Hello to my dear and amazing Family!!!! Wow, thank you all so very much for your awesome and fun emails! You always make my day and it is a blast to hear from you! I'm very excited to talk to you today and tell you all about my week! We sure had an amazing week and we have some really great work going on! I'm so excited for Edward Florio right now because he is learning so much and is asking so many great questions! We have been so blessed with so many great people to teach and it has been amazing! Thanks so much for all of your updates and telling me everything that happened! When you are happy, I'm happy! It was a lot of fun to read all that you got to do and I'm really excited for you to go to the Bells Concert and I'm so happy that you are almost to your Thanksgiving break! We had another very awesome week and I have so many cool things to tell you!
Last P-day was so awesome! It's always nice to rest a little bit and I always enjoy emailing you so much and that is what I look forward to the most! Your emails, pictures, and videos made me smile ear to ear and I enjoyed talking to you so much! We did the usual P-Day activities and then we got to go to a coin store and look around for a little while. They have all of their Christmas stuff out and so it was really fun to see! It got dark by 4:45 and so it was really weird to have it get so dark so early. We have our apartment inspections and cleaning this Thursday and so we got a tidied up and got it all cleaned and so we won't have to do much on Thursday except straighten everything up a little bit. Thanks so much for all of your emails and always thinking of me! I'm really glad you had a great day! After P-Day ended, we drove down to Newton to visit a few investigators that are in our records but we didn't know them since they were in the Sister's boundaries. We are trying to contact them all and set up times to teach them and get to know them better! We met some cool people and set a return appointment with a lady named Ingrid for tomorrow! Elder Solomon was asked to play the piano at a baptism for one of the Bishopric member's daughter this Saturday and so he got to practice for the songs they asked him to and then we did some tracting for a little while before going back to the apartment for the day! People were wondering why we were knocking on doors when it was dark but we told them that we erre sharing the most important message they will ever hear! I hope you all had a great rest of your day and had lots of fun too! LOVE & MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!
Tuesday was another very great day! I hope you all had a really awesome day and everything went well! Elder Solomon sent me a really cool picture o this friend serving in Zimbabwe and he found a kid wearing a Utah State hat! The kid didn't know where he got it but it was just so amazing that he found a connection all the way in Zimbabwe! It rained most of the day and so we brought our umbrellas and headed off to District meeting in Morristown! It went really well and our District leader asked us to study the "Finding joy in the journey" talk from President Monson and so we really enjoyed reading it! There was a really bad car accident that blocked traffic and so we and 2 other companionships were late to District meeting. It was raining really bad and so we think that it might have been the water that caused the wreck. We got invited to dinner with Sister Kochevar and her 2 sons and we got to go to Wendy's! We had some yummy food and it was really fun to talk to someone from Utah and has been to the same places I've been! They really love the Pepermint Place store that we always go to in Amercian Fork! Then we got to visit a ton of different people that are in the south part of our area and we met a lady named Emily that had been taught by missionaries before and she told us a little bit about her Church and she is really involved and is a full time teacher at the Church. We have been seeing a ton of deer around here and since Elder Solomon is a hunter, he likes to pick out which deer he would go after if he was hunting. We were able to meet some really cool people and it is interesting to me how Catholics don't want to talk about God or Jesus Christ. They will tell us thst they are Catholic but they will end the conversation as quick as they can and won't tell us more and so that has been a little interesting. It was such a great day and we got a ton of rain! It wont be long before we have a few inches of snow on the ground! It will be so neat to fly into Salt Lake and see the snow capped mountains again! I have really missed the beautiful Utah scenery! I'm so glad that I've been able to have such pretty views here in New York and New Jersey! I hope you all had a really great day and I hope you liked my video! LOVE & MISS YOU DEARLY!!!!!!
Wednesday was so great too! I woke up and noticed that it was snowing in Nibley! I love checking your weather and seeing what the weather is like! It probably didn't snow too much but it said that it was snowing and so I hope you all stayed warm! I'm curious to know if it actually snowed and if my weather app is accurate! Hehe! We had a really great day and got to teach a ton of cool people! We had a service project at Sister Campbell's house and we raked up the rest of her leaves that fell. The days are really picking up speed and I can't beleive that this Tuesday is the end of this transfer and I start my last and final transfer this Tuesday! So crazy! We had some really pretty weather and the temperature was just right, especially for tracting and service! We raked up lots of leaves and then helped Sister Campbell with an assignment she had to read a few verses from Alma 40 for someone in a different ward that passed away. It was really great and we even had a pork roast lunch with her and then we went out with Daniel! He has such a good spirit and really loves helping us. We have been talking with his Dad about an investigator named Adam and he should be coming to Church this Sunday and wants to start meeting with us! He didn't feel like he was ready a few months ago and felt like he didn't know anything about the Church but now he is ready! While we were out with Daniel, we got to go got our appointment with the really cool Family that Elder Gibeult and I found on our split! The Mom answered the door and handed us the Book of Mormon that we gave to her and said that she read the introduction and didn't agree with any of it. We tried to ask her some good questions but she said that she didn't want to talk about it. She did ask about the Plan of Salvation and so we were able to talk to her about that and even gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet but we were sad that she dropped us and didn't want to meet anymore. The only thing we can do at that point is testify and help them feel the spirit and so I told them how much the Gospel means to me and how much it has helped us as a Family! I really wish they would have kept meeting with us because they were so cool! I have some crazy news! Wait for it.....wait for it.....we got the police called on us again tonight. Dun, dun, dun!!!!! Crazy huh!?! But this time, it was at 7:15. It got dark at 4:30 and so people must ahve thought that it was a lot later than it was. This time it was in Andover and so we have now gotten the police called on us in 3 different towns and 3 different police departments. The police officers are always so nice and tell us to keep doing what we are doing but they do suggest that we move spots. He took our ID's and typed them in his records and checked his computer. He came back and was so friendly. He felt bad that someone called on us and we were talking to a lady on her front porch when the lights flashed behind us. The lady that we were talking to said "Uh, I think the police are looking for you." So we ended up moving to a different neighborhood and we got to teach this one man most of the Restoration and he said that he was a Jehovah's Witness 30 years ago. He doesn't seem to have a strong religious background and so we talked to him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon! It was such a great day and so much happened! I hope you had a very amazing day and lots of fun too! Take care and know that I love and miss you so much! You are the greatest Family in the world! Love you so much!!!!!
P.S: A group of missionaries just took their Statue Of Liberty trip! I'm next to go!!!!!!!!
Thursday was so great as well! I woke up and was so excited to see your email! I appreciate them so much and I really enjoyed hearing from you! At 6:35 our time, it was 4:30 your time and it was almost in the teens! It was 22 degrees and I bet you had the heater on because that is really chilly! Today was our apartment cleaning and inspections and they also decided to combine our car inspections as well to kill 2 birds with 1 stone! We got a text from Elder and Sister Jensen and they told us that they wanted to take us to lunch and so we went to Burger King! They are from Baton Rouge Louisiana and have been to lots of LSU Football games! They inspected our apartment and guess what they said! They said "We should just award you the cleanest car and apartment awards right now!" Hehe! We were the first apartment that they inspected and they said that they don't think anyone could beat ours! Yes!!!! We cleaned it really well and got the car washed and vacuumed. It was so great to talk to them and we had fun talking! We were really happy with the way our inspection went and it was fun to go get some yummy lunch! Then we got to have a lesson with a man that the Spanish Elders in Hackettstown found! They meet in Hackettstown and since they are Spanish, they have a big area that covers part of our area. The man that they found is named Daniel Logan. We taught him the whole Restoration but he wasn't all there and so he didn't remember anything that we taught him. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and he said that we could come back to teach him more! Then we did some tracting and we were crossing our fingers that nobody would call the police on us when it got dark. It started to get dark at 3:45 and was completely dark by 4:30 which was really weird and it made it seem so much later than it was. We knocked on tons of doors for the rest of the evening and the houses were huge and had intricate steps to their houses and really long driveways and so we sure got a good workout! We had a few people tell us to come back and so we hope they will progress! I really have been praying for a baptism and we are trying everything to help our main investigators progress towards baptism before I go home but things are going slower than we want them to. We feel like if we could teach them twice a week, then they would get baptized so much faster but it has been hard to meet with them. We are working with Em, Ricky, Teresa, and Edward right now and I hope we can baptize one of them before I go home. I'm giving it my all and going full speed ahead to help them towards baptism! I'm growing so much in the process of helping others come closer to Christ and I'm so thankful for this experience! I hope each of you had a really great day and had lots of fun too! Love & miss you all so, so, so very much!!!!
Friday was so awesome as well! Brrrrr! It sure was cold for both of us! When I woke up, it was 18 degrees in Nibley and 30 degrees here. Wow! We have some really nice heaters in our apartment and so we always stay warm during the night! We had a busy day planned and we got to help out at the food pantry again! I feel like we go to the food pantry every other day! Hehe! I forgot to tell you that I got asked to speak again on November 25th and I will be speaking on the talk that Elder Holland gave this last conference! They said that they wanted to give me 1 more chance to speak before I go home and give a "farewell to the mission field talk." We did our service at the food pantry and it was so busy! It was a constant flow of people and it is always fun to introduce people to the Church! I have some very exciting news about Edward Florino! We got to Skype the Sisters into our lesson and we had it at the Church! It went so well and it felt so good to have such a great lesson! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and we answered a ton of questions that he had about how the Church is organized and why so many bad things are happening. He really felt the spirit and we committed him to give up coffee and live the word of Wisdom! It was such a spiritual lesson and he is progressing really well! He has lots of great questions because he wants to know everything he can about the Church and so he wrote down some questions for us! It started to rain quite a bit after and we thought it would snow since it had gotten so cold! We have heard Christmas music in the grocery store already and we have seen people watching Christmas movies and so I can tell that it is getting close! So exciting! We got to tract for the rest of the day and we tried to visit Patience but she wasn't home. The highlight of the night was meeting a guy that we got to teach him on his doorstep! We told him that we are Jesus Christ's restored Church and he hadn't ever heard of the Book so we are going to go back and teach him! I was thinking about you a ton today and sending my love to you! I always have you in my prayers and I can certainly feel yours! Happy weekend and have lots of fun my dear Family! We have a few people lined up to take us to the Temple and so we are coordinating with Bishop Cook and Brother Thompson to work out a date! We can go starting on the 15th and we have until December 15th to go and so we will get to go really soon! I'm so excited to go back to the city! It will be so good to go back to the Temple! We want to go as soon as we can since I will be back in the Temple the day before I go home and so we are both anxious to go do a session! I will let you know as soon as I find out because we will change our P-Day to a different day to accommodate the Temple trip! See you in 6 weeks!!!!! Love ya tons and tons my dear Family!!!!!!!!!
Saturday was such an awesome day too! I have some really crazy and exciting news about transfers and I'm very excited to tell you all about it! I hope you got to go to the Aggie game! I hope you had fun watching it and I was really excited to think that you might be there! We got to go to the Baptism for the Mills' daughter, Sierra! I was asked to conduct and Elder Solomon was asked to play the piano and we were also asked to fill up the font and so we had a fun time helping out! We had such a great day and we got to talk to lots of cool people! I am so close to finishing the Doctrine and Covenants and I'm really excited to read the last few sections! It is so amazing how much my testimony of Joseph Smith has grown since I've read through all of the Doctrine and Covenants! He was such an amazing man and went through so much. I know without a doubt that he is a true prophet and really was called to restore Christ's Church! We got to the Church to fill up the font and we were really excited because Brother Mills told us that he had some Family coming in from Utah and so I was really excited to talk to them! It's funny how talking to someone from Utah while I'm clear across the country makes me feel right at home! I got to talk to Brother Mills' Dad and he is from American Fork!!! His name is Howard Mills and he knew exactly where Grandma Evans lives! He said that he doesn't live too far away from Barrett Elementary and so it was a really fun connection to make! Go American Fork!!!! It was really weird to tell him that I fly home in a month and it is really fun to think that we will be together for Christmas!!!! I'm not sure if Grandma Evans knows Brother Mills but they grew up there and he has lived there his whole life. He said that their name sounds familiar and so they might have met! I have some very crazy news to tell you! It kind of came as a shock and was unexpected but to make a long story short, we are moving to the Newton apartment! We got a text from President Hess and he asked us to call him when we had a minute. We called him back and he told us that an Elder that just came into the mission when Elder Solomon did, is having a very hard time in Newark and is having some really bad anxiety and so President Hess wants to get him some fresh air and bring him to a non-city area. And so this companionship that are serving in Newark, are going to be moving into our apartment this coming Tuesday and we will move into the Newton apartment! So that means the ward will be split again and we will take the South end of our area and this other companionship will take the North area! His name is Elder Geertson and he is being trained by Elder Schow and so there will be 4 Elders serving in this ward! That means I will finish my mission in a different apartment! I'm very excited for this opportunity and it will be a very fast 5 weeks for sure! It will be weird to only be in an apartment for 5 weeks! Especially my last apartment of my whole mission! It is only 20 minutes away from our current apartment and I've heard it was recently renovated and so it is brand new! After we got the call from President Hess, we visited a man named Mike Siegle and he is so cool! He has met with a lot of missionaries in the past but hasn't been baptized yet. He and his Family go to a Presbyterian Church and he has deep ties with it. We talked for a while about his beliefs and it was great to share our message with him! We got back to the apartment and anxiously awaited transfer calls! We knew that we were staying together but I was excited to hear where all of the missionaries in the mission were going! It is weird to think that next transfer call, we will find out who will be taking my place and who will be Elder Solomon's next companion! I hope you all had a very amazing day! I thought about you a lot today and wished I could give you a hug and tell you how much I love you! Happy Sunday and have such a great day my dear loved ones! LOVE YA SO VERY MUCH!!!!!!
Sunday was a really amazing Sabbath!!!
P.S: Thanks so much for your questions about us moving apartments! So the reason why we need to move instead of the other Elders moving into the Newton apartment is because the Elder that is getting trained has been struggling to live in the city and needs an apartment that is more open and has more windows. He has had really bad anxiety because of his current living situation and so he talked to President Hess and they feel that the best thing for him is to be out in the fresh, country air in an apartment that has big windows, and doesn't feel cramped. The Newton apartment is on a busier street than where we are now in Franklin and President Hess thought he might have the same anxiety about living on a busier street in Newton than Franklin. I'm really excited to live in Newton because it is owned by a couple in the Sparta ward and they own a furniture business called "Penelope's Treaures" I just found the address but I'm not sure what apartment it is yet but I'm really excited for you to see it! It is in a really cool part of town and has tons of little shops! So it is 166 Spring Street in Newton! When you go into Google maps, it will be the green and gray building on the corner next to 166! It is the top apartment and so I will get the exact apartment number as soon as I find it out. They have tons of cool antique shops and the Walmart and strip of stores really close to the apartment! We will cover the South part of our area and so we will still teach Edward Florio, Ricky and Teresa Marquina, and lots of members but Sister Campbell won't be in our area anymore. President Hess said thst he felt bad that he had to cut our area into 2 pieces and he said that "we really have the work rolling in Sparta!" and so he was really appreciative of us moving apartments. He told us that Elder Geertsen really needs the country because he feels crammed in the city and couldn't handle the stress of the city and so they are bringing him up to Sparta. The Cook Family live in our area and so we will still get to have Thanksgiving at the Cook's house! We were thankful that our Thanksgiving plans are still intact!
Well my dear and amazing Family!
Thanks again for your many fun and exciting emails and pictures from the week! You are always so kind to take the time to write to me and I really appreciate it so much! The weeks are really counting down and I'm really excited to finish my mission in this area! It's so hard to beleive that I will be the next group to go home, especially because it is a 5 week transfer! We are still working out our Temple trip and so we don't have a date set in stone yet. It's fun to think that I get to go 2 times before I come home! I hope you all have an amazing and fun week! I will be thinking about you a lot as you go to the Bells concert and I will be with you in spirit! LOVE & MISS YOU SO VERY MUCH MY DEAR FAMILY!!!!!!
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
Love You Always!
~Elder Lindberg
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