Elder Justin Michael Goodale: Companion from Russia... in Arkansas

It was great to hear from Justin today. How exciting that later this week he's getting a companion from Russia, all the way out in the sticks of Arkansas! :-)

What a sweet week! I had the best birthday ever! On Tuesday (my birthday) we went and saw the Lemons in the morning. We had a WAY spiritual lesson with them, Krista was bawling the whole time and even Kurt was crying a little bit. The spirit was so strong. And we set a baptismal date! March 28! It was the first baptismal committment that I've ever extended (obviously we've done others but this was the first time that I did it, which was cool) and they're way ready. They're such a solid family and they are really excited for their baptism. The only hold up would be the Word of Wisdom, but they've kept it for the last 5 days now and they said it gets easier every day. I love that family so much though. I'm going to be sad to leave them. But we just found out that I'll have at least another transfer here. Transfers are on Friday, and Elder Johnson will be leaving. He's going to Owasso, Oklahoma (a suberb of Tulsa) to be a Zone Leader, and my new companion is Elder Simikov from Russia. It's pretty cool because 6 months ago, right before he came to train me, Elder Johnson trained Elder Simikov. And now he and I are serving together! It's pretty rare for that to happen. I'm excited, I've heard alot of great things about Elder Simikov. There's so much great work going on here, too! Thom Vannoy also set a date for April 4. I'm a little more skeptical about whether that will go through, but I really hope it does. I don't really think I have too much else to report this week. Everything is going great, just keep me and all of our investigators in your prayers! Especially Francis. And the Vannoys. And the Lemons. And the Alvarados. That's all the main ones right now. Btw 3 families! How sweet is that!? Please continue to pray for them. I love all of your letters too, thank you so much. Oh and also Dad just because you're traveling doesn't give you an excuse not to write me... :) you could at least shoot me a short email. Anyway, things are great here, I love you all so much!