Serving in Sacramento: 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