March 23, 2010

Hello family!
It sounds like you are all doing very well and I'm happy to hear it. Karli wrote me this week! Yay!!! It was quite exciting and she is very funny. I'm doing well and the MTC is really great. This last week has been a really good week for me in revamping myself as a missionary and really trying to study hard and think about how this is the Lord's time. The title of this email refers to a conversation that i had with some native Spanish-speaking sisters who were in our zone (until they left this week, even though they got here a week after us. No es justo.). One of them would always ask me," Como estas?" every time she saw me and for some reason, I would always answer, "Pssh, bien." and my companion would always say "so bien." She thought it was really funny so every time she sees me, she says "pssh." She told me that I'm going to be the craziest sister missionary ever, but I'm pretty sure she meant it as a compliment. I love the natives - they crack me up and all of them think I'm totally nuts. It's funny because the only ones in our zone that absolutely will not speak Spanish to us is the ones that are fluent in Spanish. They say it's because we're white. I really hope that's not how the people in Argentina see it because it's going to be a rough 17 months if it is. The native sisters also told us some jokes. One of them was," Why do Mexicans always cross the border two by two?" "Because there's a sign that says No TRESpassing." Get it? Like no three passing, but tres is Spanish for three. I thought it was funny... maybe that's not good to put racial jokes in these emails.
So this week, one of the elders in my district was talking about how we're not here to make friends or have fun, but to preach the gospel. I don't think that is the reason why I'm here, but I do think I had it higher up on my priority list than it needs to be. It's me and i have fun no matter what I'm doing so I don't think it's important to go out of my way to find it. Plus, my district is ridiculous and there is no way to avoid fun when they're around. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve actually came last Tuesday so that was pretty sweet. I got to sing in the choir and we sang a really powerful song about the Savior. He didn't really talk about the Savior in his talk, but it kinda felt like that was the theme of the meeting for me. We sang that opening song and then he gave his powerful special witness of the reality of Jesus the Christ and we sang "I know that my Redeemer lives" for a closing song. When we were singing the words," Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives - I know that my Redeemer lives," I really just realized how much those words mean to me. Being able to say that and knowing that my Savior lives really does give me so much joy. It helps me with everything I am doing right now and I know that it will also be able to bring joy to all the people in Argentina and everyone who's reading this email. There was a great spirit in that meeting and our district meeting afterwards and there really is no denying that I know Christ is my Savior. In another meeting, we sang "I need thee every hour" and I really liked the part where it said "I come to thee." Sometimes we don't think about it, but that's what we need to do. We need to come to the Savior and then he'll be able to help us more than we can even imagine.
This week has actually been kinda interesting because I got kinda sick. At the beginning of the week, I would wake up every morning with my throat super dry and I kinda felt like I wanted to die. My nose was all stuffed up too so I had to breathe out of my mouth when I was sleeping and I kept drooling on my pillow. Kinda gross. I eventually got better though... just in time for Hermana LaPray to get sick on Saturday. We went to the doctor at the MTC on Monday and found out she has pneumonia so she slept while I studied for like four hours that afternoon. It actually turned out to be great to be able to have four hours of personal study in my room with no one to bother me. I got a lot done and realized that I probably need to study more Spanish. Now I know the word for mop though - el trapeador. I wonder if that word will ever come in handy. Anyway, pray for Hermana LaPray (haha) to get better because she doesn't feel good and I can't leave the room. We did a zone exchange today so I could go to the temple. When I was putting the clothes I rented in the laundry chute, I accidentally dropped my blue card that I use to get into the cafeteria and my residence hall down the chute. I got to go explore the depths of the Provo temple though because I had to go find it. It was a fun little adventure.
We taught about the Word of Wisdom this week in Spanish and it was pretty fun. The Spanish is actually coming and I could understand everything our investigator said (but he was white). I finally felt like I was being myself in the lesson and not pretending to be a sister missionary. It was good. Also, this week, our whole district was standing in a circle ready to say a prayer when somehow Elder Keeling ended up in the middle of the circle. We thought it was funny and he moved out to join the rest of the circle, but then Elder Shawhan said," Okay, on the count of three, we're all going to move the circle around Elder Keeling. 1, 2, 3." and the whole district moved around Elder Keeling. Elder Shawhan was completely shocked that we all did it, but it was really funny. The prayer after that wasn't the most reverent thing ever, but that happens sometimes.
Oh, also, I met an elder who knows our cousin, Adam. He's Brother Parker's, who works at BYU, son. He's going to Mexico on his mission and we play volleyball together during gym time. That was pretty exciting. I actually had his dad for BOM at BYU. Well, the MTC is great and I love it and I'm working harder to be the missionary Heavenly Father wants me to be. One of our speakers told us that the mission will prepare you to be a missionary for the rest of your life so I gotta do something that will set me on that path. Also, make friends with non-members so you can invite them to church. :) I love you all! Thanks for the support!
Love,
Hermana Seegmiller