Hiya
Fam!
I
hope you enjoyed Conference as much as I did! I'm sure you enjoyed it more,
actually! For no other reason than that we haven't seen Sunday Afternoon
session yet. But we will! I'm looking forward to it!
So
this week was Moves week. On Monday we had a partial P-Day, then we met with F
out on the lawn in front of the City Center. In retrospect, I should have taken
a picture. Sorry. It was a beautiful day, so that's why we did it. You remember
that guy I mentioned last week who thought kissing was lascivious? He showed up
in the middle of the lawn and started preaching to the people! He went on for a
few minutes before security escorted him off the property. I just thought it
was crazy seeing him twice in such a short period of time!
We
then had dinner with the A's, whom we haven't seen in a while. That went well,
They're just as fun and kind as ever. They gave me two bundles of socks!
"The way to a Missionary's heart, is through his socks." - A.A.
The
next day we had TWO dinner appointments! We were so worried that we'd get too
full, but we didn't want to cancel either of them. One was with the M's, see, who
are Less Active (on paper, that is). Luckily, both meals were fairly light, so
we were able to push through with minimal indigestion. ;) Our first
appointment, the W's was great food. The kids had the tv on which really
distracted us. So the lesson with the M's was much better. We talked about
conference with both families and emphasized preparing for it.
Wednesday
was moves day. Our phone has been acting up so we had the Zone Leaders take it
to Edinburgh for us so we could get a replacement. So we met up with them at
the bus terminal that takes missionaries to the ferry and gave away our phone.
We assumed we'd have it back by Friday, maybe Saturday if we were unlucky. We
were very unlucky, and I'll get to that in a moment.
Thursday
went well. It was Weekly Planning day, but unfortunately we don't have any new
planners, so we had to write all our stuff down on a different paper. But it
wasn't a major issue. Nothing else happened Thursday beyond doing finding.
On
Friday we wanted to know how we would get our phone, but we had no way to
communicate. So we got our change together, and went to a phone booth. Yep, a
phone booth!! You'd be surprised how many people actually use those! Again,
looking back I probably should've taken a picture. So sorry. We were able to
call the Zone Leaders who told us that our new phone was left in Edinburgh: no
one was bringing it over until Monday.
Everything
on Friday that could have gone wrong went wrong after that. We got on the wrong
bus which took us a ways away from our target. We left the map at the flat so
we didn't know where exactly to go. Our appointment with S and L fell through
because they'd moved the day before (if we had had our phone, we'd have been
able to call and confirm and get their new address), we traveled all the way
out to F's so we could make sure she could get to General Conference. After
that we had an appointment in 30 minutes. But a bus never came. We had to walk
the whole way to the appointment. We arrived a half hour late.
BUT
IT WAS ALL WORTH IT FOR THAT APPOINTMENT
It
was a South African family. J and S are the parents. They have two children:
Sh, who's 13, and J, who's 9. And they are boss!! They were found by
Elder Schippers and Elder Penman last week. S kept saying how impressed he was
that we actually showed up! J told us stories throughout the lesson of her
spiritual experiences, and they told us that they were looking for a church to
go to! They'd only just moved to Belfast, see. S kept asking about the Book of
Mormon, what it's about and such. We had a great lesson. They even invited their
children to listen! J told us that her father's girlfriend, who lived across
the street, was feeling very depressed, and needed what we had been sharing. So
we're meeting with them as well on Sunday! I am so excited to meet with them!!
The
best part is that I've been praying for weeks now for us to find and teach a
family. Elder Schippers, on the way back home, turned to me and reminded me
that they were in answer to that prayer. What joy!!
Saturday
went well too. The Saturday morning session started at 5 pm. We went and I
loved it! I especially loved Brother Lawrence's talk. I really enjoyed all the
talks from the other General Authorities, not just the Apostles. The B's gave
us a lift home afterwards.
On
Sunday at 10 am we watched Priesthood session at the Stake Center. Between the
sessions, a wonderful member provided the missionaries with lunch. Then there
was the Saturday Afternoon Session at 1 pm. After that one was a two hour gap.
The Zone Leaders organized a blitz, and we went out to do some finding, telling
people that a Prophet was speaking!! Sadly, people were busy. Then at 5 pm we
watched the Sunday Morning Session. Then, because we didn't have a phone, we
gave our numbers in person to Elder Harmon, which felt weird haha! Brother M
gave us a lift home afterwards.
I
loved conference! I can't wait to re-read and re-listen to them! All of my
questions were answered (which is fantastic because I had written down more
questions than usual and I was worried I wouldn't get them all)! I
noticed how President Monson was struggling. He started out a little timidly,
but then got more enthusiastic! I'm thinking that it sapped him of energy,
which is why he had slumped so much. I felt so sad watching him. But it was
inspiring at the same time watching him struggle through and deliver his
message!! What a man. The new Apostles look good too. I've always enjoyed
Brother (now Elder) Stevenson's talks, so I'm looking forward to hearing more
from him.
Love
you guys lots! Hope everything's going well back home!! Congrats on the baby
girl, Laura!! That is SO good! I'm very happy for them. Three
girls! Poor Jeff haha!
That'll be good that Dad is taking
Grandpa to the condo. Be sure to say hi to him for me. I hope Dad has a great
time with his father.
Mom, I Love the Book of Moses! Great
stuff. That is a really good insight
that I had never thought about!! That's cool. Hm. I was listening to a talk, and the speaker
was using that scripture. He took a moment and said "Can you imagine what
that must have been like? To hear and see Satan laughing and rejoicing? That's
probably the scariest verses of scripture in all of our canon. It's
chilling." and then he went on to the next verse and called it the
"saddest verse in all of scripture." I wonder who it was, I can't
remember. I think it was John Bytheway.
Everytime
there's a shooting in the US, people keep asking us about it. They're
always condemning our laws on guns.
Also,
they found water on Mars?. WAIT WAIT
WAIT WHAT!?!?!? TELL ME MORE! That's like the greatest thing to be discovered
since we discovered Pluto!
I did buy
some new shoes. They were 95 pounds.
They're nice. They ought to last the rest of my mission. Elder Schippers said
that these are probably the shoes I'll be walking through the airport in. THAT
was crazy!! Also, about the coat I sent home, it was just bulky, and I've already got a coat, so I didn't need it. I won't need boots this winter. It never
snows. Or rather, it never snows heavily.
Love,
Elder
Bates
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