Lyttelton Harbor!

Hello hello! I hope this weeks email finds everyone happy and healthy :)
This week was a pretty good one! We actually ended up dropping 2 investigators and being dropped by 1 so that kinda sucked actually, but that's missionary life I guess!

Our remaining investigator that we see regularly is doing pretty well! His name is Sam and we have a lesson every week with him! We started the Plan of Salvation with him, I love teaching that one! HE had so many great questions! I really love teaching people who truly desire to understand and learn more:) I really hope he goes far in the gospel and finds his personal relationship with his Savior!

This week we also went on exchanges with our Sister Training leaders! I got to go to their area which
was awesome! We went into a market in Lyttelton Harbor and had a whiteboard with "How would you identify yourself" written on it and had everyone write their answers. Then we told them that they were children of God! It was really fun! We only got yelled at a couple of times:))))) When we were finished, a member in their ward took us to lunch. She took us to this cute cafe up in the hills on a mountain (the drive there was so pretty). So this place specialized in chocolate...
I have never eaten so much chocolate in my life! Hahahah it was so good though!

Last night the missionaries in our stake put on a “Come and See” Fireside all about coming closer to Christ! It was really good and TONS of people came! There were such good speakers and powerful musical items! Everyone really enjoyed it! It was so nice :) I love being a missionary and being commissioned to help others develop a personal relationship with their Savior, Jesus Christ. I love that I have the chance to do this, and I can't believe I only have 10 more months to do it!

Thank you so much for the continued support, love and encouragement! I love you all!

Love, Sister Golden

My Birthday ~ 20 years old!

SO SORRY EVERYONE! This one is gonna have to be so quick! I got signed off of my email and had to wait a certain amount of time to sign back in :( So now I ma out of time! this week was a good one though!

Here is a pic of my new hair, and me with my cute trainee, also a pic of us missionaries and a couple kids from the ward at the tree planting activity :)

Highlights: 2 New investigators, Zone Conference with President and Sister Hudson, going to a community event to plant some trees t the military camp and so so many awesome birthday wishes!!!! Thank you so much to everyone for all the love!

We were also able to attend a convert baptism for another ward and give a lesson. The baptism was for 2 kids who's grandpa is a less active and he was challenged to come back to church, get the priesthood and baptize his grandkids! HE DID IT! Honestly, he had to redo the prayers and dunk them each a few different times, but it was such a sweet experience! I love this gospel and that there is always the chance to progress in it and become better! 

I love you all so much!!!! 

Love, Sister Golden

GOOD Week:)

HELLO! Welcome to your favorite time of the week and thank you for tuning in this fine day! For real, shout out to all of you awesome people reading my boring letters these past few weeks! haha! Thank you also for all the love, support and encouragement :) #MuchAppreciated

So, to get this weeks news rolling: We spent the first 2 days of the week in the flat!!!!!!!!!!!

WHOOOOOOOO! My cute companion Sister Snow was really sick! She had a migraine, body aches, dizzy spells, nausea, and pretty much anything else you can think of! My days mostly consisted of flossing my teeth, cleaning the flat, writing letters, flossing again, making chicken noodle soup from scratch (which actually turned out really good), watching Legacy cause all sister missionaries know that's the closest thing you can get to a chick flick out here, and nursing my cute trainee back to health! Then, just when we thought it was safe to step outside the flat, Sister Snow realized she needed a new face wash and so she decided to try a new natural neutrogena one... mistake. The next morning she woke up with crazy hives on her face and hands!!!! What a trooper she is though! Her face was SO itchy, dry and inflamed but she kept working hard! She got a blessing from the Elders and we found her some fun things to try from the pharmacy so it has been getting much better :)

Besides those fun times... this week we found a new investigator!!!!! Her name is Jasmine and we are really excited about her! YAY! Also this coming week is pretty full of lessons for us which I am so happy about cause sometimes it is even hard to fill our days during planning each night!

This week was so crazy with the weather too...?! WHAT THE HECK! So the week started off sunny then all of a sudden it was pouring rain, super windy and hail balls the size of probably marbles started to rain! We had to run from our car to appointments which did not go well with an umbrella cause it kept turning inside out! I hope I am not the one making bad impressions on mormon missionaries when they see me...

Also fun events, my cute comp can't signal very well on the bike, she feels she is going to fall off so this morning for exercise we got our butts on our bikes and she was biking around the neighborhood as I was like "RIGHT" "LEFT" from behind hahahaha must have been quite the sight for these kiwis ;)

Other good news!!!!! : We got a flash, new car!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOO! The elders are all butt hurt cause they got our old gross one and we were upgraded ;) haha (Flash: fancy, new, nice, expensive). Also, I am turning 20 in 7 days (YUCK) but hey congrats to me for living through 2 decades I guess (*pat on the back*). Oooh and I also decided to chop all my hair off so it's short now, hahahaha!

Bad News: We have been showering in the dark for 3 weeks now... water started to drip INTO THE LIGHT BULB while it was raining so then it started to spark and smoke so we shut it off and we are still waiting for the repair people to come :-)

Also EVERYTHING in our flat leaks hahaha, so it is real fun running around in the rain with buckets trying to catch the water! HAHAHAH!

I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really do! and all the fun times on the side just give me more stories to add to my repertoire ;)

Lots of prayers for our coming lessons this week would be much appreciated, hopefully they will become new investigators!!!! Yay! Love you all REAL GOOD and I will chat with you next week when I AM 20 YEARS OLD AH!

Love, Sister Golden

Sunnier and Longer Days!

Well, spring is around the corner here in New Zealand! The weather was beautiful this week! It seems that people are more cheerful and willing to talk when the weather is nicer so it makes missionary work more fun!

This week wasn't very eventful in the ways of lessons, bet we had an amazing district meeting with President and Sister Hudson! We talked all about Revelation through the Book of Mormon and why it is so important to have a solid testimony of it. We watched a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland that he gave about the Book of Mormon and how it was safety for the soul (a talk I HIGHLY recommend). I was totally crying after watching it and wishing I had the words and passion that he has when he talks about the Book of Mormon!

President then challenged us to cover New Zealand with our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, which I am so excited about! I am so excited to keep reading it, getting familiar with it, and loving it even more than I do now! In the introduction it talks about the course we should take when reading the Book of Mormon: Read, Ponder and Pray, and that any who truly do this WILL gain a testimony of it by the power of the Holy Ghost. I know this is true and I invite all of you to do this and I know that we will all either gain a testimony of it, or our testimonies will be strengthened!

I am so grateful for this special witness of the Savior, the Book of Mormon. I am excited to cover New Zealand with my testimony of it!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Golden