07.09.12



Chillin' in the grass.




Garvagh Pyramid hero shot.




Last Zone Conference with President & Sister Griffiths.




Riding on the bus in Belfast.



Straight up "Karate Kid" status epic picture.



Drinking from a fountain in the streets while tracting.  It is direct spring water.



Family,

 

I attached a hero shot to this email because it is so epic. Straight up Karate kid status. I also uploaded like 44 pictures to Walgreens.com.

 

Yesterday we got to eat dinner with the Kellys out in the country side. It was pretty awesome, Brother Kelly just sat and told me war stories the whole time. He has some pretty epic war stories. I will tell them to you all someday haha. He was in the army in Belfast during the troubles and he's been just about everywhere else. He served in the army longer than any other veteran in Northern Ireland. He is just epic. Plus, his wife knew Liam Neeson when they were little.

 

It's been fairly nice weather lately. It's cloudy, but it's more humid than usual so it's pretty warm. We didn't even have to wear our suit jackets one day. I love when we don't have to wear suit jackets.

 

I looked into getting a fishing license and I found out that they are £42 plus £17 pounds to use a rod! Out of control! I heard that you can catch eels in there though and I think that would be pretty awesome. Too bad we can't have pets haha. 1 pound is equal to about 1.50 in american dollars so I have to remember that I am always spending more than I think. I barely ever spend my own money though. Only if I buy a sick jersey or something.

 

We weren't able to meet with the man from Batswana this week because he was out of town, but he says we can come over this week. I am excited to meet with him again because I think he is very promising. We also found a couple of other potentials so hopefully they will be good too.

 

Mark, the guy who wants to come back to church, has now been to church twice! One of our members gave him a suit to wear and everything. He is pretty excited to be back and we are trying to help him quite smoking. He really wants to stop and I think he will. Next week, he is even going to bring one of his non-member friends to church with him! I am way pumped about that. We also had a less active family at church that haven't been for years. They are epic though. They all just sit around playing xbox all day. He always talks to me about how I should get a job in a mine at Australia when I go home because you make like 250 thousand dollars a year there. Sounds good to me haha.

 

We even got a less active guy to come out teaching in Port Rush with us. It's pretty funny that he doesn't usuallly go to church, but he is willing to go out teaching with the missionaries haha. He is also coming to church now too though. I love working with less active members. I think they just need to be reminded of the Saviors love for them and they just need a friend to talk to.

 

The bonfires hear are getting massive. I took some pictures of a couple of them and uploaded them. They have people camping in trailers by them to make sure that nobody lights them early. It's funny to go to different neighborhoods. You can instantly tell if they are Protestant or Catholic because they will have flags hanging EVERYWHERE. I am sad I missed all the 4th traditions though, but I get to see the 12th now. I keep telling all the members that we should put together a Mormon parade and march around town in the Catholic or Protestand neighborhoods, but they don't think it's a good idea haha. The parades supposedly have thousands of people marching in them.  

 

I got to meet President Brown on Thursday! He is such a nice genuine man and he has an awesome scottish accent. I am way excited to have him as my mission president. We met them in Belfast and had interviews with him, then they showed us a movie they made about their family. He was a Patriarch before he got called to be a mission President. He said that one day they told him he was no longer an active patriarch and he thought he had done something wrong. Then about a year after that, out of the blue, he got the oppurtunity to sell his business for a lot of money. He knew that the Lord must have something in store for him and the next year, he got called to be the mission president. During our interview I talked about how I was nervous to come on a mission and he talked about how nervous/scared he was when he got called to be mission president and how he still is nervous. We talked about how no matter what happens, the Lord will always be there to help us and we need not fear. He is just a normal, down to earth guy and I really respect that.

 

I love you all and miss you all. I hope everything is going good for you and I pray for you all. I love you. Have a happy 12th of July. Get some Mormons together and march around Cedar City haha.

 

Elder Goodwin