Floods and Foreshadowing

will there be time to go to the beach at all? Even just for the day? I miss the beach.
I'll be completely honest: I'm ready to come home it's just clicking in my head and heart that it's time. Cari made a good point in her latest email to me (sorry for not responding directly, Cari) that now's the time I can be the boldest. I don't know if it really was "Boldness" but I did tear into a member for being retarded in holding back his girlfriend from baptism. He didn't appreciate it at all, and probably hates me now, but I snapped listening to his BS (boy scouts, if anybody asks) and told him how I viewed the situation. I may have killed that relationship to a certain extent, but he still loves missionaries and still let me bless his child in sacrament meeting.
Yeah, so that's a weird experience: blessing and naming a child as a missionary. First of all, I had to carry the baby up there (carrying babies is not something I'm accustomed to, especially since there's a clear rule against us holding children). Second of all, it's something that's cool to do, but not something I'm ready for yet. Like a ten year old getting permission to drive around the block. It was such a great feeling, though. I know now that that is a blessing that I will always be worthy of to do for my own children. He really is a cute little Marshallese baby. His blessing was focused on his spiritual well-being. Elder Poulsen and Elder Wayland opened their eyes during the blessing (sinners) and said that he was smiling up at them and everyone else. They could see the potential in his eyes and were glad that the blessing focused so heavily on having the Light of Christ with him and the Power of the Holy Ghost directing him.
I don't know if any of you have heard, but there was a big old storm here this past week. 18 inches of rain fell. For as much as I would love to spend the last little bit of time I have teaching, it looks like it will be spent, instead, doing service. One family we went to do service for had five feet of water in their split level, completely destroying everything downstairs. Everything had to be ripped out and thrown away. We'll be working closely with the ward in finding who all needs help, because this is taking priority. Hopefully we'll still be able to meet with the few investigators we still have that haven't gotten baptized yet, but all of them have such a long way to go that it's not like we're prepping them for their baptisms this coming week.
Things are still going great, I'm just pretty trunky. It's not inhibiting the work, it's just the way it is. It really helps to keep my mind from dwelling on my aggravating district leader and some annoying situations.
Congrats on the great homecoming, Troy!
Love you all!
Elder Gates

Tensions Rise Along With the Fishflies

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

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

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

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

6 Weeks Left, 4 Dubuque Missionaries, 3 Baptisms, 2 New Apartments, 1 Sweet Temple Trip

Sorry, the number 5 has no relevance to me.

So, here's the deal: Dubuque is splitting up into two areas, and Elder Unsicker and I are splitting up as well. Elder Unsicker will take one area and train a new missionary while I and another missionary will cover another section of Dubuque. The way we split up Dubuque is by districts. There are Six Districts in Dubuque: Eagle Point, Grandview/University, Downtown, Port of Dubuque, Southend, and Westend. I will be taking University, Southend and Downtown, and Elder Unsicker will take Eagle Point, Westend, and everything outside of Dubuque. I've volunteered my new companion and myself to being bike missionaries, and, as Elder Unsicker's two areas are split up on both ends of town, he'll have the car. He has a pretty good apartment we've picked out, we just need to gather up furniture for it. I'll be getting a new apartment probably as well, as this week we had more leeks and mold and all sorts of junk. It's supposedly all fixed now, but we're no longer messing with it. So I'll be moving next week. We also got a call from the AP's asking if there would be room in either of the Dubuque Apartments for a trio of missionaries at some point in the future. So I'm figuring one of us may be getting two new companions.
This past week was also my going home temple trip. That was great. We went first to an old cemetery a little ways outside of Nauvoo. That was a really cool, spiritual place. I loved looking around at all of the old gravestones and the statue they have there. Many of those who were dead there were only teenagers or younger. Then we went to the temple and did an endowment session. That was just as spectacular as ever. And then we went up into the bell tower. It was quite the view from up in there. We even went up into the dome right below the Angel Moroni. We then went shopping and I got myself a lanyard, temple recommend holder with a picture of the Nauvoo Temple on the front, and a Sunstone ring that has kind of become a tradition in the mission to get. We then headed back. I love Nauvoo. On the way back from Nauvoo, through Iowa City, we stopped by the hospital and saw Mary's triplets. They are adorable. Arina, Terrina, and Marina are their names, I think. They're doing very well, and it was good being able to talk with the nurse there about everything. One apparently got a shunt in the last couple days in her head to deal with the fluids up there. Getting this kind of information through a Marshallese Middleman makes things harder to understand than straight from the NICU nurse. It was also nice to talk to someone like Cari about Pick Lines and all those things.
And, as you can tell from the subject, we had three baptisms this weekend. On Saturday, Dino Alfred and Branton Johnson were baptized, a couple Marshallese youth who are great. They were nearly late because of a scout campout earlier that caused Branton to nearly sleep through it and Dino forgetting to come early, but they made it and it was great. President Jergensen came to it along with Sister Jergensen. It was a pretty small turnout to that one, but it was much larger at Mary's baptism the next day. Ronnie baptized Dino and Mike baptized Branton, and Elder Unsicker confirmed Dino and I confirmed Branton. That was a great Sacrament Meeting. President and Sister Jergensen were still around for that one, and President was given an opportunity to bear his testimony. I also gave a brief talk, but I was assigned to it earlier. The entire Sacrament Meeting was on Joseph Smith and my talk was on the First Vision. I loved being able to share it with an audience of members and bear my testimony of it. There were a few nonmembers present as well so I'm glad they got to hear the powerful testimonies given that day. During Sunday School, Elder Unsicker and I taught a lesson to the Marshallese on the importance of the Word of Wisdom in our line of preparing them for a Marshallese Branch lessons. It's supposedly secret but everybody else is talking about it like crazy that Galena Branch is closing and joining up with us. That will push everything to the point where a Marshallese Branch will basically be necessary, as will the possibility of two Dubuque Wards. That night was Mary's baptism, which was probably one of the most spiritual ones I've had for some reason. She was able to come up from Iowa City for it. We had the little marriage ceremony first and then the baptism, performed by Ronnie, and her confirmation, performed by her father-in-law. Her little son was there, too, a cute little four-year-old by the name of Peterson. He sat by me and drew pictures of me as a monster and held my hand as I would lead him around. I've loved seeing these six baptisms in the past three months.
Badabububah, I'm lovin' it!
--


Ij Yokwe Yuk!
Elder Charlie Gates

Kwar Ke Kwojkwoj Ioon E Bok in Mormon Eo?

Did you feast on the Book of Mormon? That's my text I send to all of the Marshallese youth at night.
So this week we had 21 lessons taught to investigators with members present, and that's with only six days of working, as we had zone conference this past week. That also includes 4 people invited to baptism and 3 new dates set, but only one of those new ones went through as the other two didn't make it to church. This next weekend we will have three baptisms: Branton and Dino, two awesome Marshallese youth, and Mary, who had the triplets. The first two will be on Saturday and Mary will be on Sunday, as she will be visiting up from Iowa City. Zone Conference down in Iowa City was great. It really was a spiritual conference and helped me learn a lot about how I can improve myself. I especially enjoyed a video of a talk Elder Russell M. Nelson had given at the MTC about PMG and how it was devised primarily because of the number of missionaries who would go home and go less active. I really like its goal to convert us so that we can convert others. Besides that, this week has simply just been a whirlwind of teaching, and much like the people in the Book of Mormon, I've lost my strength due to the spirituality of it all. Two of our dates have wanted to move their dates back to give themselves more time, which is ok. Our days are lessons from 1-5, dinner from members and a lesson to them, then more lessons after that, followed by going home, planning, and then writing in the area book for all of the people we taught that day and then going to bed. Each of those daily appointments consist of more than one person usually. We also have started up a new things of teaching in the Marshallese sunday school. Some Marshallese members have a hard time with the Word of Wisdom and gambling, and so when we asked the Sunday School teacher to teach a lesson on those topics, he asked us to do it as they would respect it more coming from us. So this Sunday was the first of a three-part series. I felt impressed to stand before them and give a speech on how much we love and respect them and how possible having a Marshallese branch is, but only if they make a few necessary changes. We then shared with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end). Mike and Ronnie, the Marshallese Priests who go out with us to most of our lessons, helped translate. Well, I have got to get going in order to start teaching lessons on time. We don't have P-Day's anymore. Tomorrow I am going on my going home temple trip! I love Nauvoo!
Ij yokwe yuk!

Elder Gates

Na Ejanin Jar Bwe Kabun Eo An Jisos Kraist Im Armej Ro Rekwojarjar Ilo Raan Kein Aliktata

"I'm a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," for all those who can't read Marshallese. Elder Unsicker decided partway through the week that it was about time we got serious about learning some Marshallese, so we called President to see if we could get an hour of Marshallese study everyday. When we first called, he asked, "You didn't set another baptismal date, did you??" Sadly, not that day, nor this week, but I'm sure more will come soon. He quickly agreed with the hour of language study and even agreed to another little request of Elder Unsicker's: to get Marshallese Nametags. Ahh yyeah. We're so in with the Marshallese already, this will just improve it all. Yesterday we asked the Marshallese Sunday School teacher to teach a lesson on gambling and the word of wisdom as those are problems with the Marshallese. He responded by asking us to teach it and that he'll translate, as the Marshallese members respect us so much they'll respond better to it coming from us than him. And he's the most solid Marshallese priesthood holder we have! We're really hoping for another set of missionaries here as there is so much work to be done that we just can't get to. We are busy nearly daily from two o'clock on with daily appointments. So it's crazy. Mary, who was going to be baptized last week but gave birth to triplets the day before, has been in Iowa City with her babies who are in the NICU there. We were originally going to wait till July when the babies would be released to baptize her, but a member of the bishopric had a better idea: have the missionaries down there finish the lessons and then go down there and get them married and her baptized and confirmed. With that plan, it may very well happen this week. So I may have another baptism to write you about next Monday. The apartment is coming together. It's all working out and the moisture has reduced a lot as we put in air conditioners this week, not to really cool things down but to dry it out. Now it's just normal Iowa Moist. Well, that's about it! Congrats on the engagement, Tyler!

Ij yokwe yuk (I love you),
Elder Gates

22 Months & First Time Baptizing by Fire: No Flames Needed

This last week was all abuzz with us trying to get the baptisms all ready to go and the apartment ready to go as well I'll start with the baptisms so that way you have something worthwhile to read first and then if you don't feel like being depressed you can just stop there.
So, as I said, we spent the week getting Mary and Justina ready for their baptisms, and their baptisms ready for them. Justina didn't take much work to prepare her for it, as she is golden and had had all of the lessons taught to her already. She even has been reading the Book of Mormon in Marshallese and English side by side and can now read Marshallese and has improved her English tremendously. Really, if she could get any more phenomenal, she'd explode. Mary still had some lessons to be taught, so we were finishing getting her ready. Friday, the day before the baptism, however, we found out that Mary had gone into labor and given birth to three beautiful girls. They were fairly quickly taken off to Iowa City to be taken care of there, as they were fairly premature and had some trouble breathing. So Mary was not baptized on Saturday, as she was in the hospital. Fairly legitimate reason to not be baptized. She and her fiance are in Iowa City as well as of right now. She'll be baptized when the babies are out of the hospital and that's over with, so probably later in July. Justina was married and baptized on Saturday, however, and it was an incredible service. The marriage was just a small ceremony in the bishop's office that was very sweet, and then so many people showed up to the baptism that it had to be held in the chapel. The Spirit was so strong. It also ended up being a wonderful missionary opportunity. Earlier in the week, we set two more baptismal dates with two young men, Branton and Dino, two Marshallese youth. Branton came to the baptismal service, informing us that his parents were cool with him being baptized and that he was excited for it. Dino, however, did not come to the baptism, but his nonmember parents did. We asked them if they were ok with us baptizing their son, and his father offered some qualms with the situation as Dino had been baptized as a child in their church. After Elder Unsicker briefly explained authority, however, Dino's father responded to a second time of asking for permission by saying that it "would be a great opportunity for Dino." Both Dino and Branton are on track for baptism on July 2nd now. Also, we taught two more Marshallese people for the first time yesterday and set two more baptismal dates with them for July 2nd. Six baptismal dates altogether. Sunday also was the day Justina received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and I was privileged to be the one to give that to to her. It really was a great experience.
Alright. The apartment.
Well, we finally met up with the gas guy after another attempt at getting him there on Friday. So, after a week of sleeping at the Holts' house, we were finally home. The nice cave-like coolness also leads to not-so-nice cave-like dampness. I've never had my sheets get dryer as I slept in them. The next morning we also were blessed to be present as police showed up to visit our new neighbors upstairs. While this was a fairly pleasant neighborhood we'd moved into, the neighbors upstairs who moved in only a couple days before aren't too fond of it being pleasant. So, in order to mix things up a bit, they decided to steal the grill from across the street. The man across the street apparently enjoys pleasantness and wasn't too keen on his grill being stolen. So he went looking for his grill just to find it on the back porch of the people above us. Well, he got the police involved, who searched upstairs looking for the grill, and finally found it hidden in a closet in the vacant apartment on the third floor. This, along with the fact that they have no clue how to handle their children accept by screaming obscenities at them and their children retaliate by running in circles for hours on end has not made a great impression on us. Saturday also led to us discovering that the hot water wouldn't shut off in the shower so we had water constantly dribbling out of the faucet, which couldn't be fixed till this morning, so we either showered with cold water or under a little dribble of warm water, and it all didn't help with that moisture problem. All in all, if it wasn't for the Marshallese, I'd be begging to be transferred. I know missionaries will hate me forever for choosing this apartment. It used to be a good idea. Anybody have a dehumidifier?
Congrats to Tyler for being home taller, fatter and older!
--

Love,
Elder Gates
"Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing." Bible Dictionary

Homeless with Three Homes

Have you ever had one of those weeks? One of those ones where you just think that you have got to be doing something right or Satan would not be trying you this hard. Welcome to the past seven days!
Tuesday we decided on an apartment. We prayed about it and it felt right. Or, at least, that it wasn't wrong. That day the utilities were called about. Keep that in mind as I continue.
Wednesday we got the keys and everything was settled and then we found out that we had another month on the old apartment. Apparently there was a misunderstanding. Whatever, that's just another month to clean our apartment. Hopefully they don't try sticking us personally with the apparent knife throwing contests and dartboard dart holes that were done by previous missionaries and conveniently covered. That night we moved all of the furniture. We had some good help from the ward and the missionaries from Savanna. There was still no utilities so we slept on the ground at the old apartment.
Thursday was district meeting and moving the rest of the stuff. I went with Elder Bailey to teach the lesson we had in the middle of the move. Still no utilities that night, so we slept on the ground at the old apartment again.
Friday we finally got electricity halfway through the day. The gas guy also showed up, but because there was no water on, he refused to turn on the gas. We also discovered that a spigot was missing from a pipe. We later found the spigot but the pipe was cracked so that needed to be fixed. That night the Holts had us over for dinner so when Brother Holt picked us up he took a look at the pipe and figured out what needed to be done. He and his wife asked what they could do to help out that night, and I said, halfway joking, "Let us live with you." A phone call or two later, and we had a place to stay until everything was fixed. We've enjoyed the nights and mornings since that call, with our queen sized beds, whirlpool tub, and wonderful breakfasts. I've also opened up the window and listened to the frogs as I've gone to sleep, as they live out in the country. It was also about this time that Elder Jahn, the senior office couple elder over the housing awarded Elder Unsicker and me with the fictitious Flexibility Award. I hope you're proud, Mom.
Saturday included Brother Holt fixing our pipes, which included sawing off a whole section and replacing it with PVC. As soon as that was dry, we turned on the water, which we had discovered was on but just needed to be turned on at the meter. We began looking around, making sure that the water was running well around the apartment, when we discovered that the toilet and the wall by the toilet were leaking water fairly heavily. We quickly shut the water back off and called Elder Jahn. He had been trying to get a hold of the landlord and maintenance guy and at this point called and left a message with the landlord saying that if he didn't call back we were moving out. Sadly, he called back, saying that the pipes had apparently not been winterized in time and so they would have to fix it Tuesday. And we've been over on miles. So the Holts have had to drive us into town every morning and pick us up every night. They drove us to church on Sunday and even took us out for a Memorial Day Lunch Picnic in Eagle Point Park, a really beautiful park overlooking the river from the top of a bluff.
To add to the drama, members have not been too keen on the location of our apartment. It's downtown, right up against a bluff. The downtown is considered by many to be an unsafe area, but we intentionally found a place that is south of most problems, across the street from the library, and going to have the exterior renovated soon as the city is fixing up this section of town. Not to mention that with all of the anxiety I've had lately, the only time I would feel peace was when I prayed about this apartment, so I, for a change, wasn't worried. Also, this location is so much closer to all of our work. We can walk or ride our bikes to all of our investigators, no problem. Goodbye hilly bike rides and wasted miles. Not to mention that air conditioning is pointless in it as it has a couple feet thick stone walls so it is basically a cave in there. A member believes it to be from the mid 1800s and so it was made to last, and it has.
We also have been so busy with all of this that we still haven't gotten the car in for a recall on the airbags and to get an estimate from a very minor accident we got in last week when we got rear ended.
In the way of the work, all is going great! The two baptisms that were going to happen this last saturday were moved to this coming one, and all is going well in that regard. They're great investigators and one especially, Justina, is so solid. She now sits there in lessons with both her English and Marshallese copies of the Book of Mormon and has a calling already as Marshallese Relief Society Chorister.
We also saw one of the main priesthood holders that will lead the rest back to church return on Sunday, which was awesome! I love all that is coming together here!
Seriously, though, we know that none of this good stuff and none of this bad stuff would happen without the other. There are truly opposites in all things and right now we are being tested and tried as we see legitimate miracles come to pass. There may be days where I'm tempted to hop on my bike and start heading west, but the knowledge that I am seeing miracles take place amongst the Marshallese keeps me from letting the bad stuff from getting to me. How many places do you have people that commit so easily to things, are serious about all of it, and already believe in tithing and either already do it with our church or did it with their old church? It's so crazy, I love it.
Anyway, that's been my week! Congrats to Stephanie for being endowed!
--

Love,
Elder Gates
"Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing." Bible Dictionary

For the Marshallese, Hearing "May Day" is a Good Thing

This Saturday was the celebration of the Marshall Islands' Constitution Day, which led, as usual, to a lot of partying. We had district meeting Saturday morning and all of the missionaries there just went with us to the party. I'm not quite sure why they didn't go home after eating the food but whatever. All of the Marshallese congregated at the park and had a lot of food and games, such as races and tug-of-wars and musical chairs and all sorts of other stuff (we even got into the action and raced). It was a great way to talk to all of the Marshallese people and meet a few of our referrals and all sorts of good stuff. The highlight of the day had to be, though, the basketball tournament. We ended up needing to leave during the second game, which basically consisted of Mormons vs. Assembly of God, as we're the two main Marshallese congregations in the area. We lost, but it still was a vicious game. Marshallese know how to get into basketball. There's a reason why when we played with them one PDay I nearly got a concussion. But yeah, I got a jersey for the "Mormon Team," called Nam, meaning Mosquito, for five bucks off of one of the benchwarmers.
Our baptismal dates are still on track, but we had to move their dates back due to a stake priesthood meeting this Saturday. So we will have two on the fourth of June and one on the eleventh of June. We also have two young men fasting about whether they should be baptized and if this is all true. All sorts of good stuff going on here in the way of the work!
But in the way of finding an apartment...yeah, it sucks. Hardcore. Watch, now that I've said that, this will end up being the one on the quarterly newsletter. But it's seriously one of the most stressful things of my mission. We have not been getting very much luck in that department. Needing to be out by the end of the month, needing something under 600 a month, and something that isn't out in the middle of nowhere (or somewhere in Wisconsin, which would be outside of our mission) has been a real trial. We found something in a good area within the price range and even signed off on it, but it still needs to be approved by the office, but halfway through signing we realized it was through a company that has screwed over the Marshallese multiple times in the past, I didn't like the guy, and the apartment was the cleanest he was willing to make it. Basically, he's a slum lord. And I do not want to rent from him. But if we can't find anything better today, we've been told to go with it, unless the contract is not acceptable by the office. I really don't know how this apartment search could be any more aggravating. We had thirteen member present lessons this past week, which is so unheard of that the Zone Leaders called us up to see if we were counting our numbers correctly, and if we weren't teaching lessons, we were apartment searching. All sorts of acceptable apartments just have not called us back yet. We have one more to look at today, and as long as we can be in there sometime this week and it's any better than slumtopia, we're going with it. Anyway.
Well, that's about it for the area. Once we get moved all will be well. This truly is the best area in the mission and I can't wait to see it completely flourish. Our goal for this area is 22 lessons taught with a member present this week, which may just be a record, I don't know, but it's definitely achievable. We have four scheduled for today, our PDay. Doing some work as well trying to get the Marshallese Priesthood holders reactivated. We need them for this to work. There's one especially that could lead the rest of the men back.


Love,
Elder Gates
"Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing." Bible Dictionary

Death by Heat Has Arrived

Hey Everyone,
Ok, let me respond to a few of these questions that have been asked:
Flooding. Yes, there has been quite a bit of flooding, but Dubuque has a large flood wall and so it didn't do any damage in Dubuque. In East Dubuque, on the other side of the river, it caused some flooding, but no real damage. At least I don't think so. There's a little area that has some houses right on the flood plane. They intentionally build those houses with the garages on the lower level and the house on top. So for at least a couple weeks each year they must row boats to the shore to do anything. I don't get it myself, but whatever. There was more flooding down in Savanna, another area in our district, but that only covered one street and I don't think it caused too much damage. Sandbagging was done, for as much as that was worth, and it looked like it was going to do damage, but never did. It got into the basement of the church there, which is just a storefront on the main street.
The old computer. Yeah, chuck it. I will need a new computer...I'm figuring i'm going to have quite the shopping list when I get home....
Tom and Amy's baby. Congrats!
I think that's about it.
Alright, so, in the way of the work. We're still on for the two baptisms on Saturday, and we set another baptismal date for July. Ejmi and Mailalyne passed their baptismal interviews so they are on track for the baptism. I'm sure more baptismal dates will be set soon as well.
I know everybody who reads this, claims to read this, or I simply assume reads this, were not all there for my call home, but I don't have much more to update you all on than that.
Oh, and we had a Marshallese first birthday party. We were so busy we only made part of it, but it was great as always. My personal favorite part was when the Dora the Explorer pinata body was knocked off of the head, and we ended up with a head hanging from a rope. So morbid, so wrong, and such a great picture.

--

Love,
Elder Gates
"Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing." Bible Dictionary

"As a Rule, Marshallese People Have Great Senses of Humor." -Marshallese Language CD

Yeah, I heard something today about Osama Bin Laden being dead. That's pretty exciting! Those rare times in life when you can celebrate the death of another one of God's Children and not feel guilty are delightful experiences.

I believe it was Thursday night when Elder Unsicker turned to me in the car and asked a question I've heard from many of my companions who assume that my silence is due to some deep pondering:
"What are you thinking, Elder Gates?"
To his dismay, my reply was not the usual "Why is there no squirrel-based superhero?" or "Bunny rabbits sure do make horrible pets." Instead, I responded with a thoughtful "About how much I want to be consecrated."
Silence. Neither Elder Unsicker nor I have been bad missionaries, but we have had some things that we could be better on in order to be the best missionaries we could be. After about a minute, he drilled deeper. "How badly do you want it?"
"Bad."
"How bad?"
"Really bad."
He then began an inner struggle. His lifelong pursuit of doing what he wanted started to give way to his mission-long dream of being consecrated. By the time we arrived back at the house, he had acquiesced. Elder Unsicker is the first companion in a very long time that I knew I could strive to achieve this with once more. So, on Sunday, we began it all with a fast, and we're changing ourselves and giving up everything that we need to. We're sacrificing not only the little things we'd do, or the little laziness that might creep in, but, more importantly, our heart and soul, to the work. I only have 3.5 months left and I want to sprint it. Not my usual way of ending endurance races, as I tend more to say "Bah, I'm tired, when can I get my Sunny-D?" but I know this is how I have to do it.
As for the work this week, it's been incredible. On Wednesday alone, we set 2 baptismal dates, got 2 new investigators, committed both of those investigators to be baptized, had three member presents, and all of them were Marshallese. All in all we have 6 Marshallese investigators now, 5 committed to baptism, 2 with a date, and 1 should have a date as of last night. She, Justina, was going to be meeting with a member of the Relief Society about wedding plans. She apparently wants to get married and then walk right down into the font, so I'm not about to complain. The first lesson we taught on Wednesday was with a new investigator, Mary. Mary is the pregnant girlfriend of a member and knows very little english. That whole lesson had to be translated into Marshallese for her. But she understood well and excepted a baptismal invitation. Her less-active-due-to-work boyfriend did a great job translating, teaching some, and testifying throughout. We then met with Janie, a new investigator as well, and sister of Justina. She, too, has a boyfriend that is a member, but understands english pretty well. She, also, accepted a baptismal invitation. After that we tried to go see a less active with the two Marshallese Priests we had with us, Ronnie and Mike, but that lesson fell through (she's not Marshallese). So, instead, we went to what I think of as my mountain. It's a hilltop park overlooking the city where I go when I really need to pray. There we knelt and prayed about what date we should commit Ejmi and Mailalyne, our next appointments, to be baptized on. We felt that May 14th was the date God wanted them baptized on. So, for that lesson with Ejmi and Mailalyne, we had Ronnie and Mike teach it all with Elder Unsicker's visual aides (I have a whole plan of salvation as well but I had left it at home). They both did a fantastic job explaining everything and, when we asked her how she felt, she said she could feel the Holy Ghost come on her, telling her it was true. So, I confirmed what she felt, as Elder Unsicker and I had been feeling it, too, even though we couldn't understand what was being said, and then informed her of God's plan for her to be baptized on May 14th and asked her how she felt about that. She thought for a minute, and then agreed. Her biggest concern was whether or not her boyfriend that lives elsewhere could get baptized, too, when he arrived and they got married. It was a hard decision, but we agreed to it. Mailalyne, who had been sitting there as well, ended up being 8 and not 7.5 as I had thought, so we invited her to be baptized on that day as well, which she excitedly accepted. As her mother lives in Seattle and is not a member, she falls into our hands for being baptized. We left that appointment exhausted. Although we had driven everywhere that day, we felt as if we had biked from one end of town to the other. We could feel that same sort of exhaustion that has always overcome God's servants after marvelous revelations. We had a short coordination that night with our ward mission leader, and neither of us could hardly believe what all had happened that day and struggled to remember it all as we also fought off complete surrender to our exhaustion. That was a good day. We had other good days through the rest of the week, as we kept teaching our investigators. One, Branton, we thought was going to drop us, but instead just wants a Marshallese Book of Mormon. We're running out. I only have two left, and after I deliver that one to him, only one left. We told our ward mission leader about our dilemma, to which he responded "Well, there's about twenty in the missionary closet at the church." Elder Unsicker and I laughed a little and informed him that we have handed them all out. Anyway, when we went to meet up with Mary for a second lesson, Branton sat in on it. Again, Mike and Ronnie taught it, doing a great job. This time, Steve, Mary's boyfriend, asked a question about baptisms for the dead. Branton also asked for further explanation on the Spirit World and the Three Kingdoms of Glory, which, because he understands english, I was able to explain with the New Testament. After that he seemed more drawn into learning more. We also taught another couple of lessons to Janie, and more to Justina. Justina is already living the Word of Wisdom and paying tithing. She already has a strong testimony in the latter, as Jemity, her boyfriend, has always told her that they would be living it, and when they moved to the states and into their current apartment, the price was dropped from $700 a month to $100 a month, and she knows it was all due to them paying their tithing, and God allowing them to have the money to do so. So, we're not teaching Justina, we're simply checking it all off of the teaching record so we knows she knows it before baptism.
I only bother with the nonMarshallese investigators if they're in Galena.
Well, that's about it! Mother's Day is coming up!! I'll get to talk to yall in Worshington in pertinear a couple three days, yet! Bah, my Iowa-talk is leaving, as I'm switching over to Marshallese talk. During our appointments I speak really slow, pronouncing everything clearly (imagine that, me not mumbling), and so I've realized a lot of times I accidentally pick up the Marshallese accent during the lessons.
We also are working a lot with members, and the members are starting to really love us. We're rebuilding trusts that were lost by former missionaries and building even stronger the trusts we had. God is blessing us so much, he's even sent a member here that wants to take us golfing. I know it's not your thing, dad, but I enjoy it. I just haven't gone on my mission because it's not the cheapest of things, especially when you don't have a set of clubs.
Life is great. I really can't think of anything to complain about, and even if I could, I can't anymore, because I'm become the ideal missionary.
Love you all like a Marshallese teenager loves socks with flip flops! (I didn't even know that was physically possible.)
--

Love,
Elder Gates
"Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing." Bible Dictionary

Easter: The Source of All Joy

Mom said in her latest email that she is thinking about forwarding my last email to President Miles because he might be interested in the Marshallese work going on here. If the last email hasn't been sent yet, don't bother, this one will be much more informative. So, last sunday, as I mentioned, we started teaching a lady named Justina, who is living with a member. She knew it was all true before we went over. We've gone with a couple of Marshallese Priests (as in, Priests of our church that are Marshallese. Sometimes when I say this in the district, other missionaries get confused what a Marshallese Priest is), Mike and Ronnie. Mike is a recent convert and Ronnie is preparing to go on a mission as soon as he graduates. Both are incredible young men and priesthood holders. We've taught Justina a few times this week, and she is understanding everything very well so far. I'm learning how to teach very simply in simple words and to annunciate clearly. You never know, I might not even mumble anymore when I get home. Doubt it. She knows she needs to get married before baptism and is planning on getting married very soon. We don't know quite when yet, but the Relief Society will be helping with that. We are also trying to pick back up a Marshallese investigator who had had a baptismal date not that long ago, Eddy. He is sixteen and apparently has still been going to mutual, just not to church. We had heard that it might be that his parents haven't been terribly supportive of him being taught, but I'm texting him now so we hope that he will be taught more here soon. We've also extended soft baptismal invites (when you know this is true, will you...) to two new investigators this week, Mike's aunt and cousin, Ejmi and Lalailyne, respectively. Both have been going to church for about a month. They also seemed to understand what was being taught. The Mike's cousin is 7.5 and her mom is living in Seattle. The way Marshallese families work is that they are very tightknit and a lot of times it just doesn't matter to them if the parents are the ones raising the child or if it is the aunt and/or uncle. We taught those two yesterday and will be seeing them again soon. We also started meeting with another one of Mike and Ronnie's friends, Branton. When we were walking around with Mike in a predominately Marshallese neighborhood, we ran into a lot of the Marshallese youth and Branton. They all surrounded Branton and told us to start teaching him. If only all of the church was this onto missionary work. So, letting Branton know we weren't going to force him to do anything, even to be taught, we invited him to take the lessons and he agreed. He's been to a few activities as well. He's kind of a shy kid but cool, nevertheless. Marshallese people have the best sense of humor. And the youth attack anybody that starts swearing. They know their standards and they are not afraid to stand up for them. We also gained two new referrals yesterday. One is the sister of Justina who was referred to us by a member. The other one was obtained while coming out of an appointment with Justina. It basically was obtained by Mike pointing across the street at a guy and saying "He wants his girlfriend to be taught," and us asking the guy, who is Ronnie's less active brother if this was true. All in all, we'll soon have about 7 Marshallese investigators, with more on the way I'm sure. It's funny, because they are far more solid than any of our nonMarshallese investigators, who all have dropped off the map. Basically, if they end up bringing another set of missionaries here for some reason, Elder Unsicker and I will take all of the Marshallese people and they can have everybody else. I don't know if they will bring other missionaries here, but, if a Marshallese branch is started here soon like the plan is, it may be necessary. I would not mind ending my mission as a Marshallese missionary. Actually, I have some news on finishing my mission. This week the entire district except for Elder Roberts and me went to Des Moines for one of those Leadership Conferences, as they are trying to have everybody that has never gone to one go. I think I mentioned that last week. Anyway, I was stuck in Savanna for two whole days. I never realized just how depressing that area is. But I survived and received some news from Elder Unsicker. He talked to President as we had planned and asked him if we could stay together for a little bit. President responded that that is the plan, to leave us together in Dubuque till the end of my mission. Let's hope so. Great things are going to happen here. Now it's just up to us to prove to God that we can accomplish these great things. Elder Unsicker was also able to obtain from one of his previous areas a Roomba that they had been given while he was there. So now we no longer need to vacuum, just merely set his robotic vacuum named Chloe in the middle of the floor and press on. Yeah, life is good. We're very booked on appointments this week, it's really not allowing time for anything besides teaching, which is exactly how it should be. Oh, and a realization I had before another appointment this past friday with our investigator in Friday who is attempting to drink herself to death is that everything in life is a blessing. Yep, everything. It's up to us to make sure it blesses us or not, but God doesn't allow anything to happen to us unless it will bless us in some way, either by giving us a learning experience or just flat out making our lives better. I don't know if this is new to any of you, i really doubt it is to me, I just haven't realized it in this way before. Sometimes, people have a lot more complicated learning experiences than others, but all in all, we can learn from everyone. I know, you might be thinking I'm oversimplifying it, but I doubt it. So whether it's a stubbed toe, wrecked car, dead cat, accidental deleting of an email, stain on a tie, or whatever, it's a blessing. Or, at least, if you have that mindset that it is, and that you need to make it such, it will be. Anyway, whatever.
--

Love,
The Transcendentally Beautiful Elder Gates
(Doctrine and Covenants 137:2)

Blindsided by Blessings

Sometimes I wonder if God just likes to hit us with blessings from a direction we didn't fully expect when our attention is elsewhere, like a cheapshot ball to the face in dodgeball. Or water polo.
Anyway, as I was saying last week, or should have been saying last week, we've been getting a lot of referrals. Some of them have been for Marshallese people who are already going to church. One of these people we went and saw yesterday. As my companion was committing her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, I got an impression I followed through on.
"Have you already read from and prayed about the Book of Mormon?"
"Yes."
"How did you feel?"
"That it's true."
I asked her the same thing about Joseph Smith, receiving the same response. Blessing smack to the face! I invited her to be baptized, and she agreed. My companion, either unaware or else having forgotten her current story, invited her to pray about a date to be baptized and that whatever that date was we'd make sure she was able to be baptized on that day. He asked when she would be able to pray about it and when we could meet next. She said she'd pray that night and would be ready to meet with us today. I later informed my companion that she is living with a man that is a member whom she is not married to and would kind of need to have that taken care of before baptism. I would have brought it up in the lesson but didn't feel a need to, letting him give the promise and see what may come. We had taken a couple of Marshallese Young Men with us to the appointment to help them prep for their missions. We let them know afterwards just how rare such a thing is. We've been meeting a lot with those two young men this week, preparing them to teach the lessons to the aunt and cousin of one of those young men. Once they are prepared we'll start teaching them, I'm thinking that will give nearly the same results. I LOVE MARSHALLESE PEOPLE! One of the young men made a really good point, however, that, despite her good english and insistence that she didn't have any questions, probably didn't understand a good portion of the lessons. We may need to have them translate a lot from now on. While one of those young men has only been a member for a few months and was on the wildside before then, both of these young men have the deepest respect from Elder Unsicker and me. They are probably a couple of the most stalwart Aaronic Priesthood holders we've seen on our missions. We're also finding more ways to work with the members, using a concept Elder Unsicker brought from his last zone which is GREAT. We shared it with a family last night and, as Elder Unsicker informs me is the norm, there were tears shed. The major point of the spiritual thought is to have the members set a baptismal goal of their own for the year. In order to double baptisms, all of the members just have to invite 1.2 more people. It's really just that simple. Remember everyone, you're the finders, we're the teachers. Don't you dare, however, try to find without the Spirit. Pray about it and God will direct you. And don't think us missionaries simply assume that it's easy to talk to your friends and that it's simple to refer people to us to teach. Remember, I tried to talk to my friends back at home, too, but I also got missionary experiences because I was praying for them. They didn't come the way I though they would, but they came.
Anyway.
We also followed up with a referral from a member in Bettendorf. It was for her uncle. He has some pretty interesting ideas that revolve mostly around agnosticism. We're trying to focus on just how cut and dry and scientific the experimentation of the truth is: try it out, pray about it, and the Spirit will tell you it's true. Simple as that. I don't know if he will just consider himself too old to change or something, we'll see. We also are still meeting with people in Galena, including a man who is praying about baptism. That was a great and spiritual lesson on just how important the Gift of the Holy Ghost is and how the little flashes of light he gets when we come will be a constant sunlight when he receives that gift. We also taught another investigator in Galena. A good portion of that is more or less convincing her not to drink herself to death. Luckily she did keep her promise and was sober for this lesson.
Some of the investigators that Elder Noel and I were trying to follow up with all last transfer are either sort of dropping us or else I'm just saying forget it about. We're getting enough better stuff in this area that I don't need to keep wasting the Lord's time trying to meet up with people that won't even call us back.
I've also been happy to do a lot of bike riding. A good portion of the week was in the car, however, it slipped back and forth from Death by Storm to Death by Cold. I was pretty proud of myself yesterday in that I biked all of the hills except one without walking. My asthma didn't like it much, so I took my inhaler, just to discover that I had chosen the one that had been expired for over a year. That was fun.
Also it seems that we're on better terms with our landlords. We met them in person and they were much nicer. I think that Elder Jahn, who is over the apartments in the office, worked his magic when he called them. We're still keeping our eyes open, though, for apartments just in case.
Sadly, however, with all of this stuff going on, we are going to be out of town for a couple days due to a meeting Elder Unsicker has to go to. It's one of the leadership meetings I've been to in the past, but now they're inviting everyone who's never gone before, too. And since I have no leadership and have been before, I get to stay... but not in Dubuque. Due to mileage conditions, I'll be staying in Savanna, a small-town area with little going for it and a branch that is so small, the missionaries are basically the first and second counselors. It seems odd that while there is a branch that is on the verge of collapse there, we're working on starting a Marshallese Branch, here. I'm hoping it's created before I leave. Anyway, we just found this out last night, so we have to cancel some stuff and refigure it all out. Great stuff is going to go down, I know it. I love this area, I love this ward, I love the Marshallese, and I love the work.

--

Love,
The Transcendentally Beautiful Elder Gates
(Doctrine and Covenants 137:2)

The Four Seasons of the Mid-West: Death by Cold, Death by Storm, Death by Heat, and Fall

Sadly, by the time Autumn comes around, you are triple dead so it doesn't matter.
Welcome, everybody, to the Death by Storm Season of Iowa, a delightful season referred to in many English-speaking parts of the world as "Spring." The birds are back, in all of their chirping glory. The bugs have returned, in all of their...whatever it is, I refuse to call it glory. And yet, for some odd reason that seems to be the case in nearly every instance, the worst of places attracts the best of people. The Palestinian Desert where the Israelites always gathered. The Salt Lake Valley, which the Saints were rightly told not to settle by people who knew not the will God. And the Midwest, which is really just God's Greenhouse and where people only really live because somebody has to tend God's Greenhouse. I don't wish to complain, I just don't know how to convey to those who have never been in the midwest what the midwest is like without a little sarcasm. I love the midwest. I've wanted my whole mission to be in a city; and now that I am in a city, I keep dying to see the countryside. I love being able to see forever and all of the farms as far as the eye can see, which, strangely enough, is also a unit of measure referred to as a "farsee" (after a farsee take a left, and then after about a half-a-farsee take a right. Half as far as I can see?).

Anyway, you want an update I bet. I am now serving with Elder Unsicker from Richfield, UT. His grandparents, however, are from Iowa City, and his uncle used to be in the mission presidency here. Which means....Drum Roll please...that's right, his uncle was President Hartley. Cari's mission companion, Sister Megan Hartley, is his cousin. We're practically related. We expect congratulatory packages. He's really a good kid and I think this will work out great. We get along really well and he's hilarious. I only say that because his sense of humor is much like mine, so of course he's hilarious. While I feel better in some ways, in others I've been far more stressed.

One stressor is that I got a call from our landlord this week saying that she had gotten an email from our downstairs neighbor with a noise complaint. She was very terse no matter how congenial I tried to be (even using the phrase "you people" like one would if rats had somehow started walking on hindlegs and gained nametags), said that the last neighbor downstairs had moved out a year ago because of the noise, and said that if there is no dramatic change in the next three weeks that she would not renew the lease. Scared to death that I had completely, and singlehandedly, ruined our apartment deal, I called President. He told me to talk to the neighbors and get back to him. I did so, and they were very nice, warm, and friendly, understanding that the noise is mostly because it's a new building and just asked us to be quieter when walking up the stairs and in the room above their child's room. Completely different than what I was expecting from the landlord's call. With her curt treatment of me on the phone, I called back President and informed him of our conversation with the neighbors downstairs and related my belief that the problem resided more with the landlord and that I could see her looking for reasons to boot us. He said to talk to her again and let her know we're in contact with our neighbors and doing all we can to be courteous. "Just win her over, Elder Gates," he said. "I know you're good at that." Ah freak, no pressure. Sometimes people who are usually happy get more responsibility. Maybe the real answer lies in being happy but hiding it from those who may come to always expect it out of you. In the meantime, we got in contact with the ward, letting them know of the situation and to see if there are members we could stay with if need be.

That's a lot of information with very little in the way of a missionary update. These last few days haven't really been terribly interesting in the way of missionary work. One of our people that we've committed to baptism (as I think I've mentioned, we've committed four people to baptism, all of whom promptly jumped off of the face of the earth. I really wonder sometimes if the gravitational pull in the Midwest is weaker or something. Or maybe it's just that aliens abduct them all) we've found out is probably going to be held back by his parents. Another is actually wanting to date a member, so maybe she'll drag him into stuff. Not that I condone "flirt to convert," but maybe it will just give him a reason to get more into it? Let's hope so. And then the third and fourth ones are a couple that like to say they'll call but not and don't show up to appointments. That basically describes most of our investigators, actually. Over in Galena, we have an investigator who is praying about baptism but got sick this past week and couldn't make the appointment, one who is a sweet old lady who I could see going somewhere as long as the weather's good, one who is drunk constantly, and one who is the wife of a member who doesn't attend all of the time because of other members. I'm not allowed to invite investigators or anybody from there to Dubuque, I tell them to go to Galena, but I do let them know that they wouldn't be turned away. I just want people going to church at this point. It's going to be an interesting transfer covering both areas. I like Galena, though, it's a nice little town.

We have good plans for this area. Things will go well here. The new district is taking some time getting used to, I miss my support group I had in the last one and it's almost driven me to break my commitment of not writing letters, but I'm holding strong.

I love this work and I love working! I hope you all don't think I hate it or something if I sound dejected about the work. You want updates and I give you updates. It's not my fault it's a depressing report. Things will work out, though, no worries. We'll be working a lot with members, getting referrals. Remember, you all are how we find people to teach. Pray that you will find people for us to teach. That would be an even better support to me than money or candy.

--

Love,
The Transcendentally Beautiful Elder Gates
(Doctrine and Covenants 137:2

The Sun Never Sets on the Cool

This subject was a quote Elder Noel shared with me just hours before the quote in conference by Neil L. Anderson about the sun never setting on missionaries. There's extremely little to report on this week. Another exchange went on until this morning from Sunday night to ensure no deaths happened in Galena. Galena will actually be closing this next transfer and me and whoever I'm getting will cover it as well as our own area. Here is transfers: The Galena Elders are both leaving, one to go home and Elder Poulson to go somewhere else, one elder is going home from Savanna for severe depression, both of the sisters are whitewashing out, and Elder Noel is going home, of course. So out of our district of 8 missionaries, 6 are leaving, 3 are going home, and 2 are staying. That's a pretty big turn around. Elder Medina, the other elder in Savanna that is staying, is going to be our district leader, which I think will be great. I've been promised a good companion, which is hard for me to grasp. We'll see tomorrow. Going to Galena was good but it was mostly just visiting with people to say goodbye and to show me people I need to see since I'll be covering that area.
Conference was great! But all of you should have seen it anyway. If you haven't, see it! Just like if you haven't set up a Mormon.org account, do it! Anyway, I really felt like what was said was what I needed right now. Except for the marriage talks, but, hey, I can look those up later when I need them. I get the point, though: Don't waste time after the mission, get married! Whatever.
Speaking of which, this less active in Galena who's about 68 said I have reddish hair and that redheads are hot. Then when I was getting a picture with her, she went to put her arm around me, realized my hand was at my side, so she grabbed it, with full-on interdigitation, and then realized that was weird and resorted to putting her harm around me. Flip! What's with old people liking me??? Apparently if I was born 70 years ago I'd have all the looks necessary to have the girls throw themselves at me like some Tag Bodyspray commercial. Ugh....
Anyway.
I'm excited for the mission calls that are coming in! Congratulations to Mike, Jr!!
Love you all! Love this area!
--

Love,
The Transcendentally Beautiful Elder Gates
(Doctrine and Covenants 137:2)

A Mini Emergency Transfer to Galena

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)

Double the Temples, Double the Fun

Hello there everybody!
So I think I forgot to mention this last week, but I got permission to go to the Nauvoo Temple this last Tuesday! It was, of course, incredible. It's been so long since I last went, I think it was October 2009 or so. So it was no problem getting permission to go. Plus it was great doing a session in such a historic temple. I was reminded of so much and learned so much. I LOVE temples altogether, but Nauvoo, both the town and the temple, will always have a special place in my heart. I remember watching the webcam that used to be set up, showing the building of the Nauvoo Temple, and how excited I would be to check up on the progress. So, yeah. I especially like going to Nauvoo from the south, along the River Road, being able to see the temple perched atop the hill for miles before getting there. It's beautiful. The members that took us were even nice enough to pay for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and even some fudge from the Fudge Factory and small souvenirs. They really didn't have to do all that, and I wasn't expecting them to, but they did. Oh, speaking of small souvenirs, unless you don't have one already, Mom and Dad, one of those Nauvoo Bricks is yours to keep.
Later in the week, however, I got the chance to tour a Masonic Temple. That was fascinating! I had always wanted to see what people had always talked about when they said things about how things in the temple were taken from the Masons. Now that I've been given a tour, and had some things explained to me from the Masonic symbols, I can see how there are a few similarities, but oh, what a difference! Comparing the feeling between the two of them was the biggest testifier. While I could see that there was good in the Masons, and that what they do and all they stand for is interesting, the Spirit wasn't there. Not that the Spirit was absent, it was just no more present than any normal building. At one point, in a large lodge room, I played "Come Thou Fount" on the organ, and immediately there was a difference. While the building had me in awe, I didn't feel the Spirit until I played that song and felt the Spirit come in. Those of you who have been through an LDS Temple know, on the other hand, that in there the Spirit is so very strongly testifying of its truthfulness. Being able to compare and contrast the two locations was a wonderful way to grow my testimony in the Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I also had the fun chance to show our guide, a less active member, how to work the player piano in one of the other lodge rooms. He had never seen it work, and didn't think it could, but after doing some looking around and finding the hidden peddles, I soon had the thing running. I love the little things you learn on your mission, like all that I learned about player pianos from one of my favorite members in Mason City. I was also amazed to hear, as I began pumping the peddles, the hymn "Lead Kindly Light" play back at me, and feel the Spirit once again change the vast building. The Masons generally only require their members to believe in some higher power, and some smaller auxiliaries within the group do get more specific on Christ, and thus there is a slight religious tint to the organization, but is not a church, the Spirit's just not in that building like it is in ours. As missionaries who visit other religions always say, seeing other churches rebuilds your testimony in the Church, the same happened here with temples. Gotta love it!
We also set another baptismal date this week! This one is with a 16-year-old kid named Hunter. He's a good kid who used to be taught but got really busy for awhile but wants to be taught again and still wants to be baptized! He didn't come to church this week, due to work, but he's looking for another job and we're praying for him.
Ok, so for a little extra bit of news, in my efforts to refocus myself and rededicate myself to the work, and allowing the mission to change me, I have felt impressed to, and have decided to, stop writing letters. I'll only write my emails home for family and this blog and my already rare snail mail letters to family. You may all still write me, but I won't reply. Now, in extenuating circumstances, such as a marriage or whatnot, I'll send you something as a congratulatory thing or whatever, but otherwise, I feel that this is what I must do. So, keep updated on my blog here and you'll know everything basically that I would have sent to you otherwise! I hope you all understand! And remember, Mom, Dad, Cari and James, this doesn't include you, you'll still hear from me.
Well, that's about it!
--

"Don't Sell Yourself Short." -President Crabtree
Love, Elder Charlie Gates

"Heroes Get Remembered, But Legends Never Die. Follow Your Heart, Kid, and You'll Never Go Wrong." -Babe Ruth Off of The Sandlot

Hello World,
It's Elder Gates.
As you can tell by my title, I still have the sick talent to remember quotes, even after it being this long.
I hear that apparently I unknowingly made an appearance in my homeward's sacrament meeting. I'm happy to know that I have achieved Nirvana and can now be in more than one place at once. I'm happy I could be of assistance, Lake Holm Ward!
Speaking of home, I met a less active Marshallese guy that actually lived for a time in Auburn, actually just on the wrong side of the road in Algona. It was pretty cool to finally meet somebody that not only knows what Auburn is (and that Worshington is not only a city but a state as well) but that lived there. So that was pretty cool.
This week was mostly spent outside of my area. I went on exchanges with Elder Poulson, a good friend of mine from the MTC, and my current District Leader, over in Galena, IL. Galena is apparently a pretty big tourist town. Why? Nobody really knows. I think it's somewhat like the Field of Dreams, how people just came in the movie to the field without really knowing why. Speaking of the Field of Dreams, guess what's in my area? It's either in it or just on the border, but I'm going to go with it being in my area because I want to go bad. Anyway. Point is that this wee little town has lots of appeal. It's a cute town, but besides Ulysses S. Grant being born there, there's not much historical about it. Their branch building is the back part of an office building, which is still a step up from the storefront on Main Street that Savanna, another area in the district, has for a church building. I never thought I'd see a fishbowl chapel. It was a good time over there, but there are times when visiting other missionary's areas helps you gain a new appreciation for your own. I'm just not used to being in the "whiter field," usually I'm in the area that helps other missionaries appreciate what they have. We then had Zone Conference in Iowa City which took all day. We didn't get back until late that night. Lucky for the Galena Elders, they got to sleep over in Savanna so they wouldn't have to be getting back to Galena so late, but seeing as we were driving the Sisters in our district to their area in Maquoketa, we really couldn't use their apartment as a rest stop. So we got in at 11 at the earliest. It didn't help, either, that Elder Noel got a ticket. He almost had his driving privileges taken away, but as the command for mine to be taken away came from Salt Lake and was not merely a command from President, President Jergensen had to let Elder Noel keep his driving privileges so we wouldn't lose the car. This, of course, as it always does, led to a few minutes of lamentation by President Jergensen as to how he wishes I had not lost my driving privileges and that if there is anybody that should be driving it's me. I've gotten used to this lamentation either by him or by Elder Church, the Senior Couple Elder over the vehicles. I usually then have to inform them of all of the perks of being in the passenger seat, while also thinking about how useless it is to be senior companion without the keys. It's like being captain without the wheel.
"Steer the boat here."
"Um, no, Captain."
"....Ok, whatever."
Luckily I'm in more of a co-senior companionship right now so it doesn't matter too much.
Anyway, point is that Elder Noel now had a hefty ticket to pay and no money in his account to pay it with. He had to call home for the money. President Jergensen gave him authorization to do so, but said that Elder Noel, since he was so close to going home, could not speak with his mother but to have me do the speaking. That was hilarious, his mom cracked me up. While it was slightly awkward passing on her continuous expressions of love to him, it was nice talking to a mom of a missionary, even if it wasn't my mom. President never gave any amount of time to the conversation so I had a good chat with her. Speaking of Elder Noel going home soon, it's really weighing on his mind, and, as he puts it, is driving him crazy. I really don't understand all of the trunkiness he's feeling, especially as I've recommitted myself lately, but I do hope I'm not driven crazy by it when I reach that point in my mission.
We set a baptismal date this week with a Marshallese kid! His name's Eddy and his brother is a member already. I was actually in Galena when they met with him, but he's a great kid that's been coming to church for awhile.
The Zone Conference was really good, too, and I received some strong impressions of how to improve myself as a missionary. I've become recommitted, which is a good thing as last couple transfers reduced that somewhat.... Long story for all those that don't know already, just know that I'm more committed now than ever. I plan on sprinting these last few transfers and being completely consecrated to this work. Not that I haven't been mostly, I've just not been quite as focused as I could have been. This makes me sound so disobedient and unfocused, but believe me I've been really good, and better, now I'm striving for the best I can possibly be, and Zone Conference gave me the ideas of how. So...yeah.
That's about it!

--

"Never Sell Yourself Short." -President Layman
Love, Elder Charlie Gates

PS To explain my new signature, this was advice once given to me by one of my stake presidents. While he said it almost as just a random, it really has been a major quote for my mission.