Week 4 with Elder Chandler

Hello Everyone,

We had a busy week! We had an exchange with the Assistants and then another one with a District Leader in our Zone, weeks with more than one exchange always seem jam packed.

   Had a few disappointments this week, one of the main ones Dave told us that he wants to stop meeting with us and just study the Book of Mormon on his own. I know if he diligently seeks, he will discover the truthfulness of that book for himself, but I've found that when people decide to do things their own way, it usually ends in them coming to false conclusions or their own interpretations of the truth, so we are praying that Dave will be able to find the truth on his own without being deceived! When we met with him a couple of times a week and a half ago he said he wanted to come to Church as well, pray with me that he'll actually take those steps of faith! :)

    I went on exchange in Grand Blanc with a missionary who is struggling a little bit, we were able to see some awesome miracles together though! We were in a Walmart parking lot at the end of the night heading back to our car when we saw this kid, about 18 years old sitting in his car with the door open, just chilling there so we decided to go talk with him. We find out his name is Abraham, he just got kicked out of his parent's house (we didn't ask why), he's super stressed out because he doesn't have a job and doesn't know where his next meals will come from, and he's looking to change his life for the better. We prayed with him, for him, and he felt the Spirit strongly afterwards, he was so grateful for that prayer! We set up a time to meet the next morning at the Church building for a Church tour. I half expected him to not show up, but he did! He came and we taught the Restoration and showed him around the Chapel. We even got an 18 year old member to come to befriend him, and this member is hooking Abraham up with a job as well. He's on date for baptism now for August 20th! Pretty awesome experience we had with him there, he's super humble now because he's been compelled to be, but I hope he makes all the decisions and life changes necessary to be baptized and remain a faithful member of the Savior's Church for the rest of his life! Really cool kid, I'll keep you updated on what I hear about him.

   On Friday Elder Chandler and I taught this guy named Ed, he lives in our apartment complex! It's funny how the most solid people we've found this transfer have been right in our own apartment complex. Oftentimes we don't need to venture far and wide to find the people God has prepared to receive the Gospel. Anyways Ed is a super solid guy. Taught him the Restoration and his comments were: "This is so simple!" "I already know that this is true, this is what I have been looking for for so long!" It's so refreshing to find someone who is sincerely searching and will diligently seek the truth.

   We are praying and working hard to find people to teach and Baptize here in Clarkston, I'm sure the Lord will provide as we do our best :) Everyone have a wonderful week!

Elder Goff

Great Week with Elder Chandler

Dear Family and Friends,

 Great week, such a great week! So many good experiences to share with such little time! It's been brought to my attention that you don't know anything about President & Sister Cleveland! That makes sense because I neglected to tell you about them. Sorry about that! Here's a little bit about the Cleveland's: They met each other in high school and Sister Cleveland wasn't a member of the Church! She attended high school seminary a full year before was baptized. Then when President Cleveland got back from his mission, they got married and raised their family in Fresno California. He was the Stake President there for 9.5 years before this call to Detroit! He's a CPA by trade and Sister Cleveland is a stay at home Mom and an AMAZING baker (I testify, she's good!). If you have any other questions about them let me know, I'll see what I can do haha!

   On Wednesday morning we had Zone Meeting, and it was all about finding people to teach. Especially the principle of talking with and inviting everyone we meet to learn more about the Gospel. We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people we've had to teach and that our Zone is teaching since the meeting and we know it will continue to as we exercise our faith.

   On Thursday morning we prayed that we would be able to find someone to teach as we went to a store to contact people. We walked into this store and we wandered over to a certain aisle where there was a worker stacking and organizing things and we just struck up a conversation with her. We taught the Restoration right there in the store and she ended up being really interested! I had never really done that in my mission before, it was a big testimony to me that God hears and answers our prayers, and that if we pray in faith, go and act in trust that The Lord will bless you with what you asked for, He always answers our prayers. Sometimes we pray for miracles, but forget that we can be the miracle! We can do miracles according to our faith, and if it's within the Lord's will for us at this given time. If we would've just prayed for someone to teach and walked around the store but not talked with anyone, would we have found this worker who is really interested? No, we would not! But because we acted in faith and trust, The Lord provided. I love that principle!

   On Saturday afternoon we walked across our apartment complex to go try this lady whom we had taught a little bit ago but had lost contact with for a week. On the way we saw this man working on the taillights of his Jeep, and we started talking with him. Turns out he just retired earlier this year, and he has had a super huge turnaround in his life! Used to party a lot, struggled with addictions to cigarettes and alcohol, but he was guided to Church, where he learned to really pray and rely on the Savior to help him. As we taught him the Restoration the Spirit bore witness to Him that we were The Lord's servants and that he needed to hear more of what we had to teach. We set up an appointment with him for Sunday afternoon to bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon. We saw him on Sunday and had another great lesson with him! He is sincerely seeking the truth, and I know he will find it. He already has a pretty firm understanding of the Bible and what the doctrines therein really mean, rather than just man's own private interpretations of the scriptures. He's excited to study the Book of Mormon and knows what it means if it is true! Such a prepared man. His wife has cancer and they've been struggling with that the past few years, they are just the nicest people though, I love them!

   I am grateful for my testimony of the Book of Mormon, being another testament of Jesus Christ. He is my Savior and Redeemer, and I love Him! I'm so happy I have the opportunity every single day to invite others to come to know of these same glorious truths, and that Christ has restored His Church to the Earth today, giving us His Gospel anew. I love all of you and hope you have a fantastic week! Let me know of your own missionary experiences you are having in your lives.

Elder Goff

Week 2 in Clarkston with Elder Chandler!

Elder Goff's new mailing address is: 11010 Highland Road #12
                                                     WhiteLake, MI 48386

His email is: nicholas.goff@myldsmail.net

Dear Family and friends,

What a great week we had here in Clarkston! Many good things happened as we worked hard. The Lord answers our prayers according to our faith that we exercise in Him! I have a strong testimony of that, I know it is true.

   Such a busy week! We met the Cleveland's a week ago last Tuesday, went on exchange with some Elders serving in Flint that afternoon, then Thursday we had MLCM,and then on Sunday we had a meeting with President & Sister Cleveland, and President Cook, the Stake President of the Grand Blanc Stake. We still managed to spend a lot of time proselyting amidst all the other stuff that went on this week so we are pretty happy about that.

   On Tuesday night, Elder Wolfe and I prayed about where we should go finding and then prayed again before we went down this street. The first door we knocked on we met this guy named Brett. Super sincere 30 year old guy who wants to turn his life around. Gotten into some trouble his late teenage years but really desires to do what is right in God's eyes now. We taught him The Restoration and it resonated with him, he prayed at the end and felt the Spirit as he pondered what we had taught! We should be seeing him again soon this week, really neat guy!

   We've met 5 individuals in our apartment complex the past week who we've been able to teach and have appts. with. A couple of them we found tracting but for the other 3 there's this grassy courtyard in our complex in-between buildings and near the end of the night two nights this week we've been coming in for the night but we've seen people there just walking their dog or yesterday lighting off a few fireworks and watching them as a family. As we've taken the opportunity to talk with them and show them how the Restored Gospel is relevant to THEIR lives and will bless THEM if the learn and live it, they have become interested! One lady we taught there has felt the Spirit in her life more now as she's read and pondered the Family Proclamation and desires now to unite her split family as she learns more about the Gospel.

   I don't have much time left but I want to let everyone know that My parents have been married happily for 24 years as of July 3rd! Congratulate them when you get the chance! I know the Gospel is true and that this is Christ's living Church on the Earth. Have a fantastic week everyone!

Elder Goff 

****Challenge from Elder Goff to all LDS family and friends who read his emails***

Take a little bit of time this week to study Preach My Gospel pages 160-162 "The Importance of Members". Then determine prayerfully what you must do as a member to take your next step in member missionary work! I know that if we all would do a simple act of missionary work each day we would impact the lives of many, and we would be able to bring many of their souls unto our Savior. If you're able to do this, write me back and tell me about it!

Elder Goff

Pics below:  Elder Goff and Elder Chandler with the new MP and his wife, President Cleveland;

Elder Goff and Elder Wolf on exchange and the Michigan LDS Temple