My First Earthquake

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010
Elder Hales came and it was very cool. We got to listen to the stake president, then our mission president spoke, and then Elder Hales spoke. It was very nice. We worked so hard to get an investigator to come. We had a few people that were going to come, but on Friday one canceled and then on Saturday three canceled. That left us with one who we really wanted to come. This is the amazing guy who was about to go to jail but then got out of it and decided to turn his life around. We stopped by his house at 8:30 and woke him up and reminded him about it and he said he'd be there. He called at 9:40 and says he's just jumping in the shower and we said hurry it starts in 20 min. He thought it started at 10:30. Our normal church starts at 11:30 so it's easily mistaken. We told him to give us a call when he got there. We wouldn't be able to answer, but we would know he was there and we would know to look for him afterwards and talk to him. He never called. We called him later and he apologized. We set up a return appointment for Monday(yesterday). We were super bummed because all of our really great investigators didn't make it. After the meeting was over and we were feeling disappointed that no one we invited came, we look around and see a person that we had just met on Friday and invited to church. When we were talking to them on Friday we didn't think they was super interested or anything but we just talked and invited them to church. We didn't even expect them to come. The lord works in mysterious ways and blesses, sooner or later, those who work.

To answer your questions, I'm not as tired as I thought I would be. I've been getting more sleep here then I did at home. Plus I have a car which makes it a little easier. However this morning at four o clock I woke up to my bed shaking and then heard a loud explosion. The shaking lasted for twenty seconds. IT WAS MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE. I thought it was so cool. We couldn't figure out what the explosion was. We figured something upstairs had fallen and exploded like a fire extinguisher or a propane tank. It was just a minor shake an it felt really weird. No real damage was done that we are aware of.

Today for p-day we're having a cooking day. We're just going to cook a bunch of stuff like cookies and granola and stuff. Exciting! Normally everyone cooks for themselves. For breakfast it's normally super cheap store-brand wannabe of the sugary cereal or eggs and toast. For lunch I've had 2 bean and cheese quesadillas everyday since I've been here and haven't gotten sick of them yet. Dinner normally is a sandwich or something like that when we cook for ourselves.

This last Thursday we had exchanges and we're having them again tonight. The assistants go with the zone leaders, the zone leaders go with the district leaders and the district leaders go with their district and my companion is a district leader. Last Thursday we went with the zone leaders and tonight we're trading off with a companionship in our district. We trade companions the night before and spend a day with someone different. Elder Jackson, my mtc companion is trading spots with me. Last Thursday I went into a Spanish ward and the elder was going home in 12 days and was super ready to get home. It helped me realize what kind of missionary I want to be and I have to work super hard now to make sure I don't get trunky at the end. It was a great learning experience.

Elder Yeaman's quote of the week."You can either go and take care of a cavity or let it ruin the entire tooth. The cavity would never have gotten there if you would have only brushed."

Explanation: President Hales spoke and talked about resolving family conflict. He said resolve it, don't let it canker your lives. Do what ever is necessary to resolve family problems. Families are a blessing not a burden. They are essential to God's plan. Once you've done everything you can to resolve the problem and THEY won't forgive you, don't worry about it and don't complain about it. The problem only worsens when you talk behind there back even after you've done all you can. Only speak good things about that person and continually serve them. When I was taking notes, I related it to the a cavity. You can resolve the problem (plaque) at the beginning by brushing it off (repenting, asking forgiveness, truly showing you're sorry), the longer you wait to resolve something the worse the problem gets (cavity forms), the harder the the problem becomes, and the less, those who hold the grudges, want to let go. (needs to go to dentist to fix the tooth) and it can ruin an entire relationship if you let it (the tooth). A lot of times you don't know there's a cavity until its already formed and if it's bad enough it will hurt and fixing it is a costly procedure.

Love you all. Thanks for the letter and e-mails,
Elder Michael Yeaman