Elder Gold's Weekly Update - 26 Oct 2009‏

Dear Family:

Taylor is still three pairs off of the pace to pass me up in the shoe collection category. His 33 pairs are a nice silver medal finisher, but 36 is the winning number. He'll probably pass that up by the time I get home, so I'll try to enjoy the race while I'm ahead. I'm going to have to take a look at the shoes he's been buying to see if they're the cheap clearance rack shoes that have all sorts of crazy designs and unique color schemes, or if they're legitimate-looking shoes. Hopefully he has good taste.

BYU vs. TCU...ouch! They've been outscored 70-14 in the past two seasons combined. BYU will continue having problems beating fast teams until they find some secondary players who can keep up with the horses running down the field on the opposing team.

Elder Gentry and I went on a "zone tour" this past week to the Peninsula Zone, which covers the southern-most part of the mission and gets up into the richer parts near the Pacific Ocean coast.



I worked with a companionship of Elders on Thursday and it was a rough day. Their apartment was filthy so we spent 40 minutes cleaning it before we left the apartment at noon and I felt like a baby-sitter asking two kids to clean-up their messes. The apartments looked like it hadn't been vacuumed in weeks and possibly months, and it was a real leap of faith to walk around bare foot. Throughout the day I felt like I was doing a lot of training and coaching. These Elders just didn't seem to understand how to work, nor did they grasp the concept of working hard. One of them has been out on his mission for 11 months and the other one for 9 months. Teachings skills and confidence while talking with people were absent. I made it out in one piece, and got through the first day.

On Friday I worked with two Elders in the city of San Pedro, which borders the shipping docks for the L.A. port. Most of the coastal cities in L.A. are considered to be rich areas, but San Pedro has a large urban population and feels more like the sketchier parts of Aurora (in Colorado). There are some more wealthy people as you get into the hills though. This day was much better than the previous day, and the Elders I worked with had a better grasp on what it meant to be a missionary. One of them was a recently called District Leader (Elder Gustin), who I left very impressed with, and his young companion (Elder Cruz) did a pretty good job too. They're apartment has a balcony on the second floor so they left the sliding glass door open all night and it felt great in the morning. I was able to sit out there and write in my journal in the morning for about 10 minutes while the other two Elders were getting ready. It was great.

On Saturday I worked in Harbor City, which is just north of San Pedro and shares most of the characteristics of San Pedro, but it's a bit nicer in quality. I worked with one of the Zone Leaders (Elder Furner) while Elder Gentry worked with the other Zone Leader (Elder Gardner) for the day. I had a good time knocking doors with an Elder who has a "pro-tracting" mindset because there seems to be a trend that has been going around the mission that advocates "checking" on less-actives and members instead of knocking doors or street contacting people. This new mindset generally is found with a few of the younger missionaries who still fear talking to people and prefer avoiding it if they can (to be frank). Saturdays on "zone tour" are usually our favorites because of the high caliber of missionaries we work with (Zone Leaders) and because it's fun to have four missionaries to chat with after planning and studies.

Yesterday (Sunday) we had a baptism. We had been teaching him off and on for the past three months and he finally decided to reach the pinnacle of his progression in learning about the Church. He was happy and enjoyed the baptismal service. He's the most unique investigator that I've taught on my mission by far.

There was a baptism down in the Hermosa Liahona Ward (Spanish) from my old area in Gardena where one of the investigators that I had taught for 1.5 months decided to take the "leap of faith." We taught her twice per week for six weeks while I was in Gardena and other Elders had been teaching her since then, so it's been nearly four months of investigating the Church for her. She's a great person. Her husband is a member too, so everything is looking good for her future.

Happy Halloween to everyone this week! We have to be back in our apartments at 6pm that night so we'll probably end up doing something fun over here at the mission home in addition to writing some letters. Thanks for everything! Have a great week!

Elder Gold

Here are photos from Elder Gold's P-day to USC Stadium. Anyone who knows Elder Gold, knows he LOVES sports, especially football!

Elder Gold's Weekly Update - 19 Oct 2009

I saw that BYU beat San Diego State on Saturday. A few of the Westwood 2nd Ward members went down to San Diego for the game and gave us some of the recap info in between classes yesterday. There are two big-time fans in the ward who travel to Provo or other locations throughout the nation to watch the games on a consistent basis and they both said that the BYU secondary got torched against the speed of San Diego State. Hopefully they make some adjustments for when they play TCU next weekend.

Yesterday at church, Michael Raven (investigator) had his baptismal interview with Pres. Turley of the L.A. Mission Presidency to make sure he had fully repented of his "checkered" personal history and to see if he was ready to enter into the covenant of baptism. He passed the hour long interview, meaning he will be baptized next Sunday (Oct 25). We've been teaching him off-and-on for the past 2.5 months and we've had several roadblocks pop up that have caused his baptismal date to be postponed, but he's good to go now. He's kinda "quirky" and a bit on the feministic side, and he attaches to women much more than men, but he has a testimony and that's what really matters.

We had a member referral dropped into our laps last Sunday for Jason Norber and we taught him twice this past week, committing him to baptism for Nov 8. He comes from a Jewish family who hasn't showed too much resistance to his investigation of the Church and they've been surprisingly supportive of his decisions so far. He's 18 years old, graduated from high school in May of this year, and he's "searching for how to feel satisfied with life." His good friend is one of the bishop's sons and we'll be having an appointment with Jason and the bishop's family tonight.

On Friday and Saturday of last week I went on back-to-back splits with a couple Zone Leaders in their areas. Friday was spent in Los Feliz, which is 10-15 minutes northwest of downtown L.A. (without traffic), and Saturday was spent in part of South Central L.A. Both days were spent working with missionaries who are from South American - one from Chile, the other from Ecuador - so I had a chance to speak some Spanish to native speakers and also get some help on some vocab and small grammar questions that I had. It rained all day on Wednesday, but for the two days of splits it was toasty!

Whenever I spend some time in South Central I feel more gratitude for the opportunites I've been given in my life and for the strong family relationships I enjoy. Most of the people living in that part of L.A. come from broken families who struggle to teach high moral standards to their kids. That condition has been steadily moving down from generation to generation and now there's just a big cluster of people in a concentrated area who struggle to understand moral and ethical standards that are consistent with God's teachings. That type of environment causes people to feel complacent with their behavior, which usually results in high levels of vandalism, indecency, crime, children out of wedlock, gang involvement, immorality, and vanity. All of those characteristics are easily seen while spending a day in urban areas of L.A.

The Elder I was on splits with in South Central (Elder Mora) commented to me about how lazy a certain group of people seemed to be who lived in his area. He said that they have no disabilities, yet they still depend on the government to bail them out for their lack of proactivity and assertiveness to find jobs. He also said that this certain group of people struggles to understand most of what the missionaries try to teach them, which he attributes to the low level of education that many of them have. Proactivity is a huge talent and education is a blessing!

Life is moving along very well. Elder Gentry and I will be going on another "zone tour" this week from Wednesday night to Saturday night in the Peninsula Zone, which covers the southern part of the mission near the ocean and rich people in the hills. It should be a good time. We've got to buy some Halloween costumes later today to entertain ourselves on Oct 31, but I'm struggling to find the Buzz Lightyear costume that seems to be a popular choice among the youngsters (only kidding).

Take Care,
Elder Brycen Gold

Weekly Update - 5 Oct 2009‏

Dear Family:
General Conference was great! It went by quickly compared to years past. Maybe it's because I was completely attentive, taking notes, and anxious to be learning from the apostles and the prophet. I'm glad you were able to catch one of the sessions. Elder Holland's talk was very powerful. I also enjoyed Elder Christofferson's talk about discipline. He had a great comment when talking about "wayward children" as he said that some parents feel like they need to let their kids choose which religion they want to be apart of, and that they don't want to inflict on their kids' agency to choose. He went on to say that they can't choose intelligently until the truth has been presented to them.

We watched the morning session of General Conference on Saturday with Pres. and Sis. Blackburn in their room here at the mission home and they cooked lunch for us afterwards (mexican casserole dish). It was nice to kick back and be instructed. We watched the remaining three general sessions and the priesthood session at the church building we attend on Sundays. The weekend went by fast.

We made it through "Transfer Day" last Wednesday after ushering out 10 missionaries and picking-up 23 new ones from the MTC. Most of my good friends from the mission have left now, but I still have a few left. Transfer day felt like a circus...we had the office staff asking us questions, the new missionaries asking us questions, the trainers asking us questions, and the list could continue. It was a solid time period for testing my patience. I hope I passed.

We will be having a baptism with Gabe Naylor this Saturday if the building is available. We will be having Stake Conference that same day and sometimes scheduling conflicts can arrise. He was married on 26 Sept and got back into town yesterday evening from his honeymoon. We're looking forward to seeing the climax of his investigation of the Church.

As I've talked with people in the wards we cover about their various different educational fields they were apart of, I have been wondering if it's better to have a job in a field that provides stability, or if it's better to have a job that you absolutely love. Ideally, you would want to have both, but if you had to choose one, which would it be?

Throughout my mission I've been compiling a list of things that I've learned while serving as a missionary. I've included things I've learned about myself, people in general, behavior patterns, life in general, etc. and I plan to send the list in my final e-mail in a few months. This past week I've learned that: 1. There's more than one right way to do things.There are too many missionaries that get caught up in thinking that there is only one correct way to do things. That mindset creates tension and irritation with those that are surrounded by that Elder/Sister. One person's style may be different that yours, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong. If their style violates rules, then obviously it would need to be changed.2. I need time for myself.I've learned that I need some time to be alone to think and focus on what I'm doing and what I can do to improve. Having some time alone helps me feel refreshed when I'm around others and when I talk to someone again. By not having some time alone, being around others and talking to them can become mundane.3. Missions help you discover your spiritual potential.There's a quote that goes around that says, "You can gauge the type of person you will be for the rest of your life by the type of missionary you are." I hope I've seen my spiritual potential and that I can live up to it.

The Church is true. I'm grateful for my membership in it. I'm grateful for the time that I've had to share my testimony with others and to use it as a tool in conversion. I view it as a privilege to serve a mission and to see other people change their lives. Time continues to wind down, but there's still time to teach others and let my testimony impact them in whatever way the Lord directs.

Have a great week!
Elder Brycen Gold