Blessings from prayers!

Hola mama!!! 

How are you?? It sounds like this past week was a good one for you guys! Im sure it was a little strange having everyone in a different part of the world but im sure you were able to get a lot done and the house stayed clean, right? ;)  Oh you know i will be bringing the family to Merida. You guys will love it here. Its now the rainy season! Its still super hot though. Its usually the hottest in April and May so those months have passed! The weather is interesting because it gets super super hot during the day and then pours like crazy in the evening. I love it though. :) Martha still hasn´t had her baby but this week we are going to have to stop seeing them or a bit. They haven´t been able to keep some of their commitments and they´ve been gone a lot so my companion and I feel that right now we need to stop seeing them for a bit. Its so hard but I think its better this way. 

Halachó is about 3 hours from the ocean. Only when we travel to Campeche we see the ocean. And I think there is a cenote in Becal thats why its called the water way. :)Ahh I love Hermana Gonzalez! Im so glad she was able to meet you guys. She seriously is the best! We´re gonna be friends forever. Ahah yes we will definitely visit her in Baja california. ;)

This week we went to Campeche for a multizone conference. It went super great! We talked about the principle of the book of Mormon and how we can help our investigators receive revelation that the book of Mormon is true and that it is the word of God. I love my mission president and his wife because they are always so filled with the spirit and know exactly what to tell us to help us be better missionaries. It was a very inspiring meeting. :)

After we wrote last week, my companion held a family home evening with a family in our branch. It was so awesome and you could feel the spirit so strong! We talked about the power and prayer and how important it is to have family prayers every day. There are countless blessings we can all receive if we pray as a family daily. It was so special because we had each member think of a blessing that they have received and will receive from having their family prayers. You could feel the love that each member had for each other and my companion and I definitely felt apart of their family as well. These people are so special to me!!! :)

There are countless experiencias that happen every day in the mission field and I wish I had time to tell you guys EVERYTHING. Someday! But I just love the mission so much. Its the craziest adventure ever. Every day is so different and its the best to share the gospel with so many people. I love being a missionary! If you are thinking about going on a mission, GO! You wont regret it. Please tell Taylor Gunn congrats on her mission call! And if you see Lauren Brown give her a big hug for me! You´ll have to go to all of my friends homecomings and farewells. :) 

i love you mom!!! Thank you for all that you for me. I´d be so lost without you, thats for sure! I hope you have a great week!! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. :)

Love, hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

The Trial of Our Faith!

HOLLLAAAA MAMAAA!

WHY! This week went by so crazy fast! I cant believe how fast the time is going by right now! I love the mission! Tomorrow I will complete one full year in Merida. Im so grateful to be serving in such a beautiful place. I love the people, the culture, the food, the latter day saints, the pueblo, the moto taxis, the heat (sometimes jaja!) the humidity. I just LOVE it here. This week my companion and I were able to work really hard and see tons of miracles. I love being an instrument in my Heavenly Fathers hands. I know he has a plan for each one of us and will always direct us to where we need to go. 

SOO Saul and Martha! ahh man. They have been gone all week! Martha has been at the hospital all week and we are just waiting to hear to see if she´s gonna have her baby or if they are going to try to wait for about 8 more days(so she can complete 8 months) sorry you probably dont want to know all of these facts haha. My companion and I feel like we are apart of their family so we are always calling and checking in on them and reminding them to read their book of Mormons and praying haha. They are so awesome! I just know that this is just a little trial that they are going through but we have complete faith that they will get through this trial and the baby and Martha will be healthy and they will get baptized soon. 

The Trial of Our Faith! 

The other day, my comp and I went to visit a future investigator who we had contacted and her mom walked out to greet us. She told us that her daughter had just had a baby(everyones having babies here😂) and that she wouldn´t be able to visit with us in the moment, BUT told us that her daughter told her that she read the restoration pamphlet that we gave her and was so interested in it and wants to know more! Her mom told us that she all of her kids participate in different religions and that her daughter has never found one that she´s felt good in but when she read the pamphlet she instently felt like it was true! AHHH. We are gonna go visit her soon when she´s better! :) We´re so excited! 

We´ve been traveling to another pueblo thats called Becal. (Means waterway) We have some less actives and potential investiagators that live there so thats been fun. :)

It sounds like you guys are doing absolutely great! Im so happy to hear it! HAHAH. congrats to pres for finally getting her permit. AND congrats to my sisters for doing so awesome in their tournaments this weekend! Im so proud of you guys! Keep up the good work. :) AH Ken!! Congrats on making the softball team! I knew it! You are awesome! To answer you questions: haha this pueblo is called Halachó and its pretty poor. I love it though, because the people are so humble. They dont have a lot and are completely happy with the things that they have. Its very humbling. Its the little things like owning a telephone or having a car or having work. Id say about 80% of the people dont have those things and many more things here and they are content with their lives. :) Im learning so much from these wonderful people. I hope all goes well with the drafting for Riley, that dad and grandpa and your brothers travel to Alaska safely and that all of you are happy, safe and healthy. I LOVE YOU MOM! Im so grateful for my eternal family. I love you guys so much and hope you have a wonderful week! Talk to you next week. :)

Love, Hermana Gatesj

#kickitdog

1)Hermana Poroj y Yo!!!

2) Empanadas con papas! 

3) MOM. YOU would love these. They´re little corn dogs that we made for our branch activity. They taste like the ones at Disneyland. 

4) Hermana Patty y Yo! She´s the best! We learned how to make empanadas and corndogs with her. 

5) We got drenched again this week. The weather has been so crazy haha! We are officially in the rainy season! 

Life is Good!

Hey mom!!! 

So good to hear from you! It sounds like this week was a pretty busy one! Its so great to hear that everyone is doing well. I love you guys!  This week was a good one! My companion and I went to Campeche for a zone conference and then we had divisions with our sister training leaders! It was so much fun. Campeche is a dream. :) hermana Juarez and I arrived here in Merida together so it was really fun being able to be her companion for the day. From the time we arrived here we´ve always said that we wanted to be companions. :) We taught a family about the restoration and it went so great! It was funny, before we walked in to start the lesson she told me, "Hermana, we are about to teach 6 children under the age of 12 and they are crazy so we need to make sure we keep them focused on the lesson." It was nothing but a miracle! Especially with teaching the restoration because there are always distractions when teaching about the restoration! All of the children were right beside us listening and learning! They accepted the baptismal invitation and are very excited to keep learning. I hope that all goes well with that cute family and that they will keep progressing in their testimonies. haha and listening to the missionaries!! :)

So with Saul and Marta! We had to postpone their baptism date because of some complications this week. Marta is 7 months pregnant and had tons of pain and so they had to go to the doctor this week! They thought she was going to have her baby but it ended up being a false alarm. We havent been able to see them and teach them so we had to postpone their date. They are so awesome and understanding. and patient ha. Saul is SO excited to one day receive the priesthood so that he can be a rock and bless his family. Please pray for them! We are teaching some little kids right now and we need prayers that their parents will give them permission to be baptized! These children have a deep desire to be baptized but their parents are a little hard to get by sometimes. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!! :)

Its been soo rainy this week! Someone actually told us that there was a hurricane that was going to pass by today or tomorrow but right now the sun is shining and the heat is BACK! HAHA! Hallelujah we dont need to worry about a hurricane! Its been absolutely beautiful here in the pueblo. My companion and I have enjoyed getting drenched by the rain because we rarely get it here! ha. :) I love the pueblo! I love he people! I love the mission! Im so grateful for this time in my life to serve my Heavenly Father! It truly is such a wonderful time. :) I love you guys so much! Never forget it! I hope you have an amazine week! Talk to you next week!

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1) The best guatemalan companion ever! 

2) Its been cloudy and rainy all week long. 😁

3 & 4) Hermana Fischer, Hermana Poroj, Hermana Juarez and I! Divisions in Campeche!! 

5) Bunk bed hammocks! Hahha sleeping in hammocks is so convenient. 

BYU West Coast Champions!

Mama Gates!!!

CONGRATS BYU BASEBALL BOYS!!!! Holy cow that is so exciting that they won!! Im so proud of Riley and his teammates! You will have to let me know where they will be playing next! Sounds like this week was a good one for you guys! Thats so fun you all were able to travel to watch the boys play in California. Im glad you made it home safely. 

This week was a LITTLE crazy. Im sorry for the lame email last week but we were rushing. Hermana Jimenez went home Friday and I got my cute new companion Hermana Poroj!! And guess where she´s from? QUETZALTANGO GUATEMALA! Its so fun because thats where Reg served! So we are always talking about Guatemala and everything. What are some of the areas Reggie served in? Hermana Poroj will be going home the transfer before me. Its been fun working this week with her. She´s super diligent and obedient and we get along great. She is an answer to prayers! We´ve seen lots of miracles in the little time that we´ve been together. 

Our investigators Saul and Marta went on a little trip to Progresso for 2 weeks and so I was really nervous to see how they were doing with reading the Book of Mormon and praying since they´ve been gone. But they´ve been doing great! Saul has been really nervous to get baptized because he is afraid of what his mom will think. We went back last night to visit them and they both accepted a baptism date for the 10th of June! It was a miracle! Saul was so excited and was asking us what type of clothing he can wear and all and what more he can do to be better prepared. It was actually really funny. He was like a little kid opening presents on Christmas morning. :)

We had our district conference this weekend! It was GREAT. Presidente Ruiz, his counselors and their wives spoke and they gave such inspiring talks. They talked on showing love to everyone, Having our family home evenings, and how we can be better members of the church. The talk given by Hermana Ruiz definitely stuck out to me and I want to share a little bit with you guys. She told us that she was going to describe someone and we were going to have to guess who it was. She said that this person wakes up in the morming, prays, gets ready, eats breakfast, reads scriptures and shares the gospel. Who is it? Its every member of the church. This is not only the role of missionaries but the role of every latter day saint. I found a quote from Brigham Young (to celebrate the byu boys baseball team ;)) he said, "If all the talent, tact, wisdom, and refinement of the world had been sent to me with the Book of Mormon, and had declared in the most exalted of earthly eloquence, the truth of it, undertaking to prove it by learning and worldy wisdom, they would have been to me like little smoke which arises only to vanish away. But when I saw a man without eloquence or talents for public speaking, who coud only say, ´I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book Of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the Lord,´ the Holy Ghost proceeding from the indiviual illuminated my understanding and a light, glory, and immortality were before me. I was encircled by them, filled with them, and I knew for myself taht the testimony of the man was true." Our testimonies are so powerful! We have the right to share them with everyone and share the gospel of our Savior. It doesn´t matter if we have a hard time speaking in front of people. A testimony is a testimony. It is what carries us through lifes challenges and what helps people know the truthfullness of our message. I want to challenge you all to really try to share the gospel! Invite someone to church. Read them a scripture that you like. Do something! You guys will be so blessed if you do so. God loves you!!!

I love being a missionary! Im so grateful for the experience in my life! It truly has brought me so much happiness. I love being an instrument in Gods hands. Its an amazing feeling feeling the spirit work through me. I hope you guys know how much I love you!! Im so grateful for your examples, prayers, love and support. I dont know what I´d do without you. I hope you have a fantastic week. :) Talk to you next week!!!

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1) Hermana Nancy Chi and I did divisions this week! She´s awesome. I love the Familia Chi!! 

2) Hermana Jimenez in the Classic Yucatan Gala dresses. :)

3) The Chi sisters!! 

Short email!

Hola Mama!!!

Ahhh it sounds like you guys are doing SUPER good!!! Its so fun to hear what everyone has been up to and how you guys are all doing!! Thats awesome to hear about how the little league is doing, I cant believe the season is over! Seriously flew by so fast, right? Now, its all´star season! One of the greatest seasons! It will be fun to see what happens this year. :) 

So I dont have a whole lot of time to write right now. We´re in Merida and we have to return to Halachó right now. My companion has been super sick and we found out today that she will be returning home this week. She got her appendix taken out about a month ago and she still has a ton of pain in the same area and so Hermana Ruiz and President Ruiz said that its best to return home a little bit earlier to get everything checked out with her home doctor. Its been a crazy week-day and we dont have a ton of time to write. Im sorry but this email is going to be short! I hope you guys know how much I love you and care about you!! Thanks for all of your love and support. (Oh yeah!! I received your package! I LOVE YOU MOM YOU ARE THE BEST.) Seriously, if there is anything I can do for you let me know!!!! Will you tell everyone that I couldn´t write them because of time? Have the best week ever!!!!!! Be safe. :)

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1) I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE 😊

2) Picking Ciruela from the trees with the Familia Chi May! These two little girls remind me of Pres and Ken!

3) Ciruelas Rojas son las mejores!

4) Last photo as companions! I´m gonna miss Hermana Lopez!

5) Distrito Calkini! Best zone/district!! 

6) The best treat in all of the pueblo. Fruit, shaved ice, Horchata, leche and vanilla😋

7) Making sombreros and baskets in a cave!

8) Goats in the street!

9) Hermana Jimenez :)

Mothers Day!

Hey mom!!

ahhhh it was SOOO awesome to see you yesterday! I hope you had the best mothers day ever! You definitely deserve it. I´m so so blessed to have a mother like you. You have been such an awesome support and example to me in my life. I wouldn´t want anyone else. Thank you for all of the love you´ve shown me and for being my best friend. :) I wish we could´ve had more time to talk one on one yesterday, but thats okay! Its so weird thinking that I talked to you guys yesterday hahah. It was fun! Im glad that the whole fam was there. You guys haven´t changed at all! 

I STAY IN HALACHÓ! Im so happy!! My new companion is Hermana Jimenez! She´s awesome! She is from Veracruz and this is her last transfer so we are going to make it the best transfer yet. We have tons of plans and activities for this transfer. I know that we are going to be seeing a lot of miracles this transfer. :) 

This week was GREAT. Seriously flew by so fast! We´ve found some golden investigators who are so wonderful. The majority of them are little kids. I love teaching little kids so its going to be awesome! We had the coolest experience this week. We contacted a home and found 3 little kids outside. a 13 year old, 9 year old and 8 year old. We started talking to them about God and Jesus Christ and they were so interested to know more. We taught them how to pray and how they can pray to God whenever they felt scared or nervous and they absolutely thought it was the coolest thing ever. We made little calendars on sticky notes where they could check off the days they prayed and they were so excited to start. We returned back on Saturday to visit with them and they were ready, waiting for us to come! We started the next lesson with the song "i am a child of God" and as we were singing their little friends and neighbors started swarming around us. We had tons of little kids around us listening and singing and you could feel the spirit sooo strong! It was coolest experience! Towards the end of the lesson, one of the moms came up to us and started talking about how she was so happy that we came and were teaching her daughter about God and told us that she would love to hear about our message! Ahhh! My companion and I were soo happy! We have an appointment with the family this Wednesday so please pray for this family that they may be able to feel the truthfulness of this gospel. :) :) 

We had the best activity this week! Roasted Smores! We literally had a devotional fireside. We invited investigators, members, less actives, pretty much everyone to come and my companion and I gave a lesson on families and service. It was super awesome! After I taught them how to make a smores and we played some games. Everyone had a good time and particpated. It was an awesome spiritual fun activity and we are hoping to do more things like that this next transfer. :) (I love being in a pueblo) 

 Its great to hear that everyone is doing well, happy and healthy. Im so happy about that! Thanks for all that you guys do for me! I love you!! Have a wonderful week!! Be safe. :)

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1) Feliz dia de Madres!!

2 & 3) One morning this week, my companion went to a recent converts house to help her pull weeds in her land. I love her lot. Its full of trees and reminds me of the sacred grove ha! 

4) eating the best pizza in halacho with the best family! La familia Chi May!

5) my companion is the best! 

1 Year in the mish!

MOM!!

How are you?? Its so good to hear from you and hear how you guys are all doing. I love my family! Sounds like you had a great week! I have been blessed with the absolute best. 

I cant believe I completed 1 year in the mission. It seriously blows my mind. The mission experience is priceless. There is no other place where one can study, teach, learn and become more like Christ than by serving a mission. I love Mexico. There are SOOOO many things that I love about this place. I love the people. Such pure people. I love the mototaxis with their florescent lights. I love the heat. I love the food. I love being able to help and serve others here. I love teaching others about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Its hard. But so WORTH it. I´ve really learned how I can rely on my Savior more. I´ve come to realize what is most important in my life. I´ve learned so much! I love it! 

I will be skyping on the 14th! Thank you so much for sending off the other package! Im so grateful for you! I love you!  Hahha mom, people here in Mexico dont celebrate 5 de Mayo hahaha. I think its some sort of American tradition or something. But Im glad you guys celebrated by eating Mexican food hahahah. 

This week was a good one! It was busy but good! We contacted and found a lot of new investigators to teach! We had a zone conference in Campeche last week and we talked a lot about the law of obedience. In the book of Mormon it talks about if we obey the commandments of God, we will prosper in the land. We truly will be blessed. Theres a quote, I dont remember who its by but it says, obedience bring blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. Its so true. The lord is holding all of the blessings and miracles in his hands and is only waiting for us to obey his commandments. This pertains to missionaries, families, people.. EVERYONE. God loves us and will bless us with what we need!!

Im so excited to skype you guys this week! Its gonna be awesome! Thank you for all of your love and everything you do for me. I hope you have a great week. Good luck to all of the sports teams! Be safe and talk to you on Sunday. :)

Love, Hermana Gates

#kickitkdog

1) Dairy QUEEN!!! It was my companions first time at dairy queen. Im showing her all of the good spots in Merida. ;)

2) The people here have caves where they make their sombreros or baskets or fans. Its a lot cooler in the caves and is a great get away from the heat haha!