A Miracle From On High

Mommy!!!!

So Lori sent me a gift card to Walmart :) Money I can spend on whatever! Haha. She sent the Sour Cream Chicken recipe, too, which I forgot to bring with me today to shop... She also said she was the one that sent that orange envelope which came with nothing in it. Mystery solved. Lori is awesome!

This week on Friday M L W was baptized and confirmed yesterday. That's 3 this month, which is the goal President Holm has for each missionary by the time he goes home (a.k.a. 250 baptisms a month for the mission). M L W is a miracle from on high. She lost her home and Sister V, a single old lady in our ward, met her at the library and invited her to live with her. So Sister V introduced us and we taught her. 2 weeks later she was baptized, and she was done with the Book of Mormon before she was confirmed. She is already on her second time through and it's been 18 days since she picked it up. WOW.

Remember the family from Burma I mentioned earlier? Well we still go over there about once a week trying to get B, the brother, interested. We'll get there. Anyways we went and saw T T  at her job making sushi at Publix, a rich person grocerie store. We bought some and I am in love with Spicy Tuna. She loved seeing us and she said she was talking to B and he said "Elder Seaver really cares about me. He is so patient."  That made me happy.

President Holm sent a message to the mission and asked us to get at least 10 members of our wards to have mormon.org profiles by Zone Conference (for us December 13, all of em are the next couple days after that) for a pilot study. I think I mentioned that earlier? It's something he and the Church are coming up with, and they picked Pres Holm because of his experience as CEO of World Banking Corp. We so far have 11 in our ward, and working hard on more.

So our car was over 50,000 miles last week which meant we were to get a new one. Since I don't bike we just traded with the Elders down in Greenwood. They have a "car share" which means there are 4 of them and they swap who drives all day and who rides bikes. Since they use the bike rack, which used to be on the trunk of the old cars and is now a hitch thingy on the new ones to save scratches, they get the new car and we get their 42,000 mile '08 Malibu. We got it since we don't use the bike rack and it'll save this car the scratches. It's way better than the old tiny '09 Corolla we had. I despised that tiny car. It's more like driving a lunchbox than a car, but this Malibu rocks. So nice. :)

I found out that the random really tall spots of grass are actually wild onions! I have picked some and am gonna use em to cook soon as I think of a recipe. It's awesome.

Oh yeah, Thanksgiving! So funny to hear about Chumlee :) It reminded me of that time we saw him sneaking off with that ice-cream cup from Iceburg, remember? Hahaha. I'm glad he's ok. I now know that no matter what Jen says about Chumblebee she really does love him, or she wouldn't have saved his life :D We ate dinner with the Loudins, a recently reactivated family who's oldest son just got baptized (he was 8 so it wasn't a convert baptism)! It was a lot of fun! Normal food except for more Southern macaroni and cheese. It's so much better down here! There's egg in it and all kinds of stuff that makes it super good! We went to the Woods' house after and had a lot of fun with them. They're so awesome! I love going there cause they're from Utah and it's fun to talk about it. We also got to borrow like 20 talks on CD of John Bytheway from them. It's awesome!

We saw a commercial when we were at someone's house that is Chuck Norris and World of Warcraft. It's super funny! Check it out haha.

This Friday and Saturday we tried some new finding efforts - we went to the Anderson Mall and handed out 100 pass-alongs and Saturday we did the same thing at the Jockey Lot (the biggest flea market in South Carolina). It was a lot of fun. In total we handed out 227 cards in 3 hours. Very efficient, but I don't think we'll do it again very soon. It was sketchy, and I was worried the whole time that I might get kicked out hahaha. We asked store owners at the mall, though, and some of them even took 15 or so and put them by the register to hand out! The Southerners love handing out stuff with Jesus on it, especially around Christmas :)

So I have been praying for a new investigator to get baptized this coming month, and guess what?! Prayer answered! Some random South American guy named O is on date for the 17. He is "ready to make some big changes to be a better person." :D

Can you send me that CD I wanted...? Also I need a copy of the BYU Choir CD I have for President. He wants one haha. Please and thankyou!

So I have a couple other things I wanna say, but I'll save it for a letter home.

This ward is just flat out awesome.

I love you guys so much!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

P.S. Forgot to mention: Black Widow appeared and played a main role in Iron Man 2, and was played by Scarlett Johannson. I'm pumped to read about the rest of them and see the movie when I get home! Can we all dress up, too? I call Hulk so I can go shirtless.

Crazy Stuff is Happening Here in the Good ol' South

Mommy dearest

C and M got baptized this weekend! It was so awesome!!! And we had an investigator from last Sunday, M show up and watch and she is going to get baptized this weekend! Crazy stuff is happening here in the good ol' South. There is also an awesome guy in our ward named R M, who was baptized last Oct and got ordained an Elder during Stake Conference, who is helping us teach his 2 friends, D and T.  They are married.  They're all old, but R M is awesome and his friends are gonna get baptized, probably in December. 

We had our Primary Program, too, and it was awesome. Very cute! There were 2 little girls, about 6 I think, who sang solos and rocked hardcore. It was awesome.

I'm glad Jami's teeth went well! I was praying all week for her. That's so funny (the stuff she said)! Did she keep the teeth? Does she want me to make brass knuckles out of ‘em so she can bite people and punch them at the same time, or does she want cuff links and earrings?

Thanksgiving has been dubbed a "member day" meaning we spend maximum time at members' houses. We are being fed by the Loudins for sure, and probably a bit at every house we visit.

Also, yes I spent the night with Elder Thompson and I slept in Elder Benson's bed. We just swapped for 24 hours.

So about the stuff you're sending me. First of all, thanks for sending the stuff last week (I'll write Jenni a letter later today). So... Where did you get that rabbit fur you sent? Did I have that? It is so random! Hahahaha. I lovelovelove getting letters, and I can never have too many! I do my best to write back to all of them.

The Preach My Gospel DVD's can be bought on the LDS website, store.lds.org, and they're like $6 or something.

Can y'all figure out what I need to do to vote absentee for El Presidente?

Sister Addison (who added me on Facebook last night FYI) and Brother Woods (who y'all already accepted, according to him) both offered to let me use their computer to Skype you guys for Christmas instead of just phone call. So do whatever y'all need to do to get it all set up and let me know alrighty? :)

James has us keep up his Facebook account.  He is making lots of friends on his mission and he writes us and tells us who to add.

Last night we went to the Addisons' to drop off some pamphlets he wanted to have to hand out and stuff, and guess what was on the tv?! The last 30 laps of the race! Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. Crazy. Tony won, not my favorite ending, but it sure was fun to watch!

So I was reading a talk in the conference issue y'all sent me and I wanted to share some stuff I learned from it. Richard G. Scott's talk on the scriptures: The scriptures have the potent power to heal emotional challenges, and accelerate physical healing. I never thought about physical healing! Read the scriptures! I know I will - I'll also be praying for Carl and Jen!

Ok that's about all I have for this week. Love y'all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

a.k.a. it ROCKS!

All righty my dear family, here is the update on the work for this week- 

Basically we have been struggling to find new investigators and to get our current ones to progress. So C and M have been off the radar for a while. We couldn't get a hold of them or anything. But they have recently started texting us back. C's mom "needs help" with something or other, just what we're not sure, and they have been gone, but they really want to get baptized, and hopefully we will see them tomorrow and get 'em in da wata!

This Sunday at church we had 4 less-active people we had recommitted to their baptismal covenants show up. It's just as sweet to watch them sit there in Sacrament meeting as it is to watch someone get baptized - a.k.a. it ROCKS! We also just so happened to have 5 investigators at church. We have been working hard and praying a lot for some new people to teach, and the ward brought 3 new people - all of whom want to learn more and get baptized - all on their own. YAY!

Also this week I went up to Seneca, the only other area in our district, with Elder Thompson (an Elder who came out with me) for Wednesday at noon to Thursday at noon. It was fun to get out in a new area, and I got to drive while there, too! I love driving. The Seneca Elders are in the town Central which is right next to the college city Clemson. It was fun to knock dorms and whatnot. We nailed our goal numbers by 7 PM so we decided to go to Clemson institute. It was my first time in an institute class! There were 2 kids from my ward here in Anderson there, too, which made me happy. It was a lot of fun. I also had a question while I was sitting there: can you attend institute if you're married?

Oh mom, you have no idea what I'd give to mow a lawn right now. The lawns out here are uncared for and just horrible. I hate it :p I would love to grab a mower and some weed'n'feed and go at it for a few hours. It's just bad. Hahaha. I'm glad to hear the season is over for you though! I heard it snowed in Utah last week?

So I've gained a testimony about marrying within the Faith. I refuse to marry a non-member now. I know in some cases (you and dad) it works out, but not in any out here. There are over 60% of the ward less-active, and over half of them have a non-member spouse. There are only 3 people in our ward who have a non-member husband and still come to church. It's crazy.

I'm so glad to hear primary is going well.  I wish so bad I could see you up there singing. Surprisingly, I actually miss your singing, mom.

I wrote grandpa and grandma Hanna letters last week for their birthdays. I hope they got em.

Ok here is the random stuff section:

This week I set my watch alarm for 11:11 on 11/11/11, PM though cause I forgot AM.. :) only happens twice every 100 years.

I heard you can buy a teflon-coated suit now. SICK!

Every Sunday after Gospel Principles, going over to Priesthood, all the women gather around the door. We teach in the Relief Society room, so they all wait outside the door, Young Women included. It's like walking through the freaking gauntlet with all those 18-22 year-old single girls just hanging around and smelling nice and looking pretty. It's jacked up.

Mosiah 12:1 is hilarious. Abinadi is "in disguise" so no one notices him, and the first thing he says is "The Lord has told me 'Abinadi go and prophesy!'" He blows his cover within 1 verse! Haha.

So we got a message saying any packages you want to send me for Christmas, if sent by the 1st, will be brought to me. Otherwise I'll have to wait till the 21st. No biggie, just info.

The package you sent me last Friday I just got today. But, and this is a big but, the Office holds all mail the week of transfers (last week) till they know where everyone is. So I don't know when I would have normally gotten it...

Elder Thompson has not gotten 1 letter since he's been here. His family emails him, but they don't write, and no one else does either. I'm thinkin’ about asking my lady-friends who I have addresses for to write him once or twice. Think that's a good idea?

Man I love you guys, and I have more to write, so I'll send a letter home to ya.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH IT'S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE TO WRITE DOWN IN WORDS!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

Transfer 1 is Over

Well, transfer 1 is over. I made it halfway through training. I'm ready to move along now; I will finish up training with Elder Greear.

So on to some good news. I AM APPROVED TO DRIVE! It takes some missionaries up to a year to get approved to drive mission vehicles, but I got approved on the 24th and just found out this week! I am still not "designated driver" so I can't drive unless absolutely necessary, but I like to know I can :)

Brother H, the 2nd counselor in the bishopric, plays the drums. His band back in high school recorded 1 song. That song got sold by one of their band members to a film company. That song ended up being the theme song for a porn movie, and he is credited at the end. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  He actually didn't tell me this story, and doesn't know I know, a guy in the ward told me. Haha.

So here is some sad news. I got a letter from the mission office in the mail the other day. In it was an orange Hallmark envelope with 3 stamps on it, kinda smashed, and completely empty. Sister Lewis from the office said they received it empty and was sorry... Do you have any idea who that is from?

The blog! I saw it on Friday for just a minute! IT ROCKS!!!!! As far as confidential goes, yeah I'm glad you're leaving some stuff out. The Brethren in SLC have asked missionaries with blogs to leave out investigators last names, but first is fine. People will search out missionary blogs, look for names and cities, and go and anti them. Dumb eh?

Yeah the District stuff is DVDs though I'm not sure where you could get ‘em. Look on LDS.org maybe? They have most of the stuff you can buy from the church there.

Halloween - we had 1 person knock, and they were gone by the time we got to the door. Good thing, too, since we had no candy! Hahahaha.

I am so buff now. It's ridiculous. I'm just freaking built now. Haha. My arms are getting so huge. I am loving it! Hahahaha. I guess it would be better to run or something, but I love having huge arms. Haha. It's getting hard to scratch my back and head and stuff cause they're so big. Haha. My suit coat is getting tight, too. :)

Family pictures when I get home will be awesome. Hopefully there is a new baby, a new husband, and a new wife by then. Yes, I mean my wife.

I have some other stuff to say to say so I will write you when I get back to my apartment.  I'm just running short on time. The library only gives us 45 minutes, and I still have to write President.

So I will probably send the package I want to send you closer to the 21^st.   I want to finish the training book before that so I can send it home.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH IT'S JUST CRAZY!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver