This week I've been trying to be like the prophet Jeremiah, more on that later though. For starters, we got the news on transfers this week, and for the first time ever, I´m going to be staying in an area with the same companion. I finally have the same number of companions as transfers in my mission. So that´s actually a bit exciting. I'll finally get to see if I can handle living with someone else for more than six weeks at a time. With some companions I'd thought that I could. With others, not as much. I think that this transfer will go well though.
This week we had exchanges with the zone leaders, which was fun. I forgot how much I miss being in a city surrounded by people that I can talk to. They also get bikes in that area, which was really fun to have for a day. We've also gotten a lot of time to talk with people of other faiths and learn a bit more about the other religions here. For example, one thing that is very different in the Mormon church than any other religion, is that anyone is allowed to partake of the sacrament. All of the other Christian churches, the Catholics, and the Jehovah´s Witnesses only let baptized members take the sacrament. I never realized that this was something different about our church. Another thing that is different is that most churches have a different idea about the meaning of the Gospel of Christ.
Most people that I've talked with here, and the way that I thought before my mission, is that the Gospel is church. Or in other words, everything that goes on in the church from prayer and scripture study to missionary work is the Gospel. While all of these things tie into the Gospel of Christ, it is actually a lot more easy to understand and follow.
The Gospel of Christ consists of five elements: faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. That´s it. Curtain call. Sermon´s over. But even though it´s easy to learn what these five elements or steps are, it takes a lifetime to put them fully into practice. That´s why we have the organization of the church to help us.
What also needs to be understood, is that the Gospel, as above mentioned is written in a specific order. We start to follow Christ with faith. This leads us to do things such as pray, read the scriptures, and attend church. It eventually leads us to repentance as we come to understand our dependency on Christ and we demonstrate our trust in him. Repentance without faith is nothing.
But when we repent in faith, we are able to achieve spiritual cleanliness. This cleansing power qualifies us to receive the blessings of baptism. Baptism as a sanctifying ordinance, draws us closer to God, and we become worthy to receive the constant companionship or the gift, of the Holy Ghost. It is the gift of the Holy Ghost which guides us to increase our faith and understanding of Christ, and helps us endure till the end, or as I´ve written before, to remain in joy.
What can be clearly seen though is that without going through the first steps, we can´t enjoy the latter blessings, and once we get to the latter blessings, those first steps become the next phase of our gospel journey.
As I said in the beginning, I´ve been trying to be like Jeremiah. The reason why, is because Jeremiah went through an extreme level of persecution and had to stem the tide of idolatry nearly single handedly while the Jewish state was under siege from Babylon. Needless to say, his sermons get a little repetitive very quickly, and the people tend to get more and more angry with him as time goes on. Here in Bamoa, I´m not threatened with prison time or execution.(even if the mafia has started sending hit men down our street). I also don´t have to worry about a large scale invasion. What I do have to deal with though are people that don´t want anything to do with us, and maybe have anti American feelings. At the same time, many of the members here are really just waiting for another Latino missionary to come. The needs out here are very different from those in the states, and so at times it can be hard to help a branch with an attendance level lower than the deacons quorum back at home. But just like with Jeremiah, I don´t really have any other option but to just go out and do the work, and hope for blessings of obedience.
That´s all for now
Elder Gooden
A few more things just sent to mom and dad . . . .
Favorite part of his mission so far - just being very blunt and honest with people about the importance of keeping their commitments to God
On being like Jeremiah -That´s what bamoa has taught me. The persecution is just different here though. Anti american feelings fun strong in small towns, most people just decide to blatently ignore us as we try to talk to them through a screan door, and they prefer to tell us to come at the only hour of the day they aren´t home. I'm surrounded by people that don't listen to me if I don't speak with boldness, and when I do decide they don't want to talk with us anymore. Counting down the weeks till I leave. 11 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours and 13 minutes
On Thanksgiving - we didn't eat that day. it's not a holiday here. The family that we were supposed to eat with had to cancel.
I´m living off of about ten dollars a week right now
On wednesday, the mafia killed three people because their family members didn´t pay up on something. I was about three kilometers away at the time. It did happen about five minutres away from our house though.
Also - a letter from President Myers this week:
Dear Sister Gooden,
Thanks for your email. Your son is a wonderful missionary. His Spanish is excellent and spiritually he is becoming a powerful missionary. I am so proud of him. He is a long way from our mission offices. At first, I wondered if he would be okay being so independent. I would like to let you know that he is thriving and doing fantastic. About your packages, if your packages are arriving in 2 weeks, that is the optimum. Especially, since Elder Gooden is serving in Estación Bamoa. I will be seeing him almost every week during the month of December so I can always get a package to him quicker than usual on our part.
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that your holiday season is bright and wonderful.
Con Amor
Presidente Shaun Myers
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