so exciting! Then We came back to the apartment for dinner and talked to Brother Andre Cox and invited him to the 2 baptisms from our District that were going on the next day, Saturday, and he accepted the invitation to come! We were so excited to be able to go with him! Then for the rest of the evening, we called and texted a ton of people and reminded them about Church and the 2 baptisms! We have been getting tons of referrals and so we are trying to meet with them and help them progress! Then we called Brother Eades because it was his birthday and so we had fun wishing him a happy birthday! Then we were off to bed and boy were we tired!

Saturday was a really awesome and jam packed day! We invited a lot of people to the 2 baptisms that were going on at the Lincoln Square Chapel and we got one of our less active members, Andre Cox to commit to come! So we did our studies and then headed up to the 11:00baptism! The baptism went really well but Andre wasn't able to come because he had to run a few errands and so he promised that he would be to the 5:00 baptism. Her name is Eleanor and she is a part of the Morningside Heights ward. After the baptism, we hurried and had some lunch and did our studies and learned more about the Book of Mormon and what a powerful tool it is! It was cool to put into practice what we learned for Robert the night before and we were able to set a Baptismal date with him and the spirit was so strong because we read out of the Book of Mormon! It was so cool to study about it and then have it be the focus of our lesson with Robert! Then we went over to visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes! We shared about a half an hour of the Restoration video with them and focused on the Book of Mormon! They hadn't been taught the Restoration for a while and so we thought it would be fun to give them a visual aid instead of just talking about it. They thought the video was really amazing and they both bore their testimonies afterwards! We had a great lesson and afterwards, we went back to the Manhattan Temple Chapel for the 5:00 baptism but Andre had a few things pop up and so he wasn't able to make it. We invited lots of people to come to the baptism so they can feel the spirit and so we love it when people can make it! Then we tried to visit Charles and Monae but they canceled again. They told us that they would be in Church and so we were praying really hard that they could make it! Then it started to snow and the flakes were huge but none of it was sticking because of how humid it was. Then we had a few minutes to spare and so we came back to the apartment to fill out our weekly progress record and it was so fun to put Robert's baptismal date on it! It was a really great day and I hoped that you had an awesome and fun day off! I can't even believe that I'm saying this but it was transfer call night again! I feel like we just had them and that we were just finding out were Elder Brown was going and here we are 7 weeks later. This transfer has been 1 week longer but it has gone by in the blink of an eye! It was so nice to know that Elder Williams and I would be staying together and that we were locked in for another transfer! We knew that we would be getting a new zone leader and district leader! I was excited because I knew that I could potentially get called to be either one of those and so we awaited the call patiently! It was so nice to not have any pressure on us during transfer calls. We could take it easy and enjoy the moment! We also knew that Sister Larsen from our ward would be returning home for her mission and so Sister Gray would get a new companion. We got our transfer calls and Elder Ropati is our new District Leader and Elder Norton will be our new Zone Leader with Elder Smiley. There were quite a few changes within our Zone and so it was fun to hear all of the awesome new missionaries that will be coming in!

Sunday was incredible! I was so excited to see your email when I woke up! I still can't believe that I'm at 13 months!!!! Thank you so much for the fun email! I loved it so much! We were so excited for church especially because we really wanted to hit our weekly goal to have 3 people in Church and so we were excited to see everyone there! We had about 4 investigators committed to come to Church and so we tried really hard to make sure that they were there! So we headed off to Church and we tried to pick up Charles and Monae to go to Church with them but they didn't answer their phone or door. So we took the 14D bus all the way to the Church and had an amazing meeting! The talks here are always really interesting and fun to listen to! The snow had pretty much melted because the temperature warmed up to the mid 40s and so there was a lot of water and slush everywhere. We had so many really awesome visitors from Utah and you aren't going to believe one! We were welcoming in lots of visitors and most of them were from Utah and one couple said that they were from Ogden and Elder Williams even knew their son but they were in completely different Stakes. Then when I told them where I was from, the guy told me that he works in Logan. Then I asked him where and he said "G.E Healthcare!" I told him that Dad used to work there! Isn't this such a small world! His name is Neil Clark and he and his wife were on a business trip. It was so cool to talk to him and think that he might know Dad! We even had some visitors who graduated from Utah State and so it was like having home with me! We had a really great ward correlation meeting and some really awesome talks about marriage! We had a homeless guy come in to the Church and he asked us if we could get him a Quad scriptures. He was really nice and even used to go to Church on Olmstead Avenue and knew a lot of the members from my old ward! Then we called a few of the people that missed church before we headed over to our 4:00 appointment at Penn Station with Mike Vargas! We were excited to teach him the Restoration! It ended up that he misunderstood that we are in Manhattan and he lives in Brooklyn and so we both met at Pennsylvania Station but we were in Manhattan and he was in Brooklyn and so we had a really nice lesson over the phone. Then we sent his record over to the Brooklyn missionaries and then went over to visit Robert Torres. We had a later dinner appointment with the Cabral Family at 7:00 that we were really excited about! We had a really nice dinner and we shared a fun video and they all really enjoyed it! Then we came back to the apartment after an awesome day of hard work! THANK YOU SO MUCH for the fun email with the video and pictures!!!!! It was so much fun to see and hear you all and I loved hearing from you!!! I felt like I was in the living room with you! It means so much to me and I love it so much!!! Thanks! I have to tell you something so funny that happened in Sacrament Meeting!! So we have a high councilor in our ward named Brother Baum. He is a really nice guy and I think he is originally from Utah. The 1st councilor in our bishopric turned the time over to Brother Baum for some stake business and Brother Baum says "It is proposed that we sustain, and if he's here will he please stand, Brother Caleb Ward as an assistant Stake clerk." Brother Ward, hesitantly stands up with a sheepish expression and everyone knew something was up. Then, Brother Baum turned around and paused for a good 15 seconds. It was one of the longest pauses ever and he looked back at the Bishopric and then looks at Brother Ward and says "Brother Ward, did we even extend this calling to you?" Then Brother Ward says: "I mean I guess I will accept it if you want me to serve there." Then Brother Baum said "I can't believe it..........I extended the call to the wrong person. I've never been so embarrassed in my life!" It was hilarious and every single person was laughing their heads off and it took a few minutes for the congregation to settle down. It was a lot funnier to actually be there!!

Monday was a really awesome day as well! I loved watching your video over again and it put a huge smile on my face!!! We started the day by doing something really fun! Brother Mishler and his family had us over for a huge breakfast for Elder Williams' "Greenie Breakfast." They even used green food coloring to color his oatmeal and smoothie green! It was a lot of fun and we had smoothies, oatmeal, bacon, and oranges. Then we shared a message about Baptism since Lilly is turning 8 and getting baptized in April! Then we went over to visit Andre Cox to help him move his huge couch out of his house. We were in a time crunch and so we hurried to his apartment and got there just in time and we also had our roommates, Elder Staker and Elder Latu come and help too! Unfortunately, Andre was in the Bronx and so we weren't able to move his couch and so we did our studies at the Church and we focussed on our investigator Fabhaa. We are so excited to help him progress because he is really smart and has lots of great questions! After our studies, we returned a bag that Sister Mpembe gave to us to keep our food hot in when she fed us dinner and then to our appointment with Fabhaa! The whole appointment was kind of up in the air the whole day because he wasn't sure if he would be able to get away from work to meet with us but he told us that if he could, he would meet us at 3:00. I was thinking about you a lot and hoping that you were all having a really fun day off from work and school! I wish I could have been there to play some games or do something fun! The trains were very backed up and delayed and so we were 30 minutes late to our appointment with Fabhaa and he only had until 3:30 and so we felt really bad but he understood because New York transportation is really crazy. So then we showed 30 minutes of the Restoration video to Brother Eades and Brother Forbes and their testimonies grew so much! It was fun to tell them that they are the next chapter of the video because they are a part of this latter day work. Then we came back to the apartment for dinner and we had some leftover steak and mashed potatoes that the Mishler Family sent with us after our breakfast. It was really tasty and hit the spot. Then we went to our lesson with Alexsander Feliciano right across the street from our apartment. We saw his Mom and Dad on the bus earlier that day and it was really fun to talk to them! We had a great lesson and then we did a few lookups around our apartment and tried to visit Robert to see how he was doing! Let me just say, Robert Torres is one of the coolest investigators EVER!! I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing us to teach him! He has made so much progress and it is all because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon! Elder Brown and I saw his record in our area book and so we knocked on his door but he wasn't home. Elder Brown and I couldn't get a hold of him and so we didn't really try to contact him until Elder Williams and I felt prompted to visit him. That night that we found him, he was in rough shape and couldn't concentrate at all and was really drunk. He was running all over the house and he wasn't really paying attention. Well we went over tonight and he was coherent and he told us that he only had 1 beer that day. We couldnt believe it and we were so excited for him because his whole countenance changed and he looked directly into our eyes and thanked us because he is slowly progressing. But by small and simple means are great things brought to pass. We invited him to read at least 1 verse in the Book of Mormon and pray both morning and night and we are going to follow up tonight to see how it went. He went from drinking 1 pack of cigarettes and 1 and at least 6 cans of beer per day, to 1 beer and 1 cigarette. It just amazes me at what this Gospel can do because us visiting him 3 times per week and talking to him about Jesus Christ and reading 1 or 2 verses in the Book of Mormon has allowed him to cut down to just 1 can per day! It has been the coolest thing to watch him make this change! We headed off to bed with a big smile on our faces and thankful hearts!

Tuesday was so awesome! It was transfer day and so we were excited for all of the missionaries that would be getting transfered into our zone. This group of missionaries that went home today was pretty big and so there were quite a few that came in! We did all of our studies first thing and then had a quick bite to eat before we did lots of lookups at the very bottom of the island. We have been trying to contact a lot of investigators that we have down there and try to teach them. We had our district meeting at 3:00 since transfers had been going on until about 2:00. It was so weird to think that Elder Williams and I have been together for 7 weeks already. It's also weird to think that he isn't the youngest missionary anymore. Crazy how fast time flies by and to think that this group that just came out doesn't go home until February of 2020. I will be home for over a year before this group comes out. Even crazier to think that I could possibly be married by the time this group of missionaries go home. Weird! So we did a lot of lookups before going to district meeting. We found a few people at home and even set up an appointment to bring someone their Bible that they ordered! Then we took the trains up to district meeting and it went really well! Our new District Leader is Elder Ropati and he was companions with Elder Kirkham a few transfers ago. He is pretty quite and shy but still a really great guy! We also have Elder Norton and Edler Schott who are joining our district! Elder Lusk and Elder Macedo both got transferred and so their area has 2 brand new missionaries which is always a little hard because they don't know anybody. We talked about our investigators and how they were doing and it was fun to talk about how Robert was finding peace and strength to resist temptation when he reads the Book of Mormon! Then we had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon with Brother Eades and Brother Forbes and then came back to the apartment for a quick dinner before our fun lesson with Charles and Monae. On our way to visit the McClain family, a group of 4 or 5 mothers, who were playing with their kids on a swing set, came up to us and wanted us to say a prayer for them right there in the middle of the project building complex and she started yelling for her friends to come over because "Her brothers were going to pray." So the 8 or 9 of them gathered together and we said a prayer before heading in for our appointment. It was pretty cool! We are kind of stuck with Charles because he wants to get baptized but doesn't keep any of the commitments required for baptism and so we are trying to build his faith every time we go over. It was an awesome day and I was SOOOOO excited to get your fun email! I saw the pictures of the snow and I couldn't believe how much you got! It was a really fun Tuesday and it is always so fun to read your emails and see your pictures before bedtime! It is also excited to know that P-day is the very next day because we always have so much fun!

Well my amazing and dear Family! It was so much fun as usual to email you and it's hard to believe that another week has come and gone! I just want to let you know that I love and miss you so very much! The picture that I uploaded with Elder Williams and I are of Robert Torres. He is a great guy and has taken many big steps to progress in the Gospel! I hope you enkoy them! I have noticed that I haven't been taking as many pictures because I feel like I have gotten a lot of almost everything. I hope you also enkoy my email! We had another really great week and I can't believe how fast time is going. I have less than 11 months left and I'm getting really excited to see you all in under 11 months! Thanks again so much for your fun email and all of the fun things that you wrote about! It means so much to have these great emails to read! I hope each of you have another amazing and fun week! I know this Gospel is true and I have a sure testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel back onto the Earth. LOVE AND MISS YOU TONS AND TONS MY DEAR FAMILY!!!!!

Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg

Happy Valentines Day!

February 14th 2018~Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day my awesome and dear Family! Maybe this time next year, I might have a special Valentines! You never know! What an awesome email! I am so happy that your week was fun and I loved hearing about all of the fun activities going on! First of all: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I am so excited to get your card! Didn't you just send me one yesterday because it sure felt like it was yesterday that it Valentine's Day! We had a very busy week as usual and lots of fun and exciting things happened! The weather here as been so mild! I can't believe that it hasn't snowed because that is just so out of the ordinary! We had 2 rainy days that were a little chilly but I just can't figure out this crazy weather because exactly 1 year ago when I was in the Bronx at this time, we were shoveling like crazy to big out all of the cars and now we don't have any. Right now, we have our window open because Elder Williams and I were both hot last night. It's about 45 degrees right now and it doesn't even feel like February. There haven't been as many tourist here lately which has made it seem like there is a lot less people even though there are still 3.5 million that live here. Elder Williams has been such an awesome companion! Maybe even my favorite! This Saturday is transfer call night and so we will have a new District Leader called and then transfers will be this next Tuesday. It is nice to know that I will be here with Elder Williams for 6 more weeks and then I get transferred in just 6 weeks. Then it will be conference and I will find out which mission I'm in because once I get transferred in 6 weeks, if I go upstate, then I will become part of the New Jersey Morristown Mission which I just can't believe. It's crazy how things can change so I can't wait to tell you all about our week that we had! So here it goes:

Last P-Day was a really fun day!!!! They are always so relaxing and there is never a shortage of things to do! We cleaned our apartment and then spent most of the day in China Town and we had fun seeing some sights of China Town and also Little Italy! We spent some time cleaning the whole apartment and made it look like a new penny! Since it was a downpour, after our trip to China Town, we enjoyed resting and emailing for the rest of our P-Day! It was a really fun day and I felt totally recharged! After our fun P-day ended, we had a dinner with President and Sister Cropper and their 2 kids! We were really excited for it because they live right by the One World Trade Center with amazing views and the food is always really good! So we took the M9 bus all the way down passed China Town to Battery Park City for our dinner appointment! We had an amazing time with the Cropper family and had some really tasty spinach lasagna with salad and garlic bread. I totally forgot to get a picture with them and I realized it after we left. Oops! We shared a video about enjoying the small and simple moments that matter most and it was a really great video! Then, they had a recently returned missionary that came home a week ago from the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission and he needed to get his Temple recommend signed. It was a really fun evening! I have to tell you something really cool! So a week ago at District Meeting, we did some training on how to find new investigators from our "dropped" investigators list. Dropped investigators just means that they were either not interested or the missionaries just couldn't get into contact with them so they put them on the dropped list. Well, sometimes missionaries will put a follow up date to contact them and see if they are interested again in meeting with missionaries. Most area books have this huge list of former investigators and nobody really knows how to effectively work with this list. So since Elder Williams and I were able to find Aaron Dais on this dropped list that led us to find Antoine and his family, we were asked to present a training in District Meeting to teach the district about how to prayerfully find those people that should be taught again by missionaries. We challenged the whole district to prayerfully find people on that list and I can't beleive how much of a success it was! We have a Facebook messenger group chat with everyone in the district and during the week they would post when they found a new investigator from the list of former investigators. I hope that all makes sense! Hehe! There were posts after posts about cool stories of missionaries in our district finding really cool people to teach! I even took a screenshot of the chat so you can see all of the cool stories that happened because of our training! It was a huge success!

Thursday was awesome! It stopped raining and snowing and was actually a really nice day! It was a little chilly but we stayed warm! We did our weekly planning and found a new investigator named Israel Rodriguez and she wanted us to give her a chapel tour and so we set that up with her and then told her that we would also give her the Book of Mormon that she ordered! We set up a few appointments and planned lots of lessons! After that, we had lunch and then did our 12 Week and watched a few district videos that go along with this week in our program and we talked all about prayer and how to help our investigators feel the spirit while praying! Then we went to pick up mail and after we dropped it off, we had a great lesson with Charles and Monae! We showed them a Mormon message called "When Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them" by President Nelson. Then we went to our dinner appointment and got there really quick so we did a few lookups that lived in our area and we knocked on Hector Colon's door but he didn't answer but after we pressed the elevator button, he came up and was really happy to see us! He wants us to come over soon but we didn't have his phone number and so we were able to get his number! Then We had a great dinner with Brother and Sister Toomey! We had asparagus, coconut chicken, and fried red bell peppers and then we shared a Mormon message called "Wrong Roads." Sister Toomey shared an experience where she wanted to be a comedian but once she got into it, she realized that it wasn't for her and then she was able to find another job that was better for her because of her comedy experiences! It was a pretty chilly day and so we bundled up and after our lesson, it was actually quite pleasant and not too chilly! We had a really great day and we were so glad that we were able to get in touch with Israel Rodriguez! We were so thankful for Heavenly Father putting her in our path because she sounds really awesome and we could wait to meet her! Elder Williams is a really funny guy and he can put a smile on anyone's face! I have loved getting to know him and hearing about all of the fun high school basketball games he was able to play in! I can't remember if I told you this or not but Elder Williams and I were at the exact same football game when it was Mountain Crest and Bonneville playing for homecoming my sophomore year! Small world!

Friday was such a great day! It started off so awesome because we called one of our former investigators list and he wanted us to come over to his park that he owns and cleans up just down the street from our apartment! He is so awesome and was born in Germany and has lived her for 45 years. We helped him clean up his park and fill these huge garbage bags full of leaves and garbage and then we taught him the Restoration! He remembered a lot of it because he was taught by missionaries many years ago and so it was a nice refresher! We set a return appointment with him and then had some lunch before doing our studies! We needed to be at the apartment because we were waiting for the plumber because we had a leak in our bathroom shower faucet and so one of the senior couple missionaries set up a time for a plumber to come over. We enjoyed our studies and learned all about prayer and even watched a district video that showed some missionaries teaching an investigator how to pray! Then we did a few lookups at Andre, Kevin, and the Roa family but none of them were home. The plumber came but he was only there for about 39 seconds to see what the problem was and then he told us that he would order the parts for multiple apartment that had the same problem. Then we had a nice dinner before we went out from 5:00-9:00 trying to find more people to teach! We worked down in South Manhattan near South Street on the East side and knocked on tons of doors! The first few doors we knocked on weren't there but then we knocked on the door of an investigator that Elder Brown and I found named Gladys. She was so nice and so we knocked on her door to try and teach her but she told us that she was Catholic and wasn't interested in becoming a Mormon. It's always hard when the investigator won't let us talk and they won't give us a chance to let them feel the spirit. We kept going and knocked on Arcangel's door but he wasn't home. Then we knocked on a few more doors and realized that we missed an investigator that I had never met named Cheri who lives right next to Arcangel. So we went back to Arcangel's door and knocked on the one to the left but she didn't answer and so we knocked on Arcangel's door again and he was home so we shared a spiritual message and shared a Russell M Nelson Mormon message and then went to do a few more lookups and we even did some tracting around the apartments that we intended to knock on! Then we went to a pair of new investigators that we received from the China Town Elders and they said that they just opened up a pizza shop in downtown China Town but when we got there, they didn't seem interested at all. We tried to share a message but since they were working, they didn't have time to meet. Then we had something funny happen! We typed in the address to the next building that we needed to go to in our Google maps on our phone and it told us to go one way but it didn't realize that we had to go underneath the Brooklyn Bridge and so it had us walk up the walk path on the Brooklyn Bridge and so we went up the nice, scenic route and then realized that we needed to be under the bridge and not walking on the bridge. Otherwise, we would have crossed into the South mission. Luckily, we realized it in time and we were a couple hundred yards away from crossing into the other mission. Whewww! Then after we knocked a few more doors, it was time to travel back to the apartment for the day after a really great day of hard work!

Saturday was.....awesome!!!! We were especially excited because we called one of our less active members to set up an appointment with him and we invited him to a baptism that was happening Saturday morning and he told us that he would be there! I was actually able to teach the guy who got baptized when I was on a split with Elder Macedo and so it was fun to know that I was able to be a part of that baptism! So we did our morning studies and then we went to the 11:00 baptism of Enrique Lopez. It was a really awesome and spiritual baptism and our less active member, Andre Cox even came! It was nice to be able to bring someone and help them feel the spirit! After the baptism, Andre decided to treat us to lunch since we helped him clean his apartment and so I got a delicious lamb gyro from the Casbah food truck outside the Temple! Then we had something really cool happen! Elder Williams has been telling me all about a friend that he has who works in New Jersey but lives in Ogden. He was joking with me that he would run in to her sometime and sure enough, after the baptism, the YSA was having a huge Conference and Elder Williams' friend walked in as we were walking to the elevator. It was pretty cool! On our train ride to our Church on 14th street, I said hello to this girl who was in her early 20s and she looked like she was from either Korea or Japan. We started talking and she didn't have an accent at all. She sounded like she was born in America and she said "Oh the missionaries!" She then asked us where we were from because she told us that she was from Salem Utah!!!! We told her that we were both from Utah and lived 45 minutes away from each other. I then told her that you were born in American Fork and Kemmerer Wyoming. She then told us that she was originally from Wyoming and she was born in Cody! It caught me by surprise because at first, I thought she was from either Korea or Japan but it turns out she is from Utah and Wyoming! It was really cool! Then we ate our food and did 30 minutes of study at the church and them had to hurry to our next appointment with Brother Eades and Brother Forbes. They were both in a really good mood and they committed to coming to Church! They have been struggling to come to Church and so we showed them some scriptures and a video about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Then we went to a family who requested us to give a lady a blessing who is a member from Spain but hasn't been to Church in a really long time. So that morning, the sister missionaries called us and told us about her and her family but the problem is that the whole family doesn't speak any English and so the whole day we were trying to find someone from the Ward that spoke Spanish to come with us but we never could find anybody. So we went to their apartment for our appointment and tried our best to talk with them and schedule a time to come back with someone who speaks Spanish. So we went over to reschedule our appointment since veryone was busy and it was short notice so we set up another time to come back tomorrow! Then we went to the church for our next appointment with a lady named Israel Rodriguez and she wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon and see our chapel! So we hurried over to the Church and waited for her for a few minutes and worked on our progress record. She texted us and told us that she couldn't make it because she has kidney problems and is on dialysis and so she gets weak and tired very easily. So then we worked on our progress record and had fun typing up biographies and sending it to all of the Ward leaders. It was a really great and rainy day! It rained most of the day and there were lots of huge puddles everywhere. There was so much water.......that we had to use a canoe to cross the street! Hehe! +=‍♂️

Sunday another really awesome day! I have just been so grateful that my homesickness has gone away and I've really gotten into the swing of things! I still miss you all like crazy and can't wait to give you a huge hug but it's nice to be in a nice routine! We woke up to more rain but it was a light trickle and so we were able to stay dry with our umbrellas! We had a really cool visitor named Dave Hadley come to Church who is a member. But the cool thing is that he has a "I'm a Mormon" video and I recognized him! He lives in Seattle Washington and owns a business there. It was really cool! We didn't have any investigators show up to Church even though we expected a few but we were able to sit with Brother Eades and Brother Forbes! We had some really great talks from Brother and Sister Ahlander and they talked all about love and showing Christ like love to everyone. A few days after they were engaged, she was diagnosed with cancer and so she shared how her husband was able to show his love for her by treating her with love and respect. Then after our ward correlation meeting, we were able to do our studies and call the speakers for their talks. We also had a really fun dinner set up with Brother and Sister Woolsey that we were looking forward to! So we did our studies and planned out our lessons for the evening and then we heard that Brother Forbes got his new wheelchair really early so we passed by his apartment on our way to our dinner appointment and checked out his new wheels! He was also given a new phone from someone in the Ward and so Brother Forbes was in such a great mood! Then we had a really great dinner with the Woolsey family and also Sister Ward and her daughter! We had chili and cornbread which tasted especially good because it was cold and rainy outside. We enjoyed a really nice conversation and I realized that we were all from Utah except for the 3 little kids under the age of 4. Brother and Sister Woolsey have 2 kids, Maddox and Milo. Sister Ward has a daughter who was born just a few weeks after I was dropped off and so it has been fun to see my mission in the form of a baby! Hehe! Then we shared a video about being obedient. It was the video from conference about Chloe who wouldn't stay buckled in her seat. It was a great lesson but again, I keep forgetting to take pictures and it totally slips my mind. Oops! Then we had a lesson with Radames fall through and so we did a few lookups in our area and then sent our weekly goals and numbers to our District Leader! It was so much fun to get your emails throughout the day! I loved the picture quote so much! It always makes my day to hear from you! I sure was thinking about you all a lot and hoping you were having tons of fun watching the Olympics! Love ya!

Monday was such a great day! We had an awesome district meeting and it was really fun because we talked about how wrll our training worked for everyone. Then we had to say goodbye to 3 missionaries since 2 of them are returning home this coming P-day. Sister Israelson lives in North Logan up by Utah State and so I will definitely get to see her again. She will be studying Diatetics and she went to a full year of school before coming out on a mission. Then after our District Meeting, Elder Lusk bought some doughnuts and then we took a group picture before going to get some lunch before our appointment with a new investigator named Fabhaa Alee that we were really excited about! We went to Penn Station and went to a coffee shop to meet Fabhaa! He is SOOOO cool and we know that he will be such a great investigator! He lived in Germany for most of his life but it sounds like he is originally from India. He is a really smart guy and asks us really great questions! He works as a business man for a small company and loves learning about other religions. We taught him the whole Restoration and he loved it and agreed with everything we taught because we know he felt the spirit! After we did our quick study session, we went to our next lesson with Brother Eades and Brother Forbes! Brother Eades' Mom was in surgery and only had a 50% chance to live which was really sad and so he was getting ready to go visit his 83 year old Mom on Coney Island. We went to Brother Forbes' apartment but he wasn't there and so we ended up no having the lesson so we comforted Brother Eades since he was having a hard time with his Mom's health condition. After that, we went back to the apartment for dinner and I made some pasta with spaghetti sauce and had a big glass of milk! Then we went to our lesson with Alexsander and taught him more about the Priesthood. We even showed him the Restoration video and answered all of his questions. He learns at a slower pace butnunderstands everything when we teach clearly. Then we did tons of lookups but not very many people were home and they didn't answer their phones. We did have 1 really cool thing happen! I see so many cool things happen while we are out and about teaching the good people of New York! We were walking out of this apartment building and a guy stopped us and asked why everyone has different beliefs and why there are so many Churches. We excitedly explained that Christ's original Church was reestablished back onto the Earth through Joseph Smith. I get so excited to tell people this because it is brand new to them! We gave him a Restoration pamphlet and went back to the apartment with a huge smile on our faces! It was another great day of work and we felt the spirit really strong! We just keep plugging away and working as hard as we can and we are meeting so many great people!

Tuesday was another really awssome day! It was bright and sunny and about 30 degrees.we started out by doing our studies and then we cleaned up our Area Book on our tablets and made sure all of the records for all of our investigators are accurate. We prayed to know who to call and we found a few people that have potential to start taking the lessons. Then we had lunch and then left our apartment to do lots of lookups and knock on lots of doors. We were able to find 1 new investigator named Lee when we were knocked on Cheri's door! He was really nice and we hope that we can teach them soon! We knocked on tons of doors but they were all silent and not very many people answered their phones either. So then we went to the church for our companionship study and 12 week and had some great studies and we learned a lot from each other. I was very excited to get your email! The weeks feel so fast and I always LOVE it when Tuesday comes around! After our studies, it was time for our appointment with Brother Eades and Brother Forbes! We wanted to continue to build their faith in Joseph Smith and the Restoration so we showed them 30 minutes of the Restoration video and they really enjoyed it! After dinner, we went to do some more lookups and find more people to teach since we didn't have a set lesson until 8:00. We enjoyed being out and about talking to people! We had a really great lesson with Charles and Monae and read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon. I couldn't wait for your email and was so excited to get it! I was so surprised at how fast the time went!

Well my dear Lindberg Clan, thanks again for the fun email and pictures! I have been thinking about you all week and I continue to try my best and work as hard as I can and never let up! It can be very hard to find people to teach here in New York City because most people are beyond busy and they don't have any down time and so we are grateful for every single lesson that we get! Today for P-day, we found out that Jay is giving out free haircuts again at the 87th street chapel this morning and so since I'm a hair dog, I'm going to get my hair trimmed up to match the boys' new look! Time has been flying by and so we are still trying to decide what to do because there is something exciting to do every single week! So we will start with haircuts and then see what fun stuff there is to do! I try to honor you each and every day and I send my love every second of each day! It has been the experience of a lifetime to teach the people of New York and see how much this Gospel can change lives! I have been so blessed to have a lifetime of the Gosepl in my life and so I'm dedicating just 2 short years to give other people that same happiness and then I can give you all a big hug and kiss when I get home! After our haircuts, we are planning on going to a really cool collectible store that has tons of autographed football memorabilia and old coins and currency! It will be so fun to look at but it will be hard not to buy everything in the store! Hehe! So we are really excited for that! It's called Brigandi's Collectibles up by 57th Street! It should be a blast! Well everyone, it was so fun to write this email! I hope you enjoy it and hearing about my adventures in the big city! I hope you all have an awesome and fun day! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! LOVE AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg