A trip to the temple.

Hello there everyone! I love you all.

 

First off, woah...the temple dedication sounded amazing. I so wish I could have been there for it! (I dont think the rain would have affected me too much. One of the perks serving in England). Dad, you looked pretty legit. Too legit to quit. I can't wait to be able to go through the Gilbert Temple. That's a major understatement. Luckily though, I was able to go through the temple this week and experience the temple,  English style. I want to be a temple dweller for the rest of my life, and that's not just Elder Goodman talking. I got to finally see the new video (the new new video) and I loved it. It was incredible, both for physical and spiritual eyes. Enough said.

 

So this week was pretty slow, but pretty good as well. A lot of travel, which always spices up the week.

 

On monday night, we travelled to Preston and explored the town a bit, saw a group of drunk chavs get kicked out of Mcdonalds, and then chilled with the Preston elders in their massive 4 man flat. It was sweet, they had a guitar and ukulele, so Elder Hawkes (music guru. we seriously talked about music for hours) and I had a jam session and we had a fun night. Very little sleep. The next morning we woke up early, caught a bus to Chorley, and had our full day temple conference. Everything else was alright...but the temple was amazing. Also, the temple food in Preston is super good. Full roast dinner. Me gusta.

 

After the traveling back, our week was pretty slow. We have a draught in our investigator pool, so we are spending most of the time finding, which can be very draining. Luckily though, I found a way to spice it up a bit. We were walking in the council estate area, and there were a couple young kids playing football in the street. They were pretty crude little chavs, but they let me join their game because they wanted to beat an american. We played a bit and they loosened up, but then...something crazy happened. It seemed like every kid in the neighborhood stuck their heads out the door to see what was going on. They all soon started to join, and we went from a 5 man game, to over 20. It was crazy. Elder Jenks sat out, so I had all the focused attention from everyone. We played hard, I combated their crude remarks with witty bantor and secret football skils (the key to earning respect in England) and by the end of it...their was some major respect gained for missionaries in that area. Deep down, they are all good kids, they are just missing good examples. I hope that we can do the same thing in Wrexham....gain respect with the kids, so that they introduce us to their parents...then bam!! Teaching families.

 

Another thing that is spicing up this area is our new missionary couple that just got here, the Cunninghams! They are a super posh couple from Wolverhampton, but they are super nice (Sister Cunningham reminds me a bit of super british grandma connie). Since they have a car, we have had a lot more freedom to do work in some of the outside towns and villages. I'm stoked to keep on working with them, and hopefully we can see more progress in Barrow.

 

On Saturday we had our mission-wide 4 hour consecrated find. Of course, it was dumping down rain that day. Earlier on, we asked Bishop to pray about a street that we should work on. So that morning, we walked down to Telford St. and started knocking all the doors in the pouring rain. Not much success. Lovely. But...towards the end of the street, we knocked on a man's door and something really good happened. Lewis (older man with crazy blue eyes) opened up...but immediately tried to get rid of us and was flat out grumpy and rude. However though, we kept talking and he softened up a bit. He let us know that his wife passed away just last year, and he was still struggling, but he still had a faith that he would see her again. I then taught him a bit about temples...temples being the way that we can be with our loved ones forever. Although brief, the spirit was strong. Lewis was still fighting it a bit, so we decided to leave it there. We kept on knocking doors down the street, but looking over, I saw that Lewis came out of his house again to let his cat out. After a friendly wave, we walked back over and started talking again. Totally different man now. He was smiling, told us to hold on, he walked inside, then came out with a carton of fresh eggs which he gave to us. This man went from totally grumpy, to incredibly nice and egg-giving. I believe it was truly that spirit that touched and softened his heart...and I hope that we can formally start teaching him. The gospel can change people. The church is true. Enough said.

 

Other than that, the week was pretty uneventful. We got to see the Kents again, and they are awesome as always. Abi says that she wants to go to mine and Heather's wedding. That would be incredible if they could make it! I love them.

Well, the weather is finally getting less suckish. I'm craving the sun, and it's teasing me more and more by breaking through the clouds lately. I can't wait for summer.

Life is good. I'm happy. I miss you all. Party on. Peace out.

 

Elder Goodman

BA

HotTuna

 

p.s. Mum, serious question: What's your favorite disney princess? Dont ask why