December 2009

I know he misses rock climbing, but this is scary!!

December in Guatemala

12/30/09

Dear Family,

I am so happy that I got to talk to you! Although I only talked to you sisters a few minutes it was really great to hear your voices and your support. Thanks Mom and Dad for talking and understanding and giving me advice! I loved your emails this week too!

I am happy to tell you that I am already halfway through one of the jars of peanut butter. . .and I have only used it twice. Oh man, I love that stuff. Also it was great to get a change-up with the ties.

We had changes. It was nice to talk to Elder Wood and Elder Adlard and also this awesome Elder named Elder Hatch. They gave me a lot of support and advice. Well I guess I can tell a bit about what happened. My companion Elder Baquiax had a girl following him around and I had to deal with that. And then we went on divisions with one of our zone leaders and left him alone in his area with an Elder from the ward. He wasn't going to do anything wrong; he was just there for a baptism, but I didn't feel good about leaving him there overnight wihout saying anything. So I called the Assistants to the President just to let them know what happened. They ended up looking for him and bringing him over ot our house for the night. My companion wasn't too happy with me for doing that. Also, at changes I could feel that the other Latino missionaries weren't too happy either. In fact, when they called my name and the name of my new companion they told my new companion that it was sad that he had to be with me and a bunch of stuff like that.

Well my new companion is Elder Ramireez from San Marcos Guatemala. He has 18 months and doesn't seem like he wants to be here very much. He is really quiet and not very open to talk to me. When I asked him about how his Christmas went he just said bad and when I asked him how he felt about the area he said sad. It is probably a mix of things but I just feel like he doesn't want to be my companion at all. I just have to have patience. The good thing is that he doesn't say anything so I get to decide what we do. It is a good expereince and I am learning a lot.

It is weird because he isn't a short guy, so I know that he can walk fast, but he is always walking 10 or 20 yards behind me. Also, he wears a Manchester jacket that covers up his name tag and most of his white shirt and tie. I feel like I am just walking alone most of the time. Hopefully with time he will open up and get a bit more excited about the investigators and the area. I experienced the same thing when I came here. I think he is depressed too. He said that if it seems like he is mad or sad it is because his grlfriend might leave him. We will have to distract him with missionary work!

The investigators are doing well. Guillermo and Lorena weren't able to come to church, but Vidal and Fredy came. They also are both planning on coming next Sunday and Fredy might bring his family. His uncle was there at our ward which surprised him. It is good that he has family that are members.

Guillermo is getting all set for the ninth of January. We had a really good family home evening on Monday and brought Guillermo and his two daughters over to a member's house. It was very successful and hopefully now he will have more friiends in the ward. We are going to go visit him today with a member that just finished his mission in Ecuador. With Guillermo we are going over baptismal interview questions with him and really discussing everything and pulling out any doubts or questions. He is a man of great faith and is really intent on knowing the truth. He will admit that he still has a belief, for instance in his mind there is the Trinity, but he is trying to accept the doctrine. With a little time after his baptism he will come to understand everything. Also he had a really good experience with his family and now has more support from aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Lorena has been busy still but as soon as we can we will go over the baptismal interview questions and set another date, probably for sometime later in January. We just have to get her to church. She can't some this upcoming Sunday either. After the holidays she will be able to start up again.

Vidal is awesome and came to church with us this Sunday. He only stayed for Sacrament meeting and said it was because he felt weird that hd didn't know anyone, but said he will keep coming so that he can get to know people. We erased the date for January 9th but he still is all for it. He just isn't quite ready. More than anything we need to get him some friends that he can go to church with. There is a family that lives up the street from him that I am trying to get over. First I want to take the dad over to a lesson at Vidal's house and then take Vidal and his neighbor Carolina who is also taking the lessons, to the family's house for a family home evening. We will then try and have that family pick them up for church. Vidal is quite the missionary though. He always tries and get his neighbors to listen to us. That's how we found Carolina. She is a good investigator too and Vidal said she might come to church next Sunday with him.

Fredy is 19 and has the family that are members. He came to churech in a suit and ite! He had to leave after Sacrament meeting but will come to church next Sunday too. He is the one that went on the trip to Oregon. We had an appointment set up with him yesterday but were running late because a member made us lunch and it took a lot longer than I thought. It's not like I can just say HURRY UP WE HAVE A REALLY IMPORTANT APPOINTMENT!!! so we were 15 minutes late and by the time we got there he wasn't home. We will try and visit him today. He is really pilas though.

The rest of our investigators aren't progressing. We are teaching a guy named Ronald Alexander who always has a lot of questions from the soul like why are there rich people and poor people and stuff like that, but he never reads what we leave him. We visited him last night and he just had a lot of questions about the adminstration of the church so it wasn't really a lesson, but I asked him if we could start teaching his wife too and he said OK. So we will start teaching him de neuvo. . .start over. Hopefully we can get them to read and pray.

I also talked to Elder Hall at changes and Alfredo got baptized!!! That was great news! Other than all of that, life is good out here. I just have to animate my companion a bit! It is weird. I asked him how much time he had and he said 11 months. So then that night he told me "Oh, by the way, I know I told you I have 11 months but I actually have 18." So that was weird. I don't know the purpose of lying about how much time you have. I am pretty sure that he really does have 18 months though.

Also we have a new Elder in our district. His name is Elder Riehl from Detroit. He doesn't have very good Spanish and seems really nervous (He just got to Guatemala yesterday because the MTC here is Guatemala was too full). We are going on 24 hours divisions tomorrow and he will come to my area with me. I am happy about that because I can tell he is pretty nervous. Hopefully I can take him under my wing!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers! I am praying for all of you ever day! I love you and I know that this is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. I am so happy for these 2 years that I have to serve. At times it seems long, but in comparison to the rest of my life I know that it will be just a blink of an eye. I also know that how I live my mission and what I choose to do here will determine a great deal how I will live the rest of my life!

Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Goodman

12/21/09

Dear Family,

Feliz Navidad! Wow, the year has flown by! I can't believe that it is already almost 2010 and that I have been out here 4 and a half months! It has been quite the experience! Definitely the most edifying, uplifting, learning experience of my life. I am so excited that I will continue serving, learning, and growing the rest of these two years.

Well this week hasn't been the easiets, but I have learned a lot. My companion Elder Baquiax (Bauk-ee-aush) has some great strengths and like all of us, things that need some improving. This week our numbers tanked. . . we didn't get as many lessons, contacts, new investigators, etc. Everyday was something different. . . .

We had a Chirstmas conference with all of our mission yesterday. It was really fun and great to see all of my missionary friends. We had a talent show and our zone did a traditional Guatemalan dance. Santa came and gave us our packages, and we watched a slide show with pictures from our mission from the last year. It was a lot of fun.

Chiquimulilla has had a bit of success. Carol, Alfredo, and a kid that I never met got baptized and they have a possibility of baptizing a lot more next month. That made me happy!

Well our investigators are good. Leorena hasn't gotten back yet, but we expect to visit her tomorrow. Guillermo still hasn't gotten baptized but we have a 100% for-sure date. . .January 9th. Also we have been working with a man named Vidal and his neighbor Carolina a lot and as soon as they get to church they will start progressing rapidly. They both read the Book of Mormon a lot and pray about it. They are gaining their testimonies bit by bit! I will give you more details on them on Christmas.

Also, we are going to be a trio later today with and Elder named Elder Marida. He will be with us for the rest of the week. He is our Zone Leader and his companion finished a week early to spend Christmas with his family so Elder Marida will be with us. I am scared because I will be the inexperienced gringo with two experienced Latinos. . .It will go fine ghough. I know what I need to do and I know how to do it.

Oh, OK so thank you so much expecially for the pictures that were sent with my package!! It made me a bit homesick, but it is really great to have pictures of my family!

So about calling and talking to you. I will call you Christmas morning. It will be cheaper and also I am not supposed to give my nunmber out to family. I will call you around 9 our time. . .I think that is 7 your time Christmas morning. Only I have to use the personal card to buy a calling card. I hope that is OK.

I love you and look forward to talking to you here in a few days!!

Love,

Elder Goodman