Chez moi (home)

Monday, March 23, 2020 3:51 MST

This past week we got a call from the assistants on Thursday telling us that all the missionaries in our mission were going to go back to their country.  That call completely flipped our week around, suddenly instead of doing missionary work, we were packing our bags and getting ready to go home.

I'm actually writing this email from home.  I left Sunday morning, and I just made it back here a few hours ago.  But I just want to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for all that he did for me in helping me to get here.  There were a lot of moments this past week when we cut it pretty close, and almost got stuck in Togo.  When we were driving down from Kpalime, we had to take a back road to avoid a police barricade, and then another police barricade down in Lome let us through, but told us that if we would have come a day later, they wouldn't have let us through.  And then Sunday when we went lots of flights were getting rejected or cancelled, ours went through and we were able to come back home.

I know God has been involved in this process every step of the way.  There were too many little things that had to happen just right for me to be able to be here safe at home right now.  It wasn't just coincidence, but I know that God was right there along side me.  He loves and cares for each and every one of us, and if we pay attention, we'll be able to see his hand in our lives every day.

It's sad to say goodbye to Togo and Benin, and the hope is that one day this whole thing will die down enough for me to be able to return back there.  But as for now, I'll be quarantined at home for 2 weeks, after which I should be assigned to a new mission here in the States, and continue my mission here for a while.  But nothings for sure yet, I should have more to say about it next week, but as for now, I'm happy to say that I'm safe back here in the States with my family.

I love you all!  Stay safe and have a good week!

Elder Goddard

The week the world lit on fire

Tuesday, March 17, 2020 9:15 AM MST

This past week was transfers, and everyone in my apartment left me.  Suddenly after one transfer, I'm the oldest missionary in kpalime after just one transfer.  It's pretty sad because last transfer was so fun, probably my favorite one on the mission so far.  It went way too fast!  But I'm excited to be working with Elder Konan now, who's from Cote d'Ivoire.  The 2 others in the apartment are also African, which means I'm the lone white boy here.  Which means I might go days at a time without seeing another white person.  I'm probably the farthest I could possibly be from home right now, and I'm honestly pretty excited about it.  In other news, my son Elder Mputu is training now, which means I'm a grandpa!  Pretty crazy!

Well the whole world kinda lit on fire this past week.  It's crazy to hear about everything that's been happening at home because here, it doesn't feel like anything has changed.  At least outside of the church.  Which is why it feels a little frustrating to have to cancel church here, but we've got to respect the words of the prophets and apostles.  The work was a little slow this week with all the confusion and with transfers.  Our baptisms got cancelled because we didn't think we could do them, but now we've gotten word that it's okay, so we should get them baptized soon.  We have things better figured out now so we should get back to working like normal this week.

Yesterday when the new guys first got here in the apartment,  I was feeling a little sad and lonely, because I loved the guys that I was just with, and I was just a little anxious to have to completely change everything so quick.  I was worried I wouldn't get along with these new guys.  I was pretty sad.  But when I was thinking like that, I just had this feeling that no matter how I'm feeling, no matter how little the people around me might understand who I am and where I come from, I have my Savior who knows me perfectly.  I could never possibly be alone.  And that feeling gave me so much peace and comfort during a rough time.  It was such a cool experience that I won't forget.  I know that we have a Savior who knows us perfectly, and wants us to be happy.  I know that if we do what we need to do to have the Spirit in our lives, he will bring us peace and comfort through the Holy Ghost.

Well it sounds like the world is a little crazy at home, but just know I'm safe out here!  And I'll be praying for all of you.  Stay safe!  I love you all.

Elder Goddard

Le ligne de sujet (The subject line)

Monday, March 9, 2020 12:01 PM MST

This past week it rained for the first time in about 4 months, and then rained like 3 more times during the week.  It's a blessing because it's really hot if it's not raining.  But during the worst rain this week, me and Elder Culotta went out and played in the rain, and I was cold for the first time in 8 months.  It was amazing, I actually had goosebumps.  It's too bad it was 95 degrees the next day, but we'll take what we can get.

This week was pretty successful!  We found quite a few new amis who we think can progress well.  It felt like I taught like 50 first lessons.  But it was nice, because it seemed like every time, they were engaged in the lesson and interested.  That doesn't always happen so it was nice.  Then we had 7 amis at church, and 4 for the first time, so we really do have people who are interested, now it's just up to us to get them to the point where they can make covenants with their Heavenly Father.  And we should be doing that this Saturday because we should have 2 baptisms for our amis, Clementine and Pelagi.  We're helping a lot of people out here and we're excited about it!

Despite having a successful week, it was a rougher week for me.  I'm doing well, just the ups and downs of the mission.  But being down a little kind of made me reflect on something important.  I hit my 8 month mark tomorrow, but I remember thinking at the beginning of my mission when I was struggling that I just needed to get to 6 months or 8 months or whatever and then I'd be happy.  But here I am 8 months later still having rough weeks.  Why is this important?  Because we need to not push our happiness off until a future date.  It's real easy to say things like "I'll be happy when I finish high school" or "I'll be happy when I have a girlfriend" or things like that.  But if we do that, we're just going to get to that point in the future and realize we'll still have rough days and not everything will be perfect.  So we need to not push off our happiness, and just realize that we can be happy now.  We need to choose to be happy and find the good in each day.  And we can, especially if we focus on what is important.  Because as President Nelson said, "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.  When the focus of our lives is on God's plan of salvation and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening-or not happening-in our lives."

I love you all, hope you are all doing well.  Have a great week!

Elder Goddard

Suivez l'esprit (Follow the Spirit)

Monday, March 2, 2020 9:57 AM MST

We just finished week 4 up here in Kpalime, and it was good.  It wasn't really an exciting week, I can't really think of much of what happened, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm having a blast up here.  I don't know what it is about being up here, but I love it!  I'm so happy to be up here, I love the guys that I'm with right now and just love the atmosphere.  I'm really hoping that I'll stick around this sector for a while.

This week was probably the best week we've had in terms of our amis progressing.  We just had good lessons where we feel like they were really interested and really understood what we were trying to say.  And I feel like we've just been following the spirit well, doing different things because we feel like the spirit is pushing us to.  The spirit's really been pushing me to just testify a bunch this week, which I love.  When I testify, I know I'm doing my job.  At that point I've presented my message and they know what I believe.  And then it's up to them to decide to follow us or not.  But I know that I've done my job and what God wants me to do.

This week I was reading in Romans and I found a scripture I really liked.  It's Romans 12:21, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."  It's a really simple scripture.  We need to overcome evil.  But it's not just avoid evil or don't take part in evil, it's overcome evil.  And how can we do that?  We have to do good.  It can seem kind of obvious, but it's actually a problem today.  There's too much that we can do today that's not good, it's just neutral.  Playing on our phone, watching tv and stuff like that.  So we need to make sure that we make time for things that are actually good in our life, because if we don't, we're letting evil stay.  But if we do good in our life, we'll be overcoming evil at the same time.

I love you all have a good week!

Elder Goddard

We got robbed

Monday, February 24, 2020 6:33 AM MST

Our zone leaders were coming up here Tuesday night to do a split with the district leader.  After sector in the evening we were going home, expecting to let the zone leaders into the house, but we got home and they were already in there.  They said the door was open when they got there and they thought we left it open for them, but we didn't.  So then we saw that the lock on the door was busted and we knew that we got robbed.  Whoever it was took 2 cameras, 2 bags, and Elder Holland's money.  Luckily I didn't lose anything.  We got all the locks and stuff replaced so that's all good, but they probably won't ever find who did it.  An interesting way to start the week!

This Saturday we had a baptism!  Our companionship had 1 and the other had 5, so it was a big one.  And it went great!  We had a lot of members come out and support these new members, which we were really excited about.  We were so happy for our candidate Honore, and he was happy too.  He was the first one to get up and bear his testimony at the end and we were so proud of him.

This week we had a lesson with our ami Pelogi and it really hit me hard.  Pelogi has one leg that is normal, but the other leg is really short and makes it difficult for her to walk.  But this lady has so much faith that it doesn't stop her from doing anything.  She is the ami that lives the farthest from the church, but yet she walks to church with her 4 kids every week.  And when we went over for the lesson, she was saying that she was late to church, and that she needs to do better.  She holds herself to such a high standard, she's got to have the most faith of anyone that I've ever seen.  We all have little setbacks and obstacles that we can use as excuses to not try as hard or to not do what we need to do, I know I do.  But I'm going to try a little harder to be more like Pelogi, and not these little things, or big things, Satan puts in my path to get in the way.

I'm loving life up here as a missionary in Kpalime!  I love the experiences that I have, and how much my testimony has grown.  This is just my life now, and I'm loving it!  I hope you're all having a good time back at home, I love you!  Have a good week!

Elder Goddard

Election Week

Monday, February 17, 2020 9:37 AM MST

This past week kind of took a toll on us.  The air up here is really dry and dusty and we both have had a cold because of that.  It's not bad though just something to deal with.  I don't know how you Utah people deal with dry air!

Also, it's election season here and there's a lot going on with that.  There's posters going up everywhere, people driving through with loud music and handing out stuff to people like it's a parade.  And the power keeps going out a lot and apparently it's tied to the elections.  It's a little crazy and it all ends with the election this Saturday, where it's supposed to get even crazy.  Apparently each election ends with a riot in the street so we're not supposed to go out this Saturday because of that.  

But we scheduled a baptismal service this Saturday without thinking, so we have to go out.  We gt approval to go out for it and then just go right back after.  It won't be a problem, especially because we're far from the capital, so I don't think much happens here.  But it will be an exciting day for us!  The other companionship has 5 baptisms set up, and we have one for our ami Honore.  I didn't help much with teaching him since I'm new here, but I am happy to see him take this step forward in his life!  He's so ready and we're excited for him.

This week I was reading in Acts chapter 3 when Peter and John heal the man outside of the temple.  What stood out to me was how after the man was healed, he remembered why he has healed.  He knew that God had blessed him.  So after he was healed, he went into the temple and was praising God.  We can learn a lesson from this man, we need to remember the Lord when he blesses us!  When life's going well, it's too often that we can forget that it's because God is blessing us.  We can often get too self centered and forget what He's done for us to get us there.  I think we all could do a little better with that.

No camera still but we heard there might be a place where we can buy one, so we'll check it out and hopefully I should have some pictures for next week.  Anyways, love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Goddard

This is a picture Elder Goddard sent to us before his camera broke.
Cute story...Elder Goddard's "son" randomly wanted a picture with this Elder who happens to be Elder Goddard's new companion Elder Culotta!!  So cool! :)

Kpark City

Monday, February 10, 2020  8:10 AM MST

This past week saw me say goodbye to my birth sector Adidigome.  Since I left on Wednesday, Tuesday gave me one last chance to go and say goodbye to everyone that I've gotten to know over the past 5 and a half months.  It's sad for sure but I was excited to move on to my new sector Kpalime.

Wednesday we went over to the stake center,  I found my new companion Elder Culotta and then we were off.  The 2 hour car ride up here wasn't as bad as everyone makes it sound, it was kind of nice actually.  It just reminded me of driving up in the mountains at home.  I like the vibe up here, it's a lot more chill.  Adidigome was down in the captial and was really dense with lots of people.  Kpalime is more spread out and not as busy.  It feels like the African Park City and I'm liking it a lot.

As soon as we got here, I just went and set my suitcases down in my room and we went out and got to work.  We've got quite a few amis here and the work is going well from what I can tell.  We've been pretty busy, going from one lesson right to the next, and it's making these days go by really fast.  I've gotten to know all of our amis already, so I'm excited to take the next steps with them and help them gain a testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week I've been reading the teaching of Gordon B Hinkley and I liked a part when he talked about how we need to be examples to the world.  The world is going to continue to get more and more evil, and become farther and father away from our standards.  But just because the world is changing doesn't mean that we're going to change.  We need to stay strong and hold to our standards.  And our standards will keep becoming weirder to the world, and people will judge us and make fun of us.  And that's exactly what we see in the Vision of the Tree of Life, the great and spacious building will mock us.  But we need to keep the faith and remember that it's not our standing in front of man that matters, but our standing in front of God.

Well that's about it for this week.  I'm safe and sound and happy in my new sector and I'm loving the work more than ever.  I love you all at home and I hope you all have a good week!

Elder Goddard

It's Village Time

 Monday, February 3, 2020 8:54 AM MST

Saturday we got our calls, and after 5 and a half good months here in Adidigome, I'm headed 2 hours up north to the village Kpalime, where there are waterfall baptisms, mountains, bikes and cold weather!  I've got to say, I'm pretty excited.  And everyone I've told is pretty excited too.  It seems like everyone's family here is from there.  There were gasps in sacrament meeting when I said I was going there.  Everyone loves Kpalime.  I'll be headed up to work with Elder Culotta from Mississippi.  He's an older missionary with only 3 transfers left, but he's already a good friend of mine and I'm excited to start working with him.  Transfers are Wednesday morning so I'm still here for now.

Just a fun fact...Elder Mputu invited this Elder to take a picture with him and Elder Goddard kind of randomly. 
Well this is Elder Culotta!  Elder Goddard's new companion!! Haha!
 So Elder Goddard with his current and future companion.

So this turned out to be my last week here in Adidogome, but I went out with a bang.  We had 3 baptisms this Saturday!  We baptized Frere Pascal, Soeur Noelie and her mom Mawulawe.  We were rarely anywhere else but their houses this week making sure everything was set for Saturday.  But at the end of the day, everything worked out great, and we were so happy to see them make these covenants with their Heavenly Father and begin on the path of discipleship.  I couldn't have imagined a better way to end my time here.

But leaving this area means saying goodbye to all the friends that I've made here, and wow that is not fun.  I love these people so much, and who knows if I'll ever be able to see them again.  It's crazy how quick you can come to love people you didn't even know 5 months ago.  I'm gonna miss this place and these people a lot.

I was talking this past week to an Elder who left the MTC with me, and we were talking about how the mission isn't always fun, but it's so important.  We talked about how this has strengthened our testimonies so much.  I thought I knew the church was true back home, but I know that without any shadow of a doubt now.  I know everything that I'm teaching to my amis is true, and there's nothing more I want than to share that with them and live what I preach.  All this is so important and I'm grateful that the mission has allowed me to see that.

Thanks for all your love and support and have a great week!

Elder Goddard

Frere Pascal, (Espoir's cousin who Elder Goddard baptized last month)  Elder Mputu,
 Soeur Mawulawe and Soeur Noelie (wife and daughter of Koffi who Elder Goddard baptized in September)

Elder Dent and Elder Goddard
They will miss being roommates!!

Espoir and Pascal with Elder Goddard

Elder Goddard, Marc and Elder Mputu

Our favorite buddy Saleem who we got to talk to many times on Elder Goddard's P-day. 
We will miss seeing him and being able to talk to him.

Elder Goddard, Papa Jaja and his wife

No title (Haha!)

Monday, January 27, 2020 10:34 AM MST

This week had a number of different things about it, which was nice to break up the regular grind a little bit.  On Tuesday we had the zone leaders come to our district meeting and then after we did a split and our zone leader Elder Hood stayed with me in my sector.  It was a good time to work with him and learn some different techniques and just joke around with him.  Friday I did my first baptismal interviews for the candidates for the other elders in my district, and then since they passed we had a baptismal service on Saturday!  And then I gave a talk in church on Sunday, which I felt good about because I think that my French flowed well.  So lots of little different things happened this week, and it was nice.

As for our work, we should have 3 baptisms this Saturday!  2 of them are the wife and daughter of Koffi, who we baptized in September, and then the other is the cousin of Espoir who we baptized earlier this month.  They're progressing well and we're excited to see them and their families take this step towards Christ.  They've had lots of support from the members in their family, and we know that these baptisms will be a blessing and bring them closer together.  Saturday should be a good day!

The baptism should be a nice way to go out with a bang too, because transfer calls are this Saturday, and I definitely think I will be moving.  I'd be shocked if I'm not moving, since I'm finishing the training of my companion and I've been here since August.  But Saturday should be a fun day with the baptisms and then transfer calls, and next email should be fun too.

Mosiah 4:27

"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.  And again, it is expedient that he should be, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."

We're not perfect and we can't be perfect all at once!  If we're going to improve, it comes a little at a time, we can't run faster than we have strength.  What's important is that we're diligent, that every day we're trying to improve ourselves.  And if we do that, one day we will win the prize!

My camera started working for a second so I have some pictures this week.

I love you all have a good week!

Elder Goddard

Elder Mputu and Amen (he is 2 or 3 years old)
Notice Amen is wearing Elder Goddard's tag. <3

Fufu and sauce (with fried fish) made by Elder Mputu.
Elder Goddard loves fried fish, especially the head with the eyes, skin and bones still intact. 

Elder Goddard and his mustache.  Haha!!

Ups and Downs

Monday, January 20, 2020 10:19 AM MST

I've learned a lot about patience here on the mission, but this week tested my patience with the work and with our amis.  Satan really is trying to get in the way of our work here.  Of the 4 people who were preparing themselves for baptisms in the next 2 weeks, one has had financial problems and has moved out, one fell and got a bad concussion, one got sick, and the last has been overwhelmed with schoolwork.  With all of that going on, we haven't been able to see them as much as we would like to and we'll have to move back the 2 baptisms we fixed for this Saturday.  It's disappointing for sure but we just have to keep the faith that Nephi's promise will hold true that there will always be a way to keep the commandments, that these problems will pass and they can be baptized at a later date.

So while we haven't been able to see our progressing amis, we were able to focus on working with our newer ones.  And that paid off as 5 of them came to church this Sunday, 3 for the first time.  And with us studying the Book of Mormon in Sunday School, it's such a blessing!  It's so easy to get them interested in the book.  So we have some new amis who have now come to church and are interested in the Book of Mormon, which are good signs for potential progression.  So we are were very happy to see that this past week.  We're adding new people to our teaching pool, and we should be pretty busy adding these new people on top of those who are already preparing for baptism.  The work is still going strong despite Satan's efforts.

A quote I read from Elder Uchtdorf's last conference talk really hit me this past week:

"If you hesitate in this adventure because you doubt your ability, remember that discipleship is not about doing things perfectly;  it's about doing things intentionally.  It is your choices that show what you truly are, far more than your abilities."

Our choices are so important and it's true that they show who we really are.  We can't really control our abilities, but we can always control our choices, our efforts to do what is right.  A missionary who shows his faith by being obedient but isn't finding success is much better than a missionary who is finding a lot of success but isn't making any effort to get closer to Christ.  It's just a nice thought and made me reflect on where I'm at in my testimony of Christ, and even what choices I can make to be closer to him.

Hope you all have a good week, love you all

Elder Goddard

It's hot again (6 mois - 6 month)

Monday, January 13, 2020 10:18 AM MST

So last week was just teasing with us and now the weather's hotter than ever.  I'm sweating through my shirt every day which is not my preferred way to spend the day but I do it for the people and for the Lord.  Just praying for cold weather again but at the end of the day I'm still in Africa where it's usually pretty hot so I'm not expecting much.

This week has been like the week of opposites.  First we have 5 people right now who have fixed a date for their baptisms and we're helping them prepare for that.  And they're awesome!  These amis are great and have a desire to do what is right and what they need to do before their baptism.  We love teaching these people.

But then on the other hand, all of our other lessons were far from that.  We had a lot of people just not show up which is always fun, or if they were there at the house, they either a) were drunk b) were breaking the law of chastity or c) talked our ear off about how badly we need to re-read the Bible to understand better.  So basically if our lesson wasn't with an ami with a fixed baptism, it went down the drain and we saw no progression at all.  Luckily preparing 5 people for baptism takes up a lot of our time so we didn't see too many of these other lessons, but it's just funny how completely different they could be.

This week was my 6 month mark, which means I've been serving the Lord for half a year now.  It's weird!  Month 1 and 2 were slow but now I'm suddenly here at 6.  Time's going.  Sometimes I just have to take a step back and realize how cool this is, and that I'm not going to be here forever.  I've already got 1/4 of my mission experiences, it doesn't feel like I should be able to say that yet, but it's the truth and I've got to appreciate it while I can.

Love you all and have a good week!

Elder Goddard

Ps my camera is broken so no pictures

J'ai froid! (I'm cold!)

Monday, January 6, 2020 9:30 AM MST

We've really started feeling the effects of Harmattan this past week.  Harmattan is a season in West Africa and the air gets really dry and it's really dusty because there's wind blowing down in from the Sahara Desert.  The dry air is annoying and is kind of taking its toll on us, but the crazy part about this season is that air isn't as humid, and the temperatures change more.  So in the morning, it's cold!  I'm actually cold in the morning when I wake up.  I actually have to use a blanket when I go to bed.  What a blessing!  I've missed it.

This past week the work continued strong!  We fixed 3 more baptisms this past week.  The first was with Frere Paul, who is an ami who's come to church 3 times now.  We just met him on the street when we were buying fruit and he invited us over the next day.  Usually when that happens, the person isn't even there the next day, but Paul had set out a table and chairs and was waiting for us.  And he's been like that ever since!  And when we asked him last lesson if he'd read the Book of Mormon, he said yes and he shared with us a scripture that touched him.  He's basically the perfect ami.

The other 2 we fixed are for the wife and daughter of Frere Koffi, who I baptized in September.  His daughter had come to the holiday activities, so we decided to pass by one day and see what her feelings were.  And when we left we had fixed a baptism for her and for her mom!  We went to fix it for February 9th, but when they found out I probably would be transferred before then, they made us push it forward.  I wasn't complaining.  So we have them fixed for February 2nd.

And then this week we had some actual baptisms too!  Frere Espoir and Frere Marc both got baptized Saturday, and confimed Sunday morning.  I was so happy to see them take this step towards their Savior and be able to say they're members of the restored church of Jesus Christ.  But I'm also really excited to see what they can do now.  I'd love to see Marc find a wife and get married in the temple, and I'd love to see Espoir grow up in the church and serve a mission one day.  The baptism isn't the end for them, it's only the beginning!

Happy New Year, I hope you all have started the year well and find all sorts of success this year!  Love you all!

Elder Goddard

Frere Espoir and Frere Marc 
(the lady was from the other companionship in Elder Goddard's district)

Elder Mputu (Elder Goddard's companion) baptized all three of them