"I absolutely love it here."

Hey there everyone! SO much has happened since last Wednesday! I'm not even sure what to think, but it is awesome and I love it. Elder Vai (sounds like pie or pi since it’s pi day J) and I am on the West Virginia University campus and in the student ward here. Elder Vai is awesome, literally so cool, and probably the most hard working comp, my legs might fall off. We are in a walking area on the campus and basically anywhere close by is our area. It is super busy and populated here and I love it! We are in a walking area and it is very hilly as well, so I'm sore for the first time in a while! Anyways,

Thursday: Transfer day. So Elder Norman and I drove up to Beckley early in the morning. From there, Elder Flint and I drove a car that was being moved areas to Charleston. Our GPS took us a wrong way so we got there late and almost got hit twice because roads here are crazy. Then we threw all of our stuff onto the North Transfer Train (a van full of missionaries, not really a train) and drove all the way to Morgantown, switching a few cars along the way. Elder Vai, my new companion, and I got back at like 5 or 6 and we went to have dinner with Josh Morgan, a student here.

Friday: We did some weekly planning and call-ins since Elder Vai is our district leader. We then went to the Institute (we basically live there and it's also the church building) and had lunch. We walked around for a good while after that and talked with everyone we could along the way. We ride the bus around here a lot too, which is really entertaining at times (further explanation later). Then we tried to meet with this guy Finn who lives right near Zeke, who's another member. He wasn't home but we were able to teach this Muslim guy, Amar, about the word of wisdom. Then after we were able to meet and teach Abdula, another Muslim guy about the Restoration. We talk with a lot of Muslims here on campus, haha.

Saturday: So many blessings this day!! We had an appointment set up with a referral but he ditched so we did some work on Mormon.org and our booth. After, we planned to catch a bus, but we missed it and for a good reason. We walked out all the way to Marshall and Brandon, who are brothers. They are seriously super awesome! Brandon said he was Atheist but not really and Marshall we think was Jewish or just a non-denomination guy. Anyways, they were both so awesome, our lesson went great and they asked some really great (some weird) questions about the Restoration and things we believed, but everything we shared with them made sense and we're seeing them again on Wednesday. Then while walking back we stopped and talked to this girl Birdie. She grew up Catholic and we were able to teach her about the Restoration on the street! Super great contact! Later we walked up to a set of apartments and taught this girl from a few days before I was there and she was also an Atheist. It was a pretty good lesson, but she didn't seem too willing to believe. That night we rode the bus home from another point in town and on a Saturday night, the buses are always entertaining. A few drunk guys were telling us that they were from Belgium and that Elder was a funny first name, until one of them said "Woah, guys...I don't think their names are Elder" and then they all started laughing. Pretty great day overall.

Sunday: We had Brad, our ward mission leader, drive us to the Institute/Chapel since it was raining. Church was pretty sweet, Bert, our investigator on date for baptism, was at church and he is super cool. He loves to build robots and electrical stuff. Pretty sweet. Then we had a lesson set up with Anthony at the Institute with Craig, but he didn't show up at first. So we walked up the hill to his apartment to see if he was home, but he wasn't. We knocked a few doors with Craig and then we saw Anthony on his way back because we missed him by a minute or two. We had an awesome lesson with him and he is so ready for the Gospel!! The rest of the day was pretty quite because to be honest, lots of the people are just hungover on Sundays.

Yeah, it was pretty great though!! I absolutely love it here!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold!!

Transfer Day Companion Elder Flint

Elder Goold with Elder Vai

"I am headed up to Morgantown... and I have been out for 6 months"

Hey there everyone!

This week is transfer week and I am so excited to be getting transferred for the first time! I am headed up north to Morgantown University area with Elder Vai! We are in the YSA and it is going to be awesome! Also, I think it is kinda funny, today is P-Day and I have been out 6 months today! Totally doesn't feel like I have been out for 6 months, but time goes by when you're a missionary! Lot's has happened so I will just talk about the best stuff!

We visited with Philippe last Tuesday and read from the Book of Mormon with him, like usual. He said that he might be gone the next Sunday and Tuesday to visit his wife, so it seemed like the last time I would get to see him, assuming I was getting transferred. But luckily he hadn't left by Sunday so I did get to see him one last time and take a picture! I did forget my camera so next Monday I'll send photos!

Last Saturday we had a lesson with Mitzi and Brother Arritt came with us. It was such a great lesson!! We planned to talk about ordinances and their spiritual significance, but it turned to be a lesson on the Restoration and Prophets. It seemed there were some things that she had questions or misconceptions about in the past and we were able to answer her questions and the Spirit was so powerful as we did so! She asked lots of hard questions too, which made it really intense and awesome. For example, understanding and believing in Joseph Smith she asked "So are there Prophets today? And if there are, do we know who?" and then asked us if some guy from another Church was a prophet. It was awesome to be able to bear testimony that our church is the only church with a TRUE prophet of God. Mitzi was very receptive and I know she could feel the power of what we were teaching! I also got a picture with Mitzi on Monday night, but that will come next Monday. I have noticed since I have been out, lots of people have a misconception of who and what a true prophet is and it is great to be able to share the truths about our prophet Thomas S. Monson with people!

On Friday we did a booth at Wal-mart!! That was actually really fun! We did our booth focusing on the Questions of the Soul. It's actually one of my favorite sections in Preach My Gospel. It talks about the different questions people have in their lives that the Book of Mormon can help clearly answer! We had some pictures of Christ and sheets of paper we gave out that had the questions on them! We didn't get to give out any copies of the Book of Mormon, but we did shortly visit with some awesome people who came by!

Sunday was fast Sunday and it was awesome. So there is a less active family in our branch boundaries. Missionaries taught them many years ago and all of the kids were baptized except one. He met with missionaries and it didn't go to far with him in particular. So this last week he had been going through some rough times and posted about it on Facebook. One of the awesome members, Brother Robison, in our branch saw his post and talked to him about it to help him out, since they were friends in the past through church. So on Sunday, this kid came to fast and testimony meeting! He felt like he needed to come back and after meeting with Brother Robison all of Sunday School and just talking, we sat and talked and taught him during the 3rd hour! We had an awesome lesson/discussion on the Restoration and the Atonement and it was so clear how the Lord had prepared him and his heart was soft and ready to receive this time around. The Elders here in Covington will have another lesson with him this Friday! He is 20, so about our age, and is super nice. He works at Rent-a-Center and plays video games. He is awesome!

We were also able to visit the Thompsons 3 times over the last weeks and recently they have been reading all of the chapters we have been leaving them! Yesterday we finally got them to commit to coming to church, as long as we work out their rides to and from church!!!! I was so pumped! They are doing super well and it was sad to leave them! They actually gave me their contact info so I can find them once I'm home! I got a picture with them as well.  :)

Funny story, so some people around Covington are very strange. Example #1: This African American guy who looked completely gangster yelled at us from down the street the other day and came and wanted to talk to us before we drove away. As he came up, he was holding one of his hands inside his sweatshirt pocket, carrying something. He was distracted by a phone call once he was close to talk to us and we could see he was holding a large beer (at 3:30 pm mind you) in his shirt pocket and we weren't about to get shot. Luckily, Elder Norman, the hunter he is, told me afterwards that he had the thought "Am I really going to have hurt someone today?" as he walked up to us, haha. Example #2 About once a month, there is a random day people decide to yell at us out of their cars. Most of it is just random screaming. But sometimes people yell "Jehovas Witness!" and they are clearly just very confused.

Those are pretty much the highlights of the last week and a half! We didn't see Robert because he was in Nebraska buying bulls for his cattle farm he has out there, which is cool, but totally random. Later today, we are actually going as a district to some cave in White Sulfur Springs! It will be real cool and lots of pictures will be taken. Hope the best for all of you!!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold

Elder Goold and Phillipe

Elder Goold and Mitzi

Elder Goold and the Thompsons

Elder Vai and Elder Goold in a cave

"He might work us off the earth!"

This last week has been very interesting and very very windy! 

Monday: Last week we went and visited the Southall's after our Preparation Day stuff! They are a super awesome family in the Branch and we taught them about the Sacrament! That night we also visited and taught Mitzi! We talked to her about the blessings of Church attendance and committed her to stay longer than just Sacrament meeting and she told us how it's been something she has wanted! She does have some problems with her health but she said on weeks it's not a problem she will come for longer!😀 

Tuesday: We did our normal Tuesday routine with Genealogical Society and going to Philippe’s! We taught the Thompsons about keeping the commandments and they expressed a desire they both had to renew their Temple Recommends!! It was so awesome! Of course they do need to come to church, which will require them to have a car, but they are definitely showing progress and it is awesome!:)

Wednesday: It was a very strange day. The weather went from cold and POURING rain to 60's within a few hours.  (Note to parents from the Mission President:  “We did have a tornado touch down in our mission all missionaries are safe.  The tornado was unusual for this time of year and touched down specifically in the city of Appomattox, Virginia.  The weather here has been volatile.”  It touched down about 2 hours from where Elder Goold lives)   I started getting sick this day as well, and I really didn't want to be sick so I was fighting it and I felt like I was going crazy. But I'm all good now, haha. Anyways, we did get to teach Robert!! He is literally such an awesome guy! He says he remembers they Apostasy and Priesthood from when missionaries taught him before and it made a lot of sense to him! We committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon again and learn for himself if the Gospel truly has been restored!! He is also the nicest guy and Elder Norman swears he looks just like Luke Bryan, some country musician. 

Thursday: We had a house and car inspection with Brother Gibson. He didn't have any sort of form or checklist, so he said we passed, which is nice. We didn't really do much other than weekly planning because I was feeling pretty bad. 

Friday: We worked a lot trying to find people but to no avail. We visited with the Simpsons, some non-members who love the missionaries. We taught them from the Tree of Life in 1st Nephi a few weeks ago, and asked if there were any families they knew that they felt we should visit and meet! It was something I never though would happen with non-members, but it went well! Since then they said they have talked to all sorts of people but none have been interested! Pretty awesome I think!

Saturday: We had Coordination meeting with our new BML Brother Arritt! He is so awesome and absolutely loves missionary work! He might work us off the earth! He is really great at getting the members ready and excited to help, so that is really nice! We got to visit with the Mullineaux (Mull-i-no) and that was really awesome! Sister Mullineaux and the kids are active but her husband is less-active. He is a super nice guy though and work does seem to be a problem for him and church. He did talk to us after a while though and introduced us to Jasper, their 7 year old Great Dane. He is so giant! I haven't ever met a fully grown great dane from what I can remember, but his head was up to my chest and he outweighs me, which is really funny. They said fully standing he is 6'3. It was so awesome. I loved it. Did I mention I like dogs?? We also had an awesome lesson with Mitzi!!!! The Becktels came with us and we talked a lot about accountability and how with the help of the Becktels and the Scriptures and prayer she can stay accountable for her smoking and it will greatly help her! It went super well and Mitzi is doing great!

Sunday: We had an awesome time at Church! We didn't have any investigators, but it was an awesome Sunday! We Saw Philippe and the Thompsons like usual! The Thompsons are doing awesome and are keeping their commitments really well!! 

Not sure if I mentioned this, but frozen snow poorly treats Corolla Bumpers! Don't worry it wasn't me. Elder Norman ran over some frozen snow and we wrecked.   We tore the bumper off cause it made funky noises on the freeway.  It is currently getting fixed.

This next week will be awesome, I hope all of you have a good week too! Transfers are next week, so I may be getting transferred, which is exciting! Pictures to follow!

Take Luck!

Elder Goold