Facturas are my life-June 16, 2010

Hi family!

It sounds like the wedding was a success! i was pretty sad that i couldn´t be there, but i kept telling everyone we talked to here that my sister was getting married. They all got sad for me that i couldn´t be there, but I´m happy that she´s getting married. Ít´s so sad that she got sick though. At least everything turned out well in the end though. also, the new TV sounds pretty cool and I´m excited to see it when we get home. Where do you put it though? Is there room in the little corner?

I´m sure you´ll be glad to hear that Hna. Davis and I have stopped eating bread. We stopped buying it and that helped. But we have replaced our bread with chocolate and other delicious, fatty snacks. i´m just going to get fat. Oh well... also, Betiana is still coming to church. She´s only 18 with three daughters and a lame marido, but she wants to come to church every week so that is good. We taught her about the law of chastity this week and baptism. She says she wants to get baptized, but her marido doesn´t and also, she can´t get a free house from the government if she gets married because they give free houses to single people first. So...we didn´t really know what to do about that. We´re going to visit them again this week and try to teach Bocha (the marido) and hopefully convince him to go to church too.

also, the Larry the cucumber scripture case that Kayela let me borrow for the mission is a big hit here. All the little kids and the elders totally love it. I always tell them it´s a pepino and they get totally confused because it´s really just a green scripture case with a face on it. One little member girl asked me where my "sapito" (means little frog) was and I had no idea what she was talking about. Silly argentine child...Larry is a cucumber. in that same family, the mom was trying to get the little girl to eat her food and she was teasing her about liking this boy named sebastian. to convince her to eat, she said," A Sebastian le gustan las gorditas." meaning Sebastian likes fat girls so you should eat so you can be fat. her daughter is like five. It was pretty entertaining here. My goal on the mission is to not be remembered as the "gordita" or "feísima" fat or really ugly, which i have already heard members describe sisters that way. They don´t mean it in a rude way, but i just really don´t want to earn those adjectives. i guess there´s not much you can do about being ugly.

So I keep forgetting to tell you guys, but tragedy struck a few weeks ago when i accidentally left my memory card in the computer at the cyber we were at. Some argentine picked it up and now has all my pictures from my first transfer in the mission. I was really sad so I refused to put my other one in, just in case it miraculously came back to me, and now I have hardly any pictures at all. I´m trying to move on though. and I´ll probably need a new memory card in a while. Sorry... but i´m sure you were just waiting for me to lose something. after all, i´m an expert at losing things. I attached some photos. The first one is me drinking mate! That is against the rules here, but some of the missionaries have invented this delicious sugar drink that is kinda like mate so we bought a mate and were drinking it. The second one is me when it got really foggy the other day in Toay and it was really cold. hna. davis told me to make a face like I was scared so this is what came out. and the third one is a very attractive picture of me and hna. Davis when we tried to make milanesa and egg sandwiches. it turns out that´s not really possible so when i ate mine, it totally fell apart. I think I¨m just actually really bad at eating because hna. davis´s stayed in one piece. Also, my food always ends up all around my plate at all the members´houses and all over my hands and face. So basically i´m a slob. I´m working on it...

So the mission is good. I like Toay and we have some promising investigators. We´re working hard as a district to be able to evolve into the next level of our pokemon. Hermana Davis and i have a lot of fun together. She might get transferred at the end of this transfer and then I will be left alone in Toay. that´ll be scary, but I´m sure it will be fine. hna. Davis and i actually went running this morning. Last week, we almost missed the bus so we ran across Toay to the other bus stop. all the people were in the streeet so they were just staring at us, wondering what we were doing with our lives. i´m sure we looked really strange. But as I was running through Toay, like ten feet behind Hna. Davis, i kinda felt like I was going to die. I honestly felt like my heart might stop beating and that´s when I realized that the exercises I have been doing in the morning don´t ever make my heart pump faster. Oops. So I had to make sure that I wasn´t going to keel over any day now that i eat a ton of greasy noodles and meat and never make my heart pump faster. it felt good to run this mornign and I didn´t even die. that run will probably sustain me until the end of the mission now. Well, everything is just dandy in toay and with our investigators. We are working hard and hopefully people will come to our activity this Saturday and to church. also, Zone Conference is this Friday so that should be fun. I love you all and I´m so happy for Kortni and her new husband. also, i hope everything goes well with the funeral. I´m happy for grandpa that he can finally rest with grandma. I hope everything is well. I pray for you all the time and always thank Heavenly Father for giving me such a wonderful, ridiculous, funny family. I love you.

Besos,

Hermana Seegmiller

Ah la obra misional-June 9, 2010

Hola ¿como va? Todo bien aca en Argentina.

My Spanish is actually improving. Well, I actually noticed that it´s getting a lot easier to understand people when they talk. Before, if people just started monologuing, I would kinda tune them out and think about where we were going to go next and mostly what I want to eat (I always crave cookie dough that Mom makes or alfajors or cookies or even fruit... basically anything that´s edible. But now I actually listen to people. When they pass ten minutes, I lose interest and think about food again, but I´m working hard to concentrate more. We have a really good investigator named Florencia who is 15 years old and she always reads everything in the Book of Mormon that we leave her. She used to smoke, but one day when we came, she told us that she had stopped smoking (without us even asking). She wants to change and be a better person and she loves reading the Book of Mormon. She was going to come to the ward activity this last week, but when we went to pick her up, her older brother came out and told us that she can´t go because her mom is Catholic and doesn´t want her going to another church. Rough life. So now we are praying that she will be able to come to church somehow and the activities with the youth because they would be so good for her. We also visited Cesar this week. We´ve been working with him for a long time and he has the most adorable six children I´ve ever seen. I love all of them and I love going over there and seeing them. Cesar is complicated - he wants to change and he knows we can help him, but he´s not really willing to make any real sacrifice. But this week, he realized that he loves the feelings he has when we come over and he wants to learn from us. He also told his wife that it´s really good for him and she actually started listening to us too. They would be such a solid family in the church and they´re so great. We just need them to come to church. The problem for a long time was that he thought we were just stupid white girls (nice, but stupid) from America who didn´t know anything about him or his country and couldn´t really understand us. So we finally brought an Argentine member with us (Oscar, who just got his mission call to Paraguay and is so solid and good, ´he´s a convert of about a year) and he answered perfectly all the questions Cesar had about being a member of the church in Argentina. It was so awesome. We really hope that Cesar and his family will be able to come to church now and their lives will seriously be changed.

Everything is going really well here. We have a bunch of investigators now that are progressing kind of. We need them to come to church, but we feel good about them. We´ve been trying to find some new ones too, but with minimal success. Our mission president told us that we have a goal in our mission this transfer that every companionship will baptize in this transfer. We really want to be able to comply and fulfill this goal, but it´s harder than it sounds. I definitely think we can do it, but we are having trouble finding out how to baptize people like the elders do. I think it´s something that we have to learn, but it is going to start this transfer. I´m excited to see what is going to happen. We actually had a zone meeting this morning that was Pokemon themed. Our zone leaders dressed up like Ash and did a dance to the theme song in Spanish. It was pretty entertaining. They also said all the districts were a certain Pokemon (we´re Bulbosaur) and that by the end of the transfer, we need to get enough energy to evolve into a higher Pokemon (Venosaur). We get points by getting people to church and stuff. Then we played a bunch of Pokemon themed games like finding the Pokeballs hidden outside. It was ridiculous and actually stresses us out more than pumps us up, but it was worth the entertainment.This morning, my companion was in my bed so I sat on her bed for a while. Nothing like a good old bed exchange (mhhmm.. Cory - this is the secret message I put in for you. I guess it´s not a very good secret. Oops) Well, everyone is leaving so I better go. Good luck with the wedding! I´m so excited for Kornti and really sad that I can´t be there. I love you all!

Cariños,

Hermana Seegmiller

P.S: Thanks for the letters, Cory and Stephanie Lee. Love you guys. And everyone else who has written me.

Our Investigators Came!!- June 2, 2010

Hello family,

How goes everything back home? It sounds like fun, everybody preparing for Kortni´s wedding. I sometimes randomly get sad that I can´t come, but I´m happy that I´m here. This week, Hna. Davis and I realized that we love Toay and the people here. There are so many nice people around - the really nice guy who works in the bookstore who gave us a free map of Argentina, the meat guys who get so excited to wave at us when we walk by, all the bus drivers and remiceros (remis=taxi) who honk when they see us walking, the Chinos who own the grocery store, all the people who´ve met with the missionaries a thousand times and won´t get baptized yet but let us come in and talk to them, all the investigators that we are actually teaching and they are excited to see us when we come over, all the solid members who work so hard to keep the ward going and give us food when we visit and during the week for lunch, and Oscar (the recent convert of about a year ago who just got his mission call to Paraguay Norte and is so excited about it). So it´s kinda exciting that I realized that I love my area and the people in it and I´m enjoying being a missionary. My good mood might also be influenced a little bit by the fact that investigators came to church this week! It was the first week that we´ve actually had people in church who were above the age of eleven. All the members were totally welcoming and great! It turns out they are good at missionary work once the investigator gets to the chapel. We´ve been trying to work more with the members lately and I think it´s going pretty well. We brought the stake president´s wife, Moyra, with us to two lessons this week and she is totally great. We brought her to this super awkward house that we always hate going to because their kids are running around everywhere and we can´t ever teach anything and she totally difused the awkwardness. Then that investigator, Betiana, came to church with her two little girls and Moyra showed her around the chapel. Also, Moyra brought her car when she went to the lessons with us. It felt pretty weird to be riding in a car with a seatbelt, even though it hasn´t even been four months yet.

The other investigator that came to church is named Raul Sanchez. He actually found us when we were walking down the street on the holiday last week. He stopped us and asked if he could come to church. Umm....yes. He told us that he used to talk to the missionaries, but then he moved. He goes to casinos and spends all his money, but knows that it´s a bad habit and he needs to stop and that we can help him. We told him when church is and that sometimes we have activities on Fridays or Saturdays. He said that he couldn´t tell us where he lived or his phone number, but that he would see us on Sunday. We were a little less than hopeful that he would come to church. On Friday, we were visiting a member who used to wash the missionaries clothes (she said she´ll wash them again, but it turns out the last missionary who was here was really rude to her and she got offended so she said she was too busy) and the bishop called their house and said that a guy named Raul had just wandered into the church, saying that we told him there was an activity. Good old Raul. Then he showed up to church on Sunday and totally loved it. The bad news is that we have never helped anyone get unaddicted to gambling before and he got super excited that I am from Las Vegas. He wanted to know everything about it.. maybe I should have just said I´m from Nevada (that´s what I usually say because people can never understand the way I say Las Vegas). We had another lesson with Raul last night in the chapel and we invited the bishop to come. He did come, but for some reason decided that Raul needed to know everything about the church in one hour. He talked about Lehi´s dream and baptism and his own conversion and a ton of other stuff while Hna. Davis and I just sat there, helplessly watching while our investigator got more and more confused and our lesson just fell to pieces. We managed to teach him part of the Restoration before the bishop interrupted again by saying "What the hermana is saying is good, but there are three things we need to consider - where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going." Yeah, it was a mess. We usually try to teach just one lesson at a time so they understand something. We´re having another lesson with Raul this Thursday during ward council. The bishop won´t be able to come... what a shame. That probably sounds really bad. He´s a great bishop and a really solid guy. It just turns out that he´s not the one to invite to lessons with new investigators. Now we know. :)

Also, it turns out that I still talk in my sleep. Hna. Davis said she woke up the other night to me saying," Bendigas las flores" (bless the flowers). I can´t even think of any flowers I would be blessing, but I think I´m kinda different when I´m half asleep.

I´m also still totally addicted to bread here. The other day, I was eating some bread and jam when Hna. Davis was in the bathroom and she heard me and said," What are you doing?" I told her I wasn´t doing anything, but she could tell that my mouth was full so she said," What are you eating?" I couldn´t think of anything good to say so I told her "I´m just chewing on a tissue." Then she heard me take the lid off the jar and she said," What´s that noise?" Again, I was lacking something good to say so I said," Oh, it´s the neighbors. They´re playing some game with a jar. I don´t really understand it." She thought it was really funny. I guess I´m not as clever as I think I am sometimes. We ran out of jam last week and I was too lazy to put butter on the bread and toast it so I just dumped some sugar on the bread and ate it like that. I told Hna. Davis," I´ve sunk to a new low... sugar bread." That definitely landed itself on our new quote wall. I might gain some weight when I´m here, which is ridiculous because I walk all the time. My feet are paying the price for all the walking. They are getting hard on all sides and it is gross. I think some kind of foot care kit would help a lot. I´m just not sure they´re going to last all 18 months.

Something else that was fun that we did this week was enter into the house of an old man named Elio. We ran into him in the grocery store the other day and he seemed nice and invited us to come visit him. When we stopped by his house, he let us in and asked us a ton of questions about America. We tried to direct the conversation back to the Book of Mormon, but he just kept asking us about ourselves. He asked us where we were from and our full names and then wrote them down. Luckily, I always tell people my first name is Katarín because they don´t understand Kasidy anyway so now he can´t stalk me on the internet and kill me or something. He turned out to be really creepy. He kept asking us if we were afraid and then taking our hands and rubbing them to see if we were telling the truth. I could tell that Hna. Davis was really nervous because she kept lying to him. She told him that we don´t have a cell phone and that she has a boyfriend. She wanted me to lie about everything too so I told him that Erik Bonn was my boyfriend. It was the first name that came to my head - I hope Erik won´t mind, but Hna. Davis thought he would be creepier if we didn´t have boyfriends. And before we left (at this point, we weren´t sure that we were going to be able to leave), he asked if he could take a picture of us. Yeah, that´s creepy, but whatever. So this guy gets his camera and starts videotaping us, asking if we feel comfortable in his house and asking us to state our names and what we´re doing here... you know, like the kind of video people make right before they kill someone. We were pretty nervous, but then he opened the door and I´m still alive to write this email. Don´t worry... we´re not going to go see him anymore and I convinced Hna. Davis that we would have been able to overpower the old man anyway.

It´s freezing here! It has just gotten colder and colder, which is weird because it´s June. Hna. Davis told me that it doesn´t really feel like Christmas in December because it´s so hot and it totally feels like Christmas time right now, so we figured we might as well go with the weather on this one and have Christmas in June! It´s such a good idea. We´re going to drink hot chocolate all the time, listen to Christmas music, start a paper chain countdown, walk around outside all the time in the cold weather, and get presents from our families and friends ;) ;) Genius, right? Okay, but seriously, I did think of something that would be really awesome if you would send it to me. A Snuggie! We don´t have a heater in our kitchen study room so we´re always freezing when we study for two hours every morning so the idea of a Snuggie came to me the other day. I´m going to be here for two winters and it would totally be worth it. I also need gloves because my hands get really cold in my jacket. Maybe I can find some here, but i would really love to get some. Also, some Sour Patch Kids or Reese´s would be very appreciated. Don´t worry about it getting here - Hna. Davis says she always gets everything her parents send. You just have to send it through regular mail. And an elder got a Snuggie from his mom already so I know it´s doable. You think on that... but it´s going to be a very lonely Christmas in June without presents. Feel free to send anything else that you think would bless the lives of me and Hna. Davis in this freezing cold pueblo way down south. Well, everything is going good and I´m happy here in Argentina. Life is good. I love you all and I hope everything is going well for you. I pray for you every night and am excited for when I get to see you all again.

Love,

Hermana Seegmiller

Feriado! May 26, 2010

Hello family,

This week was pretty good. It was feriado (holiday) this Monday and Tuesday because it has been two hundred years since Argentina fought their revolutionary war with Spain. They had this sweet parade in the plaza with a ton of people there so we got a bunch of contacts from that. And there was a guy selling cotton candy so we got some of that and popcorn with sugar (they eat it that way here instead of with sugar and butter. You should give it a try and you will be so Argentine). We also had a ward activity where they eat this stuff called locro. It´s a tradition that they eat it every year on this holiday. We heard from a bunch of people that it´s really nasty and I was nervous, but everyone went to the church and they cooked it up in the biggest pot I´ve ever seen (it´s kinda like a soup) and then we all sat down together and ate it. To me, it tasted pretty much exactly like all their other food, but I liked it. And I will be here on May 25th next year so I will get to have it again. That´s kind of a weird thought.

I got a CD Player this week. Hna. Davis just has an MP3 player here so I haven´t been able to listen to my CDs, but Elder Drennan is going home this coming week and he said he would give me his CD player. I still have $20 from the States that is always in my wallet even though I can´t use it here so I said I would give that to him. He said that was too much so he threw in some rechargeable batteries with a charger. Sweet. I´m really excited to listen to my CDs finally. Hna. Davis has some good stuff, but there´s only so many times you can listen to a conference talk or Disney music in Spanish before you want something new. Also, can you tell Hna. Gubler thanks for the CD and the letter they sent to me in the MTC? I meant to write her, but then I left and life got crazy. I appreciated it though and I´m excited to listen to the CD now.

Oh, this week, we walked down a street called Pasaje 30 de Octubre. I´m not exactly sure what happened here on 30 de Octubre, but it made me think of Kortni, since that is her birthday. I´m sure they have some sort of holiday on that day. Argentines are super lazy so anytime they have an excuse for a holiday, they take it. Seriously, they celebrate the day of the mothers, fathers, grandparents, workers, grandchildren, boyfriend, girlfriend, friend, and then there´s the week of the student. It´s ridiculous, but also kinda sweet. Anyway, I´ll let you know when 30 de octubre comes what they´re celebrating, but the Argentines and I will be celebrating on Kortni´s birthday this year.

Also, Hermana Davis and I started teaching a 25 year old student this week named Tupac. Yup, like the singer. He said that even here, people think it´s weird and no one believes that´s his name. He said he has to carry his ID around to prove it to people. And one time, he told someone that was his name and the person said,"yeah, and I´m 50 cent". He´s pretty cool though. He´s met with missionaries before and knows a lot of stuff and he´s so ready to get baptized. He would be a great member of the church. We just have to help him figure that out.

I don´t remember if I told you last week, but I found out that Argentines don´t go to church if it´s really hot or really cold or if it rains. So last week, it looked like it was going to rain all last week, but it never did... until Sunday. So Sunday came and the chapel was super empty. Even the faithful members stay home when it rains so our investigators also stayed home. We are trying to go by and see all of our investigators and see if we can get them to come to church, but we are also always looking for new people. We know that there are prepared people in Toay, but we are having trouble finding those that are prepared enough to want to go to church and even fewer (like none) who actually go. Hna. Davis gets discouraged by the fact that we can´t help anyone progress and then I get discouraged and then we get excited again and then Sunday comes and then we cry and then we get excited again and find someone cool and then they don´t come to church and then we have a good lesson and.... this is the cycle in which I have found myself. Generally, I am very happy here. There are a bunch of people in the ward that I really like and I know that they are going to be faithful to the end. I realized this week that I am going to be in Toay for a few months and then I will leave, but the faithful people who live here will be here, going to church for the rest of their lives and they try so hard to make their ward great. So I have to work hard for them and try to make their ward stronger so that they can help and support each other here and teach their children for the rest of their lives. Sunday is transfers. I am going to feel like I have accomplished something once I hit one transfer. I have quite a few more, but I feel good about my mission so far and I know it´ll just keep getting better.

Toay is doing great and our zone is good and Hna. Davis and I are healthy (probably would be healthier if we didn´t eat so much, but I´ve learned how to make crepes and omelettes and how to turn on our oven to make toast) and happy. The life of a missionary is a strange one, but I get to meet lots of interesting people and I do feel like I am helping some of them. I pray for you all. Be nice and help the missionaries where you live. :) I love you all! And I know now, more than ever, that the gospel is the most important thing in this life and it can bless and change the life of every person.

Besos,

Hermana Seegmiller

P.S. Sometimes the men here give us kisses on the cheek before we can stop them and it really freaks me out. It´s just a custom they have here, but it feels super scandalous to me. Don´t worry though. I´m being a good missionary.

Buenissimo! May 19, 2010

Picture 1: Me wearing the hat Kayela made for me and hermana Davis, making a face that looks less than happy
Picture 2: Me and Hermana Davis in Acha with their famous grafitti, Jesus drinking mate
Picture 3: Hermana Davis, me, and our zone leaders - Elder Taggert and Drennan on our P-day in the campo. We took a picture next to a horse while having fun with the color accent feature on the camera
Picture 4: Hna. Davis and I having our asado in the campo. We got the elders to buy and cook our meat for us and it was so delicious! I love meat!

Hola familia,
This week has been quite the entertaining one. Many things have happened, but unfortunately, I forgot my journal where I wrote all of them down so I will have to try to remember the good stories. I do remember that I was going to tell you that I was eating lunch with some members last Saturday (also, we have the same meal with every member family - some form of pasta with some really watery sauce and little slices of meat added to it. And for dessert, fruit! I like fruit, but it's not chocolatey so it's not a real dessert. I don't really know how to break that to the Argentines.) and I was eating an orange for dessert when it was really slippery and it totally slipped out of my hands and rolled away on the floor. I was pretty embarrassed and the dad wanted to give me a different piece of fruit, but the mom just wiped it off and gave it back to me. It was still delicious, but just so you know, your daughter probably looks like she doesn't have any manners. They always make sure that I have a towel on my lap when I'm eating because they know I always make a mess with the bread (it gets a lot of crumbs when you break it!).
We also found this lady last week that we thought was golden. I contacted her in the street and she said that she used to meet with the missionaries, but she stopped when her friend told her they were a cult. She invited us to her house the next day. So we stopped by Rafaela's house, taught her lesson one, and challenged her to be baptized. She said that she had goosebumps when we were telling her the Joseph Smith story and she definitely believes it and that she needs to pray about baptism. So we went back on Monday, all excited to teach her the next lesson and she met us outside her door. Then she gave us our Book of Mormon back and said that it's not for her. We asked her if she prayed about it and she said that she did and the answer was negative. So we took it back and walked away. It kinda felt like we'd just gotten broken up with, but we had only known her for like two days. We were all excited about her life changing and her finding the church and getting baptized, but I don't think she's ready quite yet. It was pretty rough, but I'm sure that it's not the last time that will happen to me. I can hope that it won't happen that many more times.

We went back and taught Cesar twice more last week and he seems like he is actually progressing. He told us that he wants his daughters to someday be as sure of themselves and as pure as we are. He also said that he knows we're here to help him and he wants to learn more and become a better person, but he feels like he has sinned a lot in his life and he needs to change in order to get baptized. He's really great and we like him a lot. Getting people to church is way hard though so we are working hard to get him there this week. The hard thing is that he started working again this week so he's not always at his house.

We also found another couple this week - Ornela and Rodrigo, who we met on the street and they are way nice. We went back to their house one night and Ornela answered the door and said that she was busy right now, but that we should come back tomorrow and that she told Martin that she was going to go to church this next Sunday. We were totally confused because we didn't even invite her to church and we have no clue who Martin is. We went back the next day and had a really good time talking to them. They have a ton of questions about suffering and the purpose of life so we're going to teach them the Plan of Salvation. And they said they're definitely coming to church this coming Sunday. And she said that when we come back, she's going to make us tortas fritas (a delicious fried Argentine treat! It's my favorite thing when people offer us food when we go to their houses because I thought people would do that a lot more than they do).
This week for Pday, we actually did something way fun and we went out to the campo to have an asado like real Argentines. So basically we went out to the middle of nowhere to grill some meat and eat it. We also walked around in a field for a while and chased some cows. They had some horses too so some of the elders tried to ride them and two of them totally fell off. I tried to tell them not to because they would die, but they really wanted to. It was so fun. Then we went to the chapel and played some card games and had our district meeting. We have to take the bus back to Toay tonight so we're not going to get home until late, but the meat that we ate was so delicious. It was totally worth it. I think it's better that we actually do something on Pday because then we're more ready for the craziness of the week and the disappointment that Sunday always brings when no one comes to church (except this week... because a bunch of people will come!).

We're also teaching a brain surgeon! We ran into his super nice wife when she was watering her bushes outside and she said we could come back. They have a big house and like four cars (no one else here has even one and if they have one, it doesn't work very well and it's like 1000 years old). They were really nice and really smart and seemed receptive. We're going by to see them again next weekend because they have no time because they're too busy fixing peoples' brains during the week. We were kinda intimidated that they're so smart, but the gospel makes a lot of sense and the spirit will tell them it's true so we have faith that they will understand how important it is.

Oh, also.... I gave a talk this week. It was missionary Sunday so Hna. Davis and I both gave talks. I talked about the joy that the gospel and living the commandments brings to our lives and then about small ways that they can better share the gospel with their friends. I was kinda nervous because I hadn't planned it out very well, but I got up there and started talking and I gave like a ten minute talk totally in Spanish. The people in the congregation understood it too! I talked about how mom's friend, Connie, shared the gospel with her. I hadn't really realized before now how much that one act of sharing the gospel affected so many lives. Mom got baptized, got married, and had six kids. A bunch of them have now served missions and so many lives have been affected by her just sharing with Mom. I also realized how much my life has been affected by that because Mom is so solid in the gospel and her example has taught me so much about what I need to do and the kind of person I need to be. I would definitely not be in Argentina right now, sharing the gospel. I talked about that in sacrament meeting and I was shocked that I started crying. But one lady in the congregation who is kinda inactive and going through a hard time right now, totally started crying when I was talking and later she told me that her mom also joined the church and that the children of converts have a special testimony. I had never really thought about it that much, but it is true and now that lady likes me so it was success on all sides! Also, I was so proud of myself for speaking in Spanish for ten minutes and sharing things that I wanted to say. It was great.

I got my memory card and a bunch of pictures of Jarrett at prom and stuff from Daddy this week. It was really fun to look at all the pictures. Then I got to show Hna. Davis who Najee is because I didn't bring any pictures of him. She was also shocked by how big Jarrett is. He has gotten very tall.. my little hermanito. Well, I hope everything is going good on the homefront. Everything's all crazy in preparation for Kortni's wedding and I am very sad that I can't be there, but I did write it on Hna. Davis's calendar and we're going to do something special on that day in celebration. Maybe a dance party to MoTab on that day in her honor. I love you all so much. The gospel is so important and it is changing lives every day, mine included. I miss you and love telling people about each of you and showing them my cute picture of my redheaded family + Jordy. The Argentines love it too. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the stories. Get excited for next week when I will tell you all about the people that went to church and want to get baptized!

Love you so much,
Hermana Seegmiller

P.S. I almost got hit by a car this week. I was just walking across the street with Hna. Davis and a suburban-like car was turning next to us. We had plenty of room and we were going to finish, but then the suburban swerved to hit me! I screamed (my screaming reflexes are in tip-top shape) and ran to the side of the road. The driver's face was totally calm so we don't know what his problem was, but it was quite scary. I'm alive and well though. :) No worries.

May 12, 2010-Hola

Hello family,

Well, Argentina is doing just great and so am I. I feel like we are getting farther in our work every week. At first, we just had to spend all our time finding people to teach. Now, some of the people we´re teaching are already getting somewhere and we are still finding new people. We had a good lesson this week with a man named Cesar, in which we finally got somewhere with him. He said that he knew we came to him for a reason and then we talked with him about how he´s not sure that God exists. But we told him that we are going to help him figure that out so hopefully he´s serious about this and he´ll do the reading this week. The ward mission leader is also really excited about missionary work right now and so we´re going to try hard to members more involved in the work. We also contacted this family on the street that said they just moved here and they went to church like four times when they lived in Santa Rosa. So they are coming to church with us this week and then we can teach them more... We found a bunch of people this week that look promising and we hope they turn out to be as good as we think they are.

Other than that, Hermana Davis and I are addicted to the bread here. It´s so good! We eat it with jam all the time. I´ll probably die when I can´t have it anymore. Maybe i´ll start disliking it before I have to leave Argentina because it will have made me very large and I¨ll be angry at it for doing that to me. I wore my boots this week. It was a pretty exciting day. It was pretty cold outside so I decided to wear them so I can try them out. They were black when I put them on and totally brown when we came home at night because Toay is covered in dirt and sand and it got all over my boots. They totally kept my legs warm though so I´m excited to wear them more. Also, Hermana Davis and I have been using that workout book that you gave me when I left. A lot of the exercises in it make you look really stupid when you do them so it´s pretty entertaining to watch each other try to do them at 6:30 am when we´re practically still sleeping. We´ve only done them for three days so far, but we are going to keep doing it and be so buff by the time we leave.

Well, missionary work is calling to us so we must go. I hope everything is going well for all of you. I love you and am so grateful to have you as a family. Make some non-member friends this week and wait for them to ask you about the church. Maybe Jarrett´s friends´parents... then eventually you can invite them over for dinner and stuff and someday you can go with the missionaries to teach and baptize them. ´Then they will love you. Next week, I will report that a ton of people came to church and some of them want to get baptized. This is me being very optimistic. Well, the gospel is true and it is a huge blessing in our lives! Love you all!

Ciao,

Hermana Seegmiller

P.S. Everyone here gives besos when they meet you and every time they see you. It gets kinda tiring because you have to go around and kiss everyone hello and then kiss everyone goodbye. I´ll probably continue that tradition after I get home though...

May 4, 2010-Finding, finding, and more finding

Hello familia,
It´s me again, from Argentina. The weather has been quite good lately, which is a lovely change from the week before when it was freezing. It´s going to be a cold winter and I´m not super excited for it, but at least now i have my jacket (i left it in the mission office when I first got here... oops. But they sent it to me this last week.) So it was a good week. Hermana Davis and I haven´t done much better on not eating all the time, but a lot better on teaching lessons to people that might actually be interested in learning about the gospel. We still get rejected a lot because the mission goal is 40 contacts every day. My favorite is when people see us coming so they run inside and close the door. Because then it´s like hello, we´re not afraid to knock on your door. Silly Argentines. I like Argentines and my accent is getting a lot better. I´ve also learned some new things this week - they say "rey" instead of muy and they do say "che" a lot, especially if you are a mother talking to your disobedient child. Also, you sound like an old person or totally weird if you say Adios. You have to say ciao. I have not yet mastered this so I basically sound like a weirdo all the time. I´m working on it.
Something weird that happened this week was that we were listening to my companera´s MP3 player that has church songs and other church stuff on it and I suddenly heard Uncle Dan´s voice. It was very strange, but I looked at the MP3 player and sure enough, it was his talk from conference. It was totally weird because I´m in Argentina in this tiny town and Uncle Dan´s voice was in my house. It was actually very comforting and i listened to his whole talk. It was a good talk and it helped me think about my teaching and how I can improve it. So thanks Uncle Dan!
We went back to a bunch of houses this week of people we contacted on the street last week and some of them were actually there and then actually let us in! Milagro! Then we taught them a lesson and gave them a Book of Mormon. We got 11 new investigators this week, which was the mission record of the week and we got put in the newsletter. Very exciting. We actually have zone conference tomorrow so that´s why I´m emailing today. I´m excited for the President and the Hermana and the assistants to come. I think we could use a little pumping up and advice right now. Hermana Davis and I also got asked to give a taller about weekly planning so we´re pretty excited about that. We´re going to do a really cheesy demonstration and say something like "weekly planning gives you vision" but it´ll be in Spanish. My Spanish speaking abilities are going pretty well, but it´s still hard to understand. When people talk to me, my mind goes completely blank and I look to Hermana Davis for a translation. I love Hermana Davis. I feel so grateful for her because I feel like this whole adjusting to another country and being a real missionary and walking like 400 kilometers a day and not really knowing what a kilometer is thing would be really difficult if I had a rough companion too.
The frustrating thing about this country and the members who live here and probably all members in the world and probably me just a few months ago is that they don´t realize how important the gospel is. They´re all like oh yeah, maybe I´ll go to church next week. Or someone spread a rumor about me once (like this one lady got a rumor spread about her that she is a prostitute - that´s actually kinda intense) or said something mean to me so now I don´t go to church anymore. And we visited these inactives this week who said "I´m just not sure about this new prophet. He just loosened the rules on the missionaries too much." Hello lady, he´s the prophet! He´s just fine - I´m pretty sure it´s you with the problem. And when they have the gospel, they don´t really feel the need to share it even when all their family members need it so badly! When people really understand the gospel and all the wonderful things it offers, they want to share it with everyone they know. I think that´s what I´ve learned on the mission so far. The gospel is everything. That´s why we are here. We are here to get closer to Christ and bring others with us. I hope that is what I´m doing right now.
Something really cool that happened this week was that we taught a lesson to this lady who was busy sewing some dance costumes by hand, putting the sequins on one by one (way impressive - I would never have the patience) and we taught her about the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon. We read Moroni 10: 3-5 with her and she was totally fascinated by it. She started reading the rest of the book while we were just sitting there for like ten minutes and she asked if we sell the book because she really wants one. So we´re going back to her this next Saturday because she´s really busy during the week and we shall see what happens with her and with all the other people we taught this week. We really need people to start coming to church this week if we want them to really progress. We shall see.
In the meantime, I´m having a good time with Hermana Davis and we´re working hard and eating a lot of baked goods and candy and ice cream and fruit and bread. I really like the bread here. Surprisingly, I haven´t had that much meat. I think it´s really expensive right now. We eat a lot of pasta though. Our patriarch´s wife fed us some milanesas de soja (kinda like breaded chicken, but it was made of soy!). Pretty weird, but I had some real ones with a little family with four really cute kids. The Argentines are taking good care of me and so is Hermana Davis. I pray for all of you and I love you and miss you a lot. I think I need a better picture of our family, but everyone loves to see the picture I have. I also love to look at it and remember how much I like all of you. I have an hour to email so any of you who want to email me, I now have time to read it and would love to hear from you. I love you all so much and am very excited to spend eternity with you.
Cuidese,
Hermana Seegmiller