I almost don´t even know what to write. I´m still happy, still working hard and still seeing miracles. I don´t know if my letters are sounding repetitive or not, but my journal entries sure seem to. One thing that have seen constant is how happy I am. I get frustrated and a little discouraged from time to time, but whenever I pray it seems to leave immediately.
So two more Élderes moved into our pension, which is such a relief because I was wondering what we were going to do with our whole square foot of extra room with only two of us in there. But seriously, I´ve really liked it a lot more. I love being around other missionaries, and being reminded that I´m a part of something bigger than myselft- part of real army of the Lord. Élder Reyna is from Mexico, but speaks only a little slower than my last companion. Élder Mason is from California, and was so glad when he realized that I was yanqui too. It´s nice to have someone to speak English to every now and then so that we don´t go too crazy always hearing so many different dialects of Spanish.
Élder Fernandez and I have been having just a little bit of trouble with our investigators. Horacio and Juana who had been progressing so well have been showing some signs of doubt. They are really set on worshipping the Virgen Mary, and shared that they wanted every one of their children to support them in their baptism. We passed by their house several times, three days in a row, including the day of their scheduled baptism, and they weren´t home. We´ve yet to hear from them, and we´re a little worried about where to go next. Other previous investigators are either in another area now, or have stopped coming to Church, so we kind of have to start from scratch.
But we´ve seen some miracles too. One mother of a girl we were teaching came out to tell us that we couldn´t teach her daughter anymore, because they have the Bible and that´s all that they needed. We expressed how much we loved the Bible as well, and started talking about our favorite passages. She eventually let us in, and I shared how I loved that the Bible had two testaments to show God´s constant presence among His children. Then I showed her the scripture in Ezekial 37 in her copy, bearing testimony that all the testaments of Jesus Christ would come together as one. We shared that the Bible bears testimony of the Book of Mormon, as well as the other way around, because they are different testaments of the same Gospel. My companion showed her the footnotes with references to the Bible in the Book of Mormon, and left her with a challenge to read Alma 5, and pray to know if it is the Word of God. She was really excited about it and invited us back this Tuesday.
I´ve also decided to stop praying to ¨know what to say in the lessons¨ and take Gordon B. Hinckley´s advice to pray that the Lord will ¨loose (my) tounge and speak His words through (me).¨ Completely submitting myself to Him in lessons has made an enormous impact. I´ve seen the gift of tounges and all the other skills that I need to teach successfully just fall into place by doing this. For example, while talking to a less active family, the father shared that he has not seen a single blessing since his baptism. My companion and I seemed to know exactly what scriptures to use, and what to testify about to help them realize how faith, diligent perserverance, and prayer all work together to bring the blessings. He softened his heart, and agreed to future visits with us and to even come to Church this Sunday. Sometimes, I even tell a joke and they laugh! If that´s not clear evidence of the gift of tounges, I don´t know what is.
In summary, I struggled, submitted, and saw miracles. At the end of it all, I learned something huge this last week. Whether you witness miraculous transformations in your investigators, or struggle to even find one that won´t reject you, if you submit yourself comepletely to the Lord, happiness is guarenteed.
God bless you all. I love you more than ever, and I continue to offer my testimony that Christ lives, our Father loves us, and that Their kingdom is restored on the Earth.
-Élder Goff
Also, I guess it´s somewhat big news to tell you that Elder Holland and Elder Christofferson are coming to talk to our mission this Saturday. !!!! I´ll let you know how that goes!
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Sorry about no pictures last week. There was a bit of a problem with the cheap computer eating my SD card. But I got it back, and I´m sending some now.
Elder Reyna got a hold of my camera, and took a ton of random pictures of his stuff, but I decided to keep some just for the heck of it. That snack is an Alfajor. The weird thing is, the cheapest ones taste the best.
Pretty nice how that works out.
Then there´s some pictures of my new companion and I, and the other Elders.
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