Our second letter from our missionary in Germany! Hey Guys, Well it sounds like you guys have had a pretty great week hauling hay and such. That's cool that Tiffany got her call to Anaheim. That is where one of my roomates, Elder Spotten, went on his mission. He left at the end of May, so Tiffany might see him some time during her mission. But that is super cool that she is going. Tell her she should be glad she is in the states, because she would probaly be pretty frustrated with the language if she went foreign speaking, kind of like someone i know. I'm glad you are all doing ok though. Sorry the sick bug came through the house, but i hope you are all feeling better now. And that is so aweful to hear about Kennedy, thanks for letting me know, i'll definately pray for her and her family. Keep me posted and let me know how she is doing. Sounds like pipe is going pretty well, 5 lines in Riverdale! That is pretty cool. Hope that the rotating screen dosen't break (knock on wood). That is cool you guys have cats now. I guess Charcoal isn't so gun hoe over cats as Max was, so ya, i hope your cats don't get eaten! Mom, that is super cool that you are going to go into Special Ed! I think the world definately needs more people in that field that actually love and care for those who need that extra help. Hope your classes go well, i'll pray for you! Thanks for the letters every week guys, they are really one of the few things that keep me going throughout the week, so keep um coming. I think my address is Heilige Geist Strasse 54 (some area code) and then Rosenheim. Type that into Google maps sometime this week and see if you can find it. This week was better than last week. We were able to meet some more people and we actually have two appointments one today and one tommorrow, so hopefully those go well, and the people are actually interested. These will be my "real" first two appointments, so if you have time, say a little prayer for me cause im gonna need it. We also found two other people this week that we were able to give Book of Mormons too. One was a man from Serbia that let us come in and talk to him for about 20 minutes and the other was a lady that we met in Grafting who greeted us at the door wearing a nice towel, and well that was it. She seems really pretty interested though and said she has been to church before. She said to come by in a week when she is not so busy, so ya, hopefully we will listen to us. About the guy from Serbia real quick, he seems (and he said) that he is pretty confused about what religion he should be. He said (i think) that his mom was Catholic, his dad was Muslim and something about his grandparents being something else, so he asked us, "which one am i?" His wife is Catholic and he says that their "priest dude" is always asking for money. The Serbian guy really doesn't like that and feels it is wrong, and we told him we agree. We gave him a Buch Mormon and told him to read 1 Nephi 13. We told him we would come back some time this week, so hopefully he read that kapital with an open mind and wants to learn more. That about sums up this week. I've decided that im going to do a little "message of the day" and that is kind of what i will use for my "pick up line that day." I figured if i can at least do that then i can at least be a little more helpful to Elder Armstrong. We'll see how that goes. Well, i love you guys, and miss you alot! I hope this email find you well and that the house is still in one piece. I just want to briefly share with you my testimony of the Gospal of Jesus Christ. I know this Gospal is true. I feel it everytime i pray, everytime i read the Heiligen Schriften, everytime i read your letters, and everytime i bear testimony. I love this Gospal with all my heart, and i know that it is the only way we can obtain salvation. One thing that i think i have really learned since i entered the MTC and have been out here in Germany is how real the Gospal is. I guess i knew it was real and true before my mission, but the extent to it being everything and it truly being our way to return to Heaven have really hit me these last couple weeks. I think often we think of Church and the Gospal of Jesus Christ as just kind of being there for us to use and when when we want or when we feel "we have time". However, it should really be the priority in our life, everything in our life should be focused around Jesus Christ and his Gospal. Now, im not saying that we should all turn into Monks and Nunns and read the scriptures 24/7, but i think that we should always strive to bring the Light of the Gospal into everything we do, for our benefit, and for the benefit of others. I think going to BYUI really helped me to realize this to some extent. It was interesting to me to see how the teachers all strived to apply the Gospal into thier teaching, reagardless of what subject it was. They didn't preach out of the Good Book per say, but they always were able make the classroom a place where the Spirit could dwell and i know i was blessed because of that. Now im also not saying that we should preach to people everywhere we go either, but i do beleive we should try to show that we beleive in Christ by the things we do, say, and how we act. Like at school, we should always strive to use our best language, and not talk about vulger or stupid things. When we go to practice or before a game, we should say a little prayer, whether silently or with our teamates, that we will be able to play and give our best and seek for help to be better. Before we practice our instruments, we should say a little prayer for help and for guidance on what we should work on. I could go on and on, but it is really the little things like that that will set us apart from other people, and will help us grow closer to Christ. I'm reminded of a scripture in Mosiah 4:11 where it King Benjamin counsels, " ... I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord dailly, and standing steadfastly in the faith of theat which is to come..." I pray that we can all strive to remember how great God is and how much he has given us. I hope we will always give our best in everything we do, and try to show others what we beleive through our words, actions, and deeds. I love you guys so much. I hope you can always find happiness and joy, and please always remember how much you guys mean to me. Take care, Elder Seamons

Our first letter from Joseph in Rosenheim, Germany! He's been there 6 days now!It looks like he's having a little keyboard issue! Hey Guys, Man these German kezboards are killer, the kezs are all messed up and i onlz have about 20 minutes, so everz time zou see a z make it a y and everz time zou see a y make it a z deal? Thanks! Anzwazs, it is great to hear from zou guzs! Sounds like all is going well minus the pucking of the guts! Cool! Anzwaszs, that is so cool that Tiffanz will have her call alreadz, please email me as soon as zou can to let me know where she is going. So basicvallz i hate airplanes now. Riding on the airplane was fun for about the first 2 hours then after that it was, well, not so fun. If zou haven't got mz letter zet i will just quicklz tell zou that i was able to place two Book(s) of Mormon on the plane ride over, so that was reallz cool. I wrote about it im mz letter, so zou can read about it later. Also, i lost mz camera between Amsterdam and München, so za, good bze MTC pictures, thats ok though. So a little bit about what has happened these last couple dazs. WHen we got off the plane in Munich, me lost about 5 of the people in our group and i took about an hour to find them. After we found them, we went on the little trains to the Church in Munich and were told we were supposed to place a Book of Mormon on the train ride over. Well let me just saz, that mz MTC German worked in the MTC, but not so much here in Germanz. The first guz i talked to i thought i said, Wie gahts? and he said something like, Sie können nicht dass mich sagen! So za, and the rest of the conversations i had on the train went about like that one did. Anzwazs, we had training most of the rest of that daz (mittstag) then we went out to our areas on donnerstag and i met mz trainer Elder Armstrong. Just a little about Elder Armstrong, he is from Arimo, Idaho (Marsh Vallez, ja go figure) he has been out 18 months and he has some of the best German i have heard from anz missionarz so far. So i am verz blessed to have him as a companion, because a lot of the people in mz group got trainers that have onlz been out a few transfers. This is also Elder Armstrong´s first time in Rosenheim, so we are both still trzing to figure out the best waz of contacting people here is. We haven´t had much success so far, but that will change this week. There has been alot of flooding up here the last couple weeks so we were able to do service on Samstag with some of the members in our ward and a couple of Refugees from Pakistan. K, if zou ever think zour life is bad i want zou to know that most of these Pakastanian people left Pakastan because there were going to get killed if thez thez didn´t. And the reason being is because thez are Muslim. One of the guzs i talked to said he has no idea where his familz is at, he said that a mob came bz and burned down his and his families house one night and he had to run off while having people shoot at him. That is so aweful. So za, please count zour manz blessings. Ok, i have to go, but i want zou guzs to know that i know that this Church is true. That Joseph Smith reallz did see God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, that through him the Gospal was reallz resotroed to the earth and that because of this we can have eternal happiness. As beutiful as Germanz is, it is so sad to see people that don´t have that knowledge or comfort in their life. Thez think thez are happz and thez might be to some extent, but thez will never be able to find that true and eteranal joz that onlz comes from being a member of this church and living the Gospal of Jesus Christ. As it sazs in the scriptures, He is the onlz waz bz which salvation is possible and the onlz waz we will everz trulz be happz.Onlz through him can we inherit all the father has for us. I testifz that he lives, and that he loves us in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I love zou guzs, take care, and know that zou are alwazs in mz prazers. With Love, Elder Seamons

An email from Sister Miles about Joseph's arrival and new area! Dear family of Elder Seamons- We are delighted to tell you that Elder Seamons arrived safely in Munich this morning. He is tucked away in bed now after a long day of orientation. We thought you might enjoy these pictures from this evening. His new companion is Elder Armstrong, and they will be serving in Rosenheim, Germany. We are thrilled that he is here and are very impressed with his preparation and enthusiasm. He will be a great missionary. Thank you for all you have done to help him become the fine young man he is today. We love him already, and we will do all we can to help him grow as a missionary and have a successful mission. Your son's preparation day is on Mondays and that is when he will be emailing you home each week. If you would like his apartment address where he will be serving - please email him before next Monday and ask him to give it to you in his first email next Monday. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. May the Lord bless you and your family at this wonderful time of missionary service. Sincerely, President and Sister Miles Alpine German-speaking Mission

The last letter from the MTC for our missionary! He leaves June 11th! Hi Guys, Sorry, i only have about 10 minutes to email today, so this won't be very long. So another Elder (Elder Hobsen) and I auditioned last Thursday to be in one of the special musical numbers and we were lucky enough to get picked and were able to perform today for the incoming devotional for the new missionaries. We played the Marshall Mcdonald and Steven Sharp Nelson version of "If you could Hie to Kolob" (sorry Ben, i took your song). It went fairly well, and i was very grateful to have the oppurtunity to play and Elder Hobsen is an amazing piano player, so i felt really blessed to have the oppurtunity to play with him. We also got our travel plans this week! I will be leaving the MTC Tuesday June 11 at 6 AM, so i will be calling home between 7 and 9 AM that morning. If you can (or want to) talk to me, it would be great if you could pick up the first time i call sense i only have enough minutes to call twice and talk for 15 minutes (it docks 150 minutes from my phone card every time i call). And Mom and Dad, if you can or if you have time, could you make sure i have at least $700 in my checking account since i have to pay for luggage before i leave. Also, if at all possible, could you send me an MP3 with "Missionary Appropriate" Music and a small speaker before i leave on Tuesday? It would be much appreciated, but if it is too much of a hassel, don't worry about it. One last thing, if you could, Gradmother and Papa Joe had a really cool book that talked about "Ancient Temple Ordinances" or something like that. If you could let me know what the tittle of the book is called, that would be much appreciated. Thanks again for all you do and have done for me throughout the years. I love each of you very much and i want you to know that i have testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have recently been studying the Atonement in my personal study and have learned both a great deal of the Atonement, and have come to further come to understand that Jesus Christ is indeed our reedeemer and the Savior of the Entire world. One Chapter in the Scriptures that has really stood out to me lately is Isaiah 53. Verse 4-6 really explain that Jesus did indeed suffer for our sins i love in verse 5 how it says, "...the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." Also in verse 6 it says this, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Every time i read that scripture, i can't help but get emotional knowing that Jesus Christ did indeed suffer for each of our sins, and understand our sorrows and pains. I feel aweful knowing that i added pain to the Savior that he should not have had to go through. I know that he is indeed the Son of God and that he loves each of us with a love that we cannot understand. He is the sohn Gottes. He was once our brother, but know he is our savior. I am so grateful for his courage and character that when the father asked us in the Pre-Existance, "who should i send?" that Jesus being the Great intelligence he was stepped forward and said, "send me, but the glory be to you father." I truly beleive that each of us rejoiced that day in Heaven when he stepped foward (knowing fully well what he was commiting to) because we knew that he was the best candidate for Savior, and that he had the character and attributes to be able to do all that the father would ask of him. I know he loves us and as it says in the Living Christ, "God be thanked for the matchless gift of his divine son." I am indeed thankful for his matchless gift and his matchless love, because without it i know none of us could be saved, and without that i could not live with you guys for eternity. May we always remember in our lives the "condescention of Christ" is my prayer and testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Take care guys, i love and miss you! Elder Seamons