February 1, 2016

Hiya Fam!

Yep, at least one of us is leaving! I wonder who....

But until then, I am happy to announce that this week was our best week for January! January has been a tough month! :/ But I'm sure we're out of that now!

We got two new Investigators this week! One is named Ch. He's from Maritsa. Or that's what it sounds like. Not entirely sure where that is. I just looked it up, and it doesn't exist... But Elder Stoker's heard of it before. He's got some friends back home from there. He looks Indian to me. Sounds like it too, so it's probably from around there. Actually I just found it. It's actually spelled Mauritius. Looks cool!

Anyways, he is Christian. He's been around lots of different churches before, including ours about ten years ago! His roommates at the time weren't particularly friendly so he didn't deeply explore the church, but we've picked him back up now! We were thirty minutes late to his appointment (trains, ugh...), and he had to leave for work, so it was a quick visit, but he seems cool!

The other guy is Fr. He's a devout Catholic. That lesson didn't go well at all. We just argued over whether an Apostasy was possible. We're going to do better next time! But he was cool! He's a renowned scholar on Horse Racing, and has authored several books on the subject. But he's a very nice man anyways. 

We also met another LA woman: T. She's in her 50's. She was baptized in the 80's, but almost immediately went LA. She requested a blessing for her MS, which we were happy to oblige. She's a very talkative woman, and she gives us hot chocolate every time we come by! :9

We had some good lessons with C, Y, and the C's. We also did some service again for A. Nothing particularly special to report for any of them, but it was good. None of them came to church. :/

BUT GUESS WHO DID???

St!!!

Yah! We were told by A R that St had come to Institute earlier in the week. He's apparently been in contact with St off and on throughout the month, which is crazy because we haven't heard a peep. But lo and behold, he walks right into church! First thing Elder Stoker does, after giving him a hug, was ask him where he went. He told us that he's been in Dublin the past few weeks so couldn't make it to church, and that he lost his phone so he couldn't contact us (which we know isn't completely true because he's been in contact with A, but whatever). He enjoyed church and we'll be meeting with him later today! He's back, man! Yeah!!! :D

So as for the Moves Call.

On Saturday night, while we were at the J's for dinner (A had told us she wouldn't be there because she had to babysit somewhere, but when we got there she told us that the job was cancelled! She also came to church!! Whoop whoop!), we got a text from the Zone Leaders telling us that Moves Call would start at 4 instead of at 6. That's the time when the AP's will start calling people, and from that time until 10:30, Missionaries across the mission will jump the moment their phone buzzes. Now that is huge! We'd been told this coming move would be the biggest of President Donaldson's career! And that was no exaggeration, let me tell you!

So changing the moves call made it seem like it was going to be a much bigger move than we'd thought! And I was so scared I'd be moved! I didn't want to move!! I still don't! So I said a quick prayer, telling Heavenly Father that I'd "Go where You want me to Go", but that I'd still love to stay in Bray.

The Bl's had us over for Lunch after Church. They live so far away! It's incredible! The chili was great though. Anyways, the entire time, the phone was out on the table. Nothing. They drop us off at the B's for dinner (we were supposed to have a Pigs head, a Philipino delicacy, but there wasn't one at the shop. Sad face). Again, had the phone out and on the table. Nothing.

We were only at the flat for five minutes when the Mission Home rang! Elder Stoker spoke with Elder Haller first. He's heading off to Edinburgh! He's pretty nervous about it because he knows his companion! But he's also excited to be in Scotland again. So then he hands the phone over to me. And I'm told that my new companion is Elder Mickelson! I know that guy! He was in the neighboring district up in Belfast! I saw him all the time! Cool guy. I'm excited for it! :)

And I'm staying in BRAY!!! Woooooo!!! So excited! Things are looking up! St's back, A's coming along, and the weather is warming up. It'll be sunny most of this week! :D

Sorry there aren't really any new developments beyond St and A coming to church. Most of our lessons were cut short for one reason or another. It'll be good to have a new companion to mix things up a bit!

Congratulations on the new family member! Can't wait to meet her!!

This week we were asked by our District leader, Elder McCappin, to find a missionary from the Book of Mormon and to notice what mountains he had to climb and how he overcame them and came to the next one. I decided to study Mormon. Wow. I'd say his whole life was a mountain!!! When was the last time you've read Moroni 9? It's hard to read. It's very hard. Having said that, It is quite obvious that the best moments in Mormon's life had to do with Moroni: his calling to the ministry, delivering the plates to him, etc. So typical. Whenever life is hard, we can look to the moments in the past for comfort. And most, if not all of them were spent around family. Love you guys! :)

EVERYONE is asking me questions about the election! Everyone seems to hate Trump because of his style and his money. I keep telling people, "I'm not in America, I know nothing!"

Geez louise, you just can't stop sending me stuff, can you?? I'm not complaining, it just keeps astounding me! I don't think you realize just how rare that is! It's great! I've gotten comments from some of the people that handle the packages and letters, each one saying "Wow, your family must really love/miss you!" And I just smile and happily say "Yes, they really do." :) Love you soo much! I've got a package waiting for me at the mission home, apparently. If it's not from you, it's probably the extra name tags I ordered.

Hope you guys have a great week! Can you believe it's February already??? Aaaaaah!! January just flew. Love yas!

Elder Bates