"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