Week 53, July 31, 2017

Miracles = Faith+Action Howdy Y'all! So this week was a Ton of fun and adventures. We have been really tight on miles so no jaunts over to Veil but it was a lot of fun despite the fact that we are at like zero miles at this point. We got three amazing new investigators! We had the lesson with Kim which was amazing! Turns out her Grandmother was a member and her aunt just got baptized a member! I feel like she is being prepared by the hand of the Lord to hear the message. It is amazing! Second was a girl named Alyxis. She is awesome. She has been taught by the sister missionaries for a while and they just handed her off so its been fun to teach her. The third was Jason! Last week I talked about Jill and it turns out Jill's roommate has a brother named Jason who is often over at the apartment. We taught him and in the process of getting to know him it just naturally transitioned to the restoration. It was amazing and I totally felt the Spirit there. It was amazing! That was the major happenings this week so now onto the Spiritual thought. You might have guessed that I am going to talk about miracles. Specifically what it takes to see one. Up until now I cannot say I have seen tremendous miracles in my life. At least not the type you hear about in General conference. I have seen little miracles but have felt that overall I have not seen the miracles that everyone always talks about. But suddenly, they have appeared. Now for those of you who know me I am rather scientifically minded. So of course I started to wonder. What could have sparked these miracles? What changed in my life? Is there a correlation or causation? And it dawned on me. Transfers happened. With transfers came a new companion. And as I discussed last week along with this new companion came a work ethic the likes of which I have never seen in any of my companions. Not that I have had bad companions. Elder Wildung is just a most exceptional missionary. So what have we been doing since he got here? We have worked our tails off. And what does that have to do with miracles? Miracles happen when we exercise Faith and then put in our best effort. Not to say that if you do those things then you can guarantee a miracle. But on the other hand if you don't do them then I CAN guarantee there will not be a miracle. Or at least it is extremely unlikely. I cannot pretend to dictate what God can and cannot do. Either way the point is we have to ACT. I love the saying "Pray like it's all on God, then Work like it's all on You". That is the way its supposed to be. We are not just meant to pray and have all our problems disappear. We are meant to work and trust that when we follow the Lords plan for us things will all work out for the best. So we work hard. Not because we pretend that we can make it to Heaven by our works. That is NOT Possible! We cannot do it! We cannot EARN our way to Heaven. We have to rely on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the only way. But if we want to see the Lord's hand in our lives there is only one way to truly do it. Work hard and then leave the rest up to the Lord. Put forth your best effort and He most definitely will make things work together for your good. God loves us. He wants to bless us. Not always the way we want him to but the best way for us. And so we work hard and the blessings rain down and the miracles appear. That is the way to see God's hand in our lives. I promise God is there. He wants to help you. But you cannot expect him to just make all your problems go away. He wants us to grow. That is why He Blesses us with trials. Notice what I did there? I didn't say He gives them to us. He blesses us with them. There is a distinct difference that is all a matter of perspective. And that changed perspective can make an enormous difference. I promise. I love all of you so much. I hope you are doing well and having a great time. Sincerely Elder Nathan Lindh

Week 52, July 24, 2017

Positive Influences

Howdy Y'all!

So This week has been pretty crazy so I will just keep it down to a few highlights.

First of all I have a new companion! I have to apologize I misspelled his name last week. It is in fact Wildung not Wildone. I apologize for the confusion and for the mistake. I will talk more about him later in my spiritual thought. 

We also have seen some pretty amazing things. A while back when Elder Lunt was here we got rear ended by a young lady. Everything was fine the car had no major damage and no one got hurt. But in the incident we got this lady's phone number. Her name was Kim and we have not had too much contact since the incident got settled. But She seemed open and had been on my mind for a couple of days. I kept feeling like I should text her. It took me a while but I did and she said she would be interested in learning more about the church! It was such a miracle to see something like this come out of what normally would have been a strictly negative experience. 

The other things that happened is we had an awesome lesson with Emily and met a really cool less active named Jill. Its been amazing to meet new people and see the work of the Lord hastening in my area. I love being a missionary. 

Now onto my spiritual thought. Now I will tell you a bit more about Elder Wildung. Elder Wildung has been with me for 6 days and in that time I do not think I have seen him stop smiling even once. It is insane how positive and enthusiastic he is. It is especially appreciated by me who has felt like I have lost some of my enthusiasm for the work. I have enjoyed immensely the 6 days we have been together. Not to say I don't love my previous companions. (I love and miss all of them) But I have most certainly felt a lot more confident and enthusiastic while I have been with him. 

So here's the message. There are only 2 types of friends in this world. Good friends and Bad friends. What's the difference? The difference is that a Good friend makes you a better person and enriches your life. A Bad friend is someone who makes your life harder and only makes you a worse, more selfish person. And why does this matter? Because we get to choose each day what type of friend we will be. Will we be a Good friend that people enjoy being around and makes others better? Or will we be a Bad friend that makes the lives of those around us harder and bleaker? Only we can choose. Now I know and recognize that is a slight exaggeration. In reality I know there is a lot more gray area where there are some who don't affect us much and don't change our lives much one way or the other. But in my opinion those are not Good friends so by default are a Bad friend in that they don't make our lives better. 

Now this is not to say we should cut people out of our life because they are not driving us to be better people. In fact I don't mean to direct this as a way to judge others or tell you how to live your life or who you should hang out with. Instead I mean this to hopefully cause some introspective thinking. I want those of you who read this to take a good long look at your life, your characteristics, your habits, your mannerisms, and evaluate " Am I a Good friend or a Bad friend? Do I make the lives of others Easier or Harder?" and to be honest I don't know what your answer will be. But I would suggest that if the answer is that you are a Bad friend that maybe you should evaluate your choices in life and make the necessary changes to become a Good friend. And this is not a challenge I extend lightly. I am doing the very same thing. I am trying to make changes in my life that will allow me to be a Good friend to everyone. I want everyone I run into to see the Savior in the way I live my life and the choices I make. Not to say I am perfect but that I know that I want to live my life the way the Savior lived his. Full of love and service and kindness. I don't want to be remembered as a grumpy rude individual who did nothing but complain and bemoan my lot in life. So I am making the changes to reflect the Saviors life and teachings. 

The second half of my thought is along the same lines. I have been watching Elder Wildung. I mean when I spend almost every waking hour with the guy its hard not to. And I have noticed something. He is a happy guy. Now some of you might go "Wow how long did it take you to figure that one out?" especially if you know Elder Wildung. But I don't just mean He acts happy or looks happy. He IS happy. It is one of his characteristics. And I have been pondering on that. I mean who does not want to be a happy person? I want to be more like him. So I have been wondering how to do this. And I have a few thoughts. 

First of all, happiness is a state of being. It's not as much an emotion as it is a lifestyle. So how do we make happiness our lifestyle? That is a task that is easier said than done. We follow the teachings of Christ. Sounds simple but it's not quite as easy as all that. We have to truly center our lives on the Gospel of Christ. And we have to do it with a cheerful heart. It needs to be done because we have a love for the Gospel and a love for the Savior. Not because we want God to fix all our problems. And that is the thing. God is not going to simply wave his hand and fix every tiny problem we might ever face. And why not? because God wants us to be happy. And not just feel happy as a temporary thing. He wants us to have everlasting happiness. Another word that is probably more accurate is Joy. I need to change my definition of Elder Wildung. He is not simply a happy person, he is a Joyful person. The difference is that you can feel happiness in life and not experience true Joy. But when you are a truly Joyful person you will always be happy. Not because life will suddenly cease to have trials. But because that Eternal Joy and the perspective it brings will allow us to feel Happy even when life is extremely hard. And that is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings. Not temporary relief or happiness. But True and everlasting Joy. That is why so often the youth of the church are often seen as being happy positive people. Those of you who know my little sister Anna know what I am referring to. She is a joyful person. 

Now I hope you guys hear what I am trying to say. We choose each day who we are and what we do. We can choose to be a Good friend. We can choose to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ the center of our lives and let the Prince of Peace bring peace and Joy to our lives. Its all a choice. Not an easy one and not a one time choice. Instead it is a choice we make every second of every day. Whether we will choose Joy or sadness. Whether we will be a Good or a Bad friend. And hopefully we make the right choice. 

I love you all. I hope you have an amazing week and I am thinking/praying for all of you! I love you!

Love

Elder Nathan Lindh

Transfers!

 

Week 51, July 17, 2017

Disagreements Howdy y'all! So its been another week which makes six in total in the belleview ward. As many of you might be wondering why that is important, that means it's transfer time! Tomorrow I will be heading to transfer meeting to drop off my companion Elder Lunt and pick up my new companion Elder Wildun ( I believe that is the spelling I have never met him so have no idea.) I will be staying another transfer in the amazing Belleview ward! So my address will not be changing! That being said this week has been full but not super productive when it comes to sharing the gospel. It has however been extremely helpful in preparing to share the gospel. On tuesday we had an amazing lesson with Emily a recent convert who is extremely well versed in the gospel. Honestly I love teaching her because her faith is amazing! She has every reason not to join the church or to remain active and yet she doesn't ever waver. Someday I hope my testimony can be as strong as hers. Then we spent the majority of Wednesday cleaning. We did a deep clean of the apartment. Its all nice and clean. Well it was..... Elder Lunt is getting ready to leave so his stuff is in various stages of being packed. Anyway that night we had a lesson with a man named Josh. I mentioned him a week ago. He had excellent questions and we had a good lesson. It was great. However he says he is not interested in joining the mormon Church so we might not want to waste our time teaching him. He did however commit to reading the book of Mormon so we will see what comes of it. We will probably refer him to other elders. Technically He is not a YSA but I still enjoyed teaching him and introducing him to the gospel. Thursday we were jam packed with district meeting, an appointment and then interviews with president. The appointment was with a young man named Hunter who is progressing really well. He just works on sunday which means he goes to the family ward instead of ours but we are trying to get that changed so he could be more involved with the ward. Friday we went to Vail! it is a rather remote part of our area so in three transfers Elder Lunt had never been out there. We decided we would go and visit a few people and see the sights. It turns out when you cannot check the traffic that things take longer than you think they will. It took us 2 hours to make what is usually a 45 minute drive. So we only got to try a few people. The frustrating part is that the addresses we had all didn't exist or weren't accessible. So It was rather disappointing. But Elder Lunt got to see Vail and we learned some valuable information. Saturday was spent getting Elder Lunt started on packing, then we had a lesson with Tony sailas. Tony is a great guy and a convert of about a year. He went into the army but got hurt in basic so was not able to pursue that. Because of that he is in a state of flux that makes it hard for him to get to church. But we hope that we can get him to start coming soon. On sunday we met with Sarah and Chrissy Page. The Page's are an awesome family and it was so much fun to teach them. We hope to get them more involved in the ward as they struggle to come to activities or church. Hopefully one of these days they will come. And that was the week. So onto the lesson I learned. There is a difference between disagreeing and being disagreeable. Disagreeable people are no fun and are hard to hang around with. But you can disagree with someone and not be disagreeable. The way I learned this is that me and Elder Lunt have disagreements. Not that we don't get along (don't tell anyone but he has become a very close friend and I admire him greatly) But we don't always see things the same way. But that is not to say that that is a bad thing. We can see life differently and still get along well because of two things. First the Atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to forgive one another and to change. And secondly our difference of opinion does not necessarily mean one of us is wrong or one of us is right. We can both be right and yet not agree. Now I am not going to say I am perfect. I am not. In fact I am a stubborn, bull headed, strong willed individual who likes things to work the way I want them to. Which means If I disagree then it is likely that I will not back down until I feel that I have either proven my point or until I feel it is pointless to continue the conversation. Now that is not always the best thing. I tend to refuse to drop things and so can be rather annoying. Elder Lunt can testify of that. But at the same time I know that I don't know everything so I tend to accept other peoples view of the world so long as I can understand why they see things that way. I think that is important. Sometimes we are not even truly disagreeing but because we as humans don't know everything we don't understand why the other person cannot see things our way. We need to understand that not everyone thinks the way we do. And that is okay. Part of what makes humankind so special and amazing is that we are all so different, and yet we can get along despite those differences. In fact it is a part of our Heavenly Father's plan for us to disagree. But it is integral that we overcome those differences and learn to love one another. That is why we are here on earth. So the take away here is we can disagree with others, and not be disagreeable. I love all of you so much and hope that You know that. I want you all to know that I think of you and pray for you every day. I love you. Love Elder Lindh

Week 50, July 10, 2017

Hard Lessons Howdy Y'all! So this week was kinda hard. All our lessons cancelled and so we were not able to meet with anyone. But instead we saw a miracle. Yesterday at 8 I wanted to go home. I had a headache I was tired and had been in meetings most of the day. So when we realized we had not done companionship study I thought "awesome! we can go home at 8 do companionship study and I will get to bed early." But luckily I have an awesome companion. Elder Lunt didn't tell me what to do but instead was rather incessant that there was a better use of our time. So finally at 8:15 I gave in and we headed out. We decided to take a walk and talk to everyone we met. At about 8:50 we had not talked to anyone and I was about ready to call it a day. But on the way home we met a man named Josh. We began talking to Josh and telling him a bit about what we believe. He used to be baptist but has since became atheist. Not that he had a problem with God but that he found some things in the bible hard to accept and other things he saw in religious beliefs bothered him. But as we continued talking for almost every question he had, the gospel had an answer. It was amazing. The best part is we will be going back on Wednesday to teach him. So that was our miracle. Now onto my hard learned lessons. First topic I want to speak of is empathy. Not sympathy, but empathy. I know they are often used interchangeably but there is a large difference. Sympathy means we can see why someone did something in an objective way and then we feel bad for them. Empathy means we know how they feel and we understand them. Not to mean that we necessarily had the same experience they did but that we had a close enough experience that we know how they feel. I have found that empathy is a hard thing to earn. It is never easy. This week I gained a little empathy. For as long as I have been a missionary and even most of my time as a member of this church I have never fully understood why some people would choose to abandon everything they know and love just because someone did something that offended them. Often times they get offended by a leader that said something that upset them or something they disagreed with. I have never understood how they could allow such a "petty" thing to drive them from something they know to be true. Then I learned what it feels like. And suddenly I had a very clear understanding of how that could happen. I will try to avoid specifics but I had an experience with a person who is a leader in my life. That person asked me if I was being exactly obedient. I was not so I chose to be honest and said as such. I felt like I was following all the major rules and that my infringements were relatively minor. I mean I have not broken any commandments and still felt worthy to hold the priesthood or enter the temple. So when this leader became rather upset I was confused. It was further compounded by basically being told that despite my desire to change and my honesty, they felt that I was not in fact even trying to follow the rules. They then told me that I would have to change, and quickly, or this could become a pattern that would lead to a "tough life". They hinted that I might end up in a very bad position such as divorce, unemployment, and homelessness. To be honest I wasn't just offended. I was much much more than just that. I was totally furious. I was about ready to tell this leader to stick it where the sun don't shine and that I would be going home. Luckily that is not what I decided to do. Instead I tried my best to remain calm and at least try to think this over. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had two choices. I could continue to be angry and let this anger drive me away from the church and the Gospel I love. Or I could take it as it was. A single person who made a choice that I did not like. I realized that I could not base my decisions, especially decisions about my salvation, on the decisions of others. And then as I realized that and started to look at things in a more objective light I realized that this leader was trying their best. They wanted the best for me and while their methods were not my favorite I could accept that and move on. I could instead decide to do what is right despite their choices. Now unfortunately that was not the easy choice. The easy choice would be to remain angry and upset. To let the other persons choice dictate my actions. To simply be mad for the rest of my life. And so that is how many people react. And that is not to say they are bad people or that I am better than them, but instead I am saying I finally understand them and want to try even harder to help them come back to the gospel and learn how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help them forgive and forget and move on. I think that is enough about that for now. If anyone has any questions or comments please email them to me individually. The second topic is Faith and Obedience. Sometimes it is hard to be obedient. Especially on a mission. There are so many rules and it seems like most of them are simply there to make life boring and hard. A lot of them are easy to disobey and nobody would be the wiser. It is easy to justify and think that since it is just a rule that it wouldn't matter if you didn't obey. This is true in life too. There are times it would be much simpler to just break the small rules. To bend them or try and find a loophole. And trust me I am a big fan of loopholes. But truthfully there is only one person who wants you to break the rules. Satan. The father of all lies. He tells you that one little itsy bitsy rule doesn't matter. That it won't effect you. And often times he makes it look very attractive. Especially in the little things. This is a lie. The little things matter. Not because your salvation hinges on whether or not you got out of bed at 6:30 or 6:31. But because when we let Satan's little lies work on us then we lose something much more valuable than five extra minutes of sleep. We lose the Spirit. At that point we can no longer expect blessings from our Heavenly Father. Of course he will continue to bless us because He loves us but He cannot bless us for being obedient. And the Spirit will not be there. Trust me, as a missionary, and as a normal person, I cannot afford to not have the Spirit with me. I cannot! So that is why we NEED to be obedient. The other thing I have learned is that obedience is how we show our Heavenly Father that we have Faith in him and that we want to do what He asks us to. This week I have been studying faith, and the more I read the more I realize that the word that is most often associated with being Faithful is Diligence. Specifically diligence in keeping the commandments of the Lord. For missionaries this means also following the white handbook. Remember the white handbook (the rulebook for missionaries) was written by a Prophet of God. In order for us to truly show God we have faith in him we must follow those rules, especially when we don't understand the reason behind them. I think that is all for this week. I want you all to know I love you and that I hope that you know that I have a testimony that this is the true church of Christ. That it is not led by men but by Christ. He is my Savior. It is only by Faith on him that we are saved. It is by my works that I testify to him that I truly have faith in him. I hope you all enjoy the blessings that come from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you are not a member and want these blessings in your own life I suggest you find the missionaries. They will happily answer any questions you have. And I promise that the things they teach you can only bless your lives. But please do not simply take my word for it. Ask your Father in Heaven. He is the source of all truth and will send his spirit to testify of the truth of these things. I have seen this time and time again in my life. I love you all so much. Have a great week! Love Elder Nathan Lindh Dinner with the VanWagoners

Week 49, July 3, 2017

Faith to See Miracles Howdy Yall! So first of all "we" had a great week here in belleview. I say "we" but mean elder Lunt. I was on exchanges on wednesday and missed Five lessons. When you only get 6 in a week missing 5 of those cause they were all on the same day is kinda lame. But I got to go to Columbine! Most of you should remember I was there about 6 months ago. So I had a good time. Felt good to be in the area again. I also got to see Susie Harrison and the Duersts while I was in columbine. Susie was an amazing lady that I got to begin teaching. I loved working with her and loved being able to see her again. The Duerst were an amazing family that I got to know while in columbine. They were the ones who hosted us while we taught Susie. The best part was they recognized me! They were confused for a moment because I have changed my haircut and have changed a bit, but I was still super flattered that they remembered me! Other than that I spent most of the week trying to help less actives which often times is frustrating because we have no idea when they will be home so most times when we just try by they aren't home. So that makes things harder. But we won't give up! So now onto my thought of the week. This week I got into a bit of a disagreement with my companion. Elder Lunt is a wonderful guy and I love him but often we see the world in different ways which can lead to disagreements. Although we never argue. Just don't always agree. Anyway that's not the point. The point is that we disagreed whether or not having more faith will lead to seeing people be baptized. My argument being that we cannot change other's choices by being more faithful. His argument is that if we were more faithful and hardworking we will find those who will choose to be baptized. Now truthfully I was being more stubborn than usual and it took me a while to kinda figure out why. Yesterday though I feel I came to my answer. Elder Lunt is right (oh how that pains me to say that, his ego's gonna swell so bad.😉) If we are more faithful we will not change people or their choices, but we will however align ourselves more with God's will and therefore be able to find those who are willing to make the choices that will lead them to be baptized. Now the reason I feel I was being more stubborn is because I am lazy. And not in the traditional sense mind you. I like to work hard. Give me some good old manual labor any day. I like getting down and dirty and trust me I have the callouses to prove it. But being more faithful and building our faith isn't something that requires a one time effort. When you cut down a tree you don't have to wake up and cut that same tree down the next day. But with faith that is exactly what you have to do! We have to choose to be obedient. We have to make that choice every day and every hour and quite frankly that is a LOT harder than deciding I am going to do my laundry or I am going to go chop down the tree I have been meaning to get rid of. Things like that are pretty easy to decide and do. When you decide to be faithful, to follow all the rules, to work hard, to talk to everyone you can, then you have to make a whole bunch of little decisions every day that will affect whether or not you will stand true to the decisions you have made. That is why it is so hard to be a Mormon or any other religion. It is so easy to just give in to peer pressure and lower your standards to what the world would have you do. It's certainly not easy to decide each week to go to church for three hours or go to church period. It is not easy to stand up and say "I believe in God" or "I believe God ordained marriage to be between a man and a women." The world says that we shouldn't say these things. That we should lower our standards and do whatever is popular. Now that is not to say we should be offensive or rude in our beliefs. After all they are just that. OUR beliefs. Others are free to use the agency God gave them to believe whatever they want. I will love everyone regardless. But at the same time we must be bold in declaring and defending what we believe to be right. Standing faithful and not letting the world tell us what to do. And that is not easy. But it is so worth it. I testify that it's all so worthwhile to stand true to what we believe. To choose to act in faith instead of doing what's easy or popular. I know that this was probably rather lengthy but I want you all to know that I have decided to choose to act in faith, instead of doing what is easy. I love you all. I want you to know that I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered the Atonement so that we can be free of sin and so that we can overcome our weaknesses. He loves us and knows exactly how we feel and knows best how to help us overcome our challenges. I love my Savior. I know He lives and heads this church. I will follow him even when it's hard. I hope you all have an amazing 4th of July. I love you all! Sincerely Elder Nathan Lindh

 

Week 48, June 26, 2017

Until they know how much you care. So I think this might be how my letters go from now on. I will tell you a bit about my week. Then I will try to have a topic each week which I will write about. So this week we had zone conference which was good and I will tell you more later. We also were able to meet several new people which is always fun. We also have been having lots of fun at all the activities the YSA puts on. We also went on exchanges with the Zone leaders and had a lot of fun. I got to hang out with Elder Gerber who came out with me so that was a lot of good times. Met a lot of people with him and got some new investigators. So that was great. Now the message of the week. Love. So love is a weird thing. It doesn't always make sense and is hard to define. It is something that people talk about a lot but nobody in my opinion fully grasps the concepts behind it. Especially not me. And to let you all know I am not talking about the mushy type of love, the type we see in chic flicks. That's not what I am speaking of. I am talking about the type of love Christ had. Love for our fellow man. Love that is selfless and kind to EVERYONE. Not just the ones we like. And now that I have identified what I am talking about here is my thought. "No one cares how much you know, Until they know how much you care." That is why love is so important. Recently I have been struggling. Struggling to love others, to feel as though I am loved, and just being loving in the way I act. I just was angry. For a lot of reasons. Mostly because I was frustrated with the way things have been turning out. Frustrated with the lack of visible results. Frustrated with leadership. Frustrated with my own lack of progress. But back to zone conference. In zone conference we have the opportunity to meet with President Gifford and have an interview. That was a huge part of conference for me. I have especially been struggling with leadership and feeling as though they did not care nor love me. But in that interview President told me how he felt as though I was one of his own kids. And the Spirit just hit me. Hard. I could just feel the love that the Savior had for me. The love of God. I could feel the love president had for me. And that was what I needed. I needed to know I was loved. I feel like that was what has been holding me back. I need to learn to love. I need to feel God's love. To know that He knows me. And I got that. So there. I feel like that is the most important thing we can do. Show people how much we love them. So I want you all to know how much I truly deeply love you. I have only briefly known some of you that I met on my mission. But I love you. That is for sure. And if you ever need a reminder of that. Let me know. Cause I will tell you as many times as you need me to. I LOVE YOU. You guys are all so amazing and I love each and every one of you. I hope you never forget that. And never forget that as much as I might love you, God loves you so much more. I promise you that. I love you all. Nathan Lindh

Week 47, June 19, 2017

This has been an amazing week. We have met with a lot of people and have done a lot of work. We have seen people work to change their lives so that they can come closer to Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary. But I need to talk about something that happened to me that totally rocked my world and changed the way I see things. So I need to talk about Prayer. Sometimes even as members we don't fully understand the power of prayer. Even when we have been praying for almost our entire lives we sometimes miss out or forget what a blessing prayer is. It is a miraculous gift from our Father in Heaven. It can change our lives. Just think, for those of us that are members of the LDS church our entire religion started with a prayer. It is AMAZING to feel the power that prayer has in our lives. I must confess I did not learn this by watching someone else pray. Instead I learned it in what is probably a much harder way. You see even as a missionary I have bad days. Some days are really hard and I end up feeling pretty lousy. Not to say there aren't amazing days where I feel the spirit extremely powerfully, but often there are days where things seem really hard and I kinda want to give up. And Saturday was one of those days. I just did not have a good day. Things did not go well, I felt like I was wasting my time, that nothing I did mattered, and that I might as well give up. But that is why prayer is such a wonderful thing. The Lord does not want us to ignore those feelings. He doesn't want us to pretend to be perfect and never worry. He wants us to instead take those feelings and turn them over to him. To tell him how we are feeling and let the Atonement of Jesus Christ work in our lives and erase that pain that we feel. And so that is what I did. I knelt down and I just prayed. I told God all of it. All the pain, the disappointment, the feelings of inadequacy, the feelings like I could not do this, that I didn't make a difference anyway. I told him every single thing. And guess what? Nothing "miraculous" happened. I didn't see angles, the prophet didn't appear at my doorway, and quite frankly I don't think anyone besides God even noticed let alone cared. But that's the amazing thing. I felt peace. Not that my problems disappeared. They are still there. But I just felt as though I knew that God loved me. That He was listening. And that I could do this. I could keep going and doing what I needed to do to help others come unto Christ and feel that same love. That is what is so stupendous and wonderful about the Gospel and more importantly about our God. He is not some aloof being that doesn't care what happens to us. He is our Father in Heaven. He knows us so individually and watches over us constantly. He is always there. And He so desperately wants to help us through our trials. We just don't let him when we refuse to pray. When we turn away from him. And trust me all of us need his help. There is not a single way we can get through life without God's divine assistance. We are all too weak and helpless to try and make it on our own. We NEED God. I NEED God. And He is always there for us. We just have to reach out and bring him in. I love this gospel for that reason. It brings God into my life. It allows me to feel his love for me. It allows me to make sacred promises to my Heavenly Father which have blessed my life so much! I cannot tell you how much this means to me. I usually don't express it very well. But this gospel means the world to me. It means so much to know who I am, where I came from, and where I am going. To know that once again God speaks to man through his servant the prophet. That there is a prophet on earth today whose name is Thomas S Monson. To know that this is Christ's church RESTORED to the earth. I love that. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I love my God. I love this church. But to close it all out I want each of you to know I love you. That you are a child of God with infinite worth and even more than that You are my friends and I love you. You are amazing and have always inspired me to be better. Thank you all so much. I love you. Yours truly Elder Nathan Lindh

Week 46, June 12, 2017

Howdy! So I have now been in the Belleview are for a week now and things have been totally insane! The Belleview YSA is totally different from any ward I have served in so far so the adjustment has been strange. I still miss my last area and all the amazing people and beautiful scenery. This new area is in Denver so not as many beautiful mountains all around. But I am excited to be here and to work here. My new companion is Elder Lunt, He is an elder that was in my MTC District. And already we have both been called Lindh, Lunt, Lundh, and Lint. Its like being in the MTC all over again. But He is a fun Elder and I expect to learn a lot from serving with him. The work here is different from most other wards I have been in because we have so many less actives. The Young single adults are often the age group who has the hardest time coming to church. But I enjoy being able to see these members come back to church and feel the blessings that come from coming closer to Christ. The crazy thing is that at the moment our only investigator just got baptized last Saturday so we have no investigators, and yet I have been going non stop since I got here. I have hardly had time to unpack we have been so busy. It is awesome to have so much to do. I love that. That is the best feeling as a missionary. That I have too much to do and not enough time to do it all. That means there are a lot of people who are coming unto Christ. And that is an amazing thing. I love being a missionary. This week as I have rushed around and taught so many lessons the thought that comes to mind is that the Lord's work is hastening on. That as a whole people are coming unto Christ more and more. It gives me hope in a world that seems to be full of hatred and violence. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason that we can repent and change our ways. I love him. I love all of you and hope you are all doing well. Without you all I would not be here. Whether you were a mentor or teacher, a loved family member, a good friend, or someone I met on my mission I want you to know that without you I would not be the man I am today. The person I have become would not exist without the influence of such amazing people. Thank you so much. It means so much to me. Sincerely Elder Nathan Lindh

Address update

Nathan's new address is 8567 W Hampden Ave, #16-107 Lakewood, CO 80227

Week 45, June 5, 2017

So I have some pretty big news! As you can tell from the title I am leaving Paonia. Sadly I am going to miss all the pretty mountains and amazing people. I have loved my time here and will never forget it. I am transferring to the Belleview YSA or Young single adult ward. It is in Denver and it used to be the district leader area when I was in columbine. So I have actually been in the ward before. But it will be new and exciting to be serving there full time. I will also get a chance to say Hi to some of the members I left in columbine. So that will be nice. I am definitely going to miss Paonia though. Other news is that we will be having a baptism here in Paonia on the 17th. Unfortunately I will miss it but I wish them the best and I know that they will be extremely happy to join the church. I bear them and all of you my testimony that I Know that this is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. It has been restored to the earth by modern prophets. And it is the way to come back to our Father in Heaven. I love this church so much. I love my savior so much. I want you to know I love all of you. You all mean so much to me. You are amazing people and I would not be the person I am today without all of you. I especially want to mention my Grandma and Grandpa Lindh. It is my grandmothers birthday on the 12th and their anniversary on the 17th. I wish I could be there in person to celebrate but cannot. But I want them to know I love them and am constantly thinking of them. They are so special to me and I would not be the man I am today without them. I love you Grandma and Grandpa! I love all of you! Sincerely Nathan Lindh

Week 44, May 30, 2017

Howdy Y'all! Today concludes the last of week five of this transfer. It was full of fun and adventure along with some sad news. So our investigator Chelsea has lost her house and is having a really hard time with things. I know she wants to come closer to Christ but is struggling because life is not exactly easy right now. We spent most of last week helping move stuff to her storage space here in paonia. Hopefully things change and start getting better for her soon. Other big news is that we have 5 new investigators! the Hendricks family! They are a part member family where the father is a member but the rest are not. The strange thing is that She has a calling in the scout program. She loves it and has good feelings towards the church so she is happy to begin learning about the gospel. They have 4 kids, 2 girls, and 2 boys. The kids are all awesome and seem interested in learning more about the gospel. I sure look forward to teaching them more about the gospel. Other than that it has been a slow and uneventful week. Although I have learned lots. A short spiritual thought for the week is that sometimes its the small things that make the most difference. Listening to someone when they have had a hard day. Telling someone you love them. These things can change someones life. And no that is not an exaggeration. Chelsea always is telling me how much it means to her to have someone who cares and is willing to help her when life gets hard. More than anything else I could do, showing her I care and that God loves her, has changed her life. Thats what I love about what I do. Anyway I am sorry this is a day late, yesterday all the libraries were closed because of memorial day so I couldn't email. I love you all! Sincerely Nathan

Week 43, May 22, 2017

Howdy yall! So this week was full of fun and adventure and learning experiences. Our two most progressing investigators are continuing to do well and progress towards baptism. Chelsea has some problems that are holding her back and causing problems in her life. She is losing her house and has nowhere to go so all prayers you can send her way would be appreciated. She loves God and the gospel and wants the blessings that come from being a member. She is so prepared but life isn't always easy. Especially when you want to make good choices. Amber is doing well although unfortunately we have not met with her recently. We should be able to sometime this week so I will let you guys know how she is doing. I had a good experience this week with some members who are preparing to leave the ward. They reminded me that my influence goes beyond just the investigators and can touch the hearts of even members. I love being a missionary for this very reason. I get to help lift others and bring them closer to their Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all so much! Love Nathan Lindh

Week 42, May 15, 2017

Howdy! So first of all want to say thank you to all the mother figures in my life. I love you guys and I wouldn't be who I am today without you. Thank you. Secondly this was a good week! We had a good lesson with Chelsea which started out rough but ended very well. Then thanks to my Dad sending me the funds, I got to take her and most of her kids out to ice cream. This family has been having a rough go of it and needed some good things in their lives. So I am glad that I was able to help them out. Thirdly, Amber quit smoking! She was unable to come to church due to the fact that she was immense pain because she had pulled her shoulder at work. But that night she texted us that she had thrown away all her cigarettes and was determined to quit! She had been slowly weening herself off but yesterday she finally just got rid of them! We are so excited for her to enter the waters of baptism. She is so prepared and I cannot wait to see her enter the waters of baptism. Then to end it all off I would like to share a small miracle that I have seen this month. So in this area we don't usually have much success in finding new people to teach. But through a small and simple act of kindness we found a new investigator who is so excited to learn about the gospel. I know that God loves each and every one of us and shows that love by putting others in our way that helps us meet our needs. I love being able to serve others. I love you all. Stay safe and have fun! Sincerely Elder Lindh

Week 41, May 8, 2017

Howdy all! So this week has been full of fun and adventures.... Sort of. Mainly this week was a lot of service and good teaching opportunities. We got to teach a couple people we have not seen in a while and that was a lot of fun. The biggest news this week is that Chelsea is on date! She is planning to be baptized on the 29th of June! But in order for that to happen she needs to stop smoking and get remarried to her ex husband who lives with her. It is an interesting situation that might prevent her from getting baptized. But we are going to do our best to help her overcome those obstacles. The other big news is that Amber is on date for the 17th of June and she will be baptized by her husband Wyatt. Then they will be moving to Fort Bliss Texas! Good news is they will be in Texas so I plan to visit them at some point. Bad news. Its 10 hours from Houston to Fort Bliss which to give you an idea is the same amount of time it takes to get to Fort Bliss from here...... So yeah. Still I am so happy for them and that they will be making such an exciting step in their lives and on the road to being sealed in the temple! Beyond that not much has happened and I continue to try and work hard and help others come unto Christ. I love you all and want all of you to know that I KNOW the atonement of Jesus Christ works. It isn't just a nice idea or nice thought. It WORKS! For everyone! It works for me! It works for you! It works for us all! If there is anything you think that you cannot overcome or cannot be forgiven that is a lie that Satan is telling you. The atonement WORKS! I love you guys! Have a great week! Sincerely Elder Lindh

Week 40, May 1, 2017

Howdy all! So this has been a fun and exciting week here in the Paonia ward! We have a new elder and I have had a blast working with him. I have served around Elder Mataele for just about half my mission and am excited to now be his companion! He likes to work hard and so I expect we will see a lot more success in the future. In fact this week we had amazing success! We met with an investigator named Amber who we have not seen in about six weeks. Her husband Wyatt is in the military and got baptized so she has rededicated herself to being prepared to be baptized by him when he gets home from training. It has been exciting to see her become more excited and dedicated to really learning about the gospel. Another exciting albeit strange event was with our investigator Chelsea. She has really been struggling to make ends meet especially with her cancer and health problems. So she called us and wanted to talk. Fortunately we were able to take her to a members home and helped her find solace and strength and she was able to come to church on sunday! The biggest problem she is facing though is her ex Husband that lives with her. He does not like her meeting with us or her going to church. So I ask that all of you pray for him that his heart may be softened. His name is Russel and any prayers you could say on his behalf are welcome and appreciated. The other miracles this week is that we had 4 non members at church on sunday! We hope to be able to meet with all of them and help them come closer to Christ. Weeks like this is what makes being a missionary so worth it. I love doing this. Even though its the hardest thing I have ever done. I love this. And I love all of you for making it possible for me to come out and serve the Lord for these two years. I love you guys! Sincerely Nathan!

Week 39, April 24, 2017

So it looks like I will be staying in Paonia for another transfer! I will however be getting a new companion. But don't feel too bad Elder Zimmerman is going back to being a spanish missionary so he is over the moon right now. My new companion is Elder Mata Ele! This is the first time I have ever gotten a companion I actually know. I served around Elder Mata Ele when he first came out. So this should be a fun transfer. Beyond that there are no big news. Chelsea our most progressing investigator is making slow but sure progress. We hope she will soon decide to be baptized but at the very least she has agreed to decide by June 27th..... Which as many of you know is a very important date. Its my 11 month mark! (and my birthday😬😇😁) But I will only see that if I stay another transfer! So we will have to see how that goes! I hope you all are doing well and that you guys know that I love you all! Sincerely Nathan!

Week 38, April 17, 2017

Howdy Y'all! So this week has been a lot of hard work, sunburns and great teaching oppurtunities! First of all we have a new investigator! Chelsea's daughter Olivia is now joining in on the lessons! She has been getting into a good bit of trouble so Chelsea is hoping that these lessons will help her understand that her actions have consequences and that she should follow the promptings of the spirit. It is amazing to see these two children of God progress. I love being a missionary. The hard work has mostly involved service for an older couple the Wallaces. We have totally gone to town on their lawn and it looks like a completely different lawn. I love being able to help them and work hard. I truly enjoy being able to get down and dirty and work hard. This frustrates my companion as he gets a bit tired while I get pumped up the longer I am able to work. I hope someday he will forgive me for the splinters, blisters, and sunburns he has got on my behalf. I love you all and want you to know I pray for all of you and hope you're all doing well. I love you! Sincerely Nathan!

Week 37, April 10, 2017

So this has been an excellent week here in the Paonia ward and I am so excited to see what lies in the near future for our area. 

Tuesday was spent at zone conference which was a lot of fun and a good chance to see some other Elders I haven't seen in a while. I learned a lot about how my message begins even before I open my mouth. I have to act, look, and talk like a missionary all the time because I am always being watched. People know who I am even before I open my mouth and if I don't act the part they will notice that. I also learned that my progression in the gospel matters as well. I am just as important to the Lord as my investigators are. I am here to help them but I must progress as well. I hope I can use this time to improve myself.

The rest of the week was filled with a lot of service and teaching. Our most progressing investigator Chelsea is now meeting with us twice a week and is just loving everything we teach her. She can feel the spirit in this work and knows what we tell her is true and powerful. She is dedicated to coming closer to Christ and knows that He is the most important part of our lives. I cannot wait to see her progress and come even closer to our Savior. She even made it through two hours of church which is impressive with all her health problems. After two hours she really struggled to even make it to the car so we were just so happy she could even make it at all. I know the Lord is blessing her for all the changes she is making and Chelsea knows it too! I cannot wait to see how this turns out.

The painful part of this week was an accident I had while giving service. Just as a heads up I am fine and my companion is hovering to constantly make sure I am alright. But to give you some background there is a family in our ward that are selling their house but not the property. So they have to move the house. This requires some rather hefty and strong beams so they have large I beams that they have been placing under the house. In the process of moving these I beams we had to lift one off of a truck to slide it under the house. I was given the job of handling the beam so it didn't go crazy when we lifted it off the truck. I had originally grabbed it on both sides of the end so to keep it from swinging too much. But at the last second I re positioned my hand so I had my hand between the I beam and the front of the truck bed. As the tractor lifted the beam it swung forward and slammed into the front of the truck bed. Or rather into my hand which was slammed into the truck of the bed. To give you an idea of what this means those I beams weigh about 2,000 pounds. Give or take a little. Luckily I still have all my fingers and they are not broken. My middle finger is a little tender and swollen but already the swelling is going down. And I can basically use it normally for little things. But lifting heavy things is a little harder. But by next week I should be fine. As a bit of advice, NEVER STICK YOUR HAND BETWEEN TWO HEAVY METAL OBJECTS!!!!! IT DOESN'T FEEL GOOD!!!!!!!!! Just a piece of advice though.

Anyway that was the highlights of my week and I am doing fine. I am so thankful for all of you and the amazing influence you all have been in my Life. I love you! 

Sincerely

Elder Lindh!

Week 36, April 3, 2017

Dear audience. 

It has come to my attention that this weekly documentary of my life has been rather sparse and lacking in details. I would like to most sincerely apologize for my lack of information and detail in these letters. I hope to improve the quality of these emails and also give you a better picture of where I am in life. I hope that you will forgive my earlier failures in light of my hopefully future success. 

To begin I would like to share a funny story. For those of you in my home ward I now have a Dog story. For the rest of you that do not understand, in my ward we monthly get to listen to a returned missionary speak about their mission and then get to ask them questions. One of the first questions is almost always, "Do you have a dog story?". The missionary then relates the funniest or scariest run in they have had with our canine companions. This week I had my first dog story. 

We have a member of our ward who owns rottweilers.  Very big and scary looking dogs. Usually we don't enter their yard because the dog can enter or exit the yard at any time so we are never sure if the dog is locked up. But I knew that the dog had just recently had puppies so figured it was locked up with the puppies in a kennel. I was proven to be incorrect in that assumption. So when we knocked on the members door sure enough out comes a ferocious mama dog. Its barking and growling so what does my companion do? Hides behind me and knocks harder on the door. The dog nipped at me in the leg but didn't harm me. Just put a nice big hole in my pants. So no harm no foul. The members called off the dog and locked it up but there go my favorite khaki pants. ( I have two pairs so I am fine Mom. Please don't try and send me pants!) I don't believe my heart stopped pounding until I went to bed that night. All in all a scary experience but alls well that ends well. But I now know my companion intends to use me as a human meat shield in case of danger. That's good to know. 

Another fun thing is that we have been walking a lot. We had to go to grand junction twice this month so miles were tight. But it led to a lot of interesting experiences. We have been stopped a bunch but random people who knew who we were and what we do. We were stopped in the store, and a couple times on the street. One of those was just a man trying to figure out how to draw this & symbol. It was interesting to say the least. But we got a lot done and have met so many people. I love being a missionary. I love serving the people here in the Paonia Ward. I love being a missionary who is sent to declare the good news of Christ. I love Christ. 

I want you all to know I love you and pray for you. I hope you are all doing well. 

Sincerely

Elder Lindh

Week 35, March 27, 2017

Sorry yall that this is running a bit behind. I for some reason thought I wrote this earlier. Anyway. This week has been amazing and we have had a lot of service opportunities. We have been able to do a lot. We have also had some awesome times teaching our investigator Chelsea who is very eager to learn more. I love being a missionary! I love being able to teach others the Gospel. I love the Lord. I love you all! I will talk to you next week with more details! I am sorry!

Love 

Elder Lindh

Week 34, March 20, 2017

Hey! So transfers have come and gone and I have a new Companion! Sadly I don't have any pictures of him yet but I will get those out soon. His name is Elder Zimmerman and he is from Jefferson City Missouri but his mother is from Spain so not only is he bilingual he has dual citizenship. He is an awesome Elder and I look forward to serving with him. 

The highlight of this week though is that I got to meet an Apostle of the Lord. Jeffery R. Holland came to the Montrose stake and since I am serving here on the western slopes I got to meet him and shake his hand! We got to learn from him and I have never felt the spirit testify so powerfully of the divinity of this work. This is God's work and I only get to help it move along. I love being a missionary and look forward to being able to further that work in any way I can. I love the Lord and I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I could feel the Love Elder Holland had for the Savior. It was overwhelming and tangible. I learned so much. The biggest lesson was that this is not my work. I have NO right to hinder the progress in any way. I have NO right to harm the image the members have of missionaries. I may not be perfect but the idea of a missionary is. And I have NO right to change that. It really struck me that I have a responsibility to live a higher standard than I have ever lived before. I love that. I love being a missionary and hope to be able to live up to peoples ideas of what a missionary should be. 

I think that is all for now and I am open to questions about that experience but I cannot think of more to say. It was all so amazing! 

There is something I neglected to mention, we got to go to seminary! Elder Beck's last day and we got up way to early to be able to have one last chance for Elder Beck to bear his testimony to the youth. We also took some pictures of signs and murals from the towns we serve in. We had a lot of photo opportunities on the way to transfers going over the Grand Mesa which has some spectacular views. I hope you enjoy.

Then after Transfer meetings I had the opportunity to go by my first area and see some amazing people. I went to visit the Davis family because I don't get to Junction very often so I wanted to take advantage of this chance to see people I had to leave behind. I had an amazing time visiting with them!

I want you all to know How much I love you and how much I miss you and think of you. You are all amazing!

Love 

Elder Lindh

Week 33, March 13, 2017

Howdy all! 

This has been an excellent transfer full of progress fun and adventures. This week in particular has been amazing and full of miracles! 

To begin with we found a potential investigator in an unlikely spot. We were trying to find a less active that we had never met before. While looking for her another women asked us if we were looking for someone. When we told her who she not only told us the less active had moved but where she had moved to. Then being the missionaries that we are we of course tried to see if this lady (her name turned out to be Bernedette.) would be receptive to the message of Christ that we have to share. She not only was interested, she knew a lot of members of the church and had taken the lessons in the past! It was awesome! 

We also had an interesting experience with a couple less actives. First we met with Keith and Theresa Hamilton who are a part member family. Keith is the nonmember and has expressed no interest in listening to the lessons in the past. But now is saying that we can come back and share more! It was great to see how much he has changed.

The second was Stewie and Jennifer Byrge. Some converts that have been really struggling to come to church. But we got to meet with them and they are getting fired up and want to get sealed in the temple. 

The only other big news this week is that elder Beck is leaving me and I am getting a new companion Elder Zimmerman. I do not know him so it should be interesting to get to know him. But that has meant that this week was also filled with some sad good byes with the members as elder Beck gets ready to leave. I am glad I have been able to serve with this amazing companion. He has taught me so much about gaining the member's trust and how to work with them. I hope I can keep that amazing energy going here in the Paonia Ward. 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sincerely

Elder Lindh