Are We Doing Enough?

June 21, 2015

     I am thinking in the next while, we will be hearing from our leaders to "take back Sunday". It seems to be what we are hearing out this way. It has caused us both to reflect on what we are doing in our marriage and personal lives to make it more the Lord's day. It makes me wonder....am I doing enough to truly make it a respite day from the cares of the world? That is a personal question for all of us to answer. I ask my six families at home "Are we all doing enough to save our kids?"
    I sound like a broken record, but, that is why we are here. To show our grandkids the way. I still lean on President Williams' promise in my setting apart blessing that this is absolutely the best thing we can do to help our girls and their families. If we do a little good along the way for us, the poor struggling Seaman (like the song says)....then hurrah for us.
     We have set a record this week. We ate every evening meal out, all in the cause of missionary work. I am warning all of you readers, a mission is no place to go on a diet. A mission is no place to even worry about tight clothes. Go buy more for the cause. This is the Lord's work and we believe in feeding the humble and the travel weary. We ate with Jess and Darlene Hitchcock and Nicole and her husband this week in Liberty. It was so good to see them! They are Show Low at its finest. I say again to all our Show Low friends, Stop and say Hello! Planning a summer trip to anywhere? Just drop down or up or over to see us in Independence. Call it a service project. We are easy to find and we know the best places to get a good meal. We are planning on a great week with the Walkers' and Ted and Maddie coming to visit . Hurray!
     We have 29 new Arrivals and 29 Departures coming and going this week. We are at the end of the six week cycle. The mission is abuzz with Transfers taking place between Arrival and Departure Day. I am beginning to get a sense of the anxiety this brings to some missionaries. Some may be dying to move on to greener pastures, some dying to stay put. Some come in and try to get hints from me about their assignments....Ha! Little do they know that I still pray and mutter about my own little world in front of that screen each and every day. A final thought on the upcoming week......I thank the Lord every day that I don't have to get a new companion on transfers. Ever, for that matter. So wonderful, right? I want to keep it that way, so I have to ask myself "am I doing enough?".

My love to all my Darlings,
Sister Seaman

Long Shadows

     Sometimes do you ever think about the things you would like to do?  Do you ever slow down long enough to decide a real life course of action?  A decision that will make a great difference in your life or all the difference in your life. A turning point. Our lives are generally full of decisions, but are they decisions that really count.
     Today is Father's Day, June 2015. I always think of my father on this day and many others.  He is a hero to me. I don't know when it was exactly that he got so smart or when it finally dawned on me how hard he worked or how honest he was or how much he loved this great country and his family.  Especially his family.  But it did dawn on me eventually.  I am always asking him ( in my mind) how I am doing,  He never answers but at times I feel like I know.
    Many years ago, I read a true story about a cowboy who lived in Utah in the late 1800's.  The short of the story was that he ended up killing someone that had stolen some cattle from him and he went to prison for the rest of his life.  His terrible decision then influenced his family in a terrible way.  The bottom line of the story was that our lives cast long shadows.  A long shadow is the shadow that is cast when the sun is just coming up or just going down.  The shadow seems to touch everything in front of you or behind you. It is symbolic of how our lives touch everything behind us or in front of us.  When you cast a long shadow, symbolically you are influencing the action of others and can change the course of a life depending how you live your own.
     My father cast a long shadow in my life and it has influenced my life and the good decisions I eventually made.  And I made a few that have really made all the difference.
     The next time you get a moment to think, consider the long shadows that you have seen cast in your life by the people that have influenced you.  Most of all, consider the long shadows that you are casting today.  Will you make the decisions, and be willing to act on those decisions, that will save your family and give them the opportunity to be happy or will you continue on your course of thinking you are all alone and that your decisions will not effect anyone else, even the small ones.  You are always casting a long shadow for all to see.
     Sister Seaman and I are trying to cast long shadows for our family.  Independence, Missouri will be part of those long shadows.  The next time you see your long shadow at sundown somewhere, think about it.

Sincerely,
Elder Seaman