Transfer 3 Week 3

Well time has really been flying this transfer and we have been just so busy. We love having a car because our area is extremely massive. So yeah that's been pretty nice. My Spanish has been improving leaps and bounds from where I began but it’s still not perfect. I think I could probably have about an hour long conversation before becoming too mentally exhausted to keep talking in Spanish. I have made a couple of really long 30 minute phone calls to members in the ward where we do just chat and share a message which really shows me that my Spanish is better than I think it is and I should have more confidence in myself. But still, very scary you know hahah.

Well one of my buddies from my first area got baptized this week. I'm not in that area anymore but luckily I was able to go and see his baptism and congratulate him. We even got some pictures with him and Elder Gray and Elder Saunders since they are his current missionaries. 

They had me direct the music for the baptism and it was definitely not my best work. Directing and singing in Spanish and it was A cappella cause we didn’t have a piano player. It was fine though, just dandy.

Also, today we went to a restaurant called Sills and had these awesome breakfasts; they were so good. I may need to start a diet soon and try to shed some weight, keep my suits fitting for a little while longer. We actually did buy a 10 pound bag of chicken breasts and we've been cooking chicken breast and rice to stay healthier. We also made some really, really good breakfast burritos the other day and oooh they were good. 

A little more about food, well there's this place called FIIZ that missionaries love! They sell special sodas, and us missionaries get any size drink for only $1. Well, another missionary told us about this drink called the Mermaid and it comes with gummy sharks on the lid so I'll show you a picture of that too. It was very, very exciting to eat those. Probably one of the highlights of the week.

Something that we've taken to recently is when we are out and about and then we have a phone or zoom lesson, we'll go park in the Ace Hardware parking lot to teach which I think is so funny. So we hang out there sometimes and teach.

Spiritual thought: we have the chance to listen to a living Prophet of God, Russell M. Nelson this Saturday and Sunday during General Conference. In my life General Conference brings peace, hope and comfort. So if you have a little time this weekend, tune in on BYU TV or lds.org. I highly recommend it.

Funny thought: Elder Locke tackled Elder Gray, a Division one track runner, during our football game today. We were dying laughing about it, especially since he had already scored the touchdown.

Well love you all, but Jesus loves you best,
-Elder Golden

My Mermaid FIIZ Soda

Teaching in the Ace Hardware parking lot, haha!

Transfer 3 Week 2

Hey Guys :) I miss you all soooooo much. This week has been so good; we've been having a lot of fun and success. Elder Blackwell and I had our first Baptism together, and it was really good. When we were teaching him, his friend who baptized him would joke about holding him under the water for super long. They're extremely funny; every time we go over there we spend a lot of the time laughing.

We also just found out that we can accept food from members now, but still can’t eat in their houses which is sad but we can get food so I mean it's still good haha. We already got some Chilean bread and dang that was some really good stuff, keep it coming people ya know?

We still teach English class and have so many funny moments during those. The last lesson we helped teach about what foods we like and practiced conversations about it, "no I do not want fish, I don't like the taste" all that cool stuff.

We had Zone conference too which was really good. That's when all the people from the zone get together and do some training and hear from our mission President, President Call and his wife. We learned a lot of cool stuff and had a good time, I even got to be in a role play in front of everyone and I was named Stephen during it. They even gave us subway sandwiches afterwards.

We also went to this place called Tucanos with the Zone leaders for Elder Gray’s birthday which has all you can eat meat, so we ate all the meat that we could. Ten of us eating heaps and heaps of meat. Oh yeah and a salad and entrees bar sort of thing. I even tried chicken heart, little weird feeling, but it wasn't too bad taste wise. We literally ate for an hour and 45 minutes straight without stopping. Afterwords we all felt like we were gonna die a little bit. It started off as a competition but at the very end you could tell we were all suffering a bit. But we’re all doing good now so don't be worried one bit.

We have had a little bit of trouble with finding new people once again this week, so we have some new strategies to try out. Please pray for us hahah. We could definitely use some help out here.

Funny thought: BIG NEWS, we went to Cabela’s today for pretty much no reason, and we bought Turkey Calls. Like for hunting. We’re just using them for fun but it still makes me laugh.

Spiritual thought: this week during Zone Conference President call mentioned that we’re not always sure why something may be happening to us at a moment in time, and that we never know what we are being prepared for in the future. So think about that. These times may be tough but we might be very thankful in the future for how hard things have helped us become stronger.

Well I really love you all, and you are in my prayers. Stay strong and stay swag.

Sincerely,
-Elder Golden

Baptism

Tucanos Brazilian Grill

Chicken Heart

       

Yum!

Transfer 3 Week 1

Ok so as you guys know, transfers happened and I had to pack up everything I owned and move to "the hobbit hole" which is just a tiny basement apartment that I actually really like. In some places I can do a calf raise and my hair touches the ceiling... but it's cool you know. Also my new companion Elder Blackwell is so cool, he's from Mississippi. He's got an awesome southern accent, and he makes me laugh soooooo hard.

It was a little bit sad leaving my last area because the people and members there were just so much fun and so amazing. But now I'm in this new area and it's so fun as well. We even help teach an English class twice a week over zoom to all the funniest Latinos. Seeing how they speak English makes me realize how I must sound in Spanish so I wanna work hard to get better at Spanish hahah.

Also, HUGE NEWS, we got a car. We have a massive area to cover and we didn’t have a car but they gave us one and now we’re so happy, and Elder Blackwell drives and does a really good job of it too. Let's just say one of my past companions was a little bit of an aggressive driver. But that's over now. So yes we have a car and we named her Charlene, and I even bought her a camouflaged exhaust tip from Ross, the store. I'll put a picture of that in here.

So other than meeting the members and people we're teaching and giving some really good messages, I've just been vibing. Oh yeah we also have some new guys in our district. We got Elder Hanosek who was in another district.  He was my MTC companion and so we get to hang out in person sometimes. We also have two new guys who are a lot of fun; Elder Saunders from Alaska and Elder Robert's from Texas.

Well we actually have a pretty exciting night planned and I hope it goes well. We want to put one of our friends on date to be baptized this Saturday and hopefully he accepts. He's from Chile and is so funny. We like joking around with him and teaching him too.

Well I know this was a little shorter, but this week has really been good, and I hope next week will be even better.

Spiritual thought: I really like James chapter 2 when it talks about faith and works together. We need more than just faith, we need to do good also, and live like we have been commanded, loving our God and loving our neighbors.

Funny thought: Elder Blackwell does this thing where when we’re on the phone with Elder Gray our district leader and my last companion, he says, "oh yeah one more thing" and then he hangs up. He makes Elder Gray and I laugh all the time.
I am so blessed to have such a fun district overall where we can work hard, have fun, and speak a tiny bit of Spanish.

 I love you guys and I'm praying for you all.
-Elder Golden

Elder Blackwell, Charlene, and I

Charlene wearing the camo exhaust tip from Ross (forgot to take off the label, oops)

Elders Gray, Blackwell and I wearing our new Lululemon pants outside the store

Our super nice oven mitt at the new apartment!

Transfer 2 Week 6 ~ BIG NEWS

So just randomly on Tuesday we get a call, "hey Elder Piñeres we got you a flight for Thursday" so we were like ok dang, short notice, so let's get to it. We got him pretty much all ready to leave to go back to Colombia in two days. He decided to wait until the night before to start packing though, he didn't get much sleep let's just say that.

Also, probably the highlight of my entire mission so far, we were driving down a street and I saw a really really really cool car so I said, "turn around right now we're gonna go look at that car.” So we did go and look. And as we were looking and took a quick few pictures, some guy walks out of a golf store and says hey the owner of the car is taking lessons inside and said you can get in and take pictures real quick if you'd like. I dang near passed out. So I did. It was super cool. So yeah it's a 1967 Mustang Shelby GT500 Eleanor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So since we shipped off Elder Piñeres, Elder Gray and I have had to do all the teaching, contacting, calling, and talking to members at church in Spanish all by ourselves. Yes we were really quite nervous to do it, and we thought we would totally mess up all the time. Well we have actually been doing quite a good job. We’ve taught entire lessons all by ourselves, we both bore our testimonies in Spanish to the Spanish ward, we also made them laugh, hopefully cause they think we are funny and not because we speak funny.

Ok so just saw the transfer board, and I'm leaving my dear first area and my dear Elder Gray. We're staying in the same district which is fun and my new companion Elder Blackwell is so hilarious; he's from Mississippi and is just so cool. So we will have a lot of fun together. Everyone please pray for me and my companion.

Elder Solórzano is going home. He finished his two years here in the mission and is one of funniest Elders and best teachers there is. So sad to see him go. When an Elder goes home, we have a funeral for them, so we had a funeral for him at our last District Counsel. I have some hilarious memories of him. He's from El Salvador and has the best accent. I just love listening to him talk.

Well I gotta wrap this up. But here's a real quick scripture for you guys John 14:27, "27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I like this scripture because we can always rely on our Savior for peace, for comfort, and for support.

Elder Solórzano's funeral

 

 

 

Us Elders teaching Alfredo who said I could pass for a Latino if I could speak good Spanish

Elder Gray slumped in the back seat while Elder Piñeres drives and I co-drive (RIP power trio)

I love you all so much, have a fantastic week
-Elder Golden

Transfer 2 Week 5 ~ BAUTIZMOS

Yes this week has been awesome just like the rest of the weeks here. But we had a baptism this Saturday and it was a whole family of four and man it was so special. The Mom’s brother is in our ward and he baptized her and her husband, and his son baptized their kids. If that made sense haha. I'll put a picture in there for you guys. It was a big old party. Very spiritual and just overall an awesome experience.

And then the next day was Sunday and they got confirmed which means they get the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost and that was also extremely cool. We could tell that the Dad was touched by it.

Also quick story, the Dad this last week said he wasn't ready but the rest of the family was. So we would teach him and try to make him feel ready and would pray for him every night. Well one day we go by his house and he tells us he had a dream that night. He said he saw a tree and a path to it. He said that he made it to the tree but saw others who didn't. He also saw a river and cliffs and some other stuff. Well if some of you are unfamiliar with the book of Mormon, this pretty much describes a part called Lehi's dream... yes that is correct, we prayed for this man to feel ready, and never having read this chapter before he sees in great detail what is described in a very important section of the scriptures. If that isn't an answer to prayer I don't know what is. So he said that in the dream some people made it and that he was one of them. He said he felt like this was his answer from God and that he was now ready to be baptized. Wow, yes, I know you have goosebumps right now, don't you, like me. Thought that was worth sharing.

There is also this one lady we really like who we are teaching; well she's been trying to pull the slip on us (well kind of). Last time we met with her she pretty much just said well yeah I know that this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is as well. And ever since then it seems like she's been avoiding us. Well guess what Señorita we don't take no for an answer. So we went straight to Walmart, called her daughters and said, "what does your mom like." So we bought her chocolate, wrote her a very kind and sweet but poor handwriting note that said we haven't forgotten about you and are praying for you and all that. So that's right! You can't escape from the missionaries, especially not after you say that you believe what we teach is true.

We had a district counsel again, like every other week, and it was pretty fun. Elder Gray showed us a video about the mentality of a lion. Very inspirational. Loved it. Also later that day I stole Elder Blackwell's bike which was in the gym while he was teaching a lesson on zoom and did some rad tricks on it. I'm sure you guys would be really impressed.

Also a long time ago Elder Piñeres lost his backpack and we had no clue where it went. Well one of the families we are teaching found it somehow which was funny, so are gonna go get that back this week. But that is just one of the many small blessings we have seen. There are honestly too many to count.

Funny thought: the little little kid in the baptism photo is David (Dah-veed in Spanish haha) and during the baptism he goes, momma I'm gonna go potty. And then goes to the bathroom. It was really funny and we were just laughing about it. He's a really goofy little guy.

Spiritual thought: God really loves you and wants the best for you. Try reaching out to him through sincere prayer.

Well some cool pictures down below: the baptism, and sunset at the Bountiful Temple. 

The Alvarado Family (Lucio, Tesla, Giselle, and Alex)

Love you all and hope you have a great week
-Elder Golden