This week was mostly spent in Galena. The Elders there are having a hard time getting along, and since President would rather not have to ET anybody, he's allowing for two day mid-week exchanges. So I got to chill with Elder Poulson for a couple days, which was fun. Elder Poulson's the Elder I'm the closest to from my MTC group and we have had pretty much the same mission experience. It was great being able to talk to somebody that could relate to it all. Since the Spirit is not present between him and his companion, who has a history of having a hard time with his companions (what's that word that means "doing the same thing expecting different results?"), Elder Poulson saves their teaching appointments for exchanges. So I got to see a lot of the people they're teaching. We also briefly stopped by this antique store in Galena that has some amazing ties. I picked out a few and walked up to the counter, asking how much they were. "Well," said the man on the other side, "I usually charge 5 bucks a tie." My heart sunk a little, knowing that, no matter how amazing the ties were, I had made a commitment not to waste money and fifteen dollars was more than I was willing to pay. "But are you guys the missionaries from the Latter-Day Saint Church?" We responded in the affirmative. "Did you help my mom clean up dog crap in her yard a little bit ago?" I hesitated, as I had not, but Elder Poulson responded that he had with another companion. "Well, it sounds like you two just earned yourself a couple free ties." At this point, the love of God was made manifest to me and I just stood there, dumbstruck, staring at the saint of a store owner. "Do you mind if I grab a couple of ties, too?" Elder Poulson asked, breaking me out of my trance and allowing me to close my mouth before any drool came out. The store owner graciously and readily acquiesced and Elder Poulson grabbed a couple incredible ties of his own. Having legally robbed the man, we left, spewing out our thanks. Missionary blessings CAN be temporal. Sometimes. It was a good big exchange. It really felt like a really short emergency transfer more than an exchange. We also had interviews with President Jergensen on Friday, which was great. He informed me that I will most likely be staying in Dubuque until I go home! I hope that goes through! It's really a great area. He also thanked me for all I did in Quincy and said that I had done a great job there with paving the way for the next elders. This sort of surprised me, as I had thought I had failed for sure there. But sure enough, Saturday night I got a phone call from the Elders in Quincy informing me that Emily was being baptized the next day!!! I tried to congratulate them on it but Elder Curtis deflected the praise back to myself as Elder Cooper and I were apparently the ones that finally got her to really want to be baptized. So that was way exciting! Anyway, that's about it!
Love,
The Transcendentally Beautiful Elder Gates
(Doctrine & Covenants 137:2)
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