This week we were able to set 2 more baptism dates. One with Tanya who is Troy and Sadasia's mom (a couple of the kids who are getting baptized on April 9th). Tanya is super prepared! She understands everything and has been reading every day. We had to set hers for April 16 because we wouldn't be able to teach all of the lessons in time for April 9th with the rest of the family. But she said she is fine with that. The other baptism date is with someone we found named Teilia. It's funny how it works because we were looking for a guy named Charlie. Turns out he doesn't live there anymore so we started talking to this guy named CJ. He is really interested too but unfortunately he is moving. Anyways, we came back to teach CJ and his sister Teilia. We taught her and now she wants to be baptized! We set her date for May 14 because she has a few things to take care of before the baptism. It was awesome because we had a member with us when we set the date, and she was in tears because the spirit was so strong! It was what we call a spiritual slam dunk. We also committed one other person to be baptized but haven't set a date yet. Her name is Dreama. We have seen her several times because she lives with her brother who is a less active we work with, but we haven't ever talked with her. She is Jehovah Witness so she seemed a little hesitant at first until we started to talk about the Book of Mormon. That's about the time that she said she was going to do whatever possible to get baptized. She said she wants to change her life completely. So to say the least, this week had a lot of miracles. Right now we have 8 people on date for baptism: Tasha, Quay, TJ, Ashanti, Troy and Sadasia on April 9th, then on April 16th we have Tanya, then on May 14th is Teilia. We hope to set a date with Dreama soon too.
I also had a couple of funny experiences this week. On Friday I was on exchanges in Sebring and we had a dinner appointment with this old couple who are in their 90's. Earlier that day we had some super hot pizza and I burnt my mouth. When we went ton the dinner, the lady had us sit down and eat some chips and salsa. My mouth was already sore and the chips we probably 10 years old and stale so they hurt to eat. She would go prepare something for dinner then come in. If we didn't eat any chips she would get mad so finally when she turned her back I grabbed most of the chips and shoved them into my bag! She didn't even notice but it made her happy to see that we ate the chips! The next day in lake placid, Elder Rowley and I had 2 dinners. We ate with a member which stuffed me. Then from there we went straight to a less actives house. They said that we were going to eat a grilled cheese sandwich so I wasn't too worried. When we got there and looked at the
table it was a HUGE philly cheese steak sandwich! Like a 5 lbs sandwich and not even joking! About that time I said a prayer asking for help. In D&C 84:88 it says that God will be on our right and on our left and that his angels will be round about us. Well I can testify that that is true because somehow I finished that beast of a sandwich!!! I thought I was going to die! When I got home I weighed myself and I had gained about 6-7 lbs that day! The best part is that we were fasting he next day so it was a good meal to start my fast on :)
So today for p-day we went to a place called Gatorama. It's a tourist attraction loaded with alligators and crocodiles. It was pretty sweet because we got to hold a couple gators. They had hundreds of them all over. The biggest was a 14½ foot alligator named Goliath. We also got to watch them feed the alligators and crocodiles. I'll attach some pictures so y'all can see them.
This past week we have been focusing a lot on he atonement. I've never paid too much attention to Easter before because I mostly thought it was just all about Easter eggs and candy. Really it's about that great and last sacrifice that made it possible for us to return to heaven. How grateful should we be!? Those few days were the most important days in all of our eternities. Without it we would all be lose. There's a new video that the church just came out with that y'all can watch at FollowHim.mormon.org called hallelujah. It talks about how we will see our family again because of Christ. Really that's why I'm on a mission. To share that message to the world. To show how grateful we should be because of our savior. To show how true the Book of Mormon is and how true this church is. People out here have a hard time recognizing the truth of this church. It helps me to be humble and recognize how much I took for granted.
Love you all! Happy Easter!
Elder Goff
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| A member took is on a ride in his fancy old car |
