Elder Cayson Goff: Week 5 Lake Placid

Well another week come and gone already. So we got some news on transfers and both Elder Rowley and I are both staying which I kind of figured because we are both new to the area. So something different about this coming transfer is that it will be 6 weeks instead of 7. They are now having missionaries stay an extra week in the MTC so it effects us a bit. I'm excited about it because I love this area. The weather has been way nice too. It's been cold....well cold for here. I must be adapting to Florida because I think it's freezing here and it's only 45 degrees! There's the humidity too but still. It's still not as cold as Utah but it feels cold to me.

So we really got things moving this week. Probably the highlight of the week was with our investigator Nate. We have been working with him for a couple of weeks. We saw him Friday and asked him how he has been. He said that ever since we have been visiting him, things just fall into place. (Go figure) something cool that we promised him on his first visit was that his family situation, which has been a struggle, would get worked out. Now 2 weeks later, everything is going great! He got a raise in his job and his family is doing awesome. Anyways, so we were in a lesson with him and started talking about the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was so strong! We all had teary eyes throughout the whole lesson. At the end we invited him to be baptized on March 26 and without hesitation he said yes. We asked if he would like to pray about it with us right now and he said no because he already knows that he needs to. He has changed so much! About 2 years ago he wasn't doing things he should and was in a bad position in his life. Now he has turned it completely around and has a wife and kids and now wants to get baptized. This is the great part of a mission: because of a decision I made several years ago to serve a mission, people's lives and eternal salvation are changed. Such a great feeling!

Some other things that happened this week. Wednesday we went to a steak house called the watering hole. I had an amazing steak and finally got to eat some gator! It's really good. It actually does taste a lot like chicken too. Anyways so I stuffed myself there for lunch, then about 2 hours later we went with another member to a Mexican restaurant where I stuffed myself again! To top the lunch off I had some fried ice cream. After those 2 huge meals we went to a less actives house. When we sat down he placed a huge piece of pie in front of me and said, "you better eat that Goff!" So i did. I'm not sure how, but I did. I literally thought I was going to die! When I got home I weighed myself and I gained 5 lbs that day! Something else crazy that happened this week was when Elder Rowley and I were in our apartment planning. We were in our living room when all of a sudden we heard this crash then it sounded like a bomb went off! It lit up all of our windows with a big flash! My first reaction was to dive on the floor! After some investigation we think it was a big firework that went off just outside our apartment. It scared the crap out of me but luckily nobody was trying to kill us haha and we are alive.

Overall it was a good week though. We found a family that we plan to set a baptism date with tonight so I will let you know how that goes next week. So something that's been on my mind a lot this week is to have hope. There is a scripture in Either 12:4 that talks about having hope and faith. When we have hope, we become optimistic and have an even greater desire to leave all we have an follow our savior. I hope you all strive to have a perfect brightness of hope!

Love you all, Elder Goff

Florida sunsets are the best. I took these this week