So long, farewell...April 13, 2010

Hi family,
Well, you might have heard by now, but I am finally leaving the MTC. That last sentence was probably a little deceiving because it makes it sound like I'm happy. I am way excited to go to Argentina and finally start teaching some real people and be a real missionary, but I am definitely sad about leaving the MTC. I love it here and I'm going to miss my crazy district. This week, we got to be hosts for the new missionaries. It was way fun and it made me feel really old and knowledgeable. We also get to do it this week. I hosted for a new hermana who's going to the Utah Ogden mission. She's excited and I told her that my friend, Brett, went there and it's basically the best mission ever (except for Bahia Blanca Argentina, of course). This week, I discovered the toasters in the cafeteria and started to take advantage of them. I made two pieces of toast every morning, but then I really only wanted one so I would give the other one to Elder Matagi because he's Samoan and he can eat a lot. I guess I started influencing everyone else because they all started making toast for themselves. But then I didn't have anyone to give my extra piece to so that was a problem. I gave it to Elder Spencer one of the days this week and he said," You make really good toast, Hermana. It's one of your better qualities." It was really meant to be a compliment, but it didn't quite work out. The elders in my district are still figuring out how to give a compliment. I told them about how Daddy got called Elder Seismil on his mission and they thought it was funny so they like to call me that a lot.
Anyway, about my travel plans... I'm leaving the MTC at 5:00 am this coming Monday, the 19th of April. Our flight to LAX leaves at like 8:30 or something and then we get there and our flight to Buenos Aires leaves at like 10. And our schedule says we arrive in Buenos Aires the next morning at 7:45 am. I am really hoping it's not a 22-hour flight so I think that we stop in Georgia or something and then continue the rest of the way. I don't know where I'll be able to call from - maybe Salt Lake and that would be early in the morning. We shall see... but answer your phones. You probably won't even be able to understand me because my accent's gotten so good. Also, Kylie's cousin, Hermana Durham, is our travel leader. It's gonna be a fun trip!
This week for service, we ripped apart cardboard boxes and put them in the crusher! It was really fun. The MTC worker (who's a student at BYU) told us to rip apart the boxes and stomp on them. He said," Just pretend they're the boyfriends that jilted you before you came." And I yelled," What is that supposed to mean?" And Hermana Tingey said," Oh, is that why you think we're all on missions? Because we got jilted by our boyfriends?" He felt kinda bad afterwards, but we just thought it was really funny. So for anyone who thinks that, I did not come on my mission because I got jilted by my boyfriend. But if he had jilted me, he would be in worse shape than those boxes after they went through the crusher. hehe...:)
Also, for some reason, this week out of nowhere, Elder Shawhan started quoting Star Wars, during that scene when they're stuck in the trash compactor and Luke is yelling "Where could he be?" over and over again. He's actually really good at it so he does it all the time and we all die laughing. That's just so you can picture what's going on in our classroom. We have so many ridiculous quotes now and I wanted to make a tape, but we shall see if we get around to it.
We started practicing door contacts with Hermano Dallon this week and I accidentally mixed up my words and asked if I could enter his house "sin permiso" (without permission) and he slammed the door in my face. We tried some more approaches and he kept rejecting us. I felt pretty stupid and like I don't actually know very much and I'm not ready to be a missionary. I started getting scared because I'm leaving in less than a week. We had personal study a little while after that and I was reading in John (Because they suggested it in Conference - by the way, John is good stuff. I would definitely recommend it.) and I came to the story of when Jesus fed the 5000 people. I kinda thought about it in a different way this time though. I read it and saw it as I was the little boy who had the 5 loaves and the 2 fish. He didn't have very much, but he gave everything he had to the Savior and the savior blessed it and made it enough to feed 5000 people. So I guess I figured that it doesn't really matter how much I have to give (how much natural talent or ability with missionary work), because as long as I give everything I have to the Savior, he will bless me and it'll be enough to bring the gospel to 5000 people... or more. :) It was very encouraging and helpful to me. I know that's true in every aspect of life - there are lots of things we can't do on our own, but we can definitely do them with the Savior's help. I know I can do this with his help and I'm still kinda scared right now, but I'm excited beyond belief!
Oh, Mom, I was also wondering if there are any extras of my mission picture of me holding the BOM. If there are extras, can you send me some? I feel like my district would really get a kick out of it if I gave them those pictures. They all know how ridiculous I am know so it would be a good reminder for them. Man, I love my district so much. They're so ridiculous and we have so much fun. I'll miss them, but I will definitely see them again, especially since a bunch of them go to BYU. I'm also way excited for all the people I'm going to meet and I know I'll love them so much. Anyway, I hope you are all doing well. I'm praying for you and I'm so grateful for your support and neverending supply of candy that is getting sent to me (don't worry though, I'm pretty sure i'm not going to break 500 pounds before I leave). Also, I really like Jordy's idea about getting us both on the phone on Mother's Day. I don't know how that's going to work, but if we can figure it out, I would really enjoy that. He finally wrote me back this week! He said he thought he already had...typical Jordy. Well, have a great week! Pray for me! i love you.
Love,
Hermana Kasidy Seegmiller