Surprise!!!

Hey everyone!

So it turns out that you are allowed to email the day before you depart for your mission, so here I am! This weekend has been interesting, but lots of really cool and spiritual things have happened. 

On Saturday night we had our Secret Santa party and we all exchanged our little gifts that we had made. I had Hermana Anderson, and I copied a poem out and laminated it for her to take on her mission. Elder Hunt had me, and he printed out a picture of our district, where everyone had written sweet little notes which was soo nice, i loved it. It was such a fun evening, even though we had just finished our last class together and things were starting to come to a close. I also got a surprise package from the family!! (the grandparents, Aunt Kim and Uncle Brian, Chandler, and Chelsey's family!) It was SO cute it made my day! I needed that little box of sunshine that day and I'm so grateful for that. Also, after we all said goodbye to Hermano Lund, Elder Mills did one last haka for us. It was really emotional. In New Zealand, I think they often do the haka for those they love to show their strong appreciation and love for them, so it was amazing. Everyone was crying, and there are really no words to describe how beautiful it was. 

Sunday was such a rough day. The elders had a bet going to see how many times I would cry that day, hahaha it was no fun. I walked into our classroom, and the whole board had been erased, including our goals and everything we'd written on it over the and for some reason that made me so sad! But anyways, before sacrament meeting we had a meeting with our Branch President, and he taught us how to get out of duct tape if we ever get kidnapped (Yeeaaaah it was kinda strange, but helpful!) He also talked to us awhile about our missions and meeting our mission president and what not, so that was really helpful. We had sacrament meeting, which was fantastic. At the end our whole district sang Nearer My God to Thee, but by that time I definitely couldn't make it through without a small breakdown. Elder Hunt played violin for us, and it was just a really awesome experience. 

Oh, i totally forgot to mention that when we woke up that morning it was SNOWING! It was amazing. We had all been praying for one last snowfall before everyone left, and Heavenly Father definitely answers prayers. After lunch we (Hermana Beggs, Ybarra, Green, Elder Mills, Weddle, and I) had a "snowball" fight which was SO fun!! Of course, by the end of the evening all of the snow had melted, but it was amazing while it lasted. After sacrament we walked to the temple one last time and took some pictures. Then, we had our "last supper" (it was actually really gross so I had my usual bowl of cereal) 

Our devotional last night was super good. First of all, Elder Hunt played a prelude piece on violin for the whole MTC which was super cool and soooooo good. The whole devotional was a program by the BYU Men's Chorus, and it was amazing. They sang lots of really cool songs, and they are just super talented.It was such a good last devotional.  

Alright, here comes the worst part of this weekend.....

After devotional we all went back to our classroom one last time. We went around and had a small testimony meeting, which was super cool. It was really nice to hear everyone's testimonies and why they decided to come on a mission. They all have changed my life, and they are all some of my closest friends now. After the testimony meeting, we all got blessings, which was probably the best part of the evening. (even though i was ugly crying through the whole thing). Elder Weddle gave me my blessing, and I know that every word he said came straight from my Heavenly Father. He told me that I am exactly where I need to be, and even though I had doubts and trials before my mission, that once I'm there, all of those won't matter anymore. He said that my personality will touch so many lives in Provo, and to always keep a smile on my face, even through the hard times. It was one of the most spiritual moments I have ever had here at the MTC. I'm so grateful for the elders in my district and that great power they have to bless us with comfort when we really need it. It was amazing how personal each blessing was for each person. They all got what they needed to hear, and it blew my mind. This church is SO true. 

After blessings we all started to part our separate ways. One of the hardest things I've done so far here was walking out of that building away from these people that I have grown to love so much. 

This morning, we woke up at 2:15AM to see Hermana Green and Ybarra off to Ecuador, and we stayed up until 3:30 to see Hermana Anderson and Flood off too. It was so difficult to say goodbye to them. When I tried to go to sleep that night, I thought I would surely just cry myself to sleep, but I suddenly felt like I had someone right there beside me, comforting me, telling me things were really going to be okay, and i felt at peace. It was amazing. But when I woke up at 6:30 I stood up, wondering why the others weren't waking up, when I looked over and saw their empty beds I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry because it was suddenly so real. 

Today it's just me, Hermana Beggs, Elder Hunt, Davenport and Mills today. Elder Mills leaves in an hour and a half, and then by tomorrowit'll just me and Hermana Beggs. 

I have to go now, I'm kinda freaking out but I'm also really excited. I don't have my address to my mission home, but my parents should have it if anyone wants to send me letters. 

I love you all so much! 

Hermana Segle

Last P-Day in the MTC!

Hey everyone......

This week has been interesting, to say the least. It's been pretty uneventful, so this email will probably be short. 

I've had a lot of hard days this week. With everyone getting their flight information and what not this past week I was starting to feel a little down on myself about my mission call so it's just been like a weird, kinda bummed out feeling. But it's okay! I am muuuuuuuuuy animada for my mission, I just think being in the MTC is hard sometimes with everyone going different places. I'm sure once I'm in the field I will be totally fine. 

It's also been a weird week because this is our last week together as a district, and we're all really unsure about how we feel about it. The other district in our zone left last week, so it was just our district until we got new elders yesterday. We've all sort of had this unspoken rule in the classroom that no one was gonna talk about how we're all leaving each other on Monday. It's going to be a really, really difficult weekend for all of us since we have pretty much become family. I've never gotten so close to people in such a short amount of time in my whole life, and they have all honestly changed my life in so many ways. Also the fact that we are all going to different places makes it really hard to say goodbye. It's funny how close you can get to people when you spend about 12 hours a day with them for 6 weeks. Also the fact that I feel completely NOT ready to teach real people totally in Spanish is kind of freaking me out a lot. 

Today we got up really early and did laundry so we could go to the Temple with our teacher, Hermana DiCarolo. It was great, and today's been pretty good so far! Sorry this email is all over the place....

On Sunday it was fast sunday, so we were all starving that day. I was really super tired that day though because me and Hermana Anderson accidentally stayed up reeeal late talking about our missions and what not, but I didn't even mind. Hermana Anderson is a lot like me, so I connect with her really well and she's such a sweet person. Anyways, during sacrament meeting I played piano (it was bound to happen eventually) and it went pretty well seeing as I haven't played piano in SO long. We watched the Christmas Devotional that evening, buuuuuut it was so hard to pay attention. The great part about that evening was a talk that we watched from a Thanksgiving MTC devotional in 2012. It was by Elder Holland and it was literally amazing. He talked about how we are in the last dispensation, and how ancient prophets (like in the BOM) KNEW they were going to lose, but they saw a future of us as missionaries, and knew that we were finally going to be the dispensation that's gonna win, no matter what. I wish you all had the access to watch it, because it is truly amazing. I had never seen Elder Holland cry so much during a talk. He also gave the most powerful testimony of Joseph Smith that I have ever heard. Also, please read D&C 133: 44-53 and keep in mind that we cannot leave our brother, Jesus Christ treading alone. We need to help him through sharing the amazing message of this gospel. 

Another kind of emotional night this week was Devotional on Tuesday. I was NOT expecting it to be, and I was kind of ready for a lame devotional with boring speakers buuuuut. After the first speaker, they had a special musical guest. Her name is Lexie Walker, and she's 10 years old and literally has the voice of an angel. She's sung with David Archuleta, sung in Carnegie Hall, sung for the President, etc. etc.... but for some reason she started singing and I started thinking of my sweet sisters and I just started crying out of the blue! (i swear I'm not depressed hahaha) but it was just so hard to see a 10 year old that reminded me so much of my sister and at the end of her songs, she came up and spoke about how she wanted to be a sister missionary some day, and it was just amazing. The rest of the devotional wasn't too good but that little girl definitely stole my heart and stomped on it haha. 

I guess this week has also been hard because I haven't really gotten many letters or emails. I'm so so so soooo grateful for the dear elders I've gotten but I guess it's all good. I only have today and tomorrow and Monday to receive dear elders and after that it'll only be letters and emails soo it would be so cool if I got some! 

Anyways, I'm leaving the MTC on Tuesday at 4:15 PM. Me and my companion are the last ones to leave, and we'll be alone all day on Tuesday. Everyone else had flights that were really early either monday or tuesday morning, and then there's us. It'll be a sad day for sure. I'm sure we'll just try to get to know the new elders and help them with their Spanish. I've started packing a little bit and it's so crazy to me that it's already been 6 weeks. It feels like I've spent my whole life here but it also feels like I just got here yesterday. It's a really weird feeling. But anyways, I'll be teaching some of my last lessons today, and then we have a crazy long in-field orientation all day tomorrowand that's not gonna be fun at all. Then after we have a Secret Santa party on Saturday night,and then we're basically done. So crazy. 

1 month down, 17 more to go!

Write me por favor!
Sorry for the lame email!!

Hermana Segle

PS I'll attach some photos in another email.

MTC pictures, part 3!

Thanksgiving shenanigans and only a week and a half left!

Heeeey everyone!!

Another week has passed here at the MTC, and I believe I am beginning my 5th week! I only have one more P-day after this one!! Whaaaat that's INSANE.

Anyways, lots happened this week and I don't have much time so this one might be a little brief. I also wanna try to send some pictures and that ALWAYS eats time up. 

So first things first: THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!! Thank you all for all of the sweet Dear Elders that day :) It was a strange day, but definitely the best one I've had in the MTC thus far! Elder Bednar spoke in Devotional and it was like Q&A style, and they handed out like 70 cell phones and we all texted in our questions. It was weird holding a cell phone again....I can't believe it's been a month since I had even touched one. Craaazy. Anyways, it was really enlightening and he's a fantastic speaker. Singing Come Thou Fount was also soooo cool. In the words of Elder Davenport, "I thought on that last note that all of us were just gonna be translated into heaven" haahahahaha but really it was AWESOME. I love that hymn. After Devotional we went to our thanksgiving "lunch/dinner" and the food was SO DISGUSTING. The turkey was questionable and everything was smelly. But that's nothing really out of the ordinary at the MTC cafeteria. Then, we went to a Thanksgiving program thing that was really casual and fun and Elder Hunt played violin and it was SO GOOD. It made me miss clarinet a lot though. Anyways, then we had a sack dinner (yes, my real Thanksgiving dinner was actually a sandwich and chips....) and then we walked to the temple which was great because while we were there this sweet hispanic family came up to us and gave us little bags of candy which apparently were put together by the Orem Spanish ward (WHICH IS IN MY AREA!! :) ) So I talked to the family and told them I was serving in Provo and they said they love their sisters. They also said their sisters don't have cars (maybe I'll get lucky and I'll be a walking missionary and MAYBE I won't gain a thousand pounds on my mission). But anyways, they were really sweet people and it made me soooo so excited for my mission because those are the exact people I'm gonna be serving with. After all that we did a service project where we had to wear ridiculous and ugly hairnets and put together meals (I might send some pictures) but anyways our district sang primary songs the whole time and one of the service coordinators took a video on her phone hahaha it was super cute. The best part of the whole day was the evening though. We all watched Meet The Mormons!! And they handed out yummy popcorn and it almost felt like I was at home again with my family. Then, after the movie they said they had a surprise for the missionaries so we went outside into the courtyard and they plugged in all of the christmas lights!! It was so beautiful I wanted to cry. I'm so excited for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, the sisters in my room and I tried to make jello and we stuck it out the window to harden it and it WORKED. Hahaha kinda gross, buuuut yeah. It's not snowing here though and it's been strangely warm which makes me slightly sad... 

So let's seeeeeeee what other things have been happening. Spanish is getting harder. Grammar sucks a lot. Some days I feel like I have it but then when I teach a lesson I just scrap all the grammar and fall back onto the basics which is really annoying and makes me feel like I will never, ever learn Spanish. It's getting super overwhelming. 

FUNNY STORY THOUGH. 

Okay. So. 

Our district was learning how to teach the Law of Chastity (yeah. kinda awkward) but anyways we were in the middle of practicing teaching each other when I see Elder Weddle shake up a bottle of Orange Juice that belonged to Hermana Green. Hermana Green grabs it back from him, opens it, and it just EXPLODES. Like you would think it was coke or something, it was just foaming everywhere, and juice got ALL OVER the walls and ALL OVER the ceiling and chalkboard and carpet. We were DYING. Like, I had always heard the orange juice here was sketchy but now I truly believe that it should not be  ingested under any circumstance. It was so bad, and it got all over Hermana Flood, who was wearing a white skirt. It was hilarious. 

Another cool thing...for Relief Society on Sunday SHERI DEW came and spoke to us. Now, I know what you're thinking. Sheri Dew is a lady that used to be in the general presidency of something or another, and she's just another lady Savannah will most likely fall asleep to. FALSE. Sheri Dew is literally who I want to be when I'm here age. She spoke clearly and concisely, she's the CEO of Deseret I'm pretty sure, and she's just an AMAZING woman. She spoke about Women and the Priesthood (yeah, most people stay far away from that topic) but it was fabulous because she just NAILED IT. We as sister missionaries have authority from our Stake Presidents and mission presidents to be representatives of Jesus Christ and we have access to the Priesthood. I could write a million paragraphs about it but it was awesome. I love this church. 

For Devotional on Tuesday we had VOCAL POINT. Yeah, like the adorable accapella group from BYU. They blew my mind, they were so amazing at singing and speaking. It touched my heart. And also, Hermana Green's cousin was the producer so I got to meet him and his mom (her aunt) who is in MOTAB. That is just a family of singers cause Hermana Green is amazing at singing too. 

A word about Hermana Green-SHE WENT TO SCHOOL IN EUREKA CALIFORNIA AND SHE KNOWS SIERRA(my cousin)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE TALKED ABOUT IT FOREVER AND MY MIND IS BLOWN!! It's such a small world!!!!

I got a package from Dad on Tuesday also, which was AMAZING. I got tons of food and a gorgeous ring (dad-I'm wearing it right now!!!) It made my whole entire week. 

You guys have no idea how much missionaries love mail. We love everything. We love getting emails on P-day. We love letters. We love packages. We love dear elders. Even if it's tiny, it means the world to us and it can make a horrible day go to a great day in moments. So please keep writing!! 

Spiritual thought for this week....

"The Sin of Mediocrity"

Our AMAZING teacher, Hermano Lund gave us this thought for this week. 

Are we cheating ourselves of the potential we have, the potential that Heavenly Father has for us? I learned this week the reason why I decided to come on a mission. It was more clear to me than ever before. Heavenly Father has big plans for all of his children and he doesn't want you to fail. Hno Lund said that the difference between a mediocre missionary (or regular person) and an excellent one are VERY small things. Things like reading your scriptures, praying more, waking up on time, being obedient in all things, serving others, even just SMILING at others. That's what makes you an excellent person and  I PROMISE Heavenly Father will fill in the rest. 

I have so much more to say but I want to send pictures so I'll go ahead and finish this. 

I love being a missionary! I love this gospel, keep sending me dear elders, I only have a week and a half left to get them so SEND THEM IN! ;) 

I love you ALL. So much.

Hermana Segle 

:)

MTC pictures, part 2!

Meet the District

Okay, I'm gonna tell you guys who everyone in my district is!!! Starting from the left, there's Hermana Anderson, then Hermana Flood, then me, then Hermana Green, then Hermana Beggs (mi comp) and then Hermana Ybarra. In the Back, starting with the left, there's Elder Mills, Elder Weddle, Elder Davenport (he told me to tell you all that he's embarrassed about his rudolph nose zit) Then on the end is Elder Hunt. :)