Trying to be like Jesus

Hello Everyone!

This past week was very special for me! We had zone interviews with President on Friday. I sat down and he said "Well Elder, you've got one more transfer." I kind of just smiled and he said "I want you to pray to the Lord and figure out what He wants you to accomplish in these last 6 weeks of your mission." We then had a great conversation and I told him I would do it!

I began to pray, and fast as well about this topic, and in my studies I began to realize what it is that the Lord needs me to do in my last transfer! I had a strong feeling that it has to do with charity, something that I have tried really hard to improve my whole mission. Right now, I have lots of opportunities in the zone to serve because we have lots of missionaries going through hard times with health and discouragement, and I know that the Lord needs me here to comfort them and to be able to exercise my priesthood on their behalf.

But not only the missionaries in my zone, He needs me to love everyone!! Every single person I talk to in the street, see, or come in contact with. Everything that I have learned on my mission, every step towards Christ that I have made, all has lead up to how I am going to serve and love my last transfer!

I know that Christ lives, and that He loves us and that as a representative of Christ, He needs others to be able to feel at least a little bit of Christ like love through me!! I am so incredibly grateful to be able to serve the Lord, and for the time that I have left to be able to do so! 

I love you all a whole lot! Thanks for everything that you all do for me!

Have a great week!

Elder Yeoman

Basketball and making Tacos for Zone Pday!

Where do we find our joy?

Hello everyone!! Hope you all have had an awesome week and have a great Memorial Day!! This past week was a pretty difficult one. My companion hurt his foot and is having trouble walking. That made it a little tough to get in the groove this week, which made it tough to get investigators to church! But, after a trial of faith there is always a big miracle in store as we strive to keep pushing through with faith and diligence :).

Something that really impacted me this week was our lesson in Elder's Quorum yesterday about joy! And the main part of the lesson that stuck out to me, which was something that I really loved and am going to apply better in my life, is this quote "Joy does not have anything to do with our present circumstances, but with our focus on life." I loved that and it hit me pretty hard! 

We all know that it is easy to have joy when everything is going well, when we feel good, when we have a great day, or when we win a basketball game, or when we feel that everything is going our way! But the opposite of this, when we feel alone, or burdened, or let down, or discouraged, or that everything is going wrong...in these situations, where do we find our joy?

It is very easy to be discouraged in life, as a missionary it is also easy to be discouraged when you get rejected 100 times in one day, when you work hard all week and nobody comes to church, or when you just feel down on yourself...so in these situations how can you possibly find joy in life? Im sure we have all had times in our life like these where we find ourselves asking "how can I find joy in this moment in my life?" For example, it would probably be very hard to find joy in life when you lose a close family member, or when you fail at something that you have put a lot of time into, so how can you find joy in even these situations? 

If we looked to the things of the world to have real joy, the chances are that we will never have it! However, if the focus of our life is on the Savior, we can truly find joy in every circumstance!

John 15:10-11:

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

We can always find joy in the Savior and keeping His commandments! A missionary can find joy in the opportunity to serve the Lord and be obedient, regardless of the weekly outcome! We can find joy in knowing that we will be able to be with our families forever if we are obedient to the commandments of the Lord and if our focused is centered on Christ!

D&C 93:33-34:

33 For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;

34 And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.

This shows the importance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Only through the restored gospel of Christ can these eternal blessings come, that help us to receive a fulness of joy! This being said, we must always have our lives centered on the teachings of Christ! As we do, we can gain our own testimony of this principle, and know that it is only possible through His restored gospel!

D&C 101:35-38:

35 And all they who suffer persecution for my name, and endure in faith, though they are called to lay down their lives for my sake yet shall they partake of all this glory.

36 Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full.

37 Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.

38 And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life.

And this scripture says it all, if we are centered on Christ, we may find joy in Him, but in this world our joy will not be full! 

I know with all my heart that this is true! I have a very strong testimony about these things, about the importance of a Christ centered life so that we may truly have joy! I know without a doubt that as we try and better center our lives on Christ and His atoning sacrifice, we will be able to find joy in every moment! This is something that has gotten me through the hardest times, the knowledge that the Savior lives, that He loves us, that He died for us, and that He has provided a plan for us to find joy in this life and the life to come! If anyone is looking for more joy, I hope that you can find it in the source of all joy, our Savior, Jesus Christ!

I love you all and wish you all a great week! 

Elder Yeoman

Elder Bradford's Birthday

Almost winter time in Argentina

If these shoes could talk!!

(This is Alana, Elder Yeoman's mother)

Elder Yeoman did not have time to write a general email this week, but he sent a couple of pictures to me! One is of himself and his awesome current companion, Elder Ortiz. The other is a picture of a pair of his shoes that he has literally worn holes in. There are a LOT of miles of love and service in these shoes! What an amazing journey they have been on! I am so grateful for everything these worn out shoes represent. I am also grateful that even though Elder Yeoman may feel as tired and worn out as these shoes right now, he continues to give it his all until the very end!❤️

Elder Yeoman and Elder Ortiz

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!

I hope that all of the mothers out there had a wonderful Mothers Day! I am so very thankful for my mom, because she is the best one out there :).

It was great talking to my family yesterday, to give me that extra boost to keep working hard till the end!! It is crazy how much time flies!

Something that I shared with them yesterday that really caught my attention this past week was a scripture in D&C that I loved and really hit home with me! It helped me to gain an even stronger testimony on the objective of a missionary, and the importance of helping others to come closer to Christ!

D&C 53: 2-3 -

2 Behold, I, the Lord, who was crucified for the sins of the world, give unto you a commandment that you shall forsake the world.

3 Take upon you mine ordination, even that of an elder, to preach faith and repentance and remission of sins, according to my word, and the reception of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands;

I began to think about how this scripture was presented. Jesus Christ presented Himself as He who was crucified for the sins of the world, and then says for us to take upon ourselves an ordination, that of an elder, to preach the gospel of repentance. I began to think about how important of a responsibility it is to invite others to partake of the peace and happiness that entails the sacrifice that the Lord did for all of us! He has ordained me to invite others to be able to receive the blessings that come from his eternal sacrifice! That just gave me a ton more excitement to go out and share my testimony of Christ as His representative! 

That is one thing that will stay with me the rest of my life, the feeling of testifying of Christ as His representative, something that has changed my life forever!

I love you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Yeoman

Elder Bradford and I 

My new comp, Elder Ortiz and I

 My Ward mission leaders sick suit jacket haha, had to take a pic in it

Our last family Skype before Elder Yeoman returns home in July!

Life is good in Zárate

Hello Everyone!!

This past week was a good one! Sorry I was unable to write a letter last week. We spent a fun day in San Pedro and were really stressed for time!

Here in the mission, things are changing a little bit! President Smith has given us a new daily schedule which has been good! We now are studying in the afternoon after lunch, and leave earlier to work in the mornings! It is good here in Argentina because of the "siesta" so we are seeing a lot of cool miracles as we are obedient to our mission president.

We are focusing a lot on mission unity. In the last leadership council, President told us his vision for the mission, and that we need to be more unified in the way we work and find! He wants us to go out and talk to everyone! Which is something simple. If you want more success you need to open your mouth more. But it is something different than the culture of the mission when I got to the mission for example! 

As we are obedient to our leaders, we will always be blessed with miracles, and that has been the case with my companion and I as well!! 

We have a zone conference this week so those are always great!!

Other than that, there really wasn't too much more to report on from this past week! My companion is awesome, which completes the cycle of all my awesome companions my whole mission!! 

I am so grateful for all my blessings and the wonderful opportunity to serve the Lord, and testify of Him every single day as His representative! 

I love you all! Have a great week!! 

Family, I look forward to our Mother's Day Skype on Sunday!

More pictures from P-day in San Pedro last week

No time today......

Im sorry! We just got to the cyber and we have like 10 minutes..I won't be able to reply to emails today, but I love you all and will talk to you next week!

My new companion is Elder Ortiz from Peru..He will probably be my last companion, and he is the man! It is going to be a great transfer. He has about a year in the mission. I'm staying here in Zarate 1 and training a new zone leader... so it's going to be good!!!!!!!

Elder Sureda should be getting to the airport right about now. It was sad to see him go! He asked me to give him a blessing before he left this morning. It was super special!

Have a great week..I have lots of pictures from my pday today in San Pedro, but no time to send them! 

Also, Augustine finally got baptized. I will send pics next week. It was a huge miracle!

Love you all!

Elder Yeoman

(Elder Yeoman didn't have time to send pictures this week, but I received these from people in Argentina) Alana

Augustine's baptism on Saturday

Elder Sureda and Hernan Lopez at Augustine's baptism

Elder Sureda and Hernan Lopez on Sunday!

P-day Adventures in San Pedro with Matias Maru

P-day fun  in San Pedro with other elders

Chau Elder Sureda

Hello All!

I hope this week was a good one and that everyone is enjoying the weather warming up a little bit!! It is starting to get a little cooler here as we get into Fall and sweater weather! 

This past week was good, but not too many new things have happened in regards to the work here in Zárate, or any new stories..We had to go to Capital a couple times last week for the meeting with President Nelson, and also for zone interviews, so that takes up pretty much a whole day in traveling since we are so far away. Next week is transfers again. Elder Sureda finishes his mission and will go home on Monday. 

Something that I have been doing that I have enjoyed a lot is the challenge that President Nelson gave us in General Conference..to study every reference of Christ in the topical guide! I have focused my studies, and plan to do this the rest of my mission on Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The first reference that I was studying a lot last week was "Advocate". In spanish it is "abogado" and the english translation is lawyer. But we know that Christ is also our Judge, Redeemer, and Savior. This being said, we can put it all together and realize that Jesus Christ is our Savior, Redeemer, Lawyer and Judge! He is everything! That is why it is only through Him that we can be saved. That is why through his atoning sacrifice we can not only repent of our sins and receive forgiveness, but we can also receive power to overcome weaknesses and to serve with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. I was thinking a lot in how personally He knows all of us being our Savior, Redeemer, Lawyer and Judge! For example, He has felt every single suffering and pain we have gone through, we are going through, and will go through in this life. He knows us and our weaknesses, because He has experienced it all, and has descended below all things! Why? So that we can be redeemed through His grace and sacrifice! Think about how personal that is that He suffered for your pains and afflictions personally.

Now, He is our advocate to the Father, but He also is our judge! He "pleads the cause to the Father." I tried to imagine this process. He is watching us closely and any act of obedience He goes straight to Heavenly Father to plead our case and show that we are trying. And after all this, Christ will ultimately be our judge, and all that He did for us, and all that He suffered for us will be taken accounted for, and He will still be pleading our case, always pleading our case! He is perfect, and will always be just, but He will plead our case to the Father as we do our best to be obedient to His laws and His gospel.

I then read about the way we can know that we know our Savior and I thought the answer was perfect in 1 John 2:1-3

1 And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

We will know that we know Christ if we obey His commandments. It is such a simple answer. If we truly love Christ, we will do all we can to follow Him, and as it says in 2 Nephi 31, we cannot follow Christ unless we are willing to keep His commandments!

I know Christ lives, that He is our advocate, and through our obedience we can truly come to know Him, and become converted to His gospel, experiment the mighty change of heart, and change our lives forever. I testify of this and know it to be true with all my heart, because I can testify that I know my Savior, a knowledge that has changed my life forever!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Yeoman

 Proselyting in Vicente Lope (President Smith's neighborhood)

Elder Sureda and I after training our last companionship of the night!

After church on Sunday

The magnet that I made to give to converts and members to remember me
forever on their fridge! haha!