Elder Nicholas Goff - Michigan Detroit Mission : Christmas Week

This week was wonderful! My first Christmas away from home :)

On Monday we taught Adrian and it was amazing!! He is progressing so
quickly and he felt the Spirit strongly during the lesson and as he
offered the closing prayer. That was so cool.
On Christmas Eve every missionary in the mission gathered to the
chapel in Livonia for a Christmas party of sorts! It was great getting
to see all of my fellow missionaries in the Michigan Detroit Mission.
For the talent show I sang "In Christ Alone" it went pretty well, and
Sister Gerber accompanied me! Tyler Haven sang and played "Brother
I'll Follow You" from the Nashville Tribute to Joseph Smith! That was
so great. Then Elder Redd sang a song he wrote about the mission and
it was pretty good! It was just a great time to unwind and relax and
reflect on our Savior and all He has done for us. That night, some
members took us to Pizza Hut for dinner and they left a very generous
tip on the table and we sat in the parking lot and watched our
waitress get it, she was ecstatic!
Christmas was wonderful! Skyping my family was great. I imagine
some mothers of missionaries just blubber in sadness over skype and
stuff but mine didn't! It was a conversation full of happiness and not
a tear was shed, at least while the cameras were on :) We got fed a
VERY RARE prime rib for dinner so I choked that down, I don't like
rare meat very much! But we taught a lesson afterwards so that was
awesome!
The rest of the week we tracted a lot! We did 12 hours this week.
One awesome miracle occurred while we were out Saturday evening: We
were tracting in the evening Saturdayand had been out for a while
and we weren't going to head home for a couple more hours. So we are
getting shut down at almost every door, and I really had to use the
restroom. So I prayed, as we walked up this next driveway, that
someone would be nice enough to let us use the restroom. We knocked on
the door and they answered and said, "We're Catholic we send our kids
to Catholic school, it won't work on us guys. But is there anything we
can do for you? Want some Coffee? Some Tea? Water? Anything??" I
responded, "I hate to ask, but would it be okay if I used your
restroom?" They let us in and we talked for a while about missions and
other things! It was an immediate answer to my prayer! When we pray
for something and God provides, I think He often provides a way for us
to achieve our goal or answer our question ourselves. We could have
just said to those Catholics, "Nope! We don't drink Coffee or Tea,
thanks though. Happy New Year and have a great night!" But since I had
prayed, I was looking and searching for that answer, and therefore was
able to recognize it when it came!

I hope you all had the best of Christmases this year! Let us
remember Jesus Christ who is The Gift to us throughout the rest of our
year, and not just through the end of this Christmas season. I love
you all and thank you for all of the support I feel from you! I am
lucky to have so many people back home and in other places that care
about me. Have a great week, I know I will! :)

-Elder Goff