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

Halloween Lockdown

MOMMY!

The business stuff: No he did not give me anything. My Gall Bladder is draining 68% (or rather it was when we got the scan), which is normal, so we won't be taking that out. But this Wednesday I am eating some nuclear eggs and they are watching me digest. This doctor, Dr. Sheikh, is pretty awesome, way smart, and told me that there is not a lot of things that make a teenage boy sick every morning and thinks I have something called "stomach paralysis", whatever that is? I'm also getting blood work done that day.

So I have 2, maybe 3, warts on my foot. Should I freeze them off? Also, I have done a ton of sewing since I got here. I have done some basic repairs to a hole in my gloves, and to a small hole in my suit. I am also now prepared to give myself stitches if the time comes. I prepped myself mentally and skillfully for that day (which will hopefully never come). :) Along with that statement, I am in need of my UVU sweatshirt. It's very cold in the mornings, and it will fit well over my shirt and tie.

Yes, we will be home on Halloween (today). Normally we go out from 6PM-9PM on P-days just like a normal day, but today we're doing 3-6 and lockdown (no leaving the apartment) after that, so we can still teach and share the good word but not be in danger of pranks.

So I found out I can print emails here, but it costs $0.10 a page. I just would rather not print at all. Nah I don't need a copy of the emails, in fact I think I'm going to send some of my letters home cause I have no room for them anymore! Hahaha.

I would not oppose to some good low-fat recipes being sent to me, but simple stuff, like not crock-pot or long stuff. We only have 30-60 minutes depending on the day to eat so it's gotta be like something simple.

I'm a little sad to hear about Sister Aycock, she was a nice lady, but she's in a much better place now. This I know, the Spirit World needs people like her. There are just too many people there that need the gospel, and I know with all my heart she will be a catalyst in moving the work along there.

That's so great about Kevin!!!!! I'm so happy for him! That's so awesome! He will be a fine missionary! The Lord needs people like him, who will thrust in his sickle with his might, and harvest the fields. YAY! Along those lines, there was an ET (emergency transfer) that affected 14 companionships this transfer. Some missionary, I don't know who, decided the Law of Chastity didn't apply to him and he got sent home, so they had to move around a bunch of missionaries to even it all out and make sure the vineyard was all cared for. Sad.

So this week we had a Leadership Training meeting with two of the Brethren who worked on Preach My Gospel. President Littlefield, (I know his son, Joe), helped write PMG, and President Donaldson was the Mission President of The District 2. I am not sure if I told you about The District, so let me know in your letter and I will fill you in. They were amazing. Only Assistants, Zone Leaders, District Leaders, Trainers, and Trainees got to go, so about 40 missionaries of the 170ish in our mission. I'm glad I got to take part in it, and I learned a ton! We are doing well on finding people, but we need to work harder on teaching. We are also seeking referrals more.

Here are some statistics for you: 

• 60% of converts will go inactive within a year.
• 1/1000 people we contact will get baptized.
• People are 80x more likely to get baptized if we have some background information about them, such as their name.
• People are 660x more likely to get baptized if they have a friend in the ward.

These stats are what drive us to seek referrals rather than just tract all day.

This January they are showing a special 8ish part thing about The District. We didn't get a lot of info, so if it's new stuff we haven't seen, but y'all can watch it, and please do! Record it, too, please. I will give you any other info on it if we get anymore.

Yesterday President and Sister Holm spoke in our ward. It was nice they came on the day Michael was confirmed, so they could see we're doing our job here in Anderson. :) Our ward has been complaining we "baptize people too soon and that's why they go inactive" but President set them straight. He told them that we, as missionaries, don't have any part in activity, just baptism. It's the ward's job to keep them active once they are members. A lot of people came up to the Bishop and President after to say they were sorry for judging.

Look at the Word of Wisdom in Doctrine and Covenants and think about what the blessings of keeping it are. I have something cool to show you when we go to the temple about it. Remember that.

Doctrine and Covenants 89 

18- And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;
 19- And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
 20- And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
 21- And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

2 Nephi 28:25 says we can't sing the song Come, Come Ye Saints anymore. 

  25- Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well! 

We visited a referral yesterday, (he's not interested though), who had 2 mustangs. A '65 C that was all restored, and a 60something GT as well. They were sick and I took pictures to show you when you get my card.

Basically that's it for now. Oh, I have another idea for a Christmas present. At the sports store in the mall by the food court, whatever it's called, they have Under Armour ninja masks. They are for like skiing and stuff; one kind covers your whole head and the other kind just covers your mouth. I'd like one of the mouth covers. I don't want to cover my hair so it stays nice. :)  It is getting colder every day. Today it was 37 when I woke up. Exercising in that was not pleasant... Oh, by the way, I have been doing push-ups to exercise and today I did 200. I switch every 10 between diamond (where your pointer fingers and thumbs touch and make a diamond with the negative space between them), wide-outs (where my hands are farther out than my shoulders), and normal. It wasn't all in one go, but in the 10 minutes we were outside I did 200! My arms are getting so ripped :p

I got my own dishes this week. They're kinda childish, colorful plastic, and a cup with the straw built into it, but I love ‘em!

We met a family of 4 from Burma this week. They're not really ready for the gospel, but it was cool to meet them.

I saw a trailer hitch that had a big pole hooked to it and a barbeque on the end. It folded up right next to the tailgate, and it could fold out so you could sit on the tailgate and still barbeque your 'gater and chitterlings (pronounced chit'lins by the good ol' Southerners). 

Chitterlings or pork intestines are a favorite among Southern families. Traditionally, they are prepared during the holiday season, but deep freezing makes them available year round.

I saw a police SUV and I now know why they call cops "the heat". The SUV had painted on the back "Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic" a.k.a. the H.E.A.T.

F.Y.I. it takes about 4 days for me to get a letter from you guys.

I can't wait to get home and show you all the cool stuff we do as missionaries. Role-play, the Kikonke Method, and so on.

I love y'all! God be with you till we meet again!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Seaver

Grantastic

First of all, that's so funny about Zack. Haha I love him, and I'm glad to hear he's serving and all those other kids are, too. I'm 99% sure his friend he was talking about was Clint Madsen, but correct me if I'm wrong and you remember.


Dad, I'm so glad you're having opportunities to serve like that! It really makes me less homesick when I realize how many blessings are coming from me being here.


So about the baptism. M. A. got baptized! I was in da wata doin the dunkin, and it was ICE COLD, but the Spirit was so strong and it was an awesome day! C and M postponed because M isn't all the way recovered from having her baby yet, so we will get to that later and it will be grantastic! I will send pictures soonish. If you send me a new card, I can send mine home no problem. I just don't want to be cardless for 2 weeks yknow?


On that note, it takes about 4 days to get mail. Y'all send em on Monday and I get em Thursday.


So this ward is kinda messed up. There are a few cool families, like the B-, the A-, the 

H-, the W-, and the H-, but there are a ton of people that don't like missionaries. They don't trust the program, they don't trust us, and they aren't getting to see any baptisms come around. We can stomp Homeland Park all day and get maybe 1 new member every 2 months. We need them to trust us and bring us their family and friends so we can get solid referral baptisms. It's just not working how it's supposed to. We're trying, and we have made some progress with a few people, but not nearly on the scale we need. If we had more than one ward missionary that would help... This place is just about to burst at the seams with people ready to receive the gospel, but no one is helping us pick the stitches, so it's slow work. We'll see how it goes by the time I leave. However, one lady, Sister M is having a neighborhood Halloween party. We were invited and President approved us going cause there'll be like 80ish non-members! Cool beans.

This Wednesday we had Elders Ray and Wilcock, the Zone Leaders, come up and do a special District Development Meeting (we have one as just a district every Tuesday). Elder Ray was a wrestler on the USA team before he came out, and as a sophomore in high school took nationals against an undefeated senior. He's a stud. He also went around doing motivational speaking for a job, too. He had us write down things stopping us from being the missionaries we wanted to be, like homesickness, and so on, on a 1" board. Then after that we learned the stance, learned the fiery "YES!" we shout when we hit, and we karate-palm-thrusted straight through the board. Yes, I'm awesome. Not everyone they've trained in our zone broke their boards, but our whole district did. Sister Robertson did as well, so I figured we all would ;) It was really awesome, and I'll send the board home after transfers. Also, no I won't be with a companion for 12 weeks always. Transfers are every 6 weeks, but we have a 12-week-training program, kinda like a 12-step program haha. After that I could be with a companion for 1-3ish transfers.

This weekend was Stake Conference. Saturday morning, before the baptism, we drove down with Brother A and the Seneca Elders (Benson and Tompson, the only others in our district) to Simpsonville (where our Zone Leaders are from, I think I told you wrong last time) to have a meeting with Elder Gaye of the Seventy. He's awesome, lots of good advice. He also spoke at the adult session, which blew my mind. It was so awesome. He also spoke at the session on Sunday. He is phenomenal. I also got a chance to talk with President and Sister Holm, our Stake President President Kunzler (from Orem) and Elder Gaye.  It was nice.

During the Sunday session we sat in the front row in the middle. Members of our ward were sitting there so I sat by ‘em and Elder Greear followed.   The coin I talked about in an earlier letter was mentioned by Pres Holm. He looked at me and asked, "Do one of you Elders have your coin?" When we got em way back when and he asked us to always carry it with us, so I had mine and handed it up to him so he could show the audience.  I was glad I had it and I'm glad President knows he can trust me :)

So on to the random stuff I wanna mention. First of all, can you send me my long-sleeved and short-sleeved black under armour shirts? It is cold in the mornings and it was way cold a couple of days, and it's only gonna get colder. Also, maybe a compass too, cause I'm sick of not knowing where North is. :/ Also, please buy Lion King. I saw it was out and I don't want to have it go back into the vault and never see it again!

The word "Utah" means top of the mountains. Originally the Saints wanted Utah to be named Deseret, but the President of the United States (can't remember which one) named it Utah after the Ute Indians and also to spite the Saints. But it just goes to show how revelation rocks, cause Isaiah 2:2 and 2 Nephi 12:2 say And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.  haha! 

Today I was reading 2 Nephi and I realized that 19:6 is identical to Isaiah 9:6. Jacob is quoting Isaiah for most of 2 Nephi, so I started to compare them to each other. They are almost word for word the same but for a few critical differences. For example: Chapter 9 in Isaiah says something like "Ye have multiplied the earth and NOT multiplied your joy" and 2 Nephi 19 says "Ye have multiplied the earth and multiplied your joy." It's a fun activity and I suggest doing it. The movie Radio was filmed in my area, and the real Radio goes bowling every Tuesday with a member! I'm gonna meet him and baptize him soon, or at least that's my goal :) Clemson University, which I had never heard of, is DOMINATING football this year. They are undefeated and stomping big teams.

Last couple things. I'm on my last hole in my belts. :/ I have learned how to make a spit bubble on my tongue and blow it out like a bubble :)

I love you guys.

Hurrah for Israel

Elder Seaver

Splits with Zone Leaders

Dear Mom,

I am gonna try and not get surgery while I'm on my mission.  I'd rather deal with being sick every day than have to have surgery out here. I point blank refuse to have it done here. No I can't print off stuff from here. You'll have to send me whatever I'll need, minus the stuff you were gonna send about surgery. Also, I just barely got my medicine on Saturday, so you can hold off on sending me more. I'm good for a month. Yes, I have an insurance card. Well, 2 now actually. Haha. And thanks for sending my license. They check it every time I use my Missionary card at Walmart and they almost didn't accept it last week. Now I won't have to worry!

So B will not be getting baptized. R has not even tried to call and find out about getting a divorce so we are dropping them for now. They aren't keeping commitments, and there are others out there who could benefit from those 2-4 hours a week we spend with them. It's sad, but it's what we gotta do. We're also dropping K S. She ditched out of church last week and yesterday, and she isn't reading. BLAH! We're also "sifting out the hearts of men" to find what investigators we have that ARE ready.  M is gonna be tough. We'll have to visit him about 4 times this week if he's gonna get in, and he lives in a city further out that's too far for us to drive on our mile limitation, but we have 3 rides lined up and hopefully a 4^th. We'll see how it goes.

On Thursday we did splits with the Zone Leaders. They came over from Spartanburg to interview C&M, so they spent Wed night and all of Thur with us. Elder Ray went with Elder Greear and I went with Elder Wilcock. Man Elder W is the best missionary out there. We taught 9 lessons and set 3 people on date for baptism. Thats HUGE. We usually hit 9 in a week and 3 in a month, and Elder Wilcock and I did it in 1 day! It was awesome beyond belief. We also went to Goodwill and got a bunch of ties. It was 50-cent tie day so I got 8. It rocked :)

So now I have just a few things I want to say and they probably won't make sense in any order, so I'll just say em.

Mitt Romney and his "cult" is turning out to be a huge tool. Everyone wants to know what "Mormonism" is.  Noah's Ark was built in South Carolina, or rather, what was to become present day South Carolina. On Thursday I long-snapped a basketball from half-court and made a basket. I have a wart on the side of my foot that's been there a while and I want to freeze it off. Think that's a good idea? I need a set of headphones, but I don't want to buy them out here cause wandering to that side of the store makes me homesick. I need them for use on the computer to watch videos for training. Every car out here is crap, but they all roll on sick 26" rims. It looks so dumb! Haha. I saw a monument dedicated to "Our Confederate Dead" but we were driving with a member and I couldn't get a picture. When we went to C & M's house one night with Brother Washington (C&M weren't home) we think we heard a gunshot. Ooo...  When a word in the Bible is in italics it is because there's no English word that translates from what the original was and the italic word is the closest thing. You don't see that in the Book of Mormon because it's perfectly translated :) Yesterday at church I gave a talk and also taught Gospel Principles class. It was awesome. I'm trying out a bunch of different cran-fruit combo juices. Cran-blackberry rocks fyi.  Those hero cards are sweet, and the rest of the package rocked! THANKS!!

We are allowed to make a mormon.org profile while out here, make your own too, so I can check ‘em out on Friday! We get to use the computers for an hour every Friday for mormon.org.

When Joseph Smith was in prison with all the other guys (not Carthage, the one before that) they had the following experience:

     The men were given meat to eat one morning that looked particularly dark. One of them tried to cut the meat, but dropped the knife and fork. He picked them up and tried again, but again dropped the silverware. As he reached down to grab them Joseph said "Do not pick them up. Do not eat that meat, for it is human." They later overheard the guards bragging that they had "cut the meat off a dead n****r's thigh."

I think that's all I had to tell you this week. I'll try and get those q-lists filled out and sent home today. I'll also see if I can't print some pictures when we go to Walmart in a few minutes.

Love you all dearly, and looking forward to seeing you all again!

Hurrah for Israel

Elder Seaver