December 27, 2011
Hi everyone! The library was closed yesterday, so I couldn't e-mail. We had a great week last week. We don't have a lot of investigators that are progressing, but there were a lot of less active members/active members/non-members that didn't know about the new branch: Brother/Sister Landis, Sister Samson, Jessie Pierre, Brother Shoetel, Brother Farfsing, and others. So that was really cool.
We have been focusing a lot on less actives, but not a lot on getting new investigators, so we are going to try to shift our focus. We have been a little discouraged because we have been meeting several people that either aren't very nice or aren't very interested. So we are reevaluating where to go finding, what more we can do to help these potential investigators progress, how to better follow up, etc.
Today will be a great day. Starting a new area is difficult, especially since we contacted several Hispanics and we taught one Hispanic family last night and it was really hard because it has been so long since I have spoken. I have been a little discouraged because my Spanish used to be so much better and it takes a ton of mental effort to bring it back because I didn't maintain it for such a long time. It will work out though. We are going to have success. I know that the gospel is true and that Jesus Christ lives. I am so glad that his atonement works with missionaries, because we definitely need it a lot.
I also have a story from when I was in Miami about someone named James that I wrote in a handwritten letter to president that I want to share:
Elder Terry and I were walking down the street and we felt that we should knock on a door. The people living there were named Kathie and James. They were moping the floor. They just went in ten minutes before to officially move in. They hadn't even moved the furniture in yet. We left the blessing and they loved it, especially James. He said it was the "Miracle of the Year," because the first thing they did before anything else, even before moving everything in was to kneel down and leave a prayer. He was baptized two weeks ago. :) He loves the Book of Mormon. He loves the restored Gospel. He is very awesome, and he is active in the church
From mom- We heard from Elder Terry, who is from our area, that James was baptized this week.
I won't write a ton this week. I am a little worn out. I will write a lot more next week.
Love,
Elder Seamons
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Hi President! Last week was good. We harvested many people. We have many potentials. Our main problem is that we aren't getting a lot of progressing investigators out of it. We realized that we could follow the counsel that you have given us to teach a lesson right after harvesting so that we don't lose contact with these people. We are planning on harvesting at least three hours by knocking door to door. The rest of the day will be doing 4 different member harvests. We were a little discouraged because we haven't been having many investigators come out of it, but we are doing better. I speak Spanish pretty well, but I definitely need some help with it. There are a lot of Hispanics here and we should have a Spanish missionary. We will try to get other Spanish speaking members to help us once we get a return appointment with the person.
We have a great place picked out for harvesting that we feel really good about. We are going to pray, plan, practice, and do so that we can help some people receive the Gospel. I know that if we ask God and do what we are supposed to do, he won't let us down.
The branch will be built up, even if it takes time. Many less actives are starting to come back. We will build up the ward the best we can. We have a lot of great stuff planned. Starting off a branch is difficult, but that means it will be really good by the end.
I love you President! Take care!
Love,
Elder Seamons
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