March 30, 2010

Well hello, dearest family,
Another week at the MTC has already gone by. Isn't it amazing how fast time moves here? I guess you wouldn't know, but it really does fly. Also, is Kayela's email address kayelas@yahoo.com still or does she use a gmail one now? I want to send her an email because she still hasn't written me, but I don't know her email address for sure. A while back, we got some new sister missionaries in our zone and the coordinating sister put together a list of "you know you're a sister missionary if..." things and I keep meaning to share them, but I always forget. So... You know you're a sister missionary if... You can get ready and look decent in 25 minutes (sometimes we take more time than that, especially since my companion had pneumonia, but I'm working on it), Your feet smell - it's the nylons (that is so true and I would say it's probably the worst thing about missionary work so far), Going to the bathroom takes forty minutes because you have to wait for your companion and somebody decided to only put one stall for the women on each floor, the give away box is a treasure box (i actually got a free skirt and some lotion from the give away box...nice), and my personal favorite - You accidentally bump into an elder and you feel like you need to purposefully make it awkward because it would be worse if you didn't (Oh man, that is so true. And I'm pretty clumsy so I bump into elders or accidentally touch their hands when walking or stuff like that all the time. I'm not flirting - it really is an accident :) Anyway, I thought that list was pretty funny so I shared it.
Something really random that happened this week was that I met an elder who met Kortni and Mom on the plane out to the MTC. He just came up to me in volleyball and said that he'd met my sister on the plane coming from New York. I remembered that you guys were visiting Hayley, but I didn't really believe him so I made him describe you. When he finally said that Kortni had served her mission in New York, I believed him. He said that Kortni told him to look out for me and he'd written my name down somewhere, but when he saw me in gym, he knew that I was who she was talking about because I looked just like her. I've never thought Kortni and I look the same, but it was totally random and cool. I later found out that he's in my zone so I see him like every day now.
Also, last week when we were coming out of the temple, this old lady grabbed one of the elders in our district's arm and talked to him about how great it was to be a missionary and how much she loved it. She said," I've been back from my mission for forty years and pay day's still coming!" Hermana LaPray joked about how that's going to be us someday when we're back from our missions and we freak out the little missionaries by talking about the good old days. But Elder Matagi corrected us and said," No, no. She's been back from her couples mission for forty years!" She must be really, really old then. I'm not sure I actually want to live long enough to have that experience, but I guess we'll see what happens.
So this story made me think of McCall, but I didn't have time to write it just to her so everyone gets to read it and make sure she gets it. I was talking to Elder Shawhan this week in our classroom, just chatting about nothing really special and he accidentally spit while he was talking and it landed on my lip. He finished his sentence and then looked away, but I thought I would wait until he looked away to wipe it off so he wouldn't get embarrassed. I don't really know what I was thinking though because Elder Shawhan doesn't really get embarrassed. Anyway, so then he kinda saw me wipe it off and said," Yeah, so did I spit on you?" and I just laughed and said yes. He said that he thought he had, but then he thought that it was kinda weird that i wasn't wiping it off right away. So I was trying to be nice, but then he thought it was really weird so that's maybe not the best route to take when someone spits on you. The reason that made me think of McCall is because she's the one that showed me this Ellen Degeneres comedy video about this exact situation - when someone spits on you and you both know it, but you want to wait until they look away to wipe it off. She said that it makes no sense to not wipe it off when you both know it's there. It's not like the person is going to be like," What? You don't want that there? Why would you wipe my spittle away?" Anyway, after Elder Shawhan spit on me and we talked about how it was awkward that I hadn't wiped it off right away, I remembered what Ellen said about it and I started cracking up. Then for like half an hour after that, I would continue to think about that and how weird Elder Shawhan thought I was and start cracking up again. It was pretty funny. :)
So Hermana LaPray pretty much had pneumonia this whole week. It was really sad for her, but she just slept all the time, which left me basically alone in the room to read and study by myself for hours at a time. It got really boring and I started to go a little crazy so I'm really glad she's basically back to normal now, although she is having trouble concentrating. She'll be totally healed soon though and I'm so glad to have her back. Also, before I forget - Elder Shawhan's first name is Dylan and he's going to the Denver Colorado South mission. You don't have to write him, but you asked me for his info so I thought I'd give it. Also, I would like Reese's eggs and Butterfinger eggs plus a box of See's Candy with my favorites (Butterscotch squares, some bourdeaux, molasses chips). I would just love that.
So an hermana in my zone bore her testimony this past Sunday and she's leaving for the field tomorrow. She said that she's not afraid because she knows that God will be with her and that the message is true so nothing else really matters. I have been kinda freaking out lately because we are supposed to leave here pretty soon (it says the 19th, but we're not totally sure) and I am not totally sure if I'm ready, but I completely agree with her. As long as I'm doing the right thing, Heavenly Father will help me and I'll be able to do what I've been called to do. I'm really excited, but I will be sad to leave the MTC. It has been a good time and my district is like my family (they're not as good as my real family, but they're pretty awesome). Anyway, I hope you all watch conference this coming weekend. Our prophet is going to speak to us. I'm way excited, even though I have to watch it in a big auditorium with 3000 elders and no food (it's a crime, right? conference without food!). I love being here and I love feeling the spirit and knowing that I'm doing the right thing and knowing that the church is true. I love you all and I miss your craziness!
Love,
Hermana Seegmiller
P.S. Karli sent me cupcakes this week with the faces of all of my district members on them and they were so adorable. We loved them and they were delicious! :) Gracias.