Falling for Fall

This is what fall looks like!

Slacklining on P-day! So much fun!

A random performance going on in a subway station.

Ice cream with the Sisters on Halloween!

We see this lady a lot. She has four dogs, all different ages, same breed, all purple, always in a baby stroller. We love her!

Happy Halloween!

Nov 3

This week! Oh my goodness! Oh Monday, we were going to have dinner with a recent convert, Choi Seung Eem, and her son at their home. We had just finished eating, when the father came home from work. (this is the same father who wouldn't pray since he is Buddhist, but thanked us for blessing his family.) We asked if we could teach him a lesson, and that he could play the role of investigator and ask questions, correct our Korean, etc. so we could be more prepared when we teach others. He kind of blew it off, but came and sat down as we began to teach.(Miracle #1) His wife and son have been meeting missionaries for months, and he never stays in the room to listen, UNTIL NOW!! :) :) :) We read from the children's Book of Mormon, and he just listened. But by the end, he had grabbed the book from his son and was explaining the story of Ammon to his wife.(miracle #2) He then asked us what was different about the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and read the entire introduction to the Book of Mormon.(Miracle #3) We talked to his wife about something else, but he interrupted asking us about our families. We were able to testify of who God is, and how he has blessed our families, and how God loves him just as much as he loves his son. I then felt impressed to talk about Grandpa Bennett passing away, and bore my testimony about the Plan of Salvation. I began to cry, as well as Sister Evans and Seung Eem. He handed us each a tissue, and as I kept talking, we looked up and saw him wiping tears from his eyes.(Miracle #4,5,6,7,+++++) The spirit was SO strong, and we know he could feel it. It was incredible. He still isn't ready to take the lessons, but said casually "I may need to read the Book of Mormon, just to see what this is all about." Oh my goodness. This gospel is true. The plan of Salvation is real. God's love for this man was so apparent, and he felt it very strong that night. We are going to continue working with him as the spirit continues softening his heart little by little.

 

We have had other really cool experiences. We had a meal with a member who invited all 12 missionaries over to eat! We taught them the Restoration, each companionship teaching a principle. Sister Evans and I were going to teach the Joseph Smith story, and I had Sister Evans say the first vision. As soon as she started, the spirit was so strong and all our testimonies were strengthened even further about the divine calling Joseph Smith received. Kim Myung Oak is still in pain, but is so sweet and loves when we visit. She gave us big hugs as we left, and we love her!! Yesterday, we had a new investigator come to church, Ee Me Kyung. She was a little early, and the members were so wonderful and sat with her the entire time, answering all her questions and making her feel at home. I say this a lot, but I love this ward so much!

 

It's been an incredible week, filled with blessings and miracles both big and small. It's amazing to see just how the Lord is pushing his work forward all over the world. We are each on a mission to spread the gospel no matter where we are. And I am so grateful for all of you and the examples of faith that you are to me. I love you, have a wonderful week!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller

Patience

I love this city!

 

And amazing quote of the week!

 

 “Without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace. Patience is far more than simply waiting for something to happen—patience requires actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results don’t appear instantly or without effort.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf “Continue in Patience “

The Best Two Years

We saw a family traveling around town in this. They let us take a picture with their little boy

This is the dresser we have in our home. Best Two Years anyone?

AAAH IT"S ALMOST NOVEMBER!!!

Oct 26

This has been a really fun week, full of the spirit and also fun quotes. People are fun. And possibly we are socially awkward to the max by now thus the reason certain things are funny, but I will share them nonetheless. 1) We have a sweet less active, Kang Jee Eun, who really loves English and practices when we meet. She was having a hard day because of a coworker, and explained her as such. "She is so fat. She's even fatter than..even fatter than.. An American missionary!!" My companion and I (both American missionaries mind you) looked at eachother and said, "Wow, she must be huge." To which she strongly agreed and continued her story. Confidence boost! 2) I decided to actually wear my hair down to church on Sunday (gasp!). I walk in and Elder #1 says, "Wow, Sister Seegmiller, you changed your hair. It looks nice." A few minutes later, Elder #2 walks in and says, "Wow Sister Seegmiller, you look like a lion." Apparently it got mixed reviews. 3) A sweet old man in the ward was watching me clean up dishes after a ward lunch. After several attempts to tell me something in Korean, he finally says in English, "You the very best kind of missionary." Totally made my day. 4) we do a service project every week, and have become really good friends with the man in charge. He was talking to us afterwards told Sister Evans and I that we were the 'dream team'. We agreed ;) 5) not really a quote but fun fact. In ward choir, they have asked me to sing in the soprano section (yeah, that's new). Well, in our song the very last note is a high G, which no human should sing. Joking around (and trying to reminesce on the Phantom of the Opera days in the car with Shawn on family vacations) I sang it nice and loud. To which the director said, "Oh great, we will let Sister Seegmiller sing it." Um... yeah. It sounds like.. well me trying to hit a high G. 6) Maybe shouldn't share this but oh well. During companionship study we were practicing for a lesson, and decided to try it in English first. (we were both deliriously tired at this point, but were trying our best) It was going pretty well until my companion said "We don't do that, but we do do this." Me, in my highly sophisticated and mature fashion, totally lost it and laughed for a good 5 minutes. Oh dear. Missions are fun.

 

I don't have any grand conversion stories or miracles to share this week. Just the simple testimony that God really does answer our prayers, and that miracles happen all around us every single day. We just need to take the time to recognize them in our lives. #1) We were talking to people on the street as a district, and a lady was looking at the Book of Mormon really interested. So I walked over, and it turns out she was a less active who hadn't been to church for a really long time, but wants to meet!! #2) We had a dinner appointment with a member, and the other sisters were asked to share the spiritual message. Before leaving our house, I felt like I should grab my hymnbook. Hours later, when they started the message they asked if we could start with a hymn, and needed the hymnbook I had 'happened' to grab that day. #3) We were visiting homes, and found a less active who hadn't been to church in at least 20 years. She let us in, and told us she only let us in because of how shocked she was to see us. She informed us that she ALWAYS is at work at that time, and this was literally the first time in months she happened to be home. And it was the first time we had ever attempted to stop by her home to visit. #4)Yesterday we were looking for less actives, and got to an apartment building. The apartments have front doors that you cannot get into unless someone beeps you in, or you know the code. But every single time we do visits, we pray that we can get in somehow and without fail someone has always come by to open the doors. So, we prayed and waited. But no one came. So we visited some more homes, and came back later. Still no people. I decided to try the doors one more time, and to our surprise,  it was unlocked! It's hard to describe, but these doors always automatically lock after being shut. So having it shut and unlocked is 'impossible'. Unless of course the Lord is on your side! Then we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us! :) #5) There is an investigator, Yoo Oak Roar, who has stopped responding to our texts and calls for weeks. We text her a scripture everyday but no response. But then, on Wed, night she texted us saying she would call tomorrow. On Thursday we called, and she asked if we could meet at 4pm the next day. OF COURSE! So we met her with a member, and taught the Restoration. As we began the Joseph Smith story (one of the most incredible stories in the world) the Spirit was so incredibly strong and she could feel it. We asked her to be baptized, and she said she would prepare to be baptized on Nov. 23!! :):) It was an absolute miracle!

 

I want to testify to all of you that I know God hears and answers our prayers, every single time. Maybe not in the way or time that we are expecting, but He always does. He is our literal loving FATHER in Heaven, and wants the very best for us. And as we take time to reflect on our day, no matter how crazy, hectic, or boring it may be, His hand is there guiding us back to Him. I know that the church is true. I feel it so deeply I want to burst sometimes! This is the most incredible message ever, That God lives, He loves us each personally, and is anxiously engaged in each and everyone of our lives. We are never alone! I'm so grateful for this opportunity to share it with this wonderful part of the world in Korea. I love all of you. Have a great week!

 

-Sister Seegmiller :)

Or maybe it's Costco that's the universal language...

Costco-sized bag of pretzels- should of lasted forever but we opened it wrong, and how have ziploc bags full of pretzels around our house.

Welcome to Korea.. That woman is probably around 80 years old riding around in the back of the bike/truck thing. I love it!

An adorable little boy in our ward, who right before we took the picture, grabbed my face to tell me a very intense story.

Elder Ross, my zone leader, and his last day here in Korea! Crazy that missions actually end..

Sister Evans and I after our morning run, where we froze to death and thawed on the floor.

Blessings, blessings, and more blessings!

Oct 19

This week was just wonderful. We visited with an elderly less active woman in our ward. She is 91 and is in a lot of pain. She tells us often she wants to die because 'people don't hurt in heaven', but she is so sweet! We were talking about loving God and others, and decided to sing a hymn. When the song was over, she was very quiet for a long time. We decided to sing another hymn, and the spirit was so strong. We pointed out that she was feeling the spirit, and she said she wants to feel it all the time and committed to pray everyday! As we were leaving, I thought she asked if we were going to walk, but she actually asked if we wanted some coke. I said yes, and then realizing my mistake quickly tried to take it back. But she was set, and poured us both a huge glass, Well, Sister Evans hasn't had carbonation in over 10 years, and I have never had caffeine. And we really, REALLY didn't want to start drinking it then. We didn't know what do to. So I asked if I could the bathroom and when she wasn't looking we dumped it down the toilet.. We felt so horrible but didn't know what else to do. But considering what coke can do to things, we are hoping it cleaned her pipes and we did her a favor...

 

Then on Sunday.. Oh on Sunday. We had two investigators say they were coming to church, but never showed up. Then the less active we are working with didn't come, and neither did one of the recent converts. We had an appointment set for later that day, which called and cancelled, and our other appointment rejected our calls. Then we started talking to a lady on the street who immediately yelled "I hate you, why would you ever talk to me!?" Oh boy. It wasn't exactly the best start/middle. But two ward members were pretty sick, and here when people are sick they eat something called Jook- which is sort of like porridge. So we made some for them, and went to drop it off. After the trials come the blessings!! The first woman had us come in, and eat some apples with her. We text her a scripture everyday, and she told us a super cool story. Years ago, she was less active and wasn't sure if the church was true. She read a verse in the Book of Mormon that really impacted her, and she realized that if the Book of Mormon was true then the church has to be true too. And she has been super active ever since. Well, a few days ago she was having a really hard day. And without knowing it, we texted her that exact scripture on that day. She was strengthened and able to do what she needed that day. The Lord knows the needs of every single one of his children! Then we visited a recent convert. It was a suprise visit, and her non-member husband answered the door. We had never met him before, but she has been trying to get him interested in the church for awhile now. We weren't sure how he would react, but he was so nice, invited us in, and made us dinner! We had dinner with their family, and were able to get to know them even better. It was such an incredible miracle that he was there, and he wants us to come back! As we were leaving, I asked if we could have a kneeling prayer. He said he is Buddhist so he wouldn't join, but asked me to say the prayer. I prayed for each of them individually, blessing them with things they needed like we always do. After the prayer, he was standing there staring at us. He said. "Wow. You blessed my whole family. Thank you." It was so cool! We had no idea he was listening, but he could feel our love and God's love for him and his family. It made me realize the power of prayer and how important it is to know people by name. If we try to tell people that God loves each of them individually by name, but we don't know their name, why would they believe us? But when we really make that effort, they can feel God's love through us. This work really is simply a labor of love.

 

I love being a missionary. I love Korea with all my heart. This is truly God's church on the earth!! We are oh so blessed! I love all of you, have a wonderful week and you are always in my prayers!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

A picture's worth a thousand words, so 13 pictures is worth, like .... a lot, right?

The tiniest toilet I have ever seen.

At the DMZ!

Fun on the bus. We also visited a war prison. Pretty crazy.

General Conference is the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!

Oct 12

This week has been amazing. Because of the week delay for translation, we watched conference this weekend. And holy cow what an incredible weekend it was. Mom, you talked about Elder Bednar's comment, how the 88,000 missionaries are here to assist the members in missionary work. (fun fact, since they lowered the mission age two years ago, there has been a 30,000 missionary increase, from 58,000 to 88,000. Holy. Cow.) You said how that seems to put a lot more responsibility on the members, which it absolutely does. But as missionaries, it made us realize even more just how important it is that we involve members in this work by inviting them to lessons and teaching them how to share the gospel. Sometimes we think that somehow we can do this work alone, but it simply isn't true. Members and missionaries MUST work together in order for this work to go anywhere. And it's definitely going! So exciting! Another thing that really stood out was the emphasis on propthets and their divine calling from Heavenly Father. Over and over they talked about the importance of having a living prophet and heeding His counsel, which is untainted and directly from God. They said several times that this will be our protection in the latter-days, and if we ignore it we will fall. Pretty intense, but so incredible! We literally have the opportunity to listen to the mouth piece of the Lord, giving us direct and specific counsel how to overcome the temptations of Satan. As Richard G. Scott said, "As we do these things, the harder Satan will try to stop us and the less power he will have to do so." Now that is a cool promise. Holy cow, Conference is so amazing. I am so grateful for modern prophets and apostles who lead and guide this church today.

 

This week we had a meeting for all the new missionaries and their trainers. It is a type of follow up meeting and additional training. It was such a good meeting! We talked a lot about street contacting and how to make it more meaningful and personal for each person we talked to. As we were preparing to leave, our wise AP promised us that since we had practiced those things so much the Lord would bless us with people in our path that day who needed what we had just learned. And that's where the miracles began! We got on the bus heading to the subway station. In that 10 minute ride, we met three people who all wanted a Book of Mormon and asked if they could learn more about it. We then got on the subway, where we were talking to a woman, and the two woman beside us asked if they could see a Book of Mormon, and began reading for a good 15 minutes as we went to our stop. We transferred to another train, and met a 70 year old woman who had just lost her husband and was very lonely but had great faith in Christ. We were out of Book of Mormons, and only had one pamphlet left which just happened to be the Plan of Salvation. We taught her about the Plan, and she started to cry. She wrote down her address and phone number, and told us we had to meet the rest of her family and share this message. And it just turns out a member from another ward got on the train right at that moment, and was able to teach and testify about what we had just said. They both got off, and two more woman came over and asked if we could teach them more about what we had been sharing. This all happened in the space of about an hour. When we got back home, we were speechless. We couldn't believe the goodness of God and the incredible blessings he had poured upon us. And my testimony has grown dramatically that when the Lord gives us knowledge, and we do our best to put that knowledge into practice, He will bless us. He will always bless us and we will feel His love for us and all HIs wonderful children around us. It was a miracle. Holy cow I love this work. I LOVE THIS WORK!! It is in God's hands, his perfectly capable hands if we just get out of the way.

 

I love being a missionary. This is the greatest work in the world. I love Korea and the wonderful people living here. I love the members, the missionaries, and my adorable companion. But most of all, I love my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. Through them we truly can find the greatest happiness. I love all of you, thank you for everything and you are always in my prayers. Have a wonderful week!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :) 

The DMZ!!!!

Oct 5

this is being written from an ipad today so please forgive the lack of capitalization. it takes too long

this has been such an incredible week, and i will try to describe it from this awful keyboard. (seriously, touch screens are the worst. real keyboards and flip phones are where its at!) so this week for pday we went to....THE DMZ!!!! oh my goodness so cool! pictures will come next week hopefully. but holy cow. we went on a bus tour so we were able to go into this tunnel north korea had dug to invade seoul. it was only found because a north korean defector informed south korea. they have found three other tunnels before as well, and there are probably lots more undiscovered. super crazy!! we were 200-250 meters from the north korean border. i cant believe they were able to big it so big and so solid without south korea ever realizing it. we went until they blocked it off. thats the one place we werent able to take pictures so you will just have to imagine. it was about 5 feet high ish, and could fit probably like 4 or 5 people across. we also went to a look out where we could use binoculars and look into north korea!! it looks so normal from that view, but they are such a lost people!! 

while looking over at their country from the wonderful, prosperous, free south korean side, i got kind of emotional. i couldnt help thinking about the book of mormon, the nephites and lamanites. they came from the same family, they were the same people with the same anscestors. but over time they became so different. and through the traditions of their fathers the lamanites became a bloodthirsty ferocious people, and they didnt know anything different. thats exactly what has happened here!! its literally that story being played out in real life!! i felt a little like the sons of mosiah, loving those lost brothren and wanting so desperately to share the gospel with them in hopes of saving whoever they could. there are talks of reuniting korea again, having it be one peaceful country and one people again. but only the gospel is going to make this possible. oh man i want to be a part of it soo badly! they need the gospel, they need christ so much, they need that hope. and its so close!! literally a few hundred meters away. i am so excited to see what the lord has in store to make this possible. you can guarantee i will be first in line, these korean people are just too precious to let them slip away. its coming. i dont know when, but oh man, it will and it will be incredible!! 

also, this week we really tried to focus on making our prayers more specific. we prayed to find someone interested in learning more about the gospel, and met the coolest woman ever! she couldnt believe she hadnt seen missionaries before, she said she had heard about us for years but hadnt actually met a missionary before, she was in a hurry, but took a book of mormon out of my hands, took our phone to give us her number and insisted that we call her again. um.. yes ma'am! then we prayed to find someone sincerely interested in learning about the gospel, not because we are foreign but because they honestly want to learn. today we met this awesome american soldier at the travel office. she was muslim, but was really curious how we were different. we offered her a book of mormon, and she said "its fine, thats what im getting on my phone right now." she spent the next hour reading all about our church in the internet, it was incredible, the lord is placing prepared people in our path. and we find them even better when we actually ask for them specifically. who knew. the lord is just too good to us, 

i love being a missionary so much. this is the most incredible work in the world. im so blessed to be here, surrounded by such an incredible people. this is truly gods true church on earth, we are so lucky to have it, and also have a great responsibility to share it. aah i love it, i love all of you. have a great week! 

세그밀러 자매 

Chuseok Conference

http://korealdspanewsletter.com/2014/09/24/chuseok-conference-2014/

 

Here is a link about the conference, as well as a few pictures! Enjoy!

Dog

Well folks, it happened. I have officially eaten dog! (picture 1 is the before, I was super excited. or maybe it was terrified..) It was dog soup, and honestly kind of tasty. But it was hard to get over the fact that dog was sitting in my bowl. But it can now go down in the check list of things eaten here. 

A beautiful rooftop view

 

An AWESOME picture of those spiders who are everywhere

 Dinner at the home of some incredible members!

Sleeping Beauty, Wonder Woman, and Dogs

Sept 29

This week has been great as always. We have once again been on the less active search and rescue! While walking the streets we passed a lady, who every time we looked at her would run away. But she was following us for a while so we finally said hi. She then began to freak out, insisting we had 'bewitched her with our charm' and she didn't know how to handle it. For the next 15 minutes, she followed us saying in every single way possible in both english and korean how beautiful we were. Then she got very excited and exclaimed, "That's it! You (pointing to Sister Evans) are Sleeping Beauty/Cinderella/Little Mermaid, and You (pointing at me) are Wonder Woman!" Um.. actually we are missionaries but thank you! We told her we really needed to go, so she yelled "I love you!" (in Korean) as we walked away. Then, far louder than the first time, she yelled, "I love you!" (this time in English) No gospel interest, but she sure was friendly. We meet fun people on the streets. We have found a lot of homes, and a few people. Generally we get little response. BUT! This week was ward conference, so we went to a bunch of less active homes and gave them all invitation. One non-member woman answered the door, and once she saw us, immediately slammed the door. So we just put an invitation on the door for her member daughter. Several hours later, we got a text from the daughter with a picture of the invitation, thanking us for thinking about her. It was awesome! We haven't met her yet, but it's amazing the connection you can feel just through text. We have been able to text her off and on and while we haven't seen her yet she knows she isn't forgotten.

 

Yesterday was ward conference and it was amazing!! Pong Yeun Sook came to church again, and one of the ward members took her under her wing. They sat by eachother for all three hours of church, and during the lunch afterwards. As they were getting ready to leave, the member said to her, "You like this church and want to be a part of it. So you need to meet with these missionaries, learn more, and get baptized. I'll be at your baptism!" Our investigator agreed that was what she needed to do, and we were more than happy to help with that plan. It is INCREDIBLE the impact that members make in helping people feel comfortable and want to take that step of baptism. We were so grateful, and will keep you updated on her progress. We also had two less actives come, Kang Jee Eun and Kim Myung Oak, who we have been working with for the past few months. It was a very special meeting, and so fun to see how many people came to support. So many members brought less active members and friends, and lots brought non-members. We are very excited to start working with some of them!! :) Members are the best, and the absolute key to this work going forth in the Lord's way! After lunch, a man was baptized. He has been working so hard to overcome word of wisdom issues, and finally overcame with lots of prayers and priesthood blessings. He is so special and we are SOOO happy for him!

 

A really cool scripture that I came across this week was in 2 Tim. 3:12. As we are true and faithful to Jesus Christ, hard times are bound to come. But, as we continue to rely on the Savior the help always comes and we will have blessings poured out upon our heads. Such a comforting thought. The Lord is too good to us, and continues to bless us daily. He is leading and guiding this work, and it is going forth here in beautiful Korea, Finland, and all over the world! I love it! This gospel is true! I love you all, have a wonderful week!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

 

Quote of the week-

 

“This is one of the most remarkable periods of the world’s history! Ancient prophets yearned to see our day.

Let us be awake and not be weary of well-doing, for we “are laying the foundation of a great work,” even preparing for the return of the Savior. When we add the light of our example as a witness to the beauty and power of restored truth, we will not sleep through the Restoration.”

Aha! It's Zumba that's the universal language! Or maybe it's steak?

There is a group that does Senior Zumba near our house. We see them often, and it seriously one of the greatest things in the world. Oh man we love it so much.

We went to Outback for Elder Ross's 2 year missionary anniversary. We ate very well. and way too much. But it was delicious!

Just smile and wave boys! (and girls)

Sept 21

Well this has been a great week, full of reminders that there must be opposition in all things, but also that as we face everything with a smile things always work out. While talking to people on the street, you meet a lot of different people. Especially in a big city like Seoul. This week has been no exception. These were days that try mens souls. But, as He always does, the Lord pours out His blessings on those who endure well. One blessing is Sister Evans. Seriously, she is amazing. Things like having to wait 4 hours in line, or being rejected, or being rejected, or having creatures on your spoon, or whatever it may be, happen often. Yet we were talking and realized that through all of these things, neither of us even thought to get upset or angry. We are always laughing, having fun, and are certain we will meet all those who are not yet prepared sometime in the future when they will be ready to accept the gospel. There wasn't ever an option except being happy. She has such a positive outlook, it's so contagious. Oh man she's great, I am very lucky.  

Then while talking to people on the street we met a woman. She was sick of Christian churches. She had attended just about everyone and was tired of the corruption of doctrine, and leaders seeking money. (especially here, there are 'Christian' churches EVERYWHERE! it's more of a business generally, then a church.) She wanted religion but wasn't willing to join a corrupt church. But she didn't want to worship at a Buddhist temple, since she doesn't believe that is right. So she was lost and had given up hope. Oh my goodess, if there was ever a person who needed to hear the Restoration! We were able to teach her about prophets, apostasy, Christ, and the beautiful restoration through Joseph Smith. It was incredible and powerful, and while she didn't feel ready to meet again, we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and promise she had found God's true church. We left her, and passed by about 15 minutes later across the street, only to find her studying the Book of Mormon! She was completely engaged in those beautiful words, and we watched for a few minutes. Seriously, one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. We are praying that she will call so we can meet and share more!

Another woman we met on the street had been promising to go to church for weeks now, but never showed up. She said she would meet us yesterday at 11:30 so we could go to church together. She wasn't there, so we called her. She said she wasn't coming, and I wasn't very happy with that answer. So I told her we were standing there waiting and she needed to come now. And guess what, she came!! It was amazing. That 'Follow Up' talk I wrote about last week, yeah it really works. She came to church, read from the Book of Mormon and Hymn book throughout all of sacrament meeting, and said she wants to keep coming back. The ward is incredible! And everytime we left her for a second, someone had already started talking and introducing themselves. There wasn't even room to sit by her at lunch (they have lunch every Sunday was a ward) because she was surrounded by ward members who had already accepted her as a part of the ward. It was so amazing!

This week has been so good. Lots of ups and downs, but good times outshine everything else a hundred times over. The Lord is so good to us. I promise that as we face everything with a smile, and truly seek the Lord's hand in all things, we will find Him there and see the blessings he has in store for us. I love this gospel. I love my Savior! This is truly His church and His kingdom on earth. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

Ew. Just Ew.

For those of you who don't speak Korean, this is the "Shanelle Karaoke Room". Had to snap a pic.

Who wouldn't want this little guy on their spoon? Yes, she did eat him.

They have these GIANT yellow spiders EVERYWHERE! I tried getting close enough for you to sort of tell the size.

The Lord loves Korea!!

Sept 15

We have been working a lot with less active named Kang Jee Eun. Her family is really against the church, but she knows it's right and is trying hard to live the commandments. We have been meeting with her a lot more lately, and she has been coming to FHE with the ward for the past few weeks. She came to the Saturday and Sunday sessions of conference, and is progressing everyday! We love her so much. She loves the missionaries, and thinks all the elders are 'funny American boys'. She really likes Germans, and loves that our ancestors are German. Fun side note. Her faith is getting stronger and stronger everyday. We decided to watch the Joseph Smith First Vision DVD with her. And even though the world seemed determined to stop her from watching it (about 5 minutes into the movie, the DVD player took a sudden kamikazi leap off the tv, crashing to the floor) But two days and two DVD players later, we were able to finish it and the spirit was so strong. She is amazing, and her prayer to end the lesson was so full of faith. We love her.

 

Well, in order to not get deported, all missionaries are required to have a foreigners card. This card is received shortly after arriving in country, and must be renewed every year. Fortunately, Sister Evans just came to country and my year mark is coming up (AAHH!) so we were able to do this at the same time. First I needed to update my address. We left our home early to go to the office so we didn't use a lot of time. We got there only to learn I had forgotten a necessary paper. So we went back home, got the paper, went back and finally got it all down. All the while meeting incredible people on the way. Then today we had to go to the other office to update my card and get hers. On our way there we met a woman who said she would never read the Book of Mormon. She had read about our church in a novel (1 man, many wives) and said we were pretty similar to Muslim religions in our oppression of women. We talked for awhile, clearing up those rumors and testified how we knew our message was true. Before we got off, we again offered her the Book of Mormon. She readily accepted it, and then told us when she was 5 years old her mom had met with missionaries for awhile. She had never forgotten them. We arrived about 5 minutes after the office opened, and were given numbers 88 and 89! What?? We were literally in that office for over 4 hours, waiting. and waiting. and waiting. We FINALLY left the office to head home, and started talking to a woman on the subway. She quickly rejected us. So we talked to the woman on our other side. She opened up very quickly, and was very excited to read the Book of Mormon. She gave us her number and asked if we could meet again. We were really excited and stood up to get off at our stop, when a woman across the aisle ran over to us and said, "Wait! Can I please have your number before you leave?" Um, YES!! It was amazing. Once again, when things seem like they just aren't working out, the always will. If we had been earlier, we never would have met those incredible woman. The Lord's timing is amazing.

 

Well, that about sums it up. I love all of you! I hope you have a great week! Keep being amazing, and doing all those wonderful things you do. I know this church is true. It is truly the TRUE church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I love you!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

 

This is just too funny:

 

This is an actual sign posted by th British Columbia Fish and Wildlife Department!

WARNING

Due to the frequency of human - bear encounters, the B.C. Fish and Wildlife Branch is advising hikers, hunters, fishermen and any persons that use the out of doors in a recreational or work related function to take extra precautions while in the field.

We advise the outdoorsman to wear little noisy bells on clothing so as to give advance warning to any bears that might be close by so you don’t take them by surprise.

We also advise anyone using the out-of-doors to carry “Pepper Spray” with them in case of an encounter with a bear.

Outdoorsmen should also be on the watch for fresh bear activity, and be able to tell the difference between black bear feces and grizzly bear feces. Black bear feces are smaller and contain a lot of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear feces have bells in it and smell like pepper.

Tired, but Never Too Tired for Fun

Sometimes we get really tired. Sister LaBlanc and I at our home, during two different meal times.

Elder Bybee was getting transferred, so we were sad.

The mission conference!

Say hello to my district. This picture pretty much sums everything up.

Sister Evans!!

Another day of p-day bowling!

Shalynne, does she look familiar?? Yes, this is the missionary who first hosted Shalynne at the MTC!! :)

It's 추석!!

Wow this has been such a good week! Where to even begin?? Well, first off I am now serving with the beautiful Sister Evans!! She is adorable! She's from Mesa, Arizona, 19 years old, and ready to work hard. She's already so focused on what she came here to do, and when we talk to people on the street the spirit is always there. She is a very special missionary. We get along great, and I am so excited to work together! She's fun and funny, and likes to eat and exercise so basically this will be an amazing transfer! This week is 추석 which is similar to Thanksgiving. It's a 3-day celebration where everyone gathers with their extended families, eats A LOT OF FOOD, and play a lot of traditional games. It's great, except missionary work is very difficult since there are literally no people on the streets, and knocking on doors during this time is incredibly rude. SO.. We had a mission conference on Saturday which was incredible! Our focus this month is about receiving revelation through prayer. We watched a video, 'The Hope of God's Light, the true story of Todd Sylvester". Oh my goodness, SO GOOD! I recommend it to everyone! It is an inspirational story about a man coming to know God when all hope seemed lost. It also talks about acting on promptings as soon as they are received, and we never know the impact our actions can have on other people. Let me know what you think! Our whole mission (202 missionaries) are really trying to focus on making our prayers specific and direct, and most importantly a two-way communication with Heavenly Father. Already, we have felt the spirit more fully guiding us in this work. It's so incredible.

 

This week I also decided to read about following up, and it led me to the talk from last conference, "Following Up" by M. Russell Ballard. In it he gives three commitments, and they are very specific. I found it interesting, because most talks give very good counsel and direction. But he gave direct 'every member do this' statements that really stood out. First, he reminded all members to refer to us as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, not the mormon church or lds church. He said using those names may be appropriate in certain situations, but only as long as it is followed by the full name of the church. Second, he challenged every single member of the church to pray to find someone once every quarter, 4 times a year, that they can invite to meet with the full-time missionaries. I was very interested that it wasn't a suggestion, or a thought. He very directly told every member to pray for this opportunity. And that means it came from God. Which means if we are all willing to do this, God will help us to find those who are prepared. That doesn't mean they will all say yes or choose to be baptized. But we are promised by an apostle of God that we will be led to the right person as we seek for them through prayer and action. Just think of the difference our family alone could make in building the kingdom of God if we take this challenge to heart!? Third, he told every member despite their level of activity in the church, to obtain a copy of Preach My Gospel and make it a part of their study. It's widely available online and paper copies are pretty inexpensive. He asked families of missionaries to write to missionaries and let them know what they are studying. He said doing this will unite families more fully and create more opportunities to share the gospel. Basically it was an amazing talk! And I want to encourage all of you to take his challanges, and I want to hear how it goes!!

 

You are all amazing and I love you so much! Thank you for all that you do. This is the most amazing work in the world. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here, and I am so grateful for all of your examples as well. The church is true!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller

Hooray for New Friends and New Talents

An adorable recent convert, Jin Hyun Sook, who is adorable and also just took a bite.

 My district at the temple!

I sort of did some scrapbooking! Go team!