Tracting in -25 degree weather, brrrr!!!

This week was great!! I love the Michigan Detroit Mission.

On Tuesday we had Specialized Training so President and Sister
Gerber came and had a couple hour training with us and that was
wonderful! We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the power
therein. I love the Book of Mormon! It is truly the keystone of our
religion and is of divine origin. After specialized training we went
out knockin' doors for 4 hours out in the cold! (-25 F)  It was wonderful. We
were able to teach 2 lessons and found 2 new investigators! The Lord
blesses us when we submit our will to His and sacrifice our own
desires or tendencies for His work!
 On Friday we had a return appointment with one of the people that
we found while tracting and we introduced the Book of Mormon to him.
His name is Joe, he is awesome! He is an earnest seeker of truth, and
is somewhat skeptical but I know he will be able to come to know that
the Book of Mormon is true as he reads and prays about it.
On Saturday we helped the Hind's family in our ward move into their
new home, it was great to serve them. They feed us very often so we
felt like we definitely needed to give back!
 Sunday was great!! We had an amazing Sacrament meeting. A young man
who just came back from his mission in Ukraine spoke and his words
were inspiring and uplifting. He talked a lot about how exact
obedience brings miracles and great blessings, and I have a strong
testimony of that as well!! The rest of the day was just great, I am
so happy to be serving in the Brighton Ward! I love all of the people
here so much.
   President and Sister Gerber informed us that another initiative for
Easter is taking place! It starts on February 28th, so if you go to
helives.mormon.org on the 28th or after that, you'll be able to access
an inspiring video about Our Savior's Atonement and Resurrection and
what that means for us!
   I'm so happy to be a part of the hastening of the work. I am so
blessed to be alive in these last days before the second coming of our
Savior. There is a sense of urgency that I have caught, to share the
Gospel with all who we know. We have been given so many tools to do so
with modern technology and such that we would be very foolish to just
sit back and watch this work hasten! We must take part in it! Always
be ready to share the Gospel because Our Heavenly Father will place
people in our paths to share it with because it is EXACTLY what they
need, whether they know it or not. I love this Gospel, and I know this
Church is led by living Apostles and a Prophet named Thomas S. Monson.
All of whom are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. I felt the power of
their callings in this video so strongly:
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/embark-in-the-service-of-god-2015-theme-song?lang=eng
It's the Youth Theme for 2015! Check it out!

I love you all, thank you so much for your prayers, love, and support
for me and all the other missionaries in the field today! Have a great
week.

-Elder Goff

This is Elder Axel Lichtenberg, he's the RM that served in Ukraine.

-12 Degrees in Michigan

Hello Family and Friends,

It has been a COLD last couple of days, yesterday dropping down to -12
degrees!! That's NOT including wind chill! But we are managing to stay
warm. We had a great week.
   We had Zone Meeting Wednesday and that was great. It's always
cool to get together as a large group of missionaries and be edified
and uplifted by our leaders!
   Thursday we were able to go to the temple so that was great!
Some members took us there and out to lunch afterwards. It was cool to
go again for the first time since the MTC.
  I have come to love the members of the Brighton ward!! The ward is
so unified but every individual is so unique at the same time, it is
great. The binding power in the ward is The Gospel of Jesus Christ! I
wouldn't mind serving in Brighton for most of my mission haha!
   Valentines day was good, Elder Hatch and I both got packages so
that was exciting! Then we had a Baptism, it was wonderful! We have
been blessed immensely here in this area. Our District is seeing
miracles as we all work as hard as we can. I know that the Book of
Mormon is the word of God and that it provides us with so many
blessings, seen and unseen, as we read it individually and in our
families. If you haven't read it, please do! If you don't have a copy
of it, get one! It is a gift to us from God, with so much for us to
learn out of it. I love you all, thanks for all of the love and
support I feel from you! Have a great week :)

-Elder Goff

5 Months out!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been great! Full of many little miracles!!
   We went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders on Wednesday after
District Meeting. I went to the Ypsilanti South area with Elder
Iverson, and Elder Kay came here to Brighton with Elder Hatch. I
learned a lot from Elder Iverson, he is a great missionary! I learned
a lot about my role as a District Leader and how I can better magnify
this position of trust that has been given to me!
  On Friday I got a call from our Zone Leaders asking me to give an
instruction on Revelation Through Prayer at Zone Meeting this
Wednesday. I felt pretty unqualified and inadequate to give a 10
minute instruction on that to our whole Zone (about 24-30
missionaries), but I prayed for inspiration and revelation from my
Heavenly Father concerning the matter. Not 5-Minutes later, I
uncovered a talk on the top shelf in our storage closet by Elder
Richard G. Scott entitled: "How to Obtain Personal Revelation and
Inspiration in Your Personal Life." There was a fast answer to a
prayer! Haha it is the perfect talk for my instruction. I had no idea
it was there before, I was just moving something from the shelf and
found the talk underneath it. Later Friday evening we helped out in
making 1500 sandwiches at the Church building for an event in the
Brighton area called Community Connect! We got to deliver them to the
place as well, and the people were so grateful for our service and the
food, it was a great experience.
  Sunday was amazing. We fasted and asked for an increased portion of
the Spirit to be with us while we were at Church and then attended
Adrian's baptism, and that prayer was answered!! When Adrian stepped
down into the font about to be washed clean of all his sins and
mistakes in his life, I felt the Spirit confirm to me so strongly that
he really was entering into a covenant with our Heavenly Father, and
that the Priesthood of God has been restored to the Earth through the
Prophet Joseph Smith. It was just a great week, I love the mission
life!
   I know this Gospel is true and that anyone can receive that witness
from God themselves if they just study, and ask in prayer. Read the
Book of Mormon! It will draw us nearer to God than by any other book.
I know these things to be true and say that in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.

-Elder Goff

Adrian's Baptism

2/8/15

A snowy week in Brighton!!

Well this week was interesting! I experienced lots of things for the
first time. I love Brighton!

   Being District Leader means more responsibility so I've had less
time to write people and stuff like that! But I love the work, it's
great. On Wednesday we had District Meeting, it was the first one that
I organized, it was good! I like our new district, the new Elder in
Howell is a stud (ironic because his last name is Stubbs) haha.
Anyway, we saw some awesome miracles this week! Members came out
teaching with us a lot, we saw lots of Less-Actives and had good
lessons with them, and it was just overall a great week. We had a
pretty cool miracle about home teaching in our ward actually: These 2
home teachers went to this Less-Active and Part Member's home and
shared a message with them and they both wanted a blessing (they are
going through a difficult time right now). Next thing ya know, we are
teaching the non-member husband and they come to Church on Sunday, the
first time this particular member has been to Church in many many
years. This was testimony to me of how powerful faithful home teachers
can be!
   Adrian is getting baptized on the 8th! I can't wait, he is so
awesome! This week we had a lesson with him and afterwards he gave me
his bible that he got in the Marines, it's really cool. Then he bought
us Jets Pizza, it was so good! Haha. I can't wait to see him enter the
waters of baptism and make that covenant with our Heavenly Father.
   Saturday night we got TONS of snow, so we only had one hour of
Church on Sunday, as the snowstorm was getting progressively worse
during the day. Then on Monday we were told that we shouldn't drive
until 1:00pm to make sure we weren't out on the roads until they were
cleared up. We ended up getting about 15-18 inches in Brighton, and
are expecting more tonight! So that's why I'm emailing today instead
of yesterday. All the schools here had a Snow Day on monday AND today,
if I wasn't on my mission here I'd be skiing it up at Mount Brighton
and doing crazy stuff in the snow, there's just tons of it everywhere
here right now.    Yesterday we got a random call from a Less Active
Part Member family who said they wanted to take us out to dinner!!
That was a great surprise.
   Taking over the Sister's area has been tough but I'm becoming more
confident in my knowledge of the area boundaries, the people, and the
roads there so that's good. The rest of this transfer should be really
fun!

   I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that if we
just read it and ask Heavenly Father if it is true, we will receive an
answer from Him. All He asks is that we demonstrate a little bit of
faith! I love you all, thanks for all of your love and support for me!
I love receiving letters and packages from all of you, it "Brightons"
my day every time I hear from one of you. Have a great week!

-Elder Goff

 

Above: The District before transfers.

Below. Elder ? with Elder Goff

A few cool pics I took while tracting last week!

 

The snow outside our window on Monday after almost 18 inches of snow!!!