The First Baptism.

The pageant grounds

 The Jones Family

 Abi!

Hello there! First and foremost, happy birthday my mother and sister! I know I missed it, but I didnt forget it. I hope you both had a bodacious time. Im still a bit jelly that I couldnt join you all in your california adventures. I'm craving the ocean and surfing and family time. It's been too long, and I miss you all!

 

So this past half week has been hectic, refreshing, exhausting, and crazy, but overall....good! Elder Chong.....is definitely a malaysian-energizer bunny. He eats and farts a lot, is a crazy chinese speaker, and is somewhat of a missionary robot that is just go go go! Already, our missionary styles are a bit conflicting, i'm much more laid-back and take it slow and make friendships before I'm bold about the gospel, but he just goes straight for the kill. Its also hard because I'm basically family with the ward and I know how everyone is and have deep relationships with them all, and his style might overwhelm some people. But, he is a really good cook and cooks breakfast everyday, and he is planning to make a ton of fried rice to give to everyone, so props to him. I love him though, and he is a good companion. Its definitley a new experience! He is seriously a non-stop missionary, and he is so eager to basically reboot wrexham. Which is both good and not so good.

But the good!...

We have been finding so many people! We have been basically tracking down every chinese person here, and then they lead us to other chinese families, so now we have this little chinese network. Sadly, I have no idea what anyone is saying, so Elder Chong just talks to them the whole time and I try to entertain the kids. We have even brought one of the families to church! It was good that Lin Yun and her two children came, but I dont think they got too much out of it. We have also hooked up with the community coordinater, and we are making connections so that we can set up some community events and get people together and meet the members of the church. This I think is going to be our big focus this transfer: getting the community and church involved together, allowing friendships to be made, and to get the kids and teenagers off the streets and doing something fun and productive instead. Playing football with them has already opened new doors to us, and we are just trying to be the best influneces we can and to use some creativity with our missionary work.

 Another good thing, one of my investigator familes also came to church! Heather (and her guide dog Una) and her mother Ann showed up, and it was really good. I think the really felt the spirit, but I wished that I could have worked with them better. Church was hectic. Since we had a chinese family, I had to help Elder Chong with them as well, then we had to do some things in the primary, then we had to do a lot of translating and help out some other ward members and then help teach the Gospel Principles class and then stand in the circle to confirm Abi....and I felt a bit overwhelmed. Everything was just happening at once and especially with the really really  warm chapel, I felt like my head was about to explode. But luckily, everything turned out ok and we got a text from heather and her mother saying "they had a lovely time". It made my day.

So on saturday, we had Abi's baptism! It was way good, and it was such a powerful experience to be able to baptize her. Haha and the font was seriously like jacuzzi status. Also, there is something about a 10 year olds testimony that can make you feel the spirit so strongly. Everyone could feel it, both the members and non-members there. Its also amazing to see that ever since we have been teaching Abi and preparing her for baptism, her family has come back into activity and I can already see the blessings taking place. It will be in my memory for forever.

I feel like this transfer is going to fly by. We have so many events coming up: district meetings, district council meetings, the Pageant on thursday, the mission wide conference where we get to hear Elder Neilson and Elder Holland, a church history tour, and all the exchanges. Its so good! Also having crazy busy finding days with Elder Chong makes the time fly by as well. Which is good, because even though I want to enjoy every little moment I can, I want time to go by so I can get over this slow beginning chunk of my mission.

Well, I love you all, and I miss you all dearly. Thank you for supporting this little welsh boy, I really appreciate it. Till next week, peace out!

 

Elder Goodman

aka BA

 

llangollen

 

Elder Chong! aka breakfast ninja

the district and zone leaders

 

  

More mighty miracles in the land of Wrexham.

**Bryant sent pictures but i cant attach them until we are home from vacation. Stay tuned

Hello there you beach bums!!! I hope you are soaking in the sun and salt water, I wish that I could be there. But hey, someday I will! And we will all party until our socks rock off.

So yes....it is true (nacho voice).....I am still in the land of Wrexham Wales! I was a bit bummed out at first, but I have had a change of heart, but I'll get to that later!

Its been a while since i've talked to you last, and I have a lot to tell you! Its pretty dang exciting. Here's my story of the last week and a half.

One day, Elder Bahr and I were walking back to our flat for lunch, and we looked across the path and saw one of our neighbors waving at us. She is an older portuguese woman, and she was hysterical. Tears were rolling down her face, and she was a bit frantic, talking to us in her choked up portuguese. Of course we had no idea what was going on. We walked with her up the path a bit, still having no idea what she was going through, but she obviously needed our help. Luckily, an idea came to my mind....to call Elder Caleira, my dear portuguese friend! We rang him up, and we gave the phone to Maria. For several minutes, she vented to him over the phone, and he was able to listen and talk to her and relay back to us the news. When I got the phone back, Elder Caleira let me know the news, and it was way more serious than I thought. Apparantly, her son was planning on killing her husband in their flat. There were some serious arguements, and Maria just got out of there, but didnt want to get the police invloved. She wanted to get to town center so that she could go to her grandsons house so that he could help, but she didnt know how to get there or which bus to take. That was about as far as Elder Caleira could help us, so we were left to help her. We then started walking with her to the nearest bus stop, but then she started refusing and talking to us quickly in her language. We had no idea what she was saying, but she clearly didnt want to go to that bus stop that we were heading to. Feeling helpless, I said a prayer in my mind so that I would be able to help her....and it happened. I began to be able to understand her. Not necesarily word-by-word of what she was saying, but I was able to understand what she was trying to get across. I was even able to communicate back to her somehow, using the minimal spanish that I knew. We were then able to find her another bus stop, one thats route did not drive by her flat, which she was worried that her son and husband would see her. We also wrote a note to the bus driver with the details of where she wanted to go. Finally the bus picked her up, and she lovingly thanked us. It was truly a miracle, and it truly strengthened my faith of how the Holy Ghost can strengthen and enlighten us, and in this case deliver the gift of tongues. I'm thankful for this experience, and I hope everything works out well for Maria.

So we have had some really good lessons with Heather and her family, and they are progressing really well! They are still soaking up everything, and they agreed that, when they know that our message is fully true, they will get baptized! Its amazing to see how prepared this family is, and I'm super excited to keep on working and building relationships with them. We have also been teaching Abi more and more, and her upcoming baptism (who she asked me to baptize her!) is really helping her less active family come back into activity. One thing that I have learned is that the Gospel truly helps families, and I have seen the change that has been taking affect. They are so much happier together! That's what its all about. We have also been having family home evenings with Mandy and her less active son Joe. He has been going through some issues, but I really believe that when we come over and just talk with him and listen to his jokes and his keyboard skills, he can feel the spirit once again and we can see that it lightens him up. One day when he is ready, I know that he will come back.

This week, I have also got to do some traveling! We bussed down to the beautiful Llangollen, and the valleys, hills and rushing river were amazing and peaceful and it refreshed my inner outdoorsman. I was also able spend the night in Chester in Elder Caleira's flat, which was a party, because the next morning, we had to wake up mega early to head up to the Temple in Chorley for some meetings.  Basically, I had to sleep on the floor and listen to the crazy neighbors all night and I got zero sleep, but it was all good. The meet up in Chorley was really good, and I got to work in the area a bit while Elder Bahr (the new Preston zone leader) did some trainings. I also got to check out the huge marque where the British Pagenat is taking place, and its gigantic!! I'm stoked to go see it.

Ah yes, transfers! Yesterday, Elder Bahr packed up and we took the train up to Chester to meet up with the other transfering missionaries. Haha it was really strange, it felt like I was seeing my son off to college or something. Very strange feeling seeing your companion go. So I joined up with 3 of the other staying elder's and we explored and had adventures in Chester all day. We checked out the Cathedral again, and saw some more of the roman ruins, we bought some freshly made donuts (they were bodacious and warmed my soul) and we played another intense game of ninja and had a spontaneous paper airplane contest. If it were the olympics, and the other elders represented Finland and Ireland, I won a gold medal for the USA! haha...'.murica

Towards the end of the day, we met up with the coach that had our new companions. Once the doors opened, out came Elder Chong! Haha he is probably the most enthusiastic little malaysian elder I have ever seen. He was so stoked for everything, and he already talks to just about every single random person in public! He has been out for a year, and has only been doing chinese work, so it should be really interesting to work with him! He has already helped me get re-amped to work in my area, and we have already been seeing mini miracles. We have been talking a lot together, and we know that we can accomplish great work here this transfer. I feel like this place is my home, and everyone here is my family, and at first I felt like my work here was done already....but I know now that I have some loose ends to tie up. I care so much about the people here, and I want to help them the best way that I can. I want to leave this area way better than how I found it, and that is why I am really excited to serve in Wrexham one more transfer. Adventures and miracles await!

So to end off, I have some really exciting news that I'm 100% stoked about! So in my patriarchal blessing....it says that on my mission I will be taught by many of the prominent leaders of the church, and I have been pondering about this quite a bit, but on August 8....its finally happening! We got the news that we will be having a mission wide conference, and we will be spoken to by Elder Evens, Elder Kearon of the seventy, and.......Elder Nielson!!! and.......ELDER HOLLAND!!!!!!!

This is a dream come true, and I'm totally going to shake his hand. Maybe even get a picture. A hug? Who knows, the radness never ends.

So I love you all, and I hope you are all doing well. All is good in the land of Wales, and I will talk to you all again on monday! Peace out! Stay fresh

Elder Goodman

BA

p.s. Elder Chong is a breakfast ninja

New Investigators!

Hello everyone! Its good to read all of your lovely words. All is well in the land of Wales!

This week has been pretty bodacious, so I'll try to cram everything in!

So after a really good zone meeting on tuesday (we played ninja as a zone, and it was intense and rad. Sadly I lost the finals to a chilean elder, who must have been raised by spider monkeys) I got to go on an exchange with Elder Adair, our zone leader! It was way good, especially since we got to drive every where in a car and give my worn out feet a break. Elder Adair is going back to good ol' america this transfer, and he was a bit emotional because it was his last zone meeting ever. He is a american football player from colorado, a bit socially awkward, but we hit it off good after a while. Our conversations switched between missionary work, zone drama, and Will Ferral quotes. We worked all throughout Runcorn, and it was amazing just to see a change in scenery and people. It seemed to give me a fresh boost of energy, because I actually wanted to get out and talk to everyone. And we found some amazing people! The whole exchange was really fun, and their flat had the best bed and shower in the mission. The seagulls and sunshine and seaside vibe made it seriously feel like i was staying in some california condo or something.

Sadly the exhange ended, and I had to return to Wrexham. But....miracles awaited us! Elder Bahr and I received a referral down in Penycae, so we bussed down to check it out. The referral wasnt home, so we tried by some potentials and...no luck. Out of plans, we were wandering for a bit, but werent so productive so we busted out the map. After scanning the area, we picked out a street, Maelor Avenue, and journeyed there. We tracked the stretch of rode, and we had no success...until the last house! We walked around and knocked on the side door, only to find a family relaxing in the back garden. We friendly started talking to them and asked if we could share a short message with them, and they happily welcomed us and let us talk! The family consisted of the mother, Ann, and her 19 year old, mostly blind daughter Heather, and the two, 16 year old, kinda socially awkward twin boys, Simon and Ryan. After getting to know them, and letting them get to know us, we told them the message of the Restoration, with the recited vision and everything. The amazing thing was...they just absorbed everything. The spirit was strong, and they were genuinly interested! Heather even said "I could listen to this all day". We went on and told her about the resurrection, and how she will receive her sight again, and she again gained hope in God. After reading to them from the book of mormon, and showing them mormon.org videos and talking and laughing with them for over an hour, we ended with a prayer and got a return appointment! Bam! A brand new investigator (friend) family. It was a rad day indeed.

Other good things have been happening. We have been having some slow but major progress with our friend Sandra. We have made a deep and hopefully lasting misisonary relationship with her, and she has been coming to church again. It makes us happy! We have also been teaching a less active family, the Jones. We are helping the 10 year old Abi towards baptism and helping everyone else to get recommited and active once again. Its really a miracle to see all the changes happening. Abi is still scheduled to be baptized on the 27th of July, and is showing some major understanding and excitement for it. Oh yeah...she asked me to baptize her! I was greatly honored, and I hope that even though it will be a new transfer and I'll possibly be in a new area, I hope that I will still be able to make it and be the one to dunk her under the water. And even if I wont, I'm still happy that I was able to be a part of it all, and to feel their joy along with mine.

And finally...I was able to get my fingers on a guitar! We were walking down the street, and a man pulled over and started talking to us. He told us he just saw the Book of Mormon musical, and he wanted to learn more about who we really were. So we met at his house, and introduced ourselves and everything, then he took us to his front room...and it was incredible. The walls were covered with foreign and exotic instruments and tribal artifacts, and he had drums, guitars, djembes and everything to have an amazing jam session. So we did. Clive and I rocked out to Seven Nation Army and some other improvised jams, and it felt like I was finally saved from my musical famine. I never wanted to leave. Luckily, he was interested in what we had to say about ourselves and our religion and my musical taste, so he told us we could come back whenever. We will do that my good sir. Lets rock lets rock today.

The rest of the week went pretty well. We played more cage football with an investigator and the neighborhood chavs, and had some very good and spiritual tea appointments with some members. Especially the Prices. They are the temple sealers, and they are pretty much my british grandparents for now.

Today, after we are done typing our fingers off, we are going to head up to Chester to spend our p-day playing football and have a picnic in the roman gardens with Elders Caleira and Johnson, and Sisters Milbin and Doherty. Im pretty stoked! And its nice to wear normal clothes once again.

Well I love you all, and I love hearing about all your adventures at home. Due to tranfers, I wont be able to email till next thursday, hopefully from my new area! So dont fret, and I will be anxious to hear from you all again. Peace out for now! Turrah

 

Elder Goodman

BA

My English 4th of July, gnarly downhills and Coastal adventures.

Hello there my lovely family and friends! I love you and miss you all.

I hope you had a rad independence day and celebrated like true 'muricans! (My celebration consisted of me being alone with my dear portuguese friend Elder Caleira, and pumping America the Beautiful as loud as the speakers could handle, with me singly standing up and saluting to an American flag that I drew and hung up on the wall. It was epic).

My week was pretty good! First off, the weather has been brilliant. Beautiful sinshine, even though its way more humid, but I did get a noticable tan. Haha these old pasty missionaries and british people burn so easily. Haha sucks to be them right now! (nacho voice). Also, its much different here. Being in Europe, these people have a way lower standard of modesty, and as soon as the sun comes out, "wear the least amount of clothing as possible!"(their sun-sheltered mentality) And most of them......should not being doing this. Pasty chub that reflects the rays of the sun back into my missionary eyeballs is never attractive. Its quite awful. However, I love being in short sleeves everyday getting my tan on!

So this week we had another exchange, and Elder Caleira came here to Wrexham with me after our district meeting. I love him, and we already have plans to meet up later in life and we laugh about everything and about all of our awkward moments. But I am getting so tired of being stuck here in Wrexham. I've led the area for the past like 6 million exchanges, and this whole transfer has been me basically doing everything here. I have learned a lot, and I am basically a ward member and I have strong relationships with a lot of the families...but i need something fresh. Thats why I can't wait for tranfers in 2 weeks! I really really really hope I move out. Its simply time to move on.

So Elder Caleira and I got to do some service for a totally agriphobic lady (she is scared of everything that is nature). It was good work, and she fed us a really good hippie lunch. It was refreshing. We then did some everyday missionary stuff, but later on we watched The Work of Salvation broadcast with the ward council. I thought it was amazing, and it is exactly what the ward needs right now. The entire time, the bishop and ward misisonary leader and i were just giving the silent "lets do this" looks to eachother. The next day....I almost caused the death of Elder Caleira. Haha i felt so bad for him. We planned to ride bikes up to Mark and Sandra, and I warned him that it was a beautiful 40 minute ride, but there were some gnarly down and uphills on the way. He said he was totally down for it, and that he rode bikes in his last area and everything, so we went off. He immediately regretted that decision. I'm totally conditioned for it because I've made the ride several times...but him...not so much. I feared for his life on the downhills, and feared for his soul on the uphills. Luckily though, sweat drenched and gasping, he eventually made it. And we had a really good lesson with Mark and Sandra which totally made up for it! (at least for the ride there). The ride back had more uphills than the way there, and was more entertaining for me but more terrifying for him. Once to the flat, there was some major recovery.

The rest of the week was fairly average. Elder Bahr came back and we had a couple good lessons with Rosa and Abi and we did a crud ton of walking. We also went up to Rhyl on Saturday for a district leaders council. While the DL's were in the meeting, Elders Herbertson and Greenland(a fellow arizonan) and i worked around the coastal area. Of course we meet a few crazy ladies, and we met a shirtless man who could have easily eaten me, but overall it was pretty good. I love the sound of seagulls. Major california nostalgia.

On sunday, we had a special guest at church! Brother Chipman! He was the first missionary, apart from the famous Dan Jones, to open up the Wrexham area. When he came, there was literally nothing. No church members, no chapel, no help whatsoever. He talked to us for a long time, and it felt like he was some ancient missionary family legend and i was in his heritage or something. We got some good tips from him, except the notorious "baseball baptisms" concept. Basically, back then they got a lot of little kids together to play baseball, but they could only play if they got baptized. So wrong, and maybe one or two of them are still active. I hate it was missionaries manipulate people just to get numbers so that they can look good. It happened back then, and still happens, and thats why, especially in Wrexham, missionaries have a bad rep. Luckily we are helping restore the church's good name!!! The best way is just to love the people, and to let "all actions be motivated by love".

Personally, I am doing very well! I am happy, and have conquered my afflictions and i'm ready to keep on moving on. I love my life, and I love you all for being an amazing support. The time is somewhat flying by, and I want to make every moment count. Keep on having adventures and cherishing the people around you, because that's where the joy is. Until next time, peace out home skillets! Turrah!

 

Elder Goodman

BA

 

 

p.s. The music never worked out. Elder Bahr has some good music so i'm not totally dying. If you are still willing to save my ears and musical soul, a cd will be the best option. Just make sure to send it to the mission office cause transfers are coming up and mail can get a bit hectic!

p.s.s. Thank you for the legendary Ron Swanson quotes. They recharge my soul somehow

p.s.s.s. Dont drink milk on a hot day. "Its so dang hot. Milk was a bad choice!" (Ron Burgandy)

Hay Fever, bad salmon and Temple peace.

Hello there!

How is my lovely family doing?? I hope you are all doing well, even though it sounds like you are being boiled alive by the heat. A lot of people here have been telling me about the heatwave, and they just cant believe that it gets that hot. I cant even imagine doing missionary work in the Arizona streets at this time, and even though we have plenty of hard times here, it makes me thankful to have decent weather! Its been a lovely short-sleeve, misty sunshine week!

So first off, the temple trip was amazing. It was really good to see all my missionary comrades again, and its crazy to see how fast these kids have changed. So on tuesday, we woke up early and luckily snagged a ride with "donkey kong" James Williams to chorley. I love him to bits, because if it wasnt for him, we would have had to catch a train at 5:00 to make it there by 8. But instead, he drove us and we picked up some McDonalds on the way! After an hour and a half of driving and seeing all the sights of western england, we arrived at the temple site and were welcomed by the endless missionary hugs. I have never been hugged by so many men in my life, and it kind of weirds me out, especially when the French elders get invovled. French. Thats all that i have to say. Haha but we started off with a really good devotional in the nearby stake center, and listened to President Preston and the assistants. It was powerful to feel the spirit so strongly and powerful to see the entire chapel filled with missionaries.

We then broke into 2 groups, and while the first session went on, I waited with Elder Caleira the other Elders and sisters in the second group. we checked out the distribution centre and walked around the MTC grounds. It was way weird, and it feels like ages since i've been there. Oh yeah, its still really weird to have a bunch of younger, especially the new 18 year old, missionaries with us. There is just a radical difference in maturity. But anyways, eventually it was our time to go through the temple, and it was probably the best session i have ever been to. I learned so much, and felt consumed by the spirit. I felt like I could spend all day in there, and Elder Caleira and I were the last ones out. The temple is truly the house of the Lord.

After the sesh, we all ate lunch in the cafeteria, mega good roast, and then headed back to the chapel for final words. The opening hymn was sung by Elder Macmeikan, from Essex England, and he had an incredible indie-folk voice and he sang If you Could Hie to Kolob. Music is an amazing ally of the spirit. After that we heard all of the farewell testimonies of the Elders and Sisters going home. The one that stuck out to me most was Elder Ostler, probably since he is most like me. The main point was "decide the kind of missionary you want to be, and be it". It just seems so crazy far away that one day i will be the one to give a farewell testimony, but every single one of them said it went by so fast, so I'm going to take their word for it and enjoy every moment I can here. After the meeting we had to literally sprint to catch our train home, but we caught it and that pretty much took the rest of the day. I actually love train travel and talking to people along the way. Good day.

The rest of the week was pretty ok. The highlights were playing cage football (soccer for you americans) in the pouring rain with one of our investigators, giving service to Brother Haskins, finding new potential investigators Collin Kelso (rad name), Ann, Steven and Janet. Also, we finally convinced oldman Tony to get a dog to help his lonliess, and he got a beautiful little sheep dog puppy! His name is Benji, and this is probably the happiest that I've ever seen Tony. Puppies=happiness. hint hint mom and dad.

Haha so this week, we have had a bit of trials. But trials are good right? So we have been severely suffering from hay fever, and the medicine we take barely works and makes us even extra drowsy. Lousy stuff. But its kinda funny, we walk around the streets with tears in our eyes and runny noses, We look like emotional wrecks. Luckily yesterday it started to ease up but....then the salmon happened. Ruby, an older lady in the ward, prepared a meal for us to eat after church. The "fresh scottish salmon" looked a bit questionable, but we went for it anyway. Bad idea. It hit us later when we were talking to a less active in her home. It was horrible, but luckily we made it back to the flat after 30 long minutes of walking, and got some relief. Lets just say, the rest of the day we spent in the nearby areas of our flat. Moral of the story= never trust obnoxious old ladies that offer free salmon, unless you want a party in your belly.

Overall, I am doing really well. Lately I have been having some home-sickness and "im tired of this area" moments, but all that really helps is just to stop focusing on myself and love and serve others. I have been really praying lately to "help me to love people", and its been a huge help in the work. All of your love and support have been a huge help as well, and im so grateful to have such amazing family and friends back at home. I love you all!

Peace out for now

 

Elder Goodman

BA  

Pictures below:

Tony's pup

80's night. brother Haskins

Rhostyllen (sounds like roast-ducklin)