05.27.13

NED Stick: Saw some NEDS carrying around a bunch of these and saw one of them throw it across the road. So i casually went over and grabbed it when they were gone. I sterilized it and now I keep it on my nightstand in case of burglars. 

Rotten Beef: Story behind it - our freezer broke and we forgot to take the beef out and if was in there for a couple days. So all the blood drained. Then we thought it was nasty, but were too lazy to take it out, so we just left it on the counter for another couple days. The container is filled with blood. 

Me & Elder Topp

It's been exciting times in Glasgow, as usual. Here's why. 

So, we've had another "born again fiasco" this week. We were all doing some city centre proselyting on Buchanan Street and what do you know! They showed up again. This time they started standing in front of us and tried to hand out their cards to everyone before we could speak to them. Haha it was soo absurd. Then, they set up this box to stand on and they were standing on it preaching through a microphone about how we are liars and all this other crazy stuff. We just joyfully kept doing what we were doing and ignored them. It's interesting how it affected everyone. We had loads of people coming up to tell us how much more friendly we are and how our message must be better. It actually helped us a ton. But, then all these cops started coming around and we were wondering why. One of the cops even walked up to us and asked if he could have a card because he respected the way were reacting with more kindness. 

It's been pretty weird to see all the old members from springboig 1. I keep telling them that it must be like a bad dream seeing me walk into church again. haha they think it's pretty funny. It's actually really nice to be in this same ward. I feel like I never left, which is quite weird. It's a lot warmer here though and that's nice. 

Here is a funny story for the week. There is a less active girl named Chloe that we meet with once in awhile. She is a teenager, so naturally she feels soo awkward when we teach her or talk to her in public places. We were driving in the car on Saturday, and we noticed her on the street with some people, so I did the only thing I could. I rolled down my window and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD" when we drove by. haha It was hilarious. 

Being a ZL is not too crazy. Just have to report a few more things and do some extra stuff. It's not as much as I thought, to be honest. It's kind of just like being a district leader of district leaders. And we are more likely to get rebuked when people do dumb things. We also go on tons of exchanges, which makes time go really fast. And we are supposed to rebuke people being fools. But, I'm terrible at rebuking people because I have a slight problem with thinking all foolish things are funny. haha. But ya, my companion is good, we get along really well. Our flat is also pretty nice. 

I'm surrounded by kebabs again because Glasgow is filled with turkish and indian restaurants. In galway, we only had 2 kebab places, but they are literally everywhere here. And they are cheap. I love kebabs, but there are so many places to get them that my mind is overloaded. I don't even know where to start! 

We had a way spiritual lesson with a Nigerian man named Benjamin last week and I learned a very valuable life lesson. So, Benjamin is on dialysis so he is very very sick. he can barely speak normal at times and he is only in his 20's. We brought a joint teach with us named Abba. We were going to read a couple scriptures about comfort and peace, but when we got there Abba just started telling Benjamin that everything is going to be ok. That even though his life is hard now, it will be easier in the future. He told him not to worry about dying young, and that he has a fulfilling, normal life ahead of him. To make is short, he simply said, God loves you and everything is going to be ok. I learned that when people are going through a serious challenge, we often try to help them see solutions and give them ideas to fix the problem. But, they really just need someone to tell them that everything is going to be ok. I don't think Benjamin has heard that from anyone in a very long time and I think it gave him new hope. He was crying most of the lesson. 

Here's the deal. I love you all. I love family. The Gospel is true. 

Elder Goodwin