Another week in paradise! (Oct. 27, 2014)

So! we had a party this week! On wednesday we went to paint this ladies house, well its actually the aunt of one of our investigators but it was a fun time, they were suuuper impressed with our work hahaha, we had to put up some styrofoam molding stuff and the person she had paid to do the first part was really really bad, and didnt even try to do corners, he just like filled it with putty and called it good, so we came in and measuered it and made it look nice and then painted and she was super happy with  us ha. But she invited us to eat lunch with them after... not like we were gonna turn that down! but the awesome part was that after we left we saw her again yesterday and she said that ever since we went her 6 year old son wont let them eat unless they do the prayer first! hahaha! that was super awesome! 

Also on wednesday we went to go visit carolina again and she is still just super excited with everything!, she went to church again this sunday, but its always cool to go with other families, we have 2 families that have helped her a TON, with their experiences and in the church just being their friends and inviting them to stuff, its so awesome. we barely even have a chance to talk to her in church because all of the members are jsut taking her everywhere! what an awesome problem to have!

We also did another service on friday... that was a party! We had to build a wall out of rocks on an incline and put a bunch of dirt up behind it... i wish i had taken pictures but... i was busy haha. anyways, the rocks were really easy to find... but the dirt... out of the whole MOUNTAIN there was no place that wasnt comepletely full of big rocks... so we had to go down the mountain a bit, use a pick axe to break it all up, take out all the rocks and then we could think about putting it in the wheel barrow. party! so we did that for like 2 hours and we were able to finish a decent chunk. now, we wanted to make sure it was really secure because there were gonna be little kids running around and she had started building this wall on an incline... with sand on the bottowm, sooo the foundation was questionable at best, but we were putting in a few more rocks and evening out the dirt when.... the whole thing slides down... gah! all of that work ruined! now the worst part is that we had to go right after that... so we basically  just had to tell them we would go back next week... and i got fried hahaha. my legs and neck. but thats just normal.

Then on satuday we went a little bit to the interior of copiapo.. like towards the mountains it was like 40 minutes on a bus to go do an interview. it was suuuper prettty once we got up there. i dont know how stuff grows but it was awesome! really pretty green and then straight desert without a sign of life. but these are the grape vinyards that get shipped to the states during winter over there. there are LOTS! i was able to take a few pics of that haha. 

On sunday we also went to go pick up a few investigators but when we got there, nobody was there... so we left them a little note on a card thing we have, and my comp wrote : "we trust you! we will be waiting for you there!" i was thinking... ummm ok. and they toatlly showed up to church! late, but they got there after sacrament meeting! and they LOVED it. so that was awesome. we just have so many people who are progressing! sometimes its a little hard to teach them all because they mostly all have time at night, but its awesome. Sunday night we went to go visit a family, it seems like every time we go someone else from the family decides they want to share with us. so thats awesome! but we were able to help 4 of the people in this family set themselves a goal to get baptizd in november! its gonna be awesome! they all are just super sincere! 

I love the mission! the spirit is so strong. we went to visit a member family and that morning while i was praying i had randomly felt that we neeeded to share something with them... so as are about to share she jsut says "alright Elder I hope you are gonna share what i need" hahaha, talk about pressure, so i was a little nervous but i decided to just keep going with the plan... EXACTLY what she needed... small and simple means. love that. I love feeling that Christ is just directing his work here. all we have to do is keep our part and he does miracles, in us, and in the other people around us. sometimes its hard sometimes we fail, but we can always feel him. i love it.

I hope you all have an awesome week! 

Love you!

Elder Gold

Happiness (Oct. 21, 2014)

So! we are just havin a great time here! yay! 

This week we had interviews with the president on monday, so thats why im writing a day late. fyi. that was fun! the interviews we had like a big chat and study session while president was doing the interviews and it was really cool. we were able to all share a little bit about what we had been learning about faith and such, it was fun! plus, we had intercambios with the assitents sunday night and monday nigh, and they stayed with us both nights as well, i was with Elder Cazier, he is just a massive stud, i love him. he has helped me a lot in the mission. i always learn new things from him. hes just got a really contagious love for the work, but he was also helping me to understand a little better how we could help out the zone, but i basically realized that the best way to do that is gonna be by trying to be like him in that way! i love the work but somehow he just shares that love with EVERYONE. ive know other people with that same attitude at home, even if its not about misisonary work, i always love them.

We had dinner for like the first time in the mission with a  returned missionary from hawaii who studied at byu i and is now working for a few months here in chile! he is way cool. We had an intercambio (exchanges i think) with a few elders this week, i got to go to a little tiny city called Tierra Amarilla (yellow earth) the funny thing is that Elder Mangum started the mission there, so i got to meet his converts and they were so happy to know that i knew him, they love him a ton! but it was good, its funny that we just changed positions, im a zonle leader where he started and hes a zone leader where i started, yet again on opposite sids of the mission haha! but! im pretty sure hes gonna be the next assistent in a few weeks so then we will get to be in contact a bit more ha.

I dont know if i already tlaked about hermano paulino, but he was a peruvian that we met that was here on vacation for two weeks who helped us out with a couple appointments, he has a GREAT testimony, plus, he is helping us out on his VACATION. soooo we love him. and he has helped us out a lot, yesterday we went to 2 appointments with him and both times he testified so strongly and just really helped these people out. we had to amazing visits, the spirit was felt SO strongly. i love that. both families were very decided that they were gonna do better to follow christ. I was alos able to give a blessing to Carolina, that was awesome, i really felt that my words were guided by the spirit a lot! and when we finished there was just this great feeling of calm and happiness and then she just said... "i can feel the spirit" and got choked up and started crying and could continue. i just said, "He is here, this power is real", and we just sat there all in silence for a moment. it was really awesome, she loves the gospel so much! im so happy for her!

Paulino is headed back to peru sadly, so we will miss him, but it was great to met him, it was just a great week, we are going to be working with his family that he was visiting as well. LOVIN IT! God loves us all! and he IS there!

I love you all! have a great week! you are always in my prayers!

Elder Gold

More happiness! (Oct. 13, 2014)

Just another awesome week her in the mish! what more can i say! i loved last week being able to download all of the conference talks THE DAY AFTER conference! sweet! so we have been re listeneing to all the conference talks this week over breakfast, some of them are even better the second time! i love how the spirit teaches you just as much as the words do, you just pick little things up every time.

This week yet again it just didnt feel like there was enough time in the world to do all of the things that we needed to do, but it makes it very entertaining, and its really satisfying to come home tired all the time. a funny experience that happened was while we were working with a list of members that we have and when went and knocked on a door and this lady came out with just this funny like smirk on her face like... oh these mormons... and we started talking to her, the lady we wre looking for was her sister in law and that she was currently there, but we just kept talking to her and we found out she was member but she didnt go to church anymore because a memmber one time did something that she didnt like, but she loves the church! so i just asked her, hey can we come over sometime and te4ach you a little more? and her response... "welllll im not making any promises, but i have time in the afternoon most days" hahahaha. i loved that! she definately wanted to come back but she just needs a good reason, we also gave her a book of mormon because she wanted one and didnt have one, and then we left and will go another day, but we just kept laughing about that response... thats like asking someone on a date and this is what they say "i dont know... but you can pick me up at 7" :) perfect 

Carolina is still just Super energetic. we went to stake conference this sunday (which was SUPER packed btw, they didnt have enough chairs in the building for everyone and we didnt all fit, the missionaries got moved out to the hallway haha) and she loved it! then as she was leaving she immediately points at me and says "when are you coming back to teach me!?" She is just so hungry to keep learning more! she loves to feel the spirit. her biggest challenge has been that she has been living with someone, he doesnt wanna get married, nor listen to the gospel much... so that been hard for her, but this week, he got annoyed with her and left... sooo its like a blessing, sorta, i dont even know how to treat that! we just keep telling her that God is helping her on her path to happiness. but she took it really well and just keeps moving forward with faith!

We are also working with a bolivian family who have been awesome, the 30 year old daughter is REALLY excited to learn about the gospel and she reads the scriptures always, she just wants to have a mighty change in her life, and her husband is also really cool, we are gonna keep working with them, even though its gonna be a little interesting because they are starting to build themselves a house, we went to help them saturday afternoon... the land that they were given was on an angle and FULL of rocks... we went to help for a little more than an hour and i was dead tired, trying to use a pickaxe and a shovel to get it all smoothed down and flat! big old blisters! so much for all those calluses i used to have! defiately should have brought a pair of gloves, but thats ok.

there were just lots of times this week when we just knew we were guided to be in the exactly right point at exactly the right time. God just guides you through small and simple ways, and sometimes just being in a certain place is all that someone needs. i love that. Gods plan is so perfect.

I love you all so much! i hope you have a great week, you are in my prayers!

Elder Gold

First week here! (Sept. 29, 2014)

Wow, its been a fun week! Im actually in a sector where in the past there have been 4 missionaries... its HUGE! but thats better! we have more room to be sucessful! twice the area is twice the amount of people that God is preparing to hear the Gospel!

the other thing with the new sector is... im soooo tired! we have so much stuff to do! luckily we arent walking very much, but we have lots and lots and lots of things to do, and we just end the day totally beat. its a good feeling. Elder Gines is really awesome! we have been able to connect really well and we are both really similar. plus our teaching has meshed really well. i just feel like this whole situation is kinda awesome. Plus im stoked because this week we were able to implement something that our AWESOME INSPIRED President has taught us, called the "Family Mission Plan" Wrds all have mission plans, but families here in the north of chile are starting to have their own as well... its SO EFFECTIVE! its like perfect. Mom was talking about the challenge she had recieved to become betterffriends with someone who isnt a member and just let it naturally happen, what we are doing with that is speeding up the process a bit! All of the people here have friends who arent memebrs of the church, so we are helping them to do easy invitations! Basically we just go visit the whole family and set up a plan with them to get us and their friends in the same place at the same time! thats all they have to do! then we do the invitations. we have recieved TONS of references this week. 19! thats like 3 times more than my best week in the mission! Its just FANTASTIC. so its gonna be so sweet to meet all of these people and help them to hear the restored gospel!

When i was in El Palomar on the other side of Copiapó i had 2 cool families of investigators move to Maray... so basically i just got to follow these people! and we get to work with them again. we had an AMAZING lesson with Carolina and her daughter on thursday... she REALLY wants to get baptized and changed her life. we are just helping her prepare herself for that. she is really great, and we have been finding lots of new people this week, incuding 2 new bolivians that we taught this morning who are also just SO prepared  for the gospel, the only problem there is that he works for ten days and then has a ten day break, so its a little bit hard to keep a smooth teaching system.

Im really excited right now! This work is awesome! i just dont have enough TIME to do everything! but we are so blessed here. its gonna be a great cambio with Elder Gines. My knee is doing great as well! i love you all!

Elder Gold

Better! (Sept. 22,2014)

Family! 

Sorry for the drama haha! This week i got a new comp! Elder Ontaneda from Peru.We new eachother form Arica, he started a tiny bit after me. 

we were together for 6 days and then... i got transferred!  i am  Zone Leader in Maray which is like 10 minutes form my old sector. i will be working with Elder Gines from Eagle, Idaho, who i know from Vallenar as well! so its gonna be really fun! the pension we live in is Way better! but on the fifth floor hahaha. we are gonna have a great time! there is lots to do in this new sector! its a super wierd cambio for me, because im in the same Zone, the same Stake... so its like im saying goodbye... but not really ha. 

My knee! is great! so dont worry about it. i basically took a full week off. then on Friday we were able to go work all day like normal. I am pretty positive that God healed me... because what i felt in that moment, and how fast it has healed... dont match up. God works miracles. I´m grateful for the Sacerdocio. such a blessing. it was actually Elder Gines who gave me the blessing when it happened haha! It gets a tiny bit sore when i walk alot but its just peachy now. i continue to ice it and raise it at night. 

This week we had the 18 of september... which is the independence day here that is MASSIVE so we ate a lot and then i got sick hahaha... worth it. deliscios deliscios barbecue. we also flew kites for a bit while we waited... you can tell me im like  3 year old but i LOVED it... plus i have cool new things that i can show you when i get back :) yay idaho wind!

It was a little sad to leave these investigators that we had worked with, they were basically all news from me and Elder Juimenez. but the work is really gonna take of in El Palomar. Elder Ontaneda is great so they are just gonna tear it up like crazy! im sure!

This sunday i gave a talk, i love feeling like i can basically just talk on demand now... i prepared it well, but i wasnt even nervous! i just got up and spoke! it was good! i felt happy about it, and i took advantage of the opportunity to announce that i was leaving... i said it and there was a big "aawww" through the whole congregation :) that made me feel good! i feel good about my time there. We worked hard and set a really great base for these next missionarys to work with! 

I love you all, and i know that God does too. He does everything just for our benefit. EVERYTHING. i saw that in a talk one, about how God in the Ancient Testament is just as loving as the God of the New TEstament... it was hard for me to understand at first, but as i have been reading the Old Testament (with alll of my down time) i have been able to see that, and i have seen how his ways are SO MUCH higher than our ways. it may look like punishment to us. but its just opportunity. I wish that EVERYONE had this faith, The hope of a better world. Im so happy to be here helping people to find this same faith. I have seen the gospel change people in incredible ways, they just have to be willing to let it. I love you all!

Have a great week!

Elder Gold

One More Week (Sept. 8, 2014)

Today. im tired. still happy! but tired.

We had a decent week! we were able to talk to a lady named Marisol on tuesday, which was cool because it was one of those people i had seen before and said hi to in the street, (because we say hi to almost everyone haha) and as we were walking by i just felt that we needed to talk to her! so we did! and she toled us to go visit her on thursday! so we did that... we had a great lesson with her. her husband was there as well but he didnt want to participate. we were able to help her set a baptismal date in the first lesson! then we went back on saturday and she talked to us in the entrance of her house crying... because she was hungover and had just done drugs.. basically just confessed like everything right there but then she kept telling us that she wanted to get better. She asked us to pass by on sunday to take her to church! so we did! and she went! she has a long race to run but she really wants to be better and she knows she needs to change! that was good.

We have been able to start working really well with the ward, gaining the confidence of the bishop and his leaders. they are helping us and we are helping them! we have had to work for it but happily its worked out well! we are starting to see the changes in the ward as we become part of the ward and start working WITH them. We also had an activity on friday with them... sadly we were busy helping out and getting ready so i dint take many pics... but it was fun! My comp and I sang Hero by enrique iglesias, but the spanish version... we had a good time with it hahaha... they gave us all sorts of crap for it on sunday. they kept telling us to sing and asking for autofraphs and asking us when our next performanc was... funny :)  But itt turned out well! we never even practiced the song... we just sang. and it sounded good ha. blessings! I didnt video it with my camara but i will see if i can get it from soeone to send it to you!

Also... remember how drunk men used to be the only ones who were attracted to me? well, here in copiapo thats not quite as true... soooooooooo many girls whistling and shouting things. My comp enjoys it a lot hahaha :) it always makes him laugh.

Thats my story for the week! 

Hope you are all well! Love ya tons!

Elder Gold

Turning over a new leaf?‏ (September 1, 2014)

I feel like ive said this a lot... but i think we are gonna be better now! We had another really rough week... but it was more real this time... he finally started putting forth the effort... so hopefully things will be better... after starting the no extra attention technique it took about 2 weeks to work... not the 3 days i was hoping for... but thats ok! Its just been a really really dramatic week... but weve been able to keep working and have some sucess. 

So this week we were told that on wednesday and saturday morning we were going to practice to have a missionary choir! so we went wednesday and it was a party! this was the first time i was one of the people who actually knew stuff about music, usually i just do what people tell me, but here i actually have skills! wow! but it was fun, we are singing come come ye saints. 4 parts... we struggled a bit trying to teach a few people to sing... but it sounded good... then on friday night, they announced that they werent going to do it anymore because the stake conference got rescheduled. DARN! but hopefully they still make the misionary choir. we also did some service on friday... that was interesting... poor people here are hoarders... i sent some pictures... lots of the houses here are just built out of left overs that nobody wants, and they dont want to chuck anything so it just piles up. so much junk... and its just stored forever... but we burnt a bunch of old sticks and stuff and helped out this older lady. 

We had a cool lesson with a less active member, and her kids... felt the spirit really strong, hopefully we will have more follow up lessons with them! but they are kind of partiers... its still hard for them to even imagine not partying, but thats ok, we told them to just think about one thing at a time, knowing if what we said was true, and from there they could move forward!

We ate some deliscious food this week... so good. Roman and Yanina who have made us lunch this month are awesome. they made papas a la guancaina wich is a famous peruvian dish... that is incredible. thats the picture of the sauce and potatoes on a lettuce leaf. and they have an incredible power to make rice and chicken turn into pure heaven in your face. yes. im lovin it... sadly... the month is over and they arent going to be able to continue... we also had aji de gallina wich is like hen pepper tanslated.. its this salsa with chicken stuff with rice... i dont know what they do to their food but its so good. love it to death.

Also, yesterday night we were visiting a person and a cat jumped up on me so i gently moved it off me... 5 minutes later i touched my eye... and in 1 minute flat my eye had swollen up to almost shut, i was crying (not frompain), my nose was running and i couldnt talk. and it flet like my eye was going to pop out of my head! this happened as i was reading sa scripture, so i just managed to finish the verse pass my comp the book, and put my head down for a second... after like 5 minutes it got better and i put my head back up and they all started to tell me i had something in my eye... duh. but they put oil on my eye and we finished... and my eye got a little better that night. i have been taking benedryl... but, my eye hasnt got any better since last night. so today im an ogre... so thats good!

This week i have had lots of "perfect timing" experiences... i love it when that hasppens. when people are suprised when we call them or pass by becasue they were JUST thinking about us, or they are never home at this time but today yes... i love that. The direction of the spirit thats basically just happens unconsciously. God directs our thoughts and words when we try to align our life with his will. lovin that. Sometimes hard stuff happens, but life really is great. im happy to be where i am.

once i gave a talk on alma 5:26  i didnt understand it in the slightest... it wouldnt be a bad idea to look that up and meditate on it :) have a great week! all of youe

Love

Elder Gold