Transferring to Milton-Freewater, Oregon!

What's up Mama,

The past week went by pretty dang fast. With email on Wednesday it did just throw my head off a little bit. I woke up Thursday morning and I was thinking really hard as to what day it was haha. I remembered once my brain woke up a little bit though.

Transfer news. Over the course of my whole mission, I have had a streak of moving south. I started in Ellensburg, went south to Sunnyside, then I went south to Pasco, and south to Kennewick, and now I am going south to Milton-Freewater Oregon.  Pretty funny haha. 

 

As I mentioned, I am being moved down to Milton-Freewater. It's right by Walla Walla. I am going to be covering the whole city. It's kinda like Sunnyside, so it's rural like that. The ward boundary is the city, which is only two miles square and has 7,000 people, so it is pretty small. I will be covering the YSA ward or branch as well, so my area will be the whole stake for YSA peoples. That will be kinda fun. It's going to be interesting though because the Walla Walla zone is a sister zone, so the only Elders are the ZLs, the DLs and their companions. I think it will be fun though. I am going to be serving with Elder Greenburg. He's just barely finishing up training so I will be a greenie buster. He's from Tooele, and that's all I know of him.

That's awesome that Jared is getting so close on his mission papers, so with his interview on Wednesday, he could have his call pretty dang soon. That's exciting. I am predicting the WYM (Washington Yakima mission). His mission president will be President Taylor. He seems pretty cool.

Did Mia do good on her tryout? Runs to July 18th huh hahaha. I can see why you would want to be busy hahaha. Good one, Mama.

Mama: Milton-Freewater? I will have to look that one up. If it’s by Walla Walla then we will have to sing the Walla Walla Washington song. Have you heard it? haha If all the Elders are are ZLs and DLs, and your comp is a greenie, then what are you?

 

Elder Sed: Yeah, it's in the middle of nowhere I guess haha.I have heard the Walla Walla song if it's the one that you're thinking of.  I don't have a clue if I am going to be a DL again. They haven't told me yet. If I am, they are probably going to tell me tomorrow or Wednesday morning.

 

Mama: I looked up Milton-Freewater, and I see it’s in Oregon. You won’t be able to say you’re in WaRshington for a few months, will you? haha On its city page, it also says it’s called Muddy-Frogwater Country. haha! How does Elder R feel about being in charge after you leave?

 

Elder Sed: I had heard it called Muddy Frogwater haha. I guess they have statues of frogs all over the city. Guess I will have to take some pics with them. I think he is pretty excited. He realized the other day that I am going to be gone and the stuff I usually did, he is going to have to do. It was funny haha. He will do a good job though.

 

Mama: Yes, take some pics with the Muddy Frogs. That will be awesome.

 

Elder Sed: I have to get going now. Thanks for emailing me Mama. You're the best! Thanks for all that you do for me with school and everything. You're amazing! I love you guys!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

What's up Dad,

The rest of this past week was pretty good. We had a good lesson with Phillip and the wards officially split into the new wards. Now the Union elders are going to cover two wards: Union, and Highlands which is the new ward. Pretty exciting stuff. The work is really hastening. It's super cool to see evidence of it.

Update of the investigators.........

P***** is doing pretty dang good. I was super impressed with him this week. We met with him, and had a really good lesson based off of Alma 32 and faith. We had given him the commitment to read and pray in the Book of Mormon, and he didn't do it. With President Ware's focus on using the commitment ladder, that means if they don't keep the one commitment you don't move on and leave them in the dust by giving them another one they can't keep, so we kept the focus on scripture reading. We had a really good spiritual discussion on how his faith is like a seed and it really applied to him. He made the decision himself that he wants to strengthen his testimony so he's going to talk to his wife and see if they can read as a couple. He also made the comment that he's feeling a good feeling come from the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and he believes it. It's only a matter of time before he gets baptized. I am totally positive about that. It may take a lot of time, but I am positive it is going to happen.

C***** had some great news this week. Guess what? Her family is wanting to take the discussions!!!!!!!! Her dad had been noticing that she reads her scriptures everyday in the car before school, and he asked her why she does it EVERY morning. She then bore her testimony of how much it blesses her and how she knows it's true. She invited him to take the discussions and he said yes. I wish I would be able to be a part of the teaching of her family, but I am going to be moving on. Guess we are going to have to come back and visit haha. She has an awesome family. It's so awesome how the Lord has prepared one person, and in turn it prepared the rest of the family too. The teachings of the church really do bring families together!

This past little while I have been trying to focus my personal studies on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus the Christ has been a huge help in that and it's given me some pretty good insight. I really want to focus the rest of my mission on the primary song "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus." I really want to become the most Christ-like missionary I can be these next months. Christ teaches/testifies so powerfully, with love, for all people. It's amazing. It is the reason he is the best missionary that has ever lived. It reminds me of a quote that I really like from another missionary. It goes like this: "God loves all his children so much! He would LOVE to have all of them return to Him. God sent Christ to this earth to teach us how to teach, lead and live. He was THE best in teaching and leading God's children back to Him. Of course, God would want the best missionary to teach all of His children so they would come back to Him, but Christ has other duties so God sent the next best he had. The next best thing is me, you, mom, and the rest of the family, as well as the church." As we strive to be the "next best thing" to Christ, we are going to be that much more effective in leading others back to the fold. That is why I love being a missionary so much. It brings constant change of good into my life. A constant striving to become like Him  is what everyone needs in this life. Imagine what the world would be like if everyone were like Christ. It would be pretty dang amazing.
 

Well, I am looking forward to working in Milton-Freewater with a new companion. It's always interesting getting transferred to a new area, but it will be fun. It could be my last transfer, too, which is kinda weird. I'm going to keep working hard til the very end. You can know that for sure!

I'm happy for Elder R though. He's going to be taking over the area with a younger missionary. He's going to do great!

Thanks for the bracket. I filled it out and sent it home for you to keep track of for me. You should get it today in the mail. GO UTES!!!!!!!!!! That's all I can say haha.

LOSING HAIR ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My hair is still the same from when I left. I'm betting you're just jealous haha. I didn't get a haircut dad. I got my HAIRS cut haha. My luscious, thick and full hair ;) Baldness is passed down through the mom though, so even if you're bald, I don't have to be...but because grandpa H is bald I guess I will eventually haha. I will just have to enjoy the hair while I have it huh? haha.

You can be sure that I am getting enough to eat haha. I don't really have a clue if I am losing more weight. I would think that I am. It's a good thing though. Working out everyday and walking does the trick I guess haha.

Well thanks sooooooo much for all that you do for me Dad. I like the thoughts of your training you gave. They are exactly right.

I know that this gospel is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know President Monson is a prophet in these days and guides Christ's church. I am so pumped to hear from him  in a couple weeks. It's going to be so fun. I know a mission is where I am supposed to be. I love my mission! I learn so much everyday. It's awesome!

You are awesome Dad. Love you and your example of a great Dad and priesthood holder! Love ya dad!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

 

The joy of missionary service is like nothing I have ever felt before in my life.

 

 

Hey Mama,

The temple was awesome today. It was soooooooo good. I realized today that everything God created, be it dogs, bears, birds or flowers was created so they could have joy. What a great plan of true happiness for everything!

This past week and a half was crazy. I don't really like the weeks where we email on a day like Wednesday. It just throws off the rest of the week for me.

I had a really good day today. 

I am glad that you liked my letter I sent. I just for some reason had the thought to share that with all of you. I really liked it when President Ware was sharing some of the line of thoughts that I shared, so I am glad it made sense to you too.

Mama: So Jared had his dentist appointment and he heard all about the parable of the dentist. He said he liked it, and he really seemed to. He also has 4 wisdom teeth, and they are all impacted, so he’s going to have to have them removed before he leaves. We are getting his pictures taken Saturday and then he will be submitting his papers! 

 

Elder Sed: Hey, that's exciting!!!!!! That will be cool to see where he is going to go. I am sure he LOVED the parable of the dentist ;) You can tell Dr. T that I do floss everyday haha. I don't want no cavities!

Mama: He really did like the parable. He answered all the questions and Dr. T said he’d never heard some of Jared’s answers before. Afterward he said to me, “He is a happy boy! He’s excited, and he really WANTS to go!” It’s really true. He is still the same Jared in some ways, but he is very, very excited to turn in his papers and go. I know you were happy to go, but he is even more vocal about it than you were. So that’s good.

 

Elder Sed: That's really cool that Jared has already felt that burning desire to share the gospel. I felt that before my mission, but probably not as much as I could have. I went on a mission because I knew the church is true and all. As I have been on my mission though, I have felt that desire just grow. It's crazy how a mission helps you grow, not only in the gospel, but as a person too!

 

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Hey Dad,

This past week was crazy! It felt long just because it was 9 days ago since our last p-day. I don't like when the schedule is thrown off, but it's all worth it getting to go to the temple. It really is a blessing that there is one in the mission. I love to go and just feel the peace that comes to my mind when I am there. There is constantly something going through my mind, but in the temple it's like it all goes away for about two hours. It's nice haha.

Well, this week we did have some success finding. It was pretty cool. We found this guy named B. We had been in the area of his house and figured we should knock on his door. Turns out that his ex-wife is meeting with missionaries wherever she is at, so that made him interested. We shared a little of the restoration with him, and he really liked it and committed to read from the Book of Mormon. It was awesome to find him. I will have to update you on Monday. We are hopefully going to have a lesson with him tonight or later this week.

We found another guy named D. He is a pretty cool guy. We found him while we were tracting in an apartment complex. When we first talked to him, he really didn't know what to think of us. He had grown up Baptist and hasn't gone to church in a while. He was kinda interested in learning more about our beliefs, so we had a restoration lesson. The whole time, he was smiling because he just likes to hear about God. That was fun haha. At the end of the lesson he prayed, "Thanks for teaching me the truth," so I think he got that point of the message haha. He said he would be baptized when he finds out it's the truth. The bad news with D is that the wards are splitting at the end of this week, so we are going to have to give him to another set of missionaries. We are going to cover two wards for a little bit so that may be fun. It has been awhile since I did something like that.

We met with P this past week. That was cool. He has  been doing really great. He is really starting to recognize the Spirit in his life teaching him. He has been making the effort to read and pray, which has been awesome. His wife is a less active member who isn't really on board yet about coming back to church. She  needs the prayers that she will get ready for that. Until she does, P probably isn't going to progress as fast as he could.

My cool thought for this past week came from when I was reading Jesus the Christ in my studies. It was on the miracle of when Christ walks on water, and I really like it. So the background of the story is that Christ has just gotten through with feeding the five thousand and has just sent the multitude away. I am assuming it's night time or just approaching that time. So Christ sends his apostles back to the other side of the sea and while they are going back, a HUGE storm comes up and is just beating them up. They have to work super hard to row the boat so it stays straight into the waves. I was just thinking about how tiring that would be. They have been battling all night to keep their boat from sinking. Water is probably crashing down on them. It would have been really freaky, and they were scared. So later on that evening, Christ comes out to help them and he's walking on water! All of the apostles were freaked out. I just thought it was interesting how well it relates to all of us. As adults we sometimes have storms of life that are super hard to battle. We get tired, and and in need of desperate help, but when help does come that was sent by God, sometimes it seems scary. We may not understand everything that can help us. The help may seem terrible at first, but when we realize the true nature of it and what it has done to change us, we can be truly grateful for the experience. Does that make any sense at all? haha

I have loved being on my mission and studying about the life of Christ. It has really helped to fulfill the promise in my blessing that through study and prayer, I will come to know more about the divinity of Christ. I know there was a purpose in Him coming to the earth to die. The law of sacrifice for us is such a blessing. It enables us to feel the joy of overcoming the effects of sin. I am so grateful for the atonement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like all of the family's thoughts on the scriptures that I sent home. I am glad that they made sense to you guys. I thought they were super good. It really is all about faith. I never realized just how faith has been involved from the beginning. Even God had to have had some level of faith to create us. Kinda cool to think about!

This week it was kinda funny--we were tracting and guess who I ran into? A lady from Birmingham England! She was pretty fresh out too. She knew where Coventry was, too. Their accents are kinda cool. I thought it would have been cool if you had come across her when you were on your mission. She was older than you, so it's a possibility haha maybe???

Cool sites in Warshington??? Not really. There's Hanford I guess but you can't just go out there. It's guarded so I haven't seen it up close. Besides that, I wish there was more but there really isn't. We just usually play some basketball or football or something like that on p-days. It's pretty fun.

Have you sent the brackets yet???? That's awesome that BYU and UTAH both made it to the tournament. I hope Utah can do pretty good. I don't know how far they will go, but it will be fun to find out.

Well Dadio, I am so happy to be serving in the best mission :)

It's been awesome! I truly do love serving the Lord. What a blessing it is. I do know that faith is the power by which we can create in our life. As we apply the gospel in our life it can change our lives even more than we can ever realize. The gospel of  Jesus Christ is the way the world was created. Amazing! I am so grateful for the principles of faith and repentance which help us to feel true joy. The gospel certainly is the gospel of joy! I feel it everyday. The joy that comes from missionary service is nothing like I have ever felt before in my life. I know this church is true. I know the work of  Joseph Smith was inspired by God. I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know Jesus Christ lives and guides His church through revelation given to President Monson. I love this gospel!

 

I love you guys! Thanks for all that you do! I am truly so grateful for all of it. For your examples. Everything!

Have an awesome week!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

 

 

The Miracle of the Lost Keys

 

Hey Mama,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

Mama: Do you need anything? 

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

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

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

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

What's up Dad,

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

love ya!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now

Hey Mama,

This week was pretty good for us. Finding actually went really well. We were able to find three new investigators this week, which is the weekly goal President Ware has for each companionship. I was really happy about that.

I am doing great! It's good to hear that all you guys are doing good too.

Can you believe that February is already gone??!! Holy cow. I can't. I know that for sure. It's going by so fast!

College stuff, huh? Sounds fun. I would be happy to room with Hunter and his friend. One bathroom though?  It's nothing I haven't done on my mission, so it's doable. That would be awesome to room with Jordan too. I don't know if any of my other friends are going up there or not. I wish there was a way I could find that out.

Yesterday at dinner I actually found out that Bountiful had won their state game. We had dinner with a high school basketball coach who is from Salt Lake, so he knew the score and told me when he found out that I went there. That is super cool!

That is funny that the Bishop had noticed that I had lost weight. That is a good thing though haha. Funny thing is that Sister S is fixing my pants to make them fit better. The ones that I originally bought, she took two inches out of the waist, and one inch out of the legs. Now they fit much! better. They aren't so baggy and ugly. Glad you liked the thing that I sent in for the ward Chirp. I don't even remember what I wrote haha.

Sounds like you had a super busy week. I bet it was fun. We were pretty busy too, so p-day is going to be nice to relax a little bit.

I am glad that you guys are doing great and being blessed. I didn't get the chance to email Nicole, but you can tell her and Jeff I said Hi if you want. Wish her good luck for me.

 

Thanks for figuring out all the college stuff. I am sure that is a major pain in the hiney. You're awesome for doing that for me. Love you Mama!

I am so happy to be serving a mission right now. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. I know this gospel is true!

Thanks again for everything!!!!!!!!!!

Talk to you next week!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

Hey Dad,

I guess I will start by giving the update on our investigators and what happened this week. It was a good week! To start off, M***** IS BACK ON THE MAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We finally were able to talk to her face-to-face, for the first time in a month and a half. I thought she was gone for good. She is back on date for baptism and came to church this week, too. We are going to start meeting with them again. I know that was a miracle.

This week we found three new investigators. Two of them are a dad and daughter of a part member family in the ward. They are pretty cool. We went over and shared a spiritual message, and then invited them to take the discussions and they agreed. They are a pretty cool family. The mom came to church yesterday. It was pretty cool to have her come to church. Pray for D** and S*****. 

The other new investigator we found this week is a guy named B. He is a retired Iraq war veteran, so he has some views that are pretty interesting, but he is good guy. We had a super good restoration lesson with him and he felt the Spirit, and agreed to read the Book of Mormon.

We have been having some great finding though as of late. It's been really awesome. This week we had a cool experience when we went in and bought some hot chocolate at 7-11. We were cold, so we went into 7-11 and got our hot chocolate. We were checking out and the guy at the register was like, "I thought Mormons weren't supposed to be drinking coffee." He thought we had coffee, so we told him it was hot chocolate, but we immediately knew he either had talked to missionaries before, or knew Mormons, because random people just don't know those things haha. So we started having a conversation with him about the Word of Wisdom, and we asked him if he had met with missionaries before. Turns out he had when he lived over by Seattle. He had recently moved over here and had requested for missionaries to come over to his house and teach his family, but the info either got lost or didn't get sent, so he hadn't seen any missionaries at his house. He had been hoping that he would see some. So long story short, we got his info and sent it to the missionaries in Pasco for them to teach him. Pasco is where he lives. It was just cool to see an instance where the Lord led us to him because he was looking for the truth.

You asked about C***** and she is doing awesome! We met with her yesterday, and she even got up during Sacrament meeting and bore her testimony in front of everyone. She told us that her family was wanting to come to church but weren't able to make it, but it's only a matter of time!!!

Well, that was pretty much the highlights of my week this week. Sounds like you had a great week. That's  super exciting that the Braves were able to pull out that championship twice in a row. It's good that Sarah went with all her friends. 

It will be fun to fill out a bracket for March Madness. Are the Utes guaranteed a bracket spot? I would bet they are, being 2nd in the conference.

That is rough news for Sister M. I hope everything improves there. That would not be fun to have to go home on medical after you just got there. Yeah, I have been watched over lots of times on my mission. I can even tell you that haha. It's good to be kept safe.

You washed the truck???? I think you meant to say that you "warshed" the truck haha. I guess you are a Utahn though so it's okay haha.

Well, thanks Dad, for all that you do. You always have something good to say it seems. I liked your testimony. I do try every night to write down the spiritual experiences that I have throughout the day. I think I do a pretty good job at that. I haven't missed one day of writing in my journal, so I think that's pretty good haha. I do know that I am doing the Lord's work. He leads me and guides me to where I need to be. Without God, this work would be impossible. I know that this is His church. I feel it everytime I teach the restoration and bear testimony of the work of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I know it is true. As we read the Book of Mormon, we can know that God has called prophets on the earth before. Prophets are essential. Without a prophet we have no priesthood authority because it is delegated from the key-holder, who is President Monson. I am so grateful to have a prophet on the Earth at this time! What a blessing that is!

Thanks for all that you do for me, Dad. You're awesome! Love ya!

-Elder Sedlacek

It was another "critical moment" week.

Hey Mama,

What's up haha. I figured you were going to say something about the video that the Bishop sent haha. It was fun to hear from him. He told me that they were flying back Sunday so he should be back. He took us out to lunch with him, Sister B, his son and daughter-in-law, and their kids. It was really just a fun time.

Those are super cool examples of how you guys are blessed because of my service. I really like to hear stories of how things like that work out. I am glad that HF watches out for all of us. I have seen things like that all the time, even just with me. I know God watches out for me, and all you guys, too.

That sucks about L breaking her finger. How is she doing now? Did it completely break the bone? That must have hurt. How is Nicole's recovery going? Heard anything back from USU?

Mom: Well, the mail came a few minutes ago....just in time to snap a picture of the acceptance letter and your “I’m an Aggie!” sign. Make that #ImAnAggie sign. Would you like me to mail that to you?

 

How did two Utes raise 3 Aggies??...and maybe counting. 

 

Elder Sed: Hey Mama Ute! You better believe that I am still a Ute to the bone. Once a Ute, always a Ute. I would love to go the U for PT school. That would be my dream.

Thanks for all that you do for me. It's good to hear you guys are doing good. Keep up all the good things you guys are doing. Thanks for supporting me on my mission. You're the best, Mama! Love ya!

Hey Dad,

Sounds like you had an awesome week! That's great!

My week here in Washington was pretty good. It was another "critical moment" week, as I like to call it, ever since we had the area seventy speak to the mission. I may have already said something about it a while back, but it was a talk he gave about when weeks are tough. I just thought it was a really good talk. He called the slow/tougher times "critical moments." Though it was kinda tough, we got through it. 

 

We have been dropped by 5 investigators the past two weeks. That has been the tough part. It just means our area is going through the phases of missionary work though, which is good. I know the Lord is preparing a whole new teaching pool for us even as I am writing this. I had been praying for the things I need to do to find those who are prepared. I like what you said about following the Spirit. That's pretty much it, but in my studies this week I realized something cool. I re-started the Book of Mormon, so I was reading in 1st Nephi chapter 16, verse 23. If you read it, just think of the "food" as investigators. I know that as I go out and work, "gather" and do all I can, and call upon my Father in Heaven, I will be guided to know where to go and what to say.

The time of the hastening is here. I know that for sure. The Lord prepares people all over. Sometimes I wonder why it can't be like the times in the Book of Mormon or the Bible, when thousands at one time get baptized, but the truth of it is in a scripture that Elder Arnold shared with us when he visited. It's Jeremiah 16:6. We are to be hunters of men. Not fishers anymore. Hunting takes more work. We know that just from personal experience. You may have to hike over a couple mountains to find that one investigator who is ready to be baptized, but when you get that one, how great is the joy that comes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just love the people of Kennewick so much! You guys can know that I am working my hardest every day to bring souls unto Christ because it's what I want the most right now.

We had a lesson with C***** yesterday and she is still doing awesome! I know that she is praying for guidance about what to share with her family. She already has felt the Spirit and acted on the promptings. 

I wish I had tons of investigators to update you on, but at the moment we really only have a couple. I***** is one of those. She is going through a time in her life right now where she is just trying to figure out what to do. She struggles with anxiety so just pray for her to feel comfortable. 

K**** has been working a ton. He is trying to apply for another job where he won't work so much, so let's hope he gets that job. He has a lot of potential so I just hope things work out with him.

Wow, this is a long email haha.

That's no fun that it got cold, but I guess that is also a really good thing as well. The West needs the moisture. The area seventy called a fast for this whole area for snow and moisture, so I am sure it's going to dump snow here in a while. I would love that. I love this weather, but I also like winter, so it will be good to get that. It got really cold here this morning, so maybe that is a good sign that snow will be coming.

It's good you went to the eye doctor and can see now Papi. We don't want a blind man on the roads. That would be dangerous.

Well, I am so happy to be serving a mission. I love it so much! It has helped me to grow so much. I have no clue where I would be if I hadn't gone on a mission, and I don't want to find out. I do know that this gospel is true. I wouldn't be out here doing all this if it wasn't. What a blessing it is to have God's church on the earth today. We have the guidance. We don't have to be confused. I know God loves all his children. I feel the love that He feels for them. I love this gospel! Love you guys too!

Thanks for all that you do! You're the bomb dot com, Dad.

Love ya!

-Elder Sedlacek

This week I finished the Book of Mormon again. Good news--I still know it's true!

Hey Mama,

You guessed right. I am emailing today {Tuesday} instead of yesterday. Whenever there is a holiday on Monday, I will be emailing on Tuesday as long as I am in this area. There isn't a church building that has computers we can use here. The library works great (most of the time) haha.

This week was awesome! C***** did get baptized. She is doing so awesome! She is already working on missionary work. We got a text this morning about 5 am, saying that she had talked to her dad late last night and really just had a good talk with him about the gospel. Turns out that her dad wants to learn more! She has a sister who wants to be baptized! It's been awesome! It was cool because she told us about an answer to a prayer she had for her baptism. As you may know, her dad and mom were super supportive of her, but not interested in anything to do with the church for themselves. C***** had really wanted them to come to her baptism and confirmation, but she wasn't really sure they were going to come. So on Saturday, right as the baptism started, guess who walked in? C's family. They stayed for the whole thing and at the end they told me "see you tomorrow" when they were leaving. They came to church, too. Little did I know at the time, C was fasting that day that her family would come to church, and they did. I know God heard her prayer Sunday! I know Heavenly Father is so proud of her as well for making the decision to be baptized. I am just as proud, too. I never realized how much you can care for someone that you bring to the gospel til this area. I really do care so much about all of the investigators that the Lord has placed in the path of me and Elder R. It's been so fun, and awesome for me too. I am just so happy right now. Not really any words to describe besides those haha.

So you have to get new glasses huh? That will be good now that you will be able to see haha.

I really am so happy to be serving the Lord. It's a blast! I know this gospel is true with all my heart! I love HF and I know Jesus Christ lives! This is His church on the earth. All the more reason to spread the good news. Wish me and Elder R luck this week finding new investigators. L** just barely dropped us, so we are down some investigators :( Looks like this week is going to be a finding week. That is fine with me though. It's going to be fun anyways!

Love you guys so much!

-Elder Sedlacek

What's up Dad,

This week was great! The baptism was awesome! It was probably one of the best baptisms I have been to--that's how good it was. C***** was so ready to be baptized, and it showed. She is sharing the gospel with her family. She's just so solid.

The rest of our investigators are doing okay. We are need of some more since we baptized our super solid one. We got dropped by three or four investigators this week, but it was okay because we had an awesome baptism. President Ware said something this week that I thought was cool. He said, "You can know the Lord is pleased with your service when disappointments come along, but you aren't disappointed in yourself." I can really say without a doubt that I am not disappointed in myself. I know the Lord is with me in my missionary work. He will lead and guide. I always try to listen to the spirit--it's how we have true success. We are going to start putting a focus on the part member families of our area. You guys could pray that we are able to find prepared people this week. I will let you know how it goes next Monday.

Thanks for praying for M*****. I still don't have a clue what is going on there. I just know she needs prayers right now. She's so close, and still believes in the church, she just has a lot on her plate right now.

We have a church tour with L** and her sister this week. I am really hoping that goes well, and she feels the desire to come to church.

I just thought of another goal you guys can help me pray for. The stake and the mission have a goal that every companionship baptize monthly. I have been praying super hard for that, and the Lord came through this month. You guys could pray for March if you wanted, not only for me, but all the missionaries throughout the world.

This week, we did a boatload of service, but it was really fun. We pulled tons of weeds, helped out at the humane society, and a bunch of other stuff. Service is just so fun haha. I love it!

This week I finished the Book of Mormon again. Good news--I still know it's true haha. Each time I read it through, I take President Uchtdorf's challenge and renew my personal conversion on my own "road to Damascus" (that is one of my fave talks btw). Anyway, this last time, I read Moroni's promise and just took time to ponder on the messages of the Book of Mormon. I started to pray to know if it was true and I had lots of things going through my mind. We had just been dropped by an investigator, and I was thinking about that and bunch of other stuff. There just is so much to worry about on a mission, but it was so cool. The minute I asked if the Book of Mormon is true, peace came to my mind. It was super cool. I then thanked HF for blessing me with the confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. I know God has called a prophet on this earth today. I know God loves us so much. I feel that so much for my investigators. It is sooo cool when I can feel just how much He loves those I work with.

I am so happy right now! I love serving a mission. I would love to serve and serve and serve! Missionary work is just that fun! Thanks so much for the sacrifice you guys go through to keep me, "the fave old son," on my mission.

It makes me happy too that you guys are being blessed for my service as a missionary. Even Elder R's family is being blessed and I was able to help him realize that was the reason his family has been blessed, so you guys can know it's not even just our family. It's every missionary family. I love the Lord. I always want to serve Him! Because of Him!

love you guys,

-Elder Sedlacek

My #1 goal is always do my best.

The rainbow of ties Elder Sed has collected so far. He needs to change the year on his camera :)

Hey Mama,

Hopefully you actually get this email on time. I did get your letter this week, and that is what I figured was going on. Oh well, what can you do? haha.

This week was great. It has been super warm here too. That is insane that it's been almost 70 degrees in Utah in February. I am kinda wondering when winter is going to show up here too. It's been right around that temp here all week. It's like summer. Crazy! It has been super windy, so this week we actually got to see the sun for the first time in I have no clue how long. It was nice. The fog and clouds just stick around here in the winter till the wind will come along and blow it out. Good news, the sun is still in the sky!

Guess what happened at transfers? I will make you put in your guess before I tell you, how bout that? haha.

C***** is still doing amazing. She is all set for baptism on the 14th and super excited for it, too. Last night it was kinda cool at her interview. Her dad came to the church and signed the record so she could get baptized, but the cool part about it was that he did it even though he isn't at all interested for himself at the moment. He did say how proud he was of her for making a decision that is going to make her happy. He has noticed a huge change for the better in her at home, so I think he will come around sooner or later. It's going to be so cool when he does!

That's great news that Nicole is healing up good. I was hoping to hear that. Tell her to keep up the good work on it from her bro.

Heard anything back from Utah State?

That's crazy that little Nora is 2 already. That has flown by haha. And Syd having a kid? That's just even more crazy haha!

That is a cool thought about the miracle of Jesus healing the blind man Mama. Good thinking on that.

I also had a pretty cool thought this week. I was reading in Ether ch 13, and came across a really simple verse, but it caught my eye because I have seemed to be focusing on sacrifice this week for some reason. It was v. 16 that originally caught my eye. It's about Coriantumr and how he had spent all his life studying war. Imagine how much love he had to have had for war to to spend all that time studying about it. Pretty much his life to that point.  Ether then comes along and tells him the Lord wants him to repent and change completely away from war. I was just thinking of myself in Coriantumr's shoes. The Lord is always going to ask sacrifice of His children. That's the way it has always been. Later on in the chapters, Coriantumr almost repents and changes TWICE. I just thought that was interesting. Hopefully what I am saying makes sense.

Mama: Yay! It's working today! I am really happy about that!

Well, if I had to guess, and you are getting transferred, I'd say you are going to Prosser. But maybe you are staying put! :)

That's cool about your sacrifice thought. I like that, and it's true for sure. 

Elder Sed: Wha hooo. Prosser! wow haha. talk about the middle of nowhere haha. Good thing I am staying in here with Elder R! I was super happy to hear that. I will get to be here for C's baptism! I am super pumped for that. How you doing today?

Mama: I am doing good today. I ran a couple of errands already, and then I have a webinar for work. Some new writing project they want to introduce so I will get on and see about it. Then I get to go “see” how my eyes are doing lately. (How was my “dad” joke? haha) My progressive lenses don’t work anymore...the contacts not at all, and my glasses I have to take off to read up close. So we shall see. ;)

Elder Sed: Hey that's good. You're going to be able to see again. Yeah, I did like your dad joke haha. Sounds like you need some new glasses haha.

Mama: So here’s a couple of questions for you:  What was your biggest challenge this week? What was your most faith-promoting experience? 

Elder Sed: Questions for me huh? haha. I can try to answer them. My biggest challenge this week. Hmm. That's a tough question. Every day has it's challenges, but probably the biggest challenge for me is worrying about my investigators all the time and what I can do to help them the most. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of thinking to get the answer that I need, to help them the most.

My faith promoting experience? Finding a new investigator who was on date. I had been praying for a long time to find new investigators who are prepared for the gospel. I still pray for that everyday, but it's nice to see HF answer my prayers.

Mama: Okay, great job. :) Two more: Who was your favorite person this week? Why?

What is your #1 goal this week? 

Elder Sed: why all these questions haha? Fave person this week?  I don't have a clue haha. My mom. She's awesome! My #1 goal is always do my best. Make the most of the time I have to serve the Lord. Teach and baptize is always good too ;)

Mama: The questions were just for fun. To get a closer look inside my son’s mission brain haha. Thanks for answering them. I’m glad I’m your favorite! 

Elder Sed: I have to get going, Mom. I am happy email worked out today. You will have to let me know when you hear something back from USU. Thanks for all that you do for me. You're seriously the best. Keep being awesome! I'm super happy to be serving a mission. It's been so fun and every day is still fun. I love it! Love this gospel. Love you guys too!

Talk to you later!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

What's up Dad,

That was weird last week how it took so long for my emails to get to you guys. I wouldn't think it would take that long.

This week was great. The weather has been amazing in Tri-Cities this week, although its been raining off and on for the past couple weeks. It's raining right now even as I am sending this, but it has been super warm, which is nice. 

I am staying here in Kennewick, or "Disneyland" as President Ware calls it haha. I am excited. I would bet this is my last transfer here, then I will be transferred to my last area. That's going to be crazy. Time is flying by. I can't even believe it. Can't imagine how all you guys feel. I have loved every minute though, and I am happy I still have about 5 months left. I am going to make the best of it. I can promise you that.

Our investigators are doing great! We found a couple new ones this week, and one of them is already on date for baptism! J***** is the one we found this week who is on date. His wife is a member and they were a referral from the ward. They are a super cool family. He grew up with a Dad who is against the church, but because of that he has lots of questions. He is super open minded. We have already had a couple of lessons with him and they have been awesome!

The other new investigator is a lady named _____. We came across her info in our area book. Missionaries had been visiting her a while back, but for some reason stopped going by. She is pretty interested in coming closer to God but doesn't know how she wants to do that. She was married to a member, but a couple years back he died unexpectedly. He was young and she is still upset about it. You guys could pray for her. I am sure it would help.

C***** is doing awesome. It is going to be fun to be here for the baptism on Saturday.

I love serving a mission. It's so fun leading people to Christ. This week is going to be super fun with the baptism. It has been too long, but we have a companionship goal of two in February. Start praying for us that we hit it! I know we can! I am so blessed to be serving in this area. I know the Lord knows me and my personal desires. As we live the gospel to the best of our ability we are blessed so greatly. I know the priesthood is on the earth. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. He lives! I love to represent Him!

Love you all! You're awesome!

-Elder Sedlacek

I'm happy that I have six more months to do this.

What's up Mama,

This week was a "super" week haha. The Super Bowl surprisingly didn't affect us much. It was weird because last year, when the Seahawks won, it got instantly loud across the whole city. This year I knew something was up, and they had lost haha. All the Seahawk bandwagoning can now switch to the Patriots.

The member who we ate dinner with yesterday was our ward mission leader, Brother Smith. He has a daughter on a mission, so he figured he would send a pic because he likes it when he gets pics from his daughter's ward members. 

Glad you like my glasses. I like them. It took me a day to get used to them, but now everything is fuzzy without them, so they help a lot. I am used to them now. I really like them. I have some more pics that I will send you in a minute.

Everything is going great here. I love serving in here. We would have a baptism this week, but stake conference is this weekend so they wanted us to push it back a week. That way, C***** doesn't have to wait a week to be confirmed. C***** is doing so awesome! She is so ready/excited to be baptized! I just hope that I will be staying in this area so that I can see the baptism. Transfers are on the 11th and the baptism is on the 14th. You guys should pray that I stay in here, or that I can at least see the baptism! haha Elder R and I get along great. He's great missionary.

Sounds like you had a pretty good week. You now have your living room back then haha. Nice. I bet Dad had fun moving that piano. I have moved so many of those on my mission. Thank goodness for the rule from the First Presidency that the missionaries can't help with moves anymore.

************

Well, for whatever reason it didn't work to email this week. Hopefully you got my emails....

I hope you guys have a great week! You are awesome. You might want to check how much money is on my card. If you could do that for me today that would be great! I'm happy to be serving a mission right now. You guys are awesome for supporting me in my decision. Love you guys! Talk to you next week
P.S. Tell everyone hi for me.

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

Whatz up Dadio,

This week was great! We had lots of good stuff happen. We are definitely being blessed right now, I know that for sure. We had a great lesson yesterday with C***** after the Super Bowl. She is so ready/excited to be baptized. Sister N, who is the fellowshipper for her, told us at church just how excited C***** is to be baptized. She has been walking around the house just singing "two weeks left!"  That made me SO happy to see the level of joy that has come to her because she wants to covenant with her Heavenly Father. It really made me think just how important it is that we do make covenants and re-new them each week at church. I was so blessed being raised in a home where that was the focus from day one. Thanks mom and dad!

This week M***** had a super tough trial come up, so we weren't able to meet with her. I just wanted to make sure and ask you guys to pray for her, and L***** too. I will explain about him in a little bit. M***** is dealing with family issues that are really stressful. I hope she will get through this junk strong!

L***** has been struggling with the same kind of deal: family issues. His father-in-law is super sick in a hospital, and L***** is really close to him. He has also been slammed with work, so we have struggled to meet with him too. Pray for him to get through this challenge. God doesn't give us anything that we cant handle, so I know both he and M***** can get through their trials.

This week we found a new investigator. You may remember the name L****** who we were teaching a while ago. It was back when I was with Elder Y. We felt like we should stop by her place this week so we did, and turns out she wants to come to church and start reading the Book of Mormon. She has been thinking about it for a long time, but now she wants to do it. We are teaching her and her sister, so it's cool we were able to get back in contact with them.

M*** is still super interested in the church, except she only wants to meet with me and Elder R. Apparently, she thinks no other set of missionaries are as cool as us or something ;) haha.

I just have been thinking about all of our investigators the past little while and how much I do care and love all of them! You really do come to feel joy when you stop thinking about yourself and lose yourself in missionary work. You can't help but love any one you help bring closer to Christ!

I am glad both you and mom liked the pic of me in my glasses. That's good because I like them too. They really do help me see so much better. It took about a day and a half of wearing them for my eyes to adjust,  but I finally did. Without my glasses things are pretty fuzzy, and to think that's how I was seeing all the time before. But yeah, they really help me a lot. That's a good thing to hear that Nicole thinks I'm going to pick up chicks with them :) hahahaha. I like the "Dad" joke haha. We will just have to "see" what happens at your eye appointment.

Of course, I did hear about the Super Bowl. It was almost as if I had been watching it and found out right then. People are huge fans of the Seahawks up here (no brainer), so it was not long haha.

That's rough you had to load the piano all by yourself at home with Nate. Good thing he was home! I bet that would have been a chore without the truck. That truck seems like a steal. You should have gotten one a long time ago haha. I am sure you wanted to way back when though. In fact, I know you did.

I am so happy to be serving a mission. It has been so awesome serving these past 18 months. I am just happy that I have six more months to do this. It really does bring me so much joy. This is the gospel of joy. Of good news. I know it's true! I know that with every part of me. God loves us and wants to bless us. I have seen that over and over again. The gospel will change us if we apply it! It's changed me for the better, that's for sure. Well, I love you guys tons! Thanks for all that you do for me.

You da bomb dad!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

We have so much we are blessed with. We should be nothing but grateful for all of it.

 

Whaz up Dad,

To answer your question, I had a great week. It's amazing how much finding we have done, that has led to a lot of potential investigators. It's been awesome. This ward area is probably going to have two baptisms in February! It will be super awesome. I just hope I am here to see them. I really don't want to get transferred!

 

C**** is doing awesome. Even though her parents don't want anything to do with the church, she is still able to get baptized. We will need the permission from her parents, but she said they are okay with her getting baptized. I thought that was really cool that they still are going to let her choose what she wants. She really wants to be baptized, and today she even started seminary even though she isn't a member yet. I think that is just awesome!!!! How often do you hear something like that happen! haha

M***** is doing awesome, too. They went out of town this week, so they couldn't come to church, but she has been reading and keeping up on all the commitments we give them. We are meeting with them tonight to get things figured out & when exactly she is going to be baptized. I would imagine it'll sometime in February.

This week we had a super cool tracting story. We were knocking some doors with a 17 year old boy from another ward and he must have been a good luck charm or something. We knocked into a lady who was in her younger 20s. She was really not interested, so we just had some small talk on her door step. She was about to close the door, and I felt like I should ask her how she needs God in her life right now. She then opened up and got emotional. She told us about her grandpa having a terminal disease and his wife, her grandma, had died a couple days before he found out he had the disease. It was a pretty sad story and she was pretty upset about the whole thing. I just told her that I had lost my grandparents too, but I take comfort from the plan of salvation that I can see them again. I gave her a pamphlet and committed her to read it that night. We then went back then next day to follow up, and she was so happy! It was such a change. She told us that immediately when she closed the door, she read the whole pamphlet. She loved it so much she even read a couple chapters in the Book of Mormon. The coolest part about it all was she said, "That plan of salvation thing; I think you guys have it right. That is always how I thought it would be like." Unfortunately, she was moving up to Prosser the next day, so she is only down in Kennewick for the weekends. We are hoping to set her up with missionaries in Prosser, so it should be pretty cool to see where she ends up. That was probably the coolest thing that happened this week.

Church was great for us this week. There was something said that I really liked, so I wrote it down. It was a talk on gratitude and the guy giving it said "What if we woke up tomorrow with only the things we had thanked Heavenly Father for the night before?" I really thought about that and last night I tried to be super thankful in my prayers. I know Heavenly Father does so much for me, and all of you. We have so much we are blessed with. We should be nothing but grateful for all of it. I know Heavenly Father lives. He loves us all so much.

I have heard the words to that primary song about Gethsemane. It is super good. It is one of my faves as well.

I cant believe you are rooting for the Seahawks (haha), but since it's either the Seahawks or the Pats, I would have to choose the Seahawks too, only because they are Washington's team. It's good to hear the Jazz are doing so good haha. At this point they should just stay at the bottom of the pack. They need the draft pick. I had heard the Utes are doing awesome at basketball. I hope they keep it up. It would be so cool to see them win the tournament in March/April.

The weather here has been okay. I haven't seen the sun for I don't even know how long. It's really unusual. It sounds like it still exists though since you guys were so warm haha.

It's already time to put in for hunts??? That came fast. That's super cool that they changed the bear regulation. It's just so much work to keep up the bait station. It would be fun though. If you wanted you could put me in for a deer hunt. Just whatever you feel like doing, I'm good with.

I am soo happy to be serving a mission. I know the gospel is true. God lives. Jesus Christ lives. We can come to know Him through living the Gospel of joy. This life is meant to bring us happiness. It may be hard, but it's worth it. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Read it every day! It's that important!

Love you guys!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

ps this was a HUGE email hahaha.

There are things that I have learned to like on my mission. Tomatoes just aren't one of them.

Hey Mama,

You were right about the holiday, obviously I couldn't email yesterday, so that's what today is for. 

We had a really good week. It was probably the best week yet since I arrived in this ward. The Lord is blessing us right now! We have 12 people we are teaching who have said they would be baptized. Not all of them are on date, but they have all committed that they will be baptized when they find out the Book of Mormon is true. We found five  new investigators just this week. That was so awesome!

Thanks for applying for the college stuff for me. You're awesome.

I haven't gotten my glasses yet. I didn't think it would be this long to get them in, but I guess not. We will have to see if they come in by the end of this week.

Hopefully email works today with ya.

Mama: Hey Son,

I am happy to hear from you! It works to email. I am in Brigham City with Nicole for her birthday. We had lunch and did a little shopping. Sounds like you had an awesome week! Five new investigators? That is way cool!

Elder Sed: Hey that sounds like fun. We will have to go shopping when I get home haha.

Where did you go to lunch?

Tell Nicole I say hi!

Yep, we found five!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could hardly believe it.

Hey, it's good you have a smart phone then I guess, since you're in Brigham City haha.

Mama: We went to lunch at a place called Idle Isle Cafe. We both had a BLT and shared a shake. It was fun. It's a lot like the Bluebird Cafe in Logan.

Elder Sed: Eww, a BLT. You can have all you want though, just not with me there. I still am not a fan of raw tomatoes. Never will be haha. There are things that I have learned to like while on my mission. Tomatoes just aren't one of them.

Mama: So if you haven't learned to like raw tomatoes, what have you learned to like? Nicole still can't believe you don't like BLTs. Hello....BACON!!!!!

Elder Sed: The tomatoes ruin the whole sandwich. That's all I gotta say.

As far as new stuff I like, I love Caesar salad now for one thing haha. I don't know..I just like good food haha.  {The whole family is shocked by this new love of Caesar salad. He used to flatly refuse to even taste it!} 

Mama: This is so funny!! You like Caesar salad now??!!? Nicole just said, "Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor!" That is still her favorite thing, we just had it the other day for her birthday like always.

Elder Sed: Yeah, I guess I came to realize just what true happiness is all about (wink!). I always remember Nicole saying crap like, "Caesar salad is what true happiness is about" while I refused to eat it as a kid. 

I have to get going now. We have some appointments we need to get to and some stuff we have to do today. It was fun to catch you today. Emailing is always fun. It should be back to the normal time next week, but we may go to Kennewick to do some shopping so it could be later. Just know I will email sometime on Monday. It's good to hear things are going good. Don't be nervous, Nicole. You'll do good.

I love all you guys! Talk to you next Monday! I will be praying for all of you! Have a great birthday Nicole, and the rest of you have a good week.

-Elder Sedlacek

Hey Dad,

This week was AWESOME!

All of our investigators are doing well. I will give you an update on some of them because I don't have time to update you on all of them.

M**** is doing so awesome!!!! I was sooo happy with her this week. We had a great lesson this week when we went over the baptism requirements and helped her realize what was keeping her from getting baptized. It was a miracle. It totally changed her way of thinking. They even came to church this Sunday with J**** having to work, when before they wouldn't have done that. I am just super pumped to see her get baptized. She is so close now. Even closer than before.

L***** is doing great. He is continuing to make small steps to coming to church. It's just something he has not been comfortable with since he was young. But he is making progress, which is great. He committed that he is going to come to church on this Sunday! I was so happy to hear that.

We found five new investigators this week! Their names are S**** and her son D. We had a super good lesson with them, and they committed to be baptized on the first lesson. It was awesome! We also found a family that we are teaching. They are all older, so the kid D** is late teens. We are also teaching his mom and his girlfriend. They are pretty awesome as well. They don't have really any gospel knowledge, so that is going to be fun, but they are really open to it and want to change their lives around. All it takes is the desire or hope in Christ, and we can change our lives around. I have seen that so many times!

All of our investigators who are on date are doing well. Really, all of our investigators are doing awesome. Like I said in my email to mom, the Lord is blessing me and Elder R. It has been awesome to be a part of.

That is awesome that work is going well for you. All the different ways the work hastens--it's pretty amazing to me.

I had heard that the Seahawks won, of course haha. There are some crazy 'hawks fans up here. It must be me coming up to Washington that helped them win and get to the Super Bowl again (wink, wink!). It will be interesting to see how Feb 1st goes with the Super Bowl and stuff. Last year was interesting, I know that haha.

Thanks for all that you do for me Dad! You're awesome! I really am grateful to be serving a mission in the best area of the whole world! The people here are so awesome! I know the gospel is true. I know the atonement is infinite and will heal us of any spiritual wound that can happen to us in this life. Jesus Christ loves all of us and wants us to succeed. He is beside us every step of the way through this life. I know families are forever! I am so happy that I have a loving, supportive family. You guys are awesome!

I love you guys soo much. Hope you know that!

--Elder Jake Sedlacek

A mission is 10% of the life I have lived so far....but the blessings far outweigh the sacrifice.

What's up Mama,

This week was great. The weather has been a lot like Seattle would be. It has been misting, but not raining, like everyday. It feels good. The air is really humid, but it's cold, so it's all good. I like it.

This week was pretty good. We had interviews with President Ware. Those are always so cool. He is pretty dang awesome! I asked if there was any chance of me going to the other mission, and he said he's 99.9% positive that I am going to stay in the WKM. I was happy to hear that! I don't think it would be as cool to have my exit interview with a guy I hardly know at all.

My most fave thing about Kennewick?? I really like the area. It reminds me a lot of Utah except it's not quite as pretty. The people are really nice, and it's mostly Christian so everyone has some good intentions. But yeah, other than that there isn't much to see or do in Kennewick, but I love the people!

 

Our investigators have been doing great. We got another baptism scheduled last night for February 7th, so it's pretty close! I am excited for C***** (that's who we put on date).

I didn't get my glasses yet. I would bet they come this week. If they don't I will be super surprised. Sounds like you should go to the eye doctor too, Mama. You're probably as blind as a bat haha jk.

That's way cool that Sister M has left now. I bet her mom is feeling like the house is empty with just two kids left haha. You're going to be feeling the exact same way here pretty soon haha. That's crazy that Jared already got his suit picked out. He doesn't have it back yet, though, I would presume.

Sounds like you have a busy life right now with school for the kids, and plays and whatnot for everyone else. You're one busy mama!

That's so crazy that Elder _____ got hit by a rock. Is he doing alright? Luckily I haven't had anything like that happen. Satan is real. I have figured that out multiple times. We just need to try that much harder to fight back.

Jared and his ego, thinking he's better at ceramics than I am.....He will quickly realize that he's not as powerful as he thinks he is when I get home and teach him who's really the boss still haha.

What's up big Papa,

I am having a pretty good week. We got a lot done. It went by super fast. All of our on-date investigators are doing really well. Besides C**** who we put on date last night, M***** is doing great too. Sadly, we only had C***** at church on Sunday. That has been THE hardest thing with our investigators. They say they want to be baptized, and we get a sure commitment that they will come, and then something else gets in the way. L*****  has been really busy with work, but he's still reading when he gets the chance. 

T*** has been super busy this week as well. I don't really know what is going on. She has no phone and is never home, so we will see if she stays on date for baptism.

K**** was out of town the beginning of the week and then busy catching up on work the rest of the week. He's been reading though, so that was AWESOME! He and his girlfriend have a lot of potential. They made a deal that they will help each other read every day.

 

We had a super good lesson with C*****. She is a minor, so we had her talk to her parents about being baptized and they gave her permission. She prayed to know if she should be baptized, and she really wants to be baptized on the 7th of February. Guess what????? She is already enrolled in seminary and she isn't even a member yet. How golden is that hahahaha. Anyway, she is awesome!

I know the Lord is blessing this area. We have been finding lots of people who are interested in learning more. We just haven't gotten back to teach them yet because we have been so busy. I will let you know more about them next week.

This week I had my interview with Pres Ware. He is awesomely inspired! I know it! He shared with me that his focus for the mission in 2015 is going to be on faith. He shared a quote from Joseph Smith that says something like, "God requires the sacrifice of all earthly things to be able to build a faith that will be able to withstand." I got thinking about just how much sacrifice a mission takes for me, for you, for the family, for the whole ward. A mission really is a huge sacrifice. It's 10% of my life that I have lived so far. A long time, but really, the blessings far outweigh the sacrifice. I have loved my mission so much. Pres Ware shared another quote with me that I felt really hit me. It was "The Lord prepares each of us for the purposes He placed us on this earth to complete. Moments are set before each of us that if we give all that is within us, will bring us to an ability and power we have not known before" (Brigham Young).  I know that my mission has been one of those experiences for me, and because of it, I have been changed and know just how much I can do.
 

That's way cool they announced the new mission presidents. The mission president of the Utah Logan mission is going to be President Allred, who is from the WKM mission presidency. He is a way cool guy. Whoever goes to that mission will be lucky. I bet Pres. Lewis will do awesome! It's pretty much for sure I stay in the WKM. I was happy to hear that.

Well, thanks so much for all that you do for me Dad. You're awesome! Love ya! I am so happy to be serving a mission. It's such a blessing and so fun as well. I know the church is true!!!!!!! I know it! Thanks for the letter and all that you and mom are doing to help me out with school and stuff.

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

I really want my room to be a mess when I get home...

What's up Mama,

I can't believe it's 2015. Holy holy holy cow. New Year's was really fun. We hung out and played dominoes and stuff with Sister S. I took some pics so I will send those to you in a minute. We can't really stay up all that much without being super tired the next day, so I just laid in my bed till 11, which would have been midnight in Utah, and told Elder R a happy New Year haha. It was fun.

I haven't got my glasses yet. I called the doctor's office and they said they have been slow getting in because of the New Year. I should get them this week though.

 

I am going to get my ring sized today so I will probably send home that ring with my ring size. Do you think it would send in just a regular envelope?

Our week was super good. I was really happy on New Year's Eve when I just thought back on my mission and realized just how much good I have had. I realized that D&C 18:15-16 is really true. I have had so much joy on my mission in just 2014. I love being able to serve the Lord!

We did some service at the food bank in relation to JustServe this week. It was really fun. The people were  amazed to see about 20 missionaries ready to serve and help out. It was really fun being able to help out people who truly did need the help.

Hey that's cool you were able to get the snowman all built up and you were able to help. That's super cool that your knee brace helps you that much. I am glad to hear it. You guys should have taken some water up to pour into the buckets so it would have packed the snow better. Can you still see the snowman on the mountain? I would bet you could. I wonder if anyone else has caught on to our tradition of building a snowman up on the hill every New Year.

What do you mean that the Guardians of the Galaxy wasn't that good????????? I wasn't hoping to hear that hahaha. I still want to watch it when I get home. Watching movies is one thing I want to do when I get home, if I can manage to sit still that long haha.

You guys are on 11 o'clock church now. Lucky! I am on the one o'clock here and it's not too bad. It makes it easier for our investigators to make it to church, that's for sure. 11 is still the best though. I have to say that.

Mama:

Hey son!

I'm glad you had a good New Year! I think your ring should send fine in a regular envelope.

We can see the snowman on the hill still. This week is 40 degree temps so it may melt some, but as for now we can see it. Looks like Kennewick is warm this week too. 

 

Elder Sed: 

It was super cold this last week. Guess what Mom? I got to shovel snow for the first time in all the time I have been on my mission yesterday. It was AWESOME! I didn't relize how much I missed snow haha.

I guess it's supposed to be warm this week though. We stepped outside today and all the snow is gone and it was almost 50 degrees. That's Warshington for you I guess. It's kinda like Utah sometimes. 

Mama:

You got to shovel snow? Fun stuff. Jared has had  fun using the snow blower. Who knows where he'll be the next two winters! 

 

Elder Sed:  I am going to guess that he will go to Yakima Washington. They are going to need some missionaries come July haha. I think that would be cool if he went there or even to the WKM.
I did get to shovel snow. I was so happy. I don't even know why haha. I bet Jared has tons of fun using the snow blower. Does it do good at the end of the driveway?

Mama: Yes, it does great in the snow and he has tons of fun with it. He's been using it to take care of Sister Ks driveway. She has cancer right now, so that's been good that he can help her out. It would be funny if he does go to Yakima, but I think if he does he will probably be Spanish speaking. It will be interesting to see. 

Elder Sed:

There will be plenty of Spanish work in that mission, let me tell ya haha. I could see it happening. It will be cool to see where he is really going to go though.

 

I really want my room to be a mess when I get home, just like I left it, FYI. I want to have something to do when I get home, like clean my room, okay? haha.

I have to get going now. Email was fun today. Thanks for all that you do. You're awesome Mama! I hope you all have a great week. Tell Nicole hi for me if you could. I didn't get  an email from her, and I also didn't have time to email her.

Love ya. Talk to you next week!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

What's up, Daddio?

I guess I am going to start out by apologizing that I thought you were older than you really are hahahahahahahahaha. Sorry about that ;) Don't you even worry about not having anybody to celebrate with you when you do turn 50. I will be sure to have some surprise for you.

My week was really good. The investigators are really being blessed right now. We were actually able to find some a new one this week. We are going to start teaching K's girlfriend, M***. She is pretty cool, and we had a super good lesson with both of them last night. The spirit was strong and at the end Elder R and I bore our testimonies of the gospel, and she said she was amazed at the amount of conviction I had in my testimony. I had never had anyone say that to me directly before, so it was cool. I really do know the church is right for everyone. Thanks to the mission!

M***** could really use some prayers right now. She is going through a difficult situation with her family and could use the support. We stopped by yesterday morning and gave her a blessing and it was cool. She had made the comment before we started that she was all shaky and really dizzy, but afterwards she said that right when I gave her the blessing she felt totally fine. It was cool to see that come directly from the priesthood blessing. I know the priesthood is on the earth.

We taught our investigator named C***** and that went well. She is a 17yr old Seventh-day Adventist, but super open to the gospel because of her friend who is a member of our ward. Her friend just invited her to come to church, and is there for her when she has questions. C***** made the comment when we taught her the plan of salvation yesterday that "it makes more sense than what I already knew." It was cool to hear that she has been reading and praying and feels like the church is true.

L***** is doing great things as well. He told us that he definitely knows the Book of Mormon is true. He really wants to be baptized and is trying to live the way he feels that God wants him to live. It will be just a matter of time before he is baptized, because he has to get his divorce finalized.

Well, I am so grateful to be serving a mission. It has been totally awesome!

Sounds like you had a good week. I bet you enjoyed having all that time off work. Hopefully work goes good for you this week.

You will have to let me know how the championship goes. Sounds like I am going to be an Ohio fan for this game. I don't want Oregon to win, although it would be good for the Utes and the Pac-12. That's awesome the Utes are doing so good at basketball. Hopefully they can make it to the tournament and win. That would be really awesome.

I know the gospel is true. I know Jesus Christ lives. I know God is there for us in our lives every step of the way. I know the Lord asks us to sacrifice things in this life so our faith can be built. That is the only way sure faith can be built--through sacrifice. God blesses us as we let him bless us. I know the Book of Mormon is true. It's such a privilege to be able to read it every day. Believe me, I do.There isn't a day that goes by that I don't read from the Book of Mormon. It is that important to us in this life. I know we have scriptures in this day and age so we can come to know God. I love Him so much! The atonement is real!!!!!!!

Thanks for all that you do for me, Dad and family. You're all awesome. Love ya!

-Elder Jake Sedlacek