IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!! 7/10/2017

Favorite moment from this week: Opening week 5 of MyPlan (dating and eternal marriage) to find this quote, "One of the main purposes of coming on a mission was to prepare you for eternal marriage" Hahah is that why I came out? 

I had my final interview with President Olson this week. Like ever. I was all nervous about it, and what it would include, but it turned out to be a counsel session on how to find the one and to live worthy of them. hahah so much fun... He did compliment me on my growth on the mission and the work I have done. He said he is proud of me. Then in closing he said, "Sister Lindberg, continue your bright happy influence in Bountiful!" I laughed a little after that. He can't seem to remember that I am not in fact from Bountiful. But whatever. At least he is somewhat close right? 

This week I have hit a wall of "I'm done. I'm done. You can't make me do this (tracting, walking around, being rejected etc) anymore!" I am trying my hardest to scale the wall and make this last week a fire week. Sounds like even in my fight for motivation I am a step above some of the other departing missionaries. Our district leader has given all decisions and work over to his companion. The Magnolia Elders no longer do studies. The Brownlee Elders are fighting since one of them just got here and is full of greenie fire and doesn't understand why his companion has no desire to go out or do anything. That companion made the comment on Sunday "I'm leaving. Why should I care about any of these people?" Poor guy. He's given up entirely. So in relation I'm doing pretty good! JK. I can only compare myself to myself. Trying to keep up motivation until at least Sunday night. Then no promises. 

I have gone through the five stages of grief and am now in a somewhat numb state of mind. I just am ready for something to happen, in this case, me heading home. 

Denial: Week 1. Lots of denial of the fact that it was now my last transfer. 

Anger: Week 2. A strong desire to flip out at the world that I had to leave this all behind, and yet nothing was happening (at least in the mindset I was in)

Bargaining: Week 3. If I just work hard enough, maybe I can stay. Or y'all could come here. Both options can coexist right? Right?

Depression: Week 4. I don't want to get out of bed. I don't want to work. I don't want to do anything. 

Acceptance: Week 5. Alright. This is happening. I am going home. I can do this. I am ready. 

Who knows what Week 6 with be characterized with? Probably all five of the stages all in one week. In rapid succession. Hahah. That should be fun! 

I realized this week that I will be all alone in the airport, having to figure out where to go and what to do. Why I didn't realize that weeks ago I don't know, but it set in this week that I really don't know what I am going to do! I don't know how to find the gate I need to go to!! I don't know what to do!!! AHHHHHH!! I need someone to come hold my hand and show me what to do and tell me everything is going to be okay!

If I don't make it to SLC, that is why. Just advance warning. 

Here is the list of things I have thought of that I would like to do when I get home.

ACTIVITIES:

>Go to the Temple

>Go on a family bike ride

>Go swimming

>Mow the lawn (weird I know, but I haven't been able to do it for more than 18 months)

>Spa/movie night with little skisters

>Family movie night (perhaps Moanna?)

>Paint a picture

>Go through clothes/stuff from home

>Make blanket with fabric I got from Purvis

>Make decorations for room at college

>Go to Island Park and have a blast!!!

FOOD:

>Ham balls

>Brisket

>Chicken cordon bleu

>Rotisserie pork loin

>Lion House rolls

>Mom's cake. Any of them. chocolate preferred.

Okay. That is all. Love you! 

Is There a Third Option? 7/3/2017

This week I have been trying to come to terms with the fact that I am almost done with my mission. Good and Bad. 

Reasons it is good:

-Get to see you

-Get to see Ryno off

-Great things ahead of me

-Get to see you

-Don't have to be rejected anymore (at least not in a missionary sense)

-Weight off my shoulders

Reasons it is bad:

-Weight off my shoulders is the mantle of a missionary. Not ready to lose that yet

-Don't get to have the opportunity to be rejected anymore

-Have to face y'all and hope that y'all are as proud of me as I would like

-BIG things ahead of me, not ready to adult yet

The two options that are before me are 

1)Go home 

and

2)Stay here

Obviously it really isn't a choice that I can make since it really isn't in my hands, but it would be nice if there was a third option 

3)Stay here AND get to see all of you and do all that I want to do with y'all

But unfortunately that option doesn't exist, so instead I am faced with the reality that option 1 is quickly coming. 

Because of that I have felt like an elephant is sitting on my chest this whole week. Lots of fun. Sister Spencer tries her hardest to help me, but what can you do when your companion suddenly is uncontrollably laughing on the floor and can't stop because she is literally losing her mind? Not much. 

Other than the increasing number of breakdowns, this week has contained the following:

-Moving a potential investigator named Jerrie. We met her tracting and she said she was in need of help moving stuff from her house to a storage unit behind her house since she is disabled. Sounded easy enough so we brought it up to the ward council and enlisted the help of the elders quorum and some of the young men. We set it up for Wednesday evening at 6. Tuesday evening Jerrie texts us and says she will meet us at the storage place 3 miles up the street. Turns out the "couple boxes" that were "in her house" were actually LOTS of boxes in a storage unit 3 miles up the road. Luckily we had 2 trucks, a van, two compact cars, with 3 grown men, two Elders, two Sisters, and 2 young men to transport the stuff. Even with that it took us three hours and 4 trips back and forth to get it all and move it into the storage shed in her backyard. The experience was enhanced by Jerrie's occasional (alright constant) nagging about where everything went. Needless to say, by the end of those long three hours, everyone involved was ready to bail and never volunteer again.  One guy from the other ward was getting pretty sassy and fiesty by the end. Jerrie and him seemed to be having a bit of an unspoken competition of who could be sassiest. Lots of fun! It was made better by the surprised looks from Jerrie and the men as I lifted boxes and carried things. The guy from the other ward came to grab a box from me to be nice, and when he took it he just looked and said "wow sister! You're strong!" Hahah. 

-Teaching Tasha. We set her with a baptismal date (July 29th) and are working to help her be ready. We also want to involve her husband Tim, who happens to be a Jehovah's Witness, and their 3 sons, Trey, Kendall, and Landin. Slowly the three of us, SS Tasha and I, are working on them. Tasha is really an amazing person! She has been searching for the truth for a while and is beginning to notice that we just might have it. God is working with her. 

-Trying to contact Cassie. She is the daughter of a less active member that lives in Timbuktu, well they actually live in Princeton, but is might as well be Timbuktu because it takes a whole day's worth of miles to get out there and back. We taught Cassie the Restoration the second day SS was here...and haven't been able to meet with her since. We have tried texting, calling, and going out there, all to no avail. We went out with Kaitlin Hawkins, a recently returned missionary, but weren't able to see her.  sad face. 

-MyPlan. This week was about Self reliance. There was one part that made me smile because it said to contact your stake self reliance specialist once you get home to get assistance in making a plan for how you will be self reliant in the future, and that just so happens to be my father. Haha. Dad, you and I need to sit down when I get home. 

This week is week 5, which means the section on dating and eternal marriage. Finna be fun!

-Finishing the New Testament. I started it on the 15th and read marking scriptures that talked about different things. I have colored tabs that I put in. Here is my system. 

Orange- introspective question

Pink- example of righteousness

Yellow- warning

Green- commandment/blessing for obedience

Blue- interesting fact/idea

It was really cool to read it that way because now I can go back and say "I want to see what commandments there are in the NT." and all I have to do is look for a green tab. I am hoping it will be the great resource I want it to be. I also read the Book of Mormon in this manner last month. 

-Traveling out to Benton. Benton is one of the areas contained in the Brownlee ward that doesn't get visited by the missionaries or anyone really because the members that live out there, with the exception of 3 or 4 families, are less active. We decided to go out there and contact the LAs and part member families. It turned out to be full of driving through a terrible storm. At one point we were driving down a road that turned into a dirt road. As I said, it had been raining REALLY hard so this dirt road was now a MUD road. SS had the foresight to say "If we go down here and get stuck, we don't have any cell service." That made me realize it probably wasn't the smartest idea to continue. So we decided to turn around. Luckily God was looking out for us because at that moment two things happened, we started getting bogged down in the mud and then the road came to a turn around point. We were able to glide and turn around and get out of there! It made for an interesting time as we turned back onto the main road and mud was flying out from our wheels! Hahah we looked like Hansel and Gretel. Everyone could tell were we had been because of the long trail of red mud behind us!  

That is all for this week folks! I love you and can't wait to see you! Get ready for a very torn Sister Lindberg to run up to hug you, while she is also wishing she was back in the MJM with her new found friends. But I still love you, so I guess I will come home, no matter how hard it will be. 

The End is Near. 6/27/2017

First off. We moved. I know I know. I keep saying we are, and then we are not, but this time we really moved. So my new address is 2305 Ovietto, Bossier LA 71111

I have a question for you. 

Does Ryno need the missionary library? (Our search for happiness, true to the faith, Our Heritage) I have those three and can bring them home for him if he needs them, if not I am going to leave them here. 

This week the motto has been #notgivingup. Doing myplan has really made it hard to focus just on the mission, but as Mary said this week in her email, I need to  "teach as many people as you can!! Time is running out!!" 

Speaking of myplan, I registered for institute this week. I picked two classes that I thought would be applicable to the time I am at in  my life. 

-The Gospel and the Productive Life 

Continuing Conversion for Returned Missionaries

-Preparing for an Eternal Marriage

Those should be entertaining and fun! Still debating whether I want to keep the second one. 

We had interviews this week and President Olson made sure I knew not to give up. As he said "You don't buy a movie ticket and leave 15 minutes before the movie is over." Yep. Just trying to stay for the whole movie. It would be easier if everyone here would just stop telling me to do so! Goodness! ;) 

I made Dad's famous chocolate chip applesauce cookies and gave President and Sister Olson some. They have texted and called us about 5 times over the weekend telling us thank you and raving about how good they were. President Olson even shook my hand when we walked into Zone conference and said "i hope you know those cookies are all gone! They were very tasty!" Hahaha

We had Zone Conference yesterday. It was a bittersweet experience because we were learning great things, but I know I only have so long to apply them and that this was the last ZC I will attend. I bore my final testimony and thought back on my mission! And what a mission it has been. I am so grateful for all that I have been blessed to be a part of. There have been many lessons learned and great experiences had on this journey. I will treasure this experience for the rest of my life! 

I love y'all so much! I can't wait to see you and tell you all about it all in person!

In Exactly 1 Month... 6/19/2017

...I WILL BE ON AN AIRPLANE HEADING TOWARDS YOU!!!!

So. First off... we didn't move. The apartment for the other sisters didn't work out so we are still here at 912 Hunter Xing.

Now back to my letter, I am so excited! This past Friday part 1 of my "trunky papers" arrived. It was the information for bike sale, airplane protocols, and a nice note from Sister Edwards, the travel secretary letting me know how much they love serving with us missionaries. 

Part 2 is set to arrive sometime this week. That one is going to make me REAL trunky. It has my travel itinerary and all my departure information in it. Yep. It's like they WANT us to get super trunky and ready to go home! 

I have exciting news! So remember that model girl I talked about a couple months ago. We taught her and her 49,000 followers the Plan of Salvation while she live streamed her life. Yep so one of the guys that "beamed in" (basically got to be front and center during part of the call and ask us questions) is getting BAPTIZED!!! He was very respectful during the call and told us how much he respected us and thought we had a lot of really good points. He lives in North Carolina and is working with missionaries there to get baptized because he truly felt something while we talked!!!!! Y'all!!! I am so excited for him!! Meisha said she has been talking to him about it and he seems really excited and was very grateful that he was there to hear us talk about the Plan! God works in mysterious ways! Who knew that a live stream with 49,000 people would lead to a child of God making life changing covenants!? So exciting!!!

​​​This week has been full of sweating and wanting to die. It is so hot and humid here folks! Like really hot and humid! The poor people that have to open their doors to see our sorry faces!  

Good thing we both have sweat rags to wipe our sorry faces off with before they answer... but it only lasts for so long before the humidity stick right back to ya and you are dripping again! Hahah. Life of a Southern Missionary I suppose. 

We tried some of our inspired tracting streets this week. Something always happens that makes you think "Maybe that is why we felt inspired to come here." Like this experience for example. 

We drive to Lars Rd to tract. Dead end street with only 5-6 houses on it. As we turn onto it, there is a little mud field with some horses in it. After we drive down a bit and park, I look at Sister Spencer and say "We have to go back there! There were babies!!" So we walked back. And found the sorriest horses I have ever seen. They were skin and bones, both moms and babies. Poor things had no food, no water, and were very sad looking! We debated on what to do, and finally decided to ask one of our trusty members for the animal control number. Turns out animal control is not open on Saturday. We took some pictures and went on our way to knock on doors. And then we found a sorry starving puppy in the front yard of the first house. Poor thing was chained up and was stuck in its kennel because the chain had gotten caught on a break in the kennel. It couldn't go more than a foot in a circle. Problem is, its food was in the shade about 3 feet away. The food, moldy kidney beans and some dirty water. Poor thing. We will also be calling on that too. I don't know whether that was why I felt so strongly we needed to go to Lars road, but no one we talked to was very interested, so it seems to me that it was. 

We also passed out flyers for the "Meet the Mormons" movie night we are planning for July 8th. It is interesting how nice people are when you offer them an invite to come watch a movie and eat food. Only one slammed door. And that was before we even got to tell her about the awesome night we had planned and were there to invite her to. 

 I think I like tracting like that much better! Less hard rejection! 

​

We have exchanges today and tomorrow with the STLs. My last exchange!

Then Zone Conference next monday. So I will email y'all on Tuesday. Don't worry when you don't hear from me on Monday, I'm still alive...probably. 

I will be bearing my final testimony for all the missionaries in the Shreveport Zone to hear. Lots of wisdom will be imparted! Hopefully someone can take the advice I have to give and make their mission somewhere close to how awesome mine has been!

Love y'all!!

This Is For You Mom 6/12/2017

So Mom has requested that I write more this week so I will do my best to please her. 

For those that don't want to read this novel, just know it was a good week. Also we are moving. We currently live 7 miles away from the closest place in our area, which kills our miles, so we are moving closer. I will get you the address next week.

Monday: Learned Sister Soto was leaving and began to help her pack her things. We spent the day packing her up and relaxing. The evening was spent saying goodbye to people that she wanted to visit and then finishing up last minute packing things. Then the Queen City Sisters came over to spend the night so they didn't have to drive the hour and half on Tuesday morning. I ended up spending the night on the floor since we only have two mattresses and one couch. It was okay, not too comfortable, but bearable. 

Tuesday: Woke up at 5:20 to get ready, pack things up, and head over to the church to load everyone who was getting transferred into a Penske truck and two 12 passenger vans. Sister Soto went to Jonesboro LA. Hopefully she enjoys herself and loves her companion. She was very nervous and broken up about leaving. Poor girl. 

We headed to IHOP to eat breakfast and wait for the T van to arrive. Then we headed back to the church to study and wait some more. Then off to service to continue waiting. The T van finally arrived around 3:30 and we all filed out to help unload the penske and await the news of who our companion would be. There were only 3 sisters so we tried to guess. Turns out we were all wrong. I am now with a wonderfully awesome companion from Payson, UT named Sister Spencer. She has been out for 5 months. She is the 3rd of 5 kids. 3 brothers 1 sister. She is wonderful and loves to have fun while working. Just like me. She appreciates my sass and funny personality. We are doing fabulous things in Brownlee. 

Wednesday: Tried to start MyPlan. No luck. It wasn't working for about half of those going home. Text the Assistants to the President and asked for help. They said they would try to figure it out. Headed to District Meeting. We ate lunch and started to get to know the members of our district. There are three trainees in the district so we are full of greenie fire! It also has the 4 members of the zone that are leaving this transfer so we are full of trunky fire!  We had a game to get to know each other and learn what everyone was like before the mission.

After DM we headed out to contact a referral that lives 14 miles away from our apartment. They weren't home so we tracted around his house. Then we visited with the Craigs, a PMF. Cassie is a typical teenager that just wants to hang out with her friends, even if that means going to a baptist church. Trying to work with her on that  one. We also visited with the Lancasters, another PMF. They are both in their 80s and Chuck has no intention of joining the Church. We just try to love them and help them in whatever way we can. They are the ones that we helped out by scrubbing their floors on our hands and knees. 

Then we went to the church to teach the activity day girls (ranging from 8-11, all in one group. So different from UT) about The First Vision. Those girls get DEEP. One of the Bishop's daughters asked us where God came from. Then another wanted to know who Heavenly Mother is. We tried to steer them back on topic and help them learn about the First Vision so they could teach it to their families like they needed to to pass off the requirement. Silly girls!

Thursday: Did some service at Renesting, a project that helps people coming out of homelessness to have basic household furnishings. It is always an adventure there! There are two woman in charge and then 5 other older woman that think they are in charge. All telling us different things to do. Makes for an interesting couple hours of service. We tried to visit a LAPMF after that, but they were mowing their lawn and said to try back later. 'parrently Jesus ain't more important than their lawn being mowed. Whatever. Their loss. We tracted and met some fun people, none of whom were interested in our message. Again, their loss! 

We had a lesson with one of our potential investigators named Cliff. He had scheduled a time for us to come but had to cancel because his wife wasn't home, so this was the rescheduled time. When we knocked on the door and he said to come on in. His wife and two daughters were on their way out to go to the swimming pool. I had to awkwardly explain that we couldn't be alone with a man, to which Sarah, his wife, looked at Cliff and said "what do you want to do? They really want to go swimming" We finally agreed that we would teach a quick lesson so they could go swimming. It was...interesting. Sarah was mocking Cliff the entire time for even inviting us back. We tried to really bring the Spirit into the lesson, but it wasn't very successful with her laughing and looking at him all judgmental. We invited him to read 3 Nephi 11 about Christ coming to the Americas, and he half heartedly agreed. Poor guy. I really think he would be very excited about it if it wasn't for his wife. 

Friday: Weekly plannning. Finished in record time. Don't know what was different this time, but it went really fast compared to past planning sessions. We set a goal to teach and set 3 people with a date this week. We have some pretty promising potentials, it is just a question of whether they will find to meet with us. We tried to visit one of them, Tasha, but she was heading out to run some errands. We ended up tracting and trying not to keel over from the heat. It was sort of successful. In the end we ended up walking the mile to the gas station and getting an Icee so we could cool down. Both of us had sore feet and our brains weren't working so well because of the heat. Lots of water is being consumed this time of year. I feel like a camel.  

We also visited a potential named John. He said to try back when we met him a couple days previous. So we did. We sat down with him, while his wife was in the bathroom washing their pit bull and golden retriever. Restoration lesson that was going well and John seemed generally interested, not like a lot, but enough to warrant continuing... then his wife walked in. Another case of judgmental wife syndrome. She said they were firm in their faith and didn't believe in "a false bible that glorifies John Smith" I always want to ask why they keep mentioning Pocahontas' husband, but have to bite my tongue and explain that JOSEPH Smith isn't anything like Christ to us. That we believe Christ is our Lord and Savior, and Joseph Smith and the prophets that have followed are like Moses to us. Prophets. Mouthpieces for God. Not our Christ. 

She wasn't having it. We left them with an invitation to pray about it, which she smirked at, and then prayed with them. A prayer which she insisted on saying. 'Cause you know, we would probably pray to John Smith or something. 

Saturday: Stared MyPlan. Not okay. Panic attack ensued the moment the pretty little missionaries' pictures popped up with the words "Congratulations! You've reached your final transfer." *heavy breathing* Got to think about my future and what I want to do with my life. About what God has done with me during my mission, what Christlike attributes the Lord has helped me develop and what spiritual truths I have learned. This week is all about setting a life plan out. Like how long you think it will take for you to be married. No biggie. 

Headed out to the far reaches of our area, which is pretty far, and tried some people. LAs, PMFs, potentials, AMs. Pretty much got it all. Guess what! None of them wanted to see us. I know! Rude! We spent hours driving, walking, and eventually almost crawling from one place to another trying to share the good word of God. Nothing. No interest. No "Come on in you sad pathetically sweaty creatures!" Nothing. We headed back to the church for ward correlation dejected and weary from all the walking. Then we tried to AI (additional or always invite) at CVS. Basically walking around and trying to talk to people. Usually ends with them thinking you're crazy, but there is sometimes the occasional person that wants to learn more. This was not one of those times. 

Then we made calls to formers and potentials to try and set up a time to see them. Many disconnected numbers or voicemails. One lady even answered, said hello, allowed me to start the "It's the missionaries..." but before I even got to the "the", she hung up on us. hahaha. The life of a missionary!

We ate dinner and passed out. 

Sunday: Another wonderful set of meetings. The Elders taught about Priesthood organization to us and Eddy Landry, a less active that is working on getting back active. Fun times. Then we headed home to each lunch, study and get ready to go out for the day. We had set up an appointment with a former named Jayme Kerns, so we headed to see her. Her husband answered the door and knew exactly what we were there for. He invited us in and went out back to get Jayme. The back door opens and in comes Jayme... followed by 5 dogs of varying sizes AND a miniature pot belly pig named Hank! I was so excited about that! I was like "Y'all have a pig!?!" Apparently Hank was found in a horse trailer with 5 other feral pigs. The 5 feral ones had to be shot because they were too wild from being abandoned, but since Hank was only about 6 weeks old he was rescued by Jayme. All of her animals are rescues from rough situations. 

Anyway, we had planned to talk about the Restoration, but we ended up getting to know her and discussing how history and religion come together, with intermittent mentions of Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jayme comes from a long line of Catholics, and has a varied ancestry of Cuban militants like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, as well as Nazi regime members and Jewish refugees. Interesting past. She is very into history and knows her facts. It was a cool discussion. 

Her uncle lives with them and was in the kitchen while we were talking. He asked if we could make a deal. They would come to our church if we came to theirs. Cue the attempt at explaining why we as missionaries can't go to other churches. He asked why if he was willing to come to ours, we aren't willing to come to his. I tried to let him know that we can't as missionaries, but it isn't that we think they are wrong, as he suggested. I said we would look into it (being able to go with them in exchange for them going with us) He responded all grumpily with "I will look into yours too. By the way, that means I am not going." 

Curse you mission rules! JK. It just makes it hard to explain to people. 

We also visited with the Haleys. They are the sweetest elderly couple ever. They have a way of making you feel so at home and loved. I am grateful for people like them. 

Last night I had a dream that I was giving my final testimony at zone conference. It was a pretty funny scene. Everyone was laughing with me, then crying, then laughing again. I woke up and had to write down some of the things I said in my dream to use for advice in my testimony. 

I also had a dream this week about Ashley and Riley. Ashley and I were in a big bathroom fixing our hair, when Riley walked in and started talking to us. He offered to fix my hair for me, which I accepted while Ashley stood by us and did her own hair. We had a nice conversation about something while we fixed our hair. Riley was really good at doing hair in my dream. 

I am currently in Mormon in my Book of Mormon reading, which is ahead of schedule. I plan to read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon again before I arrive home. Going to be a good last 37 days! 

I love y'all! 

-- Sister Lindberg