focus on what you have

Hi mom! We had a good week this last week, I'm so happy to hear about A baby, what's her name? That's wonderful to hear about h blessing. Families are so special and wonderful, especially when priesthood power and revelation are involved. I'm excited to see the future for this family. You are making such an influence on the lives of people around you through the gospel. Thanks for your counsel mom. I've found that as soon as i just start giving all credit to the Lord, more success and spiritual experiences happen. This past week we were on our way to a lesson with a member who had been alittle inactive. We passed a old man and a girl in a wheel chair. I felt that i should talk to them but kept biking but then the spirit said to turn around and so we went back. We started talking to the old man and everyone calls him "oppa" i noticed the girl in the wheel chair had a beautiful light with her, but she seemed sad. While we talked to oppa, the less active walked up and started testifying of the book of mormon with us and talked about how the girl in the wheel chair would have been a happy beautiful girl but because of her mom, she had ruined her hands and feet when she was little. I sat down next to the girl and talked to her while my comp talked to oppa. I said Hi! Im elder seffker! She said her name was rochel. I asked her what she liked to do for fun and she said she couldn't write, and so i said okay, well i can write/draw for you! She told me to draw a flower, and some more things. She said that she was 21 and that she liked listening to music and flowers. I made her laugh really hard acouple times (im a comedic genius i guess 💁‍♂️ haha) i asked her if there was anything we could do for her and she said she wanted to walk (i think she has constantly been told that because of her mom she can't do anything/be happy) the spirit told me to tell her that she should stop focusing on what she can't do, and focus on what she can do. I asked can you see? Yes. Can you hear? Yes. Can you be happy? Yeah. Can you be sad? Yes sometimes i get made and sad. That means you have a heart that works, you can feel. I told her that she had a beautiful smile. And i promised her, that one day she would walk, and then run, and then dance. And its through Jesus Christ. Discipleship is not having a bunch if baptisms. Discipleship is doing what the Savior would do and following the Spirit. Our goal should not be trying to build ourselves up and get credit. Our goal should be helping people feel the glory and love of God. He is great. He is merciful. His plan is perfect and all that is unfair is made right through Christ and the atonement. I love you mom

-love Scott

Missions are forever

Hi mom, yeah thanksgiving we didn't really do anything, to celebrate, but on saturday we all got together as a district and ate a bunch of chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes haha, it was a good time. We just had a district conference. A seventy came and spoke. It was cool, we talked about the light of Christ and the light the world thing. To be honest i was super tired and worn out by the end. The meetings went too long because of translation. The members didn't realize they needed to shorten their talks because of translation, so i was just worn out at the end of the day. I was alittle inpatient when we got to the apartment and for some reason less enthusiastic about the work because the conference was just soooooo long. But one thing that I've found about my mission, is as soon as i actually get out there and stop talking about change, but making it happen, i have so much more energy and enthusiasm. I'm alittle concerned/worried because the numbers are low in my area because I'm trying to balance getting all my studies in for my greenie, 1 hour of contacting, and all these conferences. My zone leader i think is concerned too, i don't blame him, but i remember that my success as a missionary is not determined by the numbers. Its determined by my willingness. I've got to focus less on the numbers and more on what is actually going on in peoples lives. There is a brother we are teaching who is in a wheel chair and has been to church for the past 5 weeks. He's going to be baptized on the 14th. At the conference i saw all of the members i taught and helped. The first baptism on my mission, scott, gave a talk on the stake/district conference. He talked about the youth program. I still remember teaching him how to give a talk when i was being trained. I felt like alma when he brags about the Lord. I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to see God change people and make them so different. Missions are forever, they don't end at the 2 year mark. Every member is a missionary. We can invite people to come and see in normal amd natural ways. I love you Mom i hope you all have a wonderful christmas season. We're coming up on your birthday, you've been a wonderful mother. I listened to the primary song "i know my Heavenly Father loves me" the song you'd always sing to me when i was little. Tears came to my eyes. Thank you for teaching my that my Heavenly Father loves me. That has carried me to my mission and throughout my life. The Love that you exercised for your father in heaven shined to your children, your influence has changed lives. I love you mom

Elder Seffker

He saves and redeems us!

Its a good time haha yeah i read james 1 this week too, ive decide im going to read jesus the christ  again. But read it slower. I am going to end it, at the end of my mission. Im going to be reading about christ's birth on christmas, have you seen that light the world short film they made? I think its one of my favorite vids released from the church. It makes you think about what they all knew about how important christ was from just prophecies. 

Christ lives. He saves and redeems us. I know that from personal experience. Love you mom 💙

Rhythm to Life

there was a baptism for the other elders investigator this week, and so we brought f, I think he really liked it. we sat in a lesson with him and asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yeah, it'll be good. I'm leaving my area after being here for 24 weeks, so now I'm going down to south zone, where it's pretty ghetto, should be some fun stuff. My new comp is E. M, and he's pretty cool. anyway in my studies this week I've been able to read alot more, because of having technology. here were some cool quotes from my studies this week:

"It is so easy to be confrontive without being informative; indignant without being intelligent; impulsive without being insightful! It is so easy to command others when we are not in control of ourselves. 

We should savor even the seemingly ordinary times, for life cannot be made up of all kettledrums and crashing cymbals. There must be some flutes and violins. Living cannot be all crescendo; there must be some counterpoint.

Clearly, without patience, we will learn less in life. We will see less. We will feel less. We will hear less. Ironically, rush and more usually mean less. The pressures of now, time and time again, go against the grain of the gospel with its eternalism.

Patience is, therefore, clearly not fatalistic, shoulder-shrugging resignation; it is accepting a divine rhythm to life; it is obedience prolonged. Patience stoutly resists pulling up the daisies to see how the roots are doing! "

-NEAL A. MAXWELL

anyway, I like how he says "Patience is...... accepting a divine rhythm to life" we can't constantly be having the most exciting things happening. anyway short email for this week but that's that 

LOBI!!

He will protect

This story is from this past week, We had another lesson with that guy named frank, now let me remind you, he is a very stiff old man, but the gospel really seems to soften his heart, we decided to bring a member to him, and i gave the idea of bro. S. s is alot like frank, really stiff, but really loving and nice. he'll tell you when you are wrong tho. anyway, before the lesson, we called him, and he was alittle stiff about where we should meet up, to go show him where franks house was. after the phone call, my comp said, "are you sure Bro. S isn't too old?" anyway, we got to the lesson, and this lesson would have either been super awesome, or they would have disagreed, and it would have been super bad. got into the lesson and they immediately hit it off. Bro. S said that he recognized frank from somewhere. they started talking about soccer in S. frank said you know de franco? the one with the short leg? Bro. s: yeah yeah, Frank: he's dead now. bro simons mouth hung wide open, no.....yeah, and you know Lagrange? he's dead too. no...... and then they talked about how soccer was good back in the day, but now it sucks, and then in the middle of the lesson, they talked about why dogs are so awesome. it was pretty funny, I was trying to hold back laughing a couple times. but anyway we taught him about the spirit world and how God loves all of his children, no matter age, race, or what ever. really awesome time. 

Hey mom, that story about a is awesome. I know the Lord will protect you too. that's one thinkg I've learned on my mission, is if you press forward with faith, and trust God, no matter where you go, He will protect you. I've seen Him watch over me alot. It makes me super happy that melissa is going on a mission, if the Lord tells you to go on a mission, it's mandatory. haha. but yeah, that's super exciting, she will love her mission. I am a big supporter on going on a mission. you have hard experiences, but they aren't as hard as they would normally be, because Heavenly Father lifts the burdens off your shoulders. thats what i noticed when I was in the hospital. he loves his children, and helps them, as they serve him. I saw the pics of remi, he is so big, thats so fun! I"m excited to see all you guys when i get home. Well thanks for everything mom, I love you 💙

Very elect

okay this week, is a story that's super recent, one day we decided to stop by a ladies house to check on her, (ya know basic missionary stuff) and she wasn't there, so we went to the house across the street. the guy across the street was this old guy who brought chairs out and let us in and so we sat down, and as soon as we sat down he started saying how Joseph smith was a liar, and that it was blasphemous to have a picture of someone seeing God. with people like that I usually get upset and don't control my temper too well. but the spirit kept me calm haha. we explained to him the background and at the end of the contact he was still stern, but in a different way, he said something that stuck out to me "you guys don't know rain or sun, you do all this just based on faith" or something along those lines. it gave me confidence. everything that I do as a missionary is based upon the faith that I have. we missionaries sit out in the burning sun, and in the freezing rain, to serve somebody we've never even seen, but someone we have felt. then this guy went on to say "you two don't even have a desire for women!!" then I said "well I mean we try, we aren't gay" anyway, we've had a couple more lessons with him and he is actually super elect. I think he's going to be baptized. as we bring more info to him, he is more open, because the gospel makes sense, and goes with the bible, most of all, because the spirit is there, and speaks to his heart. I love you guys, and talk to yall next week!

God is at the helm

"this has been a really good week" says every missionary at the beginning of every single letter. but yeah, it's been good. ya know I don't think that I've done describing Suriname justice. so I think from now on (I'll try) I'll tell a weird, or funny story, instead of just giving the whole "this is how my week was" crap. I guess a good story this week was actually this week. we were about to go to an appointment and a drunk guy yelled at us to stop us. I was thinking "crap not this same drunk guy again" but my comp stopped otherwise i probably would of just kept biking (when you know what people will say you don't make much effort to talk to them again.) but anyway we stopped, and he just went off about how he wanted to buy us drinks and such. I thought well, "we aren't gonna get too far with this guy cause he's drunk, so I started talking to a Haitian lady and her daughter, I was speaking in surnantango cause she didn't speak dutch. eventually the drunk guy bought us some drinks after we told him it was okay (he was honestly a super nice drunk guy but i didn't want him doing something he was gonna regret later.) anyway i said "you should't buy these for us, you should buy them for this woman and girl" and then he said "I already did! I love the children!!" and then I said "that's good but you should't love them too much!" (when i know someone is drunk i like to have fun with them, in a professional, disciple of Jesus Christ way) and then after he talked abit more about how he loves people and stuff, and He gave us like 50 hugs while doing this (like i said, super nice drunk guy) then i said "hey can i take a picture with you!?" and so we did, (I don't have my camera, so I'll send the pic next week) and then I gave him a hug and said I love you, and he said the same, and then I looked at him and he started making the - I'm about to cry face- so then i made that face as well. then He actually started crying, and I said "I love you" again. and then we left and gave the drinks we got to two other guys. just a sweet little funny story. but yeah. if you ask people if you can take a picture with them, it makes them feel really good. I think I'm going to start doing it more. well love you guys, peace. 

Hey Mom, You guys are going to the islands!? are you excited or a little nervous to see how Jared has been living? yeah, that experience with Jackson was good for me. yeah, families are awesome. the girl still really wants to be baptized but she won't talk to her dad about it, because she's so scared. so I don't know how soon she'll be baptized, but, she likes to meet with us, and we've told her, that no matter what happens she WILL have an opportunity to be baptized no matter what. God's plan is merciful. He wants us to live with Him, so He's made a fool proof way, if we want it. anyway I love you Mom, thanks for all your help and love. I know this church is true, and that Christ is at the helm.

Elder Seffker