Chapel Tour Miracle: "God Are You Here?"

Hello! How was everybody's week? In Grandma's letter she said something about ya'll going down to Redding? Did you have a good trip? We had a great week this week. Busy, but good. Going on 3 exchanges a week has been pretty exhausting. I don't know how the Assistants do it. It's tough to juggle our schedules and effectively plan and stuff like that when we don't see each other for 3 days straight. One day I'm gone, then Elder Hirshfeld is gone, then I'm gone again... It'll be the same way this week. Tuesday Elder Hirshfeld will be up in Eldon with the District Leader there while I'm here in St. Robert with his companion, then Wednesday we will be on exchanges with the Assistants (so we basically have to plan 2 days here in St. Robert, since both of us will be here, each with one of the assistants) then Thursday I'll be going to Salem with the District Leader there. So we'll have a couple hours tonight, then we won't do missionary work together again until Friday. :( Things are going great though. We've been working hard and still seeing alot of success. Marcos, Michael, and Tino Rivera are still set for their baptism on March 6, and Tamila Bennett just keeps getting more and more golden every day. It's so amazing to see the difference the gospel can make in people's lives! She's still really excited for her baptism on March 7. She wants her 9 year old son Daniel to be baptized with her, but he's really afraid of water, so we're trying to overcome that right now. We'll see what happens. He'll most definitely get baptized, I just don't know if he'll be ready by the 7th. Danielle still has a date for March 6 as well, but alot of opposition has come up lately and she's been having a few doubts. We're going over tonight to hopefully sort everything out. We got some good news about Noni, but some bad news at the same time. Not necessarily bad, just disappointing. She was set for baptism on February 27, but a couple weeks ago she had to go down to Texas because of the custody battle she's having for her kids. (who are 9 and 8 years old) Last year her drug addict ex husband drove up to Tennessee, stole her kids, and then accused her of child abuse and was immediately granted custody. Well he had absolutely zero evidence, and it's a long story but all the evidence points towards the ex-husband being the culprit and not her. The only problem is that they are from a really small town in Texas and his family is like the richest family in the town, his dad is the chief of police, and his grandpa and the DA are like best friends and they golf together every week. So basically he was able to get the kids because of all the dirty small town politics. His biggest threat against her as far as this custody battle goes has always been "hope your pockets are deep enough." So it's just been a long, drawn out process. She was able to come back here for a week, but she's going back until the end of March. So her baptism had to be moved to mid-April. :( The good thing, though, is that right now it's looking about 95% likely that she will have her kids again when she comes back! So it'll all turn out for the best, it's just tough that everything had to be moved so far back. I hope I'm still here when that happens.

We had another amazing miracle this week, with Gloria Miller! I don't know if I've mentioned her at all before, but she's a woman in her 50's that we've been teaching, we knocked on her door about a month ago. She's been really solid right from the get-go, the only hold-up she's had has been getting work off. Well Thursday we had a chapel tour with her and it went really really well. It was basically a normal chapel tour except that we were able to use it to do a little activity to help answer some of her questions. She had a couple of questions about the Gift of the Holy Ghost so we took her into the cultural hall and played a little game with her. We turned off all the lights, then Elder Hirshfeld and Brother Stribling (who was there with us) silently went to the other end of the gym. It was totally pitch black, and I asked her to go find them. I was hiding a flashlight in my back pocket, and at random times when she was really struggling I pulled it out and shined it at one of them then turned it off again (after which they would move) to point her in the right direction. She had no control of when she could see and when she couldn't, and after awhile she was like "well this just isn't fair!" So then I gave her the flashlight so she could have it on all the time, then she was able to get them. Afterwards, we of course explained that that is what the Holy Ghost is, it's a guide to help us find our way and to find truth. We explained that at this point she was able to feel the influence of the Holy Ghost in her life often, and that she could invite it more often by reading her scriptures, praying, coming to church, and things like that, but after she was baptized and confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost she would be entitled to have Him as a constant companion, as long as she didn't drive it away. That went really well, she really got it. Then at the very end we were sitting in the room where the font is, talking about baptism, and we asked her if she had any questions. She said "No, but I definitely did have a prayer answered today." Then the Spirit just poured into the roon and she started crying. She went on to say "All my life, every time I walk into a church, I say a little prayer right before I go in and simply ask God 'are You here?'" She said that for the first time EVER, that prayer was answered the minute she walked in to our chapel. She said that the second she walked in she was just totally overwhelmed by the Spirit, and she knew right then that this really is Christ's church. She said "I know this is where I need to be." So we set a baptismal date for April 10! We're going to help her quit smoking this week. The only hold up is that the next day she asked her boss if she could have Sundays off so she could start going to church, and her boss said "No way." So we fasted for her yesterday, and we've been praying super hard, she's going to be talking to her boss about it more today. If everyone could please pray for her, I know that would help so much. Thank you!

So that's what's going on here in St. Robert right now. It's amazing how many people right now are coming to a knowledge of the truth. Everywhere we turn there are more and more miracles. Every day we get to watch the repentance process take place and see God literally changing hearts and healing souls, and it's such an amazing miracle. The atonement is real! The restoration is real! We have a living prophet today! I know without a doubt that my Savior lives and that He loves us. Thank you again Mom and Dad for everything you do to help make it possible for me to share these things with the people of Missouri. I love you!

Through HIM We Truly Can Do Anything

It's ironic that Elder Goodale's only "normal" day this week will be his birthday, tomorrow, as all of the other days in the week will be filled with exchanges, etc. I am constantly amazed at how strongly the Lord's work is going in that area.
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Thank you so much for the birthday presents you sent me! I especially loved the new shoes! (which were sorely needed) It sounds like you all had a great week, with the Special Olympics and Klondike and everything else going on. I'm glad you are all staying busy, it's always best that way. We've had a really hectic week, as usual. I think I mentioned this last week, but with the new areas opened up in our zone Elder Hirshfeld and I are super busy now. We're going on 3 exchanges a week! I never have any idea where I am or what's going on, things are just so hectic... It was a great week though. We saw alot of miracles. It started off with Zone Conference on Wednesday. We basically went over all of the same things that we learned the week before at Zone Leader Council when we had that instruction from the missionary department. It was really good though, I still learned a ton. The focus was on our purpose, and most importantly how important baptism is to our purpose. I learned a ton preparing for that, and from President Merkley's instruction, then we talked specifically about setting baptismal dates and did alot of role plays associated with that. As part of that, we learned

alot about the importance of using silence to resolve concerns. It's so amazing how well it works. Sometimes it's hard to just sit there and listen when you want to just jump in and immediately resolve all their concerns for them, but it's SO much more effective! We've already seen miracles from that as we've set 2 more baptismal dates this week! The first one was with a woman with Tamila Bennett on Thursday night. I haven't mentioned her before because that was only the second time we've ever met her, and the first time we actually taught her. She's a referral from the Geurts, a family in the ward, and she is SOLID. She's so spiritually in tune and so converted to the gospel, she's amazing. She's in her 40s and has a 9 year old son still at home. We're working with him, too. :) He wasn't there the first time we taught her, but I'm pretty confident that he will be baptized with his mom on March 6. Then Danielle Smith is getting baptized on March 6. We were finally able to set a date with her. The only downside of this week was that a bunch of stuff came up with the Riveras, so their baptism, which was supposed to be this last Saturday, had to be pushed back to the 27th. It was hectic this week with exchanges, too. Wednesday after Zone Conference, Elder Hirshfeld went to Salem with Elder Draney, and I stayed in St. Robert with Elder Davis. (my son!) We were together Wednesday night and all day Thursday, then he went back Friday morning. Friday and Saturday, though, we were doing an exchange with the Mountain Grove Elders, so Friday morning we all met up in Houston and did a 3-way swap, then I went down to Mountain Grove. So Elder Hirshfeld and I only got to do missionary work TOGETHER last week on Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday... And that was a relatively light week! This week is even crazier. Thurday to Friday we'll be on exchanges with West Plains, Friday morning we'll be instructing at their District Meeting, then Friday to Saturday we'll be with Mt. Grove again. Also, yesterday (Monday) we were on exchanges with Lebanon. Tomorrow (my birthday) will be our only "normal" day this week! Except that we're going to Rolla for District Meeting in the morning. By the way if you haven't figured it out yet (though I'm sure you have) the reason I'm emailing you today is because we moved our preparation day to Tuesday because of President's Day yesterday. Holidays are always the best for catching families together at home.

So anyway, that was our week. I'm not complaining at all, just trying to show you how insanely busy we are. I'm really loving every minute of it. We have 6 investigators with baptismal dates right now with potentially 3 more on the way in the very near future, so I definitely don't have anything to complain about there! The work is so amazing here. This morning I was studying Doctrine & Covenants Section 4 and Section 12, and it's amazing how much powerful stuff is in those few short verses. One of the many things that stuck out to me today is the use of the word "assist" in D&C 12:8. I love that because it's so true, all we are doing is assisting in this work. It's not my work, it's not Elder Hirshfeld's, it's not President Merkley's work, it's not Thomas S. Monson's work. This is God's work, and He is allowing us to take part in it. It's very humbling seeing the incredible amount of success here, and the miracles that we witness every single day, because there is no way that that comes from us. We are so weak without Him, but through Him we truly can do anything. I don't thank you enough for raising me with that knowledge, but I want you to know how lucky I was to have you both as parents and for the great upbringing you gave me. I know I didn't always appreciate it then, but I certainly do now. Thank you. I love you!

Truckin' in the Gospel

Below is the e-mail we received from Elder Goodale today. It sounds like in the midst of a Zone Leader Conference in Tulsa, he had a really busy week. And what an AMAZING story about this trucker he interviewed for baptism! Hence the title of this week's blog posting.
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We had the craziest week this week! Normally the first Tuesday of every transfer is Zone Leader Council. All the Zone Leaders have to go to Tulsa for a couple of days and there we get instruction from the Assistants and from President Merkley, and also we plan the upcoming Zone Conferences, talk about problems in the mission and things we need to focus on, stuff like that. We all get there Monday night, then the meeting starts Tuesday morning, goes for a few hours, then we get to drive back to our areas. Since here in St. Robert we are by far the furthest away from Tulsa, we have to leave early in the afternoon Monday and don't get back to Tuesday evening, sometimes pretty late. Usually the way it works, and the way I think I told you about 6 weeks ago when we did it, is that we, along with the Zone Leaders in Branson, get a ride (from members) to Springfield (about an hour and a half drive) then the 6 of us all ride with the Springfield Zone Leaders to Tulsa. They have a minivan, so it works out pretty good. Actually I'm pretty sure that's the reason they have a minivan. Anyway, this time it was totally different because we got some special instruction from the missionary department in Salt Lake. Their names were Brother Littlefield and Brother Beck, and they were awesome! I learned so much! The only bad thing was that because of that the meeting was on Wednesday, so we had to leave around 3 pm on Tuesday, then Wednesday after the meeting drive back from Tulsa to St. Robert. We didn't get back here until 10:15 pm on Wednesday, so the meeting pretty much ate up both of those days. Also, because of the special instruction President Merkley wanted alot of other people there as well. Basically as many other people that we could fit in our car he wanted, mainly the District Leaders in our zone. So we took Elder Davis, Elder Draney, and Elder Paget down with us. All 5 of us crammed in that little Malibu for 5 hours was alot of fun... not to mention it killed our miles. It was fun though being with Elder Davis again, and I got to see Elder Moxon at that meeting too. He's been out 4 and a half months, and now he's District Leader and training! That's crazy! I just barely finished training him! That was so exciting. Also Elder Paget liked it because he's been a Zone Leader for the last 10 or 11 months, he's one of the best missionaries out here, and for his last two transfers they put him down to District Leader so he could go open the new Eldon area. He's training there too, and I'm really excited for that area. Anyway, he was really excited because he thought he wouldn't get to go to ZLC ever again, but he got to this one last time! I really love ZLC, you just get to go hang out with all the other Zone Leaders and learn a ton. The only bad thing is that's two days that we aren't working... Because of that this week was a little slower. Sweet story from Thursday, though. Because they got back so late, those other 3 Elders stayed the night in our apartment in St. Robert then went back to their areas Thursday morning. Well Eldon's ride back was a man named Jim Bird who is getting baptized this week. We did his baptismal interview right there at the church when he came to pick them up, and I got to interview him. He has the most incredible story. Back in September a friend gave him a Book of Mormon and a copy of the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Jim Bird has been a devout Episcopalian for 58 years (his whole life), and hates reading, so he just threw the books aside and didn't think anything more about it. Well, he's a truck driver for a living, and for nearly a month those books just sat on the floor in the cab of his truck. Even though he had tried to throw them aside, something kept drawing his attention back to them. He just kept looking over at them and something kept telling him to read it... so finally he did. After almost a month one night he picked up the teachings of Joseph Smith with the intent to just flip through it casually. But he couldn't put it down. He read until about 3 in the morning, and did the same the next night, and then the night after that. Before long he was done with it, then he started reading the Book of Mormon. He said there was a power in that book that grabbed him like nothing ever had before. He knew immediately that it was the word of God, and as he kept reading and praying he recieved some marvelous answers to his prayers. Well in the mean time he decided that he really needed to find a mormon church. The next Sunday he got online and found the closest church. This was the first Sunday in November, so of course it was fast and testimony meeting. He felt the Spirit there stronger than he ever had before, and he hasn't missed a Sunday since. That's 15 straight Sundays! The amazing thing is that he is a trucker, so every Sunday it's in a different state that he goes to church. But he hasn't missed. Meanwhile he has also bought the Book of Mormon on cd for while he's driving, and has now listened to it 3 times. And read it once. One Sunday in late November he was attending church in Atlanta, Georgia and he happened to sit next to the Mission President there. So they started chatting, he told him his story, and that Mission President basically committed him to baptism. Then he gave him these instructions: Figure out a few days ahead of time what town you are going to be in each Sunday, and call the Bishop of that ward. The Bishop can hook you up with the missionaries. So each Sunday for the past 2 months he's gone to church then had the missionaries teach him immediately after church. He has a Teaching Record that he carries around and those missionaries sign it after they've taught him. So he's recieved all the lessons, and all the different principles are signed off by different missionaries from New York, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, and all over the place! Isn't that crazy? Then 3-4 weeks ago he slipped on the ice in Wisconsin and broke his wrist, forcing him to get off the road for a few weeks and come home to Eldon, Missouri! So I got to interview him for his baptism. Isn't that an amazing story. He is SO converted to the gospel. There is zero doubt in his mind that it's true. His wife isn't too happy about it, but he said that that doesn't matter to him because he knows that this is Christ's church. I'm so grateful that I had the privilege of interviewing him. Also this week we set a baptismal date with Noni for the 27th of February. I think that covers about everything that happened this week... Have a great week! I love you!

Elder Goodale is a Grandpa

How's THAT for an attention-grabbing blog entry title?! Read on, from today's e-mail from Justin.
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So I don't know what happened, but my email I was just typing you all just disappeared... I don't know what happened to it... Gotta love myldsmail.net. They're going to a new email provider soon, which I'm really excited about. I can't believe Alex Dillon and Matt Stoker are both home already! I can't believe that today is February 1st! It's amazing how time just creeps up on you like this. We had an amazing week though. We had 8 new investigators, and 8 investigators at church. So on that front things are going great. We just have a great ward here who are SO supportive of the work. It makes our job easy... We're going in about 2 hours to teach Noni, and we'll be setting a baptismal date with her, which I'm really excited about. The Riveras are all still on track for February 13, too! They're doing great. Nothing else super exciting happened this week, though... Oh except transfers were this week! Obviously I'm still in St. Robert, but we had some exciting stuff happen in our Zone. The Eldon and Salem branches both got missionaries, which they didn't have before. Both those areas are just ready to explode! They've already been having a ton of success there over the past few days. We're going to be even busier now though, because our Zone has 3 districts now instead of 2. So things will be hectic for us. One cool thing though is that the new District Leader they brought in to open Salem is Elder Davis, who I trained in Ava! Elder Moxon is District Leader now in Stockton, so both my sons are District Leaders! That's pretty exciting. Elder Moxon is training, too, so on Wednesday I became a Grandpa!!! But transfers were exciting, too, because they are usually on Thursday, but on Tuesday afternoon we got a call from the Assistants telling us that "there's a big ice storm coming in on Thursday, so to avoid that we're going to be moving transfers to tomorrow night." So we got to call everyone being transferred and let them know about that. See, because our mission is so huge and spread out, this is the way transfers work: There are 6 "transfer points": Tulsa, OK; Joplin, MO; Mt. Vernon, MO; Bentonville, AR; Van Buren, AR; and then I think one more in Southern Oklahoma. I'm not exactly sure though, I haven't served down in that area of the mission. Anyway, if you look on a map you'll see that those 6 cities kind of make a big circle, and all of them are right on a major highway. Each Zone has a transfer point they go to (so everyone in the Springfield, Springfield South, and St. Robert Zones meets in Mt. Vernon for transfers) and then there are two loops that leave from Tulsa the morning of transfers. The North Loop (which obviously goes North towards Joplin, then to Mt. Vernon, then down through Arkansas and finally back around to Tulsa) and the South Loop (you guessed it) goes the opposite direction. One of those loops consists of "the Bull" a big huge Ford van that usually will be pulling a trailer behind it, with a couple other cars in the caravan, and the other loop consists of 3 pickups, and usually a couple other cars. It works really well, we just tell the missionaries what time they need to be at the transfer point (depending on which loop they are on, which of course depends on where they are being transferred too), they get a ride there from ward members and the new missionaries get off and the ones getting transferred get on, and then they're off! Like I said it's a good system, it works really well. Except that our Zone is so out in the middle of nowhere, it would be nice if the closest transfer point wasn't like 2 hours away. But anyway it was hectic because last minute because of that storm we had to mix everything up. The storm didn't end up being anything serious, either. At least not up here. I guess they got some pretty good ice further south. We're far enough north in St. Robert that we didn't get ice, like apparently the rest of the mission did. The storm didn't hit us til really late on Thursday night morning, probably 1-2 am, but then it snowed all day. We got 8-10 inches of snow that day, which was pretty cool. It was a lot of fun. I didn't think I'd ever see that much snow on my mission. But that's about all that happened that week! I love you!