May 16, 2016

Hello Everyone!

This week was a little hard. We are still trying to find some receptive, humble investigators. The search is on! We have one good investigator named Cesar. He came to church yesterday and loved it! He wants to change his life around and he is showing how faith is a principle of action. The only hard part is that he is a fisherman and leaves on long trips to go fishing. I'm planning on going on his fishing trips with him, so I can fish for men and fish. haha! 

This week, I was pulling a white shirt out of our dresser when I looked at my side of the dresser and then my companions side,(My companion Elder Vega is from Bolivia and is one of 16 children.) and I noticed how my companion didn't have very many ties and my side was filled to the brim with ties. The spirit hit me so strongly of all the blessings I have in my life. Also of all the small things we fail to see that we can do to help those that are the closest to us. I slowly started to take ties out of my side of the dresser and put them in his. I don't know how many times I have opened up that dresser drawer with out realizing the service that needed to be done. I would like to encourage you all to not let daily routine blind you of simple things we can do to help others. 

Love,

Elder Goold

May 2, 2016

Hello Friends and Family,

This week, I was able to visit the beach and do a work visit in Pemintel. It was a really fun experience. I spent the day with Elder Lagrava from Bolivia. He is our district leader and an amazing missionary. I learned so much from him and I can't wait for the next work visit. He taught me about the importance of using scriptures in our lessons. He knows the scriptures really well and uses them to answer our investigators questions and concerns. It’s way more powerful than using our own words to describe or answer a question. It makes me a little angry that I never took seminary and the scripture masteries seriously. This week, I have been busy making flash cards of all the scriptures masteries to increase my knowledge of the scriptures. Also this week we had the baptism of Paola. President Williams told us that he was coming to our baptism, so I was a little stressed out. Especially because President Williams is very punctual and the Peruvian people have their own standard of time. To plan well, I told everyone that the baptism started "30" minutes earlier and I also went to their houses and talked to them about the importance of being on time. Sadly, I wasn't surprised when everyone still showed up 30 minutes late. On the bright side, I still love the people so much and of course we are still working to improve punctuality haha. President Williams never showed up at the baptism. Don't know if that was a blessing or a bad thing. The baptism did go very well after everything finally got started just 30 minutes late! Oh, gotta love Peruvian Standard Time. Paola is the first in her family to get baptized. We are now working with her husband. He works a lot and it’s really hard to get a hold of him. We are not giving up though. I would like to remind you all to read your scriptures with a purpose and memorize the parts you like. You never know when a scripture can help and bless the life of someone else.      

Love, Elder Goold