{Letter #49} Marriage

Hi Everyone! I hope you all are doing great! I'm quite short on time this week, but here's a summary of what happened this week: Michael & Kira's wedding, exchanges, and the airplane home!
First off, Michael & Kira's wedding! It was amazing! They had it at their home, only had about 20 people there. The ceremony was performed by the bishop of our local congregation out here. It was a very happy time and all around pretty good experience. Michael & Kira said that they both felt the Spirit.

The exchanges this time around were really good! I was in my area with Elder Francom. We talked a lot about faith and humility and how these things will help us to see God's hand more in our life. We also talked about a quote from chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel regarding our own conversion. It teaches:

"Remain focused on your commitment to Christ... not the outward results. These results often are not evident immediately. At the same time, keep your expectations high regardless of the challenges you face. High expectations will increase your effectiveness, your desire, and your ability to follow the Spirit."

This is true! We will have a greater desire and ability to feel the Spirit when we remain focused on Christ and keep our expectations high, for ourselves, and for what Christ is able to do in our life!

Today we went to an old plane in the woods that someone turned into their home. It was really cool! apparently it made some appearance on a Netflix show. not sure what its called.

My spiritual thought from this week will be some of the words of Christ. He taught:

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)

When we turn to Christ we will find joy even in our hardest challenges! I invite you all to find one way to turn to Him this week! It will bring you peace and joy!

Love you all! I hope all of you have a fantastic week! let me know if I can do anything for you!

Love,
Elder Goold

A glimpse at our family phone call this week (Mom and Ellie are still in Thailand):

{Letter #48} Jesus Loves You oO-Oo-oO0

 

Hello everyone! I hope all of you have had a great week! Things have gone pretty well here, lots and lots to keep us busy. A few things that have happened: interviews, cleanup, and Patrick!

First off, last Wednesday we had interviews with President Botchway! These were awesome! It was President's very first time doing interviews with a zone, so it was a pretty new experience for him. It was honestly just him trying to get to know us a bit better. It was cool. He follows the Spirit very well.

We also had a training going on at the same time that went pretty well! We talked a lot about treating everyone with the love that Christ would. It was very powerful. We have so many examples in the scriptures, and around us today, that we can look to and follow as we try to develop this love.

One that stood out to me from recent studies was in the account of Lehi's vision of the tree of life (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng). He saw many people seeking to come to the tree of life (which represents the love of God). All of them trying to press forward through a variety of different challenges, struggles, and temptations around them. The only ones who made it to the tree of life and stayed there, was the ones who help fast to the iron rod (which represents the word of God).

In other words, the only way that we can be filled with the love of God continually is to hold fast to the word of God! Hold fast to the scriptures! Hold fast to the teachings of the living prophet! Hold fast to what the Spirit teaches us!

When we do that we will feel God's love acting more in our own life. Not only that, but we will feel of God's love for all His children. We will be better able to love like Christ did if we hold fast to the word of God!

Next, we were able to go to Michael's house to help cleanup his property for his wedding on Friday! It's kinda out in the middle of nowhere on a bunch of fields. It's a very pretty place and it was good to help out with that.

We also had a really cool experience where we met our friend Patrick yesterday. We were trying to get in touch with a referral we had received the previous day. we had just knocked on their door with no answer. As we were walking towards the next person we were visiting we walked around a corner and Patrick was there! We started talking, he has a christian background and said that he had always wanted to meet with missionaries.


We had a really good discussion with him and he really loved the Book of Mormon! He said that it just makes sense that we would have another record of Jesus Christ. We invited him to read from it and pray about it, he seemed very excited to do so.

Th craziest part about this whole experience, Patrick is from Florida. He was visiting a friend of his, in our area, for the week. He was working from home that day, had just decided to step outside to take a walk for a little break. Everything had to fall into place just right for all that to happen! God is a God of miracles!

My spiritual thought from this week comes from what the Lord said to Moroni in Ether 4:

"Therefore, repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and believe in my gospel, and be baptized in my name; for he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; ... and signs shall follow them that believe in my name."

Here the Lord, Jesus Christ, is speaking about us! I love the promise Christ gives to us! there will be signs and wonders that follow those that believe in Christ! There will be miracles! I add my witness to that! If we believe in Christ we will see those signs, miracles, and wonders in our own life and te lives of those around us!

I love you all! I hope you all have a great week! Let me know if I can do anything to help you all out!

Love,
Elder Goold


Pictures:
-random 9pm picture we sent to our zone

-Michael's dog Acorn


-interviews


-a cool decoration


-the view from Michael's

{Letter #47} Love One Another

Hi Everyone! I hope all of you had a fantastic week! This felt like a bit of a slower week here, but it was still very good! Here's some of the events of note: zone conference, painting, ward barbecue, and a great lesson with our friend Alma!!
 

We also went to the temple today! It is an amazing place of learning and peace! If you haven't been, or haven't been recently, you should go! You will learn something new if you go with a desire to learn!

Next, zone conference! It was amazing! We no longer have themes, but I still learned a lot from it. It was President and Sister Botchway's first zone conference in the mission! We got together with half of our mission and got to hear from them, and also some trainings from the new Preach My Gospel. One of the things that stuck out to me was Sister Botchway talking about Christlike attributes demonstrated in the scriptures! It was really cool to see how every prophet in the scriptures testifies and emulates Jess Christ! And now we are doing a mission wide study of the Book of Mormon to search out these attributes and how we can develop them ourselves! (If anyone wants to participate I'll put the schedule here)

Next, we had a service where we got to paint a less active member's house and also help hang their gutters up. Nothing too crazy there. The funniest part was how they greeted us. When we first pulled up and got out of the car they said "do you want a four leaf clover? I'm really good at finding them" *proceeds to hand me and my companion a four leaf clover*

so now I have a four leaf clover.

We also had a ward barbecue that our friend Michael came to! He is continuing to progress really well towards baptism and is making lots of friends in the ward. It is going very well! He's also getting married soon!

Just yesterday we had some very good trainings/discussions in district council about teaching for understanding. immediately after district council we got to teach our friend Alma! She has a lot of concerns with feeling inadequate and people judging her. We were able to help her understand how the scriptures can help her even with that! Our friend from the ward was also very good in helping Alma understand the importance of reading. We invited Alma to read from the Book of Mormon, pray about it, pray to receive strength, and to come to church. She seemed very excited!


My spiritual thought from this week is going to come from Nephi's experience in retrieving the plates (or scriptures) from Jerusalem. Nephi said:

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth"

We often face challenges in life that we don't know what the next step to take is. The Spirit can guide us though! It is essential for us to take the first step despite not knowing where it will take us. When we put our trust in the Lord, follow the Spirit, and take the first step into the unknown, that is when we will truly be guided like Nephi!

Take that first step! trust God! He loves you! He cares about you!

I hope y'all have a great week! Love you all! Let me know if there's anything I can do for you!

Love,

Elder Goold


The pictures:

-some Ghanian food made by President Botchway


-The animals I interacted with throughout the week

-Zone temple trip 

{Letter #46} Happy 4th!

 Hi everyone! I hope y'all are doing great and having a great Independence Day! This has been a pretty good week. A lot has happened. here's a quick rundown: President and Sister Botchway's incoming devotional, transfers, MLC (again) and a few interesting lessons.

I'll start with the lessons. We had a couple "lessons" with people that they just talked about politics for a long time. That definitely wasn't ideal, we had to try to direct the conversation away from that. One of these lessons was in a cottage/workshop that an older guy built himself. He had cut the trees and chopped the wood and built it on top of a big hill. It was a very cool house. It also had a fantastic view that we could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helen's, Mt. Rainier, and the Sister's Mountains. It was very pretty and I should've taken a picture.

On Thursday we had the incoming devotional with the Botchways!

That was fantastic! They truly are people that have been called of God to lead the Oregon Portland Mission for the next few years. They talked about the importance of learning the language of the Spirit, so we can teach with greater authority. Learn how you feel the Spirit! It will greatly bless your life!

We had transfers (yes, again) on Friday! I got another new companion! Elder Cramer is now my shortest companion by 1 day and my new companion is Elder Dahl!

He goes home at the end of this transfer. It'll be good! We're excited to be here in Farmington for the next while.

Lastly, we got to go to Mission Leadership Council again! This time it was lead by the Botchways though! It was amazing to hear some of what they had to say on how we can better help other missionaries to fulfill their purpose. An exercise we went through was to read the first chapter of the new Preach My Gospel manual, and talk about the differences from the previous edition. It is amazing how evident it is that the Lord is "enlightening our understanding". He is giving us more knowledge so we may know how we can come closer to Him!

My spiritual thought for this week is a scripture that President Botchway shared in the incoming devotional. Paul wrote to Philemon:

"Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say." (Philemon 1:21)

We must always be willing to do more than the minimum that is asked of us! When we strive to serve God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength we will be blessed! I testify that that is true!

Love you all! HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!  I hope you all have a great week! Let me know if there's anything I can help with!

Love,
Elder Goold

A glimpse of our family phone call today:  Ellie, Dad, Mom, Spence at home in Alpine; Me in Portland; Cami on her way to work in Alabama.  Emma {not pictured} was at work. 

{Letter #45} Changes are happening!

Hi everyone! I hope you all have been doing well! This has been quite the week! Very very busy. Some of the things that happened: exchanges, mission leadership council (MLC), goodbye devotional, and a new mission president!

First off, exchanges! I got to stay in my area with Elder Pfunder this time around. It was honestly such a blast! We listened to a few really good BYU devotionals and also were able to find a few new people to teach. It was also the same day that the new Preach My Gospel came out. Something from the introduction that I loved, that also brought up some good conversation was:

"Study the chapters repeatedly throughout your mission. Evaluate your work. Set goals and make plans to accomplish them. Missionaries who prepare themselves daily and improve regularly will bless the lives of those they teach and serve. They will also receive blessings in their own lives"

This doesn't just apply to missionaries, but to all people! As we diligently seek to improve each day, set goals, and make plans to do so we will be better able to bless the lives of those around us! And we will be blessed in our own efforts

The next day we had MLC!

It was the Haymond's last one before leaving (today😭). The main this they talked about was making sure that we remain obedient and help other missionaries to remain obedient through the change. When we diligently seek to serve God, no matter what aspect of life, obedience to His commandments will help us see His hand more! He will have more capacity to act in our lives when we strive to obey Him. (Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21)

Just last night we had a departing devotional for the Haymonds. They bore their departing testimonies in essence. It was a very powerful meeting! The Spirit was incredibly strong and we were able to say goodbye to them one last time. Lots of emotions going on there, definitely a little sad, but also some excitement and peace! Ultimately, this is the Lord's work! Not the Haymonds or the Botchways, but the Lord's. The mission president is called and assigned to a certain area to lead missionary endeavors to help hasten the Lord's work! That was a very strong spiritual confirmation that I was able to receive at the time.

Just today the President and Sister Botchway arrived here in Portland! Very excited to be working with them for the rest of my mission!   President Haymond is in the front, the Botchways are in the back. 

This week I wanted to share a verse from Christ's teachings in the ancient Americas. He taught:

"Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

I know that is true! When we seek for answers from God He will give them to us! I invite you all to turn to God in prayer for guidance this week! He will direct you for good!

Let me know if there's anything I can do for y'all! Love all of you! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Goold 

 

 

A glimpse at our family phone call this week:   {Adam in Farmington, OR, Ellie, Spence, and Mom at home, Dad in Saint George at work, Cami, Garrett, and Lucie at home in Alabama, Emma {not pictured} at work}

{Letter #44} Service is a Blast!

 Hi everyone! I hope all of you are doing well! This is going to be a pretty short email, but things are going really well here in Farmington! A couple random things that happened from this week: Stake President's Council, service, more service, and lastly some fun lessons.

First off. Stake president's council! All the missionaries in the zone met with the stake president and we talked about how we can help people gain a deeper conversion to Christ in each of our areas! One of the biggest things that he wanted to emphasize was the importance of regular temple attendance! Making sure that all members are worthy to hold, and do hold an active temple recommend. It was incredible to hear some of the reasons why temples bless our lives! They truly are the house of the Lord! We get closer to him when we attend regularly.

Second. We had a lot of service this week, ranging from wood chopping, moving people, gardening, and cleaning the church.  It was all good. Serving others is a blast!

And lastly, we had a lot of pretty bashy lessons this week! It has been really interesting that this area out in the farm country has a lot more people that want to bash with us than any other area.

My Spiritual thought from this week is the talk by President Nelson called  "Peacemakers Needed". I invite all of you to read it and focus on one thing he invites us to do! Try your best to do it through the coming week! I promise that as you do you will be closer to God, your family, and all people around you!

Let me know if there's anything I can do for you! Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Goold

A glimpse at our family phone call today:   Adam in Farmington, Lucie and I on a walk here in Utah, Garrett at home in AL, Cami on her way to work, Spence just finished with his first day at a new job.  Dad was in a meeting at work, Emma was at work, Ellie is at YW Camp at Flaming Gorge.  

{Letter #43} Marriage {and a Baptism} is What Brings Us Together Today

Hi everyone!

I hope all of you are doing well! This has been a crazy week, but so good! A quick summary of what happened: Exchanges, Sacrament meeting talk, and Michael!

First off, this week I was able to go on exchanges with the Elder Endemano. We stayed here in Farmington, which was a bit of a fun time because I've only been here for just over a week. It was really good! We talked a lot about what it means to be a good leader, and how Christ is the perfect leader. He is also a perfect follower. We must be a good follower of Jesus Christ and of God before we can be a good leader.

Next, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting! It is actually time first time that I have been asked to do so on my mission. They gave me about 2 days notice, so it was a fun time prepping for that. It was really insightful to find all the scriptures I did on how we can feel the Spirit more in our life. I was definitely aided by the Spirit in prepping for that talk.

Lastly, our friend Michael came to church! It was actually mine and Elder Cramer's first time meeting him, but he told us that he's getting married to his girlfriend next month! And he wants to be baptized the very next day! It was so exciting that he is that eager to take the necessary steps to come closer to God!

Lastly for my spiritual thought I wanted to share a scripture I used in my talk. Mormon (a prophet from the Book of Mormon) taught:

"And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins; And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God."

When we follow Jesus Christ, Repent, and make or keep promises with Him and with God, We will have the Spirit to be with us! We will feel greater joy than ever before as we seek to do this every single day!

Let me know if there's anything I can do for you! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Goold

A glimpse at our family phone call this week:   Adam in Farmington, Ellie and I in Alabama with Cam, Lucie, and Garrett, Spence at home in Utah, Glen in Saint George, Emma (not pictured) at work

{Letter #42} SEARCH AND RESCUE: To Seek and Save

Hey Everyone! I hope all of you are doing well! This week was very busy, but so good! A quick summary: Zone Conference, interviews, exchanges, and the temple!

First off, we went to the temple today! If you haven't been to the temple, or haven't been recently, you should go! It is a place that we learn more about God's plan for us and can feel His love!

Yesterday we went on exchanges! It was really fun actually! I got to ride around on bike for the first time in 2 transfers, so that was nice. We were able to find a couple new people to teach and a few more that were interested, it was a really good exchange. Elder Francom and I also got to talk a lot about goal setting and what we can do to set more effective goals that stretch us, but are still achievable. Ultimately, we decided that the key to doing that is involving Christ in our goal setting. As we do so, we will deepen our conversion to Him and also be more able to help others do the same.

We also had interviews with President Haymond yesterday! We did them in the mission office and just got to talk with Sister Haymond while we waited. It was really good! We got to hear a lot about their story from before their mission. It was a powerful witness that they were called of God to lead the missionaries here! The actual interview was super short. We talked a little bit about how to help other missionaries be more diligent and accountable, ultimately making these things natural and something that pushes us to be better. It was good!

Lastly, zone conference! The theme of this one was Search and Rescue, to Seek and Save.

 It was possibly one of the best ones that I have had since getting out. They talked about how it is our sacred responsibility to be the ones that carry God's children to Christ. We need to seek out the one soul that has strayed from the fold of God. As missionaries, we are called to invite others to come unto Christ. That is everyone's duty who has found Christ in their life! To be a light, a guide, and a support as other people are lost and seeking for truth!

I invite each one of you to find a way to be a light to those around you this week! Show your love for others! Jesus Christ taught:

"Let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

When we shine our light, we will be happier! God will bless us and we will have a stronger relationship with those around us!


I hope y'all have a great week! Love all of you! Let me know if there's anything I can help with!


Love,
Elder Goold