Elder B.A.'s Birthday!!!

Hello all my loved ones! Greetings from the land of spontaneous hail storms, chav herds and a crazy lady giving us "non-alcoholic" sparkling grape juice. This week has been good in Barrow...but first off I want to thank you all for all the birthday lovin! The hand-written lovin makes it feel like it hasnt been too long since I have seen you all, and the birthday grocery delivery was pretty much the best thing ever! I never thought food would make me so happy. Online shopping at TESCO is one of the greatest inventions of all man-kind. No doubt. Anyways, my birthday has been going pretty good so far! It's a bit weird but adventurous to be spending it in a foreign land, but I swear when I woke up this morning...my beard got the memo and grew in thicker. That, along with the zone singing to me over a conference call and fresh delivery of food, life is good. Since there is not much to do here in Barrow, my plan to spend my birthday is to chill, head over to Cartmel for their world famous sticky toffee pudding, then coming back to the flat, listening to music and ordering kebabs and more chillaxing. Good day in the life of a missionary.

 

This week was pretty chill, but here's the deets:

 

Elder Hamblin, my fellow AZ brother, came to Barrow for an exchange. We went to Pizza Hut as a district and had the all-you-could-eat lunch buffett before my district meeting, and....Elder Hamblin set the Barrow record. 28 slices of pizza. That.boy.can.eat. Luckily, the exchange went really well, he didnt throw up at all, and we ended up finding a new, dread-locked lady investigator from Africa! She is so solid and loves her Bible. Hopefully it all works out.

Exchange quotes, "Justwingit" and "come what may and love it".

 

More tracting in the pouring rain. Soaked to the bone. Zero doors interested. A couple slams. A couple laughs. Overall, good time.

 

We had a really good lesson with Robert and Rita. I really wish I could speak German fluently, it would make these lessons so much easier. Luckily, the spirit fills in the gaps. We also had the opportunity to give Robert a much needed priesthood blessing. Good news, he is still alive and healthy! The priesthood power is real.

 

I bought some new kicks finally. Classy mocassin style slip-ons.

 

Elizabeth is crazy. I love her, but this time she offered us alcoholic sparkling grape juice. She kept saying "do you trust me?", "come on, trust me", "its not alcoholic, trust me". So I trusted her and took a sip....yeah it was alcoholic.

 

Other than that, the week has been full of teaching and finding, just plain old missionary work. I really hope that I can get out of Barrow soon, but for now, I will keep on working here in this gloomy down and try to bring in some sunshine. I love you all, and once again, thank you all for all the birthday lovin. You are rad.

Till next week, peace out!

 

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

 

 

Connie's Baptism.

Hello everyone! So right as I was about to leave my flat, a fat stack of letters came through the door, all from this rad family! I haven't gotten the chance to read them yet, but I am stoked to hear all your lovely words. Thank you for all the love and support. This family is incredible. I love you all.

So anyways, life is good here in Barrow! Here is a sneak peak of my week:

 

Haha so on monday...we had a bit of an adventure. After emailing and p-day chilling and such, my companion and I hit up the skate shop (I could have stayed in there for hours. It was legit), and we also browsed all around the music store right next door. It was basically a mini Guitar Center and my heart was insanely happy to be in there. I miss playing so much. So....I bought a ukulele!! I talked for a long time with the Scottish store manager for a long time about Scotland, hiking, and life in general, and finally...what is the best travel ukulele to buy. Long story short, I came out of that store with a brand new musical baby.

Continuing on with the monday adventure, our WML George took us out to a carvery to eat. It was all good until the journey back home. George pulled out of the car lot and a car almost hit us, so that was a bit sketch, but we were making fun of him for being "drunk". After that, we were going around a round-about and then while trying to avoid a cyclist on the left side...George ended up running over one of the central road medians, blowing out both tires on the right side. It wouldn't have been so bad, but....he didnt have any spares, and we had a car loaded with our groceries, and it was raining, and we were stuck on Barrow island. Haha so he called a recovery truck to come pick us up. It took over an hour for them to reach us...so, I busted out the ukulele and played in the car the entire time and made a qwirky song about how the universe was not on our side tonight. Haha it made time pass on quickly, and finally a grumpy man in a truck came and loaded up the car, and we all headed home. It spiced up our usual monday night for sure.

 

Ah snap, I dont have too much time today. Well, here are the important bits.

 

I finally got the explore the coasts on Walney island!

 

Working in the rain=major wife points.

 

We found a new investigator on Walney, and I learned a very important lesson to never ever judge. Stacy is a young mother of 3, and her yard was totally thrashed and filled with rubbish and initially I thought "woah, whoever lives here is such white trash". Turns out, Stacy is going through a lot of struggles, and her neighbors are absolutely horrible and verbally abuse her, tried to run her over several times while she was pregnant, and dump all their rubbish into her yard. She is living in a horrible situation, so I desperately hope that we can help her out anyway that we can.

 

Connie was baptized!!!! Saturday was such a good day. Not that many people showed up, but it was perfect because the spirit was strongly there, and Connie had such a good experience. She is still the same old witty/semi-crude lady that she was, only with a new added light about her. We are all so happy for her. Convert baptisms are incredible, especially here in England when there are so few and far in between. I love this work, and I know that even though we are very far from perfect, as long as we make our best effort with a strong heart...Heavenly Father will take care of the rest. We will be alright. It's as simple as that.

 

Well my loved ones, I hope all is well with you. I am so happy that Brien and you all could see inside the Gilbert Temple!!! One day.

I love you all. Keep on having radventures, and always make sure family is the tight-knit center. Till next time, peace out!

 

Elder Bryant Goodman

BA

HotTuna

 

Connie.

Oceanic stance of power

 

graffiti seaside bunker

 

 

Ocotpus Bunker

Brochachos

"We are still making a difference here, however small it may be."

Hello family:) I love you all. All is well in the land of Barrow-in-Furness. Things are going pretty well. We havent been swept away in the floods, we havent been attacked by chavs, our ward is still intact, and we managed to escape from Elizabeth's home without being too weirded out (recent convert....completely crazy and touchy but lovable...but crazy). I am getting much more settled here, even though the people here take so much longer to becomes friends with. It's all pretty chill now, and once again I have that good feeling of "being a part of the ward". It took some work. Working with the ward council and giving a talk for the past 3 sundays have really helped.

So anyways (nacho voice)....this week was pretty chill, but had some adventure and travel and interesting people all thrown in.

We had our final zone meeting of the transfer down in Preston, which made us set our alarms for 5 o' clock in the morning to get our butts out of bed. No bueno. But the travel energy soon got pumping in me, and after the series of trains, buses and walking, we finally got to the Preston chapel. Even though we didnt like our past robotic zone leaders, the meeting was pretty good. Haha I met a very good, new friend. Elder O'brien. He is a big ol' boy from New Zealand, and yes....he has the exact same accent and humor as Germaine!!! Haha I dont think I have ever laughed so hard in a Zone meeting before. For all of our small group teaching role-plays, I was with Elder O'brien, and it seriously felt like Flight of the Conchords sketch. Living in New Zealand for a bit is still playing in my mind. I love those people.

This week, we got 3 referrals! That never ever happens in Barrow. One of the referrals was from a 20 year old chick who referred herself on mormon.org, but after our first visit...being real....it was mostly just a flirt.  Her housemate was a hardcore death metal chick who worshipped Satan. So, that referral was pretty bogus, but the other 2 took us over to the land on Walney Island! The island was suprisingly beautiful, compared to the rest of Barrow. Not only that, the super strong smell of salt water filled my nostrils, and it immediately brought back memories of beach camping in Carlsbad. I miss that so much. You better save me a spot after I get back!!! K sweet. Anyways, the ocean makes me happy, which helped me have a good attitude as we walked and worked in the rain for 5 straight hours. Tired feet, happy heart.

Major happiness points= I found a super rad skate shop....and a huge music shop right next to eachother!!!!!!! I am going to go hit them up today.

Well my family, the work is doing well. Connie's baptism is still full go for Saturday, so we will be preparing for that. We are slowly gaining more people to teach, and even though the numbers are pretty low at the moment, I still feel happy that we are making a difference here, however small it may be. I have a testimony, that as we use our talents, personalities, passions, humor and attitudes towards building up 'the kingdom of God', Heavenly Father, the happiest of all, will share that joy with us. I love you all, and I hope you savor every moment and vibe and sense as you go in and see the Gilbert temple for the first time. I can't wait to see it for myself one day! And to eventually be married in those walls. I'm stoked that my brother Brien can come along with you too, that news made me so happy to hear! Until next time, may your adventures never cease, and may your days be filled with peace. Haha, that rhymed...peace out!!!!!

Elder Bryant Goodman

BA

HotTuna

p.s. birthday present request....hand written letters from everyone!

Bridge to Walney at low tide

best road name ever

zone leaders 

hooligan tag

road to Kendal

Juicy Lucy's

my biscuit stache

crazy Isla Kent

new Years Eve

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what it's built for"

Hello everyone! This week has flown by with New Years and such, and my memory of you all skyping is still fresh. Life is good, even though it's the usual chilly and windy weather outside. Winter is setting in, along with the damp "bones" weather. It seems to seep right through everything. But hey, as long as there is no cold sauce on the ground or flooding, it isnt too bad. Our friends up in Workington are stuck there because flooding is convering a lot of the train rails. I just hope that doesnt happen to us! We joke around and already feel exiled as it is!!

 

Oh yeah, first bit of news....we got our transfer call and Elder Diederich and I are both staying another transfer in "beautiful" Barrow! I'm stoked, because even though this area is super dead and the ward is decaying and we are here alone to take on this depressed town....I will be here for Connie's baptism! We have been working so hard with her, and she is seriously one of the only glimmers of hope that we have right now. We are hoping that this baptism will create a spark for the rest of the ward to pump up some enthusiasm and hope. Only 29 people showed up to church yesterday, and if the rate continues the way that it is going....this ward is going to crumble and shut down. This.cannot.happen. Luckily, Elder Diederich and I are super good friends and work well together, which will make this responsibilty a bit easier to handle. Haha not going to lie, this point in my mission (missionary work wise) feels a bit like Josephs time in Liberty jail. It's a big test to keep my spirits high.

 

But anyways, we are still having some good times here. On Tuesday I gave a district meeting with the zone leaders there which went pretty well...but at 4 o clock, we got New Years Eve off! So my companion and I went over to George's house and we just chilled and watched Netflix. After that, we got back pretty late, stayed up till midnight, I watched fireworks and drunk people from my flat window, then I crashed in bed. Party on. We got to sleep in, and after chilling in the morning and listening to some rad tuneage, we went over to George's again and watched more Netflix. There really isnt much to do in Barrow on a rainy day, I would have killed to go on a hike or something in the Lake District, but instead we treated ourselves to NACHOOOOOOOOOOO LIBRE. Haha good times.

So Saturday morning was flippin hectic. We had to be in Lancaster for a district leader's council meeting by 10:30. So we were just leaving to catch our train, but then we got the transfer calls. Worst timing ever!!!! So we were walking to the train station in the crazy wind and couldnt hear squat on the phone (zone transfer calls are the highlights of the transfer. Its a huge conference call with everyone and everyone gets stoked!) So this time was a bit frustrating because we couldnt hear much. We finally got to the train station....only to see our train fly by without stopping! What the flip. We then found out that was the only train to come by in the next hour or so, so that was our only hope to make it to the meeting on time. There was only one other woman with us, and she was freaking out too because that was the train she needed as well. So we talked a bit and she said "come on!!! lets drive and try to catch the same train in Dalton!!" So we ran with her to her car, hopped in, drove fast to Dalton...only to find that we missed the train there as well. AHHHH this morning was super frustrating. We ended up begging George to give us the hour long lift to Lancaster, which would barely get us there in time. He kindly drove us, and we listened to a rad Scottish soundtrack all along the way through the beautiful countryside. It was good, because I would have been way grumpy at the meeting. That man deserves major blessings, and some chocolate.

 

Other than that, our week has been pretty chill. I am trying to turn my brain from holiday mode back to working mode still, because its 2014 and time to get back to the grind. This year should be good, and I have a feeling its going to fly by. I will keep you updated on all my new adventures this year. I love you all, and till next week, peace out!!

 

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

 

p.s. I love the quote

 

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what it's built for"