6-3-13
Okay
so I’m going to get my new companion tomorrow. His name is Elder Arreaga. I don’t
know I think I’m going to be trained as district leader. I was called to be a district leader
like 1 and a half weeks ago so I can’t wait to start training. I’m not sure if I’m
training a new missionary, but you will find out next week.
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| Elder Castro . Erik . Elder Gates . Elder Balda |
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| Elder Gates . Erik . Elder Balda |
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| Erik |
Okay so this past week was a blast,
an absolute blast. We had 3 baptisms last week. And I have a funny story too. Okay
so Erik, he’s the teenage boy, he was baptized on Friday, and the girl and the
guy were going to be baptized on Saturday, but something in the night ha-ha.
the guy got baptized, that was easy, the little girl, she was really excited to
be baptized, but the minute she was about to enter the baptismal font, she got
scared and didn’t want to enter. The bishop, her mom, her sisters, me, my comp,
and like 5 other brethren were trying to get her excited but she didn’t want to
be baptized. Idk I was a little frustrated, but hey, what can you do? So early
in the morning on Sunday, we went to her house with a sister that has helped us
teach her, and we woke her up and 7 in the morning. The sister got her excited again so then she decided to get baptized. My comp and Elder Balda went and looked
for investigadores to take to church, and I went with the mission leader and the 2nd counselor of the ward to the church to fill the font. The little girl
arrived with her cousin and the sister that helped us get her excited. Finally
this girl was baptized in the morning, at 8 in the morning, and she got
confirmed in front of the ward at 915.
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| Taken Saturday Night |
 |
| Okay this picture was
taken on Sunday morning; notice that you can see me with a very big smile. I
was smiling like a crazy person in the morning so that this girl wouldn’t get
sad. ha-ha. |
Yeah I was not happy because I had to
change my clothes, and I also forgot garments so I was sitting in the church
with wet garments, but in the end, I was very excited and grateful because I
know on Saturday, that was only a trial. I wanted so bad to drink or eat
something on Saturday night when we got home (we were fasting) but we kept on
praying, continued the fast, and the next day, she was baptized. Yeah I know
the fast is one very powerful instrument.
Okay so next week I'll send pics of my companion. I don’t think
we are going to have baptisms this week. We are going to see. Okay thanks for
the email everyone!!!! Ok and another thing, that’s too bad about the deer hunts;
I guess we will hunt together next year ha!!!!
Fotos:
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| Elder Lemich from Cedar City, UT - Same Zone |
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| Elder Whitney, Elder Gates' zone leader in Cuenca and sent to Shaydon's zone to end his mission. Elder Gates is going to miss him:) |
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| Elder Gomez from Columbia |
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| The gringo is my zone
lider (leader). His dad is a mission Presidente in Ohio. His name is Elder Nilsen; he has been a great zone leader. He
has helped me out a ton to be a district leader |
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| Elder Cruz. I met
elder Cruz in Cuenca; he was a witness of my birth as a missionary |
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| The familia Lozano. Yeah
if you guys come down to Ecuador, I will want you guys to know this family. They
are awesome |
6-10-13
Hey guys how’s it going!! Okay so I
have got some good news for ya. I’m training and yeah my new son is named Elder
Arreaga. He’s from Ecuador. He is waiting for his visa to enter Mexico so he
will be with me for a little time I think. He’s cool, I will send a picture.
Okay
so we had a great week. We literally started the week with nothing, we had to
find new people and put new baptism dates. We were able to end the week with 4
new baptism dates! These 4 are really solid for the 22nd of June. Keep praying everyday so we can colocar
new baptismal dates and everything. Okay so everything is going good here. I
have some other good news about a few people. Urbano received the priesthood
yesterday!!!!! Urbano and Erick, yeah my 2 converts are now priesthood holders ha-ha.
Yeah I’m excited to watch them bless and pass the sacrament.
Okay so it was a really fast week. We
aren’t going to have baptisms this week, but for sure 4 on the 22nd of June and
we need to find people this week to baptize on the 29 of June. Our president is
leaving in like 3 weeks. Wow I cannot believe he will be leaving us. I’m going
to miss him. I had an interview with him on Thursday. He told me don’t lose one
minute of your mission because the time passes really fast. I told him yeah
this time has passed by really fast. I’m going to have 13 months here soon ha-ha
wow.
Okay family thanks for everything I
love you lots. Congrats Clint for your award. That’s awesome keep up the good
work buddy. Okay family goodbye
6-17-13
So
how are you guys doing this week? I had a fantastic week. Me and my son are
having a lot of success here in Batallon. We took 10 people to church on Sunday,
and we currently have 6 baptisms planned for this Saturday. If all works out,
we will baptize these 6. These 6 people are really excited and I don’t think
there will be a problem with any one of them. 1 of the people that will be baptized
is called Jonathan. . . . . He’s been going to church and doing really good. His home life isn't the best situation so he started to live with
the family of his girlfriend. This family are members of the church, remember
the family Lozano? So yeah he started to live with them and he committed to
obey the law of chastity and everything.... well, for living in the same house
as his girlfriend, there was a misunderstanding and they first said he couldn't be baptized. So yeah that was a little
discouraging because he’s just there
because he doesn’t have a place to live. So yeah that happened, but last Saturday,
the bishop called me and wanted to talk to me. After a lot of communication & discussion with the mission president, the bishop and zone leaders, Jonathan
got permission and was good to go to be baptized...... FINALLY!!! Ha-ha He has 14 years and he
is a really good kid and he can be a missionary in 4 years... that would be
awesome..
Okay so pray really hard for us to that we can baptize these 6
people, I will send pictures don’t worry next week ha-ha. Pray hard so we have
support and so we know what we need to do in each moment. love you guys a lot,
thanks for everything, I still don’t know if I’m going to stay in this mission
or not with the newly added missions in Ecuador. I think I will, I hope so. Okay family peace!!!!
6-22-13 ~ Mom's Side Note: Elder Gates' Grandma Goodwin passed peacefully away on Saturday, June 22nd, 2013. It was a bitter sweet day where some of us were mourning our loss and Elder Shaydon Gates celebrating a special day of 6 convert baptisms far away in Ecuador! I was able to get permission from our Bishop to call Shaydon Sunday evening to give him the news of his sweet grandmother's passing. So relieved we were able to get in touch with him and that I still had his phone number from calling him on Mother's day. The news saddened him and he was too choked up to talk very long but his voice gave me comfort and I was glad he could hear the news from me by phone. He had a special relationship with his grandma and was able to talk with her on the phone the day after Mother's day to which I'm forever grateful:)
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| Elder Shaydon Gates & Grandma Goodwin - 5.23.12 |
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| 5-23-12 - Final hug goodbye on his way to the MTC |
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| The last card Grandma hand wrote to Shaydon while on his mission. I felt inspired to take a picture of her hands while writing it:) |
6-24-13
Subject: Pictures First!!
I hope these pictures can
cheer you up, yes we had 6 baptisms! The best picture of all..... The 6
baptisms!!!!!! Yeah as you can see, I’m very happy ha-ha. This was an emotional night
for me. After all the hard work, we were able to get 6 baptisms
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| 6 Special Baptisms on 6.22.13 - I'm sure Grandma Goodwin was one of the angels witnessing this special event:) |
The first picture is of 2 twins that complete 9
years on Saturday.
Their mom is less active and doesn’t go to church; they always go to church,
the kids. So when they complete 9 years, they were considered baptisms of the
missionary work, so we were able to baptize them. They are the
coolest kids ever. Their brother is preparing to serve a mission.
This lady’s name is Virginia; she separated
from her husband (called husband, even though they're not legally married) to be baptized. I think they are planning on getting married; I
can see her husband being a bishop. Her husband was baptized like 2 months ago
in another ward. Yeah Virginia was a great investigador. We were
walking in the street, and she pulled up in her car and told us, "hey what
do I need to do to receive classes from you guys" yeah so we went to her
house, taught her, she went to church twice and was baptized!!
Okay so we baptized a lady named Cecilia and her daughter
Gabriela, this baptism was very special, and I able to baptize the 2. They are going
to be strong members of the church.
This is Jonathan, we were finally able to baptize him!! And Erick, the kid that
was baptized the 2 of June, baptized Jonathan. Yeah it was cool seeing my
convert baptizing my other convert. They are really good friends, it was awesome
seeing this baptism
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| Elder Gates . Erick . Jonathan . Elder Arreaga |
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| Lozano Family |
Cooking and Eating patacones
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| Brother Zamorah |
If you guys come to pick me up, Brother Zamorah will
be our taxi guy. He is the guy that always takes us everywhere, he’s a great
guy, and I’m going to miss him a lot
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| Last few days with Elder Arreaga |
Subject:
Now for the letter
Okay so thanks for calling last night, it shocked me when you
guys called. I knew something was strong when I saw the number. I kinda shouted
when you called like "What are they doing!!" but after I realized
that you guys know the rules, and that something must have happened in the
family. I didn’t want to answer the first time, but the second time, my
companion took the phone and wanted to talk, he doesn’t talk English if his life
depended on it, so I decided to take the phone call. But yeah it was very
shocking last night; I’m very relieved to know that it all happened smoothly,
that she passed away with peace. In the past week, we taught the plan of
salvation like 6 times, so I know that grandma is in paradise waiting for the resurrection
to happen. I’m glad that you guys are all doing really well. I love you guys a
ton, always know that, and I pray for everyone of you every day.
Okay so I do have changes today, I’m going to Santa Rosa. I’ll
be close to where I was in El Guabo. Remember that sector? Santa Rosa is right
next to El Guabo. I might see some people that I met there. It’s supposedly a
really good zone so I will have a lot of baptisms ha-ha. I looked at my
district and all the missionaries in my district are sister missionary’s ha-ha. Ha-ha so yeah it’s
going to be fun doing interviews.
Okay family thanks for all the emails, thanks for all your
prayers. I love you guys a ton, I got a little mixed up with the pictures so
good luck matching the fotos with the caption, okay thanks for everything!! Goodbye!!
The first picture is of 2 twins that complete 9
years on Saturday.
Their mom is less active and doesn’t go to church; they always go to church,
the kids. So when they complete 9 years, they were considered baptisms of the
missionary work, so we were able to baptize them. They are the
coolest kids ever. Their brother is preparing to serve a mission. 
This lady’s name is Virginia; she separated
from her husband (called husband, even though they're not legally married) to be baptized. I think they are planning on getting married; I
can see her husband being a bishop. Her husband was baptized like 2 months ago
in another ward. Yeah Virginia was a great investigador. We were
walking in the street, and she pulled up in her car and told us, "hey what
do I need to do to receive classes from you guys" yeah so we went to her
house, taught her, she went to church twice and was baptized!!
This is Jonathan, we were finally able to baptize him!! And Erick, the kid that
was baptized the 2 of June, baptized Jonathan. Yeah it was cool seeing my
convert baptizing my other convert. They are really good friends, it was awesome
seeing this baptism
Cooking and Eating patacones
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