Internet issues this week... sorry

Hey guys. 

I'm sorry the Internet isn't working on the computers but for some reason Our crappy phone works... so four of us have to share the phone. 

This week was great. A lot of work this week, tons of potential. P-days have been great. And we got our ties. (editor’s note: a member was sewing ties from local fabric).  

I have a bunch of stories but no time, and a phone that is impossible to type on.

Next week I will send a big ol email. Tell those who emailed… sorry for not being able to reply. 

I love you guys!

Elder Goodwin

Birthday in the mission field...

Haha. Its good to hear the fam is still doing the whole May long weekend cabin party thingy. Yeah, I got a bunch of emails about mission calls this week, 'twas kinda crazy. It's exciting though. 

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes.

The Birthday was a very exiting day on my mission. In fact it was much like a regular day... but my companion kept bugging me about it. 

It all started when the night before my birthday 10:25 or 5 to Babylon (as we say). I received a call from a certain President Bize. I'm not going to lie--I was already asleep for about 30 minutes when my companion woke me up and told me it was Bize. I can't remember everything he said, but I distinctly remember hearing him click a button and have some corny music come in, and then he starting singing, in English, Happy Birthday. Which by the way, with the french accent was so funny. The next day I received some other calls from missionary friends saying happy birthday. It was over all a pretty great day. 

That night when we went to our Faatamaaraa (dinner apointment) the lady, who didn't even know it was my birthday, felt the impression that she needed to brush up on her cake making skills so she made us some cake and it was delicious. So I did end up having some cake on the blessed day that marks the 19th year of me not being dead yet. 

We fixed a baptism yesterday. For.............. wait for it..................... the 12th of August. I probably won't be here, but what ever. It is so far away because he needs to marry his sweetheart first. 

Pretty normal week. We got a lot done. It was another one of those weeks where we just did a lot of work. 'twas great.

Love you guys. Keep it good in the hood. Don't do drugs, eat your vegatables and go to school. 

Elder Goodwin

The Elders in the zone of Puunauia. The one with the shells got transferred to the island of Rurutu two weeks ago.

This is my house currently.
The new guy is Elder Mclouglin from Portland, Oregon. He is serving with Elder Stewart now. 

The work is progressing well...

Hey Guys! its awesome to hear the news this week! Just curious, how is the fire doing? People keep telling us the "Canada is on fire.” That's basically what happens when the land mass you live on is smaller than most Canadian cities.

Not much news on this side other than the work is progressing at a reasonable rate. We have been working really hard lately, getting a lot of progress going on over here. We did a huge missionary choir performance in Tahitian, and French this week. We will be passing through all the stakes over the coming months. You should be able to see some pictures out in the world and on the Pierre and Bridget Bize Facebook blog.

I have really no photos this week because nothing crazy interesting has happened this week. BUT I GOT LIKE 18 EMAILS THIS WEEK, my fingers are bleeding. Great to hear from everyone. Well I love you guys, keep it good in the hood. I love y’all.

 Elder Goodwin

A recent multi-zone conference (courtesy of Pierre and Bridget Bize Facebook blog) 

Classic Elder Goodwin photo bomb

Elder Goodwin and Mission President Bize

Mother's Day Skype call and a wonderful family baptized

Editors note: We enjoyed a long and fun call from Elder Goodwin yesterday on Mother's Day. In leu of an email this week we will relay a little information from the call and share some pictures he sent us.

Elder Goodwin is experiencing the ups and downs of the hard work of being a missionary. He said he finally feels quite comfortable teaching from the scriptures, working with members and those investigating the Church.

He had a wonderful experience recently which culminated with a family united in baptism. The father had been less active in the Church and his wife was not a member. As a result the children were never raised in the Church. Elders Goodwin and Owens worked with the family, teaching and supporting. At some point the mother gave permission for her children to take the discussions and be baptized if they wanted to. During the final discussion before the children's baptism... the mother requested to be baptized as well. Elder Goodwin shared that there were many tears of joy as plans were made. Last week Elder Owens, Goodwin and a family cousin baptized the three children and the father was able to baptize his sweetheart wife. The baptism was attended by family, Ward members, the Stake President and a General Authority.

During the call Elder Goodwin was his normal, animated self... happy, full of missionary adventure stories and clearly growing in confidence. He sent some pictures to share.

Elder Goodwin baptizing the youngest son.

The daughter being baptized by a cousin.

Elder Owens baptizing the older son.

Husband baptizing his wife.

An emotional event. 

Youngest son with Elders Stewart (Cardston), Goodwin and Owens (Florida) 

The little guy who kept peeking into the screen on our Mother's Day Skype call... saying "bonjour tous le monde!"

The great uru (breadfruit) incident of 2016

Yeah, Adam Strong is marrying Mackenzie! I didn’t even know they knew each other! That is so weird to me. 

The Tahitian Elder (Elder McGrevy) that was staying with us is leaving next week to go pick up his U.S. visa, then he is going to the MTC in Provo before his mission in Idaho.

The great uru (breadfruit) incident of 2016

Well,  we managed to park under a single branch of an urn tree, while we walked to of one of our lessons this week… which ended up being the worst mistake I have yet made on my mission. An uru let loose and caved in the windshield and shot shards of glass all over the inside of the car, so the ride home was rather painful. Thankfully, the accident was considered my fault. Elder Caldwell and Sister Caldwell who take care of the cars---thankfully Elder Caldwell is the most calming man in the world. When he came to pick up the car he just sat there and laughed. 

It is still being repaired, and we get it back tomorrow. We have been without a car all week, and we don’t even live in our secteur. Our secteur starts up in the mountain, so we have to walk a couple of kilometres up to our secteur, then all our secteur is about a 7 percent slope for 2 or 3 kilometers. The breaking of the windsheild saddened the sky, so it wept every day (really rained this week). 

But in fact this week was my favorite week of all my mission... and with all that walking I feel like I am in such good shape that I could jump ten feet in the air. My quads are as hard as steel. This just shows that right as things start to go too good... Satan throws an uru through your windshield.

Other experiences

We have had a bunch of lessons this week, and a number of them just fell out of the sky. While this week could have been one of the most annoying weeks for my entire mission---our fridge broke again, so we dont have any food at home---our car is still in the shop---and it didn't stop raining at all this week. Despite this I was so happy this week, I don't even know why. 

Elder Goodwin

p.s. we have been working with our boxing coach on P-days for a while, and he has been working with me a lot. I’ve actually started to get the hang of it. He has been teaching us kick boxing and a couple other MMA stuff. My companion has taught me some jujitsu, I may join Stan’s karate class after my mission if it is still running.

-- 

It rained REALLY hard all week

 The flowered crowns were just here in the Clerks office at the Church. The crowns for men are usually green and have only certain kinds of flowers in them… so I think we may be breaking some rules!