05.08.12



Elder Goodwin arriving safely in Ireland.

What up my family!? We had to email today because yesterday was zone conference. But I should be emailing every monday from now on.

 

I was so stressed that I couldn't talk to you that much! But it took us a lot longer than expected to get to our terminals at the airport. At least we get to talk on sunday though.

 

First things first. I am in a place called Coleraine in Ireland. It's way pretty just exactly like in all the pictures you see online. Everything is green. Our flat is right on the riverside and is supposedly one of the nicest flats in the mission. It's pretty nice I won't lie. I will send you a picture of the view from our back window. I will also try to upload a ton more pictures to walgreens.com.

 

My companions name is Elder Morten Vollheim. He is from Norway, but he speaks really good english. He has been out 20 months so he thinks about going home a lot. He says that time really flies. He does have an accent, but he says it was a lot worse when he started. We are not that close yet cause we've only been together a few days. For the most part, people in Ireland are a lot easier to understand than people in Scotland. I don't have much trouble understanding most people. Of course, they have different phrases and names for certain stuff, but I am learning.

 

Though it is pretty, everything here is completely different. They drive on the wrong side of the road and don't have any of the same stores or houses or anything that we do. All the food has different names and all the food is healthier. We eat at members houses maybe twice a week. For sure on Sundays though. So not that often. My companion just makes bacon and eggs for us all the time and it annoys me so we are going to the store today. Most of the houses here are pretty small. It has been extremely overwhelming for me the first few days, but I think I am starting to get used to it. The weather isn't as bad as everyone says. It's definitely not as warm as Utah, but it hasn't been cold enough to need anything more than my suit jacket yet. It rained pretty hard all day yesterday and we got soaked on our way back to the flat. I'ts cloudy a lot, but I think the weather is actually pretty nice.

 

Traveling here sucked, I'm not gonna lie. The plane ride from texas to london was like 9 or 10 hours. There was a baby crying on every flight off and on, so it was hard to sleep that good. I had jet lag really bad for awhile, but I'm settling in now. When we got to Edinburgh, the mission president and APs gave everyone hugs. Then we went to the mission home. The mission home is soo nice. Everything in Edinburgh looks like it came straight out of a book or a movie or somethings. It's very pretty. When we got there we ate and then we walked over to the castle. It was amazing to see and I took a lot of pictures. The next day we woke up and ate and then we hiked up pratz hill. We had the oppurtunity to pray at the top and tell God our expectations for our missions and to help us achieve them. It was pretty neat. Later that night we were all in the same room with our future trainers and they pulled out pieces of paper that told us who our trainers would be and where we would be serving. When they call your name you go up and hug your trainer. Then he gave me the mission tie. After that we took pictures and the missionaries serving in Scotland left and got to work. The Ireland missionaries had to stay an extra night. We got up in the morning and took a bus for about three and half hours to the ferry. Then we rode the ferry for about 3 hours to Ireland. We took one last hour and a half bus ride to Belfast and then took the train for about and hour to Coleraine. So I did a lot of traveling the last week. I was REALLY stressed believe it or not. It is just stressfull to be in such a new environment with so much change happening all the time. I am really starting to like it here though. It is nice to know that I can relax becaue this is where I will be staying for awhile.

 

It was pretty sad when we left the MTC. We had all gotten pretty close those 3 weeks. We sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again and then we just got on the bus. It wasn't as sad because all the elders are going to the same mission. The sisters were pretty sad though. You should go visit them in St George at the visitors center. They should be arriving there tomorrow. They really want to meet my parents haha.

 

Nobody has been baptized in Coleraine for like 3 years. The ward has about 30 people and they are all very strong in the Gospel. Tracting is hard because everyone is VERY polite, but they already have their mind set on religion. The best conversation we had was with the Baptist Minister. haha. We work a lot with the member and especially less active member. We just go over there and talk with them and give them a lesson. I challenged a random guy on his doorstep to be baptized because that was a goal for all the new missionaries haha. He didn't accept it. I really feel the spirit when we are tracting and working hard though. Hard work is awesome. Oh ya, we walk ALOT. Everywhere. But I kind of like getting the fresh air.

 

On Saturday I learned how to fly fish. I got good I won't lie. Someday I am gonna take up fly fishing because it's really fun when you get the hang of it. Anyway, we went because an investigator and some less actives went that we don't get to talk to that often. So, I can now say I've been fly fishing in Ireland. Be jealous.

 

Ok, so you will have to call me because our phone won't call that far away. But it can still recieve calls. Call me at 9 Ireland time. Which would be 2 in Cedar? You will also need the direction number for the uk. So find that our because I have no idea haha.

 

Here is my mailing address. I could use some packages of junk food. (Doritos, hostess, swiss rolls, etc.) I had to throw a lot away when I left the MTC. Also some creamy peanut butter because peanut butter here tastes like crap. haha. I hope I answered all your questions because I can't remember them all.

 

18 Sandelford Court

3 Mt. Sandel Road

Coleraine BT52 1NZ

UK

 

Well, I love you all and hope you are doing well. The gospel is definitely true and should be shared with everyone. I love my family so much.

Love

Elder Goodwin

 

I don't have any more time or I would upload more pictures.