Be Obedient, Work Hard, Love Everyone! It's That Simple.

Dear mom,

To answer your questions:

 Write some inspiring words for Sean- you can email them or mail them to me and I will put them on a 3 x 5 card.  

• It's only as tough as you make it. 
• Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance.
• The worst it's ever been is wonderful.
• "I will give place no more for the enemy of my soul." - Nephi, 2 Ne 4:28
• Work hard, be obedient, and love the people.
• "Remember, it's better to look up." - President Monson
• "Great men set goals and read them every day." - Lisa Holm
• Everything we do is centered on the first principles of the gospel: Faith unto Repentance. Teach the Atonement. 
• "The flesh is weak, but the spirit is willing... Not my will, but as thou wilt... It is finished, thy will is done." - Our Master. Don't you dare come home without being able to say to the Master, "It is finished, thy will is done." Don't you quit. Don't you ever, ever selfishly quit. This isn't about you, it isn't about me, it's about our Savior and the people he has trusted us to minister to. Do not waste a minute of this precious time. 
• I love tough things, I am first to do tough things, I do tough things first. I'm a finisher.

Did you get your package yet?

• Nope. I'll probably get it at transfers.

Is there a transfer in your future?

• Yep. I'm getting transferred out of here. I'll be a district leader somewhere in a "struggling district" is what President told me. I'm not super excited to go. I love Florence and I love Elder Memmott, Sister Garlick (who is also being transferred to whitewash train) and Sister Robertson (who already knows her next companion- a struggling sister who needs some help). But it kind of is a compliment to see how President loves our district enough to give us all tough assignments (Except for Elder Memmott, he'll just stay Zone Leader. But that is tough in itself. Ha-ha. Never been so stressed.). Anyways. That's what the future has to hold for us.  

Are you ripping through any more shirts?

• Not yet. Thankfully.

At the Big Lift Fireside- was that a fireside for missionaries and investigators?  Were all the missionaries attending at least one fireside?  Was it in a chapel?  How long did it last?

• It is primarily for new and returning members and investigators. Missionaries are only allowed to go if they have a less-active, recent convert, or investigator attend. They are held in chapels around the mission. Last time 8, this upcoming one 6. They last an hour, with an hour before and an hour after to have the chance to meet President and Sister Holm and local leaders. I'll attach the flyer.

Anyways.

This week was pretty good. We had 3 baptisms in Florence, the M. girls. They are a PM family, the mom is a member. The dad still isn't biting yet, but he's coming along. The Sisters worked with them this transfer, and they just got bapitzed. Pretty sweet! Those sisters do great work. I'll miss being in this district. But the Lord knows better, and not my will, but His be done. 

Anyways. Other than that, we wound down the transfer with 7 baptisms in the zone, putting us at 11 this month, and a goal of 18. It's looking pretty good. Bummer is I won't get to see or partake of the fruits of success if they hit it. But that's not what matters. What matters is that there are 7 more souls Father in Heaven is holding us accountable for this month. And things are looking pretty good to exceed that goal. I love being a missionary! 

I will miss Florence, but the Lord is sending me somewhere to lift. He sent me here to Florence, which in history is the lowest baptizing zone where you just kind of send the disobedient missionaries to float and drift to the end of their missions, and now it's the highest baptizing zone per missionary in the mission. He sent me to Gilbert with Elder Stanley and we baptized more in 6 months than that area had done in 2 years. He sent me to Aiken before that and the same thing. By the way, tangent real quick- Elder Kerr told me he just asked someone serving there about our convert D.. He said, "How is D. doing?" The missionaries said, "D? I don't know a D, sorry.. She must not be coming anymore." Elder Kerr was sad, and surprised, so he said, "D. V.? She's really not there?" and they responded, "Oh, Sister V.! Yeah she's great! I didn't know she was a recent convert! She's Relief Society Secretary right now." That's awesome news to hear about one of your converts- a lasting conversion. Back to my point. And Anderson, historically a "dead area" but we tore it up. I'm starting to realize something. I'm what President Holm would call a "lifter." I say this in all humility, only to prove a point of doctrine. President Holm and the Lord send me places to fix 'em. Huh. And you know what the trick is? Just be obedient, work hard, and love the people. That's all it takes. And that goes for life, too. Be obedient to the commandments, work your heart out in His service (and in everything you endeavor to do), and love everyone, including yourself! Do that, and things work out. Imagine that? It's that simple.

This place has been like the refiner's fire for me. I truly understand the Atonement now. I know what it means to be "covered by the blood of the Lamb," which so many protestants like to justify themselves with. They don't know. I don't condemn them for not knowing, but no man can be saved in ignorance. That's why I walk miles and miles every day, getting blisters on my feet and my knuckle from knocking so many doors, ruin shirt after shirt and pants after pants with sweat, blood, and tears in the pouring rain for 16 hours a day. There is nothing more important than sharing the gospel with all who will listen. In fact, it is a commandment. I will be obedient to the Father unto the end. I will never stop doing His will. There is nothing more important. Share the gospel. Do it for Him. If nothing else, do it for Him. Do it because He asked us to. And do it because it's the only intelligent thing to do. We will be held accountable for everything we do, and for the things we should have done that we didn't do. I can't imagine the fear and pain that must wrack and harrow up a soul of someone who has to stand before Him in that great day and say, "Sorry, Father, but I was too lazy, or too scared, or too selfish to have shared the gospel. Sorry you lost one of your children because of me. And because of that, sorry you lost me, too." 

Ok, enough ranting. But I only rant because I know how important this is! Ok, but enough of that. 

I love you all so much! I pray for you every day. I know you pray for me, too. I have received strength well beyond my own. I know our Father lives, and loves us, too. I bear you that testimony humbly in the name of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Seaver

The Big Lift was Great

Dear Mom,

The big lift was great! I went to Cheraw with Elders Israelsen and Muir. Elder Israelsen was an assistant for a while and now is training Elder Muir. Elder Israelsen is one of the greatest missionaries ever to grace South Carolina. I am very thankful that I got to go watch him in action working hard. I learned a lot and I hope I helped them as much as they did me. 

As for the fireside, we had 2 in our zone because it's so spread out- one here in Florence, and one in Conway. We just went to the Florence one. Our zone had 200 people show up to the firesides, the most of any zone by over 50, and it was great! While I was on the lift I got to meet D. and I. G-, a mom and daughter of a family of 8 kids and the mom and dad. D. had member friends growing up, but the husband is kind of against the church and all that. Well anyway, D. and I. came to the fireside, and afterward talked with President Holm and Sister Holm. They all cried together. I don't know what they talked about, I was too far away. Long story short, yesterday Elder Memmott and I interviewed them for baptism!

D. is a awesome lady. I interviewed her, and Elder Memmott interviewed I. (she's 14 by the way). It was a great experience. I love how the interview is designed. It's not what I originally thought it was. Rather than a review of what they have been taught, it's simply a series of inspired questions to prompt the investigator and myself to bear testimony of the Savior and the Atonement. I caught the vision when I asked her the first question, "Do you believe God is our Eternal Father? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world?" She looked at me, nodded, and said yes. I asked her, what does that mean to you. She was still a little nervous, and replied with a simple answer. I then bore testimony, and as we kept talking we both teared up. We laughed, we cried, and we both left "edified and [rejoicing] together". I said things in there that I know are from Father in Heaven, and she knows it too. She testified to me boldly about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessings that have already come, and the hope of blessings to come. It was a great experience, and I will forever be grateful to Father in Heaven for that opportunity to grow closer to him.

Other than that, the week was pretty normal. Our investigator, K., took all 4 of us missionaries, and her 3 kids, and a nephew and niece, to Hibachi Buffet. It was awesome! I ate a little baby octopus. It was gross, Ha-ha, great food though. K. is awesome. She has a solid testimony of the atonement. I hope and pray she can get baptized soon. Her nephew D. is also progressing nicely. He'll get baptized on the 16th if we can get over there and teach him everything. The young men have him fellowshipped already. He's in. Ha-ha. Go young men's program!

Anyway, yeah, that was the week. I love being a missionary! 

Love ya!

Elder Seaver 

Don't Learn What You Can't Do

Dear mom,

This week was busy- busy- busy. We were running around all week to the far reaches of Florence to visit people. I don't remember if I told y'all about K. yet, but she is a lady who was taught by the Greer Sisters who moved down here. Well she is doing great, and will hopefully be baptized in the next few weeks. We also taught her relative, D., who is 12.  He is going to be baptized on the 16th if all goes well. It's interesting teaching him for 2 reasons: he is quite young, so his understanding is limited, and he has almost no knowledge of the gospel. He knows "God" exists, but had no idea what God is. So teaching him is fun. Anyway, that's how things are going with our companionship. The Stake had a meeting last night about missionary work with all the RS presidents, ward missionaries and WMLs, and all the Priesthood leadership. All the full-time missionaries in the zone were invited as well, and President Holm made that invitation mandatory ha-ha. He was there, too. It was a great meeting! I loved it! One thing that really stuck out to me was when President Barfield (the stake president) said, "Don't learn what you can't do." Why bother trying to figure out things that you can't do instead of focusing on things you can and things you need to do. I thought about that, and the clearest analogy I could come up with is this: Why would I go out and buy a pair of high-heels to try and walk in, only to find out I have not the equilibrium to do such a thing, when I could have safely spent my time buying a pair of shoes that I can walk in and using the rest of my time to do good? Exactly. President Barfield is a great man! I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him here in Florence. We meet with him monthly to do Stake coordination, and we talk a few times throughout the month. He is awesome. Stake Presidents have a lot to do. It surprises me how the Church asks so much of us, but it still somehow works out and we get everything done we need to.

This week, starting today, is something called "the Big Lift," and "No More Strangers" firesides here in the Florence Zone. Elder Memmott is off to N. Myrtle Beach and I'm off to Cheraw at 4:15 today to go with the companionships there. The Assistants and a few other people on the "lift team" are coming in to go on exchanges with all the missionaries in the zone. This has happened a couple times before, but the last times I was one of the companionships being lifted instead of the missionary lifting. I was kind of bummed when I found out no one would be lifting me this time... Sometimes I wonder why the Lord trusts me so much. I can tell why he trusts everyone else with leadership, but I always look at myself and think, "Why me?" I think we all have reason to ask ourselves that at times. But then somewhere down the road the things the Lord trusted us with have worked out for the better, we see the promise given in 1 Nephi 3:7 was fulfilled, and we realize that we, too, have learned and benefited from the leadership role. I'm not going to just lift the Cheraw missionaries, but rather to be lifted by them, too, if not more so. Anyway, that will start today (for your information mom, cause I know you will ask, Elder Memmott is riding with the rest of the lift team to meet their companionships in Conway and I am getting a ride from a member, Bro Prommasit (who helps us with everything! He's a great guy) up to Cheraw. And the Sisters coming to lift will drive their own car so that we don't break the "no elders and sisters in the same car" rule.), and end tomorrow with another fireside. This fireside is going to be awesome! The zone has lots of people committed to coming, and there are always miracles at these things! Elder Memmott and I had to get it all organized and scheduled, so I hope it doesn't end in a disaster, as somehow I seem prone to experience ha-ha. Conway, Myrtle Beach, N. Myrtle, and Georgetown (they are not in our stake/zone, they're in Charleston, but Conway is way closer for them) are all going to a fireside in Conway on Wednesday, and Florence, Cheraw, Sumter, Hartsville, and Marion will be here tomorrow. The Conway Elders are in charge of their fireside, so we won't be going to that one. Thank goodness, we hardly get any time in our area anymore. I kind of hope I get released from leadership this transfer so I can just go be a junior companion to a missionary who is better than me. 

One thing I have been studying lately is the difference between the Holy Spirit and our own spirit. Notice when you read the scriptures the capitalization on the word Spirit. Sometimes it will be "according to the Spirit" and sometimes it will be "according to the spirit." I'm learning a ton about accountability, and about the trust Father in Heaven puts in each of us to "be agents unto [ourselves]," rather than sending the Spirit to tell us what to do all the time.

Oh yeah. So the past couple weeks my huge muscles and my old shirts have been having some run-ins. I have busted the sleeves on a few of my shirts.. So I've been replacing them as I go. But it is fun when my huge muscle bursts out of my shirt and there is a huge ripping sound and everyone turns and looks. The only way to respond is, "I can't help that I'm so huge." Everyone just nods in agreement, and a few look away in shame as they compare their puny biceps to my massive hammer arms. J/k I just made that up. But I am busting my shirts. That part is true.

There was once a minister from another church who spoke with the Prophet Joseph for a while. As they parted ways, the minister said a closing prayer to their meeting. He prayed sarcastically and boisterously things like, "Thank you God for sending your mighty prophet (sarcasm) to be with us today," and so on. After the prayer, the Mighty Prophet responded, "Thank you for that prayer. But you don't need to pray like a jackass for God to hear you." Ha-ha. That's my prophet!

Love y'all so much! Have a great week and I'll talk to y'all next Monday! Love you Jami! Feel better. I command you to feel better. Or I will slap you when I get home. J/k, but I'm praying for ya! Love ya!

Elder Seaver

I am behind on posting-

a new record - 4 posts at once

Please read on and enjoy

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We Ate Squirrel

Dear mom,

This week was just a regular week. 

We ate squirrel on Thursday. It was sub par...

Also. A lady named K. moved to Florence from Greer. She has been taught everything by the Sisters there and is looking forward to baptism in the next couple weeks.

So. Other than that.. nothing else to report. You think your week was boring. Tell me about it.

Love ya!

Mom, you are great! I really love you a lot. I see lots of bad moms out here and am thankful mine rocks!

Tons of Fun and Tons of Excitement

Dear Mom,

So S. got baptized on Saturday! It was awesome! She quit smoking and all that like a champ and it went down. It was quite an adventure. The Sisters, Garlick and Robertson, also had 2 baptisms this week. R., a 22-year-old girl got baptized Friday, and B., an older lady, got baptized with S. on Saturday.

R. and S. both asked me to baptize them, and Elder Memmott baptized B. I confirmed B., and Elder Memmott confirmed S., and a member did R.. It was a sweet day.

Before the baptism on Friday we got a call from the Sisters. They called to inform us that they had locked their keys in the car and that they were half an hour away from the church, and they had to be there in just an hour to fill the font for their baptism! Hahahahahaha. So we dropped what we were doing and went to rescue them.

We tried with a hanger and some other stuff to no avail. So we got permission for them to take our car to the church while we waited for the locksmith. 1 hour and $65 later, and we were at the church. . So yeah, that was fun.

Then the Sisters asked us to pick up some bleach. So we did. I thought they were going to clean with it, but when we got there they just poured it into the font as it was filling! So it made the font a bubble bath in looks and a swimming pool in smell. I baptized R. in a bleach pool.  Ha-ha. It was funny to have bubbles all over in there. :p

Then after the baptism I pulled the plug in the font…

Saturday the Elders' quorum here played softball and Elder Memmott and I played with them. We had a good ol' time. Then after that we went to get the font ready for the baptisms. We figured it would be best to go home first and shower and get all our stuff, then go back and fill the font.

Turns out it hadn't drained but one stair. It was clogged. Time = 11:30 AM, baptism @ 2:30 PM. So time was short. We tried plunging it, which didn't work. So we said a couple prayers, then decided to "do all that lies in our power" and started bailing water from the font to the drain in the shower in the changing room. We got about an inch out in a half hour and called it quits (not enough time). Meanwhile we had been making phone calls to people to figure things out. Then I got the brilliant idea of flushing all the toilets and running all the faucets at the same time to try and flush out the pipes. Seems smart, right? Wrong. Immediately the font began to fill with sewage. Sewage backing up into the font, then out all the drains in the bathrooms and changing rooms. Then Chaos showed his ugly face. We had awakened a roach nest in the pipes. Roaches were pouring out of the drain in the girls' changing room and a few in the other rooms. It was CRAZY! Roaches and sewage everywhere! It was bad. I have some awesome videos of it. It was just nuts.

So after some freaking out we found a solution. President Holm and President Barfield (the Stake Pres here) directed us to move the baptism to Marion. So we called the Elders there and asked them to start filling the font, which they kindly did, and after enjoying some delicious Mellow Mushroom BBQ Chicken pizza with the Sisters and S.  (a planned lunch for quite some time now), we took off up there. Some members gave rides to S. and B., and Bro Thames, the WML, and Bro Thompson, the backbone of the ward who knows and does everything and is the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric (and former Bishop of the ward), both drove up and we had a grand baptism in Marion!

B. has bad knees, so Elder Memmott baptized her and I stood in the font and helped. It was a way great day! Tons of fun and tons of excitement, rounded off with tons of Salvation! :D

That was about our week.

That's about life right now! Love y'all much!

Elder Seaver

I Know the Savior Lives

Dear Mom,

A lot has happened this week. There are two ladies the Sisters are working with here that should be getting baptized this weekend.  We're pretty excited about that! Good things are happening!

Jami, I hope everything goes well this week! I thought of something you taught me a long time ago that I have been grateful for ever since. I remember when I was in 8th grade I had a huge crush on -----. Remember that? I wanted to sit on MSN messenger all day and chat with her. I remember as Christmas came around you told me something like, "-----, like other girls, will come and go. But family will always be here. Don't waste this precious family time on the computer with someone that won't matter in a few weeks." I remember thinking something like, "Bull! I'll show you. She'll be there. Hmph." As most teenagers blinded by romance would think. But I took your advice, enjoyed Christmas with the family instead of on MSN, and in a few weeks she wasn't even on speaking terms with me. Haha. It was great advice! And just a couple years later the Prophet of God has even stated a similar message that we should focus on what matters most- that we shouldn't let a job to be done get in the way of a person to be loved. Thanks for teaching your brother such a valuable lesson. Love ya Jami!

This week Elder Memmott and I had some very humbling experiences. We prayed for trials to help us grow in Christlike attributes. Suffice it to say that our prayers were answered. Sharing experiences like the ones we had this week will be a great thing to do with you- my dear family, but not over email. And not now. They are still too close to my heart. I have learned a lot. We'll leave it at that for now. I know the Savior lives.

I love you all so much!

Elder Seaver