I have learned to avoid contention at all costs. I know that is the opposite of how I used to be haha

hey dad, so this has been a great week. we beat about half of our goals and we had a lot of grace to help us do it. we went on exchanges twice, so i stayed here both times and took over the area. that was fun, especially since it was for two days in a row hahaha. elder sutton came back and said, "I haven't slept here since Tuesday," and it was now Friday night! 

as you probably know we have about three investigators who could be baptized at any time; however, because of difficult family circumstances, it seems pretty bleak that they will be baptized this transfer. we have been fasting and praying to hit our goal of baptisms for this transfer, but we have no idea how we will hit it. I do know that if we trust in the Lord things will happen. all of our other investigators did not come to church this week, so the ones that did accept the date of May 7th cannot be baptized then. so we have been fasting a little bit hahaha. 

we had a pretty trying week--we even met an anti Christ. that is the fourth person this transfer who has tried to anti us in some way; two of them just this week. we are doing well though. we are working with a few less actives: DB, the B family, and a few others. they are all pretty tough nuts to crack, but they are good people. they are the ones who have been offended in the past in some way, so they just need to feel loved and listened to. 

What you said is true about reactivations--they are just as good as baptisms. i have had two or three reactivations so far. 

hey, that is cool you got a new computer, i bet it runs pretty sweet. that is awesome. so you still have the old computer running? 

hahahaha you finally had to mow the lawn then? we have been mowing lawns here for weeks! hahaha since like early March and late Feb hahaha. Utah folk are the ones with dormant lawns in the winter hahah. just kidding Dad haha. 

I bet that was fun to go fishing with Jake, and dang that is a lot of fish you caught. you bet your boosh hog {Mom: No idea what "boosh hog" means!} i will be goin there when I get back. that is way cool. it's fish fry time haha. 

that is too bad that the Jazz lost, darn it. that is crazy, so many earth quakes, i haven't heard about a single one of them. being on a mission is like being in a special bubble where you only see the bad stuff immediately around you, but you don't know anything about anywhere 50 miles away! hahaha you are also surrounded by the spirit all the time to add to it hahaha. 

the stake pres. has asked all the members to join a service site called Just Serve, look it up, justserve.org. it would make for some good FHE's.  Elder Holland's talk was one of my favorites from conference, it was really good. We can really rely on the Lord, we cannot allow our selves to get discouraged when things seem rough and when we don't experience what we want. we have to remember that the Lord is in charge and He is watching out for us. the Lord has his own timing and we have to be grateful for the blessings we receive. i know this church is true, we are coming into the last days and this gospel will  guide us along as we follow the Savior's teachings and as we live the gospel. I know that we can be examples to the world and as we let our lights shine others will see it and will follow along. thanks for emailing me dad, your support means so much to me, it means a lot! i love hearing from you dad. i love you! have a great week, i will talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

hey mom, so this was a pretty good week. it has been in the 80's all week long, and very humid hahaha, it never dries out here, just gets more and more humid and then dumps a butt load of water on us and repeats itself hahaha. 

sadly, we didn't get to meet with all of our most promising investigators, just due to people not keeping appointments. we did not have the car, so we had to have members take us to some places we can't access without one, but they had to bail on us too due to getting stuck at work and such, it was a tough week for that. we even got kicked out of a trailer park when we were 225-ing L because she bailed on our appointment. this guy just walked up and told us to "hit the road" over and over again, so we could not even explain that we were visiting someone and just asking the neighbors about when she might be back hahahaha. 

on Saturday we rode the bus to the church that morning, and on the way i saw this lady sitting there reading out of the Bible. she was reading James 1:5 out loud to herself, just loud enough that i could hear it, and i was like "no way!" i had just sat down on the bus, so i gave her a card and started talking to her, and she was very interested in learning more. sadly, she doesn't live in our area, so we sent out a referral for her to our STLs {Sister Training Leaders} and they contacted her that day and got her committed to church that night.  she is super solid. it was a pretty cool tender mercy to find her. 

at the church that Saturday there was a child's baptism going on, so while we waited for the other elders we went in and sat down. the spirit was super strong and this particular family, the mom was just baptized and the dad recently reactivated. i realized that as 18 year-old boys, the Lord allows us to be able to strengthen families just like this one and bring them together. it is a huge blessing to be a part of things like that, and i started crying too hahahaha. 

we had interviews with president this week, he told me i am an excellent missionary and a great finder, but i am not bold enough with moving people to their next steps. so he wants me to learn to do that. i really focused on that this week with the exchanges we did and it helped a lot. since {an earlier companion} i have learned to avoid contention at all costs. i know that is the opposite of how i used to be haha. i HATE contention, so i have to just be fearless and loving when i am bold with people. 

that is good that you are getting some nice weather in Utah. that is cool you are helping out at the school, i bet that is fun. hahaha funny Dukey, that crazy dog. that is good he has been being a good boy. 

i am sorry about your cousin's boy {recently diagnosed with T1D}. Diabetes is tough at times, but definitely he will learn a lot from it. he will come closer to his Savior and will learn about his Heavenly Father in a way that only diabetes and trials can teach him. diabetes is a curse and blessing, but Heavenly Father knows he and his parents can handle it. it will make them grow to who God wants them to be, just as he has done with me. 

well i hope the Young Women fundraiser goes well, good luck. that sounds like good church meetings this week. ours was good too, they had me bear my testimony of service in sunday school, and i got to wear my freshly fitting suit. it looks nice, i have grown big enough again that my shoulders are as big if not bigger than they were, so the jacket fits pretty well now. 

In answer to your question, the Book of Mormon became important to me when i was reading it one night back when i was going through those "challenges" in high school and I read Helaman 5:12 and it hit me like a train, that i could read the Book of Mormon and actually get a lot of comfort from it. it was no longer just a book we read to learn about God. it was something that i could turn to for peace and comfort. that is one of the times that changed my view of the Book of Mormon. i know that it is true and that we can come closer to the Savior than by any other book if we read it with an open mind and focus on the message it shares. I love reading it! 

The pictures show my sunburn, and a member took us out in his 1969 AMC Javelin, sick! that car ain't no BOOSH HAWG hahaha! it was pretty fun to ride in. and it turns out humidity makes me burn easier haha. oh, and I am up to 275 pull ups a day. 

mom, in my next package can you send some lithium AA batteries for my pump? i am almost out and they are more expensive here--about 10 bucks for 2! that would be much appreciated, thanks!

okay, i have to go now. thanks for emailing me mom! thanks for all you do. i love you mom, and i love you all, have a great day, and week. talk to you later and remember that deli meat is awesome! Skype you in a few weeks! bye! 

-Elder Sedlacek