Elder Yates: Santa's not-so-little helpers

Man Oh Man! Was this week awesome!!

I am going to try something a little different this week... So here we GO!!

Monday: The usual P-Day, playing scatter-ball (free-for-all dodge-ball), went shopping, and I got a haircut. Then at night we went to a former investigator's home and shared a message with him after he had fed us chicken and dumplings. We will see where this goes.

Tuesday: We went on exchanges with the Spanish Elders today. I went up into their area, and Elder Gillies stayed in our area. The exchange went really good, and we were all able to learn a lot about how to be better missionaries. After the exchange ended, we went Christmas caroling to an old-folks community. That was awesome! There were 9 missionaries there and the older couple that were members that sang with us.

Wednesday: I am still getting used to leading District Council, but it isn't as bad as I originally thought it would be. After all of our studies, we went down to the farthest regions of our area, and tried some referrals and tried to teach them about the Gospel, that didn't end up working out, but we did end our day by finding and teaching one of the daughters of our most progressing investigator!! That was awesome!

Thursday: In the morning, we started by helping out a less-active member with her gutters. they literally had trees growing in them! One of the members that was there took us out to eat at the most ghetto Chinese/Japanese/I have no clue what food it was restaurant. But, was still super good! We ended our night by imputing like a million progress records into our devices so that we can make them digital.

Friday: To start the day, we went down to Texas City and helped out the Salvation Army again. They had over 1300 boxes for families that got displaced in Harvey. We went through and sorted out all the boxes and made sure that every child had a present! It was so awesome to be able to do something like this for people in need. After helping the Salvation Army, we went to League City and helped out at a Methodist church as they were passing out food for the homeless and the less fortunate. Without the missionary force, there would be so much service gone undone.

Saturday: On Saturday, we went back down to Texas City and helped actually pass out all of the clothes/toys/bikes/beds/etc. It was so cool to see the smiles on peoples faces as we would give them their Christmas presents! To end our night, we went to a member's home where their son is going to London, England for his mission, and they had their open-house.

Sunday: To end our week, we had church!! The literal best part of the week! We were able to partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants that we have made with the Lord. We were even able to go help usher at a Methodist Christmas conference! It was called "The Messiah". It was actually super sick, they had a ton of opera singers and a fairly large orchestra.

Now that I have told you all about my week, I am sure that you are just begging for more right?? Right! That's how the Gospel is, when you learn of something, we shouldn't push it away and say that we already know enough, but we should be always searching for more in our lives.

In John 5:39, it says: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

How often do we search the scriptures for that eternal life that it is talking about? How often are we pondering on the things that pertain to our salvation? Most importantly, how often are we sharing those most precious truths with those that are around us?

As we are constantly sharing the Gospel, the Lord promises that He will bless us for our efforts! I promise, as a literal representative of Jesus Christ, that as you share the Gospel with friends and family, you will feel the spirit more in your life! I can testify to you that what I say is true, and I promise these blessings in our Lord and Savior's name, even Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Elder J.T. Yates