No Transfer / Catching Up the Blog

We were happy to hear from Elder Goodale today; often times on a Monday holiday they'll switch their P-day, but today that was not the case. Justin is surprised, as we are, that he didn't transfer this week. I'm posting today's e-mail, plus the one from last week (since I could not post it due to the Great Firewall of China while I was in Shanghai). Then finally... after what seemed to be silence a couple of P-days ago, we finally DID hear from him. That is also posted.
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Dear Family (May 31, 2010):
     Hey! How are you all? Happy Memorial Day! This will have to be a pretty short email, but some big news this week. First off, transfer calls were this week. Since I've already been here 6 months, we knew I'd be leaving, and we figured Elder Richins would be leaving as well, since usually in the situation we were in he would only stay one transfer. Well sure enough Elder Richins is leaving, he's going to Owasso, Oklahoma. Then we found out... I'm staying! I'll get to stay here another 6 weeks! So I'll have over 7 months here! I can't imagine I'll stay longer than that, but we'll see what happens. I didn't think I'd be staying this long either...

Plan of Salvation as taught to Tia Marie

Then Tia got baptized this week! It was so awesome. Her baptism was Saturday morning at a place called Happy Hollow. She really wanted to be baptized in the river, so we picked a secluded spot and went out there early in the morning to beat anyone that might be going out there to swim or anything. It was a really awesome service. She asked me to baptize her, too, so I got to baptize someone in a river for the first time. That was pretty cool. This morning we played basketball with Mickey and his brother, it was alot of fun. We played for a couple hours, I'm definitely in alot worse shape then I was when I left, but I still played really well. I won every time. :) It was an awesome workout, hopefully we'll be able to do it more often. Memorial Weekend is a little tough in a military town like this because the whole base basically shut down for the 4 day weekend, and everyone went home. So all of our investigators are out of town until Tuesday... But things are going well. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Goodale

With Elder Ewert and Tia Marie Hawk

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From a week ago:

Dear Family (May 24, 2010),
     Hey! We definitely made sure to make time to email you this week. Sorry about last week, there was a part-member family that needed help moving, and that took up a very large chunk of our preparation day. We had a great week though. Yesterday was Stake Conference, that was really the culmination. Elder Jonathan C. Roberts of the 70 was there. He's our area authority 70, and he's awesome. We never go to the Saturday night adult sessions of conference, which I heard was awesome, but Sunday was great too. There was a special meeting beforehand for all of the new converts to the church, basically everyone that's been baptized in the last 2 years. Anyone who recently returned to activity and anyone investigating the church was also invited. We had quite a few recent converts from our ward there, as well as one investigator (Shon Jacobi). The neatest thing about the meeting though was everybody else that was there. Since I've been a Zone Leader here for the last 6 months, I've been on exchanges multiple times in every unit in the stake (except for Rolla, since there are sisters there). I've gotten to work with a lot of recent converts, and of course a lot of people who were investigating who have since been baptized. The meeting was a really really cool experience because I had met and taught a large number of the people in that room, both leading up to and directly following their baptisms. There were some people there that I had even had the privilege of interviewing for their baptisms. It was so cool seeing all these people I know and have grown to love all gathered together in that room and seeing the changes that each of them have made in their lives. I even had a couple of them come up to me and thank me for the things that I had taught them and for what I had done to help them in their conversion, which was awesome. It was an amazing experience. I love the gospel and what a profound difference it can make in peoples lives! Then Elder Roberts got up, and it was really amazing. Both his words in that special meeting and his talk in the general session of Stake Conference were both outstanding, the Spirit was so powerful there. Us missionaries are so lucky. We got to hear from him in Stake Conference (he also spoke this month in the Springfield and Springfield South stake conferences, so that's at least 3 zones that got to hear from him), then Lynn G. Robbins from the first quorum of the 70 will be here June 29-July 1 to visit the mission. I've heard a lot of really great things about him. That's been planned for awhile, but last week we got some even bigger news! On June 12, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles will be in Tulsa for a special meeting/training type thing for all the stake presidents in the area. His meeting with them isn't until later in the afternoon, and since he's going to be here anyway he asked if that morning he could meet with all the missionaries! So June 12, which is a Saturday, we'll get to drive down to Tulsa to be instructed by Russell M. Nelson! That will be 3 General Authorities in one month! I'm really excited for that. We had interviews with President Merkley on Thursday, which was good, and this week we get transfer calls! I have a feeling I'm getting transferred. Tia is getting baptized this Saturday, and Chris's baptism is now scheduled for June 2, which is a Wednesday. We were trying to set it for that Saturday, June 5, but he said he really wants me to baptize him. So we set it for that day, right before I leave. We've got several other investigators that are close that I'll hopefully be able to tell you have baptismal dates next week. We really hope to set a date tonight with Alex and Sarah Robinson. Thanks for all of your letters and continued support! I love you! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Goodale

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From 13 days ago:

Dear Mom (May 18, 2010):
Sorry I didn't get to email you yesterday! We were out doing service all day and didn't get the chance, sorry about that. That's why we're taking our lunch break to do it now. So how is everybody? Things are going great here! Mickey was baptized on Saturday! Then confirmed Sunday, also ordained as a Priest. He's doing great. The baptism was really amazing, as all baptisms are. For Steven's sake (because he always asks), that's 22 baptisms now. I've been very very blessed with awesome areas and great companions. This was a great week. Wednesday the Assistants were here and came on exchanges with us, which was awesome. I got to go with Elder Conrad, so since we served together a year ago that was really fun. Then Friday I went up to Osage Beach with Elder Barnett from Anchorage Alaska, the new District Leader up there. Things have really picked up since he came in there, they've got some good stuff happening. I got to meet two brothers, James and Doug Halterman, that I'll get to go back and interview for baptism probably next week. They're both in their 40s, and they're so sweet. Really amazing conversion stories for both of them. It's so amazing seeing the gospel change lives, it's happening every single day, and it's such a miracle every single time. We found alot of new people this week, several of whom I think will start progressing very soon. I'll be sad to leave this area. We've had two baptisms so far this month, and we probably have two more coming (Tia Marie Hawk and Chris Cruze), but June is looking like it could even be twice that, things are going so great right now. There's no guarantee that I'll be gone at the end of this transfer (June 3 is when the next transfer is), but it's looking pretty likely. Maybe I'll know more after my interview with President Merkley on Thursday. i wish I could say more, but we have to get going. Not that there's much more to say anyway. That basically covered everything. I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

Mickey Washington's baptism 5/10/10 Elder Goodale, Elder Richins, Mickey, Elder Ewert

Mickey and Brother Howell

Mickey and Rebecca

Mickey, Rebecca and the Howell family

Mickey's baptism 5/15/10 Elder Goodale, Elder Richins, Mickey Washington, Elder Ewert

Elder Goodale and Mickey

All Quiet

Yesterday we did not get a general update e-mail from Justin. Christopher and Mark got short reply e-mails from him yesterday, but a general update like he sends to Michelle and I every week was nowhere to be found. Bummer! Occasionally, he has e-mail problems, and perhaps he DID type one, but it got lost in cyberspace or something.

So I'll just post a brief update with a fun story he told us on Mother's Day. But that follows the picture here on the right. This was posted on Facebook by a church member; we actually haven't received any pictures from him in a while (every once in a while, he mails us his digital camera's memory card). We have found that it's a lot of fun being Facebook friends with so many of his ward members, investigators, etc.

Anyway... the story. Justin is a zone leader with his other companion, and they have a third companion, a brand new missionary that the ZLs are training (I bet they work that poor newbee hard!!!). Anyway, so we're talking to Justin on the phone on Mother's Day and he said, "Oh yesterday, Elder Richins had his first gun pulled on him..." (Elder Richins is the newbee). We're like, "Um... you've had guns pulled on you?" Justin casually mentions, "Oh yeah... I think so far like three times on my mission." That was a nice bit of news for Mom on Mother's Day!!! I have a feeling there's a lot we'll learn about crazy stuff that happened, after he gets home. We can't wait, and I can't believe that's now less than six months away!!!

Until next week (hopefully)...

4 Weeks in a Row

Elder Goodale didn't have too much to say since we just spoke with him on the phone on Mother's Day, the day before. But it was still great to get his Monday e-mail. Here, also, is a pic of Justin with his just-recently-transferred companion.
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Dear Family,

     I never know what to say the day after calling home, since we already covered everything last night... It was great to talk to you all though! I can't believe that was my last call home! Time really flies out here. I can't believe that I've already been in St. Robert almost 6 months. The time I've been here has gone especially fast. We've been working like crazy this week, still trying to build up our teaching pool. Everyone we are teaching right now though is doing great. As I said on the phone, Tim surprised us Friday night and called us wanting to move his baptism up a week. So instead of having his baptism on the 15th, we had a surprise baptism Saturday morning!

Tim and Marie Cannady at Tim's baptism May 8, 2010

Tim and Marie Cannady and Elder Goodale

It went really well. He asked me to baptize him, then Sunday during Sacrament Meeting Elder Ewert confirmed him, and later in priesthood Elder Richins ordained him as a Priest. Mickey Washington is still set for his baptism this Saturday, Tia Hawk, a new woman we just started teaching, is set for the 22nd, and Chris Cruze is lined up for the 29th. So that will be 4 weeks in a row! Tia is the fiancee of Brother Spaulding, a member who recently started returning to activity. She's been to church with him 3 or 4 weeks in a row now, but we haven't been able to teach her until this last week. She's pretty awesome. We are also planning on setting 2 more baptismal dates this week. The first one is a woman named Jessica. We haven't met her yet, but she called Bishop Blau last Thursday (then promptly left to go out of town right after he visited her) and I guess she just moved down from Wisconsin. She was learning about the church up there, she even had a baptismal date and everything. But then she moved down here suddenly, but she told the Bishop she's ready to be baptized and she really wants it. Then there's a 10 year old boy named Devontae that we just started teaching. His family (him, his mom, and his 16 year old sister) haven't been to church in a couple years, but we visited them and they want to come back. And he really wants to be baptized. This ward is so amazing. This Saturday Chris gets back from a training thing in Kansas he's been at for a couple weeks, also our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Pack, will be back, which will be very helpful, and Jeff Barretta is at the same training. So he'll get back and then hopefully we'll be able to start working with his wife. So we're staying very busy, everything is still going great! Again, it was great to talk to all of you last night. Have a great week! I love you!

Elder Richins

Under the Weather

I'm sorry I'm a little late on posting Elder Goodale's letter from earlier this week (May 3rd). I'm also putting up a pic in this posting. Justin didn't send this, but we recently became Facebook friends with a woman he taught and saw come in to the church; we pulled this pic from her postings. This is a picture of Justin and his two companions (Elder Ewert, and Elder Richins) at this woman's home. They're about to be fed; big happy smiles! :-)
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Dear Family,

How is everybody this week? Thanks so much for your letters, I loved them as usual. We've had a great week, a very busy week. Last Monday right after we emailed y'all we had to leave to drive to Tulsa, which is always a fun drive. It was especially fun because Elder Bowers, the mission fleet coordinator, called Thursday and and told us that Mountain Grove, an area in our Zone, was getting a new car. Since we were coming to Tulsa for Zone Leader Council that next Monday, he asked if we would drive our car down to Mountain Grove and pick up their car (and leave them our car for the day) and drive their car to Tulsa and pick up their new one. We of course did it, but Mountain Grove is like 70 miles out of our way on our trip to Tulsa (which usually we carpool with the Springfield Zone Leaders in their van, they are given extra miles for that). So that really killed our mileage right at the end of the month, when we were on track to be well under our allotted miles. Not to mention that made the trip to Tulsa significantly longer, it took a little over 5 hours when usually it's right about 4. They were great meetings though, as usual. They went very well and I learned a lot. The rest of the week was a little more uneventful, it seems like every single one of our investigators is out of town right now, like for instance Chris Cruze just left for a two week training thing in Kansas with his unit, he won't be back until May 15, which is a week before his baptism. Melanie Evans has been out of town for about 3 weeks and she won't be back until the 12th, so her baptism will have to be pushed to the end of May, if not early June. We've got several others that are gone too. It's fine though, it just means that we've been doing a lot of finding this week, with lots of success. We've had a ton of success tracting this week and found a lot of great people. Mickey and Tim are both doing great still, they are both on track for May 15 for their baptisms, Chris should still be good for the 22nd as well. Hopefully we'll have several other baptismal dates coming up soon as well. I can't really think of anything else or any specific stories, sorry for the short letter this week. Things are going great. I guess please just pray that I'll get feeling better, Elder Ewert and I have both been kind of under the weather all week. I love you all! I can't wait to talk to you on Sunday!

Love,
Elder Goodale

Zone Leader Council Tulsa, OK April 27, 2010 Top: Me, Ewert, Otterstrom, Blaylock, Liston, Fisher, Enfield, Cosgrove, Hancock; Middle: Sis Havea, Sis. Fisher, Evans, Henson, Clinger, Anderson, Hirshfield, Conrad; bottom: Call, Black, Phillips, Erbe, Meteer