2013

How is everyone doing? For some reason in my mind it didn't register that it's cold over in America and that it's still winter. Once the New Year hit, it was just the same as it was in December; except the month turned into January. But anyways I hope no one is sick at home or anything like that. P.S. how was New Year this year?

This week we've seen a lot of blessings as a result of obedience. President Senior’s monthly letter for December was about obedience. As a companionship goal we made ours--perfect obedience. Accordingly, we faced challenges that tested our commitment to be obedient but I’m happy to say that because of our prior commitment to our goal, Heavenly Father really did bless us. 

Being a senior companion doesn't really feel different; but the one thing I was stressed about lately was teaching. At the end of last transfers, we had two investigators, both of whom, at this point we've already dropped because they aren't progressing. Meaning we had no investigators last week. I felt really stressed because I know the area and I needed to teach S. Zatarain since she's still pretty young in the mission. Regardless, she’s such a good missionary and so fun to work with. We find ourselves laughing a lot about random things. BTDubbs, she's from Texas. Anyway, the last week and a half was stressful because of that. Also, it hit me that I only have 6 months left and when we weren't teaching anyone at the moment, I guess I wondered what I was doing wrong. However, I just needed to wait because just about every day this past week, we found 2-3 new investigators so things always work out in the end. There were lots of interesting and uplifting lessons this week. The main point is that obedience is the first law in heaven (D&C 132) and God keeps his promises when we keep ours. 

One of our new investigators is this lady who called us on Thursday as we were doing our weekly long planning. We actually were on the section for planning on how to find new investigators. Then, she called and said, “Hey, can I learn about the scriptures?” Which on my mission, I think I've only had three people ever call and ask that. So we met her on Friday and she told us why she was interested. Hers is literally exactly like the Joseph Smith story. This actually was a lady that I met before last transfer. We were riding our bikes down the street and she stopped my comp and said she wanted to learn about Jesus. The sign was actually for English and we didn't know if we understood her correctly so we asked her again and she said, “Yes, I want to learn about the gospel.” We got her number then and after that we had no contact. This apparently is the time Heavenly Father designated for her to learn. So we went with that in mind and taught her the restoration. She's full of questions and really sincere about seeking the truth. It was a happy moment and fulfilling in life and our purpose.

Lastly, Fern got baptized!!!! :-) I was so happy. She asked me to give a talk and when I was preparing for it, I remember when I first met her. Her parents wouldn't let her learn the Gospel but now she's a member! The Elders were the ones who taught her and like we've talked about before, it doesn't matter whose baptism it is; rather, it's about her salvation and her soul. It was special and during my study on Saturday and this morning, I thought about the role of parents. 

In Thailand, or maybe it’s just Asian culture, respect and honoring parents is huge. (We met with our RC yesterday who is in her 40s and her parents at first didn't' know she was a member) S. Zatarain and I talked about when we choose between God and your parents what comes first? Obviously, God! However, when we choose Him, we break the commandment of “Honor thy Father and Mother.” Right? We continued to talk about it and at the end of the day, I just want to say we ended up talking about how grateful we are that you’re our families. This week, I felt like I help someone for real that wasn't necessarily an investigator or RC. We went and saw the Relief Society President. As she shared her stresses about sisters she has to deal with and how she doesn't want to be the RS President anymore, a scripture from Mosiah popped into my mind and so I shared it with her. Yesterday at church, she mentioned it in her testimony and then again in Relief Society about how she felt like angels came to visit her. It was a really special experience and the more I thought about it, I credit it to the Spirit. No way could I have come up with that scripture to share with her on my own. The Spirit really does deliver to us the things that we need and when we need them. I guess what I'm getting at is; thank you mom and dad for raising Travis, Trina and I in a home that invites the Spirit and we were definitely taught through the Spirit. It takes a lot to teach someone how to recognize those feelings. I love you both so much for being those examples to me.  

Well I hope you have a great week. Good Luck with starting school—Travis and Trina. hehehe 

LOVE YOU! 

Always 

Sister Yeo
p.s. Pictures attached of Sister Fern's baptism!!