Elder Gold's update July 13, 2009

I was thinking of something to write that reflects something that I've learned recently and I've decided that I'd like to share about the huge testimony of timing that I've gained over the past few months. God knows what he wants to do with us and what he wants us to become. He will work with us on his timetable, not ours, but as we're patient He always follows through. We cannot force our will upon His. By relentlessly trying to force our will upon His we show that we have a low amount of faith. Timing tests our patience and faith simultaneously and adds to our knowledge of God's love after we see the results of relying upon God's timing and not our own.

The past week has been the busiest week of my mission. The AP training process ended last week on Tuesday when Elder Gathro officially turned the keys, phone and info over to me. He flew home to Jacksonville, FL on Wednesday morning and I've been adjusting and adapting to my new responsibilities for the past six days.

The busiest part of the busy week was transfers, which happened last Wednesday. We finished the transfer assignments about five days prior to transfer day, but we had to make car arrangements for new companionships, prepare training packets for new District Leaders and Zone Leaders, prepare a training segment that we presented to the L.A. Mission leadership on Saturday morning, and a lot of other things too. I've been told that on a normal transfer week that the AP's don't usually leave the office until 5-6pm on most days. That was true. We don't have a ton of time to work in our area throughout the week because of the office work we need to complete, but when we get out we make it worth it.

During the departure devotional last Tuesday for the departing missionaries who left last Wednesday, I was reminded that I'm very grateful to still have 6.5 months left on my mission. When I heard all the missionary's testimonies and thoughts about their mission I felt grateful for my opportunity to be here and serving the Lord in this part of His vineyard. Two years to serve seemed to be a long time once I started my mission, but it's been passing by quickly and it will be over before I know it. I love the mission!

This upcoming week Elder Gentry and I will be conducting a Zone Leader Council Meeting tomorrow at the mission home, then six separate meetings with individual zones throughout the mission to gather information about what is going well in the mission and what can improve. We'll have a busy week, but it will be a good one.

I picked up a freshly tailored suit from a tailor store this morning and it's nice to have a suit that fits me now. I felt like a little kid wearing his dad's suit when I had it before it was properly fitted. It fits nice and stug now and hopefully that will keep me motivated to maintain a consistent weight. Thanks for the support and prayers from each of you. The Church is true and Christ is real. God listens to our prayers and loves us each individually.

Take care and have a great week!

Elder Brycen Gold

Update from Elder Gold 6 July 2009‏

Happy 4th of July to everyone! Hopefully you are all having a good time "hamming-it-up" at Bear Lake. I'm anxious to get up there again in the upcoming years. Send me some pictures if you can and tell everyone I say hi. That news about Steve McNair dying was shocking! That's so random. Life can be taken away in an instant and we never know when it will happen. Michael Jackson dying two weeks ago and now this info about Steve McNair is tough to believe that it's real. Apparently a bunch of people will be having a parade near the Staples Center in downtown L.A. tomorrow to honor Michael Jackson and I actually drove up near his house in Beverly Hills this past week and there was caution tape surrounding the entrance with flowers everywhere. I'm now living up behind the L.A. Temple in Westwood. I've been working in the area of Beverly Hills for the past week, but that will end this Wednesday when I will open up a new area in West L.A. with my new companion, Elder Davis, who's from South Jordan, UT. He went to Bingham High School and graduated in 2008. Last Tuesday until now has felt like an informational roller-coaster as I've been trained and taught about some of my new responsibilities in the mission. Pres. Blackburn met with me last Sunday (28 June) and asked me to be his next Assistant to the President (AP). He asked me to be up at the mission home two days later to start the training period that has been happening for seven days now. Elder Gathro, one of the two current AP's, will be leaving for home this Wednesday and he's been "showing me the ropes" and helping me get settled in to all the new responsibilities. Right now we have three AP's in the mission home and that will continue until Elder Gathro leaves. Elder Gentry (my former companion) is the other AP and he's had one transfer of experience up here in the mission home and office, so we'll both be learning a lot from our own experiences next transfer (8 July - 19 Aug). There are so many meetings this week! On Wednesday we'll be dropping off all the departing missionaries at the LAX airport at 6:30am and then picking up all the new, arriving missionaries at 9:30am at LAX. We will be having a trainer's meeting that we will conduct and train at, followed by a "trainee's" meeting that we will be conducting as well. The next four days are packed with meetings, but it will be a good time. I've really enjoyed working closely with Pres. Blackburn since I've been up at the mission home. He lives here too with Sis. Blackburn. The AP's and Pres. participate in 3-4 meetings towards the end of each transfer where they make transfer decisions for all the missionaries in the mission. I had the opportunity to participate in two of those and it was very humbling. Pres. Blackburn is a great man and I look forward to learning from him and Sis. Blackburn as well. Real quick, our 4th of July celebration consisted of eating dinner with Pres. and Sis. Blackburn out on the courtyard area of the mission home. Pres. grilled some steaks and Sis. Blackburn made some dang good salad, jello, potatotes and a cake that was in the shape and design of an American flag. Besides Pres. and Sis. Blackburn, Elder Gentry, Elder Gathro, Elder Jenne (L.A. Mission referral secretary), Elder Davis (L.A. Mission computer specialist), and I were there to eat all the good food. Take care and have a great week! Let me know if there's anything I can do for any of you. Elder Brycen Gold

Update from Elder Gold, June 15, 2009

Vacation time is almost upon us, well you at least, and it sure sounds like it will be a welcomed time period. Be sure to take pictures and then to send them to me after the vacation is over.

I'm anxious to try out some of Taylor's workout routines when I get back home. That's one of the big things that I miss doing - working out. We only have 30 minutes in the morning and we can't go to weight-lifting gyms, so I'm stuck with a couple 20 lb. dumbells in the apartment that I can use and doing push-ups as well. I feel like I'm staying pretty "toned," but I kinda wish that I could do some bulking up as well.

I went on splits in Beverly Hills for the day on Saturday and I came away feeling very thankful that my parents taught me how to work hard. We participated in a table and chair moving project in the morning that took about 1.5 hours and towards the end of our un-loading we were asked to scrub the railing that surrounded an outdoor balcony of a huge house. The sister in the ward who asked us to do this for her had three of her kids sitting right there and it seemed like they usually had any sort of responsibilities deflected off of them and instead given to others. We did the scrubbing and took off. She was a nice lady, but man, the kids just seemed like they got whatever they wanted without having to do much for it. Thanks for teaching me how to work.

I had a cool experience while we were working in Beverly Hills when we went over to contact a less-active member of the ward up there who happens to be the wife of Larry King. We were inside of his house for 10-15 minutes and his kids showed us around the place and showed us pictures, books, etc. We talked with their house-sitters for most of the time we were there and then took off to knock some doors on their street. While we were walking down the street, we met Larry King. He kinda brushed us off and only spoke to us for maybe two minutes, but it was still a cool experience.

Most of the missionaries who serve up there have at least one opportunity to meet him I've heard. We worked for two hours in West Hollywood, which is a synonym for "gay capital of the world." While we attempted to contact a few former investigators, we had some time to knock some doors and try to find new people to teach. We knocked into two gay guys twice in one complex and it was an awkward experience. After we finished up knocking, we ran back to our car because we were late for our dinner appointment and we had a small group of "gay pride" guys yell some weird stuff to us.

Working in Beverly Hills helped me appreciate the opportunity to work in Gardena a little bit more. We have an investigator right now who has a baptismal date for 28 June (James Koenig), but we'll probably end up pushing the date back to 5 July to make sure that he's getting baptized because he has a testimony and not because his girlfriend is a member of the Church. He's a smart kid (age 23) and we found out yesterday that his boss was willing to give him every Sunday off so that he can come to church. We're hoping to meet with him two more times this week.

Life is busy and I'm loving being a missionary. I'm working on a study topic about adversity and another one about apathy, which are two things that seem fairly common in the Church and the world in general.

Quote for the Week: "We will have to make some hard choices of how we use our time. But there should never be a conscious choice to let the spiritual become secondary as a pattern in our lives. When we put God's purposes first, He will give us miracles. Those apparent prison walls of 'not enough time' will begin to recede, even as you are called to do more." - Henry B. Eyring

Thanks for the e-mails, support and prayers. This is the Lord's work and I'm grateful for each of you and all your efforts to make sure I'm doing well.

Have a great week!

Elder Brycen Gold

My "Baby" is all fixed!

Oh, what a rough couple of weeks it has been. After wrecking my Jeep, I was in such stress. But thanks to a couple of great people in my life and good people to work with, she is all fixed up now and my life is back to normal. Thanks for your help, mom, pa, Mike, Eric and Bill!

Elder Gold's Weekly Update - 18 May 2009‏

L.A. and Denver are coming closer together in more than one way now with the Nuggets playing the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals this week, nice! We saw a couple neighbors in our apartment complex watching the Lakers vs. Rockets game yesterday and during church at the english ward someone showed me their cell phone with the final score reading: Lakers 89, Houston 70. I was hoping the Nugs would luck out and get to play Houston instead of the Lakers, but I'm just glad they have the opportunity to play for a trip to the NBA Finals. It must be a great time to be in Denver right now with all the excitement!

I'm feeling a mixture of feelings today: frustration, irritation and stagnation. We had a meeting with the L.A. Mission Presidency and the members of the Stake High Councils for the stakes that are inside of the L.A. Mission boundaries and following the meeting Pres. Blackburn pulled Elder Gentry and I into a room to talk with us. Pres. asked Elder Gentry to be the next "Assistant to the President" (AP) in order to replace another Elder who will be leaving to go home on 27 May. I was stoked for Elder Gentry and for the opportunities he will have, but I began feeling the before-mentioned feelings after I found out that I will be in the South Bay Zone for another transfer, which will be number 10 of my 11 transfers as a missionary. Most missionaries get a nice mixture of variety over the course of their missions as they are transferred from area to area and zone to zone, but I haven't been as fortunate.

I'm not feeling frustrated or irritated because Elder Gentry was given the opportunity to be AP instead of me. I really feel the way I do right now because it seems like I have a built-in handicap associated with my name, which would be the "ASL" label I carry. I feel like I've had restrictions or limits imposed on me as a missionary that have not resulted from actions on my part, but because I carry this label. The ASL missionaries have adopted the South Bay Zone as their zone to serve in when they're in the ASL program and I've always had a connection to that zone even after serving in the program itself. I want to at least have the chance to serve in a group of different cities, which would be a different zone. Maybe this frustration comes from me being too focused on myself and not enough on the people I serve or the area I serve in, so I'm doing my best to find a balance between being concerned for the enjoyment of my mission and then being satisfied with where Pres. Blackburn has asked me to serve. The balance is the tough part.

Anyway, now that my little rant is over, I'm doing well otherwise. We had four investigators come to church yesterday and the Winter Family is still doing very solid. We're excited for the big change that has come to the lives of their family. They were confirmed yesterday morning and Brandon (age 12) was given the priesthood later in the afternoon.

I will be training a new Zone Leader for the second time (Elder Gentry was the first one) next transfer and I still don't know who it will be, so I'll have to wait another couple of days. I will be working in a three-some of missionaries for the next week after I drop Elder Gentry off at the mission home tomorrow afternoon and that will have its "ups" and "downs."

I hope everyone is doing well and thank you for your prayers and your encouragement on my behalf. I appreciate it and I love all ya'll!

Take care,Elder Brycen Gold

Elder Gold's update for April 6, 2009

Thanks for the entertaining e-mails this week. It sounds like General Conference had a positive impact on everyone and I'm anxious for the Ensign to come out next month so that I can review the talks. It's interesting how much we look forward to General Conference as missionaries. It's like Christmas for us and it helps us out when we're tracting for sure because we can tell people they have the opportunity to listen to a prophet in a few days.

In response to Taylor's speculation about my weight, I started my mission weighing 215 lbs. and I now weigh 192 lbs. This weight feels good to me and I've noticed some benefits of being lighter when we play basketball (jumping higher, moving quicker, etc.). E. Gentry and I have an unofficial challenge between the two of us about who can eat the healthiest diet. We rarely eat fast food and dessert is almost completely un-appealing to me now. We had a piece of pie last night after eating dinner with a member family and I felt like a chunk afterwards!

I appreciate the family updates and getting to know how life is treating everyone. Taylor will probably see his number of shifts increase as he works there longer. The "newbies" tend to work 1-2 shifts per week until they're experience (6 months usually) and then the management will increase it to 2-4 per week. One nice part about being on a mission is not having to worry about a job to pay for things. I've began to think about what I want to do for money right after my mission ends and the thought of working at Finish Line again isn't too appealing, but it may be my only option. We'll see what happens.

Life in the City of Angels continues to press forward and my first transfer with E. Gentry as my companion will come to a close on 15 April. We've been working very well together and we were able to set a baptismal date with two of our investigators who come from the same family last week. We've been teaching this family (Winter family) since the beginning of January, but they've told us repeatedly that they just want to take things slow. We taught them the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" lesson last week and E. Gentry extended the baptismal commitment and they accepted. They're an awesome family! (Note: Father of the family is a member, but the wife and three kids are not.)

I forgot to comment about the "April Fool's" letter that I received two weeks ago that was mailed out of Draper, UT. The envelope said it was from an Internal Tax Service and the document inside said that the collection of shoes I was holding at Grandma Robie's house was being taxed because they were items where profit could be made. I read the document 3-4 times and I was convinced it was real. I asked other missionaries what I should do to clear everything up and they gave me a few ideas. I read the document again and at the very bottom of the letter underneath the signature it gave the e-mail address of the person who sent the piece of mail and it said: irs@aprilfools.com. I felt like an idiot...haha. I think Camie may have sent this, but whoever it was got me good!

As time on my mission moves along, I've noticed more and more of my inadequacies and areas where I can improve in my life. There are many aspects of missionary work where I feel inadequate and it's a definite process to develop the skills and talents that earn someone the label of a solid missionary. I've recognized that my missionary experience has helped me come to know how much I don't know and how I can learn from other people and situations. It's been a humbling experience for sure. We had a missionary who will be leaving for home next week share his testimony with all the other Zone Leaders at a Zone Leader Meeting last Tuesday and he commented about how inadequate he felt as a person and as a missionary. He was a great missionary and he'll be missed.

I've been reading from the "Teachings of David O. McKay" book during my personal study lately and here are a couple quotes I really like:

1.) "What you sincerely in your heart think of Christ will determine what you are and will largely determine what your acts will be."

2.) "The greatest battles you will ever fight will be within the silent chambers of your heart." Take care and have a great week!

Elder Brycen Gold
P.S. Go North Carolina!!

Update from Elder Gold, March 30, 2009

L.A. has been treating me well over the past week. We had the baptism of Robert Abaliwano Bamulangeyo yesterday and I he asked me to baptize him. It was a mouthful for me to pronounce all the syllables of his name, but we figured it and everything went smoothly. He's a stud! He bore his testimony at church at the single's ward, which was the morning before he was even baptized or confirmed. I'll be sending some pictures home today and one of them will be of his baptism.

We had our "Beach P-Day" today, which is our one and only time throughout the year where each zone is allowed to go to the beach and have a good time. We couldn't touch the water at all, but it was to be so close to the ocean and it was peaceful too. The top of my head is completely fried and it hurts even while I'm just sitting here in the library. It's really red!

We played water balloon volleyball, regular volleyball, beach football, burried a couple missionaries with sand, took some pictures with Pres. and Sis. Blackburn, and had lunch to cap it all off. It was a fun time and I'll be sure to include a couple pictures in the envelope I'll be sending home later today.

E. Gentry and I are working strong together and I've learned a lot from him over the four weeks that we've been companions. He is very focused and he loves missionary work. It was an adjustment for me to be companions with him this transfer after being with E. Gregory last transfer, mainly because their work styles and personalities were different. It's been a good adjustment for me over the four weeks I've been with E. Gentry and we've seen success in Gardena.

Tell everyone at home that I say hello and have a great week! Elder Brycen Gold

Rascal Flatts Countdown

Update from Elder Gold

We had transfers last Wednesday and E. Gregory flew home to Sandy, UT. I got an e-mail from him today and I guess he's been on a couple dates and he's enjoyed hanging out and rehabilitating himself to normal life again. I miss being companions with him.
My new companion is E. Gentry. He's a solid missionary from Alpine, UT, but the two of us don't seem to "click." We get along just fine, but our styles of humor are different and the topics we enjoy discussing are different. We do have one topic in common - basketball - so we discuss that while we're tracting. We'll probably be together until 27 May, so we'll make things work.
I've been feeling really tired over the past week due to all the meetings we've been going to and the constant work that we do. The only time we really have to sit and relax is in the car while we're driving to a new destination. Daylight savings time on Sunday was rough too, but I'm feeling better today.
I gave a 10-12 minute talk on Sunday in the Gardena Ward (English) about missionary work and how members can help us with the work. We had a general authority - Elder Douglas Callister (Quorum of 70) - visit us last September and he said, "If you can't give a talk without notes, you don't know the material well enough." So, I decided to give it a shot and I used no notes. I think it went pretty well though.
Over the past couple days I've been thinking about some advice that I'd like to give to the family about feeding the missionaries. If missionaries come the house to eat, offer them water! They will gladly accept. Also, if they're full, don't urge them to eat more. I've been on the opposing end of these things recently and it's made me appreciate the control that I had over my diet before the mission. I love eating with the members, but I wish I could drink only water for dinner and eat as much as I want, then be done. Random advice, but yeah, see what happens.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you all again next Monday. Take care and thanks for everything!
Elder Brycen Gold

Latest News from Elder Gold

We had the opportunity to go tracting last Tuesday afternoon with one of the young men from our Spanish Ward and I thought it was kinda funny how E. Roldan and I were so intrigued by the current life events of this young man. We asked him questions for nearly three hours while we knocked doors and occasionally we swapped stories back and forth. I had the privilege to share my junior prom story involving Chelsea Tomlinson and all the chaos that surrounded that wonderful time of my high school career (sarcasm added). There were some good laughs in response to the story! We went out tracting with the Spanish Ward young man again on Thursday afternoon and while we were teaching a man on his front lawn, another man drove up next to us and asked which church we were from. I told him, then he started freaking-out and "cussing" at us about all sorts of things. He told us that he was "going to go home, get his gun, then come back and shoot us!" The man was nuts! We quickly wrapped-up our conversation on the front lawn and left the neighborhood to avoid any confrontation. It's interesting to see how up-tight and crazy some people become when they see us or when they hear which church we represent... We un-intentionally crashed a Compton "block party" on Saturday night when we attempted to contact a referral and we had some good discussions with six of the black guys there about various topics. One of my favorite topics was when we were comparing Tupac's legacy as a "prophet" of hip-hop culture to Pres. Monson as the prophet of the Church. We were able to connect the two pretty well, surprisingly. We took a few photos with these six guys and they were all really cool with us. They were big football fans, so that was another topic we discussed for a while. Some of the most memorable events and people I've met have come during my stay in Compton. I love it! I'm struggling to think of other exciting or noteworthy events that have happened over the past week...it was a pretty routine week for the most part. We have transfers on 21 Jan and we have little idea of what to expect. We'll have mission president interviews tomorrow for our zone and we'll likely have a better idea of what's going to happen. There will be three Zone Leaders and one AP going home on 21 Jan, so the mission will have a solid shake-up of leadership in the near future. We're working with a young man named Edward (age 17) who is the boyfriend of one of the young women in the Spanish Ward we cover. He's a good kid and it helps to have his girlfriend with us while we teach him. Hopefully we can set a flexible baptismal date with him on Tuesday if the timing feels right. Take care and I'll talk to you next week. Elder Brycen Gold

Hawaii 2008-A Trip of a Lifetime