Elder Daniel Goold: “Lots of cake”

This has been a good and SUPER fast week here in Ripley! 1. Happy Birthday to my companion Elder Bailey!!!!! It was a pretty fun week overall, lots of cool people and lots of cake. Probably too much cake, if that is possible.

Last Monday, I can't remember what happened. Oh whale ! 🐋 Tuesday we had some appointments set up that sadly fell through. We did some service helping out a less active, Sam, clean out a room at the property he lives. It was a room a hoarder used to live in and it was pretty nasty. Lots of bugs and other things, but I'll spare the details.

Wednesday we had our exchange with Spencer here in Ripley (cue cake #1). I was with Elder Scott this time. We split up leaving Elders Webb and Bailey to tract some in Silverton while we went to a trailer park hunting for some less actives and did some door knockin' ourselves. Elder Scott and I talked with some pretty cool people in the trailer park who hadn't ever heard of us before (which is pretty rare around here) since the trailer park was in a pretty obscure place. Elders Bailey and Webb talked to some cool people too, but I'll come back to that.

Sadly, no one made it to our Family History class this time, but it was fun to plan for and we spent the time planning how to get more people there next time. Then we tried to find some more people to teach in Ravenswood before we came back and had cake and dinner (potentially in that order).

Thursday we had district meeting and went separate ways to try and find some less actives. After that, Elder Bailey and I did weekly planning. I was feeling pretty sick for some reason and slept for a little bit and then we went to see the Mullins! They've been doing well, especially with their family prayer! We talked with Sister Mullins more about reading in the Book of Mormon before they pray and she said that they would. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but they might have the chance to move to Pittsburgh for his work later this year, but they haven't heard yet. It was Elder bailey's birthday Thursday so we made cake :) (cake #2).

Friday we did service at the food pantry like normal. We got to set up with a potential family we talked to last week for this upcoming week, so that was good! We went and tried to see some of the people up in the trailer park Elder Scott and I worked in, but didn't find anyone home.

Saturday was a good day! We were able to teach a new investigator, Hunter! He was someone Elders Bailey and Webb talked to earlier in the week and he was really open. He's in high school, but definitely is a smart kid. He also has some family that might actually be less active members. He even invited us back for this Friday, so that was pretty cool. We had another appointment that fell through, but we worked around the neighborhood and found some new potentials that we'll get to see later this week.

Sunday was good, we didn't have anyone at church though, so that was sad. I counted 19 total people, so smaller than the last few weeks, but definitely not the least. We got some good and bad news at church; Good news is that Elder Cook from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles is coming to Charleston and Huntington stakes and our mission will get to meet him later next month. Bad news is I won't be there, but it's pretty cool! Then we had a potluck after church, hence cake #3 and #4. And brownies. It's okay, we exercise :)

Later Sunday night we were out in Evans trying to see some people and we felt like trying an old potential investigator we hadn't seen in months. He wasn't home, but his son, who is moving back to Washington state soonish, was there and was really interested in talking to us! So we got to teach him about the Restoration of the Gospel! He was super into the Book of Mormon and really wanted to read it after we taught him what is was. He personally really likes reading the Old Testament and isn't a part of one church. We're going to see him again Thursday this week.

This past week I was thinking about a talk by Elder David A. Bednar about believing in and believing Christ. I really like what he said about how in our lives we need to have more faith that the Lord's promised blessings can really apply to our lives. I think for myself, I have faith in Christ and his power, but I have a harder time feeling that those blessings can apply to my life. Something that has helped me with this, and something that can help you with it as well, is simply praying for the gift of Faith. The talk is called "If Ye Had Known Me" - October 2016 General Conference.

Hope y'all had a great week! We've got interviews this week down in Charleston and exchanges with both Spencer and the Zone leaders (ELDER BAGGETT 😀). Peace out!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold