Just like it says in the bible...October 25, 2010

Querida familia,
How are you all? I hope everything is going well for you and that you are enjoying the weather. This last week in Bahía has been even crazier than the one before. It was sunny, then super cold, then super windy, then rained really hard, and today it´s sunny again. We never know what to wear when we leave the house, but I think it´s going to start getting hot soon and then I´m going to die. :)
It was a good week and it went by so fast. We had divisions this week on Tuesday and Wednesday and I stayed in La Falda this time with Hna. Villegas (who´s also from Chile, but from the north). She´s very Chilena and calls everyone "po" all the time. It´s funny to hear her talk, but I enjoyed it. She actually came to the mission with me. She works really hard and walks a lot faster than I´m used to. We had some good moments together. At one door we knocked on, this old man came out and Hna. Villegas asked him if we could share a message with him. He was listening to her until he noticed me and then he said," Oh wow, what a beauty. Look at those eyes!" and then he told her that she´s very nice. She ignored him and kept talking. Then I tried to bear testimony to him, but he couldn´t listen. He started laughing and told Hna. Villegas that I´m "so beautiful. Don´t be jealous though." and Hna. Villegas, without even cracking a smile, said," No, I´m not jealous AT ALL." Oh man, it was so funny. When we walked away, I started laughing so hard and the rest of the day whenever I thought about her saying that, I started cracking up again. Pretty great.
Something else exciting that happened was that we had three investigators come to church. It was pretty crazy because it started raining on Sunday morning right before we left the house. We grabbed my umbrella (which is super great - it has a button you can press to make it go down so you don´t even have to pinch your fingers. And it´s bright red) and left to go meet Stella Maris on the corner. We didn´t think she would come because it was raining, but then we spotted her walking down the street in her bright blue raincoat and an umbrella. By the time we got to her, it was raining pretty hard and we had to jump over the gutters which had turned into rivers to make our way to Dora´s house. Miraculously, Dora was ready to go when we got there. She took her umbrella and we left. We told her that we didn´t understand where the rain had come from and she said," It´s raining because I decided to come to church today." She´s probably right. Then it started raining really, really hard and the four of us were laughing and joking as we walked the remaining six blocks to the church in the pouring rain. They had a good time because they said it was an adventure. And then we went to pick up Bernardita, who had called us the night before, asking if we would walk to church with her. So all three of them came and I´m pretty sure they enjoyed it. In sacrament meeting, Stella Maris sat next to Bernardita and Hna. Abarzúa overheard her telling Bernardita that "they do everything here just like it says in the Bible." So great. It´s true though. Our church is the church of Jesus Christ so we do everything that he did when he was on the earth and everything that he revealed to his prophets. Pretty amazing.
The other day, I woke up and was having a dream where I went to Brett Leavitt´s house with Luke, Erik, and Kylie to visit him on Christmas day. He had gotten a tent for Christmas and was showing it to us. When I woke up, I thought to myself," Wow, it´s been a while since I´ve seen them. Why don´t I go visit them today?" But then I came to my senses and realized that I´m still in Argentina and it´ll be another ten months before I go visit them. It was a weird thought and I really do miss my friends and my family a lot, but I also know that Stella Maris and Bernardita and Dora and Jorge and Estela and our other investigators need me right now. I´m happy to be able to serve them and enjoy the life of a missionary. The church is true and is such a blessing for us. I love you all and am so happy that I know you. ¡Les quiero un montón!
Besos,
Hna. Seegmiller

Pictures! October 18, 2010

¿8 Meses? ¡¿Qué?!-October 18, 2010

Hola querida familia,
Espero que todo esté bien en casa. This week was a good week. Every day is a little bit longer now that we don´t have siesta, but we have more time to work and we have seen some good results. We found four new investigators this week - Mirna (who has gone to church before, is married, and has 7 kids) is super cool and is going to read her Book of Mormon and pray about it. And we also found Bernardita (which is probably the ugliest name I´ve ever heard - Little Bernarda?) who is 23 and searching for religion in her life right now. She´s also super cool and we have high hopes for them.
So as you guys know, I love scaring people (like hiding behind stuff and jumping out at people). Mom does it too so I think I got it from her. I do it to my companion all the time so Hna. Abarzúa thought she would take some revenge on me this week. I was in our room putting away some clothes at nighttime and she was outside on the patio hanging up a towel. She had left the window into our room open, but with the curtain over it so I had no idea it was open. When she saw that i was in there, she went up to the window and pushed the curtain, saying,"Oooooh!" Well, I´m a pretty jumpy person so I screamed and jumped back while she died laughing outside on the patio. She kept laughing while I tried to catch my breath and yelled," ¿En serio, hermana?" The funniest part was when I went outside to pegarle una piña right when the Abuelitos came running out of their house to see what happened. The abuelito even had a stick in his hand to defend us. We explained what happened and we all had a good laugh. But it was good to know that the Abuelitos are always willing to help us. :)
Also, we had a few lessons with Jorge and Estela this past week that were pretty good. They had a baptismal date for this past weekend, but they didn´t get baptized because they didn´t feel ready. Estela still needs to go to church, but this week when we were talking about the Plan of Salvation with her, she said," When you´re talking about this, it attracts me. And I´m about ready to just throw myself in the baptismal font." Her husband, Jorge, has already been to church 3 times and has progressed a lot. We´re going to try to help him get baptized this coming week. I told him my real name is Kasidy this past week when he was talking about the cowboys like Butch Cassidy and so now he has taken to calling me Butch and he thinks it´s really funny. Nice, Jorge. We love them so much and really want them to be able to understand all the huge blessings that the church has to offer. Estela always says she thinks of us as her daughters. I think they´ll make it.
Another exciting thing this week was that it was the Primary program in sacrament meeting and they asked me to be the accompanist. I was kinda scared and had to spend like three hours in rehearsals with the screaming children, but excited to be able to play the piano. The kids actually sing pretty well and I enjoyed their performance. I felt very professional - my first time as an accompanist. Our mission president went to church in our branch this Sunday so he saw the presentation and gave us a ride home afterwards. He said," That primary program was really good, right? It´s too bad about the piano though." Haha, presidente. You´re so funny. He actually is a pretty funny guy though.
Well, that´s pretty much it. I also completed 8 months as a missionary and can´t understand where my mission is going. It´s flying by! Hopefully this coming week, we will be able to help our investigators get baptized and find some new ones too. The mission is going good. We´re working hard and helping bring people to Christ. I love everything about this gospel and am grateful to have the opportunity to share it with so many people. Also, my favorite thing to do is show people the pictures of our family and tell everyone how great they all are. I love you all! Have a lovely week!
Cariños,
Hna. Seegmiller

Lo que importa es lo que sos. Compartilo.-October 11, 2010

Hola familia,

The title of my email today is another profound quote off a beer bottle. Don´t worry... I´m not drinking it. Well, there is not much to report since i just barely wrote you. Another one of the changes in the mission is that Pday is now on Monday, district meeting on Tuesday morning, and weekly planning on Thursday morning. It´s going to be a little weird to get used to, but I like to think President knows what he´s doing. Today, we went to Centro to pasear and we walked by McDonald´s, which has a new hamburger called "McNífica." I thought it was pretty clever of McDonald´s to Argentinize their hamburgers. And it´s probably pretty good. My favorite named is still "The Baconator" that Wendy´s sells. I like to call it The Baconator 3000.

Anyway, this week we finally got to teach the Flia. Alarcón, a less active family that moved into our branch recently. They have a little boy with a lot of questions about God and they want us to teach him. I wanted to tell them that they should live up to their responsibility as parents and teach their child themselves, but Hna. Abarzúa said that we would teach him. It actually turned out to be a pretty entertaining experience and I´m a little bit more excited to be a teacher now. Hna. Abarzúa drew a picture of the Plan of Salvation on their little whiteboard they have and explained all the steps to him. When she got to the end, she said," So see, we want to go to go to the Celestial Kingdom because that´s where God lives." And Gabriel, who´s like 6 years old, looks at the picture and says," Yeah, but if we go here (to the Terrestrial Kingdom), we´re going to be neighbors!" I thought he had a pretty good point, but we had to help him understand that we don´t want to just be neighbors with our Heavenly Father... we want to live in his house! Then he went off about how he could send messages to him with paper airplanes if he didn´t make it. I think we helped him understand a little better that he wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom, but he´s still convinced that paper airplane messages is a good idea and is going to use them to communicate with the people in the other worlds. All right, Gabriel. You do that. :) It was really cute and funny though.

Also, Feliz Día de la Madre to all the mothers out there. For some reason, Argentina celebrates it in October so I will be thinking of you all this month (the mothers get a month here). Most of all, I will be thinking of my mother, who´s super great and has taught me basically everything I know. She´s also taught me not to be a quitter and to do the best you can, which she has taught me through saying it over and over again ("We´re not quitters!") and also through example. She tries her best in everything she does. I´m just trying to be as good a missionary as I know she was. Gracias por todo! I love you and miss you all. And I really hope that next week, I can send some pictures.

Ciaocito,

Hna. Seegmiller

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!- October 6, 2010

Hello, hello,

How is everything in the United States? Life in Argentina is good, I would say. It was so great to have General Conference this past weekend. Something really awesome was that I got to watch it in English with the other American elders. It was so good to hear the voice of the prophet and other inspired leaders and to feel once again that there are people in the world who believe this like I do. Everyone always says that conference is so much better as a missionary and it is so true. It went by so fast and I loved every minute of it. It was also really awesome because Jorge and Stella Maris came. Presidente Detlefsen and the Hermana said that they would pick up any investigators we had that wanted to go so on Saturday morning (well, it started at 1:00 here). Jorge and Stella Maris said they would go and they totally came and loved it. Jorge kept asking," When´s this Monson fellow going to speak?¨ Stella Maris really liked it and wanted to stay for the next session. She couldn´t that night, but she came again on Sunday morning. Afterwards, she said that the organization of the church is "impresionante" and the choir was really good too. I loved it all and am excited for the Liahona to come out (we´ll probably get it in December). Also, Argentina got a small shoutout from Jay E. Jensen when he said that he was living in Argentina in his talk. We were excited about it. Did anyone think of me when he said that? :)

Oh, also...the transfer ended and Hna. Abarzua and I are staying together for another transfer in La Falda. It was quite the surprise. Everyone thought she would leave and open an area and train a new missionary. She has been in Bahía for a long time so she felt like it´s time to leave, but that is not the way things worked out. I´m excited about another transfer together though. She works hard and likes keeping all the rules so we can do a lot of good things together this transfer. But something really exciting - four more hermanas are coming to Bahía so we get to do more exchanges! Party!!

Something else that was fun was that Hna. Sommermeyer stopped at our house before she left to go home. It was really fun to see her again and sad to send her home. We had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning and go in the van with the Elders in our pajamas to pick her up from the terminal. Then yesterday, three new hermanas came to the mission and they brought them directly to our apartment to leave and work with us for a few hours. There´s one new Yankee (from the United States), Hna. Clark, one from Chile, and one from Mexico (who has four sisters who are also on missions right now - crazy, right?). I left with the two Latinas and they were so awesome. They have so much energy and excitement about being missionaries that it reminded me of how I felt when I got here.... sooo grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and share the good news of the gospel I love. I don´t really know what happened, but I forgot a little bit about it. It was so fun to be reminded of that by these fun new hermanas. They´re going to be so great. My trainer, Hna. Davis, is actually going to train Hna. Clark so she´ll have two daughters in the mission. The weird thing is that Hna. Clark is named Cassidy! So Hna. Davis is going to train two hermanas named Cassidy/Kasidy. I thought it was really weird when I found out. Exciting though because there aren´t that many Cassidy´s out there. We have to stick together.

We went over and saw Stella Maris after Conference to talk to her about her baptism, which is scheduled for this coming Sunday. We talked to her about everything and she´s excited to get baptized and really wants to, but the problem is that she doesn´t understand the importance of Joseph Smith. She said," I have God. I don´t need Joseph Smith." That was kinda rough to hear, especially after she´d gone to General Conference and listened to the living prophet. We challenged her to pray and ask God if he is a prophet. We´re going back tonight to see what happened.

Well, family, this email was pretty scatterbrained and we didn´t make it to the ciber where I can send pictures (which is a real shame because I have a Boiling Point picture to send... it´s not that awesome though so don´t get too excited), but hopefully next week. The mission is good. I´m excited for this transfer and I think we´ll be able to accomplish a lot. Oh, also, two other investigators that we have set a date for their marriage! They´re getting married October 28th and then they can get baptized. I never thought i would actually have an investigator that would get married so they can get baptized. It is such an amazing feeling. Well, the gospel is true and Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Modern prophets are necessary and we need to do what they tell us. I love you and am soo grateful for all the support. I honestly don´t know if I could be a missionary without it.

This week´s goal: Have the excitement of a nuevita!

Love you all so so so much!

Hna. Seegmiller

El mundo te necesita como sos- September 29, 2010

Hello family!

I hope everything is going well for you at home. Life in Argentina is good. The weather was really good for a few days, but now it´s cold and rainy. Confusing, but we´re trying to adjust. This week is the last week of the transfer again. I can´t believe how fast this transfer has gone by. It seems like I just got to La Falda, but it´s already been six weeks. My companion might leave me and I still haven´t mastered the buses or where all the members live (and there are only like 20 active ones, like 5 houses). I´m sure I´ll be fine though and I like La Falda so I´ll be happy to stay.

As far as missionary work goes, we are doing good. We now have 5 baptismal dates and are trying to help our investigators progress. We had two investigators go to church this past week. Estelia Maris came for the second time and participates and everything in Relief Society. She understands everything, but isn´t sure she wants to change churches. We´re working with her to try to make her understand that she needs to feel the answer, but she´s excited for General Conference this weekend and we had a lesson with her and a member this week that went well. I think she´ll make it, but her baptismal date is next weekend so I´m nervous about helping her get baptized on time. Jorge also finally came to church. We have been visiting him and his wife for 6 weeks now and they always told us they couldn´t go because her mom has super advanced Alzheimer´s and they can´t leave her alone. But he showed up and went to all three hours and really liked it. He always comes up with the most random weird questions, but him and his wife are struggling right now and they could really use the gospel. It´s funny because these three investigators are all older than Mom and Dad so it´s like I´m hanging out with my parents all the time and counseling them on their spirituality. A little weird, but I really love them and want them to be happy. We also have a few other investigators who we´ve asked to be baptized, but they still don´t have a date (because something always happens right when we´re about to ask them- a phone rings, a friend comes over... that darn Satan). Lucia just had a baby two months ago and always talks to us when we come over and reads her Libro de Mormon. She wants to go to General Conference too. And Marcelo is a separated 40 year old with a really cute little boy. He´s never been too into religion before, but when we went to visit him the second time, he said that he´d been reading about Neefi. It makes me so happy when the people do the things that are going to help them.

Something funny that happened this week was the the mother-in-law of President Detlefsen came to our branch with her granddaughters. She´s a little crazy and talks a lot and I really like her. She ranted for a while about how great the church is and then grabbed Estelia Maris and said," Are you baptized?" Estelia Maris told her no so she said," Oh, you need to get baptized! It´s the best decision I´ve ever made!" leaving Estelia Maris and I laughing at this crazy abuela who´s super cool.

This week, we ate lunch at the house of our branch president. He´s married and has two little girls who are 5 and 2. Manuela is the oldest and I was hanging out with her while Hna. Abarzua consulted the branch president´s wife about what she should do with her hair (she´s a cosmetologist). I was talking to Manuela and randomly she asked me," Por qué no te casaste?" (Why didn´t you get married?) I told her I didn´t find a good man to marry. She said that she knew a boy named Maximo in her kindergarten class who is really handsome and that when he gets older, she´s going to marry him. So I asked her if she knew anyone I could marry, like an uncle or something, which sent her into a long story about her aunt who got married and just had a new baby. She said that the baby is still little, but when he gets bigger, I can marry him if I want. So if I don´t get married in twenty more years, Manuela is going to hook me up with her aunt´s newborn baby (who by then will be 20). I´m not sure I´m going to take her up on that offer, but it was nice of her.

Well, family, I hope everyone is well. I have already started making my chain for Christmas. The countdown has already begun. Time goes by a lot faster in the mission so it will be Christmas before I know it. Christmas in the mission will definitely be an interesting experience, but I´m excited. Hna. Abarzua and I have had a good transfer here (even though she hates EFY music... I´ve actually come to appreciate MoTab a lot more) and I really like working with her. I´m soooo excited for General Conference and for all my investigators to hear the words of the prophet. It´s so amazing that we get to listen to him and the MoTab! Have a lovely week and enjoy conference!

Love,

Hna. Seegmiller

P.S. The title of my email this week comes off a beer glass, but I still thought it was pretty profound. The world needs you the way you are. Let´s just remember the saying and not where it came from.