Called To Serve...in Houston, Texas: February 10, 2014: I'M STAYING

Oh my word my precious family, you have no idea how happy I am to be staying in Huntsville for six more weeks!

All day yesterday, I was so nervous to get the phone call..Transfer calls happen at night and if they call, that means you're leaving but if you get a text, then you're safe..We were praying that we'd only hear the alert for a text but shortly after 9:30, the phone rang..Saddness swept over me as Sister Hosking answered the phone..Elder Nymeyer wouldn't tell her what was going on until he was put on speaker phone..He dramatically said, "Sister Seymour, you need to be at the Hafer Building (Houston) on Tuesday.....long pause...but you do not need to pack your bags." So....this means that we're probably going to pick up another sister and be in a trio...I have mixed feelings over this but it's whatever the Lord wants, right?

Sister Hosking and I are so happy to be staying together for another transfer :)

Moving on..miracle time!!!

Tuesday, we were tracting in a trailer park and on our way back to the car, we decided to talk to a man walking right by us..He explained to us that he found God a few years ago and he totally changed his life around..We later learned that he is an ex-gang member..He said that he'd be more than willing to listen to our message and he invited us to visit him on Thursday..He said that his wife would also be really interested. So on Thursday, we showed up and the wife came out of the house with three beautiful kids and asked us who we were..We explained that Jose, her husband, invited us over..He had totally forgotten so we rescheduled for the next day. Finally on Friday, we met with them and taught them the Restoration. Holy cow, it was one of the most amazing lessons I've ever been in. We pulled out the Restoration pamphlets and passed them out. Krystal (wife) said, "Hey, my grandma sent me this a few weeks ago!" Her grandma is LDS!! We continued teaching and everytime we taught a principle, she would nudge Jose and say, "I knew it!" or "That's so right!"...They expressed their feelings and how they've been searching for the true church. (We taught them in english but they're hispanic..she doesn't speak it but she understands it and he's bilingual)..When we got to the story of Joseph Smith, the house went dead quiet (the three little boys were previously making a lot of noise)..I recited the first vision and you could just see the light pour into their eyes. They believed everything and are so excited about it all..I've never met people like this before on my entire mission. They're SO prepared. They felt the Spirit as well and when it was quiet, Krystal said, "Wow..it's quiet..where are the boys?!?" The boys were quietly watching from the hallway..At the end of the lesson, I explained to them that the next time we come over, we'd like to talk about the Plan of Salvation, God's plan for us, and how our families can live together, forever. Krystal's face lit up once more and she said, "I've been searching for a church that teaches this! All I want is for my family to be eternal." We told them that we could tell they've been searching for a long time, we testified that they could stop their searching, because they've found the truth.

We taught the plan of salvation on saturday and set a date for them to be baptized on March 8th. Miracles happen my friends. Seeing that it's winter olympics time I think it'd be appropriate to quote the movie "Miracle", "Do you believe in miracles? YES!"

Another great miracle that we had...On friday night we went to teach Rosio (English class investigator)...She wasn't home so we felt promted to knock on the next door..We gave our little approach and she seemed very interested...Then Rosio popped up behind her! the woman we were talking to was Rosio's mother! They invited us in and sat us down...We began to teach the Restoration to them and it was so awesome because Rosio helped us teach it!!! She believes in it all, she just works on 12 hours a day, every day so we have to find her a new job so she can come to church! While we were teaching, Rosio's 16 year old daughter joined in the lesson and wow, she had amazing questions! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she clung to it tightly and asked if there was a youth program. We explained there was and she mentioned that she plays soccer. I then remembered that one of the young women in the ward plays soccer so I asked, "Do you know Faith Williams?" Her eyes grew wide and she said, "Yes!!!" We told her that she was LDS and also he german teacher was too...Her german teacher is Bishop Bumbaugh lol...We've got her in the bag folks! When it was time to go, she said, "I'll definitely be there on Wednesday, I'm going to talk to Faith!"

Children and young adults are like sponges, they soak up everything and their minds are so open. I know that she'll be baptized in no time!

Well, that's it for the wonderful miracles! There are so many that I'd lov to share but I'm out of time!

Okay..one last one..I gave a talk yesterday about how the enabling power of the atonement changes our human nature...Andrew (Cady's less active boyfriend) came! Even though Cady didn't! that's a big deal people...I'm so grateful I was asked to give that talk...I studied for it the entire week and I feel like a completely different person. I love the Savior and His incredible Atonement...the Atonement is for sinners..But it is also for Saints..It strengthens us to do things that we would not be able to do with our own natural capacity. Our human natures can change as we put off the "natural man" and strive to become more like the Savior...Luke 9:24..Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall find it...I'm determined to lose myself in this great cause...I love the Lord and there are so many people here that are seaching for the truth.

Read or watch this: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2003/04/dear-are-the-sheep-that-have-wandered?lang=eng the prodigal son WILL return

This is the way and there is no other way save it be through our savior. This is the true church. this is the only way to find ETERNAL happiness. I love yall...