Fourth of July! (Letter to Amanda) (7/4/2013)

(Preface:  Liz and I got the following this week with the set of pictures below:
"

"Ok.  That's all the pictures I can send or I'm going to go past my e-mail time. 

 PS I was told that the blog hasn't been updated. Love you all!"

So, I had to resort to pulling information off of Amanda's letter from Chance.

Dear Amanda,

I'm glad you got the birthday card! I was wondering if you did or not. 

It sounds like you had a pretty crazy 4th!? I'm glad you had fun with your friends. :)  Who was playing at stadium of fire? That sounds super fun! For the 4th we went to the Washington D.C. Mall and walked around.  We saw the parade and then went to the Natural History museum. 

Then later on we went to play b-ball.  Elder Giles rolled his ankle pretty bad, so we didn't really do much after that. We did however go to a members house and had a super good dinner with brats, burgers, corn on the cob, watermelon and a ton of other good stuff.

I'm super happy for you about getting the nanny job for the summer! That's awesome! Keep up the good work!

I have to go but I love you lots!

Love Elder Chance

Chance and his new Mission President, President Cooke

Elder Giles, Andrew (future missionary) and Chance

My new hair...What hair?!?!

In the Natural History Museum - Gems and Minerals pointing to myself (trying to be funny)

Current value?...Oh about $20 million!!

Hopefully the next generation of cars for the mission fleet!

Thinking of Sairah...

New Mission President Training Broadcast (6/26/2013)

Hey Everyone!

I am so glad that you guys had such a great time up at Girls Camp!  :)  I would have loved to be out on the lake with you guys!  The lifeguard doesn't sound very nice.  I would not have liked so many restrictions.  The "Pop the Balloon Game" on the lake sounds fun!  I can't believe Amanda and Megan didn't play!  They are such party-poopers!  They could have totally dominated!  Oh well, too late now!  :)

I really wish I could have listened to Amanda's testimony!  I bet it was beautiful.  I'm so glad that she had such a good time.  It sounds like there was a lot of love and fun up there.

So, how did you know about the broadcast?  I thought it was just for missionaries and leaders in and out of the mission.  It was pretty amazing to hear that they are going to allow us to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media resources. We aren't sure what the details are yet, but I am sure they will tell us soon.  All we know is that they are going to let us use those sites and possibly Ipads or some other kind of tablet.  There is still some speculation that we won't be going door-to-door anymore.  Instead we'll be doing the FB thing and member work.  It's crazy how God knows exactly how to move his work along so people will be interested.

This week has been pretty crazy!  We had received 5 or 6 referrals, and they all sounded pretty solid about learning.  So, we have an appointment on 6/27 (Thurs.) with one of the referrals.  The referral that sounds most interested though was busy this entire week.  When we called her to make the appointment, she said she was just tired of the way her life was going and she wants to bring her life back to God.  We are so excited for her appointment!

We had to push Michael's baptism date back because he is still smoking.   He also missed a couple of appointments, so we still have some things to teach him.  Plus, the Bishop says he needs a residential address before he can get baptized.  His baptismal date had been set for Sun, June 30th, but now we are shooting for July 21st or 24th.  Hopefully it is the 21st, because the 24th is another Transfer day.

Next we have Art!  His biggest problem right now is coming to church.  He feels uncomfortable and is afraid he will stick out like a sore thumb since he is not a member, so we are working with him.

Now to answer a few of your questions.  I have a couple of things that need to be sent home.  Nothing huge though.  Did Amanda get the Birthday card that I sent her?  Also, yes, I am still using a mission car, but the heat and humidity are pretty bad still.  I am getting quite the farmer's tan though!  :)  I also still need to get the card reader though so I can send more pictures.  I promise that next P-Day there will be pictures.  Then you can see my beautiful tan!  Well, I have to go because we have dinner with a member family (and yes, we get fed a lot in this ward!:))  I love you all

Elder Gold (kisses Mom's cheek again)

Teaching Michael... (6/19/2013)

(Short preface to this letter.  Liz is part of an e-mail group of Missionary Moms whose sons and daughters are serving out on the East Coast.  She let the group know about the new Mission President's farewell and where it was.  Consequently, when Liz, Amanda and I went up to President and Sister Cooke's farewell, we got to meet the parent's and siblings of 5 other missionaries in Chance's mission.).  Liz has also gotten the information out to them about Chance's current Mission President's homecoming in July. 

Hey everyone!!

That's way awesome about being able to meet up with all of the families of those Elders at the Cooke's farewell! I know three of the Elders.  Donald, Jelitto, and Gardner. Jelitto was actually my ZL last transfer and then I was transferred and he was put into the Spanish program. 

I'm glad to hear that you are going to President and Sis. Matsumori's homecoming too! At transfer meeting last time we sang our mission song and then we sang an extra verse about President and Sister M that pretty much made everyone cry. We all are going to miss them a lot, but we know how great President Cooke, his wife and kids are going to be.

So this past week we have been teaching Michael! Unfortunately he is homeless and smokes. We taught him about the restoration and then a few days later part of the Plan of Salvation.  We committed him to live the Word of Wisdom. He said that he would try to live it but then a couple of days later we heard a few people tell us that they saw him smoking again.  So we will be going back to have a talk with him about that. :)

My area has a lot of poorer people in general and it's got it's share of ghetto houses. A lot of people are pack rats and they have lots of animals.  There have been a couple of times that we've needed a gas mask to go into their house because it smells so bad of animal waste. We also cover a lot of cities. Our apartment has four Elders as apartment-mates.  Me, Elder Gilbert (my comp, Sandy Utah), Elder Giles (DL Idaho Falls, ID) and his companion Elder Tavana (from Samoa/Hawaii).

I have to run but I love you all, 

Bye!

Elder Chance Gold

(kisses Mom's cheek) :)

Goodbye Chevy Chase...Hello Capitol West! Transfer Day! (6/12/2013)

Hey everyone! 

I did get transferred! I am now with Elder Gilbert. I can't send pictures right now because I have to get a new camera card reader, but he's a super awesome guy though. 

So Elder Gremillion and I were transferred out and the Chevy Chase area was actually shut down! Crazy, I know, right?!  They were going to put sisters there, but they decided not to, and instead decided to shut down the area temporarily. I am now in the Capitol West area which has a lot of cities like Suitland and Camp Springs and a bunch of others. I also finally have roommates!  I'm no longer in a two man apartment. which is really nice.  Our apartment is in Camp Springs, MD.  

So I'm super excited to be in the new area and actually have more people want to talk to us. Especially the less actives. Also transfers are usually done in the morning so that we have time later to go shopping and to email still. Well I have to go so I can email a few other people.

Please tell Sairah and Amanda that I'll have to rotate P-days emailing them because I don't have time to write both. 

Love you all, bye!

Elder Gold