Learning So Much (NEW PHOTOS added)

Dear Mom and Dad,

-I got the package with the BYU shirts!! I'm planning on giving one to the  Branch President

-I could use maybe two of the shirts from Mr. Mac's -I went looking for pants fabric earlier, but you won't have much luck in the middle of nowhere!

-Hopefully I'll send off my Absentee Ballot today!

-Random question, but how did Jimmer do last year? Can you send me a picture!

-I'll ask my Mission President about you all sending clothing for some of the children here and then I will get back to you.

I opened up my e-mail today and this email was sitting in my box, titled "An Important Message to Absentee Ballot Voters"...

"Dear Paul Alexander Yost IV,

Thank you for taking time to vote absentee.  Virginia voters like you will be responsible for the future direction of our country.  Turning Virginia blue this year means sending leaders to Washington who put what’s best for our families ahead of their own political agenda, and turning back the Republican effort to undo the progress we’ve made together over the past four years in health care, women’s rights, rebuilding the economy and ending the war.

Sincerely,

Brian J. Moran

Chairman, Democratic Party of Virginia"

Could you please find out how they had the authority to send this awful, offensive email to me! (its called voter registration lists!) I will say this, when I read it I thought, 1) They could not have been more boring and cliché, and 2) They need to get a bit more creative instead of saying the same thing every four years. I feel like nothing has changed since I left because they're still saying the same exact things....anyways

It was a good week, and I'm still in Lopez! This means I'm for sure getting transferred next time which will be on the first Friday in November. I'm happy I'm still here, and it takes some uncertainty away, knowing exactly when I'm leaving, I'll have a bit of an idea where I'll be going and who could be my companion. Chances are very good my next companion will be an American. 

Our baptism is still scheduled for this Friday! The Sister is so ready, and passed her baptismal interview with flying colors. Her husband is back in the home, and they seem to be doing better. He's still sitting in on our lessons, but when we try and involve him he won’t respond. I have been asked to baptize this wonderful sister and I am so excited!

The 1st Ward FINALLY got Elders this week, an American and Filipino, and they're now in our apartment. They're both so awesome and are really hard working. We had another workshop on the Ward Council this week for several wards.  The workshop went really well, and each Bishop or Branch President  set a specific time every month when they'll meet! It's just such a simple thing, but as we know, through small and simple things are great things brought to pass!

We have a brand new American Elder straight from the MTC in our Zone! I got to spend some time with him this Saturday while his companion interviewed our baptismal candidate. He's from Sandy, UT, and graduated high school in 2010. He went to the University of Portland, and I later found out, was a scholarship Soccer player! They're D1, and during his freshman year they were ranked as high as 9 in the nation! He got recruited by other schools like Syracuse. He's so nice and so humble and will be a great missionary.

As I've detailed in the last few weeks, our White Rabbit investigator has been really struggling with smoking. So as ironic as it is, we gave her the White Rabbit candy that you sent,(our friends gave us a piece of candy from China called White Rabbit to send to Alex :) and it's been helping! Nevertheless, it's been slightly frustrating, because we've taught her everything, and I wasn't sure what to teach her next. I felt like the only way she would stop smoking is if she had a spiritual experience in which she would really come to feel deep down that she needs to quit. 

This past Tuesday we taught her about baptism, and the lesson quickly turned to smoking. I was trying to listen to the Spirit to know what to say, and I didn't feel like I getting anything, any promptings, so I just asked,  "Sister, if Jesus Christ was here right next to us, what advice he would give you?" When I asked the question, she started to get emotional, and immediately looked up at the ceiling and started say, "No Elder Yost, don't ask that!

No!" 

I was concerned because I thought I'd offended her or pushed a little too hard. I then felt prompted to say, "Sister, Elder Yost and Elder L. are not asking you to quit smoking, Jesus Christ is asking!” We have been called as his representatives." I was kind of shocked by what I said, because I'm a pretty conservative person in teaching. It got really quiet, and she finally broke the silence and said, "I'm done." I thought, NO! She doesn't want to be taught anymore! I've ruined everything! Then she said that up until that point she had no real genuine desire to give up smoking, but now she was done. Then she said, "When you asked that question, I felt as if the Savior was speaking to me. It was almost as if I heard what he would say to me if the Savior was here!"

Now I don't know exactly what she heard or felt, but the Spirit was so strong in that room, she hasn't smoked a single cigarette since last Tuesday, and you can see the light and happiness in on her face.

So when people see you and me, what do they see? Do they see the Savior? When you and I talk, what do they hear? Do we reflect the Savior in how we live? I testify that as you and I live the Gospel and live worthily, we can become like the Savior and draw closer to him.  That is the whole point of the Gospel. I learned a very valuable lesson that day. I want to do everything to live in a way that the Savior can work through me to bless others. As we live the Gospel, He will literally be on our right, and on our left, and we will become even as He is, emanating light to the whole world.

Love,

Elder Yost

Sowing

Dear Mom and Dad,

-You can go ahead and send some of those shirts and stuff for the kids. (we wanted to send a big box of slightly used tee-shirts and shorts for little children in his area.) 

-I did get the notepad with the metal case. 

-I'm planning on sending off letters later today to Uncle Christopher, Bishop Forsyth, and Elder Heap.

Another busy week and we got a lot accomplished! We didn't have any Zone Conferences or other events which was nice because we had no distractions all week long. We were blessed this week in that we didn't get punted (appointment canceled) much, and we met our teaching goals!! We also found some new Less-Actives members of the church as well. 

The White Rabbit investigator is doing well, but still really struggling with smoking. I think her problem is that she still enjoys it, if that makes sense. An important step in the repentance and healing process is not wanting to commit that sin anymore. If she still enjoys the sin, she'll give in immediately when temptation comes! We did an activity with her this week where we gave her a pad of paper and asked her to write down everything she has missed, is missing, and will miss if she continues smoking. When she was finished, she said she thought she was going to die within 24 hours! I think it shook her up a bit! At our next lesson, she was putting it off saying she'll stop smoking in a few weeks! And then her Sister in law who is an active member asked if she wanted to get sealed to her family in the temple, to which she responded of course. She then said, "Well if you don't stop, you'll never get baptized and never go to the temple, meaning you'll never get sealed. So what you're really saying is smoking cigarettes is more important than your family and being sealed to them forever. Did I get that right?" The investigator was speechless!

The sister I spoke about last week whose husband left her came to church this past week. .She is doing great!! She told us that when her husband left, she finally had some quiet time to read the Book of Mormon and pray. She said for the first time she sincerely prayed to know if all that we've taught was true, and she said she feels that she received an answer in her heart that it is true!! She has a Baptismal Goal Date for Sept. 28, and hopefully should have her baptismal interview this weekend. We went to go teach her yesterday, and when we got there she said, "Elders, I just found out that my neighbor is a member and she doesn't come to church anymore! Let's go visit her and invite her to come back to church!!" This sister has grown and changed so much. If she's gets baptized, I will probably be able to say she's the most deeply converted person I've taught on my mission!

LeBron James still haunts me all the time! I've just started holding up 5 fingers for Kobe's 5 championships, and he's got nothing to come back with! (There is a young man that drives a pedicab in the town where Elder Yost is and he is a big LeBron James fan and loved the fact that he won the NBA Championship. He gives Elder Yost grief every time he sees him!)

A few weeks ago, Elder Bednar gave us a good way to study the scriptures. He said that in his office he has a big book case of cheap paperback Books of Mormon. What he does, is he picks a topic, reads the Book of Mormon cover to cover, marking up everything to do with the topic, then when he's done he writes a one page summary of what he learned, puts it in the Book, puts it on the shelf, and starts over! His son asked him if he could have the Books when he dies, and he said no way! Do it for yourself! Our mission is doing that right now on Repentance. Just another thought of how you could study the Book of Mormon.

This Sunday my companion and I sang in Sacrament meeting! We sang "I Heard Him Come" and "Come Thou Fount". It went pretty well and was a lot of fun! I know that this is the Lord's work. We are laboring in the Lord's Vineyard. Sometimes it feels lonely, and sometimes we feel like we're on our own. It doesn't matter where you're called to labor in the vineyard, or if you're in the most fruitful ground or if you feel like you're trying to plant seeds on a rocky mountain, it matters not. As long as we thrust in our sickle with all our might, we have the promise that the Lord of the Vineyard will personally labor with us.

Love,

Elder Yost

Dear Mom and Dad,

-The Electric Shaver Charger broke again...I'll stick to the disposable razors for the time being

-No letters or packages this week

Well, it was an interesting week! We had our Zone Conference in Lucena this week. In our mission there are three Zone Conferences, two of them comprising of three zones, and the other having 4 zones. It's always fun to see other missionaries and see old friends. Our Zone Conference is in Lucena City which is about 2 hours away from our area. The focus of our Zone Conference was on the Book of Mormon. It's something that I've felt as well lately, that we can be using the  Book of Mormon better than we have.

Well, we had 16 investigators and 8 Less-Actives come to church today!! Not bad! We were pretty surprised considering we were gone all Wednesday for Zone Conference, and we had a lot of appointments cancelled on us. The majority of our investigators have Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom concerns. Our White Rabbit investigator is making some progress, but is still struggling with cigarettes. Our 7th Day Adventist Investigator came again, and we had a really good lesson with him yesterday.

I'm running out of time, and I'm sorry this is really short, but I'll close with this story. We're teaching a family that I think I had told you were former investigators a while back. We taught them on Saturday, and when we got there, it was clear that the two parents were having some kind of argument. We were a bit worried, and hoped that they would be able to get everything figured out. On Sunday morning, I saw the Sister come to church with her 4 children. As she got closer, I could see her crying, and I ran up to meet her. Through her tears, she told me that her husband had left her. As I stood there, my heart went out to her, and I marveled that this investigator showed up to church on time, dressed right, with her Book of Mormon in hand, and with a smile on her face through her tears. I could begin to feel the love that our Father in Heaven has for this sister and her family. God bless her!

Love,

Elder Yost

Experiences in Faith

Hi  mom and dad!

-As for the earthquake, (there was a 7.9 earthquake in the southern island of the Philippines)   we were planning and we slightly felt the house swaying! It was so like I didn't notice it until   Elder L. pointed it out!
-No mail this week.  We have Zone Conference this week so I could get mail.
-Thanks so much for sending pictures!!! They're so much fun to see and a boost for me!

Well it was a fun week and some great things happened in our area. We had the most investigators come to church that I've had on my mission, twelve! What's nice is that they're relatively newer investigators.  This week we were finally able to teach both the White Rabbit investigator and her husband. When you're assigned in more provincial areas, you find that a lot of husbands work up in Manila, and their families live in the province. A lot of them only come home once a month or so. This brother works in Manila, so we've had a hard time reaching him. He's been a member since '87, but has been LA for 10+ years, and now smokes and drinks. We had a great lesson with them, and this brother even cried! He told us that he feels his Spirit is really hungry, and he'd rather not have real food than not be spiritually nourished. He told us he was giving up drinking, smoking, and was going to return to the church. He said he wanted to find a job closer to home, even if it meant a decrease in income. All this came because, his investigator wife said to him, "You need to come back." They have a tentative wedding/baptism date for Sept. 29, which hinges on the Sister not smoking. Keep them in your prayers!!

About two weeks ago we met a man while he was doing his family's laundry. We sat down and started talking to him about his family. His wife left him for another man, and he's been left to care for some young grandchildren AND  kids of his own to raise. A few years ago his only son was stabbed to death on Christmas, and all of this has left him wondering whether God really exists. This is a problem I never thought I would encounter my whole mission here in such a Christian nation. It's kind of funny though that this atheist has a big tattoo of Jesus on his arm! It's been really slow progress with him. We've needed to teach slowly and simply, but his faith is starting to grow, and he's starting to read the Book of Mormon, he even came to an hour of church on Sunday. Whether he's recognizing it, the Gospel is changing his heart.

We had a really awesome experience this past Thursday. We got punted(appointments cancelled) a ton and had gone to all of our back up plans and had gotten punted as well. It was about 6:45 and we were both a bit tired and discouraged, and a Less-Active family popped into my mind, so we went to go visit them. As we got to their house, one of their daughter's husbands was at their house, and started talking to us. He had been baptized the previous Saturday as a Seventh-Day Adventist, and told us that he wanted to "interview" us, which of course meant he wanted to debate.   We sat down, and started to teach him the Restoration. As we started, I could tell he was trying to find faults in what we were saying, but as time went on he just was quiet and seemed so interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and invited him to read, pray to know, and come to church. Well, he and the Less-Active family came to church yesterday and had a great experience. His mother in law said that he told them that as we taught he had questions pop into his mind, and then we would answer them by something we would say, without him even asking. I think it really surprised him and really helped him feel the Spirit. As I've thought about this, it's strengthened my testimony in the Inspired Teaching Method, and also that there was a reason we got punted all day on Thursday, so the Lord could put us where we needed to be.

I didn't know that was the Spirit that prompted me. I just had a thought pop into my head, I followed it, and later I learned that it was actually a prompting, yet in the moment I had no idea! All we need to do is live worthy, strive to have the Spirit with us, and the Lord will guide us and strengthen us to accomplish his purposes.

Love,
Elder Yost