Sister Goss---W71: CHRISTMAS galore (Dec 28, 2020)

Week 71. That is absolutely crazy my friends. When was the last time I talked about what week I was on? 21? Hahaha... ;)

BUT OH MY GOODNESS MERRY CHRISTMAS!! How was your Christmas weekend everyone?? I hope it was wonderful and you felt the love of your Savior, family, and friends!! My Christmas was FANTASTIC. Yes, that deserves all caps. :)) It was so so so good! This whole week has been so good! On Tuesday we went to our mission President's house with the other missionaries in the Murrieta and Temecula zones and had a Christmas "party" you could say. It was the best ever!!! When we walked in, they had us go to the back room. They had crammed a bunch of chairs in one room and I noticed the lights were turned down a little. I sat down and before I knew it, they turned on their big-screen TV and started The Trial of Porter Rockwell, a movie they are extras in! :O I was so excited I could've jumped up and screamed. I love debate, church history, and movie nights with friends, so having all three of those as a combo on the mission?? Priceless. ;)) We also sang carols together, had musical numbers (ukulele skills come in handy...), white elephant gifts, Christmas stories, and food. Let me repeat: it was the best ever! I love the Watsons so much!!  

Lindsey, who was just baptized, told our trio about a service opportunity wrapping presents in the mall to raise money for the homeless shelter. We went the day before Christmas Eve and had so much fun we went again the next day! ;) The Temecula Promenade Mall was hoppin' and we got to have some really cool conversations with people as we wrapped their gifts for them. We also did a lot of caroling service this week in both zones; Christmas just isn't the same without some caroling. :)

 We spent Christmas Eve with our Bishop, his wife, their daughter, and the zone leaders. It was very sweet and super fun! We shared some traditions we do and I presented the symbolism behind the little things of Christmas (red and green colors, evergreen trees, candy canes, etc.). Christmas day we opened presents, played ultimate frisbee and Spontuneous with Temecula, played reverse charades and football with Murrieta, and went caroling again that night. And the day after Christmas was just as amazing! But totally unexpected. ;) Sister Hicken got a call that morning that one of her friends from Riverside was getting baptized that afternoon, so we drove to Riverside with permission from President! We went to the baptism, ASL class in-person, Ono's Hawaiin BBQ, and met some of my bestest missionary friends. <3<3<3 Huge miracle, amiright??

 Lastly, we met with two new amazing friends this week! Both are from missionaries who are originally from here but currently serving somewhere else. :) The first is Brianna and the second is *drumroll please* Mary!! ;) For those of you who don't know, I don't get called "Mary" here on my mission, but rather "Sister Goss." So to hear my name used so much after 16 months of not hearing it is pretty wacky... Haha! Both of them are awesome and so so willing to learn more and progress. I'm really, really excited to get to know them better! I am loving the people here! :) <3

 Well in a *long* nutshell, that has been my incredible week! I'm super excited for 2021; it holds so much I don't even know about haha! ;) As we say goodbye to 2020, don't forget the lessons we've learned or the experience we've gained. These are treasured times. I love you all so much; hope you had a Merry Christmas and enjoy the last couple days of 2020! Finish strong!!

 Love, Sister Goss

Elder Goss---W:68 Merry Christmas everyone! (Dec 22, 2020)

 Christmas is so close! Wow. I hope you all are able to appreciate what we have, despite disappointments that will undoubtedly befall us this year. 

Well, Miguel (our investigator) passed his baptismal interview. We're so pumped! He is scheduled for baptism on the 26th. That's so exciting. He's also learning a lot of English.

We started teaching English to a new gentleman, Efraín. He's super animated and always happy, and it's fun to teach him. We'll see if he wants to take the missionary lessons as well here soon. First, we want a good relationship. 

I was in a Zone Conference the other day, and President Gimenez said something that got me thinking. I don't know the actual quote, but it detailed how we aren't perfect but still try, etc. However, I saw it a little differently this time. Some of us DO get overly concerned that less-than-perfect performance is failed performance. However, there are OTHERS who aren't concerned about being perfect. In fact, sometimes they slip too far the other way. They aren't concerned about good performance at all. They are too casual with the purpose of life. They don't stress about even trying to improve. 

In essence, some of us are concerned with perfection. Some of us are casual with progression. Which are you?

We need to switch the two. We should be casual about perfection. We shouldn't be too stressed if we still get angry or sad. If we mess up. But we SHOULD be concerned about progression. We should make our progression the highest priority in our lives. That's why we're here. To become like Jesus Christ. To learn how to live celestial lives. To be the best we can be NOW, so we CAN be perfect later. 

I love you all! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Be awesome. 

 Elder Goss

Sister Goss---W70: Lindsey's baptism!!! (Dec 21, 2020)

 MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!! 

Well for the second year in a row, on the SAME DAY, it's been a white Christmas for me! :D Lindsey was baptized on Saturday!! WOOHOO!! She was so cute and so excited! We had very limited numbers, but she invited her mother and step-father and I felt the Spirit very strongly. :) I was able to play the piano (who knew that would be so useful!) and give the Restoration presentation while she changed back into her normal clothes. (For context to those who aren't as familiar with how we baptize, we baptize by immersion the way Jesus Christ was. We wear white and someone holding the priesthood authority immerses us in the water. Here's a video that shows what that looks like! :) https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/teachings/2011-10-024-the-baptism-of-jesus?lang=eng). Lindsey bore her testimony at the end and even though she is very new in learning about Jesus Christ and His gospel, her remarks showed maturity and understanding of His principles. She was given the gift of the Holy Ghost right afterwards and she is so excited to be a full-fledged member of the church! Let's go Lindsey!!!! <3 <3 <3 By the way, Sister Henriod and her companion found her October 4th. She progressed so fast. :)) 

It's been a very Christmas-y week in addition to a white one! ;) We had our typical transfer breakfast with our stake president, President Whittier. He and his presidency gave each of us missionaries a beautiful #LighttheWorld stocking and gifts inside, along with Angel Moroni masks with "Murrieta Stake." How nice is that?? I LOVE them! :) We were privileged to drive up to Riverside again to pick up Sister Noall, Sister Seller's new companion (they are our roommates). Guess what!! She's fluent in ASL! *fist bump in the air* yes!!! I'm so excited. We've also gone caroling several times this week and that has been so wonderful. I haven't missed a year caroling since I can remember! It just brings the Spirit so strongly and it was so touching to see tears as people felt that Spirit. That includes people that knew us and people that didn't. ;) Last but not least, we sang in church yesterday haha! It's been a while... But it went great. The Sunday before Christmas is always one of the best. <3 (But really they're all the best. But also especially the one before Christmas). 

I'll keep it shorter today and keep it at that! Love you all so very much; have a MERRY MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS on Friday!! You're the best!! I love you and I know that God loves you!!! #LighttheWorld :)) 

Merry Christmas one more time,

Sister Goss

 

Sister Goss---W 69: Alone in Jurupa and Dinner w/ Amulek (Dec 14, 2020)

 Hey y'all!! It's a SUPER busy day with transfers so I apologize in advance if my thoughts sound scattered. :)  

Transfer update: I'm staying here in the YSA ward in Murrieta! So is Sister Henriod! AND we're going to be in a trio! :O Sister Hicken, who's been living with us, is joining our companionship and ward. Hermana Neider is being transferred so we'll have two other sisters move in and we'll be a five-man again! Woowoo! We're still STLs (first STL trio ever) and social media specialists. And Instagram is rolling, rolling!! Go give it a follow @findjesus.inlandempire :)) And tune into our Lives every Sunday at 6:30pm! 

We got to do a lot of really fun things this week. :) Last pday we walked around Old Town Temecula as the four-man and it was like Main Street in Warrenton, VA, but a little longer. It was adorable!! The Christmas lights were all up and we did a little Christmas shopping for our families. :) On Tuesday Sister Henriod had an appointment for visa stuff in Jurupa and as she went inside, the officer told me I had to wait outside. So I went outside and stood there awkwardly on the street thinking "now what." I figured it would be safer to wait in our car so I did, not having a SIM card and not knowing how long her thing would last for. Haha I've never been that alone on my mission! I thought, "pretty sure when the handbook asks us to stay within sight and sound of your companion, they don't mean sit in the car by yourself with your companion in another building." Haha... I don't know how I did that all the time before my mission. I know y'all are laughing at how silly it is, but when you've been by someone's side for 15 months it's super weird to be completely alone!! ;) Don't worry; we didn't die. We also had a pizza party at one of the service locations we go to (Western Eagle) and walked around Bainbridge Circle, a street in Murrieta that's decked out with Christmas lights! It was SO FUN! Ah I love Christmastime. And both the missionaries in the Murrieta and Temecula zone are so awesome. :) 

This weekend was also AMAZING. Elder Kevin Miskin of the Quorum of the 70 had a Zoom meeting with our mission Saturday morning and it was the best devotional I've had in a long time. :)) I felt the Spirit so strongly and was so impressed by his message!! The main principle I learned, along with his CRAZY mission stories, was that we are all children of God working to learn more of Him and become more like Him. It doesn't matter who you are in the church, or out of the church - we are all learning. No one is "better" than anyone else and God loves us all just as equally. :) Isn't that amazing? For me it takes off so much pressure and really helps to feel love towards others. 

Lindsey is learning super super fast and loving every second of it! She's thrilled to tell others she's being baptized on Saturday, December 19th and loves coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon, and having lessons with us. She is inspirational to say in the least. <3 :)) Joseph also came to church!! That's a big deal, and we are so so so happy!! He loved it too. :) He was smiling a lot and was happy we could introduce him to the elders. He asked about another guy in the ward who we invited to his lesson too. I've just met the coolest people out here; it's awesome!! 

Lastly, remember how I said Amulek lives above us? Well, we heart-attacked their door for #LighttheWorld and they invited us over for dinner yesterday! We ended up staying longer than we intended as we made crazy connections, saw some behind-the-scenes of the Book of Mormon videos, listened to his stories (like performing a Korean rap and winning the foreigner's singing contest ON HIS MISSION), talked about acting and some of the resources he can give me after my mission (WHAT), etc. OH MY GOSH they are amazing!!!! Their names are Charley and Cynthia Boon and their home stake is the stake my brother is actually serving in right now!! Like I said, so many crazy connections! Seriously the entire time our four-man was just blown away as we talked with them. They. are. so. cool. :) I want to be best friends with them.  

Okay that's a long enough email (so sorry haha!), but I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you all so much; Merry Christmas! Keep smiling and going strong. Make the end of 2020 great. :))

Love, Sister Goss

Elder Goss---W 66: Drum roll please (Dec 8, 2020)

This week was pretty mundane in quarantine, but we get released tomorrow. So with luck, we will be able to have in-person lessons soon. Also, today was transfer day, and aside from Elder Sorensen leaving sometime this week, the entire district remains unchanged. Which is great; they're all great. Elder Hubbard is now the District Leader. Man, what can I say? All my comp's are District Leaders. Literally the past 4. I'm just too good. If you are my comp, then poof! Abra Cadabra. It's actually nice. I get to do Exchanges and everything. 

But something exciting that DID happen, and hold on to your hats, is that Miguel (our investigator) now has a baptism date!!! LET'S GO!!! ¡Vámonos! ¡Andale! The 26th of December, day after Christmas. He's super great. And one of the few people who truly understands how important faith and action is. It's so great. 

I am super excited for Christmas. I hope you all are too. It is a great time to do some life-evaluation. I love you all! Take care. 

Elder Goss

Sister Goss---W68: MLC + The Christ Child = good week (Dec 7, 2020)

It's been a GOOD week. :D

It's been a really, really, really good week! You just can't beat Christmastime!! :) On Tuesday we had MLC in Riverside, where Sister Henriod and I won the cleanest car award!! Woowoo! It's actually quite a funny story so ask me about it sometime. ;) We hiked Mt Rubidoux afterwards for our Instagram photos! (FOLLOW US!! We just set up our first posts last night!! @findjesus.inlandempire) :D We only got a couple strange looks as we walked up in our dresses in the middle of the day... ;) Haha! I love Mt Rubidoux!

In almost every single visit with members this week we watched The Christ Child video (you can find it on LighttheWorld.org). I probably watched it 8-10 times this week. :) And cried almost every time. It's such a touching portrayal of the nativity and gives you a lot of new insight. And it's so peaceful. 10/10 would recommend! Seriously, go watch it!! #LighttheWorld

Our friends are making big, amazing, wonderful, exciting, hopeful steps!! :D We had a lesson with Lindsey on Wednesday and she wants to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood power of God (as we've been directed to do by Him), so she's going to be baptized December 19th!! WOOHOO!!! YAY! I'm so happy for her! She's really excited and so are we!! We also started teaching Kiersten, someone with no religious background. Her boyfriend is a member of the church so we've been meeting with the both of them. We watched the Christmas devotional yesterday (churchofjesuschrist.org) with them and they loved it. :) Lastly, we're teaching Joseph who converted to the Jewish belief when he was a young teenager! That's been a super cool conversation! He showed us his religious book, which I thought was really cool. When we showed him the Book of Mormon and read the Title Page together, his eyes were glued to the book and he was literally speechless for several seconds. This is a portion of the Title page: 

"Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ."

How cool is that?? :) We are so blessed. I am so blessed to see so many lives changing and that additional light and happiness come into the lives of these friends. Christmastime works miracles because it's all about Christ! That's why we're here! Go keep #LighttheWorld -ing and have a wonderful, merry, happy week! Love you all lots!!

Love, Sister Goss

Sister Goss---W 67: Thanksgiving dice (Nov 30, 2020)

*Imagine me saying this while doing a little happy dance*

Happy holiday season everybooodyyy!!

It's the best time of the year!!! :D With Thanksgiving this past week and heading into Christmastime, I'm thriving and enjoying life! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, even with certain COVID restrictions. :)

Thursday morning our zone (Murrieta) met with the Temecula zone and played a Turkey Bowl!! We split our zones into two teams and played four games and guess who won each time. ;)) Let's go Murrieta!! Woowoo!!! It was a beautiful morning and a great start to a wonderful day! :) We, the ZLs, and the sisters we live with ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Reddish's in our ward. It. Was. So. Much. FUN!!! Sister Reddish is a fantastic cook and made everything from scratch; the stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, pie crust, jello, etc. It was muy delicious. :) We played a dice game together afterwards and I remembered how much I love games! We only had time to play two rounds, but boy I had fun. If anyone needs a buddy to have a game night with, let me know and I'll be there! ;) This Thanksgiving was so wonderful and I feel overwhelmingly grateful for Jesus Christ and everything else God's given me. <3 :)

Our teaching pool is AMAZING right now! We have been so blessed to meet so many people who are interested in learning, including our friends Joseph, Justin, Lindsey, Adrian, Marina, Sarah, Ashley, Mikey, and Diandra! :O Is that not so incredible or what?? They are all so awesome! Ask me about any one of them. :) I can't wait to keep meeting with them!

We took our car to the shop to get fixed from that accident we had the first pday of this transfer, so we were on bike for a day. We had a service scheduled with the sisters we live with and biked there together. It was a 10 minute bike ride and we kept taking right turn after right turn after right turn... By the time we got there we realized Google maps had taken us in one big loop and we could SEE our apartment complex 100 feet away from the service location. Hahaha... Thank you, Google maps. ;) Silly silly!

Lastly, WHO'S EXCITED FOR #LighttheWorld???? WOOHOO!!!! If you can't tell, I'm pumped!! :D :D #LighttheWorld is the initiative the church has for Christmastime with millions of people around the world doing acts of service each day. We focus on the Light of Christ and sharing that with others as we think of Him this Christmas season. In our apartment, we've already bought a 6.5 ft tree, decorated it, hung up other decorations, and we listen to Christmas music 24/7. At least I do. ;) And occasionally I wear my Santa hat just for fun. Haha! But you can join the Christmas spirit through #LighttheWorld! Look at the resources available to you at ComeUntoChrist.org where you can see the calendar, watch The Christ Child short film, and feel inspired with Christ's light. It is the best time of the year for a very good reason, and it's even more fun if you go all in! Go check it out!!

Love you all so so so much and MERRY CHRISTMAS! Have a wonderful week and #LighttheWorld with all your heart! :)) <3

Love, Sister Goss