Week 28 Daytona Beach

Hey everyone! It was another great week here in the sunshine state. We did a lot of exchanges this week. Monday night I went to Deltona where we biked and just worked our butts off all day. Pretty sure we knocked over 100 doors that day! It was hot but it was super nice to be able to buckle down and do some work. 

Thursday we went and blitz an area so Elder Hawkins and I both went and served in the other Elders area. We had some pretty cool miracles. They are teaching an awesome guy who is being baptized soon! It was a ton of fun. Then I went on another exchange Saturday with one of my former companions Elder Dummer! He served with me here in Daytona about 3 months ago! I sure miss that guy and I learned so much from him. It was good to go back to the good old days. We had a sweet miracle in the morning. A random member from Tampa called us and said that a couple of her friends were in the hospital in Daytona from a motorcycle accident and they needed a blessing. We met up there with the member and gave the blessing and taught them about the gospel. They were humbled and were in tears throughout the blessings. They want missionaries to come over as soon as they get back home! The Lord truly does know his sheep and has a purpose for everything. 

So some interesting news. Elder Hawkins will be leaving me this week. Elder Curl will be my new companion just for a few weeks. Elder Curl hurt his ankle so he needs to be in an area where there is a car (Daytona). I'm pretty excited for Elder Curl to come but I am sad hat Elder Hawkins will be leaving me.

Our investigators are doing super well. The one who is progressing the most is a kid named Nick. He is being baptized on April 15th! I'm so pumped! We found him about a month ago because he was sitting out on his porch and we decided to talk to him. He has a member friend in Utah who reads with him and always gives him advice. We asked why he wanted to meet with us and he said he just wanted to start a new life! I would never give up these few short years for anything. I was thinking about the thing that has changed the most of the past couple years and I would have to say that it has been my perspective. Life is not about me. I see things in a completely different way now than I used to. I try to see things the way God sees things! 

3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." 

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Goff

Elder Dummer and Jed

Elder Curl

Week 27 Daytona Beach

Bike week is over finally! It was crazy because here were tons of bikes here which slowed down the traffic and hey are all crazy drivers. We saw a lot of miracles this week that I'll update you on. Also I'll update you on a few of our investigators.

Wednesday I had an exchange with Elder Hardman in New Smyrna Beach. Going into the exchange I had been praying diligently that while on this exchange we could set a baptism date. We talked to each other about our goals and he said his was to find 3 new people to teach and mine was to set a baptism date even though they didn't have anyone they were teaching. Well the Lord sure blessed us because we knocked doors all day long and found 7 new investigators. One was named Shawn who we had just met and were finishing up a lesson when the spirit prompted us to challenge him to a baptism date. We did then boldly testified and he accepted! He will be baptized on April 29th in New Smyrna. It was so cool to see how willing the Lord is to bless us if we simply have a goal and work diligently to achieve it.

The other Miracle is that we set a baptism date with Nick. He is a YSA that we have been working with for a few weeks. We found him tracting and it turns out that he used to go to church with one of his friends from California. He and his friend now study together over the phone so he texts us almost every day asking us questions. Anyways, he committed to being baptized in April 15th. Keep him in your prayers. The other investigator that we are putting a lot of focus in right now is Johnny. He has been suuuppper sick the past 2 weeks so we haven't been able to see him. Really other than those 2 we have a few people who are in idling mode then are doing some finding.

Jed, one of our investigators, taught me a cool lesson this week. We had him study about conversion to prepare for our lesson. He said conversion is simply just changing. To convert means to change in form or character. The way we're become converted is through repentance aka changing and "putting off the natural man and becoming a saint." 

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Goff

Fishing with Gaige and Brian

Elder Gubler was on my 6th grade Bball team

Week 26 Daytona Beach

It was such a great week! I guess that is every week huh? The weather has been just like paradise as always. However it is starting to warm up a bit. You only get about 3 months of amazing weather but then for the rest of the 9 months is like a sauna.

The best thing ever happened this week. Hunter who is our recent convert of about 3 weeks baptized his younger brother Gavin on Saturday! It was so cool! The spirit was so strong and it was such a blessing to watch. About half way through the week Hunter called us asking for a Book of Mormon. He said he had a friend who wanted one. I've been blessed to be a part of his conversion from the start. I remember a couple months ago when Elder Dummer and I first found him. And now he has the priesthood and baptized his little brother. The gospel blesses families!

Other than that it was a normal week. Our investigators are doing good. Johnny was sick so we weren't able to visit him but he is still set for his date in April!

Time is flying by way too fast. I'm trying to hit the brakes to slow it down but it isn't working! I never want this time to end. What a privilege it is to be a servant of the Lord. 3 Nephi 5:13  "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

"Mom note here!  Time is not flying by for me, he still as 114 days until he comes home, not that I am counting 😄"

Hope you all have a great week! This week is bike week here in Daytona so thousands of motorbikes are going to be cruising around. Wish me luck!

Elder Goff

Zone Meeting

Zone Beach PDay

Elder Hawkins and Elder Goff

Gavin's Baptism

Week 25 Daytona Beach

What a week. It was packed with the spirit! We didn't have a whole lot of time to do stuff because we had a ton of meetings but it's all good.Tuesday was transfers which is always a busy day. Thankfully neither of us got transferred! Wednesday we went to a district meeting,Thursday we had a meeting in Orlando, Friday we got to go to the temple and also we had another meeting with some other missionaries to plan out a Zone meeting next week. Saturday we had another meeting with the District Leaders in our zone. It was crazy! It's pretty cool though because although we only had a short time to work, the Lord helped us out and we were able to set 3 more baptism dates. I would say that is one of my favorite parts of my mission: being able to recognize that I am just an instrument for the Lord to carry out His work. 

The temple on Friday was amazing!!! It was as if I was re-calibrating myself. Ever since then I have been more focused and more determined. I also asked a lot of questions about life and missionary work. What a Sacred place. Unfortunately we only get to go twice a year :/ I can't wait until I can go once a week!

Our investigators are doing well. We set a baptism date with a cool guy named Johnny. He is such a stud! Every time we go over there he cooks us up some fried chicken. We had a lesson with him on Tuesday where we went in knowing we were going to set a date with him. We taught him about faith, repentance, and baptism. The spirit led the lesson because Elder Hawkins and I were asking the perfect questions at the perfect time. We asked, "Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?" -Yes "Do you know what it means to repent?" - Yes "Then will you follow the example of your Savior and be baptized?" The Spirit reeled the room as he pondered on he question. He then looked at us and said, "I guess that would make sense if I were so yes I will. What do I need to do to be ready?" My favorite thing to hear! He is getting baptized on April 2nd. The mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I wish I could do this for the rest of my life.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Goff