Elder Justin Michael Goodale: 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!