Hola familia,
Well, this week was transfers and I left Toay! Also, I forgot to tell you last week that I just completed six months in the mission. Six months! Time has really flown by. I already have less than a year left. Craziness. Well, I was pretty sure that I was going to leave Toay and honestly pretty excited because I was getting sick of the small town and the people that don´t go to church and the tons of sand there. But I got a call on Friday night saying that I was going to La Falda with Hna. Abarzua, which was a surprise because everyone thought Hna. Abarzua was going to train. I said before transfers that the only place I was sure that I wouldn´t go is Bahia Blanca and that is where I am now. La Falda is an area that is pretty close to centro in Bahia Blanca with a ton of rich people. Another fun little tidbit is that La Falda is the branch where the President of my mission lives. So Hna. Abarzua and i have lunch every Monday with Presidente and his family. I think it´ll be fun to get to know Presidente more than just seeing him for an interview once every six weeks. We live in a little house right behind these grandparents that are in the ward here. The missionaries have rented to missionaries there for 15 years so they know all the missionaries and everyone loves them. We even get to call them Abuelita and Abuelito, which is so fun. They´re really cool and they talk a lot. They´re actually from Chile so I hear we´re going to be having a huge celebration with them in September for Chile´s independence day.
Leaving Toay actually turned out to be pretty hard. There are a lot of people there that I really love and have spent a lot of time with. We thought I would leave so I went and visited a lot of people, but Hna. Sommer got sick right before we left and so we had to stay inside. I had a lot of time to pack my stuff though, which was quite the adventure because my stuff doesn´t fit in my suitcases anymore. I had to bring a cardboard box for my shoes. I still have a lot less stuff than most of the elders though. :) We spent the most time saying goodbye to Cesar and his family, since we spent a ton of time at their house and trying to help them go to church (his daugthers went three weeks in a row now) and I love them so much. When we went to say goodbye to them, Cesar gave me a little plaque thing that is the symbol he wears on his military uniform. I´m probably going to hang it in my house someday. He also wrote this super nice letter. I translated part of it, but it sounds kinda weird. It said something like," Thank you so much, my dear friend and may God bless you in every step of your life. I want you to know that I never thought I would meet someone as special as you. Even though I don´t know your family, I would imagine that they´re like you and I send greetings (saludos) to this beautiful family. I hope that one day, we´ll see each other again. We´ll never forget you!" And they gave me another card that says," Never forget that here in Argentina, La Pampa, Toay, Casa 73, there is a family that loves you." It was so sweet and I almost cried. I actually did cry a bunch in church when I shared my last testimony with them and Brenda kept pointing out my tears to me and saying," Secáte!" (dry your face). All the members said nice things to me and I thanked them for everything they´ve taught me. I really did learn a lot in Toay and I am glad that it was my first area.
After leaving, I got on a bus at 11:30 at night with four elders and headed to Bahia Blanca. We got here at 5:00 AM and my companion came with two other hermanas to pick me up. Hna. LaPray happens to be in the other zone in Bahia right now so she came to get me and I was so excited to see her! It was a good reunion. We went to our house and went to sleep. Since then, I´ve met a few investigators, but President told them that they need to find new people to teach because theirs aren´t progressing. He also promised them that success is coming to La Falda soon. There´s a lot of big houses and it´s a super nice area, but I´m excited to see something else. We went into Centro today and it was so exciting. I kept telling Hna. Abarzua," Look, there are big buildings!!" I forgot how much I had missed the city. I am soo not going to live in a small town when I grow up. There were a ton of people there too and also a bunch of missionaries that I´ve never met before. We ate lunch at McDonald´s and I ate chicken McNuggets and fries (so good... it tasted just like it should) and had an ice cream sundae for dessert with dulce de leche sauce (so I could be a little bit Argentine). We also went to the "shopping" (you have to say it with a Spanish accent) which is a mall and looked for some clothes for summer, but didn´t really find anything good.
My new companion, Hna. Abarzua, is cool and she likes to obey the rules. YAY! We´re also in the district with all the office elders so I think this next few transfers, we´ll be obeying the rules really well because it´s strict here. But Hna. Abarzua says they´re all really cool and we have district meeting for 3 hours every week (matáme). But if it helps, I´m all for it and I´m excited about being part of a different zone and see how it works here. Hna. Abarzua is from Santiago, Chile (just like Hna. Sommermeyer) so I might need to go visit there after the mission. She also knows how to cut hair so I´m a little upset that i just got a haircut. She says she helps all her companions with their hair and other beauty needs. Also, she wants to lose weight so we´re going to try not to eat at night. I also said that with Hna. Sommer so we´ll see how it works this time. She was in Toay just before I got there so she is my "papá" in the mission. So now I´ve been with my mamá (Davis), my madrastra (stepmom-Sommermeyer), and I´m with my papá now (Abarzua). My next companion will have to be someone out of the family. Well, I don´t know really anything more about the area except that the hermanas were recently moved to this area because they got robbed. This area is really safe though and I think that we´ll be able to have a good time here. I might be here for my birthday. :) Also, we´re super close to the office so it takes less time for my letters and package (mhhm...) to get to me.
One more fun little fact about Argentina... I bought Frosted Flakes the other day when we went to the grocery store. In English the slogan is," Frosted Flakes - they´re more than good. They´re GRRRR-reat!" Because he´s a tiger...so he says GRR. Well, here the slogan is," Son GRRRR-iquísimos!" Like riquísimo, as in delicious, but it totally doesn´t work because there´s no G at the beginning of riquísimo. Oh man, I thought it was so funny. Maybe it didn´t come out that funny here, but I laugh every time I see the box. Also, in Bahía, you can find boxes of 24 alfajors (two cookies with dulce de leche in the middle covered in chocolate) for really cheap. And there´s a Walmart here for all my Yankee needs. Maybe this losing weight plan won´t work that well. :)
Well family, I hope everything is going well for you. We shall see what happens in this new area. But I´m excited to be here and find some new investigators and help them change their lives. I know that I actually am helping people here and that they appreciate the help we give them. An investigator I met the other day, said the prayer at the end of the lesson and thanked Heavenly Father for bringing me here and asked to bless our families. It was really sweet and things like that help remind me how blessed I am for being here. The mission is great and I´m enjoying life in La Falda (yes, that means skirt. I don´t know why it´s called that). Good luck with everything! Go to church and enjoy the blessings the gospel brings to your life! Love you all!
Besitos,
Hna. Seegmiller
P.S. An hermana who just went home started calling me Hna. Seismil. We´ll see if it catches on.
P.P.S. Hna. Arbazua really wants to learn English so I´m helping her study. I taught her to say," It reeks in here!" and she´s going to say it in our district meeting tomorrow. :)
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