Waktu cepat sekali!‏

well, this week is a bit of a blur...but i'll see what i can remember from it. i have a new planner this week, so i'll be going from memory, which means i'll for sure be missing stuff but i'm sure you get sick of reading about every little detail anyways, so oh well. which...by the way, since i just finished another planner, that means that i've already been in indo for 24 weeks (that was the 4th planner that i've finished), which is utterly crazy to me...especially that it's all been in Jakarta. i was looking at my pics the other day looking for something, and i felt like everything that's happened was just yesterday...and yet a lot of it happened months ago. crazy...

anywho...onto the important stuff! so last week met with chern, and had a REALLY great lesson on testimonies. she started to understand more what the word meant, and what it means for her to have one. i told her the biggest sign of a testimony is when we change our lives, and she has changed her life completely towards the church, which means that she REALLY DOES have a testimony, she just hasn't recognized it yet. i also gave her the challenge to testify in little simply ways to her family...something really simple, like when she's playing with her son to say, "torin, i know (or believe...whichever she's more comfortable with) that you are a spiritual son of your heavenly father." she thought that was a little weird, but i told her it was that or she could get up in front of the whole branch in a few weeks, and so she chose the "inhouse" challenge. haha.

saturday was the fireside, and it was disappointing, spiritual, and amazing. it was disappointing cuz chern and bro hunter were the only ones who showed up besides pres donald, sister western (guess what mom? she's the relief society pres! lol, i told her i can't believe i've been here this long, and never knew that!), pres and sister marchant, and then we had the elders from the office come just to add to the numbers. it was spiritual when we started with the movie about john tanner. by the end, chern was crying (along with others, but i was the most excited about chern), and then pres donald spoke about his conversion, which was awesome, and pres said a few words as well, and chern cried quite a few times. then we sang the closing song, i prayed, and suddenly one of the office elders jumps up and asks if he can say something before we all left...which he then proceeded to bear his testimony about how important his mom's decision to join the church was in his life (she was apparently in the same boat as chern...married to a member), and chern cried some more. so ya...i was totally stoked after that and couldn't wait til we met on friday, but on sunday at church pres donald advised me to meet with chern asap...so i set up the appointment for monday, and all my hopes were a bit shattered as we talked about her feelings 2 days before. haha. chern is so funny...she said the stories were very touching, but she didn't feel the spirit. so i dunno...but she REALLY IS searching for an answer as far as a baptism date goes, and this weekend we're going to fast with her for 24 hours (which is a first for her...she's never done the full 24 hours). we also went over all the baptism questions, and she could answer yes to all of them. so the only thing missing is the date, and thats what she's the most uncertain about. a lot of people are telling me to just keep pushing her, but...well, i don't really feel like it's my place. she knows everything, and what she doesn't know a lot about, we're working on. she's just gotta find her date.

the other exciting thing this week was raz! she came to church, the english branch, and really enjoyed it...and then stayed for the last 2 hours of the indo branch as well! i was sad she couldn't stay for the baptism after church (one of the kids of a member), but i was also really happy with all the discussions and all her questions. most of the day was focused on the priesthood, so i thought that was a perfect thing for her to really start getting interested in.

we just met with raz last night, too, and it was another really good lesson. now she's asking if the BofM has passages like the Bible that are just inspiring, so we found a few that she wanted comparisons in, such as (i think?) 1 corinthians 13 about faith, hope, and love...to which, i gave her moroni 7 about faith hope and charity (the pure LOVE of christ :). and ya...just stuff like that. then she had a few other questions, and then we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, which was AWESOME. she had a few questions about that, and it really was just a great discussion. she's coming to church again this week, so we'll just keep working with her! as far as looking at baptism with her is going, she still needs to gain a testimony of Joseph Smith before she'll be really ready, so that's where we're going to start focusing. i'm also having a difficult time figuring out who we can get to help fellowship her in the english branch, cuz there's nobody that age here in that branch. but i'll keep searching for that answer...

i am getting more and more disappointed in our other investigators tho. we finally got another appt with cherie this weekend, so that's good, but we've been getting a lot of appointments that cancel lately :( but...that's missionary work, especially here in jakarta, so we'll just keep working hard.

friday was zone conference, and it was SOOOOOO good! pres finally realized that nobody has any idea what to say to muslims, and so he had a huge lesson on the religion, so that we could have a better background on their beliefs, and he even had compare/contrasts with our church, which has REALLY helped stimulate my conversations with Muslims. if i can ask them more intelligent questions rather than just "so what do you believe?" i've found that things go a lot smoother. it was a REALLY good zone conference, and yes...the food was amazing :)

so sis lie is still here, along with all the other sisters, so we'll see when they start moving people. part of me wants to move just to see what the rest of indonesia is like, but the other part of me is so in love with jakarta and also worried about what'll happen with our investigators now, that i don't wanna go! but...well, whatever happens happens, and i know that i'll be wherever God needs me. i have such a strong testimony that God knows each of His children, and He is there, willing to help us, if we will take the time to ask. He will never direct any of His children to a path that is not directed towards Him...which means we REALLY need to be in tune to that path! i feel like every person i talk to, i was meant to talk to, and i'm just sad when they don't understand what's different about me (well...besides that i'm a bule...). but..i'll keep talking, keep testifying, and keep searching for those who ARE ready. i'm so grateful for my calling here, and i know that i'm here because i needed indonesia :) a testimony is truly a blessing to have.

Loves~

~Sister Sara

Pictures...

OMIGOSH!! It's Elder Ulrich!!

Fancy meeting him in Singapore...

What're the chances?

The girls at the beach in Singapore. I'm next to the 2 sisters I was in the MTC with

Zone trip to the beach--The whole missionary force in West Java
Ice skating-Elder Schmidtlein's head got cut off, but this picture is more clear than the other one I have. It was HILARIOUS watchaing the INdos try to ice skate--I had fun :)

This is me shaking hands with Elder Nelson. Feb 26, 2010

Here is my proof that the people here are OBSESSED with bules. The best is the girl in blue sweats wtih white shirt-Yes, I am basically a celebrity here. Only cuz I'm white. These kids were just STARINg at me and talking to themselve, so I went over and started shaking hands and talking with them and they were SO excited. Then the parents wanted a turn and ya, it was almost a most pit, thigs get so crazy :)

This is me with the Millecam's.

A HUGE prayingmantis . Remember the frog in Peru that peed on me after I took a picture like this with him? Well, this bugger FLEW AT MY FACE! I think my heart literally skipped a good 30 betas, it surprised me so bad!

Let the fun begin...‏

well, we got the news today, and it looks like things are really gonna start changing around here...sis is heading to Solo, while Sis Mongan's cousin is coming here. this is the first of many transfers in the next few months, i'm positive. but, this at least helps me know that i now have a 90% chance of being transferred to Malang...which would be awesome, cuz it's cooler there, so summertime there i'm sure is gonna be enak! but, really, i'm the only bule now that hasn't been moved in the last week. i think pres is gonna wait until at least after the fireside that we have planned for next weekend, but...nothing is sure, so we'll only see what happens. sis is pretty upset...they have 2 baptisms planned for next week (we have conference this weekend), and, well, this is the only place we know, so ya. she's not too happy. i'm pretty sad, too...we've never been separated! sis mongan is upset too, cuz she's gonna be with sodjo and her cousin now... sodjo, who is odd and selfish, and her cousin who is about the same from what i've heard. poor thing...we were talking earlier, and she was saying that she just wants to enjoy the end of her mission, but this is gonna a rough way to do that (she's got 3 weeks left...crazy!) also, i just figured something else out...i'm gonna be the only bule in the entire house. so the good news for me is that my language had BETTER improve even faster!

this week has been really good. sis and sis lie were both sick last week, so me and mongan spent friday and saturday basically together the whole time. we visited chern on friday, and WOW. so there were 2 really big things that happened...one, she doesn't understand what a testimony is, and so i tried to explain it, but...well, it's super hard (i found 3 general conference talks for her to read that help explain since then tho...so hopefully that'll help too). but, we discussed it, and we'll keep going over it, and help her see that she really does have one. the other awesome thing was that she was talking about POSSIBLE BAPTISM DATES!!!! however, she wants it just a year before they plan to go to the temple, and her and bro hunter have quite a few disagreements about the weather. she hates cold, but he wants to go New Zealand in the winter for their anniversary. so...ya, we'll see what we can do there. but she's REALLY searching for a baptism date! woohoo!

we got a new investigator last week (valen), and she's really great, but she likes to buy us food. like...A LOT of food. haha. hopefully i don't come home fat just cuz of her...ya ampun! she reads everything that we give her, and has a desire to learn about the church. however, she didn't come to church on sunday cuz it was easter, and she wanted to spend it with her family (which i understand), but the plan is that she'll come to church on sunday, and then we'll teach her after that. so we'll keep moving forward with her!

we watched the restoration with Raz on monday, and she is so cute. she's 21, and really interested in religions and beliefs...and she's quite fascinated with ours, so we're trying to answer all her questions and help her find her testimony. she had this great question about grace and mercy, and how the bible explains that that's all we really need in this life, and if we believed that...so i searched for scriptures, and checked out the bible dictionary, and when she read from the bible dictionary and we discussed it a bit, she suddenly goes, "oooooh...penerangan!" i had no idea what that meant, but i knew it was good...it's like where something just clicks, and it finally makes sense to you. so yay! she said that helped her a lot, and we explained that it's only after all we can do (2 nephi 25:13 i think? it's at least in the chapter...) that the Atonement comes in and takes over so we can return to the presence of God again. she doesn't say a ton when we teach, but when she does, it's always something really intellectual and deep. she's fun, and i'm enjoying teaching her.

we went and got our kitas' renewed yesterday...so i'm good for another year, and don't have (or get?...) to take any more trips outside the country. to answer your question, mom, normally missionaries don't hafta leave the country, they just renew their visas here, but i guess when SL headquarters was doing our paperwork, with just our group they signed us up as extended traveling tourists, and since we were just tourists, we had to leave the country. so...haha, that's just one of the blessings i've gotten to experience because i came here 2 months later than expected. haha...sis rhondea was SOOO jealous. haha, i only laughed.

anywho, while we were at senopati waiting to go to immigration, we got a phone call from the other sisters that sis linda's baby had died that morning...the poor thing had just been born a month ago, but the family is in VERY humble circumstances, to say that least, and linda is a single mother, so...God knows what he's doing. however, the coolest thing is that the baby got her blessing just the day before by the branch president, where he blessed her to be taught the fullness of the gospel by her parents...among other things that were FANTASTIC, but a little odd for the circumstances that poor baby was born into (i only understood/could hear a few things, but i specifically remember hearing the word "parents" and thinking how odd that was, since there's just linda - but one of the sisters in the ward explained it to us while we were at senopati). that's just one more testament to me that the Priesthood is real, and that God knows what he's doing - even when we ourselves are confused by things we say or do, but in the end it's all for the good of His work.

and, well, that's about the basis of my week this week. well, besides the one guy who wanted to marry me (i told him i had a bf in america...i think i might need to start carrying a pic of me with ben or carter everywhere i go...got any at home? that'd help me a bit with some of these guys....haha. harmless, but they really are serious...), one of the elders losing his ring that his mom had given him today at the indoor soccer place we played at (which we spent at least an hour searching before i finally told sis mongan we needed to pray, so she got everyone together, we prayed, and then about another 20 minutes later we finally found the ring..YAY FOR PRAYER!!!), and best of all the man on his phone standing next to me in line telling his friend that i was as tall as a monster (words of sister lie...i didn't know what he was saying, but she told me he called me a monster...i actually found out later that the word actually means GIANT, which is a little bit more fitting, but i still think monster was funnier...we got a good laugh outta that).

i hope you guys enjoyed your trip, conference, and easter! we have conference this weekend, and hopefully we get to watch it all. saturday is for sure gonna be completely in indonesian, but sunday is all english, so i'm looking forward to the insights that i'll get from that. let me know which ones you liked the best! I LOVE CONFERENCE! anywho, i love you all and hope everything is good at home...i love ya! loves,

~Sister Sara

ps when does grandma leave for her trip to scotland? i got a letter from her that she hadn't left yet...