Well.
Yeah.
This week has been mostly uneventful...on the missionary front....
You see, I felt like I had a cold or something last week, and then Tuesday or wednesday it turned into my stomach feeling all nauseated, like something restless had settled in my gut. I didn't think much of it until Friday morning, when the restless something found an escape strategy. Luckily, that escape was not my mouth. After rushing to the toilet, my companion made me call Sister Talbot. She informed me I probably had the flu (you know, that thing that I should have gotten a shot for but never did because I was really busy and forgot and all those other excuses investigators use on us when they tell us they haven't read or prayed? Yeah, that thing....) and probably needed to stay inside and sleep and all the other stuff I needed to do. So most of Friday and Saturday was just getting up in the morning, getting showered, laying on the couch, intermittently running to the restroom, and going to bed. I played some games but Friday and Saturday I didn't feel like sitting up much. Sunday came along, and I felt better, and didn't have to rush to the bathroom once, buuut, well, we were kindly asked by the branch to please leave, so as to not get all of the members with weak immune systems sick. I'm pretty sure I was much better, and really only felt funky because I hadn't eaten much more than three cans of chicken noodle soup over two days, but still. Sunday all I had was a can of Progresso soup, trying to step it up a bit, but that kind of bugged my stomach. I think that was just mostly because I was not used to eating by that point. Being sick on fast Sunday is actually a fairly lucky thing: You're not hungry anyway! So, yeah. Today, I just got restless. I decided that I was going to try solid foods and see what happens. So I ate some eggs and unbuttered toast, without any troubles, and then ate a brownie (NEVER MAKE BROWNIES WHEN YOUR COMPANION CANNOT HAVE DAIRY DUE TO ILLNESS! IT'S JUST PURE EVIL! "And I realized halfway through making them: I don't even like brownies anyway!" Elder Heyborne said, nearly eliciting a punch from me. Gotta love the kid.) and a plate of spaghetti. I was fairly full after the eggs but I just wanted to find out, and find out quick, whether I was still sick or not. Besides feeling full, and having that feeling be a shock to my system, I feel alright. I've definitely lost some weight this weekend, though. No food and excessive amounts of liquids do that to you.
So, yeah, besides sickness, we had a pretty good week. We met with a lady who would be an investigator if it wasn't for the fact that she's a consultant from home to both sides of the coast and is thus on phone calls all the time, making herself really busy. She's had missionaries meet with her before and enjoys hearing them bear their testimonies. She seemed fairly impressed after meeting with us and hearing that we put two years aside, without working, not earning anything, to do this. She originally was just going to tell us to come back in June when all her consulting was done, but she told us instead to try back in a couple weeks.
The snow's all melting now. You know all of those stories about how hard it was for the pioneers to cross Iowa due to the mud and how it took them more time to cross it then the rest of the trip from then on out?
Yeah.
Now I get it.
It's pretty dang ugly out there.
I actually might prefer the colder weather at the moment. It actually legitimitely rained this past week! And it didn't freeze! It was glorious. I miss rain. I never thought I'd say that, but I do. Getting wet in winter is so nice. Uh oh, trunky alarm's going off....
We also had a snowball fight with one of our investigator's kids and a friend of the kids. That really wasn't that spiritual of an occasion, but it was really funny when the friend, who's not a member nor an investigator, said, "It ain't fair, you got Jesus on your side!" That's truer than he knows....
I'm still not hearing any news about contract deals for my writing.... A little source of income would be nice. Oh, on the subject of earning money, for all you high school musical fans out there (I bet those words right there will ensure most people will skip over the rest of this paragraph. I sure would), the kid who says "Is that even legal?" in the first movie (I've heard from a second hand source that was his only line. I wouldn't know, I've never seen it.) actually came out here on his mission the same time as me, just he was speaking spanish. He's even on the posters for the CES broadcasts for this year. Yeah. I'm just THAT close to stardom. I would have put that in here when I first came out, but I didn't know until later. Anyway, I have so little to update on that I even just stuck THAT in there. It was just that exciting of a week.
So, yeah. That's about it. It's getting warmer. I was sick. I've read a LOT out of the Book of Mormon. Investigators are still investigatin. Some less actives are less less active. Members are still...memberin. All in all, life is good. Church is still true. The Iowa Des Moines Mission is still the best. The Book of Mormon and Bible are still true. And I still ramble.
Elder Gates
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Baptism by Fiery Water?
So apparently people have been commenting positively on my literary style in my weekly emails home. At least, Mom says they do. If this is the case, please start sending these into Mormon Times or something. I might as well make some money off of this. My apartment could use an air conditioner with the current heat wave of 32 degrees, and my increased body mass due to the good Iowa cooking and my inability to eat just "a couple three spoonfuls, yet," as a true Iowan would say.
I know it's bad to look at other people's computer screens, but this guy sitting in front of me is going to every dumb ad that says you can win something. I was wondering who actually clicked on those things.... There's also a guy watching a preacher on his computer and intermittently saying "Amen." You know you're in Iowa when....
Anyway, Cris Arnold was baptized this weekend!!! It took a lot of work to get it all ready, and nothing seemed to go right. She wanted people to give talks that were confused about what to say so we had to teach them and kind of point out to them to not worry about it (that person got sick anyway so it didn't really matter after all). The brother who usually fills up the font wasn't going to be able to so we did instead, and it took a lot less time than we thought it would and ended up with a problem we have never had before: water that was TOO hot. Then I've been sick the last few days with a funky cough and nearly choked on my own throat during my talk on baptism. And she had to be put under a couple times because she just didn't bend her legs at first. I guess things didn't go quite as wrong as they have in the past or could have gone wrong, but still, baptisms can get pretty stressful to plan for and get ready. She also asked Elder Heyborne to give her the gift of the Holy Ghost, which was his first time doing it. Kind of scared him but he did a good job. He's a lot like me, which is nice, because I can actually understand my companion, but It also makes me annoyed by things I know I do....
Beyond that, the work's just been pressing forward as usual! We spent a good chunk of one day driving around looking for less actives that I'd never met that lived out in the country. That was fun.
Oh, and Ray Rayburn got the priesthood yesterday! And Jacob should be getting it next week! That's exciting. We're hoping to be able to get them excited about some family history work and to the temple here soon. I really hope I'll be able to go with them, and Cris, for that.
Elder Heyborne and I have been working on talking to everybody we come in contact with. We even make ourselves do 5 pushups at night for every person we miss. Which is good...but bad at the same time. Like one time, Elder Heyborne started talking to one guy that was walking down the street but started to stop, so I picked up the conversation and took it as far as I could. Elder Heyborne later pointed out to me that the guy had a vodka in his jacket. I don't know why I attract drunk and high people.... Also, another time, as we were tracting at night, we started to walk down an alley because E.H. thought there was a few houses down there. On our way back out of the alleyway, we saw some lady across the street walking her dog. Not wanting to do pushups, Elder Heyborne yelled across the street "Hello! We're Missionaries!..." Apparently two guys dressed in black walking out of an alley and yelling after you is a scary experience. Luckily the lady did nothing other than start walking even faster and yelling back "No thank you!" I also loved the atheist who, as soon as he told us he was an atheist, had his door fall over onto him. He just seemed to ignore it leaning against him and it just made everything more awkward.
Well, I really don't have much more to add. At least, not that I can think of. Oh, there's also apparently a movie out now called "Dear John." Elder Heyborne and I want a picture by the poster by the theater down on the square.
That's all, folks,
Elder Gates
I know it's bad to look at other people's computer screens, but this guy sitting in front of me is going to every dumb ad that says you can win something. I was wondering who actually clicked on those things.... There's also a guy watching a preacher on his computer and intermittently saying "Amen." You know you're in Iowa when....
Anyway, Cris Arnold was baptized this weekend!!! It took a lot of work to get it all ready, and nothing seemed to go right. She wanted people to give talks that were confused about what to say so we had to teach them and kind of point out to them to not worry about it (that person got sick anyway so it didn't really matter after all). The brother who usually fills up the font wasn't going to be able to so we did instead, and it took a lot less time than we thought it would and ended up with a problem we have never had before: water that was TOO hot. Then I've been sick the last few days with a funky cough and nearly choked on my own throat during my talk on baptism. And she had to be put under a couple times because she just didn't bend her legs at first. I guess things didn't go quite as wrong as they have in the past or could have gone wrong, but still, baptisms can get pretty stressful to plan for and get ready. She also asked Elder Heyborne to give her the gift of the Holy Ghost, which was his first time doing it. Kind of scared him but he did a good job. He's a lot like me, which is nice, because I can actually understand my companion, but It also makes me annoyed by things I know I do....
Beyond that, the work's just been pressing forward as usual! We spent a good chunk of one day driving around looking for less actives that I'd never met that lived out in the country. That was fun.
Oh, and Ray Rayburn got the priesthood yesterday! And Jacob should be getting it next week! That's exciting. We're hoping to be able to get them excited about some family history work and to the temple here soon. I really hope I'll be able to go with them, and Cris, for that.
Elder Heyborne and I have been working on talking to everybody we come in contact with. We even make ourselves do 5 pushups at night for every person we miss. Which is good...but bad at the same time. Like one time, Elder Heyborne started talking to one guy that was walking down the street but started to stop, so I picked up the conversation and took it as far as I could. Elder Heyborne later pointed out to me that the guy had a vodka in his jacket. I don't know why I attract drunk and high people.... Also, another time, as we were tracting at night, we started to walk down an alley because E.H. thought there was a few houses down there. On our way back out of the alleyway, we saw some lady across the street walking her dog. Not wanting to do pushups, Elder Heyborne yelled across the street "Hello! We're Missionaries!..." Apparently two guys dressed in black walking out of an alley and yelling after you is a scary experience. Luckily the lady did nothing other than start walking even faster and yelling back "No thank you!" I also loved the atheist who, as soon as he told us he was an atheist, had his door fall over onto him. He just seemed to ignore it leaning against him and it just made everything more awkward.
Well, I really don't have much more to add. At least, not that I can think of. Oh, there's also apparently a movie out now called "Dear John." Elder Heyborne and I want a picture by the poster by the theater down on the square.
That's all, folks,
Elder Gates
Monday, February 22, 2010
Elder Gates vs. The Snowstorm
Here's a little bio on my future mission president and his wife. Apparently was in the church news and was forwarded onto us by President Talbot:
Laurle Z. and Dirk O. Jergensen
Dirk Orme Jergensen, 59, and Laurie Zwick Jergensen, six children, Lake Poway Ward, Poway California Stake. Brother Jergensen serves as a temple ordinance worker and a Church Service Missionary for LDS Social Services and is a former counselor in a stake presidency, bishop, ward Young Men president, gospel doctrine teacher and missionary in the New Mexico-Arizona Mission. Founder/general manager, Omnicare of San Diego. Born in Rexburg, Idaho, to Orme M. and Ludeen Waldram Jergensen.
Sister Jergensen serves as a temple ordinance worker and a Church Service Missionary for LDS Social Services and is a former stake Relief Society president, counselor in stake Young Women and Primary presidencies, ward Young Women president and counselor, ward Primary president, counselor in a ward Relief Society presidency and ward Primary teacher. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to William Evert Zwick Jr. and Audrey McDonough Zwick.
So my comp just got some pictures from home that he's showing me. They mean something to him....
Anyway, I'm starting to see how people run out of things to say in their emails home. The work here is going great. Elder Heyborne and I are on the same page about how the work needs to go and that helps a ton. We may not have the highest numbers, but there's a lot of necessary work to be done that doesn't necessarily equate into huge numbers right away.
We had zone conference this week, which was awesome. The problem arose, however, while we were in zone conference. Some more stinkin snow decided to weasel its way into our weather and added up to a bunch of snow on the roads by the time we were headed home. This was my first time driving in a snowstorm for that long, so that was fun. It's only about forty-five minutes or so to the Des Moines Stake Center (usually) so it's not TOO far. It's not Yankton or Muscatine, that's for sure.
An elder in our district has been having some serious health problems and may go home. I hope this isn't the case, but it looks like it might be. We'll find out today. I'm thinking, thought, that if he does go home I may end up in another threesome companionship.
Cris is still on for baptism this coming saturday! She's really stoked for it. And our other progressing investigator is recognizing its truthfulness, and is wanting to start family home evenings with her kids and wants them there for the lessons, which is awesome. It was my first time teaching someone how to have family home evenings.
I think that's it. Snow's still coming. Usually it melts not long after coming down, only sticking around for awhile, but in this case it just won't leave. Snowblowers (I never really knew what that was until I got here. They're like lawnmowers for your snow! I always imagined them looking like leafblowers....) are having a hard time throwing the snow over the mounds that are already there. Sooo, that's fun. Woo.
Oh, and a little thing I've forgotten to tell you for a long time, when I went to Nauvoo in my first area, we had the privilege of having the Temple President speak to our small group. I know, random and a small tidbit, but still cool.
As I told Dad, but figured I might as well stick it in writing where Mom and Cari and whoever else you show the FPEO section to can see easily: President Talbot said in my interview with him that he really trusts me, and even if the numbers aren't high, he knows I'm doing what needs to be done here. He trusts me that I know what needs to be done here. He thanked me for the missionary I am and everything. I didn't know how to react to being bombarded by so many compliments.... That was a pretty humbling situation.
I love you all
Elder Gates
Laurle Z. and Dirk O. Jergensen
Dirk Orme Jergensen, 59, and Laurie Zwick Jergensen, six children, Lake Poway Ward, Poway California Stake. Brother Jergensen serves as a temple ordinance worker and a Church Service Missionary for LDS Social Services and is a former counselor in a stake presidency, bishop, ward Young Men president, gospel doctrine teacher and missionary in the New Mexico-Arizona Mission. Founder/general manager, Omnicare of San Diego. Born in Rexburg, Idaho, to Orme M. and Ludeen Waldram Jergensen.
Sister Jergensen serves as a temple ordinance worker and a Church Service Missionary for LDS Social Services and is a former stake Relief Society president, counselor in stake Young Women and Primary presidencies, ward Young Women president and counselor, ward Primary president, counselor in a ward Relief Society presidency and ward Primary teacher. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to William Evert Zwick Jr. and Audrey McDonough Zwick.
So my comp just got some pictures from home that he's showing me. They mean something to him....
Anyway, I'm starting to see how people run out of things to say in their emails home. The work here is going great. Elder Heyborne and I are on the same page about how the work needs to go and that helps a ton. We may not have the highest numbers, but there's a lot of necessary work to be done that doesn't necessarily equate into huge numbers right away.
We had zone conference this week, which was awesome. The problem arose, however, while we were in zone conference. Some more stinkin snow decided to weasel its way into our weather and added up to a bunch of snow on the roads by the time we were headed home. This was my first time driving in a snowstorm for that long, so that was fun. It's only about forty-five minutes or so to the Des Moines Stake Center (usually) so it's not TOO far. It's not Yankton or Muscatine, that's for sure.
An elder in our district has been having some serious health problems and may go home. I hope this isn't the case, but it looks like it might be. We'll find out today. I'm thinking, thought, that if he does go home I may end up in another threesome companionship.
Cris is still on for baptism this coming saturday! She's really stoked for it. And our other progressing investigator is recognizing its truthfulness, and is wanting to start family home evenings with her kids and wants them there for the lessons, which is awesome. It was my first time teaching someone how to have family home evenings.
I think that's it. Snow's still coming. Usually it melts not long after coming down, only sticking around for awhile, but in this case it just won't leave. Snowblowers (I never really knew what that was until I got here. They're like lawnmowers for your snow! I always imagined them looking like leafblowers....) are having a hard time throwing the snow over the mounds that are already there. Sooo, that's fun. Woo.
Oh, and a little thing I've forgotten to tell you for a long time, when I went to Nauvoo in my first area, we had the privilege of having the Temple President speak to our small group. I know, random and a small tidbit, but still cool.
As I told Dad, but figured I might as well stick it in writing where Mom and Cari and whoever else you show the FPEO section to can see easily: President Talbot said in my interview with him that he really trusts me, and even if the numbers aren't high, he knows I'm doing what needs to be done here. He trusts me that I know what needs to be done here. He thanked me for the missionary I am and everything. I didn't know how to react to being bombarded by so many compliments.... That was a pretty humbling situation.
I love you all
Elder Gates
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Blessings of Blessings
Hello!
So I now have a new companion, Elder Heyborne from Vermont (we're keeping them Utahns out of here). He's a way cool guy and we get along very well. He's one transfer younger than me, so we've got some very young blood here in Knoxville. And before you start getting all excited for me being senior, let me just point out that it is, in my opinion, a simple numbers game: when you have groups of 10 or more missionaries coming out, and most groups before me are all just 3 or so or else all zone leaders, it kind of evens out where younger missionaries end up having to go senior and train. Elder Knapp, who came out with me, is training right now, and went senior a transfer before me. So, yeah, it just works out where I would be senior. Maybe there's more to it, but that's just how I see it. Either way, being senior includes more responsibility. I think it's just hit me how callings, even in the mission, should neither be desired nor saught after. Yeah, I'm good keeping this as my highest rank for a long time. But, with that whole numbers game, I'll probably be called to more stuff, unless I completely mess up.
Besides that, there's not much to report on. Really. It's kind of been a normal few days around here. Last week Elder Havice was all drugged up, so we didn't get out much before transfers. He was on 800 milligrams of ibuprofen 3 times a day to help with some foot problem and apparently it got him pretty messed up. So I spent half of last week sitting around the apartment. If you want a sure way to feel depressed on a mission, sit around and do nothing.
Yesterday we gave a blessing to both of our progressing investigators. One had fallen down pretty hard and the other was just plain old sick. The second one was the same investigator who had had a sick child we had blessed. It was pretty cool to get the chance to bless both of them, and afterwards she was crying and said it was cool. She wants us to come over this week when her children are there, which is a first, so it would be really cool if they started investigating as well. Our Branch President gave the one to our other investigator, the one that has a baptismal date, and that was good, too. She slipped this past week and smoked a cigarette her friend had offered her and drank some coffee. I contribute it wholly to us not visiting her more this past week.
It just keeps snowing here. I'm ready for spring.
Elder Gates
So I now have a new companion, Elder Heyborne from Vermont (we're keeping them Utahns out of here). He's a way cool guy and we get along very well. He's one transfer younger than me, so we've got some very young blood here in Knoxville. And before you start getting all excited for me being senior, let me just point out that it is, in my opinion, a simple numbers game: when you have groups of 10 or more missionaries coming out, and most groups before me are all just 3 or so or else all zone leaders, it kind of evens out where younger missionaries end up having to go senior and train. Elder Knapp, who came out with me, is training right now, and went senior a transfer before me. So, yeah, it just works out where I would be senior. Maybe there's more to it, but that's just how I see it. Either way, being senior includes more responsibility. I think it's just hit me how callings, even in the mission, should neither be desired nor saught after. Yeah, I'm good keeping this as my highest rank for a long time. But, with that whole numbers game, I'll probably be called to more stuff, unless I completely mess up.
Besides that, there's not much to report on. Really. It's kind of been a normal few days around here. Last week Elder Havice was all drugged up, so we didn't get out much before transfers. He was on 800 milligrams of ibuprofen 3 times a day to help with some foot problem and apparently it got him pretty messed up. So I spent half of last week sitting around the apartment. If you want a sure way to feel depressed on a mission, sit around and do nothing.
Yesterday we gave a blessing to both of our progressing investigators. One had fallen down pretty hard and the other was just plain old sick. The second one was the same investigator who had had a sick child we had blessed. It was pretty cool to get the chance to bless both of them, and afterwards she was crying and said it was cool. She wants us to come over this week when her children are there, which is a first, so it would be really cool if they started investigating as well. Our Branch President gave the one to our other investigator, the one that has a baptismal date, and that was good, too. She slipped this past week and smoked a cigarette her friend had offered her and drank some coffee. I contribute it wholly to us not visiting her more this past week.
It just keeps snowing here. I'm ready for spring.
Elder Gates
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Google Doesn't Do A Subject Space??
That's my subject.
Anyway.
Nope, I'm not getting transferred! Congrats to Elder Sodenkamp, though, at getting Zone Leader! I'm getting bumped up to Senior Companion. Which, if nothing else, means I get to drive!! That's the big thing. It will probably be to an elder that will just be one transfer younger than me. So...we'll definitely be relying upon the Spirit to guid this area! So, as any normal transfer P-Day would be, we get to do all sorts of running around and crap.
But this is an amazing area right now! We just saw the baptism of Jacob on Saturday!! He's a great kid and will go far. He really has gone through a lot just to get to this point and be baptized and seeing it finally happen for him was amazing. I nearly cried. He truly was glowing. And then on sunday we had the best fast and testimony meeting of my life, when he and Brother Rayburn stood up and bore their testimonies. Nearly cried again. Got pretty teary-eyed. The spirit was so strong and being able to feel the strength behind their testimonies, even though they were simple, was amazing.
We also have a new baptismal date! It's a lady named Cris. She actually has had a date before, but now seems right on track for it. She has given up her Tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea, everything. Even chocolate because it causes her to do the other stuff! Pretty crazy. It's been a lot of fun carrying that stuff around and flushing it down the toilet. I'll try to include some of my favorite pictures from flushing it all. It's good to destroy the stuff and have them see it destroyed so they know it's gone for good. Still, never thought the first time I'd walk around all day with tobacco in my backpack or have open alcohol in my home would be when I came on my mission. But Yeah, her baptismal date is set for the 27th, and more baptismal dates are on the way soon, I'm sure! We've got some great investigators. One is a woman I think I've mentioned before who investigated the church about ten years ago. She called us up this past week to ask us to pray for her child who was sick and I, not willing to pass up the opportunity, asked if we could give her child a blessing. She agreed after I explained it and we got the opportunity to bless her! It was way cool. She's progressing a lot. She wanted to come to church this past sunday but was really sick.... She's reading and praying still, which is great, and she's just...better. You can see the change in people when they start reading the Book of Mormon. It's nearly palpable. I LOVE it.
It's been snowing more. Yay. This is an especially bad winter for here. Woo. It's not as cold as Rexburg was, but with the humidity it's made worse and the fact that here I cannot just go inside all day or just go outside when I absolutely have to. But yeah, more snow means an even higher amount of junk to trudge through and even more runoff in the spring. There will be massive flooding this spring, I know it. Does anybody remember the massive flooding that happened here in Cedar Rapids a couple years ago? It caused equivolant, if not more, damage, money-wise, than Katrina. But it didn't hit the news as much. Hmmm....
Anyway, that's it really for this week's update!
-Elder Gates
Anyway.
Nope, I'm not getting transferred! Congrats to Elder Sodenkamp, though, at getting Zone Leader! I'm getting bumped up to Senior Companion. Which, if nothing else, means I get to drive!! That's the big thing. It will probably be to an elder that will just be one transfer younger than me. So...we'll definitely be relying upon the Spirit to guid this area! So, as any normal transfer P-Day would be, we get to do all sorts of running around and crap.
But this is an amazing area right now! We just saw the baptism of Jacob on Saturday!! He's a great kid and will go far. He really has gone through a lot just to get to this point and be baptized and seeing it finally happen for him was amazing. I nearly cried. He truly was glowing. And then on sunday we had the best fast and testimony meeting of my life, when he and Brother Rayburn stood up and bore their testimonies. Nearly cried again. Got pretty teary-eyed. The spirit was so strong and being able to feel the strength behind their testimonies, even though they were simple, was amazing.
We also have a new baptismal date! It's a lady named Cris. She actually has had a date before, but now seems right on track for it. She has given up her Tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea, everything. Even chocolate because it causes her to do the other stuff! Pretty crazy. It's been a lot of fun carrying that stuff around and flushing it down the toilet. I'll try to include some of my favorite pictures from flushing it all. It's good to destroy the stuff and have them see it destroyed so they know it's gone for good. Still, never thought the first time I'd walk around all day with tobacco in my backpack or have open alcohol in my home would be when I came on my mission. But Yeah, her baptismal date is set for the 27th, and more baptismal dates are on the way soon, I'm sure! We've got some great investigators. One is a woman I think I've mentioned before who investigated the church about ten years ago. She called us up this past week to ask us to pray for her child who was sick and I, not willing to pass up the opportunity, asked if we could give her child a blessing. She agreed after I explained it and we got the opportunity to bless her! It was way cool. She's progressing a lot. She wanted to come to church this past sunday but was really sick.... She's reading and praying still, which is great, and she's just...better. You can see the change in people when they start reading the Book of Mormon. It's nearly palpable. I LOVE it.
It's been snowing more. Yay. This is an especially bad winter for here. Woo. It's not as cold as Rexburg was, but with the humidity it's made worse and the fact that here I cannot just go inside all day or just go outside when I absolutely have to. But yeah, more snow means an even higher amount of junk to trudge through and even more runoff in the spring. There will be massive flooding this spring, I know it. Does anybody remember the massive flooding that happened here in Cedar Rapids a couple years ago? It caused equivolant, if not more, damage, money-wise, than Katrina. But it didn't hit the news as much. Hmmm....
Anyway, that's it really for this week's update!
-Elder Gates
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
6 Months: I Like It, I Love It, I Want Some More of It
The second part of that title is exactly what our recent convert said about the gospel. I love that man.
This week has been better in weather. But it seemed much worse. We ran out of miles on the car for the month and so we walked most of the week. We spent all day saturday walking. I think the Casey's and Kum and Go got sick of us using them for the restroom or snacks. We just got tired. At one point I just gave up and laid down on Ray's porch (he was not home) to just relax my back. It felt so good, even if it looked awkward.
Jacob is still on for baptism. He's taught us both the restoration and the Plan of Salvation for the most part, with us just asking questions to kickstart his memory. He's even resolving his own concerns and everything. He's a great guy. He's having people fly in for the baptism and has requested Elder Bright, the missionary who left just before I came in, to baptize him, so we had to figure out how to get him down here for this coming saturday. The branch doesn't really even know what to do with two baptisms right in a row, and more dates sure to be set here soon. But they're an amazing branch so they'll do great. They fellowship like CRAZY and it's perfect. One investigator who we're teaching now explained her experience of going there (and this was even ten years ago) a lot like how Glenn Beck explained his first time going to church. But it's the members' responsibility to be the friends to the people, because they'll be around much longer than us missionaries, so it's good they're doing that here. We've even been seeing a major boom in Less Actives coming back to church, which is AWESOME. The boom, I believe, has little too do with us, beyond just the fact that hardworking missionaries in an area do loads for the area anyway. And I'm not claiming to be hardworking myself, that's just what a member told us we were yesterday in PEC. So that's always good. You also know it's a good sign that members like you when they start teasing you (which they do a lot of here).
We had District Meeting here in Knoxville this week so we had it in our branch building. Well, I had gotten letters that morning so I took them with me there to read before and after the meeting. But, I made the mistake of leaving one of them behind. My branch president found it on the pulpit sunday morning and, seeing it was from a girl, found me in the hall where I was greeting people and continued to threaten to have me read it aloud. I tried a few times to grab it from him, but it doesn't really help that he's in the National Guard Reserves, so the only way I would have gotten it back would have been by tackling him and using the unfair tactics I've learned from water polo to get it back. Finally, when he saw I was thoroughly embarassed, he handed it over. TOTALLY seems like something Dad would do. Which is why it's good Dad granted me with the sense of humor to think that was hilarious and not just embarrassing.
We also had exchanges this week and I ended up staying here and going to Pella with our District Leader. We had a whole line of stuff arranged and after the first two appointments fell through I admit, I lost some hope on our second to last one (the last one being jacob, and I knew that couldn't fall through). So when we got carried away talking to some Baptist Missionaries (way cool thing I noticed. They never once bore their testimony on what they were saying. This girl was going to school for three years and knew all sorts of interpretation of scripture but could not just say I know this to be true because I've asked God and received a confirming witness, as we can. The spirit is always so strong with testimony, and people don't know what to do with that. They're always just based on knowledge and suppositions.) and ran into another appointment's timeslot, I just allowed it to. Well, the appointment that we only ended up having about ten minutes for was with this guy who had seemed sort of interested when we first met with him and taught him a first lesson. And in this second appointment, he went on about how he's been to church before because his now deceased wife was LDS and has read 60 pages or so out of the Book of Mormon and considers it scripture and accepted a soft baptismal commitment...yeah, he was way cool. Even tried to reschedule work so he could come to church. Well, I guess we see what happens when I assume.
Things are going well here. Just working hard as always. This is the last monday Prep-Day of the transfer, so I'll talk to you in a week and a half!
Elder Gates
This week has been better in weather. But it seemed much worse. We ran out of miles on the car for the month and so we walked most of the week. We spent all day saturday walking. I think the Casey's and Kum and Go got sick of us using them for the restroom or snacks. We just got tired. At one point I just gave up and laid down on Ray's porch (he was not home) to just relax my back. It felt so good, even if it looked awkward.
Jacob is still on for baptism. He's taught us both the restoration and the Plan of Salvation for the most part, with us just asking questions to kickstart his memory. He's even resolving his own concerns and everything. He's a great guy. He's having people fly in for the baptism and has requested Elder Bright, the missionary who left just before I came in, to baptize him, so we had to figure out how to get him down here for this coming saturday. The branch doesn't really even know what to do with two baptisms right in a row, and more dates sure to be set here soon. But they're an amazing branch so they'll do great. They fellowship like CRAZY and it's perfect. One investigator who we're teaching now explained her experience of going there (and this was even ten years ago) a lot like how Glenn Beck explained his first time going to church. But it's the members' responsibility to be the friends to the people, because they'll be around much longer than us missionaries, so it's good they're doing that here. We've even been seeing a major boom in Less Actives coming back to church, which is AWESOME. The boom, I believe, has little too do with us, beyond just the fact that hardworking missionaries in an area do loads for the area anyway. And I'm not claiming to be hardworking myself, that's just what a member told us we were yesterday in PEC. So that's always good. You also know it's a good sign that members like you when they start teasing you (which they do a lot of here).
We had District Meeting here in Knoxville this week so we had it in our branch building. Well, I had gotten letters that morning so I took them with me there to read before and after the meeting. But, I made the mistake of leaving one of them behind. My branch president found it on the pulpit sunday morning and, seeing it was from a girl, found me in the hall where I was greeting people and continued to threaten to have me read it aloud. I tried a few times to grab it from him, but it doesn't really help that he's in the National Guard Reserves, so the only way I would have gotten it back would have been by tackling him and using the unfair tactics I've learned from water polo to get it back. Finally, when he saw I was thoroughly embarassed, he handed it over. TOTALLY seems like something Dad would do. Which is why it's good Dad granted me with the sense of humor to think that was hilarious and not just embarrassing.
We also had exchanges this week and I ended up staying here and going to Pella with our District Leader. We had a whole line of stuff arranged and after the first two appointments fell through I admit, I lost some hope on our second to last one (the last one being jacob, and I knew that couldn't fall through). So when we got carried away talking to some Baptist Missionaries (way cool thing I noticed. They never once bore their testimony on what they were saying. This girl was going to school for three years and knew all sorts of interpretation of scripture but could not just say I know this to be true because I've asked God and received a confirming witness, as we can. The spirit is always so strong with testimony, and people don't know what to do with that. They're always just based on knowledge and suppositions.) and ran into another appointment's timeslot, I just allowed it to. Well, the appointment that we only ended up having about ten minutes for was with this guy who had seemed sort of interested when we first met with him and taught him a first lesson. And in this second appointment, he went on about how he's been to church before because his now deceased wife was LDS and has read 60 pages or so out of the Book of Mormon and considers it scripture and accepted a soft baptismal commitment...yeah, he was way cool. Even tried to reschedule work so he could come to church. Well, I guess we see what happens when I assume.
Things are going well here. Just working hard as always. This is the last monday Prep-Day of the transfer, so I'll talk to you in a week and a half!
Elder Gates
Monday, January 25, 2010
Water and Hearts: Two Things That Turn Hard When Cold
(Just so you know, the following is full of sarcasm which I find as my comedic way of expressing myself and should not be actually considered as me being that upset about the events that occurred. I hope you all can see the humor as I do!)
Hello Everybody!
We had an ice storm this past week.
I hate Ice.
I really do.
I enjoy being able to stand in one spot and not move, fall, correct my balance repeatedly, or dread my own existence. Maybe I'm crazy. I don't know.
Ice Storms, or freezing rain or whatever you want to call these evidences that satan exists, are things where it rains (that's the good part, and that should never be the good part of a situation) but then it freezes solid over everything: buildings, cars, stray pets, my enthusiasm, the sidewalk...everything. It makes everything look beautiful.
But so does fire and you don't see me asking for THAT to cover Knoxville.
Point is, the freezing rain came this past wednesday and, after attempting to Day-After-Tomorrow-ize Iowa, caused President Talbot to send out the call that all cars were grounded. After a few minutes of walking I quickly realized it was much more hazardous on the inch or so of ice on the sidewalks than the little bit of slush on the cleared-off roadways. We walked over an hour to our service place (The Rec Center. Home to Knoxville's Pool, which acts like a bar would to a recovering alcoholic. But all I can do is stare) to do about ten minutes of service. Since we had walked all that way I made sure we went the little bit further to get some Subway for lunch. On our way home we stopped by Ray's house and helped him with his sidewalk. He had fallen pretty hard earlier that day while out moving his car. While laying on the pavement he offered a quick prayer for help and right before hitting his lifeline button he looked up to see Brother Cupples, his friend from the Branch and the man who had baptized him, walking up. Brother Cupples usually didn't drive that way through town but had felt a prompting to do so that day. He helped him back into his house and then had called us to stop by to help him clear off his walk. Moral: Prayer Works, and follow promptings.
After shuffling back to our apartment, I called up president and told him what the road vs. sidewalk conditions were like and he allowed us to drive, which I was grateful for. Later as we were walking back to our car after tracting (and finding a pretty cool former!) I slipped on the ice pretty bad. I was pretty much done with the ice after that. My companion, however, is from Oregon and finds the ice exciting and interesting and loves walking on it and crushing it and all that. I was meant to be IN the water, not ON TOP of it. As faithless as that might sound to Peter....
This week was pretty good, despite my little tirade about the weather (still not a fan of it. I miss Washington Winters - AKA normal rain). We went on exchanges with the zone leaders! I went to a neighboring area that we are covering right now because it is currently closed to missionaries with Elder Winfield, who had actually served there with Elder McConnel. It was a fun exchange, but we learned quickly how lame it is to do work in an area we can't access so easily. We tried to visit old formers that he had taught. One was in bed on pain meds because a deck had fallen on her during the ice storm. Another was an awesome one that went to church and everything but was unwilling to be baptized for no apparent reason and was out of town, despite the fact we had set up an appointment with him. So we met with some Less Actives. One was a mother and her son, which went pretty well until it came time for prayer. Well, the son apparently is atheist, which meant he had to pitch in his 13-or-so-year-old halfwitted opinions and how there was no proof of God, which led to rebuttles by his mother who just went on and on about "visions" she had had that went anywhere from them of Christ on the cross to where to find paintings at what garage sale. After a long time of this and him Elder Winfield and I trying to just end it with the bearing of testimony, I got sick of it. I told him that there was no proof of North Dakota and that I didn't believe in it. He told me I could read a book to find out that it was true. I told him I had a book that did the same thing for God. He told me I could go visit it if I really wanted to. I told him I could go visit God whenever I wanted, but i didn't really want to. I told him to read and pray and ask God if what we said was true. He said he had done that. I told him that I had had to do it over and over again and I had gained my witness not in one go but over time. I also told him I had once been as angry of a kid as him but because I know for myself now that there is truly a God and that He loves me and that these things are true, I'm very happy. And even if it isn't true, at least I'm happier because of it, and that makes my life worth it. At that point, before his mother or him could say anything else, I told Elder Winfield to say the prayer and then got out of there. I don't know if that was led by the Spirit, but I didn't feel bad about it like I usually do when i do stuff because I'm just angry, and either way it shut him up and left him with something to think about. I also don't know if that's all I said, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more. I do remember saying earlier, though, how ridiculous it was of him to try to dispute my testimony (I wanted to say something more demeaning then ridiculous, I was so exasperated by the situation, but I think the Spirit constrained me....). We went on to other Less Actives but they, for the most part, were even less effective. We even tracted a little, but what can you say when you don't know when or if you'll be able to come back and you don't have much time? I mostly just invited people to visit the website on the back of the passalong cards and call for the Finding Faith in Christ DVDs. So, it wasn't exactly the most productive of exchanges, but we did the best with what we had....
Ray was confirmed on Sunday!...Yesterday! That was awesome to see and participate in. He's going to make an awesome member, that's for sure.
I also met our other baptismal date this week. His name's Jacob and he's an awesome 18-year-old from, get this, Nauvoo, IL. Yup! The thing about those church historic parts of the country is that people are either LDS or hate us. So, his family's sort of anti-LDS (and I don't mean in the Anti-Nephi-Lehi sort of way....). But he's still on for baptism! He's apparently been looking into the church since early on in high school (he's now in college in Pella [home of Pella Corp., which makes storm doors. So if you ever see Pella written on a storm door, that's in my area!] at Central College) and has even taken part in the Pageant. He's way solid and we basically just taught the lesson by asking him questions and having him teach it. THOSE are the best lessons. Not only do I not have to explain it, but you get to see just how solid your investigators are.
We also picked up a new investigator last sunday who we met up with yesterday and is doing great. She's an old former from years and years ago who almost got baptized but didn't due to some concerns she had. Now, however, we've been able to help her overcome those concerns. AND she sees a need for baptism! She's awesome and I feel good about how far she'll go.
That's about it in the news. Sorry I wrote so much, I just checked the clock and realized that I've gone over my hour for this.... Oh well, I get kind of sick of writing the same old "This Is What We Did This Week" sort of format and wanted to try having some fun with it. Guess I'll have to cut it down next time.... Hope it was as fun to read as it was to write!
Love,
Elder Gates
Hello Everybody!
We had an ice storm this past week.
I hate Ice.
I really do.
I enjoy being able to stand in one spot and not move, fall, correct my balance repeatedly, or dread my own existence. Maybe I'm crazy. I don't know.
Ice Storms, or freezing rain or whatever you want to call these evidences that satan exists, are things where it rains (that's the good part, and that should never be the good part of a situation) but then it freezes solid over everything: buildings, cars, stray pets, my enthusiasm, the sidewalk...everything. It makes everything look beautiful.
But so does fire and you don't see me asking for THAT to cover Knoxville.
Point is, the freezing rain came this past wednesday and, after attempting to Day-After-Tomorrow-ize Iowa, caused President Talbot to send out the call that all cars were grounded. After a few minutes of walking I quickly realized it was much more hazardous on the inch or so of ice on the sidewalks than the little bit of slush on the cleared-off roadways. We walked over an hour to our service place (The Rec Center. Home to Knoxville's Pool, which acts like a bar would to a recovering alcoholic. But all I can do is stare) to do about ten minutes of service. Since we had walked all that way I made sure we went the little bit further to get some Subway for lunch. On our way home we stopped by Ray's house and helped him with his sidewalk. He had fallen pretty hard earlier that day while out moving his car. While laying on the pavement he offered a quick prayer for help and right before hitting his lifeline button he looked up to see Brother Cupples, his friend from the Branch and the man who had baptized him, walking up. Brother Cupples usually didn't drive that way through town but had felt a prompting to do so that day. He helped him back into his house and then had called us to stop by to help him clear off his walk. Moral: Prayer Works, and follow promptings.
After shuffling back to our apartment, I called up president and told him what the road vs. sidewalk conditions were like and he allowed us to drive, which I was grateful for. Later as we were walking back to our car after tracting (and finding a pretty cool former!) I slipped on the ice pretty bad. I was pretty much done with the ice after that. My companion, however, is from Oregon and finds the ice exciting and interesting and loves walking on it and crushing it and all that. I was meant to be IN the water, not ON TOP of it. As faithless as that might sound to Peter....
This week was pretty good, despite my little tirade about the weather (still not a fan of it. I miss Washington Winters - AKA normal rain). We went on exchanges with the zone leaders! I went to a neighboring area that we are covering right now because it is currently closed to missionaries with Elder Winfield, who had actually served there with Elder McConnel. It was a fun exchange, but we learned quickly how lame it is to do work in an area we can't access so easily. We tried to visit old formers that he had taught. One was in bed on pain meds because a deck had fallen on her during the ice storm. Another was an awesome one that went to church and everything but was unwilling to be baptized for no apparent reason and was out of town, despite the fact we had set up an appointment with him. So we met with some Less Actives. One was a mother and her son, which went pretty well until it came time for prayer. Well, the son apparently is atheist, which meant he had to pitch in his 13-or-so-year-old halfwitted opinions and how there was no proof of God, which led to rebuttles by his mother who just went on and on about "visions" she had had that went anywhere from them of Christ on the cross to where to find paintings at what garage sale. After a long time of this and him Elder Winfield and I trying to just end it with the bearing of testimony, I got sick of it. I told him that there was no proof of North Dakota and that I didn't believe in it. He told me I could read a book to find out that it was true. I told him I had a book that did the same thing for God. He told me I could go visit it if I really wanted to. I told him I could go visit God whenever I wanted, but i didn't really want to. I told him to read and pray and ask God if what we said was true. He said he had done that. I told him that I had had to do it over and over again and I had gained my witness not in one go but over time. I also told him I had once been as angry of a kid as him but because I know for myself now that there is truly a God and that He loves me and that these things are true, I'm very happy. And even if it isn't true, at least I'm happier because of it, and that makes my life worth it. At that point, before his mother or him could say anything else, I told Elder Winfield to say the prayer and then got out of there. I don't know if that was led by the Spirit, but I didn't feel bad about it like I usually do when i do stuff because I'm just angry, and either way it shut him up and left him with something to think about. I also don't know if that's all I said, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more. I do remember saying earlier, though, how ridiculous it was of him to try to dispute my testimony (I wanted to say something more demeaning then ridiculous, I was so exasperated by the situation, but I think the Spirit constrained me....). We went on to other Less Actives but they, for the most part, were even less effective. We even tracted a little, but what can you say when you don't know when or if you'll be able to come back and you don't have much time? I mostly just invited people to visit the website on the back of the passalong cards and call for the Finding Faith in Christ DVDs. So, it wasn't exactly the most productive of exchanges, but we did the best with what we had....
Ray was confirmed on Sunday!...Yesterday! That was awesome to see and participate in. He's going to make an awesome member, that's for sure.
I also met our other baptismal date this week. His name's Jacob and he's an awesome 18-year-old from, get this, Nauvoo, IL. Yup! The thing about those church historic parts of the country is that people are either LDS or hate us. So, his family's sort of anti-LDS (and I don't mean in the Anti-Nephi-Lehi sort of way....). But he's still on for baptism! He's apparently been looking into the church since early on in high school (he's now in college in Pella [home of Pella Corp., which makes storm doors. So if you ever see Pella written on a storm door, that's in my area!] at Central College) and has even taken part in the Pageant. He's way solid and we basically just taught the lesson by asking him questions and having him teach it. THOSE are the best lessons. Not only do I not have to explain it, but you get to see just how solid your investigators are.
We also picked up a new investigator last sunday who we met up with yesterday and is doing great. She's an old former from years and years ago who almost got baptized but didn't due to some concerns she had. Now, however, we've been able to help her overcome those concerns. AND she sees a need for baptism! She's awesome and I feel good about how far she'll go.
That's about it in the news. Sorry I wrote so much, I just checked the clock and realized that I've gone over my hour for this.... Oh well, I get kind of sick of writing the same old "This Is What We Did This Week" sort of format and wanted to try having some fun with it. Guess I'll have to cut it down next time.... Hope it was as fun to read as it was to write!
Love,
Elder Gates
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
