February 29, 2016 - Leap Day! Bye, Bye, Bray :(

Hiya Family,

Happy Leap Day! :)

Sorry to hear about all the troubles going on this past week! :/ I'll definitely be saying some more prayers for yous.

This week wasn't the best of weeks, though better than some in the past! Definitely the highlight was meeting with A again on Saturday! Due to a series of trips, we won't be able to meet with her again for another 2 weeks!! Honestly, if we could just meet with her consistently, she'd have been baptised by now. But oh well. We talked about Prophets and read a few scriptures that outline their purpose, how to tell a true Prophet from a false Prophet, etc. It went really well and we left her with some more scriptures for next time. Whenever that will be ha

We also had dinner with T on Wednesday! She made us some curry. We didn't have enough time to share an actual lesson with her, so we just asked how she's doing quitting smoking. And we got dropped a bombshell. She doesn't want to quit anymore! The J's will be frustrated, they spent a lot of money on those quit smoking patches. She said that in order to quit, she needs to have the desire to, and she doesn't. She said that we can't force her to, or she won't do it. She also said (and this was the most frustrating part) that it wasn't even a sin! She said that the Word of Wisdom was a suggestion, but breaking it isn't a sin!! And R and F, her member friends, actually sided with her on everything, and even told us that T didn't need to be rebaptized! Oh, I was so frustrated with that visit. I can't believe I'm leaving on that note.

We had a fun English class on Thursday! We've just been playing games that require you to talk a lot, to try and get the students to talk so they can become fluent. So Elder Mickelsen found this game: Eleven people are stranded on a desert island, and the rest of humanity is gone. Only five of the eleven can survive, and you have to choose which ones to keep. It's tough!! There were people like a Farmer that was blind, a doctor that was 70 years old, a waitress that knew how to hunt, etc. It was tough choosing! But it was a fun game. The students seemed to enjoy it. We had 3 new people show up too! :)

So here's a funny statistic too: from Wednesday evening till Friday afternoon, the only meals we personally made was Breakfast!!! Wednesday Dinner - T. Thursday Lunch - Ad (quite the story there, tell you in a minute). Thursday Dinner - C's. Friday Lunch - A's! Brother A is our Branch Mission Leader. And then Friday the whole zone did a fast for all the investigators hoping to be baptised this week (there were 11 scheduled for this week! Don't know yet if they all turned out! Actually just found out that 7 were baptised! So exciting!), which was really good because we were sooooooooooo fullll!!! :9

Okay, so funny story with Ad. She lives in Wicklow. There is only one bus that takes us to Wicklow. We stood at the bus stop, when, 15 minutes before it was to arrive, I realized I didn't have my Leap Card on me! And Elder Mickelsen and I have been without money since we did our shopping last week, so we had to run back to the flat to grab my leap card. We were on our way back when the bus we needed left from the bus stop, about 5 minutes early, I might add. So we had to wait a whole hour for the next bus to arrive! When it did, Elder Mickelsen got on first, tagged on, then went upstairs. I go up, but when I try to tag in, I realize that I only have just over 1€ on my card!! The full price for the ticket is over 9€!! So I go upstairs and get Elder Mickelsen to come down because we would have to get off the bus. I had to use some personal funds to top up my leap card, and then, just before we topped up, another bus drove past! But the fourth bus we caught, thank goodness. But that was just madness!!

So Moves Call came around. I was so certain I was staying...

I was wrong.

We got our call about 9:30 last night. I'm off to Falkirk! That's Edinburgh Zone. Back to Scotland! Woo!! I'll miss Ireland, but Scotland is fantastic! I've come full circle now. Started my mission in Scotland (Cumbernauld is very close to Falkirk, actually!), now I'll be ending it there. My companion is Elder Ward. Like Elder Mickelsen, I knew him in Belfast! He was pretty cool then, I'm sure he'll still be cool now. I'll miss Bray a lot. One of my favourite areas. 

Oh, and one more thing you ought to know: I'm going to be the District Leader!!

I have to start giving training, going on tons of exchanges (I'm looking forward to that part), including with the Zone Leaders! I have to start setting an example, ugh. ;) I'm going to need some prayers my way too! Little bit stressed out right now...

I'm also sad because I still don't have my quad, and I've only got two more days in Dublin! I can only pray that the Zone Leaders will be able to find it and send it to the Mission Home. SO BUMMED ABOUT THAT!! Scriptures can be replaced, but my notebook was in there, and Laura's little hymnal too!! It's a good thing our God is a God of Miracles! :)

Speaking of that, the news about Adeline is so scary, not gonna lie! But that is very very good news that she's getting better. Poor Laura! She must be absolutely exhausted!!  How awesome that they brought her the sacrament in the ICU!  The church is wonderful like that! :)

And I love how the Lord puts people in the right place at the right time, like Dad being at Laura's right then. It's just so awesome when you see things like that, where everything works out so perfectly!! I just get giddy just thinking about it!! :) 

Oh absolutely I'll be praying for you all. Just did, in fact. Blessings are coming your way!!

It's a miracle I haven't gotten sick! It's been going around here too.  Get plenty of rest! Drink lots of fluids, especially 7Up! ;) 

Nice job, Mom, explaining the need to pray to know God!!!! That is what we try to tell people about everything!!! Last week with those Seventh Day Adventists, they wanted us to prove using the Bible that the Sabbath is on Sunday, but we just kept trying to tell them, that the best way to find out is by finding out about the Book of Mormon. It's like Moses and the Brass Serpent, though. People think that that is just too easy, so they won't do it. Sad...

You're going to visit the Chapman's!  Oh that'll be so fun!!! You lucky!!! Tell them hi for me.

Anyways, love you guys! Sad I won't be staying. I'm really gonna miss Bray... Oh well. I've heard a lot about Falkirk from the beginning of my mission!!   It's going to be great!  Next time I'll be emailing you from Scotland!! I'll be able to perfect my brogue. ;)

Elder Bates