Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty-Three // " YEAR MARK!"

Crazy good week! First off we hit our year mark...oh my hillbillies time is going by way too fast. Its been such a great and adventurous year!! Funny story. So the other night we were eating with a member and holy cow she fed us a mountain of food, i almost started crying cause she wouldn't stop giving it to us. So the last thing she gave us was a piece of cheesecake, jello, and a bowl of tapioca or something like that. I had to figure out a plan to get rid of it. There was no way i could do it.  Hermana Pfeil went to the bathroom and she luckily finished her food. And Hermana Angles was in the kitchen, so i threw half my cheesecake across the table to Pfeil's plate and my jello on Ashby's plate. And then she still wasn't looking so i threw all of my cheesecake on her plate, well i ate a piece. We were laughing so hard. Pfeil was so mad, but she ended up not eating it. And thats how you get rid of the food you cant eat. This week, we helped one of our gators grandmas chop some of her tree down, it was pretty sweet.  We celebrated my year mark by getting ice cream at Baskin Robbins, Butter Pecan mom, i knew you would be proud;) We heard this awesome story of one of our members crossing the border, 8 1/2 months pregnant, jumping over the wall and sprinting for 5 min to the gas station. Pretty intense. We actually did Zumba with her this morning, i just didn't know if i was aloud to shake my butt like she wanted us to. This week we had time before our dinner appt. So we walked, we found these little black girls sitting outside,(so were in this ghetto area) And this 3 year old black girl just comes and gives me a big hug. She hugged me for about 5 min and didn't let go. My heart melted and i know she didn't have the best life.  I just wanted to hug that little girl forever. I definitely wont ever forget that moment. The other night we didn't know where to go cause our appt. had canceled, so we prayed. I felt impressed to go see a part member family. We had 2 options, on on one side of our area, and one of the other. We decided to go check one of them out more south of our area, they weren't home. BUT it was a miracle that we did choose that side cause we met an awesome guy named Rodrigo. He is a single dad, got a divorce and is still trying to get through it. He has a bible but has never opened it. He wants to change, he just doesn't know how. What a blessing it was to be in that area, to find Rodrigo and his kids. This Sunday was the primary program. All the primary kids dressed up in white. Talk about the cutest angels i've ever seen. The spirit was so strong. And then that night we had a baptism:) It was Miguel, the dad of the family we just baptized. What a special baptism to be apart of! In a year the get to go to the temple to be sealed:) Then we asked a recent convert Francisco to give the prayer... he's kinda interesting but we thought it would be good for him. So i'm sitting at the piano up in front, he gets up there and starts to introduce himself, then share stories/quotes from his bible book he got at Walmart. Oh my i have never prayed so hard for what i needed to do. Finally he started saying the prayer. Just gotta love those people:) Ashby got a call from president and will be leaving to Argentina next week! It makes me so sad cause i love that girl so much but she will be amazing:) Then we got a test from the AP's, they gave us a scripture to read: D&C 103:36. If that scripture doesn't make you feel good i don't know what does. Yesterday our zone had 5 baptisms! We are seeing so many miracles!!!!!!! I love this work:) I love you all and i hope you have an amazing week!

Hermana Gates:)

Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty-Two

I am so happy and grateful for the opportunity i have to serve in the best mission in the world. This week was definitely an adventure, and yet we almost hit standard. Talk about a miracle:) Tuesday we had Elder Evans come and he definitely brought us to repentance haha it was awesome. We learned a lot about fasting, the purpose of fasting is not to gain something, its to draw closer to god, to be more available to hear the whisperings of the spirit to be able to guide us, we do not bargain with God. All God wants for us is for his spirit to be with us. I also loved what he said about repentance, Never doubt your repentance or his forgiveness once you have felt it. Its been so important in our missions to help people know that because there are so many people who think they haven't repented good enough or been forgiven enough. Through Jesus christ our heavenly father is so merciful. I also loved what sister Evans said, "When your investigators aren't progressing, think about your self.. are you progressing?" There is so much awesomeness to learn!! We finally got to move apartments!! Our other one smelled like weed every single day. So pretty much we moved everything in 3 hours, furniture and everything. Us sisters can move it move it!! haha we got fro yo after we were pretty proud of ourselves;) We met this lady named Marlene, she is a single mom, and has 6 kids, 2 of which are handicapped. The first night we taught her she was super stubborn, but then she broke down. She has had such a hard life, then her handicapped daughter started freaking out punching her moms face and swearing and telling her she was nothing. It was so sad:( I just prayed that she would be able to calm down. But Marlene was super happy to see us again, we are really trying hard to figure out her true needs cause she has met missionaries before. Both of our Miguel gators are on track to being baptized, one this sunday and the other on the next. It been so amazing to see the change. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!! Thank you for all the birthday wishes, it was such a peaceful awesome day. We were able to share the restoration in english at a baptism, it was a little challenging, we forgot how to say so many words, but the only thing that matters was that the spirit was there. Such a great week. I love you all!:)

Hermana Gates:)

Me and my homie Seiola!!

We made tortillas:) I passed the test!

 Welcome to Moval!

My birthday:)

Vicky, Marlenes girl that is handicapped:)

Check out how funny this picey is!!

Thanks for the game Mitz:)

Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty-One

This week was AWESOME!!! First of all we got to go to the temple, and sister staker, she cant hear so they had the words up on the screen, holy cow you learn a lot when you can read whats going on.  It made so much more sense. I love the feeling that comes from the temple. I literally stayed in the Celestial room for 30 min haha and i could so i did haha it was awesome. We saw the movie Meet the Mormons, its amazing right??? The last part got me, yep it did, i shed a few tears cause i remembered the morning i left for my mission. I was talking to this lady in the parking lot and she told me that she had seen the movie, it was the best thing thats ever happened to me! I was so proud of her and i just wanted to teach her more, but her mom was super catholic so she said no. So we totally played this game, the ABC oyms, so someone picks a word and you have to use those in your oyms, so the three we used were, apricot, barks(like a dog bark), and coleslaw, we are so funny, it was a blast!! I find the greatest joy just talking to people. I love when people have beer cause i get to bring them to repentance, of course in a loving way. I gotta stick up for what i believe ya know?? Thats my job. We met this drunk asian dude, it was pretty dang funny, i prayed so hard for the gift of tongues but he was totally drunk so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.  We have 2 solid investigators, Miguel and Miguel.  Miguel is the father of the family we just baptized, he always texts us thanking us for teaching him and his family, he will either get baptized this weekend or next, depending on work. I have such a strong testimony of talking to everyone. The other Miguel was someone that we found on the street, he is 20 years old, and was teaching all these little kids how to skateboard. My comps didn't wanna talk to him but i felt that i should. We introduced him to the For the strength of youth folleto and he told us that we were put in his path for a reason. We were able to teach him a couple time this week and he totally came to church and loved it!! And now we are teaching his dad too. And Miguel is on date for Nov 2. We are seeing so many miracles, ITS AMAZING!! I was able to finish the book of mormon this week, gosh i just love it!! My comps make fun of me every companion study cause i love it so much. I know its true with all my heart. They told me i should read the bible too. Im trying but i really just like the BOM haha Such a solid week, such a solid time to be out here in the mission. I get to learn something every single day. I love you all!!! Have such a great week:)!!

Love Hermanita Gates:) 

My celestial room buddies:)

Meet the mormons, we had popcorn no worries;)

I saw glenny on exchanges!!

crossfit!!

Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty

Conference was absolutely amazing right??? When they said in conference that more and more people would be denying Joseph Smith they were completely right! So many people just wanted to bash with us this week it was crazy. But it really has strengthened my testimony. I will never ever deny the faith that i have even if a million  people tried to get me to. There is absolutely no way this church isnt true. I know with all my heart it is true. This week we found a long lost member, from mexico. I was oyming in the parking lot and she honked at me to come talk to her, so we went and visited her a few days later. She is like 60 years old and was baptized when she was 12, but then was put into a border school and didnt ever go back to church. She didnt even know that meant she was a member. BUT she is getting taken care of:) So this week we helped someone move, we moved this 1500 lb piano, it was crazy, but service is my favorite thing so it was a complete blast. So one morning we went to go and get our car fixed, there was a recall, so we start talking with this black lady and she thought it was so cool that we had our skirts down to our knees.. she was like " Girl i aint about to wear my skirt to my knees! But i like whatchu do" Its was so so funny. And then she calls her friend and was like " Hey girlfriend, im just hangin out wit my friends, girl they got their skirts to their knees!!" Funniest thing ever. So every day we have a skirt check..like girl you wearin your skirt to yo knees?? ALSO everyone go watch Meet the Mormons, and tell everyone too. Man conference was amazing, im pretty sure i wrote it all down haha i loved the question: Which way do you face? and What would you think if you had an interview with our savior in 1 min? Now is the time to share the gospel. Never deny the faith that you have, hold strong. I love this gospel, this work is amazing. 

I love yall (hehe)

Love Hermanita Gates:) Chao