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
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