Constant adventures!‏ (May 25, 2015)

Estimado(a)

le saludo cordialmente

Hello! everyone! hope you all had a good week. ​

Our week ws full of good times. we went out with ganas. we also started a new exercise program.. we have been going out to work out evrey morning with my comp, but we finally conviced Elder Larsen, the UVU wrestler, to come be our personal trainer... the workouts are much more effective. he knows how to destroy my muscles without weights, and in many ways. so i have been sore! in a good way, an happily but its been a party. before i would do a few exercises just at my pace and with breaks when i got tired, but now there are no breaks. hopefully it pays off! the only thing i need now is a better diet!

this tusday we had the Elders from Taltal come down to do exchanges with us, i got to be with Elder Perez. he was a fun guy from Mexico, im excited to get back to the states and talk to someone from mexico because most of the mexicans i know speak so slowly! theyre super mellow about it all. And Elder Walker was with my comp. i just love Elder Walker. he is the most innocent angelic person i have ever met. hes a fun guy. then that morning i went again with Elder Perez to go do some visa stuff! i got all ready and i already have my second year long ID. so im set now. no more paperwork or visits to government agencies! yay! 

When i was with Elder Perez, we taught Luis Perez, his family travled down to santiago, so he was alone, but we taught him about keeping the Sabath Day holy. he is really starting to understand very well... its hard for him to follow through becaus he literally works every day to support his family. but thats why members are so important. their testimonies from real ife to these people do so much more than just a missionary can. but it has been awesome to see the porgress in these people, little by little.

On wednesday i had to do the member registry audit in the branch. oh yeah, that was this week too! President Dalton called me monday night to ask me to do a membership record audit to the branches of chañaral, taltal, El Salvador, and Diego de Almagro. which is my zone, but its gonna be sweet because im going to get to see all of the cities in my zone! i will try and take some pictures because this will probably be the only time i get to go, especially to Diego, and El Salvador. i just have to go with the ward clerk and make sure all the member information is right and updated. really easy. fun stuff. so we did that on wednesday night.

Friday morning the other Elders went out to go do service in one of the stores in the mud zone with some people they had talked to and as they were working a bit of glass fell on Elder Fuller and cut open his shoulder, it wasnt terrible but it was bead enough to send him to the hospital to go get stitches. he kept saying that he didnt feel it, and he was totally cool through the whole thing. and plus when we went to pay, the guy asked the if they were helping, then if we were form the church and when we said yes, he just looked at the paper and told us to jhust go. we didnt have to pay anything! so that was cool! i was really grateful for that. he was a nice guy.

Then this saturday we had a weeding reception thing for a couple in the ward who are getting married. they are headed off tonight to go to georgia where they have a daughter married to an RM and they are going to be sealed in Miami! and have vacation time there for a month or maybe a little bit more! so that was cool! and on sunday i gave a talk. much less drama for me giing a talk now, and the fact that its in spanish stopped scaring me a long time ago. just chill. and then we were in the church until like 430 that afternoon. yet again respect for all those who serve in the church and have to do that much more than i do. Church leadership callings really are a sacrifice, well, all callings are a sacrifice! especially if we are doing our best to magnify them. thankfully the other Elders made us a little bit of lunch so we were able to go back and eat :)

The mission is just good, i think every sunday night i realize that another week is gone and that the number of weeks i have left is getting smaller an smaller, but im glad that God has helped e to not think about it. Im finally finishing Jesus the Christ. i started it at the beginning of my misison and ive taken a few breaks in between, but it really is such an awesome book. it has definately helped me to focus more on our Savior, and to apreciate Him much more as well. He is the most important thing in everything. without Him nothing else matters. we just need to focus on Him and His plan and everything is gonna be ok for us. what a comforting thought that. Gods plan is perfect, and we are part of it.

Have a great week everyone! keep up the good work! take care of yourselves! no sean trunkies!

Elder Gold

cooold (May 18, 2015)

Well! its gettin chilly here in chile! whoda thunkted that it would get so dang cold in this desert. but i guess thats the other side of the dessert right? we are coming into winter here, they tell us that june july and august will be the worst for the cold. so we will just gear up. i bought a scarf and a pear of thin gloves already and so i will be just fine. its amazing how just warming up my hands and my neck changes the whole temperature of my body. it feels way better.

WE had a good week! we had interviews on thursday which was really good, i got a new level of respect for President Dalton, sometimes i feel like there are a lot of things that i have to worry about and i have a lot of stresses just as a zone leader and counselor as well as being a missionary in my own sector. But that morning he got there to start our interviews and he got bombarded by all sorts of call by some emergency that was happening in the mission that occupied him for about an hour and a half, he finally got some free time when he came to sit with us all in our discussions in the other room and as he started  explaining something he recieved 5 calls in a row about another emergency... then he had to do 2 interviews forr memmbers here that showed up at 1 30 for there appointment then he could finally start the interviews... 3 hours late. when the interviews were over... more emergencys and a speedy departure to Tal tal where he should have been at 4, but was leaving for the hour and a half trip at 5. and with all of that, i am sure that not one of us felt that he was hurried in our interviews. he still gave us the attention that we all needed. it was pretty cool. learned some good things. Yet again we arrive to the important time of applying them as best we can. striving to be our bvery best. thats the only thing we can do.

I have always had a problem with comparing myself to others, in evry way shape and form. Its funny how it works as well because its always negative, either im worse than someone else because of onething, or im better than someone els ebecasue of one thing, but the feeling are never good. I have been learning a lot throught my whole mission especially to not worry about other people as much as God. it doesnt matter if it looks like hes beeter than i am or if my prideful naturalman wants to tell me that im better than he is. i just need to do my best before God. as long as im doing my best, He is going to be happy with me, and i cna be happy with myself, without thinking of anyone as being worse or bad. Its a good thought, God only cares about your personal effort.

I was asked this week to sing a special number for a baptism that we had this saturday, i decided to sing a song and go tit all prepared... i felt super wierd singing completely acapella and all alone but i thought it was gonna turn out well. then the night of the baptism we showed up to a few surprises... first, those who were in charge of filling up the font didnt fill up the font in time... so we were getting up to show time and there were a good 3 inches of water in the font... We had to grab a hose form outside and turn on all the water full blast, they were worried that the water was going to be cold, but i think God blessed us with warm water from the hose from outside because it was warm, not super warm but easily surviveable. And, the person who was going to conduct the meeting didnt show up... so it was my turn! conducting... i still just feel like such a noob but thats ok. it was my second time ever, its not that i stumble up so much, i just forget a lot of the special touches of conducting that often mean a lot... dont know how to explain it, but there it is. However, because i had to conduct i felt like it was going to be really wier to be conducting then sing my song and then conduct some more so i just asked the other Elders to come sing a song with me right out of the hymn book. it turned out well, we had tried in a few occasions before hand to practice them staying in the melody and i tried to sing the harmony... but that wasnt a possability. either way it was nice. she was happy. she got baptized and shes a great lady.

The next day i ALSO had the great privelage and blessing to conduct sacrament meeting, President Toro almost had to leave and i was going to be left to preside as well but he was able to stay through sacrament meetin gas well, so that was good. thankfully it looks like the third time is a charm because that time came out a lot better, i still missed some things and it wasnt the best in the world but i was happy. President Dalton told me in my interview that he cant think of any time that he conducted a meeting prfectly, so that gives me hope. :) good learning experiences!

Also! this week we found an awesome new young family. its actually one of our other families sons fmaily.  yeah... but they are super cool, we went to go teach them the first time, and when we went in the first time we were just with the guy, Kevin and later on his wife valeria came in and shot him a look that we both thought ment trouble, but then she came down and started sharing with us, she had awesome questions, and we invited her to the baptism and they both wanted to go, (though in the last minute they couldnt) and when we invited them to pray she totally volunteered herself to say the closing prayer and it was awesome. they seem super duper receptive! awesome little family. we were stoked leaving that house. jumping and hugging and everything :) happy days

I hope you all have an awesome week! i love you! take care of yourselves. live the Gospel to the fullest point you can! Ask God for spiritaul experiences. He speaks today, He will speak to you.

Love, Elder Gold

P.s. Elder Larsen reminds me a ton of michael, i will try and get some pics or something so you can tell me if im crazy or ot :)

dia de la mama (May 11, 2015)

bueno! what a fun wek we have had!

​Chañaral is just always a new party! there is always something going on. always. This week we enjoyed a good tuesday of work and the district meeting that we were in charge of seeing how our distrit leader is no longer in his sector because the city they live in is still without water from the storm. We worked hard to find new people and talked to a bunch of them! we are still usig this new "because He lives" video which is awesome because you can use it as an excuse to talk about the gosepl wth anyone, "hey! you! wanna see a video!?" so thats fun. but we give out lots and lots of little ards and then go back and try and contact the people again. 

Then on wednesday we had a new adventure, they called us in the morning to let us know that we had a special transfer in our zone.... ELDER JENSEN LEFT! our canadian... we were sad. he visited people that day and then came bac at night and packed his bags to go to ARICA. the very north of the misison. and we also watched the movie the testaments with one of our ivestigators who is just SO RECEPTIVE to the spirit. he feels it an he just starts recieving answers and making decisions. his work hold him back a lot from doing what he wants to do, but he is awesome. He read the book of mormon two nights in a row the last time we talked to him. that was cool, Elder JEnsen traveled with us to antofagasta that night, supposedly our bus left at 2... so we had to be there 15 minutes early just in case... but it ended up arriving at 4 in the morning! luckily! it was a really really warm night. i was in a light jacket outside without any walls or anything at 4 in the morning and it wasnt cold. so that was a good blessing. poor Elder Jensen had no time to say goodbye to anyone and while he left Elder fuller stayed with Johnathan, a member from the branch. 

we had a good Leadership council that thursday, President Dalton just gets so passionate about things... he is a great man. i respect him a lot. he truly loves the work and he loves the misisonaries. which i personally think is really impressive. he has to deal with a lot of stuff from them. but we had a good meeting talking about consecration a little bit and how we oculd find more people, then a lot of my friends gave their last testimonies before they end the misison in like 3 weeks... man! crazy! and we had time to go to Lider (walmart) to buy peanut butter (yay! :)) and then we took Elder Larsen back to the bus station to head back to chañaral, we got in at like 1. Elder Larsen is a good guy! hes really fun! he is also a TANK! hes like 6 2 and just... large. he squishes me sometimes. and pops my back ridiculously easy. but hes still a big teddy bear. he wrestled for UVU i think. he was also Elder Fullers comp in the MTC so that was interesting that they got put back together! they both have about a year. just short of it. 

On friday there was LOTS to do to prepare for the mothersday activity and barbecue that we had on saturday! so we were highly involved in all that, taught a lesson, and did a baptismal interview. it was one of those days where we were running all over the place.Then on sturday we had the barbecue! it was just so chilean :) it was beautiful! lots and lots and lots of meat, everyone shows up tardy. good times! but the food was good and we all had a good time together, i got a few pictures... but i just get so busy and forget all the time! sorry!!! then one of the talks we had called to tell me he couldnt! so i got to assign another one... ELDER FULLER! then he totally threw me under the bus during his talk that i had given it to him on saturday night :) i love him :) it was kindof an interesting day... one of those days when its really really obvious that youre in a branch because lots of these things would never happen in idaho. but the 3 primary kids sang a little hymn to the moms, it was good, everyone abpplauded :) and they handed out roses in the middle of the meeting, soooo overall a really good meeting! But i didnt have to conduct this week sooooo didnt mess up on that :D hahaha.

It was just a good week, full of adventures, topped off with an awesome call home, i was glad that i just felt really peaceful after this one, it was just good. short and sweet. got in enough to feel happy, good enough internet to hear you most of the time. that was all i needed. Thank you! im ready to get back to work! 

Thanks for all of your prayers! thanks for your love! i hope you all remember to do the most important things in life! and remember what they are as well! May we all apply the Atonement in our lives this week and forever! hasta la proxima semana! cuidense!

Elder Gold
  

Fall time (May 4, 2015)

well!!!! its gettin cold here!!! the sun still burns you up during the day but when the sun goes down... whooo. its chilly. so we are back to sweater mode, it feels funny to carry around a sweater when its so warm sometimes but its always worth it when night tie comes around!

This was one of those weeks where everything that looks like its gonna happenand be awesome doesnt.... but thats ok! you just have to keep rolling in those momets, the only thng that matters is doing our very best to find people who are willing to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives. its the eternal search, but thats our job.

This week was still good! we had a lot of appointments that fell, but it was good we had one night where we were waing towardsa house late at night when this drunk guy yelled at us from his house... not an abnormal experience... and asked us when we were going to visit mauri... we told him that we couldnt right now (obviously, he was basically wasted) and we went back another day and tlkaed to muri... super cool guy! never ever would have found him if it werent for the drunkness of that man, so hopefully he will progress. we have an appointment with him tonight! one of those freebies. those are funny because we try and do thing all day to find new people, and often times those hardly work at all, but then drunk people tell us to come over without us even asking... yay! thanks for that one!

this week we went to the new feria naranja... that was  big wstore in the center of town that got destroyd by the ud... filled to the brim and basially everything in it was lost... and since then they have been searching for a way to stat working again... and they finally gt euthroizqtion and went and built this quick structure out of 2 by 4rs and cloth... but it was SOOOOOOOO nice to see them all working again, and on saturday a huge crowd of people walkin through butng things and looking at things and just... life gain, with that, they will be ble to start working again. and their life will start to go back to normal. i almost teared up just looking at it. life goes on. its hard. but it goes on.

Also! my comp reminds me a ton of Josh! i dont know how to explain it all but there are just a few things that they both do that nobody else i have met does, like they fces he has sometimes when hes beein goofy, or the way he hi fives... i know this is wierd but Josh has a super speecific power high five and his fingers are pulled back farther than his palm nd itsjust the Josh style! and Elder MAgnusson has it as well! plus they are both super white!!! (hahha sory bud!) plus hes form lehi... its funny.

AND! this week i had to conduct sacrament meeting... hwo fun is that right! gah! super stressful. i had to have people sustained and remember all the workds and just ots and lots of stuff. and you realize that there are a TON of little things that you have to put in there! and the order matters a lot! everything has to be i nthe right place, and though youve seen it a zillion times, i still couldnt remember if the sustaiings were beofre or after the acrament. so! good learning experiences! recieving tithing slips... setting people apart... its interesting. very very interestng. there is a lot to learn and a lot to remember.

good week! happy week! we got it allfigred out with a member to be able to call you guys!!! whoo! we have up to 40 minutes to talk, just so you know, andwho ever wants to go is invited. en todo caso les voy a  ver mas o menos pronto jaja, aunque no lo crean! y yo tampoco lo creo! So yeah! we have decided to call at 6 o clock our time, which is three o clock your time! if its a tiny bit later than that dont worry, it just means that we have to take turns to call, so i twill be a little before 7 my time or 4 your time, but thats only if the internet is slow. so! hope thats good with yall! i will be hapy to se whoever wants to come! and we willl talk a little bit more on sunday when i get on!

TH church is true! God is real! He has a plan for us! i know it!!! i hope that we can all lear His expectations for us and live worthy of His blessings!

I love you all!!! have a great week!

Elder Gold

New compy comp (April 27, 2015)

Hello family! hope that life is all well there in your lives. 

This has been a good week. On monday a lady called us from copiapo and said that she was gonna bring us food and stuff and asked what we needed... well we had literally just got back from the store... so we didnt need anything. so i told her that... and she accepted and then told me that i was misisng out because she wanted to bring us carrot cake... that was super duper tempting but i ouldnt make her come up for nothing so we said goodbye and i thnked her very much for offering... then the next day i got another phone call from here telling me that she was in chañaral with a bunch of food for us and she needed to know where we lived.... she called president dalton to ask him about it hahaha. sooo tey came and brought us 2 boxes LOADED with food... and goodies :) 

so we are FILLED with food. wow, i feel like a king or something its nuts... e are very blessed. and the pension is sooo clean. we went to twon on it and we all made a covenant to keep it clean.  and it has worked. we have one elder that struggles sometimes but we pick up his stuff for him a lot of times, but its wonderful. its strange how that has changed on the mission, im still not that clean or organized, but i made my bed almost never at home... MAYBE once a month... but probably like once every three months or so... and now i make my bed every day... the mission, it does stuff t ya. im just really happy with the house right now. but that was a fun experience.

This week we had one day when we went to go help a few people until about 5... but other than that we were able to be in the streets and houses working for the rest of our time. it was wonderful... it was also a bt hard getting back into the mornings, plus there are lots of people who have left chañaral but it felt good to get back to full time proselyting. we have one family that has been prgressing really well. The husband has changed so much in the past 2 weeks, he finally understand prayer. but truly understands it. and since he has understood he has applied it. sometimes stuff still happens and it doesnt happen but thats like all of us, but he was really steady with his prayers, and this was a really big progress for him, now he can help out his whole family. they are a really awesome family.

we had another lesson this week that just turned into one of those really spiritual moments when the person really just wants to comne unto Christ and be clean by his power. that desire is so strong in people, and when they recognize and embrace it it changes them forever. that change in people is the reason we are here, that is our entire purpose. help people to come unto christ by having faith upon him and applying his atonement in their lives through the priniciples of the restored gospel.

It was hard to let Elder Barrios go but he was a happy camper... he has three months left and he is going to use them all training a new misisonary... it would be hard for him to be sa about the transfer, but we were really good friends, i got along with him really really well and really really fast. we had  lot of good times together and i could have stayed with him for another 6 weeks gladly. he is a great missiionary and im sure i will keep in contact with him. Elder Magnusson is alo a great guy. we get along really well. he is from Lehi Utah, he has 4 months left in the mission, and hes a ginger hahaha. its wierd to have 4 north americans in the pension right now... and its funny to have people tlak to us in the street and just immediately call us gringos because we are both very much white boys haha. we are gonna have a good time together here. he is a hard worker and we are gonna work together to meet our goals. 

Church is a little different now being the counselor... there are just a zillion things to remember now! and i have to carry around a ton of keys now. but its a lot more agitated. constantly moving but its good. sitting on the stand and all. it will be a really good learning experience. i already have more sympathy for all of the people that have to stay for 2 hours after church everyweek. but for some reason it just feels good to work for the branch.

Im grateful for what i have here. there are a lot of people that lost everything, and a lot more that lost their jobs. but EVERYONE is well taken care of. im glad to know that for myself and for other. The Chruch is true. life is good. and all #BecauseHelives 

have an awesome week! take care of yourselves, i love you all!!

Elder Gold

Cambios! (April 20, 2015)

Hello family! so sorry! its gonn be a realy short one this week, we had cambios so its been a busy day, Elder Barrios got called to train and went to Caldera and Elder MAgusson came here with me! we have been dpacking bags and running little errands almost all day so i havent had a lot of time to write but all is well!! imhappy here! 

This unday they gave me the assignment to be the first counseler to the branch... lots of responsability, and a pocket full of keyes, but its gonna be good. im glad to be able to continually serve my brothers and sisters here.

We also had htat wesoe conference with president Dallin H Oaks. There were lots of problems with the audio at the beginning but it was awesome to see how it didnnt rmatter inthe end. there was an incredible spirit there, and though he didnt give us any crazy new mind blowing information we could feel the spirit directing us. its wonderful to recieve personal revelation for your life, for your investigators and for your companionship. its a awesome experience. i know that the spirit truly guides that man, and this Church. and im sure that God is directing this work. we see miracles small and big every day, as long as we lok for them and are worthyfor them. The gospel is what we need, and i wish that i could better help everyone to understand that. thats the struggle of everyday. help the people to understand and apply it. i hoe every one of you can aso apply it. try it out. sto making excues, do what you have to do to change but there is nothig like living in the path of God, if you think it looks bad on the outside, its because you havent seen the insie, or if you have you have forgotten. We must all follow christ. i promise that we are Children of God and that he loves us.

Myweek has been good. more work in the mud, and more work with people, its the mission. theres nothing like it! thank you for your prayers! have an awesome week! i will wrie more next time!!

Love you all 

Elder Gold 

Getting back to normal‏ (April 13, 2015)

Well, its been a crazy wek yet again here in chañaral, but the good news is that it should be gettingmore normal... soon..

I hesistate to say that only because i know that evytime i think it all goes back tonormal iswenthings just keep changing. soooo we will se what happens. This week we moved out of our house that didnt have water. the sister missionaries have a big house with light and water, so they oved out of their house and went to live with some members, and we omovd into their house. so that has been happy. hot shower, washing our clothes and the dishe constantly, flushing the toilet... heaven. so that was really nice of them to help us out with. obviously we talked to the presednt and everything about it so we are good with the move until the water comes back to our old pension. wich hopefull should be the end of this week! thats what everyone is saying anyway... people say a lot of stuff that has no truth or anything (i cant tel you how many times i have hard that ts going to rain again[which would be so bad for this place right now] ut it stil hasnt rained, becuase people just like to tell stories) but we are hoping that its gonna bethat way, its nice to be closer to the church and everything.. but i miss our old house.

also, i finally got all those pics on onedrive, so you can go look at a little bit ore of the madness that i in, i hope you can geta little bit of a taste, sometimes its hard to take pics when im busy woring and super muddy... but i got a couple of them in free oments.

Ths week we started to get back to proselyting again! we worked from 10 to 6 in the mud and then from 7 to 10 in the sector trying toteach people and contact people aain and all that good stuff. its been awhile ince weve been able to really sit down and focus on our investigators, we were out for a whole week, and then working in the md form almost a week straight. but it was nie to get back into that. teaching the gospel. thats what i cae for. so we did that and then saturday and sunday we were ableto work like normal allll day long... but i got a terrible cold... so we stayed in the house saturday morning and then left in the afternoon because we had an appointment. it was ok, i just couldnt talk because coughing had already ruined my voice (its still like that, it was fun to sing in church hahaha, i lost about half of the notes) and i was a little bit out of it. so i didnt talk very much i was basically just present. it was just annoying because t went tstraight to y lungs, but we had agood day, contacted lots of people and hopefully wewill be able to keep up the momentum. and this week... we will see if we are needed to take out mud, it looks we have one more hermana that has had a really rough time with it ad doesnt have much help so we might be there this week. that is yet to be seen. this friday we are going to travel again to antofagasta! they are going to have a conference for only missionaries with Elder Dallin H Oaks, he is going to be in antofagasta and we are going to get together in the bigger cities to see it. we thought we were going to go to copiapo which is a lot closer, like tw hours, i was suuuuper stoked to go see people down there again, but the presidet decided to take us to antofagasta... 6 hours away. but its because copiapo is still full of mud as well. it didnt et destroyed that bad as far as building and stuff go like here, but it did get filled with mud. Anyways we are gonna go to antofaasta on friday early beause my comp needs to go to adoctor to do a test for his glasses that got broke, and stay the night there to have the conference on saturday moring ad come back that night. which just happens to be transfers night.... it has been sooooooooooooooooooo fast. the cambio is almost gona and it just flew buy so much. we will see what happens seeing as me and my comp finish at the same time. though if they change ne of us and wehaveto go notrth... its gonna be strange travelng friday saturday and then again on onday. my HOPE is that i can go tain this cambio... i would love that to death, but we will see how it goes... there are a lot of possobilities.

This week we had a fun experience with potato chips... lots of stores thathad food in themgot destroyed... so lots of food got thrown into the mud, including tons of bags of potato chips... so as we were working one day someone offered us a juice that wasstill sealed but totally muddy, obviously they couldnt sell it anymore so it was trash for them and they didnt want it, so we washed it, and drank it and it wasdeliscious, and htat started everything... then Elder Fuller found a mini priles container... we were a little skeptial because the outside wasnt solid nor sperical anyore but we decided to try it, it was a bt of a struggle to open it after it was clean but... pop! and it was beautiful on the inside,not even a drop of mud or water oranything. brand new. and that started it all. one day we took a bucket and a half of bags of potato chips home, washed them off and started eating, and there are still plenty in the house! free food!!! nbody else wants muddy things! but i do! :D

So that has been my week!

hope yours will be great! the church is true1 we need the Gospel! it is the only truth! ove you so much!

Elder Gold