{Letter #63} Happy Halloween!

 I have very little time this week!

We got to go to the temple earlier today! It is the House of the Lord! A place to feel peace. (Haggai 2:9)

A quick summary of this week:
-Set off a fire alarm at a church
- fire department had to come to turn it off
-everything was fine though
-Had a great zone council
-Ward Halloween party that our friend Joao came to


I hope you all are doing well! Here's a verse from my studies!

"Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."  (Acts 2, 37-38)

When we come to Christ we are able to have the Spirit more in our lives!

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


Love,
Elder Goold

{Letter #62} By Faith Are Miracles Wrought

Hi everyone! I'm going to be completely honest. I feel like not much happened this week. I'll just write a short spiritual thought.

This week I finished The Book of Mormon-Another Testament of Jesus Christ. In one of the last chapters the prophet-historian Mormon taught:

"Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ. And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons [and daughters] of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you."

When we exercise faith in Christ and act on that, there will be miracles! It is through Christ that we are able to lay hold upon every good thing!

I invite you all to do something this week to help you increase your faith in Christ!

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Goold

{Letter #61} Shine On!

 Hi everyone! I hope this past week has been good! This last week was really good-- between President Bragg (our area President for all of Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii, and Alaska) visiting our mission and my birthday (as I'm sure you're all aware thanks to my mom)!

Thank you for all who sent birthday wishes! It is greatly appreciated!  I had cheesecake leftover from MLC and some other good food. 

With Elder Bragg visiting we had a special mission leadership conference and zone conference (which was actually the entire mission). Those were seriously so awesome!

I'm pretty short on time today so I'll just say a couple things that really stood out to me.

-my call as a missionary is of God and from a living prophet!
-is true of any calling in the church that we are called of God
-spiritual power will come as we are obedient to covenants, commandments, and mission standards
-once again applies to all people!
-love God and love people

My spiritual thought from this week is going to be a couple verses that Elder Bragg shared with us. It is a promise from the Lord to us! He said:

"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."

The Lord asks three things of us and promises these amazing blessings in return! When we have faith in Jesus Christ, charity for others,and live virtuously, we are promised that we will be more confident, have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, and we will understand the doctrine the God has given us!

These are pretty remarkable blessings! They will come as you diligently look to Christ!

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

Love,
Elder Goold

Here are some pics: 

Some good food

A glimpse of the annular solar eclipse from Portland.  We didn't have any glasses, but the sky looked cool anyway.

Pumpkins created by the youth that each represented a scripture story...

A  beaver statue and a random frog

A glimpse at our family phone call today... (me in Tualatin, Mom at home, Ellie in Rexburg, Spence at home, Emma in Provo, Cami at work with her camera turned off, and Garrett and Lucie at home in Birmingham.)  Dad had something going on and couldn't get on. 

{Letter #60} Sick Days

 Hi everyone! I hope you all are doing great! This week's email is going to be pretty short. I don't feel like a ton happened. Here's a few things that did happen though: exchanges, lots of finding, fall festival, and sick days.

Most of our days here in this area are spent trying to find new people. It's kinda long tiring days, but it's good! We have a few good potentially interested people that were working with and hopefully bringing members to also.

On Friday there was a little fall festival at a local elementary school. It was super cool. They specifically asked for the missionaries to help out with it. It was awesome. Lots of little kids and families running around. We just kinda helped out where needed, it was fun. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures though.

After that I got sick for a few days. I did not enjoy that. It's actually the first time my whole mission. We had to take things super slowly. It was kinda awful. But I was mostly better by the end of the weekend!

On Monday we went on exchanges! That was fun! I got to go with Elder Payton and Elder Tingey, who is a local service missionary. It was lots of fun! We found someone to teach and had a couple people accept a date to be baptized in their area! It was awesome! Both very cool Elders and lots of cool people.

My spiritual thought this week is going to be a verse from my personal studies. Jesus Christ said:

"And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil— And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works"

Christ came to draw all people to Him! He suffered and died for you! For every single person! He loves you so much! He knows you and what you are going through.

Love you all! Have a great week! Let me know if theres anything I can help out with!

Love,
Elder Goold


Zone conference: 

 

A cool statue and an awesome dog with two different colored eyes

A glimpse at our family phone call today (Ellie in Rexburg, Dad in Saint George, Garrett at home in Alabama, Mom at home in Alpine, me in Tualatin, Cam and Lucie visiting family in Houston, Spence driving to the gym, Emma in Provo) That's 5 different states and 7 different cities!   The first time we were all on the call at the same time in a long time!

 

{letter #59} Another Week in Tualatin

Hi everyone! I hope you're doing well! It's been a crazy week. Here's what happened: zone conference (+ training), zone council, general conference 🥳, and interviews!

First off, we had zone conference on Thursday! It was awesome. We talked about a lot of different things. But due to time and to keep it brief, President Botchway talked to us a lot about consecration. One thing he said that he also said last zone conference was "repent, reset, and refocus". I love that idea. And I’ll talk more about it later.

At zone conference we got to give a training! It was on chapter 2 of Preach My Gospel which is titled "Search the Scriptures and Put on the Armor of God"

It's a fun topic! I'll put one of my favorite quotes from the chapter.

"Prayerfully studying the scriptures will open a window of revelation for the Spirit to speak to your mind and heart. He will bless you with guidance, inspiration, and answers to your questions. Through your study of the scriptures, the Holy Ghost will strengthen and comfort you. He will give you knowledge and conviction that will bless your life and enable you to bless others eternally."

Just a few of the many blessings that come from studying the scriptures daily! Do everything you can to read the scriptures daily— even if it's just a little bit! It will bless your life!

The next day we had zone council. which was awesome! We just talked a bit about using the scriptures to teach our friends. It was awesome. Here's a quote that we used in that zone council.

"As people read and pray about the Book of Mormon, they will come to know the Savior better and experience His love. They will grow in their testimony of Him. They will know how to come unto Him and be saved"

The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ! It is the most powerful witness we have of the Atonement of Jesus Christ anywhere! As you study from it you will feel the love and power of Jesus Christ in greater amounts in your life!

I'm going to talk about interviews now. Those went pretty well. nothing out of the ordinary! Something President Botchway told me that connects with the rest of this email is to "look to and learn from Jesus Christ".

Jesus Christ is the perfect example of all things! No matter what we are going through, we can look to Christ and learn from Him!

Lastly, General Conference!!!!!

I LOVED GENERAL CONFERENCE!

There is so much that I could say about it, but I want to focus on the words of President Nelson. His main message from conference was to

THINK CELESTIAL

Think of Jesus Christ. Think of what He would do. Think of what He would have s do. Think of what we need to do to be closer to Him.

This is where I wanted to tie in "repent, resest, and refocus"

We will not be perfect in thinking Celestial. We will slip up. There is no way around it.

The important part is that we keep on trying.

We repent. change our thoughts and behavior to align more with what Jesus Christ would do.

We reset. realize where we are at and then make a decision to continue to follow Christ as best as we can.

We refocus. Refocus on Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrafice. Refocus on what we need to do to have His power in our life. Refocus on thinking Celestial.

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

Love,
Elder Goold

Bowling with my zone on p-day: 

The bowling alley:  

20 sandwiches for zone conference: 

 

A sandwich I made for lunch: 

Zone conference: 

A rainy day: 

A glimpse at our family phone call today:  (me in Tualatin, Mom and Dad in Saint George, Ellie in Rexburg, Emma in Provo, Spence in the parking lot of the gym.  Cam and Garrett were at work and had to miss) 

{Letter #58} T’s Up?!

Hi everyone! I hope all of you are doing well! Things have been good here. It has been a crazy week. Probably felt way busier than it was though. Here's a few things that happened: transfers, mission leadership council (MLC), and pday activities.

Definitely felt far busier than it was.

On Wednesday night transfer news came out! I got moved to Tualatin! (that's what T's Up means in our mission) No more living in the land of beavers unfortunately. Another fun part about the transfer is that I'm with my MTC companion Elder Crum again!

Everything felt super rushed to get ready for transfers. Not to mention we were whitewashing out (meaning both my companion and I left the area). So we had to prepare notes for everything and pack to move. It was a blast. Felt super fast.

Transfers happened Friday. All went well with that. The new zone is awesome. Elder Crum and I are covering 2 wards out here, both are really cool. We get to go to both wards on Sunday, makes for a lot of sitting around church. Overall all fun times!

This Monday, yesterday I guess, we had MLC! That was awesome! We talked about quite a lot. Here's a few things we covered: 

-how we can better set goals and plans and act on them
-following the Spirit in goal setting
-the purpose of counseling, best summed up by Doctrine & Covenants 50:22 in my opinion
-the importance of focusing on Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice
-the importance of unity!!
-3 Nephi 11:30
-when we become more unified with each other, we become more unified with the Savior
-a fun little acronym for the Oregon Portland Mission
Obedient
Purposeful
Missionaries
-consecrating our time talents and abilities to serving here
-when we do this, we will be happier, more diligent, more obedient, more unified, and we will become more like Christ!

I'll stop there. It was an amazing meeting. Very filled with the Spirit.

Today we had a couple zone and district activities. Played some games at the church then went bowling. Fun times!

My spiritual though for this week is going to come from the teachings of the prophet Abinadi. He taught:

"Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God."

The purpose of prophets is to lead us towards Jesus Christ that we can become heirs to the kingdom of God!

We have the opportunity to hear from a livng prophet this weekend! It is available in all sorts of places, the church website, youtube, BYUtv, and maybe some more.

BRING A QUESTION

WATCH IT

STUDY

PONDER

PRAY


It is such a blessing to have a living Prophet today! I know that Russell M Nelson is that living prophet that has been called of God. He has been called and given authority to lead Jesus Christ's restored church on the earth!

I love you all! I'd love to hear from you if it's been a while! I'll do my best to respond in a timely manner. Let me know if I can do anything for you!

Love,
Elder Goold

P-day bowling! 





A glimpse at our family phone call:  me in Tualatin, mom and dad in Saint George, Ellie in Rexburg, Spence getting dinner at Aubergine in AF, Cami in the car on her way to a baby shower, Emma and Garrett were at work, and Lucie was sleeping! 

{Letter #57} Another One Gone...

Well, It has been another week and this transfer is almost over. It's been busy and good!  Here's what happened: interviews, social media training, baptisms, and a fun district council!

First off, we had interviews with President Botchway this Thursday! Those were awesome! He said that lot of missionaries are completing their missions and about 30 new missionaries are coming in, so there are going to be a lot of changes. We will see what happens, I suppose. He also made some Ghanaian food for the zone. It was really good. I would definitely recommend you try some if you ever get the chance.

During the interviews we also had a training done by the social media leaders in the mission! It is really cool to see work that is being done over social media and also ways that we can improve. Phones and social media are tools that have been given to share the gospel! It's important that we use them the way that they were designed. Share the gospel over social media--it will help hasten the work!

This Saturday 3 people in close-by areas got baptized! Elder Thatcher and I got to attend one of them and give the intermission message right after the baptism was performed! It was awesome!  It was the first time that Elder Thatcher had done that and he did a great job.

Here are the scriptures we used:
John 3:16-17
3 Nephi 9:17, 20
Moroni 8:25-26
2 Nephi 31:20

Yesterday we had a fun district council! We did a little object lesson for listening to people. We had a missionary blindfold themselves to make their way through a maze of chairs, while Elder Thatcher played the piano, someone gave them verbal directions, 2 missionaries were shouting scriptures, and someone else was expressing their concerns.   Basically, at the end of the maze we asked the blindfolded missionary what the other missionary's concerns were. They had no idea!

We need to listen with charity. Not think of the next scripture to say, not thinking of some song from home, or just going strictly with what you have planned out. If we listen to people with true charity we will understand their concerns! We will be able to love them even more and help them increase their faith in Christ!

Which leads me to my spiritual thought for the week. Mormon, the prophet historian who compiled the Book of Mormon-Another Testament of Jesus Christ, wrote a letter to his son Moroni. In this letter Mormon taught:

"But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

We must always be praying to be filled with the pure love of Christ! When we do we will receive so many blessings!

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

Love,
Elder Goold

-Picture after district council with the STLs and Murrayhill elders


-district council set up

-a zone call to pray together

-a chicken on a leash in someone's front yard

-a cool tree

-a cool sunset

More on the saga of horses:
Horse parking only (again)

No trespassing horses (its funnier to read that way)

And some horses


Also a hummingbird I managed to snap a picture of

A glimpse at our family phone call this week (Elder Goold in Portland, Mom at home, Ellie in Rexburg, Emma in Provo, Dad at work, Cami, Spence, and Garrett were all at work and unable to join):