Elder Jace Yeoman: Just Keep Going!!

Hello Everyone!!
Hope you all had a great week and that you all are enjoying the fall season! Here it is starting to get real hot! Breaking out the short sleeves again already has been weird! Well, another week has passed by here in the offices and I think I have pretty much gotten the hang of things here, but of course there's still a lot to learn! It has been an experience very different than the rest of my mission, but one that I have been able to learn a lot even in the short amount of time I have been here.

We played basketball a couple times this week for exercise in the morning and man, Zach still won't ever be able to beat me but I've lost a little touch haha! But that's okay! It's not important!

This week was a little tougher finding people who truly progress and are ready to hear the Gospel. There are a lot of great people who listen and who want to come closer to Christ and feel the need to change, but that just can't get themselves to do it. And that is sad. People that feel that motivation but don't even want to try because they are so afraid to fail. There are a ton of great people that just don't act! The Gospel of Christ can change the life of anyone and will change the life of everyone that has the motivation to act, and then act!

I remember I was thinking a lot about why do a lot of people get baptized and learn of the joy of the Gospel, and then fall away, or just stop acting. How could this happen? And this thought took me deep into the doctrine and thought of conversion. What is the difference between someone who stays in the Gospel and someone who falls away? We have a lot of great examples of this in the scriptures but for some reason this statement came to my mind, and I hope that this is drilled in all of your minds; "just keep going."

We will always have trials, some of which may even lead us to doubt and to be very discouraged, but we must simply always keep going! If we keep going and always put in effort, everything that we are missing or every bit of help that we need from the Lord will be given to us! If we ever question ourselves about if we can go on, if we can get through this, the very next thing that comes to our mind should be "just keep going." Even if we don't know why we have to do something, why something is expected of us, or if we think that the Lord expects too much of us..just keep going, keep trying, and He will take care of the rest!

As I have thought about this, I have also thought about myself, and my own conversion and I have realized that the Lord is there every step of the way if we are willing to act, and always put forward our best effort! Maybe our best one day isn't very good, but we just have to keep going! A desire to do what the Lord wants you to do, accompanied by a good effort to do it will change your life, change your way of thinking, and help you to superar any trial or hardship that you can face in your life. Because that is something that no matter what, we will always take joy in!

I know life isn't easy, and it's not supposed to be either..but we are expected to just keep going! I always remember a phrase that elder Holland had in his talk in the april general conference to close the conference that says;

"If we give our heart to God, if we love the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do the best we can to live the gospel, then tomorrow—and every other day—is ultimately going to be magnificent, even if we don’t always recognize it as such. Why? Because our Heavenly Father wants it to be! He wants to bless us. A rewarding, abundant, and eternal life is the very object of His merciful plan for His children! It is a plan predicated on the truth “that all things work together for good to them that love God.” So keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."

And that is no promise from any man, but from the Lord himself! I know that this is true, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that He wants us to keep going always!

I love you guys!

Elder Yeoman