The Miracle of the Lost Keys

 

Hey Mama,

How is it going today? It's good to hear that everything is going good. That's great that Jared passed his physical. Now on to the dentist stuff haha. That might be fun. You should take him to Dr. T and let him hear the parable of the dentist hahaha. 

We had an interesting week. It was a huge learning week for me. I literally learned lots, so it was good. As far as our investigators, it was a bit of a tough week there. We got dropped by I***** and M***** :(

That was quite the story. I am pretty sure M***** was just having a bad day and is super stressed right now. She didn't say that she is done meeting with us, but just to give her some time right now. I was wondering if you could put her on the prayer roll. It worked miracles last time you did. She needs all the prayers she can get.

We are still working on finding some new investigators to teach. It has been work, but that's what missionary work is haha. I figured that out a LONG time ago. I remember I went into my mission at the beginning thinking that it was going to be a cinch. I think that is why in my setting apart, President S said what he did: To quickly learn that missions are hard, and then work through it. There was a cool thought given at church yesterday which was one of the things that I learned this week. I don't remember who said it, but they said something about discouragement and courage. What do you think of when you hear the word discouragement? I think of sadness and despair. Maybe depression. When you think of courage though, what do you think of? I think of action. Bold action and standing up for what's right. I would assume that's  along the lines of what you will think of. He then said discouragement is the opposite of courage. We can be disappointed, but never be discouraged. I can say that I am disappointed in M's decision to turn away from the church when her life is crazy right now, but I am going to never be discouraged. I am always going to be doing my best all the time. I have learned that this week. I just thought I would share that with ya Mama.

That's crazy you got a foot of snow this week. Up here the weather has been AWESOME! Seriously like 60 degrees every day. It's been a super nice winter this year. It's been good since my coat isn't working anymore. The zipper doesn't zip. I think it bit the dust, but hopefully the weather stays nice and I won't need the coat. If it ever comes to where I need it, I will just wear it not zipped up.

I bet you're having fun driving the red truck around. I am going to also in 5 months ;) right????

Mama: Jared is going to go to Dr. Toone haha. Sorry about M*****. Yes, I will get her on the prayer roll. Thanks for sharing what you learned about courage and discouragement. That’s a good thought. Yes, I think you will get to drive the red truck around when you get home. At least once anyway. ha! 

 

Elder Sed: Man Jared is going to have fun listening to Dr. T haha. He's a good man.

Thanks for doing that for M*****. I am sure she will appreciate it. I am going to put her on the prayer roll next week too. We go on Wednesday of next week so that's when I will email too. I just wanted to make sure and tell you before I forgot. 

Mama: I am happy that you get to go to the temple! Ours has been closed since mid-February and is opening up again tomorrow. With the girls’ plays in the evenings this week I will go sometime during the day and I will put her on the prayer roll. Are you going next week because transfers are the week after?

 

Elder Sed: Wow, that's a long time for it to be closed. I think our temple is closed right now too. We are going the day it opens, which is Wednesday of next week. Thanks for doing that for me Mama. You're the best. I don't think it matters when transfers are and when we go to the temple. I think we just go when we can every 3 months.

Mama: Do you need anything? 

Elder Sed: Do I need anything? Um, I think I am good. If you happen to come across some smaller long sleeve shirts, that would be awesome if you sent some. The ones I have now are really baggy everywhere except my neck. The neck is still the same size. I just would like a more fitted shirt. That's pretty much it though.

Mama: That's kinda funny that you are smaller everywhere but your neck! haha

Elder Sed: Yep, I think my neck and shoulders are pretty much where they are at haha.

Well, I am leaving now Mama. Hope you have a great week! Thanks so much for the school stuff you're helping me out with. I know it's probably not easy, but thanks for helping me out with all of it. I am guessing I will need another roommate right?
You're awesome Mama! Love you! Talk to you next week on Wednesday!

What's up Dad,

This week was great. We had some interesting things happen. For starters, M***** dropped us. That was a major bummer. She needs prayers right now. She said she isn't all the way dropping us, but wants time to think about it all and doesn't want to meet until she gets things figured out. I hope she realizes sooner rather than later. 

 

I***** dropped us as well. She and M***** are ironically in the exact same boat. They both like the gospel, but just don't want to meet right now because they want to think about it. I just don't understand women haha. They confuse me.

J***** is doing awesome. It is a really long story, but we haven't been able to meet with him because of the situation he's in. He has a lot of time on his hands though, so he has been reading the Book of Mormon like mad. In just the three weeks that he has been reading it, he is already in 3rd Nephi. Probably done with it by now too. He told his wife that he wants to work to be sealed in the temple and when he is able, he wants to be baptized. It was AWESOME to hear that. He is being prepared right now.

 

The new investigators we found last week, the _____ family,  and I think P******, are doing good. They are all working on keeping the commitments we have given them. We have been working really hard to find new investigators.

This past week was mainly a learning week for me. It's crazy how much that I have learned while being a missionary. Lessons that I probably wouldn't have learned if I hadn't come on a mission, so all you younger siblings--I am speaking to you. GO ON A MISSION! It seriously will help you so much! I am sure Mom and Dad enjoy the blessings of it too ;)

We had some cool stuff happen this week. One of the things was me learning what I told Mom in my email to her. If you listen at church, I can promise you things will be said that you need to hear. It's happened to me soo much on my mission.

This week I also learned something cool from my studies. I have been reading Jesus the Christ a lot, so earlier this week I was talking about it with another missionary, and he asked a question that I thought was super good. He said, "What was it at the time of Christ that kept the Pharisees in spiritual darkness?" I thought about it, and I didn't really know. He then said that it was because they weren't willing to accept any more than the Law of Moses. It sounded so familiar to many people today. Many aren't willing to accept any more than the Bible. If you relate them to the people today, the Pharisees had been taught something good in the Law of Moses.  They loved it and tried hard to live it. When Christ came, he came to fulfill that law and give them a new law to follow. That new law can be like the Book of Mormon. The Pharisees had such a hard time accepting the new law, that they killed Christ rather than accept it. The Book of Mormon is the new law (scripture) the Lord has given in this dispensation. We as members need to do all we can to help others accept that it is the word and work of God to give us the Book of Mormon. We may be put down because of our beliefs, but I know that as we stand strong, the church has given the promise that truth will win in the end. What a great promise!

Another cool experience that wasn't so cool at the time was something I am going to call the Miracle of the Lost Keys. It was pretty dang stressful. What happened was exactly what it sounds like. We lost our keys at the beginning of our week, so we lost our church keys, our house key, our mail box key, everything haha. Elder Ro and I had "lost" our keys before, but they were just in our house somewhere and we found them. This time it was completely different. We had absolutely no clue where the heck they were. We looked everywhere in our house and everywhere we had been, with no luck. We couldn't find them, so we decided to say a prayer. In the prayer we asked if HF could help us find our keys. We went on with our week, doing everything we could to find the keys when we had time, with no luck. After a couple days went by, we had the thought to ask the Bishop of our ward if he had seen them, and guess what? Somehow he had had somebody come up to him and give him the keys. He had our lost keys that we had been looking so hard for! It was cool to see that HF helped us find our keys haha.

 

Another cool thing I learned this week was in our lesson with C*****. We had just finished up giving her a super good lesson about the scriptures, and in my testimony I taught myself something that I won't forget. I said something to the effect of "if you ever feel like you are in a low spot in life, wherever you are, turn to the scriptures and the spirit of Christ will turn that low into a high."  I just love it when the Spirit teaches me when I am teaching someone else. It's like teaching inception haha. I really do believe it though. The scriptures are there to aid in us feeling the Spirit. I love them so much!

Well, those are some of the experiences I had this week. Hopefully they make sense. I was just typing what came to my head. Let me know if I confused you in any way haha.

I actually haven't gotten your letter yet. Maybe it will come today. We will have to see. Thanks for sending one Papa.

I like your new specs. They look good! I am glad they are working out good for you. My glasses are working out great. They have been good ever since I got used to them, which only took a couple days. They help me see lots better. I like looking not through my glasses at stuff and having it be all blurry, and then looking at it through them to see the difference. It's pretty nice being able to see. Who knew? I didn't before my glasses haha. I do now! You haven't seen a bill for my glasses because the eye doctor I went to paid for them. He likes to do that for missionaries.

Well, it is good to be able to email you guys my experiences and hear back from you the same day. It's a lot better now than how you had it Dad!  I am happy that you guys are doing well. I am doing well too. I am just loving the missionary life. I know the gospel is true. I know the Spirit is everything in missionary work. It teaches me so much every week. I know that we can improve each and every day through the atonement. I know Jesus Christ lives. I know that this is His restored church on the earth. God still speaks to us. The heavens are continually open to us. God seeks to guide us, if we will just listen to His word. I am excited in a couple weeks to listen to the prophets again. It's going to be awesome!

Thanks Dad for all that you do. You're a great example to me!

love ya!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek