We have to convert ourselves before we can convert others.

Showing me that he bought new pants and hemmed them himself :)

hey Dad, it has been a good week. it was slow, but we got to work hard, which was good. for the investigators, A was bumming out on us so we were not able to meet with him. he was avoiding us, so we wonder what happened. then T has been doing the same thing--sleeping every other time we did not have something set up. we were able to receive some referrals though, so that was super cool. sadly, none of our 'gators made it to church. B is doing about the same, and also S. as for the other new people, we were not able to meet with them either. it was a slow week! 

we have been making an extra emphasis on asking for referrals, and it helps to receive media referrals, which is what we got, so that was super cool. last night a member family gave us a referral for one of thei kids' teachers to teach him in their home. we will do that on Sunday hopefully. we got Elder Nelson's bike, so we have been biking like crazy for the past few days and that has been nice. other than that we have not had much happen. 

sounds like work is going well, it is nice to be busy, i wish we were a little busier hahaha. sounds like you have graduated to full on Grandpa-Dad, haha! well done, just kidding, i bet that was fun to hand out the hot chocolate, you better be careful or Bonnie will put you out of business if  you get too big hahaha. YEAH! the Cubs won! that is super awesome, i was happy to hear that haha. that is too bad the Aggies lost, good that BYU beat Cinci hahaha, although i don't care either way for that, probably lean towards Cinci haha. 

i loved having the time change, it was super nice to have the extra hour of sleep, that was awesome! we had a good fast and testimony meeting too. there was a guy who walked in and was wearing a white "veterans for trump" t-shirt with an "i voted" sticker and an American flag pin with his suit slacks--it was so funny, i almost lost it. that guy is notorious for yelling at children in sacrament meeting hahaha. 

i did not see the worldwide training, we don't get to be part of it. that is interesting you share that scripture, cause i have created a lesson plan that i give to members, which consists of that scripture and a quote about helping others and whatever the Spirit directs in between. it is really a nice scripture, because it is so true--we can apply that to anything in teaching the gospel, we have to rely on the Holy Ghost to direct our thoughts and actions. it can help us in any part of our lives to do better. i know how much of a blessing the Spirit is in my life. i am so grateful to be on a mission to help others feel that guidance as well. thank you so much for all you do to help me keep serving. thanks for emailing me Dad, and i hope you have a great week! i love you Dad!

-Elder Sedlacek

p.s. my ward mission leader gave me some white tail venison, and man, it tastes like beef compared to muley, it is so good.

hey Mom,  i did get my insulin, thanks! it has been a good week, but a slower one. we did not get anyone to church despite our best efforts, and we were not able to find anyone. it was as if the adversary was working super hard to just kill all of our efforts. we worked super hard and did not have a whole lot of awesome success. i feel bad for my comp, he is how i used to be and does not quite understand what is a successful mission, so i hope i can help him with that. it was hard to feel like that, but we just have to do our very best. i wrote about the rest of it in Dad's email. 

to answer your questions: what built my faith was getting some more referrals--that in itself is an answer to my prayers, that was awesome.  my fave person was probably a guy named T. we got him to come back to church, so that was good. the most frustrating thing was having appointments cancel so many times, that was terrible, and it makes planning stressful. the best thing was the member referral we got from our dinner appointment last night. 

i bet Halloween was super fun, hahaha you are gonna have to compete with Bonnie! sounds like a success haha. that sounds like you have some good movies coming out too, keep the list, because i will want to see them. i did not get to see the training, that is cool though, it is true we have to convert ourselves before we can convert others. we cannot convert them beyond our own conversion. i always feel the need to strengthen my testimony, it can never be strong enough if you know what i mean. it can be so hard to try and bear testimony to someone, and you know things that they are not ready for, so as you keep it simple enough, because you just want to help them understand the blessings they can have in their lives. 

that is too bad you did not get as much of a fast as you wanted, i did not get to fast either, because i woke up low [low blood sugar], so that was kinda crummy. i had a lot to fast for too, but the Lord knows our hearts and our desires, so it does not matter, as long as we do our best. that is good about your knee, i bet you feel so much better. i love getting to exercise (as you know) it helps with everything. that's why i do pull-ups every night before bed, it relieves a lot of stress hahaha. i am doing 300 each night by the way hahaha. i am not sure about voting day on Tuesday, we will see, the lines outside of the judicial center in town have already been crazy enough with early voting. hahaha Brig sounds like a really funny kid, that's my nephew! hahaha 

Mom: Do you still try to fast one meal? I sent you a picture of Brig at church after the time change. He didn't like it too well. :)

yeah, i do fast when i am not low. Brig is a funny kid, i bet he did not like the time change! haha

well, i have to go now Mom, thanks for emailing me. it was great to hear from you, thanks for the pics of Briggy, especially the one with the costumes, i am lucky i did not laugh out loud at that one because we are in the library! well have a great week Mom, love you!

-Elder 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!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

 

 

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 know God still speaks!

What's up Mama,
Holy crap 14 months hahaha. That makes me sound like an old
missionary. It feels just the same though, to answer your question. I
just have to focus on the day ahead of me everyday and do my best.
Thanks for praying for B and S. I am sure it has helped. Sadly, we
haven't been able to make contact with either of them. We did
find three new investigators though this week. It was awesome so our week
was really good. We also had lots of lessons with people we had just barely
met. We just hope now that they turn into investigators. That would be
the best ever!

The weather has been really nice here. It has been about 70 degrees all day
and sunny as usual. I wish Utah would send some of the rain up here.
I like the rain haha. Yeah, the apartment is really nice. I
really like it. It's a nice place. And the dishwasher is nice too haha!
All my mission, up to now, it seemed my dishwasher was my hands haha. It's
still kinda weird to use a real dishwasher haha.

I had heard that the meeting was really good from lots of people who
watched it.  It sounds like it was. Lots of people talked about
President Uchtdorf's talk. It must have been a good one.
That is crazy that Abby is leaving on her mission. Does she leave this
week then? Seven missionaries from our ward this year!!!!!!!!! That is
awesome!

Conference is this weekend!!!!! We are going to be watching at the stake
center probably. They don't broadcast it at our ward building. I am
guessing you guys will watch on the TV downstairs. You doing anything
fun besides that with conference?

I have to get going now. My time is up haha. I am glad to hear that
you guys are doing well. Have an awesome week. Conference will be
super fun. I am so excited! I know we have a prophet on the earth
today. He speaks God's word just as prophets in the Bible did. God is
loving and cares for all of his children. I just love the gospel! My
mission is awesome! Love you guys!
-Elder Sedlacek



What's up Dad,
I will start off with the update from my week. It was awesome. It was
one of the best finding weeks I have had here in Pasco. We found three pretty
solid investigators. Their names are B & M and G. They are all really awesome.
When we first met G we talked to him about having a prophet on the earth and
he said that he wants to hear some of  President Monson to decide if he
is a prophet. What a great question with next weekend coming up huh?
haha. B & M are pretty awesome too. They grew up around
LDS kids, and since then have always kinda wondered what it's all about.
They are working on reading the Book of Mormon right now. Awesome!
As far as B and S go, we weren't able to catch either of them home this
week. We are going to try by tonight though so wish us luck.

Another cool story from this week was when we met a potential named CJ.
Some previous missionaries had talked to her and never went back. The cool
part was when were walking up to her house, I got the prompting to take
a copy of the Book of Mormon out of my backpack and carry it in my
hands, which I don't normally do because I like to have my hands free.
Well, I did it anyway. When we knocked on her door and started
talking to her, she wanted a Book of Mormon, and I had it right in my hands.
She is going to start reading it as well. It was awesome! She is solid too, just
kinda busy where she works, so we hopefully will be able to catch her
home this week.

This week we had a super long training from President Ware on planning
and it was awesome. He did give some hints that I will probably
be transferred, but he does that sometimes and it doesn't end up working
out that way so we will just have to see haha. I will find out on Saturday
where I will be headed or if I will be staying.

Are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The UItes blew
it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They should have won that game. Sounds like they need some 4th quarter
conditioning. I bet Kyle works them to death haha. I heard Bountiful
lost to WX from Elder C so that sucks too haha. It sounds like
it was a bad week for sports. That is good that the 49ers did good
though haha.

That is a cool story for Abby of how she went on a mission. I bet she
will be able to share that with people and help and bless their lives
where ever she is going. I bet she will be a good missionary. That is
great that the ward has seven missionaries sent out this year. Totally
awesome!

That is totally insane that Utah is getting that much rain. It's almost
like Seattle it sounds like. Tri-cities hasn't gotten any rain.
It's been dry, but it's been like 70s so its been great.
I couldn't ask for anything more right now weather
wise haha. I just wish I could see some fall colors! That would be the
only thing.

Good luck with work this week. Do you think they are going to
announce something at conference? It will be cool to hear
some talks in other languages this year. I just hope President
Uchtdorf speaks English haha. I am, needless to say, excited for
conference though. It's going to be awesome!!!!!!!!

I have a testimony of the gospel. I love the power that the
Book of Mormon brings into our daily life. It is sooo important that
we make the day-to-day decisions to have the gospel in our life.
Conversion isn't a one-time thing. It's an everyday process. I know
Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. It is a blessing to have a prophet
on the earth today. I know God still speaks!
Have an awesome week!
Love ya!
-Elder Jake Sedlacek

It was a tough week, but I know the Lord listens to my prayers because of it.

What's up Mama,

This week for me was pretty good. Wednesday it was fun. We went with another set of missionaries to a pizza buffet for our "official" year mark. It was really good, and cheap too, so we might have to go there when we come back up sometime after my mission. 

Tuesday we had a pretty good lesson with G. He didn't come to church, but we are going to follow up with him on why sometime this week.

Up here on Saturday we actually got a thunder storm. It was nice!!! It was also fun to lay on my bed and watch it from the window, because I can from where my bed is haha. The thunder isn't as good as Utah thunder though. It has been pretty hot still, but it's supposed to just be in the 90s this week. The members have been telling us that it should start to gradually cool down now, which will be nice. I am looking forward to that.

It is crazy that it is August already. I am sure Jared will enjoy getting some money for gas. Gas is soooooooo expensive now, so I am not looking forward to that when I get home. I will definately need a job, that's for sure. I just hope it's not too hard to find one with tons of other missionaries coming home at that same time.

So Jeff likes the home theater sound in the basement then haha. It's way fun to watch movies with the bass turned up high. You should have gone down and joined them haha. Maybe it was a sign. Now for me, I can probably sleep through it. I get so tired I can sleep even when it's super noisy haha. That's a mission for you I guess.

I never did hear from the Bishop's son this week to answer your question.

That is good that you got the letter and gave it to Bishop. Did you open it and proof read it or something? I put your name on it so you could and have my permission haha.

Thanks for emailing me today. It was fun like always. I am glad everything is still going good at home. I want you guys to know that I love my mission. Thanks for all the sacrifice you guys go through to keep me out here. I really do have an awesome family. I am so blessed for that! I love the gospel! Love you guys too! Talk to you next week fam.

-Elder Jake Sedlacek

What's up Dad,

This week sounds like it was a good one for you. It was a good one for me too. It was long though. Not a lot of our investigators are home or answering their phones. We haven't been able to get hold of Claudia or Scott for a long time. Fernando works from sunup to sundown everyday, so we never see him either. We do have a progressing investigator with G. We were able to meet with him this week. In the lesson with him this week, he told us exactly how the spirit works before we had even taught it. He has had lots of experiences where he had felt the spirit, and he told me and Elder C that we are guides from the spirit to him. He compared the spirit to lightning for him personally. It comes and leaves really quick without the gift of the Holy Ghost. He said it's good though that we help direct the spirit "lightning" to him. He is just way cool. He is so prepared, which is awesome. 

We have also been working through the area book and contacting former investigators, but so far nothing has really come of that. We are just trying our best to find every chance we get. 

For personal study, I have been going through the book "Believing Christ," and I love that book. It is soo good at giving me more of an understanding of the atonement. If you haven't read it, you should. Even as a family if you guys want. It's just a really good book. I also read in the Book of Mormon every day of course, and I am in Alma with Alma and Amulek. I just love reading about the great things they did as missionaries. It really makes me want to go out and have those same experiences--except for getting thrown in jail and beaten and watching all my friends get burned! That would suck but they are great missionaries anyway.

Things in Washington have been pretty good though, and it sounds like they have for you guys too. I really don't wish that I had gone to the family reunion but it would have been cool to go anyway. I bet you had fun. That is crazy that there are 1200 descendants from Grandpa Berger. That is a lot of people!

Aww yea! Football is started back up! That is crazy that football season is pretty much here already. It will be cool to see if the Seahawks can win the Super Bowl again, even though I'm still not a fan of them. 49ers and Chargers still for me haha.

Sounds like they might as well make you a primary teacher haha. You're doing that a lot it seems. That is funny that Libby is the leader. That doesn't really seem like her to me, but I guess it could be. I always thought she was a shy little girl haha. Guess not now.

In a couple more weeks it's going to be Zone Conference, and I am excited for that. Those are always good and getting to hear from President Ware is always cool too. He is awesome.

Well, I wish I had some way cool story to share from this week, but it was really just kind of a tough week. But I do know the Lord listens to my prayers because of it. There are times where I feel like not doing anything and just feel like I wanna give up, but I pray in my heart and I have the energy to keep going. It is way cool. The spirit really does help me all the time. I feel its' promptings and I always try to follow them and things work out. I know Jesus Christ lives and the priesthood was restored. There were lots of people this week who challenged that to my face and I was able to bear my testimony to them. They didn't listen, but I hope they felt something. I just love the gospel! Thanks for all that you guys do for me to keep me out here. I pray for you every day! Love you guys!!!!

Have an awesome week!
-Elder Sedlacek

A record-breaking week!

This is Elder Sed's 1/13/14 email to his Dad. He seems to write more details of his daily experiences to Dad, while he answers Mom's questions about whether he is staying warm and if he needs anything. :) 

What up "grandpa!" haha {This must be Jake's idea of a joke because there are no grandbabies on our horizon!}

How was your week? It sounds like it was a pretty good one to me. I had a great week. You said you wanted to hear about the investigators we have. I will just say, we taught 25 lessons this week! That is a new record in Sunnyside for all that I know. I wish I could tell you guys about all of them but I don't have the time to do that. I am doing really well on my journal from what I think. It will be fun to read through it with you guys after I am done. I am halfway through the first one so in another 5 months or so I will need a new one haha. I write down the spiritual stuff along with the stuff I want to remember. 

Well, the coolest thing that happened this week was with our investigator Cheyenne. She is a 14 year old girl. Her mom is a less-active member and they want to get back into church. I really love their family. They are awesome people. They have a little daughter who reminds me of Libby. It is crazy how much they are alike. Anyway, we had a great lesson with Cheyenne at a member's house on Monday for FHE. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ (which is my favorite lesson to teach) and the spirit was super strong. It was an amazing lesson--probably one of the best of my mission so far. We put her on date for the 25th and she is super excited for her baptism. It is going to be awesome to see her get baptized. The member is going to baptize her, but at least I get to be involved somehow! 

Jose has been working on some stuff and I am confused about him right now. He texted us last night that he wanted to talk to the bishop and he had some "bad news." He has not told us what it is yet so I am a little concerned. I am sure we will find out soon enough. We taught him and his family a lesson this week also. He wants all of his family to find the gospel, not just him, so he is being a missionary and he doesn't even know it. It was cool to hear him testify to them of the Book of Mormon, and he isn't even a member yet. He is a great guy, who happens to have some struggles, so I don't know when he will be baptized yet but we are working on it.

Another investigator we have is Marie. She is an African American woman with kids. She is an awesome mother who wants to find the best for her kids because she had a messed up childhood, and she doesn't want that for her kids. She came to church yesterday and she really liked it. She wants all of her family to come along with her next week. By the way, we had 10 investigators commit to coming to church this week, which would have so been so amazing if it had worked out that way, but we did have 5 actually make it, which is still amazing. It is the most investigators I have seen come to church in one week.

It is crazy how things are working out missionary work-wise. We never have to go finding ourselves. They just keep on coming to us, which is awesome. This week we dropped three investigators, but we picked up five. We have soooooo much work right now. It is so freaking (pardon my language dad haha) AWESOME!!!!! I know the Lord is hastening his work of salvation because I see it every day. People who  I would think would never accept the gospel are very interested in the church and want to be baptized.

It is great that you guys are seeing miracles because of my service as a missionary. You guys deserve every single one. I am so grateful for all that you sacrifice. I truly am.

It sounds like church was great for you. I bet ward conference was good.

I love the sports updates Dad. I already knew the score of the Seahawks game because everyone in Washington is crazy fans of them. If it was up to the state of Washington the Seahawks will win. I bet they will, though, just because they have an awesome coach and an amazing team with lots of talent. It sucks that the Chargers lost, but oh well. I still like the 49ers so I hope they beat the Seahawks haha. You asked me who I think will go to the Superbowl, and I am betting it will be the Broncos and the Seahawks, sadly enough. I hate both teams haha.

Well, it was great to be able to write you guys with a lot of info on our investigators. Thank you for all that you do again. I love you guys so much!

-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