Hello Everyone! Wonderful things have been happening with Elder Shipley and I. We are continuing to have an abundance (really and overabundance) of referrals, people to teach, etc. We have 8 people at church. We were so excited! Ernst, his wife, Jennifer (a new investigator from this week. She has an awesome story), Carlo, Duponte (another new investigator), His friend Yves, Cemania, and James, who has come very often. They enjoyed church alot. Ernst's wife Carrine came and she loved the Creole class. She told us that she would definitely visit again. The relief society sisters are so good at fellowshipping. They helped us so much with all of the people we had.
Duponte and Yves are two people who randomly showed up to church two weeks ago. Yves had met with missionaries in Canada and he moved here, so he brought his friend Duponte along with him. They will come for their 3rd time this next week. Also Jennifer is from new Jersey. We finished teaching Rodeline and Viniel. The lesson went way over the amount of time it should have. We went in the elevator and it opened up on the first floor and a woman stood there and she said, "I am so happy to see you guys, I have been looking for you." Elder Shipley was in the process of handing her a pass-a-long card. She told us that she had been meeting with the missionaries and that she had all of her babies blessed in the church. Her husband is a member of the church. Then we sat down with her and she came to church. She is awesome!
I have recognized my weaknesses now more than I ever have before. I see how much I still need to do and I realize how little I recognize God for all of our successes and I let pride get in the way. But He is helping us. "The Harvest is great, but the laborers are few." That summarizes what is happening in the area right now. We have a huge problem. We have gotten twenty referrals and other media referrals and we haven't contacted them yet, plus we haven't had time to return to certain investigator's houses because we are booked for the whole week. Our first available time slot is next Tuesday. Everything other than that is scheduled with appointments. We are going to tell president that we think he should split the Creole area in half and bring another companionship in. We might also tell him to give our English area completely to Elder Giorgino and Elder Edwards, because we teach all of Creole as well as half of the English investigators within the ward boundaries. We will see how that works.
We had a mission conference yesterday and Elder Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and spoke to us, along with Elder Gay of the area seventy. It was amazing. Elder Ballard teaches so well and he understands how to teach by the spirit. He told us that we need to realize that conversion begins with feeling. That advice is so important. I realize that logic doesn't help people want to change at all. They need to feel God's love as we teach and they need to feel the impression of the Holy Ghost on their soul. Otherwise, it was all for nothing that we taught these people. That knowledge has changed my mission. I still have to work on teaching by the spirit, but I have gotten a lot better at it.
Sister Despain, on of the two sister missionaries that work in the YSA (Young Single Adult) branch had a serious kidney infection and she has been down for a week now. She spent a few days in the hospital. She is getting a lot better. Pray that she will continue to recover.
I am doing great! Pray for our investigators and that we can refine our teaching, planning, and scheduling skills so that we can be the most effective missionaries that the Lord wants us to be. There is so much work to do, but we can step up to the challenge.
I know that God lives, that he loves us, and that through him, we can do all things. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We have been giving those books out like crazy, and I have never seen so much success before. And most importantly, I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I wouldn't be here with out him. He is the only hope we have, and we all need to use every once of time, energy, and effort that we have so that we can help everyone here the message until the work is done and everyone is safely home again. I love you all and I will right you next week.
Love,
Elder Seamons
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