December 30, 2013:::The Start of a New Transfer!

Hi family! How's life going? I haven't seen yall in forever....oh wait...I saw you on Wednesday! It was so wonderful to talk to you and see how everyone's lives have changed over these past six months.

Miracle of the week: After a lesson with Luis Espinosa and his family, we felt prompted to try by his neighbor, Blanca and her family. The sisters found Blanca before I got to Huntsville while searching for a less active. Blanca actually told the sisters to go next door to Luis' and teach him haha..So I had never met Blanca before but she let us as if we had been friends for years...ahhh I love the hispanic culture!

Blanca's husband got out of the shower and joined us. We were able to teach them a mini lesson about John 17:3...We invited them to come to church this Sunday to hear Sister Hosking talk. They said that they'd come....
So Sunday rolled in, we gave them a call in the morning to wake them up/remind them. No answer. We went to church and found that none of our investigators showed up..agh..disappointment! The Sacrament was passed and then a member came up to me and said, "You have three investigators sitting out in the hall." I turned around and in walked Blanca, Carlos (husband), and their grandson!!! Pure joy washed over me! Then I realized that I needed to scramble fast and get the translator equipment..After 10 minutes, I got it set up and signaled for Hermana G to come and translate (because there's no way I could do it..)..She came and the meeting went so well! 

Blanca and Carlos really enjoyed it! And I forgot to mention, they dressed so nicely! Carlos wore a suit with a white shirt and Blanca wore a beautiful red dress...They said that they wanted to come again next week and they wanted us to come over again and teach them...I think we can arrange for something haha...

I have a feeling that this next transfer is going to be filled with mighty miracles and hopefully baptisms! We're getting into contact with less actives that have been impossible to teach, our investigators are progressing, and we're finding new people to teach! This is a missionary's dream come true! Wahoo! 

Also, Cady Hopkins and her less active boyfriend, Andrew came to church wahoo!!! 

After twelve weeks of being companions with Hermana Gutierrez, we're saying goodbye tomorrow as we drop her off at the mission office. This past week has been so sad to watch her say goodbye to the members and investigators! It makes my heart break for her that her mission has come to an end..I don't want to see the end of my mission!

But the awesome thing is...your never done with your mission, it continues on for the rest of your life!

I know that Christmas has come and gone but I hope that we can all keep the Savior in our thoughts..Cheesy but awesome thing I realized? If you directly translate Christmas from spanish to english, it means "more Christ". I hope that we can remember Him MORE in our daily lives..

I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and He loves YOU! 

Happy thing? I finished reading the Book of Mormon this past week! It was so wonderful to read it as a missionary. The Book of Mormon brings such a pure peace into my heart, I know that it is true. I know that it is another testament of Jesus Christ and contains the fulness of His Gospel.

I'm filled with such a gratitude for the members here in Houston. They've done so much for us! They also gave us a ton of presents...Needless to say, I'm all set on lotion, socks, and soap haha...

The zoo today was so much fun! But it was also SO cold! I fed a giraffe :) and it bumped its head into Sister Hosking's back and she FREAKED out haha...There must have 10 different families that came up to us and said, "Have an awesome p-day!" or "It's the missionaries!!!" They make me feel like a superhero haha :)

Well, I love yall! And I can't send any pictures this week on this tablet that I'm using...so prepare yourself for next week!

How grateful I am that I get to spend the next year of my life bringing Heavenly Father's children to Christ and His church..I know that what I'm doing is right. I know that my Savior lives.

Love,

Hermana Emma Seymour

2012 Christmas Missionary Conference

December 23, 2013 Feliz Navidad!

Hola Familia! Como estado? This week has been filled with the wonderful christmas spirit! Let's begin with the highlights....

The weather in Texas is bipolar...On Friday it was 78 degrees and right now, it's 30 degrees burrrr!

Saturday morning, we were blessed to be able to take Jo Ann Stanford to the temple for her first time! Hermana G was here for her baptism so we were allowed to go :) Since Jo Ann is too weak/sick, she didn't participate in baptisms for the dead. Instead she watched as a girl from our ward acted as the proxy for Jo Ann's female relatives. We sat on the front bench so we were closest to the font. Jo Ann was soo precious...every time they would put the name up on the screen, Jo Ann would lean over and whisper, "that's my baby sister...that's my aunt...that's my grandmother...that's my mother..." Jo Ann prepared the work for her entire immediate family to be done! She's so amazing and it was such a special moment to sit next to her and watch her family member's work be done

..I realized that if we bring just ONE soul to the waters of baptism, we're really opening up the doors for THOUSANDS to enter the kingdom of God. I have gained such a testimony for temple work..I know that it is so important for each of us to search for our ancestors and prepare their work. Our hearts must turn to the the hearts of our fathers..We need them just as much as they need us! They are our protecting angels that have charge over us and are always with us. After all of Jo Ann's family names were finished, we went into the confirmation room and Jo Ann was able to be the proxy for that...We finished that and went back upstairs to change out of our white dresses..We knew Jo Ann would take a little while to change so we asked a temple worker if she could take us to the Celestial Room..She opened up the door into the beautiful, empty room..Ah...I love the Celestial Room...It's where heaven and earth are connected and there is such a sacred peace you can feel! It feels like coming home.

On Thursday, we made a deal with our catholic neighbor that if we went to a mass, he'd come to sacrament meeting...So...we went to a mass in the morning! And it sure was an interesting experience! it was my first time going to a church that wasn't lds! It must've been really strange for the people to watch three girls with mormon missionary name tags walk into a catholic service haha! I have great respect for those who go to mass every morning...People always say that catholics make good mormons! Hopefully one day, they'll find the rest of the missing puzzle pieces in their lives.

Friday...we had the mission christmas conference! usually, the entire mission meets together but there's too many of us so they had to split the mission party into two :\ There's a grand total of 280 missionaries in the mission...130 sisters and 150 elders! The Lord is hastening His work! During the conference...President Pingree told us that he feels impressed that the mission can raise the bar a little higher..The goal for this past year was to baptize a family every month..Well, he thinks it can be better...So for this coming year, he feels that we can baptize someone EVERY WEEK. Yeah...that's a mighty goal but it's possible with the Lord. (Luke 1:37) This goal will take some time, but it's achievable. My sweet trainer, Sister Schellhous was at the conference as well so I got to see her!

We're continuing to teach our investigators and I must say, the Lord has really helped me with Spanish. I'm comfortable teaching now and I don't freak out when I'm about to speak..The words just flow on out! It's funny though because I really can't have a normal conversation...I can only talk about the gospel haha...But I love being an instrument in the Lord's hands!

Last night, we drove out to the country and went caroling with the Carr family..They invited all of their family and friends and so we loaded up in a trailer that was pulled behind a truck..We caroled around the neighborhood and froze out buns off!

I love this Christmas!! I love caroling and making people happy! I think that this is my favorite christmas ever! Why? because i'm able to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas! I'm not focused on material gifts but rather, spiritual gifts! Bringing people the gift of the Gospel is the best gift we can ever give!

I know that my Savior lives and loves each of you! Feliz Navidad, les quiero mucho!

Hermana Seymour

December 16, 2013: Week Twenty-Two: It's Christmas Time!

Howdy Y'all!

Last Monday...we did something wonderful...we bought a tree! And no, this is not a tiny, fake tree....It's a real, 6 feet high tree! And guess how much we got it for? $18 baby! Soooo our apartment is the most decked out missionary aparment in the world :)

Wednesday was awesome..We had a specialized training with President Pingree about out purpose as missionaries. I feel like every training or conference that I've ever been to is perfect for me..They always get me so fired up to teach the Gospel!

All of the students at Sam Houston State went home for Christmas break so Huntsville is a ghost town and I miss the YSA kids! They're so much fun to be around and Maddie and Clayton (baptized in september) have such amazing testimonies.

Thursday night was...interesting..I was feeling angry for no reason..We came home for the night and planned. I went into the walk-in closet and just stood there. It was one of the those angry moments where you think, "Yes, I'm angry. And I don't want to do anything about it. Yes, I know that this thinking is wrong." I was disappointed in myself for feeling this way so I dropped to my knees and bowed by head. Before I could whisper a word, Sister Hosking knocked on the door and said, "Hermana? Elder Field (district leader) wants to talk to you." I stood up and grabbed the phone and went back into the closet. The first words he said were, "Sister Seymour? Is everything okay? I don't know why, but I just felt like I needed to call you." what. I told him how I was feeling and he cheered me up right away. I'd like to testify to yall that Heavenly Father KNOWS you and He always knows where you're at.

Favorite lesson of the week:

We visited the Zuniga (spanish speaking) family..This was the first time I met them...They used to come every sunday and they'd be baptized by now but there's one small (BIG) problem...Carmen and her "husband" aren't married. She needs to divorce her ex but the marriage was done in Mexico so they'd have to pay a bunch of money for it to be done.

We decided to start teaching them from the beginning...with the Restoration..The lesson was going so well, we had great unity in our teaching. The Spirit warmed the room and the Zuniga's listened with great intent. The way we were taking turns made it so I would be the one to recite the First Vision. Hermana G looked at me with a smile, she knew my thoughts and could probably tell that I was getting nervous. This would be my first time saying it in spanish during a lesson so I began to silently pray that I'd be able to bring the Spirit and that it would touch the hearts of the Zuniga's. The time came and I began to say it...My mind was blocked and I couldn't remember "y esta luz gradualmente..." I peeked at the pamphlet for help. Lets just say it was not perfect. But the beautiful thing was that it did NOT matter. The Spirit burned my heart, I thought it was going to beat out of my chest! It testified to me that Joseph Smith truly did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

When I finished, we remained quiet for a few moments so that the Spirit could work its magic ;) Finally, we asked Carmen, "Como se siente?" (how do you feel?) She put her hands in her face and began to cry. The spirit was so incredibly strong in the room that even the husband began to cry. To end the lesson, we sang "Yo se que vive mi senor (I know that my redeemer lives)" and "O Mi Padre (oh my father)"...Everyone was crying.

The Zuniga's are going through a really hard time too...Her brother has been kidnapped by the drug cartel for at least three months and they haven't heard anything from him...The gospel is what they need!

I have gained such a profound respect for the hispanic people. They work so hard and have given up everything so their families can have a better life in the United States. It's amazing to hear the stories of how they crossed into the states..I wish I had time to write some of the stories but I can't!

In closing, I'll leave with my testimony: He lives!

The fulness of His gospel can be found within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is the way and there is none other.

No matter what happens in our lives, no matter how hard it gets, we can find peace by putting our faith Jesus Christ. He is the Prince of Peace.

I love you all! Merry Christmas! Jesus is the reason for the season...don't forget it!

mormon.org

Hermana Emma Seymour

December 9,2013: Week Twenty-One: Baby it's cold outside!

well....the end of the week was freezing! I forgot to mention that two weeks ago....it snowed! yes folks...it was more like chunks of slush though haha..anyways....

We started off the week by taking an adventure to the temple! it was so beautiful and warm :) the temple had a nativity scene set up too and the leaves were kinda like New England leaves..COLORFUL!

The highlight of the week was an event called Journey Through Bethlehem...It was organized by many churches in the Huntsville community and we got to help out! It took place on some fair grounds so we spent most of Thursday setting up and it was a two night thing...Basically, we create Bethlehem with all of the shops and everything...It starts out with the people paying a "tax" and you'd be put into a big group of people..Shepherds would lead you from place to place..Most of the actors were actually from our ward..King Herod was definitely my favorite :) Then an angel comes out and announces the birth of the Savior and these two women from a baptist church sang Silent Night and Mary Did You Know..One of them is the next Beyonce...I'm serious! She was so amazing..I wish that I could have listened to her sing all night! So then the shepherds lead them through Bethlehem and everyone is dressed up as if we were in that time period. The best part was Mary and Joseph...They needed a Mary and Joseph at the last second and the director saw Elder Smith and Sister Hosking standing around so he came up to them and was like, "Go be Mary and Joseph!" and shoved a toy doll in Sister Hosking's arms!

Oi...it was sooo cold! I looked like a marshmallow because I put every piece of warm clothing that I owned on!

The miracle of JTB was this: after the friday night show happened...the director came up to sister Hosking and said, "When this is through, I'd like to sit down and learn about what you believe in..I've read the Book of Mormon." WHAT?! this guy is the minister for the Methodist church! We weren't allowed to proselyted or wear our name tags, he must noticed something different about us because he knew that we were LDS!

Jo Ann made us dinner one night which we were all surprised about because she had HEART SURGERY! The doctor told her that she's not allowed to raise her arm for six weeks....and that there's just one wire between her and Heavenly Father....if she lifts her arm, she'll be gone before the ambulence gets to her home..Instead of sharing a message with her, we asked her if she'd be willing to share one..She didn't skip a beat! She pulled out the conference issue of the ensign and started reading parts that she loved. Ah. I love that woman. She's such an amazing example to us all! I cannot believe that she has only been a member since August! When sister hosking found out..she thought that Jo Ann had been a member for her entire life!

 We saw Maria last night..she made us a mexican dish called posole..i don't really know how to describe it..it was kinda like a soup....but it was soo good! I can't wait to make it for yall someday! She and her husband asked, "So what kind of rules do we have to follow in order to join your church?" Ha...They're golden and so ready!

Yesterday was wonderful...I've really grown to love sundays even more now that I'm a missionary...It's the best day of the week! At first, the thought of sitting through six hours of church sounded insane but in reality, I freaking love it! it's like i'm getting my batteries recharged every week! Krystin Ulassin was confirmed wahooo!!!!

At the YSA branch, a high council member spoke and yes..i know that everyone's first thought is oh boy something to put me to sleep! but in reality, he was amazing..In fact, he was my EFY director when I went to EFY in New Hampshire! Small world, right? Anyways, he related Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life to our lives...At the beginning of the dream, Lehi sees a man dressed in white and the man tells him to follow him. Well, the man took him into the wilderness "for the space of many hours"...If I were Lehi, I would've probably thought this man was crazy..So it took him hours just to reach the point where he could see the tree..His thought was probably, "I made it!". But in reality, he had a much harder trial to go through with everyone taunting him from the great and spacious building...The speaker told us that throughout our lives, there are many crucial events that happen and we can sometimes think that when those events arrive, we've reached the promised land. He related this to being a missionary..You wait for months for that envelope and the day finally comes when you can open it and read: Texas Houston Mission. Promised land! Then you enter the wilderness of waiting for the MTC, the "real" promised land. You arrive at the MTC and realize that the journey has just begun. Finally, you leave and land in Texas...okay, this is really the promised land! Ha. No. Now you begin to travel through the dark wilderness. This mission is hard but seeing people come to the Savior, that is the delicious fruit from the tree of life.

You finish your mission and expect marriage, kids, etc to be the promised land when in reality, we live our entire life in the wilderness..We reach the promised land, the tree of life when we reach the Celestial Kingdom. Our lives are a test. Yes, they're hard but we can still taste of the fruit of the tree of life by following the Savior.

The brother then shared a personal story of how his son was engaged to a convert, in fact, she was the only member in her family. Her family was VERY opposed to the church and tried to do everything to prevent the temple wedding from happening. On the day of the wedding, her father dropped her off at the temple wearing a tank top and shorts and said to her, "Have a nice life!" and drove away..She still walked through those doors and proceeded to be sealed to her eternal companion for time and all eternity. After the sealing, the sealer said to her and her husband,"I feel impressed to tell you that your children are here with us and they are rejoicing that they are going to be born under the covenant (sealed to their parents)." The sealer turned to the wife and said, "The day will soon come when you and your family will all be gathered in a sealing room like this." She bursted into tears (as would I...)..They walked out the doors of the temple and waiting for her was her ENTIRE family dressed for the ocassion. Wow! Talk about a change of heart!

A few years later, the entire family had the opportunity to take a tour of the Houston Temple for the open house..The groups were so large that they couldn't fit everyone into one sealing room. So they split the group into three, one for each sealing room. Somehow, the family stayed together and it was just them in a group. They were able to all entire into a sealing room and be there together..Hugs and tears were exchanged and the wife and her husband had the opportunity to share their testimonies of eternal families.

The family hasn't joined the church yet but they are very close..All of this was possible because that girl had the courage to join the church and overcome the challenges placed before her.

Take courage my friends!

Sister Gregson has a saying written by her bed it says, "THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR NOTHING!"

Well family, THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR NOTHING!

There are people all around you, waiting to hear the gospel. It has been restored once again to this earth through a living prophet!

the church is true yall.

Love,

Hermana Emma Seymour

December 3, 2013:Week Twenty: Happy December Y'All Its 75!

What am I grateful for? Y'ALL! The Gospel! My Mission! My Savior!

Well my friends and family, I was pleased to wake up and go on a run in shorts and a tshirt today..It's currently 75 out and sunny :D sorry...i don't mean to rub it in :)

This week was terrific! Let me start off my announcing the most exciting news....Kyrstin Ulassin was baptized yesterday on her 18th birthday wahooooo!!! Sacrament meeting was one of the most spiritual church meetings I've ever been to. The Spirit was just pouring into the room! A lot of people spoke about gratitude and Elder Smith and Hermana G got up to give their last testimony as a missionary..Agh...it was heartbreaking to watch! I don't want to do that! Luckily, I've got a year left :)

We were greatly blessed with many miracles at church..Less active after less active kept walking through the doors! Our companionship split up so we could sit with everyone during the meeting. One of the less active families, the Waldo's, came! They fed us one of our Thanksgiving meals (we had three....where's the stretcher when you need one...) and they expressed their love for the missionaries. They used to have them over all of the time and they were a great strength..So, the Waldo's signed up to feed us some more..It was a win-win scenario..They come to church and we get fed...wahoo! just kidding :)

Thanksgiving was wonderful! I'll be a little honest, it was hard to be away from home but the families made it feel like home. I've eaten wayyy too much pie and cobbler..But I love me some Southern Thanksgiving dinner! People here call stuffing "dressings" instead haha...I don't know why..

After our zone meeting on Friday, we did exchanges. I went with the Bryan Sisters (Sister Davis and Sister Funk) and Sister Gregson came to Huntsville. The Bryan Area has been having a hard time finding new investigators so we decided to go and knock on some doors..Believe or not, I missed tracting..I hadn't done it in two months and it felt good to do it! To begin, we said a prayer and then picked out three streets on a map that stood out to us. Sister Funk and Sister Davis had one street in common so we drove over to it and said another prayer. We knocked on every single house but to our dismay no one was interested. We were walking back to the car and noticed that we had missed a house..We go up to it and knock..A young woman in her late 20s comes to the door and invites us in! We had our dinner appointment in a few minutes so we told her that we'd be back later that evening. So we returned and she let us back in..She opened up and said that her best friend in high school was LDS and is now married and lives in Utah..So, she's been exposed to the Church before...She said that she's Catholic and she's engaged..She had a baby girl born three months early and the family experienced really bad complications with it..But the entire time, she has been relying on the Lord. She has incredible faith! We shared with her President Monson's recent conference talk, "I Will Not Fail Thee, Nor Forsake Thee"..She loved it and we left her with a copy of that and a BOM..We set a return appointment with her and we were all astonished by this amazing miracle that had taken place.

I cannot believe that it's December! And Christmas is just around the corner! We're going to the temple tomorrow and I'm so so excited!

On Saturday night, we ate with the Dickinson family...They have like 8 kids and all but one came home for thanksgiving (she's in china)..The dad works in Nevada so they hadn't seen him in nearly a year! They are a family of Marines so it was fun to talk about that with them..After dinner, Brother Dickinson pulled out his bagpipes and a huge bass drum for Elder Field to play! Brother Dickinson proceeded to play Praise To The Man! It was so cool!!

Another random side note...While driving to dinner (it was out in the country..), we saw a man riding his horse on the side of the road....while talking on the phone...Only in Texas, right?

I love this place so much!

We've been working really hard with Cady Hopkins..It's going to be a challenging road for her..Her less active boyfriend isn't exactly excited about her decision to move out..So we've been praying that his heart will be softened ..His mother is awesome! She's a convert and a nurse and her stories remind me so much of you mommy! She also was a clinical instructor..She's a strong woman...she worked in the prisons during Hurricane Ike so she was locked in with all of the inmates for FIVE DAYS..And she had to run from building to building outside while the hurricane was right over her! I love love love her stories!

Before dinner, we stopped by Jo Ann's home (70 year old recent convert who was a minister with Joel Osteen's dad..have I mentioned that before?). Jo Ann has been recovering from heart surgery...she had a pacemaker put in..Two of her daughter, Mia and Regina were there, helping her out...When they found out we hadn't eaten all day (because we were fasting)..They sat us down and shoved sandwiches in our faces haha...I love Jo Ann and her kids..Whenever I go there, I feel like I'm coming home..Sweet Southern Hospitality!

Well fam...life is great deep in the heart of Texas! I love you all!!

Everyday I'm constantly reminded by how TRUE this gospel is. There's no way on earth that this isn't the Lord's Church. I know that my Redeemer lives and He loves each of you so much! Don't ever ask, "where are you?" because HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE and He will always be there.

Con to do mi amor,

Hermana Seymour

My view from my hammock

Sister H

Experincing an African heard of deer stampede

My new Companions indoc to a safari 

November 25, 2013: Week Nineteen:First week of the superdeduperdee fantastic transfer!

Howdy y'all!

Let me start off by telling y'all the wonderful story of Cady Hopkins. I've mentioned Cady in the past but not enough...We see her a couple times a week..She's 22 and lives with her inactive boyfriend who the elders are working with. Last Februaryish..the elders began to work with Andrew..She wouldn't pay any attention to the elders until a couple weeks later she was somewhat interested. Then the sisters came in July and she was a little bit more willing to listen and watch the church movies. But the first time she was ever taught the restoration, it was with me and hermana g. A couple weeks ago she decided that she wanted to move to Utah and go to BYU or UVU and get baptized there..Soo...here comes the miraculous part. On Saturday, we were reading 3 Nephi 11 with her and teaching her about the Savior and the love He has for her. She soaked up every word and thirsted for more. When we were finished, Hermana Hosking (our new companion asked something that we'd never asked before, "When did you come to know that the church is true?" Cady thought for a little bit and explained she felt it when we first began teaching her. She said that in the past, she felt like she doesn't want to get baptized while she's still dating Andrew..She wants to do it when she's married so she doesn't commit sin. When she finished explaining, she curled up in a little ball and said, "Ok, I'll say it....I think I want to get baptized now." I nearly shot through the roof with surprise and excitement. We only had a few moments to react because Andrew and the elders came downstairs...Ugh..talk about bad timing.Hermana Hosking leaned over to me and whispered, "That's the adversary for ya. One time we were teaching this amazing lesson then hundreds of flies came out of nowhere and entered the home...They were distracted for the rest of the lesson." Well...he cannot stop this work from moving forward! Sooo we said a closing prayer and told her quietly that we'd talk more about this tomorrow (Sunday). She said that she'd be at church..

Sunday...The talks given in the YSA branch were amazing. A girl named Samantha who returned from her mission a year ago talked about the five principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. For each of the principles, she related them to an experience that she had while on her mission. This talk was PERFECT for Cady.

Please delete the following in bold before you post it to the blog:

Sister Hosking also gave a talk about the first great commandment...Loving the Lord. She used Elder Holland's talk from last October when he retells the story of the Savior asking Peter, "Do you love me?" The words she spoke echoed into my heart and I asked myself, "Do I love the Savior?" Well, of course I do! So why am I thinking about the future? I need to first love the Savior and do His work!

At the end of the relief society lesson, the teacher, Maddie (recent convert), asked us to share a "treasured blessing". I said that I was so grateful for the elders who taught my mom. I'm so grateful that they chose to serve a mission. Then, it was Caty's turn to share..We expected her to say that she was grateful for her pets or her boyfriend but instead she said something that melted my heart. "I'm grateful for these three sister missionaries. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be the person I am today." Holy cow!

Then...it was night time..We went over to her house because she wanted us to be there for when she announced it to her boyfriend, Andrew and his mother (a member). She announced and Andrew looked a little blank faced..Uh ohhhhh....He doesn't want to rush the marriage but they do want to get married...This changes things up!

So for the rest of the night, we went over the baptismal interview questions to see where she was at..The only problem was the big problem...Her living with Andrew. She said that she's willing to do whatever it takes, she wants to get baptized NOW! She said that when she met Sister Hosking for the first time, she felt the spirit tell her, "You need to get baptized now." Soo we've set a date for her to be baptized on December 21st! She's going to try to move back in with her parents before her and Andrew get married...But she is really getting baptized! Wahoo!!!! It was such a miracle!

Kristen was also interviewed yesterday for her upcoming baptism (next sunday)..She passed wahoo! This is going to be a wonderful december! The missionaries here call it a white Christmas if you have a baptism..Well, we're hoping to have a blizzard!

Our new companion is so amazing! She's 21, went to byu for 3 years and guess where she's from? California! This makes the fourth straight Californian companion on the mission! What's the Lord trying to tell me?!? She's 6'0...So the Spanish people call her "Grandita" or "hermana Husky" because they have a hard time pronouncing 'hosking' haha...she's hilarious! She told us this story of her going into a tiny home and the ceiling fan was at her neck level so she had to bend her knees as she entered the door. She went in saying, "What up y'all, it's the BFG!"...She thinks she's irreverent but I think her humor is just like mine! So maybe it is...haha..

Transfer meeting was SO FUN. Everyone from the Klein zone was there and it was so good to see them! I hadn't seen them in 6 whole weeks! Agh...I love every single one of those missionaries so much. I was filled with complete joy to see Sister Schellhous (my trainer)..She got transferred! But to Magnolia so this is her third area in the same zone! She always says, "Klein zone for life!" Who knows...She'll probably stay in the Klein zone her whole mission!

Anyways...The work has been surging with Sister Hosking's arrival. It's so much fun to teach with her and hermana g! The Spanish is always improving and I'm surprised by how much I know.

I think the most humbling thing I realized this morning was this: I play the smallest part in this work. This work is ALL the Lord and His spirit touching the hearts of His children. I'm just an instrument! All I have to do is show up and teach and love the people!

Elder Holland paraphrased the Savior by saying, "Don't you think that if I wanted fish, I could catch them? I need disciples! I need them forever! I need someone to preach the Gospel!"

The Lord can catch His fish (the people), He can do the work all on His own. He just needs me to be His disciple and preach the Gospel!

I love this work. Why? because it's true.

There is nothing more satisfying than seeing people come to know of the truth. Seeing the light in Caty's eyes will keep me moving forward, never looking back. Always looking ahead to the bright future.

The Church is true y'all.

 

Love,

Hermana Seymour

took this while laying down on a hammock in shorts and a tshirt..it was 73...and today, it's 37 with rain...The weather here is bipolar!

 

November 18, 2013: Week Eighteen: iz transfer time baby! November 18, 2013

Howdy Y'all
 So to start off....We got a call from our Elders last night and the first thing they said was, "Why didn't you guys tell us that you were getting another sister?" WHAT? So naturally I responded, "What are you talking about?" sooooo we're going to be in a trio wahooo! It came as a big surprise because we weren't expecting any change seeing that Hermana G goes home at the end of this transfer. I'm excited for this new change, it'll be different but I'm sure it'll be fun!

Sooo highlights of the week:

This morning we had breakfast at the Harris' (the ones with the 500 deer). After breakfast we went on another safari :) Interesting fact about brother harris....He trains world class boxers! He himself was also a boxer back in the day and he fought Ali!! He said that he took a train to chicago and got pneumonia on the way...But he still fought, unfortunately he lost...one of his only losses. He said that if he were healthy, he would've beat him! How awesome is that! He's a big strong guy and he kinda sounds like tommy lee jones :) I love that family so much! They're true southerners...maybe too true...he still likes to call black people the "n" word lol....oh brother harris.

anyways....

This weekend was stake conference! I'm serving in the College Station Texas Stake (where Texas A&M is at) The drive to the stake center is 100 miles round trip so President gave us permission to spend the night at the Hermanas' place over there! Saturday night after the evening session, we stayed with Sisters Zabriskie (she's really good friends with Emily Sheffield!) and Sister Stockton. We might have had a too much fun haha...All of the talks given during the saturday session were about missionary work! It was so inspiring, especially because two of the speakers were baptized just a couple of months ago! And our wonderful mission president and his wife spoke saturday and sunday. To make things even more amazing, me and the 42 other missionaries serving in the stake sang as a choir! On saturday, we sang the EFY medley and it gave me chills when we proudly sang the words, "We are as the Army of Helaman, we have been taught in our youth. And we will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth." I'm in the Army of Helaman and I'm helping the Lord's work move forward. And guess what? You can help too! A member from the temple presidency also spoke and he gave some interesting stats..He said that if the 48,000 adult members that live in the temple boundaries attended the temple just ONCE a month, we could operate FIVE temples in the area. If the 14,000 members with temple recommends went once a month, we could have 2 temples working at full capacity. What does this mean? GO TO THE TEMPLE! The Lord is in the temple! The missionary work is to gather everyone in, to the temple, so that the work is not done in vain!

For the Sunday session....we were surprised to have the primary come up to the stand and sing "I hope they call me on a mission" then we sang Called to Serve with them...That was probably one of my most favorite moments of my entire mission! Some of the little kids would turn around and just stare at us with bright eyes, hoping one day, they'd be called on a mission.

For our investigators....friday was fantastic! We were soo busy, we were running from appointment to appointment! We had three spanish appts in a row so needless to say...my brain was going to explode. We taught Maria (the one who came to the Halloween party) part of the Restoration..She was juggling her twin babies so it was hard to teach the whole lesson. She asked if she needed to be baptized in order to come to church. We said no, you can decide to get baptized after you come a few times if you'd like. So her response was, "Okay, I need to come to church!" After Maria, we went to Luis Espinosa's with his family (we usually see them on friday nights). Well scary part here....We decided to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and guess what? I've never even studied how to teach that one in spanish yet! So...I put complete trust in the Lord..I knew the vocab words, I just needed some help forming sentences :) One of the most amazing feelings is knowing that the Lord is using you as His instrument. I feel these promptings to say something and fear tries to creep in and stop me. Before I let it, I open my mouth and the words flow out. Sometimes, I surprise myself by thinking, "Woah did I just really say that?" because perfecting the accent takes time! I love the feeling I have when I'm teaching, I feel as if the Spirit surges out of me and carries the words to the hearts of the people. Hermana G told me that she loves it when I teach because I speak slower than a native so the investigators hold on to every word and understand what I'm saying!

The after effect of teaching in spanish all day is this: YOU CAN'T SPEAK. You don't know if you should speak in English or Spanish...And when you go to say something, it comes out half english half spanish. Hermana G fears that she's forgetting how to speak english because sometimes, her mexican accent really comes out and it's hilarious. Or when we say a prayer in a member's home, she'll start saying it in spanish!

Oh! Before I forget! We went to the Ortega's to remind them about stake conference and share a short message. Elizabeth (mom) was the only one home and she said that she has been wanting a change in her life and she feels that this is it. She doesn't know what exactly it's going to happen but she feels that it's going to in the future! (This was in reference to baptism!) She told us that she loves it when we come and she feels like we've been a great blessing in their life! WAHOOO!!! I was shouting for joy on the inside! Please pray for them! They are so prepared and ready for this! Oh! She went to conference yesterday :) wahoooo!

Well, I think that's all the exciting news I can write at the moment because I'm out of time! I love you all so much and one thing that President Pingree always says if we're going through any sort of trial, "Study the Atonement." If your first question is why? Just do it! We can get through ANY trial with the Savior by our sides. I know this is true.

We watched the Josesph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration Movie with Jo Ann, one of the recent converts last night...Watching it strengthens my testimony of Joseph Smith. I know that he truly was a prophet and He was able to restore the Church of Jesus Christ once again on the earth today. I also have gained a great appreciation for him and the early saints. They went through so much... more than we could ever imagine, just so we could have the wonderful blessings of the gospel in our life today. The Church is true my dear friends and family. I know it and God knows that I know it.

con todo mi amor en mi corazon,

Hermana Emma Seymour

November 11,2013: Week Seventeen:It's the last week of the transfer, WHAAAT?

Hi family!

At my first zone conference back in July, a missionary said during his "dying testimony", "Your mission is like a roll of toilet paper...it starts off slow, gets faster and faster, and then is gone before you know it!" How true it is!

Let me start off by saying THANK YOU EVERYONE for everything I received this past week! Not just the physical things like the letters and packages, but the blessings I felt from your prayers! This week has been the best week of the transfer! We had SO MUCH FUN! We would laugh until tears rolled down our faces and we'd be on the ground, holding our not-so-tough abs haha...On Thursday night, we helped a member move and she gave us a ton of christmas lights hehehe sooo when we got home and finished planning, we put them up all around the apartment! And let me tell yall this...we almost died multiple times haha (not really) We'd stand on top of the couches, trying to put tacks into the ceiling! This resulted in uncontrollable laughter! And my oh my it felt sooo good to laugh!

My favorite moment of the week was when we taught the Ortega family..We taught them the Restoration about a month ago with President Prior (the stake president). Javier and Elizabeth have been going through a difficult time because their 16 year old daughter is pregnant...We know that this trial has softened them so we taught them the wonderful Plan of Salvation on Saturday. The lesson went really well and it was very unique because we'd switch back and forth between english and spanish at some parts because Javier is still learning English. At the end of the lesson, I extended the invitation to be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God. Immediately, Elizabeth innocently said, "I've already been baptized." We quickly dissolved this concern by explaining to her that her baptism was a beautiful display of her commitment to the Savior but she needs to be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood. We told them the story of how the Savior Himself walked 40 miles just to be baptized by John the Baptist. Why? because he was the only one that had the Priesthood. This made sense to them and as President Prior shared his testimony (he's also a convert), Hermana Gutierrez whispered to me, "We need to pray really hard, right now!" So I kept a silent prayer in my heart that the Ortega's would accept this invitation to be baptized. When the time was right again, Hermana G had Javier read Mosiah 18:9-10, and as he read "What have you against being baptized..." A smile came to his face..Hermana G then invited them to be baptized on December 15th. The Spirit took over as we explained to them that by setting the 15th as their goal, they would be showing their faith to Heavenly Father that they WANTED to know if these things were true. We promised them that as they set this goal, they would receive an answer to their prayers. We told them, "We can only know that these things are true if we have a SINCERE desire to know..Meaning that if we were to receive an answer, we'd act upon it and follow the Savior by being baptized."

Ah! Family! it was so good!

And yesterday, we met with Kristen, a 17 year old girl who is getting baptized on December 1st! Kristen has known for a long time that the Church is true, but her parents are against her decision so she has to wait until she turns 18 which is on December 1st :) We're going to teach her all of the lessons again before her baptism, just to make sure that she's prepared (even though she could teach us all of the lessons haha) It was so wonderful to teach her the beautiful message of the Restoration and help her strengthen her testimony of it. We could all feel the Spirit so strongly and she'd tear up at some parts. She's so happy that she has found the gospel! She's on fire!

So those were my two favorite lessons for the week :) I hope yall enjoyed! We've been hearing that it's going to get "cold" this week haha...my body is used to the warm weather so when it's 55 out....I die!

Well.....I love yall so much and I cant thank you enough for everything that you've done for me! Work hard in your portion of the Lord's vineyard! Instead of praying for me to find people, try praying for people to find that are around you! The Lord is hastening His work and there are many that are ready for the message of the Restoration!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Seymour

November 4, 2013: Week 16 Holaaaa Familia!

buenos dias mi familia!

Soooo this week was interesting as usual haha...Hermana G got really sick after we cleaned a less active's home..Like, I'm surprised she hasn't coughed up her lungs! So we had to stay in for a couple of days so she could rest up! But we still got to teach people..don't you worry about that!

My favorite lesson was with Sylvia..She's from Peru and she's the caretaker of one of the ward members who had a stroke and has really bad dimentia (spelling?)..That woman's husband is also not a member so we also taught him. It was certainly different teaching a lesson in both spanish and english! One time, Hermana G started talking to him (he doesn't know a lick of spanish) in spanish so I giggled and nudged her. Then she was like, "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize what I was doing!"

Teaching Sylvia was a little bit hard for me because at the last second, we changed out lesson plans to the Ten Commandments (I had been preparing to teach the Plan of Salvation for the past two days)..Soo...I did my best and left the rest to Heavenly Father. At one point she said that she was confused as to why there are so many churches on the earth and how there are so many different interpretations of the Bible. I felt the strongest prompting to share with her an analogy. Fear struck me because I thought I wouldn't be able to do it in spanish. So I just opened my mouth and let the Lord handle the rest. I was able to say what I wanted to say! The analogy goes like this: Imagine drawing a dot on a piece of paper. This dot represents the bible. How many lines can you draw through this dot? Countless! These lines are a representation of all the different interpretations of the Bible. But, draw another dot next the the Bible. This represents the Book of Mormon. How many lines can you draw to connect the Bible and the Book of Mormon? ONE. There is one doctrine, one gospel, one church (see ephesians 4)! And that doctrine and gospel is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! How lucky I am to know of this. Every day I think about the BILLIONS of people on the Earth and I am one of the few that knows of the truth. This is my motivation to go out and serve the Lord's children. EVERYONE needs to hear this joyous message!

Last p-day was BEAUTIFUL. We went to the Harris' and after we ate lunch, Brother Harris took us on a safari :) They've very wealthy so they've purchased some deer from Africa and other animals! No lions though...It was so beautiful to stand in the back of his truck and drive around his 500 acres. I felt like I was on a National Geographic documentary! There were herds and herds of deer running around. And at one point, we got to watch these two bucks fight from like 15 yards away! I tried to get an action shot for yall!

When Hermana G was sick, I got to study spanish like no other haha..She said that everytime she has gotten sick while on the mission, it has actually been a blessing for her companions because they grow so much in that time. And it is so true. I'm surprised by how much I can say! The Lord has truly had mercy on me and I'm really picking up the language! I can understand almost everything that people say, as long as it's gospel related and I can feel the Spirit work within me when I communicate with the people.

We had zone conference this week! It was so uplifting and I got my spanish name tag so it's official! Wahoo! At the end of the meeting, President usually picks 4 or 5 missionaries to give a short talk about Christ-like attributes. Well...I got picked and I'm a lame person and forgot to prepare. But the Lord really helped me out because the day before, I had studied a talk about faith in Jesus Christ. The talk is called, "Remember Lot's Wife" by Elder Holland...Yall should read it! It's actually a BYU devotional..But anyways, I had written down a couple of quotes that I really enjoyed so I was prepared for this talk! I also shared the story of when Peter walks on the water towards the Savior. Everyone focuses on how he faltered, but we should focus on the amazing faith that he had to walk to the Savior on water! Peter grew afraid when he saw the waves and the wind but he cried out to the Lord. If we do our best to ignore the waves and winds of life and focus on the Savior, we'll make it! That is a promise! We need to put our trust in the Savior that He'll make up the rest!

Hermana G has taught me so much, she has the coolest analogies! One was this: Imagine having a beautiful grand piano in your living room. The piano can't play itself, we have to come to it and play it. Only then, will we be able to listen to the music. The piano represents the Savior. We have to come to the Savior and then the beautiful music of the Spirit will be played!

My purpose is to help others come unto Christ. I want people to hear the beautiful music of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yo se que vive mi Senor. Yo se que el Evangelio de Jesucristo ha sido restauro atraves el profeta Jose Smith. Yo se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias es la iglesia verdadera!

I love yall so much!

Hermana Seymour

October 28, 2013: Week 15 Photos

October 28, 2013: Week 15:::Que tal mi familia? HOLA. October 21, 2013

I'm just going to start off by saying...I love my mission. So many miracles happen every single day!

Last pday, we went fishing at a members pond :)

there's also another family that has like 500 acres and they by african deer sooooo we might go hunting..haha just kidding, that's not allowed!

On Tuesday, we went to the temple! It was our zone and another zone and it was so good to see my friends again!

After the temple, we went on an adventure to the ghetto to find a potential investigator..We started knocking on doors, searching for her but we ended up finding a 20 year old who has met with the missionaries before! We talked for a while and asked him what his favorite scripture from the bible was. He said well, it's actually in your book. He ran back into his house and grabbed his Book of Mormon and opened up to Mosiah 3:19. He said that he shared this with one of his friends who has been going through a hard time...What in the world?!? He's doing missionary work and he's not even a member! We flipped through his BOM and saw that he has underlined and highlighted passages that he likes! We set up a return appointment with him but he wasn't home :\ After we found him, we continued our search for the potential and driving along....a big bus pulls out behind us...Jokingly we said, hey! it's the convicts' bus! Well....we turned onto a street and saw the bus go by us....filled with convicts! We were dying laughing!

We visited with Jo Ann, the 70 year old recent convert. Ah, I love her..She reminds me so much of you, mommy! She had milk that was straight from a cow, so being adventurous, I tried some and it was great! We also met with an 18 year old recent convert named Clayton...Holy cow, he could be a missionary right now and he was baptized just two weeks ago! He's already preparing to serve a mission! He found the Church, the Church didn't find him...He went onmormon.org and got in touch with the Elder here.

Thursday marked three months in Texas! Wowzers, the time is just flying by! Friday was super interesting.....We met an investigator named Julie at the duck pond that's across from the institute building. There were chickens with baby chicks everywhere and she was like, "Let's catch some" so.......we caught five baby chicks and a momma hen...in our skirts.Yes, we're awesome. The following evening, Julie wanted to catch a rooster...soooo we went on a covert operation and caught a rooster! haha I would have never imagined that I'd be catching chickens while serving the Lord!

On Saturday, we went to teach the Ortega family but Elizabeth (the mom) was the only one home. So, we just talked more about the Book of Mormon and at the end, we said our tesitmonies in espanol :)

We had a lot more spanish appointments this week and it was so much fun! We met Maria, she just had twins and she has a 4 year old son who is the cutest thing ever! Hispanic kids are so precious! We sang, "Soy un hijo de Dios" (I am a child of God) and the boy hummed along to it :) At the end of the appointment, Maria said that she LOVED my hair and that it was "created by God Himself" haha...She's so cute!

The process of learning spanish or any other language teaches you so much patience..It's amazing how you begin to understand people much faster than being able to communicate. I feel like the Lord is telling me something: LISTEN. I must put all of my focus on our investigators so that I can help meet their needs and teach them about the Gospel. I love testifying and teaching in spanish. So. Much. I'm so grateful for this calling! The Church is true yall!

Love,

Hermana Seymour

October 21, 2023: Week 14; Huntsville TX District, Spanish Speaking Adventure

So...I forgot my journal at the appartment...which means I forgot my brain and half of the miracles that happened this week so bear with me!

I'm in Huntsville wahoo! I love it so much and it reminds me so much of home..There are hills here! Who would've thought that there'd be hills in Texas? Huntsville

is so very different than the Parkway area haha...It's like, polar opposite! The people are even nicer here and the ward is SUPER old lol...like..the primary is tiny and everyone has white hair. But I'm not judging! I love old people!

Spanish is coming right along, after a few days, Hermana Gutierrez and I decided to speak only spanish and it's amazing to see how quickly everything is coming along! The mission is ordering the spanish materials that missionaries ususally get when they enter the MTC and those will really help..I just need to learn the vocabulary of the gospel and refresh on verb tenses and I think I'll be good to go!

Last night we watched a church film with a hispanic couple and at the end, Hma G testified and then tapped my leg, telling me it was my turn to go. WHAT. So..I kept a prayer in my heart that whatever I'd say, it would touch the investigators' hearts. It was so cool to just open my mouth and have the words flow out! I know that what I said was probably a little off in terms of grammar but I could feel the spirit pour into the room. It's not the words that are said, it's the Spirit that is felt.

A couple days ago, we went to an appointment with the Stake President, he referred us to this family that he had known for years (he's a doctor)..They're from Nicaragua but we taught them in English because President didn't know spanish. Wow. This family is so prepared to hear the gospel, it's amazing! And what was even more amazing was that I instantly fell in love with them! There's something about the spanish people that makes me love them so much! The Lord knew that I could do this switch even though I doubt myself a lot of the time haha...I know that everything that has happened, has happened for a reason.

So....a little bit about my companion. Her name is Hermana Gutierrez, she's from California (third straight companion from cali haha), she's a convert of 2 and a half years, and she goes home in january :\

The first night I got here, we went to dinner at an investigator's house...his name is Francis and he's from Africa! He's so nice! He made us crab and tilapia..

The crazy part was...he cooked all of it in habenero peppers...aka...one of the hottest peppers in the world.

.So needless to say, my mouth was on fire!

Hermana G is determined to "mexicanize me" and I think that's coming along nicely! The work here in Huntsville is a lot faster and what I mean by that is...we are teaching a lot more people! I get to drive a sweet Jeep Compass hehe :)

Hmmm I'm trying to think if there's anything else exciting that's happening..Oh! We're going to the temple tomorrow! Wahoo! I haven't been in two months so I'm dying to go! We have zone conference next week..my new address is:

Hermana Emma Seymour

620 Hickory Drive Apt#626

Huntsville, TX

77340

soooooo send me some mail and love yall! An interesting thing about Huntsville....there are like 11 prisons in the area YAY. And the mexican mafia is here...WAHOO! sooo my mission just got a lot my fun! There are a lot more trailer parks and confederate flags here compared to parkway haha...but i love it! i love anything crazy! :)

And most of all, I love the Savior. Every single day, I have the amazing opportunity to represent Him and it brings me so much happiness! This gospel is true yall!

Love,

Hermana Seymour

Whos the odd one out?

July 18- Oct 9, 2013 District Pictures from Tomball, TX

Sister Selfie

Good Bye Tomball