Election Season in the Philippines

Dear Mom and Dad, 

-Please wish Elder Tenny a happy birthday!
-I got an e-mail from Tyler Eyre on his new iPhone 5.....oooooooo

It is election season in the Philippines! The elections here are on May 13th, and things are starting to heat up. Campaigning here is a bit different here than in the states. In America people get fed up with the mud slinging, whereas here people get fed up because campaigning here is just obnoxious! Candidates get cars and put big stereos on them, tape posters to the car, and drive around all day playing the most loud annoying music!  I've got to get pictures of some of this stuff because it's just funny! 

After making a lot of phone calls I got an appointment scheduled for tomorrow for little Marinel to get her surgery (Cleft Lip and Palate) at the Mabuhay Foundation! She and her mother are going up to Quezon City tomorrow morning to get the procedure done. So happy for this sweet little girl.

As for things here things are good. We're starting to get closer to transfer day already and because there are so many new missionaries we're getting the new apartments all ready to go. That's going to mean making a lot of trips delivering things to the apartments. 

In terms of our work, things went better this week but work is stil hard. T.S. has been gone for over a month in Nueva Ecija, and won't be back for a few more weeks. His wife told us that he took his white shirt, tie, shoes, and Book of Mormon with him, and has been reading and going to church every week! I was so happy and relieved to hear this! I still miss him and am so excited for him to come back in a few weeks. 

Sorry this is so short, it's been a very busy day! I love you all, until next week!

Love,
Elder Yost

Diligence

Dear Mom and Dad;

-Thank you so much for the Birthday Clip! (We sent Elder Yost an audio clip of us singing happy birthday) For my birthday we went to General Conference and then just worked...pretty normal day. However on Tuesday President took us out to eat at a really good restaurant and the Eyre's (Elder Yost’s missionary friend’s parents who came to pick up their son) were there as well!

- We work out every day here, so my cardio is alright!  This morning was 250 squats with no weight for time, I got 5 minutes 45 seconds). Agility is of course something I'll need to get back as well

-As for working, I'd love to do an internship this summer.  

-I've picked up some cool stuff, and I have a surprise that I've gotten for our family that I'll bring home, but it's kind of heavy. I think when I go home I will leave a lot of stuff here. Missionaries and members always need things like ties and shirts.(A missionary this week got some clothing stolen off the drying rack!). 

It is so hot here right now! And summer in the Philippines is winding to a close; I get to go home to the beginning of summer in America! I'll take the heat over the rainy season any day though. I'd rather be really hot than have wet feet (“take care of your feet and your feet will take care of you”). Elder Eyre left the other day, and may even have landed back in the States by now. It was really sad to see him go home, and I'm really going to miss him. He was such a great example and outstanding missionary! It was also really fun meeting his parents and talking to them a little bit. His mom was a little scared apparently when Elder Eyre was driving...My whole mission I've wanted to become Filipino. Eventually the food came, the language came, and then the Filipino driving came! My driving may need a little bit of an adjustment for me too when I go home, so please bear with me! 

The Packers (mission office Senior Couple) go home this Saturday! I'll be so sad to see them go and I love them so much. The Hansen's (the new Senior Couple in the mission office) will be great though! We continue to see the influx of sisters being assigned to our mission. Right now, we have 5 American sisters in our whole mission. Currently we have 27 non-Filipino sisters with mission calls, ALL but two coming between May and August! You may not have heard, but they changed the missionary leadership and added sister leaders who will train other sisters and will almost be like Zone Leaders in a way, which should be starting next transfer. A lot of changes!

This week was without a doubt one of the most challenging I've had on my mission! Our work has been really hard and we're really struggling to find people to teach. We probably had somewhere close to 15 set appointments canceled on us this week. It was so discouraging! We had 4 investigators with baptismal goal dates, and all four of them either dropped us or were not progressing. . We've stopped meeting with  a good number  of the Less-Actives we were teaching because they've been taught for a long time by a lot of missionaries and aren't making any progress. So we have had a lot of our teaching pool drop off and got the appointments we did have cancelled on us.  Our recent converts are having family issues and are really struggling, and one of our Less-Actives got his leg amputated. Needless to say it's been a hard week. I've talked to more people this week on the street and in tracting (going door to door) than my whole mission, and yet it's been so difficult to find those who are prepared.

I've noticed an interesting trend. The harder I try to work, the more focused I am, the better I'm trying to be, the harder the work is. I was thinking about earlier in my mission and I thought that the concerns our investigators have now are like 5 times easier than anything I faced earlier in my mission. As hard as this week has been, I've tried to smile, and have faith. Being diligent is easy when work is easy, your investigators are progressing, and you have a large teaching pool. It's something completely different to be diligent when things are hard and not going the way you expected, and you feel like nothing will go right. I think of the Savior before and during the Atonement. He had the faith and hope to see past the pain and the agony, and have hope in what was to come after his ordeal. . His hope and his light were never dimmed by the present pain and agony he felt. He pushed on and triumphed. 

Wednesday was probably the hardest day of them all. We had had probably 5 appointments cancelled, we had talked to a ton of people and none had really been receptive. The part-member family we had been teaching asked us to not come back and teach them. It was about 8:55 PM, and we were close to home. I had a feeling that we should go to the street behind the mission home. We were walking, and I was looking for people to talk to or a door to knock on. Most people were either asleep or drinking. I saw a house and we knocked at their door. There was a 15 year old boy who came out and welcomed us in. When we walked into the house his mother and father were watching TV. We started talking to them about their families and their background. We weren't able to teach because it was too late, but we scheduled a return appointment and they said we were welcome any time! Despite all the trials this week, this one family was a witness to me that God is aware of all of us, and will bless us when we go the extra mile and get out of our comfort zone. We must take a step into the dark sometimes, and have faith that the light will continue moving with us and will guide us and direct us.

Love,

Elder Yost

Reflection

Dear Mom and Dad, 

-I'm getting my suit re-fitted because it's a bit big on me now! I'll be picking it up on the 25th

-This past week on the way up to Manila a missionary got a ticket on the highway! In the Philippines when you get a ticket they do one of two things, either they take your driver's license or they take your license plates! In this case , they took the license.  Today we had to go up with the missionary to the 'DMV' to pick up the license. When we got to the place they sat him down and gave him a 65 question test on driving laws in the Philippines! If you've seen driving here, you know they are no rules, and if there are no one follows them! Well he took his test which he said was incredibly hard. Here are two of the questions:

When driving at night, what will effect your visibility?

a) Dirty headlights

b) Dirty windshield

c) Poor eyesight

When turning a corner, what should you do?

a) Honk your horn

b) Flash your highbeams

c) Come to a stop and wait

These question were not pick all the answers that apply! It was pick the one right answer. They all look good to me! After he took the test, we waited for two hours until he got to pay a fine and get his license back. I'm not sure they even grade the test! 

It was a busy week, but not too bad because there were only 5 new missionaries and no new areas we were opening. Next transfer will be a different story with 19 missionaries! Elder Eyre's parents didn't come in until Friday so he got to work with us for a few days while he waited for them to come. He's an outstanding missionary. Conference was really good, and my favorite talks were Sister Dalton, Elder Cardon, and Elder Holland.  We watched in at the Stake Center on Saturday and Sunday. It's weird having Priesthood at 8 AM instead of 8PM at home! 

Congrats to Elder Tenny on his new assignment! That is so so awesome! He's finally getting a chance to get away from the city life, and will probably have experiences like I'm having being more in the rural areas. I checked it out on the computer, and it's kind of close to Mindoro! It's pretty far from Manila...In about 5 and a half weeks I'll be off to my last area as well, which seems crazy to me. The Packers are still here and will be heading home in about a week and a half. The new senior couple is really fun to be around! Elder Hansen is really picking up stuff really fast and will have no problem. Not sure if the church and missionaries use the credit cards back in the states for wards and stakes, but they just changed banks, and with that came a whole new system to learn. It's harder to track your money here because only gas stations and malls take credit cards, so we have to withdraw money out and keep all of the receipts so as to have everything balance out. 

It was a challenging week this week for those we're teaching. As I feel like I'm becoming more eye single and more focused, challenges just seem to come more often. We had some of our returned less-actives get offended again over the smallest things, and other investigators are hiding from us when we come to teach them. As I see the time on my mission winding down, I don't feel ready to go home and are tired of the work, actually quite the opposite! I feel like I'm just starting to get it and understand what missionary work is all about. I'm removing distractions I've had and am trying to be that much more diligent and hardworking. As I've done so I've asked myself, "Why did it take me this long to get it?" or "Why did I do that earlier in my mission?"  This week at transfer meeting, President opened up to the mission and said sometimes he feels down and asks himself "What took you so long to realize that?" or "Why didn't you teach that a year ago?" He said in times like that we need to "go to your high mountain." In Moses 1, Moses was taken to a high mountain where he saw and conversed with God face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Nephi went to his high mountain and conversed with God. Elijah went to his high mountain. And the list goes on. Even Christ himself went to his high mountain to commune with his Father. There come times in our lives when we feel like we're not up to the task, or that it's just too tall of an order. Our confidence in ourselves may be shaken. We need to go to our "high mountain". That's at our bedside and on our knees. You can't hike up to a high mountain in a few minutes, or have it be an easy experience. It takes time, effort, sincerity, humility, and desire. I've prayed this week like I never have before, and every time I do my heart is comforted and I feel that I'm never alone. As we go to our high mountain, we converse with God as Moses did, we feel his presence, and we come to know as they did that He truly does live and that he hears and answers every sincere prayer.

Love,

Elder Yost 

Sweet Reunion

Dear Mom and Dad, 

- I got a great letter from Roy Copans this week! Made my day!!

It was another crazy week with surprises. This past Wednesday, Elder Bandiola, one of the assistants and one of my best friends collapsed during District Meeting and had to be taken to the hospital. His whole mission he's had awful migranes, they've only gotten worse over the past few months. After he collapsed, he wouldn't get up and was unconcious. The Elders took him to the hospital and then the Packers took him up to Manila. he was unconcious for a couple of hours. When he finally came back, he had awful migranes and was in a lot of pain. After consulting the Area doctor, they decided to send him home with the batch that's going home this transfer. I was so sad, because we were supposed to go home together! I'm attaching a picture of me and him before he left earlier this morning. I was the one who replaced him in Cuenca over a year ago, so for his last Sunday, President let him go to church in Cuenca and let ME be his companion! It was so fun and it felt so great to be back! 

There was a family we taught my entire time in Cuenca. The mother was not very active in participating in church. The father was always drinking and hadn't been to church in years. I remember teaching them and just being so frustrated! It was so hard because they knew what was right and just wouldn't do it. I remember begging the father to just come back, stop drinking, and to be an example to his family. It just broke my heart time and time again as I saw him turn away from what he knew was right. My last few weeks in Cuenca something started to change. For the first time in a long time he came to church, and starting to slowly read the Book of Mormon. After a few weeks of him going to church I was transferred and never knew what happened. We showed up to church on Sunday, to find out that the day before this beautiful family was sealed in the temple. We saw the father come into church, wearing a clean white shirt and tie. He even got up and bore his testimony of how he has been changed through the Atonement. Cuenca was a hard area for me, and I honestly wondered if i even accomplished much there. Words cannot describe how much joy it brought me to see this beautiful family! We may not know the effect our efforts and service may have. Only time will tell. But I know as we do our best, no effort is ever wasted. No matter how dim things may be, I testify that the light of the Gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ can and will shine in places you never thought could see light again. 

Sorry this is so short, next week should be longer. I Love you!!!!

Love,
Elder Yost

Obedience

Dear Mom and Dad, 

-As for what I'm eating...I'm not eating very healthy I'll tell you that. The problem is that we're always on the road and we frequently have to eat fast food. For breakfast every morning i have whole wheat oatmeal with a powdered milk thing called Energen, and then some Peanut Butter. It's so so so good! 

-We're doing a work out program called Cross-Fit every morning. They're quick workouts but are pretty tiring and efficient. I feel like it's getting me in better shape, and should make my transition easier after my mission.

-I got your package the other day! As for my last box....thanks so so so much for every box you have sent! Could you send me one of my Nordstrom shirts from before my mission? I'm also planning on getting my suit tailored a bit (should be doing that next Monday). 

It was another interesting Sunday, but we were able to go to church! That was nice for a change! We had a missionary that was going home so we had to pick him up to take him to the airport. The only problem was that it was holy week here. Easter season is a bit different here than it is back at home. I was in San Pablo City on Friday night and it was a zoo. There were really gruesome parade floats of Christ being crucified and scourged, and a ton of Catholics were following them through the streets. We couldn't even get home by Jeepney because it was so crowded! I lot of people were travelling on Thursday and Friday because no one had work, and then they were all going home on Sunday. We drove to pick this Elder up on Sunday, and we left at 1 PM after church. We got there at 3:30 PM, picked him up, and started back home. Then we hit what Elder Rivera called "the worst traffic ever in the Philippines". We were barely moving at all. Everybody was going back to Manila, and that was the direction we were going. We finally got to the mission home at 7:00 PM, and at 8:00 PM we got back into the car and went with the Packers and the missionary to Manila to the airport. They wanted me to see how to get to the airport so I can know my way around up there if I need to go. Of course there was absolutely no traffic in the city of Manila....never is! By the time we got home, it was 11:30 PM. We were so exhausted! 

Other than that it was a pretty normal week! This coming Sunday the new senior couple, Elder and Sister Hansen will be here. When they get here, transfer week starts and it will be insanely crazy. We were able to work a little more in our proselyting area this week which was nice. We're finishing up teaching a lot of our recent converts, so we're really trying to expand our teaching pool to find new people. The M. family who was baptized a little while ago was having trouble reading consistently, so we decided to give them a test! We assigned them to read Alma 17-24, and told them at our next lesson there'd be a test. I gave them one of the questions on the test, "What color is Alma's dog?". They opened up and started to read, trying somewhere where it talks about Alma and his dog! We dropped by a few days later, and they said they still couldn't find the dog, so we said, keep on reading! When we finally gave them the test, they said his dog was blue, brown, white, and yellow. Only the father got the right answer, which was that Alma doesn't have a dog! We assigned them Mormon 1-7, and the question we gave them was "What is Mormon's horse’s name?". I think they'll actually read this time so they don't get that one wrong!

The transfer is winding down, and after this one I have one more in the office and then one more in the field. Crazy...Time is going really fast right now for me. I've felt like I've been changing lately. My whole mission I've been obedient and done the very best that I could. Yet something always felt like it was missing! I worked hard and was obedient because I knew it was the right thing to do and that's what God wanted. I've felt over the last few weeks I've really come to better understand my purpose as a missionary better. I want to work hard and keep the rules not for personal benefit, or even because it's the right thing to do, BUT because I know that by doing so I can help others be blessed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and become eligible for eternal life through the ordinances of the Gospel. When we live by the doctrine, it's not hard to be obedient. So many missionaries live by rules, and find it hard to do so because they feel so tied down. When the doctrine sinks into our bones, and becomes who we are, obedience is a blessing and is not burdensome or hard. Elder Bednar shared this scripture with us when he visited for mission, "And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time—they that are faithful and diligent before me." 

The righteous are blessed with commandments not a few. So when you do what you're supposed to, you're blessed with more requirements!! Great! But what it means is as we are diligent, we live by the higher law, and more commandments. I know that the Lord wants us to be obedient for the right reasons. As Elizabeth Swan's father says in the first Pirates of the Caribbean, "A good choice for the wrong reasons is a bad choice." Live the higher law and be happier. If you find it hard to keep a certain commandment, learn the doctrine! And as you do, obedience will become a blessing and a pleasure to you.

Love,

Elder Yost