So, yeah, I got a call this morning, as we usually do the day before transfers. I picked it up, pen in hand, ready to write down Elder Jameson's transfer directions, only to be told I'd be writing down my own transfer plans. Yep. I'm moving again. It's not because I'm doing anything wrong, President is just transferring people how he would have if it hadn't been for the emergency transfer.
So, I'm getting the wonderful opportunity to pack. Again. I guess I'll send you the address for my new place as soon as I know, so you can send the cake. Please send it quickly this time. Who knows how long this will last.
But, instead of getting down about it, I'm going to be my ingenious self and make a list of positives:
1) I'll be one of the few missionaries who can say they've had as many companions as they've had transfers,
2) I'll be one of the few missionaries who can say they're on their 7th Transfer and their 5th Area.
3) I'll get to see more of the beautiful state of Iowa.
4) I get to have it beat into my head even more how to break attachments to people.
5) I might just be moving to greener pastures (while this is just a phrase in Washington, out here it's quite literal).
6) I get to perfect my packing style.
7) I get to go to Burger King tonight on the way to Des Moines so I can get myself a Kid's Meal and an Iron Man Action Figure.
8) There is no number 8
Let's see, this week...um...really it's just been normal stuff. I know, a really lame answer to the question of how my week's been. Um...let's see....
Well, Elder Jameson crashed his bike. We were riding along and I looked down to make sure I hadn't just flung mud on myself and when I looked up he was all of a sudden on the ground. He cut open his pants and his leg, but both are fixed now.
I went and did some work in Corning, Iowa, which, as you should know, is the birthplace of Johnny Carson. I even got a picture of his house.
Oh, actually, one important thing! Last week, after district meeting, Elder Jameson went to a little place called Mt. Pisgah on the way back home. Ever heard of it? It apparently was a Mormon Trail way station (Creston, by the way, is right on the Mormon Trail, which is pretty cool) and cemetery. It's on a hill with a beautiful view of a valley to the west of it. Apparently when Parley P. Pratt reached the crest of this hill and saw the panorama before him, felt like he could view the promised land and thus named it after the mountain that Moses saw the promised land from. There's an obelisk that was set up with a few of the names of the people who died there, and a fenced in area where the cemetery is. All the actual markers have completely deteriorated, though. There's also a little cabin that is like one of the ones they would have built there. It was just a small little place for this little piece in LDS history that I had never heard about. I was left in awe of being able to visit it and see it basically as the pioneers had originally. But another marker was left, this one commemorating deaths that had occurred much more recently. On a little plaque on the ground was engraved the faces and names of four missionaries who had served here ten years ago and had died while traveling either to or from the cemetery. They had tried to pass a car only to end up crashing head on into another. Much like those videos they show you in drivers ed, seeing this plaque with the beautiful flowers beside it, accompanied by the picture of the four of them that was set up on the table inside the cabin, and the newspaper clipping of the accident in the apartment in Osceola, help us missionaries remember how important it is to drive safely. It really left my companion in a thoughtful state. I think it might have made him realize why I drive as safely as I do. I mean, he is from Utah, after all. But anyway, this was just a cool little place that seemed very spiritual. Before I ever visited the Mid-West, I never had much of a desire to visit Adam-Ondi-Ahman, but now that I am here, I really look forward to being able to go there someday. There really is a spiritual atmosphere to these places, even if to most people they are just another place in the midst of a bunch of grassland and farms.
Speaking of grasslands, my allergies don't seem to appreciate it here. I've been really congested and junk this week and I'm pretty sure it's just due to the allergies. And I think it may have given me a sinus infection along with it. But whatever. I just push forward doing the work of the Lord. We don't have much of an excuse to stay inside due to most sickness.
I think that's about it, though. I know I'm not updating you much on investigators, but there's not much to tell. Well, there's one that was pretty cool. We showed him the Restoration and it really seemed to help him. He said, in his own words, "I believe more now." I think he's really coming a long way. I just hope he comes to church! I think he will now.
But yeah. Whew. I think I'm now excited to move on. I just hope that at some point I get to be one of those missionaries that stays in an area for six transfers. Maybe God knows better and wants to keep me from being too attached. Or maybe he just wants me to learn how to break attachments by doing it over and over and over and over.... Either way, I know being transferred is what needs to happen.
OH! And I got another missionary update packet from Sister Little. (THANK YOU SISTER LITTLE!!) But I was saddened to notice that the highlight of the week listed, the one where I was emergency transferred out of Knoxville, was missing. Maybe it was just too depressing. I thought it was quite exciting (ok, so what if I cried when I found out it was happening? It's exciting to look back on....). But anyway, it's fun to see how everyone else is doing, and also get a chance to look back on my letters home and realize how entertaining they are. Not to give myself kudos or anything. I like Chewy Granola bars better than Kudos anyway.
I love you all. And if there's nothing else you pick up from my emails, just learn what I am: what the Lord has in store for you and what you want aren't usually the same thing. But as we all know, He knows better. And also that adversity brings forth the greatest blessings. I'm learning so much and being able to spread the goodness the Lord's doing through me to a lot of people throughout Iowa (wow, that sounded both cocky and not-so-straight at the same time, but you know what I mean. And I pay really close attention to Ammon who tells his brother, Aaron, that he is not boasting in himself but in his God who has done a great work through him).
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
"This is the Right Place"
Hello Everybody,
So yeah, as ya'll found out last email, I'm in the Lenox area now but residing in Creston. For those who are up on pop culture, Lenox is now famous for being the location of a recent movie called "The Crazies," a movie about zombies or something. I think it's a pretty cool thing to be famous for. It did raise some questions in my mind, however, when a lady in a nearby town, Corning, informed me that she couldn't let us in because she was "Infected." Yep. Scary stuff.
Anyway, the area is about the same size as my first area, Muscatine. That doesn't help much, huh? Oh well. It goes a little north from Creston, down the Missourah border, and out west to the edge of the mission, or a ways past Corning, and about 15 or more minutes east of Creston. So much bigger than Knoxville but not as big as Yankton. The church building is actually a converted house, a fairly long rambler with a basement and converted garage, complete with parking lot and giant satellite dish in back.
As I brought up with Mom and Dad in my recent letter home, there's work to be done here, for sure, as I'm sure anybody who knows anything about missions can guess from a mid-transfer transfer. Transfers are next week, though, and my current companion knows he'll be moving along as well. His name's Elder Jameson. He's a good kid and will be good to serve with, but he doesn't know the area that great because he'd only been there four weeks before I came in. So it's been great.
But we did have two baptisms here this week!! They were Steve and Cindy. Steve had been picked up during this last transfer. He had been taught in the past but they started teaching him again. He seemed really great until this last sunday when he talked to his former minister who told him he would go to hell if he was baptized as a Mormon, and then he started doubting EVERYTHING. Great. But his wife, Cindy, was way solid, which was cool because she had originally not even wanted to listen. But as soon as she knew it was true, she knew. And nothing could dissuade her. But Steve kept having problems this week. So he was our main focus, trying to make sure he was ready to be baptized on the same day as his wife, Saturday. We met with them every day and brought recent converts who bore testimony to him and let him know they all had doubts but that they know that their baptism was the right thing and wouldn't trade it for anything. But he kept having doubts about authority on Friday, the day of his interview, I was led by the Spirit to be really bold. I like being bold. Nobody can argue with it, because true boldness comes from God and not from me and people can tell the Spirit's there. But I only feel prompted to be bold like I was with him every once in awhile, testifying and promising blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. It seemed to help him a little, along with the testimony of the member who was with us that had doubts up until he was baptized and received a stronger witness than ever that it was true. But he still wasn't fully convinced, but was willing to be interviewed. By this point, actually, I had the feeling that he did know but wanted to keep arguing because he was stubborn. Not sure. But he went and was interviewed by Elder Nelson, my trainer. Nelson told him everything we had but took it a next step and did what I felt we should have done but we didn't: gave him a blessing. That really showed him the power of the priesthood in action. After that, he was able to put the fact that he knew the Book of Mormon to be true to action and realize that because of that, everything else must be true as well. So he was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. But, as he shared in Gospel Principles, he still had his doubts until he walked into church that day and felt a drop of water hit him on his back. He looked around for a source for the water to have come from and could find none. Finally, Steve had received an answer in a way he could understand. "This is the right place," he said. (Did enough sentences in that last paragraph start with "But?" Hmmm....)
I also spent a day and a half this last week in Osceola, the next town over with missionaries, on exchanges with them there. That, along with the baptism and baptismal interview questions that were in Osceola, I feel like I've spent most of my time in Osceola this week. Or driving. I'm so sick of Iowa driving. Give me some turns in the road or something to keep me awake!!
And a bad thing that came along with the transfer is that now I have no money on my support card (the one from the mission office that gets restocked with $150 every month for food and cleaning supplies and that). I had been assuming (I know the problem with when people assume, but still) that I would be in the same area for an entire transfer (crazy thing to think, I know) and that having very little money because I did some eating out would be no problem because we have plenty of food in our apartment in Knoxville. But now I'm in a house (YEAH! We live in a house! Rented just for us! Complete with basement and everything! WAY cool!) that had no food. Great. And then all the getting together with missionaries this week with district meeting and baptism and all led to more money to spend. But then, a blessing came. This week we were tracting and knocked on a door that, not surprisingly, had an uninterested christian answer. Politely, I asked her if we had interrupted dinner, and she said no, but (and this is the crazy part) invited us in to eat what was left over from dinner! So we spent awhile talking with them as they fed us! They were still not interested, but we got on very good terms with them and had a great time. She said she couldn't think of anybody to refer us to that needed help but would call us if she could think of anybody, and told us to call her if we needed help. Her son, who's in his senior year, said that he would like to play disc golf with us on Mondays and would bring his friends. So while they might not be interested, they seem to be a good way to meet people in the town! And she ("she" or "the christian," which, for once with all the people who claim to be so, is true, is Jane, a woman who I'm guessing is about forty and has three kids, one being out of the house, one being James, her teenage son, and Ryan, her daughter who's about to graduate from middle school) took it one step further: She came by last night with GROCERIES!! Really! I'm pretty much set until next month!! I probably will still have to pick up some Rice Milk (I really think I'm lactose intolerant. I've tried cutting out milk stuff and I've been feeling a lot better. Yeah, kind of stinks...), though.
Well, that's about it. Hope all's well. I'm so glad that I've decided to be a consecrated missionary because now that I'm in an area where it really matters and could be hard, the decision's already made, so all the daily ones aren't so hard. It's been VERY stressful this week, but I'm trying to stop having myself allow it get to me. I'm doing fine, no worries. As it says in Preach My Gospel, work is the only way to not get homesick or bogged down. So work I will. Nephi's last three words apparently were "I Must Obey." And so must I. And the way I think and knows he means it is not in the way of "Ah Crap I guess I have to obey," but "It's what I should, and, thus, need, to do." Obedience brings blessings. Whoa, I'm starting to get all Soapboxy and preachy. So I'll stop here.
Love,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
So yeah, as ya'll found out last email, I'm in the Lenox area now but residing in Creston. For those who are up on pop culture, Lenox is now famous for being the location of a recent movie called "The Crazies," a movie about zombies or something. I think it's a pretty cool thing to be famous for. It did raise some questions in my mind, however, when a lady in a nearby town, Corning, informed me that she couldn't let us in because she was "Infected." Yep. Scary stuff.
Anyway, the area is about the same size as my first area, Muscatine. That doesn't help much, huh? Oh well. It goes a little north from Creston, down the Missourah border, and out west to the edge of the mission, or a ways past Corning, and about 15 or more minutes east of Creston. So much bigger than Knoxville but not as big as Yankton. The church building is actually a converted house, a fairly long rambler with a basement and converted garage, complete with parking lot and giant satellite dish in back.
As I brought up with Mom and Dad in my recent letter home, there's work to be done here, for sure, as I'm sure anybody who knows anything about missions can guess from a mid-transfer transfer. Transfers are next week, though, and my current companion knows he'll be moving along as well. His name's Elder Jameson. He's a good kid and will be good to serve with, but he doesn't know the area that great because he'd only been there four weeks before I came in. So it's been great.
But we did have two baptisms here this week!! They were Steve and Cindy. Steve had been picked up during this last transfer. He had been taught in the past but they started teaching him again. He seemed really great until this last sunday when he talked to his former minister who told him he would go to hell if he was baptized as a Mormon, and then he started doubting EVERYTHING. Great. But his wife, Cindy, was way solid, which was cool because she had originally not even wanted to listen. But as soon as she knew it was true, she knew. And nothing could dissuade her. But Steve kept having problems this week. So he was our main focus, trying to make sure he was ready to be baptized on the same day as his wife, Saturday. We met with them every day and brought recent converts who bore testimony to him and let him know they all had doubts but that they know that their baptism was the right thing and wouldn't trade it for anything. But he kept having doubts about authority on Friday, the day of his interview, I was led by the Spirit to be really bold. I like being bold. Nobody can argue with it, because true boldness comes from God and not from me and people can tell the Spirit's there. But I only feel prompted to be bold like I was with him every once in awhile, testifying and promising blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. It seemed to help him a little, along with the testimony of the member who was with us that had doubts up until he was baptized and received a stronger witness than ever that it was true. But he still wasn't fully convinced, but was willing to be interviewed. By this point, actually, I had the feeling that he did know but wanted to keep arguing because he was stubborn. Not sure. But he went and was interviewed by Elder Nelson, my trainer. Nelson told him everything we had but took it a next step and did what I felt we should have done but we didn't: gave him a blessing. That really showed him the power of the priesthood in action. After that, he was able to put the fact that he knew the Book of Mormon to be true to action and realize that because of that, everything else must be true as well. So he was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. But, as he shared in Gospel Principles, he still had his doubts until he walked into church that day and felt a drop of water hit him on his back. He looked around for a source for the water to have come from and could find none. Finally, Steve had received an answer in a way he could understand. "This is the right place," he said. (Did enough sentences in that last paragraph start with "But?" Hmmm....)
I also spent a day and a half this last week in Osceola, the next town over with missionaries, on exchanges with them there. That, along with the baptism and baptismal interview questions that were in Osceola, I feel like I've spent most of my time in Osceola this week. Or driving. I'm so sick of Iowa driving. Give me some turns in the road or something to keep me awake!!
And a bad thing that came along with the transfer is that now I have no money on my support card (the one from the mission office that gets restocked with $150 every month for food and cleaning supplies and that). I had been assuming (I know the problem with when people assume, but still) that I would be in the same area for an entire transfer (crazy thing to think, I know) and that having very little money because I did some eating out would be no problem because we have plenty of food in our apartment in Knoxville. But now I'm in a house (YEAH! We live in a house! Rented just for us! Complete with basement and everything! WAY cool!) that had no food. Great. And then all the getting together with missionaries this week with district meeting and baptism and all led to more money to spend. But then, a blessing came. This week we were tracting and knocked on a door that, not surprisingly, had an uninterested christian answer. Politely, I asked her if we had interrupted dinner, and she said no, but (and this is the crazy part) invited us in to eat what was left over from dinner! So we spent awhile talking with them as they fed us! They were still not interested, but we got on very good terms with them and had a great time. She said she couldn't think of anybody to refer us to that needed help but would call us if she could think of anybody, and told us to call her if we needed help. Her son, who's in his senior year, said that he would like to play disc golf with us on Mondays and would bring his friends. So while they might not be interested, they seem to be a good way to meet people in the town! And she ("she" or "the christian," which, for once with all the people who claim to be so, is true, is Jane, a woman who I'm guessing is about forty and has three kids, one being out of the house, one being James, her teenage son, and Ryan, her daughter who's about to graduate from middle school) took it one step further: She came by last night with GROCERIES!! Really! I'm pretty much set until next month!! I probably will still have to pick up some Rice Milk (I really think I'm lactose intolerant. I've tried cutting out milk stuff and I've been feeling a lot better. Yeah, kind of stinks...), though.
Well, that's about it. Hope all's well. I'm so glad that I've decided to be a consecrated missionary because now that I'm in an area where it really matters and could be hard, the decision's already made, so all the daily ones aren't so hard. It's been VERY stressful this week, but I'm trying to stop having myself allow it get to me. I'm doing fine, no worries. As it says in Preach My Gospel, work is the only way to not get homesick or bogged down. So work I will. Nephi's last three words apparently were "I Must Obey." And so must I. And the way I think and knows he means it is not in the way of "Ah Crap I guess I have to obey," but "It's what I should, and, thus, need, to do." Obedience brings blessings. Whoa, I'm starting to get all Soapboxy and preachy. So I'll stop here.
Love,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, April 19, 2010
Life Happens and You Just Have to Deal With It As It Comes" -Dad
So, ready to hear about a roller coaster of a week?
Before I start, just so you know, I am fine, and it is not a lie to say that I'm doing wonderfully. But with great things that happen...come not so good things....
So.
At the beginning of this week, things were great. I was over the whole missing my sister's wedding thing and reconsecrated. All was well.
Monday was crazy busy, seeing as we were giving up Saturday as a prep day so we could go to the temple. We did a lot of running around to a bunch of appointments that ended up falling through. No biggie, just missionary work. Had a good dinner at a member's home. We still had to do laundry and such but it was no big deal.
Tuesday was any normal missionary day. Nothing big to report on there.
Wednesday we taught a 81 year old lady who we had dropped for awhile but picked back up again. She wasn't too interested in the gospel, which we found out pretty quickly. But she was interested in something else. ME. She hit on me. WAY creepy. "You charge me up, Charles." "You could be a pin up." Yeah. I couldn't even tell what was going on at the time. I thought I just didn't hear her right or was misinterpreting it. But when we left my companion kindly informed me: "BAH!! She was TOTALLY hitting on you!!! HAHAHA!!!" Sometimes it does suck being this really really really really really really ridiculously good looking. Right after that we went down to Centerville for exchanges. The rest of the night was spent standing around looking like we were helping to move their only investigators to Texas, trying to fix the MLS program, and having a Book of Mormon Study Class which included us and the Branch Mission Leader.
Thursday we got up and went and did service at a farm herding cows. It was a lot of fun. I might not mind working on a farm (if only I had a better back). We herded them all up onto the truck to be shipped off. We had to do a bunch of shipments because there were quite a few cows. But they got riled up at one point and broke through a fence and got away into the pasture and so we had to spend awhile trying to get them wrangled back up. That night we taught one of our main investigators who wants to be baptized and now wants her children baptized, too, so we have to see how much they want it.
Friday was another normal day. We taught a person we had met on the street and her cousin, and they seemed pretty interested, which is awesome. At night, however, we called up President Talbot to remind him that we were going to the temple the next day and found out that there was a miscommunication there. Apparently the Des Moines Stake is in the Winter Quarters Temple District, not the Nauvoo Temple District, and we were only allowed to go to our stake's temple district. SOOO, we were unable to go.
Saturday. With all of our plans shot for the day, we spent a day walking around the town talking to people and looking at apartments for a senior couple that might come here. No such luck.
Sunday we found a member referral from Oskaloosa and taught him. He seems pretty cool and open. None of our major investigators came to church, though. But that night, while I was talking to our Branch Mission Leader on the phone, I got a bunch of phone calls and just ignored them because the conversation I was having was pretty important. One of those phone calls was from President Talbot who had to call through another phone, letting me know that today, monday, I am being transferred, or as we call it in the mission, Emergency Transferred. No, it's not transfers, there's just a situation that requires missionaries to be moved around. And no, it's not from anything I've done, but somewhere else. I know really nothing about it besides that at 2:00 o'clock today I will be heading for the Lenox Area. Not much time to pack and do everything else and say bye to everyone. So, I guess, Goodbye Knoxville....
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Oh, and i forgot to add in my last email my list of possible jobs that I could apply for after all of my experiences on my mission.
-Plumber: Fixed our toilet. The mechanism in the tank was broken so I got to replace it. I did get water all over, though, when turning off the water somehow made it come out of the pipe. Luckily I had my wrench for my bike to tighten that up and stop the water.
-Cowboy: From herding the cattle
-Realtor: Looking for that apartment
-Private Investigator/Bounty Hunter: Finding people who don't want to be found.
-Professional Mover
-Coach: from coaching the YMCA kids soccer team in Muscatine
-Bike Mechanic
-Landscaper: It's a stretch from mowing someone's lawn, but whatever
-Painter
-Counselor
-Addiction Recovery Specialist
-Remodeler
-Waiter
-EMT
-Pro-Bicyclist
-Custodian
-Librarian
-Editor: all of my companions need me for spell-check
-Columnist: From doing these emails home!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Before I start, just so you know, I am fine, and it is not a lie to say that I'm doing wonderfully. But with great things that happen...come not so good things....
So.
At the beginning of this week, things were great. I was over the whole missing my sister's wedding thing and reconsecrated. All was well.
Monday was crazy busy, seeing as we were giving up Saturday as a prep day so we could go to the temple. We did a lot of running around to a bunch of appointments that ended up falling through. No biggie, just missionary work. Had a good dinner at a member's home. We still had to do laundry and such but it was no big deal.
Tuesday was any normal missionary day. Nothing big to report on there.
Wednesday we taught a 81 year old lady who we had dropped for awhile but picked back up again. She wasn't too interested in the gospel, which we found out pretty quickly. But she was interested in something else. ME. She hit on me. WAY creepy. "You charge me up, Charles." "You could be a pin up." Yeah. I couldn't even tell what was going on at the time. I thought I just didn't hear her right or was misinterpreting it. But when we left my companion kindly informed me: "BAH!! She was TOTALLY hitting on you!!! HAHAHA!!!" Sometimes it does suck being this really really really really really really ridiculously good looking. Right after that we went down to Centerville for exchanges. The rest of the night was spent standing around looking like we were helping to move their only investigators to Texas, trying to fix the MLS program, and having a Book of Mormon Study Class which included us and the Branch Mission Leader.
Thursday we got up and went and did service at a farm herding cows. It was a lot of fun. I might not mind working on a farm (if only I had a better back). We herded them all up onto the truck to be shipped off. We had to do a bunch of shipments because there were quite a few cows. But they got riled up at one point and broke through a fence and got away into the pasture and so we had to spend awhile trying to get them wrangled back up. That night we taught one of our main investigators who wants to be baptized and now wants her children baptized, too, so we have to see how much they want it.
Friday was another normal day. We taught a person we had met on the street and her cousin, and they seemed pretty interested, which is awesome. At night, however, we called up President Talbot to remind him that we were going to the temple the next day and found out that there was a miscommunication there. Apparently the Des Moines Stake is in the Winter Quarters Temple District, not the Nauvoo Temple District, and we were only allowed to go to our stake's temple district. SOOO, we were unable to go.
Saturday. With all of our plans shot for the day, we spent a day walking around the town talking to people and looking at apartments for a senior couple that might come here. No such luck.
Sunday we found a member referral from Oskaloosa and taught him. He seems pretty cool and open. None of our major investigators came to church, though. But that night, while I was talking to our Branch Mission Leader on the phone, I got a bunch of phone calls and just ignored them because the conversation I was having was pretty important. One of those phone calls was from President Talbot who had to call through another phone, letting me know that today, monday, I am being transferred, or as we call it in the mission, Emergency Transferred. No, it's not transfers, there's just a situation that requires missionaries to be moved around. And no, it's not from anything I've done, but somewhere else. I know really nothing about it besides that at 2:00 o'clock today I will be heading for the Lenox Area. Not much time to pack and do everything else and say bye to everyone. So, I guess, Goodbye Knoxville....
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Oh, and i forgot to add in my last email my list of possible jobs that I could apply for after all of my experiences on my mission.
-Plumber: Fixed our toilet. The mechanism in the tank was broken so I got to replace it. I did get water all over, though, when turning off the water somehow made it come out of the pipe. Luckily I had my wrench for my bike to tighten that up and stop the water.
-Cowboy: From herding the cattle
-Realtor: Looking for that apartment
-Private Investigator/Bounty Hunter: Finding people who don't want to be found.
-Professional Mover
-Coach: from coaching the YMCA kids soccer team in Muscatine
-Bike Mechanic
-Landscaper: It's a stretch from mowing someone's lawn, but whatever
-Painter
-Counselor
-Addiction Recovery Specialist
-Remodeler
-Waiter
-EMT
-Pro-Bicyclist
-Custodian
-Librarian
-Editor: all of my companions need me for spell-check
-Columnist: From doing these emails home!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, April 12, 2010
"And In the Last Days, Even Men's Own [Postal Services] Will Fail Them"
Hello Everybody,
Well, no, I didn't get the tie on friday. I did get it on Saturday, though. It was disappointing to not have the tie I would have been wearing Friday at Cari's wedding on the day I would have worn it, but I wore one of Elder Heyborne's all-pink ties and went to work. The going to work part was probably the worst part of the day, but I knew I'd feel worse if I didn't. I got it the next day, though, rubber-banded to a package sent from Elder Heyborne's family. His was sent two days after yours. For those who do not know much about geography, let me explain a little something. Vermont is farther away from Iowa than Utah. Not sure if you (or the postal service) knew that. So, by normal calculations, my package should have reached me sooner than his. False, apparently. I figure that what happened was that they got word in their computer network that another package of the same size was coming out and figured to just hold onto mine until his was there, too, to make it easier for the postal workers (Heaven forbid they have to carry two packages that weigh less than a pound on two separate days). Strangely, that was also the only day that week that we got mail. Hmmm.... Not that I'm bitter or nothin. The tie was great, though, and it was wonderful being able to talk to you. James does sound like he'll fit right into our crazy family just fine.
Despite missing the wedding it's been a pretty good week. We got some good work done and taught some great lessons. Our main investigator that we've been teaching for awhile even came to church for the first time, which was awesome. We hope to set a baptismal date soon with her.
But, the bigger news is that we are going to the temple this coming saturday. There's a branch temple trip to Nauvoo and a couple of our recent converts are going, so we got permission to go as well. That'll be three times on my mission, when most don't get to go by now. Once in each area! I'm hoping to be able to hop on through a session before the baptisms, but I'm kind of doubting it. We might just end up having to hang out with all the teens and converts while the teens' parents go through a session or something, or we may not even end up getting there until it's time for the baptisms. I'm looking forward to going through a session in Nauvoo, even if it doesn't end up happening until my end of mission temple trip.
So yeah, that's about it for updates.
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Well, no, I didn't get the tie on friday. I did get it on Saturday, though. It was disappointing to not have the tie I would have been wearing Friday at Cari's wedding on the day I would have worn it, but I wore one of Elder Heyborne's all-pink ties and went to work. The going to work part was probably the worst part of the day, but I knew I'd feel worse if I didn't. I got it the next day, though, rubber-banded to a package sent from Elder Heyborne's family. His was sent two days after yours. For those who do not know much about geography, let me explain a little something. Vermont is farther away from Iowa than Utah. Not sure if you (or the postal service) knew that. So, by normal calculations, my package should have reached me sooner than his. False, apparently. I figure that what happened was that they got word in their computer network that another package of the same size was coming out and figured to just hold onto mine until his was there, too, to make it easier for the postal workers (Heaven forbid they have to carry two packages that weigh less than a pound on two separate days). Strangely, that was also the only day that week that we got mail. Hmmm.... Not that I'm bitter or nothin. The tie was great, though, and it was wonderful being able to talk to you. James does sound like he'll fit right into our crazy family just fine.
Despite missing the wedding it's been a pretty good week. We got some good work done and taught some great lessons. Our main investigator that we've been teaching for awhile even came to church for the first time, which was awesome. We hope to set a baptismal date soon with her.
But, the bigger news is that we are going to the temple this coming saturday. There's a branch temple trip to Nauvoo and a couple of our recent converts are going, so we got permission to go as well. That'll be three times on my mission, when most don't get to go by now. Once in each area! I'm hoping to be able to hop on through a session before the baptisms, but I'm kind of doubting it. We might just end up having to hang out with all the teens and converts while the teens' parents go through a session or something, or we may not even end up getting there until it's time for the baptisms. I'm looking forward to going through a session in Nauvoo, even if it doesn't end up happening until my end of mission temple trip.
So yeah, that's about it for updates.
Love you all,
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, April 5, 2010
Three Days of Conference
Hello Fellow Missionaries, Most of Which Are On the Member Missionary Side of Things!
I really wish the shift bar on this thing worked a little better, that last sentence was painfully (literally) dumb. But I got halfway through it and realized that for all the work it was taking I might as well finish it.
I really don't have much to update on. Or so it feels.
This week we had, as the title states, three days of conference, starting with zone conference on friday and going through general conference the next two days. So it was about three days of spirituality with very little work done. We even had easter dinner yesterday at a member's home. Problem. "Dinner," in most places in the United States, means "That Meal That Takes Place Late in the Day." In Iowa it means "Lunch," and "Supper" means "Dinner." Even after 8 months I still can't keep track of it, since sometimes dinner means supper and other times it means lunch. Ugh. Anyway. Not quite sure if this is where things went wrong in this instance, but I like to think so. It's nicer than believing that it was our poor planning. We showed up after the second session of conference to find out that we had missed our meal altogether. They're a very sweet family and they still fed us leftovers and it was basically a dinner appointment...just we were the only ones eating.... They had also apparently had over a nonmember friend that we totally could have taught and had accepted a Book of Mormon from them. Double lame. Oh well, it was probably better that we stayed in Knoxville (They're house is in a nearby town named Pleasantville, which, sadly, is not in black and white) anyway, since the satellite was down. We found that out the day before when we showed up at church just to find out we were unable to watch it there. Not so bad, since there was only one other person who showed up. Most apparently watch conference at home or not at all. She went off to watch it online and we went to a member's home to watch it on his satellite. Priesthood session, however, might just be the most interesting session I've ever been to. For about forty-five minutes before it started until forty-five minutes into it, the group of priesthood holders that came were trying to fix the problem. None really had any more of an idea on what to do than us missionaries had, so it was kind of fun to see them run over the same things we had done already and lovingly bicker (A good portion of them are military guys because there was a VA Hospital here. A good portion of Knoxville is made up of military people) over how to fix it. It never got fixed, since after getting on the phone with the satellite people and busting open the box to the satellite boxes, we discovered the giant, unprotected satellite dish outside was not alligned. They even tried online through the family history library, just to discover they had no speakers and then even the web went down. SO, at about 7:45, Central Time, they decided to just go ahead and eat ice cream. I, however, was not about to miss any conference, and since I had already gotten permission to do so, we drove thirty minutes to Oskaloosa to watch the last forty minutes or so of it. Totally worth it.
And zone conference was all about becoming a consecrated missionary, laying everything down that would withhold us from giving our all as missionaries. So now we're committed to do that. We're even having a fast today to make ourselves consecrated. Works, since we missed, along with most of the branch, fast sunday last sunday. We just didn't know about it.... Anyway, I've never regretted having easter candy around so much....
I love it when people whisper-sing in libraries while listening to music, thinking they're the only ones that can hear themselves.
So, yep, that's about it. Love you all!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
I really wish the shift bar on this thing worked a little better, that last sentence was painfully (literally) dumb. But I got halfway through it and realized that for all the work it was taking I might as well finish it.
I really don't have much to update on. Or so it feels.
This week we had, as the title states, three days of conference, starting with zone conference on friday and going through general conference the next two days. So it was about three days of spirituality with very little work done. We even had easter dinner yesterday at a member's home. Problem. "Dinner," in most places in the United States, means "That Meal That Takes Place Late in the Day." In Iowa it means "Lunch," and "Supper" means "Dinner." Even after 8 months I still can't keep track of it, since sometimes dinner means supper and other times it means lunch. Ugh. Anyway. Not quite sure if this is where things went wrong in this instance, but I like to think so. It's nicer than believing that it was our poor planning. We showed up after the second session of conference to find out that we had missed our meal altogether. They're a very sweet family and they still fed us leftovers and it was basically a dinner appointment...just we were the only ones eating.... They had also apparently had over a nonmember friend that we totally could have taught and had accepted a Book of Mormon from them. Double lame. Oh well, it was probably better that we stayed in Knoxville (They're house is in a nearby town named Pleasantville, which, sadly, is not in black and white) anyway, since the satellite was down. We found that out the day before when we showed up at church just to find out we were unable to watch it there. Not so bad, since there was only one other person who showed up. Most apparently watch conference at home or not at all. She went off to watch it online and we went to a member's home to watch it on his satellite. Priesthood session, however, might just be the most interesting session I've ever been to. For about forty-five minutes before it started until forty-five minutes into it, the group of priesthood holders that came were trying to fix the problem. None really had any more of an idea on what to do than us missionaries had, so it was kind of fun to see them run over the same things we had done already and lovingly bicker (A good portion of them are military guys because there was a VA Hospital here. A good portion of Knoxville is made up of military people) over how to fix it. It never got fixed, since after getting on the phone with the satellite people and busting open the box to the satellite boxes, we discovered the giant, unprotected satellite dish outside was not alligned. They even tried online through the family history library, just to discover they had no speakers and then even the web went down. SO, at about 7:45, Central Time, they decided to just go ahead and eat ice cream. I, however, was not about to miss any conference, and since I had already gotten permission to do so, we drove thirty minutes to Oskaloosa to watch the last forty minutes or so of it. Totally worth it.
And zone conference was all about becoming a consecrated missionary, laying everything down that would withhold us from giving our all as missionaries. So now we're committed to do that. We're even having a fast today to make ourselves consecrated. Works, since we missed, along with most of the branch, fast sunday last sunday. We just didn't know about it.... Anyway, I've never regretted having easter candy around so much....
I love it when people whisper-sing in libraries while listening to music, thinking they're the only ones that can hear themselves.
So, yep, that's about it. Love you all!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Monday, March 29, 2010
Yeah, Wright: How I Would Rather Work On Planes Than Bikes
There's a slight problem with this whole five or so day difference between PrepDays: there's very little to report on. Besides the following:
Last P-Day we busted out the bikes. That's been exciting. I remember the days when I liked riding my bike. I considered it fun and exciting to go fast and have the wind blow on my face and try to get, like, three feet of air off of some dumb ramp. Now I'd rather hop in the car or walk. We rode our bikes a lot there for a few days, even attempting to ride out into the countryside to visit a less active. Yeah. They say Iowa is flat. I'd actually claim that there's a flatness that is achieved by Washington that southern Iowa misses completely. Iowa has rolling hills, which is a cutesy term for annoyingly long, slight inclines of death. Washington has a few different things. There's either Up for a couple hours, down for a couple hours, or flat in the valleys or somewhere in between the up and down. There's also this wind thing that hits you as soon as you leave the towns. And wind in Iowa has this amazing ability to always blow in your face. Plus my bike always seems to be one twist of a bolt away from perfect. Not that I'm complaining, it's just fact. We still got a lot done, but we're still perfecting this whole bike riding thing. Yesterday Elder Heyborne refused to ride his bike and let his backside rest from the whole bike seat thing. Cari, you're probably thinking to yourself that your brother is a wimp. That's a fact. And I'm proud of it. I'm sure once I'm used to the bikes again I'll be fine.
On the whole missionary work front, we're still struggling getting investigators to come to sacrament meeting. We did, however, have a less active come back!!! That was way cool. He brought his daughter even, who's 4 and loves preschool, and we're hoping that, if nothing else, he keeps coming for her to come to primary. The branch did a great job it seemed of welcoming him back, so that's great!
We also finally met with a less active that has kind of dropped off the map for a long time. I tell you, missionaries make the best private investigators. Maybe that's what I should do when I get home, get a big mullet and aviators and a funky facial hair thing and call myself Magnum. And/or get a talking car. Depends on how 80's I want to get. But anyway, we were able to find out where she lived from a friend and were finally able to contact her. She's way cool and loves missionaries and I think has a chance of coming back. We'll definitely try. She fed us, which is a plus, and said we can come by anytime. AND her husband was asking all sorts of questions, being way interested to understand more.
We're also still working on contacting everyone we see, which is leading to more investigators, more interesting moments, and more blessings. It's cool to see how many investigators a companionship can be blessed with if they do the work the Lord's. Now's the struggle of working with all of their really busy schedules!
We also had our first new member lessons and more attempting to be arranged. THAT'S awesome, too. New member lessons tend to be thrown by the wayside at times and that's what leads to all of the Recent Converts that are Less Actives. LAME. Neither I nor this branch are going to allow that to happen here, though.
That's it! Have a wonderful week!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Last P-Day we busted out the bikes. That's been exciting. I remember the days when I liked riding my bike. I considered it fun and exciting to go fast and have the wind blow on my face and try to get, like, three feet of air off of some dumb ramp. Now I'd rather hop in the car or walk. We rode our bikes a lot there for a few days, even attempting to ride out into the countryside to visit a less active. Yeah. They say Iowa is flat. I'd actually claim that there's a flatness that is achieved by Washington that southern Iowa misses completely. Iowa has rolling hills, which is a cutesy term for annoyingly long, slight inclines of death. Washington has a few different things. There's either Up for a couple hours, down for a couple hours, or flat in the valleys or somewhere in between the up and down. There's also this wind thing that hits you as soon as you leave the towns. And wind in Iowa has this amazing ability to always blow in your face. Plus my bike always seems to be one twist of a bolt away from perfect. Not that I'm complaining, it's just fact. We still got a lot done, but we're still perfecting this whole bike riding thing. Yesterday Elder Heyborne refused to ride his bike and let his backside rest from the whole bike seat thing. Cari, you're probably thinking to yourself that your brother is a wimp. That's a fact. And I'm proud of it. I'm sure once I'm used to the bikes again I'll be fine.
On the whole missionary work front, we're still struggling getting investigators to come to sacrament meeting. We did, however, have a less active come back!!! That was way cool. He brought his daughter even, who's 4 and loves preschool, and we're hoping that, if nothing else, he keeps coming for her to come to primary. The branch did a great job it seemed of welcoming him back, so that's great!
We also finally met with a less active that has kind of dropped off the map for a long time. I tell you, missionaries make the best private investigators. Maybe that's what I should do when I get home, get a big mullet and aviators and a funky facial hair thing and call myself Magnum. And/or get a talking car. Depends on how 80's I want to get. But anyway, we were able to find out where she lived from a friend and were finally able to contact her. She's way cool and loves missionaries and I think has a chance of coming back. We'll definitely try. She fed us, which is a plus, and said we can come by anytime. AND her husband was asking all sorts of questions, being way interested to understand more.
We're also still working on contacting everyone we see, which is leading to more investigators, more interesting moments, and more blessings. It's cool to see how many investigators a companionship can be blessed with if they do the work the Lord's. Now's the struggle of working with all of their really busy schedules!
We also had our first new member lessons and more attempting to be arranged. THAT'S awesome, too. New member lessons tend to be thrown by the wayside at times and that's what leads to all of the Recent Converts that are Less Actives. LAME. Neither I nor this branch are going to allow that to happen here, though.
That's it! Have a wonderful week!
--
Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Charlie Gates
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Elder Gates Iowa Des Moines Mission Knoxville Area Elder Heyborne Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure
Yeah, I know my subject is a reference to The Office but it had to be done. You see, my companion, Elder Heyborne, was bit by a dog this week, and there was a slight rabies scare.
The following is my version of the story.
...Ahem...
Soo, Elder Heyborne and I were out walking around, trying to talk to as many people as possible between appointments. The wind was pretty harsh, so we began walking down some side streets I'd never walked along. As usual, there was a dog tied up in someone's front yard, barking its ugly head off. Elder Heyborne and I were about to walk down another side street to try to conquer the impossibly harsh zephyr, when I got the always irrefutable prompting to go talk to the owner, who was standing in the doorway trying to quiet down the mutt. So, we changed our course and began walking up to the house and trying to speak with the owner, an older lady, who was struggling to real in her mangy hound. She, as all owners do, assured us that the yapping and snarling monster (a medium-sized dog that has been given the unassuming title of "Terrier") was friendly and would only sniff our hands. I, being senior, got up to the dog first and let it sniff my hand. But the dog did not stop there. It then LICKED my hand. Yes, the beast even went that far of attempting to pull the wool over my eyes before turning on my poor, naive companion and attempting to rip his hand off. Elder Heyborne quickly pulled his hand away, and the wild thing attacked again, with a bite just above Heyborne's knee. He lifted his leg, bringing the dog with it, and kneed the thing right in the gut. The dog fell back for a second, allowing Elder Heyborne to run outside of the chain's reach. It was about this time that I was able to get my wits about myself and booked it out of the chain's reach as well. My companion smoothly just began reassuring the frightened owner (and myself along with her) that he was alright. Lies, all lies. He turned to me as she finished shoving the dog inside and whispered "Dude, we gotta go." My thought process was "Well, DUH, now you agree that it's a scary dog and that you probably got a scratch or two and that-HOLY CRAP!!" The last two words hit when I saw the two bloody puncture wounds on his palm. For those of you who know me, you know I don't like blood. Or guts. Or all those things that are in people that God intended to stay there. I knew, however, that there was a reason I had been drawn to this house, and that this was not an everyday sort of contact. It wasn't. It was a less-active that I had never known the address for. So we finally found her!
And then we got out of there as fast as we could.
We began heading back to our car and also a recent convert's house to get him washed up and get him somewhere where they knew a little more about health and all that jazz then what we forgot from the first aid merit badge and what Cari's spewed (actually, from the way she described things, I think I was the one that spewed) to me from her ER years. On the way there he threw hand sanitizer on his cuts (his recent attempts to rid his speech of Mormon cusswords ceased when he did that) and I called Sister Talbot.
"Hello this is Sister Talbot."
"Hello Sister Talbot this is Elder Gates."
"Hello Elder Gates! How are you?"
"Oh, me? Well I'm just fine.... My companion on the other hand, well, he just got bitten by a dog."
I then went on to explain the injury as the little punk contacted some lady to try to teach her about the gospel, conveniently hiding his bleeding hand behind his back. I got him to start running so we could get to Brother Rayburn's quicker. I told him, as I went to the car to grab something, to just go in even if Brother Rayburn didn't answer. When I got over there he was still standing at the closed screen door (Brother Rayburn doesn't shut his front door if he's home but leaves the screen door closed. He's from the south). Having been able to recognize already that my companion was in shock, I didn't care much and opened the door for him. Brother Rayburn was in the bathroom so as Elder Heyborne began washing his wounds in the sink, Brother Rayburn came out and I had to let him know that it was just us. He was completely ok with the invasion, but still came out with his hands up. He's a pretty good jokester for an 80-year-old.
As Ray helped Heyborne get cleaned up, I got another phone call from Sister Talbot, asking if the dog had had its rabies shot. I told her I'd call and find out, but after a few vain attempts of getting ahold of the sister to who the dog belonged, I realized we'd need to drive by her place again. As I went back inside to grab my companion, I realized I was walking in on a very spiritual lesson. I could not help but think of how much of an idiot my companion must be to not be able to comprehend that he was bleeding from a pretty deep puncture wound from an animal that, for all we knew, could give him a disease that could kill him within 72 hours. But I could tell that with his slower-than-normal speech and increased giddiness, he was probably not all there. I quickly explained to Brother Rayburn that I would call him back with an answer to the question he had posed and that we needed to get going. He understood, but Elder Heyborne didn't. "Dude," he said as I hurried him to the car, "I didn't even get to say a closing prayer!"
We got back to the less active's house just as she was about to leave to go take her dog out for a spin. We quickly got the information we needed from her and left, but not before Elder Heyborne scratched their other dog behind the ears.
"Wow," she said, "That's usually the meaner one!" I was ready to shoot my companion.
Back in the safety of the car, I had him call the mission doctor with all of the information of the wound and everything to see what we should do. He did, and, very poorly, tried to explain that he had gotten a fairly deep puncture in the spot between your thumb and forefinger about a centimeter long and another one on his palm below his pinky (he tried explaining the size of them by saying "Ya know the size of a little dogs' teeth? Yeah, something kinda like that...."). Don't judge him, he was out of it.
"I'm not in shock," he told me.
"Sure, whatever."
Since both of us were very thirsty, and we were waiting on a call back from Sister Talbot to confirm the doctor's orders to take him to the hospital to get him checked out, we went through the drive thru at DQ real quick. Well, I thought it would be real quick.
"May I take your order?"
"Yeah, I would like one small kiwi strawberry arctic rush."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, one second." Then turning to my companion, "What drink to you want?"
"A Small."
"Yeah, sure, but what DRINK?"
"Dude I don't know.... Um...Sprite...?"
After getting his drink, in his slow speech I had gotten used to by now, "They put ice in my cup. I HATE ice...."
By now we had heard from Sister Talbot so I simply pulled into the ER parking lot next door and began walking in with my arctic rush in my hand. He left his drink, completely forgetting to ever drink out of it.
"Hello," the people at the front desk said, "Are you here to visit somebody?"
"Nope," Elder Heyborne responded, almost joyfully, "I just got bit by a dog!"
The nurses ushered him back into the back room as I sat down in the waiting room to enjoy my arctic rush and call the district leader. I was halfway through explaining what was going on, and basically at the worst spot to end the conversation, when Elder Heyborne came out and signaled for me to come. For once, he looked serious and actually in a hurry. This did not look good.
"Uh oh, I gotta go, Elder Rowley."
"Wait...uh...ok...bye."
I gathered up all my stuff, including my arctic rush and bag, and went on to the back. There I found Elder Heyborne and the nurse with a clipboard. Elder Heyborne turned to me, and asked a very serious question.
"What's Sister Talbot's first name?"
I stared at him, dumbfounded. THAT'S why he had been in such a hurry???
"Uh...Sister?"
The nurse went ahead and wrote down Sister on the clipboard. "Any chance you know his social security number?" she asked me. I couldn't even think of my own.
Anyway, they checked him out, cleaned him up, gave him a prescription, had the cop interview us to see if he needed to become part of it, and we went on our way. Shortest stay I'd ever had in an ER. Also the smallest ER I'd ever been in.
So yeah, Elder Heyborne's ok, just on some really strong antibiotics. And it's been about five days so he definitely doesn't have rabies. We even went back to visit the less active the next day. The dog was way friendly, even licking Elder Heyborne's face. But I've finally convinced him that dogs are the ruthless beasts I'd always seen them as.
Anyway, beyond that story...I'M STAYING IN KNOXVILLE!! Woo! Both of us are, actually, which is perfect because there's a lot of great stuff just getting going. We have our main investigator, after having trouble getting in with her for awhile, praying for a date to be baptized!!! I've also learned so much this last week it's crazy.
The weather's much better. I never thought I'd sweat so bad from temperatures in the upper fifties.
Anyway, that's it for now, talk to yall in pertinear a couple three days yet!
Oh, and I'm also sending Elder Heyborne's version of the story.
Elder Gates
[FPEO So, more on the tiny bit about all I've learned. I gave a blessing to a less active that reminds me a lot of Cari this week. She looks like her and has a personality kinda like hers. Anyway, she asked for a blessing because her and her husband are struggling starting a family. During the blessing of comfort, a feeling came very strongly into my heart. It was the feeling of how strongly God's love is for His children. I could tell there was a special place in his massive heart for people going through hard times and most especially for those who struggle having children. It says in Preach My Gospel that he weeps with us when we weep and rejoices with us when we rejoice. I used to think that was just some corny little exaggeration. It's not, not in the slightest. He really, truly, does. It was probably the strongest impression I've ever had of his incredible love in my life, and I hope to never forget it (no worries, it's in my journal ;) ). Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you. I love you all.
This is Elder Heyborne's take on the event
Everyone under the sun, or above it (I don't discriminate);
I have had an amazing experience this past week. Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be impaled by a medium sized dog's fangs? Well, I wonder no more.
I was having a little bit of an off day and as my companion and I walked to our next destination we felt prompted to talk with a woman who was reeling in her dog by the chain. We made our pleasantries and advanced toward the dog. She commented that the dog was nice and to just let the terrier smell our hands. My loving companion Elder Gates went first and when I noticed the dog had licked his hand and let him pet her I decided it was my turn.
I put my hand down towards the dog, but far enough to let the dog come to me, which it did. However, instead of a taste it wanted a piece. After feeling sudden pain I shot up and started to back up but the dog was quicker and got a hold of my right leg 3 inches above the knee. I continued backwards and dragged the dog a few feet back before raising my knee into it's chest and making the dog release me. Then I turned and ran because I knew that if I could get out the chains length the dog would be stopped.
After that less than 10-second episode was over I laughed and was like "WOW" and started a conversation with the lady. Elder Gates, realizing I was playing way too cool for having been bit, continued to talk with her. I guess he thought I was just fine. Of course I acted like it but when I came up to him and said with no joke on my face, "Dude, I need to go. Now," and he looked at my bloody hand; we left.
We walked quickly away and I knew that cleanliness is next to godliness so I put hand sanitizer on my bites. He called the Mission President's wife (Sister Talbot) to find out what to do. Since he was on the phone and I had nothing to do, I started talking about the gospel to someone who was putting her child in her car. I gave her a card and we left. Elder Gates face was white, so white and we decided to run to a near-by member's home to wash off the wounds.
We got to Rayburn's home and just walked in. I went to the kitchen and washed it off with water. Rayburn came in and we started talking to him. We gave him "The Family: Proclamation to the World” which we had wanted to give him for some time. I put band-aids on my sores and sat down with him as Elder Gates went outside to talk with Sister Talbot. We talked about a boy down the street that he knew that had a brain tumor and how to comfort the family. I reflected on what scripture to use and Elder Gates rushed in, still pale, and I asked him, "What scripture do you think would be good for this?"
He stared at me, shook it off and was like, "WE HAVE TO GO!" Whatever. As we left I shared my distaste at having left without praying with Rayburn. He was so worried but I know in whom I have trusted. We drove off to that persons house whose' dog bit me. We talked with her about the dog and whether or not it had gotten shots. Her daughter came out with the other dog and I started to pet it with my other hand. They proceeded to tell me that that dog is the mean one; RIGHT!
We got into the car and I called our mission doctor and I could not for the life of me explain my wounds. He finally gave up and told us that he would call Sister Talbot and tell her we needed to go to the ER. I turned to Elder Gates and said that I was thirsty. So, we went to Dairy Queen. As we got there Elder Gates quickly said what he wanted but I could not decide whether or not a cold drink would melt while I was in the ER. I knew what size I wanted but nothing else so I told my companion. He looked at me, with that look, and said, "WHAT KIND! This was a bad idea." Therefore, I was rushed and just decided to get a Sprite.
We proceeded to go to the ER and I forgot to even take a drink. As we walked in security asked if we were there to see anyone. Everyone (a few doctors and nurses) stood there and looked at these two odd young men in suits. I stated matter a factly, "No, I got bit by a dog."
Then everyone looked alive and I was ushered, once again quickly, into a room. I gave a nurse my information but could not think of Sister Talbot's first name. I stepped outside and ushered my companion into the room, rather abruptly. He hurried over and I asked him. ONCE AGAIN I got the 'look' and he said stupidly, "Sister. I don't know” We had her write down sister.
To make a long thing quick; they washed and dressed me with a sympathy bandage. We drove to get the anti-biotics. Went to drop off a Bible and then to an activity at the church. The butt of the jokes that night was dogs and my massively bandaged hand.
The next day we went back to this ladies house and the dog, named Buddy, was friendly and even cordial. Buddy licked my face and I pet Buddy for most of the visit. I had a great time and Elder Gates still thinks I was in shock or something. I was just enjoying the journey.
Byetheway, I am not dead so I do not have rabies. Also, the wounds are healing quickly and the anti-biotics make me sick to my stomach. Elder Gates has been patient and much the gentleman even though I still get stuck with the dishes and trash. Watch out for dogs!
Love,
Elder Heyborne
The following is my version of the story.
...Ahem...
Soo, Elder Heyborne and I were out walking around, trying to talk to as many people as possible between appointments. The wind was pretty harsh, so we began walking down some side streets I'd never walked along. As usual, there was a dog tied up in someone's front yard, barking its ugly head off. Elder Heyborne and I were about to walk down another side street to try to conquer the impossibly harsh zephyr, when I got the always irrefutable prompting to go talk to the owner, who was standing in the doorway trying to quiet down the mutt. So, we changed our course and began walking up to the house and trying to speak with the owner, an older lady, who was struggling to real in her mangy hound. She, as all owners do, assured us that the yapping and snarling monster (a medium-sized dog that has been given the unassuming title of "Terrier") was friendly and would only sniff our hands. I, being senior, got up to the dog first and let it sniff my hand. But the dog did not stop there. It then LICKED my hand. Yes, the beast even went that far of attempting to pull the wool over my eyes before turning on my poor, naive companion and attempting to rip his hand off. Elder Heyborne quickly pulled his hand away, and the wild thing attacked again, with a bite just above Heyborne's knee. He lifted his leg, bringing the dog with it, and kneed the thing right in the gut. The dog fell back for a second, allowing Elder Heyborne to run outside of the chain's reach. It was about this time that I was able to get my wits about myself and booked it out of the chain's reach as well. My companion smoothly just began reassuring the frightened owner (and myself along with her) that he was alright. Lies, all lies. He turned to me as she finished shoving the dog inside and whispered "Dude, we gotta go." My thought process was "Well, DUH, now you agree that it's a scary dog and that you probably got a scratch or two and that-HOLY CRAP!!" The last two words hit when I saw the two bloody puncture wounds on his palm. For those of you who know me, you know I don't like blood. Or guts. Or all those things that are in people that God intended to stay there. I knew, however, that there was a reason I had been drawn to this house, and that this was not an everyday sort of contact. It wasn't. It was a less-active that I had never known the address for. So we finally found her!
And then we got out of there as fast as we could.
We began heading back to our car and also a recent convert's house to get him washed up and get him somewhere where they knew a little more about health and all that jazz then what we forgot from the first aid merit badge and what Cari's spewed (actually, from the way she described things, I think I was the one that spewed) to me from her ER years. On the way there he threw hand sanitizer on his cuts (his recent attempts to rid his speech of Mormon cusswords ceased when he did that) and I called Sister Talbot.
"Hello this is Sister Talbot."
"Hello Sister Talbot this is Elder Gates."
"Hello Elder Gates! How are you?"
"Oh, me? Well I'm just fine.... My companion on the other hand, well, he just got bitten by a dog."
I then went on to explain the injury as the little punk contacted some lady to try to teach her about the gospel, conveniently hiding his bleeding hand behind his back. I got him to start running so we could get to Brother Rayburn's quicker. I told him, as I went to the car to grab something, to just go in even if Brother Rayburn didn't answer. When I got over there he was still standing at the closed screen door (Brother Rayburn doesn't shut his front door if he's home but leaves the screen door closed. He's from the south). Having been able to recognize already that my companion was in shock, I didn't care much and opened the door for him. Brother Rayburn was in the bathroom so as Elder Heyborne began washing his wounds in the sink, Brother Rayburn came out and I had to let him know that it was just us. He was completely ok with the invasion, but still came out with his hands up. He's a pretty good jokester for an 80-year-old.
As Ray helped Heyborne get cleaned up, I got another phone call from Sister Talbot, asking if the dog had had its rabies shot. I told her I'd call and find out, but after a few vain attempts of getting ahold of the sister to who the dog belonged, I realized we'd need to drive by her place again. As I went back inside to grab my companion, I realized I was walking in on a very spiritual lesson. I could not help but think of how much of an idiot my companion must be to not be able to comprehend that he was bleeding from a pretty deep puncture wound from an animal that, for all we knew, could give him a disease that could kill him within 72 hours. But I could tell that with his slower-than-normal speech and increased giddiness, he was probably not all there. I quickly explained to Brother Rayburn that I would call him back with an answer to the question he had posed and that we needed to get going. He understood, but Elder Heyborne didn't. "Dude," he said as I hurried him to the car, "I didn't even get to say a closing prayer!"
We got back to the less active's house just as she was about to leave to go take her dog out for a spin. We quickly got the information we needed from her and left, but not before Elder Heyborne scratched their other dog behind the ears.
"Wow," she said, "That's usually the meaner one!" I was ready to shoot my companion.
Back in the safety of the car, I had him call the mission doctor with all of the information of the wound and everything to see what we should do. He did, and, very poorly, tried to explain that he had gotten a fairly deep puncture in the spot between your thumb and forefinger about a centimeter long and another one on his palm below his pinky (he tried explaining the size of them by saying "Ya know the size of a little dogs' teeth? Yeah, something kinda like that...."). Don't judge him, he was out of it.
"I'm not in shock," he told me.
"Sure, whatever."
Since both of us were very thirsty, and we were waiting on a call back from Sister Talbot to confirm the doctor's orders to take him to the hospital to get him checked out, we went through the drive thru at DQ real quick. Well, I thought it would be real quick.
"May I take your order?"
"Yeah, I would like one small kiwi strawberry arctic rush."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, one second." Then turning to my companion, "What drink to you want?"
"A Small."
"Yeah, sure, but what DRINK?"
"Dude I don't know.... Um...Sprite...?"
After getting his drink, in his slow speech I had gotten used to by now, "They put ice in my cup. I HATE ice...."
By now we had heard from Sister Talbot so I simply pulled into the ER parking lot next door and began walking in with my arctic rush in my hand. He left his drink, completely forgetting to ever drink out of it.
"Hello," the people at the front desk said, "Are you here to visit somebody?"
"Nope," Elder Heyborne responded, almost joyfully, "I just got bit by a dog!"
The nurses ushered him back into the back room as I sat down in the waiting room to enjoy my arctic rush and call the district leader. I was halfway through explaining what was going on, and basically at the worst spot to end the conversation, when Elder Heyborne came out and signaled for me to come. For once, he looked serious and actually in a hurry. This did not look good.
"Uh oh, I gotta go, Elder Rowley."
"Wait...uh...ok...bye."
I gathered up all my stuff, including my arctic rush and bag, and went on to the back. There I found Elder Heyborne and the nurse with a clipboard. Elder Heyborne turned to me, and asked a very serious question.
"What's Sister Talbot's first name?"
I stared at him, dumbfounded. THAT'S why he had been in such a hurry???
"Uh...Sister?"
The nurse went ahead and wrote down Sister on the clipboard. "Any chance you know his social security number?" she asked me. I couldn't even think of my own.
Anyway, they checked him out, cleaned him up, gave him a prescription, had the cop interview us to see if he needed to become part of it, and we went on our way. Shortest stay I'd ever had in an ER. Also the smallest ER I'd ever been in.
So yeah, Elder Heyborne's ok, just on some really strong antibiotics. And it's been about five days so he definitely doesn't have rabies. We even went back to visit the less active the next day. The dog was way friendly, even licking Elder Heyborne's face. But I've finally convinced him that dogs are the ruthless beasts I'd always seen them as.
Anyway, beyond that story...I'M STAYING IN KNOXVILLE!! Woo! Both of us are, actually, which is perfect because there's a lot of great stuff just getting going. We have our main investigator, after having trouble getting in with her for awhile, praying for a date to be baptized!!! I've also learned so much this last week it's crazy.
The weather's much better. I never thought I'd sweat so bad from temperatures in the upper fifties.
Anyway, that's it for now, talk to yall in pertinear a couple three days yet!
Oh, and I'm also sending Elder Heyborne's version of the story.
Elder Gates
[FPEO So, more on the tiny bit about all I've learned. I gave a blessing to a less active that reminds me a lot of Cari this week. She looks like her and has a personality kinda like hers. Anyway, she asked for a blessing because her and her husband are struggling starting a family. During the blessing of comfort, a feeling came very strongly into my heart. It was the feeling of how strongly God's love is for His children. I could tell there was a special place in his massive heart for people going through hard times and most especially for those who struggle having children. It says in Preach My Gospel that he weeps with us when we weep and rejoices with us when we rejoice. I used to think that was just some corny little exaggeration. It's not, not in the slightest. He really, truly, does. It was probably the strongest impression I've ever had of his incredible love in my life, and I hope to never forget it (no worries, it's in my journal ;) ). Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you. I love you all.
This is Elder Heyborne's take on the event
Everyone under the sun, or above it (I don't discriminate);
I have had an amazing experience this past week. Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be impaled by a medium sized dog's fangs? Well, I wonder no more.
I was having a little bit of an off day and as my companion and I walked to our next destination we felt prompted to talk with a woman who was reeling in her dog by the chain. We made our pleasantries and advanced toward the dog. She commented that the dog was nice and to just let the terrier smell our hands. My loving companion Elder Gates went first and when I noticed the dog had licked his hand and let him pet her I decided it was my turn.
I put my hand down towards the dog, but far enough to let the dog come to me, which it did. However, instead of a taste it wanted a piece. After feeling sudden pain I shot up and started to back up but the dog was quicker and got a hold of my right leg 3 inches above the knee. I continued backwards and dragged the dog a few feet back before raising my knee into it's chest and making the dog release me. Then I turned and ran because I knew that if I could get out the chains length the dog would be stopped.
After that less than 10-second episode was over I laughed and was like "WOW" and started a conversation with the lady. Elder Gates, realizing I was playing way too cool for having been bit, continued to talk with her. I guess he thought I was just fine. Of course I acted like it but when I came up to him and said with no joke on my face, "Dude, I need to go. Now," and he looked at my bloody hand; we left.
We walked quickly away and I knew that cleanliness is next to godliness so I put hand sanitizer on my bites. He called the Mission President's wife (Sister Talbot) to find out what to do. Since he was on the phone and I had nothing to do, I started talking about the gospel to someone who was putting her child in her car. I gave her a card and we left. Elder Gates face was white, so white and we decided to run to a near-by member's home to wash off the wounds.
We got to Rayburn's home and just walked in. I went to the kitchen and washed it off with water. Rayburn came in and we started talking to him. We gave him "The Family: Proclamation to the World” which we had wanted to give him for some time. I put band-aids on my sores and sat down with him as Elder Gates went outside to talk with Sister Talbot. We talked about a boy down the street that he knew that had a brain tumor and how to comfort the family. I reflected on what scripture to use and Elder Gates rushed in, still pale, and I asked him, "What scripture do you think would be good for this?"
He stared at me, shook it off and was like, "WE HAVE TO GO!" Whatever. As we left I shared my distaste at having left without praying with Rayburn. He was so worried but I know in whom I have trusted. We drove off to that persons house whose' dog bit me. We talked with her about the dog and whether or not it had gotten shots. Her daughter came out with the other dog and I started to pet it with my other hand. They proceeded to tell me that that dog is the mean one; RIGHT!
We got into the car and I called our mission doctor and I could not for the life of me explain my wounds. He finally gave up and told us that he would call Sister Talbot and tell her we needed to go to the ER. I turned to Elder Gates and said that I was thirsty. So, we went to Dairy Queen. As we got there Elder Gates quickly said what he wanted but I could not decide whether or not a cold drink would melt while I was in the ER. I knew what size I wanted but nothing else so I told my companion. He looked at me, with that look, and said, "WHAT KIND! This was a bad idea." Therefore, I was rushed and just decided to get a Sprite.
We proceeded to go to the ER and I forgot to even take a drink. As we walked in security asked if we were there to see anyone. Everyone (a few doctors and nurses) stood there and looked at these two odd young men in suits. I stated matter a factly, "No, I got bit by a dog."
Then everyone looked alive and I was ushered, once again quickly, into a room. I gave a nurse my information but could not think of Sister Talbot's first name. I stepped outside and ushered my companion into the room, rather abruptly. He hurried over and I asked him. ONCE AGAIN I got the 'look' and he said stupidly, "Sister. I don't know” We had her write down sister.
To make a long thing quick; they washed and dressed me with a sympathy bandage. We drove to get the anti-biotics. Went to drop off a Bible and then to an activity at the church. The butt of the jokes that night was dogs and my massively bandaged hand.
The next day we went back to this ladies house and the dog, named Buddy, was friendly and even cordial. Buddy licked my face and I pet Buddy for most of the visit. I had a great time and Elder Gates still thinks I was in shock or something. I was just enjoying the journey.
Byetheway, I am not dead so I do not have rabies. Also, the wounds are healing quickly and the anti-biotics make me sick to my stomach. Elder Gates has been patient and much the gentleman even though I still get stuck with the dishes and trash. Watch out for dogs!
Love,
Elder Heyborne
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
