"Hope everyone is having a bomb Christmas season"

Hello-there everybody!

Hope everyone is having a fun Christmas week. It hasn't been too long since last email, so not too much has happened. 

Thursday: We had transfers! We didn't have to get up super early, which was nice. We drove an hour and a half in the pouring rain to Beckley West Virginia and met up with the "Transfer Train". There Elder Rasmussen got loaded up and Elder Norman came with me. Once we were home, we contacted a referral we got for a copy of the Book of Mormon, which was awesome! We'll be headed back over there soon to check on that. Then we went to Ashley, who basically dropped us until after December. Then we went up the street to Jodie's so she could meet Elder Norman. 

Friday: Elder Pulley's Birthday!!!!! Happy Birfday. We had weekly planning and did some other "fun" stuff; we got maps from the Chamber of commerce, drove to the middle of nowhere again to visit a former investigator, saw Sister Carter and had choir practice. My favorite moment was the fact that it snowed. It's been real cold here the last few days, and that was really the first time I can remember it snowing. It didn't snow a lot, but I was excited. I think it was like 36 outside when it snowed. 

Saturday: Unfortunately, not much happened. We organized where a lot of the less-actives in Covington live so that we could try visiting them all. We went over to William’s and Jodie’s, neither of which went very well. Jodie is just not doing very well after her surgery and William likes to talk way too much, haha. He's cool though, he made Elder Rasmussen a really cool Japanese style painting and I actually bought a turtle statue from him, cause turtles are legit. We actually did see Jackie, but she is having surgery soon and won't be in town until January. But when we stopped by she had family over and her family member (mom or grandma) actually meets with missionaries too, up in Ohio, the part of Ohio that's actually in our mission! That was fun. Elder Norman was sick so we retired early that night. I also appreciate all of the letters and cards from people!

Sunday: We had our Branch Christmas program! We sang 2 songs as a choir. They alternated between speaking and singing sections. Sister Tucker and her friend (not a member, teaches at the nearby high school) sang a duet and Sister Lockhart and her Daughter also sang a duet. Our songs went pretty well! Unfortunately we didn't have anyone at church that week, which was a bummer. We went to the Lockhart’s for lunch and were able to see Philippe. We also taught Mitzi about fasting, which she already does, so that was pretty easy. She's really close to being done with smoking, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!   Also, remember how Brandon Pony told us about how people say " I can't sing, but I can carry a tune in a bucket?" Well, Mitzi said that the other day, it was pretty great. 

Elder Norman: He's from Green River, Utah. That's pretty south near Moab. He doesn't like Northern Utah. He's pretty quiet, even at the house. He loves football, guns, hunting, trucks, America and country music. He and I get along well, I get along with most people, but we don't have a whole lot in common, other then the fact that we both like Smash Bros and Pokémon, which I wouldn't have thought he'd like, but hey, it's cool. He played football in high school and did track and wrestling.

Spiritual Thought: Today I had a good study. I pondered a lot about pride as I read Alma 4. Pride really isn't just thinking you're the best, or loving worldly goods, but in a simple way, it's exalting your desires and needs far above that of other people, and therefore caring about yourself more. And so by that understanding I realized that the real opposite of pride is charity. The last 4 or 5 verses in Moroni 7 talk about charity and how those with charity "seeketh not her own". I think that piece is interesting, because considering that charity is the pure love of Christ, it makes sense that charity is really loving others and putting their needs before your own. That's why Christ is the perfect example of charity because everything he did, especially the Atonement, put the well being of all of US before anything that was afflicting Him. I thought that was pretty darn cool. 

Hope everyone is having a bomb Christmas season, and is thinking about Christ! 

Take Luck, 

Elder Goold