I'M GOING ON VACATION!!!

Hey how is everybody!!! From the emails it sounds like everyone is doing well!!! I love hearing about what you are all doing, just as I am sure you love hearing about the jungle! Haha but guess what this week I am leaving the jungle for 2 days!!! I found out this morning that I will be leaving at 4 in the afternoon today to go to Cusco, and then at 7 in the morning I will be flying to Lima!!!! I’m going on vacation!!! Okay not really, I have to go to Lima to get my carne de extranjeria. Or in other words my ID that says I’m foreign but I am living here for 2 years. So guess what that means I should be able to get the notary done now for my license!!!!! So I will leave today and I think I get back to Puerto Thursday. So I am going to basically miss all of the last week of this transfer!!! 

 

What else happened, oh ya!! Presidente Calderon came to Puerto and we had our last zone conference with him on Saturday because he only has one month left before he finishes his mission. So that was pretty sad, but we all got a letter from Presidente Harbertson our new president, and had a pic of him and his family so that was pretty cool!!!! 

 

Also good news!!! We had a part of our sector where we couldn’t work, but president told us that now we have permission to work there and this part is about 2 miles long!!!!! We are going to find so many new people!!!

 

So dad, thank you for that advice to pray and ask for specific things, like to find a family. Actually the other we were contacting and we find this lady and she told us she has been praying for guidance in her life and then we showed up, so her and her 3 kids came to church on Sunday and we challenged them for baptism, now we just have to decide for when!! But guess what, THEY ARE MARRIED!!!!!! That is the first married couple I have met that isn’t a member!!! It’s a miracle because now we don’t have to wait for a marriage, they can just get baptized!!! I was extremely happy when she said they are married!!!! So it sounds like you guys all had a good memorial day!!! We don’t have that hear obviously so we just spent the day working like normal!!!! I can’t believe how fast people will be leaving for the mission, and what I can’t believe is that when Ethan leaves I will be a month shy of a year in the filed!!!! Mom I really like that 10 minutes of scripture reading!!! I am also trying to set a goal because I still haven’t finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish, so I am working hard with that to finish it!!!!! Maybe I will have a lot of time to read in the 10 bus ride that I have to take today!!! I can’t believe it is almost June!!! It’s crazy!!!

 

So I am sure you want to hear what I am up to.

 

So this week wasn’t very eventful, we worked normal, but I went on a division the other day and we talk a lesson, and I honestly have never felt the spirit so strong, the lady was talking and we would answer and it was just that every time we said something it penetrated her heart and she was crying the whole time, and I was talking about something and I started crying because it definitely wasn’t my words it was the sprit talking and I just could feel that these things I was saying were the things that she needed to hear, and that she is a woman really prepared by god to receive this message!!!! Its experiences like that, which help you to know you, are a true missionary!!! And that this truly is the work of the lord!!! When we teach with the authority and power we each have been given, that is when we see miracles!!!! I have seen many blessings and miracles in my mission, and I know that if I continue to teach with that authority and if I am obedient, then the lord will bless me, and will help me find the people that I NEED to teach. The lord has people prepared, but he also has missionaries prepared we just need to rely in the lord and the spirit to know if we are that missionary, and if this is the child of god that needs our message!!!! I absolutely love my mission without a doubt, when I first got here I thought to myself, what the heck am I doing, why am I here? But now I know what I need to be doing, and I know why I am here. The lord has prepared the field and it is white and ready to harvest, and as his servants we are sent out for 18 months or 2 years to bring his fold unto him, so that everyone has the chance to live with god in his kingdom!!! I love being a missionary, and I know that this church is true and that only through these covenants that we make and if we are faithful can we get back to the presences of god!! 

 

I hope that all of you understand that, and that every day of your life you work to build your faith, and trust in the lord for EVERYTHING we are his children, and he wants to help us, but he can only do that if we first are willing to rely in him with all our heart, once we do that, he will pour his blessings out upon us!!! 

 

I love this gospel, and I love each and every one of you!! I hope everything is going well back at home, and that you can feel the spirit in your life, if not, what changes can you make to feel that spirit. 

 

I hope you have a great week! And I will talk to you next Monday as usual!!!! 

LOVE ELDER GOASLIND!!!! 

 

BAPTISMS 9 & 10!!!

(May 20, 2013)

Hey so today I really don’t have a lot of time to write because my companion kept asking me to help him with photos!!! But thank you so much for all of your emails I love hearing from everybody!!! First off I cannot believe how fast that package got there!!! Did it get opened? Or did everything inside make it safely? I am sure you have been looking at all the pictures and videos on the memory card that I sent, enjoy!!! Haha. About the package that you are going to send now, something else please 2 or 3 old spice aqua reef deodorant sticks! They don’t sell much here and when they do it is expensive, they normally just sell sprays, and I really don’t like those! 

Also Adam I hope that you have a fantastic birthday, sorry I couldn’t be there! But I was there in spirit!!!!

 

That is so sad to hear about the Prophet’s wife! I can’t believe that she passed away, nobody here knew, and yesterday during sacrament one of the speakers told us and everybody started talking about it and everybody was so shocked!!! 

So mom I just have to say thank you for teaching me how to suck it up when I was sick before the mission, because my comp does not have that skill he complains about everything!!! About every other morning I have to hear about something new that has a pain, or how he can’t get out of bed because he was sneezing! Ahhhhh it’s driving me insane!! But I am learning patience don’t worry, but again thank you for teaching me that before the mission!!! 

So I can’t believe that Megan and cooper and Zoe and Rachel are all graduating! I feel like they should all still be in Jr. High!!! It’s so weird!! So when does Cooper leave for the mission, you told me where but never told me when! 

I am glad to hear that the health scare with grandma was not a heart attack!!! I have been praying every day for her and her health!!! I hope she continues to get better!! 

Dad to answer your questions, in parts of Peru high elevations yes there is snow, in Puerto no, but other parts yes, but the missionaries never serve where there is snow because nobody lives in those places. And your other question, the best way to find new people is there references. But I personally like to talk to a member whose family aren’t members, because then you have that support of the member in the family and that’s where the majority of my baptisms have come from in the mission, 7 out of the 10 are from part member families.

I hope you have a great time playing golf at the Lowell’s Cup; I can’t wait to play in 2015. 

Haha mom thank you for that update that I have now been in the mission for 201 days!!! I read that and I couldn’t believe it!!! It’s so crazy how fast the time goes by!!! I can’t believe that we are finishing the month of May soon!! How crazy is that!!!! 

Now that I think I have answered the majority of the questions that I can remember I will update you on the mish!

So on Saturday I had baptisms 9 and 10 for my mission!!! It was so awesome!!! 2 young men, and their whole family are members but they had never been baptized I got the chance to baptize Washingtons (and yes you spell his name with an s at the end) and my comp baptized Kleyker. It was so stressful because everyone showed up like 2 hours late and we have to wait for witnesses from the branch. And awww!!!! But the most important is that after all that they got baptized and were confirmed yesterday in church!!!! So now we have to find new people to teach because we are running out of people who are progressing!!!! So that is our goal this week is to find and to challenge!!!! 

The last week flew by!!! I couldn't believe when I woke up this morning and it was pday again!!! Last week I thought about home a little bit more than normal, but I didn’t let that get in the way of my work!!!! Haha. 

So not much else has happened hearing! It has been cold for the past couple days with rain, I have actually had to sleep with a blanket in the night which is weird when you are in Puerto Maldonado. But the people here say it’s normal. That in the summer rains for a week, and then next week is extremely hot, and it’s just a continuous cycle!!! So that’s kind of nice! So we have now entered in week 5 of the change so only 2 more and I will find out if I am going to train or not, I really hope I do!!!! But it’s all up to the lord, so we will see what he says!!! 

So don’t tell Ali, but I am going to give her address to my comp and Tyler can help Ali translate a letter, just because I think it would be way funny because he still talks about her like every day!!! But don’t tell Ali!!!! Well, there isn’t much else to say!!! Not much is happening here, we challenged two people to baptism for June and they accepted but that’s about it for investigators. 

But I love you all so much and I love hearing from you every week!!!! Thank you for all of your support! And I can’t wait to hear all of your crazy stories next week!! Don’t forget to tell me what was in the package I sent you so I can make sure all the things were there!!! 

I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU BUT I AM ON THE LORDS ERRAND AND THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOR ME RIGHT NOW!!! I HAVE BEEN CALLED BY THE LORD TO BRING HIS CHILDREN BACK TO HIM AND HE HAS GIVEN ME THE POWER AND AUTHORITY TO DO THAT!!!!! THIS CHURCH IS TRUE, AND THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS WORLD THAT CAN TAKE THAT TESTIMONY AWAY FROM ME!!!!!

 

con mucho amor

ELDER GOASLIND

 

SORRY no photos today I don’t have time but I will send baptism photos next week!!! 

BAPTISM NUMBER 8!!

(May 13, 2013)

So honestly I think yesterday was probably the greatest day ever!!!! Okay but I can’t really say that because I think just about every day in the mission is the best day ever! But I really loved talking to everybody it was so nice to be able to see your faces instead of just a blank phone call!!! And it was nice to see Karson!! He is so adorable!!! 

So my companion has not stopped talking about Ali and Andie since I ended the call yesterday, he has been talking about them nonstop!!!!!!!! He told me that Ali looks like Shakira, and Andie looks like Selena Gomez!!! So Ali and Andie watch out!!!! But don’t worry I am not going to give him your address. 

So I feel bad that in reality I didn’t get to talk to just mom and dad much, but it really was nice to talk to the other people!!!! But I do feel like we talked more than the others. So that’s good!!! I was actually hoping the whole family would be there! And my wish came true!!

So I thought everybody would be way different, but you are all pretty much the same, but mom seriously you have lost a lot of weight!!! You look so good!! And no I am not just saying that, it’s because I mean it!

So you asked about how the money works in the field. Like BJ and Mallory. We have a card that we take the money off of at the beginning of every month, and we have to use that to pay the room, the food (for the lady who cooks) we pay the lady who does our laundry, we have money for transportation, and personal. And for fast offering. But it really doesn’t reach far enough! That’s why I always have to use a little bit of my own money. But that’s okay.

So I have to say thank you for all of your support that you give to me! I would not be able to be in the mission without you guys. And don’t worry I'm not trunky from the phone call. Talking to you guys actually gives me more energy to work. So this week will be good! 

I’m glad that you think my Spanish is good, but I think I still need to work on it. But thank you for that comment. 

So I guess now I will let you know what’s going on with the investigators. So yesterday Flavio was baptized!!! And it was so awesome, we have been working with him forever and he had some family problems and we had to keep moving the date back farther and farther!! But finally the day came, his entire family came! Even his mom came and she lives 2 hours away!! It was amazing!!! But I hope now he can keep going to church, so we are going to work with the members to support him and help him out!!

So this upcoming Saturday we have 2 baptisms Cleiver, and Washington. Their dad and mom are members but inactive. But they are so excited to be baptized so we are going to finish teaching all the lessons this week and help them to arrive at this date on Saturday. And then the other 2 that we had for Saturday didn’t attend  church so we had to take away the date until we can talk with them some more and get them to come to church!!!! But after these people we don’t really have anyone else that is progressing, we have about 3 couples that have to get married, but that’s it. So we are going to be finding new people to teach a lot this week!! And I hope we can find some people are prepared by the lord!!!! I know the lord prepares the people that we need to teach, and that when they truly are prepared from the lord that is when they keep their commitments and they can arrive at the date to be baptized!!! 

So I am getting better and better at teaching the people. It’s a little hard with my companion because he likes to talk the entire time so I have to cut him off a lot if I want to say something, but we are trying to get better at teaching together!!! So I can’t believe that this week we are starting the 4th week of the transfer!!! This transfer has just flown by and nobody knows who is going to have a change!!! I really hope I don’t because I love Puerto! But if I do I know it’s because the lord needs me in a different place!! 

So I don’t really have anything else to say. I just want you all to know that this church is true, and that I know Christ lives. And as we apply his atoning sacrifice in our lives every day we are going to receive many blessings that we never even though we possible!!! I am so grateful for this time that I have to be a missionary, and to serve the lord for 2 years, and I know as I remain obedient to the rules and the commandments that the lord will be able to help Me.!!! I love you all so much and thank you for your examples in my life!! 

Have a great week!!

LOVE ELDER GOASLIND!!!

(Email 5/6/2013)

 

Greetings from the far away land of Peru, where the weather is hot, and the bugs are very large!!! Haha, sorry I had to do it. 

 

So how is everything going this week! I hope that everything is good!!! To start off with, I am all better!!!! So what we are thinking is the reason I am sick is something I ate on Saturday night, we have dinner and we have mayo with the food. And I always ate mayo in Cusco, but I guess it’s different here for the weather, so I had mayo, and after everyone told I shouldn’t eat that because it will make me sick. So needless to say, I am never going to eat mayo again in the mission. But ya don’t worry anymore I am all better!!!!

 

Now to answer some questions: no we have not found another place to live; we will be in this room for at least another month. And all the military action has calmed down because we found out the military didn’t actually own that land. They forgot to legalize some of the paperwork, so now people are building there tarp houses there again. Living in a room with 4 elders is very interesting. It’s hard to study because you have all of us talking and you end up listening to the other elders and not your own companion. But ya I will learn how to deal with it. I hope that everything is going good with Karson, and that they can figure out all the problems soon. I continue to pray for him and Ashley and Kolby. But I know everything will be good. Oh some other news, the last transfer Jake Bentzen finally got to the field, and guess what, he is in my zone here in Puerto, so that’s nice, he came to me the other day to ask how I handled everything with homesickness and the language when I first got here, so it was nice to be able to give him a little bit of advice.
 

Ummm... oh the dirección (address) of the mission office has changed!!! This is the new one..
.

Elder Alex Charles Goaslind
Peru Cusco Mission 

Av. Cultura 2417

Frente A La Urb. Santa Ursula

Capilla Mormona

Peru-Cusco

 

Yes that is the actual dirección (address) with the words Cappila Mormona....

 

Now about mother’s day!!! so I am going to try and use Skype, but I don’t know which person I would call, so you guys need to use one of your accounts and add me as a friends so I know who I can call with that. If that doesn’t work it will be for phone. So I am not sure what time it will be because we have 3 missionaries that will have to use the same computer for Skype that day. So it will be in the hours of 1-6 in the afternoon sometime. I am not sure; they didn’t give us much info. But ya you will just have to wait logged into Skype that whole time until I can finally log in and call. But you can play a game or watch a movie while you wait. Just make sure you refresh your computer page often so it doesn’t log out and you don’t know. But ya that is what will happen for next Sunday on the 12th. 

 

So dad, thank you for the scripture you shared in your email, it was very good and I learned a lot from it. Now to answer your question about investigadores. 

So Thaiz was baptized on Saturday, and it was amazing!! She is so strong already in the church, she attends everything! And she is always the one to tell her family that they need to go to be on time, and it was such an amazing baptism!!! So after they invited us over for dinner, and I have never seen so much freaking food in my entire life!!!  But it was so good, I scarfed it down!!!! And they kept offering more and more!!!!! but then we listened to all sorts of stories from her dad because he works in the jungle cutting down trees for wood and he was telling us about all the animals he has seen while working there, he has come face to face with tigers like 3 or 4 times, and all sorts of other things!!! But it was such a special day, and now for the 18th of this month Thaiz´ brother and sister are going to get baptized, David and Carmen. So we are very exciting for that. Also we found this man who is a member and we are activating him and his sons have baptisms for the 18th also!!! So we are hopefully going to see many baptisms this month!!!! And we should have one for this next Saturday if that follows through I will tell you more about it. It’s a little unsure right now. 
 

So this picture of the high school was extremely sad, I called Elder Bentzen over to my computer to show him and he was shocked at what it looked light!!! it’s going to be so weird to get back and have all of that area be something different, because the high school has been there my entire life, and now it’s not there, but that’s okay because with change comes good things!!!! 

 

Well I love you all so much and I love hearing from you all every single week!!! The next time we will talk will hopefully be through Skype, and I will be able to see your faces!!!!! Well I need to go to send this package now, but know how much I love you all, and I am praying for each and every one of you every day!!!! 

 

Well again I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

TALK TO YOU SUNDAY!!!!!!