9 months and counting!

Mom!!

Hey how are you?? Sounds like this week was a good one!! Holy cow, Ken hits her 9 month mark! Thats pretty crazy. She`s such a strong little girl. :) Im proud of her for how far she`s come. She`s had lots of ups and downs and has still kept a smile on her face. She is such a good strong example to all of us!! Thats awesome she will be getting her port taken out this week! Im so excited for her. Now she will be able to play sports without worrying if its going to get hit.. haha reminds me when I got hit in the wrist after doctor slade told me my wrist was healed... ha PLEASE be careful still!!! That will be nice not traveling up to PC`s as much. yay Kennadi!! Hermana Rawle and Hermana Baez are still in our home. ha I dont know if they will find a house in their area! I love having them over though. They are in a different area so they are traveling every day to work. We will be receiving two other hermanas tonight because they have to fly to Mexico City for immigration. So they will just be sleeping over and then leaving bright and early in the morning. Our house is the mission hotel haha! 

This week was great! My companion and I experienced lots of miracles. I love being a missionary and seeing the hand of the Lord in the lives of our investigators. It`s seriously an honor to be out here representing my Savior. First off my companion and I were sick.. but we are feeling better! We think its because we`ve been showering in cold water with buckets because we dont have any water in our house hahaha. But we`re feeling better! 

Our investigators are doing great! We are teaching them and they are progressing. It`s been awesome! Johana, Amin(Johanas son) and Annie are doing great. We are still searching for more investigators but we know this is the time of the Lord not our time! And we`ve accepted that. :) We are super content for where we are at with everything. 

We had stake conference this weekend and it was sooo great! Seriously! Elder Ruiz of the seventy came and spoke to us and it was so awesome. He was like the spanish version of Elder Holland. Super energetic and direct! I loved it! He talked a lot about the family and 4 things we can do to strengthen our family relationships. 1) Family Home Evenings. 2) Pray together everyday. 3) Read the scriptures together everyday. and... 4) Always give a hug and say I love you. I LOVED THESE POINTS. We should be doing these things every single day! Because when we are doing these things, we aren`t only strengthening our relationships together but also with our Heavenly Father! Seriously I love the gospell. It`s perfect! The teaching of Christ only lead to true love, true happiness and true joy. I want to challenge you guys to do these things everyday! You will be so much happier. :) 

Funny-sad-happy story: So last night my companion and I were on our way to visit the Familia Ceh Cetz and we passed 3 little girls in the street who were holding the CUTEST puppy lab. (looked like Powder) hahah they definitely saw my face when I saw the puppy because they  came right up to us asked us if we wanted to have the puppy! They were giving her away because their parents couldnt afford to keep her. We cant have pets but my companion and I immediatly called a member in our ward to see if she wanted a puppy and she did! We named her GiGi (Gates and Gonzalez) hahaha.. It was so awesome! I love random missionary moments. This week was a great one! Things are going good and Im super happy! I cant believe I`ll be hitting my half way mark this week. The time is seriously flying by. I hope you are all doing well and are happy. Thank you for the email! Have a fun, safe week! Talk to you next week!! Love you!!!! :)

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1) Hermana Gonzalez and Hermana Gates and GiGi :) ha!

2) Hermana Gates holding GiGi!

3) We ate baby shark!! This meal is called, "pan de cazon" It was actually really good.. hahah

4) Hermana Glendy! She is the president in the Relief Society. We did divisions and so we worked together! It was super fun. :)

5) Hermano Raul! We love it when the members work with us!! 

6) Perritos con camisas! Haha I love Mexico! 

Gpa Jolley's Bday!

Hey mom!!!

             Sounds like things are just busy and good at home! Thats so good to hear. :) Thats awesome you guys got to celebrate Grandpa Jolley´s and Grandpa Gates´ birthday last week. I hope grandpa Jolley had a good birthday. The picture of him and Ken is so cute. :) Thats so great ken doesn´t need to use her wheelchair or crutches! She´s progressing little by little and thats all we are asking for, right?? She is so brave to be going to school. Im glad she´s getting her balance back and that she´s all caught up on her school work. Im not surprised because she has you, mom. ;) haha! Im proud of Pres for working so hard in basketball. Sounds like she´s doing well too. How is the girls and boys varsity doing? Thats so funny preslee had to speak in sacrament yesterday because I did too! I spoke on the sacrament and I think it went well! Ha! Im pretty sure the members understood me. ;)

              Hermana Gonzalez and I are teaching a 12 year old girl named Annie.. I cant remember if I talked about her last week or not.. But her aunt and cousins are members in our ward. Annie has been coming to church all on her own for the past few weeks and so we started teaching her this week. :) Her baptism is on February 11th! She is the cutest little girl hahah. I love teaching little kids, its so much fun! Our other investigator Johana is doing well too! She couldn´t come to church with us yesterday but said that she will definitely be coming next week. We had a little miracle with her this week. She had been searching for a job and finally found one. She called us saying that her work days are monday to Friday! So she´s able to come to church with us on Sundays!! Its a miracle and we are all so excited about it! 

             Today I was reading in Alma 13:25-29. I love these verses! I love them because they testify that the Son of God will come. Although we may not know when, we know he is coming because the prophets have spoken of it. Reading these scriptures in the Book of Mormon has only motivated me even more to try  to obey the commandments of the Lord. We cant procrastinate these things because we dont know when he´s going to come again. In verse 28 it tells us what we can do to be ready for the coming of theLord. We can be humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long suffereing. Also having faith and the love of God always in our hearts. We will then enter into rest. Many times we think we aren´t good enough or that we might not make it.. but we can!! Remember the talk by Elder J Devn Cornish? "Am I good enough? Will I make it?" He says, "Please believe and please take hope and comfort from this eternal truth. Our Heavenly Father intends for us to make it! That is His work and His Glory." I would like to invite you all to reflect up on your lives and think of the things you´re doing right now that probably aren´t in harmony with the teachings of the Lord. You are capable of changing those actions and becoming better throught the power of the atonement. Dont get discouraged! Keep trying. :) the promised blessing to live with our families for eternity depends on our actions here on earth. :) I LOVE you guys! My family is the most important thing to me. Im so grateful to have you guys in my life. I hope you have a fantastic week. Keep trying to be better everyday. Keep reading your scriptures, attending church, attending the temple, praying and listening to the prophet and the apostles. I love you guys! Talk to you next week. :)

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1) The roomies haha!

2) Hahah we walked out matching today. She´s like my sister! 

WHAT A SMALL WORLD?!!

Mama!! 

Ahh como está?? How was your week! It sounds like it went great and Im so happy about that! Sounds like everyone is doing really great. :) Im so happy Ken is progressing every day. What a blessing! Thats awesome that she´s been able to walk a little bit more this week. She´s such a strong little girl, I couldn´t be more proud of her. Thats seriously such a small world that you and Ken ran into the Liz´s grandparents! You´ll definitely have to tell her. Im excited for Ken to start her next phase of treatments. SO she will get her port taken out the next month.. so does that mean she wont need any more chemo or how is that going to work? Hahah I think its so funny you said something about the weather here in Merida... because it has been SOO cold the past two days! It´s been a little rainy and with the humidity and rain its so cold. I like the heat! Im so grateful its only going to be cold for a month or so ahhah. 

This week is transfer week! But Hermana Gonzalez and I are staying in Dolores Otero! This will be our third transfer together! This is actually her last transfer so we are going to make it the best one yet! There is a lot of work to do here in Dolores Otero. We are working on finding more people to teach right now. It´s a little difficult but we know that they are out here. :) This week was a good one! On the 6th we celebrated el "rosca de reyes". all of the bakerys bake bread and put little baby Jesus´ in the bread. Each person cuts their own slice of bread and if you cut a slice with a baby Jesus then you have to buy tamales or share a secret or an embarrassing story haha. We did it as a ward and it was awesome. 

I want to share a scripture with you all. :) Its in Alma 5: 60-62.. it says, 60: "And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are in his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you that ye may not be destroyed. 61: and now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you. 62: I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying; Come and be baptized unto repentence, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life." I love these scriptures! I´ve been reading in Alma this week and felt that I needed to share this with you all. The good shepherd is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Every day in our lives he is calling after us. He wants us to come unto him and follow Him. We must be strong when temptations or the "wolves" come into our lives. When we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ we will be saved. Those teaching are here to protect us in our everyday lives. The best part about this, is that He wants EVERYONE. Not just certain people. We come unto Him by obeying is commandments. When we particpate in the sacrament. When we read our scriptures. When we share the gospel with our friends. Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father knows each and everyone of us personally! What a comforting feeling! They know our strengths and weakenesses and love us for who we are. Im so grateful to be a member of this church and especially right now, a missionary! Thank you for all that you do for me family and friends! Im so grateful for all of you and your examples. Im reminded everyday how lucky I am to have such wonderful family and friends. :) I hope you all can feel the love of the Savior in your lives. I hope you all have a good safe week. Talk to you next week!! Love you!

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1&2) Rosca de Reyes!

3) I cut out a piece with a baby Jesus haha. :)

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mom!!

SO great to hear from you! I hope you had a great birthday!! You deserve it! :) WOW its so awesome to hear how good Ken is doing. Im so proud of my strong little sister!!! She is so brave. The childrens gym sounds like so much fun. I can totally see Kennadi enjoying all of her time there haha. Its so good to hear that you guys are finally going home. It will be good to enjoy more of your winter vacation at home. Im glad the family was able to get together and celebrate your birthday and New Years. You´re totally right mom, 2017 is going to be a wonderful year. There are so many things to look forward to! So for our missionary Christmas party, I didn´t do anything for the talent show hahaha. Ohhh no. My companion was going to sing but President had to cut the time short because we had to get back to our areas. New Years Eve we had to be in our homes at 7 and so we didnt do anything hahah. But it was still fun. Our neighbors are so funny. They were up ALL night long. Serioulsy I had to put my fan on full blast to help block out the music and fireworks. haha! I love Mexico!

This week was a good one! I cant believe how fast it went by! This new year is going to be the best year, I just know it. This year we´re going to see many miracles. :) I have so many desires for 2017. One of my goals is to be the missionary that my Heavenly Father needs me to be. Im so glad I have the rest of these 10 months to really dedicate myself to this work. I want to be more like my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love studying the attributes that Christ has and I really want to aquire them. He is my greatest example. Im here in Merida to represent Him and serve Him. Mom, I´ve learned so much here in the mission and Im so grateful everyday to have the opportunity to learn and grow. Serving a mission has by far been the best decision I´ve made. Clearly there are hard times, but the good times definitely out weigh the hard times. I love the mission!

I was reading in the Liahona the other day and came across a quote I want to share with you all. "On one occasion the Lord Jesus Christ was praying in a certain place and when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray´. Then he taught His disciples to pray. And today He teaches you and me to pray as we see Him in our minds praying in Gethsemane and saying, ´Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done´.

When you pray, do you really, truly want that ´Not my will, but thine, be done?  Paul describes how Jesus prayed ín the day of his flesh´, espeically in Gethsemane when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and stears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that feared´ (hebrews 5:7) When you pray, are you really praying or just saying prayers? Are you superficial with your prayers?" -Elder Juan A Uceda.... I want to invite you all to be more sincere with your prayers. Dont just pray to pray, but truly have the desire to talk to your Heavenly Father. He wants to hear what is happening in our lives everyday. When we sincerely pray our relationships with our Father in Heaven will be strengthened and we will be looking forward to a brighter and better futures. This gospel is amazing! Im so grateful for the words of the prophet, apostles and seventies!

Im so happy and I hope you are all happy and doing well. Thank you for all of your love, prayers and support. Thanks for your examples!!! LOVE you all and talk to you next week!! :)

 Love,

  Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1 & 2) One of our investigators has a pet parrot named Lucas! haha! 

3) The Nativity in Centro!