10:00 last night

Hi everyone!

This week was a pretty great week! Up until about 10.00 last night. That's when we got the phone call that I'll be leaving Panchimalco. I was pretty bummed. That's an understatement. I couldn't sleep last night, it took me forever to fall asleep. I woke up at 4.30, and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up at 5 and cleaned the whole house.

I don't know if you remember, but two weeks ago I bought a 10 pound bag of pancake mix. Well, I still have a lot.  So this morning I invited the whole district to my house and we had a big pancake party to start the day. That was actually pretty fun! I made some good progress on that bag.

 This morning we played softball with the familia Garcia. It was pretty fun. Josue cried when he found out that I was leaving. I'm definitely going to miss that family.  Speaking of the Familia Garcia, this Saturday we baptized Jesus (the dad) Maria (the mom) and Josue (the son)  Josue really wanted me to baptize him, that was pretty cool!  We had the service outside, it was really cool. I couldn't stop thinking of the story of the waters of mormon! We had a piñata afterward which was really fun! On the church property there is a tree with lots of vines (think Tarzan). While we were filling up the pila we goofed around swinging on the vines. I sent my favorite of the pictures.

Josue has a really hard time understanding the Book of Mormon, I bought him one of those Book of Mormon stories books, that we have at home. He was really excited! This Sunday a member of the Temple Presidency came to our ward, he talked a lot about the Sealing, and did a great job of getting the family Garcia excited about the temple! I also played that piano piece, They had me do it for the closing hymn, which was a little interesting, but it worked out!

I honestly can't really think of anything more that happened this week, I don't have much more to say. Except for this:  Choosing to serve a mission was the best decision I have ever made in my life. I was thinking a lot last night (while I couldn't sleep) and I realized that I have passed my 6 month mark. I only have 18 months left. And it kind of scared me a little bit, because I still am not the missionary, or the person that I want to be. I still have a long ways to go. It's kind of crazy how absorbed I get in my little bubble of Panchimalco, and all that matters is if we were able to visit this family, or that family. Or contact that guy, or share my testimony with that other guy. And do it all before 9.00 at night.

Sorry, I usually plan out beforehand what I want to write about. But I didn't do it this week.  I just have a lot of rambling thoughts that I tried to string together.

Have a great week! I love you! I pray for you!
-Elder Goodman

ps. A quote that has really been guiding my life these past couple days:

"Anyone can live heroically for one day, but those who find success are those who live heroically every day."