Hi ya Fam!
What a week. Moves day is normally
on Wednesday, but since I was traveling so far, I left on Tuesday instead.
Elder Livingston and Elder Jamieson and I are all going to Ireland, so we all
traveled together. Elder Jamieson drove us to Aberdeen to catch a train to
Edinburgh. We got there just a few minutes before the train left! We were
flying through the terminal!! And when we got there, there weren't any seats
open so we just stood there, occasionally sitting on our luggage, the whole
train ride. We made it to Edinburgh, where the Mission Home Van, which is
massive, picked us up and brought us to the Mission Home with all the other
Elders going to Ireland. We stayed there that night, and the next morning we were
off to the bus station! We got a bus to Glasgow, where we picked up a few more
missionaries going to Ireland, and then down to the coast, where we boarded a
ferry! It was MASSIVE and it was POSH! More like a cruise ship! It had a few
restaurants, a spa, a bar, a few arcades, a casino, and a movie theater! We
were all hungry, not having had any breakfast or dinner the night before, so we
all bought whatever on the ship. I was totally ripped off though. I paid £6 for
what turned out to be five hot wings. The hot wings were fantastic because I
haven't had a hot wing in forever. So we got off the ferry only to jump on
another bus to the Belfast train station, where we met our companions. I
met Elder McPherson there. He rushed us back to our NICE flat in the middle of
Downtown Belfast.
It was a lot of traveling, and I am STILL
tired from it! On top of that, I've arrived in the middle of moving flats!
Their old flat was way far from the City Center which is where they n
take the bus from. So now I'm at the top of this really posh apartment building
in the middle of downtown Belfast! So I've been spending the past several days
cleaning out the old flat and moving all the stuff to our new flat! It's been a
crazy couple of days. Also, because of the chaos caused by moving flats, I
probably won't receive any of your letters for a while.
The missionaries had to leave the
last flat for reasons that Mom is not allowed to know (someone threw a molotov
cocktail into the shop below their flat).
So I've been thrust right in the
middle of moving! We don't even have silverware! For breakfast, I had to
fashion a spoon out of tin foil (which I thought was pretty sweet) in order to
eat my cereal.
We've really only gone by our
investigators, and haven't done much proselyting. We're just about done now. A
really nice family in the ward gave us a bunch of board games! Including
Monopoly, Risk, and chess!! I've played chess with Elder McPherson a few times
now.
So the ward seems great! Almost all
of the members are older. The Bishop is
an American, who served his mission here, then later came back, got married,
and has lived here ever since! One family, the Hamiltons, their daughter
recently served her mission in Chicago, and her last area was Geneva Ward!!!
She posted a picture on Facebook, and a lot of people said stuff about it, remember? It
was fun talking with her about some old friends.
I don't know much about all our
investigators right now, but we do have several. One in particular is Vincent.
He's an American as well! We're trying to get him to stop praying to Mary, and
to get over his fear of the Book of Mormon.
As for Northern Ireland, the Protestants want to remain part of the UK, but the
Catholics want to join with the Republic of Ireland. This causes a lot of
contention, particularly in the name of religion.
You remember how I was
telling you all about how I'm not supposed to wear green or blue? Well that is
MUCH more intense here! It's not as bad anymore, but I still shouldn't wear a
green tie in the Shankill district (which is very Protestant) or a Red tie in
the Falls district (which is very Catholic). But, if I do the opposite, I might
get more investigators! :) I'd actually love for you to look it up and send me
some of the information. I'm DYING to know a bit of the history out here! And
if you look it up, I suggest you look up July 12th. Missionaries are not
allowed to leave their flats that day!! They have to stay inside all day!! But
when you do, don't get too worried. Last year was their calmest year in a long
time, so things aren't that bad now.
Thanks for the advice
Mom! It's kind of funny, when they're slamming the church, I'll ask them
"Have you read the Book of Mormon cover to cover? Have you ever been to
one of our Sacrament Meetings? Have you ever listened to a full and complete
talk by one of our Prophets? The answer
is always no.
I'll be sure to direct
my prayers to the family. Looks like this is a
difficult time for all of us! You can count on me.
I miss you so much!
Can't wait to speak with you! Less than two weeks now! :)
Anyhow, that's been my week! I've
been absolutely exhausted since moves, so please pray for me to come back to
myself. Sorry to hear that things are getting difficult over there! Stay happy!
And read the Book of Mormon!
Love,
Elder Bates
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