Week 10, Oct 3, 2016

Howdy Yall!

So this week has been a bit crazy as well as full of miracles. So to begin with, I am in another biking area. So I finally had to break down and buy a bike. The first bike shop we went to the cheapest bike was around $500 and even then didnt have all the features that would be nice. So I decided I needed to keep looking in order to find out what type of price I might expect because I wasnt happy paying $500 dollars when I don't need to. So the next place we went was Dick's sporting goods. While surveying all the bikes I found they were all similarly priced. I was beginning to accept that that might just be the way it was when I found the perfect bike. It had all the features I wanted/needed and more. Its an absolutely beautiful bike. And here lies the miracle, It was on clearance for $300! The original price was $750! I was saving $450! and so by the time I walked out with a brand new helmet, a light, a lock and 2 protection plans for the bike and all the parts, I still came out under $460! I got everything I needed for less than what it would have cost to just get a bike! it was such a tender mercy to see the Lords hand in making sure I got the bike I needed. I was just absolutely shocked. And for those asking, "so whats wrong with the bike?" there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It just had been sitting in inventory for so long that the owner just wanted to get rid of it. And it was just the right size and everything. I felt so loved and watched over. 

The other miracle that happened was general conference. For those of you who watched it, I dont know if you got much out of it because that conference was meant for me. Every talk seemed to address a problem I was facing or a doubt that I had. Each talk was the answer I needed from my loving Heavenly Father. I love conference so much. I am so thankful God has given us a prophet in these latter Days. I love the Lord. I love you all. I wish the best for all of you and am sincerely praying that all goes well for all of you. You are all there in my thoughts and prayers.  I love you all! Have a great week!

District Leader

My Companion: Elder Christensen

Address update

Here is Nathan's new address as of 9/28/16

Elder Lindh
8005 W Ontario Pl
Littleton, CO 80128

Week 9, Sept 26, 2016

Howdy yall!

I hope most of you are enjoying the warm weather wherever you are. Its pretty much officially autumn around here and going to be winter soon where I am headed. So prayers for me not freezing are appreciated. 

So I found out on saturday that I will be headed to the Columbine area in the denver side of the mission. I get a new companion and elder tufu will be staying here. Its going to be really hard to leave because although I have only been here a short time I have really come to love the people and the area. I love my companion and am sad to have only served one transfer with him. (I think he is sad too because he gets to train a new missionary again) 

I have so many people here that I have grown to love. Our investigators are all amazing and I will miss them. The Roybals are on date for baptism so I will probably miss that. But thats okay. I know that the lord needs me in columbine. So I have faith that everythings gonna work out.

I leave tomorrow with the transfer train and am not sure when I will meet my new companion elder christensen. I am not sure where he is serving. So yeah. That ought to be fun. 

I have loved it here so much and will probably come back after my mission if I can. I love the people. I want to make a special shout out to Larry Davis. He is an amazing guy and one of my best friends. He is like another grandfather to me. He is amazing and I would like to encourage him to continue to try and read the Book of mormon. I know the book of mormon is true. I know it to be the word of God. I love it. I love this area. I am sad to leave but I will be going where I am needed.

Sincerely

Elder Lindh!

So here are some pictures from the week. The food is called "Super fries" from a place called los Jilbertos. Its pretty famous among the missionaries so while on exchanges I went there with elder Swanger. As a side note I only got a half portion. And I have no idea if I could actually eat an entire whole portion. So that was fun. I also took a picture from the top of the hill which had an awesome view of what I believe is mount Garfield.

So earlier I was in a rush because we were going to go get haircuts. I want you all to know that I know that this is God's work. Truly I am only a servant in God's hand. We have had some amazing success here and I can feel that the Lord has prepared these people to be taught. I love them all. I am going to miss them. But hopefully at some point I can end up back here. I love the people here. But most of all I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sincerely

Elder Lindh

Week 8, September 19, 2016

Howdy Yall!

So this has been a crazy exciting week. Its been a lot of fun but a lot of work as well. If anyone ever tells you that missionary work is easy they are lying or crazy. Its just that. Work. But that being said, its the most exciting, most fun, most rewarding, and greatest thing you could ever do. I absolutely love it. I have gotten to meet all sorts of amazing people and even in this brief time I have seen many of them come closer to Christ. 

So as I said its been an exciting week. On Tuesday we had an awesome day. We started off with 2 hours of service splitting wood. Fortunately the sister had a hydraulic wood splitter. Unfortunately me and my companion didn't get to show off our muscles. 😉 But that's okay because I am already sore enough from just riding my bike. So anyways, after helping her we went home had lunch and did some training. We then tried to contact people, didn't have a huge amount of luck with that but we did contact a few people. Most of them though either weren't home or just weren't interested. Which is sad that they don't want to grow closer to their savior but that's okay. So then at 4 we had an awesome lesson with a family that was baptized about 2 years ago. The mom is a single mom with 3 kids. 2 girls and a boy. And she lives with a man named Liam. Liam was more of a jokester and didn't seem to take things too seriously at first but then when we really started the lesson he seemed to have some awesome questions that really made me think and definitely invited the spirit to testify of what we were saying. SO that was awesome! then we had dinner with the Ramirez family who live right behind us, they are amazing! Pretty laid back yet definitely have an amazing testimony of the savior. So then we had a scheduled appointment with the Hotz family but that fell through because sister Hotz had come down with something. So we rescheduled for next week. Then after trying to contact some potential investigators we had in the area we had a lesson with the Smith family. The smith family really seems to love the gospel but sister smith has to work on sundays and her son and husband just dont seem really motivated to go without her. But we are getting there! Anyway! We had an eight pm lesson with a recent convert who is also a ward missionary. Sister Nail is awesome! She had some inspired questions and we were able to help her to overcome them and answer them through the scriptures. It was amazing.

Then Wednesday we had exchanges with the Orchard Mesa Elders. I got to stay in my area and my companion went over there. So that was fun. We gad a good day and also did some service which was fun. Then we tried to contact a few people but again not much luck. Finally around 4:30 even though we hadn't contacted the person we were hoping to we went and tried to tract the neighborhood. We were just doing that when we noticed this guy outside working on his bike. Turns out he is a member although he hasn't been to church in almost 16 years. We got his name, Brian Matern, and address and phone number. It was awesome. Then we went to dinner, which ended up just being fried chicken with ice cream afterwords at the apartment. Then we had two appointments, both of which ended up cancelling or just not being there. the First one had a sick kid who had been puking, the other just didnt answer the door.... But all in all a good day.

Thursday was awesome. We had breakfast with the Harts, a family in the ward, and they had some friends over. We got to teach them and it was amazing. Hopefully that experience will lead to them taking interest in the church. Unfortunately none of them seem all that interested at the moment. But there is always hope. Then we had district meetings which went alright. I had to do training and teach the other missionaries but I didnt make a complete fool of myself so it couldnt have been too bad. After that we did some more service and then had dinner with sister Dodge. She is a super sweet sister in our ward. Then we taught DJ and Kathy, two investigators who really want to baptized. There are going to be some holdbacks though... unfortunately they havent been able to meet with the bishop so they cant get baptized when they were supposed to. But we still have hope! Then we met with the roybals who are AMAZING! they are super awesome and love the gospel! We are meeting with them this thursday and we will invite them to be baptized then. I honestly think they will accept so we might be getting a baptism soon! then we went and gave sister Davis a blessing because she has been having terrible migraines. And during the blessing I felt prompted to say that "Heavenly Father wants you to know he loves you" and afterward she told me that in every blessing she has ever received since she was a sophomore in high school has included that  same sentence. That is almost 50 years of blessings. It was amazing to see. 

So friday was pretty hard physically. We had to bike all over the area and up and down the biggest hill in our area. That was lots of fun. but we had a baptismal interview that Elder Tufu had to do for the pear park sisters because Elder Tufu is the district leader. So that was awesome to see the two boys get ready for their baptism. They were hilarious! After one got baptized he goes "Pizza for Everyone!" like they were just so cute and funny! 

Saturday, we had an AMAZING DAY! We didn't contact many people we had planned to but what was more amazing is that we had to stop by a members house, and we ran into Brian again! once again he was out working on his motorcycle.  Which I might add is an amazing motorcycle and I want one like it when I get home. 😉 Plus we had an awesome lesson with a new investigator named Jade. We gave her a book of mormon and she seemed super excited to come to church. Unfortunately it sounds like she was unable to because she was dependent on her dad. So yeah. But She has a desire which is amazing! We also talked to Brother Murphy. He is a recent convert that was baptized just last march. He is 65 i believe. And he has some of the most amazing stories to tell. He was in the Army police at the end of World War II so he got to travel all over. He also served in vietnam where he was assigned to protect ammo convoys. He is super awesome and I wish I could see all the places hes been. Whats super interesting is he has lived in almost every place I have. He started mines and would get them up and running then move to start another. He lived in Wenatchee, near Reno, and has been all over. Every time I mention something about the places I lived he has a storie about it. Its so cool to hear about it.Then we had a baptism, the pear park's baptism really but we got to attend so it counts! and then we had ward coordination.

Sunday was amazing. Always is. I love taking the sacrament and being able to renew those covenants I have made. It helps me to remember I am here to serve Christ and bring Gods children closer to him. It helped me to remember the love God has for his children, and the love I should have as well. There is also a temple dedication coming up soon so the talk on that was amazing. He compared the temple to an embassy. Just like in a foreign country, the US embassy is part of US soil. The Temple is the same way. It may be on earth but once you step inside you are really in a part of heaven. Its so inspiring. I love the temples so much! 

And then the craziest thing happened. We had a random guy walk in off the street. He was interested in the church and what we do in it and so he had come in. We were able to show him the last half of the pear park's sacrament meeting and the ward mission leader came over and sat next to him then introduced him to the sister missionaries. He loved it and went to all three hours! it was AmAzing! and then elder Tufu had an interview with the mission president to get a patriarchal blessing. He is so excited to get it. I am so excited for him! I love my patriarchal blessing and the revelations that in it. I love the revelation we are able to recieve through the holy ghost and power of the priesthood. Its amazing. I love it. 

So that was my week. It was amazing and I loved it. One thing that stood out to me is we visited a sister who told me that we need to tell our loved ones we love them every chance we get. So I LOVE YOU ALL! 

With Love

Elder Lindh 

Week 7, September 12, 2016

After wrecking on his bike. Lesson learned: helmets work!

Howdy Yall!

Sorry that I am emailing so early in the morning. There is a meeting in the family history center so we had to go to a public library and needed to be here early to get a computer. In fact even now there are no available computers so I got lucky to get one. 

So there was quite an adventure on saturday.... we were late to ward coordination, a meeting where the missionaries meet with all the ward missionaries and the mission leaders. So it was around 8:15 ish. The parking lot of the church is not very well lit and has some unmarked speed bumps... so me and my companion were racing in the dark across the parking lot, (not a good Idea let me tell you) and I slammed on the brakes because I didnt want to hit my companion, and I hit the speed bump.... and well.... you can see the result. Luckily I always wear a helmet. I felt my head hit pretty hard and let me tell you I am now very pro helmet. I am pretty sure I would have ended up in the emergency room that night if I hadnt been wearing a helmet. I am fine though. I landed on my back so my buts a little sore and so is my neck from sliding out, but all in all I am fine. Unfortunately I cant say the same for my shirt, my washing machine is broken so I haven't been able to wash it very well and so it still looks like it does in the picture.... But I should get it washed soon so hopefully the stain comes out. 

Other than that me and my companion did exchanges with the zone leaders and their area is absolutely beautiful. It has some great views of the mountians so I took some pictures. I love the beautiful area. The mountains are amazing. I love looking over at Mesa or Mt Garfield. 

I love the people most of all though. I love teaching and being taught. Cause guess what? I actually DONT know everything! Shocker right? It blows my mind too! But thats okay because there is no better place to learn than while you have the spirit to teach you. And the spirit is always there when we are teaching others. Well I say we are teaching but in reality its just the spirit but we get to take the credit. ;) 

I love the things I am doing. I want you all to know that I know this is where God wants me to be. That I am needed here. I am doing God's work. I know that. 

Sincerely

Elder Lindh!

P.S. those arent all the pictures. Thats just all it would let me send. I will send more next week. I love You ALL!!!

Week 6, September 5, 2016

P-Day! September begins!! Howdy Yall! This week has been amazing! We have done a lot! Including place 3 Book of Mormons and set up 3 appointments with new investigators. Which was awesome! Hot and exhausting but AMAZING!!!!! I am really growing to love this mission and these people! I KNOW this is where God called me to be. I really am making a difference and I can see that. So on Wednesday was my first zone conference! That was fun! I am really lucky cause I have an amazing zone with some AMAZING missionaries. I love my companion, I love my district, I love my zone. They are all so amazing and have such amazing testimonies. They definitely strengthen my testimony a lot. I love it. During zone conference we did a lot of training, had lunch, and listened to a few talks from leaders in the mission. It was amazing. I learned so much! I also felt the spirit so strongly as we discussed the things we needed to be doing to be effective missionaries. It made me realize that as prepared as I am (thanks to the best parents ever, and some pretty awesome leaders and family) I still have a LOT to learn. I am so excited to see the Lords plan for me! Its gonna be great! The rest of the week was basically spent trying to contact as many people as possible. We only had one appointment that really paid off..... the rest kinda bailed...... but that's okay! We did a lot so its all good. The appointment was with the Roybals, a part member family I have mentioned last week. Once we started the lesson it was amazing. It was kinda weird though. I didn't feel like much that me and my companion were saying was making an impact. But right near the end the member we had brought, Brother Jester, began to bear his testimony. It was a simple testimony of how he had been converted and how he had gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon. But I look back at Rose and she is in tears! she simply said, "the spirit of your testimony just really hit me. It was so tender and true" It was amazing! sometimes its the simplest things we say and do that make the biggest impact. So that's most of the big things... There were a few tender mercies as well. Our bikes are working and have not had another flat (yet). We have been able to contact more people. We are often just in the right place at the right time and I have really seen the hand of the Lord in my life. Its amazing. Anyway! I Love you all! Thank you all so much for your support. It means the world. Thank you! Sincerely Elder Lindh!

Week 5, August 29, 2016

Howdy Y'all! (That's right I still haven't lost my ability to speak Texan ;)

SO! its been a bit of a hectic yet AMAZING week. The best part is we now have TWO people on date for baptism!! okay so the truth is they basically already were planning on getting baptized.... we just got to be the ones who asked...... BUT THAT COUNTS!! ANYWHO! The other exciting news is we have a new family of investigators. The ROYABALS! They are so AMAZING AND I LOVE THEM!! The father is already a member although he has been inactive for a while. But the mother and two daughters are not yet members. We have only met with them twice but already I love them and can see how amazing they are gonna be. The second time we met with them was an accident of sorts. We were visiting a former investigator and they were in the same apartment complex. We saw the daughters out on the balcony so we went to say hi. And the mother, Rose, had so many amazing and insightful questions! It made me have to stop and think. But in a good way of course! So we are excited to teach them again on Thursday. We gave them a challenge to read the Book of Mormon and rose in turn challenged us to find some of the answers we gave in the bible. It was awesome! I love the work so much! its AmAZING!! 

The bike on the other hand..... is less so. SO in the past two days I have had three flat tires. The first time I sealed the tube and just refilled it. The second time I just replaced the tube. the third time..... well its now a walking area. So.... yeah. But I bought a new tube so that should be fun. Plus I will be borrowing a different bike from other elders so hopefully that pans out and doesn't have as many flats. Anyway. This week was mostly spent tracking down former or potential investigators. The last elders didn't leave so great a record..... so its been lots of fun and a lot of work. But that's all good! 

Btw for those of you who know who elder Gekeler is (I.E. my parents and aunts) So the area that I am in, Melody lane, was elder Gekeler's last area. SO I took over it from him. That and the day of p-day I was with my trainer and he got a call from none other than Elder Gekeler. So I spoke to him on the phone. He is at 19 months so I doubt we will serve together but really its a huge case of small world syndrome. 

So that's about all that I have for this week. It was amazing and so much happened but I just don't have the time or the ability to tell you guys all about it. There was just too many amazing things where I could very clearly see the hand of the Lord. 

So in closing I have to tell you all a few things. 1. The Lord loves you and is aware of every need you have. 2. I love you. 3. You have others around you that care and are waiting to help. Reach out to those you love. They love you and want to help. Let them help. 4. learn to forgive quickly. Its very hard I know but when you let things go ultimately it makes YOU happier. I promise. Be wise but be forgiving. Don't let others use you but also do't be bitter. Its a hard line to walk. But it will make you happy. 

I will close with this statement. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! No matter what. I love all of you.

Sincerely,

Elder Lindh