July 26th, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
We have had very interesting things happen this week. Analia was doing really well. She passed her baptismal interview and was supposed to be baptized this last Sunday. She called us and asked what she needed to bring to the baptism. But then she never showed up. We asked her cousin and he said that she had been called to work. We talked to her husband and she told him she went to the church. So we are not sure what is going on. We have been trying to get a hold of Analia. We hope we can. She is so spiritually prepared for the message that we have. That would be sad if she never got baptized. We hope that she isn't trying to avoid us. We have had such difficulties in getting a hold of her. Pray for her.
We have also been having a lot of success in street contacting. We have too many referrals and we can't even contact them all. We gave 13 blessings last week. There are a lot of people who want to hear more. The blessings have opened up so many doors that wouldn't have been possible before.
Carlo Joseph also came to church! We are so excited. He is upset because he can't come to church every week. He told us that he cried every Sunday at work because he wanted to come so badly. His boss finally pitied him and let him come for one or two Sundays. He is looking for a new job now. We have a member who works at the trump hotel in Miami and he is going to look for an open position for Carlo. He is so happy about that.
We had the craziest experience last night. We have two Haitian members who live with an English member in the same duplex. Elder Giorgino and Elder Edwards have an investigator from Russia who needed a place to stay at, so they Talked to Bro. Hassan who owns the apartment that the sisters live in and he gave her a place. The duplexes hold six people. Elder Giorgino and Elder Edwards wanted to get this investigator fellowship in the church, so they wanted to do a family home evening night with those three sisters, the investigator, and some other members. They wanted us to come because we knew the Haitian members better and could help reach out to them. They do speak English. Those elders told us that the investigator and the Haitians hated each other and that they were clashing. So he wanted to do a lesson on Charity. Then they could help them become friends and they could fellowship her. That didn't go very well.
I thought Elder Giorgino was exaggerating, so I convinced both of the Haitian members to come in because they trusted me, even though they seemed extremely reluctant to enter. The Russian investigator was very authoritative. The lesson went okay at first, but then one of the Haitians wanted to turn on the Air conditioning and the Russian didn't want to because she was next to it and she said it was cold, but the rest of us were hot. She wouldn't move. We just continued the lesson, and one of the Haitians was staring at the Russian with the look of purest Hatred I have ever seen. Then the other Haitian chimed in and said that she was charitable to sisters of her church and only those who treat her kindly. She said that people who don't treat her kindly will be shunned. Then the Russian started to chime in and said that she had only been in there for two days and that it was a mess, the Haitians were loud in the morning, and that their kids were bothering her all of the time. Then the Haitians were complaining about how she had called them "Haitian pigs" the other day. We tried to stop the argument and just continue the lesson, but they cut through us.
Then Brother Alba got up and rebuked everyone and started teaching the principle of Charity and told them that we were not there to argue, but to teach the gospel and help them come to Christ and reconcile with each other despite their differences. It worked for a while, but then the argument resumed and the Haitian members started freaking out and one of them threatened to move out. It was so sad to see the two Haitian members that I loved so much lose it like that. I tried to tell them to not worry about it and that we were there to teach them about Christ, but they wouldn't listen. They were so angry. It was an ugly situation. The spirit of the devil was in that house.
We were about to leave because there was no way that anyone was going to listen, but we decided to leave a blessing upon that house and we some how got everything calmed down. We left the blessing by the authority of the Holy Melchizedek priesthood and Brother Alba was the voice. Then we gave the Russian and one of the Haitian members a blessing. Those two members apologized to each other and the Russian said sorry for calling them pigs. The other Haitian member was as angry as ever, but she calmed down and seem more happy when we said good bye. It gave me a stronger testimony of the power of the priesthood and the healing power of Christ's Atonement. It was such a spiritual experience to have the four missionaries and the member standing around these members and in turn give them blessings of comfort. We didn't council them on the personal matters, but we persuaded them to believe in Christ and we told them that he could help them.
Today went Sunrising again! Miami is the best place to do it, because there is pier that goes out into the ocean, so you are surrounded by the water on the left and the right sides.
Elder Shipley is doing really well! He is very good at organization and prioritizing, which is really good. He is an obedient missionary and he tries his very best. He is a very self-motivated person and he focuses on what is going to help these investigators to be converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ the most.
I am learning so much from Elder Shipley! By the way, We are staying together for another 6 weeks. Also Elder Giorgino and Elder Edwards are also staying. Only three people in the zone are getting transferred. The YSA sisters are staying, which makes me happy too. By the way, did I tell you that Elder Edwards went to the same Junior High and High School as I did and that he was in my percussion class in Junior High?
And we met an awesome family last week! A 12 year old Haitian girl named Cassandra and her sister Franzy ordered a bible from a bible pass-along card. We called her the day we got the referral number and 15 minutes later we knocked on the door. The mom Rose Marie seemed very cold at first because she thought we were Jehovah’s Witnesses, but when she realized we weren't, she got excited and let us in. She felt the spirit and all of the Haitian Culture that I knew won her heart over. We left a blessing and she appreciated that we mentioned each person in the family by name. We learned to love them and we gave them the bible. It so happens that Cassandra and Franzy are taking a class in their Presbyterian church to prepare for baptism, because they both really want to do that. Her mom is excited to allow us back to teach them, and she told us that she would make Griyo for us. The Lord has been blessing us so much that there almost isn't enough room to receive it. That is very apartment due to the amount of referrals which we can't even begin to have time to contact them all. We decided that we would only do an hour of Harvesting that we are required to do, and not find until we can start to get caught up. There is no point in continuing to contact people that we can't follow up with for a while. But we have been giving out a ton of Pass-along cards especially the bible ones. Everyone in Florida wants a bible and we have gotten more of those media referrals than any of the others combined.
Bye everyone! I love you!
Love,
Elder Seamons
Eric sent his letter from the mission president, so I have included it.
Dear President,
I am enjoying myself a lot! I am finally realizing that my first priority is to have the spirit with me in the work. Even before seeing someone, we must always have the spirit. Even before going out, we must have the spirit. I am so happy and satisfied with the work right now. We have seen great success from the Harvesting. We are getting more referrals than we know what to do with. We just need to make sure we are following up on all of our referrals. That is our biggest challenge. But we are doing very well, and we are motivated to do more. Thank you so much President! I love you! I will talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Seamons
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