Sister Goss---W40: We MOVED!! (May 26 2020)

Hello friends!!! <3

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!! Find a parade that isn't impacted by social isolation (if possible) and enjoy it thoroughly for me. ;) 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

This week has been soooo fantastic!! :)) Like I mentioned in my last email, I was super worried about this upcoming transfer because I was going crazy and now I was stuck AGAIN with Sister Clyde in the same area with no change. Well God gave me little tender mercies everyday to help me get through and then a BIG tender mercy on Thursday. We were in the middle of language class at 3:30 when we saw the AP's (assistants to President Hammon) were calling. We answered, and they said "we actually need to ask you to move apartments and double out. Could you do it by tonight?" Y'all, I've never packed so quickly or so joyously in my life. We got that call at 3:30 and were unloading at our new apartment at 5:30. Haha I was soooo excited!!! This apartment is so cute and even though we had to lug up everything by ourselves three flights of stairs (it only took about 6 trips hahahaha), I love it here. ;) My favorite part is the balcony. The balcony overlooks the freeway and when Sister Clyde is in the shower at night, I'll go out by myself and just watch the cars and enjoy the summer California night. It's the BEST. :)) 

The move was so wonderful and desperately needed. I enjoy the little things, like studies at my large desk (also looking out the window), improved WiFi so we can actually see what's going on, new places to walk around outside, big kitchen, etc. Obviously I could go on but suffice it to say that I'm so glad we moved. :) This week has been full of meetings (Saturday we had 5 meetings in one day), studies, texting, and calling. It's been great!!

And I've got big news.... Guess who just hit their 9 months?? Woohoooo!!! Halfway done! :D Hip hip hooray!!! I'm so excited. I can't believe I'm halfway mark, but it's a good thing I have a lot of time ahead of me still! ;) Time on the mission feels so fluid!

As far as teaching goes, we're still finding it hard to keep in contact with people but we've had some neat experiences nonetheless! Anton is a former that we got in contact with a month ago or so, and he sounded legitimately interested! We tried to get back in contact and called and called and got no answer. Finally I said "okay let's try one more time and if he doesn't answer we'll pause him." Well whadaya know! He answered! We taught him more about the Restoration and he was excited. So we set up another time and it fell through again. So we call and call and nothing. For another couple weeks. Finally (again) I say "well let's try one more time." And guess what. He answers. It sounds to me like he really wants to know, and God wants us to teach him, so we'll keep having patience. ;)

On the opposite end, Kevin hasn't been answering which is sad. We also contacted this former named Joshua who hung up on us and sent us a text about how he loves Satan so that was awkward. Last night we called 9 people in a row who either didn't answer or hung up once we told them who we were. :( But it's okay! We're here to find the people that are ready and honestly that rejection doesn't discourage me, but rather encourages me to keep finding. What's the worst that can happen? More people hang up? :) I have a new excitement for the work again and don't mind calling lots and lots and lots of people. This is the best work in the world. <3

Anyway, love you all! Thanks for reading, and keep on keepin' on! 

Love, Sister Mary Goss 

1) Pretty Lake Elsinore 

2) Happy 9 months to me

3) Bike ride with Clyde

4-5) okay so I noticed this Romania page shared our post and so I went to see look at their page and they happened to share my brother's post on the same day!! :O That's what I call sibling unity hahaha! <3

6) Jumping for joy because the gospel is JOYFUL!! 😁

7) Zone pic

Elder Goss---W-37 Short Week (May 19 2020)

This week has gone by pretty past, which is a wierd change. Having a four-man apartment is pretty fun. The other day, Elder Frederick, our Zone Leader, was told that doing 1000 pushups in one day was impossible. And Elder Frederick basically said 'bet' and made a goal to do 1000 pushups in one day by the end of the transfer. All of us agreed to do our own little pushup goal, and so the next day, we all started cranking them out. I set an alarm for basically every hour of the day, and I did 15 pushups every time. Seeing as we were awake for 17 hours, I did a grand total of 255 pushups. Elder Frederick did over 500. Collectively, we completed 1290 pushups! In ONE day. Not to flex on everyone, but that's a lot of pushups. I'm pretty sore. As you can imagine. 

This P-day we went to the beach to walk around. There were certain places that you couldn't go, and you were not allowed to linger too long in one area, but it was pretty awesome. 

Here are some pics! I hope you like them!

Take care.

Elder Goss

 

 

Sister Goss---W39: These are a few of my favorite things... (May 18, 2020)

Howdy folks!!!

This was the most exciting week of this past transfer!! I got to (finally) experience some of my absolute favorite things again, and boy were they needed. :) 

On Tuesday we got to drive to... drum roll please... RIVERSIDE!! My home away from home!! :)) <3 Sister Clyde had a doctor's appointment for when she fainted, so we were there for a good couple hours! There are very few times you are completely alone as a missionary, one of which is while your companion is with the doctor. Watching her walk away and just sitting in the lobby watching people by myself was soooooo nice. I'd been there before with a previous companion, so it felt familiar. And of course driving to Riverside was just so phenomenal!! We stopped by the mission office to drop off a few things and pick up mail and I loved every second of it. :)) It was a fantastic highlight of the transfer. In addition, I actually just got back from driving to Riverside AGAIN!!! I even got to drive straight through my old area in Canyon Crest and I almost cried. I was so happy. 

The second favorite thing I got to experience is actually pretty funny. Sister Clyde and I went on the 111th walk around our apartment and when we came back, our blessed neighbors were playing their music so loud you could hear it through the walls. We "happened" to leave our door open (so we could get fresh air, of course!) and they continued to play a mix of country and pop for the next 2 hours. Hallelujah!! Honestly I count this as a tender mercy from heaven. It was SO WONDERFUL. 

The next thing I got to do that is a favorite of mine is actually teach someone!!! Kevin, someone I found with Sister Sands back on week 29, has asked if we can meet every week now. We had a phone call conversation with him a few weeks ago and he said, "I want to not hate God anymore. I want to know what the scriptures say. I want you to teach me everything from the ground-up; start at the basics. Like what is the nature of God? And what does the Bible say? What is the Book of Mormon?" Hearing those words is every missionary's dream. We had our first lesson with him this week and answered those questions. I am beyond excited to teach him every week! Kevin has so much to get through - he has a lot of problems. But his desire is there. I can see the potential he has and I know it's going to take a long time, but with consistent nourishment and patience, his life is going to change. I'm grateful for the chance to have found him and start that process. And now this will give me something to look forward to every week! YAY!!! 

The other day for entertainment we watched flies. No, this is not a joke. As a result of our door being open for a couple of hours, we have some flies as roommates (worth it) and for a solid 15 minutes we enjoyed watching them play. Ahhh, the things we get to do as isolated missionaries. 10/10

Well transfers was this week! 90-95% of all the missionaries changed companions. That is GOOD. Change is needed in circumstances like this! Unfortunately, Sister Clyde and I are of the 10-5% that did not change. This will be a very difficult transfer but I know that if I'm still here, God wants me here. I will definitely learn and grow in the next 6 weeks in ways I never have before. So let's do this!

Thanks for reading my emails. I miss you all more than I can say (BELIEVE ME)! Keep relying on the only source of strength we have--Jesus Christ. He will carry you! I love you lots!!! Here's to another transfer, come and gone!

Love, 

Sister Mary Goss

1) At the doctor's in Riverside!! 

2) On the way to a CT scan upstairs

3) What our lessons look like now. A member screenshoted me talking about Abinadi haha

4) Zone pic woowoo

5) Our tags <3

Elder Goss---W-36 Transfers Are Here!!! (May 12, 2020)

This week was pretty typical, until yesterday. Yesterday, we got the Transfer Document (which tells everyone where they'll be going and with who), and Elder Larrabee is being shipped out to the valley! Wooow! And I am getting a reassigned companion who served 15 months in ... Peru? I think. His name is Elder Diether. Wooow! And I'm still District Leader, so Wooow! 

But most amazingly, the Zone Leaders are moving into our apartment with us! WHAT?!? A 4-man? I am really excited. It's going to be crazy. It's kinda scary not knowing who my companion is going to be; we pick him up tonight. But I am excited, because one of your Zone leaders, se llama Elder Buss, loves games, so I'm pumped. It's going to be a blast. 

Anyhow. I love you all so much. We are really busy today, (I had to do some MASSIVE rearranging to fit 2 additional beds, desks, dressers and more and I STILL don't know how we are going to all share a half-bathroom), and we still have to do shopping for our new Comps. And so, I love you all. 

Elder Goss

PS, no pics this week but expect some next Tuesday! 

Sister Goss---W38: Head banger (May 11, 2020)

Hi there! Welcome to the last week of the transfer! :O Wowwy this transfer was entirely in isolation. We maybe went to the church twice. We visited 0 houses. We bought gas for our car 0 times. I was on Facebook (on my phone; Chromebook is not included in this total) for around 56.5 hours. We walked around our complex approximately 105 times. Good good times. For sure. 

Our internet connection is pretty non-existent sometimes at our apartment, so finally one day we hit our patience limit and drove more into town so we could find free WiFi. After stopping at several stores with no luck (staying inside our car), we went inside a 7/11 gas station to ask if they had a WiFi password. The cashier said "no, I'm sorry." She then smiled to herself a little and said "but you can use my grandma's WiFi if you don't mind walking a little bit? Here's her house and the password." LOL uhhh okay thanks! We walked back past the 7 homeless people smoking something outside and drove to the address. Unfortunately it didn't work; we couldn't connect. But it was super nice and funny! And don't you even worry--we found WiFi in the Albertson's parking lot. We ended up staying there for the rest of our evening from 4:30-9:00pm. I don't mind spending several hours in our RAV with faster WiFi. Plus I got to actually see people walking around to and from the store so that was such a treat!! ;) Best PPT (prime proselytizing time) of the week!

Blessings time. We were super blessed to have a service opportunity this week!! We got to package food at this essential service place for an hour and boy it was nice. I got to see the zone and woohoooo!! I love seeing people. <3 And of course it was Mother's Day!!! ;) I was blessed to talk to Mom (obviously), the rest of my family, and Hyrum!! I don't get to talk with Hyrum as often because our pdays are on different days, so it's super great when I do. Mother's Day is the best. My Mom is the best. She inspires me in so many ways. Love you Mom. ;) <3 (Bonus: isn't it funny how we've gone from talking to our families twice a year to twice a week? Blessing of all blessings! Haha! #sograteful) 

Lastly, Tuesday morning started out with a bang! And I mean literally. So imagine this: I'm sitting at the table, doing social media work on the Chromebook (unbelievable, I know). Sister Clyde is standing in the hallway leaning against the wall talking to me. We're having this nice little conversation when all of a sudden, mid-sentence, she falls backwards! I run over, thinking she tripped on shoes or something. She fell backwards, then fell forwards when she hit the wall behind her, and then fell backwards again as her head hit the wall in front of her! She just kind of ricocheted back and forth before falling completely. I asked, "are you okay??" She didn't say a thing even though her eyes were open and she started to stand up and walk back to our room. I said, "you need to sit down" but she still didn't respond! At this point I was really concerned and followed her into our room, where she finally spoke and said, holding her head, "what happened?" Oh my goodness she passed out! Hahaha oh no!! We made sure she was okay, although she's now had a goose egg on her head this entire week. Lol hahaha! Poor Sister Clyde! It was so funny once we knew everything was okay. This isolation is really getting to us! ;)

And there's the update! Day 54 of isolation has arrived. I seriously can't believe that. 54. Holey moley!! I hope you all are doing well and haven't passed out! ;) Keep finding things you love and serving others. That'll keep you going, trust me. Love you lots!!! :) Keep on keepin' on!!

Love, 

Sister Mary Goss

(I think the picture order got all mixed up, but I bet you can figure it out) ;) 

1) Night in the RAV for PPT

2) One of our many, many, many walks

3) HOPE service!! 

4) Getting distracted while creating a post and taking random selfies

5) Hike picture I forgot to include a couple weeks ago

6) How all of our meetings look like

7) What my Mom has taught me!! :) <3 

Sister Goss---W37: Wow so exciting *sarcasm still loading* (May 4, 2020)

Hi everyone!! Normally it's not the best to admit this (AT ALL) but I figure it's going to be so bad this week that you deserve a heads up: this email is going to be boring. A perfect reflection of my week. Yay!

I was looking through my journal to see what I wrote about and there was nothing worth putting here. Honestly. I chuckled and then had to rack my brain and thought of the three most exciting things of my week! You might laugh, but hey--at least I have something!

1) We had a home visit with President and Sister Hammon! They asked missionaries to reach out and teach them during the evening, so we did! We were actually on exchanges so another sister companionship joined and it went SUPER well. You know it's a super good thing when you're not nervous to teach a lesson to your mission president. ;)

2) Sister Clyde and I got to drive our RAV4 around and deliver mail!! Woohoooo!! Just to the companionships in Lake Elsinore, of course. The Franks (a senior couple) came from Riverside to give us mail and then we got to distribute it to the rest of the zone!!! :)) Best day ever.

3) This week we started giving editor rights on the Facebook pages to other companionships in the mission, which is a huge burden lifted off our shoulders! That means instead of all the missionaries sending us their posts, they directly post themselves and we just monitor everything. So that's exciting!!

There ya go: the three most EXCITING things this week. I'm sure y'all are just at the edge of your seats thinking "wow how exciting! Teaching your mission president, delivering mail, and editor rights! I'm astounded!" ;)) As boring as this week was, it was still a good week! In fact, it was a great week! :) And I should clarify - by boring I don't mean not having anything to do; I mean not having anything exciting to do. ;) It's a running joke that we are the sister AP's (the AP's themselves made that joke) because of all the things on our plate. With both STL and SMC work, we're never without something to do (which is a blessing!). Even last night we had 4 phone calls to make and the night before we were in the middle of finishing exchanges when we got three messages and a phone call. Don't even get me started on how many notifications we get during personal study! The grind never stops!! :) 

Oh wait here are two SUPER EXCITING things you should know!!! First, Sister Clyde and I are doing our first Facebook LIVE tonight at 7pm! I know that's super late your time (10pm Virginia), but if you're staying up anyway you should watch it!! It'll only be 20 minutes and it will be entertaining. ;) You know me. Boring is not my thing hahaha! ;) So TUNE IN!! See our event info on Facebook. Second, our mission found out we are receiving 39 NEW MISSIONARIES from all over the world! Literally - all over the world. The AP's told us last night that most South American countries will be represented, as well as Taiwan, Fiji, more Asian countries, Africa, etc. Big WOW. That's crazy!!! We also don't know yet when they're coming, but we might find out tonight. President is having a big meeting letting us know some announcements! They could come before, on, or after transfers (May 18). I'm super super excited!!! But I'm also a little nervous. That's a massive amount of new missionaries with different mission standards, so it might be a hard adjustment for everyone. BUT we do need more missionaries. And they want to serve. So it'll be good! Crazy crazy!

Well, thanks for reading despite my heads up at the beginning! Go watch our LIVE tonight and comment in the comment section that you're watching. :)) It would be so fun to know you're there! I miss and love you all! Have a super duper amazing totally fantastic week!! :) 

Love, Sister Mary Goss