Elder Daniel Goold: "I am headed up to Morgantown... and I have been out for 6 months"

Hey there everyone!

This week is transfer week and I am so excited to be getting transferred for the first time! I am headed up north to Morgantown University area with Elder Vai! We are in the YSA and it is going to be awesome! Also, I think it is kinda funny, today is P-Day and I have been out 6 months today! Totally doesn't feel like I have been out for 6 months, but time goes by when you're a missionary! Lot's has happened so I will just talk about the best stuff!

We visited with Philippe last Tuesday and read from the Book of Mormon with him, like usual. He said that he might be gone the next Sunday and Tuesday to visit his wife, so it seemed like the last time I would get to see him, assuming I was getting transferred. But luckily he hadn't left by Sunday so I did get to see him one last time and take a picture! I did forget my camera so next Monday I'll send photos!

Last Saturday we had a lesson with Mitzi and Brother Arritt came with us. It was such a great lesson!! We planned to talk about ordinances and their spiritual significance, but it turned to be a lesson on the Restoration and Prophets. It seemed there were some things that she had questions or misconceptions about in the past and we were able to answer her questions and the Spirit was so powerful as we did so! She asked lots of hard questions too, which made it really intense and awesome. For example, understanding and believing in Joseph Smith she asked "So are there Prophets today? And if there are, do we know who?" and then asked us if some guy from another Church was a prophet. It was awesome to be able to bear testimony that our church is the only church with a TRUE prophet of God. Mitzi was very receptive and I know she could feel the power of what we were teaching! I also got a picture with Mitzi on Monday night, but that will come next Monday. I have noticed since I have been out, lots of people have a misconception of who and what a true prophet is and it is great to be able to share the truths about our prophet Thomas S. Monson with people!

On Friday we did a booth at Wal-mart!! That was actually really fun! We did our booth focusing on the Questions of the Soul. It's actually one of my favorite sections in Preach My Gospel. It talks about the different questions people have in their lives that the Book of Mormon can help clearly answer! We had some pictures of Christ and sheets of paper we gave out that had the questions on them! We didn't get to give out any copies of the Book of Mormon, but we did shortly visit with some awesome people who came by!

Sunday was fast Sunday and it was awesome. So there is a less active family in our branch boundaries. Missionaries taught them many years ago and all of the kids were baptized except one. He met with missionaries and it didn't go to far with him in particular. So this last week he had been going through some rough times and posted about it on Facebook. One of the awesome members, Brother Robison, in our branch saw his post and talked to him about it to help him out, since they were friends in the past through church. So on Sunday, this kid came to fast and testimony meeting! He felt like he needed to come back and after meeting with Brother Robison all of Sunday School and just talking, we sat and talked and taught him during the 3rd hour! We had an awesome lesson/discussion on the Restoration and the Atonement and it was so clear how the Lord had prepared him and his heart was soft and ready to receive this time around. The Elders here in Covington will have another lesson with him this Friday! He is 20, so about our age, and is super nice. He works at Rent-a-Center and plays video games. He is awesome!

We were also able to visit the Thompsons 3 times over the last weeks and recently they have been reading all of the chapters we have been leaving them! Yesterday we finally got them to commit to coming to church, as long as we work out their rides to and from church!!!! I was so pumped! They are doing super well and it was sad to leave them! They actually gave me their contact info so I can find them once I'm home! I got a picture with them as well. :)

Funny story, so some people around Covington are very strange. Example #1: This African American guy who looked completely gangster yelled at us from down the street the other day and came and wanted to talk to us before we drove away. As he came up, he was holding one of his hands inside his sweatshirt pocket, carrying something. He was distracted by a phone call once he was close to talk to us and we could see he was holding a large beer (at 3:30 pm mind you) in his shirt pocket and we weren't about to get shot. Luckily, Elder Norman, the hunter he is, told me afterwards that he had the thought "Am I really going to have hurt someone today?" as he walked up to us, haha. Example #2 About once a month, there is a random day people decide to yell at us out of their cars. Most of it is just random screaming. But sometimes people yell "Jehovas Witness!" and they are clearly just very confused.

Those are pretty much the highlights of the last week and a half! We didn't see Robert because he was in Nebraska buying bulls for his cattle farm he has out there, which is cool, but totally random. Later today, we are actually going as a district to some cave in White Sulfur Springs! It will be real cool and lots of pictures will be taken. Hope the best for all of you!!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold