06.27.11

WHAT? HAS 2 YEARS COME AND GONE ALREADY? HOW IS EVERYONE? WE ARE
GOING TO SEE EACH OTHER IN 3 DAYS!!!! I AM NERVOUS AND EXCITED TO SEE
YOU ALL!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

So, not too much to report on. We had 2 baptisms last week. I am
glad to be finishing off the mission baptizing. We'll see each other
in 3 days, ok? Here are some really good quotes:

"It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out where
the doer of the deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to
the man who is in the arena. Whose face is marred with blood, and
sweat, and tears. Who spends himself for a worthy cause and who at
best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst fails
while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those
cold and timid souls who neither knew victory or defeat."

"We become what we want to become by being what we want to be each
day." Richard G. Scott

"The only true happiness comes from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

"We become who we follow."

"Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes
possible. And that which has become possible is now a real part of
you." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Mans GREATEST happiness comes from losing himself in the service of
others." David O. Mckay

You can change anything you want to change you can do it very fast.
That’s another Satanic sucker-punch—that it takes years and years and
eons of eternity to repent. It takes exactly as long to repent as it
takes you to say “I’ll change”—and mean it.

Do not misunderstand. Repentance is not easy or painless or
convenient. It is a bitter cup from hell. But only Satan who dwells
there would have you think that a necessary and required
acknowledgement is more distasteful than permanent residence. Only he
would say, “You can’t change. You won’t change. It’s too long and too
hard to change. Give up. Give in. Don’t repent. You are just the way
you are.” That, my friends, is a lie born of desperation. Don’t fall
for it. Jeffrey R. Holland

I love you all. I know that the Lord is patient with us in our
weaknesses and He works side by side with us if we will only believe
in Him and make an honest effort. I know that Jesus lives and blesses
us with challenges to give us the opportunity to be more like Him.
When we have challenges, we can make goals to more fully develop one
of the Christlike attributes that He posseses. Faith, Hope, Charity,
knowledge, forgiveness, dilligence, obedience, etc. Because those
attributes can save our lives. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet
and that the Book of Mormon is true. LOVE YOU ALL SO
MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Goodwin

06.20.11

Family!

The second to last e-mail. It feels ery strange to write that: "the
second to last e-mail." One week, and I'll be in the USA.

[Jon] is the door greeter at church. He greets everyone with a warm
smile. I feel very proud of him. He takes notes in sacrament meeting
and the inestigator's class and is always happy. He is always
active and talking with people. I've seen alot of inestigators and
new people at church, and the happiest ones are the ones who innitiate
conversations and are active in making friends. The ones who aren't
as happy and who are shy/nerous are the ones who wait for others to
talk to them and are passive.

Well, we are going to see each other very soon. I am excited to see you all.

Part of a great talk by Dallin H. Oakes:

“We can do no great things,” Mother Teresa maintained, “only small
things with great love.” When this wonderful Catholic servant died,
the First Presidency’s message of condolence declared, “Her life of
unselfish service is an inspiration to all the world, and her acts of
Christian goodness will stand as a memorial for generations to come.”
12 That is what the Savior called losing our lives in service to
others.

Each of us should apply that principle to our attitudes in attending
church. Some say “I didn’t learn anything today” or “No one was
friendly to me” or “I was offended” or “The Church is not filling my
needs.” All those answers are self-centered, and all retard spiritual
growth.

In contrast, a wise friend wrote:

“Years ago, I changed my attitude about going to church. No longer do
I go to church for my sake, but to think of others. I make a point of
saying hello to people who sit alone, to welcome visitors, … to
volunteer for an assignment. …

“In short, I go to church each week with the intent of being active,
not passive, and making a positive difference in people’s lives.
Consequently, my attendance at Church meetings is so much more
enjoyable and fulfilling.”

All of this illustrates the eternal principle that we are happier and
more fulfilled when we act and serve for what we give, not for what we
get.

I'm thankful for the support you have all given me for these 2 years.
I was looking through some letters that you have all sent me today and
man, I have an amazing family. Thanks for supporting me on my mission
and thanks for all the letters you've all sent me!

I've been thinking about some things to do when I get back and go to
Wendy's is definitely on the list. I really don't want to do any big
productions, just be with you all.

I am reading a really good talk by Jeffrey R. Holland lately and I
love what he says in it. His talk is called, "Come Unto Me." And it
talks about delivering all of our burdens in the arms of the Savior
and letting Him comfort and strengthen us and then striing to do the
same thing to others who are afflicted or burdened at this time. It's
definitely a should-read talk.

LOVE YOU!!!!!

ELDER GOODWIN!!!!

06.14.11

Well it's official. I only have 3 P days left. It's time to kick it
into 110% gear! It's time to end with a bang. A cool quote, "Our
future is as bright as our faith." Thomas S. Monson. "It'll all work
out." Gordon B. Hinckley.

Another quote of the week, "That in which we endure in, becomes easier
to do, not because our nature has changed. But because our capacity
to do it has increased."

One of the things that Elder Clarke said when he came is that we need
to get up in the morning with this kind of an attitude, "YES!!!
Another day with new opportunities and new things to learn!" Instead
of getting up in the morning with this kind of an attitude, "Holy cow,
is it already morning? Wow, I'm tired. This sucks." I have been
really trying to do that ever since he came and it changes the whole
day. How we start off really affects the rest of our day!

We had a meeting with President Veirs yesterday so that's why I didn't
write. President Veirs is a great man with a GIANT heart. He loves
each and every one of the missionaries in this mission. Yesterday, we
didn't have our P day. But today is the great P day.

This week was pretty good. The only bad part about this week was that
President Clarke didn't come. But we were able to put a baptismal
date with [Sue]. She is going to be baptized on the 25. She is ready
and has been to church 4 times now. She walked all the way to church
for the first time on Sunday. We've been really pushing her to try
and walk to church because she usually always takes a taxi. But that
is not going to be constant because she's pretty poor. So we really
told her she could and really tried getting her to walk to church
Sunday. She walked slow, but she did it! She said her bones hurt
pretty bad after she got home, but she was happy to be in the church.

Elder Salas and I were on our way to lunch last Saturday and we passed
a young lady who looked a bit stressed. We felt prompted to go back
and talk with her so we did. She is a single mom with 6 kids. Her
name is [Jane]. She was out looking for a job but didn't find one. We
invited her to church and gave her a pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation
and she came to church with her daughter who is 14. We challenged
them to prepare to be baptized in the first visit and she accepted.
What would've happened if we would've passed her without saying
anything?

[Bill] shares the Gospel with pastors. Hahaha. He goes up to them and
tells them why their churches don't progress and grow. "Because they
don't have the structure of Jesus Christ's church. Because you don't
realize how serious fornication and adultery are (which is a big issue
in Honduras). And you don't have a living prophet." He just straight
up tells the pastors why. He contacts people on buses and shares
messages with them. He talks to people where he works about the
Gospel. He says a day doesn't go by where he's not talking about the
Gospel. What a stud! We gave him a Preach my Gospel and he loves it.

We had 8 investigators at Sacrament meeting last week! It was a good
turnout! Three families. Although not all the members in those
families came, 3 different families showed up.

I always carry a great talk around with me called, "The Love of God"
by President Uchtdorf and review it when I'm feeling a bit stressed.
It talks about the most important things and getting the best
perspective in life. I would reccommend reading it.

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!

Elder Goodwin

06.06.11

FAMILY!!!!!

What is up? I LOVE YOU ALL and hope that you are good. How many P
days do I have left? Four!

HEY, so why was this mission conference the best ever? Because Elder
Clarke from the Quorum of the Seventy came. WOW!!!! He was full of
vibe, enthusiasm, energy. He enjoys what he does. He didn't even
have to teach very much for me to want to be like him. He truly is an
example of someone who preaches the Gospel not only with his words,
but also by his example.

He taught us heads, shoulders, knees, and toes to make sure that the
Latins are focused in their goal of learning English in the mission.
Because he said that if the Latins learn english in their mission,
they will make 4 times more money after. He asked my companion in
english, "How is your english?" And my companion just looked at me
all nervous, so naturally I told him the answer to his question and
whispered to him, "good." So he repeated that and Elder Clarke said,
"NO!!! You have a problem Elder Goodwin." I laughed at it and
thought to myself ouch complete bombardment. Haha. And then he said,
"If the Latins don't learn English in their mission, it's the gringos
falt!!!!" The man is extremely direct. But he's awesome at the same
time. So Elder Salas and I have been dilligently studying English
since then, haha!

He bombarded me yet again. He specifically bombarded me. He said to
everyone, "Who is a missionary in this room who is known for baptizing
wherever he goes?" And everyone is like, "Elder Goodwin." I was
like, "Oh crap! Why did you all say that?" Because then he bombarded
me and got 5 inches from my face and said, "Well it doesn't look like
it." But it was pretty intimidating seeing him so close to my face, I
am not going to deny it. Gall complete bombardment. But then he
said, "If I were you, I'd sit next to Elder Goodwin when you eat lunch
to observe how he is so that you can all baptize."

And when he was speaking at the pulipt, he said, "Well Elder Goodwin,
what do you do to baptize?" I told him, "Well, I see what challenges
the people have that are keeping them from knowing the Gospel and then
I study in my personal study specific points that can help them
resolve their challenge." He said, "That's an important principle
Elders." It was cool.

He said when we want to do something, we must make worthy goals. And
a worthy goal needs a plan first. Start by working towards that goal
with your heart, then with your mind, then with your strength. In
that order. The 3 basic principles to salvation are love, faith, and
obedience. He also said, "No one will worry about you if you don't
worry about others. In order for people to care about you, you have
to care about them." That man is amazing.

He showed us how to teach the Gospel. He showed us how to get a
reference. He showed us how to teach tithing. He taught us and then
he SHOWED us. But the thing that I really loved about him was his
enthusiasm and energy. When he asked for volunteers and they walked
up slow, he bombarded them and said, "GO, MOVE, DON'T BE SLOW!!!!!"
Haha. He was really direct and straight forward, honestly kind of
like a drill seargant but with love.

He said, "What makes a good leader?" And everyone started saying
things like having the spirit, loving others, determination. Normal
answers. And then he said, "A good leader is someone who thinks he
can win and makes his team think he can win as well. So everyone on
his team performs thinking they are going to win." That is an amazing
principle. Very true too. Jesus Christ doesn't think that it's
hopeless for ANY of us. He always thinks that there's hope and
believes in the potential that each and everyone one of us have as
children of God. All He does is throw touchdown passes.

Hahahaha, do you know what he said to choose a wife after the mission?
Elders, after your missions, go on dates and if you think you have
found the right one, take her to the top of a HIGH mountain. If she
complains on the way up, leave her. Being married to someone who
complains is hell. Hahahahaha. That's true, when I've been with
companions that complain on my mission it sucks. It's like, why not
just do the work? Hahaha, I laughed way hard when he said that. He
said, "Sisters, when you think you have found the right guy, CALL HIS
MISSION PRESIDENT, and ask what kind of a missionary he was. And if
he says, "Good," leave him! You need to marry an excepcional man, not
just a good man.

So that was definitely the highlight of this last week. Seeing Elder Clarke.

This last week, we had 5 investigators in Sacrament meeting. One is
going to get baptized on the 18th of June. Her name is [Suzy] and
she's like 300 pounds. She wants me to baptize her so I've been
working out lately....her son is member. I hope I don't drop her.
She has been 3 times to church and we gave her a huge poster of Jesus
Christ getting baptized.

[Jim], the convert that got baptized 2 weeks ago bore his testimony.
He said after the meeting, I don't know how anyone can say this isn't
the true church. He said in his tesitmony, "Ever since these 21 days
ago that I met Brother Salas and Brother Goodwin, I've had some very
strong trials. But I've been reading and praying and I've been able
to overcome them. AWESOME!!!!! It was so neat to hear that from him!
One of the leaders up on the stand whispered over to us, "Now THAT is
a conversion."

We had a run in with 2 pastors last week. They read a scripture that
said that there are no prophets today and that the last of the
prophets came before John the Baptist. It is a scripture that is in
Luke. So we read Ephesians 2:20 and said Jesus Christ's church is
built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets. If a church that we
see today doesn't have apostles and prophets then it's not Jesus
Christ's church. It's a church of some man. And lets remember Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if there aren't
prophets and apostles in His church today, that would mean that He
changes, and since He doesn't, His church is like that in our days
too.

They really just kind of wanted to read scriptures from the Bible and
contradict what we were saying so we just ended the appointment with
giving them a BOM and inviting them to read it and pray about it. It
almost seemed like they believe in the Bible more than they believe in
God. After teaching them a principle we invited them to ask God and
they would just say, "Show me where it is in the Bible." Berrba
(sorry I was just a bit perplexed as to how someone can believe that
there aren't prophets in our days, haha). So we asked him if God
loves him more than He loves me. No, He loves us all equally. So if
he remembered about the people in Jerusalem, He would remember about
the people in the American Continent too. And we just left them with
the BOM, testified of it, and we were off.

We taught a cool family yesterday. They are baptized in the Mount of
Zion church. So we said, "Imagine that your house represents the
kingdom of God and your waiting outside to enter." We told them to
lock the door and then I said, "OK, now I'm going to enter in the
kingdom of God. I pulled out the key I had in my pocket to our house
and tried to open their house door with it." I didn't get it open and
I asked, "Darn it! I can't get in. Why?" Because it's not the
right key. And we said that not everyone has the right key, just the
church of Jesus Christ and his authroized servants. And the guy
asked, "Well what is the true church." We taught them and invited
them to pray! It was neat because they were all very interested. The
Gonzalez Family!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Well, I'm not going to lie, these 2 years have definitely not been the
2 easiest years of my life. In fact, it's been quite the opposite.
I've seen that as we worry about others more than ourselves, things
fall into place. If we're always like "me, me, me," we're losing the
point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ never said in the
scriptures, "I'M hungry, I'M bored, I'M this or that. He was always
looking outward.

I've learned that as we worry about the first and great commandment,
all the other commandments fall into place. But if we're worried
about all the other smaller commandments before worrying about the
first and great commandment, we can lose focus and become overwhelmed.

I've learned that faith and love are words of ACTION!!!!! Saying "I
love you" is quite easy. But showing it isn't. We show it by what we
do and how we do it. If we want to have more faith, we should be more
dilligent in keeping the commandments while remembering the first and
great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart...."

Dilligence and obedience are far more important than intelligence.
God will not and cannot bless the most intelligent man in the world
unless that man keeps His commandments. Doctrine and Covenants
130:20-21. I know that constant dilligence and obedience will build
the stairway we can all take to enter into God's kingdom and sit at
His right hand.

I know that the Book of Mormon is divinely inspired. The Book is a
powerful testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Chandi and
Bryan sent me a Book of Mormon with their testimonies in spanish and I
read it all and highilighted each time "God," "Jesus Christ," or
"Lord" was mentioned. And 95% of the pages were marked. Practically
each and every page of the Book of Mormon mentions God or His son.

Well that's all I got for now......

Elder Goodwin

05.30.11

Hey family,

How is everyone doing? Word to my family. I have 4 weeks left until
I finish my time in Honduras I just barely got back from playing
basketball. It went well.

I am sad to report that 2 of my fingers are cut open. Let me
elaborate. So my fan has been rigged by a Honduras man who wanted it
to spin faster and there is no fan cover for it. It's just an open
fan that spins extremely fast. So I have it at the end of my bed at
night time and last night I got really cold and I decided I'd turn it
off. I was half asleep so I wasn't able to see very good. I reached
out to turn it off and the fan hit my hand really hard. So I went in
with my other hand and it got my other hand too. So now I have 2
injured, cut fingers on both hands. Haha. Don't worry though, I have
duct tape.

Well what else is new? Oh yeah, Jose got baptized. He said that he
plans on sharing the Gospel with his daughters. He truly is chosen.
He said he didn't feel like where he was going was the truth and we
found him about 3 weeks ago.

There was a discouraging thing that happened to one of our families. They
got into a fight and one of them scratched another's arm pretty deep. So he
gathered up all his stuff and just left. He is now living in Olancho.
So we are praying that they can get back together. The Mother
feels pretty sad about it. We called the Father and he said he can't put
up with it anymore and so he left. We reminded him about enduring to
the end and counseled him to have a chat with the Branch President.
But he is still in Olancho. We try and send him scriptures every once
in a while.

Not too much else to report on. Sure do love you. I bought a couple
hammacks and a couple mashetties to bring home. I found a couple
shirts and a Honduras hat too. So I'll bring that home.

LOVE YOU!

Elder Goodwin

05.23.11

What's kickin?

Hey y'all. Whatsup? Well another week has passed, leaving 5 weeks
left in my mission. AGGGHHHH!!!!! CRAZY, huh? Time seems to fly
when you're busy and have things to do, but time goes turtle speed
when you aren't busy and you have nothing to do. We have had quite a
bit to do last week.

We had 2 baptisms! YES!!!! She wasn't sure about the
decision about 3 weeks ago and used to hide from us when we got to her
house. But she heard us pray in her room and started reading the BOM
because we sent her text messages every morning from scriptures that
are in the BOM. We basically just used the scripture mastery ones.
She really likes the BOM now. Before, she didn't. But she said as
she read the text messages, she realized that the book talks about
Jesus Christ. Now she's a member! She said that before we got to her
house she was praying to be able to find a church to go to for good.
Because she stopped going to the Catholic church. Now she's in the
true church!!!!!!!!!!

Guess who came to the baptism? President Veirs!!!! He came for a
Stake Conference and we had the baptism 2 hours before the stake
conference. So he got there early and came to the baptismal service.
He also brought my package too. So no worries there. I now have
Funyins, Doritos, Fruity Pebbles, Snickers, notes. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm
THANK YOU!!!!!

What else? We taught Jose about the Sabbath last week. He studies
and reads and prays. He is chosen. He was ready before we even found
him. The thing is, we don't go down the road where he lives very
often the day that we found him. But there he was. We contacted him
and now he has a baptismal date after going to church twice.

I got my flight plans!!!! Of course I had to show it to all the other
Elders in the zone and tell Elder Salas how much time he's got left to
see his flight plans. I couldn't resist.

Life is good! The church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the
only true church upon the face of the Earth. As it says in Acts 3:21,
this church and this Gospel is a Restoration of ALL THINGS. Joseph
Smith is the instrument that the Lord used in order to restore what
was lost for centuries. So what does that mean? That we can be
baptized by someone who has the proper authority and be cleansed of
our sins, that we can receive the constant companionship of the Holy
Ghost, that we can be sealed forever to our families, that we can be
baptized for our ancestors who never got a chance to receive the
Gospel while on Earth, that we are led and guided by a living prophet
and 12 apostles, that we have more scripture to guide and direct us in
our day (BOM, D&C, Pearl of Great Price), that we can receive all that
our Heavenly Father wants to give to us as we obey His commandments
with a willing heart and mind.

I know as we enthusiastically and willingly submit our will to the
Lord's will, all things fall into place. Spiritual things and
temporal things. I also know that Heavenly Father will not ask more
than our best effort and if we are giving our best effort, He is
content and we should be content too. LOVE YOU!!!!

Elder Goodwin

05.16.11

Hi family,

The last change of the mission in Honduras San Pedro Sula. Now that
the suspense has been built up, I'll let you in on the changes. There
are no changes in Olanchito! Elder Salas and I are going to be
together for another change! YAY!!!! Sounds good. I am happy about
it. So my son is going to be killing me.

This last week was really good. The guy that has been to church about
10+ times came to church and after the investigators class he said, "I
have a surprise." I want to get baptized this weekend. So we said,
"Ok sounds good, we can help you with that." He always comes and
knows a really faithful member. That's who he comes with too.

We are also baptizing one of the members of the Lopez Family along
with him. It is going to turn out great! The rest of the members of
the Lopez Family still want to get to know the church better and are
going to study more to be more sure about the decision to be baptized.

Well, something disappointing happened this last week. Remember
the guy who got baptized last week? Well, he is
awesome. He is already in 2 Nephi 29. And we gave him his own BOM
about a month ago and is already in 2 Nephi 29. He eats it up and
loves reading it. We stopped by his house to see how he and his
family were doing and we saw him with a ciggarrette in his hand about
to light it. Then we yelled hello to him and he turned and saw us and
hurried and put the ciggarrette behind his back. We talked with him
and encouraged him to not give up. He said that he just has so many
problems right now. He's not working. Him and wife fight alot. His
landlord is threatening to kick him out of the house, etc, etc.

So we went in and told him if he falls down once in a while to pick
himself back up. To not stay on the floor. We read Moroni 7:33 and
Ether 12:27 and explained that with consistent faith in Jesus Christ
and humility, we can overcome our weaknesses. We encouraged him to
occupy his time with positive, productive things. Then he wouldn't
have the urge to smoke. When a temptation comes into his mind, to do
something else to get his mind on something uplifting. Like read the
scriptures, pray, listen to hymns, picture the face of Jesus Christ,
his wife, etc, etc, etc. He re-committed himself and we felt very
good after the visit.

We found a WAY cool guy last week. Seriously, the Lord is truly
blessing us lately with people to teach who are definitely prepared to
receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We simply said to him,
"We teach people about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ" when we talked
to him and he said, "Well, that's good. Because I'm not sure if the
church I go to teaches me about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ." He
expalined a few flaws that the church he goes to has. And he has been
extremely receptive at just about everything we have taught him. He
reads in the BOM. He came to church last week. He is even sharing
the Gospel with others already. And we didn't even invite him to do
it! He uses the pamphlets and tells people that Jesus Christ's church
has a foundation of prophets and apostles. He is a stud. And he has a baptismal date for the 28. He participated in
priesthood and everything!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!

There was a lady that told us last week, "God will touch my heart one
day and I will be called to His true church." We read Mathew 7:7: ask
and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you, seek and
ye shall find. And we pointed out that those words are ACTION words.
They aren't passive words. It doesn't say, "wait and it shall come to
you." For example, if I lost my backpack in my house, I would never
be able to find it if I just sat down in a chair and said, "Come here
backpack. Come over here backpack. I'm waiting for you....." No. I
have to get up and look for it under the bed, under the table, in
other rooms of the house, etc, etc, etc. And so we invited her to
LOOK for the true church and to meditate upon those ACTION words in
Mathew 7:7.

We found another family who are very loving and open, they just go to
another church. We went back to their house after teaching them about
the Restoration and the dad told us, "You know, we've been
thinking....and we think it might be a waste of time if you both keep
coming to our house. We like what you teach and all, but we already
have our church." Of coures, me and my comp weren't particularly
excited to hear this but we asked if he read the BOM. "Yes. And it
teaches us to do good things. It's a good book." And we asked if he
prayed. "No." What if our message is true and you haven't asked our
Heavenly Father to find out the answer? We asked him. Don't you
think it would be wise to trust in Him and as Him before making a
decision? "Yeah. You're right."

I'm not sure exactly why but he started to explain about tithing in
the church that he goes to. That once someone understands the
blessings of tithing, they pay it. It doesn't matter if the money
just goes straight to the pastor and he has his car and his house. He
can do that. Because I'm paying my tithing and the Lord is blessing
me.

That brought up an amazing opportunity to teach about how the Lord
would have us pay tithing and whos money it is. We explained very
clearly that tithing doesn't belong to any pastor or anybody on this
earth. It's the Lord's money. It says in Malaquias, "Will a man rob
God?" It doesn't say, "will a man rob a pastor?" So we explained
that everything we do in the church we represent is voluntary. No one
is paid for anything. And we explained that the Branch President has
his own job, he isn't paid for any work he does in the church. And
then we invited them to specifically pray to know the truth of our
message.

This week was a good week. I am feeling strange knowing that my time
is about over, but I can't lie. I'm looking forward to being in the
good ol' USA. Sure I'll miss the mission, but in 6 weeks, it's time
to get back to life.

Alright the church is still true. Love you.

Elder Goodwin