tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5494064753117035502024-02-07T04:58:24.458-08:00Serving in SacramentoSister Sobotkaashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05412044764011466439noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-76620232612977162992016-08-08T21:35:00.001-07:002016-08-08T21:35:24.037-07:00Weekly E-Mail - August 8th - Last One!Hey Everyone,<br /><br />Okay sooo that was a complete accident on Thursday when I sent that<br />email. haha so embarrassed that that happened hahaha. Story of my<br />life.<br /><br />Well it's my last P-Day & last time emailing! So I just wanted to thank<br />you all for the love & support & prayers you've all given me over the<br />past 18 months. I've said this countless times, but deciding to serve<br />a mission was the best decision I've ever made. I've learned so many<br />lessons & have been able to feel love of my Heavenly Father for me &<br />for the people I've taught. I know that God is our Loving Heavenly<br />Father & He loves us more than we can even comprehend. I know we can<br />always turn to Heavenly Father in prayer & He is always there for us.<br />I know that the mission has changed me because I've learned how to use<br />the Atonement more fully in my life & have had the incredible<br />opportunity of watching others change through Jesus Christ & His<br />Atonement. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for each one of us & that<br />He lives today. I wish I could explain everything I've learned on my<br />mission, but I think that's why Heavenly Father set it up this<br />way-that we all get called to different places with people that we<br />don't know, so we can each have our own individual experiences. I've<br />been blessed with the best companions & amazing wards & have made the<br />greatest friendships here with the people of Sacramento. I know that<br />Joseph Smith was a prophet of God called to restore God's church back<br />on the Earth today. I know the priesthood has been restored & we can<br />be sealed with our families forever! I know The Book of Mormon is the<br />word of God & any concern can be answered by feasting upon the words<br />of The Book of Mormon. I've loved being an instrument in the Lords<br />hands in bringing people closer to Jesus Christ & I know I've been<br />brought closer to Him by doing so.<br /><br />This past week we had the opportunity to teach a 17 year old boy,<br />Ethan. He's so prepared & at the end of the lesson he asked us what<br />the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meant to us. I bore my<br />testimony of how much I love this gospel. Of course I started to tear<br />up thinking about the experiences I've had over the course of my<br />mission & how I know that it's the gospel that brings true happiness!<br />Before my mission I thought of the gospel as a little section of my<br />life, but I feel like I more fully understand that the gospel is my<br />life-in every aspect. I've loved being able to serve my Heavenly<br />Father & bear testimony of His Son, Jesus Christ, every single day.<br />I've learned that true happiness is when we are in the service of<br />others. One of my favorite quotes comes from True to the Faith that<br />says, "The Savior invites you to give of yourself in the service of<br />others. Your opportunities to do so are limitless. Each day, look for<br />ways to gladden hearts, to say kind words, to perform labors for<br />others that they cannot do for themselves, to share the gospel. Be<br />receptive to the whispering of the Spirit, prompting you to serve.<br />You will find that the true key to happiness is to labor for the<br />happiness of others."<br /><br />All I can say is how grateful I am to have had this privilege of<br />serving a mission! Thank you so much to every one of you who have<br />helped me along the way. I'm very blessed for the best family &<br />friends in the world! Can't wait to see you all!!!❤️❤️❤️<br /><br />I love you all. CTR!!!<br /><br />For the last time,<br />Sister SobotkaStephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-1417705968479409952016-08-05T09:09:00.000-07:002016-08-05T09:09:12.240-07:00Weekly Email - August 1st - Not TrunkyHi Family & Friends,<br /><br />Well I've officially been on a mission for 18 months. What in the world!!<br /><br />Last Tuesday all the departing missionaries got to go to the temple.<br />Usually the departing missionaries go to a session the day before they<br />return home, but the Sacramento Temple is going to be closed for the<br />first two weeks in August so our group got to go this week. It was<br />definitely one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. I sat<br />in the celestial room & just thought of the lessons I've learned over<br />the last 18 months & the experiences I've had. It was just a great day<br />& I am just so full of gratitude for my mission. I sat in the<br />celestial room with my MTC companion, Sister Marks & we just teared up<br />thinking back to 18 months ago when we entered the MTC together. I'm<br />just grateful for the friendships I've made here in Sacramento & how<br />it will always have a special place in my heart. After the temple we<br />went to the spaghetti factory with President & Sister Jardine. Ah I'm<br />just gonna miss this mission family so much.<br /><br />After lunch & I had my departing interview with President Jardine. I<br />just love that man. Before the interview I thought, "I don't think<br />I'll cry during this" & the first thing President Jardine asked me<br />was, "how are you feeling right now?" & wow I just started crying &<br />told him how grateful I was for my mission. Then he gave me the whole<br />marriage spiel & talked about her future. Ah what?!<br /><br />The rest of the week was really good. Okay so the Folsom stereo type<br />is that there is "no work" because everyone is rich & set in their<br />ways. I've spent quite sometime in Folsom & have heard this a billion<br />times haha but yeah i just ignore it usually haha. But last night we<br />got the biggest miracle call. We had a lady from another Ward call us<br />& tell us her best friend is ready to take the lessons! She said she<br />has taken the lessons before from the Elders, but that the elders<br />weren't very considerate so she's been waiting for months to be able<br />to be taught by sisters!! Sister Adam & I were so excited we started<br />to tear up. She gave us her number & she was so excited!!! She asked<br />if we could come for dinner this week. Her name is Sarah & we will be<br />going over this week!<br /><br />I've just learned that when you're doing your best the Lord takes care<br />of the rest. Last year we had zone conference from Elder Hamula of the<br />70 & he said multiple times, "pray like everything depends on God, &<br />work as if everything depends on you" & I've seen that to be very<br />true! If we pray & truly rely on our Heavenly Father, but then go out<br />there & work Heavenly Father will bless us for our efforts, but we<br />always gotta put in that work.<br /><br />Thank you for all the loving emails this week!!! I'm so excited to see<br />all of you❤️❤️❤️<br />Keep choosing the right & take the time to study your scriptures!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br /><br />Pics:<br />1. Throw back to Sis Marks & I in the MTC 😂<br />2. Sis Marks & I's last temple trip:(<br />3. The Folsom Zone<br />4. The cute sisters I go home with<br />5. Our departing group!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir7h2m1EF9y1J9PADCPQQ0Ts-4QoTxk-v7k0_bNRZ1keZjmkvsNR8ZNqgBem_VHFNKK2lzgkG3LNtQKmF49qWzSx0GXxzjcU3Gn6tj29aR_JEiZtVNuGX6YH3-nXP50ivUU573AdCAyY0E/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir7h2m1EF9y1J9PADCPQQ0Ts-4QoTxk-v7k0_bNRZ1keZjmkvsNR8ZNqgBem_VHFNKK2lzgkG3LNtQKmF49qWzSx0GXxzjcU3Gn6tj29aR_JEiZtVNuGX6YH3-nXP50ivUU573AdCAyY0E/s320/image4.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8TTlwpvLOjsGmivTtzqhaW4iRtPSUW6J962HMGddnXPlszIJFjE2j6uOqaOM6Sb1uxXbKFRWiZWJvTtwLM_UnymK5h5bOo6shLY1mXpRFz0qBClMmCG6w761I0tjXrA0Opn5D2ub5D93H/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8TTlwpvLOjsGmivTtzqhaW4iRtPSUW6J962HMGddnXPlszIJFjE2j6uOqaOM6Sb1uxXbKFRWiZWJvTtwLM_UnymK5h5bOo6shLY1mXpRFz0qBClMmCG6w761I0tjXrA0Opn5D2ub5D93H/s320/image3.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4M7fcKttDK1_315CkvI63sA4yDZxQ-UmqiuwtJqSAckXFEIhqIWWakEz1BJv2NQ6tXDanGEDrrsej_UqQeT3Mla-L1JVkje9YTC-sQw2pSOKf0eNDdt18EXJkbNHaymRAQLrJkvk0KTIm/s1600/image2.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4M7fcKttDK1_315CkvI63sA4yDZxQ-UmqiuwtJqSAckXFEIhqIWWakEz1BJv2NQ6tXDanGEDrrsej_UqQeT3Mla-L1JVkje9YTC-sQw2pSOKf0eNDdt18EXJkbNHaymRAQLrJkvk0KTIm/s320/image2.PNG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH11z62IVdfR7G-dTwnk004RtNnDOYIG7-fmtqipdvOKDr2RIPXO298z9ob7IWgXnA0o6opI4vL13k_n9oXbx1QSMx3tbZYVrWINdvmtqw2fZwtqYhyKxf-9od448CRRF8MP6PvHY60JuJ/s1600/image1.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH11z62IVdfR7G-dTwnk004RtNnDOYIG7-fmtqipdvOKDr2RIPXO298z9ob7IWgXnA0o6opI4vL13k_n9oXbx1QSMx3tbZYVrWINdvmtqw2fZwtqYhyKxf-9od448CRRF8MP6PvHY60JuJ/s320/image1.PNG" width="240" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-33143990717062260812016-07-29T07:38:00.001-07:002016-07-29T07:38:11.049-07:00Weekly Email - July 25th - Mouse in the House of the Lord!Hey everybody!<br /><br />I've had several moments this week where we will be in the middle of<br />teaching a lesson & I just start to tear up about how sad I am that<br />this is almost over. I absolutely love my mission with all of my heart<br />& I can't even explain how much I've learned or how much this<br />experience means to me.<br /><br />Anyway, I'll talk about the funny stuff that happened first! So<br />yesterday at church sacrament meeting had just started, but a mouse<br />ran through the chapel & everyone freaked out!! (Including me) Hahaha<br />so some men of the Ward started chasing it around, but they could not<br />grab it. So we kinda put the whole meeting on pause to try & catch the<br />mouse, haha it ran out into the foyer into the couch! So 2 men picked<br />up the couch & carried it outside Hahahah. So yeah that was crazy!<br /><br />So we started teaching that couple that came to church last week! &<br />they are just so sincere & so ready to learn! We had an incredible<br />lesson with them & Melody asked me if I was homesick & ready to go<br />home & I just started to cry telling her how much I'm gonna miss this.<br />How amazing it's been!! Ah so grateful to be out here.<br /><br />Grateful for Pioneer Day & man every time I think of the pioneers I'm<br />just amazed at the sacrifices they went through. We sang "Come Come Ye<br />saints" yesterday at church & the line "& if we die, before our<br />journeys through, all is well" has always just amazed me!! These<br />people put all their trust & hope in the Lord & are such heroes to me!<br /><br />Anyway keepin it short this week 😘<br />Hope you all choose the right & are enjoying your summer! Hope the<br />family has so much fun at the Spanish Fork rodeo!!! Take some cute<br />pics for me:)<br />Sorry this email is all over the place!!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sis Sobotka<br />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-72385010073936799172016-07-29T07:35:00.004-07:002016-07-29T07:35:58.308-07:00Weekly email -July 5th - I'm going going, back back to Folsom FolsomWell I'm officially starting my final transfer! 13th transfer, 14th<br />companion & 6th area. Seriously my mission has been so crazy!! But I<br />wouldn't have it any other way.<br /><br />I can't even explain how happy I am to be finishing my mission in<br />Folsom! Last week we got the call that Sis Lillie would be training in<br />Rescue & at first I was so sad, because I love it here. But then later<br />in the week I got the call that I'm white-washing/shot gunning<br />(whatever you kids call it now a days) 2 wards in Folsom that have had<br />elders forever! & I'll be able to see my fav members from el dorado<br />hills!!! My new companion is Sis Adam. She's from St George & she's so<br />sweet! She's so kind & im just loving life. So yeah Heavenly Father<br />loves His children. Still super sad I won't be able to teach Jana<br />anymore, but she's so solid for baptism so it's aight.<br /><br />I have so much to write about this week & I'll do my best to<br />summarize. I only have 5 more weekly emails so they gotta be good. ;)<br /><br />K first of all, we had the most amazing lesson with the part member<br />family I talked about a few months ago (The Linns) he's a member-grew<br />up in the church, his family is all active but he isn't. Sad. & his<br />wife isn't a member! Anyway we talked to them all about The Book of<br />Mormon & just testified with all our hearts. & they said they would<br />both read it & they were so excited! The spirit was just so strong &<br />it was one of the most powerful lessons I've been in.<br /><br />Okay also this we had this way cool experience at the temple. There's<br />a recent convert in our Ward named Jacob, who got baptized about 3<br />months ago & he was able to take his dad's name to the temple & be<br />baptized for him! It was such a cool spirit there. Temples are such a<br />blessing & it made me realize how grateful I was that I live so close<br />to one & was able to do baptisms for the dead growing up. Never take<br />that for granted!!<br /><br />Anyway I hope you all had an awesome 4th. Oh I got to celebrate Canada<br />Day because I had a Canadian companion! We had this stuff called<br />"Poutine" for dinner which is basically French fries with gravy &<br />cheese? Haha it was cool. But I am just so grateful for America & this<br />beautiful country we live in! We are soooo blessed! I would rant more<br />about my love for America, but this is already long! So yeah God Bless<br />America. I'm proud to be an American! Keep on keeping on! Read your<br />scriptures, say your prayers & CTR❤️💙<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sis Sobotka<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3SNKHJ2_ZT_V_Kw7acv8otE0o0qax0PIpdHIrbNDxnLCKkkStFMOYZO4nKGVr8bMuoGlMrATePMEmPMVV6mCWmmb8Zo7-OhwyH1pxmTqHmo8VuxtPlAhoH8a-GvgtMUKT6m0EKXiVGh_h/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3SNKHJ2_ZT_V_Kw7acv8otE0o0qax0PIpdHIrbNDxnLCKkkStFMOYZO4nKGVr8bMuoGlMrATePMEmPMVV6mCWmmb8Zo7-OhwyH1pxmTqHmo8VuxtPlAhoH8a-GvgtMUKT6m0EKXiVGh_h/s320/image4.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVuvcpjBB5DYIdKbXn9hfGb4uuKiCkdDhkLMV_5AB0VnCFH9ke9ZBob3ud8vJIYN2qo2AOFyQnTOpD7WX8B2pmZKAQJctY84hpReWPXnC73LEk_KbrWMFRFcvnSU24FFpIAiCUinIQHUNC/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVuvcpjBB5DYIdKbXn9hfGb4uuKiCkdDhkLMV_5AB0VnCFH9ke9ZBob3ud8vJIYN2qo2AOFyQnTOpD7WX8B2pmZKAQJctY84hpReWPXnC73LEk_KbrWMFRFcvnSU24FFpIAiCUinIQHUNC/s320/image3.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaJ0b1EDb219n2e-LL0wh61xVo6FqIKfGCRY-FEaJx1ZKKyH6aWuglg_dM-1o3VTjyc_zOhGOSTOpLwBMktGXljOPBRRs0hk7vsyGeaP1Qive7N9w7OboeBDdFXRUcmRSlp-H28tF8PPW/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaJ0b1EDb219n2e-LL0wh61xVo6FqIKfGCRY-FEaJx1ZKKyH6aWuglg_dM-1o3VTjyc_zOhGOSTOpLwBMktGXljOPBRRs0hk7vsyGeaP1Qive7N9w7OboeBDdFXRUcmRSlp-H28tF8PPW/s320/image2.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9YZBKaqwyA-eTp771bEWy43a1Z7CWqTD7Llkuo17BdYB3c4U9PjT1OU390GvWYtWmSUU0YGhOzenSTm8eoJyFd0aE5R4utZWBH-q1D4h64NRTMKXxgMZh-RqWrSfwVohWEkCSsI1kISY/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9YZBKaqwyA-eTp771bEWy43a1Z7CWqTD7Llkuo17BdYB3c4U9PjT1OU390GvWYtWmSUU0YGhOzenSTm8eoJyFd0aE5R4utZWBH-q1D4h64NRTMKXxgMZh-RqWrSfwVohWEkCSsI1kISY/s320/image1.JPG" width="239" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-16250616271461241522016-07-29T07:32:00.003-07:002016-07-29T07:32:48.505-07:00Weekly Email - June 27th - The Gathering of IsraelHey everyone!<br /><br />So this email is gonna be short...<br /><br /><br />Well last Tuesday we had zone conference with Elder Lawrence from the<br />70 (he gave the famous talk "what lack I yet" in General conference) &<br />his sweet wife. She spoke to us first for a few hours & on this deep<br />doctrine stuff like the gathering of Israel & the Gentiles & basically<br />my mind was just blown to all this doctrine I never understood haha.<br />It was really cool! He spoke to us about sacrifice & it was amazing.<br />It was my last zone conference so that was sad, but apparently our<br />mission is just doing really well! It's way cool to see the changes in<br />the mission over these past months:)<br /><br />We had a super cool experience on Saturday night, we pulled up at the<br />gas station & this guy came up to us & asked us if our car broke down,<br />lol we told him no. But invited him to church & he totally came<br />yesterday!! So yeah that was such a cool miracle. Hopefully we will<br />teach him this week!<br /><br />Anyway this email is kinda lame! Hope you all choose the right & read<br />your scriptures this week!!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sis Sobotka<br /><br />This is the scariest picture on my family history line Hahahah<br />Our Ward mission leader (bro Bair & his sons washed our car for zone conf)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNCDhJulPQqWThHEH0Nu9dKkgNn6YqsErw9j3YJcX8g1mcjcedG7v-Agt3IjIcx9Rid1e1vqQkw6rSXsceIPohtkDNcrCCm1V4AuNkQR4o3pNe7aAdJNNz3PX5oHO9VnBnDp82eoyvHnp/s1600/image2.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNCDhJulPQqWThHEH0Nu9dKkgNn6YqsErw9j3YJcX8g1mcjcedG7v-Agt3IjIcx9Rid1e1vqQkw6rSXsceIPohtkDNcrCCm1V4AuNkQR4o3pNe7aAdJNNz3PX5oHO9VnBnDp82eoyvHnp/s320/image2.PNG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduwPmhQF3wMRtnCe0LcFr9g6h90k39sj026okc7A0BQzqBOEZN3F9TWrMmuGNGHZZBpFqVII2FmyS9waF7C-tUXvj60FLjI1HA1dC3K79JRUDFlxMKfwOCxY5pgbzShZ3W6ZK2hdzfTMw/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduwPmhQF3wMRtnCe0LcFr9g6h90k39sj026okc7A0BQzqBOEZN3F9TWrMmuGNGHZZBpFqVII2FmyS9waF7C-tUXvj60FLjI1HA1dC3K79JRUDFlxMKfwOCxY5pgbzShZ3W6ZK2hdzfTMw/s320/image1.JPG" width="320" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-18046898595385968262016-07-29T07:26:00.001-07:002016-07-29T07:26:18.576-07:00Weekly Email - June 20th - Happy Fathers DayHello Everyone!<br /><br />Huge shout out to my trainer Sister Lavea for getting engaged this<br />week!!!! So excited for you:)<br /><br />Happy late Father's Day to all you dads out there. Yesterday I had<br />time to reflect on the important role of fathers & how grateful I am<br />for my dad & his incredible example to me & my family. Elder L. Tom<br />Perry said, “Fatherhood is leadership, the most important kind of<br />leadership. It has always been so; it always will be so. Father, with<br />the assistance and counsel and encouragement of your eternal<br />companion, you preside in the home. It is not a matter of whether you<br />are most worthy or best qualified, but it is a matter of [divine]<br />appointment.”<br /><br />This week has been so good. Jana is so solid. She's reading her Book<br />of Mormon faithfully. She is in 2 Nephi now & is just loving every<br />word. She made it to church again yesterday & is so excited to tell<br />everyone about her decision to be baptized! Yesterday in Sunday school<br />the lesson was all about baptism & members of the Ward were telling<br />their experiences of when they were baptized & Jana commented & said,<br />"I am so excited I can't wait!" Her husband is even starting to read<br />the Book of Mormon with her!!! It's so cool that through her example<br />she is bringing her less husband back slowly, but surely:) it has been<br />such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father to be able to teach her for<br />the last few months of my mission. I am learning so much from her!<br /><br />This week we had dinner at the cutest family's house. So we started<br />talking to them about where they were from & all that getting to know<br />you stuff, they are this younger couple, & the wife said "oh I'm from<br />highland Utah" & I was like "what!! Same with me?" & then she asked me<br />what highschool I went to & I told her American fork, then she said<br />she went there too!! She graduated 3 years before me. Then I asked her<br />what stake she was in & said she wasn't active while she was growing<br />up. Then I asked her about how she became active again, because her &<br />her husband are both super active & are sealed in the temple now. So<br />her husband grew up here in Rescue, but went less active in highschool<br />& ended up getting a girl pregnant & was just partying hard core. He<br />moved to Florida right after highschool & got into some crazy stuff &<br />ended up in the hospital. He said while he was in the hospital he<br />realized how unhappy he was. He said he thought of his parents & how<br />happy they were & he knew it was because of the gospel. While he was<br />in the hospital in Florida he called the missionaries there to come<br />give him a blessing, & then he started meeting with them & moved back<br />to California & worked hard to turn his life around, then he went to<br />UVU & met his wife now. He brought her back into the church! I asked<br />the wife if she has seen a big difference since she has come back to<br />church & she just started to tear up talking saying how much the<br />gospel has blessed her. I asked her if her family is active & she said<br />they weren't & then she said, "I just wish my mom could live my life<br />for one day & see how happy I am" & that just really hit me. How this<br />cute couple was able to fully use the Atonement to change their entire<br />lives! I thought of the quote by President Hunter that says, "Any time<br />we experience the blessings of the Atonement in our lives, we cannot<br />help but have a concern for the welfare of others. … A great indicator<br />of one’s personal conversion is the desire to share the gospel with<br />others."<br />How we can all change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, & when we<br />do have that change our desire to share the gospel with others<br />increases. This family was just a perfect example to me & their story<br />really touched me.<br /><br />I am just so grateful for the people I've met here & the lessons I've<br />learned from them. I can't believe how fast time is flying!! Tomorrow<br />we have zone conference with Elder Lawrence from the quorum of the 70<br />so that should be pretty good. I'm excited. Well I hope you all have a<br />lovely week & remember to be using the Atonement daily. Jesus Christ<br />has given His life for us to use that strengthening, healing power of<br />the Atonement. So I hope you're all using it to become better people:)<br />& are looking for opportunities to share it with others.<br /><br />I love you all! Have a great week. CTR❤️<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br /><br />Oh ps I learned how to us a lasso this week hahaha! Seriously people<br />here are legit Cowboys. (Sorry videos wont attach)<br />
<br />
<br />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-86106257881949663302016-07-29T07:24:00.000-07:002016-07-29T07:24:01.529-07:00Weekly Email - June 13th - For the Family is of GodHey family & friends,<br /><br />This week has been such a crazy one. So my sweet companion Sister<br />Morales headed home today. It was a huge shock to me & her. But it was<br />where the Lord needed her right now. I'm going to miss her so much!<br />She is such a sweet heart & I learned so much from her in these 3<br />short weeks. She's is literally one of the strongest most humble<br />people I've ever met. I'm really going to miss her.<br /><br />This past Saturday we were able to take our cute investigator, Jana,<br />on a temple tour! She loved it!! She is so excited for her baptism.<br />Jana is married to a less active member, but he isn't really involved<br />with the church right now & im just blown away at how prepared Jana<br />is! She is waking up by herself for 8:30 church & reading her<br />scriptures & is just such an incredible example to me. There are some<br />strong people in this world! I'm also just so grateful that we have<br />temples on this earth. During the temple tour they talked about the<br />restoration of the gospel & how blessed we are to have that priesthood<br />power on the earth so we can be sealed to our families. During the<br />temple tour you watch a short video of Elder Holland speaking about<br />his family, he said (me some what paraphrasing), "I can't imagine<br />heaven without my family. That would not be heaven for me" & I've been<br />thinking about that all weekend. How much I love my family & how<br />incredible it is that we are able to be with each other forever.<br />Preach my gospel says, "the family is the most important social unit<br />in time & eternity" I love the concept of families & how Heavenly<br />Father has placed us into these units to help each other learn & grow.<br />Like the primary song says, "God gave us families, to help us become<br />what he wants us to be." One of the very first things we teach as<br />missionaries is, "the gospel blessed families" & that is my favorite<br />thing to share with people because I've seen how much the gospel has<br />blessed my family & that's why I decided to come on a mission to help<br />others have those same blessings. I have such a strong testimony that<br />our families can be together forever because of our loving Savior<br />Jesus Christ.<br /><br />My new companions name is Sister Lillie! She's from Canada & has been<br />out for about 8 months. She was trained by Sis Hickman. So I'm excited<br />to work with for at least these next 3 weeks of the transfer. She's my<br />13th companion. Hahaha seriously the Lord knows I need to learn a lot<br />from a lot of different companions I guess!<br /><br />Also, huge happy 16th birthday shout out to McKay!!!! Don't follow<br />taylors example of how to drive;) hehe love you.<br /><br />I hope you all have a wonderful week & give your families big hugs &<br />realize how blessed you are to have a family! CTR!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj37rDjW5lZHFMKYIF9VnsYqiQ7x5mmG6wtpV1GeIZXVMOLG8fHuu3ZGNlkaSuWa82UZ6Iju_ooxAsqLGkYme4ZGABfnBZUbTZBc99N2bC2kV81GV4FrHmw_Z6osFuRu5fw3wmaHftpTA4j/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj37rDjW5lZHFMKYIF9VnsYqiQ7x5mmG6wtpV1GeIZXVMOLG8fHuu3ZGNlkaSuWa82UZ6Iju_ooxAsqLGkYme4ZGABfnBZUbTZBc99N2bC2kV81GV4FrHmw_Z6osFuRu5fw3wmaHftpTA4j/s320/image2.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBFDsXWgYeC97qYR7ktOTHbSWo1y1kt9zhOZDmrDHjtpiY4HTh5OUI7BxYHrskbo20X0XM62Yqo4r-41lHV7ElI33phARw_ALRngYZAUsphKG72MArAB_MaRncNb3NlLoi-H49hqixc1Lo/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBFDsXWgYeC97qYR7ktOTHbSWo1y1kt9zhOZDmrDHjtpiY4HTh5OUI7BxYHrskbo20X0XM62Yqo4r-41lHV7ElI33phARw_ALRngYZAUsphKG72MArAB_MaRncNb3NlLoi-H49hqixc1Lo/s320/image1.JPG" width="239" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-39497052991355363882016-07-29T07:22:00.000-07:002016-07-29T07:22:08.653-07:00Weekly Email - June 6th - Summer!!Hey everybody!<br />
<br />
Summer is here & it's so hot up here in California! But I'm super<br />
blessed not to be on full time bike right now sooo I can't even<br />
complain.<br />
<br />
This week has been real good! We were able to have some incredible<br />
lessons. We met with a part member family this week-the Linns. I guess<br />
they're always super busy & missionaries have been trying to meet with<br />
them for a while & we finally caught them. We sat down & talked to<br />
them about how God is our loving Heavenly Father & the spirit was so<br />
strong in their home. We asked the dad (the member) why he hadn't been<br />
to church in ages because his whole extended family is still real<br />
active & he just said he hasn't been in so long that he's scared to go<br />
back. That is a huge thing I've learned on my mission-so many less<br />
actives are honestly just scared to go back to church! It's our<br />
responsibility as members to reach out to these people. I also have<br />
the biggest testimony of the importance of visiting & home teaching.<br />
Even if the people who you are assigned to visit/home teach don't want<br />
you going you should still go!!! Or reach out to them somehow. & not<br />
to just check it off your list, but because you love your Heavenly<br />
Father & His children.<br />
<br />
Our investigator Jana made it to church for the first time this week!!<br />
Ah we were so happy:) she was so nervous, but she loved it! She's on<br />
date to be baptized in August, which sounds like forever away but hey<br />
I'm not complaining :)<br />
<br />
Things are going well here! I hope you're all doing well & are making<br />
good choices!<br />
<br />
Also shout out to Bonnie for getting married!!<br />
<br />
Love you all!<br />
<br />
Love always,<br />
Sister Sobotka<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6J5BfflM3nBqKYQfiV7L-XgdHs53-PMLh3l6iO3zJ4Mv_xpgANrKADqJHXzu9Mu4bEwa-n6j5uyoYHSy6jE-CtR3WmW9dCtZSkEtT52lC7mzSi5Cb4JWRXCkMD2fnDwU9gJkRogrBd1Mt/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6J5BfflM3nBqKYQfiV7L-XgdHs53-PMLh3l6iO3zJ4Mv_xpgANrKADqJHXzu9Mu4bEwa-n6j5uyoYHSy6jE-CtR3WmW9dCtZSkEtT52lC7mzSi5Cb4JWRXCkMD2fnDwU9gJkRogrBd1Mt/s320/image1.JPG" width="320" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-17782604122137423772016-07-29T07:19:00.005-07:002016-07-29T07:19:42.442-07:00May 30th - Weekly Email - Mountain ManHi everyone!<br /><br />Okay first of all... HUGE SHOUT OUT TO TAYLOR FOR WINNING THE BASEBALL<br />STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!!! Seriously I'm so proud of you:) all those years<br />of countless baseball tournaments finally payed off ha!<br /><br />Anyway this week has been really good! So I'm serving a little town<br />called "Rescue" it is SO RURUAL. Basically everyone lives on 5+ acres<br />of land. The people here are straight up mountain men. You know how<br />you hear of those mountain people with beards & never wear shirts &<br />play the banjo on their porch in a rocking chair out in the middle of<br />no where while drinking beer? Yeah that's exactly how it is here!!<br />They all have horses & pigs & goats haha it's crazy. We drive a cute<br />little jeep up here & everything is just so spread out. But I<br />absolutely love it!! It's gorgeous & people are so kind.<br /><br />We have some super sweet investigators who are all doing awesome! We<br />had kinda a rough week because basically all of our investigators were<br />outta town for memorial weekend, but they all come home this week<br />woohoo.<br /><br />My companion, Sis Morales, is one of the sweetest people! We get along<br />really well & im just so grateful to be here. She doesn't have a bad<br />bone in her body. I love her!<br /><br />This week I've been thinking a ton about how amazing it is that we<br />have the opportunity to bear testimony of Christ everyday. Today I<br />read 2 Nephi 25:26 "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we<br />preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our<br />prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look<br />for a remission of their sins." & how grateful I am to testify of my<br />savior Jesus Christ! Also so glad that I live in America. I've been<br />thinking about that all day since its Memorial Day & I'm so grateful<br />for the people who have laid down their lives on our behalf that we<br />have religious freedoms & that I'm able to be out here sharing the<br />Gospel with people. I hope you all know how blessed we are to be<br />living in this beautiful country! I love America. 🇺🇸<br /><br />Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week & remember to be an<br />example of Jesus Christ in all that you do.<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br /><br />Sorry no picsStephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-36108288972909471092016-07-29T07:16:00.003-07:002016-07-29T07:16:52.837-07:00Weekly Email May 24th - El Dorado!!!Hi Everyone!!!!<br /><br />First off...SHOUT OUT TO MY BROTHER TAYLOR FOR GETTIN HIS MISSION CALL<br />TO HOUSTON TX! Seriously so excited for you. Also congrats on<br />graduating highschool ;)<br /><br />Soo I got transferred to the El Dorado Zone! Okay so I've wanted to<br />serve here my whole mission & I get to finish here! I'm so happy :)<br /><br />Basically El Dorado is out in the middle of no where in the mountains!<br />We live on a horse ranch haha! It is so beautiful here! & we get to<br />drive a jeep. My new companion is Sister Morales! She's from Georgia.<br />She's been a member for less than 2 years & she's super sweet.<br /><br />Okay I was a little bit sad to be leaving my LC5 Ward. We had the most<br />incredible lesson with Jose my last night there. I was able to bear my<br />testimony to him & it was just an incredible experience. He has been<br />one of coolest people to teach & I know he will get baptized!<br /><br />I was so sad to be leaving the sisters in my apartment :( we got super close.<br /><br />Anyway things are goin good! I really don't have a lot of time to<br />email today so sorry this is short & lame!! Keep reading your<br />scriptures & CTR!<br />
<br />
Love Sister Sobotka.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg27YAxEX9sj4i9Yd4gFcUwzNUMhE_5kQG_RGYntp25Vz-XFWTtchNgkNwSIe0Ccv0yZoCym1NITGzKo2pPf28phL2QIxs3vGlI1q9lb3leSSguTc-o8O5LxRPzbaDkvyxrMW-f6WJ6XNRt/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg27YAxEX9sj4i9Yd4gFcUwzNUMhE_5kQG_RGYntp25Vz-XFWTtchNgkNwSIe0Ccv0yZoCym1NITGzKo2pPf28phL2QIxs3vGlI1q9lb3leSSguTc-o8O5LxRPzbaDkvyxrMW-f6WJ6XNRt/s320/image3.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3R84hUg81O9QfplD4MaAQvR3kMLqhxUCTaTZLYPI2KipkNWPr4jHKouzGrXZTOdw-VpVR5mPmfcVio1XZw82EjJaPeaxYa4U4v7jiLgVaFaO0DO3s38OqT93V1TcNifQn2DlpIa-yuMsV/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3R84hUg81O9QfplD4MaAQvR3kMLqhxUCTaTZLYPI2KipkNWPr4jHKouzGrXZTOdw-VpVR5mPmfcVio1XZw82EjJaPeaxYa4U4v7jiLgVaFaO0DO3s38OqT93V1TcNifQn2DlpIa-yuMsV/s320/image2.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYktzQlJLqcAdcO1Dcg4JU0wcb-yy0egBvrcjZHJHDC9TgMrK8olr7c4nSnacvW_6AloANzTz8tfVLd0UHpxOWNerzoYoWgbxR1_jo75TfGYjzuHXpJoUeefxrnlWm50BwMExCskqyOAtr/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYktzQlJLqcAdcO1Dcg4JU0wcb-yy0egBvrcjZHJHDC9TgMrK8olr7c4nSnacvW_6AloANzTz8tfVLd0UHpxOWNerzoYoWgbxR1_jo75TfGYjzuHXpJoUeefxrnlWm50BwMExCskqyOAtr/s320/image1.JPG" width="320" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-70923277880934682282016-07-29T07:13:00.001-07:002016-07-29T07:13:02.735-07:00May 16th - Weekly E-MailOh hey everyone!<br /><br />Okay this week has been so good!!<br /><br />I've received the best news ever this week! That 3 of the people I've<br />taught in my past areas are all getting baptized this month!!! I'm<br />literally so excited. So the first one I heard about was Susan! She's<br />the lady I taught in Rancho Cordova a few months ago with Sister<br />Hickman:) she's on date to be baptized on the 21st.<br /><br />Then later this week I heard he most amazing news that Jack, this<br />little boy from my first area in Carmichael is getting baptized on May<br />28th! His mom is named Diana & she was a less active member when I<br />first met her in Carmichael. Sister Lavea & I worked really hard on<br />getting her family back to church & when I left Carmichael they were<br />active! Now her 10 year old son Jack is getting baptized!! I remember<br />a year ago when we gave him his first copy of The Book of Mormon:) ah<br />I'm just so happy for him.<br /><br />Then on Friday I found out that a guy I street contacted a few months<br />ago is getting baptized in the YSA Ward! He told the YSA missionaries<br />that "sister Sobotka was so happy when she contacted me that I wanted<br />that same happiness" I was seriously so happy when I heard this news!!<br />It built my testimony of the importance of talking with everyone & the<br />importance of being happy!<br /><br />Also I got 3 flat tires on my bike this week haaaaa!<br /><br />But life is good. I love being here. Everyone have a great week & read<br />your scriptures!<br /><br /><br />Pics:<br />1. I lost a bet & had to wear this dress to district meeting hahaha<br />2. Sister Koyle finished her 12 week training<br />3. The sisters<br />4. Flat tire number 3<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQCRIxCU_B6YpEPj3FX07fnKxIFCVgDXGtx33wulsih3I7MypX4NaWZWnOoqk0M_e-yxP4HfetNGkNgIobw0Oo5J5lwZ_CYGxMiTAmTajwEB8XJBfQbonpX76ICN3yNpz2iEXVfNnQBga/s1600/image5.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQCRIxCU_B6YpEPj3FX07fnKxIFCVgDXGtx33wulsih3I7MypX4NaWZWnOoqk0M_e-yxP4HfetNGkNgIobw0Oo5J5lwZ_CYGxMiTAmTajwEB8XJBfQbonpX76ICN3yNpz2iEXVfNnQBga/s320/image5.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz08YoR_RC8dEkc8j084oTwTtJDUIDa6aAHTzOq0_XAIQ-Pj82i8Zc2xcUj_X-NyMgdXGaLMD1_i_ZMAK4Ppdv18V3N7k2rasz62EasztaKcVvJqBysEUU5ALVJ7qwWAms9TCvrtRS-g2f/s1600/image5.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz08YoR_RC8dEkc8j084oTwTtJDUIDa6aAHTzOq0_XAIQ-Pj82i8Zc2xcUj_X-NyMgdXGaLMD1_i_ZMAK4Ppdv18V3N7k2rasz62EasztaKcVvJqBysEUU5ALVJ7qwWAms9TCvrtRS-g2f/s320/image5.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFELG3f9vrAM21S_r5wRPKaVqijL8l6Rzt8FTrN1Nron5ly9QYPmzvw-rD4EFxoeCx7AGwswGUke5h9395_hnoxcCWzaranasSu7Hss-ixua4CwGwtodaMLXeKTTOLjmTOUD1INNcfDaRL/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFELG3f9vrAM21S_r5wRPKaVqijL8l6Rzt8FTrN1Nron5ly9QYPmzvw-rD4EFxoeCx7AGwswGUke5h9395_hnoxcCWzaranasSu7Hss-ixua4CwGwtodaMLXeKTTOLjmTOUD1INNcfDaRL/s320/image4.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1coDbShnzA1cDwGTWS1U_xneMpKFfTnDAfodSFIAGYCCYkWEFwnmIXGUuDpTFchiE_W76ViBD00TMZzDD-gC76Qq3KbVVsv7SSPNmfEZ2jDYqICfH9Gz2n_HTp3Bf8vuAbfQt8nl-owF-/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1coDbShnzA1cDwGTWS1U_xneMpKFfTnDAfodSFIAGYCCYkWEFwnmIXGUuDpTFchiE_W76ViBD00TMZzDD-gC76Qq3KbVVsv7SSPNmfEZ2jDYqICfH9Gz2n_HTp3Bf8vuAbfQt8nl-owF-/s320/image3.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1ExX1W4qZH45d4hzxbeU-F3Vb5tuTZmeeE_wsSQy1G7KQ-qKp-u9W0zjrFVIGSimVNYYLeqdndlh8RFLZorxmlpgwIKA3TIti0q4NKL-ZJC7cgPjUDXCPrX3RvMa08M-s2ml8iRlPOv6/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1ExX1W4qZH45d4hzxbeU-F3Vb5tuTZmeeE_wsSQy1G7KQ-qKp-u9W0zjrFVIGSimVNYYLeqdndlh8RFLZorxmlpgwIKA3TIti0q4NKL-ZJC7cgPjUDXCPrX3RvMa08M-s2ml8iRlPOv6/s320/image1.JPG" width="239" /></a><br />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-13489071110356515752016-05-09T21:30:00.001-07:002016-05-09T21:30:57.269-07:00Press ForwardHey everyone!!<br />
<br />
Happy Late Mother's Day. I hope all of you lovely Moms had a great day<br />
and know how much your kids appreciate you all! Elder Holland said it<br />
best, "To all Mothers in every circumstance, including those who<br />
struggle--and all will--I say, “Be peaceful. Believe in God and<br />
yourself. You are doing better than you think you are."<br />
<br />
This week has been good! To be honest, there's not a lot going on<br />
right now hahah it's been kinda a rough week, but I'll share a<br />
funny/sad moment with you all:<br />
<br />
One day this week Sister Koyle and I were biking out in the rain, it<br />
had just been a really rough morning. We tried to see one of our<br />
investigators, we biked by her house and she saw us & literally ran<br />
inside to hide from us!! We were so upset. I tried to stay positive,<br />
because I could tell Sister Koyle was really hurt. We read the "No<br />
effort is wasted" section in Preach My Gospel and tried to continue on<br />
our day. We kept biking and talking to everyone, we met some pretty<br />
contentious people! Nobody wanted to talk with us. By this point I was<br />
starting to get a little bit sad, but I didn't want Sister Koyle to<br />
know! I don't like people knowing when I'm sad, haha! I felt like our<br />
area was falling apart and I couldn't understand why. Nobody wanted to<br />
talk to us! It was pouring rain and we were biking! I kept praying in<br />
my heart that something would work out. We kept biking, then Sister<br />
Koyle hit a curb wrong and wrecked!! She just started to cry, not<br />
because she was injured but because it had been a rough day. I got off<br />
my bike and started to cry too. I sat with her on the side of the road.<br />
2 sister missionaries sitting on a puddle on the side of the road in<br />
the pouring rain- it was a pretty pathetic sight to say the least<br />
hahaha. We couldn't help but laugh with tears in our eyes at how awful<br />
the day had been. We looked up as a car drove past that had a bumper<br />
sticker that said, "Smile, God loves you" we both started to laugh and I<br />
thought how God definitely has a sense of humor. We hopped back on our<br />
bikes and kept going. I learned a lot during this day! How now matter<br />
what happens, God is always with us and to just smile because our<br />
Heavenly Father loves us, when the bike knocks you down on the wet<br />
pavement you just got hop back on and keep going! We were able to find a<br />
new investigator that day, we were able to push through the trials of<br />
the day! It felt good. To lay in bed at the end of the day and say "I<br />
pushed through." I thought of the scripture, 2 Nephi 31:20 "Ye must<br />
press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect<br />
brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men..." and how we MUST<br />
press forward and keep going! To continue to love God and all of His<br />
children.<br />
<br />
Haha anyway it was so good to talk to the family:) so grateful God put<br />
us into families, i’m just so blessed. Anyway keep choosing the right<br />
& reading your scriptures❤️<br />
<br />
Love always,<br />
Sis Sobotka<br />
<br />
1. Skype call<br />
2. Elvis is in the building<br />
3. My cutie companion<br />
4. This huge tree!!!!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RHyVpXhAvfww8JTTT2f72H5T6cl_8tT_6uTJF522loBwmPKgPzMXHUUIdQ44rXSaLcEBrrWZpdkMklnKSKpB7JglvHVrMYrt1H11RJ64RoMycDukONBYGp53C-ssIwGXlHwJ935JGCZQ/s1600/image1.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RHyVpXhAvfww8JTTT2f72H5T6cl_8tT_6uTJF522loBwmPKgPzMXHUUIdQ44rXSaLcEBrrWZpdkMklnKSKpB7JglvHVrMYrt1H11RJ64RoMycDukONBYGp53C-ssIwGXlHwJ935JGCZQ/s640/image1.PNG" width="640" /> </a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggba3ma_SsEWKvZWuO7OQ1_8eB2gfS7fbgyBHsF4niX7iOamWxpuuww_kOW7c4oICLM2zDJc-NXZvLI9fk6HtD8ZdD8F_7tbTvqrZOvLkttx1PMu0YwOorER2rNyJ-Sq0nKUPpEn5Iogax/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggba3ma_SsEWKvZWuO7OQ1_8eB2gfS7fbgyBHsF4niX7iOamWxpuuww_kOW7c4oICLM2zDJc-NXZvLI9fk6HtD8ZdD8F_7tbTvqrZOvLkttx1PMu0YwOorER2rNyJ-Sq0nKUPpEn5Iogax/s640/image3.JPG" width="478" /> </a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVReDfV-DJ7BXs-sjt7veIF-i2WL5Qi_4ekfp6jKdCrlbuyljtBrmi8mR4rX6_e5hSJ3XBNO4qXdGuPqP8YXlLoqZo9lfNnQ3xCAYp5PpJdmJ-9gfGC-IjWE_Fy5K8i7hzt_s1-7hN1gAn/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVReDfV-DJ7BXs-sjt7veIF-i2WL5Qi_4ekfp6jKdCrlbuyljtBrmi8mR4rX6_e5hSJ3XBNO4qXdGuPqP8YXlLoqZo9lfNnQ3xCAYp5PpJdmJ-9gfGC-IjWE_Fy5K8i7hzt_s1-7hN1gAn/s640/image4.JPG" width="478" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-40142825998701714202016-05-09T21:30:00.000-07:002016-05-09T21:30:39.424-07:00Acts of Mercy (May 2, 2016)Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
This week was full of service and it was tons of fun, such an amazing<br />
opportunity! For the past 3 or so months the Sacramento Stake has been<br />
organizing this huge service project for refugees in the area. They<br />
called it the "Acts of Mercy Project". They've been collecting all<br />
kinds of items that people might need. On Saturday all the<br />
missionaries in our zone got to help pick up all of the stuff, we then<br />
drove to North Sac and a bunch of missionaries from other zones<br />
helped organize it all. It was amazing!! The Stake President in the<br />
Sacramento Stake is amazing! He always has these projects to help<br />
people get more involved. Also fun fact- The Sacramento Stake is the<br />
most diverse stake in the United States!! There is a Chinese branch,<br />
Marshallese branch, Tongan Ward, Spanish Branch, Fijian unit, Hmong<br />
unit, ASL Unit, and 7 English wards all in one stake!<br />
<br />
Also, I went on exchanges this week to the Spanish branch! It was<br />
so much fun! I went with Hermana Torres. She is such a sweet heart &<br />
she's just hilarious! It was so much fun. We went to a Spanish lesson<br />
and of course I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but I did know<br />
she was teaching the Restoration and I knew the moment she started<br />
reciting the First Vision. The spirit was so strong and I just started<br />
to cry! Even though I don't know any Spanish at all. I've been<br />
thinking about that experience all week. That even though I couldn't<br />
tell what she was saying, the spirit was still able to confirm to me<br />
that what she was saying was true! It helped build my testimony that<br />
the church is true and how amazing the spirit is!! That its able to work<br />
through all languages even if you don't understand, you can still feel<br />
the spirit!<br />
<br />
We also helped our favorite less active member sis Mackay dig sprinkler<br />
holes!! Hahah Dad- you are going to be so proud of the yard skills<br />
I've gained on my mission! I've learned how to fix a broken sprinkler<br />
pipe and I learned how to properly use an axe all in 1 day! Hahaha what<br />
a blessing.<br />
<br />
I finished the Book of Mormon again this week and that was awesome as<br />
usual. I've just been thinking a lot about the song “Scripture Power"<br />
and the line that says, "Because I want the power His word will give to<br />
me, I’m changing how I live, I’m changing what I’ll be." and how I've<br />
just seen how much that line has become relevant to me on my mission!<br />
Once again closing my email about how grateful I am to be a missionary<br />
& to be able to study The Book of Mormon without distractions (aka<br />
cell phone) hahah<br />
<br />
Anyway I love you all. Thanks for all the love & support you give me:)<br />
have the best week & read your scriptures & say your prayers!! CTR<br />
<br />
Love always,<br />
sister Sobotka<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_jOjeuV12wXUEIse1nQ_9AjQ2GF3fEln0LCoq2WnLr1w3uyehwhah2JqXDqIboLdBSv-EyT5MP2SOItmcGTDiZV_ie3lkcz6t2eWkEk0VO0I2XptAsDUPOhozNxzKaWZvJZuPQ0wmJGBh/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_jOjeuV12wXUEIse1nQ_9AjQ2GF3fEln0LCoq2WnLr1w3uyehwhah2JqXDqIboLdBSv-EyT5MP2SOItmcGTDiZV_ie3lkcz6t2eWkEk0VO0I2XptAsDUPOhozNxzKaWZvJZuPQ0wmJGBh/s640/image1.JPG" width="640" /> </a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2OdYWrkLGiSzd5csrz5sjvwFEqkf8eOm8uBykgvAqe8KJfac7YGMyHy7ID77MzJbToK_XmRtgY_5iNP6Ii12sEuX9FhqbV4K8BF2_MeZDxMyCgMeutFAtvYOf13GPVWH8lnGNOIJwLYr/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk2OdYWrkLGiSzd5csrz5sjvwFEqkf8eOm8uBykgvAqe8KJfac7YGMyHy7ID77MzJbToK_XmRtgY_5iNP6Ii12sEuX9FhqbV4K8BF2_MeZDxMyCgMeutFAtvYOf13GPVWH8lnGNOIJwLYr/s640/image4.JPG" width="640" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-92228130808274545632016-04-25T20:48:00.000-07:002016-04-25T20:48:27.560-07:00The Church is Ture, The Book is BlueHello Everyone!<br /><br />This week has been full of trying to find people to teach! Woohoo!<br />Haha well remember the couple I talked about last week? We had the<br />lesson all set up & everything was ready, we had this other active<br />couple going to the lesson with us & everything was going to be<br />perfect. Then we got a text from Charity (the less active member)<br />cancelling on us! I was so upset. Anyway we've been trying to get in<br />contact with her but they've been super "busy"<br /><br />Since I've been on my mission I've come to really dislike the word<br />"busy" people are always "too busy". There is a quote hanging in the<br />relief society room of the church building I go to right now that<br />says, "if you are too busy to read your scriptures, pray, or go to<br />church you are way busier than God ever intended you to be" ain't that<br />the truth? I know people have other obligations & lives & all that,<br />but shouldn't Heavenly Father be our first priority?<br /><br />Anyway one day we were biking down the street this week & we street<br />contacted this guy who wasn't interested at all, but was super kind &<br />gave us Popsicle's so that was nice. We also got this referral from<br />other missionaries this week for a cute old couple. We knocked on<br />their door & this super sweet old lady answered with "well hello<br />beautiful wonderful messengers of God" I almost fell over because I<br />don't think anyone has ever said anything that nice to 2 random<br />missionaries standing at their door! She invited us right in & poured<br />us ice cold water & gave us cheese & crackers on these fancy China<br />plates. She was treating us like celebrities I was so excited! Anyway<br />we started talking to her & her husband about their religious<br />background, both Catholic, but both have relatives that are extremely<br />active LDS members, they have been to primary programs & baptisms &<br />even the Sacramento temple open house, but they weren't interested in<br />the slightest:( but I had a copy of The Book of Mormon with me that<br />had a testimony written in there from a 5 year old girl named Mandy.<br />It was the sweetest thing. It said "I know the Book of Mormon is true<br />& helps me everyday. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen" even though it<br />was super simple & written in crayon, It really touched my heart. I<br />loved the simplicity of that testimony. & how I also know The Book of<br />Mormon is true & it helps me everyday! I've been able to read The Book<br />of Mormon multiple times while I've been on my mission & have been<br />able to testify of its truthfulness almost everyday. It is such a<br />blessing to have this book of scripture here in our day. I was able to<br />bear my humble testimony to them & to leave them with that copy.<br /><br />We got to go to the temple this week & do an endowment session & it<br />was the biggest tender mercy. I am so grateful to have a temple in my<br />mission! It has been such a blessing.<br /><br />The rest of the week went well! The Laguna Creek 5th ward has the most<br />amazing members who take such good care of us missionaries & each<br />other. I really think another reason why Heavenly Father wanted me to<br />go on a mission is so I could learn from the members of the wards<br />where I have served. I have been so amazed & touched by the members<br />examples of charity & love toward the people around them & it's helped<br />me learn how to be a better member when I get home. I know I say this<br />in almost every email but I love being a missionary so much. It has<br />truly been the most amazing experience & I've learned lessons here in<br />Sacramento that I would've never learned if I was still in Provo going<br />to school. I have truly been so blessed to be here.<br /><br />I hope you all have a great week & aren't "too busy" to take the time<br />to do the important things! CTR❤️<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br /><br />Pics:<br />1. Apartment 280 sisters<br />2. Members in our ward know how much I love hot pockets so they buy<br />them for me every time they go to Costco :)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iMCQHq_O9wSKFTMlyNL-MjqeQd4HFAuuT9st5gJ0IOnAT5Zp4ABc9-FytYrUFooZuRV418DaV1mtRc_M1jMr_5b7M_sUihpgitqHdkGhHWQp8TyWY-9NZm5ye9-16aFCG7drXE1gslkR/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEebAIvQ23Oz_iqC52f4cYOQe9FAZAIOI70qtxrNo_iFp_aRWNXWYD9ojmHUQkb9mqOOe3dse-hSFHMAS-ZbvIW1VB4Q-6AquGOW7UHkZf8_1fcCerx8VWMRka6LXQIXg54ehcaUiIZWx/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEebAIvQ23Oz_iqC52f4cYOQe9FAZAIOI70qtxrNo_iFp_aRWNXWYD9ojmHUQkb9mqOOe3dse-hSFHMAS-ZbvIW1VB4Q-6AquGOW7UHkZf8_1fcCerx8VWMRka6LXQIXg54ehcaUiIZWx/s640/image2.JPG" width="478" /></a><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iMCQHq_O9wSKFTMlyNL-MjqeQd4HFAuuT9st5gJ0IOnAT5Zp4ABc9-FytYrUFooZuRV418DaV1mtRc_M1jMr_5b7M_sUihpgitqHdkGhHWQp8TyWY-9NZm5ye9-16aFCG7drXE1gslkR/s640/image3.JPG" width="480" /><br />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-56439384542738683762016-04-19T21:20:00.000-07:002016-04-19T21:20:34.914-07:00243 Cancelled AppointmentsHello family & friends!<br /><br />So it's been a lovely week here in Sac. It's been different now that<br />we only cover 1 Ward! But it's been good, I missed my 5th ward<br />friends. So we have been biking all over the place & talking to<br />literally everyone! It feels good! We had like 243 cancelled<br />appointments this week so that was kinda disappointing & we started to<br />get down on ourselves, but we kept prayin that we would be happy &<br />enthusiastic haha so we just choose to make the long days of biking<br />fun!<br /><br />On Saturday we had the biggest miracle! It had been a full day of<br />biking in the heat & we were about to go home for the night, but I had<br />a feeling that we should visit this couple we've been trying to see<br />for about 2 months. They just moved here from Reno & the wife is a<br />less active member, & the husband isn't a member. We had met them once<br />briefly at the door before. So we knocked & they happened to be home!<br />They started talking with us forever & they're just the sweetest<br />people. They told us about how they were raised & the husband said he<br />had been raised Catholic, but doesn't really go & I asked him if had<br />ever been to an LDS church before & the wife started laughing & said,<br />"no he's too scared!" Then he started laughing & said, "I am not<br />scared!" Then I said, (kinda joking, but mostly serious) "okay so we<br />will see you at church tomorrow?" & he said "yes! I'll be there" I was<br />shocked. Hahaha so then we were just super pumped! Then he started<br />asking us all these questions about life after death & I explained<br />that we teach a whole lesson about God's plan for us & he set up his<br />own appointment & said, "can you come over Thursday & teach it to us?"<br />I was just literally so excited!! They came to church yesterday &<br />loved it:) the Ward did an AMAZING job at welcoming them in & ah I'm<br />just so excited!<br /><br />We got a new sister in the apartment. Sister Brown from Holliday Utah!<br />She went to the same Highschool as my roommate from BYU, Sarah Pugsley<br />& did cheer with her! Super weird huh? She's way cute & it's been fun<br />havin another sister here!<br /><br />Anyway things are good here. I love the church. I love being a<br />missionary. Have a wonderful week! CTR<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpgytGuZRs5TVNov4Q-BkWJxC7aFjzj8VbB-EXlFR0rPz291kHn0h0P2VX-XiFUgjgHBVpAbuLrtC_mIYzEd-qW47jV7zAYqKSZccZ1EZjRcb0mkHmYn1hDLvd0mckM5gqIkmqATX7n76/s1600/image1.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOpgytGuZRs5TVNov4Q-BkWJxC7aFjzj8VbB-EXlFR0rPz291kHn0h0P2VX-XiFUgjgHBVpAbuLrtC_mIYzEd-qW47jV7zAYqKSZccZ1EZjRcb0mkHmYn1hDLvd0mckM5gqIkmqATX7n76/s400/image1.jpeg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0na1nG2xgesagkQexJwxsIKxAH068gWdKEXUVacqha8LJxPww2YXswMqQuT3ytRoh9FoiB2OoC9vOqtO1k5nkTGBlguoHdoZ7oE_9W8D4X0ZCZGiyzSqiTkmHxCcjQHVPCuInr9-AW5d1/s1600/IMG_1048.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0na1nG2xgesagkQexJwxsIKxAH068gWdKEXUVacqha8LJxPww2YXswMqQuT3ytRoh9FoiB2OoC9vOqtO1k5nkTGBlguoHdoZ7oE_9W8D4X0ZCZGiyzSqiTkmHxCcjQHVPCuInr9-AW5d1/s320/IMG_1048.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBJuYsPhK8WGWZKQSOUycgYvt0PCcdiPr160_TOCz8W_r1YY3LnBUENY2jxoFW21CjinQ7SV_rTYNQjoHYaKnWhVKXWTaOt4G4mLTs_kH1EnHRhVyG_YKA8N_tXZh2bs8ct-IZhj3DpI0H/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBJuYsPhK8WGWZKQSOUycgYvt0PCcdiPr160_TOCz8W_r1YY3LnBUENY2jxoFW21CjinQ7SV_rTYNQjoHYaKnWhVKXWTaOt4G4mLTs_kH1EnHRhVyG_YKA8N_tXZh2bs8ct-IZhj3DpI0H/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="239" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-84651601527863712242016-04-13T20:34:00.002-07:002016-04-13T20:34:57.186-07:00South Sac BikingHi family & friends,<br /><br />Woohoo transfer week! So yeah I'm stayin here in Laguna Creek 5th ward<br />with Sister Koyle. Sister Christoffersen is staying in our apartment<br />but she's getting brand new comp, so she's training too!<br /><br />This week was really good! We were able to bike, one day it was super<br />hot and we decided to bike out to South Sacramento which takes like 45<br />minutes haha it was such a hot long ride, but it was totally worth it!<br />We were able to meet some pretty cool people out in South Sac. It's<br />like super ghetto down there, but hey the people are humble.<br /><br />This past Sunday was such a great one! It was fast and testimony meeting<br />which I always love. In the 2nd Ward we had a less active member come<br />that we have been working with for quite sometime! She was so happy to<br />be there! During the middle of the meeting she leaned over to me & was<br />talking about her own testimony & I said "well you should go bear it!"<br />& she said, "are you daring me to bear my testimony?" & I said "yes!"<br />So she went right up! & the first thing she said was, "I only came up<br />here because Sister Sobotka triple dog dared me" hahaha but she bore<br />such a powerful testimony. Ah it was so awesome.<br /><br />We moved Sis Christoffersens bunk bed into our room so her new trainee<br />can stay in our room with us, it basically took us 3 hours to<br />dis-assemble that dumb bunk bed.<br /><br />Things are still goin here in Sacramento. Crazy I only have 3<br />transfers left! We got 3 new investigators this week & they're all<br />super sweet. So yeah things are goin well! Tons of tender mercies &<br />miracles :)<br /><br />Have a great week & choose the right!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br /><br />Pictures:<br />Hermana Stevens & I-she's one of my mission besties<br />South Sac Zone!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj7EeC6GnMM3Iz6pZ48Efw7NHmoT61vx2gaFvhJdI9C1sM1HSDSyc0yHihyphenhyphen47g77THCaRaOzJuPpdoFD6sa1nz1XRvDDHaK99hjHO8Q0cNRSdsJ4YLBNZ0o6dpHjs1P5zkGV7WJRp0Dxsa/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jdT04WJUiuxKtgfo_P_f7GvcJzJ7vIByOn1R9T5HZrXNQGeG68BAHN_36XNedYIe6sx31itFyOdu93aoTizDfR_NaH0g72JRczIH9nTjRZ9qMmSMxUT92sp1Shm0L0Ebj9MZmfELNZd8/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jdT04WJUiuxKtgfo_P_f7GvcJzJ7vIByOn1R9T5HZrXNQGeG68BAHN_36XNedYIe6sx31itFyOdu93aoTizDfR_NaH0g72JRczIH9nTjRZ9qMmSMxUT92sp1Shm0L0Ebj9MZmfELNZd8/s640/image1.JPG" width="640" /></a><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj7EeC6GnMM3Iz6pZ48Efw7NHmoT61vx2gaFvhJdI9C1sM1HSDSyc0yHihyphenhyphen47g77THCaRaOzJuPpdoFD6sa1nz1XRvDDHaK99hjHO8Q0cNRSdsJ4YLBNZ0o6dpHjs1P5zkGV7WJRp0Dxsa/s640/image2.JPG" width="480" />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-77473295347532351872016-04-05T17:36:00.000-07:002016-04-05T17:36:24.052-07:00April FoolsHi everyone!<br />
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It has been another lovely week in the Cal Sac mission. I think I say<br />
this like every week, but the weather here is so perfect right now! I<br />
love being out & biking:)<br />
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So, Sister Christoffersen has been super sick this week. So that's been<br />
pretty sad. One day she was just not feeling well at all so another<br />
sister came and stayed with her in our apartment while sister Koyle and I got<br />
to go out and bike all day! It was such a good day!! We were able to add<br />
a new investigator and have a lesson with Jose! Jose is still<br />
progressing, he's just a super busy guy! He's just got a lot of<br />
stuff going on right now.<br />
<br />
On Aprils fools day we went to a members house for dinner and we then<br />
had dessert and she brought out tapioca pudding for dessert & let<br />
me just tell you, I hate tapioca pudding!! But I ate it because that's<br />
what you have to do when you're a missionary haha the third bite in,<br />
I tasted something super nasty! I was like uhh what the heck! But I<br />
kept chewing and it tasted like a paper towel, I was like "well I guess<br />
I'll be nice and just swallow it!" Hahha I didn't know what else to do.<br />
Then 2 minutes later I look over at sister Koyle & she's pulling<br />
a nasty thing out of her mouth and I was like what the heck is that? <br />
The member we were eating with yells "April fools, I put cotton balls<br />
in your pudding!" I was like "I ate mine!!!" everyone started<br />
laughing so hard. So yeah that was embarrassing!<br />
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I seriously have no time to email so sorry this is so lame, but I hope<br />
you all enjoyed general conference!!! It was the best. During the<br />
first session during the closing prayer as the man who said the<br />
closing prayer blessed the missionaries I started to cry! It was my<br />
last time general conference as a full time missionary. I am just so<br />
grateful to be a missionary!!! ❤️<br />
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Oh also I got to go to Coloma today with all the missionaries who go<br />
home in July & August & it was one of the funnest days of my mission!!<br />
So yeah life is going good.<br />
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Have a great week & CTR!<br />
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Love always,<br />
Sister Sobotka<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzoLDL5MktB9C8RkJSXqsm5ELIZJ055W3Ci1jBhZ46UCQmK4zwAeiufqv5uz1qKCv3oD61gJk_1g1K6LZgH-MZo9ZW_Yqdu5oToEe4iEOUjlCpGGpB1SaJ9pDMlEa2OHuLpZ-9EXfMwyk/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzoLDL5MktB9C8RkJSXqsm5ELIZJ055W3Ci1jBhZ46UCQmK4zwAeiufqv5uz1qKCv3oD61gJk_1g1K6LZgH-MZo9ZW_Yqdu5oToEe4iEOUjlCpGGpB1SaJ9pDMlEa2OHuLpZ-9EXfMwyk/s640/image3.JPG" width="640" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-30796762423510191312016-03-29T07:00:00.001-07:002016-03-29T07:00:34.026-07:00Happy EasterHey Everybody :)<br /><br />HAPPY EASTER🌷<br /><br />So it has been such a great week. It seriously flew by! The weather<br />here has been perfect & we've just been enjoying our time biking:)<br /><br />We had the biggest miracle this week! So last Sunday we had some<br />investigators come to church & the sacrament meeting speakers did not<br />do the best job...haha it was basically an advertisement on<br />justserve.org & I don't think there was an ounce of doctrine spoken<br />over the pulpit. So we were kinda like "well our investigators are<br />probz never coming to church again" (I know we are such doubting<br />Thomas's) and we went by and visited them this week & they just said how<br />much they loved church and how they felt the spirit!! & basically our<br />jaws all dropped to the floor. They ended up coming to church<br />yesterday!!<br /><br />We had the opportunity to watch the general woman's broadcast this<br />week & it was amazing as always. They really emphasized the importance<br />of serving others. I loved what Sister Esplin said, "When we reach out<br />with love and service, hearts soften and others can feel the love of the<br />Lord"<br /><br />Oh I forgot to say that we are over a Chinese group haha so we got to<br />go play badminton with the Chinese members! Shout out to Jarod<br />Ingersoll for teaching me all I know about badminton haha I totally<br />wrecked the Chinese people lol!<br /><br />We are still teachin Jose! He had a death in the family this past week<br />so we were only able to meet with him for like 5 minutes at his door,<br />but he said he's been reading his Book of Mormon!!! Yay! He said he<br />has a lot of questions and we are meeting with him this week:)<br /><br />This week everything kinda hit me that I only have 4 months left being<br />a missionary! Time is going by way too fast. I am just so grateful for<br />my mission and the experiences I've had here in Sacramento. I love the<br />people I've gotten to serve around and the people I've had the<br />opportunity to teach. Serving a mission was the best decision I've<br />ever made and i’m grateful for such supportive family & friends. This<br />week we've been able to talk to so many people about our Savior, Jesus<br />Christ, to testify that He lives! My relationship with Jesus Christ<br />has grown so much in these past 14 months. I just love having the<br />opportunity to bear testimony of Him to literally everyone I meet.<br />What a privilege it is:)<br /><br />I hope you all have an amazing week & ALWAYS remember Jesus Christ &<br />the things He's done for you. CTR❤️ enjoy conference!!!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIZkikpuT3CEmm86IM9fDfcpnp9dx46H3elsCKau103OG8PysJ7ThyphenhyphenUzcrUyTm99o9VkVB47J9JBIY-GOEpJd_1Wi9NBYPKdpWoDPQUjXi-X6pp-bf0lDaMx6YKo833Bf3SEuJTzKgI0bX/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIZkikpuT3CEmm86IM9fDfcpnp9dx46H3elsCKau103OG8PysJ7ThyphenhyphenUzcrUyTm99o9VkVB47J9JBIY-GOEpJd_1Wi9NBYPKdpWoDPQUjXi-X6pp-bf0lDaMx6YKo833Bf3SEuJTzKgI0bX/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW41RoSNL5tgd-r-cdgTLQqvVQwhrLapSzRO_ZuYRsDbs0Sv38Wyav0jF7D9aQiFaa_UwlC6eC5Y9jn4VZazsKLqkhxB7tn-lTQTAMcLryRmNrFqeggH7uSX2bCojkialDRHk-LTTywKJ6/s1600/IMG_0879.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rLNEUKccmTZyUW6levk9jNvsu1IdCrn5ih_wcsxasT88ouG-Yqdo3EvcI9RDaBIytRlmQZ37ePIAvu6F_zc9WCPZwNg9h6k-Wfo2G84nE-A0VSH36Z-W_A9FYb6RhE781MuyOGAXlAu1/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rLNEUKccmTZyUW6levk9jNvsu1IdCrn5ih_wcsxasT88ouG-Yqdo3EvcI9RDaBIytRlmQZ37ePIAvu6F_zc9WCPZwNg9h6k-Wfo2G84nE-A0VSH36Z-W_A9FYb6RhE781MuyOGAXlAu1/s320/image2.JPG" width="239" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtYX1zjncUqskwiaZkpgL3KGznBLdzT9aJQ8fGyINxXTlguSezbfvXpvCoNMc9Iy18N17SM-0oZ98WLscllR6Mu31sw26URWZaqFzbph9u6RricC2NPQnBBeDbeStXzOVMfcuYzGGRbc7/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtYX1zjncUqskwiaZkpgL3KGznBLdzT9aJQ8fGyINxXTlguSezbfvXpvCoNMc9Iy18N17SM-0oZ98WLscllR6Mu31sw26URWZaqFzbph9u6RricC2NPQnBBeDbeStXzOVMfcuYzGGRbc7/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="268" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuCMNLlnlUuOb0mXUfHx2jz430O_vuKVMNO9pxY2-_caydz3FcK6kAjYakJGxlyQewp_GCzKxu3QmUcmcNcmCEspLX7yYi9Cs3Yzu86sPr6xTaSX4JsYw5Vcfw_Dmm1N1yXoXnAZLc7VFA/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuCMNLlnlUuOb0mXUfHx2jz430O_vuKVMNO9pxY2-_caydz3FcK6kAjYakJGxlyQewp_GCzKxu3QmUcmcNcmCEspLX7yYi9Cs3Yzu86sPr6xTaSX4JsYw5Vcfw_Dmm1N1yXoXnAZLc7VFA/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="286" /></a><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW41RoSNL5tgd-r-cdgTLQqvVQwhrLapSzRO_ZuYRsDbs0Sv38Wyav0jF7D9aQiFaa_UwlC6eC5Y9jn4VZazsKLqkhxB7tn-lTQTAMcLryRmNrFqeggH7uSX2bCojkialDRHk-LTTywKJ6/s320/IMG_0879.JPG" width="320" />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-52471945477796032452016-03-21T21:14:00.001-07:002016-03-21T21:14:21.531-07:00Ants in my Pants!Hey everybody!<br /><br />Okay this week so many crazy things have happened!!<br /><br />So Tuesday morning we got up and found a billion ants in our room!! It<br />was disgusting! So we had a bit of a teenage girl freak out and screamed<br />& called the apartment office, but unfortunately the office only<br />sprays for bugs on Mondays!! That wasn't for 6 more days. So we got<br />permission to go buy ant spray and had to empty our whole room and spray<br />it down. It took forever! But we finally killed the ants. You'd think<br />I was serving in a third world country;) haha just kidding.<br /><br />On Wednesday we had to take our car to the shop which is super far out<br />of our area because our "check engine" light came on. So we finally<br />made it to the shop and the guys told us that it would take 6 hours for<br />an engine diagnostic! So that we should come back the next day. So we<br />came back the next day and they said they needed to keep our car over<br />night!! So we had no ride back to our area so we started walking &<br />walking & walking. We were about 30 miles away from our area! We<br />called some members to try and pick us up but no one answered, then we<br />finally got a hold of some Spanish sister missionaries and they rescued<br />us haha!<br /><br />The next day we got a call from the car shop letting us know our car<br />was ready to pick up...we asked what the heck was wrong with our car and<br />they said "oh the gas cap wasn't tightened all the way" hahahaha<br />Sooo yeah we had to leave our car there for 30 hours and pay $95 to tell<br />us to tighten our gas lid...also yeah that was totally my fault so I'm<br />actually super embarrassed about that hahaha.<br /><br />Then on Thursday, nothing exciting happened I don't think.<br /><br />On Friday I got to have dinner with Sister Hickman (aka Genny)!!! It<br />was seriously Sooo good to see her. It made me miss her a ton, but I<br />got to meet her sweet mother. It was so good to catch up with her!<br />She brought me an Oklahoma shirt so basically I'm a huge OU fan now<br />Lolol jk!;)<br /><br />We had a way cool experience with this less active lady this past<br />week, she hadn't been to church in like 40 years, we just happened<br />to stop by and her mom was there who is really sick and she just happened<br />to ask for a priesthood blessing so we were able to call our ward<br />mission leader and he went over and gave her a blessing and invited them to<br />the Easter program that's happening in our stake and they said they<br />would go! That was way cool that Heavenly Father lead us to go to<br />her house on that night.<br /><br />To be completely honest it's been such a crazy week and not a lot of<br />cool missionary experiences happened haha but, I have been loving<br />my mission lately. I can't believe how fast time is going by. The<br />other day we were driving to the car shop and I was just thinking about<br />how privileged I am to be serving the Lord, to have such supportive<br />family & friends. I'm so blessed and I'm so grateful for my mission &<br />the experiences I'm having. I know I wouldn't have been able to learn<br />the lessons I've learned here if I didn't decide to serve a mission. I<br />know this church is true & my testimony has grown so much while I've<br />been here. I love my Heavenly Father & His Son, Jesus Christ. & I love<br />being a missionary!!!!<br /><br />Have a great week & CTR!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br /><br />1. Us at the park doing studies<br />2. My fav hickmans :)<br />3. We helped our fav less active member Sis Mackay in her garden & she<br />gave us these flowers to take home! Cute huh?<br />4. We played that pie in the face game with Sis Mackay<br />5. The First 12 Weeks<br />6. Sister Hickman came to visit<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjktait4AI3Kw_CAuXxnhCEX4dbp3Q8O4DxPUVlK0clT9ACTiKpmAx9ukPSsNs2ctv3us9pb0YwzGxuSASHFECassdgBym3yx6MVVHbAoc_HIS5ulD_BWZPjR32qJlOFAesS1JdXXenvyCr/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjktait4AI3Kw_CAuXxnhCEX4dbp3Q8O4DxPUVlK0clT9ACTiKpmAx9ukPSsNs2ctv3us9pb0YwzGxuSASHFECassdgBym3yx6MVVHbAoc_HIS5ulD_BWZPjR32qJlOFAesS1JdXXenvyCr/s640/FullSizeRender.jpeg" width="480" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-38271181615815770672016-03-15T07:59:00.002-07:002016-03-15T07:59:54.619-07:00You've been punked (weekly email)(For the past two weeks Ashley didn’t write a group email, here is the latest and greatest from yesterday. She is doing so great and loving her mission)<br /><br />Hi Family & Friends!<br /><br />Okay I'll admit I was being lazy last week & didn't send out a weekly<br />email. Anyway, this here in Elk Grove are going well! I got put into<br />another trio!! My third trio on my mission. My new companion is Sister<br />Christoffersen:) she has lived in the same apartment as me for the<br />past transfer, but her companion got really sick & had to go him last<br />week so she joined my companionship! Let me just tell you it's been<br />the biggest tender mercy to have another companion right now! Like I<br />said, people always hate on tri-panionships, but I love them! The Lord<br />knows I was made for trios...not sure that that means for my future<br />marriage...hahaha jkjk<br /><br />Sister Christoffersen is from Bentonville Arkansas and she is an ASL<br />missionary so now we cover her Ward as well. So we've been able to go<br />to a few deaf people's homes and watch her teach them lessons in sign<br />language & it is so cool! We just sit in complete in silence, but you<br />can still feel the spirit. It's amazing :)<br /><br />We are still teaching Jose. He's been sick and out of town, but we had an<br />incredible lesson with him last night and he's praying about baptism on<br />April 9! Woohoo!!! I'm not even joking when I say he's the most<br />prepared person I've ever taught on my mission. He's such a good guy &<br />will make an amazing member. I'm so grateful for this opportunity we<br />have to teach him.<br /><br />Also this super funny thing happened this week...so we were out<br />visiting some potential investigator but we had the wrong address, but<br />I was like "oh we probably need to be here for some reason, let's try<br />this door!" So we knocked on it & this Asian lady answered & she<br />wasn't interested so we asked if she knew anyone that was. So she<br />pointed us to a house across the street & said, "there's an old lady<br />who lives there who might be interested" & we were so excited so we<br />went & knocked on that door & this black guy answers the door & he's<br />like "hey ladies I'm just sittin down to dinner" & I said, "oh yeah<br />sorry for interrupting, we are the missionaries..." Then he cuts me<br />off & says "no I'm saying do you want to come & join me inside for<br />dinner?" & my companions looked terrified, but I was like "HECK YEAH!"<br />Hahaha so he's like "sweet come on in" so we are about to walk in the<br />door then he's like "PSYCH GOT YA!! YOU JUST GOT PUNKED GET OFF MY<br />PROPERTY" & my companions were like so offended but I was just<br />laughing so hard! Hahaha yeah that was funny.<br /><br />We had Zone Confefence this week & it was one of my fav ones. I think<br />it's because we talked about prayer & The Book of Mormon-the most<br />basic simple things that we can always do better! Also that one awful<br />play, "The Book of Mormon" is playing in Sacramento right now so we've<br />been able to talk to a ton of people about it & the Zone Leaders get<br />to go to the play & stand outside & hand out copies of the Book of<br />Mormon after the play & they've been able to hand out over 150 copies<br />every night!! It's actually quite amazing that even though Satans<br />working really hard to tear down the church, we can still make the<br />best outta a bad situation.<br /><br />Anyway that's about all that's happenin here in good old Sac❤️ there's<br />a less active lady here who told me that I should like the golden<br />state warriors so yeah I got a new fav basketball team! Go Warriors :)<br />lol #NotBandWagon #CaliforniaPride<br /><br />Love you all! Have a wonderful week & remember how much your Heavenly<br />Father loves you & wants to hear from you through prayer :) CTR<br /><br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br /><br />Pics<br />1. Exchanges with Hermana Stevens<br />2. Zone Conf with my fav Sis Starnes<br />3. Sac Zone!<br />4. Sacramento Pride!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRIvCLrRqE52jjn0oJleBFoNmSd2-5KDgpq6ppnTRYMLVu3VTRLtQfu3jMc0-ResKwdn7khOL6IFoeD61tkT90v4nrvKXDvxpJDAQzx6tY6uP2uwIsIU3VyhFDagS1rb5zmLcv6qj0WYyU/s1600/image3.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGD7eDMGeao83XGDJ0QmPGoH3sea7QKdpaGhjX4yiHFarECxa-f-lBStPWWwUTzzc4hSev_e7mmefY-o3PcfkrAnICUivviwm50XeT8-ny3EGKx0buecy1tAFAAo-2ZrA0Py4XxgxGerjF/s1600/image4.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGD7eDMGeao83XGDJ0QmPGoH3sea7QKdpaGhjX4yiHFarECxa-f-lBStPWWwUTzzc4hSev_e7mmefY-o3PcfkrAnICUivviwm50XeT8-ny3EGKx0buecy1tAFAAo-2ZrA0Py4XxgxGerjF/s640/image4.JPG" width="478" /></a><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRIvCLrRqE52jjn0oJleBFoNmSd2-5KDgpq6ppnTRYMLVu3VTRLtQfu3jMc0-ResKwdn7khOL6IFoeD61tkT90v4nrvKXDvxpJDAQzx6tY6uP2uwIsIU3VyhFDagS1rb5zmLcv6qj0WYyU/s640/image3.JPG" width="640" />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-62588417708151514532016-02-15T21:56:00.000-08:002016-02-15T21:56:29.355-08:00Sweet Potato FestivalHi Family & Friends!<br /><br />So probably the craziest thing that happened to us this week is that we<br />volunteered at this sweet potato festival and it was for the “Negro<br />Women Association" hahaha so yeah it was a ton of African American<br />people eating sweet potatoes. Good memory<3<br /><br />Oh remember Brittany I talked about a few weeks ago? We met her<br />because we had a potential that lived there but no one by that name<br />lived there and Brittany answered the door and said she was looking for a<br />church to come to! She came to church this Sunday!! But like here's<br />the thing it was regional conference- so she was seriously like way<br />confused. Haha we haven't taught her yet, but we are hopefully going to today!<br />She's super sweet and said she loved church and would come again!<br /><br />Regional conference was super good! There were 4 speakers- Sis<br />Oscarson, Elder Renlund, Elder Grow & Elder Hamula(70's). It was cool<br />because I've met Elder Hamula and Elder Grow on my mission! But I loved<br />Elder Renlund's talk. He spoke about keeping things basic and bearing<br />testimony of the Restoration! It was really good because so many times<br />we over complicate things, but the gospel is so simple!<br /><br />Yesterday on Valentine's Day this random guy gave us roses on the<br />street so we took a cute pic with him.<br /><br />Anyway that's about all I got! Keep choosin the right❤️❤️❤️<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6lePoj5YzoX20YKQ5ZRzbAwGzzTB_MgB0Q-RZEkIZ-_e0JFNNCiL1L-zxgT6TSXfJ9xnoqqX_2H8M1yo13g-WR4fnYEH7X4EKEE31SHSxBF6c_-XAqb4Xk2IdFXcWcXxTKu9l2rveEHf/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL6lePoj5YzoX20YKQ5ZRzbAwGzzTB_MgB0Q-RZEkIZ-_e0JFNNCiL1L-zxgT6TSXfJ9xnoqqX_2H8M1yo13g-WR4fnYEH7X4EKEE31SHSxBF6c_-XAqb4Xk2IdFXcWcXxTKu9l2rveEHf/s640/image1.JPG" width="640" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-252635191568423032016-02-08T21:27:00.002-08:002016-02-08T21:27:58.101-08:00The Lords TimingHi everybody!!<br /><br />Okay so I can't even tell you all how amazing this week was!!<br />Cathy's baptism was this Saturday and it was the most spiritual<br />experience ever! I'll give you a little run down on Cathy-she has<br />lived next door to this awesome family in our ward (the Jensens) for<br />17 years. She has literally been taking the missionary lessons for 17<br />years! And this past year of 2015 she committed herself to come to<br />church for the whole year and really decide if it was true. She was the<br />number 1 family history indexer in the Sacramento stake and she wasn’t <br />even a member!! She has been paying her tithing, and faithfully been <br />coming to church for a year & she just barely decided to get baptized. <br />The baptism was amazing. So many people from the ward came and so <br />many of Cathy’s neighbors! It was a full house! I've never seen someone <br />so excited to be baptized. It was such an incredible thing to witness. <br />You could just feel Heavenly Fathers love for her and the sense of peace <br />that was in that room. It was such an amazing experience and one that I will<br />never forget!<br /><br />The rest of the week was SO SLOW! Haha I can't even tell you, but our<br />little trio had a good discussion on the verse Alma 26:27, where it<br />says, "bear with patience thine afflictions and I will grant unto thee<br />success" how so many times as missionaries we think of success as<br />something you can see and show off to people (aka like baptisms) but<br />like President Hunter said, "Visibility does not equate to value".<br /><br />I'm just so grateful we got to see Cathy get baptized and make that step<br />to come closer to her Savior Jesus Christ. I wish I could explain to<br />all of you how strong the spirit was in that room. President Jardine<br />came to the baptism and committed Cathy to bear her testimony in church<br />the next day and she agreed. So yesterday Cathy got up after her<br />confirmation and bore the most powerful testimony!! Although I've only<br />known Cathy for a few weeks, it strengthened my testimony of why I am<br />here on a mission. To see that mighty change of heart in someone and<br />help them come closer to Christ. It also helped me realize that the<br />Lord's timing is not always our timing! 17 years of missionaries!!<br />That we don't always see the big picture. But Heavenly Father loves<br />all of his children and some it takes longer than others:)<br /><br /><br />Anywhoo hope you all have a wonderful week & CTR!!<br /><br />Love, Sister Sobotka<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLloKESvL_o9j5nWjBd6xW85oFZMGOXbTLu-Oy8YyyQs95shRsj-hBMsCL7XaDwQNiOeDRXKXcARvsZgthfR7MoenQzGtEMRdWLGlkf6ZN3uXO6SQ4WhjhNFyd7jbG1rqyq4_l8BJGaYh/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTLloKESvL_o9j5nWjBd6xW85oFZMGOXbTLu-Oy8YyyQs95shRsj-hBMsCL7XaDwQNiOeDRXKXcARvsZgthfR7MoenQzGtEMRdWLGlkf6ZN3uXO6SQ4WhjhNFyd7jbG1rqyq4_l8BJGaYh/s640/image1.JPG" width="640" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-40233893262684878742016-02-01T17:31:00.001-08:002016-02-01T17:31:26.280-08:001 Year Down!<br />
Hi Family & Friends!<br />
<br />
1 year down?! What!! So crazy that a year ago I was in the MTC with<br />
Sister Marks:) This past year has been the best and hardest year of my<br />
entire life, I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving the Lord.<br />
<br />
This week has been filled with hours & hours of biking-that's not even<br />
an exaggeration. (Last week of the month aka no miles for our car) So<br />
remember Beatrice and her family that I wrote about last week? Yeah she<br />
just moved?? Out of the blue without even telling us!! Haha we were<br />
literally so disappointed.<br />
<br />
Then we biked around and talked to everyone and I mean EVERYONE! And not<br />
one single person was interested in the slightest! Every person we<br />
talked to we asked for referrals and none of the referrals were<br />
interested either! Haha it was crazy. But hey, I know the Lord is<br />
preparing people here. Cathy's baptism is this Saturday! She is so<br />
awesome. She's been coming to church for the past year and has been<br />
paying tithing for the past 6 months. She will make an amazing member!<br />
<br />
We met one old lady this week who wanted to bash with us so hard! She<br />
was raising her voice at us telling us about how the Book of Mormon<br />
wasn't true and how Joseph Smith wasn't a Prophet! We all just kinda<br />
stood there and listened to her and Sister Sili just invited her to read<br />
the Book of Mormon and then we left. As we biked away I was so sad and<br />
annoyed. I mean I've met a lot of people like this on my mission but<br />
for some reason she just really bothered me. Was I supposed to state<br />
my opinions right back at her? Then later this week I read about<br />
Sherem in Jacob 7. How in verse 5 Jacob says, "He (Sherem) had hope to<br />
shake me from the faith...I could not be shaken" I thought about<br />
Jacobs powerful testimony, that even though Sherem was going around<br />
bad talking the church Jacob's testimony was solid & firm. I read a<br />
talk going along with this called, "Christian Courage: The Price of<br />
Discipleship" by Elder Robert D. Hales. I loved this talk!! There was<br />
a quote that really stood out to me that said, "Some people mistakenly<br />
think responses (to accusers) such as silence, meekness, forgiveness,<br />
and bearing humble testimony are passive or weak. But to “love [our]<br />
enemies, bless them that curse [us], do good to them that hate [us],<br />
and pray for them which despitefully use [us], and persecute [us]”<br />
(Matthew 5:44) takes faith, strength, and, most of all, Christian<br />
courage." I realized the importance of being Christlike in all<br />
situations, even when that lady was very strongly voicing her opinion.<br />
Elder Hales goes on to say, "...All who seek to know how we should<br />
respond to our accusers, I reply, we love them. Whatever their race,<br />
creed, religion, or political persuasion, if we follow Christ and show<br />
forth His courage, we must love them. We do not feel we are better<br />
than they are. Rather, we desire with our love to show them a better<br />
way--the way of Jesus Christ."<br />
<br />
The rest of the week went well! I'm so grateful for my 2 sweet<br />
companions and all that they do! We have fun and work hard together:) we<br />
had Ward conference this week and our Stake President spoke about<br />
missionary work! It was really great. I hope you're all looking for<br />
opportunities everyday to share your testimony and bring people closer<br />
to Christ.<br />
<br />
Love you all! CTR<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Sister Sobotka<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 Year Down</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKv_ijuRHvA6rFJNqZ3Zepm_GhY6L9IrXmlKyhHbp9LLkneDRFPa9L3ZjJ1gsaFGFedKMPIvTN2mMZzCp69Y7r4NhS3Gz8v7G7DXbAVR9H4pnRImlpEzjiCImynwqG6vFkQvONWs0T_7R/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKv_ijuRHvA6rFJNqZ3Zepm_GhY6L9IrXmlKyhHbp9LLkneDRFPa9L3ZjJ1gsaFGFedKMPIvTN2mMZzCp69Y7r4NhS3Gz8v7G7DXbAVR9H4pnRImlpEzjiCImynwqG6vFkQvONWs0T_7R/s640/image2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exchanges with Sister Naylor</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Contacting at Sac City College</td></tr>
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<br />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-49658952749845995572016-01-25T20:39:00.000-08:002016-01-25T20:39:22.368-08:00I Heart TriosDear Family & Friends,<br /><br />This week has been one of the funnest weeks of my mission! I got put into a trio last week and was transferred to the Sacramento Zone! We cover a ward in Elk Grove. My 2 new companions are: Sister Polatis & Sister Sili and I absolutely love them!!! Everyone hates on trios, but this is my 2nd one and I've loved my trios. Okay, Sister Polatis is from Blackfoot Idaho and she is your typical farm girl! She grew up on a giant potato farm and knows everything about potatoes and she's such a hard worker and she is hilarious!! It's her 3rd transfer out and she is just such a good little missionary, I love her. My other companion is Sister Sili! It's her last transfer of her mission :( and She's straight from Tonga!! My 5th Polynesian companion. I can't even explain how much I love my Polynesian companions!! They are just full of love for everyone:) she is also hilarious!! I swear we spend so much time laughing. It has seriously just been such a good week! We live in apartment with 2 other sisters! They are sign language sisters! They're pretty cool too. <br /><br />We are pretty much full time biking, I love this area!! It's not too ghetto, but there is a small section of south sac which is kinda hood haha! Also the work here is great!! We have seen so many miracles this week! One day we were out biking around and a 14 year old boy in our ward was walking home from school, we asked him if he knew anyone in the area who could use a message and he's like "yeah try that house with the red car" so we went and tried it. The house had a whole family who was super interested!!! They told us to come back the next day, we went and taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong!! They told us to come back this week! Ahh it was so cool!! Also, there is this lady, Cathy, who missionaries have been teaching for years who just decided to get baptized!! She's getting baptized on feb 6! We had an awesome lesson with her this week and wow she is just so prepared:) We had another miracle! While we were out street contacting we started talking to this lady and her 2 kids, she said her sons friend had just passed away and he was really confused about what happens after death, she said they'd been watching a video online about it. In my head I was thinking "oh no...they went to the Internet to find out about life after death" then the little girl started quoting a video and I recognized the words, it was the video from Mormon.org!! I was so stunned! They said they feel peace and comfort watching those videos, they said they would love to hear more about the plan of salvation so we set up an appointment with them as well!! Ah I'm just so happy and excited:) <br /><br />Okay so something else super crazy happened this week! One night when we were biking home Sister Polatis was just being all crazy while she was biking and we were going pretty fast!! So I yelled out "hahah Sister Polatis stop!" and right as I said that she crashed soo hard!! and she was right in front of me and I slammed on my breaks as hard as I could but I totally ran her over!!! Hahahaha it was the scariest thing of my life! Then I flew off my bike. I ran over to her to make sure she was okay and she was just laughing so hard! I apologized like 2790 times and sister Sili was just laughing so hard. Ah I felt so bad!! We were both okay and biked home! The next day we woke up soo sore with bruises all over our bodies and only a few little scrapes:) but it was seriously hilarious. <br /><br />This week has just been the best. We all work so well together and have so much fun! I love this area and I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has a plan and how sometimes we just have to take a step back and realize that He is in charge.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgS7dchqWKPC2AWUgkSLGEAePq4fIpwnjLqrvpqA2C6mrnAxEG8-FCxxUKbM5DQMqUxhwdfVh7jwqaqHmCOruVEk2KHaKabaoT4RA6LKTUEePqRHPezFLNW16H4BGv1-kLU7-c0-uhXDv0/s1600/image2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgS7dchqWKPC2AWUgkSLGEAePq4fIpwnjLqrvpqA2C6mrnAxEG8-FCxxUKbM5DQMqUxhwdfVh7jwqaqHmCOruVEk2KHaKabaoT4RA6LKTUEePqRHPezFLNW16H4BGv1-kLU7-c0-uhXDv0/s640/image2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sister Polatis, Sister Sili and Sister Sobotka</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5omBArGIiIMdjwsaXLl54hcu6JrV4_Qm_54ODoy0wKrXXgtmyhv3HLr8kHIcovaCmYSo2EzfDbpMXg2mxDPgH5W7ehJ49meZOWS5QScOPIsWrO2ZQfwx4j6b4uO0EcM5HZc_m4PE1VJ-/s1600/image1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5omBArGIiIMdjwsaXLl54hcu6JrV4_Qm_54ODoy0wKrXXgtmyhv3HLr8kHIcovaCmYSo2EzfDbpMXg2mxDPgH5W7ehJ49meZOWS5QScOPIsWrO2ZQfwx4j6b4uO0EcM5HZc_m4PE1VJ-/s640/image1.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sister Polatis, Sister Sili and Sister Sobotka<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-549406475311703550.post-83784870050989000572016-01-12T17:06:00.003-08:002016-01-12T17:06:55.929-08:00Having a Firm Foundation in ChristDear Family & Friends,<br /><br />Sis Hickman and I both have been super sick this week. I felt terrible because it was her last week! Poor thing. But we pushed through. I have absolutely loved this transfer with her. She is a big sister to me and will always be a missionary I want to be like! She has taught me so much this transfer. She has been straight up with me and has helped me improve so much!! We will stay close:) <br /><br />We are still teaching Lee & Susan! They are both such awesome people and totally have testimonies, but they just don't come to church!!! It's so frustrating. Every time we teach the the spirit is so strong and I absolutely love teaching them. Every lesson they say "I will for sure be at church this week" then every week they aren't there!! Hahah ugh.<br /><br />This week I've been thinking a lot about my moms heart attack which happened 2 years ago this week! I thought about how it happened when I was a senior in high school and it was the beginning of 2014, I had just made a New Years goal that I wanted to have a better relationship with my Heavenly Father. Who woulda thought that 9 days later I would be hit with the hardest trial of my life!! Anyway, I've been thinking about that night we found out that she'd be having open heart surgery the next day. I remember driving to the Provo hospital with my siblings in tears. When we arrived in her hospital room I remember walking in and seeing tears in both of my parents eyes. My dad explained she'd be having an 8 hour open heart surgery the next day. I remember feeling so nervous and scared!! I don't remember too much of what happened next, but there is one experience I will never forget...We all knelt down on the hospital floor around my moms hospital bed and said a family prayer, not knowing if it would be our last. During the prayer I remember feeling an incredible amount peace and love. I remember feeling that no matter what happened that everything was going to be alright. I felt the love of my Heavenly Father so fully in that hospital room that night. Through this trial I learned so many lessons that helped me become the person I am today. I realize now that Heavenly Father gives us those hard trials to help us grow. I grew closer to my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I became a better person through this trial. I realized the importance of having a firm foundation in Christ, because when those winds blow they will have no power over you!! <br /><br />We got transfer calls this week and I am staying in Goethe Park Ward and will be training a new missionary! I'm nervous and excited! I just hope I can help her as much as Sister Lavea helped and loved me when I was a scared little new missionary! We saw the list of new missionaries and there is a Sister coming in from American Fork! So who knows, maybe I'll be training an AF homie! hahah! She flies in today and I'll be with her tomorrow.<br /><br />It's going to be so hard for me to say goodbye to Sister Hickman tomorrow! We have had so much fun together, from getting our ipads stolen, to biking for hours, to teaching some amazing lessons. I will always be so grateful for her. <br /><br />I hope you all have a great week and remember to read your scriptures and CTR!!!<br /><br />Love always,<br />Sister Sobotka<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ34Bl7pdGp16txj6agDCMwhWhUQo74k33Wp2xQPI2R9kGV4c6U-HvG-mCedXbKPfMuuM0CT_uw5HmTpybUeU4uCcutvhEMzIyeRWhbXjrsuhekDMb5jPRLaALic55w12jj872plUtIOWC/s1600/image.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ34Bl7pdGp16txj6agDCMwhWhUQo74k33Wp2xQPI2R9kGV4c6U-HvG-mCedXbKPfMuuM0CT_uw5HmTpybUeU4uCcutvhEMzIyeRWhbXjrsuhekDMb5jPRLaALic55w12jj872plUtIOWC/s640/image.png" width="640" /></a>Stephanie Sobotkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08268720183274937167noreply@blogger.com0