So Get This, We Whitewashed

Dear mom,

I am now in.... Gilbert, SC, in the West Columbia Zone! My companion is Elder Stanley from Santaquin. He is reallllllly awesome! So get this, we whitewashed. That means we came in both of us new to the area. This area had sisters for almost 2 years and we just replaced them! It's nuts! We are still trying to figure out where the stink we are. And to make it even better the bishopric in this ward got reorganized- new bishop, new 2nd councilor, same 1st though.

A bit about the area- we live in Sister Riley (this 82-year-old lady who goes out every day to work on the house she is building for someone- yes, she is 82 and still can swing a hammer as hard as I can)'s trailer at the end of this really creepy dirt road. It's pretty small compared to my last apartment, but I really like it. The area is HUGE and we have a ton of little, pretty nice communities. We are about 30 minutes from the mission office in Irmo, and we are part of the Lexington district. Remember how Aiken had all the polo horses and stuff? Well, Aiken county is the neighbor of Lexington, and I can throw a rock from the edge of our area to a member's home from Aiken that I've been inside. It's pretty weird being so close to my old area. Anyway, back to the polo horses. There are still a ton of dirt roads and horses out here. There is also this neighborhood that is a bunch of houses and small-plane hangers built in an oval around a runway. People here just fly around all day! It's pretty cool!

So basically this week we just tried to get our bearings. We still aren't really sure what the heck is going on, but the WML Brother Bryant helped us get on track with what the sisters had been doing and whom they were working with. No investigators, just leads right now. We also found 2 families to teach this week. We're going back Wednesday. There is one single mom, and 3 kids, who live with her parents. There are 4 baptismal-aged people there and just down the road another single mom and her 5 kids, with yet again 4 baptisms. We are looking forward to some miracles and 8 baptisms :p LOFTY goal, but still possible with prayer and fasting. :D

As for Mother's Day, I already talked to our neighbors, the Harbors (Sister Riley's daughter) and they invited us over that Sunday to SKYPE. 

If you're looking for some fun entertainment, look up Flemish Giant Rabbits and the Jerry Lewis Memory Test. Brother Brooks, who drove me to transfers, from the Coker Springs ward, told me about 'em. The memory test is way fun, and the rabbit is HUGE! It's like the size of a golden retriever. Maybe not that big, but pretty dang close!

Stink Scarlett is walking! THAT'S NUTS! SHE'S SO OLD!!!!

Chumlee is passing out? That is so funny and sad! I wish I could be there to see that :p Take pictures or a video next time please ha-ha.

That's about it for this week y'all! Love ya!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

Yay Jami!

Dear Mom,

Yay Jami! :D I hope you loved the temple, and I'm jealous you get to work there.

To answer your last question, the next transfer date is Wednesday. Unfortunately, and contrary to what we all thought, I am being transferred! I wanted to stay in Aiken with Elder Cramer longer... We all also thought Elder Harper would be leaving since he's been here 4 1/2 months. But nope. Just me. I am still excited though that I will be moving on to a new place to serve the Lord's sheep! P.S. D. V. got a letter from President and Sister Holm welcoming her to the church and being all nice and congratulatory. Yesterday when we told her I was leaving she said she is going to write and complain to President for taking me away :p

We had a good week! We tried a new thing of contacting at least 10 people during prime time (6-9PM). We got lots of good new people from it and lots of fun times!

There isn't really much more to say this week since I'm leaving. I've already started a mind-purge so as to make the transition easier.

We ate dinner with the Haggerty family a few days ago. They have this cat that thinks he is a dog (they have a big ol' dog, and the cat spends too much time with him, I guess). The cat will see a bird in the yard and start "barking" at it, which just sounds like coughing. It's super funny. He eats grass and poop and stuff. Sister Haggerty hates them both :p She also does this really funny thing to her kids (The oldest is about to go on a mission and the youngest is 10). When they smart-mouth or disobey she says "Your older brother Steve said that once. He's no longer with us." Or "Steve snuck out once. Unfortunate choice for him..." Haha. Her kids totally believed (the 10-year-old still does) that there used to be a Steve who got... erased. :p

Well that's about it for this week. Love y'all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

P.S. Dad, in response to your letter, yes I am still working out. My forearms are huge now. This apartment didn't have any weights or anything, but there were cinderblocks under my bed that I use to curl and stuff haha. I hope the next apartment has stuff. That workout band thing y'all got me for Christmas is way sweet, too. Lots of good workouts with it. I sure do miss wrestling with you though...

Well, I'll Keep Working Hard!

Mom,

Sheesh woman, quit saying your life is boring! If you had heard how many times I gasped reading that email you would think otherwise!

Eww mint jelly?

So as for who baptized and whatnot- we ask the member. The hope is that we have ingrained them enough with the ward that they want members there to do all the stuff. Missionaries leave, but the ward does not, yknow? If they're converted to the missionaries, they go inactive when we leave. So we try hard to get them friends in the ward. For example, Z. had his brother B. baptize him and his bro-in-law N. confirm him. With D. V., she wanted me to baptize her since I was the only missionary there from beginning to end, and Bro Detwiler (he and his wife are ward missionaries, about D.'s age, and they all really enjoy each other. They helped us teach D. from the beginning lesson) confirmed her.

That's so funny Brother Rosenberg corrected their grammar. That reminds me, you haven't corrected my bad grammar once since I've been out here! Thanks mommy, for finally loving me enough to overlook my shortcomings :) Heehee

Kyle is taller than you?! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reina is pregnant?! WWOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So mom, there is a road here that reminds me of breakfast throughout Jr. high. Shady Pines. If you can figure that out, great. If not, I'm not explaining cause I'd feel super gay telling the whole world why that's funny :p

Remember "Lydi-isms" from L. in Anderson? Well there is a 4-year-old girl in Aiken named R. who has added many Lydi-isms to my list. For example, the newest addition "My foot got bored" meaning "I sat on my foot, cut the circulation off, and caused a numb/tingly feeling, i.e. 'My foot is asleep.'" Hahahaha

Bishop Bright, former bishop of Aiken (Yes dad, I said former, just like you said to. Former is NOT the same as ex.), told us how bishops are called. He said the higher-ups go into a ward; find the most spiritual, scripturally learned, righteous, kind, loving, funny, enthusiastic, gospel-centered, encouraging, faithful member; then call her husband to be bishop. Hahahaha

Well that's about it this week. We're still looking for people to teach. We found a guy named B. and we're just starting to work with him. Hopefully he'll progress, and his family, too! But mostly we're working on finding new investigators. BRP and tracting. Yum.

Love y'all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

Mommy, I really love you. I've been super trunky the last couple days. Just wanting the comforts of home. Sleep, mostly. But not nearly bad enough to even consider for a moment actually going home. It's just way too important and awesome to be here for me to quit now. We're just kinda stuck in a funk- nothing to do but knock doors. It's fun to meet so many people, but tiring, too.

Well, I'll keep working hard!

Love ya, woman!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

This Week Was Super Great

Dearest Momsie and Popsicle,

This week was super great! Thanks to the prayers of many, D. V. was baptized! I baptized her, and it was just super sweet! She had been expressing concern about "not being sure" if she was feeling the Spirit's influence or not, but at her baptism she was all teary-eyed and crying, so I know she felt it. He was definitely there.

We have been teaching the "new member lessons" (the same lessons before they get baptized, but again after they have been. Also a 5th lesson about different auxiliaries and stuff) to Z. with his brother B.. B is 17 and preparing for a mission, so we had the impression to have him take the lead in teaching and we just back him up with testimony and false-doctrine-correction as needed :p

That's so great about Sam getting his call! I'm so stoked for him! He's gonna do great out there!

Well, that's about it for us here in SCCM. Remember to get your mormon.org profiles done so I can look up your testimonies and pretty faces on Wednesday!

Oh yeah, about that. Dad, that little snippit you sent me about Dayton's Legs is awesome. I'd seen those videos a while ago, and I really love it! There are actually 2 versions of it. The one you sent me is the inspirational uplifting story, and the other version is about how that fits into the new Duty to God program. It reminded me about Duty to God. We have got to get every young man to do that inspired program ASAP! Look at how many lives it can touch!

I love y'all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

So, anyways, I forgot to tell y'all. The Masters was this last week. It's kinda a big deal around here. So much so that people clean up their houses, stock it up, then go on vacation and rent their houses out all week for thousands of dollars to people who come down to watch. It's nuts! But now it's over... Polo season is back in the spotlight. Yes, horse polo is a huge deal here. We're hoping for a match on a Monday so we can go watch, or for an investigator that is a jockey or something.

K that's about it. Love ya!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

Conference Was Amazing

Dear Mother,

Well this week was awesome! We worked stinkin’ hard and did a ton! I went on an exchange with Elder Waugh (From MV). We had a ton of fun, too! D. V. is getting baptized this Saturday. I'm so stoked!

Conference was amazing. It's way different watching it as a missionary. The things I hear and take notes on are totally different now than ever before. I was amazed when we were talking to D. V. afterwards and she said something like, "All they really said was repeats of what you told me already." That made me realize how simple and easy the Doctrine of Christ is, and how important it is that the Apostles even teach about it! I mean, they could teach about all the deep doctrine in the world, but they choose to speak on simple, basic principles.

By the way, we watch conference at the church. We aren't allowed to watch it at members' houses. But we did go to our ward missionaries' house (The Detwilers) for dinner with D. V. in between Sunday sessions.

So I found a kid, Braydon Astol (I think that's his last name), from my choir class last year singing in the missionary choir during conference. That was cool!

I found in my studies the following interesting fact- James is the English form of the Hebrew name Jacob. Coincidence? I think not.

I was reading this reallllly old pamphlet missionaries used to give out (now we have way better stuff) and I found the following story:

A Catholic Utterance

Many years ago a learned man, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, came to Utah and spoke from the stand of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. I became well acquainted with him, and we conversed freely and frankly. A great scholar, with perhaps a dozen languages at his tongue's end, he seemed to know all about theology, law, literature, science, and philosophy. One day he said to me: "You Mormons are all ignoramuses. You don't even know the strength of your own position. It is so strong that there is only one other tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position of the Catholic Church. The issue is between Catholicism and Mormonism. If we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong; and that's all there is to it. The Protestants haven't a leg to stand on. For if we are wrong, they are wrong with us, since they were a part of us and went out from us; while if we are right, they are apostates whom we cut off long ago. If we have the apostolic succession from St. Peter, as we claim, there was no need of Joseph Smith and Mormonism; but if we have not that succession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and Mormonism's attitude is the only consistent one. It is either the perpetuation of the Gospel from ancient times, or the restoration of the Gospel in latter days."  My reply was substantially as follows: "I agree with you, Doctor, in nearly all that you have said. But don't deceive yourself with the notion that we 'Mormons' are not aware of the strength of our position. We are better aware of it than anyone else. We have not all been to college; we cannot all speak the dead languages; we may be 'ignoramuses,' as you say; but we know that we are right, and we know that you are wrong." I was just as frank with him as he had been with me. 

That story is so stinking awesome!

So anyways - In closing, I'd like some Tea Olive perfume. Our apartment sometimes stinks a lot. Like someone put a torch to my nostrils. Yuk.

I love y'all so much!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

P.S. That 17 fast Sundays comment was so trunky mom! Sheesh.. You're trunkier than I am! There is only one cure for that.

WORK.

:D