Hello my dear and amazing loved ones and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the best Mom and Dad ever this Thursday! I hope you have an amazing and fun day! I got my package safe and sound and really am looking forward to opening it because it feels packed full of fun goodies! Thanks a ton for thinking of me and always making every event so special! We have some really fun P-Day plans but next week is going to extra awesome! It may or may not be my last time going to Manhattan for a while but I'm really looking forward to seeing the Stucky Family! We are emailing right now a plan of where to meet because we just wanted to go down to Battery Park City and see the Statue Of Liberty and we will meet up somewhere down there. Our roommates haven't spent much time down there and so we are just going to hang out in Manahttan for the day!!! I always pinch myself when I say "Oh yeah, we are just going down to Manhattan for the day!" But for today, Jay will be at the Church and so we are getting haircuts and I get my Birthday haircut and so I'm excited to look nice! It's not as good as Mom's haircuts but he still does a great job. Elder Mitonzi's hair is a little different and Jay can't cut it and so he is going to a barber shop down the street and then he is going to submit his application to Pathway and then we might play some sports after we got shopping! So I will have lots of time to write back and forth! We might even go on a walk near Fordham University because it was so pretty last night and I want to go back!
Last P-Day was a ton of fun and we got to do so much! I think that I mentioned everything that we got to do! The weather was just so perfect and beautiful! The temperature was in the 50s and so it felt really nice to have some cooler temperatures! I had so much fun talking with you and I loved getting all of your emails! After our fun P-day, we walked around the corner to pick up Emmanuel Jr Opoku to take him to Family Home Evening. His Dad wasn't home and so his Mom didn't want us to take him because she has a hard time trusting anyone these days and so she didn't let him come with us. Then we had something really cool happen! We got a referral and it was from a member in Arizona and he used to serve as a senior couple in a mission in New Jersey and he referred one of the people that the missionaries were teaching through the new LDS tools app. It was really cool and we are really excited to be able to work with this referral because her husband is a less active member who wants to come back to Church and they have 3 kids! Then we went to Family Home Evening and it was really great! We had Travis come with us and we had a great time getting to know each other better and we talked about role models in our lives. Then we got a crazy text from the Assistants telling the whole zone that our Zone Conference got switched to this Thursday, June 7th, at the Scarsdale chapel! It was crazy because we were expecting it to be next Tuesday and so we were very excited and couldn't believe that it was President and Sister Smith's last Zone Conference of their mission! I enjoyed so much reading your emails and talking back and forth to you! It was such a great day!
Tuesday was a very great day! I had a really cool dream that night and Parker flew out here to the Bronx and became my missionary companion! He flew out all by himself and President Smith assigned Puck to me! The cool thing about the dream was that Parker was the greatest missionary in the world and everybody that he even talked to got baptized!!! It was a great dream to have Parker with me doing missionary work! I seriously thought it was real until I woke up and realized that Parker wasn't actually here in the Bronx. I thought that you would all think that was pretty funny!
Wednesday was another very awesome day! I couldn't believe that it was already the 6th! I was thinking about Grandpa Evans on his Birthday! I wore his tie in honor of him and I remembered him in all of my prayers. Happy Birthday dear Grandpa Evans! It was an especially special Birthday because it was his 75th Birthday. We were really looking forward to Zone Conference the next day and seeing the Smith Family! They are doing Zone Conferences pretty different this last time. They usually have a collection of 2 or 3 zones come to Zone Conference but they are doing separate Zone Conferences for each individual zone! We had a great morning but we didnt find Jonathan at home and he didn't answer his phone either and so we are starting to worry about him a little bit because he has pretty much disappeared. We try going over to his house every day to catch him at home but we haven't had much luck at all. We did get a call from Sister Fergusen and she asked us if we could go give a guy named Christopher Sanchez a blessing who was at the hospital. He hasn't been doing very well and she said that he wasn't getting any better. So we did our studies, had lunch, and then went to go meet him and give him a blessing. It is always a really cool experience to give a blessing, especially when we haven't ever met the person. The spirit really guides us on what to say! I love hospitals and I love seeing people helping each other and caring for those who really need it! We had one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had on my mission! I get so excited to find golden families and I think that we might have found our golden Family! So we did the blessing for a guy named Christopher Sanchez and his wife is a less active member who hasn't been to Church in over 15 years. She called Sister Fergusen, who is the previous Bishop's wife, and she asked if she could call us to have us come and giver her and her husband a blessing. So we went to the Neurology section of the hospital and he was doing really well! He has been having lots of tests done and it has taken 13 days now. He and his wife have been so frustrated because they can't figure out what is wrong with him. So we got to explain what Priesthood blessings were and why we use oil and as soon as I explained how the oil is symbolic of Jesus Christ, both Christopher and his wife, were in tears. We gave Christopher a blessing of healing and Sister Meletrich a blessing of comfort. It was so cool! Now here comes the coolest part! A little back story, so we got a referral for a lady named Kenya Wiggs from a member in Arizona who served his mission with his wife in New Jersey. Kenya was born in New Jersey and had a good relationship with this member from Arizona. So he referred Kenya to us and found out that she lives in our area. On Tuesday, we tried to visit them but were told that she didn't live there. So we called the member back and then he realized that the street was supposed to be 223rd Street, not 228th Street. So we went to the correct address today and had one of the COOLEST and best 10 minute lessons I've ever had! Kenya is married to a member named Hubert and they have 3 sons. The kids are so awesome and this whole Family is going to get baptized very soon! The Gospel will bless this Family so much if they let it and we saw so much potential! They are one of those Families that missionaries will do anything to find! We just hope that they keep commitments and come to Church because the husband has struggled with that for many years and has been in and out of jail. The Dad wasn't there but we got to meet their 3 sons. Nazairre is 13, T.J is 14, and Josiah is 17. The kids are so awesome and Kenya was born in New Jersey and has a Christian background. We taught them the Restoration and gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon and so to sum it all up, we are SO EXCITED!!!! I was so very excited to get your email! I was wearing Grandpa Evans' tie and it really made me think of him a lot! I really was thankful for your email and it meant a lot! I have something exciting and really cool that happened during the day! Elder Mitonzi and I were walking down a back street and there wasn't anybody in sight. He asked me where I got my tie that I was wearing and it happened to be Grandpa Evans' tie and I told him that it was his 75th Birthday. Well......we turned the corner and walked down a street and there was stuff everywhere and it was really messy and as we were looking at the ground at all of the stuff that had been blown around and....what did we see??? A CRISP, BRAND NEW, $10.00 bill!!! We had just talked about Grandpa Evans and we felt like it was a gift right from him because it was perfectly crisp and centered right in the middle of the sidewalk. I'm not kidding when I say that this bill was perfect and looked like it was fresh off the printing press!! I spotted it and so we are going to buy some ice cream or some treat on my Birthday. It was just so amazing how perfect the bill was and how it was right in plain view and there wasn't any identification or wallet near by and so considered it to be a gift! Then a few hours later, what do I find while waiting for a bus stop??? $2.00s in 1 dollar bills! At first, it looked like a lot more dollar bills just how they were wadded up but it was SO fun to find $12.00 in cash, 2 different times, in 1 day! The only other time that I have found cash was a $5.00 bill on the ground in a train station in my 1st area. It was pretty cool and we are going to enjoy a treat with it....or I might just save it! Hehe! 
We had a great ward correlation meeting and finished off the day with a huge smile! It was such a great day and I was so thankful that we found a really awesome Family!! Love you all so much!
Thursday was so very amazing! It was our very last Zone Conference with the Smith Family and so it was a little wierd to know that next zone conference will be with a different Mission President! We were told not to wear suits which was very different from all of our other zone conferences. We got ready for the day and took the Metro North train up to Scarsdale and it was a really pretty day! The train ride is always so pretty and I love to see all of the thick woods and trees that are on the way to Scarsdale. We were so excited for Zone Conference and it was so fun to catch up with all of the missionaries in the zone and see how they were doing! This Zone Conference was the most amazing and powerful Zone Conference that I have EVER been a part of! It was incredible to say the least! It was smaller since it was just our zone but we still had almost 45 missionaries there. It was such an amazing tribute to President and Sister Smith and the day was just amazing to spend with them! We had some awesome testimonies and some really exciting things happen! By the end of zone conference, almost everyone was in tears just how powerful the conference was. It was hard for President and Sister Smith just because they knew that their time was coming to an end. We had some great training on how to teach people on the streets or subways in a minute or less since people are always on the move. We were in the chapel and we watched a few videos and then we did something so special and memorable! We went into the mission home and had an amazing lunch! Elder and Sister Honeycutt, who work in the office, made some delcious hamburgers and we had chips and rice crispy treats. Then we signed a piece of fabric with our name and the year that we go home and Sister Smith is going to make a quilt out of all the squares from every single missionary that has come to this mission while they have served here. President Smith asked us all lots of great questions and even told everyone in the zone how special it was to call me before I came out. He talked about lots of the special memories that he has made while serving here and told everyone How he called me before I came out and it was really cool! President Smith gave lots of hugs to the Elders and while we were eating lunch, he put his arm around me and said "Don't you worry about which mission that you will serve in. You just keep going and everything will work out!" He has always been so personable and knows each missionary personally. Then came the coolest part! We all got to watch some videos that President Smith recorded of all of the Apostles that have come to visit the mission during their service and they all gave a shout out to the NYNYN mission. Then we all got to stand and bear our testimonies and it was just so amazing! I WISH THAT YOU COULD HAVE ALL BEEN THERE!!! Then at the end, the senior couples got to stand and bear their testimonies and we all sang "Hope of Israel!" And it was one of the most powerful things I've ever been a part of. Just thinking of how many missionaries have sat in that very living room where we were and how Elder Rasband has lived there. We sang so loud and proud and I was such a cool sight! I wish that I could have gotten pictures and videos but Sister Smith took quite a few and so I hope that you were able to see some of them! After we sang Hope of Israel, almost everyone started to cry and then very quietly, nobody knew that she would sing this, but Sister Kanzler started to quietly sing, "God be with you till we meet again." It didn't leave a dry eye in the house because all of the missionaries just sang and looked at President and Sister Smith. It was SO powerful and I can't even put it into words. It was such a special moment that I will never forget! I am so thankful for President and Sister Smith and we are sad to see them leave us so soon! I was hoping that you were all doing well and that you were as happy as ever! After zone conferences, I wished so much that I could give you each a big hug and let you know just how much I love and care about you! We had 2 amazing lessons that went so well! We had the chance to teach the Paredes Family and they were so receptive and it was one of the coolest lessons ever! We taught them about the Book of Mormon and how it can help them! Then we caught Babatunde at home and he was leaving to the store and so it was amazing to teach him in 10 minutes. Then we went to the Church and I picked up my Birthday packages!!! I was so very excited to get them and so thankful for them! Thank you SO much for sending them! I'm so very excited to open them next Thursday!! Love you tons!
Friday was another really awesome and great day! I was hoping that you were all doing well and having a really fun summer! We did our weekly planning today instead of on Thursday because on Zone Conferences. We had a great day and a lot happened! I was reflecting on yesterday's zone conference and I am just so grateful for this Gospel and the chance that I have to serve! Sure it has been very difficult to be away from you but I'm so thankful that I came! It might seem hard in the moment but I honestly don't remember any of the hard times that I have had so far on my mission. I just remember the great experiences, the people I've met, and the love and support from all of you at home. I knew the Church was true before I left but I have gained a deeper and stronger testimony that has come through my missionary service and I KNOW that this Church is Christ's Church reestablished onto the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I learn new things every day and am amazed at how much I have been able to accomplish. We have many missionaries going home in the next 2 weeks and so I will be one of the oldest Elders in the whole mission. I will probably meet some new Elders who came out the same time I did and so maybe I will get to go home with them! It is going to be so exciting and I can't wait! We went to an appointment with Immanuel and his Family but they forgot that they had an appointment since his wife just had a baby and so we knocked in their door and they weren't home so we took out their trash that was sitting on their front steps and so it was great to be able to serve them. The humidity has been out of this world crazy and we are drenched within a few minutes of being outside. It feels so humid and makes it feel so much hotter. We had a great weekly planning and mostly called all of the investigators that we are working with and we set up lots of appointments! I had fun having some Birthday packages sitting on my desk and I was excited to open them! It was fun to set up so many appointments and know that we had another busy week ahead of us! We went out after dinner and had a great night! We taught a member named Bruce Moore again and followed up with his Book of Mormon reading. We read 3 Nephi 18 with him and it was really cool because he really wants to come back to Church! Then we knocked on the door of a referral that we had just gotten from the Manhattan Elders and it turns out that he didn't live there but the man that did live there, wants us to come back and so we set an appointment with him! We also got a call from the member in Arizona who is helping us with the teaching of the Wiggs Family. He was thrilled that we got a hold of the Wiggs Family and that we taught them! He asked us where we were from and he said that he has Family in Jackson Hole Wyoming and has been to Logan many times! It was such a great day and I was thinking about each of you a lot and hoping that your weekend was going awesome and that you were having a fun time! Love ya ton!
I woke up on Saturday and couldn't believe that it was already the 9th of June and almost P-day again! I have something so exciting to tell you! We had another amazing day and enjoyed cleaning the Church for our weekly service! We got a call from our Zone Leaders and they asked if they could go on a 5 hour split from 3:00-8:00 and so we were really excited about that! I got to be in our area with Elder Allen and Elder Mitonzi went to the Spanish area even though he doesn't speak Spanish! Hehe! Elder Allen is such a cool guy and it has been different to have a Zone Leader who has been out for less time than I have. He has been out for about 10 months and so it's wierd to think that I've been out almost twice as long as he has. We were excited for our split and looking forward to working together! We went to the Church to clean and it went really well! We got it done really quick and had a few more people show up than the time before and so it was really awesome to talk to the members! We have been working so hard and just give it our all every day and we are seeing so many cool things happen in our area! I have been so blessed and I love watching people accept the Gospel and want to learn more! It's just so fulfilling to see the fruits of our labors! Before our split, we went to a lesson near our apartment and here is the exciting part! We have been teaching them for a while and they are learning a little bit slower since we only meet with them once a week but they are so awesome! It is the Opoku Family and we taught the Dad, Emmanuel, and his son, Emmanuel Jr. We set a baptismal date with them for August 4th and so we were excited to have 2 more baptisms to work towards! It was so exciting and we were on cloud 9! Our split was so much fun and we saw so many cool things happen and we got to know each other really well! So Elder Allen is our zone leader and he is from Boise and we have so much in common! He actually went to Utah State for a year and loved every second of it and told me that he worked at the University and helped set up for football and basketball games and ever played in the rec center with a lot of the basketball guys! Sign me up for that job!!! He is so cool and I really want to stay in touch with him! He goes home a few months after I do and so I might want to go to his homecoming! We saw so many amazing things happen and here are the highlights! We met a guy as we were walking past and we couldn't believe what he told us! He said that he read the Book of Mormon many years ago and said that he has a testimony of it and he knows it is true and knows that Joseph Smith is a true prophet! It was so cool to talk to him! He is from Brooklyn and we set up an appointment with him for next Thursday on my Birthday and so we are trying to set a baptismal date on my Birthday!! Then we had a great lesson with a guy named Chris and he didn't have much of a religious background and so everything was new to him. We invited tons of people to Church and got to talk to a lot of people in Spanish and I picked out a few words here and there. Elder Allen is a really fun guy to be around and is himself everywhere he goes! It was crazy how much we have in common and we found out that we were at the exact same basketball and football games at Utah State! He lived on campus and loved every minute of going to school there and plans to go to Byu when he gets home. We were thrilled to set not 1, but 2 baptismal dates and we had so much fun working together! It was such an amazing day and we were really ready for a good night's rest!
Sunday was incredible! I was so very excited to read your fun email and I couldn't wait to hear from you!!!! Sundays are always so awesome because we have Church and then I get to read your email and see your pictures. Our Church starts at 9:30 and so we get up, get ready, and then head off to Church. We were really excited because a lot of our investigators told us that we would see them in Church and so we were hoping to see a lot of them there! I was excited because I got an email from Sister Stucky and she told me about them coming to New York and she wants to take us out to lunch! I'm really excited to see a familiar face and this is the first people that I know from back home that I have seen in over 17 months! Church was so awesome and it was all focused on the "Be One" devotional that was to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Priesthood revelation. It was really cool because they told stories about African pioneers and how much the Gospel blessed their lives. They had a slide show presentation that was really interesting and the talks were also about equality and how we can treat others respectfully despite our differences. It was a really great Sabbath and we had Gornet and Charles Whitfield come to Church and all of the people that we thought were going to come and told us that they would come, didn't show up but we were thankful that we had 2 investigators at Church! It was kind of a cloudy day but we sang "There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today!" I am always extra happy and excited on the day when I get your email! They have such a powerful impact on me and I'm totally refreshed after reading them!!! Thank you SO much for taking the time to write me such awesome emails! Our last appointment for the day was really awesome! We visited with the Darko family and they are all members and we watched the President Nelson devotional since they hadn't seen it. They have a 17 year old son named William and it was geared towards him because we really think that he would be a great missionary! It was Puerto Rican independence day and so it was pretty crazy around town! There were tons of flags everywhere and lots of music playing. Then while we were on the bus, we heard tons of honking and when I say tons, I mean people honked for 20 seconds at a time and we looked back, and there were about 15 cars behind the bus with Puerto Rican flags all over their cars and people were hanging outside of the car and yelling. They have been partying a ton and it has been cool to see the Puerto Rican pride! Then we showed the President Nelson devotional to the youth with the Darko Family and it was a perfect way to end the day! We were on the bus and I got your email and was so excited to get back to the apartment to read your fun email! We got to walk right past Fordam University in an area that we haven't ever walked past and wow is it a pretty campus! It is pretty small and contained into a pretty small area but the landscaping is beautiful! We walked right past the football stadium and I thought of you all and how much you would would love the pretty scenery! Your email was INCREDIBLE and I loved every single word!! Your emails are always so exciting no matter what you talk about! I just love to hear from you!!! I'm so thankful that you had a great week and so much happened! I loved every detail and loved hearing your reactions to my emails! It's always fun to type up my day and what I did and know that you can read them! I was so excited to talk to you the next day! It was a really awesome day and read your email a few times because it was so great! Sorry, I didn't have a ton of pictures but I was hoping that Sister Smith took a lot for you to see of Zone Conference! We are all really excited about zone conference! We have heard so many exciting things about the changes and we can't believe that we will find all of this out 1 WEEK FROM THIS COMING SATURDAY!! We got thinking that we probably saw President and Sister Smith for the last time which is sad. These changes are coming up so fast! So here is a rumor that we heard! When transfer calls come in, President Smith might be transferring us not only to the Newburgh zone which goes to the Morristown Mission but he might be able to transfer us within the South mission boundaries and so we are thinking that on transfer call night, we could get called to serve in Brooklyn, Queens, or even Burmuda! We are sure exactly what will happen and we aren't sure if we will see them again but I hope that we can go to Heber sometime and visit them! We haven't heard a thing about a mission wide farewell but I really hope that they do one! President Smith was reminiscing about how he has memories with each of us and he named a few times where he had gone running with the New Rochelle Elders and some of the other memories that he has made and just mentioned that he remembered our phone call. It was fun to hear of some of the memories that he has with every single missionary. He said that he has special memories with each one of us! They will be missed for sure! I seriously loved your email and pictures so much and was so happy for everything that you wrote to me! They are always so personal! Love you with all my heart!
Well my loving and caring Family!! I am really looking forward to opening my package and I can't wait to see what you sent and hear what you get to do for your Anniversary! I'm so excited to be home next year and celebrate! I'm also so very excited to see the Stucky Family next week! They will have to bring my love and support back home with them to you! Hehe! I'm so glad that you got my card in the mail! I always want you to know how much I love and appreciate you all! It's crazy to think about last year and how you were in Washington DC and now a whole year has passed! I hope that you have the best Anniversary ever and have tons of fun! I am so thankful for your package and will upload lots of pictures to my drive on Thursday! As of now, we have weekly planning and a lesson with Jose Rodriguez on my Birthday and so hopefully we can set a baptismal date with him! I hope you all have a great week and keep up the great work! You are the best Family ever and I so appreciate everything that you do for me! LOVE & MISS YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!!!
Thursday was so very amazing! It was our very last Zone Conference with the Smith Family and so it was a little wierd to know that next zone conference will be with a different Mission President! We were told not to wear suits which was very different from all of our other zone conferences. We got ready for the day and took the Metro North train up to Scarsdale and it was a really pretty day! The train ride is always so pretty and I love to see all of the thick woods and trees that are on the way to Scarsdale. We were so excited for Zone Conference and it was so fun to catch up with all of the missionaries in the zone and see how they were doing! This Zone Conference was the most amazing and powerful Zone Conference that I have EVER been a part of! It was incredible to say the least! It was smaller since it was just our zone but we still had almost 45 missionaries there. It was such an amazing tribute to President and Sister Smith and the day was just amazing to spend with them! We had some awesome testimonies and some really exciting things happen! By the end of zone conference, almost everyone was in tears just how powerful the conference was. It was hard for President and Sister Smith just because they knew that their time was coming to an end. We had some great training on how to teach people on the streets or subways in a minute or less since people are always on the move. We were in the chapel and we watched a few videos and then we did something so special and memorable! We went into the mission home and had an amazing lunch! Elder and Sister Honeycutt, who work in the office, made some delcious hamburgers and we had chips and rice crispy treats. Then we signed a piece of fabric with our name and the year that we go home and Sister Smith is going to make a quilt out of all the squares from every single missionary that has come to this mission while they have served here. President Smith asked us all lots of great questions and even told everyone in the zone how special it was to call me before I came out. He talked about lots of the special memories that he has made while serving here and told everyone How he called me before I came out and it was really cool! President Smith gave lots of hugs to the Elders and while we were eating lunch, he put his arm around me and said "Don't you worry about which mission that you will serve in. You just keep going and everything will work out!" He has always been so personable and knows each missionary personally. Then came the coolest part! We all got to watch some videos that President Smith recorded of all of the Apostles that have come to visit the mission during their service and they all gave a shout out to the NYNYN mission. Then we all got to stand and bear our testimonies and it was just so amazing! I WISH THAT YOU COULD HAVE ALL BEEN THERE!!! Then at the end, the senior couples got to stand and bear their testimonies and we all sang "Hope of Israel!" And it was one of the most powerful things I've ever been a part of. Just thinking of how many missionaries have sat in that very living room where we were and how Elder Rasband has lived there. We sang so loud and proud and I was such a cool sight! I wish that I could have gotten pictures and videos but Sister Smith took quite a few and so I hope that you were able to see some of them! After we sang Hope of Israel, almost everyone started to cry and then very quietly, nobody knew that she would sing this, but Sister Kanzler started to quietly sing, "God be with you till we meet again." It didn't leave a dry eye in the house because all of the missionaries just sang and looked at President and Sister Smith. It was SO powerful and I can't even put it into words. It was such a special moment that I will never forget! I am so thankful for President and Sister Smith and we are sad to see them leave us so soon! I was hoping that you were all doing well and that you were as happy as ever! After zone conferences, I wished so much that I could give you each a big hug and let you know just how much I love and care about you! We had 2 amazing lessons that went so well! We had the chance to teach the Paredes Family and they were so receptive and it was one of the coolest lessons ever! We taught them about the Book of Mormon and how it can help them! Then we caught Babatunde at home and he was leaving to the store and so it was amazing to teach him in 10 minutes. Then we went to the Church and I picked up my Birthday packages!!! I was so very excited to get them and so thankful for them! Thank you SO much for sending them! I'm so very excited to open them next Thursday!! Love you tons!
Friday was another really awesome and great day! I was hoping that you were all doing well and having a really fun summer! We did our weekly planning today instead of on Thursday because on Zone Conferences. We had a great day and a lot happened! I was reflecting on yesterday's zone conference and I am just so grateful for this Gospel and the chance that I have to serve! Sure it has been very difficult to be away from you but I'm so thankful that I came! It might seem hard in the moment but I honestly don't remember any of the hard times that I have had so far on my mission. I just remember the great experiences, the people I've met, and the love and support from all of you at home. I knew the Church was true before I left but I have gained a deeper and stronger testimony that has come through my missionary service and I KNOW that this Church is Christ's Church reestablished onto the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I learn new things every day and am amazed at how much I have been able to accomplish. We have many missionaries going home in the next 2 weeks and so I will be one of the oldest Elders in the whole mission. I will probably meet some new Elders who came out the same time I did and so maybe I will get to go home with them! It is going to be so exciting and I can't wait! We went to an appointment with Immanuel and his Family but they forgot that they had an appointment since his wife just had a baby and so we knocked in their door and they weren't home so we took out their trash that was sitting on their front steps and so it was great to be able to serve them. The humidity has been out of this world crazy and we are drenched within a few minutes of being outside. It feels so humid and makes it feel so much hotter. We had a great weekly planning and mostly called all of the investigators that we are working with and we set up lots of appointments! I had fun having some Birthday packages sitting on my desk and I was excited to open them! It was fun to set up so many appointments and know that we had another busy week ahead of us! We went out after dinner and had a great night! We taught a member named Bruce Moore again and followed up with his Book of Mormon reading. We read 3 Nephi 18 with him and it was really cool because he really wants to come back to Church! Then we knocked on the door of a referral that we had just gotten from the Manhattan Elders and it turns out that he didn't live there but the man that did live there, wants us to come back and so we set an appointment with him! We also got a call from the member in Arizona who is helping us with the teaching of the Wiggs Family. He was thrilled that we got a hold of the Wiggs Family and that we taught them! He asked us where we were from and he said that he has Family in Jackson Hole Wyoming and has been to Logan many times! It was such a great day and I was thinking about each of you a lot and hoping that your weekend was going awesome and that you were having a fun time! Love ya ton!
I woke up on Saturday and couldn't believe that it was already the 9th of June and almost P-day again! I have something so exciting to tell you! We had another amazing day and enjoyed cleaning the Church for our weekly service! We got a call from our Zone Leaders and they asked if they could go on a 5 hour split from 3:00-8:00 and so we were really excited about that! I got to be in our area with Elder Allen and Elder Mitonzi went to the Spanish area even though he doesn't speak Spanish! Hehe! Elder Allen is such a cool guy and it has been different to have a Zone Leader who has been out for less time than I have. He has been out for about 10 months and so it's wierd to think that I've been out almost twice as long as he has. We were excited for our split and looking forward to working together! We went to the Church to clean and it went really well! We got it done really quick and had a few more people show up than the time before and so it was really awesome to talk to the members! We have been working so hard and just give it our all every day and we are seeing so many cool things happen in our area! I have been so blessed and I love watching people accept the Gospel and want to learn more! It's just so fulfilling to see the fruits of our labors! Before our split, we went to a lesson near our apartment and here is the exciting part! We have been teaching them for a while and they are learning a little bit slower since we only meet with them once a week but they are so awesome! It is the Opoku Family and we taught the Dad, Emmanuel, and his son, Emmanuel Jr. We set a baptismal date with them for August 4th and so we were excited to have 2 more baptisms to work towards! It was so exciting and we were on cloud 9! Our split was so much fun and we saw so many cool things happen and we got to know each other really well! So Elder Allen is our zone leader and he is from Boise and we have so much in common! He actually went to Utah State for a year and loved every second of it and told me that he worked at the University and helped set up for football and basketball games and ever played in the rec center with a lot of the basketball guys! Sign me up for that job!!! He is so cool and I really want to stay in touch with him! He goes home a few months after I do and so I might want to go to his homecoming! We saw so many amazing things happen and here are the highlights! We met a guy as we were walking past and we couldn't believe what he told us! He said that he read the Book of Mormon many years ago and said that he has a testimony of it and he knows it is true and knows that Joseph Smith is a true prophet! It was so cool to talk to him! He is from Brooklyn and we set up an appointment with him for next Thursday on my Birthday and so we are trying to set a baptismal date on my Birthday!! Then we had a great lesson with a guy named Chris and he didn't have much of a religious background and so everything was new to him. We invited tons of people to Church and got to talk to a lot of people in Spanish and I picked out a few words here and there. Elder Allen is a really fun guy to be around and is himself everywhere he goes! It was crazy how much we have in common and we found out that we were at the exact same basketball and football games at Utah State! He lived on campus and loved every minute of going to school there and plans to go to Byu when he gets home. We were thrilled to set not 1, but 2 baptismal dates and we had so much fun working together! It was such an amazing day and we were really ready for a good night's rest!
Sunday was incredible! I was so very excited to read your fun email and I couldn't wait to hear from you!!!! Sundays are always so awesome because we have Church and then I get to read your email and see your pictures. Our Church starts at 9:30 and so we get up, get ready, and then head off to Church. We were really excited because a lot of our investigators told us that we would see them in Church and so we were hoping to see a lot of them there! I was excited because I got an email from Sister Stucky and she told me about them coming to New York and she wants to take us out to lunch! I'm really excited to see a familiar face and this is the first people that I know from back home that I have seen in over 17 months! Church was so awesome and it was all focused on the "Be One" devotional that was to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Priesthood revelation. It was really cool because they told stories about African pioneers and how much the Gospel blessed their lives. They had a slide show presentation that was really interesting and the talks were also about equality and how we can treat others respectfully despite our differences. It was a really great Sabbath and we had Gornet and Charles Whitfield come to Church and all of the people that we thought were going to come and told us that they would come, didn't show up but we were thankful that we had 2 investigators at Church! It was kind of a cloudy day but we sang "There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today!" I am always extra happy and excited on the day when I get your email! They have such a powerful impact on me and I'm totally refreshed after reading them!!! Thank you SO much for taking the time to write me such awesome emails! Our last appointment for the day was really awesome! We visited with the Darko family and they are all members and we watched the President Nelson devotional since they hadn't seen it. They have a 17 year old son named William and it was geared towards him because we really think that he would be a great missionary! It was Puerto Rican independence day and so it was pretty crazy around town! There were tons of flags everywhere and lots of music playing. Then while we were on the bus, we heard tons of honking and when I say tons, I mean people honked for 20 seconds at a time and we looked back, and there were about 15 cars behind the bus with Puerto Rican flags all over their cars and people were hanging outside of the car and yelling. They have been partying a ton and it has been cool to see the Puerto Rican pride! Then we showed the President Nelson devotional to the youth with the Darko Family and it was a perfect way to end the day! We were on the bus and I got your email and was so excited to get back to the apartment to read your fun email! We got to walk right past Fordam University in an area that we haven't ever walked past and wow is it a pretty campus! It is pretty small and contained into a pretty small area but the landscaping is beautiful! We walked right past the football stadium and I thought of you all and how much you would would love the pretty scenery! Your email was INCREDIBLE and I loved every single word!! Your emails are always so exciting no matter what you talk about! I just love to hear from you!!! I'm so thankful that you had a great week and so much happened! I loved every detail and loved hearing your reactions to my emails! It's always fun to type up my day and what I did and know that you can read them! I was so excited to talk to you the next day! It was a really awesome day and read your email a few times because it was so great! Sorry, I didn't have a ton of pictures but I was hoping that Sister Smith took a lot for you to see of Zone Conference! We are all really excited about zone conference! We have heard so many exciting things about the changes and we can't believe that we will find all of this out 1 WEEK FROM THIS COMING SATURDAY!! We got thinking that we probably saw President and Sister Smith for the last time which is sad. These changes are coming up so fast! So here is a rumor that we heard! When transfer calls come in, President Smith might be transferring us not only to the Newburgh zone which goes to the Morristown Mission but he might be able to transfer us within the South mission boundaries and so we are thinking that on transfer call night, we could get called to serve in Brooklyn, Queens, or even Burmuda! We are sure exactly what will happen and we aren't sure if we will see them again but I hope that we can go to Heber sometime and visit them! We haven't heard a thing about a mission wide farewell but I really hope that they do one! President Smith was reminiscing about how he has memories with each of us and he named a few times where he had gone running with the New Rochelle Elders and some of the other memories that he has made and just mentioned that he remembered our phone call. It was fun to hear of some of the memories that he has with every single missionary. He said that he has special memories with each one of us! They will be missed for sure! I seriously loved your email and pictures so much and was so happy for everything that you wrote to me! They are always so personal! Love you with all my heart!
Well my loving and caring Family!! I am really looking forward to opening my package and I can't wait to see what you sent and hear what you get to do for your Anniversary! I'm so excited to be home next year and celebrate! I'm also so very excited to see the Stucky Family next week! They will have to bring my love and support back home with them to you! Hehe! I'm so glad that you got my card in the mail! I always want you to know how much I love and appreciate you all! It's crazy to think about last year and how you were in Washington DC and now a whole year has passed! I hope that you have the best Anniversary ever and have tons of fun! I am so thankful for your package and will upload lots of pictures to my drive on Thursday! As of now, we have weekly planning and a lesson with Jose Rodriguez on my Birthday and so hopefully we can set a baptismal date with him! I hope you all have a great week and keep up the great work! You are the best Family ever and I so appreciate everything that you do for me! LOVE & MISS YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!!!
~Elder Lindberg
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