The Temple along with a Homeless Ragemonster

This week went by so fast, it was ridiculous! I am already approaching my 14 month aniversary! Holy moly artichokey well, last Monday my whole District and I went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science! That place is super bomb and we didn't even get to see all of it... So, the senior missionaries in my District have a pass there and can get us in for free! So we are going to go again today. Hahaha

Throughout the week, there were many miracles that had shown themselves and many other experiences as well...

The greatest miracle this week was that of visiting the Temple after almost 10 months of not being able to go. I love the Temple! The blessings inside are so incredible and I just absolutely love the spirit that is even just on the Temple grounds. As we drove onto those holy grounds, the Spirit was so strong! And of course, as we proceeded into the actual Temple, the Spirit just got stronger!

The funniest, wankiest, and most uncomfortable experience of the week was this last Saturday night. We had ridden the MetroRail into Midtown and had just finished a lesson. We made sure to leave with enough time to get home ON TIME. That didn't happen. Instead a flippin huge rainstorm attacked us from out of the blue! The MetroRails wouldn't go to where we needed them, so we had to wait next to the Dynamo stadium for about an hour. While we were waiting, there was this homeless man who looked harmless and was asking for any spare change. We told him we didn't have any on us, which truthfully... We didn't. Anyways, we went to talk to him for a few minutes. I got a phone call from the Zone Leaders, while Elder Gilleland and Fisher got yelled at by this guy. He kept telling about how Jesus was black, Islam is the truth, the Quran is the word of God, etc., etc... I have never used the Christlike attribute ot patience more in my life than at this moment. We had to listen to this guy for about 45 minutes yell at the top of his lungs... Ugh, 3rd ward. Haha

Back to the spiritual stuff! ;)

I have come to love and appreciate Science as I have been out here on my mission. As I have without a doubt that we did NOT evolve from monkeys, God does indeed work in mysterious ways. Yet, He still works within the laws of science.

As we walked around, we were taken from the prehistoric dinosaurs to the new-age energy exhibits. Both of them fascinated me and made me want to learn more. Which is part of the reason why we are going back! Lol, but I love being able to know the "why" behind things and how they work. Knowing this "why" helps me understand the need for it. 

God has always been there for me, and has always been there for you! Now if I could pose a question to all y'all... WHY do YOU need Him there?

If we are going to strengthen our relationship with God, WHY do we even try? WHY do we continue going to church every Sunday, read our scriptures everyday, or prayer multiple times a day? WHY do you do these things?

I can tell you my why! I go to church every Sunday because I get to renew the covenants that I had made with my Heavenly Father. I read my scriptures everyday because I know that it is one way God speaks to us. And I pray multiple times a day because I know that when I pray, I feel so much better and receive so many answers because of it. 

Now, why do I (Elder Yates) need God? Because of almost an infinite number of reasons. But I can name a few...

-Without Him, we would have no clue where to go in life.

-Without Him, we wouldn't have any spiritual guidance to guide us in our decisions.

-Without Him, you or I would still be intelligences without form and wouldn't even have a body.

Brothers and Sisters, I know my why. I know why I am on a mission. I know in what ways I need my Heavenly Father. So, my invitation to y'all is to pray about why do you personally need Heavenly Father in your life. I can promise in our Savior's name that as you do this, you will have the Holy Spirit testify to your hearts and mind of your why.

I love all of you! As I always will!

-Elder J.T.Yates

 

 Elder Htay(Tay), Stites, Akin, Ferrero, me, Gilleland, and Fisher

 

 The beautiful Temple!

 

 Elder Fisher, me, Elder Gilleland

 Me and my awkward self in front of the Temple

 

One of the funniest bathroom signs ever!

 The West MacGregaverisity Elders coming at you with a black seaweed mask on!

 

A super awesome building in Downtown Houston!

 

A homeless community under one of the freeways here. This is a natural occurrence here. It's really sad that this has to be a thing.

 

 Another super small lizard! So cute!

Doodlebug diseases

Hello everyone!! I am so grateful for yet another fresh start, to yet another amazing week! This past week was everywhere... Grateful that the clustercuss of appointments are over.

To start, Elder Larsen and I had a great exchange on Tuesday. He is such a hard worker and has become so much more consecrated than I am at the moment. But, as I have been striving to become more like the Savior, consecration is key. On our exchange, we talked about why we need to talk to everyone. Even the rich white people (Those are the scariest). We biked all day, around 15-20 miles with our bikes on 3/8 gears the whole time. My legs were burning by the end of the night. But, I loved every minute of it! 

The coolest experience out of that whole day was when we stopped to talk to a Spanish dude. He had his car parked on the side of the road with the hood up, and looked frustrated as ever. When we stopped to talk to him, as expected, he didn't know much English... So, with the little and very broken Spanish that I know, I was able to talk to him for a few minutes. We found out that his car had overheated and he needed it to cool down. I offered him my last water bottle, knowing that he needed it more than me. We gave him the number for the Spanish missionaries in the area, and wished him a good day. And that was it. But that one experience of me speaking very broken, almost shattered Spanish, was one I will never forget. 

Throughout the week, we had appointments on the opposite ends of the universe. Since we are now covering 2 wards (West University & MacGregor), we have been trying to figure out how in the cuss to work both of them. But, President Hall has counseled us to put the majority of our efforts into MacGregor. 90% of the population in the West University Ward boundaries is stuck-up, stand-offish, rich white people. So, in other words, they don't want to talk to us filthy trash. 

We signed up to feed this Less Active dude's cat... And that was probably one of the dumbest things we've done yet. It was like Fort Knox getting in there! His cat is 19 years old, and lazier than all get out. But, he said he'd take us out to dinner... So, I guess it's a fair trade. 

All week, I have had this artistic craze. I don'

t know where it came from, but I have it. I call it the Doodlebug Disease. There is a pizza place down here called MOD Pizza. It's like Subway, but for Pizza!! So, YES PLEASE! We go every Wednesday after District Council. So, I started getting crazy with the logo. Haha

Now for more spiritual things... 

As I have been studying this week, my favorite topic to study is that of the Pre-Earth Life and our Post-Mortal Life. These topics fascinate me, and are so much fun to study!

In our Pre-Earth Life, we lived with God. We spoke to Him. We learned from Him. And we wanted to become like Him. In order for us to do that, we had to come to Earth. Everyone who is reading this voluntarily submitted their "I volunteer as tribute" if you will... And now we are here. Everyone chose to be here. And here we are!

After we leave this life, we go into the Spirit World. We go to a spiritual waiting room. A place where we continue to learn and grow as we wait for the resurrection. This is a place for those spirit sons and daughters of our loving Heavenly Father who didn't get to learn or more fully know our Savior here on this Earth. As they are also taught, that is why temple work is so important. No spirit can get baptized. That is our job to help them. 

Now, after the Spirit World, we are re-united with our physical body and then judged by our great Mediator, Jesus Christ. This is where we are placed into the 3 different Kingdoms of Glory.

The Celestial: The literal dwelling place of God and Jesus Christ. We must be baptized, married for time and all eternity, have gone through the temple and made sacred promises with God. Without anyone of these, we cannot return to live in His presence. 

The Terrestrial: A place for those who lived great and honorable lives, but who are not willing to live or accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The Telestial: The resting place for those who continue to live in their sins and do not repent.

I love this doctrine! It is so simple! I hate math, but this equation is the one for me!

Live God's commandments = Live with God

I love all of you! Have a great week!

-Elder J.T.Yates

 

 

 

 

 My doodles that I have been experimenting with

We were able to get up inside the roof at the church building. 10/10 would not recommend if it is summer time. We were sweating buckets!

 

 Some ridiculously nice cars. Worth more than all of my possessions combined.

 Ghetto houses in front of modern apartments

A flippin' sweet sunset at the MetroRail station

A Mother's Love

AWESOME SAUCE!! That's how this week went! I can't explain the feeling, emotions, and love that I have felt this past weekend! With so many days that we spent outside of our area and not proselyting, I felt as if nothing got done. However, I am so grateful that our loving Father in Heaven still would reach out in love and provide us with tender mercies to have throughout the week.

The biggest tender mercy that I saw this week was when we were at the Beechnut Building having our Zone Leadership meeting. During the meeting, I had a very strong impression that whatever I am doing here, will help and benefit my family in the future. This is something that I look forward to, but know that the harder that I work, the better my life after the mission will be!

Of course, the actual best tender mercy was talking to my mom! I was getting so impatient throughout the week, and when it finally arrived, my heart was filled with all those emotions and feelings previously described.

Like the Primary song says... "Like sunshine in the morning that wakens day from night, like flowers in the springtime so colorful and bright, like happy songs bluebirds that fill the air with cheer, A person bright and lovely is my mother dear."

I love being able to talk to my momma! She truly does bring sunshine and joy into my soul! Having a strong mother figure in my life has made all the difference! I love my mom! I love the mother figures who have also been guiding me throughout my life! I want to thank all of you! Momma Yates, Aunt Stacey, Grandma Yates and Metcalf. All of you have pushed me to become better, and because of that... Here I am!

From a conference talk in October 2015 called "Behold Thy Mother" from Elder Jefferey R. Holland, he puts the divine calling of a mother in a way I couldn't ever say better. He says, "No love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child." This is such a true statement. A mother's love is so much closer to that of Christ's love for all of us! 

In Alma 56:47-48, it says...

"47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

I love this story! It is such a great show of love and respect to their mothers. These some two thousand young men, who had never fought in their life, knew that if and when they would listen to the teachings of their mothers, they would not perish. Oh how true this is!

My own mother has warned me and helped me become better throughout my life and continues to lead and guide me almost 1,500 miles away! How blessed are mothers? How blessed are we? I love my mother, and all she does for me!

So, to all of you mothers out there reading this, Happy Mothers Day! And to all the rest of you, Happy regular Monday! Haha, I love you all!!

-Elder J.T.Yates

 

 

 Mr. Business Man Yates

 

The bestest Tripanionship of missionaries in the whole world!

My tarot card, along with my $2.00 Burlington tie

Father and son reunite

This week was awesome! First off, last Monday... I bought a flip flappin' Cowboy Hat!! It was totally worth it. That was basically all we did on P-day last week. We were able to have 2 exchanges last week! One with the APs and one with the Memorial Park 1st Elders. On Tuesday, I went up into the AP areas, and we were able to speak a little Chinese, Burmese, Spanish, and Quiche. The gift of tongues!! Throughout the week, we saw many mini miracles! One of my favorites was when we had Rob's baptism. During the baptism our recent convert, Tommy Jammer, who was just baptized last week, gave one of the best talks on baptism that I have ever heard!

On Friday, we got a call from my trainer, Elder Smedley! He was in town and wanted to go out to lunch with me! So, we went to Ray's BBQ. I freaking love that place! It was so good being able to see him after 9 months! There were many inside jokes that were shared. Most of them, I couldn't remember until I was sitting right next to him. Man, it was so good!

Now, concerning the Prodigal Son... I absolutely love this story! This is such a great story and parable of our lives. I have spoken many times in the past about becoming better to return to live with God. I love this story! How often do we feel like we aren't good enough to return to God? For me, I feel this a lot. Especially now as a missionary. I always feel like I am not measuring up to my potential, and in some cases this is true. But, I know that I will never be able to make it. Not as just myself. I need Christ and His Atonement. Without it, I can't do anything.

In the last part of the story, that Prodigal Son realizes where he is living, what he has done with his life, and where he could be. So, he just settles with being a servant for his father. When he returns, his fathers sees him from a far way off, and runs to him. Kissing him on his cheek, and giving him sandals, the best rings, and a robe made of the finest material. Quoting 3 Nephi 14:11... " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

Like is says, if we being the evil humans that we are, know how to give those good gifts. How much more will our Heavenly Father, who is perfect, give those perfect gifts. I can't wait to return to my Heavenly Father and receive those things. Just as the Prodigal Son, we can ALL return to live with our Father! I love this Gospel and the blessings that come from it! I am so grateful for the wonderful love that is shown to us every day! 

-Elder J.T.Yates

Me with my Cowboy Hat

 Elder Smedley with the crew 

The waterfall structure in the Galaria

Our first tri-panionship picture! (With my new haircut that I did this morning)

The Master Plan

Well howdy y'all! This week was AMAZING!!! Last Monday, as y'all know, we went to the Houston Zoo. That was super cool to see the animals in all their varieties, shapes, sizes, and colors. Honestly, it's a lot cooler than the Zoo in Utah... 

On Wednesday, we had our interviews with President Hall. We as well had our District Council at the Beechnut Building instead of the Bering, like we normally have. Interviews went great! There will always be things I need to improve on in my missionary work, and I am so grateful for it. Especially for President Hall and his kindly correction. That is definitely something I am really trying to work on as a leader. 

Thursday was basically P-day pt. 2. We went with the YSA Elders to Herman Park to help move some trees around. They were having a fundraiser, and needed some more oomph to it. And let me tell you, we sure have it to them. Haha, after we helped out, we got a tour of the Japanese Gardens that were right next to it. That was super cool! I highly reccomend if you haven't been. 

Friday was another awesome day of service at the Beacon. We were the only 2 Elders yet again. But, it was so much fun! We literally got to chop up meat for a solid 2.5 hours. I love it now! We then biked to our boy Rob who will be getting baptized soon! He is so ready to get dunked, it's ridiculous!

As you all know, Saturday we had Tommy's baptism!! Man, that was such a spiritual experience! When Tommy came out of the water, his face was priceless! He was grinning ear to ear. When we were talking with him after the matter, he said "I wouldn't miss the confirmation for the world. I would break down door to get there!" That was really cool to hear come out of the mouth of an investigator. 

Yesterday, or Sunday was also a really spiritual experience. We confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When he sat back down with Elder Gilleland, he asked "...so when can we go to the temple?" Like... WHAT?!? AWESOME SAUCE!!! Now we are planning on working with him to get some family names to take.

Now that I have blown the length of this email up, let's keep going shall we? :)

I want to talk to all those who have returned from their missions, wishes they would've gone on missions, or are preparing to serve. I will help you increase your missionary efforts where you are today. Work, school, etc.

Some might of heard of a Family Mission Plan, and some might not. But, a FMP(for short) is our way we can contribute to the full time missionaries as well to the Lord. It is really simple and can even be performed with just one person. Here are the steps to creating a FMP.

Step 1: Recognize the blessings! Here are some of the blessings...

1. Stronger families centered more firmly on Christ (greater peace in the home).

2. An increase of joy as we invite others and lead by example.

3. A greater understanding of Christ, and His mission for us.

4. In the words of President Thomas S. Monson: "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates."

Step 2: Realize that the "Three-Fold Mission of the Church" is...

1. Preach the Gospel (our future families)

2. Perfect the Saints (our current fanilies)

3. Redeem the Dead (our former families)

What a blessing it is to know how simple missionary work really is! As a fulltime and set apart missionary, I only need to worry about "Preaching the Gospel", and for the rest of you... There lies a little more weight. But, have no fear!!

Step 3: Pray and seek for inspiration.

- Ask the Lord specifically for guidance in helping your family to bring others unto Christ (especially ourselves)

Step 4: Review progress.

- Where are we in our discipleship? If we haven't made goals, what progress have we made? Why have we? Or why haven't we? What changes must we make to accomplish these goals?

Step 5: Set goals.

- Make year goals, monthly, weekly, and daily goals to accomplish the Lord's purpose for you and your families.

- Set goals that make you stretch, but also set goals that are within your power to accomplish, such as inviting several friends to receive the Gospel as opposed to baptizing three friends. And have family scripture study and prayer as opposed to "making sure all of my children serve missions". We must always respect the agency of others. 

Step 6: Make plans.

- Make plans to accomplish these goals; If we've set a goal to share online messages, how, what, when? Etc...

Step 7: Pray again.

- Seek confirmation from the Lord, and ask Him for His blessing and aid in accomplishing the righteous goals you have set. :) 3 Nephi 27:28

Step 8: Go out and do it!!

I am excited to see how this is applied to our homes and families. I promise in the name of Jesus Christ that as you apply this planning to your daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly life, that you will come closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I love all of you and hope to hear feedback on how this went for you. :)

-Elder J.T.Yates

 The Memorial District posted up after District Council.

 The Japanese Garden in Herman Park ↕

 Elder Gilleland and I in front of one of the coolest murals in Houston

Just your average homie in Downton Houston

Captain Panda-Head Man!!

"Dwight" Transmission on "Dumble" Street!

  My favorite picture I have taken my entire mission!

 The view from one of our investigators apartments

The Busy Life Continues......

This week was pretty solid. I had a ton of fun this week! The highlight would be going to the zoo. Which is where I am writing this from. If any of you have been to a zoo, then you know how much time it takes...

Something I love from what President Nelson challenged us to do was to have a firm testimony of and a relationship with the Holy Ghost. I know how important that can truly be, and what can and does happen if you stray away from it.

In 2 Nephi 32:3 it says... "Angel's speak by the power of the Holy Ghost..." I love this! As a little kid I had always wondered what it would be like to hear an angel speak. After I had truly understood what this verse meant, I now know that I have had angels speaking to me my whole life! 

I can testify that as we seek to have to holy Ghost with us always, that angels WILL speak to us! I love you all!

-Elder J.T.Yates

Flamingos!!!

The Memorial District crew at the Twiga Cafe

Those Longhorn tho

Hump Day!

This past week... was an experience for sure. We had the blessed opportunity to serve so many people! We were able to go downtown and help at a homeless shelter. We cut some meat for about 2 hours. So you could say that I am a professional butcher now... ;) We were also able to go the Herman Park and help out at their gardens section. I have loved being able to learn how to garden! Haha

This last week, we found 8 new investigators! We found 8 more souls to help bring unto Christ! Elder Gilleland and I worked our hardest this week, and there were definitely fruits to show our effort. I am so glad and happy that I am able to be here serving the people of Houston!

My life has became so much better and closer to my Lord and Savior through this last year of service towards the people. I am a little sad looking at this past year and realizing what I could've done better. BUT, I know what I can do to improve, so that's what I'll do!

This week I'm not going to include the experiences for a couple reasons.

1) I have only heard from 4 people concerning them.

&

2) ‎I don't know how many experiences I have this week that are worth writing down... lol

I am so glad to have received some responses from my last weeks challenge, I continue challenging you to study out your favorite talks from General Conference and highlighting them. 

I love you all!!

-Elder J.T.Yates

A beautiful sunset

An artistic photo

Elder Gilleland in the city!

A FULL container of weed!

Glory!

Well a fine howdy do to all of y'all!! Wasn't General Conference just amazing?? I am still basking in the heavenly glory that was given to us! I am so grateful for the messages that were provided for each of us. I hope and pray that every one of you received guidance and direction for your lives. 

This week was yet another experience of a lifetime! The Mac G area does not disappoint. Heavenly Father knew that I needed to be here, and that I would be able to benefit from these people. Now that I have spent 2 weeks in the area, it is weird to now see a white person working anywhere. Haha

Anyways... This week was a little rough. My physical muscles have finally caught up to my spiritual muscles. My legs are feeling like jello. Oh well... The members in this ward are amazing! 80% of the ward are young college students. The chapel is right across the street from the U of H. It is really fun being able to walk/bike around the ghetto streets of H-town! It has humbled me and helped me understand the people more.

Now for more of the experiences! I think I will do something like this for the remainder of my mission, that way you can get a feel for how my week is going.

Amazing experiences...

• We went to Mid-town to this bike shop that is incredible! It's called Daniel Boone's Cycles. I love it!
• I found the "Jack Yates High School". So close to my name, but just barely missed the mark on being as cool... Haha
• We had some of our investigators this week! We have been helping them get closer to baptism.
• After church, the senior missionary couple in our ward, the Stakers, asked if we had a dinner appointment, when we said no, they invited us over and we had delicious Salmon, Jello w/ fruit, and to top it off, a peach drink!
• We went to the 50th anniversary of MLK's death. We literally signed up for civil unrest. Like, there were probably 200 people that were there! Half were screaming! Hahaha

Wanky experiences...

• We went into a lesson with an investigator named Clarence. First off, let me say... If you have ever watched a scary movie that was based in a house. Then you now know what his house looks like. When we walked in, he told us that his family had gone to the store, and we were the only people there. But, when we were talking with him about baptism, he didn't understand that his baptism was invalid because the Priesthood wasn't involved. But, when I was speaking about Christ and how important His baptism was for us, literally the climax of the lesson, in the other room around the corner, there was something that fell... Freaking scary!
• The next day after that lesson, we were walking back from the U of H, and a former investigator called after us and caught up to us as we were walking back to the church. He was insane. He wouldn't let us talk and kept talking over us. He was talking about how God's church shouldn't be locked. (Because he wanted to go inside and sleep there during the week) He also was screaming "GLORY!!!" At random intervals during our one sided conversation. He got within 2 feet of Elder Gilleland and me. Both of us were about to drop him, it's a good thing we didn't though.

That's a wrap on my week and the experiences that we have had. I love being in the Lord's vineyard and helping His children come closer to Him and His Son. I want all of you to ponder upon one talk that touched your heart the most. Re-read it, and then do something that most of you probably aren't used to doing this.. But, print that talk, and then mark it up! Underline, highlight, etc... Make it look colorful and amazing!

I then ask you to send me a picture of your most marked up page! I love you all! I can't wait to see how creative y'all are with your marking! 

-Elder J.T.Yates

MLK's 50th anniversary of his death. This guy was a civil unrest expert.

A super cool looking church building in Mid-town

 The Jack yates High School! Hahaha

 

 I had a photoshoot with my bike and made it look all decked out!