Awesome people

Hey Mom not a whole lot of time, so this will be short, but that sounds awesome about the ward missionaries! It stinks Jackson got sick again, I'm glad He iwsn't too sick. It's been a good week. We have met some really really dumb people (bless their heart) and some really really awesome people. It's awesome through all these experiences I've been able to learn more of who Christ really was, and how much patience and tolerance He had. Well I love you mom, Thanks for everything. Tell everyone i didn't respond to, I'll have a nice long letter for them next week!! :)))) Love you!!

Pretty Kewl.

this week has been pretty kewl! I got my first baptism this week, his name is Scott (pretty awesome name am i right?) He did awesome, and it's been cool to see the little changes coming into his life, He has come so close to the Lord and draws closer, i remember when i first met him, and he said that he had tried to cut himself the night before and Scott had peircings in his ears and lip, now he is filled with more and more light. when he talked to him after he was baptized, he said he felt so new and felt so good. He bore a wonderful testimony and said he wanted to be a missionary someday "Elder Achi" such an awesome kid. well love you all (at least all of you who read this email if you didn't, i don't blame ya)

a little different

I had an experience today, where a man bassically dropped us because he googled the book of mormon instead of praying about it. he said he wouldn't pray about it until he knew it was true logically. (literally the opposite of faith but okay) anyway, both me and elder heimdal testified to him boldly, we did what we could but it was still sad. Satan is real. and i think for the first time, I felt a real desire to stay in suriname and i started not really caring too much about when i got home. (i still love you all and am excited for when i get back and can talk to all of you) I feel a need and a desire to be here. there is no other place I would rather be. Although the man dropped us, I'm alittle diffrent than when i was yesterday, so i can help others better. I love you mom, you are an amazing example of love and charity

ps I GOT THE FIRST PARTY PACKAGE!! I'll try to send some pictures soon!!

faith is not a perfect knowledge

this week was pretty cool. I fell into a dirty little river thing as we were crossing a bridge to get to a lesson with a woman. It gave me a good laugh. Heavenly Father really does have a sense of humor, when we got to the lesson, she talked about how she knows the book of mormon was true in her heart, but the names didn't make sense to her. we told her that the most important thing was that we have faith, and that faith is not a perfect knowledge. even if we desire to believe, thats enough. Last night we taught a woman who was frustrated with her dad, and daughter, and neighbors. I felt prompted to tell her that we can always have comfort and a reason to smile, because God is our father, and He loves us. and I told her that she was a daughter of God. We truly do have every reason to find joy and be okay.My companion said When we a partners with God, it's up to us whether we fail, because He is perfect and will always keep His side of the deal. I know that God lives, that He qualifies, and that through Christ we can come to know who we are, and who others are. Ik houd van jullie!! 

Hey mom, sorry it's a day late. the internet was down yesterday, That story from him is super cool. He gave up everything to go help that family. He is a perfect example of someone who is Christlike. I learn more about the type of person Christ is everyday. It's an amazing opportunity to be here. As I spend more and more time with the people i feel more love for them. yesterday, we taught a man who didn't really end up accepting the gospel, but as a looked at him and saw myself in his car window, i thought about how i am a son of God, and he is too. I felt more significance of my missionary calling, that we have so many people around us who have no idea who they are, and what amazing potential and power is inside of them. so many people know about God, but they don't know the extent of who he is, and who they are. anyway, I love you mom, thanks for the email, and your inspired thoughts. I love you so much, I'm glad thanksgiving was good. LOVE YOU!! 

believe before they even pray about it.

this week went super fast!! i feels like yesterday i was on this computer haha. it's been good, i've seen a solid amount of dead frogs, and today i got a bonus and saw a dead dog!! (sorry animal lovers) anyway we were riding our bikes back from a members house doing service, and i looked up at the sky and said wow those clouds are cool, then i looked alittle more left and said HOLY CRAP (those clouds were even more gorgous) this is such a beautiful place. I love the light rain and the mellow nights. the people here are wonderful, There are so many that have so much humility. they believe before they even pray about it. they are so willing to follow God. that kid named scott i talked about last week has no piercings now! he looks more full of light and is doing better. The spirit really helps the missionaries too. My trainer asked me to lead one night this week and we found a man sipping a cup o' joe in his pajamas. he said he was hindu but he was very kind and so we startedto leave. then rain started pouring, henry yelled back at us from his porch for us to come back to get out of the rain. I listened to my companion talk to him (still not too good at dutch) and he talked about how he loves the word of God and he showed us his bible and karan, then we gave him more scripture (the book of mormon) and he was super excited, he said he would read it :) a similar experience happened with another man the next night, we got there and immediatley he sat up chairs for us like he was expecting us. the spirit is amazing and guides us. Heavenly Father is wonderful, and He helps His children. love you all!!

Absolute heroes

 I wanted to share two cool experiences with you two. there was one night when i was thinking about what you two have gone through and experienced together as a couple. you two are my absolute heroes. You both have depended and loved each other so much, and that was so visible to me growing up. I love you two so much, and I am so happy you two are my parents. I had another experience today in the temple. Today was my last day to be in the temple for two years and so i Pondered that, then I opened the scriptures and read about Christ in matt 9-10, and when He called his disiples and what he told them they would go through and what they would experience. I feel like that was the best thing to be learned today. I love you two so much and look up to you both so much. LOVE YOU!!

Hey everyone! well my travel plans came this past week, and so I'm not leaving until monday! (i think) it makes me feel like Moroni at the end of the book of mormon, because I'm not done here yet hahaha anyway, I'm super excited to see Jared before i leave off to se! It'll be super cool to fly with my district, they're a good fun group of elders, so it should be good! I'm pretty excited, but I'm happy to be here, and learn just a bit more of the language. I love the Dutch language, theres a phrase that says "voor de lols" which means "for the heck of it" haha, anyway, it's been a super good week, I've heard there's been some flooding near the se area, so that'll be quite the experience to come to! anyway, I love you all, I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that joy and happiness comes from working hard and being true to what we know.

Nov 1

Hey mom! I got to s.... just a few days ago! it is so beautiful here, and wonderful. its hard work, but man i love it. I love the people here haha, especially the kids, theyre so cute and sweet. alot of them remind me of home. I'm so glad I was able to see you and dad and jared in the mtc before i left. I never noticed how much jared acts like dad, and how much i act like you. hahaha, I can barely speak dutch, but I can usally get my message across, so that's a really big blessing, there are also alot of investigators that speak english. there is one 14 year old boy named scott that i really click with. He has some family troubles, and has some depression, and I'm glad that we have the opportunity to bring the light of Christ into his life. I'm still not quite adjusted to the mission life, so I'm learning to exersise faith in Christ, everytime i teach a lesson, or proselyte, I feel happy. honestly, throughout my whole experience, I have never reached a point where I have gotten really homesick, I have been so blessed mom. there is  a blog with afew pictures of me: ..... anyway, I love you so much, thank you for your testimony. man, thanks again for helping reach this point in my life, I'm so glad I have this opportunity. It's weird, I always feel like when I read yours and dads letters, I'll feel alittle homesick, but instead it's the opposite, you make me want to work hard. I love you for that. thanks again mom! ❤

p.s. packages are going to be WAY expensive for you if you send them to me, so don't worry too much about them, instead money for personal stuff is good! :) (pps thats what they told me (just the messenger boy))

definitely a big help

Well, thanks again forbthe email. Things are going great here. Lots of work thats for sure but its still pretty cool to be on this island with all the awesome people. Our schedule lately has been to do a lesson here in this city village thing and then go south doing kessons on the way and sometimed contacting people. We got a new person though, member wants us to lesson with their 9 year old son so thats cool so know well be going uo north a but each day before we head south. I dont know what it is if its just the fact that theres so much biking ubder the hot sun or what but when ever i go outer island my appetite seems to go like x2. Like legit i can eat like doubke what id eat in tarawa. Well tganks for yourss prayers theyre definitely a big help. Things are going great here. Were flying back out on sunday so were doing a baptism pIcnic thing goodbye saturDay. Well lessons are going good with our people. Were teaching first three lessons each as its own and then weve been teaching wow and chastity as one lesson beteeen first and second. First three are done we finish off lesson four and tgen kesson five. Its actually been not that rushed which is good  its cool to grt oractice teaching kessond. Sorry the soell check on this ohone there is none. Well love you mom! Ill email next week. Same too famiky, much love, cool oictures. Ti abo elder seffker

maybe we all knew eachother in the pre-exsistence/more and more. who are ready to be baptized.

Hoi eveyone, The MTC has still be super awesome, The language is coming along a little bit every day, the gift of tounges is so real, I've learned more dutch here, than i did chinese at highschool in two years haha, My companions are super cool, and We're always cracken up quite a bit, It's super cool, before my mission i listened to so much music, but now that i'm here I feel like there's even more music in my life, I'm either singing something as we're going somewhere, and whenever we sing hymns for a devotional i get super stoked, The spirit is so strong when we sing, I know that the hymns are inspired, another cool thing is, is it feels like i recognize so many of the people here, and they say they feel like they recognize me too, maybe we all knew eachother in the pre-exsistence. haha, anyway love you all, I know the church is true and that God will give us help and strength as we keep the commandments. 

Ik veet dat Helemse Vader Houdt Van ons, Ik veet dat geloof belangrik is, Ik houd van u! 

-Elder Seffker

 Dear mom
Sorry this computer doesn't hab the letters that i'm not usin in my
email on the key board so im tryin to find ways not to use those
letters like usin synonyms of words that i wanted to say or by makin
up a new word that resembles the word that i wanted to type haha.
cool to hear about eberythin happenin in america. 
The transfer has had a bit of problems in the past with fallin throuh
but we were able to make it out! APs said they prayed hard. we
definitely did. and that's also to you and the fam for prayin! i
imajin the timin was rit for it happenin now. well. we'b been here for
a few days now. thins are doin pretty awesome. the members here are
awesome! and there are a few people. we keep findin more and more. who
are ready to be baptized. kids of members. and also some adult couples
and what not.
It's cool bein outer islands. it's always weird to contemplate what
makes tarawa different from outer islands. there's less man made stuff
here. it's pretty much a forest with clear areas for houses. there's a
clump of houses maybe 10 min walk lenth and then forest for another 10
min. the whole island is about 50 min bike ride south from our house
and then maybe 30 min north. 80 minutes from end to end. which is a
pretty awesome size. it's pretty lon but not too lon. well were tryin
to do our best. we'b only hab a few weeks here. next sunday and then
the sunday after that is our last sunday here. we'll be ridin all ober
tryin to lesson with people. strenthen the members. find fellowship. 2
weeks isn't much time to try to help someone who's not ready for
baptism be ready. we'll mainly be workin with those who are ready. who
hab come to church before and keep some commandments. if there are a
lot that want lessons who need a bit more time maybe they will keep
elders out here but we're not sure if that's what they want. we're
just workin toward the end of the two weeks for now. but yeah. we're
definitely not perfect elders but it's cool to see blessins that's
what we're hopin for in our time out here. I'm much appreciatin as
well all the nature here it's really cool. There are a lot less people
here as well. which i suppose is another difference. In bij cities
people see lot of other people maybe bcome sick of them. Here thouh
people always seem to be excited to see people. It's kind of like the
difference between country life and city life. There's lots of
differences.
Any way. Thanks mom for eberythin. sorry this keyboard is way bad. lob
yous all hab an awesome week! I wrote to scott. SOunds like he's doin
awesome! well ti a bo much luck in america!!! - ELder SEffker

pray that things will go well

Sounds like every one is doing great with School and what not.
Especially Scott on the mission!
Well, this week has been great. Sorry time is super short. I'll let
the pictures I sent tell the words.
I was sure I was gonna stay in b to die but transfers came and
I was so surprised to find that I'm going out to M for 2 weeks
before I die! So that's exciting! It's gonna be nice, it'll be pretty
hard to get trunky that way. We're praying hard that the trip will go
through, cause apparently they've been trying to get other elders out
to there for the past few weeks but things have kept happening. The
other elder that was gonna go out became district leader so that's
good for him, he also got a son. We've got 16 new missionaries that
just came in thursday. 12 more next transfer.
If you guys could pray that things will go well that would be great!
well thanks again!!!! love you!!!!!
Jared Seffker

Elder Scott Seffkers' Letter

Hey doods! The MTC is awesome its really productive and happy here. Although the language is hard to learn (like all languages) I love it, it's a fun language to speak and I'm learning it pretty fast, I can already pretty roughly pray and bear testimony. I'm pretty dang stoked to see jared here (hopefully)  , sometimes i'll just get these super happy moments here, this is definitely where i should be the mission is awesome anyway sorry this email is super short, but i gotta keep the media engaged so they don't get bored. love ya all ❤

Scott's farewell/ Kiribati construction

Wow! What a beautiful day Sunday was. Scott gave his farewell talk on Charity. Fantastic!! We had a wonderful farewell party at the house after! Thank you everyone that supported Scott! Scott's friends he grew up with took a reenactment photo from their primary class when they were five! This was great!  Later in the evening Johnny had his Eagle Court of Honor. It was nice having that special event before Scott left so he could be a part of it. Five Eagle Scout Brothers!! It was so kind of everyone to support Johnny in his special recognition. My heart was filled to the brim with gratitude and love for all the support. It was also filled with a bit of emotional sadness knowing Scott would be gone soon and I wouldn't be seeing him until 2020. Ahhh bitter sweet!!

Scott was able to spend time with all his loved ones before he left. It's such a sweet blessing for him to be able to do this. He wanted me to tell everyone Thank you!!

Tuesday night Scott became Elder Scott. He was set apart by President Reid. After the setting apart, we had a beautiful party at Olive Garden with some goodbye tears but mostly laughs! It truly is a celebration having a son serve the Lord on a mission. Elder Seffker (Scott) was super excited which made it a lot easier for me to say goodbye. Scott mentioned on the ride down to the MTC Wednesday that he was much more nervous to go work in Washington DC three months prior than he was going on a mission for two years! 

Scott sent his first email right after we dropped him off at the Provo MTC. He sounds great!

"Hey mom, I'm already writing my first email, man this place is super cool, I love you so much, thanks for helping me reach this point, it's still kinda strange to me, but then again its only been an hour since i got here i love you guys :) Elder Seffker"

We are still anxiously waiting to hear from him again. He will send his emails on his P-Days. We will find out all the details this week. Jared is doing really well. He will come home October 22nd. We can hardly wait!! He sent this email:

Well, Scott's officially out there. I saw all the pictures you sent.
Looks like he's been getting older. He's got quite the defined jaw,
like dad. Then again grandpa also has a defined jaw. Anyway, not sure
where exactly he got it, probably from both. Johnny seems to be
getting a bit older as well.
I saw your guys kind of spring themed picture you sent of the family.
Very nice lighting, coloring. Cool picture. Hopefully Scott brought a
few family pictures. I use mine so often. Everyone always loves seeing
the family.
Well. This week has been good.
A lessons are going great still. She says she prays about it
everytime to know if our message is true. She says her answer is
probably on the way.
We've got an investigator named T who is also doing pretty good.
He's accepted baptism, just not a date yet. Very cool guy as well,
very receptive to the message.
Were starting to get some people who are really interested in the
lessons which is great. We've done plenty of tracting this transfer.
We've been working on going house to house, cause that's what it says
in D&C.
We had a service this week, which went great. We worked on someones
house. It's always cool to see kiribati people working on their
houses. Just because of where kiribati is located there are no
earthquakes, no powerful storms, tsunamis.... So their houses don't
need to be that sturdy. When we worked on the house we were just
disconnecting a house thing from a copper tent thing so that they
could both stand on their own and then we had 10 guys or so, we just
got on the sides of the house and moved it to the spot they wanted it
to. Kiribati construction is a pretty quick thing. They obviously can
build bigger structures as well which takes more time, but yeah.
We did two splits this week. One was with kids from an LDS school that
the principal set up. Another was with two guys that we've been
teaching english to. One is a recent convert. It was awesome. We
taught a few lessons and then got ice cream afterwards.
We had dinner last night with a very awesome couple. They spoke
english pretty much the whole time. They served missions in new
zealand and australia. In the kiribati culture people just don't talk
about how they dated and got married and stuff but they did, which I
realized as my companion and I were talking about it that night that
it was probably english culture they'd picked up.
We'll love you mom! Thanks also for the emails the family sent! have a
good week! - Elder SEffker

THe Spirit is what motivates people to do good

WEll, here's a basic run down of my week. Me and my comp have been
doing pretty good. THis week has been pretty good. WE didn't get as
many new people. SOme of our lessons have been falling through, not
all of our people are the most interested. But, we also had many
awesome things this week. Like one of the families we're teaching has
so much faith.WE taught a few lessons and they';re already doing great
with their commintments! THe husband is less active. THe wife is from
the catholic. Yet they both read from the book of mormon after we gave
it to them. The Spirit is very present in our lessons. WE love their
family a ton. They've also got two little kids. One is a new born.
Very great family, very humble as well. They seem pretty prepared.
WE've also been working to get some fellwoshippers so that's been
going pretty well as well. We didn't have any investigators at church.
We invited a few people but I guess they're just not quite ready yet
to come. But even then, there was a less active guy that came that we
were very happy to see there. THis guy, we walked into his store and
bought some stuff. WE knew he was lesson active, his son comes to
church regularly, we got talking about his store. It seems like he's
always there. But he said he would able to take a break from it to
come to church. We saw him on the road saturday, he said he'd see us
tomorrow and sure enough he was there! It's funny how we hardly did
anything but I guess that's the power of the Spirit. THe Spirit is
what motivates people to do good, it's the real force in missionary
work to bring about success, so I guess the guy was just ready and the
Spirit had long been working on him I suppose. Even then, the Lord
calls us to be a hand in His work and gives us opportunities to help
Him with it. That's kind of one of the things that stuck out to me in
a conference talk this week. That we have opportunities to help the
Lord in His work.
Any way, love you mom! Have a good week! Also the family! - ELder
SEffker