Sweet is the Work

Hi!

-I'll hopefully be sending some letters off today
-Mom, thanks for your philosophical points! I did laugh when I read about your weeks worth of laundry...you get to use a washing machine!! Try doing it all by hand one of these days just for fun!
-Who ended up winning the LAX national championship?
-I should get a chance to get more mail this Friday at Zone Conference
-Happy Father's Day Dad!! I love you so much, you're the best dad in the world!!

It was a good week that ended up with 2 baptisms, and 7 investigators at Stake Conference! They'll get confirmed next week in Sacrament meeting! Elder De Young baptized the 21 year old, and the father of the 9 year old got to baptize his son! The boy’s father is so awesome. He's a returned Less-Active that received the Melchizedeck Priesthood yesterday! When one of his daughters got baptized a few months ago he wasn't able to baptize her yet. We checked with the branch president to see if he could now and he said yes! When we told this brother he was so excited. He did such a great job.

Things with my Zone are going better and I think I'm making some progress. We have a new Assistant to the President that feels strongly about keeping the Mission rules.  My guess is that there will be some that won’t think I am so bad after all!

We have a Less-Active sister that has been interesting to say the least. Her house is so far away, we have to take a 15 minute tricycle, then walk up a mountain for 30 minutes to get to her house. Her husband ran off with another women years ago, and she doesn't have any constant job or source of income. She has a 10 year old son that still lives with her, and her 27 year old daughter who was hit by a bus a few months ago and now has the brain of a 4 year old. We started teaching her because she's not a member, and it just got difficult because she's can’t understand what we are teaching her, so we're focusing on the Less-Active mother. We were teaching last Tuesday, and I asked her if she had any questions about what we taught, and she went on a rant about how we're American and we will never be able to connect with her because we've never experienced any trials in life and we've never had financial problems. We went back on Friday and taught about the Sabbath Day. I've really been praying more for power when I teach. I don't think I teach with enough power sometimes. As we taught I thought of a scripture to share. The Sister was saying that she can barely feed and clothe her family, so if there was extra money they'd go to church. I then felt prompted to share 3 Nephi 13: 31-33 which reads:

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?   

 32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

 33 But  seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

When we shared this, it was like a brick house hit her. I could tell the Spirit really touched her heart. She started apologizing and said they would be there on Sunday. And sure enough on Sunday, they showed up at church and looked so happy to be there!!

Elder De Young was sick on Saturday, so I had all day to read the scriptures. I read pretty much the entire book of Numbers in the Old Testament. I was so struck by Jehovah's long-suffering and mercy towards the Israelites. It was certainly a lesson to me of what it means to be longsuffering. During their 40 years in the wilderness, Jehovah cared for them, loved them, and blessed them even though they were quick to stray off the straight and narrow and turn against Moses. I know that God loves us, and is the same today as he was then. He loves us perfectly, and even though we at times have turned away from Him, he is willing to receive us with open arms. That is the Gospel invitation to all, to come unto him, that he may heal us.

Mahal Kita,  Elder Yost