Skaters and Strollers and Octopi, Oh My!

Sister Evans got a picture of me helping a lady push her stroller.

We are almost as graceful as those figure skaters!

The octopus the kind lady made for us. That is a few of the 8 she cooked. 

New Year's with our bishop!

Ward eating the soup!

Missionaries playing this traditional game, but I don't know what it's called.

Look what temple is here in Korea! :)

The amazing Olympic sports rink!

The woman second from the left is the gold medalist. 

Guess what the name of this bar is? Anyone? It's "Laman's Bar". How appropriate. 

This man in the ad is 42 years old. I was absolutely shocked, so just had to share more proof of the fountain of youth located here in Korea.

And Happy New Year! (this mannequin is advertising a business, but they dressed her up in a Hangbok on New Year's day!) Everyone is getting in the spirit!

Starting off 2015 the Korean way!

Jan 4

So this week has been really good. We started off the New Year just the way we should, with the ward!! We met the ward at 6:40 am on a mountain called Mangusan on one of the coldest days we've had yet this season! We hiked to the top of the mountain which was actually a graveyard as well. We all stood in the snow and watched the sunrise over the most beautiful city in the world with some of the greatest people on earth. It was crazy watching the sun come up and realizing that I have been in Korea for all of 2014. And thinking back on all the incredible times we have had here was really special. To end, Bishop said a prayer, and then we all headed back to the church for traditional games and Dokkook (a mondue and rice cake soup). At the new year everyone gets one year older (you don't age on your birthday, the whole nation just gets one year older Jan. 1) So I am 25 in Korea- they also count age a little different here. It's been so much fun, and I love this ward oh so much! We got transfer calls, and I will be staying here in Jungnang with Sister Gil for my last transfer. Sister Evans and SIster Ahn will also stay the same, so lucky sister Evans will have lived in the same home as me for 6 straight months in Feb! I keep telling her how lucky she is. :) 

We are meeting with a family from Mongolia, a mom (Chuka), dad, and cutest little son ever (Onkel). The parents are pretty good at Korean, but the son knows very little. And they don't really know gospel vocabulary, so we are trying to find a member who can help teach in Mongolian. But they have a lot of interest, and have come to church several times. So we are really excited for them! And Ha Yeh Been is doing great.She is the 17 year old student we have been meeting with and is scheduled to get baptized on Feb. 8th! We watched The Testaments with her this week to help give her more background on the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. And she said "Wow, I didn't even fall asleep because the movie was good." So we took that as a good thing. 

And in other news, last p-day we went ice skating at the Korean Olympic training rink. The rink is huge, but we were informed that we could only use a small portion, since we came right at the time that the figure skating and speed skating Olympic teams would be practicing. So we skated a little bit, but mostly just watched in awe as we watched Olympic athletes (including the female speed skating gold medalist-who practices with the men's team because she is too talented to practice with the women) as they floated across the ice and it was the absolute coolest thing ever! We all left with the desire to be Olympic athletes one day.

Well that just about sums up our week! It's been great and I love this area and I love this work. We are staying warm and having fun, and are seeing miracles every single day. Nothing could be better! Thank you all for all you do and your wonderful examples to me and everyone else. I love you so much! have a great week!

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

Arms

These are some pictures of our ward party. I am the arms for my tiny Korean companion.

Cake!

Our adorable investigator, Ha Yea Bean at the Christmas party. 

Our little Christmas party celebration in our apartment, complete with the cake given by a ward member.

Not a week for the weak!

Dec 28

Where to begin. I love this ward 중랑 or Jungnang so much. They are seriously the greatest people on earth and love missionaries so much. So very very much. They love us to death. Or very close. We had 7 meal appointments in 8 days, and meals here are not quite like at home. Generally, they have no real main dish and millions of side dishes. And everything is delicious. Most memorable, we had a meal with the 4 sisters at our ward mission leaders home. They made us a feast of some of the best foods ever, and by the end we were stuffed. I have literally never been so full in my life. They had the sisters over first, and the elders were going to come later. There are 8 elders and 4 sisters in our ward, and they had made the same amount of food for both groups. If that gives you any idea. Anywho, we were all struggling to walk out the door, and went to visit a member who ensured us she would not feed us. But when we arrived, she was making a cauldron of red bean soup and gave us each a large bowl because we just had to try it! We were so incredibly ill afterwards, but were ensured that the gift of tongues was very real in so many senses of the word. We couldn't eat again until dinner the next day.

We had our ward Christmas party on Wednesday, which was so much fun! They decided to have each group (primary, YM, YW, and RS) perform something, and then the missionaries performed as well. We had close to 15 investigators come, and several less actives as well. It was a great turn out and so much fun to be with everyone! Koreans don't celebrate Christmas much, so it was fun to have some kind of party. On Christmas I was able to call and talk to all of you wonderful family members, and that was so much fun. It was loud and crazy and just the way it should be. We may not be the most proper bunch, but everyone has told me that ours is the family they would like to visit most, because we seem fun, happy and loving. And I couldn't agree more!

I guess I can't really explain my subject line very well, but Satan has been working harder than ever this Christmas season to turn people away from Christ. Unfortunately he has had some short victories, but we as missionaries just need to pray more and work even harder to win the tug of ward for these incredible people. Unfortunately, Pak Hee Een was not baptized on Saturday. On Wednesday we lost contact with her, and no one has been able to contact her since. We are not really sure what happened, but if you could please offer some prayers on her behalf it would be greatly appreciated. 

As for some follow up, woman in the family- have you been able to watch that video "You never know" I told you about? And if not WATCH IT THIS WEEK! As well as the Live Nativity, He is the Gift, and Because of Him. Also, I reread the story about the bread from three conferences ago, SOO GOOD! And the talk from last conference, "Approaching the throne of God with Confidence" or something like is also highly recommended. That's all I have to say this week. I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great New Year's! Let's all work together to make 2015 the greatest year we have ever had, and recommit ourselves even further to be disciples of Jesus Christ and building His Kingdom, wherever that may be. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all so much!!!

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Conference with our zone! 

Dinner with our bishop and his family! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 메리 크리스마스^^

Dec 21

Let's start off with some announcements. First of all, a reminder for everyone to watch "He is the Gift" and "Because of Him" videos on lds.org. The church has made a huge push, especially now with "He is the Gift" and have bought advertising space on Times Square for it. If the church thinks its that important, so do we! Please watch and let me know your thoughts, or how you were able to share it with someone who needed it!! 

Also, this is for everyone but especially the woman in the family. I watched a mormon message last week that had me teary eyed all day and made me think of all the amazing woman in my life. It's called "You never know". Please please watch it. It's about 8 minutes long, but it is so worth it. Especially with the crazy Christmas season coming up, it's so good!! Watch it okay?? :)

I don't know if you all heard about the World's Largest Live Nativity that happened in Provo a few weeks ago, but they made a youtube video about it. It has David Archuleta and Alex Boye and some other people I don't know. But it's super cool, so you should check that out too. And, for years people believed that the earth was the center of the universe, and the sun moved around us. But if you read Helaman 12:25, they knew the truth even back in 7 BC. That's why we trust the prophets. 

So lots of miracles this week! First, we decided the Eeh Choong Song needed another visit. (she is the one who was struggling a lot last week) Well it turns out she was still struggling just as much and was deciding whether going less active was a better solution when we showed up once again on her doorstep. She said it's so crazy how every time she is struggling the most missionaries arrive. We were able to testify of God's love for her, and how important she is to Him to keep sending us over. She is doing great now and we are so grateful to have listened. 

We visited another less active, Oh Chang Soon, this week and it went pretty well. She just asked us to teach English. But then two days later she called and asked us to come over again. She told us about her son who had passed away suddenly several years ago. She wasn't able to cope with it well, and asked if we could come more often and review the Plan of Salvation with her. Absolutely! 

And biggest miracle of all. We got a referral from some elders in the Tajun mission.. Her name is Pak Hee Een, 28 years old, and she is perfect. She called the elders for English help, attended a baptism three days later and told them "This is true. I need to be baptized." So they met her everyday last week, taught her all the lessons and she accepted everything. She moved to our area on Sat, came to church yesterday and is seriously an angel from heaven. We had a lesson with her afterwards, and she said the closing prayer. She began crying as she thanked Heavenly Father for this opportunity to start a new life and find the truth, and after the prayer she told us how excited she is to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and always have that feeling with her. She wants to get baptized Sat. Dec 27, so she can be confirmed on the 28th and become a member before 2015, and start the new year as a disciple of Christ. It's been so unreal and incredible and I am just so incredibly grateful to have met her!!! We are going to try to contact her daily and help keep her faith strong and bright, and we will let you know when she decides for sure to get baptized. These people are really out there. Oh my goodness, they really are. And they are truly the elect of God. She is the most amazing person I've ever met. 

I absolutely love being a missionary. Sometimes it's cold, sometimes it's hot, sometimes lonely, sometimes you just want to be alone, we are tired, hungry, sometimes WAY too full... BUT NONE OF THAT MATTERS!!! This is the greatest work in the world and it truly brings the greatest joy any of us have ever felt. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know it with all my heart. I love you all, have a very Merry CHRISTmas and remember the reason for the season! I will talk to all of you on Christmas! I LOVE YOU!!

-SIster Shanelle Seegmiller :)

"If you haven't chosen first the Kingdom of God, it will make little difference what you have chosen instead"

It's beginning to look a lot like kimchi.

This is from when we made kimchi! Enjoy!

Temple day!!

Dinner with some awesome members in our ward!

Little promptings= BIG miracles!

Dec 14

People on the street are constantly changing their religion as we talk. "I'm Christian." "Great, we are sharing a message about Christ." "I attend Church." "Great, which church." "The one over there. (while waving finger around randomly)" "oh great, do you attend with your family?" "No, I'm Buddhist." Hmm.. It makes for a great guessing game. 

 

This week was so amazing, So I shared last week about those two videos, "He is the Gift" and "Because of Him" (thank you mom for watching them. The rest of you, please watch and let me know what you think!) On Sunday night, we felt like we should visit one of our members on Monday since she hadn't been at church for a few weeks for different reasons. We called her, set up an appointment, and went over Monday night. Turns out, she was REALLY struggling. She was tired of the ward, disappointed with Bishop, and had quit all the callings she had in the stake. She called Bishop on Sunday to let him know she would no longer be attending church. Well, it turns out, very shortly after she called bishop, we called her asking to meet. We had no idea any of that had happened, just had a feeling we should visit. She told us all about her problems, her frustrations, everything that was going on. At the end, we bore our testimony that this was the Lord's church, not man's church. And we decided to show her the "Because of Him" video. She started crying, and said that the video was an answer to her prayer. She knows that because of Christ, she can overcome whatever she is going through. And she committed to come to church every week again as a faithful member. It was amazing!! The prompting to visit her wasn't strong, but it was undeniable and we decided to follow. If we had waited even one day to follow the prompting, she may have been lost. The Lord truly knows all of His children, and He is guiding us to them in their exact hour of need. My testimony was so strengthened that the Spirit is truly a still, small voice. And the power that comes when we heed even the smallest prompting. I know that this is God's true church on earth. Jesus Christ is the head, and we are so blessed to be His hands. I love Korea, I love all of you. Have a great week!! And keep sharing those testimony building moments!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

You are always gonna be my love.

Dinner with a sweet member in the ward

English signs here are my favorite!!

Winter is in the air...and in my companions frozen hair!!

Dec 7

So first of all, the church has come out with a new video "He is the Gift". and it is AMAZING! They have given a copy to every missionary in our mission and want us to use it on the street, knocking doors, anywhere and everywhere. They have even purchased a place on Times Square to advertise! It's a huge push by the church so everyone please watch it and put it on facebook and anywere and everywhere else! What better time to share about Christ than this Christmas season! #SharetheGift should lead right to it. There is also another video, 'Because of Him' mormon.org/BecauseofHim It is also incredible!! Please please please watch them, share them, live them! Oh my goodness they are so good. In one scene, it shows a clip from the Berlin Wall coming down. I got a little teary eyed telling my companion how when Dad served his mission, a Berlin mission was impossible. But then became reality when Shawn got called there several decades later. We talked about how it related to North and South Korea, and she said 'Just think how it will feel when your kids get their mission calls to North Korea." AAH can you even imagine!!?? That would be the GREATEST day ever! Impossible things are happening everywhere. Please watch the videos and let me know what you think!

 

This week we had Mission Leadership Council with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in Seoul, Korea. Super fun! And 11 of the people there came to Korea the same time as me so that was fun to see everyone. Our focus this month is about Using Time Wisely, which I thought was a really interesting and inspired choice by president. We were able to give a training about what we learned the next day to our zone (about 30 missionaries) so that was really fun. They pointed out, that if we waste only 6 minutes a day (getting out late, waking up late, being distracted during lessons, etc) by the end of our mission we will have cut our missions 3 days short!! So crazy! Exact obedience is really what the Lord has asked of us, so we are working to give him the very best that we can! I am excited to see the miracles that will happen in our zone.

 

Saturday was a fun day of mini miracles. We went to visit a less-active, and she was home but didn't want to see us. So we talked to her active mother instead, and decided to heart-attack her bedroom door, while she was inside her room. Not exactly a surprise, but it was fun and her mom loved it. Then we helped two Chinese students who had been in Korea for two days, find their way to a building they were looking for. Then we helped a sweet old lady carry a ridiculously heavy bag of kimchi to her home and talked for awhile. She said she isn't interested, but if we happen to meet again she will listen. It helps that we know where she lives so we can be sure we meet again :) Then we met an amazing woman on the street who had a lot of English interest. We talked for about 20 minutes, and she asked a lot about rumors she has heard about our church online. (The "Mormon" church is defintely not spoken well of here in Korea. There are A LOT of rumors to clear up) She insisted over and over she had no interest, only curiosity. But we plan to meet again in a few weeks, and we'll see what happens!

 

There are so many wonderful things happening here in Korea!! I am so so so blessed and grateful to be serving in this beautiful land with these beautiful people. There is no where else in the world I would rather be. I love you all so much, and am grateful to hear from all of you! I would love to hear more about the prayers that were answered, testimony building moments, and the little blessings in your life! Thank you for everything and have a great week!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

 

Starting Dec. 1, winter has hit! And it hit hard. The weather dropped about 20 degrees overnight and has no hope of going back up. Bring it on!

Mele Kalikimaka

Elder Reid!!

My companion (front- Gil Soo Ryo) and my housemates!

My and my companions birthday cake!! Her birthday was on the 26th, so it worked out well. The elders were sweet and bought us bread. Turned out it was coffee bread and we had to throw it away, but it's the thought that counts right?

Christmas Decorations!! (not super common here)

The cutest grandma ever who lives by the church.

Happy December!!

This has been such a cool week! Let's share some of the highlights shall we? Monday night we were walking around talking to people, and met a super cool woman going to meet friends. She invited us to come with her, and as we walked together she shared her dream of owning a coffee shop in Europe. She ended up taking us to The World School of Barista, where she is attending school. And her 'friends' were her 4 male professors, who are very successful coffee engineers. They were super nice, and of course, offered us coffee. We said we didn't drink it, so they gave us hot water instead. They asked a lot of questions about who we are, and what we are doing as missionaries. Then of course, they asked why we do not drink coffee. Which led into an awesome discussion about the Word of Wisdom and the restoration through Joseph Smith. They were very open minded. One man was super religious, but asked so many questions and seemed genuinely interested in what we were saying. It was the last place we thought we would ever teach a lesson, and ended up being one of the coolest lessons I've taught. Just goes to show, you really never ever know who will be interested in this message.

 

Some other fun things this week. On Thanksgiving, we went and made Kimchi at another church with a bunch of members of other churches. Lots of the preachers and leaders of the other churches stood to introduce themselves and their congregation, and they all commented on how impressed they were with the young LDS missionaries who were serving. As we were making Kimchi, they loved having foreigners join them. They took a lot of pictures of us, including one where an elderly Pastor came over, and fed me and Sister Evans a piece of Kimchi while they snapped a million pictures. It was so fun, and such a good opportunity to share what we do with LOTS of members of other religions in a very non-threatening way.

 

So you know the game missionary tag? Yeah, kind of ironic since that game is super awkward and cannot really be played as a missionary. We played it for FHE with the ward, but had to just stand next to your partner, and hit them with a rubber glove instead of your hand if you were it. Also, Elder Joshua Reid just got here Tuesday and is now serving here in Seoul Korea! (Sarah Reid's little brother!!) I saw him at transfers, and was shocked and so happy! What a small world!! And pray really works. I accidentally locked our phone, and we had no clue what the password was. But with lots of prayers and help from the elders, we managed to guess it right after about 3 hours. The other option was get a new phone and lose everything. We were very grateful.

 

Life is so good here in Korea. I love this work, I love this area, and we are excited to get things going with my new adorable companion. This is truly God's true church on earth. Oh how lucky we are! I love all of you! Have a great week!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

Old People and Giraffe Toys are the Cutest. And also Buddhist temples.

We found a super cool Buddhist temple while looking for a less active's home

The adorable 91 year old woman we visit! Kim Myung Oak

We kept matching this week, twice on accident, and once on purpose (our pajamas). Three days in a row. That's companionship unity!

The cutest little boy ever playing the piano

Sister Taylor finished her mission about 4 months ago, but came back to visit with her parents! Fun surprise for the ward!

Matching.

A cute little giraffe toy at a park near our house

Transfer #10 is almost over. HOW??!!

Nov 23

This has been another great week. Monday especially was so cool! Often while we are street contacting, (and we street contact quite often) people don't really want to listen to what we are sharing. But it was magical Monday, and we met so many amazing people! One woman was a little nervous as we started talking to her. But we ended up talking for a good 15 minutes as we walked her home, and she was sad that she had to leave. Then we started talking to a lady at a stop light. She immediately lit up and started lots of questions about what we believe. We explained our belief in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost. She asked about what the Holy Ghost is, and after we explained, she asked if we would be able to teach her more about it. She took a Book of Mormon out of our hands and started reading and asking questions about everything. We set up an appointment to meet again, and asked her to read the introduction before we meet. She asked if it would be okay to read about Nephi too, and then ask questions about it when we meet. It was an absolute miracle, and we walked away with an absolute knowledge that there are people out there being prepared. We just have to open our mouths and share this wonderful gospel with every person we see in order to find them!

 

We also received our transfer calls this week. Sister Evans and I will no longer be companions but we will still be living in the same house. She will have a new Korean companion, Ahn Jeong Mihn, and will be working with all our current investigators. I am getting moved to Jungrang Sisters 1 and will be serving with Kil Soo Ruoy. We are 'white washing' meaning both of us are new to the investigators and area we will be working with. And we will be the new Sister Training Leaders for our zone, something neither of us have done before. It's a little overwhelming, super humbling, and we are excited to work and learn together. We had the same trainer so we are actually 'sisters' here in the mission, and she is adorable! It's going to be a fun transfer! And I'm excited to still be with Sister Evans, even if we aren't companions. She'll get to see me plenty, since we still live in the same house and all.

 

I was also able to call Song Hyun Young, the woman who was baptized in my first area last year. I haven't really been able to keep much contact with her, but it was her year mark of being baptized so I really wanted to talk to her. She was really surprised to hear it was me, and it was so good to hear her voice again! And we were able to have a real conversation for the first time! We tried last time, but I really spoke..well, very little Korean, so it was great to actually talk to her! She is doing great and I love her so much!

 

Things are going great here in Korea! I love it here so so so much! There is absolutely no where else I would rather be. Have the best Thanksgiving ever, and remember to look for all that God has blessed us with. He's given us so much, oh how blessed we are!! I love all of you so much! Have a great week!

 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

 

A couple cool quotes about Thanksgiving!

 

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” ~Henry Van Dyke

“I give thanks to my Creator for this wonderful life where each of us has the opportunity to learn lessons we could not fully comprehend by any other means.” ~Joseph B. Wirthlin

You know that scene where Forrest Gump plays ping pong in Korea?

The adorable older woman we pass often on the street. She sells vegetables and such.

빼빼로 day! It's the day you give a certain candy to those who are closest to you. We are too cute.

We had a ping-pong tournament with the ward this week! So much fun! These two little boys, probably around 11 and 14, ended up beating everyone. They are so good!!

The winning team, and the rest of us!

One more of these adorable little guys. We were all amazed watching them.