06.26.12

Family;

 

I can't believe I have been gone nearly 3 months! Time really does fly. I feel like I just barely went to the MTC yesterday.

 

Last Tuesday was the last time we will see President Griffiths. He goes home this week. After the Zone Conference in Belfast, him and his wife gave all of us hugs as we left. She dominated and said we had to hug her because she was going home haha. It was a good Zone Conference though.

 

We have a new trainee in the District now and I am pretty excited. I always tell him that I have less time left than him haha. It's nice to be able to say that to someone. He came with me to Coleraine on exchanges though and we got 5 new potential investigators. It was probably the worst weather I have seen that day. People were saying that it rained a months worth of rain in a couple hours. Which is crazy, especially for Ireland. The streets were flooding and stuff. We had to go back to the flat 3 times to dry our clothes and put on new socks haha. Elder Rawlinson's mind was boggled. His area is a car area so that is the first time he had to walk. And we walked ALOT. haha.

 

We also went to Giants Causeway again so I will upload some pictures of that next week cause I forgot my camera. I don't have much time today either, so my letter will be kind of short.

 

The weather here is soo random. It's sunny and then the next minute it's rainy and cold and visa versa. haha. We also only get a few hours of darkness everyday. I don't think it gets dark until like 11 30 or 12. When I wake up randomly in the night, it's already completely light again by 5.

 

Elder Vollheim gave me a haircut a couple week ago and he actually did a pretty good job ha. I was nervous cause I'm pretty OCD about my hair being even, but he ended up doing it good. I just figured I would tell you that because I forgot. He also drew me some epic pictures. I will also upload those next week. He is way good at drawing though.

 

Once of the potentials we found is an African man from Batswana. It was the last house we tracted. He said about 8 years ago while he was still in Batswana, he met some missionary's and they gave him a Book of Mormon. He read it and even went to church a couple times. He is excited to start meeting with us again. I really think he will be solid. He has a little family and everything.

 

The Protestants and Catholics are funny here. They have been fighting each other for years, and they still hate each other. All the schools and everything are segregated into Catholic schools and Protestant schools. People are stunned when they find out there are other religions besides Catholic and Protestant haha. They sometimes ask if we are Protestant Mormons or Catholic Mormons. haha.

 

I love you all and hope everything is going good for you.

 

Elder Goodwin

06.18.12



The start of one of the MANY giant bonfires getting built for the 12th of July. This one is in a Protestant neighborhood I think.



...THE WAVE...

Family;

 

This week, I had to go to the SMART start. That is where all the trainees and their trainers meet up with President Griffiths and the APs and they make us do role plays to make sure that we are learning what we are supposed too. You know me, I just love doing role plays. Actually, I don't. haha. I am getting better at them now because I can see how helpful they are when you do them correctly. I felt a little bit like I was attending drama or something the first few role plays I did in the MTC though. haha. But, the APs were very impressed with how I handled everything and how I taught.

 

The fires goin on around Utah sound way bad. People here have even heard about it on the news or in the papers. Hopefully, they will be able to get them all under control.

 

The sun has officially disappeared for awhile here. Everyone says that those couple weeks of sun, might be the only sun we get for the summer haha. That's ok though, because I get sun burned easy anyway. I actually think the weather here is really good, even when it's raining. The only time it actually gets cold is when it's windy. Our mission leader is always talking about needing to get a tan and it's hilarious because he is black. So whenever we visit him, I tell him that we should just go outside so he can get a tan. He thinks it is pretty funny. haha

 

We had some more less actives at church yesterday! I can really tell that all the work we have been doing with them is paying off.  We had to drop our investigator though, because of some different things. Hopefully we can find some more investigators this week.

 

I have been playing the piano a lot lately. For some reason, it blows peoples minds that I can play the piano. haha because usually guys can't play the piano here. I usually play in priesthood and then we go to one of the less active members house and I play some hymns for him. Everytime I walk in, he just asks me to play a wee bit of piano haha. I uploaded a picture to walgreens of me playing in his house.

 

I'm telling you, one of the people we see acts EXACTLY like Hal. It's crazy how similar they are.

 

A couple weeks ago, I bought a gold club for 6 pounds at a shop. So naturally, I went out in back of the flat and hit rocks into the river with it. It was so epic. I uploaded some pictures so that you can see how awesome it is. We also got a bunch of old wooden golf clubs and golf balls from a guy named Davie, because we helped him clean out his shed, and he didn't want them anymore.

 

Word on the street is that you don't have to have a license to fish in The River Bann, which is in our backyard. I am thinking about buying a cheap fishing pole and just fishing there on p-day. That would be pretty awesome. I even got permission from the Zone Leaders. ha I heard that most of the fish by the shore are nasty and worthless, but I don't care because I'm not going to eat them. I just want to say that I caught some in the backyard haha.

 

Last week was the best food week I've had. We got to go to a Chines Buffet after district meeting, then we went to burger king after the smart start. I love burger king. I got a supersized meal and president Griffiths paid for it. Everyone is always talking about how cheap fast food is in America. They always get so jealous when I tell them about the dollar menus.

 

Shennie sent me that picture of Dad fighting a fire, and I showed it to everyone we taught yesterday. They all thought it was the coolest picture they have ever seen, especially since it was Fathers Day.

 

There are huge bonfires getting built everywhere here. They are getting them ready for the 12th of July. That is supposedly the craziest holiday around. People just stay drunk for like 3 days and they have massive band parades and bonfires. The Protestants and Catholics have different parades that are supposed to be on different sides of town, but in cities like Belfast they usually just march wherever they want anyway, which causes problems haha. I am excited to see what that will be like. Those bonfires are incredible. They are soo massive, and they are just getting started! I uploaded a picture of the beginning of one of the smaller ones.

 

Surprisingly, I am starting to like potatos more and more. haha but they are still definitely not my favorite food. Yesterday, a member made us dinner. She made roast beef with fried onions and potatos and carrots/peas. I actually really liked it, except for the peas haha. I also made us some spaghetti with meat sauce or spaghettie balognaise as everyone else calls it. It was easier than I thought haha.

 

I love studying the Book of Mormon every morning. It is dominant. I always highlight things and make them into little lessons that I can give to members or less actives. My favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon is Alma 44. It is just has so many awesome quotes and verses.  Doctrine and Covenants is also pretty epic. Personal study is one of my favorite times of the day. 

 

Well I hope things keep going well for all of you in Cedar City. I love all of you more than words can express.

 

Elder Goodwin

06.11.12

Party goin on across the river. Also where the olympic torch passed through.

Family!

 

Happy fathers day to Dad! I hope you have a great fathers day because you deserve it. Also, Happy Birthday to Tim and Haze!

 

These last few days have been pretty good. Not too much has happened here. Just the usual, eating some potatoes and other miscellaneous vegetables and spreading the Gospel haha.

 

A is pretty much dropped, which is too bad. He won't answer our calls and he won't answer his door. I think he is embarrassed because we saw him in the street a couple days ago and talked to him, but he was WAY drunk. Hopefully, he will let us teach him this week.

 

One of the youth in the ward had to give a talk on Sunday. He went up there and just said, well I forgot about this talk until 3 minutes ago. Then he talked about how him and his dad boxed for young mens once and sat down. hahaha I thought it was so classic.

 

Last week, we did service for a guy named LK. We tore down a wall so he could have more room to his driveway. He is an epic man. He used to be a paratrooper in the army, then he was a member of the SAS, and then up until a few years ago, he worked for the Secret Service. He likes me a lot for some reason, and everytime we are there he takes me inside and makes me look at all his old pictures of him in the service. haha They are some pretty awesome pictures though. He is pretty hardcore, but now he can barely walk. He is getting old and now all his injuries are starting to catch up with him. He is awesome though. He always wears his secret service pin to church. He is actually on the IRA hit list so he has to live outside of town. haha.

 

Everyone keeps asking what an average day is like here, so I will explain it now.

 

We get up at 6 30 and exercise/shower/ and eat breakfast. For exercise I either do 220+ pushups in sets of 40, or 6 by 12 dumbell curls depending on the day. Then we study from 8-11, but then Elder Vollheim has to study for 30 more minutes because he is District Leader. I hate being trapped inside hah.  After that, we eat lunch. Then we either go to our appointments or GQ or tract until dinner. Then after dinner, we do the same thing. We usually walk really far because everyone lives in different areas. I love walking and being outside though. Sometimes we get members to take us around to the smaller towns that we can't walk to, to see less active members. It's pretty fun. We go back to the flat at 9, do our planning, and then go to bed at 10:30. I usually do some more pushups or curls at like 10.

 

I also wanted to tell  you some funny things that Irish people say, besides aye. When they don't want to do something they just say, "I can't be bothered." haha I think it's hilarious because EVERYONE says that. Another thing they say is "wee." It means small and they say it all the time. If someone has a cute little kid ladies will walk up and tell them that their kid is a wee pet. Which means really cute haha.  Foods usually have different names as well, but I'm not going to write all those because there are too many. I love the accent here, but I'm starting to not even notice it. They also say "so I did" or "so I am" after everything. IE they will say, "I'm going to the store, so I am." or, "I went to the store, so I did." I always laugh when they say these funny phrases.

 

Well, I am going to upload some pictures to walgreens now, so I will get this sent. I love you all and pray for you. I can truly feel the spirit out here and I know this is where I should be. I love you.

 

Elder Goodwin

06.06.12

Walking trail outside our flat.

I am writing my email today, because the past few days were bank holidays. I am not sure what that even means, but they randomly have days off where all the banks, libraries and most stores are closed. There were just people partying all over the place. It was also a holiday because the olympic torch came through Coleraine on Monday. We didn't get to see it, but the party for it was going on directly across the river from our flat.

 

Thats pretty awesome that Connor got his call to Argentina. I think Andrew Wilson is there, but I'm not positive. He will be surrounded by small latinos haha.

 

It has been WAY nice these last couple weeks. We didn't have to wear our suits most of the days, just our slacks and white shirt. I even got to wear my short sleeved shirts. Unless it's warm and not raining, we have to wear suits. It was such good weather, I even got sunburned. It got up to like 85 farenheit one day. It's pretty rainy today though. The weather here is way random hah.

 

We walk a ton here. We don't have a car or anything, so we walk EVERYWHERE. I actually enjoy it though, especially when it's not raining haha. I think our area could really use a car because we cover a few different towns, but we can't get anywhere except Coleraine. Gas is just too expensive here though. USA drivers license's are valid for a year here, so we don't have to get new ones. We just renew our licenses after a year.

 

Everyone is getting pretty excited about the olympics being here. They have a giant outdoor TV in Belfast with a countdown for the Olympics. We were there for Zone Conference and got to see it. There are olympic souvenirs in almost every store. Belfast actually isn't that dangerous anymore. I would say the place where fools still fight about religion the most is London Derry. They even fight about the name. Catholics call it Derry and Protestants call it London Derry. So on signs and stuff it says London Derry/Derry. haha that is also why they built the peace bridge, to symbolize peace between the protestants and catholics, but everyone thinks it's foolish. Sometimes we go to our mission leaders house and tell him we love the rangers (the main protestant team) and his non member wife gets mad at us because she is Catholic haha. It gets INTENSE when the Rangers and the Celtics ( the catholic team) place each other. After the game, there will be drunk people celebrating for days in the streets. haha I love watching drunk people walk around. It is a classic sight here, especially on Saturdays.

 

This week has been pretty good though. We are really starting to see some good results of the fast everyone is doing. We had 6 less actives at church and we found a new investigator. He also came to church. It is really good for the branch to see new faces at church because there hasn't been much happening here in years. It was fast Sunday, so all the member talked about there conversion in their testimonies. It was way good, and our investigator said he wants to go next week too. His name is Aiden. He actually found us on the street. He is a pretty bad alcoholic, but he really wants to change. I would say that is the number 1 problem for people over here. Alcohol. We had a lesson with him on Saturday and he came to church on Sunday, which is pretty amazing. We brought Norman (our mission leader) with us because he had a huge problem with alcohol before he met the missionaries. He helped the lesson SO much. It went very well.

 

We got to go out to dinner last night. It was epic, we went to a place called Pizza Pomodoros. I got the meat feast pizza and it was delicious. A family named the Kilgors took us and paid for us. Our meals uaually include barbequed chicken, sandwiches, frozen pizza or hot and spicy chicken, so it was a good change of menu haha. I don't mind those other foods though, I actually really enjoy them usually. I haven't had any really gross food except for that awful polish soup. Polish soup is of the devil haha.

 

Well, I really do love you all and thank you for your letters, prayers and support. I hope you all have a good week. I pray for you all. I love you.

 

Elder Goodwin