The joy of missionary service is like nothing I have ever felt before in my life.

 

 

Hey Mama,

The temple was awesome today. It was soooooooo good. I realized today that everything God created, be it dogs, bears, birds or flowers was created so they could have joy. What a great plan of true happiness for everything!

This past week and a half was crazy. I don't really like the weeks where we email on a day like Wednesday. It just throws off the rest of the week for me.

I had a really good day today. 

I am glad that you liked my letter I sent. I just for some reason had the thought to share that with all of you. I really liked it when President Ware was sharing some of the line of thoughts that I shared, so I am glad it made sense to you too.

Mama: So Jared had his dentist appointment and he heard all about the parable of the dentist. He said he liked it, and he really seemed to. He also has 4 wisdom teeth, and they are all impacted, so he’s going to have to have them removed before he leaves. We are getting his pictures taken Saturday and then he will be submitting his papers! 

 

Elder Sed: Hey, that's exciting!!!!!! That will be cool to see where he is going to go. I am sure he LOVED the parable of the dentist ;) You can tell Dr. T that I do floss everyday haha. I don't want no cavities!

Mama: He really did like the parable. He answered all the questions and Dr. T said he’d never heard some of Jared’s answers before. Afterward he said to me, “He is a happy boy! He’s excited, and he really WANTS to go!” It’s really true. He is still the same Jared in some ways, but he is very, very excited to turn in his papers and go. I know you were happy to go, but he is even more vocal about it than you were. So that’s good.

 

Elder Sed: That's really cool that Jared has already felt that burning desire to share the gospel. I felt that before my mission, but probably not as much as I could have. I went on a mission because I knew the church is true and all. As I have been on my mission though, I have felt that desire just grow. It's crazy how a mission helps you grow, not only in the gospel, but as a person too!

 

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Hey Dad,

This past week was crazy! It felt long just because it was 9 days ago since our last p-day. I don't like when the schedule is thrown off, but it's all worth it getting to go to the temple. It really is a blessing that there is one in the mission. I love to go and just feel the peace that comes to my mind when I am there. There is constantly something going through my mind, but in the temple it's like it all goes away for about two hours. It's nice haha.

Well, this week we did have some success finding. It was pretty cool. We found this guy named B. We had been in the area of his house and figured we should knock on his door. Turns out that his ex-wife is meeting with missionaries wherever she is at, so that made him interested. We shared a little of the restoration with him, and he really liked it and committed to read from the Book of Mormon. It was awesome to find him. I will have to update you on Monday. We are hopefully going to have a lesson with him tonight or later this week.

We found another guy named D. He is a pretty cool guy. We found him while we were tracting in an apartment complex. When we first talked to him, he really didn't know what to think of us. He had grown up Baptist and hasn't gone to church in a while. He was kinda interested in learning more about our beliefs, so we had a restoration lesson. The whole time, he was smiling because he just likes to hear about God. That was fun haha. At the end of the lesson he prayed, "Thanks for teaching me the truth," so I think he got that point of the message haha. He said he would be baptized when he finds out it's the truth. The bad news with D is that the wards are splitting at the end of this week, so we are going to have to give him to another set of missionaries. We are going to cover two wards for a little bit so that may be fun. It has been awhile since I did something like that.

We met with P this past week. That was cool. He has  been doing really great. He is really starting to recognize the Spirit in his life teaching him. He has been making the effort to read and pray, which has been awesome. His wife is a less active member who isn't really on board yet about coming back to church. She  needs the prayers that she will get ready for that. Until she does, P probably isn't going to progress as fast as he could.

My cool thought for this past week came from when I was reading Jesus the Christ in my studies. It was on the miracle of when Christ walks on water, and I really like it. So the background of the story is that Christ has just gotten through with feeding the five thousand and has just sent the multitude away. I am assuming it's night time or just approaching that time. So Christ sends his apostles back to the other side of the sea and while they are going back, a HUGE storm comes up and is just beating them up. They have to work super hard to row the boat so it stays straight into the waves. I was just thinking about how tiring that would be. They have been battling all night to keep their boat from sinking. Water is probably crashing down on them. It would have been really freaky, and they were scared. So later on that evening, Christ comes out to help them and he's walking on water! All of the apostles were freaked out. I just thought it was interesting how well it relates to all of us. As adults we sometimes have storms of life that are super hard to battle. We get tired, and and in need of desperate help, but when help does come that was sent by God, sometimes it seems scary. We may not understand everything that can help us. The help may seem terrible at first, but when we realize the true nature of it and what it has done to change us, we can be truly grateful for the experience. Does that make any sense at all? haha

I have loved being on my mission and studying about the life of Christ. It has really helped to fulfill the promise in my blessing that through study and prayer, I will come to know more about the divinity of Christ. I know there was a purpose in Him coming to the earth to die. The law of sacrifice for us is such a blessing. It enables us to feel the joy of overcoming the effects of sin. I am so grateful for the atonement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like all of the family's thoughts on the scriptures that I sent home. I am glad that they made sense to you guys. I thought they were super good. It really is all about faith. I never realized just how faith has been involved from the beginning. Even God had to have had some level of faith to create us. Kinda cool to think about!

This week it was kinda funny--we were tracting and guess who I ran into? A lady from Birmingham England! She was pretty fresh out too. She knew where Coventry was, too. Their accents are kinda cool. I thought it would have been cool if you had come across her when you were on your mission. She was older than you, so it's a possibility haha maybe???

Cool sites in Warshington??? Not really. There's Hanford I guess but you can't just go out there. It's guarded so I haven't seen it up close. Besides that, I wish there was more but there really isn't. We just usually play some basketball or football or something like that on p-days. It's pretty fun.

Have you sent the brackets yet???? That's awesome that BYU and UTAH both made it to the tournament. I hope Utah can do pretty good. I don't know how far they will go, but it will be fun to find out.

Well Dadio, I am so happy to be serving in the best mission :)

It's been awesome! I truly do love serving the Lord. What a blessing it is. I do know that faith is the power by which we can create in our life. As we apply the gospel in our life it can change our lives even more than we can ever realize. The gospel of  Jesus Christ is the way the world was created. Amazing! I am so grateful for the principles of faith and repentance which help us to feel true joy. The gospel certainly is the gospel of joy! I feel it everyday. The joy that comes from missionary service is nothing like I have ever felt before in my life. I know this church is true. I know the work of  Joseph Smith was inspired by God. I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know Jesus Christ lives and guides His church through revelation given to President Monson. I love this gospel!

 

I love you guys! Thanks for all that you do! I am truly so grateful for all of it. For your examples. Everything!

Have an awesome week!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek