Week 4 with Elder Chandler

Hello Everyone,

We had a busy week! We had an exchange with the Assistants and then another one with a District Leader in our Zone, weeks with more than one exchange always seem jam packed.

   Had a few disappointments this week, one of the main ones Dave told us that he wants to stop meeting with us and just study the Book of Mormon on his own. I know if he diligently seeks, he will discover the truthfulness of that book for himself, but I've found that when people decide to do things their own way, it usually ends in them coming to false conclusions or their own interpretations of the truth, so we are praying that Dave will be able to find the truth on his own without being deceived! When we met with him a couple of times a week and a half ago he said he wanted to come to Church as well, pray with me that he'll actually take those steps of faith! :)

    I went on exchange in Grand Blanc with a missionary who is struggling a little bit, we were able to see some awesome miracles together though! We were in a Walmart parking lot at the end of the night heading back to our car when we saw this kid, about 18 years old sitting in his car with the door open, just chilling there so we decided to go talk with him. We find out his name is Abraham, he just got kicked out of his parent's house (we didn't ask why), he's super stressed out because he doesn't have a job and doesn't know where his next meals will come from, and he's looking to change his life for the better. We prayed with him, for him, and he felt the Spirit strongly afterwards, he was so grateful for that prayer! We set up a time to meet the next morning at the Church building for a Church tour. I half expected him to not show up, but he did! He came and we taught the Restoration and showed him around the Chapel. We even got an 18 year old member to come to befriend him, and this member is hooking Abraham up with a job as well. He's on date for baptism now for August 20th! Pretty awesome experience we had with him there, he's super humble now because he's been compelled to be, but I hope he makes all the decisions and life changes necessary to be baptized and remain a faithful member of the Savior's Church for the rest of his life! Really cool kid, I'll keep you updated on what I hear about him.

   On Friday Elder Chandler and I taught this guy named Ed, he lives in our apartment complex! It's funny how the most solid people we've found this transfer have been right in our own apartment complex. Oftentimes we don't need to venture far and wide to find the people God has prepared to receive the Gospel. Anyways Ed is a super solid guy. Taught him the Restoration and his comments were: "This is so simple!" "I already know that this is true, this is what I have been looking for for so long!" It's so refreshing to find someone who is sincerely searching and will diligently seek the truth.

   We are praying and working hard to find people to teach and Baptize here in Clarkston, I'm sure the Lord will provide as we do our best :) Everyone have a wonderful week!

Elder Goff

Great Week with Elder Chandler

Dear Family and Friends,

 Great week, such a great week! So many good experiences to share with such little time! It's been brought to my attention that you don't know anything about President & Sister Cleveland! That makes sense because I neglected to tell you about them. Sorry about that! Here's a little bit about the Cleveland's: They met each other in high school and Sister Cleveland wasn't a member of the Church! She attended high school seminary a full year before was baptized. Then when President Cleveland got back from his mission, they got married and raised their family in Fresno California. He was the Stake President there for 9.5 years before this call to Detroit! He's a CPA by trade and Sister Cleveland is a stay at home Mom and an AMAZING baker (I testify, she's good!). If you have any other questions about them let me know, I'll see what I can do haha!

   On Wednesday morning we had Zone Meeting, and it was all about finding people to teach. Especially the principle of talking with and inviting everyone we meet to learn more about the Gospel. We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people we've had to teach and that our Zone is teaching since the meeting and we know it will continue to as we exercise our faith.

   On Thursday morning we prayed that we would be able to find someone to teach as we went to a store to contact people. We walked into this store and we wandered over to a certain aisle where there was a worker stacking and organizing things and we just struck up a conversation with her. We taught the Restoration right there in the store and she ended up being really interested! I had never really done that in my mission before, it was a big testimony to me that God hears and answers our prayers, and that if we pray in faith, go and act in trust that The Lord will bless you with what you asked for, He always answers our prayers. Sometimes we pray for miracles, but forget that we can be the miracle! We can do miracles according to our faith, and if it's within the Lord's will for us at this given time. If we would've just prayed for someone to teach and walked around the store but not talked with anyone, would we have found this worker who is really interested? No, we would not! But because we acted in faith and trust, The Lord provided. I love that principle!

   On Saturday afternoon we walked across our apartment complex to go try this lady whom we had taught a little bit ago but had lost contact with for a week. On the way we saw this man working on the taillights of his Jeep, and we started talking with him. Turns out he just retired earlier this year, and he has had a super huge turnaround in his life! Used to party a lot, struggled with addictions to cigarettes and alcohol, but he was guided to Church, where he learned to really pray and rely on the Savior to help him. As we taught him the Restoration the Spirit bore witness to Him that we were The Lord's servants and that he needed to hear more of what we had to teach. We set up an appointment with him for Sunday afternoon to bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon. We saw him on Sunday and had another great lesson with him! He is sincerely seeking the truth, and I know he will find it. He already has a pretty firm understanding of the Bible and what the doctrines therein really mean, rather than just man's own private interpretations of the scriptures. He's excited to study the Book of Mormon and knows what it means if it is true! Such a prepared man. His wife has cancer and they've been struggling with that the past few years, they are just the nicest people though, I love them!

   I am grateful for my testimony of the Book of Mormon, being another testament of Jesus Christ. He is my Savior and Redeemer, and I love Him! I'm so happy I have the opportunity every single day to invite others to come to know of these same glorious truths, and that Christ has restored His Church to the Earth today, giving us His Gospel anew. I love all of you and hope you have a fantastic week! Let me know of your own missionary experiences you are having in your lives.

Elder Goff

Week 2 in Clarkston with Elder Chandler!

Elder Goff's new mailing address is: 11010 Highland Road #12
                                                     WhiteLake, MI 48386

His email is: nicholas.goff@myldsmail.net

Dear Family and friends,

What a great week we had here in Clarkston! Many good things happened as we worked hard. The Lord answers our prayers according to our faith that we exercise in Him! I have a strong testimony of that, I know it is true.

   Such a busy week! We met the Cleveland's a week ago last Tuesday, went on exchange with some Elders serving in Flint that afternoon, then Thursday we had MLCM,and then on Sunday we had a meeting with President & Sister Cleveland, and President Cook, the Stake President of the Grand Blanc Stake. We still managed to spend a lot of time proselyting amidst all the other stuff that went on this week so we are pretty happy about that.

   On Tuesday night, Elder Wolfe and I prayed about where we should go finding and then prayed again before we went down this street. The first door we knocked on we met this guy named Brett. Super sincere 30 year old guy who wants to turn his life around. Gotten into some trouble his late teenage years but really desires to do what is right in God's eyes now. We taught him The Restoration and it resonated with him, he prayed at the end and felt the Spirit as he pondered what we had taught! We should be seeing him again soon this week, really neat guy!

   We've met 5 individuals in our apartment complex the past week who we've been able to teach and have appts. with. A couple of them we found tracting but for the other 3 there's this grassy courtyard in our complex in-between buildings and near the end of the night two nights this week we've been coming in for the night but we've seen people there just walking their dog or yesterday lighting off a few fireworks and watching them as a family. As we've taken the opportunity to talk with them and show them how the Restored Gospel is relevant to THEIR lives and will bless THEM if the learn and live it, they have become interested! One lady we taught there has felt the Spirit in her life more now as she's read and pondered the Family Proclamation and desires now to unite her split family as she learns more about the Gospel.

   I don't have much time left but I want to let everyone know that My parents have been married happily for 24 years as of July 3rd! Congratulate them when you get the chance! I know the Gospel is true and that this is Christ's living Church on the Earth. Have a fantastic week everyone!

Elder Goff 

****Challenge from Elder Goff to all LDS family and friends who read his emails***

Take a little bit of time this week to study Preach My Gospel pages 160-162 "The Importance of Members". Then determine prayerfully what you must do as a member to take your next step in member missionary work! I know that if we all would do a simple act of missionary work each day we would impact the lives of many, and we would be able to bring many of their souls unto our Savior. If you're able to do this, write me back and tell me about it!

Elder Goff

Pics below:  Elder Goff and Elder Chandler with the new MP and his wife, President Cleveland;

Elder Goff and Elder Wolf on exchange and the Michigan LDS Temple

Hello Family and Friends,

So Elder Godfrey and I got to transfers and we pulled into our parking spot and I saw that I was going to be transferred to Clarkston West in the Grand Blanc Zone, and my companion would be Elder Chandler!! I trained him to be a Zone Leader 9 months ago in Ypsilanti. Doesn't happen very often in the mission that missionaries are paired up with previous companions but I must've missed something when I was with him the first time and I've gotta learn it now! :) He's a great Elder, I'm happy to be serving with him again. 

   HUGE culture shock this first week. This is NOT the hood hahaha about 50% of the people here in this area live on or right next to lakes, most everyone is pretty well off. So just that in itself is way different, and with that comes a completely different culture that I'm not used to anymore! I call it, "white people culture" hahaha no I'm kidding but for real, teaching people in Detroit and then people out here is way different. 

Detroit=People who have been compelled to be humble, not very committal 

Clarkston=People who are getting by just fine, very content. But if you find someone who has been searching for truth, they are much more committed than the average person I've found in Detroit.

So there's the lowdown of our area. Our Zone is really big, it's about half of the mission (in land mass) or a little more if that helps put it into perspective. Lots of hardworking missionaries here, 14 companionships and we got 13 different missionaries transferred here at the same time as me so we've got a lot of new missionaries to work with. I'm excited for the work that lies ahead.

   The Lord blessed us as we went to work this week. The 1st week in an area is always a little funny since you're adjusting to all the new things and the people there, so there was that and a lot of miracles this week! On Wednesday we had a great one: This young man named Carson from a ward in our stake spent the whole day with us today. He's going to Brazil on his mission this next Tuesday and he wanted to get a taste of the missionary life so we gave it to him! Rather the Lord gave it to him. Being guided by the Spirit He picked a place for us to go knock some doors. We got to this place and there were just HUGE houses on this big hilly street. We got rejected a couple of times but we pressed forward! Then we got to this one house and it was the biggest one we had seen yet, and I felt that we should knock it! As we walked up to the house we saw through a garage door that was cracked open that someone was working in there. So we called out to him and he came out! He had paint splatters all over his shirt, obviously not the homeowner but just a worker. We started talking with him though and he was a super sincere guy! Just divorced about a year ago and had struggled a lot in a lot of aspects of his life with that. But He learned about Jesus Christ in that time of trial and found strength through Him and from studying the Bible. We taught him The Restoration of The Savior's Gospel and His Church to the Earth today and this guy was ecstatic!! He prayed at the end and received a quiet confirmation that we had taught was true. The bad news of this story, he doesn't live in our area!! Haha he lives in one of my old areas though, in Ypsi South in the city of Belleville. So we sent his info on over to those Elders and they should start teaching him shortly. Such a neat experience that shows you that you NEVER KNOW who The Lord might be leading you to or where they may be. If we talk with everyone we can and don't judge for ourselves who we should try to help, The Lord will be able to work through us at ALL TIMES, and His work will be unhindered by us. 

   I love this work!! This week will be a busy one, next week should be a good email! Have a wonderful week ya'll, I love ya!

Elder Goff

Bad picture but it'll have to do! This is of Elder Chandler, Carson and I.

Elder Goff and Elder Godfrey sporting their "Detroit Wear"

(above)

Pics of The Detroit Foliage

Pics of the new apartment, kitchen

Living Room

We sleep on the couches because it is a 3rd floor apartment and it is very hot!!  The fans work better in the Living Area.

Elder Goff's Detroit Hat Collection

Bedroom

The Elder before left his guitar!  Elder Goff is enjoying playing it as it is much like his back home.

No Time-Short Email today-Transfers Tomorrow

Won't be long today, I was trying to figure out college stuff most of the time on the computer! Quick update:

Shout out to my Dad for being an amazing Father for me to look up to. I love you Dad! Father's Day is an interesting holiday here in Detroit since not many of them are present in their families, but everyone recognizes the need for a relationship with Heavenly Father, so we were able to use that to start talking with people on Sunday.

I am getting transferred! I'll still be a Zone Leader, I don't know where I'm going yet though. My guess is Sterling Heights! We'll see tomorrow morning. 

Deja came to Church again this last week even though she had to come alone and she loved it! She is progressing really well, we taught her the first part of the Doctrine of Christ yesterday, being Faith and Repentance. She really grasped it and knew what she needed to repent of!! Hopefully I'll be able to come back for her Baptism in July!

We had a miracle this week while tracting. We prayed about where we should go and we felt prompted to go to a street about 3 miles away from us, that's kind of far just to go tracting but when we got there we prayed again and went out to work! The second person we talked with was Tamika. She actually had met with missionaries about a year ago but her husband didn't really want anything to do with it, but she said his heart has changed now, and he even picked up the Book of Mormon that they had in their home and read some of it! Taught her the Restoration, she understood it well and recognizes the effects of the Great Apostasy in the world today, really good lesson with her. Excited for Elder Godfrey to continue the work here in Roseville South!

I hope you all enjoy your week! :)

Elder Goff

Great Week!

Elder Godfrey and I had a lot of great experiences this week! Tuesday was Zone Conference, the last time I'll see President Gerber unless one of us gets transferred in a week and a half. So that was bittersweet, I love the Gerbers so much!! So grateful that I had the chance to serve closely with them for the time that I did. 

   We've found a few investigators this week while knocking doors who are really sincere and desire to know God's will for them and their families, I have high hopes for them! Hopefully this week they'll start progressing and gaining a sure testimony for themselves. 

   Deja is progressing well, it's so amazing to see the contrast between a Gospel centered life and the culture of most the people in the city, she recognizes it! And so it's so easy for her to recognize the blessings that have come to her and do come every time she keeps the commandments! She's come to young women's 2 weeks in a row now, and we set up another ride for her for Church on Sunday, but as we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting we never saw them walk in! Her ride came up to us and told us that her sister answered the door or something and said that they were going to drive themselves! But they never came :/ It's always so rough when you're expecting people to be there but they don't show! Especially when you have such an awesome experience at Church that day. We followed up with her later that evening and she said that the family member she was going to come with ended up not wanting to go and Deja didn't want to come alone because she was nervous! So lame excuse, I'm sure she'll be there this Sunday though :) 

   We had a really neat miracle on Saturday evening. We were driving to an investigator's house whom we hadn't been able to contact recently, and a few seconds after we got onto his street, as we're driving down the road, we hear a thud against the rear-right side of our car. We look behind us and see that this lady was backing up out of her driveway and didn't see us so she clipped us a bit. We got out, assessed the damage, nothing really serious, there really wasn't even a dent on our car, we just got some of her car's paint scraped onto ours! But anyways we start talking with her as she was filling out the accident report, and we find out that she and her family of a husband and two sons were actually homeless 2 years ago, in Salt Lake City, Utah! She said that the members of the Church down there took care of their family and actually helped them even financially to get them back home to Michigan! She said this felt really weird like some sort of omen that she backed into us, of course we know the reason why! The Lord will lead us to those He has prepared or He will send them in reverse down their driveway to hit our car so we have to talk with them! Either way, His work rolls forward! We'll contact her again sometime this next week.

   I love the Lord and His work! I'm not perfect, very far from it. Yet He still allows me to be an instrument in His hands as long as I remain humble, and teachable, showing love towards all whom I serve. May we all be filled with the pure love of Christ this week and reach out to those who are in need of our helping hands.

Elder Goff 

Pics of President & Sister Gerber and I, Elder Ferguson & Elder Bennett the current AP's and then your average Detroit house! :) 

Great Week in the "D"

Hello!!  I don't have much time to email today but I'll give ya the highlights of the week:

   There's a Senior Couple serving here in the Roseville Ward named the Coats, they're from Eastern Idaho! They took us out to lunch to Panera Bread, it was super good, definitely a highlight for us since we were low on funds this last week, it was a blessing to go out to eat with them. It's a big blessing to have them in the Ward, I love them so much!! Such great people, consecrated members of the Lord's Church. There's nothing more refreshing than being around people with such firm testimonies of The Gospel, and who are converted unto The Lord. 

   On Sunday our investigator Deja came to Church again! This was her second time, she's 13 years old, lives in Detroit, but she has seen how much better her family's lives could be if they all lived the Gospel. She's had a big change of heart! Used to hangout with the wrong crowd at school, not get very good grades, but as soon as she started meeting with the missionaries and living the Gospel more in her life she's started making better decisions that have changed the trajectory of her life dramatically! She is even planning on coming to girls camp this summer!! We're teaching her Mother as well but she is super busy so we don't see her as often as we see Deja. Hopefully by the end of this week she'll be looking forward to a date for baptism!

   On Sunday afternoon some of our appointments fell through so we went tracting down the street that our apartment complex is off of. We saw this lady sitting outside on her porch step, playing on her phone or something. Her name is Karen. So we walk up to her and start talking about how she's doing in life and how the Gospel could help her with her current challenges and concerns. She mentioned how her friends have told her she needs to be baptized but she realizes that Baptism isn't just something you do, and then you go off after that going back to your old sinful life! She actually felt bad about feeling that way because all her friends were pressuring her to be baptized and she knew it was a good thing to do! But something in the back of her mind was telling her that she shouldn't be baptized unless she was really going to commit to living right in God's eyes. We were able to help her see that the subtle feeling she had about Baptism being a commitment was right! We discussed the Doctrine of Christ, that of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. We explained that Baptism isn't just something you jump into one day, but its prerequisites are Faith in Jesus Christ and true repentance of all sins. She understood and felt the Holy Ghost bear witness to her that we were servants of The Lord and that she should prepare to be Baptized! She said near the end of our visit, "I don't know what just happened! I'm shy! I don't jsut open up to people like that, especially to people I don't even know! I feel something I haven't felt before, but I can't really explain it." We helped her understand that she was feeling the Holy Ghost as we read from Galatians 5:22-23 with her. She's on date for July 23rd now and we're planning on seeing her again soon.

   I know that The Lord blesses us as we serve Him faithfully and diligently! I'm grateful for the many prayers that Heavenly Father has answered for me, I know that He lives and loves us dearly. He will lead us to people He has prepared to receive the Gospel, or He will lead them to us. Our responsibility is to not get in the way of His plans, and open our mouths to everyone that we meet. We never know who the Lord is preparing, they may be your neighbor down the street who's having a rough time, out sitting on their porch!! May we all follow President Hinckley's exhortation to all of us to "share the Gospel with all those in our on spheres of responsibility." I love you all!! Hope you have a blessed week.

Elder Goff

Here are some pics from today, President & Sister Gerber took us to Greenfield Village, it's this little town place that Henry Ford built for himself and eventually opened up to the public, Edison's Laboratory is in there, the Wright Brother's bicycle shop is there, and tons of other historical places as well. Henry Ford had buildings shipped by train and he put them all together in this one place. Pretty neat! The pics are of Thomas Edison's Laboratory, the oldest Windmill in America (don't mind the little girl that ran in the picture haha), then a picture of the 15 millionth Model T and it's engine.