Christmas in Marion, Indiana

hey Dad, it has been a crazy but good week. for the first half of the week, we had heard several days ahead of time when we would move, so we did the usual stuff and saw all the 'gators from Noblesville, all while having meetings with the Indy mission APs and their office elders. It was fun. guess what? Elder Hemuli, who graduated with me, the one who'll be playing Stanford football, is an Indy AP, so we got a pic together. that was super cool. we showed them around the area book, talked about the ward and had our ward mission leader involved in those meetings, so the change should go smoothly for them. sad thing is, they are getting rid of the barn we lived in, and won't be staying in it.

we moved here to Marion on Thursday and i don't even know where to begin to describe the area hahaha. it's the country, but it looks like inner city. it was once a booming industry town, that was left to who couldn't move out when the industry went south. the people here are friendly though, and have the famous Hoosier "gift of gab." They can talk your ear off hahahaha. 

we are on bikes full time, but luckily we live close to the church in a small house, a single floor up the street from the church. we don't know too many of the 'gators yet. it was kinda hard to have only one full day on Saturday, and that was Christmas Eve, so we did not get to talk to a whole lot of people. stay tuned to the next emails for info on the teaching pool i guess. i guess a lot of the ward is less active, so we will need to be helping a lot of those, as well as finding as many 'gators as we can get hold of. 

thanks for the advice on goals, i will definitely need a plan for the next few months of my mission, and for home after. i am  not looking forward to the adjustment hahaha. goals help us to achieve what the Lord would have us achieve, and it allows Him to fully reach out and help us get there. 

that is a crazy storm! i am glad you had a white Christmas, but that is too bad you did not get to make it to church, i am sorry.  my meeting wasn't a whole lot better though hahaha. that is good you got to help out the neighbors with their snow, that is a very worthwhile thing to do. i loved doing that when i was home. it sounds like you will  get a good rest of your holiday break, hopefully it is very enjoyable for you. 

so this bowl game between Utah and Indiana should be fun to hear about haha! that is so cool, Hoosiers against my home town team. the Hoosiers are good, too hahaha. should be a good game, but Utah will crush them hahaha! 

that is a very interesting thought about Mary and Joseph, thanks for sharing that. as i read the chapters in the Bible surrounding Christ's birth, it hit me that when Christ was in the temple teaching the old guys, when he was just a boy, and how in D&C 93:13 it talks about how he received grace for grace, to his fullness, or his glory and knowledge--he must have had some exponential growth and had to have really understood his purpose at an early age to be able to do that! that is so amazing. as children of our Heavenly Father we struggle to understand the purpose of life and how we get there, and gaining that knowledge of the plan and everything else, but Christ made it all possible. even though we struggle and we are not perfect, we can always turn to Him and he can help us learn and grow from our experiences to become better. 

i am so thankful to be able to declare the glad tidings of his birth around the Christmas holiday, thank you for teaching me what is right and being patient with me. i love you Dad, have a great day! and week, happy New Year's too i guess hahaha! talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

hi Mom! it has been a crazy week. i wrote about all that happened in Dad's email. i wish i knew more about the area, but that will come in time. in Noblesville we did get to say goodbye the day before we left, and see a few of the members who had helped us a lot, so that was nice. 

the move was crazy cause they kept pushing the time back.  we moved at 5:00pm on Thursday and made it up here about 7:00, so that was a fun day. then we headed off early Friday to the Christmas conference. that was really good. they divided the mission in half and had games during the first part, then the Gilberts catered a lunch for us, and then we had a good devotional as we studied the nativity. that was really good. it was another good Christmas on the mission, and sadly my last. i so wish i had another! 

after we got done Skyping yesterday, we headed up with the ward mission leader from Noblesville to his family who lives in our ward here. we had a good lunch complete with fresh venison! yeah!!!!!!! then we came home and elder Nelson skyped with his family at the church, and then we came back to the house and did our puzzles and stuff. it was fun. 

that is crazy that you got so much snow, i can't even imagine that much snow here. that must have been fun to go to grandma and grandpa Ds, grandma makes good bread hahaha. i don't have any huge miracles to share, but just that we got here to Marion safely in the move, and having a bit of divine help with my diabetes hahaha! Marion is a fun place, that is for sure. it is actually the poorest area i have been in since inner-city Cincinnati, so that is a big change. the poorer areas always test me a bit, they make me kind of anxious, but not because it scares me or anything, it's just taxing, it's hard for me to describe why. 

my fave thing this week was the funny people in this ward. all the typical Hoosier things going on, with the accent and all haha. i love it! 

that sounds like a good tradition you have started with the Mary and Joseph dinner. i look forward to it. that is such an interesting thought you talked about. Mary and Joseph truly had to have been humble. they were totally willing to follow the commands of Heavenly Father and to do what they could to raise Jesus in the dignity that his life and the gift he gave to us so deserves. 

i know that Christ lives and that He did make everything possible, and He did it for all of us. i think about how much i lack, and what i have done, and what i could do better, and the reassuring knowledge of Christ and how He can help me become better always gives me peace and joy. because of Him i can become a better person. thank you for raising me on the gospel sod, i am so lucky to be your son. {I asked him if he was trying to make me cry?! ;)} thanks Mom for all you do! that's it for the week! haha

well, i got to go now, thanks Mom for all you do! i love you all so much! have a happy New Year's Day! not sure what we will do on that day yet. have a great week and i will talk to you later!

-Elder Sedlacek

We are pretty much double agents, working for two missions

He got the bratselies {Swiss cookies} we sent him. A family tradition!

hey Dad, it has been a good, but weird week. we have not moved yet.... although they had the huge meeting to reorganize the boundaries at church yesterday with the whole Indy North stake, so we basically attended the Indy mission's stake conference. their whole zone was there, and of course they all ignored us hahahaha. we even saw their mission president up on the stand, it was crazy cause he wasn't ours hahaha. we are officially out of the mission as of 3:00 pm yesterday, but apparently the Indy office missionaries don't know a thing. they called us to set up a meeting so we can go over the area book, and our APs don't know a thing, they do think we will go on an exchange with the other mission though, and (hahaha) it gets even better, because for possibly two more weeks WE ARE PRETTY MUCH DOUBLE AGENTS working for two missions right now hahahahaha! if they move us soon, we will go to Marion Indiana, but who knows when that will happen. if it does, we will be re-opening an area, but i really don't want to. my comp kinda likes to control everything and he will milk that. 

no gators came to church yesterday, but it was a really noisy meeting. SD is finally reading the Book of Mormon! heck yes! and same with B. we have been reading with them, and apparently it worked at least a little bit. all the other investigators are doing the about the same as before. we did get T, our less active we've been working with, to come to church yesterday. that was nice, because it's been a couple weeks since he last came.

this ward is awesome, they are giving us Christmas gifts all the time. Bro A gave me a little Christus statue, it's so cool. that sounds like you are having an interesting week too! that is so cool you found the family history stuff, everyone always asks me if i'm straight from the Czech Republic. a few thought i was hahaha. 

sounds like the new Star Wars movie is really good, i am excited to see it haha. that sounds like you had some good church meetings. i wish ours weren't so noisy, but it was historic, and we helped carry chairs back at the end of the meeting. i broke a personal record--4 under each arm hahaha. 

i really like that thought, that really helped me feel the Spirit, thanks for sharing that Dad! it's true, no matter how far we wander, or how lost we think we are, the Savior is right there, we just have to choose to see Him, and then reach out for his lifting hand to pull us back to safety. we are never truly lost, ever. it's a pleasure to be able to share that message with the people of Indiana, even though they are the most stubborn people haha! they have a strong faith and it's nice to see that, even in people of other faiths. 

that's awesome about the Colts. i was surprised last week to see the standings, with your Cowgirls in the lead. the other teams must feel pretty sympathetic to them this year, letting them win. 

i have no idea when i will Skype, if i am still here in Noblesville, it will be in the afternoon or around 1:00 perhaps. i will have a member shoot you a text or see if i can still call to set it up. i will do my best to let you know as soon as possible. well thanks for emailing me Dad! you're the best! i love reading your emails. talk to you on Sunday! have a great week!

-Elder Sedlacek

hi Madre, so it has been a good week. i wrote all about the craziness of the meeting to announce the new boundaries yesterday, and about the investigators. so yep, we are pretty much waiting for the Indy mission to make their move. we don't know any more than our APs, or their office elders apparently, and it's kind of annoying. i like to know when we will be gone or if we stay for Christmas. i would love to leave after Christmas, not before. if we do move this week, we will go to Marion and re-open the area, together, which i really don't want to do, especially the week before Christmas. it's frustrating not to know what's going on sometimes, but i would feel bad if i just sat back and let it happen, cause it would feel like i am not doing anything. 

Brother Gilbert is awesome! he is a really good guy in the Connersville branch. that is awesome you were able to find that way to #LighttheWorld. that is a really good service, good job on making all that bread, i bet it was really good. that must be fun to have everyone home for Christmas haha.

the weather here has sucked haha, we had some freezing rain the other day, which makes biking impossible. it has been in the teens for the high most of the week. this morning biking over to the library, my boogers froze in my nose hahahaha! it's about 7 degrees and a bit of wind chill to spice it up. makes for a nice balmy, Indiana day. IT'S SO COLD! hahahahaha humidity really sucks hahahaha. i say Utah weather has a sting, but the Midwest cold has a bite from a rabid bull dog. it cuts right through hahaha. that is crazy weather you have had though, i am excited to have lots of snow, it won't snow more than two inches here.  but yes, i am staying warm most of the time. i have plenty of clothing to stay warm. 

my testimony grew through a song that was playing in the car the other day before we gave it up hahaha, i was kind of reflecting on how things are going and the tune of the song we had playing helped me to feel the peace and comfort of knowing that Heavenly Father is still in control, and these changes are for my benefit and the peoples' benefit. it really made me feel the spirit, it was cool. my favorite thing was probably the dinner appointment we had yesterday. we went to a family of all boys--three boys and they were crazy fun. they had us help them feed all their animals. the boys had us help them and their parents were mad when they found out they had us helped, but we told them we did it by choice hahahaha, so that was fun. i think that tender mercy was the song as well, it was at exactly the perfect time that day and your packages really cheered me up on Thursday, things weren't going well on Thursday morning, thank you so much by the way! the peanut brittle is really good! and same with the bratselies. oh, we sang that song (Baby, What You Goin' to Be?) in Batesville, when we were in the ward choir.  that's a really good song. thank you for sharing that! the Savior really does make everything okay. thanks for emailing Mom!

well got to go now Mom, thanks for emailing! i love you guys so much! i am excited to see you on Christmas! talk to you Sunday! love ya!

Elder Sedlacek

We are refugees

Emails from December 12, 2016

hey Dad! it has been a good week. i am glad you got the cards and stuff, and yes, there will be a boundary change for this stake. all i know right now is that i am leaving this area very soon. it turned out the Assistants were wrong about leaving last week so we did not leave yet, but sometime near the end of the week.  so you could possibly send the package this week, cause if you send it to the mission home, it might take a long time to get it. 

as  for how the week went, it went pretty well. we did a lot of less-active hunting and it was successful. we found a few new ones to stop by, so that is good. they were all friendly and hadn't seen missionaries around in a while so they enjoyed the visits. SD did not make it to church this week, and we don't know why yet, but we will hopefully see him tonight. B has been meeting us at the library lately. he finally revealed to us need, so now we can teach him more effectively. we have been reading the Book of Mormon with everyone so they can get motivated to get into it themselves. K is still doing about the same, same as the W family, except the cold temps keep them from coming to church for health reasons. she may have been healed, but still struggles in the cold air. pretty much everyone is doing about the same. it is kinda tough, i just wish they would read the Book of Mormon and be able to feel its influence. it is such an amazing book of scripture.

that is super awesome all that stuff happened and went well. and even better you are going to the gym! hahaha, are you gonna bulk up and be a buff Grandpa and squish me? hahaha i can't wait to go back to the gym hahaha. sounds like work is kinda  hectic, that is good though you get to stay busy, that keeps you from being bored, right?  

that must have been a good meeting at stake conference, here stake conference is like a whole zone meeting hahaha, so it's fun to see members i know and all my mission buddies. i saw Elder Hurst at the stake conference, one of the guys from the MTC. 

i really like that thought you shared, it's interesting Elder Causse said Christ's birth was secondary to his atonement. that was his whole purpose for this life, to save us all. he had one thing on his mind, serve the Father's children. we had a lesson surrounding this topic with Kristy this week, about always seeking after Christ. if we are not intent on coming closer to Him, all the harder our lives will become. we need the gift that enables us to become better--the atonement--as we utilize it more fully in our lives our happiness and joy will increase, as well as our knowledge and relationship with Christ and Heavenly Father. i know that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith is his prophet and revelator called to these latter days to usher in the restoration of the gospel and to bring us the Book of Mormon. as i have read the Book of Mormon to finish by Christmas, starting from Nov 8th, it truly has increased my testimony of its divinity of the book and my love for Christ and Joseph Smith. i am so grateful for this gospel and that we can live for eternity as a family. thank you Dad for the example you put forth, for serving a mission, pushing through college and for every day that you get up to go to work for us. it makes it possible for me to serve a mission and to gain a testimony of the gospel. i love you Dad! have a great week! you're the best!

-Elder Sedlacek

hey Mom, so you heard about the changes. sorry to scare you a bit hahaha! i am glad you enjoyed the cards, thanks for distributing them for me!  so i guess just send my packages hahaha. we will see where i go. we almost thought it was a joke, since we were supposedly moving this week and nothing happened. we finally texted the APs and they were like, "it should be announced today and the changes will me made this Sunday" and so they said we will probably leave near the end of the week. we are refugees! haha we need to jump ship. can you send me a pic of the new mission logo? we have not got it yet. 

the best thing that happened this week was when we got a super sweet member refferal from a guy in the Indy mission for a person in our boundaries, so  she should be taught soon by whoever is in this ward. the ward will probably change its boundaries too, because they are reorganizing a new stake. i definitely saw small miracles throughout each day, but not any big ones to mention, just another week with an awesome ward. 

one tender mercy, a lady in our ward heard i have eczema and left a bottle of Ceravie lotion on the stairs in front of our apartment the other day, with some candy haha, that was super nice. she says it's the best for dry skin, and so far it's worked great. the Indiana weather has been in the 20s all week and snowing, but since it's Indiana it's gone within 24 hours regardless of how cold it is, and you don't get more than two inches hahaha, so that was nice. 

sister Murdock sounds like sister Welch. sister Welch used to walk a bit in the mornings and she set up a few appointments for us when i was in West Chester hahaha, they are both great missionaries. 

well, i know that this gospel is true. self change is a neccesary part of Christ's true church. we believe in continuing revelation, so God will always reach out to his children--that's a fact of life. i know that the Lord is at the helm of the Old Ship Zion and always will be. all things are done in wisdom and order, of God, who knows what needs to happen. as we approach this Christmas season we must always retain in remembrance the gift that Christ has given to us. i love this gospel so much, i am so grateful for the power of the priesthood and the temple in our lives. i love you all so much! 

well, got to go now Mom, thanks so much for all you do! i love you all so much! i hope you have a great day! talk to you later. you're the best!

-elder Sedlacek