Saturday, December 19, 2009

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

Saturday, December 12, 2009

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 :)