Yep, I'm moving. Not really happy about it, I'm not going to lie. It stinks. But it was bound to happen at some point.
As will most likely be a theme with my mission, I get to leave just before a baptism can go through. Marissa, the girl we've been teaching, now has a baptismal date for the 9th. That's way exciting. But I won't be here for it. Figures. Not really sure where I'll end up, but McConnel will be training. That'll be good. He'll be a good trainer. He's been a great companion to have and it's hard to leave after one transfer of us rockin this place.
This past week's been a tough one, work wise. Christmas made it difficult to do much of anything, plus we had a legitimate blizzard, which blew in a lot of snow and blew out any chance of doing much work. When you're on the edge of town with no sidewalk because nobody had plowed it out and no car (either because it was grounded due to weather or because we had left it at a member's home due to the weather) we couldn't really go much of anywhere. Walking on the icy road was suicidal, and wading through waist deep snow through fields was a death sentence. We got out as much as we could but not much could be accomplished. Church was even cancelled. It ended up being twenty inches in a few days.
Our other investigator, being the stubborn man that he is, was committed to be baptized...but said it would only be after he finished the Book of Mormon. Not a date, nor the regular way of going about it, but it's a start. We read through an Isaiah chapter with him and helped him understand it. I learned a ton myself. Half the time I feel like even if the investigators don't learn anything from what I say I sure did.
So monday I'll email you, letting you know where I am! Hopefully it has snow.... Places like Des Moines only got rain. Those turds.
Elder Gates
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
...If Only In My Dreams.... (Dec 21)
Merry Christmas!!!
This week wasn't very productive, but I'd consider that mostly due to the car accident we had on monday.
Oh, and in response to your email, that is AWESOME that grandpa is doing indexing for people from Yankton County!!! The counties out here are tiny and Yankton County is just a few miles larger than the city, so that's just amazing! Anyway. Way cool.
Ok, so I'm a terrible son and just wanted to make that all a cliff hanger about the accident. We just backed over a rockery curb thing on Monday going out of a members' driveway. Since we drive a little Toyota Corolla, it popped out the bumper and apparently broke the window washer resevoir. We knew about the bumper pretty quickly, and it was fixed easily enough at an autobody place, but the resevoir we didn't know about till we tried to put new washer fluid in and it just poured out the other side. Sooo, yeah. We spent a good part of a day or two this week getting that all worked out, and we're still waiting for the call from the office to let us know the new resevoir is in in the dealership in Sioux City to take it there. Kind of a pain in the butt.
Christmas seems to be pretty well set for us. I got the packages thursday this last week and Elder McConnel got his too, so our little charlie brownish fake tree has presents around it now. [FPEO thank you for the stuff to Elder McConnel, he was pretty stoked about it and thought it was funny you'd send him something, but I wasn't about to tell him the truth behind it] We are also set for Christmas and Christmas Eve, we have dinner with our Branch Mission Leader Christmas Eve and Christmas morning we're going to a member of the branch presidency's house for calling home and then to a young couple in the branch's house for dinner. If that doesn't make much sense, just know I'm covered. It's been a 180 since thanksgiving and it's awesome. People are trying to figure out ways to feed us now. And I nearly cried and hugged the Sister who invited us over to call home from her house on Christmas, since it had been up in the air how we would pull it off. But she said we could use her basement for privacy and take as long as we wanted. I nearly hugged her. Her and her husband are awesome. And their youngest son, who's just a little younger than me, just came home from college and looks a lot like me. Kind of creepy. Everybody in the branch kept thinking he was me, and so did Elder McConnel.
Yesterday we got the chance to deliver gifts to people from "Santa," and it was a cool experience. They went to people in the branch having hard times and we were asked to help deliver them. It helped to meet with some people and also was just cool to see. It's helped me see the real side of christmas, since all we've got to do much of lately is tick people off by interrupting their christmas season by knocking on their doors and bringing them out into the cold, or so it seems. Some people may be more receptive, but most are just too wrapped up in the season to be annoyed by people most of them don't consider christians (people don't make the connection that we introduce ourselves as being from the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints, or that it says JESUS CHRIST on our nametags in big letters, or that we say we'd like to share a message about JESUS CHRIST with them. But, as we've been told, we're going to burn in eternal Hellfire and Damnation [FPEO would it have been bad to say "See you there?" I almost did on accident....] because we worship a different Jesus. But mostly that You're Going to hell stuff just makes me laugh). So Elder McConnel and I plan on doing just a little door-knocking christmas eve morning with santa hats on.
We had an awesome lesson this week on prayer with our investigator who used to have a baptismal date. We hope he's either received his answer now that we've taught him how to pray more in-depthly with scriptural references and committed to do it. We also have an appointment with the investigator who was in the hospital. We're hoping to set a date with her since she's received her answer. We also are probably going to be having a family out of the huge pile of elect people in Vermillion moving here soon, and they are set for baptism. Just remembering to look on the bright side of life!
The weather is pretty nice right now, just upper twenties or so, perfect for my new best score in disc golf this morning (14. Not bad here) but snow is coming and storms apparently, too. Woo! So i'll have a white christmas for sure! We went out on the Missouri this last week. It's frozen over in parts and was really flippin thick. Don't worry about me in the cold, I'll be good. As long as we avoid curbs.
Well, Merry Christmas Everybody! This is my last monday P-Day, so I won't be sending another one for a week and a half. I still can't believe how fast this transfer went.... Thank you everybody who has sent me christmas gifts!!!
Love,
Elder Gates
This week wasn't very productive, but I'd consider that mostly due to the car accident we had on monday.
Oh, and in response to your email, that is AWESOME that grandpa is doing indexing for people from Yankton County!!! The counties out here are tiny and Yankton County is just a few miles larger than the city, so that's just amazing! Anyway. Way cool.
Ok, so I'm a terrible son and just wanted to make that all a cliff hanger about the accident. We just backed over a rockery curb thing on Monday going out of a members' driveway. Since we drive a little Toyota Corolla, it popped out the bumper and apparently broke the window washer resevoir. We knew about the bumper pretty quickly, and it was fixed easily enough at an autobody place, but the resevoir we didn't know about till we tried to put new washer fluid in and it just poured out the other side. Sooo, yeah. We spent a good part of a day or two this week getting that all worked out, and we're still waiting for the call from the office to let us know the new resevoir is in in the dealership in Sioux City to take it there. Kind of a pain in the butt.
Christmas seems to be pretty well set for us. I got the packages thursday this last week and Elder McConnel got his too, so our little charlie brownish fake tree has presents around it now. [FPEO thank you for the stuff to Elder McConnel, he was pretty stoked about it and thought it was funny you'd send him something, but I wasn't about to tell him the truth behind it] We are also set for Christmas and Christmas Eve, we have dinner with our Branch Mission Leader Christmas Eve and Christmas morning we're going to a member of the branch presidency's house for calling home and then to a young couple in the branch's house for dinner. If that doesn't make much sense, just know I'm covered. It's been a 180 since thanksgiving and it's awesome. People are trying to figure out ways to feed us now. And I nearly cried and hugged the Sister who invited us over to call home from her house on Christmas, since it had been up in the air how we would pull it off. But she said we could use her basement for privacy and take as long as we wanted. I nearly hugged her. Her and her husband are awesome. And their youngest son, who's just a little younger than me, just came home from college and looks a lot like me. Kind of creepy. Everybody in the branch kept thinking he was me, and so did Elder McConnel.
Yesterday we got the chance to deliver gifts to people from "Santa," and it was a cool experience. They went to people in the branch having hard times and we were asked to help deliver them. It helped to meet with some people and also was just cool to see. It's helped me see the real side of christmas, since all we've got to do much of lately is tick people off by interrupting their christmas season by knocking on their doors and bringing them out into the cold, or so it seems. Some people may be more receptive, but most are just too wrapped up in the season to be annoyed by people most of them don't consider christians (people don't make the connection that we introduce ourselves as being from the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints, or that it says JESUS CHRIST on our nametags in big letters, or that we say we'd like to share a message about JESUS CHRIST with them. But, as we've been told, we're going to burn in eternal Hellfire and Damnation [FPEO would it have been bad to say "See you there?" I almost did on accident....] because we worship a different Jesus. But mostly that You're Going to hell stuff just makes me laugh). So Elder McConnel and I plan on doing just a little door-knocking christmas eve morning with santa hats on.
We had an awesome lesson this week on prayer with our investigator who used to have a baptismal date. We hope he's either received his answer now that we've taught him how to pray more in-depthly with scriptural references and committed to do it. We also have an appointment with the investigator who was in the hospital. We're hoping to set a date with her since she's received her answer. We also are probably going to be having a family out of the huge pile of elect people in Vermillion moving here soon, and they are set for baptism. Just remembering to look on the bright side of life!
The weather is pretty nice right now, just upper twenties or so, perfect for my new best score in disc golf this morning (14. Not bad here) but snow is coming and storms apparently, too. Woo! So i'll have a white christmas for sure! We went out on the Missouri this last week. It's frozen over in parts and was really flippin thick. Don't worry about me in the cold, I'll be good. As long as we avoid curbs.
Well, Merry Christmas Everybody! This is my last monday P-Day, so I won't be sending another one for a week and a half. I still can't believe how fast this transfer went.... Thank you everybody who has sent me christmas gifts!!!
Love,
Elder Gates
Many are called but few are frozen (Dec 14)
Boy am I lucky to be one of the elect few in that case.
Dang it.
Yes, it has been absolutely miserably cold this week. And it's technically not that bad for here. Nor should i really complain because there's always somewhere that's worse. But, it's cold.
Elder McConnel is from Boise, Idaho, and handles himself just fine in the snow while driving. So no worries, mom!
The snow and cold, and the fact that Iowa was hit the worst out of any state, led to us being told to stay inside tuesday night. Well, Elder McConnel and I had an appointment with one of our main investigators that lived about ten minutes away, and we got the news to stay in half an hour or so before the appointment. So, we took the matter to President Talbot and got it approved to go as long as we were positive we'd be safe. Luckily, a member from the branch drove who is from northern Minnesota and had an SUV, so he drove. I've never seen a near-whiteout going sideways. Anyway, that's probably more news than you wanted to know, Mom. The next day our cars were grounded so we were made to only walk. THAT stunk, since we live on the edge of town (Literally. We're on the corner of 8th and CITY LIMITS Road). So we walked to our Branch Mission Leaders house and used that as our base to head out and do stuff. We mostly just went and shoveled some sidewalks that day. By the way, you know it's bad when a midwest town cancels school due to weather. But it was sunny that day, and not too terrible, just in the single digits or so, plus a ten mile an hour or so breeze. Plus I was bundled up really well. I wore sunglasses, too. Big mistake. Our branch mission leader thought i looked like the unibomber. But, yeah, it was cold. Especially that night when we walked home. Elder McConnel and I had to check each others faces for frost bite. Not to mention that a conman of a duck caused us to try to free it from the ice just to find out it wasn't stuck anyway. Most people think we're crazy for being out in the cold tracting. But we gotta, can't cut out on the work just for some cold. But we do have a chart that keeps track of temp and wind speed and lets us know how fast we'll get frost bite, and we'll definitely come in if we need to. We went disc golfing in the snow again this morning. Today was very freakin cold. But at least we had spray painted my white discs read, so we didn't lose them as much.
This week, strangely enough, despite the cold, was mostly spent finding. And with all of our searching we only set up two return appointments. But we taught like six lessons to members and had about that many meals fed to us. It was great.
Keep warm, everybody. I'm trying my best....
Elder Gates
Dang it.
Yes, it has been absolutely miserably cold this week. And it's technically not that bad for here. Nor should i really complain because there's always somewhere that's worse. But, it's cold.
Elder McConnel is from Boise, Idaho, and handles himself just fine in the snow while driving. So no worries, mom!
The snow and cold, and the fact that Iowa was hit the worst out of any state, led to us being told to stay inside tuesday night. Well, Elder McConnel and I had an appointment with one of our main investigators that lived about ten minutes away, and we got the news to stay in half an hour or so before the appointment. So, we took the matter to President Talbot and got it approved to go as long as we were positive we'd be safe. Luckily, a member from the branch drove who is from northern Minnesota and had an SUV, so he drove. I've never seen a near-whiteout going sideways. Anyway, that's probably more news than you wanted to know, Mom. The next day our cars were grounded so we were made to only walk. THAT stunk, since we live on the edge of town (Literally. We're on the corner of 8th and CITY LIMITS Road). So we walked to our Branch Mission Leaders house and used that as our base to head out and do stuff. We mostly just went and shoveled some sidewalks that day. By the way, you know it's bad when a midwest town cancels school due to weather. But it was sunny that day, and not too terrible, just in the single digits or so, plus a ten mile an hour or so breeze. Plus I was bundled up really well. I wore sunglasses, too. Big mistake. Our branch mission leader thought i looked like the unibomber. But, yeah, it was cold. Especially that night when we walked home. Elder McConnel and I had to check each others faces for frost bite. Not to mention that a conman of a duck caused us to try to free it from the ice just to find out it wasn't stuck anyway. Most people think we're crazy for being out in the cold tracting. But we gotta, can't cut out on the work just for some cold. But we do have a chart that keeps track of temp and wind speed and lets us know how fast we'll get frost bite, and we'll definitely come in if we need to. We went disc golfing in the snow again this morning. Today was very freakin cold. But at least we had spray painted my white discs read, so we didn't lose them as much.
This week, strangely enough, despite the cold, was mostly spent finding. And with all of our searching we only set up two return appointments. But we taught like six lessons to members and had about that many meals fed to us. It was great.
Keep warm, everybody. I'm trying my best....
Elder Gates
The Abominable Snowmormon (Dec 7)
Well, everybody, it happened.
Snow has come to the midwest.
With more to come shortly.
So now the freakish cold at least has beauty along with it.
I'm trying to focus on the bright sides of it:
1) Snow looks cool.
2) Sliding on compact snow, as you will inevitably do, is a fun feeling.
3) Lakes are freezing over, which means soon we can go join the people out on Lake Yankton with their ice holes.
4) If Elder McConnel does anything dumb I can chuck a snowball at him.
5) People supposedly get nicer when this time comes (Lies. We were standing on somebody's doorstep and it started snowing. Well, most people would let us in or send us off, two things that would have kept us warm, but instead he decided then was a good time to complain to us about his life. After 5 minutes of standing there freezing, seeing no polite way to leave, I just started laughing at the awkwardness of it all. I just couldn't help it; I just imagined somebody else's perspective of that moment and it looked hilarious. I tried to cover it up, since we were supposed to be sympathizing with this man, and i think I was successful at doing so. Thank goodness.)
6) Disc Golf (which we did this morning) has a whole new level of difficulty. Playing that game in leather gloves is hard. And painful. But fun.
7) It makes great pictures. We're going to take pictures of all these things, not to mention some other plans.
8) I'll have a white christmas.
9) No "MAKE IT SNOW" signs will be on my door.
10) I will appreciate warmth so much more.
That's good enough, I think. This week hasn't been too eventful in the way of work, other than the one investigator that had a baptismal date is now not progressing really and one that we picked up last week that just fell into our laps has received her answer from the spirit that the Book of Mormon is true and will be baptized (just no date yet) but is now currently in the hospital. She had a 22-pound cist removed from her stomach. Sounds farfetched? They showed us a picture. I nearly puked, but I don't think that our sixteen-year-old investigator would have appreciated being puked on. But she asked us for a blessing, without us offering, which is tight! She's way solid. We also found a man who loves to feed missionaries, and have eaten at his house twice. No idea how interested he is, doesn't seem like much, but we'll try to teach him as much as we can. Way nice, way lonely old man.
We also had our christmas zone conference in Des Moines this week, a nearly six hundred mile drive round trip. We stayed the night in Sioux City on the way down and on the way back, which helped. But it was snowing, not really sticking, a good chunk of the trip. But it was worth it. Zone conference training was really good, and then we had a talent show and a slideshow with pictures from all over the mission. Way tight.
Elder McConnel is helping to change things up in this branch in the way of seeing things get done and letting them know who we need to focus on and in what way. It's so cool to finally see somebody that's just like Look, we need to do this because it will actually have results.
Anyway, life's good up here in the fridgid tundra of the north!
-Elder Charlie Gates
Snow has come to the midwest.
With more to come shortly.
So now the freakish cold at least has beauty along with it.
I'm trying to focus on the bright sides of it:
1) Snow looks cool.
2) Sliding on compact snow, as you will inevitably do, is a fun feeling.
3) Lakes are freezing over, which means soon we can go join the people out on Lake Yankton with their ice holes.
4) If Elder McConnel does anything dumb I can chuck a snowball at him.
5) People supposedly get nicer when this time comes (Lies. We were standing on somebody's doorstep and it started snowing. Well, most people would let us in or send us off, two things that would have kept us warm, but instead he decided then was a good time to complain to us about his life. After 5 minutes of standing there freezing, seeing no polite way to leave, I just started laughing at the awkwardness of it all. I just couldn't help it; I just imagined somebody else's perspective of that moment and it looked hilarious. I tried to cover it up, since we were supposed to be sympathizing with this man, and i think I was successful at doing so. Thank goodness.)
6) Disc Golf (which we did this morning) has a whole new level of difficulty. Playing that game in leather gloves is hard. And painful. But fun.
7) It makes great pictures. We're going to take pictures of all these things, not to mention some other plans.
8) I'll have a white christmas.
9) No "MAKE IT SNOW" signs will be on my door.
10) I will appreciate warmth so much more.
That's good enough, I think. This week hasn't been too eventful in the way of work, other than the one investigator that had a baptismal date is now not progressing really and one that we picked up last week that just fell into our laps has received her answer from the spirit that the Book of Mormon is true and will be baptized (just no date yet) but is now currently in the hospital. She had a 22-pound cist removed from her stomach. Sounds farfetched? They showed us a picture. I nearly puked, but I don't think that our sixteen-year-old investigator would have appreciated being puked on. But she asked us for a blessing, without us offering, which is tight! She's way solid. We also found a man who loves to feed missionaries, and have eaten at his house twice. No idea how interested he is, doesn't seem like much, but we'll try to teach him as much as we can. Way nice, way lonely old man.
We also had our christmas zone conference in Des Moines this week, a nearly six hundred mile drive round trip. We stayed the night in Sioux City on the way down and on the way back, which helped. But it was snowing, not really sticking, a good chunk of the trip. But it was worth it. Zone conference training was really good, and then we had a talent show and a slideshow with pictures from all over the mission. Way tight.
Elder McConnel is helping to change things up in this branch in the way of seeing things get done and letting them know who we need to focus on and in what way. It's so cool to finally see somebody that's just like Look, we need to do this because it will actually have results.
Anyway, life's good up here in the fridgid tundra of the north!
-Elder Charlie Gates
Free Range Turkey (Nov 30)
Hello Everybody,
So Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas has begun! Christmas, for all who are poor and uninformed, is a holiday that begins the day after thanksgiving and goes all the way till the 25th.
For Christmas, we were surprisingly not invited to anybody's home in our branch. We had thanksgiving out in Vermillion with their Branch Mission Leader who invited us over at FHE when he found out we had no plans for the holiday, which was very nice of him and his wife. We also came with our Branch Mission Leader and a member of our branch so it's not like we deserted our branch completely or anything. It was a fun time and felt like home. We had hors devours or however it's spelled (doesn't matter how it's spelled in that language, it's going to be pronounced differently anyway) which consisted of a cheeseball, veggies, chips, dip, and a sort of monkeybread that had garlic instead of cinnamon. Basically like home except for the monkeybread. And then we had dinner a little while later and then dessert even later. It was awesome and fun. My comp seriously seems like a Fawcett, which is great. There're things I don't quite agree with that he does, but for the most part is just real and will say what he thinks, which is hilarious and makes me feel so much better cause it's what I was thinking as well, so I don't feel as bad and can just voice my own opinions as well. Anyway, Thanksgiving was great, about the dinner, that is. We made the mistake of tracting that morning. A bunch of being waved away and once flipped off. Oh how delightful. Finally, when somebody did answer the door and we could start saying something to him, he told us he already had a church (a common response). Elder McConnel, somewhat fed up with the rude rejections we had received, just happily replied with "Oh that's great! We're just out wishing people a happy thanksgiving today. Is there anythign we could help you out with?" The man, looking slightly dumbfounded, declined the offer for service.
This week has also been District Leader Council, which meant, that's right, another trip to Sioux City! Woot! So yeah, while the district leaders were in there I took a couple brand new greenies tracting. Which was great because I got to drive (it was one of the few times I'll be considered a senior companion for awhile) and because it was hilarious. We tracted an apartment complex that had one of those old, rickety, horror film elevators with doors you have to pry open for yourself. It was great watching them tracting. One talked so fast in one continual sentence the poor people at the door had no chance to respond except with "Hi...Well...Um...Yeah...I'm not interested." And the other stood on the doorstep looking like he was somebody from the military to deliver the news of a death in person. I also tried to hotwire a doorbell, which is always fun, by pinching the two wires together that stick out of the hole where the doorbell should be. Well, they weren't wires...they were a spider's legs. It was kind of creepy.
The weather is getting colder, that's for sure. Still no real snow, but that's ok as far as I'm concerned. It should be coming soon, and with the way it's been delayed, it'll probably be big. Woot.
Our investigator wants his date moved back, which is probably better because we have a lot to teach him still. He's still pretty awesome but still doesn't recognize he's gotten and answer. Most of our time right now is taken up by finding investigators and visiting Less actives. It's hard work but it's going well. We're working hard. I hope that the fact that I spent just a very little bit talking about the work you don't think I'm being lazy out here, it's just not very interesting to talk about for the most part.
I know this work to be true and exactly where I should be. And while the work is tough, I know there's a reason I'm here.
Love,
Elder Gates
So Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas has begun! Christmas, for all who are poor and uninformed, is a holiday that begins the day after thanksgiving and goes all the way till the 25th.
For Christmas, we were surprisingly not invited to anybody's home in our branch. We had thanksgiving out in Vermillion with their Branch Mission Leader who invited us over at FHE when he found out we had no plans for the holiday, which was very nice of him and his wife. We also came with our Branch Mission Leader and a member of our branch so it's not like we deserted our branch completely or anything. It was a fun time and felt like home. We had hors devours or however it's spelled (doesn't matter how it's spelled in that language, it's going to be pronounced differently anyway) which consisted of a cheeseball, veggies, chips, dip, and a sort of monkeybread that had garlic instead of cinnamon. Basically like home except for the monkeybread. And then we had dinner a little while later and then dessert even later. It was awesome and fun. My comp seriously seems like a Fawcett, which is great. There're things I don't quite agree with that he does, but for the most part is just real and will say what he thinks, which is hilarious and makes me feel so much better cause it's what I was thinking as well, so I don't feel as bad and can just voice my own opinions as well. Anyway, Thanksgiving was great, about the dinner, that is. We made the mistake of tracting that morning. A bunch of being waved away and once flipped off. Oh how delightful. Finally, when somebody did answer the door and we could start saying something to him, he told us he already had a church (a common response). Elder McConnel, somewhat fed up with the rude rejections we had received, just happily replied with "Oh that's great! We're just out wishing people a happy thanksgiving today. Is there anythign we could help you out with?" The man, looking slightly dumbfounded, declined the offer for service.
This week has also been District Leader Council, which meant, that's right, another trip to Sioux City! Woot! So yeah, while the district leaders were in there I took a couple brand new greenies tracting. Which was great because I got to drive (it was one of the few times I'll be considered a senior companion for awhile) and because it was hilarious. We tracted an apartment complex that had one of those old, rickety, horror film elevators with doors you have to pry open for yourself. It was great watching them tracting. One talked so fast in one continual sentence the poor people at the door had no chance to respond except with "Hi...Well...Um...Yeah...I'm not interested." And the other stood on the doorstep looking like he was somebody from the military to deliver the news of a death in person. I also tried to hotwire a doorbell, which is always fun, by pinching the two wires together that stick out of the hole where the doorbell should be. Well, they weren't wires...they were a spider's legs. It was kind of creepy.
The weather is getting colder, that's for sure. Still no real snow, but that's ok as far as I'm concerned. It should be coming soon, and with the way it's been delayed, it'll probably be big. Woot.
Our investigator wants his date moved back, which is probably better because we have a lot to teach him still. He's still pretty awesome but still doesn't recognize he's gotten and answer. Most of our time right now is taken up by finding investigators and visiting Less actives. It's hard work but it's going well. We're working hard. I hope that the fact that I spent just a very little bit talking about the work you don't think I'm being lazy out here, it's just not very interesting to talk about for the most part.
I know this work to be true and exactly where I should be. And while the work is tough, I know there's a reason I'm here.
Love,
Elder Gates
Yankton with a twist (Nov 23)
Aloha,
Thanksgiving's this week! I'm mostly excited about the fact this means the beginning of christmas and christmas music. We have no set appointments yet, but a couple possibilities that will probably pan out. We'll see.
And yes, I do have a new companion! His name's Elder McConnel, and he kind of looks like Steven and is a lot different than Elder Nelson, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's a good guy and will be good to serve with. It's been kind of stressful the last couple days, having to get Elder McCollen acquainted with the work out here. But it's falling into a rhythm and will be good. But I was still looking forward to today. P-Days are the closest thing missionaries get to "A Day of Rest." And they're not restful, really. Things are still going well, just going to be doing a lot of finding to build up our teaching pool and lots of Less-Active work.
Snow should be coming soon, or so they say. Good thing I bought my boots this past week. They'll be handy. A lot of missionaries go without but it'll be nice to have some boots. Not to mention they're way comfy.
Transfers are really...interesting times. Now I've done one where I stayed, and for the first time in my mission have had a normal mission pattern. On transfer day I got to hang out in Sioux City with the Zone Leader left behind, the other one had gone Assistant the week before, and another elder whose companion had left with Elder Nelson. We got some good shopping done, visited a member who collects and sells knives and swords which was interesting, and did a few other odd-jobs, as we all kept wondering who we were getting and all the craziness with that. Blind transfers sure do fulfill their purpose, but they cause so much intrigue amongst us missionaries it's hilarious. And the Vermillion Elders got whitewashed out and were replaced by sisters! It was kind of creepy to think that in the room I had slept in the night before there were now sisters. And that the apartment I'd been in so many times is now off-limits. Weird....
I'm thankful for this work. For all we do. I'm thankful for the atonement and for Christ's restored church. I'm thankful for my family and all they do for me. I'm thankful for all the knowledge i have being a member of this church. I'm thankful for how much God has blessed me and continues to bless me.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
-Elder Charlie Gates
Thanksgiving's this week! I'm mostly excited about the fact this means the beginning of christmas and christmas music. We have no set appointments yet, but a couple possibilities that will probably pan out. We'll see.
And yes, I do have a new companion! His name's Elder McConnel, and he kind of looks like Steven and is a lot different than Elder Nelson, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's a good guy and will be good to serve with. It's been kind of stressful the last couple days, having to get Elder McCollen acquainted with the work out here. But it's falling into a rhythm and will be good. But I was still looking forward to today. P-Days are the closest thing missionaries get to "A Day of Rest." And they're not restful, really. Things are still going well, just going to be doing a lot of finding to build up our teaching pool and lots of Less-Active work.
Snow should be coming soon, or so they say. Good thing I bought my boots this past week. They'll be handy. A lot of missionaries go without but it'll be nice to have some boots. Not to mention they're way comfy.
Transfers are really...interesting times. Now I've done one where I stayed, and for the first time in my mission have had a normal mission pattern. On transfer day I got to hang out in Sioux City with the Zone Leader left behind, the other one had gone Assistant the week before, and another elder whose companion had left with Elder Nelson. We got some good shopping done, visited a member who collects and sells knives and swords which was interesting, and did a few other odd-jobs, as we all kept wondering who we were getting and all the craziness with that. Blind transfers sure do fulfill their purpose, but they cause so much intrigue amongst us missionaries it's hilarious. And the Vermillion Elders got whitewashed out and were replaced by sisters! It was kind of creepy to think that in the room I had slept in the night before there were now sisters. And that the apartment I'd been in so many times is now off-limits. Weird....
I'm thankful for this work. For all we do. I'm thankful for the atonement and for Christ's restored church. I'm thankful for my family and all they do for me. I'm thankful for all the knowledge i have being a member of this church. I'm thankful for how much God has blessed me and continues to bless me.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
-Elder Charlie Gates
Elder Gates the Level 37 Dragonmaster (Nov 18)
Hola!
Ok, so, this week is transfers! Elder Nelson is leaving me, which is sad and kind of scary since I have no clue who's coming to replace him. He's been a good comp. But he's been called to be zone leader which is pretty cool. We all guessed that he would, which President Talbot called inspiration. So now I have to step up and show the new guy the ropes of the area. Which would be so much easier if I had been here two transfers and not just one. But to add to the craziness, the Vermillion elders, who we did a lot with and kept in close contact with and everything, are being whitewashed out! Meaning, both are leaving and two new elders are coming in! So I'll be the only missionary staying in the district. Oh how fun....
But other news: WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!! AND I'M NOT LEAVING THIS TIME SO I SHOULD BE HERE FOR IT!! His name's Dennis and he's changed a lot while we've met with him. At first he was questioning why God doesn't come down and show himself and why the atonement had to happen, and was...not combative, but didn't listen well. Now he listens intently and loves our visits. He's such a cool guy and it's been great to see the spirit work on him.
So did you know that our church owns Coke and is behind the giant tower in Dubai that we're making for a temple? Or that higher up priests in the church wear green undies? Or that it's blasphemous to have pictures of Christ with long hair because it's meant to show him as effeminate? Or that the NIV Bible is absolutely evil? Yep, neither did I. Great things you learn from Evangelical Ministers while tracting. Funny thing about that little town we visited was that they had a strip club. The town is smaller than our neighborhood back at home.
We also drove looking for a referral from church headquarters forever. The guy had asked for a Book of Mormon and it took nearly all afternoon to find. First we went to the wrong town, then we had to drive all over the local Reservation for it, and it was just loads of fun. But there are legitimate hills in parts of Nebraska! Whoda thunk? Things you learn while lost in the middle of nowhere.
The mission's going great. I'll be just fine with the new way that things are about to be going. I should be getting a good companion, they almost always have good companions for "Greenie Busters," as they're called.
The weather's getting more chilly, but it's still really sunny. I hope it stays that way. Snow is no bueno.
I forgot to mention. There's a member of the Branch here that makes the Elders whatever animal they want out of cardboard and paint and such. Not knowing this when he asked me what animal I wanted, I now have a sky blue dragon hanging above my bed! It's pretty cool too. Looking back, if I had known, though, I would have liked a platypus or something like that. Or a monkey.... But I like my dragon. My companion asked for a snake, but the member of the ward doesn't make animals that are evil, and so Elder Nelson received a version of what this member of the branch believes the snake looked like before it lost legs...and apparently wings. Elder Nelson refers to it as the Serpent That Beguiled Eve. I just call it Lucy Fir.
The work's going great. I love it. Still finding more investigators and meeting with some less actives! We have some pretty cool less actives here.
Love you all,
Elder Gates
Ok, so, this week is transfers! Elder Nelson is leaving me, which is sad and kind of scary since I have no clue who's coming to replace him. He's been a good comp. But he's been called to be zone leader which is pretty cool. We all guessed that he would, which President Talbot called inspiration. So now I have to step up and show the new guy the ropes of the area. Which would be so much easier if I had been here two transfers and not just one. But to add to the craziness, the Vermillion elders, who we did a lot with and kept in close contact with and everything, are being whitewashed out! Meaning, both are leaving and two new elders are coming in! So I'll be the only missionary staying in the district. Oh how fun....
But other news: WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!! AND I'M NOT LEAVING THIS TIME SO I SHOULD BE HERE FOR IT!! His name's Dennis and he's changed a lot while we've met with him. At first he was questioning why God doesn't come down and show himself and why the atonement had to happen, and was...not combative, but didn't listen well. Now he listens intently and loves our visits. He's such a cool guy and it's been great to see the spirit work on him.
So did you know that our church owns Coke and is behind the giant tower in Dubai that we're making for a temple? Or that higher up priests in the church wear green undies? Or that it's blasphemous to have pictures of Christ with long hair because it's meant to show him as effeminate? Or that the NIV Bible is absolutely evil? Yep, neither did I. Great things you learn from Evangelical Ministers while tracting. Funny thing about that little town we visited was that they had a strip club. The town is smaller than our neighborhood back at home.
We also drove looking for a referral from church headquarters forever. The guy had asked for a Book of Mormon and it took nearly all afternoon to find. First we went to the wrong town, then we had to drive all over the local Reservation for it, and it was just loads of fun. But there are legitimate hills in parts of Nebraska! Whoda thunk? Things you learn while lost in the middle of nowhere.
The mission's going great. I'll be just fine with the new way that things are about to be going. I should be getting a good companion, they almost always have good companions for "Greenie Busters," as they're called.
The weather's getting more chilly, but it's still really sunny. I hope it stays that way. Snow is no bueno.
I forgot to mention. There's a member of the Branch here that makes the Elders whatever animal they want out of cardboard and paint and such. Not knowing this when he asked me what animal I wanted, I now have a sky blue dragon hanging above my bed! It's pretty cool too. Looking back, if I had known, though, I would have liked a platypus or something like that. Or a monkey.... But I like my dragon. My companion asked for a snake, but the member of the ward doesn't make animals that are evil, and so Elder Nelson received a version of what this member of the branch believes the snake looked like before it lost legs...and apparently wings. Elder Nelson refers to it as the Serpent That Beguiled Eve. I just call it Lucy Fir.
The work's going great. I love it. Still finding more investigators and meeting with some less actives! We have some pretty cool less actives here.
Love you all,
Elder Gates
A Yankton "Indian Summer" (Nov 9)
Hola Everyone!
The weather has been great lately! We've been getting up into the sixties and seventies! We got to take off our suitjackets, even. Too bad we drove an hour during that time so we didn't have much time to enjoy it with tracting or whatever. I love, though, tracting entire towns in a little over an hour. Sorry, people, but those are just glorified neighborhoods.
The work's great here. We're working hard, and got pretty good numbers for only really being able to do work for about three days or so. I was still sick at the beginning and then we had exchanges in Vermillion. And we got an Investigator at church!!! That was pretty dang cool. I hope he didn't get a little creeped out when the branch got really excited. Oh, and please, never talk about deep doctrine when you know an investigator's at church! It's SO much better in a setting like a lesson for it to be mentioned so we can talk about it. Just sayin.
I'm talking this next week. Imagine that. It's on faith. Elder Nelson's was yesterday on D&C 4. Turd. Got the easy one. Transfers are next week. If he leaves (which may just cause our branch mission leader to go inactive or move to wherever Elder Nelson goes to haha) we're all betting he's going to go Zone Leader. I'm still betting on me as Assistant (just joking).
I loved hearing about your missionary service and the pictures! Erin, congrats on your decision to serve a mission! You'll do great! But Erin and David teaching a Marriage and Family class? No wonder dad had to comment a lot in it.
We're doing a lot of Less Active work too. Which I had always had good experiences with. Until this week. Crazy. But most Less Actives love missionaries and love having visits from us.
I hope all continues to be well with you.
Love you!
Church is true,
Elder Gates
The weather has been great lately! We've been getting up into the sixties and seventies! We got to take off our suitjackets, even. Too bad we drove an hour during that time so we didn't have much time to enjoy it with tracting or whatever. I love, though, tracting entire towns in a little over an hour. Sorry, people, but those are just glorified neighborhoods.
The work's great here. We're working hard, and got pretty good numbers for only really being able to do work for about three days or so. I was still sick at the beginning and then we had exchanges in Vermillion. And we got an Investigator at church!!! That was pretty dang cool. I hope he didn't get a little creeped out when the branch got really excited. Oh, and please, never talk about deep doctrine when you know an investigator's at church! It's SO much better in a setting like a lesson for it to be mentioned so we can talk about it. Just sayin.
I'm talking this next week. Imagine that. It's on faith. Elder Nelson's was yesterday on D&C 4. Turd. Got the easy one. Transfers are next week. If he leaves (which may just cause our branch mission leader to go inactive or move to wherever Elder Nelson goes to haha) we're all betting he's going to go Zone Leader. I'm still betting on me as Assistant (just joking).
I loved hearing about your missionary service and the pictures! Erin, congrats on your decision to serve a mission! You'll do great! But Erin and David teaching a Marriage and Family class? No wonder dad had to comment a lot in it.
We're doing a lot of Less Active work too. Which I had always had good experiences with. Until this week. Crazy. But most Less Actives love missionaries and love having visits from us.
I hope all continues to be well with you.
Love you!
Church is true,
Elder Gates
Procrastination, no matter the reason, is still Procrastination (Nov 2)
Hello home!
Ok, so, last week I asked my parents if I should get a flu shot (apparently it was dumb to ask because if I had just read President Talbots' Email I would have noticed the note by Sister Talbot telling us to all get flu shots and swine flu vaccinations). Well, I just figured that I would just wait until the next Prep Day, Today, to do that, because that preparation day would be way too busy and I didn't want to do something like that on a day I could be out working. Well, about thursday this week my companion got sick and, as I knew would happen, I followed. Just a crappy cough, weird headaches, feeling dehydrated, and lightheadedness. So we've been out since then which hasn't been much fun.
We did, however, make it to the party our branch mission leader threw at his house. We aren't allowed to go out past 6 to anything other than a members' house on halloween, and so we dressed up and went to his murder mystery dinner. My costume was Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (a very fine reproduction of a cheap style of costume usually used by parents for 4 year olds, or so I considered it), Elder Jones from Vermillion came as the Joker, Elder John from Vermillion didn't dress up, but because he's Native American just claimed to be a Werewolf from Twilight before he transforms (I thought it was lazy yet creative) and my companion...well...he was a little old lady. Problem: It's hard to see a six foot something twenty-year-old as anything other than a six-foot-something twenty-year-old, no matter how good his costume is. So that was...scary. I'll send pictures home.
But yeah, the work is going well, when we're not sick. While a couple investigators seem to be falling through, we have one that seems to have potential, despite some barriers. We seem to be able to address his concerns well, so we're pretty hopeful for him. He's neither accepted or rejected the baptismal commitment we gave to him, so hey, no rejection! He's also going to come to church this sunday, hopefully.
I can't wait to just get out and work again. I'm feeling better, so by tomorrow I should be in good enough working order to tract and all that jazz again. Being inside all day friday when Elder Nelson was sick got me pretty stir crazy. We tried to do a few things here and there this weekend, besides the couple prescheduled events (church, break the fast, the party, visiting less actives), but I'm excited to get back out and work. Even if you kind of look forward to some kick-back time on your mission, you still go crazy when you can't just WORK. I might just go crazy when I get home haha but I think that's any normal RM....
I also got a bunch of letters and packages this week! Thank you everyone that sent something out! I might take awhile responding, though. I went from one letter in three weeks to about ten letters and packages in four days. It's always a good boost to get letters and packages! Too bad it was right in the middle of sickness...bleh.
All's well here! No worries, mom, next year I'll jump on vaccinations much sooner haha
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
Ok, so, last week I asked my parents if I should get a flu shot (apparently it was dumb to ask because if I had just read President Talbots' Email I would have noticed the note by Sister Talbot telling us to all get flu shots and swine flu vaccinations). Well, I just figured that I would just wait until the next Prep Day, Today, to do that, because that preparation day would be way too busy and I didn't want to do something like that on a day I could be out working. Well, about thursday this week my companion got sick and, as I knew would happen, I followed. Just a crappy cough, weird headaches, feeling dehydrated, and lightheadedness. So we've been out since then which hasn't been much fun.
We did, however, make it to the party our branch mission leader threw at his house. We aren't allowed to go out past 6 to anything other than a members' house on halloween, and so we dressed up and went to his murder mystery dinner. My costume was Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (a very fine reproduction of a cheap style of costume usually used by parents for 4 year olds, or so I considered it), Elder Jones from Vermillion came as the Joker, Elder John from Vermillion didn't dress up, but because he's Native American just claimed to be a Werewolf from Twilight before he transforms (I thought it was lazy yet creative) and my companion...well...he was a little old lady. Problem: It's hard to see a six foot something twenty-year-old as anything other than a six-foot-something twenty-year-old, no matter how good his costume is. So that was...scary. I'll send pictures home.
But yeah, the work is going well, when we're not sick. While a couple investigators seem to be falling through, we have one that seems to have potential, despite some barriers. We seem to be able to address his concerns well, so we're pretty hopeful for him. He's neither accepted or rejected the baptismal commitment we gave to him, so hey, no rejection! He's also going to come to church this sunday, hopefully.
I can't wait to just get out and work again. I'm feeling better, so by tomorrow I should be in good enough working order to tract and all that jazz again. Being inside all day friday when Elder Nelson was sick got me pretty stir crazy. We tried to do a few things here and there this weekend, besides the couple prescheduled events (church, break the fast, the party, visiting less actives), but I'm excited to get back out and work. Even if you kind of look forward to some kick-back time on your mission, you still go crazy when you can't just WORK. I might just go crazy when I get home haha but I think that's any normal RM....
I also got a bunch of letters and packages this week! Thank you everyone that sent something out! I might take awhile responding, though. I went from one letter in three weeks to about ten letters and packages in four days. It's always a good boost to get letters and packages! Too bad it was right in the middle of sickness...bleh.
All's well here! No worries, mom, next year I'll jump on vaccinations much sooner haha
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, October 26, 2009
Yankton Elders are to Siouz City as Nephi and Bros were to Jerusalem
Hello Everyone!
I keep being asked how the weather is. Just so you all know, it's been either sunny and mild or rainy or rain mixed with snow. Just kind of depends on the day. I do just fine with my coat. It's not bad yet. I'll be buying boots at some point, but we haven't had snow stick since I first got here.
Yesterday was Stake Conference so we got to go to Sioux City. Today we get to...go to Sioux City, because the Corolla (we named her Kitty...long story) we drive has a brakes recall and that's the closest Toyota dealership. We just get to keep going back to that Sea'awks City, as some people pronounce their first time reading it. Anyway, along with Zone Conference came a visit to our apartment by President and Sister Talbot and the Assistants. That was nerveracking, but good. Meeting with President Talbot is always a good experience. President Talbot also informed us that there were two baptisms in Muscatine, Todd and Brandon, a ten-year-old we had started and committed to baptism just before I left, and that while we were not there for them, they very much were "Our Baptisms" as people think of it, or however he phrased it. That was good to hear.
Elder Nelson and I are going great here. We're working hard and are starting to see success. Not quite the success of Muscatine, but success in being able to teach people and gaining investigators.
Oh, and I most definitely thought of my ancestors while I was in Winter Quarters. It was great to go to the visitors center for a few minutes and see what it was like for them there. I also wish I could have visited the graveyard right smack dab behind the temple but was unable to. It's great to visit somewhere like that.
I love my mission.
Elder Charlie Gates
I keep being asked how the weather is. Just so you all know, it's been either sunny and mild or rainy or rain mixed with snow. Just kind of depends on the day. I do just fine with my coat. It's not bad yet. I'll be buying boots at some point, but we haven't had snow stick since I first got here.
Yesterday was Stake Conference so we got to go to Sioux City. Today we get to...go to Sioux City, because the Corolla (we named her Kitty...long story) we drive has a brakes recall and that's the closest Toyota dealership. We just get to keep going back to that Sea'awks City, as some people pronounce their first time reading it. Anyway, along with Zone Conference came a visit to our apartment by President and Sister Talbot and the Assistants. That was nerveracking, but good. Meeting with President Talbot is always a good experience. President Talbot also informed us that there were two baptisms in Muscatine, Todd and Brandon, a ten-year-old we had started and committed to baptism just before I left, and that while we were not there for them, they very much were "Our Baptisms" as people think of it, or however he phrased it. That was good to hear.
Elder Nelson and I are going great here. We're working hard and are starting to see success. Not quite the success of Muscatine, but success in being able to teach people and gaining investigators.
Oh, and I most definitely thought of my ancestors while I was in Winter Quarters. It was great to go to the visitors center for a few minutes and see what it was like for them there. I also wish I could have visited the graveyard right smack dab behind the temple but was unable to. It's great to visit somewhere like that.
I love my mission.
Elder Charlie Gates
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Yankton: My Personal Winter Quarters
Hello Everybody!
OK, so, Mom may hate me for this, but I completely spaced it last week and forgot to mention that we were going to the temple this past week. So now I've visited both of the temples on either side of the mission, and I'm only in my second transfer out. This time, however, we were able to go to an endowment session, which was awesome to do with some members of the branch and our Branch President. Everything is in a different light in the Celestial Room. We were able to go because a member of the Branch was receiving her endowments. The poor sister stresses out very easily as it is, and seeing as she had been convinced by the catholic church her entire life that freaky things go on in the temple, she was pretty stressed, even for her. But to see her face in the celestial room was amazing. She looked so happy, probably from discovering that no creepy things go on there, and also because it's just a sweet experience to go through the temple. So that was an awesome experience.
Thanks for your email, Mom, it seems that a lot of what you said applies to my life right now. I've been in the middle of long carrides since leaving Muscatine, and can feel your pain. Between traveling from Muscatine here, to here to Des Moines and back, to here to Winter Quarters and back, to Sioux City again this week for district leader council, to just the fact that to get to anywhere in our area you have to travel forever. I don't know if that sentence is entirely correctly worded, but I don't really care anymore.... Anyway, point is, I spend a long time in cars now. Mostly sleeping, but still, it's a long time.
Also, your description of your branch in California years ago sounds a lot like the branch here. A lot of the faithful members are, in their own way, basically serving missions of their own to keep the branch off the ground. We've got our work cut out for us here in less active work alone.
And, congratulations mom and dad on your calling!! I think that's awesome for you two to do that and perfect for your situation and for the YSAs. It'll be cool to have you two in the program there for two months when I get back.
I won't lie, when I first got to Yankton, I was mad that I was here. I wish I could have had a normal mission, for once, and stay in my area. It also sucked when I got to see some people from my MTC District at Zone Conference and have them be so surprised at all the transfering and strange things I've been through. Even experienced missionaries that are going home soon are surprised by how weird it is for a missionary that's being trained to be in a spanish threesome and then whitewash and reopen an area. But after Zone Conference, I felt different on the matter. Sure, It's a lot of switching around and junk most greenies will never face, but I know there's a reason for me to be doing it. I knew that before, but I still was angry. I still worked hard, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't very happy. But I think Zone Conference helped me receive a more humble view on the matter.
Speaking of Muscatine, they now have five baptismal dates. A lady that had almost been baptized last transfer has a new baptismal date. So that's good.
And on the Yankton end, we have an official investigator! This week has been weird with all that's been going on with Zone Conference and trying to drive all over the place to visit people and meeting with members to go over the ward list, but there's a definite sense of antagonism against us here in Yankton. I don't know why, but there is, more so than Muscatine and the areas around there. So we're hoping to spend some more tracting time on the surrounding villages (glorified tiny neighborhoods is more like it. Yankton's only 12,500 or so as it is. Vermillion is 10,000, with school in session). The work's going well, tough, but well. I'm looking forward to the challenge in store for me here. It may be a long road ahead of us, but I can see things really coming together here. It just needs some elbow grease and a lot of work that can only come from one source.
Elder Wickman's address to us in Zone Conference was really good, and it was great to hear from a Seventy and shake his hand. He answered some questions very well, and also spoke of how commitments are the main reason we're here anyway, because without them there's no reason for us to teach. President Talbot also did a great training on an article by Orson Scott Card that was sent to him by an unnamed source concerning the fact that members aren't lazy in missionary work for the most part, they are just looking for the right missionaries to give their friends to teach. No pressure for the missionaries reopening an area.... And Sister Talbot did an awesome training on humility, which is probably what I needed to hear the most. It was also great to see the missionaries I served with in the MTC. I found out that apparently my MTC Companion has gone home from not being able to sleep. He's apparently planning on going to BYU-Hawaii now.
Last time I gave out my exact address, I moved and received a letter from Michaela right afterwards that I still have yet to receive from the other Elder Nelson, along with my jeans and my Muskies shirt that I left.
I know this gospel to be true. I know there's a reason I'm here and a reason why my mission is so crazy so far. I'm glad I'm here and doing the Lord's work. There's no place I'd rather be.
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
OK, so, Mom may hate me for this, but I completely spaced it last week and forgot to mention that we were going to the temple this past week. So now I've visited both of the temples on either side of the mission, and I'm only in my second transfer out. This time, however, we were able to go to an endowment session, which was awesome to do with some members of the branch and our Branch President. Everything is in a different light in the Celestial Room. We were able to go because a member of the Branch was receiving her endowments. The poor sister stresses out very easily as it is, and seeing as she had been convinced by the catholic church her entire life that freaky things go on in the temple, she was pretty stressed, even for her. But to see her face in the celestial room was amazing. She looked so happy, probably from discovering that no creepy things go on there, and also because it's just a sweet experience to go through the temple. So that was an awesome experience.
Thanks for your email, Mom, it seems that a lot of what you said applies to my life right now. I've been in the middle of long carrides since leaving Muscatine, and can feel your pain. Between traveling from Muscatine here, to here to Des Moines and back, to here to Winter Quarters and back, to Sioux City again this week for district leader council, to just the fact that to get to anywhere in our area you have to travel forever. I don't know if that sentence is entirely correctly worded, but I don't really care anymore.... Anyway, point is, I spend a long time in cars now. Mostly sleeping, but still, it's a long time.
Also, your description of your branch in California years ago sounds a lot like the branch here. A lot of the faithful members are, in their own way, basically serving missions of their own to keep the branch off the ground. We've got our work cut out for us here in less active work alone.
And, congratulations mom and dad on your calling!! I think that's awesome for you two to do that and perfect for your situation and for the YSAs. It'll be cool to have you two in the program there for two months when I get back.
I won't lie, when I first got to Yankton, I was mad that I was here. I wish I could have had a normal mission, for once, and stay in my area. It also sucked when I got to see some people from my MTC District at Zone Conference and have them be so surprised at all the transfering and strange things I've been through. Even experienced missionaries that are going home soon are surprised by how weird it is for a missionary that's being trained to be in a spanish threesome and then whitewash and reopen an area. But after Zone Conference, I felt different on the matter. Sure, It's a lot of switching around and junk most greenies will never face, but I know there's a reason for me to be doing it. I knew that before, but I still was angry. I still worked hard, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't very happy. But I think Zone Conference helped me receive a more humble view on the matter.
Speaking of Muscatine, they now have five baptismal dates. A lady that had almost been baptized last transfer has a new baptismal date. So that's good.
And on the Yankton end, we have an official investigator! This week has been weird with all that's been going on with Zone Conference and trying to drive all over the place to visit people and meeting with members to go over the ward list, but there's a definite sense of antagonism against us here in Yankton. I don't know why, but there is, more so than Muscatine and the areas around there. So we're hoping to spend some more tracting time on the surrounding villages (glorified tiny neighborhoods is more like it. Yankton's only 12,500 or so as it is. Vermillion is 10,000, with school in session). The work's going well, tough, but well. I'm looking forward to the challenge in store for me here. It may be a long road ahead of us, but I can see things really coming together here. It just needs some elbow grease and a lot of work that can only come from one source.
Elder Wickman's address to us in Zone Conference was really good, and it was great to hear from a Seventy and shake his hand. He answered some questions very well, and also spoke of how commitments are the main reason we're here anyway, because without them there's no reason for us to teach. President Talbot also did a great training on an article by Orson Scott Card that was sent to him by an unnamed source concerning the fact that members aren't lazy in missionary work for the most part, they are just looking for the right missionaries to give their friends to teach. No pressure for the missionaries reopening an area.... And Sister Talbot did an awesome training on humility, which is probably what I needed to hear the most. It was also great to see the missionaries I served with in the MTC. I found out that apparently my MTC Companion has gone home from not being able to sleep. He's apparently planning on going to BYU-Hawaii now.
Last time I gave out my exact address, I moved and received a letter from Michaela right afterwards that I still have yet to receive from the other Elder Nelson, along with my jeans and my Muskies shirt that I left.
I know this gospel to be true. I know there's a reason I'm here and a reason why my mission is so crazy so far. I'm glad I'm here and doing the Lord's work. There's no place I'd rather be.
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
Hi From Yankton
Hello from Yankton, South Dakota!
Yep, that's right, I moved from one extreme corner of the mission to the other. I no longer even touch Iowa in my area, but I did move from one famous river to the next. The Missouri is not as exciting, but it means I get to see Lewis and Clark stuff all over the place. Brings back memories of Washington.... Transfer day was interesting. As always, I'm guessing. The van picked us up in the morning, 945ish, and we arrived in Yankton sometime after 7 that night. A long time to be on a Mormonmobile packed with missionaries. Yankton is an area that has been closed for a transfer and is a lead competitor for the largest area in the mission. Basically, for those who are able to see my mission map, it goes basically from just past a town called Gayville (poor place) to the edge, and way down south into Nebraska and up to the top of the mission. It can take over an hour to drive some places. There were no investigators when we arrived. The area is huge, one of the biggest in the mission, and yet there are only about 30 or so active members of the branch. A HUGE less-active pool. So we end up with all sorts of time tracting and attempting to contact old Potential and Former Investigators. The branch has some interesting quirks about it, but altogether not a bad place to be. The Branch President (I'm getting used to calling my church a branch. I keep saying "Bishop" and "Ward." Also, none of our Iowa jokes work anymore, and I also keep accidentally referring to Muscatine as "Home"....) is extremely helpful and so is the Branch Mission Leader. And the people are really excited to have us here, and we should be having meals about five times a week, something the president and branch mission leader are pushing for so we can get referrals and get to know the members. So we're stoked for that.
And it snowed last night and friday night. Friday night it didn't stick much, but it started while we were tracting, and last night it stuck on the grass pretty well and accumulated a little, but not on the roads. I'll be buying boots soon, but no real need yet. And yeah. It's a bad place to be for the winter. I'm already layering up a bunch.... Elder Nelson says this is a sign of trust from President Talbot, that he knows not only that we can basically restart missionary work here, but that he can be ok with us being hours and hours away from Des Moines. Elder Nelson had already told me that Prez was impressed with me last Zone Conference. Back then I thought it was a good thing....
Some facts about Yankton:
It is the cow capitol of South Dakota.
It is jam-packed with Catholics, as they like to inform us before closing the door....
It is home to a Federal Prison Camp.
It is home to a monastery.
It is home to a Psychiatric Hospital.
It has a population of, I believe, 20,000 or so, according to the sign.
It may just be one of the largest cities in South Dakota....
South Dakota, it seems, is the same state of the Nonexistent North Dakota, a fact brought to my attention by the Maps for South Dakota. You can't buy a map for just South Dakota, you have to get one with North Dakota included.
It's been hard not to get a little frustrated with my situation, as you can probably tell by my thick sarcasm in this email. I'm still working hard and doing fine, but it's not the best of situations, especially since I'm still green and learning. But if there's nothing else I haven't learned from The Elders Nelson, it's that you never stop learning.
Right now I'm actually emailing from the University of South Dakota in a "city" called Vermillion. It's the closest area, and the only other one in our district. They're also fancy because they have a ward building for their branch, while we're stuck with the equivalent of a large relief society room, half a gym, and a few other rooms as a building. Anyway, we're here because tomorrow is Zone Conference, and this time we have a seventy visiting us, Elder Lance B. Wickman. So there are only two zone conferences, one in Iowa City, and one in Des Moines. So we get the awesome opportunity to drive all the way to Des Moines! Woo. Tonight we're staying in a missionary apartment in Sioux City.
Speaking of apartments, we live in an actual one now. (mom, it's right next to the water tower that's west of the monastery. And yes, I would like letters from Brad and Tyler. And Tyler Russell if possible. Troy's the only one who's written me, besides Brad, and Brad only did it once while i was in the MTC.) We had to clean it up a bit when we moved in. It's not a bad apartment, I like it enough, but as all apartments do, it has its quirks.
Life is going well. We're doing all sorts of finding, but that's even going pretty well. We have set up five return appointments already, but one has also already been dropped. You'd think that if you say you want us to come back once you wouldn't say I'm not interested the second time around. But what do I know. Just keeping faith and hope up and I know all will work out. I know the Lord will bless me as I keep working hard.
Love,
Elder Gates
Yep, that's right, I moved from one extreme corner of the mission to the other. I no longer even touch Iowa in my area, but I did move from one famous river to the next. The Missouri is not as exciting, but it means I get to see Lewis and Clark stuff all over the place. Brings back memories of Washington.... Transfer day was interesting. As always, I'm guessing. The van picked us up in the morning, 945ish, and we arrived in Yankton sometime after 7 that night. A long time to be on a Mormonmobile packed with missionaries. Yankton is an area that has been closed for a transfer and is a lead competitor for the largest area in the mission. Basically, for those who are able to see my mission map, it goes basically from just past a town called Gayville (poor place) to the edge, and way down south into Nebraska and up to the top of the mission. It can take over an hour to drive some places. There were no investigators when we arrived. The area is huge, one of the biggest in the mission, and yet there are only about 30 or so active members of the branch. A HUGE less-active pool. So we end up with all sorts of time tracting and attempting to contact old Potential and Former Investigators. The branch has some interesting quirks about it, but altogether not a bad place to be. The Branch President (I'm getting used to calling my church a branch. I keep saying "Bishop" and "Ward." Also, none of our Iowa jokes work anymore, and I also keep accidentally referring to Muscatine as "Home"....) is extremely helpful and so is the Branch Mission Leader. And the people are really excited to have us here, and we should be having meals about five times a week, something the president and branch mission leader are pushing for so we can get referrals and get to know the members. So we're stoked for that.
And it snowed last night and friday night. Friday night it didn't stick much, but it started while we were tracting, and last night it stuck on the grass pretty well and accumulated a little, but not on the roads. I'll be buying boots soon, but no real need yet. And yeah. It's a bad place to be for the winter. I'm already layering up a bunch.... Elder Nelson says this is a sign of trust from President Talbot, that he knows not only that we can basically restart missionary work here, but that he can be ok with us being hours and hours away from Des Moines. Elder Nelson had already told me that Prez was impressed with me last Zone Conference. Back then I thought it was a good thing....
Some facts about Yankton:
It is the cow capitol of South Dakota.
It is jam-packed with Catholics, as they like to inform us before closing the door....
It is home to a Federal Prison Camp.
It is home to a monastery.
It is home to a Psychiatric Hospital.
It has a population of, I believe, 20,000 or so, according to the sign.
It may just be one of the largest cities in South Dakota....
South Dakota, it seems, is the same state of the Nonexistent North Dakota, a fact brought to my attention by the Maps for South Dakota. You can't buy a map for just South Dakota, you have to get one with North Dakota included.
It's been hard not to get a little frustrated with my situation, as you can probably tell by my thick sarcasm in this email. I'm still working hard and doing fine, but it's not the best of situations, especially since I'm still green and learning. But if there's nothing else I haven't learned from The Elders Nelson, it's that you never stop learning.
Right now I'm actually emailing from the University of South Dakota in a "city" called Vermillion. It's the closest area, and the only other one in our district. They're also fancy because they have a ward building for their branch, while we're stuck with the equivalent of a large relief society room, half a gym, and a few other rooms as a building. Anyway, we're here because tomorrow is Zone Conference, and this time we have a seventy visiting us, Elder Lance B. Wickman. So there are only two zone conferences, one in Iowa City, and one in Des Moines. So we get the awesome opportunity to drive all the way to Des Moines! Woo. Tonight we're staying in a missionary apartment in Sioux City.
Speaking of apartments, we live in an actual one now. (mom, it's right next to the water tower that's west of the monastery. And yes, I would like letters from Brad and Tyler. And Tyler Russell if possible. Troy's the only one who's written me, besides Brad, and Brad only did it once while i was in the MTC.) We had to clean it up a bit when we moved in. It's not a bad apartment, I like it enough, but as all apartments do, it has its quirks.
Life is going well. We're doing all sorts of finding, but that's even going pretty well. We have set up five return appointments already, but one has also already been dropped. You'd think that if you say you want us to come back once you wouldn't say I'm not interested the second time around. But what do I know. Just keeping faith and hope up and I know all will work out. I know the Lord will bless me as I keep working hard.
Love,
Elder Gates
The Three Muscatines' Last Ride
Hey Everybody,
So, as you can tell by the subject of this entry in the log of Elder Gates' travels, the Three Muscatines will be no more as of transfer day, tomorrow. The way things work here is that we don't know that we're being transferred for sure until right before we are, and we don't find out where we're going until we basically get there. That's to hold back on negative rumors and all that. It seems to work, but it kind of causes confusion. For example, let's just say that there is a tri-companionship of two English speakers, one who's being trained, and one that is Spanish. And, to go along with the example, the companionship finds out that something will change a couple days before they know for sure. They think it over and say that the Trainee's official trainer will be transferred, for that is the only thing that would make sense if a transfer were to happen. Instead, tuesday night they get a phone call saying that, sure enough, the Trainer is being transferred and becoming District Leader of his new area, but is also taking his trainee with him, even though his trainee has only been there one transfer, and will be whitewashing (a delicate term which means they will be moved into an area with no companion from the area who had been there the transfer before to update them on everything, and thus have to completely rely on the area book and notes left by the old missionaries). It may surprise you after hearing this farfetched possibility to discover this is exactly what's happening. So tomorrow morning, Papa Nelson and I are headed off to who-knows-where. Mom, go ahead and check my account the next couple days to find out where I bought things from. And it also means today is an awesome packing day. Especially great since i had no clue this would be the case.... We thought I'd be the most likely to stay!
I love Muscatine. I hate that I have to leave. Things are going amazing here. We just started teaching a solid family that Papa Nelson has been trying for 8 weeks to set up a lesson with. We just got our fourth baptismal date with a ten-year-old boy last night, just a few hours before the phone call. We are really a pretty solid companionship in a very solid area. The members are amazing and so willing to help. It's great being right next to the Mississippi. And to smell what smells like burned tuna melts coming from GPC and the smell of catsup from Heinz. Mom and Dad, if you're going to be able to pick me up, we have to stop by Muscatine.
In other news, we did something I wanted to do all transfer, go to Illinois to do work. Our ward goes over there quite a ways, but missionaries have never really gone there to do work. I had always picked out a place called Illinois City to go work in because it looked pretty big from the dot on the map. And so we went this last sunday. It is officially one of the smallest towns I've seen yet, and that's saying something. We nearly tracted the entire town while there, and nothing really came of it in the way of new investigators. But at least we got to go there!
I have pictures I could probably add here, but seeing as how the last time I tried that it all fell apart, I won't try again....
Conference was incredible. I loved being able to go to the ward building where it was broadcast to and watch it. I gained a lot out of it. Just like you, Mom, I saw a big emphasis on following the Spirit, and that has also been our transfer emphasis these last 6 weeks. We had it more as the Spirit being not only our third companion, but our senior companion, from a talk given by, I believe, Jeffrey R. Holland at the MTC. Following the Spirit is essential to missionary work, and is vital to missionary work, or else "Ye shall not teach" (from D&C, and meaning we CANNOT, not should not). I could go over a few different talks that I loved, but that would take awhile and I don't think would be too fruitful. I did love Elder Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon. I wish I could have him on doorsteps or in lessons with us. That was powerful. But I suppose that we are blessed to have a member of the Godhead with us in our lessons, and with faith and firm testimonies we can be powerful as well. And we are, and should be, just tools in the Lord's hands to be led by the Spirit. It's a tough but extremely rewarding deal.
I really don't know what else to add in this email. I'm really getting to the point where stuff is all sort of melding together into one big mass of experiences. I guess that's just going to happen more and more the more I'm out here. I guess that means I should work harder on that whole journal writing thing....
I guess that's it. Oh, and Team Fire won our game last weekend. We weren't able to go because of conference, so we had a parent coach for us. Apparently it worked out. And no worries, I'm still in high spirits, I trust God and know He's got things under control, even if they seem pretty hectic to me. The gospel's true, this Church is Christs' true church, and the Book of Mormon's true.
Love,
Elder Gates
So, as you can tell by the subject of this entry in the log of Elder Gates' travels, the Three Muscatines will be no more as of transfer day, tomorrow. The way things work here is that we don't know that we're being transferred for sure until right before we are, and we don't find out where we're going until we basically get there. That's to hold back on negative rumors and all that. It seems to work, but it kind of causes confusion. For example, let's just say that there is a tri-companionship of two English speakers, one who's being trained, and one that is Spanish. And, to go along with the example, the companionship finds out that something will change a couple days before they know for sure. They think it over and say that the Trainee's official trainer will be transferred, for that is the only thing that would make sense if a transfer were to happen. Instead, tuesday night they get a phone call saying that, sure enough, the Trainer is being transferred and becoming District Leader of his new area, but is also taking his trainee with him, even though his trainee has only been there one transfer, and will be whitewashing (a delicate term which means they will be moved into an area with no companion from the area who had been there the transfer before to update them on everything, and thus have to completely rely on the area book and notes left by the old missionaries). It may surprise you after hearing this farfetched possibility to discover this is exactly what's happening. So tomorrow morning, Papa Nelson and I are headed off to who-knows-where. Mom, go ahead and check my account the next couple days to find out where I bought things from. And it also means today is an awesome packing day. Especially great since i had no clue this would be the case.... We thought I'd be the most likely to stay!
I love Muscatine. I hate that I have to leave. Things are going amazing here. We just started teaching a solid family that Papa Nelson has been trying for 8 weeks to set up a lesson with. We just got our fourth baptismal date with a ten-year-old boy last night, just a few hours before the phone call. We are really a pretty solid companionship in a very solid area. The members are amazing and so willing to help. It's great being right next to the Mississippi. And to smell what smells like burned tuna melts coming from GPC and the smell of catsup from Heinz. Mom and Dad, if you're going to be able to pick me up, we have to stop by Muscatine.
In other news, we did something I wanted to do all transfer, go to Illinois to do work. Our ward goes over there quite a ways, but missionaries have never really gone there to do work. I had always picked out a place called Illinois City to go work in because it looked pretty big from the dot on the map. And so we went this last sunday. It is officially one of the smallest towns I've seen yet, and that's saying something. We nearly tracted the entire town while there, and nothing really came of it in the way of new investigators. But at least we got to go there!
I have pictures I could probably add here, but seeing as how the last time I tried that it all fell apart, I won't try again....
Conference was incredible. I loved being able to go to the ward building where it was broadcast to and watch it. I gained a lot out of it. Just like you, Mom, I saw a big emphasis on following the Spirit, and that has also been our transfer emphasis these last 6 weeks. We had it more as the Spirit being not only our third companion, but our senior companion, from a talk given by, I believe, Jeffrey R. Holland at the MTC. Following the Spirit is essential to missionary work, and is vital to missionary work, or else "Ye shall not teach" (from D&C, and meaning we CANNOT, not should not). I could go over a few different talks that I loved, but that would take awhile and I don't think would be too fruitful. I did love Elder Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon. I wish I could have him on doorsteps or in lessons with us. That was powerful. But I suppose that we are blessed to have a member of the Godhead with us in our lessons, and with faith and firm testimonies we can be powerful as well. And we are, and should be, just tools in the Lord's hands to be led by the Spirit. It's a tough but extremely rewarding deal.
I really don't know what else to add in this email. I'm really getting to the point where stuff is all sort of melding together into one big mass of experiences. I guess that's just going to happen more and more the more I'm out here. I guess that means I should work harder on that whole journal writing thing....
I guess that's it. Oh, and Team Fire won our game last weekend. We weren't able to go because of conference, so we had a parent coach for us. Apparently it worked out. And no worries, I'm still in high spirits, I trust God and know He's got things under control, even if they seem pretty hectic to me. The gospel's true, this Church is Christs' true church, and the Book of Mormon's true.
Love,
Elder Gates
A letter from Elder Gates
Hello Home!
Ok, so I apologize for this being so late in coming but the server or computer or something there is messed up. So, here is my email...kinda.
Things ae going well here. I really frankly don't have much to update on this week, no huge breaking news or anthing, just some good stories. First, I realized what company that is that you have their binder from. I'll try to get a picture by it. Stewart is a busy road so it could be slightly awkward. But it's cool, MUSCO is a pretty big company. There's a strange amount of big companies in this town that I'm sure, is smaller than Auburn. You have MUSCO, HON (not centered here but lot's of factories), Kent Feeds (that GPC lant I mentioned), a company called Stanley or something, its got stuff in the Middle East, so it must be big. We even have Iowa's richest woman, and the best sunsets according to Mark Twain. Just a little Muscatine pride.
We visited on of our investigators who is getting baptized this week. He's an amazing guy. He knows and understands so much and knows it to be true! It was the first time I'd ever met with him and it was great to see that in an investigator. I may have never taught him, but it really showed me that this work really can pay off evenually.
We also stopped by a couple towns, Columbus Junction and Columbus City, on the way back from district meeting this week to do some Spanish work. While there we had our first dog attack! It's surprising to me this was the first one in my time here, since it seems like nearly every home has at least one dog. It might have been that way back at home, too, but I never noticed it. Anyway, there was a football-sized dog on one doorstep that was yapping around like crazy. When Senor Nelson went up to know on the door, the dog pulled the metal chair it was chained to across the porch and bit into his pant leg. Senor Nelson, scared by the growling football attached to his pants, used the dog's size, and his other foot to his advantage and sent the dog back half-a-foot or so. The dog seemed fine, as it kept barking, but we left quickly.
We also went to an appointment that Senor Nelson had set up earlier in the day when we were on splits with the Elders in Washington. But she wasn't there. So we were about to leave the Columbus Area but decided to go ahead and tract the street she (the person the appointment had been with) lived on, since there had to be some reason why we had gone to that street. That was fruitless and fairly uneventlful, owing in part, to the fact the street was long with few houses; that is until we came back to the house of the lady we had had the meeting with. She was home this time so we came in and Senor Nelson taught her the first lesson. I can usually follow along fairly well if I focus really hard, but apparently I wasn't focusing hard enough (imagine that), for when we went out to the truck to grab her a Book of Mormon, Senor Nelson let me know she had accepted a soft baptismal commitment (when you come to know this to be true, will you....) which is HUGE for a first lesson that almost didn't happen. I can't believe I didn't hear it; "baptismo" is fairly distrinctive. A couple other things went down in the lesson which make her pretty solid.
Also, that couple that I think I updated you on who committed to baptism and marriage set their own dates for these two things, and the date they set for baptism is the same one we had prayed about and had decided to commit them to. Nice little testimony building on prayer.
We also knocked into a modern-day Job of sorts. She had been divorced by the her husband a couple years ago, had had her fiancee call off the wedding that was supposed to happen a couple weeks ago, had surgery and had just barely gotten out of the hospital and her friends had deserted her or something like that. Anyway, all sorts of junk was going wrong for her, and yet here she stood with a smile on her face and faith in God. She rejected our message, but couldn't turn down our offer to mow her lawn for her. She said the Lord would provide and I just pointed out that maybe the Lord was providing through us. She seemed to like that, and referenced the good ol' parable of the guy in the flood who was waiting for God to help him and then turned down people who were trying to help him three different times. So this, but mostly the Elders Nelsons not allowing her to say no, allowed us to go to work. And so us three missionaries in our white shirts, ties, and dress pants and shoes mowed her front lawn for her. We even came back a second time and mowed again so it would look better. By the way, now that I've mowed with both bag and bagless mowers, I now know that bags are MUCH better!
So we went to a place called West Liberty this week, as we usually do at least once a week due to the loads of Spanish work there, and there were car races going on at the track there! I felt home! Sort of. Plus we had amazing El Salvadorian food at a restaurant there. Good stuff, and inexpensive!
The weather is starting to change here. Temperatures definitely feel different here than in Washington or Idaho.
I know this to be Christ's true church restored again through modern-day prophets and am glad to be a part of this great work.
Elder Charlie Gates
Ok, so I apologize for this being so late in coming but the server or computer or something there is messed up. So, here is my email...kinda.
Things ae going well here. I really frankly don't have much to update on this week, no huge breaking news or anthing, just some good stories. First, I realized what company that is that you have their binder from. I'll try to get a picture by it. Stewart is a busy road so it could be slightly awkward. But it's cool, MUSCO is a pretty big company. There's a strange amount of big companies in this town that I'm sure, is smaller than Auburn. You have MUSCO, HON (not centered here but lot's of factories), Kent Feeds (that GPC lant I mentioned), a company called Stanley or something, its got stuff in the Middle East, so it must be big. We even have Iowa's richest woman, and the best sunsets according to Mark Twain. Just a little Muscatine pride.
We visited on of our investigators who is getting baptized this week. He's an amazing guy. He knows and understands so much and knows it to be true! It was the first time I'd ever met with him and it was great to see that in an investigator. I may have never taught him, but it really showed me that this work really can pay off evenually.
We also stopped by a couple towns, Columbus Junction and Columbus City, on the way back from district meeting this week to do some Spanish work. While there we had our first dog attack! It's surprising to me this was the first one in my time here, since it seems like nearly every home has at least one dog. It might have been that way back at home, too, but I never noticed it. Anyway, there was a football-sized dog on one doorstep that was yapping around like crazy. When Senor Nelson went up to know on the door, the dog pulled the metal chair it was chained to across the porch and bit into his pant leg. Senor Nelson, scared by the growling football attached to his pants, used the dog's size, and his other foot to his advantage and sent the dog back half-a-foot or so. The dog seemed fine, as it kept barking, but we left quickly.
We also went to an appointment that Senor Nelson had set up earlier in the day when we were on splits with the Elders in Washington. But she wasn't there. So we were about to leave the Columbus Area but decided to go ahead and tract the street she (the person the appointment had been with) lived on, since there had to be some reason why we had gone to that street. That was fruitless and fairly uneventlful, owing in part, to the fact the street was long with few houses; that is until we came back to the house of the lady we had had the meeting with. She was home this time so we came in and Senor Nelson taught her the first lesson. I can usually follow along fairly well if I focus really hard, but apparently I wasn't focusing hard enough (imagine that), for when we went out to the truck to grab her a Book of Mormon, Senor Nelson let me know she had accepted a soft baptismal commitment (when you come to know this to be true, will you....) which is HUGE for a first lesson that almost didn't happen. I can't believe I didn't hear it; "baptismo" is fairly distrinctive. A couple other things went down in the lesson which make her pretty solid.
Also, that couple that I think I updated you on who committed to baptism and marriage set their own dates for these two things, and the date they set for baptism is the same one we had prayed about and had decided to commit them to. Nice little testimony building on prayer.
We also knocked into a modern-day Job of sorts. She had been divorced by the her husband a couple years ago, had had her fiancee call off the wedding that was supposed to happen a couple weeks ago, had surgery and had just barely gotten out of the hospital and her friends had deserted her or something like that. Anyway, all sorts of junk was going wrong for her, and yet here she stood with a smile on her face and faith in God. She rejected our message, but couldn't turn down our offer to mow her lawn for her. She said the Lord would provide and I just pointed out that maybe the Lord was providing through us. She seemed to like that, and referenced the good ol' parable of the guy in the flood who was waiting for God to help him and then turned down people who were trying to help him three different times. So this, but mostly the Elders Nelsons not allowing her to say no, allowed us to go to work. And so us three missionaries in our white shirts, ties, and dress pants and shoes mowed her front lawn for her. We even came back a second time and mowed again so it would look better. By the way, now that I've mowed with both bag and bagless mowers, I now know that bags are MUCH better!
So we went to a place called West Liberty this week, as we usually do at least once a week due to the loads of Spanish work there, and there were car races going on at the track there! I felt home! Sort of. Plus we had amazing El Salvadorian food at a restaurant there. Good stuff, and inexpensive!
The weather is starting to change here. Temperatures definitely feel different here than in Washington or Idaho.
I know this to be Christ's true church restored again through modern-day prophets and am glad to be a part of this great work.
Elder Charlie Gates
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Three Muscatines and the Voyage to Worshington
Dear Apparent Fans,
Remember that both with the 116 pages lost with the translation of the Book of Mormon and my letter, the part we do have basically sums up what was lost. I just told a little story or two that was lost and took up a good portion of time to write and I didn't feel like reiterating.... I may this email, we'll see.
First I'll address a couple concerns Mom asked me about and go from there.
1) It's not that cramped in the apartment with three elders. It's really a good sized place and is about right for three. The only one that really thinks it's cramped is Sister Chapman, who was kind of "wiggin out" when Senor Nelson first moved in about space and clutter. This only really added to the large amount of stress we were under. Sometimes after a hard day's work or on a P-Day where I just want to relax it's hard to smile and say "Sure, I'd love to scrub all the mold from the corners of the walls of the bathroom (that's been there for long before any of us moved in) right now." But it's a blessing that she lets us live there and she's a well-intentioned good sister.
2) This month we have had more meals with members than most missionaries have in a transfer. When I first got here the meal calendar was barely full, but the last couple weeks it's been jam-packed. Like every day and then some somedays. It's awesome, and the meals are almost always incredible. A lot of times we have to cut them off short because we have so many plans. The other two say that the loads of food means that they love us. I like to take all the credit there.
So, updates on the work: things are going...well. We haven't kill each other or any more dogs yet. (Ok, the story about the dog: back when there were two spanish elders here, they had an investigator with a sick dog, so they did everything they could to help. A veterinarian suggested giving it Peptobismol. So Elder Poulsen and Elder Nelson ran to get some and ran back to the investigators' house to admister it to the dog. They burst in, acting in their best EMS ways, and, ignoring the fatal appearance of the dog, tilted its head back and administered the peptobismol with a syringe into its mouth. When they were finished, they let go of the dogs' head and watched, in horror, as it just limply fell to the side. The investigators are still meeting with us, which is good. Good enough story that for their one sentence update in the zone's newspaper it said "We killed an investigators' dog with Pepto Bismol," while ours was "Elder Gates is as green as the forests of Oregen. Or Washington or wherever he's from." Yep, he spelled Oregon that way, something we don't let him forget.) But yeah, things were less exciting this week. We were dropped by the seventeen-year-old kid that seemed promising, and a lot of appointments with other promising investigators has fallen through. So, to skip over the sad parts, I'll update you on the good.
For one thing, Senor Nelson, having learned from a role play that was done during District Meeting this week that was done solely to help him on this matter, successfully committed a couple to marriage and baptism, which was way cool.
We have a baptismal date! Technically, we've had it for awhile, but can't count it until it's less than three months away, and so now we can count it! He's basically a member, he's even come to lessons, he just is waiting for marriage and a time when family can be in town.
I went on splits this week with a member and taught the first lesson basically by myself! Granted, it was to a member because my appointment with Todd, our Dry Mormon mentioned earlier, fell through, but it was still cool.... Won the love of the members there, I guess. They seemed impressed with me. I don't say it to brag, because I'm as surprised at them being impressed as they were with me.
We also took a trip to Washington, or as Iowans call it, Worshington, for district meeting. It was really good and felt like a miniature Zone Conference, since it was half the zone and nearly as spiritual. Afterwards, we went to Pizza Ranch, an awesome buffet place, and pigged out. Last Monday we ran into a Senior Missionary Couple from Nauvoo here in Muscatine at Wal-Mart because they were going to a place nearby to help out at a festival thing. They gave us $40 for lunch, which we used at pizza ranch. I considered it a blessing. We also went to a swinging bridge on the way back that went over a ravine. It was kind of like the ones that you see in Indiana Jones or whatever, but made out of heavy duty cords so it was safe.
OH! I almost forgot! I keep forgetting to mention that we are volunteer coaches at the Y for a 9-10 year old soccer team. I tell you, I would be awesome on a team like that. I'd be a bad goalie, though. Something's scarier about it being kicked instead of thrown. Anyway, we have won our last two games, the first 2-0 and the second 12-1. We rock. The parents love us, too, even, it seems to some extent, the one that seems like her kid's soccer team is her entire life. One said, after telling us we were great coaches, that she didn't know how we had so much patience with them. You kind of want to say "It's the Holy Ghost, want to learn more?" Probably should have, it didn't seem like a good time.
I'm slightly inundated with the letters from everybody. Those who are still waiting for a letter back, please be patient, I'm trying my best. We're pretty busy out here.
And the humidity here isn't bugging me too bad. It's definitely turning into Fall, which makes it easier, and the humidity is just kind of like some parts of washington, especially in the mountains or near the coast.
Ok, real quick story that was left out of last week's email. So we were tracting in a nearby town and when we knocked on one door, a girl in her twenties came around the corner and got really excited, grabbed her bible, and invited us into her backyard, where she began talkingreallyfastkindoflikethisinreallyjumbledquicksentencesthatdidn'ttietogethertoowell. We tried our best to answer her questions and teach her. It was amazing to watch her as she learned, for she considered herself to have studied religion very well. She got upset when we mentioned that the authority had been lost from the earth, saying she didn't think God would allow so many people to have been lost, so I told her about Christ ministering to people in the next life who had not received the gospel and sending forth missionaries to go and do more and about baptisms for the dead, two things talked about in the New Testament (the latter in...thessalonians? and the former in 1 Peter 4:6 and also in 1 Peter 3, in case you were wondering). This really pacified her, which was cool to watch how her whole demeanor changed.
The gospel's true. This work is of God, and while it may not be easy, is lead by God. I know so, and love being a part of it. Keep strong in the truth.
Love,
Charlie
Remember that both with the 116 pages lost with the translation of the Book of Mormon and my letter, the part we do have basically sums up what was lost. I just told a little story or two that was lost and took up a good portion of time to write and I didn't feel like reiterating.... I may this email, we'll see.
First I'll address a couple concerns Mom asked me about and go from there.
1) It's not that cramped in the apartment with three elders. It's really a good sized place and is about right for three. The only one that really thinks it's cramped is Sister Chapman, who was kind of "wiggin out" when Senor Nelson first moved in about space and clutter. This only really added to the large amount of stress we were under. Sometimes after a hard day's work or on a P-Day where I just want to relax it's hard to smile and say "Sure, I'd love to scrub all the mold from the corners of the walls of the bathroom (that's been there for long before any of us moved in) right now." But it's a blessing that she lets us live there and she's a well-intentioned good sister.
2) This month we have had more meals with members than most missionaries have in a transfer. When I first got here the meal calendar was barely full, but the last couple weeks it's been jam-packed. Like every day and then some somedays. It's awesome, and the meals are almost always incredible. A lot of times we have to cut them off short because we have so many plans. The other two say that the loads of food means that they love us. I like to take all the credit there.
So, updates on the work: things are going...well. We haven't kill each other or any more dogs yet. (Ok, the story about the dog: back when there were two spanish elders here, they had an investigator with a sick dog, so they did everything they could to help. A veterinarian suggested giving it Peptobismol. So Elder Poulsen and Elder Nelson ran to get some and ran back to the investigators' house to admister it to the dog. They burst in, acting in their best EMS ways, and, ignoring the fatal appearance of the dog, tilted its head back and administered the peptobismol with a syringe into its mouth. When they were finished, they let go of the dogs' head and watched, in horror, as it just limply fell to the side. The investigators are still meeting with us, which is good. Good enough story that for their one sentence update in the zone's newspaper it said "We killed an investigators' dog with Pepto Bismol," while ours was "Elder Gates is as green as the forests of Oregen. Or Washington or wherever he's from." Yep, he spelled Oregon that way, something we don't let him forget.) But yeah, things were less exciting this week. We were dropped by the seventeen-year-old kid that seemed promising, and a lot of appointments with other promising investigators has fallen through. So, to skip over the sad parts, I'll update you on the good.
For one thing, Senor Nelson, having learned from a role play that was done during District Meeting this week that was done solely to help him on this matter, successfully committed a couple to marriage and baptism, which was way cool.
We have a baptismal date! Technically, we've had it for awhile, but can't count it until it's less than three months away, and so now we can count it! He's basically a member, he's even come to lessons, he just is waiting for marriage and a time when family can be in town.
I went on splits this week with a member and taught the first lesson basically by myself! Granted, it was to a member because my appointment with Todd, our Dry Mormon mentioned earlier, fell through, but it was still cool.... Won the love of the members there, I guess. They seemed impressed with me. I don't say it to brag, because I'm as surprised at them being impressed as they were with me.
We also took a trip to Washington, or as Iowans call it, Worshington, for district meeting. It was really good and felt like a miniature Zone Conference, since it was half the zone and nearly as spiritual. Afterwards, we went to Pizza Ranch, an awesome buffet place, and pigged out. Last Monday we ran into a Senior Missionary Couple from Nauvoo here in Muscatine at Wal-Mart because they were going to a place nearby to help out at a festival thing. They gave us $40 for lunch, which we used at pizza ranch. I considered it a blessing. We also went to a swinging bridge on the way back that went over a ravine. It was kind of like the ones that you see in Indiana Jones or whatever, but made out of heavy duty cords so it was safe.
OH! I almost forgot! I keep forgetting to mention that we are volunteer coaches at the Y for a 9-10 year old soccer team. I tell you, I would be awesome on a team like that. I'd be a bad goalie, though. Something's scarier about it being kicked instead of thrown. Anyway, we have won our last two games, the first 2-0 and the second 12-1. We rock. The parents love us, too, even, it seems to some extent, the one that seems like her kid's soccer team is her entire life. One said, after telling us we were great coaches, that she didn't know how we had so much patience with them. You kind of want to say "It's the Holy Ghost, want to learn more?" Probably should have, it didn't seem like a good time.
I'm slightly inundated with the letters from everybody. Those who are still waiting for a letter back, please be patient, I'm trying my best. We're pretty busy out here.
And the humidity here isn't bugging me too bad. It's definitely turning into Fall, which makes it easier, and the humidity is just kind of like some parts of washington, especially in the mountains or near the coast.
Ok, real quick story that was left out of last week's email. So we were tracting in a nearby town and when we knocked on one door, a girl in her twenties came around the corner and got really excited, grabbed her bible, and invited us into her backyard, where she began talkingreallyfastkindoflikethisinreallyjumbledquicksentencesthatdidn'ttietogethertoowell. We tried our best to answer her questions and teach her. It was amazing to watch her as she learned, for she considered herself to have studied religion very well. She got upset when we mentioned that the authority had been lost from the earth, saying she didn't think God would allow so many people to have been lost, so I told her about Christ ministering to people in the next life who had not received the gospel and sending forth missionaries to go and do more and about baptisms for the dead, two things talked about in the New Testament (the latter in...thessalonians? and the former in 1 Peter 4:6 and also in 1 Peter 3, in case you were wondering). This really pacified her, which was cool to watch how her whole demeanor changed.
The gospel's true. This work is of God, and while it may not be easy, is lead by God. I know so, and love being a part of it. Keep strong in the truth.
Love,
Charlie
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Three Muscatines and the Internet of Doom
Hello Everybody,
I wrote a long, amazing, spiritual email, and it was erased, either because MPC computer (whoever heard of MPC?) erased it or the server here at Muscatine Community College got overloaded (who knows how, there's ten computers maybe in this tiny podunk college, my high school was bigger) or because myldsmail.net screwed up. Take your pick.
I really don't have much time to waste on here anymore, and I'm fairly frustrated. Not to mention if I make it too long again it'll probably erase it all again. So just consider it my personal 116 pages.
So here's the gist:
Really busy but good week. Didn't do much missionary work throughout because of moving out the old spanish apartments' stuff and moving in Senor Nelson and Zone Conference which took most of wednesday and thursday. Zone conference was cool, the lesson was to have the Spirit be your 3rd, or in our case 4th, companion and be the senior companion. It's something I'd tried to do before, but it was an awesome lesson to learn even more about it and something I've been trying to apply. I also had a good interview with President Talbot there, he gave me some good advice about having courage to open my mouth and also to make sure not to say too much, for too many missionaries fall into that habit too. It's been awesome trying to apply those things these last couple days where we've been running around trying to finish our 10 hours of tracting we've committed to do each week. I had some awesome experiences during the 4.5 hours tracting on saturday and sunday each, and I learned a lot from them. Nonmembers reading this, just try it out for yourself. Just read a little of the book of mormon and pray about it to know if it's true. For God won't punish you for asking. God loves us and wants us to know. Members, don't be afraid to open your mouths and share the gospel too. You might think you don't have enough time, but it says in the scriptures that God will provide in all of the commandments He gives us, and is member missionary work not a commandment?
Bought myself a shirt for the local high school. There's only one high school in town, Muscatine High School, and their colors are purple and gold, their the home of the Muskies, and their symbol looks like the UW "W" just upside down and italicized slightly. So when I saw a shirt that looks just like the purple with yellow lettering Huskies shirts that said Muskies instead, I had to get it. It cracked me up. [My bike isn't being used much right now cuz we're not on car share. It's doing well, but I gotta do some work on the gears cuz my pant leg got caught in them once and it won't shift into anything other than the middle gear, but it will shift into 1-7 in that middle gear, if that makes any sense. thank you for the package and everything in it, I got it saturday, and I got the Dear Elder last tuesday. Probably normal mail would be the best option now.]
This church truly is the church of Christ again on the earth. I know this for myself. It has blessed my life so very much, as I know it will all of yours too.
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
I wrote a long, amazing, spiritual email, and it was erased, either because MPC computer (whoever heard of MPC?) erased it or the server here at Muscatine Community College got overloaded (who knows how, there's ten computers maybe in this tiny podunk college, my high school was bigger) or because myldsmail.net screwed up. Take your pick.
I really don't have much time to waste on here anymore, and I'm fairly frustrated. Not to mention if I make it too long again it'll probably erase it all again. So just consider it my personal 116 pages.
So here's the gist:
Really busy but good week. Didn't do much missionary work throughout because of moving out the old spanish apartments' stuff and moving in Senor Nelson and Zone Conference which took most of wednesday and thursday. Zone conference was cool, the lesson was to have the Spirit be your 3rd, or in our case 4th, companion and be the senior companion. It's something I'd tried to do before, but it was an awesome lesson to learn even more about it and something I've been trying to apply. I also had a good interview with President Talbot there, he gave me some good advice about having courage to open my mouth and also to make sure not to say too much, for too many missionaries fall into that habit too. It's been awesome trying to apply those things these last couple days where we've been running around trying to finish our 10 hours of tracting we've committed to do each week. I had some awesome experiences during the 4.5 hours tracting on saturday and sunday each, and I learned a lot from them. Nonmembers reading this, just try it out for yourself. Just read a little of the book of mormon and pray about it to know if it's true. For God won't punish you for asking. God loves us and wants us to know. Members, don't be afraid to open your mouths and share the gospel too. You might think you don't have enough time, but it says in the scriptures that God will provide in all of the commandments He gives us, and is member missionary work not a commandment?
Bought myself a shirt for the local high school. There's only one high school in town, Muscatine High School, and their colors are purple and gold, their the home of the Muskies, and their symbol looks like the UW "W" just upside down and italicized slightly. So when I saw a shirt that looks just like the purple with yellow lettering Huskies shirts that said Muskies instead, I had to get it. It cracked me up. [My bike isn't being used much right now cuz we're not on car share. It's doing well, but I gotta do some work on the gears cuz my pant leg got caught in them once and it won't shift into anything other than the middle gear, but it will shift into 1-7 in that middle gear, if that makes any sense. thank you for the package and everything in it, I got it saturday, and I got the Dear Elder last tuesday. Probably normal mail would be the best option now.]
This church truly is the church of Christ again on the earth. I know this for myself. It has blessed my life so very much, as I know it will all of yours too.
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Hello Everyone!
Hello Everybody!
Well, a crazy thing happened this last week that never really happens: I got myself another trainer. I'm now in a threesome with...Elder Nelson. The other one. So I have two Elder Nelsons as companions. Yeah, it's just that confusing. And Elder Nelson II is a spanish speaking missionary. So I'm trying to just learn a little spanish. I might as well since I'm going to be sitting through lessons where I can't understand much. Anyway, a change happened elsewhere so we lost the other spanish speaking elder so he could go train and kept Elder Nelson so we can push forward in the work with the spanish speaking people. So for conveniency and to lose confusion, Elder Nelson, the original, will be Papa Nelson, and the new one will be Senor Nelson. Comprende? Technically, we're not supposed to give nicknames to other missionaries, but how can you not when you have two with the same name? But yeah, we like to refer to ourselves as the Three Muscatines. (No clue if you know this or not, but it's pronounced Muskateen. Just in case.) I also have a firm belief that three people companionships is just an unnatural thing. It can be a lot more fun at times, though.
I guess now would be a good time to apologize for not being able to write yesterday. It was busy, because we were trying to finish moving in Senor Nelson, there was a ward picnic, and we may or may not have gone to the Nauvoo Temple. You see, we took Donald, a recent convert, and "stud" as Senor Nelson likes to call him, to do baptisms for the dead and got it okayed by President Talbot. So we left at 6 in the morning and drove the 1.5 hour drive to Nauvoo. It was so awesome to see my first baptism on my mission!! Even if the person being baptized wasn't who the ordinance was for, it was still way cool. Not to mention it was in one of the most historic temples! And the biggest font in the world. And it's just cool to be baptized for the dead anyway. Afterward we got some fudge from the Fudge Factory and got a couple souvenirs before heading back to the picnic. We never even got to shop yesterday, so we're going after this.
Not much has changed otherwise, it's just been kind of hectic trying to do the work of two separate companionships in one, but we're dealing. We're also pretty sure that there will only be one companionship in Muscatine from now on, for our district has now been absorbed by another and we had to move all of the stuff out of the other apartment. So we're all wondering what will happen next transfer, whether Papa Nelson will go and I'll be finished training with Senor Nelson, or if we'll stay in a threesome or what, because Greenies don't transfer out of their original area until after at least three transfers here.
Other news: Last week, before the Three Muscatines were formed, I went to Iowa City with Papa Nelson because he had District Leader Council. So while he was there, I went with one elder who came out with me, Elder Knapp, and one who has been out only one transfer, Elder Perazzo, and drove to downtown Iowa City (it was weird being in a legitimate city again) and OYMed (open your mouth, meaning to go and talk to random people about the gospel as they are mosying on through their day) people. Now THAT was a good and odd experience. Nobody was really receptive, but it was good to get practice of talking to all sorts of people. I think I prefer small towns or suburbs though. It also gave me a chance to drive! I also stayed in Iowa City that night and got to go on an exchange with one of our zone leaders, Elder Hall. He's a way cool guy.
I'm getting more used to talking to people, but it's still something I'm getting used to. I can more easily say what I need to, but I'd so much more prefer just sitting back and observing while tracting or OYMing. The ten hours of tracting a week we're supposed to do is helping, though. I can also do much better with lessons now, but only when I'm comfortable, but my comfort area is growing for sure. Or else dissolving completely, who knows. I'm becoming a better and more vocal missinary for sure. I think this is something that all greenies have to go through to a point. I hope.
Little unimportant things: I'm definitely still adjusting to Iowa. It's weird having to talk over the sounds of cicadas. And when Taffee, Sister Chapman's, the sister whose basement we live in, cat, brought a cicada in last night, it made the weirdest noise. Well, they always do, but even weirder in person. What a funky bug. The climate is weird, too. It can get so muggy at times, and this year is a much nicer one than most. And for an idea of what most of Iowa looks like, watch Lord of the Rings. It's the shire, thousands of years in the future.
I believe things are pretty much summed up now. The seventeen-year-old guy is still pushing forward. We talked to his mom and she's really supportive of him coming to church and talking to us, so at least there's no actual pressure on him about staying catholic. He really wants to be baptized, and I really hope things work out with him. He even came to church and mutual and has signed up to do certain things in mutual this next week.
I've really come to realize how satan can get in the way of people doing what they should. Certainly, people live lives and can't do everything we expect of him, but I've seen people fall through a lot on appointments and such, and it's just the way it is I think. Things come up, and get in the way, and it's sad. I also met my first anti, and all it did was increase my faith. He'd be really mad to find out that's what he accomplished. Still don't get why people would try so hard to fight us, but it doesn't get to me as much anymore. Papa Nelson even told me he likes it when people fight him, for it's exactly what people did to the prophets of old, and even the savior. I still think that's crazy to like it, but at least he has a good attitude towards it, and I'm tryin to be the same way.
Remember, the message I've been sent forth to share is true. I know it. I know it will bring so much happiness and peace to everyone who accepts it in their life, because it has in mine, and I've seen it in others. Never forget that it's true. And those who don't know, find out for yourself. Ask God if it is. He'll let you know.
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
Well, a crazy thing happened this last week that never really happens: I got myself another trainer. I'm now in a threesome with...Elder Nelson. The other one. So I have two Elder Nelsons as companions. Yeah, it's just that confusing. And Elder Nelson II is a spanish speaking missionary. So I'm trying to just learn a little spanish. I might as well since I'm going to be sitting through lessons where I can't understand much. Anyway, a change happened elsewhere so we lost the other spanish speaking elder so he could go train and kept Elder Nelson so we can push forward in the work with the spanish speaking people. So for conveniency and to lose confusion, Elder Nelson, the original, will be Papa Nelson, and the new one will be Senor Nelson. Comprende? Technically, we're not supposed to give nicknames to other missionaries, but how can you not when you have two with the same name? But yeah, we like to refer to ourselves as the Three Muscatines. (No clue if you know this or not, but it's pronounced Muskateen. Just in case.) I also have a firm belief that three people companionships is just an unnatural thing. It can be a lot more fun at times, though.
I guess now would be a good time to apologize for not being able to write yesterday. It was busy, because we were trying to finish moving in Senor Nelson, there was a ward picnic, and we may or may not have gone to the Nauvoo Temple. You see, we took Donald, a recent convert, and "stud" as Senor Nelson likes to call him, to do baptisms for the dead and got it okayed by President Talbot. So we left at 6 in the morning and drove the 1.5 hour drive to Nauvoo. It was so awesome to see my first baptism on my mission!! Even if the person being baptized wasn't who the ordinance was for, it was still way cool. Not to mention it was in one of the most historic temples! And the biggest font in the world. And it's just cool to be baptized for the dead anyway. Afterward we got some fudge from the Fudge Factory and got a couple souvenirs before heading back to the picnic. We never even got to shop yesterday, so we're going after this.
Not much has changed otherwise, it's just been kind of hectic trying to do the work of two separate companionships in one, but we're dealing. We're also pretty sure that there will only be one companionship in Muscatine from now on, for our district has now been absorbed by another and we had to move all of the stuff out of the other apartment. So we're all wondering what will happen next transfer, whether Papa Nelson will go and I'll be finished training with Senor Nelson, or if we'll stay in a threesome or what, because Greenies don't transfer out of their original area until after at least three transfers here.
Other news: Last week, before the Three Muscatines were formed, I went to Iowa City with Papa Nelson because he had District Leader Council. So while he was there, I went with one elder who came out with me, Elder Knapp, and one who has been out only one transfer, Elder Perazzo, and drove to downtown Iowa City (it was weird being in a legitimate city again) and OYMed (open your mouth, meaning to go and talk to random people about the gospel as they are mosying on through their day) people. Now THAT was a good and odd experience. Nobody was really receptive, but it was good to get practice of talking to all sorts of people. I think I prefer small towns or suburbs though. It also gave me a chance to drive! I also stayed in Iowa City that night and got to go on an exchange with one of our zone leaders, Elder Hall. He's a way cool guy.
I'm getting more used to talking to people, but it's still something I'm getting used to. I can more easily say what I need to, but I'd so much more prefer just sitting back and observing while tracting or OYMing. The ten hours of tracting a week we're supposed to do is helping, though. I can also do much better with lessons now, but only when I'm comfortable, but my comfort area is growing for sure. Or else dissolving completely, who knows. I'm becoming a better and more vocal missinary for sure. I think this is something that all greenies have to go through to a point. I hope.
Little unimportant things: I'm definitely still adjusting to Iowa. It's weird having to talk over the sounds of cicadas. And when Taffee, Sister Chapman's, the sister whose basement we live in, cat, brought a cicada in last night, it made the weirdest noise. Well, they always do, but even weirder in person. What a funky bug. The climate is weird, too. It can get so muggy at times, and this year is a much nicer one than most. And for an idea of what most of Iowa looks like, watch Lord of the Rings. It's the shire, thousands of years in the future.
I believe things are pretty much summed up now. The seventeen-year-old guy is still pushing forward. We talked to his mom and she's really supportive of him coming to church and talking to us, so at least there's no actual pressure on him about staying catholic. He really wants to be baptized, and I really hope things work out with him. He even came to church and mutual and has signed up to do certain things in mutual this next week.
I've really come to realize how satan can get in the way of people doing what they should. Certainly, people live lives and can't do everything we expect of him, but I've seen people fall through a lot on appointments and such, and it's just the way it is I think. Things come up, and get in the way, and it's sad. I also met my first anti, and all it did was increase my faith. He'd be really mad to find out that's what he accomplished. Still don't get why people would try so hard to fight us, but it doesn't get to me as much anymore. Papa Nelson even told me he likes it when people fight him, for it's exactly what people did to the prophets of old, and even the savior. I still think that's crazy to like it, but at least he has a good attitude towards it, and I'm tryin to be the same way.
Remember, the message I've been sent forth to share is true. I know it. I know it will bring so much happiness and peace to everyone who accepts it in their life, because it has in mine, and I've seen it in others. Never forget that it's true. And those who don't know, find out for yourself. Ask God if it is. He'll let you know.
Love,
Elder Charlie Gates
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
First MTC Now Muscatine
Hello Everybody!
What a crazy week and a half it's been! I'm now in Muscatine, Iowa, right on the banks of the Mississippi. It's a town that SORT OF kind of reminds me of Auburn, in a way, kind of small, spread out, but has an even smaller town feel, kinda like if Auburn's downtown took up all of Auburn, and has hills like crazy. At least compared to the rest of Iowa. Which made it great that we have a car share with the other two elders in the area and not just to ourselves. My thighs will be massive by the time I'm home....
Anyway, for the trip out here, we woke up at about 2:30 am Wednesday morning and had to meet out front at 4. I got up early to finish packing and all that kind of stuff. Our flight left at 7ish and I had a chance to call home before then. The flight was nice enough, I got to watch the ground go by and saw the Grand Canyon for the first time from above. We arrived in Phoenix (I know, out of the way, but not as much as Atlanta. Some elders here had to go through there to get here) and had an hour layover till we left again. On that flight, we got onto the smallest plane I've ever been on, basically a flying cigarette, and sat by an elderly woman. I was tired and knew I should probably share a message but was far too tired to start off a conversation on religion. So she started it for me. 79-year-old Penny started first by asking me if I'd ever seen a sitting Saint (I believe it was Francis. I really don't know. I'm sure I will understand them all by the time I go home, though....) and I told her I hadn't. She then started just talking and asked me to tell her what we believed in. I seriously wondered for a second if she was LDS and was just trying to test my knowledge, but I started in anyway. It was an awesome discussion, she said that the things I said all made sense, such as that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost were all separate beings, and other stuff too that I could prove from the Bible (I couldn't quite tell if the spirit was there. I'm sure it was, but that little jet that was four seats wide was so loud I could barely tell) and wanted to go tell all of her family about it, but wouldn't accept any pamphlets from me, and only took pass along cards for bookmarks. I even asked her to pray about it, but I think she's more focused on praying for me because she loved me so much. She admired what I did, and didn't want to offend me, but had been Lutheran all her life. I've found out quickly out here that no matter how much some people can feel it's true, they still are too closely tied to their religion to really consider it. It's truly sad....
Anyway, we were met at the airport by the president, and got all of our stuff. I started feeling sick, most likely from the fact I had not had anything to eat or drink all day. We went to eat at McDonalds and then went to the mission home to drop stuff off, and then went tracting. I still felt gross but did my best to start off door approaches. The Assistant I was with took it farther. I started to realize that people would generally decline it very nicely, which i suppose is nicer than outright rejecting what I have to share. Later that night I finally got rid of the illness, but not till after nearly sleeping through being taught important information, groggily going through a great interview with the president, and shoving down a delicious dinner that I wish I could have enjoyed more. I love President and Sister Talbot a lot.
The next day we got our assignments and companions. I am with Elder Nelson. He's a really good missionary, hardworking and yet fun. I'm his first trainee, or son as they refer to them here, and he's used it to pull pranks on me. Like when I first read off who my comp would be to the group of Trainers who were not wearing nametags, he had another elder stand up. He also switched his nametag with the other Elder Nelson in our district (our district comprises two companionships, one English, one Spanish, both for the same ward that covers about as much area as Auburn and Kent Stakes combined) and convinced me that I was gonna be stuck in a spanish speaking area. He also tried pushing the beds together to convince me there was only one, but I knew the rule against that in the white handbook already. Also, when I was out tracting for the first time, he pulled another trick on me. We were tracting out in the south end of town, an area usually just taken by the Spanish Elders, and knocked into a family that, only after saying a few things to, invited us in. That alone was sort of intimidating, but then the daughters were sort of rude. We started answering the questions of this sort of large family, and Elder Nelson had me answer quite a bit. I let him answer the gay one, though, which he did very poorly. After about fifteen minutes or longer, the dad went into the back and then brought out two framed pictures: one of Jesus, the one that has him in red and staring straight forward that nearly all LDS people have in their home, and one of the Mexico City Temple, where apparently he had been married years before. And that is how I met the Gerrido family in the ward and came to hate my companion. He's district leader, and while he's pulled pranks on me, a really cool guy. We play a lot of chess in our free time, during lunch and such, and works hard. He also calls me Pops, from God's Army. Apparently I remind him of that character, even though he's my pops.
The work here in Iowa is going strong. We've gone down about 40 or 60 missionaries (I thought the president said 60 but Elder Nelson said 40...either way a lot) in the last year or so, but the baptisms have doubled. As I flew into Des Moines, the smallest airport I have ever been in, the ground was covered by low hanging clouds which sadly obstructed my view of where I would live for two years. So I jokingly thought to myself about how the field was white, all ready to harvest. I guess I was right. Elder Nelson and I have a goal for four baptisms this transfer, two nearly are for sure, one's possible, and one more we put down just to see if it'd pop out of the woodwork. Success apparently bumps up when there's a new elder around.
The weather here has been a lot like WA, cool and wet. Friday it opened up and is sunny, but still fairly cool and humid. Cicadas, locusts, and crickets can be constantly heard making a raucous, which is new to me. We live in the basement of a widowed sister in the ward. How we can live with a single sister is beyond us but whatever, we stay fairly separate other than in the kitchen or if she needs to do laundry. Elder Nelson calls our apartment the Batcave, which, for once, is not a good thing. It's a nice enough apartment for a couple 19/20 year old guys, but is no Hilton.
If there's anything else to talk about it'd probably be a 17-year-old guy we've been talking to and gave a church tour to today. None of the missionaries have really taught a full lesson to yet, but he said he wants to be baptized. I just sat there in awe mostly as that lesson was taking place. He says, however, that he is the last male in the bloodline and his grandpa was a strong catholic and he feels an obligation to stay catholic, even if he never goes nor has any other connection to it. I'm hoping he recognizes and follows the answer to his prayer on the matter.
I also would like to mention that I will have an opportunity to go the the Nauvoo and Winter Quarters temple at least once each, which is pretty dang exciting. Also, we are allowed to listen to any music which invites the spirit, so mom, send out all the motab ya got, and any other cds you think would bring the spirit. Elder Nelson has a cd player, but I'm gonna buy a small one of my own. I also bought a comforter and pillow for a pretty good price at Wal-Mart. Email time is not monitored on here, so send emails, but everyone, send letters!!! I need mail!! Oh, and send me my priesthood line of authority, I don't know if I'd ever really need to whip it out, because it'd probably just end up being contentious, but I think it'd be way helpful.
Everyone here is very religious, which is good, but can get in the way. I love the people here and respect them. OH, and I saw what is apparently the oldest church west of the mississippi. Barely made that one. It was surrounded by clouds of bats. Nearly all of the streets here are by name which is so disconcerting. Also, no mountains to tell the compass points, and the streets bend with the river, so sometimes they go north south east west, and sometimes they're slanted. And it's the home of a Heinz factory and another factory that does stuff with corn (imagine that) that is on the far side of the river and sends out smells sometimes (thus a loving name that floats around, Muscaletrine, or Muscastench, I like the first one better).
Oh! And if Tyler Russell is going to the Accra, Ghana mission, that mission presidents' daughter is in my ward. Just had dinner with them last night (dinners here are amazing. I had barbecue on saturday that changed my life).
I think that's everything. I could ramble on forever but I should probably go. We gotta shop and play some Settlers of Catan.
Pray for me to build up more courage, but more importantly, pray for the people of Muscatine and especially the investigators. I love this work, and I love all of the people I'm trying to serve, and I love all of you. The gospel's as true as it's ever been.
-Elder Charlie (still trying to drop that first name thing) Gates
What a crazy week and a half it's been! I'm now in Muscatine, Iowa, right on the banks of the Mississippi. It's a town that SORT OF kind of reminds me of Auburn, in a way, kind of small, spread out, but has an even smaller town feel, kinda like if Auburn's downtown took up all of Auburn, and has hills like crazy. At least compared to the rest of Iowa. Which made it great that we have a car share with the other two elders in the area and not just to ourselves. My thighs will be massive by the time I'm home....
Anyway, for the trip out here, we woke up at about 2:30 am Wednesday morning and had to meet out front at 4. I got up early to finish packing and all that kind of stuff. Our flight left at 7ish and I had a chance to call home before then. The flight was nice enough, I got to watch the ground go by and saw the Grand Canyon for the first time from above. We arrived in Phoenix (I know, out of the way, but not as much as Atlanta. Some elders here had to go through there to get here) and had an hour layover till we left again. On that flight, we got onto the smallest plane I've ever been on, basically a flying cigarette, and sat by an elderly woman. I was tired and knew I should probably share a message but was far too tired to start off a conversation on religion. So she started it for me. 79-year-old Penny started first by asking me if I'd ever seen a sitting Saint (I believe it was Francis. I really don't know. I'm sure I will understand them all by the time I go home, though....) and I told her I hadn't. She then started just talking and asked me to tell her what we believed in. I seriously wondered for a second if she was LDS and was just trying to test my knowledge, but I started in anyway. It was an awesome discussion, she said that the things I said all made sense, such as that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost were all separate beings, and other stuff too that I could prove from the Bible (I couldn't quite tell if the spirit was there. I'm sure it was, but that little jet that was four seats wide was so loud I could barely tell) and wanted to go tell all of her family about it, but wouldn't accept any pamphlets from me, and only took pass along cards for bookmarks. I even asked her to pray about it, but I think she's more focused on praying for me because she loved me so much. She admired what I did, and didn't want to offend me, but had been Lutheran all her life. I've found out quickly out here that no matter how much some people can feel it's true, they still are too closely tied to their religion to really consider it. It's truly sad....
Anyway, we were met at the airport by the president, and got all of our stuff. I started feeling sick, most likely from the fact I had not had anything to eat or drink all day. We went to eat at McDonalds and then went to the mission home to drop stuff off, and then went tracting. I still felt gross but did my best to start off door approaches. The Assistant I was with took it farther. I started to realize that people would generally decline it very nicely, which i suppose is nicer than outright rejecting what I have to share. Later that night I finally got rid of the illness, but not till after nearly sleeping through being taught important information, groggily going through a great interview with the president, and shoving down a delicious dinner that I wish I could have enjoyed more. I love President and Sister Talbot a lot.
The next day we got our assignments and companions. I am with Elder Nelson. He's a really good missionary, hardworking and yet fun. I'm his first trainee, or son as they refer to them here, and he's used it to pull pranks on me. Like when I first read off who my comp would be to the group of Trainers who were not wearing nametags, he had another elder stand up. He also switched his nametag with the other Elder Nelson in our district (our district comprises two companionships, one English, one Spanish, both for the same ward that covers about as much area as Auburn and Kent Stakes combined) and convinced me that I was gonna be stuck in a spanish speaking area. He also tried pushing the beds together to convince me there was only one, but I knew the rule against that in the white handbook already. Also, when I was out tracting for the first time, he pulled another trick on me. We were tracting out in the south end of town, an area usually just taken by the Spanish Elders, and knocked into a family that, only after saying a few things to, invited us in. That alone was sort of intimidating, but then the daughters were sort of rude. We started answering the questions of this sort of large family, and Elder Nelson had me answer quite a bit. I let him answer the gay one, though, which he did very poorly. After about fifteen minutes or longer, the dad went into the back and then brought out two framed pictures: one of Jesus, the one that has him in red and staring straight forward that nearly all LDS people have in their home, and one of the Mexico City Temple, where apparently he had been married years before. And that is how I met the Gerrido family in the ward and came to hate my companion. He's district leader, and while he's pulled pranks on me, a really cool guy. We play a lot of chess in our free time, during lunch and such, and works hard. He also calls me Pops, from God's Army. Apparently I remind him of that character, even though he's my pops.
The work here in Iowa is going strong. We've gone down about 40 or 60 missionaries (I thought the president said 60 but Elder Nelson said 40...either way a lot) in the last year or so, but the baptisms have doubled. As I flew into Des Moines, the smallest airport I have ever been in, the ground was covered by low hanging clouds which sadly obstructed my view of where I would live for two years. So I jokingly thought to myself about how the field was white, all ready to harvest. I guess I was right. Elder Nelson and I have a goal for four baptisms this transfer, two nearly are for sure, one's possible, and one more we put down just to see if it'd pop out of the woodwork. Success apparently bumps up when there's a new elder around.
The weather here has been a lot like WA, cool and wet. Friday it opened up and is sunny, but still fairly cool and humid. Cicadas, locusts, and crickets can be constantly heard making a raucous, which is new to me. We live in the basement of a widowed sister in the ward. How we can live with a single sister is beyond us but whatever, we stay fairly separate other than in the kitchen or if she needs to do laundry. Elder Nelson calls our apartment the Batcave, which, for once, is not a good thing. It's a nice enough apartment for a couple 19/20 year old guys, but is no Hilton.
If there's anything else to talk about it'd probably be a 17-year-old guy we've been talking to and gave a church tour to today. None of the missionaries have really taught a full lesson to yet, but he said he wants to be baptized. I just sat there in awe mostly as that lesson was taking place. He says, however, that he is the last male in the bloodline and his grandpa was a strong catholic and he feels an obligation to stay catholic, even if he never goes nor has any other connection to it. I'm hoping he recognizes and follows the answer to his prayer on the matter.
I also would like to mention that I will have an opportunity to go the the Nauvoo and Winter Quarters temple at least once each, which is pretty dang exciting. Also, we are allowed to listen to any music which invites the spirit, so mom, send out all the motab ya got, and any other cds you think would bring the spirit. Elder Nelson has a cd player, but I'm gonna buy a small one of my own. I also bought a comforter and pillow for a pretty good price at Wal-Mart. Email time is not monitored on here, so send emails, but everyone, send letters!!! I need mail!! Oh, and send me my priesthood line of authority, I don't know if I'd ever really need to whip it out, because it'd probably just end up being contentious, but I think it'd be way helpful.
Everyone here is very religious, which is good, but can get in the way. I love the people here and respect them. OH, and I saw what is apparently the oldest church west of the mississippi. Barely made that one. It was surrounded by clouds of bats. Nearly all of the streets here are by name which is so disconcerting. Also, no mountains to tell the compass points, and the streets bend with the river, so sometimes they go north south east west, and sometimes they're slanted. And it's the home of a Heinz factory and another factory that does stuff with corn (imagine that) that is on the far side of the river and sends out smells sometimes (thus a loving name that floats around, Muscaletrine, or Muscastench, I like the first one better).
Oh! And if Tyler Russell is going to the Accra, Ghana mission, that mission presidents' daughter is in my ward. Just had dinner with them last night (dinners here are amazing. I had barbecue on saturday that changed my life).
I think that's everything. I could ramble on forever but I should probably go. We gotta shop and play some Settlers of Catan.
Pray for me to build up more courage, but more importantly, pray for the people of Muscatine and especially the investigators. I love this work, and I love all of the people I'm trying to serve, and I love all of you. The gospel's as true as it's ever been.
-Elder Charlie (still trying to drop that first name thing) Gates
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Yet Another Letter...
Hello Everybody!
I had all I wanted to say planned out. And now my mind went blank.... The food's still bad, as always, but I'm getting by pretty well!! I just can't wait to make my own food or eat the food of the amazing Iowans. On that note, I bought one of my first days here an Iowa shirt, the last one there and the envy of all the other Iowan Missionaries. Today's P-Day, obviously, so I'm soaking up the chance to wear it and jeans. Today was possibly my last chance at going to the temple for two years!! I actually like the Provo Temple. It's like the Seattle Temple just not as Austere (CARI FIX MY SPELLING IF YOU CAN!!! Rachel told me about your spelling error in my Facebook status.... OH, and hope Florida went well, while I'm writing to you! Send me your Address so I can write you!!). If there is anybody who hasn't written me yet, don't bother, unless you do it by DearElder, or else it won't get here FOREVER. Mail is so slow.... I'm progressing well and learning a lot. I love being in the MTC and while I don't always get along perfect with everyone in my district, I love them and will miss them all. My comp and my roommates actually leave on monday, two days before me, so we'll see how that works out. I'll probably be put into a threesome and have one of the elders from the other room in my district sleep in my room. I'm also the travel leader for the other 7 Iowan Missionaries. Colorado Springs, the other mission in my district, has 19 or so missionaries going out the same day. Kinda strange the number difference.... I'm learning how to use my time well and schedule, one of my biggest problems here, as Mom could tell anyone reading this. I wish I had listened to all of your advice before so I didn't have to learn the hard way this lesson. OH!! I had my first callback in the Referral Center this last saturday! So, the RC is the place where all of those people who call about getting BoMs or Bibles Or DVDs can order them and, guess what, it's us missionaries who talk to them! And we call people back to see if they got the stuff and want to meet with the missionaries. Anyway, there was one person who called in and ordered a bible from me and wanted to have missionaries bring the bible by, but apparently there are no missionaries in his area. So I called him back a couple days later and taught him the first lesson and sent him a BoM. He accepted all of my commitments to read the Bible and BoM and pray about them and if God tells him it's right to seek out the church so that's good! But I don't know for sure if he's really gonna go anywhere... I'm hopeful, though, he seemed like a good guy. I love talking to people from the south on there, because the few times where the people don't let it go to answering machine or hang up on you, they're really sweet. I really don't know what else to report on...so I'll see if I can ramble some more about random stuff....
Ok, quick Bios on the missionaries in my district:
Elder Facer: My companion from Orange County, Cali. Loves surfing and all those other board sports. Great companion even if our personalities don't perfectly match.
Elder Bruin: Roommate from Murray, Utah, going to Colorado springs. Funny kid, Especially around his companion.
Elder Schaffner: Other roommate and from Tallahassee, FL. Has an awesome southern accent and is hilarious, especially when telling stories.
Elder Knapp: Kinda quiet comparatively, but an awesome missionary, from Salem, OR, and all the elders keep bugging him about writing his sister. Went on splits with him in teaching once and we were amazing. We're gonna Enoch-ize Iowa.
Elder Wayland: From Idaho, and good to talk to about movies. Both of us seem to have the same tastes (especially since mine were changed during college, thanks Ellises!)
Elder Vidrine: From somewhere in the south, Loves World of Warcraft, and is an interesting, cool guy.
Elder Poulson: Loud personality but is hilarious. Began the Swine Flue Outbreak (NOT ACTUALLY SWINE FLU WE JUST CALL IT THAT! It's just a cold) in my district that has gotten a lot of elders sick but luckily not me. We're technically on a no-touch policy cuz of that, actually....
Sister Doggett: Mixture between Hermione Granger and Katie Palmer. Has done tons and is awesome.
Sister Pena: Really cool sister. OUtta time, gotta sign off now.
I had all I wanted to say planned out. And now my mind went blank.... The food's still bad, as always, but I'm getting by pretty well!! I just can't wait to make my own food or eat the food of the amazing Iowans. On that note, I bought one of my first days here an Iowa shirt, the last one there and the envy of all the other Iowan Missionaries. Today's P-Day, obviously, so I'm soaking up the chance to wear it and jeans. Today was possibly my last chance at going to the temple for two years!! I actually like the Provo Temple. It's like the Seattle Temple just not as Austere (CARI FIX MY SPELLING IF YOU CAN!!! Rachel told me about your spelling error in my Facebook status.... OH, and hope Florida went well, while I'm writing to you! Send me your Address so I can write you!!). If there is anybody who hasn't written me yet, don't bother, unless you do it by DearElder, or else it won't get here FOREVER. Mail is so slow.... I'm progressing well and learning a lot. I love being in the MTC and while I don't always get along perfect with everyone in my district, I love them and will miss them all. My comp and my roommates actually leave on monday, two days before me, so we'll see how that works out. I'll probably be put into a threesome and have one of the elders from the other room in my district sleep in my room. I'm also the travel leader for the other 7 Iowan Missionaries. Colorado Springs, the other mission in my district, has 19 or so missionaries going out the same day. Kinda strange the number difference.... I'm learning how to use my time well and schedule, one of my biggest problems here, as Mom could tell anyone reading this. I wish I had listened to all of your advice before so I didn't have to learn the hard way this lesson. OH!! I had my first callback in the Referral Center this last saturday! So, the RC is the place where all of those people who call about getting BoMs or Bibles Or DVDs can order them and, guess what, it's us missionaries who talk to them! And we call people back to see if they got the stuff and want to meet with the missionaries. Anyway, there was one person who called in and ordered a bible from me and wanted to have missionaries bring the bible by, but apparently there are no missionaries in his area. So I called him back a couple days later and taught him the first lesson and sent him a BoM. He accepted all of my commitments to read the Bible and BoM and pray about them and if God tells him it's right to seek out the church so that's good! But I don't know for sure if he's really gonna go anywhere... I'm hopeful, though, he seemed like a good guy. I love talking to people from the south on there, because the few times where the people don't let it go to answering machine or hang up on you, they're really sweet. I really don't know what else to report on...so I'll see if I can ramble some more about random stuff....
Ok, quick Bios on the missionaries in my district:
Elder Facer: My companion from Orange County, Cali. Loves surfing and all those other board sports. Great companion even if our personalities don't perfectly match.
Elder Bruin: Roommate from Murray, Utah, going to Colorado springs. Funny kid, Especially around his companion.
Elder Schaffner: Other roommate and from Tallahassee, FL. Has an awesome southern accent and is hilarious, especially when telling stories.
Elder Knapp: Kinda quiet comparatively, but an awesome missionary, from Salem, OR, and all the elders keep bugging him about writing his sister. Went on splits with him in teaching once and we were amazing. We're gonna Enoch-ize Iowa.
Elder Wayland: From Idaho, and good to talk to about movies. Both of us seem to have the same tastes (especially since mine were changed during college, thanks Ellises!)
Elder Vidrine: From somewhere in the south, Loves World of Warcraft, and is an interesting, cool guy.
Elder Poulson: Loud personality but is hilarious. Began the Swine Flue Outbreak (NOT ACTUALLY SWINE FLU WE JUST CALL IT THAT! It's just a cold) in my district that has gotten a lot of elders sick but luckily not me. We're technically on a no-touch policy cuz of that, actually....
Sister Doggett: Mixture between Hermione Granger and Katie Palmer. Has done tons and is awesome.
Sister Pena: Really cool sister. OUtta time, gotta sign off now.
Pictures are coming....
We are all anxious to get pictures from our favorite Iowa Elder, and they should be coming soon. We just have to scan them in so we can get them on this blog. Keep checking back for more!
Latest Letters
Mom and Dad,
I'm doing well, actually. I'm learning to rely on the Lord and not others. He is my constant freind I can always trust in. I'm changing, for I know that I'm the only one I can change. I have never felt the spirit so strongly nor so frequently, but with it's presence, I know I can overcome all, for the Lord will provide. I love my companion, and working on that love. waiting until next week to send this seemed far too long. I'll pull through all obstacles in my way, for I know this is what I need to be doing.
I love you all very much. This work and gospel are truer than I ever knew and could ever express. Stay safe.
Much Love,
Charlie
PS I officially leave the MTC on the 26th of Qugust at 7:10am, arrive at the Phoenix, AZ airport at 7:49 am, leave there at 9:02am and arrive at 2pm in Iowa.
Mom and Dad,
I'm teaching a lesson on the phone tommorrow to a guy who called in for a free bible but had no missionaries in the area, so I get to take their place. Freaky... but it should be good. Talking to real people on the phone is nerve-racking but good. I'm the travel leader for our 7 or 8 Iowan missionaries so I get to boss them around. Here's some pictures. I know e-mailing might be better but only having 30 minutes to e-mail... Yeah. so here's a couple from our first walk to the temple.
Love,
Elder (charlie) Gates
I'm doing well, actually. I'm learning to rely on the Lord and not others. He is my constant freind I can always trust in. I'm changing, for I know that I'm the only one I can change. I have never felt the spirit so strongly nor so frequently, but with it's presence, I know I can overcome all, for the Lord will provide. I love my companion, and working on that love. waiting until next week to send this seemed far too long. I'll pull through all obstacles in my way, for I know this is what I need to be doing.
I love you all very much. This work and gospel are truer than I ever knew and could ever express. Stay safe.
Much Love,
Charlie
PS I officially leave the MTC on the 26th of Qugust at 7:10am, arrive at the Phoenix, AZ airport at 7:49 am, leave there at 9:02am and arrive at 2pm in Iowa.
Mom and Dad,
I'm teaching a lesson on the phone tommorrow to a guy who called in for a free bible but had no missionaries in the area, so I get to take their place. Freaky... but it should be good. Talking to real people on the phone is nerve-racking but good. I'm the travel leader for our 7 or 8 Iowan missionaries so I get to boss them around. Here's some pictures. I know e-mailing might be better but only having 30 minutes to e-mail... Yeah. so here's a couple from our first walk to the temple.
Love,
Elder (charlie) Gates
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Next Installment
Alright! So! This has been the first week at the MTC! There's been good times and...less good...but all in all I think it'd average out to good! Ok, so, where to start....
So, food. It's...incredible for cafeteria food. So it's not that awesome, but it isn't that bad. You just got to know what to eat and what to avoid, which can be hard sometimes. Best thing about it is the social interaction. The guys are lots of fun, sometimes to their detriment, but I can't blame them too much there. I'm good friends with the Sisters in our district, though, they're cool and are good to talk to when Elders just won't do. We have in our district 3 elders going to Colorado Springs, whom I all room with, and 5, including me, going to Iowa, and our 2 awesome Temple Square Sisters. The CS Elders actually leave a couple days before the Iowa Elders, so we'll have to do some stuff with the companionship and room stuff for a couple days which could get interesting. Us Iowa elders are leaving, as far as we know, on the 26th, but that could change. We find out our flight plans this week, I think. Our district has a lot of fun with classes and all of that. Our second night here we got new beds so we took apart the old ones the night before and had a party with our mattresses on the ground in our rooms. Good times, good times.
My comp and I get along for the most part really well. We've discovered quickly how to teach by the spirit, not by the book, and are thus getting so much better. He's DL while I'm senior. It makes for some confusing times but it's all good.
I enjoy the MTC, but I would much rather be out and serving. I've made some good friends, and some that are more just interesting.
The Gospel's true. I know it now more than ever. My testimony has grown so much and I love this gospel and my savior and Father in Heaven with all I have. I can't wait to share this with everyone I meet. Nor can I wait to be fed like a king in Iowa. Trust in the Lord, do what he asks, and all will be well. I've been changing to become what the Lord needs me to be, and I've been changing at an amazing rate. I've now come to recognize how much the Lord has blessed me to be the Missionary I need to be throughout my life.
30 minutes to write is not long enough. It'll boot me off in a couple minutes, so I gotta go. I love you all. Keep safe. I know this is the truth, and I know it with all I have.
-Charlie
So, food. It's...incredible for cafeteria food. So it's not that awesome, but it isn't that bad. You just got to know what to eat and what to avoid, which can be hard sometimes. Best thing about it is the social interaction. The guys are lots of fun, sometimes to their detriment, but I can't blame them too much there. I'm good friends with the Sisters in our district, though, they're cool and are good to talk to when Elders just won't do. We have in our district 3 elders going to Colorado Springs, whom I all room with, and 5, including me, going to Iowa, and our 2 awesome Temple Square Sisters. The CS Elders actually leave a couple days before the Iowa Elders, so we'll have to do some stuff with the companionship and room stuff for a couple days which could get interesting. Us Iowa elders are leaving, as far as we know, on the 26th, but that could change. We find out our flight plans this week, I think. Our district has a lot of fun with classes and all of that. Our second night here we got new beds so we took apart the old ones the night before and had a party with our mattresses on the ground in our rooms. Good times, good times.
My comp and I get along for the most part really well. We've discovered quickly how to teach by the spirit, not by the book, and are thus getting so much better. He's DL while I'm senior. It makes for some confusing times but it's all good.
I enjoy the MTC, but I would much rather be out and serving. I've made some good friends, and some that are more just interesting.
The Gospel's true. I know it now more than ever. My testimony has grown so much and I love this gospel and my savior and Father in Heaven with all I have. I can't wait to share this with everyone I meet. Nor can I wait to be fed like a king in Iowa. Trust in the Lord, do what he asks, and all will be well. I've been changing to become what the Lord needs me to be, and I've been changing at an amazing rate. I've now come to recognize how much the Lord has blessed me to be the Missionary I need to be throughout my life.
30 minutes to write is not long enough. It'll boot me off in a couple minutes, so I gotta go. I love you all. Keep safe. I know this is the truth, and I know it with all I have.
-Charlie
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Hi All!
As Charlie's sister I have the distinct responsibility to keep all of his fans posted on his progress. So here we go. We got a letter from him on his very first day! We miss him so much but couldn't be more excited for this amazing time in his life. Any sacrafice we make is worth it. We love him and know you do too!
So here it is.......
As Charlie's sister I have the distinct responsibility to keep all of his fans posted on his progress. So here we go. We got a letter from him on his very first day! We miss him so much but couldn't be more excited for this amazing time in his life. Any sacrafice we make is worth it. We love him and know you do too!
So here it is.......
Elder Gates' First Letter!
Well I just got done with my first day! I would label my general feelings as shell-shocked. I'm sort of feeling like I'm just...a pebble in a stream? Just sort of going with the turbulent flow, not fighting it or complaining, just going. I've been bombarded wtih so much and CANNOT absorb it all. It's crazy busy, even just today. They say the first few days suck with all of the orientations. Little stressed, but dealing with it.
BUT it's really good too! I have a good companion and roommates. Elder Facer has been assigned to be my junior companion while I'm senior (even though he's a few years older than me) and then we'll switch in a week and a half. And I'm sure once I'm used to it I'll love it. Just give it a few days. Oh, and homesickness...don't have it. I miss you guys like CRAZY, but not like that.
Anyway, I hope you can read this! All's well, so don't worry about me! I love the work that I am engaged in and can't wait to start sharing this amazing gospel. I love you all so very much.
I hope all is well back home. Let everyone know I said hi and I love them. The gospel's true, even if it's us spreading it.
Love you all!
Elder Charlie Gates
BUT it's really good too! I have a good companion and roommates. Elder Facer has been assigned to be my junior companion while I'm senior (even though he's a few years older than me) and then we'll switch in a week and a half. And I'm sure once I'm used to it I'll love it. Just give it a few days. Oh, and homesickness...don't have it. I miss you guys like CRAZY, but not like that.
Anyway, I hope you can read this! All's well, so don't worry about me! I love the work that I am engaged in and can't wait to start sharing this amazing gospel. I love you all so very much.
I hope all is well back home. Let everyone know I said hi and I love them. The gospel's true, even if it's us spreading it.
Love you all!
Elder Charlie Gates
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