Wednesday, September 30, 2009

MTC Pictures

Sara and Carter before leaving the house to be dropped off at the MTC together.
Sara and her district at the MTC
Sara and her companion, Sister O.




Sara with Carter's district before they left to fly out to Washington State. On the back of the picture she had written: "Me with Carter's district (Carter was the only one I could touch :)"
Sorry for any poor quality--all the pictures were scanned into the computer.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sara's address

This is Sara's address while she is at the MTC. She loves letters!

Sara Hewlett
MTC Mailbox # 81
INDO-JAK 1104
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Sara's latest e-mail...

Keluarga Saya!

What a week! I forgot my journal, and I was going to just write what I wrote in there on here, but I guess I'll hafta tell you as much as I can remember...

So last Saturday in the TRC was a complete mess. Sis. O. and I prepared for it, and were completely nervous, but then that morning we prayed before we went in to give the lesson to Bro Leo, and THAT lesson went beyond good! We couldn't hardly believe how well it went, how we were able to say things that we wanted to, and how strong the Spirit was. I almost cried, it was that awesome. So that afternoon we were feeling really good about the TRC, and just went to it with hardly a second thought. and we BOMBED it! We both forgot tons of our vacab, couldn't focus well, and didn't understand a word the guys was saying (it was the Nielson guy that had the party at his house, mom). Really... It was awful. Afterwards we were trying to figure out what happend, and we decided that we had grown proud in ourselves, and that Heavenly Father was proving to us that we needed Him to make especially those lessons go well. So we have been humbled, and are working on Lesson 2 now..and we will definitely be praying before, and making sure that our hearts and minds are in the right place.

A quick funny thing...Saturday morning, we were doing our service in one of the buildings, and we were assigned to clean the stairwells (mop and dry). So Sis O mopped while I dried, and we sang the entire hour we wer doing it. It was so much fun ! She was a great alto voice, and she likes tha tI can still sing the soprano parts when she goes alto (apparently everyone else she sings with just follows whatev er note she's singing). I told her she reminded me of when I'd sit by Jen Hulse at church, and how much I loved the harmony we'd have when she'd sing the alto part. Anyways, it was fun, and we got a ot fo compliments. Don't be surprised if the Church calls ya in a few weeks asing for the information on when I'm coming home so they can sign us to sing for an EFY CD or something. Who knows...maybe the MoTab will come calling soon after that. Yeah. We're that good. ;)

Sunday, Sis O. got made the coordinating sister for our branch (which is hard work, considering its EVERY girl in our ROOM!). There aren't any new sisters coming into our branch for a few weeks, so hopefully we don't hafta go do much (yes, I am selfish I know..), but when there ar eother sisters, I hafta go with her cuz she can't be alone. She's gonna be great for this calling, and I'm excited for her!

The Mongols all left this week, which means our 2 districts are now the oldest in the branch. WEIRD! WE have another 6 weeks to go, and I guess we'll be seeing a lot of other missionaries come an dgo. Its gonna be crazy, but I'm excited to see how it goes.

Carter left Tuesday, and no worries, I got a few great pictures. He's gonna be such a great missionary! He's really nervous, and tol dme that he wished he was stayin gin the MTC...I laugh at him and said I'd switch him places in an instant. I like the MTC, but 6 more weeks of it is a lot. Plus he gets to go out and actually start teaching! I'm jealous, and can't wait to get started in Indonesia! Yes, I did hugh him, and yes, we DID get a dirty look from the girl that was their "travel leader" or whatever. Even after she found out we were siblings, she had this look on her face like we were the spawn of Satan. Oh well. I was ok with it. Plus it's a cut epicture ;)

SOOOO Tuesday was a great day. Not really for antyhing to do with what we were learning or anything but beacue so what happened in the RC. Mom, please send this e-mail to Connie, cuz I want her to read this, cuz I know she'll be proud! I've been in the RC twice before, and I've only REALLY talked to one lady that last time who was nice, and kinda excited about the DVD we were sending her. But htis week I talke dto 4 people, and the last guy literally changed my entire attituted about thing shere at the MTC>

The first lady was from Jamaica, and she was slowly getting through tthe BofM, and was meeting with the missionaries as well. She was upser cute, and we had 10 minute convesation about how God loves all of us equally and that al this crap about money making some people better than others was ridiculous. She was fun to talk to, and I got to bear my testimony to her.

Another girl was 21 and from Scotesdale actually (she didn't go to Saguaro tho...yes, I did ask:), and she had just had a baby, and been baptized but never active, and was just starting to become more interested in the church because of her friends from high school we had a nice conversation.

Another girl was 20 from somewhere I can't remember, but we talked for afew minutes, and she said she'd find the time to watch the DVD that she'd ordered on happiness...I don't remember the name, but that's what it had to do with.

However, the most incredible experience was one last call I was making before we went back to our class to Jerry from Butler, PA. Jerry had ordered a BofM, but hadn't received it yet, so I aske dif he wanted missionaries to bring it by. He said no, becauese he wanted to giure things out about the church by himself. I told him I understand this reasongin, and proceeded to make sure that we had the right infor to get him the BofM. Jerry then asked, since he had me on the phone, if I'd answer a question for him. I got really nervous, but of course said yes. He proceeded to aske me why it was that there were so many churches, because if there is only one God, he wouldn't have all these other churches. Jerry was afraid that if he followed the wrong pastor, he'd be following that pastor straight down to hell, and he wanted to know how he could make sure that he followed the right pastor that would get him to heaven. I , of course, then shared with the Joseph Smith store, and how Jseph Smith had had the same question nearly 200 years ago, and that if he prayed, God would answer his prayer as well. After I was done, Jerry thanked me for that, and then said he had anotehr question. He said he had always had a hard time reading and comprehending things liek most toerh perople, and he was worried that God wouldn't love himn as much or answer his questions as quickly as he would someone else who could read and comprehend things faster. He seriously tol dme to tons fo things that he was afraid of when it came to God's love, but when he was done, I bore my testinony to him that God loved him just as much as the next guy, and we had a great conversation about things. After we were done, Jerry then asked me how old I was, and after I told him, he told me how amzing it was that a 21-year-old could answer 2 questions that he'd had his whole life, after he had asked several people much older and more experienced than myself those same question and NEVER been satisfied with the answers. He called me an angel! that was so awesome, and he told me that he had changed his mind, and that if the missionaries that deliver the BofM were going to make him feel the same way I had, as well as answer his questions the way I had, then he wanted them to come over! I told him about conference, too, and we found the closest church house to him, and he said he was going to go watch that so he could get answers there as well! SERIOUSLY..the coolest missionary experience I'd ever had because it was SO real! And the craziest part..it was all over the phone! I was 20 minutes late for class, but whatev..it was worth it!

Let's see...the rest of the week has just been working on getting Lesson 2 ready for this Aturday. We worked ALL DAY yesterday translating and learning new words, and we were all so dead by the end. But its going well, adn I'm slowly starting to get the hang of things. Yay for learning languages and seeing just how much support we need from God to dos o! I know God is Heavenly Father, and that He loves me and wants the best for me, as well as His other children in teh world..shich is why HE is helping me so much as I'm preparing to go out and serve. I know Jesus died for me, and that He wants all His brothers and sisters with Him in the Celestial Kingdom, which is why he atoned for all of our sins. I know this Gospel is the same Gospel that Jesus taught in days of old, and that He will be here again in all His glory soon...almost too soon! I love and miss you all terribly (Jeanette sent me a family picturs and I almost cried lookoing at all the faces of the people that I love so much)!

~Sara (or should it be Sister Hewlett?)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Week 2 in the MTC

Hopefully this works. I’m trying to send you pictures via email, but it’s a little bit complicated around here, so I’m just trying to do stuff that other people have told me to do. Anywho…Onto the exciting life I live these days as a missionary :)THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the packages! The coat is SUPER cute, I love it and wear it all the time (I forgot that when it’s not July, I’m always cold…so no, my packet never said to bring one, this is just for the MTC, then I’ll be sending it home where Kellee can use it til I get home). The banana bread was AMAZING (the chocolate was sorta melted, but really not bad, and the bread was perfectly moist. Thanks for getting up so early to get it done so I would get the same day! You really are awesome, and I don’t deserve it) and I had it for breakfast for a few days. It’s so much better for me to eat that than all the garbage I usually get here. I’m slowing working down on how much I eat…I hate the feeling of not being hungry when I go from meal to meal. It’s been going a lot better the last few days. Thank goodness.

The pants are good to have around as well. I wasn’t told to bring pants, but I need them when we clean here, and I think the jeans will be good to just have around when I get to Indo. LOL, it is true that I would otherwise have a VERY hard time finding anything else over there that fit me, as a sister so nicely informed me yesterday (She and her husband got back from Indo 6 months ago, and are going on another mission...but she wanted to come meet the Indo missionaries now). Sis O. and I were thinking maybe some caramel brownies or cinnamon rolls for the next batch of goodness you send me? And also thank you for getting all those things done from my list that I gave you. Sorry again that I didn’t get them done myself!I got a DearElder from Lynn Bendall, chastising me for my interest in the Utah game last week, and my complete lack of interest in the BYU game. LOL…It made me laugh. But I laughed even harder the next day when I got another DearElder from him…but not for me. It was for Eric. Haha. I still have it, but I’ve been looking for Elder Bendall everywhere. Hopefully I find him soon so I won’t have to carry it around much longer ;)

Mom, I also wanted to ask you if you’d check up on my visa info…I want to make sure that everything will be alright for me getting over there since I’m not going at the originally planned time. The number for the travel department is in my info booklet. Thanks also for sending me Connie & Catherine’s addresses, and Jack’s postcard. AHHH! He’s awesome, and I can’t wait to see him when we both get home. Dad, in companionship study we were reading different talks, and for some reason I thought I should have you read a talk by President Monson. It’s an ancient one though…from before I was born. I dunno why I had the thought, but I’ve decided that whether or not all my impressions are from the Spirit, I need to act on them. So look up “The Aaronic Priesthood Pathway.” It’s AWESOME.

Now, onto the exciting events of the week…First and foremost ELDER HOLLAND CAME TO THE TUESDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL AND WAS EXTRAORDINARY! I call him “The Pounding Prophet” because he likes to pound his hand on the pulpit, and even if he’s not pounding his hands, his words are pounding your heart, and you can’t help but KNOW that there is a special kind of power within him. He talked a lot about not wasting a minute of your mission, about taking advantage of every opportunity, and not letting anyone down when you come home. Gosh…he seriously had so many different things that he went off on that I thought were just incredible. Sis O. turned to me during it, and said “I wish Elder (I don’t remember his name, but he’s from the other Indo. Group, and he went home last week) would’ve heard this talk before he left, because then maybe he would’ve stayed,” to which I replied, “But what if he needed to go home now so that he wouldn’t have to regret anything when he comes back out?” I dunno who put those words in my mouth, but at the time I knew that some people have to do that. They have to go when they are fully prepared to NOT waste any time, and just go to work. Anyways…it was an absolutely incredible talk, and I can’t hardly wait for conference now!

We had our first TRC lesson on Saturday. OOOOOH man! We were told we had to do the first 6 principles of Lesson 1 in Indonesian, and then the last 2 we could do in English. Well…Mom, do you remember Josie? The cute lady in red from the Indo party? She was our investigator, and she was SOO cute. Sis O was totally nervous, but as soon as I found out that she was going to be our investigator, I knew she’d be WAY better than an RM who would just show off to us. And she was awesome. We got through the first 6 principles, and then we started doing the last 2 in English, and she said, “No English. You keep trying in Indonesian, and you WILL get it.” So she helped us stagger our way through the last 2 principles, and it was so great to see that, as long as she gave us a few needed vocab words, we were able to give the last 2 principles basically on our own! It was great, and Sis O was about ready to burst with happiness after it was done. All she could do was talk about what a cute lady she’d been, and how much she’d helped us. LOL, Sis O is the happiest perfectionist I’ve ever met in my life. I love her.

Sundays are pretty low-key here. Which is nice, cuz we need at least one day that we get to be that way. We have breakfast then Sacrament at 8 am, then Sis O and I do our companion study before we go watch the Sounds & the Spoken Word with the MoTab. We’ve started a list of things she’s gonna do with me when she comes out here after we get home, and that’s one of them. I love going to watch them live…I was sad I didn’t get to do it one more time before I left. But it’s nice to watch and listen to them here. Oh, btw, I never told you the huge rule that I’m having the HARDEST time keeping! Just a few weeks before our group came in, President Smith changed the rules on music so that now no one listens to any music. Ever. At least in our rooms and stuff. No Ipods, no mp3s…nothing! So we try to sing hymns ourselves, but sometimes its just not the same as singing with the MoTab or Singles Ward soundtrack, ya know? Oh well. Hopefully President Marchant doesn’t have that rule!

After the Spoken Word, we have Relief Society with all the sister missionaries, and somebody basically just comes and talks to us. It’s not much of a lesson as a talk, but mom, you’ll be jealous of this…this week the “teacher” was the general primary relief society president. She talked about involving the children as we teach as missionaries. It was a good talk/lesson.

After that, we had to go to a “New Sisters Meeting” where they basically chastise us for what we wearing, and tell us how to look better and more professional. It’s a good lesson for the most part, but a few things they talk about I really don’t agree with. However, they are the rules so I will follow them

Then it’s onto District meeting, where Pres. Dodge (my branch president) talked to us about companion inventory, and how to do it so that it really works and isn’t just a waste of time or a bunch of fighting. Then we have time to do whatever we want (“as long as it is productive”), so I worked on vocab and stuff, then we get to go walk around the temple, then Sis O and I go to choir practice, dinner, fireside, movie (or more MDT time, as Sis O and I like to do), and then to bed. That’s a Sunday for me, and it was WONDERFUL!

So funny story…Last night we were having interviews with our DL (Elder Lang), and he was asking me about school and stuff, and when I told him that I was going to be a teacher, he started telling me about the only hot teacher he had as a kid. Lol, I had a good laugh about that. I’m hoping it was a compliment?

There are 8 missionaries in my district...2 other elders are going to Indo with Sis O and I, and the other 4 are going to Malaysia (Elder Parrish, who ashlyn knew, is one of those other 4. btw, do me and Ash really look that much alike? Parrish always tells me how creepy alike we are, and I had one of the other Indo teachers come ask me if I had a sister or cousin at BYU, cuz he had a class with someone who had a shirt on that said "Hewlett" and "she looks exactly like you!" It's definitely a compliment I'll pride myself on, but I've never been told that before...). The other Indo class has 6 people in it (3 elders and 3 sisters), and they're all going to Malaysia as well.

The missionaries from Madagascar that were in our branch left on Monday, and next Monday the Mongols leave (missionaries going to Mongolia), which means that the rest of the time we’re here, our districts are going to be the oldest in the branch. For 7 weeks! That’s a long time! But it’ll be awesome, and I’m sure we’ll see a lot of other elders and sisters come and go while we get to enjoy our stay at the MTC.

K, I think that’s all I got from my journal. You guys want to know what an average day in the MTC is like…not counting Sunday. Here ya go:

6:30: Wake up, get ready for the day
7-7:45: Personal Study
7:45-8:15: Breakfast
8:15-8:30: Finish personal study
8:30-11: Class
11:10-12: Gym
12:30-1:15: Lunch
1:15-5:30: Class
5:30-6:15: Dinner
6:15-9: Class
9-9:30: Companion Planning Time
9:30-10:30: Write in journal, get ready for bed, go to sleep

& 8 hours later you start it all over again. Fantastic, isn’t it? Never a dull moment, I can assure you of that. There are things not in this list that happen once a week or so ( like service), but this is the general format for the day.As you can tell from the pic, mom, my bag is already ripping. Will you send them this picture? I’ll admit, I carry too much in the bag, but IT’S ONLY BEEN 2 WEEKS! The thing should last longer than that if it’s gonna be a good bag.

I’ve seen the doctor once, he told me to be careful while I’m on the cumidon, and I’ve had my blood drawn twice now. You got my numbers, yes they’re low, but hopefully they’ll start getting up again. I dunno what my numbers were for yesterday, but I suspect I’ll find out either today or tomorrow. It’s good to hear about Mary…Tell her that I love her and miss having her around the next time you see her. I wrote a letter to Grandma this morning, so she’ll hopefully be getting that when she gets home next week. I REALLY miss her, but I know I’ll be seeing her in no time.

The language is slowly but surely coming along. I really hate not getting things right off the bat. I dunno if I told you this in my last email, but Sis O remembers EVERYTHING. She has half the dictionary memorized, I swear. I’ve really found that the gift of tongues is NOT just going to come to me, and I’ve been working extra hard to help Heavenly Father know that I deserve the gift (haha). Dad…I have a newfound appreciation for the story you’ve always told us about you in the MTC learning Finnish, and having such a hard time with it. I know how you feel now! But it really is coming along, and I can definitely feel the Lord’s hand in everything that I’ve learned thus far. If any of you want to use a little bit of Indonesian in your every day life, you can say “Buang air kecil” or “Buang air besar.” They mean “throw out little water” and “throw out big water.” Haha…yes, they are bathroom references, but I’ll let you figure the specifics ;) DON’T WORRY! I can’t give the first discussion, but I can tell ANYONE that I’m going to the bathroom. Oh, the things we remember…

Well, I think that’s everything. I really love and miss you all more than you know! I was telling Sis O this morning that I didn’t think I’d miss you all this much, but I really am thinking about you constantly, and praying that you’re all doing well and are happy. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you (especially if it has anything to do with prayer…cuz I’ve gotten REALLY good at that ;)! Loves!

~Sara

PS the pics aren't working on here, so i'll be sending those to you later today. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

PPS just so you know, my address is "umpan hiu" because that means shark bait in Indo, and "hiu" is the word that bro leo told me to tell me people so they could pronounce my name...cuz they won't be able to otherwise. so ya!!! totally awesome, i know :)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

E-mail from Sara

Keluarga Saya (my family),

Hopefully this gets to someone...Sorry Mom & Dad, I forgot your email address. Hopefully this is the right one. I'm sending it to Kellee just in case, though, so hopefully someone gets this and can forward it to whoever else. HOPEFULLY!!!APA KABAR!? (How's it goin?) Whew! What a first week! I'll try to answer Dad's questions as I write this. FYI, it's easiest for you and more fun for me if you send letters through DearElder.com, because it's an email for you, a letter for me, AND I get it the same day as you send it! Would you mind seeing if it's free to send DearElders to Indonesia? Cuz it'd be a lot cheaper for us to do it that way when I get over there. Anyways...moving on.GO UTES!!! I heard a few tidbits here and there about the BYU game ( I AM living in provo now...), but I hadn't heard any news about the U. I love it! And yes, Dad, updates on the scores is exactly what I'd like. Summaries of them would be nice as well :)Carter was right...they DO catcall Sis O. and I whenever we see them, but it's all in good fun. He seems to be doing really well, and I was especially impressed with him when he practiced the first discussion on us a few days ago. HE MEMORIZED JOSEPH SMITH'S FIRST VISION! I literally just sat in awe, then said, "I'm SOOO proud of you! That was AWESOME!" It totally messed up his train of thought, but I was just so impressed by it. He's doing really well here, seems to love it and his district, and I know he's gonna be a fantastic missionary.

Now...a bit about my district and companion. Sister Okamoto is from the LA area California, and she is FANTASTIC!! we get along really well. Our sense of humor is the same, and she laughs at all the stupid things I say. So yes...I keep saying them ;) She's really fun, and we think very similarly on lot's of things. We're both determined to be the best missionaries we can be, but she's even more so than I am, so she's always pushing me to be better and work harder, which is something I always need. I love her, and am glad that I get to spend 2 months of my mission with someone I get along with so well.My district is...well, here's a little scenario for you. Ya know when you go somewhere where you are assigned to a group, without any say to who is in your group? Kinda like EFY or a wedding dinner...anyways, there's always that ONE table that EVERYONE is laughing, having a great old time, and although you like your table, there really isn't anything wrong with it...but you still wish you were on that really fun table? Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'M ON THE COOL TABLE!!!! Haha, seriously, I watch other groups, and they get along and whatever, but our district is AWESOME!!! We have one guy who is always full of one-liners (he's actually our district leader...yay!), and Sis O. and I think he's a lot of the reason we all get along so well. But everyone is always included in things, we all get along SOOO well, and it's just a good time all class long. I love our class, because we're always laughing about something. Especially after long days where all of our heads hurt and we just wanna be done.

Speaking of which...the language! Oooooh...Belajar bahasa indonesia adalah sulit! (Learning Indonesian is hard). It's not awful...Like seriously, we have people going to Mongolia in our branch, and they're as far in their language as we are, and they've been here for over 2 months, so it's not a hard language...It just takes some getting used to. At night I constantly have words just flowing thru my head, and half the time they aren't right, and I know they're not right, so then I just say UGH! and try to fall asleep. haha. But its good. I'm learning so much every day, and seriously...my vocab has expanded about 100 fold since the day I got here (since I only knew 4 phrases before, haha.) Yup, lot's of words that I have to memorize or connect or whatever to remember them in Indonesian. It's been quite the experiment. Here's one example...body in Indonesian is tubuh. LOL...now try to come up with a way to associate those two words. It took Sis O's help for me to get one, but now I'll never forget it. HAHA!

Congrats to Austin on getting ordained an Elder!!!! I'm proud of ya, Cuz. Isn't it amazing having all the uncles and cousins put their hands on your head? There is no better feeling than knowing that so many people in our family stand ready and worthy to do such a thing for whomever might need it. Thanks to everyone for being so great and living their lives worthily.

And now I'm outta time, so I can't write anything else. Apparently it takes a few minutes to send this thing, so sorry to end so quick, but I love you all and can't wait to hear some more from you! I guess i'll write the rest of my letter today if I have time. Love you all, the Church is true!

~Sara

PS - mom...a jacket would be REALLY nice in the mornings down here. If you've already sent it, just ignore this, if not...PLEASE SEND IT DOWN SOON! oh, and sis o and I really like banana bread. I'm just saying...

Friday, September 4, 2009

We dropped both Sara and Carter off at the MTC Wednesday at 1pm. It was sad but I think the newly adopted drop-off method is a great thing--it limits the amount of crying and dragging out the process. We received their addresses in the mail Thursday. Here is Sara's address:

Sara Hewlett
MTC Mailbox # 81
INDO-JAK 1104
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Wednesday's pictures to come...