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