The Work Continues - Our Investigators extend the Gospel to their families (11/11/2013)

Hey Everyone!

      

So this entire week has just kind of been a blur ha. It's been really good though :) So first off we had a gathering at Stevens house a few days ago that consisted of Steven, his mom, his grandmother, his brother (on Skype), and us) He told every one that he was going to be baptized!! He was super excited about it and pretty much everyone that was there supported his decision. His grandmother wasn't totally keen on the idea though and asked him probably 10 times if he really thought he was ready and if he had studied enough about the gospel. She even asked us if we thought he was ready. All in all, we, his mom and his brother were really happy for him :). His baptism date did change though! He had set it for the 17th of November, but realized later that it was his fathers birthday. He and his dad don't have the best of relationships, so he didn't want to ruin it further and take away from his dad's day. So now it's on the 24th of this month!!         

 

Then the next day we had a meeting with Victor!! We taught him the lesson called The Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it!! He had a lot of great questions about repentance, enduring to the end and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He is still scheduled to be baptized on December 8th as well! He absolutely loves the church and is really excited for his baptism! 

 

We also had a couple of lessons with Gabby's sister Maria!! Maria actually came to Gaby's baptism along with her really good friend, (who's name I can't remember), and they both really loved the feeling of the spirit that was there. They both said they wanted to take the lessons, but her friend isn't as serious about it as Maria is.  So we actually met with Maria and we taught her the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation.  Well, I actually wasn't there for the plan of salvation because I was on splits, which I'll talk about later. She loved the lesson on the Restoration though and very much felt the spirit that it brings. Especially when we shared the First Vision :). They tried to give her a baptismal date, but she said she would think about it. She wants to learn more before she says yes to anything.
 

Now to tell you about the splits I went on.  Ryan (a member of the ward) and I went to D.C. to share in a lesson with an investigator that another set of Elders wanted to hand off to us. Their ward mission leader told them that he technically lives in our ward boundaries. So we went to the lesson to meet him and to participate.  He had a friend with him at the meeting also.  We taught them the lesson on The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  All together, there were three members, three missionaries, and two investigators there.  We went through the lesson and it was awesome! The spirit was so strong and the investigators were golden!! Then I found out that both of the investigators are supposed to get baptized in like two weeks!!  I was thinking "why on earth would their Ward Mission Leader tell his
Elders to pass the investigator off to us when he was so close to baptism!?" I mean really he has been taught everything by these other Elders.  His friend is supposed to get baptized with him and if he is transferred to us, his friend (who is not part of our area or ward) would not be able to get baptized with him in the Young Single Adult Ward.  Plus, the new investigator  wouldn't know anyone in our  ward since he has been attending the other ward!! So we told the Elders that we thought it was best that they should finish teaching him and baptize him.  If he wants to come to our ward after he's baptized that's fine, but not right now.

 

Then today for our Zone activity, we had soda wars!! a.k.a. Soda pong!! haha It was really fun! The Zone Leaders got black lights and told us to dress up in stuff that would glow.  They had like over 160 glow sticks! They put water and  glow sticks in some of the cups, that way they would glow as well! The object of the game was to bounce the ping pong ball into a cup with a glow stick in it.  If you accomplished this, then you had a side cup with soda in it that you could take a drink from.  It was very challenging and super fun!

Well every one that's all for this week!  Until next time!! Love to all...

-Elder Gold 

Additional Excerpts From a Handwritten letter (11/05/2013)

Dear Family,

Transfers came and went and I got to stay!  I am really glad that I got to stay.  It is great to watch Gabby's progress.  She is already such a great missionary.  She set up an appointment with us tomorrow for her sister, mom and dad.  Her Dad is coming all the way from Virginia to hear the lessons.  I don't know if I told you or not, but Gabby really wants to serve a mission!  Her Mom and her were asking about prices for a mission and about BYU for college after she gets back. 

I really loved Conference!  I LOVED Elder Hollands talk on mental and emotional challenges.  It brought one of the brothers that we were watching it with to tears.  Elder Holland really got personal this conference.  Usually he focuses on calling people to repentance, but not at all this time.  It was an amazing talk. 

Also, President Uchtdorf's talk, where he addressed people who are less active was incredible.   I loved how he spoke about "Doubting your doubts before you doubt your faith".  I thought that was great! 

Love to all,

Elder Gold

Autumn in DC (11/04/2013)

Hey everyone!!

 

We had a very productive week!

 

We had a couple of meetings with Victor and Steven. We taught Victor the plan of salvation. He asked a lot of great questions about the spirit world and what happens to  the people who don't get the chance to have the restored gospel in their lives. We were able to explain all of that to him!  At the end of the lesson we asked if he had questions and he said "I do!". He then pulled out a little piece of paper that had like 6 questions on them and said " These are questions that my family told me to ask you.". So some of the questions were like "When did we stop polygamy?" and  "Why don't women in the church have the priesthood?" and other similar questions that people throw out at you when they know nothing about the church.  Ha. So we cleared those up and then we left! He is still super ready to get baptized :)

 

So with Steven, we went over to his house, planning on teaching the lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we ended up just talking pretty much. We talked about Utah and how it has "the greatest snow on earth!".  We talked about some of the freak storms that Maryland has had within the last 4 years and then we talked about how his Book of Mormon reading had been going and we asked him if he had any questions. He didn't, so we asked him what his favorite parts of the Book of Mormon were and why he liked reading the Book of Mormon.  He then pretty much bore his testimony to us of the Book of Mormon! It was super awesome! His baptismal date might have to change though.  He wanted it to be on the 11/17, but the problem is that his dad's birthday is on that same day.  He is afraid that his baptism might take away from his dads day, so he's going to ask his dad what he's doing for his birthday and if he's not doing anything then we're good for the 17th. If he is then we will most likely have to re-set his baptism for the 16th or the 24th. We'll have to see!

 

So, Gabby was confirmed last Sunday!! It was a super awesome experience to confirm her and her her be the first confirmation I have done in the mission field.  I really felt the spirit guiding me, telling me what to say.   It was just an amazing experience!!  Our goal with her now is to help her find a name in her family line and then take it to the temple for the baptism trip that is coming up in the ward. We have set her up with a family history consultant in the ward and they almost have a few names ready for her to take to the temple.  It's great!    

 

Then on top of all of that, yesterday we were going to go on a walk with the ward and all of the sudden Elder Broadhead said "We need to go and work. I feel a very strong prompting that we need to go and find someone."  So we left before the others showed up and went to the very first person on our "Potentials" list.  We get out of the car and start walking to the person's house and Elder Broadhead says "We need to go knock on that door. down the street.". So we walked over there and knocked on the door. A man named Victor came to the door.  We started explaining about how God has restored his true church and that he has called a prophet to guide it!  The man was super interested!! The sad part is of this story is that he is too old for us to teach (We are assigned to the Young Single Adult Ward), but it's a blessing to find him for the sisters so that they will have new investigators!! 

 

Well everyone, this week has been great!  I miss you all and love you as well! Talk to you all next time!! 

 

-Elder Gold  

Autumn in Maryland

DC Fall Colors

Spiritually Uplifting Week! (10/28/2013)

Hey everyone!!!! 

 

So...this week was really great!

 

We had an awesome meeting with Steven this week! We met with him, taught him about faith and then we just kinda talked, which is what he really needed. After the lesson he asked if he could show us something. So we left his house and took a super long walk. After some time of walking he stopped and asked "Do you know what happened here?"  I had no clue, but Elder Broadhead spoke up and said "This is the spot that we first talked to you!". It was a pretty cool spot to be at because he has been meeting with missionaries for like 6 months now and Elder Broadhead was the first person to talk to him. So it was cool to be a part of his historical remembrance. Also he announced to us that he wanted to be baptized on the 17th of  November!! It was super sweet!

 

We also had a fantastic lesson with Victor as well!  We decided that we were going to re-teach him all of the lessons. So we started with the restoration!  Everything was going fantastic!  Especially, when we shared the first vision with him :) Elder Broadhead did a really good job building up to the verbal account of the first vision. Then he said and now Elder Gold will tell you of Joseph Smith's account in Joseph Smiths own words. Then I told him "While I tell you, I want you to put yourself in his place and think how you would feel. Also don't focus so much on the words I say, rather focus on the things you feel.". The spirit was so incredibly strong at this point. So I recited the first vision to him and by the time I was finished, he was ready to cry because he just felt so happy and the spirit was so strong! We continued to tell him about the Book of Mormon and how he could come to know for himself that it was true. 

 

So now a little pre-story. The Friday before General Conference we talked to Victor about getting baptized on the 3 of November. He was hesitant and didn't really understand why we where giving him a b-date if he didn't feel ready. So After the fantastic spiritual lesson we had the other day, he told us that he wanted to be baptized on the 8th of December so he could go home for Thanksgiving and tell his family that he was planning on getting baptized!  Then, he said this: "I know that when I tell them they will try to convince me not to (get baptized) and they will tell me it's a bad idea.  I wont have any support from them, but I'm just going to tell them that it's my choice and they can't do anything about it." I was so extremely happy to hear this! 

 

This past week has been so spiritually uplifting.  I love this gospel with all my heart! Also this week I visited Guillermo from my very first area! As always, it was really great to see him, feel of his love for us and hear all the compliments he gives us. Haha.

 

Well that's all for this week!  I love and miss you all! Till next time.

Elder Gold