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 :)