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