Dear friends and family,
This came from my cousin in Virginia, and I feel it is worth sending and reading. Hope you enjoy it too. Happy New Year.
Love, the Goffs
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events.... Terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace..
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.
If not, then just discard it.... No one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas in Cape Verde
Dear Family and Friends,
This is just an update on our Christmas activities here in Cape Verde. This is also written by Elder Goff so please forgive the grammatical errors that might occur. (Sister Goff proofread it for me.)
We had two of the Sisters from a near-by island stay overnight at our place so they helped us prepare some of the things before the rest of the missionaries arrived. Two of the local Sisters arrived about 9:30 to help prepare a big bowl of fruit. They cut up tangerines, canned peaches, apples, canned pineapple and bananas. They filled two bowls. We also had two other Sisters bake 15 potatoes for us while we baked 20. Sister Goff also prepared a huge pot of chili for our potato bar. We had grated cheese, grated carrots, chopped green onions for toppings to put on top of the chili. Then the missionaries also brought cookies, and drinks to round out the meal. We also had coconut macaroons made for dessert along with cupcakes. There was even enough food for all 26 of us.
After the missionaries all arrived, our bus finally arrived which took us to the local orphanage where we sang three Christmas carols to about 8 youth. There are usually over a hundred kids there, but most were visiting relatives for Christmas. We wished them Merry Christmas and then took the bus to a Home for the Aged. There were 9 people living here so we sang to them and then presented them with personal hygiene kits and several quilts for the home. The quilts and kits were made and assembled by members of the church probably in Utah and shipped over here. After this visit, we went to another home for the aged and repeated for them what we had done at the other branch of the organization for the aged.
Then we returned to our apartment, gathered the missionaries in the living room and had several of them read parts of the Christmas story in Portuguese from the scriptures. After that came the food. We were pleased that we had enough for everyone with a little to spare. After eating, each of the 2 districts presented a skit for our enjoyment. The first was about Elder Scrooge who after a year in the mission field was getting "trunkey" and didn't really want to continue doing missionary work. He was visited by the ghost of Christmas past and relived some of his good memories from the beginning of his mission. He was then visited by the Spirit of Christmas yet to come. He was at home listening to "rock" music and being lazy. His "mother" came and asked him to do something worthwhile with his life. Then Elder Scrooge asked if this would really be his life in the future if he continued the way he was. The spirit assured him that that would be his lot in life. He decided to repent and change his current life from trunkey to active missionary.
The second skit depicted Samuel the Lamanite preaching to the Nephites(See Helaman 14 in the Book of Mormon). The people were living very worldly livesand rejected his words. When he came the second time, a few believed him. Then when the day and a night and a day happened as prophesied by Samuel, the rest believed. This was fun to watch.
After the skits, most of the missionaries left to be able to talk with their families at home. A few stayed here and one even had to receive calls on our phone since his was not accepting incoming long distance calls. We were blessed to be able to talk with Matt on Skype. We would keep losing the audio portion on the computer, so we would hang up and call again. Later in the day he called back since Joe and his family went over to our house where Matt was and we got to talk with all of them, grandchildren as well. It was nice to see them and talk with them. Skype is really nice to have since it has audio and video capabilities.
In the evening, we went to our chapel and the district choir put on a fireside of music and words for the members of the church. The missionaries sang the first number which I directed. I also got to direct the last number sung by the choir, "I Believe in Christ". Sister Goff accompanied the choir and the missionaries, and the young man accompanist also played some of the numbers and a beautiful postlude which he had arranged of "Silent Night". If was a reverent program with Christmas carols and narration about Christ.
That covers our Christmas celebration here in Cape Verde. We had fun but it took us about 2 days to come down from the "high" and decide to get back to work.
Elder and Sister Goff
This is just an update on our Christmas activities here in Cape Verde. This is also written by Elder Goff so please forgive the grammatical errors that might occur. (Sister Goff proofread it for me.)
We had two of the Sisters from a near-by island stay overnight at our place so they helped us prepare some of the things before the rest of the missionaries arrived. Two of the local Sisters arrived about 9:30 to help prepare a big bowl of fruit. They cut up tangerines, canned peaches, apples, canned pineapple and bananas. They filled two bowls. We also had two other Sisters bake 15 potatoes for us while we baked 20. Sister Goff also prepared a huge pot of chili for our potato bar. We had grated cheese, grated carrots, chopped green onions for toppings to put on top of the chili. Then the missionaries also brought cookies, and drinks to round out the meal. We also had coconut macaroons made for dessert along with cupcakes. There was even enough food for all 26 of us.
After the missionaries all arrived, our bus finally arrived which took us to the local orphanage where we sang three Christmas carols to about 8 youth. There are usually over a hundred kids there, but most were visiting relatives for Christmas. We wished them Merry Christmas and then took the bus to a Home for the Aged. There were 9 people living here so we sang to them and then presented them with personal hygiene kits and several quilts for the home. The quilts and kits were made and assembled by members of the church probably in Utah and shipped over here. After this visit, we went to another home for the aged and repeated for them what we had done at the other branch of the organization for the aged.
Then we returned to our apartment, gathered the missionaries in the living room and had several of them read parts of the Christmas story in Portuguese from the scriptures. After that came the food. We were pleased that we had enough for everyone with a little to spare. After eating, each of the 2 districts presented a skit for our enjoyment. The first was about Elder Scrooge who after a year in the mission field was getting "trunkey" and didn't really want to continue doing missionary work. He was visited by the ghost of Christmas past and relived some of his good memories from the beginning of his mission. He was then visited by the Spirit of Christmas yet to come. He was at home listening to "rock" music and being lazy. His "mother" came and asked him to do something worthwhile with his life. Then Elder Scrooge asked if this would really be his life in the future if he continued the way he was. The spirit assured him that that would be his lot in life. He decided to repent and change his current life from trunkey to active missionary.
The second skit depicted Samuel the Lamanite preaching to the Nephites(See Helaman 14 in the Book of Mormon). The people were living very worldly livesand rejected his words. When he came the second time, a few believed him. Then when the day and a night and a day happened as prophesied by Samuel, the rest believed. This was fun to watch.
After the skits, most of the missionaries left to be able to talk with their families at home. A few stayed here and one even had to receive calls on our phone since his was not accepting incoming long distance calls. We were blessed to be able to talk with Matt on Skype. We would keep losing the audio portion on the computer, so we would hang up and call again. Later in the day he called back since Joe and his family went over to our house where Matt was and we got to talk with all of them, grandchildren as well. It was nice to see them and talk with them. Skype is really nice to have since it has audio and video capabilities.
In the evening, we went to our chapel and the district choir put on a fireside of music and words for the members of the church. The missionaries sang the first number which I directed. I also got to direct the last number sung by the choir, "I Believe in Christ". Sister Goff accompanied the choir and the missionaries, and the young man accompanist also played some of the numbers and a beautiful postlude which he had arranged of "Silent Night". If was a reverent program with Christmas carols and narration about Christ.
That covers our Christmas celebration here in Cape Verde. We had fun but it took us about 2 days to come down from the "high" and decide to get back to work.
Elder and Sister Goff
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas Cards Returned
Dear friends and family,
If you have tried to send us a Christmas card via pouch mail, it likely has been returned. We are very sorry to have caused you such inconvenience. We found out what the problem is: unbeknownst to us as of the start of our mission, the pouch mail only accepts letters of one page, 8-1/2 x 11, folded in thirds and taped, no envelope, and address written on the paper. No cards. The booklet that we received from the Salt Lake Mission office listed the pouch address and said it was for letters and cards, but that ruling has been changed. Again, we are very sorry not to receive your cards. You could mail them to our home in Orem and we'll get them when we return in 2011-our son Matt will keep them for us (I would like to see them then), or you can just email us. Have a very merry Christmas!
Love, Elder and Sister Goff
If you have tried to send us a Christmas card via pouch mail, it likely has been returned. We are very sorry to have caused you such inconvenience. We found out what the problem is: unbeknownst to us as of the start of our mission, the pouch mail only accepts letters of one page, 8-1/2 x 11, folded in thirds and taped, no envelope, and address written on the paper. No cards. The booklet that we received from the Salt Lake Mission office listed the pouch address and said it was for letters and cards, but that ruling has been changed. Again, we are very sorry not to receive your cards. You could mail them to our home in Orem and we'll get them when we return in 2011-our son Matt will keep them for us (I would like to see them then), or you can just email us. Have a very merry Christmas!
Love, Elder and Sister Goff
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A Sewing Machine Christmas
Hello dear family!
Hoping that these days close to Christmas are fun for you all. We have been busy this past week with 2 days of Zone Conference (a day for each of the two districts, and we are part of both) and 3 nights of house guests--the sister missionaries from the nearby island of Santo Antao, and the mission nurse, my good friend, who came from the island where the mission home is. President and Sister Neves also came for the two days. The sister missionaries come on the ferry boat that goes between our island and theirs, so they came on Monday night and stayed till Thursday morning. We had a full house but it was lots of fun, and late nights!
I finally got a sewing machine from the church district for my own use, so I made a white skirt today to wear for the choir Christmas concert on Christmas night. The machine will mostly be used for the Clothing For Jobs program, which is a "store" like DI where they receive shipments of clothing from Salt Lake, sort through it for the single mothers without jobs to take and sell. Some of the clothing is not sellable but the fabric is still good, so the ladies and I decide other items that can be made from it for sale, and do it. Larry is the financial advisor and also helps them be more efficient in their sorting and selling. This job is for probably two afternoons a week.
We are also buying the school supplies for the school kits, and will enlist the help of the Young Single Adults to help us assemble the kits and deliver them. The Church wants to have a ceremony whenever a project of this sort is completed, and have the newspaper, TV, etc. coverage so that the Church gets known for being helpful in this country.
We also have some 300 "Mormon Helping Hands" yellow vests for 4 clean-up projects in 2010--clean up a school yard, a beach, parks etc. on four holidays during the coming year. This project is for all of Cape Verde, and we are in charge of the 4 northern islands.
The Dengue Fever plague has almost ended entirely. The Church in SLC sent mosquito repellent and spray, since we could not buy any here. Right at the start of the plague, people bought out all the repellent, and there was none left, not enough to go around, so the Church sent some more.
This city is beautiful with all the Christmas lights, on buildings and streets. We spent an evening just walking around to see it all.
When the mission nurse came, she brought me some baking things from Praia where the mission home is, that I could not get here: molasses (actually black treacle), ginger, and cream of tartar. So we made gingerbread cookies--it was great to have that smell and taste at this time of year. We also had made my Christmas bread, "Stollen", a few weeks ago. Here is a photo of our little tree, and we also have lights around the front window inside. We are reading a Christmas story every night that we got from the Church magazines on the Internet, and we also got the text of the three talks given in the First Presidency Christmas Devotional which we will be reading also. The young people really enjoyed Larry's teaching them to cut fancy paper snowflakes, and they made over 100 to decorate the Cultural Hall for the district Primary party today. Some of them are exceptionally artistic, very beautiful.
Our 2 packages are still in the Mission Home, but they said they would put them on a plane to send here before Christmas. We hope also to get the shipment of Gospel Art books which the mission president ordered for each missionary as a Christmas gift. He used our idea, so we came up with another as our gift to the missionaries--a lighter to light the stove and oven so you don't burn your fingers on the teeny short matches they have here.
Tonight we are going to take the city bus to the other chapel about 5 miles away and attend the Young Women's Night of Excellence. They have made some beautiful things, like cross-stitch, fancy crepe paper flowers, yarn toys, and other really neat things.
Guess that's enough rambling. We miss you all extremely, and hope to hear from each of you in an email for Christmas. We cannot call internationally on our phone, so any phone call would have to be from your end. Our number is 238- 993-2444. We wish you all a very happy Christmas. Please let us know some things about the grandchildren especially. Hope Matt delivered your gifts from us.
Love, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister Goff
Hoping that these days close to Christmas are fun for you all. We have been busy this past week with 2 days of Zone Conference (a day for each of the two districts, and we are part of both) and 3 nights of house guests--the sister missionaries from the nearby island of Santo Antao, and the mission nurse, my good friend, who came from the island where the mission home is. President and Sister Neves also came for the two days. The sister missionaries come on the ferry boat that goes between our island and theirs, so they came on Monday night and stayed till Thursday morning. We had a full house but it was lots of fun, and late nights!
I finally got a sewing machine from the church district for my own use, so I made a white skirt today to wear for the choir Christmas concert on Christmas night. The machine will mostly be used for the Clothing For Jobs program, which is a "store" like DI where they receive shipments of clothing from Salt Lake, sort through it for the single mothers without jobs to take and sell. Some of the clothing is not sellable but the fabric is still good, so the ladies and I decide other items that can be made from it for sale, and do it. Larry is the financial advisor and also helps them be more efficient in their sorting and selling. This job is for probably two afternoons a week.
We are also buying the school supplies for the school kits, and will enlist the help of the Young Single Adults to help us assemble the kits and deliver them. The Church wants to have a ceremony whenever a project of this sort is completed, and have the newspaper, TV, etc. coverage so that the Church gets known for being helpful in this country.
We also have some 300 "Mormon Helping Hands" yellow vests for 4 clean-up projects in 2010--clean up a school yard, a beach, parks etc. on four holidays during the coming year. This project is for all of Cape Verde, and we are in charge of the 4 northern islands.
The Dengue Fever plague has almost ended entirely. The Church in SLC sent mosquito repellent and spray, since we could not buy any here. Right at the start of the plague, people bought out all the repellent, and there was none left, not enough to go around, so the Church sent some more.
This city is beautiful with all the Christmas lights, on buildings and streets. We spent an evening just walking around to see it all.
When the mission nurse came, she brought me some baking things from Praia where the mission home is, that I could not get here: molasses (actually black treacle), ginger, and cream of tartar. So we made gingerbread cookies--it was great to have that smell and taste at this time of year. We also had made my Christmas bread, "Stollen", a few weeks ago. Here is a photo of our little tree, and we also have lights around the front window inside. We are reading a Christmas story every night that we got from the Church magazines on the Internet, and we also got the text of the three talks given in the First Presidency Christmas Devotional which we will be reading also. The young people really enjoyed Larry's teaching them to cut fancy paper snowflakes, and they made over 100 to decorate the Cultural Hall for the district Primary party today. Some of them are exceptionally artistic, very beautiful.
Our 2 packages are still in the Mission Home, but they said they would put them on a plane to send here before Christmas. We hope also to get the shipment of Gospel Art books which the mission president ordered for each missionary as a Christmas gift. He used our idea, so we came up with another as our gift to the missionaries--a lighter to light the stove and oven so you don't burn your fingers on the teeny short matches they have here.
Tonight we are going to take the city bus to the other chapel about 5 miles away and attend the Young Women's Night of Excellence. They have made some beautiful things, like cross-stitch, fancy crepe paper flowers, yarn toys, and other really neat things.
Guess that's enough rambling. We miss you all extremely, and hope to hear from each of you in an email for Christmas. We cannot call internationally on our phone, so any phone call would have to be from your end. Our number is 238- 993-2444. We wish you all a very happy Christmas. Please let us know some things about the grandchildren especially. Hope Matt delivered your gifts from us.
Love, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister Goff
Christmas Schedule
Greetings Family,
We would like the opportunity of talking with you over the holidays but as you all know, international calling is expensive. Therefore, if you would like to call us, we have a cell phone here that we use. Since it is part of the regular missionary account, we cannot call long distance, but we can receive calls. Our number is (country code) 238 993 2444.
However, Matt registered us on SKYPE before we left so we also have this option, but everyone would need to register on skype as well for us to communicate with you.
On Christmas day, we will have all 24 missionaries from our northern zone at our house for dinner. We plan a potato bar with chile and other toppings. We have scheduled for the missionaries to call their parents from 3:00 to 5:00 our time. Therefore, they will be using their own phones, not ours and will probably return to their own apartments or a phone center to make the calls.
This means that we will be free at the same time to talk with our families. Since we are 6 hours different, that would mean about 9:00 in the morning your time. We could also schedule other times during the holidays if you would like. We are usually home between noon and 3:00 for lunch and rest, etc our time.
We love to hear from you and all the many things you are involved with as well as what our grandchildren are doing.
We wish you a very merry Christmas and we send a big hug for everyone,
Love, Dad and Mom
We would like the opportunity of talking with you over the holidays but as you all know, international calling is expensive. Therefore, if you would like to call us, we have a cell phone here that we use. Since it is part of the regular missionary account, we cannot call long distance, but we can receive calls. Our number is (country code) 238 993 2444.
However, Matt registered us on SKYPE before we left so we also have this option, but everyone would need to register on skype as well for us to communicate with you.
On Christmas day, we will have all 24 missionaries from our northern zone at our house for dinner. We plan a potato bar with chile and other toppings. We have scheduled for the missionaries to call their parents from 3:00 to 5:00 our time. Therefore, they will be using their own phones, not ours and will probably return to their own apartments or a phone center to make the calls.
This means that we will be free at the same time to talk with our families. Since we are 6 hours different, that would mean about 9:00 in the morning your time. We could also schedule other times during the holidays if you would like. We are usually home between noon and 3:00 for lunch and rest, etc our time.
We love to hear from you and all the many things you are involved with as well as what our grandchildren are doing.
We wish you a very merry Christmas and we send a big hug for everyone,
Love, Dad and Mom
Friday, December 18, 2009
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