{Letter #24} Press Forward {in the cold}!

Alright everyone! This has been quite an eventful  and good week! It's been a little bit chilly this week to be on bike, but the Lord has been providing ways for us to stay warm thankfully!

Some highlights from this week: we had Stake Conference, new bike, emergency preparedness, Safeway, and lastly Nathena's baptism!

That list was very out of order^, but the first thing that happened was me getting a new bike. In addition to not shifting gears, the rear axle on my original bike also broke at some point on Wednesday. So Thursday morning I went to the mission office and got a new bike! It is fully functioning now, so getting around has definitely been a bit easier!

At the end of the day Thursday we finished up the day really close to a Safeway in our area, so we decided to go in to grab a scrub brush for our apartment. While we were in there we ran into a recent convert named Danny in the ward and we were able to talk for a little bit an set up a lesson with him! Super random, but good timing! We also bought 2 dozen cupcakes from the bakery, and Elder Goff biked around 6 miles back to our apartment while holding them.

On Friday, my front tire kinda exploded and got slime all over the place with a hole about the size of a nickel. We tried to patch the tire because we didn't have a spare, but that didn't work unfortunately. We had recently been checking out the emergency situations bike repair manual in our apartment though, and it suggested that you can tie your tube in a knot to plug a hole, so we tried it out.

It has now been functioning without any further issues for 4 days. Just a fun tip for the future if you ever get a flat tire.

Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference! All those sessions were absolutely amazing! The stake leadership, and President and Sister Haymond all gave a lot of amazing talks about Covenants and how you can increase your faith and learn from others. It was an amazing Stake conference!

On Sunday immediately after stake conference was Nathena's baptism! She was someone being taught by other Elders in our zone, but they asked us to give the intermediate talk! It was actually such an amazing baptism! Almost all of the mission leadership was there, President and Sister Haymond, the APs, our ZLs, and all the office Elders. So that was kinda cool to have that many people there to support Nathena in taking that first step towards God. All in all, an amazing baptism, and the intermission talk on the Doctrine of Christ went really well!

All throughout the week God has been placing His children in our path hat are prepared to receive the gospel. It is absolutely amazing! We have been biking around in the high 20s most evenings, but people keep letting us in and are showing genuine interest in progressing and learning more about Christ. It is amazing! We have been staying mostly warm, and teaching far more people than before!

My spiritual thought this week will come from Stake Conference. In one of President George's (the stake president) addresses he was talking about vertical covenants and horizontal covenants. Vertical covenants are the covenants that we make and keep with God. Horizontal covenants are the covenants that we make to help support others in keeping their covenants. An example of this that came to mind is contained in Mosiah 18:8-10 in which the prophet Alma {from the Book of Mormon} teaches:

"Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—"

These first couple verses are an example of the horizontal covenant!

Alma goes on to describe the vertical covenant that we make at baptism and says:

"Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?"

I love this idea. When we make covenants with God, we also covenant that we will lift and support others in their efforts of keeping the covenants that the have made. When we have made covenants with God we have a responsibility to keep those covenants, and to help EVERYONE be covenant keepers! My invitation for everyone this week is to study King Benjamin's address contained in Mosiah 2-5 and look for these covenants that we have made to God and to all people around us! I'd love to hear some of your insights

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

Love,
Elder Goold

Here are a few more pictures: 

I made hot chocolate cookies today!

A glimpse of our family phone call today:

{Letter #23} Feel the Fire!

Hey everyone!  It has been a very busy, but a very good week! A quick summary of what happened: rain, sun, exchanges, zone conference, and zone council!

It had been raining pretty steadily since I moved to Beaverton and have been on bike, but finally on Thursday the sun came out and it's just been  partly cloudy and about 35-40 degrees out! Definitely still a little cold for biking around, but better than getting rained on for sure.

On Friday afternoon, we had exchanges.  I was supposed to go to the West Hills area for that, but very last minute it was decided that I would be staying in Beaverton and leading out the area after only being here about a week! That was an adventure to be sure. It was really cool to learn a little more about the area and being on bike in general! There's more of an adjustment than just the physical factor of biking all day.

On Saturday we finished our exchanges and also had zone council! That was really good; we talked a lot about our goals and plans to achieve them. It is amazing the work that is being brought forth! This truly is the Lord's work and He is hastening it this day!

On Thursday we had zone conference.  The theme and title of this zone conference was Feel the Fire! At first Sister Haymond talked about the sanctifying and cleansing fire of the Spirit within us, then President Haymond talked about the fire of the covenant--specifically the Abrahamic covenant and how it's being fulfilled in this day!

My spiritual thought for this week is going to be some of my thoughts from President Haymond's remarks. The Abrahamic covenant is, in essence, that seed, or posterity, of Abraham would be as numerous as the sands of the sea, and that through the seed of Abraham, all the earth would be blessed.

When thinking about this after I came across Galatians 3:26-29 in which Paul says:

"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."

When we exercise our faith and are baptized into Christ's church, we are adopted into the seed of Abraham, and thus have all the blessings given to Abraham, by covenant, also given to us. The way that the seed of all the earth will be blessed is through priesthood power. The Handbook of the church says:

"God’s priesthood power flows to all members of the Church—female and male—as they keep the covenants they have made with Him. Members make these covenants as they receive priesthood ordinances."

This priesthood power is given to us as a gift from our Heavenly Father! As we strive to keep our covenants that we have made with Him we will have that priesthood power in our lives to guide and direct us for all things that we have been called or assigned to within the covenant.

This is God's work! He is gathering all the scattered children of Israel again! His power can and will be in your life as you make and keep covenants!

Love you all! I hope all of you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Goold

PS  Have you seen my new Facebook post yet?   Check it out. 

A screenshot from our phone call this week:  

{Letter #22} Beavers...? No, Beaverton!

Hey everyone! It has been a pretty eventful week! If you guessed last week that the beavers meant that I was getting transferred to Beaverton and that I'd be riding a bike, then you guessed right! If not, then I'm sorry, better luck next time. Also, unfortunately I have not seen any beavers yet. Only a nutria (see picture below inserted by Mom).   Don't worry, I'm still keeping my eyes open to find beavers, because beavers are cool and nutria look a little too much like rats.   ;)
 

Anyways on to the highlights from this past week: transfers, bike, Beaverton, temple, and lots of rain!

First off, last Wednesday the morning was spent mostly just going by friends' houses in Damascus and saying goodbye. After that, we drove to the mission office for transfers! My new companion's name is Elder Goff! We got everything situated and got my new bike figured out for me, then we went back to the new apartment! It was raining pretty hard that night, so it was a good way to break me into bike riding.

Being on bike is honestly a lot of fun; you just have to plan a little more time for getting where you need to go.  It takes about 30 minutes to get from one end of our area to another,  so that's fun! I quickly discovered that my bike doesn't shift gears, so that has made biking up all the hills fun! Thankfully, most of the time it's  not too bad driving around in one gear!   At least my bike has wheels, which is better than this car we saw.

Beaverton is a very different area from my last one. It is much more compact and our whole area is just a bunch of neighborhoods and apartment complexes. Whereas Damascus was mostly woods and had no apartments at all! It's definitely a different speed than the rest of my mission so far, but it's been amazing!

Today we got to go to the temple! The temple is such an amazing place to be, whether inside or out! If you haven't gone, or haven't gone recently, you should go! It's a beautiful and peaceful place!

It has rained pretty hard every day but yesterday, so I have been testing the limits of my rain gear while on a bike! I am glad to report that everything, including myself (mostly), has been staying dry!  The rain has made for a few very pretty skies out here!

We have already taught a few people that are making progress towards being baptized eventually! It is amazing to see the hand of the Lord moving His work forward in every way you can imagine! I know that this is His work, and He is blessing the lives of everyone who is a part of it!!

For my spiritual thought this week I wanted to share a little scripture from my personal study this past week! In this scripture, the prophet named Alma {from the Book of Mormon} is counseling his son Helaman about how he can receive strength and guidance from God. Alma taught:

"Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good" (Alma 37:36-37)

I have gained such a testimony that this verse is true since arriving on my mission!! Whenever we are in need, if we ask God with a true desire to act on the answer we receive, and an open heart to the things the will of God, we will receive guidance and strength for our good! We will receive the support we need, whether it be directly through God, or through other people who have been prompted! I know this to be true! Next time you are in need of support, guidance, strength, peace, joy, or anything at all, just ask God! He will answer!

I hope y'all are doing well! I love all of you! I hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Goold

 

A Nice Text

 A nice text I got from a member today about Elder Goold🥰

{Letter #21} Rain, Sun, and Beavers

Hey everyone! I'm a little bit short on time, so this email won't be too long. Things are really good here all in all! Some highlights of this week: fast and testimony meeting, interviews, Lance, Nick, and p-day prison!

Okay, so first off we had interviews with the mission president last Wednesday! We also had some training from the mission president, his wife, and the APs.   They talked a lot about some new ways that we can use social media to find people to teach. They also talked a lot about the importance of praying with a sincere heart and real intent! It was a really good day! Very long though. We were the last interviews of the day, so Elder Feltner and I were at the church from 11am to 6pm. Definitely a little bit tired of being in the church that day.

On Friday we were stopping by the Hiatt's house to set up a time for a lesson, but as we were driving up their driveway an amazon driver flagged us down and asked us to stop. His name is Lance, he had gotten stuck in the mud off the side of their driveway and needed us to help him out. We got him out of the mud without too much difficulty. After we did, we talked to him a little bit, gave him a Book of Mormon, invited him to learn more about Christ, and he said he was needing some more peace and spirituality in his life. so that was super cool. The Hiatt's weren't actually there either. But still a cool experience!

Not a whole ton to say on Nick. He was a referral that we got last night! We haven't actually been able to get in contact with him yet, but we will keep trying!

Fast and Testimony meeting got moved to this Sunday instead of New Year's Day and that was super good! They called a new Bishopric, so we got to hear from the leaving Bishopric and the new one as well! Elder Feltner and I also got up to bear our testimonies during that! It was an amazing and very spirit filled sacrament meeting!

P-day prison wasn't actually much of a highlight. We had to drive about an hour to the mission office to watch some safety driving videos because Elder Feltner was speeding too much. So we drove there and back. About 2 hours of driving and 1 hour of videos. Definitely not the best way to spend the day, but it wasn't terrible.

For my spiritual thought this week I wanted to share a verse I read in my recent studies. In it, Nephi says:

"For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." (1 Nephi 10:19)

When we diligently seek answers from Heavenly Father through prayer and study, He will provide them to us! Part of seeking diligently is having real intent, or a desire to grow, and act on the answers we receive. God will provide far more answers to us if we show tat we are willing to change ourselves, our behavior, and even our thoughts to act on the answers we receive. Sometimes the answers may not be ones we like, or they may not come when WE think they should. But God has a plan. For every one of us. He wants you to receive every blessing you can!

I know that God loves each one of you! Trust in His plan and you will come to feel that as well!

Love you all! I hope all of you are doing great! Bonus points to anyone who can guess what the beavers in the title were about ;)


Love,
Elder Goold

A glimpse of our family phone call today....