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