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