If you want an adventure or to learn something new....you just have to open your mouth.

Hey family:) Life is good. My favorite local, mentally handicapped man is sitting next to me right now and he is showing me things on his computer every other second, haha so sorry if this letter is a little scatter brained. Also, I want time to reply to all your individual emails, so here are this week's quick deets!:

I got to explore St. Helens! We had district meeting, and we played some serious chair football with Elders Clark and Lee. They are both pretty rad. I have missed chill, 4 man district meetings. Bro time.

On the train ride back (2 flippin hours!) something crazy good happened. So I was sitting by myself and when we pulled up to a stop, a saw this super hippe looking kid my age with a bodacious beard and groovy tunic shirt waiting to get on. I just visualized in my brain, him getting on and sitting right next to me, then me saying "hey I like your shirt". And...it happened exactly like that. As soon as I said, "hey I like your shirt", we instantly connected. Turns our he was actually on his way to...Glastonbury!!!!! I have always wanted to go there, and when he mentioned that Jack White, the Pixies and Arcade Fire and many many others were playing there this year...we both exploded. It turned into a furious talk about music.  So that was only the first good part. He ended up asking me the classic "so why are you here" question, and before I could answer, a lady sitting across from us spoke up and said "you are a Mormon missionary!" Turns out, she lived in the States for 14 years and knew all about us. She was super nice, and it came out that she was a world traveling backpacker. I was just like...what?!? Then the hippie kid was like...yeah I just got back from a European back-packing trip with my girlfriend....and I was like....what?!?!?!? So for the next hour, the three of us had an awesome discussion about music and traveling, and it eventually lead into a spiritual and philosophical discussion. We were firm in our beliefs, me being a devote but open minded Mormon, hippie kid being on open free spirit but mostly atheist, and the lady being a scientific but spiritual psychotherapist. It was incredible to be open and share all of our ideas, and I was so grateful for that chance to learn so much and bond with new ideas and people. So, moral of the story...if you want an adventure or to learn something new....you just have to open your mouth.

President Preston's farewell...incredibly sad. I will

miss that man. He was one of the ultimate examples of living the gospel and understanding and loving people, and I have learned so much from him.

I was on British National television! They made a super cruddy documentary called Meet The Mormons, following Elder Fields serving in the England Leads Mission. He was in my MTC group, so I was in a lot of the footage from the MTC! "I'm a pretty big deal...people know me" (Ron Burgandy voice)

Yesterday I met a serious hunting/gun enthusiast, and I got to handle his shotguns, so that was pretty sweet.

There has been a dip in missionary enthusiasm in the ward...so Elder Frandsen and I totally spiced up the missionary board in church. Pic included.

Well other than that, nothing too much out of the routine happened. Our teaching pool is pretty low besides a mountain of less-actives, so I made a fun weekly focus for the district this week. Everyday, we have to dare our companion to do something totally out of their comfort zone in a finding situation. Haha this should be fun. I will let you know the stories next week.

I love you all. Go enjoy the waves for me. I will continue on here being a monk.

Peace out!

Elder Goodman

p.s. if you are bored...don't buy a venus fly trap. They take 3 years to grow! flippin lame

Persecution puts hair on your chest.

Hello my adventurous family! Hearing about your nature travels makes me want to do a legendary fist-pump in this library because of your pure awesomeness. I can't wait to join you all again. Get the kayaks ready!

Anyways, life is pretty good here. This week has been a week of facing change. Here are the deets:

So on Monday and Tuesday, we spent a lot of time with the sisters. Mexican food, ninja, jam sessions, blitzing streets, swan feeding, and having a final BBQ at our friends the Elston's. It was really fun, but at the same time really sad because we all knew our separation was imminent. It really hit hard when we went over to help them pack and prepare their flat for the new missionaries coming to Southport in 6 weeks. I never thought that I would have more "friend separation" problems on the mission, but hey...that's how it goes. With all of that and Gary falling through, it's been a bit down here in Southport. Luckily though, the sun is still shining and it's time for a new adventure.

Our new district is now Elder Frandsen and I, Elder Clark (my good redneck friend from my group who was in my Wrexham district at one point, now serving in St. Helens), Elder Lee (Elder Clark's new trainee, still haven't met him yet), Elder Roberts (goofy, but chill zone leader) and Elder Christiansen (from my group, biggest goober that I have ever met. I have never seen so much pride in all my missionary life). So, this will be a transfer of bonding with our St. Helens Elders and avoiding our zone leaders. It's pretty much unanimous. Good times ahead.

On Thursday, I got to meet up with Elder Tuioti from my group and we headed off to Manchester to the new YSA building for a district leader's conference. No one gave us any directions, so we had a little city adventure trying to find our way around and asking locals. Basically all we were told by the zone leaders was that it was by an aquarium...so whenever we asked someone on the streets for directions, they looked at us like idiots. Haha turns out, there are no aquariums in Manchester....but there is an "aquatic center". Basically a glorified swimming pool. After a while, we found the building and had a pretty good meeting. And since it was one of the last meetings President Preston will be at (incredibly sad)...he bought us all Costco pizza. I love that man.

The rest of the week went pretty well. Elder Frandsen and I got split up one evening as we started teaching two groups of street bums who called us over. A homeless man almost punched me in the face, and we had to seriously defend our faith, so that was pretty exciting. This is a really heavy "finding" mission, and at first I dreaded it. But I have come to realize that finding on the streets is where our faith can grow the strongest, simply because that's where we get attacked and have to defend it the most. Persecution puts hair on your chest.

On Sunday, I taught both the gospel principles lesson and Elders Quorum lesson with like 5 minutes notice. I have faith in the spirit and God watching out for us...because half of what I said did not come from my own brain, and I am thankful for that because it really moved a lot of people. I want to be a teacher for the rest of my life.

Other than that, our week was filled with the same ol' same ol'. Finding, teaching, finding, teaching, eating, then more finding and teaching. Since we don't have other missionaries here to hang out with and recharge...I have set up a music room in our flat. Guitar, ukulele, harmonica, keyboard, and a sweet speaker system. That's where you can find me every night now.

Well my family, I love you all. Thank you for your love and keeping me updated on your outdoor journeys. Keep it up!

Till next time, peace out.

Elder BA

A Roller Coaster of Sorrow and Awesomeness...

Hey there home skillets! Greetings from sunny Southport. I am staying another transfer here! Oh yeah, happy father's day dad. I love you. Well, just pretend I sent that yesterday. Cool beans.

The weather has been absolutely awesome and sunny lately, and it actually feels like summer. Its just funny to see a bunch of pasty English people celebrate this rare occasion, when to me it just feels like a taste of home. I now have a major missionary/farmers tan. Party on.

So this week has been a rollercoaster of sorrow and awesomeness...

Ok lets start off with last P-day. We had just finished shopping and emailing and we met up at the chapel with the sisters to hang out and have an awesome day, but then we got a text from Gary.....basically saying "hey, I changed my mind, this isn't for me, I have a girlfriend now"....and Elder Frandsen and I were totally devastated. Especially Elder Frandsen, who had a major breakdown. I tried calling Gary several times, but no response. It was seriously one of the hardest heartbreaks on my mission, and I felt destroyed. Gary was such a good friend, and he was so close and had a new light in him and everything...but then a skanky girl ruined it all. Sister Thomson and I had a good Mumford jam session to help cool my head, but even after P-day we felt destroyed. So we started a fast for Gary, that we would be able to contact him by the 11th of June. To be continued...

In the meantime, we were about to call it a day and head back to our flat, but we got a call from the sisters. Sister Thomson got spontaneously and insanely ill and was vomiting everywhere and looked and felt like death, and they asked us to come over and give her a blessing. So we ran all the way there, and I gave her a blessing. It was a very sacred experience, but basically the words came out "by tomorrow morning, you will be completely healed". We ran all the way back to the flat to make it home in time, and we were shattered, both mentally and physically. To make things worse, we got another call from the sisters and Sister Thomson had to go to the hospital. For the rest of the night, we were all kept awake making sure she was alright. Turns out, she got crazy food poisoning. Haha it was a night of hell. She now has earned the nickname Chicken Chunks. But then...in the morning we had a zone meeting, and the sisters surprisingly showed up to the train station with us, only having about 30 minutes of sleep from the night before. It was actually pretty hilarious, they were both kinda high. And guess what, even though she was shattered, Sister Thomson was completely healed. Simply put, I have full faith in the power of the priesthood and the power of healing.

The rest of the day included all of us hanging out at zone meeting. For an activity, we played a zone wide game of ninja with over 30 people, and I won it! Southport represent! So that was the end of the bad and a start to the good times this week.

So two days after our fast, on the 11th of June, we randomly stopped by Gary's house after not being able to contact him at all. And guess what...he let us in! It was incredible, and even though he has had some major setbacks, he still has held onto his faith and wants to be baptized. It will just take some more time. We were very bold with him, and basically let him knew that Satan was trying every trick in the book to stop his baptism from happening, especially sending a skanky girl his way. So, the power of fasting is real as well, but we still have a lot of work to do.

The rest of the week was full of adventures with the sisters. They are both getting white-washed out, and sadly no one is taking their place, leaving Southport all to me and Elder Frandsen. Since we are all really good friends now, we just decided to make the best out of this last week. I will send some pics, but we walked all the way to Tarleton, went out to Nandos to eat, played volleyball with the ward and all wore custom Southport t-shirts with all of our faces on them, did a lot of garden service, but my favourite was definitely our adventure on Saturday. We all got Subway and met at the beach in Ainsdale. The weather was perfect, and the water was warm. After we ate, we had a spontaneous adventure all the way to the Southport pier. We all looked like dirty beach pirates after everything was done, and it easily earned its spot as one of my favourite memories on the mission so far. Life is good.

Aside from that, we have just been trekking on with missionary work. Working hard, playing hard, and not spending too much time in between (props to you dad).

I love you all, and I am so happy how tight knit we all are. Let's keep it that way, like macaroni and cheese.

Take care, and peace out.

Elder BA

Klingonsmith, Thomson, Frandsen, BA

walk to Tarleton

Sandy Feet at the beach

Frans and Sister K

Chicken Chunks

dirty pirate

sister pirates

post game of ninja on the beach

aftermath

Bacon is proof that God loves us.

Heyo! Greetings from across the sea. First off, thanks for all the pictures! They have given me a good flavour to savor of home. I was going to take a butt-load of photos to send today...but it's been dumping pretty heavily and I don't want to risk drowning my camera. So, you'll have to wait till next week. Hopefully the sun decides to show his face again. Anyways, I love you all, and you are all constantly in my thoughts.

So this week has seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, and it's been full of really small "words can't capture" moments, but here are some deets of my week=

District Meeting on Tuesday, and I trained on having a greater emphasis on the Book of Mormon. To sum it up, its our most powerful tool when combined with our own personal testimony for missionary work. So the meeting was incredibly insightful during our whole discussion, but the highlight of it all was definitely when the Zone Leaders prank went down. Elder Blackfumo's face was priceless as we broke the news to him that he ate a bull testicle burrito. Prank war...to be continued.

Amidst all the normal "missionary work" we did this week, we did some "adventure finding" down in Ainsdale. Basically...we just explored a sweet coastal, mini-hiking trail and had ourselves an adventure. We have been working really hard lately, and I am absolutely exhausted, but we have still found the balance of taking some time to relax and feed baby swans and explore the shore and soak in Southport.

Another thing that has been making me totally exhausted is the amount of service we are doing. I am not complaining whatsoever though, cause I love it. It seems like all the members are flocking to us now with all their "service needs". Tiring, but it's been really fun. It was pretty rad too, because the last lady we did service for had a shed for us to clean out and demolish....and in the process we found some sweet, vintage WW2 gear, including an old helmet and satchel. Let's just say...we looked uber classy walking all the back to our flat.

So Gary had his baptismal interview....and he nailed it. We had no doubt in him, but it's just refreshing to have it all official. We have been planning everything for the actual baptism, and I am honoured because he wants me to do the actual baptism! I am so stoked for him. We realized something cool too...Gary is being baptized on June 21....the longest and brightest day of the year. Haha we then had a really good lesson about "light and truth", so that day will never be forgotten.

Other than that, my life has been filled with traveling to Liverpool again, having meetings with the other district leaders, prepping the missionaries for the new mission president, having awesome times with my district, jam sessions, being hit on by a gay dude, talking to weird people, and waling everywhere under the sun.

Transfers are on the 18 of June, and I will be getting the transfer call this Saturday. I honestly have no idea what will happen. I want to stay the whole way through for Gary's baptism, but then again staying for another 6 weeks after that would be a bit much. So...whatever happens....happens. I will be happy with whatever.

Well my family, I love you all, and thank you all for being so cool. Enjoy the beach without me (still jealous), but I will carry on my radventure here. Peace out!

Elder BA

p.s. Bacon is proof that God loves us

Service opens doors.

Hey! What's up home skillets? Greetings from seaside Southport (I actually thought about this yesterday...Southport doesn't really make too much sense to me. There is no port here, and it's not really even south....eh, whatever). Anyways, life is pretty bodacious at the minute. So many good things are still happening here, along with so many connections and friendships.

My life this week=

Started off the week right on an exchange with Elder Zavala. He dies in just 2 weeks now, so we had a lot of fun. He brought over his guitar, so our evening consisted of some much needed Mumford jam sessions and some good homemade Mexican food.

Gary is still so solid. By far, the most prepared person I have ever met on the mish. He came to church again, came to our musical fireside, stuck it to the man when his friends and mum bashed him for quitting drinking and smoking and coming to church, absorbing all the teachings and is glowing with a new light. I am so grateful for him, because not only has he completely changed his life, but he has also given me a new hope for finding people here on this seemingly godless island.

We have still been doing an incredible amount of service, and it's seriously opening so many doors for us here. We have been able to deeply bond with more members, and there was even a point in church when I was just sitting in the congregation, and I zoned out a bit...but all that came to my mind was "this feels like home". It just felt natural. I love these people.

Our musical fireside was a major success! Honestly, it turned out way better than I expected. It was much more of a groovy little indie show rather than a fluffy church performance. Still, the spirit was very strong there, and there were a handful of non-members who had their ears opened. The power of music is real.

Other than a huge amount of musical preparation and teaching and getting Gary connected with everyone, my week was filled walking, hay fever revenge, baby swans, running away from daddy swans, listening to peoples problems, blitzing streets with the sisters, playing guitar, playing volleyball, defending our faith against bashers on the street, meeting some grumpy old fellow Goodmans, infiltrating neighbourhood groups of friends, sitting on trains, sitting on buses, laughing with people and living life each little moment at a time.

That's about all for this week, but I want you all to know I love you. Haha we had a huge spiritual/logical debate with the Fullwoods about this, but I want to know your answers.....On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you? Let me know! Keep on having radventures, and I'll talk to you all next week. Peace out!

Elder BA

Low Tide

Zavala

 Funky New York Band

 Pier