The Three Musketeers!

That's right, the Three Musketeers are back in action! But this time they've taken the shape of three sister missionaries! So, this past week was indeed transfer calls, and today is the beginning of a new transfer. So transfer call night, we didn't receive a call which I was actually really happy about because that means we are both staying. So we were expecting to be able to go on as normal in our area. but then the next morning we receive a call from another sister saying she is coming to our area too!! A threesome companionship! And I'm the only foreigner! Man is it going to be interesting/fun/a learning experience and every other adjective you can think of. I hope to come out of this transfer speaking Korean like a beast, especially because this next week I'll be HALFWAY through my mission! Woah woah woah! So much stuff going on right?

Also, we do indeed have a baptismal date for the boy I was talking about, and having two other beloved investigators that are progressing. This area is rolling forward with so many miracles! I'm so excited for the upcoming weeks. This past week was super successful, with quite a lot of appointments and always having something to do. Those kind of weeks are the best, when there's few times that you actually have to think about what you can do. So much happened that I don't know what I should tell! So we'll just have to suffice with saying that I'm just super happy about how things are going here.

One thing I want to mention is the absolute joy that we as missionaries feel when we see an investigator starting to grasp hold of the gospel. Even just the smallest step forward gets us so excited that they are heading on the right path, and it's devastating when they choose to leave it behind. But like I said, we have a few investigators that are showing some progression! 

So how in the world are all of you? Let me know! This next week is the start of the birthday month in our family, so make sure that in your cards and such you include a Happy Birthday from me! Happy Birthday to Steven, Carla, Christal, and Jeremy! <3

SO interesting fact about Korea: they eat spaghetti very regally, using a spoon along with a fork/chopsticks. Really, by using this skill in the future, I will be able to look graceful while eating spaghetti, which I used to think was impossible. But Koreans have mastered it!

K, LOVE!

Sister Segovia

"We can do nothing against truth." - 2 Corinthians 13:8

Actually, the things that I learned from this simple line are sooo much, and I'm still trying to figure it out, but I'm curious to know what you all think about this verse! The realization that I had was that truth has power, and truth originated from love. Because of God's love for us, there is the Truth, that will never change no matter what. And through declaring and living the truth. we receive power from God. There's more, but I'll stop there. Truth is a huge gift!

It's a Lovely Day!

Hellllllooooo!! Let me tell you about this amazing week! We have seen so many miracles! Our area is finally starting to see what we've been working for for so long.

 

First, our investigator that we've been teaching for a while. When we met with her this past week, we had originally planned to just talk about the Atonement, but as we taught, the Spirit guided us to teach the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. When we taught about how baptism is a promise with God, she seemed kind of surprised. She then explained that she knew what baptism was. but not what it meant. We explained a little more, and gave her the soft baptisimal commitment. She accepted, saying she would be baptized if she was able to know our church is true. :) It's a huge miracle, because just last month I had thought we would have to drop her. I have come to care about her SO so much, and am so excited with every step she takes toward Christ.

 

Also, we were able to teach the 8-year old, and today we hope to have a baptisimal date for him. And with the Spirit's guidance, we also hope to have his mother be baptized with him. Ahhh it would be so perfect! And another miracle towards baptism is that a boy who has been coming to church for who knows how long finally committed to prepare for baptism! So hopefully he will have a date too! AND our other Elders have an absolutely golden investigator very likely will have a date too. It's like all of the sudden our areas are being overwhelmed with baptism potentials, and hopefully the next couple months will have a lot!

 

We had an adventure this past week, because our electronic lock on our door kept not working so we would be locked out. It usually would work again after 20 minutes, but one night we couldn't get in at all! We were sitting outside our door for an hour past when we were supposed to be in our home, and finally the APs call us and tell us how to get back in. But in the process. everything that could go wrong went wrong! Haha I laugh about it now, but I really was not in the mood at the time. My awesome companion was able to keep a positive attitude throughout it all though, and we finally entered our house again at 10:20pm, just in time to go to bed.

 

There are so many other things that happened this week, like interviews with the President and gospel discussion with his wife and our district for four hours (SO AWESOME), getting a cat out of our church. baking a cake with an investigator and recent convert, and so many other fun things. This week was fantastic! I don't want to leave this place. But this next week is transfer calls, so some of us will be leaving! We all are biting our nails to know who is staying and who is leaving. :O Whoever stays is giong to see lots of awesome miracles in this area!

 

Oh, and interesting fact: colors and designs are a lot less gender-oriented here. You will see a guy with a purple polka-dotted umbrella and it's normal. Or, for graduation there are a bunch of super frilly bouquets being sold on the road, that when I walked by I thought they were even too flashy to give to a girl. But then I came to discover that they were in fact being given to teenage boys! Imagine my surprise seeing these boys receiving a rose bouquet wrapped in bright bink lace fabric. Yeah, it's pretty crazy.

 

Okay. I'll end there! I love love you all and hope that everything is moving forward as you want it to! But don't forget that what God wants is most important :)

 

Sister Segovia

 

"By the grace of God I am what I am." - 1 Corinthians 15:10

There's no doubt about it, I would be nowhere without Heavenly Father helping me out. And without Jesus Christ's Atonement, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere either. As for the Spirit, he helps me recognize the fact that I want to be somewhere better than I am. How grateful I am for these Three Beings, whose soul purpose is to help me become the woman that I am meant to be! We are meant to have more joy than imaginable. I want that, and because of the grace and mercy of God, I can have that.

"I'm trying hard not to resist the joy"‏

So there's this song playing right now which that line came from, and I thought it really applied to me right now. :) 

This past week was pretty incredible. We were able to meet with all of our investigators, and even got permission to teach the son of one investigator. His father is a member, the mother is our investigator, and so we are going to be starting the lessons with him officially! 

Also, yesterday at church two new people who had been referred came to church, so we will be trying to meet with them in the next couple of weeks and see how that goes! 

So this week we went on exchanges, and it was super fun because our Sister Training Leader is in my 동기 (we were in the MTC together)! I stayed in our area with her, and my companion went with her companion, who she had already been companions with. So it was a really fun reunion. And I absolutely love exchanges because I really do learn so much from them. It's great to get different perspectives from outside sources, because sometimes looking at your own life or your own area, it's hard to know what to change. 

Another eventful thing that happened this week was we got to go ICE-skating! It was a blast! We went on Saturday for our youth activity, which quite a few of the youth came to. And it was great that we got the chance to go, because most places like that are closed on our P-day. So, interesting fact is that ice-skating rinks in Korea are much more strict on safety. You have to wear helmets and gloves, and when there's lots of people, no holding hands. But still, I love ice-skating even though I'm terrible at it. I want to go again!

K, I've got to go so I love you so much!

Sister Segovia

P.S. If you know the SUPER popular Korean song "Gangnam Style", my companion is from 강남 (Gangnam) :D 

"Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." - 1 Cor. 8:1

I have been studying a lot of knowledge and charity lately, and I really like this scripture. Sometimes, when we have a lot of knowledge, we do tend to get a little prideful. But when we have charity for everyone around us, then we use that knowledge to help others and edify them. :)

Hello my family! And friends too :)

Hello my family! And friends too :)

 

This past week was pretty crazy. We weren't able to meet with many people due to Chinese New Year (during the holidays we aren't allowed to make appointments unless they invite us), but we were still plenty busy. As a mission, we all were supposed to deep DEEP clean our apartments, which takes forever even in the tiny little ones we have. We weren't able to finish! Saturday was when we had some appointments, so we pretty much spent alllll day eating. But I discovered that I actually do like grapefruit! I haven't had grapefruit in who knows how long, since I decided I didn't like them when I was very young. But one of our members gave us a ton and they were super yummy! So I'm coming even closer to liking every single fruit and vegetable on the planet. Thanks mom for raising me to love them!

 

This past week I was focusing on prayer and having/feeling the Spirit, and I actually did have some good experiences. One was with our investigator, 박숙희. She told us about how she used to think Christ was always with her, but lately she felt like he had left. So I told her about the poem "Footsteps," and the Spirit told ME that what i was saying was true. I don't know if she felt it, but I hope so. Also, in church sometimes I struggle to feel the spirit because I can't understand very well, but yesterday I decided to pray to be able to feel the Spirit, and immediately I felt so warm, like "It's okay, I'm still here." I am so thankful for God's reassurance to me.

Also, we were able to talk with another investigator that comes to church but hasn't been taking the lessons for a while. We are going to start meeting with her again to talk about the gospel! And we have plans for how to help all of our investigators be baptized, and I have hope that we will have a baptism soon!

 

I love you all! Mom, I laughed when I heard you got a laptop :) But really, laptops are awesome right? And now you can sit in your chair and still do your missionary work <3

 

Interesting fact of the week: Fruit is dessert here. Even in it's on the table when the meal starts, you don't start eating it until you are done with dinner. I love this of course :]

 

Sister Segovia

 

 "Abound in hope." - Romans 15:13

Hope is amazing. Someone in our ward yesterday told their insight: faith is like a seed, but hope is the water that helps the seed to grow. I've learned a lot about how hope and faith work together, and I really encourage you to study this as well. At first it may seems as if they are the same thing, but you will come to discover that they have very different roles. :)