A great week in Korea

This week has been really cool. We finally bought a map! Our area is super huge, so it took 5 maps to cover 2/3 of our area. But we are happy with whatever we can get. The bishop gave us a ward list so this weekend we are going to locate all the members homes on the map, which will make less-active work SOOO Much easier! We are really excited. There have been some really neat experiences this week during 전도 which is proselyting or street contacting. During companionship study, we talked about ways to have people read scriptures on the street rather than just telling them about the Book of Mormon. Later that day, I talked to a young teenage girl. I told her about the Book of Mormon and she asked if she could have one. As she walked away, I watched her open it up and read it was she walked down the street. Then on the subway I was talking to a young mother. I told her about the Book of Mormon and how it blesses families. She read the whole introduction and several verses while we stood there talking. It was soo cool! Their interest is almost always peaked if we can just get them to open the book. And they both did on the street!! Oh man it was so fun. Another day, we were walking around trying to find out more about our area. We were pretty far from home and needed to get back for a dinner with the Bishop. I had the feeling to talk to 2 girls next to us, but then our light turned green and we crossed the street. As soon as I crossed I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. I had ignored a prompting and felt awful. I grabbed my companion and we immediately headed back to where they had been. I wasn't sure where they were, but we searched for about 15 minutes. We finally found them in a parking lot. It turns out they were tourists from China who spoke no Korean and very little English. They were looking for Seoul Tower, which we went to last week. However, we got there by subway and they were on foot. So not really knowing the area, we felt prompted to help guide them. We headed up streets I have never seen before and found the cable car entrance pretty easily. I think my companion thought I was crazy heading up and down streets, seemingly lost, and part of the time I thought we might be. But the spirit helped guide us and we got them where they needed to go. We weren't really able to talk much, but they now have a good impression of the church. It was amazing, and I am so grateful I listened to the prompting, even if I was a little delayed in doing it.

 

Sadly, Fawn has returned to Thailand until March. But she promised to continue reading and praying until we can meet again. We even assigned her some chapters to read, which wasn't easy since her Book of Mormon is in Thai. But with the three of us working together we figured it out. We were able to meet a new sister, 안명아 or Ahn Myuong Ah, this week. She met with  missionaries about 4 years ago, but hasn't had contact since. We called her a few weeks ago, and this week she called back saying she had some questions. We were able to meet and clarify some things for her. We will hopefully be able to meet with her  again. Hwang Choon Cha has been out of town so we haven't been able to see her lately. But we hopefully will before she moves.

 

We had dinner with an American family last night. They were really sweet and have only been in Korea for about 7 weeks. Dinner was nice, and then they asked if we had a spiritual thought. Before we went to their home, I felt like we should grab an extra english Book of Mormon and bring it with us. We made a messgae card with D:C 4: 1-3 written on it, as well as the "Every member a missionary" quote. It seemed a little forward, but I felt like it was what we needed to share. So I had their son read the card and we talked about member missionary work. I asked them if they could share any missionary experiences they have had. They had a friend over as well, and they all shared multiple experiences where they were able to share the gospel or stand up for their beliefs. Their 13 year old son also shared a lot of the experiences he has had at school with sharing the gospel and giving out Book of Mormons to friends. The spirit was so strong and almost all of us were in tears. The husband told us about a family who lived downstairs that he had been wanting to give a Book of Mormon, but he didn't have an extra one to give. I ran to my bag, grabbed out the english Book of Mormon, and handed it to him. He promised to do his best to share it, and we were just so grateful for them and their sweet spirits. It was an amazing dinner with an amazing family.

 

That just about sums up this week past week. It has been filled with spiritual experiences and wonderful people. I LOVE being a missionary, and I am so grateful to be a missionary. At this time, especially with the pasing of our sweet Grandpa, our message has taken a new meaning. We really are children of God, and when we die we really can return to live with him again forever! This message is blessing lives everyday. There is so much peace that this gospel brings. Without it, things like the death of a loved one would be crippling. But with the knowledge that we are oh so blessed to have, we know that he is in a better place. He is happy, healthy, and continuing his life in the work of the Lord. This church is true! I love all of you and have an amazing week!

 

Love, Sister Seegmiller 

Bright Fish, Big City

This city is HUGE! You are seeing a very small portion of the real size. And the Han river is the boundary that splits our mission from the Seoul South mission.

1) at home these display cases contain ice cream. Here, they sometimes contain dried fish.

2) we went to Namsang Tower last p-day. We got a view of the huge, beautiful city that we are serving in!

I love Korea!

This week has been a little slower than others. My companion was really sick, and we had to visit several doctors and spent most of our time in our home letting her rest. But I was able to get a lot of studying done in the scriptures, in the Ensign, with Korean, and lots of other things. So there is always a silver lining. Even though I am going a little stir crazy being indoors all day, and have started practicing my handstand pushups between study sessions! With a lot of medicine, prayers, help from President Christensen (who happens to be a surgeon), blessings from Elders, and rest, she is doing MUCH better and we should be able to work so hard from now on! So we are both very happy and relieved and ready to preach the gospel!

 

We were able to meet with two investigators this week. Kim Ki Choon really loves English, but is very strong in her religion. She read some passages from the Book of Mormon, and took a copy for herself. We marked some scriptures for her that she would enjoy, like 2 Nephi 22:2, Mosiah 4:9, and 2 Nephi 25:26?(maybe) I can't remember the last reference, but it was the one about We believe in Christ, we preach of Christ.. We are trying hard to help her feel the spirit and see that our message will bless her life. But some things just take time. We will see her again this week. Fawn is doing great. We did English, and she is doing so well. Then we taught Lesson 2- The Plan of Salvation. She accepted it really well, and said she wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom, or 해의왕국. It's interesting, because we can't really give her sections to read in the Book of Mormon since her version is in Thai. But we encouraged her to read from the beginning and pray about it. She said the closing prayer for our lesson which was awesome! She might be moving back to Thailand, but we aren't sure yet. We REALLY hope she stays. Hwang Choon Cha is also moving! :( We will hopefully be able to see her before she moves, and then refer her to missionaries in her new area.

 

The other day we were able to have dinner with the relief society president, and then had lunch with the ward on Sunday. The food was really good, but had a few things you normally wouldn't see at an American feast. One meal had a bowl of raw oysters, some raw flavored squid, and a bowl of dried anchovies. The other meal was a big bowl of tofu with some flavored soy sauce on top. That's it, just tofu. And honestly it was all pretty decent. The tofu was good, but it didn't really feel like you had eaten anything afterwards. But we felt healthier!

 

Today we will be doing an exchange with our sister training leader, who in this really small world, is Sister Lawrence from St. George! So that should be fun. Everything is going great here. It snowed last night, which actually means that today is warmer than usual which is nice. This winter hasn't really been bad, and all the members have told us it's much warmer than last year. Which we are very grateful for! I love it here in Korea. The work is progressing and we are a part of helping that along! The work is going forward at home as well, and in Utah especially, most work is done through member referrals!! I love you all so much, thank you for the examples you are to me and everyone. Have a great week and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day!

 

-Sister Seegmiller

And here is a super cool quote from the 1994 Inaugural Speech given by Nelson Mandela :
.
"We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us,
It is in everyone.
As we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates other."

English!...In Korean

A great week!

This has been a really good week. We had a cool experience showing that the Lord works in mysterious ways. The other sisters lost their phone one night and we were trying to search for it. It wasn't anywhere, so we all prayed and hoped it would show up. The next day, my companion and I went out to do street contacting. We realized we had forgotten our phone which had never happened before. When we got home, we realized our window was open which also never happens. We were wondering how we had been so careless. Then the other sisters came home. They told us that earlier they decided to go home just to see if they could borrow our phone and try to find theirs again. The house was dark so they were about to leave, but then heard our phone ringing through the open window. They went inside, and saw that a member was calling. They answered, and the member had found their phone and wanted to return it. If we had brought our phone or closed the window, they wouldn't have been able to receive the call and get their phone back. So what we thought was carelessness, actually turned out to be the Lord looking out for the other sisters. It was so cool, and helped remind us that He really does know everything. We have had a lot of meals with families from the Military branch, which we have really enjoyed. We met with the Hinchliffs, who happened to go to Hurricane High School, on Wednesday. And then we had dinner with the Hooge family last night. He showed us some really cool pictures of the DMZ, and they told us about a new LDS family that had just moved in to the area. In this extremely small world, the new family was Barry and Trisha Perkins! So I asked them to tell them I said hello. We met with the Jacquez family on Monday and gave a FHE for their family. We called them later in the week to schedule another visit at the end of the month. I asked if she could bring an investigator or less active, and she told me about a family that she has been working with in the ward. They are less active and she said our inviation was an answer to her prayers.

 

We were able to meet with a new investigator this week which is always SUPER exciting. Her name is 김기춘 or Kim Kee Choon. She has a lot of English interest, so we will be doing the Family English Program with her, 30 minutes of English, and 30 minutes of gospel. We started with the alphabet and sounds of letters. Then we shared a message. She is very involved with her church and loves learning about Christ and Heavenly Father. We are trying to help her see that we are meeting to help bring her closer to Christ, rather than just have nice conversations about him. Unfortunately, Fawn was sick this week and wasn't able to meet. But our adorable 황준자 met with us again. She has a very busy schedule but loves meeting so we find short times to visit her. When we walked in last time, she asked "Do you have my book?" referring to the Book of Mormon. We were more than happy to give her a copy, and read some of it with her. We haven't been able to discuss a lot because of time conflicts, but she is still interested and keeps meeting with us. It's amazing how happy we are after meeting with an investigator. We are helping them to see the path of Christ and Exaltation! It's such a huge deal but the Lord has shown us so simply how to obtain it if we just follow Him. It's so great!! I love this gospel and it is changing lives everyday!

 

We had mission conference on Wednesday, where we received training from President and Sister Christensen, the AP's, and the Zone Leaders. Our district was asked to do a musical number, so me and the other 3 sisters sang for it. It's amazing how often missionaries are asked to provide music for different meetings or events. But there is such a power in music, and having a room full of missionaries singing is really something incredible. It's hard to describe, but it's the best feeling ever! We were challenged to teach the first vision as if Joseph Smith was sitting beside us. They said to teach it in a way that he would be proud to testify of what you just shared. It definitely gave us a new perspective. We were paired with Sister Christensen to practice teaching. We tried really hard to have the spirit, and as we started to relate the First Vision, we just stared at eachother with tears in our eyes. The Holy Ghost testified very strongly to each of us that this event really happened. It really happened!! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ really did appear to Joseph Smith. God speaks to man in our day. Through Joseph Smith, the true church was restored and that's why we are here. Everything about our church rests on whether or not the first vision is true. But it is true, and so is everything else that follows, especially the Book of Mormon. We know how to gain Exaltation- to live with God forever! And that is the message we have to share with the world. Oh my goodness, it is so exciting!

 

That just about sums up this week. I love it here in Korea so much. This church is true and we are doing the Lord's work. I love all of you and hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for all you are doing at home to be examples to those around you; children, friends, teachers, doctors. etc. I love you!

 

-Sister Seegmiller

Welcome to 2014!

It's a new year, which means that I have officially turned 24! In Korea anyways. Shawn and I are practically twins! Who knew I would catch up one day. They turn older with the new year rather than on their birthday. And they celebrate the new year with Jan. 1 but the real celebration is the Lunar New Year, which occurs at the end of January this year. 

Well this week has been really cool as far as investigators go. We met with Fawn on Thursday. She came in and I asked how she wanted to start the English portion. She said, "Oh yeah, I forgot I was going to learn English too!" Which was awesome because she had decided to meet us again out of a sincere desire to learn more about the gospel! We taught her about the restoration, and we were able to watch the Restoration DVD in Thai which was really neat for her. When we gave her the Thai Book of Mormon she was shocked we had gotten it so fast. We explained that the church is everywhere, and when she returns home she will be able to find it there as well. She had a lot of questions but seemed to accept everything really well. As we were leaving she waved and said, "See you next week!" Those are wonderful words to hear from people, since many people have no desire to see us again. She is so sweet, and we have really high hopes for her,

 

Our other investigator, 황춘자 자매님 or Sister Hwang Choon Cha is the older lady we met on the street. We weren't able to see her again after visiting her home, but she said she would attend church. She has such a fun personality and we just love her. We met her outside the subway station (she is probably 70ish so we thought she would take the subway. Instead she walked about 20 minutes from her home to get there. She brought us matching socks as a present, and insists that we are like her daughters.) and brought her to the church. The relief society sisters were wonderful and helped her feel special. She has a lot of questions, especially since we really haven't been able to teach her yet. But she is really curious and eager to learn. She had to leave sacrament meeting a little early (our ward has sacrament meeting last) but we hope to meet her again this week. Everything about meeting her has been a miracle, from meeting her again on the street, to her inviting us over, to her coming to church. It's so amazing and we are very grateful. We are trying to follow the spirit and do what the Lord wants us to do while inviting her to come unto Christ.

 

Last Monday, we had dinner with the Jacquz family. They are members here living on the base. She was baptized 5 years ago, and their testimonies are so strong. I loved hearing their conversion story, and seeing the real-life experience of what meeting missionaries can do for a family. They have three adorable kids and have all been sealed in the temple. That's the reason we are out here preaching the gospel. It truly changes lives forever. We are going over there again tonight to do family home evening, and they will hopefully invite some non-member friends to join. So we are excited.

 

That just about sums up my week. Has anyone been able to refer friends to the missionaries? If so I would LOVE to hear about it!! We learn very quickly in the mission field that you are not successfully only when you get baptisms. You are successful when you invite. So I encourage you all to look for those missionary experiences in your lives. I love being out here, teaching the gospel in barely understandable Korean. The Lord is preparing people all over the world, and I know they are here in Sindang 신당. We will be able to find them if we open our mouths and remember everyone is a child of God. I am so grateful for this gospel and for all of you! Thank you for all your testimonies, and I love you so much! Have a great week!

OOh I forgot one more cool thing. We were having dinner as a district after doing some English flyering together. There were 10 of us so it was hard not to make a scene. But a man walked over, and asked if we were from the LDS church. It turns out he took voice lessons from Elder Oaks relative for a few years in Utah! He isn't a member, but really loves the church and respects the members so much. He was really happy to see us in Korea. The Elders gave him their number and they will hopefully meet again. It was amazing. The church is true!

 

-Sister Seegmiller

세그밀러 자매

 

Here's some fun quotes for you: 

 

"We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws, but for potential". - Ellen Goodman

 

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment." - Sydney Smith

 

You are what you eat – so don’t be fast, cheap, easy or fake.

 

 Warning!
Chocolate will make your clothes shrink.

 

If there are no ups and downs in your life, it means you are dead.

 

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot."  

A Korean Christmas

New area and I love it!!

Hello everyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This week has been truly one of miracles!

 

Christmas Eve Eve, we went Christmas caroling to every home in our apartment. It was really fun, and we were invited into two homes to share a message which was awesome! On Christmas, we had a Christmas conference with all the missionaries. Sister Christensen showed us a video about Westjet Airlines, and you all have to watch it if you haven't. It was really sweet and helped show that the joy in Christmas is giving! They have a Santa who talks to people as they check their boarding pass, and it's probably on YouTube. We also watched some Bible videos about Christ which I assume are from LDS.org so I recommend those as well. It was truly an amazing conference. President Christensen pointed out that the wisemen left immediately to find Christ, yet it took around 18-24 months before they really came to know him. He said, "Isn't it a coincidence that our missions are that exact same amount of time?" Then we talked about how the Lord doesn't work in coincidences, and this is the time of our lives where we need to find Christ more than ever, and come to know him better than we know ourselves. And by following His example of loving and serving others, we will come to know him in a way we never have before. Christ really lives, and we are helping bring people to Him; a very real, very living being. How amazing is that!?? It's alot easier to have the courage to talk to others when we remember who we are doing it for, and why we are sharing our message. The rest of the conference was lunch and a talent show which was really fun. We were able to take a picture with all of the missionaries from St. George which was really cool. ! We ended the night with clean up and some street contacting or 전도. It was an amazing day. Sister Jackson is one of the sisters who lives in our home. We were talking about Christmas traditions and I told her about the cinnamon rolls. On Christmas morning, she surprised me with a cinnamon roll so I could keep the tradition going. It was so sweet, and a tender mercy in my day.

 

Some tender mercies from Heavenly Father this week: We were able to help an American on the Subway. He was really confused and we helped him find which subway he needed. He knows about our church, and was happy to see that we practiced what we preach. This morning our toilet was clogged and our plunger was pretty useless. We prayed to find a solution, and after some creativity with the shower head our toilet was fixed! That may sound silly, but the Lord is happy to help us in all we do, even small things like unclogging a toilet. We teach a free English class twice a week here. It's held in the church. We start and end with a hymn and prayer and spiritual thought. But it is mostly English based, and it's great to find potential investigators. This week we were talking about traveling, and a lady brought up Utah. Then she said that she had heard of Polygamy there and had also heard that it was our church which practiced it. In a very nonthreatening setting, we were able to teach about our doctrine and our beliefs, initiated by them. Teaching opportunities are everywhere!

 

 

We have been working hard to find people, but since we are opening the area there isn't a lot to go on. So we spend a lot of time street contacting and calling former investigators. But on Thursday we received a referral from one of the elders. We met her at the church that night. Her name is Fawn and she is from Thailand. She is a university student and speaks very basic Korean, so I can actually understand a lot which is wonderful! She originally had only English interest, but as we talked she asked us why we had Book of Mormons on the table. We told her about them, and she asked if she could have one in Thai. (Thai is a beautiful written language! They don't use the same number system we do, but we still figured out how to mark the intro and Moroni 10:3-5 for her) She also wanted to know why there are so many churches in the world since there is only one God. We were more than happy to answer, and we will meet with her again on Thursday. So we have really high hopes for her.

 

We had another wonderful miracle this week. The other day we were doing 전도 and I talked to an elderly lady. We talked about the Book of Mormon and she told me that she already had religion. She was very interested in English and invited me over immediately, but when I told her we would also teach about the gospel she said there was no time and walked away. This is pretty common so we didn't think much of it. But last night we were 전도ing in the same area. It was snowing, cold, and we hadn't had much success. The same lady came over to me and said "You already tried to preach to me once, are you going to try again?" So I said, "Yes, have you heard about the Book of Mormon?" Then she started asking all kinds of questions about our church and our doctrine. She said she was unhappy with her church and wanted to find peace in a religion. Then she invited us to her home, where she told us all about her life, family situation, and beliefs. We were able to talk about the Book of Mormon, and invited her to come to church next week. It was a great visit and we hope to meet with her again soon. It was truly amazing, and strengthened my testimony that no effort is ever wasted.

 

The ward here is incredible, and are always looking for ways to help the missionaries. Missionary work is here is very successful and it definitely because they are doing it the Lord's way, missionaries and members working together. I am SOOO grateful to be in this area with all these wonderful people. Miracles are happening every single day. It is the small and simple things that make the difference, I know that for a fact. (In last conference there is a talk named 'The Small and Simple Things'. It's amazing) This is the Lord's church and it is going forward in His way. Let's all help in this great work! I love being a missionary, this is where I need to be! I love you all, have a great week!

 

-Love Sister Seegmiller

All I Want For Christmas is to Sign My Name in Korean

Hello everyone!  Sorry I am writing this email from an ipad so it will be short. Technology and I do not get along. This week was my first week in Sindang 신당 and I love it. My companion is awesome and we live with two other sisters so thats really fun. Our ward is really big and we have 12 proselyting missionaries plus president and several senior couples serving in this area, and theres lots of work to do. Im SOOOO excited. They call this area the promised land and I am very grateful to be here. Im glad you received the pictures from our dinner. They were a great family, and we ate enchiladas which was really rare here but so delicious. 
 Life is wonderful. Hopefully i can use a real computer next week. But i love you all and cant wait till christmas! This is truly a time to think about Christ. Something I realized this week, the signs of Christs birth showed the world he had come. But I never thought how that would have affected Joseph and Mary. They had faith that their baby was Christ. But when the star appeared, shepherds came to worship, and several years later the wise men came bringing gifts, along with everything else, that would have been so incredible. They truly held the Son of God and it had been confirmed by several witnesses. How comforting and awe inspiring that must have been! Heavenly Father is so good to us, and will always confirm the truths he has taught if we listen. Try to remember Christ in all we do, and refer someone to the missionaries as a gift to him! I love you all.

세그밀러 자매