A Baptism in the works.

Hello again my family! It was sooooo good to see you all on Wednesday. I missed all your faces and voices. It made Christmas in this distant, beautiful and soggy land so much better. And thank you mom for the groceries today! Thank you thank you thank you. It was seriously one of the best presents that you could ever give us. I love you!

Well this email might be a bit short because we are on some members computers because all the libraries are shut down today. Lame sauce.

So even though this week was full of Christmas-ness and my brain turned to holiday mode, some really good things still happened.

First off, our investigator Connie (78 year old, funny old lady from Birmingham, full of attitude)...is dated for baptism!!!!! If she passes her baptismal interview tomorrow, which we believe she totally will, she will be baptized on the 18 of January. She has been being taught for about 2 years, but finally something clicked with her, and we could tell that she is finally tuning into the spirit. We are so happy for her, and it will be good to pump some new-member enthusiasm back into this dying ward. Only 23 people showed up to church yesterday...which was way sad...so hopefully Connie's baptism gets the ball rolling. We were also able to meet with Peter (Irishman), and he is also making more progress towards baptism. Good things are happening! and Barrow definitely needs it.

Other than that, not too much went on. This week was pretty chill, and our brains are pretty much still on holiday mode with New Years around the corner. I cant believe its almost 2014....that's flippin crazy. Anyway's, thank you all so much for all the lovin you gave to me. I am especially grateful for the short notes and CD that came in my post on Saturday morning. I was so stoked to hear that bodacious tuneage. Thank you thank you thank you!!! I love you all so much.

Well anyways, I got to go soon. Transfer calls are on Saturday, but I will keep you updated. Talk to you again on monday. Peace out!

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

Christmas party, crazy wind, freezing rain, good attitude.

Hello my beautiful family! Greetings from the land of wind and cold, Fox's Biscuits and hardcore Liverpool football fans. First off, I love you all. I am super mega thankful for all your love and your long distance Christmas gifts and lovin. Its weird not being home for Christmas, but I still feel close to all of you. Thank you Randi for that brilliant family film. My eyes may or may not have gotten a little sweaty from watching it and hearing from all of you. All the kids look so much older...but mom and dad...you look the same. Except for the mustache. I dig it. I am so thankful for this amazing family. It made me decide that even though my future will be full of travel and exploring...I never want to be away too long from you all. Family is where the happiness is. And yes....I did open all the packages you sent. Do you really think that a 19 year old boy on a mission would wait for christmas to open up his gifts? Lets be real here...not a chance. But thank you for everything! It meant a lot, and my feet feel like they are being hugged by a koala when I wear those slippers. Thank you, I love you all!

 

So my week was pretty good. Haha I'm glad that you got to see a picture of me as Ron Burgandy. The Christmas party was way fun, especially being able to be around some of my really good friends. We have a pretty tight group here. Sister Preston made an incredible Christmas turkey dinner which resulted in a major food baby. Elder Diederich and I gave a training on Charity, which I feel turned out very well. Everyone participated and the invitation was "to on monday, write a sincere letter to your family and SHOW THEM YOUR LOVE!" So watch out, one is coming. After food, we did our skits, and they were all suprisingly really funny. I think my favorite one was when a group did "the day in the life of a missionary", but elders impersonated sisters, and sisters impersonated elders. It was spot on. My newsteam did pretty well as well. It got in some laughs, which got the job done. After that, we chilled and watched Ephraims Rescue =really good. Then we did a white elephant exchange. I put in a funky weird Tiger claw thing with a box of Cadbury Chocolate fingers. Elder Diederich brought a Hollywood Hunks calender. I ended up with a stuffable outdoor rainjacket from Elder Clarke, while Elder Diederich ended up with a One Direction picture book. Haha "it sucks to be you right now" (nacho voice). After all that and some singing, we got to get all of our gifts and lovin from our family. Good times.

 

After all day in Machester, instead of going all the way back to Barrow cause it was getting late, we hooked up with our good friends the Bolton Elders and slept over at their flat. We got hardly any sleep, and lived life (as much as you can on a mission without being super dodgy), but it was way fun. Elder Sargent is flippin crazy. But anyways...by the time my companion and I got back into Barrow Thursday afternoon, we were absolutley dead, zombie tired. Major power nap for lunch.

 

Working in Barrow has been absolutely suckish this whole week. It has been crazy windy and freezing and raining and hailing the whole second junk of the week, and I had to bust out the HotTuna jacket big time. We are told in the mission that "Christmas time is the best time to work because everyone is with their families and want to come to church". Yeah.....more like everyone is crazy busy shopping, taking shelter within their homes and not being bothered with anyone else because they have their families over. I have never had more appointments fall through in my entire mission. But on the bright side, Elder Diederich and I are partying on and are not letting anyone stop us from enjoying this Christmas holiday.

 

Well, I am super stoked to see and hear you all on wednesday!!!!!!! I am so excited. The plan is: I will be spending Christmas with the Kent family, and I will hook up on Skype at 4:00pm...which will be 9:00am your time? Elder Diederich and I will be on two seperate devices at the same time, so we should have longer times to talk to you! I dont know the Kent's skype username thing, but I have yours, so I should be able to contact you to start this shindig. I hope everything works out!

 

I.cant.wait.to.see.all.your.faces.

 

I love you all, and peace out till wednesday

 

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

 

 

Adventures in Kendal.

Hello my loved ones! I love monday's. I love hearing your words and all about your adventures, and I'm thankful for all the love that is flowing from this screen right now. I truly miss all of you, especially as the days are creeping towards Christmas. But hey, life is still good here. I wish more than ever that I could be with you all for Christmas, but I am embracing this experience. I am learning how to bond with people from all cultures and all backgrounds, so it is definitely worth it being away for these two short years.

This week...was yet another adventure!!! Here's the deets:

On Tuesday, I had a district meeting in Kendal with the Kendal Elders (its really wierd yet chill only having two others in my district). It was all about Charity! We decided that since we have some of the hardest "number" areas in the mission, we decided to be known as the most "charitable district". So, we got creative and instituted the "Hour of Faith". Basically, its a way to spice up the day, wear normal clothes and get our hands dirty. The idea is to put on service clothes, call the other elders in the district to let them know you started the hour of faith, then you go out for one hour.....and spontaneously serve as much as possible. After that hour, you report back to the other elders about any miracles or good people you met along the way. I am stoked to get it started!

After that, we had a pulled-pork BBQ all together in the flat. It was the bomb. We then started our exchange and seperated on our ways. I stayed in Kendal with Elder Hotchkiss. He is from Utah, but way rad. We both have the same free-adventurous-polymath spirit, and all we talked about was future adventure ideas and paragliding and hiking and backpacking and roaming the world. It was way good, especially when we got to have an adventure of our own. We traveled down to Milnthorpe (the place of John Taylor) and worked all around there. After teaching some good people and teaching a whole group of young kids in the street how to pray, we decided to use our tea break to go hike in the scenic hills and eat our dinner at the top of the highest one near town. It was absolutely beautiful!!! We both felt like we were in the Shire as we hiked up the hills amongst the herds of deer and sheep. Along the way, we met and talked to a fellow trekker, and had a really good converation with her, and she totally softened her heart against the church and mormons in general. We then ate our meal of fruit and sandwiches on the top of the hill and just soaked in the scenery and the whole experience. I will attach some pictures, but I swear they dont do it any justice.

Eventually I had to make my way back from beautiful Kendal to "beautiful Barrow"(the joke throughout the mission). The middle of the week was rough with rain and fatigue, but altogether, I say we had an amazing week.

We found 3 new solid investigators!!

We taught our highest number of lessons in Barrow

We escaped from a bunch of wasted party girls, aka chavettes, aka female chavs

Both Elder Diederich and I gave talks in church about the Saviour. Mine was all about "Turning outwards rather than inwards".

We had tea at Michael Cunningham's home. He has been taught for over 15 years, we are pretty sure he is gay, but he made an incredible meal and apple pie

We finished planning our Christmas training

And we finished our week off by teaching lovely crazy Elizabeth from Malta.

Overall, the week was really good. Elder Diederich is my favorite companion so far. We just chill and mesh together pretty well, and we always have a Will Ferrel or SNL quote to respond to eachother with. Even though we feel banished out here in Barrow, we are loving life and are making the best of it. I never knew how many good friends I would meet on the mish. And its not even half over. Party on Wayne....party on Garth

Well everyone, I hope you are having a bodacious Christmas. It sounds like you are having lovely weather, so enjoy it for me! Just know that I miss you all, and I pray for you all everynight. Peace out ladies and gentlemen, have a good one

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

p.s. For our Christmas party/training on tuesday, every district has to do a 10 min skit. So...with me as Ron Burgandy and with a mustache....we are doing an Anchorman parody...England Machester Mission News style. Hopefully it works out. Stay classy

sneaking up on deer

 

this is our land

 

preach to every creature

The barrow tribe

 

Kendal

 

thug life

Milnthorpe

 

Brochacho's starting our journey

 

The view

Wandering around the Lake District

Hello everyone! I love you and miss you all, and I'm not just saying that. I have been asked to give a 35 minute training at our mission christmas training/party, and my subject is Charity. So...for the past week or so, every personal study has been on that subject, and I have been reflecting a lot. It is my favorite subject and attribute, one that I have gained the strongest testimony of on my mission. I just want all of you to know, I love you with all my heart, and I am truly grateful to be on this earth, at this time, with all of you. Love conquers all.

 

Alright alright enough of the mushy stuff.....here's what's up in the life of Elder Goodman!

 

I had an incredible exchange with my new German friend, ELder Werner, in the beautiful land of Kendal. The work is very hard there, since it is a small area and has been hit hard with a lot of missionaries in the past. I get the vibe that everyone already knows who we are and what we do, so all we can really do is just be there for them when they are prepared and ready! But anyways, it was way rad. We traveled to the beautiful area of Windemere, the scenic, hilly town bordering the great lake. I seriously wish that I had my longboard and could chill there all day. But sadly, that's frowned upon in this establishment. So we traveled around, knocked on dozens of doors and tried our best street contacting. No major success, other than making a few people smile. So to lighten up our spirits, we took our lunch break down on the shore of Lake Windemere, with a view of the Lake District Valley off in the distance. Elder Werner has only been out for a couple months and his main concern is that "he will forget how to relax after the mission". Haha so I taught him a lesson about balance, and then we chilled and relaxed and ate sandwiches and meditated and just took in the beauty of the lake for almost an hour. It is now a memory that will be in my brain for forever. I love this earth, and I love the Lake District!

 

After our 3 day exchange, I got back into Barrow...only to hit the worst weather that I have ever experienced on my mission this far. Haha it was such a welcome back. Powerful coastal winds, icy rain and rubbish being blown everyone. It was an adventure. One of the roads closed down due to flooding, and we heard Blackpool was totally shut down. It was a bit sketchy, but still we worked and something amazing happened! We taught a man named Peter, a rough chracter who was caught up in the IRA back in Ireland, but he was so prepared and desperatley needed the gospel. We taught him the Restoration...and he accepted the bold invitation to be baptized! Peter is going to need a lot of work, but both Elder Diederich and I feel like he is going to make it. Peter already prays for both of our families, aka all of you, so please pray for our friend Peter!

 

On Saturday, Elder Diederich and I felt inspired to go work in the small village of Cartmel. It was a beautiful disaster. We got off the train, only to find out that we had to walk several miles to get to the actual town. So we did, and even though the walk was long, the view and scenerey were incredible. It turns out Cartmel is a tourist village, which was super cool for my adventure brain, but not so good for missionary work. We knocked on the few doors that were there and tried to talk to as many people as we could, but no major luck. We met a new friend, an older lady named Heather who we might teach sometime in the future, and the views were beautiful, so overall it was a good experience.

 

I ate some way good fish n' chips from the award winning chippy in Barrow on Bath Street! It tasted really good, but then it gave me an award winning bathroom experience later that night. Chippy's and my stomach dont mix too well.

 

Well, other than that, life has been good. I am getting to meet more of the ward families, even though there are very few of them, we had 29, including kids, show up to church yesterday. This is even smaller than my branch in Stafford. But they are all really good people...and there are definitely many characters. We are probably going to skype from George's, our ward mission leader, home, but I will let you know the deets as soon as I can. I am so excited to see all of your faces and hear all your lovely voices, especially you Tate.

 

I love you all. Till next time, Stay classy Arizona.

 

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

windemere

 

lakeside sandwich

trail to the lake

 

no troll

 

dont slip

elder werner aka german

 

news team....assemble

 

train station ocean view

road to cartmel

 

sheeeeeeeeeep

 

this horse walked all the way across the field for us.....to feed him grass

Trains, trains and more trains.

Hello my loved ones! Greetings from the land of Scottish accents, chavs, the ocean, and the smell of smoke. Not gonna lie....these past few days have been an adventure. I am doing really well, and my new companion is way rad.  We get along, and I'm just so thankful he is not some bubble sheltered Utah kid. We are already way good friends! I love our flat, even though the whole upstairs smells like a hardcore smoker has been chillin up there eating bacon all day. But massive flat is roomy, and I hooked up the sound system and have been blasting the new CD that I just got. Thank you Randi! The music has given me back some soul. All is well here in Barrow.

So, my week was absolutely hectic and full of travel, and I feel like I have just barely settled here in my flat, let alone Barrow. After all of the transfer travel, before I could even get settled in, we had to wake up mega early for a Mission Leadership Meeting on Friday. This is how it went:

1.Wake up, walk to the train station and ride the train for 2 hours to Preston

2.Get to Preston, find out the Zone Leaders were not there to pick me up and already left for Manchester. Dang nabbit

3.Find the next train, which leaves an hour later

4.Get on train with the other district leader from Workington, who was also abandoned. Hour and a half of standing up like sardines on the train

5.Get to Picadilli, make the walk to the bus station

6.Hour bus ride to Machester Chapel for the meeting. Barely made in in time

After the nearly day-long meeting (which was really good by the way), I got a lift back with the Zone Leaders to Preston

7. 3 hours stuck in traffic, but made it back to the flat in Preston

8. Too late to train back to Barrow

9. Super spontaneous, instead of sleeping over with the Zone leaders cause Elder Diederich and I were fed up with them, we trained and bussed with the Lancaster Elders back to their flat in Morecombe. Beautiful area, beautiful city

10. Super rad sleepover, even though I slept on the floor and I had a towel for a blanket and I had literally nothing with me except my suit and scriptures. It was a bit rough

11. Wake up, journey to the Lancaster chapel with the Lancaster district leader (way cool english elder who likes to surf), and joined the District Leaders Council Meeting.

12. After the meeting, we bailed and met up with my companion and the other elders in the town at a pub for a £2 burger and bowl of chips, which was suprisingly really good.

13. After chilling a bit, Elder Diedrich and I made our way back to the train station, hopped on and rode about 2 hours back to Barrow.

14. Totally shattered, we unloaded our stuff and went off to do some work. That's how we roll.

So those were the rough deets of my half week in my new area. Haha I luckily got the chance to go to church yesterday and meet the very few members there, so now I am not totally lost here. The ward is dying, which is a bit sad with only 27 that showed up, including kids, but...there is one amazing family that we had tea with. The Kents!! I love them. Sheldon and Abbi are a really young couple, with 4 little kids, and they are super fun and real and just good to hang out with. Sheldon, from Essex, served his mission here in the EMM (thats were he met Abbi haha), so we talked with him for a long time about how everything has changed and how some things have stayed the same. We are going to spend most of our Christmas time with them! Movies and games and chillin all day.

I am really excited that I get to see most of your faces and voices for Christmas! I miss you all so much. I love being on this mission (I feel like its a part of me now), but I cant wait for the day that I can come back and join you all in the family get-togethers and parties and adventures. Family=love

I love you all, and I hope everyone has a rad week. This week I will be traveling again to Preston for a zone meeting, and I will also be able to travel over to Kendal for a couple days for an exchange with the Elders in my district! I'm stoked to see more of the lake district! The city of barrow itself is a total rough ghetto area, but the surrounding countryside and coast are beautiful. I'll keep you updated next week but for now, peace out.

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

The new flat and comp:

New Address:

2 St. Lukes Street

Barrow-in-Furness

Cumbria

LA13 9RR