Monday, March 27, 2017

3.27.17 Endure to the End Conference

Hey everyone! 

This week was quite the record breaking week. We had four investigators at church yesterday!!! It was such an incredible blessing and treat. One of the members brought his friend to church that we have been teaching. He was so excited to see us and said he wants to keep meeting with us. He drives all of the way from Maryland to get to our ward in Arlington. Our ward is one of the only, if not the only mid-single ward in the area. People come from all over to meet there. It is so cool to see how incredible each of them are. Sometimes I forget we aren't in a family ward because it feels like they are all one big family. 

Earlier in the week I got to go with two other sisters to a meeting our mission called “Endure To The End.” 
 

I loved to see how much President and Sister Huntsman really and truly love us. They showed us this cool video where a football couch has one of players perform this really hard drill with one of the other players on his back. Before the player starts, the coach puts a blindfold over his eyes and tells him it is so he doesn't give up on himself and quite before he has to. I think sometimes we all can feel like that, we don't think we make it any further. I loved how in the Woman's Conference broadcast on Saturday really focused on being centered on Christ. If we really think about it we all can't make it any further without Him. It was a great reminder to me to stay focused and work harder than I ever have before. One of my favorite lines from the football video was when the player says, "Coach, it burns!" Some days do burn. He keeps going though and is able to make it even further than he ever has before. I know that the Lord will help us to reach our full potential and become outstanding children of God. 

We got to have dinner with my MTC companion the other day. It was really good to see her. She is so incredible! She is striving to follow Gods plan for her even though sometimes it doesn't fully make sense to her. She has been working out here for a couple of months and loves finding ways to share the gospel with the people she works with. She said it's like she's and undercover missionary. 

This has been one awesome week! I hope you all know that I love you. Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Goudy 
 




More Cherry Blossoms






Those Crazy Utah Drivers!







Our Lunch Bunch

Monday, March 20, 2017

3.20.17 First Day of Spring!

Hey everyone!                                                                         3.20.17

This week has been an incredible week! I would sum it all up in this scripture from Isaiah chapter 55 verse 8-9 it says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Heavenly Father knows what we need way more than we do and all we need to do is trust him. At the start of last week our friend Robin texted us and said she had something she wanted to tell us but that she wanted to do it in person. With all of the crazy things that we have had happen with our friends in the last couple of weeks we were pretty worried. We tried to not think about it but it was very hard not to.

As we went to the lesson she shared with us her powerful journey through the gospel. She said that through her 3 years investigating the church she has felt that she was truly putting all her trust in the Lord by stepping out of the boat and walking on the water with him. The she said but after our visit last week I realized I was telling the Lord I trusted him while I was still hanging onto the boat with one hand. She said," I haven't fully let go, so that's why I...... I'VE PICKED MY BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!" She decided at that moment she would fully let go of the boat and trust the in the path the Lord had led her to.

It was so profound the way she had put it. So many times I think I do that where I say I am trusting the Lord while I keep one leg on solid ground. When we fully decide to rely on the Lord that is when we are able to receive all of the blessings God has in store for us. I know it can be hard and I think it is something we are all trying to work on but I know as we work hard and do our best the Lord will bless us. I know that this gospel is true! I hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Goudy 


Oh! The snow storm wasn't too bad. They had us stay off the road until 2:30 and then we just had to be home by 8 pm instead of 9 for 2 days. We got about 6 inches? 




                                                                       Our District

Monday, March 13, 2017

3.13.17 Good Things to Come

Hey everyone! 

We are starting to get the winter weather here now. We are supposed to have some snow tonight and tomorrow so they want us home tonight by eight instead of nine. Then tomorrow we might need to stay inside all day. I can't decide if it is going to be a really big storm or if they just aren't as used to it so it seems like a lot. Can't wait to see what happens. 

This last week. We had some cool experience and some more growing experiences. Our friend JR got to go to the temple for the first time! We had dinner with him before he went.





We met a really cool guy named Robert who has been baptized several times into different churches and when we taught him about the priesthood he really understood it.

Another friend decided she didn't want to meet with us anymore either. That was hard. We were pretty sad having two people drop us in the last couple of weeks but it was cool to see how the Lord truly provided a way. I love this scripture in Alma 26 verse 27 it says: "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

We decided to look at the things we were doing and figure out what we needed to fix. We decided we needed to be better about being on time. This has been a big struggle for me all of my life and so working on it now has been kind of hard. I have decided that I will work my hardest and my best while I am in an area and trust that the Lord will have us be there as long as we need to be there. Instead of staying for an extra five minutes to knock one more door. As we have done this we have seen so many blessings. They didn't come right at first but as we kept working they did come. 

Saturday, we had a ward party and we invited one of our former investigators who we hadn't heard from for a long time so we dropped him for a bit. We turned around for a second and there he was! He came to the activity! Not only did he come but he started to get to know the members and said he is definitely interested in meeting with us! We set up a time for this week.  Not only that, we have had several of the members text us about having him over for a lesson so that was such a huge blessing. It was so cool!

Then on Sunday our friend Tony came to church. Tony is awesome! He is the one that asked us for the pamphlet a couple of months ago. He said, "Man I wish I would have come sooner!" He loved it and he followed along in the booklet the whole lesson. He even answered questions before all of the members. IT WAS A HUGE BLESSING!!! 

Then as we were heading downstairs at church we ran into a member and he said, "hey, this is my friend Joe." Turns out he wasn't a member. We talked to him for a while and he said he was really interested in learning more.

 So in the words of Elder Holland: "Don't you quit! You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late. And some don't come till heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."

I add my testimony to Elder Holland’s. I know that things do get hard and it's okay if we acknowledge that they are hard. I also know that as we remember the bigger picture and that our loving Heavenly Father has a plan for us, we will be able to get through it. I know that this gospel is true. I love you all so much and I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 




Cherry Blossoms

Squirrel Eating 

Monday, March 6, 2017

3.6.17 Moving Day

Hey everyone!  

This week was crazy and eventful week. We had so many different things happen. We went on exchanges with our sister training leaders. It was fun not having to lead everything. We met this cute member they call grandma and she sure loved us. We sang songs to her and had a good old time. We also got to go on the military base to have dinner with a family. I had to go and get a special pass that was pretty cool. Then they had us move apartments the next day. We now live near Franconia in Alexandria. The new address is 7135 Rock Ridge Ln. Apt. D Alexandria, VA. 22315. We love the new apartment it has lots of windows and it was so clean. Our last place we called the dungeon because it only had one main window and a lot of the lights were burned out.

We got to put out friend Tony on date for baptism! He said now is the time and he is so excited. I also got to go back to Leesburg for the baptism of my friend Judith. It was such a cool experience and I got to see all the incredible members. It was on the same day as our car fast (We go one day a week without using our car) so it worked perfectly. We got dropped off at lunch and had a great time. It was kind of crazy when it came to dinner though. We realized all of the dinner places were so far away and so we just shared the piece of bread we had for dinner. It was a crazy and eventful week and I had lots of reminders that there is a time and a season for everyone.

Our friend decided he didn't want to meet with us anymore. He was progressing so well so it was a big surprise. I know he will be able to have the chance to accept the gospel again. He is still a good friend. I know this Gospel is true and it is a huge blessing.

 I hope you all have a great week! 

Love Sister Goudy