Monday, 3/21/11

We'll I'm doing fantastic. I heard from Darrin Harvard. He's doing just fine. Said that he got made a Senior companion on his 7 and 1/3 transfer. They sent a ton of the missionaries serving in Northern Japan down to his mission. I also heard from Scott Shuman. He's doing really great. Loving the area he's in. He says it’s so hot there. 

I don't have much to say this week. We had a really amazing training meeting Thursday - Friday. It was all the zone leaders, district leaders, assistants and the President in one room. We were having such good discussions on how to be better leaders in the mission. I really felt the spirit there. So many answers came to me about how to improve the area I get to serve in and how I can better lead the missionaries in the district. It really boosted my spirit on the work that we can do. 

Elder Stone and I had a meeting with the Bishop on Sunday to see what we could better do to help him. It went really well. (pride alert) Bishop said we were some of the best missionaries that have served in this area. Now I'm not letting that go to me head. Neither should anyone else. All we are doing is working hard and being obedient. It’s not my way but the Lords way. With out His help we would be nothing. Now more than ever I realize that. 

I'm so grateful to be in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. I'm glad it’s starting to get warm out. The sun it’s what makes ya smile! 

Love you so much!

Elder Yukish 

March 7, 2011

Thanks for all the letters this week! It always makes me so happy to hear from my family! Every one of your letters is so precious to me.

My week has gone pretty well! We are staying rather busy and having fun doing so! I love the members of this ward! They are being so helpful with the work here! Its just fantastic to see when people make friends in the church and progress toward baptism! Really the key in the work that we are doing is to have the members be involved. The members stay in the ward and will always be there for the people that are joining the church. We missionaries move so fast that its tough for them us to be there support all the time.

It’s amazing to see the calendar of how long I’ve been on my mission. I remember that about a year ago I was riding my long board down the street and in the warmth. It snowed here last night. What a bummer! Haha. I keep thinking that winter is over then it keeps coming back. But we all know the song (with an Ohio twist) "Snow flakes keep falling on my head, that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red, crying’s not for me" Haha Love that song! The sun just peeked out of the clouds!

So this week I've been thinking about Brigham Young and his nickname "The Lion for the Lord" or at least I hope that’s right. I've been thinking about what that means. He was really a great example of hard work and dedication. As he brought the pioneers across the plains he was the first one up in the morning and the last one to go to bed to make sure that everyone was doing well and to see if he could help anyone. He helped the saints be happy with singing and dancing every night. He really was a fantastic leader as well as a Lion for the Lord. He was persecuted and scorned for everything he did. Yet he persisted on and made it. He did what he was asked and helped bring this church to pass. My goal is to be more like him and be a good leader.

Well this week it’s going to be a short letter and I’m sorry. Will continue to send letters in the mail because I love doing that! I would like to know birthdays for the rest of the year. I feel terrible that I’ve missed so many since I've been out. And if I have I am truly sorry. I know there are a few this month and I will be writing to them.

Thanks for everything you all do for me. I am truly blessed to have such great family to back me up and keep pulling me along that iron rod. With out your support and love I'd be lost. I truly feel unworthy of all that I have been blessed with. I've never been a great person at showing how grateful I am. I love you all from the very bottom of my heart and soul.

Love Elder Yukish

February 28, 2011

WOW!! What an amazing week! It sounds like every one had a pretty decent week too! Elder Dillard Congrats on your mission call! That's very exciting to hear that you’re going where Grandpa went. It’s going to be cold as the dickens but it will be amazing! I thought that Ohio was cold but man -22. Shoot! That's cold!

I was so glad that it seemed like a pretty decent week! Things around here are going fantastic too! Last night was crazy! I was up almost all night! There was a really crazy storm. It started raining about 10:15 and its still raining! At about 2:30 I woke up and was having a conversation in my sleep with my companion. He was sleep talking to me and I was sleep talking to him! It was hilarious. From what I heard we were role playing how to extend an invitation about reading the Book of Mormon. I woke up and had no clue what was going on then I realized and just started laughing! I went back to sleep and about an hour later I woke up to the sound of thunder! I was half awake for about a half hour when I saw a huge flash out our window and then instantly there was a huge CRACK noise! It was so loud that it shook out tiny little apartment like jello! I was so awake after that. My companion woke up with a startle and asked what was going on. It was an awesome experience!

So this week we have been working our buns off! It’s been so rewarding. We had kind of had 1 investigator at the beginning of the transfer. Now we have 8 very solid potentials. A bunch of family's with on person that is a member that we have been working with this week. We also have a really cool guy that we’re working with. He's good friends with Stacey Miles. You probably have no clue who that is. So you should YouTube his video. He's in our ward. He used to play for the Seahawks. Really great guy. We are seeing some really great success.

We had an amazing Zone Conference this week. We were taught an awesome principle. That is "The Blessing of Obedience is Obedience". That was such a weird concept for me to grasp. I had an amazing experience on Thursday night driving home. It came to me all at once. I totally understood what it meant. We, especially my generation, are so focused on the instant gratification part of life. Microwaves, super computers, TV, plastic money. All of these things are expected by us now.

When thinking about being obedient you expect great blessings to come on top of that. It really doesn't work that way. "We have been blessed with the skills and talents necessary to fulfill our calling... These [things] are predicated on obedience." We don't receive more blessings by doing what were supposed to we get to act on what we're already given if we are obedient. Now don't think I'm some great scalar or anything of that nature, I simply acted on faith and asked to know what it meant and it came to me. The Lord showed me tender mercies by showing me new knowledge. It really is by His hand that all things are possible. It’s amazing what you can learn from your Mission President!

Well thank you all for writing me and I always can’t wait to hear from you next week. I'll be sending some letters out via snail mail this week too. I just feel like I’m in the writing mood.

Love you all so very very much and pray for your strength and safety in all that you face.

Love Elder Yukish

Letter on February 21, 2011

Alright!

So this week went really well. We had our baptism on Friday! It was truly amazing! We headed to the church about 2:45 to start filling up the font and take some time to plan some appointments for the next week. Everything was going very smoothly and I got a little leery. Sure enough at about 3:30 we got a call from Brother Henretty who was set to baptize Jole. He called and said that he had gotten into a car accident on his way home from Cleveland and he wasn't going to make it.

Well Elder Stone and I (oh yeah and that's my new companion) went to our back up plan, because as missionaries you learn to always have a back up plan. We ran back home and I got my baptismal clothes and headed back. We got back and made our final preparations for the baptism. All of Jole's family was there which was amazing in itself. His two kids are members but not active, and the rest of their family are not members. It was such an amazing experience. We had the Stake President talk too. He's in our ward and went and taught with us at his house. It was simply amazing.

We'll yes my new companion is Elder Stone. He's great! We have been working really hard since he got here. We came out together so this is the second companion from my transfer that I've served with. We have really buckled down and gotten to work too, which is great and is really bringing the spirit back into my life. I love working hard and seeing the results that come from it.

We went tracking on a street the other day and had an old referral to stop by to see if they were interested. We knock on there door and they didn't live there anymore. So we went knocking on the next door and it was a part member family that we got a return appointment with. Then the next door was a lady that had talked to missionaries when she lived in Michigan and had a Book of Mormon and would like to meet with us. It's simply amazing what happens when you put forth the effort and faith to go out and work and be diligent. I have really high hopes for this transfer!

We'll we have Zone Conference again this week! I'm super excited. I always love Zone Meetings with the President and the Assistants. It’s always a great time and lots to learn.

I really love the package that you sent me! All the socks and candy and the puppy were great! The socks smelled like home! Hey by the way I was wondering if I could get some money. I'm in need of toiletries and they are expensive! haha I hate asking...

We'll we have to detail the car out today. We’ve got to get it checked out on Wednesday at the conference. It’s going to stink! But it’s nice to have a really nice clean car. So I’m going to go but I'll be sending you some pictures in a little while i just forgot my card reader. I got a bunch to send!

Love you so much and can’t wait to hear back from you!

Love Elder Yukish

Letter of February 15, 2011

OK, so I have some amazing story's to tell you! This week or rather the past 24 hours I was in a serious state of panic. Our investigator who is set to be baptized on Friday this week had his interview last night. We asked the district leader from the Tallmadge to come interview him. It started out when they were an hour late to get to our area.

So we were an hour late to our interview. We were stressed out. When we got there they went straight into the interview. It was going on for about 30 mins before I went and peaked in to see how it was going. I could tell instantly that it wasn't well. They had to cut the interview off because our investigator had some skeletons in his closet that came up. We found out that we had to have him interview with President. We called President up and asked him what we should do. He was upset that we hadn't taken care of it sooner. He flipped things around in his schedule and came down this morning from Cleveland.

We got up this morning and called our investigator to see when we could pick him up to take him to his interview. We had the impression to call the ZL's to ask if we could take him in the car with us and there answer was no. So now it was 8 and he had to be at the church at 9 and it’s a half hour away. SOOO we stressed more. We had to call our ward mission leader to have him come pick all of us up and take us there. Brother Packer is one of the greatest men to help us out ever and he's a great ward mission leader.

Well we got to our investigators house to pick him up and he looked like he was going to pass out. He was nervous as all get out. We took him to the church. President called us and told us he was about 10 minutes away. We decided to take him into the baptismal font and show him around. It really helped calm his nerves out. When President got there he was pretty calm. President took over and excused us. We came back about 10 minutes later and to our relief they were both smiling! President said the key words "let’s get this man baptized". I was so excited! It was just an amazing day! The biggest lesson I've learned is that there truly is opposition in all things. Before the sunshine comes the hurricane. But man when that sun comes out it is the most beautiful thing in the world!

Its transfer week but don’t worry I’m not going anywhere. Elder Trammell is though. My new companion is an elder that came out with me. So this will be the second comp from my transfer. Pretty crazy!

It was so great to hear from every one! Mom I’m sorry to hear that you sick! I hope you get better soon and be safe while Tod's gone. Just like I was talking about with our investigator there is opposition in all things. There are such greater blessings from being in the gospel than being in the outside world. Dad, thank you for your study of that scripture. It was funny to hear the commentary. I’m sorry to hear about your friend. He is in a better place. Grandpa and Grandma Thanks for your email and the poem it was very lovely!

Well I’m going to go help pack some more.

I love you all so much and pray for you all the time

Love Elder Yukish

The Assistant's Visit!

Sorry for not writing last week. Just didn't get around to it because the library was closed on Monday and just got busy the rest of the week.

It was a really great week though! We got our 20 lessons that we were trying to reach. It actually snuck up on us. Last night we got back to our place and thought we were only at 19. So i was pretty excited because that's the most I've taught in a week. But when i called in numbers for the district i recounted and we had 20! That was really exciting.

We have been having a lot of fun too! We are really enjoying our area and the people in it!

We had the Assistants go with us this week. We kind of thought it was because we were doing something wrong. One Assistant came with us and the other went to another area. It was really fun. We learned a lot from him and got a lot of inspired ideas for lessons. It was really great. I still don't know the reason they came with us, but it was great.

Were going to run out to Medina for PDay and maybe play some basketball or something.

Love you all so much have a great week!

Love

Elder Yukish

Called to be District Leader