February 26, 2020 Last Missionary Letter

Salut mes amis!

I am just going to say right off the bat that I can't say the smallest part of how I feel haha. It is hard to put into words the feelings and emotions I am feeling as I think about my mission and what it has taught me. But I am going to try. So I apologize if this email sounds random or cliche ahah, anyways, here goes..

I just can't believe that this is it. Last email. In literally 2 days I will be running into my mama's arms. Man, I just can't believe it. My mission felt like an eternity and also like 4.5 seconds. 

We said SO MANY goodbyes this week. It's hard!! I don't want to leave these people! They have all taken such good care of me. I am really going to miss them. There is a quote from Winnie the Pooh that I am going to butcher, but it goes something like, "How lucky I am to have friends that make saying goodbye so difficult." True doctrine. I am grateful for each person that I have gotten the chance to know and love here. We had a wonderful brunch with sister Gallant and Darlene. Some of my favorite people. Oh how I love them! It was so nice! We also visited most of the members. They are wonderful. I got to see sister Lecky too! Oh I was so happy about that. She was the lady that knew my daddy. I got to visit with her one last time. It was such a tender experience. I am grateful for the relationship she forged with my dad all those years ago, because now I have something more meaningful to hold onto. Every little thing we do matters.  

As you can imagine I have been looking back a lot and pondering about what I have learned and what I have become these last 18 months. The things I have learned about life and about people and about my Savior are the most valuable things I could have ever asked for. I have gotten the question a lot recently, "what is the biggest thing you learned on your mission?" My answer changes from day to day haha. But today I think that the best thing I learned is God's love for his children. He has been so so kind to me. Looking back I am able to clearly see how many times he saved me, and how many times he blessed me. Sometimes he gives me little "love letters". I know that they are catered specifically for me because they are things that would only touch my heart. And it doesn't just go for me. I have a front row seat to watch God change people's lives. There have been so many times where I have seen how God (the master planner) has guided and placed people experiences in people's lives for years. There is a song that I love called Seeing for the first time (I might have mentioned it before, buut) and there is a line that always gets me. "how many years have you planned this moment here, to show me that you love me?" For some of these people, God has had this in the works for years. He is amazing the way he cares so tenderly for each of his children and does all that he can (while still respecting their agency) to lead them back home to him. 

My mission has been everything. I can't thank my Savior enough for this experience that he has given me to be a missionary. 

I hope that is absolutely clear that I love my Savior. The most honorable thing that I have ever done, has been to stand in his shoes and experience just the tiniest bit what it was like for him when he walked the earth; to help his children in his stead and to love them for him. I want more than anything else in the world to make him proud and to be able to hear him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" Everyone talks about me going back to the "real world" but this experience has been more real to me than anything else. Elder Butler always says that it takes 18-24 months to serve a mission, but it takes a lifetime to live it. This name tag is on my heart forever. I will always be a missionary. I will always be a disciple because it truly is the most joyful path. I love my Savior. I know that He lives. I know he loves me.

Today during personal study, I opened my scriptures and just happened to fall on 3 Nephi 17. Verse 20 says, "Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full."

My joy is full.

Love, soeur Bates

February 18, 2020

Hello there!

Well... This is it. Last normal week as a missionary. But what even is a normal week? I feel like I haven't had one of those in a hot minute haha! This was a good one! We were able to go to Annapolis yesterday because we had to pick up the Yarmouth sisters anyways for our district activity today! So we got to have supper with the Musgraves. They are a family from England! Oh I could listen to them talk all day! They were so sweet and fed us cottage pie! Mmmm:) Then we got to see the Larges. Oh how I love that family. We also visited the Gouchers. I love them too!! I just love everybody! It is starting to feel so real that I am not going to be seeing them anymore! I can't believe it is coming to an end so fast! Anyways, we also saw Darlene this week too and she is doing so well. She prays like she's been a member for years. I can't wait for the day that she gets baptised. 

The branch had a family Valentines day dance that we got to go to for a little while. There were several non members that we were able to talk with! It was great! We also had a very inspired and very spontaneous lesson with Marlene. We taught her the full restoration and she thought that it was very cool. She said that she believed every bit of it. I have a really good feeling about her. We plan on teaching the Plan of Salvation next. She recently lost her husband so we feel like that will really resonate with her. Other than that we have been doing a lot of pass bys. It lead to some really cool experiences with some really cool people. We were able to set some return appointments and have some really good conversations.

Also, we got to go on exchanges with the STLs! This was my last one.. man. It was bittersweet. We saw some miracles. There was a family that we decided to pass by later in the evening and the daughter that they had been in contact wasn't there, but her mom and brother were. The mom didn't speak a whole ton of  English, but the brother, Dimitri, did. We had just the coolest teaching moment with him. He said that he was feeling frustrated about how these days it feels like peoples hearts aren't in churches at all. It's all like a business. So we taught the Restoration and it made sense to him. He kept asking questions as we were trying to leave (it was getting late and we had to go to make curfew). It was a good problem to have! I love watching people's understanding grow. It is true that when people who are prepared to receive the gospel hear it for the first time, it has a familiar ring to it. 

I am so grateful to be an ambassador of Christ. I had a really sweet experience while sharing my favorite scripture and my testimony with a member. And it just hit me all over again how much my Savior loves me. These are the experiences that have built my testimony to what it is today and the reason that I can never deny. Jesus really is our rock. He really is our safe place to go when it gets too hard. I just know that stronger than I ever have. I want to live the rest of my life this way, because it is the happiest and most intelligent way. I love my Savior!

Have a lovely week everyone! Love you all!

Sister Bates

February 11, 2020

Salut à tous!

Well another week has come and gone! Is it just me or is time speeding up?.... 

Anyways cool things happened this week! 

Glen had in interview with our branch President to see how ready he is for baptism and it went really well! He did feel that he might need a bit more time just to make sure everything his solidified and he is really ready. Sister Goodwin and I both agree. Baptism is a big step and we really want to make sure that he is ready for it! We had a lesson with him the next day and it was probably one of our best lessons with him! He was so excited at the end and was like "Wow, I learned an awful lot today!" Haha you go Glen! We talked about testimonies and how to gain one. Then we all went around and bore our testimonies. Even him! His was simple and sweet and so powerful. We felt very strongly that he needed to make it a habit to bear his testimony every day. I think that's how he learns. And we know that our testimony is like a living thing. It needs to be well taken care of and nourished. And if you don't use it you lose it! He has such an honest heart and a strong desire to do what is right and he has changed SO much since the beginning! I love watching people change. I probably won't be here to see him baptised but that's okay. I am just so honored and grateful that I got to watch his progression thus far. I get front row seats to watch God at work and it's amazing! 

I have seen it in Darlene too. She loves the Book of Mormon! It will change your life if you just take the time to read it! Such a simple formula with such powerful results! There have been very few that have taken the initiative to read it the way that she has. And that is the reason she is growing the way she has. I am convinced. The Book of Mormon is like the medication everyone needs. But just like any medicine, it won't do you a bit of good just sitting there on your table. You have to take it for it to work. I am so glad she is taking it and internalizing it because it is changing her and making her more aware of God's pure love and her divine nature.

We also made the decision to go to church in Annapolis last Sunday. Oh how I love the members there! The whole area has such a special place in my heart! We visited a family who just moved here from Alberta a couple of months ago. The dad was baptized just before they left so they have been missing the missionaries like crazy! They are so strong. Living in Annapolis is a lot like living in Kansas! Everything is far away and the members are super spread out. So I was able to relate with them on that and sister Goodwin was able to talk with them about Lethbridge haha. We also visited a couple called the Gouchers. Oh, I felt so much love for them! I wish I had gotten more time to get to know these people better. We had a really good conversation and they gave us cookies. What sweeties:) 

On a lower note, we stopped by one of our friends, Doyle, last night. It had been a while since we had seen him because he had been sick with Pneumonia. When we got there, he told us that he just got back from a specialist. "I'm full of cancer." he said. Oh, it just broke our hearts. But he told us that there is no need to make a fuss about it. It is what it is. We were able to testify about the plan of salvation and share a scripture and it was just really tender.

I so appreciate the Savior in my life. Especially in moments like these where life gets real. He really is so sweet and he really does give you what you need. I wish the world understood how easy it is to access his power. When I need his help I ask for it and like clockwork, it's there. I love him for that. He is my steady friend. My mission has brought me closer to him in ways I never thought possible. I am so grateful for my relationship with my Savior. It's the most precious thing I have!

Have a wonderful week!

Love, sister Bates

February 4, 2020

Hey everybody!

Well, my last zone conference came and went... It was sad. Not really but it was definitely bittersweet. I got to go up and bare my closing testimony You watch missionaries get up and do that and never think that it's going to be you, and then suddenly, it just is. I may or may not have cried, hehe. It was cool though because in my whole zone, I was the only young missionary going home! Talk about feeling old.... It's also so exciting! I am down to 24 days (but who's counting;) 

The work here in Greenwood is going so well! Darlene is doing AMAZING! She seriously acts like a member already. She gets along with everyone, and they all love her too! She has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy because she wants to catch up to where everyone else is in the Come Follow Me program. She loves it! She understands everything so well and is tangibly happier, Oh man it's so cool to watch the gospel change people. This last Sunday while everyone was bearing their testimonies, it just really felt like all of them were for Darlene. She told us afterwards that she was very tempted to get up too, but she just wasn't sure. And then all throughout the lesson, she totally was contributing, because she had been reading the Book of Mormon and she knew all the stories!! Man when people prepare, they get so much more out of it!! How did we get so lucky to get to teach her?:) She is just so ready. Which is cool because she also opened up and told us some stories about experiences she had had with missionaries in the past, back when she didn't understand what we did. It really strengthened my testimony that we can't judge people or write them off today just because they aren't ready for the gospel right now. Because even in one year, a person's heart can do a complete 180, like hers did. I love her so very much! I don't know what I did to be blessed to know and love so many beautiful people. Glen is doing really great too. We had a really awesome lesson with him in a member's home. 

Can I just take a minute to testify of the power behind member missionary work?? I am convinced that that is the only really effective and right way to do missionary work. It can be as simple as offering your home for a lesson to be taught in. I am just so excited to be a member missionary! I did not understand missionary work before, but now that I do, I want to do all that I can to share the gospel in natural ways after I get home, and be someone that the missionaries can always count on. In MyPlan (which is just a preparatory to going home program course that all departing missionaries take) they talked about having your name tag on your heart. Elder Butler always says that it takes 2 years or 18 months to serve a mission, but it takes a lifetime to live it.

Wow I just really know that this church is true. I have had too many experiences not to believe that. I know that God is aware of each of his children and is preparing paths before them. He is carefully and lovingly leading them back to him. I love him so dearly. I am grateful for who he has helped me to become.

I love you all and hope that you have another great week!