September 8 email.

And now a word from Elder Goodman:

Family and friends,Guatemala is still amazing. Some wonderful things have happened for me and I havn't even made it to the field. One of the best things that has happened is that my faith in the Lord has really increased. I am continuing to see that he blesses us in ways that we don't realize at all.For instance... I was fasting this past sunday mostly for charity and patience with those around me and it was really weird because during my fast pretty much the exact opposite was happening. I just felt frustrated at every little thing. Then I was sitting is church and this memory came across me of how I always looked up to the missionaries in the area growing up. Then that same feeling came over me for each and every person that I was around. I am still working on the patience and charity thing but throughout the fast a lot of ideas popped into my head of how to battle those negative feelings when they come. I think that it is important for me to realize that we are all here to do the Lord's work and that this is no competition. It is really hard to think like that when we are all trapped together in the MTC... well, no trapped, but you know... not out there teaching.I still love the MTC here in Guatemala so much. The food continues to be great and I love all of the missionaries here. It is really good to share a room with 4 native and the have native teachers. We speak a lot of Spanish. I am confident that I will be able to communicate like I need to by the time I enter the field. I guess we will see tomorrow. Wanna know why? Cuz we are going on splits with missionaries from the Guatemala City Central and Guatemala City South missions all day!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited! I am already sad right now that it at the end of the day tomorrow I will have to come back to the MTC. I hope that it is a really good experience and a really good indicator of how the field is.Well just to let you know again.... I cannot recieve videos and pictures via e-mail and I cannot e-mail friends. Can you please let my friends know that if they want a reply, then I need an address? For instance, Jessica Jones wants to send me her wedding announcement but I can't give it to her because I don't have her address. A few friends have written me via e-mail. Tell them to keep it coming even if I can't reply. It was really good hearing from Erin and Camille and Jeff... And i do feel bad for not being able to reply right away but I will write letters as soon as possible.And it is so good to hear from all of you via e-mail. I wish that I could print them out to read them, but sadly I can't. We have 15 minutes more than at Provo, but it still isn't much time to do everything. And I don't have time to write everyone individually :( But bottom line is that I love hearing from everyone and to me it is worth is to read everyone's emails.Well time is up but I know that this gospel is true and blesses lives. And it is the only way that we can return to live with our savior and our heavenly father with our families again.Love you all,Elder GoodmanP.S. I LOVE IT HERE... oh and I wish I could write more. Maybe it will be better when I hit the field.