Photos

Drawings that Elder Barron and I did

Elder Walton and I on his last day

Elder Divine

Use His Infinite Atonement As a Tool

Well this past week is pretty fun and it's been awesome. So transfers is today and I didn't get a moving notice so I'm hoping that I don't get "Hall'd" into moving. The joke behind getting "Hall'd" is one transfer there was an Elder on the mission who's still here. His name is Elder Hall. Now usually before you get assigned to a district leader or a trainer. You get a meeting with president either the Monday before or the day of transfers. But Elder Hall Didn't get one so when it was announced that he was a new district leader and a new trainer all at once he was super astonished and didn't know what to say...he actually almost passed out he was so surprised. but yea that's the story

Onto the rest of the week: Discovery has been normal, Saturday's are always busy because everyone is like hey let's go to the FHL and it's just great. So yea on those days I just kinda die when I get home at the apartment but oh well. We can't always have a lot of energy all the time now can we. But on those days I seem to feel the spirit the most because so many people are coming through and so many people are here and earnestly seeking the spirit and earnestly wanting to bring their families back together and it's really special and I'm glad to be spending another transfer here in the Discovery Zone.

We've had some pretty awesome moments here at the apartment and I've enjoyed all of them. All four of us elders just try to make the most of every moment possible to bring joy in the little moments. We just do dumb things really that make each other laugh so much and that's what I really like about all 4 of us in my apartment. We're dumb and we do what we can to make it funny. Which is great because there are day's when people aren't the best, including myself, but some days we just need a little humor to pick us up. Which I've been able to do multiple times, I do what I can to help people see the funny moments in life even when it isn't the easiest thing to do. I'm just glad that I can be of some service.

But yea this entire transfer has been a blast and I'm super blessed to have so many amazing people around me giving me all the support that I need and in return me doing all that I can to help out and hopefully provide the same support to others that they have given to me. Which has been a very helpful tool out here because in return of me helping them I've been able to lift my spirit up and it's helped me cast out those thoughts that aren't unpleasant and unhelpful and get me back on the right path that I need to do my best to stay on to return to my father in heaven.

Spiritual thought: 

So my thought comes from the help of President Fenn's Book of Mormon class that we had last night. (Thanks!!!!!!! :) ;) ) Anywho:

So we were reading from 3rd Nephi Ch: 9-11. This is after the the Crucifixion of the Savior Jesus Christ. But he appears to the People of Nephi and he teaches several profound doctrines in the few verses in Ch: 11 V: 11-17

10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

12 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven.

13 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying:

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

16 And when they had all gone forth and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying:

17 Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.

In those few verses we could count over 50 individual profound prophetic principles but we mainly stayed in verses 11-15. 1. How he suffered everything for us, 2. He suffered the will of the father and how he submitted himself to his will and did all that the father asked of him. He did it willingly so that we could return with him 3. "I have Glorified the Father in taking upon me the Sins of the World." That states a very strong testimony on how the infinite atonement was made for all of us and that he suffered through the garden, the Cross, and broke the bands of death and was resurrected so that all of us could one day return to his presence because he suffered the will of the father! Which really touched me to be honest. What really stood out to me was that. He did everything for the welfare of others, all of us on the earth who have come before us and those who will long come after us. He did it because he wants us to feel of his love and he truly wants all of us to return with him and he did it so that we could all USE HIS INFINITE ATONEMENT AS A TOOL in this life so that we can use it to repent of our sins, to get back on that narrow path of righteousness that leads to the gate of heaven to be in gods presence again. 

Now those were just a few points that we're made and I can't fully express my true feelings and the power I'm trying to express about this chapter that President Fenn went over. He enlightened my soul to the truthfulness of this chapter and the basic doctrine that if we take to heart and if we study them and do all we can to follow them....He will bless us and we will receive a testament to ourselves that this Sacred Book is true that This Sacred Gospel is true, and I know that this church is the everlasting church upon the earth that if we do all we can to come closer to him and if we do what is right and listed to the prophets and read with real intent to take something away from it. If we aren't receiving a feeling in our heart that we need to be better after we study the scriptures then we aren't studying with the full purpose of heart. I leave that with you in the sacred name of the one person who did everything for us so that we can come back to live with him again. The one Who Suffered all manner of afflictions in this life to make the infinite atonement accessible for all of us, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I hope that all of you will have a FABTABULOUS Week and I hope that you make the best out of every opportunity you can.

I love all of you and you all are amazing blessings to me in my life

Stay Beefy,

Elder Wyatt Gatlin

True Conversion

WELL HELLO AGAIN EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! This week has been a real adventure let me just start off with that, but it's also been super awesome!!!! 

So I was once again assigned to go to a family history service project where we go to the assisted living homes and help them with family history if they come and do that. We just help them with the various tasks that go along with what they ask. But that was really fun actually. The lady that I was assigned to was super awesome and she wanted to do the new discovery experiences that we're released a few weeks ago and She didn't know that she had a few missionaries in her line and she found out a little bit more from the new experiences. 

2. We had mission conference this past Wednesday on becoming born again through the Doctrine of Christ. It was super awesome and we went over how it's partially up to us on what we do and how we do it will depend on how we become spiritually reborn. I personally loved it, and loved the insight that President Fenn always gives us. But he talked a lot about how we need to look at some of the major changes and becoming born again/examples of becoming born again. It was mentioned a lot of people like the anti-Nephi Lehi's and all that they covenanted with to do such. Also with Alma the Elder and Alma the Younger and all that happened with them and how they became to be super duper spiritual people in the book of Mormon and how they changed and their conversion stories. He gave us the point on how it's so important that even though you are born into the covenant of being a member of, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Church, how we need to find our own true conversion. We may be a part of this church but if we don't have our own true conversion we won't truly feel of gods pure love, we won't see his hand in our daily lives and we won't even begin to become a better disciple of Christ if we don't start with true conversion to the church.

I'm really stoked for conference actually. There have been rumors and statements going around from other elders that there is going to be an announcement on missions. I'm not going to say anymore than that because I don't know any more than that, but As a mission President Fenn gets tickets for all of us to go to the priesthood session and be there in the conference center!!!! I can't wait for it and I hope that I can get into another session. It's really unlikely but some other elders who've been here a while have stood in the standby line and gotten in. So I might do that but that's after transfers so we will see what happens from there. 

But it's been a blast honestly and my new district is super awesome. They all are great and have some pretty fun times together. 

I kinda already gave a spiritual thought but I'm gonna give another one anyway cuz....yea! 

I've been reading through the book of Mosiah and I've read through Abinadi's sermon to King Noah and it came to a point where all the priests were trying to get king Noah to kill Abinadi but he said: 

Mosiah ch 13 vs. 3-7 

"3 Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time.

4 But I must fulfill the commandments wherewith God has commanded me; and because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. And again, because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad. 5 Now it came to pass after Abinadi had spoken these words that the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on him, for the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with exceeding luster, even as Moses’ did while in the mount of Sinai, while speaking with the Lord. 6 And he spake with power and authority from God; and he continued his words, saying: 7 Ye see that ye have not power to slay me, therefore I finish my message. Yea, and I perceive that it cuts you to your hearts because I tell you the truth concerning your iniquities."

I loved that section from that chapter because he had not yet delivered the message which he was called to give so the Lord protected him and he then finished with his message that he was to give to the people. The Lord will always preserve those who will righteously bring forth his word and he will always bless those who will follow Christ and his example. The lord is aware of all of our circumstances in every moment of every day and he knows when we need his help but he won't actually start helping us until we offer up a sincere prayer up in humility towards god in full faith that we know he can help us.

Well I hope that all of you will try to make the most out of every moment of every day and I hope that all of you will do your best to look for moments to serve him and also serve all those around us.

You all are amazing and Have a FabTabulous week! and as always "Stay Beefy"

Elder Wyatt Gatlin

We All Chose Christ

WHOA MAN!!!! Has this week been a roller coaster of emotions..... but It's also been really fun. I've had a ton of awesome things happen this last week.  So besides having probably the best companion ever and totally joking around all the time at the apartment and trying to have fun at zone as well because it just....dies....and no one comes in but it's alright though. My entire district has just been a really awesome district and I really love it. I had my doubts about the zone at first because we're all human and we all make stupid dumb accusations against things and we're all skeptical about a lot of things at first because we're all human and we were made that way. But I actually love the Family History Library Discovery Zone. It's taught me very many valuable lessons about humility and Charity. How to be humble is a really big one though because everyone always is either up tight or put ourselves above everyone else because we think we're better than everyone else but the truth about it is....we all came to this earth with a duty to fulfill and we all came here under the same covenant as everyone else. We all came here because we knew deep in our hearts that this was the true church and we all knew that this is what we wanted and we didn't want to follow Satan's plan....WE ALL CHOSE CHRIST. Which I will get into later for my spiritual thought.

Story time: STORY TIME!!! We all love story time.....thank you Parowan Lifeguard family for getting me on that....(Lorrianna and McKinlee) but back to the story. So There was this couple who came in, they were in their mid 40's, who they met on a dating sight and they met up and they went on a date to dinner. They heard each other's last names and they we're like....WHOA MAN!!!! we're most likely related in some way or another. But after they finished dinner they came over here to the FHL. They came over and they did the discovery experience where we give you an IPad and you sign into your Family Search account and then you can dock on the various things that we have on the floor. It's super great. But They came over and a ton of relatives we're found but they we're like 4th cousins. In my head I'm thinking.......You told me you we're a Bishop years back and now you found your 4th cousin and your dating her........*Trying to sound like Jim Gaffigan* Thissss issss reallllly Weirrrrrrrrrd......... But yea it was super great in the moment and they we're a super awesome couple and we had a bit of fun.

But yea Reading the Book of Mormon has become a regular thing to do at zone as well at the apartment because no one comes in and not a ton is happening but I will just pull it out and start reading because I'm not going to waist time being Idle on the computers because then part of you just slowly dies inside then later you gonna be like a mindless zombie around being like UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I've been doing all I can to become a better missionary and a better disciple of Christ which is something that we can all work on. 

Now I'm getting back to my spiritual thought for the week. So as I stated Earlier that "we all chose Christ" and that we all chose his plan from the beginning has kinda been on my mind as of late.....and it's made me stop and ponder a lot of things that have happened over the past little while and I've been able to reflect on the mighty moments where I've seen god's hand in my life later and how much I've changed. We all chose the only begotten as our savior and to be the one who we will serve in the end. He is the one who we put all our trust in when the time came for us to make a decision to choose what side to be on and to choose whom we would serve when the time came. We knew from the very start that we we're going to choose Jesus the Christ and that we would heed to his prophets and his council. We knew up in heaven that we we're going to have some hard times and that we we're going to fall short in some things but since he suffered for everything we knew that we we're going to make it back, BUT.....only if we we're faithful.......and one other thought came into my head that kinda hurt but it's beyond true. If we knew what we we're going to do and whom we were going to serve when we came down here and we knew that it was going to be hard and that agency is a real but kicker when we think about it, but why aren't we doing everything we can......to become better, heed to the counsel, listen to the Holy Ghost and yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit and their will. Why aren't we doing all we can to become more like him. The reason I came up with is actually a few things that I'm challenging you to work on this next week. 1. Arrogance: Many of you are going to be like.....no that's not true. But that's arrogance talking. People aren't humble enough to do a "Brutal Self Analysis" and President Fenn puts it, because Truth hurts and if you want to change and become more Humble and to be able to understand and receive more understanding from the lord and hear the holy spirit we need to learn True Humility as Christ had. 2. Not Listening: Many of us just go through the motions of our day to day lives and we don't really give heed to anything that's said to us or what is trying to be revealed to us. The Holy Spirit can't reveal anything to you, you can't receive the blessings, and we can't know the answers to our questions if we aren't trying to listen with an ear constantly open listening to everything around us and trying to pick up the lords servants trying to teach us the lessons we need to know, Lastly 3. Our Own Spiritual Standing/Grounds: This one kinda covers quite a bit of things and a lot of the answers are the Primary answers that lead us back to the basics which is maybe something we need to go back to every now and again because in the world constantly changing. Allegations being thrown left and right and things that we don't even know are happening, we need to take a step back from the fast paced Tech of the world, slow down and try to go back to the primary answers that we know can help us and will help us with our daily salvation. It may seem insignificant but Daily study, pondering, questions trying to be answered by your own doing, and prayer. These things will in time help you come closer to Jesus Christ and we will be able to more willingly hear his words and be able to feel of his spirit more.

I hope that this next week is amazing and I hope that you all can make the most of every moment of this FabTabulous week

Love all of you, you all are amazing people, you're all the best!!!!

As always...Stay Beefy!

Elder Wyatt Gatlin

Pictures!

Elder Gatlin trying to pretend he has a cool mustache

Elder Lukau is that a bedtime cap?

Elder Kupferer gives his okay

The YEE war! Elder Dunn went all out.

Stand on your own two feet

Hello everyone! Once again, I’m sorry about the really short email last week and I’m hoping that I can make up for it today with this email.

So just as a clarification for everyone reading this, My P-Day has switched to Tuesday this transfer/Month so start looking for my email on Tuesday. As stated before Elder Barron is my new companion and he is great. We are both “Trouble makers” and making everyone laugh in the Discovery zone, the Main Floor of the Family History Library. Generally, the evenings are dead because it’s later in the evening and not a lot of people if anyone comes so it’s pretty dead and everyone wants to go home. But Elder Barron and I start dancing and singing a little bit and getting everyone involved in the zone who is working in the evenings, and we’re just an amazing companionship and I really am loving my zone

I know it’s only been about a week in my new zone but I can already feel the blessings and can feel and see the change in myself as a person and as a member of this mission. I can already feel more humble and I have a better sense of charity to everyone. I have a better love for the scriptures and I have almost a constant desire to read the scriptures. I may not be as far as I could be in the Book of Mormon, but I made it to the Book of Jacob on Saturday, which is Fabtabulous! I can’t wait to get a deeper and deeper love and understanding of the scriptures than I have now.

On Sunday we had a super spiritual Sacrament meeting with an awesome Sunday “Come Follow Me” Lesson and I had the opportunity to teach the Priesthood Lesson back at the Apartment for the district and I took a talk from April of 1971, “In the Mountain of the Lords House by LeGrand Richards” It took me all evening of the day previous and all Morning on Sunday to get the entire lesson prepared because I wanted to make it as spiritual as I possibly can. I think it went pretty well and I hope that the spirit hopefully taught them something as well as what I said among all of that. Plus to finish off the day we had a Fireside with President Fenn and he showed us a few things about a few chapters in the Book of Mormon and how they fit into to 10 different categories. He wanted to get through the entire Book of Mormon but as all of us know "Time management is not President Fenn's strong suit" as stated by himself so we knew we weren't going to get through the whole thing but we were able to make it to about Mosiah 3. 

But yea now it's time for my spiritual thought.

I'm going to get some help from the lesson that was taught during District Meeting yesterday.

The main topic that was touched on was the topic of Valiance and how it's really taken for granted and how so few people actually take it seriously when that's a topic not touched on enough in this church and how vital it is to stay valiant to the teachings of the Prophet, Apostles, and all other church leaders in the church today. It was pointed out during the lesson that Easy Obedience is being told what to do and doing it because you really don't want to figure out the consequences of not doing it in the first place. But Hard Obedience is Obedience with Free Agency. Then I proceeded to say. Strong/Hard Obedience is when the lord has put his whole trust in you and when he has full belief of you that you can do it without him telling you what to do. In those moments in your life he has the trust in you as he did the Prophet Job, and How he knows that you can do it all on your own and when he knows and believes that you can do it without falling short of anything and when he knows and believes that Satan can do all he can to make you fall and he knows that Satan can not shake you. He knows that you aren't going to blame him and going to fall away from the church and he knows that you aren't going to make up a silly excuse to blame him for trusting you. In those moments when you feel alone and you feel that Christ isn't there...that's when he's trusting you to make the right decision and when he knows that you are capable of standing on your own two feet and he believes that you are able to represent the lord without him helping for a short amount of time. I think we need to start trying to find out for ourselves if we feel the lords trust in us and when we feel that the lord loves us enough to back away from us for a minute or two, so to speak, to let us choose for ourselves if we know that we are on the right path.

I hope that you all can take something away from that and I hope that all of you are doing your best to become better disciples of Christ in your everyday lives

I love all of you very much and you all mean the world to me. Thank you for all the prayers and all that you are doing for me back home I sincerely appreciate it. 

Love you all Have the Best Day Ever everyday, and as always....Stay Beefy!

Love, Elder Wyatt Gatlin

Casting Out Evil Spirits

Well Hello everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is everything? So a ton has happened this past week but I will do my best to write it all in the email and let's hope that I don't forget anything. So first off, on Friday we had a wonderful day. But that's when things started to get a little busy at the Family History Library or FHL for short. Because Roots tech was happening and A lot of things were going to happen really really fast and it will be really busy. But yea that happened.

Casting out the Evil Presence: So something really scary happened to me So I had to cast out a demon on Monday because I saw something at the foot of my bed darker than black with glowing red eyes. so I thought it wasn't really anything but I then had to cast it out later that evening when our bedroom door slammed shut when My companion and I were the only ones in the apartment and He was sitting on the couch and I was cooking dinner for us both. So that was really scary and I'm glad that the lord helped me with his spirit and his guiding hand.

Transfers: So transfers happened on Tuesday and I got transferred out of Family History Library Services and I'm now in the Family History Library: Discovery Zone which is the main floor with an interactive experience and I am now companions with Elder Barron which is really awesome! He is super chill and He is just a really great guy all in all.

I don't have much time to email today as my time has been cut short because of some Senior Missionaries that we have to move in so my email is quite short I apologize for that

Spiritual thought: For my thought this week I was reading in 2nd Nephi and I can't quite remember the verse but It was talking a lot about the second coming and all the evil in the world that was going to happen to the world and all the horrible people in the world and how not many people aren't going to be righteous enough to be saved and how small the righteous numbers will be and I had to picture the world through god's eyes and try to feel how he would feel that all of us aren't following the commandments that we have made with him and how we need to stay vigilant and to stay on the right path. It made me think that we all need to be more christlike and how we need to make sure that we aren't puffing out our chests and being me more humble towards others around us.

Thank all of you for everything and I apologize once more for the lack of time.

Have a great week and as always. Stay Beefy!

Love you, Elder Wyatt Gatlin