Transfer 4 Week 6

So it is now the end of another transfer and we are all very excited for the next one. We found out about the changes that will take place tomorrow as people get transferred. I'll be staying here in my same area, but I'll get a new companion named Elder Underwood, I've met him a few times and he really is the nicest guy, I think we will get along really well and I can’t wait to work with him. Elder Blackwell will be leaving me:( but he's headed up north to Roy to be my fellow Spanish District leader which I'm excited about. He's gonna do a great job.

In other news, this week we did a lot of service again, it was really fun. For one service project we helped this lady with a little cleanup on her small farm. She has three horses and a donkey who were so fun. We picked up branches and leaves and other debris from a little pasture. Afterwards we asked if we could hang out with the horses a little bit and she took the one female horse out of the corral and let us interact with it and brush it and it was so fun. The other service project we poured concrete for some members. We were getting their fence posts concreted into the ground and oh man was that tiring work. I couldn't tell you how many 80 lb bags of concrete I lifted, poured into the mixer, and inhaled the dust from them. I blew my nose later and legitimately shot rocks out of my nose. Crazy huh? Although it was not easier I know it was way easier for us to help them than for them to do it on their own so I was glad to help. And at the end of the day I got a nice little workout in too.

I really don't have much else to say but I would love to leave you with a scripture
JOHN 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"
Without Christ I would be lost, he is so important in my life, and I know that when we all focus on Christ we can truly feel more happiness in our lives.

I love you all so much

-Elder Golden

Transfer 4 Week 5

HOLA MIS AMIGOS  friendly reminder that I can fluently order any item at a taco truck in Spanish and have done so on multiple occasions. Sorry to flex so hard on everyone.

Well a week from now we will find out about the changes for the new transfer. Let me just tell y'all, una tormenta viene. Not in a bad way but there's going to be a lot of change here. It's exciting to me and hopefully for everyone else too.

This week we tried a lot to find new people but with not much success. We also tried to teach but not many people could meet with us. So we only had a handful of lessons this week. Our effort is there but the results aren't. I have faith though that this is only temporary and we can have success soon. I know that if we are faithful, diligent and obedient that we will receive more blessings in the future. But if you want to pray for me that would be greatly appreciated as well hahaha.

We also got to do some really cool service for people this week, some people that we knew, and some that we didn't. One family needed help moving so we helped them load up the truck, followed them to their new house, and helped unload the truck. I know, really hard but don't worry I'm tough. The other one was a family that we helped to roll out sod in their entire yard. It was actually really cool, there were a lot of fun people there doing it with us. There were at least 6 full pallets of sod and we finished it all in about 2 hours. And it looked great afterwards.

Everyone pray for somebody you love this week, let them know that you love them and do something nice for someone. I promise that you will feel better afterwards. Like always, I love you all and I'm praying for you. Have an awesome week!!

-Elder Golden

Elder Ewell eating a donut as he works

Sod rolls

Our friend Anthony at his soccer game

Grillin' and chillin'

 

Transfer 4 Week 4

Wow time is really flying here in the Utah Layton Mission. Only two more weeks until the next transfer which is so crazy; it feels like it just started. But first, some really big news. We were told yesterday that we no longer need to wear masks around everywhere, well at least those who are fully vaccinated. So that's kind of exciting, hopefully things will be getting a little more normal soon. Of course if someone asks us to wear masks we would wear them but I'm quite excited. 

Today for P-day we played a little bit of pickle ball and went on a hike up to a waterfall. It was really nice to be outdoors and just in nature. Call me a mountain man but it just felt like I was at home; maybe it's just me missing Washington haha. I'll throw in some pictures for all of you. My shoes and socks did get a little bit wet at the waterfall, but I survived, so nobody worry. And afterwards we went and got a bite to eat at Chick-fil-A, very tasty.

This week we also had exchanges with the Zone leaders, so Elder Blackwell and I split up and one of us went with each of the Zone Leaders and spent all day with them. It was quite fun and I got to go up to Layton for the day. Elder Smith, one of the Zone leaders and I had a really good time and got to do some missionary work together. We also ate a great dinner.

In other news, our friend Jorge got baptized this week and it was really great to see. His wife and kids were there and all seemed really excited to welcome him into the church. Do I wish he wanted to come to our ward and hear everything in Spanish? Yes of course, however I do recognize that it's far more important that he gets baptized in the first place, no matter which ward he wants to go to. We were all really happy for him in the end, and he told us that he was excited too. He's such a great man and we really, really loved teaching him, learning from him, and getting to know him.

President Call, our Mission President, was at District Council again this week, so he has come to  2 out of 3 of the district council's I have been in charge of. He was there for interviews this time and I had a really nice little chat with him and he gave me some really good advice on the questions I asked. He also stayed after he was done interviewing and he talked with all of us and it was just really cool to have him there with our district. He's truly a great man.

Spiritual thought: a scripture I read in 2 Nephi chapter 31 verse 5
"5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!"
We can all be cleansed of our sins if we follow Jesus Christ and his example through Baptism. Wanna learn more? Contact your local Latter Day Saint Missionaries👍

Funny thought: we found two nerf guns in our apartment this week. We've already lost four of the bullets but we're having fun. One day Elder Blackwell grabbed one, stood in the kitchen and said, "I can change the clock on that microwave with this thing" so apparently he thought that he was good enough of a shot with a toy gun to accurately hit little buttons. He has hunted his whole life though so his marksmanship is much better than mine; maybe he'll actually try it this week.

Well that's all from me, love you all and you're in my prayers!!🎉

-Elder Golden

Hiking with our district

Transfer 4 Week 3

Soooooo this week has been INTERESTING. And it was definitely better than last week. So for starters, I think that it was Tuesday but I was standing there at our kitchen sink washing dishes (like a good boy) and I saw something moving on the ground out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw a mouse dart from the fridge to behind the trash can, then from behind the trash can to around the corner and down the hall. So that thing was gone gone. So yes we have mice. We talked to our land lady, and they're in the walls and she's getting an exterminator. I'm not too worried; I could take an army of mice on in a fight. Not in the dark though, too scary.

Also happy late mothers day to all of the lovely mothers out there, you are loved and appreciated, especially by me. We had a mothers day party for our ward during the week. It was so great. We had really far apart socially distanced tables (because safety 3rd) and we got to help prepare the food by cutting up rotisserie chickens from Costco. Eighteen  of them to be exact. Elder Blackwell, Elder Gray, Elder Saunders and myself became Chicken carving experts AND I learned how to say breast in Spanish, pechuga. Entonces, pechuga de pollo means chicken breast! Wow I could pretty much survive in any Spanish speaking country. Well at least I think. But yes we dismembered and cut up chicken and served people their food. Very fun.

We also had what is called Zone Conference. It’s where we get together and talk about a lot of really cool stuff and it's very spiritually uplifting. Plus we get to see a lot of cool people there like our mission President and other people in the mission we don't see that often. It went really well and they gave us Chick-fil-A afterwards, mega dope. It was also on Cinco de Mayo and surprisingly as a Spanish Zone we did not have a big fiesta but it was ok cause I made myself some enchiladas. Had myself a little celebration.

We were also about to go to Texas Roadhouse, the restaurant, but we decided against it for lack of funding. Maybe next time we get paid...

A quick scripture that I really loved this week that my roommate showed to me, found in Moroni 7:41,  41"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."

Well I'm all out of ideas of what to write about, so I guess this is all for this week. I love you all so much, and the moms a little bit more this week. Until next time

-Elder Golden

Me in the new tie my mom sent me

Our Zone at Multi-District Counsel

Penny's puppies

Transfer 4 Week 2

Soooooo this week has been more rough than the others on my mission. I'm not even super sure why cause literally every day has something difficult and something fun happen. But it feels like we really got tested this week. First off, our one friend who is going to get baptized has always wanted to go to the English speaking ward because that's where his family goes. We just found out that because of that he won't count as our baptism; it'll count for the Elders in that ward, but we still have to teach him because he only speaks Spanish. It’s also a little sad because he doesn't realize all the awesome stuff that he's missing out on by not coming to the Spanish ward, like being able to understand what goes on, being able to talk to people, and the amazing ward members who are so supporting and loving, AND cool Elders haha. 

We also have had a little bit of trouble finding new people to teach. But at church this week a member came up to us and told us he had about 18 employees who are not members of our church and really wanted to introduce us to them. So there is hope for the future haha. I'm praying that they're all interested! If not all 18 then at least a few.

I know that trials pass and that we grow stronger from them. The other day we were at church and none of our friends that we are teaching showed up, and that was really sad. We made sure to invite them and let them know where it was, what time, all the blessings of going to church, remind them before, and they just don’t seem to realize how important or how big of a difference church can make in somebodies life. One lady in our ward was even prepared to meet all of them. She had like skittles and stuff to give them and it made me even more sad knowing that she didn’t get to meet them and give them candy. That just really hit home. I still haven't cried yet on the mission, but 100% I was about a millimeter away from crying seeing the effort and preparation this lady in our ward took to make these people feel welcome and them not showing up. It made me feel like we didn’t do our jobs as missionaries by getting people to show up. I'm very determined to actually bring at least a few, even if I have to drag them there. Well that might be a little aggressive but I know church can make a huge spiritual impact on someone's life and give them more spiritual strength throughout the week.

In other news I bought a whiffle ball bat and ball. I'm very excited to hit home runs with those. My companion Elder Blackwell actually played baseball so he might be a little more well versed in whiffle ball, but I'll give it all I've got. Also today for p-day we played on a playground with our district for like a couple of hours. So fun, we played a game kinda like tag or lava monster. It was super fun; I felt like a kid. I didn’t feel like a kid again cause I'm actually going to be young forever and never grow up, but I've always felt like a kid at heart.  

Another cool thing.  As a District Leader I have to do baptismal interviews of the people who are being taught by missionaries in our district. I did my first one this week and it was awesome. The kid was 9 years old. He speaks Spanish and English. I ask him, hey pal, you wanna do this in Spanish or English? The little baller said English, so I said HECK YEAH I WANNA DO IT IN ENGLISH TOO. I got to know him a little bit
"hey what do you like to do?"
"Uhhh I really like pizza"
"No way, i LOVE pizza too, what's your favorite kind?"
“Hmmm, pepperoni"
"No way! I love pepperoni pizza too!"
So needless to say he was so awesome! Him and I are best pals. His family even has a litter of puppies that I got to meet, I snuck a photo of them real quick.

Which brings me to my next point. Penny, our landladies dog, had her puppies too this week. They look like little sausages. I don’t have any pictures but I'll include some next week.

Funny thought: sometimes while we're driving I'll pretend Elder Blackwell ran a stop sign and didn’t see it, and sometimes he believes me.

Spiritual thought: Heleman 5:12 says, "12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

And if you didn’t want to read over all that, what I really like about it and what I think it is saying is, when we focus on Christ, and really try to become more like him, we are made infinitely stronger. We aren't going to magically not feel pain, or not have problems and trials, but with Christ, these pains, problems, and trials become insignificant. With him we cannot fall. And even on that off chance that we do fall, with Christ we can always get back up.

I love you all so much. Have a blessed week and go do something nice for someone this week. As always, see you next time

-Elder Golden

My face mask and burrito spa night

Showing off our tools as we do an awesome service project

We tore out the entire kitchen