Assessing the damage...Then moving the damage!

Well, I have received instruction this week to send an update on how life is going down here in the great "country" of Texas! Haha

So for this week, we had a very busy schedule! Elder Smith and I have now helped muck out 14 houses in the Houston area! No matter how damaged, moldy, or wet they are, there was always an opportunity to tell people about the Gospel!

One of the houses we served at, we were helping a lady named Amy. Her house had over 2 feet of water, and all of her possessions were just ruined. We were able to help her take out the most important things to the back so she could sort through what she wanted to keep/throw away. After a hefty chore of moving items around the property, we were able to get to the fun part! Ripping up her kitchen!

We were instructed to rip out all of the cabinets/granite from her house so we could get to the floor to make sure that there wasn't any black mold down there. While working, we met this really nice guy named Mike. He has never wanted to talk to a Mormon Missionary until he saw how much we loved to serve. So, we started to talk to him about his religious life, and we found out that he believes in a lot of the same things that we do!

To make a long story short... He agreed to have some missionaries come over and talk with him about Jesus Christ and His Gospel! Woo Hoo!!

-Elder Yates

1) Elder Smith and I finishing cleaning up a new house

2) Elder Low, VanMaren, Smith, and I ripping up Wood floors.

What the cuss Harvey?!

This week has literally been the hardest week of my life! Last Sunday we were stuck inside ALL day! We had to do everything we could to not die of boredom! On Monday, after emailing our families, we received a phone call that all of Sienna was on Mandatory evacuation! We hurried home and got packed up and went to a member's home for 3 days! It was the craziest experience that I have ever had! We stayed with Brother Gerald and his wife, Sister Sims, Sister Mosely, and Brother and Sister Nelson. We all had a fun time together and learned a lot about each other. But, after 3 days, I could only handle so much! Haha

After the storm passed, we went and surveyed the damage... Half of our area was underwater, but not nearly as deep as downtown Houston! But, now it was the waiting game to see if the river would cap over and make the houses go under even more, or it would drain out into the ocean...

Luckily it drained! Once it did, we were able to go and help muck out some houses. So far, Elder Smith and I have been to 10 houses to help get the Dry-wall and carpet out of! I actually really like doing this type of work! I get to rip out the houses without being yelled at for it! Haha, along with that, we have been making sure that everyone in the surrounding neighborhoods are being helped. Funny thing is, whenever we go to a house, they tell us that there are too many volunteers and that they don't need anymore help! I guess that's a pretty good problem to have!

Personally, this has been one of the greatest experiences in my life! I haven't worked this hard in the history of ever, prayed harder, or slept less. I know that all of these things are just here to test me and to show my true love and devotion to this Gospel! I surely do love this Gospel! I love Jesus Christ! And I especially love the Book of Mormon! Without all of these things, I wouldn't be able to be out here serving!

- Elder Yates

Don't worry little flock

Don't worry! I am alive and well!!! I am not hurt. So, you can all rest easy! Hurricane Harvey is nothing compared to the Texas Houston South Missionaries! We went out and helped clean up a tornado that landed 5 miles away from our apartment on Friday, which was awesome!! Haha, I know that everyone is freaking out, but I am having a blast! We were told to stay in our apartment ALL day yesterday, and I just about died... I thought I would never say that, but after about 4 or 5 hours of not doing anything, I was flipping out! But, after a good night's rest last night, I am doing great now!

Oh boy, if you could all see the flooding and damage done by the winds and the rain... Oh wait, y'all have the internet! Haha, there have been so many times where us as missionaries have wanted to know what it looks like outside, but we can't see because we have our apartment complex surrounding us. A lot of you are wondering how I am doing, and like I said earlier, I am doing great! As far as emailing goes today, I won't be able to email as much as I'd like... But, I hope that this is okay!

 

Elder Yates 

  Elder Smith, me, Elder Johnson, and Elder Newby

The damage done from a tornado that hit near us

Favorite missionary story!

Alright, so today I am just going to talk about my favorite missionary story in the Book of Mormon! Alma and Amulek!

These two are the greatest! They both had "hardened their hearts" towards God, and had rebelled in His teachings.

We already know about Alma the younger. His father was a Prophet and led the people. Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah were the "very vilest of sinners". But, the Lord had a plan and work for them to do!

Amulek on the other hand was a very popular man! He had many friends, a large reputation, and a lot of money! He was called many times to hear and preach the word of the Lord, but never listened until the 4th of July!! He was spiritually freed on the day of our freedom as Americans! Haha, just had to throw that fun fact in there! But, after he had been freed and accepted the call, and Angel appeared to him and told him that he and Alma were going to preach the word of God!

Pretty sick mission call if I do say so myself! Told to him by and Angel of the Lord!

Well, after Alma had already gone to Ammonihah, he was commanded to go back and preach repentance and to baptize! So, Alma and Amulek did just that! They were preaching the Doctrine of Christ, and no one would listen, until Amulek got up and bore his testimony!

From this point there was a large portion who immediately started repenting. But, the chief judges didn't want to listen, so they threw Alma and Amulek in prison and then made them watch those righteous people have to perish because they did believe.

At this point Amulek is afraid that they are going to die, so he voices his concern. But Alma says "Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore, they burn us not.".

He literally says, "We haven't given our message, so God won't let that happen!". Isn't that awesome!? 

As a missionary in the Lord's army, I have the courage to continue talking to everyone I see. This is only the first part of the story, and I would love to continue telling you the rest of the story, but I challenge you to go read the rest! 

- Elder Yates

1) Helping some former investigators

2) Elder Smith and I joining the Houston gangster squad!

3) Super pretty sunrise (this morning)

Do you want to partake?

First, a fun fact that I learned this week! "Beth" is the second letter in the Hebrew language, and means house or place. So, Bethlehem means house of bread!!! Isn't that awesome! 

As I went through another week of deep diving into the life of Jesus Christ, I came across John 6:35. It reads "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.".

As I thought about this verse, I wondered to myself if I am coming to him and partaking of that "bread of life"? Now, I would like to pose the same question to y'all! Are you extending your hand and partaking of that bread of life that will lead you to everlasting life?

In Alma 5:34 it says "Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;". Now this is just yet another witness to me that Jesus Christ is what we should CENTER all of our lives on. Not just read the scriptures, go to church, pray, etc. No, as we are nearing the second coming of our Redeemer, we need to completely surround and center our lives on Jesus Christ!

Comparing those scriptures, some thoughts I had were: We have a choice to come unto the Savior, but He is begging us to come and partake, I also had the thought that as we do partake of the bread and water of life (the sacrament), we are able to do so freely and have more of a spiritual abundance in our lives!

From a recent message on LDS.org, "When you reach for the Sacrament, you reach for the Savior", we read about the woman who reaches for the hem of the Saviors garment. As we think about the faith and the desire to be made whole, use this analogy with the sacrament! Do you have anything in your life that you are feeling guilty about? Anything that you wish you could get rid of? etc...

Well, just like Brent Croxton said, "During the weekly sacrament we, in our need, can touch the hem of the Savior’s garment as our hands and hearts reach to receive the Bread of Life and the Living Water, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We, like the woman, can be made whole."

Finally, I'd like to say something to anyone who is reading this, and feels like they have "gone too far". There is never a place too dark, too deep, or too far away that the light of the Savior can't reach you! And, if you feel like you don't need this saving power in your life, or it is "not for you", then you need to change your mindset, and get to fixing that! Trust me, when He comes again, and He will... You will want to be able to look Him in the eyes and not have any regrets or fears from our past.

I love all of you, and I know that it seems a little harsh, but I am out here serving the Lord, and something I have learned is that we all need to be repenting and asking for help EVERYDAY!

I can testify with all the power on conviction of my heart that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the only way back to our Heavenly Father! I can testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that the cleansing power of the Sacrament is real, and has healed me! I know that everything I have told you is true, and have only found for myself by reading and praying!

That is my departing challenge, to read about Him! Read and pray! Then, go and find ways you can all become closer to Him, and ways you can be a better disciple of Him!

- Elder Yates

1) My lizard friend I caught that just ended up chilling on my hand. Haha

2) Elder Smith getting a "tan" on the inside of his arms!

3) Elder Unick (one of the APs) and I after an awesome day of exchanges!

If Jesus can do it... SO CAN YOU!

Well, this week was awesome! Even though 80% of our appointments fell through and were cancelled, we were yelled at once a day, and we almost ran out of milk. There were so many tender mercies that were woven in our daily lives that it was incredible to see how much Christ loves us!

In my daily study of the New Testament this week, I discovered something that I thought was awesome! In Luke chapter 4, Christ was just baptized. So He being led by the spirit, went up into a mountain and fasted for 40 days. We all remember this story right? So what happened next? After 40 days of fasting, He being very weak is tempted by Satan. But, as He is tempted, he sends those ministering angels to His cousin John, who is now in prison.

Let's think about this... Jesus being VERY physically weak, gives up His angelic helpers to send them to someone else who was in more need than him. First awesome story! Boom!

Then, as He was tempted 3 times by the Devil:

First, Satan asks Christ to turn stone into bread so Christ can eat. What's so bad about that? Well, not only does Christ resist the temptation to end His hunger, he battles it with the scriptures! He quotes Deuteronomy and says "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."

Second, Satan takes Him to a high mountain and says that He (Satan) will give Christ ALL of the Earthly Kingdom if Christ will worship Satan. So, now Satan is offering Christ the whole world, and Christ wouldn't have to go through the Atonement and suffer. So, what does Jesus do? Battles him with the scriptures! He quotes and says, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

Third, Satan takes Christ into Jerusalem and puts Him on a pinnacle and tells Him to cast Himself down into the streets. Now, if we think about this... If Christ would've done this He would've landed right in the middle of the busiest street in Jerusalem. Instant popularity! But, what does Christ do? You guessed it! He goes straight to the scriptures! " It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Isn't that amazing!! Jesus Christ being so physically weak that he had to have ministering angels come to him, still was able to resist temptation of being fed, taking the easy way out, and having instant popularity!

Could you do it? I couldn't.

So, what I am trying to say is that we have all of these small temptations in our life that may cause momentary pleasure, but do they bring Joy into our lives? NO!

My leaving thoughts are for y'all to go into the scriptures, and to find a story, verse, chapter, 3 sentences, whatever it may be. And to memorize it! Next time that temptation comes, you now have that much more of a resistance to be able to combat it!

Please don't ever forget that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us individually! He knows what we have been through! And, our Savior HAS been there! Through the scriptures, we are able to find pure joy and happiness that we cannot find anywhere else! Literally no where else! This Gospel is the true and living Gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth today, this church is the only church to have the correct Priesthood authority, and this church is the only church to have a Prophet of God! I know that this church is true! And so should you! So, go and read those scriptures!

- Elder Yates

Elder Smith and I by a Disney sign

Judge not, that ye be not judged. - Matthew 7:1

Oh boy, this week was frustrating...

Almost every appointment fell through (members included), we had to drop our ONLY progressing investigator, and we haven't been able to find ANY new investigators this week.

I tell you what! If I have learned anything on the mission so far, it's that the Lord sure does know our weaknesses! For any of you that don't know me very well, I am not that patient of a person. So, when we couldn't get anyone to talk to us, come to church, etc. You can imagine that I was a little upset and didn't know why we weren't having any "success".

But, from what we have been focusing a lot on lately as a companionship has been not judging how successful we are compared to other companionships. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ teaches all about how we need not judge others, and instead ask of God. As I was studying this chapter lately, I realized that he says the EXACT SAME WORDS in 3 Nephi 14! He comes to the Americas after His resurrection, and gives the same Sermon again! So how important is it if the Savior Himself gave it twice? Pretty darn important!

How many of us judge others? The answer should be everyone! No one has gone through their lives without judging anyone! And that is the tricky part! Our goal should be to best represent the Savior, Jesus Christ, and emulate all of His qualities as we serve in His church!

So, even thought this week was a little disappointing, I have learned that as we judge not, and look inside ourselves to see how we can improve, God will bless us by "making weak things become strong unto us." - Ether 12:27. I just love the scriptures, and am sad that I didn't study them more before I left, so here is my challenge to all y'all! Read at least 1 chapter of the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY!

So, will y'all do that? And, this isn't an invitation coming from Elder Yates... This is an invitation coming from Christ Himself! He knows that when you do this, you will become so much closer to him that you ever thought possible! And, I can promise those blessings and more, because I have seen that happen in my life!

-Elder Yates

The Houston, Texas Temple with its pure beauty!

 An absolutely amazing sunset.

Elder Smith and I on our bikes. (With my super awkward face)

The newest edition to our food collection! Hebanaro salsa!!! 

Which means most to you?

Well, where do I start??

How about at the beginning? Sure? Alright, sounds good!

So, to start off... When we got to the Mission Office on Monday, I was freaking out! Haha, Elder Smedley was leaving, I was getting a greenie, and I didn't feel good enough. But, like my email last week said, I know that any and ALL callings that anyone receives in the church are called by God! So, what do we have to worry about? Absolutely nothing! So, after we go to the Mission Office, we walked around and took pictures with all of our favorite Elders in the area. Man, that was weird seeing everyone again! We were able to see all the fresh new missionaries climb out of the van and run through the huge line of missionaries. After they had all gotten situated, the trainers went inside and met up with them. I was assigned to train Elder Smith! He is from Lancaster California. Man, I was excited to see who I got to train!

Training is one of the most taxing things you can do as a missionary. Not as bad as DL, ZL, or AP. But, it really tests your faith. And it has tested mine. The greatest part about everything that has happened to me in the last 3 almost 4 months, is the relationship I have been able to build with my Savoir. We had an awesome District Council where I was asked a question in our Role-Plays. I was asked what my favorite term for Jesus Christ was. That kind of caught me off guard! But, I thought about it for a second, and decided on Advocate. I love this term because of the thoughts that I have behind the word. Christ is our Advocate to our Heavenly Father. He pleads for us when we do something bad, and celebrates with us when live and honor God's commandments. I love having Him as my representative. Because He lives, I will always have someone I can count on for help, guidance, strength, and support.

So, just like the heading says, which title of Jesus Christ has the most meaning to you? Which one gives you the drive to keep going? Which one helps you know that you are a son/daughter of God and will always have a place in His kingdom? I can't help but say that each and every one of you reading this knows what I am saying. So, that is your homework this week! Go into the Index and look up Jesus Christ. Find a title that you feel has affected you most, and tell me! I love to hear how people are doing with their testimony, and how I can help! I love each and every one of you!

- Elder Yates

1) From Left to Right: Elder Hanchett w/ Elder Whetzel, Elder Yates w/ Elder Smith, Elder Gillies w/ Elder Johnson, and Sister Hererra w/ Sister Bodily. (Everyone from my MTC District was called to be trainers)

4) Domingo after getting ordained to the office of a Priest and receiving the Aaronic Priesthood!!!

The Student Becomes the Teacher

This week was quite the experience! With Elder Smedley leaving, we had packed everything we could into our days. We were also very frustrated with how things went this week... Almost every person we spoke with this week was very receptive! But, ALL of them cancelled our appointments or texted us and said that they really had no intent on finding out more.

 

I realize now how the Lord humbles us. We have such a great week, give thanks for everything we have, and then the next week, we'll just get schwacked by not having any success. I have really learned the importance and how to have a successful "Mighty Prayer".

 

Mighty prayers are something that I actually feel like could help every one who is reading this to become that much closer with our Heavenly Father. I just want to start by saying how easy they really are! It may seem like we don't have time to do that in the morning or at night, but I PROMISE you that, when you find time to do this every day and every night, you will be so much more blessed! So, start and end your day with a mighty prayer! Kneel down and tell Heavenly Father everything you want to accomplish that day, or tell him everything that you were able to get done. Trust me, He listens. And He blesses!!

 

The past couple of days, I have had some of the most mighty and sincere prayers that I could ever conjure up. On Friday, President called and told me that he had felt inspired to call me to be a trainer! I accepted the call, and after I had hung up the phone, realized what had just happened. Elder Smedley is going to be a grandfather! Haha, but seriously... I am still very nervous about exactly what is going to happen.

 

I have become the Teacher! I know that this inspiration came from the Lord through a man called of God. I have faith that everything will be great in the end!!

 

So, the take-away for today, is to get down on your knees every night and offer up your desires to God! Trust me, he helps!

 

P.S. There might not be pictures this week... :(

 

- Elder J. T. Yates

The Good, The Bad, The Baptized

Well, this week was both good and bad.

Toward the beginning, we were trying to get Domingo as prepared for baptism as we could. We taught him 2 twice this week, and both times he expressed to us how cool it has felt to have his baptism coming up. 

On the 4th of July, we showed up to do service for a guy in the other ward, we all got a text 15 minutes we were all supposed to meet, he said he had done everything by himself, so we went to Shipley Do-nuts. After that, we went and played kickball with the ward-members. That night, we had a Root-Beer party at the church, and couldn't actually stay and watch fireworks because they started at 9:15, and our curfew is 9.

On Saturday, DOMINGO GOT BAPTIZED!!! He was telling us that he has never been more happy about anything in his entire life! Neither have I!! I was able to see someone come closer to Christ, let alone being baptized! The spirit was so strong that day!

Finally, on Sunday. Domingo Noriega Jr. was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and was given the gift of the Holy Ghost! He said that when we all placed our hands on his head, he felt the spirit go from his throat down to his finger-tips. I have always wanted to know what that feels like! Sometimes, I wish I could be re-baptized... Hahaha

-Elder Yates

Domingo after his baptism.

 Our AC broke, so it was 78 degrees at 10:21 at night.

Elder Smedley and I on his last P-Day