Hi family,
The last change of the mission in Honduras San Pedro Sula. Now that
the suspense has been built up, I'll let you in on the changes. There
are no changes in Olanchito! Elder Salas and I are going to be
together for another change! YAY!!!! Sounds good. I am happy about
it. So my son is going to be killing me.
This last week was really good. The guy that has been to church about
10+ times came to church and after the investigators class he said, "I
have a surprise." I want to get baptized this weekend. So we said,
"Ok sounds good, we can help you with that." He always comes and
knows a really faithful member. That's who he comes with too.
We are also baptizing one of the members of the Lopez Family along
with him. It is going to turn out great! The rest of the members of
the Lopez Family still want to get to know the church better and are
going to study more to be more sure about the decision to be baptized.
Well, something disappointing happened this last week. Remember
the guy who got baptized last week? Well, he is
awesome. He is already in 2 Nephi 29. And we gave him his own BOM
about a month ago and is already in 2 Nephi 29. He eats it up and
loves reading it. We stopped by his house to see how he and his
family were doing and we saw him with a ciggarrette in his hand about
to light it. Then we yelled hello to him and he turned and saw us and
hurried and put the ciggarrette behind his back. We talked with him
and encouraged him to not give up. He said that he just has so many
problems right now. He's not working. Him and wife fight alot. His
landlord is threatening to kick him out of the house, etc, etc.
So we went in and told him if he falls down once in a while to pick
himself back up. To not stay on the floor. We read Moroni 7:33 and
Ether 12:27 and explained that with consistent faith in Jesus Christ
and humility, we can overcome our weaknesses. We encouraged him to
occupy his time with positive, productive things. Then he wouldn't
have the urge to smoke. When a temptation comes into his mind, to do
something else to get his mind on something uplifting. Like read the
scriptures, pray, listen to hymns, picture the face of Jesus Christ,
his wife, etc, etc, etc. He re-committed himself and we felt very
good after the visit.
We found a WAY cool guy last week. Seriously, the Lord is truly
blessing us lately with people to teach who are definitely prepared to
receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We simply said to him,
"We teach people about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ" when we talked
to him and he said, "Well, that's good. Because I'm not sure if the
church I go to teaches me about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ." He
expalined a few flaws that the church he goes to has. And he has been
extremely receptive at just about everything we have taught him. He
reads in the BOM. He came to church last week. He is even sharing
the Gospel with others already. And we didn't even invite him to do
it! He uses the pamphlets and tells people that Jesus Christ's church
has a foundation of prophets and apostles. He is a stud. And he has a baptismal date for the 28. He participated in
priesthood and everything!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!
There was a lady that told us last week, "God will touch my heart one
day and I will be called to His true church." We read Mathew 7:7: ask
and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you, seek and
ye shall find. And we pointed out that those words are ACTION words.
They aren't passive words. It doesn't say, "wait and it shall come to
you." For example, if I lost my backpack in my house, I would never
be able to find it if I just sat down in a chair and said, "Come here
backpack. Come over here backpack. I'm waiting for you....." No. I
have to get up and look for it under the bed, under the table, in
other rooms of the house, etc, etc, etc. And so we invited her to
LOOK for the true church and to meditate upon those ACTION words in
Mathew 7:7.
We found another family who are very loving and open, they just go to
another church. We went back to their house after teaching them about
the Restoration and the dad told us, "You know, we've been
thinking....and we think it might be a waste of time if you both keep
coming to our house. We like what you teach and all, but we already
have our church." Of coures, me and my comp weren't particularly
excited to hear this but we asked if he read the BOM. "Yes. And it
teaches us to do good things. It's a good book." And we asked if he
prayed. "No." What if our message is true and you haven't asked our
Heavenly Father to find out the answer? We asked him. Don't you
think it would be wise to trust in Him and as Him before making a
decision? "Yeah. You're right."
I'm not sure exactly why but he started to explain about tithing in
the church that he goes to. That once someone understands the
blessings of tithing, they pay it. It doesn't matter if the money
just goes straight to the pastor and he has his car and his house. He
can do that. Because I'm paying my tithing and the Lord is blessing
me.
That brought up an amazing opportunity to teach about how the Lord
would have us pay tithing and whos money it is. We explained very
clearly that tithing doesn't belong to any pastor or anybody on this
earth. It's the Lord's money. It says in Malaquias, "Will a man rob
God?" It doesn't say, "will a man rob a pastor?" So we explained
that everything we do in the church we represent is voluntary. No one
is paid for anything. And we explained that the Branch President has
his own job, he isn't paid for any work he does in the church. And
then we invited them to specifically pray to know the truth of our
message.
This week was a good week. I am feeling strange knowing that my time
is about over, but I can't lie. I'm looking forward to being in the
good ol' USA. Sure I'll miss the mission, but in 6 weeks, it's time
to get back to life.
Alright the church is still true. Love you.
Elder Goodwin
The last change of the mission in Honduras San Pedro Sula. Now that
the suspense has been built up, I'll let you in on the changes. There
are no changes in Olanchito! Elder Salas and I are going to be
together for another change! YAY!!!! Sounds good. I am happy about
it. So my son is going to be killing me.
This last week was really good. The guy that has been to church about
10+ times came to church and after the investigators class he said, "I
have a surprise." I want to get baptized this weekend. So we said,
"Ok sounds good, we can help you with that." He always comes and
knows a really faithful member. That's who he comes with too.
We are also baptizing one of the members of the Lopez Family along
with him. It is going to turn out great! The rest of the members of
the Lopez Family still want to get to know the church better and are
going to study more to be more sure about the decision to be baptized.
Well, something disappointing happened this last week. Remember
the guy who got baptized last week? Well, he is
awesome. He is already in 2 Nephi 29. And we gave him his own BOM
about a month ago and is already in 2 Nephi 29. He eats it up and
loves reading it. We stopped by his house to see how he and his
family were doing and we saw him with a ciggarrette in his hand about
to light it. Then we yelled hello to him and he turned and saw us and
hurried and put the ciggarrette behind his back. We talked with him
and encouraged him to not give up. He said that he just has so many
problems right now. He's not working. Him and wife fight alot. His
landlord is threatening to kick him out of the house, etc, etc.
So we went in and told him if he falls down once in a while to pick
himself back up. To not stay on the floor. We read Moroni 7:33 and
Ether 12:27 and explained that with consistent faith in Jesus Christ
and humility, we can overcome our weaknesses. We encouraged him to
occupy his time with positive, productive things. Then he wouldn't
have the urge to smoke. When a temptation comes into his mind, to do
something else to get his mind on something uplifting. Like read the
scriptures, pray, listen to hymns, picture the face of Jesus Christ,
his wife, etc, etc, etc. He re-committed himself and we felt very
good after the visit.
We found a WAY cool guy last week. Seriously, the Lord is truly
blessing us lately with people to teach who are definitely prepared to
receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We simply said to him,
"We teach people about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ" when we talked
to him and he said, "Well, that's good. Because I'm not sure if the
church I go to teaches me about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ." He
expalined a few flaws that the church he goes to has. And he has been
extremely receptive at just about everything we have taught him. He
reads in the BOM. He came to church last week. He is even sharing
the Gospel with others already. And we didn't even invite him to do
it! He uses the pamphlets and tells people that Jesus Christ's church
has a foundation of prophets and apostles. He is a stud. And he has a baptismal date for the 28. He participated in
priesthood and everything!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!
There was a lady that told us last week, "God will touch my heart one
day and I will be called to His true church." We read Mathew 7:7: ask
and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you, seek and
ye shall find. And we pointed out that those words are ACTION words.
They aren't passive words. It doesn't say, "wait and it shall come to
you." For example, if I lost my backpack in my house, I would never
be able to find it if I just sat down in a chair and said, "Come here
backpack. Come over here backpack. I'm waiting for you....." No. I
have to get up and look for it under the bed, under the table, in
other rooms of the house, etc, etc, etc. And so we invited her to
LOOK for the true church and to meditate upon those ACTION words in
Mathew 7:7.
We found another family who are very loving and open, they just go to
another church. We went back to their house after teaching them about
the Restoration and the dad told us, "You know, we've been
thinking....and we think it might be a waste of time if you both keep
coming to our house. We like what you teach and all, but we already
have our church." Of coures, me and my comp weren't particularly
excited to hear this but we asked if he read the BOM. "Yes. And it
teaches us to do good things. It's a good book." And we asked if he
prayed. "No." What if our message is true and you haven't asked our
Heavenly Father to find out the answer? We asked him. Don't you
think it would be wise to trust in Him and as Him before making a
decision? "Yeah. You're right."
I'm not sure exactly why but he started to explain about tithing in
the church that he goes to. That once someone understands the
blessings of tithing, they pay it. It doesn't matter if the money
just goes straight to the pastor and he has his car and his house. He
can do that. Because I'm paying my tithing and the Lord is blessing
me.
That brought up an amazing opportunity to teach about how the Lord
would have us pay tithing and whos money it is. We explained very
clearly that tithing doesn't belong to any pastor or anybody on this
earth. It's the Lord's money. It says in Malaquias, "Will a man rob
God?" It doesn't say, "will a man rob a pastor?" So we explained
that everything we do in the church we represent is voluntary. No one
is paid for anything. And we explained that the Branch President has
his own job, he isn't paid for any work he does in the church. And
then we invited them to specifically pray to know the truth of our
message.
This week was a good week. I am feeling strange knowing that my time
is about over, but I can't lie. I'm looking forward to being in the
good ol' USA. Sure I'll miss the mission, but in 6 weeks, it's time
to get back to life.
Alright the church is still true. Love you.
Elder Goodwin
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