Week 8 LaJoya, Texas

Hey Mom,

Yeah we were being fed quite a lot, but so far this past week we have only had 1 meal appointment so that has been good. Yeah everyone always asks if we have eaten and even when we say yes, they will still on occasion make us food. ( I don't know if they realize that missionaries can't lie).

Yeah my arm is pretty much healed, my clothes surprisingly are absolutely fine, no tears or anything, my bike is also fine.

The calling is going well, we have to go find a bunch of people that no one knows so we can clear out records if need be but so far so good.

Elder Shipley is from Wisconsin but he moved to Idaho 2 years before he went on a mission so he just says Wisconsin when people ask, he has been out for a year and 4 months so he is almost done.

Overview of this week:

Tuesday: We had a zone conference so I got to see Elder Ritchey and he is doing well, we had a training from President Torres about the natural man which was really good, he talked about how being Christlike is how we can overcome the natural man and be more like our Savior. We also got fed a really good lunch so I can't complain.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday not much happened we had ward family history at 7 and that was about all

Thursday:

Thursday was kind of a dead day, everything fell through so we ended up doing a lot of knocking and that was about it.

Friday:

We did a service project for Maria, the lady who's husband passed away and their house is only like half built. We did some sheet-rocking with some other guys and it was kind of cool because a guy who was helping out was named Michelle and he was from Quebec Canada and spoke French!!!!! I tried to use what I remembered from school (practically nothing, I have basically forgotten French) and so I would try talking in French, then switch to Spanish and then switch to English. My mind kind of hurt trying to figure out what to say in what language. After that we biked around Pueblo De Palmas (the cartel owned neighborhood) that is always a blast and it was Elder Shipley's first time there so he was kind of shocked by what everything looked like over there.

Saturday:

Kind of another dead day so we ended up doing a lot of following up for people that we had previously stopped by but who weren't home. The highlight for today though was that we were knocking some doors and one of the doors we decided to knock it had a little sign that said "This is a Catholic home" so Shipley and I were kind of like "I wonder how this will go" We knocked the door and a really tall guy answered and asked how we were, he said he liked what we were doing and asked if we wanted some water, after he came back to the door with water he invited us inside to have a sandwich (it was about 11:30 on a Saturday morning) we said sure and we talked for a little bit, it was really pleasant, he told us that he was getting ready to take his grand kids to a bible study class and that the oldest was about to have his first communion. We ate sandwiches and talked about sports, what he does for work, his family, all that stuff. After we were getting ready to leave the grandma gave us a bag of food, grapefruits, hot chocolate mix, oatmeal and a whole bunch of other stuff. We thanked them and gave them our number in case they ever needed anything. After we left their house we were getting ready to go back when we saw 2 ladies walking down the street, of course they were Jehovas witnesses (or as we call them down here "testigos") we said hi and then went on our way.

Sunday:

Church was good, we had a lot of less active families show up which was nice and then for the last 2 hours we did family history because the stake is big on that down here. After church we had an English class, yes we are teaching a handful of the members here English, we started with days of the week, months, how to pray and pronouns (I, you, he, she etc.) It was really fun to see them try to put things together and say things that they had picked up from living down here. We had dinner with the Relief Society President, Taco Salad, delicious! We then visited a whole bunch of people and that was about it.

That was my week, nothing crazy coming up that I can think of.

How is everything back in Oregon?

Love,

Elder Goodbaudy

Pictures:

MTC Throwback, I will send as many as I can and try to say what each one is

1. Our MTC District plus another district.

 2. Our MTC district (minus 2).

3. Our MTC district and on the left is our MTC branch presidency.

4. The Hillside of Mexico City.

5. The Mexico City Temple visitors center.

6. The Mexico City Temple.

7. Our MTC district in front of the Mexico City Temple

8. Our dorm in the MTC (from left to right: Me, Vakapuna, Linder, Merrell