Hello everybody! My favorite day and time of that day is here again! There's so much to say. First of all to answer the questions, thank you for sending the galoshes. I got them a few days ago and they help tremendously. They are kinda hard to walk and bike in, but I don't care. They keep me dry and warm and that's all that matters. Thanks so much for sending them. They are a huge help!
The bike is holding up great in all the rain. It is a very nice bike and although it is impossible to keep it dry, it is working well and it needs to because I use it daily.
Investigators....... We teach the Dreiers tonight about the bible and the role that it plays in our religion. Cody Dreier (the dad) did not know that we believed the bible last week when we taught them so we need to clear that up tonight. We taught a very spiritual message last week on tithing and it was so awesome. As you know, the mom and daughter are members, but only come to one hour or so per week, if that. The dad and 2 boys are not members, but are progressing investigators. He was not able to make it to church on Sunday unfortunately. He is trying hard to make it with his work schedule. The boys come when the mom and sister do.
The Schiermeister family.......The mom is active and her son, Cody (lots of Cody's out here!) is 12 and comes every week as well and wants to be baptized, but the dad is a JW (Jehova's Witness) and won't allow it. Because the parents don't live together, it is a weird situation. He can only be baptized with the dad's permission because of custody issues. We hope he has a change of heart. We continue to teach lessons from the B of M each week to build his faith.
Corey Vaumbar is a YSA who is less active and we have been getting him to come to church. He has questions about lots of things like recognizing the spirit and questions related to that. We will hopefully teach him later this week. We got 4 referrals this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rebecca Holland is an 18 year old who is in the Mountain View Ward boundaries and was referred to us as a media referral. She wanted a Book of Mormon and was curious about our church. We stopped by last Wednesday and talked for about 10 minutes on her porch with her while her family was inside because they are against our church. We have an appointment tomorrow with her. Hopefully things go well. She might be YSA age after she graduates and might go to that ward if she wants to.
Scott was a referral from Elders in another area and we got his address and went there, but it was an apartment complex address with no specific apartment number. Since it was way out there and still in our area (because our area technically is all of Clark County because of the YSA ward) we are not supposed to tract the apartment buildings because it is in other missionaries' area. We only go out to far away places if we have specific addresses of YSA's we can meet with. We will contact the Elders who are in that area and make sure they tract the apartments there and find him. The other 2 referrals we stopped by were not there and we have stopped by multiple times since then and left a card and our number and names and such. Hopefully we find them in. We are working hard with the YSA Ward and stressing hard the importance of getting us referrals.
Justin Hurley is coming along great. He will start the new member lessons and so we stopped teaching him last week and the ward members will teach him now. We talked to him about referrals and he will think of who he can and get back to us. He is golden with those and we would love to teach non member friends of his. We are really working hard on getting referrals, believe me.
Tracting is not my favorite thing at all (it is my least favorite part of the mission (along with the rain)). We are continuing to work hard every day. We are teaching less active members in the Mountain View Ward the lessons (those who have agreed to let us do so, anyways) and we taught 4 lessons yesterday and committed 3 to come to church this Sunday. I hope they do! If any investigators come close to baptism, I will let you know immediately! Right now the closest ones are the Dreiers. We can only set a date when he starts coming to church because he knows once he does he can be baptized and he wants to be. We are seeing if we can get him to come so he and the 2 boys can be baptized together, but if he does not come, we might ask if his boys can be baptized without him because they are ready. We hope this motivates him to come to church.
Today we cleaned and did laundry and studied this morning. We are going shopping after the E-Mail time and then we have a zone P-Day today with a huge lunch involved. It is at the East Stake Center in Vancouver. We are having a super fun day today because it is going to be a District Sports Day. We are having soccer, basketball, and ultimate frisbee tournaments with district teams. Each district is a team. I am super excited because even though our district is only 4 of us, we will do well and have fun! I love basketball and ultimate frisbee!!!! Soccer, well, not as much, though.
I have everything I need right now and am doing great. I rarely ever have used my debit card out here. I made the CD's last week with the pictures and spent about $11 on my debit card to make the CD's, but I can't think of anything else I have used it for. I am gathering everything I want to send you guys and will send it in a Christmas package. It will have my picture CD's (3 of them), baptism programs, mission newsletters, and anything else I can think of that you might want. Everything is going great with the $ situation. We get $135 per month and last month I had about $60 left at the end of the month and the money carries over to the next month so right now I am at about $175. The money renews on the last week of each month. I have plenty to get by. I don't spend money when I don't have to.
Now onto my list of things to tell you!!! The liquid sunshine here is great......NOT! It rains like crazy here. It is downpouring outside as we speak. AHHH how frustrating! I really hope I get a car after transfers if I am still here (which I am 99% sure I will be) and it is very likely Elder Cashin will be going. Transfers are on November 17 and we find out on Monday November 15 who is going and on the day of where they are going.
Congratulations to Mark Rowley on going through the temple. That's awesome for him!!! Congratulations to Sarah with her baby on the way. Wow, so many things are starting to happen now that I'm gone! How was Erin's Nauvoo trip? Taylor Eggertsen, I mean Elder Eggertsen, sent me a great letter last P-Day that I got that night. It was very nice and genuine. He is such a great guy and will be an awesome missionary. How is he doing in the MTC so far? Any word yet? Thank Grandma and Grandpa Larson for their nice letter, too. It means a lot to hear from them and I love reading their letter each month. How is Jordan doing at BYU? Mom, I got your letter last night and I loved it. I always love them! I love hearing from John in his E-Mail, too. What a funny picture! Can you send him my E-Mail? Just curious. Dad, how do you like the silver Honda Civic? That is if you have driven it yet. It's such a nice car and I'm sure you will switch off cars every once in a while to keep it in shape. I love getting newspaper articles with the missionaries coming and going. I know so many of them now. It is cool to see where they are all going. I love getting those updates.
Now to the important part...........GO BYU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's my cougars that I know!! What a win! Elder and Sister Gage (the senior missionary couple on our area who finish in about 2 weeks with their mission) always tell me about it each week. That made my day and week! Also, Utah got trashed I hear! We were biking on Saturday and I saw a U of U flag on someone's front porch hanging. I was so upset, ha ha ha! The next day it was not hanging up anymore!! I was so glad! Go TCU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a great week. How are the Jazz doing overall? A rough start is what I hear from people out here, but we have picked it up since I assume??? What a great sports week!!!!!
We stood in the circle on Sunday when Justin Hurley got the priesthood. What a neat experience. How awesome is that?! There was a baptism for a YSA age girl on Saturday named Monique Benitez and we attended. We spoke on the B of M and the spirit. It was so neat. I have had some great experiences out here so far. Oh, the Turners got tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas show and will be in SLC during that time (Sometime about a week before Christmas I believe) and are visiting family in Bountiful. I will give them our address and they would love to stop by. They have been out of town this week and get back tomorrow. You should call them if you get a chance. They are so nice and neat.
I pray for the Barnards every day. How is she doing? Tell Bruce that I think about them every day. They are a great family and I miss seeing them all the time! Well, in 6 days I have been out 2 months!!!!!!!! But hey, who's counting?!!! That is so cool to think. I am starting Mosiah now in my study and hope to finish the B of M by the end of the year again. How are you guys doing? Where are you at? We have 2 lessons tonight, the Dreiers at 5:45 and the Schiermeisters at 7:00. It should be a good day today. We are helping a less active member named Kim Zepanta put up Christmas lights tomorrow. I am so excited you have no idea! I really am! He works at a rest home across from the Hearthwood Church right on the corner. You might see it from google earth. It has a white fence in front and is on a corner right across from the Hearthwood Church. He always takes us to lunch after and we share a message with him. Oh, the protocol is to send a small present (something small) to the mission home because we all open a present at zone conference. Anything else, if there is anything, you can send to the address I am staying at, which will most likely be the same.
Mom, we usually just do soup or sandwiches or chili or something like that when we make our own meals at home. I am no iron chef, unfortunately!! I wish I could tell you all the names of the people we are working with and who are potentials, less actives, others, etc. but there are so many and I can't think of them all right now. Terry Nichols, Dreiers, Rebecca Holland, Kurt Golding (another referral), Brenice and Tevyn (who we have a lesson with tomorrow and hopefully they want to be baptized because we will extend the commitment most likely tomorrow!), Ginny and Gabe Delaplane, Corey Vaumbar, Cody Schiermeister, Olga, Irena, Josh Whittrock, etc. The list goes on for a while.
Wow only 18 minutes left, time sure flies when I am E-Mailing all of you. Know that I love all of you and miss you all so much. Dad, I hope everything is going well with work, your calling, etc. I appreciate your letters so much. They always brighten my day and week! Thanks for all your support and prayers. Mom, I miss you so much. I miss all the things we would do together. I love getting your letters and all the nice things you send with them. The quotes are so nice. Thanks for the love and support and prayers. It means the world to me and makes it easier to be out here.
Brooke, Rocky, Jacob, Taylor, and Hayden, how are things going for you right now?! I love getting letters from you. I hope everything is awesome right now. The boys are probably so excited now that the holiday season is coming up. I know I am!!! Tell them I love them and pray for them every night. I miss them and all the time I spent with them so much. I pray for you and Rocky daily, too. I hope that all is going well with you. Don't do anything too crazy while I'm gone! Bran and Anni, thanks for the encouraging letters you always send me. I love reading them!!!!!!!!!!!! You always have good advice for me, Bran, and I appreciate that. Let me know how things are going with you. Don't be too busy. Know that I miss both of you and think of you all the time. It makes it easier to be out here having a dad and brother who set such wonderful examples by serving honorable missions before me. You each had trials you had to overcome, Dad with the hard language, culture change, and hard callings out there and Brandon with your knees and that ordeal. It helps me go on to know that you both pushed forward and worked hard. I have it easy after knowing what the two of you went through. I appreciate your examples of service. I serve EVERY DAY out here and it makes it easy to do so having grown up around family who has done that and I appreciate that.
Erin, I hope your trip was fun and that you made it back safely. I'm sorry to hear about your ear problems and sickness. I pray that you will get feeling better. That darn immune system really does wear down pretty fast. I hope that you stay caught up in your school work and all that you do. I love the picture of the 2 of us mom sent me the night you left for school. It is on my desk with the family pictures and Jordan and John's picture as well. Keep up the good work and I appreciate your example to me.
Everybody, know that I love you all and think of you so often. I have the greatest family in the world and my support system is unparalleled. Keep doing the great things that all of you do. I am trying my hardest out here to do my best. I make mistakes and fall short all the time, but I trust in Heavenly Father to help me. I know that my job is to try my hardest and work hard through the rain, rude people, opposition, and everything going on around me and that I will be pushed the rest of the way. I will never be able to do anything without help from Heavenly Father. I just do my part and let him do the rest. Unlike at Burger King, in the mission field we don't always get to "have it our way". It is the Lord's way.
I have a testimony that the work I am doing is true and that the message can help people with any problems in life. It is saddening at times to be out in the cold, wet, dark, streets being turned away by people during a holiday season where I would normally be at home surrounded by family, friends, and happy times. I do know that the work is hard, but it is always worth it. Know that I have a testimony of the truthfulness of this church. Thanks for all you do. I will talk to you again next Tuesday, which I will anxiously look forward to. Take care family. Tell all the neighbors, friends, etc. that I love them and appreciate their prayers and support. TTYL!!!!
Love,
Elder Matthew Larson Bates
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