Weekly Mission Report – Mar 28th

Hey Ya’ll,

I hope Easter went well for everyone. It went well here. We had a great program with a lot of music. My companion and I were quoted in sacrament meeting. That was weird to be quoted. After church we went to a members house who was doing a southern potluck with a couple families. It was super good. I have become a big fan of baked mac and cheese. While we were there, we got to hide Easter eggs for the kids. It was pretty funny to watch them all fight for the eggs and try to jump to reach the ones that were high.

The rest of the week though has been spent doing service. We did some sheet rocking which I could kinda knew how to do thanks to Mike Swenson showing me how. We also planted plants, moved furniture, put furniture together, did some more yard work and worked with some homeless people. That was a cool experience. We went to a Just Serve project on Saturday. It was with a group called under the bridge ministries. They put on a church service for homeless people and give them a bunch of hand outs. We got to help with that and while we were there we got to answer questions for people about the gospel. It was pretty cool. There were a ton of people there though.

We got to meet with one of our new investigators who we thought was going to be really cool because he was super interested the last time we met. When we met this time though he just tried to tear us apart. It was really disappointing but later in the week we got another new investigator and the lesson went great. We taught the plan of salvation which is a great lesson for Easter. She seemed more sincere, so hopefully it will go well our next visit.

This morning we went fishing with a member who has not been a big fan of the male missionaries for awhile. They had a super bad experience with them awhile ago. It has been great because we have been repairing that relationship again. As usual though, I did not catch anything. I had one bite and he even jumped out of the water but the line broke. I was so mad because my companion caught a huge bass and then another smaller one. The rest of the day I got nothing. I did see 10 snakes though. Some were huge. That was pretty cool.

It has been such a good week though. I hope ya’ll have a great one as well. It has been awesome being able to share about Christ resurrection this week and what that really means for us. For me it means, hope to be better, do better, and become better! Thank you all for your support. Have a great week!

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – Mar 21st

Hello Everyone,

This week has been great. We have had a lot of success this week and we were also able to do a lot of service. First, it started with an awesome lesson on Wednesday. We went on splits with the young men. We went over to a less actives house and taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ. I did not do much teaching which was the goal. The two young men I took did really well and knew what they were talking about. I only had to rescue them a couple of times. The spirit was really strong as they testified of the things they knew to be true. The goal was to help the less active feel the spirit. It worked for sure. Especially when we talked about baptism and remembering those covenants that we made. We really stressed the importance of this.

We also were able to do some service that day by painting a house for a lady. She has a pond in her back yard that we can fish in. She invited us to come fish when ever we want. We are going to try to take her up on that soon. It has been awhile since I have been able to go fishing. This area is very transit. Another cool experience this week happened late at night before we decided to head home. We met this young guy and began to talk to him about the gospel. He opened up and said we could come back. He started showing us all this stuff he had too. He really felt a connection with us. It was just cool to see how he opened up like that. That same day we went back to a guys house who asked us a week ago to stop by. He invited us in and asked lots of questions. He really liked what we had to say and asked us to come explain more to him later.

I think it was that night when we went home that our apartment complex had at least 6 to 7 fire trucks and a cop car. Apparently one of the buildings caught fire. You cant tell though from the road. It must not have been that bad.

This past week we were also able to participate in a “Just serve” project. We fixed up a homeless shelter. A ton of people showed up. “Just serve” is really taking off here. There were even a lot of people there who were not members of our church, but members of other churches. That is the goal and it is starting to happen.

Pollen season is in full affect down here. It is so bad. Some days it looks like there is a heavy fog outside, but its just pollen. Other days while your outside it looks like it is raining pollen. Our bikes are always covered in it. Everyone’s car is yellow and same with buildings, streets, and everything. Thank goodness for me I don’t have allergies so it doesn’t affect me except coat my teeth while I’m biking. My companion though is sneezing all the time. Other people swell up. Its insane! I have been dumb and have not taken pictures so maybe next week I can have one for ya’ll. Its pretty bad.

The last highlight of the week was yesterday. I gave a talk in church about feasting upon the words of Christ. It has been amazing to me as I have reflected upon my past and the difference I can see in my life when I have been feasting upon the words of Christ and when I have not been. It really does make  difference. It is a blessing to have the scriptures as a reference guide for our lives. If we want to have long term happiness instead of short term gratification that the world goes after, then we just have to follow the principles in the scriptures.

Thank you all for your support. I love it! Ya’ll are awesome!

Elder Goodsell

Weekly Mission Report – Mar 14th

Hey Ya’ll,

This week has been another week of service.  We helped a lady put together a huge table and 10 chairs.  We then went out with a bunch of youth who helped us and some of their friends from school to a sushi buffet.  It was so good!  I had squid, octopus, and seaweed salad.  It was amazing!  Some of the kids we went with asked us a bunch of questions and are now a little interested in the church.

We also went to an eagle project which was cleaning and painting forklifts.  We did it in a parking lot and now our necks are sun burned so bad.  That night was awesome though, because we went to a members house who had a burger challenge for us.  He makes these huge stuffed burgers full of all sorts of good things. After you eat that, you also have to finish a milkshake.  It wasn’t hard at all and it was really good!

That has been the fun part of this week.  The rest of the week was spent tracting. Everybody canceled this week so that is what we had to do.  The only story I got from tracting is we got run off by some old dude.  He was mad because we were tracting in his community that had a no soliciting sign.  Then we found out he was the head of the HOA there.  It was kinda funny.  He was so mad.

Also we went to North Augusta to interview a Spanish girl for baptism.  She had a younger brother there named Allen.  Allen and I became best friends.  He was crazy and was climbing all over me.  He couldn’t stop talking and he only spoke Spanish.  So I could not understand him but I would talk back in English and it worked out.

That was my week.  It has been great.  This coming week is the last week of the transfers.  I could be leaving or staying.  I really have no idea.  Sorry the email is short.  We are about to run to Augusta.  Ya’ll are awesome and I hope ya’ll have a great week!

Elder Goodsell

Stuffed Burgers

Me, Allen & one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Haines

Weekly Mission Report – Mar 7th

Hey Everyone,

This week has flown by.  I hope ya’ll have had good one as well.  We have done a lot of service this week.  With the masters coming up people have been getting their houses ready to rent.  People pay big bucks to rent houses here during the tournament.  We helped one of the families in the ward get their house ready by moving furniture, building furniture, and cleaning up a bit.  It’s a pretty intense process.  We got some awesome Mexican food after though.  That was super good!

We also had another lesson with the less active girl that we have been trying to help.  She is 24 years old and really wants to find the right church.  We have been talking to her about conversion and the role the Holy Ghost plays in that.  It was a great lesson for her.  She asked tons of great questions and you could see stuff clicking in her mind.  It was really cool.  My companion and I both talked about the spirit and how we have seen it affect us. Then we helped her understand how it can help her in her life and she definitely was feeling the spirit.

Later in the week we met with our friends who have a strong belief in Election.  Usually our discussions are really good and we all ask lots of question and share a bunch of things. This past week though it got a little intense.  Never to yelling or bashing but I think both sides were getting a little frustrated with each other.  Both sides said things that made the other sides very frustrated.  It was all good though.  We have all learned so much from these discussions.  I have learned more about the Bible during these discussions we have had with them, then I have at any other time.

The following day we met with a guy who used to believe in the same stuff as this couple does.  He has recently joined the church and so we always tell him about our visits.  He helps us a lot by telling us where they are coming from but also how they misinterpret the Bible.  He is our secret weapon and he loves it to.  We always have great lessons with him.

Anyway, overall it has been a good week. I am super sore because we played soccer on Saturday for several hours.  I was barley able to walk yesterday.  I had to pick my legs up to get into bed.  It was so embarrassing.  I don’t know why I was so sore.  It has been awhile since I have been that sore.  Hopefully ya’ll are all doing well.  Have a great week!

Elder Goodsell