{Letter #15} Gratitude

Well everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

I'll start today by listing t a few things that I am especially grateful for this week, in no particular order. Firstly, my family and the technology to call them. 

Second, amazing ward members who helped us celebrate Thanksgiving while we are far away from our families.

Third, the love and strength of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And finally, all my amazing friends that I have made before and on my mission! I'd love to hear some things that you all are grateful for this time of year as well!

Now that I've shared some of the things I'm grateful for, onto a recap of the week:  

On Wednesday was just straight contacting until around 8pm--so overall super long. At 8 though we had a lesson with the Allens! They are an awesome couple in the ward and just have a lot of cool insights to the gospel!

On Thanksgiving we had 2 service projects in the morning. First we went to the Cassalery's and helped them clean up the yard as a district. that took a long time, but it was significantly better looking after.

 After that we went to the Hoiland's and helped them set up a shed. that went pretty quick actually. we didn't finish right then, but we were able to do a lot more than he could by himself. After that we went to the Miller's for Thanksgiving dinner, it was a lot of really good food. They gave us a bunch of leftovers after too, so that was very nice of them.

On Friday, we had a lesson with Dustin at a pizza place. It was good pizza but a little bit of a distracting environment, but it was still a good lesson.

On Saturday we had Stake President Council first thing in the morning. After that we went to Thanksgiving dinner pt.2 with the Hoilands. That was fun. We also had dinner that night at 5pm though, so we were very full by the end of the night.

We had a pretty normal Sunday full of church and missionary stuff. Later we went to dinner with some different Miller's. That was good! They're also some very fun people.

And Monday, once again not much happened. We just had district council and a lesson with Brother White. Overall a pretty chill day. It also snowed for a bit, so that was a fun time.

My spiritual thought from this week comes from Mark 9 in which Christ teaching and performing miracles and it has this verse:

"Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose."

I love this verse. Christ is always there for us to lift us and help us in any situation we have. my invitation this week is to turn to Christ and Heavenly Father when you are struggling with something. You will be strengthened :)

Love y'all!!
Love,
Elder Goold

 

{Letter #14} Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone!

This week has been good but I am running a little bit low on time, so this won't be too long.   A few highlights from this week:

On Friday we had exchanges again! I went with Elder Strand to Powell Valley. It was fun to be on bike again, but it was in the 30's the entire time with winds ranging from 30-50mph the entire day. It is surprisingly difficult, but also a fun challenge, to bike in high winds.We taught a French guy named Jean-Marc. He has a huge mustache and a pretty thick accent, but it was fun to teach him and made me think of my sister Cami's mission to France a few years ago.

On Saturday the Powell Valley Elders had a baptism. It was a young boy named Joey. At convert baptisms the mission does something they call an intermission that the missionaries do after the actual baptism. In the intermission we just teach the entirety of the restoration or doctrine of Christ. My companion and I were the ones who gave the intermission. It was actually a really cool experience and the Spirit was very strong.

On Sunday there was a missionary homecoming talk. She talked all about the enabling power of Christ's Atonement. It was really cool. She had a lot of fun stories from her mission.

On P-day, we got to go to the temple again!   I love being able to visit the temple regularly!



My spiritual thought this week will come from my personal study. The prophet Jacob said:

"But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever."

When we pray to our Heavenly Father He will bless us. Make your prayers more earnest and sincere and you will see the difference in your life!

Love y'all! I hope all of you are doing well and had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,
Elder Goold

 

{Letter #13} Baptism, Primary Program, and Oculus Anubis

Okay y'all. This was a very fun and busy week. 

On Wednesday we helped Sheila finishing packing some things up. She collects and cuts rocks, so we spent most of that time packing rocks.  I used to collect rocks too, so I enjoyed seeing some of hers.

Once we finished there we had another lesson with Peggy! We brought the Hiatts with us again, and Elder Jensen and I barely had to do any teaching. We just kinda helped direct the lesson and the Hiatts taught Peggy and answered all her questions very well. Then we were supposed to have a dinner with Susie, the Hills, and Sister Whitney that night, but Susie backed out last minute. We still went and had dinner with the Hills and Sister Whitney though. They also had an apple taste test as the dessert. I would definitely recommend doing that, especially if you like apples like I do.

On Thursday we had a couple lessons, a lot of going around to people's houses, and some baptism prep for Bubba! There were actually a few miracles we saw that day. Due to some situations, Bubba is currently living with his Aunt and Uncle, but his Parents are still his legal guardians. In order for Bubba to be baptized we had to get his parent's signature saying that they allowed it. We hadn't been able to get in contact with them at all until our ward mission leader called us this morning and gave us her number so we could go get her signature. We had to get permission from the APs because she lives out of our area, but we did get it! Seriously such a miracle that we got that figured out.

Friday was really good! it didn't get above 40 degrees the whole day, so that was fun. We had interviews with President Haymond that day. Those went well! The training that we did along with that was all about how we can use The Book of Mormon more effectively in our teaching. That was a really good training. We talked a lot about turning to the scriptures more immediately to answer questions.

On Saturday we actually didn't have a ton that happened. We went to Olive Garden with the Westover's for dinner. After that we had a lesson with a super nice Haitian lady named Lou Lou! She has a strong belief in God already so we'll see if she is interested in learning more.

Sunday was a very busy day. We had the primary program in church (one of my favorite Sundays of the year)! It was super cool to hear all the little kids' favorite stories from the Old Testament, and their testimonies about God, and how He can bless them because of their faith.

 After that we went back to our apartment to study, then we had to go right back to the church to start prepping for BUBBA'S BAPTISM! We had to turn the water on about 2 hours early to make sure the font filled up in time. While we were waiting we talked to Brother Jorgensen, one of the ward missionaries, and set up the chairs. About 10 minutes before the baptism started we discovered that the water wasn't heating up at all, but Bubba still wanted to be baptized even though it was pretty cold. It is such a miracle that it all happened the way it did though. All of Bubba's family was able to be there which was amazing because his parents aren't members. One of our friends named Marty also came because he was interested in seeing how it was done. It all went really well. Overall just an amazing experience, and I'm very glad that Bubba was able to make those steps toward strengthening his relationship with Heavenly Father.

On Monday. we had a lesson with the Lyman's and the Grimm's in the morning. Other than that it was pretty much just trying to find people to talk to all day. We also found a cool gate that is called Oculus Anubis. Lots of Egyptian things and apparently considered one of the "creepiest places in Oregon".

Update on the root beer of Elder Strand's making:
- it didn't turn out
- it over carbonated from the yeast
- discovered we used the wrong type of yeast and too much
-it also just tasted kinda like yeast
- on the bright side the bottles do kinda explode and shoot root beer all over when you open the seal, so we had some fun with that at a zone activity today
- we will also be trying again later today with dry ice

And now for my spiritual thought I want to share some lyrics of a song the sang in the primary program.

"As I walk with Jesus to my home above, He will
bless me with His Spirit and fill me with His love,
Change my heart forever and help me Cleary see.
I will walk with Jesus, and He will walk with me."


I love the promise made in the chorus of this song. When we choose to walk with Jesus and become more like Him. He will walk with us. He will fill us with Charity, help us repent, and help us to see more clearly His strengthening and uplifting hand in our life. It is an amazing promise.

I hope y'all are doing well! Love all of you!

Love,
Elder Goold


These two pictures were taken at our zone activity today (the one where we opened exploding root beer bottles)!

This Damascus Ward basketball jersey was one we found when we helped clean out the scout closet.   They gave it to us and it's now an official part of our apartment decor and anyone who serves in Damascus Ward (including me) gets to add their signature.  

Here are a few more random pictures from this week

{Letter #12} An Atmospheric River

Hello friends and family!

I don't have a ton of time to write my email this week, so I'll just talk about a few of the highlights.

So this past week there was a weather pattern that locals were calling an atmospheric river.  As I'm sure you've heard, Oregon is known for being rainy, but this was rain on steroids.   Basically it poured for 4 days straight and I got to test the limits of all my waterproof gear. Thankfully I am not on a bike or I might have permanently pruned skin,  but my condolences to those that are-including the other Elders in my apartment. It also snowed for about 45 minutes on Sunday morning, so that was cool.

Last Tuesday was a pretty low-key  day, but on Wednesday we were able to do a service project for a nonmember, named Sheila, who was getting ready for a move this upcoming weekend.   We  helped her pack up her house and get things organized.    We also went on exchanges on Wednesday, so I took Elder Partridge and we stayed in Damascus/Boring. I was kinda grateful we got to be in the car more that day because it was around 35 most of the day.

On Thursday there was a very energetic and very adorable dog at one of the houses we stopped by. He decided he wanted to play with us so he jumped in our car and ran all over it and got all over the interior muddy. I didn't get a picture of him in the car, but I think this one sums up the energy of the dog pretty well.   I think we shall call him Muddy Buddy.  

We also had a lesson with a cool 94 year old man named Don. He likes to talk and tell stories,  so that lesson went very long.

On Friday we had a lesson with someone we gave a blessing to a few weeks ago. He wasn't too interested, but his wife seemed like she wanted to learn more. So we'll be meeting with them again soon.

Saturday We went back over to Sheila's house and brought some of the ward with us to help us pack things up more! We also had a lesson with a lady named Peggy and we taught her all about family history and helped her learn more about her family! It was super cool! She also said that she would be interested in learning more about the gospel.

Sunday, not much happened. It snowed for a bit, we went to church, had dinner with the Millers, and just did lots of missionary stuff. 

On Monday we had a lesson with Shawn again! He had a lot of questions about our spirits, life after death, and why we are here on earth. It was a really good lesson. We tried to ask him to read Alma 40 after we left, but he said no. He then asked us to just read it right then. So we read the entire chapter of Alma 40 with him! He really liked a lot of the things it talks about in there.

Today we went to the temple as a zone. I seriously love the temple so much.

My spiritual thought from this week will come from Alma 40 just because I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Alma taught:

"Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life"

I love this verse. It is one of the few verses in any scripture that uses the word home in it. It is very peaceful to know that no matter what, God has a home for us. God wants all his children to come unto Him. He wants us all to choose to follow Him and to succeed in this life. He has prepared a home for us in the life to come. When we rely on Him in this life, we can have the confidence that we can do whatever the Lord requires of us.

I hope y'all are doing great! Love all of you!

Love,
Elder Goold