Fill your life with meaningful service

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty good. Sad to hear about the passing of Elder Scott:( it's so crazy we will be sustaining 3 new apostles! Our Ward mission leader legit thinks Mitt Romney will be one of them...hahaha bless his heart.

We did a lot of service this week at the thrift shop and the good old folks home :) which is always fun. We found a nasty wig at the thrift shop and took turns taking pictures with it on! (I'll send pictures later) hahaha but that was pretty hilarious, I may or may not have lice. Haha jk.

Saturday night was the General Women's Conference, it gave me that spiritual boost I needed! I absolutely LOVED President Uchtdorf's talk. I love the way he told his story. Something I've learned on my mission is how to be happy. I know I've said this in past emails, but this is the happiest I've ever been in my life and it's the hardest thing I've done in my life! True happiness really does come from serving others. President Uchtdorf said one way to be happy is to fill your life with meaningful things. I've realized while I'm on my mission, my entire life, 24-7, is filled with meaningful things! My absolute favorite quote is by President Hinckley says, "generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others."

If you want to be happy, then serve:) the closing song we sang at women's conference really stood out to me...it says,

2. Go forth with love to tell the world
The joy of families--
That we may be with those we love
Thru all eternity.
Go forth to serve and do your best
With no thought of reward;
Then you shall know the boundless joy
Of serving Christ, the Lord.

That was my spiritual insight of the week;) ha! Dontchya just love President Uchtdorf? Brother Martin says he has a man crush on him! Hahaha

Anyway the rest of the week went good. One day we went to the park and drew Mormon pictures on the side walk with chalk & wrote mormon.org so hopefully someone will see that & check it out:) we came back the next day & someone had crossed out the 2nd "m" so it said moron.org rude huh?

Anyway thanks for all the emails & letters. I'm so grateful for all of you in my life. You guys are da best!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK! & enjoy General Conference!!!

Love always,
Sister Sobotka

Pics
1. sister Starnes & I
2. A real life pic of us Tracting (thx for the pic elders)
3. Our zone lunch @ Buffalo Wild Wings
4. My 16th birthday

Good People of El Dorado Hills

Oh hey!

First of all, can you believe it's been a whole year since I received my
call to Sacramento?! Ah I am so happy to be here and the time is just flying
by.

It's been another lovely week in El Dorado Hills! Ok just gonna be
completely honest and say not a lot happened this week. Hahah! But, it
was still a great week! We had interviews with President & Sister
Jardine this week which is always good. We talked about what it means
to me a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I know, I talk about how amazing this area is all the time, but
it seriously has the best people. I am just blown away at how many
good people there are. It makes me happy to see how strong the people
in the church are all over the world.

We had dinner with the Ales family this past week and I just
absolutely love this family. They are so down to earth and just
genuinely good people. I think one of my favorite parts of being a
missionary is going to families houses for dinner, you get to see how
other people live and meet so many cool families. If ya think about it,
it's such an amazing opportunity to serve a mission.

This past week I've been thinking a lot about how people say missions
are a "sacrifice" (this is super embarrassing because my whole
farewell talk was about how a mission is a sacrifice hahah) but it's
truly such a privilege to be serving my Heavenly Father for 18 months
of my life. When will I ever get the chance to not worry about school,
or money or anything except doing the Lords work 24-7 ever again?

On Saturday we helped with the "Folsom Community Day of Service" we
helped pick up tons of bags for a food drive! It was so much fun and so
many people were there. We filled our entire car full of food! We
were even on the news for it since our car was the fullest! Just tryin
to be famous.

Anyway things are going really well with Sister Starnes! We have been
able to visit a lot of less actives this week and try to help build
their faith:) We are also committing all the member families to invite
someone to the trunk or treat Ward activity!

Well that's about all I have to report on! But also...HAPPY 18
BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!!!!!! Omg I can't believe you're 18 years old. I hope
you're having a fun senior year:)

Love,
Sister Sobotka

Sister Sobotka with her companion Sister Starnes

Have I Done Any Good?

Good Morning :)

I just feel like I have so much to write this week but, I'll try to keep it short.

I just first want to start off saying that I love being a Missionary. I know I just sound like the biggest nerd ever saying that but ah I just love having this privilege of sharing my testimony everyday.

So I gave a talk in church yesterday & guess what!!!! I still hate public speaking :)) haha I don't know if I'll ever not be nervous when I'm giving a talk. But I don't think it went horrifically terrible! Sister Starnes & I were both asked to speak, & we got the call Saturday night! Ha!

This past week has just been really good. I absolutely love Sister Starnes! She is always so happy and positive. She makes it so easy to get stuff done since she's always so optimistic :) I really love working with her!

Last night we had an amazing lesson with the Sorenson boys! It was at the Stones home & all the Stone boys were there!!! Ah they remind me SO MUCH of Taylor, McKay, and Andrew. We played ping pong with them & man it just made me miss my little brothers so much. Then we had the lesson. The Sorenson boys have been taught one of the lessons, but hadn't been taught the first lesson yet so we got to teach the Restoration. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and Kyle told us he would start praying about a date for baptism :) it's amazing how you can feel the spirit testifying of truth while you're teaching. They are seriously the cutest sweetest little boys. Also, their Grandma was there as well & you could tell she really felt the spirit! We asked her to read the Book of Mormon & she said it would be an honor!! So some great things are happening with them:)

Also I forgot to write about this, but a few weeks ago Sister Kauvaka & I were out visiting some less active members and we got kind of "lost" but we saw this moving truck outside of a house & I remember having a district meeting at the beginning of my mission & my district leader said, "if you ever see a moving truck, stop what you're doing and help" so that's what we did! We got out and asked these two girls if they needed help and they accepted:) so we called some elders and helped them move to these apartment in the elders (APs) area. I was so happy we were able to help. I wrote down their address & sent the referral to the Assistants. Then last night the Assistants texted us & said they went & met the girls & they are super interested in learning about the church & accepted to hear the lessons :) AHH a miracle!

Well everything else is going great! I am so happy out here. I honestly love every minute of being a missionary. I love getting to meet new people & share this amazing message with everyone (I know I sound so cheesy) but this is sincere:) even though I'm getting fat I still love being out here. Haha! It's such a privilege getting to serve my Heavenly Father for 18 months of my life. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I absolutely love how Heavenly Father has created this amazing plan for us to return to live with him again. How we can change and repent and become better people everyday.

I hope you all choose to have a great week this week & remember everything your Savior has done for you. I know I've talked about this before, but I really love the hymn “Have I done any good" especially the 2nd verse where it says:  "There are chances for work all around just now, opportunities right in our way. Do not let them pass by, saying, 'sometime I'll try,' but go and do something today."  Heavenly Father puts opportunities to do good right in our way! But it's our responsibilities to act on those. I hope you all look for those opportunities every single day and help those around you.

I love you!! Choose to make it a good week:)

Love,
Sister Sobotka

Transfer Week

Hi Guys,

Transfers were this week & I am staying here in El Dorado Hills,
but I’m getting a new companion! Sister Starnes!!!! She's seriously the
cutest, sweetest thing!

So President Jardine changed how we do transfers. On Saturday night we receive
a call from the Zone Leaders & all they tell us is if we are staying
or leaving. So the Zone Leaders told me I would be staying & told Sis
Kauvaka she would be leaving! Then on Monday morning everyone who is
being transferred meets at the mission office and we sit in the chapel
& President Jardine pulls up our picture on a big screen & announces
who our new companion will be! Isn't that nerve racking?!!? But, this
transfer the AP's messed something up and accidentally sent out an
email on Sunday night to the whole mission & we found out who our
companions were going to be! Haha so by the time we all got to the
meeting on Monday everyone already knew what was happening. Hahaha!
It was really fun to be with all the other missionaries. Anyway it was
super sad to say goodbye to Sis Kauvaka :( she is such a great
missionary & helped me learn how to work hard!

I was so nervous about this transfer, but I got the cutest companion
ever!!!! Let me tell you about her. Her name is Sister Starnes &
she's from North Carolina! She's 22 & she's is this sweet little
southern girl. She says "ya'll" & is just your typical southern
sweetheart! Ah I wish you could all meet her:) we already get along so
well & I'm just super excited for this transfer!!

This past week has been really good. Dad, you're going to be super mad
at me because I already cracked my iPad screen:((( I know I'm the
worst!!!! So I set my iPad down in the back seat of the car & then put
my bag on top of it...then when we got home I got out of the car &
yanked my bag out & the iPad went flying across the drive way:'( (rt
if you cried) but don't worry it's just a small crack.

Also this week we got to go to an Oak Ridge high school volleyball
game because one of the McGill girls plays for them! It was super
fun!! Ha it felt weird to be at a high school sporting event. Then we
got to go to the Folsom Symphony concert thing because Sister Martin
(lady we live with) was preforming & it was this big outside concert &
we got to talk to a ton of people about the church!

Anyway the rest of the week went really good:) our missionary class in
Sunday school is going soo great!!! Things are starting to happen here
& I'm just super pumped to be here with sister Starnes. I'm just so
grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows exactly what we need❤️
I hope you all had a wonderful week & choose the right & read your
scriptures & remember to love everyone!!!

Love always,
Sister Sobotka