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