"That was a wonderful experience I will never forget."

February 12, 2012

Hi Mom, Dad, and Everyone else!

We have been working a ton on finding less active members. The ward has been helping a lot too. The Relief Society did something called the "Lost Sheep" program, which was based on Luke 15. All the sisters were given several named of less-active sisters in the ward and they went and tracked down just about all of them. It is so awesome. Plus both Elder's Quorum and Relief Society gave out all of the visiting and home teaching assignments. It is great to see the members go out and reach out to this people. We will have the privilege of going out with the members to help bring these members back. The branch started out with 56 people attending sacrament meeting and it has been around 70 within the recent weeks. With these members coming to church, it will increase. These members are so kind and nice to everyone. They have helped us so much.

The Hawkshaw's came out with us twice and they took us to a German restaurant (Sister Hawkshaw is German, but she has a thick British accent because she lived in England for so long), and to La Granja. They have powerful testimonies of the church. It took Brother Hawkshaw 9 years after they met the missionaries to finally accept the Restored Gospel, but he did and he got baptized. he has now been a member for 25 years.

We had a Valentine's Day party at the church. It was so well done. They had a beef sirloin with rolls that were delicious, velvet cake, a chocolate fountain, a variety of fruits, marshmallows, as well as other things. We had three people who weren't members come: Brother Schoelzel (His wife is a member), George Walker (his wife is a member. That happens a lot in this branch), and Isabel (Brother Christiansen's girlfriend who is from Brazil. She speaks Portuguese and Spanish. She looks like she is in her mid-30's I had a long conversation with her.)

Brother Schoelzel is from Hamburg, Germany. He loves his family. He believes in God and Jesus Christ, but really doesn't see the need for religion in his life. He is very serious and really not a person that easily recognized the spirit. But he is starting to get more friends in the branch. He doesn't have any friends apart from his family.

One thing that I have been thinking about is that I haven't been as effective lately as a missionary. We aren't getting as much done, and sometimes I feel like I have been digressing a little bit. But I will work on that. I need to be more diligent. I haven't been doing language study lately and my creole hasn't been as good lately. I will change that.

I need to go. I will talk to you more next week. Bye.

Love,

Elder Seamons

Hello President!

This week hasn't been as good as it could have been in terms of work with non-members. We have been doing well with less actives. We have several part-member families that we are working with or are about to work with. It will be really good.

We need to use our time more effectively. The more effectively we use our time, the greater influence we will have on other people, and the more self-satisfied and full of the spirit we will feel.

We are going to get 12 harvest blessings this week. We need to find more people and touch them with the Spirit of the Lord. I feel like I haven't been sharing the light I have within me enough, and because of that, it isn't as strong as it used to be.

We were looking for Valerie Ortiz, a unknown member of the church who was thought to be less active, but we couldn't find her house, plus it was a bunch of buildings with numbered doors, and the branch list didn't have a door number for her. We were about to leave and Brother Hepler, the member out with us on an exchange told us to stop and we looked around and we saw one open door with light coming out. It was at night time. We went over there, and it was her. She has been trying to find the church for a while and she was planning on going to church the day before, but she couldn't find the address. She was so grateful and happy that she found it. In the following visit with her, she cried and told us how sad she felt that she couldn't go to church and she told us that she has been going through a really hard time. As we and the member with us followed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we were able to help her feel the power of the atonement through helping her come to church and partake of the Sacrament. She has now been to two weeks of Church in a row and an activity and she is in full activity. That was a wonderful experience I will never forget.

Thanks President! I love you!

Love,

Elder Seamons

"I know that God knows how we feel and he wants us back"

February 6, 2012

Hi everyone!

I don't have a lot of time today to write. We have been out looking at apartments with the senior missionaries: the Sommerfeldt's and the Collin's. They have helped us out so much. The came to our apartment this morning to get us a new case of Books of Mormon and they helped us with a few other things. The lease for this apartment expires at the end of March, and we need to live within our area, because we bike a while to get into our area. It has gotten a lot easier though.

Our numbers were very low this week, but that's okay. We learned several ways how to make the work go much better. We have to schedule everything a lot better since we are on bike.

We found a ton of less-actives. It was awesome. We visited many of them and figured out their situations and interest levels in coming back.

I don't know if we told you this story about last Sunday, but we had the most amazing thing happen when Brother Hepler came out with us on Sunday. Brother Hepler bore his testimony on the experience yesterday.

We were looking up a woman named Valerie Ortiz, we went around the block since the road we wanted to get on was only one way. We looked at the spot where the address should have been and we saw two buildings. I decided to start knocking doors on one, while the other elders checked to see what address it was. When I knocked I could see the TV on inside and a woman walked past and never answered the door. We couldn't see the address on the other building. We decided to leave and as we were getting in the car, Brother Hepler looked back and saw a door that was open, that wasn't open before. Out of the door came a beam of light. We went up and knocked on the doorframe. A woman walked over and I told her, "We are looking for someone named Valerie Ortiz. Is that you." She looked amazed at us and told us that she was Valerie. We looked above on the face of the building and we noticed the number 205, but the 5 had fallen off. She told us that she has been trying so hard to find the church and get there but the relief society president. She thanked us and she was so happy that we found her. We got her correct address and her phone number, neither of which we had before. We told her we would find a ride for her so she could get to church. a few days later we stopped by again with Brother Hawkshaw and she told us that she wanted to call us, but she didn't want to bother us. She said that she was going through a hard time and that she missed being able to go to church and she started to cry. She is from Puerto Rico and she joined the church 5 years ago in New Jersey. She moved to Florida 2 years ago, and she moved into the area in September. She hasn't been to church in a while. She has undergone two foot surgeries, and she has a limp. She has a 7 year old son, who will be turning 8 soon. She was so happy to see us again. She came to church this Sunday and she was so happy. Everyone felt the spirit so strong. It touched Valerie, Brother Hepler, the other members, the other elders, and me. I will never forget that experience. I know that God knows how we feel and he wants us back. He will send help to all those who ask for it.

Well, I need to write President quickly. I love you so much!

Love,

Elder Seamons

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Hi President

We have had a great week. Our numbers weren't the best, but we are learning how to help our investigators, less-active members, and active members feel the power of the atonement and gain a greater desire to access it.

I was reading in revelations about the War in Heaven between Satan and his followers and Christ and his Followers. In the account it said that they were victorious through "the blood of the Lamb and the power of their testimonies." [Revelations 12:4-13] I know that through Christ's atonement and our powerful testimonies of it, we will help our investigators feel the power of our message.

Thanks President! I love you! I will write you next week!

Love,

Elder Seamons

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior

January 30, 2012

Hi Everyone! We have had a really good week.

There are several elderly couples who are going to be attending the branch for 3-4 months because they are "snow birds." One of them, the Hawkshaw's, came out with us this week.They are from England. I don't remember what part. He is a music writer and used to be in a rock band. He has worked with Jared Hess (Nacho libre and Napoleon Dynamite, Elton John, Led Zeplin). He has done some pretty cool stuff. His name is Alan Hawkshaw. Look him up.

We also went out with Brother Hepler, and we had an amazing experience trying to look up a less active member. We were looking for Valerie Ortiz, but we couldn't find her house, plus it was a bunch of buildings with numbered doors, and the branch list didn't have a door number for her. We were about to leave and brother Hepler told us to stop and we looked around and we saw one open door with light coming out. It was at night time. we went over there, and it was her. She has been trying to find the church for a while and she was planning on going to church yesterday (we met her last night) but she couldn't find the address. She was so grateful and happy that she found it. She actually lives a walking distance from brother Hepler and he said that he could probably give her a ride and he would ask his wife about it, since she doesn't have transportation.

Also, we have a media refferal named Jona Van Wershin from Germany and she really wants to read the book of Mormon. But she doesn't want to sit down with us. She wants to do her own study. She did say she will stop by the church one sunday. We hope to meet her.

We also had a walk in three weeks ago named Jason Wach. He is a man who was born a Jew and even lived in Israel for several years. He speaks Hebrew, English, and Spanish. His wife is a catholic woman from Colombia. He has a hard time forgiving people, because he very much dislikes the Judaism and the culture of the middle east. He feels that he has been taught hatred and that Americans have an inborn desire to kill jews. He also feels that Judaism is based strongly on the fact that they believe that they are the chosen race and that they are God's elect people and no one else. He was disowned by his family because he left Judaism and he even wrote a book entitled, "Leaving Judaism" that he published. He said that there are good things about the Jewish religion and that he was making it sound worse than it was, but he really is searching for the truth. He is looking into the church very hard. He has agreed to sit with us and read the Book of Mormon. He invited us over to dinner at his accounting office and we ate at Pollo Tropical there with him. He said that it is hard to believe that Jesus is the Messiah because he was taught that that is not true. He said that they even kicked you out of class if you so much as mentioned Jesus Christ. He is a great guy and we have been praying that he will be able to let go of his anger and be able to find the healing power to help him move on and find peace.

We also went to Chick-fil-a again this week.

We also ran into Magda, a Haitian woman who promised she would come to church, but has been super busy lately. She was really excited to see us and she said that she was planning on coming to church a week ago, but she got called into work.

  

[This is in response to Kent asking Eric about having English speaking companions and whether he is teaching Haitians or English speakers.]

For the first two weeks, It was about 80% of the time. Now we are teaching more English Speakers. We are teaching one woman name Aneceli who is from Mexico. She is super nice. She doesn't speak any English. She is looking to have God more in her life and she has agreed to read the Book of Mormon, but her husband doesn't like religion and doesn't want to hear anything about God. She has us come over in the morning when her husband isn't home. We really need to talk to him about the whole thing.

We also are teaching a girl named Aisha. her real name is Melissa, but her sister took the name since she doesn't like her name, and Melissa started going by Aisha. We found her because we contacted Brea, a 22 year old girl who works at Winn Dixie. She wasn't home for the return appointment, so we went to a neighbor, Stephanie, and harvested her home. Stephanie didn't end up living there. It was her brother's home. We went to Stephanie's home and her sister, Aisha, was there instead of her, so we taught her. We ended up meeting Brea and leaving a blessing on her home, and she loved it. It is amazing how God allows are plans to go differently than we wanted them to so that we can find those who are prepared. Aisha now has a baptismal date for February 18th.

I know that the message I am teaching is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and even though I am far from being perfect and I still have a lot of problems to work through, I am being chastened, refined, and blessed so that I can get to the point that I need to be at.

I love you all! Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

This is my e-mail to president!

Hi President! I loved the trainings this week on how we focus on the
atonement and on the ordinances and how they help our investigators
access the atonement. I really puts the restoration of the gospel into
perspective. It helps our investigators understand priesthood authority
so much better. I really am beginning to understand how to teach the
atonement and our message. There are times on the mission that I have
been so focused on the Apostasy, Restoration, Joseph Smith, Book of
Mormon, that I missed the reason why all of those are important. It is
Jesus Christ. I love the scriptures that say we should preach nothing
except faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance. It is so much
more powerful. Also, we have been focusing on the sacrament in our
teaching of why our investigators should come to church and it has
been working really well.

Our investigators need to know that our message isn't just another
form of "Daily Bread," it is the only way for them to fully access the
atonement and they need what we have. For Sabastian to Key West, only
160 people hold the key to the atonement for them. Until they realize
that, no amount of teaching will do them any good.

This week I learned a lot

January 23, 2012

Hello Everyone!

This week I learned a lot. The week wasn't nearly as productive as last week. I think that I have been worrying too much about outward results. Just because we don't teach as many people or we don't have
as many people come to church, doesn't mean we were a failure as missionaries. I always worry about that. I think that the most important thing is that we have ourselves prepared, God will provide
and he will help us find those people that are ready, and they will progress at their own pace.

Clair was doing really well this week until yesterday. She read up to Mormon in the Book of Mormon in just one week. She read a lot of Doctrine and Covenants and she finished Genesis in the Bible. And she also knew that all of those Books were the word of God. She said that there was no way that Joseph Smith could have written that book when he was 21 years old (without it being true). It would just be too hard to get all of it to match up with what the bible says without messing up.

But then Sister Maurer and Sister Isaacs went to her house on Sunday to pick her up and she went over and told them that She felt that the church was not for her and that she had that overall feeling the whole time (which definitely wasn't true).

We are wondering if her new roommates who moved in with her were giving her pressure, especially about trying to quit smoking. We were wondering if we pushed her too hard. We told her to break her
cigarettes on the spot and to pray on the spot as well and we pushed both issues. I am not sure. Whatever the case is, we will need to sit down and have a chat with her. It is really sad, because she knows it is true and she has such a strong testimony. She has just had a hard time with Paying tithing on her low budget and quitting smoking.

My companion's names are Elder Owens and Elder Snyder. Elder Owens is from Buhl, Idaho and Elder Snyder is from Syracuse, Utah. Elder Snyder has a sense of humor and is more laid back, but he still has a sense of humor. It has been difficult getting used to all three of us doing missionary work together. Having three people is really different, especially for an extended period of time.

President Boggess invited several couples who came down for the winter to participate in our branch. They are going to take us out two to three days a week for five or so hours. So that will help. Plus we
have other members who can help us out.

We don't have any seriously progressing investigators right now. We are just trying to establish a pattern of success for the companionship now.

I have to go. We need to take the bus back to the apartment and we might miss it if we don't leave soon.

Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

 Hi President! I loved the e-mail you sent out today. It explains so simply our purpose, and it explains clearly the reason for inviting people to take part of the ordinances of the Gospel.

One thing I have noticed about myself is that sometimes I can get so caught up on key indicators and baptisms that I don't do my best job as a missionary and I miss the whole point of why we do missionary work. Reading this e-mail helped remind me about that.

What I have learned is that the power of my testimony is the best tool that I can use to help people accept the restored gospel. Instead of just trying to force people to accept something, I can show them how it would help them through my testimony. I just need to trust that the spirit will truly testify to these people and help them understand the message that I am sharing.

We didn't have as productive as a week as usual. But we will prepare better to make it a better week.

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

Love,

Elder Seamons

No More Car

 January 16, 2012

Hi Everyone! A lot of unexpected things happened during transfers. I am in a three-some. Elder Owens who is from Buhl, Idaho and Elder Snyder who is from Syracuse, Utah are my companions. They were part of the group of missionaries in the Stewart zone that were transferred to this mission from the Orlando Mission. They are both really good missionaries and they are good for coming along for the ride. A big thing that has happened is that we no longer have a car. It was made into a full bike area. I am super tired every day when we come home. I felt like my legs were going to give out. I rarely used the bike since I was sent to Miami. This mission relies on the cars so much. I didn't realize what difference it made until we had to go with out it. We are getting a lot of help though. President Boggess has some senior couples that are snowbirds that came to the area and he is going to have each of them ride us around for half a day. His vision is to get enough people driving us around that we don't have to bike a lot. Plus we got a ride to church on Sunday, which saved us, because the church is 8 miles away. I am really out of shape. The branch is doing well and we have so many wonderful members. The members have been feeding us a lot this week and coming out with us. The Hillsamer's made us some great homemade food and Brother Hillsamer took us out to where we were working so that we didn't have to go and bike the whole way. Then he took us back to his house to have dessert, then he dropped us off at home. They are a wonderful family.

We arrived a few minutes early to the Hillsamer's house and we passed by their neighbor's house who they referred us to. Her name is Susie, and her best friend is Vicky. Susie didn't seem interested at first, but then we invited to leave a blessing on her home. She talked with us for a while and she shared a lot of her problems and worries with us and we left the blessing. She was a little teary eyed and she felt the spirit very strong. She even said she was planning on coming to the church before but never got around to it. Sister Hillsamer is going to invite her, and give her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She is still having a hard time coping with the death of her husband which happened a few years back. Vicky was also having some issues in her family and she feels that she needs help with. It was a very tender moment. We were in the place that we were supposed to be. Clair is doing really well. She has read half of the Book of Mormon already, and she read 8 chapters of the Doctrine and Covenants. We gave her an English Book of Mormon, but she wanted a Doctrine and Covenants, so we gave her a large print Triple combination. She read the pearl of Great price before we met her. Her only problem is her not feeling that she can be good enough to be baptized. She has a smoking addiction. We are trying to help her overcome that.

Clair, Nicole, and some random people who came off the street during Sunday school named Jason and Maria came to church. We were really excited that Clair and Nicole were there. Nicole didn't seem to have a good experience, so we are going meet with her and see what we can do to help her.

Heavenly Father watches out for those that are doing his work. He is constantly guiding and directing us through the spirit. He is more present and involved with your lives than you can possibly imagine. I know that Jesus Christ is always extending his grace and love to us and that we just need to believe and do our very best.

I love you all and I will write you next week! Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Letter to the President:

Hi President! It has been an interesting transition during the new transfer. We have had some rough times in the beginning, especially being switched into a full bike area, but we are learning so much. It is really causing me to have to relying on God and to look to him for strength. I have learned that we need to help our investigators keep their eyes single to our purpose. If they don't understand it, they can't show their faith and progress in the gospel. I have learned that daily contact is crucial to help them do that. Thank you so much for all that you do President! I love you so much!

Mission Wide Harvest and Elder Bolz Visits

 Note from Mom: Elder Bolz was Eric’s trainer who was visiting the mission and was able to spend time with Eric and his companion. I am really behind lately, so I will be sending out two more letters in the next week. 

January 10th, 2012

We had the most amazing week! So many things are happening. The area that we were working in before was doing better than the first area we had chosen, but it wasn't bringing the results we were hoping for. Then Sister McNamara gave us the Jean family's new address and phone number. They are a less active 50 year old couple that Elder Bolz and I had visited before. We went there and they were very excited to see us and to hear about the new branch. Jacques is Haitian and his wife is a Caribbean islander named Suzette. They both came to church on Sunday as a result of that visit. We finally had enough Haitians to start the creole class up! There were six people: Sister Hepler, Sister Samson, Sister Pierre (she taught the class), Jacques, and two investigators (not the two I mentioned in the previous e-mail. I will explain).

But after we had that visit with the Jean family, we were told by the mission leadership that the mission was going to do a mission-wide harvest on Wednesday from 5-7. If we had appointments at that time, we were to move them. They promised us that if we were to do what we were supposed to, we would find someone that was prepared to be baptized in January. It was a great success. We harvested 6 homes, two of which came to church. The first one's name was Clair. We knocked on the door and she answered. 50 year old white woman. She asked us if we were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Then when we said no. Realizing that we were LDS missionaries, she said, "you guys won't believe what I just finished reading." She went into her house and brought out a book called Mormon Murders. It is a true story about some Mormon people who were murdered. She told us that she loved the church and that 20 years ago she was studying with the missionaries, but her husband, now ex-husband, wouldn't let her get baptized at the time. She felt like God had sent us to her. She said that she needed a Book of Mormon because she lost her old copy. I happened to be carrying one with me, which lately, I had forgotten to do. Then she asked us if she could have a Doctrine and Covenants and a Pearl of Great Price. She really wants to get one and she looked really excited as she talked about it. She also really wants to get her hands on a Joseph Smith Translation. We are going to try our best to get her all those. We  took Sister Isaacs and Sister Maurer over to her house for the first time yesterday. They are two 50-60 year old empty nesters, and are both retired, so they told us any time we need them, they will come out with us. They were awesome. Sister Isaacs taught seminary, so she knew a lot and Sister Maurer has an amazing testimony. They are awesome! Clair read the story about the Anti-nephi-lehi 20 years ago and she could still remember it without even reading about it. She has an amazing comprehension and memory. Plus she started reading the Book of Mormon since Wednesday and she has already gotten to Jacob. We invited her to be baptized on the 22nd of January, and she said that she would pray about it, but when God told her to, she would. She really wants to.

Also, We harvested Nehemiah, who lives in the same building as Clair. He came to church on Sunday and he bore his testimony at church about how God sent us to his house and he said that he would definitely come back. He is amazing!

The same street they live on NW 42 ST just off of andrews and prospect in Oakland park is amazing! We have been having so much success. News of us is spreading amongst the haitians on that street. We have contacted dozens of them and they are all friends. They said that they have seen us on this street the whole week. We love it! We have been running into a ton of Seventh-day Adventists and they seem willing to hear our message. Two of them are named Claudine and Imelda. They are two sisters that are 30 years old. They both came to church with Imelda's two children. We made a deal with her that if she came to the church this Sunday, we would go to the Seventh-day Adventist church this Saturday. So 9-12 we are going over there. It will be cool because there are a lot of Adventists on that street, and all of them probably go to the same building, so we will probably see all of them. It is always good, because even though we won't openly proselyte, we always have Haitians come to us and ask us questions about where our church is and which church we are a part of.

Imelda is interested about the Book of Mormon and she wants a copy in French now because they were talking about it in the Creole class.

We have had many interesting experiences this week. Elder Bolz visited Oswald Morancy (the recent convert who used to cook for us all the time) and he came out on an exchange with us. We visited Jener Louis, who I taught with Elder Bolz, we ran into Jener earlier in the week. It was really exciting. Jener remembers a lot of the things that we have been taught, and he is praying about baptism and he will come to church this Sunday.

Nicole and Juslaine weren't able to come to church because of some last minute emergencies. Nicole's grandma flew in, so she had to pick her up from the airport, and Juslaine's sister went to the emergency room the night before, but they are both planning on coming to church on Sunday.

Sister Maurer and Sister Isaacs wanted to feed us, but they don't have a man at either of their houses, so they took us out to the Smokey Bones' restaurant. It was delicious. We asked them about Elder Bolz coming because he was on the exchange, and they said, "the more missionaries, the better." We had an amazing time. Elder Bolz and I thought back on all of the adventures we had together.

Elder Plowman loves all of the Haitians that are in our area. They are always the first to let us in to teach them. They are always laughing and joking around. Elder Plowman has a good time even though he hasn't been able to do much this week, because we have been teaching mostly Haitians. But he has been really helpful where he can help. He is a great missionary. I will miss him a lot.

I know that the Gospel is true and that God is preparing his people to hear the Gospel.

I need to go. Time is running out on the timer.

Bye!

Love,

Elder Seamons


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Hi President! We have had such an amazing week! The mission-wide we did on Wednesday from 5-7 was so inspired! We had so much success. As a result we had two people come to church, one of which got up and bore his testimony. We were so excited. The other one, who was in relief society, knew who Ezra Taft Benson was and many other things about the church. God is a God of miracles and we have met so many people, who told us afterward, that God had sent us to them. We had 5 people come to church and we were so excited.

We now know all of the members and they have the trust of the missionaries. I am sad that Elder Plowman is being transferred, but I am happy that we had such an amazing transfer together.

Thank you for all of your inspired guidance, President! I love you so much!

Love,

Elder Seamons

"I ran from door to door in order to find the one that I knew was there""

Kent and I really chuckled when we read Eric's letter to the president where he says he ran from house to house to find the "one" he knew was there. That is so much like Eric to not give up. He is amazing!

January 3, 2011

Hi Everyone! This week has been a really good week. The missionary work is picking up a lot. We have a lot of dates, but we are going to drop some of them probably. But one of them, Shaniqua, is doing really well. We will get back in contact with some of the rest who kind of dropped off the map within the last three days because of New Year's.

Yesterday, We saw Shaniqua with Hermana Camargo. Shaniqua is an 18 year old African American girl and Hermana Camargo is 22 and she is one of the branch missionaries. President Boggess wants the branch missionaries to come out with us once a week. All of the branch missionaries have super open schedules, so that won't be too hard. We met Shaniqua by going to her house and blessing it. We gave her the 15th of January as a date, and she told us that she really wanted to change and that she has wanted to get baptized. We were really excited. She overslept on Sunday because of new years, but she is coming to church on Sunday, and she is really excited about it.  She has a ton of questions that she was asking us.

We also saw Nazareth Contreras, one of the Hispanic members. She doesn't speak English at all. She is a really nice lady. Her two daughters Lady and Ilene were there. Plus her Fiance Raul was there, who isn't a member of the church. He went to church for several months at the Lauderhill ward with Hermana Contreras. He should be coming this Sunday. She said he wants to be baptized, but he has some things he wants to sort out first in his life. We blessed their home, we gave her mom a blessing, who was sick, and we ate with them. We felt the spirit in their home and I feel at home in this branch. The Contreras are from the Dominican Republic and the food they made for us was very similar to Haitian food. Hermana Contreras is coming out with us tonight to see Edwin, one of our Hispanic investigators.

We have several part-member families in the ward who have agreed to take the lessons. We are really excited about that. The work is moving forward.

There is someone named Steve Landis who is less-active in the church, but his mom is active. She is 94 years old. We gave a blessing to her husband Francis who is around the same age. He died two days later. The family and President Boggess is working together to make the arrangements for the funeral. We found the Landis family because they were going through the ward list and we found Larry Landis, who is also less active. Steve had moved, but Larry still lived in the same place. Even though he didn't like the church, he gave us Steve's information. We found out his phone number and where he currently lives. Now the relief society is able to help them and they have been to church for two weeks in a row. We are really grateful that Heavenly Father led us to them. We realize that the ward might not have found them until months after the whole ordeal. And Steve's mom, Ethel, really needed the ward. Sister Poor, our Relief Society president, has been a huge comfort to her.

We have eaten out four times at Chick-fil-a in the last week. Brother Poor likes us coming over. He gives us free food every time. They have some of the best waffle fries ever and their shakes are delicious. I usually get a large Oreo shake. Brother Vega has also been giving us Popeyes every preparation day.

We have such wonderful members that have helped us so much. The work couldn't possibly go forward without the work of the members. God has definitely guided all the members that he needed to move into the branch boundaries. All of them have the most amazing desire to do missionary work that I have ever seen. We have never seen anything like it before.

I know that God has laid out a plan for what he wants everyone to do. While you are still living on the earth, he has placed you where you are for a reason. No matter how hard you have to search to find it, it is possible. He has sent us to several people for a particular reason this week, and we had to look very hard to find them. Jesus Christ lives, and he helps us all find people so that we can learn from them how to better access his atonement and come unto him.

Well, I have to go soon. I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Letter to the President:

Hi President! We had a great week this week. We really didn't have anything to do, so we just went harvesting and finding as many people as we could. We went on an exchange with the assistants last Tuesday and we learned things that would change our way of doing missionary work for the rest of our missions and our lives. We were extending dates to everyone we harvested, but we didn't meet anyone who would accept. Elder Kalemikia taught us about how to find " the one" that God had prepared to accept the message. It was getting really late and everyone else said that it was time to finish up the exchange. But I ran from door to door in order to find the one that I knew was there. At the final door we knocked on, a girl named Nicole answered and she let us in, though reluctantly at first. The spirit came into the room when we harvested, and Elder Kalemikia committed her to baptism on the 8th of January. She immediately said yes and told us how she had a new year's resolution to be "saved." She said that she was really excited. Our testimonies of how God puts us where we need to be when we need to be there grew so much from that experience. Have faith that there is someone out there, no matter how many people refuse before we can find "the one."

We gave a total of 8 dates this way this week. It has helped us find the people who are prepared and who have a desire to follow Christ. We took members to two of these investigators and it has been a really awesome experience. The branch is doing very well. The leaders are awesome and the work is going a lot better. We didn't have anyone at church, but it was just a bad Sunday for people to come because they all stayed up super late. We will get many to church this Sunday. This branch was definitely inspired. The members are by far the most willing to come out with us. The harder part is finding the investigator pool, but that soon won't be a problem.

We are going to continue to commit people to a specific baptismal date for every harvest blessing, we will use the ward to fellowship these people, and we will use the pray, plan, practice, and do pattern that you showed us. We can do this. Thank you so much President! I love you so much! We definitely couldn't have come this far with out your help.

Love,

Elder Seamons