Honking the bus horn

This was a pretty great week. We started it off by going to the temple- the whole mission went. It was amazing! It was really cool getting to see all my old companions! We also had a zone conference this week which was really fun! We have a lot of new missionaries in the zone (of the 8 companionships, 6 are training). It was focused a lot on contacting- we had a really great time! This week for pday we went up to Sensuntepeque, we played kickball- it was super fun! Then we broke out the water balloons (thanks mom!) and had a pretty crazy water balloon war. I got ambushed pretty good!

I decided a while ago that I would try to have more fun and be more creative on the mission, I've had a couple funny experiences trying to do things in different ways:

We visited a lady this week who is less active, she hasn't gone in over a month, but she gives us dinner on Saturday nights, so we know her pretty well. This Saturday she had a new toy, a light up key chain, that she liked a lot. As we were leaving the house I stole the toy without her noticing. Then that night I called her, and told her that if she ever wanted to see her toy alive again, we could meet up at the church at 9.00 for her to pay the ransom. She thought it was hilarious that I kidnapped her toy, and she came to church this week!

Yesterday as we were coming in from a canton (village), I started talking to the bus driver, and by the end of it he let me honk the bus horn! Buses in El Salvador use their horns a lot, so I got a lot of practice! That was probably the highlight of the week!

Half of our house doesn't have electricity. The power went out about three days before I got here. When I got here I checked the fuse box (which is a lot more than the average missionary can do) and I saw that the fuse for that half of the house was flipped. So I flipped it back, and sparks shot out of the area behind the fuses. I realized that I had done everything I knew how to do- and I remembered what happened the last time I played with electricity in Ilopango, so I just left it. We finally had someone come and look at it a couple days ago, and it's not the fuse that's the problem, it's the electrical system, the wiring. So it looks likes it's going to be a while before we will be able to fix that problem.

Alright, that's about all that I can write for this week! Thanks for keeping me updated about whats going on at home!
I love you!

-Elder Goodman

Questions from Kanani

1.  In this new area do you have access to good stores, like the Super Selectos?
Yeah- there's actually three in Cojute!

2.  Are you getting used to the cooler temperatures?  Are you able to sleep warmly? Or have access to long sleeves?
It's hard. Taking showers is the worst- the water is soooo cold. And if you get caught in the rain it's just miserable. In San Miguel it doesn't rain very much, and when it does it's a warm rain, that's just more refreshing. But here it gets windy, and the rain is freezing. I usually sleep well though. We found some blankets in the house!

3.  Which is the dangerous area for your branch? the one with the rented house or the one with the new church? How come the branch presidency members can cross over, and the missionaries but not the members?  Gangs?
I have no idea. To be honest it's really calm here. I haven't seen anything- but people get scared. All of the branch presidency has cars, I think that's why they can go back and forth so easily.

4.  How do meals work in this area?  Do the members feed you?  Do you have someone cook for you?  Does someone do your laundry?
We have a lady that makes us lunch- and she is the best! The food is suuuper good! The only thing is that she takes a long time getting it ready. She studied to be a chef- the presentacion is always beautiful as well! The members only give us dinner once a week- the rest of the week we eat in the house, or buy pupusas. I bought some bread and jam and peanut butter, which is getting me through the night. We just don't have any time to cook or anything at night, so it always has to be something really fast.

5.  Is your new area kind of like Panchimalco?
It's similar- but it's a lot more modern. It's a lot bigger, and it's not as touristy.

Me, Elder Wallace (my dad) and Elder Dunkle (my brother).

We only have one study table, so I divided it.

The zone.  My companion is the tallest one wearing glasses.

The view from our back porch.