Monday, December 27, 2010
Navidad in the mission- December 27, 2010
Hello Familia,
I am sending you some lovely pictures from our Christmas festivities. We spent Christmas Eve with the abuelitos and their son, who was visiting from Mendoza. It was fun. We had an asado (tons of meat on the grill) and a large fruit salad. I kinda had a cold though so I couldn´t really taste what I was eating and it was really hard to eat because I couldn´t breathe if I had stuff in my mouth. But it was still fun. Then the Abuelitos made us stay there until midnight so that we could toast with them and then watch the fireworks. Hna. Olsen and I were dying falling asleep on the table. We drank Pineapple Fizz and watched the fireworks outside. There weren´t that many, but it´s supposedly "prohibited" in Bahía so there were a lot if you think about the fact that there weren´t supposed to be any. Then we went home and did a quick version of our very own Live Nativity (because both our families do it) and recorded it. We had to switch out a lot because there are only two of us and there are a lot more parts in it than just two, but we made it work.
We also had our lovely mission talent show for Christmas this last Wednesday and it turned out really well. Hna. Olsen and I did a song and dance to the song "A Professional Pirate" from Muppet Treasure Island. We rewrote the lyrics (in Spanish, which was actually really hard) to be "Cuando sos una misionera" (when you´re a missionary). It could be funny to some people so I´m going to write all the lyrics. For those of you who don´t speak Spanish, maybe you can use freetranslation.com? It´s also weird because it´s Argentine Spanish.
Cuando estaba en la casa, saliendo con los chicos,
Mi mamá me dijo," Ya tenés 21 y pico.
Vos podés estudiar o podés tener bebés.
¿Por qué no utilizás la belleza que tenés?"
Oh hey ho ho
Podés ir a un pais, conocer a mucha gente y comer lo que te dan,
Seguimos subiendo aunque caminamos mucho
Cuando sos una misionera, viste es lo que hay.
(Yelled) Vamos hermanas! 6 meses a sexy
Por ejemplo, una hermana, los miembros la adoran,
Pero a los elderes, cuando llaman, les molestan,
Si mirás al corazón, las va a conocer,
Y todos prefieren una hermana a un élder!
Oh hey ho ho
Hay que aprovechar. Siempre hay una compi que le gusta cocinar,
Lleva la pollera que deja cuando baje,
Cuando sos una misionera, No tenés que llevar un traje!
Pudiera estar trabajando, Prefiero andar en la lluvia
Pudiera ser pelliroja, Pero sin siesta, soy más rubia.
Ahora estudio mis escrituras, pero pudiera haberme graduado.
Y yo pudiera haberme casado.
Se dicen que misioneras son sensible y debe evitarlas
Yo digo que son re-buenas y no hay que quitarlas.
Nunca nos pegamos, ni miramos a las chicas.
Bautizamos a todos - los pobres y las ricas!
Hey ho ho
No vamos a la misa,
Aprendemos mucho, nos matamos de la risa.
Somos hijas de Dios, no lo vamos a negar.
Cuando sos una misionera,
Serás linda y osada.
Lo que pides, te será dada.
Serás linda y suerte,
Y tendrás buena suerte
Y lo más importante,
Cuando sos una misionera, siempre tenés la mejor acompañante!
Yeah, that´s the end. sorry if you didn´t understand any of it, but I thought it was pretty clever. Just picture Hna. Olsen and I dressed as pirates and singing that song (without music, we couldn´t find any) for our mission president and about 70 elders. Pretty entertaining.
Oh, also, I got transferred. I´m in Tandil now to help Hna. Wilding finish her mission. It´s a pretty place, but the branch only has 20 members so it looks like we´ve got our work cut out for us. I think I will like it and I´m living with three other hermanas so that should be fun. Well, I hope everything is going well in America. I do miss it, but Argentina is nice too. Love you all so much! Thanks for the support and the prayers!
Hna. Seegmiller
I am sending you some lovely pictures from our Christmas festivities. We spent Christmas Eve with the abuelitos and their son, who was visiting from Mendoza. It was fun. We had an asado (tons of meat on the grill) and a large fruit salad. I kinda had a cold though so I couldn´t really taste what I was eating and it was really hard to eat because I couldn´t breathe if I had stuff in my mouth. But it was still fun. Then the Abuelitos made us stay there until midnight so that we could toast with them and then watch the fireworks. Hna. Olsen and I were dying falling asleep on the table. We drank Pineapple Fizz and watched the fireworks outside. There weren´t that many, but it´s supposedly "prohibited" in Bahía so there were a lot if you think about the fact that there weren´t supposed to be any. Then we went home and did a quick version of our very own Live Nativity (because both our families do it) and recorded it. We had to switch out a lot because there are only two of us and there are a lot more parts in it than just two, but we made it work.
We also had our lovely mission talent show for Christmas this last Wednesday and it turned out really well. Hna. Olsen and I did a song and dance to the song "A Professional Pirate" from Muppet Treasure Island. We rewrote the lyrics (in Spanish, which was actually really hard) to be "Cuando sos una misionera" (when you´re a missionary). It could be funny to some people so I´m going to write all the lyrics. For those of you who don´t speak Spanish, maybe you can use freetranslation.com? It´s also weird because it´s Argentine Spanish.
Cuando estaba en la casa, saliendo con los chicos,
Mi mamá me dijo," Ya tenés 21 y pico.
Vos podés estudiar o podés tener bebés.
¿Por qué no utilizás la belleza que tenés?"
Oh hey ho ho
Podés ir a un pais, conocer a mucha gente y comer lo que te dan,
Seguimos subiendo aunque caminamos mucho
Cuando sos una misionera, viste es lo que hay.
(Yelled) Vamos hermanas! 6 meses a sexy
Por ejemplo, una hermana, los miembros la adoran,
Pero a los elderes, cuando llaman, les molestan,
Si mirás al corazón, las va a conocer,
Y todos prefieren una hermana a un élder!
Oh hey ho ho
Hay que aprovechar. Siempre hay una compi que le gusta cocinar,
Lleva la pollera que deja cuando baje,
Cuando sos una misionera, No tenés que llevar un traje!
Pudiera estar trabajando, Prefiero andar en la lluvia
Pudiera ser pelliroja, Pero sin siesta, soy más rubia.
Ahora estudio mis escrituras, pero pudiera haberme graduado.
Y yo pudiera haberme casado.
Se dicen que misioneras son sensible y debe evitarlas
Yo digo que son re-buenas y no hay que quitarlas.
Nunca nos pegamos, ni miramos a las chicas.
Bautizamos a todos - los pobres y las ricas!
Hey ho ho
No vamos a la misa,
Aprendemos mucho, nos matamos de la risa.
Somos hijas de Dios, no lo vamos a negar.
Cuando sos una misionera,
Serás linda y osada.
Lo que pides, te será dada.
Serás linda y suerte,
Y tendrás buena suerte
Y lo más importante,
Cuando sos una misionera, siempre tenés la mejor acompañante!
Yeah, that´s the end. sorry if you didn´t understand any of it, but I thought it was pretty clever. Just picture Hna. Olsen and I dressed as pirates and singing that song (without music, we couldn´t find any) for our mission president and about 70 elders. Pretty entertaining.
Oh, also, I got transferred. I´m in Tandil now to help Hna. Wilding finish her mission. It´s a pretty place, but the branch only has 20 members so it looks like we´ve got our work cut out for us. I think I will like it and I´m living with three other hermanas so that should be fun. Well, I hope everything is going well in America. I do miss it, but Argentina is nice too. Love you all so much! Thanks for the support and the prayers!
Hna. Seegmiller
Monday, December 20, 2010
¡Feliz Navidad!- December 20, 2010
Merry Christmas, family! (No it´s not Jordan, it´s Kasidy!) He made that lame joke on his email so I decided I would make it too. Was it funny? :)
Well, there is actually not much to report. We are just preparing for Christmas and getting more and more excited as the days get closer. Argentina, on the other hand, mostly still has not noticed that it´s getting closer. Thank goodness for Hna. Olsen and the Christmas spirit that we can share in our house. It´s recently gotten deathly hot so I´m going to be sunburned for the Christmas pictures, but we are having a good time. We love opening our presents from Mom every day and counting down the days until Christmas. We are also going to have a mission activity (complete with talent show) this Wednesday and we are very excited about it. Needless to say, we are planning something ridiculous to perform... more news to come on how it went. We are also going to have some type of game and a spiritual part. It should be really good and we are excited.
We did have our Navidad activity at the church this past week and it was kinda lame. Everyone showed up like an hour late and we tried to watch the Joy to the World movie from the church, but it wasn´t in Spanish so no one could understand. Everyone started yelling," Missionaries! Translate it!" I just waved my hand around and said," Jesús" and they all laughed. Ni loca was I really going to translate the whole video! But our branch president tried to change it and figured out that the remote didn´t have batteries. Luckily, someone had some in their purse and we could put the subtitles on, but the words were so small that nobody could even see them anyway. Well, Hna. Olsen and I enjoyed the video. :) Then we had some refreshments. The best part about the activity though was that the entire Detlefsen family came so we got to hang out with our mission president and his whole family. They are so cute and it made me miss my family a lot. They have six kids too and they´re all cool and good friends with each other. But it did give us hope that some day we are going to go home and all our brothers and sisters are going to come see us (Jordan is excused... all the other siblings better be there. Plus, I´m still up for the moonbounce at my homecoming party...) It was fun though and some of the branch members came.
Also, this week, we talked to a little family that was sitting on a corner. We could tell that they didn´t really want us to talk to them, but we decided to talk to them anyway (haha...story of my life here in the mission). So we started telling them who we are right when this really loud motorcycle roared by and they all yelled at them like," Come on! You have no respect!" and this little grandma who was sitting there with them says," I would kill them!" Everyone looked at her kinda surprised until one of the daughters says, " She doesn´t go to church" to us. It was pretty entertaining and I laughed for a while.
On Christmas Eve (la Noche Buena), we are going to hang out with the Abuelitos. They bought a parrilla so we can have some meat and we are pretty excited about it. I have absolutely no idea what we are going to be doing on Christmas Day, but I am so excited to talk to you guys and I hope everything works out well. It´s basically the highlight of our month, but I have an idea that you guys aren´t quite as excited as we are. We talked to the siblings of some missionaries here and they all forgot or didn´t really care so that made us feel really good. Just pretend you´re excited if you´re not.
Well, I am happy and excited to spend this very Argentine Christmas with the Abuelitos and Hna. Olsen. It´s going to be a good time and we already decided that Hna. Olsen and I are going to do our own reenacted nativity, probably with a lot of improvisation. We shall see how that goes. Gracias por todo, familia! Les amo muchísimo.
Besos,
Hna. Seegmiller
Well, there is actually not much to report. We are just preparing for Christmas and getting more and more excited as the days get closer. Argentina, on the other hand, mostly still has not noticed that it´s getting closer. Thank goodness for Hna. Olsen and the Christmas spirit that we can share in our house. It´s recently gotten deathly hot so I´m going to be sunburned for the Christmas pictures, but we are having a good time. We love opening our presents from Mom every day and counting down the days until Christmas. We are also going to have a mission activity (complete with talent show) this Wednesday and we are very excited about it. Needless to say, we are planning something ridiculous to perform... more news to come on how it went. We are also going to have some type of game and a spiritual part. It should be really good and we are excited.
We did have our Navidad activity at the church this past week and it was kinda lame. Everyone showed up like an hour late and we tried to watch the Joy to the World movie from the church, but it wasn´t in Spanish so no one could understand. Everyone started yelling," Missionaries! Translate it!" I just waved my hand around and said," Jesús" and they all laughed. Ni loca was I really going to translate the whole video! But our branch president tried to change it and figured out that the remote didn´t have batteries. Luckily, someone had some in their purse and we could put the subtitles on, but the words were so small that nobody could even see them anyway. Well, Hna. Olsen and I enjoyed the video. :) Then we had some refreshments. The best part about the activity though was that the entire Detlefsen family came so we got to hang out with our mission president and his whole family. They are so cute and it made me miss my family a lot. They have six kids too and they´re all cool and good friends with each other. But it did give us hope that some day we are going to go home and all our brothers and sisters are going to come see us (Jordan is excused... all the other siblings better be there. Plus, I´m still up for the moonbounce at my homecoming party...) It was fun though and some of the branch members came.
Also, this week, we talked to a little family that was sitting on a corner. We could tell that they didn´t really want us to talk to them, but we decided to talk to them anyway (haha...story of my life here in the mission). So we started telling them who we are right when this really loud motorcycle roared by and they all yelled at them like," Come on! You have no respect!" and this little grandma who was sitting there with them says," I would kill them!" Everyone looked at her kinda surprised until one of the daughters says, " She doesn´t go to church" to us. It was pretty entertaining and I laughed for a while.
On Christmas Eve (la Noche Buena), we are going to hang out with the Abuelitos. They bought a parrilla so we can have some meat and we are pretty excited about it. I have absolutely no idea what we are going to be doing on Christmas Day, but I am so excited to talk to you guys and I hope everything works out well. It´s basically the highlight of our month, but I have an idea that you guys aren´t quite as excited as we are. We talked to the siblings of some missionaries here and they all forgot or didn´t really care so that made us feel really good. Just pretend you´re excited if you´re not.
Well, I am happy and excited to spend this very Argentine Christmas with the Abuelitos and Hna. Olsen. It´s going to be a good time and we already decided that Hna. Olsen and I are going to do our own reenacted nativity, probably with a lot of improvisation. We shall see how that goes. Gracias por todo, familia! Les amo muchísimo.
Besos,
Hna. Seegmiller
Monday, December 13, 2010
Una semana rara- December 13, 2010
Querida familia,
Thanks for your emails and letters (well, I just get letters from Mom so thanks to Mom solamente). This week was a really weird week for a bunch of reasons. On Tuesday after our district meeting, Hna. Olsen didn´t feel good at all so we had to stay inside. We decided to take advantage of the time we had to change our Happy Halloween sign that is still hanging up so it would say "Happy Christmas Ron! (like from Harry Potter), I didn´t think it would take as long as it did, but it looks really good now, complete with skeletons with Santa Hats, ornaments over the pumpkins, and one skeleton that ended up as a missionary snowman (pretty much just like a regular snowman, but with a tag... way cooler and nerdier). It makes our little house a lot more Christmasy. It actually turned out to be a really good thing that Hna. Olsen was sick (probably not for her so much) because a TORNADO struck Bahía. I´m pretty sure it wasn´t that bad of one, but all of a sudden, there was a ton of wind and the roof started making noise. We just thought it was kinda weird, but there are strong winds in Bahía all the time. They kept getting stronger though and then the lights went out. Super fun. Then Abuelito came running out of his house and banged on the door, saying," Hermanas, are you in there? These winds are too strong. Close everything and don´t leave the house!" So intense... so we made a video of it with Hna. Olsen´s camera. The Abuelitos lost a ton of grapes off their grape-growing thing (it´s parra in Spanish) and one of our neighbors lost her roof and a window so it was kinda sad, but a cool experience.
Then after the random tornado, we had to go pick up Hna. Barfoot and Hna. Davis from the terminal because they had to stay at our house for two nights until they went home. It was so fun to see Hna. Davis again, my beloved trainer. She looked kinda different and was really mad when she saw that I´m not fat anymore. She said my hair has also grown a lot and it´s super long now. We talked and laughed and had a really good time. We watched our old videos we made together and she refused to give me advice for the rest of my mission. Then on Thursday morning, Prez came to pick up her and Hna. Barfoot to take them to the airport. It was weird, but I hugged her and she said "see you in 9 months" and then she left and I cried. Typical me. It was weird because it made us think a lot about what it´s going to be like when we get home. I still have a while so it also made me think about what I want to do with the rest of my mission and what I want to be able to say that I´ve done. Hna. Davis and I are definitely going to be friends when I get home so she just has to not get married until then. I hope she can aguantar.
We worked all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday looking for new investigators and not having much luck. We did find Roberto, who´s 79 years old and was really nice. All of our investigators are kinda dying now so we have to work really hard this week to find new ones. Then Elder Detlefsen, the only son of my mission president, came home on Saturday so we met him on Sunday at church. Here they get off with just a testimony instead of a twenty minute talk complete with mission stories and a testimony in your mission language. Can we do it the Argentine way when I get home? Anybody for that? But they read the letter his mission president had written to his stake president and you could just tell that he was a really solid elder. They also sad that he got really sad when they tried to take away his missionary tag. The whole week just made me think about what kind of misionera I want to be when I reach the last day of my mission or when I step off that plane. I want to be the kind of missionary that wants to keep working in mission work, the kind that looks for the missionaries first to ask if I can go out with them, and the kind that keeps sharing the gospel with people for the rest of her life. I hope that I can live up to that, but first I have to be a good missionary that is still on the mission. Thanks for all the support you always give me. I love you all so much and am getting so excited to talk to you on Christmas. I haven´t decided if that´s going to be the best thing about Christmas or if it´s going to be toasting at midnight with the Abuelitos. It´s going to be pretty close... :) Have a lovely week!
Your hijita,
Hna. Seegmiller
Monday, December 6, 2010
"Solo puede ser feliz siempre el que sepa ser feliz con todo." -Confucio December 6, 2010
So wise, Confucio.
Anyways, Hello family,
How are you all doing? I hope you are fabulous and getting ready for Christmas. Only 19 days! Hna. Olsen and I have been cutting our paper chain every day and we have a little chart that we took from Amigos (the church magazine) that tells what people all over the world do for Christmas. Every day we have a little picture that we glue on the chart and Argentina totally made the cut. "People in Argentina let off diamond-shaped balloons called globos into the sky." Sweet... I´m excited to see if it´s true.
The best thing that happened this week was when we went by to see Victor and Cristina, our investigadores with a baptismal date. We still had to teach them the Word of Wisdom so we went to teach that and told them that they can´t smoke or drink alcohol. They said that they both smoke and drink sometimes. Then Victor had to leave, but we kept talking to Cristina and we made a plan with her for how she was going to stop smoking. She wrote up the plan and then we talked to her about how she felt about her baptism. She said," Well, Victor isn´t very convinced about getting baptized, pero yo sí." (But I am) We totally freaked out when she said that," En serio, Cristina? You´re going to get baptized?!" and she said yes. We started preparing everything for the baptism, which was scheduled for that Saturday. We had to run around and tell all the members and ask people to give talks and direct the music and say prayers and everything. We wanted to have a Family Home Evening with a family in the ward, but it just so happened that someone needed a heart transplant and so Cristina (who works in a hospital) had to work for like three days in a row and we couldn´t see her. We were pretty nervous about if she would be able to stop smoking or if she would really get baptized, but I kept hearing in my head her voice saying," Pero yo sí." and I felt like it was going to be okay. We went by their house at 5 on Friday night to see if she was going to go to the interview and she said yes! So she got interviewed and she passed and she totally got baptized on Saturday night. It was so beautiful! We asked Hno. Barroso if he would play the violin (because he plays really well...he´s like professional) and he said he would. I didn´t know that he was going to make me accompany him on the piano until like five seconds before though. He told me that it´s not a big deal and I should just pick whichever song I wanted. So we played Silent Night and Nearer My God, To Thee. I totally accompanied a musical number. It wasn´t that awesome, but I felt cool because we had never practiced before and it sounded good. Cristina loved it and so did Victor (who wasn´t quite ready for baptism, but he´ll get there soon) and their two little kids.
Cristina is so great and she is going to be so awesome in the church. I´m so happy that she decided to get baptized and that her husband will follow her and her family will be able to be together forever. She is just a cool person and if she ever comes to visit the States with her family, they are totally staying at our house. If not, I´ll have to introduce you in the next life.
I also learned that bold in Spanish is called Negrita. I thought it was pretty funny. Sorry to ruin the email with that, but Hna. Olsen and I felt so blessed to be able to meet and teach this beautiful family. I´m sure they could have done it without me so I feel so lucky to be able to have been there. I hope you are all well and preparing for the holidays. Hna. Olsen and I are going to keep cutting our little pictures and decorating our house and helping Victor and Jorge get baptized. I have a feeling it´s going to be a very merry Christmas. Love you all and miss you and America!
Cariños,
Hna. Seegmiller
P.S. Hopefully pictures to come... I know you´re all dying to know what Hna. Olsen looks like. :)
Anyways, Hello family,
How are you all doing? I hope you are fabulous and getting ready for Christmas. Only 19 days! Hna. Olsen and I have been cutting our paper chain every day and we have a little chart that we took from Amigos (the church magazine) that tells what people all over the world do for Christmas. Every day we have a little picture that we glue on the chart and Argentina totally made the cut. "People in Argentina let off diamond-shaped balloons called globos into the sky." Sweet... I´m excited to see if it´s true.
The best thing that happened this week was when we went by to see Victor and Cristina, our investigadores with a baptismal date. We still had to teach them the Word of Wisdom so we went to teach that and told them that they can´t smoke or drink alcohol. They said that they both smoke and drink sometimes. Then Victor had to leave, but we kept talking to Cristina and we made a plan with her for how she was going to stop smoking. She wrote up the plan and then we talked to her about how she felt about her baptism. She said," Well, Victor isn´t very convinced about getting baptized, pero yo sí." (But I am) We totally freaked out when she said that," En serio, Cristina? You´re going to get baptized?!" and she said yes. We started preparing everything for the baptism, which was scheduled for that Saturday. We had to run around and tell all the members and ask people to give talks and direct the music and say prayers and everything. We wanted to have a Family Home Evening with a family in the ward, but it just so happened that someone needed a heart transplant and so Cristina (who works in a hospital) had to work for like three days in a row and we couldn´t see her. We were pretty nervous about if she would be able to stop smoking or if she would really get baptized, but I kept hearing in my head her voice saying," Pero yo sí." and I felt like it was going to be okay. We went by their house at 5 on Friday night to see if she was going to go to the interview and she said yes! So she got interviewed and she passed and she totally got baptized on Saturday night. It was so beautiful! We asked Hno. Barroso if he would play the violin (because he plays really well...he´s like professional) and he said he would. I didn´t know that he was going to make me accompany him on the piano until like five seconds before though. He told me that it´s not a big deal and I should just pick whichever song I wanted. So we played Silent Night and Nearer My God, To Thee. I totally accompanied a musical number. It wasn´t that awesome, but I felt cool because we had never practiced before and it sounded good. Cristina loved it and so did Victor (who wasn´t quite ready for baptism, but he´ll get there soon) and their two little kids.
Cristina is so great and she is going to be so awesome in the church. I´m so happy that she decided to get baptized and that her husband will follow her and her family will be able to be together forever. She is just a cool person and if she ever comes to visit the States with her family, they are totally staying at our house. If not, I´ll have to introduce you in the next life.
I also learned that bold in Spanish is called Negrita. I thought it was pretty funny. Sorry to ruin the email with that, but Hna. Olsen and I felt so blessed to be able to meet and teach this beautiful family. I´m sure they could have done it without me so I feel so lucky to be able to have been there. I hope you are all well and preparing for the holidays. Hna. Olsen and I are going to keep cutting our little pictures and decorating our house and helping Victor and Jorge get baptized. I have a feeling it´s going to be a very merry Christmas. Love you all and miss you and America!
Cariños,
Hna. Seegmiller
P.S. Hopefully pictures to come... I know you´re all dying to know what Hna. Olsen looks like. :)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Ah la misión...November 29, 2010
Hello hello,
I hope you are all doing fabulously. My camera is still broken (the place that fixes it is only open at night... what?) so I can´t send pictures, but hopefully next week, Hna. Olsen will bring her camera and we can send some good ones. It´s weird, but all the pictures we have together are of us doing kinda gross things - when Hna. Olsen got a bloody nose, when we killed the large bug we found in our bathroom, when I got sunburned on my face (brought back memories of the good old face rash). We´ll try to take some pictures that are acceptable for the normal non-missionary world to view. Life is good though. We´re preparing for Christmas while the rest of Argentina ignores it. We´re going to soak in the Argentine way of Christmas this year, but next year I´m totally going all out and doing all the traditions to the max. I´ll probably eat a candy cane every day for the whole month of December to make up for the lack of them this year.
So I don´t know why all of our investigators and recent converts think it´s so funny to make fat jokes about me, but they all do it. During sacrament meeting yesterday, the speaker was talking about being patient and how some little kids in a study needed to wait 15 minutes to eat the marshmallow and they would get another one. The speaker made a joke that he could definitely wait to eat the marshmallow and Jorge leans over and says to me," Vos no." and then started to laugh. We laughed too. Oh Jorge... Dora also tells me that she thinks I look fatter now and that i should give the food I eat to Hna. Olsen, who is super skinny. Thanks, Dora.
Speaking of Dora, she is so different now. It is super amazing to see the results of the baptism and how much it has helped her. She´s happy and laughing and making jokes with us. She was always so angry before. Now she wants to go to church activities and she bought skirts to go to church in. So cute! Also, happy birthday to Jenna (my dear friend of a million years) and thanks to everyone for the birthday letters. We have to go now, but I hope you all have a fabulous week and remember your little missionary far away in Argentina. We´re doing good, working hard, seeing miracles, and feeling so lucky that we have this time to be missionaries and serve the Lord. Love you all!
Hna. Seegmiller
I hope you are all doing fabulously. My camera is still broken (the place that fixes it is only open at night... what?) so I can´t send pictures, but hopefully next week, Hna. Olsen will bring her camera and we can send some good ones. It´s weird, but all the pictures we have together are of us doing kinda gross things - when Hna. Olsen got a bloody nose, when we killed the large bug we found in our bathroom, when I got sunburned on my face (brought back memories of the good old face rash). We´ll try to take some pictures that are acceptable for the normal non-missionary world to view. Life is good though. We´re preparing for Christmas while the rest of Argentina ignores it. We´re going to soak in the Argentine way of Christmas this year, but next year I´m totally going all out and doing all the traditions to the max. I´ll probably eat a candy cane every day for the whole month of December to make up for the lack of them this year.
So I don´t know why all of our investigators and recent converts think it´s so funny to make fat jokes about me, but they all do it. During sacrament meeting yesterday, the speaker was talking about being patient and how some little kids in a study needed to wait 15 minutes to eat the marshmallow and they would get another one. The speaker made a joke that he could definitely wait to eat the marshmallow and Jorge leans over and says to me," Vos no." and then started to laugh. We laughed too. Oh Jorge... Dora also tells me that she thinks I look fatter now and that i should give the food I eat to Hna. Olsen, who is super skinny. Thanks, Dora.
Speaking of Dora, she is so different now. It is super amazing to see the results of the baptism and how much it has helped her. She´s happy and laughing and making jokes with us. She was always so angry before. Now she wants to go to church activities and she bought skirts to go to church in. So cute! Also, happy birthday to Jenna (my dear friend of a million years) and thanks to everyone for the birthday letters. We have to go now, but I hope you all have a fabulous week and remember your little missionary far away in Argentina. We´re doing good, working hard, seeing miracles, and feeling so lucky that we have this time to be missionaries and serve the Lord. Love you all!
Hna. Seegmiller
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving? November 22, 2010
Hello family,
How is life? I´m doing very well. La Falda is doing quite well and all the members are so excited to have had a baptism. It´s been like six months since someone got baptized here. Now we want to keep the fire going.
My new companion, Hna. Olsen, is super cool. She´s from Riverton, Utah and this week, she completed a year in the mission. She has blonde hair and blue eyes so we get a lot of nasty comments from guys on the street about "the rubias" and "o que ojos celestes." Gag me. But it´s super fun and super different being with an American again. I have a personality again! I really didn´t realize how much of my personality got lost in the translation from English to Spanish, but I just can´t totally be myself in Spanish. There are a lot of jokes that just don´t make sense. Also, Hna. Olsen loves movie quotes. It´s amazing how after four and a half months of not saying any movie quotes, they are all still in my head so we basically just talk to each other in movie quotes. She´s also six feet tall and super skinny so I feel like a dwarf walking around the streets with her. She´s excited to work here and we´re sure that we´re going to work lots together. I´m excited to be with her and I think it´ll be a good transfer. Also, we´re going to have an awesome Christmas, even if it´s hot outside and there are hardly any lights. Oh, and she´s lactose intolerant. I´m pretty sure I´m going to lose weight. All the members tease her so much about it (especially Abuelito - he always asks her if she wants a glass of milk when we go to his house. Que malo), but they´re going to take care of her well and they already love her.
We also made a lot more effort to have lessons with members this week, which is something that our mission is really emphasizing right now. We only achieved four, but that was four more than we got the week before. It´s all about progress, right? So we´re going to start working a lot harder on that and helping our investigators start progressing from the beginning so that we don´t end up with another Stella Maris situation (we´re thinking that we´re going to have to move on). But we have very high hopes about this transfer and I think we´ll be able to help a lot of people. OH, and the Abuelitos got called as Ward Missionaries! They are so excited. It was kinda funny to me that the only help we have with the missionary work in our ward is from a couple that are older than 75, but they are awesome and so excited to work with us. It´ll be good.
Something that I was thinking about right when Hna. Olsen got here is about how before the mission, I always heard people say," Oh, the mission is so hard, but it´s so worth it." I heard that and just assumed that the "so worth it" part came from when you have baptisms. Now having had one baptism, I was talking to Hna. Olsen about this and she told me that the worth it part doesn´t come from having baptisms. She said that the baptisms are a bright spot in the mission and are really good moments, but they aren´t what make it worth it. I thought about that a little more and I decided that she is right. My mission is so worth all of the hard times that I´ve gone through. All the things I´ve learned about the importance of the church and the awesomeness of my family and the friends I´ve made and the testimony that I´ve gained are what make it worth it, not to mention the giant calves I have now. :) But seriously, the mission is a huge blessing in my life and I´m really grateful that i get to be here. Have a lovely Thanksgiving. Hna. Olsen and i are probably going to eat some Jello or something to celebrate. Have a lovely week!
Cariño,
Hna. Seegmiller
How is life? I´m doing very well. La Falda is doing quite well and all the members are so excited to have had a baptism. It´s been like six months since someone got baptized here. Now we want to keep the fire going.
My new companion, Hna. Olsen, is super cool. She´s from Riverton, Utah and this week, she completed a year in the mission. She has blonde hair and blue eyes so we get a lot of nasty comments from guys on the street about "the rubias" and "o que ojos celestes." Gag me. But it´s super fun and super different being with an American again. I have a personality again! I really didn´t realize how much of my personality got lost in the translation from English to Spanish, but I just can´t totally be myself in Spanish. There are a lot of jokes that just don´t make sense. Also, Hna. Olsen loves movie quotes. It´s amazing how after four and a half months of not saying any movie quotes, they are all still in my head so we basically just talk to each other in movie quotes. She´s also six feet tall and super skinny so I feel like a dwarf walking around the streets with her. She´s excited to work here and we´re sure that we´re going to work lots together. I´m excited to be with her and I think it´ll be a good transfer. Also, we´re going to have an awesome Christmas, even if it´s hot outside and there are hardly any lights. Oh, and she´s lactose intolerant. I´m pretty sure I´m going to lose weight. All the members tease her so much about it (especially Abuelito - he always asks her if she wants a glass of milk when we go to his house. Que malo), but they´re going to take care of her well and they already love her.
We also made a lot more effort to have lessons with members this week, which is something that our mission is really emphasizing right now. We only achieved four, but that was four more than we got the week before. It´s all about progress, right? So we´re going to start working a lot harder on that and helping our investigators start progressing from the beginning so that we don´t end up with another Stella Maris situation (we´re thinking that we´re going to have to move on). But we have very high hopes about this transfer and I think we´ll be able to help a lot of people. OH, and the Abuelitos got called as Ward Missionaries! They are so excited. It was kinda funny to me that the only help we have with the missionary work in our ward is from a couple that are older than 75, but they are awesome and so excited to work with us. It´ll be good.
Something that I was thinking about right when Hna. Olsen got here is about how before the mission, I always heard people say," Oh, the mission is so hard, but it´s so worth it." I heard that and just assumed that the "so worth it" part came from when you have baptisms. Now having had one baptism, I was talking to Hna. Olsen about this and she told me that the worth it part doesn´t come from having baptisms. She said that the baptisms are a bright spot in the mission and are really good moments, but they aren´t what make it worth it. I thought about that a little more and I decided that she is right. My mission is so worth all of the hard times that I´ve gone through. All the things I´ve learned about the importance of the church and the awesomeness of my family and the friends I´ve made and the testimony that I´ve gained are what make it worth it, not to mention the giant calves I have now. :) But seriously, the mission is a huge blessing in my life and I´m really grateful that i get to be here. Have a lovely Thanksgiving. Hna. Olsen and i are probably going to eat some Jello or something to celebrate. Have a lovely week!
Cariño,
Hna. Seegmiller
Monday, November 15, 2010
A birthday and a baptism-November 15, 2010
Greetings family,
It is true.... I recently turned 22 years old. I don´t know where my life has gone. I feel so old. And also, I´m going to complete 9 months in the mission this week. I don´t know where my mission has gone either. But both the life and the mission are going well so I am happy. My birthday was actually a really fun day. In the morning, Hna. Abarzúa gave me the cutest present that she had bought me when we were on divisions (so sneaky) that was a birthday mate with a pink straw. I told her I´m going to drink out of it on my birthday every year and tell my kids about my mission companion that gave it to me. It was really thoughtful and it´s really cute. Then it just happened to be Wednesday (when we always eat lunch at President´s house) so we went there and the Hermana had made a ton of food and a cake for my birthday. They sang me happy birthday and I enjoyed a few pieces of the torta. Super delicious. It was funny because I don´t think there are very many missionaries who said they celebrated their birthdays with their mission president. I´m pretty lucky, I guess. And in the nighttime, Hna. Martín in our branch had invited us to come over for cake at her house. When we got there, she had invited all the hermanas from our branch and cooked a ton of food. Only two hermanas showed up (I felt bad for her), but I was super happy and felt very loved. There wasn´t too much love on that day from North America, but the lovely people here in Argentina made me feel very special and I would say "la pasé re-bien."
The rest of the week went with trying to prepare Dora for her baptism. She was feeling good about it and was excited to be baptized before Hna. Abarzúa left. Dora is our investigator that is like 60 and her husband of 38 years died like a month and a half ago (we actually met him right before he died so that was weird) and her oldest son died like a year ago and her other two kids only talk to her when they ask her about their dad´s money or car. She has a pretty rough life and she has been struggling with the situation. We always visit her and talk to her about the Plan of Salvation, but it´s hard for her to pay attention because she´s so distracted. But we know that all of these really hard things in her life have helped her be prepared to receive the gospel in this time and that she is going to receive so many blessings as a result of her baptism. She looked so pretty in her little baptismal dress (she´s really short and skinny) and was so happy right before. The baptism was right after church so right when the closing prayer was said, she looked at us and said," And now I´m going to take a bath?" and laughed. She´s a cool lady and I was so happy to be able to help her make this decision in her life. She´s really going to receive so many blessings from that moment. And yes, she is the first person that I have helped get baptized in the mission. But I can honestly say that if I came just for Dora, my mission is a success. Even if I came to baptize no one, my mission is a success because I am helping those people who need me right now and Heavenly Father is helping me because I need Him. The mission is helping me realize just how much I need Him.
And.... there were transfers and Hna. Abarzúa left to go to 3 Arroyos. And Hna. Olsen from Utah came to join me in La Falda. She´s really cool and funny and I think we´ll have a good time together. It´s really weird to be talking English again. It´s actually really hard for the words to come out sometimes so we end up talking "casteyankee" or Espanglish. Don´t worry.. we still speak Spanish in the street and to all the Argentines. Well, the mission is going good and I´m excited for the new ideas to come to this area. I´m good, happy, and healthy. I hope everything is good at home! Love you so much!
Hna. Seegmiller
Thursday, November 11, 2010
OH, the mission...
Hello hello.
Well, this week didn´t have much going on, but we did have Zone Conference on Friday. It was kind of a surprise for us because our leaders forgot to tell us and we found out when we went to lunch with Presidente and he said," See you Friday!" Then he found out that our leaders hadn´t told us and I think they got in trouble. Oops. But Zone Conference was really good and my Presidente is really cool. It´s funny because he´s super cool and funny and laidback as a person, but his view of the mission is that you should suffer and sacrifice in order to get any blessings. I think I probably need him as a President and that´s why I came to this mission. He´s teaching me how not to be lazy. Don´t worry... I´m not a lazy missionary, but he´s teaching me to sacrifice more and take all the laziness out of my life. As a regular member of the church before the mission, I was pretty lazy in regards to how much effort I put forth in my calling (just enough to not feel bad) and reading my scriptures every night (I did it, but just to be able to tell myself that I did it). But now I¨m learning that Heavenly Father deserves more from us. Prez is right...we really should sacrifice more if we want the blessings.
He talked about Elder Cristofferson´s talk, Reflections on a Consecrated Life, from this past conference. He said we should use more of what the General Authorities say because it can really help us answer the questions we have in the mission and in normal life. It´s true though. I´ve been reading the talks from the April Conference and every time I open to read, it´s exactly what I needed to hear. Presidente also told us about when he was on his mission and he was called to be Branch President in a tiny town where everyone had stopped going to church because of a terrible scandal with a missionary. He said that he read Ether 12:27 and finally realized that he couldn´t do things on his own, that he really needed Christ. So the next day in my study, I studied that scripture and all the cross references that it had. I read a ton about weaknesses and why we have them and how we need to let them be strengthened by Christ. I think it helped me realize that weaknesses are a reminder from our Heavenly Father that we need Him. It´s not that he wants us to feel bad. He wants us to get better, to overcome these weaknesses, but we don´t need to do it alone. We have Jesus Christ to strengthen us. We can do anything and overcome all our weaknesses if we let Christ strengthen us. Maybe easier said than done, but it´s definitely something that I´m trying to do. I am very aware of my weaknesses, but sometimes I focus on how many I have or how much more I need to do instead of letting my weaknesses remind me that I need to go to Christ and let him help me.
Oh, and at Zone Conference, I met an Elder Wartena from Orem, Utah. I asked him if he knew the Judd Family and he said that Jake was his seminary teacher. I said," No way! He´s my primo!" (It´s kinda hard to switch back and forth from Spanish and English so it usually comes out as a mezcla...oops, a mix.) He thinks pretty highly of him and it was another evidence of how small the world really is. Also, my district leader, Elder Horton is from Bountiful, Utah and is neighbors with Scott Nielson, one of my favorite people that I met at BYU. He couldn´t believe it when I said I knew him and his little brother and he made me describe them thorougly (tall, really low voice, went on a mission to Texas, super funny) before he would believe me. Then he got weirded out and walked away. Oh elderes...
Well, family, this week is the last week of the transfers so in the next email, we´ll find out who my new companion is. I´m pretty sure I´m going to get a new companion... it´ll be interesting if I don´t. Oh, and yesterday Hna. LaPray and Hna. Tingey had to come to a conference in Bahía so they came to stay at my house!! It´s been six months since I´ve seen them and it was so good to talk to them again and hear how much better all of our Spanish has gotten. They´re so great and it really helps so much to have good examples in the mission and know that there are other people who are trying too. I´m glad that I´m on a mission and I know that I´m learning a ton from this experience. I hope I can help someone besides myself along the way too.... :) Thanks for everything!
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡LES AAAAMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! (That´s how Hna. Abarzúa signs her emails...it´s very Latina)
Hna. Seegmiller
Well, this week didn´t have much going on, but we did have Zone Conference on Friday. It was kind of a surprise for us because our leaders forgot to tell us and we found out when we went to lunch with Presidente and he said," See you Friday!" Then he found out that our leaders hadn´t told us and I think they got in trouble. Oops. But Zone Conference was really good and my Presidente is really cool. It´s funny because he´s super cool and funny and laidback as a person, but his view of the mission is that you should suffer and sacrifice in order to get any blessings. I think I probably need him as a President and that´s why I came to this mission. He´s teaching me how not to be lazy. Don´t worry... I´m not a lazy missionary, but he´s teaching me to sacrifice more and take all the laziness out of my life. As a regular member of the church before the mission, I was pretty lazy in regards to how much effort I put forth in my calling (just enough to not feel bad) and reading my scriptures every night (I did it, but just to be able to tell myself that I did it). But now I¨m learning that Heavenly Father deserves more from us. Prez is right...we really should sacrifice more if we want the blessings.
He talked about Elder Cristofferson´s talk, Reflections on a Consecrated Life, from this past conference. He said we should use more of what the General Authorities say because it can really help us answer the questions we have in the mission and in normal life. It´s true though. I´ve been reading the talks from the April Conference and every time I open to read, it´s exactly what I needed to hear. Presidente also told us about when he was on his mission and he was called to be Branch President in a tiny town where everyone had stopped going to church because of a terrible scandal with a missionary. He said that he read Ether 12:27 and finally realized that he couldn´t do things on his own, that he really needed Christ. So the next day in my study, I studied that scripture and all the cross references that it had. I read a ton about weaknesses and why we have them and how we need to let them be strengthened by Christ. I think it helped me realize that weaknesses are a reminder from our Heavenly Father that we need Him. It´s not that he wants us to feel bad. He wants us to get better, to overcome these weaknesses, but we don´t need to do it alone. We have Jesus Christ to strengthen us. We can do anything and overcome all our weaknesses if we let Christ strengthen us. Maybe easier said than done, but it´s definitely something that I´m trying to do. I am very aware of my weaknesses, but sometimes I focus on how many I have or how much more I need to do instead of letting my weaknesses remind me that I need to go to Christ and let him help me.
Oh, and at Zone Conference, I met an Elder Wartena from Orem, Utah. I asked him if he knew the Judd Family and he said that Jake was his seminary teacher. I said," No way! He´s my primo!" (It´s kinda hard to switch back and forth from Spanish and English so it usually comes out as a mezcla...oops, a mix.) He thinks pretty highly of him and it was another evidence of how small the world really is. Also, my district leader, Elder Horton is from Bountiful, Utah and is neighbors with Scott Nielson, one of my favorite people that I met at BYU. He couldn´t believe it when I said I knew him and his little brother and he made me describe them thorougly (tall, really low voice, went on a mission to Texas, super funny) before he would believe me. Then he got weirded out and walked away. Oh elderes...
Well, family, this week is the last week of the transfers so in the next email, we´ll find out who my new companion is. I´m pretty sure I´m going to get a new companion... it´ll be interesting if I don´t. Oh, and yesterday Hna. LaPray and Hna. Tingey had to come to a conference in Bahía so they came to stay at my house!! It´s been six months since I´ve seen them and it was so good to talk to them again and hear how much better all of our Spanish has gotten. They´re so great and it really helps so much to have good examples in the mission and know that there are other people who are trying too. I´m glad that I´m on a mission and I know that I´m learning a ton from this experience. I hope I can help someone besides myself along the way too.... :) Thanks for everything!
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡LES AAAAMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! (That´s how Hna. Abarzúa signs her emails...it´s very Latina)
Hna. Seegmiller
"Sentirse bien es una elección" -H2Oh
Hola querida familia,
How is everything at home? I hope everything is going well. Hna. Abarzúa and I are doing well, hanging out in La Falda. This past week was the CENSO in Argentina. They only do a census here once every ten years and it just happened to pass again right when I was here. I was excited... another cultural experience. When they do the census, everything closes and everyone has to stay in their house. Then a bunch of censistas get assigned to one block of Argentina and they have to go to every house and ask a bunch of questions (if you worked one hour in the past week, what your roof is made out of, what country you were born in). So we had to stay in our house until the censista went by and then we had to go out and work, but we couldn´t knock on any doors and we couldn´t visit anyone unless the census had already gone by. We were thinking that the census would come to our house at like 3 in the afternoon so we were planning on cleaning our house a little better and studying a little more. But just our luck, he came by at 9:30 AM. The cool thing was that we participated in the census! So it was kind of a waste of a day, but "Kasidy" who was born in the United States will forever be in the Argentine Census of 2010. I was excited.
This week, we were talking to the Abuelitos about our investigators. Jorge, (everyone at church calls him the bald guy), didn´t get baptized because he said that he doesn´t know if Joseph Smith is a prophet. He said his prayer hasn´t been answered. When we told this to the Abuelito, he said," He doesn´t lack an answer. He lacks hair!!" I laughed so hard because this came from an 80 year old man and it was hilarious. The abuelitos also told me that in Chile they call doctors "matasanos" (one who kills healthy people). I don´t think they have very much confidence in their doctors.
Honestly, this week was rough and we now think that our investigators aren´t going to progress. We´re going to search really hard in this next week to find some solid people who are ready to change. Despite the hard things that are going on, we´re happy and we´re having a good time. I found this lovely quote this week "Es doble la alegría y la mitad de la tristeza si la compartimos." Sorry, but you´ll have to use translation.com if you want to know what it says. Thanks for your support. I got a bunch of inspiring letters last week and it made me very grateful that I´m on a mission and get to represent the Lord in this important work. I´m learning a ton and enjoying life. Love you all sooo much!
BYYYYYEEEEEE-ah Blanca,
Hna. Seegmiller
How is everything at home? I hope everything is going well. Hna. Abarzúa and I are doing well, hanging out in La Falda. This past week was the CENSO in Argentina. They only do a census here once every ten years and it just happened to pass again right when I was here. I was excited... another cultural experience. When they do the census, everything closes and everyone has to stay in their house. Then a bunch of censistas get assigned to one block of Argentina and they have to go to every house and ask a bunch of questions (if you worked one hour in the past week, what your roof is made out of, what country you were born in). So we had to stay in our house until the censista went by and then we had to go out and work, but we couldn´t knock on any doors and we couldn´t visit anyone unless the census had already gone by. We were thinking that the census would come to our house at like 3 in the afternoon so we were planning on cleaning our house a little better and studying a little more. But just our luck, he came by at 9:30 AM. The cool thing was that we participated in the census! So it was kind of a waste of a day, but "Kasidy" who was born in the United States will forever be in the Argentine Census of 2010. I was excited.
This week, we were talking to the Abuelitos about our investigators. Jorge, (everyone at church calls him the bald guy), didn´t get baptized because he said that he doesn´t know if Joseph Smith is a prophet. He said his prayer hasn´t been answered. When we told this to the Abuelito, he said," He doesn´t lack an answer. He lacks hair!!" I laughed so hard because this came from an 80 year old man and it was hilarious. The abuelitos also told me that in Chile they call doctors "matasanos" (one who kills healthy people). I don´t think they have very much confidence in their doctors.
Honestly, this week was rough and we now think that our investigators aren´t going to progress. We´re going to search really hard in this next week to find some solid people who are ready to change. Despite the hard things that are going on, we´re happy and we´re having a good time. I found this lovely quote this week "Es doble la alegría y la mitad de la tristeza si la compartimos." Sorry, but you´ll have to use translation.com if you want to know what it says. Thanks for your support. I got a bunch of inspiring letters last week and it made me very grateful that I´m on a mission and get to represent the Lord in this important work. I´m learning a ton and enjoying life. Love you all sooo much!
BYYYYYEEEEEE-ah Blanca,
Hna. Seegmiller
Monday, October 25, 2010
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
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
Monday, 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
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
Friday, October 1, 2010
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.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Hurry up! My ice cream is melting
Hola, buen día,
¡Como está, mi querida familia? Espero que todo esté bien. Argentina is still good, getting hotter day by day. I´m convinced that I´m not going to make it through the summer here, but I guess we´ll wait and see. This week was a pretty good one, besides the ever mounting pressure to baptize. This week on the 18th of September was the Día Patria de Chile (their independence day) so Hna. Abarzua and I got to go to a little party with the Abuelitos (they´re from Chile too). They had a little Chile flag and lots of Chilean music playing. One of the CDs that other missionaries had burned for them had the United States National Anthem and I had a patriotic moment by myself when it came on. ¡Aguante America! I mean... Go America! We ate some empanadas and enjoyed hanging out with the Abuelitos. They´re so great and always take care of the missionaries.
Victor and Cristina didn´t come to church this week (because they said they already have a church), but another investigator named Estelia Maris came to church. I was really confused when she had the exact same name as a menos activa that we visit, but it turns out that Estelia Maris is a first name. We passed by her house and talked to her for a while on Saturday morning. We invited her to come to church and said that it´s really important and she said she would go. We went with her to church on Sunday and she really enjoyed all three hours. The branch president gave her a Gospel Principles book and when we went to her house yesterday, she had been reading it and knew that you have to be baptized with authority and when you are older. I was pretty impressed. We asked her to be baptized and she said that she doesn´t want to change churches so we will see what happens with her. She really liked Relief Society though when Hna. Currulef taught about faith. She asked if anyone has ever tried a new recipe before. And how does it come out? Everyone laughed and said it always comes out bad the first time. Hna. Currulef explained that this is like faith...that sometimes we expect everything to come out perfectly the first time we try it and that we´ll have perfect faith, but sometimes you have to try a few times. We have all the ingredients and the recipe, but we need to give ourselves a few tries before everything comes out perfectly. Oddly, it made more sense to me in Spanish, but it was a really good lesson.
Also, we had companion exchanges (thank you, Jonathan for the correction) this week again. I went to Hospital again, but this time with Hna. Acosta. Hna. LaPray came to La Falda and ate a whole bag of the Reese´s Mom sent me (and Hna. Abarzua is obsessed with Reese´s so she was SOOO excited). It´s a good thing I really like her. I had a good time with Hna. Acosta. We tried to contact a bunch of references we´d received, but a lot of them were fake addresses. Then we decided to visit a menos activa. The lady hadn´t been to church in 10 years or so and she told us her whole life story. Then Hna. Acosta asked if we could share a scripture with her from the Book of Mormon and she said she´d prefer if we didn´t. She said that she didn´t feel the church was necessary and she said she feels she has a good relationship with God. I was feeling sensitive about her ripping apart all the things I hold so dear, but I just decided to not say anything. Then Hna. Acosta suggested we sing a hymn instead. We started singing Families Can Be Together Forever and I just lost it. The tears started rolling down my cheeks and I couldn´t stop and I definitely couldn´t sing (pobrecita, Hna. Acosta). I just felt so sad for this lady that she didn´t understand how much happiness the gospel brings. It was the first time I´ve cried like that in a lesson and the lady told me that i need to toughen up because people are going to reject me. It was a pretty rough experience, but it just helped me understand even more how important the gospel and the Book of Mormon and my family all are to me. And Hna. Acosta probably thinks I¨m nuts now.
I also found out one more awesome thing about Argentina. It´s called La Torta de 80 Golpes. Apparently, they hit the dough 80 times and that´s why it´s called that, but it´s REALLY good. Nice job, Argentina. Well, everything is going good here. I´m helping Hna. Abarzua learn English and she´s really improving. Hna. LaPray taught her to say," Hurry up! My ice cream is melting!" during divisions and she used it on me the next day. I died laughing. We have only a week and a half left of this transfer. It went by so fast. But our little branch and the missionary work here is going great. I love you all so much and am so grateful that I know we´ll be together forever.
Cariños,
Hna. Seegmiller
P.S. Being "a dieta" totally stinks.
¡Como está, mi querida familia? Espero que todo esté bien. Argentina is still good, getting hotter day by day. I´m convinced that I´m not going to make it through the summer here, but I guess we´ll wait and see. This week was a pretty good one, besides the ever mounting pressure to baptize. This week on the 18th of September was the Día Patria de Chile (their independence day) so Hna. Abarzua and I got to go to a little party with the Abuelitos (they´re from Chile too). They had a little Chile flag and lots of Chilean music playing. One of the CDs that other missionaries had burned for them had the United States National Anthem and I had a patriotic moment by myself when it came on. ¡Aguante America! I mean... Go America! We ate some empanadas and enjoyed hanging out with the Abuelitos. They´re so great and always take care of the missionaries.
Victor and Cristina didn´t come to church this week (because they said they already have a church), but another investigator named Estelia Maris came to church. I was really confused when she had the exact same name as a menos activa that we visit, but it turns out that Estelia Maris is a first name. We passed by her house and talked to her for a while on Saturday morning. We invited her to come to church and said that it´s really important and she said she would go. We went with her to church on Sunday and she really enjoyed all three hours. The branch president gave her a Gospel Principles book and when we went to her house yesterday, she had been reading it and knew that you have to be baptized with authority and when you are older. I was pretty impressed. We asked her to be baptized and she said that she doesn´t want to change churches so we will see what happens with her. She really liked Relief Society though when Hna. Currulef taught about faith. She asked if anyone has ever tried a new recipe before. And how does it come out? Everyone laughed and said it always comes out bad the first time. Hna. Currulef explained that this is like faith...that sometimes we expect everything to come out perfectly the first time we try it and that we´ll have perfect faith, but sometimes you have to try a few times. We have all the ingredients and the recipe, but we need to give ourselves a few tries before everything comes out perfectly. Oddly, it made more sense to me in Spanish, but it was a really good lesson.
Also, we had companion exchanges (thank you, Jonathan for the correction) this week again. I went to Hospital again, but this time with Hna. Acosta. Hna. LaPray came to La Falda and ate a whole bag of the Reese´s Mom sent me (and Hna. Abarzua is obsessed with Reese´s so she was SOOO excited). It´s a good thing I really like her. I had a good time with Hna. Acosta. We tried to contact a bunch of references we´d received, but a lot of them were fake addresses. Then we decided to visit a menos activa. The lady hadn´t been to church in 10 years or so and she told us her whole life story. Then Hna. Acosta asked if we could share a scripture with her from the Book of Mormon and she said she´d prefer if we didn´t. She said that she didn´t feel the church was necessary and she said she feels she has a good relationship with God. I was feeling sensitive about her ripping apart all the things I hold so dear, but I just decided to not say anything. Then Hna. Acosta suggested we sing a hymn instead. We started singing Families Can Be Together Forever and I just lost it. The tears started rolling down my cheeks and I couldn´t stop and I definitely couldn´t sing (pobrecita, Hna. Acosta). I just felt so sad for this lady that she didn´t understand how much happiness the gospel brings. It was the first time I´ve cried like that in a lesson and the lady told me that i need to toughen up because people are going to reject me. It was a pretty rough experience, but it just helped me understand even more how important the gospel and the Book of Mormon and my family all are to me. And Hna. Acosta probably thinks I¨m nuts now.
I also found out one more awesome thing about Argentina. It´s called La Torta de 80 Golpes. Apparently, they hit the dough 80 times and that´s why it´s called that, but it´s REALLY good. Nice job, Argentina. Well, everything is going good here. I´m helping Hna. Abarzua learn English and she´s really improving. Hna. LaPray taught her to say," Hurry up! My ice cream is melting!" during divisions and she used it on me the next day. I died laughing. We have only a week and a half left of this transfer. It went by so fast. But our little branch and the missionary work here is going great. I love you all so much and am so grateful that I know we´ll be together forever.
Cariños,
Hna. Seegmiller
P.S. Being "a dieta" totally stinks.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Vainillas are my life-September 15, 2010
Hello familia,
How goes everything? I hope everyone is happy and going to church and praying for your missionaries. This week was a pretty good one. On Sunday, Victor and Cristina came to church randomly. We invited them, but we had very little hope that they would actually come. They showed up for sacrament meeting with their two little kids and enjoyed it. It was fast and testimony meeting, which is a little bit more awkward in a branch because there are less people to bear their testimonies and then some people don´t want to. I think Victor and Cristina enjoyed it though. Also, a menos activa that we´ve been working with named Elizabeth Bleuler (who actually has a brother named Lehi) also came to church with her daughter and shared her testimony. It was really special and powerful. She said that the gospel has helped her through a lot of really hard things in her life and that she has always known it is true. Afterwards, she told me that it had been 15 years since she had borne her testimony in church. I was happy for her, but also determined to tell everyone I meet to not let 15 years pass before bearing their testimony. One good thing about the awkwardness was that I got to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. I never want to take the time of the members so I never do, but this time there wasn´t really any reason not to. I love bearing my testimony because it´s really how I strengthen my testimony. Every time I say out loud the things I believe, I just feel it even stronger that they are true. There´s no way I can deny that I know my Savior lives and that this is his church on the earth. I just wish I could share a strong enough testimony to make everyone else know that too.
Besides that, this week was an interesting week for names. I met a girl named Abigail, which is a nice name in English, but extremely hideous in Español (you pronounce it like Ah-big-eye-eel...super ugly) and another girl named Heidi (Hay-dee...not quite as bad). Also, there´s a family in our ward that has four daughters, who are named María Paz, María Luz, María Sol, and María Luna. I thought the parents were totally nuts until I realized that they are just the Argentine version of Kayela, Kortni, Karli, and Kasidy. I guess that makes me María Luna. But I don´t know what they´re going to do for Jordan and Jarrett if they come along. Maybe Mario Paloma and Mario Arbol or something. Poor little kids... :)
Also, random note - Footloose is playing on the speakers in this ciber and I am enjoying it way more than the kissing song that was playing before.
Another exciting thing that happened concerning missionary work is that we went with a 13 year old girl in our ward (her dad was going to come too, but couldn´t at the last moment) to visit Jorge and Estela and we challenged them to get baptized. I was actually the one who was explaining why baptism was important and asked them to be baptized. It was the first time I´ve done that so it was a little scary. Then the little girl shared a really cute testimony of her baptism and Hna. Abarzua set the date for October 17th (which just happened to be Estela´s birthday). They have a lot of problems and are super humble right now so I think they really need the gospel. Jorge said that he wants to set that as a goal, but that he thinks the most important thing is to pray. YES, Jorge! PRAY!! So we will see if he does it. I hope so.
And finally, today for P-day, our district activity didn´t happen because President says that we need to use Pdays to clean the house until we have baptisms every weekend so we stayed at home and played beauty shop. Hna. Abarzua is a cosmetologist so she plucked my eyebrows for me, tinted them to a darker color, and cut my bangs. She also told me that one of my eyes is bigger than the other and higher than the other... "no, it´s not really important. I just want you to be self-conscious for the rest of your life." Gracias. But I am now parting my hair on the other side to cover my bigger eye...haha. Ánd tonight we´re going to finish by doing my nails and next week, she wants to show me how to wax my legs. So I am definitely learning some new things on the mission. But she´s really great and I like working with her a lot. She´s pretty convinced that she´s getting transferred in a little while so then i have no idea who will come to La Falda.
Well, family, I hope everything is going great at home. I love you and I pray for you always. Good luck with everything you´re doing. Pray for me and Hna. Abarzua. Love you so much!
Cariños,
Hna. Seegmiller
P.S. Vainillas are a delicious cookie that we eat all the time and we dip them in milk.
P.P.S. We also found out this week that you can kinda create chocolate frosting if you dump some chocolate milk mix (Nesquik) into a half liter of dulce de leche. So delicious... :)
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