Transfer 7 Week 1

Hey everyone, just a quick update for you all. This week went by very fast. I am now in North Salt Lake with my companion Elder Heller. We have a lot of people we are teaching but for some reason a lot of lessons we had fell through. It was quite odd. Hopefully this week will be better.

I am very excited though to be here and I know that there is a lot to be done. I hope that I can do all I can to make a difference in the lives of others.

We had ZLC this week, (zone leadership council) where the leaders get together and discuss how to best help the zone. It was cool getting to see the other missionaries and hearing from all of them as well.

We also have zone conference which I'm very excited about. I hope that I learn a lot and really feel the spirit.

Well something I studied this week and wanted to share with you all was in Jacob chapter 4 of the Book of Mormon. Verse 4 says, "For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us".

I liked this verse because it spoke about the purpose of the Book of Mormon, testifying of Christ, just as all other Prophets in the scriptures have done. Testify of Christ and the peace we can find through him.

Quick funny moment: we got a different car and they left these really really nice really really stylish sunglasses in it so I've been rocking them all week. You can see me wearing them in the pictures below. Try not to be jealous.

Well everyone that's about all I have for the week; love you all and take care.

-Elder Golden

Super Cool Glasses

Transfer 6 Week 6

Great week!

We had a zone conference with two members from the quorum of the 70. Pretty much just high up Leaders in The Church. And I even had a one on one interview with one of them. His name was Elder Sikahema. Vai Sikahema, and I found out he was a running back in the NFL for I think 3 different teams which is so cool, and if I'm not mistaken he was the first Tongan to play in the NFL. Super awesome guy.

Zone conference was overall super spiritual and super powerful. I felt like we learned a lot so it was just a great day. We talked about the blessings of having a modern day prophet and following their counsel and how it brings blessings. We also talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, namely faith in Christ, Repentance, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. This Doctrine that Christ himself taught is so essential to our journey in this life and in the next. I feel so blessed to have the knowledge of this gospel and the joy that it brings to so many people. 

In other news I found out yesterday that I'm getting transferred and will now be serving in North Salt Lake. That's the furthest south area in our mission. I'm very excited but sad to leave my current ward. They have been so loving and supportive of all missionaries, (but I would like to think of me especially).  I do know my next companion will be Elder Heller and I'm very excited, but sadly it will be his last transfer before he finishes his mission. So hopefully we can help him to go out really strong. 

RIP District B

We also went to Buffalo Wild Wings today with our district as a last activity before we all got split into different areas, and we ate a lot of food. It was great and we really enjoyed it. I probably ate about 30 wings. Pretty light day for me. I could probably get down 50 before I started to really feel it. If you didn't know I'm exaggerating about both of those numbers. But we had a good time.

Well I need to go now. But I really love you all, and I'm praying for you. Take care and see you next week

-Elder Golden

FaceTiming Scooby on P-day

We dropped off a copy of El Libro de Mormon at a friends house
and it got caught in a rainstorm along with the note on top

Transfer 6 Week 5

This last week we had Yaritza's baptism and it was awesome. The spirit was strong even though we started a whole hour and a half late. (Basically the font wouldn't fill fast enough) but it was truly great. She got up afterwards and shared about what a change she has experienced from meeting with the missionaries (us) and talked about the peace and happiness she has found in the true and restored Gospel. 

Yaritza then asked me to do the confirmation the next day at church. I accepted with a TON of fear in my heart. A confirmation comes after Baptism and is when a priesthood holder confirms somebody a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and gives them the gift of the Holy Ghost. Well I had never done this before, in Spanish or in English. So I had to do it in Spanish in front of about 200 people and I had to use the tu form of Spanish. Quick rundown/Spanish lesson for all you homies. There are two ways to say "you" in Spanish. As missionaries we use Usted; it's the formal and a more respectful form. There's also Tu, which is informal. You would use it with family or close friends, but generally we don't use it at all on the mission. Well having only used Usted for nine months did not help me here because in blessings such as a confirmation you use the Tu form, so I had to go into my brain and for a day relearn some very simple Spanish. Long story short, I did it and didn't mess everything up, so I was very proud of myself.

Now you may be wondering what is baptism and confirmation all about? We perform these covenants in the church just how Christ told and instructed us in the scriptures. In the new testament, John 3 verse 5 "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Baptism is a remission of our sins, and represents new life, being re-born, and receiving the Holy Ghost is being born of the Spirit. We know that to enter into the kingdom of God we must do these things.

Oh what's that? You want to enter into the kingdom of God? Well me too. If you wanna learn more about this let me know and I'll find some missionaries near you so you can do just that, learn more about these essential ordinances.

Well everyone, I have to go, but I love you all so much, but Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you even more than I do, never forget that.

-Elder Golden

Yaritza's Baptism

Awesome ties I bought for 75% off

Transfer 6 Weeks 3 and 4

Sorry everyone I couldn't send out an email last week. It was because my email was mad at me :( but now I'm here. So let me give you a recap of what I have been up to these last 14 days.

Week 3
We got to go and see a movie with the mission called witnesses. It's about the 3 witnesses of the Gold Plates used to translate the Book of Mormon and shows the things they went through. Eventually all three of them had completely separated themselves from the church but never denied the things that they saw and knew to be true. Two of them eventually returned, but overall it was a really cool story. 

We also went and walked around the Temple grounds with our friend that we are teaching, Yahritza and her 5 year old son Christopher. (Probably spelled Christofer cause they don't use ph in spanish). It was really cool. Some members from our ward picked them up and we met there. 

Christopher and I ended up looking at and talking about the flowers and other botanical decorations around the temple. He kept wanting to pick a ton of them, but we decided to only take real small ones or ones that had fallen onto the ground. He asked if he picked a big flower if it would make God angry, and it was so funny to me. Then he looks up to the sky and calls out to God and asks if he would allow him to pick a flower. That was hilarious. He's a little ball of energy and speaks super fast and only in Spanish. I told him I was learning Spanish and that English was my first language, and he just responded,"really? Why? When can I learn English?" We also talked about Dinosaurs, and I told him they were scary, and he explained to me that I didn't need to be scared because they were all dead, wow what a relief. I'm glad he was able to comfort me in my time of great fear hahaha. 

Week 4
This week we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders Elder Gray and Elder Blackwell. I looked around, saw them two, saw Elder Underwood, and thought “wow, I've been companions with all three of them at some point in my mission.” All super great and fun guys who love the Gospel and love sharing it with others and seeing the blessings that it brings to others. 

On exchanges I went with Elder Gray and we went on a walk for an hour in 100 degree heat. It was hot. We talked to a couple of people along the way and 3 of the 4 times we talked to people it was in Spanish which was cool. Just any people we bumped into along the way we would say hi to and start a conversation. One guy was named Clemente and was grilling up some mean  hamburguesas, and right at the end of our conversation we found out it was his birthday and his boss gave him the day off work haha and he still didn't mind taking some time to chat with us and told us about his faith and talking about the Gospel. 

We also played volleyball with the Zone Leaders ward, and my team got wrecked. Not my fault though cause they wouldn't pass me the ball. Even when I kindly yelled at them to pass me the ball. I'm kidding I didn't tell them that but we still had a lot of fun.

So some people kind of act or just are different when they switch between English and Spanish. So one of my goals while learning and speaking Spanish was to make sure my Spanish and my English personalities were the same. Because you know I want to be myself and make jokes with the Latinos, cause if you all didn't know, latinos love to joke around. They have awesome humor. Well anyways, Elder Gray told me that I seemed pretty similar in Spanish and English so I'll take that as a win. On another note if there're any Spanish speakers reading this email and can give me some tips with the Subjunctive form, I'm all ears. I understand past subjunctive, but regular subjunctive has been messing with mi cerebro (my brain). Thank you muchly.

I don't have much else to say, but know this everyone, the Lord loves you all and he's there for you in your hardest struggles and in your times without trouble as well.

Love you all and see you next week!

-Elder Golden

District Council

A driveway with a cool giant rooster statue