September 26, 2016

Hello Friends and Family,

This week was full of new and interesting experiences. I went to Morrupe for a day with Elder Glauser. I love Morrupe so much. It’s a small sand dune village of extreme poverty. We taught with pictures the entire day because the people do not know how to read. It was a very humbling experience. We are having great progress with our less actives. We had three this change, the most I have ever had in one change. Luis Alberto is an amazingly prepared investigator but he says he wants to get baptized in Barcelona. He is coming to church and progressing well. We were also able to get a few references from the branch this week, which makes missionary life so much easier. Elder Salas and I have been practicing some new teaching methods that are working. I love learning and trying new things. I can't wait for conference this week. Conference is like the super bowl for missionaries! Funny story for the week. On the same corner, of the same street, every day, there is a group of drunks. They always want us to preach to them. We always tell them that God loves them. Their reactions are always so funny. They all grab their hearts, like they can feel the love and they hug each other crying. I'm really going to miss that corner when I leave this area. I love this work and I know I will remember all of these experiences for the rest of my life.      

Love,

Elder Goold

September 19, 2016

Hello Friends and Family,

This week was a super fun week. The highlight of the week was that on Thursday I was able to spend the entire day with President Williams. Thursday morning, Elder Salas and I went to the office so he could work on his migracion papers.  I was left in the office with nothing to do, so President Williams took me to his new house to help him in his office. It was so fun to be able to spend the entire morning with President Williams talking about lots of topics. He taught me a powerful lesson about kindness and we also talked about our families. His house is like an American home, I honestly felt like I was in the United States. In the afternoon, the same day President Williams came here to Demetrio Acosta to go teaching with us. He arrived late, so we were not able to teach our investigator Julia but the spirit led us to where we needed to go. We went to the home of Raisa. Raisa is a young less active and has been struggling with a few things. We taught an amazing lesson and the spirit filled the mosquito filled room. We bore testimony on the power of the atonement and Gods love for his children. We taught a few more lessons with President Williams and it was so cool to see how much love President Williams has for people he doesn't even know. We laughed and had a great night. This week, we were also able to find a good investigator that just returned home from Spain. He was taught a few of the lessons in Barcelona, and he wants to hear more. His name is Luis Alberto. We will teach him on Wednesday.  We were also able to rescue another less active member, a returned missionary. My testimony grew so much this week. I know God will always give us the energy we need to complete his work.

Love,

Elder Goold

September 5, 2016

Hello Friends and Family,

On my way walking to write for the week, I ran into an old Investigator from Tuman. His name is Jose and he just informed me that he got married and was baptized this Saturday. I asked him about his mom and her husband. (La familia Santa Cruz) from Villa Hermosa. He told me they also got married and were baptized. I am so happy right now. Although I wasn't able to see their baptisms, I know we are planting seeds for future missionaries. Finding, teaching and baptizing are all very important in missionary work. Now for the funny story of the week. My companion and I were teaching an older less active man that is almost blind. Every time his dog would bark in the lesson, he would try to slap the dog with a fly swatter. What he didn't know is that the dog was behind him barking. Because of his lack of vision, I got swatted with a fly swatter every time the dog barked. haha! The room was also so small that I could not escape this old man hitting me with his fly swatter. We had a hard time teaching because we were laughing so dang hard! We did have some success because he came to church Sunday. Every day is a new day here in the mission field.  I am so glad I still have some time left to knock a few more doors and bless a few more lives. Take care.

Love,

Elder Goold