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 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

 

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

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