Food, Family, and A Few Tears

Dinner with Pyun Keh Soon. I asked what we ordered and after trying for some time to explain, she broke it down very simply. "G.U.T.S. guts." Not bad :)

Jang Kyung Eh, a less active we are working with. She ordered us the 8 person serving, which equaled about 2 1/2 lbs of meat. But SO good!

Choi Nam Hee, and Eeh Chung Song! They are the sweetest women in this world!

Choi Chung Il and his family. They are just about the greatest member missionaries I have ever met!

Dinner with Choi Sung Eem, this is actually the car ride home but it was too good not to share!

Second lunch with Jang Kyung Eh, this time she said that since I am leaving, she would pray to bless the food. It's the first prayer she has said in over 25 years! It was the coolest moment ever!!

So Na Na, the most perfect woman ever! She is always willing to help, and we love her so much!

Kim Mee Ra and our investigator  So Eeh Soon. Kim Mee Ra is the best, and always plans out which spiritual topic we will discuss during our dinners with her, and always has a game as well. 

Last dinner with the Bishop and his family! They are the greatest, most hard working people on earth. His wife said that since it's my last Korean meal, she made all of my favorites. I almost cried it was so sweet. Oh man I will miss them.

Lunch with the ward, they have the cutest kids ever here, and somehow we managed to get them all together for a few seconds for this picture. Well most of them!

Last week in Korea!

Feb 15

So this week there's not a lot to say, except I love Korea and am so incredibly lucky to be serving in the best ward in the world! Because it was my last week, all the members wanted to meet one last time, and we ended up having 11 dinner appointments with members this week. It was so incredible to talk with all of them, hear their testimonies, and feel their love for us and this work! Most of my letter will be pictures and captions, but before I do that, I just want to share my testimony of this incredible gospel! Before coming to Korea, I had a testimony of the gospel. I knew the church was true, I never doubted Joseph Smith of the Book of Mormon, and I knew God lived and Christ is our Savior. But I didn't really understand why it all mattered so much. I didn't know why we needed to do all the things the Lord asks, I just knew that it was important so I did it. But being out here and literally having the gospel be our WHOLE life, it has put things into perspective. I now know why visiting/home teaching is so important, the value of family home evening, family prayer, and scripture study, and weekly church attendance. It's the little decisions that really do determine our destiny. The commandments are all truly given for our benefit, and as we live by them we then qualify to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion. And once we are sufficiently strengthened, the Lord asks us to reach out to others (ward members, friends, neighbors, family) and help strengthen them as well. Which in turn strengthens our testimony which allows us to more fully follow the spirit, and better serve others, and it goes on and on and before we know it others can see the reflection of Christ in our countenance. And that is our purpose, our whole goal in this life and beyond. This gospel is so simple. We have a loving Heavenly Father, who just like any good father, has given us guidance and direction how to be happy and become like He is. He has given us an example to follow in our older brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. And He is always there to help anytime we need. I am so grateful for this opportunity to come to know my Savior in a way that just wasn't possible for me before. He has become the most important person in my life, and He is changing the lives of all those around us. I am so incredibly grateful for my family, who has been so wonderful and supportive and encouraging in allowing me to have this opportunity. This is the Lord's mission, this is His work, and is going forth. I love it with all of my heart! I know it's true! I love you all, and will see many of you on Friday! 

-Love, Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

Everyone would play ping pong for a loaf of bread.

Our zone :)

My cute teammate! We won, and our prize was two loaves of bread a piece :)

Super Mom at our Ping-Pong tournament

Relief Society activity

It's kind of cold in Korea.

Feb 8

This week has been such a great week. And if you refer to the subject line- it has been extremely cold. Yesterday was -11 degrees Celsius, but then you add humidity and wind. Yeah it was cold. But that's also the time we see the biggest miracles it seems, and just assume the weather is Satan trying to stop us! Yesterday we were walking down the street and met a woman who was very excited to talk to us. She seemed familiar, and then she asked my name. I told her 'Gu Seh Rah' which is my Korean name. She looked at me funny, and then said "But I know your real name. It's Wonder Woman!" Yep, we met the same lady on the street again! We ended up talking for about 50 minutes and this time we got her phone number! Then we tried to visit a less active who wasn't home so instead visited a woman we met a few months ago. She was home, and was so excited to see us. She has really been struggling lately and goes in for knee surgery this week. We told her we would love to visit her at the hospital, and help her with anything else she needs. (she is around 75ish) We have visited her several times before, but this was the first time she let us pray before we left. Miracle!

This week was my last zone training, which is super weird but hasn't really sunk in yet. We are really focusing on teaching skills this week, and to help show why they are important, we did the same visual president did at Mission Leadership Council. We offered a moon pie to one of the missionaries. Then we stomped on it (it was opened and sitting on a plate) and asked them to take it. Then we had a non-stomped on moon pie and asked the difference between the two. They were exactly the same thing, but one was presented so poorly no one would want it while the other would be eaten by almost anyone. It was a silly example, but they really seemed to understand. It was really fun!

Everything has been such a blur! Life is good, I love Korea so much. I love my companion, and all the incredible ward members we are so blessed to serve with. This is truly God's church on earth and I am so grateful for this opportunity to share it full-time!! I love you all, have a great week!

Love, Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

Don't quit your day jobs, Elders....

A really cool quote from President Monson!

This is a sweet 16 year old boy who got baptized this week! And this is also what happens when you ask the elders to be your photographer..

This is Kim Seh Young! 

Our 18th month celebration dinner. Delicious!

This is some of the people at Mission Leadership Council, we all came to Korea on the same day so it was fun to be all together one more time.

I love this beautiful city!!

18 months. Holy cow!

Feb 2

Holy cow, I seriously cannot believe it has been 18 months on Sat. since I entered the MTC!! Time has literally flown by! So many things have happened, so much has changed, yet so much is the same. A lot of emotions, and difficult to describe. But I am excited to head into over time for these next few weeks and really give the Lord my very best! And since I have been out here for that long, I must really know what I am doing and be really proficient at the language by now right? Oh dear, no. I haven't shared one of these for awhile, but we had a nice lesson with our cute investigator Ha Yeh Been where we taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy. She was having a hard time accepting it, so I wanted to promise her the blessings that come when we keep that commandment. I explained that during the week we are so busy with school, homework, friends, etc. so we have a lot of stress. But Sunday is special because it is a day God has given us to rest from all that. At least, that's what I meant to say. It turns out the words for 'rest' and the word for 'going #1' are very similar, and I accidentally mixed up the two. So instead, I told her Sunday was a very special day because she can just use the bathroom all day, and because of that my life has been so blessed.. She and my companion were both incredibly confused as I bore my testimony about this concept. Thankfully my companion finally realized what I had meant to say, corrected it, and they both just about died laughing. Not sure how spiritual it was, but it was certainly a lesson she won't forget!

This week we had an incredible miracle with a recent convert named Kim Seh Young. She was baptized about 4-5 months ago, and has been less-active since. But we keep visiting her, and finally met her at her home this week, and met at the church on Saturday. We were able to talk with her, and then realized the ward was having an activity at the church all day. She spent the rest of the day coming to English class and then watching a soccer game with the ward, and then texted us the next morning saying that her mother gave permission for her to attend church again!! MIRACLE!! She came, stayed the whole time, the ward was so wonderful and welcoming, and we were so grateful to them. The Lord really does leave the 99 to find the 1, and rejoices when they are found! Sunday was an incredibly powerful day as we felt the Lord's love for her stronger than ever. 

This week was my last fast Sunday here in Korea, so I decided to bear my testimony about fasting during sacrament meeting. Before serving a mission, fasting was very difficult. My body didn't handle it well, and I would often black out, sometimes throw up, and needed to sleep a lot in order to make it through the day. I was really worried about this going on a mission, because I just can't have that happening and still work effectively. But I really wanted to be able to fast, because there is so much power in that principle! My first Sunday in the MTC was a fast Sunday. I prayed a lot and was really worried, but then was amazed when my body was totally fine for the first time ever. And since then, each and every Fast Sunday I feel like my body is almost stronger than the other days, and I know that the angels are there helping me along. The Lord knows our weaknesses, He knows them very well. And he sends his angels to help us when our own strength it not sufficient, and I have been so blessed to feel that every single month. I know that the power of fasting is real, and that God really does hear and answer our prayers! 2 Cor. 12: 9-10, and Luke 1:37 say it perfectly, with God literally nothing is impossible, and I know that is true! 

It's been an incredible week. SO many miracles, and we are just so blessed! I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to be serving the Lord's mission at this time. I know God lives, that Jesus Christ stands at the head of this church and is guiding us through His living prophet Thomas S. Monson. I love them with all of my heart, and am eternally grateful for my relationship with them! I love you all, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

-Love, Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :) :)

Mushed Red Fish Stuff

Superman!

Lots of my companions at the temple!

Just because subway stations are fun!

They came so close on this translation!

This is our meal. Octopus stir fry, raw squid, fresh seaweed, mushed red fish stuff, and kimchi! If your table doesn't look like this, you are missing out! 

I love Korea!

Jan 25

This week was really fun! I went on exchanges with Sister Evans and we had a lot of fun being together again, even if we do live in the same house and it was only 24 hours! We met with an adorable 9 year old girl named Min So. We teach her English for 30 min. and then share about the gospel for 30 min. They have no religion in their family, so we decided to talk about Heavenly Father. We sang 'I am a Child of God', and taught very simply that she was a daughter of God and that He loved her. She asked a lot of questions, like "where is God?" "Why can't I see him?" "I already have a dad at the office. how can I have two dads?" She paid attention pretty well (considering she is 9) and at the end, she asked for a pen and wrote "I AM A CHILD OF GOD" in big letters. Then she looked at us and said, "I never knew that before. It's pretty cool." It was such a simple lesson to such an innocent little girl, and the spirit was SO strong! Oh my goodness, It was amazing helping her recognize for the first time that God really did love her, and we could feel His love for her so strongly. 

We also met the wonderful recent convert, Choi Sung Eem, and her son Pak Jee Hyun. (I will send a picture of the meal we ate later.) They are seriously amazing. They have the strongest testimonies ever, and are trying so hard to draw closer to God. She was telling us more about her conversion, and what first sparked her interest in the church. She said that she had a business meeting in Salt Lake, and visited Temple Square while there. She had no clue about our church, but was really impressed by how beautiful the temple was, and surprised when she couldn't go in. As she was walking around the grounds, she saw a young family with two or three little girls and one boy. They boy was running around and being super loud, but the parents didn't seem to care. She was shocked, because in Korea they really want to make sure to act proper, especially in public areas. But the parents were letting their kids act like kids! She came back and found missionaries to learn more, simply out of curiousity. At sacrament meeting, she was shocked to see little children running around, playing, drawing pictures etc. while the parents tried to keep them quiet and pay attention. She said when she saw that she felt like our church must be true, because we are all about being real and trying to improve our selves and families, and not just about fake worship and false perfection. It was really cool, and made me realize even more the impact of our example on others. That family will never know how their example changed her life. And it wasn't their perfection that impacted her, it was their humanity! I think that sometimes we think in this life we feel like we just aren't good enough. We aren't smart enough, pretty enough, our house is too messy, whatever it may be. But it simply isn't true. God has placed us exactly where we need to be so we can be in a position to do the most good with our specific gifts and personalities. (see Dec. Ensign) It's very likely those parents were thinking "oh man, how do other parents keep their children quiet? We are at the temple. People are staring. What can we do?" Her life is changed forever, and she will influence others for generations to come, clear across the world!

So many wonderful things this week and so little time to share. But I just want you all to know that I know that this is the TRUE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is mindful of us, He loves us, and is guiding us back to Him! I love you all, have a great week!

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

We got it! Presents are the universal language!

We made a prayer rock and Book of Mormon case for our investigator! 

KOREA!!

Jan 18

This has been a really good week, although I am having difficulty remembering it all. Everything just blurs together in a picasso of missionary work. So I will try to share something specific and helpful. Hmm.. well we had zone meeting with about 35 missionaries. We gave a training about inviting with love, and really focusing on promising blessings when we teach commandments. As we teach the gospel to people, we are literally inviting them to change their lives to become like Christ, and for some people that means changing in some pretty extreme ways. And unless they have a good reason to do so, they will never do it. We used the simple example of parents offering a car to their child if they get straight A's in school. Obviously the student will be more motivated. And since God has promised us so many incredible things, clearly the biggest being eternal life, we have some pretty good motivators. They seemed to understand well, and then on Saturday we had a zone wide fast to find an investigator with a baptismal date by the end of the month. Everyone was so willing to participate, and we are excited to see the miracles that will come in January! 

He Yeh Been (yes, if you say it like a hick it sort of sounds like How ya been? but not really at all. we will let it slide since I can't tell you how to actually say it right now :) is doing so well! We taught the gospel of Christ this week, and she understood super well. We also reviewed plan of salvation, and she taught it all back to us. She is only 17, but so smart and excepts everything so well! The only hard part, is that we teach her during the week and then she goes home (which is in Seoul South mission boundaries) on the weekends. Mission boundaries are great, but sure make things difficult sometimes. We cannot attend church with her, and can only call missionaries there if we get permission from both mission's AP's. So trying to coordinate is very difficult, but please keep her in your prayers and we know everything will work out!

We were shopping at Costco, and wandered the store for nearly 20 minutes looking for salsa, something my companion has been craving. Turns out, they  were sold out. Right then, a woman grabs our arms and says "Sisters, where is your church? I have been less active for a long time, but have been thinking about the church a lot lately. I just thought 'I need to go back' and then turned the corner and you were standing here. Can I attend your ward?" Yeah it was the coolest thing ever!! We will hopefully be meeting with her this week. It's amazing how the Lord works through us. We decided her craving was from heaven so we could find the less active. And just to show how much the Lord knows us, we went to mission leadership conference the next day, and Sister Christensen gave us all chips and salsa with our lunch. Miracles big and small everyday!

So many wonderful things are happening, and no time to share them all. But I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week! The church is so true! There is no where else I would rather be than here serving the Lord's mission in Korea!! 

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)

quote of the week:

At Mission Leadership Council, we all went in for lunch, and the sisters all went first. One sister asked "How much can we have?" Me, in my ever loving fashion responded "The elders aren't here yet so we can take as much as we want!" Just then I hear "Sister Seegmiller!" only to realize President Christensen was standing right behind me. Yeah, not my best moment. But luckily he just laughed and walked away. Looks like I've got a little more work to do. Love you!

Trials build testimony

Jan 11

This week has been incredible and crazy all at the same time. I feel slightly like my brain has melted this week, and the Lord has had to work very hard to make up the difference. But as always, He always comes through and the work goes forth! For example, my companion and I planned to visit two less actives and one former investigator one day. We headed out, and it's about an hour walk to get to their homes. We arrive at the apartment building, only to realize neither of us had remembered to write down the door number. Oops. So we started on floor 30 and went down the stairs checking every floor until floor 13. We planned on a surprise visit, but thought maybe we missed her home somehow. So we called, and realized she lived on floor 9. This process repeated itself as we attempted to visit the last two people on our list, but somehow we were able to find them all. Miracle, and proof that the Lord's work will progress even though he works through us oh-so-imperfect beings. 

We were able to meet with our investigator Yang Jee Yoon this week. She is 27, and her mother wanted to join. Her mom is very strong in her church, so we kind of knew what to expect. We sat down and immediately the mother began quoting Bible scriptures to prove us wrong. I stopped her, asking if we could begin with prayer. And she said, "Yes, you can try." Oh boy. After the prayer, she used scriptures to 'prove' why my prayer wasn't scripturally sound. She then 'proved' to us why our religion is false by asking questions like "Do you know why we are sheep?" (there are apparently four reasons by the way, one being because sheep are nice) And the whole time she was so certain our faith would be shaken. But the amazing part of this gospel, is that it really doesn't matter what people say or how hard they try to prove us wrong. Because they can't. We have the full, true, restored gospel of Jesus Christ. My nieces and nephews know more about the Plan of Salvation than a lot of these Bible scholars. Which is so incredibly sad, and also so incredible how blessed we are to have the truth in our lives. We left that meeting 1 1/2 hours later, sad that she was so unwilling to listen, but also with our testimonies even more strengthened that this is truly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are so blessed. 

Ha Yeh Been is doing amazing! We taught her the Plan of Salvation this week, and she understood so well. She asked questions about people who don't have families and what happens to them in the Celestial Kingdom, and other really awesome deep questions. And when she prayed at the end, she thanked Heavenly Father that she could know his plan and have her questions finally answered! SOO GOOD! She is still on track to get baptized on Feb. 8th so please keep her in your prayers. 

Life is so good! I love this work with all my heart. Oh my goodness, I love Korea and the incredible people we are so blessed to work with every day. I know without a doubt that this is Christ's true church, where we truly can find all the answers. I love you all! Have a great week!

-Sister Shanelle Seegmiller :)