Dear Family and Friends,
This week was great! I learned a lot, let's see if I can gather my thoughts.
I went on exchange with Elder Song this week. He just got into the
mission this transfer, straight out of Beijing, China! He speaks very
little English, he's a great missionary! He's serving in Ann Arbor
right now. I went to Ann Arbor with him on Wednesday, it is pretty
difficult to communicate with him because of the language barrier, he
has learned some English but I really had to speak as simply as I
possibly could, and sometimes even then he didn't understand! But
that's alright, he is learning more every day. We had a couple of
pretty neat experiences, one of them was when we were tracting on this
SUPER wealthy street like these people were bankin'. We knock on this
door and this older lady comes to the door and she says she doesn't
speak English, Elder Song recognizes that she's Chinese and just dives
right into the Restorations lesson in Chinese on her doorstep. It was
pretty cool, I couldn't follow a single word of it but I think it was
good! I can tell that he has really good desires and will continue to
become the best missionary possible.
We spent a lot of time trying to find people to teach this week, we
found 1 new investigator but the rest of the people we taught chose
not to continue to investigate. It has been said, "Agency, or the ability to
choose, is the worst when it's not yours!" Haha that's how I feel
sometimes but it's alright! Our purpose is to 'Invite others to Come
Unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel...' We are to
invite. The choice is theirs. Some will choose wisely and others will
not! That's the reality of the situation.
On Friday we had interviews with President Gerber, mine was
wonderful! He went over in detail the talk entitled "Approaching The
Throne of God With Confidence" by Elder Klebbingat from the October
2014 General Conference. It was really great, I received many insights
on how I can improve my Spiritual Confidence before God. I invite all
of you to read that talk over again and ponder on how you could apply
some of those principles in it to your life, therefore becoming more
confident before God.
We went on Exchange with the Assistants to the President this week
as well, Elder Sale came to Ypsi with me. We had a blast! He is a
great Elder, and his mission is wrapping up this transfer.
In Church on Sunday a Senior Couple who just returned from their
mission to Australia spoke. Something that one of them said struck me:
"To be able to have no other responsibility than to ask the Lord 'What
would thou have me do today?' Is a great privilege." I'm so glad I
have this opportunity to serve My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is
very rare a privilege to actually be able to serve Him with ALL of my
Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength, without reservation. I will take
advantage of this time I have been given.
I love you all, I hope you have a fantastic week! Look for The
Lord's Hand in your lives, I know He is involved in the smallest and
largest ways!
-Elder Goff
Monday, June 29, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
A great week with many miracles!!
Dear Family and Friends,
This week was great! We worked hard and we didn't see much success
immediately but miracles came all week. Here's one of them that I told
President Gerber about:
"A miracle this week: We had an AWESOME miracle this week. We were
tracting in this apartment complex and we had been there for about 2
hours, we were only able to talk with a handful of people. We kept
tracting but something told me that this wasn't right, that we should
be finding at another location right now. We prayed and asked if we
should stay or go, I felt like we should tract 1 more hallway and then
if we didn't talk with anybody that we should leave. My companion then
told me someone had been on his mind for the past few minutes, it was
a Less Active lady we had tried to get in contact with a few days
prior unsuccessfully. I wasn't too sure about trying her again but had
faith in the prompting he received in combination with mine. So we
left after tracting 1 more hallway and we knocked on this lady's home
again. No answer. So we started tracting in the area around her house,
I knew it had been tracted out fairly recently but we decided to
anyways. So we hit about 4 doors or so, and no luck, then we get to
the next one. We knock on it and a young adult walks out and starts
talking with us. We get to talking and teaching and he reveals to us
that he and his fiancee had been praying just that morning for
guidance on what Church to go to. They had just recently moved into
that home, they have two children under the age of 2, and they are
super receptive and ready for The Gospel. I love this work! Finding
those who are ready is tough and requires patience, but it is worth
it."
I love The Gospel of Jesus Christ! Finding people who are ready to
receive it brings feelings that is difficult to describe. It is so
wonderful to see people accept God's truth into their lives and start
applying it. The change that occurs and the blessings that come are
incomparable to anything of the world. The only thing that will matter
when Christ comes again is what we have become by living His Gospel.
All other worldly things will come to an end! It is so great to see
people accept things of Eternal importance. I would invite you to
evaluate how you spend most of your time. Doing things of Eternal
importance, or of Worldly importance. And then take the necessary
steps to bring your life in closer harmony with Christ and His
teachings. I know if you do that you will be blessed! Have a great
week :)
-Elder Goff
immediately but miracles came all week. Here's one of them that I told
President Gerber about:
"A miracle this week: We had an AWESOME miracle this week. We were
tracting in this apartment complex and we had been there for about 2
hours, we were only able to talk with a handful of people. We kept
tracting but something told me that this wasn't right, that we should
be finding at another location right now. We prayed and asked if we
should stay or go, I felt like we should tract 1 more hallway and then
if we didn't talk with anybody that we should leave. My companion then
told me someone had been on his mind for the past few minutes, it was
a Less Active lady we had tried to get in contact with a few days
prior unsuccessfully. I wasn't too sure about trying her again but had
faith in the prompting he received in combination with mine. So we
left after tracting 1 more hallway and we knocked on this lady's home
again. No answer. So we started tracting in the area around her house,
I knew it had been tracted out fairly recently but we decided to
anyways. So we hit about 4 doors or so, and no luck, then we get to
the next one. We knock on it and a young adult walks out and starts
talking with us. We get to talking and teaching and he reveals to us
that he and his fiancee had been praying just that morning for
guidance on what Church to go to. They had just recently moved into
that home, they have two children under the age of 2, and they are
super receptive and ready for The Gospel. I love this work! Finding
those who are ready is tough and requires patience, but it is worth
it."
I love The Gospel of Jesus Christ! Finding people who are ready to
receive it brings feelings that is difficult to describe. It is so
wonderful to see people accept God's truth into their lives and start
applying it. The change that occurs and the blessings that come are
incomparable to anything of the world. The only thing that will matter
when Christ comes again is what we have become by living His Gospel.
All other worldly things will come to an end! It is so great to see
people accept things of Eternal importance. I would invite you to
evaluate how you spend most of your time. Doing things of Eternal
importance, or of Worldly importance. And then take the necessary
steps to bring your life in closer harmony with Christ and His
teachings. I know if you do that you will be blessed! Have a great
week :)
-Elder Goff
Monday, June 15, 2015
Pressing Forward in Faith
Dear Family and Friends,
These last 2 weeks have been kind of rough! We have been working
hard to find those who are ready to receive the Gospel and actually
desire to know if His Church truly exists on The Earth, I think God is
blessing us with Patience and Long-Suffering! We are spending a lot
of time knocking doors, and plan to do even more next week to find the
people who have been prepared to accept The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had Zone Conference last Thursday, our instruction went pretty
well. We got these things called "Tiwi Devices" put into our vehicles,
they monitor speed, and every maneuver of the car measuring G-Force
and all that jazz, so we are being required to drive better! Haha. At
Zone Conference President got up there and expressed his frustration
with how disobedient some of the missionaries are, and he laid down
the line. In essence he said this: "If you are just messing around and
don't want to be here, then you can go home. YOU signed up for this,
not me. Don't waste The Lord's time and resources." We are all
striving to be more obedient and I know as we do we will be blessed
greatly.
Here's my letter to President Gerber this week: "Hey President! I
am doing great. Elder Hidie and I are working hard! Bishop Caudill is
adjusting well and I have full trust in his ability to magnify his
calling as the Ypsilanti Ward's new Bishop. My family is doing well
back home, my oldest sister who just graduated has started going to
singles ward back home has already been asked on a few dates... that's
weird to think about! I hope she doesn't make any rash decisions! The
Ypsi South area is doing well. We are focusing on finding Kingdom
Builders. People who are ready to RECEIVE the Gospel, not just
tolerate it. Ones who actually want to investigate for themselves to
see if this is God's true Church. So we have been doing a lot of
finding, and we plan to do a lot more this next week. Something cool
this week: I have been trying to make each door approach personal, and
tailored to the individual's needs. There was one time this last week
where I had such a small prompting, distinct though, to share the
Because He Lives video with this guy that we met. I followed it,
although at first glance, it appeared to me that this guy was going to
shew us off of his doorstep. He watched the video right there with us
and definitely felt The Spirit testify to him that this is true. I
don't think that he would've talked to us for more than 5 seconds if I
didn't follow that prompting. So I am now able to look back at that
evidence and know that although promptings from the Spirit can be and
usually are very subtle, they are real. And if we follow them,
miracles will happen. Thanks for all you do President, I love you!"
I know that Heavenly Father knows each of us individually,
perfectly. He will place into our minds and hearts what to say to
those around us who may be struggling. It may not make sense right at
the time, but if we follow through on the prompting we receive, we
will be able to see the fruits, or results, of the action. And that is
how we learn by faith! I love this Gospel and The Lord's Church on The
Earth. I know we are led by The Savior Jesus Christ Himself through
His Servants the Apostles and Prophet. I invite you all to learn for
yourself, take it up to God. Ask Him a simple yes or no question, and
wait for His response, which will come by The Power of The Holy Ghost.
I love you all, thanks for your love and support!
-Elder Goff
These last 2 weeks have been kind of rough! We have been working
hard to find those who are ready to receive the Gospel and actually
desire to know if His Church truly exists on The Earth, I think God is
blessing us with Patience and Long-Suffering! We are spending a lot
of time knocking doors, and plan to do even more next week to find the
people who have been prepared to accept The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had Zone Conference last Thursday, our instruction went pretty
well. We got these things called "Tiwi Devices" put into our vehicles,
they monitor speed, and every maneuver of the car measuring G-Force
and all that jazz, so we are being required to drive better! Haha. At
Zone Conference President got up there and expressed his frustration
with how disobedient some of the missionaries are, and he laid down
the line. In essence he said this: "If you are just messing around and
don't want to be here, then you can go home. YOU signed up for this,
not me. Don't waste The Lord's time and resources." We are all
striving to be more obedient and I know as we do we will be blessed
greatly.
Here's my letter to President Gerber this week: "Hey President! I
am doing great. Elder Hidie and I are working hard! Bishop Caudill is
adjusting well and I have full trust in his ability to magnify his
calling as the Ypsilanti Ward's new Bishop. My family is doing well
back home, my oldest sister who just graduated has started going to
singles ward back home has already been asked on a few dates... that's
weird to think about! I hope she doesn't make any rash decisions! The
Ypsi South area is doing well. We are focusing on finding Kingdom
Builders. People who are ready to RECEIVE the Gospel, not just
tolerate it. Ones who actually want to investigate for themselves to
see if this is God's true Church. So we have been doing a lot of
finding, and we plan to do a lot more this next week. Something cool
this week: I have been trying to make each door approach personal, and
tailored to the individual's needs. There was one time this last week
where I had such a small prompting, distinct though, to share the
Because He Lives video with this guy that we met. I followed it,
although at first glance, it appeared to me that this guy was going to
shew us off of his doorstep. He watched the video right there with us
and definitely felt The Spirit testify to him that this is true. I
don't think that he would've talked to us for more than 5 seconds if I
didn't follow that prompting. So I am now able to look back at that
evidence and know that although promptings from the Spirit can be and
usually are very subtle, they are real. And if we follow them,
miracles will happen. Thanks for all you do President, I love you!"
I know that Heavenly Father knows each of us individually,
perfectly. He will place into our minds and hearts what to say to
those around us who may be struggling. It may not make sense right at
the time, but if we follow through on the prompting we receive, we
will be able to see the fruits, or results, of the action. And that is
how we learn by faith! I love this Gospel and The Lord's Church on The
Earth. I know we are led by The Savior Jesus Christ Himself through
His Servants the Apostles and Prophet. I invite you all to learn for
yourself, take it up to God. Ask Him a simple yes or no question, and
wait for His response, which will come by The Power of The Holy Ghost.
I love you all, thanks for your love and support!
-Elder Goff
Elder Hidie and Elder Goff
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
New companion-9 months in the field
Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a great week in Ypsalanti, Michigan!! Elder Hidie is my new companion,
just like I was guessing! He is originally from Zambia but has been living in Florida
for the past 8 years. I love him already, he's a great guy, we get along really well. He
is pretty clean and organized like me so that is wonderful.
We have been working hard all week! I have already learned so much
from Elder Hidie. He has taught me about our purpose as missionaries.
We are here to find those who are ready to receive the fullness of The
Gospel of Jesus Christ. So as we are out and about, knocking doors and
stuff, we should be looking for those who will actually receive us. it is
important to not get caught up in numbers, just teaching lots of people.
We are to find the elect, those who will receive us and our message with
open arms.
On Sunday, the whole Stake Presidency came to our ward and we
didn't know why they were there, especially on fast Sunday, but it
became clear when President Ward got up there and announced that we
would be getting a new bishop! So that was surprising, but it was a
great meeting. Our new bishop has served in the Stake Presidency
before and he knows what's up with missionary work, I am excited to
work with him more closely.
This next Thursday we have a big Zone Conference where
representatives from Salt Lake are coming and we are getting "black
boxes" put into our vehicles that will monitor our every move... Too
many missionaries making dumb mistakes I guess. So that will be an
interesting change for us, we'll see how it goes.
I know that this Gospel is true and can bless our lives as we live
it! We all have the capacity to feel The Holy Ghost testify to us of
truth, but we must be searching for it. As we exercise that faith, God
will answer our prayers. I love you all, have a great week!
-Elder Goff
It has been a great week in Ypsalanti, Michigan!! Elder Hidie is my new companion,
just like I was guessing! He is originally from Zambia but has been living in Florida
for the past 8 years. I love him already, he's a great guy, we get along really well. He
is pretty clean and organized like me so that is wonderful.
We have been working hard all week! I have already learned so much
from Elder Hidie. He has taught me about our purpose as missionaries.
We are here to find those who are ready to receive the fullness of The
Gospel of Jesus Christ. So as we are out and about, knocking doors and
stuff, we should be looking for those who will actually receive us. it is
important to not get caught up in numbers, just teaching lots of people.
We are to find the elect, those who will receive us and our message with
open arms.
On Sunday, the whole Stake Presidency came to our ward and we
didn't know why they were there, especially on fast Sunday, but it
became clear when President Ward got up there and announced that we
would be getting a new bishop! So that was surprising, but it was a
great meeting. Our new bishop has served in the Stake Presidency
before and he knows what's up with missionary work, I am excited to
work with him more closely.
This next Thursday we have a big Zone Conference where
representatives from Salt Lake are coming and we are getting "black
boxes" put into our vehicles that will monitor our every move... Too
many missionaries making dumb mistakes I guess. So that will be an
interesting change for us, we'll see how it goes.
I know that this Gospel is true and can bless our lives as we live
it! We all have the capacity to feel The Holy Ghost testify to us of
truth, but we must be searching for it. As we exercise that faith, God
will answer our prayers. I love you all, have a great week!
-Elder Goff
Elder Goff and Elder Hidie
Monday, June 1, 2015
Digging for Gold and Eating a Pig!!
Dear Family and Friends,
This week was pretty good! Elder Iverson has finished out strong, he
hasn't been slacking even though he is going home this week so that
has been great. Transfer calls came and I am staying here in Ypsi
South! So I'll get a new companion tomorrow. I've learned a lot from
Elder Iverson, I hope I can retain it as I move forward in my mission!
We met this dude named J this week, we think he's crazy. But at
the same time, he is very smart, it's weird! We taught him The
Restoration, about The Book of Mormon, and The Plan of Salvation and
he is just taking it all in. He thinks he doesn't need to pray to know
that it's true because he just believes it... So we're working with
him on that! Haha we came over to help him clean up his backyard, it
is a few years overgrown. He had started digging a hole in his
backyard, he got like 2-3 feet down there, and he said that he buried
a time capsule down there with more than $1,000,000 of gold in it...
He said that when he was a pilot he flew some European Prince around
and the Prince paid him in Gold bars. So we helped him dig deeper for
a little bit, we didn't find anything though! I question whether
there's even a time capsule down there! We were cutting tall grass and
vines growing over fences and stuff, trimming trees, and my allergies
acted up. I don't think I've ever sneezed that much in my life! And my
face was all swollen, it was just wonderful.
On Sunday Brother Higham invited us over to his place for a pig
roast, it was super good!! He smoked a whole pig for more than 12
hours straight and we got to taste the end results, it was delicious!
It's sad to see Elder Iverson go home, he's been a great teacher
for me! He will do great back home. I love you all, and hope you have
a great week!
-Elder Goff
This week was pretty good! Elder Iverson has finished out strong, he
hasn't been slacking even though he is going home this week so that
has been great. Transfer calls came and I am staying here in Ypsi
South! So I'll get a new companion tomorrow. I've learned a lot from
Elder Iverson, I hope I can retain it as I move forward in my mission!
We met this dude named J this week, we think he's crazy. But at
the same time, he is very smart, it's weird! We taught him The
Restoration, about The Book of Mormon, and The Plan of Salvation and
he is just taking it all in. He thinks he doesn't need to pray to know
that it's true because he just believes it... So we're working with
him on that! Haha we came over to help him clean up his backyard, it
is a few years overgrown. He had started digging a hole in his
backyard, he got like 2-3 feet down there, and he said that he buried
a time capsule down there with more than $1,000,000 of gold in it...
He said that when he was a pilot he flew some European Prince around
and the Prince paid him in Gold bars. So we helped him dig deeper for
a little bit, we didn't find anything though! I question whether
there's even a time capsule down there! We were cutting tall grass and
vines growing over fences and stuff, trimming trees, and my allergies
acted up. I don't think I've ever sneezed that much in my life! And my
face was all swollen, it was just wonderful.
On Sunday Brother Higham invited us over to his place for a pig
roast, it was super good!! He smoked a whole pig for more than 12
hours straight and we got to taste the end results, it was delicious!
It's sad to see Elder Iverson go home, he's been a great teacher
for me! He will do great back home. I love you all, and hope you have
a great week!
-Elder Goff
Elder Iverson and Elder Goff
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