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 20

Hola,

So this week I've been trying to be like President Giles, I'll explain more of that though in a little bit.  

This week has been a little bit strange.  Three of our investigators moved out of our area, We've started hitch-hiking, and we celebrated Mexican Independence Day.  Something that I've found very strange about Mexico is that many people are very unhappy with their way of life here.  Many people are unemployed, the standard of living here is very low, and most people in general are looking for a better life.  However, as soon as September 16th comes around everything changes.  The national colors come out, everyone is celebrating, and everyone constantly is shouting viva Mexico.  It also means that the missionaries get a ton of extra food to eat in the week.  

As for the hitch-hiking story, we've been assigned a third town to visit that's about three miles away and no bus goes to visit it.  Since we walk everywhere, this means that we can waste two hours walking to and from this town or get a ride from complete strangers.  It's been a fun experience.  It's actually extremely common here in Mexico and many people with cars are willing to help us out.  

As for why I've been trying to be like President Giles, he gave me two pieces of advice that have managed to stick in my mind since I got here.  One of them, is that while I'm on my mission, it's not about me (as for those that are reading this and/or aren't from the Harrisburg area, President Giles is the Stake President.  In other words, he's like a regional leader of the church that among other things interviews prospective missionaries to see if they are ready and worthy to serve a mission.)  This piece of advice has especially been present in my mind this week because of what's been going on in our area.  I've found that my new companions, while not entirely disobedient, like to sleep after lunch.  On one occasion, we stopped back by our house, and the consensus between the two of them was that they should take a fifteen minute nap.  At this point, the words of President Giles rang through my head, and I shared them with my companions.  I think that this got to them a little bit because after that they were constantly acting like we needed to work even harder than we were and visit more people.  They also tried to brush off sleeping as a joke, and that they didn't really want to take a break.  But I felt something change within me from that point on. I felt as if in the moments right after, the spirit confirmed that I had been tested to see what kind of missionary I wanted to be, and in that instance I passed.  For the rest of that day, I felt even more strongly the influence of the spirit in guiding us to who we needed to teach, and helping me to understand even more what my investigators were saying and what they needed to hear from me.  

That's all for now.

Elder Gooden

Week 14

Hola,

This week, I've been trying to be like one of the warriors in the army of Helaman, But more on that later.  

For starters, I want to say that the statement: it only rains in Obregon about five times a year is an alternative fact.  It has rained here almost everyday for the past two weeks and rain here is the worst.  The humidity goes up, there is no irrigation, and no one wants to talk with us when it rains.  Also, it's very hard to dry laundry without a dryer.

On the bright side, Mexican food continues to amaze me.  I can buy a fried chicken pizza, which is better than it sounds.  It's pizza, but instead of being cooked on pizza dough, it's cooked on fried chicken.  America, you need to step up your game.  Right now I'm able to eat foods that should give me instant diabetes and I'm still losing weight!!

As I also said, I've been trying to be like a warrior in the army of Helaman.  Firstly to explain this(because there are many reasons for why I've been trying to be like one of them) I want to explain the difference between a warrior and a solder.  In my mind, a solder is someone that is paid to fight in an army.  He is obedient, gets the job done, but at the end of the day returns home to his life away from the fight.  In other words, a solder has invested his mind into his fight, but his heart is not in it.  On the other hand, a warrior is fighting for a cause he believes in.  His whole being is invested in the reason for his fight, and because of this, he always goes the extra mile.  In other words, a solder is fighting for money or another tangible object that can be subject to change.  A warrior is fighting for a cause directly related to the conflict.

Here in the mission I have the choice to be a solder or a warrior for God.  I can choose to serve my mission with the intent of making family proud, or doing what looks good on a college application, and come home at the end of two years feeling accomplished.  Or I can choose to invest my heart into the work.  I can focus on how what I'm doing is saving people from the jaws of death and damnation.  I can choose to consecrate myself to the Lord.  I can choose to follow the advice of President Hinkley and forget myself and go to work.  The difference is that if I choose the latter option- to choose to be a warrior- the work isn't going to end after two years.

Another thing I want to talk about is the power of prayer and worthiness.  To start this story, I first want to thank my parents and everyone else that has been praying for me since I left for my mission.  This story happened on Thursday, when all of the missionaries were invited to a cultural celebration.  At the end of the celebration, I and about five other missionaries crammed into a taxi, which here means ten year old Cadillac, and started the half hour trip home.  About five minutes into the ride home it started to pour down rain.  And about five minutes after that, the car broke down.  as the driver got out to check the engine, some of the missionaries behind me(because I was riding shotgun) jokingly said that I should bless the car.  As they said that, I felt a prompting that I should do just that.  So I laid my hand on the dash of the car and started to offer a silent prayer.  As soon as I thought the words start the car, the engine started up again.  The reason for why I want to share this story is that at the time that I offered that blessing, I didn't feel worthy enough to perform such a miracle.  We hadn't had much success that day, and I was silently complaining for most of the afternoon to God.  As a result, my heart wasn't really invested in the work at that point in time.  And so I prayed afterwords for better understanding.  The response that I received was a big wake up call.

I was told that  I wasn't able to bless that car of myself.  Rather, God knew that we needed a way home that night, and that the prayers of our families, and the promises that he had made with them were what allowed that miracle to take place.  SO the moral of this story is, keep praying for me when I'm on my bad days.

That's all for now

Elder Gooden

Pictures from this week . . .

Week 12

Hola,

So this week, I've been trying to be like Elder Bednar, but as always,more on that later.  

This week has been a rough week.  All of the appointments that we had fell.  Which is kind of sad considering that we had about fifty of them.  In addition to that,we had transfers today, and I lost my dad.  in addition to that, my new comp doesn't know a word of English.  I guess the Lord got tired of hearing me speak English so much.  On the bright side of things, I'm no longer the newest missionary in the mission.  I also learned that letters take about six weeks from the time they are sent out. 

Because, I don't want to depress to many people with the bad things that happened this week,I figured that I should just skip to the I'm trying to be like segment.  It's much more interesting than talking about how my investigators act while drunk.  As I mentioned, I've been trying to be like Elder Bednar.  I say this, because at the MTC we watched a devotional where he talked about his Book of Mormon Library.  In it,he explained how he likes to take a blue missionary copy of the book of Mormon and pick a doctrinal principle to study from it.  He then goes to the index and topical guide to read all of the scriptures related to that principle and mark them and take notes.  I'm now doing a similar thing, but rather than rely on the topical guide for help, I've decided to read through the Book of Mormon every time that I pick a new subject.  I started my second edition this week on faith.  

It's been fascinating to read through,because I've been able to see how much faith ties into obedience.  I've also grown to develop a greater love for the scriptures.  There is so much that I can learn from them. I invite everyone to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, whether it be your first time or your hundredth.  There is always something more to learn

That's all for now

Elder Gooden

Week 9

Hola,

So I'm now officially two months and a day into my mission.  This past week I've been trying to be like Adam, but more on that later.  I've learned a lot this week.  Not all of it was stuff I wanted to know.  For example, cockroaches can fly and melt when you spray them with bleach.  I've also learned that Americans have been doing hot dogs wrong since forever.  Here in Obregon, they take the hot dogs, wrap them in bacon, stuff them with sausage, and then add a bunch of different toppings that everyone from the states hasn't even dreamt of adding before. 

 

As for the mission, things have been progressing well.  We have four investigators that are preparing to get baptized.  We have had a minor setback in church attendance this past weekend though; its the first week of the Mexican summer vacation and everyone is out of town.  I'd say that we could simply teach the tourists that come here, but Obregon is the type of place that literally rains dust, so I haven't seen any yet.  

Another interesting thing is that because I don't know too much Spanish yet, my companion has done most of the talking.  But he likes to start off every lesson with a hymn.  And all of them have been impressed so now all of my investigators have come to know me as the singing gringo that doesn't speak.  Hopefully I can change at least part of that title.

As I said earlier, I've been trying to be like Adam.  I say this because I recognize that my mission is a lot like the plan of salvation,and I'm right at the start of it.   First there is the MTC where everything is beautiful and perfect.  All of the food is well prepared for us every day; we hear from general authorities on a weekly basis; the parrots fly through the sky on the way to class and everything is just wonderful.  But never got the chance to actually fulfill my purpose as a missionary there.  Now I'm in the field, where I've been assigned a trainer, which all of the missionaries refer to as my dad.(for sister missionaries, their trainer is called mom).  We also get to choose for ourselves out here.  I don't have anyone writing out my daily schedule for me anymore; I can choose to follow the mission rules or not out here; I get to choose how to spend my money.  I can choose if I want two liters of coke or three!  But in all seriousness, I now have the opportunity to be like Adam, and make my sacrifices without question or explanation (because wearing khakis in 115 degree heat is a true sacrifice), or I can choose to do what I want.  I can choose to defile the sanctity of my calling, and like Cain, and lead generations of souls down to captivity and destruction.  It's my choice.

The same thing applies to other church callings and commandments.  Take the Word of Wisdom for example.  We know that it is supposed to be a health code designed to protect our bodies from harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol.  But what about coffee and tea?  Science hasn't come out with a definitive answer for why to avoid either of these substances.  In many cases, science has come out to say that in moderation they can even be good for us.  Why should we try to avoid it if it's not harmful?

The answer simply is that God has commanded it.  Conventional arguments that it is bad for the caffeine doesn't make sense because energy drinks and soda aren't a part of the word of wisdom. We can't say either that there is a definitive health risk either because from what we understand so far about food is that both chemicals carry just as many benefits as there are risks.  And we can't say that it's simply because they are hot either, because every Mormon I know loves hot chocolate,and no one has ever tried to say that hot chocolate is against the Word of Wisdom.  In short, we don't have a reason.  We've just been commanded.

I get that this can make this commandment a little bit harder to follow at times, especially with the rising popularity of Starbucks.  But there comes a point when we have to ask ourselves who knows more, God or man?  If I've learned anything here on my mission it's that the answer is God.  

Take for example missionary work.  In Obregon, there is a high population of Jehovah's Witnesses, and their missionaries.  Their missionaries have years of biblical study and experience.  They are armed with a scripture to counter any concern or counter argument anyone could throw at them.  Ad yet, they don't see as much success as the Mormon missionaries.  If you look at it through the logic of man,it doesn't make sense.  How is it that the most immature and uneducated age group in the world that can legally live on their own (young adults ages 18-28) are able to do such a great work and have so much success.  After all, we aren't theologians; many of us didn't read the Book of Mormon all the way through until they gotten their mission; we aren't terribly mature; and half of us don't understand the language for the first several weeks or months of our mission.  And yet the church continues to grow faster than any other on the face of the earth.  It is as if God decided that he wanted the missionary work force to be as the army of Gideon; completely incapable of accomplishing it's intended purpose unless it was led by the hand of God.  And this here can stand as a witness to you that it is God's work.  Because if it was the work of man it would have failed a long time ago.  

I know that there are many of you on this email list that aren't members.  For those of you that aren't, I encourage you to find missionaries in your area.  nothing makes a missionary happier than to hear that someone has been looking for them.  For those of you that are members, I still invite you to have the missionaries over.  They can be great instruments to help increase your faith in the savior.  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 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

. . . . . . . .

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."