Recipe of the Week

Dear momma,

This week we had stake conference. Elder Allan F. Packer of the seventy came. He is President Packer's son. It was cool. We went on two exchanges also this week. I went with Elder Thompson once and with our zone leader Elder Clark once. They are both great missionaries- much better than me! I am getting pretty trunky............................... ha-ha. All this school junk is distracting, but eh- I love being a missionary! :D

As far as our apartment goes- I live with my comp Elder Tonge, Elder Thompson, and until Wednesday, Elder Gemmell. He is getting transferred. I love that guy, it'll be sad to see him go!

Elder Thompson's mom sends him a "recipe of the week" and he and I will cook it for all of us. He is a great chef and has taught me the ways. We have a great time in that kitchen. We cook probably 5 real meals a week. mmmm!

It’s always fun to hear about what all is going on back home. I love hearing about your callings and service. I also love hearing about la familia.

Well anyway.-that's about it this week.

I love being a missionary!

Love ya'll!

Elder Seaver

Back to Basics

Dear family,

This week was like a "back to basics" week for us. We just got back into Preach My Gospel, figured out what we should be doing to be successful missionaries, and did it. We had a great week teaching lots of people, and we have quite a few real progressing investigators again. It's nice to have a teaching pool to work with rather than just roads. Ha-ha  Even though I have truly come to love knocking on doors. I really do love meeting all these people and bearing simple fervent testimony to them on their porch. It is a blast! I love being a missionary!

I love hearing about your Fitbit challenge. That sounds fun! You have me beat on average steps. We get usually about 6000 a day. More if we aren't teaching, and less if we are. It's like golf, an effective day has a lower score. But there are days when I hit 20 or 30 thousand. Those are long days. My highest I don't remember, but I have it written down.

Say yes to J.- that's an awesome part-member family we work with. We have helped them clean out their yard, and plant a garden, and they feed us the best food in the South.

Yeah so those packages I sent home, please don't open those till I'm home. Thanks! :)

As for school, I need to be home it looks like on the 24th of August to be there for new-student stuff and whatever, or else just by the 3rd to start. I am going to let President know that in my email today and see what he says. As for signing up, he said to have ya'll get me all registered and everything, then to look and make a list of classes you think I should take. Then email me the info and let me know what I need to fill out. During mormon.org time I can get on, sign up for the classes I want, and do what I need to do. So yeah. Do that ASAP so I don't have to worry about it anymore. Thanks!

Anyway, that's about it for this week. Oh yeah, we had a zone conference this week. It was fun. Elder Cardon is an assistant, so I get to see him regularly like at zone conference and it's fun to catch up with him. He's such a good guy!

I love being a missionary! :D

Love ya mom!

Elder Seaver

Four updates have been posted to his blog-

Time is Truly Flying

Dear mom,

So we are emailing a little later than usual today. That's because we went to Waffle House at 7:30 AM with a convert of Elder Gemmell's, named S. V.. Then we went fishing ‘till 11:00. I caught 4 fish, 3 Blue Gils that we kept to eat and 1 Bass that wasn't big enough to keep. Total we kept 7 Blue Gils, which we took home and I gutted. It was fun. Now they're sitting in the freezer ‘till we get home to cook em. Ha-ha. By the way, S.'s 3 little siblings, J., D., and C., are getting baptized on Saturday. Elder Gemmell and I went on an exchange to their area this week and taught the kids and put them on date. It's awesome to see S. (who is about to turn 23 next week) teaching his siblings about a church he's only been in for a few months. He is going to be baptizing them too. I'm excited! Good stuff.

Other than that, this week was pretty normal. We taught a bunch of lessons again, hunted down all the young single adults Bishop asked us to see, and had a ton of people come to church. We had 10 people come, but most of them are people Elder Gemmell and I taught on our exchange and are in the other Elders' area. I really don't care whose area people are in or who baptizes whom, I just want people to come closer to Heavenly Father. Ha-ha.

Time is truly flying. I can't believe it's half way through April already! WOW!!!

I wish I had more to say right now. But. I don't. Ha-ha. Oh well. Life is good. I love being a missionary!

Love ya'll!

Elder Seaver

I Testify that He Lives

Dear family,

This week we taught so many people! It was awesome! We went out with our WML a few times and taught a bunch of less-actives and part-members. We have a ton of leads and things to teach now, so planning is fun- talking about all the people and not just what roads to knock and all. We visited the S.'s kids yesterday (since they asked us to while they were gone), and we taught J., J.- the mom’s brother. He told us to come back and teach him more and teach J.'s sister H.. It was awesome-more to come on that.

General Conference was awesome! I have a list of some interesting study topics to look up and a slew of insights to add to my humble mind. It was just great! I loved every minute of it. Interesting Elder Seaver fact: This is the first conference of my life I did not fall asleep during. :)  And yes, mom- no more suit coats! :)

That's awesome that ya'll met another Southern connection. Remember how many of those we were finding after I got my call? Can you get me the Grandparents' info anyway so I can have it readily available? And yes, I joined Vitamin Shoppe out here. Ha-ha I don't know what the benefits of joining are, but I did anyway. Ha-ha. It was free, after all.

As far as school goes, yes that sounds like a plan. Whatever classes would be good for Mechanical Engineering/getting back into the swing of things. The transfer dates are July 26 and September 5. The 5th is the one I'm supposed to come home on. I doubt they'd send me home so early, and I really don't want to go home that early. So I just need to know the date of when I NEED to be home to make school. Maybe I can just tell BYU I'll be a week late and just stay ‘till the 5th? That would be preferred. Let me know soon though- President Holm needs to know so he can figure stuff out.

As far as apostasy goes, I agree. It's silly. Hebrews 6:4-6. Anyone who can leave this church cannot do it with a clear conscience. They have one of 2 concerns- testimony or commitment. Either they were never taught the doctrine so they have no reason to believe, or they have no backbone and can't commit to the doctrine they do know. Either way, if anyone ever struggles with faith, read the Book of Mormon, and pray to the Lord God Almighty with all the energy of your soul, with "a sincere heart" and "real intent" having faith, and "he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:4-5). There is no excuse for you to leave. There is no reason for you to miss out on the blessings of eternity. You cannot disprove the gospel, either. Anyone who leaves this church will have to go around, climb over, or deceitfully and pitifully crawl under the Book of Mormon, for surely no man can go through it and not know it is true. It is true. And if for any reason you feel unworthy, or you feel you are too far-gone, know that it is never too late. No man or woman who lives on this earth can descend beyond the reach of the Redeemer. Cry unto him as did Alma of old, "O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me." Dedicate yourself to him, and he will dedicate himself to you. May we all stand, as did Nephi, and say boldly and nobly, "I will give place no more for the enemy of my soul."

I testify that He lives. He is our Lord and Savoir. He came and showed us the way. He was perfect. May we all stand by Him at all times, and in all things, and in all places, even until death, for surely He stands willingly by us. In the name of our Master, Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all.

Elder Seaver

Glad to hear all is well in Zion!

Dear mom,

Glad to hear all is well in Zion!

This week we had a 2-day Leadership Training Meeting that we all 4 went to. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I noticed this week that my paradigm has shifted away from missionary work and more to learning doctrine. While learning the doctrine is good, and definitely helps me teach better, I need to get back in the swing of missionary work! I need to quit messing around with picking apart the scriptures and spend more time finding people to teach and baptize! Sheesh.

The S. came to church this week after weeks of being MIA! That was good. They are going to be out of town ‘till the 30th though…  But that's ok. We'll keep working with them. Their kids are staying at home with J.'s sister, and they asked us to stop by a few times and check on ‘em. So, we will. Ha-ha.

We've also been teaching this old mostly deaf couple named the G.. It's fun, but difficult. We just hope that our continued visits and the pamphlets will bring the Spirit enough to entice them to come to church.

I am so excited for General Conference this week! Stoked beyond belief for the awesome doctrine we're gonna learn! I love hearing our beloved Prophet and Apostles speak :) I am also glad to not have to wear my suit after that. Ha-ha

After our 2-day meeting we went to dinner- both nights, a Chinese buffet and pizza buffet. Then on Easter we got fed a huge lunch from a media referral we finally got in touch with, and dinner from a family we home teach for the ward. It was awesome. I have eaten so much! So to compensate, we started running in the mornings. It stinks while you're actively running, but you feel great after! I have so much more energy, which is kinda backwards in my mind.

Anyway, the only other thing to mention is that I will be spending a few bucks on getting a bike fixed up. A missionary, who went home, Elder Ultra, left his bike and I'm fixing it up so that I can have my own. It needs a new cassette and chain and derailleur, but that's about it. Then I'll just donate it back to the mission when I'm done with it. Oh and I got my package. Yes, we all loved it!

Well that about sums it up this week. Love ya'll!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver