Well, this week was rather…interesting. I feel like I’ve had so many ups and downs that it’s getting hard to figure out how I REALLY feel every day. But I’m finally to the point that I’ve decided I just need to ENJOY this mission…every bad moment right along with the good. And that has certainly helped me a ton. As has patience. If I’m not on my mission or any other thing, patience has got to be it. And I’m learning more about that virtue every day, and I know it’s already making me better and more effective as a missionary.
I finally had a appointment with Cherie and PJ yesterday! It went really, really well. We just gave a quick version of the Restoration lesson, and Sister Lie did a great job of bearing her testimony about the temple and wanting be sealed with her family, especially her father who is not a member but says he will join when she gets home from her mission. PJ is working towards getting his endowments in a year, and so we went over all the different things he needs to do in order to accomplish that goal, and after a while he said, “I feel like this lesson is more for me than it is for Cherie.” Well, he was right, and so I flat out told him that I think Cherie will naturally join the church once he shows he has a desire to live the standards that he “believes.” When I said that, Cherie just kinda nodded her head and smiled, and so…ya, I think those two are going to work out just great if PJ keeps his focus on the temple and living the gospel. I also felt very touched when he asked if I was going to still be in Jakarta in June when his parents are coming to visit, because he wants me to meet them. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the greatest compliment you can get from anyone, so that made me feel good.
Our appointment with Chern went good as well. She still thinks more than she feels, but we’ll keep working on her. I think once she’s baptized, she’ll be able to feel more than she thinks, but she’s gotta get that gift of the Holy Ghost to help her be able to do that! We talked about Christ’s foreordination as our Savior last week, and tomorrow we’ll be learning about His life…so hopefully that goes well. Next week is going to be on the Atonement, and that’s the real thing I wanna focus on. So we’ll get there.
Sis went to the hospital again on Saturday from sharp pains…and they told her she had 3 more stones! Then she went back a few days later and the doctor said she really only has 1 (I guess the one test is better than the other?), and she’s convinced it’s still left over from the first one, but we dunno. Kasihan! (poor thing)
Sunday, I spent the night over at Sister Ani’s house. Sister Ani joined the church about 2ish years ago, and she worked a lot with Elder and Sister Reber, the employment specialists for Indonesia who went home right before Christmas. At church on Sunday, Ani went over to Sister Millecam and just started bawling… she’d received a letter from Sister Reber, but it was in English so she couldn’t understand the whole thing, but she wanted Sister Millecam to tell Sister Reber hello, and while she was talking to Sister Millecam, Ani just started BAWLING. It was the saddest thing. I guess Sister Reber called Ani every Friday and asked how she was doing, and they’d have a little conversation, and Ani would go to their house every once in a while…and they just had a really great friendship. So Sunday night Sis Lie and I went to Ani’s, and we wrote a letter from Ani that I translated into English for Sister Reber. And while we were there, Ani started bawling again. She was so funny…she told me, “I don’t know why I’m crying so hard about Sister and Elder Reber going home… I NEVER cried like this over any of my boyfriends that I’ve ever had!” I told her that was just a sign of a deep friendship, and that a lot of it had to do with the gospel, and how close we become through our friendships in the church. Because in the church, it’s not just about the worldly things. It’s deeper than that. This church is about friendships and family, and we share experiences that are spiritual and personal to us. And we serve one another, and we help one another become better… and that’s why we’re such a tightknit group of “a peculiar people”…because of those connections. I was really happy we had the opportunity to serve Ani by writing that letter…I know it means the world to her.
So I got the letters this week from mom with the inclusion of Elder McCombs… and holy cow. I’m not worthy to serve a mission if that’s what I’m supposed to become. He’s incredible! I was so impressed with everything that he said, that I had Sis read it, and she was possibly even more impressed than I was. Missions really are an amazing event in our lives that make us focus on those things that are the most important, as Elder McCombs said. However, I can’t word things at all like he does, so I’ll just say amen and tell you to tell Bro. & Sis. McCombs that they’ve got a good one there. I KNOW the people of South Africa are being blessed tenfold for having someone so intuitive and worthy to be serving them.
So funny story… yesterday we were visiting a member at her work (she owns a plant shack in the parking lot of a mini-mall place), and as she was helping a customer, I went to look at some different plants, and a man came over and started talking to me about the plant. I thought he was a seller for the other plant place that is next door to our member’s, but when I asked him about it, he just laughed and said of course he wasn’t, and them kept talking about the plant. Apparently it had some sort of fruit that grew on it, and so he was telling me about that and where I needed to go to try it cuz it was REALLY good, and then we talked about me taking a plant home with me to America and whatnot, and before I had a chance to try and contact him, he said goodbye and walked into the mall. About 10 minutes later, we were talking to the member again, and the man walked out, gave me a bag, said “this is the fruit,” and walked right back into the store. We waited for him for a while, and even tried to search for him, but I never saw him again :( but he had bought me 2 dragonfruits…after I saw the fruit, I understood what he’d meant before, I’d just not known the name in Indonesian. So that was so sweet of him, and I felt awful that I hadn’t had the chance to give him my own present :( maybe we’ll meet again.
Tuesday night, we went to the Subandryo’s for dinner. They like us to bring our investigators over to eat, so the elders and sis and sis mongan had a few investigators there, but sis lie and I had nobody. Then, elder Subandryo walked in the door and said there was a girl in the internet café just up the street who had lived in America for 4 years, and that we should go invite her to dinner. So Sis and I went and talked to her about America for a bit, and then she came over for dinner. Sis Mongan and Sis were watching “The Living Christ” with their investigators, and so we invited Israel to stay and participate in that. And participate she did! She’s awesome, and she is really open to learn. Apparently she’s had a rough year, but her faith has grown a ton in the Savior and His Love for her, so that’s an AWESOME start for us to come in and teach her about His Restored Gospel. I’m excited to meet with her again! And it just goes to show that if you open your mouth at any time and at any place, the Lord will bless you. One of the elders started a conversation with Israel, and that’s how they found out all this info about her, and now we get to start teaching her. The Lord’s Hand is certainly in this work.
Well, it’s time to head..i love you all so much! Dad, happy birthday tomorrow! I hope ya have a good one! Dada,
~Sister Sara
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