"I will forever cherish the experience I have had in the mission field."

Dear Family and Friends,

I am feeling pretty good. I am at about a 7 [out of 10]. Elder Furner has taught me a lot about thinking more about other people. He is direct, but he is doing it because he wants me to improve. I have judged him in a way that wasn't good a lot of the time. He is one of the best missionaries I have ever seen and he is very good at focusing on other people. I realize that many of my motivations have been selfish. Elder Furner is helping me improve. The things he has taught me have helped me face and learn to overcome problems that I have dealt with my whole life. I know that this is a "divine rendezvous" as Sister Hale would call it. Elder Furner taught me that I need to think "what is this person feeling?" "how would it affect this person if I did... ?" He also said that the motivation for wanting to be obedient and being a good missionary shouldn't just be "I want to have the spirit," but it should also be "My companion needs me to be obedient so he can have the spirit and so that he can reach his greatest potential. Plus I will be able to help others better.".

I got the hump day package. I loved it a lot. You are always thinking so much of me. It is something I admire about you, Mom, Dad, Laurie, Grandma, Sara, and everyone else. I will never forget the lessons I have been taught. [Hump day is middle day of your mission]

      I will send back the survey today.[We send him a survey with questions sometimes to get answers] I promise. Elder Furner understands that I have a problem with prioritizing things, and he told me that I need to make a schedule and not put things off. That survey wasn't on the top of my priority list, so I didn't worry about it. Today however, I am going to use this preparation Day to take care of unfinished business.

They had the Groundbreaking on the Temple site, but the image was broadcast to about 26 other church buildings. Members of the Quorum of the Seventy as well as Elder Gonzalez from the Presidency of the Seventy came. Elder Gonzalez dedicated the temple ground. The members are very excited about the coming of the temple. It is something that people have been waiting for for years: to have the blessings of the temple readily accessible for them and their families. President Hale brought several shovels for the groundbreaking and painted them Gold so they would look really fancy for the pictures. He gave each of the civil leaders a shovel, as well as some of the church leaders in the area. It was a wonderful event!

A few days ago the Car battery died and we needed to replace it. We were at Pepboys for a few hours because it took a while for them to take a look at the problem. When they discovered the problem, they replaced the battery and we were on our way. It took a lot of time out of our day though. 

We had our baptism with Analia not work out because she didn't come to church last week or this week. We met with her and she was doing pretty well. We hope that she will answer her phone, because it has been about two days since we talked to her. Georges needs to come to church one more Sunday so he can be baptized. He just needs to get work off. He works at a hotel and it has been hard because he has a coworker who had a heart attack, so he has been working almost every Sunday. 

I have learned so much about charity and about how to help other people. I have also learned so much about God since I have been out here in Florida. I will forever cherish the experience I have had in the mission field. 

Love,

Elder Seamons