Who woulda thunk??

This week was great! On Thursday, we went to the Toyota dealership to fix our car. When we arrived, they told us it'd be ready by the next day. Oh little naive Elder Yates believed what they said and went on his way biking for the rest of the day. Come to find out, there was more wrong with the car than we thought. So, they kept our vehicle from us until sometime today... We still don't have it and we are waiting for the call to come pick it up. But, we got to experience a biking area for the past couple of days! That was an experience I never want to have a again. Haha

But, I want to talk about looking at our trials and hardships with an eye of positivity. Whenever we face our trials, we come to that "path in the yellow woods"... At that moment we can either make a decision that will change us for the better or make everything worse. An experience that I had relating to this was when I was a young lad about the age of 9. We were at a store and I decided that I wanted some candy, but mischievous little me didn't want to pay. So, I took it from the shelf and ate it within the next couple hours. I still remember the guilt that I had from that experience, and I honestly think I never went back to apologize to the manager or anything...

In my personal studies lately, I came across this verse in the Doctrine & Covenants. It's section 58, verse 42. It it says, "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more". I realized that after I made that choice of stealing that candy bar which cost less than two dollars, I had made the wrong choice. Duh! But, like this verse says, if you truly repent, the Lord remembers your sins no more!! Isn't that wonderful?

Now, none of us are perfect. Though some may like to think they are. We need the power of repentance for our everyday lives! We make small miniscule choices everyday at almost every second. Some are for our benefit and others for our downfall. Repentance is a principle of perfection and should be used everyday! Not just for the big things, but the small things that we do that are not in accordance with the will of our Father in heaven.

As a missionary, I help my investigators and members make better choices that will help them become closer to Christ. We help and invite them develop their faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and then endure to the end. For most of you reading this letter, you have received these blessings already. Now, we need to endure to the end. Not just endure, but as Sister Hall says... "ENJOY to the end".

- Elder J.T.Yates