August 30, 2011

hey dad! that must be so tough having to drive them around! i cant imagine the stress. i hope dallin gets his restricted and that it all works out. just know the lord while bless you for all of your sacrifices. i dont know right now how your mannaged to learn spanish. malagasy is kicking my butt right now but i will get it haha. dear elder gets here the quickest so i think i would preffer that. but just know that it will take like two weeks for my mail to get back to you guys hahaha. which is fine. i dont need to be blessed for the work i am doing here. i know he will bless me but i would readily give those blessings to those i love. my life has been blessed so much already from being in the mtc and learning about this gospel. my tesimony is as solid as the foundation of the church and i hope it never changes. im so very greatful for all that you and mom and my heavenly father have done for our family. and i know you will be noted at the last day. tiako ianao. and look forward to hearing more about home.

August 23, 2011

hey guys! so so far for hand writen mailed letters ive gotten one from mom and one from lyndi, and ive gotten one from booboo and from wendy. (kinda rhymes) haha it takes about a week and a half for mail to get here ive found out, but on dear elder it only takes a day. how are things goin there? i miss you guys, the lords work is a hard one haha. but dont take that as me giving up. it may be hard but it is soo rewarding. and im not one to shy away from hard work. its crazy here at the mtc but these past 2 weeks seem like a blur of the gospel and the language. it takes alot out of a guy. all i can really think about right now is how i just wanna get out in the field. but i guess i cant really do that until i can actually speak the language hahaha. my district is awesome. we all know when to focus and when to have fun and we all get allong really well. help each other out. i cant wait till i cant actually speak malagasy. its gunna be somethin else. umm still dont have colter and karmyns adress. if you guys could that to me and the behrs as well. i love how prevelant the spirit is here at the mtc. infact its so prevelant that i fell asleep last night with my last thought being about how i was feeling the spirit as i was lying in bed. how cool is that?? haha. im in choir here at the mtc wich i am enjoying. and i may even sing in sacrament. but we will see. sooooo i heard somethin about dallin.... haha tell him i feel for him. and i didnt laugh at alll when i read it..... haha. did i tell you its crazy in the laundry room. i think they should instal another one. we even came at like 7 in the morning today hoping it wouldnt be as busy. but it was in vain... haha. i miss you and look forward to hearing from you. im runnin out of time on the clock though so a great man once told me remember what your knees are for. god is in everything we do in life. give him some credit. tiako anero. robyn wanted to know what that ment so it means i love y'all haha

August 16 2010 - Tell Everyone!

hellloooo family! i wrote lots of letters cause they only give us half an hour on the computer! i hope they all get to you cause apperently im havent mailed something in a long time and its more difficult than i remember hahaha. i forgot my adress book and there a a couple adresses i would like to get this week for sure. if you guys could send me lyndis adress, colters adress and the behrs adress that would be awesome!!! i miss you all a ton, life here at the mtc is super busy, they dont give you a minute to think wich i think they do on perpose so that elders dont get homesick. the food here is good but they feed you so much i think im gaining weight!! :S its hard loose it in here when they only give you an hour 5 times a week to excersize... my first day here my teachers didnt speak any englsih which was a little scary hahaha. i guys the malagasy language is a very unique one which is cool but not really useful when i get back haha. my second day here they had us teaching a leason to an "investigator" all in malagasy which was crazy hard!!! the language is still crazy hard but i guess ive only been here a week. im working hard and learning so much. my testimony has grown more in one week than it has in any other time in my life. there spirit is so strong here if you listen. im so greatfull for all that god gives me. this is the true church. god is in our every principle. it is his plan for us. TELL EVERYONE! haha because everyone deserves to know the truth. i really hope you all get my letters and stuff. haha. and thankyou for all letters that have gotten to me thus far. if anyone wants to write me i would encourage them to usedearelder.com. its free and it gets to me in a day. my district gets along really good with each other. my companion is full of love. hes a little different at times but i love him none the less. he is a great guy. and he will be a great missionary. im so tired here all the time its rediculous. theres always something we are supposed to be doing and the beds are uncomfortable and the blankets are as thick as sheets haha. i call one of them the table clothe cause i sware thats what it is. they arent very acomidating to sleep however lol. im in choir and thats fun. we sing tonight. music is awesome! we arent aloud to listen to any music in our dorms here at the mtc but i always seem to have a hymn stuck in my head wich is nice. i find it amazing how if you are really interested and believe in what you are learning you dont mind studying and reading for hours on end. the temple was nice, our whole district went together. i look forward to being able to go next week. its hot here in utah... but its even hotter in the laundry room lol. its like a sweat shop down here. my companion, Elder newman, is in the army to be a pilot. thats pretty cool eh!? hes in the military and wants to join the navy. so i guess hes a pretty smart guy. one guy in my district is hilarious. elder siefert. he lived in paris for two years and is fluent in french and arabic! he is going to be a language interpreter in the military but man is he a character. i look forward to hearing from all of you and cant wait to see you in a couple years haha.

tiako ianero

Elder bates

First email!

So it wasn't a long email but it something like this.

"hey! so im coming home! haha just kidding, i wrote you guys a letter but i dont know if it will get to you cause im still not very good at writing mail.... but things here are great, mtc is crazy and so is the language.umm theres a couple things i forgot that im gunna need. i need another pair of shorts and a couple sweaters... all my roomates got a letter from the mission pres through email and thats why i didnt get mine cause the email i used when i started my papers wouldnt let me in. but thats ok. im super excited to serve the lord and am super excited to leave the mtc in ummmm alot of days haha. love you and miss you tons"

So who really knows when we'll get a real letter from him... at least he is loving the work!

MTC Day.

So much happened for Riley on the day he was to go to the MTC (Missionary Training Centre) and his dad got a little camera happy, so this post is going to be a bit of a long one with lots'o pictures!

A good day always starts off with a good breakfast...

Brothers packing up Elder Bates' stuff for the last time into this van.

The MTC doesn't let you take pictures in front of the sign as it was cause traffic issues so the just removed it... so they went a couple blocks down to the Provo Temple to get some pictures instead.

(in the picture is, from left to right, Aunt Fay, Mom, Elder Bates, Dallin)

They also stopped at a Krispy Kreme Doughnut shoppe...

and they ate lunch with Elder Jaffray and Elder Boyd!

This is what Elder Bates' Dad said about the reunion,

"They both (Elder Jaffray and Elder Boyd) are serving in the Orem area together and they are both from Nottingham ward back in Sherwood Park. We call and recieved permission to do this from the mission office. It was a grand reunion for them. They all grew up together. It was very satisfying to report back to the Jaffrays that Max is doing very well and is serving faithfully. He doesn't write long letters home so they are in the dark alot as to how he is doing. Their mission President said that we had to feed them becuase he insists that if they are not proselyting then they should be eating. So we met them at the iHop in Orem at 11 am. "

The final hugs goodbye...

haha

(I couldn't resist adding the next two)

Elder Bates, coming to proselyte to you!

The Call

Elder Riley H Bates has been called to serve in the Madagascar Antananarivo Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint. And we couldn't be more excited for him. Of course we will miss him but he will be blessing so many lives including the lives of his family while he is out.

Here I (his sister Lyndi) will be putting up letters and pictures and any information we receive from him while he is out.

"If you are a young man wondering whether you ought to fulfill a full-time mission, don’t approach that vital decision with your own wisdom alone. Seek the counsel of your parents, your bishop, or stake president. In your prayers ask to have the will of the Lord made known to you. I know that a mission will provide extraordinary blessings for you now and throughout your life. I urge you not to pray to know whether you should go; rather, ask the Lord to guide you in whatever may be necessary to become a worthy, empowered full-time missionary. You will never regret serving a mission, but you most probably will regret not serving if that is your choice." - Richard G. Scott

If you want to know more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints go to these web sites:

LDS.org

Mormon.org