Sweet Potato Festival

Hi Family & Friends!

So probably the craziest thing that happened to us this week is that we
volunteered at this sweet potato festival and it was for the “Negro
Women Association"  hahaha so yeah it was a ton of African American
people eating sweet potatoes. Good memory<3

Oh remember Brittany I talked about a few weeks ago? We met her
because we had a potential that lived there but no one by that name
lived there and Brittany answered the door and said she was looking for a
church to come to! She came to church this Sunday!! But like here's
the thing it was regional conference- so she was seriously like way
confused. Haha we haven't taught her yet, but we are hopefully going to today!
She's super sweet and said she loved church and would come again!

Regional conference was super good! There were 4 speakers- Sis
Oscarson, Elder Renlund, Elder Grow & Elder Hamula(70's). It was cool
because I've met Elder Hamula and Elder Grow on my mission! But I loved
Elder Renlund's talk. He spoke about keeping things basic and bearing
testimony of the Restoration! It was really good because so many times
we over complicate things, but the gospel is so simple!

Yesterday on Valentine's Day this random guy gave us roses on the
street so we took a cute pic with him.

Anyway that's about all I got! Keep choosin the right❤️❤️❤️

Love always,
Sister Sobotka

The Lords Timing

Hi everybody!!

Okay so I can't even tell you all how amazing this week was!!
Cathy's baptism was this Saturday and it was the most spiritual
experience ever! I'll give you a little run down on Cathy-she has
lived next door to this awesome family in our ward (the Jensens) for
17 years. She has literally been taking the missionary lessons for 17
years! And this past year of 2015 she committed herself to come to
church for the whole year and really decide if it was true. She was the
number 1 family history indexer in the Sacramento stake and she wasn’t
even a member!! She has been paying her tithing, and faithfully been
coming to church for a year & she just barely decided to get baptized.
The baptism was amazing. So many people from the ward came and so
many of Cathy’s neighbors! It was a full house! I've never seen someone
so excited to be baptized. It was such an incredible thing to witness.
You could just feel Heavenly Fathers love for her and the sense of peace
that was in that room. It was such an amazing experience and one that I will
never forget!

The rest of the week was SO SLOW! Haha I can't even tell you, but our
little trio had a good discussion on the verse Alma 26:27, where it
says, "bear with patience thine afflictions and I will grant unto thee
success"  how so many times as missionaries we think of success as
something you can see and show off to people (aka like baptisms) but
like President Hunter said, "Visibility does not equate to value".

I'm just so grateful we got to see Cathy get baptized and make that step
to come closer to her Savior Jesus Christ. I wish I could explain to
all of you how strong the spirit was in that room. President Jardine
came to the baptism and committed Cathy to bear her testimony in church
the next day and she agreed. So yesterday Cathy got up after her
confirmation and bore the most powerful testimony!! Although I've only
known Cathy for a few weeks, it strengthened my testimony of why I am
here on a mission. To see that mighty change of heart in someone and
help them come closer to Christ. It also helped me realize that the
Lord's timing is not always our timing! 17 years of missionaries!!
That we don't always see the big picture. But Heavenly Father loves
all of his children and some it takes longer than others:)


Anywhoo hope you all have a wonderful week & CTR!!

Love, Sister Sobotka

1 Year Down!

Hi Family & Friends!

1 year down?! What!! So crazy that a year ago I was in the MTC with
Sister Marks:) This past year has been the best and hardest year of my
 entire life, I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving the Lord.

This week has been filled with hours & hours of biking-that's not even
an exaggeration. (Last week of the month aka no miles for our car) So
remember Beatrice and her family that I wrote about last week? Yeah she
just moved?? Out of the blue without even telling us!! Haha we were
literally so disappointed.

Then we biked around and talked to everyone and I mean EVERYONE! And not
one single person was interested in the slightest! Every person we
talked to we asked for referrals and none of the referrals were
interested either! Haha it was crazy. But hey, I know the Lord is
preparing people here.  Cathy's baptism is this Saturday! She is so
awesome. She's been coming to church for the past year and has been
paying tithing for the past 6 months. She will make an amazing member!

We met one old lady this week who wanted to bash with us so hard! She
was raising her voice at us telling us about how the Book of Mormon
wasn't true and how Joseph Smith wasn't a Prophet! We all just kinda
stood there and listened to her and Sister Sili just invited her to read
the Book of Mormon and then we left. As we biked away I was so sad and
annoyed. I mean I've met a lot of people like this on my mission but
for some reason she just really bothered me. Was I supposed to state
my opinions right back at her? Then later this week I read about
Sherem in Jacob 7. How in verse 5 Jacob says, "He (Sherem) had hope to
shake me from the faith...I could not be shaken" I thought about
Jacobs powerful testimony, that even though Sherem was going around
bad talking the church Jacob's testimony was solid & firm. I read a
talk going along with this called, "Christian Courage: The Price of
Discipleship" by Elder Robert D. Hales. I loved this talk!! There was
a quote that really stood out to me that said, "Some people mistakenly
think responses (to accusers) such as silence, meekness, forgiveness,
and bearing humble testimony are passive or weak. But to “love [our]
enemies, bless them that curse [us], do good to them that hate [us],
and pray for them which despitefully use [us], and persecute [us]”
(Matthew 5:44) takes faith, strength, and, most of all, Christian
courage." I realized the importance of being Christlike in all
situations, even when that lady was very strongly voicing her opinion.
Elder Hales goes on to say, "...All who seek to know how we should
respond to our accusers, I reply, we love them. Whatever their race,
creed, religion, or political persuasion, if we follow Christ and show
forth His courage, we must love them. We do not feel we are better
than they are. Rather, we desire with our love to show them a better
way--the way of Jesus Christ."

The rest of the week went well! I'm so grateful for my 2 sweet
companions and all that they do! We have fun and work hard together:) we
had Ward conference this week and our Stake President spoke about
missionary work! It was really great. I hope you're all looking for
opportunities everyday to share your testimony and bring people closer
to Christ.

Love you all! CTR

Love,
Sister Sobotka

1 Year Down

Exchanges with Sister Naylor

Contacting at Sac City College