Monday, May 22, 2017

May 22, 2017

Dear family and friends, 
It was a really good week and it went pretty fast. We've been teaching this family of 4 that we found and they committed to baptism just recently which is really exciting. They have 2 sons but one isn't old enough to get baptized yet, but we will still have 3 baptisms next month. Right now their dates are for the 4th and 11th of June because the father wants to get baptized and then get the priesthood so he can baptize his wife and oldest son the next week. So I'm really looking forward to that and they are an awesome family. It's been cool to work with them over the past month or so that I've been here in this area. We've been finding a lot of new people too and it seems to be a lot easier to find people on this side of San Jose than the other side. 

Yesterday night I actually went over to Los Altos in my old area for a fireside which was fun but it also felt kind of weird to go back to my old area. Every month in the mission there is a "Why I Believe" fireside in a different stake where they have a few people that were recently baptized speak and share their stories about their conversion. There are usually a few musical numbers too and President Mella speaks. So I went over there because my recent convert was speaking and I wanted to go hear her bear her testimony and tell her short story of finding the church. There were some other speakers with some really powerful testimonies and cool stories too so it was good experience. 

Earlier today we decided to drive up to this observatory up on Mount Hamilton and that was an interesting drive. The road winds a lot and you basically drive right on the edge of cliffs to get up so it's kind of trippy in a couple of places while you are driving. It's really pretty back in the mountains though and it was a fun to go up there because you can see it from almost any point in the city. I didn't realize how high above the city it was until we drove up the whole mountain, it's at 4,265 feet. And astronomy is one of my favorite things so it was cool to see a legit observatory for the first time. So it was a fun P-Day activity to go up there. Other than that, nothing else too noteworthy happened. We've just been working hard day to day. I've been pretty tired lately, but it's a good kind of tired. It's the kind of tired where you come home and feel satisfied with the day from finding and teaching people so it's been good. I hope everyone is doing well back home though, I miss you guys and hope to hear from you all soon!

From, 
Elder Godwin



Tuesday, May 2, 2017

May 2, 2017

Dear family and friends, 
This week was great, we've been finding a lot of new people and we also have an awesome family that we have been teaching that want to be baptized. The only thing is that they need to come to church but there are conflicts with work, people have to work a lot in order to get by in the Bay Area. But other than that I'm really excited because of how much potential they have. Elder Mosher and I are getting along really well so far and I'm glad that we have an opportunity to serve together. We've also been experiencing a lot of small miracles day to day. I think that we were both a little overwhelmed to some degree to whitewash and start from scratch in an area, but it's been amazing to see how involved the Lords hand has been in the work. 

I also got to go to the temple on Saturday which was great. The peace that you feel in the house of the Lord is really something that you can't find anywhere else. It was a good opportunity to go to a session and feel the spirit there. It was also a unique experience to go to a sealing of one of the families that Elder Mosher taught, it was a beautiful thing to see just how special it is to have an eternal family. It made me look forward to the day when I get to be sealed to my future wife and have my own eternal family. We went on a really clear day and the view was amazing too, you could see all of Oakland and the Bay Bridge to San Francisco and the Golden Gate. I made sure to get a couple of good pictures too. So that was a good experience to go up to the temple this week. 

Things are all going well out here though, I'm glad to hear that things are all fine back home. As of this week I'm at my 8 month mark, or 1/3 of the way done. It's weird to think about it that way and time is a strange thing. Happy birthday to Sammy too! I hope it will be a good week. But I miss you all and I'll keep you updated on how things are going out here. 

From, 
Elder Godwin