Week 7 Orlando - Conway East

Another week in paradise! So the weather this week was pretty crazy! We got rained on almost every day while biking. I love it! So I hear that there is a tropical storm headed our way. It's suppose to hit us tonight! Pretty excited about it :) 
Anyways we saw a lot of miracles this week. Probably the biggest miracle we saw was while we were finding. We ran into a lady named Anna. She said that she was waiting for us and that she knows God sent us to her. She called us "angels sent from God to help her find Christ again." It made me feel so good to know that I was doing what God wanted me to do. So anyways, Anna committed to a baptism date of September 26th and came to church on Sunday. This all happened in one week!!! It was such a blessing. Ben is improving a lot! He plans to be baptized in September so that is going to be great! I am super excited for both of these investigators!

I really enjoyed sacrament today. It was about being able to overcome your trials and prepare for the future. There was a quote that they used which said "doubt your doubts and not your faith." No matter how tough life seems, we should never doubt our faith in Christ. Also one of the talks they talked about how we will have angels round about us to bare us up. This is so true! A mission is not easy, but I have been able to feel those angels around me all of the time. I feel protected and at peace even in the hardest times. Always look to the future with faith and never doubt your faith! In Moroni 7:40-41 we learn that we must have hope in order to have faith. Always hope for the best and faith will follow. 

Well hope y'all are doing great! I'm already starting to talk with a southern accent ;) haha but love you all!

District

Week 6 Orlando - Conway East

So this last week we saw a ton of tender mercies! The Lord really cares about each and everyone of us! Elder Hilton and I are really getting the work rolling here in Conway! We've focused a lot on the members and getting there help in our efforts to find new people to teach. Because of this effort we've picked up 3 new investigators. I'm pretty confident in the work we are doing! Ben changed his baptism date to September. He has improved more this week than the rest.

I finally got to play a guitar. It was so relaxing and made my whole mission better. It was great! Also our p days are great! We get to play basketball every week so I guess that life here isn't too much different than what it was before. One thing that was way awesome that happened this week was that we had a huge storm! The road looked just like a river! It was the coolest thing and the water was at least a foot deep! The Lightning here is also amazing! It stays up in the clouds most of the time and looks like a firework show! I love it haha. 

So yesterday in church we had a great meeting. A member in elders quorums talked about how we should hunger for the gospel. You don't realize how good it really tastes until everything you do is about the gospel. Talking about Lehi's vision of the tree of life and how we can make it to the end.  Elder Kevin W. Pearson said, "Unless we are “continually holding fast” to the word of God and living it, we will become spiritually blinded rather than spiritually minded. Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost." I feel like I have been taking my knowledge of the gospel for granted all of my life. Until I fully learned to love living the gospel all of the time, I did not realize the feast I was missing out on. "Don't miss out on your spiritual feast." 

Well this mission is great! Love you all.

Week 5 Orlando - Conway East

This week was a pretty good week! It was bike week so we had to ride
bikes all week. Also the weather didn't cooperate as well as we would
have liked. Haha we got rained on once again except this time we
really got drenched! I think we could have walked into the bathroom
and got in the shower with our clothes on and it wouldn't have made a
difference :)

Well Elder Hilton was a little sick again this week. It's a funny story. We went to dinner with a member, Brother Camacho, and Elder Hilton got the bright idea to take on the spicy wing challenge. The challenge was to eat a spicy wing that had been marinating in Ghost Pepper extract! He ate it and immediately looked like death. This lead to him puking all night and the following couple days so we had to take some time off but the time that we used was great! We found a new investigator. Unfortunately she lives out of our area. We have been teaching her with her boyfriend who is a less active. She committed to meeting with the missionaries where she lives so now we just have to contact them. Our other 2 investigators are doing really well. It is so rewarding to see that light of Christ in their eyes and to be able to know that they are heading toward the path that leads to eternal life. There's not a feeling like it in the world!

This week I had the opportunity to focus a lot of my studies on charity. I have made a goal to work on one of the attributes of Christ every week. I hope to one day have that same character that Christ had. Charity really is the pure love of Christ. If we forget ourselves
and focus on loving others, that attribute of charity will take place in our hearts. Moroni 7:4-48 have charity!!!

Elder Goff

Elder Davis (Payson, UT) traded for a set of antlers, I'm Jealous



District P-Day last week which we cooked hotdogs over a fire

Week 4 Orlando - Conway East

Well another week here in the promised land! I'm really starting to love this place. Everyone is super nice. We have a man in our ward, Brother Conner, who reminds me a lot of Si from Duck Dynasty. He is a way funny guy with one of those southern accents, but is probably the best member in our ward that I know. He had a rough past life but has changed a lot. This week he called us up asking for us to let him help us in any way possible, this was a huge blessing because we have been struggling to get the members help in our teaching. He jumped right in and worked with us. He is just one of the many great members here so I feel like I'm right at home. There are also a lot of crazy religious people here. I feel like 2 Nephi 29: 2-4 is the story of my life right now.

We saw a lot of miracles happen but probably the biggest one we saw happened yesterday when the woman we have been teaching, Terry, COMMITTED TO BAPTISM!!!!! Her date is September 5th! It was so intense! That was the first baptismal commitment that I have given! The spirit was so strong! The best part about it though was that we were able to take Tino, a future missionary, with us. He has been debating whether or not to go on a mission but after we walked out of there he said that he's going without a doubt! This work is so great!  Another investigator Ben is improving slowly. We're not sure if he will make his baptism date on the 28th but we are sure going to try.

So I would have to say that this was one of my best weeks so far. My testimony has grown so much. I haven't ever felt the spirit so strong in my life as what I feel now on my mission. I honestly can say that I am glad I still have almost 2 years of this left because There's nowhere in the world or any other time that you can feel the feelings you get on a mission. Love you all!

Elder Goff


A member posted this on a Facebook Blog - It was great to see!

I made Crepes

Week 3 Orlando - Conway East

This weeks update from Cayson . . .

Well life here in Florida is great! The weathers kind of crazy! People weren't joking when they said that you can't out run the rain! It was bike week so we didn't have the car, and we got rained on 3 times! If you see the clouds, you're already too late! But I guess you can look at things 2 ways, good or bad. So the good thing about the rain is that it was honestly king of fun! It reminded me of when I used to ride my bike in the rain!

The people here are super nice! Our investigator, Ben, is improving! He told us last week that he is going to obey all of the commandments from now on so that he can get baptized! His date is the 29th of this month so we are working with him almost everyday so that he can make that date. Also one of our other investigators,Terry, is looking like she has a lot of potential. We gave her a pamphlet on the Restoration to read and she read the whole thing! She called us later that night telling us that she knows what it says is true! We plan on meeting with her Wednesday at a members house where we want to set her on a baptism date! Other
than those 2 investigators, we don't really have anyone to teach so we are doing a lot of finding and working with the less actives.

The highlight of the week was our temple trip! We only get to go to the temple 2 times a year so it was a pretty special occasion. The temple is the most amazing place on this earth! I love going there and feeling of the spirit of God! So that's about what my week was. Life
here in Zion is great! Love you all!

Elder Goff