They both admit that we were sent by God to give them comfort and counsel

April 16^th, 2012

Hi Everyone! We have had an amazing week! The area is doing really well.

First off, Our Branch mission leader's name is Brother Vega. He is the one who owns Pop-eye's. His wife is the Young Women's president. You probably saw her as the hostess in the "Young Woman Peagant of Values" in the talent show. Their son and daughter in law, Jamie, just moved in from Kendall/Miami area a week or so ago. Brad has been less active for a while but is starting to come to church, and Jamie has agreed to read in the Book of Mormon and pray with Brad. She has already been to church twice since we met her. The last lesson we had with her was really spiritual. She said that she felt peace as she read in the Book of Mormon. We asked her if she wanted to feel more of it. She said yes. We committed her to baptism on the 28th of April, and she has agreed to work toward gaining a testimony and preparing for that date. The Brother and Sister Vega will be out of town that day, so we will have to put the baptism forward. We are going to meet Jamie and Brad at the Vega's house at 8:00 tonight, so we will talk to her then.

Marius is progressing very well. We have had three lessons with him this week. He told Brother Poor and Brother Preston that he didn't feel that baptism a second time would be bad at all, but he felt that it would be as if he were a ball, rolling around which ever direction the wind took him, not having faith. He did say however that he felt that what we have been sharing with him is true. We committed his to pray about the 21st of April. He said yes. Two lessons ago on Saturday, he prayed at the end of the lesson and while he prayed he brought up Acts where Paul told the people that they needed to be baptized again so that they could receive the Holy Ghost. He told God that he had received the baptism of repentance, but he may not have received the baptism for the Holy Ghost. He admitted that that is what we were probably referring to. During the lesson, before the prayer, he brought that up a little, and he was agreeing with us and defending us. Fernand was trying to argue. We evaded the questions she asked us, "for example, if someone is already baptized would they need to be baptized again." She already asked the question before, so to avoid any argument and so that the spirit wouldn't leave during the lesson, we just told her to pray and ask God about it. We switched the subject and were about to pray and she told us that we didn't answer her question. Marius turned to her and said that we answered it by telling her to pray and let the Holy Spirit reveal it to her. Marius, in his prayer, mentioned that we didn't want the spirit of contention in the room. He gets it! He is so close. We just hope Fernand doesn't pull his progression down. She has changed so much since we have met her, but she isn't quite ready for baptism yet. But they both admit that we were sent by God to give them comfort and counsel. The last two or so lessons, Marius has been crying in them. Pray that he will have the final push of the spirit to help him make the choice to be baptized. The only thing that could possibly stop him is the fact that there aren't very many Haitians and the social atmosphere isn't the same because none of the other members speak creole. We will see what happens.

In the branch, pretty much no one speaks creole. We only have three active members, none of which are priesthood holders, so if he gets baptized, no one can home teach him. Plus President Anderson said that the branch may not always have a creole missionary serving in it. So it will be interesting. Elder Pearce knows a few words such as Hello, Good bye, how are you doing?, I'm good, but other than that, he doesn't know much. We hope that President sends a creole missionary after I leave, because if not, we can't go back and teach Marius. The three active Haitian members we have are all very busy and can't come out with us. I went harvesting yesterday and we blessed three Spanish people. I really need to brush up on it when I get back though. I haven't had any time to study it.

We still have members taking us out to eat every once and a while too. Sister Maurer, Sister Isaacs, and us went to Denny's. Elder Pearce and I have gone several times to the one on Dixie and Commercial since we have been together. There is a Jamaican lady named Aleisha. She is really nice. Whenever we go in, she doesn't even bother asking us what we want to drink anymore. She just brings out water because we come enough times. She is really friendly and we even got her phone number, because she has agreed to let us come over and share a message with her and leave a blessing on the home. She would come on Sunday, but she has to work. There are so many people that we have met together that we are really attached to and have become friends with. Marius is one of them. He was the first person whose door we knocked on together and let us in. The first day we met each other as a companionship.

 It is so hard to remember everything else that has happened. It all seems like a huge blur. Elizabeth Chupp is really motivated now to approach her mom and get the papers signed. We had a baptismal interview for her on Thursday. She passed and she will go to her mom with the papers and get it signed. We told her she can't trick her mom or forge the signature. She has been waiting for two years and she wants to get baptized so bad. We are praying really hard for her. If all goes well, we could have three people baptized this week: Marius, Elizabeth, and Jamie.

We have worked a little bit with a man named Derrick Shoemaker. He is very into the Pentecostal beliefs and he is very different in the way he likes to worship. He says he wants to read the Book of Mormon, but he isn't quite ready yet. He has heard anti about the church, so it isn't easy. We are focusing more on his friend, Joe, because he is more open to what we teach.

Elder Pearce has been having a lot of bike problems. He has had four tires pop in the last week and a half. We realized that we were probably over inflating them. But he did run over a piece of metal the other day. We are learning a ton about how to fix bikes. It will be good for Elder Pearce to learn all this early on in the mission. I didn't learn most of it until now.

We also were guided to bless some homeless people. Where they always are. There names are Taylor and Christopher. They were very nice. They seemed like they were going through a rough time and Christopher had been in a car accident before and was in a wheel chair. They just slept outside and when we found them it was raining. Luckily they found a tin overhead to sit under.

I have to go now! Thank you! I know the Gospel is true! Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Hi President! Everything is going really well. We have several people that are preparing to be baptized: Elizabeth Chupp, Jamie Vega, and Marius Verticier. We have focused with all of these people on helping them feel the spirit and once they do, immediately committing them to act. It has changed the way the work in the area is going. It has changed the way we harvest. We don't wait for a spiritual moment. We plan for it. And when it happens, we see it as an opening and a springboard to greater spiritual growth and commitment, especially that of baptism. As we have focused on the spirit, we have become more obedient, more aware of what the spirit is prompting us to do, more unified in our teaching, and in turn, more happy. Elder Pearce and I have talked and we will be very sad the day that won't be companions anymore. We are also worried because we are teaching a lot of Haitians and contacting many Hispanics as well, and if an English elder is assigned to this branch with Elder Pearce, it will be hard, because they won't be able to talk to any of these people, and our language members aren't very available. I just want you to know that for the future when transfers happen. Whatever happens though, it will be for the best. Thank you so much President! I know you are inspired of God. Our companionship is so perfect for the area, the investigators and people we contact, and for our own personal challenges.

Elizabeth Chupp has been meeting with the missionaries for two years, and she has finally decided to take action and ask her mom to sign her baptismal record. She has always wanted to be baptized, but she was afraid to talk to her mom. The spirit has helped motivate her.

We also prayed to accomplish a certain number of harvest blessings, and we did it yesterday. We are so excited!

Thanks President! I love you!

Love,

Elder Seamons