"Epic Type-writer"

We received a typed letter in the mail from Daniel last week…

Ripley - believe it or not!

Hey everyone!

Before I left Huntington, Elder Webb and I got to see the “B” Family and wow. We honestly were pretty discouraged about not being able to see them for so long, but now we know Bro. B had a seizure (which is kinda normal for him) but then he cracked his skull pretty bad and it required staples. Then, he got bit by a flippin' brown recluse spider!!!! It didn't kill him obviously, but he got a pretty nasty hole in his shoulder and then got infected with Staph infection (spell check?), which then spread to Sis. B. So yeah, we understood much better after that. But everything is better and calm now so hopefully they move forward! 

I got to see a lot of people at transfers! Elder Norman was there getting transferred somewhere else within in Charleston Zone, Elder Palmer was there training a new missonary and Elder Vai, who was going home. He was pretty sad to go, but he'll do well!

Saying goodbye to Elder Vai as he has completed his mission!

So now I am here in Ripley! We live in Ripley, but the branch is the Ravenswood. Similar to Martin, we live in the town over from the church building. We don't live too far from Charleston, only about 45 mins. It's a pretty small town feel here, but it's great. I'm excited to be here!! Our address here is:

455 Charleston Drive Apt D7

Ripley, WV 25271

It's great here so far! We are in the Charleston zone, so I'll get to see a lot of missionaries at our meetings (Charleston is the biggest zone). We have a family we are teaching, I haven't gotten to meet them yet, but the wife is on date for baptism on Easter! So that's really exciting! Elder Strunk is my new companion and he's pretty cool. He's from around Salt Lake Utah and has been on his mission just one transfer more than me. We're getting along well so far. He likes to talk a lot more than my last 2 companions, so that's something to get used to, but it's good not to be the one talking all the time! 

The branch here is awesome, super tiny! It's about 15-20 active members, so it's like Morgantown during the summer, but that's normal. Pretty exciting, I enjoy it, especially how different the layout is for tiny buildings! Ravenswood is a town known for how many churches it has. Apparently it used to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most churches per capita! 

So we got to teach a new guy last Friday, Tim! He's a really awesome guy! We got to teach him about the Restoration and it was cool when we talked about prayer and receiving answers on our own. He said he's been drawn recently to seeking truth and he had never really thought about seeking a spiritual answer in prayer for such spiritual things, he said he was always thinking about it logically. But we are going to follow up with him soon and hopefully things go well! 

Elder Strunk and I spoke in church yesterday and something I found while prepping my talk came from 1^st Nephi. Nephi, when commanded to build a ship, didn't doubt the Lord had prepared the supply of ore, but simply asked where to find it. Ore takes a long time to form, but the Lord had a plan and Nephi had faith that there was a plan. The Spirit really taught me at that moment about how the Lord is constantly preparing blessings for us in different ways, but we have to be humble and willing to ask and seek. He won't just give us everything, but often the principle of work is required! 

Hope all of you are doing well, stay safe and don't do anything crazy!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold

Elder McKendrick on the "transfer train" to Charleston (not really a train)

Elder Burgerner and I

Elder Hugentobler and I

Elder Kidd - on his way to Morgantown Student Ward!

Saying goodbye to Elder Webb

I got to see some people from the Martin Ward including Thomas and the Bentley's!

Pun of the week from Elder Strunk: What did the preacher say to the legs? Repant and shin no more! Hahaha puns🤓

Settling in with Elder Strunk

“Well, I’m out of Huntington”

Hey everyone! So this last week and a half has been pretty up and down. Lot's to share though! But first, like I already mentioned I'm getting transferred from Huntington! So now I'm headed to Ripley, West Virginia - which is in the Charleston Zone. Elder Vai, one of my previous companions, served there right after he was transferred from Morgantown. So that will be awesome! My new companion will be Elder Strunk. I really know nothing about him, so it will be good! Elder Moyle will be replacing me here in Huntington.

 Basically all of last week, Monday through Thursday we were in being sick and dying. 😷 but we are all better now (mostly).  So really nothing happened those days that's worth talking about, other than a referral we got, but I'll talk about that later! 

Just kidding I'll talk about it now. So we got a referral on Thursday for someone neither of us had ever met (pretty normal for referrals), but it said to go over asap, so we did just that! It turned out to be a less active, Brother “A”, but he is totally awesome. He joined the church about 6 years ago and then due to various problems he stopped coming and moved around. But he felt the difference in his life without the gospel and he wants to come back! So we've started teaching him and he came to church this last week (with some help and a ride) but he is legit! Super nice guy and loves the gospel! I got a picture with him yesterday! 

So since January, Brother “B” has been having a hard time with health and was back and forth between the hospital, but last week he got out and so we are going to see them again tonight! We've also found a couple solid people who have a lot of potential! 

Monday we went on exchanges with the Elders in Gallipolis, Ohio and I went with Elder Westberg! He's a new missionary being trained by Elder Christensen so that was fun! We got to teach the Law of Chastity to an atheist, so that was entertaining! Elder Westberg is from Colorado and he's a cool missionary! Got one last (potentially)picture with Elder Christensen, but maybe we'll see each other later before he leaves! 

Funny things that happened while being sick or in general: Last Tuesday I made a pie (like previously mentioned) and it wasn't executed super well, but it tasted good! Pudding doesn't freeze well like ice cream. Lesson learned and next time it will be better:). Then Thursday I also cut my face pretty darn good while shaving... oops!! Then another day (time unremembered) we were sick and sleeping when this pimpin' impala with spinner rims pulled up in front of the house blasting music for like 20 mins and it woke us up, so I got a picture! Then after stake conference Sunday we got a member referral (What!?!) but he was completely nuts. He ranted about how he was the person who gave the 7 headed beast from Revelations the wound in one of it's heads and that the world rests on the back of a whale! 

Sunday we had stake conference, which was awesome!!!!!! We had Elder Echo Hawk from the 70 come to speak! All of the talks were awesome! I didn't have a favorite but I really liked President Cox's talk about the necessities of the Gospel and how they don't get us anywhere without the Grace of the Savior which is "sufficient". He compared it to the "Necessary and Sufficient" term from Logic in Math, so that was pretty good. Then Elder Echo Hawk talked about miracles and talked about a mission in the Philippines!!! It was really inspirational. AND PROBABLY THE COOLEST PART; Austin King from Martin received the Melchizedek Priesthood this week!!!!!!!!! That was so flippin cool to see! I got to see a lot of people from Martin, so that was fun! 

Lots of pictures this week! Love you all and talk to you soon!!!! Keep up the goodness👐

Take Luck

Elder Goold

This is us being sick and trying to go and work :)

Pudding Pie to celebrate Pi Day

Tricked-out Impala blasting music

Elder Westberg and I

Elder Christensen and I

Brother Sebastian and I

Us with Sister Kirby

The Bevins Family

Brother Adams and I

The Welch Family!  Nathan is a kid with Down Syndrome next to me and he is awesome!  He loves the missionaries so I got a picture with them!

“I feel like I got hit by a bus”

Well, right now, Elder Webb and I aren't in the best shape. We're both sick. Nothing that should last terribly long, but it's a little rough as of now. We probably wont be emailing for too long. 

We started teaching a couple that were taught previously over in Proctorville, the “T” family. They are really nice and understand all of the doctrine, but don't feel any sort of need to change as of now. Good thing we've been studying and practicing teaching repentance! They also have an adorable Saint Bernard puppy (that outweighs me and is taller than me). We're probably going to try and work in Proctorville more.

So we haven't received confirmation, but we're pretty sure Madi dropped us, or something to that effect. We had invited her to be baptized and she was all for it but she hadn't asked her mom about permission to learn yet and so we think that when she asked her mom she said no and now she's ignoring us. It's pretty sad, but I think we did a good job of planting a seed. She's hopefully still praying on her own!! 

We found another couple, they are students at Marshall here from Africa (more foreigners haha). I would tell their names but I guarantee I would spell them wrong. Anyways, we taught them about the Restoration on Saturday and it went really well. They absolutely loved the Book of Mormon and were pumped to read it!!! And they had awesome accents. Look forward to teaching them more! And they go to a church right around the corner from ours so they wont have to change too much to come to our church :) 

The highlight of the week is Ethan! He is doing really well. We went by to teach him about the Plan of Salvation and he's been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon! He's been praying and while he hasn't received a clear answer, he said everything has just been better overall since he's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. He said he really feels love when he reads the Book of Mormon and learns about the doctrine we teach! So that's pretty awesome. Sadly he works on Sundays at a job he just got so we're going to work with him to get Sundays off so he can come to church. We invited him to be baptized and he didn't accept it yet because he feels like he's still unsure, but he said he hopes it is and that he'll get the answer! 

I started getting sick on Friday while on an exchange with Elder Kidd in Charleston.  I didn’t think it would be too cold in Charleston but it was freezing!  I feel like I got hit by a bus just enough to bruise me, but not enough to brake anything or kill me, it’s pretty annoying. Elder Webb got sick too so on Sunday we went home after sacrament meeting and stayed inside the rest of the day.

Something I thought was interesting while studying this week was in D&C 4. I read the section heading and I realized that it was revelation given to Joseph Smith Sr.! That really struck me. Obviously it is critical to our work as missionaries to strive to have all of the attributes of Christ mentioned in the section, but becoming is a life-long process. We won't be perfect all at once, but we need to be committed to improvement, because even people later in life (Joseph Smith Sr.) still are striving to do the work of the Lord and live like Christ! It is something all of us can work on in every position of life we are in! 

Hope all is well for you and that none of you are sick!! Next week is transfer week with P-day on Wednesday.   I feel like I’ll leave Huntington, but we’ll see! Love ya!

Take Luck

Elder Goold🤓

I look pretty dumb, but these were our group selfies after exchanges!

I made this new tie last week and it just fit with these glasses