Baptism and a great week!!

Hello Everyone,

  William's Baptism was Sunday!! I'll send pictures of it so you can see him, he's a great man, I was honored to Baptize him. It was a different experience actually being in the font with the person being Baptized! It went well, only took one try and afterwards William said "I feel clean!" It was a great experience.

   On Tuesday we instructed the New Missionaries that were finishing up their first transfer in the mission field. It went well, Elder Fluckiger and I feel that they understood what was taught and we enjoyed being with them for the day. We have so many great missionaries in the MDM! I can't complain about any of them. 

   We went on a lot of exchanges this week, we worked with 3 different companionships, for one exchange I actually got to go down to Ypsi South, one of my previous areas! I was with Elder Ferguson there for a day. 

   On Thursday we had MLCM, we talked a lot about Member Missionary Work, it was great! We watched a talk that Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a few years ago about 'The Hastening of The Work'. I would encourage all of you to watch that and determine what YOUR responsibility is in this great cause we have been enlisted in. Here's the link:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-1030-elder-l-tom-perry?category=hasten-the-work/special-broadcast-the-work-of-salvation&lang=eng

   

   Sunday there was a pretty big surprise that neither Elder Fluckiger nor I was expecting! We got to Church and at about 10 till the whole Stake Presidency walked in and we knew it wasn't Stake or Ward Conference... I was wondering why they were there. It's funny because the same exact thing happened to me in the Ypsilanti Ward only a few months prior to this, but what happened is the Bishopric got reorganized! The new Bishop is Bishop Ordaz, he's from Mexico but he speaks really good English, he is a good man. SUPER humble, it was an emotional Sacrament Meeting, the Stake President President Medley talked about how he received the distinct impression that Brother Ordaz should be the next Bishop multiple times. He said, "It took a lot of faith for me to extend this call to Brother Ordaz. I know that sounds weird but let me explain..." Then he went on to talk about how Brother Ordaz has an insane work schedule right now, working 14 hour days. He has 4 boys, all Deacon aged or younger, and one of them is disabled, in a wheelchair all the time. President Medley said "I can't even look at Brother Ordaz without crying right now Brothers and Sisters, but I know he is to be your Bishop." He also went on to talk about how when he received his call as a Stake President, his schedule was crazy, being called into work at the worst hours having to miss important things with family/Church callings but in his 8 Years of being Stake President, he has only had to miss 3 important meetings related to his Church calling. The Lord performs His perfect work through imperfect servants, and He strengthens them in ways that we wouldn't even imagine sometimes! The previous Bishop bore his testimony of Bishop Ordaz's call as well, it was powerful! We are looking forward to working closely with him with the little time that he has to move the work of salvation forward in his area of stewardship. 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all of your support of myself and many of my friends who are privileged to call ourselves full time servants of the Lord. We couldn't do it without you! This is The Lord's work, and he will place people in our paths who are ready for the Gospel in small or large measures. We just need to be ready to share it at all times, and in all places. Being an example of the believers as President Monson exhorted us to do this last conference. Have a great week, and talk with somebody about who the restored Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ has improved your life :)

-Elder

Week 4 in Livonia

Hey everyone!! We saw a few miracles this week while tracting. We call the process that we go through to determine where we will go tracting "Revelation through the GPS." We pray to be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and ask to be led exactly where God would have us be to find people who are ready to receive His Gospel. We met 4 super great people this way this week, they were all prepared to hear our message. One of them in particular was pretty amazing, I'll share the experience with you: 

   As you could imagine, knocking on peoples' doors to talk to them about The Gospel does not always go well, most of the people we talk with don't want to talk with us. But I've found that if you can talk WITH them, and not AT them, the hard heart that you first see when they open the door softens and it turns into a great Gospel conversation. That's exactly what happened with this lady named Michelle this week. Knocked on the door and she opened it, and you could tell she did NOT want to talk to anyone haha, but I asked her, "How was your day?" mind you this is at about 8:15pm and it gets dark here at 5:30pm. Anyways, she replies and says that she's actually been having a terrible day! Getting divorced, but still living with her husband until it was finalized so lots of contention, credit cards maxed, her landlord was going to kick her out soon, she struggles with smoking, and there were other things too. The weight of the world was upon her shoulders, or so she felt. The Spirit whispered to me, "Teach her about the Atonement." Alma 7:11-13 came to mind. I expounded those scriptures to her about the intense suffering of Our Savior, and what that means for us each day. She was edified and uplifted, and desired to learn more about the Book of Mormon. We are actually meeting with her tonight at the Church building to teach her about it. When people see our sincere interest and love for them, and feel our faith in the converting power of the Gospel, they will be much more receptive to learning more. I know that Jesus Christ will lift us up as we seek his strength! With his Apostles on the Earth today I testify that He lives. And because He lives, if we will reach out to Him, he will respond. I love you all, sorry for the short letter today! Have a fantastic week :)

-Elder Goff

Week 3 in Livonia

Dear Family and Family,

This week we tried to get to know the members of the Livonia Ward as much as we could, we had some great dinners in their homes! Mom you don't have to worry about me not being fed. Also yesterday for lunch I made a stir fry in this giant frying pan that we have in our apartment, Red, Green, and Yellow Bell Peppers, Onions, Carrots, Stir Fry Beef, some Eggs, Sweet Spicy Chili and a homemade Orange Sauce were all the ingredients. Needless to say we had a fantastic meal :D It was like having Mongo's Grill right there in our apartment!

   I like our area a lot, there's a lot of diversity! From the Ghettos of Detroit to the wealthy areas of Farmington Hills there's a large span of lifestyles in the Livonia Ward. Elder Fluckiger and I have been getting along well, he's a great guy. We've gotten closer as we've discussed our weaknesses and make plans for the goals we've set of how to improve. There's a LOT to work on as a missionary, but as we attack one weakness at a time I know that Christ will strengthen us through the "power of His deliverance." I've noticed that that phrase is found a lot in the scriptures, reminding me that Christ has the power to deliver us out of anything we may go through in this life. 

    I have been pondering about Baptism this week. In D&C 20:37 (my ponderizing scripture for the week) it says "All who DESIRE to be Baptized..." then The Lord goes on to explain the requirements for Baptism into His Church. The bottom line is, in order for the ordinance of Baptism to do it's job and have the proper cleansing effect on a person, that individual must sincerely want it. If we sincerely want the Lord's help in any aspect of our lives we can receive it. I know that that is true! The sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us, from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross and concluding with His Resurrection is infinite. In EVERY sense of the word. Covering all forms of life, the most grievous of sins, and the most heartbreaking of tragedies.

   But that is not all! His sacrifice offers us the gift of Grace. Grace is not the allowance of sin or mistakes because God loves us. It is the power that enables us to become what God wants us to be. We ALL have divine potential as sons and daughters of Heavenly Father, and we will mess that up on our own! But with the enabling power of grace that lifts us beyond our own abilities to be good and do better each day, we are capable of overcoming our sins and weaknesses to stand blameless before our Father and His Son at the last day.

   Before my mission I don't really know how strong my testimony of Jesus Christ was. Ever since I was a child I sang songs about Him, knew that my Church had His name in it, and when I heard his Name or stories associated with Him I had a sense of reverence and respect for them. But on my mission, I have felt of His Love for me as an individual. I have overcome some of my weaknesses and felt His loving reassurance that Repentance and Forgiveness is a real thing, as Elder Allen Haynie testified at General Conference. 

   In third hour on Sunday we discussed Elder Holland's talk "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet" by Elder Holland in April 2015 Conference. I listened to His talk again afterwards and I also listened to President Uchtdorf's talk from this last Conference entitled, "It Works Wonderfully!" I testify with both of these Apostles that The Gospel does work. The Atonement is real and Christ's "power of deliverance" is infinite. Will you all look up these talks on LDS.org and read them?? Then ponder about your relationship with God and your experiences with Him? I know it will be a help and inspiration to you if you do. Ask yourself: Are you where you want to be? Is your path of discipleship bright and cheerful? If not we're doing something wrong! I know as you do these things you'll be able to find the next step in your conversion to Christ, no matter what that may be.

   This Sunday was the primary program, and I felt the Spirit testify of the reality of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer as they sang these simple words: 

"I know He lives! I will follow faithfully. My love I give to Him. I know that my Savior loves me." 

I love you all, have a wonderful week. :D

-Elder Goff <-----MDM----->

2nd Week in Livonia

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was pretty good, we had a lot of exchanges and that made it go by really quickly. Elder Fluckiger and I get along really well! He's a great guy, we're tearing it up here in the Livonia Ward. 

   A miracle we saw this week: We asked this lady we met who wasn't very interested for a referral and she referred her neighbor who has a drinking problem to us. We didn't think it was a very solid referral but we contacted it in the next couple of days and when we did we met this man's wife, who then told us that her son was a member of our Church in Westland! And that she would like to learn more. We set up another appointment and we went to see her and we met her son, he was there for a halloween party at his Mom's house. Turns out he's NOT a member, but he investigated for a LONG TIME in Canton and he loves The Church!! Him and his wife are super interested! If we had never asked the first lady who wasn't interested for referrals we never would've met these people! Crazy how The Lord works sometimes. 

   We are really focusing on member missionary work, and I found in Preach My Gospel a lot of quotes concerning that, I'd like to share a few with you:

“We are here to assist our Father in His work and His glory, ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39). Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation in my sphere. Let there be cultivated an awareness in every member’s heart of his own potential for bringing others to a knowledge of the truth. Let him work at it. Let him pray with great earnestness about it” -Gordon B. Hinckley

“We have heard that we are all missionaries. Every member … is or ought to be a missionary; … as members of the Church, having pledged ourselves to the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ we become missionaries. That is part of the responsibility of every member of the Church”

-Joseph Fielding Smith

There are many more quotes from the modern Prophets The Lord has called in these Latter Days. I add my testimony to theirs that if the members of Christ's Church will labor side by side, hand in hand with the missionary force, this Gospel truly will be taken to all the world, and it will be taken with convincing power unto the children of God. Have a great week ya'll!

-Elder Goff

First week in Livonia!!

Hello Everyone,

   My new area is Livonia North, I've loved it so far! Part of our area is in Detroit so I can officially say I have served in Detroit now :) We drive a minivan so that's pretty fun, it's a Dodge Caravan. Whenever we pull up to an appointment I feel kinda weird getting out of a van, I wonder what our investigators think? I'm sure I'll get used to it.

   As Assistants we have to do a lot of administrative stuff that is pretty menial sometimes, it is a privilege to be able to have my own personal studies now and have time to proselyte in my own area! I like it though, I'm looking forward to working closely with President Gerber, he is a great man!! I love him so much. I'm trying to be the best example I can to the mission by working hard and being exactly obedient.

   My new companion is Elder Fluckiger! He's from Highland, Utah and he's a stud! Played the trumpet back home, he can sing pretty well, we get along. I know we'll be able to move the work forward here in the Michigan Detroit Mission as we seek Heavens help together.

   I'll start off talking about the day of transfers! We ended up driving all over the mission to deliver bikes and other things to missionaries that they needed  nearly the entire day, I felt super unproductive because of that! We were able to go out and work that night though so that helped out a lot. 

   We are teaching a lot of people here! We are working with 4 individuals who are planning on being baptized within the next month. I talked to Elder Chandler today and he said the Helena, our Chinese Investigator back in Ypsi North, came to Church on Sunday!! That was great to hear. He said that she borrowed his Gospel Principles book and said she would read it. 

   I want to close by talking about thise experience we had last night while tracting at about 8:45pm.

We talked with this guy who had lost all of his faith that God even existed, and he kept asking us to prove to him that there is a God. You could tell by conversing with him the hole that was in his life. So much negativity lingered off of each word he said. The light in his eyes was dim, and we tried our best to help him gain a correct understanding of faith but he ended up just closing the door on us. I likened it to Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life. The mists of darkness obviously dominated this man's vision. He was blinded and deceived so he could not see clearly, even when truth was presented to him. Satan can't just desensitize us like that very quickly, but over time as we give into temptation, we allow the darkness more and more into our lives until we can't even see what really matters in life. So what is the prevention and solution to this problem?? The iron rod Nephi described. If we hold fast to the word of God, we never will fall away because our sights will be clear and we will exercise prudence in our decisions. I know that if we study our scriptures consistently, the adversary will have a much harder time entering our lives.

   Have a good week everyone!

-Elder Goff

New Companions-Elder Fluckiger and Elder Goff

Elder Hidie and Elder Goff, dropping off at the airport.

Elder Goff will sure miss Elder Hidie

Elder Price and Elder Goff

Conference Weekend

Dear Family and Friends,

  I was able to go to the temple this week for my year mark! It was
awesome, I hadn't been in over 7 months so it was very refreshing. At
the end of my year mark trip President Gerber pulled me aside and
asked me if I would be his next Assistant! That was pretty unexpected,
but I accepted so I will be getting transferred tomorrow to Livonia.
 Well this week was great, and it was topped off with the voice of
Jesus Christ speaking through his Apostles and Prophet. I had a few
complex questions and concerns that I was seeking answers to and I
received all of them! Now all that is left to do as Elder David A.
Bednar implored is not only to "hear" the words of the Prophets, but
to "heed" them as well.
   General Conference gives us our revelation from God for the next
6-Months. Each of these 6-Month periods is the time to apply what
we've learned and been invited to do. It is a time of Spiritual Growth
and Maturation, and as we unify ourselves with the Prophets and
therefore the Lord's heart and mind, we will be blessed more than any
other way. Christ said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." If we
love Him, we will do what He asks. He has declared, "Whether by mine
own voice, or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."
   The world's values are ever-changing. As we hold fast to Ancient
and Modern Scripture we will find that we are not swayed by the winds
of doctrine blown by the world. As we center our lives in the restored
Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will discover true purpose, peace, and
direction in life. How grateful I am for the gift of living
mouthpieces of our Savior Jesus Christ.
   How are you going to follow the counsel of the living Prophets in
the next few weeks? I'm making a plan for myself to follow to adapt to
what I have learned. I'm going to be doing a ton of ponderizing with
my new companion! I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love His
Church, and all the truth found therein. I hope you all have a
wonderful week of change!

-Elder Goff

A great ropin' week in Ypsilanti

Hello Everyone,

Shoutout to Elder Mason Rankin in the Mississippi Jackson Mission! He
hit his year mark this last week. Love ya Elder Rankin!

   Elder Chandler and I are doing great! Bossing it up in Ypsilanti.
He taught me how to rope steers, so that has been pretty fun, watch
the video if you want to see that in action.
The sisters in our district had a baptism last weekend so that was
great, they are working hard! Elder Cooper and Elder Ferguson have an
investigator who they brought to the Baptism and he felt the Spirit
super strongly, he's on date now for October 18th, Clarissa's
Birthday! He is an old biker dude, he's super cool, it'll be awesome
to see him enter the waters of baptism.
   We have been finding and teaching a lot of people, the struggle now
is finding someone who will work towards baptism and actually get
there! We have found a few pretty solid individuals this last week, we
hope we can help them be baptized.
   We found a Chinese couple this week, the wife was super interested
and the husband was pretty neutral, with a lot of doubts. We brought
some members of the ward who served their missions in China over so
they could communicate, turns out the members learned Cantanese on
their missions though, and these people speak Mandarin. Sooo we may be
out of luck for the time being, we may have to snag Elder Song up from
Ann Arbor on exchange for our lessons with them!
   We had 2 experiences this week where on the first door of the day
we knocked we were able to teach the people and make appointments for
later! Those were big blessings we saw this week. We also found 2
really solid people who actually live in different areas of the
mission so we sent their info as a referral to those missionaries.
   I love my mission and the MDM!! We'll keep working in faith and I
know we will receive. I appreciate all of your prayers and concern for
me and my work, I love you all so much! Have a great week.

-Elder Goff