Hello my dear and awesome loved ones!!! Hello once again! I'm so happy and excited to be able to email again on our new P-day! It's really wierd to have things switched up like this and it might take a little getting used to! I really love reading your emails on Sunday nights! We have so many fun plans today and we are so excited to have P-Day today!! First, we are going to Yankee Stadium because Elder Palmer really wants to go since he hasn't been before and he wants to buy his Family some hats and shirts for Christmas! Really early Christmas present huh?
We had a really awesome and fun P-Day! We had lots of fun and had such a great P-Day! I was excited that I only had to wait until Monday to talk to you! I'm very glad that you are able to read my drafts and see how I'm doing because I really love having you know what is going on! We had tons of fun playing sports in the gym and getting to know each other better! We played lots of basketball, gator ball, chair soccer, and volleyball and got lots of exercise! I was so thankful for your emails and the chance that we had to talk back and forth! We wanted to be outside but the rain put a bit of a damper on things but we still had a great time! Lots of companionships showed up and even had a Spanish Elder companionship come and we played for a long time and then it started to pour rain outside. Luckily we were inside and so we ran back to the apartment and cleaned like the wind and got the apartment looking all nice for the rest of the week. I cleaned the bathroom and scrubbed everything down and made it look like a new penny! After our fun P-Day ended, we went to our ward correlation meeting with Brother Gerhartz and his wife just had a new baby boy! He is a cute little guy! It rained for the whole night and was very hot and very humid. The humidity has been so high and lots of pollen in the air that is making everyone itch like crazy but luckily I haven't been irritated by it. I was thinking about each one of you a lot and thinking about how fun it was to email you! We had a great meeting but it was a little bit off track because our ward mission leader's wife just had a baby and so he wasn't there and so we had Frank ask us about our investigators and we talked about our baptism coming up 2 days after my Birthday for Jonathan Santana! I need to get a picture with him so you can see him because he is so awesome and progressing so well! We stopped by his house since we haven't been able to contact him for a few days and he was home! He told us that he missed Church because he was with Family but he told us that he had been reading in the Book of Mormon and he is all the way in 2 Nephi!!!!! It was a great suprise! I sure do love and miss you all so much!
Thursday was a very awesome and great day! We had lots going on and I was curious as to how your day was going and everything that you had going on! Weekly Planning is always really great and I always enjoy calling lots of investigators to set up appointments! It was another rainy day with lots of dark clouds and it rained almost the whole day. We had some great studies and my Book of Mormon reading has been going so well! I started the Book of Mormon completely over and so this will be my 2nd time reading it! I'm on page 48 right now and really enjoying learning more! We did our studies and also our language study and I enjoyed helping Elder Mitonzi sound out words that he has troubles with in the Book of Mormon. I was really missing you a lot and I felt a little homesick. It's interesting how I will be totally fine one moment and then I will get really homesick all of a sudden. I miss not being able to talk to you every single day but I love how many prayers that you send to me because I can always feel so much love! I got an email from Dan on P-day and he told me that he wants to fly out to my homecoming in January! I was really excited to hear that! After we had some lunch, we went to visit Justin and we have decided to reduce our visits with him because he is having a really hard time focusing during our lessons and will only accept teachings from the Bible. He keeps coming to Church which is awesome but has a hard time learning and accepting new things. We have tried many different ways to help him learn like Restoration videos and scriptures. He is a really great guy and we really enjoy teaching him the Gospel! We are always on the lookout for new people to teach and love talking to people on the streets because there is someone always there. It can be hard to find new investigators on the street because we have to have a way to contact them and sometimes they don't have a phone number and other times they don't want to give us their address. We love sharing scriptures with people because God's words are more powerful than ours is what we like to say!
We had an appointment with a member named Norberto but he cancelled right as we were walking up to his apartment and he told us that he wasn't home so then we visited a Family of investigators and they told us that they were all sick. Then we had a really funny bus driver! We got on and he asked us "Let me guess, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, Las Vegas, or California?" I said "You hit the nail right on the head with me!" Then he couldn't guess where Elder Mitonzi was from but it made us laugh so hard. He was a really funny guy! We were doing lookups and knocking on doors and we got a call from President Smith! He called us and wanted to see how our day was going and then he asked us about our Skype calls! I had so much fun talking about mine and he thought it was so cool that the Warenskis, Grandparents, and Jensens could join in! He told me what a special time that was! He told us to go and find some cool miracles and people to teach! I love encouraging phone calls from President Smith because it is always so great to talk to him and it means a lot for him to take time out of his busy day to chat with us! Then we knocked on the door of someone that we had records for and he didn't answer the door so we called him. We found out that he had been in the hospital and needed some comfort. It was another awesome and productive day of hard missionary work! I love each of you so much and I'm so thankful for all that you do!
Friday was a really, really awesome day! It was so busy and we had so much going on so it went by especially quick and we were busy all day! "Let's Go, Go, Go!!!" I couldn't believe that I was already at 16 months! Thank you SO very much for the email! I loved hearing from you! I love the pictures that you send me and I appreciate them a lot! I always love waking up and seeing an email from you! We have kind of some sad news about Bishop Bénéwendé. We stopped by to visit Bishop at his home and the gate was locked and so we called him. We have really been trying to contact them and help them progress before they get too busy. We called him to see if they were home and Bishop told us that he was home with his son but he was too stressed to talk to anyone. I will agree that it would be pretty stressful to live in the Bronx coming right from Africa. He sounded different and we could tell that he had a lot on his mind and the world was weighing down on him. We asked if we could visit him or say a quick prayer with him and his son but he told us that he didn't want us to and he would call us when things settle down. We are happy that he was willing to meet later on but it was sad that he was having a rough time. We are still going to call and encourage him but he has been looking for a job and so he is really busy. There has been so much talk about the mission President change and the new mission name and all of the exciting changes that will go on! To be honest, I would be more than happy to serve in either one of the missions! It would be an awesome adventure to finish strong in either one and I will be happy either way! I'm so excited to see what the furture holds! I think it would be cool to serve around Sister Olivia Smith from our Stake and I realized that we would fly home together! I have known her ever since Sister Parent's class in the 2nd grade and we were in Mr. Dunmeyer's class together as well! I'm excited to get transfer calls on June 23rd! It will be so exciting and I'm excited to say that I served in 2 different missions! I have been thinking a lot about where I could possibly end up. After this transfer, I will only have 5 transfers left and sometimes, missionaries stay in 1 area for 5 transfers and so my next area could potentially be my last area! Crazy! We had a really awesome lesson about baptism with Charles Whitfield and we also had a member come who taught Charles in his self defense class. His name is Frank and he faught in the Vietnam war and was a paratrooper and so he has lots of cool stories about jumping out of airplanes! Charles still isn't ready to get baptized but he is still searching and still wants to know if this is the true Church. We testified of the Book of Mormon and also Joseph Smith and the 3 of us really knew that he felt the spirit! It went so well and we hope to put him on baptismal date next appointment with him! Then we did some language study and read the Book of Mormon and we read about Baptism. I always love reading and learning because I'm not the best scriptorian but I'm learning a lot! It brings me a ton of comfort to know that you can read how and what I'm doing and read my drafts! I really appreciate all you do for me and I love you each of you individually so much!!!!!!
We had a great lesson with Norberto Agosto and shared a recent conference talk with him and then he had some service for us to do! He had this really heavy and cool lock on his door from the 1910's and it got stuck from so much use and so we took it off the door and took it all apart and we found the problem right away. There was a little latch on the inside that got so worn down from over 100 years of use that it wouldn't turn the lock anymore and so he called his landlord to help him out and then we had some dinner. The weather has been so wierd up here lately. I don't remember it being this dark and cloudy for so long. We got that huge rain storm and there was even a tornado in Saugerties near Kingston but we haven't had any rain since. It has just been dark and cloudy with no rain for the last 3 days. I miss Utah weather so much because it can change in a heartbeat but here, it just stays the same until some wind comes along and blows these dark clouds away. It has been crazy! We went to visit a less active member named Bruce Moore and on the way, a really big and muscular guy started talking to us and he asked us how our missionary work was going. We told him how awesome it was to be a missionary and then we found out that he is a member and was baptized when he was 12! Then Bruce told us that he would be coming to Church for the 1st time in almost 2 years!! It was really exciting and we love to see all of our hard work pay off! I love each of you so much and I'm so thankful for you! You are the best and do so much for me! Love you so much ALWAYS!!! I was very, very excited to get your email and it made my whole day!! O was so happy and excited to see that you had a fun time at Cold Stone! It was a ton of fun to see you all and the yummy flavors that you got! Thanks so much for celebrating my 16 month mark and cheering me on every step of the way! Your ice cream looked so yummy and I loved seeing your smiling faces! You are seriously looking so good and growing up so fast! I loved seeing a sliver of the beautiful Cache Valley mountains in the background as well and I really appreciated the email!
Thursday was a very awesome and great day! We had lots going on and I was curious as to how your day was going and everything that you had going on! Weekly Planning is always really great and I always enjoy calling lots of investigators to set up appointments! It was another rainy day with lots of dark clouds and it rained almost the whole day. We had some great studies and my Book of Mormon reading has been going so well! I started the Book of Mormon completely over and so this will be my 2nd time reading it! I'm on page 48 right now and really enjoying learning more! We did our studies and also our language study and I enjoyed helping Elder Mitonzi sound out words that he has troubles with in the Book of Mormon. I was really missing you a lot and I felt a little homesick. It's interesting how I will be totally fine one moment and then I will get really homesick all of a sudden. I miss not being able to talk to you every single day but I love how many prayers that you send to me because I can always feel so much love! I got an email from Dan on P-day and he told me that he wants to fly out to my homecoming in January! I was really excited to hear that! After we had some lunch, we went to visit Justin and we have decided to reduce our visits with him because he is having a really hard time focusing during our lessons and will only accept teachings from the Bible. He keeps coming to Church which is awesome but has a hard time learning and accepting new things. We have tried many different ways to help him learn like Restoration videos and scriptures. He is a really great guy and we really enjoy teaching him the Gospel! We are always on the lookout for new people to teach and love talking to people on the streets because there is someone always there. It can be hard to find new investigators on the street because we have to have a way to contact them and sometimes they don't have a phone number and other times they don't want to give us their address. We love sharing scriptures with people because God's words are more powerful than ours is what we like to say!
Friday was a really, really awesome day! It was so busy and we had so much going on so it went by especially quick and we were busy all day! "Let's Go, Go, Go!!!" I couldn't believe that I was already at 16 months! Thank you SO very much for the email! I loved hearing from you! I love the pictures that you send me and I appreciate them a lot! I always love waking up and seeing an email from you! We have kind of some sad news about Bishop Bénéwendé. We stopped by to visit Bishop at his home and the gate was locked and so we called him. We have really been trying to contact them and help them progress before they get too busy. We called him to see if they were home and Bishop told us that he was home with his son but he was too stressed to talk to anyone. I will agree that it would be pretty stressful to live in the Bronx coming right from Africa. He sounded different and we could tell that he had a lot on his mind and the world was weighing down on him. We asked if we could visit him or say a quick prayer with him and his son but he told us that he didn't want us to and he would call us when things settle down. We are happy that he was willing to meet later on but it was sad that he was having a rough time. We are still going to call and encourage him but he has been looking for a job and so he is really busy. There has been so much talk about the mission President change and the new mission name and all of the exciting changes that will go on! To be honest, I would be more than happy to serve in either one of the missions! It would be an awesome adventure to finish strong in either one and I will be happy either way! I'm so excited to see what the furture holds! I think it would be cool to serve around Sister Olivia Smith from our Stake and I realized that we would fly home together! I have known her ever since Sister Parent's class in the 2nd grade and we were in Mr. Dunmeyer's class together as well! I'm excited to get transfer calls on June 23rd! It will be so exciting and I'm excited to say that I served in 2 different missions! I have been thinking a lot about where I could possibly end up. After this transfer, I will only have 5 transfers left and sometimes, missionaries stay in 1 area for 5 transfers and so my next area could potentially be my last area! Crazy! We had a really awesome lesson about baptism with Charles Whitfield and we also had a member come who taught Charles in his self defense class. His name is Frank and he faught in the Vietnam war and was a paratrooper and so he has lots of cool stories about jumping out of airplanes! Charles still isn't ready to get baptized but he is still searching and still wants to know if this is the true Church. We testified of the Book of Mormon and also Joseph Smith and the 3 of us really knew that he felt the spirit! It went so well and we hope to put him on baptismal date next appointment with him! Then we did some language study and read the Book of Mormon and we read about Baptism. I always love reading and learning because I'm not the best scriptorian but I'm learning a lot! It brings me a ton of comfort to know that you can read how and what I'm doing and read my drafts! I really appreciate all you do for me and I love you each of you individually so much!!!!!!
Saturday was another very awesome day! It was crazy to think that we had another P-Day coming up and that I got to read your email on Sunday night! We woke up to rain and wind but we put a smile on our face and got to work! It was another busy day with lots going on! We got a message from our Zone Leaders and they told us that we got to pick our own time to have our interview with President Smith! It rained the entire day and poured and poured. Luckily we stayed dry but there weren't many people outside but we did see a member on a bus that we took and his name is Larry Turner and he was born in Indianapolis Indiana. He was baptized a few years ago and hasn't missed a day of Church! Prince has been doing really well and he is staying active which is amazing! We did lots of door knocking and to our suprise, nobody was home even though it was pouring rain. We had 3 appointments and they all fell through. We walked out in the rain for a few hours but we actually stayed really dry because there wasn't any wind and so it didn't blow water everywhere and get us wet but man was it pouring rain. The drops of water were ginormous and pelted everyone with rain. It was really crazy but it makes us stronger to do hard things. We were able to help a lady from Ghana with her bag and she didn't have an umbrella and so she was soaked. Then we called a lot of our referrals and contacted most of them! I was thinking about you guys a lot and sending lots of well wishes your way! Then we had dinner and it finally stopped raining and so we went to visit a member Family and an investigator that lives with them! They weren't home and so then we went to visit this really awesome referral we got named Francis Danquah and he is a senior in high school from Ghana. We knocked on his door and he was home and very Happy to see us! We scheduled an appointment and he told us that he would be in Stake Conference! It was so awesome to meet him and we were so grateful that he was home! We were really excited for Stake Conference and we were looking forward to hearing from a member of the Seventy! His name is Elder Bennett. They had the actual conference is the New Rochelle chapel, which is near Scarsdale, and they broadcast it to the Kingsbridge chapel. It's cool to think that we are in the same stake as President Smith and his Family! Then we had something really funny happen! We were waiting for our subway to take us home and a group of construction workers came walking down the stairs on the opposite side of the train deck. We were headed north and they were headed south. When they walked down the stairs, one of them started whistling the theme song for "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" and Elder Mitonzi and I finished the theme song if that makes sense. Hehe! It made them laugh because all of us were whistling the song!
Then we headed back to the apartment after an awesome day of hard work in the rain. It was a memorable day and we got to talk to lots of people as we traveled and looked for service opportunities! I hope you all had an awesome and fun day like I did!!!! Love you!
Stake Conference Sunday! We were really looking forward to hearing from a member of the Seventy and hearing from our Stake President! He is a really great guy and has a son on a mission. I've known him ever since my first week in the mission field when I met him at the Olmstead chapel! I was especially excited because it was finally time to read your email and I couldn't wait! It was different to be looking forward to Sunday night rather than Tuesday night! I hope you like this new day as well and that it works for you! We all have a feeling like it won't be Mondayfor too long because the Temple is closed in Monday and so it means that we can't go if we continue to have Monday P-Day. We are really looking forward to the changes in July! I was really excited all day for your email to come in and I was really excited to read it and see your pictures! We had such an amazing Stake Conference and there were so many amazing talks! We had a missionary from the Olmstead 1st Spanish ward who just got his call to serve in Honduras and he gave a great talk about preparing to serve a mission. Then we had President Smith give a great talk about helping others receive the Gospel. We were combined in the Kingsbridge chapel with the Spanish ward and so they had an interpreter and some devices that the translator could talk into. Elder Bennett gave an awesome talk about how Families should talk with one another and have Family gatherings and have your kids do chores and help out around the house and yard. It was one of the best talks I've ever heard and the spirit was really strong! Justin came and sat with us and it was great to have an investigator there. We had 7 people commit to come but they never showed up. Aw man!!! President Jeffries talked about a toy or puzzle analogy and how when someone is struggling with putting together a puzzle, we don't just take it and solve it by ourselves or let the person continue to struggle, we say "Let's do it together." That was the theme of his talk and he talked about how we need to work together and complete Family history work and other saving ordinances. It was so great and we headed out for more work with big smiles on our faces! The sun finally came out after disappearing for 3 or so days. I was starting to wonder if it was still there! Hehe!
We got to study and I read in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon and also loved reading through Preach My Gospel. I continue to be amazed at how much I learn about the Gospel and the 5 main points of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. I love how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love and know each one of us. It's amazing to tell people that they have a loving Heavenly Father who knows them. After our studies, we went to knock on some doors and the weather was just beautiful and perfect! We were able to get a hold of a guy named Donald Anderson and he told us on the phone that he was in Connecticut and so then we went to our next appointment with a less active member who just moved to the Bronx named Romulo. His wife isn't a member and he called Salt Lake Headquarters to refer himself to us! He was baptized in the early 90's when he was a junior in high school and he is the only member in his Family. He has a wife and 2 young kids. His wife's name is Johanna and they are one of the coolest investigator families ever! They are incredible and it took some of the hurt away of having Bishop Bénéwendé and his Family fall away a little bit. It was seriously one of the most incredible lessons that I have ever been a part of! So Romulo Paredes is the member and he called in to refer himself because his record are still in California and he wants to get his kids and wife involved in the Church! So he called us and asked us to come and teach his wife! We had an amazing Restoration lesson and it was just so amazing and we are so thankful to have ANOTHER solid and amazing Family to teach!!!!!! We couldn't be any happier! Then we finished up the day by having a dinner because we got to skip dinner to have the appointment with Romulo. It was such an awesome day and I was very, VERY excited to get your email and pictures! It was such an amazing email with tons of details which I always love! You sure do pack a lot of fun activites into a short amount of time that's for sure! Thanks again for the awesome email and pictures! Sure do love and miss ya!!!
Well my dear and amazing Family! I'm so thankful for each one of you and for your examples! I'm so thankful for everything that you do for me and all of your love, support, and prayers that are sent my way on a daily basis! I truly am always so very grateful for you and your righteous examples. I feel so many hugs and so much love every day as I get up in the morning and work as hard as I can to find more people to teach and help those we come in contact with learn the Gospel Principles! I hope each of you has an awesome and fun week! Thanks again for the awesome email, pictures, and video! It has been a ton of fun to type up this email and I hope it all makes sense. Stay safe and know that I love and miss you all the time! LOVE & MISS YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Stake Conference Sunday! We were really looking forward to hearing from a member of the Seventy and hearing from our Stake President! He is a really great guy and has a son on a mission. I've known him ever since my first week in the mission field when I met him at the Olmstead chapel! I was especially excited because it was finally time to read your email and I couldn't wait! It was different to be looking forward to Sunday night rather than Tuesday night! I hope you like this new day as well and that it works for you! We all have a feeling like it won't be Mondayfor too long because the Temple is closed in Monday and so it means that we can't go if we continue to have Monday P-Day. We are really looking forward to the changes in July! I was really excited all day for your email to come in and I was really excited to read it and see your pictures! We had such an amazing Stake Conference and there were so many amazing talks! We had a missionary from the Olmstead 1st Spanish ward who just got his call to serve in Honduras and he gave a great talk about preparing to serve a mission. Then we had President Smith give a great talk about helping others receive the Gospel. We were combined in the Kingsbridge chapel with the Spanish ward and so they had an interpreter and some devices that the translator could talk into. Elder Bennett gave an awesome talk about how Families should talk with one another and have Family gatherings and have your kids do chores and help out around the house and yard. It was one of the best talks I've ever heard and the spirit was really strong! Justin came and sat with us and it was great to have an investigator there. We had 7 people commit to come but they never showed up. Aw man!!! President Jeffries talked about a toy or puzzle analogy and how when someone is struggling with putting together a puzzle, we don't just take it and solve it by ourselves or let the person continue to struggle, we say "Let's do it together." That was the theme of his talk and he talked about how we need to work together and complete Family history work and other saving ordinances. It was so great and we headed out for more work with big smiles on our faces! The sun finally came out after disappearing for 3 or so days. I was starting to wonder if it was still there! Hehe!
Well my dear and amazing Family! I'm so thankful for each one of you and for your examples! I'm so thankful for everything that you do for me and all of your love, support, and prayers that are sent my way on a daily basis! I truly am always so very grateful for you and your righteous examples. I feel so many hugs and so much love every day as I get up in the morning and work as hard as I can to find more people to teach and help those we come in contact with learn the Gospel Principles! I hope each of you has an awesome and fun week! Thanks again for the awesome email, pictures, and video! It has been a ton of fun to type up this email and I hope it all makes sense. Stay safe and know that I love and miss you all the time! LOVE & MISS YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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