Week 11

Buenos,

This week I've been trying to be like Moroni again.  But first, I want to talk about how this week has gone.  

First of all, my companion and I have had a lot of cool personal miracles.  For example, we have a washing machine now!  Secondly, we have invested in a returnable bottle of coke.  And that truly is a gift from above.  We also have been able to find a lot of people to teach this week.  I've found that most people are willing to listen to us teach, but not everyone is willing to keep commitments.  So the good thing is that we've been able to find so many.  Maybe a few of them will be interested in getting baptized.  

If not, at least we know that we have been giving our best effort to invite them.  A lot of what I've learned this past week is that the physical numbers that we have to report in each week don't mean that much on a spiritual level.  To further explain this, I should explain that we need to report four numbers to our zone leaders each week: number of baptisms, number of members with a baptismal date that went to church that week, number of investigators that were in church, and the number of new investigators for that week.  We keep these numbers because experience has taught the church that the easiest way to see if an investigator is progressing in the church is if they are coming to sacrament meeting.  What these numbers don't show though are the other things that we do in the mission.

For example, we never mention how many less actives we've been able to help reactivate.  We don't talk about how we might of helped a bishop to hold ward council.  We don't talk about any of the ways that we've been able to strengthen the ward, or the way that less actives have been strengthened.  For example, we have this great family in the ward that is less active.  But even though they have been less active, they have been willing to feed the missionaries on a weekly basis.  Because of this, my companion knows that they hadn't been to church in at least three months.  But for the past two weeks they have gone and attended all three hours of church.  And the way things have been going, their reactivation will benefit their extended family.

It was just a good reminder for me that even if our reportable numbers seem down for a time, the Lord is still continuing to do his work through us.  The message of His gospel doesn't end with baptism or attending the temple.  Enduring to the end literally means to the end.  And the reward for such is exaltation.

As I said before, I've still been trying to be like Moroni.  I say this because of the things that here writes in Mormon 9.  To give it a brief summary, he writes about how God is a God of miracles, and I just love the way that he does it.  He starts by listing all of the miracles that have been recorded in the book of Mormon and the Old Testament, and asks us how we can believe that God is the same yesterday today and forever, and yet not continue to perform miracles.  and then to provide further evidence of this he talks about how we can tell who are messengers of God by the miracles that they work.  In it he says:

 in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; (Mormon 9:24)

Here in Obregon, I have had the chance to perform each of these miracles in one form or another.  The exception is the one about taking up serpents.  I've still not found any snakes in Obregon.  I'm sure I'll find them eventually though.  

The point though that I want to get across, is that God is a God of miracles, which has been one of the most profound ways that I've been able to reach people.  As I said in my last email, everyone here worships Saint Judas, who I learned was the Saint of lost causes.  Everyone here is searching for a miracle from God in their lives, and I believe that the same thing happens in the states as well.  We are all looking for some sort of Divine assistance or bit of luck.  But often at times we forget the source of where that assistance comes from.  

If anything in our lives is good, it has to come from God.  And God, is our loving father in heaven.  He delights in blessing us and helping us.  But our ability to receive miracles is based on our faith.  This is why in the next verse of Mormon 9, Moroni writes:

And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth.(Mormon 9:25)

For example, a few weeks ago, my companion and I decided to visit a part of our area called Quechaweca for the first time.  As I mentioned in previous letters, this is a small town that should technically be it's own area but it just ended up in our area.  On our first day, the branch president (Who is like a pastor for small congregations for my non member friends) offered to give us a ride before he went to work.  But we had to leave so early that neither I nor my companion had time to eat breakfast that morning, and we didn't have a lunch appointment there either on account of no one knowing us yet.  I was about to say a prayer and call that day a fast, when I decided instead to pray for breakfast.  It was a strange prompting, but I felt that it was inspired, and I knew that I had the faith for God to deliver on this promise is some manner.  So that's what I did.

When we got to Quechaweca, we started by visiting a few of the members there to ask for references and to get to know the town a little bit better.  When we went to the first house, the family invited us in and offered us breakfast.  Then after breakfast, they asked us if we wanted to join them for lunch.  I know that this sounds like a somewhat silly thing to pray for, but in that moment, that was what I felt I needed, and the Lord was able to provide.  

The same thing goes for any other type of miracle that is just, so long as we have sufficient faith.  One of the greatest tools that the adversary tries to use so as to keep us from receiving miracles, is to tell us that God either can't do something or is unwilling to help us.  and this is completely false.  If we eliminate our doubts, and put our trust in the Lord, all things are possible.

That's all for now

Elder Gooden

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

. . . . . .

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