Be strong!

 Familia,

-We played soccer today and we all got FRIED

-I think it is 130 degrees here these days

-well that's probably an exaggeration, but that's how it feels

This sunday we had our district conference here in Peten and it was awesome!  All of the branches of peten came and it was SO FULL of people!!!  I have never said hi to so many people.  (Here in Guatemala it is rude to skip anyone.  When you walk in you have to walk through row by row kissing every woman and shaking every guy's hand, then go to the door to greet everyone else!)  Elder Morales came with President and Hermana Curtiss and they all delivered messages that were very helpful!  We had several investigators there, including Rosalydia who will be baptized this Saturday!  After the meeting Elder Morales and President Curtiss wanted to meet all of the investigators.  They had all of the missionaries with investigators go to a room where he shook all of their hands and encouraged them to keep investigating the church, praying, reading the scriptures, and keeping the commandments.  Then he spoke to the missionaries there present in the room.  He got very emotional and just looked at us for a very long time.  He said that the Lord is very aware of us, our needs, and our efforts.  We are His representatives and we will be blessed for all we do.  He told us to serve with all our hearts and give everything to the Lord.  I know that he is a special representative of Christ and that he has His authority to preach, serve, promise, and love in His name.  To have a testimony of the Restoration of the Priesthood we have to have a spiritual witness that the Lord's servants really have the priesthood.  I have received that time and time again as I have been able to serve with worthy missionaries, work with an amazing mission president, meet, listen to, and learn from members of the 70, receive blessings, and preach of Joseph Smith and a living prophet.

I hope you have a great day tomorrow!   Be strong!  Don't be too sad, I know goodbye's are hard but this is really the best and biggest blessing Porter is about to receive!  How awesome!!!!  I love you all and good luck Elder Yates!

No Empty Chairs

Hermana Yates

Meek

Dear friends and family,

We received Morgan's return itinerary last week!  I'm sure it was a little heart breaking for her when she opened that same email today.  We are so grateful for the opportunity she has had to serve a mission and grateful to each of you for your love and support.  

Morgan returns home on Thursday, September 3 at 7:25pm.  Her homecoming will be on Sunday, September 13 at 9:00am.  I will post more information later:)

We are so excited to see her in just 4 short weeks!!!!!!!

Morgan's Mama

Familia,

-Happy Birthday Isaac!!!!  I hope you enjoyed it and had a great time with the family!

-So Marvin and his family moved to another area.... it is here close by, but it is just sad because the other sisters will be giving them their last few lessons before their baptismal interviews this friday with President Curtiss.  They will be baptized in the other branch nearby.  Please keep praying for them and their preparation!}

-We are teaching another woman who is AMAZING.  We met her this past week and are teaching her in her hair salon in our area.  She also lives in the other branch but technically it will be our baptism.  She is so prepared and ready to be baptized!  She already believes in Joseph Smith, the restoration, the book of mormon, and she just says, "My question is why didn't I learn about all of this sooner??  I have missed out on so many blessings!!"  She is awesome.  Pray for Rosalydia Lima.

Okay family.  I am so proud of my little brother.  I love him so much and I am so excited for him.  As I was reading what you said about his farewell talk and how he is, I was touched that people refer to him as "meek".  It is a perfect word to use.

As I have learned more about the life of Christ I have learned more about who He is and what His attributes are.  Meekness is a divine attribute and gift of our Lord and Savior.  In the Spanish guide in the scriptures is defines meek- temeroso de Dios, recto, humilde, presto para aprender y paciente al sufrir.  Los mansos están dispuestos a seguir las enseñanzas del evangelio.  Or in other words, the meek fear God, are righteous, humble, teachable and patient in suffering.  The meek are willing to follow the teachings of the gospel.  Is this sounding anything like Porter yet?  To me it does.

Porter, you will be able to develop this Christlike attribute in your mission and you will be grateful for this quality as you serve.  Christ is your perfect example and He will teach and guide you.  Matthew 11:28-30 says:
 
 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I love this because our Savior describes Himself as meek, and also invites us to do some things.  Elder Bednar helps us understand a little about His first invitation in his conference talk from last May:

"A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals that enables them to pull together on a load.  A yoke places animals side-by-side so they can move together in order to accomplish a task.

Consider the Lord's uniquely individual invitation to "take my yoke upon you."  Making and keeping sacred covenants yokes us to and with the Lord Jesus Christ.  In essence, the Savior is beckoning us to rely upon and pull together with Him, even though our best efforts are not equal to and cannot be compared with his.  As we trust in and pull our load with Him during the journey of mortality, truly His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

We are not and never need be alone.  We can press forward in our daily lives with heavenly help.  Through the Savior's Atonement we can receive  capacity and strength beyond our own."

Porter you will experience this very personally in your mission.  Your Savior invites you to walk with Him and work according to the Father's will.

The other invitation is to learn of Him and become like Him.  There is no better place to do that than the mission, where you literally take His name upon you on your missionary badge and teach as His representative.

You have taught me so much through your quiet example of love and humility and meekness.  I know this will strengthen you on your mission.  Your meekness will allow you to find those who are prepared by the Lord to receive the restored gospel.  It's cool because those who are prepared also need to be meek and humble in order to change their lives and discover God's plan for them.  Your meek spirit will reach out to theirs and allow the Holy Ghost to testify to them through you and your testimony.  Develop this attribute by being obedient and humble.  Learn of Christ and become like Him.  You will find constant peace and you will fulfill your calling.  You will be a blessing in the lives of those you meet, teach and serve.  D&C 19:23: 
Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.

I am so proud of you Porter.  I hope you keep that letter that I wrote you, it has some good tips ;)  and like I also expressed in my letter, it kills me that I won't see you.  But you will soon find out how much of a blessing the mission is and you will see why I don't want to come home early.  I want to fulfill my duty to the Lord and I want you to do so as well.  It is such a blessing to serve Him and allow Him to teach and perfect us.  I can't wait to hear about your adventures and your special experiences.  Confide in the power of prayer.  Trust God.  Stay positive, dilligent, and obedient.  Be patient when you don't understand spanish, trust me, it will come.  I love you so much little bro.

ánimo!  te quiero mucho mi hermanito!

NEC

Hermana Yates

because i'm happyyyyyy

Familia,

So you are going to hate me again but I don't have much time.

Turns out.... I'm allergic to ibuprofen!  That wasn't a fun thing to figure out.  Hermana Bueso and I are pretty wiped out honestly but we are on the mend.  After spending the day in the Bakes house (the senior missonary couple), listening to the Les Miserables sound track with Hermana Bake, and a few thousand pills later I am feeling much better.

A quote that a good friend of mine shared with me a few years ago has really helped me in my mission, especially this past week when things got a little weird.  "Your day is going to go the way of the corners of your mouth.  So Smile!"  I love that.  I love positivity and optimism.  I think it is a Christlike attribute.  Can you imagine the Savior of the world walking around with His head down, complaining all day about little things that don't really matter?  Haha I sure can't.  So BE HAPPY.  We are here to have JOY and to help others be JOYFUL too.

Marvin and his family will be waiting another week or two to be baptized because President Curtiss has to do their baptismal interviews.. TO BE CONTINUED...

Hey porter, send me a copy of your farewell talk!  SO PROUD OF YOU!!!  LOVE YOU!!!!

IM SORRY I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M YELLING MY WHOLE LETTER TODAY.

Love you all.

NEC

Hermana Yates

watch out for those lizards...

Familia,

THE RUNDOWN:

-so this morning a lizard attacked me right after I woke up

-the other day I was just minding my own business using the restroom and a lizard pooped on me from the ceiling.  nice

-i accidentally stepped on a lizard and killed it.. or so i thought.  It resurrected.

-I WILL NOT MISS THESE LIZARDS.

-I have h pylori or whatever that is.  looks like I'll be spending a bit of pisto on meds today wooooo

-these days the roads are steaming because it rains and doesn't cool off

-hna blanca (the lady that feeds us) says hi

-I had to give the closing prayer in sacrament meeting yesterday.  I was already naseous from my illness and put nerves on top of that I thought I was going to pass out on the way up or something.  But hey everything went great

So sorry I didn't write last week..... I had enough time to read everyone's letters and I was writing mine when the power went out in internet.. again.  But I'm alive!  No worries shannie!  Sounds like you all had a good time at the family parties!

This last week we had interviews with President and Hermana Curtiss and the Assistants.  It was so great to see them!  I was so used to seeing them all the time in Coban so it was a real treat to have them here in Peten for a few days.  President was also able to interview some of our investigators who will be baptized next week because there are some kind of sketchy situations so it was perfect timing.

Marvin, Sheralin, Conner, and Ismenia will be getting baptized next week!  They are a super awesome family and we are excited for them.  Marvin has a hard time concentrating and usually the lessons are 90% story time 10% teaching.... but hey things are coming along slowly but surely.  Haha he has had a crazy life but is super awesome because he is raising his 3 kids alone.  Guys don't do that here in Guatemala.  President was impressed and was already ready to sign his baptismal papers!

Lately I have been reading the first and second books of Nephi and PUCHICA Nephi is my freaking favorite.  I have read those books no se cuantas veces (I don’t know how many times) but this time has been really special for me.  He is an amazing example of obedience, charity, knowledge, service, forgiveness, and has a beautiful, unshaking testimony of Christ.  I love the Book of Mormon and I know it is true scripture.

Les amo mucho.  Ya se que estoy en mi ultimo cambio pero no lo quiero acceptar.  entonces gracias por no recordarme tanto.  Son los mejores.  Yo amo estar aqui, yo amo a estos chapines, y yo se que estas ultimas semanas van a ser muy especiales.  hasta la otra semana!  cuidense mucho!!!

I love you very much.  I already know this is my last change but I don’t want to accept it.  Therefore, thanks for not reminding me so much.  You guys are the best.  I love being here, I love these people, and I know that these last weeks are going to be very special.  Until next week.  Take care of yourself!

NEC

Hermana Yates

I'M OKAY MOM

Familia,
So i am just sending a quick note from hermana Curtiss' phone to say hello and sorry for not writing yesterday! The power went out in internet so after reading your letters i wasnt able to send a letter home. We just had interviews and they were wonderful!  We also had a great week and we have several people preparing for baptism-familia Villanueva, eraldo, and Francisca.  Please keep them in your prayers!  I am so happy and i write more next week! Love you all!

No empty chairs
Hermana yates

No email:(

We did not receive an email from Morgan today, but she did send this picture! She must be alive and well. Perhaps she forgot to push the send button:)

oh say can you seeeeeee

Familia,

I swear I just wrote you guys yesterday...

Today we played volleyball and had a water fight

So I am not sure why everyone keeps telling me that I'm going home.. they must be confusing me with someone else.

Haha so this week the elders had a baptism in the church so they went to fill up the font.. and left for a while.  It overflowed and the whole church flooded!!  We ran to the church to help while everyone was in the baptism.  3 hours later, a few blisters, and covered in sweat, my comp, a member, and I finished mopping everything up.  Happy fourth of July!!!

There is a less active member in our area who was baptized a year ago.  He is 20 and is going through some rough times. I think I told you a little about him two weeks ago?  But we went to visit him and he reminded me so much of when we were helping Gustavo come back to church after his baptism.  He is very humbled and wants to change but doesn't know how.  We had an awesome lesson with him and he is making big improvements!  He even came to church yesterday!!  He was so nervous to go back to church but the members welcomed him with open arms and were so awesome.  I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and the hope that He continually offers us.

I have seen so many blessings from fasting here in my mission.  This weekend we were fasting and things just started changing left and right!  We went to visit a family that we have been teaching for a while.  The dad sells alcoholic drinks from mexico-tepache, and he hasn't been willing to stop selling that and go to church.  He has been sending two of his kids to church for about 2 months.  He used to go to church when he was little and likes general conference, but just hasn't been ready to change some habits.  When we went to visit them he said that he is starting a new business and will start selling tacos and other food, he and his whole family would go to church the next day, and they are all getting baptized.  Hahaha moments like that make missionaries stop and think, "Am I dreaming?"  The next day they walked in to church together!  And his neighbor and their family showed up too!  And his neighbor leaned over to me in sacrament meeting and asked me when the next baptismal service is because he and his family are getting baptized too.  Hahaha legit it's crazy.  They also announced it in the gospel principles class that we were teaching.  So fasting brings miracles people.  Pray for marvin, sheralin, conner, ismenia, geraldo, and sylvia.

NEC

Hermana Yates