Weekly Mission Report – June 19th

Hey Yall,

I hope ya’ll have had a great week. This will be my last email. Today is my last P-day. We have had an awesome week! One of the ladies we have been teaching got baptized on Saturday and she loved it so much. It was such a good experience for her. She was soaking it all in. It has been amazing to see the change in her life. She is so dedicated to the gospel and its awesome. She brought a ton of her family as well. We were able to give them a church tour and they loved it.

We have been able to teach a lot of lessons this week though and it has been great. It’s been amazing to see how the gospel will uplift people and help them in their life. I have been able to see many people change because of the gospel. Even if its just for the sort time we are in their home sharing our message. Just in that time you can see it uplift people. I have loved the opportunity I have had to work with so many people and make so many friends. The mission has been the best thing of my life because of how much I have grown and the lessons I have learned. I have developed a deep testimony in the restored gospel and our Savior Jesus Christ. That is something I will cherish forever. I have learned how much God loves each one of us. I have been able to see and feel his love for me. I know that he has a plan for all of us. As I have reflected on these two years I can see how he has put me in certain areas with certain companions for a reason. It’s been amazing to look back on. I know the Lord knows us and puts everything in our life for a reason.

I have loved my mission and I’m so grateful that I have been able to serve. I’m excited to be home and continue on with life and apply the many lessons I have learned on the mission. I want to thank all of you for your support these last two years. It has meant a lot to me. Ya’ll have been amazing, so thank you so much. Have a wonderful day everybody!

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – June 13th

Hey Everybody,

I hope ya’ll have had a great week. Our week has been good. We stayed pretty busy. We started to see a few people more often throughout the week to prepare them for baptism. One of our investigators is Wendy. We love Wendy. She is so funny and makes amazing food. We had great lessons with her this week. These last few weeks she has really committed to the gospel. It’s awesome! She has much more of a desire to follow the commandments and is committed to the church. We have loved teaching her. She will be getting baptized this Saturday. We are so excited for her!

Another lady we are teaching will probably get baptized next week. She is doing well too. One of the items we have shared with our investigators this week how in life we have a vision and that’s the celestial kingdom. We then have goals to get there. Those include the many ordinances we do as well as enduring to the end. We then have plans every day, every week, and every month to hit those goals. Those plans include living the commandments, reading scriptures, praying, going to church, developing Christ like attributes, etc. It put things into perspective and gave a clear direction on what to do and why living the gospel is so important. The plans must be put into play in order to reach these goals. All goals must be reached in order to reach the vision we have of reaching the celestial kingdom and living with our Father in Heaven again. I have loved teaching this to our investigators.

This past Sunday my companion and I both spoke in church. We spoke at the Young Single Adult branch about missionary work. My companion talked about the why behind missionary work. I talked about how normal members of the church can do missionary work. The talks went really well. We also both did training in a missionary meeting we had yesterday. That went really well to. It was my last big training to a large group of missionaries. They had me give my going home testimony as well. I couldn’t help but talk again how I have seen the Lords hand in my life. How I have come to know that he loves me and puts me through everything for a reason. I’m so grateful for it! It was a good meeting. Everyone did a good job on their training’s.

One funny thing that happened this week was my companion and I trying to describe what a pie was to someone who doesn’t speak very much English. So we were in an English class helping the Spanish elders teach Hispanics how to speak English. Well, one of them didn’t know what pie was. So I started out first trying to describe it. I said, “well you see its round and you cut it like a pizza.” My companion just started laughing. I didn’t know what else to say. So then he said, “you see, you take like an apple and you bake it and it turns into a pie”…. I was like really? No way!? He then realize how dumb he sounded and we were both just laughing. Who knew describing pie would be so hard.

Anyway, I hope ya’ll have a great week. Thank you for everything you do. I appreciate the support.

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – June 5th

Hey Ya’ll,

We have had such a busy week. Its been awesome! I hope ya’ll have had a great week. This week has been one of the fastest on my mission. On Tuesday we went to Lanett for an exchange. I gave the training at the district meeting. They asked me to talk about what I learned and what I wish I would have done. It was actually really cool to reflect on my mission. I have gained a strong testimony of 1) The Gospel 2) the Lord has a plan for us and loves each one of us personally and 3) always be progressing forward. It’s cool to look back on my mission and to see how every companion, and area, and person I have met, I met for a reason and needed that experience. I can see how the Lord set things up along my mission that would prepare me for my future. I can see how he has inspired me throughout my mission and those around me to help me. It’s amazing to think about! Everything has worked out so perfect that it couldn’t be luck, but only the Lords hand. After that meeting I stayed in Lanett for an exchange. We tracted into a lady who was looking for a church and already has some family who are LDS. We had a great talk with her about the gospel. It was wonderful! She was excited about what we shared and asked us to come back.

This week we finally met with a girl that we had a lesson with my first week here. She was really interested and came to church that week. We had a great lesson with her. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is. She understood and told us how excited she is to keep learning. We have really been focusing on helping people understand how important the Book of Mormon is in conversion. We want all our people we work with to develop a habit of reading the scriptures everyday.

This week we also had a meeting in Macon which was really good. The training’s were awesome and I was able to see a lot of friends. This is the last time I’ll see a lot of them until they come home. It’s been a great week though. We have taught a lot of lessons and have helped a lot of people. I’m so grateful for how busy we are. Thank you all for your support. I hope ya’ll have a great week.

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – May 29th

Hey Ya’ll,

This has been a great week. We have taught so many lesson and so many people. We have been so busy and it has been great. I finally got to meet the ward this week since last week we went to the branch. The members here are awesome and live up to the reputation they have around the mission. It was a good time. This week though we were concerned with a few of our investigators whether or not they were ready for baptism in the next few weeks and we had a few lessons with them this week and are now confident that they are ready. We were concerned that one of the investigators took that she didn’t have to be perfect after baptism the wrong way. We felt she thought that it was still okay to break a few of the commandments that she thought weren’t very necessary but we had a lesson with her and she brought up how she doesn’t want to do certain things anymore or associate with people who will bring that temptation into her life. It was really cool. We have been seeing that a lot of people we teach. With a lot of them, things have just been clicking. You can almost see the light bulb go off. Its amazing! You can always feel the spirit direct those lessons. Everyone we talk to right now is really excited about the gospel. Some though are still hitting those road blocks that come when they get close to baptism. However, they are handling them pretty well.

This week we were able to go to Macon for exchanges and we had a good time. I was with another missionary that I’m good friends with. We both go home together in a few weeks and we had a good talk about our missions. We had a lesson with two investigators and we watched the hour long restoration movie and WOW, the spirit was so strong in the room during it. It was a special experience and another one that really strengthen my testimony that God loves us and knows us.

So, funny story on the way back from Macon we stopped at a gas station to fill up and my comp was going to grab a snack. So a little back story, I have been trying to eat really, really healthy for the past little while and it has been a while since I have bought anything unhealthy to eat. Well, he convinced me to buy a bag of chips and it has been forever since I have had anything like this. I’m in line and this guy walks up behind me holding 3 beers. First thing he says to me is I’m a personal trainer and I chose not to put that stuff in my body. He said have you checked to see whats in that? I don’t put stuff like that into my body. This guy straight roasted me about buying a bag of chips the whole time I was in line. As soon as I went to say something back he would start roasting me again. He would not let it go and he didn’t stop until I left the store. He didn’t even look like a personal training and plus he was holding 3 beers. That’s WAY worse then a small bag of chips. Man, it got me heated! I went off about it for probably 20 minutes to my comp. He thought it was funny that the one time I buy something bad, I got roasted.

Anyway good times.I hope ya’ll have had a good week. Thanks for all you do.

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – May 22nd

Hey Ya’ll

I hope ya’ll are having a great week.  We had an awesome week!  I’m super sad that I had to leave Evans, Georgia.  After being there 14 months it feels like home, but they moved me to Auburn, Alabama.  It is a sweet town.  The people here are great and have so much Auburn pride.  It almost rivals Texan pride.  Since I use to live there, I can say that.  I love it though, it’s a super cool place.  We cover a family ward and a young single adult branch next to campus.  That is a ton of fun and we went to the branch for church yesterday.  They are a lot of fun.  We also have a ton of work going right now.  We have a couple people on date to be baptized and we taught a girl for the first time this week and committed her to baptism.  That was really neat.  She is eating up everything we tell her and she even came to church.  We had an awesome restoration lesson with her and she felt the spirit.  We were bold with her on how this will bless her life and she responded in a very positive way.

We also had a solid lesson with another guy who we didn’t think was interested.  We taught the restoration and we both had the impression to focus on priesthood authority.  As we did, he picked it up right away and everything just clicked for him.  He even pretty much taught the whole lesson over to his girlfriend when she came into the room.  He loved it and got excited about everything!  It was a solid lesson until a former meth addict that is living with him came into the room talking about having visions and speaking tongues.  The spirit straight left the room!

We had a bomb contact this week with a lady who was completely turned off to us at first.  She didn’t want to talk to us, but I kept asking her questions about herself and she finally opened up and explained her background and why she doesn’t like us.  We were able to clear stuff up and bear a powerful testimony to her that we have a special message that will be the answer to what she is searching for.  She asked us to come back by the end.

The week has been solid though, and a ton has happened.  We are constantly busy which is really nice.  We are always on the go.  I’m excited to be here and to work hard this last transfer.  My companion is great!  I met him a few months ago because we served in the same zone and even went on exchanges once.  It’s cool to be with him now.  Thank you for all your support!  Have a fantastic week.

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – May 15th

Hey Ya’ll,

We have had a pretty good week. Tuesday we did a lot of yard work. It was a lot of fun and the weather was really nice that day. We had pizza after doing the yard work and then my companion and I had a lunch right after with Grandma Becky. We went to Cracker Barrel which is a bomb place! They give you so much food. Two hours later we had a big dinner with another family. I was super full that day.

The next day we contacted in a neighborhood for two hours. It was crazy hot but we had a good time. We talked to a few people but no one really was interested except for one person.

I got a call from my mission president on Thursday and he told me I was leaving the area. That was pretty awful news but its all good. I’ll be somewhere else my last transfer and he said I would like where I was going. That same day we also had dinner with a family who has a daughter who wants to get baptized. She has been trying to get baptized for four years but her mom is very against the church. It was really cool that the mom finally opened up her home to us. We had a great visit with her as well.

We had dinner this week with our recent convert Razia. Her family joined us for dinner as well. They are pretty cool and we were able to have a good conversation with them as well. We have had a lot of good and important conversations with people this week.

On Saturday I ran over a squirrel. The squirrel actually ran in front of the car so it wasn’t on purpose. On the way back we passed it again so I pulled over and cut off the squirrels tail. It’s now sitting on my desk. A lot of the hair is falling off so I don’t know how long it will last. We also passed a box turtle on the side of the road and another missionary wanted that so we grabbed that as well.

Transfers are tomorrow and I’ll find out then where I’m going and who I’ll be with. My options are looking like Columbus, Auburn, Cochran, and Augusta. I think those are all the open places that I could go. We will see though. Thank you all for what you do and for the support. I’m excited to kill it this last 6 weeks of my mission. Have a great week!

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – May 8th

Hey Ya’ll,

I hope ya’ll have had a good week. I feel like I just emailed the other day. We had a lot of meetings this last week. With Zone Conference and MLC on Friday in Macon. This week should be pretty quiet for meetings. We are only having one. So we found out at MLC that we will be making a little mission video. Not sure how this is going to turn out but it sounds pretty chill. Our Zones topic is obedience. I laughed when I saw that and said “of course.” I have no idea what we are going to film for that but we will figure it out.

Our Bible study went really well. A lot of people came and we talked about repentance and forgiveness. A lot of people opened up and shared a lot this time. It was neat and a good experience for everyone. It was a really good lesson to prepare or as well.

This week while we were contacting my companion had a really hard rejection. I felt bad for him and he was pretty ticked after. The lady was just being difficult and super ignorant. It’s all good though. I laughed about it after. To make up for it we talked to another lady who rejected us, but we didn’t walk away until she told us what her problem was. After we addressed the concern she opened up and we had a solid talk about the Book of Mormon and restoration. She then even said we could stop back by. That was bomb.

Also this week Razia our investigator got baptized. It was awesome. She was so nervous but afterward she was so happy. She got great support from the ward. She asked me to baptize her and it all went smoothly. Baptizing someone is a neat experience. I was a little nervous at first but I have been working on pushing fear out of my mind so I did and after that I could really focus on feeling the spirit which made the experience all the better.

On Tuesday of last week we decided to cross half of the Savannah River because all of these rocks were sticking up out of the water. Well, all of us at once slipped on a rock and our feet went in. One kid had is feet go out from under him and then he slammed his hip down on the rock. I thought he broke it because he fell so hard. We were laughing so hard that my comp almost fell off the rock he was standing on. While we were out there we found a good size snake. I almost caught it but he got away into the water. That was a bummer. Good times though. We also saw some people protesting to protect the Rebel Flag and Confederacy. It was super funny. They looked hilarious.

Thank you all for your support. I hope this week is a good one. We have transfer calls this week. Pray that I stay here for my last transfer. Thanks ya’ll and have a great week.

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – May 1st

Hey Ya’ll,

This week started out with exchanges up to North Augusta. I was with this missionary who had only been out 3 weeks and hardly knew his area. He is also a country boy with the deepest voice I have ever heard. Everyone in the area loves his voice and accent. It was super funny. He was a cool dude though and we had a good time. We went contacting in a park and talked to a lady who said she was looking for peace. We testified of finding peace through the Book of Mormon and after that she wanted to meet again to get a copy. We also saw a 5 to 6 foot gator sunning itself. We couldn’t get to it though because it was in the middle of a pond.

We have had a bomb of a week talking to a lot of people and have had a lot of good gospel conversations with people.  We have talked a lot about peace with a lot of the people we have run into. Its a popular topic when talking about the Savior. We talked to one lady and everything was going great until we mentioned the Book of Mormon. As soon as we mentioned that she was not interested and closed the door. We found out that it was because she goes to Warren Baptist Church, which is a huge church around here. They preach a lot of anti talk about Mormons to their church members. It works pretty well to because we run into their members all the time and they think we are going to hell.  It’s pretty dumb and what’s even worse is they preach stuff that isn’t even correct and so all their members are so ignorant of what Mormons really believe. I’m not going to lie, sometimes its really hard to not call out how ignorant they are and show them how ridiculous they sound. It’s so ingrained in them that they don’t even give our words any credit. You would think they would give more credit to us as missionaries for the church who teach what we believe everyday. I pointed to my name tag and the picture of Christ I was holding and said we definitely do and she still said we didn’t.

Anyway, we have a had a good week. We had a missionary meeting yesterday that went well. Afterward, we met with our investigator who is getting baptized this Saturday. We were concerned that she was not ready and also that she was letting fear and negative thinking influence her a lot. Well, we had a discussion with our investigator about the difference between Nephi and his brothers.  We discussed how Nephi was always positive and relied on the Lord.  We then made a comparison to his brothers who were always negative and driven by fear. We then talked about using the gospel to make our lives more positive and how to create positive habits in our life. It was the bomb, and she was all good by the end of the lesson.

We are doing solid though. Nothing too crazy going on. Ya’ll have a great week and thanks for all you do.

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – April 24th

Hey Ya’ll,

This has been a bomb week! I hope it’s been good for ya’ll. This last Tuesday I was on exchanges. I stayed here in my area and an old friend and fellow missionary in the mission that I’m going home with in June came to do exchanges with me. We had a good time. We went contacting for a while and found some sweet people. One lady that we talked to was sitting in her truck and said she normally doesn’t come to this park for lunch but felt she needed to that day. Another lady said she knew she was suppose to meet us because her day had been a rough one. Another lady tried to debate doctrine.

We then had a great bible study which helped one of our investigators who was starting to be unsure about baptism. After bible study she felt better and will still be baptized sometime around May 6th. We are having a lot of scheduling problems but we will get it all figured out.

The rest of the week we contacted a lot and found some neat people. In total we found three people who seem to have sincere interest. We will see what happens this week with them. We had a really neat talk with a lady that we try to visit each week. She is a psychologist. My companion and I were talking about people who act out and make anti material against the church. We decided they all attack the doctrine but that is not what got them to leave the church. Its something deeper that really made them leave the church and attacking the doctrine is just a way the retaliate. We asked her about this and also why many parents wont let their kids join the church. She gave us some really good insights. A lot of it comes down to fear, never actually understood the church, crave attention, and ego. It would take forever to explain how they all relate to the topic, but it was a good discussion. It gave us a lot of insight on why these people do what they do and how we can help and handle them.

We did a couple service projects this week and I got chiggers for the first time. Those jokers are awful! The itch so bad! I almost made it my whole mission without getting any.

Today was bomb! We started cooking the raccoon last night in a crock pot with water, salt, onion, red bell pepper, and carrots (that’s all we had). It was so good though when we ate it this morning. We also had pulled raccoon sandwiches. They were amazing! It tasted like a pork roast, but a lot more greasy and moist. I would recommend it. The whole district had some. I saved a big plate of it that I will have for lunches this week.  Its been a solid week though. It’s definitely starting to heat up around these parts. The humidity is on the rise. The season of soaking wet shirts and ties is about to begin. Ya’ll have a great week and thank you for everything you do.

Elder Goodsell

Cooking our Raccoon

Pulled Raccoon Sandwich

Weekly Mission Report – April 17th

Hey Everybody,

This has been a bomb of a week. We had a lot going on. We had a really good Bible study on Tuesday about Christ calming the tempest. We related it to conversion vs. testimony and also how he can calm storms in our life. Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting and it went really well. Everyone gave great training. Afterward I went on exchanges with the missionaries in Aiken, South Carolina. The exchange was great! We focused on talking to everyone we saw as we walked around the neighborhoods there. We were sharing the Church’s Easter messages with everyone. We had a lot of positive talks with people and quite a few of them said we could come back.

So this week was insane because we caught a raccoon. We have been wanting to do it for awhile but we didn’t think we actually would. We got a hold of a trap and decided to put it out in the woods behind our place. Well, when we went out the next morning to look at the trap, we saw that it was tripped. We were like no way, we cant have a raccoon! Well, we had that joker and he was just chilling on his back like he was on the beach or something. I couldn’t believe we actually had one. The raccoon kept hissing at us and growling. He was so mad! I dragged it through the woods around 100 yards to our place and then into our apartment. We skinned it in the sink and now the skin is tacked out on our table with salt chilling on it. The meat is in our freezer and we are going to eat pulled raccoon sandwiches next Monday. I’m so stoked to try it and have the pelt up on my wall! It was an adventure!

Easter was great this week. We had an awesome program with a lot of music. My companion and I after church headed out to talk to tons of people on the streets about the Easter message. I had a guy tell me we didn’t believe in Christ! He got me pretty heated and yeah it was an interesting contact. I started to throw down on him but then I walked away.

It’s been a really good and busy week. We have had a lot going on and this week should be really good as well. Easter is a great time to talk to people. It’s kinda like Christmas time. I hope ya’ll have had a great week. Thank you for everything you do!

Elder Goodsell