01.27.14

On the ferry almost in Scotland. It was way windy and cold.

Elder Dickinson and I

Last FHE with the motley crew in Belfast

 

Hey so I'm in Perth now and it's pretty great. I left Belfast on the ferry at 6:30am last Wednesday and finally arrived in Perth at 9:00pm. So, it was a long day of travel. And here is my new address. Feel free to send me all types of awesome stuff. Even though I will see you face to face in 5 weeks.

 

85 E. Dunkeld Road

Perth PH1 5RJ

SCT, UK

 

Perth is really pretty. There is a river that runs through it called the River Tay and it's beautiful. This is the furthest north I've been in Scotland, so I'm enjoying it. The branch has about 25 - 30 active members and almost all of them are old, which is fine with me cause I absolutely love old people. I think they are legends and they always have awesome experiences to share. Plus, they've been through so much that they have cool personalities. It's sad though, cause the branch is so old, that they might have to take out the extra set of missionaries in the next transfer or two if nothing happens. Yet another reason to try our very best to help this Branch. I haven't managed to take any pictures of the area yet, but i definitely will this week so you can all see.

 

One of the cool old guys here is named Tom R. He's 88 years old, but he only got baptised 2.5 years ago. He's so cool. He just speaks out loud during the church services- for example, if someone speaking says anything he likes, he says, "That's Good" out loud. He has a really cool accent as well cause he used to be a skipper on a fishing boat back in his day. He still struggles with swearing too much. ha! While we were at his house, he told us a bunch of epic fishing stories.

 

My companion is Elder Dickinson and he's from Nottingham in England. He's a hard worker and we're enjoying our time together so far. I'm glad that he works hard willingly cause that means we will be able to accomplish alot in my last five weeks. I will attach a picture of him in this emai. He looks very English.

 

We've been hitting the streets and trying to find a bunch of new investigators and we've had some fair success. Yesterday, we got a new investigator named Graham A. I've nicknamed him the king of one word answers cause he only answers with 1 words no matter what we ask him. Then he turns the tables and asks us a question. ha! He's a very clever English guy with a massive moustache and beard. We went in planning to teach him the Restoration, but we both felt it wasn't right, so we switched to the Plan of Salvation. It was obvious that he was looking for a bit of contention at first, but the Plan of Salvation completely blew his mind. It was really cool to see his reaction to this plan that he had never heard of and knew nothing about. We could feel the Spirit so we know he did as well. It was a great lesson. We're seeing him again this Friday.

 

There are no buses or bikes here so we walk everywhere we go. Everywhere. It's a good thing my legs have turned into finely tuned walking machines over the past couple years. It also helps that I like walking now. Actually, the only time I don't like walking is when it's raining. Which is unfortunate cause it rains about 80% of the time over here. ha! It's been interesting to see how much the weather affects peoples moods since I've been on a mission. If it's one of those rare sunny days, then everyone is really happy and willing to speak to us. But, if it's the usualy cloudy and rainy day, then lots of people avoid us and cross the street before we can even get near them. haha! Or one of my personal favourites - when they see us they pick up their phone and pretend like they are talking to someone, so they can't talk to us. People come up with some pretty absurd excuses it's hilarious.

 

It's very strange trying to get to know the people here. I think sometimes the members are a bit hesitant to form a good friendship cause they know I will be gone so soon. And it's also sad for me when I meet someone I really like, but I know I won't be seeing them anymore in a few weeks time. But, it's pretty awesome being in a 6 week area. I know my time is limited, so we go all out to accomplish as much as we can each day.

 

We celebrated something called Burns Night at the church on Saturday. It was in honor of Robert Burns and it was pretty fun. They made all types of Scottish food for us and we feasted. Then they read a bunch of Scottish poetry in thick highland accents and I couldn't understand a word they said. It sounded cool though. We ate tons of haggis, Scottish pancakes, scones, broths, stews, and other stuff that I can't remember the names of. We ate haggis 2 days in a row and it was delicious both times.

 

There is also a member here named Eleanor and she loves missionaries. She feeds us a five course meal every single Sunday and her food is flippin amazing. I don't think I've ever had a five course meal in my life.

 

Anyway, this email is getting pretty long. I love you all and hope you have a good week.

 

Elder Goodwin