one more week!

I cannot believe that next week is christmas! i'm SOOO excited to talk to you all! i've been trying to figure out the best way to do things, but you'll get from my other email that i'm not completely sure since the time difference is so huge, and i wanna be able to talk to carter too. but yay! one more week!

things really don't seem like christmas here...there are a few decorations around, but not much. i've only felt like it's actually december in a few of the member's homes that we've been to. so it's kinda weird to think that christmas is only a few days away, but i'm definitely looking forward to it, especially talking to you all!

so this week has been CRAZY. sis was in the hospital for a few days, and then pres took her and sis mongan to senopati to stay...but sis mongan got sick of not doing anything, and so now she's pulling a 3-some with me and sis lie, which has been both good and bad. good for lessons, cuz she actually knows what she's doing, but bad for contacting, cuz the other 2 just talk all the time, and i still get nervous about what other people are going to say back to me that i'm not gonna understand. which is really no excuse, but we're all trying to be better. i told the other 2 that we CANNOT sit by each other when we're in the buses, cuz then we don't talk to anyone else. it's also been good because my language is always improving as i spend more time listening and talking to both of them. my language still has a long ways to go, but i'm also getting more and more confident with myself (but still not enough that i like talking to other people like i'd like to feel).

my english appointments this week were both good and bad. chern's went pretty good, but her nanny lady didn't show up that day, so she was ticked about that, and the baby was good for the most part, but at the end he got really fussy, so i just cut things short so she could go put him down. but it was a pretty good discussion, and we'll continue that at our appointment tonight. i'm also gonna be going to an english class after that that chern's husband is teaching at the hotel he works at, so that's gonna be fun.

my appointment with pj and cherie was AWESOME. sis rhondeau came to jarkarta a day early for the baptism (we'll get to that later), so she came with me to the appointment, and she helped SOOO much. we met at a ward member's house, too, so it was good to get all of his input as well. it was really awesome...we just read an article from one of the old conferences about faith, prayer, and the family, and it was interesting how much pj especially opened up about how he feels about the church. i'm gonna see if i can work with that tomorrow at our appointment...speaking of which, they didn't come to church on sunday (total bummer after the amazing lesson we'd had the night before), so i called them yesterday to wish them a merry christmas and happy new year in the phillipines, and pj ASKED ME if we could meet one more time before they left friday afternoon. i'm taking that as a REALLY good sign. now if i could just get them to church...

Sunday was florentina's baptism, and it went well. i didn't really know what was going on, and what i needed to do, so sis rhondeau and i just talked for most of it. florentina's funny...she has a crush on all the american elders, and always talks about how "cocok" i'd look with them all (that basically means "perfectly matched"). when she was practicing with elder lewis the hand grip and dip into the water, she said "seperti mencium!" ("Like a kiss!")...ya, sister rhondeau and i got a pretty good kick outta that.

monday was zone conference, and it was great for the most part (the rest i didn't understand :P). we sang the olive tree, and it was SOO pretty. i love that song. we also had all the sisters from bandung come stay with us (there are 6 altogether), so it was a bit like a party sunday night. i had fun (altho i didn't understand much...most of them are from java, so they were speaking javanese). at zone conference, i had to lead in our purpose in indonesian...and i think i said 1 word with everyone else. i know it, i just can't say it fast like everyone else. still working on that. i also had to intro myself and tell about my family...that actually went better than i thought it would. there were some good talks given and advice, but the best part to me was when pres went over a few different rules...things i'd always wondered about, but no one knew for sure. we were all given schedules for every day of the week (PRAISES!!! NOW I KNOW WHEN WE CAN AND CAN'T BE IN THE HOUSE!), and we went over a few other rules as well. so...ya, sadly enough, that was my favorite part of the whole day. course it's cuz pres speaks mostly in english, so i understood it, but i'm just glad to have some guidelines now.

we've visited a few members this week, but really most of last week was spent traveling to the hospital and senopati, and back home again. pretty crazy stuff. i did get the christmas package from the AZ allred's (THANK YOU SO MUCH!), but when i realized it was a christmas package, i refused to open anymore of it, and pres walked in at that point, and made fun of me for it ("you're in indonesia, even christmas day isn't gonna feel like christmas day. just open it now."), but i figure the more presents i have to open on christmas day the better. i have all my presents at senopati, so when we go there for lunch i'll be opening them all :) thanks again!

and now it's OFFICIAL....i've been waiting to say this for weeks...CONGRATULATIONS ZACH AND ADDI!!! i'm so excited for you both, and can't wait to see all the fun pictures from the wedding (yes jean, i'm expecting a letter with lots :) i'm not asking too much, am i?). best of luck to you both, i'm excited to get to know you better, addi, when i get home. just know that zach is one of my favorite cousins, and you best be takin care of him, k? oh, side note...last night i was writing in my journal, and guess what i found? my debit card. ya. i didn't think i'd lost it. it was a page behind where i was looking for it before! can you believe that? ugh. total sara moment, but whatevs. at least i know all the money is safe. i dunno if you cancelled the card or just took all the money out, mom? let me know...if it still works, i'll keep using this card, if not i'll keep using my other one.and last but not least.....SELAMAT ULANG TAHUN, BAYI SAYA!!!!! (happy birthday, my baby!). the big one seven, eh? i remember that age...haha, that was a fun year. i hope ya have a good one!

well...thats about it for now. thanks for all the letters of love and support...they really help me so much. thanks also for your prayers...i KNOW they've helped me so much here. there are so many things that could make me frustrated or hold me back from giving my all, but then i think about all of you praying for me, and it reminds me that i hafta do my part, since you're doing yours. i'm so grateful for this gospel and the opportunity i have to share it with the people of indonesia (as far and in between as they are :)! i've already learned so much...i can only imagine what another 14 months (not that i'm counting :P) is going to do for me. loves to you all!

~Sister Sara

update

Before i forget...i'm not getting connie's emails anymore, so connie either start sending them to me again or mom please send those with your letters? i haven't heard from her since i got to indo. i also didn't get carter's email today...so ya, please send both of those.

apa kabar, keluarga saya?!?!? oh the berita (news) this week is...well, there's a lot. so i'll try to fit it all in.

So we went to monas and the big mosque in the middle of jakarta last wednesday (thats why you got the email early mom...we usually email at the end of pday, but cuz we were doing that we emailed first), and that was really fun. we met up with the elders for a little bit before they had to go home, but i'm more convinced than ever that Islam is the LDS church gone astray. we just have too many similarities. anywho...i'm sure you'll see pics soon, we had some fun there.

after our trip, we all headed to the other side of Jakarta to see Chern, the lady who is married to an RM and has been coming to church for over 2 years with him. honestly...i have no idea whats holding her back. we had dinner, and then all we talked about churchwise was if she wanted us to start teaching her again (apparently since they moved to that part of jakarta over a year ago, they've only had missionaries over once...a few weeks before us...RIDICULOUS!), and she said she did, so we'll see where to go from here. i really have no idea what i'm doing, even in english, but i'll just let the spirit guide me with her. we didn't get to meet with the other couple (PJ & cherie) that's kinda in the same situation (except the husband isn't an RM) because it ended up being the same day as the branch christmas party, but we have an appointment for this saturday...and on sunday i quickly got asked by sister orton to teach cherie right before sunday school, so i pulled something together quick, and it actually opened up a lot of doors for us as missionaries understanding what's holding her back from being baptized...it's her husband. so i guess we'll really hafta start working on PJ being a stronger member of the church, and hopefully that'll get Cherie baptized so they can become an eternal family soon! the bad news is, they both are leaving for holidays with their families in the phillipines and australia...so hopefully i'm still here when they get back, and we can REALLY get going then.

so funny story...the other day sis lie and i were sitting at the house while it was raining, and she kept talking about all the boys i must have back home (btw, i don't think i've said anything about how OBSESSED these people are with being white. i've never been called "cantik" so many times in all my life. it's seriously ridiculous...and i hear it most from sis mongan and sis lie. i told sis [yes this is still sis okamoto, yes there are 3 brand new missionaries here in jakarta, yes it's crazy, but yes we're still alive] that if i go home and ever start feeling ugly, i'm just gonna buy a plane ticket to indonesia and walk thru the streets so men can cat call to me, and go to church so all the women in the branch can tell me how "cantik" i am), and i finally was like, WHY do you think i have boys back home? i've already told you a million times i don't, i don't know why you keep talking about it...to which she replyed by getting up and pointing to all the pics of me and my "boyfriends" - lol the one of zak and kel that kel sent me from san fransisco (she thought kel was me), and the pic of us 4 siblings walking up that hill together, and i'm next to ben. lol...so that was pretty funny. i had to explain to her that they were both FAMILY. lol...i was expecting her to point to the pic i have of me and the guys on their scooters, but she didn't look twice at that. haha. really made me laugh.

FLORENTINA'S BAPTISM IS SUNDAY! i'm so excited! we've been meeting together to get her ready for the interview on thursday, and last sunday a girl from the english branch got baptized so sis lie and i took florentina to that so she could know what to expect - except that it was a VERY american baptism, and the indo baptisms are quite a bit different (baptized one week, confirmed the next, not to mention that this one was at the orton's house in their pool, which is quite a bit different from the church), but it was really good. i think it really helped her to calm her nerves. i had no idea how nervous she was for the baptism until she started asking questions, and i explained everything, and after the baptism and confirmation, she just said "it's that easy?" and i said...yup, no problem. so that was really fun. plus i love the english branch, and i got to know a lot more of the members at the baptism. i love the indos, but i now know that there is NOTHING like being able to just talk to people who speak the same language as you!

so sunday sacrament in the indo ward, sis millecam gets up at bears her testimony...in indonesian! she's one of the senior service missionaries here, and she wants to learn indo SO bad (we're actually a lot alike in that aspect, except that i get a lot more practice to learn than she does :( ) so she can talk to these people that she's serving, and we found out after that she's been working on memorizing her testimony for a while now, but she felt on sunday that she NEEDED to bear her testimony, so she just took her book right up there with her and read it for us. it was by far one of the most INSPIRING things i've ever seen. the indo's were crying. that's how touching that testimony was. she is so amazing. i was just sitting in the crowd before that thinking about how i should bear my testimony, but i was scared of saying something wrong or forgetting words...and then she just gets up there and does it. oh...i love her!

so we have zone conference next monday, and sis talked to pres about us singing The Olive Tree for it...and we are. i LOVE this song, and i'm so excited to sing it! we've practiced it a few times, and it's just so pretty. i wish we could perfect it more, but we don't have the time. too bad. but it'll still be pretty.

SOOOO, the exciting news for the week is that monday morning, about 5 am, i woke up to sis rolling around in her bed, then getting up, half hunched over, and walking outta the room. when she came back in, i asked her what was wrong, and she just fell on the bed and started twisting and turning, saying how bad her back hurt. sis mongan didn't want to, but i called pres, and we took her to the hospital...she has a kidney stone! 5 weeks into the mission, in indonesia. sounds fun, ya? haha, not really. so we've been switching off taking turns at the hospital with her since monday, and she'll hopefully be released tonight, but maybe not til tomorrow. unfortunately, thats cut down on our proselyting time, but as far as appointments go, it hasn't been too bad. she got zapped yesterday, and luckily one of the best kidney doctors in indonesia is at this hospital that we're at...which is also a REALLY nice hospital. i don't even feel like i'm at an indo hospital when i'm there...it's nicer than some american hospitals. so i've decided that if i hafta go to the hospital ever on my mission, NOW would be the time, while i'm in jakarta. who knows what the other hospitals look like in the other cities...

so i got the sports update this week with letters from amy and rocha. sounda like a pretty crazy season. thanks for the sports update dad (i only read that part today...i'll read the rest when it comes :). it sounds like this season is gonna be a rough one, which makes me both happy and sad i'm not there (happy to not hafta deal with it, sad amy has to). but as is life. hopefully the team itself is getting along. i miss my girls!

so...language update. i have 2 indos in our house has helped me SOOO much. even florentina complimented me the other day, and said that my language has improved a lot. so that makes me feel good and a bit more confident about speaking. however...i'm still a LONG ways from being fluent, and that makes it difficult with sis lie ... a lot of the times. she doesn't speak much english (whereas sis mongan does), so we're kinda teaching each other, but sometimes my patience is short when she talks too fast (which is most of the time). needless to say, it's difficult, but in the long run it'll help me a ton. it already has. she's also informed me that i'm too much of a tomboy and i need to wear my hair down more because it's more "cantik." ya...she's more obsessed with my looks than i am, which could be a good thing, we'll see. but i'm trying to have fun and enjoy our time together, because we both have SO much to learn.well...i think that's it for this week. as always, i love and miss you all dearly! loves,
~Sister Sara

Just another week in Indonesia :)

Halo Keluarga saya di amerika! saya rindu semua anda!

(Hello my family in america! i miss you all!)

So...what a week! we'll start with Thanksgiving, because that was really fun. All the missionaries in the zone went to the mission home for lunch, and we watched a movie and stuff too. we were supposed to play soccer in the morning, but it rained really hard, so a few of us sisters just went over to the Millecam's house (they live in a little 3 room house behind the mission home) and helped sister millecam with food and decorated her christmas tree while we listened to christmas music. it was really fun.dinner was great...just like in america, except there was lots of really good fruit and of course rice. it was REALLY good tho. after dinner, we watched October Sky. not gonna lie...i'm not sure who decided on that movie, but it really wasn't the most appropriate missionary video. i think up or some disney movie would've been a bit more appropriate (october sky swears A TON i found out...). but, all of us from america were pretty sad after it was over, because all of us felt like we were just watching the movie in america...and then it ended and we were still in Indo. which is a good thing...but it makes ya a little homesick. but ya...it was really fun. i'm glad to hear your thanksgiving was good, too. i have a feeling we'll be spending thanksgiving with the mudrow's from now on, just cuz our family doesn't do much for it anymore.at the end of the day, sister rhondeau and sister christensen left with other groups cuz they've been transferred. i miss them both, but things aren't too bad with the 4 of us here in jakarta. which brings me to my next piece of info...

SOOOOOO. i think i'm basically like a trainer right now. after only 3 weeks into the mission. pres marchant split me and sister mongan up, and i'm with sister lie, and sis is with sister mongan. so..basically, you have me, someone who is pretty well rehearsed in the gospel and can answer almost any questions someone has, BUT i can't speak the language. then you have sister lie...who is gung-ho, really excited about being a missionary, but who was in jakarta for 2 weeks before going to the mtc in the phillipines, and still doesn't really know what she's doing. so basically this is how i feel about things...we can both find people to teach. but neither of us is good enough to actually teach people, and so sis mongan has to basically babysit us with everything, and we ALL go to lessons together, and she basically teaches all the lessons by herself. it really is completely ridiculous. BUT the good news is that we're in jakarta, where we don't teach hardly at all, so it's not as big of a deal as if we were in Solo, teaching 10 lessons every day. AND my language is already improving a ton. lol. yay for good news :) but ya...it is rough when it comes to lessons, but we're working thru all that, and for now we're just trying to find people.

i've decided that since i can't talk to the indo's well enough, my new focus is going to be on the english branch here. there's a sister in the ward who has given me about 3 names of part-member families, and so i've set up appointments with 2 of them for this week. since i can't do much in indonesian (especially with a comp who also has no idea what she's doing), i'm just gonna go and do what i KNOW i CAN. and that's teach in english. i hafta travel farther, but it's definitely gonna be worth it to actually teach. sis lie and mongan don't wanna go to those lessons with me, tho, so sis and i will be doing all of those by ourselves i guess. my first appointment is tonight with a woman who is married to an american, and she's been coming to church every week for 3 years. ya...i have no idea why she's not baptized yet, but i've talked to her husband about it, and we'll see what i can do to help her take the plunge. i've been thinking about what i can talk to her about all night (she's had all the lessons 2 or 3 times, so as far as teaching those go...we'll see). tonight is basically just a 'get to know you' night, but i have a lot of ideas on how i can try to help her.

i'm sorry about losing my debit card! i honestly have NO idea where it is. at least no money was taken out of my account. i had it in my bag one day, and the next i went to put it away, and it was gone. but all my money was still there. so...ya. we'll see if it ever turns up, but i feel a lot better now that it's cancelled. so friday was some muslim holiday where they sacrifice a cow and a whole bunch of goats, so we went and watched that. and yes... i have video. i was actually really surprised that i wasn't more grossed out by it. but it was definitely one of those "historically interesting" things that, if there were more mosques in utah, my teachers would prob assign us to go watch. sis marchant said when they went and watched it, she asked someone in charge why they do it, and they said they didn't know...they've just been doing it for 7,000 years and it's tradition. isn't that interesting that, ya, Abraham had sacrifices, but now the meaning of those sacrifices is completely lost, and now the only reason they do it is cuz it's tradition. i thought that was really interesting.

oh, i almost forgot...I GAVE AWAY MY FIRST BOOK OF MORMON!!! i've made it a new goal to always have a bofm with me at all times with my testimony written in it to give to people if i feel like i should. it's not something that sister mongan does, so i never learned it from her, but it's something that i think is worth the extra weight. it also helped that i bought i mini-Alkitab (Bible) so i wouldn't hafta carry my big one around. anywho...ya, this girl on the bus that i met, we ended up talking a lot about the church (hee hee...i like how i can direct people in that direction cuz that's about the only vocab i know..), and i handed her the bofm, and after i was done telling her about it, she handed it back, and she was so excited when i told her that it was free. i tried to make an appointment with her yesterday (well...i had sis mongan try. my indo is still awful and i don't understand what people are saying, especially on the phone), but we'll see what happens. ya never know in this place.things really have been good here. like i said...it's hard having all 4 of us always together, but i just don't trust sis lie and myself without sis mongan there to make sure everything is going alright. luckily, we all get along, and we enjoy the time we spend together.

yesterday it was raining, so we were in the house for a few hours, and sis and sis mongan decided to decorate the house. then they found some decorations, and they made a tree out of one of our water tubs, and wrapped the tree-like wreath stuff (i'm not explaining it well, but we have it at our house...it's like the fake tree rope stuff...?) around the tub, and we put the lights and ornaments on that that sis millecam gave us. it actually turned out REALLY well, and it didn't cost us a dime! haha so we're ready for christmas around here :) i DO love december!

well...i best be off. i love you all so much...thanks for all your prayers and support, you have no idea how much it means to me. i know that's the reason that i'm doing as well as i am. i'm a very VERY blessed person. loves!

~Sister Sara :)

:)

Well...I don't even know where to start with this email. i guess i could just start by saying that, yes, it was ANOTHER whirlwind of emotions this week, but of course wednesdays always seem to make me feel better about things.I feel like just as i'm starting to be ok with not speaking this language fluently, something happens that makes me wish i did, and i get frustrated all over again. i was better this week than last week, and i try to listen to people as much as possible, but my vocab is just SOOO intensely limited, and i rarely get time for language study cuz of different things that come up, which only frustrates me more. but it is coming. i really do just need to be patient and keep working on expanding my vocabulary (altho i should probably learn more useful words rather than "curse" so that i can say "curse you" to my companions :P...kutuk anda, in case any of you were wondering)... but it'll all come in time, i know it.

last friday we taught florentina, and we set a baptism date! hopefully she'll keep all the commandments, and come to church twice so she can be baptized on December 13...and hopefully i'm still here for that. we taught her again yesterday, and i taught about prophets, and it was AWFUL! i was absolutely embarrassed by the time i was done cuz i just kept saying the same things over and over again, and none of it was what i wanted to say. luckily, she asked a question at the end of the lesson about prophets, so i got to sort of redeem myself with my answer, and sis mongan really helped with the explaining. THEN after the lesson, sis r told me that my testimony at the end was really powerful, and she knew i'd been talking with the gift of tongues, because she's never heard me speak that well or powerfully before. so there's another testimony that Heavenly Father DOES bless us when we're trying to be what he needs us to be, and we humble ourselves. she's great, and i'm excited to see her become a member.

Indri is actually here at the warnet place with us...we've been trying to meet with her ALL week, but traffic was bad or she couldn't meet up with us...stuff was happening, and she's been crazy busy just getting ready to go, so we didn't think we'd get to see her again, but last night her flight got cancelled so we met up today, and got to bear our testimonies one last time before she heads to America. She's so awesome. she bore her testimony for us, and afterwards sis r told me that she said she had to go home last week to share the Book of Mormon with her family, because she wants them to feel the happiness and change that she's felt thru reading it, and she wants to become a missionary so that she can help other people feel that happiness as well. like i said...she is SOOO cool. while we were at the church, a crew filming some video for missionaries coming to Indo were there, and they interviewed all of us, and i guess Indri's testimony was really strong about Joseph Smith...something that we didn't even really know about. ugh...she is so awesome. i'm gonna miss her, and THE MISSIONARIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA HAD BETTER TAKE CARE OF HER!

Thanks for the email about spencer dad, but yes...it was too late. however, luckily for spencer, we share the same name AND i'm tall, so when they saw my name at the end when they were shaking our hands, they said they had a tall missionary in their mission named hewlett, and when i asked if his name was spencer they said yes, and we were all joyous in happiness of both knowing the same person. it was a precious moment. spencer...you were a VERY lucky missionary. bishop mcmullin was absolutely inspiring, and so was sis. mcmullin. it was great being able to listen to them.

speaking of people that are here who other people know, jean i met your friend and we took a picture together. haha she's totally awesome and cute, but she won't tell me any bad stories about you cuz she says friends as good as you guys don't share that kinda of stuff... so be happy you have a good friend like that ;)

So a sister left our mission this week after travelling around indo with her mom, and they came and visited us on monday...oh mom. she was just SOOO american and definitely a mom, and it really made me miss you! plus it's always nice to know EVERY WORD that someone is saying to you. haha.

speaking of transfers...so get this. we found out that sis r and sis christensen are getting transferred, and that sis lei, who is the phillipines mtc right now, will be joining us this week when she gets home. so...let's count...1,2,3 BRAND NEW missionaries in jakarta with sis mongan. and 2 of us CANNOT speak indonesian worth a crap, because we've been living in a house with 4 americans and 1 indo for the last 2 weeks. yeah...i'm not happy about it, i don't understand it, but i have faith that i will learn from this experience, and if nothing else, at least my language will get better cuz i'll always be with a native. but i'm still not happy about it. it's just retarded when there are 18 sister missionaries (thats the record for indo btw :), and only 7 of them are american...why not split us up a little more? i will learn great things from this...

so tomorrow is thanksgiving, and i'm SOOO excited for it. we're going to senopati (mission home/office) at 7 am, and all the missionaries will be playing soccer, then we'll all go back to the mission home to shower and have a huge thanksgiving lunch with all the missionaries in the zone. all of us newbies are still in this zone, so it'll be good to see all elder hall and allen again. plus i have a few other friends that i've made over the last few weeks... i don't understand much of what they say, but i know they're talking about me when they say "tinggi" so that helps. i just nod my head, and say "ya, saya tahu saya tinggi." (yes, i know i'm tall). all the guys here think i'm the coolest thing in the world...partly cuz i'm tall and play basketball, partly cuz they can say whatever they want about me in indo or with slang and i'll have no idea what they're saying, but i'll still just smile and nod my head. now i know what it's like to unintentionally be the ignorant blonde.

alright...so i think that's all for this week. PLEASE keep praying for me. especially for the trials that i KNOW lay ahead with our little group here in jakarta. there are days that all i can think about is how long 18 months is, but then other times i think to myself how i need to enjoy every minute i have here because it's really not gonna last long enough in the end. i love you all very much and pray for you every day. I know this church is God's church, and that the only way that we can truly become happy is thru following its teachings. Loves!

~Sara

What a week

Keluarga Saya~

Man alive, seriously...where do i start? sorry i'm gonna write in no caps because i'm lazy. this week has been such a whirlwind of emotions and experiences, but i'm grateful for each and every one of them.

Last week i started feeling homesick whenever i looked at pictures of the family or anything. i got dad's letter on friday, and when he talked about taking a walk around the neighborhood i literally started crying. yes...that's how bad it was. however, i think of a lot of it had to do with the language and the feelings of inadequacy that i feel as i try to learn it...i've found that's it's really hard to have no idea what's going on around you, especially in lessons where you know if you knew what they were asking or saying you would have so much to share with them. i just didn't feel like i was progressing one bit, even though i've been working really hard to learn it. but, hopefully i've moved past that point and i feel a lot better about things. it really is true that Heavenly Father helps us when we're doing the things that we should be and we look to him for help. i prayed more in those days than ever before in my life, and i've seen a huge difference in my ability to remember words and understand more of what other people are saying.

This last week we've been working a lot with Indri, and we're hoping that we can have her basically ready for baptism by the time she leaves here on the 24th for South Carolina. Catherine said she'd make sure she was taken care of, so i'm excited to hear what happens with her! Indri is really amazing...she's even been bringing her cousin (we think...) with her to the last few lessons, and i think they're both progressing very well. We had her and her cousin come with us to FHE at Elder Subandrio's house (he's a member of the quorum of the 70, and he seems like a really amazing guy...sis Rhondeau thinks he's the future of indonesia, and that if this country experiences anything good, it's because of his faith. so ya...i'd like to get to know him a bit more :). we watched the Finding Faith in Christ with her on friday, and after when i was supposed to bear my testimony, i just bawled. literally.. my face in my lap, bawling. the spirit was so strong, and after the rough few days before that i'd had, i felt God's love for me and God's love for Indri, to the point that my emotions were again all over the place. i finally calmed down and bore my testimony, but wow...it was such a testimony to me that i AM where i'm supposed to be right now, and that i'm NOT alone. anyways, indri really loves learning about the church, and loves everything we teacher her. oh....i seriously love her so much, i pray every day that she won't get lost in South Carolina. We don't talk a whole ton cuz my indo is bad and her english isn't great, but i give her a big hug every time i see her to try and let her know that i care. hopefully she feels my love with that :)

Sis. Rhondeau had another lady she'd taught a few months ago that just randomly showed up to church one sunday, but she hadn't heard from her for a few weeks, but we finally met with her yesterday, and apparently she just wants to join the church ASAP. I guess everytime we meet with her, she just wants to know how quickly she can join. we're gonna teach her the 3rd lesson this week, and then we'll see what happens after. hopefully that'll be a baptism tho...Jakarta needs it. they haven't had a baptism here for about 6-12 months.

the girls in our house have been sick a lot (except me and sis mongan...we've managed to stay healthy the whole time) and it's been raining a lot here, so i've had a lot of time to study words and write a few letters. mom...bad news. that expensive umbrella we got doesn't hold heavy rain AT ALL. i was soaked the other day when we got back cuz it just leaked all over me. but oh well. i still thought it was fun :)

this weekend we have the bishop mcmullin coming, so that'll be good. indri and florentine are both hopefully coming, and all the missionaries from the zone are coming as well, so i'll get to meet all the other missionaries. i really like the missionaries that are here, they're a lot of fun and they like me cuz i'm tall and play basketball. haha, they all wanna play now. that's one thing i've learned here...the indos LOVE basketball, which makes me even cooler to them. haha.

next week is thanksgiving, which thank goodness we haven't gone to grandma's for a few years, otherwise i'd prob get SUPER homesick (we'll see how christmas goes... i'm gonna miss my family!), but it's gonna be lots of fun. pres and sis marchant aren't going to be here, so the service missionaries are in charge of dinner (sister millicam is SOOO awesome...oh and btw they're from vernal and know clark and they say hi :), and it's gonna be a ton of fun. i hope i'm here for christmas too.

so funny story...i was putting my pics of our family up, and i had the pic that jean sent me of the whole hewlett bunch, and one of the indo sisters yells out "that's a WHOLE branch? she thought it was branch, so when she realized it was my family and they were all active in the church, she kinda freaked out. but i thought that was totally awesome. sis mongan also wants me to bring that pic to our new member's houses when we teach about the temple because i told her about the temple trip we do every year. mom...read my patriarchal blessing and you'll see that this is fulfillment of prophesy :) anyways...just thought was cool. i love my family!

so i realized on sunday that tryouts were prob last week. how are my little sophs (now juniors...ah i can't believe they're growing up so fast!) doing? i'm guessing their first game was either this week or next? also, fill me in on the coaching situation. ugh...i still feel awful about the timing of things with that, but let the girls know that i'm thinking about them all the time.

Today we went and did "service" at a hotel, handing out translation headphones. all day. 5 sisters. ya...we basically just sat and ate food the entire day. lol, welcome to service in indonesia, ya? haha it was fun though, and i worked on a lot of vocab. between sis mongan and sis rhondeau, i'm learning SO much. sis mongan is such a great trainer, and has been teaching me everything i'll need to know to become the best missionary possible, and sis rhondeau helps me understand the language a lot better. again..heavenly father is looking out for me, and there's no way i can let a single moment of this transfer slip by me because they could make or break me later on.

Well...i think that's all. it's been a whirlwind of emotions of a week, but the last few days have been SOO good. emily richardson told me that the best part of her mission was at night when she'd be so dead tired that she'd just fall on her pillow and not remember hitting it sometimes. last night was one of those nights...i was so out of it cuz we'd worked/taught all day long, and it was definitely one of the best feelings i've had thus far on the mish. i love this place...i love the people, i love the girls i live with, and i'm really starting to love the language. there is no place i'd rather be than here (altho coaching does come FAIRLY close ;). this is where i'm supposed to be, and i can already tell that i've become a better person for everything i've learned thus far...and we're only 2 weeks into the field. haha. thanks again for all the support and love. i know i've always been blessed, and it's something that i'll never take for grantite. i hope everyone has a great week. LOVES~
Sister Sara :)

November 11th--add on

My first day in the house, i did 2 of the things i was looking the most forward to doing...i ate dinner with my hands (it's wonderful...i never wanna use utensils again!) and squatted to go to the bathroom. i also got to "shower," which is just dumping water over your head, and that's definitely my favorite part of the day. every morning and night i have my "mandi" and dump water all over myself. holy cow....i dunno any better feeling with this heat. it's really not as hot as i'd expected, but i've heard it's worse in the other cities cuz the pollution here is so bad. so we'll see what happens. i actually wouldn't mind staying here til after Christmas, but again...we'll see what happens once we have transfers. It's pouring outside right now, and apparently that's what i have to look forward to for the next 4-6 months...yay! haha. it's gonna be awesome tho, i'm excited.

Indonesia Address

Sister Sara Hewlett
Indonesia Jakarta Mission
Jalan Senopati 115
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta 12190
Indonesia

INDONESIA!‏

Oh Keluarga Saya...I am in Indonesia!

I'll start from the beginning...SOooo the flight was SOOO long. However, we talked to a few people on the different planes, and handed out a few pass along cards, so that was still awesome. The flight from San Fran to Hong Kong was MISERABLE tho. Let me explain...I honestly felt like I was in a Seinfield episode where everything bad happens to jerry on the plane...the only thing i was missing was the TWO fat guys on either side of me. so i was in the middle of sis and some really big fat asian guy...and the guy was seriously huge. and he hung over his seat onto me, he slept so he was facing me and breathing all over me, he snored, he played video games and didn't notice anyone around him (the flight attendent got really ticked off a few times), he watched annoying tv shows and laughed about everything...it was seriously ridiculous. but in the end, it was fine and i lived and i still made it to Indo!

anyways...so we were picked up in Jakarta by Pres & Sis Marchant, who seem pretty chill, and we spent the night there with them, then went to our first areas in Jakarta (we have to stay here until we get our "green cards" or whatever they call them that allow us to stay in the country). My comp is Sis Mongan from Selawesi...totally awesome, right? she's from the small branch they have up there, and her family was the only LDS family in the entire area for YEARS. but its growing a lot now. there were 7 girls in our house when we first got here, but now there are only 5 because two of the girls left, and Sis. Rhondeau is with me and sis m now. which is great, cuz sis r knows the language basically magically, and so she's a nice happy medium for me and sis m. we all get along great, and have a lot of fun together. sis is with just sis christensen now (they were in a 3-sum before), and really...we have fun.

as far as this mission goes...HOLY COW. its gonna take a bit of time to get used to, but people...i am definitely not in any normal mission. we hafta work for people to get to know us, so things are actually pretty chill. we can shop and go do whatever we want basically, because then we have a reason to go to that place, and when we talk to people on the way, it's not some awkward convo about where they're going, and when they ask you where you're going alls you can say is "oh, i'm just out talking to anyone and everyone that will accept a pass along card and give me their phone number so i can call them and hopefully set up an appointment later." cuz that's REALLY what we're doing. but it's good. the language barrier is definitely the hardest part with that, tho, cuz even if i just ask them where they're going, i have no idea what they say back. however...i am seeing lots of results in actually using this language. but i do hafta say... PLEASE PRAY FOR ME! i'm gonna need all the prayers i can get with learning the language, because in Indonesia it's basically impossible to do this work without knowing the language. we have to talk to people in order to get to the point that we can start talking about the gospel, and alls i can do right now is start the conversation. then i let sis m or sis r take over. so please pray!

we only have 1 investigator right now, and it totally blows. she's moving to south carolina next week, and she is GOLDEN. she knows the gospel is true, and we've only taught her up to the 2nd lesson. we taught her the plan of salvation, and i found out after (cuz i have no idea what she says when she answers questions) that she said that the bible talks about all those things, but she's noticed that the BofM EXPLAINS all those things, and she knows it's the Word of God. how cool, ya? so we'll be referring her to South Carolina, which is where Catherine Guyman (my old roommate from Roosevelt) is serving her mission, so i'm hoping that works out. PRAYING ACTUALLY.

the work is hard here Jakarta cuz 1)most people are muslim and 2)if they're not muslim, then they just don't have time to learn about the Gospel cuz they're so busy trying to provide for their family. plus they're a little caught up in their own lives, but, i've heard in all the other areas the work is a lot better, you teach a lot more. that Plan of Salvation plan is the only lesson i've taught thus far. crazy, i know.

alright, well i know this is super short but i have a lot of emails to read and i only have a bit more time left, so i'm gonna send this off, but know that i love you and very much and pray for you EVERY DAY! I know this gospel is Christ's, and that it is our duty to share that knowledge with anyone and everyone that we can. Please don't forget that. Loves~

~Sara

Goodbye MTC

Iblis (Devil) Day--we were dressing up for Halloween :)
Sisters: Okamoto, Viehwig, me, Goodwin, Wing
Oct 22, 2009

District 52-C
Me, Sis O, Elders Hall, Simon, Parrish, Allen, Lang, Blissett


Indo-speaking perempuam (chicks)
Oct. 22, 2009

The District after our temple walk going back to the MTC
Oct. 22, 2009

Normal Mish pic with a new kinda style :)
First Sunday in the MTC

Me and Sis O. Our 2nd Sunday here

We got a phone call from Sara around 7pm while she was awaiting her flight from SLC to San Francisco. From San Francisco she was flying to Hong-Kong and then to Indonesia. Please, keep her in your prayers! She injured her knee and then had those blood clots earlier this summer so we're praying she won't have any blood clotting problems with her long flights.

4 DAYS AND I'M OUTTA HERE!‏

Apa Kabar, keluarga saya!

My, how the weeks have gone by! In a little over 4 days, I’ll be on my way to Indonesia! We got our travel plans last Thursday, after I’d already written, but we fly from SLC to San Francisco around 8:30 on Monday November 2, then go from San Fran to Hong Kong – which is a 6 hour flight, then it’s from Hong Kong to Jakarta – another 4 hour flight…and get to Jakarta 2 days later, since we lose a day flying there. So what will be 1:15 pm in Jakarta when we land on November 4 will still be November 3 for all of you back home. CRAZY!!!! From there, we’ll meet with the President Marchant for a few days to get all of our visa info and stuff taken care of, and then it’s off to wherever I’m assigned. AHHHH!!!!! I’m so incredibly excited, but I’ve also never been more scared of anything in my life. This is going to be such a huge change (especially since I still don’t understand a lot of the language), but I know that it’ll push me a lot harder and be a lot more rewarding out in the field. But AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is sad too though. Half of my district is going to Malaysia/Singapore, so they leave Tuesday, along with the entire other district that’s going to there too. They have 10 people, and 3 of them are the other girls in my room. It’s really sad to think that I might not talk to some of them again, but hopefully that’s not the case and we stay in touch. Hopefully.

Anyways…moving on. Last Thursday we had Zone Conference, where a few of our teachers taught us about a few different principles. It was so good. They seem so much older and more mature than me when it comes to the Gospel, but one of the other Indo teachers is 4 months YOUNGER than me that taught. I just don’t think about that part ;) But it was really good, and some of the elders were talking about one of the talks where the teacher talked about being aware of what you’re doing in these other cultures that we’re going to, and he talked about the missionaries getting kicked outta Thailand for a long time because some stupid missionaries thought it’d be cool to take a picture of themselves as the head of an ancient Buddha whose head was no longer on the body. Apparently the missionaries in my district didn’t understand the severity of that action, because they were saying they didn’t understand what the big deal was…so I tried to explain to them that if a statue of Christ didn’t have a head on it, how would we feel if people from other religions were making of it and taking pictures with their heads on Jesus’ body…I dunno that they really understood how disrespectful that was, but I think they got how disrespectful I thought it was, cuz they didn’t talk about it anymore. Haha.

This week we’ve had several opportunities to teach, and it’s amazing how the Indonesian is really coming along as we teach. I’m remembering words a lot more, and although it certainly doesn’t make complete sense, I know I’ve come a long ways in 8 weeks. Sis and I have also been able to teach a few lessons in English (just to see what we add into those lessons to make them better), and those have been really fun, but they also show how much work I need to put into my Indo lessons… cuz I’m hardly personal at all in Indo, whereas I share several stories about my personal life when I teach in English. So I’m working on that.

Ugh. Sorry…I just got to my page about the TRC. I’d forgotten about that. So…Sis and I felt good about what we were gonna do Saturday in the TRC, but when we got there, neither one of us could really understand what Andrew was saying. We seriously spent the whole time trying to figure out what he was saying…once we’d figure out one thing, he’d say something new that we had to figure out. It was good cuz it was completely realistic and he was really just trying to give us an simple way to ease into the lesson…we just didn’t have any idea what he was saying. So by the time the lesson was done, we’d only gotten to faith in lesson 3. Ugh! He did tell me that I did the best job of trying to bring things back to the lesson, though, so I felt good about that. We did forget to bear our testimonies again, though. I really need to stop doing that…you can’t forget that!

Also last Saturday, when we went to the Old People building to clean more rooms, the girl in charge informed us (“oh woops, I didn’t tell you last week?”) that all the sick people had been staying in that building the week before when we’d been cleaning, but that that day they were all gone…but we were gonna be cleaning all their rooms. Holy cow. They were seriously so gross. Apparently they “bomb” all the rooms after sick people leave, which somehow kills all the bacteria, but they didn’t take out any of the masses of bags and boxes of leftover food from I swear weeks before…so Sis and I got to pick all that crap up and take it all out to the trash. Seriously tho…food from WEEKS ago is completely nasty. Just FYI in case anyone was wondering.

Our devotional on Sunday was WEIRD. It started out really good with this family singing a few songs and the grandma talking about the importance of music…and then the grandpa gets up and starts talking about how you can “prove that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet with science today.” He showed like 3 video clips that were “proof.” Don’t get me wrong…it was an interesting topic, but I didn’t think it was appropriate at all for a MISSIONARY devotional. Aren’t we going out to teach people that they need to know the Gospel is true through a small thing called THE SPIRIT?!?!?! That’s just my view on it tho. Sis liked it.

We had a meeting for international missionaries Monday night. Haha, it was awesome. I’m seriously going to the coolest place. If I’m ever put in Jakarta, it’s gonna be completely nasty and gross, but everywhere else…yeah. I’m pretty lucky. The dr was talking about all these precautions we need to take, how we can best take care of ourselves, and how to know if something is really wrong. I noticed that everyone in the room was going to a 3rd world country. Haha. I’m so excited.

Tuesday was awesome! We had Elder Perry come speak to us, and although it was no pounding Elder Holland talk, it was still extremely good. I didn’t realize he’s 87 years old or SOOO tall! During choir practice they were setting up the cameras, and they kept standing on boxes to make sure the camera would be right on him. Super cool. And he seemed SOOO nice. He took the time to say hi to a few people before and after, and was just so sweet. Loved it!

Part of my new language study plan is to listen to talks in Indonesian and try to understand what’s going on. HOLY COW! I have such a long ways to go. I pick up words along the way, but as far as actually knowing what the talk’s about…not a clue. I’ve started to read along as I listen, and that makes it a lot easier, but I’m still slow reading. The translator goes so fast, and I’m still 2 sentences behind working out something that was said earlier. But even just in the last few days I’ve noticed how much better I’ve gotten doing that. So it’s coming :)

Yesterday I hosted again…and made sure the girl I hosted was in the right bedroom. I hope. Haha. Her name was Sister Stope I believe, and she’s from Park City. She said she knew who Lizzie Kilbourne is, so that was cool. There were a lot of sisters that came in yesterday though. Yay for the sister missionaries!

Today Sis and I went and learned how to put makeup on in a small class the MTC has. They don’t announce it though, because they only have so many samples that they can give out. Ya, don’t worry…I have in my bag right now $200 worth of makeup! That’s more than I’ve probably owned in my entire life combined. Crazy stuff. I guess NuSkin donates it all the MTC, and then there are 2 sisters whose calling it is to help the sisters learn how to put it on and stuff. We’ll see if I can make myself look this good every again… if not, I can at least say that I have $200 worth of makeup that I could TRY with, haha.

Anyways, things are really good here on the homefront, but the next time you hear from me it will be FROM INDONESIA! Thanks again for all the prayers, love and support. I love and miss you all! Loves,
~Sister Sara

2 weeks!

Keluarga Saya,

Halo, apa kabar? Things here at the MTC are good. Basically the same old-same old. Aaaaand I just realized that I forgot my journal, so this is most likely going to be my shortest email yet.

Thanks Mom for sending all the missionary cousins emails to me…I was reading Justin’s last one, and it made me laugh to see his English grammar because Bro Ross keeps telling us that that’s exactly what happens when you speak Indo. So you can look forward to my emails being understandable but not at all good English. I know I’m looking forward to it because it’ll mean that I’m completely focused on Indonesian, and hardly even think in English anymore. I can’t hardly wait!

I also got the family newsletter this last week. Steph & Heath… CONGRATULATIONS! I couldn’t believe when I read that you guys are having another baby, but that is SOO exciting! Keep me updated on if it’s a boy or girl and everything else. And if anyone else gets married or pregnant, definitely let me know. I don’t wanna come home to people I didn’t even know existed before!

Last Friday we did this cool thing in class where we asked our companion 2 questions that we’ve always had about the church that our companion had to answer by using the Book of Mormon. Sis had some pretty easy questions about prayer and stuff, but I gave her two that I have legitimately wondered about several times throughout my life… 1) Why can’t women hold the priesthood? And 2) Why can some men in the Bible have many wives, but others can’t? She actually did really well in answering both questions, and, if any of you are interested in reading what her answers were, you can look up 1) Alma 13 & Mosiah 4:19 (basically that things are done in the way Christ set them up to be in, and were also done in His similitude, and women were a part of that, just not in a “they need the Priesthood” sorta way) and 2) She gave me Jacob 2:24, 26, 30. I don’t remember what those ones said, but I remember being very impressed with how she answered them. So if you ever get asked those questions, those are great scriptures to use to help you explain :)

Saturday was the TRC, and it was crazy. Bro Leo invited 2 ladies who are here at BYU from Indonesia to come and be our investigators, so 2 companionships went in and taught them both the first lesson, and the last 2 (which Sis and I were in) were follow-up appointments. It was really cool to hear the language spoken by a native, but it was also super hard because the girl we taught (Adis) used a ton of slang, and we aren’t taught slang here… we get to learn that out in the field. Haha she even told us flat out that we NEED to learn more slang. But the appointment went pretty well I felt, except that I hardly understood a word that she spoke. Sis had the Gift of Interpretation while we were in there, and knew almost everything that they were asking and/or saying. It took me about 30 minutes before I got used to the different accent and speed, but I started picking up on more words and enjoyed myself a lot more towards the end. 2 more weeks…man alive, I have SOOOO far to go!

In the RC on Tuesday, Sis got a chat with an interesting lady who is going through a divorce and is trying to figure out if God exists or not. We talked to her for about an hour, tried to answer all her questions while bearing testimony of God’s love for her and His desire for her to be happy, and at the end she agreed to meet with missionaries. It was a really great convo…actually, she was asking about the Mayan Calendar, that new movie coming out, and said she was worried that it was true. Luckily for us, I’ve always been amazed at the accuracy of the Mayan calendar, so I knew exactly what she was talking about, and told her that we just need to live our lives like tomorrow is going to be the end of the world, because then we’re better people every day :)

Yesterday, our district got to be hosts for all the new missionaries! It was really fun (plus we got outta the classroom for a few hours which NO ONE is going to complain about), but there weren’t very many girls so I only hosted Sister Hall from AZ going to Albania. SOOOO sad/scary story. Yes I’m a little retarded, I know. I thought the whole hosting thing went really well, but after I was thinking about it and I’m not sure that I put Sis Hall in the right room…simply because she is in a 3-some, but the room I put her in only had 1 free bed in it…so what are the possibilities of her NOT being in a room with her comps? Slim? Yeah…that’s what I thought too…after. So I was going to check to make sure she was in the right place last night, but I’m such a wuss and couldn’t get myself to! I even stood outside her door, but then lost all courage that I may have had. So hopefully everything got worked out if I did put her in the wrong place…I’ll really hafta go check on her tonight.

After dinner yesterday, Bro Ross had us teach each other the first lesson IN ENGLISH and with everyone as who they were…missionaries in the MTC rather than investigators. It was incredible to note the differences in what people said, stories they shared, etc. when it was done in English. Sis & I didn’t get a chance to share cuz we ran out of time, but the Spirit was incredibly strong. Then Bro Ross asked us what differences we noticed between our Indo lessons and what we’d just done…all I could think was how PERSONAL everything was in English. Everyone said how they felt, they shared what the most important part of the principle they were teaching was to them, and it was just… incredible. A HUGE difference from “God is our loving Heavenly Father. He blesses us with families. Prophets help lead and guide us to do what God wants us to.” How much more heartfelt and sincere is my testimony when I can share it in English rather than just trying to figure out sentences that I know in Indo before I share them? It was a really great lesson to me, and I’m really gonna be working on being more sincere and following the Spirit a lot more in my teaching over my last few weeks.

Alright, well I wanted to give a little shout out to everyone who has been writing me letters…this week especially I’ve gotten a lot of unexpected letters that have completely made my days! Most of the letters I pull out a few times during the day just cuz I wanna make sure that I didn’t miss anything when I read the letter the first time, and I think about all the things I wanna talk to that person about when I write them on P-day. Letters seriously are so awesome here on the mish, and I’ve been so blessed to have so much support from all my family and friends. You guys are all the best! Thanks so much!

The church is true…I know it more now than I’ve ever known it before. I know it’s true because I’ve asked my Heavenly Father, and He has enveloped me in His love to let me know that it is. And because I know that He knows that I know it’s true (sorry about the confusion…it makes sense if you read it a few times ;), I know that I have to go out and share my testimony with the people of Indonesia. I’m so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family. I think about you all daily, but do so with a smile on my face because I know I’ll see you all soon enough. Have another great week! Loves~

~Sister Sara

PS we get our flight plans this week! Probably today or tomorrow, so next week I’ll have all the info for my flights to let you guys know about! I’ll most likely be leaving around 4 or 5 am, tho, so you might need to be ready for an early phone call…

MTC pictures

"My personal favorite is the pic of my vacab words. I have about 2 more sheets of paper (the highlighted words are ones I either know or have already on the notecards), and about 50 new notecards--the big thing of cards on the bottom are the words I know. It's growing daily, but not near as quickly as I'd like. But its fun."
"These are the girls in my room. We always like to dress special on Sundays. We've been wearing the same colors every week, but last week Sis. Goodwin (the blonde) came up with the rainbow idea. Its my favorite so far."
"...I really love the girls more and more in my room. We have a lot of fun with each other."
"The guy in these other pictures is the guy from Indo who came..apparently Bapak Pasaribu just raved about us after he left.."


"...also the girl in black is Sis. Brammer, going to Helsinki..."