Hello wonderful parents! And a shout out to all others who are reading this email. :)

It's my first P-day! I think it's awesome that our districts P-day is on Friday, it just makes the week seem more normal, since Friday's were usually my break days before. It's great that they still are!

The MTC is insane. There are so many people here! We have strict schedules for everything including when we eat, do laundry, exercise, etc. And we have to follow it to the dot or else there will be overcrowding. Apparently we had twice as many missionaries come in as normal, with around 700 new missionaries entering the MTC on the same day as me. AND, we had SIXTY-EIGHT Korean missionaries come in! We have tripled the size of our Branch! That is just amazing. Also, the fact that four people from Mountain Home are serving in Korea... And i saw both Elder Austin Bodily and Sister Ana Martin! I actually see them pretty often since we, of course, are in the same branch. So that's way cool!

We got to meet our Branch Presidency last night (though I was struggling to pay attention because it felt like three in the morning) and our President is from New Zealand (Lord of the Rings country!) as well as one of the Zone leaders. If I were to learn an accent, I think that one would be the one. :D

As I mentioned, the days are so very VERY long. I thought the first day was bad, but then I had to get up at 6:30am and go go go until 10:30pm and the first day seemed like a blink. By the end of last night we were pretty much sleep walking. I had a humongous headache which started after the three hour Korean class that we had; my mind literally couldn't handle it I guess! haha But I almost have the Korean alphabet down, and once I get that perfected and in my brain, then I will be able to read Korea out loud. Of course I'll have no clue what I'm saying, but it's still useful! Also, I know the basic Humble structure of the Korean sentences (there's three different structures for talking, though the missionaries always should use Humble), it's actually pretty easy to learn, it's just a matter of remembering!

Our Korean teacher is Brother Sung. He was born in Hawaii and raised in Salt Lake. He would go to the Busan area every summer, and served a mission in Seoul. He's way funny, and also very helpful! He notices anything we say, even if it's not to him, and takes that into account when he is teaching.

We have to teach our first lesson to an "investigator" in all Korean TODAY! My companion and I are sooo nervous, so we are going to be planning that for the rest of our free time. We also get to go to the temple later this evening, which will be a great relaxer and give us a chance to clear our mind and get in touch with the Holy Spirit more.

I have loved the atmosphere here! Especially because everyone is so friendly to the new missionaries. You get a bright pink dot on your name tag the first day, so everyone can know you are new, and practically everyone is saying hello and welcome to the MTC. You can take the dot off after the first day, but I'm determined to keep mine on until Sunday, even though everyone keeps telling me I can take it off. But I just love how everyone is so nice to you when you have it on! I still get welcomed all the time by people :)

And I have been able to see so many people that I know! I've seen people from my previous BYU wards, classes, and work. Though I don't think I'll ever see Mariah because she no longer actually lives on the MTC campus, but was moved to the recently added housing across the way.

One really interesting thing that I've noticed here: even those that I'm pretty sure I've never met before all look familiar! It's so weird, like I can't figure out if I HAVE met them before. But then I remember that they didn't look familiar when I first met them, it's just that I feel like I've known them forever. I'm not sure why, but it's the most interesting thing.

My companion is great; she seems very responsible. Her name is Sister Bussio, and she is from Provo and went to BYU for the past two years as well. She is majoring in History (the old stuff like Greek and Roman) and knows Greek and Latin. She could translate those mythology stories I learned about last semester! So cool. We haven't completely connected yet, but we are definitely getting there! Neither of us are the super girly type, so we aren't like doing each other's hair or screaming in high pitches about little things haha and both of us are definitely not used to having someone with us all the time. but I'm excited to get to know her!

So, I lost my CTR ring my very first day--so typical of me right? haha Also, I'm not sure if you found it or not, but I think I must have left my sea-greenish shirt at home, because I can't find it in my luggage anywhere. If I did leave it home, that makes me sad! That was one of my favorites :(

Well, there's lots more to tell, but that would result in a mile-long email, so I'll just keep it the half-mile that it is. :D I love you both, Mom and Dad! Also, I love all of the family, and my awesome friends! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Christina Segovia

We love you 2!! Hope I did this right!   love, Mom

It's Officially Here!

I can't believe it! I am actually about to be set apart in less than two hours! After that, it's just me, the Lord, and the Korean people. I am so excited!

I'm off to have dinner with my family, so all I can say about how I feel is... UNREAL!! It's just starting to hit me, and I have a feeling the full blow is coming soon. As in 7 o'clock tonight. But I'm going to be the best I can be! I know this church is true, and that's worth any and every sacrifice.

I'm ready for this. Here I go.

Last-minute DIYs

So, I leave in two days, and I'm still frantically running around trying to finish things up. But one thing that I have been working on, and am almost finished with, is making my own ruffle shirts!

I personally have loved the new style with the ruffles on the front of a shirt, because it looks so professional and very nice with a cami over it. So I really, really wanted some for my mission! However, the cheapest they are in the store is like $25, which I'm not a huge fan of.

Instead, I went online and found a bunch of awesome DIY ruffle shirts, and have made them all! Here are the links, so you can make them too! All you need for most of them is two cheap t-shirts, some thread, pins, and a sewing machine!

1. Tea Rose Home
   This shirt is my all-time favorite! I ended up making two, one with the flowers, one without.
   Also, I made the two other ruflle shirt tutorials on this blog as well, both found in the list of tutorials.
   
2. Ruffles and Stuff
   Not gonna lie, I haven't actually made this one yet, but I'm going to tomorrow. And I'm excited about it!
   
3. Brassy Apple
   This one is a bit more complicated, but not too difficult once you figure out how to shir (I just looked it up on google).

All in all, I made (or will have made) five shirts, and have had so much fun doing it! So if you are willing to spend more time than money, these are the way to go!

One other tutorial I found that I never actually got around to:

Enchantresses3 - Corsage Tee

Holy JACKPOT!!!

I just found my mom's belt stash......... and she has like 50 million cute waist belts in virtually every color! Why did I not know about this sooner?!? I could have been so stylish this past year haha But they are perfect for adding a little flair to outfits for the mission!

Man, who knew? Girls, even if you have a mom who isn't quite as fashion-aware as you would like, DO NOT MISS the opportunity to go through her closet. She just might have had impeccable style that has happened to come back around in the popular style of today. Or maybe her sister dressed well and gave your mom her old clothes. Yeah. Anything is possible. Just look through her stuff and you're bound to find a treasure chest of cute things. 

Just to show you what I mean by treasure chest, jackpot, and 50 million, here's a picture of all the belts that were once hidden in the back of a closet and are now claimed as mine:

Now that's what I call a plethora of belts. So excited that I found them!

Study Advice Needed

ATTENTION ALL RETURNED MISSIONARIES

So, I was just reading the second chapter of Preach My Gospel, which is talking about how to study the scriptures effectively. One point it emphasized was recording thoughts and inspirations for later reference. I was wondering what some of you guys have found is effective or not effective as far as how to organize your spiritual journal. 

I'm the type of person that likes to alphabetize or date my notes, but I realize that it might be more beneficial to do it a different way: maybe by topic? Anyway, this is where you come in. I would love to know what you did, or saw others do that looked like a good idea. Comment away!

(If you can't comment because you don't have the required accounts then just comment on my Facebook! [however, if you don't have a google account you should get one, just because it's handy :) ])

"I'm Going on an Adventure!"

Just like Bilbo Baggins, I feel as if I'm excitedly running after two of my best friends with my scriptures in tow, yelling to everyone else that I can't wait, for I am going on an adventure!

I had a chance to experience the MTC drop off this past Wednesday, when Mariah started her own new adventure! Two of my roommates, Mariah and Tatianna, became sister missionaries this past week. It feels so empty in our apartment now. But I'm so excited for them!

Here is my lovely cousin, two-year roommate, and best friend ready to head off to Finland for her greatest experience yet!

Going into the drop-off area of the MTC, there was such a great welcoming spirit! With a huge line of missionaries there to greet you, waving at all the passing cars.. When Mariah was unloading her luggage, her dad yelled, "We've got one going to Korea here!" and the girl that was helping Mariah unload happened to be a Korean missionary! She came around to say hi to me, and was so excited about it! I won't actually get to see her in the MTC because she'll be in Korea by then, but it still made me feel like I would be very welcome when it was my turn. Also, I probably will end up being her companion sometime and would love that.

I cannot wait to go serve the Lord! I know He has so much that He wants to teach me, and I am going to come back with so many more talents in service and spirituality. I'm so happy that Mariah and Tatianna are both starting their missionary journey right now!

Mission.. Dating?

As you can imagine, a dramatic change is expected in the personal dating scene once a mission call is received. I mean, DUH, right? But how exactly is dating supposed to change?

I have heard so many times that when preparing for a mission, you shouldn't date exclusively. Some people ignore that counsel, while others take it so extreme that they stay away from the opposite gender and gain no useful experience. 

I'm somewhere in the middle, not completely against dating before your mission, but also understanding that it does make it harder while serving. Of course, I have no experience inside the guys' mind, so I've no clue how much harder it makes the mission for them, but I feel as if it wouldn't be terribly hard for me to concentrate on my work as a servant of the Lord. I think it would be less a distraction and more of a comfort to know there was someone thinking about me back home. 

That being said, I really have no experience in the situation. In fact, rather than exclusive dating, I have had a sudden and huge increase in the amount of dates I've been asked on. Almost two a week! 

I can't figure out what is going on, except for with the "things will get really hard before your mission" aspect. Not that going on dates is hard, but the more I get used to going on them, the more I am going to suffer when I have to suddenly turn my flirtyness off. Me on the mission-- "Uhhh... how do I talk to guys again?"

I've decided that whatever happens happens, I'm just going to continue to be who I am, but not go out chasing. If they come to me, great, but they will have to wait a year-and-a-half. 

I've found a couple quotes on the whole subject of dating before the mission. Of course most of them are directed at the young men of the church, but you can make your own judgments based on them, and I wish you the best of luck in your own experiences or in counseling others whom you care about!

"You can do nothing more important [referring to mission]. School can wait. Scholarships can be deferred. Occupational goals can be postponed. Yes, even temple marriage should wait until after a young man has served an honorable full-time mission for the Lord. And I would admonish you to date only faithful young women who also believe this and give you that encouragement.
...
Our Heavenly Father wants you to date young women who are faithful members of the Church, who encourage you to serve a full-time mission and to magnify your priesthood."
(Ezra Taft Benson, General Conference April 1986)

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"One can have all the blessings if he is in control and takes the experiences in proper turn: first some limited social get-acquainted contacts, then his mission, then his courting, then his temple marriage and his school and his family, then his life's work. In any other sequence he could run into difficulty." (Spencer W. Kimball, "The Marriage Decision," Ensign, Feb. 1975)

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"Begin to prepare for a temple marriage as well as for a mission. Proper dating is a part of that preparation. In cultures where dating is appropriate, do not date until you are 16 years old. 'Not all teenagers need to date or even want to. ... When you begin dating, go in groups or on double dates. Make sure your parents meet [and become acquainted with] those you date.' Because dating is a preparation for marriage, 'date only those who have high standards.'
Be careful to go to places where there is a good environment, where you won't be faced with temptation.
A wise father said to his son, 'if you ever find yourself in a place where you shouldn't ought to be, get out!' Good advice for all of us."
(Thomas S. Monson, General Conference April 2010)