All Good Things Must Come To An End

Well this week was seriously awesome! There were many times that I could feel the Spirit working through me. And to me, that is a successful week. :) 

In my studies, I have been trying to focus and study more on the Savior and His gospel. To do that, I have set very specific study schedules to help me along that process. I use the Gospel Library's "Study Plans" section. 

I want to invite all of you to use that if you already are not. This will help grow and strengthen your testimonies. 

This week was also a wake up call for me. I realized that I really do only have 2 weeks left. I do only have a little bit more time to be a set apart representative of the Lord. But, these last 2 weeks are going  be the best 2 weeks of my mission! 

Like the subject of this email, all good things must come to an end. Including this email. Haha, even though I didn't really write a whole lot. But again, I challenge each of you to improve on your studies this week. Set goals and plans to help you to become a better person, not by the world's standards, but by the Lord's. 

I love all y'all!

-Elder J.T.Yates

We went to the beach again this morning. 

Took this awesome district pic.

This random dude caught this MASSIVE fish this morning when we were there, 

and he let us hold his fish for a little bit. It was like 40 pounds.

Elder Bovee and I biking around Freeport, TX!!

I got a picture of my favorite member 

in the Brazosport Ward, Brother Smith!

The keystone of our religion.

A beautiful Texas sunset! 

Body, Mind, and the Spirit

With only 3 weeks left to be able to send an email to all of you as a missionary, it's a rough choice of what to write about. But, I wanted to talk about the ability to choose. The ability to overcome our natural desires and thoughts. This ability is known as "Agency". 

Much to the surprise of myself and others, I have learned how to exercise agency in a manner that is conducive to the Spirit and is in accordance with the will of the Lord. I know, I know. That's not something you would expect to hear from Elder J.T.Yates. But, it's true. 

This last week, I was given many opportunities to be and do the way the Savior was and acted. But, the most important thing to me was seeing the "fruits" or evidence of those choices.

I was blessed to attend my final Zone Conference of my mission. The whole conference was centered on our ability to use agency wisely. It's true what they say about the end of your mission being the portion where you are most effective and have the ability to do the most good. But, I have seen time and time again where my dear friends and family misuse that time and short change their missions.

With only a few weeks left, I pondered very deeply on what I could do to improve my own and other's testimonies. Agency in general keeps coming back to me, so whoever is reading thinking, "I think he is writing this for me!" You're probably right. Heavenly Father works through others to help us in our everyday lives. 

As human beings, we have a tendency to follow what our mind or "gut instincts" say. Or we tend to go with how our body actually feels. But, how often do we do what our Spirit says? For me, I can say that it hasn't been as often as I would like. But that's why we are here isn't it? To grow, progress, and learn? 

Our body gives us signals that tell us things like, anxious, excited, depressed, hungry, etc. 

Our mind goes a little more into detail about what what is going on. We are now told things like, justified, miserable, powerful, winner, insulted, secure, etc. 

And now, it's our Spirit that tells us the things that have the most influence and the longest impact. When we listen to the Spirit we feel peace, love, connected, accepted, confident, hope, and joy. How many of these things have a negative connotation? None. 

No one can "make you angry". If someone says something that you may not like or agree with, you choose how to respond. You, in your own God-given right to choose, choose to be ________. (Insert whatever emotion you feel is best.)

The things that God want us to feel are and will always be positive. When we choose to listen to the Spirit, we will always feel good things. But, when we choose to listen to the other guy, we will always feel bad things. Feelings of confusion, anger, insulted, or resentment do not, I repeat, do not come from God. 

Please, I beg of you, choose to listen to the Spirit. Choose to stay by the Tree of Life. Choose to feel good. I love all y'all! Keep making God proud! 

-Elder J.T.Yates

Left to Right: Elder Bovee, Elder Saunders, Elder Perkins, Elder Yates

The Boyz next to the beach.

Elder Bovee and I having a good time on the jetty. 

Brother Smith polishing Elder Bovee's shoes before Zone Conference.

An original "door bell".

Elder Gillies and Elder Bovee.

We found a Centipede type thing while helping a member garden. 

Oceans

Gooooood morning/afternoon/evening!!! I don't know when y'all read these, so I'm just going to cover the whole day. Hopefully you don't read this too late at night either, sleep is important. :) 

Anyways! This week was awesome sauce! We didn't really get to work in our area again as much as we would've liked, but that's okay! We still saw some good miracles! On Monday night, we drove about an hour and met up with the Victoria Elders and had an exchange with them leading into Tuesday. I was blessed to go work their area with them. There is a trio-companionship there right now, and I got to work with Elder Carlson and Elder Claycomb. They are both great Elders with great desires. 

On Thursday, we did the same thing, but drove for 2.5 hours to Port Lavaca. This is a "new" area this transfer. Meaning that there used to be Hermanas there, and they both left, and now there are Elders there. So we went to blitz the area and work it really hard to help them get a boost/kick start to their new area. What is awesome, is this was my trainer's second area where he spent a good chunk of his mission at. It was awesome to see the people, the apartment, and the atmosphere where my good friend Elder Smedley once served. 

This week I felt the miracles of the Lord in almost everything that we did. Which is a good indicator that we are doing something right. But the biggest was understanding that what we were doing was being done the way that the Lord asked us to do it. So many of us go through the motions being "driven with the wind and tossed", to quote James from the New Testament. 

I hope that all of you that read that talk that I sent last week took away some good action items! I love that talk so much! It helps me to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ.

This week, I was studying out of the New Testament and found myself reading in James. Of course, we recognize verse 5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God...". But as we keep going, it tells us what happens if we ask with out faith. It also goes on to say that we need to resist temptation, be doers of the word and our faith, and not just bench warmers. Of course I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point. I love that statement it makes about being driven with the wind and tossed. Meaning, if we don't ask in faith and don't have the desire to actually do something about our answer, then we will be pulled around by the world and it's views. 

So many times have I heard about people I love both inside and outside of the mission that forsook what they know to be true, and to combat their feeling of guilt, they start to fight the truth with more lies. I have developed a strong testimony in the gifts of God. All good gifts come from God. Any feeling of confusion, anger, resentment, or distrust comes from the devil. I can promise all of you that as you truly seek to find and feel the gifts of God, you will feel nothing but peace, love, joy, and trust. 

I invite all of you this week to read James chapter 1 this week. This is one of my new favorite chapters of the New Testament. I hope that all of you reading this feels the Spirit and comes closer to our Savior. I love all of you! 

-Elder J.T.Yates

We saw the sunrise this morning!

Myself posing in front of the Port Lavaca water tower.

I haven't seen one of these in years! 

I saw this on the wall of the Victoria Elders apartment, 

and love the message it gives. 

One More Week Down

Again, I feel like I have no time. As I come closer to the end of my time here in Houston, I feel the Spirit helping me to work hard. I know so many people missionary or not who have somewhat given up towards the end of their goals. Should that be working out, finishing a mission, or just simply working at a job. But, I know that as we make that decision to turn our lives to God, He helps us stay focused and positive.

This last week flew by! For multiple reasons, but the biggest and most influential was hearing a member of the Quorum of the 70 speak to us. We were blessed to hear from Elder Lynn G. Robbins for 3 days. I took many notes and many of his words resonated with me at a spiritual level. But the biggest was how he taught so simply our responsibility to choose to be 100% responsible.

When we are 100% responsible, we show the Lord that we take full responsibility for everything that happens around us. Elder Robbins wrote a talk called "Be 100 Percent Responsible". I have included the link to it below.

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/lynn-g-robbins_be-100-percent-responsible/

Elder Robbins made a list deemed the "Anti-Responsibility List". We as missionaries in the great Texas Houston South Mission read and use this list daily to help us in our missionary efforts. We know that as we stay off this list and be 100% responsible, we are going to be blessed not only spiritually, but in our relationships with others(family, friends, and others), our work life, and our relationship with God. We will no longer be making excuses, hiding from responsibilities, or blaming others.

I have seen this way too much in my own life, and regret not changing how I communicate with people. But, there is always hope and always a way to improve! I challenge all of you to read and/or listen to this talk, and then commit to live a more Christ-centered life by staying as far away from the AR list! And I know how we all work, so your first thought of why you "shouldn't" or "don't want to" participate in this challenge is actually being on the AR list! It's a slippery slope and a loophole that is hard to get out of. But, I promise that the Lord will help you!

One more quote from Elder Robbins this last week, "The moment you remove the Anti-Responsibility List from your life, is the moment you are on your way to becoming a champion."

I just want to express how grateful I am for all of you, and for your examples to me of strength and integrity! I know that this church is true. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that there is a living Prophet on the Earth today that leads and guides all of us into righteousness. And I know that the only way to return to live with God and Jesus Christ in their presence is through this Gospel.I have come to know all of this by the Spirit and through studying, pondering, and praying.

I love all of you!!

-Elder J.T.Yates

Elder Robbins giving us a sermon of a lifetime! 

The terrible trio! 

This is the last time we will see each other before we go home.

I got permission to visit with one of my relatives who lives in the area, 

and they gave me this plaque. #Blessed

I got to see Domingo again!! I was so blessed to see him

 in person one more time before I go home.

You know you're in the South when...

My first son, Elder Smith. I will miss my boy!

 I was completing some computer work, 

and snapped this beauty of a Elder Bovee