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!
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!"
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!
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!
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!!!
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!
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