Week 53

Hey mom!! 

I got your email last week, it was just my fault because I tried to respond with a video because I was short on time and the file was too big and wouldn't send, so that sucked.  I totally got your email though!! So, I have been trying these past few weeks, well this past year,  to truly become Christlike! And I watched a really cool talk by Jeffery R Holland called "Tongue of Angels", it talks about (in verse 2 of James ch 3) if we are able to be perfect in word we will also be able to control our entire body and how if we do not offend anyone by our words we are perfect. It's a really good verse and probably better if you just read it, but I have learned that if we offend no man and if we watch our thoughts and our deeds and our actions, then we truly can become perfected in Christ! I am so grateful for the things I have been learning and the things that I have been able to practice and live in my life so that I can more fully accomplish my calling as a missionary to go out preaching to all nations by the Spirit.  I have come to a much greater understanding of the gospel since I have been living it than of all the time I could ever take to study it!  I'm super grateful as well for my mission president and the help he has been to this mission and to me personally!  

I am so excited to hear about Nathan starting high school and about Leah going into her senior year! I'm just super proud of my family overall! This week we had a variety of lessons. We had some in church with this man we met last week who, unfortunately, didn't come to church and says he is too busy to meet this week. Then also we were supposed to pass by the nephew of this one member who is evangelical and says that if we can prove to him that the Bible is not the only sacred scripture on the earth, he will be converted. Sounded easy enough, until we drove 25 minutes with the oldest member in our branch to go to the little village called Napola. It was quite scary because I'm almost positive our member that was driving us is blind and Italian drivers do not drive very slowly, especially when they are late for an appointment. Nonetheless we continued speeding down the pot-hole filled road, when this member swerved off the side of the rode!!! I looked at my terrified companion in the backseat while I was in the front and I asked the member if everything was okay! The sweet old man looked at me and said " Anziano, siamo dimenticati di fare la preghiera" or "we forgot to say the prayer!" Terrified and not knowing what was going on my companion was asked to say a prayer. At first he asked why, then he realized we needed the prayer much more than for safety but also for the spirit, so we sat on the side of the rode praying for safety and for the spirit, then we finally made it to this nice little city and it turns out the nephew of this member wasn't even home. So, we went back to our city and had English course that night!!  Two days ago we went to Palermo to have baptismal interviews for two people that the anziani in Palermo had been teaching, the first was this lady from Hungary who was very moved by the power of the gospel. She had felt the spirit tremendously make an impact on her life after only 2 months of knowing the church. She was following all of the commandments she was also going to get baptized with her husband! I could feel her strong testimony as she shared it with me. The next baptismal interview was this man who had followed the church for other motives. He didn't follow all of the commandments and had not put in the effort to receive true testimony, so I told him we would have to wait a couple of weeks to go ahead and have the baptism. He was crushed when I told him he couldn't be baptized yet but I promised him blessings for following the example of Jesus Christ and how if he really wanted to he could become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. This made me think of the personal preparation it takes to be a member of this church. To fully embrace the gospel you have to want it! You have to love God and love his commandments as well! I have learned that when someone needs spiritual healing they need to turn outward and when one needs physical healing they need to turn inward.  The best thing though is that "when we serve others our spirits become more substantial and our spirits become bigger and that means it becomes easier to find our selves because there is more of us to find!" D Todd Christopherson said that.

Well the search has been long and worth it! Worth every moment! I still can't say I have found myself completely, but I'd say I'm fine with being lost in the work of the Lord! 

I hope everyone has a great week!! 

Love, Anziano Goode