Three Months!

Hello hello hello everybody!!!!
I hope you all had a happy Halloween:)

I had another incredible week! I keep telling sis. Burt that I'm in trouble haha. I just LOVE THESE PEOPLE SO MUCH! Seriously, by the time I leave Michigan my heart is going to be gone.

It's crazy how fast the past 3 months have gone! They have been some of the hardest I've experienced for different reasons, but I am having the time of my life out here! The mission was one of the best decisions I have ever made... No joke.

I'll update ya on our people... I LOVE them all so much. When Heavenly Father says that he has been preparing people to hear his message, he means it. They are the elect and I'm grateful to have met them all.
First is N #1. HE IS DOING AMAZING!!!!! Seriously the amount of growth we have seen out of him this week is insane. He has already read up to Jacob in the BOM, and he has given us not one but TWO referrals. The guy gave out TWO BOM's this week?! And he's not even baptized yet. Like what the heck?! How awesome is that? He has truly become converted. He had his baptismal interview on Sunday and he passed!!!!!!! His dunk day is this Saturday and we are stoked for him!

Next we have L! My goodness she is on fire! She has been reading the BOM and here's what she said; "I don't understand why anybody would not want to read this book. It's amazing". She has a testimony of both Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We had her on date for the 24th but we have to push her back to December 8th. She got diagnosed with breast cancer in June. She finished up chemo but she still needs to do radiation. She will be going in to get a small dose 5 days a week for the next little while. We felt it would be better to give her more time. 

But seriously, she has been through hard things! She has a little son with down syndrome, she doesn't have family around her, and she is going though the cancer fight... but she doesn't let these things knock her down. She knows that with God, all things are possible. She has the best most positive attitude towards life and people and I have already learned loads from her. She has changed my life.
Our last solid person is N #2. Yesterday was his very first time at church and he got up and shared his testimony. It was AWESOME!!!!!!! He knows that he has a Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ that will always be there to help him. He has a testimony of prayer and he knows that God answers them.
The sad part is that he's a young adult. Because of that, we have to refer him to the YSA sisters. We have a transition lesson with them tonight. We know that the YSA ward is exactly where he needs to be. At first he didn't want to go, but he's down for it now. He'll definitely be one that is baptized by the end of the year!

And on another note, we went tracting one night in this cute 'lil neighborhood. One of the houses had a HUGE hippo statue sittin on their front lawn hahaha. They weren't interested in the gospel but they let us take photos with it so we left pretty satisfied ;). Definitely a highlight of my life haha.

As part of my studies one day this week, I felt the need to study the topic of spiritual gifts.
I looked up some scriptures, and did some pondering and what I realized is this; if you want to understand how the spirit speaks to you, seek to understand your spiritual gifts.
Heavenly Father gives us spiritual gifts so that we can better accomplish the work he has for us to do. They are meant to bless us, but more importantly bless those around us. As we use our spiritual gifts we will become spirit filled, we will understand the voice of the spirit, and we will understand our purpose here on earth. It's often hard for us to recognize spiritual gifts in ourselves, but as we turn to our patriarchal blessings and ask the Lord in prayer, Heavenly Father will help us come to understand them!

I watched a pretty amazing video this week that I want to share with you for one last thought. It's called "we are graven upon the palms of his Hands" by Elder Holland. Definitely go look it up!
I was thinking this week about how when we are resurrected, we will lose all our scars and our bodies will be restored to their perfect frame. And then I thought about Christ. After he was resurrected, he still had his scars. Just think about that for a moment. Christ kept his scars. The scars that represent his suffering for you and for me. He kept his scars so that we can always be apart of him, and so that we can come to know him. He kept his scars because he loves YOU. He sacrificed for YOU. And he knows YOU.

Anyways, I love you all and your support means the world!

Talk to you next week!
Sister Sedlacek