A tough week, but still a couple of miracles happened

Letter dated 11/25/13

Family, what's up?

This week was honestly pretty tough. We have been working on finding new people to teach and getting the people we are teaching to progress. Every single appointment we had fell through--it sucked. We did get lots of contacting done, but nothing really that great. Great as in, will go anywhere, except for one. We were out to check on a less active in an apartment complex. She wasn't there, but when we were driving out of the parking lot we saw a lady sitting on a bench by herself, smoking. We got the impression to go talk to her, so we turned the car around and parked it. Guess who the lady was? She was a lady we have been wanting to meet for a couple of weeks but no one could find her! {miracle #1} We started to talking to her and about five minutes later a guy comes out and walks up to us. He was this lady's boyfriend and he is not friendly to the church.

This guy walks up and Elder S was talking to Rachel (the lady's name) at the time, so the guy started talking to me. It was my first time talking with an anti-Mormon by myself. It was pretty interesting! Some of the the stuff they think about Mormons is insane. This guy thought we didn't believe in gravity because we're devils and we don't need it to stay on the ground haha. Most get all their information from the internet, and everything you read on the internet is true haha. Antis are interesting to talk to. I was able to resolve some of his questions, but after that he wanted to bash so we just left. Bashing is no good and doesn't go anywhere productive. We are in the process of setting up a time to meet with Rachel. This was probably the most standout experience that I had this week.

It was a pretty tough week but I got through it, obviously. I even fasted yesterday when it wasn't Fast Sunday because I wanted to. Can you believe it? {this is a little miracle in itself! haha} Fasting brings spiritual power so much stronger. It's great, even though it's tough to do sometimes.

I hope your Thanksgiving is lots of fun! I love you guys so much! Thank you for everything!
Love,
Elder Sedlacek

A hard week--but we have to wait for a letter!

Email to Mama 11/25/13

What's up Mama?

I am doing good. It is so crazy that I am at 4 months now. I still feel like I went into the MTC yesterday though. It does seem to be going by fast and supposedly the first 6 months go by the slowest. It's going to be one crazy ride! This week went by fast but it was pretty hard. I wrote you a letter about it so I won't ruin the letter haha. I got through it though, which is all that counts. I don't know what I will be doing for Thanksgiving. There are a couple members who have invitited us over for dinner so we will probably get pretty fat like you said haha. That will be fun to watch Elf haha. Too bad I can't on the mission. It's such a stupid movie but its pretty funny haha. I bet Thanksgiving will be fun to see all the family.  Mia is 12 now? When the crap did that happen? haha. I always tell dad that he is getting really old, but you can't possibly be getting older. That's just not possible! {What a good son!}

Pres. Ware is an awesome guy. He is my kinda guy. It doesn't surprise me that he would do that for one of his missionaries. He is just that awesome! That is cool that Ann was able to talk to him. 

That is a really cool story about Pres Monson. He is so sweet. That would be terribly hard to lose your wife and be prophet at the same time. He is so strong spiritually. I bet the Savior himself was there to comfort him we he needed it. I would not doubt it one single little bit.

I could use another shirt. I had a casualty for one of them haha. All the buttons except for the top 3 decided they wanted to ditch me. I think it's a long sleeve one. That is probably the only thing that I could use for now. I am getting enough to eat. It is pretty dang cold but I am staying warm enough. It's like 7 degrees here in the morning burrrrhhh!!

I love you too! Thank you for all that you do Mamacita. RB is a pretty cool kid haha. I am sure there will be a whole new wave of missionaries next summer. That is probably the way it will be for a long time.

Monday is the best day of the week haha. I agree also!

Email to Dad 11/25/13

Dear pops!

I am doing good. I have had a good week. It's been a pretty tough week but it went by super fast. We are working really hard and not seeing much success. It's been kinda frustrating not seeing anything happen with our investigators. Isaac fell off date. All of our other investigators that we had appointments with fell through. It was just super frustrating. We did get a lot of tracting and work on the ward list done because of it. It sounds like work is going good for you. Keeping busy is never a bad thing it's just tiring haha. That sucks that Utah stinks so much again this season. They need to get their butts in gear if they want to stay in the PAC. That is great for USU. They are a pretty good team it seems. That will be sweet if they win the championship. The Jazz news doesn't suprise me haha. They are in a rebuilding year for probably the next couple seasons. Don't be surprised if they don't even get 25 wins in the season haha.

That is a sweet story about the missionary in Africa. I know a kid who went to Africa and he was big into Jr. Jazz. It could be him. I know that I am in the Kennewick mission for a reason too. I haven't had an experience like that but I feel like it is where I belong for the next 2 years. I love being a missionary even though it's tough. It's also pretty fun sometimes.

Oh a wind storm again? It is good that it didn't do much damage this time around. It has been really cold here for the past couple weeks. I am staying warm though. You are probably getting the freezing wind from here. I wouldn't doubt it haha. It is like 7 degrees in the morning every morning. Too cold haha. It is supposed to snow sometime after Thanksgiving is what everyone says. I hope it does because it will warm up a little bit. I don't need anymore coat for right now. I am staying pretty warm but if I ever do need one I will get one. 

About our teaching pool. We have a couple investigators. We have one named Tomara. I probably already told you about her. She is pretty awesome. It is just scheduling that is the biggest problem for her. She works odd jobs and its hard to meet sometimes. Vince is another one we have. He is a Sicilian and he smokes cigars like nobody's business. He reads the Book of Mormon every day and comes to church almost every Sunday. He is a pretty cool guy. Barb is the other one. She is the girlfriend of a less active member and she is interested in the church. She studies in the Book of Mormon and reads the gospel principles handbook. We haven't been able to meet with her for a little bit though. I assume she is still reading and studying though. All the other people we have, we haven't been able to meet with for a long time. We are just trying to find new investigators every chance we get. Please pray for us that we will be able to find new ones. Well, I hope you guys are doing great and it sounds like you are. I love you guys so much. Write me when you can. I love to hear from you. I know it's busy though so it's not a big deal. At least I get to email every week.

I love you guys!

Love Elder Sedlacek

Enjoying every minute of the mission!

Traveling between towns

Elders having fun. Elder Sed is on the right. I'm not surprised by that face.

Email to Mom 11/18/2013

How is it going!

I am doing good. This week went fast for me too. I did get your letter. I thought that picture (of his great-grandpa Hilton leaving on his mission) was way cool. He looked so different back then. It is too bad about your knee. Arthritis is no fun haha neither is getting old. People tell me to never get old, because it sucks. I hope your knee starts feeling better for you. Funny that you say something about Elder Richards. He is in our mission right now and I will hear him speak tomorrow. It should be really good. I am excited for it. I will try to not worry about you haha. It sounds like you are doing alright so that's good. Stupid knees huh. Sounds like you guys are having lots of fun. That is too bad about K's mom. That would really be hard.

I always knew you would come around to like meat haha. It was only a matter of time. I guess I did rub off on you! Next step: grandma D haha. Yep, we went to a place called Wing Central. It has really good food and they have a wing called the hell wing which is the hottest wing in the world. Let's just say its HOT wherever it goes haha. It's all in good fun though haha.

I don't know if I need anything. I don't know what else for Christmas haha. Orange sauce from Panda? That sounds pretty good haha. This transfer ends the 18th of December, I think. I don't know if they will change the date because that will be a pain with Christmas the next week. I will let you know though. For now though its going to be on the 18th.

It is crazy that JP is already going to be home in a couple of weeks! I bet he is trunked out of his mind haha. That is actually what most elders do when they go home--just throw out the clothes because they get crappy and take the important stuff that they want to keep. Stuff gets worn out pretty good over missions.

Thanks, mama, for all that you guys do!

Email to Dad 11/18/2013

 

Pops!

What's up my main man? I had a good week. Sounds like you did too. That really sucks Utah got whooped. I kinda thought they would. Oregon is a great team. The church has huge holiday sales?? I wouldn't think that would be the case. I guess with Deseret Book and stuff like that it could happen. I guess with the new scriptures that would help too. Sounds like work is going good.

We have lots of people wanting to have us over for Thanksgiving. I am going to get so fat haha. It's going to be weird to have the holidays out here but it won't be that bad. I'm not homesick at all lately which is good. I am looking forward to Christmas actually. It will be fun to be a missionary over Christmas two times. I am willing to take your challenge for a "white" Christmas haha. Sounds like a plan Stan. 

I am enjoying every minute of my mission, believe me. It's great to be a missionary. I can actually say now that I have a way stronger testimony of the gospel because of going on a mission. This week we had a couple investigators drop us and we couldn't get a hold of some of the others but we are still working hard and doing our best and that is all we can do. We may not have that many investigators but we teach with the spirit. I know we do! Isaac has been dealing with alot of anti this week but he is still trying to progress in the gospel. He just needs to find another place to live first. That is really the only lesson we had this week with an investigator that is solid. The other lessons were just here and there, like on door steps and stuff like that. We are just trying to find new people to teach. We have been trying to talk to 10 people everyday. Haven't seen any success come from it yet but I know we will.

I am staying warm. It gets pretty cold sometimes but it's more mild than Utah, it just blows freezing wind all the time so that is the sucky part. Good thing I have that wind breaker coat. It's way nice to have. Thank you for sending it. Also thank you for all that you do for me. YOU DA BEST PAPA! I pray for you guys every day too. 

I love and miss you guys and will talk to you soon. 

P.S 37 more days till Christmas!

First Baptism Scheduled!

Email to Dad 11/11/13
What's up pops?

My week went great. Kind of a cool story for the week: So you know Isaac had been kind of apprehensive about the church? He had been praying for an answer to know if the church was right. He finally got that answer at the beginning of the week and since then we have met with him 5 times this week! We assigned  him a chapter in 3rd Nephi 11 (where the savior comes to the people) and he read it and he said he jumped around in joy haha. He is super awesome. I also gave a copy of the article that Brother H. gave me and he loves that too. He couldn't put it down he said so tell Bro H. that I have been able to use his article lots. It is awesome. Well anyway, we have him on date for baptism on the 30th and he said he cannot wait. We might even move it up. We will just have to see. As far as our other investigators, we have another named Tomara. I might have already told you about her. She is a grandma who is interested in religion. She loves Jesus and will do anything to follow Him. We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church but she didn't show this week so we will keep trying. That is pretty much the really solid ones we have for right now. We are doing a lot of tracting where all the red necks/ hicks are at so that is kinda fun haha. Kittitas is a crazy place haha! I love it though. Never would I live there, but it's still pretty funny to see some of the stuff that goes on. 

Dang, that sucks about the sports teams. I really wish Utah could win some more. Utah ST seems to be doing pretty good then. That's good for Nicole. I bet the Utes will get whomped on by Oregon. Just have to see what happens though.

As you know, Sunday is not a day of rest for missionaries haha. It will be weird to go home and be able to rest haha. Meetings all day then pros at night. Sounds like your Sunday was like mine. Lots of stuff going on but hey that's everyday out here haha. Me and Elder S. get along great. We haven't even argued once which is nice. We have good lessons and have lots of fun other times. It's nice to have a good companion for once haha. I love the wards we cover. In other words, I am doing great. Ellensburg is starting to grow on me you could say. I love the people, especially all the red necks in Kittitas. By the way, I have a dang good fake hick accent now. I will have to crack it out sometime haha. I did get to see the pic of Elder K. That would be so cool to pet an elephant. (Too bad there aren't elephants in Ellensburg). All my friends are doing well. I hope you guys have a good week. I love the Book of Mormon and I know the church is true! My testimony is definately growing! I love you guys! Talk to you later!

 

Love, 

Elder Sedlacek

A confession

Letter dated 11/4/13

Dear Family,

I figured that I would write you a letter now that I have time in the day. Things have been going good up here. As I said in the email, they split this area. We are now working more focused on the wards now, which is good. They really needed to do it officially and they did.

One thing I realized this week is that I have been trusting myself to know when people are ready for the gospel, not the other way around like it should be. I need to put my trust in Heavenly Father, who knows each of his children perfectly, to know when his children are ready for the gospel. I came to realize that in training this week. That is the big thing I am focusing on this week. We are going to try to visit all of our potentials, regardless of what I think. I don't know everything, but Heavenly Father does! Well, there's my big confession for the week haha. There is always room for improvement, and I'm going to improve on that this week.

It's crazy that I'm at three months now! I'm 1/8th of the way done and it feels like I got to the MTC yesterday. I can definitely do 7 more 3 month increments. Living the mission one day at a time really helps.

What's new about you guys? Enough talking about me haha.

Coming on a mission has really strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Reading it every day for an hour is great. If only there was time for that in normal life! (There is I guess, but it's so hard to make it.) It's great serving a mission. I would recommend it for all the younger kids. It's hard, but it helps you personally so much and others, too.

Thank you for everything. Every single one of you! I love you all. You should write letters more often haha. I love them. Talk to everyone later!

~Elder Sedlacek

Switch ups, but no transfer yet!

Elder Jake is hitting his second transfer staying in Ellensburg, but we expected it since he just got a new companion a couple of weeks back. I think he is happy to stay where he is for now. 

11/4/13 Email to Mama:

What's up? It is crazy how fast October went. I've been out three months, but trust me, I will always be a greenie in some way haha. I still have my dork dot from the MTC to prove it. Pres. Ware is an awesome guy. One of the guys from the Seventy that came with Elder Ballard said we aren't assigned to a mission area. Missionaries are assigned to a president. Wherever the Pres you need is serving that is where you go. I thought that was kinda cool. 

I am trying to stay warm haha. The heater in our main room won't turn on so we just wear coats all the time, but I do stay warm. We are in the process of getting it fixed. It hasn't snowed here yet but I have seen snow on peoples' cars so it is snowing somewhere. Probably up in Cle Elum. Oh, Christmas shopping already? Fun. A good quality GPS would be nice to have but you get whatever you want for me. I will like anything you guys send. 

I did get the package of cookies. They are so good. I liked the package. The cookies are perfect mama haha. That clown pen was funny. I don't know how Lib knew that I hate clowns but I do. That pen was the first thing I saw when I opened the package haha. I was like "what the heck is this?" then I read the letter that she threw in there and I got why. Libby is funny. 

I also like the story of Aaron and King Lamoni's father and when he values his life at half of his kingdom but then later on a couple chapters he values the gospel at all of his kingdom and whatever else it takes to have the gospel in his life. You're right, it would be awesome to see someone change like that.

The transfer news is Cle Elem is getting their own set of Elders now, which is just crazy. They are a branch now but I am sure they will be a ward in not so long. They also split Ellensburg into two areas. One of the areas is 2nd ward only, and the other is 1st ward, and 3rd ward. Me and Elder S cover 1st and 3rd. Other than that nothing really exciting happened. Pretty boring transfer call. I am sure splitting the area will help it so much once the members trust us a little more. Before, they didn't really have that much communication with us. It was hard to focus on all the wards at the same time while doing a free-for-all type thing. I am glad they actually officially split it now. I am happy covering 1st and 3rd. I love both wards. They have awesome members. 

I am getting enough to eat. I wish I could cook something. I want some recipes out of that "A Man, A Can and A Plan" cookbook from Aunt Mo. I don't want the whole book though. I don't think I need anything from home in particular. I am doing pretty good. Thank you for all that you guys do!

11/4/13 Email to Dad

What up Pops!

I am doing good. By now, I am sure you have heard the news that my area split and I cover 1st and 3rd ward now with Elder S. It was a slow week honestly. Isaac is being kinda stubborn. He went to a gospel principles lesson, but the teacher turned it into a gospel doctrine and went super deep with doctrine. It really screwed up his progression so now he just says he is going to pray for an answer for our church to be true but he doesn't want to meet until he gets that. It just really frustrates me when people do that. Kayla moved to Othello so we lost her. We found another investigator named Desirae. She is a college student just interested in learning about the church. Her dad grew up Mormon and won't talk about it so she is just learning from us. Other than that, we are just trying to find some new people to teach. We got a bunch of referrals from the other Elders so we are going to check those out. We have a bunch of new investigators from them that they were working with that I haven't met yet so I am excited to meet with them. 

I only heard about Boston winning from the gym we go to every morning. I saw the celebration. It looked pretty crazy haha. I am glad Boston was able to win it this year. Hopefully Utah State can keep up the winning. I bet they can make it to a bowl game pretty easy. 

That is crazy it is snowing already. Seems like yesterday I got dropped off at the MTC and it was super hot. I am at my 3 month mark too. It hasn't snowed here yet but I have seen snow on peoples cars, probably from up in Cle Elum. It is like Park City up there but not as big or nice. It snows a ton just like Park City does. We split the area so I don't get to go up to Cle Elum anymore. I loved it up there. It's really the only place I have seen in Eastern Washington that looks pretty haha. I have heard Wenatchee is just like it so I hope I go up there sometime.

Good luck on your talk. I bet its so fun being a high council man and getting to talk a ton in a year (NOT!) haha. You do good at it though. Just sayin. That is sweet that Sister T has been learning sign language. It would be cool to see a testimony done in sign language. The Bishop is awesome. Give him a hard time for me haha.

Did you have lots of fun trick or treating? I bet you did. I bet you couldn't wait to get up to go walk around the neighborhood haha. It is fun though to go around and get doughnuts from Bonnie and stuff like that. We didn't have any trick or treaters come to our door. Probably because they know we are missionaries haha. We were going to hand out pass along cards instead of candy if anyone knocked on our door. It is crazy how old you and mom are getting haha. You mean you are getting old. Mom is staying young haha. Life goes too fast sometimes haha.

I hope you have a great week!

Love you all,

Elder Sedlacek