West Virginia Charleston Mission

West Virginia Charleston Mission

Monday, August 28, 2017

“Double exchange madness week of awesomeness!”

This past week was pretty great! A lot of fun things happened! I'll try and summarize, since we won't be at the library for long, we're going to Spencer for Frisbee golf again. 

Last Monday was normal, nothing too crazy. Tuesday we drove to Spencer and then to Charleston for interviews with President Lindhardt. It was a good time, especially since I had to reach out the back window of the truck to hold down our Plan of Salvation booth (we were bringing it to the mission office). Interviews were good and then we drove back up to Spencer to do exchanges. We did some knocking doors and talked to some pretty cool people. 

Wednesday we were still in Spencer for a while and we worked at the food pantry with Pedro (hilarious Catholic Filipino guy). We had district meeting and then on our way home we got to see the Wotrings! They were both feelings sick, but we still visited with them for just a few minutes. They were still both really interested in the plan of salvation, so we get to go back tomorrow with Brother Franklin and teach them more. Later we had an appointment, but had to scrap it because we couldn't find any members to come with us. 

Thursday was a strange day. We did some planning for the next week and then headed over to the library. So for this last transfer I've been doing what is called “MyPlan”, which is an online tool for missionaries going home soon, to set goals and be productive. But for some strange reason, one of the example answers to the question I was asked.... was in LATIN!!! Seriously, it was in Latin - weird. 

Then after that, some random guy came and started talking to us about the Book of Mormon. So we gave him a copy and talked for a while, but the conversation quickly devolved into him questioning me on the details of what a colonoscopy is, what they are like and how you prep for one.... very VERY strange. Easily one of the strangest conversations I've had on my mission. But luckily later that night we got to teach D.J. again and it went pretty well. He understood what a prophet is and why they are important but got very fascinated on the book of Leviticus for some reason. 

Friday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders! Super fun day, Elder Bailey was with Elder Watkins and I got to go with Elder Baggett again!!! (Elder Goold and Elder Baggett served together in Martin, Kentucky some time ago) It was great. Elder Baggett and I went exploring to find some less active members and did some finding. We also bottomed out the Corolla on accident, so that was fun. We need a more off-road style car for sure! Nothing terribly exciting except for a couple cool potential people we found. OH! And we were walking around Ripley right before we came inside for dinner and we walked past Ripley High School, which was in the middle of a football game. And all of a sudden, guess who pulls over to talk... Chase Fisher (all of you BYU basketball fans probably know this guy). He's from Ripley and was on the BYU basketball team and he just graduated this last spring. Super nice guy and while we were talking, Kyle Collinsworth (another recent BYU basketball player) called him on the phone and so we got to talk with him as well. Pretty cool!!!
Oh and Elder Bailey and Elder Watkins got to teach a new lady named Misty over in Ravenswood, so that was pretty great!

Saturday Elder Baggett and I went and did some tracting down in Fairplain and talked to a lot of really nice, open people! Poor JW's, they would've gotten wrecked here. Everyone thought we were the Jehovah's witnesses and when we said that we weren't they would let us right in 😂. Pretty funny and so we've got some people from that to see this next week! Elder Bailey and I then went back up to Ravenswood to do some work for the rest of the day and then came home. 

Sunday was AWESOME. So first, no one made it out to church sadly, but we had some speakers from the stake there. They just sent their son to the Sacramento mission and he's flying into Sac-town today! His name is Elder Brown and he's speaking Spanish on a bike, just FYI :). Then, we worked around Ravenswood for a while. Then, after dinner, we went back to Fairplain and worked more of the apartments Elder Baggett and I were at. At first we were a little weary because we thought the property management was there and they might tell us to leave, but we went for it anyways and we met Chris!!!!!! 

Chris is awesome. He sat down right away wanting us to talk with him. At first it was kind of strange because he asked us about Revelation chapter 12, but it was perfect, because the first part of the chapter is all about Christ coming to the earth and then the apostasy (the women (who represents the church) fleeing into the wilderness for a long time). So we taught him all about the Restoration and it went super well. He said everything about the Book of Mormon made perfect sense and was even talking through his own way to argue with other people that it was right 😂. It was awesome and he's got a little family! We're going back this weekend to see them again. 

But then it gets better! We had a little bit left before we came in for the night, and we could have gone in, but we decided to walk and try one more person, just to set up an appointment. But on the way, we were randomly stopped by some guy who wanted to talk. He turned out to be a less active member we were looking for who lived SUPER far away. It would've been really hard to get out there and visit him, but he apparently moved right down the street and we happen to walk by right at the right time to meet him! He's a super nice guy, just got out of jail, but he's really wanting to turn his life around. Blessings for working to the end! 

In conclusion, I just want to share one of my all time favorite scriptures that has guided me in my life.  Alma chapter 5 verse 19 says:
 "...I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?"

This has really helped to guide me in my life, because who know you better than yourself? I have often read this scripture throughout my life and my mission and I have felt it be a counsel and a chastening to me. I know it can do the same for you! Ponder about what things you can do to be more like the Savior. And even though I haven't been perfect, by any means, later in the same chapter is one of the most overarching promises extended by Christ: 

"Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you. Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;"

I know that this is true. Sometimes it's hard to have faith that this promise really can impact our individual lives, but I testify that it can! Jesus Christ loves us and simply asks us to turn to Him and receive His miraculous blessings. 

Hope y'all have a great next week and stay safe!! Next Wednesday is our prep day, so I'll write again then. Peace out!

Take Luck,


Elder Goold


Elder Watkins and I

Reunited with Elder Baggett (and Bruce too of course!)


Fixer Upper??




No comments:

Post a Comment