September 29, 2014: I MET SOMEONE FROM MAINE!

Hola!

     So to start off my email...I met someone from Maine last night! Yep, that's right..I'm not the only one. As we walked from the parking garage to our apartment complex, I saw a guy carrying a hockey bag and stick..I freaked out and power walked towards him..As I got closer, I saw his blue bag and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me...but they weren't...Written on the bag in big letters was "LEWISTON"..I called out, "Excuse me?! Are you from Maine?!" He turned around with a surprised look and said, "Yes! How did you know?" Ok, I'll be honest..I flipped out..I told him that I went to school at Greely and played hockey too..People, this is the first Mainer I've met in 15 months..I was having some serious withdrawals because everyone we talk to here doesn't know what Maine is. They all think it's Canada haha..#hispanicprobs

 

Okay...updates on our lovely investigators...

 

     Paola..We taught her about the BoM and then began teaching the Plan of Salvation.. While we taught her, she said that she feels like she'll be ready to be baptized in a month. She's full of questions and we invited her to fast about when exactly she should get baptized. She came to church yesterday and fasted :) 

The Razos family..We saw them on Thursday and watched the Restoration dvd..It went really well..We brought the Arrellano girls with us and it kind of took an unexpected turn...At church on Sunday, Gabby told us that the kids aren't interested anymore and they think that if they were to get baptized they'd have to give up all of their social media stuff and technology...The Arrellano's are pretty strict and they don't have that stuff..So this Thursday, we're going to clear up that concern with the kids..The mom, Miriana, told Gabby that she wants to be baptized right now! They have some problems within their marriage that I won't go into detail about but...yeah...The husband is super nice but I don't think he's as ready to change as his wife..One by one though, starting with Miriana, I think they'll all get baptized. Due to some issues..Miriana didn't come to church..

 

Basically..the adversary always pushes back. When is the right road ever the easiest, problem-free road? NEVER. The Savior never said it would be easy. But he said it'd be worth it. 

  

     Dad update :) We've shifted our focus to the Book of Mormon with him..We've decided to dedicate our lessons to reading the Book of Mormon with him and then assign him chapters to read for homework. Right now, he's in Helaman 5 and that's what we read last night with him. He understood it so clearly and he actually taught us! The missionaries! After we finished the chapter he said, "I find it interesting that the 300 people that were converted were prisoners and prison guards..The message is powerful enough to convert even them..It doesn't really matter who the messenger is, it's about the message." How right he is! The Lord has asked TEENAGERS to carry the most powerful message in the world. Many people tell us, "Why should I listen to you? I know what life is, you're half my age!" But it's not about who we are, it's about what we have to say.

The night before, he had told my mom, "I'm not going to church, it's fast and testimony meeting.." Through the grapevine (cough cough...Jo Ann), I found out his plans of staying home..I texted him (don't worry, i've got permission!) saying, "Hope you go to church tomorrow! The closer you get to your answer, the harder satan pushes...So push back!" He replied, "Ok, I'll think about it." When we called to confirm our appointment, he said that he went to church! Ah! So flipping happy!

Mom told me last night, that he had leaned over to her during sacrament meeting and said, "If you hear, my stomach growl, just ignore it." (my parents thought it was fast sunday but theirs is actually the sunday after general conference.) She looked at him and said, "Jeff, are you fasting?" He nodded his head, yes. 

 

WHAT IN THE WORLD?!? WHO IS THIS GUY?!? 

 

He told us that he sat as he sat at church he thought to himself, "If I were to go up and speak, what would I say? 'Hi, I'm Jeff...And I've been investigating the church for 25 years..'" haha...oh dad..As we talked more about faith, I felt the overwhelming prompting to invite him to be baptized on December 6th. So I did...and do you wanna know what happened? As he thought about it for a moment, the skype session closed. Really? I began to laugh at how hard the adversary is working on him! Like seriously? That would happen. After five minutes, we reconnected and dad jokingly said, "Is this a sign that I shouldn't get baptized?" I replied, "No! It means satan working really hard!" He laughed and agreed..He answered saying, "I don't know if I can.." He'll be in Wisconsin a week before December 6th and as part of the family gathering, drinking is involved. He told us that he knew that the Word of Wisdom was true and that it's what God wants him to do..But he was seriously doubting himself and his capacity to resist the temptation. I can't even imagine being in that situation..With my family..and everyone's drinking..I shared Phillipians 4:13 and asked, "Do you believe you can do all things with Christ?" He smiled and said, "Yes." I said, "So you can do it! You have two months to prepare!" He ended by saying, "I don't know if I'll be worthy to get baptized a week later..and I don't know if I'll be ready." We reassured him that he can in fact do it but WOAH. His concern wasn't about whether or not its true..It was about being ready! He didn't commit to a 'yes' but he said that he'd continue trying and getting ready.

 

     It brings tears to my eyes to think..this is why I came on a mission. He needed me to teach him. I can say that 15 months later, we've grown so much closer. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly unites families. eternally. The plan that Heavenly Father has for each of us is perfect. His timing is perfect. And his love is perfect. 

Just keep swimming my friends! Oh and...yall should watch general conference this weekend..It'll change your life :)

 

sooo the toenail came back..I went to a podiatrist, who's a member, and he did it on his back porch :) surgery done right.

exchanges with hermana deloya :) I went to Gulf Bank this week...aka..THE GHETTO. We ate at a member's home..She has been feeding the missionaries for 30 years, every week. The rule in her house? You have to eat everything on your plate. Well, I didn't know that and I had eaten a big meal prior to it..Good thing Hermana Deloya has a huge stomach! She finished my plate :)

so much food. all for deloya and I.

con amor,

Hermana Emma Seymour

September 22, 2014: The Lord Always Provides A Way.

Howdy! Hola! Como le va? 

Let me start off by saying that the Lord always provides a way! Always. If you want to do his will but it seems nearly impossible, know that it is not. For with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37)..Hermana Clement and I have been working really hard on finding new people to teach and Heavenly Father has provided us with many. These wonderful people come up out of nowhere! 

So this week, we got to teach Mariana and her family!! (the family that Gabby's living with)..When we knocked on the door, Gabby answered with a huge smile on her face. She invited us in and sat us down on the couches in the living room. Then la familia Razos walked in..Hermana, Hermano y their three kids..Sitting there in the living room with this wonderful family was so incredible..I've never taught a complete family like this before and the lesson we shared with them will be an experience that I'll never forget. Gabby helped us teach..We'd ask her questions and she'd bare her testimony on certain things..The testimony of a member is one of the most powerful tools that missionaries can have. As we neared the end of the lesson (we taught them the Restoration) we asked each person how they felt at the moment. They all answered, "Paz (peace)" but the Anthony, the ten year old said, "Alivio"..This was a word that I didn't know..Anthony's sister said, "It means 'relief'." KIDS ARE SO AMAZING. There's something so very special about this family and I love them all so much already! I could feel the spirit so strongly in their home and everyone spoke with great reverence. The family doesn't know much about the Gospel and at the beginning, Hermano said, "We don't know much but we want to get closer to God and we're willing to do whatever it takes to get closer to him. We see Gabby and how happy she is and we want to be like that." To end the lesson, we knelt together and invited Hermano to say the closing prayer. Afterwards, we stayed kneeling and we invited them to be baptized when they came to know that this was true. They all said yes! 

They were unable to come to stake conference because Hermana was super sick...like in the hospital :( she's getting better though so we're going to see them again on Thursday. Gabby came with us and the Arrellano family to stake conference and she said that they're all reading the Book of Mormon together! wahooooo! It has always been my dream to find, teach, and baptize a family and I truly think this family could be the one. Pray for them!

We also taught Paula the Restoration and she agreed to be baptized as well! now she just has to get married :) we're hoping to set a date with her to get baptized in early november..

On Saturday I went on exchanges with Hermana Ordonez (she's from Peru) and we knocked most of the time...my knuckles were actually sore the next day! yeah! #missionaryprobs

Well..this letter is pretty short but...life's great! This week we get to go and watch "Meet the Mormons" a movie that the church made and I'm pretty excited! And we just found out that a general authority is coming to tour the mission in November..Finally! All of my friends have had apostles and 70s come to their mission and I've yet to experience it haha..

We taught Dad last night about obedience and how we show our love and trust in the Lord through obedience. We recommitted him to live the word of wisdom and to live the commandments...People..it's all about loving God more than ourselves and the people around us. That is the way to happiness. Yes, it's easy to say but hard to do but it is sooo vale la pena (worth it)! 

The Gospel is true. so....live it!

love yall

hermana emma seymour

September 15, 2014...THE MIRACLES THAT COME FROM FASTING

The miracles that come from fasting

Buenos dias hermanos y hermanas!

Let me start off my weekly recap with the miracles! Late last week, Hermana Clement and I thought it would be good to fast with two of our investigators to support them as they prayed about what they should do to progress in the gospel. Saturday night, we learned that neither of them would be attending church so instantly, the natural (wo)man in me kicked in and I was like, "Well, I don't want to fast anymore!" Fasting has always been really hard for me, especially when it's not fast sunday because I just love to eat. Sunday morning came around and I was about to eat breakfast until something stopped me. I told myself, "24 hours of hunger is well worth the many blessings and miracles that the Lord will give me." We left for church on an empty stomach, putting our faith and trust in the Lord. After the Sacrament was passed, a familiar looking family walked into the chapel and sat two rows in front of us. I was trying so hard to recognize them (sometimes hispanics all look the same to me..my bad)..Hermana Clement leaned over to me and asked, "Do they usually come to church?" And then it clicked, it was the Arroyo family! An inactive family that we had visited and they hadn't come to church in YEARS. Like when we shared a message with them, it was like teaching investigators..We were so shocked that they just decided to come to church! 

Then, a couple that the elders have been working with walked in! Paula, is expecting a baby and she's not a member, and her less active boyfriend sat right by us. The elders came up to us afterwards and asked if we could teach them instead because Paula is always home alone when they go over..So we got another investigator!

The miracles didn't stop there though...Gabby Lopez, a single RM in her late twenties who just moved from Mexico, asked us if she could get a ride home..She's currently living with her cousin and her cousin's family and she's literally been in the US for two weeks..Not thinking, I said yes...And then after third hour of church I told her that we couldn't because it's against the rules..Then we remembered that we needed a woman to come with us for an appointment that we set up for right after church. So we brought her along (that's allowed) but the investigator wasn't home. We didn't have enough time to see someone else before our lunch appointment with the Arrellano's so we told her that we would just bring her home on our way to lunch. When we got to her house, she said, "Do you want to meet my family?" uhhh of course we do! They aren't members and we jump at every opportunity to teach people haha...Expecting it to just be a "hey I'm hermana seymour" sort of thing and leave, I didn't bring my bag with me..Welllllllll Gabby is the greatest RM ever and was like, "Can the hermanas share something with you??" It was Gabby's cousin, Mariana, and her daughter who were present and we taught them about the power of prayer and feeling the Spirit. They noted that Gabby is always happy and they think it's because she's "close to God"..We testified to them that as missionaries, we're here to help them get closer to God and experience the same happiness that Gabby is always feeling. Gabby bore her testimony to them that she had been praying for her family to receive the Gospel and now look, there were two representatives of Jesus Christ sitting in their home. Mariana began to cry and she invited us to come back for Thursday, when her whole family would be home. 

For the past two weeks, we've been fasting to find the Lord's prepared people and look, slowly but surely, we are finding them! Fasting is one of our most powerful tools that the Lord has given us.

Listening to Gaby also made me realize this: We are the answer to people's prayers. People are praying both here on the earth and in the Spirit World for their family to hear the Gospel! When we think of angels being sent to us we usually imagine a beautiful person dressed in white, right? But the Lord sends US, His children, to be His hands, to be His angels. The more I understand this, the more I realize how important of a decision it was to serve a mission. Sure, the Lord would have found another way to see his work through, but I have the privilege to help Him and His children.  

Gaby is sooo amazing..She was a teacher and worked for the government in Mexico..She served her mission in Mexico City West and for her last transfer, she got to switch to the South mission to be companions with her sister! The entire time we were in the car, she talked about her mission..Man, I hope I'm like that when I go home! It was crazy to hear how different everyone's mission is..For example, she baptized 8 people a week and sometimes 14! Holy cow! She said that they'd never tract an entire street because they never had the time! She said, "We don't have time to waste!!" She doesn't know a lick of english and she speaks soooooo fast! I feel like if I were to ever travel to a spanish speaking country, I'd feel like the language I learned on my mission was tex-mex because I won't be able to understand people haha..But being here in the city is actually awesome because everyone just came here..rather than being in the country and they've been in the US for 30 years haha..

Another lesson I learned this week was that of gratitude..As we sang. "Cuenta sus bendiciones" (Count your blessings) during church it hit me: When the number of blessings you count is greater than the number of trials you count, you are a grateful person. How many times do we sum up all of our many problems but forget to think of our blessings? TOO MANY!

Lastly, I want to recap teaching "Jeff"....or...dad :) Following up on our lesson about faith, we taught him about recognizing the Spirit and having the faith to receive an answer. We shared and discussed scriptures from D&C 8:2-3, 9:8, and 11:12-14...At one point, when we were talking about the verses in section 11, he pointed out the use of "verily, verily"..He said that a couple of weeks ago in church, someone talked about the scriptures' use of "remember, remember" and "verily, verily". It is not used frequently but when it is, it means, "Hey! This is really important so pay attention!". I was blown away that he remembered that AND applied it. The Spirit truly does bring all things to your remembrance. We continued on and then transitioned to the subject of baptism. I asked, "Have you ever thought about being baptized?" He said, "Yes, but not very much...like I said before, I've already been baptized." :| Oh dear, not this again...I thought we had explained the priesthood pretty clearly. Hermana Clement asked, "Who baptized Jesus?" "John the Baptist." He answered. "And why did he baptize him?" "Because he was his cousin..." He said, answering with a grin, knowing that that was the answer we weren't looking for. Daaad! We laughed and he said, "..because he had the authority to do it." 

A bold prompting came to my mind and I feared that saying it would offend him. I reminded myself that it came from God so therefor, it was good. So I asked, "Do you believe that the person who baptized you had the authority and power to do so?" He said, "...yes..." I continued, "Where did he get his authority then?" Stumped. "I don't know..he went to school and got a certificate." he answered. I asked, "Do you believe that he received the power of God, the Priesthood, through school and getting a certificate?" He shied away from the question and said, "They're good people who dedicate their lives to God and doing good.." We acknowledged that yes, they're doing good and then we invited him to think/pray if his baptism was done by proper authority. When then asked if he had ever thought of the pros and cons to getting baptized and he said that he has thought about the change that would occur with his family and what his family would think of him. We invited his to pray and then develop a list of pros and cons and hopefully when he finishes it, the pros side is longer than the cons haha...Hermana Clement bore her testimony and said, "The Lord asks us to take a leap of faith, like Indiana Jones, and asks you to make a decision and then wait for the answer to come." She said it so perfectly, I wish I could remember it better." I added my testimony and said, "I second that! Dad, I think that you're going to have to tell yourself..." the Spirit put the words in my head and I said outloud, "oh boy, I can't believe I'm going to say this...'I'm going to be baptized.' If you tell yourself that and prepare to be baptized, the Lord will tell you that it's right." He smiled with surprise and I continued, "Will you do that?" He said, "I will work towards it!" I wish that yall could have been there because it was so powerful and so amazing to have the spirit do everything! 

We finished and we asked him to say the prayer...holy moly..he prayed about EVERYTHING that we had discussed throughout the lesson and sincerely asked for it to sink into his heart. wahoooo! the gospel is true!

ahhh...my fingers are tired! this has been a really long email and I hope yall enjoyed! 

look for the small miracles and you'll realize that they're everywhere!

Love,

Hermana Emma Seymour

September 8, 2014: The Final Twelve Weeks

Hola familia!

Can you believe the time? I've officially hit the final 12 weeks of my mission! As part of those twelve weeks, our mission has a tradition where we read the BoM in its entirety in those 12 weeks...with a specific purpose..So I've decided to make the theme of my reading, "How can I be filled with charity, the pure love of Christ?" I'm excited to embark on this adventure!

So this past Tuesday was transfers and as part of that...I had to say goodbye to my dear Cran, Fletcher, Hale, and Zabriskie..And in return, I picked up my final companion.. Hermana Clement! Guess where she's from.....California! That makes 5 companions that I've had from Cali! She has been out for 8 months, she's 20 and went to BYU provo before the mission! She's super cute and quiet..which is interesting because I've never had a shy comp before! 

Needless to say, I was feeling so stressed out at the beginning of the week because taking over an area in just 5 weeks is no easy task. This new challenge has seriously been a humbling experience..On the first morning, I read Ether12:27.."And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Helloooo scripture of the transfer! 

I've learned so much this past week...For instance...this work is not possible without the helping hand of the Lord..After all, it's His work! With relying on the Lord 100% of the time, comes the need for being exactly obedient to His commandments..Every single one, no matter how silly they may seem at times, we have to keep them! When we keep a commandment with God, we're binding ourselves to Him, meaning that He has to bless us. Hermana Clement and I made it a goal to be as exactly obedient as possible because we need the Lord's guidance so so badly! Well...our obedience has brought forth so many blessings and miracles! For example, we were contacting at an apartment complex and we decided to start on the far side...As we walked to the end of the complex, a family walked out of their apartment, right in front of us! When I first saw the mother, I got a little bit intimidated because....Mexican women can be scary! But after introducing ourselves she said that her entire family that lives in Monterrey, Mexico is mormon! What the what?!? Seeing that they were on their way out, we made a return appointment with them for tomorrow :) 

We have so much work to do! The problem now is deciding how to best use our time! This is a fantastic problem to have haha! 

hmmm what else has happened??? I think the greatest experience that I had this week and will continue to have throughout the next twelve weeks is developing charity like I've never done before. My sweet little companion has had a hard mission and so she's a little bit banged up..How do you heal a wound? LOVE! And not just love, but the pure love of Christ called charity. I read Moroni 7:48where it says, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God..." Attaining the gift of charity is not a one time event but a life long challenge that each of us have to go through..But this week, I feel like I've tasted a sample of what it feels like to be filled with this love, 24/7...and I cannot even describe the happiness that I've felt! 

We taught my dad on Saturday about having faith and trust in the Lord when going through hard times..My favorite part of the lesson was the end...We talked briefly about the Holy Ghost and I asked, "When you've felt the Spirit, what did it feel like?" Expecting him to say, "Well, I don't know if I've ever felt it..I'm not good at paying attention to my feeling..", he totally surprised me when he said, "Hmm....It has felt peaceful...warm...like stress-free.." WOAH...He just said that he has felt the spirit! BIG STEP HERE, PEOPLE. My heart lept for joy!! 

With everything pertaining to the Gospel, it's all a step by step process..We can just wake up one day with the faith sufficient to move mountains! Just how Elder Bednar talks about how conversion is not a one time event but a life long journey, we need to develop our faith in Jesus Christ on a daily basis...And how do we do that? In the words of Jeff Seymour, "Read the Book of Mormon and pray daily and go to church." Such small and simple things lead to such great potential! 

I have come to see the hand of the Lord in every single miracle that I witness every day. This is His work and we're just His instruments in helping Him bring about His great purpose, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man! 

If your answers to your prayers haven't come yet, keep pushing forward. The Lord will answer every prayer in His way and on His timing. 

I love you all! 

Hermana Emma Seymour 

IVAN! meet Ivan...he's 7 years old and we're getting him ready for his baptism in October when he turns 8..We taught him while he sat at the kitchen counter :)

         Blanket Burritos 

September 1, 2014: Another One Bites The Dust

Hola Fam!

This transfer was a 5 week transfer and so....it ended! The end of the transfer also means the end of Hermana Hale's mission...Yep, Hermana Hale is going home :( So by Thursday, all of my Spanish companions that I've had on the mission will be home! I'll miss my dear friends so much but I know that I'll see them in just a couple of months. 

I'm really sad that Hermana Hale is leaving, we are such good friends and we worked so hard this transfer!

Anyways..enough of the boohoo stuff, it's miracle time!

We taught Maria Rodriguez (19, married to a less active) for the first time in like a month...When we sat down with her, she started off by explaining her financial problems that she's facing..She can't work because she's illegal and she actually might get deported because she got in trouble when she was younger...She's been here since she was two but after she got in trouble, her parents sent her back to mexico...which in the process, messed things up for the DREAM Act where she could have become a citizen..After her little vent session, we began teaching her about faith in Jesus Christ. We transitioned it to having the faith to follow the Savior by being baptized and something wonderful happened. Maria began to explain that she feels like she needs to repay the Savior for what He did for her and the way she can try is by doing the little things- reading, praying, and going to church. She said, "I think I can sacrifice three hours out of my Sunday to worship because he has given me everything and I can't pay Him back fully." As she explained her feelings, tears ran down her face and it was so beautiful to watch her express her feelings and testimony of the Savior. I reiterated her testimony by saying, "We'll never be able to pay back 100% of what the Savior did for us..But all Heavenly Father asks of us is our best and we leave the rest up to the Lord." We asked her about baptism- she was invited a while ago and expressed her concern of not knowing enough then- and Hermana Hale said, "last time you said that you didn't feel like you knew enough, that you were unsure....." Maria jumped in and said, "Yeah, I feel like if I would be baptized in two days, I'd be going in blindfolded...but I remember you telling me that if I prayed, I'd receive my answer if this is true. And I feel like you two being here and talking to me, I've received my answer that this is true." My heart lept with joy and I was soooo happy that she received her answer right then and there! 

Now for the hard part...ACTION! Every time the Lord blesses us with an answer, he expects us to ACT upon it. 

On Saturday, I read President Uchtdorf's talk on gratitude...I had a feeling, while reading it, that I was going to have to apply very quickly what I learned from it. And guess what? I did! That night, everything seemed to fall to pieces and as I knelt down for my nightly prayer, I felt the Lord bring back President Uchtdorf's words...Rather than being grateful FOR things, be grateful in all circumstances. Even when life's trials knock you down, you will always have reason to be grateful. Why? Jesus Christ lives! He did what we couldn't do for ourselves and because of this great act of love, we can return to our Heavenly Father, as long as we do our best and live the gospel! 

Serving as a missionary, I feel so blessed to be able to know the Savior on a much more personal level than ever before. I know that He lives!

Love,

Hermana Emma Seymour

When you're cold-find a Togan

This is Hermana Nunez...aka Hermana Torta...Every other friday she makes us delicious tortas (chicken sandwiches with avocado, tomatoes, lettuce, and salsa)..She has been doing this for the missionaries for TWENTY YEARS..She takes the bus to the mercado, buys the bread, chicken, veggies everything...and she feeds 8 missionaries every time! 

Hermana Fletcher at Spanish Zone Conference

SIMBA