"Talking less and asking more questions. That is the real struggle"

Hello Y’all, I’m at the Libary,

Yes, that does in fact say "libary" because people here have a funny accent. This week has been an interesting one, as always.

Monday: We had P-Day like normal, cleaned stuff up, ate food, and then we actually went over to Jodie’s. Since her surgery she walks in her front yard for physical therapy, so while she walked, Elder Rasmussen stood by and watched as I ran up and down the 2 giant hills literally right at her house (she lives at the top of a hill). Running feels so great every time.

We taught Harry and Josh Monday night and we had a really good lesson! We weren't too long, the Spirit was definitely there more than other lessons but Elder Rasmussen and I both are working on talking less and asking more questions. That is the real struggle

Tuesday: We were supposed to teach Ashley but she was super sick and headed to the doctors, but we are meeting with her more this week. We saw Sister Carter, a lady who recently had heart surgery and she asked us to come over another day to see her! Then Juan took us to eat fried chicken again, and let me tell you, it was still the bomb. Patsy wasn't in town so we weren't able to teach her, which was unfortunate.

Wednesday: Lots of people started to be out of town by this point so it was hard to find anyone to talk to or visit. We did stop by Jodie’s though and read from the Book of Mormon. We caught William walking his dogs and told us to come back Saturday.

Thursday: Well, Thanksgiving was quite a day.  We had weekly planning and then we were able to see Steve but his washer had pretty much just given up the ghost so we just had a quick visit. Then we were picked up by the Lockharts and driven to President and Sister Edward’s house for dinner. We talked for a good while and ate some great food. Then we all went over to the Moran’s (another family) for dessert and the Edwards brought their Karaoke machine, which was really entertaining. The Morans had also deep fried their turkey, and it was super super good! There was also a Dr.Pepper chocolate cake (Dad would love it) that was good. Lots of food.

Friday: We had a Zone Meeting in the morning which was good! We have  improved in Covington since the last Zone meeting and since I got here! The rest of the day we tried working with some other potential familes in the area, but weren't able to meet any of them, probably because they were out of town for Thanksgiving still.

Saturday: We had a lesson with William and even though he is super strange, he is progressing in some of the weirdest ways. He told us whenever he wants to read scriptures he prefers to read the Old Testament (whaaaaattt?) because he likes how you have to put a more intellectual and spiritual effort into reading it. He also proposed the idea of our world being like the 10 millionth copy of the human existence, so that was fun. We read more of the Book of Mormon with Jodie and taught her about studying and actually got her a notebook (with pink camo) for studying. We also saw Mitzi and taught her about the Sacrament and shared the new Christmas.mormon.org website and video.

Sunday: I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting in on John 17:21 which was honestly a great topic. I think something I came to recognize was how the Savior, when He knew he was about to suffer for the pains and afflictions of the world, prayed out of love for everyone but Himself. He prayed for His Apostles specifically and then prayed that we may all be one as believers in Him. Then Elder Rasmussen and I taught Gospel Principles on The Priesthood. We had lunch with the Tucker Family, who are all related to like 3 or 4 other families in the branch, who were also there. We shared the new Christmas video and invited them all to share it with people on social media or in person and see with whom they can share their faith in Christ. Later we saw Philippe who has been doing great, he is seriously super funny. The 4 Elders here are all in our Branch Choir for the Christmas program, which is fun. Later we went to Jodie’s and talked to her about the Book of Mormon stuff she read and talked about the youth doing a service project for her Wednesday. She accepted since she basically can't do anything right now. Normally she hates other people cleaning for her. That should be fun though.

Random things: After showing the new Christmas video, Brother Tucker said "The Church is gettin' jiggy with it" because there is a #ASaviorisBorn at the end. That was hilarious. The Tuckers also had Mississippi Mud, which is brownies covered in marshmallows and then chocolate frosting on top. It's the best. The Christmas video is awesome and it helps both missionaries and members so much with finding, I hope you all will go and watch it if you haven't yet and share it with people you come into contact with! So many people know that Christ was born on Christmas but not every one knows what made His birth such an important event.

Hope everyone is having an awesome winter season. It is actually pretty mild here so far, no snow, and it hasn't been too cold the last few days. I have been told that winter here usually is like a month behind for no reason, so snow and the really cold times come in later December and January. That will be a blast.

Sincerely,

Elder Goold!!