11.26.12

Hey family-

 

I will start by telling you some of the highlights of the week. Listen up!

 

Last Sunday, I learned that we (all the missionaries in the nearby area) would be doing some type of musical number for the Relief Society Stake Christmas party. We were all gonna sing Angels We Have Heard on High and so we got together on Wednesday to practice it. As you may know, I hate singing and so I wasn't ammused. We were planning on having some random girl accompany us on the piano, and I was debating in my mind, whether or not I should hide my talents under a bushel. Ha! But then I decided to play the piano. I practiced it for awhile until I could do it good. It went really well. I also accompanied Elder Windhausen and he sang Silent Night in German. He is supposedly a very accomplished singer. He sang for the Pope one time. Anyway, he is really good at singing. Everyone loved both of the musical numbers and it was pretty fun.

 

We've been having some random success lately. We decided to try something new, to get some of the less active members to actually do something. We introduced them to family history and now a couple of them are planning on going to the church with us to do family history. Who would've thought? Hopefully, they follow through on it.

 

We had a pretty funny teaching experience last thursday. We met one of our investigators in a nice coffe shop (her idea) and she drank some tea while we taught her. There was some awesome music playing in the background and it was pretty distracting. Anyway, when I asked her if she had been reading she said she had read just about everything. Little did I know that she wasn't talking about the Book of Mormon. She pulled out her Bible and had about 20 scriptures marked that she thought would stump us. She started going through them and we were just answering all her questions and kindly resolving all her concerns with the Book of Mormon and even some Bible scriptures. She seemed pretty annoyed that her attempt to confuse us had failed. The thing is, if we wanted to, we could probably bring up scripture after scripture in the Bible that she wouldn't be able to explain and tear down her religion, but that doesn't EVER solve anything. Bible bashing is fruitless. So after awhile, we just told her that we are the guides and we've given her the way to find her answers. (The Book of Mormon) We told her to just ask God because he will never lie to you. It was pretty annoying anyway. ha

 

This Thanksgiving will definitely be one to remember. We ended up going to this old ladies house and she cooked us chille beef and potatoes. It was really good, but not the same as the Thanksgiving dinners in America. I was telling them all about how awesome Thanksgiving is and they were jealous. I told them about how we have TONS of people around the table and about the tradition where we say what we are thankful for and all the fun things we do.

 

Anyway, that's all I have for this week. I will attach some pictures though. I love you all!

 

Elder Goodwin

11.19.12

Well, not too much to report on this week. Again. Oh ya, President called and I'm getting moved to the Belgium/Netherlands/Peru/Argentina mission. Just thought I would let you all know.

 

We had MANOK on Saturday night. Moves Anticipation Night Of Kebabs. It's where we just go buy a Kebab and think about moves call. Pretty obvious. haha It's fun though, because we had a combined MANOK this time. We met a bunch of other missionaries at the church. Elders Parsons, Robinson, Snowden, Witt, Bayer, Moser, Crosby, Griffin and my son, Elder Windhausen. It was a pretty fun time and the Kebab guy delivered them like an hour late, so we didn't have to pay full price. I'm really starting to like Kebabs. I finally figured out what donner meat is. A bunch of random parts of a sheep mashed into a big piece of meet and then roasted on some stick. It goes around in circles and when the outside layer is done, they shave it off and sell it. It looks pretty nasty, but it's really good. And unhealthy. It's kind of like the concept of hot dog meat in America. Not much happend with moves. The Australian Elder is moving, but everyone else in our district is staying. I'm pretty happy about it, because I really like this District.

 

The ward work is still going better all the time. We got a referral from a member last week, which is probably comparable to parting the red sea in this area. We have an appointment with him next week and that's pretty exciting. The members are starting to like us a lot better. Bishop actually talks to us and likes us. He never talked to us when I first got here. He also gives us names of people to go by and see how they are doing. It's cool to see the improvement in the member work. 

 

We had a pretty funny dinner appointment with an old lady last week. She cooked some pretty strange foods for us. haha she is a classic old lady though. She feeds us things that are like 3 years expired and thinks they only have expiration dates because it's a conspiracy to get more money. She also brought her neighbor and he was really nice. He had no shame in telling us some strange things, but was nice, nonetheless. ha! I love random situations like that. 

 

I think I've already told you that we go to a nursing home to see this old guy named Dougie every week. He is hilarious. He told us that when he went to his room one night, there was an old lady on his bed, and he thought she was a prostitute so he tried to punch her and now he's in trouble. We were trying so so hard not to start laughing. We managed to stay controlled. He is the funniest old guy ever.

 

I got to go on exchanges with one of the Zone Leaders this week. Elder Snowden. It was pretty fun to talk about all the American things that we can't talk about with our companions, because they don't understand them. Namely American Football or Basketball or baseball or whatever. I have to say American football when I talk about it here, or everyone will think I'm talking about soccer. Sometimes I just say "the real mans football" and it bugs people. Ha

 

Anyway, that's what's happening this week. I hope you're all enjoying life and staying on the straight and narrow. If in doubt, PRAY. And if not in doubt, pray anyway. And then read the scriptures and go to church. and then do some missionary work. OHHHH. Anyway, I love you all and pray for you all.

 

Elder Goodwin

11.12.12

FAMILY!

Hey everyone. This week has been pretty good. We have been finding new investigators and things are really starting to pick up. The member work is especially going well. When I first came here, the Bishop never even talked to us and the members didn't help very much, but now I think we have gained their trust and gain it more every week. Probably just by being obedient and working hard. I think they can just tell that we work hard and try our best. Now, the bishop gives us names to go see every week and they actually include us at ward council. It's pretty exciting to see things finally picking up!

Did I ever tell you all about the Celtic games here? The Celtics are the local football club and people are OBSESSED with them. The stadium is pretty close to our flat, so on game days, we can  barely get anywhere because the streets are flooded with fans going to the stadium. Like a bunch of dang buffalo! Ha! (Got that saying from Dad in Vegas) But anyway, they wear the same colors as the Boston Celtics, so the whole east side of glasgow is just packed full of people wearing green. I bought a pretty sick celtic jersey so that I can remember it someday. The 1 thing that you should never talk about in Scotland is the Celtics or their rivals, the rangers. ha people fight about their football teams all the time. It's hilarious, because in America nobody even knows who their local soccer team is! But here, it's like the manliest sport you can do! 

We had to come inside early on P day last week, because it was bonfire night and they light lots of fireworks, so they wanted to make sure that the missionaries weren't out lighting fireworks. Ha so we had to be inside by 6. I took the oppurtunity to go to bed at 8 30 and it was awesome. Sleeping rules. ha! We also ate some dominoes. The dominoes here is better than in America. It's so good, but it's pretty expensive, so we don't get it very often. It was exciting to eat some good pizza though, just though I would let you know about it. 

The weather here isn't too bad. It's always cloudy, but that really doesn't bother me. I heard that it will probably be quite a mild winter. It hasn't really snowed or anything. It gets pretty cold, but it's never unbearable. Probably because I'm like some type of grizzly bear that doesn't feel the cold or something. 

Well, I forgot the list of things I was going to write to you about, so I'm not sure what else to include in here. I will make a lot longer letter next week. But, really, life is good here. I enjoy Glasgow so much and the experiences I'm having here. We've met lots of really nice people on the streets and even some that said we can come by and teach them. So, hopefully things will keep going good. So ya, life is good. I love you all and pray for you all. 

Elder Goodwin

11.05.12

 As I said, Happy birthday to Dad and Bryan! I hope you both have an awesome week. 

This week hasn't been too exciting. No drunk people attacking us or children harrassing us. But, I forgot to tell you about the Kebabtism that happened last week. Yes, that right, I kebabtised Elder Windhausen, my son. We went to a random kebab place in the city with the zone leader. (Elder Witt and Elder Snowden) We got king kebabs on nan bread. They were soo massive. None of us were able to finish them. I will attach a picture so you know what kind of a food challenge this really was. Kebabs are pretty good, though. I like the one called the chicken donner. I'm not even sure how they make the meat, but it's probably pretty sketchy. It's good anyway. Me and Elder Parsons (District Leader) found the best kebab place ever while we were on exchanges. It's called Kebabish. I'm not sure why I felt the need to throw that in here. We also had the pizza hut buffet last week and it was delicious. I found this cereal at a store called Lidls and it's called Nougat Pillows. It's like crack. It's delicious and I can't stop buying it. ha!

We have had some good spiritual experience. We found a couple new people to teach while tracting. It's really nice to tell people how they can find peace in their life even though we live in such a crazy world. They light up when they hear theres a way to do that. I especially like explaining how this message can strengthen families. I think that is something that people here really need. We rarely run into families with both a mom and a dad. There are soo so many single parent families. 

The weather is getting colder and colder. It's still random. Sometimes it's sunny and nice and then it gets unbearable cold within a few minutes. It's hilarious. The nights are long. It doesn't get light until about 8 30 and it's completely dark by 5 15. 

I don't have much else to say this week. If anyone wants some souvenirs let me know and I will send you some. The only way I know who wants something is if you write me and tell me. So do it! And then go read the scriptures and do missionary work! I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week. 

Elder Goodwin