I will be Calling you on Christmas Morning

Dear Family and Friends,


I will be calling you at about 10 o'clock on Saturday morning (Christmas Day). We are going to Oswald's house and we will be doing it over there.

We had a pretty good week, though we didn't have any members come out with us until Sunday night. Oswald came out with us on Sunday night. He came with us to see Mama Julien too. He loves Mama Julien. He loves her food, and how nice she is. They were getting into very random conversations last night. It was a lot of fun though. It helped strengthen member relationships a lot.

This week wasn't as good of a week for me I feel. I have a hard time getting up in the morning and I feel more tired. Plus I keep falling asleep during personal study.

Vonnette, a new investigator, is progressing very well. She has read the 1st 11 chapters in Nephi, and the whole restoration pamphlet. The thing that amazes me is how well she understood them both. She told me about Lehi having four sons, Nephi, Sam, Laman, and Lemuel and she then told us how two were obedient and two were not. She thought it was crazy how Laman and Lemuel tried to beat up Nephi, and then were visited by an angel and were still angry and doubting afterwards. She loves chapter 8 though. She described what she understood in it. She said it had beautiful words in it. "Li gen bel pawol landan li." She loved it. She told us that she wanted to know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and she said that she is a Seventh Day, but says that if she gets an answer that she needs to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that she will quit the Seventh-day Adventist church. She told us how she got to the seventh day church. She had a dream with three churches side by side: Catholic, Baptist, and Seventh-Day. She tried to enter in Catholic and Baptist, but both times a hand pulled her back out of the churches. Then she entered into the seventh day church and no one stopped her. She told us that that was where God wanted her to be the most at that time. But she says she is always praying for God to tell her where to go. She will join the church when she gets an answer. I just hope she isn't expecting a dream to be the answer and not be paying attention to what the spirit is telling her. She could very possibly get the answer in a dream. I have seen it many times in Haitian Culture. These people are very visionary, and dreams and visions are common. But they need to feel the conformation of the Holy Ghost to back that up. It runs so deep in the culture that I don't know if they expect anything else.

One bad thing did happen with Vonnette. We were going to get a ride for her, because she isn't too close to the church and she doesn't have a car. She told us she was excited to go and very willing, and had a strong feeling that she should go. We weren't able to find a ride for her. Two people fell through in the morning. We could have tried way harder than we did. But we just didn't continue searching. We had a lesson with her yesterday, and everything was great. The only problem is that she says she doesn't want to come to church anymore because we couldn't find her a ride. She told us that today was the day that she felt very strongly about and she said we blew it. I hope we didn't ruin this for good. We are going to be praying very hard for her to receive an answer. She told us after we talked to her for a while that she would think about it and let us know. She ponders, reflects and studies very hard. She is also very into prayer. From what I see of her, she is very able to get an answer. I wonder if Heavenly Father is testing us to see if we want her to get baptized badly enough to work hard for it and pray with real intent. It might also be because she is expecting a different answer and might have gotten it. I do think that our lack of faith could be a huge part of it. We definitely haven't tried as hard as we could have.

I realize now that the only things necessary for a successful mission are obedience and hard work. Because with those two things, faith, desire, love, patience, and everything else. I realize that I can obey the White Handbook rules so much better. I have done many things not right. But at least I realize that now and can fix it.

Widlyne is not doing well. She is never around, she is smoking again, and she hasn't been keeping any of her commitments. We go over there for Edeline and Junior who are both recent converts, but we don't see Widlyne there. We have been trying our best to help her.

Jener is doing okay. He is a really great guy, but he says he doesn't want to get baptized because he can't read and he wants to know the bible more. We told him that the requirements are to have a righteous desire, be willing to take upon him the name of Christ, be keeping the standards, and willing to serve others. He is doing that already. Also, it is hard because he feels that his only problems in life are short memory, not knowing English, and not being able to read. We help him with English and he is excited, but when we teach him the Gospel, he starts to lose focus. We just need to help him have a greater desire to get baptized. He likes the Gospel, but it isn't this huge excitement for him.

Everything is going well though. Hey Laurie! Thank you so much for the Christmas package. You chose really good candy and the BYU T-shirt was awesome! I love getting stuff from you, because it helps me know that you all are still thinking about me.

Bye! Mom and Dad, I will be calling you around 10:00 am -10:15 am. Hopefully we can keep on time and on schedule. The Crance family, who are members will be feeding us breakfast before, so we will try our best. Bye everyone! I love you!

Love,

Elder Seamons

The VERY special Guest and the Golden Ticket

[I will bring to the top what Eric said at the bottom:

“P.S. Get people to send me letters. That is the best thing you can ever get as a missionary.”

If you get time, even after Christmas, you can write him at the mission home at:

Elder Eric Seamons

Florida, Ft Lauderdale Mission

7951 SW 6th St Ste 110

Ft Lauderdale, FL 33324-3211

This week was so amazing! We had so many things happen. We had so many fun mission gatherings that we did. We got to see all the missionaries in the mission again and we learned a lot. It meant we had less time to go out and teach, but we were still very excited.

As a mission we had a Christmas luncheon on Saturday and we had some really good food that they made. Stake presidents and their wives were there, as well as Elder Gay from the seventy. President Hale had something called the Golden Ticket. This is his third year doing it. He has this small golden plaque that he would give out to one person. He had a drawing where they drew 10 names out of a hat from all the 150 or so missionaries. Then he would draw 6 people from the 10 to go on to the next round and so forth. He took pictures after every round. The Golden Ticket is a really awesome prize which President would give out, but it wasn't redeemable until 2020. He said that the person would have to follow certain conditions in order to still be eligible for the prize when the time comes around, such as calling president Hale every six months the day of General Conference until 2020. He did that so he could stay in contact. He said it could be a whole number of things for the prize, including a paid for cruise with the family or something else. He was very well off before the mission, so I could definitely see him doing that. I got to the final two people, the last round out of everyone in the mission. Sister Crane and I were the two finalists, and Sister Crane won. I was glad she won, but I really wanted the Golden Ticket. Sister Crane is in my zone. She is in the Coral Springs Ward with Sister Lealagata. This is Sister Crane's last transfer before she goes home. The Golden Ticket thing was fun though.

[The missionaries were told they were going to have a special guest fly in on a jet. I have inserted a great description from Elder Terry about his experience. He is from the town next to us and went to Lone Peak High School also. He was in Eric’s MTC district and they were companions for a short time at the end of the MTC when Eric’s companion went to Canada. I get Elder Terry’s e-mails and I love his dramatic way of telling things.]

The tension was palpable and we knew someone cool was coming.

And then

through the door,

his little wife by his side,


walked,


PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF!


We all jumped to our feet as they waved and smiled and then, one by one, we were able to shake their hands and look into their eyes . . . his eyes . . . and it was incredible.


This is another one of those experiences which words cannot adequately describe.


It was incredible.


And a very Disney-ish devotional, because President Uchtdorf talked about how "dreams really do come true" (his words), and that we must "move forward every day." He taught about nightly prayers--thanking the Lord for all he has done for us, asking him to accept your sacrifices, asking for forgiveness, resolving to move forward, and then putting your trust in God and retiring to bed. He promised resolutely that God will forgive you of your shortcomings and allow you to wake up anew the next morning.


It was powerful.


He also spoke of a blessing--as real as if his hands had been on each of our heads individually--that all our concerns and challenges--at home or here now--will be resolved with a satisfactory conclusion because of our faithful service.


It was a sacred experience.

[Back to Elder Seamons’ letter]

We had the mission-wide Christmas Devotional. It was such a spiritual experience. They had several musical numbers as well as the Mission Choir singing. The speakers were President and Sister Uchdorf. It was awesome. The Hale family was next door neighbors with them in Utah, and they were super good friends. It was such a powerful experience. They both have such love for the missionaries and the members of the church. Everyone in the room got to shake hands with President Uchdorf and all of the Sisters got hugs from Sister Uchdorf. I wrote all my notes for the Devotional in my Journal. We all got Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission Journals. They said they e-mailed all of the parents to buy one. Thank you so much Mom and Dad! You are awesome!

President Uchdorf gave very good advice and counsel:

He said that we are always in the middle of our mission. It doesn't matter whether we just started and have less experience, or are almost finished. He said that many people feel inadequate as missionaries and think that they don't have enough experience to be a powerful teacher and do the work effectively. He said that we are better with the convincing power of God and the spirit than any amount of experience, practice, and training. We will continue to learn and grow, but we don't have to wait until we are perfect before we begin to change lives. It is not our talents and power that makes us so great but God's. We should never think we have too little experience to do something, or think we are above everyone else and have it down. We just need to try our best and everything else will work out because God is there and loves us and will help us.(this next part is my own commentary) That is what President Uchdorf meant by always being in the middle of the mission. You rely on God and work hard as you would at the prime of your mission. You don't slump and give up at the end because you are almost done. You are always in the middle of the mission until the very end.

He said that "God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called." and "God promises you a safe landing, but he didn't promise you a calm journey."

When he talked about teaching the Gospel with power, he used Brigham young's experience that is in Preach My Gospel. Brigham Young said that the missionaries who taught him were not super intellectual. He could have easily have out-talked them. But they taught with convincing power of God. (a good chapter in the scriptures that this makes me think of this is in 1 Corinthians ch. 2)

He also said,"Don't be a character; have character" I think that means that we aren't supposed to be someone we are not or try to act like someone. Just be who you are and be good and righteous. He said, "You do not need to impress the Lord."

He talked about the holiness and the power of the calling which we hold--That we are "the extended arm of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles." That means that we are an extension of Jesus Christ and we represent him to all of those who we meet.

The last thing that I will tell you about his talk was that he said that all of us have a special purpose in this specific mission and that as we follow the spirit, we can know what our individual purpose is, and why we are in this mission and in no other and how the Lord will bless us to accomplish this purpose. And he testified of the call of Prophet that President Monson has, just as Moses did, the truthfulness of this church, and the reality of the Living Christ. He said that it is "a fact that Jesus Christ lives."

I know that is true. Deiter F. Uchdorf is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. God lives and he loves us. Everything will work out. There is no one who can be against you when you are with God. We have a hard path to walk, but we have strong shoes for it, and that makes all of the difference. I have come to realize how weak I am and how little I can do by myself. But I just need to obey the rules God has given me, do the simple things, trust in him, and everything else will work out. I know it.

I love you all and I need to write president now, but I will talk to you later! Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

P.S. Get people to send me letters. That is the best thing you can ever get as a missionary.

See pictures of President Uchdorf as well as pictures of Eric

almost winning the golden ticket

and him at the Christmas missionary dinner.

President and Sister Uchdorf and President and Sister Hale

 

 

The mission blog had pictures of the mission dinner and Elder Seamons was in 6 of them, but there were two particular photos that showed us the Eric we know when he is very happy.

 

Th is one is of Eric in the food line. He has that "I love this food" look on his face!

This is Eric when he has learned he is one of the last two

who are in line to win the Golden Ticket. This is a look we are

very familiar with.

"The holiday season is wonderful as a missionary!"

Hi Everyone!

This week has been a really good week! We had a lot of really good experiences. It has been very interesting.

We have some investigators and member who are struggling, so pray for them!

We went and talked to Widlyne, who is 20. She is the one who has been smoking and doing all of that stuff. She is super busy and it is hard to get her to sit down with us. She has school every day and she has work a ton, many weeks on Sundays. We saw her twice this week: once on Wednesday and once on Saturday. We saw her on Tuesday and she said that she is not doing well on quitting with smoking. She also admitted that she hasn't been trying super hard. She knows the doctrine and reasons why it is wrong, and why it won't make her happy, but she still has a hard time giving up the habits. We talked about God's plan for her and how we will all be able to live with our families and a spouse who loves us if we just do what God asks us to do. She told us that smoking is taking a toll on her health too. She doesn't feel as good, and her throat hurts more and more lately. She was even coughing up blood the other day. She has been smoking since she was fourteen, so it is hard for her to quit. We were talking to her brother Junior, who is a baptized member, and he told us this week that she had gone over to her boyfriend's house for the night.  She hasn't been doing too well. When we went over on Saturday, she told us that she had just finished smoking a cigarette before we had come. I asked her if she had any more. She said no, but as I kept on asking, she eventually said that she did have some left. She brought them out, and we asked her if she would rip them up. We dug a hole and buried the ripped up cigarettes in the ground. Junior keeps on telling us that trying to get her baptized is a waste of time and that she doesn't want to change. He doesn't have the confidence in her to believe she can, but we always point out that he used to be in that situation at one point and he overcame it. We are trying to help him be more supportive of her. Edeline, their mom, is very supportive of her. Edeline is a recent convert too.

Wow, the Creole part of the ward has grown so much since I got here. Mesidor, Moisena, Peter, Isenada, Claudia, Junior, Edeline, Vely, and Jaleel have all been baptized by the four Creole Elders since I have gotten here. And there are many more from when Elder Anderson and Elder Bolz were together. The hardest part is retention though. Some of the Creole members don't have cars, so they don't come to church. Or some of them like the church a lot, but they get caught up in other things that are going on in their lives. There are a ton of Creole members though. There was one week when we had 25 people in Creole class, which isn't even everyone there. We have a lot of good Haitian members. Anyway, Widlyne hasn't been reading her scriptures or praying, so she won't be able to succeed and overcome these problems unless she does that. She told us that she feels horrible right now in her life. We testified of the atonement and how Jesus Christ can help her overcome all of her temptations, because he felt them and overcame them too in the Garden of Gethsemane. She said that she wished she could do certain parts of her life over again. We told her that she could have a new start through the suffering of Jesus Christ. I know that is true. The atonement is so powerful and far-reaching. If we used it to the full extent it was meant to be used, Satan would be done for. I heard someone say that the only principle you have to be perfect at is repenting, because if you repent every day and truly turn to God, he can help you have that change of heart and turn away from all darkness. We also told Widlyne about staying in good places and not getting into situations where she can be tempted. She said that she bought cigarettes with extra money that she had with her. We told her to only bring enough money to take the bus to work and take it back, so that she wouldn't be able to. If she did, she wouldn't be able to get home. She told us that she smoked 16 cigarettes in one day. That is a ton! Please keep Widlyne in your prayers. She is in great need of help.

We have also been working with Jener, who is a 21 year old Haitian who is trying to learn English. He speaks it well enough to get by, and his vocabulary is pretty high, but he has difficulty remembering things. It is really hard for him. I think he has dyslexia too, because it is super hard for him to read, and he mixes up letters in a word. He loves learning English with us. He has been coming to the English class at the church every Tuesday night. He goes to an English class in a local college so he can learn too. It is hard, because he can't read French or Creole at all, and he can hardly read English, so he is not getting in his daily scripture study. We took some lessons to read out of the Bible and the Book of Mormon with him, but he can only read one or two verses. We just help him with his pronunciation and help him learn more vocabulary in the scriptures. Being able to read in the scriptures will help him so much. We tried one lesson where we read the scriptures to him in Creole. I think that helped. We will probably do that more. He doesn't like that though, because he loves practicing English. He is a much more visual learner. We shared the restoration DVD with him, and he remembered a ton of details and the overall story just because he saw the DVD. He remembered it almost better than any investigator we have ever taught. We are going to bring visual aids to the lesson to talk about Faith, Repentance, and Baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We are also teaching his friend Lionel now. Lionel is very interested in what we have to say and was interested in the restoration and how God restored his full Gospel back to the earth. He said he had noticed how so many different religions say so many different things.

The holiday season is wonderful as a missionary! We have many ward activities, which are helping the members to socialize and help our investigators. We are going to have a relief society dinner program on Thursday. Hopefully we can get as many of the Haitian women as possible. Edeline really wants to go. The problem is that she lives in Coral Springs and all of the members in Coral Springs go to the Coral Springs Ward. All the Haitian members who are out of the Ward boundary, but still in the stake boundary go to our ward, because it is one of the four magnet wards in the mission. There is one in Fort Lauderdale, Boynton Beach, Miami, and Coconut Creek. The problem with that is that most Haitians don't have cars because they can't afford it. Many Haitians we meet don't even have jobs. There are so many unemployed people down here.

The mission is having a ton of meetings and devotionals this month. I can't remember all of the dates, but this week we won't be out Procelyting as much because of it. We are having a mission luncheon and we have a Sunday night devotional with a special speaker.

Last night was the First Presidency Christmas devotional when the Prophet and his two counselors speak. President Hale said to only go if we had an investigator. None of our investigators said they could go, so we were both really sad that we wouldn't be able to see it. But then Wendy, one of our investigators texted and said she could go to it. It was almost 8:00 when the devotional was about to start. We were happy because she would at least be able to see 40 minutes of the program that was being broadcast to the church. We taught someone yesterday that Elder Anderson found while he and I did splits. We had two members of the church with us, so I went and taught Jener with Brother Poor, who owns Chick-fil-a and lets us eat their for free. :) Elder Anderson was with Peter Septembre, a recent convert. The people that Elder Anderson had found were four obnoxious Haitian girls. That was such an annoying lesson. They were not taking us seriously at all. Elder Anderson was irritated too. It wasn't completely horrible though. They did listen some of the time and learn some stuff. They also had satellite and BYUTV, so they watched the whole Christmas devotional at home, and they texted us back and said that one of them wanted us to go and pray with her one day. It was pretty awesome. But anyway, Wendy went to the church, and we left Mama Julien's house (Mama Julien is a Haitian member who makes food for the missionaries to take home every Sunday night. She is so funny and nice. All the missionaries call her Mama Julien.) We were at her house and helped her find the place on LDS.org where the devotional was being broadcast. We made sure it was in the right language, and then we took the food and headed off to the church. (The Broadcast was live in tons of languages, including Haitian Creole and French. Except the Creole one didn't have visual and the French one did. It was kind of weird. Many Haitians speak both French and Creole, so it works. French is the official Language in Haiti, but you don't hear it out in the streets at all. Not every Haitian speaks French. Many don't. French is formal and is only used in the schools in Haiti. You have to speak and write in French in the Haitian schools or else you get punished. Many Haitians read French because Creole wasn't a written language for a very long time. For a long time, the spelling wasn't set. But Creole is more used in certain parts of Haiti and more and more people have come to read it. But Creole is so much fun! Elder Anderson went to eat at Burger King before a lesson we had, and there were two Haitian women working there. We talked to them for a long time and they thought it was awesome. There are a few Creole sayings that we tell many Haitians and they laugh really hard. They think it is funny when we tell them the Geography of Haiti and all of the Haitian food that we know and like, especially considering that we are American and have never been to Haiti before. There are several streets in our area that are mostly Haitian. One of the ones that we spend the most time on is Riverside in Coral Springs. Peter used to live there. Everyone has seen us and knows that we speak Creole. Many of the Haitians there wave to us. There are certain people that will ask us for money. Many Haitians ask us for food or money. We have to tell them that we can't. Some of them will ask us for money every time we see them.

Anyway, Wendy came to the Christmas Devotional which was being broadcast at the church, but the sound wasn't working because of technical difficulties. We decided to teach her a lesson with Sister Hindman. It was good.

Here is an excerpt of my letter to president. I am adding it because it tells some more of the stuff that is going on:

We have had a very successful week. We have been doing many AMT's and have been helping many of the recent converts. We have started sending out scripture texts to our investigators and members to help them get more of the Book of Mormon into their lives, and also to remind them to read. We have seen how we have been able to increase many people's faith. We are also striving to find members to come out with us not just for the sake of raising numbers, but also to find someone who can meet the needs of a specific investigator. Seth Poor, the Elders Quorum president came out with us to see Jener Louis and his friend Lionel. I went with brother Poor, while Elder Anderson went out with Peter Septembre, a recent convert. The double exchange went very well. Brother Poor was able to connect well with Jener and Lionel. Jener now has his phone number, and Brother Poor will come with us again to see them on Tuesday. Plus he lives really close to Jener's house. We are hoping that this can create a lasting bond with them.

We have had trouble being exactly obedient to certain rules, but we are striving to tighten it all up and make sure we are doing better as a companionship. We are especially trying to make sure our day to day activities fit into our purpose better.

Elder Anderson is a great missionary! He loves the Gospel, relates well to everyone we meet, and knows what things are most important. He is an obedient, hardworking missionary! He understands his purpose well and I am learning a lot from him. I am so grateful for the two great companions that I have had out in the mission field so far. I love the Coconut Creek ward! The members are so wonderful, and God is greatly blessing us with much success! It isn't perfect, but there are good things happening.

We are helping an investigator, Widlyne, to get baptized, who is the sister and daughter of two of our recent converts. We are helping her overcome addictions and helping her overcome them through the power of the Atonement. We bore testimony to her on how we can always change and how the Atonement creates a new start in our lives. We told her that reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and going to church will be the key to her conversion and change, because those things will help her have the spirit and added protection of God necessary to overcome her horrible habits.

Well, I have to go now. I will talk to you all later. Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

P.S. Grandma and Aunt Laurie, and everyone! I did get all of your packages and cards. Thank you so much!

"It is definitely a life changing experience.

We asked for pictures this week and we got them! He definitely had a different Thanksgiving feast than he has had before!

Hi everyone! This week has been very eventful. I have had so many things that have happened.

I am not sure how calling home for Christmas works. We haven't been told the details yet. I am very excited to be able to talk to you very soon. I have had so many things that have happened to me since I have gotten out here. It is definitely a life changing experience.

Sara, I told one of the people I have in the apartment that you have a very tasty Italian recipe and he wants to know what you use in it. I know the recipe isn't exact and varies, but could you tell me all the ingredients and approximate measurements? Whatever you can do. . . . . I love you so much.

Many things have happened to me since the last time I have seen you. The mission is difficult, there are many things that can cause one to question their own beliefs, and there is a lot of confusion out in the world. I have learned people can't rely on their own logic and reasoning alone to determine anything. There is so much confusion, people with different opinions, different interpretations, people who say we are wrong, and a whole number of things. I know I need to rely on God and he will give me what I most desire. I think that this experience will help strengthen my testimony to the point where nothing can cause me to deviate from what I know is true. It is just very challenging sometimes.

For Thanksgiving Day, Elder Anderson and I were invited to two houses: Oswald's house and the Pierre Family's house. Oswald is a chef, and he makes really good food. He made homemade burritos, which were some of the best I have ever tasted, and a ton of other stuff. I have pictures of it. I will send them to you separately. Mesidor, a recent convert was there at Oswald's house, and Sister Jean Noel was also there also. It was a lot of fun. Mesidor's two kids were there two, along with Sister Jean Noel's son. All six of the missionaries were at Oswald's house.

At night, we ate at Sister Pierre's house. Sarha, her daughter, left with Theresa, a previous investigator, to go watch "Tangled" at the movie theater. We were there with Sister Pierre, her son Jessie, and some of Jessie's friend. We had a very Haitian thanksgiving, but it was really good. There were a ton of Avocados there, along with some Haitian rice that had pima (hot pepper) in it. It was really good.

We have been teaching the Decimus family for quite some time. Elder Chandler and Elder Anderson baptized Edeline (the mom) and Junior (the son). There has been so many changes that are coming in both of their lives. We are teaching the daughter right now. The first things that she told the other elders when they started teaching her was that she had a problem with "smoking." She has a long way to go before baptism, but she is making progress. We just need to keep in touch with her and help her find another outlet for her stress and desires. She smokes whenever everything gets too stressful. We need to help her. Pray for her. Her name is Widlyne She is Edeline's daughter. She really wants to change, but is having a very hard time with it.

Well, I will leave it at that for today. I will right you more next week. Bye! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Thanksgiving Food at Oswald's house

All of the missionaries in our ward at Oswald's house for Thanksgiving

 

Me and Oswald

Mona Jean Fransois, a recent convert, who we dropped by to see plus Elder Seamons at Thanksgiving

 Elder Bolz, patrick Uy and Elder Seamons at Golden Coral last transfer

Elder Seamons, Claudia Medeus 9 years old at her baptism, with sister Medius, a member, and Brother Romell, family friend who will baptize plus Elder Bolz (my last companion)

We went sunrising-- watching the sunrise one day



"God has something else in mind"

Hello everyone!

Yes, Mom, we have the GPS and we are using it. It is such a wonderful thing to have. Thank you so much for getting that for me. You are awesome, Mom! I did get it on Thursday and I needed to sign for it. I just got it from the person at the door of my apartment when they delivered it. I don't exactly remember.

On P-days, we wash the car, clean the apartment, study, come to e-mail, go out to eat (almost always Pop eyes). Brother Vega is the owner of three stores and he wants us to come over often and eat there for free. It is very nice of him to do that for us. The members serve the missionaries in so many ways. After that we go and buy groceries at Walmart. After that, we will organize things in the apartment, or sometimes go out and play a sport or something like that. Some people have gotten special permission to go out to the Everglades for P-day.

My camera is still working, but I have not been taking many pictures. I will do that more, I promise. I have been thinking so much about missionary work that I haven't really thought about taking many pictures. I will make sure to do that more often though.

On Saturday we had a thanksgiving activity at the church. They cooked seven turkeys, 8 pans of mashed potatoes, and all sorts of other good foods. The missionaries always help serve people food, greet people, and do what ever else needs to be done. Mesidor, one of our recent converts, came. He is so nice! He has a green card or what ever it is called, so he can be in the country, but he doesn't have papers yet. He doesn't have a job yet, and he isn't living that well right now. But he is always happy no matter what. He is a very nice person. He has very little, but he gave up a lot. He has two kids, Mike and Janick. Mike is two and he is always getting into stuff and is running around. He has to keep a close watch on him 24/7. Because of that, he can't really come out with us and teach.

The activity is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it very much! Afterwards, there was half of a turkey and a whole turkey that hadn't been touched in the kitchen. They give all the left over food from these activities to the missionaries, so we got quite a lot of food. The turkey was very good.

Laurie, Thank you so much for the pumpkin cheesecake. It was really good, and you are always sending stuff. Thank you so much for all of the support and all of the encouragement. I love you very much and hope everything is going well. Continue to keep me posted on everything that is going on back in Ohio.

One of the people who was planning on getting baptized moved away. Martine. The thing that made me the most sad about that was that she has so many problems and discouragements about life. There is so much she still needs that we can give to her. But God has something else in mind. I know He will guide the missionaries in North Carolina back to her somehow. At least we got to encourage her while she was here.

With the area being combined and there only being 2 Creole missionaries for this huge area, we are going to cut off the people who are not as interested and focus on the ones that are making changes in their lives right now. Some people aren't willing to act and change based on what we have told them. We are going to get a few people out of our pool of investigators this week. We are going to call them, commit them to do something they need to do such as go to church, or read out of the scriptures, and we will ask them to give us a call when they have done that. That way, we will get to the people who are sincerely interested. We also have a huge list of 10-15 members who can come out with us and help us teach. That will be really good. We are going to plan ahead more and call them in advance so that they can come with us.

We are riding on our bikes more this transfer. This first week I have ridden my bike so much more than I used to with Elder Bolz. That is mostly due to the fact that we are only allowed to use 1200 miles a month and we have to travel so far to get to all of our appointments. Biking saves a lot of miles. Our area includes Boca, Coral Springs, Margate, Pompano, North Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, and Oakland Park. Look that whole area up on the map Mom and Dad. That is a very large area that we cover as Creole missionaries. We cover the area that 6 other English companionships all cover. All the Haitian people in the stake are supposed to come into our ward because the Creole missionaries are in the ward, and the translation equipment is in this ward. Besides, there are not enough people to spread all of the Haitians out throughout the whole stake. We also have the portuguese members in our ward. We are getting equipment so that we can do both Creole and Portuguese translation at the same time. Plus we have ASL translation in our ward. We don't have any sign missionaries, but there are one or two deaf members in the ward.

There used to be a Creole branch in the stake, but there weren't enough Melchisidek Priesthood brethren to keep in running effectively. Hopefully we can get it back and running. They said if there are enough priesthood brethren, then it can be started back up again.

Well, I am doing well! Thank you everyone! I need to go now. Bye! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Seamons

"Staying in Coconut Creek","Elder Anderson and I are new companions" and "Very excited about this"

Hi everyone! This week is transfers week and crazy things are happening. I am very excited about this transfer.

I have gotten the packages from Laurie and Grandma. Thank you so much Laurie and Grandma! The packages were really nice, and I love the candy a lot. I also got the gratitude Journal [from home] as well as the bible references and noodles. Thank you so much Mom. You are awesome!

I am staying in Coconut Creek for another Transfer! I am so happy about that. I am staying in the same apartment as I was this last transfer. So continue to give me mail as usual. However, a lot of changes are happening in the ward. The ward mission leader, brother Acevedo is moving to the Fort Lauderdale ward down South. Elder Bolz and Elder Turnblom are both getting transferred. Elder Chandler is getting transferred as well. The worst part is that the Creole area, which had four elders, is being combined back to the two elders again. Elder Anderson and I are new companions. We are both very excited about this! I don't know how packages work. The mission takes care of it all.

We are very busy and I made sure that I had all of our referrals in my planner before he leaves.

Elder Bolz is a great missionary! I have learned so much from him. He is a very good leader and he is always trying to help people out. He recognizes how to be a successful missionary, and he is a very positive guy. I am sad that I am not serving with him anymore, but perhaps we will be companions again before he has to go home. I am very excited to be with Elder Anderson though.

[This is in response to us asking him about what to send as a present]

For the past two transfers, we have been relying heavily on Elder Bolz's GPS and now he is taking it with him! We will get lost a lot if we do not have it. And in all honesty, it will make the work go slower. That is the one of things that I really want. That, many letters, and a ton of support back home. That is all I ask for. I know a GPS is a lot, but that is something that will help the work. We have a big area and we don't know many parts. So we need the GPS a ton!

[This is in response to us asking if he was really tired]

I am not too tired. I am feeling pretty good most of the time. We really don't have time to take naps due to how busy our schedule is. We are running around trying to get to appointments like crazy. I am doing really well. I am staying in this ward.

Tonight we have the Daily Dose English class. We had 10 people there last week. We are hoping to get 15 for today. The people in the stake who are in charge of it come once a month to teach the class. It will be a lot of fun. At 12:00, we are going to golden coral as a unit, (all the missionaries in the ward). Patrick, the assistant ward mission leader, who is a recent convert, is coming, as well as Oswald, the Haitian recent convert who lives just a mile up the street from our apartment. He helps us so much!

This week has been a lot of fun. We had six people come to church.

Sarilia, who is the mom of one of our investigators with a baptismal date, Martine, came to church. She loved it! She especially loved the Creole class.

Martine is a sixteen year old girl who really needs the gospel in her life. She lives in an extremely ghetto area and she doesn't like it at all. Her Mom doesn't let her have friends with the people who live in the area because there are many questionable people. That street has to be one of the worst places I have ever seen. It is sad. Her mom says her Cell phone is her friend, and the TV is her friend. For the most part, she has her spot on the floor where she curls up and texts people that she knows from school and she puts the TV on.

We went there last night and she was telling us about how she didn't like her life at all and how she didn't see the point. She asked me why God would take good friends away from you if he gave them to you to help you. She asked why God would do that if they were meant to be with you forever. She wondered a lot of the same things I wondered all of the time.

She did watch the finding faith in Christ DVD and loved it. We gave her the restoration DVD as well.

This week we had the primary program in the ward. It was very good. The children have such a special spirit about them when they talk, testify, and sing.

Pray for Martine and that she will fully understand her divine worth and understand why God lets bad things happen to good people. Bless her to be touched, and to be happy.

[Kent was on the computer at the same time as Eric and was able to talk to him a little by e-mailing back and forth. This is in response to asking how the driving is going]

I am able to drive without a problem or the most part anyway. I have had a few times when it could have turned out bad, but I have been fine. On Sunday, I merged into a lane without checking my blind spot (I always check it, but I didn't this time, for some reason.). The person honked at me, and it happened to be Brother Hillsamer from the ward. He has given investigators rides home before. Everyone in the car laughed about that. I called and apologized and Brother Hillsamer just laughed about it and said that it was okay.

I have to go. Bye! I love you so much Dad!

Pray for

Naphtary

Jener

Patrick (he has been going through a rough time)

"Still having some challenges" but "feeling a lot better"

Elder Seamons sounds like he is hanging in there pretty well. Thanks again for all of the extra letters of support!! He has a birthday on Nov. 30th if anyone wants to write him for that.


I would send things to the mission home. They forward them from there.


Elder Seamons
Florida, Ft Lauderdale Mission
7951 SW 6th St Ste 110
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33324-3211

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been good with the work. Jaleel was confirmed this week. I already said this, I think, but next week we will be having a baptism of a nine-year-old named Claudia. He parents are both members who were baptized nine years ago. We are going to go over there several times this week.

We had something really cool happen. One of our former investigators, Theresa, texted us randomly without us even starting up the conversation. She asked how we were doing. We told her that we missed teaching her and hoped that everything was going well. She asked if we wanted to teach a lesson to her that night. So we went and taught her a lesson. It was cool how we have built trust with her. That will help her to continue working, and eventually be taught by the missionaries again.

We went over to Sister Samson's house. She has been going through a rough time. She was in an accident and she has been having a whole number of problems. She hasn't been going to church for several weeks because she was so discouraged. We went over there and not discussing beforehand what we would teach her, we did a lesson on gratitude and recognizing the hand of God in all things. Normally we do talk about it beforehand, but it slipped our minds. However, we knew what to teach her. The spirit helped us out. We told her to have faith that everything would get better, because it always does if you rely on God. We told her to come back to church and promised her that God would bless her for her faith. We sang the hymn, "Count Your Many Blessings," and she prayed. She cried during the prayer and also said that she felt more encouraged and hopeful. She was good to her word and came to church yesterday! We are going to call her today and invite her to come to English class. She told us she hasn't been visited by a home teacher in forever, so we are going to take Oswald over there, (who is her home teacher), and help them get to know each other. The home teaching in the ward is a mess, and Oswald is a new convert and doesn't understand everything, so it is not his fault. We are going to ask Sister Julien to call her and say hi. I think she isn't feeling as loved as she should be. We went over to Sister Julien's house yesterday. She makes extra food for us every Sunday and we take it home in containers to eat. She has done that for the missionaries almost every Sunday for the last 23 years. Everyone calls her Mama Julien because she is so nice and always takes care of the missionaries.

I have only been tracting three times since I have been out in the mission field. We find many more people out in the streets. Haitians like taking walks down the streets. At night time, no one will answer their door. There was one time where we knocked on thirty doors and only one person even answered. Many Haitians don't even open there door if they hear you. Some of them will just talk at you through the door.

I love the members of the ward! They are awesome! The ward isn't very missionary oriented, but we have quite a few things that they do for us. Oswald came on exchanges with us yesterday. He loved it. We went to his house at the very end of the exchange, and his cousin is staying with him, so we could eat dinner with him. We can't eat dinner with members after 5:00 p.m. unless there is a non-member present. Oswald cooked Haitian food beforehand. Diri (rice), Sospa (beans and other stuff), and Chickin ak sos (chicken legs with a really good sauce). Oswald is so funny. He loves having fun, and he is always making drama. He is writing a book about his life. He was retelling an experience he had in the ward. Several months ago, Elder Bolz noticed that Oswald had welfare food from Deseret Industries. We were wondering about that because he seems perfectly fine. a month ago, Oswald confessed that he was curious about how welfare worked and went in to get an interview from the bishop to tell him he needed food. Well, two days later he got it. No inspection of his circumstances or anything. That is weird, since all of the other people who have gotten welfare food have had their situation checked out. I guess oswald fell through the cracks or something. He felt so guilty about it afterwards and he hasn't even touched the food to this day. He gave some of it to others who needed stuff. He told Brother Poor about it (he is one of the people who is in charge of welfare.) They are good friends. Brother Poor asked him why he did it and told him that God would forgive him for doing it. He didn't tell the bishop about it. Oswald needs a temple recommend, but doesn't want to talk to the Bishop because of this situation. He will eventually.

I am still having some challenges, but I am feeling a lot better. I realized that the only way to keep a strong testimony and to not let those telling me I am wrong to get to me is to base my testimony on the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is found in the Book of Mormon. It is a powerful book. President Benson said that that book is the only way that we can withstand the intellectualism and attacks of today’s world.

I could say so much more, but I have to go and write president before I run out of time. I love you all! I am learning a lot. Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Baptism of Jaleel

"I am Fine Now" and Going to a health Fair for Haitians in Miami

Note from Mom- We are extremely relieved to hear that Elder Seamons is doing better. I am sure it is partly due to all of the friends and family who wrote supportive and encouraging letters to him. I am sure he will still have ups and downs, so I plan to be better at writing more snail mail. I hope all of you will try to find time to write him as well. I know it means a lot to him.
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I have been feeling a lot better. I have been able to focus on the work much more this week. I feel about at a 6 on a scale from 1 to 10. I just feel like my confidence in teaching was shaken a little bit after that whole spell. Often, I don't feel like I know what to say. I realize that in order to have the spirit guide your thoughts, your first have to jump in and get your feet wet. President Hale said that the Israelites had to get their feet wet before the Red Sea parted. I realize that I will have to do the same. Once I just jump in, then the spirit will give me the direction that I need to go. Fear is the thing that stops me the most. I was reading the talk by President Ezra Taft Benson entitled, "Beware of Pride." At that moment, I came to realize that being ashamed or caring what other people think is in essence pride. I also realized that every sin is connected to pride in some way. President Benson said that Pride is being in opposition with someone or God. I realized that once pride in removed from one's heart, then He or She is truly pure in heart. President Benson said that Pride is a "damning sin" or one that will impede progression in this life.


I have been getting letters from family and friends. I am so grateful for all of the support I have been getting. Thank you very much everyone! I love you all very much!
We have good things going on for next month!

There is a new family that moved in the ward: the Dimanche family. They are members and they have a nine-year-old daughter named Claudia who they want to get baptized. Claudia is very excited about that too. We also have an investigator named Jener who came to the English class the same day we contacted him, and he came to church last Sunday. He is excited about us coming over, and he would like to prepare to get baptized. We have several baptismal dates for this coming month, which is exciting. The only problem is getting them to work hard to prepare for the date.

We went to a health fair in Miami, Liberty City. It is part of an area called Little Haiti. It is in Elder Chandler's old area. He was excited to go back there. The Health Fair was put on by the Nova school. It is a medical school. It was just for Haitians. People could go there and get check-ups, blood pressure taken, blood tests, pap smears, eye check-ups Female/male checkups, and mental health counseling for free. The line for it was insane. For Haitians, this is a big deal, since most of them don't have insurance. We went around with folders and asked people for their name and information to put in the folder, and we helped them fill out a survey. We had to do this because we were some of the translators. Then based on the answers they gave, they would go to certain stations to get a check-up on certain things. Diabetes and high blood pressure is a huge problem amongst Haitians. There was a gated area where people who were let in would wait in line to get registered. There was a group outside the gate where other people waited. It was chaotic. There were a few points when I was nervous. This Haitian girl who was helping out told me that Haitians have no patience. I could see that, because they were so mad that they had to wait for so long. Elder Gubernick had to push a few of them down to keep them from entering through the gate. We weren't the only translators there and they felt that they were good on that, so there was a certain time when a few of us were doing crowd control for part of the time. They had the police there too to make sure that it didn't get ugly. We asked people to move the line off the sidewalk and to stand away from the gate, but some of them didn't want to move. Later, Elder Steele and I had to tell them to get in the back of the line since they didn't want to move the first time. They were so angry. They didn't let everyone in. There were many people who were out waiting for up to 6 to 7 hours and never ended up getting in. There was one woman who started to cry at one point. Many Haitian people are in such bad health and are going through so many rough things. It is extremely sad to see. Elder Bolz was translating in the waiting room for the women's check-ups for part of the time. He told me that one woman got so excited when she was called up next. The doctor in there told him that it was as though they had won the lottery, even though it was just to do a pap smear. There were a lot of interesting things that went on, but it was still fun to translate for. Part of the time Elder Chandler and I were in the room where they were doing the male check-ups. Later I was in the room where they would tell the person if they were over-weight, if they had high blood pressure, etc. Then I told people which room to go to next.

We got several referrals from people waiting in line to sign up, and we got to know several people. The people running the fair have a very good opinion about the missionaries, and it is a wonderful way of serving and getting people to know who we are.

The ward set up an exchange calendar. Everyone in the Elder's quorum/high priest's quorum was assigned a day to come out with us, but if it didn't work, they had to switch with someone else. That way everyone will get a chance to help us out, which will increase ward involvement in the missionary effort dramatically.

Elder Bolz and I had a goal for last month to have two baptisms, which we met. We are going to up the goal to three for this next month, and one of them is a 100% sure thing.

I am loving the work! I am fine now.

Love,

Elder Seamons

Still struggling- Please write him

Eric is still struggling. If you get time, please write him with some encouragement.

This is his apartment address, at least for 3 weeks:

Elder Eric Seamons
4045 SW 15th Street APT G306
Pompano Beach, FL 33069-4954

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I have still been having a hard time. I feel about at a two or three (out of 10) as of lately. I
have felt so discouraged. I keep on having doubts and questions running through
my mind that I can't seem to resolve. 

You are right about me overthinking things. But these things feel so real in my mind. I
have been able to get temporary relief through missionaries, being around
certain people, etc. I just have certain things that have been overwhelming my
thoughts. Things that I can't answer.

I will tell you some of the things that have been going on. 

There is a boy named Galeel, who is the Grandson of one of the ward members who is
named Sister Baptiste. Galeel is 9 years old. His mom is in the Bahamas. The
Bishop of the Coconut Creek Ward is going to get permission for Galeel to be
baptized in this ward from the other Bishop in the Bahamas, who is supposed to
talk to his mom. Galeel is excited about being baptized.

We found a person who was a security guard for an apartment complex, and his name is
Charnel (his nickname is Sean). He has several kids, is not married, and
wants to change his life. He has had several health issues. He wants God to be
more in his life.

There is an activity at the church called Trunk or Treat. It is where many people bring
their cars and open the back of their trunks and decorate them. They will have
candy to give people in the back of their cars. We have been handing out fliers
and it will be very fun.

We go to Popeyes every P-day. A member of the church owns it and we get everything
free. Elder Bolz and I went to Chick-fil-a, where a member of the
church works, and we get free food too. It was really good It is nice when
members have things like that, because a lot of them like to give the
missionaries food. 

We did something called sunrising today, where we got up to watch the sun rise at the
beach. After that, we sat on the benches and studied. We went to Ihop for
breakfast, and then we came here to do e-mailing.

I am still trying to hang in here. I have had a lot of things on my mind. We are still
doing appointments and stuff, but I don't say as much during them as I used to.
I need to resolve this before I can function at a completely normal level

The hardest thing for me is to not care what other people think about me.
I don't like it when people tell me I am wrong. I need to rely more
on God and what feelings He has given me through the Holy Ghost and less on
what other people tell me.

I need to go. Keep on praying for me. Please write me! Thank you! I love you all very
much!

Love,

Elder Seamons