Reverently and Meekly Now

Hello Everyone,

 I hope you all had a great week :)   Shout out to my wonderful momma! It's her birthday this week! March 2nd :) She's taught me everything good that I know :) Love you Mom!

Yesterday at Church I received so much inspiration and answers from Heavenly Father. At times in my life I've just "attended Church" or in other words just gone through the motions. Not really understanding the purpose of why we're attending Church in the first place or not seeking inspiration when I come to Church! But now that I understand that, Church has become a lot more important to me. It is Heavenly Father's merciful blessing once every 7 days for me to be spiritually replenished, cleansed and strengthened by The Holy Ghost. I have been thinking and studying a lot lately about the effects that our thoughts, feelings, words and actions have on others (whether we know it or not) for bad and for good. We sang the song "Reverently and Meekly Now" for the Sacrament and I loved the 3rd verse:

 'Bid thine heart all strife to cease. With thy brethren be at peace. Oh forgive as thou wouldst be, E'en forgiven now by by. In the solemn faith of prayer, cast upon me all thy care. And my Spirit's grace shall be, like a fountain unto thee.'

   

Sometimes it's hard to forgive quickly and to not hold strife in our hearts but as we cast that burden upon The Lord, and do our best to forgive ourselves, he will send His grace to lift and carry us so that even though we may not think we can do it on our own, he will help us accomplish it. I love Jesus Christ and His infinite Atonement. I know it is only because of Him that we can change our natures and become clean before Heavenly Father.

Here's an excerpt from my letter to President Gerber:

  "Our area is doing well, we're filtering now seeing who is really interested, the Lord is blessing us so much! I feel undeserving of all the success we are having, and am so grateful for His Merciful Hand in our lives and in those we are teaching. Marcus is the friend of another nonmember named Nick, who was a referral from a member in our ward! They have both been coming to play basketball with the Elders Quorum on Wednesday nights and have gotten some really great fellowshipping that way. Marcus has come to Church the past 3 weeks and is loving it! He is feeling peace and love in his life now where before he often felt angry and frustrated. His baptismal date is March 26th! Cordis is growing in her faith too, she came to Church again yesterday! We should be seeing her quite a bit this week. She's planning on being baptized on March 12th :) That will be so amazing! Then we can work on helping her and Nze get to the temple!"

Till next week!

   

Elder Goff

The Holy Ghost is the Key!

This week we saw so much success as we worked hard and made our use of time effective and efficient. An insight we gained is that the ONLY way to be the most Effective AND Efficient in missionary work and in really all other aspects in life is to be inspired by The Holy Ghost. 

   We always seek the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost when we are out and about to know who to talk to and what to say, and as we did that this week we were able to meet 6 different individuals this through tracting who wanted to learn more! There is also a member in our ward who gave us 2 referrals and came to the lessons with them and both of them want to learn more as well. One of them actually might live outside our ward boundaries but he wants to be baptized! It doesn't matter to me who teaches him, I'm just happy he wants to take those steps to a better life. 

   Cordis's date is the 5th of March now, her health wasn't the best this week so we were only able to meet with her once! But she came to Church on Sunday with her family and she had a great time getting to know the members there. 

   Rao participated in blessing the Sacrament this Sunday and Nze gave his first Elders Quorum lesson! It is so rewarding to see these recent converts just take off in The Gospel.

   I actually got sick this week so that was kinda rough! Stuffy nose/runny nose, sinus pressure and headaches, sore throat, all that good stuff. But we got some Ricola's at CVS and I pounded my way through! It's mostly cleared up for me now so that is great! It's crazy how much we take for granted being healthy and then when we get sick and we realize how grateful we should be for good health! Don't worry though because I am doing better now. Nothing too serious :) 

   Sorry short email this week, I am doing well though! I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve my mission here in Detroit, thank you for all of your love and support!

Elder Goff

A few more pics from the Car Show several weeks ago!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week it got a lot colder than it has been so far this winter! It was around 12 degrees with quite a bit of wind for a couple days in a row but it was better than last year! We've really been blessed with good weather this year, it's a tender mercy of The Lord! 

   Cordis was feeling sick a lot this week so we only saw her once! But a member couple came with us and we taught about Eternal Families, it was a great lesson! She is so accepting of the truth, as a missionary you see people on polar opposite sides of the spectrum. Those whose hearts are very hard and unrepentant, and those who are so humble and ready to start living the Gospel as soon as you teach them. You see a lot in-between too! It's awesome to be able to see the parable of the sower come to life there for me, I know that the scriptures are true and we can apply them to every aspect of our lives, we just have to really understand what they are saying and look for examples of them in our lives. 

   Rao is doing great, he was able to prepare and pass the Sacrament this week! He should be going to the temple to do baptisms for his ancestors who didn't have the chance to be baptized in their lifetimes. William is doing the same thing, and so is Nze! Nze participated in blessing the Sacrament this week, he didn't actually say the prayer but he was at the Priest's table! He'll bless it next week I'm sure. 

   Not much else to say besides we had some bomb soul food this week! On tuesday we went to "Motor City Soul Food" in Detroit and got some Fried Chicken, Mac N' Cheese, and Candied Yams. It was some of the best Mac N' Cheese I've ever had in my life. Then on Wednesday we went to Slows, which is a famous Smokehouse BBQ, it was the best meat I've ever had in my life! And we met this family there who lives in one of my previous areas (North Shores), they came in after us and sat down at the table next to us and we just struck up a conversation with them talking about soul food! African Americans love their soul food everybody, and this family went hard in the paint when it came to cooking. Guess what they told us? That when we came back to Michigan to visit after our missions, we need to bring our families and call them up to set up a time for them to make soul food for all of us. They were serious too! So awesome, we will definitely take them up on that fam!! 

   Love you all! I hope you have a week of tender mercies and mighty miracles.

Love,

Elder Goff

Elder Whetzel at McDonald's in Detroit, notice the bullet proof glass that the cashiers 

are behind.There is a little turn about that they put your food in to get it to you.  Not the

 same as in Idaho!

Graffiti on trucks and vans!

Most delicious BBQ of my life!

At Slows restaurant with the family from North Shores area.

Last transfer with Elder Whetzel

Hello Everyone,

 I'm not counting down transfers don't worry, this is Elder Whetzel's last transfer now though so it prompted some thought and soul searching for how much time I have left in my mission. Home is a scary thought! Of course I want to see you all again and be reunited with my family, but a missionary's life is free of all the normal cares of the world. My only care for the past 17 months has been others' conversion and salvation. It'll be strange transition to come back home and be focused on my own life instead of my only focus being to help others. Good news is I've got a while until I come home :) Elder Whetzel however, only has 7 weeks!

   This next transfer will be 7 weeks long instead of 6 because the MTC has increased the amount of time missionaries will spend there by a week and a half, so Elder Whetzel actually gets to serve his mission for 2 years and 4 days from that small extension. Anyways, I'll get on with our week!

   We've seen Cordis (Nze's wife) frequently and she is progressing well! I've included a picture of their whole family at Church this Sunday :) She's understanding and trying to apply what she's reading in the Book of Mormon. Nze is such a rock to that family, his testimony is unwavering! It seems that whenever Cordis has a question or concern, he is able to answer it because he had the same problem, but he figured out the answer through study and faith. A less active Brother Garcia has been pumping out his missionary work, we've received a couple of referrals from him, one of them being his sister! And there are more on the way! He's doing great too, been to Church the past 8 weeks or so.

   Rao Olibiri is doing so great, he is participating in the administration of the Sacrament and is eager to come out teaching with us! We're getting him involved with Family History Work to go to the temple soon, we are so excited for him to start with that! He has a lot to do as the first member of the Church in his family. We taught Rao a lesson this last week and we read from 1 Nephi 16 with him, I received so many insights as we read verse 29 together. 29) "And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things." I drew tons of parallels between how the Liahona worked for them and how Heavenly Father gives us revelation through The Holy Ghost. The revelation, promptings, or inspiration we receive is "plain to be read" or understood, which helps us "understand the ways [or will] of The Lord" it was "changed from time to time" meaning that depending on what we're seeking, The Holy Ghost will help us with our CURRENT situation which will be different day to day. Also that the writing changed "according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it" meaning The Holy Ghost will continue giving us more understanding and knowledge as we listen, and apply what he's told us. If we don't, He will often wait for us to come seeking again, sincere and repentant, for Him to give us more counsel. Anyways, it was a neat experience learning a lot of new things for myself as I read the Book of Mormon with our Recent Convert. 

  We had a really cool experience tracting the other day, we were walking down a neighborhood street and this guy pulled up into his driveway just as we passed his place. He got out and started to help his 2 boys out of the backseat and we started talking with him! He said he was too busy then to listen but that he wanted us to come back the next day. So we did! And he was still super busy but he gave us about 20 minutes to teach him. His name is Ethan! Living with his girlfriend, one of the sons is his and the other is from his girlfriend's previous relationship. He works in the audio business, he actually tours with bands to concerts all over the nation, it's pretty sweet!! He worked for this Non-Denominational Church in Florida for about a year and a half and something struck a chord within him there, he desires to learn more about God now and wants to live a better life! We taught him that God is his loving Heavenly Father, and wants to communicate with him through prayer. He was eager to pray himself and he committed himself do try it as a family as well! We are planning on seeing him this evening, we are excited to continue teaching him. Super open, humble, and ready to learn and apply The Gospel. 

   On Sunday we went to try by this former investigator named Mary Aliu, she's Nigerian like Nze and his family! She was taught by missionaries about a year ago but her family anti-ed her super hard and she needs to get at least her husband's permission for her to be baptized, but he wouldn't allow it! We brought Nze over there Sunday evening and we arrived just as she pulled up in her car. We introduced ourselves and she welcomed us in! We had a good lesson with her, we are planning on meeting with her relatively frequently again now. Her only thing holding her back from baptism is her husband not permitting her to be baptized and she gets discouraged with how much her family is opposed to her joining the Church! She's had mulitple confirmations that The Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and that she needs to be a part of it. So we will be helping her family to become more accepting of the truth, we're planning on meeting with them sometime this week.

Love,

Elder Goff

An Instrument rather than a Hindrance

Dear Family and Friends! 

First of all I wanted to express my love to Mom, Dad, Courtney, Clarissa, and Isabel for being such great supports and examples to me. One night this week I was praying and had a prompting to pray for each one of you and specific reasons why I love each one of you flooded my mind. I'm so grateful for you Mom and Dad for making our home a sacred place, and living exemplary lives of Gospel service. You never realize how much your parents did for you and your siblings until you're on your own, especially on your mission.

   This week was pretty good, a little less time to proselyte with meetings and stuff but we still got some good work done. We found a few decently solid potentials that will hopefully pan out for us this next week. This week we had a miracle while walking down the street to try a potential investigator: We were still about a block away and we see this young adult get out of his car and start walking towards his house, we were just walking down the sidewalk. We called out to him and he came up to us to hear what we had to say. We asked him this question: "If you could have God help you with something right now, what would you want help with?" He answered by saying he wanted a greater purpose in life. He said he was sick of just working and sleeping! He's 22, very ready to receive the Gospel, super open too. Looking forward to teaching him in a couple days. An insight from my studies - the word instrument is used quite a few times in the Book of Mormon and I studied a few places where it uses it. Once Lehi is describing his son Nephi, a couple times about Alma the Elder, one about Gideon, and a few times about Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah. I concluded that Nephi was an able instrument in the hands of God because he relied on God instead of his own knowledge and abilities, he trusted God and His ability to help him, and he knew the right questions to ask in prayer. (Example: "Give me the strength to get out of these binding cords that my brothers tied me up in." vs. "get me out of here!" -OR- "Show me where I can find the ore to make tools so I can build this ship." vs. "Give me the tools!")

   Sometimes I think we pray for things to happen but we just ask the wrong questions! We might pray "Please give us somebody to share the Gospel with!" or you could ask, "Who in my life is ready to receive the Gospel?" or "Please help my know by The Holy Ghost who to talk with about the Gospel today, because I know that Thou wilt place people in my path." Then if we pay attention to the promptings we receive throughout the day, we will hear them! Sometimes Heavenly Father will give us answers right away, other times He will wait until the time is right, which may not be the time we expect it! We just need to be ready to listen and heed the answers when they come.

   When we narrow our minds to think that after praying, the outcome will only happen one certain way, we damper our ability to recognize and conform to the answer that God will give! Most often times I think the answer does NOT come the way that we think it will, or in the time we anticipate. If I go into a lesson with my own agenda, and am not willing to change my plan if God wants me too then I am acting as a hindrance rather than an instrument in His hands. It's like with Alma when he was commanded to go back to Ammonihah after he was kicked out of the city once already. He said something to the effect of "I was about to turn my back on this people forever." But The Lord commanded him to return and enter in another way and he was quick to obey! May we press forward with humble hearts, seeking the will of The Lord, and be an instrument in His hands instead of a hindrance. Love you all!

 

Elder Goff

Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward

January 25th email-oops no email this week!

Hello Everyone,

This is Elder Goff's mom.  Elder Goff was sending all sorts of pics of the car show and then he ran out of time. When he went back later to finish his group email, it hadn't been saved!  He was soooo bummed because he had spent a lot of time writing it.  He only had time to finish it and send it, he could not rewrite the whole thing!  He said it was an amazing week and he will fill us all in next week!  So, this is what I know, Rao was baptized on Saturday and there are pictures attached of that and they were able to go to the Detroit Auto show last Monday and he sent a TON of pics of that!  I will only attach a few :)

He said" The car show was SICK!!!! I have more than 150 pictures of it and some of downtown Detroit, I'll send you as many as I can today! Yes we had another Baptism, Rao got baptized!  It was a great day, he is such an amazing man."

I also shared a little about my lesson on the Tree of Life, and he said this,"I love reading this chapter in the Book of Mormon with investigators and others that we are working with, it has so many amazing parallels to our lives. And when the investigator is able to be worked upon by the Spirit while we're there with them and they understand whether they are holding fast, clinging, or just wandering in the dark, The Holy Ghost always teaches them what they need to do to improve and get back on the straight and narrow. Elder Oaks talked about the love of money a couple of conferences ago, I'm so thankful for inspired leaders that teach us about these sneaky "wiles of the devil."

So, that is all we have for this week.  Thank you all for your prayers for him and all the missionaries serving around the world!  They feel your prayers!

<3 Liz

​