Elder Daniel Goold: "Well, Goodbye Martin!"

Yep, surprise surprise, I've only been here 3 months and now I am getting transferred!!!! But more on that later…

This last week and a half was honestly really hard. We had Cathy baptized and then we were struck with the affectionately named "Post-baptism curse". Almost everything that we had from last Monday to Friday fell through, which was really rough, but hey, life is not meant to be easy! We did still get to see a few good people.

Tuesday I was actually on exchanges with Elder Palmer in Martin and we took a sweet picture with one of our investigator’s super duper fat pig. It was a good exchange and we had time to go work in a new neighborhood since we had people fall through, it was cool to go somewhere new! Wednesday we did some service up at Elkhorn Park again and did a ton of raking with the worst rakes known to man-kind, so that was pretty hilarious. Other than that, Wednesday was pretty unexciting. Thursday was just weekly planning and stuff not working out, so I won't bore you with the details.

Friday we had district meeting and that went pretty well. We did a lot of role-playing on teaching the Restoration. It kind of seems repetitive to do that as a missionary, but considering how important the message really is, we can always practice teaching it more and more and more! We have to have the skills for being a missionary in order for the Spirit to work through us best! Then I went on exchanges with Elder Hepworth in Pikeville. It was pretty good there and we did a lot of walking, which I always enjoy.

Saturday we got to see a good number of people, which made up for the week. We got to visit with some less-actives we were hunting for. We hadn't ever met them, but we found a lot and even found some cool people that were interested in the Gospel! We did find a lot of people this week who were interested but they lived in different missions, so we got to make a lot of other missionaries happy by sending them a lot of referrals! Then on the way home, we got a call from the Zone Leaders! Elder Palmer surprised us by letting us know that I was leaving, not Elder Baggett like we thought! Totally unexpected. We thought Elder Baggett would be leaving since he had been in Martin longer, but apparently not. I'm getting transferred to be with Elder Palmer in Huntington, WV where I will serve as Zone Leader. So it's actually not too far away - same zone I’m in now, so I’ll probably get to come back to Martin on exchanges! Plus, at the meeting I'll get to see Elder Roberts, Elder Rasmussen (who is going home tomorrow!!!!) and Elder Ballard (who is also going home tomorrow), so that will be fun!

Sunday was a good day, a lot of people at church not believing me when I told them I was leaving!! It was pretty sad to leave so early, but hey, new adventures, so it's okay. Later that night we were able to go out with the Bishop again and visit a lot of less-active people who weren't seen in along time, many of them appreciated the visits, so that was fun. We also got to teach a new family, the Hunters! They have been taught before but they didn't have the best family relations going on, so they stopped meeting with missionaries for a while. But now they are open to meeting again, so that's pretty awesome!

I got to visit with Sean and April Sunday night for the last time, but I didn't have a camera so no pictures sadly. It was a good last Sunday here! And the last two days here were awesome, we got to see a lot of people and say goodbye to them! Lots of good work and last night ended with a fun adventure! We got a random referral for a lady via phone call, which was a new experience. We went by to bring her a bible and also brought her a Book of Mormon (which was something else we practiced a district meeting, so that was nice to have fresh)! It went really well, her and her whole family (like literally, her whole family) live there and are all really nice. We were able to teach about the restoration of the gospel and set up for a chance to go back this weekend!!! That was a good way to end things here! It will be hard to leave this place, but hey change is good. According to a recent fortune cookie I got, "Comfort zones are expanded through doing the uncomfortable" which I would whole-heartedly agree with. We need to do the hard things in life to see the best, most rewarding results! I want each of you to do something this next week that pushes you towards becoming better! Sacrifice something to study the Gospel more, talk to someone you normally wouldn't and anything else you feel like you should do. It will bless you!!!

Hope you all have a great upcoming week this next week and stay safe! I'll need your prayers for this change, I'm still in shock haha:) Love you all!

Take Luck

Elder Goold