{Letter #28} Snow Day Part 2

 Hey Y'all!! This has simultaneously been a  crazy week, but also fairly uneventful! Most of the eventfulness has been caused by the unusually snowy weather Portland has been receiving. 

 

A quick summary of what has happened: snow, snow, snow, rain, transfers, service with Auntie Lynn, temple, and lots of biking adventures.

First off, transfers were supposed to be last Wednesday! Elder Goff and I were unaffected this time around, which means it will be my first time with the same companion for 2 transfers. It started to snow Wednesday morning though, so transfers got delayed and we all had to be in our apartment early!

It snowed all day and all night long too, so when we woke up on Thursday there was about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground! 

Fun fact #1:   Portland does not have snowplows because they don't often get much snow and they use stickers for the reflective lines on the roads, which plows would damage. 

Fun fact #2:  Portland will not use salt or chemicals on the road, because it's bad for the environment.   They do use sand, but it's not as effective. 

In other words, it's been kind of a mess out there ever since. 

We did not go anywhere that day besides just walking around the complex.

We contacted a lot of people over the phone that day and also filled the time making cookies without a recipe, making homemade pizza, and trying to teach some people that lived in our complex, even though we live outside our area.

Thankfully we survived our second day stuck inside.

On Friday We had a service with the Elders serving in the Tongan ward living in our apartment! We helped a member of their ward named Auntie Lynn unpack a storage unit and move it into her house! That went really fast with 5 of us helping out! Thankfully the snow didn't inhibit that too much. She was very appreciative for our help with that.  We also shoveled at the church. 

After the service, transfers finally happened! Although we were unaffected by the transfer, we still had to go so I could get a new bike. Again. The bike I got is one of the biggest in the mission and has not managed to get a broken axle yet. So hopefully I can manage to not break its streak so far. I did already manage to get a flat tire that we couldn't patch due to the size of the hole, so we had to wait for the bike maintenance elder to bring us a new one.

Biking around in the snow and ice has also been quite the adventure, after transfers we went out into our area on our bikes. It took us about 1 1/4 hours to bike a distance that usually takes about 15 minutes. With how icy it had gotten, traveling was a bit of a struggle for a few days. We made our way around though!

Ever since Saturday afternoon it has been raining pretty steadily and non-stop. So we have gotten quite soaking wet for a few days in a row. But it's good! Thankfully we both have pretty good rain gear!

Just today we were able to go to the temple again! It is such an amazing experience, and I learn so much every time I go! If you haven't gone to the temple recently, you should go soon! It is a beautiful place and I promise you will learn something new!

My spiritual though this week is going to be from the prophet Alma's teachings {Alma is a prophet from the Book of Mormon} about the doctrine of Christ and His atonement. Alma taught:

"I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism. And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me."  Alma 7:15-16

I love the promise in these verses! As we show God that we are willing to keep the commandments that He has given us, to exercise faith in Him, repent of our sins, and make and keep covenants, that we will receive eternal life! Not only will we have this eternal blessing, but we will have joy in this life!

My invitation that I would like to give all of you this week is to study the covenants that you make to God. I promise each one of you that as you study these covenants, and seek to, either make them or continue to keep them, that you will have more joy every single day! I know that forming this connection with Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, will give you strength to overcome your trials!

Love you all! Have a great week! I love hearing from you all!

Love,
Elder Goold


Adam Goold
adam.goold@missionary.org

A glimpse of our family phone call this week...

{Letter #27} Allergies, Social Media, and a Broken Bike

Hey y'all!

 This week was a pretty eventful and a bit chaotic  with quite the series of events. especially the last few days! A quick summary of what happened this week: stake presidency council, allergic reactions, social media lessons, and lastly a broken rear axel (again).

First off, this Saturday morning we had the privilege of participating in a  stake presidency council with our whole zone! It was a really good discussion of how we can help the stake members to progress and liken the scriptures to themselves. After the meeting finished, we helped clean up the church.  It's probably one of the weirdest church buildings I've ever been in.


Saturday ended up being  a very busy day.  After the council and church cleaning,  we helped a member reorganize the furniture in their house. We also had quite a few lessons with people that we have found over social media recently! It has been a really cool experience to see all the digital  tools that have been created to help further the work of gathering Israel! Through the tools that are mission is testing, we have found 3 new friends to teach in the last week, just over Facebook! It's really cool how accessible the gospel is becoming to everyone!  https://www.facebook.com/ComeUntoChristinPortland 


Sometime on Saturday the rear axel on my bike broke again. Not sure how it keeps happening, but I am now on my third bike this transfer. nothing too exciting about that, just funny that it's happened twice. in the last 6 weeks.

Yesterday my companion and I got offered some cheesecake that the other Elders in our apartment had brought home. It was some really good cheesecake, but we rather quickly determined that the crust had pecans in it, which Elder Goff is allergic to.  So basically we had to call the area medical doctor to get it figured out. Thankfully it wasn't too severe of a reaction and he was able to just take some Benadryl, and it wasn't too bad. We also discovered that riding a bike drowsy, is decidedly a little bit safer than driving drowsy.

This week we have had a hard time getting in contact with a couple of our friends that we have been teaching previously, however it just sounds like they were having a busy week and we've been able to regain contact again.   


My spiritual thought this week will be from when I was recently studying in Jacob 4 (a book of sacred writings found in the Book of Mormon). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/ps/book-of-mormon-lesson?cid=C19643789977G145770794597A592765240012&adlang=eng&source=google&network=g&gclid=CjwKCAiA9NGfBhBvEiwAq5vSy63QoCFdA28snhbrjRb5ENcTcctefhCU-T-aLl8W-ZAPF9lnOEYD_xoCJacQAvD_BwE

In this Jacob is teaching his people about Christ and what Christ will do for us. Jacob taught:

"Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works. Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh." (Jacob 4:10-11)

I love how simply Jacob teaches about the atonement of Christ in these few sentences! When we diligently seek counsel from God and seek to act on this counsel, we can be forgiven through the power of mercy and grace that comes through Christ's atonement!

My invitation for all of you this week is to pray to God ask for how you can show your love for Him and His children! When you receive an answer, act on it! I know that as you all do that, you will receive an answer! You will be able to feel God's love more in your life! You will be able to feel the power that comes through the atonement of Christ acting more in your life!

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

Love,
Elder Goold

{Letter #26} Quarter Done!

Hey Everyone!

 I hope y'all have been doing well! This week was very busy, but luckily was a little less eventful than last week. We have just been pressing forward trying to move forward the work here in Beaverdam.

We have had a few interesting lessons with some of our friends throughout the week.

Some of the coolest lessons we had were all yesterday! First off we had a lesson with Ken where we taught about the Plan of Salvation. He was so happy to hear about Heavenly Fathers plan for him and how he can live with Heavenly Father again. It was an amazing experience to see the joy that this knowledge brought Ken!!

Immediately after our lesson with Ken we had a lesson with our new friend Pardis! That was an amazing lesson! We spent some of it getting to know her and her background with religion, but after that the Spirit was so strong as we testified of how the gospel of Christ can bless her life and help her find peace and joy despite any hardships that she is going through. She was very eager to read from the Book of Mormon and to meet with us again tomorrow!

On Sunday our friend Jessie came to church for the first time! It was actually such a miracle becuse all the talks were about how the gospel can help strengthen family relationships. That is exactly what is most interesting to her about the gospel. It was kinda amazing! It was also the first Sunday that all the new members came to our ward, so she wasn't the only one there for the first time. It really was a perfect opportunity for her and she said that she really enjoyed it!

My spiritual thought from this week is going to be from Christ's teachings in Matthew 11:28-30. In these verses Christ teaches of the rest that can come through making covenants with Him and becoming yolked (connected) to Him.

Christ taught:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I love this promise and I testify that it is absolutely true! As we come unto Christ and form a covenantal connection with Him we will receive grace and mercy to overcome anything we face in this life! As we strive to become like Him we will feel His strengthening and comforting hand all throughout our life.

I hope y'all are doing great! Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Goold

Our P-day phone call...