Catching Up to the Zone Leader Trainer

It has been an incredibly long time since I posted anything new to Ridge's blog and I am now officially in repenting mode. He has been a Zone Leader for several months and his companion was Elder Mendoza from Nicaragua. They had changes last week, and here is the update, with pictures: the first picture of is Ridge and Elder Mendoza, and was taken before they were companions. The second picture is Ridge and Elder Adlard when they were in the CCM together at the beginning of their mission.

Dear Family,

We had changes on Wednesday instead of Monday and so this week went by really fast. We had Pday on Monday and spent all day Wednesday traveling to the capital and back. We are all settled into Zacapa now and getting used to the changes. We have some great plans that we are going to start up here in La Reforma, Zacapa.

So it was weird traveling to the capital with Elder Mendoza knowing that I probably won't see him again after this. He was like a brother to me. I learned so much from him about humility and love. . .the love that he has for the people is incomparable.

President Alvarado is coming home from the USA tonight and so he wasn't there for the changes. Elder Falabela was in charge and the changes were more organized and professional than ever! Usually, one of the assistants calls our names, we stand up, and he calls the names of our new companion. This time one of the assistants gave the announcements and then Elder Falabela announced changes with a slideshow with pictures of everyone. The people leaving the area faded out and the new companion's picture showed up. It was fun watching whose picture would pop up.

We have a new assistant to the President. His name is Elder Wood, my 2nd companion. It is fun that he is the assistant because we were really good friends in the mission and now we will be in communication a lot more. It is fun to have friends to be around a lot.

They called Zacapa 2nd or 3rd to the last again, and I was in suspense the whole time. Elder Mendoza's picture faded out and mine moved over. Who on earth will my companion be? Then the picture showed up and I about flipped. I couldn't believe how this could happen. (A note here: Ridge has his mom's ability to drag out a story for the most dramatic effect. Drives Elder Goodman's dad crazy. . .) It must be a joke. I just couldn't imagine in a million years that they would put Elder Adlard and I together. We were more excited than words can describe. That one day that we went on divisions together was one of the best days of my mission. Elder Adlard is really in tune with the Spirit and a really hard worker. It also helps that we already know each other. We were in the same district in the CCM and learned Spanish together. The best part is that I only have 3 months here in Zacapa so the chances are good that we will be together for 2 changes (3 months).

We have already started to put some great plans into action with the ward. The only thing is that we also have to be in charge of and help out the zone too. I had imagined that I would get a zone leader that had experience so that they could keep showing me what to do, but out of all the people to train to be zone leader, I would have picked Elder Adlard. The other thing is that it is hard to always be speaking Spanish and sometimes we slip. We are setting goals to keep that from happening too much.

We baptized quite a few with Elder Mendoza and now we only have about 3 promising investigators and 1 has been out of town all last week and we haven't been able to teach him. We started contacting door to door and realized that it is not as effective here in Zacapa, since almost everyone lets you in, but no one listens. We will always keep contacting, but now we have a plan to work with the members and take them out on divisions 3 or 4 times a week to visit inactive or part member families and we are going to focus on getting the attendance up in church and I know that as we find these part-member families and activate them, we will find people to baptize too. It is just different than either one of us have worked in the mission except for the 3 months that I was with Elder Mendoza.

It was a huge blessing getting Elder Adlard as my companion and now I not only feel free to work how I want, but I have someone at my side with the same vision and even better ideas. I sometimes still think that I am sleeping, but I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for every companion and every area that I have had in the mission so far. He has really spoiled me.

Well I just have to end with my testimony that this is the work of God. Prayer is real and God answers them. Personal revelation is essential to our salvation and daily scripture study is the way to do it. We are here to be tested and to learn and grow, and one day, if we are faithful, we will live with our families again.

Love,

Elder Goodman

Baptisms and Challenges

Title: There is a drunk guy talking to us as we write!

Dear family,

Like my title? I thought so.

Well another week down and still learning. Pdays are starting to value a lot more (his English is getting muy malo. . .and that's a good thing!).

We had the family home evening with Guillermo last Monday and it was kind of a disaster. We brought a movie to watch, but his TV was broken so we just explained what a family home evening was to his wife and ended up having a normal lesson with him while his wife listened. I guess it was good, but I just felt bad that we didn't have much of an activity planned. If you have any good ideas for family home evenings, please please let me know! Any activity, game, etc. that can be both spiritual and fun. . .

Guillermo taught Elders quorum yesterday which surprised me when they asked him, but at the same time I was grateful. He learned a lot. He taught from Gospel Principles chapter 2. He studied and prepared a lot and learned a lot too. Also I was surprised that there was such profound doctrine in there. He had a lot of doubts that we helped him with. I can just see that fire within him burn right now. I don't want it to go. The best way to help him right now is to help his family. I want to start working more with his daughter Valery. I feel like if she gained a testimony it would help the mom want to investigate more.

Lorena still has a baptismal date for this upcoming week. She was going to be baptized last Wednesday but had 2 months without going to church because of work. She came this Sunday and so we can baptize her. If it weren't for her testimony about the Church I would be reluctant, but she is dedicated to learning and growing in the Church. She has that hunger, which is good. We will see how the baptismal interview goes.

The other investigators are progressing slowly. It seems like a lot of appointments fell through this week and that is discouraging, but sometimes that happens. Also not very many investigators were able to come to church this Sunday. When they are there for the appointments and are able to go to church they will start progressing faster and be able to keep the commandments and everything. I have noticed that once they commit to keeping the commandments they receive the promised blessings and their testimonies and faith increase.

We need to be more dedicated to going door to door. We do it, but not enough. It is hard because the chances are so slim and it is easily the most discouraging activity. But then I think about Elder Wood and how he contacts so so much and how Guillermo was a contact. What if he had just been so-so in his contacts and had passed Guillermo's house. I think it is worth it to work your fanny even if it only means finding one person that is ready for the gospel. Also I realized that I lose faith if the investigators are not progressing like I want them to. Then I think about Guillermo and how he had talked to 7 pairs of missionaries before Elder Wood and how he took the lessons from Elder Wood 4 months and another month afterwards. I just need to have more faith and be more patient. It is quite the change. I remember one time when we had the date for Guillermo for the 12th of December and the Sunday before we went by his house and he didn't answer because he had been out drinking the night before. It would have been easy to get discouraged, but Elder Wood just kept on keeping on with him and now he is a brand new really strong member of the Church.

This week we had zone conference and I learned a lot. I always do. I learned about how important it is to plant seeds everywhere even though we will not always see the results of our efforts. I also leaned some really good ideas of how to work with members. Which reminds me. Do you know of family, friends, or neighbors that could befit from our message? Take 2 minutes and a post-it and write every name down that you can think of. Then give these names and addresses to the missionaries nearest you. Also it was good to talk to Elder Wood. Excitement for the work is contagious.

Elder R. got called somewhere in Texas that I have never heard of Spanish-speaking. It was somewhere that I had never heard of before but it sounded like Eyewatch. I only heard it from Latinos so who knows how it is really pronounced. I am glad that he will be able to finish out his two years. I was worried he would go home.

I had a really good experience with my gospel study this morning. I had been tormented a bit over all of the decisions that we make as missionaries, where to go, what to do, and what to say, and if we are making the right ones. I have faith that with the constant companionship of the Spirit I don't need to worry, but sometimes I lack faith that I can have this constant companionship and I was just wondering how. Well yesterday we read chapter 2 of Preach My Gospel as a companionship and I realized I need to have more effective study. I love my study time and I always read the Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel or the Liahona, but I notice at times I just read and I don't really apply it to me or look for principles or find connections. So today I read chapter 2 for half an hour in the morning and only got through 2 pages because of all the things that I learned. I leaned how important personal revelation is and how we can receive it. I learned that I really need to write down everything that I am thinking and feeling and really pay attention to what the Spirit is telling me. I know that as my study becomes more meaningful my testimony will grow, I will have excitement all of the time, and I will be able to teach like I need to. I know that my faith will grow and that my fear will shrink. So I am going to organize a really good study journal and organize my thought and feelings. . .the things that I learn. I also want to review these things often to remember all of the principles that I have learned. I am really excited to do this so that I can be a better missionary!

In closing I just want to be a H.O.L.Y. missionary. Happy, Loving, Obedient, and Yearning. I found this week that the yearning part was taking over and I was missing the Happy and Loving part. There is a balance in all things and I can't let things that are out of my control stress me out. Part of this is faith and patience. Also humility to know that things are not always going to happen the way I want them to because I can't always see the entire picture.

I know that this work is real. I know that we have something special and that these blessings are not meant to be kept to ourselves. I know that Joseph Smith was an instrument in God's hands to restore the Church of Jesus Christ. Although we all have doubts at times (it is part of our nature) I know that as we pray and study these things that the Lord will let us know by the Holy Ghost that these things are true and that once we know that this Church is true we will know that our doubts are false. I have seen that with Guillermo as he had uncovered new things that he doesn't understand. The thing that he does understand are the feelings and the witness that he received about this Church and about Joseph Smith. His faith is remarkable.

I love you all and you are always in my prayers. Please pray for our investigators that they will be able to progress and receive answers to their prayers.

Love, Elder Goodman

P.S. Happy anniversary Mom and Dad! (Thanks for the calendar. . .time is weird here and without that calendar I would miss my own birthday).

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

November 9, 2009

And now today's letter. A 2 for 1 special!!!

Tuesday after our great day at the capital we went on divisions with a set of missionaries from our district. We got a lot of stuff done and even found some new investigators. It was comforting to see how much I have grown. After 4 weeks I finally know my way around Chiqui.We contacted a reference that we recieved at chruch last Sunday from one of the members of a 13 year old boy named Luis who wrecked a motorcycle and broke his leg in a few different places. He is 100% bed ridden because his screws in his leg have to heal. Poor kid. When we visited him he had a Book of Mormon next to him on his bed with a really old pamphlet from 15 years ago. His mom and cousin have been listening to the lessons with us and his aunt has been reading the Book of Mormon.

Later that night we went and set a time to go by the house of someone that we met contacting dorr to door. Her name is Argentina and her husband, Gelman said we could return on Tuesday night, so we did. They are really nice people - a younger couple with a little boy who is just a few months older than Ariana. They are very interested in the gospel and Argentina went to church once when she was a teenager. I can just tell a difference between them and other people. They actually listen and respond and ask any questions that are on their minds. It is so refreshing to talk to real people who actually listen and respond to our message. Hopefully they will continue to progess.

Most of the other things we do are visit members and have family home evenings with them, visit less active members to try and excite them about the chruch, visit eternal investigators to try and spark thier testimonies, and go door to door contacting. We did divisions with the stake president and some other people and Elder Hall observed that his calling is so real and that he can truly discern what the less active members need. He explained that although we help as much as we can with them, our calling is mainly focused on finding those who are ready to learn about the gospel and get baptized. It was a huge relief to hear that.

Our comedor is great. I am satisfied with our choice to switch. For lunch we go to her little restaurant and we always have choices for what to eat, which is nice. Then for dinner we usually have something very spectacular. Flour tortillas are rare here, but she has fed them to us 2wice and they are extremely delicious.

Sunday church was a great pick me up. We had a lot of less active members and investigators and our overall attendance was 20 over the average... we had 105 and we normally have 80. It is always the best feeling when people walk in that you really didn´t expect to come and that happened with about 20 people. It was so exciting. On top of that, the talks were amazing. The bishopric talked about Preach My Gospel all of sacrament with a big emphasis on the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. How much better can it get? Also, in priesthood they talked about celestial marriage and now Alfredo wants to get baptized with his wife. We will start teaching her this week. Valerio´s 20 year old daughter came to church and people that know her said that she was WAY friendlier at church than they have ever seen her. Thats a good thing, right?The only iffy thing was that one of our newer families that came to chruch asked for money from us. They seem really pilas and interested, but it is hard to tell if they just heard about our welfare program and know what answers to tell us during the lessons. We will do some more investigating and discerning this week.

Life out here is the best. It has made me reflect about the kind of member that I want to be when I get back. Seeing how important home teaching and giving references to the missionaries are, it makes me want to do better. I want to be a missionary the rest of my life.We made a ward mission plan and presented it at ward council yesterday. We initially set a goal of 25 baptisms for next year, but after discussing it, they boosted that goal to 40! That made me more excited than I can describe. The ward here is getting excited about missionary work and has been helping out a ton. We recieved quite a few good references yesterday that we are excited to check out.

Well the church is true. The best thing about being out here is that I get to bear my testimony multiple times a day. I DO KNOW that this is the church of Jesus Christ on the earth today and that God truly loves us and wants us to do the things here that will bring us to live with him and our families for eternity. I am so happy to be able to share that with the people here.

Love you all,

Love,

Elder Goodman

November 9, 2009

Hey Familia,

Well since I didn´t get to say it here, "Trick or treat". Bigger than Halloween here is the first and second of November. The first is Dia de los Muertes and so they spend a few days making flower arrangements and then go on the first and second to the cemeteries and do activities and other things there.

So before I continue writing I should tell you that Ive met someone. Her name is Trya and we have gotten to know each other very well. She reminds me a lot of one of my best freinds back home and we have gotten really close. You guessed it, I met a six month old Boxer. She reminds me so much of Mia, I LOVE it! I have a picture with her:

Things are still going well here. Our investigators are great, but there are always things impeding them. As missionaries, we can´t fix everything or force people to come to church, we can just try our best to encourage them and show them blessings of living their lives right.We teach two teenage girls and one of them had a dream about getting baptized and knows that she needs to, but their situation makes it pretty much impossible for them to go to church. They keep all of the other commintments including the latest to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning (we usually assign a chapter from different parts each time) and they continue to pray about it.Another man that we teach ants to get baptized so bad, but he lives in the same hourse as his kids' mom. That sounds weird, but the thing is that they used to be a couple but aren't anymore. He understands that he can only get baptized if he moves out or gets married, but it is a real trial of his faith. He doesn't want to get married to her, because they are just friends, and he doesn't want to rip apart his family by moving out. We did start teaching his 20 year old daughter and she seems pretty into it. She committed to read and pray about it.

Alfredo, aka snail man is a good investigator, but we can´t visit him like we want to because it is a 30 minute drive and 20 minute hike and he insists that if we go out to visit him we have to stay 2 hours or more and eat lunch. He has some really weird beliefs including that Adam and Eve were test tube babies and that's why they couldn't die and that the brother of Jarod and Noah were both part of the story of Atlantis. Also some beliefs about Jesus that I would rather not write. He has had a hunger for doctrine for a while, but turned to the wrong places. I don´t know if he truly believes this stuff, but he definitely has the theories stuck in his head and always brings them up. We just have to replace these corrupt ideas with good and correct ones. (With Alfredo)

This past week I met my first Bible bashers. It was really frusterating. Once again, I have just seen that we have come here to find those that are prepared to hear and recieve the gospel... Like the awesome investigators that we are working with. Valerio (who lives with his ex misses) and Alfredo come to church every Sunday and continue progressing with the scriptures and prayer and both know the truthfulness of our message.

It is embarrasing being the tallest person in the country and not be able to play basketball. Everyone just expects it and doesn't believe me that I don't play... until they start playing with me. Then they know. That's something that I will have to work on... my bball skills. um actually, I would just rather play soccer :D

So thats what we did last Pday. Played basketball and soccer with the neighborhood kids. This pday we went to the capital and went bowling. It was great despite the 4 hours on crowded buses to get there and back. Afterwards we ate at Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. After being in Chiqui for a month, I felt Like we were in the states. We drove by the CCM twice which was weird too.

Well I love you all and it was great seeing those pictures! keep them coming! Good luck with everything

Love,Elder Goodman

Translating at the Clinic and Back to Chiqui

Wow, it feels like I just wrote you. It is weird when the schedule gets thrown off.

The last day translating was great. I was a bit more productive. I translated a lot in pediatrics, which I liked a lot. The nurse that I translated for was very straight forward and said whatever she was thinking. It was a good thing the patients didn´t understand her. She was really funny though. She wanted a picture with me afterwards and I told her that I can´t touch girls so what did she do? Put one arm around the front of me and the other on the back of my thigh. Awkward. She was in her 40´s so it wasn´t as bad as it could have been. I just laughed it off with Elder Hall. On top of that, the van that picked us up and drove us played awesome 80´s music the whole way, which was like torture for me. I felt bad, because we can´t listen to that and it isn´t a problem around here because I never like the music, but they played all kinds of catchy songs that got stuck in my head forever.

At the medical place I also translated for an older nurse named Joan in the education department. She was also way straightforward and intense, but so funny. She is in her 80´s but moves circles around everyone else. During lunch she was especially funny, telling us stories of her getting pulled over and her responses to the officer... "Why were you going so fast?" "If I go any slower, I may forget where I am going" or "How do you like your new Toyota" "It goes too fast". It was so funny picturing this old lady getting pulled over for speeding and I could really picture her giving these responses. I guess I´ll have to send a picture of her with this batch of pics.

It is amazing to be back in the field. I missed it a lot. worst part was that we didn´t really have time for much study while in Cuilapa. It was a big relief to wake up when we got back and have time to study the gospel. On Saturday morning we were supposed to go help with an Elder´s quorum service project at 7:00, but we stayed to study and it was worth it. We went later in the afternoon to the service project and they did a great job building steps in front of a poorer, less active family´s house. Before the steps, it was quite the climb to thier house. It was also good because one of our investigators, Hermano Alfredo (This is the guy that fed the snails to Elder Hall) came and was fellowshipped really well by the Elders quorum and also had an opportunity to feel good by serving. Sometimes it is hard getting investigators to church. Hermano Alfredo came, which was great, but we have been working with some others for a while, but they never make it to church. Even if they read a pray about it, if they never come to church, they won´t grow and progress and submit themselves to Christ like they need to. I know for some it is a small sacrifice, but I also know that if we can get them to sacrifice a little that they will be able to grow their testimonies as they see the blessings that come as they leave the world behind and come unto Christ.

We met another investigator on Friday night. On our way home from the church building he approached us on the street. It was funny because Elder Hall and I both thought it was a drunk guy asking for money because we were in between two bars and that happens all of the time. It turns out he was a reference that we had just recieved from the zone leaders. He seemed very excited to find us, so we taught him on Saturday and found out that he is a Catholic preacher and was worried more about learning why Brigham Young had so many wives instead of the doctrine. It seems as if he has other motives for talking with us, but it is still unclear. He could just be curious. He said he would come to church, but didn´t show up.

I have noticed that my Spanish has improved a bit since it is a bit easier to respond. It depends on who I am talking to and how much noise there is, but I am getting more comfortable speaking. I just need to step out of my shell more instead of sitting back and listening to Elder Hall talk to people. Sometimes learning Spanish is frusterating because it is so gradual that you don´t really notice whether you are progressing or not. Going on splits with members last night was good for me to see that I can communicate and I am betting better. I just need more patience.

Sometimes I can´t remember what I talked about in the last e-mail, but I´m pretty sure that I talked about switching comedors (the people that cook lunch and dinner for us). Well, next month we are switching comedors for a few resons, one of them being money issues. Being in Cuilapa made me excited for the change. Not many people here make flour tortillas, but the comedor in Cuilapa did and they were so delicious. Our new comedor told us that we can have flour tortillas whenever we want. A funny thing that happened is that the family of our current comedor is not being very nice to us now that they know we aren´t staying there next month. They keep trying to get us to buy stuff and when we tell them we don´t have money they tell us to go get some from our parents. Kind of rude... They just think we are rich, spoiled gringos. It doesn´t matter... we are going to save a lot of money by switching and also get better food, so I can handle some light ridicule for another 5 days.

Ok, so the people at the medical place showed us something really great. Marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwiches. It sounds weird and too sweet, but it is amazing. We just throw it into the toaster oven and it is so warm and delicious. Anyways, Christmas is coming up... I would love some Jif peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Also, my ties are all dirty and silk, so I can´t wash them. Polyester ties are more washable, but I don´t have any. So if you find some cool cheap polyester ties in a thrift store, you know where to send them ;)

I love you all so much. Don´t forget to e-mail me about your lives... it would be a great Sunday activity. I also loved getting those pictures. I have a lot more time for e-mail out here and I wrote this in my apartment and then typed it up, so it took a lot less time. So don´t worry about me not having enough time to check email because I do now.Well I am going to upload some pics from the medical team. Enjoy!Love you. Love,Elder GoodmanP.S. I still have 20 minutes to be online if you wanna shoot me a quick email.

Translating for Docs from the Big Apple

Family and Friends,
Another busy and rewarding week. To start off, I witnessed my first baptisms of my mission. They were of the parents of a young man in the branch who is leaving on his mission to Peru this week. They have gone to church since the branch started 15 years ago, but had already been baptized before and didn´t feel the need until thier son recieved his call and they started to realize the importance of being baptized with authority from God. It was a really great baptisimal service. Wilson (the son/future missionary) baptised them and that was also the same day that he went through the temple. He was one happy guy.

Our investigators are doing well. One man that we are working with has a baptisimal date for the 31st of October. He is a great man and some members that know him that he has made some great changes in his life in the past few months for the good. That just tells me that these people are preparing to meet us and hear the gospel from us long before we actually meet them. We are trying to set up a baptismal date for "Snail man" AKA Hermano Alfredo. The only thing is that it is a 20 min. drive and 20 min. hike to his house and everytime we go he insists that we eat lunch with him before teaching him, so it takes a good chunk of the morning.

Other investigators seem to be progressing a bit slow because of things in the way. Going to church on Sundays is hard for some people... We just have to work as hard as we can to help them out.

I don´t know if I told you this, but we get a "Comedor" to cook us lunch and dinner everyday. Well ours was expensive for what she gives us so we switched. We start next month with our new one and I am so excited. I have heard that she is a great cook and she charges a lot less. The best part is that she is a returning less active member and is slowing bringing her daughters with her to church and church activities. She is an amazing woman and I am so happy for her. The sad thing is that her husband has a lot of really big problems and they are seperated right now. She has dealt with these problems for a very long time and I really feel for her and her daughters. I am so excited that we will be there with her 2 times a day to check up on her and help and encourage her. We are trying so hard to help her husband progress, but it is very hard. The members here are really great and helping us so much by visiting him too.

So this week we have a huge change. A medical team from New York came and so we took 4 days to help them translate because they dont speak Spanish. I was disappointed at first because I just want to be in the streets contacting and teaching, but it has been a very good experience. I do miss Chiqui, but I am learning a lot and translating is like a supercharge to my Spanish. It makes my brain hurt in a good way.Sunday night we traveled to a town called Cuilapa where we are staying now. It is the area of the Zone leaders and way closer to the town where the medical team works, Nueva Santa Rosa. We went on splits with the zone leaders when we got here and I went with Elder Toala. It was a very good experience. Sometimes it is hard to not have the comfort of speaking English if I need to, but the thing that I need to realize is that I really don´t need to. We found a really good family while contacting that was very interested. The spirit was so strong.Monday we woke up and went to Nueva Santa Rosa to serve. When we got there, they split us up to do different jobs. I started in the Eye Clinic but got moved around throughout the day to different areas. They have a childrens clinic, womens clinic, general medicine clinic, dental clinic, psychology clinic, and pharmacy. The volunteers that came from the US are very nice and a lot have been doing it for a long time.

I thought I saw it all in Guatemala, visiting these peoples´ houses and eating thier food, but I was wrong. I had never seen or heard their health problems. For the most part, the people that go to the clinic in Santa Rosa (it is free) are poor and uneducated and have never seen a doctor other than these people from the US that come every 6 months. There is always a big huge line and they have to come and wait in line pretty early.So we went Monday and Tuesday to the clinic and will go tomorrow, but we didnt go today because we had a zone meeting with President Alvarado and the assistants. They had the packages, but not mine. Hopefully the next time. Just make sure to send all mail to:

Elder Nicholas Ridge Allen Goodman
Guatemala City South Mission
Ave Reforma 8-60 Galerias Reforma
Torre II Nivel 606 Zona 9
Guatemala City Guatemala
Central America

So some miscellaneous stuff... I love the food. I haven´t gained much weight, but I am working on it. I weighed myself 2 weeks ago and I weighed 158.6. I will try and weigh myself again sometime soon and let you know. There are a lot of eggs and beans and rice here and they always serve it with 3 inch wide thick soft corn tortillas or breadstick-like bread without the butter. I have also eaten a lot of chicken fried steak, pasta, liver steaks, chicken, different varieties of tamales, etc. They have a lot of variety. And the internet lied when it told me that they eat the saltiest food. I wish they would cook with more salt. Maybe that tells you something about my diet...haha.

So if you want to eat something good, make tostada shells and to fill it, chop up carrots, potatoes, and green beans small... like tomatoes for salsa, cook until soft and then mix with cooked ground beef. Put mayonaise on the tostada shell and pile on the filling. I love it. You can have a little taste of Guatemala in your homes. The other thing you could try is a big juicy 8 or 10oz portion of cow liver. haha j-k. unless you like liver.Well I lost track of time. G2G. Love you all!!!!