Hello to my dear and awesome loved ones! Man am I so very excited for today and that I get to talk to you! I felt like this week absolutely flew by and we got to see so many cool things happen and it was a very great week! WOW! Your week was just so awesome and I'm so thankful for all of the fun things going on! I'm so glad that Football and all of your activites are going so well! Summer is such a fun time and I'm very happy that you are all doing so great and happy as well! We had a very great and busy week over here in New Jersey and I'm so excited to tell you all about it! HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL EVERYONE! I hope you have a great 1st day and I hope you all adjust well! Love you all so very much!!!
Last P-day was lots of fun and we had a really great time! We got to go to an antique store and they have some amazing stuff to look at! It has been fun to learn more about New Jersey and the history of the State! I loved emailing you so much and it was so great to talk back and forth! I always look forward to talking to you each week and it is a blast! Your emails were so fun to read and I was so glad to hear about your day! It rained and rained and the storm drains we backed up because they had so much water and it was really humid but we enjoyed looking through hundreds of years of history in the antique shops! We had a great P-Day and I'm so happy that you had a great day as well! After our fun P-Day was over, we headed out and the rain slowed down quite a bit! Wow! Let me just say that we had a night full of miracles and cool experiences! Thanks so much for your many prayers because we have been finding tons of cool people to teach that want to learn more! Your prayers help me so much! It was such a great night and we were just so excited with the people that we found! We drove to visit Curt and he was the guy that we met tracting a few days ago and he has lots of potential to progress! He was drinking a glass of wine and so we will teach him the word of wisdom later on!
I have some very exciting news!!! Tuesday was a very awesome day too! The weather was so nice and I checked your weather and it had cooled down to 58 degrees and I bet you were loving the cooler weather! We had such an awesome day and we got a ton done! I always love being tired at the end of the day because it lets me know that we worked hard and tried our best! We were able to have the last district meeting of the transfer and it was a really great meeting! I also have some exciting news about an email I got today!!!! Right before we left for our meeting guess what!?!?!, I got an email from the mission secretary about my release date!!! It was so exciting to know that I have 2 options to pick from! She told me that I could either come home on December 19th 2018 or wait until February 6th 2019???
Decisions, Decisions! She said that I could think about it for a while and that the mission department doesn't usually allow missionaries to come home not on a regular transfer day and so I will have to pick between the 2 days that are having a transfer on them! Isn't that so exciting! I uploaded a picture on my Drive of the email for you to see! 
I was wondering if you had any thoughts because I'm not sure quite what to do or when would be the best date but I will continue to pray about the 2 options but it's exciting to have a date that will finally be set in stone! She told me to think about it and email her back so they can purchase the flight plans home within the next little while! We had a great district meeting about some small ways we can make a big impact on our teaching skills that will lead to the most success whole teaching a lesson. We had an amazing rest of our day and even had a dinner appointment with Brother and Sister Averyt! They are really nice people and are so funny as well! So we did some tracting in their neighborhood for a few hours before going to our 6:00 dinner appointment with them! We had a very good time and a yummy dinner! They bought some Indian food and it was so delicious! It was kind of like a chicken gyro in a bowl with the pita bread, rice, white sauce, and onions and peppers! They also had some ice cold A&W root beer for us and we had a really great time! Brother Averyt has been in the Bishopric for 8 years now and so he thinks that he will get released soon. Then we went to a nearby street and visited a less active Family that the Averyt Family asked us to check up on. Brother and Sister McBride used to be active but they have gotten so busy with work and Brother McBride drives to Manhattan every day for work! Wow! Then we went to a street and did some tracting near Oak Ridge and we could spend a whole week just in this one area because there are so many houses pretty close together! We got an entire street done and knocked on close to 40 houses and talked to people as we went! People seemed to be winding down for the day and didn't want to talk and so we tried different ways to spark their interest! It was a very great day and I was really excited about my release date email! Both options are very great and I think that either would be a great time to come home but it is a hard decision. I will continue to pray about it and hopefully get an answer soon. I just want to be sure it is the right decision! Hehe! 
I just want to take the time and let you know how much I love you! I want you to know how much I appreciate this opportunity to serve as a missionary because I have grown so much and seen so many blessings! I am so proud to be your Son and Brother and love to see you all happy! I know that this Church is true and I have seen so many blessings pour into my life and your lives as well! Thanks so much for being the loving, supportive, righteous, Family that you are! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!
Wednesday was just so great and we got so much done! We had an amazing and very busy day! I woke up and was very excited for your email! Thank you SO much for your guidance and love and support! I really appreciated getting an email from you and it made my day! Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers! I feel like both dates have lots of positives to them but I will continue to pray about it! I am so thankful for you supporting me in whichever choice I make! You are just the best!!! We woke up to some beautiful weather and the temperature was just perfect! That morning in my studies, I reviewed the lesson for the Marvin Family and also the Janelly and Emily lessons! I read a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon and I really enjoyed reading! I was on lds.org and noticed that they had an article called "Using Agency and Revelation to Make Life Decisions" and it was a very cool article! I know that Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives and loves each one of us so much! He is so proud of us to and wants to help us in all that we do!
Here is the link if you want to check it out because I really loved reading it!
https://www.lds.org/blog/using-agency-and-revelation-to-make-life-decisions?cid=HP_TH-9-8-2018_dOCS_fBLOG_xLIDyL2_
We had 2 lessons planned with the Mom and Daughter that showed up to Church and also the Marvin Family! We planned for our lessons and were so excited the whole day to teach them! We also had a dinner planned with Sister Stevenson and the mission vehicle coordinator told us that it was time for our car to have an oil change and so after our service with Sister Campbell, we went and got that all taken care of! We had some great service with Sister Campbell! We were able to saw down a huge, dead tree that she has been wanting to get rid of and we replanted 2 of her little bushes and flowers and scooted them over a few feet and then we spread some mulch around to freshen up the yard and it turned out so nice! We also used an electric hedge trimmer to trim her bushes down for the fall! I can't believe that it's almost fall! This is my favorite time of year and is always so pretty! We got pretty dirty from the branches and mulch and so we headed back to the apartment to shower and then we had our appointment with the Marvin Family canceled because she said that a friend took them out shopping and to play with their friends and so we weren't able to teach them but we were excited for our lesson with the Mom and Daughter that just showed up to Church! Brother Thompson was willing to help out with the lesson and he is a great teacher and even got to teach Janelly and Emily after Church last Sunday! He is in the Elders Quorum Presidency and his son is the one that drives us around to our destinations each week! We met Brother Thompson and had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation but Emily called Brother Thompson and told him that she had totally forgotten about the appointment and so we weren't able yo teach them but we felt strongly to tract in the area! As we were driving on the highway that leads to our apartment and the Church, I felt a strong nudge to stop the car, and tract the houses that are off the side of the highway. I told myself, "We pass these houses every time we go to the Church....next knock on them!" We knew why we were supposed to be in that area at that time! George! We met a nice guy who was a little hesitant at first to open the door but he turned out to be very cool! He is from Cuba and I had the thought pop into my mind to ask him about the old cars that they drive around in Cuba! I remember a show I watched saying that Cuba hasn't received or made any new cars since the 1950s and so everyone has an original, American made car that they fix up if anything is wrong with them and he was shocked to know that I knew about that! We got to talk to him about the Book of Mormon and he excitedly accepted a free copy and wants us to come back! He says that he loves the Bible and also the Quran and said that he would read it! It was a very exciting way to finish the day strong! I am so grateful for you and your many thoughts and prayers! I seriously feel like you are walking beside me every step of the way! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Wow! Thursday was just so great! HAPPY 1 YEAR ELDER JENSEN!! Missionary life is a lot of fun and lots of hard work and I learn something new every day! I see so many blessings come into my life and your lives as well! I am so grateful for the growth that I've been able to see in myself and how true the Gospel is! Thanks so much for the constant support that you always show me! I love teaching people and see them get excited about learning! We had a very great day planned and lots to get done and we were excited to get going! Elder Caccioppoli is getting pretty excited because he returns home in just under 7 weeks and he can really feel the time counting down. He and I are both really excited because we are teaching so many people and we are working so hard to get a baptism! We both feel strongly that the Marvin girls are so close to getting baptised and we are excited to set a baptismal date with them the next time we meet! When Daniel came to pick us up, we decided to go and visit 4 less active members and we also got a call from the Senior couple in charge of inspecting the apartments for the zone and so we got to clean the whole apartment and then they came over after our split with Daniel. We visited 4 members and we talked to Brother Duffy who knew Daniel and so it was great to have him with us! Then we met with a less active member named Sister Skelenger and she has had some health problems and so she really appreciated the visit! We talked to her about her testimony of the Book of Mormon and read a scripture with her! Then we met the Uncle of a less active member! He works for the town of Wantage and clears the roads when it snows and also doesn't some road work during the summer. He says that he doesn't need religion and thinks that if he prays, then he can receive all of the answers that he needs. It is so cool to be a missionary and testify to him that prayer really can give us answers and comfort us in our time of need. We also bore testimony that by going to Church and taking the Sacrament, we can receive even more answers and find greater peace! It was a great time and we both really enjoyed being with Daniel! Then we went back to the apartment and met Elder and Sister Jensen who are the apartment inspectors and they also are in charge of the vehicles in the mission and Sister Jensen is the mission nurse and so they do a lot! They are from Baton Rouge Louisianna and so they are really nice down to Earth people! They are very funny as well! Hehe!
They came over and were really impressed with how clean the apartment is! I'm so thankful that you taught us to be neat and tidy because Elder Caccioppoli can get a little messy but I'm so thankful that you taught us how to keep things clean! After our apartment inspection, they told us that ours was one of the cleanest and they were really impressed! Then they told us that we needed to drive to Morristown that morning to get our Tiwi driver helper fixed. Tiwi is the device in our car that can tell us to slow down if we are going to fast and ours hasn't been working right and so they asked us to drive to Morristown to get it replaced with a few other missionaries who had the same problem. Then we were able to go to a new couples' house that just moved in! They are so funny and made us laugh the whole time! They are from the Philippines and they both found the Church when they were young. They chose to have 2 different last names and so Brother Lisondra and Sister Ancog had us over and they had some really yummy food! We had baby back ribs, fried calamari, bacon wrapped butterfly shrimp and my personal favorite, Manahttan cheesecake right from the Grand Central terminal cheesecake bakery! Sister Ancog works in Manhattan and so we had fun talking about the different sights of Manhattan! It is weird for me to know Manhattan like the back of my hand and tell people "I used to live there!" Hehe! Living there as a missionary is different than actually living there but it's still really fun to tell people! 
Sister Ancog had her aunt visiting from Saudi Arabia so we had fun talking to her too! They bought the house a few months ago and Brother Lisondra is a contractor and so they fixed up the foreclosed house and made everything modern and turned it into a very nice home! It was a very great time and we shared some scriptures out of the Book of Mormon and headed back to the apartment after a very awesome day! I hope that each of you were having so much fun! Where did the summer go? It's hard to imagine that school starts next week! I'm so excited for you to have another great school year! I am still praying to know which date to come home and so I will continue to think about it and let you know as soon as I receive an answer! I'm doing great here in New Jersey and I'm really loving my time here! Give each other a big hug from me to you! Love you so much!!!
Here is a fun quote that I read today! I am so deeply grateful for the wonderful and happy home that you raised us in Mom and Dad! You have taught Abby, Brandon, Parker and I to love one another and be good people and always express our thanks and help others! I have so much love and respect for you and your hard work in raising us in the Gospel! I will be forever grateful for your love and I'm so grateful for all that you do! You have taught me so much and it has motivated me to come on a mission and grow and build my testimony! Thank you for your kind and righteous examples because I love you, this Church, the Gospel, and I love the memories we have created together! You are the greatest Family EVER!!!!
"Happiness in Family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ and when parents make their Family their highest priority. “By divine design, Fathers are to preside over their Families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their Families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, Fathers and Mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners”
I wish I could share this to the whole world and have everyone that doesn't have the knowledge we do read this quote! I'm so thankful for my dear Family back at home cheering me on!
Friday was another amazing day! I was thinking about you and how your day was going! I hope that each of you was having a really fun day! You are in all of my thoughts and prayers and I am so thankful for you! It has been so cool to teach the Gospel to others and I love improving my teaching skills each day! We had a very busy day with lots to do and so we hopped in the car and drove to Morristown first thing in the morning and got to the Chapel at 9:45 to get our Tiwi device fixed. Elder Jensen said that close to 10 of them stopped working and so there were a few other cars there getting theirs fixed. It took about an hour for him to get to our car and fix ours but we were back on the road in no time! The drive is really pretty and Morristown is a fun, small little town! After we got back into town, we helped out at the food pantry for an hour before they closed up shop and we got to talk to a new worker that moved here not too long ago. She is originally from England but has lived in Arizona, and a few other states on the East coast. I have been been feeling so much love from you back at home and I have sent lots of prayers your way! I always tell other people where you are from and it's fun to talk about you guys! I love telling people that my Mom is from American Fork and my Dad is from Kemmerer! Lots of people over here on the East coast really love learning about the West coast because they usually haven't been over to the West very often! We got to do some tracting as well and I just love being able to get to know people and introduce things like the Book of Mormon to them and I get so excited to talk to them about things they've never heard of! I have always love talking to people and getting to know everyone because everyone has a story and I love to hear them! We did some tracting in a really pretty area and we had a ton of success! Heavenly Father truly is blessing us in this area! I feel like we are getting so close to having a baptism and we really want the Marvin girls to decide to be baptized before Elder Caccioppoli goes home! Thank you so much for your prayers for us! It means so much to have you saying prayers to help us find people to teach and help them progress towards baptism! We are working so hard and Elder Caccioppoli wants to have the best last 6 weeks of his mission! I want to make them memorable for him and have a baptism like Dad did right before he came home! After we grabbed some grub for dinner, we did some tracting and visited a few less active members! I looked down at the ground because I heard "Crunch, Crunch" and what did I see??? Brown and orange leaves on the ground! Does that mean it's fall!?!? Hehe! the temperature has been really hot and so it doesn't feel like Fall but it surprised me to see so many leaves on the ground! The first door we knocked on, we met a guy who was really quiet and he was about to walk his dogs and when we asked him if anybody lost a loved one, he pointed to the house across the street and said that her husband passed away but she was very angry and didn't want to talk to anyone about religion because she felt like God didn't love her. So we knocked on the door and if only she would have heard the Plan of Salvation, it would have made her so happy but she shut the door when she saw us with the nametags and didn't let us talk. We really hoped that she would have listened to our message that would bless her life so much! Then after 2 hours of knocking doors, some dark, ominous clouds came settling in and poured BUCKETS of water but luckily we had our umbrellas but saying that it was pouring would be an understatement! The lighting lit up the skies and it was one of the craziest storms I've ever seen! Our windshield wipers couldn't even keep up! Hehe! It was a really great and busy day and we were so happy for the people we talked to and introduced to the Church! I think of your "Farmer Lindberg" analogy every time we go out and I really love it! I hope you had such a great day! Love you to the moon and back!!!!
19 Months Already!?!?!?! Wow! Time flies when you're having fun! How did that even happen?!?! I can't believe that I have been out on my mission for 19 months now! Thank you SO much for the fun email and the picture to go along with it! It always makes my day to get an email from you! I was thinking about you a lot and how your day was going! I hope that you got to do something really fun and had a fun day! I had some really great studies and I finished reading 2 Nephi and started reading Jacob! I love the calm, peaceful feeling that I get when I read and learn more about the scriptures and what I need to learn from them! I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true and that so much doctrine is contained in the Book of Mormon and can bring the spirit! I really love this quote from Preach My Gospel that I read this morning!
"The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful resource in conversion. It provides powerful evidence for the divinity of Christ. It is also proof of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith."
I love how unique our message to the World is and it makes me so excited to share this with others! After we did our studies, we were ready to roll and excited for another day! We were excited for transfer calls but we were almost positive that we are both staying together! It is still really fun to hear all of the transfer news! We got to go to Montague and visit the man that we met a few days ago named Roy! We don't have a phone number for him and so we made the trip out to see him and planned some tracting time after we met with him! We had something so cool happen and it was so awesome to be where we needed to be to knock on doors! We were in Montague and we were talking to lots of people and trying different approaches to help them feel the spirit! We knocked on this particular door and a very nice lady in her 60s came out and shook our hands before we said anything! We introduced ourselves and then we talked to her about Family History. She said that she would come to the class that they have at our Church and she said that she would come! Right as she was walking in, she told us that she has a copy of the Book of Mormon! She told us that she wasn't sure where it got put but we gave her another copy and we had one of the best conversations with her for about 20 minutes! She said that she even went to Salt Lake City and loved it! She had lots of great questions about the Book of Mormon and if it replaces the Bible. She was really open and we will defintly go back and teach her because she was a really golden investigator! It was her husband's Birthday and so they were just about to leave and go celebrate but we were so happy that we found her! Her name is Patti and used to work as a nurse but retired a few years ago. Then we knocked on so many doors and talked to lots of great and friendly people! We testified to lots of people about the Book of Mormon and about how Families can be together forever! Our last door that we knocked on before dinner was a really nice lady and we told her that we serve any way that we can and she asked for our phone number so she can call us to come over and help! Then we met a very nice lady and she talked to us for a good 30 minutes! She opened the door and I thought she was in her 60s but she told us that she was 85 years young! I couldn't believe how young she looked! She says that eating right and exercising has really helped her. She told us that her son has cancer and might not make it much longer and so we said a prayer with her on her front porch and she kept saying "Thank you, thank you!" We felt the spirit really strong and I felt like the spirit prompted me what to say! It was a neat experience to see her so happy because she told us that she doesn't get very much company and she was impressed that we were out teaching people the Gospel! Then we went to a very pretty area in a town called Oak Ridge and there are 4 or 5 streets of houses really close together that we have been working on and we are trying to knock on all of them! People are very polite up there but it's hard to start conversations with them about religion because they don't give us enough time to tell them all about our message but we love asking people if they know any of their neighbors who need help with yard work and they will usually give us a neighbor that lives close by and so they open up to us! It was a very great day and I hope you all had a very fun day! I can't wait to hear from you tomorrow! We got back to the apartment and we were so excited for transfer calls! President Hess does them a little bit differently than President Smith. President Hess will get on the conference call and have everyone in the mission tune in and he reads every single area. Each area has a number with a decimal point. Our area is 2.2 and so that means that we are in zone #2 and area 2 within that zone and so he has a lot of names to get through! It's fun to hear all of the transfer news for the entire mission instead of just our district. We got to call in at 9:30 and Elder Caccioppoli and I are staying together for 1 more transfer in this area! I'm very excited and glad that we get to stay together! Have a great evening my dear Family! LOVE YOU TONS & TONS!!!!
Sunday was a very awesome and busy day! I couldn't wait to get your email and I was so excited to read all about your week and see your fun pictures! I sure was thinking about you a lot and wishing you a great Sabbath! One of the investigators that the Sisters were teaching when they covered our area named Stan Stankovich came to Church with a member and it was really great to have him there! We always get so excited when an investigator shows up to Church! We had a high councilor speak and he is a risk manager and so he deals with money and statistics and gave a cool analogy of a tiger that lived in a zoo that was kept in a really small space. They ended up building him a much bigger cage to make him feel at home and in his natural habitat but ended up staying in the corner and staying within the boundaries of his regular cage. He said that we can feel comfortable but we grow the most when we are out of our comfort zone. It was a really great talk! The members have been so good to us and have signed up to feed us a lot! We got to teach Gospel Principles class and it went so well! We talked about the Holy Ghost and ways to recognize if it is the Holy Ghost or our own thoughts. We had about 6 people in the class and everyone participated! We also had a great talk on the Doctrine and Covenants and she said that she taught seminary for many years and the Doctrine and Covenants can sometimes be the hardest to understand but the spirit is always the teacher. After Church, we got a text from Sister Kochevar and she said that she wanted to bring us lunch to enjoy! The Kochevar Family just moved here from Riverton Utah! It was so nice of them to bring us a yummy lunch to have on the Sabbath! She made us some pot roast, mashed taters and gravy, Angel food cake, French bread, and asparagus! It was a fun lunch and then we headed out for more fun work! I just love how Heavenly Father answers our prayers and knows our hearts and puts into our minds what we need to say as we teach! That is one really amazing thing that I have so appreciated about my mission is being able to recognize and understand the Holy Ghost better and how it works in other people! I always have scriptures or parts of conference talks just jump into my mind! I will and forever will be grateful for the tender mercies that I've seen on my mission and how much stronger I have become from watching other people change their lives! I have been thinking about my water experience that I had a few weeks ago! I was so thirsty and Heavenly Father allowed us and guided us to that house and the lady gave us a drink! It was so amazing to see such a quick answer to my prayer and really strengthened my faith! I said "Wow! Heavenly Father truly knows each one of us and knows what we need!" I have been blessed with so many experiences like these and I have been writing them down my whole mission because I don't want to forget any of them! Sometimes we see miracles instantly but other days, we are tested and He wants to see us stretch and reach our goals! This work is so true and is the greatest work taking place on the Earth today! Just like President Nelson said "We are gathering scattered Israel!" I'm so happy to be a part of it at this time and I'm so thankful for each one of you! I love writing my thoughts down because I feel like I just type and thoughts come to my head and I have to write them down for you! We were asked by the YSA leader from the Sparta ward to present a Family Home Evening on a scripture to the 3 or 4 YSA aged members that come each week and so we were happy to help out! It went so well and we got to teach about 3 Nephi 27 and after we headed out to the car, I saw your email pop up and boy was I excited!!! I was so excited to read your email and hear from you! We also did some tracting in a huge neighborhood and we had to walk a half mile to get in between the houses! It was so crazy! Hehe! People are so spread out up here! It was a really great day and we talked to tons of nice people and planted more seeds! It has been so cool to serve here! We got back to the apartment and I read your email and wow was it so good! I loved every word as usual and I teared up hearing that you put my name in the Temple as I make this very important and tough decision about when to come home! That means SO very much to me and that was so special of you to do that! I am so thankful for your fun, thoughtful email with all of your fun pictures! I'm so happy that each of you had a great week and that you all had so much fun! It really is so crazy to think that school will be in full swing this Wednesday! I will be thinking about you all a lot as you start a new year! You sure got to do a lot of fun things this week! Thanks again for the awesome, amazing, and fun pictures and email! I am so excited to talk to you tomorrow!!! LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!
Well my dear Family! You are the BEST!!! I had so much fun typing up my email as usual and I love being able to zip off an email and have you read it instantly! Technology is amazing and j have been so blessed on my mission! I am doing so well and I'm so happy and grateful to be a missionary! Thank you SO much for always being there for me and always sending your love, support, and prayers! I can always feel your many prayers all day, every day! I just always want you to know that I think about and pray for each of you, invidually by name, and that I love and miss you so much! You are the best and just make me so happy! I also wanted to say that I'm very excited for all of the fun Football games coming up and that Football season is right around the corner! I'm so excited for everyone to have a great time at school and j hope that everyone gets settled in and love their teachers! I will be thinking about you a lot as you start this new school year and I will be praying that all goes well! I do have a favor to ask! Hehe! Do you think that you could give each other a huge hug from me? "Group hug!" I was also wondering if you could cheer twice as loud for the boys at their Football games and pretend I'm on the sidelines! Hehe! Well my dear loved ones, I'm so excited to hear how the Football games go and I'm excited to hear abiut your 1st day of school on Wednesday! You will be in my every thought and prayer! Have such a great and fun week! LOVE & MISS YOU SO, SO, SO VERY MUCH!!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Wednesday was just so great and we got so much done! We had an amazing and very busy day! I woke up and was very excited for your email! Thank you SO much for your guidance and love and support! I really appreciated getting an email from you and it made my day! Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers! I feel like both dates have lots of positives to them but I will continue to pray about it!
Here is the link if you want to check it out because I really loved reading it!
https://www.lds.org/blog/using-agency-and-revelation-to-make-life-decisions?cid=HP_TH-9-8-2018_dOCS_fBLOG_xLIDyL2_
We had 2 lessons planned with the Mom and Daughter that showed up to Church and also the Marvin Family! We planned for our lessons and were so excited the whole day to teach them! We also had a dinner planned with Sister Stevenson and the mission vehicle coordinator told us that it was time for our car to have an oil change and so after our service with Sister Campbell, we went and got that all taken care of! We had some great service with Sister Campbell! We were able to saw down a huge, dead tree that she has been wanting to get rid of and we replanted 2 of her little bushes and flowers and scooted them over a few feet and then we spread some mulch around to freshen up the yard and it turned out so nice! We also used an electric hedge trimmer to trim her bushes down for the fall! I can't believe that it's almost fall! This is my favorite time of year and is always so pretty! We got pretty dirty from the branches and mulch and so we headed back to the apartment to shower and then we had our appointment with the Marvin Family canceled because she said that a friend took them out shopping and to play with their friends and so we weren't able to teach them but we were excited for our lesson with the Mom and Daughter that just showed up to Church! Brother Thompson was willing to help out with the lesson and he is a great teacher and even got to teach Janelly and Emily after Church last Sunday! He is in the Elders Quorum Presidency and his son is the one that drives us around to our destinations each week! We met Brother Thompson and had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation but Emily called Brother Thompson and told him that she had totally forgotten about the appointment and so we weren't able yo teach them but we felt strongly to tract in the area! As we were driving on the highway that leads to our apartment and the Church, I felt a strong nudge to stop the car, and tract the houses that are off the side of the highway. I told myself, "We pass these houses every time we go to the Church....next knock on them!" We knew why we were supposed to be in that area at that time! George! We met a nice guy who was a little hesitant at first to open the door but he turned out to be very cool! He is from Cuba and I had the thought pop into my mind to ask him about the old cars that they drive around in Cuba! I remember a show I watched saying that Cuba hasn't received or made any new cars since the 1950s and so everyone has an original, American made car that they fix up if anything is wrong with them and he was shocked to know that I knew about that! We got to talk to him about the Book of Mormon and he excitedly accepted a free copy and wants us to come back! He says that he loves the Bible and also the Quran and said that he would read it! It was a very exciting way to finish the day strong! I am so grateful for you and your many thoughts and prayers! I seriously feel like you are walking beside me every step of the way! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Wow! Thursday was just so great! HAPPY 1 YEAR ELDER JENSEN!! Missionary life is a lot of fun and lots of hard work and I learn something new every day! I see so many blessings come into my life and your lives as well! I am so grateful for the growth that I've been able to see in myself and how true the Gospel is! Thanks so much for the constant support that you always show me! I love teaching people and see them get excited about learning! We had a very great day planned and lots to get done and we were excited to get going! Elder Caccioppoli is getting pretty excited because he returns home in just under 7 weeks and he can really feel the time counting down. He and I are both really excited because we are teaching so many people and we are working so hard to get a baptism! We both feel strongly that the Marvin girls are so close to getting baptised and we are excited to set a baptismal date with them the next time we meet! When Daniel came to pick us up, we decided to go and visit 4 less active members and we also got a call from the Senior couple in charge of inspecting the apartments for the zone and so we got to clean the whole apartment and then they came over after our split with Daniel. We visited 4 members and we talked to Brother Duffy who knew Daniel and so it was great to have him with us! Then we met with a less active member named Sister Skelenger and she has had some health problems and so she really appreciated the visit! We talked to her about her testimony of the Book of Mormon and read a scripture with her! Then we met the Uncle of a less active member! He works for the town of Wantage and clears the roads when it snows and also doesn't some road work during the summer. He says that he doesn't need religion and thinks that if he prays, then he can receive all of the answers that he needs. It is so cool to be a missionary and testify to him that prayer really can give us answers and comfort us in our time of need. We also bore testimony that by going to Church and taking the Sacrament, we can receive even more answers and find greater peace! It was a great time and we both really enjoyed being with Daniel! Then we went back to the apartment and met Elder and Sister Jensen who are the apartment inspectors and they also are in charge of the vehicles in the mission and Sister Jensen is the mission nurse and so they do a lot! They are from Baton Rouge Louisianna and so they are really nice down to Earth people! They are very funny as well! Hehe!
Here is a fun quote that I read today! I am so deeply grateful for the wonderful and happy home that you raised us in Mom and Dad! You have taught Abby, Brandon, Parker and I to love one another and be good people and always express our thanks and help others! I have so much love and respect for you and your hard work in raising us in the Gospel! I will be forever grateful for your love and I'm so grateful for all that you do! You have taught me so much and it has motivated me to come on a mission and grow and build my testimony! Thank you for your kind and righteous examples because I love you, this Church, the Gospel, and I love the memories we have created together! You are the greatest Family EVER!!!!
"Happiness in Family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ and when parents make their Family their highest priority. “By divine design, Fathers are to preside over their Families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their Families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, Fathers and Mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners”
I wish I could share this to the whole world and have everyone that doesn't have the knowledge we do read this quote! I'm so thankful for my dear Family back at home cheering me on!
Friday was another amazing day! I was thinking about you and how your day was going! I hope that each of you was having a really fun day! You are in all of my thoughts and prayers and I am so thankful for you! It has been so cool to teach the Gospel to others and I love improving my teaching skills each day! We had a very busy day with lots to do and so we hopped in the car and drove to Morristown first thing in the morning and got to the Chapel at 9:45 to get our Tiwi device fixed. Elder Jensen said that close to 10 of them stopped working and so there were a few other cars there getting theirs fixed. It took about an hour for him to get to our car and fix ours but we were back on the road in no time! The drive is really pretty and Morristown is a fun, small little town! After we got back into town, we helped out at the food pantry for an hour before they closed up shop and we got to talk to a new worker that moved here not too long ago. She is originally from England but has lived in Arizona, and a few other states on the East coast. I have been been feeling so much love from you back at home and I have sent lots of prayers your way! I always tell other people where you are from and it's fun to talk about you guys!
19 Months Already!?!?!?! Wow! Time flies when you're having fun! How did that even happen?!?! I can't believe that I have been out on my mission for 19 months now! Thank you SO much for the fun email and the picture to go along with it! It always makes my day to get an email from you! I was thinking about you a lot and how your day was going! I hope that you got to do something really fun and had a fun day! I had some really great studies and I finished reading 2 Nephi and started reading Jacob! I love the calm, peaceful feeling that I get when I read and learn more about the scriptures and what I need to learn from them! I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true and that so much doctrine is contained in the Book of Mormon and can bring the spirit! I really love this quote from Preach My Gospel that I read this morning!
"The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful resource in conversion. It provides powerful evidence for the divinity of Christ. It is also proof of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith."
I love how unique our message to the World is and it makes me so excited to share this with others! After we did our studies, we were ready to roll and excited for another day! We were excited for transfer calls but we were almost positive that we are both staying together! It is still really fun to hear all of the transfer news! We got to go to Montague and visit the man that we met a few days ago named Roy! We don't have a phone number for him and so we made the trip out to see him and planned some tracting time after we met with him! We had something so cool happen and it was so awesome to be where we needed to be to knock on doors! We were in Montague and we were talking to lots of people and trying different approaches to help them feel the spirit! We knocked on this particular door and a very nice lady in her 60s came out and shook our hands before we said anything! We introduced ourselves and then we talked to her about Family History. She said that she would come to the class that they have at our Church and she said that she would come! Right as she was walking in, she told us that she has a copy of the Book of Mormon! She told us that she wasn't sure where it got put but we gave her another copy and we had one of the best conversations with her for about 20 minutes! She said that she even went to Salt Lake City and loved it! She had lots of great questions about the Book of Mormon and if it replaces the Bible. She was really open and we will defintly go back and teach her because she was a really golden investigator! It was her husband's Birthday and so they were just about to leave and go celebrate but we were so happy that we found her! Her name is Patti and used to work as a nurse but retired a few years ago. Then we knocked on so many doors and talked to lots of great and friendly people! We testified to lots of people about the Book of Mormon and about how Families can be together forever! Our last door that we knocked on before dinner was a really nice lady and we told her that we serve any way that we can and she asked for our phone number so she can call us to come over and help! Then we met a very nice lady and she talked to us for a good 30 minutes! She opened the door and I thought she was in her 60s but she told us that she was 85 years young! I couldn't believe how young she looked! She says that eating right and exercising has really helped her. She told us that her son has cancer and might not make it much longer and so we said a prayer with her on her front porch and she kept saying "Thank you, thank you!" We felt the spirit really strong and I felt like the spirit prompted me what to say! It was a neat experience to see her so happy because she told us that she doesn't get very much company and she was impressed that we were out teaching people the Gospel! Then we went to a very pretty area in a town called Oak Ridge and there are 4 or 5 streets of houses really close together that we have been working on and we are trying to knock on all of them! People are very polite up there but it's hard to start conversations with them about religion because they don't give us enough time to tell them all about our message but we love asking people if they know any of their neighbors who need help with yard work and they will usually give us a neighbor that lives close by and so they open up to us! It was a very great day and I hope you all had a very fun day! I can't wait to hear from you tomorrow! We got back to the apartment and we were so excited for transfer calls! President Hess does them a little bit differently than President Smith. President Hess will get on the conference call and have everyone in the mission tune in and he reads every single area. Each area has a number with a decimal point. Our area is 2.2 and so that means that we are in zone #2 and area 2 within that zone and so he has a lot of names to get through! It's fun to hear all of the transfer news for the entire mission instead of just our district. We got to call in at 9:30 and Elder Caccioppoli and I are staying together for 1 more transfer in this area! I'm very excited and glad that we get to stay together! Have a great evening my dear Family! LOVE YOU TONS & TONS!!!!
Sunday was a very awesome and busy day! I couldn't wait to get your email and I was so excited to read all about your week and see your fun pictures! I sure was thinking about you a lot and wishing you a great Sabbath! One of the investigators that the Sisters were teaching when they covered our area named Stan Stankovich came to Church with a member and it was really great to have him there! We always get so excited when an investigator shows up to Church! We had a high councilor speak and he is a risk manager and so he deals with money and statistics and gave a cool analogy of a tiger that lived in a zoo that was kept in a really small space. They ended up building him a much bigger cage to make him feel at home and in his natural habitat but ended up staying in the corner and staying within the boundaries of his regular cage. He said that we can feel comfortable but we grow the most when we are out of our comfort zone. It was a really great talk! The members have been so good to us and have signed up to feed us a lot! We got to teach Gospel Principles class and it went so well! We talked about the Holy Ghost and ways to recognize if it is the Holy Ghost or our own thoughts. We had about 6 people in the class and everyone participated! We also had a great talk on the Doctrine and Covenants and she said that she taught seminary for many years and the Doctrine and Covenants can sometimes be the hardest to understand but the spirit is always the teacher. After Church, we got a text from Sister Kochevar and she said that she wanted to bring us lunch to enjoy! The Kochevar Family just moved here from Riverton Utah! It was so nice of them to bring us a yummy lunch to have on the Sabbath! She made us some pot roast, mashed taters and gravy, Angel food cake, French bread, and asparagus! It was a fun lunch and then we headed out for more fun work! I just love how Heavenly Father answers our prayers and knows our hearts and puts into our minds what we need to say as we teach! That is one really amazing thing that I have so appreciated about my mission is being able to recognize and understand the Holy Ghost better and how it works in other people! I always have scriptures or parts of conference talks just jump into my mind! I will and forever will be grateful for the tender mercies that I've seen on my mission and how much stronger I have become from watching other people change their lives! I have been thinking about my water experience that I had a few weeks ago! I was so thirsty and Heavenly Father allowed us and guided us to that house and the lady gave us a drink! It was so amazing to see such a quick answer to my prayer and really strengthened my faith! I said "Wow! Heavenly Father truly knows each one of us and knows what we need!" I have been blessed with so many experiences like these and I have been writing them down my whole mission because I don't want to forget any of them! Sometimes we see miracles instantly but other days, we are tested and He wants to see us stretch and reach our goals! This work is so true and is the greatest work taking place on the Earth today! Just like President Nelson said "We are gathering scattered Israel!" I'm so happy to be a part of it at this time and I'm so thankful for each one of you! I love writing my thoughts down because I feel like I just type and thoughts come to my head and I have to write them down for you!
Well my dear Family! You are the BEST!!! I had so much fun typing up my email as usual and I love being able to zip off an email and have you read it instantly! Technology is amazing and j have been so blessed on my mission! I am doing so well and I'm so happy and grateful to be a missionary! Thank you SO much for always being there for me and always sending your love, support, and prayers! I can always feel your many prayers all day, every day! I just always want you to know that I think about and pray for each of you, invidually by name, and that I love and miss you so much! You are the best and just make me so happy! I also wanted to say that I'm very excited for all of the fun Football games coming up and that Football season is right around the corner! I'm so excited for everyone to have a great time at school and j hope that everyone gets settled in and love their teachers! I will be thinking about you a lot as you start this new school year and I will be praying that all goes well! I do have a favor to ask! Hehe! Do you think that you could give each other a huge hug from me? "Group hug!" I was also wondering if you could cheer twice as loud for the boys at their Football games and pretend I'm on the sidelines! Hehe!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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