April 23rd, 2012
Hi Everyone!
We had a really great week.
Elizabeth and Jamie were baptized this Sunday! I have some pictures
I will send to you. The service was super spiritual and they both have very
strong testimonies. They were both ready and God worked miracles and enabled
them to get baptized this week.
Elizabeth (16 years
old) has been meeting with the missionaries for two years. She used to go
to the same high school as Luis. He befriended her and introduced her to
the missionaries. She is so involved in the church. She has given out five
books of Mormon, she has born her testimony several times, and she has been
involved with the young women's group. She left her record with some other
paper from school that she needed to be signed. She went back to retrieve
them later and saw her Mom's signature on the baptismal record. We
found out when we went to the church on Wednesday and everyone was gathered
together for mutual activities. Everyone was so excited.
Jamie (21 years old) is
Brother V's daughter-in-law (Brother Vega owns Pop-eyes). She lived in
Kendall/Miami for her whole life and she moved up here within the last month.
Her husband, Brad, has been less-active since he was about 18. He is
starting to come back. They have an awesome family! Jamie and Brad came to
church for the first time April 8th at 10:00. We met them and scheduled an
appointment. Elder Pearce and Elder Marsh who were on an exchange taught her for the
first time on Wednesday the 11th and gave her a Book of Mormon. On
April 13th Elder Pearce and I taught her. We focused on how she was feeling
from our message and from what she read. She said that she felt peace from what
she read. We asked her if she wanted to feel that more often. She said yes. We
invited her to be baptized on the 28th and she accepted. She came to church
again on Sunday the 15th. Then Monday night (the 16th) we had Family Home
Evening at Brother and Sister V's home with Jamie and Brad. We taught them
about eternal families and the blessings that come from them. Everyone in the
room was crying, most of all Jamie. We recommitted her to the 28th, since
before she wasn't 100% certain. She said that she would, but the V's would
be out of town that day. We told her we would do it that week. She accepted!
Setting up the service was a
fiasco and everyone was shooting out ideas of what time to do it and there was
so much miscommunication, but the service came together and it was one of the
most spiritual services I have ever been to. We had the service in the V's
backyard, which boarders the inner-coastal waterway and has a swimming pool. I
actually like it better than a baptismal font, because their backyard is
beautiful and it is a lot easier to baptize someone when the water is deep like
that. No problems getting them all the way under. Luis baptized Elizabeth, and
Brother V baptized Jamie.
The service started at 8:30
in the morning, so we walked from our apartment and got there by 8:00. They had
several chairs in the back facing the pool with the piano on the side. I was
asked to play the piano for the service. The opening hymn was Come Follow Me
(116). Brother T gave the talk on Baptism and Sister V talked on the
Holy Ghost, after which Elder Pearce and I did a musical number When I Am
Baptized (103) from the Primary Children's Songbook. The spirit was so
strong. Jamie was crying, and then it was Elizabeth's turn to be baptized. She
needed to go under twice because Luis didn't say the right words. Then Jamie
got baptized. We had a testimony meeting while they were changing, and then the
branch and auxiliary group leaders welcomed them to the branch and to Young
Women's/Relief Society. Then we had church at 10:00 and they were both given
the Gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting. Jamie went through this
journey for two weeks. Elizabeth went through this journey for two years. It was
amazing.
Bye! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Seamons
Hi President Anderson!
What a great week we
had! Through the power of the Spirit we were able to lead two people to
motivate to act through increased desire. Jamie V came to church for the first
time April 8th, and through helping her recognize the reasons for baptism and
the blessings it can bring, she is now baptized two weeks later. Elizabeth
C, after nearly two years of growing and building her testimony, she felt
the motivation to act and summed up the courage to get her Mom to sign her
baptismal papers. They both have the Gift of the Holy Ghost
and they have super strong testimonies. One knows a ton about the church, and
one knows not very much, but they both know it is true.
In our companionship, we
learned that if we keep the commandments, obey the mission rules and the
counsel given to improve our teaching, we will be happy missionaries. There
were times where we felt that the standards were too much about the numbers, but
we have come to balance the numbers and the souls in such a way that they work
in harmony and it propels us forward so we can accomplish our maximum
potential. God has called you to be our mission president, and I know that as I
follow you and your counsel for the last transfer and a half of my mission, I
will be blessed, and so will our companionship. I don't know what will happen
with these last transfers, but whatever does, the Lord is in it.
I love you so much President!
I will talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Seamons
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