Happy St. Patrick's Day
Date: March 17, 2012Area: Dallas Texas
Companion: Elder Jordan Jones from Kanab UT
Hello Everyone,
Last weekend, we had stake conference. Bishop H. David Burton was the
visiting authority and gave great talks. During the Sunday session he gave us a
quiz on quotes from the last general conference. That quiz got me so excited
for conference coming up. It will be a nice treat after a long week of transfers
and meetings.
After stake conference, we got a message from Elaine explaining she was
back in Dallas for spring break. She did not know stake conference had happened,
so she went to church at the normal time and found that nobody was there. She
wanted to take the sacrament so we decided to go to the Allen YSA. This was the
first time that Elder Jones and I had seen or talked to Elaine since she had
gone back to school in Lubbock, so we were excited to hear about her experiences
being taught the rest of the lessons and her baptism. The joy that came from her
experiences were great. Elaine was definitely prepared to receive the gospel at
this time in her life. She is doing great missionary work with her friends
and has been able to do baptisms for the dead. There are many things that she
has done to continue lo learn and strengthen her testimony. We were grateful to
have been able to spend some time with her.
On Monday, we attended the Dallas YSA 1st ward family home evening. We had
hopes that an investigator named David would be there so we could set up a time
to teach him at the temple. He wasn't there until later that evening so we were
able to spend some time with the members and talk about a few other
investigators and figure out what we could do to help them. Elaine was also
there, so we were able to hear more about her life as a new member of the
church. When David came, he explained to Elder Jones that he had received an
answer to his prayers and was ready to be baptized and wanted to set a date.
April 7 is the one he chose, so there are two people being baptized on Easter
weekend. We are pretty excited and hope to have a few more follow those
two.
Wednesday I was able to work in Allen with two great zone leaders; Elder
Monkres and Elder Olvera. It is always a special treat to be in Allen, and even
better when the day is a great one. We talked with a lot of great members about
missionary work and spent some time visiting less active members. It is great to
talk about what miracles we have seen, and what work is being done in the Texas
Dallas Mission. We have a lot of great missionaries that have become Preach My
Gospel missionaries. We certainly are not perfect, but the work we are doing is
lead by the Lord.
We had a meeting Friday with all of the english speaking missionaries in
Dallas. We have been trying to have more missionaries involved in these meetings
so everyone can walk away with more things to apply. President Durrant has been
great with planning out the trainings missionaries prepare. and stories the
share. We are focusing on working better with stake and ward leaders, so it is
great to hear different ways missionaries have been able to develop trust with
the units they serve in and become a blessing to the ward rather than a
burden.
This upcoming week is going to be pretty busy. Transfers will be coming up,
so there will be a lot of prep work. The Lord always provides in these weeks
with time to teach in our area. It miraculous to see how mindful He is of us. I
love being missionary. The joys of exercising faith and living the gospel are
real. I am thankful for a loving Father in Heaven that has given us His Spirit
to help all of His children come back to Him. Jesus Christ's church is on the
earth today and spreading so quickly to those who are ready to receive it. I am
grateful to have a part in that work in the Texas Dallas Mission. I sure do miss
all of you, but love the amount of time I have left and intend to remain focused
on what I can do for the Lord. Thank you for your love and prayers.
Elder Seager
