Can you believe that I've officially been here a month?? Crazy! Sometimes it feels like it's been forever, and yet the days go by so fast. Could you send me a hangar for my ties as well as another oxi clean gel stick, I'm not done with the first one but it gets a lot of use!!
Thanks so much for your letters! It's awesome to get a letter every single night! I've also gotten letters from non family this week which is awesome! It's been an awesome week. I've learned so much, and hopefully learned some Tagalog on the way. On Wednesday the whole curriculum for the MTC completely changed. Missionaries just coming out are more effected than we are, but there are a few changes. One of them being the Training Resource Center (TRC)is completely different. When Preach My Gospel was introduced around 2005ish, it was first introduced in the MTC, and the missionaries took it with them to the field. However, many missionaries in the field just kind of discounted it because a new missionary was trying to teach them how to become a missionary. So, having learned from that, the Church has introduced the 8 new fundamentals to missionary work. However, they've been teaching them in the field for about a year and a half now, so trainers and other older missionaries don't just throw them to the wayside. The Eight fundamentals are things like Receiving Revelation through the Book of Mormon, Revelation through Prayer, etc. In the TRC, instead of teaching the Preach My Gospel lesson, we now teach a regular member, playing themself, and try to teach them the fundamentals. We had an awesome experience yesterday...
We were supposed to teach 2-20 minute lessons on Receiving Revelation through the Book of Mormon. Our first lesson was with a college student named Katie. We've taught her every single week so we were comfortable teaching her. Yet another sister came in in the middle of the lesson and the interruption kinda threw us off our groove. We tried to share scriptures with them, I shared Mormon 8:24, but they accidentally went to Moroni 8:24 which talks about people being under condemnation of a broken law. Oops!!! We got a good laugh out of it.
Our second lesson was with a recently returned missionary named Rob. We got in the room, and I think we were a little rattled. He shared with us a scripture about miracles, and then things just took off. He told us how he had recently broken up with his girlfriend and how he was pretty down about it. I felt prompted to share Ether 12:6, on of my favorites, "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." We talked about how we don't receive a witness until after the trial of our faith. Something good to remember all the time. The Lord gives us challenges and only afterward do we receive that confirmation. Think of the early saints. They witnessed angels, miracles, and even the appearance of Christ to a select few. Yet, it wasn't until AFTER that they received a witness. The Lord wants to see how "in" we are. Are we going to bail at the sign of trouble? Or are we going to stick it out, through thick and thin. Elder Tamale shared D and C 8:2 about the Holy Ghost. As I was scanning the page, I was drawn to verses 9 and 10. Verse 10 says, "Remember that without faith you can do nothing, therefore ask in faith." BINGO! I shared this and thought back to a talk by Elder Oaks about the Book of Mormon. He said that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to proclaim the Jesus is the CHRIST. I turned to the opening page in the Book of Mormon and read it. At this point, I had no idea where I was going with this. I then said, "I'd like to share a scripture in Enos..." What? I didn't have a scripture in Enos to share! Yet, I was calm as I've ever been. I turned to Enos, having faith that the Lord would reveal to me what I needed to share. I turned to Enos, and my eyes drifted to verse 8 which reads, "And he said unto me:Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole." Wow. He looked at it, and I think he started to tear up.
As I wrote last week, if we're obedient, the Spirit will guide us. The Spirit literally whispered to me what I needed to share, and I acted. I'm so grateful for this experience. In the Joseph Smith movie, he says to Brigham Young, "The Lord takes raw materials, shapes them, and refines them." It's my prayer that we keep his commandments and live so we can become what he wants us to be. I Love you so much! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love, Elder Yost
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