Happy new year!

Happy new year!

This was a pretty crazy week. I got a new companion! Elder Zelaya from Honduras. He's way cool. He's actually a little crazy, and pretty nerdy- but he's really fun to be around. And he´s really dedicated to the work, which is a nice plus.

This week they closed an area in the zone, Ilobasco. On friday, the 30th the secretaries called us. And told us that they would need our help to clear up everything with the area. We were already in Ilobasco for a reunion so we went and tracked down the owner of the house to tell him that we wouldn't be needing the house anymore.. (which was pretty tricky). He told us that if we didn't want to pay the rent for the month of January we needed to have everything out of the house and have the contract finished before the end of the month. We had to run home to Cojutepeque (about 45 min away) to go get the keys so we could get into the house start working. That afternoon we found a member with a truck who could help us take care of all of the furniture. We moved all the furniture to the sister missionaries who live nearby. But we took too long and missed the last bus home. Luckily Pres Peña (that you know) works in Ilobasco. He gave us a ride home.

On Saturday the 31st we had a big district service project to clean out the house. The house was a mess- it took a while. We made a big bonfire out back to burn all the trash (it's not illegal in central america :) but it kind of backfired on us- because it filled the house with smoke. We had to wait for that to air out.

Since the house is just tile and concrete we all got brushes and brooms and buckets and soup to clean it all up. It was actually pretty fun- we got into a giant waterfight that lasted for about an hour and left everyone soaked. But it left the house pretty clean!

After we cleaned out the house we went to find the owner again so he could inspect it- he found some damage so we went to a hardware store to figure out how much it would cost to repair. (we personally went, I didn't want him trying to rip us off).

Then we had to figure out how we were going to pay for the bills that were going to be coming in (water and light).

The whole process was pretty exhausting- especially because we only had two days, and we lived so far away, but in the end we did it! We got the deposit on Saturday afternoon and we were still able to get a couple lessons in that night! And the owner gave us lunch!

Sorry, I have more to write, but our time is up.

Have a great new year! Love you all!

-Elder Goodman