Week 1 San Benito, Texas

Hey Mom,

This week was pretty good. Getting used to everything has been really tiring but it has all gone well.

San Benito is about the size of Newberg. It also has the same kind of lay-out with a downtown area and then some country outskirts area as well. It has a branch. We meet in a remodeled furniture store that has been turned into a church building. 

My companion and I are the first elders in this branch in 3 or 4 years. So it has been pretty cool meeting everyone. 

My new companion is Elder Casillas. He is from Mexico and doesn't know very much English. We have such a good time. We also live with 2 other missionaries in our apartment, so we have a blast. 

My birthday was good. I got the package. It was everything I needed. Fanny messaged you? That is pretty cool. (Fanny messaged me to get Jaden's favorite dessert because they wanted to get Jaden a treat for his birthday. Such sweet people in South Texas!)

Yes it is still hot and humid. However we are out of the worst part of summer. It will start to cool down over the next few months. 

The branch President asked Casillas and I to speak in Sacrament meeting, so we spoke yesterday. It went pretty well, we talked about preparing for the latter days. 

Favorite thing I ate this week? We had some really good spaghetti on Tuesday with a member family. We also get fed every day, that is super nice. 

Best thing this week was getting used to the area. It was cool meeting new people and figuring out what to do.

Most difficult will always be, biking in the heat. 

Most inspirational was talking to a guy on the street who had been in prison and told us his story. It was pretty cool to hear his story. 

Apart from that everything is going well.

Hope you have a great week.

Love

Elder Goodbaudy 

Elder Goodbaudy with his zone, the Harlingen Zone

Week 12 Brownsville, Texas - One Last Time

Hey Mom,

This week was super good.

We got transfer calls last night, I am leaving Brownsville. I will be going to San Benito which is 20 minutes up the road, also I will be training a brand new missionary. I am super excited, it will be such a cool experience.

This will be super fun because I will be "whitewashing" which means I am going to a brand new area and my companion is not from that same area. So it should be fun.

It is still in the mid 90's.

Testimony meeting was pretty interesting, but gospel principles class was even more interesting. Some members got confused while teaching the word of wisdom because they didn't fully understand it so they said that caffeine was against the word of wisdom and that as long as stuff is decaf it is okay. Needless to say we got that straightened out really quick. 

Favorite thing was finding out that I will be training a new missionary. 

It was difficult when we had to teach the word of wisdom to members and figure all of that out. 

Best thing I ate, I don't know. Yesterday we ate with a member and had some fish and rice. It wasn't too bad. 

Most inspirational thing, I don't know. Probably just my personal studies in the morning. I am reading about church history and wow. The early saints were amazing examples of faith. 

Hope all goes well back home and I look forward to telling you guys about how this upcoming week goes.

Love

Elder Goodbaudy 

Week 11 Brownsville, Texas

Hey Mom,

Not much time this week, so this will be on the shorter side. 

Yes it is still hot. It is still humid as well, and yes we are drinking lots of water, we go through about 80 water bottles in just a week.

Matt Freeman is home? Wow, I figured it would have to be soon. Honestly missions really are amazing growing experiences. They really do help you grow into who the Lord would have you be. 

That statement by Sister Codina is so true. (I had shared with Jaden some thoughts from Brooke's talk.) It is something that I have seen almost everywhere on my mission so far. People think they are happy because they only think of the here and now and not the eternal perspective. 

I am glad that all went well for the kids this week.

Honestly not much happened this week. We had interviews with President Torres and we had a really good talk. He told me a lot of stuff that I needed to hear. President Torres is such an amazing guy, he is truly an incredible mission President.

Birthday dinner, hmmmm? You guys can have lasagna because that is something that I have not had in a long time. Also chocolate cake. 

Most inspiring thing this week was probably interviews. I learned a lot from my short conversation with President Torres and it was really good.

Best lesson taught, I am not sure, we are doing a lot of finding right now.

Most difficult thing is and always will be, biking in 100 degree weather. 

Best meal, yesterday we ate with a family in our ward and they made really good pork tacos, they were delicious. 

Didn't get to help out during 2nd or 3rd hour this week, but it is all good, people have ways of making the missionaries kept busy during church. 

Hope all is going well for you guys up North. I still can't believe that I turn 19 in about 12 days, that is crazy. 

Hope you guys have a great week.

Love

Elder Goodbaudy