Seamons scrolls from October 6th and 13th

Ramblings from our October 13th letter:  

Dear Joey

How are you? Are you having fun? We won 33-6 Saturday. It was a pretty cool game. I laid a lot of people out. I also led the team in tackles. I got a sac but it was on an extra point so it didn’t count. But I’m still counting it. I only ran the ball once for 7 or 8 yards, but I had the sickest blocks there was one where we were running a 28 sweep and I nail the D-end then continue on to absolutely punish the corner. He was laid out. Hard. On the ground. They absolutely could not run it up the middle with me as middle Linebacker. So yeah we’re in the playoffs and then on to the Minnie- Dome. School still sucks. Good luck. Have fun.

Ben

P.S. Do you think I should do basketball or wrestling?

P.P.S. If you don’t answer me this time I’m never writing you again.

P.P.P.S. We went to Devin’s wedding reception. There was unlimited Sundays and Sam had 30 of them.

Dear Joe,

I had 2 comp. games this week. We lost the 1^st game because we put our best goalie in a little bit of the 2^nd half and we didn’t put him in the 1^st half. When we didn’t have our best goalie in the game they made a point. On the 2^nd game we tied 1-1. The reason they made a point is because I wasn’t a defender and the defense was out of their shape. In the 2^nd half I was a defender so I made sure that we kept our shape and they didn’t score in the 2^nd half. In the 2^nd half we also made a point so we tied the game. I also went to someone’s party it was at a mansion it had a gym and a swimming pool. So see ya.

From,

David Seamons

P.S. I still haven’t gotten your letter yet.

Dear Joe,

Well we had a great game this week Our JV team won Minico 20-0 this week so we were pretty happy about that the varsity though alas lost 13-12 I felt bad for RJ though because he missed both of his extra kick attempts and missed a field goal so it was pretty sad plus the fact that it was his birthday didn’t help either especially after some people had decorated the bus for his so year not a memorable 17^th birthday for him. Well next week we play Poky and I’m ready for some revenge plus I think that they suck this year any way so were look to punish them pretty bad hopefully. Oh we also get to play in the Holt arena this week so that should be pretty cool experience for us so we’ll see how it goes. Oh and you should also answer Ben’s basketball/wrestling question because I am getting pretty tired of telling him that it his choice and to stop asking me to make his decisions for him. Well that pretty much sums up my week of school and keep up the good work that you are doing out there sounds like you had a great week last week keep it up!

Samuel

Dear Joseph we went to the wedding reception in Logan. We ate unlimited cake and ice cream. My last game is this week. I had to write a talk for the primary program about the Holy Ghost. So I decide to talk about how I feel when I pray. The Holy Ghost helps me to know heavenly father is listening to me. Love Jonathan

Dear Joseph,

Well another busy week; so busy it seems that I can’t even remember what I did. It just seems that I haven’t been home at all this week except for Friday when it was rainy and cold outside. But I guess I shouldn’t complain about rainy and cold because missionaries often times get that day after day. Sam had a home JV game on Wednesday night that had a long delay because of lightning in the sky, so it was pretty late by the time it was over. But he did play really well and they had a good spread on the score. Your cousin Devin got married to a Jordan Peterson from Cove Utah on Saturday. They had a good ceremony and had lots of people to the luncheon and to the reception that evening. They had four different cakes and ice-cream Sundays for the treat at the reception. My cousin that was observing the boys at the reception claimed that David had about 20 ice-cream Sundays. She was sure that he was going to be sick, but luckily he wasn’t and that he was healthy this morning to go to church and be sustained to receive the Aaronic priesthood. David didn’t want Sam to ordain him to the Aaronic priesthood but did allow him to stand in the circle. This next Sunday we get to go to see Nathan Erasmus off as he gives his fair well talk at church. They added another picture to the missionary case at church today and now there are 13 pictures there for another 2 months. Then we will go down to 12 again but by February we will have 14. I am sure that by far the most youth missionaries that the ward has had out at one time. I do remember that back in uncle Morlyn’s time that we has somewhere around15 missionaries but 6-8 of them were couple missionaries. Elder Jerman’s mom called tonight and your mom and she talked for at least ½ hour about their missionaries. The fall colors are now out in their full glory this past week. But I’m sure that they don’t compare to what you have over there in the Alpine. You have a great week and do some more good! Love, Dad

Dear Elder Seamons

Hey, we really enjoyed your letter last week, it sounds like you are doing great. I’m glad to hear that you are singing and sharing your talents with the rest home people---did you play for them too? I bet they would really enjoy that as well. We have been praying for Rita this week and hope that she is able to receive a witness that the gospel is true and that she will be ready to commit to taking steps towards baptism.

Hey, guess what? Tonight I got a call from Kallene Jerman, Elder Jerman’s mom. I guess she was at a baby blessing in American Fork and the Steele’s were attending and she asked them if they knew you. I guess they were mixed up a little because they said you were in their ward and gave them Aunt Janele’s number, so then Aunt Janele gave Elder Jerman’s mom my number. It was fun to talk to her and she told me a little about her son and you sound like you have a lot in common. Anyway, it was fun to talk to her and get a little better acquainted with her and her family and your companion. I thought that was really thoughtful of her to make an effort to contact us and talk to us a little about her son. They sound like a great family.

Well, this week has been----wet! Wow, for such a dry summer, we sure are making up for it in rain! Did you see the pictures of the canyon that I posted last week? I tried to send the link to it, but I wasn’t sure if it worked or not. I was going to send you more game pictures, but Sam’s game was really wet—actually, even more lightening than rain, I didn’t make it to any of David’s games because of it being during the wedding and when Jacob was sick and we missed Ben’s because of the wedding also. Anyway, I will get some more uploaded for you. I don’t think David ever got the letter from you and I’m not sure why. But anyway, he does appreciate all the advice you give him. He is not very happy with me right now because his competitive season is over, but they are playing a tournament this week and he can go to the first game, but the second game is during his orchestra concert and lesson on Wed., and he can’t understand why I’m making him do the concert (ummm, you know, school really isn’t very high on the list of priorities!). So I need to talk to his coach tonight and explain, I’m sure he won’t be very happy about it either.

David was ordained a deacon today. I asked him if he wrote about it and he said “oh yeah, I forgot.” Anyway, he seemed excited to be ordained and with his usual David candor was very talkative during the ordaining. They invited Sam to stand in the circle and he said, no, he didn’t like Sam, he was too mean. But after we gave him THE look and said you better let Sam stand in the circle, he decided to let him come. He also bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. He had to write his testimony in his Faith in God book and then when I asked him if he was going to bear his testimony at Fast meeting, he got up and took his book with him and read it. It was an interesting way of doing it, but at least it got him up there and he did give a very correct testimony about Joseph Smith, the priesthood and the prophet. So, that’s a good start! Anyway, it’s a great blessing to have a deacon, teacher, priest and elder and high priest in our family now! What amazing young men we have been blessed with! It has definitely been a very eventful year for our family, all these ordinations, Jonathan’s baptism and a missionary in Germany. We are very, very blessed!

Yesterday we attended Devin’s sealing in the temple. It was beautiful. Dad and I were, as always, a bit on the late side, so I’m glad we got there just in time. Devin married Jordin Peterson---I am going to send you their announcement and also some missionary letters from the ward this week. Anyway, I love the way they do the sealings now, the sealer does so much teaching about the temple and the endowment ceremony and the sealing ordinance----it really is a wonderful opportunity to meet together and be taught from these amazing men. After the sealing, Aunt Dawnya wanted to go through the endowment session, because there was two hours until the wedding breakfast so she and grandma and dad and I and Randy and Janele all went, but we realized as we were sitting in the waiting room that poor Uncle Morlyn wasn’t going to have any of his family represented in the temple pictures, since we all went directly to the session---probably not the best planning on our part. But I hope they got some good pictures at the reception. I am so glad that we were able to go to the session. It is the second time that I have seen the new temple film and I’m not sure what it is about it, but I just can’t help but sit and bawl through the whole thing. It really is beautiful---I listened more to the music and thought how much it represented the spirit of what was being represented in the film. It’s very different from the last temple film that way, it’s a very integral part of the ceremony. I know I told you a little about how I felt about it the first time I saw it, but I thought even more this time that the difference between satan and heavenly father is that satan makes you feel bound by your sins----he makes you feel that you are backed up against the wall and that there is nothing you can do about problems or mistakes that you may have made. But Heavenly Father’s plan opens the door to change and encourages forgiveness, no matter how many times the mistakes are made. While Satan tends to bring feelings of tension, stress, hopelessness, misery and control, Heavenly Father and Jesus’ presence tends to bring feelings of lightness, hope, kindness, forgiveness, encouragement and love. In watching the movie, it seems so simple, I can even identify places in my life and experiences when this happens to me every day, and yet I forget that Heavenly Father is not the one who is making me feel bad about myself or what I am doing or not doing, those feelings are coming from Satan and he is trying to keep me from the feelings of encouragement, hope and love that Heavenly Father wants to share with me. I am sure that this may be how investigators feel sometimes as they strive to get their lives in line with the gospel and the things they are being taught, which they recognize as truth. Satan is the one that makes them feel incapable, uncertain, hopeless and inadequate. It really is simple----we only have to turn to Heavenly Father to feel our burdens lifted and renew our hope, but sometimes, just the simple act of turning seems hard because Satan makes us feel unworthy. I have been thinking a lot about the fact that Heavenly Father knows and cares about each one of us. I know in my head that this is true and it is what I want others to believe also, but for myself, sometimes, I can’t fathom why he would want to be bothered with me and my continual faults and inadequacies---I certainly wouldn’t want to be bothered with me. But I’ve been trying harder to really strive to believe how the God of the Universe can care and know each one of us---it is a little unfathomable, and yet we have to believe that to know that we are the reason all of this was created. Very humbling and a little unbelievable. But the temple helps, because when you go there, you feel that spirit and kindness and love in every part of the temple. Anyway, I need to go more often so that I can remember those things when I am home.

The Olsen’s had two cute girls from England visiting them this week. They took part in Sunday School and Relief Society and were so grateful to be here and loved being in Mink Creek. It was fun to hear their delightful accents! One of them looked just like Gina Hoyt, who was a baby sitter that we used a lot in Cedar City when you were younger. I don’t know if you remember her---anyway, it reminded me of her.

Jacob is doing better this week. We got him on some medicine on Tuesday that seemed to stop his fevers and horrible congestion----it just makes him have diarrhea all the time-----not sure which is worse! But I am grateful that he feels better and he seems to be doing well going back to school for 2 days so far. I was able to sub 2 days last week for Lana McCracken and work with some of the kids in the Special Ed room. One of the kids I worked with was Aland Swaton. He is such a handsome young man and loves to grab girls hands and kiss the. I was acquainted with him from seeing him in classes when I’ve subbed before, but I had never had the chance to be with him and help him in classes. What a kid! He has a lot of dialogue from movies memorized----like Coming to DVD soon, that he likes to write over and over and he makes a lot of noise! It was quite a challenge. There were a few things that he was also saying that weren’t appropriate and so I told him not to say those things and wrote it down for him to read----I think he knew they weren’t either and I’m wondering if maybe he’s a lot more capable of doing and saying things then he’s letting on. Another boy, Carolos, was such a cutie! A handsome, tall, Hispanic boy, so agreeable to everything, that when I asked him if he needed help, he would say, Oh yea, I got, it I got it! But when I looked at his paper he had painstakingly written out lots and lots of letters, but none of them really made sense. But he was so attentive to class, so kind, so willing to do whatever was asked of him, that I couldn’t help thinking----even if he can’t complete the work, in some areas he is so much further ahead of a lot of kids in the classroom who didn’t have those same qualities. Another boy, Jonathan, who has down syndrome, I just wanted to take home with me. He was very quiet, but had this slow, sweet smile and peaceful manner about him that just made you want to bask in his presence. I thought, if Jacob grows up to be like this Jonathan, I will be happy! I went to a woods class with him and he was making a night stand----although he needed a lot of help to do some of the work, he was willing and able and gave me back the front of the night stand a couple of times to sand because he didn’t think it was smooth enough---again, again, he kept saying. What a wonderful spirit! I was very grateful to have the chance to sub for these kids last week because it made me feel much better about pursuing special education certification. I have been kind of wondering if this was really what I wanted to do, even though I’d felt directed to do it. But I kind of felt like I was coming home to something I really wanted to do and people I really wanted to be with as I helped with those kids this week. It was a great blessing for me and seemed like Heavenly Father was giving me a significant experience so that I would feel more committed to the decision I made and more excited about the work I want to do. Anyway, it was great! What amazing spirits I was able to be with, I learned a lot!

Well, I’m a little long winded again! I hope you have time to read all this, if not, feel free to skip it and write us, because we love to hear from you!

Love you so much, Mom

Ramblings from our Oct. 6th letter:

Dear Elder Joe,

Well not much good happened this week our JV team got our butts handed to us this week so it wasn’t good Varsity also lost 35-7 against Shelley this week either we just have to shake off this loss and get ready for Minico this week. I also got asked to girls choice this week even though it’s not till about the end of November and I got asked by Claire Jepsen so I got I also don’t have my license so I guess I’m just going to have to wing it this dance than figure out what to do. Nothing else came good of this week though except for conference so I hope you had a good week. Ben fumbled the football twice in his game.

Samuel

Dear Joe

How are you? Our team won 37 -12 Saturday and I scored a safety. I kind of screwed up my back though so I only ran 3 or so times, 2 of them for more than 1 yard. I caught 3 passes through and Papa Joe said I did a good job blocking. I got a bunch of tackles up the middle so that was fun. On the safety they were on their one yard line and they did a statue of liberty to the left and I met him at the line and hit him so hard his head bounced. So yeah that was fun. The best part is Young owes me $5. So that’s my week besides conference, school, and my lesson. Happy birthday Bro. Go do some good. Ben fumbled only 2 times because they speared me.

P.S. Do you think I should do basketball or wrestling?

Ben

Dear Joe,

What’s up? I had a birthday today. I got a new violin case that is blue and silver in the inside. I got a soccer backpack and it is blue. It has a spot for a ball, soccer cleats, shin guards, cloths, and a pocket for other stuff. I think it is very cool. I got a bag of three musketeers. For my 12 year old trip I am going to the museum of natural history, BYU planetarium, and Heber Creeper steam train. So that is pretty cool. Do you think I should buy some other cleats because my other cleats don’t have any more traction? The cleats are $30 so should I buy them (they are the cleats in the box in the picture)? I had 2 comp. games this week the 1^st one we did good in the 1^st half and bad in the 2^nd half so do you have suggestions to do better in the 2^nd half? On the 2^nd game we did worse. We did badly in the 1^st half and good in the 2^nd half. In the 1^st half strained my leg sand I was late so that is why we were doing badly so coach put me in defense in the 2^nd half so we could do better. Also for my birthday present grandmother gave me bomb that was meant for 5-6 people, a pizza, and brownie hot fudge Sunday. Then I went to soccer practice. So ya that was my week.

From,

David Seamons

P.S. Happy birthday yesterday.

Dear Joseph

I have 59 A.R. points. I got to eat lunch with M.R. Harrison. I made a dream catcher at Scouts. It’s hanging above my bed. I didn’t play soccer this week because it was conference. I read about king Limhi and his people escaping to zarahemla and also about Alma and his people’s burdens becoming Light. I listened to conference and kept track of different words I heard and the word I heard the most was Jesus Christ. Have a good week did you have a good Birthday? Love Jonathan

Dear Joseph,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YESERDAY!! You are no longer a teenager, so now I’m down to just 2 of them for 1 year before David gets there. Your 16 year old brother just got asked to his first girl’s choice dance/date last night. The dance isn’t until November so I guess Claire Jepsen felt that she needed to ask early so that she could get the guy of her choice. I don’t know what it is about our cute Jepsen cousins that ask us out on our first dates. Kind of got a trend going. Your letters are sounding great. You haven’t emailed us any pictures yet. I think I forgot to tell you last week what Eldon Wilcox said. So as it goes, Jesse Wilcox went to the Philippians and got married to his fiancé the beginning of September. He took an extended break from his work here in America to get married and then to prepare the paperwork for his new wife to get her visas and stuff so she could move to America. His plan was to be gone for a couple of months in the Philippians to do all this. Well as it turned out now that he and his wife are there in their Philippian ward and Jesse gets called to be in the bishopric. So now they don’t know how long Jesse will be in the Philippians. So it kind of looks like Jesse will be giving up his American job and looking for a Philippian job. Kind of funny, huh? Friday night we finally got our 1^st major killing frost; the garden is now completely gone. I just hope the snow stays away until January. Thursday night the scouts had an overnight campout up at the Bensen ranch. They were going to sleep up in the loft in the top of the barn but there was tons of raccoon poop up there so we all slept on the hard concrete in the lower part of that barn. Any way in the middle of the night we could hear the raccoons bounding their way down the steps to the loft. It was a cold night but David and I stayed warm enough this time. Next time I hope to remember to bring a lot more blankets from work to make my sleeping spot a lot more soft or at least more tolerable to my aged bones. I missed out on Sam’s games because of the camp and because Jacob has been sick. But I did make it to the last three quarters of Ben’s game after priesthood session was over. He had several good carrys of the ball. On one of them it looked like he got 20-25 yards. Then it takes 3-4 of their guys to wrap up on him to take him down. Keep the Spirit on your side always and all will continue to go well for you. Take care! Love, Dad

Dear Joseph

Happy Birthday yesterday! I hope you had a great birthday! I’m glad you could make use of the sweaters and coat. Did you make a cake and sing? I hope you played pin the tie on Elder Who, because Jonathan and I had lots of fun drawing him! And Jacob loved the ties! Anyway, we missed you lots, so we put your name on the birthday cake and sang to you and Grandmother and David today. We ate lots of breadsticks and lasagna and salad and cake and ice cream for you too! I hope you had something yummy on your birthday to celebrate with! We missed you lots!

This week has been a little weird, because every day it seems we’ve had to cancel something or juggle something around because Jacob has been so sick. We’re going on 8 days now, so I am going to take him back to the doctor tomorrow and see if they can please figure out what is wrong with him. He seems to have a few good hours every day, but he has a terrible runny nose, mucous on his tongue and throat, runny ears and fevers all night. It’s not very fun! Of course, he doesn’t want to sit still and watch TV when he’s sick, he runs outside barefoot and runs away a lot, so that is probably not helping him! Anyway, if you could remember him in your prayers, that might help him a lot get over whatever it is that is not going away! I was desperate on Wednesday because I had sat home with him for 2 days and figured he would be okay if I worked a half day then, but he wasn’t doing very well that morning, so I did a very bad thing and begged
Ben if he would stay at home for a couple of hours for me and make up his work later. Hmmm, probably not the best thing to encourage, but I think it worked out okay because he has his easier classes in the morning, at least that’s what he claims, and since he’s always saying how bored he is, maybe that made it more interesting to have to make up the work! Anyway, I hope that we can get back to normal here soon, because we are all a little out of sorts and poor Jacob is not enjoying life!

We are still continuing our dispute with the school district, since they won’t get Jacob an aid to accompany him to school. They tried to pull someone off the playground duty to help Jacob, but she’s not working out either. We actually have had a rough time with Jackie and the bus too. I don’t think it’s entirely her fault, because the superintendant and Kevin may not have communicated well with her, but as a result of several problems on the bus, Kevin has been driving and supposedly they are figuring things out! Because the District cannot come to a decision on what to do with Jacob, we have asked for mediation from the State, so we will see if anything can be accomplished there! It just seems like all this drama is taking a lot of time from our lives, when it seems like it could be cleared up so easily, but apparently, nothing can be done without a lot of complaining! Anyway, I will be glad when we can figure something out permanently.

Conference was wonderful. Did you get to see any of it? Unfortunately, yesterday we listened a lot in the car because we were running David back and forth between Papa Joe’s market and his game and getting Samuel to film or whatever it was he was supposed to be doing (probably it was just the coach letting off steam about Friday night’s game, which was, in a word, a complete disaster!). But we did still hear a lot of it. Jonathan said to me, “Aren’t we supposed to be taking notes on conference?” which made me feel good and bad----I’m glad he remembers that we take notes during conference, but I felt bad that I was setting such a bad example, so today, I made sure and got a conference packet out for him. I really enjoyed Elder Scott’s and Pres. Eyring and Pres. Monson’s talks. I thought when Pres. Monson got up at the end of the Sunday morning session and said that he would write in his journal tonight that that session had been one of the most spiritual sessions he’s ever been in, that I better make sure I listen to that one again and read every talk! Sam and Dad and David caught most of the priesthood meeting last night, but Ben hasn’t been able to see it yet, so we will have to download it or invite ourselves over to Papa Joe’s to watch it. I wasn’t able to go to a lot of games this week, because of Jacob being sick, but kind of glad I missed Samuel’s in the snow, rain and sleet! He didn’t seem very happy about it, but Ben seemed a little happier about his. Grandmother and Papa Joe said he did really well! David is keeping a good attitude about losing----what a streak! Hopefully, they will be the better for all the games they are getting beat at. But actually, I am proud that David is able to take it as well as he does. He’s just a bit bossy about his back line, but he doesn’t have much support there, so hopefully, they will figure it out in time!

We watched conference at Grandmother and Papa Joe’s today and had the birthday dinner in between. It was nice and a beautiful day to get together for a party. David seemed happy about his presents and everyone seemed to be getting along for the most part. We got Grandmother a little coat, and she seemed to like that too. Aunt Dawnya was up with her family and I asked her about TJ and she said that he is working with his Dad back in Michigan. I asked if he plans on a mission, but she says he feels like everyone is forcing him to go----well, it is a priesthood duty, so I guess you can count that as ‘forced’. It seems like a lot of the talks at conference were centered on the priesthood and the blessings it brings to all members of the church. Were you able to hear any of the talks? I hope that you are able to. I remember being in Germany when Elder McConkie gave his amazing talk on the atonement, just before he passed away---probably one of the most powerfully spiritual moments of my life. His testimony hit me with such force, I think we all knew that HE KNEW the Savior and would be greeting him in the very near future. Watching conference on my mission and then afterwards was definitely a turning point for me. It began to mean so much more to my life that I felt that I actually hungered for it to come so that I could be filled up with the words of the spirit and learn.

Anyway, I hope you have great experiences this week. It sounds like you are very busy and very happy with the people you are working with. I hope that many are able to commit to reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church. I know those two things do so much to begin the process of gaining a testimony of the gospel. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I have felt that I have been very weighed down lately with things that have been going on in our lives, but every time I read in the Book of Mormon or listen to conference talks, I feel so much lighter and grateful for the knowledge that there is a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of my needs and who knows what I need in my life to grow and change. Jonathan said tonight that he didn’t want to say his prayers because Heavenly Father isn’t real. I was a bit dumbfounded at him saying that, since he has never said anything like that before, but isn’t really gung ho on saying prayers. So I tried to talk to him about it, explaining that Heavenly Father wasn’t a ghost and how he was very real and had a body just like Jonathan’s and that he has known Jonathan for a very long time, much longer than me. After giving him the analogy of him going on a trip far away from me and then him calling me and hanging up on me before I had a chance to respond to anything he said, he seemed to start getting it. We talked about what it feels like to feel the spirit and know Heavenly Father is aware and listening to our prayers. I told him of an experience I had on my mission when I was having just kind of a sad day---nothing was going right, I was cold and wet and discouraged and I just knelt down, because I didn’t know what else to do and I just felt like there were arms that suddenly surrounded me and I felt that I was being embraced, but when I opened my eyes I couldn’t see anyone there. But I felt something in my heart, and Jonathan responded that that was probably the spirit. What a kid! Love how smart my boys are and how much I learn from them! I am so lucky to have all of you in my life, I learn so much everyday from all you do and who you are. I am definitely one very blessed mom!

Have a wonderful week and think warm thoughts! Would you like any more sweaters or do you need any boots or anything? It may be easier to get things like that over there, but if there’s anything we can get for you and send, we would be happy to!

Love you much, Mom

P.S. Mr. Lords asked about you and said to tell you hi and that you are a great kid and he’s sure you’re doing great things on your mission!

P.p.s. Devin is getting married this week! He’s marrying a girl from Cove who is 5 years younger than him.

I’m trying to upload some pictures of the canyon leaves Jacob and I saw and also David wanted to show you all of his birthday gear, so hopefully I can get it to download fast, if not, I’ll get it on tomorrow before your next letter.