Teaching! (3 New Photos added)

Dear Mom and Dad, 

-I don't need any more Camelbak stuff

-Who will probably starting for BYU lacrosse this year?

-I got a postcard from Leon Brown! I'm planning on writing him back soon! Please tell him thanks!!

-Our apartment is apart of the mission home complex, and we live exactly above the mission office

Well to answer your question from last week, getting a driver's license in the Philippines is not too bad! I think I caught it on a not very busy day. However they're just as grumpy as people at the DMV at home! Driving here is something else! It felt a little weird driving the first couple minutes, but ever since it has been completely fine. The only thing I've really had a hard time with is driving the truck because it's so big and bulky and has an awful turning radius! 

We were really blessed this week to watch a Philippines Area Broadcast in which the Area Presidency spoke and revealed the 2013 Area goals. The area goals are exactly the same as they were last year!! At the beginning of 2012 the average sacrament attendance for the whole country was 116,000, and at the end of this year it was 121,000. That's a 5,000 increase, and in that that includes all the recent converts and returned Less-Actives. All in all, that's a little disappointing! However, the Area Presidency is so positive and optimistic, and I left the broadcast feeling so uplifted and excited! 

One of the new clarifications of rules in our mission was regarding lessons to sisters. We are only allowed to teach a lesson to a female of any age with a male present that is 18 or older. This is going to affect a lot of people's work here because generally speaking, women are much more receptive than men. We were a little worried about this, but we've been able to have Elder and Sister Packer come with us to lessons! They have been so much fun to have, and I think are really enjoying it. They spend a lot of time in the office, and I think they're really enjoying being able to get out and work and serve others. 

This evening, we taught a great family. The sister was baptized about 18 months ago with her children, but her husband hasn't been baptized yet. She is one of the nicest and sweetest people I've ever met. A few months ago she was really offended by a certain member of the ward, and hasn't been back since. We taught them this evening with the Packer's and Sister Peterson (who is the Mission President's wife). We had such a sweet lesson with them about the Book of Mormon. This Sister talked about the missionaries who have taught her family, and how much she loves them and misses them. It occurred to me that while we as missionaries come and go, we leave something with those we teach that will never leave. It's one of the first things we give them, and it's eventually the thing we leave them with. The Book of Mormon. Think about the Restoration of the Gospel. The initiating event was the First Vision, and the next was the Book of Mormon. Before the restoration of the priesthood, temples, priesthood keys, and other things came the Book of Mormon. So many have labored, struggled, and even died so that we could have this ancient volume of scripture. Many have attempted to make the Book of Mormon be about something it's not, or to distract the focus from it's central message. No Broadway Musical or cartoon can change what the Book of Mormon is, it's divine origins, and the message it contains. When all is said is done, one must truly ask themselves whether the Book of Mormon and all it claims to be is really true. One must really as the question if this book really does invite others to come unto Christ. As is the theme in the entire book, Moroni ends the record in the final verses by saying:

 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

I testify that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, and that as we read it's pages, we allow the Savior to bless us with his grace and become perfect, or more accurately, complete. As we feel these changes, we can nowise deny the power of god, and the divinity of the Book of Mormon. If I may, like Moroni, I invite all to come unto Christ, become complete through his Atonement, and allow his grace to enter into your lives by reading his Gospel contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and experience the power of God work within you. I know that as he says in Moroni 10:4 "he will " manifest these things unto you. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder Yost