Sister Sister 2.0

Family! It's the big week. There will officially be TWO Sister Goaslinds in about 32 hours from now! Haley, you're gonna be great. I'm so excited for you! :) Family, I'll be home in 11.5 months. You can manage that long without us for that long, right? I know I appreciate all of your support, and if Haley doesn't already, she will. It's nice to know that you're all excited for us. :) Haley, I am taking it as my duty to make sure all 6 of us will be there to pick you up in 18 months ESPECIALLY since half of us siblings won't be there to drop you off. 

Dad, thank you for the quick video of most of the fam. Sawyer is HUGE and ADORABLE! It's weird to think that I've seen the Forsgrens more recently than the rest of you. Hopefully one day I'll get to serve up there in Keller. Forsgrens, do you remember Elder Sheeran? He served up in Keller a few months ago. He's in my district now, and he's hilarious! He was really excited to hear that sisters are up there now. Did they split the area? Or did sisters take over the whole thing?

Mom, yes, we do have air conditioning in our apartment and it works very well! We have it and two ceiling fans going non-stop. We also work our car A/C very well. :) Thank you for the concern though. We keep our apartment well stocked with filtered water--Waco water is NASTY--plus Blue Bell ice cream and Otter Pops. 

Anyway, my week was AWESOME! We had our ups and downs, but it ended on a great note last night. Our Ward Mission Leader told us earlier this week that his mom was going to be in town for a few days. She is not a member of the church, but three of her kids are and her husband was. She attends church every week, sings in the choir, and she said that her ward has asked her if she'd like a calling. When Brother Rowley, our WML, mentioned that she was coming into town, he was trying to think of a way to have us meet and maybe try and teach her.  She came to church yesterday so we were able to meet her there. We went through the rest of our Sunday as we had planned. We were headed out to an area about 20 minutes away from our apartment. We were almost there when Sister Bate said she felt like we needed to try and go see Brother Rowley's mom. I was a little hesitant at first because I didn't know how we'd go about it, and we were 20 minutes away if we could even make it work. But, I told her to text him and find out if that was possible and I'm so glad we did! It was a little awkward at first, but it turned out to be a really good, spirit-filled lesson! As missionaries, I felt like we were just the catalyst for the discussion. We were able to teach in a family members home with four adult family members there to bear testimony to her, along with the three of us missionaries. There were many important things said by all of us there, but the most important was the testimony that Brother Rowley was able to bear to his mom. Baptism was only mentioned once throughout the time we were there, and it was only in reference to receiving the Holy Ghost. Brother Rowley shared some personal experiences, and told his mom that he wanted her to join so that she could feel the full joy of conversion to the gospel; that he wants to be sealed to her and the rest of their family. Emotions were high and we all cried, but we know that the Spirit was able to touch Sister Rowley through her son.

We all learned many things from that lesson! I definitely learned to validate and allow my companions to follow the promptings that they receive. Going to meet Sister Rowley was not convenient for us, but it was exactly where we needed to be! We were able to learn of two prayers being answered. Sister Rowley said that she had fasted yesterday with the desire to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Two of the other family members had prayed for missionary opportunities. And then us missionaries show up! As we were discussing this experience last night, I felt like a proud mom hearing what Sister Bate and Sister Tuck were learning. It is so cool to watch them have these new experiences and to see them be so excited about them! I'm excited too, of course, but there have been multiple first time experiences for Sisters Bate and Tuck this week. I would happily train for the rest of my mission just to see the excitement of these new missionaries as they get to share this gospel. I'm SO excited to hear Haley's experiences NEXT WEEK!

We need to get going, but I love you all! Everybody, give Haley and extra hug from me. Drew, I expect to hear about Trek next week.

Love,

Sister Mal

Trio Number 4+Pictures

Hello family!

Your Bear Lake trip sounds just like the best kind of Goaslind trips--lazy! I'm jealous. Did you get LaBeau's shakes? Aubree is back working there for the summer. If you go back up, you'll have to say hi. Haley sent me a couple pictures, and in just 6 months since I've seen you guys the boys are HUGE! Drew, you look like a grown up and not a little kid any more. Jack, are you as tall as Haley yet? You're really close if not. Spence, I'm sorry you couldn't get your hand wet; that probably meant you had to do some sitting out this weekend, huh? Bummer.

Sister Tuck, Sister Bate, and I are doing well here in Hewitt. Our ward is very supportive of missionary work, especially the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader. We had lessons/discussion on missionary work in the third hour of church yesterday which the quorum and Relief Society presidents directed. We're hoping for continued and increased involvement from the members over the coming weeks. The three of us are getting along pretty well so far. I've been in three trios before already so I know how they work, but we're working on getting this one to work, especially on how to include Sister Tuck. Double training two missionaries on different training schedules is different and definitely difficult, but we're doing our best to work together and I'm doing my best to train them. Sister Tuck is adorable! I love her. She's 19, from Tremonton, Utah, and she's already a hard worker. She's about 5' 3", so Sister Bate and I kind of tower over her. Especially the other day when I was in my tall shoes with my hair on top of my head.

Joey is still open to taking the lessons, he's praying and coming to church, but he's still not sure about being baptized. We've worked a lot with his family and he seems to be much more comfortable with us now than when we first met. Hopefully we'll be able to get him to open up to us a little bit about his concerns so that we can help address them. We're going to their house for dinner and a lesson tomorrow, and to celebrate Carson's birthday. (He was one of the boys that got baptized a couple weeks ago.) Thank you for your prayers on his behalf, and mine! We're still working hard. :)

One of my favorite spiritual experiences from the week happened with a member that we were eating dinner with. We were sharing the thought at the end which included me reciting the First Vision. I had asked that the sister pay special attention to the spirit that she felt as I did that; I've noticed that the First Vision is ALWAYS what brings the strongest spirit to a lesson. We paused and asked her how she felt after and she said, there is a special spirit along with hearing that experience, but that it was partially because of what she could see in my eyes. There was no further explanation of that, but it was so good to hear! I was feeling a little frustrated and inadequate that day--first full day as a double trainer--and hearing that I had helped someone feel and see the spirit in me was the perfect pick me up! It didn't matter that it was a member verses an investigator because my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. Others doesn't just include investigators and non-members. It was a good moment for me to feel like I'm doing my job as a missionary.

I'm grateful for the experience of double training, and splitting the area with elders, but it has been a lot of work. I know that this transfer will make me a much stronger missionary, if I will let it!

I love you all, and am grateful for all of your support! Boys, I hope you're getting excited and prepared for your missions. Drew, you can go out on exchanges/splits with Elders. They'd love it! :) Remember to keep praying and reading the Book of Mormon. We talked about the importance of the "primary answers" in church yesterday and I know those things have helped me. Y'all should read 1 Peter 3:15. That scripture has been like the theme of the past two weeks for Sister Bate and I--it keeps coming up everywhere! Think about the reason for your hope. It's an awesome thing to  think about!

Love,
Sister Mal

 Our district last transfer. Sister Bate and I, Elder Sheeran and Elder Briggs in the back, Elder Christiensen is the karate kid, and his companion in Elder Bingham. We now have Sister Tuck and two more Elders to add to that group.

 The members of our zone that were at transfers. Elder Bobak, on the end, really loved us, or at least Elder Wilcox next to him.

 Elder Toolson! They all look so much alike, and they're all so nice. Make sure Grandma Gwen sees this. :)

 Our companionship got to be a quad-panionship for an hour or so yesterday. There was sister that was in our zone for a couple days while she was waiting for her visa to Peru. She wasn't expecting it to come this fast--she just got her on Wednesday. But she was down here in the Waco area and had to get up to Fort Worth to the airport today, so she had to ride a bus up. She had a stop about ten minutes away from us, so she joined us for a little bit. This was us, with the Zone Leaders, Elder Treuter and Elder Fulcher, at the bus station.

Deja Vu

Hola mi familia!

Thank you for all of the updates of this weekend. It was so good to get to hear Haley sing, speak, and cry. :) She's ready, and I'm excited for her!

Fun news on my end: Come Wednesday, Sister Bate and I are becoming a trio. And guess what? It's another new missionary. Yep. I get to double train. AND! Our area is being split and we're getting a set of bike elders in our ward. This is the exact same thing that happened to us in Chapel Creek, my first area, but this time I'm the trainer. It's kind of overwhelming and definitely hubmbling, but I'm excited. I loved working with the elders in our ward in Chapel Creek, so I'm especially excited for that part. Double training? Still not sure how to handle that. But I guess Sister Bate isn't hard enough to train--because she isn't--so I need to do two at a time on different training schedules. I plan to write a quick letter to Sister Karratti today about it and hopefully she'll get back to me with some tips. :)

The broadcast yesterday was awesome! I highly recommend watching it. They have it online, along with a new section of lds.orgabout it. It's a big deal. How often do you guys see the missionaries in our ward? I remember seeing them a few times, but I know they cover multiple stakes in Utah so it's harder to get to know them. How are you going to get to work with  them?

This week we started officially teaching Joey! He is the older brother of Carson, Christian, and Jordan that got baptized a few weeks ago. He sat in on some of the lessons with the boys, but didn't participate much. We asked him about baptism during their lessons and he wasn't sure. Our focus at the time was on the other boys, so Joey just kind of laid low. We had dinner with their family last Tuesday, and before we left Sister Bate asked Joey when we could come teach him. I kind of expected him to brush it off and tried to avoid setting it up, but he was happy to meet with us! We were so excited! We went back the next day and taught Lesson 1 about prophets, the Restoration, and the Book of Mormon. He said he's still not sure about baptism, but he's been praying and can feel a difference, and said he was willing to read from the Book of Mormon. We're meeting with him tomorrow, so hopefully we'll continue to help him progress. Pray for him please! I honestly don't remember much else about this week because of the transfer stuff we found out about. I'm still learning and we're still working.

Thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm for me! I love you all! Every body give Haley a big hug for me, and make sure Chad gets a Cup o Sno for his birthday.

Love,

Sister Mal

Men are that they might have joy!

Hello family,

It's good to hear you're all enjoying your summer and yard work this week. :) I'm jealous that y'all got to hear Brandon and Aaron's homecoming talks! I absolutely believe that they were fantastic.

Mission story of the week: We were supposed to have an appointment on Monday night with a guy who we thought was going to be very promising. We had lined up exchanges and really planned what we thought was a good lesson for him. While we were in the library emailing we got a message from him that he had to cancel. We were devastated. We decided to go past another one of our investigators houses during that time instead. She wasn't there. There is a member family, the Bennett's, on that same street that we knew had been pretty sick and with a new baby so we thought we could go stop by there and see if we could help in any way. When we thought about it, we almost didn't go visit them because we didn't want to risk getting strep. We had decided not to go by their house, and then I really felt like we still needed to. We did, and they declined any help so we knocked on their next door neighbors door. There we met Joann. She came to the door with an empty plate that she told us had been a piece of cake and she had been sitting on the couch crying while eating. We introduced ourselves, and in response to hearing that we were missionaries she told us that she felt like God hated her. I know Sister Bate and I both immediately felt for her; we promised her that God didn't hate her and she invited us in. We had a lesson with her that included 2 Nephi 2:24-25 and promised her that God knows what she needs and can handle, but that ultimately He wants us all to be happy. We were there for about 30 minutes and by the end there was hope; she was happy and appreciated us. It felt so good to know that those things we had testified to her about--that everything is in God's hands and that He wants us to be happy--were applying directly to us as well. He led us to her, and we were able to find joy in bringing her joy. At church, we talked to Brother Bennett and he and his wife are willing to fellowship Joann, and said they would invite her and her daughter to church and activities.

Funny tracting story: Sister Bate and I were tracting yesterday, and I happened to notice a sticker on the window at one of the doors. It was a blue octagon with white writing, like the ADT security stickers. But instead of ADT, it said "Protected by 2nd amendment security." I laughed pretty hard. A little taste of Texas for you. :)

I expect updates on the farewell next week! I'm sad that I have to miss it, but thank goodness for technology! Dad, I can listen to it on the computer. If you want to send it on a CD you can do that too. We stopped by Dolores' yesterday and she did get your email about the Glenn Beck stuff. She said it ended up being out of her price range, even though she really wanted to go. Thanks for doing that though! Also, I've had asparagus a couple times since being out here. Sister Bate made some this week, and I've decided I really like it. Did you get some for Father's day? :) We were visiting a less active member yesterday and she was watching golf. We bonded over our mutual love of Phil Mickelson; I don't know why I like him but it probably has something to do with the fact that he ALWAYS takes second place. Poor guy. How's being EQP? You never told me who your counselors were.

Spencer, congrats on graduating elementary school! Are you excited to go to Albion next year? Middle school is exciting! I'm sure you'll like it. Also, your finger looked GROSS! How's it feeling?

I hope you're all still happy! I love you all.

Love,

Sister Mal

Charity and Bible Bashing

Hello familia!

How are y'all doing? I hear the heat is kicking in for you guys now too. We were told that this week is supposed to be in the 100's, plus humidity here. Blah. I'm looking forward to having really healthy hair when I get home, because I hardly ever do it anymore. It's not worth it to just get all sweaty with it on my neck. :) How has the first week of summer been? Anything exciting happening? Do you guys have any trips or fun things planned? I expect pictures and updates if you do. I hope you go up to the cabin at least. If so, drink and enjoy the spring water a little bit extra for me. Water from the tap is no bueno here! We have a water filter pitcher in our fridge and we fill it probably 3 times a day.

ANYWAYS! This week for me has been good. No baptism, like the past two, but lots of experiences and things to learn. At our zone training last week, one of the sisters who gave a training challenged each of us to read Moroni 7:45-47 every day and to pray for charity. (I added verse 48 to that too.) I thought I would get sick of reading the same 3 (4) verses every day,  but I have loved it! Verse 45 lists all of the synonyms or pieces of charity and every day a different one stuck out to me. It was really cool, and I have felt like I've been developing more true charity this week. It's an awesome feeling! We haven't necessarily seen success in numbers this week, but I feel like I've become a better person, and therefore missionary, because of this week. It's disappointing and encouraging at the same time. Don't ask me how that works... Y'all should go read those verses. I promise you'll learn something new. I think my favorite spiritual experience of the week came from Sister Bates first Bible bashing experience. We met this lady named Nicki who was skeptical as soon as she saw us, but we kept a conversation going about the Book of Mormon. We could tell that Nicki wanted to believe the Book of Mormon and what we were telling her, but talked herself out of it because the Bible is her one and only. It was really hard to talk to someone so stubborn, but we just kept bearing testimony. We walked away a little flustered, but sad because we know what she's missing out on by rejecting us. I realized almost immediately after getting in the car after that that I am developing the pure love of Christ; I realized that I did love her and that's why I was sad about her rejecting us. It was so good to realize that I am developing that charity! And, I have continued to pray for that to continue since then. I feel like that charity is also helping us to prepare for and teach meaningful lessons so hopefully we will be able to see the effects of that soon. I don't say that to brag--it probably wouldn't hurt for me to study humility though--but because it was a cool experience as a missionary. I was sad for someone who I don't even know! A good missionary milestone, I thought. :)

I hope you're all happy and enjoying summer so far! I love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Mal

More Baptisms!

Hello all!

Thank you for your emails boys! It's good to get everyone's updates. Drew--what's up with the ARC's and NG's? Slacker. Way to go on your golf game though! Are you gonna be the Jr. Professional on the Brighton team now? Jack--CONGRATS on soccer! D2. Nice. How do you feel about leaving Blue Knights? That's fun that you'll still get to be with Zach and Judson at least. What's the rest of your team doing? You know how you always ask about animals I've seen? Well, I have a new one this week. A vulture. They're so ugly! We were driving down the road, a country road, but there was a black thing in the middle. From far away we didn't think it was a bird because it was too big, but then it didn't look like a cat or dog or anything like that. When we got up closer, it scurried off the road. Definitely a vulture. And it was eating a snake that had been run over. Pretty gross. But something new! Spencer--your little trip with the Beckstrands sounds like fun! But how many times did you mention falling in your email? Like 10? Are you okay?! I hope you had a helmet over that buzz cut. :)

We had another baptism this weekend! Carson, is the 9-year old, and Christian and Jordan are twin 8-year olds. They were all so happy and excited! We made them each little bookmarks--out of a pass along card--and gave them each a CTR ring. Thank you for those mom! They thought those were awesome!

Last week I told you that Sister Bate and I were going to have to start over with our teaching pool? Well, we do have a couple people that we're working with, one of which we found this week, but then we just got handed one today! A lady in our ward called us this morning. She said her daughter, Rebekah, has a friend, named Josh, that is ready to talk with us! He had met with the missionaries once or twice a few months ago but wasn't ready to commit. But, Rebekah just found out that he's ready now! They really like each other, I guess, so they're might be some other motives, but it sounds like he's been thinking about this for a while, so it seems pretty promising. Plus, we'll get to teach him in Rebekah's home and he has some built in fellowship there. So that will make it even better! We're pretty excited for that.

Cool fact about Sister Bate: she also has a Cheetah Snuggie. I felt a special bond with her when I found out we were Snuggie twins haha.

I love you all! Thank you for the support and prayers; you're in mine too.

Love,

Sister Mal

 1) I won this GIANT Reese's egg at District Meeting last week. We had a Preach My Gospel chase, like a scripture chase, and I just happened to know where the things were. It was all pretty lucky, but Sister Bate and I sure enjoyed slices of this egg every day. :)

2) Sister Bate and I with the boys on Saturday. I thought my hair was gonna be greasy and flat at 7:00 p.m.--it was hot and humid on Saturday!--but it just looks like big Texas hair in this picture. I now understand why Texans have such big hair--there's nothing they can do about it!

                                 3) The Robert family, including their grandpa who baptized them.

First Baptism + Pictures

Hello family!

I'm sorry that you had to wait an extra day for my email, but with yesterday being Memorial day, the libraries were closed.

Good news from Waco: SARA GOT BAPTIZED!! It was so exciting! I still get giddy inside when I think about it. Since it was the first baptism for both Sister Bate and I, we just kind of had to hope we had done everything we needed to. We got it all figured out and luckily the bishop is very proactive and involved with what we're doing. So he helped out a lot! Everything ran smoothly. Our pianist was running late because of car troubles, but she got there just in the nick of time. Sara did have to be baptized twice, which she was a little embarrassed about, but nobody else cared and everything worked out. She and her husband weren't vocally excited, but they were both extremely happy! We're teaching the Robert boys, who are getting baptized this Saturday, and their dad is best friends with Sara's husband, so they were all there too. There are three of them getting baptized (8 year old twins and a 9 year old) and after Sara's baptism they told us they are 100, 1,000, and 1,000,000% excited! We're pretty excited for em too. :) We're really hoping that because their families are so close and they're coming back to the church at the same time, that they'll encourage and keep each other coming. (Sara's husband hasn't been active for a while, and the Roberts are converts of about 4 years that just started coming back to church about 2 months ago.) They all went out to dinner together after the baptism, and they invited Sister Bate and I. It was fun to go be with them, and even though they won't say it, that they have appreciated what we're doing for their families. It's a good feeling. :) We're getting everything ready for the Robert baptism now. I guess I've taken for granted living in Utah. We are having a hard time finding three kids baptism suits. I guess I just assumed those came with the building. We'll make it all work though.

It's going to be a lot different next week; Sister Bate and I are almost going to have to start over after our investigators have all been baptized. We have a few other people that we'll keep working with, but we've been focusing a lot on Sara and the Roberts and now they'll be baptized! We'll still go visit them every once in a while, but they won't be our focus anymore. We'll have to find others. That's not bad, not bad at all, but it will just be a lot of different work. Pray that we'll find some people who are ready for this message!

Boys, in my personal study for the past couple days I've been reading the war chapters in Alma. Honestly, that's always been the hardest part for me to read and it's usually what slows me down. But this time, I've loved it! Yesterday and today I read the story of the 2,000 stripling warriors; they're awesome! You should ready Alma 53:20-21. I thought of you guys when I read it. :)

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers.

Love,

Sister Goaslind

1) Sister Mitchell and I--my last companion. This was on Mother's day which was three days before the end of the transfer and the only picture we have together. Fail.

2) Sister Karratti's posterity--I'm between Sister Bate, my current companion/trainee, and Sister Karratti, my trainer. So Sister Karratti trained two of us in the picture, and then the rest are our trainee's and trainee's trainees. If that makes sense?

                                                3) Sister Bate and I with Sara at her baptism!

4) Sara's family on Sunday after her confirmation! Kayla, the baby, is ALWAYS happy. We love them a lot.