Sunday, April 26, 2015

April 20, 2015 I'm off!

Well darn it, I was on a streak there! All of my companions were two transfers! Until now. 

So I'm sure you're wondering where I'm going! Well, I'm off to an area called Cavehill!! That's in Belfast, IRELAND!!! :D Fantastic!! I have no idea what my area looks like but it is awesome I'm sure! Apparently it's heavy Protestant. Belfast was one of the centers of the troubles during the difficult times. My new companion is Elder McPherson, who has just finished being trained! I'll be Senior Companion, btw! I'm nervous, but I'm sure it will all work out once I get there. I'm just sad cuz I won't be able to say goodbye to many of the wonderful Inverness members! :(

So, before I recap my week, I completely forgot to mention something last week.  We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders last Tuesday. I was with Elder Dickinson again. In the middle of our exchange, Elder Dickinson had a seizure!!! Literally, in the middle of the street! We had just finished talking to this one woman (she'd been pretty rude) when he said to me "Oh no. Elder Bates, I'm about to have a seizure." And I was just "Wait, what!?" And then it hit! He was still standing, and talking. He even GQ'd a woman and gave her a card! He just wasn't really there. Once I was certain he could walk, we went back to the flat (we received a tender mercy. We'd missed the bus, so we were walking. If he'd had his seizure on the bus, we'd be in the middle of nowhere!) where I had him read stuff from my planner, which really helped, and gave him some food and water. We weren't allowed to leave the flat after that, by the direct orders of President Brown. We were joking about it later, how I keep giving him seizures! That's twice now when he's gone on an exchange with me and had one! He's really nervous that this means he'll have to go home, which he does NOT want. But all seems well, he's just been moved to Edinburgh, probably so the Mission Home can keep a closer eye on him. What a champ. He did not want to stop working! Great guy! 

Anyhow, so this week was great! We've had so many LA's just call us and ask if they could come back to church, the Elders here are going to be working with about 5 LA's! It's fantastic! And we also got a New Investigator! We were in the Town Center on P-Day walking around. Even though it's our day off, we've been told to wear our Proselyting clothes anyways (white shirt and tie), which not everyone is too happy about. But this is a testimony why! I noticed a guy staring at us while we walked past. I said hello and we started talking, and we were able to set up an appointment! His name is Ian, he's gotta be in his 30's or 40's. Both of his parents have died in the past 10 years, and, being an only child, he's now all alone. Unmarried, no kids. He's got friends, of course. But yeah, we met with him once, taught him the Restoration, and afterwards, he asked us about what we believed. We talked about Jesus and such, and then he asked again "What else do you believe?" and we talked about modern prophets. "What else do you believe?" This went on and on! Elder Carter started to recite from memory some of the Articles of Faith! He was really willing to go to Stake Conference this past weekend! We couldn't get a ride for him, unfortunately, but he's just willing to do everything we ask! Hopefully the future Elders can get him to start coming.

Maureen's doing fine! We brought one of the Young Men with us to teach her, and that went great. We spent a whole day in Nairn on Friday. That was really good.

Everyone out here just assumes that all Mormons are Utahn! I'm proud to tell them I'm from Seattle!

I would advise you all to read the accounts of the bondages of Limhi's people and Alma's people in the book of Mosiah. I've always thought those two accounts were the same, but reading them this past week has shown how different they are! Read and compare! 

I am uber jealous of you going to Mexico!! Enjoy it! I'm getting some sun here too, but I don't get to stay in a hotel and eat fancy Mexican food or swim. Luckies.

Love you all!!

Elder Bates     :D I'm really excited to go to Ireland!  

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