“A week full of adventures!”

Well this was a pretty fun week! Elder Bailey and I did a lot of good work, and talked to a lot of cool new people (or found where a lot of people are not longer living, haha). Also took a lot of pictures this week.

Well, we had an appointment with Kim set up for last Tuesday! But naturally, since I mentioned it in my email, it didn't happen. Actually, it was pretty unfortunate, there's some man who is there with her (very unsure if actually married or just share rent together or something?) and he apparently couldn't tell us to not come by, so he made some hand written signs telling us to go away and not come back. It was pretty sad, but we got a kick out of his sign, especially since he spelled religious wrong! 😂

Wednesday and about half of Thursday we were in Spencer. We helped out at the Food Pantry a little, which was fun and then Elder Webb and I did a lot of work to try and find new people. We met some pretty cool people around town and then we visited with a less active member there named Brother Adams. He was... interesting to say the least. It was a good day over all though!

Thursday we were able to teach Susan and Silas again! It went really well! Silas actually reread the pamphlet we left them and starting reading the book of Moroni in the Book of Mormon! We reviewed the Restoration with them and it went really well! They weren't able to make it out to church because they had company for the weekend, but we're seeing them again tomorrow and they'll hopefully be there next week!

Friday we worked at the Food Pantry again and then we got to teach Tim again! He's been reading more in the Book of Mormon, which is awesome! He was going to be at church this week, but something came up and he didn't make it :(

We got to talk a little with Joanne Meadows again and we're going to see her again later this week. Then we were also able to set up with someone who was taught by the sisters a while ago for this Friday! Should be a good week!

Something I really liked over the last week was something I've been studying about in Preach My Gospel. In chapter 4, it's all about the role of the Holy Ghost. I've been studying a list of scriptures in there all about how the Spirit manifests itself in our lives and one particular scripture I loved was Mosiah chapter 5 verses 2-3. Verse 2 mentions how these people, after hearing the preaching of the gospel, have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. But verse 3 I think gives a really great insight into how these people lost their natural desire for evil. It says because of the "manifestations of His (God's) Spirit" they "have great views of that which is to come". The Holy Ghost can help you and me, like these people, have a better view of this life in the scheme of the whole plan!  Through the Spirit, we can see this life the way Heavenly Father sees it and we can have an "eternal perspective", which helps us overcome our trials and temptations. Also check out Alma 5:15-16

Hope y'all have a great week! Peace out and...

Take Luck!

Elder Goold

A picture with our friend Silas

“Small congregations have definitely grown on me”

Well this last week flew by! I can never seem to remember everything that happens throughout the week, so this will probably be lacking in details.

Wednesday was Zone Conference again, it was a good time, the Lindhardts are really awesome. We talked a lot about our purpose as missionaries and how to find people to teach. Oh, at Zone Conferences they've started giving gift cards to people with the cleanest cars. Elder Webb told me we would have won, but we won last time! Oh well, can't win them all I guess 😋

We were able to see Tim. He's doing well but hasn't been reading in the Book of Mormon :( He's been staying busy just hanging out with some of his buddies and hasn't really made it too much of a priority to come to church sadly. We're definitely still trying to work with him though, so hopefully things get better!

So over this last week we were going to have a few appointments with some new people, but I, being myself, lost my planner from last transfer and so we couldn't call any of them. So we did a lot of re-meeting people and re-getting phone numbers haha. But this next week we've got some appointments already planned. We're going to see a new lady named Kim tomorrow with Brother Franklin. She's really nice and actually has some family members that are members of the church, just recently moved to Ripley. Then we're going back to see Susan and Silas on Thursday. Should be a good week!

We were able to see Frank again yesterday! He's been super busy handing out money again (he pays people to use their land for projects). But we had a good discussion with him about prayer and the Atonement of Christ.

The branch had the first Family Home Evening activity last Wednesday. It was cool to see how much everyone liked it at church on Sunday.  Things are going pretty well overall for the branch. Still only a small handful of people every week, but it's great. Small congregations have definitely grown on me:)

So my spiritual thought this week has to do with prayer. Elder Bailey has done something similar and I've started copying what he does somewhat. I've noticed it helps me to pray if I ponder beforehand and write down things to pray about. I've noticed as I have done this, it's really helped me focus my thoughts more and feel the Spirit of what I am praying about. It's always good to be reminded that prayer is supposed to be a strong spiritual experience, not just a list of pleases and thank-you's.

We also got caught in a large rainstorm this last week. Good times! Also got a picture of a super tiny church we found in the middle of no-where. OH!! We also eat some good food this week! A member here gave us money to eat something so we bought the pizza of all pizzas. That's right ladies and gentlemen, in the Ripley corner, weighing in at a whopping 3 pounds, the Sasquatch Pizza. Literally though, it's 3 lbs.  I also made a random attempt at the chicken-broccoli braid my mom made back home at my request and it turned out pretty good actually.

Take Luck!

Elder Goold

Remember Things

First things first: I will ask everyone who reads this to scoot a couple inches over in their chair. Please and thank you! You know what they say, a good writer always moves their audience! (Ba dum tiss!) Yes, I know that pun probably gave you an awful headache, but I stole it from Brother Franklin, shout out to him!

These past few days have been good! We've been working more on the roster here to clean it up. Lots of PO Box addresses are hard to deal with, but it's moving forward! I think the best two addresses so far are 1. "She works next to the beauty shop" and 2. "Moved away".  We're focusing a lot on the less active members as a branch, so it's going well so far! We also had a new member move into the branch, Brother Faria. He just moved from Texas and he's originally from New York, so he's got an awesome New Yorker accent.

We were able to start teaching some new investigators yesterday, Susan and Silas (sigh-las). They are really cool! We met them a week ago trying to find some members who had moved. They've been through a lot and Susan has some health problems, but they're super optimistic people and are really open. Silas is her son and he's just about to start middle school. He's a super funny and smart kid. We had him read something from a pamphlet and he remembered what he read better than most people do😂. We're going back to see them later this week! They also have the most adorable puppy, I couldn't resist petting it.

Elder Bailey and I both spoke again this past sacrament meeting. Good times, I enjoy speaking. We didn't plan anything to coordinate but we both ended up talking about continuing on the path of eternal life. He talked about how to endure to the end and I spoke about how repentance is and should be a way of life, not a punishment.

Something I've been thinking a lot about how important it is to remember things, what ever that thing is. For example, it's pretty important to remember to drain the water from the pasta when you make spaghetti, other wise you get a watery mess (not speaking from experience....). Or it's important to remember to remove the gas hose once you fill up your car with gas, so the hose doesn't break and hit the car (again, totally not speaking from experience..). But the most important thing I have learned there is that you can remember is found in this very short verse of scripture from Mosiah chapter 12:

"I am the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

The Lord has brought each one of us out of the metaphorical "Egypts" of our lives at one time or another. But the question is, do we remember it? Do we reflect often on the Lord's hand in our lives and pray with gratitude for it? If you do that, it really does make a difference. We can humbly turn to the Lord in our trials sooner and can be strengthened through them, I know that to be true!

Hope y'all have a great week!!

Take Luck,

Elder Goold

I went in a corn field the other day, but sadly, I did not meet Akbar.

“One More Transfer”

First thing is first: Elder Bailey and I will be here in Ripley one more 6-week transfer together! Elder Scott and Elder Webb are also staying in Spencer for another transfer, so we've had the same district now for 3 transfers! That may be a record or something. 

So this week we did a lot of work on the booth again. It took a lot more time than we ever thought, but it turned out really well. So we did it Saturday morning and had some members there with us. We handed out a lot of pass along cards for the most part. It was great exposure! Our set up however would definitely be more ideal at a festival or such, so we're going to pass it around the mission with that purpose! It was fun to put together, but I'm glad it done! 

We also got to do our family history class last week at the church. It definitely worked much better there than at the library. Frank made it again! We did the class on indexing so it was fun since I was learning just as much as Frank, haha. 

Um, we saw John again for a short visit since he didn't make it to church. He said he didn't come in to church because he got there late! Silly John. We barely missed Tim again, he's been out of town recently. 

We were able to meet a new less active family the Archers!  We found them on Sunday night as a part of our R.C.P. (roster cleanup project).  They are a super nice couple, who know a lot of the members, so we are excited to work with them to help them back to church! We also found some interesting things in the middle of no-where, most notably a random pony running down the street. No kidding, just prancing along. 

We've met some pretty cool people this last week we are hoping to teach soon, and a random clan of people from the Philippines in a random hollow. It was pretty cool. 

To say a little more about the Book of Mormon reading I've been doing, it has helped me strengthen my testimony of that great book even more. It's crazy to think that something as simple as reading a book can make such a difference, but it really does. Not because the book is magic or anything, but because it testifies of eternal truths and those truths invite the Spirit into our hearts. Best of all, it testifies endlessly that Jesus is the Christ and how much He loves us. There are so many things in the scriptures and in our lives that testify of that love and care, but we have to seek it out!

Sorry it's a little short, we're short on time today! Have a good 4 days!

Take Luck!

Elder Goold