Working Hard

-I got an envelope from the Oak Marr YW!!! Thanks so so so much!
-I was in a grocery store today and on the radio they said Whitney Houston died. Is that true?
-Yeah I ate the whole Balut. That's good to know that Sister Agbuya doesn't eat the whole thing...If I work up the guts to eat it again I'll let you know how it goes!!!
-Topper Yost going to Rio!! Will he be there for the Olympics! Let's hope he gets his visa and into the country before the end of 2012!
-Last week I sent letters to the Tenny Family, Nana and GF, Coach Funk, Uncle Christopher, and my Absentee Ballot (Please take a look at it and put in my SSN

Well we had a pretty good week here. The temperature has dropped here too! People are honestly freezing to death, and the temperature feels perfect to me! It's raining right now, and I'm actually continuing this email after a brief power outage. Still, the 5 minute power outage is a lot better than 36 hour power outages we had in Pola!

We're going on exchanges with our Zone Leaders here in a few hours. I'll be staying here in the area, and I'll be with an Elder V. whose first area was Pola as well! It's fun because he knows all the members and people I do! The sad part was when I asked him the names of those he baptized and I didn't recognize a single name. Yikes...

We had a busy week. It's always nice to be busy busy busy. It wears you out but the time goes 15 times faster. I look back on my first three weeks in the field and those were honestly the longest three weeks in my life. I remember my first full day in the field I fell asleep in the closing prayer of Daily Planning! Time just starts to go faster and faster. This week in particular seemed to go fast, and next week the transfer list comes out! I don’t think either of us are going anywhere but you never know.

The work recently has honestly been a bit tough. We're working hard and it's hard to see any of the fruits of our labors so far. I had an awesome experience with a Less-Active yesterday. I was on splits with our Branch President, and he took me to a 39 year old man’s home. He's very nice and was very welcoming. It's really awesome having a Branch President that was Less-Active at one point because he's really able to identify with them and bear testimony that they can come back. Our Branch Presidents wife was baptized about a year and a half ago, and they were sealed in the Temple 6 months ago. This brother we were teaching asked a very specific and insightful question in our visit about the state of the wicked after death. I could tell by the way he asked the question he was looking to stump us. President looked a little overwhelmed, and turned to me and said, "Well Elder, what's the answer!" I flipped to Alma 40 and 41 and had him read some selected verses. If you'll remember, in Alma 40 and 41, Alma's speaking to his wayward son Corianton, who thinks that anything goes here on earth, because we'll all be saved. I started to see that this brother was similar in his thinking. As we read the scriptures and expounded them, I could see this man was pretty surprised at how plain and clear it was. He was a bit surprised that we answered his questions by a complete appeal to the scriptures. He looked up from his Scriptures and said, "I need to come back to the Church. Elder, I have two daughters I'd like you to teach. Can you do that? Taylor Swift (music) to my ears!

This work is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is as plain as we could ever want. If people will but read the Book of Mormon and prayerfully search, they will find the answers to the questions of the soul. The Savior lives, and this is his Church. I love you all!

I love you all more than I can express!

Love,
Elder Yost