Patapata hoho’a

Iaorana!

Yes it is true, there are only two weeks left until the transfer, and it is almost 90ish percent sure that I will leave Bora. If I somehow stay I will be really surprised. 

My health is great, the lumps (lymph nodes) have gone down, you can barely see them anymore. I’m clean, no worries. 

In French Polynesia… the missionaries are probably the poorest people around, but the richest at the same time. Our allowance to buy food is actually super small, and most Elders have very little spending money. But the ward members and other locals have so much respect for us that we find ourselves not paying for stuff. We went to a small pearl shop. the guy gave us like 60% percent off everything and then threw a bunch of extra stuff in for free. We then got an amazing deal on 11 pareos, which for anyone else would have been hugely expensive. The Elders from Vaitape got to eat lunch and do a tour of St-Regis, a 5 star hotel last week. Some restaurants don't let us pay. We literally have to throw our money and run. We actually just got back from the Motu that we went to before. We were on the same boat as a couple tourists on the way there, we just waltz in and hang on the motu, eat food and play the ukulele for free and all the tourists had to cough up just to be there. The polynesian people are the nicest people ever, they truly take care of us... and I am thankful for it. 

The baptisms this week were awesome. Mami and Papi are the best people ever. They have been following the lessons for about 4 months now but they have been attending church almost weekly for about 6 months. They are the parents of our bishop’s wife, so bishop’s family played a huge part in helping them accept the gospel. I really love them a lot. Mami is kinda like my grandma from Bora. Great experience seeing them be baptised and being able to be along side them during their conversions. 

Overall life is going really well. Trying hard to stay motivated. We have progressing investigators and some potential investigators this last week.

Thats my week this week. love you guys!

Elder Goodwin

Mami and Papi baptism

Visited the motu today! 

A sign of respect...

Hi.

This week was pretty rough on the missionary work scale. But we managed to finish the week without being complete failures. Haha, naw it was alright. I'm just being hard on myself. Lots of running around this week is pretty much the best way I can describe the week. We have a bunch investigators that are progressing, but they have little things blocking them like marriages that need to be done, and such. We keep working because eventually these problems work themselves out in their own way. 

Dad I totally reallized that I forgot to even mention your birthday. I am so sorry. I am a horrible son. Just be aware that at the age of 60, in Tahitian culture I have to start calling you Papi. Be Warned. There is actually no reason to be offended, it is a sign or respect for old people. (editors note: a sign of respect for OLD people is it?). 

All is going well guys. I love you guys lots. I also got a little bit of news that I may be finishing in November rather than October. Just a little heads up. but we've still got a bunch of time before that. 

Thank you for all your love and support. Have a great week. LOVE YOU GUYS!

Elder Goodwin,

p.s.: I need to go pick up some elders on the other side of the island, so have to go.

White hot focus on the work...

Dear family and friends,

All is well on my side of the planet. the lumps (lymph nodes) are going down slowly every week. 

That's super awesome to here that the ward had a baptism. There is nothing better to bring a ward together than a baptism.

No major news this week. we ate at Bloody Mary's today, and we ate for free because this one American member that used to own Bloody Mary's is the coolest guy ever. Last week we did the same hike we did a couple weeks ago, but we brought our missionary clothes with us so that we could take some cool pictures. there are a bunch of pictures on the other Elders cameras, so I will probably send the other cool pictures next week. 

Funny thing that happened a couple weeks ago that I totally forgot to tell you guys. a couple young men and young women came up to me and told me that they figured out what super hero I am. They said that I look like Captain American.!  ...before he went through the machine that made him all manly. Soooo, I don't know how I should feel about this. I think I should just use it as motivation to workout. Sheesh

Work has been going really well. We have a couple investigators that are really progressing. So I'm feeling really great right now. My companion and I are doing really well, no worries. I’m trying really hard. I'm really loving the Ward I’m serving in right now. I know them all so well now, so its great to work with them.

I'm really sorry that I don't have a crazy amount of news.

Love you guys.

Elder Goodwin

Elder Rolls (Aus) and I doin' a little scripture study.

Elder Bayart (France), Elder Dalton (Chicago), Elder Sylvestre (France) -- my companion.

Sad goodbye to Elder Frazer... bonjour Elder Sylvestre

Hello all,

Well.. the lymph nodes seem to go down for a couple days and then the next morning they come back again. Its kinda weird, but I can live with it I think. 

Yeah, Jordan (Bester) emailed me about that last week. He'll make a really good AP He has the right character for it. He will learn a lot with all the responsibilities that are going to get dropped on him. 

That's awesome that there is a new family coming into the church! I cannot wait to meet them. You guys should invite them over for dinner or something. I think it'll be good for them to get to know the members. Make sure they feel welcome and loved by everyone. Sometimes it is hard for new members to "get in" with the Ward. 

So on Wednesday morning I said goodbye to Elder Frazer, I really really liked serving with him. He is a great missionary that has learned a lot on his mission. He is the kind of guy that doesn't look to make conflict at all. He first searches to understand before he starts judging. He is overall a very great guy. 

My new companion is Elder Sylvestre from a little village just next to Lille in the very northern part of France. He has the same sense of humour as Cobi Reeves, so we get along really well already. He is a pretty quiet guy, but he is a really good teacher in lessons. We have had a lot of fun in the short time we have been together so far. I'm pretty pumped for this transfer. 

The New elders in the district are Elder Pedron from Tahiti, who is Elder Rolls ‘son' (when you are their first companion and their trainer) . Elder Bayart from Valleiry, France who is Elder Daltons son and Elder Sylvestre who has been on his mission for about 12 weeks now and I am his second companion. Overall we are pretty pumped for this next transfer. We are going to try and make it a work hard play hard kind of district.

So yeah, this week was pretty great, we had 8 investigators attend the chapel this week. That was pretty great. And 2 of which have never stepped foot into an LDS church before. We are seeing a lot of progression in some of our investigators but we really need to focus on finding over the next couple weeks. we really need some fresh faces to teach. Overall the work is going very well. 

Do you guys have any other questions?

Elder Goodwin

Mom…  Do YOU have a ‘son’ on your mission?

Elder G… Yes. When you are a trainer you are their ‘father.' I trained Two elders, but one I don’t count because he only stayed in Tahiti for a few weeks waiting for his visa to Australia. But I trained Elder Tebaud.

Mom… Have you ‘killed’ any elders yet? (when you are their last companion before they return home). 

Elder G… Nope. Not yet. Still waiting on the opportunity. It’s awesome to ‘kill' elders because they give you all the stuff they don’t want to take home!!

Mom… Do you still have your bike with you? Will you try to bring it home with you?

Elder G.  Yes. Just in case we want to ride or the car breaks down. No.. I have an arrangement with a member in Paea to trade it for two Tahitian paddles at the end of my mission. Pretty good deal actually. 

The three senior Elders on Bora. Elder Dalton (Chicago area), Elder  Rolls (Australia) and the dude from the North Pole

Saying goodbye to Elder Frazer

Hello Elder Sylvestre from near Lille, France