Good morning my dear loved ones! I am so excited to be able to email you today and tell you all about my fun and exciting week! Thanks so much for your emails and pictures! I loved hearing all about your awesome week! First of all, we are in the middle of a crazy blizzard right now and lots of places are shutting down. There isn't a whole lot of snow that is sticking but New Yorkers always seem to shut down the whole city when there is snow. We aren't sure what to do today for P-day since the weather is so crazy and so we are emailing right now and cleaning the apartment and hopefully the snow will stop. I have lots of excited things to tell you and we had a really great week! I also have an exciting visitor that we had in Church on Sunday that I'm really anxious for you to read about! I am doing great, having fun and working hard! We are all really excited to hear about all of the new transfers and General Conference coming up a week from this Saturday! It will be lots of fun! So I will keep you updated on what we will do today because the weather sort of messed up our plans. We wanted to go play football on the turf but this huge snow storm popped up overnight and we woke up to snow so we won't be playing football today. I could potentially only have this P-Day and next week left until I get transferred but I really hope that I stay! We had a very busy week and I'm excited to tell you all about it!
Last P-Day was a lot of fun with lots of traveling and sightseeing! I hope I remembered everything that happened because we sure did a lot! We got to see Yankee Stadium again which was so cool and then we took a bus to go see Co-op City and also Pelham Bay Park and lots of other places in my old area! It was a really great time and we enjoyed some fun sightseeing! After our great P-Day ended, we had a dinner appointment with a new Family that moved into our ward a few months ago and so we were looking forward to getting to know them better! Their last name is Stanford and they have a little daughter. The time change was a little weird at first because usually when P-Day ends, it is pitch dark but now we have been heading out with still an hour of light left which has been really nice! Before our dinner appointment, we called to confirm one of our appointments with one of our new investigators named Kevin Herra. Then we walked down the street to the Stuyvesant apartment complex for our fun dinner appointment! They didn't realize that we have a rule to only have 1 companionship of missionaries over at a time and so we out to do more work for 30 minutes before going back to eat. We went and delivered a Bible to Angelo Burgos and he was home! We also invited him to Church and he said that he would love to come if his health permits! He has some health challenges but he is doing well! Then we had an amazing dinner with the Stanford Family! They have a 2 year old daughter, Annelise. They were married in Arizona and Brother Stanford served in Brazil and grew up in Ogden! We had a really yummy shrimp jumbilia and strawberry pie for desert! Then we shared a fun video for their daughter called "Going To Grandma's." We had a great time and then it was time for us to head back to the apartment after a really fun day! I had tons of fun being able to email you back and forth! It was a really great day!
Happy Birthday Brandon!!!!
Friday was so awesome! I hope Brandon had an awesome and fun Birthday and ate lots of yummy food! We had a really busy day planned with 2 service projects and so we were looking forward to that! Finding service can be a bit tricky to find in New York City but we managed to find 2 fun projects that we got to do! We started by picking up garbage at a park near our apartment with Justen Ladda. It had been really windy and so it blew lots of garbage everywhere and so we enjoyed helping him clean up! He has these really cool Japanese rocks that Dad would love to have in the backyard! They are really cool! We helped for about an hour and then our 2nd service project got canceled and so we helped him for a little bit longer and picked up almost every single piece of trash in the whole park strip! It looked so nice and we probably had about 10 pounds of trash! When we got back to the apartment to change and have lunch, I saw your fun email! Thanks a ton for sending it! I'm so glad that Dubbie had a great Birthday! He got so much fun stuff and it was really fun to see him! After lunch, we went to the Church for our studies and it's so amazing to think that we are on week 11 of 12 with Elder Williams' training! The 12 weeks program ends after this week and since we had a 5-7 Week transfer before he got here, we have an extra week after his training ends together! Since his first transfer was 7 weeks long, then his 12 Week program ends a week before transfers. It has been a blast to train him and set the stage for the rest of his mission! His parents have been emailing me and thanking me almost every week and it has been fun to hear from them! Then while doing our studies, we got a text from Sister Smith and she told us that she met a woman on the train and she works with Brother Stanford who we just had dinner with on Wednesday. Sister Smith told us that she was so intrigued by our message and so hopefully we can start teaching her because she sounds so awesome! Then we went to pick up mail and then had dinner. It is so crazy to me how busy New York City can be....all of the time. There is always something going on and there are tons of people everywhere, all the time. It's quite the sight to see! After dinner, we knocked on some doors and found a few people at home! Then we got some pretty bad news unfortunately. I hate bad news! We were going to visit Robert for our appointment and as we were walking up to the door to his building, his Brother came up to us and asked us if we were looking for Robert and going to visit him. We told him yes and then he told us that Robert had relapsed and had been drinking a lot and he fell down and scratched up his face really bad. We felt so bad that he fell into temptation again but we said a prayer right then for him to be at peace. We wished we could have talked to him but he doesn't have a cell phone and he was out at a bar with his friends and so we didn't have any way to contact him. We headed back to the apartment sad about Robert but we kept our heads held high because we knew that we tried our best. He will get better and we know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will bless his life and he will be able to recover. Life is like a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs and we all go through trials and right now, Robert is at a down point in his life. But when there's ups, there are downs. It can only get better from here! During our nightly companionship prayer, we specifically prayed for Robert and we both felt at peace, knowing that he would be ok! We are so blessed as missionaries and always feel so much love from back at home! Love you all tons!
☘Happy Saint Patrick's Day!☘ There was a huge buzz around the city because of a huge marathon that was going on today and it was a lot of fun to see all of the hype and excitement! After our morning studies, we had an early lunch and then went to the Church to do the rest of our studies since we got to set up for the Sisters' baptism that they had for a lady named Camille! The weather was so nice and it felt so good to be outside! I have been focussing on sharing a lot more on Facebook because it is such an easy tool to share the Gospel! I love posting different articles and spreading the Gospel! After our studies, we headed off to go see Brother Eades since Brother Forbes was out of town. The sister missionaries asked Brother Eades to be a witness at the baptism and so we went over to share a message about baptism. Then I was stoked to see I had an email from you while we were setting up chairs for the baptism! CONGRATS DUBBIE on making it to the championship! I was so excited to hear that he made it all the way to the championship! I was sending lots of prayers his way!
Sunday was awesome! I woke up and was SO excited to see your email wishing me a Happy 14 months! Time has surly flown by and it's so crazy to think I'm already at 14 months! Thank you tons for sending me an email and for the cool picture! It was fun to set as my background and think back on these last 14 months! We woke up to something really crazy! At about 6:20, I heard lotsnof sirens and so it woke me up and then when I stood up, I smelled tons of smoke. It smelled like the strongest campfire ever and it smelled like it was really close. I went to the window and opened it up and looked down the street and just 1 block to the left, there was a building on fire that they were working on putting out. It wasn't a huge fire but the smell was so strong. It was a crazy way to start the day that's for sure. After we planned out our day, we went to go ride the bus to Church with Monae since her Dad has some health challenges and can't bring her to Church himself. While we were on the bus, there was a man sitting on the bus and he had a newspaper and it Josh Allen's picture on the front cover of the sports section which I thought was so cool! Then we had something VERY, VERY EXCITING happen in sacrament meeting!!!! We were handing out programs and there were a lot of visitors as usual! An elevator full of people came to the Chapel and I was scanning the faces and a taller man got off and he looked SO familiar! I couldn't put my finger on where I had seen him but he snuck into the meeting and I wasn't able to talk to him. THEN IT CLICKED! It was.........President Tuescher!! We passed the sacrament and when I saw him again, I realized that he was here to check out the Ward! Isn't that soooooooo cool! He was alone and he had 2 other people with him but they weren't his sons or daughter and so I was confused to who they were but I'm positive it was President Teuscher! I wish that I could have talked to him and introduced myself but I will hopefully get the chance here in July! Once Sacrament meeting ended, he was out the door faster than I've ever seen anyone leave! He bolted for the door and so we weren't able to talk with him. The new mission Presidents don't interact with any missionaries much but it was so cool to know that he has seen me before and knows what I look like. I said that opening prayer and so it was really fun to think that he was there! He is going to be so cool to work with! Then I realized that I could be in the other mission but it was still so exciting to see him! Then we had a quick ward correlation meeting and then did our studies and prepared for the rest of the day! Then we had dinner and then we had an appointment with an investigator named David that we were really excited about! We said a prayer to know what to teach him and if we should set a Baptisimal date with him. We got to his apartment and a lady told us that he was out and about and didn't know when he would be back and so we called him and he didn't answer. We aren't sure why he wasn't home and we were really looking forward to teaching him. Some people have a really hard time keeping commitments and it is a foreign concept to have a set schedule in some of the rougher parts of Manhattan and so we are trying to find more people with more desire to keep commitments but they are a lot harder to find. Then we were able to go over with Yolanda Cabral and her son, Joshua to give Yolanda's Mom a blessing because she is in her mid 80s and had a hard fall. She was doing great and moving around a lot better! She spoke a little bit of English but the spirit was really strong! She was up walking around a lot better after the blessing and she thanked us a ton! Then we were able to share a message with Joshua, who is 19, about missionary work and how we received our answers to see if a mission is what we should do in that point in our lives. He is considering serving a mission but he told us that his testimony isn't strong enough and he wants to wait a few years to strengthen it before he goes! It was a great way to end our busy and fun day of hard work! I love you all so very much with all my heart!
Monday was an incredible and great day of hard work! I got a fun email from Grandma Evans and she said that Elder ward who I really look up to came home from his mission and his family moved into Grandma's Ward! It was so cool to think that she had met him and got to talk to him! After our studies, we headed up to the Temple for our weekly District Meeting which is always really fun! I really love hearing all about he people that the missionaries in the District are teaching! We had a great meeting and got to talk a lot about what our investigators need. It always feels weird when I know my time in an area is winding down and to think that I might not even be working with these great missionaries or these investigators any more. I have loved this area so much because of the great people and amazing sights to see! I hope and pray that I can stay for 1 more transfer because this area is just amazing! I'm really excited for General Conference! It will be exciting to know that you are all watching it at the same time! I can't beleive that I will only have 1 more conference on my mission until I come home! I'm also so excited to Skype you in less than 2 months!!!! I feel like it was just Christmas and here comes Mother's Day right around the corner! Then we snagged some lunch and did our studies and we finished up week 11 out of 12 weeks for Elder Williams' training. Then we went to visit Brother Eades and Brother Forbes but neither of them were home and Brother Forbes was in the Bronx and so we just taught Brother Eades. We were able to read Alma 22 with him and also read through all of the Articles of Faith since he hadn't ever read them before and then we got to have a delicious dinner at Arby's before going out for more work! I have been slowly letting Elder Williams take the lead in almost everything and helping him as best I can with his teaching skills and the directions and how to use subways because it get very, very tricky and can be confusing at times but I've got the subway system down and I've really gotten good at getting us where we need to be without any directions. So I've been letting Elder Williams guide us and get us to our appointments and when I asked him to guide us to our lookups, he got on the correct train but it was headed in the wrong direction and so I just got on and acted like I was a brand new missionary and had no idea where we were going and I just played along. 2 stops later he realized that he was going the wrong way but it made him learn to check if the train is going uptown or downtown. He and I both had a good laugh at that one!!! Hehe!
Tuesday, I was so excited to get your email and hear all about your week! It was an awesome day and ended perfectly with your email! We were excited to get going and do more missionary work! After our studies, we went out to knocked on Edwin Roa, and Kevin's doors but neither of them were home and they didn't answer their phones. I have to tell you something kind of random but pretty funny!! There is always something cool and interesting going on in this huge city! So let me give you a little background. There is a famous grafitti artist named "Banksy" and he goes around and spray paints different art on random buildings. Here's the catch, nobody knows who Banksy is and nobody has ever seen him before. There is an abandoned city office building on 14th Street with a really cool, old clock on the tower. Well, we woke up one day and as we were going to Church, there was a giant gathering of people with their phones out taking pictures. We weren't sure what the commotion was all about but then Elder Williams told me all about Banksy and how he secretly spray paints art in random places. Well, today when we were walking by, we saw a crane that was going to take down the clock and we heard that they are going to auction it off and get some big bucks for it. All of Banksy's art is immediately collectible just because nobody knows who he is. He painted a rat running on the big clock and now they took it down. It has been fun to hear all of the buzz because everybody has been going crazy!! We would walk down the street and hear "Banksy's back!!" Then there was a really funny guy who was singing Hickory Dickory Dock while they were taking the clock down and so we got a funny video of him shouting and singing and it made us laugh SO hard! While doing lookups, we were able to find Kevin at home and so we had a great talk with him and he promised to come back to Church and so we were excited about that! Then we did our studies after lunch and we got to watch the full District movie for our last week of 12 week! Then we went to go and visit Andy Lam because he asked us to come over and help him with connecting his tablet to Wifi and share a spiritual thought. It was a very quick visit and he just likes people to talk to and so we enjoy visiting with him. Then we went to our next appointment with Brother Eades and Brother Forbes which we always look forward to since they are both recent converts and need lots of retention to help them stay active! I was getting really excited for your email to come in that night and I was really excited to see your pictures and read your email! After dinner, we tried to go and visit the McClain family and they weren't home and so we did some lookups near where we were and had some fun talking with people! The McClain Family canceled and we planned to have Brother Mishler come with us but since they canceled, Brother Mishler asked if we could come over to his apartment and give him a blessing because he had a really bad earache. We gladly went over and I was able to give him a Blessing! It was a really cool experience to lay my hands on his head and give the Ward Mission Leader in Manhattan who is also a dentist at NYU a Blessing! It was a great way to end an awesome day! We got back to the apartment and I was very anxious to read your email! Thank you a ton for your fun email and pictures and video! I can just picture you all sitting at the computer typing away and I really appreciate the time that you spend to send me amazing emails! It was so much fun to read and hear all about your awesome week and I loved your pictures!
P.S: I uploaded the video of the really funny and interesting guy that was singing "Hickory Dickory Dock" as they were taking down the mouse clock! He is so funny and we laughed so hard at this video! He played the trumpet and was so sad to see the clock being taken down. He is really funny and we see people like him all the time! Enjoy! Hehe!
Well my dear Family! It was a lot of fun to email today and I hope that we can chat back and forth today! I hope each of you has a great and fun day at work and school! I think about you all the time and really appreciate all of the love and support! Overall, I just love and miss each of you SO much! I hope that all of your activites go well and that the weather stays nice. You are in my every thought and prayer! I really can't believe how fast time flies by. Didn't we just have General Conference and now we are having it again? Have a great week! LOVE AND MISS YOU SO VERY MUCH!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
~Elder Lindberg
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