Not shrinking is more important than not surviving

That comes from a talk given by Elder Bednar, and I absolutely love it. Truly our knowledge of God and His love for us is much more important than keeping our life.

So this week was kind of a bummer... I've never had so many appointments cancel as in the past couple weeks. But we still are heading forward! We were able to invite a lot of less actives to our Branch Conference, which was way good. Our mission president and his wife spoke, and it was so neat to see how every member absolutely loves those two. 

This past week I had to stop running.... So terrible, right? But I've had shin splints for the past two months, and my companions finally made me stop running on them haha So I've been doing creative stuff like hula hoop, basketball, and going to the old-people park. (interesting fact) In Korea there's a bunch of little parks with exercise machines that all the old people use, But they don't have any resistance so if you aren't old it doesn't really do much. But they are still so fun! We tried to get a workout there, but it didn't quite work. 

A cool thing that happened this week was when we went to this little restaurant that we like to go every week. The owner is super nice and we are working on warming her heart enough to meet with us. When we went this past week, there were a bunch of people there and alll of them were super interested in us and asking questions. One girl was our age, and she asked to look at the Book of Mormon. I think if we see her again, we will totally be able to start meeting with her! That was really cool. And it's also great that the shop owner is fine with us. Most people are scared of us when we mention our church, but she's totally comfortable with us being there. 

Not much else happened here, so I'll head out! We are having another Zone P-day, should be super fun!

Love you all!

Sister Christina Segovia

"Believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable." - 1 Peter 1:8

This gospel is the only thing that gives us the joy that lasts! All of those stories in the Book of Mormon where the people are so happy that they just can't contain it-- that's because of the gospel! As much as we love our family, our joy can be so much greater as a family in the gospel. I love you!

Choke-gu, it's the new craze‏

Actually I'm really not a fan of the game 촉구 because I really am terrible at it, but that happens to be the game we are playing for P-day today! Volleyball soccer is harder than you'd think!

So I got to meet my ward yesterday at church! Not trying to play favorites, but I think this will be the best ward yet :D Our Branch President is sooo funny, and so is our ward mission leader. Another Elder and I already have nicknames haha. Elder Payne looks just like a kid from Home Alone, so now they just call him Elder Home Alone, and They call me Sister Bolivia or Sister Guitar. haha! So fun. I'm going to have a blast here!  And my companions are so fun, though I think I came in just to keep the sane in the companionship haha they can get pretty crazy :P <3

Also, this past week we did interviews with our mission president, and it was our LAST interview meeting with him! He will be going home in just a couple months and a new mission president will be coming in! So many things are going to change these next few months! It will be really interesting. 

Something really cool that happened at the interview meeting was when we were all talking together with Sister Gilbert, she started explaining something that was almost the exact same thing that I had learned in my personal study last transfer! Except from a different point of view. It was so awesome! And I realized that lately, since I've been reading all of Paul's writings, I make diagrams or pictures in order to understand. I've learned that from Paul's vivid comparisons, as well as Sister Gilbert's :)

AND we had a zone conference, and I discovered that I have served with a third of my zone before!! Ahhh I was so happy, because all of the people I've served with are absolutely amazing!

A miracle from the week was one of our investigators who used to meet with missionaries but really didn't care or react to the lessons, but then once the sister missionaries started meeting with him he was more open. And this past lesson that we had with him, he prayed at the end of the lesson! It was so great!! But we don't know when we will be able meet him again because his wife is really busy... but we really really want to meet with him again.

Anyway, that's all for now!

Sister Segovia

Interesting Fact: Korean girls don't want any muscle. Big calf muscles is not a good thing at all, and some people even get surgery to remove the muscle. Crazy, right?

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for." - Hebrews 11:1

Have you ever really thought about this before? I'm still trying to figure it out. This time, I'm actually going to ask you all what you think about this verse! So, what thoughts go through your head?

The Prophet truly does speak for God‏

CONFERENCE!!! I know, this is a week later than you all, but Korea watches conference the week after. So we got to see it Saturday and yesterday! And ohhhh my goodness it was amazing! There were points where I was so exhausted, but I absolutely couldn't let myself doze off, because the messages that were being given by the prophets of the Lord are way more important! As we were watching, we noticed that the theme really was focused around the attacks coming from this new world of technology. Lately, as members our biggest challenge comes from that direction, because things have become so normal through technology. So we have to be very careful to KNOW our standards and STAND by our standards. Which is easier said than done. But it's life-savingly important!

 

This past week has just been a whirlwind of activity, both physically and mentally. Coming to a new area is always crazy, because you've got so much to learn in a small amount of time. I have been meeting all the investigators and members, and trying so hard to remember who they are. And not only that, but we are actually busy here! I absolutely love this area. It is very similar to my first area, Jinju. It's more country (though don't get me wrong, there's still 20-floor buildings everywhere) and the sisters were just white-washed in last transfer. And just like in Jinju, the miracles have exploded with activity, so we already have a lot going on!

 

We have this one investigator who is actually taking us somewhere today. She is progressing and really likes studying the Book of Mormon. We taught her about prophets last week and invited her to watch conference and she readily accepted. So we watched conference with her in mind, to know which talks we should share. Of course, we need to share one from President Monson, so I was wondering if what he said would apply to her. And you know what? The message that he gave was EXACTLY the thing that she has the biggest problem with. From the very first two sentences that he spoke, I knew it was what we needed. God prepared his talk for us! I have such a strong testimony of the power that our prophet and apostles have. If you haven't yet, please watch conference with an open heart! You will see miracles.

 

I love you all so much! And Happy Easter! Don't forget who it's for-- our Savior, Jesus Christ!

 

Sister Segovia

 

Interesting Fact:

This actually is more terrible then fun, but I'll tell you what happened this morning. So for foreigners in Korea, you have to update your foreigner card every time you move. But of course since missionaries move so much, it's a really big hassle. Regrettably, most don't do it or do it late. This happened to be the case for my companions as we went this morning. Turns out, if you don't update your address within two weeks after moving, you have to pay a 100,000won (about 80$) fine! Who knew? But actually, no one knew, even the people in the mission headquarters,. My poor companions were the first to find out, and did indeed have to pay up. Luckily I did it in time! I now have a stronger testimony about keeping the laws of the land.

 

One-liner of the week:

"He that built all things is God." - Hebrews 3:4

In this scripture, it compares us to a house and says if there is a nice house, the person that should get credit is the architect, rather than the house itself. We may be pretty fantastic with all of the things that we have done, but we should always remember that we became who we are because of God. I started out just as a normal little house, but through the Atonement of Christ I have been able to go through renovations and updates, and will continue to do so until I become the magnificent mansion that God has in mind for me. I'm not there yet, but as long as I remember who's designing me, I'm steadily heading in the direction!

I guess I'll be having a big family....

So guess what? Actually, you'll never be able to guess it, so I'll just tell you. :) I got transferred today!! I am now in a brand new area--호계(Hogye).I left my two wonderful Korean companions behind to work miracles in that area, and now I have arrived to a new start! And there's one more surprise that you'd REALLY never have guessed.----- I'm in another threesome! This time with two other Americans! That's right, two threesome companionships in a row! I was so surprised. Something my former companion, Sister 최예인 said was that if you have a lot of three-people companionships, you are being trained to have a big family... So I'm a little nervous about that haha

I really did love my old area, and we did indeed have a baptism yesterday! It was such a miracle, for multiple reasons. First of all, this kid has been taking the lessons from missionaries for years and years, but never wanted to be baptized. He knew all the doctrine, he kept all the commandments, but he just didn't want to be baptized. But finally, this past transfer he made up his mind to do it! There were so many missionaries that came, because he has gone through a lot of Elders. So it was way fun! And also, we regained permission to have another boy baptized, so the Sisters will be working on that this next transfer. Happiness reigns!

The rest of this week was pretty busy preparing for the baptism and then preparing for me to leave once we got transfer calls on Thursday. I'm going to miss that area! I was there for three transfers, my longest so far. But I realized today that one of my favorite things about missionary work is indeed transfers! That was surprising to me. and probably to you to. But I realized that my personality needs those new starts, to remind me about my goals and realign my desires to where they need to be. Here's something a fellow missionary said: the Atonement is all about the power of change. So having so many opportunities to start again is giving me an opportunity to use the Atonement more fully! It's a new realization for me.

Anyway. I love you all a ton, and can't wait to be able to tell you more about my new area and companions next week. And holy moly, can you believe Elder Jalen Gibbons and Elder Tyson Gibbons will be returning in just over a month? I'm way excited for them and their families. :D

Lots of love sent your way! <3 <3

Sister Christina Segovia

Interesting Fact: Koreans think blowing your nose in public is not so gracious. So they just end up having the sniffles rather than blowing their nose, which I always thought was more irritating. But Americans also don't usually like the whole nose-blowing thing either.

Inspiring Scripture: The well known and much quoted, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." - 2 Timothy 4:7

So many prophets have quoted this scripture when speaking of what they want to proclaim when their journey is over. I too want to be able to say this in the end. But the key is, the end doesn't mean just the end of our life. The end could mean the end of my mission, the end of a transfer, or even the end of a day. Can you and I say this after every day? Did we fight a good fight when Satan put a negative thought in our mind? Did we continue what we were prompted to do in the moment? Did our faith never waver? I hope to be able to say that every day for the rest of my life.