Week 2 Orlando - Conway East

This week's update from Cayson...

This week was really good! The humidity is still a killer but I think that I am slowly but surely getting used to it. We bike about every day but I guess that's a good thing because we are able to talk to a lot more people. My companion is pretty cool. He's from St. George and he's 23! He only has 5 months of his mission left so he knows a lot of the secrets. We get along pretty well.

The people here are a lot different than Utah, but they are really good. Most of the people here are nondenominational which means they are Christian but don't have a specific religion. That doesn't make much sense to me because they say that they are saved no matter what they do just because they say that they believe in Christ. The biggest part of faith and believing is the acting part. Faith without works is dead. We work a lot with less active members because we have struggled to find new investigators. Fortunately this week we got a referral for a non member lady. She is a strong Christian who is nondenominational, but she is looking for a change in her life. She said that she feels like there is so much more that she is missing out on. We had a solid lesson with her and I am pretty confident that she knows what we say is true. Lesson's with her are a little bit weird because of her past religion, but we still invite the spirit. Last lesson with her we talked about the Godhead and how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and 2 separate beings. She said that she believes what we say is true. I'm pretty excited for her. Another investigator we are working with is still struggling to keep some commandments. He says that he wants more than anything to stop and change but he just can't do it. We are working hard with him to help him quit his problems. I have faith that everything will work out.

Well that about sums up my week! I love doing this work. It is tough but it is by far the best decision I have ever made in my life! One of the best motivators I had was Jesus Christ. He knows all of our pains and weaknesses because He has been there. Once we recognize Him in our lives, we then are able to progress and grow closer to Him. Remember Him always! Love you all

Elder Goff

Elders in our ward.  Mid Left Elder Rowley, ID, Mid Right Elder Davis, Payson. UT

Week 1 Orlando - Conway East

Blog update from Cayson for this week...

Well a lot has happened these last two weeks! The MTC was amazing! I met a ton of great friends and I learned a ton! The spirit was way strong there. I have no doubt in my mind that this church is true. Probably the biggest thing that I learned in the MTC was that we need to apply the atonement not only to ourselves but others. When we focus on helping others, we begin to help ourselves without even knowing it, and when we focus on the atonement our faith and all of those around us is strengthened. Probably the main reason that I am on a mission is because Jesus Christ gave everything for us, so I figured that I could devote 2 years to him by bringing souls unto him.

Monday morning we woke up at 3:00 to get ready to leave, we had to leave the MTC at 4:30, but we didn't fly out until 9:30. So Monday was a super long day for me and the rest of us, but now that I'm in Orlando I can say that it's all worth it! The humidity and the heat aren't the hard part to Florida. It's all of the sweating that you have to get used to. We ride bikes nonstop everyday. I've got rained on almost everyday. The rain storms here are like nothing that I have ever seen before! Its so crazy! I am serving the Conway East area which is on the eastern side of Orlando. Unfortunately alligators tend to be pretty rare and most missionaries only see one or two their whole mission but I still have hope! And the oranges here are pretty hard to come by. I haven't had the chance to try one yet. Funny enough, most of the oranges they sell at walmart are shipped in from California! Also, it's not very likely that I'll get to see the ocean because that's mostly where the sisters serve. Although it's not quite what I expected, it's pretty amazing here! everything is super green and wet.

My companion's name is Elder Hilton. He lives in St. George and has been here for 18 months! He is a way cool guy and a great trainer! We do some great work together. Most of what we have done so far is finding because we are a little short on investigators, but the people we do teach are doing great. We have a man named Ben set for a baptism on August 28 if he can overcome some of the commandments that he is struggling with. Also there is another kid who is really close to committing to baptism that we are going to see tonight. His name is Charlie and he's 10, but he's already gone through a lot. Their family is in a tight situation financially. If you guys could remember these 2 guys in your prayers it would mean a lot to me. The work here is great and I'm loving every second of it!

Love you all!

Elder, Goff

We also received an update from a member in the Ward Cayson is serving in.  She says "Last Tuesday Evening we had such a fun night!!! It was Elder Goff's first day in the "field" and just had to make him a "Green Dinner" so his "first day" would be memorable!!!!! So, green chicken and rice, green cream corn and of course green beans!!!! For dessert, green jello and lime green sherbert!!!!! It took Elder Goff a few minutes to figure-out why everything was green!!!!! He didn't know you could buy green jello in Florida!!!! He thought that was just a "Utah Thing"!!!!! Too fun!!!!! Elder Hilton was in on the plans of course!!! Then there was the green bag of goodies!!!!! Everyone at Publix's wanted to know what I was doing!! From green Hawaiian Punch to every pack of goodies I could find in green wrappers!!!!!! Thanks "mom's" for sharing your son's with us!!!! They are a joy!!!!!"

Here are the pictures she sent.  It is such a comfort to know that my boy is being taken care of by such wonderful people!

Arrived in Florida!

I received a text from someone who fed my son tonight.  They said "We love having him in our ward and are grateful to have his spirit in our home.  We live in Orlando and he is serving in the Conway Ward of the Orlando Florida Stake.  He was such a gentleman, took off his shoes to not dirty my carpets and cleaned our dishes off the table for us!"  

She also sent PICTURES!!!

Arrived in Orlando

Cayson did not have much time to write this week, but he did make it to Orlando.  He said, "well I made it! It's so awesome here! And it's really hot! But I think that I'm going to like it."

MTC

Well the first day here was kind of confusing but it was awesome because we learned so much! The first day was about obedience. When we are obedient life goes so much better! My companion's name is Elder Satchwell! He is an amazing elder! He went to Davis high and used to live in Kaysville. I don't think that I could have a better companion! We do some pretty good work together. The 2nd day here we had the opportunity to teach an investigator, I'm pretty sure he was already a member, but he committed to be baptized the first lesson! I couldn't believe it. It's so amazing how the spirit works. The food here is pretty good too. Haha I think that I've been eating way too much because it's so good. So my typical day consists of waking up at 6 and getting ready, then we have a district meeting (I'm the district leaders assistant so I'm partly in charge of that), then we have breakfast and go to class. In class we learn about how to teach specific lessons to our investigators and practice it on each other. It's really hard but it helps a ton. We have lunch then go to class again. After class we usually teach in investigator and have dinner, then go to bed. Yep that's pretty much it. It's kind of stressful but you learn a lot! We got to watch the fireworks the night of the 4th of July so that was pretty fun. Umm yeah that's about all haha I'm loving it here! If you are even questioning a mission, I would recommend doing it because you build your testimony so much but more importantly you help others find theirs.



Elder Goff

Elders in my room

My District

Cayson's good friend from Minersville - Austin Marshall

Elder Satchwell and the Branch President