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

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). 

Service with a smile :)

This week was really awesome! But, let me first tell you about something the Spirit helped me to learn in the scriptures. I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, and came across this verse that really stood out to me. It was Moroni 10:21. Placed into the Book of Mormon just before it ends. It says, "And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope."

I have been studying Charity a lot this last week, and found this verse. Charity truly is the pure love of Christ. Without it, we cannot enter the kingdom of God. But, I also love how faith, hope, and charity are so interconnected. Having these 3 Christlike attributes helps us to become the disciple that God, Christ, and we desire to be.

Throughout this week, we have been striving to find as much service as we can. We know that as we serve people, we are really serving God (Mosiah 2:17). We helped somebody move this week, we helped organize folders, and then we went and helped at the Hermann Park Gardens. It was so much fun to be able to go and help make someone's day. Member or non-member alike.

When we were helping the member move, it wasn't far at all, it was in the same building in their complex, we didn't have to go outside, and it was just up one floor. Just as we were about to be done with moving everything, we had to move this absolute unit of a couch. Sadly, it didn't fit in the elevator, so the stairs were our only option. Elder Hanchett and I were brave enough to take on this task alone, and so we did. Let me tell y'all something, all those years of playing video games,mainly tetris, and building good grips because of rock climbing, we successfully made it! It was scary, but rewarding. We got Papa John's afterwards! Plus, on top of that, I got to pet their super nice dog named Coco! She was so cute!

If I did not have faith, hope, and charity while moving that couch, I probably would've dropped it and not cared. But, I love to follow the example of my Savior, and so I did my best to be like Him. :)

I invite each of you this week to go out into the community and do some service for someone. :) This could be a family member, friend, coworker, neighbor, etc. Give someone service, and do it with a smile! I can promise that as you do so, the Spirit of Christ will fill the air, and everyone will be able to feel closer to Him.

I love all y'all, and hope that you have a great week, because I know that I will!

-Elder J.T.Yates

Elder Hanchett and I at the gardens.

Coco

The Maplehood boizzz saucing around

One of our good friends, Bernard. He is from the Virgin Islands, 

and is LOVING the Book of Mormon! :)

Jim Deegan, one of my dear friends from 

MacGregor took us to Five Guys!

Someone else we are teaching has been taking these amazing 

notes on what she has been reading in the Book of Mormon! :) 

The Return to Mac Geezy

Well this is it folks! This is going to be last my area in the mission. It's a very odd feeling. I have only experienced 1 week here, and I already love it! We are teaching so many great people, and they have been being prepared for a long time. 

On Wednesday, we had some service in downtown which was where I used to go work as a missionary. Oh how I missed downtown. While another set of Elders were doing their "shift" with this service, I took Elder Hanchett around downtown and we took a lot of photos!

Coming back to the Houston area and seeing all these familiar places, it brings back so many memories. The cool part about it was thinking about where I was as a missionary with my testimony, knowledge, and desire. I can see so much change in myself, and it is so amazing to see how the Lord will truly bless all of us as we turn ourselves to Him and obey His will.

I challenge each of you to think about one thing that you have improved on within the past 3 months. After you have thought about it, I want you to then pray and thank our loving Heavenly Father for what He and His Son have blessed you with! :) I can promise that as you do this, you will continue to build the relationship that you desire to have with Heavenly Father.

-Elder J.T.Yates

Elder Hanchett and I with our friends from Nigeria.

We went to Ray's BBQ!!!

President Guthrie came out with to teach, and let me tell you...

 That was awesome!!

Our best photo we took while walking around downtown.

Our goofy companionship.

The Trifecta is complete!

Well that's it folks! It's official... I am transferring out of Baybrook. I am actually currently sitting in my new area with my new companion. I have been transferred to the Maplewood 2nd Ward with Elder Hanchett. He came into the mission with Elder Smith and Elder Gillies(My 2nd and 3rd companions). I will be biking around town again! It is really cool to be back in the city, or at least around it. I will really miss the Baybrook Ward.

Alright, so to explain my email title. Out of the 3 Elders that stayed here in Texas from my MTC group(Elder Johnson, Elder Whetzel, and myself), we all trained right out of being in training and here is how it went...

Elder Whetzel -- trained Elder Hanchett

Elder Johnson -- trained Elder Gillies

Elder Yates -- trained Elder Smith

So, I have been companions with Elder Smith and Elder Gillies. Elder Hanchett has been companions with Elder Whetzel and Elder Johnson. That only left Elder Hanchett and I to be companions. And BOOM! Here we are! Again, the Trifecta is complete!

Anyways, let's get down to business. This week was so good! I had the inkling notion that I was leaving for a few weeks, but I wanted to work my hardest in Baybrook. I can say that I didn't work as hard as I had wanted to, but what I can say is that there was a 1% improvement! :)

I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week, and this scripture stuck out to me. It is 2 Nephi 28:30 "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom..." 

I love this verse and it's simple teachings! As we do things line upon line and precept upon precept, the Lord truly does bless us. This week might have been just one thing that I improved on, but it is an improvement nonetheless! :) 

As we are now starting our 3rd week in January, I invite you to think about what you can do this week to improve. Now after you have thought about it, I invite you to tell someone else to help keep yourself accountable.

Love all y'all! :)

My last District Council in the Alvin Elder's Quorum

 I forgot to send this last week, but this is Elder Bell and I

 chilling in a storm overflow drain.

 Elder Bell and I in our last photos of being the 

original Baybrook Biking Babes