Amazing what a little peach pie and some faith can do!

Hi family & friends:)

Okay so this week has probably been the best week of my mission so far! So I've been studying this talk, "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence Corbridge for the past week and I just feel like a brand new person. Ok soooo last week I started getting so discouraged that we had nobody to teach & then I started studying this talk & I realized how selfish I have been acting! I can't really explain how everything clicked for me this week, but it did! I realized the only way to truly truly be happy on your mission is if you surrender your own will. But the rest of this email might be boring for most of you! Hahah so if you want to just read some funny good stuff here it is:

So Sister Wentzel (in the Silva Valley Ward) invited us over to make peach pie this week to deliver to people we are teaching! So we went over & got to chat with her & make some delicious peach pie:) then we went & delivered it to this family we want to start teaching & they were sooo nice!! They invited us in & and the dad said he has read the whole Book of Mormon & loved it!!! So they invited us to dinner this next week:) it's amazing what a little peach pie & some faith can do;) hahaha so we will keep ya posted on that.

Okay also get this...yesterday at church Sister Kauvaka and I sat in like the gluten free section in sacrament & I guess they forgot to bring gluten free bread to church & so the bishop got up & said, "sooo we don't have any gluten free bread today, but we have gluten free chocolate chip cookies so that's what we are having for sacrament" hahahah isn't that cool??? Hahahah it was a good sacrament:)

Also I just wanna say that I love these 2 wards. I am seriously so blessed to be serving here. I am really amazed at how awesome the members are here. This week the Gladwell family invited their neighbors over to have dessert & I just love the Gladwell family so much! They are so missionary minded! And also they just remind me of my own family at home. I am so grateful for the families who help out with missionary work:)

Alright here's the rest of my email:
I went on exchanges with Sister Hickman this week & it was so much fun. Okay so when I first got transferred into this zone I was terrified of Sister Hickman! She is a go getter & knows how to get things done. I was a little nervous to go on exchanges with her, but I LOVED it! I got to go to her area (Folsom)& ride bikes:) -I actually miss riding bikes a little tiny bit hehe. Anyway she's from Tulsa Oklahoma & has been out for a little over a year. So we went to lunch & she sat me down and we had a huge conversation about the fourth missionary talk! She said it changed her whole mission. She explained that at one point in her mission she just wasn't happy, she wasn't teaching anyone & she felt like she wasn't making a difference! She said all she cares about is getting baptisms & getting good numbers & when she wasn't getting baptisms she got so angry. She said she wanted to change but didn't know how. She said she had talked to other missionaries about it and one Elder said, "you need to use the atonement and change" and she was like "I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS" & the Elder said, "you get on your knees and plead with God" and she's like, "that's it?" & he said, "you have to want it more than anything" so she said she did that & totally changed. Anyway sorry random story...but in the talk it talks about how to become a better missionary and how success isn't measured by becoming a "great missionary" because using the term "great missionary" is used to compare to other missionaries, but it's on if you want to become a SERVANT of the Lord.

Anyway, on exchanges we were riding our bikes and we were just talking to everyone we saw so we rode through a park and started talking to this guy and I thought he looked pretty familiar and we asked if he had talked with missionaries before and he said he had 2 months ago in Carmichael!!! I knew I had talked with him before! But he said he would come to church on Sunday & he gave us his number & we passed him off to the elders that live in Folsom!! That was super cool because what are the odds I would ever see that guy again, and I was on exchanges only for 24 hours & I just happened to run into him & his kids?!! There's no such thing as coincidences:) the rest of the exchange went really well & I just really loved being with Sister Hickman. She is a missionary I really look up to. We are a lot alike & I'm so grateful I get to serve with her. After exchanges we came over to the Martins (where I live) and had lunch with the sisters in the zone & then took a 20 minute nap by the pool hahaha

On Friday we had zone training all about the fourth missionary talk. We read John 21. It was a really awesome zone training & I have really changed my whole perspective on missionary work this week & I have been so much more happy!! I read the talk "the first and great commandment" by Elder Jeffrery R Holland & it is SO GOOD! (Read if ya have time) and it just talks about how if we truly love our Heavenly Father we will be loyal to him in every stage of our life. I love when he says, "My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: “Did you love me?” I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all--“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” And if at such a moment we can stammer out, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,” then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty."

Okay so this email is gettin really long & I'm pretty sure 87% of you have stopped reading by this point, but basically I realized that the only way you can truly serve the Lord is if you put your whole heart into it, that you want nothing more than to truly serve and please the Lord. I love this quote from the talk,
"In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have. If you give your time, two years, and your strength, you give only that which He grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw. If you dedicate your gifts and talents, you only return to Him what He already has given to you. If you pay tithing you only return to Him a tenth of what he has already given to you. Everything that you have to give to the Lord, has its origin in Him, except one thing: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to Him. It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have. And so when you give yourself, you truly give everything to Him."

Anyway, it was a really great week & I've changed my attitude about missionary work:) I love being out here & I truly love serving the Lord. Even if we don't have a bunch of investigators or tons of baptisms I am so happy to be serving my Heavenly Father. What a privilege!! :)


Love always,
Sister Sobotka

Sister Sobotka and Kauvaka with Sister Wentzel

Taking a quick power nap by the pool

Driving in the mission car with Sister Kauvaka

Attitude is Everything/Almost hit a deer

It was another good week in the mission field:) So this week I totally recommitted myself to working super hard this transfer! Sister Kauvaka and I have been exactly obedient and have been really pushing ourselves! So last week we met a family of 4 and we went by to go see them saturday night and we knew hey we're home but then they didn't answer:( so we texted the mom and reminded her about church on Sunday! So we prayed super hard they would be there...then about 10 minutes before church started we got a text from her saying, "the day after you 2 sweet ladies came over our old pastor called us and invited us to go back to our old church! We know this was a sign from God that we shouldn't try out your church" and I just got so frustrated and started to cry. Anyway that was pretty devastating but I'm positive the Lord is still preparing people in our area! This past week we've been putting more information from the area books into our iPads and I realized there has only been 1 baptism in the Oak Ridge Ward in 5 years!!! Crazy right? But we are seriously putting in all our trust and faith in the Lord that we will be able to find more people to teach:) I've really realized that attitude is EVERYTHING! Everything is so much easier if you just decide to be happy:) 2 of The Sorenson boys came to church yesterday, the oldest one cut his leg open Saturday night so he couldn't come:( but he got some gnarly stitches!! But I love the Sorenson boys. Probably one of the cutest families I've met in my life! We are still waiting for the Stone dad (member in our Ward) to get home so we can continue teaching them the lessons!

oh my gosh I ALMOST a hit a deer the other night!!! I just screamed and let go of the wheel (idk I had a freak out) hahahah and Sister Kauvaka grabbed the wheel and was just laughing her head off, but it was so freaky! Lol she said, "why did you let go of the wheel?" And I just didn't really know what to say except the Carrie underwood song, "Jesus Take The Wheel" lolol but don't worry I didn't kill any Deer! The only bad thing was that the dumb tiwi went off and yelled, "AGGRESSIVE DRIVING!"

Our zone is totally different this transfer! I really love the sisters in the zone. Sister Hickman, Sister Briggs & sister Kauvaka! A bunch of missionaries went home this past week and a bunch of new missionaries came In! We have 2 greenie elders in the zone and I think they're adapting well haha idk. President Jardine said after next transfer 47% of the missionaries in the mission will have been out less than 4.5 months??! Crazy huh? I guess summer is when they have a huge turn over of missionaries.

Last night we had dinner with the Martins (the members we live with) and I just love them so much. They are like my mission grandparents. They are the kindest people! We had mashed potatoes and steak and asparagus...it was seriously like having Sunday dinner at home:) (dad your mashed potatoes are still better) being around the martins and their extended family makes me miss my family so much! But I am so grateful for them in having us live with them❤️ I really look up the the Martins.

Yesterday at church I was getting so discouraged and frustrated that we have no one to teach. I guess our zone is the lowest baptizing zone in the mission!!! it's just different because everyone here has a lot of money and doesn't think they need religion! But, then we had a lesson in relief society on being happy for the success of others haha! #Chastised I realized I just need to do the best I can and continue working hard and good things will come! Miracles only come after the trial of your faith right? :) we got together as a zone the other night and talked about how important it is to have a positive attitude while serving here! I really LOVE serving in the El Dorado Hills area!! I'm so happy to be here and the members here are amazing, we just need the work to pick up! But other than that, I love being a missionary! I love this gospel & the opportunity I have to share it with others.

I hope you all have a wonderful week:)))

Love,
Sister Sobotka

6 Months Down

Hey Everyone!

6 months down!!!! Crazy right? I'm already 1/3 done?! Time is seriously flying by!

It's been a super good, long, week:) so we had transfer calls this week and Sister Kauvaka and I are both staying here in El Dorado Hills! YAY!! So I was pretty excited about that. On Saturday night we got together as a zone at an investigators house and got transfer calls. Our Zone Leaders are super fun and had "Dundies" (if you've seen the TV Show The Office you know what the Dundies are) haha and we all got awards for the transfer! I got "I'm happy even when I'm mad" award hahaha because no one in my zone has ever seen me get mad! Hahaha crazy right? But this transfer has been so much fun. I love this zone and the opportunity I had to serve around these amazing missionaries! It's super sad to see some of them go:'(

Ok so the most embarrassing thing happened this week! So everyone I come in contact with asks where my name "Sobotka" comes from so this lady asked me that this week and I said "it's from the Czech Republic" and then we just kept talking about my mission and how everything has been going and she was talking to me super slow like I was 5 years old...so I was super confused and then she asked how long I've been out and I said 6 months and she said, "wow your English is sooo good" hahaha sooo she thought I was from the Czech Republic!

Anyway the rest of the week went pretty well! We added a few new investigators which is super exciting! One family who are friends with another family in our ward. We met with the mom and just told her what we do as missionaries and she was really interested and said we could come back in 2 weeks and teach her and her family the lessons! So we were super happy about that:) her and her family attend the "Rolling Hills Church" which basically EVERYONE in this area goes to. It's like this huge rock concert church?? I didn't even knew those existed #UtahProbz lolol I would say Rolling Hills is where 90% of the people around here go to church. Basically everyone we talk to say, "oh we already go to Rolling Hills" :(( the other night we went to a lady's house we tracted into a few weeks ago to invite her to the Pioneer Day BBQ & she was super nice....at first. She invited us into her house and gave us water and told us how she goes to Rolling Hills. Then she told us about how her family is super important to her and how her dad hates Mormons then she just wanted to start bashing with us!! She was just throwing all this stuff down & I just don't do well with contention! Soo I just bore my testimony, she invited us to come to Rolling Hills but we can't miss our wards on Sunday.

Rolling Hills has been a big thing this week. But last night we went to go see a family we tracted into the other day and they totally let us in and explained how they had been going to Rolling Hills, but they just felt it was missing something...(probz the spirit and doctrine) and they said they would come to church with us this Sunday!! It's a family with a mom, dad & 2 teenage boys!!! And they said we could come by and teach them the lessons this week!! So sister Kauvaka and I are just super pumped!!

On Sunday the 3 Sorenson boys came to church! So that was also super exciting:) the oldest one is 14 and it was his first time coming to church!! He went to efy a few weeks ago and loved it:) so good things are happening here in El Dorado Hills.

Anyway I hope you all have a great week! CTR
Love,
Sister Sobotka

Sister Sobotka and Kauvaka at the Sacramento temple

The Folsom Zone

The Dundie Award "I'm Happy even when I'm Mad"

My most prized possession is my Testimony

Hi Everyone!

        So it's been another good week in the mission field! Monday we had dinner at our Bishops house and they invited 3 other families over for family home evening! One family got baptized last year and they were wondering how they should do a family home evening so the bishop and his wife decided to have them over to have FHE:) also another family that just moved into the Ward came and the wife isn't a member! The bishop and his family are such good people and are always reaching out to people. This week we did a lot of service projects, on Tuesday we helped a family in our Ward rip out their deck and that was just a big project but it was pretty fun and they bought the Zone Costco Pizza for lunch so that was pretty nice of them.
       On Wednesday we went to this older widowed lady's home for dinner. She reminded me so much of my great grandma Paul:) she was super sassy but super fun to have dinner with. Something that really stood out to me was on her fridge she had a saying that said, "my most prized possession is my testimony" and I just loved that. That this 80 something year old lady really treasured her testimony. And how I treasure my testimony and I love that I have the opportunity to share my testimony every single day!
       On Thursday we had district meeting and talked about how to be bold with the people we are teaching aka my biggest weakness! Haha but I'm working on it:) then we went to lunch with our zone at some Chinese place. Then Sister Kauvaka and I volunteered at this old folks home and played Uno with a bunch of old people, they are hilarious! I told them my favorite movie was Sound of Music and then a bunch of them started belting some Sound of Music songs haha it was pretty funny! That night we had a Ward Correlation meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and the Ward Missionaries. We just got a new Ward Mission Leader and he is awesome! We got together and talked about new ways to get the members more pumped about doing missionary work. The Silva Valley Ward is different because the whole Ward boundaries are in a gated community, where you aren't allowed to knock on any doors and no one is ever outside, the only way you can talk to people is through members! We have such an awesome ward, but they just need to be reminded it's their responsibility as members of this Church to be sharing the Gospel with everyone! So we are really excited to be working with him and coming up with new ideas:)
          Friday we tracted like all day with Shaye. We went and tried to visit all the potential investigators in our area book, but 98% are never home. I swear nobody is home in the summer! At least in this area. But we did add a new investigator, Chris. Then we went to the park to try and find some people to teach and there is this sick skate park there so we started talkin to all the skater kids, and invited them all to the big stake party for the 24 of July! And they all said they would be there, then we showed them the "because he lives" and talked about how much their Heavenly Father and Savior love them. It was a really cool lesson because all the kids just stopped skating and came over to listen to us. Sister Kauvaka, Shaye, and I all bore our testimonies and I realized how sad it is that so many kids don't even know they have a loving Heavenly Father. But we invited them all to come to church:) then I asked if I could borrow one of their skate boards and basically did a bunch of sick tricks for them!! Hahaha and I didn't even fall down:)))
         Anyway I hope you're all having an awesome week and having a fun summer! We got some new referrals this weekend so hopefully we will have some more people to teach this next week! Also HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I LOVE YOU!

Love,
Sister Sobotka

Sister Sobotka and Sister Kauvaka Sharing the Gospel with Skateboarders

Sister Sobotka and Sister Kauvaka Sharing the Gospel with Skateboarders

Fat Kitty City

Heyyyyy family & friends

This week has been another awesome week in the Sacramento Mission. Oh yeah happy 7-11 I hope you all got free slurpees because we didn't because there is no 7-11 in our zone!!! Anyway...this week we have been tracting like crazy and just tryin to find some people to teach! Most people are really nice while tracting but have their "own religion" :(

On Tuesday we went to this place “Slide Belt" it's this LDS guys company that he started and it's just basically these cool belts & they give away 2 free ones to every missionary! So we went over there because a lady in our Ward works there & then she took us out to lunch at Chipotle so that was super nice of her! Then we went and tried to visit every single former investigator but basically no one was home:( then we tracted into this one guy who just wanted to argue everything about the Book of Mormon! He said his best friend is a member & he has tried to read the Book of Mormon but he says it doesn't match up with the bible & I didn't want to have any contention so I just listened to him, but my companion just started arguing with stuff him and they got all heated haha but I just said we weren't there to argue and tried to calm things down. That just got me a little discouraged, I don't understand why people have to act so rudely :( but then the next morning I read the talk by Jeffrey R Holland "The Cost--and Blessings--of Discipleship" and it talks about how we should always stand up for our beliefs even when it's hard.

On Wednesday we got trained on our Area Book App thingy on the iPad...basically we have to take both of area books and enter every single paper into the area book app! & it takes forever!!! & we have 2 area books! Most missionaries aren't very excited or happy about this haha & the app is just super confusing & overwhelming, but I'm sure it will all work out:)

Our Ward mission leader, Brother Anderson taught us how to make Italian soda lol I'm learning how to be a great bar tender. Hehe. Ohhh on Friday we went to this NASTY cat place to volunteer...it's called "fat kitty city" & it's basically this huge cat sanctuary! There are over 200 cats there and our zone leaders signed us up to volunteer there...we picked up cat poop for like 2 hours!!! It was sooo disgusting, just imagine all these nasty cats walking around trying to touch you and ew it was just so nast. So yeah sister Kauvaka & I probably won't be going there again any time soon.

Sister Kauvaka's parents sent her an iPod this week so we have just been jammin out in the car! (To church music of course) most the songs are pretty lame like 90's seminary music or something, but there is one song I love! It's like an upbeat version of "have I done any good in the world today" & I really just love this hymn, I especially love the 2nd verse where it says, "There are chances for work all around just now, opportunities right in our way. Do not let them pass by, saying sometime I'll try, but go and do something today" I've realized that there really are opportunities to do good right in our way every single day & Heavenly Father puts those opportunities there for a reason & it's our job to do something :)

I hope you are all havin a fun summer & gettin super tan for me. I love you, choose the right.

Sister Sobotka

Happy 4th of July

Hi Family & Friends! HAPPY 4TH

This week has been so much fun!  We have been doing a ton of service projects and volunteering around the community! We volunteered at the Folsom rodeo for 2 nights this week which was soo much fun! We got to talk to a bunch of people and watch the rodeo, definitely made me miss home but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! On the 4th we volunteered at a 10K run in Folsom which was super fun, we just handed out water and cheered people on. We had zone training on the 4th as well, sister Kauvaka and I were late to zone training and guess who was there...President Jardine hahah oopsies! But zone training was really good. Elder Wright and Elder West are my Zone Leaders and they do an amazing job teaching and bringing the spirit. We talked about 1 Nephi chapter 17. This is one of my favorite chapters of the Book of Mormon where Nephi is commanded to build a ship and he seriously just puts all of his trust in the Lord. I love verse 9 where he recognizes his calling to build a ship, but doesn't try and go build it by himself, but asks the Lord how he should do it. We related it back to missionary work how we know we are called to preach the gospel, but we should always ask the Lord for help and remember that it is His work and we need to do it His way:) to put our trust in him and realize, THE LORD ALWAYS PROVIDES A WAY:) President and Sister Jardine brought lunch to the training so that was really nice of them to do. I really love my zone, there are only 10 missionaries in my zone, I think it's more fun to have a small zone. After our training the whole zone went around busy places in our area and street contacted, it was really fun but WAY HOT! Our car said 113, so after a few hours of that we went to get ice cream! A member owns the Baskin Robbins we went to so we all got free ice cream! The members here are awesome. After that we had preparation day! President Jardine didn't want us out proselyting at night on the 4th so we just went to a church building and played games with the zone!

Anyway it has been a really fun productive week! We were able to add a new family to our teaching pool! They have been to church a few times in another stake, but are super interested! They have 3 daughters and one is engaged to a Denver Broncos player, so we got to meet him...I think his name is Peyton Manning? Lol can't remember though? Hehe

Yesterday at church the funniest thing happened, so it was fast and testimony meeting and some guy just totally broke the pulpit hahahahahah! Like it was just all crooked and messed up for the rest of the meeting and the Bishop got up to close the meeting and he just started laughing, it was pretty funny!

Anyway I hope you all had a fun, safe Fourth of July. We are so blessed to live in such a a beautiful country!! Even if the laws are changing and things are getting pretty crazy we are so blessed to have this Gospel and the freedom to practice whatever religion we choose. I am so grateful and blessed to be raised in the United States. I realized I'm a big baby when it comes to singing the Star Spangled Banner at rodeos hahaha I definitely teared up and got the chills. I've realized how significant it is that Joseph Smith and his family were in New York living in a country with religious freedoms and everyone had different religions that sparked Joseph's question of which church to join. It's amazing to see how the Lord works and how he has a much bigger plan for each and everyone of us! And the Lord is in everything we do! Hope you all have a great week and choose the right

Love Sister Sobotka

Sister Sobotka and Shaye Bastian (Member in El Dorado Hills)

Sister Kauvaka and Sister Sobotka

My New Area

This week has been pretty good! We have been going around meeting all the members in both wards and trying to get them really pumped about missionary work!

On Tuesday it was Elder Wrights birthday (my Zone Leader) so we had a birthday party for him and we got a big giant pizookie from BJ’s! So that was pretty fun!

I got to meet the Sorensen family this week...the mom is a member-she hasn't been active since she was young- but her husband and kids aren't members! They have 3 boys who have been coming to church and they are the cutest little boys I have ever met in my life!! They are 14,12,&9 they are really good friends with another family in our ward (the Stones) and the 14 year old went to efy last week and loved it! But they don't want to take lessons without the Stones being there and the Stones don't get back until the end of July! But they have been reading the Book of Mormon every night as a family:) I can definitely see big things happening with their family so keep them in your prayers:)

On Saturday we got to attend a guy named Max's baptism! (He's has getting baptized into another ward) It's seriously amazing the spirit you can feel at a baptism! Max looked so happy after he was baptized:) I love being a missionary, I love seeing people change and how happy they can be through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Well I hope you all know that I love this Gospel so much! I love being on a mission! Hope you all have a great week & choose the right:)

Love Sister Sobotka

Sister Sobotka and Sister Kauvaka

Sister Sobotka's District

Sister Sobotka's Zone