March 2, 2015 What a week!

Whew! This week started awesome, but didn't end so awesomely. 

First off, I'm pretty sick with a bad cold. So I'm typing this with my gloves on to try and prevent the germs from spreading. So if there's typos, I apologize. 

First off some good news! Rieley is progressing really well!! He's really opening up more, and has been awesome! We were able to get him with a date in fact! March 28th! We met with him four times in a row! Hopefully he isn't sick of us haha But yeah, we're really excited about him! He's been reading the scriptures we've told him to read, and he seems to have a fairly good understanding of what they're saying. We decided to teach him our most favorite lesson, the Law of Chastity!! As you can imagine, he was positively squirming in his seat hahaha.

Other good news, on Tuesday we spent four hours chapping! We got three return appointments! The problem is that they're tomorrow, and I don't want to be sick when we go over there. One of them is pregnant. So please pray that I'll make a miracle recovery! I'll tell you more about them next week if everything turns out well.

Now for the sad news. Maureen is doing terribly. A "friend" of hers just walked into her house, grabbed all her money (£200) and walked out. Maureen couldn't do a thing because she's on morphine and everything. And she refuses to go to the hospital! Until finally the police, when they investigated the robbery, forced her to come with them to the hospital. So she's there now.

Also, Titch is back in Hospital, and it's looking really bad. We literally just got a text from her saying that she needs a lung transplant or she'll die. Please pray for her! If you could get her on the prayer list at the Temple, that'd be great too. We're sending her scriptures to look up, but I have no idea what else to do.

My testimony is doing well. Titch really strengthened it! Very grateful to be a part of her conversion. What an experience! The moment I walked into her hospital room it was like WOOSH!! Spirit! It was so cool! :)  

And then there's Barry. Oh Barry. On Friday he started arguing, and bashing with us over text. He was determined to prove that he doesn't have to pay tithing using the Bible! He was so determined, it lasted Friday through Saturday, and he even started on Sunday but by then Elder Wells and I had agreed to stop. The sad part is that he was saying horrible things about everything: God, President Monson, Jesus, us, etc. It made me really sad. Still does. I fasted for him yesterday. I hope one day he changes his mind. The crazy thing is, this came out of nowhere!! This level of hatred and aggression hadn't been seen before, so I'm totally confused as to what brought it on. But hey, all we can do is invite.

So yeah, what a week. Lots of craziness.  I got your calendar this week! On Thursday if I remember correctly. Thanks a lot guys! Loved it!! Perfect timing too! :)

I love the story of the cats!! Those poor cats!  Mom, sorry you're teaching the sad part of church history now.  It's hard to read that stuff.  Mom, Please, I BEG OF YOU, send those cookies with the kiss on top that are the best.  I don't know yet when the next Zone Conference is. This week is Moves Call! So that's going to be interesting. If either of us is moving, it'll probably be Elder Wells. He's really sad about that though. 

Thanks for your prayers! I've been praying for all of you! Good luck with the move, Laura and Jeff! The house looks great!

Love you all!

Elder Bates