Hello everyone! Something happened to our car on Monday and it messed up our schedule for the day so we're emailing today. Sorry about that Mom! :)
This week we were led to 2 people in particular who I'd like to tell you about. The first one is Ana La Rouche. We knocked on her door and she answered, we talked for a bit and she invited us into her home to share a message centered in Jesus Christ with her. She told us a little bit about herself and she shared that she grew up in Brazil, her parents didn't have much, and they never went to Church. So she didn't really have a religious background in her childhood. Then as she became an adult she felt that something was missing, and that she needed God in her life! So she and her children have started going to a certain Church fairly recently and they have been loving what they are learning. We shared the message of the Restoration, that Christ's Church was lost for hundreds of years, but that God has restored it back to the Earth today and that the evidence of this Restoration is the Book of Mormon. She told us afterwards - "You don't know how hard this is, this is big for me! I don't want to seem wishy-washy to my children just going from Church to Church, but I will read this book!" She recognized that it would be a difficult change, but a change that would be well worth it if our message is true. AND she and her family are super good friends with some members of the congregation here in Clarkston! Awesome stuff, we're going to see her againtonight!
The other person is Dan Boes. He's got a family of 4, a wife and 2 kids ages 13 and 9. When he answered the door he asked, "What do you need?" and we started to teach him the Restoration of the Gospel! As we started to explain that Christ's Church had been restored to the Earth through a Prophet, he asked us, "So what are the main differences between your Church and the ___ Church??" As we continued to teach his countenance became brighter and he continued to be engaged in the discussion. By the end he was so happy we had knocked on his door and shared this message with him. He's come to a point in his life where he does not feel that the Church he grew up in is teaching what Christ taught, and he wants to have a place where he and his family can go to learn the absolute truth about God and his Gospel. He wants joy, peace and direction in his life. Is that not ALL that we have to offer??? What do living prophets and Christ's restored Gospel give us in our lives?? All of the above, and so much more. Hopefully we'll be seeing him soon again, he committed to come to Church in a few weeks with his family, he just switched jobs and is doing a lot of training there so he's super busy but he was definitely prepared to hear the message of the Restoration. Super happy we were able to meet him!
On Saturday afternoon Elders Yorgason, Shumway and I had the awesome opportunity to be taught for 5 HOURS STRAIGHT by Elder Randall K. Bennett of the Seventy. He taught so much about the gathering of the house of Israel that is happening now before the Savior comes again. He taught about each member and missionary's responsibility to open our mouths to share the gospel with others. He said and I'm paraphrasing here: "What did Lucifer do to try to stop the Restoration from occurring?? He tried to bind Joseph Smith's tongue. What does he do to try to stop us from sharing the Gospel and the message of the Restoration with others?? He binds our tongue with fear!" Heavenly Father knows we can overcome our fear to open our mouths to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all those around us, and He will help us do that! I'm not perfect at it, but I sure am striving to be. I don't want to be the one to pass one of my brothers or sisters up, who would have accepted the gospel, if only they had the opportunity to hear it.
That puts a great deal of responsibility on our shoulders, especially as missionaries! That is what I envision these last 3 weeks of my mission to be though: Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to absolutely everybody that I can. Everybody needs the chance to learn and accept it. If we don't speak up, who will? Who will help save our brothers and sisters from the darkness and confusion of this world? We have to! I pray that we all will step out of our comfort zones and overcome some of our fears we may have to preach the Gospel wherever we go, standing as witnesses of God at all times, in all things, and in all places! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week :)
Elder Goff
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