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

Elder Seamons- Needs your support

Elder Seamons is going through a rough spot right now. We are actually surprised that he hasn't had issues sooner. It is normal for missionaries to go through highs and lows, but Eric is especially hard on himself.

When you get time, please write him a letter of encouragement, especially reminding him that he doesn't have to be perfect and that he will have many people who will reject what he has to say. It is not his responsibility to make everyone listen.

Please write him at the following address and it will be forwarded:

Elder Eric Seamons

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

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Hi everyone! This is the letter that I just wrote to President Hale. I have not been doing too well the last three days. Mom, you asked me how well I am feeling on a scale from 1-10 and I am at a 3 right now. Maybe even a 2. I don't feel so well. You will read about it bellow.


* * *
Hi President! This has been a rough week for me so far. I have been feeling depression coming on. You probably saw that in my mission papers (that I had depression), but I am having a really bad spell right now. I asked Elder Bolz and the other elders to give me a blessing. I have had several things that have been stressing me out.

There are so many people who disagree with the message that we give, and there are those who seem nice, but just uninterested. Worrying about it has caused me serious stress and it has triggered my depression. I have been still going out and doing the work, but it is hard.

I have felt the spirit so many times, but fear is settling in. The biggest fear I have is fear of people rejecting the message, thinking we are weird because of it, and mocking us. I think that sometimes I become ashamed and I don't feel that I have the courage necessary to do this. I was good all of last transfer, but the past few days I have had depression seriously settling in. I need your counsel and comfort right now to help me through this. Because I know I have overcome depression before, and I can do it again. I don't ever want to give up and go home, even though sometimes, it is almost more than I can bear.

This is going to be rough, but I hope to make it through with your help and with the Lord's help.

Other than that, we have three baptismal dates:

Nicholson Ulysse

Naphtary _______ (not sure)

and Justin (J.)

We taught Naphtary last night, and we met J. and he sat down with us. He said he wanted to change, but wasn't sure if God even existed. I told him about how you can know through the power of the Holy Ghost. He listened very intently, which suprised me. Last night we implimented the things Brother Watson told us about inspired questions and evaluating the lesson afterwards. The lesson was different than usual. It went better. Then we taught Theresa, who had a baptismal date, but is confused about which church to get baptized into and why baptism is even important. We asked her to take a night to herself to pray and to gain that knowledge for herself.

* * *
I need continual support from the outside. It will help me overcome this problem. It makes it hard for me to focus on others, but I have to. I need to not give up and trust in God to carry me through this. I am so glad Elder Bolz is here to help me. I don't know what I would do without him to talk to. He is awesome!

Mom, I have received letters from Laurie every week.

Pray for me. I know you do, but continue. I am so glad I have all the support that I do. Many people do not have that same blessing. I love you all so much. I thank God that I have you. I can't wait until we reunite again, and I am brought back home, successful, with Jesus Christ's help. He is my hero and my Savior. He amazes me. I would have failed miserably without Him.

Love,

Elder Seamons

The only way to do missionary work is with God's help

Hi everyone! A lot has happened to me this week. I have had a lot on my mind too. This first part is my letter to president that I wrote to him:

I am doing well right now. We had three baptisms in our ward this last Sunday. One of them was our investigator: Vely Cherelus. I was able to baptize him. It was a very good experience. We have gotten several new investigators this week, which is good. The hardest part I have noticed about teaching new people is helping them understand the importance of the restoration. Most people don't even understand what it is when we tell them about it. It is so frustrating. I feel like we do everything we can, but I don't feel many of our investigators understand what we do. Many people tell us that they know Jesus Christ already and that we don't need to help them. Some people tell us that talking about Joseph Smith and prophets takes away from the message about Jesus Christ. They don't seem to get that the message of the restoration is that Jesus Christ gives us his words through his appointed servants and that we can get closer to Him through the words they speak. It is crazy. I have been thinking and praying about what I can say to help these people.

We are getting better at doing daily contact. I think we could do so much better at that though. There are just so many people to talk to at one day. It is hard to keep in contact, especially when many of these people don't answer their phones or ever call us back.

I have come to realize that the only way to do missionary work is with God's help. We could do everything possible and it would do us no good if we didn't exercise faith in him. I have realized that it is impossible to do it all alone. I have also realized that an important part of this mission that I have been called to fulfill is to better myself and be refined so that I can be a better instrument in the Lord's hands. The biggest thing that hinders my progression is fear. I am afraid of being rejected and of what people will say to me. That is why faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the Gospel. Because without it, you cannot progress or overcome any difficulties that are placed before you. I should just remember that God has everything planned out perfectly and that I need to just rush forward with the work and let him do the rest. Because, after all, that is all I can really do: just trust in Him.

The assistant ward mission leader, who is only a little bit older than I am, is a recent convert named Patrick. He works at Panda and brings us food all of the time. For free too! He is so nice! He is taking a Chinese class, and he wants my Book of Mormon that I have in traditional characters, Pinyin, and English. It is a triple section book with all three in it. I might have another that is just characters, so just be careful to send the right one. I told him that he could use it. Just send it to me in a package.

We were locked down in our apartment last week for a day, because of Tropical Storm Nicole. It was supposed to hit the mission, but it switched directions and completely missed the mission.

Yesterday, one of the people (Theresa) who we had that was going to get baptized in 13 days said that she wanted to take more time because she wasn't sure what she should do. Her Mom wants her to get baptized, but she is in another church. Theresa said her mom would be disappointed if she got baptized in another church instead. Also, she doesn't really understand why she needs to be baptized. She is thinking about whether she should do it at all. That was hard to hear. Please pray for her. We just need to help her with her testimony, and we told her to talk to her mom about it.

Wow, the mission is one of the hardest things I have ever done. I have needed so much patience with certain people as we have been moving along. It isn't fun to be rejected, or to have people to you that you are wrong. I need to rely on Jesus Christ so much, so that I can keep my testimony and not give up when everything starts to get hard. Continue to pray for me, and that I can become a better teacher and continue to build on my testimony.

Well, I need to go because my time is about out. We are hoping to get more people with Baptismal dates. Bye! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Seamons

Elder Seamons with Vely Cherelus

who he baptized

This is not a suggestion. This is a plea.

Note from Mom- The bold and underlining in this letter is from Eric. Also, when Eric talks about home teaching, it is a program where the men are assigned to families to visit them once a month and help them with anything they need help with. It is a way to keep track of every family at church. The women are assgned to visit women alone as well to help take care of their individual needs.

Hi everyone! I am doing well now. We have our transfer information now, and it is P-day. On Transfer weeks, we proselyte on Monday and have P-day on Tuesday, the day before the transfer meeting.


The assistants called on either Sunday or Monday and said that we were switching apartments with the Coconut Creek West elders. How it works is that The Coconut Creek ward has four sets of elders: North, South, East, and West. North and South are Creole, while East and West are the English elders. All the Creole elders lived together this transfer, but now we are living with East, who is an English companionship. We are moving down into an apartment that is right next to Oswald's apartment complex. Oswald is a Haitian who is a recent convert. He is so crazy! He was excited when he found out that we were moving down there. All four Creole Elders are staying in the ward! Only one of the English elders is moving out (Elder Farr). He is being switched with an incoming missionary. He will be trained by Elder Turmblom, who we are staying with.

In between Creole North and Creole South, we cover all of the Haitian people for the entire zone. We have so much to do! President leaves dividing up the area up to us. We decided to give the other elders the rest of Coral Springs, which is separated from everywhere else we are going. We would always have to drive far to get there. I am sad we are doing this, because we have several baptismal dates in that area, such as Nica, who is awesome, and Beradine, Duline, Michelle, and Mirrey (they are all family). But now we can concentrate more time on Pompano and we won't be constantly driving in between Pompano and Coral Springs and using up all of our allotted miles for the month.

We have a baptism coming up this Sunday. His name is Verli Cherelus. He is the Fiancé of Sandra, who is a recent convert. They have a baby, and they are planning on getting married in January. He is awesome! He reads with her in the scriptures everyday! He came to General Conference too! After the second session, we had a lesson, and we had Pizza and Oreos afterwards.

Conference was so good this time! I loved it! There weren't very many people in the church, because most people watched it at home. They have translation equipment in the buildings, which transmits Creole and Spanish translation from Salt Lake, where the translators are speaking. However, in the Coconut Creek chapel, the equipment was broken, so people had to go up to Coral Springs to get that.

Nica came for fifteen minutes, along with her siblings Ashcarla and Jeffrey. Her cousin Samuel, who is from Orlando, came too! Jeffson, a new investigator, came for the fourth session!

Verli and Sandra came for the 2nd Session! It wasn't a super large number, but it was good.

The biggest challenge in missionary work is not that people reject us or disagree with us, but that people get so caught up in their lives that they don't make time to hear the restored gospel. We are rarely rejected. Haitians are almost always willing to listen. The problem is that they don't answer their phones, they are gone when there is an appointment, or they don't understand their part as an investigator. They think we are there just to do a bible study once a week. That is all good, but we are there to help them change, repent, and be baptized. People don't make the two or three appointments a week that we need with them to bring about the great change they need in their lives. Pray that people will:


1. Be filled with a greater desire to act and make time for this message
2. Answer their phones so that we can help them
3. Recognize the need to change and see the gap that can be filled in their lives
4. Understand the message with greater clarity, so that they can progress


In turn, please pray that we will be able to:


1. Show more love as we teach
2. Apply the gospel to those we come in contact with
3. Teach with clarity and simplicity
4. Rely on the spirit

This is not a suggestion. This is a plea. The temple of God is on its way, and we need to find the Elect of God now! You can assist in this work. There is none greater. Do everything you can in the missionary effort. Please! Go to the temple. Pray mightily! Go on exchanges with the elders. Give referrals to your friends so that they can receive the Gospel!!!!!! This is the most important work you could do. If you think you can’t move God's kingdom forward, you are dead wrong!!!!!!!!!! Think again! I didn't realize how serious this was until I came out here. I could have done so much more before my mission to bring the gospel to people. Even to the members. I could have done my home teaching so much better. Instead, I was too caught up in classes and homework to do what I had to in the ward. I will never make that mistake again. Home Teaching is a sacred responsibility. It is not just a monthly show your face thing. It is a friendship, fellowship, guide, protect, comfort, build Zion deal. It is so much more than most members of the church make it. I didn't catch the vision of true home teaching until I came into the mission field. Then it hit me. Please do everything that you can to make the missionary work happen. Pray hard for it. Prepare to be a missionary, wherever you are. Fellowship each other.

The only service we do on a regular basis is English class. There are not nearly as many people there as there should be. We have between 3-5 on average. We have a program that the Church does called Daily Dose, which has a drawing, with the words in English pointing to the parts in the picture. We don't even speak anything other than English.

We met an 18 year-old kid named Jeffson. We met him at a person’s house we had just stopped by. He was a friend of someone. We had a lesson on the spot. He told us that his goal is to get baptized by the end of the year. He has made a lot of changes. He writes music, but now he only writes clean music. He stopped swearing too. He says he has been praying for Mentors to help him prepare for this goal. I was amazed that we found him. He has a baptismal date for the 30th of October.

I have to go. I love you all! Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons