Elder Yates: Cracks in our life that can be mended

Man! This week was amazing!! I never thought how much I would actually love a biking area. The Lord really has blessed me with the ability to bike all day every day and not get too sore. We had some pretty amazing experiences as well as some wanky ones! We passed by the smell of weed so many times! It truly is the smell of bad decisions.

Amazing experiences...

We were biking along, and about 15 feet before our investigator's home, this 17 year-old kid named Chris stopped us and asked for a pamphlet or a book. We talked to him about the Plan of Salvation. We also found out that he has a child on the way and is still in 8th grade. We can't wait to continue teaching him the Gospel!
The Stakers, the senior missionary couple in the area, took us to District Council on Wednesday. Afterwards, I found out that they take the whole District out to MOD Pizza EVERY STINKIN' WEEK!! MOD Pizza is like Subway, but the Pizza version. It's amazing
Elder Gilliland had the most graceful crash I have ever witnessed. We were riding along the sidewalk, when we were coming up on a garbage can. he thought he could squeeze past, but he was sorely mistaken. He literally hit just the edge of it with his handlebar, and then fell straight onto the ground, didn't try to resist the fall, just fell right there.
One of our investigators, Terry, came to General Conference for the Priesthood Session. Halfway through, both Elder Gilleland and I thought "What a session to come to". But, afterwards he came up to us and told us that he wants to become an Elder! What a miracle!

Wanky experiences...

While speaking with an investigator who had one eye (awesome), we heard car tires squeal and then looked just in time to see a car ram into a different parked car. They then backed up and drove off. We later came to find out that they were all juiced up on some drugs and alcohol.
We were biking in the "sketchiest part of our area" and were trying to find a new investigator, when we also looked over just in time to watch a drug deal go down. The dude just walked up to the car, dropped a wad of cash in the passenger seat, and then took this small bag from the driver and the car drove off.

Well, that's a rap for your weekly update on experiences! Now time for the spiritual stuff! I absolutely loved General Conference! The Lord truly has a chosen Prophet on the Earth today! President Russell M. Nelson is God's chosen mouthpiece. Through him, we learned the changes of how quorums are to be organized, how we will not be just "Home or Visiting Teaching" but ministering to those who we share Heavenly Parents with, and we have 7 new temples on the way! We truly do "Thank Thee O God For A Prophet".

During Conference, there were many things that spoke to my heart and mind as something that I can either do to change or to improve upon. But, the talk which left the greatest impression was by Elder Claudio D. Zivic. He spoke on having a firm testimony in the Gospel and how we cannot spiritually survive without it. In particular he said, "Even the strongest can fall if they do not 'Endure to the End'". As well, he told us to say "I will not fall away!" So many times I have had a "crack" in my testimony, and too many times I have let it grow bigger. I love our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer, Jesus the Christ.

Success in the Lord's way has a price. The only way to achieve that success is to pay that price. Now for your invitation, does your testimony have any "cracks"? How can you fix that? Will you pray about and find those cracks? Then, will you pray about how to fix them? I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ that when you do this, your testimony will strengthen and will grow stronger. You will develop the love and faith needed to go through these perilous times that we live in.

I love all of you!!

-Elder J.T.Yates