The Grass is Greener on This Side

Dear mother,

The grass here is all green. It's not even hard for people to grow stuff, so they don't even bother with their lawns and whatever. It's just all green and overgrown, but somehow still beautiful - at times anyway. The Kudzu is nasty. It eats trees. But randomly there will be purple flowers growing in trees and stuff that are pretty. Don't know what they are. Anyway, moral of the story, the grass is greener on this side. :)

Z.'s baptism was stinkin’ awesome! B., Z.'s brother, baptized him, and N., his bro-in-law, confirmed him! It was just fantastic! Everything about it was great. I love baptisms! As a coincidence, we got to go to Augusta on Saturday before Z.'s baptism to watch one of Elder Cramer's investigators from his last area get baptized. It was great! She is an African American lady with a tattoo on her shoulder that says "100% black" haha.

W. P. didn't come to church on Sunday. Again. But this time he had a legit reason- he rode his motorcycle to Tennessee to leave flowers on his wife's grave. So. Hard to compete Gospel against family, especially when the Gospel is centered on family. D. didn't come to church either for some reason... I'm a lill’ worried, but not too much. Conference is coming up, and I'm 99.9% sure she's gonna watch it. You can put your money on the Prophet. 

So that's basically all there is to report this week. Now on to random other stuff.

Can you do me el favor? Get the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, and if you can find it "World's Greatest Salesman" by someonewho'snameIdonothaveatthecurrenttime. Don't send 'em to me yet, cause I still have to ask President if I can read them on p-day, but I will for sure read them when I get home.

Question for anyone who knows the answer- Why do dirt and sand roads get all bumpy, especially when they're dry? Like, they get all ridgey and like a washboard. I don't understand the science behind that, and it's stinkin' annoying............

Note to anyone looking for a particularly spiritual experience- Mormon Messages on LDS.org: A Testimony of the Book of Mormon, and Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God, both by Jeffery R. Holland.

That's about it for me this week. Love you guys so much! 

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

That's South Cakalaki For Ya

Dear Mommy,

My new companion is none other than.... Elder Cramer from Las Vegas! He is so awesome. As an "it's a small world" note, his uncle is Mr. Cramer, the photo teacher at MV. Yeah. He's been out about 62.5% of his mission so far.

Elder Stever (yes, Seaver and Stever live together. Confusing? Yes.) is Elder Harper's new companion. He is awesome. Elder Wilcock trained him oh-so-very long ago. P.S. Elder Wilcock- I mean Seth- is sleeping safely and happily in Gilbert, AZ now... I miss that guy...... Elder Thompson, from my first district in Anderson, replaced Elder Wilcock and is in my district once again! The Zone leaders are Elder Law and Elder Waugh (pronounced like the sound you use to describe the sound of a dirt bike). So yes, wa-la! Waugh-Law! Elder Waugh and I went to high school together, for those of you who may know him. We had Seminary together my junior year. It's awesome! We had some time together when the ZL's came down to interview Z. and shoulder-angel D. (teach together with us. A super powerful 4-man/angel assault of Spirit!) Our Zone is stacked with awesome missionaries right now! Good things are going to happen!

Speaking of good things happening, Z. is getting baptized on Saturday! I'm so pumped! Lots of prayers have gone towards that, and I want to say thank you to all of those who have prayed for him- we couldn't have done it without you! D.V. has agreed to baptism on the 7th of April! She wanted to see the Prophet in action first. :) W. P., the guy I told you about last time who walked in the church, is on date for the 14th, too. So many great things are happening!

So, this question goes out to anyone who may have a solution: is there any perfume or anything with the scent of "tea olive"? Kindly respond soon if there is. I want it.

I don't know if I told you Jenni, but the frame you got me for Christmas has the little USB slot in it y'know? And I can use it to charge my GPS hahaha. Genius!

We heard a talk at Zone Conference from Elder Holland. It was amazing. He spoke about Peter the Apostle and just wow. I have been studying Peter and his life ever since. I will one day hope to share it with you, but typing it just doesn't do it justice...

Well that is really all I have this week. It seems like the busiest weeks have the least to write... Same as in my journal- the busy days are the shortest entries. Wonder why... That's South Cakalaki for ya.

I love you all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

Miracles Happen!

So um. Basically right after I read your email, but before I started writing this guy named W. just walked in to the church and found us emailing. W. has questions! His wife passed away and he is in need of guidance. So basically he's a new investigator. 

MIRACLE MOMENT!

Dear mom,

So to answer the Chihuahua question- he just has 27 of em running around mating and barking all day. No reason. Just fun. 

So yes we remembered to set our clocks ahead, but D. didn't. She came to church about 10 minutes late. We were pretty sad she didn't show, but then she did, so all is well! It was ward conference yesterday and President McArthur pounded the pulpit and told the ward they won't gain salvation unless they do missionary work. :D

It's so great hearing about other people going on missions! It's way exciting. I love being a missionary! Oh yeah, I just remembered. This Wednesday is transfers. I will be staying in Aiken, and Elder Harper will be in Coker Springs, but our companions are getting transferred. 

I'm really excited for Kory! He's such a stud :) Wow what a guy. I miss him. I hope he has a great mission!

So am I still supposed to be expecting a package,]? '( P.S. will this have Máiréad's fiddle album in it? The other Elders are anxiously awaiting that. Oh yeah, along those lines, I gave all those YuGiOh cards you sent me to a kid in the ward. He needed them more than I did :) I love giving stuff to people. That's why I want those games to give to Z. :D

That's about it.. Love you guys!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

Miracles happen!

The Parting Glass

Of all the money e'er I had,I spent it in good company.
And all the harm I've ever done,
Alas! it was to none but me.
And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all. Oh, all the comrades e'er I had,
They're sorry for my going away,
And all the sweethearts e'er I had,
They'd wish me one more day to stay,
But since it falls unto my lot,
That I should rise and you should not,
I gently rise and softly call,
Good night and joy be with you all. If I had money enough to spend,
And leisure time to sit awhile,
There is a fair maid in this town,
That sorely has my heart beguiled.
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips,
I own she has my heart in thrall,
Then fill to me the parting glass,
Good night and joy be with you all.

Anderson was sweet, Aiken is sweet, and South Carolina is sweet!

Dear mom,

 

This week has been weird. We got almost nothing done. We had Zone Conference (Elder Cardon is still in Augusta, so we got to spend the day together again!) and learned a ton. We watched a video of Elder Holland speaking at the MTC from Jan 2011, and it was amazing. But before that day and after that day we had an awful time. Some people are lacking motivation lately. Some Elders here complain about hating every aspect of South Carolina and missionary work.... No bueno. But, on the flip side, you are right. Every single day I love it more and more here! Anderson was sweet, Aiken is sweet, and South Carolina is sweet!

 

Anywho, remember our investigator Z. So Z. is living with his dad and his dad's girlfriend and her kids right? Yeah. And his "sister" got married Saturday in the Columbia temple! She is way hot. Hahah. We got permission to go, but unfortunately we don't have enough miles to travel that distance, besides the fact that it would have wasted our day (in hind sight our day was useless anyways, so it wouldn't have been so bad..).

 

I've been reading the scriptures lately looking for verses to help motivate the other Elders. I found this one today in Doctrine & Covenants: 30:2

"But your mind has been on the things of the earth more than on the things of me, your Maker, and the ministry whereunto you have been called; and you have not given heed unto my Spirit, and to those who were set over you, but have been persuaded by those whom I have not commanded."

I shared it with them, but they showed no positive feedback (Except Elder Harper, our district leader. He's in the same boat as me trying to motivate our companions). I hope it impacted them though, because the work is suffering. Precious souls are in need of the Gospel, and we don't get to share it with them.

Ok I totally forgot to tell you that we went to Brother S.'s house and did service this week. We cleaned out his shed and helped him fix it up. Let me mention- he has 20 or so chickens, 3 turkeys (one of which was laying in the middle of the shed on rocks it thought were its eggs so it was super protective in nesting mode and it hissed like a snake when we walked past it), 2 big dogs, and 27 Chihuahuas. I was rolling around on the floor with the Chihuahuas after we were done working with him and one of em bit me on the elbow! I hope it wasn't radioactive, because Chihuahua Man is really lame for a superhero concept. Anyway, it was all good fun! I only lost a bit of elbow skin and a couple popped blood vessels. 

Love you all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver