Moving in and moving out

Well folks, it's official! I left the good ol' Maplewood after only being there for 6 weeks. I will honestly miss the people there and the members who have helped me develop a love for this work even more.

It was a surprising call to have recieved from President Guthrie, that's for sure! But I Know that the Lord is in control!

I have made absolutely no time to write, but I want to just share this scripture. John 14:15

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." 

I know that as I have kept the Lord's commandments, I have felt the love of the Savior shine down on me. Not only that, but I have felt an increase of love for Him as well.

My invitation to all of you is to increase your love of the Savior by keeping His commandments. I love you all!!

-Elder J.T.Yates

Last day in Maplewood Bike. 

My beautiful guitar that I gave to another Elder.

Elder Bovee. My new companion! 

The Baptism of Fire

"Mah fellow Brothas and Sistas!" As a black preacher would say...

Haha anyways, how are all y'all doin? Because I'm doing great! If there's one thing I've learned, and I hope I've learned more than one, but I've learned that we should always be doing "great"! That's such a great gift from our Heavenly Father! As part of His Son's restored Gospel, we should always be doing great! :)

This week we had a lot of really cool experiences! We met with some really cool members who have definitely had their fair share of trials, but who are looking them square in the eye and not backing down. (Seeing something like that always strengthens my testimony)

The coolest part of this week was when we got to witness 5 people get baptized this weekend! On Saturday, we first saw 3 very short Burmese people get baptized. Now if you're anything like me, you're wondering where are Burmese people from? Well it used to be called "Burma" but has since changed the name to Myanmar, over in Asia. :) The coolest part of this was it was all translated into the Burmese language!

After their baptism, and I mean like right after, this very sweet older black woman into the waters of baptism. She has gone through so much to get to that point, but she knows as I know that it is worth it!!

Yesterday(Sunday), we saw someone in the Young Single Adults Ward get baptized! That was super sweet because he bore his testimony afterwards and told everyone that where he stands right now is not where he would've ever thought. But, that he is so grateful for this gift and blessing it is to be a part of the Lord's one and only true church!

As I was (trying to) study Come Follow Me this week, I realized that this included one of my favorite stories from the New Testament. Nicodemus and the need for the Spirit.

In this story, a very popular political figure came to Jesus Christ in secret asking Him what His Teachings were all about. Jesus Christ told him a very profound statement. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus misunderstood and very confused, tried to repeat what he just heard. He didn't do a very good job. But, the Savior being perfect, helped him understand.

He said in response, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Oh how I love this simple teaching! But at the same time, His simple teaching goes much further.

Notice how I've made in bold the parts He has changed? Jesus Christ helps us understand that we can be baptized with just water and without receiving the Holy Ghost and "see" the kingdom of God. But if we want to "enter into", the kingdom of God, we must be baptized by water AND given the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Mah Brothas and Sistas, I invite each of you to reflect back on your baptisms. Think about how that wonderful day. Think about your covenants(promises) you made with God. :) And then think about when you received the gift of the Holy Ghost by someone holding the Priesthood. I know that as you think about how amazing that day was for you, that you will feel a strong desire to continue to learn, grow, and progress in the Gospel! Now what you will do with that feeling is completely up to you. But, I exhort(strongly recommend) all of you take that feeling and go with it! I promise that you will not be lead astray as you stay close to the Gospel of Jesus Christ! :) 

I love each of you so much, and I am so excited to talk to each of you more in the near future!

-Elder J.T.Yates

We biked to the baptism on Saturday in our suits. It was so humid. 

After a service, we got to take a photo next to a Ca$h Cow!

One of our dear friends came to church yesterday! 

She is literally the most proper and polite human 

being I've met while here in Houston.

Elder Loveridge and I got to go on exchanges this week. 

It was so good to work with him again! :)

Sister Guthrie took us out to lunch after our District Council to Chick-fil-A!

 I flippin love the Guthrie's!

Last Monday night I made a massive bowl of chili that lasted me 

almost the whole week. (I think I'm converted to canned foods) ;)

A flippin' schweeeeet sunset. This is a view from our window.

Charity never faileth

Well howdy do! Okay, there are so many things I want to tell y'all about. So I'm going to give it to you in chunks...

On Monday, we were blessed to have dinner with Jim and Sean! They are my 2 favorite people that I've taught in the mission. We went to Sean's house and had some super good Bison Burgers. During the conversation, Jim nonchalantly mentioned that he was going to get baptized this last weekend. The way he presented it, actually said it, and then moved on from it, I didn't really think anything of it. BUT HE GOT BAPTIZED!!! He sent me this photo randomly yesterday night and then called me telling me that he is grateful for my willingness to help him and check up on him. This experience really topped my week and gave me so much joy! 

On Tuesday, we went to the temple! It felt so good to be back in the Lord's house again. We haven't been since October of last year, and I could feel the difference. Being able to feel such a pure connection with the Spirit is a wonderful thing. Oh how grateful I am for modern revelation!

Thursday sucked. We went through the motions from the morning hours into the afternoon. President Guthrie then called us and asked if we wanted to go talk to this African American guy named Keith. From the sounds of it, I'd say he's not really interested in talking with the missionaries, more of being friends with President Guthrie. When we got there, he was very welcoming. As we were talking, these teenagers came in and had an appointment to get their hair cut from him. So we continued the conversation while this kid was in the chair. For the entire conversation, all Keith would talk about is how racist the church is. The worst part was when he was talking about the "white Jesus, with blonde hair and blue eyes". He was telling this black kid in the chair that the slave drivers would force religion upon the slaves to make them obey. And then he said, "so they depicted Jesus as this white dude, and now when you think of Jesus, you think of slavery. And you see..... Boom!" And then the homie flippin' turned the chair and faced this kid right towards me. My face is now what that kid sees when he thinks of racism. It got me so frustrated, but I now understand what it feels like to have racism pointed at you.

Friday was amazing because I got to go on exchanges with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Clayton. I went with him, but we cover the same Ward, so it wasn't much difference. We had a lot of really good laughs throughout the day, and it was really fun to joke around with him. We took some good videos of us goofing around. We also went to a member's home, and they had 2 Macaws. They said that they don't usually like new people, but they both climbed on my shoulder. Haha

Saturday we had a lesson with this couple from Nigeria. They both have told us that they would be baptized if we didn't believe in Tithing or a Heavenly Mother. These are both topics we tried to research, but the only evidence we could give him was from modern revelation. He wouldn't accept it, and told us it had to be from the New Testament. "If Jesus Christ didn't teach it in the New Testament, it's a sin." That is his belief. We are still working on him.

Sunday was amazing because of that surprise photo and call from Jim. He said that during his baptism, he spoke highly of my attitude towards his baptism. I'm so grateful that I got to get to know Jim for those 3 short months in MacG.

In short Brothers and Sisters, the Christlike attribute of Charity that I had been studying really came into full force this week. There were so many instances where I used it, relied on it, and prayed more fervently for it. I know and have a testimony of Charity. It truly is "the pure love of Christ".

I am so grateful to have this Gospel in my life. I am so grateful to know the truth. And I do know that this is the truth. No one can and never will be able to convince me otherwise. I've felt the Spirit too strongly in my life to go away from this.

I love all of you!

-Elder J.T.Yates

Jim's baptismal photo

The 2 Macaws that look like they are making out

After our dinner appointment with Jim and Sean last Monday

Elder Tai, myself, and Elder Hanchett recently exiting the GQ Magazine

Power and Responsibility

"With great power, comes great responsibility" 

-Uncle Ben

Many of you know who this great man is. How much of an example he gave to others. And how much he truly changed the lives of whole cities. This man is the Uncle and Father figure to Peter Parker. Better known as Spider-Man.

I'd like to rearrange that original statement. 

"The source of great power is found through great responsibility."

-Elder J.T.Yates

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, there is so much access to the powers of heaven. But, we are gifted with power through our righteous actions.

This week we had Zone Conference. The main theme was consecration, or giving all we have to God, and not holding back. As a mission, we are privileged to participate in a 40 day Social Media fast. We have deleted Facebook and Messenger from off of our phones to focus more on the people we are teaching, and how to have the Spirit in our teaching more.

I have already felt my relationship with my Savior grow as I have put more time in the work, and less in the phone.

For all who are reading this, I hope that you can review your week or weeks, and honestly say to yourself if you've spent too much time in your phones rather than spending time in your scriptures.

This is a humbling experience. One that I participated in this last week. I know that as you do this with an open heart and mind, you will feel th Spirit guide you in the direction that you need to be going.

-Elder J.T.Yates

The squad went went up into downtown Houston today. 

I was their tour guide.

This cute little girl went to the length of drawing me this photo. 

Her name is Ezra. :)

 I was wearing my glasses and sneezed. After my sneeze, I kept my face and looked up into our wall mirror. This is the result.

Our favorite Nigerian in our ward. Sanni(pronounced Sunny).