God has His own timing--He will work things out the best way

hey dad! so this was a good week. my new comp is elder Sutton. he is a good missionary, and has been out about 6 months, so one less transfer than me. i had a good Easter, it was a good day. we have not been able to teach Hannah yet this week, or the new family i found with elder horne. they have been busy so we have not been able to teach them yet, sadly. we are teaching another lady who has a few little kids. she had been under the radar for a while but surfaced this week and we were able to extend a baptism date for april 16th. she is technically not on date yet, but she agreed to work towards that date and pray about it. we found a few new people this week, and it was pretty awesome. now that elder parker is gone elder Sutton and i have to find out how to use the bus system so we can get to the top and bottom of our area. (we will be switching the car every week). last night we were running through our numbers for the week during dinner and we saw that in order to hit leadership goals we needed another member-present lesson, so we called every member we could think of but no one was able to come out. we decided to visit a less-active and suddenly we got a text from a member asking to come out with us, so we spent half the evening trying to set up a lesson for him to go with us on. no one answered, so we tried the neighbors and found a new investigator from it! it was a cool miracle to hit our goals and find that new person, in spite of  so much opposition. i did not have to speak on Easter sunday luckily. it is good that work is going well, and oh boy that is funny about the mazda needing the new light cover. i forgot about causing that hahaha, sorry! haha. i bet it looks awesome now hahaha. well, dang! the family brackets are destroyed! hahaha i am glad that your Easter went well, i hope you had fun. we had a member have us over for lunch yesterday and it was super good food, it was funny because the last time i had a lunch like that after church was my farewell hahaha. that sounds like you had a good church too. the spirit is definitely stronger on Easter, any time you testify of the Savior the spirit will always be there or come in stronger. i noticed that yesterday, that is cool. that is too bad that Bro. A fell, i hope he is okay. i like those thoughts you shared, they are really good for Easter. i, too, can add my testimony that the Savior has risen, He is our Savior and King, He suffered for us and He loves us. He did it all out of love. He truly is there for us and knows us perfectly and He has given us the greatest gift, the atonement. Because of Him, we are saved and we can live forever as families for eternity, that truly is the greatest blessing we have, i know it is true. well, that is all for this week, thank you dad! i love you so much, have a great week and day! i hope FHE is going well too hahaha. talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

hi mom! it has been a great week. elder Sutton is from Laverkin. he as been out for 6 months and just got done training. he is awesome. i had a good Easter, there were some members who did feed us a really good lunch, it was pretty great.

i did get the Easter package, it was great! thanks so much for that, the treats are just awesome! yeah, save my new strips there at home. i am still very good on insulin right now, i will let you know when i need more.

my favorite part of the week was Friday, that was a really good day, and the package made my day! my fave  investigator was probably the new one we found last week. we were in some sketchy apartments and the guy was a total Golden. he is pretty cool haha. the first part of the week was pretty challenging, with me having to take  over the area this week, but it went well, we hit leadership goals and president texted us specifically to tell us we had a good week. so that was really cool to get. i just tried to rely on the spirit as much as i could, and when things got stressful and it didn't seem like our plans would work out, they always did. HF was truly watching out for us this week.

that is super funny about dad and politics! hahaha i hope Sarah's concert went well. i am glad you got to see the Women's meeting, that is too bad president Monson is not looking so well, poor guy. i like that thought about how much we can affect others and not even know it. it is definitely true, Heavenly Father is there all along the way. gosh dang it mom, you had me crying! thanks for that thought, I try my best and work my hardest, but things just don't work out sometimes and it can be hard to feel successful. i just have to remember that God has his own timing and we can't be ingrates and complain, he will work things the best way. thanks for the reminder mom.

oh yeah, the hardest part of the week was L***, she is no longer on date. Also, look on FB and Instagram for #OCM or #ohiocincinnatimission because we had a #socialmediasplit. there are a bunch of pics of me doing service. that is all for the week.

well, i have to go now, Madre, thanks so much for emailing me! i love you so much! and i love you all so much! have a great FHE (i know you read my emails for FHE hahaha) behave little children! have a great week! talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

Families really are one of the most important things about this life.

hey dad! so this has been a pretty good week. as you know, it was the last week of the transfer. elder parker is leaving and i am staying. i hope i get another good comp! elder parker and neilsen have been the best ones yet! we didn't really find a lot of new people this week, we are just trying to stay in contact with the new we found last week. this week we were going to contact V*****, but we walked down the wrong road. i got a prompting to give a card to these guys we saw sitting on their porch. we gave them one and we were able make an appointment with both of them. we were going to have a lesson with them yesterday, but we missed them so we were bummed out hahaha. we had a good lesson with H***** and she is awesome. it is weird though because she has no religious knowledge at all, so it is different than teaching most everyone else, because it is practically Bible Belt here. L*** is still progressing towards baptism really well, she is still on date for the 1st of April. that is mostly it for this week, other than we had Elder Neil Anderson come to speak to the mission as a surprise. it was super awesome! he told us some super awesome things and I was able to receive a lot of personal revelation. He truly is an apostle of the Lord. i heard about the upsets in sports this past week, and i already figured my bracket was busted hahahaha this is not my year for brackets apparently hahaha. i did get your letter, thanks so much for sending one! that was really nice to get that after a long day. that is really cool you got to see the dedication, you will have to head down there soon and let me know how it is. i can't wait to go there myself. temple dedications are so awesome. i love the temple so much, we will be able to go in a few weeks, and i am excited. that is a weird situation with the family history, hopefully you can get it all solved soon, good luck. that is crazy all the girls' brackets are in 1st place and second, hahaha who woulda thought? 

families really are one of the most important things about this life. i am so grateful for the family that you have raised me in. thank you so much! temples are all over the world now, the Second Coming really is getting closer, the hastening is happening now. I also know that it really is a blessing to be out here on a mission to help bring people to Christ and to help strengthen families. i can't do this work without the help of the Savior, with His help i can do anything. i am so happy to be out here serving the Lord. thanks so much for all you do to help keep me out here! it was great to hear from you dad! thanks for all your support, i love you so much. have a great week dad and i will talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

hi mom so this was a good week. i wrote about all the investigators in dad's email. i am staying in Englewood and elder parker is leaving, so no more full time car and stuff. hahaha i just hope to get a good comp again. i did get all the diabetes supplies okay, thanks for sending them! 

the thing that brought me the most happiness this week was just being able to be guided by the spirit. that sounds cliche, but it is true. I love being able to follow promptings and being able to see the fruits from that. the most fun thing that happened was being able to go to hear Elder Anderson speak, and then the workshop training on wednesday, that was awesome. the most challenging was having lessons and stuff fall through--that always sucks, although just like dad says it means we are getting satan's attention and so we must be doing a good job hahaha :)  

i learned a lot from that mission conference. president wants us all to be more bold so he chastised the whole mission. hahahaha the mission as a whole needs to be more bold. also, one of the funnest things was a dinner appointment that we had yesterday with the Scott family, the ones with the huge dog. we also did a fun service project for a member, my childhood favorite (cough *Dad* cough cough) picking up sticks hahaha! 

that is good libby's play ran well, and i bet that was super fun to have everyone come down for the weekend. i hope the baby shower was fun too, although i am with all the guys, i want to go fishing instead hahaha. there is a less active who we see periodically who loves to go hunting every weekend, so he tells me about hunting and stuff hahaha. 

i'm sorry you missed the dedication, that is too bad, but i am glad you and libby are both feeling better. we are given boundaries out of love so we can stay safe. literally every single commandment we have is given out of love. 

i sent some pictures from the air museum we went to last Monday, that is the big one that Brother Allred told me about. it was so cool!

well, i have to go now. thanks so much for emailing me mom! i love you and the fam so much! talk to you later! have a great week!

-Elder Sedlacek

Once you realize it is not about you, your whole perspective changes

Jared decided these shoes were pretty worn out.....

...only Jared would then tear off the leather so he can make something with it.

hey dad, so this was  a good week. it was tough, but good. we had a lot of grace and miracles at the start of the week, but by the end we experienced lots of opposition. at the beginning of the week we were working the bottom of our area. we were 225-ing a lot of people and working really hard, but no one was interested. we even had a guy tell us we were in the 'hood and that we needed to carry some weapons like nun chucks and guns. that was pretty funny. then he took a card with Jesus on it and was like, "oh i like that! i will keep it." on our way back to the bus stop (we ride it here occasionally) this guy came running out of his house calling, "hey elders!" he brought us some pepsi and told us how he had met with missionaries before but did not have the time with working two jobs to pursue it then, so he invited us back to teach him and his family! it was awesome! his name is V*****, so we will follow up on him soon. i will write about some more miracles in mom's email. as for R******, we are no longer able to teach her because her dad (who is a non-member) is not liking us there and is giving his wife heck about it. it is causing some family issues that the Bishop and ward mission leader don't want us to be involved in, so they are pulling us out for now. it was really sad news to hear. she is so excited to be baptized, but unfortunately, other people's agency can get in the way sometimes. L*** is still doing well and progressing towards baptism. that is good you are still doing well at work. i am glad the weather is good over there, here is awesome too! it is weird--since it is so rainy, the moss grows on the trees before the leaves do, so literally every tree is green on the trunk but not the tops hahahaha. that is too bad the garage door opener quit on you, hopefully you get it all resolved. always remember the saying you used to tell to me about Lowe's/Home Depot hahaha. "measure twice cut once--buy once in this place." hahahaha. i love the D&C, it is such a good book of scripture and you learn so much about the church history and how the church works from reading it. i am reading it for the second time now, i'm at the beginning currently. i love learning about Joseph Smith too. one cool thing is that where they were living was the equivalent to the Yukon homesteads these days--the middle of no where. a young man in the middle of nowhere can influence the whole world by asking one simple question, "which church is right?" that is so amazing to me. Joseph Smith, a young farm boy, can influence the rest of time and eternity. that is super cool to think about. that is way cool Casey B got his call!  you will have to tell him congrats for me. he will do great, he is way prepared already. your new {teenage} home teaching companion sounds a little like how i was hahaha. just keep helping him keep those commitments and he will see why you do those things and he will learn a lot from you. i am so grateful for how you made me do those home teaching things. now i understand the importance of it, thanks dad! that is true, about that quote--once you realize it is not about you at all, your whole perspective changes and you are a lot more willing to be humble and do what is necessary.  that second one is very good as well, it is not about the numbers you achieve, it is about helping others to come closer to Jesus Christ, whether that be a wave or just a smile or a baptism, all are at different levels in their lives. they may be ready for baptism or the temple or not, but eventually they will have a full understanding of the gospel in this life or the next and have an opportunity to accept it or not. it is our job to help find those people who are ready, we have to be grateful for who the Lord puts in our path and do our best to help them, i definitely know that is true. well thanks for emailing me dad, it was great to hear how you are doing! have a great week and i will talk to you later! love you dad!

-Elder Sedlacek

hey mom, so interesting thing is i was actually going to mention that we received a lot of grace and miracles this week as well hahaha. i will write about what i mean later. 

i wrote about V***** in dad's email so i will tell you about N*****. on thursday, we went on a day exchange, so i took over the area with my Zone Leader and we 225'd a lot in west Milton, a small town at the top of my area. BTW, did you know i am way close to Brookville right now? Sister Hyer is close to me. i think she is in the Eaton ward. anyway, it was tough and it rained all day, so we knew blessings were coming (hahaha) so we knocked on a door and this lady with kids came out. we immediately saw her need (what she is struggling with)--she is worried about her kids being raised well in this world, so we taught to her need and so she invited us back. we found a family! heck yeah! her schedule is tough so she tentatively invited us back for Tuesday. 

my package did come,  thank you! the hardest thing this week was with R******, i wrote about that in dad's email. the funniest thing that happened was just elder anderson's shenanigans hahahaha. that guy is crazy--he is the energizer bunny and makes really funny jokes that we laugh pretty hard at hahaha. 

that is good Jake got to come home, i bet that was fun. i am glad Mia's play went well. i hope Libby's goes well too. that is so crazy that the little dude is almost here! have they named him yet? tell them i have some really good names for them--like Omega and Styles hahaha. i can't believe i have been in Englewood 6 weeks either, the mission is literally going so fast these days! this was the last 7 week transfer, so we have one more week. next week we will know by the time i email if i will leave or stay. 

that is crazy Casey has his call! can you believe i got mine almost a year ago? holy crap! well, tell him congrats for me. he is way more prepared then i was hahaha! he will do awesome. 

to answer your question, to me grace is the power to do things beyond our own capability, with help from God. that help comes when things "work out" and the impossible happens. you can also refer to those times as miracles. now this is gospel according to elder sedlacek, so don't quote me on it, but i think of grace and miracles as going hand in hand a lot of the time. grace can help us to work miracles in the savior's name. it enables us to do things we otherwise could not do on our own. President Porter does talk a lot about how if we are obedient, diligent, and have faith, that we can receive grace to do things. that is also when power comes in to your teaching, as long as you have the spirit with you and you love the people you teach. i definitely know that to be true. we cannot do any of this work on our own, we need the savior's help. because of the power of the atonement we can receive heaven's help. well, that is all for this week. hahaha

there was a black lady who we talked to in the hood this week who told us that Donald Trump is the beast himself (the devil hahahaha) and that he is going to take away all the poor people's rights. that was an interesting conversation haha. 

okay, i gotta go mom, we have to go to a zone fun day in Dayton. it was great to hear from you mom! i love you all so much! talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

It is amazing how the Spirit works through us to touch other people's lives

hey dad! so this week was pretty good. well for this week we did have a lot of success. we put  L*** on date for April 1st (no joke hahaha). we also put R******* on date for the 26th of March! we are working on getting more support from her family. her mom loves the church, but has a lack of motivation to actually come, so we are working with R's aunt, who lives in the ward, plus all her cousins to help us. we found a few new investigators and had to drop some others, but overall we are doing well and hit our leadership standards this week. we are still working with lots of LA's. the zone conference this past week was sick! president porter talked about Joseph Smith, and some anti-theories for about an hour of it, and he totally disproved each theory and taught us a lot about his life so we could get a better understanding of him. it was an awesome meeting!  that is good you are getting so much finished up at work and that the weather is starting to turn around. the weather here is going to be in the 60's all week. like is said of Ohio (and Utah) we have all four seasons and if you don't like the weather stick around for a minute hahaha. so Manning is finally retiring then? i saw that race going in a few windows yesterday hahaha i bet it was a good one. that is good the jazz won again, it sounds like they are doing pretty decent. that is super cool that the utes are playing good basketball again. hopefully they do well this year, i REALLY hope Louisville does well, also Xavier, they are both local as you know. i don't  care much about Xavier but they were just outside of my area in Cincy. that sounds like you had a good church yesterday. R came to church yesterday, and so did her sister who had a baby--we got to help bless the baby. it was a good meeting for them, it really focused on families and stuff which is what they need. in sacrament meeting, i like to focus on the temple and the covenants i have made and how much of a blessing it is, and of course I like to focus on the savior as well, and all that he has done for me and all of us. the sacrament is an awesome blessing, you can receive so much personal revelation. i have really come to love sacrament meeting as i have been out here. well, it was great to hear from you dad! i love reading your emails and all the stuff you are doing. thanks for being such an awesome dad! i love you dad! have a great week!

-Elder Sedlacek

hi mom! so this week was pretty good, we did have a lot of grace and miracles! i am glad your week was the same! You asked if my comp is a lot taller than me--elder parker is about 6'3" so he is pretty tall. that is way funny about Dallin having a comp way shorter than him. 

you can probably send the strips but keep the pump stuff if you can, if not just send it. thanks for sending that stuff! 

the best lesson i taught this week was probably with R when we put her on date, i wrote about her in dad's email. she is literally the spitting image of Mia hahaha. we also put L*** on date and i was so proud of her! she has trouble memorizing stuff, but she has memorized that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he translated the Book of Mormon. i was so happy hahaha. it truly is an  awesome experience getting to teach her! also, in testimony meeting, a little kid who had been taught by some sister missionaries a few months back got up to bear his testimony, it was so simple and sweet. he is only 9 but he also thanked all the missionaries for teaching him the gospel. it was the cutest thing i have seen on my whole entire mission hahaha. 

that is cool that Mia's play is starting up. that is funny that now Libby needs glasses, so 3 of us kids are down for the count and the other 3 are still standing. i hope to never have to have glasses! hahaha. that definitely is a blessing that the insurance is good enough to pay for everything. 

that must have been nice to go the temple the other night. can you believe it has almost been six months since my last visit? we get to go in the next few weeks, i am excited! that must have been fun to have Jake at home for the weekend. Hopefully his spring break goes well. i am glad you had a good time at church as well, and i am glad you were able to use what i said last week. it is amazing how the spirit works through us to touch other people's lives. I really mean what i said, too. that sounds like a good lesson, it sounds like you are really trying to follow the spirit when you prepare your lessons. if nothing else you will be able be a tool in the Lord's hands as you do that, that is awesome! thanks for all you do mom! 

I sent a picture of me with one of the member's dog--he is huge and stands up to my shoulders. The members are always telling me how young i look too. They like to tease me that i was just in the womb a few days ago! haha I've gained a few pounds so most people think i am 14 or 15 now. 

Mom: Well, that means you have aged to a Teacher instead of a Deacon, so that is good. ;) 

Elder Sedlacek: Yep! haha Is there anything else mom? I have about 10 minutes left.

Mom: Yes, did you find out what your A1C was?

Elder Sedlacek: Yes, it was 7.8, so not very good, but that is what happens when you go from walking everywhere to driving in a car. i've been adjusting my basals so hopefully it is lower next time. my averages recently have been 150 and below, so i think it is helping.

well, i am out of time. thanks for emailing me mom! i love hearing from you! i love ya'll! have a great week!

Elder Sedlacek

I am so thankful you and Mom raised me the way you did.

hey dad! so this was a awesome week! we had several member-present lessons, and found a few new investigators that seem pretty promising. we went to see an investigator that elder anderson (my disctrict leader) and I found on exchanges. he was not there, so we looked around and in the parking lot of the complex there was a man who had just pulled in. i went to offer him a pass-along card (that is my usual approach) and then we started talking to him, and he invited us back for another discussion this week. then on friday, that girl (who reminds me of Mia) who we are working with in a less-active family, had a powerful lesson with us. she told us that every time we come over,  it feels like HF and Jesus Christ are in her house. we told her that was the spirit, and she said she wants to be baptized! so we will start teaching her regularly now and put her on date. they invited us back for dinner tonight! heck yeah! (that is what the Bishop wants in this ward, to have meals at LA's homes). we had an awesome week, we even made contact with the guy we were trying to see when we found the new guy in the parking lot. we were trying to see a guy named ED, and he is promising as well. the girl's name is R____. she even made it to church with her mom and sister, who are less-active. i am glad you had a good week at work, that is awesome. it sounds like you had a good leadership meeting. that is what being a leader is all about, providing counseling and helping to change patterns and help others through loving them. it is good you are getting some exercise in, i have gotten a little more lax with my jump rope routine and so i am now working out hard again! hahaha it is almost all i can do to just jump rope in the mornings, because i am so tired! i have more motivation now that it is getting warm. that is way cool you saw a bald eagle, i see ducks and geese all the time and elder parker is like "wait, where are they?" hahaha  it sounds like it was a good concert and fun date with mom. i love the sports updates--those are all great, thanks dad! i bet that was a good ward conf. i had no idea that sarah was on the stake youth council, that is cool. Family Home Evening is important, that is for sure! i am so thankful you and mom raised me the way you did, with regular FHE. i may have given you crap for it and been a little snot {May have?--Mom (wink, wink)}, but now i am so grateful you stuck to it. thank you!! i see all these broken homes and stuff, and i just want to help them be happy, because that is how our family is, happy and centered on Jesus Christs' teachings, thank you! boy dad, you are really going ham on all that family history, nice job! i saw that the Fiji temple was dedicated, that is cale's temple right now--he went through that hurricane, crazy huh? i love that talk with elder bennett, that is a awesome talk, and that is definitely something president porter wants us to learn for sure, he always tells us to go to the edge where miracles happen, which requires lots of faith. i just love this gospel so much, it makes me so happy, i can't wait to have my own gospel centered home, just like i was raised in!  thank you so much for the example you are to me dad! i think about you and your mission a lot, it gives me lots of motivation to be better and to try harder. i love reading your emails every week, thanks for always sending them, i love you dad! have a great week and day, i will talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

hi mom! so this was one of the best weeks on the mission so far, as far as lessons and finding new gators and being led by the spirit goes. i still had some challenges but they are always there in every step. i wrote about some of the miracles from this week in dad's email, but the best part of my week was probably yesterday--or a dinner at my favorite members' house on friday. 

sunday afternoon the weather was awesome! i got to take my suit coat off and i had my brown loafers on and a brown belt so i looked pretty hipster with my black and rose tie hahaha. 

my favorite 'gator is not mine but the other elders, a 19 year old lady who already has a daughter. she is a way funny black lady who loves to give the missionaries heck, and she is getting baptized! i have taught her a few times on exchanges, and did again this week at the members' house. my own favorite is probably C___, who we found this week. he is a cool guy. 

it is also good you are finally getting your porcelain crown. how bout my porcelain vase, is it still on display? hahaha 

these days it is even hard to wake up in the morning, harder than you would believe, it is literally like i lay down and then the alarm goes off half a second later!  hahaha that sounds like another fun date night, that is good. i bet that was a fun concert, i like that guy's music, it is really good. if there is one thing that i have learned to love, it's conferences, they are always so inspired and awesome, you can get so much inspiration from them. i will have to keep up trying to help others even after the mission, missions are not two years, you get to be a missionary for two years strait, but you get to be a member missionary for the rest of your life!  we really don't have a choice to set an example or not, and for me that is amplified, i am constantly being watched when i am outside of the apartment--i have to represent christ well, and the church too. it is a miracle they let 18-20 year olds do it hahaha because we are not always the best at being good examples, but we have to do our best. 

i wrote Bro & Sister Black a letter this morning and sent it so they should be getting that this week. i might write you one hahaha just kidding i will soon, i just have to find the time hahah i am either sleeping, working, studying or eating hahaha. i will get you one though. well how is everything else going?

Mom: Sounds like you had an awesome week, that is great to hear!

Everything is good here. I just need to know: WHAT IS YOUR A1C? and how many sites do you have? How many strips?

Elder J: i still have plenty of everything, like 4 boxes of strips left and 2 boxes of sites and i don't know what my A1C was. sister w never called back, and i keep forgetting to call her so idk. hahahaha i will find out asap. that is good everything is going good!

hey, watch out for pics on the facebook page this week. we are having a zone conference, and i am in the dayton zone.

okay mom, i have to go now, but it was great to hear from you! i always love to read your emails, I love you all so much, have a great week as usual, talk to you later! ps i am thinking of getting that grey suit refitted soon--within a month or two--what do you think?

-Elder Sedlacek