"I will forever cherish the experience I have had in the mission field."

Dear Family and Friends,

I am feeling pretty good. I am at about a 7 [out of 10]. Elder Furner has taught me a lot about thinking more about other people. He is direct, but he is doing it because he wants me to improve. I have judged him in a way that wasn't good a lot of the time. He is one of the best missionaries I have ever seen and he is very good at focusing on other people. I realize that many of my motivations have been selfish. Elder Furner is helping me improve. The things he has taught me have helped me face and learn to overcome problems that I have dealt with my whole life. I know that this is a "divine rendezvous" as Sister Hale would call it. Elder Furner taught me that I need to think "what is this person feeling?" "how would it affect this person if I did... ?" He also said that the motivation for wanting to be obedient and being a good missionary shouldn't just be "I want to have the spirit," but it should also be "My companion needs me to be obedient so he can have the spirit and so that he can reach his greatest potential. Plus I will be able to help others better.".

I got the hump day package. I loved it a lot. You are always thinking so much of me. It is something I admire about you, Mom, Dad, Laurie, Grandma, Sara, and everyone else. I will never forget the lessons I have been taught. [Hump day is middle day of your mission]

      I will send back the survey today.[We send him a survey with questions sometimes to get answers] I promise. Elder Furner understands that I have a problem with prioritizing things, and he told me that I need to make a schedule and not put things off. That survey wasn't on the top of my priority list, so I didn't worry about it. Today however, I am going to use this preparation Day to take care of unfinished business.

They had the Groundbreaking on the Temple site, but the image was broadcast to about 26 other church buildings. Members of the Quorum of the Seventy as well as Elder Gonzalez from the Presidency of the Seventy came. Elder Gonzalez dedicated the temple ground. The members are very excited about the coming of the temple. It is something that people have been waiting for for years: to have the blessings of the temple readily accessible for them and their families. President Hale brought several shovels for the groundbreaking and painted them Gold so they would look really fancy for the pictures. He gave each of the civil leaders a shovel, as well as some of the church leaders in the area. It was a wonderful event!

A few days ago the Car battery died and we needed to replace it. We were at Pepboys for a few hours because it took a while for them to take a look at the problem. When they discovered the problem, they replaced the battery and we were on our way. It took a lot of time out of our day though. 

We had our baptism with Analia not work out because she didn't come to church last week or this week. We met with her and she was doing pretty well. We hope that she will answer her phone, because it has been about two days since we talked to her. Georges needs to come to church one more Sunday so he can be baptized. He just needs to get work off. He works at a hotel and it has been hard because he has a coworker who had a heart attack, so he has been working almost every Sunday. 

I have learned so much about charity and about how to help other people. I have also learned so much about God since I have been out here in Florida. I will forever cherish the experience I have had in the mission field. 

Love,

Elder Seamons

Elder Seamons: "I have had to take a hard look at the kind of missionary who I want to be"

Hi Family and Friends,


I have had to take a hard look at the kind of missionary who I want to be. It was a hard week between the two of us. It is getting better, but Elder Furner is so direct and he points out when I need to change something. I think it is supposed to be that way, because for all my life there are certain things I haven't faced up to and problems I need to solve. The hard thing is that Elder Furner is able to discern how people are feeling, so every time I got mad and judged him, he was able to tell. I can't hide my feelings from him. He challenged me to tell him when he was doing something that bothered me, so I am going to start working on that. I just have a hard time dealing with the way he does things. But he is a very good missionary.

This week we had Georges come to church! We were so excited about that! He wasn't going to come because he has his two-year-old daughter with him and he can't ride on his bike to get to the church. But they we encouraged him to take the bus, and so he came. Georges is awesome! He has heard all the lessons and he wants to be baptized very badly. He knows that our message is true. If he comes to church next week, he will be baptized. We are very excited about that. He is already making friends with the members of the ward.
We also had an investigator named Crayda come to church, because her Fiance, Robinson, is a member of the Nova YSA branch, which meets in the same building with the Fort Lauderdale ward. He came down to attend church with her. We will talk to her this week and see what she thought of it.

We are hoping for a really good week this week, because we have been planning far in advance. We are trying to teach with better unity. Plus we have been communicating more, which is really good.

We also taught Rodeline and Viniel. They are still unsure about the date. We had a lesson with them where the spirit was very strong. We told them how they will know that the message we are sharing with them is true. They don't want to jump into it. We know they just need to have faith and move forward, and then they will be ready. People don't understand that we won't just baptize someone until they are ready. We have the power and authority to discern whether or not these people are ready. But they don't always have the faith and trust in God to know that it will turn out okay.

I need to go.

Love, Elder Seamons

"We have been finding many awesome investigators."

Sorry this has taken me so long to get out. I have been in a two week nightmare music education course that ended Friday. We had the opportunity today to go to Eric's first companion's homecoming. The first companion is called their trainer. He had great things to say about Eric and how well he is doing right now. We had our picture taken with him on my phone, and I have posted it at the bottom of the letter. Eric will be thrilled that we got to meet him.~Linda

Dear Family and Friends,


This week has been really good with missionary work. Elder Furner and I gave three people dates for them to be baptized and they were very excited about it. One of them is named Analia. She is a really outgoing Haitian woman who is really willing to act on our message. She is so funny. She was telling us about the dream she had the night before about how a really tall giant came to her and said, "Analia, you are always praying, and now today you will get something you need." She said that when she woke up she was waving her right arm and saying, "thank you Jesus thank you Jesus." She was showing us what she did and it was really funny. The day she had the dream was the day we returned and taught her another lesson. That was yesterday. She is awesome! She was so excited that we are teaching her. She said that she would be baptized on the 26th. The other two were Jeffery and his wife. Jeffery is in his 40's and he has serious ADHD, but he loves learning from us and he tells us that he was baptized as an infant, but that he feels it wasn't right and that he needs to be baptized again. He told me that he feels the spirit in this church and that it is something that he hasn't felt quite like that before. He says that this church is a 'living' church and not a 'dead' one, where the spirit of the Lord is not present. He recognizes that the spirit is with us and that this message can deeply bless his life. He loves to talk with people and he is very pure in heart—probably one of the most pure in heart I have ever met in my life. His wife is very nice too. Her name is Emma and she agreed to be baptized on July 24th with her husband and her family, if they choose to do it also. We haven't yet asked the kids if they want to be baptized.

We have been exacting our obedience so much lately, and we have been finding many awesome investigators. The work is going really well.

I am staying in Miami Shores for another transfer. This way we will be able to continue the success we started having together at the end of this transfer.

Love, Elder Seamons

"The mission is the hardest thing I have ever done."

June 6, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Things are going a little bit better. Elder Furner and I had a long talk, and we realized that there were a lot of assumptions going on about how each other was feeling and the reason why him or I said something. We are starting to understand each other a lot better.

We have been learning to become more unified as a companionship. Elder Furner is a nice missionary, but he has a very different personality and way of acting that I haven't come across before, so it has been a little hard. He is a very good companion and he is actually a lot like I am.

Rodeline has been progressing a lot. We have taught her five times, and she came to church with two of her children who are of baptismal age. She said that she is trying to find a church where she feels at home and she says that she knows that our message is true. We have taught Her, her husband Viniel, and her son Prince. We challenged them to be baptized on the 26th and they said they would pray about it, but they thought it was a little soon. They are coming to church again next week and She was invited to a relief society activity and she accepted. Prince said he would go to the Wednesday night activity. They are reading in the Book of Mormon a lot and are praying about it.

June 1st was the beginning of Hurricane season, so during our zone council, they did a hurricane preparedness training with all of the procedures we are supposed to follow. It is overdue for a hurricane now. If there is one, we will become service missionaries and we will help at red cross shelters. They have a packet about everything and we are supposed to read it. I have already started to look at it. We are also supposed to restock and replenish our 72-hour kits.

We have gotten a ton of new investigators this week. We had 10 of them. They were all pretty interested too.

We also are teaching a man named Georges, who is also from Haiti. He told us that he has seen changes in his life since he has started meeting with us and he says that he knows that the message is true. He will be baptized on June 19th. He has made friends with a few of the Haitian men in the ward. We tried to teach his brother who we figured out was a Jehovah's Witness, but he was trying to argue, so we are giving him the Book of Mormon and we told him to read and pray about it.

The mission is the hardest thing I have ever done. You get to know who your savior is so well. There have been several times that I have wondered if there wasn't an easier way to do this. I have had some low moments the last two weeks. President Hale at the training this week shared what Elder Holland said. He said that we are not the first ones to wonder that same thing. The greatest of them all also had that question. But there wasn't an easier way for Christ, and there won't be an easier way for us. But it will be the way that leads to the most joy.

Elder Furner and I have had a few rocky moments together. I do recognize why I needed to be with him and no one else. I know a lot better how to deal with a wife. That couldn't be much harder than this anyway. We haven't been getting in that many arguments or anything. It is just we both have things that bug us that the other person does. It has been getting a lot better though. He isn't a nightmare companion or anything. I don't want him made out to be that. He is very obedient, he follows preach my gospel, he tries his best, and he has a desire to help other people come unto Christ and have the direction of the Spirit with him.

Sister Mary Grove, Elder Giorgino and Elder Jensen's investigator was baptized. It was a great event. Sister Grove was in a drug rehabilitation center and overcame drug addictions. She also stopped smoking a week ago. It was great! Rodeline and her two oldest kids attended the baptism. The statistic is that 80% of people who see a baptism end up experiencing their own. Sister Grove has a very strong testimony of the Gospel and is very prepared. She is so awesome! We are very happy for her and the other Elders.

Today was crazy, because the power was out it a few places in the city. The Walmart we normally went to was closed because of it. The computers in the church Family History Center wasn't getting an internet connection, and the library we would have gone to was out of power as well, so we had to find another one. So many interesting things happen to us as missionaries.

Elder Furner and I have been working on teaching with unity, which has been a big struggle, so hopefully we can get that worked out. I have just been stressed out the last few weeks because the work has been harder.

I love Miami and I love the people here. I am doing pretty well! I love you all! I have to go now!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Companionships chosen in Heaven and a Zone Conference Photo

Sorry this is so late. My school got out on May 27th and we went to Disneyland with Ryan, Katrina and kids, plus Sara and a friend. 

The Fort Lauderdale temple ground breaking will be on June 18th, so that should be exciting. 

May 31, 2011

Dear family and friends,

This has been a more difficult week. Elder Furner is an extremely good teacher, planner, and he follows Preach My Gospel really well. It has been discouraging because he has corrected me a lot. He is not doing it in a mean way, but I see that he is very good at doing missionary work for how new he is in the mission. He is better at knowing what to do than I am most of the time. The one thing he needs to master is Creole. I don't really know how to help him out with it. He has told me that I space out a lot and that I don't listen half the time because I am so focused on something else or because I just get lost in thought. He told me that he hasn't felt like he can share things with me because of that. We are not very unified as a companionship. It has been hard. He has been discouraged since last transfer because he has not had a baptism since he has gotten in the mission and he has seen super prepared investigators who have fallen through and they shouldn't have. Many of them knew that what the missionaries were saying is true, but they chose not to continue. He says that every time he drops people like that, he feels like he is condemning them because he is cutting them off from the chance to receive the gospel. He feels like that has been his job in the mission since he started: to condemn people. He doesn't like it at all because the job of a missionary is to baptize.

He has pointed out my strengths, but he has also given me a lot of things to work on. He tells me that I am not very good at listening to him at all.

Elder Furner is so good at following preach my Gospel and his teaching, planning, finding, and communicating skills are really good. It is hard because I struggle at all of those things. Plus sometimes I have said the wrong thing and people have misunderstood me and might have gotten offended.

I am the senior companion, but I feel like the junior, because Elder Furner is leading out on lesson plans and he is always telling me that Preach My Gospel says different things and that we need to change them. He isn't mean about it, but I just don't feel like I am doing things right.

I have noticed that it is hard to think of others when I myself feel like I haven't had my spiritual needs met. But I am trying.

At the transfer meeting, Sister Hale talked about divine intertwining or divine rendezvous. She said that these companionships were chosen by Heaven and that we were together for a very good reason.

This week we met an amazing family with a woman named Rodeline. She is from Haiti. Her husband's name is Viniel. She ordered a Bible from the church and we gave it to her. We told her that we teach about how people rejected the prophets and apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven and how because of that, they were killed and the church of Jesus Christ fell. We told her about how we have a prophet that God has put on the earth in the last days. We told her that at the door and she immediately invited us to come in and share a message without us even asking. She told us how she has always wondered what happened to the prophets, but no pastor she asked could tell her the answer. She said this was the first time she got an answer to the question. She was excited about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. We met with her husband the next time. We have met with them three times in 8 days and they were at all of their appointments. We had a really spiritual lesson with them and Sister Castillo, the Relief society President. She wants to come back to teach them again. They have four kids and they want to take them to church.

Rodeline is a stay at home mom who is married! Finally someone who is not working (on Sunday), or pregnant but not married. Florida has so many of those. She also told us that she can recognize spiritual promptings. We are going to offer them a date to be baptized in the next lesson and we will start teaching the kids too.

I will talk to you later.

Love,

Elder Seamons

The mission had zone conferences last week and they took a picture of each zone. Eric looks like he is laughing at what someone is saying as he has a big smile on his face. Click on the photo to see it bigger.

"Today has been exactly 11 months since I entered the MTC."

Hello everyone! I cannot believe the time has passed so fast. Today it has been exactly 11 months since I entered the MTC. I will hit my year mark next transfer. So many things have happened to me since then.


This week we worked super hard to get to know the members. We talked to an awesome Haitian member named Sister Monestine who has a friend who she wants us to sit down with this week. Also, Saturday at 5:00 pm. Sister Monestine has invited one of our investigators named Natasha to eat at her house and do a lesson. They just live a few houses away from each other on the same street. Natasha loved the church meetings because everyone was so friendly.

Elder Furner and I have talked a lot about being unified as a companionship and working together, because we do not teach with unity. He pointed out that I sometimes zone out when people are talking to me and I don't always listen because of it. I realize that I can lose focus, so that is something I need to work on. He is also really good at being obedient and focusing on what Preach My Gospel has to say about something. We talked a lot and we realized a lot of things that we can work on. He is a good missionary and he is really nice. I just sometimes let myself get offended because I don't want to face my weaknesses. I am learning a lot from him about how to help other people better.

Well, I have to go. I will talk to you all later! Bye! I love you all very much!

Love,

Elder Seamons

This is his letter to the president:

Hi President Hale! We have had a fairly good week. We are working on becoming more unified as a companionship and I am working on listening to Elder Furner. He is a very good companion and he knows how to work well with people. He also understands what a Preach My Gospel missionary truly is. We are going to increase our finding efforts and our member presents this week.

I have many weaknesses that I need to overcome. I have recognized and I have been shown them. I know the Lord can help me overcome them if I am humble enough to let him.

I know that this mission is the right place for me and that it is one of the greatest experiences of my life. I am growing in ways that will bless me throughout all eternity. Thank you so much for your blessing on Friday and for the counsel in it. We love you very much. Thank you! I love you!

Love,

Elder Seamons

Appendicitis!

May 16, 2011

Mom, Dad. You won't believe what has happened to us this week. It has been rough.

Tet Chaje! This was an interesting week, let me tell you. Dad: "I hope you have had a safe, productive, educational week." Well, the safe part, we are safe now, though it didn't start out that way. Productive, missionary work was slowed down because of the problems we had. Educational, I learned a lot. It was more amusing than anything else. We had a huge surprise come our way Monday night.

So 9:40 Monday night, we were planning and Elder Furner had terrible side pains. He had a little nausea with it as well. He was groaning, and couldn't concentrate. Elder Giorgino came in and immediately said that it was appendicitis. We were all surprised by that. Several members of his family had to get their appendix removed, so that was his first assumption. We called the mission medical advisor and after making some calls, she told us to go to the emergency room. She gave us three places to go to. Two of them weren't hospitals, just rehabilitation centers. So two hours later we finally made it to the emergency room. The guy at the desk said it was probably appendicitis. They put him in a room, hooked an IV into him, and the nurses started asking a lot of questions and doing an assessment. Finally an hour and a half later the doctor came in and did an assessment and diagnosed it as appendicitis, saying he would probably have to do a surgery. He wanted to be sure, so they took blood and urine samples, and then we waited for two and a half hours for them to call him in to do the ct scan. He was not a high priority on their list. Elder Giorgino and Elder Harless were with us for the first hour and a half, but then President told them to take the car and go home and sleep. Finally at 5:30 in the morning the results came back and said he would need to go into surgery. The surgeon was scheduled to come in at 7:00, so they would do the surgery around 7:15. When Elder Furner first started having the pains, he said it was about a 7 out of 10. For the rest of the night, he said he was about at a 5 out of 10. Neither of us got any sleep that night. The surgery lasted for 30 minutes.

Elder Furner was very drugged up when I first went into the recovery room, so I waited for a half-an-hour until he was put in his hospital room. His side hurt and he was exhausted. I went into the hospital room and laid in the reclining chair and slept for an hour and a half. The zone leaders came in and gave Elder Furner a get better soon card. Then around 5:00 pm Elder Harless came to take my place for the night in the hospital. I went home and went straight to sleep again.

Elder Furner has had a rough start. With in his first 10 weeks of the mission, Elder Clark and him got in a serious car wreck in which the car got totaled, which gave him some back pains, and then he had this happen. The joke in the apartment is what will happen to him next transfer.

Elder Furner won't be able to bike for at least a month, so we will need to do everything by car.

I feel like I am at a seven right now. It is hard coping with a new area, but I am getting used to it very quickly.

There was a Haitian Flag Day festival at the church. It was really awesome. They had Haitian Folklore dancing (a dance style in Haiti) which some of the young women did. There are a ton of Haitian member of the church down here. It is really awesome. The food was really good too. I love Haitian food!

Love,

Elder Seamons

This is part of Eric’s letter to the president.

Hello President! How are you doing?

This week we got less done in both Miami Shores North and Miami Shores South due to the problem with Elder Furner. Elder Furner was going to come with me on Sunday for some appointments, but then Elder Harless got a fever and didn't sleep the whole night before, so Elder Furner was a perfect candidate to stay home. I am learning this area and all of the members so quickly. It is amazing me. I got several members to come out with me. Elder Giorgino and I went out together, but sometimes we both had an exchange so we could go into our own perspective areas and continue the work. I am learning better than ever to use member in the work. We had a Haitian Flag Day celebration at the church and it was an awesome event! I love the Haitian people so much! We got an investigator named George at the event and he felt at home. He loved the church, the people, and the cultural aspects of the activity.

We have four strong progressing investigators, and we have been using member support to help all of them. We also are working with two less member named Virginie and Ricardo who Elder Chandler and Elder Sheppard baptized. Sister Farah, one of the members, has been helping fellowship them and is coming to our next appointment. She is going to talk about the temple, how it has blessed her, and she will invite them to the groundbreaking on June 18th.

  

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

Love,

Elder Seamons