Yeah, I know which one of those you're probably most concerned about.
I've started sort of parting my hair. It's not so much a part as it goes to one side. It doesn't look too bad, but I think I can only do it for a little bit before my hair grows out some more. I hate parts.
Anyway, now that I'm done with the important stuff; we had some more tornado warnings to worry about this week. So, yet again, we went to a member family's home for awhile on one of the nights this past week. Trained my trainee in how to play Scrabble and lost by a few points to Sister Hansen. The weather is crazy when it's going to storm like that: the clouds look like a ceiling that has condensation on it, with little blobs of cloud hanging down, and then there was a funnel cloud and all sorts of lightning. I started to get a weird headache in my temple the short time we were outside in the lightning storm. I wonder if that's one of the feelings you get before being struck. Oh well, I wasn't, but my bishop was once!
Along with these storms came floods in the southern part of our area, and an entire town just about was underwater. I'll send pictures of Dumont.
The nice thing about the midwest is that the old homes here are very sturdy. They have to be in order to survive a hundred years or so of tornado seasons.
On Friday we had district meeting and President Talbot and Sister Talbot came to the end of it to have interviews with us to say goodbye. They both gave me a really good pep talk, which is good to hear, since now they're not necessarily obligated to give one. It's crazy to think that this coming Friday I'll be sitting in an interview with President Jergensen. I'll really miss Pres and Sis Talbot. I'm nervous about getting a new mission president, but I'm sure he's what this mission needs. Also, as of this week, due to the change, the mission will change as well, and we'll be losing Sioux City Stake and gaining Dubuque, Davenport, and Nauvoo Stakes, which will be a huge change. Some of my favorite mission buddies are over in Sioux City Stake right now, too, like Elder Heyborne.
Things are going great. We're picking up a lot of new people to teach (especially elderly single women. And by elderly I mean one's 84 and the other 82), finding investigators that have been lost, and things are really bumping up a notch. Things will go well here, as long as Mason City's not wiped off the map by a twister.
--
"But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in." D&C 127:2
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Tornadoes, Broken Bike Chains, and Crazy People: What a Great Way to Start!
Hello everyone,
Yep, that's right, we had a tornado just outside of our area (and Grandma was so excited that I was going stateside and not one of those "dangerous" foreign countries). It was actually Thursday night, Elder Shelman's first night in the field. We first got a call from a member letting us know about it, and then our Mission President called, asking how things were. I told him nothing looked bad where we were but that there was a tornado about forty miles away or so and he said that the news reports were saying it may turn south towards Mason City. So we canceled our plans to visit a member family that lives in a trailer park (for some reason "Trailer" and "Ternater" just didn't seem like a good combo) and just drove to a member family's home nearby that had a basement. Living on the third floor of an apartment building with no basement didn't seem too safe. So we stayed there until the news reports said it had moved down from tornado to storm watch.
The next day we bought a new bike for him. The day after that the chain broke about two miles from our house.
And this morning we tried to visit what we thought was a less-active member that wasn't on our roles. Yeah, no, he wasn't a member, but a man who is the son of a member who first ask for a Book of Mormon since he knew it was true and wanted to study it himself, but then continued on to talk about how he's had a spirit inside him and has a rock that Jesus once held and all sorts of stuff.... He talked, loudly, nonstop, for about 45 minutes and then tried to set up a time for us to come back. I hesitated, thinking "Look, guy, you seemed solid for the first five minutes but now I'm pretty sure you've fried your brain on too many drugs or else you have Bi-Polar/Schizophrenia or maybe you really were possessed by a spirit and it sure wasn't a good one by the story you just told or something and I'm pretty sure we could get nowhere with you," but instead all I said was "Uhhhhh...." I think what I said was more tactful than what I thought. He figured out that we'd either stop by at the foreordained time or else we wouldn't. I severely doubt we will. My poor companion, that's his second time in a "lesson" (I can't count it as a lesson, because there were no prayers and we said very little more than uh-huh and nope) with a nonmember in Iowa.
More about my trainee, his name's Elder Marcus Shelman from Pingree(?) Idaho, somewhere near Blackfoot. Thank goodness he's not from Utah. Tall kid, blonde, he's kinda like Tyler Mallory in the way he acts. Best way to describe him as far as I can tell. Great kid, he'll be a good missionary to train. I was pretty stressed out at first, and still kind of am, because I want his training process to go well and for me to set a good example, but there have been so many things going wrong outside of my control it's crazy. But at least they're outside of my control, so I can't beat myself up too much about the work not going well here. I was late to the training meeting though and so I missed out on some of the training for the trainers. So I was a tad more confused than most, I think. But things are going well. Not much else to update on, I don't think.
"But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in." D&C 127:2
Elder Charlie Gates
Yep, that's right, we had a tornado just outside of our area (and Grandma was so excited that I was going stateside and not one of those "dangerous" foreign countries). It was actually Thursday night, Elder Shelman's first night in the field. We first got a call from a member letting us know about it, and then our Mission President called, asking how things were. I told him nothing looked bad where we were but that there was a tornado about forty miles away or so and he said that the news reports were saying it may turn south towards Mason City. So we canceled our plans to visit a member family that lives in a trailer park (for some reason "Trailer" and "Ternater" just didn't seem like a good combo) and just drove to a member family's home nearby that had a basement. Living on the third floor of an apartment building with no basement didn't seem too safe. So we stayed there until the news reports said it had moved down from tornado to storm watch.
The next day we bought a new bike for him. The day after that the chain broke about two miles from our house.
And this morning we tried to visit what we thought was a less-active member that wasn't on our roles. Yeah, no, he wasn't a member, but a man who is the son of a member who first ask for a Book of Mormon since he knew it was true and wanted to study it himself, but then continued on to talk about how he's had a spirit inside him and has a rock that Jesus once held and all sorts of stuff.... He talked, loudly, nonstop, for about 45 minutes and then tried to set up a time for us to come back. I hesitated, thinking "Look, guy, you seemed solid for the first five minutes but now I'm pretty sure you've fried your brain on too many drugs or else you have Bi-Polar/Schizophrenia or maybe you really were possessed by a spirit and it sure wasn't a good one by the story you just told or something and I'm pretty sure we could get nowhere with you," but instead all I said was "Uhhhhh...." I think what I said was more tactful than what I thought. He figured out that we'd either stop by at the foreordained time or else we wouldn't. I severely doubt we will. My poor companion, that's his second time in a "lesson" (I can't count it as a lesson, because there were no prayers and we said very little more than uh-huh and nope) with a nonmember in Iowa.
More about my trainee, his name's Elder Marcus Shelman from Pingree(?) Idaho, somewhere near Blackfoot. Thank goodness he's not from Utah. Tall kid, blonde, he's kinda like Tyler Mallory in the way he acts. Best way to describe him as far as I can tell. Great kid, he'll be a good missionary to train. I was pretty stressed out at first, and still kind of am, because I want his training process to go well and for me to set a good example, but there have been so many things going wrong outside of my control it's crazy. But at least they're outside of my control, so I can't beat myself up too much about the work not going well here. I was late to the training meeting though and so I missed out on some of the training for the trainers. So I was a tad more confused than most, I think. But things are going well. Not much else to update on, I don't think.
"But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in." D&C 127:2
Elder Charlie Gates
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Training? I Really Wish I Had My Behavioral Psychology Notes Right About Now....
Hello Everybody Who Reads These Things; It's Me, Elder Gates.
Well, As you can tell from the title, I'm training! It's going to be exciting, I'm sure. Nerve racking, but exciting. I knew it was going to happen, President basically told me so, but still, that was a scary call to get last night. I had planned out some smart alec thing to say and everything (You mean I can actually stay in an area for three whole transfers??) but all that came out was "Well, if it's what the Lord thinks I can do...." When he poses the calling in the good-ol' "I feel very strongly that the Lord wants you to train next transfer," it makes it really hard to say much more than that. I nearly just said "Uhhhh..." like some idiot, so what I did get out was fairly intelligent comparitively, if you ask me.
This week wasn't terribly interesting, really, so going through a day by day play by play like last week would be even more boring than last week. So, highlights included seeing the garbage garden, as we call it. It's this lot of land in town that some guy has just collected garbage and put together to look kind of artistic. It's a cool place for pictures, but we met the guy. He's...out there. And on the city council. He uses what BS stands for the way most of us use the word Stuff. Literally. But yeah, that was a cool place to see.
Besides that, it seems like a lot of our stuff has been visiting members Elder Sheffer wanted pictures with before he left. I didn't mind, a lot of visiting the garbage garden was for that reason, too.
In the way of missionary work, the coolest thing that happened this week was taking an RM around with us and getting a member present and new investigator with him. We were trying to visit the son of a Recent Convert from here. His mom, Alice, had joined in December or something like that and then, after being taught the New Member Lessons, went back to Africa where she was from to try to help build up the church there. Anyway, her son, a guy in his twenties, I'd say, is still living in town here, and one of the Elders that had baptized his mother told us to stop by and see him. And we have been hurting for member presents because we just are not getting any return appointments so we took that RM along. We knocked on the door and luckily the guy was there. At first he seemed uninterested completely. But then I told him that what we teach doesn't have to take forever, it can only take a few minutes for us to just explain what we're all about (because he didn't understand what the difference was between us and other religions). After I said that he let us in and we taught a first. While I did not commit him to baptism as we've been trained to on the first lessons now, it went pretty good. He's still skeptical, but with all the seemingly unskeptical people that turn out to be completely uninterested, a skeptical person might just be a breath of fresh air.
So, yeah, that's the news. I'll let you know about my new comp in my next email.
--
"But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in." D&C 127:2
Elder Charlie Gates
Well, As you can tell from the title, I'm training! It's going to be exciting, I'm sure. Nerve racking, but exciting. I knew it was going to happen, President basically told me so, but still, that was a scary call to get last night. I had planned out some smart alec thing to say and everything (You mean I can actually stay in an area for three whole transfers??) but all that came out was "Well, if it's what the Lord thinks I can do...." When he poses the calling in the good-ol' "I feel very strongly that the Lord wants you to train next transfer," it makes it really hard to say much more than that. I nearly just said "Uhhhh..." like some idiot, so what I did get out was fairly intelligent comparitively, if you ask me.
This week wasn't terribly interesting, really, so going through a day by day play by play like last week would be even more boring than last week. So, highlights included seeing the garbage garden, as we call it. It's this lot of land in town that some guy has just collected garbage and put together to look kind of artistic. It's a cool place for pictures, but we met the guy. He's...out there. And on the city council. He uses what BS stands for the way most of us use the word Stuff. Literally. But yeah, that was a cool place to see.
Besides that, it seems like a lot of our stuff has been visiting members Elder Sheffer wanted pictures with before he left. I didn't mind, a lot of visiting the garbage garden was for that reason, too.
In the way of missionary work, the coolest thing that happened this week was taking an RM around with us and getting a member present and new investigator with him. We were trying to visit the son of a Recent Convert from here. His mom, Alice, had joined in December or something like that and then, after being taught the New Member Lessons, went back to Africa where she was from to try to help build up the church there. Anyway, her son, a guy in his twenties, I'd say, is still living in town here, and one of the Elders that had baptized his mother told us to stop by and see him. And we have been hurting for member presents because we just are not getting any return appointments so we took that RM along. We knocked on the door and luckily the guy was there. At first he seemed uninterested completely. But then I told him that what we teach doesn't have to take forever, it can only take a few minutes for us to just explain what we're all about (because he didn't understand what the difference was between us and other religions). After I said that he let us in and we taught a first. While I did not commit him to baptism as we've been trained to on the first lessons now, it went pretty good. He's still skeptical, but with all the seemingly unskeptical people that turn out to be completely uninterested, a skeptical person might just be a breath of fresh air.
So, yeah, that's the news. I'll let you know about my new comp in my next email.
--
"But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in." D&C 127:2
Elder Charlie Gates
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Of Videotaping Fireflies and Other Interesting Failures
My bet is that you're looking at this email right now thinking "Dang, isn't it a few days late?" It is. The library in Mason City is not open due to sewage problems. Bunch of crap, if you ask me (that's not a downer attitude, it's just fact). So, yeah, we just got sick of waiting for the sick stuff to be cleared out so we went to Clear Lake. Interesting sentence.
So, yeah, this week. I guess I'll attempt a day-by-day replay.
Monday: We were planning on going down south and having some good lessons with an investigator and members but both of those fell through. So we didn't and just tried to get things done around here. Key word: Tried.
Tuesday: I just realized I emailed last tuesday. Well, we ended up using most of the day on email then buying a new air filter because we had forgotten the day before. Then a dinner appointment and such.
Wednesday: Tried to visit a lot of people (that dang "try" word. Yoda would hate me.) and did some knocking before eating with a part member family. They were way cool. Hopefully he joins at some point.
Thursday: District Meeting in Fort Dodge (Please look up that distance on a map). Once we got back and that we were able to go visit our main investigator for a little bit before heading home.
Friday: Weekly Planned and then went to work on building a ramp for some members of the ward. We dug post holes and laid the posts and began putting on the supports that night. With our little holes, going two feet deep, we managed to cut their phone line. Wouldn't have thought you would have needed to call in about that at a farmhouse. But the next day was really fun.
Saturday: More people came out this day to do work on the ramp. Many of the members tried to take charge, some not realizing that others were the ones that knew what they were talking about. My companion jumped on in trying to figure out what to do, and I enjoyed just doing what I was told and laughing at the incongruous ideas. Rest of the day was spent trying to visit people, teaching a Recent Convert on a doorstep, and having correlation with our Ward Mission Leader.
Sunday: Drove around for awhile trying to visit people with our ward mission leader. Failed. Went to a few members homes for dinner then to visit and give the sacrament to.
Monday: Bought a camera! Went to dinner at a members home.
Tuesday: Went to Service, met our landlord, drove around with our ward mission leader again and actually caught somebody at home this time! Met with them for maybe thirty minutes before we had to go again. Saw Fireflies for the first time in my life. That was exciting! I tried to videotape them with my new camera, but apparently that's a little tough. There weren't a lot of them, so there should be more later in the summer. I'm excited.
Today: Had lunch with a couple older ladies who can't have us over because they have no males in their homes so they took us out to a place called Taco Tico. Came to email.
Well, that's the gist. Hope you enjoyed it.
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
So, yeah, this week. I guess I'll attempt a day-by-day replay.
Monday: We were planning on going down south and having some good lessons with an investigator and members but both of those fell through. So we didn't and just tried to get things done around here. Key word: Tried.
Tuesday: I just realized I emailed last tuesday. Well, we ended up using most of the day on email then buying a new air filter because we had forgotten the day before. Then a dinner appointment and such.
Wednesday: Tried to visit a lot of people (that dang "try" word. Yoda would hate me.) and did some knocking before eating with a part member family. They were way cool. Hopefully he joins at some point.
Thursday: District Meeting in Fort Dodge (Please look up that distance on a map). Once we got back and that we were able to go visit our main investigator for a little bit before heading home.
Friday: Weekly Planned and then went to work on building a ramp for some members of the ward. We dug post holes and laid the posts and began putting on the supports that night. With our little holes, going two feet deep, we managed to cut their phone line. Wouldn't have thought you would have needed to call in about that at a farmhouse. But the next day was really fun.
Saturday: More people came out this day to do work on the ramp. Many of the members tried to take charge, some not realizing that others were the ones that knew what they were talking about. My companion jumped on in trying to figure out what to do, and I enjoyed just doing what I was told and laughing at the incongruous ideas. Rest of the day was spent trying to visit people, teaching a Recent Convert on a doorstep, and having correlation with our Ward Mission Leader.
Sunday: Drove around for awhile trying to visit people with our ward mission leader. Failed. Went to a few members homes for dinner then to visit and give the sacrament to.
Monday: Bought a camera! Went to dinner at a members home.
Tuesday: Went to Service, met our landlord, drove around with our ward mission leader again and actually caught somebody at home this time! Met with them for maybe thirty minutes before we had to go again. Saw Fireflies for the first time in my life. That was exciting! I tried to videotape them with my new camera, but apparently that's a little tough. There weren't a lot of them, so there should be more later in the summer. I'm excited.
Today: Had lunch with a couple older ladies who can't have us over because they have no males in their homes so they took us out to a place called Taco Tico. Came to email.
Well, that's the gist. Hope you enjoyed it.
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Remembering All of Our Fallen War Heroes, Music Heroes, Book of Mormon Heroes, and Superheroes
It's tough coming up with new ways to greet all yall every week,
So, critical, life-changing experiences that occurred this past week:
1) Went and visited the Place Where the Music Died. Got a picture next to it. I'll attach it. It's literally out in a corn field. No surprise there.
2) Every Memorial Day weekend in Mason City there's a parade with all sorts of marching bands (paying tribute to the Music Man I'm sure) and floats and all sorts of fun stuff. Huge crowds come out from states around to see the big parade. This was my chance to see the thing that makes Mason City famous, see buttloads of cool old cars, take awesome pictures and talk to hundreds of people about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of those once-in-a-lifetime things that sound like I wouldn't miss it for the world, right? Wrong, I missed the whole thing. Didn't see any of it. Why? I was helping a member of the ward lay sod in his yard. I figured that was more important. So go ahead, check it out online and see the big parade I didn't see! KIMT is the local news station here in Mason City so you can check out their website for coverage.
3) I helped make cotton candy for the scouts to sell during the parade I didn't go to. Making cotton candy is pretty much not a glorious thing. Cotton candy was flying all over and it was sticky (yet tasty). I had some before I got sick of it, but my comp...well, it seemed like it might have been cotton candy laced with caffeine and meth the way he reacted to it. Great kid, ya gotta love him.
4) Went on exchanges down to Boone where our zone leaders are. Pretty much like the rest of the state. I got to see Mount Boone. That picture will be included, too. I was quite surprised to see a "mountain" in Iowa. Oh, I also got to help with committing a couple of their investigators to baptism. That was way cool. No luck doing that back here in Mason City, though.
5) A couple non-investigator-yet-very-nice-nonmembers gave us some awesome stuff this week. One of the couples gave us both full sets of disc golfing discs, and the other couple gave us two La-Z-Boy Recliners!!!! People out here are so nice, as long as they realize you aren't Sons of Perdition.
Really, that's about it. Oh, you're wondering about missionary work here in Mason City. It's pretty slow. Really just trying to get the balls rolling. We're working with a few members, both less active and active, and helping them overcome their problems. It's tough, though, and slow going. And it hit me this week how TRUE what we say is! No science, logic, ANYTHING can disprove it, because it all PROVES it. You cannot, logically, fight against what we say, because logic proves that this is true. And this fact, instead of making me excited about sharing the message, made me angry! I was pretty dang upset that people would fight us on this! But I had to get that anger out or else I'd stoop to the level of those missionaries who Bible bash. I refuse to do that. I'll discuss things, but as soon as it's contentious I'm out of there. Nobody benefits from that.
Anyway, I'm ranting. I'll go ahead and start uploading pictures. Love you all!
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
So, critical, life-changing experiences that occurred this past week:
1) Went and visited the Place Where the Music Died. Got a picture next to it. I'll attach it. It's literally out in a corn field. No surprise there.
2) Every Memorial Day weekend in Mason City there's a parade with all sorts of marching bands (paying tribute to the Music Man I'm sure) and floats and all sorts of fun stuff. Huge crowds come out from states around to see the big parade. This was my chance to see the thing that makes Mason City famous, see buttloads of cool old cars, take awesome pictures and talk to hundreds of people about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of those once-in-a-lifetime things that sound like I wouldn't miss it for the world, right? Wrong, I missed the whole thing. Didn't see any of it. Why? I was helping a member of the ward lay sod in his yard. I figured that was more important. So go ahead, check it out online and see the big parade I didn't see! KIMT is the local news station here in Mason City so you can check out their website for coverage.
3) I helped make cotton candy for the scouts to sell during the parade I didn't go to. Making cotton candy is pretty much not a glorious thing. Cotton candy was flying all over and it was sticky (yet tasty). I had some before I got sick of it, but my comp...well, it seemed like it might have been cotton candy laced with caffeine and meth the way he reacted to it. Great kid, ya gotta love him.
4) Went on exchanges down to Boone where our zone leaders are. Pretty much like the rest of the state. I got to see Mount Boone. That picture will be included, too. I was quite surprised to see a "mountain" in Iowa. Oh, I also got to help with committing a couple of their investigators to baptism. That was way cool. No luck doing that back here in Mason City, though.
5) A couple non-investigator-yet-very-nice-nonmembers gave us some awesome stuff this week. One of the couples gave us both full sets of disc golfing discs, and the other couple gave us two La-Z-Boy Recliners!!!! People out here are so nice, as long as they realize you aren't Sons of Perdition.
Really, that's about it. Oh, you're wondering about missionary work here in Mason City. It's pretty slow. Really just trying to get the balls rolling. We're working with a few members, both less active and active, and helping them overcome their problems. It's tough, though, and slow going. And it hit me this week how TRUE what we say is! No science, logic, ANYTHING can disprove it, because it all PROVES it. You cannot, logically, fight against what we say, because logic proves that this is true. And this fact, instead of making me excited about sharing the message, made me angry! I was pretty dang upset that people would fight us on this! But I had to get that anger out or else I'd stoop to the level of those missionaries who Bible bash. I refuse to do that. I'll discuss things, but as soon as it's contentious I'm out of there. Nobody benefits from that.
Anyway, I'm ranting. I'll go ahead and start uploading pictures. Love you all!
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
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