First week in the field.

Hello everyone!!!! Sorry that I couldn't mail yesterday, it was holiday and the library was closed. But i'm so happy to see all the emails from all of my beloved family and friends today! It is uplifting to see such a powerful group supporting me. I love you all!

 

So this week has been rough, wonderful, cold, amazing and interesting all at the same time.

First off...i have never walked more in my entire life. We walk everywhere...and at a very fast pace because we are busy missionaries...and we want to get a fabulous workout. The snow is finally melting, so its much easier to walk and to view all of the lucious green areas. And yes, my luggage was found!!! Apparantly some missionaries from another zone snagged it, thinking it was theirs. Dinguses. At least it was returned to me and they appologized with a good choloclate bar. And by the way, british chocolate is sooo much better than american chocolate. I have eaten my fair share already thanks to the ward members.

So the Wrexham ward.....is super mega tiny. The ward is only 20% active, and the sacrament meeting had maybe a total of 40 people in it. Luckily, that made it easy for me to get to know everyone. There are some very interesting characters...especially Grandpa P. He is a very old, very crude, very harrassing, very opinionated, very hilarious man. I got to have tea with him , and it was refreshing to meet someone here with my sense of humor. Oh yeah, tea=dinner over here. But even though the ward is small, My companion and I still get fed pretty often. I have had so many roast dinners...with tons of gravy, potatoes, mushy veggies and desserts. The british loooove their desserts. I have also got to shop and cook meals of my own. My latest dinner was a breaded fish wrap with lettuce and such and it was quite tasty. Oh yeah guess what....THEY HAVE CHOLULA!!!! My week instantly got better when I spotted that beautiful little hot sauce in the supermarket.

Doing actual missionary work here...is very difficult. Most of the people are so unresponsive, and flee at either the mentioning of Jesus Christ or even the sight of us. It has been hard, but we have still been able to find those few elect and set up appointments with them. We are teaching a few investigators, and one of the families are amazing. The mother's name is Ruth, and she has a 9 year old daughter Emma and a 7 year old daughter Charlot. They were street contacted, but we have been having many lessons with them. They live in one of the many run-down areas of Wrexham, and they have defintiely had a rough life, but Ruth and Emma now have baptism dates! Emma is amazing. She is blind, but so in touch with the spirit. We got her a brail Book of Mormon, and she diligently reads it and asks us question after question about everything. She is so smart, and the thing that amazes me is her simple, but deep prayers...and her ability to give me a solid high-five, even though she has no sight. I still dont know how she does it. I really hope that this family makes it into the church.

Today we had a district meeting, and our focus was to FIND NEW INVESTIGATORS. We had a group prayer, and united our faith to find new people. And it worked. Literally ten minutes before my companion and I walked to the library from the train station...We met a chinese girl who was very interested in Jesus and we set up an appointment with her. Then after, right at the entrance to the library, we talked to a man and two welsh girls about why we have trials in our lives and how this gospel can help. Bam, more appointments and more investigators!! One thing is for sure, prayer works wonders.

Overall, I am doing well. I am getting use to the cold and the forever long missionary schedule. I looked for a coat, but couldnt find anything that I liked. Luckily, its getting warmer and my jacket that I have right now works well enough. Im loving the culture and the beautiful Welsh accents. Im even getting more use to the crazy, flip flopped traffic and weird terms for things. Its quite a different lifestyle here, and its super weird to have to spend every second with my companion. I am doing my best to bond with him, but his personality is so different from mine. Im just missing a good friend relationship with somebody, and I miss you all very much. I just have to remind myself constantly that this is not my mission...it is the Lord's mission. Time to go...I'll update you next week. I love you all!

 

Elder Goodman

aka BA