Elder Bryant Goodman: It's Warming up in Southport and it feels good....

Hey what's up home skillets? Life is good here in Southport. It's been really warm lately, with last weekend being the hottest weekend of the year so far. Me gusta. Haha it's kind of funny, we have been doing a lot of service outside with some members, a lot of sun, and my good friend Curt got major heat exhaustion and sun burns. And I was just like..."what's wrong with you? This feels really good". Poor sun-deprived british people. Thank you mom and dad for raising me in the Arizona sun!

So this week had some crazy ups and downs, but I am happy still, and here are the deets:

Exchange in Liverpool with Elder Mapfumo, aka Blackfumo. Liverpudlians are some of the craziest but nicest people I have ever met. Out of all the people though, my favorite was Matt. He is totally artistic and intellectual and funny, and he just went and saw the Book of Mormon play. After he saw it, he referred himself online, so Elder Blackfumo and I went over and we had an incredible lesson with him, now he's a new investigator. It was one of the most interesting lessons I have ever had, because we simply listened to some of the songs of the play, which are hilarious, and then explained all of the truth and doctrine that the play brushes up on. Thank you writers of Southpark! Anyways, the rest of the exchange was full of traveling, combating serious bible bashers and walking the streets of Liverpool, talking to all the characters in the way.

My heart was pretty destroyed this week. Grant, our best investigator who was on the brink of baptism...fell into the trap of anti-mormon material. He thought we tricked him and betrayed him and now he wont even answer our calls. There is nothing wrong about intellectually challenging the church and studying with logic, but when all faith and memories of miracles are totally put aside, that's when problems arise and the peace crumbles. Sadly, this is where we are at with Grant. We hope and pray that we can see him again.

Random note, we were walking by the bay in Southport and we saw something totally rad. A man was stand up paddle boarding.....with a full dress suit on! Shirt, tie, jacket, trousers, shoes and everything. This man should win the "Classiest man in Southport" Award.

So like I said earlier, we have been able to do an incredible amount of service lately, both for members and non-members. It has opened so many doors and it has made me so happy to just go lose myself. I love the idea "some churches wear crosses as their symbol, our symbol that we wear is our love and service to others". Amen.

Stake Conference in Liverpool was...interesting haha. So in the middle of it, this lady got up and totally lost her mind and started cursing the Stake President in front of hundreds of people. It was mega awkward, especially with the Mayor of Liverpool attending. She had to be dragged out of there. Never seen that before. Check that one off the list.

Other than that, this week has been pretty chill. Just missionary work and finding everyday in the sun, and then nerf shoot-outs in the flat during lunch. This week should be good though, we have a mission activity in Chorley, and a wedding in the ward that we are helping out at this weekend. Should be fun.

Well, I love you all, and I am totally stoked for Hawaii. 9 more months to work hard, change lives, and create the stories that I will tell to my children and my children's children.

Take care, and peace out!

Elder BA

p.s. next monday is another flippin bank holiday...so look out for my words on tuesday!

me and the Deids