Hello Fam!
Thank you all for your prayers for
Titch! I am so grateful that you guys did that! I've got some great news about
the whole thing!
So first of all, we were able to see
Titch almost every single day this week! And except for two times, we had a
Youth with us at each one! The second one the Youth backed out because it was Valentine's
day and she wanted to go have dinner with her boyfriend. Uck. They were only
going to McDonalds! Some boyfriend! :)
Anyways! So on Friday, we weren't
able to see her. Way too busy. But we got a text from her during the day, and
she was OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!!! The Doctors told her to stick around for a week
to make sure she was back to normal, which was perfectly fine because the ferry
back to the Isle of Lewis is out, so they're stuck here! So we taught her the
last lesson at the church and showed her the font and everything! It was great!
We also found out that Jen also wants to be baptized on Wednesday! So TWO
baptisms this week!!! Elder Wells is doing the actual baptizing, and he's very
excited! He hasn't had to break out the white trousers his whole mission!
They're being interviewed by the Zone Leaders tomorrow. Oh, and Barry is coming
to the baptism! We're hoping he has a good experience and comes to Church this
week!
So that's the update on Titch. We
went by Maureen on Wednesday and brought Brother Gardener with us. He
challenged her to get rid of everything in her life that makes her want to
smoke. She said she would! Later in the week, I think it was Friday, she fell
and broke her femur! According to Brian Regan that's a number 10! Not a very
valid source, but still! She wasn't able to come to church because of it. So
PLEASE pray for her now! Her body is degrading rapidly. She NEEDS prayers in
her behalf! After breaking her femur, Brother McKay came by and spoke with her,
and she told him to take all her cigarettes and lighters and everything out of
her house! So she really wants to be baptized!! Such an amazing woman!
Rieley went to a Youth Sports event
on Saturday at the church. We came too. Rieley is so shy, and isn't very
athletic, so I'm not sure how good a time he had. Some of the Youth there were
getting too into the Kickball game (they call it California Kickball, btw.
Why??) and were yelling at him. It made me mad. In particular was that one
girls boyfriend I mentioned earlier. He wasn't a member, and he was just the
worst! Claire, I want you to know something. Nice girls always date guys that
are total jerks to them in every sense of the way. DO NOT BE LIKE THAT. No
matter what, date a member. Even then, be careful. Don't EVER let any guy treat
you like that guy treated her. Every time I think about it, my blood just
boils. Sorry guys, don't mean to go like that on you.
Presidents day! That's cool! I'd
forgotten about Presidents Day. We'll have to do something special for
Presidents day today. Any ideas? Maybe some pizza. That reminds me! So Elder
Glasgow back in Airdrie. His dad bought them all pizza online from Dominos! Can
you believe that!? Now, I'm not making any nudges or anything, I'm just telling
ya what happened once.
Good ol Alex! Love that guy! How has
he been doing?
Sounds like a lovely Valentine's
Day! I love Dad's humor. I did get a
card from you this week! I think it was on Friday. But nope, I won't get the
package until at least the middle of March. Maybe even April! Sorry! But hey,
rules are rules.
For the sweaters, things are warming
up, ever so slightly, so I don't think I'll be needing any for the next seven
or eight months. I'll keep one sweater for just wearing around the flat or on
P-Day, but I'll start praying for opportunities to give them away.
To answer a few of mom's questions: Maureen is actually in her 70's. I
really need to start taking more pictures of people. Titch is 17, Rieley is 13,
Jen is in her 40's, and Barry is 30. Our new Bishop is in his 30's I think.
Maybe early 40's. He's pretty young!
It went well, over all, having the
youth teach with us. Hailey was the best! She went with us to teach Titch, and
she did a great job fellowshipping with her. She's speaking at the Baptism
actually! We were finally able to bring a member with us to Barry's. Ryan is
18, and he's preparing to go on a mission. He did okay. He just needs some
practice, that's all. The only other youth that is preparing for a mission is
Nathan. But he's dating Hailey, and he is torn between her and the mission. And
she isn't helping. She doesn't want him to go. It's a bit frustrating, but I
think we got him! We just need to take him on more teaching appointments with
us, and I'm sure he'll turn.
Really all we eat is pasta and
anything that uses chicken. And cereal. Elder Wells taught me a nice recipe for
Chicken Alfredo (can you believe they don't have Alfredo sauce out here!? I was
speechless!) and he can also make a nice pizza! I would love a recipe for pizza
dough, actually! Really anything so long as the ingredients are cheap and few.
We exercise every day.
Something cool to tell! I forgot to
mention last week that I went on an exchange up into Thurso! I want you to use
the google maps thing that lets you see from the ground instead of from above
on the coasts going up to Thurso. It is so beautiful!! Anyways, while there, we
had dinner at this one members house, who also had us do some service. The
service was taking care of their horses! We filled up their hay and their
stables and it was cool! I was taking care of some horses! I haven't been that
close to a horse since I was a kid at that one Western town, you remember that
one? And guess what? We did it again this week! Only I was in Inverness!
Brother McKay and his wife own three horses, and, since he owned horses back
home, Elder Wells groomed them while I raked the lawn. You might think I got
the short end of the stick, but I'm not gonna tell you what grooming horses
fully entails. It's a bit icky at parts! But yeah, just thought I'd share that
with you.
Oh, and we came up with a new
finding technique! Warhammer Finding! Warhammer is a board game, a war-strategy
game. It's quite possibly the nerdiest game out there, level with Dungeons and
Dragons. There's a shop in town that sells Warhammer figurines, and one of the
members here is good friends with the owner. He hooked us up to do some service
for the owner by helping her paint some of her models! So this week she taught
us how to do it, and she's letting us keep our first ones! I'll have to shoot
you a picture of my "Space Marine" haha it's been pretty cool! And it
works! While we paint we talk with the other helpers and some of the people at
the store, and it was great! Definitely doing that again!
Mom, we spend an hour or two
cleaning the flat every P-Day. I vacuum and clean the bathroom and such while
Elder Wells does the kitchen and the details. No idea what we're doing the rest
of the day today. He has to write up what's called Eye of Faith, where he just tells
the Zone Leaders about each missionary in his district: how they're doing, what
they're struggling with, suggestions for next transfer, etc. So probably doing
that. I dunno! We'll see!
Well, that's the week for ya. The
Church is getting renovated, so the chapel isn't available for the service, and
the font is under the floor (yep, under the floor) of the only classroom in the
building, which isn't big enough to hold all the people we're hoping are
coming, so we'll have to do the service in the hall! I'll send you a pic when I
get it. My camera's charging right now back at the flat.
Anyways, love you all! Thanks for
the prayers! Keep them coming! Love you so much! So grateful for your prayers!
Have a great Presidents day in the good ol' US of A! Can't wait to go back to
that blessed land! :)
But this week is gonna be amazing!!!
:D
Love,
Elder Bates
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