March 6, 2017

Dear Family & Friends,

This week was full of some heartbreaking lessons. Luis and his wife Denís want to get married in Huancayo. They are both from Huancayo and their family wants them to go there to get married.  They are going to pray about it but the regulations in Chachapoyas to get married are complicated. If they submitted their papers here they would have to wait a month, so the mayor can approve it and so he can decide when he has time to get them married. We have been teaching Denís this week and she has been very accepting of the gospel. She says she has seen a change in Luis.

This week, we have been finding lots of new families to teach but surprise surprise, nobody is married. I get so frustrated sometimes when they make getting married here so complicated. We are trying to keep our heads up and keep working. On the bright side, I was teaching a group of about 15 people this week and we had a great time. I kept them laughing and we set up a massive neighborhood family home evening for this week. That should be interesting, I can't wait.

Thank you all for your support and prayers.        

Elder Goold

February 27, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a great week in Chachapoyas. We were able to find so many new investigators by working with the members. Luis is doing well and we are working with his papers right now, so he can get married. It is so surprising how many documents you need here in Chachapoyas to get married. The requirements change in each city.

Well change calls came and I will be staying in Chachapoyas for another change. Words can't describe how happy I am. Our entire district will be staying here in Chacha. We have been together for three changes now. We are like family, to say the least. I am happy that we will be able to see the fruits of our labor.

I will be giving a baptismal interview this week for an investigator of the area. The branch is improving rapidly and the church attendance is growing as well. It’s funny because sometimes more people come to our mission night than church on Sunday. We are trying to fix that, but we are still happy that the members enjoy our mission nights so much. I gave a talk in church on Sunday and it went really well. I talked about "seeking first the kingdom of God." Today for p-day, we went hiking looking for gold. I'm so happy to be in an area where I can still play in the dirt! :)

Elder Goold

February 20, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was really fun. The zone leaders came up from Jaen to do a work change with us. Elder Williams came to our side of Chachapoyas for a day. We were both wrestlers back in the day, so we practiced some moves. We got a little carried away and we ended up wrestling for a little while. I got a big scratch on my forehead. The branch here thought I got mugged:)

My district meeting went well. I really try to make the district meetings as spiritual as possible. Our investigator, Luis is training for an advancement in the police force. He has been waking us up at six almost every morning to go run. I am in terrible shape but it has been really fun to run with him. Luis will be getting married this week, so he can be baptized the fourth of March. I pray that I will be able to have one more change here in Chachapoyas, so I will get to see his baptism.

I love Chachapoyas so much. The people here are so kind. I love these crazy Peruvians! My companion and I are doing great. His Spanish is improving so much and he is a great worker. I sure do love missionary work and it saddens me that time goes by so fast here in the mission field.

Elder Dallin Goold

February 6, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was one for the record books. Monday, we went down to Chiclayo for a multi-zone conference. I love the multi-zone meetings. They are always so spiritual. It was a little sad because President Williams was alone. His wife is recovering from a surgery in the United States. She should be back soon. On the way back from Chiclayo due to all the rain we have been receiving a mudslide had covered the road. The bus driver tried to drive through it but we ended up getting stuck. We had one shovel for over 50 people. After we made it through that mudslide, we ran into more mudslides. We ended up spending the night on the bus. What a lovely adventure of crackers and warm juice:) We finally made it to Jaen after 18-hour bus trip. By the time we got to Chachapoyas it had been over 24 hours of travel. We were so tired. 

On the bright side, this week we were able to find a couple of good new investigators, George and Leydi. They are amazing and I know they truly are looking for the truth. The only catch is that they are not married. They love the church and have a baptismal date for the 25th if they get married. Ojala. 

Luis Alberto is also doing well and has a strong testimony. Sure do love my area, it’s so green a beautiful. I'm blessed to be here.

Elder Goold

January 30, 2017

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was full of good changes. We went to Jaen to watch the worldwide missionary conference. It was such an enjoyable experience. The first presidency and the twelve apostles are making a few changes to the missionary schedule and the key indicators. They are giving us more liberty to change our schedule to meet our investigators’ needs. They also said the new schedule will help us adjust faster and easier when we get home. It's so nice to see how concerned our leaders are for our well-being even after the mission.  They are really putting lots of trust in us missionaries to go by the spirit each and every day. We also will be reporting very few key indicators now. Before we reported 13 numbers every Sunday night. Now, we will only be reporting four. They really want us to focus on the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law. It will be a nice break to not have to worry about keeping track of lots of numbers throughout the week. It makes me feel so good how much faith they have in us missionaries. This week, we will be headed down to Chiclayo to hear President Williams’ instructions. It will take us a day and a half to get there, one day there, and a day and a half to get back to Chacha.  I feel like it will be an amazing multi zone reunion. This week, I have been writing my testimony in a few Books of Mormon and marking my favorite scriptures to give away to people who are interested. It makes me so glad how the members of our church pay tithing so faithfully. Thanks to them, I can give away a few Books of Mormon in my little Chachapoyas pueblito. Little do they know that with just a few dollars they can bless the lives of so many, even if they do only read a few of my little marked scriptures:) Thank you to all those who pay their tithing so honestly and faithfully. You truly are blessing the lives of many. We are seeing so much progress in our branch. Our branch mission nights have been a huge success. They are really helping to pull this branch together. Our branch counsels are also improving tremendously. I am definitely a happy camper:)    

Elder Goold

January 16, 2017

Dear Family & Friends,

This week, we were able to have a lot of success with our small branch. Thursday, we had Skype interviews with President Williams. It was an amazing experience. We talked about Chachapoyas and the branch. We had a good conversation and I explained my concerns and goals that I have for the branch. President seemed to be happy with our work. I told him that I have been doing some training meetings for our branch mission leader and for the branch counsel. After the interview, I noticed that President sent out an email to the entire mission encouraging the missionaries to do training meetings with our ward leaders using the principles I had explained with President. President also sent his counselors this Sunday to attend church. We held meetings all day and I feel like we are getting on the right track.

It rained all week!!! I have never seen so much rain in my life. We were absolutely soaked almost the entire week.

I received good news that our investigator Luis has plans to travel to Huancayo next month to get married!

On a funny note; my companion and I were walking back to the pension house late one night and we found a big, giant, fat, pig on the trail. Being the lovely trainer that I am, I dared my companion to slap the pig on the butt. I decided to help my scared companion by distracting the pig. Let's just say that the pig got the best of both of us as we slipped in the mud in the process:) Love the mission! My companion and I will be staying here in Chachapoyas for another change. Thank Heaven!

Love you guys. Keep doing the small things, they do make a big difference.

Elder Goold