Hey Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!
Sorry I wasn't able to write last Monday! We went and played turkey bowl on the National Mall like all morning and then we went out to lunch! So by the time we go home, we had to get to appointments. We were busy all day!
I'll tell you what though, it was way fun playing! We started at about 9:30 and played clear until like 12 or 12:30. We had split it up into a few different teams. The red team, the blue team, the green team, a purple team, and a few other color teams. All of us got to play at least three games. The first game we played was against the blue team. They had some pretty good players on that team, but we had some pretty good ones on ours too so we were interested to see how it was going to turn out. It was a pretty long game, but in the end we lost by a couple points. It was alright in my book though, because I was the one who made the last point on our team before we lost.
I'll tell you how I did it haha. Elder Farley was the quarterback and I had gotten free from the guy guarding me. I ran down field as fast as I can could and yelled "Farley!". He saw me, and new that that was a chance to get the ball down the field. So he threw it as hard as he could and I just kept running hoping that I wouldn't goof it up and miss, but that the ball would land right in my hands. As I'm running a look back up into the air to make sure I'm in line with the ball. Boom! I caught the ball! Then it was just a matter of running with all my might trying to get to the in zone as fast as I could. In the end nobody was able to catch up to me in time and I made the final touchdown for our team. After that we lost. Haha!
The next team we played was the green team. They also had some pretty good football players, but in the end we won by a couple points. They weren't too happy about that, but we were due to the fact that we had lost the previous game. I would say it definitely boosted our spirits and we were pumped to play the next game. The next game however ended up being against the blue team again, which we lost again. Ha. It was a super long game too! It was alright though, it was lots of fun!
I was so sore by the time we were done, I could hardly walk! I also knew that the next day I wouldn't be able to walk, which was partly true. Getting in and out the car was a pain! Literally! Ha a lot of it too! But that's for next weeks letter.
Last week was actually good week for lessons. We didn't have too many with investigators, but we did have quite a few with members. It was really good though because we are able to practice and then asked for feedback at the end. When we asked for feedback, we were asking "How can we improve?" and all we got for a few lessons in a row was basically criticism. I started to think I was a crappy missionary. However, the next time we asked for feedback, I simply asked, "How did we do? What did we do good and what could we improve on?" That way we were getting told the things that we were doing good on then also getting a little bit of advice on how we could do better. So it was a good trade-off instead of just always getting criticism.
And unfortunately last Sunday none of our investigators made it to church. We texted them the night before and the morning of, and never got a response. Just about before we were about to do the sacrament, David Baldwin texts us and says that he's not gonna be able to make it to church because he woke up with a huge migraine. We also had an appointment with him that night, so we also asked him if we need to reschedule or if we could still come over. He told us to text him around 12 and see. We did and he asked that we reschedule. We're going to get in touch with them this week to set up another appointment so that we can teach them about the Plan of Salvation. I think it'll be a really good one especially for David because he has some issues about his father dying that I think that lesson will fix. So we'll see how that goes.
Then last week we also had the awesome opportunity to go to the White House. It had been in the works for a couple months actually. They originally planned it for just the departing missionaries to go and add it onto Arlington trip. Then they send out an email and told everyone that whoever wanted to go could go but that we had to send in certain information so the Secret Service could do a background check on us. So we all sent that information in, or at least those who wanted to go, and we waited and waited and waited until finally last week we were allowed to go. We were supposed to be there by 8 o'clock or 8:15, I can't remember. We got there and the mission was lined up ready to go, so we thought we were late! We got up to the line and right then, one of the Secret Service guards tells us all to get out of line because our tour wasn't even until 9 o'clock and we're blocking everybody else from going on the tour. We had to wait for about a half hour before we could get back in line. So we walked back across the street over to the White House visitor center and just looked around for a while. There's a lot of cool stuff and a lot of information about the White House and previous presidents who lived there.
So we were finally allowed to get back in line and go through all of the security to get into the White House. They checked our IDs twice, they scanned us twice, and sent us through metal detectors a couple of times. So after all this waiting and getting checked to make sure we are who we say we are, we were finally able to get into the White House. It was really cool to be able to go through and see all of the rooms that the President and his family use every single day. I found out later that in the library (which we were able to look into but not enter), there is a Book of Mormon in there given to the White House as a token friendship by Joseph Fielding Smith with his testimony written on the inside.
We continued on with the tour of the rest of the White House. We went through the Green room, the Blue room, the Red room, the dining room, and the Vermeil Room (The room houses a collection of silver-gilt or Vermeil tableware, a 1956 bequest to the White House by Margaret Thompson Biddle. Portraits of American First Ladies hang in the room). We were told to stop and look around and ask questions along the way. Secret Service members were stationed thoughout the tour were available to answer historical questions. We did a lot of looking around, but nobody wanted to ask questions because there was one Secret Service guy that was being a really big jerk. One of the elders accidentally bumped up against the drapes. The Secret Service guy noticed and said "How about we keep this tour a hands in our pocket tour and not to touch everything in your sight tour!". Then there was another sister who sat down on a chair. There was no indication anywhere that she was not allowed to sit there. The same Secret Service guy says "Oh yeah that's a great idea! Let's all sit on 200 year old furniture, that's an awesome Idea!". So nobody wanted to ask questions for fear of this jerk Secret Service guy getting on our cases about something. In the end it was a very short tour and it was kind of a bust, but it still was cool to see all of the historical aspects of the White House, such as the chair that Thomas Jefferson sat in and Abraham Lincoln's study. All in all it was a very very short tour. I think it literally took about maybe eight or nine minutes for us to get through the entire thing. So I was kinda bummed about that, but it was still good!
Last but not least, we are finally scheduled to go to Arlington! We're going this Monday. We are supposed to meet at the Arlington metro stop at 8:45 am. I'm super excited! I've been waiting for this opportunity to go with my entire mission, to be able to look at the tomb of the unknown soldier and the changing of the guard. I'm also really excited to be able to tour the cemetery and see the graves of the many servicemen and women who have died protecting our country!
Well I hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great rest of your week and remember to share your testimony as much as you can! Not only does it help others to know of the truth, it also helps to build your own testimony every time you share it! I love you all! Have a great week. :)
Love,
Elder Gold
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| Washington D.C. North Mission at the White House |
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| Elder Gold has 100 days left on his mission. We are down to double digits! |
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