Elder Braden Baker: Happy Easter!

வணக்கம்! எல்லாரும் எப்படி இருக்கீங்க? For those few of you who don't know Tamil, that says "Hello! How is everybody doing?” I hope you all had a great week and a happy Easter! I'd like to give a special thank you to my mom who sent me an Easter package full of candy and Easter eggs. That was fun trying to explain what Easter eggs are and why I got them in a package to my Indian roommates. In the end, they didn't worry too much about the tradition and just liked to eat the American candy. Thank you Mom, I love you!!

Well, today we are going to go play some kabaddi on the beach! Kabaddi is an intense Indian sport that is super fun. It's like a crazy mix between tag, wrestling, and capture the flag. I don't know how to explain it so if you're interested to see it, please Google it. I really want to play with my friends back home, I feel like we would love it.

Okay, so I actually really enjoyed this week as we celebrated Easter and focused on the events of the last week of Jesus Christ's life. For the last month, I have studied Jesus Christ's life in the New testament and in The Book Of Mormon when He visits the Nephites. I am grateful for everything that he did. I am grateful for what is possible because of Him. There are two things that every person will do in this life on Earth. Everyone will die, and everyone will sin. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days. These two issues of physical death and spiritual death can be overcome because of Him. Because Jesus performed the atonement, we can be forgiven of our mistakes when we repent. Because Jesus was resurrected and overcame death, everyone will also be resurrected! Knowing these two things can help everyone in their life. Just knowing this gives us hope, peace, and joy when we think about our future especially after this life on Earth. God's Plan of Salvation is absolutely perfect. It is beautiful and I'm so grateful for it. If you don't know about The Plan of Salvation, I suggest you learn more about it right now and I can promise it will bring more hope and joy in your life as it does for me in my life.

This also rings true for Arjun and his mom. We taught Arjun and his mom this week the Plan of Salvation. Their whole family is full Hindu which is completely different beliefs obviously. One belief being in reincarnation, which is after death you are reborn in the world as something else like an animal. We taught them where they came from, what their purpose is on Earth, and where God wants their family to go after Earth. After we had a good discussion about life after death and their family living together forever, Arjun pondered for a minute and asked, "But how is all of this possible?" Well, it goes back to what I just talked about. It is all because of Him. God's perfect plan would not be perfect if Jesus Christ did not come to Earth and suffer, die, and come back to life. He lives today, like right now! Anyway, the lesson went pretty good with them! Nothing against the Hindu religion at all, but if I knew nothing and was learning about life after death and wanted to choose what I wanted to believe. I would rather live with my family forever knowing complete happiness and joy in the presence of God and Jesus than being a cow.

Yet another week down, it feels like these weeks are just blowing by. Thanks for all your support and don't be afraid to shoot me an email every once in awhile. I think about you guys often and want to know how you're doing. I love you all!

Love, Elder Baker

எல்டர் பேக்கர்