Hi!
-I got a package from the DJY family!!!!!!
- Congrats to Tia!!! (Alex's cousin Tia is getting married in March)Happy New Year!!!
It's been yet another busy week here! We've been running around getting a lot of apartments ready to go! Like I said, we're outfitting our apartments for 4 missionaries, and it's been quite a challenge! Right now, we need to have 16 more areas find new apartments that can fit 4 missionaries and meet the standard. It's been a trial to say the least! This week we went up to Santa Rosa,Laguna to help the sisters find a new apartment and we still have had no luck. The poor sisters are looking but just haven't found anything yet.
I don't have much time today so this will be a bit shorter. New Years here is insane!!!New Years is about 10 times a bigger deal than Christmas is! It's kind of sad actually! There are a ton of "fireworks" which in my opinion would be more accurately referred to as bombs! We have a curfew tonight so we'll be off the streets to avoid anything bad!
A shout out to Aunt Lisa on her great milestone!! When I think of
perseverance and determination, she's the first one that comes to
mind. We all have mountains to climb, challenges that just seem to
push us more than we can bear. This week President Peterson made an interesting point about challenges. He asked why the Lord did not call the saints to go to Kansas. There was no one in Kansas, the saints could have easily settled there and lived in peace. However the Lord told them to climb the Rocky Mountains. Going to Kansas certainly would have been easier, and more of the saints would have made the journey. So why'd he tell them to go to the Salt Lake Valley? A loving Heavenly Father knew that this was exactly what the saints needed to progress and become who He knew they could be.
We just taught a lesson earlier this evening to a part member family in which the husband and wife are having some serious problems right now. When we walked into the door, you could just feel the tension. It was one of those moments where I asked myself, what in the world are you going to say? What in the world could I share that could even remotely help this family? It then occurred to me that I didn't have to do anything extraordinary or different, all I had to do was teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we would be able to say whatever it was this family needed. The Gospel is a message of optimism, hope, and light. As we experience trials, it seems that it is so dark and that light can never come back and shine the way it did. The Savior, in his most excruciating hours maintained that hope and optimism that always personified who He was. Elder Holland said, "But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christ’s determination to be faithful was as obvious as it was utterly invincible, finally and mercifully, it was “finished.” Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful,spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. With faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph, “Father,into thy hands I commend my spirit.'"
May we always strive to respond to adversity and trials as Christ did, with hope and faith in God, and a determination to see it through. I testify that God's love is never absent nor withheld, on the contrary it is all around us. If we really truly look for it, we'll see the light and the love that is there. As he was the perfect exemplar in all things, the Savior has taught us how to face trials. With humility, charity, and an unwavering faith in his Father. This is my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I don't have much time today so this will be a bit shorter. New Years here is insane!!!New Years is about 10 times a bigger deal than Christmas is! It's kind of sad actually! There are a ton of "fireworks" which in my opinion would be more accurately referred to as bombs! We have a curfew tonight so we'll be off the streets to avoid anything bad!
A shout out to Aunt Lisa on her great milestone!! When I think of
perseverance and determination, she's the first one that comes to
mind. We all have mountains to climb, challenges that just seem to
push us more than we can bear. This week President Peterson made an interesting point about challenges. He asked why the Lord did not call the saints to go to Kansas. There was no one in Kansas, the saints could have easily settled there and lived in peace. However the Lord told them to climb the Rocky Mountains. Going to Kansas certainly would have been easier, and more of the saints would have made the journey. So why'd he tell them to go to the Salt Lake Valley? A loving Heavenly Father knew that this was exactly what the saints needed to progress and become who He knew they could be.
We just taught a lesson earlier this evening to a part member family in which the husband and wife are having some serious problems right now. When we walked into the door, you could just feel the tension. It was one of those moments where I asked myself, what in the world are you going to say? What in the world could I share that could even remotely help this family? It then occurred to me that I didn't have to do anything extraordinary or different, all I had to do was teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we would be able to say whatever it was this family needed. The Gospel is a message of optimism, hope, and light. As we experience trials, it seems that it is so dark and that light can never come back and shine the way it did. The Savior, in his most excruciating hours maintained that hope and optimism that always personified who He was. Elder Holland said, "But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christ’s determination to be faithful was as obvious as it was utterly invincible, finally and mercifully, it was “finished.” Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful,spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. With faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph, “Father,into thy hands I commend my spirit.'"
May we always strive to respond to adversity and trials as Christ did, with hope and faith in God, and a determination to see it through. I testify that God's love is never absent nor withheld, on the contrary it is all around us. If we really truly look for it, we'll see the light and the love that is there. As he was the perfect exemplar in all things, the Savior has taught us how to face trials. With humility, charity, and an unwavering faith in his Father. This is my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Yost
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