Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas)

Monday, December 30, 2019  8:41 AM MST

This past week was Christmas!  And it did not feel like it at all.  Just felt like a regular old day from the start.  And it pretty much was, just talked to my family and that was pretty much it, but I'd honestly rather have it that way than to have it feel like a big occasion and then be homesick because of it.  But I am happy to get Christmas out of the way and be able to say I've only got 1 left!  It's felt quick.

This week we're expecting 2 baptisms this Saturday, and 1 more from the other companionship in our apartment, so it's a big week!  We're planning to baptize Marc, who's 23, and Espoir, who's 10.  It's kind of stressful trying to prepare them and get everything in place so everything will go smoothly.  We've got a lot to do this week!  But it's definitely a good stress, and will definitely pay off when we see them all prove their faith in Christ by making covenants with our Heavenly Father.  The importance of baptism has really hit me while teaching these 2, and it will be a special experience to watch them take this step in their life.

Other than that, we've fixed another baptism for the 25th with a man name Yovi.  He lives alone and doesn't speak French very well, but he's a happy guy and has received our message well.  We're excited to continue with him.  And there's a few others that we're working with that we're hoping to fix for the 25th as well.  This could be a big transfer for us!  We're excited!

We had zone conference this past week, and it was very good.  They asked us to write down questions we had so that the Spirit could testify to us and help us answer them.  I did it and definitely got some answers.  One lesson that I really liked a lot was about joy.  He taught that if we think only about ourselves, we'll only see things from that perspective and we won't find joy.  If I'm thinking just from my perspective, it doesn't seem very fun to wake up at 6:30 everyday and go walk around in the African sun for 8 hours.  But if I think outside of myself and think about my ami and the change I can bring to their life and the joy they can feel because of our message, it makes it seem a whole lot better.  So if you're having a hard time doing something in your life, try thinking about the others in your life and how that benefits them.  And then do it for them.  It's not fun doing stuff for ourselves.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and that you have a good start to 2020!  I love you all!

Elder Goddard

Togo zone conference December 27, 2019 

Elder Goddard and his district
Elder Goddard, Elder Mputu, Elder Dent and Elder Appam

This is Elder Goddard's buddy Saleem.  He was baptized just shortly before Elder Goddard got to Adidigome.  He has come 3 weeks in a row to come and talk to us.  He loves talking to Jonah and Jacob and have them dance for him.  He says Jonah looks like "little Mr Bean."  Haha!  Saleem goes out with the Elders to teach every Thursday.  At just 14 years old that is an amazing thing for him to do!!  We love Saleem!

The boy on the left is Espoir.  He is the 10 year old that is getting baptized on January 4th.  The other boy is his cousin.  He came to visit Elder Goddard and talk to us today too.  We LOVE seeing and being able to meet and talk with Elder Goddard's amis!! <3

:D

Monday, December 23, 2019 10:34 AM MST

This week we scheduled another baptism for the 4th of January!  We're baptizing Fr. Marc.  A few weeks ago he stopped us in the street and asked us who we were and what we do.  He said he was trying out many churches and looking for the right one.  We happily started teaching him and now he's getting baptized!  He was telling us he's seen some missionaries and people like us before, but he's never stopped them before.  But he told us that day he had a strong feeling to stop us.  I know God has been preparing this man.  We were teaching him the plan of salvation, and he was so happy to know that baptism will help him qualify for eternal life.  The mission is good!

We continue to find good new amis each week too.  I know God is working right along side with them and helping us with His work here.  We had 5 people come to church this Sunday, 3 for the first time and the 2 others are getting baptized.  I'm so happy to keep working with these people and to see them take the steps necessary to deepen their faith in Jesus Christ.  I know the Lord is blessing us and blessing these people.  And with the success we're seeing, it's just making me want to work harder and be more obedient to help more and more people.  It's an exciting time here in Adidigome.

There's a quote from the book The Other Side of Heaven that I really like a lot and has really changed my perspective on certain things.  It says, "I have learned that some of life's sweetest experiences come from doing things that may not seem logical but that by faith you know are right, and then over time watching the justifications and blessings come rolling in."  Sometimes I feel like faith is an abstract thing that can be hard to understand.  But this really simplifies it for me and helps me to use faith in my life.  Sometimes we can rationalize not doing something that we know we're supposed to do because of the circumstances that we're in.  We can rationalize not doing it because it doesn't make sense.  But if it always made sense to keep the commandments, would that require any faith?  

Sometimes it makes zero sense to keep a commandment, but I think that's so cool because it's an opportunity to show our faith.  And even it it makes no sense, everything will turn out alright, but God won't let us fall.  So have faith, even if it makes no sense, because that's the real faith.

I'm having lots of people worried about how I'm doing, being here for Christmas, and I just want to let you know I'm doing good.  I kept waiting for the homesickness to kick in but now Christmas is suddenly in 2 days and I'm still doing well so I think I'll be fine.  So don't anyone worry about me just let loose, enjoy the time with the family, and remember all the awesomeness stuff our Savior did for us.  Love you all and have a Merry Christmas!!

Elder Goddard

Je suis Tombe malade (I got sick)

Monday, December 16, 2019 9:58 AM MST

Last Monday I ate a bad batch of leftover potatoes and got sick!  We stayed in the house all of Tuesday, but then we went out into sector all the other days of the week.  But when we were at the house I was mostly bed ridden trying to calm my stomach down.  So just some Christmas time fun!  I was all better by Friday though and I'm going strong now so no worries, la sante va bien.  (health is fine)

This past week was the end of our shortened 5 week mutation, (transfer) and I'm going to stay here in Adidigome and continue the training of Elder Mputu.  But now Elder Dent, who left for the mission the same day as me, is going to start training a new missionary.  So we're going to have a very very young apartment next transfer.  And of this young bunch, I got the call to be district leader.  Should be a fun experience to lead this young group and help advance the work of our Savior here in our Adidogome district.

This week we have been teaching a lot of people who I want to help so much.  These are people who are saying there's something missing in their lives, they're searching for answers but they're not there.  Just the kind of people who we want to teach.  They need the knowledge of the gospel in their life!  And I feel such a desire to share that with them and I want them to have the knowledge that I have that this message can help them more than anything else on Earth!  I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can possibly be doing to help them know that this is true, to help them know their Savior and his church on Earth today.  It makes me want to be so obedient and do everything possible to have the Spirit with me.  It's a little stressful, but it's a good stress.  I love these people and this gospel, and the blessings that it brings.

We've been teaching the son of our ami Koffi after he said he wouldn't be baptized until his son was.  We don't know why he wants it like that, but we've been teaching his son since.  He's a cute little kid, he's 10 years old and he's become a good buddy of ours.  We walk with him to church and back again.  And this week we fixed his baptism for January 4th!  It's very cool and we're very excited for him to take this step towards his Savior;  And be an example to his father!  We're hope that he'll follow in the footsteps of his son and take the same step.

Good week, and good mutation; time just keeps flying by!  Thanks for all your support and love and prayers.  I love hearing from you all and I hope you're all enjoying this Christmas season and taking time to look outside yourself and serve others.  Have a good week!

Elder Goddard

Washing machine!!

La saison de Noel (et la saison seche) - Christmas season (and the dry season)

Monday, December 9, 2019 12:33 PM MST

This week we had our Christmas activity and we had a fun time.  I was in the choir and my friends sat right behind the Elder leading the choir and were trying to make me laugh, and boy were they good at it.  They pulled out a selfie stick at one point and started taking pictures.  They were making me smile, but something else that made me smile was that at the end our mission President told us every apartment was getting a washing machine for Christmas!  We got that right after and took it home with us.  I don't have to wash by hand anymore!!

We've been trying to really focus on building up our relationships with the members in our branch, so we've been trying to call them up and visit them and not just when we're asking them to teach with us.  We had a really good experience with that Saturday night.  We visited Fr Koffi who we baptized a couple months ago.  He didn't come to church so we wanted to pass by and see if he was okay.  He was so happy!  We went by pretty late and I think he was surprised to see us.  We were happy to pass by and make him happy.  Let people know you're thinking of them this Christmas season!  It makes a difference.

At our Christmas activity, President and Soeur Goury both talked about how the best gift that we can give this Christmas season is give up our will to our Heavenly Father.  Everything we have and own belongs to our Heavenly Father, except our will.  That's the only thing we have that belongs to us.  And if we give it up and become true disciples of Christ, that'll be the best gift that we can give.  Serve and love others, Light the World this Christmas!  Commit to do it and make a difference in people's lives and make a difference in your own as well.  There's nothing better than letting others know that they're loved.

I love you all and thank you for your support.  Have a good week!

Matthew 19:26

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Elder Goddard

Elder Goddard and his buddy Elder Taylor.  They had to say goodbye as Elder Taylor is heading home.

Santa!

C'est deja decembre? (It's already December?)

Monday, December 2, 2019 8:39 AM MST

This week was Thanksgiving and we kind of forgot about it oops.  So we didn't eat anything or do anything special on Thursday, but Elder Dent got gravy and mashed potato packets in his package, so we had our Thanksgiving feast on Saturday.  We just cooked up some chicken legs and served it with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Boy did it feel good to taste mashed potatoes and gravy again, I sure was thankful for that.

This week we sat down and had lessons with a lot of our new contacts.  One of them is named Olivier.  We started out just getting to know him, and after started the lesson.  We taught him the Restoration.  The whole time he was engaged, but kind of just staying quiet.  After we had finished teaching him everything, he just stayed quiet for a minute and then said that our message really touched him.  He's a pastor, and he said he's always felt like what he said wasn't always everything.  But now he understands, and knows that his next step is to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  Lessons don't always to like that, but it's cool when there is one like that.  We're happy to keep working with him and where this can go.

Lessons like that are pretty nice too also because I'd say I had a bit of a harder week this past week.  There's just a lot of responsibility on my shoulders with being the trainer and having to juggle lots of amis right now.  And I really want to help these people any way that I can, so when a lesson doesn't go as well, or when an ami doesn't progress, I kind of take that as my responsibility.  Like I'm doing something wrong.  I was thinking about it a lot one night walking home, just thinking to myself.  I was pretty stressed out.  And I said to myself, "I don't know why it's like this, but I know I'm trying," and as soon as I said trying, I immediately felt peace.  I wasn't stressed out anymore.  I felt the love of my Heavenly Father.  He knows that I'm doing by best, and that was enough.  The rest would be okay.  I was very grateful for that.

To go with that, I was reading Elder Holland's talk from this last October conference.  He talks about all the different things going in the church, and it can seem like a lot, and we can get caught up in that.  But we need to remember that the focus should always be on Christ.  Everything going on in the church points to Christ, and is there to help us come closer to Him.  So I've been trying to apply that to the mission.  There's a lot of different things that we can be doing as missionaries, but if I always put my focus on Christ, and strive to have His Spirit with me, I'll do what I need to do, and what he wants me to do.  Everything will be okay if I put my focus on Him.

So that was my week.  I hope you all had a good one and were grateful for everything we're blessed with back home.  Thanks for your love and support, I'm grateful for you all!  Have a good week.

Elder Goddard

Elder Goddard and Elder Mputu

Elder Dent, Elder Goddard and Elder Mputu

Mashed potatoes yum!

Thanksgiving feast

Elder Goddard turns 19!

November 25, 2019

-This post submitted by Elder Goddard's Mom 

November 24th, yesterday, was Jordan's 19th birthday.  And to say that I missed him is an understatement.  I have always tried to make our kids birthdays special.  It was a very special day for me when each of my children came into my life so I have always wanted to celebrate their day as so.  Well, this was the first time that I was not with one of my children on their special day.  So it was a  bittersweet, emotional day.  I woke up and immediately posted my yearly birthday post for him.  Even though he would not see it, I still had to tell the Instagram and Facebook world how much I love my son on his special day.  I also asked for a favor from my social media circle to write Jordan a short email of love and birthday wishes.  And boy did everyone come through for him and me!  He opened his email today to over 30 birthday wishes from so many of you and I will forever be grateful!!  And I had already made a plea for cards and messages to send in a package, (which he opened yesterday!) in which we had received many.  So I just can't thank all of you enough for your love and support!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I am humbled.

But my reason for writing this post is this, I know that my Heavenly Father is mindful of me; that He loves me and each one of us; and is aware of what we need at any given time.  I had a tender mercy yesterday on Jordan's birthday that I will never forget.  I know it was not a coincidence and it may not seem like it is a huge deal but I know that it was Him showing His love for me.  

Jordan and his companion baptized a 15 year old girl several weeks ago.  Her name is Yassmine.  I have heard a lot about her and at one point, a few weeks ago, Jordan told me she wanted to follow me on Instagram.  And of course I was so excited and told him to tell her to find me!  So several weeks passed and I never heard from her.  I asked Jordan about it and he said she was out of data and had to wait for it to renew.  I said okay and didn't think much of it anymore.  She would contact me when she was able.  Well as I was getting ready yesterday I had a lot of time to think about Jordan and was becoming a bit emotional when I get a notification on my phone that I had a follow request.  And I bet you can guess who it was! Yes! Yassmine!  If you thought I was emotional before!! I immediately said she could follow me and I started following her.  She had made an adorable post just 7 minutes before, so I knew she was probably still on her phone.  So with the help of google translate I wrote her a message on her post.  I continued to get ready for the day as I hear my phone go off and Yassmine direct messaged me!

She said: Hello  (in English so we wrote in English the rest of the time)

-Me: Hello! :) How are you doing?  I am so excited you found me on here!  Did you see Elder Goddard today?  It is his birthday!

-Yassmine: Yes I saw him

-Me: That makes me very happy!  How was he doing?

Yassmine: He was very happy  I was cook rice to him (this was my favorite!!)

Me: I am so glad to hear he was happy.  Thank you for cooking rice for him.  That is very sweet of you!  Congratulations on your baptism!  So happy for you!

Yassmine: Thank you very much

Now if that doesn't make your heart happy I don't know what will!  I know that my Heavenly Father wanted her to contact me on his birthday so I knew that Jordan was happy on his special day.  And for her to cook rice for him!  What a sweet gift.  <3  I just know that there was no coincidence in this experience and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for such a beautiful gift for me once again on November 24th, Jordan's birthday.  <3  

J'ai dix-neuf ans (I am nineteen years old)

Monday, November 25, 2019 8:19 AM MST

This week we've found a lot of new people.  We've been doing a really good job at talking to everyone in between our lessons, and it's lead to a lot of contacts, and hopefully a lot of new potential amis.  There's a place in the back of our planners to write down contacts, and we've almost filled it all up and we're not even halfway through the transfer yet.  We've gotta quit talking to people or we're gonna run out of space!  (One of them just called me while I was writing this and that never happens so that's sick)

We've had some really good lessons this week,  We started teaching a woman named Egnonam.  She's a mother of 2 children, but her husband left with the first kid, so it's just her and the younger one.  We taught her twice this week.  In the first, we talked about how prayer can help us through our hard times, and I felt prompted to share my experience with prayer, when my grandpa lost his job this summer and we prayed and he got a new job that we did not think he would get.  She really liked that and I was happy to be prompted to share that.  Then in our second lesson, we taught the Restoration more clearly than I have since I got here.  She understood, and told us that she would read the Book of Mormon without a doubt, which is pretty rare here.  She said she was looking for the right path in her life and we were happy to say that we had that for her.

We also had zone conference this week, and man that hits different as a trainer and as a senior companion.  I learned a lot of things that I can improve on.  But I'm happy, because I will become a much better missionary and a better instrument in the hand of the Lord.  The Spirit was strong all day and I'm grateful for my leaders and I know that they're called of God.

Well this week was my birthday and it was fun.  Saturday night we went out to a restaurant with some others to celebrate.  It was fun and a good end to a nice week.  Then Sunday was just a regular old day, didn't feel any different.  But that's not to say it was a bad birthday, I love what I'm doin out here and I'm happy to spend the 20th year of my life out here in Africa helping people truly know their Savior.  And I'm happy to not be the brand new 18 year old missionary, now I'm the big experienced 19 year old missionary.  Feels great.

Anyways, this past week was great, and the days seem to be flying by.  I almost laugh sometimes when I'm going to bed because it felt like I just woke up.  But that's just because we're lovin the work right now, our days are jammed pack and I never have enough time to do what I want.  It's great.  But I want to thank you all for the love that you've shown me this week, whether you sent a letter in my package, or you emailed me this week.  I'm very grateful and overwhelmed by the support I've got at home.  Thank you so much.

Love you guys, have a great week

Elder Goddard

Birthday celebration!

A family photo...Elder Goddard with his Dad and Son...haha!

Elder Mputu

Birthday banner from his family

Elder Goddard and his son <3

puzzle complete

Elder Goddard thought it would be funny to send this picture

Elder Goddard had to put up his own streamers for his birthday this year...a tradition his Mom always does to their bedroom door

Training Pt. 2 Week 1

Monday, November 18, 2019 8:02 AM MST

Yo

This week on Tuesday I picked up my son.  He's from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and he's 24 years old.  And he only speaks French like I thought.  He's only been out on his mission 3 weeks so he's very much a new missionary and you can definitely tell sometimes, haha, but he is a great missionary and loves to work hard and I'm excited to help him adjust and see what we can accomplish during our time together!

This weeks been really fun in terms of lessons.  It's crazy to me to already be the one taking charge and teaching most of the lesson, but I'm loving it so far.  I'm surprised to look back and see how far I've already come.  I can teach an entire 45 minute lesson in French when I could hardly do anything with the language even 3 months ago.  It's pretty cool.

But that's the problem with this training thing!  I'm the one who knows how to do stuff, and he doesn't know how to do anything.  So I need to do everything, which I'm okay with, but I also need to slowly give my companion more and more responsibility so he can become a true missionary himself.  It's definitely a little stressful at times to find that balance between keeping the work moving forward and also helping him grow as a missionary.  But it's my calling and I know my Heavenly Father is there to help me with it as I follow the Spirit.

Saturday we had a missionary activity at our branch.  We'd planned a lot for it, and everyone in the branch was inviting 2 or 3 friends to it and we were all really excited for it.  And it went great!  In the morning, us missionaries went out with the members and did some street contacting with them for a few hours and inviting everyone to come back to the church later in the afternoon for an activity.  And the activity in the afternoon went great!  We had a lot of people show up; the place was packed!  Lots of family and friends of members of our branch were there.  And not only that but a lot of them then came to church the next day too.  We had to refill the trays during the Sacrament for the first time since I've been here.  We're excited to get to work with these new people!

This week we had some cool lessons.  One was with our amis Elie.  We'd had a really good lesson with him last time about the Restoration and he believes it and wants to come to church.  But he works Sunday at a hotel with only 2 other people manning like 45 rooms, so he can't find a way to leave to come to church.  We were talking about that in our lesson this week, and I had a strong feeling to tell him that God would provide a way for him to come to church if he read the Book of Mormon every day for even just 5 minutes, and then if he kept the Sabbath day in the way that he can right now by not buying anything on Sunday.  I told him if he kept these 2 commandments, God would give him a way to come to church.  We haven't followed up with him yet, but I hope he keeps them.  Because I have faith that if he shows his faith, God can make a miracle happen and get this man to church.

That's about it for this week.  Love you all and hope you're doing well.

Elder Goddard

My companion's name is Elder Mputu, I forgot to say that :O

puzzle time

Crispix!! My favorite cereal!  Thanks for the package Mom and Dad! haha

Elder Goddard and Elder Mputu

Elder Goddard, Elder Mputu, and Elder Dent (their roommate who also was in the MTC with Elder Goddard)

Trainer Goddard

Monday, November 11, 2019 3:27 AM MST

This past week I got my first real transfer call, and boy did I.  I'm going to stay here in Adidogome, but I'm going to train a new missionary!  What?!?  I already forgot his name, but I think he Congolese and a native French speaker.  I feel like I just got out here in the field, but here I am already a senior companion, and not only that but showing a brand new missionary how the mission works.  And doing that all in French!  It's a little crazy, but I'm actually really excited for the challenge.  If I thought these past 2 transfers in training made me grow, these next 2 as the actual trainer will cause me to grow even more.

Yesterday we had a baptism for Yasmine!  We had scheduled to baptize Jonas too, but he couldn't take work off to do an interview this week, so we'll do his soon.  But yesterday was Yasmine's day, and it was great!  We did the baptism before church in hopes that more people would show up, and it worked!  We had a lot of people there watch her be baptized and support her!  The Spirit was strong during it, I felt it burning.  And then to watch her receive the gift of the Holy Ghost just a few minutes after during church.  It was a great day, and we were all happy for her!

Outside of that, just a regular week in terms of work, just teaching all of our amis, some progressing better than others.  These next few weeks should be interesting though as I have to fix all these rendezvous myself and get my new companion up to speed on how we can help these people know their Savior.

This week I was reading in 3 Nephi, and chapter 17 stood out to me.  I just really felt the love that Christ had for the Nephites in this chapter.  And to think that He has this love for every one of us!  I felt the Spirit confirm to  me this love that he has for all of us when I was reading this chapter.  It makes me want to work harder so people here can feel of that love for themselves.

Last thought, with my new calling, I was reminded of a talk that I had read earlier this transfer.  It's called lift where you stand by Elder Uchtdorf.  It's about how you should not worry about if you are overqualified of under-qualified for a calling, but just know this is the calling God wants for you and you should magnify that calling.  While I might be a bit nervous for this, I find strength in knowing that my leaders and my Heavenly Father have confidence in me as a French speaker and as a missionary to be able to do this.  With their help, I know that I can do it.  Don't worry about your calling, just lift where you stand!

Thanks for your love and emails comme habitude.  (as usual)  Pics should come later today or in the week.  Love you all!

Elder Goddard

Water in a bag - costs 25 Francs

"Yeah it's water, that's how we do it here."

Elder Drogowski, Yasmine, Samuel (her brother) and Elder Goddard

Saying goodbye to his roommate Elder Zaza

Goodbye Elder Dorgowski!  Elder Goddard's trainer

What week even is it anymore?

Monday, November 4, 2019 8:46 AM MST

This last week has been a real good one.

Me and my companion have been using the local language Ewe a lot this past week, and it's been really fun.  We know next to nothing but we've been trying to learn a little bit.  Just like how to say hello, goodbye, thank you, and stuff like that.  The people love it, they laugh any time we use it.  I don't know if it's because we can't pronounce it at all, or if it's because it's two white boys speaking their language.  Either way, they're lovin it and we're havin a good time with it too.

Yesterday we had planned to go pick up one of our amis and walk with him to church.  We had 8:30 planned, and we called him at 8 to confirm, and he said he'd be there.  So we walked there and got there right at 8:30.  We knocked on the door, and his brother answered and said he left.  In the 30 minutes between our call and our arrival, he managed to leave.  It's such a joke sometimes, they respect appointments so much differently than we do at home haha.  No appointment is a given here they're always a wild card.

But despite that we still had 3 people come to church this week, which made us happy.  The 2 who are getting baptized and then one other kid that we've been teaching.  We went by his house Saturday and he wasn't there and his neighbor said he had moved to Ghana, which we were sad about but we kinda just forgot about him, because there's not much you can do when your amis moves to a different country haha.  But he walked with his brother across the border to come to church this week.  It was honestly such a surprise.  Like I said, everything here is pretty much just a wildcard, you take what's thrown at you and you do the best with it.

Anyways, he came up to us after church and asked when he could be baptized, so we fixed his baptism for December 1st.  So that's 3 baptisms scheduled now, 2 will be this Sunday and then his in December.  We're so excited for all of them, they're all so ready and I'm excited for them to take this step to follow Christ!

This week makes the last week of this transfer, which means I've got one week left of my training.  It's so weird to think, it's seemed slow in the moment sometimes, but looking back it seemed so fast.  And it's already November?  Time flies.  I'll be home before I know it so I've gotta cherish it while I'm here.  Anyways we're getting calls this Saturday, so I should have some news to share next week.  But hopefully it's that I'm staying in Adidogome!

Thanks for the prayers and emails, love hearing from all of you.  Have a great week.

Elder Goddard

Zone activity playing soccer. Jordan got a hat trick!!  He's still got it!!
Elder Goddard, Elder Drogowski, and Elder Wright

One of the amis getting baptized on Sunday!!

The little kids always seem to want to be around Elder Goddard! <3

"It's the guys here who can do the splits, not girls."  haha! (Samuel age 15)

We were tired

Just a little rain

cool dude

what's up?

Semaine 16: Quelques baptelmes! (Week 16: Some Baptisms!

October 28, 2019 7:06 AM MST

Salut mes chers amis, soyez le bienvenue a ce mail (Hi my dear friends, welcome to this email)

This week was nice

At the start of the this week, I was a little frustrated!  We have a lot of amis, but a lot of them aren't progressing as we hope.  And it's been like that for this whole transfer so far.  After a day of lessons that didn't go as we had hoped, me and my companion just sat down at dinner and talked about how things were going.  He was telling me how he feels like he's working really hard this transfer, more than others, but we just can't find success, and that that's just how the mission goes sometimes.  That talk kinda helped me just relax, because I'd been kinda stressed thinking I haven't been doing enough to find success.  But at the end of the day, it's always the person's choice to accept the gospel.  No matter how hard you work, sometimes you just won't find success.

But, God blessed us this week!  Yesterday was great.  After not having anyone come to church for a few weeks, we had  show up!  They both really liked it.  One had to leave after sacrament meeting, but he said next week he's going to bring his son.  And the other stayed, and we taught him after church and fixed his baptism for the 10th!  His name is Jonas.  It was really cool, and he's so ready.  He was participating in priesthood like he was already a member, and he was asking us if it was possible for him to serve a mission.

But not only that, yesterday evening we had a lesson with another one of our amis, and we fixed her baptism too!  She's Muslim, but her 2 brothers are members.  We asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon and prayed, and she said yes.  So we asked if she got a response, and she said she had a dream about everything that she asked about in the prayer.  So that was her answer, and she was ready to be baptized!  We're so happy for her, she'll be getting baptized on the 10th too.

And at the end of the day, I was looking at our numbers for the week, and we met every goal we set for ourselves this week!  That was a nice surprise, because our numbers have been pretty bad so far this transfer.  Basically, this week started with a little frustration, but we pushed forward and just had faith that we were doing what we needed to be doing.  And then this week quickly came together, and we found a lot of success!  It was a nice little tender mercy after such a rough start.

I've got pictures for this week, but I'm not able to send them right now, hopefully I can send them a little bit later, because I've got a few.

Thanks for all your love and support, love you all!!  Happy Halloween and enjoy the snowwww

Elder Goddard

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Elder Goddard wanted me to send these photos out this week since the cyber he was at did not have great connection.  Thank you to all for being such a great support to him!  Thank you for all the prayers in his behalf and for emailing him.  It makes his week!!  Thank you for your love and support!

Love,
Jessica Goddard

This little boy stole Elder Goddard's name tag and bag and wanted to be like him.  :)

This little boy stole Elder Goddard's camera and took the following 3 pictures of him and his companion

Apparently it gets hot doing their laundry.  Haha!