"The feeling of the Spirit was strong"

I sent pictures, which took kind of a long time. This week, along with everything so far, feels like it's gone by super fast. It actually has been swinging between warm and warmer here the last week. Just today it started raining again.

Philippe is feeling better after his problems with being sick. We got to study with him again in the Book of Mormon and we shared the Daily Bread Mormon messages.

Jodie and Logan were having a rough week. Wednesday one of Jodie’s good friends had his mom pass and then out of nowhere, one of her other close friends had to put down a dog that she and Logan were both close to. They both understand and believe the teachings of the plan of salvation and know that there is life after death, but they are both sad when people or animals (much more with animals for Jodie) pass. The feeling of the Spirit was strong to comfort them, it was pretty amazing. We also helped her move a huge fence cage for the goats she's getting.

We didn't get to see Harry and Josh, which was unfortunate. We did exchanges again Thursday, so Elder Thompson came to Covington with me. On Thursday we were supposed to meet with Janette for teaching the Restoration. When we knocked on the door, she was actually about to leave because her daughter, who has MS, was leaving on a trip for a while and wanted to visit with her before she left. We were able to give her a pamphlet about the restoration though so that was positive! Even though it wasn't a lesson, it was cool to feel the Spirit reassure me of the truthfulness of what we were doing! I know that it is this Gospel and eternal families that truly bring happiness to us in this life.

We had a strange "lesson" with William this week. We talked about all sorts of stuff and his motorbike he is building. Then I attempted to share a scripture from 2nd Nephi with him and led it into asking him to read the Book of Mormon more. Then he flipped my message around and tried to teach me about the scripture by asking me what I learned from it and that was weird. Then he said how in his own mind with what makes sense to him and matches the faith he has, he considers himself Mormon. But he said so with beer in hand. So... Then he said even though he believes our teachings, he doesn't gain anything from reading (which isn't true, he just needs to be taught to recognize the fruits of the Spirit) and is content to going to, "middle heaven" and then ranted on about how he'll party in middle heaven and wave to the Mormons way above him. So that was unique haha. But yeah! It has been a good week.  Hopefully we are able to start meeting with members more (most members in our branch live outside our area) and start to get more referrals and thus new investigators and member present lessons and meals. It's seeming like a better use of our time the more we work at it! Hope everything is awesome for you all at home! Stay frosty my friends!

Sincerely Elder Goold

"One of the fastest hypnotists in the whole world"

How is everyone doing?

This week has been interesting. It's been dry here the last week, but it is getting much colder now. 42 degrees this morning at 10 before we went shopping!

So Elder Rasmussen and I have been trying to find new investigators. We had an appointment to meet with Janette, our next-door neighbor, for a first lesson, but when we knocked she didn't answer. That was unfortunate, but we learned yesterday when we saw her walking that apparently she was in fact home, we just didn't knock loud enough to hear! So we are going back Thursday and determined to break down the door if we need to - J. We have also been trying to get into contact with the family that lives near Sister Carter. They haven't been home, but one day (Tuesday I believe) we were tracting and we found another lady who lives nearby that was interested, but was busy at the moment, so we've been trying to contact her as well. This week has been a lot of people not being home. It's sort of discouraging when we try to visit people every day, but they are literally never home. Or they're just ignoring us - haha. Elder Rasmussen and I joke that Convington is actually a government conspiracy so it's lots of just empty houses.

We did visit Jodie again and did some more service around her house. Well, actually under her house. I had to crawl through a space under her house so I could shut off water to her fridge, since she only used tap water anyways. It apparently had a leak and was costing extra money.

Friday we had district meeting and then after I got to do exchanges for the first time!! I went with the district leader Elder Rasmussen. He is super cool but makes quirky decisions while driving - haha. We met one of their investigators who is actually a hypnotist! He had gotten in a bad car accident like 3 weeks prior, so he can no longer do a certain type of hypnosis, but he can still do his favorite kind. He is actually known as one of the fastest hypnotists in the whole world!! We had an awesome conversation with him though. Saturday morning we had a service project of cleaning someone’s windows. We did it for Brother Whiting in the ward since he couldn't do it himself. Then we tried meeting a referral but the address isn't correct anymore, so we're trying to meet up with him. He is married to a less active, so a part member family is awesome.

Yesterday we had church and Elder Rasmussen (my actual comp.) and I got pulled into primary to teach a little, which was fun. Last night we had some success with meeting Maricella, a less active, and Steve, an investigator. Both were busy, but it was nice to be able to actually talk to someone! But it has been a good week, Elder Rasmussen and I are working on praying more and praying for the people we teach more often.

I’m sorry!!! It literally takes 20 mins to upload 1 photo and I didn't find that out until 10 mins ago, when we were supposed to be leaving. I'll have to do them... next week L  Hope everything is going great for all of you!

Sincerely,

Elder Goold

"I awkwardly walked away from Jodie's house with the new nickname of Elder Wimpy"

Hello everyone!

Well first, I forgot my camera at home... I have plenty of Pictures but I'll have to send them next week.  This week has gone by so fast! Anyways, not too much happened. Tuesday we did the Genealogical Society service thing and then visited Philippe. I'm not sure I talked about him much before. He's a less active member because he's in an assisted living home, but he is really a great person! Really enthusiastic and loves to read the Book of Mormon with us. We were supposed to meet Janette our neighbor Wednesday, but she fell through, again. That kinda stinks, but we're meeting with her today later, so hopefully it goes well! More on Wednesday later....

Thursday, President Salisbury and his wife actually came to do interviews with all the missionaries. They are both great leaders, they really show how much they love Christ, which is awesome. Friday we had a district meeting, which was interesting, but I learned a lot! Also, we went to the San Juan’s for lunch, and they have a dessert that is cheesecake wrapped in a tortilla, deep-fried with ice cream and chocolate syrup on top!!! Happy times. Saturday we contacted this non-member family that we are hoping will be solid investigators, but the husband was working, so we are determined to get over there this week! Saturday night and Sunday morning we had Stake Conference, which was super cool. Lots of the talks were about the Book of Mormon and the Temple since they had a stake wide Book of Mormon/Temple visit challenge. President and his wife actually both spoke, which was really cool to hear. Then after Stake Conference yesterday, we drove to visit Philippe and take him the Sacrament. He had asked for 2 blessings other times we had visited him and those health problems had gone away, but he had a new problem arise, so he asked me to give him the blessing which was such an awesome experience. Then we stopped by a less active family's house, the Thompsons. We ended up getting invited in for dinner, which was a miracle since we had no plans for food other than cooking for ourselves. But Sister Thompson had her mom and sister visiting and they are literally the funniest people I have ever met. They are all pretty "wise" (that means old) and would not stop getting on each other like family does, which was so dang funny. The sisters were threatening each other over potato salad.   They talked to us about conference and the Book of Mormon and how they all joined the church. They are all very faithful people, it's just they live in the middle of no-where and can't get rides to church, otherwise, they'd be there. 

Okay. SO. Wednesday. We went over to Jodie's house to help her with her yard and listen to the talk we had. Finally we got to share the talk and had a decent conversation about faith and keeping the commandments. After that, we were helping clean up and I was mowing the lawn (in service clothes, don't worry). While I was mowing her lawn, she walked past me and handed me something she was growing in her garden. I looked at it skeptically, it kinda looked like some sort of pepper maybe? I asked and Jodie yelled "I dunno what it is, just eat it!!" That did not encourage me. But I didn't want to seem like a wimp or rude, so I bit half of the thing while Elder Rasmussen watched from a distance. Pause. Have any of you ever seen an episode of Man vs. Food where the guy eat a Ghost Pepper or Trinidad Scorpion or some crazy hot pepper and is drinking milk and sweating for 1 hour or more to feel better? Remember, those are 2 of the 3 hottest peppers IN THE WORLD. My reaction was 10x worse to this pepper than the Man vs Food guy, but I only had a habanero! The half I had bit sat precariously perched in my mouth with all of the seeds but one, still inside the pepper. That single, tiny, horrid seed was already beginning to single-handedly turn my mouth into the core of the sun. So I had to make a choice. Let's just say my decision led to the worst most painful 45 mins of my mortal existence. I decided that, instead of ripping the pepper from my mouth to save myself, I figured that if I swallowed the half of the pepper in my mouth whole, before any other seeds got on my tongue, I would be saving myself from eminent doom. Makes sense right? Well, to say the least, I largely overestimated the width of my esophagus. When I tried to swallow, I gagged on the pepper, causing the seeds to pour over my mouth like individual bombs being dropped from WW2 planes. I immediately spit the pepper out onto the grass and threw the other half at Elder Rasmussen. He knew I didn't like spicy foods, but I apparently forgot to explain that I think Nacho Cheese Doritos are spicy. My mouth, upon being covered with fire and brimstone, started my first symptom. I started to salivate uncontrollably, until it started to pour from my gaping mouth like the raging waters of Niagara Falls. I stood hunched over, draining the fire-hydrant of a mouth I had, in front of Jodie's house. I was already starting to sweat and honestly felt like vomiting. Jodie kindly got me a blue Solo-cup filled to the brim with milk. I drank that glass faster than I spit out the pepper itself and was in dire need of more milk about 2 seconds after the first glass. Then before drinking the second glass, my nose started to run terribly fast, so fast I couldn't even catch it! Not really, that was Jodie's joke. But I did get a small bloody nose from it. While dumping the second glass of white beautiful milk into my scorching hot mouth I remembered that sugar is supposed to help a lot. So Jodie got me a 1/4 cup filled with sugar. I then shoved the sugar into my mouth to quench the eternal fiery pit that was in there. Remember, this whole time, I have mouth gaping open saying "Uuuuuuuhhuhuhhhhhghhrgrgrhhhrhghghrghhhrhhh". Luckily the sugar did help quite a bit, 10/10 would recommend, but that was not all. Lets do some math. A few tiny deathly seeds + 2 full glasses of whole milk, + 1/4 cup of sugar does not equal a happy stomach. So the Jodie offered some Pepto. She didn't have any, so she borrowed some frozen expired off brand Pepto-Bismal from her neighbor. I don't think that it is supposed to taste like root beer, but I took 2 spoonfuls anyways, while in the mean time, some bug decided to fly up my shorts -_-  Anyways…45 mins after my soul crushing decision, I awkwardly walked away from Jodie's house with the new nickname "Elder Wimpy" So yeah. Wednesday was a joy. Hope that story of my anguish was entertaining. 

Wishing all of y'all the best of luck,

Elder Goold

PS: Yes, I did say y'all.

"Literally everyone here has dogs or cats"

Hello Friends and Family,

It has been a great week! Well it was supposed to be a "hurricane" here over the weekend, so everyone in town was buying storage supplies since the power usually goes out, but nothing happened. It was raining a lot earlier in the week though.

We tried talking to Harry and Josh, a father and son that live in a trailer park and are super awesome people, but Josh was the only one home. The two of them are literally the most chill people I have ever met, and are both super faithful, but both have a hard time reading, so the scriptures are a little hard for them. Although they do have a Book of Mormon on CD, but the don't really use it. Later in the week we had a lesson with Harry, Josh wasn't home, about 1 Nephi 4 and how the Lord blesses us and strengthens us through hard things. Then we challenged him to try and read a verse or passage or something from the Book of Mormon daily and told him that he would be blessed for doing something the Lord commands, even if it is hard for him, to which he replied "Yeah you don't have to promise me that God will bless me, I already know he will." Literally word for word. It is so cool to see the hand of the Lord in this work! 

Tuesday we went and did service at the Genealogical Society by using Photoshop to touch up all sorts of old photos.

We've been trying to share a talk with Jodie, but it's either raining outside so we can't meet or she can't sit very long because of her back. But this week we are determined to get it! She is seriously so dang funny. I have determined that she is Sarah, if Sarah wasn't a member and lived in the south her whole life. Super loud, rude in a funny way, loves food and watching movies and TV all the time, and loves animals, especially dogs. She is actually getting 2 goats soon named Salad and Barbecue.

Wednesday we had a lesson with a lady I had never met her before and the entire time I thought she was just an investigator I hadn't met yet. So I was constantly thinking "This lady is amazing! She totally is showing her desire to follow Christ and come to church this is awesome!" and I was about to offer her a Book of Mormon when Elder Rasmussen asked her about her scripture reading, which she said was lacking. But that means she had a copy already, everything was good. Then, she asked me to say the closing prayer. Since I had no clue what her name was, I couldn't exactly say her name in the prayer. Have you ever tried praying for someone when you don't know their name?! It's kinda super hard. Anyways, afterwards is when I was told that she was Sister Carter, a less active. Oh well.

I also met another investigator William who lives pretty nearby. He reminded me of Spencer! Total hippy. He has a huge beard, loves to camp and is a professional painter, speaking of which, some of his paintings are super impressive. He's also super funny and has 2 adorable dogs. Literally everyone here has dogs or cats, which is awesome.

Speaking of cats, Friday afternoon, we had a lesson with a lady named Mitzi, who is an investigator already on date for baptism December 20th. She has 6 fat cats that love to snuggle. We had an awesome lesson with her, we talked about prophets and shared a talk with her from last Conference. We had an awesome discussion and she is super faithful and prepared for baptism, she just needs to stop the last little issue of smoking and stop working Sundays. Speaking of which, for being an old lady, she works as a security guard at the paper mill, which is hilarious 😄.

Earlier Friday we had a Zone meeting and there are 2 new missionaries besides me that are in this Zone. It was super cool to meet all the other missionaries!

And of course, Conference. We watched all the sessions at the church on a projector. It was amazing! The 3 new apostles are going to be amazing witnesses of this Gospel, I know it. Sunday when President Monson was speaking and starting to have a hard time, I felt sad for him, but I also felt the Spirit so strongly. To see him not turned away from speaking the words of God because of his health, testified to me of his calling as a Prophet and reminded me of King Benjamin speaking in Mosiah 2:30. My favorite talk was either President Eyring speaking about the Spirit and his Dad, or Elder Oaks talking about the Atonement. Both were amazing. But overall conference was great!! I know that this is the true Gospel restored on the earth today and it is what can bring us true lasting happiness! Hope everyone is doing great!

Sincerely to all,

Elder Goold