Cambios!

Well! we got the call! i am now in Copiapo! its about 2 hours north of vallenar. I was sad to leave... but thats the mission! it was a great experience! i learned so much and i feel like i left on a good note, so maybe its for the best!

We had a good week! remember that story we were gonna wait on... well i will finally tell it! so like 2 weeks ago ish we were trying to contact this lady who we had talked to before and told us when to come by but whe had never been able to catch her at home... for the past 6 weeks... she lives in the far end of the sector so we didnt go more than once a week, but we went over to her house and tried to talk to her and her nany came down to answer the door... she was a younger girl... who didnt have very covering clothes on... so we kindof just asked her where her boss was and just left because i didnt want to talk to her... girls are scary now... so we started walking away and  i just had this pang and a thought that i had denied the opportunity to learn about the gospel to someone based only on how they looked... i felt bad and as we reached the end of the street i looked back and she was still just sitting in the door, not looking at us but the door was still open. i mentioned my feelings to my comp as we continued walking and we went to contact another person who lived somewhat close... then we were talking about it... and we decided that we had to go back. so we went andknocked on the door and i told her straight up, sorry for interrupting again but we felt like we should come back and talk to her. she was super happy! she said that she had met with missionaries a few times in bolivia but she came to chile to find work, she loved to hear what they talked about and said it made her feel really close to God. Wow! so we obviously couldnt go into the house... becaus it wasnt hers and because she was alone.. so we tlaked outside a little about the plan of salvation and and the book of mormon and then gave her a copy and left... we called a few days later and she was reading and loving it... she went to church that sunday... and this week we had a lesson with her and her boss. it was awesome! she is another one of those people that has been prepared!

We also had an incredible lesson on the intercambio i did with Elder Peaua. One of the hermanas in the ward has a neice that is going through some hard times and we had this sweet lesson with her, when we were preparing we didnt know them very well so we planned something and then we were unsure so we decided to pray about it... after the prayer we felt that we needed to change it completely so we chnaged it all... and when we got to the lesson... it was perfect, that was EXACTLY what she needed to hear we talked about Christ and his importance and what he wants for us. it was incredible, super strong spirit there. We were also able to find this lady who has been studying and reading a lot and she is starting to doubt the existence of Christ as the Son of God... Immediately i whipped out the book of mormon... we read a couple passages in there and then talked about it, that really helped me realize how important that book is to people who dont have a strong relationship with Christ, its not very often that you find people who dont believe but are willing to listen, the book of mormon is POWERFUL in that aspect. it was a good lesson. 

Then this saturday we had Rosas baptism... thinking about that as well, it was kindof cool, when we were teaching her we had challenged her to baptism  twice but  she always said "when i feel the call i will" and we were talking about it in comp study and we decided to just explain to here about the whole concept of a goal and that she would be prepared by that date if she kept reading praying and going to church. so thats what we did! and she accepted! and she was 2 weeks before her baptism in a class in church when she annaounced, i WILL be getting baptized in 2 weeks! im SURE this is true... sweet! so she got baptized, it was amazing. i love her. she asked me to be the one to baptize her... so i was privelaged to be able to do that, she has really changed so much, its just a really different feeling in there. its the spirit... but its just... so sweet. like joyous. i dont know, but it went well. She will do great things!

Then! drumroll! we were trying to reach our cambio goals and have 70 people in church which would have been the highest in my time(how many go inour home ward? like 200?).... and when the meeting started we were at like 20 people... and then before the sacrament we were at like 40... and then after the sacrament there is always a big wave of people coming in late... so i was waiting for it hoping for all these people... and none of the came... 41 people in church, the lowest it has ever been. WOW! well, that ok. our average has gone up by like 10 so that was just a bad week.

Then we went on alesson rampage to try and talk to as many people as possible on sunday so i could say bye to them but also share messages... it was fun! we had like 5 lessons that day and talked to lots of people... that branch is so awesome and i know they are gonna keep progressing.

I was sad to leave but Elder Turman is ready and it probably for the best, Im now with Elder Jimenez! we will send more pictures and talk about it a little more next week! Also! while i was just writing that... we got a call from an hermana hear who just gave us a reference! cool! this should be a sweet place! Blessings!

Thank you so much for everything! i hope you are all very happy!

Loving the mission! its so fun!

Take care!

Elder Gold

 

 

Miracle Sunday (June 23, 2014)

Hello fam! so we had a pretty interesting week! we started the week pretty good, just normal days, lessons. then wednesday came around... mundial... or world cup. against spain! Spain is last times champion and Chile was playing at 2 on wednesday... which meant they would be ending like at 4 and we would leave the apartment and just have a normal day! wow! that was not how it worked out for us! the game started at 3.. so we got outside.... NOBODY was outside. it was empty... and silent... except for when the whole city would do these tiny anxious screams in unison... then... everything erupted... horns and screaming and madness! wow! chile had beaten spain (last times champ) 2 - 0 and knocked them out of the cup! wow! then the streets were just crazy for the next HOUR! literally. massive traffic jams. people driving and honking and screaming and more horns (which are incredibly loud here... built especially for this) just SO much celebration. wow. luckily we had a few appointments planned for that night so we ended up alright. had some good stuff... i will try and send a few videos of that. 

Then we had an intercambio with Elder Ercanbrack, he is a stud. i think we would be friends back at home. we get a long really well... but we talked to A LOT of people that day... not to many things that worked out but we spent all day talking. then we found them an apartment! its soooo nice! hopefully they will be moving out this week.

On saturday in the morning we had a sweet service activity wehre we had to go in and rip out a couple of trees in this school playground place, it was fun! but i didnt have gloves and my hands sortof got eaten... but thats ok! totes worth it, sometimes its awesome to just go really hard and just work until im beat. but after i kindof paid for it! so tired! also...Rosa got her baptismal interview and passed ith FLYING colors, then i also had to give my first baptismal interview! that was fun! i was a bit nervous but i studied lots and lots and it really was  great experience. He was also ¡very ready to be baptized. he has made LOTS of changes in his life.

Then on sunday... after just an interesting week... not too full of obvious sucess... we got RAINED on by blessings. So... Cecilia... who we thought we had lost but before had seemed really really prepared just showed up to church! YAY!!!!! then while we were there she was just super super awesome and she asked us to come over at 6 that same night. PERFECT! We had also invited this other bolivian that we had met to come... and our colombian apartment security guard. they both came as well! both Fabian and Elias came. just movin along, and Rosa of course was there and they announced her baptism for this weekend. and Ibar... who is still coming.. in total 7 investiagators! wow! it was awesome, and the 2 ones who had never come before just loved the church! it was awesome. we have more appointments for throughout the week. that night we went to visit Fredy... who is still just doing great! and then later on to visit Cecilia nad her husband... we went with one of their friends... who is the district president... and it was just incredible. they are so ready... i expect to hear about there baptism in another few weeks. then a great spiritual lesson with a part member family. 

Today! we got to watch the game! Chile vs. Netherlands... whew!it was fun! chile was controlling the whole game but the netherlands still came in with the 2 goals... they just had an impenetrable defense... it was impressive. but thats ok! chile is still passing on to the next round!

This is the last week of Elder Turmans training! soooo fast! tooo fast! i will almost certainly be leaving this sector this week... they will let us know on satuday.... i want to stay! a lot! i want one more here! i have LOVED this sector! so far my favorite... man... but, i guess that is part of the mission. Transfers. I LOVE THE MISSION!  these last few weeks i have truly just been falling in love with it. i am loving every second and im so grateful for it. learning and growing so much... and just feeling the spirit ALLLL the time. it is just sooo sweet.... im so glad i get to have this experience.

I love you guys a lot! you are in my prayers always! 

Have a great week!

Elder Gold

 

(Mom Note:  This must be the artistic side of Henry... 

taking pictures of textures... textiles... or something)

CaRAZZY week. but good.‏ (June 16, 2014)

Family of mine! how are you all??? 

It has been an action packed week! for reals! im gonna try to get all these stories in... we are headed to huasco again today! so hopefully i will have some more pics for next week.

Alright. so we started the week a day late because we had that awesome conference last monday. happy pday and then we just started into the week! so! this week we also did intercambios with the zpne leaders, it RAINED!!! and the world cup started. yep! interesting week! so i guess we will just start up with the stories!

On wednesday we had those... i cant remember the word in english... intercambios.. is that splits? or exchange? yeah... you can try and figure that out ha. but, i went up with the Zone Leaders and one of them came down here with my comp. it was a good day! we all learned lots from the experience... I am happy that right now we have some really great zone leaders, they work really hard and try to be perfectly obedient. it was just a happy experience. It was really just out of nowhere that they called us but everything was good.

Then! the next day.... after getting the update on all that happened. we were just working like normal and we found Patricio in the street. we went to the church really quick to use the bathroom and while we were there we started talking to patricio and the topic emerged that he has been having this doubt about women not holding the priesthood and he had tlaked about it with a couple of people when we were visiting with them. one of them being our investigator... so I thought about it while we were talking and decided that i needed to talk to him about not talking about really heavy doubts with people who are recenttly getting to know the church. i did it very calmly and in a loving way i thought. it was something that i wanted him to understand so that something bad didnt happen and people got offended... well. as i started to explain this too him, using good communication skills, not being abrasive, i thought it was fine. but then, when i had finished. he basically said that he didnt want to try and put doubts in peoples heads but that if thats what we thought that he would just leave... what?? so we tried to explain it and explain it and back track and do all sorts of stuff but he was just unhappy. he got up, i tried to ask him to stay begged him to stay asked him if we could just say the last prayer together but just super confused and upset i had to unlock the door for him to go... i kept begging him and i told him i was afraid i was never gonna see him again, and he said that i already knew him well that that was how it was gonna be. broken heart. wo i gave him a hug and he said goodbye as i cried. yep. i killed the only convert i have tought. perfect. so then i cried, and prayed and then did it some more. cried for like an hour and prayed just about that whole time. then i asked my comp for a blessing who was basically just stunned by the whole thing, confused at how it happened especially because my explanations were short and schoppy and he didnt understand a lot of what was said.So i got a blessing took like 15 more minutes and then just gave it up, i put it in Gods hands. Told him what i wanted and told him to do what he wanted. But we had to go out and keep working, it was like 730. so we left. we went around and tried to visit a few people, talked to a few families, lots of people asked if i was sick. then as we were asking i got a phone call from Patricio. which said "where do i find you" so i told him where we were and he came to find us... i was a bit nervous that he was gonna likie return the book of mormon and stuff but during the time that we were trying to convince us to stay he told us that he still believed everything. so i just went forward with faith... and he showed up, said a lot of weird like proverb things that i didnt really understand and then apologized... we talked there for about a half hour and it was just over. it was done. he said we were like his kids and that he just wanted to put the whole situation behind us, we both just apologized and called that a day. yes. suuuuper stressful, but there it is.

The next day! it rained! everything closed! all of it! it was like a massive snow day in shelley. it was crazy. no school! everything closed! then that night the world cuop started, and the day after Chile played... wehn Chile plays... there are no people in the streets. EVERYONE watches! its like a ghost town! but... it should be a fun time... they won! and we are all alive. so thats good! i have one more story... but im gonna save that for next week... we will see how it progresses :) 

I love you very much family! i hope you are all happy! take care of yourselves! see ya!

Elder Gold

So Much! (June 10, 2014)

Wow! family of mine! what a week!

So! i guess i should try and start from the top but i dont even know if i can remember the top! it was REALLY cold! that is true! every night i have been running around in my sweater trying not to die! but we got by. then this sunday we went over to visit one of the members of the branch and we shared the message with here and then we went to leave and she told us to wait and brought out this bag, that had 2 jackets in it! i was totally shocked! She said that it was because she always saw me running around in my tiny sweater and she felt bad and because she wanted to thank me for helping her out, she has had some rough times in the past few months and we have tried to help her understand it and get closer to Christ... that was awesome! i didnt even know what to say! im pretty sure i said thank you like 40 times because i had no clue what else to say! but that was really nice! so now i will be super warm!

This saturday we went to do service in the house of one of our investiagtors and we helped her clean out a room! i didnt take pictures which is my bad but it ws way fun! she basically just had this junk room but the roof broke, and everyone says its actually gonna rain so she need to get it fixed and she didnt know how so we organized the branch to be able to go and help her out and we went to have a party! there was SO much cool stuff in there! she gifted us this sweet shoe shine stand and a little traditional flute thing. We brought Patricio with us... man! that guy is just a RIOT! i love him! he is so crazy but so fun! we all had a fun time together cleaning and organizing and throwing away LOTS of stuff haha. Plus when we went over there the first thing she said was that she was so happy because she had a whole bunch of friends come over and they all wanted to smoke but she knew that she shouldnt and she prayed for strenght and she didnt do it! she is already 1 week without smoking!

We also went on an intercambio this week with the ASSISTANTS! That was fun! i was nervous! i figured they were coming to like check up on us or something but i was nervous! but! it was sweet! we had some great times and i learned TONS! WE had a lesson with one of these old investigators that they had always talked about but i had never actually met with, and we went with Elder Cazier, who was here before and now is an assistant, he taught her a lot, and she opened the doors to us and we had an icredible lesson! so spiritaul! she was crying and i was about there and we just felt the spirit so strongly it was incredible! i felt great about it! so blessed! we talked about crist and what he wants from us. and  it was just... wow. Then we went and saw Marjorie... who is just progressing like CRAZY. she has changed so much. This whole weekend was just great! We had a great day in church the next day, 3 investigators and like 4 other less actives that we have been trying to reactivate, and nice day in general of work! trying to apply some of the stuff we learned and just feeling good about everything.

Yesterday we had this conference! the zone conference with the President and it was GREAT! i cant describe it to you well but i just feel so PUMPED! we talked a little bit about faith, and a little bit about the book of mormon and just other rules, then we talked about Miracles. God works miracles! We have so much power if we will trust him! if we will TRULY trust in him. we NEED him, we know who He is but do we allow our will to be swallowed up in His? not very often. BUT WE SHOULD! i just want to be like PETER! he jumped off a boat! he jumped off into the thrashing waves because he asked for a miracle and he had faith! and he walked on water... at first at least! I have never ever felt such a huge desire to just be EVERYTHING that the Lord wants me to be... wow. ALso! we did this sweet activities where we had a box of questions of the Soul and we had to do scripture search stuff to find it in the Book of Mormon, for example they would pull out a card that said "why do i always fall into the same sin" and we had to find a scripture that could answer the question (i used Hekleman 3:23-25 BTW). I WANTED TO EAT THE BOOK! I just felt like there was so much more knowledge inside than i had. i dont know. i just feel so Hungry for more.

I love where i am! i am so happy to have this opportunity! you are always in my prayers! i hope that you are all trying to get to know your Savior a little more every day. it is SO worth it

Elder Gold

Weekly planning

Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner of champions?

 Elder Turman

 NICE PLANK!

  

 A poster we made

 Me and my new jacket! 

 Me and Elder Turman

the DESERT! wow! it really does have its own type of beauty