July 7, 2010

Hello family,

How goes everything at home? The 4th of July sounded like fun. I remembered about it, but no one here really cared. Actually, a few people in the ward remembered that it´s the Independence Day of the United States. I have no idea why they know that though - I don´t know the independence day of any other country (except Argentina now - the 9th of July). Hna. Davis and I decided to wear red, white, and blue to church to support the USA from afar. We also drew pictures of an American flag (which sadly ended up very disproportional) and an Uncle Sam that reminded us to "pay our taxes." We also bought some nasty frozen burgers and fries to cook that night so we felt more American, but we visited a bunch of houses that night and everyone had just made a cake so we were too full to eat them. We will definitely make time another day though.

I´m sure you have heard by now, but Argentina did lose the Mundial. The loss was actually pretty embarassing - 4 to 0. Germany totally creamed them. Everyone talked about it for a while, but now things have thankfully gone back to normal. One family told us that they didn´t really care because they have German ancestors so they figured they would win the game either way. Mundial was definitely making life hard for us so it´s a good thing they lost. Maybe the next Mundial, Argentina...
I´m still with Hna. Davis right now. Transfers end this Sunday, but we don´t find out until Friday night who´s getting transferred. A lot of the zone has been in this area for a long time so I think there will probably be a lot of changes this transfer. Our zone leader is definitely getting transferred so we probably won´t get to play a Pokemon game next transfer or have a fight with balls of flour.

This week was actually a sad one because no one came to church! It was the last Sunday that we needed Bocha to come to church in order to get baptized this transfer (to achieve the goal our mission president set for us of one baptism in every area), but we called him Sunday morning and they said they couldn´t come to church today. Then Cesar said that he was going to come at 10:00, but he didn´t show up. Rough life. Lots of the members came so we could be happy about that and I really enjoyed all the talks and testimonies that were shared, but it´s still sad when the investigators don´t come. But that was basically the last chance for us to have a baptism so after that, we pretty much had to give up on the dream of achieving that goal and that was hard for us. To bounce back from that, our zone leader told us that the companionship that had the best numbers for this past Monday and Tuesday would win a free asado (delicious meat that they throw on the grill). Well, most of the little games the zone plays don´t really interest us or get us very excited because we´re not very competitive, but free meat is something we understand and are passionate about. We worked super hard the last two days and found six new investigators and taught five lessons! It was kinda amazing, but the people that we´ve been looking for forever just happened to open their doors. We actually didn´t end up winning the free asado because some other elders got someone to set a baptismal date, but we´re still proud of our good work. And we got to eat meat anyway... 1 and a half kilos of deliciousness. The flour fight actually went pretty well. Our district had really good numbers over the whole transfer so we got to make armor out of cardboard boxes and have a shield. We played Capture the Flag first in this random park in the middle of nowhere and I totally freed someone! Then I freed someone else and we all rushed the other team to get the flag! Victory! Ganamos! That´s when I learned that Latins are sore losers. They kept saying we cheated and getting mad so we decided to cook the meat. After that, we split up into our teams and threw the flour balls at each other. Some of the elders threw really hard and one got me right in the face! I got a few hits on the other elders that were pretty weak, but I was so excited to hit them at all. It was a Pday well spent.

So I guess we will see what happens in the weeks that come... I might be getting a new companion and then everything in Toay will change. We just got a new ward mission leader and he´s excited about helping with the work and making visits to the investigators. We still need to figure out a way to get Betiana and Bocha excited to get married. They just keep coming up with different excuses. The last time we went to their house, we found out that the last missionaries who taught them before they moved to Toay challenged them to get married and Bocha wanted to, but Betiana said no. I think he still feels a little rejected from that so now he doesn´t want to get married and Betiana´s all for it. They´ll get there and they have already changed so much. It´s a visible difference how much happier they are now, since they´ve been going to church. There are also a lot of new people that we´re excited about and old people that are kinda progressing that we´re not sure what to do about. The end of the transfer just kinda feels like everything is dying so we´re trying to work hard until the end and then we can get revived and make things happen in Toay!

Also, I got gloves from Mom last week so it has been a very warm-hand week. There are two pairs so one day when it rained, Hna. Davis wore the other pair and we both wore our boots and took our umbrellas too. We felt well-equipped, but it still wasn´t that fun walking in the rain. And I got a ton of letters today! Two from Mom, one from Brett Leavitt (I´m totally impressed that he´s written me three letters already.), one from Erik Bonn (that he wrote like two months ago, but it got lost for a while. Tell him hi for me when he gets home!), two from Kylie (the dearelders sometimes pile up, but she is so faithful and funny. Hna. Davis and I always read her letters together and the stories always make us laugh), one from Stephanie Lee (always a joy to hear from her too), and one from Jowanza (I screamed when I saw his name on the letter - he´s just as weird and funny as ever). It´s nice to see that people haven´t totally forgotten about me, even though I´m a million miles away. The elders totally hate me though. That´s all right... I can sacrifice their love for letters. Well, I hope everything is going well. Toay is still a good place and there are definitely people ready for the gospel there.

Also, I started reading in John this week, like some apostle suggested at last conference and I found out it´s totally great! In John 4, it talks about how Jesus talks to the Samaritan lady at the well and asks her to give him some water. They talk for a little bit and Jesus tells her that if she drinks of the living water, that she will never thirst. I had never really thought about it that much before, but I really liked that when I read it this time. It´s so true. Other things that we spend time on or put effort into will eventually leave us thirsty again one day, but if we focus our efforts on bringing ourselves to Christ and letting him help us, we will never run out of happiness or blessings or the things we really need. You´ll have to go read John for the full verses, but I really liked it and I´ve shared it with a bunch of people this week. Well, I know Christ lives! I know he loves and knows each of us. When I was sharing that with one of our new investigators this week, she said," You really like this church, don´t you?" and I said," Yeah, I love it." She said," I can see it." It was pretty cool because I think sometimes I don´t realize how much I love it and how important it is to me, but it´s good that other people can see that. I hope you all know that it is everything to me and I know that it´s true. I love you and miss you all! Have a lovely week!

Besitos,

Hermana Seegmiller
Picture 1: Hna. Davis and I preparing for the battle with balls of flour. It was pretty ridiculous and really fun. Kinda hurt though. I might have some bruises tomorrow. The good news - I learned the word for bruise in Spanish. "moretón"

Picture 2: My zone around the grill where we cook all our meat. So delicious! I love Argentina for that.

Picture 3: Hna. Davis and I with a recent convert, Hno. Mareque. The cutest old man I´ve ever met and his wife, Ines, who has Alzheimers. He cuts and sells wood all the time to make enough money to take care of her and he loves singing hymns. He´s great, but the last time we visited him, he went to give me a kiss on the cheek before we left his house, he totally missed and kissed me right on the mouth! It was kinda gross, but a total accident. I hope I don´t get in trouble for that.

Picture 4: A good picture of Hna. Davis and I...I hope. This is us waiting at the bus stop, but it really doesn´t show much. It does show my hair in the humidity. It goes crazy so sometimes I just go with it and wear it down. I figure no one here cares what I look like anyway and it should also make you guys happy since you´ve been bugging me to wear my hair curly since forever. Love you! :)