"Oh my lands..."

Hello People!!

It has been an awesome week + 2 days. Lots of stuff has happened, this will probably be a long one. First some random things about Covington I have forgotten to tell you guys about. Although the houses here aren't that nice, almost everyone has a super nice car! I have seen just as many, if not more, Porches, Mercedes, Camaros, and Cadillacs than I ever have seen in or nearby Roseville. It's interesting. One of the roads we drive on often is a 35 mph street, but our black box has it recorded as a 25 for no good reason, so we make people angry haha.

Last Monday after P-Day, we went and visited Steve. We were able to talk to him a while and we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to catch him since then.

Monday night I gave myself a haircut. I'll send photos of it in a bit, but I can report that it wasn't a horrific disaster. But I did cut the top a little shorter than I wanted, but it's okay. Also, one part of the top, I accidentally cut with the length I was using for the sides, so there is a small patch on the top that is shorter than the rest, but luckily it's not noticeable haha. 

Tuesday was pretty normal with our Genealogical Society and our drive to Hot Springs. But this time we visited Ford, a pretty old guy who enjoys talking but thinks he's too old to do anything, we actually taught him about the Atonement! Even though he wasn''t super invested, I really felt the Spirit inside me, testifying to me that what I was teaching was true. That Christ DOES love each one of us and that He truly went through the Atonement, not just for those who use it, but for everyone! It was quite an awesome experience. And he did finally commit to reading some part of the Plan pamphlet. That night we did have dinner with Juan and Patsy and the two of them have been reading 30 minutes or more each night, so Patsy is progressing really well! 

Wednesday, we had a lesson with William. This time he talked about how since Jesus Christ is part God, the reason he needed a body is so that he could survive in our atmosphere and therefore Jesus is an extraterrestrial. Elder Rasmussen talked about the scripture that says how this life is the time to prepare to meet God and he loved it.

That night was our Branch Chili-Cook off and trunk-or-treat and I swear I didn't even know that many people lived in Covington! Food is a pretty good motivator for less-actives apparently! 

Thursday was a good day!  Elder Rasmussen and I have been trying to pray more as a companionship and individually, as background. Thursday, we were also doing a district fast (perfect timing for a food package, which was still good, but it was funny) so we could break it Friday together after Zone Meeting. Thursday we had planned to try and visit this lady in the branch, Juanita, who's not actually Hispanic, for about the 5th time. We finally decided to pray about being able to meet with the people we had planned to visit the night before, and she was finally home! We had an awesome visit with her and she told us that she's been searching for people to share the Gospel with and that if she finds anyone, she'd call us immediately. Hilarious story about meeting with her! So Brad Wilcox has a talk we listened to the other day and he has a story where some lady got on this bus he was on and said "Oh my lands!" and his response was "Ma'am, what rest home did you just crawl out of?? I have never heard anyone younger than 97 use that phrase". So while talking to Juanita about something, she said "Oh my lands!" and Elder Rasmussen and I make eye contact and were so so so so so so so so so close to just losing it! It was so flippin funny, it was hard to talk after that. Anyways, later that night we taught the Sampson family, who are actually related to Juanita. It was awesome to feel the Spirit feed and uplift us and them! Feeding us especially since we were fasting haha. 

Friday we had a Zone Meeting, which was pretty awesome! Our Zone had 10 baptisms this last transfer! So many people making covenants with Heavenly Father is amazing. I finally got a new planner, since my old one from the MTC was full. I love the planners so much! I'll send a picture of my sweet planner cover I made. Also, the Chinese place we ate at in Lexington had such good shrimp. I was a happy missionary. That night we also got to teach Harry a quick lesson from the Book of Mormon!

Saturday was also a good day (all the days were really). We had my first member present lesson lined up for Saturday. We were going to be teaching Mitzi with the Becktels, our Branch mission leader and his wife. Well, they totally forgot, which was unfortunate, but we went ahead and taught the lesson anyways and it still went awesome! Later that night Jodie wanted us to go trick-or-treating with her and Logan. We did read Alma 4 and 5 with her, so we did get to have a lesson, which was good. For our "costumes" her and Logan wrote all over our faces, and I'll include pictures of that as well. It was super funny. Jodie dressed up as a Minion-Missionary, since she is obsessed with Minions. She couldn't walk the whole time so she actually gave her friend she brought along  some of our "I'm a Mormon" pass along cards and handed them to EVERYONE we passed. It was hilarious and so many people asked if she was a Jehovahs Witness. 

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting which was great! The Spirit was super strong and.... We had an investigator at church finally! Mitzi came for Sacrament meeting, which was super awesome. She's been plenty of times before, but not since I've been here. We didn't have much luck the rest of Sunday, but overall the last week had been amazing. Our efforts to pray more and pray specifically has really been strengthening us, we were able to get more lessons, member presents, and investigators to church than ever before! Obviously it's not about the numbers, but it's just representation of the amazing spiritual experiences we've had this last week! 

Monday was an equally great day! We actually taught 3 lessons just Monday! We met with William again and since he talks so much about loving Jesus, we told him how Jesus is actually in the Book of Mormon. His asked us if it was in his "alien body or his human form" but he was still excited and said he would check it out, which is great! We were supposed to go over to Jodie’s to teach her, but her friend, the one from Halloween, was there. Her friend was actually super interested about us since she knew nothing about our church and our discussion turned into a lesson all about the Restoration of the Gospel, Prophets, the Priesthood and Baptism! She actually asked to have a Book of Mormon and we gave her a restoration pamphlet to go with it! Hopefully we can start teaching her at her house and help her progress as an investigator!! And then later that night we ended up back at Jodie’s because she wanted us to try some awesome cake. We got to teach her then while eating cake! It was such good cake, haha. 

Yesterday we went and taught Mitzi another lesson, this time from Mosiah 5. Then we went to Logan’s last football game. His team made it to the "Kids Superbowl" so that was cool! Not much else happened.

So yeah, it was a really good week! Sorry if my email was too long, haha. Random things that also happened. One day, Jodie made me try her beans. I did not like them one bit, but I didn't instantly vomit or die, so that's an improvement. Still don't like them. I found a real cool pin in our attic. Umm we got doors slammed by two young children, that was funny. At one person’s house, we saw a little girl, probably 3, with wet pants sitting on the couch and when we knocked, she opened the door, looked at us and then closed the door and went back to Disney. Then when we were talking to a former investigator’s wife, their little boy ran to the door and said "NO BODY IS HOME" and then he tried to close the door! That's pretty much it! Hope everyone is doing well, having fun and had a good Halloween! Pictures to come.

Sincerely 

Elder Goold 

"The feeling of the Spirit was strong"

I sent pictures, which took kind of a long time. This week, along with everything so far, feels like it's gone by super fast. It actually has been swinging between warm and warmer here the last week. Just today it started raining again.

Philippe is feeling better after his problems with being sick. We got to study with him again in the Book of Mormon and we shared the Daily Bread Mormon messages.

Jodie and Logan were having a rough week. Wednesday one of Jodie’s good friends had his mom pass and then out of nowhere, one of her other close friends had to put down a dog that she and Logan were both close to. They both understand and believe the teachings of the plan of salvation and know that there is life after death, but they are both sad when people or animals (much more with animals for Jodie) pass. The feeling of the Spirit was strong to comfort them, it was pretty amazing. We also helped her move a huge fence cage for the goats she's getting.

We didn't get to see Harry and Josh, which was unfortunate. We did exchanges again Thursday, so Elder Thompson came to Covington with me. On Thursday we were supposed to meet with Janette for teaching the Restoration. When we knocked on the door, she was actually about to leave because her daughter, who has MS, was leaving on a trip for a while and wanted to visit with her before she left. We were able to give her a pamphlet about the restoration though so that was positive! Even though it wasn't a lesson, it was cool to feel the Spirit reassure me of the truthfulness of what we were doing! I know that it is this Gospel and eternal families that truly bring happiness to us in this life.

We had a strange "lesson" with William this week. We talked about all sorts of stuff and his motorbike he is building. Then I attempted to share a scripture from 2nd Nephi with him and led it into asking him to read the Book of Mormon more. Then he flipped my message around and tried to teach me about the scripture by asking me what I learned from it and that was weird. Then he said how in his own mind with what makes sense to him and matches the faith he has, he considers himself Mormon. But he said so with beer in hand. So... Then he said even though he believes our teachings, he doesn't gain anything from reading (which isn't true, he just needs to be taught to recognize the fruits of the Spirit) and is content to going to, "middle heaven" and then ranted on about how he'll party in middle heaven and wave to the Mormons way above him. So that was unique haha. But yeah! It has been a good week.  Hopefully we are able to start meeting with members more (most members in our branch live outside our area) and start to get more referrals and thus new investigators and member present lessons and meals. It's seeming like a better use of our time the more we work at it! Hope everything is awesome for you all at home! Stay frosty my friends!

Sincerely Elder Goold

"One of the fastest hypnotists in the whole world"

How is everyone doing?

This week has been interesting. It's been dry here the last week, but it is getting much colder now. 42 degrees this morning at 10 before we went shopping!

So Elder Rasmussen and I have been trying to find new investigators. We had an appointment to meet with Janette, our next-door neighbor, for a first lesson, but when we knocked she didn't answer. That was unfortunate, but we learned yesterday when we saw her walking that apparently she was in fact home, we just didn't knock loud enough to hear! So we are going back Thursday and determined to break down the door if we need to - J. We have also been trying to get into contact with the family that lives near Sister Carter. They haven't been home, but one day (Tuesday I believe) we were tracting and we found another lady who lives nearby that was interested, but was busy at the moment, so we've been trying to contact her as well. This week has been a lot of people not being home. It's sort of discouraging when we try to visit people every day, but they are literally never home. Or they're just ignoring us - haha. Elder Rasmussen and I joke that Convington is actually a government conspiracy so it's lots of just empty houses.

We did visit Jodie again and did some more service around her house. Well, actually under her house. I had to crawl through a space under her house so I could shut off water to her fridge, since she only used tap water anyways. It apparently had a leak and was costing extra money.

Friday we had district meeting and then after I got to do exchanges for the first time!! I went with the district leader Elder Rasmussen. He is super cool but makes quirky decisions while driving - haha. We met one of their investigators who is actually a hypnotist! He had gotten in a bad car accident like 3 weeks prior, so he can no longer do a certain type of hypnosis, but he can still do his favorite kind. He is actually known as one of the fastest hypnotists in the whole world!! We had an awesome conversation with him though. Saturday morning we had a service project of cleaning someone’s windows. We did it for Brother Whiting in the ward since he couldn't do it himself. Then we tried meeting a referral but the address isn't correct anymore, so we're trying to meet up with him. He is married to a less active, so a part member family is awesome.

Yesterday we had church and Elder Rasmussen (my actual comp.) and I got pulled into primary to teach a little, which was fun. Last night we had some success with meeting Maricella, a less active, and Steve, an investigator. Both were busy, but it was nice to be able to actually talk to someone! But it has been a good week, Elder Rasmussen and I are working on praying more and praying for the people we teach more often.

I’m sorry!!! It literally takes 20 mins to upload 1 photo and I didn't find that out until 10 mins ago, when we were supposed to be leaving. I'll have to do them... next week L  Hope everything is going great for all of you!

Sincerely,

Elder Goold

"I awkwardly walked away from Jodie's house with the new nickname of Elder Wimpy"

Hello everyone!

Well first, I forgot my camera at home... I have plenty of Pictures but I'll have to send them next week.  This week has gone by so fast! Anyways, not too much happened. Tuesday we did the Genealogical Society service thing and then visited Philippe. I'm not sure I talked about him much before. He's a less active member because he's in an assisted living home, but he is really a great person! Really enthusiastic and loves to read the Book of Mormon with us. We were supposed to meet Janette our neighbor Wednesday, but she fell through, again. That kinda stinks, but we're meeting with her today later, so hopefully it goes well! More on Wednesday later....

Thursday, President Salisbury and his wife actually came to do interviews with all the missionaries. They are both great leaders, they really show how much they love Christ, which is awesome. Friday we had a district meeting, which was interesting, but I learned a lot! Also, we went to the San Juan’s for lunch, and they have a dessert that is cheesecake wrapped in a tortilla, deep-fried with ice cream and chocolate syrup on top!!! Happy times. Saturday we contacted this non-member family that we are hoping will be solid investigators, but the husband was working, so we are determined to get over there this week! Saturday night and Sunday morning we had Stake Conference, which was super cool. Lots of the talks were about the Book of Mormon and the Temple since they had a stake wide Book of Mormon/Temple visit challenge. President and his wife actually both spoke, which was really cool to hear. Then after Stake Conference yesterday, we drove to visit Philippe and take him the Sacrament. He had asked for 2 blessings other times we had visited him and those health problems had gone away, but he had a new problem arise, so he asked me to give him the blessing which was such an awesome experience. Then we stopped by a less active family's house, the Thompsons. We ended up getting invited in for dinner, which was a miracle since we had no plans for food other than cooking for ourselves. But Sister Thompson had her mom and sister visiting and they are literally the funniest people I have ever met. They are all pretty "wise" (that means old) and would not stop getting on each other like family does, which was so dang funny. The sisters were threatening each other over potato salad.   They talked to us about conference and the Book of Mormon and how they all joined the church. They are all very faithful people, it's just they live in the middle of no-where and can't get rides to church, otherwise, they'd be there. 

Okay. SO. Wednesday. We went over to Jodie's house to help her with her yard and listen to the talk we had. Finally we got to share the talk and had a decent conversation about faith and keeping the commandments. After that, we were helping clean up and I was mowing the lawn (in service clothes, don't worry). While I was mowing her lawn, she walked past me and handed me something she was growing in her garden. I looked at it skeptically, it kinda looked like some sort of pepper maybe? I asked and Jodie yelled "I dunno what it is, just eat it!!" That did not encourage me. But I didn't want to seem like a wimp or rude, so I bit half of the thing while Elder Rasmussen watched from a distance. Pause. Have any of you ever seen an episode of Man vs. Food where the guy eat a Ghost Pepper or Trinidad Scorpion or some crazy hot pepper and is drinking milk and sweating for 1 hour or more to feel better? Remember, those are 2 of the 3 hottest peppers IN THE WORLD. My reaction was 10x worse to this pepper than the Man vs Food guy, but I only had a habanero! The half I had bit sat precariously perched in my mouth with all of the seeds but one, still inside the pepper. That single, tiny, horrid seed was already beginning to single-handedly turn my mouth into the core of the sun. So I had to make a choice. Let's just say my decision led to the worst most painful 45 mins of my mortal existence. I decided that, instead of ripping the pepper from my mouth to save myself, I figured that if I swallowed the half of the pepper in my mouth whole, before any other seeds got on my tongue, I would be saving myself from eminent doom. Makes sense right? Well, to say the least, I largely overestimated the width of my esophagus. When I tried to swallow, I gagged on the pepper, causing the seeds to pour over my mouth like individual bombs being dropped from WW2 planes. I immediately spit the pepper out onto the grass and threw the other half at Elder Rasmussen. He knew I didn't like spicy foods, but I apparently forgot to explain that I think Nacho Cheese Doritos are spicy. My mouth, upon being covered with fire and brimstone, started my first symptom. I started to salivate uncontrollably, until it started to pour from my gaping mouth like the raging waters of Niagara Falls. I stood hunched over, draining the fire-hydrant of a mouth I had, in front of Jodie's house. I was already starting to sweat and honestly felt like vomiting. Jodie kindly got me a blue Solo-cup filled to the brim with milk. I drank that glass faster than I spit out the pepper itself and was in dire need of more milk about 2 seconds after the first glass. Then before drinking the second glass, my nose started to run terribly fast, so fast I couldn't even catch it! Not really, that was Jodie's joke. But I did get a small bloody nose from it. While dumping the second glass of white beautiful milk into my scorching hot mouth I remembered that sugar is supposed to help a lot. So Jodie got me a 1/4 cup filled with sugar. I then shoved the sugar into my mouth to quench the eternal fiery pit that was in there. Remember, this whole time, I have mouth gaping open saying "Uuuuuuuhhuhuhhhhhghhrgrgrhhhrhghghrghhhrhhh". Luckily the sugar did help quite a bit, 10/10 would recommend, but that was not all. Lets do some math. A few tiny deathly seeds + 2 full glasses of whole milk, + 1/4 cup of sugar does not equal a happy stomach. So the Jodie offered some Pepto. She didn't have any, so she borrowed some frozen expired off brand Pepto-Bismal from her neighbor. I don't think that it is supposed to taste like root beer, but I took 2 spoonfuls anyways, while in the mean time, some bug decided to fly up my shorts -_-  Anyways…45 mins after my soul crushing decision, I awkwardly walked away from Jodie's house with the new nickname "Elder Wimpy" So yeah. Wednesday was a joy. Hope that story of my anguish was entertaining. 

Wishing all of y'all the best of luck,

Elder Goold

PS: Yes, I did say y'all.