Week 5 Corpus Christi, Texas

Hey Mom,

This week was good. Pretty much the same old same old. I saw that the boys are doing good. It was sad to hear about Paul Allen though, he was a good guy. I hope we play good this season for him.

Yeah transfer calls are next Sunday. It is basically guaranteed that I will be staying since Elder Christensen is leaving. My thought is I will probably  be here until January, but who knows. 

We have been trying to work with this lady who is the wife of one of the members in our ward. She just moved here from the Philippines about a month ago so we are trying to help her and her husband out. 

Yeah we ended up getting the video finished. It turned out pretty good. I don't know if I will he able to send it because it it pretty long. I might try sharing it over Google. We will see. 

Inspirational thing this week.... Ummm, President Torres had a mission wide conference with us and we watched it over Facebook. It was super good. President Torres is such an inspired guy and is so real about everything. He talked about how we need to step up our game and take everything to the next level. 

Most difficult is just the fact that right now we aren't teaching a lot of people which makes for some long days. However we are trying to remedy that situation. Just need to find some people who are interested. 

Food has been super good, as usual. Actually yesterday we ate with the French guy in our ward. He is super awesome. What is cool too is that his wife is from Hawaii so that is a very interesting couple. They are super cool though. We had some delicious pot roast. 

The thought for this week... I was reading in that book you sent me and I really like how it talked about being Christlike means just doing the basic things, like being kind to everyone, having charity, studying the gospel, keeping the commandments and things like that. It isn't rocket science which I think makes sense because we know that the doctrine of Jesus Christ is a simple one. 

Anyway that is pretty much all that is new, nothing much has been happening, besides the usual missionary work. The week was good and next week should be pretty interesting to see who replaces Elder Christensen.

Oh also since Wednesday was my year mark I burnt a shirt, included are pictures of that and a video I will share with you as well. Also we found this bench beside a lake one day while we were walking down the street so we did a mini photo-shoot in front of it. 

That's pretty much it. Hope all is going well with you guys back at home. 

Have a great week

Love

Elder Goodbaudy 

 Elder Goodbaudy's Missionary Model pose

 Reflection by Elder Goodbaudy

The traditional burning of the shirt at the 1 year mark

Week 4 Corpus Christi, Texas (1 year mark)

Mom,

Church was pretty good yesterday for us too. It was stake conference. We were able to go to the adult session and the theme for that was all about ministering. The talks were really well done and focused on the idea that we never know how the person next to us is doing or what they have been through until we care about them enough to not only ask, but then act as well.

The Sunday morning session was really good as well. The theme was pretty much focused on having the spirit more in our homes and making the home a holier place. President and Sister Torres spoke, they gave excellent talks. Also the stake President spoke and he gave a very good talk as well.

The weather hasn't changed a whole lot because of hurricane Michael. The water is up a bit higher than usual on the coast but that is pretty much it. We do have a cold front this week. Temperatures will be in the 60's for the rest of the week. We had some rain this morning and some strong winds while we played soccer with some missionaries in our zone. We were soaking wet but it was fun.

Actually the box came today. We were at brother Robins house. (The member who's house the box was shipped to) and just a little bit ago there was a knock at the door and there it was. Thanks for the shirt. Also the book looks super good, I can't wait to read it.

It really is crazy that Wednesday  (October 17th) will mark a year. Time has really flown by.

I wouldn't say I have had any golden contacts. People have seemed super good and then kind of fallen off but everyone learns in a different way and with different experiences. 

We didn't teach a whole lot this week. We are really on the finding grind right now. Just trying to find new ways to contact people and find those who are interested.

Our zone leaders also asked Elder Christensen and I to make a video about working with members and building a relationship with them. The video should be pretty good, we are finishing it up today. If I can I will send it to you in next week's email.

We did some service for Brother Robins. On Saturday we layed down some weed blocking cloth stuff and then we put down a border around the new grass that they got the other week.

One scripture that I have really come to like is Ether 12:6. Our lives truly are trials of our faith, and when the trial (our life) is over on this Earth, we will receive that witness. The witness that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and our Savior and Redeemer. 

I do love all of the examples of faith there are in the scriptures, knowing that people have made it through their trials, gives you the courage to continue through yours.

Yeah, the Swedish meatballs were good, even though they weren't homemade meatballs they were still good.

The French speaker in our ward seems super cool. I haven't had a very long conversation with him but we will be eating dinner with them on Sunday, that should be really fun.

Not really sure what all is in store for this next week. Elder Christensen is finishing up his mission in 2 more weeks so we are trying to end on a high note. Knowing us we will find something to do to keep us productive and out of trouble.

Hope all has been continuing to go well at home. 

Have a great week

Love

Elder Goodbaudy 

P.S. Haven't been taking a whole lot of pictures but here is one that Christensen and I took while we were goofing around before shooting a part of the member and missionary video.

                 Elder Christensen and Elder Goodbaudy 

Week 3 Corpus Christi, Texas

Hey Mom,

Yes conference was super good. We watched it at a members house here in our ward. It was all really awesome. Yes January will be a very exciting time. Also 12 new Temples! Craziness.

It sounds like all is going well at home. That is good that Matt is being a social butterfly. That is also good to hear that ProAmpac likes to be involved in the communities that they are in.

Sounds like life is busy but still good for you guys. Good to hear. 

I'm trying to think about what happened this week. Not a whole lot. Just mainly Conference and how cool that was. I really liked the talk by Elder Gong and also the one by Elder Stevenson. Yes of course Holland's talks are always favorites. 

Like I think the sister missionaries don't hate me, so I guess that is good. Honestly there isn't a whole lot that I do. I just have to make sure everything happens the way it should. Really being district leader doesn't change the fact that you are still a missionary called to preach the gospel.

Lessons taught, not a whole bunch. We are kind of on the finding grind right now. Finding is definitely different up here in Corpus but it is cool to adapt to new things. 

Favorite scripture for this week..... I can't really think of any. Ummm mind of tying in with President Ballards talk about the spirit world I think that section of the Doctrine and Covenants is super cool. Speaking of Ballard's talk I thought his was super good because of how in that moment it directly applied to his situation and that it was important for him in that moment that he will see his wife again.

Food was good this week, for Conference on Sunday for lunch the member in our ward made us Swedish meatballs. They weren't the super authentic kind that Catharina taught us but they were still super delicious. All in all the food has been good up here. 

Also I keep forgetting to mention that there is a guy in our ward who grew up in France and knows French. I haven't talked with him a whole lot but we are eating with him later this month and I will have to see if I remember any French from high school. What is also cool is this guy served his mission in Tahiti, I believe. So he wears a skirt to church, it is so cool.

Best thing this week was General Conference. The hardest thing this week was waiting for General Conference to finally get here at the end of the week. It felt like I had to wait forever. Nothing service wise this week. 

What should be pretty cool is that foe our stake next Sunday is stake conference so we will have to see what they say about General Conference during that meeting. 

Yeah we will have to see what happens weather wise.

Also I know you didn't ask but I still can't really think of anything for a hump day box. Just make sure that it isn't packed full of candy because I never am able to eat it all. If you have already sent it, don't worry about it.

Also speaking of sending boxes I may need to send one home with some stuff pretty soon. Just a lot of junk that I want to keep but I don't want to haul around with me. I don't know, we will see.

Anyway I think that is pretty much it for the week.

Hope all is going well with you guys. Tell everyone I say hi.

Love,

Elder Goodbaudy 

Week 2 Corpus Christi, Texas

Hey Mom, 

That is good that the weather is cooling off. It is for us too which has been super nice. We have had some good rain storms as well which has cooled it down, but it has also brought mosquitos, which are not fun here. 

Being a DL is good, not much changes. You just have more responsibility, and you get more hear when things don't go the way they should, which is why I try to avoid messing up.

Well that's good that I was cute, probably got me out of a lot of trouble when I was younger. 

Testimony meeting was good. Everyone was pretty good about sharing real testimonies and not going on and on.

Church was good. I ended up sharing the first vision in a primary class so that was cool. Also 3rd hour was 5th Sunday so we talked about emergency preparedness, which I thought was pretty cool and pretty applicable considering the hurricane that happened last year.

I have been trying to talk in Spanish and study in Spanish as much as I can so that I can keep it up.

No favorite scripture this week, but I was reading some general conference talks back in 1979, I was also reading Neal A. Maxwell's last tall before he passed away in 2004. Those were super good, definitely should read conference talks. Especially with conference next week.

There are only sisters in the district so no splits. I am a DL over 4 sisters. However this week I did go on a split with one of our zone leaders which was a lot of fun.

Hump day package... I can't think of anything. Maybe a gospel book to read, I don't know. 

Favorite meal, was yesterday. We ate with a family in the ward, and we had cafe Rio inspired, pork salad which was delicious. It was cool too because they live on the military base here in Corpus so we got to go onto the base. 

I think our ward primary program is in 3 weeks. I'm not sure. 

Cool experience this week was that Saturday while on an exchange with one of our zone leaders we had a meal appointment where a lady in their ward made us a huge thanksgiving lunch, we don't know why but she did. So that was super good.

We also ended up eating at an Asian restaurant with a member who was visiting here from Boston. However she was born in Israel, that was cool. She was traveling from Boston where she lives and she wanted to meet with us missionaries so she took us to eat at that restaurant. So we talked to her about life in Israel which was super cool to hear about. 

Favorite hymn in Spanish.... hmmm. I don't know. All the hymns sound really cool in Spanish. 

I just have to prepare meetings every Tuesday, just something that we can learn about, like a missionary skill or something like that. It isn't super difficult. 

I think that is pretty much it for the week.

Hope you guys have a great week and I will talk to you in seven days.

Also for sending my package let me double check what address to send it to since I am so far away from McAllen. So I will let you know next week where to send it. 

Love,

Elder Goodbaudy 

Week 1 Corpus Christi, Texas

Hey Mom,

First week in Corpus Christi was super good. First week as a district leader was also good, not much that is new, you have to prepare meetings every Tuesday So far so good. 

That is good that you enjoyed your getaway. Sounds like you had a good time. 

We will either watch General Conference with members or at the church, we aren't sure yet. 

My companion is Elder Christensen, he is super cool. He is actually on his last transfer so I will be his last companion before he heads for home. What's funny is Elder Christensen is like 6'7 and so we are just 2 big white boys wandering the streets of Flour Bluff.

The ward is super good, it is nice because all the members are returned missionaries that at some point have lived in Utah so they know how the church is supposed to work. Which makes our job really easy. 

Yeah Saints is super good. Also if you've downloaded it on Gospel library you don't need internet to read it. 

The weather here is a bit cooler. In part because summer is coming to an end but also because we are right on the ocean so we have a nice breeze all the time. 

The ward is actually an English ward. There is only a Spanish branch here in Corpus and other missionaries cover that. The ward is super good, like I said, a bunch if Utah Mormons, they know how a ward should function. 

The food is still super good. Not quite authentic Mexican food but the food is a lot more like what we would normally eat back home. 

We found a couch for a family in our ward and so we brought it to them, that was pretty cool. 

Favorite scripture for the week is D&C 98:3. All things we pass through are for our good. 

Ummm things for my year box....... I can't think of anything. But I will let you know if I think if anything before you send it. 

That is pretty much it for this week. Tell everyone I say hi.

Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Goodbaudy