Cigarras

This was a great week, I love it here! This was a changes week, Elder Ledesma and I stayed together. Wednesday was a big day though- on Wednesday I had exactly as much time on the mission that he lacked. And he had exactly as much time on the mission that I lack. 3 months and 21 months. That was cool.

Right now there is a non-stop buzzing noise in the air. It is made by these bugs called cigarras- I think. They are these giant tennis ball sized cockoaches- that fly. It's awful. They are as long as a tennis ball, but not as wide. Picture a cockroach on steroids. uughghh.  This week we were in a lesson- and there was a 4yo kid that was really annoying. during the lesson one of these bugs flew in the room, it was flying all over the place. It dive bombed the kid, and flew into it's ear! It couldn't enter the ear canal because it was so big- but it was inside the actual ear part trying to get into the kids head. It was pretty crazy! After the bug dive-bombed the kid no one knew where it went- we lost sight of it. But the kid started screaming and screaming- that's how we realized. It was awful. My companion and I are being a lot more careful now whenever we see those bugs. 

We spoke in Sacrament meeting this week. They gave us 10 minutes a piece. I went over, halfway through my talk the counselor came up behind me and passed me a note that said my time was up. Everyone in the congregation noticed and started laughing. It was kind of funny...

Not really a whole lot more to report. I am happy, happy, happy! I love life! I love being a missionary!

-Elder Goodman

The Millennium Falcon

This was a pretty great week. Everything is going great!

I'm not really sure what to write about- so I'll try to tell a cool story.

My companion and I have a favorite bus, we call it the millennium falcon. It's a super, super old school bus. And the driver is crazy. They always push the bus to the limits- it gets going pretty fast! But when it goes fast it's so loud inside, because the motor is so old, and windows shake like crazy- there are holes in the floor covered with pieces of plywood and rubber. The metal bars that they put up to hold onto aren't screwed in very good, so you can't put weight on them. And a lot of the seats are loose, so you have to be careful, it's kind of dangerous- but it's the fastest bus! It's awesome!

Last Sunday we were trying to get back to our area, it was late at night and none of the buses were stopping. Until the Millennium Falcon! We were so excited that the Millennium Falcon saved us! We were flying down the road towards home until we started hearing  weird grinding noises, and the bus broke down. We were a little bummed, but we thought it was funny. 

The driver told me that there was one more bus behind him from the same company that would stop to pick us up. It did, and we got home safely. He told us that all of the buses from his company have a blue stripe- there's 9 buses from that same owner. And they are all really old broken down school buses, with a blue stripe. we started calling buses with the blue stripe the Rebel Alliance. And then we realized that everything could have Star Wars names! The other kind of buses, Coasters, we call them Imperial transport. San Miguel became Tatooine, and San Salvador is Corasant (I think you spell it like that) . Fast food delivery motorcycles are tie fighters, and gas delivery motorcycles are x wings. Super Especiales (think greyhound bus) are Star Destroyers. 

My companion is my padawan, and the army guys everywhere are storm troopers. President Vasquez's Silver Odyssey is the sleek silver star ship that Queen Amidala uses in Episode 1...

We kind of got really excited. Plus, the secretaries are in my district, they helped out a bit!

Everything is going really good, I was counting the attendance during Sacrament meeting yesterday, and I was trying to remember all the names of the ward members. (There's only 60, so it's not that hard..) I realized that in the month I've been here I have visited every member in their homes. Except one family. That was pretty cool!

That's all the time I have. I love you!

My votes for Todd and Bryan. 

Bryan- Bolivia, or California

Todd- Russia, or New York

I Love You!

-Elder Goodman

I'm really, really happy

This was a great week! I love that picture of the Birthday cake! That's awesome!

I don't really know what to write about. I'm really, really happy. The branch I'm in right now is hands down my favorite area.  The members here are so awesome, the branch president is really good as well. Great investigators just keep popping up. Life is good. I don't think I've ever been happier in my life. I don't want to come home!

This week I was on interchanges with Elder Orozco- we were on the bus at about 4  o clock when a bunch of men got on the bus. Usually we don't see a lot of men in the afternoon- so I noticed. I looked to see where they were all coming from, and a saw a road leading to a colony that I have never been to. I realized that there are probably a lot of families with men at home until 4ish. The next day we went down there to contact. And we found a great lady named Narda. She was really excited to talk to us because 8 years ago a missionary gave her a Book of Mormon- and she loves it! She came to church this week as well! We are pretty excited to be teaching her- I hope all goes well!

I love you lots!

Happy St. Patricks day!

-Elder Goodman

Guillermo! I baptized him a year ago!

Maria! My birthday buddy!

Bautism of Luis

The Lady Preacher

Hi Everyone!


Thanks for the Birthday wishes!
Sorry, I don't have much time again this week.
Everthing is going great!

This week we did 2 interchanges, I did interchanges with Elder Beck, from California, and Elder Williams, from Hawaii. It was pretty cool talking to him- he's from oahu as well, he went to kamehameha high school. (I'm pretty sure that's how you spell it)  We had a pupusa eating contest. I ate 8, and he ate 9. I'm really proud of myself though, because he outweighs me by about 100 pounds.

With Elder Beck we got roped into a 'cedula' which is when a visiting evangelico preacher come to a house and they have a meeting. My companion and I thought that we would be teaching- but we got taught. We finally got out by having him call my phone and I faked that we got a call that we needed to go. But not after the lady preaching chewed us out for having our eyes open during the prayer. (In our defense it was a 10 minute singing/shouting prayer).

''If Jesus were to come down in this moment, and take only those who had their eyes CLOSED during the prayer, how many of us would be saved?''  - she legit said that.

Erica came to church! She didn't have a skirt, but she did have fabric. And our cook is a professional seamstress. We made her a custom skirt! She loved church! Everyone thought she was a member, she has that look to her.

Well, that's about it- it was a great week, but I'm kind of out of time. Sorry for not writing very much!

I love you!

-Elder Goodman