Sunday, February 14, 2016

January 4, 2016 Happy New Years! :)


Hiya Fam!



I'll be honest: New Years is not the same without fondue. I missed it. But it was still good!



We had a good week, a good New Years, and a Fantastic Weekend!!! I can't wait to tell you all about it! :)



It was weird going back to work after having a whole weekend of just relaxing, I'm sure you've all felt the same way! On Monday we met with St. It was raining pretty hard before, during, and after that appointment! We literally had a whole week that rained every day, from Christmas till earlier this week. Not exactly what Bing was thinking of when he sang "White Christmas" haha



Anyways, our lesson with St went really well. We just went over how the church was organized: Prophets, Apostles, Bishops, Stakes, Branches, Seventies, etc. He said it made sense, that it was like a business company. We agreed, but did point out that the Prophet isn't the CEO, and also that no one gets paid for their work. But it is nevertheless a good enough explanation! Unfortunately we never met with him after that. Holiday season, ya know?



On Tuesday we had our first District Meeting in a whole month! We normally arrive at the church a lot earlier than the other missionaries because of the way the buses run, so we usually sit outside the church gates playing Book of Mormon Baseball. But this time I brought that R-2 Bop-It! And when the other missionaries came along, they loved it! So thanks for that one! District Meeting itself was good. It was weird for our District Leader, Elder McCappin. I dunno if I've told you about his situation, but he's been without a companion for almost 2 weeks!! He's had to be with members all day long!! It's been really tough for him, but he is an absolute champion! He got his new companion on Saturday. 



We also met with P on Tuesday. We challenged him to act on his fast, and to pay a Fast Offering to help with his testimony for tithing. We also challenged him to read from the Book of Mormon every day! He said he'd try. 



On Wednesday we taught M. We read from Alma 30 with him, the chapter about Korihor, the Atheist of the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that well. He saw Korihor as the hero and Alma as a hateful villain. It went completely against what we were going for. We tried to tell him about all the terrible things Korihor was doing, but he wasn't having it. 



For New Years Eve, we spent our evening with the J's again. It was a really fun evening!   I told the J's about our predictions tradition.  We played CatchPhrase, which was a little difficult for the kids, but it went well overall. We barely lost! They pulled a fantastic turn around. 



Our neighbors had a New Years Party. It was pretty loud. Didn't have to set an alarm for midnight! But oh well.



Then on New Years day we went by P in the morning, the B's in the afternoon, and the R's in the evening. It was a fun day! We also got to watch Shrek 1&2 and Home Alone 1&2.   It's weird relaxing as a missionary! Ha! 



Mom asked what a "sick pack" is - So if a missionary is really sick, we're talking cannot-leave-the-flat-for-several-days sick, the Mission Home sends them a "Sick Pack", which simply contains church movies, including "The Other Side of Heaven", and "The Best Two Years". I don't know the details about it, though. I've never gotten it. 



Okay, so the weekend was so fantastic, I have to tell you personally. But it was pretty cool!!! :)  (Mike's Mom says: "He sent a recording which I will include in a future post.")



We dropped F.  H's  mother just had a miscarriage, which has obviously been devastating for their family.   We actually bumped into D and M earlier this week! We'll be meeting with them later in the new year.  St is doing all right. We couldn't get a hold of him most of the week, which was scary, but he came to church and apologized.  A is good! She's not interested in joining the church, but she did say that if she was looking for a church, she'd join this one!  P yeah, same as ever!



Funny story though! Last week, we were asked by this member to come out to her house to give her really sick little daughter a blessing. She's not LA, she just lives very far away from the church building. We're talking she lives on the edge of our boundaries!! So we go out there, give the blessing, and then we head back to our bus stop, and then we find out that the bus doesn't come for another hour and a half or something like that!!! And we had an appointment to catch! So we had no other option but to take the Luis, which is the tram that goes into Dublin city center, which is NOT in our area, and then take a train from Dublin down to Bray. While we were on the tram, I mentioned to Elder Stoker how funny it would be if we bumped into any missionaries!



And what do you know, there are the Sister Training Leaders!!! The sisters in our District!! They teased us a bit, but it was actually really good because they were completely out of pass-along cards, so we gave them ours. And then, while we're talking to them, ANOTHER team of missionaries walk past, do a double-take, and then join the gathering!! It was pretty funny! 



We stopped English class over the holidays, but it's been good!



Oh no! What happened to your Mini??? And this is what I have to say about Claire getting her license:  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I can't believe it. I'm not there for Christmas, and it snows!! Bummer.



You know, your advice, that was exactly what I needed to hear, thanks! Have a great week! Thanks for the pictures! I didn't bring my camera with me on New Years day, so sorry!!



Anyways, hope you guys are having a great week! Happy New Year! Be sure to look up "Remember Lot's Wife". It's a talk Elder Holland gave at BYU a few years ago about the new year. It's really good! Love you guys!!! :) I've told practically everyone I know about Kate being pregnant! Ahhhhh I'm so excited for them!!!



Love you lots!

Elder Bates

Thursday, February 11, 2016

December 28, 2015 Happy New Year!


Hiya Fam!



Man that went by so fast! It feels like it was just yesterday we were talking face to face. Funny how that works, isn't it? 



I really enjoyed that Skype!! I hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas as well! I know I did!



Mum asked how I like the fountain pen.  It's nice! I was so nervous I'd make a mess the first time I used it haha!   How does Dad like his?  They're not that much fancier than normal pens, but they sure look cool!



Mum asked why we teach English classes.  There are soooooo many foreigners here. Racism is starting to become a problem out here.  We mostly teach Brazilians, but there's also Romanians, Polish, etc. 



We ended up making brownies instead of cookies and delivering them to folks on Christmas morning.  And they were delicious!



Adrianne came to the Christmas party! She enjoyed it from what we were told.  St is Romanian. He came to church, but was sick so we weren't able to meet with him like we'd hoped. :/   Christmas Eve we were with the R's. A R recently returned from a mission to France. And JR, his dad, was the one that got kicked out by M. And New Years Day will be with the B's.



Mom, you made Filet Mignon?  Oh, I LOVE Filet Mignon!! I tried some at BYU! 



Congratulate Dayle Anderson on his Eagle!  And to Heather on expecting a baby!  And Erica, too!

`          

Mom said you guys watched "The Best Two Years".   I've watched it on my mission before (it's part of the "Sick Pack"). It was made before PMG, so Missionary Work has really changed.  Btw, they let us see "Inside Out" on Boxing Day and I LOVED it!!



We've got a really open day today unfortunately. And it's raining, so we'll probably knock some doors after having lunch. We don't have P-Day today, see.



Apparently I still have some mail waiting for me!  I sure appreciate everyone who sent me a card!



Not much to really write about since we just talked, so I'll just wish you all a Happy New Year! Mum reminded me that today is my last email in 2015! Crazy! See you next year! :)   I love you!!! Have a great week!



Love,

Elder Bates

December 21, 2015

Don't have much time, but I will say happy christmas and I can't wait to see you all! I should Skype Mom and Dad around 10 their time. That's the plan anyways. I'll be sure to tell you about my week then, all right? See ya!

Elder Bates