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Week 12 Sebring

Well it looks like this is it. I don't have a lot of time but I just want to share a few things I've learned from my mission. 

1. The Book of Mormon is true. I know it is. It is as simple as that. There have been times where I doubted on my mission. I questioned why this is so hard. It's at those times that I fall to my knees and go back to the foundation of the gospel. I ask if the Book of Mormon is true and I receive and answer.

Alma 32:33-34

"33 And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.

34 And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing"

2. Charity is the greatest of all gifts from God. We must view others in the perspective of Christ. "Walk with Christ" as President Eyring says it. I have come to love the people so much on my mission. They are not just random people, they are sons and daughters of God with the potential of becoming like Him! What a neat experience it has been to see this change in myself, a change of perspective.

Moroni 7:46-48

"46...Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

3. I have learned that we must BECOME a disciple of Christ. We cannot just live the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the mindset that it is something we are suppose to do. We must seek to become rather than just seeking to do.

I am sad that I have to leave this great work. If any of you are deciding whether or not you should serve a mission, Go! It is worth every second of it. I wouldn't trade the experiences, the memories, or the miracles I have witnessed these past 2 years for anything in the world. 3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people that they might have everlasting life." I look forward to seeing a lot of you again in a few days! I hope the best for all! 

With Love,  Elder Goff

Bowling with the District

Week 11 Sebring

This week was an eventful one. We saw a lot of success with our investigators and I also got to go to the temple for my departing temple trip. It's always nice to be able to do that.

An update on our investigators. Gildardo is doing awesome! He has been reading a lot and was super close to committing to baptism. We read Mosiah 18:10 with him which says, "If this be the desire of your heart, then what have ye against being baptized?" The spirit was powerful and testified to my heart and I know he felt it but he didn't quite accept it :/ eventually he will have that desire in him. We had a good lesson with Michael too. He opened up a lot to us and said that his goal is to one day go inside the Salt Lake City Temple. We explained that he would have to be baptized in order to do that and he said he knew that. Gildardo and Michael are the reason I am here in Sebring. They have become some of my best friends.

A missionary once told me that you go on your mission to find your friends. I know that all the people I have met from Orlando to Lake Placid, Clermont to Daytona Beach, and now Sebring are all the friends that I was suppose to find. The pas two years have been the best of my life. If you are on a mission, value it. The time you have left is sacred so don't waste it. If you haven't gone in a mission yet, go! I haven't regretted a second of it. It has changed me forever. I know this church is the Lord's kingdom here on earth. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ to the fullest and don't ever take it for granted because many people don't have it in their lives but we do.

I had the opportunity to go to the temple this past week. What a special and sacred place! I can't wait to be able to go more often! While in there pondering on my mission, the spirit touched my heart so powerfully. I don't cry very often but I will admit, I did this time! What a great experience that I will never forget.

I hope you all have a great week! See you all in a couple weeks!

Elder Goff

Our Temple Trip

Week 10 Sebring

Hey Everyone!

Time's winding down. It's crazy to think how fast time flies. It's a bitter sweet feeling. You can change a lot in 2 weeks though so I'm going o make the most of it!

We had a super good week once again. I did a little tour of the zone the first part of the week. I went to Vero Beach on exchanges Monday night then Tuesday night I went to Okeechobee and stayed there until Thursday morning at District Meeting. It was a good time. We saw a pretty sweet miracle Wednesday. Elder Haderlie and I were on exchanges and we drove past this guy walking down the road when I got a strong impression we needed to talk to him so we turned around and did so even though we were already late for a meeting at the church. He told us that his sister is a member of our church and that he would be down to meet with us and his sister for a lesson. We went to his sister's house and talked to her as she was walking out the door. It was the first time she had met with missionaries in about a year. She was stoked to see us! The Lord provides when we listen to the Spirit. We showed up late to our meeting but with a good excuse.

Saturday we had dinner with Gildardo and Lady. Lady is a member and Gil is an investigator we have been teaching for a while. They are so cool! We gave him a soccer ball and in turn he gave us a home grown sugar can and a papaya. He also sent a super cool text the following day telling how we are friends for life! What a cool family. Pray that we will be able to set a baptism date with him soon!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Goff

P.S. Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers out there!

Lots of pictures this week:

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!

Week 9 Sebring

This week was another great one! For me physically it was a little rough because I was a sick but spiritually it was as awesome as ever. Our investigators are doing well. The main people we are teaching right now is Bob (we found him at the start of last transfer and he has come to church every Sunday since), Michael R., Gildardo "Gil", Paul, Damian, Steven, and Zoe. The are all super prepared and will probably all get baptized sometime soon but we haven't been able to set a date with any of them yet so if you could help us out with some prayers for them!

We had a pretty sweet experience this week. We went into a super ghetto apartment complex to teach a less active named Marco. Marco was talking to a few of his friends so we approached them and asked if we could share a message with them. One of the guys there is what you call the go to guy or "the plug." He was all tattooed up, had a gold grill, and a chain necklace. He was a rough looking guy to say the least. As we testified of our savior and the Restoration of the gospel, I witnessed this rough looking man break down in tears. We read from Mosiah 3:5-12 which testifies and witnesses of Christ. "There is no sin or transgression, pain or sorrow, which is outside of the healing power of His Atonement." The spirit was so strong! We started out with 3 people we were teaching and as we taught people would walk over to see what we were talking about and by the end of the lesson there was a pretty good size group of people. Our invitation to them all was to repent. I felt like Alma or Ammon declaring repentance to the wicked Lamanites! It was a good time. There is so much power in the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have been doing group chats with our investigators over Facebook Messenger with our investigators and members. It has been working miracles. Bob had a concern about some deep doctrine he came across so he voiced his concern over the group chat. Immediately the members reached out and helped him. At church yesterday Bob seemed to be weighed down with the concern so the same member in he group chat pulled him aside to a classroom and helped him have some peace. Later that night the Bishop who is also on the group chat asked Bob if he would like to sit down and meet with him and us. He did and it was a sweet lesson! I love this work and this Gospel!

I hope everyone has a great week! Never take this Gospel for granted because there are people who have been searching for it their entire lives. Love you guys.

Elder Goff

Week 8 Sebring

This week was a complete turn around from last week! Last week was a bit of a struggle but everything seemed to be working out this week.

Elder Arnson and I have been working with Facebook and it is producing miracles! We don't use it to post things, we just use it for Facebook we have been doing is creating group chats between our investigators, us, and members. It's super nice because it fills in all the days where we aren't able to meet with them for lessons.

I also was blessed enough this week to be a part of a huge miracle! One of the coolest of my missions. I was in an exchange with Elder O'hare and we had decided to contact a bible referral (she ordered a bible so we deliver them). We contact this lady and she was polite but wasn't interested. We get back to the car and I got this very distinct prompting saying to turn around and do more work in this area. Obviously a promoting to my heart from the spirit. So we do so. It's about 8:30 at night and on top of that it was raining so everyone seemed to not want to listen. We were determined however. We decided that we would knock every door in this small complex that had a light on. The second to last door a man answered and he said, "Hey. You want to come in?" That's one of the best lines to hear as a missionary! Long story short, this guy is super Down! His name is Fritz and he has been living in Avon Park for about 4 months and hasn't had anyone come visit him. The cool part is that just before we knocked, he was talkinon the phone with one of his good friends from Miami who is actually a member of the church! She even had taken him to church with her before! We called her during the lesson and had her bare her testimony to him. He is like 26 and a straight up stud! "My beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, [Nope!!!]"

It breaks my heart that I only have a few weeks left out here. I have never come to love people so much. If you haven't served a mission or are thinking about going, don't hesitate! Do it!!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Goff

Week 7 Sebring

We had a lot of ups and downs this week. So first off, Elder Arnson is a stud! He is from American Fork, Utah and he is a black belt. It's a win win. I get a new friend and a personal body guard for 6 weeks! What more could you ask for!

Unfortunately we had a bad turn with a few of our investigators. Judeler who was preparing to be baptized on June 10th suddenly moved to Kentucky for college without any notice. He was planning on just visiting for art but then I guess they asked him to stay so he did. Damian who also is preparing for baptism on June 10th had a bit of a hold up with some commandment issues. He has been avoiding us so if you could pray that we can get things worked out with him. We are just going to keep working hard. There are so many prepared people here in Sebring. We just need to find them! 

A cool miracle of the week was that one of our investigators that we have been trying to get to church forever finally came! Her name is Mirtha. She is a slightly crazy but super sweet old Spanish lady from Puerto Rico. We called her Sunday morning and she said she was coming then about 2 minutes before sacrament we felt prompted to call her again so we did. She was lost! Somehow she ended up 5 miles away in a retirement community looking for the right street number for our church. We finally were able to direct her to the church although we ended up being 10 minutes late to sacrament but hey Mirtha made it to church!

As I was pondering during sacrament meeting I asked Heavenly Father why this work is so hard. Why do the people we teach not just run to us asking us to baptize them? My answer came in the words of a scripture "...know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." - D&C 122:7 When life is tough or when we are faced with frustration or depression or sorrow, we can always learn from it and gain experience that shall be for our good. 

I love this work with all my heart and mind and soul! I never want to leave it!

Hope you all have a great week!   Elder Goff