{Letter #101} Creator of All Things

 Hi everyone! I hope that you all have had a great week! What is something you're looking forward to? It's been a pretty good one here! We had zone conference, some exchanges, awesome lessons, and fun training things!

First of all, zone conference was awesome!

President Botchway talked a lot about the importance of becoming converted to Jesus Christ and the importance of focusing on him in everything we do! It was awesome!

What are some ways that you all focus on Christ every day?

On exchanges I got to go back to my very first area.... Boring, Oregon! It was awesome! I didn't see too many people that I knew while I was here, but it was still cool to be back. Kinda a full circle moment!

The people that we are working with here are awesome! There are a good number of people that are really close to accepting a baptismal date. If you could be praying for the Montiel family, Ashley, Blessing, Viola, and Wendy that would be great! The members in this ward are really great at connecting with our friends and being a part of their lives so it's always great to bring them along and see them become friends!

This week in training we have had all sorts of fun things. It's still a work in progress helping Elder Guymon, but he has already grown a lot! Working with new missionaries is awesome because they always give such simple and powerful testimonies! It's been awesome!

My spiritual thought for this week is going to be from Alma's teachings to his son Helaman in The Book of Mormon-Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Alma taught:

"I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

I love this principle! The Lord can do great things in our life but it often comes by small and simple means. This also applies to our own efforts! When we put forth small but consistent efforts, we will be able to make big changes!

I hope you all have a great week! I am praying for all of you!

Love,
Elder Goold 

Here are some photos from this week:

A cute duck family

P-day trip to Costco after a trip to the doctor for his comp earlier.  Rotisserie chickens were purchased...

Departing missionaries from my zone, along with President and Sister Botchway.

  I've been comps with three of them (Nielson, Moore, and Crum)

Another departing missionary shot...

A glimpse at our family phone call this week: (me in Gresham/Mount Hood, Mom at home, Spence at home--Dad was driving to Saint George, Emma, Cami, and Garrett were at work, Ellie is in the middle of finals week)

{Letter #82} I *CANBY* Like Jesus

 Hi everyone!

Did you all have a good week? What was a highlight? How did you see God's hand this week?

This week in the Oregon Portland Mission was full of excitement!

Here's why:   I got transferred, some awesome lessons, and zone council!

It doesn't look like much when I type it out, but things were constantly moving and just very busy.

So on Wednesday we had zone council! It was awesome! We studied out our call as missionaries as a zone! We talked about all that is expected of us as disciples of Jesus Christ and what blessings come from that! It was really awesome!

Then on Friday, I got transferred from Tualatin to Canby! There's a lot of craziness with the transfer. I am now companions with Elder Moore, who I have served around (in the same apartment)  for 3 months previously! I am also still covering 2 wards.

My new comp, Elder Moore, and I

In addition to getting transferred, we were also moving apartments at the same time. So I got to help out with that when I got to Canby. Fun times! We successfully got everything moved before the end of the first night.  In both Tualatin and Canby we had some awesome lessons this past week!

I also got to say goodbye to a bunch of the people I was teaching in Tualatin.

Elder Nielson and I went out with some youth before transfers

We also talked with Jim about baptism. He said that he didn't feel ready yet, but that he would keep coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying. So that's awesome!

There are quite a few people that are progressing towards being baptized here in Canby! Our friend James has been getting ready for a while. I don't know everyone here yet, but I a sure that I will learn to love them!

My spiritual thought this week is going to be from a prophet named Jacob. He taught:

"...they despised the words of plainness,... and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it" (Jacob 4:14)

In this verse Jacob is specifically talking about the ancient people in Israel, but it applies to us too!

Ask yourself:
What is the focus of my life? Am I allowing to let God prevail? Or am I "blinded" by everything going on?

When we let God prevail in our lives we will find joy, peace and understanding! President Nelson, a living prophet of God, taught:

"the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives"

I know this to be true! Focus on God in your life! He will bless you!

I love you all! I hope you have a great week! I am praying for you!

Love,
Elder Goold

PICS FROM THIS WEEK:

My last picture with Elder Nielson (who is 6'10") and the official Tualatin Zone Leader Tie, which has been in the rotation for many years.

District Lunch with the new district at a Mexican place. 

The temple pic was taken by Elder Britt;   Elder Moore and I out for lunch one day

A glimpse at our family phone call today: 
(Me in Canby, Mom at home, Ellie in Vietnam, Spence at home, Dad in Saint George, Lucie, Oliver, & Cami in Alabama)

{Letter #81} Trust in Christ

 

Hi all! How has your week been? What was the most exciting thing that happened to you? What is something you're looking forward to? Send me an email-I'd love to hear from you!

This week has been great! We have had a lot of really good lessons, fun exchanges, mission prep with the Botchways, and the temple!

First of all, the temple is amazing! Go if you haven't gone or haven't gone recently! It will bless your life!

Mission prep was awesome, the Botchways came to teach it because it was the last one for this section. Something they said a lot was "missionary work is hard work, but hard work brings joy". I really liked that! Here's a scripture I read recently that also testifies of that principle:

"And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come. And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things."

When you labor with all diligence and seek to keep Christ's commandments, you will be filled with JOY! That's an epic promise.

A couple lessons that really stuck with me this week:

Jared. We taught him about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has been a slightly disengaged learner up to this point. In this lesson he was completely immersed. He kept asking questions, wanting to know more! He was excited to come to church. Unfortunately, currently his work schedule doesn't allow for it, but if you all could pray for him that would be awesome!

Theresa. She read more of The Book of Mormon! She is still loving it! She has many good questions and loves to dive into the scriptures!

Jorge. We talked about the Plan of Salvation with him. He said that what we have been talking about is shaping his life currently! He's a really cool guy!

I got to go on exchanges with a new missionary. That's always a lot of fun. We got to talk a lot about our call as missionaries.

My spiritual thought this week is going to come from 2 Nephi 33. Nephi taught:

"...when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men."

The Holy Ghost can carry knowledge to our hearts, but it is our choice to let it enter our hearts and teach us!

I invite you all to pray to have the Holy Ghost enter your hearts more! It will bring more light and peace into your life!

I love you all! Have a great week! Let me know if I can do anything for you all!

Love,
Elder Goold


Some pics from this week:

Some paintings of the ward member we have been helping to move

We went bowling on p-day

We got a little snow this week

I love this place

A glimpse at our family phone call this week
Me in Tualatin, Mom and Oliver in Alabama, Emma in Provo on break from a class, Dad in Saint George, Spence at home

{Letter #80} One Day with the Savior

Hi everyone! It's been another week! I hope it's been a good one for you all! I'd love to hear why or why not-- let me know!

It's been a pretty good week here! We have had a few really awesome things,  specifically: interviews with President Botchway, Theresa, moving, and more exchanges.

First off, interviews were this Friday! Those were awesome! It's always good to talk with President Botchway about how things are going as missionaries and just with life. He is awesome. Something he invited me to do was to listen to "A Master Class in Leadership: One Day with the Savior" (BYU devotional by Elder Mark Bragg).

It just got me thinking what I would do if I had one full day with Jesus Christ. It's a very interesting exercise. I encourage you to do it as well!

We have had a couple lessons with our new friend Theresa. She is seriously amazing! She loves everything about what we have shared so far. She has jumped into reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. Between two meetings 3 days apart she read all of 3 Nephi (which is about 60 pages)

She said that she loves it and feels that it is all true! She has read from the Book of Mormon, she has pondered on Christ's mercy, and she has prayed to know the truth of the Book of Mormon. And she has received a witness of its truth!

If you do not have a testimony of the Book of Mormon yet, I invite you to follow the same process that our friend Theresa did! Read, ponder, and pray! You will feel God confirm it to you and you will feel His power in your life!

On Saturday we got to help two people move. One was a new move-in. The other was moving out. The family that was moving out had a lot of German royalty in their family. The have a lot of 1000+ year old furniture that has been passed down through their family. They also have original paintings from Da Vinci, Picasso, Van Gogh, and other such artists. Basically, I have never handled such expensive things in my life. I unfortunately did not get any pictures, but we are going again this week and I will see if I can.

My spiritual thought for this week is from my studies. I read recently in Moroni 7. In that chapter the prophet Mormon taught:

"Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ."

I love this verse! When we diligently seek Christ and to lay hold upon the gifts that he has given us, we will be His children! That is a very peaceful promise!

What better person to be our covenant Father than one who has suffered all that we have gone through. One who can help us in everything we face!

I love you all! I hope you all have a great week; I am praying for you! Please reach out if I can do anything for you all!

Love,
Elder Goold

PICS:   Dinner with Bishop Williams and family.  We get fed by members quite  a bit in this area. 

1st pic:   Ghanaian food made by President Botchway,
 2nd pic:   random person treated us to dinner at  Taco Bell

Interviews with the zone

A beautiful rainbow 

A glimpse of our family phone call today (with an outfit change):    Me in Tualatin, Mom, Cami, Garrett, Lucie and Oliver in Alabama, Ellie in Arizona, Dad in Saint George, Spence at home, Emma walking home from class

{Letter #78} I'll Meet You There

Hi everyone! This week has been pretty good! Lots of meetings. Like that's legit most of what happened! But it's fun! I always learn a lot from them! Here's a couple of the things that happened: temple, zone conference, exchanges, mission prep, and a fun little mission stake coordination meeting!

We went to the temple today! If you haven't been or haven't been recently, go! It will be a blessing to your life!

We got to lead out mission prep for the Tualatin and Tigard area this week and will continue to do so for the next few weeks for all the youth preparing to serve missions! It will be fun!

Zone conference was amazing this time around! One of the big topics was about the power of The Book of Mormon.

Sister Botchway invited us all to read it 2 times in the next 3-4 months! That is a lot of reading! 1062 pages to be exact. And we're trying to truly study it and learn about Christ!

I decided to accept the challenge. I'm about 100 pages in right now! I have already learned so much about Jesus Christ as my Savior!

My spiritual thought for this week will be a promise that President Nelson, the living Prophet of God on the earth today, gave us as we study The Book of Mormon-Another Testament of Jesus Christ. He promised:

"I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life. I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day, even the gripping plague of pornography and other mind-numbing addictions."

I know that to be true! If you are looking for any guidance in your life, I invite you to start reading The Book of Mormon every day! It will be a blessing to you!

I love you all! I hope you all are doing great! Let me know if I can pray for anything for you!

Love,
Elder Goold

A glimpse of the family call this week (Me in Tualatin, Mom at home, Lucie and Cami in Alabama, Spence at home, Ellie in Arizona on her way to Temple Prep class, Dad in Saint George on his way to a meeting)

{Letter #77} We're Going

 

Hi everyone! This week was super good--lots of fun things happening, including Mission Leadership Council (MLC), Stake President's Council (SPC), Just Serve meeting, zone council, and baptism.

First off,  Hunter, who I talked about last week, got baptized this weekend! I wasn't able to go because he lives pretty far away, but he said it was really great! Hunter is very very prepared to come closer to Christ and continue to do so now that he has been baptized.

Between MLC, SPC, zone council and the JustServe meeting, we had a lot of meetings this week.   Most of them were planned, except for the JustServe one which we got pulled into right as it started.

Here are a couple of the big takeaways from these meetings:

-this is the Lord's work, not ours
-as such, we should be anxious to account to the Lord for what He has trusted us with
-we are partners in this work with all people who have made covenants with God (i.e. people who have been baptized or been through the temple)
-serving in the community is also an important way to do the Lord's work
-Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice are central to everything we do

All in all, having so many meetings was fun and inspiring, but definitely a little tiring as well.

My spiritual thought for this week is going to come from Abinadi's teachings in The Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Abinadi, quoting Isaiah, taught:

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Mosiah, 14:3-5)

Jesus Christ knows all that we go through! He can heal us from all our troubles and pains if we choose to turn to Him!

I love you all! let me know if I can do anything for you all! I hope you have the best week!

Make it count!

Love,
Elder Goold

PS  I got a new nephew this week!   Oliver Glen Bourne was born yesterday and is very, very cute.

PS #2   Here's a glimpse at our family phone call this week.   Ellie in Arizona, Mom at home, Me in Tualatin, Dad in Saint George, Spence at home, Cami, Garrett, and Oliver in Alabama, Emma in her car on the way to the temple.