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



05.20.13

Saying goodbyes in Galway: Curran's, Jensen's, David's 

Well, here I am, back in Glasgow, the land of safety and kindness. I actually really like it here a lot. I had forgotten how good Glasgow is. Especially on p-days because all the missionaries gather at the church and we play fun sports. We are going to play dodgeball this week. Should be pretty exciting. 

So, a highlight of the week was when we set up a booth in city centre. We put up a table with a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon and pamphlets on it and a huge sign, then we all split up and walked up and down the street talking to people. There were a ton of missionaries and it was really fun. We had some good success as well. I met this 20 year old guy from New Zealand who is a member, but hasn't been to church in years because he joined the marines. He is stationed in a camp near Glasgow. So, we were talking about the marines, and then he started telling me all the initiation rights he had to go through. They were hilarious. He said that for one of them, they made him run down city centre in the middle of the night without clothes on and slap all the bouncers in the face while yelling, "hit me baby one more time!" haha! I don't know why I added that into this email, but I thought it was the most funny thing I've heard for awhile. You have to be pretty crazy to slap a bouncer in Glasgow. 

During that city centre finding, we also had a group of people come up and try to bash with us. I guess they do this every week, but nobody had told me, so I stood there and talked to them for like 20 minutes. It was pretty ridiculous. They go and look stuff up on the internet every week so that they can attempt to bash with us when we show up. Anyway, in the end, I just told them that I am here to tell them that they will NEVER know if the Book of Mormon is true unless they read it and pray about it. For some reason, they will agree to read it, but refuse to pray about it. It boggles my mind because it's soo simple. They just won't do it. Oh well. 

So, good news! I am officially a grandpa now. My first son, Elder Windhausen is training a new missionary! I am pretty dang happy about that. He is training in the zone right next to this one, so I already got to see him on moves day. He will be a really good trainer. 

Church was way good. We had a stake conference broadcast and President Eyring and Elder Richard G Scott spoke to all of the UK. They gave some really good advice that is specific to the UK. They urged people to stop moving to America and to strengthen the areas where they live. Richard G Scott spoke about how precious women are and how we need to let them know how beautiful and precious they are. It just ended up making a bunch of missionaries feel trunky. Haha. 

So, I love you all! It sucked leaving Galway, but Glasgow is good too. The Lord puts us where we need to go.

Elder Goodwin

05.13.13

Blamey Castle

Blamey Castle - Kissing the Blamey stone.

Cliffs of Moher

So, it was way good to talk to you all. It's always nice to see that things are still the same there. I miss you all and I am thankful for such a good family. Even though you threw away my wooden lake ramp! haha.

 

It was a really cool experience to get moves call while I was on the phone with you. As you could probably tell, I am not very pleased with the news. Haha. Oh well though. I am just really sad to leave this area because I have become close friends with so many people here. Everytime I have to leave an area it feels a bit like leaving home again. Especially this area. Galway will always be a really special place for me.  I've been trying to hold back tears all day. ha! I will especially miss the Wilsons. They have been like family to us here. It is the first area I've ever had a senior couple in and it's soo nice. I will really really miss them. But, I really am going to go up to Canada and see them when I'm finished. Probably to their homecoming. Who wants to go?

 

Being a Zone Leader is going to be really weird. I didn't think that I would get that call and I am pretty nervous about it. We will see though. I will be serving with a missionary named Elder Topp. He is from England. I will be in the same ward that I was last time I was in glasgow so it will also be pretty weird to show back up there again. They can't get rid of me that easy! At least I get to see all my old friends there again.

 

I love you all! It was so dang fun to talk to you. I hope you are all having fun.

 

Elder Goodwin

05.07.13

So it's been a dang exciting week. But, I'm getting pretty nervous because moves call is this week. It could happen during our google+ call. Who knows. I hope I don't leave though because I love this area. AND we will probably be getting an extra set of Elders in the flat because Galway has been having such good success. I think a four man flat would be way fun and I want to experience it at least once. We will see what happens.

Ok here is the call home information. I added a bunch of you on Google+ but I'm not sure if I did it write. I suck with technology now. But, someone send me a quick email about how to do it so I can call you properly on Sunday. I will be calling in at 8 our time which is 1pm Utah time I think? Is that ok for everyone? Well, that's too bad if it's not! Ha! Not really, let me know and I can adjust it accordingly. For some reason I always get really nervous to skype home. After this call, I will only have 1 more call home left. Weird!

Yesterday, we went to Blarney Castle and cliffs of Moher. You may be wondering if I kissed the Blarney stone and got the gift of gab. Well, here is the answer. You better believe I did. I kissed it with all the kissing power I have in me. It was pretty cool too. You have to lay down over the edge of the top of the castle, which is way high, and then this crazy old guy holds your legs and leans you back. The stone is underneath an overhang so you stick your head in there and kiss it. It was pretty fun. There is also an old dungeon on one of the sides of the castle. In the dungeon there is a cave that is really narrow and nobody ever goes back there. Except the missionaries. There is a place at the very end of the cave where there is a big opening. All the missionaries who go there have been signing their names with white out since the 90's. So we all signed our names on there too and now I am part of the legend. It's an epic cave and I will show you all some day.

The cliffs of Moher were also a once in a life-time experience. The Princess Bride was filmed there - the part where the giant is climbing up the cliffs, and supposedly part of harry potter was also filmed there. It's a really amazing sight. I will take you all there too.  The only reason we got to do all of this stuff is because the Wilson's are so awesome and nice. They paid for the whole thing and drove us everywhere.

I am in Tralee on exchanges right now. Tralee is tiny and the work is pretty slow here. But, it's a nice little place. I am with Elder Holland from Nevada. He goes home in 1 more transfer. I also really like the senior couple here - The Crabb's. From Cedar Hills.

The work is going good. We don't have anyone with a solid date right now, because it's been hard to get the main investigators at church, but I think that will change this week. We had 8 less active members at church last week which was a real miracle. Less active work is where it's at. We are really focusing on reactivating less active elders because if we can get 30 more active elders in the limerick district, then we can make it a stake. So that is what we are striving for these days. It's a really exciting time. It's also really good to have Elder Wilson as the branch President here because that makes our branch very missionary-minded.

I bought an awesome celtic tribal shirt thing. It's long sleeved and is so awesome.

I love you all and I better get going. Have a great week. I was going to send a couple epic pictures from the tour, but this computer won't read my memory card. I am going to send home my memory card because it is finally full. Around 1500 pictures.

Elder Goodwin

04.30.13

So it's been another epic week preaching the word in Ireland.

 

Yesterday we went touring the Connemara National park again. This time with the Wilsons. We all had a blast. We saw a couple castles and some cool loughs and Elder Wilson paid for us all to go see Kylemore Abby. That was the second time I've seen it, but it was still awesome. Even though you can only see like 3 of the rooms in the castle because the nuns still live in the rest of it. Crazy nuns. ha! I will send some pictures of the touring party we had. I finally got to sit on the bridge from the Quiet Man movie!! The Wilson's knew I've been dreaming about it, so they took us out. The bridge is tiny, but it was worth it because john wayne sat on it at some point. They have the picture of him sitting on a sign by the bridge, so I tried to copy his pose, but it was really windy, so I couldn't do it. And I didn't have a paddy cap. I will send the pictures anyway. I was way excited because I've been watching John Wayne movies since I was a wee boy. (Especially with Granny)

 

We had a miracle happen at church. A lady we've been working with named Shannon, couldn't come to church because her 4 year old son has bad anxiety, so we didn't really push the issue. She is sooo solid though. On Sunday, we were standing at the door greeting people, as usual, and all of the sudden she comes strolling in with her son. It was so random and exciting. Her future is definitely very bright.

 

I went on another exchange to Tralee with a missionary named Elder Norup. The one from Denmark. It was really fun and the new Senior couple down there is awesome. They are named the Crabb's. Elder Crabb used to be a barber, so he gave me a haircut, but my hair was too thick and he ended up messing up his trimmer. haha My hair is crazy. Anyway, we got harrassed by a bunch of wasters (rebel teenagers) but ended up having pretty good converersations with them. We were talking to a couple of them who approached us by a funeral home, and out of nowhere they just wheel out this dead guy and stick him in the car. It was pretty creepy but pretty dang funny. The teenagers were freaking out and then we just talked about the Plan of Salvation. Ha!

 

I've been eating so many kebabs lately. But, I've been running to cancel out the unhealthiness. We pretty much use any excuse we can to get a kebab because they are delicious and dodgy. You never know what the heck is in those things but they are soo good. I will take you all to some delicious kebab places someday. You will love them. Most of you will at least.

 

Well, other than that, not too much to report. I got some air jordan shorts via trade from another missionary. I don't know how I pulled it off. I offered him a stained paisley tie and some really old basketball shorts and we made a trade. I'm not sure why I'm sharing this but it was pretty funny. And now I have some nice shorts.

 

I love you all! Read Matthew 5:48 and then read 3 Nephi 12:48. It's pretty cool.

 

Elder Goodwin

04.22.13

Does anyone know why I wrote Dikembe Mutumbo in the subject line? Let me tell you why.

 

One of our investigators, Christian, is from the Congo. We have been teaching him ever since I got here and he is awesome. He is like 6 foot 5 and is just a huge African man. After our lesson last week, we were talking to him about sports, and we asked him if he likes basketball. Most people around here never play basketball, but he said he used to be good. He almost went to America to play when he was younger. He then told us that his cousin is Dikembe Mutumbo. That is pretty dang sick if I do say so myself. We will definitely be balling it up with him in the near future.

 

I don't know if you have all heard about the mormon.org.uk campaign going on here. The broadway play, The Book of Mormon Musical is now in London, and the church has done some very major things. They bought every single square inch of advertising space in the Charing Cross station and put advertising for Mormon.org there. Then they bought advertising space on over 200 buses and did the same. They also put up a video board above the busiest freeway in London. And lots more than that. It's a pretty massive project and they would've had to spend a lot of money to do it. They even bought advertising space in the program for the play. So. people who go to see the play will get a program with advertising for mormon.org.uk. We have been presented a bunch of stuff about how to best utilize this effort as missionaries. We had to go make our own mormon.org profiles and then become familiar with the site. We also have to put links to our profiles on all the cards we get so people can check us out. It's pretty crazy stuff.

 

We have some solid investigators right now. A man name Martin is progressing really well, but he had to go offshore to fix some underwater pipes this week. So, he didn't get to make it to church. He loves the message though, and he is going to take us out to hike some mountains one of these days. He is pretty golden.

 

We had a hilarious lesson with some college kids named Dan and George last Thursday. We've taught them three times and we are becoming pretty good friends. They are hilarious. Anyway, we were teaching them about the Book of Mormon and then George randomly gets up and leaves the room. He comes back with his laptop and says he wants to show us something real quick, and then he showed us a video of his pet snake eating a mouse. It was the most random thing ever. Then we just moved on with the lesson. haha.

 

It has been raining a ton everyday. We were going to go out with the Wilson's and go on a tour of the Connemara national park again, but it's soo windy and rainy today, that they decided not to. The rain doesn't bother me too much, but the wind can get annoying. ha It's not too cold though.

 

Studies are dominant lately because we have been listening to classical music while we study. Like Mozart and stuff. We figure that if it makes babies smarter then it will make us smarter too. haha But, it really does help us concentrate and it's pretty awesome.

 

We went out to Dennis Walkers farm in Westport again on Saturday. It was an awesome day. We worked way hard and it felt good. We were mostly doing landscaping, so we had to dig a couple trenches in his lawn. Then we started building a classic Ireland stone wall. So now I am an expert stone wall builder. Not really, I just used the pick axe and dug the trenches and carried rocks. It was a fun day.

 

Well, that's what the craic is for the week. I cooked some Fajita's and some other delicious things. Things are going good here and I hope they are going good there. I love you all.

 

Elder Goodwin

 

Pictures are of Me and Elder Nordfors out at the farm.

04.15.13



Epic sunset at the Flygares' home.



Walker's Farm

Another awesome week in Galway.

 

The biggest thing was the confirmation of the David family. I confirmed Henri and Elder Nordfors confirmed Hannah and Anna. It was really spiritual and neat. Henri made and recorded a rap for us about the plan of salvation and missionaries. It's pretty dang cool. So now, I have a rap from one of my investigators that I can keep with me all the time. He put it on my flash drive so that we can listen to it whenever. We also had 4 investigators and 9 less active members come to church, which was a huge miracle. Elder Wilson must be doing some good work as the Branch President.

 

On Saturday, we went out to the O'Tooles house and helped Pres.  O'Toole build a bigger chicken coope. It was hilarious and fun. It rained the whole time and it was cold, but it was well worth it. They named one of their chickens after me. They named it Winnie. haha. Then I helped him clip the feathers of the chickens so that they won't fly away. It was a a blast.

 

On Thursday, we had a surprise party for the Flygares because they are moving back to America in a couple weeks. We had so many people show up to support them that haven't been to church in a long time. It was awesome. Activities are the key to reactivations. We ate a bunch of American style hot dogs which was also awesome. I haven't had hot dogs since I was home. These days I'm just such a master chef. Ha! I cooked some mashed potatoes and chicken for us last week and it was delicious. That's the first time I've ever cooked mashed potatoes. I will allow you all to taste of my glorious cooking skills upon my return home someday.

 

We were walking through City Centre the other day, in the middle of a bunch of rain and not having much success, when a family came up to us and said, "Hey it's the missionaries!" With an American accent. That never happens over here so we were pretty mind blown. It was some Americans who are living on a military base in Germany, who are on vacation here in Ireland. They took us to the American Diner in town called Eddie Rocket's and bought us dinner. It was way nice and so unexpected. Their last name is Urton and they are from Murray.

 

That's about it for this week. We are going to help out on Dennis Walkers farm again this week. Hopefully it gets warmer though. It's been raining all the time and there has been a freezing wind blowing in from Russia or something like that, but it's almost gone now. Anyway, last time we went to his farm he had me digging up huge rocks with a pick axe and then we would put the rocks in a wheel barrow and push it up a massive hill. It was exhausting. Every time we would get to the top of the hill, my legs would start to give out. It was way nice to get such a good work out. Me and Elder Nordfors have been running 2 miles most morning so that is helping us stay in shape too.

 

I love you all! Stay strong!

Elder Goodwin