Hey guys! 

Yes the watch straps fit perfect. I’ve got some sick pictures of Tautira beach that we visited last Monday (P-day).  

I’ve got some rather strange news... I GOT TRANSFERRED!

An Elder got an ingrown toenail and can no longer be in a bike secteur until he heals up. So I got emergency transfered last night to PAPEHUE in the zone of PAEA. dang. I Finally started to really love Taapuna, and now I have to leave... it kinda sucks but I guess the Lord needs me here. I have now been transferred twice, both emergency transfers. People are now saying that I’m the emergency transfer King. This time because an Elder got an ingrown toenail... well whatever, I guess its kinda cool to see another part of the island.

I am now in a bike secteur, which is awesome, but I have heard from many people that this secteur is challenging. One month ago they where only doing about three lessons a week, and now they are getting about 10. I feel as though these next couple months might be a little bit different. My companion is a big Tahitian dude. His name is Elder Tapuhiro, and he is actually pretty sick. (editor’s note: I think he means really cool). He is waiting for his visa to go to Sidney, Australia. He has only been on his mission for about three months now. So I am the senior companion. A rumour is going around that he may be leaving in a couple of weeks depending on his visa, so I don’t have very long time to get to know the secteur. 

We live alone in our house, The house is super tiny, and it is in the front yard of a member in our Ward. There are no thiefs that come into the house at night like our last place. Apparently they never lock the house, and have never had anything stolen from them.

I really enjoyed serving with Elder Owens, he is a very very good missionary and I learned a lot from him. He is a crazy cool dude.  Well now I’m on to the next big thing on my mission….

Elder Goodwin

View from Tautira Beach -  Northeast part of the Island of Tahiti

Orometua Faufaamaitai

Hey Guys I have internet today! yay! 

It's good to hear all is going well on the flip side. It's crazy to hear all the changes that happened this week... it must have been a shock for everyone. 

The weather here has actually been quite different lately. We are leaning into the cool season, so it actually gets quite cool during the night. I don't know what temperature it is but I have to use a blanket sometimes. But during the day it heats up and gets pretty dang hot as usual. I've noticed that my perception of cool or cold it very different now. I am currently sitting in a room with AC, and it is 24° C and I am pretty cold at this moment. 

I have heard that Jeff is growing his beard out until I get home. With his shortish height, red-ish hair and a big nose, he is slowly turning into a dwarf I imagine.

I got the birthday package on Friday. ITS SO AWESOME. its like Christmas . The watch straps are actually awesome, now I can coordinate colours. As you can see from the pictures, we got our ties last week, and have been wearing a bunch. They are fantastic! 

The mission this week has been pretty good, I have been really enjoying the work lately.  My companion and I have been working really well together. And the house that we live in has a bunch of really fun, yet super hard working Elders, so the house isn't boring when we get home in the evening. We get a bunch done during the day. 

Mom, the music stick is awesome, keep in mind that MP3 format songs work on most devices but M4A formats only work on some. No big deal, I'm pretty sure I can convert them somehow. but I love the music on there and if you ever want me to learn a Debussy song or something, just scan the music and email it, I can print it off and start to learn it over here. 

Gross story of the week...

My poop was in fact a Christmas-tree green colour. I do not know why it is that colour, and I haven't really eaten anything out of the ordinary, so the most logical conclusion I can come up with is that I have a disease and that I am going to die of here. (I feel OK though!)

Well, I've really come to enjoy this secteur, even though I feel like I work on the same road every day. We have a couple baptisms coming up for sure. We have a bunch of really excellent people investigating at this moment. 

There is a transfer on the 20th, and I will most likely get a new companion, so we will see what the next couple weeks hold in store for me. OH and I got my Faufaamaitai name tag. I don't really wear it for doing work, but sometimes I wear it in Faatamaaraa's (a meal in someone's home) and stuff, just because the members think its cool.

Well ...I love you guys, I can't think of anything interesting to talk about... just know that I love you!

Elder Goodwin 

My new name tag! My Tahitian nickname.

I got to wear this nice fellow's hair the other day. And yes that is his real hair!

The tie draft! We got our beautiful ties made from local print fabrics! Three "mamies" (Grandmothers) in our Ward slaved away for us four in the apartment.

Roommate silliness

When we found this nice fellow he said it is the first time he has seen missionaries at his portail (gate) for 18 years. We have been teaching him a bunch and wants to come back. He is a super awesome guy

Dog= Yumi, cutest little guy in the South Pacific.

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!