Visit from an Apostle of the Lord, Elder Dallin H. Oaks in Detroit, Michigan

Dear Family and Friends,

Shoutout to Katie Hall, one of my good friends who just received
her mission call to the Brazil Sao Paulo West Mission speaking
Portuguese, reporting June 3rd!! One of my other friends named Adam is
serving there as well so that is sweet! I'm so proud and thankful for
all of my friends who have decided to serve missions.

This week was incredible! We had New Missionary Training for Elder
Hatch on Tuesday, and that was great. It's always great to hear from
President and Sister Gerber, they have so much knowledge and wisdom to
share with us. So all of us trainers got together and shared concerns
and stuff that we had about our trainees and how we could better
prepare them for certain aspects of missionary life/work. It was
great, a lot of questions that other people asked related to my on
questions I had. After New Missionary Training, we went on exchange so
I went to Howell with Elder Varner who is going home this transfer
(January 27th!). It was great, he is a fantastic missionary. It was
cool to be with another missionary who has been out for so long
because he could offer a lot of advice to me. So I enjoyed being in
Howell for the day and then we exchanged back in the evening on
Wednesday.
On Wednesday night we taught M and S about The Priesthood,
the Laying on of Hands, and the Twelve Tribes of Israel, they both
learned a lot. It has really just come down to the application of the
principles that we have taught them! S committed to read 3
Chapters of the Book of Mormon this week and M committed to read
every day.
On Thursday an older couple in our ward took us out to Red Robin,
that was so nice of them!! Afterwards we shared a message with them,
and helped them install a toilet into one of their bathrooms. In the
evening we taught an investigator about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, Paying
Tithing, and Fast Offerings. He is progressing well, and he has a
baptismal date set for February 8th! He and his fiance are getting
married on January 31st.
Friday was amazing! We were blessed to have Elder Dallin H. Oaks of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and speak to us. He told us
that he did not come with a message prepared, but would rely on the
Holy Ghost to prompt him what to say and instruct us on. It was so
funny at one point in his instruction, he was trying to find something
on his ipad but then he closed it up and exclaimed: "I only have this
ipad because President Packer made me!" Slamming his fists jokingly on
the pulpit to show emotion. Hahaha that was so funny! He went on to
teach us about the importance of the commitment an investigator makes,
it was great. Something I took away from today was that Apostles are
just like us. They are still mortal men, they just have an extremely
high calling in life. He said that when he received the call to be an
Apostle he was told it would be a lifelong learning opportunity. The
Apostles still learn! They are prone to the same temptations we are,
and live in the same world that we do. But they have the correct
Priesthood Authority to receive divine guidance and inspiration for
the Church, and the whole world! That was the highlight of my week for
sure.
I am working on personal revelation this week. It is so important
for the people we teach to receive personal revelation for themselves,
and for us so we know what/how to teach them most effectively. I've
always struggled with recognizing personal revelation in my own life,
but I have learned so much already on my mission and am sure as I
focus more directly on it this week I will improve greatly!
I know that we can communicate with our Father in Heaven, and that
He will communicate with us as we ask in faith for answers to our
questions. I know that EVERYONE can receive answers to their prayers
as they ask with a sincere heart, a submissive mind, having faith in
Christ. I am happy to be serving The Lord in the Michigan Detroit
Mission, and I hope you can all feel the truthfulness of the Restored
Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all! Have a great week.

-Elder Goff