Hello there home skillets! Greetings from the land of trees and bad teeth! I love you all with 99% of my heart (the other 1% is reserved for cadbury's chocolate). It sounds like everyone is safe and doing well and it makes me happy to hear. Keep up with the excellent times. Live with no regrets! ( Random note. I actually met a really chubby shirtless man, and on his stomache, he had a big "NO REGRETS" tattoo....haha and it was only half finished. I think he regretted it.)
So everything is going great here! Here's the deets...
So on thursday, I got the opportunity to go to the British Pageant! We boarded the coach with our ward, and we all headed up to Chorley together to the temple grounds. I absolutely love the temple, and the Preston Temple definitely has a special place in my heart. So the grounds were packed with people, members, non members, and a lot of my fellow missionaries. It was so fun talking and having mini reunions with my dear friends, especially Elder Bahr and Elder Ostler! There were a lot of booths set up for activities and such, and a little area where a oldschool folk band was playing. It was amazing, and I flippin love the irish fiddle, flutes and bagpipes. The fresh celtic music made my whole soul happy. Later on, we gathered inside of the huge marquee and finally at 8:30, the pageant started! It was actually really really good, and had a lot of incredible music and dancing, all in the rad irish, welsh, scottish and english styles. The whole marquee was filled with such a unique spirit, and it was powerful. Bagpipes and welsh choirs may or may not have produced some manly tears. The story of the play was pretty informative as well, and I have already been hearing stories of non members going to the pageant and already wanting to get baptised and join our church. Miracles are happening everywhere! It was all way good, and guess what...I get to go again! We scored some tickets, and with the help of James William's mini bus, we are taking Heather and Ann there tomorrow. I'm stoked!
Oh yeah, mum guess what, I ate some crazy food! We were trying by some of the chinese families that we have met, and Lin Yun and her husband spontaneously invited us to join them for tea. However, they warned my that it was going to be a traditional chinese meal. Of course we accepted, we are missionaries and never turn down food. I was pumped, but once I saw the spread, I got a little anxious. They just kept bringing out bowls and bowls of funky looking and funky smelling stuff, but I just went for it and ate everything. So now, I can say that I have eaten chicken feet, pork stomache, crazy-chinese-veggies, a very rare chinese grass soup (with added chicken bones for flavor), lychee fruit, aloe vera juice, and a very traditional, chinese flower tea. It was a crazy experience, but I loved it and I loved soaking in their culture.
So we have shifted focus a bit in our finding, and we have been teaching a lot of the younger crowd recently. Haha we had "The Sermon of the Stoners". We were walking back to the flat, and we came across a large crowd of kids, and one of them had a skateboard! So I asked him if I could ride it. I think he was just amused that some dude dressed all fancy wanted to make a fool of himself, so he let me! I rolled around a bit, and then busted out some slides and ollies, and we instantly earned their respect. After that, we had like an hour long sermon with them, answering as many of their random, weed-related or even some deep questions! It was way good, and even though we probably wont see any of them converted, we have definitley opened up the doors to future missionaries. Good times!
The rest of the week was filled with traveling up to Ewloe for a district meeting (our district is so different now. I'm the last remaining original member, and its just not the same. There is too much robotic missionary and lame-sauceness. I miss Elder Caleira), traveling and working up in Rhyl, meeting and hanging out with a new family, Norman (welsh) Tom and Ice (thai with british accents) and Prai (the mother, full Thai), workind and meeting with a lot of random younger people on the streets and in the parks (we made a teenage girl cry yesterday, in a good way) and connecting with all the local community workers and becoming friends with all the neighborhood kids (we play football with them and they love us now. Some of them are trying to make me learn how to scooter. never). But its been good, and we are definitely busy with work. Working with my new, ultra busy companion is good, things are getting done, but sometimes I worry that the motives are for the numbers and for the sake of being busy. However, I am trying to stay as "quality over quantity" as much as I can. People simply know when you dont have your heart in it and your arent being sincere with them. The one thing that I am learning, and it could be applied to both missionary life and everyday life, is that "all actions should be motivated by love".That is how lasting personal and gospel relationships are made.
Well my lovely family, I love you and I'm grateful for everything you do to support me. Keep on being the cool and loving people that you are, and always be well stocked of rad sauce. Next week I will tell you all about my hug (probably handshake) with Elder Holland and any other adventures that happen in the life of Elder Bryant Goodman, but for now, peace out! I'm off to go bike through the dark and gloomy rain. Enjoy the sun!
Elder Goodman
BA
p.s. I found a mini stonehenge. I dont know why, but it was exciting
Mini Stonehenge
Inside the Marquee
Chinese Meal
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