Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty-Seven // "5 MONTHS LEFT!!"

This week was amazing again!! We have some solid investigators. I am so blessed to be able to serve here in Moreno valley, and be able to teach all these amazing people. So we have a baptism planned this weekend:) We are so excited! Her name is Gloria, she is so nervous to be baptized because its so different, but she said she feels so good.  She amazes me every time we have a lesson with her. We picked up another former named Maria, she almost got baptized before but her husband didn't want her to and did everything he could to stop her from being baptized. We invited them to our ward potluck and they came!! They loved it. We are really trying to include and work with her husband as well because she is on date and loves the church. So at our ward potluck, they were all dancing and it was so hard not to dance with them. So when we got home we turned on mexican music and tried to dance like them. I think were really good. We had multizones this week, we learned a lot about talking with people and about our savior. One quote that I really liked is "The Savior didn't give up on us, so don't give up on him." We can never ever give up. On sunday morning at ward council, I walked in and Obispo was like "HERMANITA!! You are the person i was looking for!" He told me that the ward pianist called and said she couldn't play cause she was sick so guess what... I had to play in sacrament, and then he continued to say that the ward choir had a special musical number so guess who had to play it... me... I had no time to even practice. I was so so nervous but i went good. I LIVED. We had 6 people come to church yesterday, it was amazing:) We hit standard too! We saw so many amazing miracles and we couldn't have done it without the help of the members.  Then last night we hear all these little hits at the window. The elders made marshmallow guns and attacked us. But the made some for us so its ok. I love this work, I truly do. There is no way I can deny the way i feel is from my Heavenly Father. I cant believe I only have 5 months left.. time has flown by! Also HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! I will be eating all day long. Have a great week everyone:)

Hermanita Gates:)

Christmas with Hermana Salas:)

So if you were wondering about birth control, you can look it up in the scriptures. 

This guy invited us to his church by playing his guitar and singing to us hahah he was a nice guy!

He invited everyone to church!

Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty-Six

This week was amazing:) Well at the first of the week, Miguel dropped us, he feels inclined to go to another christian church with the people he is living with. It made us so so sad. But he will be baptized one day! I have no doubts. We are teaching a couple named Elizabeth & Juan, all their kids are members but them. Elizabeth had some dreams and it made her realize that she needed to change her life and be baptized. Its been amazing teaching Elizabeth because she has Arthritis and so i know how she feels. They both accepted baptism and are on date for the 14th:) We are working with Gloria Ortiz, I have never met a woman so determind to know if the church really is true.  With the help of the spirit, and some fellowshippers, she is progressing very well. All of her kids are different religions so she is so confused. BUT I know she will come to know that this is the only true church on the earth. We put a guy named Carlos on date, we found him outside one day as we were walking the streets, taught him the first lesson, and he accepted baptism. I've come to know that all you have to do is teach something simple, testify and ask if they will be baptized. The spirit works in miraculous ways!! This saturday, we went over to visit a less active. They told us they knew without a doubt the church was true, they just had one doubt. How did joseph smith see God and Jesus Christ with his natural eyes when moses said he couldnt see God with his natural eyes, only his spiritual eyes. All we did was think Transfiguration, and looked it up in the index to find a scripture with the answer. We found D&C 67:11. We testified that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. So Joseph Smith must had to have been transfigured. Hno Sanchez started crying. He told us that he has asked people and they havent ever been able to answer it. We taught them that to look for answers, look in the index, topical guide, or bible dictionary. He told us he always knew how special missionaries were.  And then the next day at church he came up to me and said he knew that what we told him was true and that Jesus Christ had to have been special to do everything he did. He told us that finding that answer for him changed his life. It was the most special moment for me, to be able to help in the simple process of bringing them back to church again. Then they told us we needed to spend the whole day of thanksgiving with them haha we got two other dinners too. So this thanksgiving all we will be doing is eating. Im trying to mentally prepare for it. This work is amazing. Ahh I have grown to love the people here so much.  Some things that i have learned this week are :1. God doesn't give us knowledge of the outcome but he gives us strength to overcome our challenges in faith

2. Are we prepared to leave our comfort zones to reach a better place?

Every day i have the opportunity to talk with everyone i see, teach in this language that im still trying to learn, getting rejected, getting accepted, studying the gospel everyday for 4 hours, and lots of other things. I have the chance to be here getting out of my comfort zone everyday to share the gospel. How great is my calling?! I know without a doubt this is the true church. I know that God loves every single one of his children more than they can imagine. Christ is my example. I hope we can all strive to become like him everyday. Because we are all human, we mess up everyday, but we can't ever give up trying. I love you all and hope you have a good week:)

Just enjoying our recliners.

Believe for Britton:)

Our attempts at taking picys hahahha

We got a nice surprise this morning from the elders haha

When i tell you we eat a lot i mean it. 

Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty-Five

This week was amazing. I have never been so busy, felt so much love, or seen so many miracles in one week. To start off my week I had another baby!! I didn't have to push for too long before i knew who she was haha we were in a meeting and right after President pulled me aside and said that he was going to put me with Hermana Lindsey. He said "She has been through a lot. She has had cancer, skin cancer, she has anxiety and depression, and its not good when she gets stressed. Will you be her companion?" Of course i said yes. Then everyone else found out later who their companions were. She is amazing. She is teaching me more than i think i'm teaching her and i'm totally okay with that.  She speaks spanish like a champ, she speaks way better than she understands but i'm am so impressed!! This week we have been so busy!! This week we put like 5 people on date, that is crazy!! 2 of them fell off date cause they didn't come to church, but we have some solid people. La familia Vargus brought their sobrino to church and after sacrament meeting i went up to him and asked if we could go visit him, he said he is too busy. Then after gospel principles class i felt like i needed to ask again and he said yes, he said he feels safe, like he can believe in something. So that night we went to the Vargus' house and put him on date for the 30th! Mostly every person we put on date wasn't from this big gigantic spiritual lesson, but from a little message and just simply asking them to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. The gospel is simple! One simple question, action, or comment can change everything.  I cannot help but be so grateful for this opportunity i have to serve, in the best mission in the whole wide world. SO MANY people are ready to hear the gospel. Its been really awesome for me, to be training again. Sometimes lessons are hard cause i have to do them by myself, cause Hermana Lindsey cant understand, or zones out(it happens haha) But i have seen the gift of tongues work. I love these people with all my heart and I only want the best for them. 

This week as I was studying I really thought about the trials that we have and why we go through them, so i read some talks and some scriptures. I started reading in D&C 121:7-8  which talks about our afflictions will be but a small moment, and if we endure it will be well we will be exalted on high. This is when Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail. And then i continued to read D&C 122. And it had a lot of "if" statements and it made me think of all the if statements we make. Como if i fail my test, if i get rejected talking to someone about the gospel. 
In this chapter there is 15 if statements.  And then at the end of vs 7 it says "know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." I know that everything we go through is for our good, to give us experience. Then in vs. 8 it says "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? We will never suffer the amount that Christ suffered. And then in vs 9 it says "Fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever"  WE ARE NEVER ALONE:)  Then D&C 123:17 states something so powerful, but so simple: Do your best and the Lord will do the rest. I know that we go through different things for a reason. What God wants for us isn't always what we want, but its always going to be for our good, and for our opportunity to grow. I love this quote "Joseph knew that if he were to stop going forward with this great work, his earthly trials would probably ease. But he could not stop, because he knew who he was, he knew for what purpose he was placed on earth, and he had the desire to do Gods will." When life gets tough, just keep swimming!! Its like Finding Nemo, nemo gets caught by a scuba diver, so of course his dad goes to look for him. He meets Dori, and they go through all these obstacles. There is one thing that Dori always says: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming! I know that we will be more blessed if our faith isn't to change circumstances, but to endure them. Never doubt your faith. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. I love you all so much!!  I hope you have such a great week:)

Love Hermanita Gates:)

I made her feel so awkward hahhaha

Said bye to our room mates:(

Me and Hermana Soto have the same shoe size so we switched haha:)

Sister Macey Gates // Week Fifty-Four // "I'm Having Another Baby"

This week i have truly learned how much God loves his children, and that he has a plan for every single one of us. Its makes me so sad to hear about Britton, but i have felt so much peace, i know everything will be okay. Something that we don't always look at is how the atonement works. In order for us to learn and progress, we have to go through trials, good and bad. But we always have christ right by our side if we are keeping the commandments and doing whats right. Christ paid for everything. Absolutely everything. There is no need to complain, about anything cause christ already took care of it. In order for us to use the atonement, we have to feel somewhat of what christ went through. With this pain and sorrow, we feel Gods love, if we turn to him, and have faith in him. In our trials is when we learn the most. We must always ask ourself what really matters? We must always have an eternal perspective. This lifetime is so short, its a time to prepare to meet our Heavenly Father. To help us prepare he gave us the gospel of Jesus Christ, the scriptures, the prophets, to guide us back to our heavenly father. God wants all of his children to make it back to him, but its up to us to choose that path, to have faith, to repent everyday, and to keep the commandments. We walk by faith, every single day. And faith without works is dead. Every single day we have to commit to living a christ-like life, serving others, doing as he would. As we come unto him, he will give us rest. I know this church is true. God loves all of you more than you could ever imagine. Never loose faith. John 14:27

So i got some good news:) Im having another baby! I get to train again:) And this time by myself. Im super excited!! And i'm staying in Moreno Valley! Since it was halloween this week, we got the chance to carve pumpkins with a few families, super fun! One girl asked me what i was for Halloween(cause we were going to go to a ward halloween  party after) And i told her to guess. (So i had this orange skirt on, with a white shirt and a brown cardigan) She said "Hermana Gates are you a cigarette?"...I was dying. It was so funny!! I said no, i'm trying to be a pumpkin. She told me i definitely looked like a cigarette... as we were leaving "BYE CIGARETTE" haha so funny! For dinner on halloween, we ate cow cheek tacos. They didn't tell me what it was at first, they just said it was from a cow. It was so good so i ate 6 haha then they told me it was cow cheek. I would definitely eat it again! Then Halloween night we went to the stake center with our zone and played chair soccer for about 2 hours and then we watched the Best 2 Years. It was a super fun Halloween:) As for our investigators, Miguel the kid that we have been working with is not doing good, he got kicked out of his house, he came to church but didn't talk to anyone. We went to look for him at home and we found him sitting on the curb with a cigarette behind his ear, waiting to smoke it. We tried so hard to talk with him, to help him out. He wouldn't listen. He was crying too. It made me so sad to see him like that. I just started bawling when i got in the car. I just want the best for everyone. We did have a less active family come to church! And a former investigator called us on her own for directions for the church and came! Im super excited to take over this area and train again. We dropped Hermana Ashby off this morning and she was just freaking out she was so excited to go to Argentina haha i'm so excited for her! Today is crazy, i don't have a companion right now, we have to clean our appt. and switch the elders! Its gonna be a crazy day! Never forget how much i love all of you.

Hermana Gates:)

The cheetah, pumpkin, and penguin

Happy Halloween:)

This is Cosita hehe she is a fluffy dog!

She's off to Argentina!