"shout-out to AP Language"

Well I can't come up with anything else other than "awesome" to describe the week. I'll try to talk about some of the people we have to teach here, because surprisingly it is a lot! And a bunch of stuff happened, so if I forget anything I apologize!

So first, we have a recent convert Austin, who I mentioned last week. He is doing really awesome. He is going to an event with some other YSA at SVU to meet Elder Rasband in a few weeks and he is going to the temple soon, all on his own, so yeah. He's the best. His brother, Jonathan, is doing well too. He is actually reading the Book of Mormon really well for a 12 year old, so that is awesome. Austin also got to bless the sacrament for the first time this last Sunday!!!

Thomas is another person we are teaching. He has actually met with missionaries before, about 3 or 4 years ago. He has since been in the military and does fireman stuff currently. He didn't really progress too far in the past because of major Word of Wisdom problems, but just about a month ago, he was in bad shape from being an alcoholic, so he quit (drinking and smoking actually) after a medical detox and has been sober since!!! We have been meeting with him pretty frequently and he is on date for baptism on Oct. 8th!! He is progressing well and came to church this week, so we are really excited for him! He still remembers a lot of what he was taught before so its great to help him grow his testimony of the things he already "knows" in a secular way. He is awesome!

One family we were just able to see just last night is the "L" family. They are really amazing people and are very open to the Gospel. They have some challenges, but are amazing people. He has had problems with cancer and is having surgery here in a few weeks. We are praying for them for sure! We reviewed things that they remembered since it had been a while since missionaries got to teach them, and it went really well. They were able to understand how their prayers will be answered and earnestly committed to praying and seeking for the fruits of the Spirit in response! They are on date to be baptized the week after General Conference, same day as Thomas! They were brought to meet with missionaries because of the members here and it is a testimony to me of how the members really are so influential in this work.

Last Tuesday was an adventure. So we had dinner with Sister Taylor and Brother Slone, both members, and Cathy, an investigator. We taught Cathy before dinner and it went pretty good. She has a speech problem and she also got a part of her lip bit off by a dog a while ago, so understanding her is very difficult, but she is really sincere and can understand us much better. So we taught her and then had dinner. Then the adventure began. We proceeded to go and talk to some people Sister Taylor knew would be open, but it just turned into group tracting. Sis Taylor would literally just walk up to any door or person sitting on the porch and would just say "Have you ever read the Book of Mormon????" Then she would proceed to explain everything about the Book of Mormon. It was crazy at first, but then Elder Baggett and I were starting to help out talking and it went much better from there. It was really funny to be honest. I took a picture of us, but I forgot my camera, so next week!

I also got to go on exchanges with Elder Hill from Hazard on Friday-Saturday. That was awesome, Elder Hill is the man. He's from Provo and went to BYU a little before coming on his mission. He actually was being trained in White Sulfur Springs when I came into the mission, so we already knew each other. It was a really good exchange.

So this thought I wanted to share is kind of a shout-out to AP Language from Junior year! A lot of the things I learned in that class for analyzing writing totally applies to the scriptures! This morning I was studying about charity and I read 1 Nephi 19:9 about how Christ showed charity towards people. And what really stuck out to me was how the phrase "he suffereth it" was repeated over and over. It really hit me just how Jesus Christ had to willingly let these things happen, because He had the power to stop any of it from happening. He chose to do these things because He loves us that much! I know with all my heart that it is true, He did suffer for us and He wants us to use the Atonement constantly and that if we use it, we will be blessed with peace and forgiveness.

I hope all of you have an awesome week and stay safe! See ya next week! Oh and Friday is 1 year for me. What the stuff??

Take Luck,

Elder Goold