August 18, 2014 Two Months Tomorrow!

Dear Family,

Wow. Two months already! Time just flies, doesn't it!

I've been trying to do a fuller study of the Book of Mormon, because in the past, I've mostly focused on the more temporal parts of the Book of Mormon, like the stories or the War Chapters. I haven't really focused much on the doctrine of the Book of Mormon. So I've been trying to do that.  I always love hearing about the wonderful things God does for His Children.

 So last Tuesday was an amazing day! Had several great experiences! First off, we had planned to meet with Kieveer (pronounced Keeva). I don't remember if I mentioned her. Suffice to say for now that she was awesome, she actually said she thought Baptism would be great! On the doorstep, mind you! Unfortunately, we haven't even seen her since we first met her. So we're worried that she won't become a real investigator. Anyways, we'd planned to meet with her and she stood us up. She was asleep. At three in the afternoon. Anyhow, instead we tried by this guy Graham who lives just down the street from Kieveer. The first time we met Graham, he was wearing this blue shirt with the Superman symbol on it haha. He's super cool! We taught him the entire first lesson on his doorstep! I was able to recite the First Vision from memory for the first time! He said he'd read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and everything! We were actually going to meet with him again on Saturday, but apparently he had to go out, so we're meeting with him this coming Saturday.

We also met two awesome people, Stuart and Claire. Stuart we met on the street, and he was talking about how he actually felt like he was missing something. It was all I could do to keep myself from just shaking him and saying "This is it! This is what you're missing!" Unfortunately, he texted us on Friday and said he couldn't meet with us, he was too busy. That's honestly a horrible excuse, so we try by him every time we're in the neighborhood to try and talk with him further, but so far no go. Some prayers on his behalf would be appreciated! Claire is this older lady we met chapping doors. She had met with missionaries years ago. She'd read the Book of Mormon and prayed and asked if it was true, and apparently God said Yes!! We still don't know why she didn't keep going after that, but she stayed Catholic. We actually invited her to read again and to come to church on Sunday! Both were accepted, though she was sick yesterday and wasn't able to come to church. :(

That night we went with the Bishop to visit a couple of families.

Wednesday was officially P-Day because of the arrival of new missionaries! Since we emailed and shopped on Monday, this P-Day was very open! We traveled to Glasgow so Elder Massey could buy new shoes. His old pair has lasted all year, and they're completely wrecked!! I also got a haircut! Lookin good! :) While we were in Glasgow, we saw this huge band of Bagpipers and a whole drum line! It was epic! I really wish I'd had my camera, but maybe I can get the video from Elder Massey. The other two companionships in our District are training, so every companionship will have a greenie! Elder Dewsberry is training Elder Glasgow (yes, that's his name. Isn't that ironic?) and Elder McCallister is training Elder Blosil. Haven't met them yet, but apparently they're doing well so far. 

Thursday it rained buckets! I don't know if you heard, but apparently Britain got the tail end of this hurricane this last week and a few days before that. We got a ton of rain and extremely strong wind! We met with this guy, Robert, who says he doesn't intend to convert but is willing to talk with us. That's how it begins, Robert. That's how it always begins. Mwahahahahaha!!!

Friday was awesome! Met even more awesome people and set up appointments with many of them, including Grace!! We met this guy, Steven, who wasn't interested but we had an interesting conversation about the Bible. Just before he closed the door and we left, his wife came around the corner and asked for a Book of Mormon! She said she'd read it and pray about it! Steven seemed fine with it too! We're giving them a week to read, so we'll meet with them again on Friday hopefully. 

On Saturday we met with "Amazing Grace"!!!! And it ROCKED!!!! We read from 3 Nephi 11 together and discussed Jesus Christ and Baptism and such. She committed to reading and prayer, coming to church, and also BAPTISM ON SEPTEMBER 20TH!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

She didn't come to church yesterday :( But we'll meet with her tomorrow to "rebuke" her lol

Sunday we actually had dinner with the McDonalds! I've told you about Brother McDonald, right? He's awesome, always willing to go out and teach with us. Unfortunately, Sister McDonald hasn't been doing too well, so we weren't able to eat with her, but she came down after dinner to chat. Brother McDonald has a huge library of books about the Gospel! This one that I read a bit of was full of humor from General Conference! Quotes and stories told from the pulpit that are hilarious and teach messages. It was great. Another was called "The Fates of the Persecutors of Joseph Smith" Now THAT was scary! Several members of the mob that attacked Carthage Jail were literally eaten alive by parasites. But the coolest book was called "Life Everlasting" Brother McDonald read to us a passage about a vision this man had of the Premortal life! It was so cool! The author was Duayne something. It started with a C. Look it up! 

Anyhow, I've got to go. Thank you all for all your emails and love and prayers! Things have been going so well, though Elder Massey has a cold right now, so pray for my health as well as his! I hope everything continues to go well for you!

Quick thought: I've been trying this week to make my prayers more meaningful and reverent and respectful. As you can see, there has been a difference!! This week I've had several spiritual experiences through Prayer. I know prayer works, and that it brings you closer to Heavenly Father. Never neglect Him!

Keep being awesome! I love you all so much!!!

Elder Bates