Elder Goss --- W 81 (Mar 23, 2021)

Dear friends and family, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, brothers and sisters, hombres y mujeres, dogs and cats, and ALL things which are above and beneath heaven and earth....

Hi. 

Here is your weekly report from Elder Goss here in San Diego: whether is nice. Although it is almost always super cloudy in the mornings, it becomes clearer in the day. For California, surprisingly cold, sometimes beneath 40°. And always windy. But I'm sure that is because we are so close to the coast.

 We didn't have as many lessons this week as we wanted to, but we DID have a great lesson with Renee, Jimy, y Roberto. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. We went over faith, and repentance, and after that baptism and the Holy Ghost, and finally endure to the end. Throughout the lesson, they we nodding their heads, agreeing how important it is that we have faith and repent daily and be baptized, etc. And when we were wrapping up, we asked them if they would consider being baptized in the future. It was almost funny to see their whole disposition change. They went from completely agreeing with how important all this stuff is, to shocked realization that we were actually asking them to APPLY it. They understood the theoretical aspect of Gospel stuff, but they never gave it much real-world thought. It was scary and intimidating. They nervously chuckled and gave a tentative "maybe," and we gave them something easier to do. But it was good to put it in the back of their minds, and help them recognize and FEEL the Gospel is real. 

The Gospel isn't just theoretical, abstract explanations that you believe or not. It truly is the rules by which the universe functions by. Science just hasn't caught up yet. But the more we discover, the more we find that the principles of the Gospel are slowly, one by one, being backed by science. Science isn't the standard of truth, but it will (if given enough time) support the Gospel principles. 

God has never been wrong, in theory OR principle. Trust God this week! If you hear or read something that leaves you disturbed, and questioning what you know, just relax. Take a breath. Whether you know some detail or not doesn't change the Truth. Misinformation and unclear context is real. Don't be scared. One day, EVERYTHING will be explained. So trust and study. 

Thanks so much! Take care.  

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Aaron Hyrum Goss