emails from Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Oh, how I wish I had some pictures to post! We decided that when his memory card is full, he will send it home and I'll develop the pictures and I'll send him a new one. Can't wait!! Here are his emails from Tuesday:

Family and Friends,Missionary life is amazing! This week was pretty eventful here in the good-old CCM.First off, on Wednesday 09-09 we went on splits with the missionaries from the Central and South missions. They sent all of the missionaries going to the South missions to the Central mission and vice-versa. I guess so that we can experience more of Guatemala.So we woke up and took a bus ride to a stake center about 20 or 30 minutes away from the CCM. We met there with alot of the missionaries from the central mission and got paired up. Since we are in the intermediate Spanish Speaking district, we got paired up with Latino companions that didn´t speak english. I got paired up with Elder Romero.So we went out and made our way to the area where we would be tracting and teaching. We first took the main bus system, which was pretty nice. It reminded me of a subway but with buses which is nice for Guatemala. Then we caught some not-so-nice buses to our area, Venezuela (No, not the country... that would take too long). Elder Romero and I were talking a lot on the way about families and hobbies and what lessons I knew how to teach and all of that when I remembered what I had been told about not getting too absorbed in conversations with your companion so that you don´t notice the people around you. So I turned around and started talking to this young woman named Anna about the church. She said that she had seen the missionaries walking around a lot but didn´t know anything about the church. She said she was catholic, but didn´t go to church everyday. So I talked about the restoration of Christ´s church and the authority of God. Then I left her a pamphlet about it.So we made our way to the area and It was very eye-opening. Definate poverty. They have mix and match houses made our of random scrap metals and dirt (concrete if they are lucky) floors. Most of the houses we went into had just one room with 5 or more beds a stove and a tv. The sad thing about it is that I know that it is worse than that in a lot of places around the world. I guess they are lucky in some ways that they have running water (not drinkable) and electricity.We taught a mom, son, and son´s girlfriend about the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy and invited them the strengthen their lives by going to church and reading in the scriptures. It was hard because the mom has to work on Sundays, but we encouraged her to try and get it off. The most we can do is to promise blessings and give personal experiences and testimonies where it has blessed us in our lives.We then taught another lady whose son recieved the first lesson about the Restoration. So we taught her about it too. It was a good lesson and she said that she agreed with us and that she would pray about it, but it seemed as if she lacked sincerity. It felt like she was just going with it but really didn´t understand the importance. I could be mistaken. I hope.Along the way, we made a lot of contacts and Elder Romero made quite a few follow up appointments to teach and we handed out a lot of pamplets. There was one lady inparticular that seemed very interested and excited. Other than that it was people looking a bit bored and saying "yeah, i guess you can come visit". The most important thing is that they feel the spirit.. I hope they did. If not, then hopefully Elder Romero can help them feel the importance when he returns to teach about The restoration of the Gospel or God´s plan for us.Another thing about that area was that it was the best veiw ever of the city. The whole neighborhood sits on the edge of a hill (which makes it really hard to climb up and down the really steep steps) and it over looks a huge portion of Guatemala City.So then we had lunch. We met up with 4 other missionaries (One was an Elder Johnston from Snowflake who had been out for a year) and a member made us a really nice meal for 15 quetzales, which is about 2 dollars. However, it was disappointing because we just sat and ate with just other missionaries... no investigators or members or anything. They actually tell us not to do that... To make the most of all of our time.To Be Continued...

Sorry about that. I have an hour to write today but split into two parts... 30 mins at a time (weird, I know). So as I was saying, I was a bit disapointed that the time was not used so wisely. And the other fact about lunch is that we ate for 1 hour and 30 mins... Are you kidding me? I didn´t what to say... so I didn´t really say anything. And then we went back to one of the companionships apartment to "see the view of the City". I don´t need to see a veiw of the city... we just got a good one in the last area that we were in. Then we were just sitting there in the apartment and the missionaries said "Well we have to take you back to the chapel in 1 hour and 45 minutes and it is an hour ride over there so we don´t have time to teach a lesson or anything. I was just thinking "what the heck?" of course we have time.... We could make contacts or something. So I suggested it and they said ok but then we just sat there for 15 more minutes. really frustrating. So then we took off on our way back to the chapel and they said we would just make contacts on the way.So on the bus I said a quick prayer that I could find people to give my 2 copies of the Book of Mormon to. And as soon as I opened my eyes, Elder Romero pointed out an empty seat next to someone. So I sat down and talked to him a bit. He said that he is Catholic but doesn´t go to church and has a wife and 2 kids. He sells clothes for a living and likes to travel around playing music. I talked to him about the Book of Mormon being another testament of Jesus Christ and how it is an ancient record of Christ visiting the America´s translated through Joseph Smith. He asked me quite a few questions about it and said that he would study it and pray about it. I shared Mosiah 10:3-5 about praying to know about it and also the last 2 paragraphs in the introduction about how important it is to know if it is true or not. He gave me his phone number and we set up a day for the missionaries to visit him.So then we made our way to the main buses and it was kind of frustrating because the missionaries acted like they were in a hurry and didn´t talk to anyone. In fact, I almost lost them because I was wanting to stop and talk to people. And the sad thing is that we got to the chapel a whole 30 minutes early, but I really wanted to hand out my last Book of Mormon. So I told Elder Romero and he said that he remembered seeing a man sitting on the sidewalk who he thought could use some help in his life. I thought "so why didn´t you talk to him before?". So we went and talked to him and gave him the Book of Mormon. The only thing is that Elder Romero just seems to talk a lot and 50 miles an hour. He didnt ask him very many questions about his life or his beliefs or anything.So overall it was a wonderful and tiring day. I don´t mean to point out faults of the other missionaries because they really are good missionaries, but I did learn a few things... It was really good to be with them and see the things that I could learn from and the things that I will do differently. And I am not saying that I am a perfect little angel and the best missionary ever because I am not. I am sure that there will be days where I will not even want to get out of bed. This work is tough and tiring. But i do want to set small goals of things that I want to improve on like talking to everyone that I see and asking the investigators lots of questions. In getting to know people, you start to love them and start to see how much they need this gospel in their life and truly want to share it with them.Well I try not make these too mushy, but I just have to let you all know that this is the truth. It has made me so happy in my life and I want that happiness and peace in the lives of everyone. It is so peacful knowing where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going and knowing that we have the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us through our lives.Well the goodbyes part of this e'mail is about the Latinos. They left last night to go into the field. It was surprisingly difficult to say goodbye to them. We got extremely close and it was sad to think that they wouldn´t be with us for the rest of our stay. I got way closer to the Latinos than I have to the northamericans (the ones that aren´t in my district). I am excited to have Latinos as companions in the field and I can´t wait until the new group comes tonight. The only sad thing is that it is the smallest group of Latinos coming. But that just means that I can get that much closer to the few Latinos that will be here.Well I apologize again for not writing individual e-mails... There is just so much I want to say and I can´t get it all out... not even with a whole hour. I hope it hasn´t discouraged anyone from reading this email because it is too long....I love you with all of my heart and pray for you everyday,Love,Elder Goodman