CA Combo for Christ: Sister Goss---W13: Birthday blessings

I want to start my email with a huge THANK YOU for all your birthday wishes and support!! You are so wonderful and I honestly had an incredible birthday!! :) Thank you for being so selfless and thoughtful! Love you all!!

This week was fantastic! We had a lot of solid lessons, found new people to teach, and saw many little miracles! Our lesson with Harminder went well; our ward mission leader was there and we showed Harminder that by exercising a particle of faith, we will see the results just like any scientific experiment (Alma 32). We are involving Lynn with the ward more and she is starting to have some great conversations with others too! We are now teaching Kim and she is enjoying reading the Book of Mormon with us, especially 3 Nephi 11. We're also meeting with Elizabeth and helping explain a lot of the stuff she's heard. Her experience has further shown me how important it is to have accurate sources! If you have questions about the church, go to the church website or ask a trusted church member. They will give you the correct information. :)

Friday we had exchanges and I went with Hermana Weston to the Spanish area. The entire night was full of lessons with people that spoke zero English and I speak zero Spanish. Haha! Poor Hermana Weston, she had to talk the whole night. She did wonderful and I was surprised how well I was able to follow along. It was a really neat experience to have three full Spanish lessons and listen to them talk! :) My goal is to understand it well enough so when Hyrum gets home from his mission he won't be able to secretly communicate with my Mom and Rachel... ;) Hahaha

Last night I had two neat experiences (#birthdayblessings)! :) 1) We were going to stop by Zach, a high schooler Sister Miles and I found a while ago. As we were pulling up, I started to feel really scared and nervous about my ability. I paused, wanting to listen to the Spirit in case He was telling me not to go. He had warned me in the past. But immediately after pausing and contemplating, these thoughts ran through my head:

"What are you feeling?" My answer? Fear.

"Do I ever make people feel fearful?" No- God warns, but God doesn't bring fear.

"Who wants people to feel fear?" Satan!

It suddenly occurred to me that the feelings of nervousness I was having was different than when the Spirit warns me. They were feelings of inadequacy, like "maybe we shouldn't go because I'M not good enough tonight." Knowing that, I realized Satan was probably using one of his tactics to try to dissuade me from the work that I needed to do. If anything, Satan was fearful of the results God was willing to provide! So we knocked on the door and Zach answered (after 5 previous times of not answering), and we are meeting with him again! I am so grateful I have the Spirit to help me discern what I should and should not do, even with Satan's attempts.

2) We had a lesson with Tony and brought our ward mission leader. When we walked in, he walked into the kitchen and started talking to Tony's mother, Suzie. He invited her to listen in and she accepted! We had an amazing lesson and Tony wanted to reschedule his baptismal date to Leap Year Day. And then Suzie started sharing her story and said she'd been wanting to come back to Jesus again. She'd stopped going to her church when her husband died and didn't feel comfortable in any church since then. She said, "the only church I've felt true peace in has been yours, and I want to feel that again." We invited her to be baptized and she said yes!! She promised to pray about it and read the Book of Mormon. I was so thrilled; what a way to end my birthday!! A new person, a baptismal invite, and and accepted invite all at the same time!! God truly prepares us for where we need to be and what we need to say at the right times. I am so excited for Suzie and her willingness to learn more.

Every day I am more and more convinced of God's love for me and for His children. He loves us so much He's given us more scripture. He leads us with a prophet. He sends missionaries out to declare His truth. He is with us and turns our lows into highs. :) I have seen this firsthand and I know that God attends us. The Spirit is present and miracles abound. Because God is with us, that further confirms to me that our message is true. I'm so grateful God answers prayers! And God knows when we are ready!

I wish I could keep writing and share all the insights I've learned in my studies, how amazing my roommates are, and everything else, but all in due time. :) Thank you again for the birthday wishes (it's CRAZY BEING 20!!!?!!!?!!)!! I love you all so so so much!!

Love, Sister Mary Goss

Hermanas Weston, Thompson, and Sister Preator made this awesome cake!! (I know it looks like I'm turning 2. The Oreo is the 0. 20, get it? ... Who am I kidding?? I feel like I'm 2... 😂)