"Today has been exactly 11 months since I entered the MTC."

Hello everyone! I cannot believe the time has passed so fast. Today it has been exactly 11 months since I entered the MTC. I will hit my year mark next transfer. So many things have happened to me since then.


This week we worked super hard to get to know the members. We talked to an awesome Haitian member named Sister Monestine who has a friend who she wants us to sit down with this week. Also, Saturday at 5:00 pm. Sister Monestine has invited one of our investigators named Natasha to eat at her house and do a lesson. They just live a few houses away from each other on the same street. Natasha loved the church meetings because everyone was so friendly.

Elder Furner and I have talked a lot about being unified as a companionship and working together, because we do not teach with unity. He pointed out that I sometimes zone out when people are talking to me and I don't always listen because of it. I realize that I can lose focus, so that is something I need to work on. He is also really good at being obedient and focusing on what Preach My Gospel has to say about something. We talked a lot and we realized a lot of things that we can work on. He is a good missionary and he is really nice. I just sometimes let myself get offended because I don't want to face my weaknesses. I am learning a lot from him about how to help other people better.

Well, I have to go. I will talk to you all later! Bye! I love you all very much!

Love,

Elder Seamons

This is his letter to the president:

Hi President Hale! We have had a fairly good week. We are working on becoming more unified as a companionship and I am working on listening to Elder Furner. He is a very good companion and he knows how to work well with people. He also understands what a Preach My Gospel missionary truly is. We are going to increase our finding efforts and our member presents this week.

I have many weaknesses that I need to overcome. I have recognized and I have been shown them. I know the Lord can help me overcome them if I am humble enough to let him.

I know that this mission is the right place for me and that it is one of the greatest experiences of my life. I am growing in ways that will bless me throughout all eternity. Thank you so much for your blessing on Friday and for the counsel in it. We love you very much. Thank you! I love you!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Appendicitis!

May 16, 2011

Mom, Dad. You won't believe what has happened to us this week. It has been rough.

Tet Chaje! This was an interesting week, let me tell you. Dad: "I hope you have had a safe, productive, educational week." Well, the safe part, we are safe now, though it didn't start out that way. Productive, missionary work was slowed down because of the problems we had. Educational, I learned a lot. It was more amusing than anything else. We had a huge surprise come our way Monday night.

So 9:40 Monday night, we were planning and Elder Furner had terrible side pains. He had a little nausea with it as well. He was groaning, and couldn't concentrate. Elder Giorgino came in and immediately said that it was appendicitis. We were all surprised by that. Several members of his family had to get their appendix removed, so that was his first assumption. We called the mission medical advisor and after making some calls, she told us to go to the emergency room. She gave us three places to go to. Two of them weren't hospitals, just rehabilitation centers. So two hours later we finally made it to the emergency room. The guy at the desk said it was probably appendicitis. They put him in a room, hooked an IV into him, and the nurses started asking a lot of questions and doing an assessment. Finally an hour and a half later the doctor came in and did an assessment and diagnosed it as appendicitis, saying he would probably have to do a surgery. He wanted to be sure, so they took blood and urine samples, and then we waited for two and a half hours for them to call him in to do the ct scan. He was not a high priority on their list. Elder Giorgino and Elder Harless were with us for the first hour and a half, but then President told them to take the car and go home and sleep. Finally at 5:30 in the morning the results came back and said he would need to go into surgery. The surgeon was scheduled to come in at 7:00, so they would do the surgery around 7:15. When Elder Furner first started having the pains, he said it was about a 7 out of 10. For the rest of the night, he said he was about at a 5 out of 10. Neither of us got any sleep that night. The surgery lasted for 30 minutes.

Elder Furner was very drugged up when I first went into the recovery room, so I waited for a half-an-hour until he was put in his hospital room. His side hurt and he was exhausted. I went into the hospital room and laid in the reclining chair and slept for an hour and a half. The zone leaders came in and gave Elder Furner a get better soon card. Then around 5:00 pm Elder Harless came to take my place for the night in the hospital. I went home and went straight to sleep again.

Elder Furner has had a rough start. With in his first 10 weeks of the mission, Elder Clark and him got in a serious car wreck in which the car got totaled, which gave him some back pains, and then he had this happen. The joke in the apartment is what will happen to him next transfer.

Elder Furner won't be able to bike for at least a month, so we will need to do everything by car.

I feel like I am at a seven right now. It is hard coping with a new area, but I am getting used to it very quickly.

There was a Haitian Flag Day festival at the church. It was really awesome. They had Haitian Folklore dancing (a dance style in Haiti) which some of the young women did. There are a ton of Haitian member of the church down here. It is really awesome. The food was really good too. I love Haitian food!

Love,

Elder Seamons

This is part of Eric’s letter to the president.

Hello President! How are you doing?

This week we got less done in both Miami Shores North and Miami Shores South due to the problem with Elder Furner. Elder Furner was going to come with me on Sunday for some appointments, but then Elder Harless got a fever and didn't sleep the whole night before, so Elder Furner was a perfect candidate to stay home. I am learning this area and all of the members so quickly. It is amazing me. I got several members to come out with me. Elder Giorgino and I went out together, but sometimes we both had an exchange so we could go into our own perspective areas and continue the work. I am learning better than ever to use member in the work. We had a Haitian Flag Day celebration at the church and it was an awesome event! I love the Haitian people so much! We got an investigator named George at the event and he felt at home. He loved the church, the people, and the cultural aspects of the activity.

We have four strong progressing investigators, and we have been using member support to help all of them. We also are working with two less member named Virginie and Ricardo who Elder Chandler and Elder Sheppard baptized. Sister Farah, one of the members, has been helping fellowship them and is coming to our next appointment. She is going to talk about the temple, how it has blessed her, and she will invite them to the groundbreaking on June 18th.

  

Thank you president! I love you! I will write you next week.

Love,

Elder Seamons

Mother's Day fom Miami Beach

It was great to speak with Eric by phone on Mother's Day.  He
moved this past week to a new area in Miami.

He sounded very exhausted.  He said he had ridden 22 miles on his bike
the day before.

He is getting used to his new area where he is now a senior companion
and also a District Leader.  His companion has been in Florida for 9
weeks.  Even though he is still learning Creole, his companion teaches
very well in English.  Eric said they spend about half of their time
speaking Haitian and the other half English.

He said his new area is very different from the other areas he has
served in.  He has noticed barbed wire fences and also that many of the
windows have bars on them.  It is a rough area.

His District has four elders and two sisters.  The other senior
companion in his apartment is from Italy and is training a new
missionary.  He cooked them a pasta meal this week which Eric liked a
lot.  Eric has been on his mission 10 months and is the most senior
missionary in his District.  He is surprised to be a District Leader but
seems ready to do his best.  We asked him what he thought when he was
called to that position and he said "Oh, Great" in that
I-don't-really-want-to-be-doing-this kind of way.  His Miami Beach Zone
has 11 Spanish-speaking missionaries, 2 Haitian missionaries, and 1
English missionary (the guy from Italy).

We asked him what he loved most about his mission and he said that
seeing people change because of the gospel, having people excited to see
them and learn the gospel, and seeing people so excited to be baptized.

**********************************************************

Monday May 9th

Hello Everyone! I am now in Miami and I am now a district leader. It has been stressful because Elder Furner is new in the mission, and I am new to the area. It is not too bad. I know where a lot of stuff in the area is now. I know where our top investigators are and I know where the church is, Walgreens, Walmart, The El Portal Chapel, and several other important things. I can navigator decently well around the area.

I don't have much time right now. I will write you a letter with more details in it later. Thanks.

Love,

Elder Seamons

***************************************************************************

Letter to President Hale:

Hello President Hale! I am so glad that you sent me to Miami and trusted me enough to be a district leader. I am grateful for the opportunity you gave me. Miami is a wonderful area with a lot of potential. It has been an adventure trying to get to know the area. I am adjusting pretty well to things here.

I went to church and I talked to as many people as I could. I know their names and I am trying to gain their love and trust. We are striving to build up the culture that is here and improve, because the members are wonderful, but they are not yet working side by side with us to bring about the work. We have already talked to several of the members, who said they are more than willing to help, plus we have an exchange set up to see one of our top investigators. We are very happy about that.

I am trying to fulfill my calling as a district leader. Sister Bloomfield and Sister Buckley are getting a long very well. Sister Bloomfield is very happy with their relationship as companions and she feels that Sister Buckley is an outstanding missionary. They don't have a ton of progressing investigators at the moment, but they have one date. We also have one date. Elder Gorgino and Elder Harless have two dates.

 Elder Harless is happy about being on a mission and he has a great love for the gospel. I love our apartment a lot. Elder Gorgino is super nice and he even made some Italian pasta for lunch for all of us one day.

Elder Furner is a very good missionary. He is very obedient and he loves helping our investigators. He gives everyone an equal chance to receive the gospel. He loves everyone of the people we teach.

 I love you president! I will talk to you later. Thank you!

Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

"By faith in Christ, we can do anything that comes our way"

Today’s letter was pretty short because Kent and I happened to see him e-mailing and asked him some specific questions, so we were talking back and forth a little. He had heard about Bin Laden dying, us going to war in Lybia, and about Trump running for president and was curious about that.We are looking forward to talking to him either by phone or by Skype on Mother's Day, but we don't know details yet about when it will be.

Hello Everyone! We got transfer information. I am getting transferred again. I was a little disappointed about that. I am the only one in the apartment and in the ward who is getting transferred. It will be fun to get to go to a new place. We heard from Coconut Creek that one of the new Creole missionaries is getting transferred out of there, so I could possibly get sent back again. I would like that a lot. Also, Elder Gubernick told me that Vonnette, the Haitian women that Elder Rybin and I were teaching up there, is still investigating and was planning on coming to church. This was a few weeks ago when he told us that. I was really happy about that.

This week was hard, because Elder Hall got sick on Wednesday, so Elder Chandler and I took turns staying home with him. Elder Hall and Elder Anderson's area had a lot more stuff going on. They have several really awesome progressing investigators, whereas our area really doesn't right now, so we went into their area and helped him with several of his appointments. I spent a lot more time in the apartment. But right as Elder Hall was getting better, I got the same sickness. On Friday, I switched with Elder Chandler to go out and teach with Elder Anderson. There was someone in the Hospital who needed a blessing, so we went to do that first. Ten minutes before I left. I started getting a weird feeling in my stomach and I had diarrhea, which was the first symptoms that Elder Hall had when he was sick. We went to the hospital and I started feeling really sick when we were in the room and about to give the person a blessing. I told Elder Anderson to do it himself. Right as he was about to do it, I threw up everywhere. The person never got her blessing. The worst thing about it was that this wasn't the person we went to give the blessing to. We went to the wrong hospital. The correct one was out of our area, so we had the other Elders take care of it. The people knew what we were there to do, and they said that there was someone else who would like to be prayed with. So this woman's first encounter with the missionaries was when I threw up. We didn't even say goodbye. Before we could go in to talk to her afterwards, then someone closed the door to clean up the floor. I went home and I felt really sick. I stayed home the whole next day just to recover, but I felt pretty normal by then. I felt perfectly good by Sunday, so I went to church and went out as normal.

Eric sent us his letter to the mission president.They will all meet together for transfers tomorrow and will have special meetings with the president this week.

Hi President! I loved Fort Lauderdale. It was such a great area. Thank you so much! I have loved every companion that I have ever had. I will miss Fort Lauderdale, but I am so glad that I had the opportunity to work in this area. Bishop Bethel is such a wonderful man. He really understands his duty and how to achieve success.

I have come to realize that faith is so key in this work. By faith in Christ, we can do anything that comes our way. Faith has to not just be an action; it needs to be part of who we are as people. Faith is such a wonderful principle.

I love you President! I will see you tomorrow! Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons