"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