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…