We have so much we are blessed with. We should be nothing but grateful for all of it.

 

Whaz up Dad,

To answer your question, I had a great week. It's amazing how much finding we have done, that has led to a lot of potential investigators. It's been awesome. This ward area is probably going to have two baptisms in February! It will be super awesome. I just hope I am here to see them. I really don't want to get transferred!

 

C**** is doing awesome. Even though her parents don't want anything to do with the church, she is still able to get baptized. We will need the permission from her parents, but she said they are okay with her getting baptized. I thought that was really cool that they still are going to let her choose what she wants. She really wants to be baptized, and today she even started seminary even though she isn't a member yet. I think that is just awesome!!!! How often do you hear something like that happen! haha

M***** is doing awesome, too. They went out of town this week, so they couldn't come to church, but she has been reading and keeping up on all the commitments we give them. We are meeting with them tonight to get things figured out & when exactly she is going to be baptized. I would imagine it'll sometime in February.

This week we had a super cool tracting story. We were knocking some doors with a 17 year old boy from another ward and he must have been a good luck charm or something. We knocked into a lady who was in her younger 20s. She was really not interested, so we just had some small talk on her door step. She was about to close the door, and I felt like I should ask her how she needs God in her life right now. She then opened up and got emotional. She told us about her grandpa having a terminal disease and his wife, her grandma, had died a couple days before he found out he had the disease. It was a pretty sad story and she was pretty upset about the whole thing. I just told her that I had lost my grandparents too, but I take comfort from the plan of salvation that I can see them again. I gave her a pamphlet and committed her to read it that night. We then went back then next day to follow up, and she was so happy! It was such a change. She told us that immediately when she closed the door, she read the whole pamphlet. She loved it so much she even read a couple chapters in the Book of Mormon. The coolest part about it all was she said, "That plan of salvation thing; I think you guys have it right. That is always how I thought it would be like." Unfortunately, she was moving up to Prosser the next day, so she is only down in Kennewick for the weekends. We are hoping to set her up with missionaries in Prosser, so it should be pretty cool to see where she ends up. That was probably the coolest thing that happened this week.

Church was great for us this week. There was something said that I really liked, so I wrote it down. It was a talk on gratitude and the guy giving it said "What if we woke up tomorrow with only the things we had thanked Heavenly Father for the night before?" I really thought about that and last night I tried to be super thankful in my prayers. I know Heavenly Father does so much for me, and all of you. We have so much we are blessed with. We should be nothing but grateful for all of it. I know Heavenly Father lives. He loves us all so much.

I have heard the words to that primary song about Gethsemane. It is super good. It is one of my faves as well.

I cant believe you are rooting for the Seahawks (haha), but since it's either the Seahawks or the Pats, I would have to choose the Seahawks too, only because they are Washington's team. It's good to hear the Jazz are doing so good haha. At this point they should just stay at the bottom of the pack. They need the draft pick. I had heard the Utes are doing awesome at basketball. I hope they keep it up. It would be so cool to see them win the tournament in March/April.

The weather here has been okay. I haven't seen the sun for I don't even know how long. It's really unusual. It sounds like it still exists though since you guys were so warm haha.

It's already time to put in for hunts??? That came fast. That's super cool that they changed the bear regulation. It's just so much work to keep up the bait station. It would be fun though. If you wanted you could put me in for a deer hunt. Just whatever you feel like doing, I'm good with.

I am soo happy to be serving a mission. I know the gospel is true. God lives. Jesus Christ lives. We can come to know Him through living the Gospel of joy. This life is meant to bring us happiness. It may be hard, but it's worth it. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Read it every day! It's that important!

Love you guys!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

ps this was a HUGE email hahaha.