HAPPY TWO MONTHS! NOVEMBER 19, 2019

My wonderful district!

Hi family!!

I have been on my mission 2 months today! It's gone by super fast and yet I feel like I've been on my mission for forever already. Time on the mission is wild!  

It is so cold and snowy! And I saw freezing rain this week! That was wild! It was basically like a slurpee falling from the sky.

You asked how many missionaries are in my mission.  As of this next coming transfer, there will be 161! Not counting the 7 senior couples! 

It was a good week! It's all kind of a blur Haha but I will try my best to recall what I can!

Tuesday: we had interviews with president!  He is so nice, so awesome! I love President Bednar so much!! I had a great interview with him, he made me feel good and like I'm doing a great job! Sister Paskett told me he told her that she has the happiest companion! And ain't that the truth! I couldn't stop smiling when talking with him! It was a good meeting. That night we had a lesson with our favorite! Who could that be?? Oh man you guessed it, Mike!! He is so cool. We taught him tithing. We brought our ward mission leader along. They connected and I think that helped Mike. He thought tithing was chill and totally agreed to pay it after he is baptized. Oh boy we love lessons with Mike. The spirit is always way strong. Keep praying for him! He is really busy at work so it's hard to meet more than once a week with him, but we need to if he still wants to make December 8th! He is so awesome.

Wednesday: we visited with a less active woman, Marcia. She's cute. She lives in New York so we only visit her typically once a month. But she invited us for Thanksgiving which we are accepting because her whole family will be there, immediate fam aren't members. And her siblings that will be there are less actives. So it will be a good opportunity. We drove out to a town called Northeast, PA. We met with a less active man, Brother Henning. He was really cool. He teaches history at the local high school. He was telling us what it's like being a high school teacher, how you get to see so many things that the teenagers go through and are able to help some of them. He seemed to still have a testimony. His wife isn't a member. 

Thursday: we did some knocking today. We also drove out to Corry (50 min drive, far corner of our area,) we met an older woman who had requested a BOM. We will try visiting her again next time we are down there. We also taught an FHE lesson. There's an older couple that holds an FHE once a week for people that live in Corry. Especially since they all live so far from the church building and some of them can't make it to church as often as they may like. But that was nice. We then had our Book of Mormon facebook live class at the Parco's. That was good. 

Friday: we had our weekly planning.  We plan for each person, what we think we should teach them that week and when we think we can visit them in the schedule, and set goals for the person. And we set goals for ourselves and make a list of people we are teaching. But it's always good. We visited sweet Betty in her assisted living center. She is the cutest. She is always wearing Pearl's or another necklace. She is so happy to see us everytime we visit. We did some finding in a super nice, rich neighborhood. No one was interested. We had dinner at the Dodson's and taught a lesson to Ian there again too. We taught commandments like praying, scriptures, sabbath day stuff. He is also on date for the 8th. We then visited with a woman named Pinky. She's cute. She was baptized 2 years ago but got offended at church and stopped coming as often. The past couple weeks she has been returning to church which is good. She is really nice. She loves missionaries! 

Saturday: what a day! We did a lot of finding today. One experience was kinda scary but also hilarious. So we are knocking doors right? So we go to knock on this door and there is some music blasting so super loud. We knock on the door but assume they probably didnt hear it. We are about to leave a card on the door when the door opens and these 2 guys are like woah. They were just leaving and we happened to awkwardly be standing outside their door hahaha so they're like "are you jehovah's witnesses?" No we are from the church of j

Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And the one guy goes "oh man yeah we all need saving" and we're like "do you want to learn more?" And he just keeps saying we all need saving as they walk towards their car. So we just decide to leave a card on their door. And then this car pulls up and this woman starts yelling (and swearing lol) and is like "WHO ARE THEY???" And these guys are just yelling back like "woah woah woah they're just from the Church!! We dont know them!" And then she's yelling at us like "WHO ARE YOU WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" And we just are like oh we are just missionaries!! And we are trying to leave and walk on to the next house and oh my heck this girl backs her car up and as we walk past she pulls back into the driveway and literally I was almost hit by a car!! It was wild!! She was so close to me hahaha we just walked quickly onto the next house and don't say anything more as this girl is yelling with her boyfriend all mad at him. So hopefully she saw we knocked on the next house and saw the card we left and calmed down. The guys got in the car and left. Hopefully we didn't get them in too much trouble 😂 it was hilarious and terrifying at the same time. That night we decided to walk around downtown and OYM (Open Your Mouth (just talk to people)) I was a little scared haha but the Lord was watching out for us. We talked to a guy who actually seemed interested and we gave him a book of Mormon so we will see if he ever calls. We also met with Diana and actually had some progress with her!! She has been struggling with the concept of faith and she isn't sure if God is real and has prayed a couple times but hasn't felt like her prayers were answered. We read Enos with her and had a great conversation explaining how the Lord doesn't always answer our prayers immediately and in a big way. I talked about my decision to serve a mission how I prayed about it for months and still never got that boom clear answer that I was supposed to go until I started moving towards it. That really hit her and she had never thought about it like that. Hopefully we will see her again tonight and will continue to progress with her.

Sunday: MIKE FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! He was dressed all nice, even had a tie clip on! We were so happy! He got there early, was really paying attention to everything, and he told us he liked it!! He had to leave after sacrament mtg but he is looking forward to coming again next week! He is so awesome! And ward members were nice to him and were coming up and introducing themselves which was great. If you ever see your missionaries sitting with someone new at church, introduce yourself to them!! It is so nice and helps them feel welcomed. That night we went and taught a man named Aleksey! He is the jolliest Russian I have ever met! Seriously he was the cutest! If he grew a beard he would look exactly like Santa. He was kind of hard to understand and it was kind of hard to teach him but we think it went okay. He said he would read the book of mormon so that's good. We are going to try and order a Russian copy for him too. Then we met with a recent convert, Shahram! He is from Iran and is also the jolliest man ever! I felt like I was in a foreign mission tonight visiting with these 2 men with kind of a language barrier. But it was fun!

So that is it! Sorry this email is outrageously long, but yeah, good week! We had a lot of offers yesterday to come for Thanksgiving which was so nice. We actually have some teaching appointments that night which is cool. It'll be a good day.

We are definitely being watched over and taken care of!  I'm so happy to be a missionary!!! I love you all!! You are the best!! Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Bates ❤

We are trying to invite as many people as we can as part of the light the world, to church on Dec. 23rd! 

Eating at Marcie's restaurant where she works

Out my window right now.

ONE MORE SPIRITUAL THOUGHT! NOVEMBER 12, 2018

It is cold here in Erie!! We had our first snow this weekend and boy did it snow!! 

Here is my spiritual thought for the week! Jacob 6:2-3 "the servants of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to nourish and prune his vineyard ... And how blessed are they who have labored diligently in his vineyard"

I am here, a servant of the Lord, laboring diligently! And it is a great life I am living! I am helping to gather Israel and I am doing it all because I love the Lord and I know this church is His true church on the earth today. I know the Book of Mormon is true, it truly is another testament of Jesus Christ. I have a copy of the Book of Mormon dedicated to just marking all the references to Christ and literally there is not a single page, or hardly any columns that do not have something highlighted. It really does testify of Christ. As a missionary, "we talk of christ, we rejoice in christ, we preach of Christ" (2 Nephi 25:26) and I will tell you one thing, rejoicing in Christ is definitely something I do every day! Every day may not be joyful but there is something joyful in every day. Missionary work is hard, knocking doors for hours in the pouring rain or snow, in skirts, getting doors slammed in my face, being mistaken for the amish (lol), and being laughed at is tough. But it is worth it. I have never been so happy. If you need more joy in your life, serve a mission. It is the best decision I have ever made. I wasn't sure how well I would be able to do it, talking to strangers, working non stop all day, having to be knowledgeable about the scriptures and the doctrine. But the Lord doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. Somehow I am able to talk easily to these strangers, I have strength and energy to work all day, and I have been given the knowledge of the scriptures and the doctrine, I have studied them and the spirit has taught me so much! I love being a missionary! I can do all things through christ. 

Let your Faith be bigger than your fear and it will all work out. I am so thankful to be a missionary!

Love, Sister Bates 

5500 Copper Dr apt 201 Erie, PA 16509

I HAVE BEEN IN ERIE FOR A WHOLE MONTH! NOVEMBER 12, 2018

I actually saw a horse and buggy going down the street this week!!

Exchanges

LOOK HOW MUCH SNOW!!

 I'm studying for so many different things as I read! In my normal scriptures, I am marking the gospel of Jesus Christ: faith, Repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. In the bottom scriptures, it is dedicated solely to marking references to Christ. It is AWESOME!! It is taking me a long time to read though! :) 

Hello my wonderful friends and family!!!

I hope you all are doing well! I love you guys so much! I talk about all of you a lot, you are the coolest!

IT IS FREEZING HERE PLEASE SEND THE WARMEST CLOTHES YOU CAN FIND

lol okay it isn't that bad but it is freezing and I do need warmer clothes. If you can find good warm tights, those would be good to send. Sweaters are definitely needed. And socks. It snowed here a lot. In one day. It is cold. I do have a great coat and boots though. 

Have you heard at all about this year's Light the World? We missionaries got training on it and we were supposed to bring it up in ward council but no one had heard about it yet, not even the bishop.

I'm glad Mike is coming home for Thanksgiving! That will be fun for you. It'll be weird not being there. We are scheduled to have it at a members home, with her non member family. One of them is her grandson, Ian, who we have on date. Should be good I guess.

Sounds like the family is good. I heard about Marie's news and I cried tears of joy I'm so happy for her!! 

This week was rough, I'm not gonna lie. But that's okay. The rough weeks make you appreciate the good ones, right? 

Tuesday:  We visited with our sweet Betty, the older woman in the senior living center. She is just the cutest! We visit her every week and share a conference talk with her. I love visiting with her. That night we saw Mike! Mike is just the COOLEST!!! We had a lesson about Heavenly Father and the importance of praying, reading scriptures, and coming to church! We asked him why he didn't come to church last Sunday and he said he didn't have anything nice enough to wear.  "Jean's and a tshirt isn't my best. I can do better." He was telling us how he has seen a difference in his life since he started meeting with us and reading the BOM and praying. He has felt a lot of joy at work and has just been happier. Its awesome! He has already finished 2 Nephi. We were talking about prophets and he said it all just makes sense that we would have a prophet again today. He said that before Jospeh Smith restored the church, it was just like a game of telephone, people trying to say the same thing but mixing things up and forgetting things! We were like WOAH YEAH I had never thought about the Apostasy like that before but I am so using that from now on! Anyway, if you had a gospel conversation with him, you wouldn't even know he isn't a member, he just gets everything and is just so prepared! We are always on fire after we meet with him! He couldn't come to church again this Sunday because he got called into work sadly. But pray that he will be able to come this coming Sunday!! He is the BEST! December 8th is the day we are shooting for with him. We are so excited!!!

Wednesday: We had District Council again which is always a good time! I love meeting with other missionaries! We visited with Hope afterwards, and talked about working towards the temple! She is so excited about it. I love her so much, she is just awesome. Seeing someone come back to church and be reactivated is really cool. We also taught Ian that night. He is the other guy we have for a December 8th Baptism. The lesson was good. He really wants to be baptized and he got that answer when he prayed about it! 

Thursday: we did weekly planning, we went with the Relief Society president to try and visit a less active woman, but she wasn't home. And that night we had another lesson  with Ian. We also did our Book of Mormon Facebook live class that night and at the Parco's house again. They are just the cutest little couple, they're both super short, he is from the Philippines, and whenever we come over to do the class, he is either asleep or like over at the table reading so whenever he looks up or wakes up, he is always startled by our presence. It kills me Hahaha I love them.

Friday: we went on exchanges in Warren. Since we only have one STL (sister training leader) over us, we had to do a 2 day exchange over in their area. I only did knocking. All. Day. From 1 PM to 8 PM. In the pouring rain. It was freezing and people were not nice. I got multiple doors slammed in my face. It was hard. I tried to stay positive. It was cold. We got mistaken for amish that day though which was funny. 

Saturday: it was a little better. I was with sister Nemelke. She was nice. She's only been out 1 transfer more than I have. We taught 2 lessons which were okay. And we did knocking the rest of the day. And it was freezing again. But this time it was snowing. Not as bad as the pouring rain though. So yeah we basically just did knocking for 2 days straight. It was tough. Sister Paskett and I drove home early because it was snowing so hard in Erie, we wanted to be safe. And we were! But wowzers it snowed a lot here! It didn't stick in Warren but it sure did here! We came back and still had an hour of our day left so we went to some random houses down the street and shoveled their driveways. It felt good to do anonymous service.

Sunday: I drove in the snow! Luckily they are pretty good about clearing roads here but there were some neighborhood roads that were not as good. But everything was fine. We didn't have any people we were teaching come to church sadly. Oh well, next week there will hopefully be more people and less snow. We had a couple lessons fall through that night. We went to Diana's and helped her clean her house a little bit. 

I love hearing from all of you! I have such a wonderful family!! I love you all so much! I pray for you all all the time! I miss ya but I know I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. Missionary work is hard. But it is great. I still love being a missionary! 

Spiritual thought: Words of Mormon 1:4 "And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been prophesied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass" I thought this verse was super cool! Just going back and thinking about all the verses that talk about Jesus Christ's ministry on earth, in such great detail (see Mosiah 3:5-10) and that everything that was prophesied, came true! And prophecies in it will still come true! It is just so cool to see. 

I love you all!! If any of you have good stories from your lives about the blessings of paying tithing, or keeping the word of wisdom, or anything like that, let me know! I would love to hear them and use them in lessons! So let me know! Keep me updated on your lives! I love you all SO MUCH!!! ❤ Have a FANTASTIC week!! :)

Sister Bates

I love you!! ❤

NOVEMBURRRRR!!! NOV. 5, 2018

 Happy November!!

It has been a good day!

And it has been a good week!! Let's get this email party started, shall we?

Tuesday: Mike was AWESOME!! As you know, we have been praying super super hard for him to accept the Word of Wisdom. We get there and he tells us he has been praying every day for health and wisdom and I'm like oh boy have we got some wisdom for you! So we go through the Word of Wisdom and immediately he is so accepting of it! He is like okay if this is what I have to do to get baptized, I will give these things up. It was awesome! And he told us that he prayed that morning to be able to quit smoking. He said he didn't know why, but sees now that it must have been a premonition. Mike is just the best, he is so prepared!! Now we just gotta get him to church!! We hoped he would come yesterday but he never showed up 😕 That night we had the ward trunk or treat which was fun, we had a good number of less actives there that we invited and even a couple people we are teaching brought their kids! 

Wednesday: Halloween!! Lol all of our appointments fell through. We had dinner with members and then that night they didn't want us out trick or treating so we went to the church and watched a training video and did some contacting. Then we were supposed to go in at 8 instead of 9 so we did that.

Thursday: Zone Conference!! We woke up at 5:30, left by 6:20, drove to the sister's in Franklin, left there at 7:45 and got to the church building in Brookville at 9 o'clock! It was a lot of driving Haha but zone conference was awesome!! Its great to be with other missionaries and to get re-pumped up and excited about the work! President Bednar gave a great lesson on the Holy Ghost-how it is a constant companion but that doesn't always mean you feel this boom power. It's most often just peace and joy and comfort. And when you are intune with the spirit, your thoughts are promptings, even the little things! You don't have to recognize in the moment you are receiving revelation that you are receiving revelation. So just get up, get going, and the spirit will guide you! It was awesome. We had great break out sessions with training by Zone Leaders and STLs (sister training leaders). At the end we had a little testimony meeting and I bore my testimony of how this gospel and missionary work are so full of joy! President talked about how the joy we feel as missionaries is typically because we are filled with spirit so I talked about that and how even when it is 7 PM, pouring rain and freezing cold, knocking on strangers doors in skirts, I am still so happy. And that is because of the spirit!! It is awesome!! That night we came back and had time for our Book of Mormon live class which was good, we talked about Enos. 

Friday: we did our weekly planning that afternoon and that evening we taught Ian, the 18 y/o and he told us that he prayed and God told him he needed to get baptized! So that was cool! We had his lesson at the Dodson's house again and it went well. We then drove out to Corry again and taught the Ingram family! They are just so awesome!! Its  returning members, Hope, her husband Greg, and their daughter Cherity, and non-members, Ariana, Kalinda, and Jasmine, who are Cherity's daughters, and Tabatha who is Hope's sister and her husband Mark. They are all so eager to learn and are so focused when we teach. The spirit is strong in those lessons. Tabatha had a lot of fears about what happens after death and so teaching her the plan of salvation answered her questions. They are all awesome. We are hoping to invite them all to be baptized next time we meet with them! Pray for them!!

Saturday:   They say that Saturdays are prime proselytizing days but no one is ever home on Saturdays. Every Saturday is basically just us driving all around, having failed contact attempts. But it is all good! We have gotten a lot of referrals this week! It was super awesome!! There was a man, named Aleksey, who is this super cute old Russian man! He is the jolliest Russian I've ever seen! He requested a Bible so we came to his apartment and brought him one and gave him a book of mormon as well. We are going to go back later this week and meet with him. 

Sunday: church was good! We only had 2 people we are teaching come, Tabatha and Mark which was a bummer, we hoped more people would be there. It's definitely a sign of how much I have come to love all these people by how sad I am when they don't come to church. But anyway, it was a good fast Sunday. Also, a man came up to us who I guess was the Stake young Mens president and said they had some leftover cereal from an activity yesterday and asked if we wanted any, and we were like yeah sure, so after church we go to his car and literally he gave us so much cereal, 7 BOXES!!! Hahahaha so yeah, all we are eating now is cereal I guess! We visited with a less active family that night and they were really nice. The parents are this really old couple, in wheelchairs and stuff, they were super cute. And they live with a daughter that is older that takes care of them. All members for many years, they just can't come to church for health reasons. They were awesome though! We also had call-in's with our district leader that night as we do every Sunday night. We often see the other Erie ward Elders in the building on Sundays and we always leave jokes on each other's cars. 😊

Life is good! It is getting colder here, but that's alright! Walmart is all decked out for Christmas already and it is funny. At the beginning of the week, when it was still October, we have a certain number of miles we can use and we were running low so we walked to some appointments from other ones and I got a taste of how it is to be a foreign missionary! Fun stuff! Haha 

Hope yuns are all doing well! (I always heard before the mission that people say that a lot here but I hadn't heard a single person say it until last night, the older woman we visited with said it a few times haha) I am always praying for you all. I loved seeing your cute Halloween pictures!! So fun!! Have a great week!! ❤

Love,
Sister Bates
And if you ever want to send fuzzy/warm socks, I would gladly accept them 😉

ZONE CONFERENCE

We ran into Big Foot!  I had to get a picture for my Washington friends!

We pass this all the time.

PICTURES FROM WEEK OCTOBER 29

Sister Paskett and I!  Happy Fall!

Our table at Walmart!

A picture of our district last week haha it is Elder Call (the DL), Elder Hartsfield, Sister Favero, Sister Cutler, Sister Skinner, and us!

It was pouring rain!  I know you can't tell but it was!

Lake Erie!

HAVE AN "ERIE" HALLOWEEN!! OCTOBER 29, 2018

T

Hello!!

So! It has been a pretty good week over all! Some days were Great and some days were kind of meh, I'll be honest. But those great days were really great! So get comfy, because you are in for yet another one of Sister Bates' long emails!

Tuesday: Before I got here, the sisters tracted into a woman named Kathy. (Yes we have a Mike, a Jeff, and a Kathy!) And she is just the cutest person ever! She has a strong faith in Jesus Christ and was just so excited to hear about our beliefs. She was excited to read from the book of Mormon! So that was a great lesson! That night we had another great lesson with Mike!! Ah the spirit is just so strong in his lessons, it is awesome. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ lessonHe asked great, insightful questions and really ponders a lot. And at the end of the lesson, we invited him to be baptized and he said YES!! It was awesome!! We were so excited!! He is on date for November 30th. We are nervous because we have to teach him the Word of Wisdom tomorrow. We are pretty sure he smokes and drinks coffee at least. Anyway, it will be good but please pray for Mike!  So Tuesday was a great day! We had some other lessons that went well and we were just really happy that day!

Wednesday: we had district council today which was great! The other elders in Erie aren't in our district but one of them is the Zone Leader so they had to come to our council today so they rode with us and that was fun. Those are good elders! The rest of the day wasn't the best, we did some knocking that led to nothing, but we pressed forward, we got cussed out on the phone by a less active lady lol and we had another appointment with Stevie, the other woman on date for baptism fall through for the 4th day in a row.  We haven't met with Stevie in a while, she works a LOT and is so busy and it's just hard to meet with her. Hopefully we will tonight though! We have a lesson planned. That evening we had dinner at a members house which was really nice! They are a really sweet old couple, always serving people and they're just awesome.

Thursday: We did our long weekly planning, which is actually great, gives some good hope for the next week and we set some good goals - both personal, companionship, and for those we are teaching. We then had dinner at another members home. They live more in the country side of Erie. I always like dinner at members homes, helps me to get to know them better and helps them think more about missionary work. That night we had another appointment fall through, so we went to a college campus in our area and put out pass along cards and pamphlets in their chapel and some cards on their cork boards in a main building. We then did our Book of Mormon Facebook live class.

Friday: Friday was a great day! We set up a table outside of Wal-Mart and had a board that said What Brings You Joy? And had people write their answers on sticky notes. We talked to some people, gave a few pass along cards away, and even gave away a Book of Mormon! It was cold standing outside but it was fun! We then went to dinner at a members home and taught a lesson there to a guy named Ian. His grandma is a member but his mom isn't and she wouldn't let him get baptized until he is 18 which he just turned. He has been to church many times and apparently has gone to seminary a little bit. Sis P and I didn't think the lesson went super well, he just seemed unfocused and stuff, but when we saw him at church on Sunday, he came right up to us, told us he prayed about it last night and that God told him he had to get baptized! So he is getting baptized and he is really excited about that! We are going to have another lesson with him at the Dodson's (the YM president) house again on Friday. Then after that, we drove out to a town called Corry that is a 50 min drive and still in our area! And we had a Great lesson there! There is a returning member named Hope who we visited with last week. We asked her if she wanted to take the lessons and she was like ooh! I'll invite my sister over! And my daughter! And my daughter's daughters! So we taught the restoration to this family and it was so awesome!! They were all so engaged and the spirit was so strong! Her granddaughters that were there were 8, 10, and 12 and they all loved it. They all knew this was something special. Hope's daughter, Cherity, and her 3 girls all came to church on Sunday with Hope and her husband and we talked to the 12y/o after and she told us "it was good! Actually it was more than good" with a big smile on her face. So that just warmed my heart!! 

Saturday: It was pouring all day. It was just a day of failed contact attempts. We had dinner with Kathleen, a recent convert and went over the Plan of Salvation with her. She comes to church regularly which is awesome! We had a lesson with Diana.  She doesn't believe in God. We think we made a bit of progress with her. We talked about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and read a bit from the conference talk The Father.

Sunday: the primary program was sooo cute!! We had a good number of less active there which was good. It was pouring rain outside that night but we did some knocking and this one house, they let us right in, gave us cookies, and we talked with them for a while. They had a cute girl, too. We were able to teach them the entire restoration lesson but at the end, when we invited them to read the book of Mormon they "politely delcline[d]"!! They were so awesome, so kind and generous, and we taught them the whole lesson! We were there for so long and got our hopes up. So that was a bummer. But hey, we planted a seed! We cleared up some misconceptions they had about us and left a good, nice impression. Someday!

We went to Lake Erie this week and ate cupcakes by the lake! It was super super windy hahaha but really pretty! We also have 3 colleges in our area! They are Penn State Behrend University, MercyHurst University, and Gannon University. So that is cool. 

We have Zone Conference on Thursday which we are excited for! It will be a good week. Sister Paskett and I are really positive people and we have been having a great, fun time together. Being a missionary is hard work, but it is so full of Joy! Who knew you could be so happy walking in the pouring rain, knocking on random strangers doors? It's awesome. I love being a missionary!

I love you all! Thanks for all the love and support! I have the best family!!  The missionary life is good! 😊

Love, Sister Bates ❤

5500 copper Dr apt 201 Erie, PA 16509

I thought you might be interested in seeing what my daily schedule is!

6:30 wake up

6:45-7:15 exercise

7:15-8:30 shower, eat breakfast, get ready for the day

8:30-9:00 daily plan

9:00-10 Personal Study

10-11 Companion Study

11-11:30 First 12 weeks training 

11:30-12 Daily Contact (call or text people we planned to see today to make sure they are available)

12-12:30 lunch

12:30-5 appointments, contact attempts, tracting, whatever we have planned for the day

5-6 Dinner

6-9 appointments, contact attempts, tracting, whatever we had planned for the evening. Typically we plan to have lessons in the evening because we are afraid of knocking when it is dark outside haha

9-10:30 get ready for bed, write in journal, pray, go to sleep

(Except on Halloween!  We are going to visit Diana, the woman I talked about in my first email here, who never leaves her home. And then supposed to return to our apartment at 8 instead of 9.)

It is a good, busy life I am living!

HAPPY ONE MONTH!!! OCTOBER 22, 2018

My 1 month anniversary! 

Add caption

AREA:  Erie, PA

Companion:  Sis. Paskett

5500 copper Dr. Apt. 201 Erie, PA 16509

THE BABY IS HERE????  AHHHHH!!! THE BEST NEWS EVER!!!! SHE IS SO CUTE!!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!  WISH I WAS THERE!!

Hello!!

How are you all doing? Happy Birthday to Dad! Hope you had a great day! 

So you better find a comfortable chair to sit in, maybe get a cup of hot chocolate and some good toast, put some nice warm socks on because, knowing me, I'm sure this will be obnoxiously long. If you make it to the end, congratulations you may win something!

Tuesday:  We had this awesome lesson with a man named Mike! Also, quick funny thing, we also found a man named Jeff that we are gonna go back and try to teach later! Oh our family. Anyway, the lesson was so COOL! The highlight of my week. So we got there, this was his 2nd lesson, and he told us he was almost done reading 1 Nephi! He zoomed through that! And he was asking us questions about Lehi's dream and told us what he was thinking stuff meant and he was totally right! It was awesome. So we taught him the plan of salvation and he was totally focused, and actually listening to what we had to say (this hardly ever happens, the PA ramble takes a hold of everyone here and they just talk until they are blue in the face and we hardly get to teach 2 points of the lesson. We are working on that) anyway, he asked really good questions and when we asked him some, he really pondered before he answered and then gave a perfect answer. The spirit was so strong during the entire lesson. I had never felt it that strongly in a lesson before that. It was so cool. And then at the end, he asked us if his Catholic baptism counted!! So we talked about how our church has the priesthood authority and stuff and he was like "okay that makes sense".  Sister Paskett and I were so mad at ourselves after, that we didn't formally invite him to be baptized!! I was thinking we should during the entire lesson but I thought it would be weird coming from me since he just met me. But next time, we are definitely inviting him!! He is just the coolest dude, he is so prepared!! So please pray for Mike!

Wednesday:  We had District Council, in a town called Meadville, which is about a 50 minute drive for us! But it was a good meeting, the other missionaries, a companionship of elders, and a trio of sisters, are all super nice and good people. On Wednesday we also drove out to a different part of our area that I hadn't been to yet! Our area is HUGE, I'll send y'all a picture of our boundaries, it is crazy. We mostly stay in Erie and don't drive more than a half hour outside of Erie typically but there are areas that are farther! And we just cover one wards' boundaries! And there aren't even that many people that come to church. Anyway, our area goes into New York!! So we went there to meet with a super nice less active woman and her son. Getting to go to NY was good and it was a beautiful drive! Also that night we went to a mutual activity at the church where they had us and the elders from the other ward come and we each talked about how we decided to serve a mission and then had a Q&A with the youth and it was awesome! They had some great questions and it was really fun to get to answer them!

Thursday:  We visited with this sweet old lady in an assisted living center. We shared with her a talk from last conference by Brian Ashton (read that one again, it is so good!) And she was just so happy! She loves meeting with us and talking about the gospel, especially since she can't come to church anymore. We also did some service for a woman who has some mental health problems. She had (literally all) her dishes in the sink and needed them all washed and put away and she was sick and just didn't feel she could do them. So we did that for her and cleaned her kitchen up for her. Doing service is one of my favorite parts about being a missionary! I feel so good helping people and I just love to serve them! We also taught our Facebook live Book of Mormon class. We do that at 8:30 our time, I think y'all can watch it? Idk how it works. But yeah that was good, we talked about King Lamoni's father.

Friday: I have been out on my mission 1 month today! The time has flown by so fast! It was a slow day, we had weekly planning in the afternoon which takes 3 hours, so we don't do much on Fridays until the evenings. We visited with a less active man that night, he was really nice, seems like he still has a testimony, just has a hard time making it out to church. But he was open and willing to have us come back and meet with him again. 

Saturday: We visited another woman in an assisted living center and helped her bake cookies for a fundraiser. (She lives in a super nice center, it sticks out like a sore thumb in Erie haha) but that was really nice and she was happy to have us there. Also, the kitchen we were in was like a big common area for residents so they had a tv on, playing good Hallmark movies and oh man, that was the biggest trial of the week, trying to not watch that hahaha!  We visited with another less active family, they have had a lot of hard trials in their lives but their belief, at least the Moms' belief in Christ is still strong which is cool.

Some of Erie is old and run down and sketchy but we are safe! Don't worry, we are safe! Literally everyone smokes here. Every one. We come home every night and we smell so strongly of smoke!! It's pretty bad. Also, many people are super poor here, I've been told multiple times that most of the people here live off of social security. The houses are all old.  It's really humbling. One more interesting thing is that there are hardly any street lights!! It is SO dark driving at night and we are surrounded by trees too; it's weird how there are like none.

The bishop here is super nice, I like him a lot. The people are nice here. We actually got fed 3 times this week which is unusual, being fed even once a week is great! So that was good. The ward is tiny. We all fit in the chapel, the gym isn't even opened. We have invited a bunch of inactives to our Halloween party coming up.

Oh yeah funny story, at District Council, this old man who used to serve here 40 years ago came in and was talking with us and when he was about to leave he pulled out this 100 dollar bill, said "I'm paying for lunch!" Threw it on the table and basically ran out the door. We all stared in shock for a second, then tried to go give it back to him, but it was too late, he left!  hahaha!  So the elders took it for their lunch, then they will give the change to us sisters on Wednesday for our lunch. So funny!

I love this gospel, I love being a missionary! Doing this has brought me so much joy! Even when it is really cold outside and I'm standing out there and walking around in a skirt, I am still happy! It is awesome!! You are all awesome, thanks for all the support!!

Congratulations for making it to the end! You win an imaginary gold star!! You rock!! 

I love you all!! Thank you for the emails, I love hearing about you and your lives! I can read emails every day during meal times at the apartment which is cool. And I can respond to emails anytime today until 6pm my time. 

Being a missionary is awesome! I have been blessed to have a really positive attitude since becoming a missionary. I've always been a positive person but that has heightened since I have been here and I am thankful for that. It is so cool to see how the gospel really blesses lives! It is awesome! I am happy to be here! :)

I love you all!!!

Love, Sister Bates

PS. I will try to take more pictures that I can send to you next week. Just went to Wal-Mart. We are running out of miles for the month so we are trying to conserve them. We won't be going back to New York until November that's for sure. But yeah, things are good, I am happy! Sister Paskett and I are good friends and we have fun together! She's also a good cook so I have been eating well too! Life is good! Hope all is well at home!

Sister Paskett and I 

Me in New York!

OH DEARY, I'M IN ERIE! October 15, 2018

Meeting my Trainer, Sister Paskett!

Sister Paskett and I right before my first experience tracting!

Area: Erie, PA

Companion: Sister Paskett

Address: 5500 copper Dr apt 201 Erie, PA 16509

HI everyone!!!!!

Thanks for all the emails saying you saw me in conference! It was SO AWESOME and the coolest experience!! So thankful that I got to participate!!

This has been the craziest week!!! I am in Erie, Pennsylvania now! (yes like Lake Erie) and it is so pretty here!! It is really cold, but beautiful! I have yet to go see Lake Erie, we have never actually made it over there yet, but when I do, I will be sure to take a plethora of pictures! It is freezing cold here lol I am going to die once it starts snowing haha but I am so happy! Being a missionary is hard work and long days but still full of so much joy!

So, the flight to PA was great and uneventful. That was literally the longest day though haha I woke up at 2:45 AM and did not go to bed until 10:30 PM! It was a crazy day, I napped a wee bit on the plane but was still way tired. Anyway, we had a great dinner at a church building, had some good meetings, and then slept at the mission home. For some reason I was not expecting the mission home to actually be a house? But yeah it was super nice and so fun to have 30 new missionaries all staying there! The elders slept in the basement and the 1st floor and then we slept on the 2nd floor. Everyone was all piled in on a couple beds but mainly air mattresses and sleeping bags! Not the best nights sleep but quite fun!

The next day we went back to the church, had some more good meetings, got some good lunch, and then got assigned to our trainers! I was the last one assigned of the sister missionaries haha but my trainer is Sister Paskett! She is awesome!! She has been out only 3 months, is from Highland, UT,  and is super nice! We get along really well. She is a great teacher and is always so kind and positive and uplifting! I have learned a lot from her!!  Since we had so many missionaries come in, a lot of the trainers are those that just finished being trained! So we are figuring some things out together haha but she is awesome, I have learned a lot from her already.

It was a 2.5 hour drive from Pittsburgh to Erie and we went straight to a dinner appointment! A woman named Kathleen who got baptized in the Spring. She's been having some struggles with the word of wisdom and stuff but she is awesome. I felt so much of God's love for her already, it was a really cool experience for me.

Every Thursday apparently, we teach a Book of Mormon class over Facebook live on a ward page so that was fun! We talked about Alma 32 and faith.

Our apartment is really nice, nicer than I expected! 2 bedroom, 2 bath, lots of space. We use the other bedroom as a study room which has been good. We are in a nice complex in the nice part of town.

Friday we tried to have some lessons but they both fell through. We had a weekly planning session for a couple hours that afternoon which was good, set some good goals. We also chose Ether 12:27 as our companionship scripture for the transfer. That night we had dinner with the McGoons which is a great member family with a 7 year old daughter. We talked with her about baptism and stuff and she is excited!

Later we visited a less active convert, Bro Truesdale. He was really nice, seems to believe and have faith, he just has a hard time coming to church because of health and other stuff. We stood outside in the cold for like 45 minutes haha since there wasn't another woman with us. But it was alright, the spirit kept me warm! 

Saturday we did a lot of finding! We spent about 3 hours spread throughout the day just knocking on doors. We met an awesome man named Jeff (lol) who was just walking his dog and when we talked with him he was super interested and enthusiastic about us coming to tell him more! We gave him a Book of Mormon and are going to visit him later this week. We also meet a few more interested people so that was cool! The people here are really nice,  even if they aren't interested,  they will still talk with you and everyone is super talkative here! I have learned a lot about random people's lives hahaha

We also had a lesson with a woman named Diana that night. She lays in bed all day in her pjs and has health issues so she can't walk that much without being totally exhausted. It was so sad to hear about her struggles in life. She was really nice to us. She is atheist and has some strong opinions and would frequently tell us she doesn't believe in something we said. She is hard to teach. But she wants to learn and believe more. So we will see

Oh man this is a long email I'm so sorry I do not judge you at all if you have given up reading by now because I'm pretty close to giving up writing now hahaha.

Okay I'll talk about one last person, Stevie. She is a single mom, has a rough job and life, and has had drug problem for many years. But since the sisters started teaching her, her life has become so much better! She no longer does drugs, she is noticing blessings in her life, her 2 year old daughter is behaving better, things are just better and happier. She was telling us last night about how much of a difference she has seen in her life and it was such a testimony to me of how much the gospel really blesses our lives. By living it, blessings will be poured out upon us! I think I've kind of taken this for granted growing up but since I have come here and seen how big of a difference and impact it has on people's lives, it is really cool! She is on date for baptism for November 3rd. I hope things keep going well for her. She seems really excited about it!

Here is my thought for the week: my favorite talk from General Conference was Elder Anderson's, called "Wounded" if you haven't read it, do it! You can find all of the General Conference talks on lds.org.

"At a time of enormous suffering, the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith, “All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” How can painful wounds be for our good? In the crucible of earthly trials, patiently move forward, and the Savior’s healing power will bring you light, understanding, peace, and hope."

I have totally seen this in my life! When going through hard times, what has kept me going and kept my chin up has been the Savior. My faith in Him and His power has brought me so much peace and comfort in my life. I know that the Savior perfectly understands each and everyone of us. He has felt everything we ever have and ever will feel. And He knows exactly how to help us. All we have to do is reach out to Him. His arm of mercy is extended towards us, we just have to grab it and hold on.

I love this gospel, I love being a missionary! Doing this has brought me so much joy! Even when it is really cold outside and I'm standing out there and walking around in a skirt, I am still happy! It is awesome!! Being a missionary is hard. It is some long days. But I am so thankful to be here! I have experienced so much joy as a missionary. I don't know why I am here at this time but I know God has a purpose and a plan for me. I am thankful to be here and be a missionary!!

I love you all, you are the best! You are all awesome, thanks for all the support!!  Congrats to Laura on Estelle!! She looks so darling and I am so happy for you 💕 keep the emails coming! 😊

Love, Sister Bates

These parking signs are all over town, and every street is different hahaha

I'M IN PITTSBURGH! October 10, 2018

Hello family!! I am here in PITTSBURGH!! Today has been the longest day hahaha I woke up at 2:45 this morning and have been in the airport and on planes all day. 

The mission President and his wife are super awesome, I love them so much already! All these missionaries (29 of us!) Are really great! We had a good dinner and a good meeting about technology and good stuff. Tomorrow we will meet our trainers, get more training, and head out to our areas! Excited!! Sister Bednar will be sending mom and dad pictures and information tomorrow.

I love you all so much! You are the best family ever!!

Love, Sister Bates

First view of Pittsburgh!

29 New Missionaries with President and Sister Bednar!

29 New Missionaries Arriving!