FAMILY!!!!!
What is up? I LOVE YOU ALL and hope that you are good. How many P
days do I have left? Four!
HEY, so why was this mission conference the best ever? Because Elder
Clarke from the Quorum of the Seventy came. WOW!!!! He was full of
vibe, enthusiasm, energy. He enjoys what he does. He didn't even
have to teach very much for me to want to be like him. He truly is an
example of someone who preaches the Gospel not only with his words,
but also by his example.
He taught us heads, shoulders, knees, and toes to make sure that the
Latins are focused in their goal of learning English in the mission.
Because he said that if the Latins learn english in their mission,
they will make 4 times more money after. He asked my companion in
english, "How is your english?" And my companion just looked at me
all nervous, so naturally I told him the answer to his question and
whispered to him, "good." So he repeated that and Elder Clarke said,
"NO!!! You have a problem Elder Goodwin." I laughed at it and
thought to myself ouch complete bombardment. Haha. And then he said,
"If the Latins don't learn English in their mission, it's the gringos
falt!!!!" The man is extremely direct. But he's awesome at the same
time. So Elder Salas and I have been dilligently studying English
since then, haha!
He bombarded me yet again. He specifically bombarded me. He said to
everyone, "Who is a missionary in this room who is known for baptizing
wherever he goes?" And everyone is like, "Elder Goodwin." I was
like, "Oh crap! Why did you all say that?" Because then he bombarded
me and got 5 inches from my face and said, "Well it doesn't look like
it." But it was pretty intimidating seeing him so close to my face, I
am not going to deny it. Gall complete bombardment. But then he
said, "If I were you, I'd sit next to Elder Goodwin when you eat lunch
to observe how he is so that you can all baptize."
And when he was speaking at the pulipt, he said, "Well Elder Goodwin,
what do you do to baptize?" I told him, "Well, I see what challenges
the people have that are keeping them from knowing the Gospel and then
I study in my personal study specific points that can help them
resolve their challenge." He said, "That's an important principle
Elders." It was cool.
He said when we want to do something, we must make worthy goals. And
a worthy goal needs a plan first. Start by working towards that goal
with your heart, then with your mind, then with your strength. In
that order. The 3 basic principles to salvation are love, faith, and
obedience. He also said, "No one will worry about you if you don't
worry about others. In order for people to care about you, you have
to care about them." That man is amazing.
He showed us how to teach the Gospel. He showed us how to get a
reference. He showed us how to teach tithing. He taught us and then
he SHOWED us. But the thing that I really loved about him was his
enthusiasm and energy. When he asked for volunteers and they walked
up slow, he bombarded them and said, "GO, MOVE, DON'T BE SLOW!!!!!"
Haha. He was really direct and straight forward, honestly kind of
like a drill seargant but with love.
He said, "What makes a good leader?" And everyone started saying
things like having the spirit, loving others, determination. Normal
answers. And then he said, "A good leader is someone who thinks he
can win and makes his team think he can win as well. So everyone on
his team performs thinking they are going to win." That is an amazing
principle. Very true too. Jesus Christ doesn't think that it's
hopeless for ANY of us. He always thinks that there's hope and
believes in the potential that each and everyone one of us have as
children of God. All He does is throw touchdown passes.
Hahahaha, do you know what he said to choose a wife after the mission?
Elders, after your missions, go on dates and if you think you have
found the right one, take her to the top of a HIGH mountain. If she
complains on the way up, leave her. Being married to someone who
complains is hell. Hahahahaha. That's true, when I've been with
companions that complain on my mission it sucks. It's like, why not
just do the work? Hahaha, I laughed way hard when he said that. He
said, "Sisters, when you think you have found the right guy, CALL HIS
MISSION PRESIDENT, and ask what kind of a missionary he was. And if
he says, "Good," leave him! You need to marry an excepcional man, not
just a good man.
So that was definitely the highlight of this last week. Seeing Elder Clarke.
This last week, we had 5 investigators in Sacrament meeting. One is
going to get baptized on the 18th of June. Her name is [Suzy] and
she's like 300 pounds. She wants me to baptize her so I've been
working out lately....her son is member. I hope I don't drop her.
She has been 3 times to church and we gave her a huge poster of Jesus
Christ getting baptized.
[Jim], the convert that got baptized 2 weeks ago bore his testimony.
He said after the meeting, I don't know how anyone can say this isn't
the true church. He said in his tesitmony, "Ever since these 21 days
ago that I met Brother Salas and Brother Goodwin, I've had some very
strong trials. But I've been reading and praying and I've been able
to overcome them. AWESOME!!!!! It was so neat to hear that from him!
One of the leaders up on the stand whispered over to us, "Now THAT is
a conversion."
We had a run in with 2 pastors last week. They read a scripture that
said that there are no prophets today and that the last of the
prophets came before John the Baptist. It is a scripture that is in
Luke. So we read Ephesians 2:20 and said Jesus Christ's church is
built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets. If a church that we
see today doesn't have apostles and prophets then it's not Jesus
Christ's church. It's a church of some man. And lets remember Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if there aren't
prophets and apostles in His church today, that would mean that He
changes, and since He doesn't, His church is like that in our days
too.
They really just kind of wanted to read scriptures from the Bible and
contradict what we were saying so we just ended the appointment with
giving them a BOM and inviting them to read it and pray about it. It
almost seemed like they believe in the Bible more than they believe in
God. After teaching them a principle we invited them to ask God and
they would just say, "Show me where it is in the Bible." Berrba
(sorry I was just a bit perplexed as to how someone can believe that
there aren't prophets in our days, haha). So we asked him if God
loves him more than He loves me. No, He loves us all equally. So if
he remembered about the people in Jerusalem, He would remember about
the people in the American Continent too. And we just left them with
the BOM, testified of it, and we were off.
We taught a cool family yesterday. They are baptized in the Mount of
Zion church. So we said, "Imagine that your house represents the
kingdom of God and your waiting outside to enter." We told them to
lock the door and then I said, "OK, now I'm going to enter in the
kingdom of God. I pulled out the key I had in my pocket to our house
and tried to open their house door with it." I didn't get it open and
I asked, "Darn it! I can't get in. Why?" Because it's not the
right key. And we said that not everyone has the right key, just the
church of Jesus Christ and his authroized servants. And the guy
asked, "Well what is the true church." We taught them and invited
them to pray! It was neat because they were all very interested. The
Gonzalez Family!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
Well, I'm not going to lie, these 2 years have definitely not been the
2 easiest years of my life. In fact, it's been quite the opposite.
I've seen that as we worry about others more than ourselves, things
fall into place. If we're always like "me, me, me," we're losing the
point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ never said in the
scriptures, "I'M hungry, I'M bored, I'M this or that. He was always
looking outward.
I've learned that as we worry about the first and great commandment,
all the other commandments fall into place. But if we're worried
about all the other smaller commandments before worrying about the
first and great commandment, we can lose focus and become overwhelmed.
I've learned that faith and love are words of ACTION!!!!! Saying "I
love you" is quite easy. But showing it isn't. We show it by what we
do and how we do it. If we want to have more faith, we should be more
dilligent in keeping the commandments while remembering the first and
great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart...."
Dilligence and obedience are far more important than intelligence.
God will not and cannot bless the most intelligent man in the world
unless that man keeps His commandments. Doctrine and Covenants
130:20-21. I know that constant dilligence and obedience will build
the stairway we can all take to enter into God's kingdom and sit at
His right hand.
I know that the Book of Mormon is divinely inspired. The Book is a
powerful testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Chandi and
Bryan sent me a Book of Mormon with their testimonies in spanish and I
read it all and highilighted each time "God," "Jesus Christ," or
"Lord" was mentioned. And 95% of the pages were marked. Practically
each and every page of the Book of Mormon mentions God or His son.
Well that's all I got for now......
Elder Goodwin
What is up? I LOVE YOU ALL and hope that you are good. How many P
days do I have left? Four!
HEY, so why was this mission conference the best ever? Because Elder
Clarke from the Quorum of the Seventy came. WOW!!!! He was full of
vibe, enthusiasm, energy. He enjoys what he does. He didn't even
have to teach very much for me to want to be like him. He truly is an
example of someone who preaches the Gospel not only with his words,
but also by his example.
He taught us heads, shoulders, knees, and toes to make sure that the
Latins are focused in their goal of learning English in the mission.
Because he said that if the Latins learn english in their mission,
they will make 4 times more money after. He asked my companion in
english, "How is your english?" And my companion just looked at me
all nervous, so naturally I told him the answer to his question and
whispered to him, "good." So he repeated that and Elder Clarke said,
"NO!!! You have a problem Elder Goodwin." I laughed at it and
thought to myself ouch complete bombardment. Haha. And then he said,
"If the Latins don't learn English in their mission, it's the gringos
falt!!!!" The man is extremely direct. But he's awesome at the same
time. So Elder Salas and I have been dilligently studying English
since then, haha!
He bombarded me yet again. He specifically bombarded me. He said to
everyone, "Who is a missionary in this room who is known for baptizing
wherever he goes?" And everyone is like, "Elder Goodwin." I was
like, "Oh crap! Why did you all say that?" Because then he bombarded
me and got 5 inches from my face and said, "Well it doesn't look like
it." But it was pretty intimidating seeing him so close to my face, I
am not going to deny it. Gall complete bombardment. But then he
said, "If I were you, I'd sit next to Elder Goodwin when you eat lunch
to observe how he is so that you can all baptize."
And when he was speaking at the pulipt, he said, "Well Elder Goodwin,
what do you do to baptize?" I told him, "Well, I see what challenges
the people have that are keeping them from knowing the Gospel and then
I study in my personal study specific points that can help them
resolve their challenge." He said, "That's an important principle
Elders." It was cool.
He said when we want to do something, we must make worthy goals. And
a worthy goal needs a plan first. Start by working towards that goal
with your heart, then with your mind, then with your strength. In
that order. The 3 basic principles to salvation are love, faith, and
obedience. He also said, "No one will worry about you if you don't
worry about others. In order for people to care about you, you have
to care about them." That man is amazing.
He showed us how to teach the Gospel. He showed us how to get a
reference. He showed us how to teach tithing. He taught us and then
he SHOWED us. But the thing that I really loved about him was his
enthusiasm and energy. When he asked for volunteers and they walked
up slow, he bombarded them and said, "GO, MOVE, DON'T BE SLOW!!!!!"
Haha. He was really direct and straight forward, honestly kind of
like a drill seargant but with love.
He said, "What makes a good leader?" And everyone started saying
things like having the spirit, loving others, determination. Normal
answers. And then he said, "A good leader is someone who thinks he
can win and makes his team think he can win as well. So everyone on
his team performs thinking they are going to win." That is an amazing
principle. Very true too. Jesus Christ doesn't think that it's
hopeless for ANY of us. He always thinks that there's hope and
believes in the potential that each and everyone one of us have as
children of God. All He does is throw touchdown passes.
Hahahaha, do you know what he said to choose a wife after the mission?
Elders, after your missions, go on dates and if you think you have
found the right one, take her to the top of a HIGH mountain. If she
complains on the way up, leave her. Being married to someone who
complains is hell. Hahahahaha. That's true, when I've been with
companions that complain on my mission it sucks. It's like, why not
just do the work? Hahaha, I laughed way hard when he said that. He
said, "Sisters, when you think you have found the right guy, CALL HIS
MISSION PRESIDENT, and ask what kind of a missionary he was. And if
he says, "Good," leave him! You need to marry an excepcional man, not
just a good man.
So that was definitely the highlight of this last week. Seeing Elder Clarke.
This last week, we had 5 investigators in Sacrament meeting. One is
going to get baptized on the 18th of June. Her name is [Suzy] and
she's like 300 pounds. She wants me to baptize her so I've been
working out lately....her son is member. I hope I don't drop her.
She has been 3 times to church and we gave her a huge poster of Jesus
Christ getting baptized.
[Jim], the convert that got baptized 2 weeks ago bore his testimony.
He said after the meeting, I don't know how anyone can say this isn't
the true church. He said in his tesitmony, "Ever since these 21 days
ago that I met Brother Salas and Brother Goodwin, I've had some very
strong trials. But I've been reading and praying and I've been able
to overcome them. AWESOME!!!!! It was so neat to hear that from him!
One of the leaders up on the stand whispered over to us, "Now THAT is
a conversion."
We had a run in with 2 pastors last week. They read a scripture that
said that there are no prophets today and that the last of the
prophets came before John the Baptist. It is a scripture that is in
Luke. So we read Ephesians 2:20 and said Jesus Christ's church is
built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets. If a church that we
see today doesn't have apostles and prophets then it's not Jesus
Christ's church. It's a church of some man. And lets remember Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if there aren't
prophets and apostles in His church today, that would mean that He
changes, and since He doesn't, His church is like that in our days
too.
They really just kind of wanted to read scriptures from the Bible and
contradict what we were saying so we just ended the appointment with
giving them a BOM and inviting them to read it and pray about it. It
almost seemed like they believe in the Bible more than they believe in
God. After teaching them a principle we invited them to ask God and
they would just say, "Show me where it is in the Bible." Berrba
(sorry I was just a bit perplexed as to how someone can believe that
there aren't prophets in our days, haha). So we asked him if God
loves him more than He loves me. No, He loves us all equally. So if
he remembered about the people in Jerusalem, He would remember about
the people in the American Continent too. And we just left them with
the BOM, testified of it, and we were off.
We taught a cool family yesterday. They are baptized in the Mount of
Zion church. So we said, "Imagine that your house represents the
kingdom of God and your waiting outside to enter." We told them to
lock the door and then I said, "OK, now I'm going to enter in the
kingdom of God. I pulled out the key I had in my pocket to our house
and tried to open their house door with it." I didn't get it open and
I asked, "Darn it! I can't get in. Why?" Because it's not the
right key. And we said that not everyone has the right key, just the
church of Jesus Christ and his authroized servants. And the guy
asked, "Well what is the true church." We taught them and invited
them to pray! It was neat because they were all very interested. The
Gonzalez Family!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
Well, I'm not going to lie, these 2 years have definitely not been the
2 easiest years of my life. In fact, it's been quite the opposite.
I've seen that as we worry about others more than ourselves, things
fall into place. If we're always like "me, me, me," we're losing the
point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ never said in the
scriptures, "I'M hungry, I'M bored, I'M this or that. He was always
looking outward.
I've learned that as we worry about the first and great commandment,
all the other commandments fall into place. But if we're worried
about all the other smaller commandments before worrying about the
first and great commandment, we can lose focus and become overwhelmed.
I've learned that faith and love are words of ACTION!!!!! Saying "I
love you" is quite easy. But showing it isn't. We show it by what we
do and how we do it. If we want to have more faith, we should be more
dilligent in keeping the commandments while remembering the first and
great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart...."
Dilligence and obedience are far more important than intelligence.
God will not and cannot bless the most intelligent man in the world
unless that man keeps His commandments. Doctrine and Covenants
130:20-21. I know that constant dilligence and obedience will build
the stairway we can all take to enter into God's kingdom and sit at
His right hand.
I know that the Book of Mormon is divinely inspired. The Book is a
powerful testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Chandi and
Bryan sent me a Book of Mormon with their testimonies in spanish and I
read it all and highilighted each time "God," "Jesus Christ," or
"Lord" was mentioned. And 95% of the pages were marked. Practically
each and every page of the Book of Mormon mentions God or His son.
Well that's all I got for now......
Elder Goodwin
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