Wed Dec 16th, 2009

Jason never put explanations of his pictures, but all I have to say is YUCK!

so this past week has been good, not a whole lot of luck with investigators. our main one seems to be ignoring us, we finally got a hold of her on tuesday. but not insanely excited. but i found a fireworks shop, thats probably been the highlight so far. i go these awesome self light firecrackers, theyre like matches, you strike them on the side of the box and toss em. them some m80s, those are prety fun, so today we went to the ocean a little ways outside of town to negro punto, it was really fun just to play around on the beach. so it was nice to talk to you all, but dont i dont plan on making it too often, got to try to be somewhat obedient, lol. it was crazy though i didnt think that it would work. but now im satisfied with all the separation anxieties knowing hat i can get a hold of you all. so i havent heard anything on the package you sent me, nothing from the ofice at all yet. i hope that the address is good. but it made me mad because an elder in my zone just got his and it was sent after thanksgiving, so i know it shouldnt take this long but it is. well hopefully patience pays off. so today we went looking through the city to find me some leather, we had to stop by alot of place to get it but finally we found someone that had a small selection. nothing amazing but it had to do. so im going to make some simple cases for my spanish scriptures. that should keep me entertained in the down time. so this last week all but one of our lunches with members fell through. so we have been having alot of pasta based lunches, its not all that bad though. your always garaunteed to eat alot because its so cheap. but i did get a little sick of it. so this next week we get to go back to mar del plata for a conference, so we leave on sunday night, that should be really fun and help pass the time. well i really cant hink of anyhting else to tell you. im having a good time and loving the place. i love you all have an awesome week. here are some more pics from the ast week, the spiders are from when we were walking on the railroad and we caught them and made them fight, the white specks are the brains of a previos fight. the plant is actually about 16 feet tall at its point, the main body is taller that me. then the ocean. me getting a piggy back ride by san francisco, he was literally ¨defaced¨lol, and me o the bridge, lots of fun, and that makes up my week, enjoy!

Dec 9th, 09

We had two emails this week, here is the first one,

so sounds like life is good back in the freezing cold, i can relate ocassionaly, it can get really cold at night when your house is made of concrete, for example one night i went pee and there was steam coming from the stream, lol. it was pretty funny. as for sweats that doesnt sound half bad. thats actually what i do whenever im in the house is put on sweats and a hoody, the darn mosquitos find you and are relentless, i have many bites, i keep forgetting to put the insect repellant on. and for my baptism date i think its still set but i can see it falling through again. kind of sad. but atleast i have that light in my life, i love the book of mormon, it took me a while to appreciate but im always happier when i read it, it leaves that good feeling in your heart, for me even if its a crappy copy i cant stand it to look bad, so i keep really good care of it, maybe im just ocd, but the people here just destroy them, always screaming through trying to find something, next thing you know it looks ugly, lol. i just like my stuff to look nice. and im really close to finishing it for the second time since i have been out here, ive never read through so fast and learned so much. one thin that helps it stick is when i keep a study journal where i recap whats happened and add scripture references, it really helps alot for me. so as for things that i miss, american candy, salsa, definitely the occasional peanut butter, ive never been a big fan, but the fact that its so easy to use with stuff makes me want it even more, maybe i will be put in bahia blanca next, they say that the walmart there has some, if so im buying it all. so i just remebered, when i was inthe mtc there was this elder that got to leave to go baptize his dad that lives in our ward, he said that he met you and that you were a really nice person. then he found me to tell me about it and say hi from you. pretty random thought but i keep forgetting to mention it, lol. well now that its off my chest.. So im going to enjoy christmas warm even if its weird, so i was walking with my comp and he said ¨it smells like christmas out today,¨ i was like, smells more like camping and bike riding and having fun, lol. its weird how that all works, to be honest i dont really miss it all that much only when i hear about it from you guys. just because it feels like summer back at home, so have you sold any of the dogs yet?¿?¿?¿? it sounds like a good idea getting rid of sadie and sparky, i especially like the sell sadie idea, i always hated her. she corrupted sparky. well hopefully they sell well, that should be a nice little christmas pay off. so anything new back home?¿?¿ so this last week has been really good and slow, were coming up close here on our first transfer and im pretty sure that i will be with my same comp, perhaps until he leaves, he only has two left but hes been in our area for two already. so i can say that i wouldnt mind leaving my area, all the dust in the air is really driving me nuts, so i periodically take out my contacts. also because there isnt a whole lot to do. its a small town, compare to heber, right outside of a bigger town, but its really spread out so you have to walk super far to do and effective contacting, that and weve been through all the city already, guess well make another round. so there is a good chance that i will be here for atleast one more transfer probably two, well see. so the other day we took a bus up to mar del plata to go pick up my comps camera, that was really fun. its one of the biggest cities in argentina and its a really bg tourist spot, so naturally people are like oh a norteamericano, compra mis cosas!, or ay¿ quiere churros?, they always want your money, thats pretty annoying, but i did buy a couple of things, some ¨ADIDAS¨ sunglasses, this awesome side bag, and a dvd, i found dan in real life and thought that i should start my own collection, lol. so with all this stuff its really cheap because its all fake, the dvd was burned by someone, they werent real adidas, everything is that way. thats what gets me is that the dvd shops are all real permanent places theres just no restrictions. no copyright laws i guess, well all the better for me, haha, time to make a disney collection! then everyone knows a phrase in enlish, hey! how are you?! so i just say doin good! how are you?, then just a bunch of blank looks. its fun. but yeah very fun place. so thursdays i have an english class with this youth from our branch. right now im teaching pronunciation, its really funny when they try to say anything with a g in it, they just cant do it. so i told him that the first step to english is you have to say it well enough so we can understand it. so i say a word and i have him write it how it sounds in spanish, seems to work. i told him to study it and well do more tomorrow. so today i made omelettes, that was fun, they were somewhat decent, my first one kinda fell apart but my last one turned out well. that and makin scones, i made them again and they turned out alot better, they didnt poof up, i think it was because of the flour i used, haha so as i was makin the dough i forgot to put the egg in, i had them all prepared and was putting the stuff away and i saw the eggs, so i squished it all bak together and did it. but they were delicious, i put a bunch of dulce de leche on it. so thats about it for my week, i think that it convers all that happened. well i love you! your an awesome dad!

and this is the second one,

hey cobers! thanks for the weekly update, i lov hearing about your stories, they always make me laugh. your kids are so funny. i miss you all. so the other day i went to mar del plata to pick up my comps camera, its two hours away by bus, but so worth it, that place is really pretty, and its pretty big too. so we walked around in the city, bought some cool stuff, all of it was fake but really cheap. i saw some "gucci" sunglasses for ten pesos. its really funny what they get away with, i dont think they enforce copyright laws at all, i can geta burned dvd from a real store for cheap. its nice, i found dan in real life, its pretty funny. so i made omelettes this morning, that was really fun, they werent that bad, i just wish there was some hot sauce or salsa to go with it. i cant find a lot of stuff here. they really dont like imports. anything that is is really expensive, like the electronics. so nothing really new in this small town, im teaching an enlish class with this young man in our branch. its really funny to hear him try and pronounce, its so easy for us because we already have their sounds but they have to learn ours. things are really lazy and tranquil, its nice but i would like to do something for once. well keep me updated. love you and your little family. have an awesome week!

Dec 12th, 09

well its that time of week again, its always a good day, i enjoy haing it in the middle of the week, it lets me have a mid week rest, its like the siesta for the week. it makes the time go by really fast. but we watched another movie, ice age three, really cheesy but there are some really funny parts in it so it was worth watching. before that we went to this restaurant and had hamburgers, it was really good, i guess its not too hard to mess up, they dont usually compare to back home. before that we went to ¨swan lake¨. its a pond and a walkway around it thats right next to the beach, it was cool, then we went out on the beach, ill try and get some pictures sent soon, this machine doesnt have the spot to put a card in. so this last week has been good, nothing amazing happening. its a small town so just normal small town stuff. our baptism date is pushed backed to the 20th, hopefully no further, i guess her family wasnt happy about it so she told them she would think about it longer. funny how that works. well im gettin better at soccer, we play every thursday usually and it is pretty fun. so for thanksgiving we had zone conference and our president came, he is such an awesome person, and really funny too. the conference was really long but also good. we had empanadas so it made my day. so the yesterday i was on a split with elder metcalf, he is a bigger elder and so of course we had to stop and buy a drink a couple times, anyway we were walking past this dog, it was pretty calm and as soon as we passed it he jumped out and bit his ankle, it didnt hurt him but it made me laugh pretty hard. the other elders got a good laugh out of it too. also i saw some fighter jets fly by, that really surprised me. there is little to no military presence here, just a bunch of cops who dont do anything. well its starting to get hot down here, its and on an off thing, but its usually cool in the evening because of the sea. thats really nice, i dont have to sleep burning hot. and as for the beef qustion, its yes and no, its like home they will have it for many meals but when they have the ¨asadas¨ then they go all out, tons and tons of beef, its really fun, weve had one with a member. on monday we bouht a giant piece of meat, probably about 4 pounds, and me and my comp ate it all, i should have had it with something else as well because i had some bad indigestion and made a few trips to the bathroom that night, lol. well not a whole lot more, i love you all, have a good week

Nov 25th, 09

hello family, so to start out my letter i have my first baptismal date set up!! it was a cool experience, some people are just so ready to hear the word and invite the gospel into their lives, no matter their past situations. she goes beyond what we ask her to do and will tell you what it means to her,she is about 30, she has an 11 year old and has another on the way, but she doesnt have a husband, thats one thing that really suprises me is that not man women here are married but they all have a kid. even within the church, hahaha they have a nickname for this-they call it a titanic mission, where only the women and children are saved, lol. its for dec the 5, hopeflly all goes well and they remain active, thats the other thing is that many people are inactive, there is a huge list of people that are inactive in our area, so half the work we do is to try and get people reactivated. so today has been a good pday, we went to a chapel in necochea and we had the whole zone there and we watched up and ate empanadas, it was really fun, thats the other thing is that almost all the missionaries here have a whole album of movies that they have bought, ive heard some crazy stories about some of them. not a whole lot has changed, still been doing a lot of walking, so the other day we had lunch with the branch president, he is really well off and so we had alot of reall good things to eat, a roasted chicken, empanadas, salami with bread and cheese, and then this awesome pudding. almost all the food i eat is european, kinda cool. this whole place is like a mini america when it comes to stuff they like, clothes, cars, entertainment, quite frequently you hear an american song on, its nice, then i get to enjoy it also. but then with all the european culture, very frequently you greet people that you know with a kiss on the cheek, its kinda weird but its just the culture. so i done know if i have told you already but i live in this really small shack, it has a really small kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom, it kinda sucks too because there is no yard to walk around in, it feels really cramped sometimes. also the cabbies here are nuts! they drive it like they stole it, there is really no traffic rules just dont crash or go through a red light, which there are many of. today we were in one and he was really crazy, we almost died like three times. so not much else, living it up enjoying this place, love you all have a good week

Nov 24th,09 Letter and Pictures from Mission President

My Dad received an email from Jason Mission President,Jorge Detlefsen, with a letter of how Jason was doing and these pictures.
This is what the letter said,
Su hijo Elder Seegrest ha llegado muy bien a nuestra mision, ya tiene su compañero elder Aquino, de Paraguay, quien es un misionero muy bueno y experimentado que ha sido lider en la mision y trabajado en la oficina, el le enseñara y cuidara, su hijo servira como misionero en la ciudad de Quequen, cerca de Necochea. Si bien es una rama pequeña es un lugar tranquilo y ellos podran hacer un gran trabajo.
Since I don't speak any Spanish I put the letter into a Spanish to English translator and this is what it told me.
Elder Seegrest His son has gone very well with our mission, has its elder companion Aquino, Paraguay, who is a very good and experienced missionary who has been leading the mission and worked in the office, will teach and look after their son will serve as a missionary in the city of cakes, near Necochea. While a small branch is a quiet place and they may do a great job.
I am pretty sure that some of it isn't translated correctly but I got the gist of the letter. I should just have Blake translate it for me later.
I asked Blake to translate it and this is what he said,
Loved Seegrist Family,

Your son Elder Seegrist has arrived very well to our mission, and his companion Elder Aquino, from Paraguay, is a very good missionary and has experienced how to be a leader in the mission and worked in the mission office. He will teach take care of your son and teach him how to be a missionary in the city of Quequen which is close to Necochea. There is a very small branch in the city, the area is very tranquil, and they can do a great work here.
Similar to what I got, but his makes more sense!

The Mission President, his wife, Jason and his comp.

Nov 18th, 2009

hey, family how are you doing, i am doing great, living it up in argentina, so i had this all written but then i deleted all of it so i get to start again,yay. i hate this keyboard, sorry for the typos. but life is good, not a whole lot happened since last week, last pday i played ultimate frisbee, it was awesome because its about the only thing that i can do, then we had service on saturday with a member, we were ¨cutting grass¨. more or less all the weeds in their front yard, it went well but i had a hard time understanding exactly what she wanted me to do, we were clearing the yard clearing it of trash, she wanted some to go in a fire but she was very particular about what went in, it took while but atleast she fed us, she is good at that, we have lunch with that family about once a week, so today was pretty lazy, just sat around the house and ate food, i had a hotdpg and some bread with dulce de leche, i dont know if you know much about it but its like caramel but ten times better, its soo good you should find it, so yesterday we had splits, luckily i had someone english, it can be really stressfull when you dont understand anything, so i nod alot, smile and say si, thats about all i can do, i understand the words they say i just can process it, and their accent doesnt help either, but its all good, im learning really fast. so i found out that they tax the packages by weight, not value, but they do open it as soon as you pay for it, so they can check for prohibited stuff like peanut butter, so for christmas i would like a nalgene bottle, about 24 oz, nothing big, an actual frisbee, about 175-200 grams, and some socks, candy, nothing with peanut butter, herdez salsa and gum, well enough of that, so when we went o splits, we visited an ex investigator and she was sick, so my comp asked if she wanted a blessing, surprisingly she said she did, so we blessed her and left, hopefully she will be interested again, also i have been reading in alma, about the people of ammon, they were such righteous people its really cool, they would rather give they lives and be saved than break their covenants, if only more peopl had that kind of courage and faith, so i hav finished the BoM since i have been out, i seem to blow right through it, its really cool. for once i enjoy reading it on my own. i love feeling i get when i read it. i always feel happy when i do. so one thing thathas ben really weird is all these dreams i have been had, and its not uncommon to have several in one night, some are really creepy and others and really weird and occasionally funny, one night i actually laughed in my sleep, i woke up right after that, haha atleast they are somewhat entertaining. so its ben really nice weather down here, it will be weird to spend christmas with warm weather, but it will be cool also, well not much else to say, i love you all have an awesome week!! oh and jared can you get sister gibbons email address for me, thanks

Nov 11, 2009

Hola familia, como andan? estoy bien en argentina, este lugar es muy loco!!! aight enough spanish. so to give you the rund don of my life in the hood... So it was a 2 hour flight from salt lake to dallas, then about a 9 hour flight from dallas to the international airport in argentina, then we were bussed over to another aiport to fly into bahia blanca, that flight was about an hour, all in between these flights was about a four hour wait, then when we finally got into bahia blanca the mission president and his wife were there waiting for us, they are such nice people, so we went to the mission office and waited there for a while and really did nothing. then we stayed ina hotel, really crazy stuff these hotels, epecially when you cant understand a word they are speaking. then the next day we had lunch at the mission presidents home, it was really good, then we were assigned our companions, to my luck i got one of the natives that doesnt speak a lick of english, que suerte!!! its really not too bad, he is a nice elder,he tries to explain things but still have a hard time understanding. so after that we were on our way to our areas, ours is this suburb called quequen, its right outside of necochea and its right along the coast, its a pretty ghetto place but really what place in argenina isnt?? lol its really kinda cool in its ghettoness, it like west valley only not as nice, haha and the race mixture is about even, about half white, no one is really seriously dark like mexican dark, but they do have darker more european skin. its really trippy sometimes because if how many white people there are, especially when they break out into perfect spanish. crazy stuff. my first day was quite the shock, but im getting used to it really fast. soooooo, i would send you pictures also but i dont have a camera cord, i´ll try to by one before next week. so this last sunday was primary program, its always funny no matter where you go, haha. i love the little kids they are funny. so one thing i found out is that lemons are able to grow down here!! we were at a members house and he was showing me some stuff, and he has a lemon tree, i was like ahh limones!! and hes like te gusta? and i was pr supuesto and he gave me 7, he said that they are able to grow all year long which really surprised me, this place can get pretty cold. but i guess its close enough to the ocean that it doesnt matter. so thats about it about this place other than that the members love you here and feed you alot and luch here is a big deal. its all about the lunch, oh and the siestas!! they are awesome. ive had one almost every day!! freakin sweet, they are so refreshing and im able to function the rest of they day. its crazy. oh and people here live in some pretty sketch places, its really weird, the homes are super ghetto but for some reason they all have tv with cable or satellite, a computer, for the most part, and cell phones, yet they still live in ghetto places and are dirt poor.one family lives in a railroad car! but they are so awesome, its a couple with one on the way, really cazy stuff. but they are awesome people. they are for the most part all friendly and fun to talk with, as long as you get the jist of what they are saying. well not much else to say got to go, let me know how all of the family is doing!! all the news and stuff.. hasta luego, or as we say in the hood, rasta luigi!... jk only me and jamin say that. lol bye

Pictures from the MTC and the Field

Jason's letter

Hi everyone, This is Nicole Jason's sister. I thought that I would create a blog for Jason's mission. I am going to post the letters and pictures I receive from him. I am hoping that this will provided everyone who cares about Jason or wants to know how he is doing an easy way to find out!