Satu Lebih Minggu (one more week)‏

Keluarga Saya,

Well, another week has come and gone, and they keep passing faster and faster. This week it FINALLY hit a few of our elders that WE LEAVE IN 3 WEEKS and that we need to really start getting down to business working on this language. It feels like I’ve been in here for months, possibly even a year, but at the same time I can’t hardly believe that we have less than 3 weeks left here. There was a talk a few weeks ago where the speaker talked about getting too comfortable in an area, and what happens when we get too comfortable, which is why the mission has so many moves in it…to keep us on our toes and out of our comfort zones. Well, in 3 weeks time I will DEFINITELY be out of my comfort zone again. And yet I’ve never been more excited for something in my entire life…this really is the opportunity (kesempatan :) of a lifetime, and I feel incredibly blessed to be spending my service time in Indonesia. Woot woot!

Well, the biggest news as of right now is I FOUND KEELY LAST NIGHT!!!! I looked for her all day yesterday, whenever Sis and I were out and about, and even looked in the windows of all the rooms where the newbies have some investigator skit thing, but no matter what I did I couldn’t find her! So last night I set out on a mission to find her, and after searching the whole 4th floor, calling her name loudly in the hallways and showers, I grabbed Sis (we can only not be with our companions on our own floor) and we went down to the 3rd floor, where I did the same thing in the first bathroom, then moved into the last possible bathroom she could be in. I saw a girl wearing a “Keely outfit” so I stared at her for about 30 seconds (and yes, it most likely looked completely stalkerish and creepy) until I was sure it was her… then there were hugs and tears and smiles and everything else you can think of. Ok, so not really tears, but we were both SOOO excited. I felt bad, cuz we talked for about 45 minutes after that just catching up and seeing how the day had gone for her, and Sis had to hang around for the whole thing. If we were on the same floor, we quite probably would’ve talked for a lot longer, but Heavenly Father knows what he’s doing and separated us. Anywho, she’s doing pretty good for all of you who know her, and for those of you who don’t know her…she’s my best friend, and I get to spend my last 3 weeks with her here at the MTC, and I’m so excited! We’re gonna go have lunch with her today, but I dunno how much I’ll be seeing of her after that. Not much, I’m sure :(

This week, the teachers just keep stepping up the intensity of the language. They talk more in Indo, explaining activities or whatever we’re going to be doing in Indo, as well as Bro Ross won’t tell us anything about the girl he’s dating unless we ask our questions in Indo (and then he answers in Indo, so I usually hafta ask someone else what it is he’s saying so I’m up aware of what’s going on there ;). We had a planning/goal meeting on Tuesday (which we do every week), and I really worked a lot on getting more language put into the class. Nobody else really speaks up about stuff like that, except for Elder Lang, who basically rejects any sort of language use anyone comes up with. He hates it when he doesn’t understand what’s going on, so he doesn’t want any of our time to be used in speaking the language. I was actually really surprised at how adamant I was to get more SYLs in our class (SYL = Speak Your Language – there is absolutely not English taught when we’re doing this during class, and if anyone DOES speak English, they have to do something in front of the class in Indo, like teach a principle or recite the First Vision). It’s definitely not my favorite thing, but I just know how much it’s going to help us when we get to Indo, so I gave all the reasons why we needed to have SYL at least once a day, and everyone else in the class got behind me, and Elder Lang’s complaints were dismissed and we now have SYL every afternoon except Pday, when we have it at night when we have class. I’m still lost most of the time when we have it, but at least I’ll be used to not understanding things when I get to Indo ;)

Saturday’s TRC was pretty good. No one was showing up in the beginning, so Bro Ross texted everyone, and by the time we started, there were more than enough. Sis and I had 2 investigators with us. We were supposed to talk about food at the beginning with our two investigators, Sean and Andrew, but it was hard because I don’t know any food words yet, and we were just told 20 minutes before that that was what we were talking about besides giving the 3rd lesson. So this week we’re talking about clothing items, so I’m already working on knowing words for that so I can actually communicate this week. Anyways, the lesson went well, a little bit longer than we should’ve gone, but I think lesson 3 is my favorite lesson to teach. It just makes sense. Course the other 2 do as well, but I really do like teaching Lesson 3.

Sunday, we had Sister Johnson from the Relief Society General board speak. It was an INCREDIBLE lesson that really hit me hard. Yes, I had tears in my eyes basically the whole time. Mom, I tried getting a little not to you (from me to Sister Johnson to Jana to you), but there was a lady right before we met Sister Johnson who informed us that it was rude to ask any special favors from her… so instead I just asked her to tell Jana to give you a hug for me. Hopefully you got it…if not, I tried!

In sacrament I was informed that I would be speaking on prayer. Of course this week was the week that I didn’t really prepare a talk like I normally do, and I’d just quickly thrown together a few scriptures that morning, but I think it went pretty well. I talked about the Lord’s prayer, Christ’s example in prayer, and then I told everyone about how much praying I’d been doing as I’m trying to learn this language, and I know that it’s been through prayer that the language is slowly starting to come.

I read all the Priesthood session talks this week, and WOW. Those talks were definitely great ones. I especially loved the first. It’s sad to see how communication between parents and kids isn’t really there anymore…myself included. However, I do look back on a few situations that I had before I left, and the help that I got from you, mom and dad, and hopefully when I get home we’ll talk a lot more about things going on in both our lives. I know it’d be really beneficial to all of us.

I got a package from Kel the other day. Yum yum, everyone on our floor was eating all the “chocolate stuff” (apparently most people don’t know what rocky road is, but they loved it after they tried it!) and rice krispie treats (THANK YOU for making them the good kind of rice krispies…I love that kind!), and of course skittles are always good. You’re the best and my most favorite sister in the WHOLE WORLD! :)

For choir at the fireside this week, we sang “Be Still My Soul,” and wow…I’ve always liked that song, but I think it’ll forevermore have a special place in my heart. The words are incredible, and I couldn’t ever put anything as eloquently as the guy who wrote that. I can’t wait to listen to it by the MoTab again…it’s always been a favorite on that one CD we have!

Well there really isn’t a whole lot else to say. Things are going well, the language is still come slowly but definitely coming, and it’s just crunchtime now. Whatever I don’t get now I’ll hafta get in Indo, and that could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing…we’ll just hafta find out. Anyways, I love you all and hope things are going well for everyone. I know what I’m doing is what I need to do, and that I’ve become a better person for every day I’ve been here…I can’t even imagine how different I’m going to be when I get home. SAYA MENGASIHI KAMU SEMUA!!!!!

~Sister Sara
(that’s my happy medium :)