"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