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

Dang--missions go fast!

Just realized that I didn't post Elder Sedlacek's emails from last week, but that's probably because we Skyped with him the day before and there wasn't as much to email about as usual. Anyway, he's doing great and we're so proud of him! 

What's up Mama,

Today I emailed pretty late obviously. I kinda like it better though. Hopefully it works for you too. Glad you are doing good. That is crazy that school is already over. That went super fast. Probably not for the kids, but it did for me. Just think, I was out when school started and now it's pretty much over. That is crazy too.

That is great that Nicole did so well on her marathon! She looks good at the end too. I like her shirt she's wearing in the pics. It looks pretty cool.

You will have to tell Bro. H. thanks for the Conference Ensign stuff. He's awesome. On the package, I wanted a couple short sleeve shirts if you could. Don't buy nice ones though because they get destroyed. Just the regular shirts are perfectly fine. Then the soap for my face and that's about it I think. Thanks for all that you do for me Mama. You're the best!

How long has Jordan B been home? That is crazy, but I knew it was anytime now that he was going to be coming home. I bet he was a great missionary. Now he gets to the fun part in life haha. So did Nate speak with Jordan like I did with Nick? I bet that is the way it's going to be when I come home. I will probably speak with someone going out while I am coming home. That will be weird.

Well, I am doing good. I will give more of an update in the email to dad probably. It seems to work out that way most of the time anyways haha.

Hopefully it works out to email today!

What up Dad?

Funny that you mention that it seems like forever since we last talked, because it does for me too haha. This week was pretty slow. Yesterday was really good though with church and everything. We invited a lady who showed up at church to take the discussions, and she accepted so we will have a new investigator. We also put our investigator Felicia on date for June 14th. That was a pretty good lesson too. The D family is doing great, but they still are working on coming to church. That's what patience is for. I just really hope they will come to church eventually. That's what they need. We are also teaching Denise's daughter and that is going really well too. She is really starting to progress and it's awesome. We have given her a blessing and it really helped her. We also gave one to Denise and her daughter got to watch so she really knows the power of the priesthood. She is going to get baptized on the 31st so that is a little less than two weeks. Its going to be sweet!!!!!!! 

We are also teaching our RC Sydnie's sister. She is going to be baptized, too, and she is really starting to realize that the church is the true church. She felt something different at the baptism and she really liked it. You can pray for us to find new investigators, pray for the D family to have the desire to come to church, Felicia that she will be able to get married, and Denise and her daughter that they will be able to stay healthy and strong in the gospel, that Lexi will continue to feel and know that the church is true, and also for the baptism goal for the district of 15 by May 31st. The prayers I am sure will help out each one of them and will also help us to find new people to teach. That's basically the main people of our teaching pool in a nutshell.

Thanks for the sports updates. The ones you threw in are just fine for me.

What does the journal you picked up look like? Is it a good quality one that is going to last? That is really the biggest thing I want. It would be nice if it matches my other one, but we will see.  Thanks for picking it up for me.

That is funny that you like my stories better than the other RMs from our ward haha. I am sure they are both pretty much the same. It's the same work, just different places. I bet it was cool though to hear Jordan speak. He seems like he would have been an AP or something like that, or in other words an awesome missionary. 

It is crazy that the boys a year younger than me are already starting to give their farewell talks. It does seem like yesterday when I was giving mine. Dang missions go fast! haha. I never believed people when they said things like that, but it's really true. It does go super fast.

I am glad that work is going good for you Daddio. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for everything you do for me. It's really awesome what all you guys do for me. It means a ton to me! I love you guys and its super fun to be able to email you and hear what's going on back home. Keep on keeping me in the loop. Again, I Love you guys!

-Elder Sedlacek

Learning some new tricks

What's up Mama,

I didn't get your letters yet so maybe today I will. I did have a good week. Sadly, J.D. can't be baptized for a couple weeks but Becky is having an interview for baptism tonight and Sydnee is still on for Saturday too. It is going to be at least two baptisms on the 10th hopefully. That will still be awesome! 

 

The ward is great up here. Sunnyside, for me, has been very successful. It has been great! Things with Elder A are doing good. He is stubborn, so it's his way or no way, but I just cope with it and we get stuff done. It is not easy, but we have to get along if we want success. I have just been working on my individual relationship with the Savior, and it has been helping a lot. 

That is awesome Nicole is graduated now! You guys need to watch the Princess Bride soon. That seems like a good movie to watch right now for you guys haha. 

 

That is crazy that Alyssa and Liz are getting married and are. That went fast!

 

On Mother's Day I will get to call home. I get to call on Saturday, too, to set it up with you guys. It will be in the evening, probably around 7:00 Utah time. It is going to be fun!

 

I do like the pics you sent. Thanks for all that you do, Mama. You da best!

 

 

What's up Pops,

I didn't even realize that date yesterday haha. {May the Fourth be with you!}  Being on the mission just makes you forget that stuff haha. Oh well, it is Cinco de Mayo here and Sunnyside has had a big party the past couple days. It was fun to walk around and talk to people. There is good food there too haha. Sounds like you had a good week though. I did too. 

 

For this Saturday, we have two people on date for baptism. Sydnee and Becky. Sydnee is really pumped to get baptized and so is Becky, she just needs to have her interview tonight. I am sure it will work out for the best. It is going to be awesome to have multiple baptisms on the same day again. I really love when that happens. The rest of our teaching pool is doing okay. Only Eric came to church so he is doing good, he just won't commit to a date yet. Marie is doing good too. She wants to come to the baptism on Saturday to check it out. I think we can get her baptized this transfer, hopefully. We have been working to find some new investigators and have some good potentials because of it, but I will tell you about them once I know a little more. That is really our focus right now is finding new people who are solid to teach.

 

With planting season going on up here I have been learning some tricks for gardens, one of which I think we could use on our fruit trees. They have what they call bird scare tape that you put in trees, and the birds don't eat the fruit because of it. It is pretty cool stuff. It just is super shiny and that is what they use on all the fruit up here. It seems to work well, too. Another trick is when you pick the apples, make sure that the stem is on the apple, otherwise it hurts the tree and it won't have as much fruit the next year. So there's a couple tricks that I though you would like haha.

 

That is funny that they have you doing the food for Dirt and Dogs! You must be good at it or something. You will have to let me know what new calling you get when you get one. 

 

You will have to get your head in the game haha. Geeze dad, haha just kidding. You're doing fine with the updates. It's fun to hear the latest news on the sports stuff.

 

Sprinklers are a pain and believe it or not I have done some on the mission haha. Lots of fun every year. I bet you will have loads of fun mowing the lawn. You should get a riding lawn mower and then it would be super easy.

 

Today for p-day should be pretty fun. We are going to a member's place up in Yakima and playing all sorts of games. It is going to be awesome. They have all sorts of stuff like air hockey and ping pong, really just a ton of stuff to do. It should be fun.

 

I hope you guys have a great week. You are seriously the best. Thanks for all that you do for me! Keep praying for our baptism goal of 15 baptisms before May 31st too. Love you guys!

-Elder Sedlacek

Surprise of the week: Leading the mission!

 

 

Elder Sedlacek at the Darigold plant.

Snow on the ground in Washington

What's up Mama,

This week was great. We had zone conference and then Elder J and I caught the Sunnyside cold that has been going around forever. It isn't too bad of a cold. I can deal with it. Well zone conference was really good. It was fun to hear some training from President. I have some exciting news, too. At zone conference, President came up to me and Elder J and said that he wanted to come out with us that night. Long story short, he wasn't able to that night because he is a busy guy, but he met with us and the Bishop that night. He told us that Elder J and I are leading the mission right now! I could not believe it! I knew we are having lots of success, but I didn't think it was the best in the mission. Now our goal is to make our numbers the worst in the mission--but keep our numbers the same haha! We just have to stay humble. I am not having any trouble with that haha. I know it is only by God that we are having this much success. 

Denise's baptism on Saturday and her confirmation yesterday went well. She felt the spirit super strong both days. It was fun to see her get emotional. I know that sounds bad, but that is a good thing on a mission. It means she was feeling the spirit as you already know. Our baptisms for this coming week--we had them on date but they didn't come to church yesterday because they are sick--we have to put them off a week, and Nick, the other one on date for Saturday, we aren't totally sure yet. He is having some struggles right now and we are meeting with the Bishop today to find out more. I hope we can have a baptism this Saturday though.

That is exciting missionary news for the ward. I bet they are all going to love their missions, like I love mine haha. Missions are a great thing!

I am glad that Nicole liked what I said last week haha. I didn't think it would help her that much, but hey, whatever works!

The weather in Utah sounds alot like the weather in Warshington right now. I went out this morning and it was weird. The air actually smelled good because it had just finished raining for a bit. There isn't any snow on the ground anymore. That melted off like the middle of the week and it got pretty warm. It was nice.

Yes, in Sunnyside we always email from the church because it is easier on us. President doesn't really care where we email from, we just can't use members' computers for it like it says in the white handbook. He is really just a handbook president. I like him a lot. We have a very similar personality haha. Maybe that is why I was assigned to him and not another one.

Thanks for working on my ipod. Did you put the new music on its own playlist? Thanks for doing that though for me since I can't do it myself haha. What have you found out about the Mormon Message DVD? I don't really think I need much from home other than those things. I will let you know though if I do need anything. I will be needing another journal in probably a couple of transfers. (Just to let you know). I am a little over half of the way through the one I have right now.

What's up Fathuh,

This week was good. We had zone conference as you probably already know. They did a training on the difference between teaching and ministering. Often times we missionaries get too focused on teaching what they the investigators need to know, more than on what they need personally. We have been trying to focus on that for our investigators this week. It wasn't the best teaching week, but we did get to teach Ava, the new investigator we found. She is doing great. She didn't come to church, which we were kinda disappointed about, but she was spending time with her son who she doesn't get to see much. We taught her the restoration and it was probably one of the best lessons we have given so far as a companionship. The spirit was super strong and she really liked the Joseph Smith story. She said she felt really good when I was saying it, and that she understood it all and it made perfect sense. We committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to get a testimony of it and she said she would. Most of our investigators are sick right now with the flu, so we didn't get as much teaching this week. We did give lots of blessings because of it, so that was a benefit. The baptism on Saturday went well. It went really good actually.

Yep, we have been having really good success lately. We are leading the mission in fact. I thought that was crazy when I heard it! They are even having us give a training in zone meeting on Tuesday and we aren't even in leadership. Did you ever have any leadership on your mission? I don't remember, but maybe you did. All the missionaries in this district are convinced I am going to have leadership. I am not going to hope for it but if it happens, it happens. I will, and am continually trying to be a better missionary. I always try to listen to the spirit because that is what converts. Those are cool stories you shared with me about listening to the spirit. It is so important that we do listen to the spirit. Heavenly Father also gives us trials to help us to grow and become better. I know that too. Sometimes the mission is hard and you feel like you want to throw in the towel and quit, but the blessings that come if you don't are so much more worth it in the end. We just have to have an eye on the future and don't look back, like Elder Doube's talk in conference. If we do that everything will work out.

It is good that the US is doing good in the Olympics. It sucks that the colleges aren't doing so hot in basketball right now. It is a good thing that the Jazz are sucking it up right now so they can get a lottery pick next season. They need one of those so they can be better in the future.

I heard from mom that the weather is pretty good right now in Utah. It's the same here in Warshington. It has been pretty warm the past couple days which is what I like. Surprisingly though with the name like Sunnyside you would think that you would get good sunsets. We practically don't even get sunsets here. It's weird. The sun just kinda goes down. I miss the Utah sunsets. They are always super pretty. I think only a couple times on my mission so far have we had a okay sunset haha.

Libby is funny haha. I haven't really had that many doors slammed in my face except for maybe like 10. Most people are really nice, but just tell us to get out of there. I have knocked tons of doors and most of them have been polite to us. I guess that is a blessing of serving in the states.

That is exciting about the new missionary news in the ward. That is going to be cool for the ward to have that many missionaries out serving. This July is going to be a crazy time for the WKM with all the leaving and coming missionaries. 20+ missionaries are leaving, so there will probably be some calls to Kennewick from your area I would bet. You guys will have to let me know if you hear of any from our stake that will be coming to the WKM.

I love you guys soo much and thanks for all that you do for me. I say it every week but I really mean it. You guys are the greatest! Thank you for praying for our investigators, too.  I love you guys! 

-Elder Sedlacek

Hey, somebody has to plant seeds!

It's really great to think that Elder Jake left in July and now it's December--going on five months out! He's sounding fantastic, more and more mature with every email and letter. Having a missionary out is such a blessing, even though we miss him tons! 

Email to Mom 12/9/2013

Howdy mama,

How is it going back at home? I am doing good. We didn't teach many lessons this week but it was alright. Funny how you ask me about the Google + thing, and I honestly have no clue haha. I am no help haha. I have just been told that you can set it up with my mission email and it works. I have no clue where I will be face timing you from. It will be from some member's house wherever I am at. Transfers are next week and I am probably leaving Ellensburg. I really have no clue where I will go. Vince fell off date because of smoking issues, but it would have been cool to have convert baptisms here and in Bountiful. That is awesome about A & H. Tell them I would be there but I have some things I am kinda busy with haha. Ohh--thanks for the packages. I'm excited to get them. You are the best!

That is crazy that JP is practically home. I bet he is also excited to go see his family. It would be cool to hear him speak. When is David coming home? That is nice that the P family sent me a letter. Tell them thank you for all that they do for me. I assumed there would be lots of snow where you guys are at. There was a big rain storm that passed by here a week and a half ago.

I bet Mia did great on her audition. You will have to let me know how she did or if she got called back. She is probably so excited to find out.

We were allowed to watch the Christmas devotional, but Elder S and I forgot about it and scheduled an appointment for the same time it was airing. I heard it was good though. I always liked watching that.

Well, how are you guys doing? Can I get addresses for Christmas cards? I will probably just send a couple home in the same envelope if you could get one to the Bishop for me.

Email to Dad 12/9/2013

What's up Papa!

I had a good week this week. We kinda had a slow week again lesson wise but we taught Vince twice. He is progressing right along but has some Word of Wisdom stuff that he is working thru so he is off date for now. That was kind of a bummer but he is very sincere and really trying his best. Besides the new investigators we found last, we haven't found any new ones yet. We are still working on trying to find people who are ready to hear the gospel. Our other investigators we haven't been able to contact, but I hope they are doing well. I pray for them everyday so I would assume they are doing good. It kinda sucks when it is like this but hey, planting seeds is a job somebody has to do. 

It sounds like the meetings were good. That is funny that they had the Bar J wranglers come to the care center. I bet all the old farts loved them haha. They are pretty funny. I didn't get to see the Christmas devotional because we had a dinner appointment at 5:00 which is when it started here. Kind of a hard time to have it start. I really wanted to watch it but I hope I will get to see it soon. We were allowed to go watch it though, which was good. It is nice getting to have most of that stuff even while I am here in Warshington haha.

I am working on getting info for the members who I want to stay in contact with. There are only a couple people that I would though, and Vince, who said he treats me and Elder S as his sons. He said he wants to be there when we get married and have our 12 children haha. He is a great guy. He calls us homies and we really are haha. It will be nice to stay in contact with members and investigators when I go home. 

Things are really going great. The wards are trying to figure out ways to hasten the work within the wards and it is going along slowly but surely. It's only a matter of time before Ellensburg is on fire!

It is crazy that JP is almost home. He is a great example for me. I really want to work hard everyday of my mission too, and I try to do that even now. What I do today affects tomorrow--that is what I have learned. It is great being a missionary and feeling my testimony grow. It really is great seeing people change their life for the gospel. I love you guys lots and am thankful for all that you sacrifice for me to be out here. I love you guys!

Love, Elder Sedlacek

First Baptism Scheduled!

Email to Dad 11/11/13
What's up pops?

My week went great. Kind of a cool story for the week: So you know Isaac had been kind of apprehensive about the church? He had been praying for an answer to know if the church was right. He finally got that answer at the beginning of the week and since then we have met with him 5 times this week! We assigned  him a chapter in 3rd Nephi 11 (where the savior comes to the people) and he read it and he said he jumped around in joy haha. He is super awesome. I also gave a copy of the article that Brother H. gave me and he loves that too. He couldn't put it down he said so tell Bro H. that I have been able to use his article lots. It is awesome. Well anyway, we have him on date for baptism on the 30th and he said he cannot wait. We might even move it up. We will just have to see. As far as our other investigators, we have another named Tomara. I might have already told you about her. She is a grandma who is interested in religion. She loves Jesus and will do anything to follow Him. We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church but she didn't show this week so we will keep trying. That is pretty much the really solid ones we have for right now. We are doing a lot of tracting where all the red necks/ hicks are at so that is kinda fun haha. Kittitas is a crazy place haha! I love it though. Never would I live there, but it's still pretty funny to see some of the stuff that goes on. 

Dang, that sucks about the sports teams. I really wish Utah could win some more. Utah ST seems to be doing pretty good then. That's good for Nicole. I bet the Utes will get whomped on by Oregon. Just have to see what happens though.

As you know, Sunday is not a day of rest for missionaries haha. It will be weird to go home and be able to rest haha. Meetings all day then pros at night. Sounds like your Sunday was like mine. Lots of stuff going on but hey that's everyday out here haha. Me and Elder S. get along great. We haven't even argued once which is nice. We have good lessons and have lots of fun other times. It's nice to have a good companion for once haha. I love the wards we cover. In other words, I am doing great. Ellensburg is starting to grow on me you could say. I love the people, especially all the red necks in Kittitas. By the way, I have a dang good fake hick accent now. I will have to crack it out sometime haha. I did get to see the pic of Elder K. That would be so cool to pet an elephant. (Too bad there aren't elephants in Ellensburg). All my friends are doing well. I hope you guys have a good week. I love the Book of Mormon and I know the church is true! My testimony is definately growing! I love you guys! Talk to you later!

 

Love, 

Elder Sedlacek

A confession

Letter dated 11/4/13

Dear Family,

I figured that I would write you a letter now that I have time in the day. Things have been going good up here. As I said in the email, they split this area. We are now working more focused on the wards now, which is good. They really needed to do it officially and they did.

One thing I realized this week is that I have been trusting myself to know when people are ready for the gospel, not the other way around like it should be. I need to put my trust in Heavenly Father, who knows each of his children perfectly, to know when his children are ready for the gospel. I came to realize that in training this week. That is the big thing I am focusing on this week. We are going to try to visit all of our potentials, regardless of what I think. I don't know everything, but Heavenly Father does! Well, there's my big confession for the week haha. There is always room for improvement, and I'm going to improve on that this week.

It's crazy that I'm at three months now! I'm 1/8th of the way done and it feels like I got to the MTC yesterday. I can definitely do 7 more 3 month increments. Living the mission one day at a time really helps.

What's new about you guys? Enough talking about me haha.

Coming on a mission has really strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Reading it every day for an hour is great. If only there was time for that in normal life! (There is I guess, but it's so hard to make it.) It's great serving a mission. I would recommend it for all the younger kids. It's hard, but it helps you personally so much and others, too.

Thank you for everything. Every single one of you! I love you all. You should write letters more often haha. I love them. Talk to everyone later!

~Elder Sedlacek

Switch ups, but no transfer yet!

Elder Jake is hitting his second transfer staying in Ellensburg, but we expected it since he just got a new companion a couple of weeks back. I think he is happy to stay where he is for now. 

11/4/13 Email to Mama:

What's up? It is crazy how fast October went. I've been out three months, but trust me, I will always be a greenie in some way haha. I still have my dork dot from the MTC to prove it. Pres. Ware is an awesome guy. One of the guys from the Seventy that came with Elder Ballard said we aren't assigned to a mission area. Missionaries are assigned to a president. Wherever the Pres you need is serving that is where you go. I thought that was kinda cool. 

I am trying to stay warm haha. The heater in our main room won't turn on so we just wear coats all the time, but I do stay warm. We are in the process of getting it fixed. It hasn't snowed here yet but I have seen snow on peoples' cars so it is snowing somewhere. Probably up in Cle Elum. Oh, Christmas shopping already? Fun. A good quality GPS would be nice to have but you get whatever you want for me. I will like anything you guys send. 

I did get the package of cookies. They are so good. I liked the package. The cookies are perfect mama haha. That clown pen was funny. I don't know how Lib knew that I hate clowns but I do. That pen was the first thing I saw when I opened the package haha. I was like "what the heck is this?" then I read the letter that she threw in there and I got why. Libby is funny. 

I also like the story of Aaron and King Lamoni's father and when he values his life at half of his kingdom but then later on a couple chapters he values the gospel at all of his kingdom and whatever else it takes to have the gospel in his life. You're right, it would be awesome to see someone change like that.

The transfer news is Cle Elem is getting their own set of Elders now, which is just crazy. They are a branch now but I am sure they will be a ward in not so long. They also split Ellensburg into two areas. One of the areas is 2nd ward only, and the other is 1st ward, and 3rd ward. Me and Elder S cover 1st and 3rd. Other than that nothing really exciting happened. Pretty boring transfer call. I am sure splitting the area will help it so much once the members trust us a little more. Before, they didn't really have that much communication with us. It was hard to focus on all the wards at the same time while doing a free-for-all type thing. I am glad they actually officially split it now. I am happy covering 1st and 3rd. I love both wards. They have awesome members. 

I am getting enough to eat. I wish I could cook something. I want some recipes out of that "A Man, A Can and A Plan" cookbook from Aunt Mo. I don't want the whole book though. I don't think I need anything from home in particular. I am doing pretty good. Thank you for all that you guys do!

11/4/13 Email to Dad

What up Pops!

I am doing good. By now, I am sure you have heard the news that my area split and I cover 1st and 3rd ward now with Elder S. It was a slow week honestly. Isaac is being kinda stubborn. He went to a gospel principles lesson, but the teacher turned it into a gospel doctrine and went super deep with doctrine. It really screwed up his progression so now he just says he is going to pray for an answer for our church to be true but he doesn't want to meet until he gets that. It just really frustrates me when people do that. Kayla moved to Othello so we lost her. We found another investigator named Desirae. She is a college student just interested in learning about the church. Her dad grew up Mormon and won't talk about it so she is just learning from us. Other than that, we are just trying to find some new people to teach. We got a bunch of referrals from the other Elders so we are going to check those out. We have a bunch of new investigators from them that they were working with that I haven't met yet so I am excited to meet with them. 

I only heard about Boston winning from the gym we go to every morning. I saw the celebration. It looked pretty crazy haha. I am glad Boston was able to win it this year. Hopefully Utah State can keep up the winning. I bet they can make it to a bowl game pretty easy. 

That is crazy it is snowing already. Seems like yesterday I got dropped off at the MTC and it was super hot. I am at my 3 month mark too. It hasn't snowed here yet but I have seen snow on peoples cars, probably from up in Cle Elum. It is like Park City up there but not as big or nice. It snows a ton just like Park City does. We split the area so I don't get to go up to Cle Elum anymore. I loved it up there. It's really the only place I have seen in Eastern Washington that looks pretty haha. I have heard Wenatchee is just like it so I hope I go up there sometime.

Good luck on your talk. I bet its so fun being a high council man and getting to talk a ton in a year (NOT!) haha. You do good at it though. Just sayin. That is sweet that Sister T has been learning sign language. It would be cool to see a testimony done in sign language. The Bishop is awesome. Give him a hard time for me haha.

Did you have lots of fun trick or treating? I bet you did. I bet you couldn't wait to get up to go walk around the neighborhood haha. It is fun though to go around and get doughnuts from Bonnie and stuff like that. We didn't have any trick or treaters come to our door. Probably because they know we are missionaries haha. We were going to hand out pass along cards instead of candy if anyone knocked on our door. It is crazy how old you and mom are getting haha. You mean you are getting old. Mom is staying young haha. Life goes too fast sometimes haha.

I hope you have a great week!

Love you all,

Elder Sedlacek

An Apostolic Blessing

Elder Sed on the right, his trainer in the center, and his trainer's trainer on the left.

Emails from October 28, 2013

 

Hey mama,

The mission conference with Elder Ballard was pretty awesome. I got to shake his hand along with all the other missionaries. My clothes are fitting. I am doing good. Elder Ballard gave the mission an apostolic blessing that if we talk to 10 people everyday we will find, teach, and baptize more people. That was pretty cool and its easy to do. Sunday was good. It sounds like you were kinda like me. I get to go to two blocks of church with an extra 3 hours of meetings. Fun fun fun. Sundays on the mission don't have much rest involved haha. That is good that the other missionaries from the ward are doing good. Cafe Rio sounds so good right now. Too bad there isn't any anywhere close by. The weather is good. It gets pretty cold in the night and so it's cold in the morning but it warms up to like the 50's so it's nice in the day. The tree outside our apartment is all empty too. I love the fall! One thing I could use is some homemade pumpkin cookies if you want to make some for me. Those sound good. On Halloween we go inside at 6:00pm and plan for the week for the rest of the night till whenever we get done then just have fun I guess. It would be allowed but I don't know if we will carve pumpkins. I will have to see on that. I love you guys too.

 

Dad,

This week was good. We were able to get a hold of Isaac and Kayla and had lessons with them. We haven't found any new investigators this week. We split the area between our 2 companionships so we can divide and conquer. It was a free-for-all basically before, so hopefully this method will work way better. We are just trying to find some new people to teach. It's not that fun but rewarding when you actually do find someone. 

Up here there are a lot of trucks I have been seeing with deer in the back so I guess it was good hunting up here. It would be fun to come back up after the mission sometime and do some hunting haha. I sound like a red neck!  Sounds like work is going good for you. That is great. That sucks about the Utes. They need to get it in gear if they want to go to a bowl. Sounds like the world series game would be fun to watch but I have more important things to do right now haha. I actually don't have to wear suits like anytime. Only for special meetings and ordinances. Pres Ware doesn't like them so we don't have to wear them very often which is soooo nice. I have gotten used to the shirt and tie though. I am staying warm enough. I will get a better coat if worse comes to worst and I do get cold. I will probably buy a hoodie though for service. I am 1/8 of the way done with my mission! Its crazy! It feels like yesterday I was riding go carts at Boondocks with Jared and Michael. Time flied, but it also seems slow at the same time. It's pretty weird. I have been keeping a journal everyday. I will try to write more of the spiritual stuff. It could probably use a little more of it. I have been trying to do it though. For Halloween here I go in at 6:00pm and plan for the week. Fun stuff. Then whenever we finish that we get to just hang out. Probably a wrestling tournament or something like that. We have a lot of fun up here. That is what makes it fun to be a missionary--doing the Lord's work and hanging out with other missionaries. We saw a pretty good bonfire the other day. The people were smoking weed I think. They were going crazy haha. We stay away from that stuff though. Really the only cool place I have been able to go see is the cabin in Natches. I want to go see some sights, but really in Ellensburg there is nothing to see but farms so I will have to wait for another area to see some interesting stuff haha. I love you guys too. Miss you and I am thankful for all that you do for me. You are the best.

Love

Elder Sedlacek

 

The kind of news that every Mom wants to hear

Elder Sedlacek's study area in his apartment.

 Today's email was exactly what every Missionary Mom wants to hear!

Elder Sedlacek: Well this week, we did a lot of tracting. It was really cool. It's funny to see some people who get so tickedoff when we knock on their door. We had a guy yell at us "don't knock on my door like that, and don't ever come back again" then he slammed the door in our faces. It was really funny. I just started laughing and walked away. Some people these days haha. Religion makes them angry, which is the exact oppositeof what it is supposed to do.We alsocame across a guy named David and his girlfriend Meagan. They are awesome people from what I saw of them. We are going back to see them tonight so we will see what happens.They offered to feed us right off the bat as soon asthey opened the door,and they aren't even members. Talk about charity. I don't thinkifsome stranger cameand knocked on my door, I wouldimmediately offer to feed them.We didn't eat from them because we had just ate but still, that was awesome to hear. We are also starting to teach more and more college students which is so awesome. They are all so cool. Its great to be there and see the spirit work in them and change them. the only problem with teaching students is the crazy schedules. Its sometimes really hard to meet up with them. Yesterday we went to a member's house and had the most amazing dinner I have had in the field. Huge steaks, mashed potatoes, and the sweetest corn on the cob I have had in my life. It was so yummy! That is the thing about living in a farming community. The farm food is always really fresh. We are still working with Jim, and Jay and trying to get them to quit smoking. They are making progress though, which is good. Other than that, we are just tracting and teaching investigators. Everything is great here in Ellensburg. I sent a letter with a memory card in it so you should get it today. Hopefully the card isn't smashed though. I would send it in a padded envelope but its like 2.50 every time you send it just for the little card. So I thought I would try to send it in a regular envelope.

Mom: It is so great to hear from you! I am glad you got such a yummy dinner yesterday. I will watch for the SIM card. I hear that JP always sends his in a regular envelope, so it should be fine. Love you tons, tons, tons!  Do you need anything? You sound great! Was there something great that happened this week?

Elder Sedlacek: Thank you love you too. I don't know if I really need anything right now. I am not really sure. I will write you though if I think of something. This week we taught Dave and we taught him about the priesthood. He really liked it, but as to an experience that made my week, really the whole week was great. I can't really think of some specific story to tell you right now. Just the whole week was awesome! I really liked what you said last week, to just take it one day at a time. It really helped me. Before I talked to you last week, I had been praying for comfort because I just felt like crap. I was really overwhelmed with all the things of the mission, all the things I have to remember and I was expecting to learn it so quick, and step into that perfect missionary role right off the bat but it was just overwhelming me. I learned that I was comparing myself to others too much. I need to just be myself and everything would be great. So I did, and now I haven't ever been happier. Its awesome. It was really an answer to my prayers. I had been praying for comfort and I got it. I know Heavenly Father hears our prayers.

 

Mom: You have just made my week! You didn't sound terrible, last week, but you do sound so much happier today. Everybody went back to school today. Jared even drove himself. :)

Elder Sedlacek: Oh believe me I am soooooo much happier.

I remember those days of the first day of school. Never a fun memory haha. Jared is going to wreck old blue haha. Hopefully he doesn't though because that wouldn't be good. Obviously he got his license.

Mom: Yep, he got his license. He didn't get a job yet, but he is still trying. He is following your example in lots of ways. You are really a great example to all of us.

Elder Sedlacek: Well, I am leaving now so I will talk to you later. Love you. Keep me updated about the family. I love hearing about what is happening when I am gone.

Keep praying for all the missionaries

Letter dated 8/17/13

Family,

How is everything going?

Everything is good here in Ellensburg. It is so much harder out here than the MTC. It has been kind of hard, but good.

Ellensburg is a really small town. There is dog and horse crap everywhere, which is kinda gross. I don't think I would ever live here. There are lots of people to teach though! I have learned that success is mainly through members' help. Without members the work would be really slow. I would encourage you guys to help prepare others for the missionaries, because teaching is not exactly the best method. That is why the technology movement is happening. Here in the WKM we will get to use it, which will be cool.

The hardest part about being out here is not knowing what happens anywhere else. It helps keep me focused though, I guess. Keep praying for all the missionaries. It's nice to feel the support of the church behind us. I look forward to reading your emails and letters.

I love you guys so much!

Elder Sedlacek