One month!

Thursday I will have officially been here for a month! I did the
math this past week and found out that I will also be 1/6 of the way
done with my mission. That's unbelievable! 18 months actually is a
super short time period, and I can't let it run away without me!

So a couple interesting things that I wanted to tell you about:
seafood and guitars. About seafood, I actually have discovered that
it's not that bad! I'm not to the point that I LOVE it yet, but I can
eat it without hesitation now. And also, salted seaweed is the best!
We ate that with plain rice for quite a few days in a row cause we are
poor missionaries who can't afford anything haha. Actually it's pretty
sad how expensive the fruit is here; it's way too expensive to
actually buy. So that's what I pig out on whenever we eat with
members!

The other thing I wanted to mention is how awesome my name is.
Everyone always comments on how pretty it is. And when I was in the
States, everyone always asked if I knew about the famous guitar player
with Segovia as his name, and I still can't get away from it even in
Korea! Now everyone asks me if I know that it's a famous guitar brand.
So pretty much I should have played guitar from when I was a baby.
haha!

So this past week has been a crazy time. I am learning so much about
myself. And we now have TWO investigators! The work is growing growing
growing! And what's amazing about this investigator is that she
contacted us in order to learn English. Our first meeting with her we
told her about how we have programs for Young Women and how the gospel
has blessed our life. And guess what she said? She started telling us
about her niece who is having a really rough life, and she wanted us
to start teaching her English and introduce her to the church. And
apparently (I didn't understand any of this when it happened) she said
it wasn't coincidence that we met her, and she would even want her
niece to serve a mission when she is older! :D. So we are hoping to be
able to contact her niece this week.

Also, yesterday we had a baptism for a Brother in Sachon ward, and
they came to Jinju to do it because they don't have a baptisimal font.
The baptism was wonderful. And my trainer found out that two of her
old investigators have a baptisimal date! I am so happy for them.
Baptism is a joyous thing! However, even more important than baptism
is helping new members to stay strong in the church. There are so so
so many inactives here, and it's really discouraging to see. That's
where the ward comes in! Without support from the ward, most new
members will be discouraged and leave. So it's so important to become
friends with them.

So mom, I have a request. This past week I was super worried about you
and dad and all my family back home. I love and miss you all so much!
I was able to find comfort from my trainer and the scriptures, and my
trainer suggested that I ask you to get a blessing. It seems really
weird to ask, but it really would help me to be comforted while I'm so
far away. I care about you all with all my heart, and know that God
can and will protect you. <3

Also, I would love to receive Sister Mariah Johnson's weekly emails!
The two that you sent me earlier really helped me out. I miss her
tons!

So I don't have a scripture prepared to share, though I have had so
many awesome learning experiences with the scriptures this past week.
Intead I will just bear my testimony that I know we all have been
given the ability to accomplish all that God has asked of us:
spiritually, physically, and mentally. Any struggle that we have is
indeed making us stronger. As we rely on God, He will help us through
any and all challenges. We have such magnificent potential, and will
never know until we do!

I love you all and miss you dearly. Write letters! I finally received
a letter, so I've found out it takes about two weeks to get to Korea
and another week to actually get to my apartment. It's fun to get
letters though! :D

Lots of Korean Love,
Sister Christina Segovia

And here's the address for sending a package:
Sister Christina Feliza Segovia
Korea Busan Mission
(1/2) 1039-1 Oncheon 2-dong
Dongnae-gu
Busan-si
Busan-gwangyeoksi 607-602
SOUTH KOREA

What a wonderful world!

So, this past week was great. I love both of the areas we are working in!

In our first area, Jinju, we officially have one investigator, and
hopefully will have another by the end of the week! We are teaching
them English, so every lesson is half-hour of English and half-hour of
Gospel. English is suprisingly difficult to teach! They ask me to
define words that I only know from context. It's amazing to see just
how much we learn from hearing words in sentences. Also, I've started
writing down all the the idioms and expressions we use in English (my
companion has me teach her one a day) and I discovered that Americans
use idioms ALL the time. Which means that Koreans probably do the same
thing... I've got a lot to learn! Anyway, we have our second lesson
with our investigator tonight! I feel strongly that I must boldly
testify of the Book of Mormon to her. The Book of Mormon is not just
another book. It is the Word of God! From studying it's words, we can
gain more happiness and peace then by anything else. I know that.

Our other area, Sachon, is also doing great! We went to the ward for
the first time and they were all so so friendly. That ward is even
smaller than Jinju and we discovered that most people are inactive
because church is forever away from where they live. But the Branch
President lives on and island, and he invited us to come visit some
time! I'm very excited to see it. We have one investigator there,
being passed to us from the Elders. We haven't yet gotten an
appointment with her, but she chooses to come to church just because
it has had a good impact on her son. Speaking of which, her son is our
Ward Mission Leader and I would say he is one of the biggest blessings
Sachon has. He cares so much and puts most of his time into helping us
and the members.

So I can't remember if I said this in my last email, but I really feel
at home in these two wards, because it's just like in the Spanish
branch! It's small, the members are like family, and I can't
understand a thing! haha

We can already see the work progressing in these two brand new Sister
areas. I know that Heavenly Father is helping us, and the more we work
the more we will reap the rewards of bringing people to Christ! I
can't wait to see where these areas are in 9 weeks.

I love you! I've no clue how long it takes for DearElders to get here,
or any mail for that matter, but I'm sure I will get them eventually!

Love, Sister Segovia

2nd week in Korea

Hello mom and dad!!
 
So, it's my second week in Korea. And I still feel pretty lost! haha
But I guess that's to be expected. Thank you so much for the Dear
Elders, I read the emails and can't wait to read them again when they
actually get here! :)
 
Crazy things have been happening over here. We have been making
progress with the 진주 members and have been able to meet with a few
families. And there is a recent convert, baptized this past April,
that is super nice and she is planning on going to BYU this next year!
 I realy love the ward, and hope to be able to meet with the inactives
this next week! We finally got the map all set. But guess what? Pretty
much right when we finished with that, we found out that we are now
the Sisters for TWO areas! Both white-wash! The next many weeks are
going to be crazy!
 
We went to our other area, 사전, yesterday to meet the Relief Society
President. She was one of the greatest women and gave us four referals
which will realy help us get started in that area. But sadly, she is
going back to the US tomorrow, so that was the only time we could see
her! I grew to love her so much just in two hours, and will miss her
so much!
 
Our district is awesome; I love everyone. Because we have two areas,
we will be working with the two Elders in Jingu and the two in Sachon.
I really enjoy working with them, because they all are huge examples
to me in being a good missionary.
 
My companion says thank you for the wishes sent her way. I also say
thank you, and miss you so so much. You letters really are a comfort
to me. I love you!
바이!
 
<3 Chiristina Segovia 자매
 
 

First Week in Korea

 

 

From:	Christina Segovia (christina.segovia@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Sun 8/04/13 8:31 PM

Hello my beloved family! I was so so excited to be able to finally
email you today. It feels as if I haven't seen you in fifty years! I
miss you all a ton.

I can just see you all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to
hear about Korea and my first week in the mission field, so I'll go
ahead and get on with it!

So. I got here almost a week ago, and my first two days were in Busan
at the mission home. We did a proselyting activity the first day
(after we slept, luckily) switching with different trainers. This was
before we knew who was with who. I came to love and admire all of the
trainers I worked with even in the short time I was with them! And I
totally gave away a Book of Mormon, to a lady that was VERY interested
in us. It was awesome! I hope she remembers us.

The second day was when we found out who our trainers were. !! My
trainer is 죄 한나 (Che Hanna) 자매님, She is Korean, but her English is
fluent. She studied at BYU for a couple years. She is awesome! And
pretty amazing at reading people's character. She is already helping
me to improve.

The next big news is my first area. We are in a place called 진주, which
is the "country-side" of Korea. But really it's like Salt lake City.
Not country at all right? And we are the FIRST Sister missionaries in
the area. So, my trainer is not only training me but also
white-washing a new area! What that means is we don't have anything to
go off of. No investigators. No area book. No map. It's all brand new
and blank. We are starting from scratch. Our focus right now is the
ward; We want to gain the members trust, and bring those who are
inactive back to the fold. Which is actually a LOT of people. We met
our ward for the first time yesterday, and its tiny, like the size of
Spanish branch at home. But we looked at the membership records, and
there should be at least 200 people coming to church! So, we've got a
lot of work to do going out and finding them. I know that
strengthening the already existing ward will help us find new
investigators more than anything else.

As expected, I understand little to nothing of what people say. But
I'll get there. The trainees in the companionship are always put in
charge of the phone, so I had to call members to make appointments
with them last night. It was fun/funny! Luckily, the members seem to
understand when I struggle, and they gave me lots of opportunities to
talk in church.

Thank you so much for your love! I'm going to need a lot sent my way
in the next couple weeks. It's going to be hard, but if I keep my
purpose in mind, everything seems easier. I'm here to bring people to
Christ! That's the only thing that could keep me going.

Oh, and to answer your question about our mission president's greatest
qualities-- I would say that their energy is the biggest thing I
noticed. He and his wife have a genuine love of missionary work and
they want their missionaries to be the best that they can be. It's
motivating to see them go around with such a bright attitude!

I love you mom and dad. Here I go, out to serve Korea!

Love, Sister Segovia