Two baptisms coming up this week!

Hey Mama,

Sounds like you had a good week! That is awesome! I had a good week too. Guess what? I have some exciting news. F******, one of our investigators, is getting baptized on Thursday of this week!!!!!! Guess what else? J***** (remember him from when I was in Kennewick?) is getting baptized on Saturday, and I have permission  to go to that one, too!!!!!! It's going to be a great week full of baptism. Just what I like haha. It's going to be so sweet!

 

I didn't get your note in the mail yet haha. Maybe today I will get it. Who knows?

 

Hey, it is funny that you asked me about face soap, because I was going to ask for some. I am running out of the last bottle of the stuff you sent when I was in Pasco, so yeah, could you send some of that new stuff up? I will try it out.

Being DL is a stressful blessing haha. I have lots to do this time around. President Ware really changed up the responsibilities since the last time I was DL. We have to be on the phone every night with the missionaries in the district, and that takes a long time. It's all good though. It's fun to hear how their day went and the success they had. It is just stressful to get our planning done before I have to call, otherwise I am up way past 10:30 every night, which kind of sucks haha.  I really do feel like a "father" to my new comp. He isn't comfortable yet doing any of our work by himself, which I guess can be a good thing since we are supposed to stay together. But in Walmart for example, he's right behind me, running into me every time I stop. It reminds me of when I would do that to you (haha) and you HATED it. hahaha! He's a good missionary, but I am really trying to help him gain more confidence in doing missionary work, while serving all those around me also.

I had a good week. We have three "golden" investigators right now. F*******, M*** and L*****, and they all will be baptized within the next couple of weeks. It's going to be so SWEET!!!!!! I'm pumped for it.

That is way cool that you and dad are working on the family history stuff. I am going to have to follow your examples when I get home and do some of that. 

 

Thank for emailing me today. It was lots of fun. I am happy to hear that you guys are doing well. 

Thanks for sending the soap stuff! You're the best!

I love you all! Thanks for everything you do!

Have a totally awesome, and great week!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

 

Hey Daddio,

 

This week was Great!!!!! Yep, we are seeing lots of success!!! It's been wonderful to be a part of. Milton Freewater is awesome! The work is going really great!

 

All of our investigators are doing well. F***** is being baptized this week. We were able to move his baptism up a couple days, so that will be sweet! L***** told us this week that she has made up her mind to be baptized, even if her family isn't happy about it. M*** told us this week he wants to be sealed in the temple to his wife who is already a member. He came to church all dressed up in a white shirt and tie. You would have never been able to tell he wasn't a member already. He's awesome too!

 

Well, some of our on-date people have changed, so here's the updated list and what you can pray for. 

 

F**** could use help with being able to stay strong in his decision to be baptized.

M*** is golden haha. He is just doing awesome. He was a really great find. God led us to him for sure. 

J******* struggles with the Word of Wisdom at the moment, but really wants to quit.

R**** has heath problems. He has AWESOME studies, which is great. He learns so much!

L***** is a recent investigator. She was a referral from the Hermanas in Milton. She's awesome. She works nights, so that makes it tough for her to come to church.

J****'s wife is about to have twins so he's busy with that. He is a full time student as well as a dad!

Things are going well. We are having lots of success. We even found a new investigator this week while visiting some former investigators. His name is J**** and he had some really great questions. He had been thinking about how he hasn't felt the Spirit in his life for a while. He was a Seventh-day Adventist. Walla Walla and Milton-Freewater have lots of Seventh-day Advents, so needless to say we run into a lot of them. They seem like a good people. J**** said he felt the Spirit while attending there, but got offended, so he's thinking about going to church with us. He just really wants the Spirit in his life. I really hope his desires to attend church will lead him to start coming with us.

The weather has been great here. That's crazy it has been so all over the place back home. It will help the water supply in the summer. There are occasionally rain storms here, but nothing that's too out of the ordinary. It's way nice. I love the weather right now!

 

Isn't it funny how sprinklers are an endless pain in the toosh every spring? You should invent a sprinkler system that never breaks. You would be a millionaire. BTW, I knew the small garden wouldn't last haha. You're too much of a "little Farmer." It's in the name. I told Elder Lewis (he is one of the other Elders we live with) that that is what our name means in Czech, and he was blown away. He is a farmer from Missouri. He loves his cows! It reminded me of your comp that had pics of all his cows.

Serving in Milton-Freewater is such a blessing. Serving as DL is also a blessing. It's great to be able to serve the Lord in so many different ways! I love the Lord, and I love His children. I am always going to do everything in my power to serve my best. It's what the Lord expects. I know I am blessed by God's hand every day. I feel His guidance in my life. I feel His love as well. I know that God lives. I know Jesus Christ lives and is very involved in our lives. He is always there reaching out to His brothers and sisters. I love the Savior! I know this is His church originally built on the earth and restored. It's a great blessing to have the priesthood on the earth. I love my mission!

 

Thanks for all that you do to keep me out here. I love being able to hear about the blessings that come into your lives from my missionary service. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Love you guys! It's going to be sweet to Skype in a couple weeks!

-Elder Sedlacek

 

Even though I have limited days left, I am going to make the most of it!

What's up Mama,

Sounds like you guys had an exciting week hahaha! That is crazy that Jared's going to Ohio!!!!!!!! I bet he's going to love it. Is his mission the middle of nowhere areas? Was he pumped to see English-speaking?

 

It was weird to have that member call me to tell me the news about Jared's call. They aren't even in the ward I cover (haha), but they were able to track me down that night and let me know. Thanks for letting me know as soon as you could. You're the best Mama!

 

My week was great!!!!!!!!!!! I probably had one of the best weeks in a long time this week. We put SIX investigators on date for May!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't even believe it! This area is on fire. We finally got some Young Single Adult investigators too, who are on date as well! It's been almost a year since anything like that has came along. I am so being blessed by the Lord right now! It's amazing! This is what missionary service is all about!

Man, it sounds like you're going to be one stressed-out mama for the rest of the spring/summer. Good luck! :)

You got my school schedule figured out? What are the details on it? What work-out class is that that you signed me up for?

Mama: Elder!!

It is so awesome to hear from you! I am so happy that those members called you that night and let you know. I so wished you knew what was going on. That makes me feel better that you did know. I told you I had ways!! haha Jared is excited! I think he was a little disappointed about no Spanish (unless his mission Pres modifies it).

 

Your week sounds simply amazing and miraculous! SIX on date for May?? Wow!

 

MWF, you will have a Music class (Music history or something), US History, and Math. I’m not sure if it’s like algebra or something, and it’s subject to change if you want to take a math placement test. After that you’ll have English which is a writing class. Dad and I figured if you got that out of the way right off, it would help you in all your other classes. Tues & Thurs you will have conditioning unless you wanna change that. 

 

Elder Sed: Yea it's good to hear from you guys too. I am glad that you are doing good.

I was kinda guessing that English was a disappointment to him, but oh well. He will get over it. It's where the Lord needs him.

Yep, SIX on date for May!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am giving the update on that right now in my email to dad.

Music history? Is that for an elective? Do I have to take a writing class? I don't want to write a ton of papers if I don't have to. What's the conditioning class?

Mama: Music History, I am sorry to tell you, is one of a few required core classes. So is the writing class. Conditioning is weight lifting.

Elder Sed: Oh okay Mama. I was just making sure you weren't setting me up, or anything like that. I don't want to have you have something funny up your sleeve or something like that. :) 

I have to get going Mama. You're the best! I hope you guys have a great week! Thanks for all that you do for me. Thanks for setting up school stuff for me. Just really thanks for all that you do! Love ya tons!

Talk to you next week!

 

What's up Dad,

This week was GREAT! as I already said to mom. But this week was a great week for finding and inviting! We put a focus on it and it really paid off. We now have a total of 8 on-dates. Seven of those are in the Milton ward, and 1 in the Walla Walla YSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even believe it! I will give you a list of them so you guys can pray for them, because I know that's what you like.

Mostly all of our on-dates were found this week. It was amazing. We found three in each area that we cover. It's been a long time since that has happened. They are all awesome. I was on exchanges with the Elders in my district twice this week, so some of them I don't really know much about, but they are all miracles from the Lord!

 

T***** is a new investigator this week. The Elders found her when I was on exchanges in a small town called Weston. They decided to go tracting because Elder G and I had had the thought to go tracting up there. Turns out it worked out really well. At first, it sounded like it wasn't really going anywhere. She was busy, but they kept on just teaching to her. She felt the Spirit and invited them in. She really wants a church for her kids to grow up in and was excited to set a baptism date for the 16th! Talk about awesome!

R**** is a newer progressing investigator. He is doing awesome! He had been around for a long time with missionaries before. Kinda what missionaries call an "eternagator." Not really a good thing. When I got here though, I made sure to have a really frank discussion with him using the Spirit. It worked really well. After that he has really gotten things together. He understands why the missionaries come over. Not just to visit, but to help him build up his faith. He asks really great questions that come from his studies which is awesome! It proves that he is not only reading the Book of Mormon but really thinking about it and praying. He says that it feels good too. This week he asked us a question right when we came in. It went something like this: "Where can I be baptized like Jesus Christ was?"  It was funny because it kinda caught me off guard haha. I wasn't expecting something like that coming from him hahaha. It was awesome though, because we were able to testify of the priesthood authority and put him on date for baptism. He is praying for a solid answer from God that the Book of Mormon is true, so pray that he feels like he will.

L***** was an awesome find. She is basically "golden"!!!!!!!!! So the story on her is that she came to church yesterday. She has a member boyfriend in the branch and he took her to church. Apparently she has had lots of exposure to the church in her life. He is a RM so he's doing some awesome work as you could guess. He already had her reading the Book of Mormon. He took her to GenConf this month and she was speechless when she was listening to the prophets. She really felt the spirit. She grew up baptist and her family is giving her a bunch of crap for dating a Mormon, so just pray that she can stay strong. She really wants to be baptized. It's her family that will be the biggest struggle. 

M**** is a new investigator too. He is from a part-member family in the ward. We found him a couple weeks ago and he had asked us to call him to set up a time to meet with him. That happened to be this week we had set up, and it turned out really great. He had expressed how baptism was something he had been thinking about for a while now. He just didn't know where to go to get it started. Guess what? That was the reason we tracted that street that one day. We had prayed that day that we would find someone prepared on that specific street that we were going to tract, and at first it didn't look like that prayer was answered. Boy were we wrong! hahah. The Lord does answer our prayers! I know that for sure.

The other new investigators are people I really don't know too much about yet because I was on exchanges.

F******, J****, and J******* are all doing awesome. They are all people that I think I've told you about but they are doing awesome! This area is just really blooming right now! It's crazy!

It's way awesome news that Jared is going to Ohio! You guys' plan worked to let me know asap. I found out Thursday evening. Thanks for letting that member know. She was excited to relay the news. It was good to hear too. Jared will be a great missionary over in Ohio. He's going to have fun in that country. He better not come back a Bengals fan hahaha. Don't worry about me though. I am pure blood Chargers and 49ers. haha

I do remember Loren. It's exciting that he's going to Ohio too. They both are going to great things! How many boys is that from our ward that have calls now?

That's a real bummer Sister M is home now. It's too bad but all things happen for a reason. I am sure she did great! It's cool that the #BecauseHeLives worked really well in her mission. Here, I don't really know. I haven't heard anything big come from it yet. I really haven't seen much. We used the cards a lot. As far as the iPads? No clue. Pres Ware said they would come in 2-3 months about that long ago. Really though, I have heard that my whole mission. We will get them when we get them as far as I'm concerned. I'm not going to worry about it.

Well thanks Dad for all that you do for me! You sacrificed a lot to get me out here, and you still do to keep me out here too. I love you Dad. You're a great example!

I am so happy to be serving a mission. Even though I have limited days left, I am going to make the most of it! I know the Lord is very aware of anyone who puts their name right next to His. I have felt Him with me literally every day. I know Christ lives! I know this is His church restored to the earth. What a great comfort that is! I love to serve God's children. I will strive constantly for the rest of my life to do it, too. I love God especially. He blesses me so much. I have tons to be grateful for. You guys and everyone back home who supports me are all part of that. The people I meet everyday, President Ware, people to look to, it's all great things I am blessed with. I am just so happy! I love you guys!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

 

I'm so thankful to be serving a mission. I have loved every day!

 

What's up Mama,

Sounds like you had a great week. How ya doing?

 

I am doing really good. I have been settling in to Milton. The ward is starting to catch a vision for the missionary work. This past week we met with the Bishop, and our Ward Mission Leader. 

 

Things are going good with Elder G. Things are good as DL. I love how often I get to serve the missionaries in my district. This week, one of the Sisters had a dog bite her leg, so I went over to give her a blessing. It was really good. Going in I honestly had no idea of anything I was going to say, but I just went in like I usually do to blessings, and just cleared my thoughts. It was cool. When I started, I just said a silent prayer in my heart that I would know what to say to give her some comfort. It ended up being a really good blessing. It just flowed right from the start. It must have worked because she cried. Isn't that how women work haha?

 

All afternoon Saturday I was doing baptism interviews in Pendleton. It was good, because it's all worth the time with baptisms. Those sisters up there in Pendleton do some awesome work!

 

The weather in Muddy Frogwater has been awesome. It couldn't be a better spring, honestly. It has had the perfect amount of rain and sun. Down here in Milton we get more rain than Tri-cities does, so its nice to see some rain for a change.

 

I am honestly doing pretty good. I don't really need anything at the moment.

 

Dallin is going to Bolivia?!?!?!?! That's awesome! Wish him good luck for me. That would be super cool if I got to see Dallin in the airport. That would be fun. So Dallin's mom is going to be the sad Mama, and you're going to be the happy one right? haha. Hopefully it's not the other way around haha.

 

Thanks for doing the school stuff for me. I don't have a clue of what math to take. I don't want to waste time and money taking a class that is too easy, but I also don't want it to be too hard that I don't know how to do it at all. What do you think I should do?

 

Mama: Son! Of course I will be the HAPPPPPYYYYYYYY Mama!!!!

Good job on the blessing. Yes, a woman crying in a blessing is probably a pretty good sign that you said something she needed. haha

 

I will think on the math and also ask Nicole.

 

Hey, there is news on Jared’s call this morning!! He's been assigned and is in the mail. Probably coming in the next day or two or three.....and don’t worry. Mamas have their ways of letting missionary sons in Oregon know asap. 

 

Elder Sed: Oh ok good. I was thinking it was that way haha.

I figured it was a good sign hahahaha.

Oh okay ask Micoe. She's "SMRT" with that kinda stuff.

OOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BOY!!!!!! Jared's call is coming on its way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is your guess to where he's going? 

 

Mama: It definitely is that way haha. I’m waiting for my hug and it better be a good one!

 

As for where for Jared.....I don’t really know. You are in Washington, and that is a place I had never even thought of for you, so it’s probably going to be somewhere I haven’t thought of. That being said, Jared REALLY REALLY REALLY wants to speak Spanish. I think he will be Spanish-speaking. My official guess is Washington DC South, Spanish-speaking.

 

Elder Sed: That would be cool for him to learn Spanish. I could see him going Spanish. It will be awesome to find out the big news. Oh you better believe I will give you all a good hug haha. Who wouldn't?

 

Yea, that will be interesting to see what he does and where he goes! My official guess is Wyoming, but what's wrong with Yakima or WKM!!!! haha. That would make me so happy if he really did end up going to Warshington. It would also be cool if he went to DC south Spanish speaking.

I have to get going now Mama. You're awesome for all that you do for me! Love ya tons! Let me know if there's anything I can do for you, even though there isn't much I can do at the moment haha but still. You get the point.

 

You're the best Mama! Keep being the best Mama ever!

Love ya!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

 

 

Whaz up Dad,

This week was great! I will just start with the update of my week.

 

So this week we had zone training meeting where the ZLs and the DLs train the zone. It was pretty good. I felt like my training went really well. I talked a lot about building a vision with planning and goals. The vision needs to be our eye of faith, with our goals and daily and weekly plans supporting that vision we gain from the Lord. Everyone really liked it, so I guess it was good.

 

The next day after that we had interviews with President Ware. I got my new temple recommend that's signed by him so I will have to keep this one I have now. President is awesome. He's definitely called by God. I know that for sure.

 

This week I had the privilege of giving lots of priesthood blessings. Some to the members in the district I have, and some to members of the ward. I just love to be able to give people blessings by the priesthood of God. It's so cool how you can feel the guidance of God in what to say. I love to feel the love God has for them. I just love to serve His children!

 

As far as our investigators go, we had some good lessons with them this week. We now have two on date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F***** is on date for the 25th of April. It's probably going to be pushed back just because he is going out of town for his baseball team. We are just praying that we will be able to figure out a weekend where he will be free to be baptized. He is super excited! He came to church yesterday and guess what? He stayed for the whole block and the Spanish sacrament meeting too. He was just so excited to be at church.

 

The other on date is J****. He's doing awesome too. He is a guy who is kinda rough around the edges and not afraid to say what's on his mind. He's really cool. He told us this week that if he didn't have real interest in being baptized, he wouldn't talk to us. I liked that haha. We put him on date after he said that, for July. It's kinda far away, but he is just so busy every weekend and his wife is pregnant and due in May. I hope everything works out with him too.

 

Other than these two investigators, we do have a couple others, but we are working on finding a bunch more this week. Wish us luck!

Great job with work, Dad. Sounds like it's going good. Save the church some money haha.

 

Oh, you got lots of yard work done it sounds like. Trimming trees is a pain. I know that much. You're going to move the garden to the middle section? That sounds like a good idea. I like how the size of the garden has gradually gotten smaller and smaller as time goes on. I remember when it was the whole bottom section haha. I guess you're just getting old. ;) Just kidding, Dad. You're still super young, strong. Like Nephi, right?!

 

Sounds like you had a fun time just playing with the truck haha. That is super funny. It's like your brand new toy haha. That stinks the ATV isn't starting. I bet it is the carburator or something like that.

A brand new guy won the Masters? That's cool. He sounds like he's amazing! I would like to see him play.

I did hear from Mom that Dallin got his call to Bolivia. That is super cool!!!!! You will have to wish him luck for me. He's going to do awesome I would bet. That's kinda funny that he leaves the day that I get home. Probably won't see him for a while then, unless for some reason we see each other at the airport, but I doubt that too.

 

I heard good news on Jared's call. That is exciting!!!!! You guys will have to let me know asap when you find out. I will be excited to find out where he's going! Hopefully in Washington somewhere. That would be cool.

I am so thankful to be serving a mission. It's been a wonderful time! I have loved every day! I love being able to devote all my time and attention to serving the Lord and his children. I love the Lord! I love his children I have been sent to help! I know this is His church! He leads and guides us as we let Him. I am grateful for the gift of the spirit and what it does to my life. I know the priesthood is on the earth to bless all others besides myself, but I know there are people who are able to help me when I need it as well. I know the Book of Mormon is true!

 

You guys are awesome for all the support you give to me. I know it's a blessing some don't have. I love you guys! You're all amazing! You guys keep up the great work at home! Talk to you later!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

People do have questions about our church, and they should because it's the true church of Christ.

Milton-Freewater is known for its frog statues.

What's up Mama,

Sounds like your week was awesome! So was mine! I LOVED conference. I really loved all the talks, but my faves were President Eyring's in the priesthood session. (His was all about how the priesthood and the power of prayer are connected.) I also liked Elder Ballard's talk in the priesthood session. It was about raising the bar on RM's. It kinda applied to me haha, sadly enough, since I will be home before the next session in October. I just liked when he made the comment that RM doesn't stand for "Retired Mormon." We need to stay strong in our studies and focus even when we get home. I am going to stay on track. I have already made that decision. My most favorite talk was Jeffery R Holland's talk! Talk about AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just really felt the Spirit during the whole thing. It was just amazing. I am going to get the audio recording on that talk when it comes out so I can listen to it again and again. It was that good. 

Guess what this week entailed? I got the dreaded trunky call that the old missionaries get from missionary travel when they are getting the info together for your flight home. It was funny, because I got mine on Wednesday when I was on exchanges with Elder Nelson. He's the ZL for the Walla Walla zone and we came out the same time, so we both got our trunky calls on exchanges. It was pretty fun haha.

 

That is awesome that Jared's papers are in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is wierd that the calls are coming on weird days like Saturday haha. Makes it unpredicitable.

 

Sounds like you guys had fun on the trip to St. Geezy. That's good. I was assuming you guys would have lots of fun.

 

Easter was fun. This ward struggles with feeding the missionaries, but we did have an Easter dinner. It was some super good hamburgers. Ones like I had with the Hale family. The "juicy Lucys". It was soooooooo good. The miniute I bit into it I said out loud that they were like Juicy Lucys, which is what the Hales call them, and the whole family was like, "what the heck." It was kinda funny. I still remember those things though. They were super good at the Hales' and that was like 2 yrs ago haha. Must have been that good to remember what I ate 2 yrs ago huh? haha.

 

Thanks for the Easter package! I loved it and the shirt! You're the best Mama. Love ya tons!

Talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

 

What's up Dad,

My week this past week was great! I had my first district meeting with the district I am in now. I thought it went really well. I gave a training on how to teach to understanding using the pamphlets that the Brethren have made for us to use. I also focused on teaching to feelings rather than thoughts, because that is a huge help that I have learned in my teaching. At the beginning of my mission when I would teach a lesson, I would find myself asking the investigators questions that were something like "What do you think about that?" The answers were usually nothing inspired and sometimes even went way off in left field, but about a year ago I had an interview with President Ware. He and I were talking about who knows what, but he taught me something that I have never forgotten. He told me "It is always going to be about what they feel, before what they know." He told me the more I focus my questions on feelings rather than thoughts, the better the outcome is going to be. It's really true. I have seen time and time again. I have seen it even in conversation with people on the street who aren't interested, but suddenly you ask a great question and they are talking to you for a while. The power of questions to the feelings of the heart is amazing! When somebody truly ponders on the heart, it always brings the Spirit.

 

Our teaching pool is a bit interesting. This week we dropped basically everyone. We haven't been able to contact most of them and they weren't progressing at all. There are still some that are doing good. We have one on-date for baptism. His name is _____. He is a high schooler who is really cool. He's a Seventh-day Adventist, but is pretty interested in the church. He even came to General Conference and he really liked it. He is on date for the 25th of this month. I can really see him getting baptized that day. It's going to be sweet. 

There are some other people we are working with who are doing pretty good. There was a guy named R*** that we visited this week, and from the looks of the first visit it wasn't going to be much of anything, so when I was sitting in his house I really tried to listen to what the Spirit wanted me to say to him. All of a sudden I had the thought to testify of the Plan of Salvation. It was a complete change of subject at the time, but it was cool what happened. He actually listened. He even said to me "I really believe what you're saying. I really want to believe it, too." This was a guy who didn't want to listen to us and he went from just talking endlessly to really listening to what we had to say. He is reading the Book of Mormon, and he is asking great questions, so I know when he says he is studying, he really is. It's amazing what's happening in his life!

 

I mentioned the girl we had met last week when we got that referral, that turned out to be another referral for a different guy, which really turned out to be us finding the girl. Remember that? Well, we visited her this week and she's doing awesome! She and her boyfriend are looking to get into church. Her boyfriend is a member who hasn't gone in a while, and she is really interested in the message we have to share. She took a Book of Mormon and is reading it too. I hope everything continues to go well with her.

 

Other than those three, we are really trying to find some new investigators at the moment. We are re-vamping the teaching pool. It's going to take some work, but we are going to do it. Just pray for us to be able to find the prepared people in our path.

 

I really enjoyed conference. I shared my fave talks with Mama, so I am sure you're going to hear about it, but we had a lot of the same favorite talks. I really loved Elder Holland's. I loved the visuals he used in the story. I really liked the thought that the Savior is our brother who are the hands hanging down helping us. It's totally true. I also loved President Uchdorf's talk too. He really explained grace in a way that I thought was just perfect. A lot of church members needed that talk. Most don't understand fully how grace works in our lives, so that talk was perfect. I sometimes don't fully understand grace as well, so that's a talk I am going to be reading again soon. Both Elder Holland's and President Uchdorf's. We watched conference from the church building here in town. They like the missionaries to be at the church to watch conference. I like it though because it keeps me focused. It will help Jared to be in a chapel instead of on a couch haha. I guess that when there is a will there is a way with Jared haha. I am sure though that he is going to be too concerned about taking notes that he won't have time to play with toys haha. It's going to be fun to watch conference with you guys in October haha. It will be weird haha.

Hahahaha! Kentucky lost. That is so perfect. I was just waiting for that to happen. Duke made it all the way though. That's crazy. I bet they will win. I hope they do because it will make Utah look better, right?

How are the Jazz playing?

Well good luck with your lesson in primary. I bet you will do good. I bet it's fun being able to teach in there and really simplify the gospel.

 

I know that President Monson is a true prophet. I know the Priesthood is on the earth. The same power Christ used while he was on the earth. It was cool. This morning in Walmart this lady randomly came up to me and asked me if the Melchizedec priesthood was on the earth. I was like "What the heck?" in my mind, but I didn't say that of course. I just know that not everyone knows about that kinda stuff unless they have been really studying something about our church. I just testified right in the middle of Walmart that the priesthood is on the earth and I ended up having a lesson with her while Elder G was printing some pictures off. It was kinda funny. I haven't had that happen to me before but it was good. People do have questions about our church and they should because it's the true church of Christ. As we stand as an example where ever we are, people will be able to recognize that we are members of the church and we will be able to answer their questions. I just love the gospel!!!! I love my mission!!!!!!! Thanks for all that you do to keep this guy out here. I love you guys!!!!

-Elder Sedlacek

 

Being transferred teaches me to be patient with myself.

Emails from Monday, March 30th. 

Hey Mama,

I am doing great! I will be emailing from Milton-Freewater about this time, I would suspect. We email from the church clerk's office because there is literally nowhere else haha. Milton is pretty dang small hahaha. It's really weird for me to be going from a place the size of Kennewick to here. It was honestly kinda of a culture shock, but the people here seem to be pretty nice. 

Thanks for sending me a package! Glad the box got to you guys all safe and sound. I really didn't want to lose the stuff in there. Yep, the temple envelope was made by Mama Splatts. She is awesome! I loved living in her house. It's like the coveted spot in the whole mission, and I got to spend 6 months there. Lucky me huh?

Yep, I wore down those shoes haha. Believe it or not I will have two more pairs of shoes like that when I get home. I have a really nice pair of new shoes that I picked up at goodwill in Kennewick that I will wear @ home.

I didn't remember that Elder J served here a while ago, but now that you mention it I do remember him saying that he served here.

I am DL here over lots of sisters haha. I have 6 sisters, and three other Elders in my district. It's been really fun though, because they are all good missionaries. I am really looking forward to serving them this transfer! I really love to feel the love the Savior has for all his children, including missionaries in my district, so any chance I have to feel more of the Savior's love, it's amazing!

Elder G is a really great missionary. He is super humble and willing to learn. He is just awesome! Willing to work hard and everything. He doesn't really know much about what to do and all that, so it's kinda like I am training him at the moment, but it's good. If I get to help him like that, it's fine with me. I remember when I got Elder R, he was kinda the same way. He didn't have that much confidence, but by the end of our companionship he was doing GREAT! It's nice to help the younger missionaries out. I really enjoy it.

So I live in an apartment with us and 2 Spanish-speaking Elders. It's a pretty nice place. I was kinda nervous when I found out it was a four-man but it's turned out really awesome! They are all great missionaries!

Oregon is super weird haha. Just a dumb law they have is that we can't pump our own gas. They have people that do it for you. You can't even get out of the car to help them. But the good news is that I AM IN A CAR!!!!! It's super nice to finally be back in a driving area haha. It's been a long time. It had been such a long time since I had drove last that it was weird driving again but I am used to it now. We have the car to ourselves. The Elders we live with walk. They have a tiny area.

It is different to be in Oregon but it seems really nice. My area covers some other small towns, like Athena. We also have a small town of Weston. My district covers Pendleton, too, so I went down there this week to do a baptism interview. That looks like a cool place.

 Utes lost!!!! Oh no!!!!

Whaz up Dad,

I am doing great! I have really liked Milton-Freewater so far. It's a pretty nice place. The people here are super. It's just a typical small town environment I am sure I will have the chance to meet lots of interesting people.

The ward is really really huge, but a big percentage don't come. President Ware always tells me to go catch the ward on fire whenever I get transferred, so that's what I am trying to do. I fasted yesterday to know what to do, and I felt like we needed to have our Bishop study Preach My Gospel ch 13. So he is going to read over that and we are going to have a discussion of how to apply it to the ward. It's amazing how much I have learned on my mission. I have learned what helps and what doesn't, so I am just doing what I know worked, and we will see how things improve. I would assume this ward will be my dying area so I'm going to make the best of it!

The teaching pool here is alright. We do have an on-date for baptism who is super cool. His name is _____. He's a senior in high school, and is pretty interested in being baptized. He just struggles with coming to church. He is on date for the 25th of April so pray that he can hit that date! I will let you know more about the teaching pool when I know more.

One thing I love about being transferred is that it teaches me to be patient with myself. It's kinda frustrating for me to not know where I am or who so-and-so is, so it's good to just re-focus myself and work on where I know I can improve.

With being called to DL again, I am really realizing the importance of Christ-like love. I mentioned it in my email to mom, but I really love feeling the love of the Savior for all of his children. Being able to serve as a DL just enables me to feel that even more. It's going to be fun.

We had a cool experience yesterday that reminded me of how God leads us to people who are prepared.

So we were in Milton-Freewater and were just trying by people who the missionaries had taught before, and inviting them to take the discussions again. All of a sudden I remembered that we had a referral for a guy way out in a small town called Athena. It's about a 20 min drive to there, and so we went out there to contact that referral. When we got there, the guy that we had wanted to see was outside so we started talking to him. Turns out he wasn't wanting to talk to the missionaries personally, but he intended for us to come up and visit his friend who has been asking about the missionaries. I thought that was kinda interesting, but he gave us his friend's information, and we went to find him since we had already driven up there. When we got to the other guy's house, he wasn't home, but right when we knocked on the door his neighbor pulled up in a car. We started talking to her because that's what we do--we talk to everyone. Turns out she had never seen missionaries before and was interested in learning more about our religion. How cool is that?!?! We have an appointnment with her this Friday so I really hope it goes well. We really need some more YSA investigators, and that is what she would be. I'm super excited for it.

The name of the sister who brought you my package was Sister N. She just lived down the street from us and had asked me if I had anything to send home, so I put together the package of stuff I had inherited. Glad it got home safe. Yea you can bet that I got every last buck out of those shoes that I could. I wore them until they hurt my ankles to walk in them haha. The giant Rubiks cube I can't solve. It's pretty dang hard. It is fun to play with though. I just didn't have room for it, but I wanted to keep it. Another Elder gave it to me when I taught him how to solve the regular one. It's just something that I try to do with my comps. Teach them how to solve a Rubiks cube. I have been pretty good at it too.

It's too bad that the Utes couldn't pull off the win against Duke. I was hoping they would be able to do it. I knew it was going to be tough though. That's exciting that the Jazz are winning now. I was hoping that would happen sooner rather than later.

Good job on work stuff Dadio. Sounds like things are going super well right now.

Sarah driving? Sounds like I need to be praying for the innocent people of Bountiful Utah. haha.

I like your thought on the what and why Dad. Ironically enough, I was thinking about that same thing but only with my investigators. Lots of missionaries get caught up in teaching the what about everything. Over the course of my mission, I have come to realize that it's not the what that is important in the end. It's all about the why. If an investigator understands why we go to church every week, the simple fact of them possibly not wanting to go to church every week isn't going to matter if they truly understand the doctrine behind it. It's really something that Elder Arnold stressed when he visited the mission. Teaching doctrine (the why), and letting the Spirit teach the what. It's pretty cool how it works out like that.

I know that the gospel is true. It is so amazing how it applies to our lives. It makes me SOOOOOOO happy just thinking about it. I really do have such a love for the gospel. I am super pumped to listen to President  Monson this weekend and all the other general authorities. It's going to be SWEET! I know this church is true. I know the Lord loves his children in Washington and Oregon!!!!! It's amazing to feel it. I know Christ lives. I know our Heavenly Father loves and cares for us as his children.

I love you guys! You guys do so much for me. I hope that the vacation down south will be a blast for you guys. I'm sure it will be! 

Love ya Dadio, and all you other hooligans,

-Elder Jake Sedlacek