Meanwhile, dumb wannabegang wars started to pop up in the Marshallese youth, so we got to see a bunch of people we're working with and members wanting to beat the tar out of each other and hear about their glorious battles. Retards. It's all settled down now, though. I wonder if they'll discover what it means to have something to fight about and that gangs are more than you and two other people and a few that talk all big and yet run as soon as they see a black guy.
Also, we have been trying to figure out what to do with our amazingly solid investigator with the abusive member boyfriend that won't let her move out. While he should have been pulling himself together, he was busy with the gang wars.
And to add to it all, there's apparently this bug that flies out of the river everyday, completely devoid of a digestive system, mates, flies to the lights and dies within twenty-four hours. It's really gross to see their carcases blanketing walls, sidewalks, and cars and in piles below lights. And they smell gross. What's their purpose? To feed the fish. The midwesterners a couple hundred years ago must have joined together and, after a lengthy and educated debate, decided to name them "fishflies."
But it's all ok because Jaini was baptized yesterday and I baptized her. All's well!
Oh, and there is a place here in town called "Butt's Florist." Butt is a family name. A long while ago, Great Grandpa Butt had two daughters. Their names? Ima and Ura. Classy people, I tell ya.
--
Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, July 25, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Mini Missionaries
So this week we had the opportunity to have three Priests in the stake come to Dubuque and serve a mini mission. Mini Missions are fairly common activities out here in Iowa where Priests and Laurels have the opportunity to be set apart as missionaries for a few days and experience what a full day of missionary service is like. I really wish we had it back at home because it seems to be an amazing testimony builder and effectively gets them excited for serving their own missions. This also allowed us to split up at times into three companionships in Dubuque, allowing for us to now be up to four baptismal dates. One is for this Wednesday, which has been planned for awhile; another is for this coming Saturday, which might not happen then due to some unneeded drama; and the last two are for the sixth and thirteenth of August. Pretty exciting stuff! I'm doing all I can to make sure I finish strong. The trio is still going great, but Wayland often gets borrowed by X-Factor (have I mentioned that we're Dub Hub and the other companionship is X-Factor?) to help teach. I'm still enjoying the bike, even when just being outside makes sweat pour down my face. It's been so humid yesterday and today that I can't even walk outside without my glasses fogging and taking my bike outside ends up with it being covered in moisture. There are some things I won't miss about Iowa. How anybody lived here, or wanted to live here, before air conditioning is beyond me. I got to see Abby and Jeremy this past week, which was really cool! They very kindly took us out to eat at a great pizza place. I loved especially being able to see their daughter, Lorena. She really is adorable. You would almost think she was Marshallese with how cute of a kid she is. I didn't realize, either, that Jeremy was so closely connected with Dubuque.
Well, that's it for this week?
--
Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates
Well, that's it for this week?
--
Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Lord of the Flies vs. Car Doors
So this is the point in my mission where weekly emails seem fairly pointless.
We didn't move.
We got a dehumidifier so the moistness is gone.
Flies, however, have moved in and are now tormenting us. Elder Poulsen is a fantastic fly-slayer and does a great job wielding his handy vacuum and knotted up, ugly tie.
The other day, while riding my bike, I encountered the sum of all of my bicycling fears: Interference between my chosen trajectory and a vehicle; more specifically, a car door opening in my way. Luckily, however, I was able to use my catlike speed and reflexes to protect my bicycle handle from the edge of the door with my finger and my bike frame from the ground with my hip. I hopped back up quickly as it was a busy street and pulled ol' Felicity Charity out of the road. The man was very apologetic for it all and asked if there was anything he could do. I simply asked for a bandage for my profusely bleeding finger, which he swiftly obliged to, only to realize he taken out his first aid kit when he had gone to the beach (poor excuse in a landlocked state). We still had to get the key for the apartment we had been looking at back to the landlord before his office closed so we hurried and biked on back there and then finally headed back up to our apartment for me to clean up. Dried blood was coating my handlebar by this point, which felt much like dried paint. I cleaned it and bandaged it well, and also hid it well from Elder Poulsen, who has a problem with cuts in the extremities. It swelled up fairly nicely and the bandage I put on it soon had blood seeping out of it and also no longer fit as the swelling went down. It is now scabbed up fairly nicely and I am hoping for a significant war wound scar. I also have a nice looking rainbow colored bruise on my shin.
Our investigators are coming along well enough. Most of them are teenagers so they currently have to overcome trials with investigating, being either friends or social groups. One is being taken care of today when we go see him and his father to explain what all we believe and ask for permission to teach and even baptize him, and the other will take some explaining of choosing eternal life over friends. But our current baptismal date is still on track for baptism!
Lovin it up.
--
Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates
We didn't move.
We got a dehumidifier so the moistness is gone.
Flies, however, have moved in and are now tormenting us. Elder Poulsen is a fantastic fly-slayer and does a great job wielding his handy vacuum and knotted up, ugly tie.
The other day, while riding my bike, I encountered the sum of all of my bicycling fears: Interference between my chosen trajectory and a vehicle; more specifically, a car door opening in my way. Luckily, however, I was able to use my catlike speed and reflexes to protect my bicycle handle from the edge of the door with my finger and my bike frame from the ground with my hip. I hopped back up quickly as it was a busy street and pulled ol' Felicity Charity out of the road. The man was very apologetic for it all and asked if there was anything he could do. I simply asked for a bandage for my profusely bleeding finger, which he swiftly obliged to, only to realize he taken out his first aid kit when he had gone to the beach (poor excuse in a landlocked state). We still had to get the key for the apartment we had been looking at back to the landlord before his office closed so we hurried and biked on back there and then finally headed back up to our apartment for me to clean up. Dried blood was coating my handlebar by this point, which felt much like dried paint. I cleaned it and bandaged it well, and also hid it well from Elder Poulsen, who has a problem with cuts in the extremities. It swelled up fairly nicely and the bandage I put on it soon had blood seeping out of it and also no longer fit as the swelling went down. It is now scabbed up fairly nicely and I am hoping for a significant war wound scar. I also have a nice looking rainbow colored bruise on my shin.
Our investigators are coming along well enough. Most of them are teenagers so they currently have to overcome trials with investigating, being either friends or social groups. One is being taken care of today when we go see him and his father to explain what all we believe and ask for permission to teach and even baptize him, and the other will take some explaining of choosing eternal life over friends. But our current baptismal date is still on track for baptism!
Lovin it up.
--
Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Found a Favorable Function for the Figure 5
Well, I now have two companions: Elder Poulsen and Elder Wayland. For those of you that can remember this far back, I came out with Elder Wayland and served with him for a couple days in the MTC after my companion went to Colorado Springs. So, this is a blast. I'm really going to enjoy serving with the two of them my last transfer. We all have similar tastes in music and movies and we can't stop laughing and having a hilarious time. Elder Unsicker is settled in his new apartment with his new companion, Elder Peterson. Elder Peterson is, as he says in his general introduction, 6' 5" and 300 lbs and from Las Vegas. He loves talking and is very opinionated and that, sadly, easily elicits smart Alec remarks from whomever he speaks to.
The most exciting thing yet is that I have a new camera. I lost my little digital camera a little bit ago and searched for it some and have been waiting for it to pop up but as of yet, no luck. I really don't know what happened to it.... But, a member, Brother Holt, when he heard about my missing camera and my love for photography, offered me his camera from his mission in Germany back in the seventies. It's an old Rollei German camera. It is basically a mix between an SLR and a point and shoot, meaning that I can focus it, change the F-Stop and Shutter Speed, has a built-in light meter, extendable Carl Zeiss Lens, and can still fit in a pocket. He gave it to me along with a short yet functional remote and a device that is a tripod that can also clamp onto things or screw into a tree for support. Yeah, it's sweet. You'll love it, Dad. Look it up online, it's a Rollei B35. He had gotten it on his mission shortly before being given a different camera and just doesn't have a use for it anymore. He'd actually been looking for an appreciative home for it for awhile and so when he found both a need and a loving new owner, he graciously allowed me to have it. I've already developed one roll of film with it that he had given me and it appears that the light meter and all of that actually work well. Elder Poulsen is also really into photography and old cameras so we've been enjoying talking about it and he also has a good collection. He has a little film point and shoot called the Mini Diana, which has the feature of exposing only half of the frame at a time, a sweet Minolta SLR, and even a Polaroid camera with film, which is hard to come by nowadays, as Polaroid film is no longer being produced.
Anyway, my nerdy side is about complete. The work is going well enough. We have way too much we need to get figured out before we can just buckle down and get to work. We will be moving apartments soon, most likely this week, which is halfway stuck between exciting and annoying. Hopefully soon we can just kick back and work. We found out on one day that for the past three days of bike riding we had had a heat advisory in effect. That was cool....
The fourth was cool here. We saw some sweet biplane acrobatics over the river and fireworks from our front porch on Sunday and then saw a cool fireworks show with a sweet member family over on a golf course last night.
I'll probably bring home my boots just in case but leave quite a bit here. I'll bring home a couple suits, one I bought out here and my grey one I came out with, but I'll plan on leaving the rest. I'm starting to realize how easy it will be to pack as I won't have much I will need to bring home.
But I'm just enjoying being in high spirits and I plan on fully utilizing that for these next few weeks!
--
Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates
The most exciting thing yet is that I have a new camera. I lost my little digital camera a little bit ago and searched for it some and have been waiting for it to pop up but as of yet, no luck. I really don't know what happened to it.... But, a member, Brother Holt, when he heard about my missing camera and my love for photography, offered me his camera from his mission in Germany back in the seventies. It's an old Rollei German camera. It is basically a mix between an SLR and a point and shoot, meaning that I can focus it, change the F-Stop and Shutter Speed, has a built-in light meter, extendable Carl Zeiss Lens, and can still fit in a pocket. He gave it to me along with a short yet functional remote and a device that is a tripod that can also clamp onto things or screw into a tree for support. Yeah, it's sweet. You'll love it, Dad. Look it up online, it's a Rollei B35. He had gotten it on his mission shortly before being given a different camera and just doesn't have a use for it anymore. He'd actually been looking for an appreciative home for it for awhile and so when he found both a need and a loving new owner, he graciously allowed me to have it. I've already developed one roll of film with it that he had given me and it appears that the light meter and all of that actually work well. Elder Poulsen is also really into photography and old cameras so we've been enjoying talking about it and he also has a good collection. He has a little film point and shoot called the Mini Diana, which has the feature of exposing only half of the frame at a time, a sweet Minolta SLR, and even a Polaroid camera with film, which is hard to come by nowadays, as Polaroid film is no longer being produced.
Anyway, my nerdy side is about complete. The work is going well enough. We have way too much we need to get figured out before we can just buckle down and get to work. We will be moving apartments soon, most likely this week, which is halfway stuck between exciting and annoying. Hopefully soon we can just kick back and work. We found out on one day that for the past three days of bike riding we had had a heat advisory in effect. That was cool....
The fourth was cool here. We saw some sweet biplane acrobatics over the river and fireworks from our front porch on Sunday and then saw a cool fireworks show with a sweet member family over on a golf course last night.
I'll probably bring home my boots just in case but leave quite a bit here. I'll bring home a couple suits, one I bought out here and my grey one I came out with, but I'll plan on leaving the rest. I'm starting to realize how easy it will be to pack as I won't have much I will need to bring home.
But I'm just enjoying being in high spirits and I plan on fully utilizing that for these next few weeks!
--
Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates
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