09.24.12



Bus ride through Scotland.  On my way to my new area.




Glasgow City Centre




Statue in front of the library.  Every time someone in the city takes the cone off his head, someone else puts it back on the next night.



Well, this week has been real, it's been fun, and it's been real fun. Before I start, I would like to formally say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MANDY!

 

There hasn't been too many crazy or comical things this week, but we had some good success. We hit our goal of 20 lessons again and that was good. On Friday, we went on exchanges with the assistants. They just recently got called to be traveling assistants instead of normal assistants. That means that they spend all of their time traveling to exchanges and back. That would be pretty tiring. President Brown called different people throughout Scotland and Ireland to be his cousellors. I'm excited to see how that works. President Griffiths never did that.

 

I was pretty nervous to go on exchanges with the assistants, but it was really good. Me and elder quashie split for the day and went throughout the area with our assigned assistant. ha we ended up teaching 10 lessons and finding 4 new investigators that day. The assistants were way impressed and it was a fun day. Anyway, we found a bunch of new investigators this week and so I am excited to teach them all again. We found out that one of our other investigators sniffed too much glue when he was young and that he likes cocaine. ha Missionaries meet some interesting people.

 

We always go and visit this less active guy who lives in an old folks home. He is only less active because he can't leave, but he never gets any visitors except us. He has pretty bad health, but he is way nice and cool. He tells us lots of stories and makes us tell him stories about the bible. hah it is pretty fun. The other member family reminds me of our family so much. I think I already told you all. They are the Richardsons. We just go there every Wednesday for dinner and it's hilarious. They just sit around and say funny things and the sisters mock everyone in sight. Then they love me to tell them stories of my past "redneck" antics. They just sit and laugh. A couple of their favorite stories are about Dad. Haha I told them the story about how he got injured on the trampoline and when he went off a jump in Brian Head on skiis. Their dad can relate and they loved it. haha

 

Last p-day we were gonna go golfing with an ex professional golfer that we found. He was going to take us out and show us some tips for driving. It was raining though, so we didn't get to do it. Hopefully, he will take us out some other time. It's starting to get kind of cold for golf, though. The weather is still random. It's funny because one minute it's sunny then the next it's really windy and cold and raining. I never know what to wear outside ha.

 

My flat is pretty nice. It has weights and so I get a good workout every morning. My biceps barely fit into my shirt. Hah not really but they are pretty massive. hah and we each have our own bathrooms. That is SO nice. All in all it's a good flat. When people ask where we live, and we tell them Shettleston Rd, we get some concerned looks, but I haven't seen anything epic yet. hah hopefully soon.

 

Well, that is all I have to say for now. I will go and download some pictures to walgreens.com for you all to see. I love you all! Go to church, read your scriptures, and pray. It's the only way to go!

 

Elder Goodwin

09.17.12

My fellow kinsmen,

This week has been full of teaching the gospel and being dominated by drunk people. It was a good week. I will start by telling some of the funny things that have happened. But first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Emmy and Dude! Do something fun. Anyway. .. 

When we were going to tract a high flat, we went in the bottom floor and there was a guy standing there acting casual in the corner. Upon further inspection, I realized that he wasn't wearing any shoes and that he was scarcely covered by a strange pair of shorts. He just said "alright boys" (the typical greeting in Scotland) so we just kept walking. Then all of the sudden we hear him shouting a bunch of profanity and jumping up and down and yelling really weird things. At this point, his shorts were falling off and so most of his butt was visible. Then, he starts trying to pull the guard rail out of the ground and all the time swearing more and more. We were trying to refrain from laughing, but it was quite difficult at the moment. We were about to go over and help him, but then consierge showed up and helped. I realize how not funny this sounds, but I found it amusing. haha He was probably just drunk. 

A couple of days ago, we were waiting at the bus stop and we saw a drunk lady coming towards us. She was completely wasted and staggering all over the place. She was probably like 30 and quite "large". We knew this could be unpredictable. She walked up and shook Elder Quashies hand and then came towards me. I thought she was just going to shake my hand too, so I put my hand out. She grabbed my hand with an iron grip such as has never been known among men. Then, with the quickness of a puma and the strength of a polar bear, she pulled my hand to her face and kissed it for like 5 seconds, until I started pulling away pretty hard! THEN, she tried to pull me up off the bench, and I had to muster the strength to stay back. When she finally released my hand, she almost fell in the bushes, and then she left. That was the end of that. 

I finally got to go to a Tartan shop! I bought the Braveheart tarten tie, the Macbeth tartan tie, and ordered a Goodwin tarten tie. There is not a Goodwin tartan, but they are from the Sterling clan. So I got the sterling tie. I checked a few different shops to make sure they weren't just making things up. They all said the same thing, so no worries. If anyone wants some tartan stuff, just tell me. It is really expensive though. 

We always see tons of fox's here. It surprises me everytime, because I think I've only ever seen 1 fox in utah. They are EVERYWHERE here. They go into peoples back yards at night and are always messing things up. Sometimes, we see them right in the City. They have no fear, kind of like me. haha.

I really like the members here. There is a family named the Richardsons, and they remind me of our family. We have a dinner appointment there every Wednesday. They even have a son out on his mission in Ogden right now. They love it when I tell them of my crazy antics back home. They think it's hilarious. I always tell them about all of you and they want to meet you all. They are epic. There is also a family from the Philipines (however thats spelled) named the Paderengas. They make delicious food and are also lots of fun to visit. We have quite a few investigators right now and we are going to invite them to attend a baptism (missionaries from the other area) on Thursday. It should be really good for them to see that. Most of our investigators really struggle with smoking. I wish there was some magic way to just have someone quit smoking in 5 minutes. ha but we still have a overcoming smoking plan that works really well. 

The weather here is starting to get colder. From what I've heard, there are only a few real differences between summer and winter. Even more rain and more wind. It's also definitely getting colder. I am excited to see what winter is like here. It's getting darker earlier and earlier everyday. Supposedly, in the middle of winter, we will only get like 5 or 6 hours of daylight everyday. 

 

Well, I love you all and hope you have an epic week. Work hard and trust in the Lord. 

Elder Goodwin

09.10.12



Deep fried pizza



Family~

This has been an excellent first official week in Springboig. The weeks are flying by. Seriously. We were able to get our 20 lessons again and we are pretty excited about that. We found a couple new investigators as well, and we have still been teaching 2 of the new investigators from last week. The catholic guy is still there, but I think he just likes to talk to me, to be honest. Hah he isn't very keen on keeping commitments. We will see this week, though. We were able to soft commit a guy we found named Jim to be baptised! I am way excited. We have taught him a few times and he really wants the peace that can come from reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of word of wisdom problems, so it won't be easy or fast, but I think he really has the desire to change. 

Yesterday, after dinner, we still needed 3 more lessons to hit our goal of 20. We prayed that we would be able to hit it, and then we went to tract the high flat we had planned. We didn't even have to chap too many doors, but we ended up getting invited in to 3 different peoples houses. Unheard of! The first guy is a Muslim, but he also kept telling us that he is Rasta. He was just lighting up cigarettes left and right and smoking on us haha. But we were able to teach a bit about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy to read and pray about. It was tough, because he doesn't understand english very well. There is so much diversity over here. Anyway, the second guy we found was named Andrew. I'm pretty sure he was "unaccountable" but we shared the Book of Mormon with him as well. He was excited, but we will see how it goes. The third guy was golden though. He is from Bangledesh and is here studying politics and economics. We shared  2 Nephi 31 and also talked about the Book of Mormon. He was WAY excited to get it and is going to start reading immediately. He has been looking at different religions and is trying to find peace in his life. His name is Faysal. I'm pretty excited ha. 

Anyway, now onto the stuff you all want to hear about. I will tell you some more stuff about Scotland. Scotland is the only country where coke is not the most sold fizzy drink. (soda) By, the way, they don't call it soda here. It's fizzy drink or juice ha. Pretty much, anything that isn't water and doesn't have alcohol is juice. The national drink here is called IRN BRU. It's delicious. You should all order some. It's like the Mountain Dew of Scotland. EVERYONE drinks it. I actually bought some american mountain dew and some apple jacks at the american candy store last week. The apple jacks were £8. ERR that's ridiculous. I didn't know until they rang it up, so I just bought it. It is delicious though. All the cereal over here is different. Even the same ones have different names. IE Cinnamon toast crunch is called curiously cinnamon here. Frosted flakes are called frosties. They just like to change names. Also, the store TJ MAX is called TK MAX here. haha Well, since this paragraph is so random, I will add in more random stuff. Last week, I bought some deep fried pizza from a random shop and it was pretty good. It kind of looked like some hawked a lugi on it, but it's whatever. I'm honestly not picky anymore. It's weird. I just go around devouring everything. We had some delicious chilli with potatoes underneath it and it was way good. I don't like broccoli soup very much, but I eat it anyway. Here is another random thing that I forgot to tell you all. You can't get free soda refills at any of the fast food places. So I looked like a fool for awhile, because I just kept taking refills, until my companion told me to stop stealing. They don't have Fords or Chevys over here and they very rarely have trucks. The main brands are Peugeot, Vauxhall, BMW, Land Rover, and TONS of Mini coopers. I get pretty excited when I see a truck. The only trucks I ever see are Toyota Hillix's. ha

Well, yesterday was stake conference and it was way good. President Brown and Sister Brown spoke. He talked about why people over here have a hard time eccepting the gospel. He said that there is absolutely nothing wrong with their hearts, but it is the traditions of their fathers that keep them from enjoying the gospel blessings. Just like the lamanites in the Book of Mormon. We just have to find a way to touch their hearts, like all the great missionaries of the Book of Mormon did. We also had a member of the 70 there, which is really exciting, especially for Scotland. His name was Elder Fingerlicker. Not sure if that's exactly how to spell it. haha everyone thought his name was pretty hilarious. It was a good talk though. His name was pretty distracting. 

I did some more pigeon teaching last week. Not really, ha but there were a bunch of pigeons so I stood in the middle of them and pulled out the Book of Mormon. I will attach some pics of the week in this email. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Keep doing your best and things will work out. Love you!

Elder Goodwin

09.03.12

Bus Pass

Elder Quashie (Current companion.)

Well, I am in the city now. It's definitely a change from Coleraine or Cedar City haha. This place is pretty massive! WE have to use buses to get around everywhere and I pretty much have no idea how to use buses. I am picking it up slowly, but surely. Glasgow city centr is in our area as well, so on P-day we get to go to city city centre and look at all the shops and stuff. It is a huge city. Today we are going to a science museum or something. I don't know, but it sounds fun. We are going with some other elders because there are about 3 companionships that live fairly close to us. The Zone leaders are actually in the same ward as us. Then there are the chinese speaking elders who live pretty close as well. Our district is just us and 1 other companionship though. Actually, I think there is a senior couple as well. It is pretty weird to be so close to all these different missionaries. I think it will be fun.

 

The ferry to get over here was pretty fun. It's like a mini cruise ship. hah Except we can't really do anything too fun, because we are missionaries. haha. There were a bunch of other elders going over with me, so we had a fun time. We talked to this guy from San Francisco and I talked to him about the 49ers and how I've been to a game. Then I told him that Kobe is a fool and we had a pretty funny argument. haha he wouldn't talk about any church stuff with me, so we just reminisced about the bears and the 49ers and the Lakers. Then we talked about John Stockton and how everyone loves him. hah

 

Glasgow is a pretty infamous place, as I'm sure you've all heard. There is an estate called Easterhouse that is in our area, that is pretty crazy. I guess there are a bunch of documentaries and stuff about easterhouse and all the violence and stuff. I will probably go down there tomorrow to do some tracting hahaha. JK mom. I actuallly think this area is pretty nice. I have run into some pretty rough accents though. Hah I can understand most people fine now, except for Glaswegians. I haven't even talked to anyone with a proper Glaswegian accent yet. Supposedly, they have a bunch of gaelic mixed in with english and nobody can understand them.

 

Here are a few things that I've noticed Scottish people say- Instead of saying the word "don't" they say "dunny." haha and for some reason instead of saying "I don't know", they say "I dunny ken." They also say "canny" instead of "can't". They pronounce the word "house" as "hoose" and the word "cow" as "coo". They also say aboot instead of about. hah I love the accent hear. It is so fun to listen to everyone. I will tell you of more Scottish phrases in my next email.

 

Our flat is pretty nice, too. It has 2 bathrooms in it, so me and Elder Quashie get our own bathrooms. That is the best part about our flat. It doesn't have as good of view as the Coleraine flat, but I don't think many houses in the world have a view like that. We also have some weights. I am so excited about that. I have been utilizing them every morning during exercise. And we have a pullup bar.

 

Me and Elder Quashie have been getting along pretty well, so far. There aren't really any solid investigators here, so we have done a lot of finding. In only the 4 1/2 days we have been together, we have found 5 new investigators and we taught 23 lessons this week. Domination! Teaching on the spot is truly the key to getting more lessons and finding more investigators. One of our investigators is a Catholic guy named Jimmy. He is really nice and has let us in to teach him twice. He has a sick view of Glasgow and he let me get a picture. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and he said he definitely will and also said he would like to go to church, but only because he is curious. haha I can tell it's because he feels the spirit, though.

 

We had a pretty crazy thing happen with one of our investigators. Her name is Lynsay and we found her while doing some tracting. We taught her about prophets and the Book of Mormon and committed her to read it. When we came back for our next appointment, we saw a note on her door explaining that she had to go to work, but she had left us a care package. The package had her Book of Mormon, a letter with £5 in it, and some treats. The letter talked about how she had read the Book of Mormon all the way up to Mosiah 3 and how she believed what she read. She said she had a very lengthy chat with her minister and that she will probably stay church of Scotland. Foolish minister! We will definitely try by again because I know she believes it. That is the best way to have an investigator drop us ever, though! haha

 

Well, I'm gonna have to get going, but I love you all. The quote of the day is "Become the missionary your mother thinks you are." Dominant quote I learned in the MTC. I hope you have a good week. I pray for each of you every night.

 

Elder Goodwin

 

Sorry I didn't have time to send everyone individual emails today.