Hola Familia!!!
This week was so flipping awesome!! I'll start with Friday, the fourth o' juuuly..We woke up a little bit earlier than usual to get down to houston in time for our "meet the president" meeting..We met President Mortensen, his wife, and five of his six kids (the oldest is serving a mission)..President Mortensen is the complete opposite of President Pingree lol..but guess what? He's the perfect mission president that I need for the last five months of my mission. He reminds me so much of some coaches that I've had in the past. He's the kind of person who pushes you to your limit because he knows you're capable of something great..
After the meeting, Hermana Crandall and I met him and the first thing he said to us? "How many contacts do you get each day?" wow..the number of people we talk to each day is probably our weakest number that we count...and he knew it just by looking into our eyes..We responded, "Umm..four or five.." He said, "okay..promise me that you'll contact twenty people today." GULP. okay..So we committed to doing it and guess what? We went nuts and contacted 21 people! 21 people doesn't sound like much but out in the country, it's hard! We found a lot of new potentials out of it too!
At night, we watched the fireworks at the George Bush library at Texas A&M..so fun! we figured it'd be a great opportunity to find people but it was so dark we couldn't exactly tell who was hispanic, indian, asian, or white...i swear i'm not racist! I just didn't want to go up to a "dark skinned" person and say, "Hola! Somos misioneras de la Iglesias de....." and have them look at me like I'm a racist fool...On the bus ride back to the stadium where we had parked, we did some bus contacting :)
We got to teach Olga and Elvia this week (english class students)!! They were so receptive to the message and we can't wait to teach them again..
One miracle...We were contacting at HEB one night and as we "shopped" around, we saw this super cute mexican family..They helped Hermana Crandall pick out the perfect watermelon and then we continued on..In my head, I was thinking, "You just passed off the perfect opportunity! What were you thinking?!?" So I told myself and God, that if I saw them again, I'd talk to them. As we checked out, I saw the family walk outside..Shoot. I missed my chance...But as we approached our car, we saw the family loading their groceries in the car that was parked RIGHT NEXT to our car. I looked up to the sky and said in my head, "Okay..you got me.." I mustered up my courage and talked to Julio..He was totally interested!!!
As for teaching my dad...We taught him about fasting and also about the Book of Mormon. We explained how instead of trying to comprehend everything that's going on in the stories, to focus on how he feels while reading it. For those of you who do not know my dad on a personal level, he isn't exactly the kind of guy who focuses on what he's feeling lol...but the wonderful thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! Happy news! He fasted yesterday! The day before, he expressed his concerns because "he is a member of the no meals skipped club". We asked him how he felt while fasting and he said, "calm"...Wahooooo he was feeling the spirit! I feel like his conversion is going to be gradual...Line upon line...not an overnight BOOM kind of thing..And you know what? I'm perfectly okay with that because I know that the day will come when he will say that this is the truth.
Part of the training we received from President Mortensen was absolutely mind blowing...for example did you know....that the Book of Mormon is a covenant? And if we're not reading it every day, we need to repent..When I heard this I was like jeeeeeepers! There are so many people who do not read it on a daily basis!
Anyways...I'm so excited to work with our new mission president and continue growing into the person Heavenly Father wants me to be!! I hope all is well where ever you may be!
Love,
Hermana Seymour
Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory round 2!
isn't texas the most beautiful place ever?
los misioneros del barrio brazos
Elders being Elders
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We sat right behind the orchestra that played patriotic music while the fireworks were shot off of the roof of the library...i love texas pride.
Fireworks
rainbows and big texas fields!
we teach primary. coloring and nap time! :) a Missionary's dream
teaching primary...is that even allowed? we do what the ward asks of us...
Finding The Tens of Thousands
Hola familia! Como le va??
I can't even begin to express how much I love the area that I get to serve in. I seriously think it's the best in the entire mission. So our area is so big (we cover an entire stake except for the Huntsville area) that we can drive nearly two hours in any direction and still be in our area. But for the past year that our area has had missionaries in it, we've only worked in Bryan and College Station..There are literally THOUSANDS of hispanic people in our area that have probably never seen spanish or english missionaries. There are several towns that we've never worked in so this week Hermana Crandall and I felt like it was finally time to do some exploring. On Friday, we drove to Caldwell which is about 25 miles away from Bryan...Population? 4,000...Hispanic population? Nearly all of that. We know for a fact that there are people there just waiting to hear the gospel..We didn't have much time to explore, we tried to get a map but all of the civic buildings were closed but we talked to some people and we asked one guy, "This might be a weird question, but do you know where all of the hispanics live in this town?" He looked at us and said, "From this street (pointing to the street that we stood at) all the way down..There are a lot." Sometimes when we're contacting in Bryan, we talk to people from Caldwell who come to the city for work...Soooo we're super excited! Please pray that we'll be led to those who are ready to hear the gospel!
Due to some events that have happened lately, Hermana Crandall and I have received a lot of Priesthood blessings..In those blessings, it talks about the great work that Hermana Crandall and I have to do here. From the way the Lord is talking to us, I think I'm going to be staying in this area for a long time...I feel like this could be my last area! 9 months in the Brazos Ward? Bring it!
The night that we came home from Caldwell, Hermana Crandall had a dream where we were in a house and there was a beautiful family sitting on the couch..But the husband wasn't there..he was in Mexico..The mom had let us in and said, "We've been looking for missionaries ever since we left Mexico and we've been waiting to be baptized.." The mom left the room and an angel came in and told us, wait to baptize them until the father returns from Mexico. Later in the dream, it was shown to Hermana Crandall that this family is in Caldwell.
There are no such things as coincidences..This family that she saw is real and we're going to do our very best and find them. Pray that we do!! I'm so excited to begin working in Caldwell...The town is so beautiful and historic..yall should google it or something! It reminds me a lot of Cumberland (my home town)..
We had interviews this week with President Mortensen. He spent fifteen minutes with each of us and during that time, he challenged us to invite 25 people to learn about the gospel each day..This is a hard thing to do! It has shifted our focus from the less active/ inactive members to finding new people to teach..He told me that he doesn't care about the numbers, he cares about my best. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, "The Lord knows the desires of your heart." At that moment, my family flashed through my head. There is nothing more in this world that I want than an eternal family. And I know one day, it will come.
There is so much that I have to be grateful for..When I reflect back to my life before the mission I think, "Holy cow, I really didn't know the Savior!" But doing His work and His will and brought me so close to Him. There is only one way to true happiness and that is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything else, it will come to an end. There are no true endings in Heavenly Father's plan, only everlasting beginnings.
Con Amor,
Hermana Emma Seymour
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