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

Transfer 4 Week 1

Ooooooookkkkkkkkkk everybody. I know you've all been dying to hear from me. So I want to update you on the Life of Luke, or Elder Golden. So last week Elder Blackwell and I thought we were sitting pretty. We got to stay together as a companionship, we were keeping the car, and we didn’t have to pack all of our stuff and move apartments.

Well Tuesday morning we woke up and got this phone call, guess what? They realized we live really far away from our new district and decided we should move all the way up to Kayesville. That's a pretty big move! So we spent the next few hours packing everything we owned for the next apartment. So every white shirt, tie, q-tip and book was stuffed into our suitcases, and what didn’t fit was tossed into an old cardboard box and into our car. We actually couldn't fit it all in one trip, so we took two trips.

Now we have roommates which is super fun. We live with some english elders and we have bunk beds, and we all sleep in the same room, so it's like a sleepover/party every night. I have top bunk of course, cause that's where the life of the party sleeps, logically. So that's a quick update on how we live and stuff. Oh and the landlord has a really cute pregnant dog that loves to come hang out with us sometimes, and I'm so down for that. I’m excited to meet her puppies soon.

Penny

We have a friend that we’re teaching who we just put on date for Baptism this last week. And just a quick reminder for all y'all, we teach every lesson completely in Spanish, so it’s kind of a miracle that he even meets with us two gringos who speak broken Spanish much less accept our invitation to be baptized. Actually I'm being a little facetious; our Spanish is quite understandable and I'm very proud of our ability to communicate with other people in a whole different language that I couldn't speak a year ago. So we do an alright job. But it is so amazing to me that even though we didn’t speak this language before that we are able to go and teach people about the gospel and they're willing to listen to us. I'll post a video of me speaking Spanish on my Facebook someday so y'all can check out my FUEGO Spanish there. Hit me up with that friend request. But yes things are moving along, the days, my Spanish, and most importantly, the work of God.

Also this last Saturday night, I get a call from a leader in our ward and they're like "hola este es el Elder Golden si? Ah bien, podria compartir un mensaje en la capilla mañana?" So I was all like, "claro que si hermano, seria un placer, pero que es la tema? Y para cuantos minutos?" "Ah solo para cinco minutos y sobre confianza en el señor" so yeah that was craaaazy. Haha so pretty much they asked me to share a message at church the next day about trusting in the Lord and for 5ish minutes. Sooo I did that real quick and it went pretty well I think. People thanked me afterwards for my message haha, I felt so special.

Funny moment: I had to lead my first District Counsel this week as a District Leader. I prepared it all and was ready to go, just a little nervous, and I show up and the Zone Leaders are in our district so they were there, and Assistants to the President were there. So I was like oh great so fun they get to watch me mess up my first District Counsel hahaha. I actually thought I did an alright job. But halfway through the meeting, President and Sister Call walked through the doors and just joined us for the last half so that was pretty funny to me. I just couldn't believe it was my first time and that they were all there.

Also another funny thought; the other day we were sitting at a stop light and Elder Blackwell said, "I haven't seen a frog this whole time I've been on my mission" just out of nowhere and I started dying laughing cause it was so random. Then I started thinking, and I haven't seen one either, pretty crazy.

Spiritual thought: Families can be together forever. Wanna learn how? Contact your local missionaries.

As always I love you all and hope you're not missing me too much, your favorite missionary

-Elder Golden

Elder Hanosek and I burning our ties

My last District ~ RIP

Transfer 3 Week 6

If you guys did not know, I am about to officially hit 6 months as a missionary. One and a half months in the home MTC, and now four and a half months in the field, so 6 months. Crazy! So I'm gonna do this tradition, when an Elder hits 6 months they burn a tie, so I'm gonna do that tonight. Woohoo.

And as this transfer comes to a close we have lots of big news. We just got the news for who gets transferred where and all that. Elder Blackwell and I are going to a new district, but we’re still over the same area we've been in if that makes sense haha. I also got a phone call from the Assistants to the President (two elders who are pretty much the highest up leaders besides our mission president) saying that I have been called as a District Leader and asked if I would accept this assignment. I told them that I was nervous but that yes I would accept the assignment. So that's big news, I'm a district leader over a district that I've never been to, but I get to keep my companion and the ward I'm over. A little scary and a little comforting. I guess Heavenly Father knows what I need; some growth and discomfort, and some comfort in other areas.

So we have also been teaching a lot of members recently and its been great getting to know the people in our ward better. We even did 4 service projects this week for ward members and it feels so great to help other people out. They're all so loving and just really, really great people. I love hearing their stories and just talking to them (well at least trying to in my broken Spanish). But it's been really great to connect with them all.

Well that's all I really have time for this week but I just want y'all to know I love you and I'm praying for you. Take care now.

-Elder Golden

Me at a cool sunset; even though it's blurry it's beautiful

Elder Hanosek cutting my hair

Transfer 3 Week 5

So some really big news, pretty sad. Remember that really cool camo exhaust tip that we put on our car? Yeah, it fell off on the highway today... it was pretty tragic. I spent a whole 7 dollars on it at Ross, installed it myself, and to see it fall off, just so sad. Well I didn’t actually see it but we heard like a banging and rattling at the same time and Elder Hanosek who was in the back seat saw it fly off and yeah. If I had to do it all over again I probably would, but I would ask to borrow some tools next time instead of just hand tightening it. That may very well be the reason that it fell off, cause it was only hand tight hahah.

Well other than that, we're actually doing so good. We did some cool service today. We pulled these three big stumps out of the ground. We cleared some of the ground around the stump then wrapped a chain around it and yanked it out with just my bare hands. I'm just kidding we actually just pulled it out with a truck.  I think they were afraid I'd snap the chain if they let me do it.

We also found a new guy to teach this week. His names Jorge and we met him through a guy who's friends with him and he told us Jorge was interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon. So we went over and he was so awesome, he was nice and really interested in learning and just a great guy. So we read the introduction, left him with a message, and invited him to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and pray about it and ask God if it's true and find out for himself. He said that he thought that it was cool, other churches always say that they're true, but we encouraged him to go and pray about it and find his answer from God.

Well I have to go but only one week left until transfers, I love you all and I'm praying for you guys, take care and if you want to send me a new camo exhaust tip in the mail, send me a quick email so we can work out the details.

-Elder Golden
 

A Pizza Restaurant we rated as 5/5 Stars

Me and my new favorite speed limit sign

The district and AP's (leaders)

Transfer 3 Week 4

Well hey there everyone, crazy seeing you here. I hope that you all had an awesome Easter and that you got to think about what the meaning of it is. For us out here in the mission, well we had a good time as well,  just probably a little less hunting for eggs and a little more taking notes at General Conference.

If you don’t know what General Conference is it's when the leaders of our church give talks and messages and we all get to watch and listen from all across the world. Well my district, we all got together and went to a church building, pulled all the couches and big comfy chairs we could find into a classroom, with a big pile of snacks and watched it on a cell phone and I took a huge like 8 pages worth of notes. It was a really, really good time. One of my favorite talks was by our Prophet President Nelson and he spoke a lot about faith. But I really loved one line, he said, "the atonement of Jesus Christ has changed all of our lives forever" which I thought was so true. Because of Christ, we will always be able to repent and change for the better.

Also today, p-day, our mission President, President Call, rented out a movie theater for us and we got to go see "The Lamb of God" which was like a big musical performance and show thing with instruments and singing that told the story of Christ's last week before he was crucified, and then after the resurrection. It was very cool; the music was amazing and we all really enjoyed it.

Funny thought: my companion Elder Blackwell and I snuck 16 inch Jimmy John's sandwiches into the movie theater (I made sure to wear my trench coat to sneak them as efficiently as possible) and we tried to really sneakily eat these massive sandwiches. Also if you have never been to a sandwich place, they wrap them in multiple pieces of really big, really loud pieces of paper. So once we were done with these sandwiches we didn’t know what to do with the paper. So we had to wait for the moments where the music got really loud and tried to crumple it up super fast. I wasn't fast enough, the music stopped and I waited with a half crumpled sandwich paper until the next time the music got really loud, then I finished and put it away.

Spiritual thought: Easter, because of Christ and his resurrection we know that death is not the end of our journeys. We also know that before Christ's death he paid and suffered for our sins. We are able to repent of our sins through the power of Christ’s Atonement and become clean.

Well everyone I love you all and Jesus loves you more. Take care and stay swag

-Elder Golden
 

Elder Locke, Hanosek, Blackwell I with lots and lots of soda drinks. (Sorry mom)

Elder Gray cleaning our party room with the Ghostbuster vacuum we found