I Rode a Double Decker Bus For the First Time....It Was Rad Sauce!

Whats up home skillets?!?

I hope you are all doing well! Its fun to hear about your adventurous week with the scouting and cabin and such. Tell Tallin happy birthday for me!

So this week for me has been pretty alright. The work has been a bit slow lately, but some good things are happening. Earlier this week I got to go back to Picadilli in Machester and I rode a double decker bus for the first time! It was rad sauce. We then went to a big multi-zone conference and that was fun and spiritual as always. I got to see a lot of my close MTC friends again, and we had a mighty fine reunion. At the end of it, since a lot of missionaries were going home this transfer, they each gave their farewell testimonies. It just made me realize...wow, missions really do end. I got to live it up here while I can! Mission time is so strange...it goes by slow when I want it to, but goes by so fast when I dont! But overall, im still loving it here in the UK.

Also this week, we had another exchange. I stayed in Wrexham again, but Elder Ostler came down, our Zone Leader. We had a flippin fun time! He is just like me, and we spent a lot of our free time talking about music (he was in some bands back at home) and we pretty much have identical taste. Even... Flight of the Conchords. Late into the night, we were busting out and singing the greatest hits of Germane and Brett! Everything but Business Time. We also got to do a service for a part member family in the ward. The dad does not go to church, but he is from liverpool and he loves music and just joking around with us. He had some bad experiences with missionaries in the past, but we have definitely befriended him and he is opening up a lot! So together, we basically built a shed from scratch! It was refreshing to get my hands on some tools and get covered in sawdust and create something. So that was pretty much all we did in our short exchange, but I learned a lot of advice from Elder Ostler, and I'm sad that I wont end up serving with him because he's leaving next transfer! However, we righteously partied on while it lasted.

This week had some flippin crazy weather. One minute bright blue skies, the next minute, ferocious hail storm. Haha it always keeps us on our toes, and its no wonder why British people always talk about the weather. Oh yeah, I also saw a super crazy drunk man slamming his neighbors windows with a shovel. It was in the sketchy part of town, and we were knocking just a few doors down, and it was quite interesting. The whole street came out, and we were kinda stuck in the middle of it. We got out as fast as we could amongst the 'Bible Bashers, Bible Bashers!!!' There is some major opposition here. All the athiests just think they are so smart, and they think that we are unintelligent sheep, and there is definitely a turning tide against all religion here.

But...something really really great happened on Saturday. We were walking down the street and on the opposite side I saw a mother with 3 little children. In my mind I just thought 'that would just be amazing to have one of those missionary moments where she comes over and talks to us'...and guess what....it happened exactly how i envisioned it! With her and her children holding hands, they crossed the busy road and very excitedly started talking to us! Or trying to talk to us...she was Polish and knew very little english, but she kept saying 'missionaries'. After trying to talk for a bit, she just got frustrated so she lead us all the way to her house in a very run down part of the area. As we approached, we saw that all the rest of her family and friends were outside having a mini bbq. Her husband came out and he could speak a lot more English so it was easier to communicate. All the while, everyone was so happy to see us and friendly! We all talked for a bit, and i tried to throw in as much Polish as I knew, not much other than 'my name is...' and hello and good bye. We found out that the wife, Yola, had met missionaries before in Poland, and they recently moved here, and she wants us to teach her Engish!! I have no idea how to even begin teaching a foreign language speaker English, but I am very up to the challenge, and its actually something that interested me ever since I got here. This whole experience was amazing, and the happiness of the kids and everyone else there, even in their poverish state, was incredibly refreshing. I cant wait to keep on going with this adventure.

I love you all, and miss you all everyday, but I am so happy to be out here. This is my time to serve, and I am growing closer and closer to my Heavenly Father everyday. Well till next time, peace out and keep on with the excellent times! K Bye!

Elder Goodman

BA

p.s. something very very very sad happened......the package with your music came......but it was destroyed and the flashdrive was gone. It was heartbreaking. There is a special place reserved for you MUSIC THEIF! I tried contacting the mail service but they are stupid and it seems impossible to even get a refund or whatever. So...can you please send me something again? I will make you cookies when I come back. Thanks, much love!

The sky is constantly leaking cloud sauce.

Hello there everybody:) I hope you are all smashing!

 

Haha i cant believe Tanner broke his foot exactly like I did. 'Stop copying me, gosh!' (Napolean voice)

And as for Heather's call...haha I'll talk to her about it. Not gonna lie, that truly suprised me. Ever since i got the news, my mind has been racing and covering nearly every possible reason why Provo needs her, or why she needs Provo. Someone give her a hug for me. But i'm glad everyone is doing well, and I love you all and I love how you are still in touch with mis amigos. They are part of the family! Keep it rollin

 

So this week....has been.....a bit interesting to say the least. Should I go with the bad or good first? Hmmm maybe some good, then bad, then finish off strong with some good.

First thing, last monday I got to go to the top of Hope Mountain! It was beautiful, and I felt like I was in the middle of Braveheart. I tried really hard to hear imaginary bagpipes off in the distance. But the view was breathtaking, and I could see nearly all of the mission boundries, from Liverpool, to Manchester and Blackpool and Newcastle and the sea. I was just about to take pictures when...a crazy spontaneous storm came upon us. The clouds got heavy and started pouring freeezing rain on us, then the crazy wind started blowing and it was insane and I was completely soaked and dripping and....It will be something that I will remember forever. Good times:)

Another good thing was our exchange this week! Elder Caleira came down from Chester to work here with me in my mission birthplace. We have so much flippin fun together, and he is definitley a true friend. I really hope that I can serve with him for real in the future, and that I can get the sweet hook ups and visit him over in Portugal. We experienced some mini miracles together, and in our study we had a lot of those 'Ah HA!' moments. He is really a Bruce R. McConkie wanna-bee, but it keeps it entertaining. Overall, the exchange was really fun, and I grew in confidence as I got to lead him in the area.

So the bad....over the course of the week, our teaching pool went from 5...to 1. It was devastating. These individuals we have befriended and been teaching are wonderful souls, yet outside forces have been working so hard against them. For example, Terrance was doing so amazing, and he was just soaking up the messages we shared and really felt and recegnized the spirit and had a strong desire to be baptized, yet....his friends unfortunatley persuaded him otherwise. The peer pressure poisoned his faith, and we received the heart depressing call of 'sorry...but this isnt for me'. It was so sad, and it felt like I lost a really good friend. Also, when we were heading over to teach Ruth, her angry neighbors started verbally attacking and threatening us and basically kicked us out. They are slowly brainwashing her into believing that we are bad people. My heart was depressed, and to make matters worse, we had to drop our other 2 investigators, Tony and Kim, becasuse they were simply not progressing whatsoever. Its a tough time, but I still have hope for them all. The seeds have been planted, but its simply not the right time to grow. Patience patience.

After some recovery, we picked up again and we worked hard and now I'm actaully feeling pretty good! On Sunday, we had the U.K. Stake Conference broadcast and it was exactly what we needed. Henry B. Eyring and Richard G. Scott spoke, and it seemed like they spoke to address our specific needs. Afterwards, we got to hang our the with other Elders and Sisters in our district for a bit and we had a good time. For lunch, we went over the Grandpa P's house, which is always an....experiece haha. He is crazy. And his whit is unmatched. Haha but I love battering back and forth with him, and its fun to have someone who shares a bit of the same humor as me. Oh yeah, he gives nicknames to nearly everyone on the planet and I am officially The Pope Magician, or Pope for short. Long story, dont ask. Haha but its better than my companion, Oldman Coleman. Over our tea, we had our fair share of harrasing eachother, but we also got to dive into long discussions about psychology and history. He was a psych teacher himself, it figures, but we got to talk and learn a lot. It was some excellent times.

Hmmm so nothing too exciting, but i ate some really good food this week. James took us to a Carvery's Pub and it was basically and all you can eat roast kind of thing, and it was the bomb. We also had a tea appointment with Bro. Jones and he made a massive bowl of peala (i dont know how to spell it, but its portuguese). Basically a huge dish of rice, spices, prawns, squid, muscles, pork chops, veggies and everything else that is delicious. Major food baby.

So I love you all, and i want you to know that you are an amazing strength to me. I am grateful to be raised in the way that i was, and I use all the memories that I have to strengthen my teaching towards others. That's all i have for now, but I'll be looking forward to talking to you next week! K bye and stuff!

 

Elder Goodman

BA

 

p.s. the sky is constantly leaking cloud sauce

Sweet ride

The sky is eating my camera:

Near the top of Mt. Hope

Local town name, say what?

 Mustache cat:

Grandpa P:

 

Post Mother's Day Skype letter.

Hello there!

 

Yesterday's Skype sesh was amazing, thank you all for the support and love and i'm glad everything is still rocking and rolling in the Goodman family. Hope you had a great mother's day!

So not much has happened apart from what you heard yesterday, but guess what...today James is taking us up to Hope mountain (hill) and we are going to hike a bit. Apparantly you can see our entire mission area from up there, so I'm pretty stoked! I will be sure to bring my camera.

Other than that, today will be pretty chill. Just a visit to the post office to get more stamps and turn in some forms for my license, some shopping over at Tesco and then later we have a tea appointment with the Prices and a family home evening lesson with Mandy and Joe. Haha not too exciting, but its a nice relaxing start to the week.

Once again, it was so fun to see all your lovely faces again. And thanks a lot Tate, you may or may not have made my eyes a little sweaty. But i love you all, and I will be anxiously awaiting my new tunes and talking to you again next week. Peace out!

 

Elder Goodman

BA

***Our Mother's Day Skype session was so fun with Bryant! He sounds great with a little accent. He is happy and busy. He is not so homesick anymore and loves Wales! We were able to talk to him for an hour and I even held it together for the most part until the end. Saying goodbye's are always tough! We love you, Elder B.A.!

Adventures of Elder BA

Hello! this is me (marcel the shell voice)

Ahh first off, Im glad that i actually have some time now to read and email. This week has been hectic and busy!!! But thats good I guess, the work is moving on! Thank you for all your lovely emails, and i will try my best to fill you in on the life of Elder Goodman.

Hmmm ok i'll start off with a mega good experience. So Elder Coleman and I were riding our bikes around wrexham, getting in as many contacts as possible (it was our goal for the week). One of our appointments fell through, so we were off to our back up plan, but didnt know the path we should take. I suggested we should take a certain road, because i was slightly prompted, but more so because the road was a crazy big and fun hill to ride down. So we did! after we bombed the hill, we were riding in the area and realized there was a former investigator who lived close by. Early last transfer, we tried by him millions of times, and he never answered so we kinda gave up on him. However, this time we were both prompted to try again one more time. We rang the door buzzer....and he opened up! His name is Terrance (Taz) and he is 20 and lives on his own, and holy cow, he has quite a coin collection. After talking to him and getting to know him a bit, he let us know that that day, he had strong feelings to go to church, so he could feel that 'empowering feeling' again. It was perfect!! We told him we were sent to guide him back and explained to him that the feeling he had was the Spirit. He was so enthusiastic and excited about it! He felt that God didnt give up on him.

So with our new friend Taz, we went to the ward activity last saturday night. Ba ba ba BA! It was STAR WARS night! The ward tranformed the cultural hall into a star wars themed, space station thing with a ton of lights and other junk. There was food, and people dressed up and Elder Coleman and I ran the flight simulator and watched both the little kids and adults shoot down tie-fighters and crash into asteroids. It was pretty fun. And oh yeah, in the 'Storm Trooper Shoot-Out' ( shooting targerts with nerf guns) I won the challenge and was welcomed into the 'Manly Club'. Thank you dad for the firearms training, i wouldnt be in the manly club without you.

So the Sunday after, we got one of the less active members to pick up Tez and both come to church. Bam! Two birds with one stone. The sunday service was very good and spiritual, and we were able to all go over to a members house after to have tea and have a lesson and carry on the spiritual vibes. After the lesson, Taz expressed a strong desire to get baptized and it was amazing! Pretty dang exciting, and I hope it all works out with him.

So after all that goodness, we all loaded into cars and the members, the Truby's, took us to see and walk along the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Please, look it up on le internet, its incredible! Its one of the man-made wonders of the world, and I got to walk on top of it, view the beautiful river and valley below, and listen to Celtic jigs as the musicians performed and passed by on the canal boats. I'll post some pics, but i hope you all can see it someday for real.   

Another fun thing, last wednesay our ward friend Alex took us out and we ate some mighty fine chinese noodles. It was so good. After, he took us around to a lot of the local shops in the town center, and yes....we went to a weapons shop....and yes i bought a knife. I just feel naked without one, but dont fret, i keep it in the flat and I love it. Alex is a pretty rad kid, and he came to the STAR WARS night in a full strom trooper suit. Party on. He reminds me a lot of Sam Greenhalgh, and we are trying really hard to keep him postive about serving a mission.

Lastly, we met up with John Thomas at his house, and oh my goodness....he has a crazy garden! Mom, you need to check it out in person. i'll post a pic. John is also a crazy historian, theologist, traveler and his house is full of his knick knacks, historical artifacts and an impressive music collection. I loved looking through all his vinyls and tapes. We talked for a long time about music and history, but he wasnt that interested in religion. It was very educational and very interesting, but it is going to be really hard to get him to soften his heart about the gospel. Time will tell!

So besides that, I have been really busy traveling to and fro on trains all around northern wales. We have had appointments and zone meetings and tea appointments... and its fun but exhausting at the same time. i love just crashing in the flat at night, totally exhausted from the day. However, I have been getting really bad sleep lately. My mind is always racing, but it has allowed me to get in some serious meditation practice. I can already feel the difference it is making, and my new goal is to become a master at it.

So that's all i have to say about that (Forrest Gump voice). I love you all, so much. I can feel your love and support all the way over here, and I look forward to hearing from you all every week. Oh ya, Skype this Sunday!! I am talking to Alex about it and it should all work out. Plan on connecting around 7p.m. my time....so 1 p.m. your time. Just send me an email for the username or whatever it is to find you, I dont really know how skype works. But im excited to see all your lovely faces!! Well, till next time, i love you all and wish you the best.

Elder Goodman

BA

John's Garden:

Ward Star Wars Party, Me with Alex

Flight Simulator at the ward party

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct:

file://localhost/Users/sharigoodman/Desktop/RSCN0387%5B1%5D.jpg

My New Baby:

My Welsh Badge:

4th week in Wales.

Hello my lovelies! There is so much love radiating from the computer and all your emails right now, its amazing. I feel incredibly lucky to be supported by you all! its quite inspiring! First off, thank you mum for the letter and the Ron Swanson quote...i was tempted to use it so many times. I miss you and love you, and even read your letter in a funny voice as you predicted. So this week and a half has been an adventure! Hopefully i can remember most of the things that went on. So last week we had a huge conference with everyone from my MTC group, and it was an amazing reunion! We are all really tight at this point, and we all look forward to serving with each other hopefully in the future. President Preston talked to us a lot, and he is one of the funniest and most loving people i have ever met. I dont know if i had said this before, but he is like the biggest, british teddy bear out there. He also told us a joke that almost made me die. 'What is the similarity between a small bird with no teeth and a missionary?................They both succeed (suck seed)!!' Haha yeah....I appreciate every joke I hear here.On Saturday, I had a pretty rad bike ride adventure. It was sunny outside, so we planned about an hour long bike ride to go visit a part member family north of Wrexham. We set up the appointment by phone and were off. Only a little after we started riding.....the clouds became swollen and started dumping rain on us. Oh ya, and the wind was not very pleasant at all. But we pushed on. We rode and took a path that lead through one of the most beautiful areas in Wales I've seen so far. It was so green, and it was through the hills and valleys and through tunnels of trees and vines. We soon approached a gnarly gnarly downhill rode.....and I so wished I had my longboard with me. It was the king of all hills, and Im pretty sure we broke the sound barrier as we sped down the hill. So that was mega fun and all, even with the rain, but then...we approaced the uphill. I think i cried one, internal manly tear. We pumped up the mega hill, and at the top, my legs felt like they were going to implode. Eventually we made it to the appointment, totally soaked, and right as we got there...the rain cleared up. Figures. And...the family forgot we were coming over, and they were just about to do some yardwork...so we worked another hour with them, ripped out a cemented-in playset, and got super dirty in our fancy clothes. But after, we had a lovely tea and lesson with them. Good times!We also got to have another tea appointment with Francais. He is funny and Nigerian. One of my goals this mission is to learn greetings and phrases from as many languages as possible. I already picked up some German, Polish, kinda Welsh, Chinese and now some Nigerian (Ig-Bo). Aman na ulo uka wu ezigbo ulo uka!!Another adventure, was our travel up to Ruthin, more north in Wales. It was breathtakingly beautiful and the pictures dont do it justice. We went up to meet with a referral, but we couldnt find her house, so we got to talk with all the locals and try to find our way around. It was fun! All the while, I soaked in the country and remnants of old walls and castles and day dreamed about someday backpacking here after my mission. It will happen! On the bus ride back, I talked with a man named John Thomas, probably the most english name I have ever heard, but he is a hardcore traveler and told me tips and info about everything about Wales and other European countries. He was a bit of a tour guide too, and he lives in Wrexham so I might go visit him!So...I am officially here for another transfer! Im pumped. Elder Coleman will be gone next tranfser for sure, but I hope I can stay here for the next two. I am getting to be good friends with the ward and locals. Tomorrow, I am going to help out old man Tony paint and clean out his old wood shop. It should be fun stuff, and a good excuse to wear some normal clothes for once.Well, I love you all, and I hope you are all doing well. May the force be with you. Amen. Elder GoodmanBA

Ruthin, and a wee castle

Almost Ruthin

Walking the streets of Ruthin

part of bike ride path

 

adventure mode

 

I wanted to steal one of the baby lambs

i still like fire

 

more baby lambs

 

i want this house