July 30th 2018~Where Did July Go? Thanks For The Fun Email & Pictures!
Hello again my awesome and dear Family! What a great week it has been! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for the awesome and fun emails and pictures! You make my whole week with the awesome, detailed letter that you always send to me! They are always MUCH appreciated and I look forward to reading all about your week! I was so happy to hear about the parade and that Football is starting up! I'm so excited for the boys to play and I can't wait to hear how their seasons go! I'm also very excited about Abby's work and all of your fun summer activites! This week has been full of spiritual experiences and there has been so much to do! I feel so much love for you all and I always know that you are close in thought! Always picture you walking right beside me every step of the way! I'm always confident in testifying to people and I know that is just because you are right with me! Today for P-Day we have something really fun planned! We are going to go to a town called High Point and we are going to drive up to the tallest and highest elevation in New Jersey! It will be a lot of fun and we can see New York and Pennsylvania from the top and they have lots of cool views! It will be a fun day and I'm really looking forward to talking with you! I'm very excited for today and the chance that I have to talk with each one of you! Here goes my week! It was a great one! Wait....every week is a good one!
Last P-day was a really great and fun day! Thank you SO much for all of the emails! It started to pour rain in the morning but it was much needed rain and it made the temperatures go down and it made the weather so nice! It was a lot of fun to email you during the day and I had a blast chatting with you! I have really enjoyed this apartment and the people that live here are so nice! The washer and dryer are quarter operated and so I had fun looking through a roll of quarters for this next month's laundry! It sure is quiet up this way and is a big difference from the busy City! It was so funny because it would rain really hard for 20 minutes and then completely stop and the sun would come out and then it would rain some more and then stop. It was pretty funny! I was thinking to myself: "Make up your mind weather!" Hehe! I enjoyed talking back and forth with you so much! We had lots of fun and enjoyed relaxing and sending emails to all of our loved ones at home! We met some nice people while shopping and some guys from Mexico were sitting outside enjoying a soda and we said hello to them! I bought some burritos, quesadillas, cereal, bread for sandwiches, and some frozen vegetables! I have been making lots of sandwiches and quesadillas and it has been very good! This ward feeds us well and so I haven't had to buy as much. After our fun P-Day ended, I sent out 1 more email to wish you a great week and then we went down near Lake Hopatcong to try and visit David and Debbie to see how their Book of Mormon reading was going and to confirm our appointment. They were home and we confirmed for our appointment which we were really happy about and we also invited them to the 24th of July barbeque picnic! As we were leaving our apartment, I checked our mailbox and what did I see!?!?! A cute letter from Parker! Thank you SO very much for thinking of me and sending a fun postcard! I was so happy to get it! We were out walking and all of a sudden, a sheet of rain came flooding down and drenched us within a few seconds but luckily we were on our way back to the car to go to our next area so we didn't get too wet. We would have gotten really wet if we were farther away from the car. It ended up being so stormy and rainy that we sat in the car to wait it out and so we made some phone calls and invited everyone we could to the barbecue on Saturday. You guys are MORE than welcome to come if you would like to show up! Hehe! I WISH YOU COULD COME! We contacted quite a few people and we had a few people say yes and so we were happy about that! It was a great day and I was very excited to see your email when we got back to the apartment! It was such a great day! Love you tons!
HAPPY PIONEER DAY!!! Tuesday was another very great day! It rained a lot today too but we stayed really dry! I was wishing you all a great and fun Pioneer Day and I hope that you were enjoying your barbecue and burgers! It sounded like a great time and I was thinking about you a lot! I thought it would be fun to post on Facebook about the pioneers and the sacrifices that they made for us! We had a great district meeting and Elder Caccioppoli and I got to demonstrate how to contact someone by tracting and find out more about their religious background and practice teaching with the other missionaries. It helps a lot to practice teaching someone when the person we are teaching is another missionary and it helps to get feedback on how we can improve our teaching. It is about a 45 minute drive to the Ledgewood chapel where we have district meeting and it was interesting because we drove through an area where it was raining really hard and then it would be blue skies and then we would hit another rain storm and it was interesting how patchy the storms were and how it was light a light switch that would turn off and on. The weather here is wierd! Hehe! We found some really awesome people as we were tracting and we got to say a prayer with a lady whose son is in the hospital and she was almost in tears by the time I finished my prayer! It was really powerful! She had to leave in a hurry but we hope to see her at the barbeque on Saturday! I just realized something so cool and I can't believe it! I noticed that on July 25th 2017, I moved to Kingston and so 1 year ago today, I was with Elder Dick in the Bronx! I can't believe that it was a whole year ago that I moved to Kingston and became companions with Elder Howard! So cool! I was really excited to see your Facebook message! Happy Pioneer Day to you too! We had a 6:00 appointment with David and Debbie and so we didn't have a chance to grab dinner so we could make it on time and we got to the door, David came out and told us that he really appreciated us coming over and teaching him but he said that they aren't ready to make changes in their life and accept the Gospel just yet. He did it in such a respectful manner and was worried that he would hurt our feelings. We asked him what made him feel that way and he said that he doesn't want to jump into something so quick and change his lifestyle. We invited him to continue to read the Book of Mormon and give us a call if he or his wife had any questions and they said that they would try to come to the barbecue so we were happy about that! We were able to get some dinner after that and then we tracted near some amazing houses with awesome views of Lake Hopatcong! There were boaters out on the water jet skiing and wake boarding and it looked like a lot of fun! Our focus was to get return appointments and also have them commit to come to the picnic celebration and lots of people said if they weren't too busy, then they would come! I got a video of just how quiet it was in the area that we were working in and it was dead silent! It sounded so peaceful! It's funny because nobody celebrates the 24th of July and so it was just a regular day for everyone! We met a lady in her 70s who was taking care of her Mom and she said that they would try to come to the barbecue! She was so nice and thanked us for inviting them! It was such a great way to end a great day! I know this Church is true and the Gospel changes people's lives! I hope you are having fun with your barbecue and had fun at the parade! Love and miss each one of you so much!!!! P.S: Tell Parker I said thanks for the fun postcard!! I loved it so much Buddie!
Wednesday was just so great! 1 year ago today I moved from the Bronx to Kingston! I was wishing you all a great day and sending lots of well wishes to you! We planned out a really great day and had a huge list of people that we had records for and guess what!?!?! The very top left portion of our area borders Pennsylvania and we planned to work just a few minutes away from the border and so it was fun to think that we were so close to another State! It is a town called Montague and it is mostly forest and trees with houses tucked into the trees and so things are pretty spread out up there. The weather was really crazy today and it poured rain like none other the whole day! It was off and on in the early part of the afternoon but after 5:00, the rain caused some flooding in certain areas and the storm drains were overwhelmed with how much water was flowing in. We hadn't been to this particular town called Montague before and so we had lots of work to do while we were there. It takes about 45 minutes to drive up there but we had most of the day to spend up there! In my morning studies, I read about the parable of the olive tree and how Heavenly Father can take us and shape us into better people and it was just such a cool chapter to read! Elder Caccioppoli has been pretty excited because he only has 10 weeks left but he told me that he is getting a little bit stressed about what he should do for college and for a job. His Dad used to work for the post office as a mailman and so he thought about doing that but he wants to go to Union College and do something in the English program. He is really good at drawing and loves to write. I forgot if I mentioned this or not but I got an email from Church headquarters about the "My Plan" activity that I will do my last 6 weeks in the mission field. It is a really cool program and helps us map out some things for when we get home! I'm excited to start it in a few months! I will print out a copy and share it with President Hess and also President Farnsworth! It has us set some goals as to how we want to keep our good habits and what we will do to achieve them! I'm very excited to show you my goals! We were able to find a really nice girl named Brianne who is the daughter of a member that passed away a few years ago. She isn't a member but she says that her Mom was the only member in the Family and so we were able to teach her about the Book of Mormon and how to say a prayer! Then we got to drive past something really cool that I never realized was in our area! It is a small town called High Point and it is actually the highest elevation in all of New Jersey and so we got to see the monument from a distance and while we were at the crest, I got to see Pennsylvania! Then as we were driving, more rain came crashing down and it was so dark and it just poured and poured the whole rest of the day. We stayed dry because we would get out of the car, run to the door, tract a few housesnaround our lookup, and then hop back in the car and drive to our next place. It was a great system and so we didn't get very wet! We were able to have a great lesson with a member, who is 28, named Gabriel Barrientos. He is in the YSA and recently lost 2 of his best friends and so he has been needed someone to talk to so we went over with some comforting scriptures and we could tell that he was much happier! We just talked to him and got to know him better and he has some really cool stories about how he buys and sells new and classic cars and makes more money than what he bought them for. He is a great guy and it was nice to get to know him better! Then we tried to knock on more doors but the rain was just so very crazy and we were soaked within 10 seconds of being out in it even with umbrellas and so we tried calling some of our investigators and a lot of them answered! It just makes me so thankful and happy to have a car and that we can still stay busy even while we are in the car to call people! I hope that each of you had a very fun day! Hugs and kisses for all!!!!! Thursday was another great and fun day of hard work! It was still pretty cloudy but the water on the ground evaporated and so it was nice to have a break from the rain! I hope that you all had an amazing and fun day! I think about you all the time and send my love from New Jersey! Thank you so much for your many thoughts and prayers! Elder Caccioppoli and I have been praying really hard to have a baptism and we truly are so excited to find that 1 golden investigator who is ready to hear the Gospel! We feel so satisfied with our work and we just have to keep going to find that 1 person who is ready! I keep thinking back to Kingston and how we found Bill sitting on a bench on main street and what a special time that was! I am so excited to find another cool person like him! I love studying and findjng cool scriptures to share during the day and learning new ways to teach and find people! We were able to take a member out named Daniel who is in his 20s and he came with us to find more people to teach! He has autism and loves being a missionary. When he heard that Elders would be serving in this ward, he was so excited and couldn't wait to go out with us to work! Before our split, we were knocking on some doors and a really friendly guy with lots of kids answered the door. His name is Matt Burke and he was wearing a Buffalo Bills shirt and so I asked him if he was excited to have Josh Allen on his team. I told him that Dad and the boys got to see him win the Potato Bowl in person and he thought that was really cool! We had a great discussion with him about faith and how Jesus Christ is always there for us and we can learn from his example. He told us that he is an athlectic trainer for a local high school and so I was so grateful to meet him because we connected really well! Then we waited for a few minutes in our apartment for Daniel to come pick us up for our split and what a nice guy he is! He loved to drive the missionaries around and go to lessons and tract with them! He is a really funny guy as well and is about to turn 26 years old. We knocked on a lot of doors and people were so friendly for the most part! We were able to teach a teenager on his front porch named Miguel. He asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon because he had seen the play and so he was confused when we told him that the actual Book of Mormon doesn't have any correlation between the play! Hehe! We also had a great lesson with Laura but she doesn't seem to take our lessons seriously and so we read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with her and it went so great! The clouds finally went away and it didn't rain the whole day so we were all extra happy! After we grabbed some dinner, we went up to Stockholm to visit some of our investigators that we don't have phone numbers for. We stopped by a house with a man that lived there with Neal Caragelo that neither of us knew and we had records for him so we thought it would be a great idea to go and visit him. He is a very nice guy but he talked our ears off and we couldn't get a word in. He has many amazing stories but we just couldn't get out of there. We tried to cut him short but he just wouldn't stop rambling on and just talked for what seemed forever but luckily we were able to do a few lookups before it got to be too late. Since we are both new to the area, we now know that he talks a lot and so it is hard to teach him. He shared a really cool story about how he was a teacher and he gave a leather coat, that he wore as a kid, to a kid that didn't have a coat and the next day, the kid came up to him and said "You forgot something in your coat" and pulled out a $10.00 bill that was over 30 years old because Neal put it in his pocket when he was a kid and forgot about it for many years and he let the kid have it! Cool huh! Neal is a great guy but we had a hard time teaching him. It was such a great day though and we were so excited about the many blessings that we see every day! Give each other a big hug and kiss from me and know that I love you very, VERY much!!!!
Wow! Friday was a very awesome day! The weather was so pretty again and we were thankful that it didn't rain! We headed off to our food pantry service project and had a really great time helping those in need! They have a really cool system down where they have the people sign in and then the volunteers that they have will help them through the line and they can pick out things that they need. It went for a few hours and we met some nice people who were so thankful for our service! It is at a Episcopal church and they have volunteers from a few different Churches around the Sparta area and so it has been fun to see how other Churches interact with each other. We then had some lunch and planned out our day and then studied! I forgot to tell you something really cool! So I found out that our Bishop in this ward, Bishop Jensen, was born in Laramie Wyoming and so we had fun talking about the Cowboys! He was pretty young when his Family moved to Arizona but he still remembers some of the sights! I set some more goals and wrote them down on my notes so I wouldn't forget because I have been praying to know what I should do for school and how I can best finish my mission strong! I have received so many answers through prayers and I pray for each of you individually every day! We were able to talk to this very nice Catholic lady and we had a great 15 minute conversation about her beliefs! She told us that she has been to Salt Lake a few times and she remembers the peaceful feeling that she had and just how fun it was to be there. She also said that Salt Lake City has a different feel to it and she can tell that it is a special place! She also told us that she has a daughter that lived in Jackson Hole Wyoming and visited there a few times! It's interesting to see the connections that people have all the way over here on the East Coast! We shared with her a scripture from the Book of Mormon and she thought it was so cool that we read from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon together! She is in her mid 60s and very smart and said that she is studying the Bible and taking a class to become more familiar with scripture. She told us how amazing it was that we left our Families and I looked at her and said "I love my Family so much that I left them for a short time so I could be standing on your doorstep today sharing this message with you!" I told her how much this Church has blessed our lives and just how many blessings we receive from being a part of this wonderful Church and how close it has brought us. I know that I have the best Family ever and I'm so thankful to have a close relationship with each of you! We then went tracting for the rest of the evening and it went so great! This mission has a challenge that 1 zone will challenge another zone to see how many people we can talk to in a single day and they keep track and tally them all up and whichever zone contacts the most people face to face in a single week, wins! So we have been having fun seeing if we can beat our record for how many people we talk to but sometimes it can be out of our control if someone isn't home or they don't answer their door but we have been doing really well! It started last Friday and went until today and it was a race to see how many people we could talk to! We grabbed a quick snack so we could spend as much time before Friday ended so we could talk to more people! We were driving and could see the darkest clouds I've ever seen roll in and one of the craziest storms I've ever seen roll in! When I say crazy.....I mean......crazy! Hehe! ⛈ We got out of the car and saw lightning up in the distance and we knocked on a few doors and the rain was just pelting us. It was so crazy but we just kept knocking doors but I bet people thought we were crazy for being out in that weather. I just couldn't believe how dark it was. The lightning got closer and closer and it was almost instantaneously that we saw the flash and then heard the crack of thunder. Luckily, we knocked on a few more doors and invited some people to the barbeque before we returned to the apartment. Love each of you so very much! You are my greatest joy in life!
Saturday was so great! We woke up and were very excited for the 24th of July barbeque because we had a few people that committed to coming! We also got to help a Family move that lives in a really pretty area on the West side of our area right next to the Pennsylvania border! So we drove to the Teets' home and helped them move from 9:00-11:00 and then we drove to the Church to help set up and serve food for the barbeque! The weather was nice and cool and I'm not going to lie, it is already starting to feel a little bit like fall! Crazy huh! I feel like it was just fall and here we are again. Time sure does fly by on the mission! We had such a great time helping the Teets Family move and everything went really smoothly and we had a great turnout! They had lots of heavy furniture to move and it ended up not being enough room in the van that they rented and so we packed as much as we could and they rented a storage unit because their house closes on August 1st and so they really needed to move out. Then we changed into our white shirts and ties and then went to the Church for the ward barbeque and what a fun time it was! We had a really good turnout and had lots of good food! I was able to talk to lots of members and I connected with them really well! I was hoping that you were having a fun Saturday! I sure was thinking about you a lot! We had some yummy barbecue and we helped set up tables, chairs, bread trays, and we even made some honey butter for Sister Stevenson. We really had a great time and had some great conversations with the members! They had a pie baking contest and did some fun Pioneer themed games and they made some butter in baby food jars. This ward really knows how to party! The weather was so pretty and there were puffy white clouds all over! We helped clean up and put all of the food away and it has been fun to see the ward trust us so much and want us to help out! I love being able to help out in any way that I can and it really brings a smile to my face to make other people happy! After the celebration was over, we had our ward correlation meeting and so that meant we could sleep in until 6:30 on Sunday! Hehe! We usually have to wake up at 5:15 and be to the Church by 7:00 but Brother Stevenson decided to do it after the party instead. We told him about the people we met and he was pleased with how many people we have talked to. He said that missionaries that have served in this area in the past have struggled with finding people and even contacting people in general and havent been able to have an investigator come to Church in a while and so he told us that we are lifting where we are standing and doing a great job! It was fun to hear his input on how the work is going because I'm really enjoying this area! We went out tracting for the rest of the night on a street called Apollo Drive and Armstrong Drive! It was a really pretty area with some nice landscaping! I thought of Dad when I saw a giant, and I mean GIANT rock sitting in someone's yard and I thought to myself, "I wonder how much it would cost to ship that to Utah?" because it was such a cool landscaping rock! We talked to some amazing people and it was the most receptive I think I've ever seen people while tracting! We talked to this one Catholic lady and when I asked if there was anything I could do for her she said "You could give me the winning lottery ticket numbers!" Hehe! We all had a great laugh! Then we talked to a lady named Patti and she was just really nice and she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. She was curious about what we believe and was thrilled to have a 2nd witness of Jesus Christ! We were in a neighborhood that is right next to a High School and guess what I could hear??? The band practicing for the upcoming Football season! It was fun to hear some Familiar fight songs and band songs that they play at Mountain Crest and Aggie games! I also saw a UCF Dark Knights flag and so Football season is right around the corner! Then we knocked on a door and a whole Family answered! They all stood there and listened to us intently as we talked about our basic beliefs and that we believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. The Mom said that they were Protestant and were really involved with their Church but she would ask us if we believed in a certain Gospel Principles and most of them lined up with what we believe and so they were impressed and it cleared up some of the false ideas that some people think that we believe. We gave them a Restoration Pamphlet and so we are praying that they read it! We also talked to a really nice lady who told us that she was Catholic and had some friends and cousins that served missions! She wouldn't accept any of our material but she told us how thankful that we were out and about teaching people! It was such a pleasant day and we knocked on close to 50 different houses! I hope your Saturday was just awesome! Love each one of you so very much!
Sunday was such a great day as well! I was just so excited to read your email and see your pictures! I always love hearing all about your week and I look forward to it so much! I had a crazy dream that night and I'm excited to tell you about it! So I had a dream that a few years after I came home from my mission, we were sitting in Grandma and Grandpa Lindberg's living room just talking and all of a sudden, someone says: "Let's go to England!" So we all hopped in the car and drove to the airport and within a few hours, we were walking the streets of England! Hehe! While we were in England, Parker looks up to me and says that he wants to serve a mission to England and so he put in his mission papers and wrote that he wanted to go to England on his mission. Brandon and Abby also decided that they wanted to serve a mission even though they weren't old enough but President Nelson made an exception and let them go! Abby got called to Sacramento, California, and Brandon got called to Scotland! Hehe! What made it funny is that their mission calls came so quick and they all left for their missions on that same day that we were just sitting and talking in their living room! We all said goodbye to our 17, 14, and 11 year old missionaries! It was a very strange dream but I thought it was hilarious!!! Hehe! We had such an awesome day at Church! We had a youth speaker and then we had the Bishop's wife speak and she gave an amazing talk about doing hard things and we sometimes perceive challenges and setting goals and either we can or can't do them. She said that if we can get just a little bit better at a particular skill, then we have accomplished it! She said that she wasn't a runner and didn't like to run but she always wanted to run a marathon. We worked and worked and ended up loving to run, and ended up running several marathons. We then had some great lessons about standing up for the Church and standing out. They talked about not being defensive when someone questions our beliefs but being the loving and kind people that Latter Day Saints should be which was really cool! They talked about how they were in a restraunt in a business meeting and how the boss of the company questioned this member who is in our ward about his beliefs that he shouldn't drink alcohol. It was really a great lesson and we felt the spirit a lot! Then we went to the memorial for one of the member's sons. Sister Goodbar had a son pass away a few years ago and so she put together a memorial and life celebration on his Birthday to remember him. She asked if the missionaries could come and share a message and testify of the Plan of Salvation so we were happy to do that! One really cool thing that I forgot to tell you in that the 1st councilor in the Relief Society Presidency, has a son who is getting college offers to play football next year! Her son will be a senior this year and has offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson, and so they have been travelling to these different campuses to visit the team and see the facilities! It was fun to talk to him and he is a really nice kid! The dinner with Sister Goodbar and her neighbors went really well! It was more of a party than a fireside and they had a group of Hawaiian flame dancers come and so we got to know Sister Goodbar and we had some dinner and then headed off for more work! Being a missionary is just so awesome and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything! I truly am so grateful for this Gospel and I have been able to see such an amazing change in myself and I've come to appreciate and love the Gospel even more! I have been learning so much and I continue to grow each day! I sure do love and miss you so very much and I'm so thankful for all of your sacrifices and prayers! Thanks so much for each and every things that you do for me! I love you, I love the Gospel, and I love the knowledge that Families can be together forever and I'm so thankful to share this good message with others who haven't had the opportunity to hear it! We went tracting for the evening on a street called Yuma Trail and boy did we have lots of success! The people were just so friendly and willing to talk it was amazing! We gave out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon on 1 street and set up 2 return appointments that we are so excited about! It always makes me feel so good when we know that we are saying the right things to the people we meet when they want us to come back! We met this really nice lady named Carol and she just listened and was cracking jokes the whole time. We testified that the Book of Mormon is true and she was holding the Book of Mormon up to her chest and had both arms wrapped around it. It was special to see! The night was just so nice and the sunset was so pretty! We loved seeing so much success! We drove back to the apartment and I was SOOOOOO excited to see your email in my inbox! Time to read a fun email!!!! I'm so happy that your week went so well! I am just so blessed to have the BEST FAMILY EVER!!! Your email was just so awesome as always and I'm so happy for everything that you got to do! I pray each day that you can have a fun, safe, and happy day and I'm so thankful that my prayers are answered! Love and miss you guys so much!!!!
P.S: I have something so funny to tell you! Hehe! We have been knocking on so many doors lately that my knuckle actually has a callus and is red from how much knocking we have done! I seem to knock with the same part of my knuckle and it is pretty red! Also, it was so interesting to me how my dream was so specific and I even dreamed about the 3 places! So crazy and it might come true!
P.P.S: Thanks again for the awesome and fun emails and pictures! You make me so happy and you always put a huge smile on my face!!
P.P.P.S: Good luck with your practice tonight Brandon! It will be 2:00 in the morning here in New Jersey by the time you start and then I will be up 4 and a half hours after your practice starts!
Well my dear and awesome Family! It was so much fun to type up this email and I loved reading your email and seeing the pictures that you sent! Thanks again for all of your thoughtful emails! I loved seeing pictures and hearing about all of the fun activities going on! I hope that you have another amazing and fun week! I really can't believe that it is August already! Where does time go? Seriously....where does it go? I am always thinking about you and you motivate me so much each day! I know that this Church is true and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change people's hearts and make them better people. I know the power that comes from reading the Book of Mormon and how it changes lives as well. Robert is the grand example of just how much the Book of Mormon can help someone and he was able to feel peace, that lead him to stop drinking and smoking for 3 weeks. I know that Joseph Smith was called by God to restore Christ's Church back to the Earth for our benefit and happiness! This Gospel blesses our Family so much and I am so full of gratitude each day that I can be a part of this great, Latter Day work and I'm so thankful to have the best Family ever that loves and supports me in everything that I do! You are just so incredible and make me so proud! I love you with all my heart and you are the greatest joy and blessing in my life! LOVE & MISS YOU TONS & TONS!!!!!!
July 23rd 2018~🇺🇸HAPPY PIONEER DAY!!!LOVE YOU!!!So Glad You Had A Fun Week!!!
Hello once again my dear and amazing loved ones!!! Holy cow! Can I just be the 1st one to say that your week was so amazing! I'm so happy for each of you and the chance that you had to go to Heber and hear President and Sister Smith speak!!! I'm so happy that it all worked out so smoothly and that you got to meet Elder Bradley, Elder Macedo, Sister Doty and Elder Howard! I'm especially excited that you got to meet and talk to President and Sister Smith! I was on cloud 9 when I read your email and heard all about it! I can't wait to talk to you face to face about it! It's so surreal to see them in pictures with you just because they were just here with me! It was one of the coolest experiences to read about and I felt like I was there! First off, thanks so much for your awesome email and pictures! This week has been so great and I have felt the spirit so much! Yesterday we had an event called "2 Hour Power" and it was fun to meet so many cool people during that time! It seemed like people were a lot more receptive and that is when we found the lady who we said a prayer with! It is raining today and is supposed to cool down even more and rain for the next few days. Luckily we have a car! I am looking on a map right now to see if there is anything fun or cool that we could do today. We have a great week ahead of us and I'm so excited to talk to you today! We will be having a 24th of July celebration at the Church this Saturday and we are in charge of helping set up and we are also helping a Family move. I'm really excited to tell you all about my week so here it goes!
Last P-Day was so nice and relaxing! It is really awesome to have things so close and that we have everything we need right across the street! We were able to get a car wash and get the car all ready for inspections before our zone conference tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to hearing from President and Sister Hess tomorrow for my 1st zone conference with them! We ended up going to Shop-rite across the street for groceries and we got some change a Chase bank right across the street and did laundry in the foyer of the apartment building! Everything is so close and we had so much time to finish unpacking and settling in! I put up all of my decorations and signs that you gave to me and I love having a fun calendar to look at! I am still proudly displaying my New York flag! We had a man from Sears come and fix our dishwasher and he replaced a part and the landlord paid for it and it is working like a champ now! We went tracting and tried to visit an investigator named Jasmyn but she didn't answer and so we knocked on ever door on her street. We found some friendly people but even though the spirit was there, they still weren't interested. I feel like people who go door to door have a bad reputation because most people ask if we are Jehovah's Witnesses and when they find out that we aren't, then they are more likely to listen. Every door that we knock on I am tempted to say, "Don't slam the door, we aren't Jehovah's Witnesses and we aren't selling anything!" It can be hard to even explain who we are but I know that people are ready to hear us! We just have to find them! We ended the day by walking up this beautiful neighborhood and there was a lady on her hands and knees pulling weeds and so we offered to help. She told us that she liked how peaceful it is to work by herself but when we asked her if any of her neighbors needed help with service, she asked us for our phone number and she said that she would give it to her neighbor who really could use some help! It was such an awesome way to end the day! I sure do appreciate all of your fun emails and I had a great time talking to you today! Have a great night and love ya tons!!!!
Wow!!! Tuesday was a very amazing day! Thank you SO much for the email that you sent! It was such a great start to my day! We were both very excited for Zone Conference and the fun trip to Morristown! We woke up at our regular time, got ready and then drove to the Morristown Chapel and zone conferences started at 10:00 but we got to be there by 9:30 to have our cars inspected! I was thinking about you a lot and wishing you a very fun trip to Minitonka Cave! Zone Conference was really amazing and I felt the spirit so much! I always learn new things of how I can better myself as a missionary and help the people we teach come closer to Jesus Christ! President Hess sure is a funny guy and loves making funny jokes! Hehe! Sister Hess did a great training on how important it is to keep a journal and how we can go back to any specific date and see what we were doing. She told us to keep one because writing things down helps improve our memory and how we should also keep a journal when we come home too! Then we watched some funny driving tutorials (they aren't meant to be funny!) Hehe! But they were funny just because of the acting and the fact that some missionaries don't know how to drive is how they portrayed missionaries. We talked about how we must have a love for the people that we are teaching and how prayer plays a role in our conversion as missionaries and also in the lives of people we are teaching. It was such a fun zone conference and I will never forget how fun it was! I got to see Elder Mitonzi 1 last time before he goes home in 5 weeks and he said that he wants to visit with you sometime! It was fun to see 3 or 4 missionaries from the New York, New York North mission and see all of the new missionaries! It started to pour rain but since it was still warm, it sort of turned the rain into a sticky steam and so the room that we were in for Zone Conference literally felt lime a sauna but we all had a good laugh at how hot it was. It's moments like these that I love because I can go back and say "Remember when it was like a sauna at zone conference!" The rest of our day was just so incredible and we saw many amazing things happen! We were tracting a few days ago and we met a man named Roland. He told us to come back and so we were really praying for him to remember our appointment. We knocked on his door and waiting for a good 2 or 3 minutes and didn't hear or see anyone and so we left a card and then started to walk away when we heard the door open! It was Roland's older sister who lives with him and she let us right in! We got to know her and it turns out that she is from India but you are NOT going to believe what she does for a living! They live in a really nice home and they would make such awesome members of the Church and they have lots of money. We got talking with her and she is actually a private tutor for Eli & Peyton Manning's kids!!!!!! Ummmmmm, isn't that just so cool! She is hired by Eli Manning to tutor his kids at an office where she works. My jaw literally dropped open in excitement!!! Maybe if she gets baptized, she can get me an autograph! We had just the best lesson with Roland and he had ever read some of the Book of Mormon from when we gave him one when we met and the spirit was present for sure! He wants to come to Church and so we were excited about that! Then we were tracting in a trailer park near an investigator that the Sister Missionaries found when they were here. We found a really a really awesome and prepared lady named Rachel! Her son answered the door and she came out and talked to us about the Priesthood and she had some great questions about Priesthood blessings! She was so excited and wanted to come to Church with her Family! Then we knocked on a door and they asked us to come back the next day and so we were so excited for everything lining up so perfectly! I was hoping that you all had a great fun day at the cave and with all of your other activities! Love you tons and tons!!!!
Wednesday was such an awesome day! The days just keep getting better and better! 18 months already!?!?! Thank you SO very much for sending me a Happy 18 Months email! I loved the picture and I was so grateful for it! It was so much fun to hear from you! I so appreciate you and all that you do for me because I feel so much love all of the time! I've heard that the last 6 months of a missionaries' mission is the "time to shine!" I'm so excited to see what these last 6 months have in store because I know that they will be so exciting! We had a busy day planned and we went to our 2nd District Meeting of the cycle. Our district is pretty big and the only missionary that I recognized was Elder Visaya who was in the mission home with me the night I came into the mission. We got all ready to go and then we got a text from our district leader and he said that district meeting was cancelled because we had zone conference yesterday and so we ended up not having it which is fine because it meant more time to find and teach people! Yay!! It is just such a special time for me to be a missionary and it brings me so much joy that all is well with you back at home! It has been such a privilege to be a missionary and I'm so thankful for the opportunity! 2 years really is such a short amount of time and I have loved every single minute of it! We went out tracting and guess what street we found! We found a street called Utah Street!! Isn't that so cool! It made me think of you all! We tracted every single house on Utah Street........because there was only 1! Hahaha! I was very excited to see your Facebook post and I thought it was so cool that I was hitting my 18 month mark on the 18th of 2018!!! Thanks so much! We tracted in some very nice and pretty areas and we met lots of cool people and we asked them different questions to get to know their religious background better! The time really flies by when we are out tracting. It's like time is sped up even faster. We knocked on door after door after door and only had a few people answer but we did get to meet the Mom of a Less active member and they live in this gigantic house that overlooks one of the coolest lakes ever! There were lots of people out on the water and were fishing as well and I wish that I could have joined them! Hehe! The weather couldn't have been more perfect tracting weather! We always offer to help anyone that we see with groceries or yard work but it seems like when we ask, people are more hesitant to let us help and so just jump right in and help. We talked to a few people about the free Family History classes that we have and then we knocked on the door of the 2nd Councilor in the Bishopric and their daughter, who is married and has 2 kids, answered. She and her husband and 2 kids were staying over for a few days and they live in Connecticut and they both went to Utah State for 2 years! So I had fun talking to them about Logan and they have been away longer than I have and so I had fun talking to them! Then we drove to the Church and a lady named Sister Stevenson, who is the Relief Society President, had a big dinner for the missionaries and so we had some yummy stuffed red and yellow peppers, bread, salad, and key lime pie for desert! We had fun getting to know her since we are new to the ward and it turns out that she is from California and served a mission in Scotland. So that made me think of Dad and Abby and their Scotland accents! Hehe! Then as we were driving out of the Church parking lots, we saw a red fox sitting in the middle of the road and he was looking at a baby deer and his Mom on the other end of the street. As we drove up, we scared the fox away and took a few pictures of the deer! We did some more tracting near a member's home and people were really receptive! I had 1 more copy of the Book of Mormon that I wanted to give away and so I knocked on the door and when a lady answered I said, "Hi, we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we are giving out free copies of the Book of Mormon tonight, would you like one." She accepted a copy and told us that she would read it and give us a call if she had questions! It was an awesome way to end the day! Thanks again for the fun 18 month mark wishes! We went to the Speedway gas station across the street to fill up on gas and I gave the worker a pass along card and so we hope that he comes to Church on Sunday! I love you all so very much and I'll ALWAYS be your #1 fan!!!!! Love you!!!
Thursday was a very awesome day too! We got a call from our District Leader, Elder Broberg and he asked us if he could go on a split with us that night! He said that it wouldn't be until Thursday night and so we had a great and productive day before we split at 8:30! We had our 2nd weekly planning session of the transfer and it just amazes me at how fast time goes! It's just so amazing to think that today is July 19th! I did have 1 quick question for you! Do you know when school starts up at the end of August? I was just curious when Mom goes back and the kids go back. Just curious! I bet you are not looking forward to starting school again. We got a text from our district leader and he said that I would be going to Clinton with Elder Sparks for our split and so I was really excited to go down south and see a different area! I am pretty far away from Rutgers University but I still could serve there! We were doing our weekly planning and I was so very excited to see an email from you! I sent the card on Monday and so it only took about 3 days to get there! It was so fun to hear from you! It really is weird to have someone else pump your gas. I feel so lazy to not even have to get out of the car. It made me think that people in New Jersey don't ever have to get out of their car! They could just live in their car and have groceries delivered to them through Walmart, have someone else pump their gas, and go to drive thru windows to get food! Hehe! It really has been so different to hand someone a card and have them pump gas for us! We checked our mail before we left and what did I see?? I fun letter from you and Grandma Evans! I couldn't believe how fast that they got here! Thank you SO, so very much for the gift card and money! Your cards were just so awesome and I loved getting it so very much! What was funny about the holes in the card was that Elder Caccioppoli said "It's a holy card!" Hehe! He thought it would bring us good luck! Thanks again so much for thinking of me and sending me such a fun card! It was really fun to have it delivered right to our apartment! We got to have a really amazing lesson with a couple that we found tracting and it was so fun to teach them! We taught them the whole Restoration and even read a little bit out of the Book of Mormon with them and they were listening so intently and had lots of questions! Then we drove down south to a town called Flanders to split with the District Leader and his companion and I got to go to Clinton with Elder Sparks for all of Friday! I got to drive back to their apartment and I was so happy to get your email! I really appreciated all of your sweet comments and love sent my way! You are just the BEST Family ever and I couldn't be happier to be your Son and Brother to Abby, Brandon, and Parker! You guys make me so happy and are my greatest joy in life!!!!! You always send so much Love and happiness my way and I can feel your presence every day! Thanks again for the awesome emails and so much support! Love you tons and tons!!!!!!!
P.S: Thanks again for the thoughtful email that you sent! Being a missionary has been such an amazing blessing and you have been there ever step of the way! Elder Caccioppoli did get his card and he was blown away that you would send one! He said it was so nice of you and he hasn't ever gotten mail from his companion's Family before and so it made him so happy! You guys are the BEST!!! LOVE YOU!!!!
Friday was such an awesome and amazing day! I had a really awesome day in Clinton with Elder Sparks and we got a lot done! Elder Sparks is from Queen Creek Arizona and has been out for 5 months now. He is the oldest of 7 kids in his Family and he grew up going to Arizona State Sun Devils games! It was fun to talk to him and get to know him better! I just love being a missionary and all of the many great people that I get to meet! We started the day by doing some service for a lady who lives nearby and everything went so well! The people are really nice and always appreciate the help! The weather was so nice again and I loved being outside! We did some service for a lady who was referred to the missionaries here by the ward. She is a very nice lady and owns a farm down the street from the Clinton apartment. I have to tell you something funny! Hehe! She owns this huge farm and she has the missionaries come over each week to clear patches of hay inside of her goat pen that she has and she about about 8 goats and 2 big sheep. So we were in charge of opening up the gate, bringing a wheelbarrow into the pen and scooping big piles of hay into the wheelbarrow and then wheeling it across her farm and dumping it out for her to use as compost. Well here is the funny part! These goats love to escape and they think it is funny to get outside of the pen and they would just look at us and it's almost like they were thinking "Hehe, I did something that I wasn't supposed to and got out of the pen." It was one of the funniest things ever because the goats knew that they were supposed to stay inside but they kept escaping and so picked them up and out them back inside. We would laugh every time 1 would escape and as we were scooping the hay, we saw that we left the gate open a crack and 3 of them escaped the pen and started running around in circles until we picked them up and put them back in! Hehe! It was pretty funny and Elder Sparks and I had a good laugh! It was a great service project and the lady even had some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies for us and we shared a message! The goats escaping was just hilarious and we laughed pretty hard! Then we did some Facebook prosylyting and what we did was Elder Sparks added random people that lived inside of their boundaries and sent them messages and tried to start conversations with them. It went great and I even talked to a guy who lives in Vernon, which is in our area, and by the looks of his page, he played for Florida State Seminoles! Sorry Mom!!! Whoa-oh-whoa-whoa-oooh-whoa!! Hehe! I know how much you love that song! Then we did some tracting and we talked to a lot of cool people and even had a lesson with a lady named Sandy! She was really intrigued by the Book of Mormon and so we talked to her for 20 minutes about her belief in God and the Elders have a return appointment with her! Then we drove to the Babies R Us store in Fladers New Jersey and ended the day by switching back! I had a great time on our split and was happy to be back in Franklin! I was thinking about you a lot today and I can't wait to go out to eat with the gift card! I will be sure to take pictures when we use them! I hope you had an amazing and fun day because I sure did! Love ya tons!! You bring me so much joy and happiness!
Wow! Saturday was another very awesome day! The weather cooled down even more and it's starting to feel like fall already! We had a service project to help a Family move out of the ward but when we got there, we found out that they told us the wrong date and that it is this coming Saturday and so then we studied and prepared for the day. I have just loved reading the scriptures, conference talks, and Preach My Gospel! I read a very cool talk by President Monson called "Finding Joy In The Journey" and it was so good! I love feeling the peaceful spirit that comes from reading the scriptures and other inspired messages! After we had some lunch, we headed out for the day and I was thinking about you all a lot and just feeling so grateful for each one of you! You really are everything to me and I hope that you were getting excited to go to Heber to hear President and Sister Smith speak! I just had a cool thought! The 25th of July marks my 1 year mark of moving out of my first area in the Bronx and moving to Kingston with Elder Howard! Isn't that just so crazy to think about! We had a lot of success with finding people at home as we were tracting and we came across a big moving van and so we knocked on the door and a really nice lady from Columbia opened and we offered to help. She thought that we were selling her a moving team that would help her move but when we said that we would do it for free, she was thrilled. She ended up not needing anything done and so I wish that we would have been there earlier to help out! After a few hours of tracting we did something really fun! We used our gift cards that you gave me and we had a really yummy dinner! I was so thankful for it and so was Elder Caccioppoli! It was fun to think that it was my 6 month mark to the day! 6 months from today I will be home which is just so crazy to think about! We had a great time eating and we really appreciated the fun letters! We finally got in contact with one of the investigators that the Sisters were working with named Mark Postas who works as a custodian at the nearby Franklin Elementary school. We talked with him for a little bit and then he said that he would text us to set something up. Then we went tracting in a little town called Hamberg and we went to a very nice area with little townhomes and some people weren't very happy that we were knocking on their door. They asked us if we had seen the signs that said "No soliciting". We told them that we weren't selling anything but we were happy to leave but we just went down the street and people were a lot more friendly! We met a lot of devout Catholics and we even met one lady in her 60s and she said that her husband was fighting for his life and so we said a prayer with her and gave her our number. It was so powerful to testify to her that God is aware of our trials and hardships and everything will be ok. It makes me sad to think that so many people don't have the knowledge that we do. We went to visit the Marvin Family who is a part member Family and the Grandfather of the 3 girls that we are teaching, said that they were gone on vacation to a beach. It started to rain a little bit but that didn't slow us down! We just kept knocking on doors and we met a guy wearing an Oakland Raiders shirt and so it was fun to compliment him and talk to him about San Francisco and the bay area. It was a really great day and I'm so thankful to be able to share the Gospel because it truly blesses lives and makes us happy! I hope that you have an AMAZING and fun trip to Heber tomorrow to hear President and Sister Smith speak! I'm so excited for you and can't wait to hear how it goes! You all make me so happy and you are my greatest joy in life! Love you more than anything!!!
Wow! Sunday was just so great! I am absolutely on cloud 9 right now from your amazing email and pictures!!!!! I wish I could talk to you face to face and hear all about it but your email was just so amazing! WOW! You guys sure had a fun and exciting week! I was excited to give my talk on President Nelson's talk and I was so excited for your email and pictures and also for you to go to Heber and hear the Smith's talk! So many fun things going on!!! We went over to the Church and got there by 6:45 and had our weekly ward correlation meeting with Brother Stevenson! I was thinking about you a lot and hoping that your trip to Heber was going so well! I hope that everything was going well and that you were enjoying their talks! It was just so fun to think that you were hearing from them and knowing that I was just with them and that they are already home! Brother Stevenson had a yummy breakfast casserole breakfast for us with cinnamon toast, fruit salad, and yogurt and then we talked about the people we are teaching! Then I got to give my talk and it went so well and I was pleased at how it turned out! I talked for about 12 minutes and then we had a deacon speak and it was his very 1st time so he was a little nervous. I talked about you guys and gave an introduction to who you were and I got chocked up talking about you and just how much love and support that you show to me! The ward could tell how awesome you all are! Then I got to talk to Brother Layne Asay and he thought it was so cool that you knew his relatives in Wyoming! It's always so fun to come to wards like these and have immediate connections with people! Brother Asay is a very great guy and loves Wyoming! A lady who works in the Manhattan Temple also spoke about pioneers and just how many sacrifices they all made for us. My talk was all about becoming tools in the Lord's hands and how we can become better disciples and how faith leads us to act and make positive changes in our lives and I related it to the people that I've taught on my mission and how Robert gave up alcohol to show his love for the Savior. I was getting so excited to hear from you and just couldn't wait for your email! We had a new Family move into the ward from Riverton Utah and they are in the same ward that Sister Gill is in! Sister Gill was serving with me in the Manhattan ward. They have an 11 year old son who reminds me a lot of Parker and is funny just like Puck too! He is really friendly and even though it was his 1st time in the ward, he was smiling and happy to meet me! It was just like Parker was there! They also have a son on a mission in Argentina and the Mom said how fun it is to have a missionary out serving and so it was fun to hear what it is like from the other end of missionary life! Then we got invited by Bishop Jensen (What a great name! Sounds like someone I know!) and his Family to have dinner at their house and so we were really looking forward to that! They are a great Family and so I really wanted to get to know them better! Bishop Jensen and his wife have 3 kids and they have 1 son on a mission in Guatamela! It was fun to hear about his experiences and that they don't get very long emails just because he has to reserve an internet cafe. We had chicken salad sandwiches with fruit and chips and then key lime pie for desert! I even got a picture with Bishop Jensen and his wife! Then we went tracting and it started to pelt us with rain but it only lasted for a few minutes and then we met a really nice couple in their 70s and they told us that their Grandson had cancer and is only 8 years old. I said a prayer with them right there on their doorstep and it was a very neat experience! We are having a 24th of July barbeque this Saturday and so we invited them to that! We were also able to teach some points of the Restoration and pass out a few copies of the Book of Mormon! It was a great way to end the day! I just could hardly wait to read your email and see your pictures! Your email made me smile ear to ear and hearing about your fun time meeting the Smith Family and all of the people that you got to meet! It's so crazy that they were all out here serving with me and now they all came to you! Hehe! Your email was seriously so fun and j loved and enjoyed every word! I'm so happy and excited that everything worked out! I teared up a little hearing about your experiences today and I could picture you meeting them! I'm just so happy that you got to go down and that everything worked out so well! It made my whole day and made me SOOOOO happy! You guys are my greatest joy in life and I'm so thankful to be out here serving a mission! I am so thankful for every fun detail and picture that you sent! I'M SO HAPPY!!!! I'm very excited to talk to you tomorrow! Your week was so much fun and it couldn't be happier with how your trip to Heber went and all of the experiences you had! I'm so happy that you were able to meet President and Sister Smith and that they knew so much about you! It always amazed me how they could remember personal things from my life and I was thrilled to hear that they remembered where you were from! I just got an email from Elder Macedo and he thought it was so cool to meet you! It is so crazy to see you in pictures with people that I served with! This is such an exciting time for us all and I was especially happy all day knowing that you were going to hear them speak! LOVE YOU ALL TONS AND TONS AND TONS AND TONS!!!!!
P.S: Thanks a bunch for your questions! I am in the Morristown Zone and we have about 20 missionaries serving in this zone! Our apartment mailbox has a lock on it that we open with a key but I have seen loose packages sitting out but there aren't very many people who live in this apartment and so it stays safe but I love being able to have mail delivered right to our door!
Well my dear Mom, Dad, Abby, Brandon, and Parker, I loved typing up this email and I'm so thankful for the awesome email and pictures that you sent me! You really had an amazing and fun week and I'm so thankful for all of your love, kindness, prayers, and support! It means the whole world to me to have Family like you! You mean everything to me and I cherish each one of you! Thanks again for the fun cards, emails, and pictures! I think about you every day and feel so much love and many prayers sent my way! I hope that you have a ton of fun celebrating the 24th of July tomorrow and have another great and fun week! I can't believe that I have less than 6 months to go! I wish you all the best and a great week! I'm so excited to hear all about it and to hear how the 24th celebration goes! Have such a fun week! LOVE & MISS EACH OF YOU TONS & TONS!!!!
Love You Always! ~Elder Lindberg
P.S: Thanks again for the gift card! What a fun suprise and it was so fun to go out and celebrate a new area! I thought of you the whole time!
