Week 8

Hola 

So this week I've been trying to be like a lot of people.  As always, I'll go into further detail later in my email.  It's crazy tho think that I've already completed two months of my mission.  Part of me was wishing that I'd be fluent in Spanish by now, and have at least one baptism.  But I guess that since it's only been two weeks in the field, I can't get to upset.  My area is still probably the coolest area ever.  The people here have so little, but give so much of their time and talents to the Lord.  The small town in my area, or area 2 as I've started calling it, quechaweca, is an amazing example of this.  We had an activity there, and I was just expecting to see a few members and investigators that we had invited because we had been there only two times before.  In reality the entire branch of about 30 people showed up and brought five investigators with them.  These members knew that if they went to that activity they would hear the word of the Lord through two of his divinely called servants.  And what makes the story even more amazing is that before I got there, they hadn't had missionaries there for nearly five months.  The faith in that branch is amazing to me.

Being in Mexico is actually a really neat experience.  Just an idea about what life looks like hear, each missionary is given an allowance of about 1800 pesos a month. This translates roughly into $100.  By American standards this may seam like very little, but in Mexico it is the same salary that a medical intern gets paid.  It's part of the reason that buying things in Mexico has been so strange.  I've gotten used to the idea somewhat of what expensive looks like here, and have been trying to be frugal with the money that I've been given.  But every so often I step back and realize that by American standards, the price has been raised by two cents.  

Fast food is actually considered an expensive commodity here.  All of the McDonald's and KFC's here are really nice and only wealthy people go there.  With the exception of missionaries who have been saving all month to go to Carl's Junior.

As I said, I've been trying to be like a lot of people.  With regards to the language, I am trying to trust in the Lord like Enoch did so that he will open my mouth and I will be able to speak with enough power to cause all nature to follow my voice.  Or at the very least to open my mouth to speak confidently in Spanish.  I've been trying to be like Ammon in that I have been trying to learn a new culture and way of doing things so that the people will understand that I am here to serve them.  I've been trying to be like Jesus in my fasting and prayer so that I can perform the miracles God has foreordained me to perform to this people.  I've been trying to be like Alma, so as to be guided by the spirit to find the people that will be able to help me the most in my mission.  And I've been trying to be like Nephi in documenting as much of my mission as I can so that I will remember all of it.  

Sorry if that seems like a lot.  Things in the field are a bit different in that I'm no longer here to learn; I'm here to teach.  And through my teaching, I have been able to learn so much in bits and pieces, so that I can't focus on just one example from the standard works at a time. 

One ting though that I have learned is the sacrifice that fasting is supposed to be.  One of my investigators has been seriously ill for some time.  To help her, my companion and I decided to fast.  Fasting is a bit different when you are in a walking mission in Mexico than it is in Pennsylvania.  For one, air conditioning is a happy thought.  for another thing, it is so dry here that you can get dehydrated really fast.  What I learned though, is that  because the sacrifice of the fast is hard, the thing that you are fasting for should be of equal or greater importance.  I remember thinking back to all of the times before my mission that I would fast for: blessings that I didn't know I needed.  This experience changed my perspective on that.  Had it not been for the fact that what I was fasting for was important, I would have given up before my fast was through.  Or in other words, fasting for things I don't know I need is not a strong enough source of motivation to continue fasting.  The health of this investigator was. And so this might sound like a strange lesson to share, but the take away is that the power of the fast is real.  The blessings that come from it are assured.  If we have this ability to draw so close to God, and gain so great blessings from it, shouldn't we use this ability to invoke the help of the Lord for our greatest struggles first?  

Another example from my own life to give greater clarity:  I already mentioned that I would fast for blessings that I didn't know I needed.  During this time though, I was in the middle of high school.  I could have chosen to fast for help with the SATs, or getting accepted to the right college, or even mission prep.  I knew about the struggles of others that I could have chosen to fast for.  Instead, because I thought: well it's fast Sunday, I guess that it's time to go with out food for a while, I was robbed of so many potential blessings.  We should never forget the meaning of a commandment just because we have read the letter of the commandment.  I invite everyone that is reading this email to never punt away your fasts.  There are so many people that could benefit form your fasts, and so many blessings you receive from a sincere fast.  Just as we should spend time each week preparing for the sacrament, or time beforehand preparing for the temple, we should take the time to recognize the greatest need we have found in our lives, whether it be our own or someone else's, and prepare to fast for that purpose.

That's all for this week,

Elder Gooden

Week 7

Hola otra vez

This week, I've been trying to be like Paul, more on that later though.   

I've officially completed my first week in the field. Just to  give everyone an idea about what Mexico is like, I'll start by describing my area.  

My  area covers an area in Ciudad Obregon about the size of Palmyra. I walk everywhere, dirt is everywhere, The sun never truly sets, and cockroaches think that the bathroom is the greatest place to be. I've loved every minute of it.

In  all seriousness though, my area has a lot of potential. We have a lot of awesome investigators that could get baptized soon if they kept their commitments.  

As for how I've been trying to be like Paul, I've been thinking a lot about his missions lately, and the trials that he went through.  I get that In my mission I haven't been stoned, or cast into prison, or flogged (yet), but my mission has come with it's own unique set of trials.  And like Paul, I can choose to either fold under them, or rise above them.  I hope to do the later.  

One thing that is unique about my first area is that it technically is my first two areas. I'm working in Ciudad Obregon in a neighborhood named Valles, but I've also got an area that is about 20 minutes outside the city called quechuweica.  Don't ask me to spell it twice, it is just pronounced "catch-u-way-ca".  It only has about 15 members in the entire town, and hasn't had any missionaries in about five months. I{m really excited to open it up to the work.  

One other thing that I learned this week is to never take for granted the value of a priesthood member in the home.  I went to church twice yesterday, and only saw at most 15 priesthood age men. And this includes the less active member we committed to come yesterday. Holding the priesthood is a privilege that should never be taken lightly.  

That's all  for this week. Remember to email me if you have questions

Elder Gooden

Week 6

Hola Todos,

This past week, I'd been trying to be like Jesus, but I'll get to that in a minute.  I first want to celebrate the fact that I'm officially in the field.  As such, my P-days have been moved to Monday, so you can expect my emails around now from now on.  

I said that I was trying to be like Jesus this week, and when I say this, I want to focus on Christ's obedience.  As I mentioned in my last email I accepted a challenge to only speak Spanish for my last week of the MTC.  Later on Wednesday though, my district and on other district that had arrived at the same time decided to perform a special musical number in half English and half Spanish.  The expectation was that everyone would sing half in English and half in Spanish.  I immediately said that I would be unable to sing in English, and offered to sing entirely in Spanish, as the entire group needed help with that part.  This idea was initially denied, and so I declined to participate.  

That made a lot of people mad.  One of the other missionaries decided that my judgment was off, and asked me to pray about what I should do.  Thinking that no harm could come from prayer, I followed his advice.  As soon as I started to pray that night, the thought came into my head that I already knew the answer to this. And then I was reminded of a talk the Elder Holland gave at an MTC devotional.  In it he said that we need to become out first converts to the Lord.  The spirit then asked me, what kind of investigators do I want to have?  Do I want investigators that will keep their commitments and obey God all of the time, or do I want them to just do it when it's convenient.  So long story short, I made a lot of other people mad again the next day.  It got bad enough that my companion took me in to seek couple's counseling.

But then after the trial of my faith, miracles started to happen.  For one, the promise that I would understand the language better was made manifest in my online assessment score.  I scored 28% higher than I had on the practice test just a few days before.  Secondly, my mission president got wind of what was happening, and spoke to the leaders of the two districts.  I'm not entirely sure of what happened behind closed doors, but the next thing I knew, everyone recognized that we needed more Spanish singers, and then President Bennett was commending me for my dedication to learning Spanish.  I guess the moral of the story is, after every trial of faith, miracles are brought to pass.  In the words of Thomas S Monson "may we always choose the hard right instead of the easier wrong."   

I'll try to write more about the field next week.  It's just hard to describe a place when you have only been there for on day and spent the entire time inside a church building

Elder Gooden

Pictures from the Mexico City Temple before he left the CCM

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A few extras from Mom and Dad's email -

Companion's names is Elder Casey

When we asked if he needed anything he said dry ice because it is "as hot as it can get here"

"The apartment has no drinkable water, I have a single AC system in the bedroom, and I haven't tried the bed yet.  Right now I'm drinking powerade, and I've been given a bottle filter that can make sewage drinkable."

He Arrived!

Dear Missionary Family,

We are delighted to inform you that your missionary has arrived safely to the Mission México Ciudad Obregon. We already love them and are excited to serve with them. 

We have enjoyed becoming acquainted with them and are confident that they will become an effective instrument in the hands of the Lord in sharing the gospel with the people of Mexico.

We have assigned them a companion who is an experienced, devoted, and motivated missionary.  All of our missionaries understand that one of the greatest privileges available in the mission is to train a new missionary. 

This first companion will be a special person in your missionary’s life and will help give them a great start here.

We feel that our greatest responsibility is the care and welfare of your child.  We want to assure you that we will be in regular contact with them.  We will be observant of their physical health, happiness and spiritual well-being.

 We will work closely with them throughout the mission to help them succeed and fulfill their calling as a representative of the Church and as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the sacrifices you are making at home to have your missionary in the field.  We have seen the Lord bless the families of missionaries who are serving in untold ways.

 We know that His blessings will be upon you as well.

With love,

President and Sister Shaun Myers

Surprise Phone Call with a Picture :)

I got a surprise phone call today!!  I guess Elder Gooden has an infection on his arm that had the potential of keeping him in the CCM a few extra days.  Because he's tough I was completely unaware until the doctor called to let me know the antibiotics were working great and that he'd be on his way as planned tomorrow morning .   So thankful he's being taken care of!  

Best part is that I got to talk to him for a few minutes.  He sounds great.  I just love hearing his voice.  

Here's the follow up text I received . . . 

So, he's off to Ciudad Obregon at 2am local time tomorrow morning.  Safe travels son!

Week Five

Hola,

This week, I've been trying to be more like the prophet Isaiah, but more on that later.  

I feel as though my last email was rushed and lacked much of a story to it, and that's probably because I spent the last two minutes of my emailing time writing it.  So to make up for this, I decided to get an in depth explanation of what the MTC is like for all of the future missionaries out there.  

The MTC experience is comprised of six weeks, with almost completely the same schedule each day with  only a few exceptions.  Week one technically isn't a full week.  all of the new missionaries arrive on Tuesday, and the weeks here end on Sunday.  It's actually the most different of all the weeks simple because of all the orientation affairs.  Every Tuesday to celebrate the arrival of new missionaries, we get pizza for dinner.  Wednesday marks the official start of our missionary work.  We are given a basic orientation of the MTC, which consists of a tour of the campus, we meet our teachers, and at the end we are assigned a district leader.  While district leaders are important in the field, at the MTC, he only is responsible for getting the mail, and answering to the branch president at times.  Weeks two and three are identical in that you spend your entire time learning Spanish and how to teach people the gospel.  I say learn to do this because every sucks at it.  Week four though is the week of miracles because everything starts to click.  Week five is the day that we all do awesome and start spending entire days speaking Spanish, and then we get to week six.  Week six is almost the same as week one except  that you're are expected to speak Spanish the entire time.  

AS for an average day, it starts with forty five minutes of personal study followed by breakfast.  we then have about four hours worth of languages study/mock investigator time before lunch.  We then have a daily planning session, and then gym.  after gym, it's already three in the afternoon.  We then have another four hours of study in the evening until about seven.  The nice thing is that our teachers in the afternoon are better than the ones in the morning.  After that we have diner, and then another hour and a half of personal study.  We then get an hour and a half to do whatever we want in our rooms.  

Now as I said before, I've been trying to be like Isaiah.  i say this because i had an experience very similar to Isaiah.  In Isaiah, I think 9, but you might have to double check me on that, Isaiah describes how he was called to teach.  He starts by proclaiming that he has unclean lips and is among a nation of unclean lips.  In response to this, and angel takes an ember our of a fire and places it to his Isaiah's lips.  It is then after this that Isaiah is qualified to do the work.  I had a very similar experience at the start of this week.  I was the first of many in field orientation that we had, and at the end, one of my teachers offered me a "candy".  It actually was a piece of mango with chili pepper powder over it.  It's actually very good, but it was hot.  After I ate it, I was challenged to speak only in Spanish for the rest of my time in the MTC, for the exception of personal time after nine at night.  AS a result, I have gotten really creative with my language, and driven everyone else in my district insane.  The next few days will most likely revolve around preparing to leave, and meeting my infield mission president.

More next week

Elder Gooden

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A few extras from Mom and Dad's Mail - 

We asked - 

What insights have you gained while at the CCM? What have you learned about yourself?

Elder Gooden Said - 

I feel as if I've gone through a sanctification process while here.

So, president Lyeons, the former first councilor here(he was released last night) had been talking about the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.  He describes it as the same event that we read about in Mosiah 5.  Before, I just saw myself as someone that knew that the gospel was true, and knew that I had to follow the commandments.  But when I went to the temple last week, something changed within me.  I felt this closer bond with my Heavenly Father and with my Savior.  I felt as though I wanted to keep the commandments not because of a fear of sin but because of a love of God.  

I've always thought as enduring to the end as this idea of, I've made it to a clean state after baptism or repentance, and now I have to hold firm and let the adversary beat down on me with everything it has.  Enduring is hard and annoying, and it's something that I have to make happen.  But I was reading in Alma the other week about how the gospel of Christ is easy, including endurance.  The purpose of the Gospel is to bring joy to our lives, whether it be through repentance or service or eternal families.  and so when the scriptures say we need to endure, it doesn't mean to hold still and see how many hits you can take.  It means that we are supposed to continue to press forward with a joy in Christ, knowing that if we will let him, he will fight our battles, and he will take our hits for us.  And so I've renamed that last part of the doctrine for Christ continue in joy.

We asked - 

Are there still times that you're really angry?  Are you happy?

Elder Gooden Said -

I have a few moments of anger with some of the more immature members of my district, but I've been trying to see them more as God sees them and it's been helping.  Yes, I'm happy