I am hitting a year this week!! It's so crazy how fast the time goes, I really can't believe it. My life has changed so much in this past year, I never thought I'd be at this point, doing what I'm doing, learning what I have learned. I speak a whole different language now, I've met people from all around the world, lived in Europe, and just been a missionary for a year! It's amazing and I'm so happy to be doing it. It's hard! But it's worth it, especially for the lessons learned, people met and testimony gained. I just wanna kill it for the next 6 months and do the best I can. I know the time will just go
faster and faster, but I'm happy to be here.
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| One Year Selfie |
To answer a few questions that I forgot to answer last week: I am not sister training leader anymore. There's not enough sisters in the north to really have the need for sister training leaders here. So yeah, I was released from that assignment Also, I still haven't received any letters to my piso, but I'm sure they're coming. I don't know if maybe the mail to get up to Gijon is slower or something, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Thank you for writing me,though! I love getting letters, even though I've been really bad at writing them,
This week has been really good. We decided as a companionship that we were gonna stop worrying about the number game and just focus on the work and the people. I've seen missionaries out here get absolutely consumed by the numerical results of their work, and it makes me sad because it really takes away from the spirit of everything and the reason we are doing what we are doing, which is the love of God and of His children. It's hard not to get sucked into the trap of focusing soooo much on numbers because sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that high numbers always mean that we are good missionaries. High numbers definitely aren't bad, but using them as a way to gauge success can be harmful. It's been a struggle for me on my mission not to compare myself to others and their outward results, but being here in Gijon has really given me the chance to focus on the people and just doing the best I can, because number wise, it's just a lot harder here. And this week has felt really good, as a result. We actually were able to teach a lot of new investigators, which did feel really good.
We had a first lesson with this family from Peru that we found, as well with that guy that I told you about that we stopped with our umbrellas. He is really cool and we're meeting with him again tomorrow. The family was a bit of a miracle. We walked around Gijon all day yesterday. There is no public transportation here, except for buses that take a really long time, so we just walk. All day, everyday. We had a lot of lessons fail us yesterday and we had this lesson set up with this guy that we had quickly contacted on the street. I had like, zero expectations with him because I sort of thought he was kind of weird and thought for sure he was going to fail us. But we got there and he let us in. We started talking, and then his wife walked in and we got to know her. Turns out, although he has been in Spain for 8 years, she just got here 3 months ago, and she was meeting with the elders in Peru right before she moved here. They were so awesome, and we didn't have much time to be with them, but we
shared the Gracias a El video with them and invited the to read The Book of Mormon. He told us that he felt like it was destiny for us to be there. It was just such a cool experience. We're excited to see how they progress.
The branch here is still small and still pretty dramatic. A lot of people don't come to church anymore because they've been offended in the past by one thing or another, but we're working on that. I've been working a lot to have charity and love for a few of the members that have been hard for me to connect with. I was thinking about in the Bible when Jesus talks about how even evil men love people that love them, but it takes a truly Christlike man to love somebody that shows no affection towards them, or that is hard to even like.
I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday about missionary work, and I talked about certain missionary experiences that I had before the mission and times that I was able to share my testimony with those around me. I talked about how we should always share what we know, and how the Lord will bless us for it, whether or not they accept what we are sharing with them. I challenged the branch to search for more missionary opportunities in their own lives. I was thinking that maybe that's something that you guys could work on, too! Soon there will be two missionaries from our house out in the field, but we can always be missionaries. So I want to extend a Seegmiller family challenge:
I want each of you to give out a Book of Mormon to somebody before I get home. This includes mom and dad, as well. I know you can all do it!! I know that if you start praying to have missionary opportunities,they will come. I know that it really strengthens our testimonies to share what we know. So... Will you do it? I think it would be a really cool thing to try and do. It might require you all to stretch a little bit out of your comfort zone, but that's what we have to do sometimes (all the time) as missionaries. I know you can do it!! Let me know what you think.
That's really cool that you're going to Navuoo and that Parker is going through the temple there. It will be a really cool experience. I love that temple a lot. And his farewell is in three weeks?? Holy cow. Time flies. I'm so excited for him!
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