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