One Last Wish...

Truly last minute packing with Ed's suitcase balanced on the garbage can at the Salt Lake Airport.

Then trying to make room for those last items they were told there would be nothing like them in Africa: Powdered Sugar, Brown Sugar, Powdered Cocoa, and Chocolate Chips! (What would dad do w/o Brown Sugar?)
And Ed's last wish was a Krispy Kreme Donut so we made a quick pitstop for breakfast before deciding to pay the few dollars for help with their BAGS.

Thank you Pam for these photos! They are priceless! Good Luck Mom and Dad! We love you!

The End of a Great Week at the MTC

July 5, 2010

Let me start with a recap of the last couple of days. Friday was our last day of classes and studies. We have learned lots. My favorite thing was just being with Dad all day and night. He has been lots of fun, like when we are on a trip. My second favorite thing was the cafeteria… not because of the food but because of all the fun cute elders and young girls that are there learning how to best serve Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. In the cafeteria we could watch them come and go and interact.

Another favorite was the Tuesday night General Authority devotional. Sister Elaine Dalton, the president of the Church Young Women was the speaker and talked about self confidence.

One of Dad’s favorite things about the MTC was the French lessons. We had a girl teacher from Paris that Dad charmed… and she was really cute and patient with him.

After 3 days of 2 hour lessons, we had our testimonies memorized. Dad had been listening to the French lesson CDs much more than I had. When the teacher taught him how to say “Souveur,” Dad’s head snapped up and he said, “You say that just like the lady on the CDs.” She blushed and said, “I am the lady on the CDs.” She was very good and helped us lots with our pronunciation.


On Friday, we went to the MTC barber shop so I could learn how to cut Dad’s hair. YIKES! The things we do for this mission call.

By Ed:
On Saturday, we went to get Kriss’s hair cut. I tried to convince Mom that she could grow her hair long, but then I reminded her about the heat and the humidity, and how her hair would be sticking to her neck and very hot. She quickly decided to keep it short. This would be a big step for mom, seeing how she interviews hair dressers in Irvine, and asks everyone she sees with a cute hair cut “Ohhhh, where do you get your hair cut?" Now there is no pressure on me, but I have to learn to cut it for her, because we have been told that no one in our city will know how to cut a “White Person’s” hair. I will try to learn. We had fun at the shop. The girl showed me how, and I actually took the scissors and cut some of Mom’s hair. It was hard for me to get my big fingers in the little holes of the scissors.



We must have been a novelty, because we kept laughing and having fun and the girl that cut hair next to us said, “You guys are such a cute couple! I didn’t get to go on a mission, but when I grow up I want my husband and me to be just like you… ‘cause you are so cute."

We did our laundry at the MTC laundry with over 100 washers and 100 dryers!


On Saturday night, we celebrated the 4th of July. The MTC had a special fireside for all of the missionaries. It was all about how the Lord had a hand in bringing about the restoration of the church… all the way since Christ died and the dark ages. It talked about the reformers like Martin Luther, and the translation of the Bible into English, and Columbus and the revolutionary war. It was multi-media with videos and slide shows and a Missionary choir and live actors. It ended with the Joseph Smith Story. It was great. (This is a picture of how many missionaries are there when we meet together.)


Then the MTC president announced that they were going to let the missionaries out on the MTC south lawn to watch the Provo fireworks. The 2000 young missionaries cheered and then when we were outside they sang patriotic songs during the fireworks, impromptu.
It was fun. Nothing like the mall at DC, but it brought back lots of good memories of our East coast vacations together, and we once again appreciated the opportunities we have shared.

On Sunday we went to a farewell devotional for all the missionaries leaving this week. They had us stand up by where we were going. We were some of the last to stand up. We hadn’t seen anyone else going to our mission, but when they said “The DR Congo Mission” we stood up along with 10 very young and enthusiastic elders. We were excited to meet with them after the meeting and they came up and gathered around us. Three of them are headed to Point Noire, to serve with us first. They will only serve 3 or 4 places during their missions, but they will probably all serve in Point Noire at sometime. They fly over on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are excited to try to be a support to these guys. We are going to all be a long way from home. Maybe we can keep each other from getting too homesick.

Our testimonies have grown, just practicing them and being influenced by all the good people we work with, and the young missionaries. We are excited to go teach about Jesus Christ’s true church.
This is the door tag we put on our MTC door when we left.

Happy 4th of July!

More shots!

(written by Ed)

Yesterday, we went for MORE shots! We thought we had all the shots we needed. However, the church wants to make sure we are safe so, Kriss had to have another Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B shot. I (Ed) had to have 3 more shots. When we went in I thought he would go first but Kriss got over to the nurse first. The nurse gave Mom her 1st one. As I watched her, she seemed to be in a lot of pain. Then the nurse asked her which arm she wanted to get the tetanus shot, which as you know, that one really hurts. As I watched her get this shot, I thought mom was going to pass out. She was really in pain.

After getting her 2 shots the nurse said that she would give her 3 shot in the other arm. Kriss said, "Three shots? What do you mean three shots? I only get two. Two shots, not three." I thought Mom was going to really pass out now. I jumped up saying the same thing. The nurse insisted that she was to get 3 as she looked at the paper. I went over and looked for myself and sure enough the paper said 3, but the name on the paper was mine.

"I think you just gave her my shots!" She had! But mom now needed the 2nd one of the 2 she needed for a grand total of 3. The nurse then say's to Kriss, "Its OK, I won't charge you for the 3rd shot." If looks could Kill. So mom say's I think I will go look for a rusty nail to step on.

By the way I was laughing very hard the whole time. You really needed to be there.

Goodbye to Denny

Last night, after our French class at 8:00, we got a call from Ernie. He said that Dennis was dying and asked if there was any chance we could come to Salt Lake to see Dennis and say good-bye. The nurse said he was hanging on for someone to come, or something to happen. All the other brothers and sisters had been to see him, and he was asking where Ed was? Pam brought us her car, and we checked out of the MTC and headed for Salt Lake to see Denny one more time. We got to their home and most of the family was still there. Ed stood and held Denny's hand and talked to him for about 45 minutes. Then Ed called everyone into the room that wanted to join in a family prayer. The room was packed. Ed offered the prayer. Four of the brothers were gathered around Dennis, holding his hands and arms. It was very emotional. In spite of the fact that they lived different lifestyles, those 12 Gates kids love each other dearly. We drove back to our dorm in Provo (about an hour's drive) and went to bed. We got a message that Denny passed away this morning about 7:00.

Lots of Laughs at the MTC

We have had lots of good laughs. On the 2nd morning here, Ed got dressed in his suit and went to put on his black shoes that he had brought here from Pam's to the dorm. This photo shows that we had a problem with them. Pam saved the day and brought over the matches to the 2 shoes and some macaroons to tide us over in our dorm room.

Ed also forgot to bring his exercise clothes over from Pam's house, so he bought some new shorts and an MTC shirt. He was just glad there was a pair that didn't say BYU on them.

Life at the MTC (Mission Training Center)

This is a photo of us by the map with our new missionary nametags!

Wow! What a busy, busy 3 days! They keep us going in classes from 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. We do get a lunch hour and a dinner hour. However, that is when we do things like go to the bookstore, doctors appointments, shots, etc. But the days have flown by! Tomorrow is our last day of classes. Saturday is P-Day (Preparation Day) and we will do laundry, run to the mall, go to Pam's and repack for the flight, and maybe celebrate the 4th somehow.

We start each morning out with an early walk up around the temple. We are out for the sunrise!

Each day we have classes with the 36 other senior couples that are here for the week for 2.5 hours in the morning. We have had some great speakers on what to expect on a mission. Then we split into small groups of four couples until noon, where we learn how to give the 3 basic lessons of (1) The Restoration, (2) The Plan of Salvation and (3) The Church of Jesus Christ. Even those of us who aren't Proselyting missionaries, can give lessons once we are out. After lunch we meet again with the small groups. We then go over to a room in the nearby chapel and they have volunteers from the neighborhoods (usually old... Grandpa used to volunteer when he lived in Provo). They pretend to be investigators and we have to practice on them... giving the lessons. We have learned a lot! At 4:00, we meet with everyone until 5:00 for a special speaker. We then get our hour for dinner and then end the day with two hours of French classes. At 8:00 we are ready to go back to our dorm room and read our 30 pages of homework to get ready for the next day. It has been lots of fun, as well as a special spiritual experience.

We are learning to bear our testimonies in French, for tomorrow night's testimony meeting. We are really enjoying the French lessons!

I think my favorite thing is just looking at the 2,000 young missionaries that are here, who are giving up two prime years of their lives. They still humble and amaze me!

These are some of the elders in the cafeteria lining up and building a tower with the salt & pepper shakers.
The food is ok. Actually they have a great salad bar and I'm loving it. Ed is pickier than I am, but seems to find plenty to fill up on. I just love to watch the crowds of missionaries in the cafeteria. They are so fun and full of energy and bursting with the desire to get out into the mission field.

Yahoo! The big day has finally arrived!

June 28, 2010

We are really finally here. Our cute sister Pam ran us around getting our last minute errands completed and then took us to the MTC. (Note Ed showing his missionary socks.)


Here we have Ed showing the distance between Greece and the Congo....

And here we have Kriss and Ed doing the traditional MTC picture... and being excited to be going to the Congo!

This photo is of Ed trying to lift and weigh Kriss's 70 pound suitcase... before he carried it upstairs to our 2nd floor bedroom.


And now we are ready to check out our room.....

TA DA! A great room with our own bathroom! The paper I am holding is our immunization record. I can't believe how many shots we have had... and now they want us both to have 3 more. But that's ok. We don't want to get sick over there.

We had a great day being introduced to the other couples who are here for the week. There are 36 of us. 80% are going stateside. We are the only Africans, so we are getting lots of questions. We are looking forward to a great week!

The day before we enter the MTC....

June 27, 2010 Sunday – One day until the MTC
What a wonderful day we have had. We are very, very excited! This morning Ed woke up and said… “Today is the first day of 18 months that I will wear a white shirt and tie everyday.”
We had the opportunity to go the home of the former mission president of the DR Congo mission today, and spend the day with he and his wife… President and Sister Livingstone. They drove us up to Tremonton (abt. 2 hrs north of Provo) to attend the homecoming of Brother and Sister Baxter. They are the couple we are replacing in Point Noir in the Republic of Congo. The mission was just opened in Point Noir 18 months ago by these 2 great couples and 4 elders. These 2 couples know more about Point Noir than any other adults in the church. It was wonderful to hear their stories about the people and the culture, and know that this is going to be a fabulous 18 months.
They say it will be very difficult to try to explain to you, our friends and family, what it is like to serve in the Congo. However, we are starting to get a glimpse of just how special this mission is going to be, to serve with the great saints in the Congo, who have a simple, yet devoted love for their Father in Heaven and their Savior, Jesus Christ.

Brother and Sister Baxter are in the 2 pictures below. Sister Baxter is wearing her dress the Congolese women made for her, and Brother Baxter is wearing his matching tie! Ed wants to know if they make socks out of that material. The Baxters are a wonderful couple and are thrilled to have us taking their place, so they don't need to worry about the missionaries and the members of the church in Point Noir, Congo... where we will be living for the next 18 months.