10.31.16 Halloween 2016

Hey everyone!                                                  Halloween 2016

We had a really great week this week and a happy Halloween! A couple of highlights were we put our friend Charles on date for baptism. We found out JC, one of my investigators in Warrenton, is getting baptized. So Sister Hyer and I will be going back this weekend for it. We are so excited! We had a great turn out at Trunk-or-Treat. And we had two of our investigator at church this Sunday!




We've been working with our friend Mark and it's been so cool to see him progress. We started by doing service for him and the other night we got to go to dinner with him and his son. We are going  to be doing a church tour with the them this week and then hopefully they will be coming to church on Sunday.

Our friends Matt and Mary came to Church on Sunday! It was awesome! They seemed to really love it and the members really reached out to them. One of the members invited them over for dinner next Sunday. They are making lots of new friends. We had dinnerwith them this last week and they made us a really good pot pie. I never knew how missionaries ended up with more than one dinner but this last week we had two in one night!

Trunk-or-Treat this week was a hit! We had three of our investigators there. It was a Chili cook-off. We dressed up as the three littlepigs. It was so fun!!!

This Sunday we talked about Elder Holland's talk about home teaching. I didn't realize how important visiting and home teaching were until I came out on my mission. I have decided that really all you need to do is just be their friend. So that's definitely something I want to be better at.

Hope you all have a great week and a Happy Halloween! We aren't allowed to go out tonight and so we will be going to the church soon to watch 17 Miracles with our zone.

Love you all!

Sister Goudy

Dunford donuts from the bakery in West Jordan, Utah.  A taste of home!

10.24.16 Chopped down a Tree . . .well at least we helped!

Hey everyone!                                              10.24.16

This week has been a blast! We did service for our friend Mark and he let me chop down a big chunk of his tree. I had exchanges with Sister Hyer and Sister Lidell. We ran into our friend Rachel and we had a lot of fun finding.  

I'm learning Spanish! There is one neighborhood we go to and at every house we ask them how to say something. They usually get a good laugh out of us. I'm super excited for Halloween because we have our wards trunk or treat! It will be a great way to meet lots of people. For Halloween we will have our p-day and then meet together as a zone for a missionary movie. We aren't allowed to go out probably because we'd just end up with a lot of candy. Ha ha.

Friday afternoon we went over to our friend Mark's house to help him in his yard. It was a really cool experience because the week earlier we had been trying to figure out how we could help him. When we went over for his lesson he wasn't feeling very well so sister Roberts asked him about some bags of bark he had in his yard. We asked if we could help and he was so excited! When we came back he had us help him cut down his tree. It was awesome! I don't think I have ever used an ax before.

Since there is three of us they did exchanges a little bit differently they are only going to take one of us at a time. It was cool because I got to just watch and learn from them that way. They were getting ready for their friend Sarah's baptism. It made me really excited to help our friends prepare for baptism. We set a goal as a zone to put one person on date for baptism a week. I think it will be a good goal for us because we have found a lot of people but we are struggling to get past the first lesson. 

We hadn't heard from our friend Rachel for a long time so one night we felt like we needed to go by and see her. Right as we were walking up to her apartment she was walking out! It was perfect! She was so excited to see us and said she was planning on coming to church on Sunday. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks we will have a lot of solid people we are meeting with every week.

Today, we went to the historic Balls Bluff battlefield right on the border of Virginia and Maryland. We went with all of the sisters in our zone.  It was a lot of fun. We walked right down to the Potomac river.  Then afterwards we had Chick-Fil A for lunch. It was a lot of fun.

Zone Sisters

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve the Lord here in Virginia. I know that this gospel is true and I know it truly blessed our lives as we live by it's principals. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and he wants more than anything to have us return to live with him. I know that the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God and that there are so many promised blessing as we read it. I have been going through all of the talks from conference and one of my favorites was the one called "Power in the Book." It talks about the incredible power in the Book of Mormon. I am trying to trust more in that promise that as we hand copies out that people will feel the sprit as they read it. This week we tried to hand out as many copies of the Book of Mormon as possible and we did awesome! I know that as we truly study and feast upon the words of Christ, we WILL be strengthened.

 Sisters Lidell, Goudy & Hyer

Love, Sister Goudy

10-17-16 The Three Musketeers

                                                 10/17/16
Hey Everyone!
                                                    

Three Musketeers

I hope you have had a great week! I love being in the trio it is so much fun! The sister Roberts and sister Nenaman keep me laughing. We did a lot of finding this week. Leesburg is such a fun area to serve in, too. A lot of the people are very educated so sometimes it's really intimidating when we go up to talk to them but between the three of us we usually know what to say.

One of the coolest miracles we saw from our finding was one night when we were trying to decide where we needed to go. After we prayed we decided we should go try a lady we had met earlier in the week. We got to her apartment complex but we could not find her building. As we were walking around we ran into a lady named Rachel. We stopped and talked to her. She said we are so different from other people. Haha, in her own works she said, "you guys are so cute and cheesy."  We went back the next day and had another lesson with her and it was incredible!! I know that the gospel truly does bring us happiness!   It was such a blessing to run into Rachel. I know that we were guided to where we needed to be.

Also, this week we got to go to a Sr. Center to play bingo.  I was in charge of calling the numbers and I learned they really do love their bingo. One time I accidentally called the wrong number (hahah) it was not pretty. They were so fun to play with though. There was a man who would call the number right after I did but he would say it in all sorts of fun voices.  It was really funny. We are hoping to go back again this week.

We had a fun time this week learning how to jump our car. We found out that the battery had been low and so every time we stopped we had to have someone jump us. Luckily, it was the end of the night so we didn't have too many places to go. One of the members said we should use it as a finding method. We got it all fixed today it was pretty funny!

We went to the temple Visitors Center with our friend Johnnie.   She is the only member in her family. She is super excited to go to the temple. On Sunday when we talked to her she said she told her daughter about the experience and she was saying she would like to go sometime, too. She is so excited to share the excitement with her.

On Thursday, we had our zone conference and it was so fun. I felt like everything we talked about was just for me! We talked about having the faith to find new investigators. They shared several of the scriptures where the Lord says the field is white already to harvest. I know that there are people who the Lord is preparing to have us share this message with. Every time I leave zone conference I am so excited to set new goals and go out and find people.

I think my favorite part of the whole thing was getting to hear from our Stake President speak on somethings we can do to work with the members. He gave us a great list of small and simple things, that I know will truly build their trust in us. It was such a blessing to get to meet so many incredible members of the church. We have a tradition at zone conference where some of the ward members in the stake make us a really nice lunch, then when we are done we sing, "Called to Serve," to the sweet sisters who made our lunch. This time all of the sisters have kids on missions. It was such a cool experience. When the stake president was talking to us he said we need to make sure we thank our families for making the sacrifice so we can be here. He said he didn't realize how hard it was for his parents to send him on his mission until he sent his children on their missions. He said it is a bigger sacrifice as a parent than it is as a teenager.

I am so grateful for this chance I have to serve the Lord. I have learned so much and my testimony has grown even more. I know at this truly is Christ’s church on the earth today! I know that he loves us and he wants us to be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father.

Love, Sister Goudy

Our Latest Finding Approach ?

Our New Mascot???

At the Temple with Johnnie

Video of First Area

Here is a link to Shelby's First Area Experiences



https://animoto.com/play/T2C8Tcg0I040oPXmhhlavQ

10-10-16 Left Warrenton Gone to Leesburg

10/10/16

Hey everyone this week was transfers.

I have been transferred to the Goose Creek Ward in Leesburg, VA. Leesburg is in Loudin County which is one of the richest counties in the country. It's a lot different from my last area. We live in an apartment complex above a shopping center kind of like Gateway. The sisters call it Babylon. Something even cooler with transfers seven been put in a trio so not only do I have one new companion I have two incredible sisters to work with. Sister Roberts and Sister Nenaman!  They are awesome! They are hard working and excited to serve.

Babylon

Sisters:  Roberts, Goudy & Nenaman

Sister Roberts is the sister that has been in the area the longest. This is her first area and she has been here for almost 6 months. She is super sweet and easy to get along with. The other day we were driving through a neighborhood and she saw a turtle trying to cross the road so she quickly pulled over and helped it across. It was pretty awesome!

Sister Nenaman actually came out with Sister Roberts so they both have almost been out for 6 months. Sister Nenaman was in my last zone with me so we have met before. She loves to work hard and helps us out so much. They both are so awesome and I think we work really well together. It's going to be so fun to work in a trio. Things are a lot funnier in a trio though like when we walk up to someone's door and there are three of us standing there they give us some funny looks. It's kind of funny to watch us move around the apartment too it's kind of a smaller place for 3 of us but it works. I'm excited to see all the cool things we can accomplish.

My last couple of days in Warrenton we did some pretty cool things. We had a great lesson with Aaron about tithing we gave him some gold candy bars to represent how much money he made. Sister O'Donnal had lots of creative ideas to help him learn in a fun way. It was incredible to see the change in him overtime. He was going to get baptized this weekend but they decided to wait so his whole family can be a part of it. I'll keep you posted.

Aaron

We had a great lesson with our investigator Maurice he is so sweet. It is so humbling to see how excited he is to learn. Sometimes I take for granted this incredible knowledge of the restored gospel and the amazing blessing it is.

Maurice

We had one of the awesome sister’s in the ward come out with us for the night. She is preparing to go on a mission. It was really fun to get to answer a lot of her questions and help her prepare. I said goodbye to a lot of incredible people.   It was such a blessing to get to start my mission in such an incredible area.

I've been thinking a lot about why we move around on our missions. I think we learn a lot about trusting in the Lord as we move to a new place and strive to use all the time we have there to do our very best. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and I know that this is where I need to be. I have been so happy since I have been here. I am so grateful for this chance to share the gospel with everyone! Thank you so much for your love and support.

Love, Sister Goudy

9.26.16 Seven Contacts with the Church

They say it usually takes 7 contacts with the church before someone starts investigating. As I've talked with members about their conversion they can usually look back and see several times when they were being prepared to receive this message. It has been so cool to see it first hand as a missionary and how the Lord is preparing so many people. Last transfer sister Hyer and I received a referral from a member in the ward who then sent us to their neighbors who had just moved in.

Danielle and Linda were so prepared for the day we met them. They had just moved in and had some family things that left them with lots of questions. After our first lesson with them though they had a lot of things come up and weren't available to meet for a good three weeks. We were trying to decide what to do because they were still interested they just have been really busy. We decided we would just drop by one day with some cookies, because you can't say no to cookies.  It was incredible!

We went by and Linda was home! She was so happy to see us and invited us right in. We asked her if she had any questions because she has been reading the Book of Mormon every day with her mom Danielle. She told us how her mom’s co-worker had talked about a King Benjamin and how they should read about him. It was perfect because it lead us right in to talking about general conference and how it's the time when we get to hear from the prophet and the apostles. Then at the end she said how she planned on reading that chapter and that she wanted to watch conference!

She pretty much led the lesson it was so incredible!! Then yesterday we had an awesome lesson with her mom Danielle.  It has been so powerful to see how the Lord has truly prepared her and her daughter for this time to learn about the gospel. She told us how someone she works with( the guy that invited them to read about King Benjamin) is a member of the church and how she would always ask him questions. I have no doubt in my mind that this was one of the many ways the Lord had prepared her through her 7 contacts.

I know that people are truly being prepared all around us to receive the gospel. Whether they are ready to start taking the lessons now or maybe just read the Book of Mormon. I know that Heavenly Father knows what each of these people need and when they are prepared to receive it.

The other day we were driving down the road that I have probably been down over 50 times. I saw this house on the corner of the street and it reminded me of a thought that had come  in my head the other day. I looked over at Sister O'Donnal and I said I think we should stop at that house. She said I was thinking the same thing! We met Barbara and Tanisha they are excited to read the book of Mormon and they said we could come back this Friday! I am so excited to see all the ways they have been prepared. Who knows maybe right now they are just ready for the Book of Mormon or maybe they are ready to take the lessons and prepare for baptism. It was such a cool experience and I know that it was the Lord guiding us. Of all the times we had gone down that road it was that day that we felt we should stop.

On Friday, Sister O'Donnal was really sick. I wasn't sure what I should do because we had a couple of appointments but they could be moved if we really needed them to. I prayed and prayed to know what to do and I felt so much peace as I realized I know what to do. I followed the schedule and continually prayed for guidance. I was really nervous and and not sure how it would all work out but I saw as I kept moving forward I felt overwhelming peace. Many times we can't see what our Heavenly Father has planned but he asks us to trust that he will prepare a way. As the day went on, I kept preparing for our lessons and working on contacting our investigators for the day. When the time rolled around for our appointment it all was worked out.

Our incredible Sister Training Leaders came and helped us and then I got the chance to go out with one of the young woman in the ward. We had a great dinner with one of the less-active members and her daughter who isn't a member.   As we shared the message, the daughter asked a lot of great questions. The member said she had been trying to talk to her about it for years but it wasn't until that day that she was open to talking about it. I am so grateful we got the chance to talk with her. She even said we could come back this week and talk with her some more. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for preparing a way for us to accomplish all that we needed to do that day, I know I couldn't have done it without him.

I loved the Woman's Broadcast on Saturday! It is so powerful to see all the woman of the church gather together. I don't know if I could pick a favorite talk.  I loved each of them and feel like they all flowed together to make a strong point of how we set an example of what we believe. I was reading an article this week that said "What e'er thou art act well they part.”   We are each daughters of our Heavenly Father and we have such an incredible potential. As we gain the "bed rock understanding of the doctrine of Christ," we can understand more fully all that our Heavenly Father has in store for us. 

Saturday we got to go to the temple Visitor’s Center with our friend Aaron, who is preparing to be baptized. It was so awesome to have the chance to explain that incredible potential to him and how the temple helps us receive all of the blessing our Father has in store for us. It was such a nice day and so we walked around the temple grounds and talked about all the things our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. 

It was a really cool experience and taught me a lot about working with kids and helping them understand the blessings of the gospel. I know that this gospel is true and that we each have an incredible potential to become what our Heavenly Father wants us to be. I hope you all enjoy conference And have a great week!

Love, Sister Goudy

Here are some pictures from our trip to the temple: It takes about an hour and a half to get there.

Last night Sister Price made us Dutch babies for dinner. Yum

09.12.16 Driving in D.C.

Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't get an email sent out to you all last week.

The last two weeks have been really good, full of lots of  learning and growth. Last Monday we got to have breakfast with a sister in the ward who is like our mission grandma. She takes such good care of us. We love her! She made us Dutch babies! I think they are my new favorite. They are like German pancakes. Then today we are going to the mission home for our zone activity. They have lots of fun stuff we can do there. They have these cute bikes we can take out and they have volleyball and ping pong. Lots of fun stuff we can do with other missionaries. It's going to be our zone and one other zone. The mission home is about an hour and twenty minutes from here which is really far for this mission but I think it's pretty close for other missions.

I've started driving this transfer and it's been really fun to get back in the hang of things. I don't think I've driven too crazy.  Ha-ha! DC is known for its traffic so I'm a little nervous about driving there. We take a road called 66 that goes toward DC and most of the time they have the traffic slow down to about 35 mph. Luckily, we always have to be with our companion so we can take the carpool lane and hopefully it won't be too crazy once we get there.

We've had some really cool experiences over the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, at church we were asked to come into primary and share with the kids how we have seen being on a mission has blessed others. It was such a cool opportunity to reflect on all the miracles I have heard about and seen.  Then they took some time to just ask us any questions they had. It was so fun to hear all the things they wanted to know about. One of the girls is the granddaughter of the family we stayed with when I first came out and she was super excited to share with everyone all the things she got to do with the missionaries. 

Another cool thing, we started doing last week was teaching a nine year old boy in the ward who is  wanting to get baptized. We have seen him grow so much in the last couple of weeks. Our first lesson with him he would only answer our questions with a thumbs up or down but now he comes up to us and talks to us at church.  It was so cool to see the change in him.  

This week I saw some amazing answers to our prayers that I wanted to share with you all. One night some members gave us a gift card for dinner and before we went in we prayed that we would have the chance to share the gospel with someone at dinner. As we went in we were looking at the menu when this guy came up to us and said, “Hi sisters, I'm a less active member and I would like to buy you dinner.”  It was incredible!! He was such a nice man and we got the chance to sit and talk to him about the gospel all through dinner. It reminded me that Heavenly Father loves all of his children and knows what we need. 

Another answer to our prayers came during one of our lessons. There was something I felt like we should go over with one of our investigators that isn't in the lesson and the church doesn't have a specific statement on but I felt like we should talk about it. I was trying to think about how we would go about it but I had no idea. Last night during the lesson with them they asked a question about that very thing! It was incredible! Then the members that were with us instinctively jumped in and answered it better then I ever could. I am so grateful for the Lords hand in the work!

I know that we could not do it without Him and that He knows exactly what is best. I know that even when we have days were all of our appointments fall through, he knows just what we need and where we need to be. I know that like it testifies in the scriptures, "We receive no witness until after the trial of our faith." I know that this gospel is true and it is for us to draw  closer to our Heavenly Father. It is to prepare us to be comfortable in His presence. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! Thank you all so much for your support and prayers.

Love, Sister Goudy