Dear Family and Friends,
This is one of the best weeks I have ever seen on the mission! It was wonderful! We had seven people come to church for sacrament meeting. Cemania, Ernst, Carlo, Lina, Christnel, Wesley, and Luxom. They had a great time at church. I am not sure about Welsey though. He seemed bored during the whole thing. Lina is Christnel and Wesley's mom. They have had a rough time lately, but I will go into that later. I was asked to give a talk on reading the scriptures. Last week Elder Shipley gave a talk on missionary work and he committed everyone in the congregation to get pass-a-long cards off the table. Many people passed them out and we were excited. I talked about how the scriptures had blessed my life, and I committed each person in the congregation to get a Book of Mormon, write their testimonies in it, and to give it out. We had about 15 English copies and they all went. All the French went as well as half of the Creole. We were pretty happy about that. We have some very awesome members in this ward. I love them! They are awesome! Yesterday was the fifth Sunday, so for the combined meeting, they took names from the 600 less active members we had and they had each person in the class call someone or write a letter.
We were going to take the investigators into another room, but many of them were in conversation with a member of the ward. So we took Cemania who wasn't talking to anyone and taught her a lesson. She got a Plan of Salvation pamphlet from someone and had been reading it. She told us that she had never heard about the premortal life before. She told us however that she felt it was true because she has déjà vous moments and she said it felt so familiar. We told her about the light of Christ and we told her about the Plan of Salvation and she believed it. She told us that she knows that this is where she needs to be and that she is starting to get used to the church. We were so happy when we heard that. Especially because a week and a half ago, she almost dropped herself (quit having the missionaries teach her), because she was part of the Church of God, and she felt like she was turning her back on them if she came here. And she was tired of trying to figure out which church was true and she felt that as long as she tried her best that God would not penalize her if she just went anywhere to find the truth. She said after Christ came again, we would all know the full truth anyway. Elder Shipley and I were so depressed to hear that. But then we told her that God wants her to find out the truth and doesn't want her to stop searching. She told us that we were right and she said we could come back over. Then we went over and we helped her understand why we needed the Book of Mormon as a second witness. Elder Shipley had the idea of focusing a lot on the Book of Mormon. She told us that God answered her through us, because she resented the Book of Mormon at first because she felt like it took away from the bible and substituted it. But now she says that the idea of the book of Mormon makes a lot of sense. She changed the signature on her phone to ***God answered me***. Elder Shipley and I are ecstatic. She is on her way to baptism. Her faith has grown so much since she has been meeting with us. She is doing amazingly!
Ernst has been reading in the Book of Mormon and he came to church today! He told us that he was going to move to Pensacola, but yesterday he said that he changed his mind and that he wants to move next to the church so that he can walk. We were so surprised and excited about that. He accepted our invitation to be baptized when he knows it is true, but he wants to pray, read, and come to church more before he accepts a specific date.
We have been getting so many new investigators and referrals lately. Elder Shipley and I have had a difficulties finding time to call, visit, and help everyone that is interested. We have worked out a system and we have been using Preach My Gospel to help us a lot. We are getting so much better at planning. There is so much to do still to improve, but we are getting there. We need to continue progressing and not get prideful because of the success we are having.
Lina's family is having a really hard time. Lina cares about her children and tries to help them out, but she doesn't listen very well and is always in her children's business. Plus Christnel has extreme anger issues. Last time we were at the house, he threw his copy of the book of Mormon at her because she kept on interrupting him when he was talking to us. Both of them were crying and there was a lot of yelling. The spirit is completely absent from that house. We are going to leave a blessing on the house in the future. Christnel feels that his mom is always bugging him, and putting him down. She feels that he can't change. It is so sad to see. But Christnel does want peace in the home and he is a good kid. He just lets his anger get the best of him. We gave all of them a copy of the Book of Mormon. We are going to see Christnel tonight. We had an investigator give us a really good Haitian meal this week. Elder Shipley was excited about it. I was too because I love Haitian food.
Cassandra and her family are doing well. We visited them with Sister Monestine and Brother Alba. They are very open to us and they really want to visit the church. Cassandra and Franzy are the ones that want to get baptized. They will be coming to church in two weeks. Sister Monestine has been keeping contact with Rose Marie (the mom) and the kids. Sister Monestine said she would even help her find a job. She is taking her somewhere on Wednesday.
I am happier now than any other time in my life. I am learning so many good skills. I hope I cannot get prideful because of how well things are going. I need to work on that.
I have felt more power come from the calling which I bear as a representative of Jesus Christ when I am more obedient. Elder Shipley and I have been doing that a lot. We had an amazing week and we have so many people that we are teaching right now. I am seeing the windows of heaven open so much that we don't even have room enough to receive it. Seriously. We have more referrals than we can even contact. I know that God will give us the strength to fit everything we need to in. I recognize that it was because of God that we have been able to get this far. We couldn't have done it without him. Pray that I may have humility always. It is crucial, or else the pride cycle will take over and I really don't want to go through that.
I am beginning to realize how big of a responsibility we have as missionaries. There are so many people who are relying on us. If we are not obedient, we won't be able to help them at all. We were doing Harvest the field and we met a Haitian woman named Dani Anne who had a daughter named Martine who is a burn victim. She had boiling water fall on her. The backs of her legs and her back are destroyed. It paralyzed her so she can't even walk. She is four. She can't stand up by herself. I want to help her more than anything. I realized that as a holder of the priesthood, I have the power to heal her. But If I am not in tune with the spirit and exactly obedient, I won't know if it is God's will for her to be healed, nor will I have the power to do it. I hope that we can help this family. This woman can't work because she has to watch her daughter, and her fiancé is in Haiti, waiting for his papers to be processed. She pays for the house with money that she receives from friends that visit her.
Everything is going well. There is still a lot of work. I know that Jesus Christ lives. He has carried me this far and will continue to do so. He has never failed me.
Bye everyone! I love you! Thanks for all of the support!
Love,
Elder Seamons
By the way, about that boy in the last area, Peterson, Elder Chandler told me that he got a tumor in the back of his brain because he was so angry all of the time, and his Mom doesn't want it to be operated on. But I heard that a new young men's leader moved in and is watching him very closely and his Mom agreed to let him be baptized if he is on his best behavior for the next two weeks. Pray for Peterson and Christella. They need it very much.
Elder Seamons sent his letter to the president, so I included it.
Hi President! Everything is going very well. I am loving the Harvest the Field method! We haven't been doing it every day as we should because we have so many appointments, but we realize that we have to, so we are going to put it in the planner every day so that we don't schedule too many appointments in. But it is working very well. I am learning to love the people and have a desire to serve them. I am excited to do this, because I feel the spirit very powerfully every time I do it. It is so exciting to exercise the priesthood in such a direct way. People feel the spirit and it opens their minds and hearts.
Elder Edwards and Elder Giorgino have some good investigators and they are very good at finding. They have found several people for us, some of which came from harvesting the field.
Sister Buckley and Sister Despain are very enthusiastic about the work. They need to find more investigators though. They have been passing so many referrals. That is one of the reasons why Elder Shipley and I need to go harvesting: so we can help them find investigators.
We are doing well. We are exacting our obedience. It isn't getting there yet, but it will be. Thank you for your counsel and direction. I love and appreciate you a lot. I will write you next week, President!
Love,
Elder Seamons
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