2.25.13

Hello!

Well, just as the subject line says, we have received moves call 7. I would tell you what's happening, but I don't feel like it right now. Ok, I will tell you. Elder Holbrook is moving over to Scotland to be a District Leader and I will be staying here and training another new missionary. So I will be Young Mens President, District leader and trainer. Should be pretty exciting. My posterity is growing large as I will now have two sons. I'm honestly not too excited to train because, yet again, we will have to study in the flat for another hour, plus the extra 30 minutes for DL planning. We will be inside until 11:30 almost everyday. Studies from 8 to 11:30. I usually mix it up and take ten minute breaks after every hour to keep myself from going insane. haha

I got the package with my ipod and it's awesome. Thank you very much. I love the music you put on it. The socks were well needed as well! Plus American candy is the best around. Especially golfish crackers. That's what I'm talkin about!

Last week I went into the American Candy store they have here to check things out. They had a bunch of stuff from America like Lucky Charms, but the prices are ridiculous. Almost 10 Euro for a box of cereal. I found a box of hostess twinkies in there. The last box available and I immediately purchased it. I don't even think they know hostess is out of business. So I probably have the last box of twinkies on the planet. No big deal.

This week has been good. We have a ton of kilometers left over on our monthly car mileage limitation, so we have been able to go around to all the surrounding little town to do finding. Our area is huge and it takes well over and hour to drive from one end to the other. We have had some pretty good success. For some reason, we have been finding a bunch of Brazilians lately. They are way humble and nice. We have some return appointments this week, so hopefully it will pan out.

Lately, we have been mixing up our finding ideas to try and find something different to do once in awhile. We went to all the local hospitals and tried to sign up for clergy, but it was more difficult than we thought. Most of them didn't have a list, because they just assume that everyone will be Catholic anyway, so the local priests just come in as clergy. We have also been doing a lot of street contacting (talking to people as we walk) out on Galway Bay. It's so pretty out there, but the wind is ferocious. It just blows all day.

The David's are still awesome. We taught the the law of chastity and the word of wisdom last week and it went really well. It sucks teaching the Law of Chastity, but it has to be done. haha Henry is 17 and he felt so awkward the whole time. It was pretty funny. This week, we will be teaching the law of tithing and then they will decide where they want to be baptized. They can either choose from the ocean or the river corrib. Unless they want to travel to Limerick because that is the closest font. At least an hour and half drive. The branch strongly recommends the to be baptized in the ocean or river even though it will be freezing. That is usually where they have the baptisms here. That would be so epic. It's up to them though.

I had the opportunity to kebabtize the Wilson's (senior couple) here. On Saturday, we got them to participate in MANOK (moves anticipation night of kebabs) and try their first kebabs. It was way fun.

That is really sad about the Lunt family. I will definitely be praying for them and I'm sure many others will be too.

I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

Elder Goodwin

02.18.13

So, I don't have much time to email right now. And that's how the cookie crumbles.

There has been some awesome p-days going on lately. Last week, we went to the Atlantaquaria, which is supposedly the biggest aquarium in Ireland. It was pretty ghetto. haha It was way small, but it was really fun anyway. Usually, we just wander around city centre on p-days, so it was a nice break. We saw all types of small fish and I touched a bunch of them.

Today, we took a bus tour all over the Connemara national park. It was way sick. The quiet man bridge from the john  wayne movie is in Connemara and so was a castle called Kylemoore Abbey (can't remember how to spell it). I never knew Ireland was so rugged and majestic until I saw this tour. It was kind of like the highlands of Scotland. Way way pretty. I bet it would be even more awesome if it was summer, because all the stuff wasn't as green as usual. So cool. I will upload a couple of pictures to give you a teaser.

The David's baptismal date has been changed to March 9. They are still doing really good, they are just busy, so we are only able to teach them once a week. They are so solid. It still rains every day all day here and it's pretty windy. Haha but it's starting to get better.

I cooked some delicious potatoes last week and I am becoming a master potato chef, so prepare yourselves. I also went running for the first time on my mission and I actually really enjoyed it. There is a dirt track by our flat, so I decided to finally take advantage of it.

I love you all. I have to go now. Farewell.

Elder Goodwin

02.11.13

So, listen up! I have another release date now. Since my visa expires right on April 16, the travel office called and said they should move the release date earlier in case the plane got delayed or something. Because then I would have a really, really hard time getting back to America. So my new and official release date is March 5, 2014. All of my MTC group will be going home at that time, so it should be exciting. It makes me a little bit trunkie when I think too much about it though. haha That means that I only have just over a year left. I love the mission though. 

Let it be known, that this week I officially need to buy some new shoes. My Ecco's are done for and the other ones I bought are too big, so they suck to walk really far in because my feet slide around. They have some good shoe stores here, but everything is just so dang expensive. I will probably buy more ecco's because they dominate the church shoe planet. Seriously, the ones I've worn since I left are more comfortable than my running shoes. But, now they are worn down and have cracks and holes in them, and since it's always raining here, my feet keep getting wet. 

The new senior couple here are awesome. The Wilson's. They are from the Toronto area in Canada. They treat us like we are their grandkids and it's soo nice. They feed us every Monday and come teaching with us all the time. ha Sister Wilson is still terrified of driving here, but she is getting better. They are the best. 

I have learned how to cook some delicious roast potatoes and I am excited to show you all when I get home. I have never seen them cooked this way in America, but then again, I hated potatoes when I was home. Ha But ya, I'm learning how to cook some stuff so that I can show you all the ways someday. 

The David family is still doing great. Except none of our investigators came to church this Sunday. That was annoying, but we will do better this week. If they keep letting us teach them and come to church the next few weeks they will be baptised really soon. The huge African guy named Christian is doing well. He told us that he can always feel the Spirit very strong when we teach, and that is the most important part. 

Other than that, not too else to report. I ate some more African food, bought a bagel and preached the Gospel. I love you all and hope things are going good. Have an awesome week!

Elder Goodwin

2.04.13

It's been a pretty good week. Nothing too exciting though. 

I know you have all been wondering what the superbowl hype is over here. Well, let me just tell you how it is. It is pretty much non existent. There are only a few people who know what's going on with it and what teams were playing in it, and they only know because they like America. I would say that it is definitely not the most watched sporting event in the world. Probably the most watched would be the world cup for soccer. America is pretty much the only country that doesn't really care about soccer. Everyone says that they hope that we never get into it because we are too big and too good at perfecting things, so it would be unfair. haha. 

I got to watch a pretty good CES fireside yesterday after church. President Uchtdorf was the main speaker and he talked about how we can know truth in this world. He emphasized that there is a lot of information on the internet and everywhere else that can make it hard to find truth. But we all have a source of help that can assure us of any truth we want to know. God. He talked about how truth is beyond belief. Truth is still true, even if nobody believes it. We just need to search the scriptures and use prayer to find real truth. It was way good. 

I went on another exchange to tralee last Tuesday, this time with a new missionary from Denmark. His name is Elder Norrup and he is pretty funny. He is engaged already, so all through the day, I kept asking him for his fiance's address so that I could start writing her. It was bugging him. haha. We had a really good day, though. 

We still have 3 people with a baptismal date this month. The David family. They are the ones from Nigeria and they are so awesome. Henry David is 17 and me and him get a long way good. I just talk to him about basketball and rap and the Gospel. haha So it looks like it paid off for me to listen to rap. Don't worry, I only recommend wholesome rap songs to him that don't swear. ha, He is way good though. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and he loves it. He always asks such good questions and takes notes when we teach. 

I love you all. That is pretty much all I have to say today. Have an awesome week. 

Elder Goodwin