Week 2 Sebring

Hey everyone! Week 2 in Sebring was a great one. Honestly I feel like I say that every week but it's true everything about the mission is great!

So I had the opportunity to go on exchanges to Lake Placid this week. I got to see my recent converts from a year ago!!! It was super good to see them. I sure miss that place. We also taught a few of the investigators I had worked with. We picked up a few new investigators from it too. It was awesome to be back!

We also had ZTM this week. I thought I might be done giving trainings in Zone Meetings for the rest of my mission since I left Daytona but then I got asked to give another training at this meeting. It was good though. I talked about how we need to set the stage for the spirit to teach through us. I feel like that is one of the secrets to a mission. We don't even need to be good at speaking, if we are worthy of the spirit and prepare others to be taught, we don't even do anything in their conversion process. It's all the spirit!

Our investigators are doing good. We had a few new people come to church. There is a part member family we found this past week that came. The wife is less active and the husband is not a member. He is actually catholic but decided he wanted to try our church out. Judeler is doing well. Also Damion is too. They are both still good for their baptism date May 27th!

Well time is sure flying by! When I started my mission I felt like I had too much time on the mission and now I don't feel like I have enough. Time is sacred especially when you are serving the Lord! I was talking to an Elder while back and he said he just wanted to chill to the end of his mission. He said he just wants to listen to real music and do normal things until the end of his mission. As I pondered on that later I thought about our Savior and His mission here on earth. It's sure a good thing He didn't just chill to the end of his mission. Towards the end of His mission here on this earth he literally changed the world.

Love you all!

Elder Goff

TJ and Ashanti

 

Week 1 Sebring

This week was a great one as always. I'm loving Sebring! There are so many prepared people here. Elder McKee is awesome! He's been out about 9 months and is from Mesa Arizona. I'm super excited about this transfer.

We are teaching a few people who are great. Judeler is a Hatian kid we are teaching that is preparing to be baptized on May 27th. He loves this church. He even gave a Book of Mormon to one of his friends and is already considering a mission! I'm super excited for him. We set a Baptism date with a kid named Damion. He knows this gospel is true and loves it so much. He basically bore his testimony to us in how he knows it's all true. The only problem is that his family is Catholic and is completely against it but by the sound of it that isn't going to stop him. We set his date for May 27 also.

We had a pretty cool experience this week. We had about 30 minutes before our next lesson so we were looking through some records and saw a part member family that lived near by so we stopped by. Earlier that that we had prayed that we would be led to someone that day searching for the gospel. Well we met Maria. In the past she wasn't able to be baptized but she said her mom now will let her so when her Dad gets back in town next month he will be baptizing her! She said she already has been reading the Book of Mormon and knows it's true. The Lord sure answers prayers for those who are striving to be diligent!

Another miracle happened back in Daytona. Nick got baptized Saturday!!! I called President Clark and got permission to skype for it so it was as if I was there. It's a pretty long drive back so I wasn't able to go in person but I felt the spirit just the same. He is such a stud! I sure am going to miss him.

I took the time this week to study the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It's hard to even comprehend how difficult it must have been for him. The driving source behind His Atonement is charity. "Charity never faileth." The love Christ has for each of us is uncomprehendable. He is risen and now we have hope. We will overcome death and have the opportunity to one day live with God in complete joy for eternity. "O how great the Plan of our God!"

Love you all and hope you had a happy Easter!

Elder Goff

Week 30 Daytona Beach

This week was a bitter sweet one. I've got a lot of good news and bad news.  I guess first I will give the bitter part of the week. I am being transferred. I've been here in Daytona Beach do about 7 1/2 months and have met some lifetime friends. Can't wait to come back and visit! 

The sweet part is that I am going to Sebring! That is in the same district as Lake Placid which was one of my past areas. I'll be able to go on exchanges and visit some sweet members and also my recent converts there!!! Man I miss that place so much so I'm super stoked that I get to finish my mission there! My new companion will be Elder McKee. I actually have been in a few exchanges with him so I'm excited about that too. Mission life is great!

The other good news is that Nick passed his interview for baptism. He will be baptized Saturday at 5:00. Unfortunately Sebring is over 3 hours away from their so I won't get to be there for it :/ I'm going to ask the President Clark if I can Skype in for it. We also went a date with a family last week. Their names are Latoya, Nikita, and Archero and will be baptized on May 28th. Also Johnny is doing really well. We are going to reset his date for baptism tonight, then I leave tomorrow morning. Its such a good feeling to see so much happening here and I'm pretty sad I have to leave it all. But the Lord is calling me to another Promised Land. 

I was doing some pondering this week on miracles. Just as Mormon teaches us in Moroni 7, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven?... And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men." Miracles have not ceased and I know without a doubt that as we live the Gospel of Jesus Christ by excercising our faith and repenting daily, we will see miracles and angels will minister to us. I have witnessed way too many miracles for this church to not be true. 

I hope all of you have a great week and take the time to recognize the miracles in your life each day.

Elder Goff

Nick

Johnny

Huertas Family

Hunter

Jed

Fishing behind our apartment

Week 29 Daytona Beace

This week has been crazy! I'm super short on time so I will just quickly sum it up. Nick is doing great! He is dead set for his baptism in the 15th. He texted us during Conference explaining how excited he is for it. Elder Curl and I found a family of 13 and 10 of them are baptism age. It's going to be hard to teach them all but they show some interest so that would be sweet. Finally, Conference was amazing!!! One of my favorite talks was from the priesthood session with President Eyring. I loved how he challenged each of us to "walk with Christ." As we change our perspectives to the Savior's, we will see others with charity. I love this work and I am truly humbled to be a servant of the Lord!

Sorry I was so busy today so I won't be able to respond to any emails but know that I love You!

Elder Goff

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