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
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