Sunday, January 17, 2016

December 1, 2015 Little time to spare, but here we go!


Hiya Fam!



St is doing fantastic! We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week, and he said he thought the plan was "too perfect". We also got him to pray!! He also came to church and loved it! AND yesterday a member had us and him over for dinner so we could teach Am (more on her in a bit) and he even answered some of her questions! It was good! I'm very hopeful for him!



Am is the Au Pair, as they're called, for the J's. She's basically a maid. Cleans the house, babysits the kids, helps with the food, etc. She's really cool, and the family love her. She's from Brazil. And Sister J asked her if she wanted to learn about the gospel, and she said yes! So we taught her the Plan of Salvation!! She was asking all the right questions too. It was really good, and we're meeting with her again later this week.



We also met with Ga. Ch wasn't able to make it, but it was still good. We hadn't fully explained the Book of Mormon, so that's what we did with them. And yes, they work for Doterra!! How crazy is that!? What are the odds.



We met with H for the first time. H has had a really trying few weeks. His daughter, her husband, and their three children, five people in all, died in a fire. He's taking it really hard. We were really quick with him, but it was a good lesson.



We also met with several LA's, two of which were Part-Member families: the G's and the C's. Just got to know them a little better, shared a spiritual thought on prayer, nothing too formal. At one of them, the C's, the little girl was practically begging her mum to take her to church! It was so cute! 



It's been a fantastic week! All in all, we taught 14 lessons!!! I've had whole TRANSFERS where we didn't get that many!! Things are taking off!! Woo!



Can't believe it's almost 2016!  It is so weird too!! The year that you spend completely in the service of the Lord is referred to as your "Black Hole Year". It's not a very accurate representation, but oh well. And this is the last month of my Black Hole Year. Scary! I got your package earlier today, btw. Exciting!!! 

You asked what I thought of Haggis and Blood Pudding...... Haggis: Good. Blood Pudding: Meh. Most people call it Black Pudding instead of Blood Pudding. Sounds a bit more... sanitary... 

It's probably a bit late to give you a Christmas idea, but my camera is dying. I think all the rain has seeped in and it just doesn't work too well. It's just slow, really. I'm just nervous that I'll be out here without a camera!! :/

Really? You got a live tree? Where did you go? Did you take pictures?

President Donaldson sent us some rules for our phone call. I'll forward them to you.

Questions from your other emails:



Who is T? T was a member who had her name removed from church records. She still believes in the church, comes to church every Sunday, and does a TON of missionary work, her main problem is smoking. She's too scared to stop. :( She has us over nearly every week, and feeds us every time :9



Why are so many Romanian's in Bray? Really, from what I understand, Romania is to the UK (and Ireland, there's a difference) as Mexico is to the USA. They come for work, better living, less corruption, and for benefits (such as free health care). And being part of the EU allows them to travel quite cheaply. I've been so surprised. Flying from Dublin to Amsterdam is cheaper than flying from Seattle to San Diego. It's less than 100 Euros!! 



As for Elder Ballard, could I tell him about the gospel, yes. Could I TEACH him about the gospel, I kind of doubt it. How could I teach an APOSTLE anything about the gospel!? But I'm still trying to better my teaching skills.



We don't use the Restoration movie too often. We prefer to teach about the Restoration than to watch it. We usually use it more for LA's, Members, or to help re-teach or reinforce the message of the Restoration to Investigators.



What is Shaman? A Shaman is a Native American priest. They were also the village medicine man. So Soaking Shaman.



It's been more windy than rainy. Do you have a good umbrella? Don't really need one. waterproof coat? Yeah, got a good one! Sorry Mum, but showers don't bring investigators. People want nothing more than to go inside when it's raining, so the best thing we can do is to knock doors and hope that someone will let us in. Which does sometimes happen!  Elder Stoker is 23 and just over 6 foot if I remember correctly He's from the same part of London, same town as the temple!



I love you so much!! My love grows much stronger while we're away!! Can't wait to talk to you again!! :D  Love you all! The church is true, the book is blue.



Elder Bates



PS did you hear that Elder Wells is engaged? He's getting married on the 19th!!!! THAT'S QUICK!

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