Mitzi Gates: 2014

What a great week!!

Seriously a week full of miracles and a week full of joy!

Well to start off! We had 3 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH! Yay! So sister Oldroyd was giving a talk and so I was sitting by myself. But we found this kid Trevon on the bus (he has this scorpion tattoo and LA star tattoo on his face) he's black. But we've been trying to have him come. He finally said he would! So it was half way through sacrament and I get a text saying he is here! So I run out, and don't see him! I circled the whole outside of the church and thought he went to the wrong church! #southernprobs but I walk in and they are sitting on the couches! It was Trevon, and he brought his two girl friends! Channel and Mayla. (Which we never have met) but I take them in the back and Bishop and his councillors were smiling as well as Sister Oldroyd! Then I texted brother Russell and said can you bear your testimony on Christ because out investigator is trying to figure out who Christ is to him. He texted back and said sure! IT WAS AWESOME! Trevon said he was speaking to him. Yay! Then we go in gospel principals and it was on the final judgement, celestial, telestial, and terrestrial kingdoms... We were dying! We hadn't even taught the first lesson to two of them! But our Ward mission leader was teaching and did a great job! Yay. They said after they really enjoyed and want to come back and meet up again!! Miracle.

Well this Christmas was for sure my favorite. EVER. I sure missed family and friends, but it meant so much to me this year! I LOVED being able to skype as well. You all look so good and are doing great! So proud. It was a lot more humbling this year... I am so grateful I had this Christmas as well. Sister Oldroyd and I just laugh the whole time, so it makes it fun.

Well on Wednesday we had district meeting and we asked Elder Sheffield our DL if we could do a "training" he said sure. For the opening song we sand a long to Brad Paisley "Away in a Manger" haha. So we got all the costumes for the nativity ready. No one in the district knew! We invited the Zone Leaders, as well as the Ap's to join. We got up and said here are your parts we are going to do the Nativity! IT WAS THE BEST!! haha we videoed the whole thing too.... such a classic missionary nativity. Then we had everyone bring a gift elephant gift and we did a white elephant exchange. I seriously feel like the missionaries are my family. Loved being able to spend it with them! This was on Christmas eve day.Then that night we went over to the Waters and had Christmas eve dinner with them. They are our recent converts. LOVED being able to spend it with them. Then we came home and made cinnamon rolls, read Luke 2, read the Polar Express, and read Grandma Gates Christmas Eve story!! It was so spiritual. Then we watched the bible video of Luke 2. The song Silent Night was on and what a silent night it was. "Think of the simple yet dignified way our Heavenly Father chose to honor the birth of His Son. On that holy night, angels appeared not to the rich but to shepherds. The Christ child was born not in a mansion but in a manger. He was wrapped not in silk but in swaddling clothes. The simplicity of that first Christmas foreshadowed the life of the Savior." I read that in my studies the next day. My life will be forever changed because of the night we spent doing the devotional together, focusing in on our savior. The spirit was so strong. I just knew there were others there with us as we continued on with our spirit filled night.

Christmas morning we got to sleep in until 8am... which meant i layed there until 8am because i don't sleep in that long! We opened presents, THANK YOU, to those of you who sent Christmas cards, gifts, and love. I sure appreciate all you love and support! After we skyped we went home and i actually called Macey and was able to talk to her for about 20 minutes. It was the best! Love my twin!! Then we went and had dinner with a member... the Christensens. It was great! They have little kids, and Santa came, so it was so fun! Then we helped prepare dinner and we had dinner. They both served missions. But then dessert came and I was so full, it was Banana Cream Pie, and i don't like bananas, and i wasn't in a sweets mood at all... more salty. So i said no thank you! Then she randomly goes off on her mission she gained so much weight and she just resorted to eating over anything... she is as skinny and tall as Megan Leavitt... so we were like come on! Sister Oldroyd was dying when eating her pie... she's like do i keep eating? haha she pretty much told us it's okay to get fat because you lose it in the end. hahah it was so funny. We were like okay..... But great Christmas! then we went and tracted and found two people who seemed pretty interested. CHRISTMAS MIRACLE.

Then on Friday Sister Oldroyd had a baptism up in Clarksville, so we had a Recent Convert from Clarksville come take us out to eat and take us up. She use to be Jewish, so it's cool to hear her story. Thats probably my favorite thing. Every one has a story and their own journey. So different and so personal! I love to hear and learn about them. But we drive all the way up there.. 10 minutes from the Kentucky line... that might be the closest i get to Kentucky Dad. But it was so great! It was in the YSA branch... but so good. The Franklin STL's came up with us, because Sister Frampton served there too. So it was a mission road trip!! SO fun. So spiritual too.

ALSO one of our less actives got married to her husband! The one that got baptized at 12 but fell away a few months later, then we didn't know if we were going to have to baptize him again, if they didn't find his records. But they did! And they got married! They were living together, so that was big!! So that was weird to hear the words "Till death do you part of your mortal lives" AHHHHH THAT IS THE WORST THING EVER!! Why won't you want to be sealed to your family?! Seriously i will NEVER forget the feeling and pit in my stomach when i heard that.

Also Mya our little 12 year old investigator wants to get baptized......... like way bad....... we just don't know if she really knows what that all entails. So we are going over today, also hopefully her parents will be there too! It's a weird situation! But she needs to come to church 2 times and then we can baptize her. So she may be the one this transfer!

OH! Also we got transfer calls and Sister Oldroyd and I are staying the same!! YAY! There is so much work to be done here. We can hardly wait.

I LOVE MY MISSION!!! Seriously every day my heart just grows more and more for the people here... i cannot even explain it. I am so grateful and privileged to be a representative of him. As Christmas morning happened. My heart was so full putting on my name tag!! Such a great day. Such a great week. Such a great year!!

I'm ready to see what 2015 has in store. It kind of freaks me out how time is passing by so fast!! See you in 4 months:)

LOVE YOU!!

Sister Gates

BEST DISTRICT MEETING EVER!!!‏

Made cinnamon rolls, read Luke 2, grandma gates Christmas Eve story, and omelets! Some of us family Christmas traditions.‏

When running we watched this go down to 0.. So sad! Then our cute tree we plucked branches off! Christmas Eve dinner with the waters

More from Christmas

Tang the cross dresser. We almost died when she/he answered the door!! Haha oh my. Dying still!‏

One of our zone leaders, Elder Shiner is going home! Sad day.‏

The Franklin STLs came up with us to Clarksville for a baptism!! Road trip with the sisters

BEST FREAKIN P DAY EVER!!! This is brother long and he owns Show time academy.... Felt so good to hit!!! I cannot even tell you. I still got it! IM IN THE BEST MISSION.‏

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I cannot explain to you the joy, the happiness, the peace, the humility, the gratefulness, and the love I have felt from serving this last week, and it's all because He is the Gift.

We have seen so many miracles.

Well to start with on Tuesday Sister Luke went out with us on splits. We went to go visit Ellie in the hospital but when we got there she wasn't there! So Sister Luke needed to stop at the International Store (her husband is Chinese). So we walk in and it reeks! So gross. All this different kind of food. That just confirmed to me that my mission is the right one for me. There is NO WAY I could of gone foreign. Then after we stopped and visited Ellie. Tangerine (her son Tim that is a cross dresser and goes by Tange) was there too wrapping presents. So that was interesting.

Then we come home Tuesday night... i opened the door like usual as Sister Oldroyd walks in and turns on the lights. Well we had a long day and we were so excited to come home and relax. But she grabs my arms and says "Don't move! Open the door now!!" I look up and our other door is swung wide open and the curtains are blowing. WE WERE SO SCARED!! We always lock the doors. ALWAYS! Well we thought someone was in our apt. or some one just ran out real quick as we were opening the door. OH MY. So we called the ZL's (Rumsey and Shiner) to come look through out apt. but they said they had to make a phone cal quick. We were like crying, it was so scary. Non of our neighbors would answer. So we call the AP's (Fore and Lovell) in our ward and they came over and checked it out. They even thought it was creepy too. So they searched the whole thing and nothing. So we had them bless our apt. as well. it was the worst night ever. I couldn't sleep. My eyes were wide awake. So we slept with our bathroom light on. I slept with a BOM and with my tag on. I also read a verse before going to bed before so it would comfort us! But it was Alma 56:57. WASN'T COMFORTING AT ALL! haha We got absolutely no sleep that night.

Also we are professional re gift givers. Hahah

Also our whole teaching pool is black people right now: Sharee, Vincent, Dominique, Venisha, Shatika, and Trevania. It's great!

On Wendesday I went on exchanges with Hermana Kilgore from South Jordan, Ut. She is her first transfer and we had a great time on exchanges. So we were trying people. We tracted, and she kept saying "White people are so mean, no one lets you in!" haha she said they tract 3 houses and they all let them in. Then we went finding in Kroger trying to look for Betty ringing the bell. But she wasn't there, so we went inside the store and gave out He is the Gift pass a long cards. As we did we heard on the intercom "Free gift at the end of isle 12 to first couple people" so we're like sweet! So we go over and he give us these retro phones. that you plug into your smart phone to make it look like a retro phone. pretty funny! Then he did a spill on what he was really selling. We turned it right back around and taught him and those around us. It was great!

Then we went tracting that night, and we were in our "gehtto" part of our area. We heard a bunch of noise coming form this one specific apt. So we go and tract it and they are speaking a language we don't understand. But i showed them the He is the Gift pass a long card. They let us in. There was this guy preaching out of the bible. We tried to ask the people what was going on, but they didn't understand us. So we asked this 4 year old girl and she said Nativity. Come to find out they are from Napal. They were celebrating Christmas and all the family was over. All 40 of them. They all starred at us when we walked in. haha it was awkward. But we just smiled and listened. Then we asked if we could share a video. So I pull out my little ipad, put on the He is the Gift video. The lights go off and i read the works out loud, while the guy translated it into their language. THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG. It was amazing. What a miracle. I cannot explain. Pure joy.

Then after we tried this Hispanic guy, but no one answered. We tracted into him earlier. But as we were walking away, the mom pulled in. So Hermana Kilgore, cute little greenie, her first transfer, first exchange. I was like this is you sister!! So she talked the whole time in spanish! Held a full conversation with the lady. Got a return apt. It was amazing! I was so proud of her! She was so proud of herself! I just prayed the whole time she was talking that she would be able to understand and would be given the words to say. It was a miracle.

So we tract a lot, and do a lot of finding. So we are constantly dropping people and finding new people. So sorry if i can't update you on the progress of each person.

Sunday was a special day. Full of miracles all day long.

So Sister Oldroyd woke up and went to the bathroom. So i checked what time it was. 7:03am. OUR ALARM DIDN'T GO OFF!! Both of our alarms didn't that had never happened. I was freaking out. So we get up and get ready for church, and do our studies. The only conclusion we could figure out is, if we didn't wake up on time, we couldn't get on facebook because we weren't exactly obedient. So we knew that Heavenly Father had people for us to find in that 10:00 am hour instead of facebook. So we were pumped to go tract! Well guess what? We tracted and we met 4 people and we shared the He is the Gift video to them in one hour. MIRACLE! They all said we could come back too! Then we go to church and Brother Cooper a less active we have been working with was there! MIRACLE! Then church was amazing. I am so grateful for my Savior. Brother Edgerton in the ward said something that really stuck out to me "What are we going to give Christ this Christmas season?" I loved that. Then the rest of church was amazing. So we go to dinner at the Nash's. They got a new chocolate puppy so i held it trying to be nice and it licks all up my neck.... well after i set it down they were like are you allergic to dogs? I was like psh no i'm fine! hahah well i got to the bathroom to wash my hands and my neck is all welted up from the dog...... dumb dog. I was just trying to be a good missionary! I just tried to hide it with my hair all during dinner. Well after dinner we are doing these little candy gram referral Christmas things. They got some dessert, a Joy to the World, and a note for us to give to one of their friends. But i was like Sister Nash, why don't you come with us? She was so nervous!! So we hop in the car, said a prayer. Then went in and sang to this family, showed the He is the Gift Christmas video, then prayed with them. IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING LESSON EVER. Members are so key. They were all bawling. The Stone family we visited, their 3 girls have been to church before with the Nash girls. Also the Stone mom was asking Sister Nash questions about our faith. THEY ARE SO PREPARED. We left knowing they are going to be baptized soon. I cannot express my love for this strong member that was so scared but came out with us. And the amazing lesson that took place!

That is what Christmas is all about. Sharing what really matters most to us.... the true gospel. That experience changed my life forever. As I sat back and watched the member testify, as we let the spirit speak to them, they knew. It was amazing. This Christmas has been so different than my last one on my mission. Last year it wasn't as meaningful. This year I have discovered my Savior. I have felt his love, his strength, his comfort through out the year. I do have a relationship with my Savior. I am so grateful for. He is my brother, my friend, and my Redeemer. I honestly can say I don't care about the gifts, the parties, who's going to have us over for Christmas. I'm more worried about if others have that relationship. I hope you take time to Share the Gift this Christmas season, not with Gifts. But with your Testimony you have. Share if with someone who is in need, or who is struggling.

He is the Gift:

The first gift

Was not wrapped

Had no bow

Wasn't purchased online

Or in a store

The first gift of Christmas

Was a simple Gift

A sacred Gift

It wasn't gold

Or frankincense

Or myrrh