Hello Everybody,
So yeah, as ya'll found out last email, I'm in the Lenox area now but residing in Creston. For those who are up on pop culture, Lenox is now famous for being the location of a recent movie called "The Crazies," a movie about zombies or something. I think it's a pretty cool thing to be famous for. It did raise some questions in my mind, however, when a lady in a nearby town, Corning, informed me that she couldn't let us in because she was "Infected." Yep. Scary stuff.
Anyway, the area is about the same size as my first area, Muscatine. That doesn't help much, huh? Oh well. It goes a little north from Creston, down the Missourah border, and out west to the edge of the mission, or a ways past Corning, and about 15 or more minutes east of Creston. So much bigger than Knoxville but not as big as Yankton. The church building is actually a converted house, a fairly long rambler with a basement and converted garage, complete with parking lot and giant satellite dish in back.
As I brought up with Mom and Dad in my recent letter home, there's work to be done here, for sure, as I'm sure anybody who knows anything about missions can guess from a mid-transfer transfer. Transfers are next week, though, and my current companion knows he'll be moving along as well. His name's Elder Jameson. He's a good kid and will be good to serve with, but he doesn't know the area that great because he'd only been there four weeks before I came in. So it's been great.
But we did have two baptisms here this week!! They were Steve and Cindy. Steve had been picked up during this last transfer. He had been taught in the past but they started teaching him again. He seemed really great until this last sunday when he talked to his former minister who told him he would go to hell if he was baptized as a Mormon, and then he started doubting EVERYTHING. Great. But his wife, Cindy, was way solid, which was cool because she had originally not even wanted to listen. But as soon as she knew it was true, she knew. And nothing could dissuade her. But Steve kept having problems this week. So he was our main focus, trying to make sure he was ready to be baptized on the same day as his wife, Saturday. We met with them every day and brought recent converts who bore testimony to him and let him know they all had doubts but that they know that their baptism was the right thing and wouldn't trade it for anything. But he kept having doubts about authority on Friday, the day of his interview, I was led by the Spirit to be really bold. I like being bold. Nobody can argue with it, because true boldness comes from God and not from me and people can tell the Spirit's there. But I only feel prompted to be bold like I was with him every once in awhile, testifying and promising blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. It seemed to help him a little, along with the testimony of the member who was with us that had doubts up until he was baptized and received a stronger witness than ever that it was true. But he still wasn't fully convinced, but was willing to be interviewed. By this point, actually, I had the feeling that he did know but wanted to keep arguing because he was stubborn. Not sure. But he went and was interviewed by Elder Nelson, my trainer. Nelson told him everything we had but took it a next step and did what I felt we should have done but we didn't: gave him a blessing. That really showed him the power of the priesthood in action. After that, he was able to put the fact that he knew the Book of Mormon to be true to action and realize that because of that, everything else must be true as well. So he was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. But, as he shared in Gospel Principles, he still had his doubts until he walked into church that day and felt a drop of water hit him on his back. He looked around for a source for the water to have come from and could find none. Finally, Steve had received an answer in a way he could understand. "This is the right place," he said. (Did enough sentences in that last paragraph start with "But?" Hmmm....)
I also spent a day and a half this last week in Osceola, the next town over with missionaries, on exchanges with them there. That, along with the baptism and baptismal interview questions that were in Osceola, I feel like I've spent most of my time in Osceola this week. Or driving. I'm so sick of Iowa driving. Give me some turns in the road or something to keep me awake!!
And a bad thing that came along with the transfer is that now I have no money on my support card (the one from the mission office that gets restocked with $150 every month for food and cleaning supplies and that). I had been assuming (I know the problem with when people assume, but still) that I would be in the same area for an entire transfer (crazy thing to think, I know) and that having very little money because I did some eating out would be no problem because we have plenty of food in our apartment in Knoxville. But now I'm in a house (YEAH! We live in a house! Rented just for us! Complete with basement and everything! WAY cool!) that had no food. Great. And then all the getting together with missionaries this week with district meeting and baptism and all led to more money to spend. But then, a blessing came. This week we were tracting and knocked on a door that, not surprisingly, had an uninterested christian answer. Politely, I asked her if we had interrupted dinner, and she said no, but (and this is the crazy part) invited us in to eat what was left over from dinner! So we spent awhile talking with them as they fed us! They were still not interested, but we got on very good terms with them and had a great time. She said she couldn't think of anybody to refer us to that needed help but would call us if she could think of anybody, and told us to call her if we needed help. Her son, who's in his senior year, said that he would like to play disc golf with us on Mondays and would bring his friends. So while they might not be interested, they seem to be a good way to meet people in the town! And she ("she" or "the christian," which, for once with all the people who claim to be so, is true, is Jane, a woman who I'm guessing is about forty and has three kids, one being out of the house, one being James, her teenage son, and Ryan, her daughter who's about to graduate from middle school) took it one step further: She came by last night with GROCERIES!! Really! I'm pretty much set until next month!! I probably will still have to pick up some Rice Milk (I really think I'm lactose intolerant. I've tried cutting out milk stuff and I've been feeling a lot better. Yeah, kind of stinks...), though.
Well, that's about it. Hope all's well. I'm so glad that I've decided to be a consecrated missionary because now that I'm in an area where it really matters and could be hard, the decision's already made, so all the daily ones aren't so hard. It's been VERY stressful this week, but I'm trying to stop having myself allow it get to me. I'm doing fine, no worries. As it says in Preach My Gospel, work is the only way to not get homesick or bogged down. So work I will. Nephi's last three words apparently were "I Must Obey." And so must I. And the way I think and knows he means it is not in the way of "Ah Crap I guess I have to obey," but "It's what I should, and, thus, need, to do." Obedience brings blessings. Whoa, I'm starting to get all Soapboxy and preachy. So I'll stop here.
Love,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Life Happens and You Just Have to Deal With It As It Comes" -Dad
So, ready to hear about a roller coaster of a week?
Before I start, just so you know, I am fine, and it is not a lie to say that I'm doing wonderfully. But with great things that happen...come not so good things....
So.
At the beginning of this week, things were great. I was over the whole missing my sister's wedding thing and reconsecrated. All was well.
Monday was crazy busy, seeing as we were giving up Saturday as a prep day so we could go to the temple. We did a lot of running around to a bunch of appointments that ended up falling through. No biggie, just missionary work. Had a good dinner at a member's home. We still had to do laundry and such but it was no big deal.
Tuesday was any normal missionary day. Nothing big to report on there.
Wednesday we taught a 81 year old lady who we had dropped for awhile but picked back up again. She wasn't too interested in the gospel, which we found out pretty quickly. But she was interested in something else. ME. She hit on me. WAY creepy. "You charge me up, Charles." "You could be a pin up." Yeah. I couldn't even tell what was going on at the time. I thought I just didn't hear her right or was misinterpreting it. But when we left my companion kindly informed me: "BAH!! She was TOTALLY hitting on you!!! HAHAHA!!!" Sometimes it does suck being this really really really really really really ridiculously good looking. Right after that we went down to Centerville for exchanges. The rest of the night was spent standing around looking like we were helping to move their only investigators to Texas, trying to fix the MLS program, and having a Book of Mormon Study Class which included us and the Branch Mission Leader.
Thursday we got up and went and did service at a farm herding cows. It was a lot of fun. I might not mind working on a farm (if only I had a better back). We herded them all up onto the truck to be shipped off. We had to do a bunch of shipments because there were quite a few cows. But they got riled up at one point and broke through a fence and got away into the pasture and so we had to spend awhile trying to get them wrangled back up. That night we taught one of our main investigators who wants to be baptized and now wants her children baptized, too, so we have to see how much they want it.
Friday was another normal day. We taught a person we had met on the street and her cousin, and they seemed pretty interested, which is awesome. At night, however, we called up President Talbot to remind him that we were going to the temple the next day and found out that there was a miscommunication there. Apparently the Des Moines Stake is in the Winter Quarters Temple District, not the Nauvoo Temple District, and we were only allowed to go to our stake's temple district. SOOO, we were unable to go.
Saturday. With all of our plans shot for the day, we spent a day walking around the town talking to people and looking at apartments for a senior couple that might come here. No such luck.
Sunday we found a member referral from Oskaloosa and taught him. He seems pretty cool and open. None of our major investigators came to church, though. But that night, while I was talking to our Branch Mission Leader on the phone, I got a bunch of phone calls and just ignored them because the conversation I was having was pretty important. One of those phone calls was from President Talbot who had to call through another phone, letting me know that today, monday, I am being transferred, or as we call it in the mission, Emergency Transferred. No, it's not transfers, there's just a situation that requires missionaries to be moved around. And no, it's not from anything I've done, but somewhere else. I know really nothing about it besides that at 2:00 o'clock today I will be heading for the Lenox Area. Not much time to pack and do everything else and say bye to everyone. So, I guess, Goodbye Knoxville....
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Oh, and i forgot to add in my last email my list of possible jobs that I could apply for after all of my experiences on my mission.
-Plumber: Fixed our toilet. The mechanism in the tank was broken so I got to replace it. I did get water all over, though, when turning off the water somehow made it come out of the pipe. Luckily I had my wrench for my bike to tighten that up and stop the water.
-Cowboy: From herding the cattle
-Realtor: Looking for that apartment
-Private Investigator/Bounty Hunter: Finding people who don't want to be found.
-Professional Mover
-Coach: from coaching the YMCA kids soccer team in Muscatine
-Bike Mechanic
-Landscaper: It's a stretch from mowing someone's lawn, but whatever
-Painter
-Counselor
-Addiction Recovery Specialist
-Remodeler
-Waiter
-EMT
-Pro-Bicyclist
-Custodian
-Librarian
-Editor: all of my companions need me for spell-check
-Columnist: From doing these emails home!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Before I start, just so you know, I am fine, and it is not a lie to say that I'm doing wonderfully. But with great things that happen...come not so good things....
So.
At the beginning of this week, things were great. I was over the whole missing my sister's wedding thing and reconsecrated. All was well.
Monday was crazy busy, seeing as we were giving up Saturday as a prep day so we could go to the temple. We did a lot of running around to a bunch of appointments that ended up falling through. No biggie, just missionary work. Had a good dinner at a member's home. We still had to do laundry and such but it was no big deal.
Tuesday was any normal missionary day. Nothing big to report on there.
Wednesday we taught a 81 year old lady who we had dropped for awhile but picked back up again. She wasn't too interested in the gospel, which we found out pretty quickly. But she was interested in something else. ME. She hit on me. WAY creepy. "You charge me up, Charles." "You could be a pin up." Yeah. I couldn't even tell what was going on at the time. I thought I just didn't hear her right or was misinterpreting it. But when we left my companion kindly informed me: "BAH!! She was TOTALLY hitting on you!!! HAHAHA!!!" Sometimes it does suck being this really really really really really really ridiculously good looking. Right after that we went down to Centerville for exchanges. The rest of the night was spent standing around looking like we were helping to move their only investigators to Texas, trying to fix the MLS program, and having a Book of Mormon Study Class which included us and the Branch Mission Leader.
Thursday we got up and went and did service at a farm herding cows. It was a lot of fun. I might not mind working on a farm (if only I had a better back). We herded them all up onto the truck to be shipped off. We had to do a bunch of shipments because there were quite a few cows. But they got riled up at one point and broke through a fence and got away into the pasture and so we had to spend awhile trying to get them wrangled back up. That night we taught one of our main investigators who wants to be baptized and now wants her children baptized, too, so we have to see how much they want it.
Friday was another normal day. We taught a person we had met on the street and her cousin, and they seemed pretty interested, which is awesome. At night, however, we called up President Talbot to remind him that we were going to the temple the next day and found out that there was a miscommunication there. Apparently the Des Moines Stake is in the Winter Quarters Temple District, not the Nauvoo Temple District, and we were only allowed to go to our stake's temple district. SOOO, we were unable to go.
Saturday. With all of our plans shot for the day, we spent a day walking around the town talking to people and looking at apartments for a senior couple that might come here. No such luck.
Sunday we found a member referral from Oskaloosa and taught him. He seems pretty cool and open. None of our major investigators came to church, though. But that night, while I was talking to our Branch Mission Leader on the phone, I got a bunch of phone calls and just ignored them because the conversation I was having was pretty important. One of those phone calls was from President Talbot who had to call through another phone, letting me know that today, monday, I am being transferred, or as we call it in the mission, Emergency Transferred. No, it's not transfers, there's just a situation that requires missionaries to be moved around. And no, it's not from anything I've done, but somewhere else. I know really nothing about it besides that at 2:00 o'clock today I will be heading for the Lenox Area. Not much time to pack and do everything else and say bye to everyone. So, I guess, Goodbye Knoxville....
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Oh, and i forgot to add in my last email my list of possible jobs that I could apply for after all of my experiences on my mission.
-Plumber: Fixed our toilet. The mechanism in the tank was broken so I got to replace it. I did get water all over, though, when turning off the water somehow made it come out of the pipe. Luckily I had my wrench for my bike to tighten that up and stop the water.
-Cowboy: From herding the cattle
-Realtor: Looking for that apartment
-Private Investigator/Bounty Hunter: Finding people who don't want to be found.
-Professional Mover
-Coach: from coaching the YMCA kids soccer team in Muscatine
-Bike Mechanic
-Landscaper: It's a stretch from mowing someone's lawn, but whatever
-Painter
-Counselor
-Addiction Recovery Specialist
-Remodeler
-Waiter
-EMT
-Pro-Bicyclist
-Custodian
-Librarian
-Editor: all of my companions need me for spell-check
-Columnist: From doing these emails home!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, April 12, 2010
"And In the Last Days, Even Men's Own [Postal Services] Will Fail Them"
Hello Everybody,
Well, no, I didn't get the tie on friday. I did get it on Saturday, though. It was disappointing to not have the tie I would have been wearing Friday at Cari's wedding on the day I would have worn it, but I wore one of Elder Heyborne's all-pink ties and went to work. The going to work part was probably the worst part of the day, but I knew I'd feel worse if I didn't. I got it the next day, though, rubber-banded to a package sent from Elder Heyborne's family. His was sent two days after yours. For those who do not know much about geography, let me explain a little something. Vermont is farther away from Iowa than Utah. Not sure if you (or the postal service) knew that. So, by normal calculations, my package should have reached me sooner than his. False, apparently. I figure that what happened was that they got word in their computer network that another package of the same size was coming out and figured to just hold onto mine until his was there, too, to make it easier for the postal workers (Heaven forbid they have to carry two packages that weigh less than a pound on two separate days). Strangely, that was also the only day that week that we got mail. Hmmm.... Not that I'm bitter or nothin. The tie was great, though, and it was wonderful being able to talk to you. James does sound like he'll fit right into our crazy family just fine.
Despite missing the wedding it's been a pretty good week. We got some good work done and taught some great lessons. Our main investigator that we've been teaching for awhile even came to church for the first time, which was awesome. We hope to set a baptismal date soon with her.
But, the bigger news is that we are going to the temple this coming saturday. There's a branch temple trip to Nauvoo and a couple of our recent converts are going, so we got permission to go as well. That'll be three times on my mission, when most don't get to go by now. Once in each area! I'm hoping to be able to hop on through a session before the baptisms, but I'm kind of doubting it. We might just end up having to hang out with all the teens and converts while the teens' parents go through a session or something, or we may not even end up getting there until it's time for the baptisms. I'm looking forward to going through a session in Nauvoo, even if it doesn't end up happening until my end of mission temple trip.
So yeah, that's about it for updates.
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Well, no, I didn't get the tie on friday. I did get it on Saturday, though. It was disappointing to not have the tie I would have been wearing Friday at Cari's wedding on the day I would have worn it, but I wore one of Elder Heyborne's all-pink ties and went to work. The going to work part was probably the worst part of the day, but I knew I'd feel worse if I didn't. I got it the next day, though, rubber-banded to a package sent from Elder Heyborne's family. His was sent two days after yours. For those who do not know much about geography, let me explain a little something. Vermont is farther away from Iowa than Utah. Not sure if you (or the postal service) knew that. So, by normal calculations, my package should have reached me sooner than his. False, apparently. I figure that what happened was that they got word in their computer network that another package of the same size was coming out and figured to just hold onto mine until his was there, too, to make it easier for the postal workers (Heaven forbid they have to carry two packages that weigh less than a pound on two separate days). Strangely, that was also the only day that week that we got mail. Hmmm.... Not that I'm bitter or nothin. The tie was great, though, and it was wonderful being able to talk to you. James does sound like he'll fit right into our crazy family just fine.
Despite missing the wedding it's been a pretty good week. We got some good work done and taught some great lessons. Our main investigator that we've been teaching for awhile even came to church for the first time, which was awesome. We hope to set a baptismal date soon with her.
But, the bigger news is that we are going to the temple this coming saturday. There's a branch temple trip to Nauvoo and a couple of our recent converts are going, so we got permission to go as well. That'll be three times on my mission, when most don't get to go by now. Once in each area! I'm hoping to be able to hop on through a session before the baptisms, but I'm kind of doubting it. We might just end up having to hang out with all the teens and converts while the teens' parents go through a session or something, or we may not even end up getting there until it's time for the baptisms. I'm looking forward to going through a session in Nauvoo, even if it doesn't end up happening until my end of mission temple trip.
So yeah, that's about it for updates.
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, April 5, 2010
Three Days of Conference
Hello Fellow Missionaries, Most of Which Are On the Member Missionary Side of Things!
I really wish the shift bar on this thing worked a little better, that last sentence was painfully (literally) dumb. But I got halfway through it and realized that for all the work it was taking I might as well finish it.
I really don't have much to update on. Or so it feels.
This week we had, as the title states, three days of conference, starting with zone conference on friday and going through general conference the next two days. So it was about three days of spirituality with very little work done. We even had easter dinner yesterday at a member's home. Problem. "Dinner," in most places in the United States, means "That Meal That Takes Place Late in the Day." In Iowa it means "Lunch," and "Supper" means "Dinner." Even after 8 months I still can't keep track of it, since sometimes dinner means supper and other times it means lunch. Ugh. Anyway. Not quite sure if this is where things went wrong in this instance, but I like to think so. It's nicer than believing that it was our poor planning. We showed up after the second session of conference to find out that we had missed our meal altogether. They're a very sweet family and they still fed us leftovers and it was basically a dinner appointment...just we were the only ones eating.... They had also apparently had over a nonmember friend that we totally could have taught and had accepted a Book of Mormon from them. Double lame. Oh well, it was probably better that we stayed in Knoxville (They're house is in a nearby town named Pleasantville, which, sadly, is not in black and white) anyway, since the satellite was down. We found that out the day before when we showed up at church just to find out we were unable to watch it there. Not so bad, since there was only one other person who showed up. Most apparently watch conference at home or not at all. She went off to watch it online and we went to a member's home to watch it on his satellite. Priesthood session, however, might just be the most interesting session I've ever been to. For about forty-five minutes before it started until forty-five minutes into it, the group of priesthood holders that came were trying to fix the problem. None really had any more of an idea on what to do than us missionaries had, so it was kind of fun to see them run over the same things we had done already and lovingly bicker (A good portion of them are military guys because there was a VA Hospital here. A good portion of Knoxville is made up of military people) over how to fix it. It never got fixed, since after getting on the phone with the satellite people and busting open the box to the satellite boxes, we discovered the giant, unprotected satellite dish outside was not alligned. They even tried online through the family history library, just to discover they had no speakers and then even the web went down. SO, at about 7:45, Central Time, they decided to just go ahead and eat ice cream. I, however, was not about to miss any conference, and since I had already gotten permission to do so, we drove thirty minutes to Oskaloosa to watch the last forty minutes or so of it. Totally worth it.
And zone conference was all about becoming a consecrated missionary, laying everything down that would withhold us from giving our all as missionaries. So now we're committed to do that. We're even having a fast today to make ourselves consecrated. Works, since we missed, along with most of the branch, fast sunday last sunday. We just didn't know about it.... Anyway, I've never regretted having easter candy around so much....
I love it when people whisper-sing in libraries while listening to music, thinking they're the only ones that can hear themselves.
So, yep, that's about it. Love you all!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
I really wish the shift bar on this thing worked a little better, that last sentence was painfully (literally) dumb. But I got halfway through it and realized that for all the work it was taking I might as well finish it.
I really don't have much to update on. Or so it feels.
This week we had, as the title states, three days of conference, starting with zone conference on friday and going through general conference the next two days. So it was about three days of spirituality with very little work done. We even had easter dinner yesterday at a member's home. Problem. "Dinner," in most places in the United States, means "That Meal That Takes Place Late in the Day." In Iowa it means "Lunch," and "Supper" means "Dinner." Even after 8 months I still can't keep track of it, since sometimes dinner means supper and other times it means lunch. Ugh. Anyway. Not quite sure if this is where things went wrong in this instance, but I like to think so. It's nicer than believing that it was our poor planning. We showed up after the second session of conference to find out that we had missed our meal altogether. They're a very sweet family and they still fed us leftovers and it was basically a dinner appointment...just we were the only ones eating.... They had also apparently had over a nonmember friend that we totally could have taught and had accepted a Book of Mormon from them. Double lame. Oh well, it was probably better that we stayed in Knoxville (They're house is in a nearby town named Pleasantville, which, sadly, is not in black and white) anyway, since the satellite was down. We found that out the day before when we showed up at church just to find out we were unable to watch it there. Not so bad, since there was only one other person who showed up. Most apparently watch conference at home or not at all. She went off to watch it online and we went to a member's home to watch it on his satellite. Priesthood session, however, might just be the most interesting session I've ever been to. For about forty-five minutes before it started until forty-five minutes into it, the group of priesthood holders that came were trying to fix the problem. None really had any more of an idea on what to do than us missionaries had, so it was kind of fun to see them run over the same things we had done already and lovingly bicker (A good portion of them are military guys because there was a VA Hospital here. A good portion of Knoxville is made up of military people) over how to fix it. It never got fixed, since after getting on the phone with the satellite people and busting open the box to the satellite boxes, we discovered the giant, unprotected satellite dish outside was not alligned. They even tried online through the family history library, just to discover they had no speakers and then even the web went down. SO, at about 7:45, Central Time, they decided to just go ahead and eat ice cream. I, however, was not about to miss any conference, and since I had already gotten permission to do so, we drove thirty minutes to Oskaloosa to watch the last forty minutes or so of it. Totally worth it.
And zone conference was all about becoming a consecrated missionary, laying everything down that would withhold us from giving our all as missionaries. So now we're committed to do that. We're even having a fast today to make ourselves consecrated. Works, since we missed, along with most of the branch, fast sunday last sunday. We just didn't know about it.... Anyway, I've never regretted having easter candy around so much....
I love it when people whisper-sing in libraries while listening to music, thinking they're the only ones that can hear themselves.
So, yep, that's about it. Love you all!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
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