Blessings of a Baptism (10-21-2013)

Hey Everyone!!

This past Sunday was amazing!!!  Gaby was Baptized!!!!  She was so excited for everything and it was super great because pretty much all of her family came to support her. Then on top of that, her sister AND her friend said that they wanted to start taking the lessons!!  Man, yesterday was so rewarding and so fantastically spiritual it was amazing :) 

We had a few bumps in the program because the person who made it was a little to excited/nervous.  He mixed things around and misspelled other things. So we had to spend the first part of church fixing the mistakes with the program. Then right before the service began, I noticed that a few things were still incorrect or missing.  So Jason, our ward mission leader, had to just fix it by announcing to everyone what was really about to happen as we got to that part in the program. Everything in the end went really well :) 

I asked afterwards how she felt and she said "I feel clean! And really happy!". 

Also the night before we where on our way home from seeing Steven and she sent us a text and asked how much a mission cost. I told her and asked why.  She told us that she was thinking about going on a mission in the future! Then the day of her baptism her mom was asking about BYU and Gaby said that she planned to go there AFTER her mission!!!  She has such an amazing spirit.  Her desire to grow closer to Christ and share His gospel with others blows my mind!

Then on top of that, like I mentioned before, we met with Steven the other day. That was probably one of the most spiritual experiences of my entire mission! I won't go into detail about what was said, but he really opened up to us and told us how he feels about everything and how he knows that he is on the right path. He also answered a few of our concerns that were bothering us, but we hadn't talked to him about. He wasn't feeling a lot of fellowship from the ward.  We were about to drop him because we thought he's "Hit the wall of baptism".  He doesn't want to get baptized.  He struggles to reach out to people in the ward and the ward probably needs to reach out to him more as well.  We learned that night that we can't drop him and that we need the ward, more then ever, to help him progress to baptism. It was an amazing experience! 

So then today for P-day we played Frisbee golf for like an hour and a half!  It was super fun because the Spanish Elders came to play with us. I lost, but that's ok because the jokes and spirit were 10X better then winning :)

Well that's all for now folks! Tune in next time for more Adventures With Elder Gold!

Haha!

Love you all!

Elder Gold

The "Custodian" of Souls

Gaby's Baptism

"The worth of soles..."

District Picture

Awesome Experience at the Visitor's Center (10/16/2013)

Hey Everyone!

So this Sunday at 3:30pm, my time, is Gaby's baptism!!! 

We're all pretty excited about it :) It is kind of disappointing though that she won't get confirmed for another two Sundays because next week is stake conference. She's pretty bummed about that, but it will be OK. We might be able to do it that same Sunday though. Her baptism is right before the munch and mingle so the ward will pretty much be there anyway. I don't see why there would be a problem. 

We also went to the Visitor's Center this past week and watched the hour long Joseph Smith movie with Gaby and a few other people in the ward. It was really good for Gaby to get a little more familiar with Joseph Smith's story. It also built all of our testimonies as well. I always either loose it or almost loose it when I watch that movie. This time I kept my composure.  Ha ha!    

So we actually weren't able to get an appointment with Steven this week.  He is still having some family problems that he is going through. He did however go to the Visitors' center with us when Jason F. Wright, a semi-famous writer and speaker came. One of his books is called "The Wednesday Letters".  It was super motivational!  He broke down the word "seek" into three categories and expounded on them. The part that stood out to me was that no one is ever alone and that there are TONS of people that are around us that can help us.  We just have to "seek" for them. He also took the thirteenth article of faith and tried replacing the word seek with it's synonyms, just to show how much he likes the word seek. It was really awesome :) 

Also this week we're going to meet with Victor! We didn't meet with him last week because we didn't set anything up :(   We dropped the ball on that one. We are, however, going to reteach the lessons with him. We up him on date for the third of November. He said he would pray and talk to his sister, (who happens to be on her mission by the way), and see what she thinks. 

Also transfers were today!!  My companion I are staying together in the singles ward, I'm super happy about that because I love both of them! This has for sure been the best area I've been in so far! I love everyone in this ward! Our P-Days are now moved to Monday!  Kinda weird and no one really wanted it, but it's directions from president so we're doing it.  

Well again I'm sorry the letter wasn't too long, but not too much happened this past week. Well I hope everyone is doing great! I love you all!

-Elder Gold

General Conference (10/9/2013)

Hey Everyone!

So I'm super excited to announce that my first baptism is in a few weeks!! Gaby is going to be baptized the 20th of this month!!! She's so excited about it and is really taking everything in. She really can feel the power of the Gospel! I'll send pictures home when and if I can.  She's a super awesome person and I'm positive she'll do a lot of good in the church.

  Also Victor came to watch GC this past week! I think he really liked it! He's kinda quiet so i'm not quite sure what he thought, but he loves everything about the classes at church and what not, so i just figured he like GC too.  We really have to help him understand the importance of the Book of Mormon though. He loves the Gospel Principles book a ton and mostly reads that. We really stressed the importance of the Book of Mormon last time and so hopefully he understands that now.

   Steven also came to watch GC and brought his mother too. However, he didn't include himself with anything we did in between sessions. We all watched it at the Institute building.  When we played games, he and his mom just sat out in the hall and did nothing. They eventually left right before the second session on Sunday. When I tried to set something up later, he wouldn't set anything up saying that he had family problems right now.  He said he didn't know when he wanted to meet.  The only thing we could do was to just tell him to call us when he he could this week, so we'll see what happens.

   Last but not least transfers are this upcoming week!  It kinda stinks though, because our P-days are going to change from Wednesdays to Mondays starting the 21st of October. We're not too happy about that but what ever!  Also Elder Broadhead thinks that I'm leaving the area this transfer. I kind of think he's leaving... but we'll see what happens! Well that's all for this week! I love you all!

Elder Gold  

DC Temple at Night

Special Message from Amanda Hidden in Chance's Journal

Chance and Elder Gremillion at the Baseball Park 

Peanuts and Popcorn and Cracker Jacks

LDS Baseball Player at the Game

President Cooke, Sister Cooke and Chance

Government Shut-down Destroys Missionary's P-days! (10/2/2013)

Helloooooo Everyone!

This is Elder Gold reporting to you live from Glenn Dale, MD! 

So as I'm sure everyone knows, the government shut down :0! Which kinda sucked for us today because, for those of you who don't know (which i sure you all do), 99% of the museums and most of all national parks out here are run by the government. So because the government shut down, the D.C. Mall with all the Smithsonian museums were shut down as well.  So we couldn't really do a lot today. We even tried to drop by the Goddard NASA visitors' center and it was closed. Sooooo, we decided to go to an airplane museum instead which is run by UMD (University of Maryland)!  It was super fun! We were there all day pretty much! We also got a lot of super sweet pictures! I have to grab them from the ZL's though. I forgot my camera and so they are just going to send them to me. There were a lot of interactive things to do there! We had a ton of fun! 

After we were done with that, we decided to go play frisbee at the frisbee golf course that was next door to the Airplane Museum. Unfortunately, we only had these tiny discs that were actually made to be markers for frisbee golf (when you only have one real frisbee). It was way fun though because sometimes the "hole" was super far away so we had to throw it really hard to get it somewhat close. It was the best!

So I had a little bit of card trouble this week and so I have no money!  I don't know what happened. I had to use my mission card to pay for gas because we didn't have our gas card with us. So I checked it and it said I had $160. I started pumping and it only went to $10, then stopped.  I went inside and had the gas station guy try it in there. It was denied 3 times. So I called the Mission money guy and told him what happened. He said that the money was for sure deposited so he had to call SLC and see what was wrong. So until I hear back I have no money.

We had a great lesson with Gaby this past week! We taught her about repentance, baptism, some of the law of chastity and a little bit of what the spirit world is. That was in a couple of lessons. She is really accepting everything and notices a difference in her life because of it. She is on date for Oct 20th now though because we want her to go to church at least 3 times before she gets baptized.  If we didn't move it back, conference would have been one of those days. I really think she'll get baptized :) 

Well that was all that happened this week! I love you all!

Elder Gold

Fun in the Airplane Musem

GQ in the 20's

Sorry Guys, This isn't the Hindenburg.

The Red Baron

And I thought Missionary work was hard!

More New Changes for the Mission (09/25/2013)

(An additional handwritten letter from Chance...)

Hello Family,

I have updates on everything!  So not only will I be able to have access to Facebook, I will have access to my e-mail all the time and I will be able to update my own blog (since I heard you were behind again).  I will also have access to Skype now. 

Thank you for the advice on my concern about personal revelation.  I was really starting to think something was wrong with me.  I was hearing stories left and right about missionaries that had received promptings to go someplace or do something, but I had never had one.  I am OK now and I think I will be. 

The doctor says that the MRI showed a little extra fluid on my knee cap.  He says the next thing to do is a blood test to make sure it isn't Lyme's disease.  Then, if that comes back negative, then he said we would try some meds to see if that would help.  If that doesn't help, he wants to do a scope.  I decided I am going to wait a couple of months to see if it gets better or not. 

I am in a Singles Ward.  It is way fun there.  There are so many fun activities that we go to and everyone loves us.  I love this ward a lot.  It is called the Glenn Dale Singles ward.  I live in Seabrook, MD, but my area literally covers have the mission.  The top half includes Silver Springs and Laurel.  If you look on the ward finder, just put in Glenn Dale Singles and you can see it. 

Oh! The first week I was here, our car got towed.  Before I came into the area, the previous missionaries were having he car repaired, so they had a temporary car to use.  They put the parking pass in the temp car.  On the day of transfers, they got the car back.  Everything was switched back over to the regular car, EXCEPT for the parking pass.  I thought everything was squared away.  Then the car got towed away because there was no pass.  So now we have to pay a $175 ticket.  We tried to get the other missionaries to help pay for it, but they weren't able to.  So we are stuck with it.  I am not happy with that at all!

I met up with a new missionary in this area.  Elder Farley.  He is a beast!  He is buff and pretty good looking and one of the nicest guys you could meet.  I really hope I am companions with him some day. 

I was very sad to hear about Sister Stakebake.  I didn't know her really well, but she was always super nice to everyone and you could always feel that you cared about you.  When I read about her death, I got the chills and just wanted to cry.  I could only imagine how Brother Stakebake feels.  I am going to put his name in the temple. 

I had to laugh about Amanda saying that I look like a man.  I think I have gotten more comments out here about how I look between 15-18.  It is funny that Amanda thinks I look like a man.  It boosts my confidence a bit. 

I love hearing from all you guys.  I love hearing the day to day stuff, the crazy stuff and the fun stuff.  All of it.  It doesn't matter if it is only 4 pages!  Heck, make it 10.  I just love to read them. 

Got to run,  Love and Hugs to all!

Elder Gold (kisses on Mom's cheek)

Tough Investigator Questions...(09/25/2013)

Hey Everyone!!

So this past week was really good! We had a few lessons with Gaby, Steven, Victor, and Jobari (Jo-bar-y). 

 

Gaby had been dodging our calls and our appointments for about a week now and we were really just ready to drop her because she never kept any of our appointments.  Also, she wasn't reading or anything. So then finally on Monday we had an appointment that we had that she didn't cancel! Unfortunately I was out on exchanges that night so I wasn't able to attend. :(  But, I was told that the appointment went super well.  She said she noticed her spirituality declining and that she didn't like or want that.  She knew she needed to meet with us and she started reading again! So then Tuesday we had another appointment with her.  We were teaching a discussion called The Gospel of Jesus Christ (the lesson consists of faith, repentance, baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) and we kinda got stuck on Faith a little to long, which was partly my fault, but it was still really good for her. She wants to focus more on repentance, So we're going to hit hard on that next time :) She is also on date for the 13th of October!

 

Then we went to the visitors' center with Jobari and the sisters were supposed to teach the restoration, but they completely skipped over priesthood authority and the apostasy so we're going to have to re-go over that with him.

 

Then we had a difficult discussion with Steven on the plan of salvation. When we were talking about Adam and Eve he had a confused look on his face and when I asked what was wrong he said, "Nothing, it's just a matter of believing it." He was really concerned that perhaps God created Adam and Eve as children and then they grew up and then they fell. We tried helping him get back on track with the basics, but he's a journalist so he "has to know". Then his other concern was about God having a body of flesh and bone. So we are going to address that next time.

So Victor is a 27 year old from Vietnam with Hmong background, but he doesn't know any of the Hmong because he grew up in Paris.  He is very interesting. We had a long Q&A with him where all we did was answer questions about gays, divorce, pornography and a couple other things he had questions about.  We finally got to the root of his real concern, which was "Why was my life so hard (which it was), and not my siblings? They got everything they ever wanted and I didn't, why is that? I prayed to ask why, but I haven't received my answer for over 16 years." so we have to work on that with him as well.

Then I went on exchanges, like i mentioned earlier, with my ZL into the Spanish program! Holy cow!  They feed you a ton! Everything was in Spanish so I could only catch a few snippets here and there.

 

Well, that's all that really went on this past week, I love you all!

Elder Gold

New Changes for the Mission and Progress With Investigators... (09/18/2013)

Hey Everyone!!

 

So this past week has been pretty great! We got another investigator named Jobari! He's a pretty cool guy and he's come to church already, even before we had a formal lesson! He's really interested and we had a great lesson at the visitors center the other night :)  He won't be here this Sunday because he's going out of town, but he'll be back the following week. 

 

Then we also had a lesson with Steven and that went really well! He pretty much gave us his testimony of the gospel and then we put him on date for a 10/13/13 baptism. We told him he would get his answer of the truthfulness of this message by that date and that conference would help him gain that answer :)  He said to just be patient and that he just needs to come to the realization that he's ready and knows that it's true and that he's just being his own worse critic. So, hopefully he will gain the knowledge and faith that he needs to understand and know it's true! :) 

 

So then today, being p-day, we just went to the institute building and played ping pong and pool. It was pretty fun :)  

 

In about a week or two i'll be getting..........FACEBOOK! and the best part, which I think you and dad will love, is that when I have lessons on there you and Dad can sit in on the lessons with me, help me teach and bear your testimony to them! Then in November or December I'll be getting an iPad mini and the areas are getting iPhones!! It's super crazy! Also, I heard a rumor from President Cooke that our p-days are switching to Mondays starting the next transfers which is 10/16, so I'll let you know. There are so many new things and so much happening in the mission it's crazy!!

Well I have to go but I love you and I miss you lots! I hope everything is going good  :) 

 

Love,

 

Elder Gold  :) (hugs and kisses on Mom's cheek)

Holocaust Museum and Jefferson Memorial (09/11/2013)

Hey Everyone!

So today way pretty good! We spent most of our time at the D.C. Mall today. First we went to... THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM!! 

That was super cool and very enlightening.  It was really sad to see and understand what happened in the holocaust. When you guys come that will be one of our first stops. I'll send a picture of this booklet that they give you about a person that lived during this period, so it makes it more personal for you. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the museum at all so I took what pictures I could outside the museum and from the booklet. 

Then, after that, we went to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial! That was pretty cool too!  There is a huge statue and an underground shopping area.  It was really fun!  I have a lot of pictures this week!

        

So last Sunday we actually had two of our investigators at church!  One is Steven and the other is Victor. Steven is a awesome guy, he's just having a really hard time recognizing the spirit and understanding how it speaks to him. We spent a good hour last time just going over a ton of scriptures that talk about how to recognize the spirit and the different ways it talks to people. He really felt the spirit stronger than before and he said the lesson really helped him a lot! 

I haven't really met Victor yet. I just know he's Asian and from France with a Hispanic name. LOL!  We have a meeting with him this week, so I'll get to know him then. Other then that, the week has been really great so far and I'm loving my new companion Elder Broadhead!

(In reference to a deluge that almost flooded University Mall in Orem.  Mark, Liz, Amanda and Trine were stuck at the mall for two hours), I cant believe all the awesome weather starts happening when I leave!!  What the heck?!  I would have loved to have been there when it happened. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Oh by the way, I might be moving soon! Our lease is up soon so they thinking about finding us a new apartment.  Or they might just renew the lease. 

So that sucks/ is good to hear about Brad Jarvis! (Missionary from our ward that was called to Brazil but ended up going to and staying in a Texas mission because his visa was not approved.) We have a lot of the visa missionaries here too. We'll see what happens to them too. 

As for the MRI, I have a disk with the pictures on it and I have my appointment tomorrow to review the pictures and see what's wrong.  I'll let you know as soon as I can.   Love you!

Elder Gold

Chance and Companion #5 Elder Broadhead

Squirrel chillin' outside the apartment

Holocaust Museum Booklet

The Holocaust victim highlighted in Chance's booklet

Chance at the Jefferson Memorial

Statue of Thomas Jefferson

Repair of the Washington Monument after earthquake and flags at half mast for 9/11 anniversary.

Motorcycle memorial procession for 9/11

REALLY liked this one!

Transfer Time! New Area and a Single's Ward! (09/04/2013)

Hey Everyone!

So transfers were today!!!! We had to get up at like 5:30 am this morning so we could get to the chapel because Elder Anderson is going to be a Trainer! He also got called to be a District leader again!  He was more excited to be district leader than he was to be a Trainer though. Training is really stressful and can be really really hard sometimes. At the same time though, he was excited. He has two kids now!  Haha!  He was pretty happy about that. By the way for those of you that don't know, the Trainer getting a new missionary, that hasn't arrived yet, is considered "pregnant".  The new missionary that is  just arriving,  he's called a "baby". The trainer is the "dad" and if your in a trio then the other missionary is the "mom". It's kinda funny I think.  LOL!

So my new companion is Elder Broadhead!  He is a horrible driver! Ha! But it's ok, I'll help him out.  If I die though, you'll know why! 

I'm also in the Glendale's singles ward!  It pretty much covers a little bit north of D.C. and then all the way down to the coast. It's a huge area! It's the first or second  biggest English speaking area in the mission! It really is huge! I'm really excited for this transfer, to work hard with my new companion and get things done! There is a lot of work already going on in the area and we should have two baptisms this transfer already! It's crazy! I'm also back a car area, but the car is crap! Not complaining though!  I am super grateful.

So about my knees, the Dr. told me to get a MRI done because he doesn't really know what's going on, and he could feel some weird popping when he was messing with my knee. So I have an MRI scheduled for Monday to see what's up. I'm hoping it doesn't cost too much. 

Well that's all that's going on this week! I love you all!

Elder Gold

Blitz and Death Ball (08/282013)

Hey Everyone!!

So this week was pretty good! The week started off with a blitz of our roommates area. For those of who who may not know what a blitz is, a blitz is when a group of missionaries go into one area and just tract for hours!  The goal is to help the missionaries assigned to that area gain new potentials or investigators.  We did that on Tuesday and we started at 12pm sharp and didn't get done till about 4pm.  It was a hot day and I was eaten alive!(again). We're supposed to do another one for our area soon, but i don't know if it'll happen before transfers though.

We'll see what happens though next week! I also think that I'll be leaving my area. When we had Zone conference, I talked to President Cooke and he told me that they "were going to try to make my next transfer a good one for me". So I kinda think that I'll be leaving. Ha!  To tell you the truth, a good transfer would be nice.

Then today, being Wednesday the 28th of August, we went to the temple!!! We were able to see the new temple movie when we went. I thought it was great! I mean I thought a couple of the people were a little to..... emotional?  Ya, that's a good word for it. I felt like there was was too much crying. But, hey!  The First Presidency signed off on it so it's fine with me. I really like the way it showed more of the people, rather than just hearing them.  Again, all in all I thought it was a great movie!
            
So after the temple we went to what's called "Death Ball". That's when we have a ton of the missionaries come and play basketball, but it's mostly meant for the missionaries who are leaving and that's their last time being able to play. I played a couple of games, which was a big no-no for my knees. After like the second or third game I called it quits and now I'm paying for it. My knees have been hurting ever since then. It hasn't been fun

So guess what everyone?!?!?!?! (one of you raises your hand) Yes, you.
Person #1: "You fought a bear?!"

Me: "Yes that is true I did... and I won! But no that's not it" (another person raises their hand) Yes, you!

Person #2: "You cooked the most difficult to prepare dish in the world?!"

Me: "Yes I did do that as well, and it was fantastically delicious! But not that's not it either."

 

Me:  IT'S ALMOST MY 6TH MONTH MARK

 

That's right y'all! I get to burn a tie soon! OH YEAH!!! 

Alright I'm done with my Snoopy dance, but as you can see I'm excited to be at this point. I wouldn't have been able to get here with out the support and prayers from everyone! So thank you everyone! I love you all!

Elder Gold

We also got a hand-written letter from Chance this week.  

Dear Family,

Things are going better than they were.  :)  I feel the spirit a little bit more than I did, but really, I think something is wrong with me.  I can honestly say that I haven't received any revelations, promptings or guidance from the spirit on my mission so far.  If I have, I didn't realize it.  I hear all of the other missionaries talk about how they had a dream about something that answered a question that they had or they had a prompting to go tract a house, or go talk to someone on the street.  I have been out for six months and I haven't gotten anything.  I don't know what to do.  I pray for guidance or for a revelation and I am not getting anything.  What am I doing wrong?  

Dad, in the pictures I saw of you, you are looking great!  

Mom, I want you to know that being worried about me is fine.  It is natural for a parent to be worried about a child that is far away.  There is only one thing that I don't ever want you to worry about and that is if I will make it or not.  I know that my mission has had hardships and trials, but with that being said, I want you to know that I will never give up!  I refuse to let body shut down like it usually tries to do.  I will serve an honorable two years.  I WILL NOT COME HOME BEFORE MY TIME IS UP.

I am so jealous to hear that you guys made so much homemade salsa.  I love our homemade salsa so much.  I bet like always it was super good!

So as for Facebook, we haven't started using it yet.  I thought for sure we would be one of the first missions to get it, but we haven't heard anything since the announcement.  It sucks though, because we have "dead" hours during our day that we could be using it, but instead we knock doors and that is not productive.  

Well, I have to go.  I am falling asleep and it is past my bedtime.  I love you all so much!

 

You see RVs like this everywhere.  People are crazy in MD!

MTC Comp Elder Bodda with Chance at "Death Ball".

Crash! (08/21/2013)

Hey Everyone!!!

 

So this past week we "cleansed" our area. Which means we dropped all of our investigators. We did this because they were all "cheese", meaning that they either wouldn't hold appointments or we could never get a hold of them or they just weren't progressing at all. We are going to try to get some new ones this coming week. We are just going to talk to everyone and try to get referrals from anyone and everyone!

 

Today though, was our Zone activity! It was super fun! We had a kickball tournament with another zone. We would have one the whole thing, but then something really bad happened :( 

 

We were playing our last game when we heard a CRASH!!  and a man scream. So we ran up the hill and we saw the vehicles first. A white ford mustang had crashed into a city-like utilities truck. Then we heard the moan.... We walked around the mustang and we saw a man lying there on the ground under the guardrail on the side of the road. At first i didn't see what was wrong, so i walked closer and i saw the most disturbing thing of my life! His leg had been twisted pretty much completely off! You could see the bone and fat and everything!  It broke about 5 in. after the knee cap.! I thought i was going to be super sick, but i stayed calm and i didn't puke. 

 

I found out later that the driver had taken some meds for his mouth or something and dozed off for a second and then hit the truck, which then hit the man. All the missionaries were directing traffic until the police and ambulance got there. It was really bad and the man will most likely loose his leg. I feel so bad for both the injured man and the driver. The driver because of his one bad choice, may have ruined the other man's life. I feel so blessed to know that as missionaries of our Heavenly Father that we are protected and kept safe (for the most part) so we can continue to teach His gospel to all the world. 

 

I love you all be safe out there!!!!

 

Elder Gold