Mailed Letters From Peru MTC -

7-7-12 - (Letter Mailed Home)
     "Como estan? It's Saturday night at 6:20 PM. Not much to say but I know you guys like receiving letters from me haha. My companion's name is Elder Altez, he literally looks like he's 30 years old! Haha. He's really nice though and big, like muscle & tall. I could still take him though. He's from Argentina.

     My language is really picking up now. The MTC here isn't a magical place. You don't just learn things magically. You still have to work hard & practice a lot. But we do have advantages because there are Latinos everywhere so whenever I have a question hot to pronounce a word, I can get help pretty quick. But yeah, we had our first TRC together. TRC is when you teach a teacher the gospel so we did this & I can say mostly what I want to say. I'm having the hardest time understanding the language though. Ha-ha. I can usually pick bits and pieces out, but when they talk fast, I get lost! Ha-ha. I'm progressing though and my understanding has shot up big time. I made a goal to read the Book of Mormon every night out loud in Spanish. I'm also having a hard time to pronounce words so hopefully this will help. The teacher says that my grammar is really good and that I always conjugate my verbs and other elders don't. I don't know why they think grammar will come in the field. I think vice versa. You should know all the rules in the MTC, then learn new words out in the field. Oh well, they can do whatever they want. Ha-ha. So it seems like these letters are always about me! Pardon me.
7-9-12 - Sorry, I got caught up in a conversation and couldn't finish this letter on Saturday. It is now Monday the 9th and 7:27 am. I just finished breakfast and it was wonderful. We got to listen to Elder Ballard yesterday for a devotional. I never really listened to him in conference, but he gave a great talk. He talked about going on his mission (England) & preaching in front of a crowd of 500 people. It was his 2nd week & didn't know a whole lot. He said it was a disaster & made a promise that night that it would never happen again. He said he had a great mission. Ha. I hope that made sense.

Please call Zions and let them know I will be using my debit card in Ecuador. Missionaries have told me that their card is sometimes denied because of unusual activity so check that for me please!!

This past week was really good and I've learned a lot. I finished the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time and it's even better the 3rd time! Ha-ha."

Love you guys,
Elder Gates


7-14-12 (Letter Mailed Home)
     "Familia!
Hi, How's it going? I'm writing this letter on Saturday night. We just finished up proselyting. We went back to the first area (Rimse) and I had a blast again. I said my first thing to a legitimate less-active member today. I talked about how we are lucky to have prophets on the earth today and we can listen to things that Jesus & God want us to hear through the prophet.  I was able to say everything I wanted too. It's a good feeling to talk in Spanish ha-ha. I've made HUGE strides here in Peru. Dad, you are right about me picking up the language faster here. Whenever I have a question now to pronounce a word, I just find a Latino and I get my answer.

I really can't believe I'm about to head out to my mission. I'm almost 1/12 done with my mission. I met an Elder today at Rimse & he only has 3 more weeks for his mission. He didn't seem that excited to leave. He was really chill about it and I kind of got the impression that he doesn't want to go home. Ha, that's probably how I'll be in Ecuador. I've heard of so many people returning to Ecuador after their mission. They must have a lot of love for their mission. Everytime I talk to an elder who is from Ecuador, they always bring up how it's "mucho color!" which means it's really hot. I can't wait though. I believe I'll be leaving on the 23rd of July.

Sunday Night (15th) - Ha-ha, so this is a new day now. I had to do something last night. So I'm not going to write much tonight, I'm tired, Basically today we had a great day. We got to partake of the sacrament & I got to study more today. Ha-ha. I've definitely  changed these past  couple of months. I still can't believe I leave next week. I'm excited to leave & start my mission ha. It's not fun out here all the time but it's definitely worth it. Just from going to Lima & teaching has been worth every minuute of the mission. There is not a plan I would rather be than here. I've met a lot of new friends and my tesetimony has grown. Alright family, I gotta go to bed. It's exactly 10:30 here.

Love Elder Gates
PS: The British are coming! Remember that" . . . . (note from mom: Shady is simply random, thus these little remarks at the end of his letters mean nothing. He's just being Shady!)