Week 29

Feliz día de gracias!

This week I´ve been trying to be like Abinadi.  No, I´ve not been threatened with death by fire, and no, I´ve not convinced someone to start baptizing thousands of people.  I probably won´t even really celebrate Thanksgiving.  More on all of this later though.

This week we had zone conference, 18 new investigators, and it was the second to last week of this transfer.  For all I know, I´ll be writing from Los Mochis next week, but until then, I´ve still got plenty of work to do here in Bamoa.  For starters, President Myers decided to focus on the importance o finding this week.  In layman's terms, this translates into the least enjoyable time for a missionary if all you can do is knock on doors.  Because of this, many missionaries like to fill their time with appointments with investigators, who may or may not be progressing, and trying to do anything else other than contact if possible.  This is why this last zone conference was dedicated to the various ways that we can contact, and why contacting is so important.  Put plainly, it´s that for every 27 new investigators that we find, statistically speaking, three of them end up going to church.  and of those three that go to church, only one of them end up getting baptized.  So, statistically speaking, if we don´t find a ton of people in our missions to teach, and make sure that we use our time wisely with them, we´ll never get to baptize.  So, the invitation was to redouble our contacting efforts and TALK WITH EVERYONE!!!

We also focused a lot on the importance of the Sabbath, and President and Hermana Myers shared something that I find very interesting.  It´s that one of the most fundamental ways that we can see if we are true followers of Christ or not is if we keep the Sabbath day holy.  Not only is it  an outward expression of our inner commitment to God, but that an apostle of the lord has said(this was back in about 1915, so I´m not entirely sure but I think it was from Joseph R Snow) that whether or not we sanctify the Sabbath, shows if our commitment to Christ is real, or if his sacrifice means little or nothing to us.  Strong but true words.

This translated over well to our week with finding new people.  18 new investigators was a new personal best for one week, we even found a family of four that were able to start recognizing the spirit after the opening prayer.  With a little luck, we can get a baptism within a month with them.

By the way, for everyone that saw the photo of the giant spider from last week´s email, part two of that story ended this week.  we came home one night, and we found it in the bathroom spread out over the entire bathroom sink.  after learning that the spider was really fast, and that it is immune to cockroach killing insecticide, I finally got him with the end of my shoe.  Photos of that will come in next week.

As I said, this week, I´ve been trying to be like Abinadi.  As a child I always looked up to Abinadi for his boldness and plainness.  Faced with the prospect of certain death, he chose to not only bear his testimony of the Gospel, but clearly plainly point our the errors of their ways repeatedly.  The most important thing though is that he always brought things back to Christ.

In the field, and for members of the church, we often have a fear of sharing what we know to be true.  We find it difficult to always take advantage of the moments God gives us each day to represent Him or to share a part of his gospel.  We close our mouths out of fear of a negative response or rejection.  For these feelings, I´ve found that the perfect remedy is found in Doctrine and Covenants 3:6-10: "And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men. For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words- Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble. Behold, thou art (inset name here), and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall. But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work"

The fact of the matter is that everyone is called to the work.  We all are given opportunities to help strengthen the Kingdom of God.  And all of us have the chance to receive personal revelation to help us in this work.  and if we chose to love God more than we fear men, we will have success.

Now, I know that I´m going a little bit out of order in how I normally write these things.  Normally, I explain how I´m trying to be like someone and then I have the big take home part of my emails.  This one is in a bit of a reversed order.  But the big thing that I noticed is that there is power in boldness.  I remember that it was nearly two months ago when a reference took my softspokenness for timidness, and that made me never want to talk quietly again.  the desire to not be called timid led me to be more bold in my invitations, and the bolder my invitation have gotten, the more ready I feel the spirit is to help me in this work. Maybe it might offend some people at times, but I´ve not been called to teach the gospel of itching ears.  And like every missionary likes to say in the mission, if I die out here, that´s a guarantied exaltation.  In all seriousness though, I´ve found that it´s always been much better to be bold and active in the missionary work than to be timid and passive.

That´s all for now,

Elder Gooden

Week 24

This week I've been trying to be like Moroni, the son of Mormon.  More on that later though as always.  This has been a week full of interesting things, and I only have a little bit of time to explain all of it.  Some of the highlights include:

Nearly being hit by a drunk driver in the middle of the afternoon, JWs knocking on our door, being asked repeatedly if I support Trump´s politics, Our toilet got fixed in time for the fridge and shower to die, and our land lady decided that we should have our floors re tiled.  She might be my new favorite person in Mexico by the way.  The strangest thing though was when my companion and I realized that if only six people in the branch don't show up for church on Sunday, we become the presiding priesthood holders.

As for the week, my companion and I have been missionary superstars.  Our numbers for the past two weeks have been better than any other companionship in our district, including our district and zone leaders.  If we keep up the hard work, we'll have a ton of baptisms in no time.  I don´t want this to sound like I´m only worried about the numbers though.  We've really just been trying to do what we can for a few investigators, and their families keep showing up to the lessons.  I love small Mexican towns.

As for why I've been trying to be like Moroni, I've been focusing on the promise in Ether 12 that says that if we have a weakness, we can seek the help of the Lord, and if we go to him in faith and humility, he will make our weak things strong.  

Seeing as how I'm an American missionary with only five months here, I have an imperfect knowledge of the language, and I've inherently disliked talking to people for as long as I can remember, and I'm supposed to teach a new missionary how to do something I'm not fully sure how to do, I've had a lot of weaknesses to come to the Lord for help with.  And yet our progress here in Bamoa, and the improvement we've seen since I've gotten hear show that the Lord has been helping me out with this, and has been doing his work through me despite my weaknesses.  

As always, the Lord doesn't work in ways that we always expect. For example, with the language, I haven´t miraculously learned how to speak Spanish over night.  Rather, I've just had more promptings from the spirit telling me things like I should start to share a certain experience or that I should talk about this point of the lesson to help the someone understand better.  As a result, the people have grown to trust us, and feel that we are genuinely there to help them.  I might not have a single idea about what happened in a lesson, but the spirit does, and he can serve as an interpreter when I need to understand something.  

What I like most about this chapter though, is that afterwords, Moroni talks about all of the things that he remembers about the blessings of the Lord.  What I like about this though, is that we can all do that.  Almost everyone can remember a miracle that they saw in their lives, or a warm feeling they felt when they prayed with real intent.  Everyone that has been baptized has felt the truth of this gospel in their lives.  These are the things that we build testimonies on.  These are the small simple, sometimes scrutinized pieces of evidence that we all have as evidence of the truth that we have a loving father in heaven.  it's the evidence we have that Christ really did die for our sins and lives again.  So like Moroni, I invite everyone to remember.  Remember the things that you have built your testimony on.  Remember that this should be our faith in Christ and the hope that we have through his resurrection.  Most of all, remember that it is faith that builds miracles, not miracles that build faith.  

That´s all for now

Elder Gooden

Week 23

So this week I've been trying to be like Peter again.  I know it sounds like I've been trying to be like him a lot, but I find him to be relatable, and there is a lot to learn from his life.  I´m going to apologize now, by the way, to everyone that wrote me last week if I don´t get a chance to respond this week.  There is one cyber her and school is in session so we had to spend a lot of time waiting, and then the Internet crashed, or at least LDS mail.  As a result I'm pressed for time and praying that the Internet will last till I've finished writing.

My first week of training has been interesting.  For one, everyone hates Gringos and they don´t want to listen to missionaries.  Everyone has to admit though that we are the nicest people in the entire area though (as said by one of the Catholic ladies that is trying to "save our souls".  At the same time, I've been able to remember just how much Spanish I actually know and how great it feels to be the leader in a companionship.  It´s been a very strange balance of I know exactly what´s going on, I can do this, and we´re two lost American´s in the middle of Mexico.   

As I said at the start, I've been trying to be like Peter again, and for the same reason that I wrote about in my very first email. I've been called to walk on water.  Except this time, drowning was only a hypothetical idea. I was never in any real danger in the MTC; all of my investigators were really my teachers, at the end of the lessons, I could speak in English to everyone, and we never had to worry about getting lost.  Now, If I don´t know how to say something, it doesn't get said. If I can´t convey the spirit in my lessons, the investigators don't progress. And not only will they not progress, but I've got a companion that thinks that I have all of the answers.  As much as I want to say that I have them all, I don´t. Amazingly though, we've got some of the highest numbers in our district right now, so I think we´re doing something right.  The hope right now is just that we´ll be able to keep this up. First week is luck, second week´s dumb luck, and the third week is mastery. At least I think that practice strategy works in the mission.  

Needless to say though, with every week that I focus on Peter, it is a sign of my continual recognition of my dependence on my Savior each day.  Anyone that doubts that God lives and is a God of miracles can look at the fact that my comp and I are here in the heart of Mexico holding lessons and helping investigators progress.  That isn't our work.  This isn't dumb luck.  This is the Savior guiding His servants as they assist in his work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.  

Like Peter, we all have the ability to receive Divine help and let ourselves be led to his "green pastures".  It´s like the hymn says, "I´ll go where you want me to go dear Lord... I´ll say what you want me to say... I´ll be what you want me to be."  

With that in mind, we can all do as Peter and walk on water.  We can all do what is seemingly impossible, but we have to surrender our own will to do it.  We have to do as Peter did and leave our nets behind to follow him.  This is not an easy thing, and we don´t get to pick one day to do it and another day not to.  It´s an all or nothing deal.  And the result is a lasting, permanent change in character and relationship with God.  

So my invitation this week is to work on building that relationship. One of my older companions once asked me, If I was in Peter´s shoes, and Christ asked me, "Do you love me more than all these?"  and then he asked me a second time, and then he asked me a third time, with his loving but knowing eyes staring strait into your soul, what would your answer be?  Could you answer yes to all three times?  Would you perhaps doubt after the second or third time?  Would you honestly say no, that you loved him, but you didn't want to give up your biggest addictions or sins?  

I´m not going to say how I answered this question, and I don´t expect anyone to tell me their's either.  Just ponder the situation in your mind.  Try to imagine the Savior sitting in front of you asking the same question, and evaluate how your relationship with him is based off of how you feel that goes.

That´s all for now

Elder Gooden

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