This was a pretty good week. Not really anything new has happened. Elder Maldonado and I are getting along great! I'm learning a lot from him.
He's having some leg problems. We went to the hospital to figure out what's going on. Turns out I'm going to have to be giving him shots in the nalga. Yikes!
This hospital we went to was super nice. The hospital San Fransisco in San Miguel. It was awesome! Much different than the government hospital I went to a couple months ago.
Not really a whole lot going on, to be honest. I'm happy! Love you all! Have a great vacation!
-Elder Goodman
Monday, June 20, 2016
Monday, June 13, 2016
Prueba de fe
This was a pretty stressful week, to be honest. (Thanks for the yoga poses mom! They help!) I've heard it said that the hardest part of the mission is the first 3 months. Training. It's true. And that the second hardest part is right around when you complete a year. They call it the prueba de fe. Trial of faith. It's true.
I have spent a lot of time on my knees lately. A lot of people let me down this week. I am realizing now, more than ever than people aren't perfect. I am also realizing now that God will never, ever, let us down. And like every other relationship, the strength of our relationship that we have with him depends on how much time we are willing to spend with him. And how much trust we are willing to give him. When all the people that you usually go to for help get taken away, you have to learn to trust in God. It's harder, but I'm pretty sure it's better.
One of my heroes on the mission is Elder Vallecillo, he's from Costa Rica. He was an AP when I arrived, and he was my Zone leader my first change in San Miguel. He once said that he wanted his mission to be hard, because it is only through hard experiences that we are able to grow. Well, being the enthusiastic greenie that I am, I started wishing for a hard mission. What a bad idea. These last 2 changes have been reaaaallly hard. But I have learned a lot.
Thank you so much for your prayers. I have felt the power of prayer. There have been so many times when I have been on my knees, asking for strength. And then a picture, or a feeling, or a thought comes into my head. Of my family praying for me. And I feel like I just got a warm hug, and I feel the Spirit. Thank you so much. I love you.
I want you to know that my testimony is stronger than ever! I am so glad and grateful to be a missionary. For anyone doubting if they should go on a mission or not: Do it! Whatever reason to go on a mission is a good reason. And as a missionary, be the best missionary you can be. Just follow the rules, and work hard, and love the Lord and the people. Now, if you don't want to do those things you should probably go home- because you'll be wasting your time. But if you follow the rules, and work hard, and love the Lord and the people, it will be the best experience of your life.
-Elder Goodman
I have spent a lot of time on my knees lately. A lot of people let me down this week. I am realizing now, more than ever than people aren't perfect. I am also realizing now that God will never, ever, let us down. And like every other relationship, the strength of our relationship that we have with him depends on how much time we are willing to spend with him. And how much trust we are willing to give him. When all the people that you usually go to for help get taken away, you have to learn to trust in God. It's harder, but I'm pretty sure it's better.
One of my heroes on the mission is Elder Vallecillo, he's from Costa Rica. He was an AP when I arrived, and he was my Zone leader my first change in San Miguel. He once said that he wanted his mission to be hard, because it is only through hard experiences that we are able to grow. Well, being the enthusiastic greenie that I am, I started wishing for a hard mission. What a bad idea. These last 2 changes have been reaaaallly hard. But I have learned a lot.
Thank you so much for your prayers. I have felt the power of prayer. There have been so many times when I have been on my knees, asking for strength. And then a picture, or a feeling, or a thought comes into my head. Of my family praying for me. And I feel like I just got a warm hug, and I feel the Spirit. Thank you so much. I love you.
I want you to know that my testimony is stronger than ever! I am so glad and grateful to be a missionary. For anyone doubting if they should go on a mission or not: Do it! Whatever reason to go on a mission is a good reason. And as a missionary, be the best missionary you can be. Just follow the rules, and work hard, and love the Lord and the people. Now, if you don't want to do those things you should probably go home- because you'll be wasting your time. But if you follow the rules, and work hard, and love the Lord and the people, it will be the best experience of your life.
-Elder Goodman
Monday, June 6, 2016
Not Little Old Grandma Burps
This was a pretty good week! I'm really happy here! We had changes this week - And I'm staying here in San Miguel. When this change ends I'll have been in this area longer than any other area on my mission. My new companion is Elder Maldonado! He's awesome! We get along really great- he's a lot of fun to be around. And he's really good at talking to people and getting them to like him. He has a reputation that he baptizes a lot. Hopefully I will be able to learn a lot from him this change. He brought some fire to the area, this week we had a lot of good lessons and some investigators started to progress.
Right now we are teaching a really awesome family, the family Aguilar. They have three boys who are triplets. They all are 12 years old. For the first time we were able to bring 2 of them to church. And they loved it! I introduced them to everyone I knew in the ward, and they had a great time, the ward really did a good job of making them feel welcome. On Sunday night we visited them and we were finally able to get the mom's permission to put a date. She saw how happy they were when they got home and she really opened up. Truly a miracle.
Another miracle that happened with that family during that lesson.
On Sunday we ran out of toilet paper, and as you know we can't buy toilet paper on sunday. I was pretty worried about what we were going to do if I had to go before we had a chance to buy on Monday. But during that lesson with the family Aguilar the drunk uncle (drunkle, heh heh) saw that we were a little sweaty. So throughout the lesson he kept giving us wads of toilet paper to wipe our faces, and my companion and I stuffed it all in our backpacks. And the toilet paper got us through until Monday morning! Look at that! The Lord works in mysterious ways...
Funny thing that happened. This week we met an old lady, a member, who is 96 years old. She is old... and losing it, a little bit. She gave me a blessing the first time I met her.. She goes to church every week, it´s amazing. One time when we were visiting her family they gave us all soda- and she gulped the whole thing down. But then you could tell that the gas was getting to her- because she was kind of doubled over in pain... and her daughter kept telling her to let it out. The grandma was really embarrased though, she hid her mouth behind a napkin- and then just started belching. Like 2 minutes straight. And they were not little old grandma burps, they were nfl linemen burps. It was hilarious- I almost died laughing. Everyone did. Even the old lady, she was laughing too, while burping- you have to see it to understand how funny it was, but it sufficeth me to say that that lesson was one of the highlights of the week.
Well that's pretty much it, sounds like everything is going well at home! Thanks for writing me, everyone! Have a great week!
-Elder Goodman
Right now we are teaching a really awesome family, the family Aguilar. They have three boys who are triplets. They all are 12 years old. For the first time we were able to bring 2 of them to church. And they loved it! I introduced them to everyone I knew in the ward, and they had a great time, the ward really did a good job of making them feel welcome. On Sunday night we visited them and we were finally able to get the mom's permission to put a date. She saw how happy they were when they got home and she really opened up. Truly a miracle.
Another miracle that happened with that family during that lesson.
On Sunday we ran out of toilet paper, and as you know we can't buy toilet paper on sunday. I was pretty worried about what we were going to do if I had to go before we had a chance to buy on Monday. But during that lesson with the family Aguilar the drunk uncle (drunkle, heh heh) saw that we were a little sweaty. So throughout the lesson he kept giving us wads of toilet paper to wipe our faces, and my companion and I stuffed it all in our backpacks. And the toilet paper got us through until Monday morning! Look at that! The Lord works in mysterious ways...
Funny thing that happened. This week we met an old lady, a member, who is 96 years old. She is old... and losing it, a little bit. She gave me a blessing the first time I met her.. She goes to church every week, it´s amazing. One time when we were visiting her family they gave us all soda- and she gulped the whole thing down. But then you could tell that the gas was getting to her- because she was kind of doubled over in pain... and her daughter kept telling her to let it out. The grandma was really embarrased though, she hid her mouth behind a napkin- and then just started belching. Like 2 minutes straight. And they were not little old grandma burps, they were nfl linemen burps. It was hilarious- I almost died laughing. Everyone did. Even the old lady, she was laughing too, while burping- you have to see it to understand how funny it was, but it sufficeth me to say that that lesson was one of the highlights of the week.
Well that's pretty much it, sounds like everything is going well at home! Thanks for writing me, everyone! Have a great week!
-Elder Goodman
Monday, May 30, 2016
Hard Week
Man, nothing really happened this week. I'm running out of things to write about. Last week for pday we had a marshmallow war in the church gym, we made forts out of chairs and tables and stuff. It's was pretty sweet!
To be honest this was a pretty hard week. All the people who have been coming to church are all getting baptized now. But the problem is we're not doing a very good job of finding new people. It's getting kind of frustrating. I'm starting to realize that sometimes you can't control other people. That they have agency too. It's kind of hard, but that's how it goes I guess.
We spent a lot of time walking around in the street trying to talk to everyone, and not a lot of people let us in. Lots of people promised to do stuff. And no one did. It was pretty frustrating.
Sorry, this was a really bad letter, I didn't write anything really, but my time is up.
I love you!
-Elder Goodman
To be honest this was a pretty hard week. All the people who have been coming to church are all getting baptized now. But the problem is we're not doing a very good job of finding new people. It's getting kind of frustrating. I'm starting to realize that sometimes you can't control other people. That they have agency too. It's kind of hard, but that's how it goes I guess.
We spent a lot of time walking around in the street trying to talk to everyone, and not a lot of people let us in. Lots of people promised to do stuff. And no one did. It was pretty frustrating.
Sorry, this was a really bad letter, I didn't write anything really, but my time is up.
I love you!
-Elder Goodman
Monday, May 23, 2016
Blanca Estella
Hi all!
Sorry, I had to send some documents into the office today, so I don't have much time. I had my first wedding on Friday! We baptized the lady Blanca Estella on Saturday, and confirmed her on Sunday. It was a pretty busy weekend. I really think that Blanca Estella was the reason that I came to San Miguel. The missionaries have been working with her and her family on and off for 2 years, and she was never able to get baptized. But every once in a while you find someone that you get along with really well. And they start to progress. Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to put my thoughts together very well, but I believe she was waiting for me specifically. It's really cool how the Lord works. I needed to be in the Colony of Molino in The City of San Miguel in the Country of El Salvador in the Months of March and April and May to find and baptize her. And the Lord knew that. Needless to say I'm really, really, happy right now.
The two professional soccer teams from San Miguel, Aguila and Dragon, are playing for the championship this week. Everyone is pretty excited down here!
That's my time. Love you all! Have a great week!
-Elder Goodman
Sorry, I had to send some documents into the office today, so I don't have much time. I had my first wedding on Friday! We baptized the lady Blanca Estella on Saturday, and confirmed her on Sunday. It was a pretty busy weekend. I really think that Blanca Estella was the reason that I came to San Miguel. The missionaries have been working with her and her family on and off for 2 years, and she was never able to get baptized. But every once in a while you find someone that you get along with really well. And they start to progress. Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to put my thoughts together very well, but I believe she was waiting for me specifically. It's really cool how the Lord works. I needed to be in the Colony of Molino in The City of San Miguel in the Country of El Salvador in the Months of March and April and May to find and baptize her. And the Lord knew that. Needless to say I'm really, really, happy right now.
The two professional soccer teams from San Miguel, Aguila and Dragon, are playing for the championship this week. Everyone is pretty excited down here!
That's my time. Love you all! Have a great week!
-Elder Goodman
Monday, May 16, 2016
Dumb Goat
Hi everyone!
This was a pretty normal week. The highlight would probably be the ward party we had Saturday night.
The Elders quorum put a lot of care into making sure that the women wouldn't have to do anything. It was to celebrate mother's day.
The made a ton of food, brought in tons of speakers, a light bar, and we had a talent show. The problem was that the fans in the cultural hall don't work. So it was reeaally hot. They turned off the lights too. So to be honest with all the heat, music, darkness, and dance lights, it felt a lot like a high school dance. The talent show basically turned into a karaoke night. Still pretty entertaining though! I played a couple songs on the piano for my talent. And before the night was over both of the counselors in the bishopric had given me a new assignment. I am now the new pianist for sacrament meeting! The nice thing is that they are also letting me choose the hymns, so I'll be able to prepare a little. The funny thing is that we already have a pianist for sacrament meeting, she just doesn't come all the time. I guess she'll be on vacation until I have changes again.
On Sunday I woke up with killer diarrhea. And my companion. And the 4 other missionaries as well. And 5 investigators that came to the party. And a ton of ward members too. We got food poisoned! It's kind of funny, almost none of the women got sick. Only the men. From what I gathered, almost none of the women actually ate the food. The all tried it, and realized something was wrong, and didn't finish it. So all the care that the Elders Quorum put into making sure that the women didn't have to help at all backfired a little bit.
I had kind of a cool experience this week, that made me think a little. It might even be a parable.
We were out in the outskirts of our area. And we saw a group of goats. (herd? flock?, I'm not sure)
All of the goats had a rope tied around the neck. One of the goats had gotten tangled up in his rope, it was tangled around one of his legs. So he was stumbling around on three legs bleating. I saw that goat, and went up to it to try to help it, but it ran away. We tried again, this time by companion came and stepped on the rope, so it couldn't run away. And I was able to untangle the goat. And after I finished he looked up at me, pretty sure with gratitude in the eyes, and ran back to his family. My companion and I crossed the street and left, talking about how good we felt, etc. As we were walking away I heard the goat bleat, pretty sure with gratitude again, I turned around for one last look. And saw that he had gotten tangled up again. Literally two minutes later. dumb goat.
There's some sort of lesson to be learned here. I'm sure of it.
Have a great week!
-Elder Goodman
 |
| The back of my name tag. |
 |
| La Union Beach |
 |
| La Union Beach |
Monday, May 2, 2016
Multizone Conference
Hi everyone,
This week was pretty amazing. The highlight was a multizone conference we had with president. He is so awesome! So awesome! If I can be like him one day...
He focused a lot on repentence. He gave us the chance to pray right there and ask about what things we need to do to get better. He said the only thing holding us back is our own disobedience. It was really really good.
I remember he told us about two elders who went into a house, the house of a man possessed by an evil spirit. The family tried to get them to help him, but the man sat up and screamed at them, they freaked out and tried to leave, but the family was blocking the door. Then the man got up and started trying to attack them. If I remember right they had to fight their way out of the house. Terrifying! They called President and told him what happened. He asked if they were worthy, and they said no. He told us that the spirits can tell if you are worthy or not- and they'll eat you alive (his words). He said if you're not worthy, run. Run as fast as you can. But if you are worthy you won't be afraid, you'll be able to rebuke it. Cool!
I have a little bit of an experience with that. I've been in some pretty scary situations on the mission. And I've never been afraid. I have had experiences where my heart starts pounding really hard, and I know that I should be afraid, but my mind stays completely calm, and I've always been able to think clearly and do the right thing. I know that it's the Holy Gost.
Have a great week! See you on mother's day!
Oh, I almost forgot. I got your packages! Thanks! They're awesome! They got here at the same time. The family history book is probably my favorite. All the missionaries are so jealous! Elder Gonzalez and I did yoga this morning! I am not flexible. I used the elastic band to make a slingshot. Using the door frame. I ambushed my companion when he was coming out of the shower.
Thanks so much! I love you!
-Elder Goodman
This week was pretty amazing. The highlight was a multizone conference we had with president. He is so awesome! So awesome! If I can be like him one day...
He focused a lot on repentence. He gave us the chance to pray right there and ask about what things we need to do to get better. He said the only thing holding us back is our own disobedience. It was really really good.
I remember he told us about two elders who went into a house, the house of a man possessed by an evil spirit. The family tried to get them to help him, but the man sat up and screamed at them, they freaked out and tried to leave, but the family was blocking the door. Then the man got up and started trying to attack them. If I remember right they had to fight their way out of the house. Terrifying! They called President and told him what happened. He asked if they were worthy, and they said no. He told us that the spirits can tell if you are worthy or not- and they'll eat you alive (his words). He said if you're not worthy, run. Run as fast as you can. But if you are worthy you won't be afraid, you'll be able to rebuke it. Cool!
I have a little bit of an experience with that. I've been in some pretty scary situations on the mission. And I've never been afraid. I have had experiences where my heart starts pounding really hard, and I know that I should be afraid, but my mind stays completely calm, and I've always been able to think clearly and do the right thing. I know that it's the Holy Gost.
Have a great week! See you on mother's day!
Oh, I almost forgot. I got your packages! Thanks! They're awesome! They got here at the same time. The family history book is probably my favorite. All the missionaries are so jealous! Elder Gonzalez and I did yoga this morning! I am not flexible. I used the elastic band to make a slingshot. Using the door frame. I ambushed my companion when he was coming out of the shower.
Thanks so much! I love you!
-Elder Goodman
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)