July 18, 2016

Hello Friends and Family,

This week, we were able to find an amazing family. It’s a funny story how I was able to find them. Here in Peru chicken fighting is really popular. People will pay lots of money to bet on a certain chicken. Being extremely bored of contacting, I started "trash talking" with this Peruvian. I told him that my "gallo" had not lost a fight in two years. He laughed and wanted to set up an appointment when we could fight our gallos. We were able to teach him a small lesson trying to relate the gospel to chicken fighting. It was a very interesting lesson. He invited us back and this time we were able to teach him, his wife and his daughter Kenzi. They were really interested in our message and now are going to pray to see if the Book of Mormon is true. Right now Monsefu is a huge party town for the national holiday. People come from all over Chiclayo to Monsefu to party. It’s been really hard to find people this week, but we are still going forward with faith. Thanks for all your prayers and letters.

Love,

Elder Goold

July 4, 2016

Hello Friends and Family

This week was so good. Elder Vega and I are preaching like Alma and Amulek of old. This week we committed three people to baptismal dates. Two of them, Ronald and Mariah might move to the other side of Monsefu, so we might not be able to teach them. I'm a little bit sad but I know Elder Bagley and Elder Balcazar will be able to help them prepare to be baptized. They are a younger married couple with two children. They will be one golden family brought to the Lord, Boo Yah!  The other investigator we have, Franklin, is progressing really well thanks to the support of his family. He is so humble and really wants to change. He closed one of our charlas with a prayer and I nearly cried because it was so sincere. His baptismal date is for the 30th of July. If you guys would like to come and attend that would be great. This morning, I contended a little bit with a missionary from a different church. I feel a little bad about it. It wasn't too humble of me. I guess I was getting a little bit prideful of the restored gospel. I know that our church doctrine is pure and so simple. I feel like some people try to make it more complicated than it really is. I love you all, have a happy fourth of July. la paciencia es un atributo de cristo. Diga mi viejito que su carta esta en camino. 

Love,

Elder Goold

June 20, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Well, this week is transfer week. On the bright side Elder Vega and I will both be staying here in Monsefu. This week we were able to find a few more investigators. One of our investigators came to church with us yesterday, his name is Sandro and he is 19 years old. It’s a funny story how we got to know him. Usually every day lots of people make fun of me in the streets because I'm white, "gringo". Sometimes, they try practicing their english which can be a bad or a good thing haha. I decided that every person that makes fun of me I'm going to talk to them. You should see the faces of some of these people when I turn around and start walking in their direction. Almost everyone gets really timid and scared.  Well, Sandro is one of these people that was making fun of me! Over the weeks, we have become to be great friends and this week he came to church with us. He is a “moto taxista” and gives us rides for free and sometimes we even eat hamburgers together, it’s super fun. I'm learning to be more bold and standing up for our beliefs. I know that everyone has the light of Christ in them. As missionaries it’s our privilege to help everyone find that light of Christ within them. Sometimes the best way to help others recognize the light of Christ is to simply show the light of Christ within you. I know that charity truly is the pure love of Christ.

Love,

Elder Goold

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