Midwest Missionary

Justin has transferred now, from the "south" to the "midwest" part of his mission. Perhaps now we'll see a few less "y'all" references in his e-mails?

Last week, by the way, we received a package that he had shipped to us, just prior to his transfer. In that package were some pictures he printed from his companion's camera. I scanned those pictures; here's one of them to the left, taken with his companion Elder Johnson, on Christmas morning. The one to the right here is one where he says his hair is way too long, and that this picture was taken just before he got a haircut. Speaking of hair, how do you like Justin with a part in his hair?! This is the first time we've ever seen that! You can see all 27 scanned pics here on Flickr, or here on Facebook. Be warned, they gutted a cow in Clarksville, and there are pics from that in here.

Anyway... enough of me blabbering; here is his e-mail from today.
-------------------------

Hey everybody! Greetings from Miami (pronounced My-am-uh) Oklahoma! Before I forget, here is my new address:

Elder Justin Goodale (that part hasn't changed)
504 I St. NE
Miami, OK 74354

Elder Conrad and Elder Goodale

I love my new area! I'm in the very northeast corner of Oklahoma, we actually go to the border of Missouri (we're in the Joplin, Missouri stake) and our area covers a tiny bit of Kansas, as well. Actually that part is really cool. We cover the town of Baxter Springs in Southeast Kansas, and it's cool because Radiator Springs (from the movie Cars) was actually based off of Baxter Springs. I haven't been there yet, but apparently it's a pretty cool little historic town. We have a kind of cool historic district in Miami, too, because Route 66 goes right through it. Also another little claim to fame is that Mickey Mantle was born here... It's a sweet place. It's about the same number of people as Clarksville, but it seems like alot more because the town is more centralized and compact, as opposed to Clarksville which was really spread out and half the people didn't technically live "in town". I'm now in the Midwest (central Arkansas is really the only part of my mission that's actually considered "South") so I don't see all of the confederate flags and everything any more, but it's still pretty redneck here. There are a ton of Native Americans in Miami too. Another cool thing that you probably already figured out by now is that Jennifer Dillon's dad is serving in this ward! It's pretty fun hanging out with Elder and Sister Wilson. As for my new companion, he's AMAZING! He's from Richland, Washington (I think he said it's out by Spokane) and he's an awesome missionary. I've really been in heaven the last couple days, we get along so well! And we teach really well together too. We've got some big plans for Miami this transfer! I'm way pumped!

You know how once a year they do the regional stake conference broadcasts? I think I told you about the one we had a couple months ago in Arkansas that was for "the Gulf Coast area" when Elder Holland, President Uchtdorf, and Sister Beck spoke. Well now that I'm in a different region, I got to have another one of those this Sunday! It was kind of weird the first Sunday after General Conference, especially with it being Easter Sunday, but it was really good. Elder Steven E. Snow from the Presidency of the 70 spoke, along with Sister Lifferth from the Primary Presidency, Elder Oaks, and President Monson. It was way good, especially Elder Oaks. It wasn't my favorite talk President Monson's ever given, but it's still always awesome to listen to a prophet of God speak to us.

I don't know too much about Miami yet as far as specific

investigators and stuff as I've only had 2 full days here, but I definitely will have more to report on next week. I'm loving everything so far! I love you all! Have a great week!

Justin's Going to Miami

Wow... we thought it was cool that Justin's first area was London (Arkansas), but now he's getting transferred to Miami (Oklahoma). We never knew he'd get to see such exotic areas on his mission!

Hey everybody! How is life going? It sounds like everyone had an awesome time in San Fransisco! Sounds like an amazing trip! I'm really really glad Dad is enjoying his new job so much, too. That's awesome. We're so blessed. And what a great blessing it was to be able to listen to a prophet of God this weekend! Conference was so amazing! I hope you all had the opportunity to watch all 4 (or 5 for the priesthood holders) sessions. It was really amazing. I really loved all the messages this year was all about Faith vs. Fear, and what we can do to build faith and dispell fear in these times. It seemed like that was really the main theme. I especially loved Elder Pearson's talk in the Saturday afternoon session about faith, and the "6 D's" that destroy faith. That was my favorite. But the whole conference was awesome. I took like 10 pages of notes. I was really hoping they'd announce the new temple up in Rogers, AR, that I keep hearing all of these rumors about, but that's ok. Maybe next time. Besides conference, how was everybody's week? Mine was awesome. We've been super busy, which is always good. Monday night we went out to the Bishop's house, and taught this awesome woman named Bobbie. We found her tracting, and it turns out her family is like best friends with the Bishop's family! So we set up a time where we could teach her at their home. We had a great lesson, and we're going back tonight. I'm really excited for tonight. The only bad thing about her is that we had to find her tracting! She was SO prepared, what if we had never knocked that street? There are SO MANY prepared people out there, and you all know some! The missionaries should not have to find them tracting! It's just like Elder Perry said on Sunday, the only missionary system that works is a member oriented missionary program. It has to be that way. You all need to be the full time finders, it's your job to provide people for the missionaries to teach. But I digress... We've been finding lots of super prepared people left and right, though. It's really amazing. I don't have time to talk about them all individually, but definitely be praying for Erica, Ruth, Clay, the Lemons, Misty, Rodney and Katherine, and Rob and Tara. That's the biggest ones. It's still been tough getting people out to church, but it's great having so many really solid people to teach. I haven't even knocked on a single door in a couple of weeks. But unfortunately I'm not going to be here to see them all start to really progress, because I'm getting transfered on Friday! I'm going to Miami, Oklahoma! (pronounced Miama. Apparently people there get offended if you say Miami...) It's in the very northeast corner of Oklahoma, it's actually in the Joplin, Missouri stake. So it's pretty far up there. I'm pretty excited because they get WAY more severe weather up there than we do here in Clarksville. I'm going to like the most tornado-prone area in the mission! At the perfect time of year for tornados, too!!! I know how excited that makes you, mom... Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'm excited. It's nice because my trainer, Elder Johnson, was trained in Miami, so I know a little about the area already. He told me a little about it. Apparently the work is going extremely well there, too. My new companion will be Elder Conrad. I've never met him, but I've heard some great things about him. So I'm very excited. I'm sad to leave Clarksville and I know I'll really miss it, but I'm very excited, too. The saddest thing will be not getting to see Kurt and Krista Lemons get baptized. I have gotten very close to them, and I was actually supposed to baptize them a couple of weeks ago, but it's been pushed back because Kurt is still having some trouble with the Word of Wisdom. Krista is about as ready for baptism as she could possibly be, but Kurt's still struggling. I know that they will get baptized soon and that he will be able to overcome it, I'm just bummed I won't be here for that. It's ok though, I know they will get baptized and it doesn't matter who does it as long as it happens. And I'm super excited for my new area. But I don't know my address yet, so hold off on sending any more mail til I'm able to send you my address next Monday. Or just send it to the mission office in Tulsa. Well that's all for this week. I love you all. Keep us in your prayers!

Our district. E. Silcock (Alma), E. Harrison (ZL Ft. Smith), E. Lechausse (Greenwood), E. Brimhall (Greenwood), me, E. Brady (Alma), E. Simakov, E. Osmond (ZL Ft. Smith)

E. Lechausse & I at transfers

E. Simakov and I at transfers

E. Brimhall and I at transfers