First week with Elder Whetzel-Livonia

Hi Everyone!!

 My new companion is Elder Whetzel, he's a great guy! We get along well and we are pretty unified in our teaching which is great. He's from Lehi, Utah. My second Utah companion in a row, what a surprise! Even though he's from Utah he's a good companion. We are similar in a lot of ways, it's cool because he served with Elder Hidie too so we have both picked up a few of his African mannerisms haha. We are doing well.

   This last week we didn't get to spend a lot of time working in our area, we drove around the mission for about 6 hours after Transfers on Tuesday and then on Wednesday I drove all the way up to Rochester for Zone Meeting only to find out that they weren't holding Zone Meeting at that chapel! So I drove to the Grand Blanc Chapel which is the stake center, and no one was there either. Then I finally arrived at the Lapeer Chapel about halfway into Zone Meeting since these Chapels are spread so far apart. So that was a long day in the car as well. 

   I received an insight from the Stake President's talk at the adult session of stake conference. It was sparked by this quote from him: "Don't assume that others and their thoughts/ideas are irrational, assume that they are rational from their perspective." It made me think of God and how he sees us, He sees everything about us, not just one irrational thought or idea that we have. Therefore he is able to see us as his children with divine potential rather than someone who is a lost cause because of their mistakes. We should strive to be like Him in that aspect, to understand others and their point of view instead of condemning them for what we see or hear on the outside! It reminds me of a line from Spencer W. Kimball's speech: "Jesus the Perfect Leader" 'Jesus was able to condemn the sin without condemning the individual... He saw the sin as a result of unmet needs of the sinner.' I think we could all strive to be better in this aspect of our lives. As we do this we can pray for Charity, and we will truly be able to see people through God's eyes, rather than our own. 

   Here's a neat miracle we saw this week: We went over to Patriarch Day 's home this week for a member finding visit and we had a pretty cool experience. We asked him about his missionary efforts and He said that he had received a random phone call a few days ago from this woman that was actually looking for Patriarch Day's son, who is the Bishop of one of the wards in the mission. But she said she wanted to learn about the Church! So Patriarch Day said that he would call her the next day and invite her over for dinner sometime next week. Then at stake conference he came up to us and said that he had called her and she was excited to come over and learn about the Church over a meal with us and him! It's a testimony that God is preparing people at their own pace and in His good timing. Some people will come seeking for the truth, and others will wait for it to be brought to them! But those who will receive it will embrace the restored gospel as we teach them. 

   Let us be grateful this week for all the little things in our lives! I'm planning on saying prayers of gratitude at least once a day this week, prayers where I don't ask for anything, but just thank God for the blessings in my life. In whatever way you can this week, try to show your thankfulness to God and those around you! I know that as we do we will radiate the Light of Christ to others, and we will be happy in our lives. I love you all so much! Have a great Thanksgiving.

Elder Goff

Transfer Week Already!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This transfer has gone by quickly! We have kept busy and have been diligent in our finding and teaching efforts. We got a pretty big surprise Sunday morning after ward council: We walked out of Ward Council and President and Sister Gerber were in the foyer talking with people. They almost NEVER make it to the Livonia Ward because the have to speak in other wards and take care of other responsibilities elsewhere. So we knew they were here for something, we just didn't know what. Then President pulled Elder Fluckiger aside and talked with him for a minute. When he left, Sister Gerber came up to me and told me that Elder Fluckiger is going to be a Zone Leader next transfer and I will be getting a new companion! That was so surprising! We were banking on being together for at least 6 more months. But The Lord needs him to be a Zone Leader to strengthen our mission. My new companion will be Elder Whetzel, he's a great guy, I get along with him well. He was actually companions with Elder Hidie prior to me being with Elder Hidie so that's a good connection too. 

   This last week was pretty good, we taught a few people who we found tracting, and found a new investigator named Kevin, he's a 23 year old who is pretty involved in his Church but he wanted to learn more. He was just sitting in his car in the street and we walked up and started talking with him, super cool guy! We'll see how solid he is though when we get to teach him this week. 

   We met this lady named GG (Jee-Jee) while tracting and we had a really good Restoration lesson with her as well. We couldn't set up another time to come see her but she said she would "Call us before the snow hits the ground" and the weather's getting colder so that should be pretty soon! 

   William Lomas was Confirmed yesterday and he received the Aaronic Priesthood, I am so happy for him!! He is so great. He has gotten pretty well integrated into the Ward and everyone loves him. I'm so grateful to have been able to teach him this transfer. 

   So here's something that I want each and every one of you that receives my emails to do okay?? I want you to promise that before you even read what it is! It's not difficult, so don't fret :) It's a way that you can become a missionary in just a few minutes. 

Here are some quotes from Prophets and Apostles of these latter days concerning missionary work. Read them carefully and ponder how what they are saying applies to you today in your missionary efforts.

President Spencer W. Kimball (1973–1985) “Now is the moment in the timetable of the Lord to carry the gospel farther than it has ever been carried before. . . . Many a person in this world is crying, knowingly and unknowingly, ‘Come over . . . and help us.’ He might be your neighbor. She might be your friend. He might be a relative. She might be someone you met only yesterday. But we have what they need. Let us take new courage from our studies and pray, as did Peter, ‘And now, Lord, . . . grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word’ (Acts 4:29)”

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1995– ) “We are here to assist our Father in His work and His glory, ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39). Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation in my sphere” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 94; or Ensign, May 1995, 71). “Let there be cultivated an awareness in every member’s heart of his own potential for bringing others to a knowledge of the truth. Let him work at it. Let him pray with great earnestness about it” 

   “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways,and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work.”

 -President Monson

 “Fear will be replaced with faith and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with missionary opportunities. Then, we must demonstrate our faith and watch for opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father’s children, and surely those opportunities will come…It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord’s errand…Trust the Lord. He is the Good Shepherd. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know His voice”

 -Elder M. Russell Ballard

After you've read these, watch this Mormon Message:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

As you watch it, pay close attention to the people or names that come to your mind of who YOU should share the Gospel with. God WILL assist you if you watch this video, having faith that you will receive. 

After you've watched it and received the prompting, share this video with that person whom the Lord inspired you to reach out to. Write a short note with the video saying something to the effect of: "I was watching this video and your name came to mind. I feel that you would enjoy this message. Let me know how you like it!"

As we receive inspiration for who we should share The Gospel with, there will be power behind our words. Our friends will have a fair opportunity to learn more about the Restored Gospel, and you will be made an instrument in God's hands. I know that if we couple our efforts with those of the full-time missionaries in our wards then we will see miracles! Souls will be brought to Christ, and joy will be had. Let me know about the tender mercies and inspiration that you receive from doing this quick challenge! I love you all so much and am grateful for the support of loving family and friends. May we all be grateful enough for the Gospel in our lives that we share it with others. Have a fantastic week.

Elder Goff

Elder Fluckiger and Elder Goff at the Old Detroit Burger Bar-Yum!!!

Murals like this are all over Detroit!

Lots of people like to argue and say that Jesus was black, this is a mighty expression of that opinion.

Baptism and a great week!!

Hello Everyone,

  William's Baptism was Sunday!! I'll send pictures of it so you can see him, he's a great man, I was honored to Baptize him. It was a different experience actually being in the font with the person being Baptized! It went well, only took one try and afterwards William said "I feel clean!" It was a great experience.

   On Tuesday we instructed the New Missionaries that were finishing up their first transfer in the mission field. It went well, Elder Fluckiger and I feel that they understood what was taught and we enjoyed being with them for the day. We have so many great missionaries in the MDM! I can't complain about any of them. 

   We went on a lot of exchanges this week, we worked with 3 different companionships, for one exchange I actually got to go down to Ypsi South, one of my previous areas! I was with Elder Ferguson there for a day. 

   On Thursday we had MLCM, we talked a lot about Member Missionary Work, it was great! We watched a talk that Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a few years ago about 'The Hastening of The Work'. I would encourage all of you to watch that and determine what YOUR responsibility is in this great cause we have been enlisted in. Here's the link:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-1030-elder-l-tom-perry?category=hasten-the-work/special-broadcast-the-work-of-salvation&lang=eng

   

   Sunday there was a pretty big surprise that neither Elder Fluckiger nor I was expecting! We got to Church and at about 10 till the whole Stake Presidency walked in and we knew it wasn't Stake or Ward Conference... I was wondering why they were there. It's funny because the same exact thing happened to me in the Ypsilanti Ward only a few months prior to this, but what happened is the Bishopric got reorganized! The new Bishop is Bishop Ordaz, he's from Mexico but he speaks really good English, he is a good man. SUPER humble, it was an emotional Sacrament Meeting, the Stake President President Medley talked about how he received the distinct impression that Brother Ordaz should be the next Bishop multiple times. He said, "It took a lot of faith for me to extend this call to Brother Ordaz. I know that sounds weird but let me explain..." Then he went on to talk about how Brother Ordaz has an insane work schedule right now, working 14 hour days. He has 4 boys, all Deacon aged or younger, and one of them is disabled, in a wheelchair all the time. President Medley said "I can't even look at Brother Ordaz without crying right now Brothers and Sisters, but I know he is to be your Bishop." He also went on to talk about how when he received his call as a Stake President, his schedule was crazy, being called into work at the worst hours having to miss important things with family/Church callings but in his 8 Years of being Stake President, he has only had to miss 3 important meetings related to his Church calling. The Lord performs His perfect work through imperfect servants, and He strengthens them in ways that we wouldn't even imagine sometimes! The previous Bishop bore his testimony of Bishop Ordaz's call as well, it was powerful! We are looking forward to working closely with him with the little time that he has to move the work of salvation forward in his area of stewardship. 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all of your support of myself and many of my friends who are privileged to call ourselves full time servants of the Lord. We couldn't do it without you! This is The Lord's work, and he will place people in our paths who are ready for the Gospel in small or large measures. We just need to be ready to share it at all times, and in all places. Being an example of the believers as President Monson exhorted us to do this last conference. Have a great week, and talk with somebody about who the restored Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ has improved your life :)

-Elder

Week 4 in Livonia

Hey everyone!! We saw a few miracles this week while tracting. We call the process that we go through to determine where we will go tracting "Revelation through the GPS." We pray to be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and ask to be led exactly where God would have us be to find people who are ready to receive His Gospel. We met 4 super great people this way this week, they were all prepared to hear our message. One of them in particular was pretty amazing, I'll share the experience with you: 

   As you could imagine, knocking on peoples' doors to talk to them about The Gospel does not always go well, most of the people we talk with don't want to talk with us. But I've found that if you can talk WITH them, and not AT them, the hard heart that you first see when they open the door softens and it turns into a great Gospel conversation. That's exactly what happened with this lady named Michelle this week. Knocked on the door and she opened it, and you could tell she did NOT want to talk to anyone haha, but I asked her, "How was your day?" mind you this is at about 8:15pm and it gets dark here at 5:30pm. Anyways, she replies and says that she's actually been having a terrible day! Getting divorced, but still living with her husband until it was finalized so lots of contention, credit cards maxed, her landlord was going to kick her out soon, she struggles with smoking, and there were other things too. The weight of the world was upon her shoulders, or so she felt. The Spirit whispered to me, "Teach her about the Atonement." Alma 7:11-13 came to mind. I expounded those scriptures to her about the intense suffering of Our Savior, and what that means for us each day. She was edified and uplifted, and desired to learn more about the Book of Mormon. We are actually meeting with her tonight at the Church building to teach her about it. When people see our sincere interest and love for them, and feel our faith in the converting power of the Gospel, they will be much more receptive to learning more. I know that Jesus Christ will lift us up as we seek his strength! With his Apostles on the Earth today I testify that He lives. And because He lives, if we will reach out to Him, he will respond. I love you all, sorry for the short letter today! Have a fantastic week :)

-Elder Goff

Week 3 in Livonia

Dear Family and Family,

This week we tried to get to know the members of the Livonia Ward as much as we could, we had some great dinners in their homes! Mom you don't have to worry about me not being fed. Also yesterday for lunch I made a stir fry in this giant frying pan that we have in our apartment, Red, Green, and Yellow Bell Peppers, Onions, Carrots, Stir Fry Beef, some Eggs, Sweet Spicy Chili and a homemade Orange Sauce were all the ingredients. Needless to say we had a fantastic meal :D It was like having Mongo's Grill right there in our apartment!

   I like our area a lot, there's a lot of diversity! From the Ghettos of Detroit to the wealthy areas of Farmington Hills there's a large span of lifestyles in the Livonia Ward. Elder Fluckiger and I have been getting along well, he's a great guy. We've gotten closer as we've discussed our weaknesses and make plans for the goals we've set of how to improve. There's a LOT to work on as a missionary, but as we attack one weakness at a time I know that Christ will strengthen us through the "power of His deliverance." I've noticed that that phrase is found a lot in the scriptures, reminding me that Christ has the power to deliver us out of anything we may go through in this life. 

    I have been pondering about Baptism this week. In D&C 20:37 (my ponderizing scripture for the week) it says "All who DESIRE to be Baptized..." then The Lord goes on to explain the requirements for Baptism into His Church. The bottom line is, in order for the ordinance of Baptism to do it's job and have the proper cleansing effect on a person, that individual must sincerely want it. If we sincerely want the Lord's help in any aspect of our lives we can receive it. I know that that is true! The sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us, from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross and concluding with His Resurrection is infinite. In EVERY sense of the word. Covering all forms of life, the most grievous of sins, and the most heartbreaking of tragedies.

   But that is not all! His sacrifice offers us the gift of Grace. Grace is not the allowance of sin or mistakes because God loves us. It is the power that enables us to become what God wants us to be. We ALL have divine potential as sons and daughters of Heavenly Father, and we will mess that up on our own! But with the enabling power of grace that lifts us beyond our own abilities to be good and do better each day, we are capable of overcoming our sins and weaknesses to stand blameless before our Father and His Son at the last day.

   Before my mission I don't really know how strong my testimony of Jesus Christ was. Ever since I was a child I sang songs about Him, knew that my Church had His name in it, and when I heard his Name or stories associated with Him I had a sense of reverence and respect for them. But on my mission, I have felt of His Love for me as an individual. I have overcome some of my weaknesses and felt His loving reassurance that Repentance and Forgiveness is a real thing, as Elder Allen Haynie testified at General Conference. 

   In third hour on Sunday we discussed Elder Holland's talk "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet" by Elder Holland in April 2015 Conference. I listened to His talk again afterwards and I also listened to President Uchtdorf's talk from this last Conference entitled, "It Works Wonderfully!" I testify with both of these Apostles that The Gospel does work. The Atonement is real and Christ's "power of deliverance" is infinite. Will you all look up these talks on LDS.org and read them?? Then ponder about your relationship with God and your experiences with Him? I know it will be a help and inspiration to you if you do. Ask yourself: Are you where you want to be? Is your path of discipleship bright and cheerful? If not we're doing something wrong! I know as you do these things you'll be able to find the next step in your conversion to Christ, no matter what that may be.

   This Sunday was the primary program, and I felt the Spirit testify of the reality of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer as they sang these simple words: 

"I know He lives! I will follow faithfully. My love I give to Him. I know that my Savior loves me." 

I love you all, have a wonderful week. :D

-Elder Goff <-----MDM----->

2nd Week in Livonia

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was pretty good, we had a lot of exchanges and that made it go by really quickly. Elder Fluckiger and I get along really well! He's a great guy, we're tearing it up here in the Livonia Ward. 

   A miracle we saw this week: We asked this lady we met who wasn't very interested for a referral and she referred her neighbor who has a drinking problem to us. We didn't think it was a very solid referral but we contacted it in the next couple of days and when we did we met this man's wife, who then told us that her son was a member of our Church in Westland! And that she would like to learn more. We set up another appointment and we went to see her and we met her son, he was there for a halloween party at his Mom's house. Turns out he's NOT a member, but he investigated for a LONG TIME in Canton and he loves The Church!! Him and his wife are super interested! If we had never asked the first lady who wasn't interested for referrals we never would've met these people! Crazy how The Lord works sometimes. 

   We are really focusing on member missionary work, and I found in Preach My Gospel a lot of quotes concerning that, I'd like to share a few with you:

“We are here to assist our Father in His work and His glory, ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39). Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation in my sphere. Let there be cultivated an awareness in every member’s heart of his own potential for bringing others to a knowledge of the truth. Let him work at it. Let him pray with great earnestness about it” -Gordon B. Hinckley

“We have heard that we are all missionaries. Every member … is or ought to be a missionary; … as members of the Church, having pledged ourselves to the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ we become missionaries. That is part of the responsibility of every member of the Church”

-Joseph Fielding Smith

There are many more quotes from the modern Prophets The Lord has called in these Latter Days. I add my testimony to theirs that if the members of Christ's Church will labor side by side, hand in hand with the missionary force, this Gospel truly will be taken to all the world, and it will be taken with convincing power unto the children of God. Have a great week ya'll!

-Elder Goff