July 28, 2010

Hello Familia,

How goes everything back at home? It sounds like everything is good. I was wondering if you would send me a picture of the new TV. I want to know what it looks like in the casa. Gracias. Jordy sounds like he´s doing so good in his new area. That´s pretty much every missionary´s dream to arrive in an area like that. But I´m glad that he´s having success and enjoying his mission. He´s a good little missionary and I´m proud of him. Toay, on the other hand, still has some problems. This week was a depressing week to go to church. Hardly anyone went... and it wasn´t even cold. Betiana came with her two daughters, which was good, but there were only like 25 people there. The chapel is so big here and so beautiful that it makes life more depressing when there are only like 3 benches with people in them. It´s just hard because we can´t figure out how to help people. There are so many people that just stopped going to church for some really dumb reason ( I just didn´t go one Sunday and then after that it was easy, I had futbol games on Sunday... I´ve already decided that I´m going to use that story on my kids if they ever have an argument about wanting to play sports on Sunday. "You can blame Pablo, who is now totally inactive and is living with a girl he doesn´t love because she has his child, and it all started with his futbol games that he went to on Sunday instead of going to church." Maybe that´s a little strong?) We have been able to contact some of our investigators again though and we are teaching them again. We also visited a menos activo lady this week and showed her the video Finding Faith in Christ. She was crying by the end, so we figured that was a good sign. The sad thing about her family is that she has like four sons that are almost the age that they could serve missions. I have gotten such a testimony that this is exactly what boys that age need to be doing and it helps them so much in the rest of their lives. It also helps keep them out of trouble for these two years.

We stopped by Cesar´s house this week and were able to talk to him and teach him about baptism again. It turns out that he had Google-earth stalked our houses and he actually had our house in Henderson pulled up on his computer when we went to see him. He´d also been looking up lots of stuff about the church on the internet and had stumbled upon BYU (which he pronounce Byoo). We directed him to the church website. It sounds super creepy that he was stalking us, but he´s nice so it´s not as weird.

Something that was really fun this week were a bunch of activities that we got to do. On Friday morning, we went to the stake center in Santa Rosa and helped with a youth conference thing, where we left with the youth and went to contact people on the street. It was fun and some of the girls were so full of energy and so excited to share that it reminded me of how excited I was when I first got here. A few no´s really takes the animo out of you, but they did a good job. We also had an activity for Pioneer Day. We walked down the street and ate choripan (sausage on bread - actually really delicious) in the wilderness to remember the pioneers. We sang Come, Come Ye Saints before we left, but that was about everything that was said about the pioneers. It was a fun activity though and a bunch of people came. At the end of the activity, they got out Tejo. It´s a game kinda like Horseshoes and everyone played. They wanted us to play so we tried, but we lost horribly. At least we tried though and it was a cultural experience... that´s what I´ve started saying about everything that doesn´t turn out very well. :) We had to leave early to do missionary work so the Bishop gave us a ride home in his truck (we´re trucho pioneers... fake pioneers). The good thing about Toay is that I´m positive that the church will never die here because of the solid members of the church that will always keep going no matter what.

We also found a new investigator this week who actually wanted us to come back and see him again. Dario let us in and gave us some tea (don´t worry, the kind we´re allowed to drink) and we talked to him about the church, even though he told us he already had a religion. Turns out that he´s really involved in scouts so he went to the Catholic church for a while, but when we left, he was excited to go to churhc on Sunday. We brought the Restoration video to his house the next day and watched it together. He´s super nice and we really hope that him and his WIFE (yes, I said wife) and their children will come to church this Sunday. Life is good in Toay. Hna. Sommermeyer is helping me a lot with my Spanish. She corrects me when I say things wrong and helps me figure out the words for what I want to say. Today, I learned how to say squash (aplastar) and polka dots (lunares). It´s good because they´re words that I would never learn how to say if I was speaking English all the time. All in all, the church is true and it is really the way we have to live our lives if we want to be happy. I know for a fact that Pablo would be much happier now if he had chosen church over futbol. So family, I hope that when i get home, we can all help each other choose church over futbol or lo que sea so that we can be happy now and for eternity. I love you guys so much and I am so grateful to have a family as supportive, loving, and funny as you are. Good luck with everything! I´m praying for you!

Love,

Hna. Seegmiller

P.S. Please tell Kylie that i so appreciate her letters and love her a lot. Also, that I am awaiting a letter from Luke and Erik, who I know are now home and have nothing to do. :)

Pictures!

Here are some pictures Kasidy sent home of her and her new companion! Enjoy!!

























Kasidy sent a bunch of pictures of her and her new companion! Enjoy!

July 7, 2010

Hello family,

How goes everything at home? The 4th of July sounded like fun. I remembered about it, but no one here really cared. Actually, a few people in the ward remembered that it´s the Independence Day of the United States. I have no idea why they know that though - I don´t know the independence day of any other country (except Argentina now - the 9th of July). Hna. Davis and I decided to wear red, white, and blue to church to support the USA from afar. We also drew pictures of an American flag (which sadly ended up very disproportional) and an Uncle Sam that reminded us to "pay our taxes." We also bought some nasty frozen burgers and fries to cook that night so we felt more American, but we visited a bunch of houses that night and everyone had just made a cake so we were too full to eat them. We will definitely make time another day though.

I´m sure you have heard by now, but Argentina did lose the Mundial. The loss was actually pretty embarassing - 4 to 0. Germany totally creamed them. Everyone talked about it for a while, but now things have thankfully gone back to normal. One family told us that they didn´t really care because they have German ancestors so they figured they would win the game either way. Mundial was definitely making life hard for us so it´s a good thing they lost. Maybe the next Mundial, Argentina...
I´m still with Hna. Davis right now. Transfers end this Sunday, but we don´t find out until Friday night who´s getting transferred. A lot of the zone has been in this area for a long time so I think there will probably be a lot of changes this transfer. Our zone leader is definitely getting transferred so we probably won´t get to play a Pokemon game next transfer or have a fight with balls of flour.

This week was actually a sad one because no one came to church! It was the last Sunday that we needed Bocha to come to church in order to get baptized this transfer (to achieve the goal our mission president set for us of one baptism in every area), but we called him Sunday morning and they said they couldn´t come to church today. Then Cesar said that he was going to come at 10:00, but he didn´t show up. Rough life. Lots of the members came so we could be happy about that and I really enjoyed all the talks and testimonies that were shared, but it´s still sad when the investigators don´t come. But that was basically the last chance for us to have a baptism so after that, we pretty much had to give up on the dream of achieving that goal and that was hard for us. To bounce back from that, our zone leader told us that the companionship that had the best numbers for this past Monday and Tuesday would win a free asado (delicious meat that they throw on the grill). Well, most of the little games the zone plays don´t really interest us or get us very excited because we´re not very competitive, but free meat is something we understand and are passionate about. We worked super hard the last two days and found six new investigators and taught five lessons! It was kinda amazing, but the people that we´ve been looking for forever just happened to open their doors. We actually didn´t end up winning the free asado because some other elders got someone to set a baptismal date, but we´re still proud of our good work. And we got to eat meat anyway... 1 and a half kilos of deliciousness. The flour fight actually went pretty well. Our district had really good numbers over the whole transfer so we got to make armor out of cardboard boxes and have a shield. We played Capture the Flag first in this random park in the middle of nowhere and I totally freed someone! Then I freed someone else and we all rushed the other team to get the flag! Victory! Ganamos! That´s when I learned that Latins are sore losers. They kept saying we cheated and getting mad so we decided to cook the meat. After that, we split up into our teams and threw the flour balls at each other. Some of the elders threw really hard and one got me right in the face! I got a few hits on the other elders that were pretty weak, but I was so excited to hit them at all. It was a Pday well spent.

So I guess we will see what happens in the weeks that come... I might be getting a new companion and then everything in Toay will change. We just got a new ward mission leader and he´s excited about helping with the work and making visits to the investigators. We still need to figure out a way to get Betiana and Bocha excited to get married. They just keep coming up with different excuses. The last time we went to their house, we found out that the last missionaries who taught them before they moved to Toay challenged them to get married and Bocha wanted to, but Betiana said no. I think he still feels a little rejected from that so now he doesn´t want to get married and Betiana´s all for it. They´ll get there and they have already changed so much. It´s a visible difference how much happier they are now, since they´ve been going to church. There are also a lot of new people that we´re excited about and old people that are kinda progressing that we´re not sure what to do about. The end of the transfer just kinda feels like everything is dying so we´re trying to work hard until the end and then we can get revived and make things happen in Toay!

Also, I got gloves from Mom last week so it has been a very warm-hand week. There are two pairs so one day when it rained, Hna. Davis wore the other pair and we both wore our boots and took our umbrellas too. We felt well-equipped, but it still wasn´t that fun walking in the rain. And I got a ton of letters today! Two from Mom, one from Brett Leavitt (I´m totally impressed that he´s written me three letters already.), one from Erik Bonn (that he wrote like two months ago, but it got lost for a while. Tell him hi for me when he gets home!), two from Kylie (the dearelders sometimes pile up, but she is so faithful and funny. Hna. Davis and I always read her letters together and the stories always make us laugh), one from Stephanie Lee (always a joy to hear from her too), and one from Jowanza (I screamed when I saw his name on the letter - he´s just as weird and funny as ever). It´s nice to see that people haven´t totally forgotten about me, even though I´m a million miles away. The elders totally hate me though. That´s all right... I can sacrifice their love for letters. Well, I hope everything is going well. Toay is still a good place and there are definitely people ready for the gospel there.

Also, I started reading in John this week, like some apostle suggested at last conference and I found out it´s totally great! In John 4, it talks about how Jesus talks to the Samaritan lady at the well and asks her to give him some water. They talk for a little bit and Jesus tells her that if she drinks of the living water, that she will never thirst. I had never really thought about it that much before, but I really liked that when I read it this time. It´s so true. Other things that we spend time on or put effort into will eventually leave us thirsty again one day, but if we focus our efforts on bringing ourselves to Christ and letting him help us, we will never run out of happiness or blessings or the things we really need. You´ll have to go read John for the full verses, but I really liked it and I´ve shared it with a bunch of people this week. Well, I know Christ lives! I know he loves and knows each of us. When I was sharing that with one of our new investigators this week, she said," You really like this church, don´t you?" and I said," Yeah, I love it." She said," I can see it." It was pretty cool because I think sometimes I don´t realize how much I love it and how important it is to me, but it´s good that other people can see that. I hope you all know that it is everything to me and I know that it´s true. I love you and miss you all! Have a lovely week!

Besitos,

Hermana Seegmiller
Picture 1: Hna. Davis and I preparing for the battle with balls of flour. It was pretty ridiculous and really fun. Kinda hurt though. I might have some bruises tomorrow. The good news - I learned the word for bruise in Spanish. "moretón"

Picture 2: My zone around the grill where we cook all our meat. So delicious! I love Argentina for that.

Picture 3: Hna. Davis and I with a recent convert, Hno. Mareque. The cutest old man I´ve ever met and his wife, Ines, who has Alzheimers. He cuts and sells wood all the time to make enough money to take care of her and he loves singing hymns. He´s great, but the last time we visited him, he went to give me a kiss on the cheek before we left his house, he totally missed and kissed me right on the mouth! It was kinda gross, but a total accident. I hope I don´t get in trouble for that.

Picture 4: A good picture of Hna. Davis and I...I hope. This is us waiting at the bus stop, but it really doesn´t show much. It does show my hair in the humidity. It goes crazy so sometimes I just go with it and wear it down. I figure no one here cares what I look like anyway and it should also make you guys happy since you´ve been bugging me to wear my hair curly since forever. Love you! :)

Vamos Argentina!! June 30, 2010

Hello family!!!

How´s life in the States? Did you know that the United States lost in the World Cup? I did because everyone yells it at us to remind us everywhere we go. Oh well. Hermana Davis and I are going to start telling people we´re from Canada. No one gets mad at Canadians (right, Stephanie Lee?). This week has been fun-filled and crazy. I think Hna. Davis and I are getting crazier every day as we near the end of our second transfer together. Our president made a goal for the whole mission that every companionship would have a baptism this transfer. The transfer ends next Sunday so it´s totally stressing us out, but we can´t figure out how to tell two people that don´t want to marry each other that they have to get married and baptized by next Sunday. It´s rough, but we´re working on it. Something that was super awesome this week was the three packages that Mom sent me!! So exciting! But also, you might want to send smaller boxes next time because I have to pay some money for them too. :) Getting the Snuggie that i asked for (Hna. Davis was amazed that i actually got it, but I was pretty sure it was coming and I´m sure anyone that knows Mom knew that she would send it) was the best thing ever and it´s totally warm when I study now in the morning. All my clothes are a little more red lint-covered, but what can you do? Thanks so much, Mom! Also, Hna. Davis and i had a great time opening all the 12 days of Christmas. I got the packages two days before June Christmas so we got to open ten presents that night. We took a video of it that you´ll probably get to see in like six months... just in time for real Christmas. We loved all of it and we ate almost all of our candy already. The Reese´s came all squished so it takes a lot of effort to unwrap them. We thought it would be a good thing and help us eat only a few a day because it means you have to really want it and take a lot of time in order to eat it, but we surprised ourselves with how much we like American candy because they´re almost all gone.

I´m sure you´ll all be thrilled to know that our district won again this week with the most points so we have now evolved to Venosaur!! And we did the most contacts last Thursday so we won some extra armor for our team for the batalla that we´re having next P-day. I think we´re going to a park and having a fight with balls of flour. I´m not exactly sure how we´re going to get home on the bus afterwards... I´ll let you know next week, I guess.

Church was good again this week. There were hardly any members that went... I don´t know why. It didn´t even rain or anything. But Gustavo, Cesar´s brother, came like he said he would. He enjoyed it, but he has a job at a fruit place and he works ALL the time. He can only come every other Sunday. The good thing is that he´s already been baptized two times, once when he was eight and once when he was ten. What´s one more time? :) We can´t ever teach him though because he´s always working. All the members really liked him and were super nice and welcoming. Everyone already knows him though. When any member saw him, they were like, " Hey, the fruit guy!" We´re going to try to see if we can find him another job that´s better.

We also got a bunch of new investigators this week so that was exciting. We found Susana and Hector (who aren´t married. What a surprise!) who have the cutest little boy named Martín and the funniest grandpa who came over when we were there. He had tucked his shirt into his underwear and pulled his underwear up really high. Then he found out we were from the United States and kept yelling," Why would you come from the United States to this desert?!" It was pretty entertaining.

Also, I´m pretty sure all of Argentina is out to make me fatter. They have so many delicious desserts, not to mention dulce de leche. And everyone decided to make a cake this week and feed it to us when we went to visit them. There´s a scale in the pharmacy here and we went to weigh ourselves this week. I´ve gained 3 kilos! That´s like six pounds, which isn´t that much, but that is where it starts. And doesn´t 3 kilos sound like so much?! I´ve decided that´s a stupid measurement for weight. Maybe I won´t weigh myself anymore.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you all the story from Zone Conference last week. We had Zone Conference last Friday and it was great. Our presidente is so funny! I still only get about a third of the jokes that he makes, but I´m improving. Well, he was talking to us about improving certain things and he was talking for a long time so I started to zone out a little bit. Right then, he asked me to read a scripture out loud. But when I´m not paying attention, it still takes me a little while to process things in Spanish so I just kept staring and smiling at him, waiting until the Spanish clicked in my head. Well, he totally knew that I did not understood what he said so he made fun of me! He told everyone else," She´s just doing this face - " and then he did the nice smile that means I have no clue what you´re saying, but I´m trying to pretend. All the elders and Hna. Davis laughed so hard... especially because I´m sure they´ve all seen me make that face before. Our zone leader was laughing so hard for probably five minutes straight. It was kinda embarrassing, but mostly funny. I´m completely convinced now that that face fools no one. People can always tell if you understand or not. Or maybe i´m just bad at it.

Anyway, the obra is moving forward here in Argentina. Maybe a little slowly in Toay, but we´re working hard and finding new people and enjoying our Christmas presents (Josh Groban and David Archuleta always keep us entertained) and keeping warm in my new Snuggie. Life is good. Also, I can´t belive Luke is already home and Erik is coming home. It´s weird that I´m not there to see them, but at least they´ll probably be normal again by the time I´m home. Tell them I say hi if you see them! I love you all and I´m grateful to have such a great family! Miss you!

Cariños,

Hermana Seegmiller

P.S. This one lady we met this week almost passed out when I told her my name was Kasidy Seegmiller. She totally didn´t understand it and thought it was ridiculous. Then she asked me what my middle name was. I decided to do her a favor and not tell her. I´m pretty sure "Cresap" would´ve killed her.

I attached some pictures! Sorry, Mom, none of them are investigators (I still can´t figure out a non-awkward way to ask people to take a picture with me so my mom can see them), but even better, they´re all of me! :) The first one is me in my new, warm Snuggie! It´s so great. I love it. The second picture is me enjoying my hot chocolate in my classy, Dixie cup straight from the States. The hot chocolate actually burned my tongue so I couldn´t taste anything for two days afterwards, but it was totally worth it. The third picture is me and a sheep that we found on the side of the road that we named Squeeshy. Hna. Davis just happened to snap the picture right when it looked like i was touching its butt, but I totally wasn´t. And finally, Hna. Davis and I being totally hardcore Argentina soccer fans (we got the facepaint out of chocolate balls that we bought at the store). We have to be prepared for Saturday, when they play Germany. Argentina will go nuts if we win again. It´s gonna be a close one. And we´re definitely going to have to find an investigator to watch with because NO ONE will be outside. It´s a pretty big deal.