Lots of people yell weird things at us.

 

 

Hey dad! this week went kind of slow, it seemed slow and the work was slow unfortunately. we just hit standards with lessons this week (20). no one was really out and about for some reason, it was warm, mid 70's, but i thought that was really strange hahaha. RD is still not willing to commit to a baptism date yet, but he is coming closer. he came to church again, and really is starting to feel comfortable in the ward. he shared stuff again yesterday, it was awesome! that lady, we call her sister C,  did not come to church for some reason, and we have not been able to teach her yet, but we really hope to. the other new lady, C****, we had a lunch with her, and a lady from the ward at the hospital cafeteria who is very interested in learning more, and she already tells us she loves us hahaha, she is a 60 year old grandma hahaha. she is going to be baptized at some point, i can already tell. other than that, not much new happened, just the same old stuff, trying to find more people to teach. a lot of those 8 people we found have fallen off the face of the earth. that is awesome that you were able to go hunting and see some bucks! jake should have taken the shot! that is nice that everyone was able to come down and have family time last weekend! thanks for the updates dad! have a great week at work. i can't wait to go hunting with you guys when i get back, i see tons of geese hahaha and it drives me crazy! well, i want you to know that i love you, you're an awesome dad! have a great week!

-elder sedlacek

 

Hi mom! this week went kind of slow, it seemed slow and the work was slow unfortunately. we just hit standards with lessons this week (20). no one was really out and about for some reason, it was warm, mid 70's, but i thought that was really strange hahaha. RD is still not willing to commit to a baptism date yet, but he is coming closer. he came to church again, and really is starting to feel comfortable in the ward. he shared stuff again yesterday, it was awesome! that lady, we call her sister C,  did not come to church for some reason, and we have not been able to teach her yet, but we really hope to. and that other new lady, C****, we had a lunch with her, and a lady from the ward at the hospital cafeteria who is very interested in learning more, and she already tells us she loves us hahaha, she is a 60 year old grandma hahaha. she is going to be baptized at some point, i can already tell. other than that, not much new happened, just the same old stuff, trying to find more people to teach. a lot of those 8 people we found have fallen off the face of the earth. i did paste this from dad's email hahaha, just to save some time!

 

that is really all that happened this week for the most part, although, funny story--lots of people are always yelling these weird things at us. one from this week was a young guy in a car, he put up the live free symbol with his hands and he said "hail poseidon!" hahaha they try to agitate us but it just makes me laugh hahaha. usually it is hail satan, :( not good. 

 

it is starting to cool down, all the leaves are dropping now haha, indiana is becoming gray hahaha. i am staying warm so far, it is not too bad, it is just humid cold, so like a cold bath hahaha but not as bad. i do need those strips, but if you could send my gripper and the john bytheway cd too that would be awesome! that is so awesome about BG and his family, that is the ultimate goal for this life, to be sealed! that is so cool! 

oh yeah! we found 2 new investigators this week! a family that loves sports, they told me about the upcoming utah game on saturday. they are part member family. and a kid that called us over yesterday at the park! his name is J****.  he did not have time to talk much so we did not get his number but he is interested in learning more and said he believes us!

that pic with me and the tree was on friday, it was windy and super rainy, and as you can tell, the trees are absolutely beautiful here!

i do have to get going now, but thank you so much for all you do! i love you all so much and pray for you all the time! haha. keep up the good work! talk to you later! love ya!

-Elder Sedlacek

 

I have really been praying for the pure love of Christ. I received it and it hurts...it is a great blessing though!

Now that is a fall leaf!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! i hope you have had an awesome birthday! i sent you a card and letter, hopefully it is arriving today. i messed up and sent it late, i was hoping it would make it for saturday, but anyway, i hope it was a good day for you. that sucks you couldn't get anything hunting, hopefully this week you bring home the bucks. there is an elder in my district, elder c, who found a little two point antler in the woods and it is tiny so he keeps it tied to his backpack. he likes to pick up the dead squirels and road kill (which is absolutely everywhere!) and he tans the hides and keeps them . he is hilarious hahaha. that is awesome about all those games! i look forward to watching them when i get home, and hunting too. i had a decent week this week. i went on exchanges with my ZL, elder taylor, who is an awesome elder! we got RD to come to church this week! and he shared in sunday school and offered to say the closing prayer! it was awesome! and that lady that walked in last week and said she needs a new church came back and wants the lessons! it was sick! so we will be meeting up with her this week, and RD too. as usual, i will talk more in the general email about that stuff. this week i have been really praying for the pure love of christ, and i received it. and it is painful. it now hurts me to see people talking about their problems, but knowing that i can help them and they won't let me, it tears you apart. you feel a genuine love for them but they act like they hate you. it hurts hahaha. now i know why you cried so hard when me and jake left. i love the mission though, it is hard, but very rewarding! it is changing me into a man that i want to become. it is an amazing thing. thank you for all the updates again! and have a great week hunting and such! I love you dad! have a great week!
-elder sedlacek

Hi mom! i have had a decent week this week. it went by kind of slow at first but then sped up. this week we had exchanges with the zls from norwood, and i got to take over the area. fun. it was hard to take over, but i did it with my zl's help, E. Taylor. he is an awesome missionary! we had the best day of the week with him! it was awesome! he likes running so we biked over to the track at 5:45 a.m., and i ran 4 miles in 32 mins without even thinking about it! i am still in shape hahaha. then we 225'd and visited some other people. we visited with Bro. P and then we saw RD. he is thinking about baptism, and wants to continue to come to church after this first week that he went. it was awesome! that new lady that came in last week and said she needs a new church wants to take the lessons. so we will be getting in contact with her. sadly, we have not been able to contact many of those 8 from last week. they won't answer phone calls and such and we did not get addresses, so we are just going to have to keep trying. we didn't find too many this week unfortunately. but there is always a next week! we should be able to teach J**** again this week, which i am looking forward to! he is finally back from vacation and we are going to be contacting him asap.

other than that, it was an average week. that is so awesome about you getting a prompting to help someone! one of the things i have learned while here on a mission, is to always listen to promptings, they may not make sense but that is okay, we just need to follow them, and if we do we will be blessed. it is a win-win situation.

i have 4 boxes of sites and 3 boxes of cartridges, so i should be fine for a while longer. i will let you know when i need more, just keep reminding me to check though hahah.

something that i have really been working on is feeling the pure love of christ. i have been really praying to receive that gift since there is no other way to receive it other than having it bestowed upon us or praying for it. i received it and it hurts. it is painful because it now hurts me to see people talking about their problems and knowing that i can help them and they won't let me, it tears you apart. you feel a genuine love for them and they act like they hate you. it is a great blessing though. it helps you teach more effectively and become a better missionary and a better person. but yeah anyway, it has been a pretty good week with those things hahaha

this week we get to go to the louisville temple again with the zone! i am excited! i have been studying up on the temple and stuff to get ready. and it is getting cold here, but it is strange because it does go right through you if you let it. i will be needing thermals here in the future, and i have not used the coat yet, i want to try and get used to the cold, like i used to do at home. i saw that it has been in the 70's this week at home, you luckys. the humidity makes a huge difference when it is cold hahaha it really is going to be a bone chilling cold hahahaha.

i have to go now, I love you mom! and all the rest of the family! love you all! have a great week!

I got to try turkey "fries"....

 

hey Dad! oh heck yeah! that is awesome how well the utes are playing! and usu! that is awesome, thanks for the updates! we had an awesome week! we saw a lot of grace and miracles. you can read more about those in the email to mom, but we found 8 new investigators! two of them already want to come to church! one other asked for the church address and is thinking about it! who knows how many of the 8 will still be around next week, but we will do our best. the  less-active we are teaching, A****, is still the same, we may need to drop him for a while. he really likes us, but doesn't have a whole lot of interest in actually learning about the gospel. we will have to see how he keeps the commitments. r******, the guy who asked for "the book" last week has been really busy so we were not able to contact him, hopefully this week. same with JG, and RD. we will see how this week looks.

 

i got to try "TURKEY FRIES" at the masonic lodge annual chicken dinner.  just see if you know what those are before you read the other email, you will find out hahaha. that is good you listened to the spirit, you never know why it tells you to do things sometimes, but it is always for the best. you will hopefully be blessed with some nice deer. you will be blessed though for listening, i guarantee it. i am always trying to follow the spirit and it helps quite a bit. we can't do this work without it! there is more in mom's email, i am short on time today, unfortunately. we have a zone fun day, so that will be good. i love you so much! keep up the good work and have a great week!

-elder sedlacek

 

 

hi mom! this week has flown by, but went slowly as well hahaha! it is weird like that. we have had a very successful week! we received so many miracles and a ton of grace! i also got to give my first priesthood blessing, and my second as well. one to help a sick lady of the ward and one to counsel a  member in the ward and help her to stop smoking. it is an amazing experience! we took J**B to the louisville temple (louivul) that's how they say it here. he received his endowment. that was awesome, i had a very cool experience that is pretty hard to explain. it was awesome. i will tell you about it when i get home! 

 

we also helped out f****'s masonic lodge group with their annual chicken dinner. suffice it to say, it was good and i got to eat "turkey fries" or in other words, turkey nards. that's right....turkey balls. they come in pairs. {Picture Jared's mom about falling off her chair laughing}  it was pretty good, actually hahahaha. they come deep fried.

 

other than that we found 8 new investigators! who knows how many will still be around this next week? but hey! it was awesome! we have not contacted r***** yet. he is the one who asked for "the book." he is going through some medical stuff and was very busy with doctor's appointments, but we found a lot of people in the park this week. get this, yesterday at church, a lady came in during classes and said that she needs a new church to go to! she decided to come to ours. she slipped out before we could talk to her, but before she left she said she would be back next week to help with the primary program! it was awesome. then we had a guy (a boyfriend of the less active lady that i gave the blessing to) have us over and he is already thinking of getting baptized! his name is R. another lady we met in the park, A***** and her young daughter  who is probably 12, said she is probably coming to church this next week! JG was busy with family that is visiting, so we were not able to visit him. RD was very busy with school so we couldn't visit with him either. we hope to meet with them both this week. 

 

the holy ghost is definitely helping with my blood sugars! i like pres.porter, he is awesome! he is an amazing guy. he is very nice and hugs all the elders everytime he sees us. sister porter does the same for the sisters and is the definition of mission mom hahaha. she is very nice, but can be very serious and very sweet most of the time. i did get the insulin a few days ago, and i have a lot now hahaha. i don't think i will need the sites for a while, i am still using the first layer of that box you sent to me when i got out here! so i will let you know when to ship them, but i would wait a little longer. do you need the shipping receipt for the insulin? i could mail it to you, if you need, i am sending dad a birthday letter very soon indeed. that is awesome that your lesson went really well. anytime you go by the spirit, it goes well!

 

i sent you guys a pic of the louisville kentucky temple! it is tiny! no bigger than a church. it was great hearing from you! I love you guys so much! have a great week mom! love you!

Suit season

thanks dad! that is too bad that you didn't get any duck stamps, oh well, it'll save some ducks for me when i get back! i got to watch all five sessions of general conference. we got permission to stay out late for the priesthood session. i loved pres.Eyrings talk, it was really good! and the talk about the barriers and the sharks. i have no idea how those sisters even know about me, they are way far out past cincinnati just below dayton, that is crazy. i would think it is because of how pres.Porter qouted  me in that email to the mission, but i dont know. hopefully it is good hahhaha. i just try my best to be obedient and to find people to teach. it could also be because of F****'s baptism. they had been trying to get him baptized for two years! 

 

we had an awesome miracle this week, as well as many others. yesterday before conference, we were walking around our area about 20 minutes before our ride was supposed to get there to pick us up. With five minutes left to wait, we saw this guy sitting on his porch smoking; he called us over from the other side of the street and said, "you guys mormons?" and we said, "yeah!" He said, "do you have the book?" as in the Book of Mormon, but we aren't really supposed to carry them around since we aren't allowed to place. so we said, "Well, we can get you one!" and we told him we would be back in 10 minutes. at that point we had less time than that, so we ran back to the apartment and grabbed one, ran back and gave it to him. he said he wants to read through it! and maybe get some lessons! that was awesome! as usual i will write more in the general email, but thanks for all the updates and such, it is so great to hear from you each week! i love you so much, have a great week! I love you!

 

hi mom! it is great to hear from you! this week has been good, we experienced lots of grace and miracles and to top it off, i got a package with awesome treats from an awesome mom! we also got to watch all of conference! thanks so much for the package and everything in it! it really lifts a missionary's spirits! and conference was awesome,  i like those quotes! and my fave talk was pres. Eyring's or the talk about the surfers. those were really good, and the pottery talk was good too. 

 

we feel very blessed. this week, suit season started and so now we have to wear suits till april conference if it is 64 degrees or colder. so luckily this week is in the 70's and we don't have to wear them, which is nice. i already damaged my black pinstripe suit while riding my bike to bro. p's house. i frayed the bottom of one pair of the pants when it got caught in the chain, hahaha luckily it is only the size of half a penny if that. oh well, it happens. but we managed to meet up with JG again, that solid gator and schedule some solid lessons! that was a miracle in itself. he is going to get dunked! just wait! that is so awesome that you got a awesome car for jake! that is so sick!

 

it doesn't look like you are experiencing much fall yet, but we are here. it is beautiful fall here--the trees are turning yellow, still a lot of green though. the cold here is really weird since it is so wet. it really does go strait through you! any exposed skin gets pretty cold hahaha. 50 and below feels like 40's right now. it has been stormy and cold the past week, but this week is really nice. we are going with the C's to Greensberg today to go to the walmart. its about a half hour drive. we are getting winter gear.

here is my letter to pres. porter. I thought I might start sending you those so you have something for the blog:

Hey president! this past week was awesome! we received a lot of grace and miracles! I know it was because we were being obedient. it is amazing to me that all we have to do is live the power triangle and do our best, and he will send down grace to help us further his work. it was great to see that this week. we found a few new investigators and taught a bunch of our others. we are just trying to commit them to church. it is kind of tough when they don't keep all the commitments, they can choose and sometimes that is hard to watch. i am learning to love the people here as the savior does. it can be hard at times though. thanks for all you do! you're awesome!

-Elder Sedlacek

 

Well i have to go now, love you mom! have a great week, i love you all so much! thanks for all you do! talk to you later!

 

This week was slow until Thursday, that's when we received a ton of tender mercies!

Elder Sed II made his own scripture quad and even covered it in leather.

 

 

Hey mom! it's great to hear from you! my comp and i are both staying in Batesville, so i guess we still have things to learn from each other. this week was really slow up until Thursday--that's when we received a ton of tender mercies! we were able to make contact with some investigators that we had not seen for a while! we were able to teach JG, he has already read through 2 Nephi and he is so solid! we then found a new investigator in the park, and i asked her if she would be baptized if she found the true church of Jesus Christ, and she said yes! we made contact with a whole bunch of our other investigators too, it was awesome. other than that it has been the same old Batesville, small town slowness. oh well. things happen on the Lord's timing. last week at a new missionary training, Elder Boden gave me his bike, it is worth $700(!!) but he gave it to me for free! he is so awesome--it is a huge blessing. have you found any suits yet? there isn't really a place to get good used suits out here, and we have to start wearing them on conference weekend. i need another so that i don't just blow through the two i have. please keep an eye out for me. are you sending my next test strips? i don't know when or where i get to watch conference, they have not told us yet. thanks for the quotes you sent, they are all awesome. what else would you like to know?

 

Mom: So tell me how your diabetes is doing? What was the most challenging thing this week? What was the most fun? And who is your favorite investigator? 

 

my blood sugars have been good, but i have already had to adjust some basals. i am fine-tuning them hahaha. the most challenging thing for me has probably been to not get mad at my companion sometimes hahaha. he is a good guy though. the most fun i had this week was the thing i did in this video that i am sending you! you will like it. dad will be like, "oh that is totally jared!"  my favorite investigator is probably JG, he is really quiet but is so solid, and F**** is still F****, i love that guy, they are like a grandma and grandpa to us.

 

i am trying to make the video small enough to send. if i can't send it, it is a video of the miniature quad combo that i made! i will send pics for sure. i took the tiny books of scripture, the new testament, the BOM, and the doctrine & covenants and pearl of great price. it is the size of my hand and wrapped in leather that i pulled off of journal i bought from shopko hahaha.

 

Mom: Well Joj, I am totally not surprised that you made something like that! That's great! Good job! 

 

thanks for emailing me! I know i am not the best at updating you on everything, but heck, i will have more stories to share when i get home, i already have some crazy stories hahaha. indiana is a crazy place! I love you guys so much! have a great week, and everything!

love elder sedlacek II