Baptism by a Virgin?

Family and friends,

General conference was great! There was too much to like about it to share besides... they said it best. We worked super hard to get a couple of people there but they all fell through. I really liked priesthood session but my favorite talks were the one with the cow, and the one where mothers intentionally hurt there children to protect them. I loved all the stories because it makes it easier to remember and share with our investigators.

Yes we did go to someone’s house for Easter dinner. They had a bunch of finger foods and we ate at three, right after General Conference. They had a bunch of people over and during that time I experienced my second earthquake at 3:50. It was very cool but I heard it could be felt in Phoenix. Did you all feel it? It was supposed to be a pretty big one down in Baja California. Not sure though because everyone says something different and I can't look it up for myself.

Yes I received Benson’s pictures. Thank you. Yes, I also received your Easter package and thanks for everything, and for Aunt Karyn’s cookbook. I’m super glad I got Girl Scout cookies. Thanks.

Today I will be making lasagna! I hope it doesn't turn out like my corn experience. This week we had a can of corn in our cupboard and I thought I’d heat it up. So I opened it and put it in a bowl and poured in some milk. I thought, we always put butter in it as well but we didn't have butter. So I used cooking spray. It gets better... I heated it up and it exploded!!! Just kidding it didn't explode. So then I was about to take a bite and I thought wait! I need salt! But we only had garlic salt. So... I used it! and I really like salt so I put quite a bit on. I learned to never use cooking spray as a replacement for butter and that garlic salt, no matter how mush you like garlic, it doesn't go good on everything. But I did eat the whole can. I also decided there won't ever be any food I won't turn down on my mission unless it breaks the word of wisdom of course. How can I expect people to try reading and being open to things they’re not used to if I won't be open to new foods. So every week I will have something to say about food. Unless I forget.

This week we got to sit in on a bible study that one of our investigators had. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. But we didn't get much of a chance to teach. We have five baptism dates set.

Elder Yeaman’s quote of the week:

"Don’t follow the silly traditions of your fathers"

Explanation: the book of Mormon often speaks of following the silly tradition of our fathers. I never really understood it until this past week. We have a couple investigators who know the book of Mormon is true and want to get baptized but won't because they want to stay with their current religion because that's what they were born into and that what their family has been for generations. If god tells you something is true and tells you to do something, wouldn't you do it? As missionaries, all we ask people to do is read and pray about the book of Mormon to see for themselves if it is rue. We can't force it on people and we don't want people to believe us. We want them to ask for themselves and receive answer for themselves from God. They don't have to believe us but they will know of themselves. You will know if it's true by receiving one of the feelings given by the Holy Spirit as read in the bible in Galatians 5:21-22 I think. But you have to be willing to act upon your answer, meaning if it is true, you will do the things necessary to grow closer to Christ, like following the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority into Christ’s church.

Love you all,
Elder M. C. Yeaman

Funny story to add to my e-mail! The sisters in our ward are teaching the father of one of our investigators. The boy lives in our area and he's 20 The father lives in the sisters area. Anyway the father is usually drunk and they were teaching him and baptism was brought up. The sister missionaries asked what do you know about "Baptism by Immersion" and his reply was "What in the heck is Baptism by a virgin?"