Elder Daniel Goold: "Very unexpected, considering I'm in some random tiny Kentuckian town"

Hello everyone! This last week has been nuts. I’ve barely even been in Martin is seems like! I had 2 exchanges this week, one to Pikeville and the other to Paintsville. I am really bad at remembering to take pictures on exchanges, or pictures in general, so I am making a goal to do better at that!

We have been meeting with Jonathan still and he is doing really well. He has been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon and has been praying about baptism a lot, so we are pumped for him. He did get sick though this last week, so we hope he gets feeling better!

Wednesday I went to Pikeville with Elder Hill (yes, there are 2 Elder Hills in this district). He is an older missionary in both mission and real life. He is really smart as well. Even though Pikeville is a pretty small town, they have a college campus there actually. It's a small Christian based school. We got to have a really good lesson with one of their returning less active sisters in the ward, so that was sweet. And funny story about Brother Speth, who came with us to the lesson. The first thing he said to me was "Do you know a Cameron Goold?" That was very unexpected, considering I'm in some random tiny Kentuckian town, but apparently he is from Utah and was in the same mission as my cousin Cameron and they served around each other. That was cool and totally random.

Thursday we just did a lot of planning and then went and walked around Prestonsburg a lot to the places we've never been before. We talked to some cool people and we are really excited for some places to work closer to our apartment. Then we got to meet with Terry at the Job Corp again. He was originally a media referral and Job Corp is this place where people who have had trouble with traditional school can come and live and get job training. He brought people with him to meet with us and funny enough, he never was really that interested, but all of his friends have been more open than he has. So it's pretty awesome. Anyway, this week he brought even more friends from his Bible study class to talk with us, so we are grateful for all of the people basically coming to us to learn. We actually went back to see them again last night and even MORE new people showed up, so it's a party basically.

Friday, we had a conference call with our district for district meeting because we are so spread out and driving that far shreds our miles overall (we get a certain number of miles we can drive per month). Then we exchanged with Paintville Elders. I went to Paintsville with Elder Kovac, who is from Switzerland. That's pretty nifty, the only out-of-country Elder I have met in our mission so far. he's really cool and both of us get along well because we are super nerdy. We had a good lesson with a husband and wife they are teaching. We got to read 2 Nephi 31 with them all about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is just so amazing to think about the fulness of the Gospel and how it can really apply to everything in our life, especially if we are humble enough to let it.

Saturday was pretty unexciting to be honest, which happens occasionally. The most exciting thing was Charlie. He is a cooky older man. He is just super enthusiastic about absolutely EVERYTHING! It's honestly super funny. He is very interested and is a great investigator actually. The one hurdle we have with him right now is that he plays the piano for some other church and he can't just leave them, so we are still thinking about that one.

Sunday we had church like normal. Thomas is someone else we had seen a lot this week, I forgot! He is doing awesome. We are going to have to hold off his baptism for his issues with law enforcement in the past, but he is good with it and is progressing a lot! We had an awesome lesson with him after church and talked a lot about his family. His family has had some hard times in the past and so we helped him commit to try and mend those relationships, at least the best that he can. We talked a lot about forgiveness. Forgiveness really is one of the most amazing feelings we can receive in this life and we are definitely hoping it will help his family!

So my spiritual thought comes from a quote by Pres. Monson that is in Preach My Gospel. It says "Regarding one’s testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while that which he selfishly keeps he loses." I really like this quote because it is so true. Our testimonies aren't something meant to be kept secret, but shared. I have seen how as we share our heartfelt beliefs and faith in the gospel, it grows our own faith in the mean time. I think that is why we have testimony meeting so often in the church. President Salisbury always tells us to bear "pure" testimony. Not to just say whatever sounds good, but really to feel the Spirit and say what you know, what you really hold close to your heart. So I would encourage all of you to think about the beliefs and testimony you do have, regardless of what that testimony is about. And then share it!! Whether that is by just telling someone or writing it down or putting it on Facebook, whatever, it all works. I really hope you will all take the time to do this, because it really helps you feel the Spirit.

So I also made a sweet tie recently and we were just given a ton of free fabric from some older lady at a fabric store, so I'll be trying to bust out some ties, haha! I'll have to include a picture of my most recent one. Hope you are all doing well, stay safe!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold