November 26, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for the letters and notes I received this week. I needed them. This week was the hardest week of my mission.

My companion is no longer with me. Tuesday we got a phone call from President Craven. My companion was to go home. He was just having a hard time on the mission and wasn't really enjoying it. We went to the airport and I gave him a hug goodbye. President Craven came up to me and thanked me for helping him. I had worked him hard; he told president he had never been so tired or obedient. So, Tuesday I had no companion. I was in a state of awful confusion and worry, having the load of the whole area on my shoulders. I spent the day with the Zone Leaders and that was fun. Wednesday I got a new missionary companion from a neighboring area, Elder Scott. We were already good friends and so we are having a lot of fun together! It’s great; he has been helping me when I get to the breaking point.

The second part of my hard week is that one of our investigator we have been teaching for a while, is back in jail. It was a hard blow and he and his girlfriend are no longer progressing with our lessons so I had to make the decision to pull back. It is hard for some investigators to make eternal life changing decisions. Many times I have had to let Heavenly Father take over because it is just too much..... But, the Lord calls us in our weakness to help great things come to pass.

Vincent, who we have been working with for a long time, will be baptized on the 15th!!!!!! Vincent is 20 years old and he and I are best buds!!! Please keep him in your prayers. He has such a strong testimony and is doing everything in his power to keep God’s commandments.

The work is going well!!!! I am grateful for all the prayers and letters that got me through this week.

Thanksgiving was great!!! We didn't have much to do because everyone didn't want to be interrupted. So we went to our dinner and that was fun!!!  After dinner Elder Scott and I went back to the apartment feeling full of the Christmas Spirit.  We both love Christmas so we decorated the apartment.  I made the cutouts and Elder Scott made the paper chain (all 125 ft). Yeah, it’s long! Later that evening we went out and tried to work but Black Friday had started and the roads and stores were crazy. We walked into Wal-Mart not knowing what was going on. People looked like they were going to kill each other over vacuums and pillows!!!!!! We got out of there as fast as we could!!!! Since when does BLACK FRIDAY start on THURSDAY?!?!

Thanks for the warm wishes Gommstrumballs. I sure miss ya’ll! Love ya’ll!!!

Love,

Elder Gomm

November 19, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was a looooooong week. There is a lot of pressure on me now because my companion doesn't talk, at all. I have to teach all the lessons by myself, but I am grateful because I have become a more confident missionary. The Lord has heard my many prayers. I will be sharing a few stories that may have a common theme.

Monday: We went to an investigators house who we have been working with for months. As we were teaching she asked a question about baptism and what if people didn't get the opportunity to be baptized. I tried to give her a general answer and tried to move on with the planned lesson. I noticed she was still really concerned with the question. In Preach My Gospel we learn to teach people and not just to give lessons. To do this we are to listen to the investigator with the Spirit. The Spirit prompted me to start talking about the Priesthood. The Spirit and I worked together and we taught a fantastic lesson. Things really made sense to her. I paused and waited to let the Holy Ghost put something into my head. After a very long 30 seconds or so, I began to speak. I had no idea as to what I was going to say but the words flowed out of my mouth like water. "Kathy, will you follow the Savior’s example and be baptized by someone holding the same priesthood and power as John the Baptist and Jesus Christ?” The spirit was so thick in the room, you could almost taste it. After about a minute she said, “Yes I will.” Later, she said a wonderful prayer and as she was praying she said something that caught my ear. She said, “I am grateful for the feeling that I have and I haven’t felt it at any time before.” Following the prayer I asked her about what she had said.  And she said, “Yeah, I have never felt this way until today.” I helped her recognize it was an answer to her prayer because the spirit is a witness of Jesus Christ and a witness of truth. I said, “This is the answer to your prayers and . . . you know it!” She burst into tears and I thought the room was going to explode because the spirit was so strong. Nothing is impossible when we are worthy of having the Holy Ghost as our companion. And when we let the Spirit take over . . .  that is when conversion happens and truth is recognized.

Thursday: We went to a leadership training meeting in Charlotte. That was fun and long. Two men were there from the Missionary Department of Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. They gave us excellent training on how to be good leaders and better missionaries. We also learned how to invite people to church. After we practiced this for a while (I practiced with one of the men from Salt Lake) we were all sitting listening to President Craven when out of the blue he said,"Elder Gomm . . . will you come up here and invite me to church." I slowly walked up and sat down, just me and the mission president, in front of 70 other missionaries. I said one sentence and then I started talking about the Sacrament and how it was one of the last things the Savior implemented. I said a few more things directed by the Spirit. The room was silent and I invited him to church. Then in tears I testified of how important the Sacrament is to me and that I let nothing stand in my way of partaking of that sacred ordinance. I stood up and walked back to my chair (shaking like a leaf) and the room still silent. President Craven stood up and talked about using the Spirit. He said that he felt the Spirit very strong when I spoke about the Sacrament.

Sunday: Vincent came to church and will be baptized very soon!!!!!! He stood up in front of everyone in Priesthood meeting and said how much he loves the Book of Mormon and being here at church. He mentioned how excited he is to be baptized!!!!! I am so proud of him!!!!! :) He is 20 years old and he and I are like best friends!! Please pray for him.

Those are just a few of many miracles that happened this week! I testify the Holy Ghost is real, and that when we learn to rely and become one with him, nothing is impossible. I may not have much confidence in myself, but I have confidence in the Holy Ghost.

There you go that was a really nice long one!!!! I love it out here and I finally feel like a missionary!

I love ya’ll!!!

Love Elder Gomm

Oh and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sure miss you all!!!!

November 12, 2012

Hey Everyone!!!

I am so overjoyed right now!!! Being a missionary is so awesome!!! I feel like Ammon, my favorite hero from the Book of Mormon, must have felt. He was so overjoyed in the work of bringing souls closer to Christ that his eternal joy exceeded his strength and he fell to the earth. I am almost in tears because I am so happy. The work is still the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but I am just so happy to be out here!

For all of you that are sad or depressed, for any reason, remember to put ALL your trust in the Lord and He will get you through your toughest times. I am telling you this from experience. The prayers of the righteous will bless us. As long as we keep the commandments of God, we shall prosper in the land. Look to the Prophet and your Savior for strength.

My new companion is great! A little quiet but we are having fun. We taught a ton of lessons last week and I have been working him hard, poor guy, but it is worth it. I miss my trainer :( I went through a few days of depression. 

Cool experience of the week: we have been teaching this young man who is really close to getting baptized. I gave his girlfriend a Book of Mormon a few months ago and she has been reading it. She said she can’t put it down and that she wants to be baptized with him!!!!! We haven't even taught her yet!!!!!!! It just strengthens my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true! And, that the Holy Spirit combined with the Book of Mormon is the most powerful converting tool. 

Another great story; Elder Christensen and I have been working with a blind man who has been away from the Church for awhile.  (I mentioned him in my letter last week.)  We have reactivated him. Yesterday he blessed the sacrament. I was in tears!!!!! I can’t wait until the resurrection because then he will be able to see both of us and we will weep together because of all that we have done for each other. I was so sad that Elder Christensen wasn't there to witness it.  It is amazing to take a step back and just watch the spirit work. This work, the Book of Mormon, and the Church is true, in the name of Jesus Christ. amen.

I challenge all of you members to make a mormon.org profile. Ya’ll can find me on there. (Can you tell I’m sort’a getting an accent?)

I will be writing each and every one of you that are preparing to go on a mission. I am tired of waiting for you to write me. There has been quite the famine of mail lately.

Love ya’ll!!!!!

Write me! Please!

Love,

Elder Gomm

Some pictures of Elder Christensen and me  with our friends before he was transferred

 

November 5, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

I am NOT getting transferred. Elder Christensen, my trainer and good friend, will now be a Zone Leader and is being transferred. 

Elder Christensen and Me

I am now the senior companion, which doesn't happen that often right after a new missionary finishes training. I am staying in the same area, Winston-Salem.  My address is the same.  If you need my address just email my mom at argomm@sbcglobal.net

Superstorm Sandy did not hit us. It was cloudy and there was a strong breeze but that was it. I really have no idea what really happened but people say it was bad. My heart goes out to the storm victims.

Things have been going really rough for one of the people we are teaching. When people come closer to God, the devil does everything in his power to stop it and make life miserable for that person.  I have seen it happen so many times now!

Cool story of the week. I was at Church yesterday and during Sacrament meeting two people stood up to bear their testimony. The first was a blind man that we have brought back to church after being absent for 15 years. He bore his testimony of how the missionaries, Elder Christensen and I, spent 2 days with him in the hospital and gave him a blessing and healed him from and illness. He expressed his love for the Church and us and how he knows that this is the true church of Christ. The next person was an investigator who bore a simple testimony that he knows that what we have taught is true and that the Book of Mormon is a true book. Both of us were in tears as we watched them bear testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  They know that we are messengers from the Lord that helped to change their lives forever.

Halloween was interesting. We were the Chili Cook-Off Judges.  After 23 different chilies we wanted to throw up it was so nasty. Some members were just experimenting on us. There was chili in a tiny pot that we saved for last. We both took a spoonful of it and 5 seconds later I thought my mouth was bleeding. It was so hot!!!!! My tongue was about to fall off. Apparently there were 6 habanero chili peppers and some other hot peppers concentrated in a tiny bowl. It messed us up for a few days. We were CIA agents for Halloween. It was simple just add shades.

I hope the following will write me a letter: Hannah, Mickey, Maggie, Jake, Spencer P., Spencer H., Bryce H., and anyone else that is thinking about going on a mission. I have some tips for you on how I wish I had prepared.

Love,

Elder Gomm

A picture of the Winston-Salem Zone - October 2012