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