Week 49

Hola Todos,

This week I've been trying to be like Jesus.  I'll get back to that point later though.  We had a lot of good things happen this week.  first of all, It's been crazy to try and have two areas in one.  We've just been visiting several investigators and their families all week long to try and figure out who really wants to progress.  That's been kind of interesting because a lot of what we've started to do is focus more on the people and not just thinking about getting people baptized.  With the mission boundaries getting ready, to change, everyone wants to get a hundred baptisms as a mission this month, so the pressure has been high.  My comp and I have been doing everything we can though to help all of our investigators to get to where they need to be so that they can take that important step.  In other news, we have a really big house.  We now have two fridges, two floors, a ton of extra space, and a cat that doesn't want to leave us alone.  With all of the extra space, we have decided to fill the house with pictures of Jesus, and dedicate a fridge to Mexican coke.  I may or may not finally start to gain weight.  We'll see how much coke we drink though.  

As I said though, I've been trying to be like Jesus this week.  This also once again has to do with what I've been doing in trying to search more for the needs of our investigators and teach them what they need to learn rather than just focus on getting them to church or accepting a baptismal date so that our numbers look good for our area come Sunday.  This has meant a lot of slower lessons, more promised blessings and connecting with the people, and a much stronger connection with the spirit.  This connection has had a profound impact on how I've felt towards my investigators.  I'm no longer looking at them as potential statistical reports, and more like people that need to feel the love of the savior.  I find that I'm trying to make my commitments fit there needs, rather than search for a way to make their needs fit my commitments.  Even though I know that this will end in baptism, we're working to make baptism the evidence that our investigators know that the church is true and that they have seen that in their lives.

That's all for now

Elder Gooden

Week 25

Hola,

This week I've been trying to be like President Myres, more on that later though.  This week was in a word, long.  My first two weeks here were met with a lot of success.  We found in those two weeks, 31 new investigators, many of them had accepted the invitation to be baptized, and I thought, ya.  I'm an awesome missionary.  Give me another transfer or two here and I'll baptize the entire town!  Maybe my pride got to me a little bit, because this week we found hardly anyone to teach, all of the appointments with the progressing investigators fell, and it was hot all week long.  One of our investigators did get married though, so that´s always good.

On the bright side, my companion and I have started eating healthier and we've learned that it's possible to live off of about ten dollars a week for food.  Beans, tortillas, and eggs go a long way.  And then if we want to add a little bit of flavor we have tomato and onion to add with it.  

This doesn't mean that I've stopped enjoying the abundance of coke in this country.  On Saturday, in honor of my ability to chug water so quickly, my companion decided that I should chug a liter of coke.  If anyone knows what the world record is for that tell me.  Right now I can do it in 47 seconds.  With a bit of practice though, I bet I get I can get it down to about 15.  Dealing with carbonation though is a bit different than plain water.  

As I said, I've been trying to be like President Myers, or rather, the missionary that he wants me to be.  One of the things that he has tasked for every missionary to do is memorize the Living Christ and share it during lessons.  For those of you who don´t know, the Living Christ is a church document that was published seventeen years ago to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ. Contained with in is a summary of his life, the meaning that it has for all of us, and the promise that one day He will return to rule and reign over the earth as it´s king.  The fun thing for me though, is that I had to learn it in Spanish.  Speaking the language is one thing.  Learning how to memorize something and to say it with meaning is another.  

I started back in August, when I still barely had enough command of the language to teach in the lessons, but now, as of this past Saturday, I've been able to memorize all of it.  Believe me though, it was one of the harder tings to do on my mission.  Especially when I had Spanish speaking companions that some times made fun of my pronunciation or on accident said another word.  There was one time I tried to say it and ended up saying that Christ died for our fishes instead of our sins.  At the end of it though, President Myers was right in saying that memorizing this sacred document would bring us closer to God and give us a better understanding of the sacrifice that our Savior made for all of us.

This week, I want to invite everyone to read the Living Christ and think for yourselves what the sacrifice of our Savior means for you personally.  Think about what his death and resurrection mean in your life, and pray to find our how you can improve that relationship and feel more of his loving influence in your life.

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 22, Conference, I'm training, and I'm off to my second area . . .

Hola,

This week, I've been trying to be like the apostle Peter. More on that later though.  

First off, I loved conference.  As always, it's a great experience to listen to the words of the living prophets and learn more about how we can draw closer to Christ.  One thing that I noticed was really big in the conference was the theme of repentance, and how it has the power to draw us closer to Christ.  I also loved Elder Oaks talk about the Family a Proclamation to the World, and how it is an example of modern revelation and proof that God once again talks with man.

This week I also received the biggest shock of my life so far.  We had special transfers, and I was assigned to train a new missionary, or rather to finish his training.  For some reason, his companion was reassigned to another part of the mission, and so now I have to finish his training.  It will be a challenge, but I´m sure that the Lord has prepared me for it.  I should meet him in about five hours.

As I said, I've been trying to be like Peter. I've been reading Jesus the Christ lately, and it draws a stark contrast of Peter before and after the resurrection of Christ.   Before his Resurrection, Peter was a good disciple that followed the commandments of Christ.  Naturally he had his faults, but we understand that he is a good disciple and missionary.  However, when Christ was arrested and brought before the high priest, He cowered in fear of punishment, and denied knowing Christ three times.  Upon recognizing his sin, he runs away weeping into sore repentance.

This changes though after the Resurrection.  We read in the book of acts that Peter received a cloven tongue and that he strait away went forth to proclaim the gospel to all in Jerusalem, fearlessly condemning them for the death of Christ.  The difference that we see here is that Peter received a gift from the Holy Ghost, and that afterwords he was able to overcome his weakness and undo the damage of his sins.

We likewise are able to do the same thing.  We read in the Book of Ether that if we humble ourselves before Christ he will make weak things become strong unto us.  We all have the ability to plead before the Master for strength and forgiveness that we can be better instruments in his hands.

That's all for now.

Elder Gooden

Week 19

Hola 

So this week I've been trying to be like Jesus in regards to love for everyone in the way that President Eves shared with us in one of our MTC devotionals.  As always, I'll have more on that later.

This week has been interesting I had yet another plot twist in this last transfer, after I finished my last email, I got a call from my mission president and he told me that I was getting a second companion for this transfer.  So if anyone has been keeping score for how many companions I've had, this equals four companions in three transfers.  Things have been a bit of an adjustment, given that our house is probably the smallest in the mission.  It's all been pretty good so far though.  There is definitely a lot more noise and a lot less space in the house.  Miraculously, it's gotten cleaner though.  

As I said to start, I've been thinking about the message that President Eves shared in the MTC with me.  His message focused on the character of Christ and how he was always thinking about others.  We read in the JST that after He was tempted by Satan and fasted for 40 days, he sent angels to minister to John the Baptist while he was in prison.  We also know that when he was being arrested, he healed a man's ear.  And of course, we can't forget about his atoning sacrifice for all of us.

The point to understand about this is that Christ has always expressed his love through sacrifice and service.  To follow his example, we should demonstrate this exact same form of love.  It is through this form of  Godly love, or Charity, that we become more like God. 

I know what today is, and that there are several people who still hold negative feelings about what happened this day.  But these feelings can be overcome with the power of Christ's atonement and we can be emotionally healed.  Charity is one of the best ways that we can feel this power in our lives.  The closer to God that we are, more powerfully we will be able to feel his influence and his love in our lives.  He is the answer to all of our problems.  

This is why, for this weeks challenge, I'm inviting everyone to find someone that needs service this week, and serve them,  I also want to hear about the experience if your comfortable sharing it, so please write me how it goes.

Following through with last weeks challenge, I've been focusing on how the spirit is able to guide me though missionary work.  for example, this week,  we were contacting in a part of our area after all of our plans for that hour had fallen.  I was about ready to just move onto the next hour's schedule, when I felt prompted to continue contacting in that area until six(the next hour block).  So following this prompting, I stayed in that area, and we found a man reading his bible outside his house.  Recognizing that we were missionaries, he was more than excited to talk about the gospel with someone else.  With patience and trust in the spirit, we were able to find a new family to teach, and maybe baptize.  The road is still fairly long.

That's all for now

Elder Gooden

Week 15

Hola

So this week I've been trying to be like Jesus as always though, I'll cover that in the later end of my email.  

This week has been amazing!  I had my first baptism on Saturday which was awesome.  It was a nine year old kid named Rayez.  It was awesome to be able to do such a cool thing like that, and I learned a lot about the nature of the ordinance from having to memorize it for a second time in Spanish.

In other news, the ward that I'm in has nearly doubled its attendance since I arrived here (though this isn't hard to do when membership is as low as fifty people)!  The people here have been so friendly and welcoming that it's been easy to talk to less active members here about the importance of attending church.  It's also been interesting to see how my companion and I work together.  In a lot of ways, we are very similar.  We both like to study and read the Book of Mormon, and have each read it several times.  We both tend to lose track of small things that end up being important further down the road.  So it's been an interesting learning experience to basically see myself through a mirror.

As for why I've been trying to be like Jesus, I've been thinking a lot about why I'm here on my mission.  One of the things that I've learned here is that my mission is about the last place that Satan wants me to be.  And because of that, I've learned a lot about how he tries to tempt missionaries.  One of the most common things that he likes to do, at least with me, is when it's been a rough day with the language or when all of our appointment fall, he likes to ask the question, why are you here?  If you are truly a missionary, why don't you have the gift of tongues; why don't your investigators keep their appointments; one of your investigators is sick, if you have the priesthood, why don't you heal them?  In other words, he tries to get us to believe that there is no power in our calling, and challenges the legitimacy of the message of the gospel.  

But I also remember a talk that Jeffery R Holland gave at an MTC devotional, when he asked the same question of why isn't salvation easy.  His response was: salvation doesn't come easy.  It was never easy for him [Jesus Christ] why should it be easy for you?  and then I remembered a scripture in Mosiah 14: He is despised and rejected of men.  A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid as if it were our faces from him, he was despised and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows.  But we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

I also remembered that it's his name that I am wearing on my chest, and that I've been called to be his representative while here on the earth.  And so, this scripture has a very true message for missionaries as well.

We are despised and rejected of men; more often than not, people don't want anything to do with our message, some people even have anti-Mormon feelings.  We are men of sorrows and acquainted with grief; it's always sad when an investigator decides to stop progressing, because we know how much this message can help them.  And they hide as if it were, their faces from us; it's always a little annoying whenever we can hear the TV on inside a house but no one wants to answer the door.  We are despised and they esteem us not.  

Surely we have bore the griefs our our investigators and carried their sorrows; we have spent countless hours in fasting and prayer over the well being of our investigators.  

And so, I've learned that being a representative of Christ means taking the good and the bad.  But just like the bad parts are rough, the good parts are really great.  Take for example the ordinance of baptism.  One of the things that makes baptism so unique, is that it is the only ordinance that I can think of that is done in the name of God and Christ.  All of the other ordinances that are performed in the Church are done in the name of only Christ.  Everything from prayer to priesthood blessing, to temple ordinances is done in the name of Christ.  But baptism is done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  The only other time within all of the scriptures that this is done, is when Christ atoned for all of our sins and died on the cross.  And just like the atonement makes of free from sin, baptism symbolically cleanses us from sin.  And so I thought that that was a pretty neat comparison.

The last thing that I want to talk about is the Abrahamic covenant.  For those of you who don't know or remember, we read in the Bible that God covenanted with Abraham, and that one of the signs of the last days is that this covenant will be fulfilled through the restoring of the lost tribes.  But we often forget, just exactly what that covenant is, and that it is the purpose of the church to fulfill this covenant.  as for what this covenant in tales, we need to go to the book of Abraham.  In there, we read that Abraham was baptized, received the priesthood, and was sealed in celestial marriage, as explained in the bible dictionary, the covenant that God made with Abraham was that all of his posterity would have the opportunity to receive these covenant blessings and the possibility of exaltation.  Through baptism, all of us are adopted into this covenant, and have the responsibility to bring others into this covenant so as to restore the house of Israel.  If we aren't striving to make and keep the covenants in the Abrahamic covenant, we are apostatizing.

That's all the time that I have for now.  

Elder Gooden

Pictures from this week . . .

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