Mighty Miracles

In all of Elder Goodale's e-mails home, he never types anything in the subject line, so his e-mails never have a "title" that he is written. Therefore, all of those blog titles that you see are MY creations - not his. Justin talked about how they "worked their butts off" this week, so I thought about entitling this posting "Buttless Elders" but then thought that could just wreck the spirit of the whole thing. :-) But overall the theme of this week's e-mail was about the many miracles they saw, hence "Mighty Miracles."
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Hello! I haven't gotten to read all of your letters yet, but it sounds like Mom and Dad had an awesome trip to Virginia (Virginia trip blog postings here and here). I have always really wanted to go out there. I haven't gotten to read the letters because the package you sent arrived Friday, but Friday we didn't get to check the mail until the evening. So in our box there was a little slip that said I had a package, but by that time the desk was already closed. And the St. Robert Post Office is for some reason closed on Saturdays, so we had to wait until Monday to get the package, and we just picked it up on our way to the library to email, so I haven't read much of your letters yet. It seems like whenever Elder Hirshfeld or I get a package it's always on Friday afternoon, so we always have to wait until Monday... It's ok though. But it sounds like you had a great trip, so I'm glad.

We had an incredible week! We saw SO MANY miracles! Elder Hirshfeld and I were trying to figure out how we could help some of the struggling areas in our Zone, and we realized a few things that we we weren't doing as well. So we set some good goals then really worked our butts off this week, and it payed off. We saw some really amazing miracles. Like 11 investigators at church on Sunday! That was huge. The Riveras came again, they are still on track for their baptism on February 13. Mickey came to church again (his biggest hold-up is that he and his girlfriend that he lives with, who's a member, need to get married), Amanda Magoon came as usual (her husband is deployed right now, she wants to join the church but is waiting until he gets home in June), Amber Hook, Jeff Stapler, Danielle Smith came for the second week in a row (She is SWEET! We'll be setting a baptismal date with her this week) and the Clewis family came. Jessica Clewis and her 13 year old son Austin had already been 2 or 3 times, but it was back in December. Then the holidays came up and then she got a new job where she has to leave for work at 6 am and doesn't get home until 8-8:30pm. And that's Monday-Friday. Makes it kinda tough to see them... We hadn't taught them for about a month, but we finally saw them on Saturday, had a great lesson, and they came to church again Sunday! They said they're going to start coming every week. The biggest miracle there, though, was Jessica's husband Rocky. He's never been interested, he does sit in on the lessons but just makes snide remarks and doesn't really care. That's been the only thing really holding Jessica back. But he came to church yesterday!!! I wish you could've seen Elder Hirshfeld and I's faces when he walked in... That was really neat. I really hope he felt the Spirit and will start softening his heart. Church was really good this week, too. The theme of sacrament meeting was President Uchtdorf's talk from the last Conference, "The Love of God" (linked here as an internet page, here as an MP3 audio file, and here as streaming video). It was really good. Not to mention David Hall was confirmed during Sacrament meeting! He was baptized Saturday night, and that went really well. His friend Brother Clark baptized him, then Sunday Elder Hirshfeld confirmed him, and then 2 hours later in Elders Quorum I got to confer upon him the Aaronic Priesthood and ordain him to be a Priest. It was really neat. Yesterday he was also sustained and set apart for his new calling, which is ward missionary. I know it seems like they are throwing him right into things pretty quickly, but he's just at Fort Leonard Wood for some sort of training and he's being shipped to Fort Lewis (Washington State) at the end of February so they wanted to get him involved as quickly as possible before he leaves. He's pretty solid, so he can handle it. Really that's what's best for recent converts, it's nice to see the ward being so on top of it. This is a really great ward. Really missionary oriented.

David Hall

So what else happened... Oh! I have to tell you about this one amazing miracle. A couple of weeks ago we were driving home after doing our shopping at Wal-Mart when we realized we forgot something so we had to go back. So we went back, and as we were walking in this truck drove by us and the woman in the passenger seat was giving us funny looks. Elder Hirshfeld and I thought it was weird the way she was looking at us, and he even made a comment about it. Then all of a sudden the truck stopped and backed up right up to us! The woman leaned out the window and said "Are you guys mormons?" When we answered yes she asked if we had a church in town, so we told her where it was and also took down her information. Saturday we were able to teach her for the first time, and she is GOLDEN!!! She moved here from Tennessee in late November, but right before she moved she had just started meeting with the missionaries there. She had only gotten to meet with them twice, but had been really really impressed with the message of the Restoration of Christ's church. She basically told us right off the bat that her goal is to get baptized and join the church! She is awesome! Her husband was raised in the church, but his family stopped going when he was 6 or 7 so he was never baptized. He doesn't really have any active family except for one sister in California, who originally introduced Noni (the name of this woman) to the church. So he's technically not a member, but he's not really interested right now. She says that she wants to move forward with it and she knows he'll come along when he's ready. She also have 2 kids that are 9 and 8 years old that live with their dad in Texas, and she's going to be getting them full time soon, at which point she also wants to get them into the church! It was the most amazing miracle. We've been so incredibly blessed. This week I've gained such a strong testimony of the Law of Sacrifice and the Law of Restoration. If you're not willing to give your all for the Lord's work, you can't expect to receive all either. But when you do all you can, when you are truly willing to put everything you have on the altar for God, that's when you will see miracles as you do his work. That's when He will lift you and do for you what you can't do without his help. As I know I've said several times in this email, it has been so amazing to see how much the Lord has done for us this week as we have tried our hardest to serve Him more diligently. We've been so incredibly blessed. I love being a missionary!

Things Are On Fire Here

This week Elder Goodale didn't send a single, general update; he sent Michelle and I two separate e-mails. I am posting them, below. And don't get too excited when you read that Justin is excited that I've begun the process of my knee replacement. I actually DID go see a doctor about it, but due to possible severe complications from my previous post-surgical staph infection, proceeding with that surgery will be a pretty difficult thing. You'll also read that we sent him a new camera; his previous camera was in his pocket I guess when he took a bad spill. He was fine, the camera did not survive. :-( Oh... and note that I have no job "offers" as Justin mentions, but rather, some opportunities. I appreciate all of your prayers in turning some of those in to actual offers!

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Dear Dad,

Thanks for sending the new camera, I got it just in time for the baptism on Tuesday, so that was perfect. Thank you! It's a really nice camera, too, so thanks. Speaking of the baptism, it went great! There was a pretty good turn-out, and everything went really smooth. She was really excited. I can't believe how well things are going here. That was our third baptism this transfer, and David is going to be baptized this Saturday! Things are just on fire here. The rest of the week was really good too. Wednesday we were on exchanges with the Assistants, which was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about how to better fulfill my responsibilities as a Zone Leader. Then yesterday the District Leader down in West Plains and his companion had a baptism, so Thursday we got to go down and do that baptismal interview. He's a 14 year old kid named Wyatt who was really cool. After all this time in leadership (which really hasn't been that long, like 4 months now total) because of different circumstances that have come up I still hadn't had the opportunity to do a baptism interview before Thursday. It was a really neat experience. I'm really grateful I got to do that. Also Thursday night we went and taught the Rivera family again, and set baptismal dates! That was the family that I told you about that we went over with Santa on Christmas Eve and brought them Christmas. So three of them will be baptized on February 12. They are really awesome, I'm really excited for them. They were all at church yesterday, as was David, and Amanda. Danielle was also at church on Sunday. She's pretty neat and loves church, but works all day every day but Sunday so it's really tough to go and teach her. Things are going great right now, though.

It's really great to here that you're finally moving forward with your knee replacement! I can't wait to go running with you when I get back. :) maybe... That's cool that Alabama won. I really would have been ok with either of them, I like both teams. I just wish BSU had been playing! That's alright though, we'll get the national championship next year... I hope your job search continues to go well. It sounds like you've got a lot of really great offers, I know you'll make the right choice. Have a great week! I love you!

And here is the e-mail that he sent to Michelle:
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Dear Mom,

We don't get the Ensign right when it comes out, but we do get a copy of it when we go to Zone Conference. we haven't gotten January's yet but I read President Uchtdorf's article on LDS.org. It's REALLY good. What you said is so true, how you need to be constantly working at it. I've seen so many recent converts who fall away because they stop working at that testimony. Too often we view baptism as the goal, not as just the first step. It's so sad seeing people who don't understand that and they stop working and pushing themselves to be better, and who ultimately lose the light they had. You even see it in return missionaries all the time. One of the biggest challenges we face is that so many people view us as teachers who are just here to present information. All the time there are people that love meeting with us until they realize that something is expected of them and they get scared. The gospel of Jesus Christ wasn't ever intended to inform, but transform. We need to allow it to change us, and not just once but every single day.

Did you have fun in Virginia with Christopher? That sounds like a super fun trip. Those all sound like awesome sights that you are going to see.

Well, I'm about out of time. I love you!

Life Back to Normal

Last week Justin didn't send a single general update, but several smaller updates to us, which I have not compiled and posted. However, following is his posting from today.
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We had another amazing week this week! I think I said this last week, but I'm so glad that the holidays are over and everything is back to normal now. This last week was our first "normal" week since I've been in Saint Robert, and it was really nice to be able to really get to work. And it payed off! We had 8 investigators at Sacrament Meeting! Probably the most exciting part is the K_____ family. I told you about them a couple of weeks ago, they are a family of 3 (dad, mom, and 14 year old daughter) that the H_____ (members of the ward) introduced us to who we met on Christmas night. This Wednesday was the first time we were able to teach them since then, and they are amazing! They came to church yesterday and really loved it. I'm really excited for them.

Rose _____ is set for her baptism tomorrow night and is really excited, and David _____ is pretty set for his on January 23. We had a really great lesson yesterday. He's really cool, he has such an incredible hunger for knowledge and really wants to please God. It's funny because you can't see it at first, but the better you get to know him and the more you talk to him, it's obvious that he spends more time thinking about and pondering on the things we teach then anyone else I've ever met. He's really in tune with the Spirit too. It's cool because when you combine how in tune he is with how much pondering he does, he actually ends up resolving alot of his own concerns. He just figures things out, and makes connections where alot of people can't. He's awesome. Nothing new is really going on here besides that, just working hard and continually being amazed with how much the Lord has blessed us here! Even after all this time and all the miracles we've seen, it still amazes me that even in these little tiny farm towns of southern Missouri there are so many people who are prepared for the gospel. Every day I know with more certainty that this is the Lord's work. It will continue to progress and to roll forward whether we decide to jump on or not. So let's take advantage of the privilege we have to be a part of it! I love you all! Have a great week!

Jeff Barretta

Jeff and Sarah Barretta