Baptisms

Hi Mom and Dad, 

-I got the two packages!

- Quite an announcement!! (58 new missions announced)They all make sense, but Legaspi Mission? They split    Naga mission which is a little puzzling...at least there's a VIRGINIA Chesapeake Mission!

- Thanks for sending the pictures!

Well golfing was good the other week!! I'm not very good....at all! Although,  I honestly wasn't as bad as I thought I'd be! It just felt kind of weird because it was at a beautiful country club, and I haven't been anywhere like that for a very long time!  For lunch I had a BACON CHEESEBURGER. Like a real one...needless to say it was amazing!!

Right now we're starting transfer week here and things will be busy! The missionaries that are going home this transfer are here at the mission home right now and will be leaving tomorrow morning. Elder Cook is going home! It honestly is a little weird because the Elders in this batch are really the first batch to go home which I was pretty close with. After them I have three transfers left here. It's weird how fast time is flying and how fast things are approaching. (Alex will be flying home on July 3rd)

Elder Eyre is going to be leaving the office this transfer day!!! He'll be re-opening Pola for his last transfer. We're really sad to see Elder Eyre leave and it'll be really weird not having him here. 

Tatay Sendong and JR were baptized!! (see PHOTOS above) It was such a great baptism. Between us, the AP's and the Alaminos Elders, 7 people were baptized yesterday in our ward! Since I've been here in Alaminos ward, there have been 18 baptisms here. This is the most progressing area in the mission as far as baptisms go (and it should be, there are 6 of us here!). We've been blessed with such great success here, and have been able to baptize two families. On the other hand, we're now completely out of investigators!!! We're really focusing our efforts this week on finding and re-building up our teaching pool. We're so busy that we really focus on getting our set appointments that sometimes we don't have as much time to tract. We'll be hitting the pavement hard this week, but we'll be super busy with the 14 new missionaries that get here tomorrow.

I've been thinking a lot about the Atonement recently and the role it plays in missionary work. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that the Atonement is central to everything, and everything else we do is just an appendage to it. What missionary work comes down to is us helping people access the blessings of the Atonement. Everyone needs it, no one can be saved with out it. It's our job to help others access the power of the Atonement. I know that Christ suffered the pains of every person, and that he descended below all, and triumphed despite all the opposition. I love the Savior so much. I know that he loves us more than we can imagine. As he showed his love for us through his atoning sacrifice, may we show him our appreciation and reverence for his atoning sacrifice through changing and through our actions. Let's stand a little taller, and be a little more humble, and be more diligent in all things we do and in all places we may be in, even as Jesus Christ himself did.

Love,

Elder Yost

Strength and Growth

Dear Mom and Dad, 

- The name of the foundation that provides for the surgery is called the Mabuhay-Deseret Foundation. Mabuhay is the Tagalog verb "to live".

I don't have much time!!! We have a baptism this Sunday for JR who will be the last member of his family to be baptized, and  Brother S. as well!!

I'll just share a quick experience I had this week. I interviewed a sister for baptism this week. She's 18 years old and is about to graduate college (that's normal at her age here). Her parents were both members but have passed away. She's been living with an aunt and uncle and other family who used to be active, but have since become preachers at an evangelical church. Over the past month or so, she's been taught by the sister missionaries. I had the privilege to meet her. She has been so changed in this short period of time. We've had a big focus in our mission on teaching the doctrine, and teaching it simply and clearly in such a way that people come to live by that true doctrine and are changed as a result. As I walked into the room to interview her, something just felt different with this sister. She just had some sort of presence about her. She understands the Gospel very well, and really knows her stuff. This past week as she's been preparing to be baptized, she has been met with so many challenges. The night before her interview, she told her family that she was going to be interviewed, and hopefully be baptized the following week. Her family just exploded and told her if she did, she'd be disowned and have no place at all in their family. Even though she knows it's true, it's still very hard for her to choose. She's already lost her parents, and now if she continues with this, she loses the only family that she has left.

The Lord does not give us trials we cannot handle. Joseph Smith endured some of the most extreme trials, the pioneers crossing the plains, and of course the very Savior himself. My sports analogy (of course!) to this, no one remembers Michael Jordan sweeping the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 1998 Playoffs, because it was easy. However, everyone, especially Utah Jazz fans, remember his shot in game 6 to come from behind and win the NBA finals. Anyone can be good and do good when things are easy. It takes someone special to rise above all else when circumstances seem impossible. As the Prophet Joseph Smith said,"But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it."

The Lord chooses us in the furnace of afflictions. We must all pass through it. Some are meant to pass through deeper ones than others. But all of them have the same purpose, to prove us all whether we will do what the Lord commands us. If we look with a broad perspective, seeing the way the Lord sees, we have no reason to fear or to be afraid. All we need to do is press forward faithfully, doing the very best we can, and we have the Lord's promise that he will always be with us. Keep holding on, not just holding on, but enjoying every moment and learning and growing!

Love,

Elder Yost

More Missionaries Coming!

Hey Mom and Dad, 

- First off, Congrats to Megan Livingston on the mission call!!

-Thank you so so so much for the apartment!!! It sounds so awesome! Could you send some pictures at all? 

  So excited!

-I'm sending off a letter today to the DJY family, and hopefully more coming

So I'll start this letter of with a funny story. Every Sunday we have an awesome meeting with everyone here. We go over the calendar and talk about upcoming events in the mission. We were in our meeting yesterday and President said that he and Elder Packer had a "conference" on Tuesday they had to go to. The term conference is a code for them going golfing!(Mission Presidents need a P-day too!)  (P-day means preparation day, kind of like a day off) I jokingly said, "President, are you going to need any help at all at your conference?" He laughed pretty good and asked if I knew how to play. I said I did but I'm not good and it's been a while. We all kind of laughed about it and the meeting continued.

This morning I walked into the office and President said, "Elder Packer, Elder Yost is coming with us tomorrow right?" I couldn't believe my ears! Well, tomorrow morning I'm going golfing with  Elder Packer and President Peterson. It's a little scary! I played about 5 times the summer before the MTC, but I'm awful! It'll be quite an experience! Tomorrow Elder Rivera will be going with the Assistants until I get back! Today I bought a cheap Polo shirt because I would've had nothing to wear tomorrow! Apparently this is the first time President has ever taken anyone golfing, and he's had people straight up ask him before!

We had a good week and were traveling a lot again, and this week will have more travel! I've heard from some reliable sources that there should be at least one new mission created here in the Philippines in the near future. Not sure where that would be, but it's a sign of more missionaries coming! We have 14 new missionaries coming in this next transfer day, meaning we'll have to open up 4 new areas. We've been stocking up on mattresses and fans and other things like that. We were transporting those things this week to apartments that will probably re-open, and then we've been transporting refrigerators! We also had an apartment have the contract canceled on it this week so we had to run up there and move everything out of it.

I've been talking to Sister Packer and she's going to try and coordinate with Manila Mission to get my flight plans going home lined up with Elder Tenny's! That's assuming of course that his release date is the same as mine, and that his parents aren't picking him up. Can you check on that? That would be super fun to be with him going home!

Well I don't have much time, but this past Sunday we had 4 people get baptized. Completed family! The mother and her 3 children. It was the sweetest thing seeing the re-activated father baptize his wife and children. I know the Gospel's true. It's been a knowledge and a testimony that has slowly grown over time, and especially on my mission. Line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. I know with my whole heart it's true.

Love You,
Elder Yost

Back to the Bank!!!! ( See NEW PHOTOS )

Dear Mom and Dad, 

I'm very late e-mailing and I have a good reason! We went and withdrew money from the Bank yesterday, and got some exchanged, and the Bank accidentally gave us 15,000 too many pesos! So we came back to the office and were counting it up and we were pretty scared because we had no idea what was going on! We called the Bank and told them we thought they'd given us too much, and found out that they were balancing for the day and were 15,000 short and couldn't figure out what had happened! It turns out that some poor girl who is in training at the Bank had given us way too much on accident! We ran over to the bank as quick as we could and the poor girl was in tears! She looked so relieved to see us! That was my scheduled e-mail time yesterday!

It was another good week for us, and we have 4 baptisms this week! It will be an entire family! It's a mother and her three children (ages 12,11,8). Her husband is a returned Less-Active member and should be baptizing his wife and children. All in all, there's 8 of them (children are not baptized until they are 8 years old)  in the family! That'll be on Sunday morning before church. We also have two potential other families that will be setting baptism dates!

We've been teaching T.S., a part-member father who is the fussiest man I've taught! His understanding is a little weak, but he has the best intentions and just wants to do what's right. He loves all the commandments we teach and he's so committed to living them. The other day we followed up on the Ten Commandments and asked him what he remembered and he said, "Don't do bad things, go to church, pray every day." We explained that these were all commandments, but not necessarily the 10 commandments. He said" Oh yeah I know that!! Like don't smoke or watch bad movies!" He's a sweet man and will get there!  His wife is a member and is so solid and reads  the Book of Mormon to him.

I'm sorry this is really short, I'm sending some pictures which I hope should make up for it!!

Love,

Elder Yost