Sister Mitzi Gates // Week Seventy-Eight

Well this week we had some great lessons: 

First off Kaitlyn and John are doing great. We had a church tour with them yesterday! We walked around and showed them all around. John actually lived in Utah for a couple years when he was a teenager. So he actually went to church with members, and randomly took seminary. But they also had their son Johnny with them. As we were walking around John pulled Johnny aside and said "see this temple? I've been there and it's beautiful. I wish I could go inside!" He was so proud he knew all about it. It brought back great memories for him. I know he felt the spirit again and was able to recognize that. We had Ben, a member come too. They really want to come to church, they just work. They will be our next baptism though. John kept saying "Say we do join the Mormon church..." 

Last week at church a new family came to church, the Newmans! He is a member and she isn't, and she has two kids. Well we beat the elders to them! It kind of gets competitive sharing a Ward with the Zone Leaders. But it's all the same work so it's all good;) but we drove out to metropolis, Illinois and had a crazy first lesson. They fed us bbq even though we just got done with dinner. Then we shared the restoration! They already read the BOM together they just had no idea what it was about. So we explained it all. She will get baptized!! Her mom is totally baptist and doesn't help with opposition at all. 

Lucian is getting baptized this Sunday because his mom, who isn't a member had to work this last Sunday. So that will be great:) 

We also did a blitz in Foxcroft, Illinois. We had district meeting up there so we each took one of the Sisters and just did a couple hours of Tracting. I went with Sister Ellis again. Gosh I love her! Haha we ran into some great people. 

Also yesterday Brother Lee Syphus parents came into town, they live in st. George, and we had dinner with them last night! They are so great. His mom went to school with uncle Tyler. Then his dad had Grandpa Gates as a teacher. She is also good friends with Lori Hafen. It was so fun to meet them! Such a small world in the church. 

We got one of our less actives, Veronica, to come to church yesterday.... Well in the middle of relief society her phone went off...... "Don't drop that da da da yeahhh don't drop that da da da" oh my gosh. She couldn't get it to turn off so she was talking real loud so people wouldn't hear it. Hahah the spirit was gone real quick. 

Also at the end of the month we have a hard time getting a hold of people because their minutes run out.......... It's a struggle. #governmentphones 

Also I saw a drug deal. Right in front of my eyes. Like the hand off, switch, and everything. So crazy. 

Despite all the crazy things that are going on. It's nice to be able to turn to our Savior. I feel like this last week has been full of that. I know that no matter how many times we pray, asking for help, he will hear and answer in his own way. Often through others, the scriptures, or our own thoughts, but he does answer. 

I love from general conference the talk about The Music of the Gospel:

"The dance steps of the gospel are the things we do; the music of the gospel is the joyful spiritual feelings that comes from the Holy Ghost." 

I love you all!! Have a great week:) 

Sister Gates

Dinner with the Syphus family!! They are from St. George!‏

Just going to Illinois. Love love love these drives out in the country.

Met this Evangelist walking down the road!! Bless his heart.‏

KFC in Kentucky. Tastes so much better;)‏

This week is quilt week!! So excited. We are going there for p day:)‏

Sister Mitzi Gates // Week Seventy-Seven

I cannot tell you how much I love Paducah!

Lucian is the 9 year old boy we are teaching! He is getting baptized

on the 19th!! Wahoo. We had great lessons with him this week. His mom

who isn't a member sat in on a couple of the lessons and came to

church on Sunday! We're excited to start teaching his mom too.

Well this week we went on exchanges with the Fulton Sisters. I stayed

in Paducah with Sister T. (Tongue gotta hola que pa) is how you say

her real name. This is my fourth exchange with Sister T. Haha I feel

like I have been companions with her. She is one humble sister.

We had district meeting and we also had interviews with President

Andersen. I have thee best mission president in the world. Gosh I love

them both. We talked about the area, the investigators and some

sisters. Then he asked me a question... I don't even remember what it

was. I just remember him saying "Looking back on your mission..." And

I just bawled. You can't ask a question like that!! Haha not cool. He

just said how proud he was and how proud Heavenly Father was.

Saturday evening I got a call from Brother Stewart in the bishopric.

He said "I heard you are going home soon! Will you give a talk

tomorrow?" Sure. So I spoke on Faith and service. And it was so fun to

study that topic. All I can say is the spirit was with me and I had

extra help. I just sat down and knew family members on the other side

were there helping.

I got my first mosquito bit of the year yesterday. They are the worst!

Also everywhere we go it smells like green onions. There are wild

onions everywhere!

We had an amazing lesson with Kaitlyn and John Stevens!! Ben Jenkins,

a member came with us. But we went in and we waited a little bit for

John, but he was at work so we just started. Well we talked about the

plan of salvation. I got out my little plan of salvation lay out & we

did that. I asked Kaitlyn, "where do you think we came from before we

came to earth?" She was really stumped. She thought it was a great

question! The spirit was totally there. We taught and taught and

taught her the whole plan. She just kept saying, "it just makes

sense!" "Most of this is what I do believe!" So cool! We shared

scripture, Ben bore a powerful testimony a couple times and it was

great!! By the time we got to the end John had showed up! Well he

walked in and Ben said he knew him from somewhere. Well come to find

out 10 years ago they worked at Olive Garden together! They hit it off

great. John was more open to us.thank you members who come to lessons!

Kaitlyn got all excited and said, "Ask John the question you asked me

about where we came from before we came to earth!" Haha so I did. He

didn't know. So we said Kaitlyn will explain it to you for now, and

we'll teach it to you later! John said "Well when can we set up

another appointment to do this again?!" A missionaries dream response

right there. So we set up a time for a church tour next Sunday, April

19th, 2015. Wahoo! We were so pumped. The spirit was so strong. My

heart was so full! I LOVE teaching the plan of salvation. I LOVE being

able to see people change. I LOVE being a missionary.

Have a great week!! Love you all.




Sister Gates

We decorated Jerris car for her birthday with cupcake sticky notes. She's an investigator.‏

Tennessee St. In Kentucky................. (Thanks for the skirt Mace!)‏

Going to an appointment on Donielle's birthday with the top down!!‏

Doing an Easter Egg activity + scriptures with Malia, Jenna and Andrew!! More investigators.‏

After interviews and district meeting the Foxcroft sisters came over and had dinner with us!‏

Helping decorate for Mormon Prom was thee most stressful & funniest thing. Elders think they know it all... Not a good idea.‏

Exchanges with Sister T! We were sad this was our last exchange.... We've been on four. She's practically one of my companions.‏

This is my p day outfit today! Skirt and shoes complimentary of Mace.‏

Next week is nation quilt week in Paducah... You bet we are going to the national quilting museum!! Haha‏

Sister Mitzi Gates // Week Seventy-Six

Such an amazing week. The Lord has truly blessed us as we labored in

his vineyard this week!!

We set a goal of 20 member presents. We ended up getting 22 for the

week. That is huge!! Like usually people get between 5-7. We got 9

RCLAs & 6 other lessons. That's a total of 37 lessons this week. All I

can say is this ward is pumped on missionary work & the Lord is

preparing and providing people for us to teach. I love Paducah. I love

the people. I love my mission.

With that Bella, our investigator who was progressing turned out to be

a crazy compulsive liar. Like it was pretty crazy. Haha so we dropped

her.

Lucian is a little 9 year old boy we are teaching. We did a little

Easter activity at the church on Sunday before conference started. He

then said, "Can I see the baptism place?" We said yes. We showed it to

him and he randomly said, "I'm going to get baptized at the end of the

month, me and Granny talked about it!" Haha there you have it. We will

have a baptism with Lucian this month. We are so excited! He was too!

I went on exchanges in Foxcroft, Illinois with my old MTC companion

Sister Ellis. I love her so much. I spent about 3 days up there. It's

crazy how different Tennessee is from Kentucky and how different

Kentucky is from Illinois. Illinois is not considered "The South"... I

learned my lesson up there. Everyone is huge Cardinal fans too. Like

decked out porches & cars. But we saw SO many miracles. We shared the

Because He Lives video with so many people. It was so amazing to see

how different we both are now from when we started. Complete change.

We also had Zone Meeting on Tuesday. I gave a training on "Bearing

testimonies frequently". I was the last to give a training. So I'd

been feeling the spirit the whole meeting. Then Elder V gets up and

asks us to take off our tags. Then he gave a training on who we are

and how we can never stop being a missionary. I bawled. I never ever

want to take my tag off. It was really hard for me to. Then I was very

emotional during my training. But I had people come up after and say

they have never felt the spirit so much in a Zone Meeting then when I

gave my training. I had to bear my testimony of bearing testimonies.

It was such an amazing experience.

Everyone was pretty bummed about the UK loss on Saturday.. Haha that's

the big talk wherever we go. Who knew their were so many diehard fans

who really were upset by those 7 points.

Wasn't General Conference the best? It always comes at a time when I

need it most. I loved how much they talked about our Savior! I have

learned that you can listen to conference and think it's good. Or you

can listen to conference, think it's good, and make changes in your

life!! Elder Renlund & Elder Pino both spoke in General conference &

they both have came and visited and spoke in my mission. That was

really cool to see them personally, then in conference. They truly are

called men of God. There is nothing more satisfying to your spirit

than when you hear the words and testimonies of the prophet and

apostles.

Make sure you re read// listen to all the talks. Blessings and

spiritual witnesses will come.

Love you all!!




Sister Gates








Zone Meeting with the Paducah Zone!! Seriously love them all.‏












Exchanges with Sister Ellis in Foxcroft, Illinois!! Yes that's a toilet in the front yard. Yes that's a church pew on someone's front porch. Yes southern Illinois is pretty dang rural... Because they don't consider theirselves "the south"





An amazing couple in Illinois I just loved so fast, for such a short time. Yes it's possible!! Jo & Julie.‏









Some Easter celebrations we did. Decorated doors & did Easter egg hunts with candy & scripture verses!‏







Exchanges with my MTC companion!! Hahah I sure love her. We started together & ended together.‏





Sister Simmons came out with us!! Sure love all these members.‏