West Virginia Charleston Mission

West Virginia Charleston Mission

Monday, June 27, 2016

"Flooding in Southern WV, the worst the state has ever had"

Hello everyone!

This last week has had lots of flooding in southern WV, the worst the state has ever had according to some of the members at church yesterday. But we are all safe up here in Morgantown, just some randomly crazy rains! White Sulfur Springs got it the worst, right next to Covington.  We are praying for all the missionaries and people in the affected areas for sure! The weeks here have been getting a little slower than before, buts still all good. 

So this week we taught Brother M (Wenji) about the Word of Wisdom. Let's just say he's not a very big fan of it, haha! He says that because he is not a member of our church, God’s commandments are not for him and he doesn't have to follow them... So that was a little bit difficult. He also wants to meet less because of his English class that he is taking. Sad day, but he still likes us.

We were also to meet and teach Brother M (Gui) and his family this week and it went so well! They have been saying prayers together as a family for a while now and are starting to read together more and more. And now, they are all on date to be baptized on October 1st, that way they can all come to church a few times first. They are really such amazing people and I am really excited for them to be baptized and come closer to God through covenants! Oh, and they also want to go to the temple afterwards, so yeah, they are all super awesome. 

We also got to visit with Nicco again and Brother Lazzel came with us. That was definitely a great idea, they are really similar and Brother Lazzel was able to help us teach really well. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it all really clicked with him. And at the end, even though he had been reluctant the first few times we met, Nicco said he would come to church on either July 3rd, or the next Sunday if he was out of town for July 4th. He really loves reading the Book of Mormon and has been doing really well! 

Other than that, we had Specialized Training last Thursday, which was sweet. We talked a lot about Alma chapter 5, one of my favorites in the Book of Mormon. Then something that President pointed out was when Alma is asking the people "Can you imagine?" He asked us when we work, when we study, when we pray, "can you imagine the magnitude of what you are doing?" I think that it is a really good question to ponder, because lots of the daily things we do, we take for granted in how eternally significant they can actually be! 

Anyways, I admit, I totally blanked on photos for this week, so sorry for the lack of photos. Hope all of you are doing well, stay safe and don't get flooded, because it's not good! 

Take Luck,

Elder Goold!

Monday, June 20, 2016

"I wanted to do a backflip and stay on my mission for the rest of eternity."

So, this last week has been a good one! Elder Roberts and I have been having mucho fun. We have been working hard, but of course, the lack of people can be a little bit hindering. 

Some highlights are: 
1. Nicco is a new investigator we have been teaching and he is super awesome. He loves all of the scriptures he reads and loves meeting with us and the Book of Mormon. He also has a testimony of the Word of Wisdom without realizing it, so that's pretty sweet. 

2. Elder Ballard and I went on exchanges and we taught this awesome guy from Ghana named Charles. I have never seen someone be more excited about getting a Book of Mormon, so that was really great.

3. There was a kind of crazy lady outside of the library on Tuesday and she was talking to us and wanted to meet, but I was getting the crazy vibes so I really kinda ignored it as serious and just invited her to the fireside Tuesday night. Turns out, she came and really loved the Restoration pamphlet the other Elders had given her so she wanted to be taught! 

4. Best for last: At the fireside last Tuesday, Brother M (Gui) and his family came!!! So we watched some videos and heard testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and at the end of the fireside, Brother M leaned over to me and said "Now, I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true"!!!!!! I literally had no clue what to say so I asked him, "You know it is true?" and he said "Yeah, of course!" I literally felt the Spirit so strongly in that moment, I wanted to do a backflip and stay on my mission for the rest of eternity. It was literally my favorite moment of my whole mission. 

Now for some cool stuff:

Some homeless guy sang us 4 gospel songs he "wrote himself" considering one of the songs was Amazing Grace. His name was Jonahthan. Like Jonah and Jonathan together. Totally weird.

I saw the best dang car ever. My father will be jealous (even though I told him already). An awesome Porsche 911 turbo convertible. Pictured below! 

Anyways, we've got to go, so I hope you all have a great week and stay safe!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold



Tuesday, June 14, 2016

"Elder Roberts is my new companion."

Hola! These last few days have been a real adventure! Transfer Day was Thursday and I was up much earlier than I had ever desired on a mission and Elder Vai hit the road down to Ravenswood WV. He'll do great down there! Elder Flint and I spent a good portion of the day together (another transfer day together, haha) and then the Zone Leaders arrived with our new missionaries. Like I said last week Elder Roberts is my new companion, I'll talk about him a little bit.

Elder Roberts is from Mesa Arizona. He and I are born on the same day, same year! Totally random, right? He likes to mountain bike and play video games and be goofy. He kind reminds me a lot of Jackson (Goold of course). He has been out for 6 months now and he previously served in Cowen, WV. He is a good missionary, we're getting more used to each other so it's all good!

Friday we were able to talk with Brother M. (Gui) about tithing and fast offerings and it went really well. This next week we are going to talk with him about baptism, so, we are super excited for that! We also taught Sister S., an older Catholic lady. Our lesson with her went really well and we will probably send the other missionaries to teach her! It was super exciting and it was great because at first she said how she looked up Mormons on the internet for research, so we were concerned she thought we were absolutely crazy, but she didn't so that was a very nice bonus!

Saturday we found this super awesome guy named Nicco and we got to teach him right away. It went really well and we are going to see him on Thursday! Other than that, not a whole lot happened, Elder Roberts is definitely not used to walking or biking everywhere, so we've slowed down (literally), but it is all good in the hood.

Sunday we had an awesome time at church, I really loved all of the classes and talks. All of sacrament meeting focused on the Spirit and it's role in our lives and the Gifts of the Spirit. Then, we were able to teach Brother M. (Weinji)  about the Spirit, so that was a really nice Segway! Then to finish off the night we were able to talk with this really cool guy named Neron. He is African and is totally open and legit! He loved the idea of the Book of Mormon and really wanted to read it! We are going to try to see him again later this week.

Something that we've been talking about in our mission lately is calling our investigators Brother and Sister. At first it is kind of awkward, but it is actually really great. I never really thought about it much before, but it is a constant reminder how we truly are all sons and daughters of God and it brings such a strength and spirit when we have that as a part of our lives! 

Other than that, not much else has been happening, teaching the same people as usual and this next week will great! Elder Roberts is awesome though, so I am excited. Hope you are all doing well, stay safe and have fun!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold



"Transfers!!! We are teaching a millionaire."

Well this week is transfers, and tomorrow, sadly, Elder Vai will be leaving WVU after 6 months to go to the backwoods of West Virginia. He'll have great fun. My new companion will be Elder Roberts! Not sure anything about him, other than he has been on his mission less than me. Weird! Well, this week was a fun one! #chinesesoda

Last Monday, we harvested some more bamboo and bought pool noodles to make our own weapons to fight Luther with! That will be interesting, but they seem to work pretty well.

We were able to see Wenjie a few times this week and he is doing well. He speaks English so much clearer than the first time we met with him. He still gets a lot of Gospel words mixed up though. We taught him about more of the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He even invited one of his Chinese friends to come and learn too! Funny story. We asked him to read chapters 11 and 12 in the Gospel Principle book to learn more about the Life of Christ. But he ended up reading 11 and 12 in Mosiah, which talks about "the King of the Noa-ih" as Wenjie put it. So that was interesting! He also talked to us about what he does for work. Since his boss is out of town on vacation, he basically gets to work on whatever he wants, and recently he has been working a lot with stocks. He told us that in the 3 short months he has been in the United States, he has made 150,000 dollars!!!!! That is nuts! And apparently in China, 150,000 US dollars is 1,000,000 Chinese dollars. When he explained that and smiled saying "I am China millionaire!" It was hilarious. We are almost constantly laughing at his house. There is just too much funny stuff at his house. Anyways....

We taught Natalia with Brad on Friday and it went really well. She is super prepared and wants to follow Heavenly Father, but she realizes that ultimately she needs to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if she should be baptized. She is praying a lot about it, so we are praying for her as well, we know she'll get an answer.

So last week I mentioned Julia, the girl who knows Luther. Well, we were able to teach her about the Restoration of the Gospel on Friday and then the Plan of Salvation on Monday! She is super awesome and actually reads, which is very nice! She is super interested in the Book of Mormon and is really searching for truth. She also made a point in our Plan lesson about the Atonement, which was definitely unique. I'll include it in my spiritual thought though!

We also got to teach Gui and Nicole again, which of course went super well. We taught them simply about studying the scriptures daily and praying as a family. Then, we got to take them on a church tour of the Cheat Lake building, which went really well, they totally loved it! We are super excited for September when they will all be able to come to church! He is doing really well with living the word of wisdom too! From what we could understand, he hasn't been drinking coffee any more, which is really an answer to prayers. We are really excited for him and he can definitely tell the difference.

It has been getting more difficult recently with finding people because the longer into the summer we get, the more we run out of places to go, but it will all be okay, we have faith to still find people, no matter how hidden in Morgantown they are!

We have had a good time meeting with and teaching members this last week. We basically knew Elder Vai was leaving, so we got to visit with a lot of people for goodbyes. For the small amount of members here over the summer, many of them are real awesome. I will miss it here, whenever I leave.

So something that I have thought about the last day or so came from our lesson with Julia. She noted that Christ suffering the Atonement seemed almost like an abusive relationship (which caught us off guard for a moment). But the more I thought about it, it kind of makes sense for someone to think that, growing up outside the church. In reality though, all that Christ ever went through was purely because of His love for each of us. The Atonement and its cleansing power is really the influence that converts someone to the Gospel, because the Atonement is so unique in it's application to life. Nothing else helps strengthen me like it, nothing removes burdens and brings peace like it, and the best part is: everyone can feel that same influence. It is universal and I hope that throughout this upcoming week, each of you can find that power and use it to bless your life.

Hope you all have a great, safe week!!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold