5 months!

Well I cannot believe that I have been in Korea for 5 months now! Where in the world has all the time gone? Life is so good here and the work is pushing forward! Last transfer, my companion and I met a student on the street and gave her a Book of Mormon. This transfer she started meeting with her and her new companion and will be baptized at the end of the month! We are so excited! Two other investigators in our district have baptismal dates as well. This area is awesome! Yesterday we had a fireside from SUU's president, Brother Wyatt. He talked about doing hard things, and how they are the things that help us build character. He shared a quote from President Holland, and this will be paraphrased but is still awesome. "Hard times will always pass if we want them to. Remember, darkness always yields to light." It was exactly what I needed to hear, and it seemed to be the same for all the other missionaries trying to learn Korean! Our character is built when times are hard, and our character is what helps us overcome hard things. What a fun little connection.

This week we really focused on having very specific prayers. You know how the Lord promises over and over and over and over again in the scriptures "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you"? Well, the Lord always keeps his promises. And I wish we had applied this sooner, but the more specific our prayers, the more specific our answers, and that applies to everyone! On Wednesday, we made a goal to talk to 16 people and also have a lesson on the street with someone who needed the gospel in their life. We hadn't had much success, and it was getting close to time to head home. We were standing at a crosswalk and felt like we should talk to the lady next to us. We asked if we could talk more. She said yes, we sat down, and for the next 30 minutes she poured out her heart to us about how her grandmother and mother had passed away. School was hard, she desperately missed her family, and she was working sundays so she couldn't attend her church. We were able to tell her how much God loves her and her family, and that all hard things can be made right through Jesus Christ. She cried and just kept saying 'thank you'. When we got up to leave, we gave her a big hug and will hopefully meet again this week. We went home, almost in a daze, because of how specifically God had answered our prayers. But it wasn't without effort. We had set a goal, we worked hard to reach it, and it wasn't until the very last person that we found who he sent us there to find. The Lord always keeps his word and is more than willing to help any and every time we ask.

The next day we decided to set a goal of meeting someone with sincere gospel interest on the street. Once again, the very last girl we talked to was a sweet lady from China. She told us about her religious background, which didn't include Christ, but she thought he was a good God to worship. We showed her the Book of Mormon. She asked if she could have one, and after looking through it was really excited and told us she would start reading it with her boyfriend. She was going to go back to China the next day, and didn't have a Korean phone number. When she realized that, she looked disappointed and asked "Well, how are we going to stay in touch? I want to learn about this book." There are few words that sound better than that to a missionary. We exchanged email addresses, which is wonderful because we can keep in tough forever this way! Unfortunately, there aren't missionaries in her home yet, but one day that door will be opened. Until then we will continue to contact her, for which we are so grateful!

We have started meeting with a new investigator from Gangnam (yes, she lives Gangnam style!) She is super sweet, and has a lot of gospel interest. She really wants to learn English as well, so we are doing the Family English program with her. This past meeting, we talked about the restoration. We ended with the great apostasy, and told her we would continue next time. She said, "Yeah, because we still need to talk about Joseph Smith." We were slightly shocked, and learned that she has done a lot of research about our church. She would like to serve a mission later in life, and hopes to bring her family into the church if she feels that it is right. We opened the lesson with a prayer, and she was crying. She told us she felt something as we prayed and wants to keep that feeling. So you could say we are pretty excited to continue with her.

I had a fun thought today during personal study. I was reading in Jacob 2, which before I saw as the Lord calling out those who needed to repent. But today I realized another piece of it. It was interesting how often he talked about the wives and daughters. Thinking about fathers in this world, they all have a special place in their heart for their daughters. And that is no exception with our Heavenly Father. He loves his 'little girls' and is always looking out for us. It was a very comforting reminder that he is always there and that he loves me. After studying that, we sang "Oh My Father", which was enough to put me in tears. We are never, ever alone. And our purpose in this life is far greater than we recognize. But when we are on the Lord's errand we have the Lord's help, and he takes care of his "little flock". I love this gospel with all my heart. There is no greater knowledge than knowing where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. Let's share it with the world! I love all of you, have a great week.

-Sister Seegmiller :)

And here is an awesome quote from a talk "Notwithstanding My Weakness," by Neal A. Maxwell (1976) sent by my MTC teacher. It was awesome and I want to share it with all of you.

Now may I speak, not to the slackers in the Kingdom, but to those who carry their own load and more; not to those lulled into false security, but to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short.

Earlier disciples who heard Jesus preach some exacting doctrines were also anxious and said, “Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26.)

The first thing to be said of this feeling of inadequacy is that it is normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. Following celestial road signs while in telestial traffic jams is not easy, especially when we are not just moving next door—or even across town.

[...]

Some of us who would not chastise a neighbor for his frailties have a field day with our own. Some of us stand before no more harsh a judge than ourselves, a judge who stubbornly refuses to admit much happy evidence and who cares nothing for due process. Fortunately, the Lord loves us more than we love ourselves. A constructive critic truly cares for that which he criticizes, including himself, whereas self-pity is the most condescending form of pity; it soon cannibalizes all other concerns.

Brothers and sisters, the scriptures are like a developmental display window through which we can see gradual growth—along with this vital lesson: it is direction first, then velocity! Enoch’s unique people were improved “in process of time.” (Moses 7:21.) Jesus “received not of the fulness at first, but received grace for grace” (D&C 93:12) and even He grew and “increased in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52).