The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Dear Family & Friends,

I've literally drafted this email 3 times because I can't find the words for everything that's happened this week exactly right. This week has been one of the craziest weeks of my mission, if not the craziest! I have so may things to write about, but if I start it will just go on forever so I'll try my best to sum everything up.

We had the opportunity to teach so many people this past week and that just makes the bad times worth it. It's so incredible to feel the
spirit testifying through you. We were able to teach the first lesson, the restoration so many times this week and my testimony is continuing to grow of Joseph Smith. Every single time I recite his account of the First Vision it always brings the spirit and there is absolutely no denying that he saw our Loving Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I even think of Joseph's own words when he says, "I knew it and I knew that God knew it and I could not deny it"

We had a Temple Conference last week and got to go and do a session with President & Sister Jardine. It was an amazing feeling to be in the Temple with other missionaries. I'm just so grateful we have a Temple in our mission and have the opportunity to go!

Tuesday I turned 20 and the morning started out great! We woke up and got ready-when I got out of the shower Sister Hickman had decorated our room...she's seriously the best! I started reading the letters and emails I had received and just started to cry-happy tears! My heart was just so full of gratitude. Heavenly Father has blessed me with so many good people in my life and I just can't explain how grateful I am. We went to volunteer at the food bank in down-town Sacramento that morning and we parked our car then got out and put our bags in the trunk. We were in the food bank for about half an hour when we got a call from our vehicle coordinator saying the police had called and someone had broken into our car! The Elders were volunteering with us so we told them what had happened and they came out to our car with us. Our window was shattered and we started looking through the car and realized nothing was gone? We were so confused! Then we popped the
trunk and realized our bags were gone!! As a missionary, your whole entire life is in that bag! Our iPads, our wallets & credit cards! It was awful. Then these random guys across the street were like "oh yeah we watched this guy with orange hair steal your bags!" I wanted to say, "okay well why the heck didn't you stop them??" But whatever. Then I realized that my Book of Mormon was in my bag & I was literally so devastated. That was honestly my most prized mission possession. I started that Book of Mormon back in June and had finished it last week. I had spent hours and hours of personal study in that Book of Mormon. I had never read the Book of Mormon so in depth before and had written so
many quotes in there. My heart broke!! I basically wanted to break down and cry, then I realized how many pictures I had on my iPad that were gone forever! We called a member to call our parents to cancel our credit cards. Then we waited at our car for 2 hours for our vehicle coordinator so he could come pick up the car. We got replies from our parents through the members and the only thing Sister Hickmans parents were worried about were how she would get on her flight home without her drivers license and the only thing my parents were worried about is what time I'd be skyping them for Christmas!! Then our vehicle coordinator got there and gave us his car to drive back to the mission office. On the ride back to the office Sister Hickman and I had a good reflection on the whole day. We started to cry, we got a taste of what most of the world goes through during Christmas time. How we had nothing, no money, no family or friends in a place we didn't know...but this is how most of the world is. Most people don't have family or friends or money to make their Christmas special. We talked
about how truly blessed we are, we talked about how loving our parents are...we just had the iPad's stolen that they had bought us and all they cared about is when the next time they would see their daughters would be. It was really a touching car ride back as we were both in tears, talking about how grateful we are for the family we have. How grateful we are for each other and how truly blessed we both are. It was a good lesson learned, sometimes Heavenly Father has to humble you to teach you a lesson.

That night at dinner the members decorated their kitchen with birthday streamers & balloons. I started tearing up as we walked in. It had seriously been the worst day, but I guess sister Hickman had given them money to decorate. I am so grateful for Sister Hickman and her kindness towards me. She takes good care of me and I'm grateful to be serving with her right now! We've just have been through so much together this week and I'm grateful we have each other.

Anyway I'm sorry this email is so long, thank you all for the sweet birthday wishes & kind emails. My heart has been so full this
week. I am so grateful for this season, how it is hard being away from family, and it's hard being rejected all the time! But this has been my favorite Christmas season as I'm learning so many lessons that I can apply to the rest of my life. I am grateful for the trials Heavenly Father gives us to make us better people through the atonement of Jesus Christ. The Lord gives us trials for us to learn and grow. Sometimes you need to be compelled to be humble ;) This Christmas will be one I'll hold dear in my heart forever as its taught me how incredibly blessed I am. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and remember our Savior Jesus Christ in all that you do.

Merry Christmas
Love always,
Sister Sobotka


PS - Sorry have no pictures since the iPad's were stolen:( Here's the only pic I have of me on my birthday at the end of the
craziest day ever!

 

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Hello Everybody,

It was a good crazy week in Rancho Cordova! I am trying to remember everything that happened, it's just been crazy. Last Tuesday we had a miracle happen! We were out visiting some less active people that the Relief Society President had asked us to see and we ran into a guy named Tommy who was outside one of the houses. He happened to be a less active member who had just been through a ton in his life. Sister Hickman started testifying to him of The Book of Mormon and he agreed to meet with us and to learn more about the gospel. He fell away when he was a teenager, but he just has been going through a lot lately and felt it was time to kind of turn his life around. We got to meet with him later in the week and he is just a really good guy. I’m just so grateful the spirit led us to that place to be there at that time.

This week we had the opportunity to go see the Live Nativity that the Folsom Stake(last area) put on. It was amazing!! It was way better than that live nativity up in alpine we always go to (lol no offense). The spirit was so strong there and I was just tearing up. I've realized that I'm acting more and more like my Mom since I've been on my mission. hahah in a good way;) The nativity was such a good reminder to me of how the Savior was born in the most humble of circumstances yet he is the Son of God! We sang, "Joy to the world" this week at one of our ward Christmas parties and the line "let every heart prepare Him room" has really stood out to me this week. During the Christmas season how everyone is extremely busy I hope you all find room in your heart to remember the Savior and his atoning sacrifice for all of us. WE ARE SO BLESSED!!

The rest of the week went well. We literally went to 5 ward Christmas parties, it was a good chance to meet all the ward members! Ah I’m so lost here, but I’m trying to figure everything out. I still love being with Sister Hickman. She's such a hard worker and good example to me. We've been biking this week and it's been really fun just talking to everyone. I'm just so happy to be serving my Heavenly Father. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Love,
Sister Sobotka 

 

Hashtag Blessed

Hey everyone,

It was a good first week in Rancho Cordova!! Okay I'll give you a
quick run through about everything here. Okay so my companion is
Sister Hickman! She's from Tulsa, Oklahoma & is 21 years old. She's probably one of the hardest working people I've ever met & that's not even an exaggeration! She's pretty funny & reminds me so much of my cousin Lauren so it's really fun!! I think she's stressed out covering another Ward but I'm just happy to be here with her haha!

My new area is kinda ghetto, but not too ghetto! There are some
sketchy part like scary apartments but for the most part it's pretty
nice. The wards I cover are the Rossmoor Ward & the Goethe (pronounced like gatey) Park Ward. The Rossmoor Ward has a ton of old people & I would say that Goethe has more young-ish families.

Sister Hickman goes running every morning so I've been trying it out & oh my gosh I'm so outta shape!! Haha it's so embarrassing. We ran like a mile the first day & my legs were literally sore for the next 4 days!! Hahaha #Pray4me but its all good ;)

We are teaching a few people! One guy, named Lee is just super solid. He was referred to Sister Hickman & her past comp a few weeks ago & they've been teaching him every Tuesday & Thursday! He is a doctor & just an all around good guy. He has a good friend that's a member but the member lives out of the mission, but he still comes to the lessons! Anyway lee hasn't came to church yet because he has been on call the past few weeks but hopefully he can make it soon. He has so much potential & real desire to become a member! So yeah that's really exciting!

It's been a crazy week trying to get to know everyone & everything
around here, but I'm so grateful to be serving here at this time. I'm
grateful I get to be here with Sister Hickman & to learn from her. I'm grateful for the birth of our Savior & this Christmas season. I'm so grateful that we have a Savior & because of him we can return to live with our loving Heavenly Father There is so much to be grateful for & my heart is full of gratitude. I hope you all take the chance to look around & recognize how much Heavenly Father loves you & how much he has blessed you with.

Have a good week! CTR

Love always,
Sister Sobotka

Real Intent

Hey guys,

Shot out to Nick Gladwell!!!!

So yeah this week was pretty good! Here are the highlights: Sister
Erickson was super sick:( the poor thing!! We found out Rex is indeed a member (yay kinda) hahah & we had zone conference yesterday with Elder Hamula from the First Quorum of the 70.

Tuesday Sister Erickson was so sick, I felt really bad. It's the worst
when your companion is sick! Because you want to help them as much as you can, but there's nothing you can do. I guess that's probably how Heavenly Father felt when his Son was preforming the Atonement. I think that's one of the hardest things about missionary work! There are so many people you want to help, but you can't. Yeah that's hard.

Anywhoo...the rest of the week went pretty well! One day we were just driving down the street and we saw this GIANT balloon floating above Rex's house and we were just kinda like hey what the heck is that? So we went over that day to talk to him about the word of wisdom (because of the mysterious scent of weed in his house) and it was a giant beach ball in his pine tree?? He told us that his son, Wayne, (who's like 55+) climbed all the way up this tree to decorate it? So yeah apparently it's just decoration hahaha!

Sunday was Oak Ridge Ward's primary program. Ah it was so cute! It's so special to see kids of such a young age bearing their testimony of Jesus Christ. And there were a ton of non members there. Then during Sunday School we had our “Power of the everyday missionary class" and Sister Stone was there, we talked about fears of doing missionary work and she just broke down and started crying and said how she is really trying to help this family (the Sorensons who we've taught before) but she is really close friends with them and she doesn't want to push them too far. It made me feel bad because I had been complaining in my head
how the members need to do more missionary work haha but then I really realized that it's hard for them! It was cool to see her perspective.

Yesterday we had the amazing opportunity to hear from Elder &
Sister Hamula. They were so good! We talked a lot about “Real Intent". We were asked to study the whole Book of Moroni before the conference. It's funny how many times I've read Moroni 10:3-5 on my mission, but haven't really payed much attention to what "Real Intent" means. I've thought about how many times I've prayed and thought I wasn't receiving answers and then I realized I wasn't praying with real intent!
 
I read this quote from President Eyring, "praying with real intent
includes a willingness to obey whatever instructions come from the
Lord: The young Joseph Smith showed us how to pray that way. He
believed in the promise he read in the book of James. He went to the grove with faith that his prayer would be answered. He wanted to know which church to join. He was submissive enough to be ready to do whatever he was told to do. So he prayed, as we must, already committed to obey" It made me realize that Heavenly Father will answer my prayers, but I just have to have a willing heart and be ready to act on any answer I receive, even if it isn't the answer I want to hear;)

Anyway sorry this is super long again. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. Choose the right & read your scriptures!

Love always,
Sister Sobotka

Sister Sobotka, Rex and Sister Erickson

It's Getting Cold Here!

Hey fam,

This week has been great! Okay so remember Rex, the 80 something year
old I talked about a few weeks ago? Ok so we went and visited him this
week & we walked into his house & it smelled horrible! Like straight
up weed. It reminded me of the good old days in Carmichael ha! We were
so confused because like why would this sweet 80 year old man be
getting high? So yeah we are still confused about that, but
anyway...we taught him the restoration  & we found out that he might
be a member!! But we can't find his records anywhere? So our ward
clerk is calling salt lake today to try & find them! But the good
thing is, Rex & his son, Wayne, came to church!! Ah we were so
excited!

This week I've thought about how my whole mission I kept waiting for
this "golden investigator" & how I have this mindset where one day I'm
just going to magically find this family who has been waiting to hear
about the gospel, but I'm missing the miracles that happen right in
front of me. I've been thinking about Rex, how we just tracted into
him one day & how he called us back, how he wanted to change his life
& start coming back to church & how that's a huge miracle in itself!
Even if he is a member, it's so cool that now is the time he wants to
start changing & coming back to church! He's such a sweet old man &
I'm so happy Heavenly Father lead Sister Kauvaka & I to his door
months ago in July.

Things are going well with Sister Erickson, she's such a sweetie. We
made a new Ward Mission Plan for the Oak Ridge Ward & sister Allen,
(aka the best Ward missionary ever) had them made into these cute
magnets! So we've been going over to every members house and
committing them to do one of the 6 things on there for 1 month. It's
been going pretty well so far! The members here are such good people,
they just need to step up their missionary game-pretty sure we all do.

Dad, I learned how to fill up air in car tires!! Sister Erickson is
just so pro at life. She is knows about a ton how to live and just how
to do useful things, she's kinda like a mom :) haha it's getting so
cold here! Ah I am going to the biggest wimp back in Utah!

Anyway I love you all & hope you have a wonderful week! Remember to
choose the right and read your scriptures.

Love always,
Sister Sobotka

Sister Erickson and Sister Sobotka

Happy Hump Day!

Happy Monday Everyone!

9 MONTHS WHAT! I can't believe I hit 9 months this week. I'm half way
done with my mission?! I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this.
Mixed emotions for sure, but I’m definitely so happy I decided to
serve a mission! I was thinking about the time I spent biking in
Carmichael & how I wanted to throw my bike off the apartment
balcony...I've come a long way;) hahaha

Sooo this week has been a week of changes! I know last week I said I
would still be with Sister Starnes, but some changes happened & I have
a new companion! It was sad to see Sister Starnes go:( I learned a lot
from her & even started saying "y'all" on accident hahaha super
embarrassing! But I am now companions with Sister Erickson, k so she's
my first Caucasian companion, & she's my first companion from Utah!
But get this...she's a convert! She is literally from Sandy, Utah and
missionaries just happened to knock on her door one day! Hahah crazy
huh? She got baptized when she was 21, & now she's 29!! A whole 10
years older than me! But she is such a sweet heart. She is so kind &
just has a good heart. She's the only member in her family of 5 & man
I just really look up to her.  I know I've said this before, but one
of my fav parts of being a missionary is getting to know other
missionaries & hear how they were raised & their whole story of
deciding to come on a mission. Some people have gone through some hard
things to get here & I just admire those missionaries! I love having a
companion, at times it is really hard & you just want to be alone for
an hour! But I have learned important lessons from every companion, I
have a testimony that transfers really do come from the Lord & He
knows exactly what he's doing.

The rest of the week was pretty chill. We got to go to both Silva
Valley Ward trunk or treat & Oak Ridge wards trunk or treat. A bunch
of families brought their friends which was way cool! We got to talk
to a bunch of them.

On Saturday we helped a boy in our Ward with his eagle project & it
was this huge project of ripping out a billion and a half bushes at
his Highschool & then planing more in a shape of a "V" for vista high.
But it was a HUGE project that literally took all day. I felt bad for
him. Secretly happy I'm not a boy & never had to do an Eagle Scout
project hahaha.

For Halloween we had to be in at 6 & we had a meeting with our zone.
it was a good meeting, we just talked about the importance of the
sacrament. And we should ALWAYS remember our Savior, Jesus Christ &
all that he has done for us.

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week & ALWAYS remember Jesus
Christ. Oh and choose the right & read your scriptures.

Love always,
Sister Sobotka

Pics:

1. HAPPY HUMP DAY WOOT WOOT
2. Shots of chocolate milk for 9 months down
3. Sister Erickson and me at the Temple

 

Tender Mercies

Dearest family & friends,

Okay so last p-day I was thinking, "I'm just gonna make up a bunch of crazy stuff for next weeks email & see if anyone believes it!" but a ton of crazy stuff actually happened this week so I don't even need to make anything up:) haha!

Wednesday we got a call from this guy we tracted into a few months ago, Rex! He's like 80 something and could barley hear us but we left him with our card & a Book of Mormon & didn't really think much of it. Then on Wednesday when he called us he told us he wanted to come to church this Sunday! We had stake conference so we gave him all the information & he asked if we could get him a ride so we did! In the Folsom stake they have this really awesome meeting before the Sunday session of stake conference for all the new members & returning less actives & investigators! So we had Rex come to that & he said he loved it! It was awesome because a bunch of new members bore their testimonies about the church & how much their lives have changed since they joined. It was really cool & the spirit was incredibly strong. Ah it's so amazing to see people completely change their lives & apply the atonement & become new people. Anyway we hope to teach Rex this week:)

On Saturday we got a call from this random guy asking what time church was and where the church was in El Dorado Hills! We asked him how he got our number & he said he wasn't a member but was recently in Salt Lake & decided to check out temple square & met the missionaries there & got out number online! We told him it was stake conference this weekend, and then he told us he lived in Folsom (aka not our area) haha so we gave him the sisters in folsoms number. I think this was just a way for the Lord to show me, hey there are people being prepared everywhere :) I was just so excited!

Also on Saturday we got to go to a baptism in the El Dorado Stake! Shaye (17 year old girl in Silva Valley Ward) gave us a ride & guess what! We ran out of gas on the way there!!! Hahah, but luckily we ran out right in front of the gas station! (Tender mercy from the Lord;) ) but we still had to get out & push the car a little bit! Haha just imagine these two missionaries in their skirts pushing a car to the gas station. It was actually pretty funny. Anyway we made it to the baptism on time & everything went smoothly:)

Like I mentioned before, we had stake conference this weekend & it was awesome! They talked a lot about looking for the good in the world. This past week I was looking through my journal & there is a place for me to write "miracles" that have happened & I barely had written any & I started thinking, "well nothing miraculous has happened lately" but I then I was like, hey I need to fill up this part in my journal, so I started noticing all the miracles that happen every single day!! I guess it's just really all about perspective :) one of my fav scriptures is 1 Nephi 1:20 where it says, "...the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance"  then in psalms 145:9, "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all His works"
The tender mercies of the Lord are literally all over, you just have to stop & look for them Elder Bednar said, "We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live." & I just love that:) I think I've learned to look at all the simple beauty recently & have just realized how good God is!

I'm sorry this email is about 5 years long! It has been just a great week. I am so grateful to be out here serving my Heavenly Father:) I hope you all take time to stop & look for the Lords tender mercies in your life

Love always,
Sister Sobotka

Pics:
1. Sister Starnes & I at the Sacramento temple
2. The new Folsom zone
3. Sister Starnes & I giving a Book of Mormon to a llama
4. I tried to find something in my bag to eat the other day & found these delicious Reese's