Trampling in Indonesia ... Back Home

My Utah Jazz

2011-12-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

So I missed 2 basketball seasons while I was in Indonesia, and that was kind of hard for me. Luckily, my dad gave me lot's of updates on my team back here in Utah so that most of the names were not completely foreign to me (although the faces have been...) right before coming home.

However, there were a few changes that occurred to the team that I loved so much in the 2 seasons I missed. First and foremost, my Matty (Matt Harpring), whose jersey I would always wear on game days (whose jersey should I get next? Ya, I dunno either... Still waiting to see if Millsap stays around) retired from the NBA. After that, the news from my dad was just the normal ups and downs of the season. And the next season was a lot the same. And then, literally THE MONTH before I came home (I was SOOO excited to come home and watch my team play again!), all hell broke loose at the ESA, and each week, the news i got was worse and worse. First, Boozer was traded (but I wasn't that sad... I always thought he was a waste of money cuz of his inconsistency). Other items of business I heard about were Kirilenko and Kyle Korver. The biggest slap in the face, however, was Sloan retiring. I remember talking to one of my basketball friends in Indonesia (I practiced with teams in my last 2 areas, and the guys always loved talking NBA with me), and he was telling me about Sloan. I literally burst out crying, "What is going on in Utah? The only people left of my old team are Millsap and Williams!" Weeeeeeeeelllllllllllllll..... I shouldn't have spoken too soon. The next week, I came to practice and the same kid told me about Willams being traded. My heart literally sank, and I had no idea what I would be coming home to! Ugh, I was NOT happy.

Now I'm sitting at home watching my second game of the season... the Jazz are at the Nuggets, and THANK HEAVENS they're playing better, but last nights game was utter humiliation. It's still the first quarter though... We'll see what happens tonight. I just miss my old Jazz team... The team that I watched from the nosebleed section and my friends' couches. But......... Those days are as over as the Stockton to Malone days, so I should probably stop complaining and just keep on cheering my team on. So....

GO JAZZ!

My Eavesdropping Dilemma

2011-10-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

So today on the bus I eavesdropped on ANOTHER retarded conversation. Although I'm an avid bus rider, I'm not a huge fan of talking to random people on the bus; I much prefer listening to what others have to say if I am not busy doing an assignment or tuning everyone out with music. HOWEVER, the last 2 days I have been caught listening to other peoples' conversations that have made me not just uncomfortable, but also want to yell at them, "GROW UP!" Let me go into a little bit more detail...

The other day, there was no other seat left on the bus except the very middle seat of the very back of the bus... In that position, I am kitty-corner to both of the side seats that face each other. On this particular day, I had pulled out an assignment that I needed to read, but was distracted by the girl sitting next to me and the guy sitting kitty-corner to me, because they were talking and this guy was fidgeting like no other college-aged person I'd ever seen before. I felt like I was watching a junior high boy talk to a hot college girl. But this guy is in college, and unfortunately the girl was not the most attractive beauty on the bus that day. So I just thought it was awkwardly funny. Then, as I continued trying to read, I kept getting distracted by their stupid conversation... His awkward laugh, her awkward conversation continuers... Seriously. Sometimes, people should just NOT try to flirt in public. As this guy was awkwardly trying to find a position that was comfortable for himself (which there must not have been one, because he COULD NOT stop moving), he put his foot up on his opposite leg, and guess what was right there next to his foot... MY FACE. I hate feet, and this tripped me out even more. After that, I couldn't tune out the conversation, and it went from school to nintendo to POKEMON. Yes, you read that right. POKEMON. I freaked. The next available seat I JUMPED out of my spot, and thanked Heavenly Father that I didn't have to sit between those two any longer. Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. Yes, He does.

The next day, I got my favorite seat on the bus, at the very back on either the right or left side. I like it because you can sit with your feet up on the metal thing behind the other seats. So I got that seat, and about 10 seconds later 3 girls come and sit on the seat kitty-corner to me. They were freaking out about something, and for the next 20 minutes I got to listen to them talk about (in a high, squealy, girlish freak out voice), "Omigosh, you were totally flirting with that boy!" "Omigosh, I was SOOOO not flirting with him. If I was flirting with him, it would have been SOOOO much more hard core than thaaaat, duuuuh." "Omigosh, are you serious? You have got to teach me how to flirt like that. I swear I can't even get a single boy to look at me the way that you can." ....And it just went on from there. While it was entertaining, after about 5 minutes I just wanted them to SHUT UP because it was getting really annoying listening to them. But, since they wouldn't stop and I wasn't about to move from my favorite place, I pulled out my Ipod and pretended to sleep until they got off the bus.

So this has caused me to think back on my own conversations with people, and I wonder... am I this annoying to listen to? GOSH I HOPE NOT.

"I know that God knows and loves me!" experience

2011-08-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here it is the end of the month, and HOLY CRAP August has been a busy month! I moved out, Carter came home from his mission (nice to have ya back, kid!), Ben moved to Happy Valley (not the happiest part, of course... He is a Utah boy!), and tonight we're going to be getting together to watch Ben open his mission call. Yup... It's been QUITE the month!

So today I was in the math building at school to drop something off, and since nature was calling, I walked into the old bathroom. Now, a little background - my previous 3 semesters at WSU, I spent almost ALL my time in that math building, because I was studying with friends and just trying to make it through all my math classes. So this bathroom was used quite frequently by me during those 3 semesters. However, as I walked into the bathroom, the first (and probably only...) memory that came to mind was one of my "I know that God knows and loves me!" moments. Please allow me to elaborate.

It was my first semester taking math classes at the college level since my senior year of high school, and one of my classes was Calc 2. I was SUPER nervous about taking all these math classes, but had felt like it was what I was supposed to be doing. However, after I took the first test in my calc class, I realized pretty dang quick that it was going to be a heck of a lot harder than I could've ever imagined! I took my first test, and although I had felt good about it, the next class period my score was in the range of a nice F. Never before in my life had I ever gotten an F before! So then I started freaking out, wondering if math really was what God intended for me to do, or if I should just take the easy way out and do PE. After talking to a few people, I decided to take the class until our 2nd test had been given. If I failed that 2nd test, then I would have to drop the class and find some other subject that I would want to teach.

The days leading up to that test, I worked harder than I'd had to do for the previous 3 semesters I'd already been in college. It was like getting ready for the AP tests all over again! haha. But I worked hard, and came in feeling confident about that test - until I opened it and realized that I had no idea what most of it was talking about. And that was that - pure and utter defeat in the face of adversity. Obviously this wasn't what I should be doing, I'm not smart enough for this kind of stuff, and gosh dangit I'd be a FAR better PE coach than math teacher anyways. Then, suddenly, I got a little burst of energy, and decided to just do the best I could on the test. So I did. But don't worry, the bathroom part IS coming in soon...

The next class period, I came early. I sat at the back of the room (my usual seat), and fretted about having to switch all my plans around. I was nervous, I was anxious, and my hands wouldn't stop shaking or sweating. Finally, I decided that I needed to say another prayer to Heavenly Father, asking Him to direct me in what He wanted me to do, and to do so through my score of this test. I walked into that old, stinky bathroom, and I went into my own personal stall and said a very intense, faith-filled prayer. Then I went out to see what the rest of my life was going to consist of.

Long story short, a few minutes later I returned to that bathroom with tears in my eyes so that I could say another prayer to my Heavenly Father, but this time full of gratitude. Now Heavenly Father had truly affirmed what He wanted from me. That test was my highest scoring test that I EVER got on a math test at Weber. The Holy Ghost testified to me, through that experience, that this was EXACTLY what my loving Father in Heaven had in mind for me, and to keep working hard... He would be helping me through the entire group of courses that I'd be taking in the math core. And after 3 semesters of hell that I had to endure in the math core, I can testify today that He kept His promise. He was there with me every step of the way, and I'm so grateful for it!

This is just one of many hundreds of stories I could tell about knowing and feeling God's love for me. Maybe you could tell about one of yours on your blog? Or at least write it down in your journal. These experiences happen to strengthen and help our testimonies continue to grow and flourish, and they need to be written down so we don't forget them!

Why do YOU work out?

2011-08-03T22:31:00.001-07:00

So I made my brother get out of bed early this morning to go to the gym with me and help me with a few new exercises to help my workouts be more productive. It was a HARD WORKOUT (I still can't go down stairs without my legs buckling...), and a great experience (the kid has no idea that a guy his size can carry A LOT more weight than a flabby girl my size...), and I definitely feel like we bonded :)

I've gone to the gym quite a bit this summer (that means like once, twice, or maybe, MAYBE 3 times a week... but hey, that's good for me!), and I was thinking today, why do I do that? Why do I go to the gym? Then the answer came loud and clear to me... I go to the gym so that I can eat.

I know everyone is different, and everyone has their own reasons for doing things. Working out is just another one of those things. People have their excuses for not going to the gym just as much as they do for going. I thought it was funny, as I was thinking about this, that most people's response to this question would probably be something like "Because I wanna look hot in my swimsuit" or "Because I wanna lose weight," or the best answer of all, "Because I feel good after I work out." Now, I'm not demeaning any of these responses - on the contrary, each of these answers is totally and completely applicable to the person saying it. So why am I different?

Well, let's start with the fact that I LOVE LOVE LOVE food! I just love eating... It's one of those things that I will do until I'm sick. I mean, I've gotten better the last few years at not over-eating, but it still happens. And probably always will. So, in order to still feel good about myself and at least feel like I'm trying to "look good" in that swimsuit, I am given 2 choices: 1) Don't eat as much, or 2) Work out as much as you can. Would I EVER choose choice #1? NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS. Therefore, I work out. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to feel like I'm at least trying to control myself.

Oh, by the way... I ate Indonesian food tonight, and it was DELICIOUS! Haha... That's why I wanted to have an extra good workout this morning - I knew I'd be overeating later that night. Gotta love it! :P

A good day at church

2011-07-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

So WOW! The blogger in me is definitely coming out, because since Friday I've been thinking about what to write next on here, and how to formulate it perfectly so it's entertaining and interesting to read. Man alive... This whole blogging thing could have been a very, VERY bad idea :)

So this last month has been a not-so-easy month for me (for reasons not needed to be discussed, just believe me), but as I've been trying to have a better attitude this last week about life, God's plan for me, and being optimistic, positive, faithful and hopeful, I walked into church today. A usual activity for a nice, Sunday afternoon, but today was a little different. Because I felt like every single lesson was FORMULATED just for ME. Have you ever had that feeling? I've had one, MAYBE two lessons out of the three, but this was the first time it was all three.

Relief Society: So Bro. Moritsen taught the lesson today, and he used Elder Neal A. Maxwell's talk, "Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds" which was FANTASTIC! My mom actually sent me this great quote from that talk about 3 months into my mission about how we HAVE to go through the bad things in life to know what Christ went through and be worthy to live with Him and Heavenly Father... Anyways, it was a quote that helped me MANY TIMES during my mission. So it was a lesson about what we need to do to get through all those difficult times, and it was EXACTLY what I needed after being a bit of a pessimist this last month. So now I'm going to be better at being positive, and looking for the good in things!

Sunday School: Here we talked about having a meaningful scripture study... not just reading to say you've read it, but to actually STUDY what you're reading. This is something I'm REALLY not that good at (never have been... even on the mission...), cuz I'm good at reading, pondering a bit, then moving on. I don't use a lot of footnotes cuz I don't think many of them apply like you hope they will (especially in explaining words I don't understand...), BUT I was chastised today, and I'm going to do better! I need to start spending more time and attention on the scriptures. One quote that stuck out to me was about how scripture study will increase your faith and drive to become better ... something that I need a lot. I mean, I have a drive to BECOME better, but then I face temptation, and fall. Horribly. So scripture study will help me resist those temptations and soar higher! I felt the truthfulness of that statement as I read and pondered it, and I know this is something that I need to do for myself.

Sacrament: So this was a GREAT topic, however 3 different talks about it made the meeting a little long. BUT the topic was on controlling our anger, which would then help us control everything else better. I must admit, my anger for the last few weeks has been pretty high... Almost to the point of boiling actually, a few times. But, again... We look for opportunities to serve and find the good in people, and that anger will be easier to control.

It was a great day at church! Definitely answers to prayers :)And THAT is how I know I have a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for me, and is helping me chug along to continue on with it!

Random Thoughts to Start....

2011-07-29T15:19:00.001-07:00

So I've been home from Indonesia now for almost 5 months. Long time, huh? It's crazy. Since then, though, I've talked to my sister and best friend a few times about blogging, and decided that I should keep up with it for 2 reasons... 1) It might be a good way to write out my thoughts and stay updated with friends and family, and 2) the Prophets have said that we should use technology to share our testimonies and do some good. So, my main focus will be on number 1, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to incorporate number 2 quite a bit. So... Here goes my very own first blog EVER!

MOVING OUT: So I'm moving to Bountiful in 2 weeks, and I hate how much work goes into moving ... Too many things to sign, fill out, and PAY. My poor bank account is already so sad looking, but I know it's only gonna get worse as the year progresses. However, I'm SOOOO excited to be moving in with such great people! My cousin Connie has always been such a great friend to me, and someone that I always wanna be around. It'll be kinda weird to be around her almost 24/7, since we usually only see each other about 2-4 times a year, but it's definitely a change I'm excited for! Emily Richardson has been a good friend since junior high, and we lived together down at Snow when I was down there. She was always a role model for me, because she's such a good person who helps me want to be better ... but in a very down to earth way. And Liz Richardson is Em's little sister, who I coached my first year at Davis, and I totally love to death. I'm gonna be with a bunch of great girls who I'm hoping to learn a lot from.

Summer Classes: So this summer, I had to take a class so that I can graduate by next spring. It's a writing class. With an AWESOME teacher. Sure... I had assignments, I had books to read, I had to go to class almost every week... But the great thing about this summer class was how CHILL the teacher was. He wanted everyone to get an A, and he said everyone would, just as long as we showed up and did all the assignments (notice that there is no ON TIME added at the end of this sentence). So although my dad has gotten on me a few times for not being more motivated with this class, and waiting so long to get my final paper done (which is AWESOME btw if you're interested in WWII and Indonesia....), but that's what great about my class. I don't believe I could've spent my $800 on a better class :)

Fall Classes: And that leads us to the new school year starting in less than a month. CRAZY! I've got a full semester of education classes coming up... and did I mention that I got a SWEET grant and scholarship that is paying for it all? Thank heavens... There's no way I'd be able to pay for school and be able to live away from home without it. Thanks again, Obama!

YouTube video of the week: So I had a friend post this on FB the other day, and it has had me laughing ever since! I wish I was vocal as this little lady about what I want... haha. Then again, if I ever was, I'd probably only get the same response she did. Haha, either way... HILARIOUS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw27dpOw9ps&sns=fb

I should add that I had my mom watch this, and the first thing she said was, "That is awful that the mother is egging this on." Is it bad that I know I'll do stuff like this all the time when I'm a mom?

hee hee....ia, saya pasti agak TRUNKY sekarang.... :P

2011-02-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

well...i don't have much time cuz i took it all making sure we're set for next week, but in short, this last week has been pretty good.... we had goals as a district, and last week i said i was sick of us having goals but then never really trying to accomplish them, so this week if we all reached them, i'd take us out for lunch....i can honestly say that we all worked a lot harder this week, and we all reached the goals, and so friday we're going out to eat as a district. YAY!!! we had to get 2 new investigators, 2 lessons with a member, and find a new place or way to proselyte. it was good.

sister indira or effendi has been SOOO great this last week...i see a whole new light in her now that's she's decided to come back to church. she came on sunday, sat with the members, then after church hung around with them and ate lunch together....she's also been trying to help her family get more involved, inviting them to different activities and coming herself (she came to english class on thursday with her youngest son who came to my elementary class). she's so awesome....i seriously have come to love her SOOO much, and wish i could stay here as a regular member just to help her stay strong...but i guess i'll hafta do that from afar.

one of our new investigators was yesterday, and woman and her husband (who actually just happened to come home when we were talking about joseph smith). we had a nice (haha....) conversation about prophets, and the husband agreed to read the book, and decide for himself if the "fruits" of joseph smith prove him to be a prophet of God or not. with so many of our investigators, they don't go anywhere with the gospel (the interest level just IS NOT there...), but i love them all, and they love me too...which makes it hard when i wanna talk about the gospel, and they switch right back to obama....ya. i'm pretty sick of obama. but that's what's hard about leaving... i feel like all i've given them is a few minutes to talk to a bule....but what they really need is KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE RESTORED GOSPEL!!! ya...mom and dad, you'll see what i mean later.

we FINALLY met with vivi again, and i have some worries with her...not exactly with her testimony, just with how things are at home. i know it's hard for her to live with her mother-in-law, and that sometimes makes it hard for her to really want to focus on learning (she wants to learn for herself, not her m-i-l). but mom n dad, you'll meet her yourselves too. her stomach looks like kel's :)

bro paulus was a bit of joke last week. we had a member come with us to discuss the WofW, but as soon as we started talking about it, he came up with all kinds of reasons why that WASN'T something that jesus REQUIRED from us. it was a super hard lesson, especially cuz my comp "lost the spirit" and refused to say anything the whole time, so it was just me trying to help him. i dunno how much longer missionaries can work with him if he has an attitude like that...which i plan on telling him this week.

saturday is homemaking, and i'm gonna teach how to make caramel :) hopefully it goes well. sunday, i'm "allowed" to go to sacrament, but then i hafta go straight to the airport to go to jakarta....and that's that. tuesday you'll be here, and this dream of mine for the last 1 1/2 years will be over....the dream i NEVER thought i'd dream. so many friends, so many experiences, so much joy, so much pain, so much growth....so much a better person. how does God do it? we think this time we give to Him is so much, but by the end, we're the ones begging for more time, for more growth....because we haven't quite become the person we want to ... there's still so much more growth needed! and yet...when all is said and done, we are what we have become, we are what we have allowed Him to shape us to become....and then the real test starts. the test of, "can you keep this up in the REAL world, where you DON'T wear a nametag and carry around the white handbook and have someone checking on your every move?" i remember elder holland talking in the MTC, pounding on the pulpit and into my heart that "YOU CANNOT COME HOME THE SAME PERSON YOU LEFT! IF YOU DO, THEN YOUR MISSION HAS FAILED!" well...i'm not the same person, so i guess that means my mission has been a success. i'm so grateful for it. for anyone pushing aside this opportunity, DON'T. it will be the best decision you'll ever make. there is nothing that will compare to the time you give to the Lord, there is nothing that will compare to the blessings you recieve, and there is NOTHING that will compare to joy you feel. SERVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, MIGHT, MIND AND STRENGTH, AND YOU WILL COME OFF CONQUORER! (is that a scripture? i know the first part is, but i think i made up the last part.... :P).

and that's that. peace out my friends and family.... i'll be seeing ya'll soon. dalam nama Yesus Kristus, AMIN!

~Sister Sara Hewlett
Indonesia Jakarta Mission, 2009-2011

astajin! waktunya hampir habis...

2011-02-16T22:00:00.001-08:00

another week has come and gone...and holy crap, time really is just totally flying here. i have moments where i get all trunky and ready to go home asap, but then i meet with investigators or inactive members, and i think, "how can i leave you?" i also went shopping today, and again thought, "how can i leave this place? the prices are just TOO good!" haha...as long as i have an american wage coming into my bank account :P it's been a bit of a roller coaster week.
so i'm really realizing how many problems this world creates for members of the church...well, for people in general, but because of the knowledge we have, i think it means a LOT more to us....ok...so the wording in this is kinda awkward, but hopefully you know what i mean. last week we visited one member whose son dropped out of college and just sits at home all day until his gf calls and picks him up, and he lives off her, and the mom is so stressed cuz they can hardly afford food much less their rent....and yet she has a perfectly capable son who is too lazy to work. her and her husband work hard, but they are VERY humble people, and if you would add in a 3rd income, it would help them a ton. so she was crying about that while we were there, and my heart just broke for her...i wanted to help, but how do you change someone who doesn't wanna be changed? you can't. so we just tried to help her the best we knew how....
then there's another member whose son has ditched school for the last 20 days....each of those days, she thought he was at school, cuz he'd leave for school in his school uniform, then come home around the usual time, and she had no idea til the principal called and started telling erik (the son) that if he kept up like this, he was a shame to Christianity, which made sis Indira just cry harder...now i'm working with him, trying to catch up on his english and math that he's missed so he can graduate his grade this year...and all because he was ashamed (holy crap my english is so bad...its malu in indonesian, but it has so dang many meanings in english i forget which one is best here!) because he didn't have books, but he was too shy to ask his mom for money to buy the books....but now it's all out in the open, and i think it's actually been good cuz it's really waken up his mom, who isn't active, and now she's decided to come back to church. she sent me a text this morning about how she usually wakes up and cooks breakfast and is just go-go-go all morning long, but this morning she woke up, prayed, felt really peaceful, then read from the scriptures which only helped, and then when her husband was getting ready to go to work, she asked him if he wanted to pray first, and he actually wanted to! so they prayed together for the first time in a LONG time. i got her text, and i literally screamed a little, and threw the phone to sari, saying READ IT, READ IT! haha. i was SOOO happy when i heard that. she's been away from the Lord for too long, and now her kids are getting to the age where she's REALLY gonna feel that. and she knows it. so now she's working to change it.
then ANOTHER inactive member has 5 kids under the age of 15, and we went to her house and SHE started crying because she gets no help from them, and she's basically a single mother (her husband is on another island working, and rarely gets time off to come home) with her own bread business that keeps her cooking and delivering ALL day, then she has to pick up and drop off her kids, and she was just EXHAUSTED. i felt so bad. her 2 oldest kids don't have the best of friends, and she never believes anything they say, she tries to help them but she says its just gotten to the point that she's better off not thinking at all, cuz if she thinks she just worries and then she can't take care of the younger 3....ugh. it's just a tough situation, with no help.
so then, the other day we were talking about the members in the branch, and how if they would help visit inactives, show they care, have a little Christlike love, a lot of our problems and worries as missionaries wouldn't be there cuz the members would take care of it. but they don't do ANY visits, so we have to deal with everything, and it's just ridiculous. this week, i actually wanna meet with the branch presidency and district president to discuss how to help us as missionaries....we spend so much time visiting inactives that go no where that sometimes it all just feels like it's for nothing. even if they do come to church once, they don't have any members that befriend them, so then they don't wanna come again. it's just....ya, a sad situation.
bro paulus was in charge of the activity for the priesthood quorum yesterday, and that just added to my frustration with the branch... he had a few people come and talk to him, but for the most part it was me and sari. THEN, before all the food was ready to go, everyone left to go play soccer....literally, EVERYONE, without any explanation. and we were all left wondering what was going on, and i don't think he was too impressed with it at all. not to mention that the new members (bro jon and sis pegi from sis rhondeau) were with the missionaries the whole time as well, cuz they have no friends in the branch either. it's just hard...no one even really TRIES to talk to anyone they don't know. i understand how they feel, but...at the same time, TALK! sometimes i think about getting a Temple here, and i think, if the work keeps going like this, it's NEVER gonna happen. anyone who joins immediately goes inactive, and then what? no progression. so ya...sorry, i've been pretty worked up about this the last few days.
we did get a new investigator this week who seems pretty cool. we're meeting again saturday. i told sari i think that was the best first lesson i'd ever been apart of. it was pretty good, and he had a lot of really good questions. hopefully he keeps the interest :)
anywho...this week i've been reading about Moses in the Old Testament, and it's funny how i've seen all the movies and stuff, but never actually read it all...it comes together a lot better if you read it :)
and that's my week...i love you all so much! ben, clean my car for me...and my room....and make sure my phone is still in good condition. cuz baby.....you're only getting one more email from me :P haha, loves!~
~Sister Sara

waktunya GILA!!! hampir sampai....

2011-02-09T16:26:00.001-08:00

holy crap, another week has come and gone...and yet klapten feels like a month ago, haha. we went to klapten, which is in between solo and jogja, and sis sari got to be with her family, even though her immediate family had all already gone home. i think it was good for her, and especially good for her family to see her, to meet me,and to get a TINY feel for what she's doing. she doesn't say much to them,mostly cuz they just don't care and don't really listen, so it was kinda weird for me...oh, and btw, I'M SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE A FUNCTIONAL FAMILY AND TO BE SEALED IN THE TEMPLE AND HAVE THE BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL IN OUR FAMILY! her family is seriously...quite disfunctional. it's pretty ridiculous. there's absolutely no spiritual foundation, which makes it hard for anything else to become a foundation thats good....cuz there is nothing. but it was good for me to get a feel for her life, and why she is the way she is.

this week has been a lot of cancelled appointments, and mostly dealing with members and their problems (loneliness, school, money, etc)...i'm not gonna lie, it's been a bit of a headache since we got back last saturday....but yesterday we did find a potential investigator, and have an appointment to go back to teach (we accidently met (long story for later), and actually wanted to teach yesterday, but the dad wasn't there, so i opted to wait til he'd be there...but then we were gettin ready to go, he showed up and wanted to know what we had to share with them...it was pretty awesome, but time was a huge problem so we made the return appointment).

mom was asking about the investigators from a few weeks back...2 of them have a mom in hong kong who joined, and they're willing to meet and listen,but it's hard to get them to read....and last week they couldn't meet. another couple looked really awesome in the beginning,but now i feel like they're avoiding us...so we'll see what happens (the wife already told us she'd heard rumors about "the mormons")...the other couple was who we wanted to meet with yesterday, but then ended up with their neighbors (the "accidents" above), and the other lady is super far, and we've tried meeting once but she couldn't, and since we just haven't had the time. we've also been meeting with this one lady who's husband died just a few months ago, but she's muslim and doesn't understand ANYTHING, and so it's just super hard to get anything across....and i also feel like she just wants to meet cuz i'ma bule...so that doesn't help much. we've basically just gotta keep finding people....we're on a bit of a dryspell these last few weeks being outta town, but this week we've gotten a few good leads, so i'm hoping next week will especially pick up.

so what have i learned this week? saya punya keras kepala, dan terlalu keras atau diam dengan orang lain sampai mereka marah sama saya. ugh...kampret. haha. translate that :P ya, basically things are getting harder and harder to focus on...i'm really starting to understand the word "trunky" but i'm still working on being focused...it's just hard with other people kinda pushing me to want to go home faster. lol. no worries,nothing huge, just....ya, that feeling of being ready. and yet i still have a few weeks. connie wrote about this feeling...where you feel guilty cuz you wanna go home so bad,but you know you should still wanna serve....haha, at least i have her and megan's experiences so i know i'm not alone. but i just hafta humble myself, and stay focused. that's what i gotta do.....so that's what i'm gonna do.

anywho, thanks for everything, i love you all, i hope all is well, i pray for you all every day,and know that the Lord will protect you! be safe, loves~
~Sister Sara

ps sorry dad.... i sent the letter but forgot to write, happy bday!

ini akan agak pendek...

2011-02-02T11:04:00.001-08:00

uh, k, so this is gonna be super short...sorry mom, i'm not even gonna have time to return your email. sis sari just came over to me bawling as i was reading everyone's emails, and apparently her grandpa (who was basically her father) died last week while we were in Solo...and she lives about an hour from solo, so she's a bit upset, and got permission from Pres to go home...so she's lettin me email ya'll real quick, and then we'll be heading there...that'll be a fun nightime trip :P haha, jk, but really, i feel bad....she hasn't had the easiest family life, which is why i think she likes this church so much, and i know this is a huge blow for her.
but, to put things in for this week...solo was nice, i REALLY liked riding bikes, but it's not where i'm at, so it's just like whateverlah. we got home friday, and friday night i played ball, came home exhausted and forgot to take my contacts out, and the next morning my left eye was KILLING me, and pres thinks i scratched something...so i took some pills for that, have worn glasses every day since, and it's getting better every day. DON'T WORRY MOM!!! i still have both eyes, and i can still see outta both of them just as crappy as before :P lets just say i can't wait to start wearing contacts again.
last night was practice again, but i didn't wanna play without contacts, so we just went to watch...but they ended up doing some dancing thing for their warmup, and so i have video of me learning out to hiphop dance in a dress during basketball practice....ask amy if that would EVER fly in utah? lol...i think not, but i AM in indo, so whateverlah.
there's not much else to talk about...not much time either. i'm trying to be a good comp and not take too much time...so sorry, i love you all so much, and hope all is well at home! loves~
~Sister Sara

ps kel, i'll start looking around for those lantern things....i liked them loads too, she had them hanging in our house til the night before she left, then she took them. loves!

Berada di Solo! ciyaaaa....

2011-01-26T09:28:00.001-08:00

Well, right now i'm sitting in a warnet in solo...we found out last friday that sari and i were being called to Solo, along with my DL and surabaya's DL, to go to a training meeting with these 8 principle things. today was the first day, and it was pretty good. i always learn a lot, but then you leave the meetings, get back to regular life, and sometimes just flat out forget what you SHOULD be doing, and go back to old habits. however, i'm hoping with sari here with me, we can BOTH work on becoming better at making sure we follow as much of these things as possible, so we can become more effective missionaries. i'm here with sis, so it's been fun to catch up with her...we really haven't talked like at all in the last almost 6 months, but it's been amazing how different our experiences have been, and yet the emotions have been the same. i told her there were so many times i just wanted to call her or lani and just bawl, and she started laughing, and was like, "me too!" haha....but we're both glad to be out of our nerakas.

so....drumroll please....i've never been one to really freak out about numbers, cuz mine always seemed so low and if i thought too much about it it just made me putus asa, but last week sari and i had 7 new investigators! the weekly goal for the mission is 2 every week, so we basically rocked the mission last week (words from elder hall in the office :P). of course this week, we're not in malang for 4 of the 7 days, and one of the other days we're gonna be spending getting ready for our movie night...so we'll only have had 2 days this week to follow up on all these people, but i think we'll get to the most important ones. i love actually being able to work!

vivi didn't end up moving to bali...everything fell thru, so she's still here, and now we're just waiting for their marriage certificate to go thru, and then she'll be set! i was pretty excited, actually, to see her still around :) i also got an email from raz (i got permission :) telling me that her mom finally knows she's learning about the church, and it's a slow process, but she's slowly getting used to the idea, and she thinks in a few months she'll be able to get baptized! she's also working on getting her boyfriend interested, so that was fun to hear.

i've been on the phone a lot this last week with the new elders down in bandung, as they're switching the sisters with elders there (ya...sisters alone there was NOT a good idea), and so they've been following up on all my investigators, and it's just breaking my heart to hear that nobody wants to learn anymore....apparently after i left, no one was interested. i just hope it was my enthusiasm and love for them and for the gospel that kept them learning with me, and NOT that i was a bule....i was a bit disappointed yesterday, but they also asked me for good proselying ideas, and so now they're gonna try a few things that i wasn't able to do while i was there...i'm just glad i'll get to go there one last time to talk to the elders and follow up with things there.

well, we got a whole bunch of new investigators, but most of our other investigators have been falling like flies...hopefully with these new investigators, we'll get someone that's really, truly interested in learning. i have REALLY high hopes for this sweet old couple that we met when i was buying material to make me clothes...the wife has been christian her whole life, but the husband just admitted to being christian 2 years ago, but hasn't been baptized yet cuz he doesn't wanna offend his buddhist mom....so the wife is all excited that someone can explain the bible and christ to her husband, and then she likes even more that SHE'S learning right along with him. she's so cute...she said her kids were worried about her learning from the BofM, and so she asked, "once i start reading from the bofm, am i going to be led astray? i've heard it'll only lead me astray, but once i start reading i won't be able to get back on the right road again." haha...i flat out laughed. she's so cute, straightforward, and innocent. it's funny to me how people will tell others not to read the bofm....but thats just satan's plan to keep people from knowing the truth. 2 other new investigators are sisters who's mom lives in hong kong, and joined the church up there and is begging them to learn about the gospel here. the older girl is in college, about 20 and catholic, and the younger daughter is muslim and 15...so it's gonna be interesting teaching the 2 of them, but i'm happy to help the mother. hopefully we have a good effect.

well, i'm about outta time...i love you all so much! hopefully all is well at home, and you're all making good decisions and buyin lots of baby stuff :) sampai minggu depan! loves~

~Sister Sara
ps. sis says hi, btw :)

Pembaptisan tdk ada, tapi masih baik2 saja :

2011-01-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

well i only have 15 minutes to write this, so it's gonna be quick...first, CONGRATS KEL AND ZAK! sweet action jackson! i'll start looking for little girls clothes now...i have a few ideas :) 2nd...the baptism didn't happen on saturday. wednesday night when we got home, sis lie informed me that sis zizi had minorly mentioned that vivi and her husband weren't officially married yet...they'd just done the church blessing thing, but hadn't gone thru the civil stuff, and that it'd all been cancelled because of vivi's dad not wanting to approve the marriage....well, the next day we canceled all plans for the baptism, and vivi went to go talk to her dad (apparently she had no idea, sis zizi hadn't told her), and it wasn't her dad's letter, it was some letter from the Pak RT, or kinda like mayor of their neighborhood, who hadn't been notified or something, and so THAT was why their paperwork hadn't gone thru, and ya...blah blah blah, a whole bunch of other things i don't quite understand, but basically she's done with all the lessons, and she'll be our investigator in Bali from now on, and as soon as their marriage license goes thru, she'll be able to get baptized in bali. so it's all good and well :)

this week has been busy...what i like about sis sari is that she'll go out and work. Its been a LONG time since i've been this tired. we started basketball at a university called Universitas Brawijaya, about 20 minutes from our house. the team is a LOT more competitive than in bandung (there's like 20 girls on the team, whereas in bandung there was like 5 that would show up to practice). friday i just scrimmaged with them, and was lucky enough that i hadn't lost too much of my touch (altho i'm REALLY gonna hafta work on my 3 again when i get home...after i airballed one, there was no way i was gonna shoot again). tuesday i practiced with them, but their warmup is SUPER long and they start late, so i only really had time for like 2 drills with them before i had to go. but it's fun...i love being able to play again! mom and dad, we'll be here on a friday, so i think i'll play while you're here, and you can meet the team. they're super cute.

bro paulus...we had a nice talk the other day, and after i asked him how serious he was about learning, he admitted that it's hard for him to read the BofM cuz his mind is on so many other things (money...) right now. we discussed and decided to meet once a week with him from now on, and we'll see how things go...i know if he became serious about reading, he'd find what he's looking for....but he's just too preoccupied. but i was grateful for his honesty. he liked the story of Lehi's vision

we have 2 new investigators, and they're pretty cool. we'll see how things go there. we're still working on our friend stella, who was super busy last week, but hopefully we'll find time to meet this week. things are good, busy....and i'm exhausted, but loving actually doing stuff! right now we're on our way to teach a new english class, so we'll see how that goes....busy busy busy! anywho, thanks for everything from you all, i love you so much! have a good one~
~Sister Sara

satu minggu - langsung pembaptisan....jadi begini di amerika selatan?

2011-01-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

well...let's not waste any time. THERE'S GONNA BE A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY! lol. crazy, right? ya....i thought sis zizi was crazy too, but then...ya, it kinda just works out. so there IS a story behind this, please, let me tell it.

sunday we followed up with vivi (i was wrong last week with the spelling...it's not fifi) and answered questions that she still didn't understand about the restoration, then we set an appointment to meet up tuesday. monday night, sis lie got a text saying that vivi only wanted to meet the next sunday, so we didn't think we were going, then we got a text from vivi tuesday morning asking if we were coming or not, and so i called and we decided to still go...we went in the morning (angkots stop there at 5 so we go in the mornings so we arent rushed), got there, and sis zizi was like, we're moving to bali next week, and i want vivi baptized before then...to which i immediately replied, there's NO way. she JUST learned the restoration. she's not ready for it! but she pushed a bit, so i felt like, what the heck, we'll try for the Plan of Salvation, and depending on how that goes, i'll base my decision (it's always the missionaries that decide whether a person is ready or not). so we gave the lesson....and she was INCREDIBLE. she understood everything. she had a lot of sincerely good questions, and after we explained, she understood. and to be quite honest, i think now she understands Christ better than before, because the PofS gives a more DEFINITE reason for needing Him. and after that lesson, we set the date for saturday, then she'll be confirmed at church sunday, and next week they'll head to bali. which means that this week is totally gonna center on vivi. i called and talked to the branch president, and he's ready for it, and then when i called the new DL, he was like, ok no problem, but you hafta MAKE SURE she's really ready and you're not just looking for a baptism (which i was kinda offended at, cuz he obviously doesnt know me, but then i it's true...some people are like that), so then we decided what the heck...today for Pday, all us missionaries went to her house, and we taught following the prophet and tithing....and it was another AMAZING lesson. sis zizi left so that the missionaries could see that it really is vivi that wants to learn and be baptized, and i know the other missionaries were impressed by her. i'm not gonna lie...these lessons without sis zizi there stuffing everything down her throat are A LOT more effective, and we can really see her TRUE desire to know. so it's been cool....when they get to bali, there's a small branch that meets regularly there, and sis groberg was saying that they're looking at making a branch down there so that tourists don't have to search too hard to go to church while they're in the area. i think vivi will become a really strong member there, especially with sis zizi there to guide her (sis Zizi got a job down there for herself, vivi, and vivi's husband - sis zizi wants them independent within a year or two so she can serve a mission). it's been a crazy last 2 days, but it's pretty cool, too. i guess now i know how missionaries in south america feel, getting baptisms within a few weeks...here it's usually at least 4-5 months, but usually longer. yay!

in other news, we had 2 investigators to church on sunday, vivi and stella, the 16 yr old that we just started teaching. stella is pretty cool - when we talk about different things in the church or our beliefs, she's always like, "i've always wondered about that..." and then saturday night when we met, she had a few questions that were hard for us to answer cuz it's really something she herself needs to find out for herself, but then at church i went with her to sunday school for the kidders, and sis zizi taught and actually answered a whole bunch of the questions that stella had asked the night before....so we were all happy about that. we're trying to meet up tonight, but so far i haven't gotten a response from her...but ya, she's super cool. we went to her house last week, and guess what? her cousin in law is a bule, and i was again reminded of how rude bules are. he just ignored us, even though we were in the same room, and it was pretty rude. but whateverlah....the important thing is that i don't become a rude bule when i get home :P

oh, in other news...pres groberg a few weeks ago told elder meek that he wanted me to search for some service to do using basketball at one of the local universities...so last week we went to one, but they never called me back, so we tried another one, and i think this one might be it. we went to the practice last night, but being the RETARD that i am, i forgot my bag at our house (and only thought, crap i forgot socks, before i realized that i'd forgotten the entire bag....seriously, dodol.), so the coach was kinda like, uh i dunno if i can trust that you know what you're talking about or not before i see you play, and i was like, ya i know...so friday we're gonna try again, and see if he'll trust me more after that. he wanted to know if i wanted to PLAY with the girls, or if i wanted COACH...i told him i love to play, but i'm also old and fat and outta shape now, so i dunno how long i can last. he laughed...hopefully he doesn't judge me. but i really am excited to get back to playing. after i talked to the coach, one of the boys team players came and talked to me about the jazz....i almost fainted, i was so excited! and it wasn't john stockton (i've met a few that know john stockton), it was DERON WILLIAMS! and CARLOS BOOZER (i was quick to tell him i don't like boozer...)! and THAT ASHTON KUTCHER LOOK-ALIKE! omigosh....i seriously died and went to heaven. afterwards, sari wanted to know what we'd been talking about that kept me smiling the whole time, and i said BASKETBALL! the UTAH JAZZ!!!!!! lol....she didn't believe me at first. but ya...i'm a simply girl to please, especially for any jazz loving guy :P

last week was zone conference...pres groberg was sick, and kinda outta it, then within the first 10 minutes sis groberg was shivering like a new born puppy that was born in the snow, and so it was kinda one of those totally chillax shindigs cuz there wasn't anyone really taking control. oh...and i got to give my final farewell testimony. needless to say, kinda weird, but whateverlah. it was good.

and ya...this week i haven't studied a whole bunch on my own, except a bit from genesis...man alive, the life back then was SOOO weird. the only thing i've really gotten from it thus far is TO BE OBEDIENT. cuz that's when the blessings will really come :) i know that is true, and since i'm outta time, i love you all, be safe, and LOVES!~

~Sister Sara

Rekan baru, dan pekerjaan terus maju :)

2011-01-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

Well....it's been a week. haha. not much happened before Sister Sari got here on Friday - we went and picked her up, and then the other sisters went to teach an english class, and we got lost in the center of the city looking for a grocery store, HAHA. yup....that's what happens when you put 2 new people together (especially without a cell phone :P). sister sari is a pretty straight-faced person, who's darn focused on the work....and just goes right in and does the work, which i like. i didn't even have time to explain how to try and contact people with her, cuz she started talking to people herself. she joined the church in Hong Kong, and for 6 years has been used to the hong kong mission....which is WAY different than the indonesian mission. but because they're so strict, she's super strict, and actually has a hard time seeing the rest of us just chillax in the nice, indonesian way (which...before i never thought i was too much of a chillax person, but i guess indo's gotten to me more than i knew....). it's been different trying to get out of my indo habits to get right with her strict orderness, but she's also pretty patient with me, so that's good.

anyways...so that girl we taught last night is TOTALLY awesome. she's from manado, and she was totally freaking out, "WHAT!?!?! what is this kitab (holy book)? how come i've never heard of it before? can i read it? what?... it's can tell me about what happens after death?" ya...she's 17! and come to find out, after the lesson, she literally lives down the street from us...literally, down the street and around the corner, and BOOM! you're at her house. so cool....we're gonna walk to church together on sunday :)

another fun story was our lesson with Fifi, who is muslim and just married an inactive member (the marriage that happened on Christmas Day), but who's mother in law joined the church in hong kong before coming back home, and basically has devoted her life to learning about the gospel (she's about 55 yrs old, and she actually was working on putting her papers in to serve a mission, but then her son came home, after about a year where sis zizi didn't know where he was, with this girl and they had to organize the wedding pretty fast and stuff....), and now sis zizi (pronounced, seesee) is pushing for fifi to get baptized.

oh, and another investigator that we met my first week here, sari and i FINALLY went to meet him (we were an hour late, cuz we went to a member's house first and that went long, and he was NOT happy about that... "westerners are ALWAYS on time"...which again reminded me that i have some bad habits from the last 14 months here...), and he'd WRITTEN down all his questions that he had for us! it was awesome. most of the questions were pretty typical and good (who is joseph smith, what was his background like, what year was the BofM published, etc...), but he did ask about polygamy which was fun to answer (he pulled out scriptures from the bible about being married to only one person, and trying to a little bible bashing in a nice, more welcoming way), but that's one that i myself still have a hard time explaining (like i understand it...but to explain that? impossible without a testimony first), so ya...begitulah. but it was good. i really feel like our teaching pool is getting more and more effective. and all 3 of these people said they'd come to church on sunday, so COOL!

bro paulus is funny...we read the joseph smith and oliver cowdery account of when they recieved the aaronic priesthood from john the baptist, and he was just silent... which never happens....and then he explained that he needed to read it a few more times to fully understand it ("maybe a problem with the translation or something..."), so this week he's gonna go read it again in his forest that he works on, and next week we'll go over it again. haha. he really does just make me happy. AND he's selling me FRESH MILK which is actually GOOD, and not the crappy gross stuff that they sell in the stores here. so i'm happy with that :)

today we're going to buy material for me to make my kebaya! i still dunno what color to get, but it's gonna be pretty. what have i learned this week? that ALLL our experiences are to prepare us for experiences that will come, so that we will be able to bear those hardships better than we would've been able to otherwise. i know the last 14 months have prepared me for the patience and knowledge that i've needed and will continue to need with sis sari and our investigators. crazy how patient i've gotten...i really do feel like a COMPLETELY different person as far as my level of patience here (altho it could still get better, i'm sure). but...it's true. tomorrow we head to surabaya for zone conference, so that'll be fun to get together with other missionaries and learn more about how i can become a better missionary (cuz now i can actually apply what i learn :P). I LOVE YOU FULL!

~Sister Sara

ps sorry kel, happy bday last saturday, and ben happy bday 3 weeks ago. i send ya'll letters, but always forget while i'm on here...so sorry! but know i love you :)

Selamat Natal & Tahun Baru!

2010-12-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

well it was so fun to talk to everyone on sunday, it seriously just put me in the right mood....not that i've had much here in malang that doesn't put me in the right mood, but i loved getting the updates and especially planning for march :) and yet it's getting just too close....

anyways....so it's been a week. sunday we went to Bro Jon's house (the same one sis rhondeau talked about), cuz his son wanted the missionaries over for a "fruit party" - so we went, and after we got there, sis peggy's entire family showed up....3 of her 4 siblings, and her mom. from what i'm getting with the stories, the sisters first met bro paulus and his mom, taught them the first lesson, and then their mom and her youngest son went back to bali, where they live....and then from bro paulus, somehow they got connected up with sis peggy. anywho...i'd talked to elder meek about what i was planning on doing with bro paulus (he wants to stop smoking, and he has questions about the priesthood....what better match is there to help him understand the priesthood AND stop smoking?!?!), and elder meek took the opportunity to talk about the priesthood, and the apostasy, and why joseph smith is so important...but then it kinda just opened a can of worms with bro paulus (now i know why it's better that the sisters go over there...he's not as forceful -or rude- with us as he was with elder meek), and that got the youngest brother involved, until we basically just left feeling like we'd only worsened the situation between their family...so yesterday we (the sisters) went to where peggy's mom was staying to help her feel more at peace with us, and especially to ask us any questions that she might have. altho everyone else basically just stayed away from us, peggy's mom and bro paulus talked to us the whole time, and we left feeling a lot better about things. she DID have a few questions they wanted to ask us, and so we got a lot of her misunderstanding out of the way...however, she's still not all that interested in the church. but at least she can support peggy a lot more.

we just got back from an appointment (our pday is on saturday this week...) where the mom hasn't eaten since yesterday, and her little daughter hadn't eaten since she ate just a tiny bit of rice this morning. man alive....it's things like that that just make me wanna cry here. the worst part was, we went to go buy some food, but she wouldn't let us....she said she just needed a friend, someone to pray with, and we had done our part. holy crap...this lady has 4 daughters, the 3 oldest work, her husband does who knows what (she said he goes out searching for money all day, and yet he rarely gives her money for food), and the 3 oldest give what they make to their dad, not their mom....so where all that money goes, i have no idea (but i HAVE heard he likes to drink...), but they just sleep in their tiny little one-room shack all day, cuz they have no where to go, and if she goes anywhere, the mom hates making people feel like they hafta give her food....oh, and i forgot to mention that she's forbidden to work for other people. so she has no way to get money, basically, for her and her daughter to eat. seriously...it's ridiculous. most of the time, people ask me for money, and i just automatically get turned off, but with her....i was OFFEREING her food, but she wouldn't take it. crazy crazy...we taught her to pray and read the scriptures to know how to overcome this, and that she needs to think more positively. ugh...it's hard to see people like this.

and....i dunno who i'll be visiting come next week. friday, my new comp is on her way to malang, straight from the philipines MTC. her name is sis sari, she joined the church in Hong Kong, is 27, and fairly tall. she's from the solo/jokja area. i met her while i was in Jakarta on my way here (she was getting ready to go to the philipines), and she seemed pretty cool. i'm hoping we get along...not gonna lie, i'm pretty nervous about being a trainer, but i'm hoping she'll help me stick with a good schedule. i'm REALLY hoping she'll get up in the mornings so i can go running....ugh, i miss running so much. anywho...we'll see! but i'm also excited to be in charge (not the jr comp for the first time...) with someone who i can help shape, and who can help shape me. it'll be a good 2 months, i think :)

oh, and i asked pres for bikes for the sisters here in malang (i'm sick of angkots and walking far, and only getting a few appointments a day when we COULD get more), and he's pretty sure that'll be ok! so i'm FINALLY gonna get to ride a bike! i told sis lie, i'm not gonna make it to solo (they have bikes there), so i'm bringing all that i want from solo to me here malang :) haha. oh, did i mention that i ate dog yesterday?

anywho...it's been a biasa week...nothing too extraordinary, except that there have been a lot of people in the hospital (one with a high fever, another who got splashed with burning hot water....ya, her face did NOT look that good....), christmas was good, i ate too much, sis lie told me yesterday that my stomach is getting big (i told her greg is back...and that she needed to go running with me in the morning, but she said she liked me better with greg than without....ugh), i'm old now....like, seriously, i feel like an old lady, but whateverlah...and ya. i'm just happy to be here in malang, and it's fun getting to know the branch members.

and that's about it. i love you all! thanks for everything, enjoy the new year, don't party too hard, go to bed at a decent time, and remember...the Holy Ghost goes to bed at midnight :P haha. loves!

~Sister Hewlett

Sara's return date...

2010-12-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

Just to let you know...

Sara completes her mission March 1st

and will be returning home with my parents the 11th!

Ee....GROSS!!!!

2010-12-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

ok, so this week has been pretty good, i feel a bit more productive, but can still certainly improve is several areas. I FOUND MY NEW PAK SIREGAR HERE IN MALANG! seriously....sooooo cool. his name is pak paulus, but i've already started calling him bro. paulus, cuz i know it's just a matter of time for the guy. he's so intellectual, he has such a view of whats wrong in organized religion, and yet still understands the need for it....and is just FUN! and he speaks like a preacher, which just adds to why i can compare him to pak siregar. they're just fun people, people like that who will listen to what we have to say and try to digest it. however, bro paulus has one thing that pak siregar never had...a desire to know for himself, and "switch the religion that has been passed down for generations by my forefathers" if what he finds is true. HAHA, so cool. so here's the story...sis rhondeau helped a family here get baptized right before she left, and she was working with several of that family's own siblings, and bro paulus is the brother of the wife of that family, sister peggy. so....there's already a good foundation for bro paulus with family who is newly on fire, and from what i've heard, has a SERIOUS testimony about this gospel that's amazing. i just wanna build on that, and help bro paulus' own family get that testimony and make the commitment themselves. it's my new goal with the time i have left here in malang. we're meeting tomorrow to talk about the priesthood, cuz he still doesn't understand how EVERYONE can have the priesthood, since with the catholic church, only the priests and/or workers have the right to that kinda stuff (especially stuff like the sacrament and forgiving and stuff....). so i've been preparing for that, and i've found TONS of answers in D&C84....thta's a FANTASTIC section, it's been a few years since i've read the whole thing myself. but anywho...it's gonna be fun with that family, i can already tell. tell sis rhondeau i'm gonna try to build on that foundation that she's left for me :) i know she'll be happy to hear that.

so....wanna hear the GROSS story for the week? cuz that's exactly what it is. so monday morning, i'm out pruning the bushes with my new shears that i bought on saturday, and i'm all cutting happy goin at these bushes, and i'm just standing there cutting, when the next thing i know, i'm falling....and then next thing i think is, crap...i just fell?!?!?! how did i fall? and as my mind is going over all this, i finally start thinking about what i've fallen in, and i think....wait, the bathroom is right behind me, this goes toward the street.....and THAT'S when i feel the water that my feet are in....but it's not JUST water. AND I KNOW THAT. so i jump out screaming my head off for sis lie (between yelling "gross, gross, GROSS" in between), she comes out and is like what, then sees my legs, and i tell her to grab the hose FAST, and she keeps asking questions, and FINALLY gets the hose from the back, and while she's gone, i'm dry heaving cuz i smell all the crap, and it's all over my legs, and i'm just totally grossed out and just want it all off of me, and so lie finally comes out with the hose and just hoses me all down.....until all the crap from that stupid sewer line area was washed off my legs. ew. it seriously was SOOO gross. then langi comes out, and the two of them start laughing their heads off, and i'm part laughing part crying, and after i finished cutting the bush up, i went in and showered about 5 times. with LOTS of soap. then....yup, i got mad at lie for not taking a pic of me, and i took a pic myself of my scratched up legs, the hole, and then filmed the hole as i retold the story. so it WILL live on. GROSS.

so its official...i'm gonna get fat in malang. its a good thing i'm only gonna be here for less than 3 months, cuz these members are CRAZY. friday night all us missionaries (elders included) went to a sister's house is THANK GOODNESS going to malaysia to work this week, cuz dang...she made tons of food, then told us that we had to eat it all before we went home. and she was serious. WE COULD NOT GO HOME UNTIL WE FINISHED IT ALL. the elders had prob 5 portions, i had 2, the others had 3, and there was still leftovers. so....haha, i went outside to stretch my stomach, and the chunky (haha, dad, you're gonna laugh at this...the "chumly" for sure) neighbor kid was in his window looking out at the crazy bule doing weird stretches in the front of his house...and i had the spirit whisper what needed to be done...so i asked the kid, he agreed, i went inside, and without the sister knowing, i took this kid a PACKED plate of food stuffed as much as it could handle, and you should've seen the kid...he was so excited! seriously, the happiest chumly i've ever seen, possibly. all he could say was, oh thank you, thank you soooooo much! you would've thought he hadn't eaten in months. however, elder meek thinks the kid is just used to getting food when the missionaries go to this sister's house....which may be right....i'm gonna hafta ask the other sisters about that. but it was hilarious.

the other appt wasn't as bad cuz we didn't HAVE to eat everything, but it was served in courses....like a little here, a little there, each time you thinking that it's over....that there's nothing left, so eat just A LITTLE more....but nope, then comes out the next course. luckily, we were pre-warned by the elders, and so we didn't eat too much that i felt like i was gonna throw up all night. but seriously...the members here are really great, and love to invite the missionaries over. tonight we're gonna celebrate a little christmas with a member, then have another invitation for later in the week, and it's just crazy...and not all the same people. in jakarta and bandung, it was always the same people, but here it's always different...so that's nice.

anywho...i'm about outta time, so i'll stop here. but i love you all, i know it's another christmas apart, but this christmas i'm not homesick at all (haha...cuz i know i'll be home in no time :P ), and just missing not being with you...but everything else is still good. it's the most wonderful time of the year, and i'm so grateful i get to spend in with the people of Indonesia. they've taught me so much about Christ....honestly, i've learned more about Christ from muslims here, i think, then i would've EVER thought. it's incredible how GOOD these people are. anywho...i love you all, have a very merry christmas family and friends that i won't talk to sunday, but to mom, dad, kel, zak, and ben....TALK TO YA LATA!

Loves,
~Sister Sara

Selamat Datang ke Malang

2010-12-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

well, here i am in Malang! i really do hate moving areas... having to learn a new city, trying to contact people with no idea where anything is ('where are you going?" "oh i'm going to blah-blah blah blah" "oh....right....i'm new here, so i have no idea where that is." - it's SUCH an awkward conversation...), and just following others isn't exactly my forte, but it's good. right now is the learning process, and as far as i can see, malang is gonna be a good place.

i'd heard a few rumors about the house and things going on in the branch here, but i'm still trying to figure out what's true and what's not. for example, "the house in malang is the best house the sisters live in!" ya....false. i don't think it's anything more or less than the other houses, EXCEPT that it has a little flower area in the front and side of it that was FULL of weeds when i got here. i was completely disgusted with that, so every morning i've been spending about a half hour or so weeding it out, and it looks pretty good (thanks mom for teaching me to weed :P). this morning i had more time, and after about 45 minutes sis lie and langi came out and helped me, and we talked about what we wanna plant there. hopefully i'm getting them a little more excited to focus more on the front of the house, and making sure it LOOKS like a place where Christ's servants live. not where a bunch of bums off the street live. it actually looked really good this morning, and by next week maybe i'll have it all cleared out and we can plant some new flowers (yup, it WILL take me that long, cuz there is not one piece of dirt showing....it's all completely covered in weeds).

sis lie and sis langi get along really well, which is fun for me to join in....we all get along, but i'm trying to help them focus more on contacting rather than always laughing and talking to each other while their in the angkots. i know sis langi is still new, and she still has a huge fear of talking to people (that whole language barrier that i knew so well in jakarta), but she REALLY wants to talk to people, and i've noticed a big change with her in just the last week. she got her first indonesian contact last night! so i was excited for her.

sis rhondeau was here before me, and they had a ton of investigators (got a family baptized the week before her parents got here!), and so they've turned most of those over to us...so we spent the last few days trying to get a hold of them. but the problem is, nobody's been home. i was surprised to hear that sis langi still hadn't taught a single discussion in indonesia, but monday we passed by an elder man who was weeding, and i offered to help, and that led to him asking us what church we were from, and he knew we were the Mormon church, and i asked if he'd read the BofM yet, and he said no....and the next thing we knew, we were in his house teaching the first discussion. langi was completely blown away, and nervous as could be, cuz it'd be weeks since she and lie had practiced giving the first discussion....i felt really bad (she just kept looking at me, saying "i dunno what to say..." and i tried to help her, but you can only tell someone so much to say before it's better if you just say it yourself...), and so now i'm pushing that we practice the discussions for our comp study every day. langi really is so excited and stoked about doing the work here...she just hasn't had someone REALLY showing her the way. i don't want lie to feel like i'm taking over her compship...but i also don't want us to not be effective when we teach because of something that we COULD work on, but we're too lazy to. that's not what missionary work is about. we'll see what happens with the guy (i think he thought we were going to force him to try and believe what we believe cuz he kept saying that we can't force our beliefs on him....), but it was a good lesson to learn from.

sis rhondeau and sis lily's families were here until sunday, so it was fun to be around LOTS of bules after i hadn't been around any for basically 4 months. sis rhondeau's mom has a letter for you guys...sorry you just got my package and all my pics, so i didn't know what else to send. but it's a piece of my love :)

so here's 2 stories of inactive members here that totally opened my heart last week - the first one is sis yuni, who married a muslim, but has joined the church and has a VERY strong faith in Christ and this restored gospel...but her husband has no idea. EVERYTHING has been done behind his back, because if he finds out, she knows he'll tell her she can't do it. so she basically lives a lie, solaking (praying) 5 times a day, and everything else that is islam....but when she gets time where she's all by herself in the house, she reads the BofM, and saturdays we meet in her mom's house to have a little spiritual building. SOOO dedicated, and you can feel her testimony so dang strong when you're there. her mom is muslim as well, but not fanatic (most of sis yuni's family is christian, and her little brother is even a member in jakarta), and just SOOO dang cute. she doesn't like us coming and going fast...she just wants us to chill the house with her. haha....so cute.

the other sister is sis nursiam, who is a nurse and works every single day, and takes all her holidays on sundays when possible so she can come to church, but she only gets 1 or 2 holidays every month, so she doesn't get to church much....but she said before they started these new shifts, she used to get off at 2 pm, and then she'd fellowship with the elders and sisters everywhere... she said she'd helped find TONS of people who eventually got baptized, which is totally cool. but the saddest part is that her family is all muslim, and her son (who was a member long before she was) married a fanatic muslim girl who won't let him go to church. sos poor sis nursiam is the only faithful member in her family who truly, TRULY loves Christ. sooooo cool.

anywho....so things are still new, we still don't have any REAL investigators, but we've contacted a few that are potentials, and i'm hoping this compship'll get moving more in the right direction so i'm busy busy busy here in malang! i'm sick of shopping :P but it helps a lot to have a greenie who's still fresh and excited to work. we'll see what this next week'll bring!

oh, and spiritual thought for the week is "the darkest hour always comes before the dawn" - this is my dawn, and it's only gonna get lighter from here :) i love this gospel....i'm so grateful for the testimony that i have of it. i'm grateful that i have parents who raised me with the truth and values that they were taught, and which have helped me SOOOOOO much more than you'll ever know here in indo. i know Christ lives, and i know this work is the most important work in the world...which is why i'll NEVER give up. i'll keep pushing until the end! i love you all, thanks for all the love and support....until next week!

~Sister Sara

KEBEBASAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

well hello hello - i'm emailing you from my hometown, jakarta! i just got here this morning, and am going around with the sisters here until my flight for tomorrow leaves for MALANG! that's right...I'M GOING TO JAVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now, many people might be wondering, but you've been in java for the last year, but no no no, how wrong you are....west java is an indonesian version of america. but from what i hear, Java is where you actually see the CULTURE of indonesia. and i'm going there! i'll be in a 3-some with sis lie and sis langi (a new bule who's been here for about 2 months) until the new sisters come at the end of december. yay!!!!! i'm seriously so excited, you have no idea.....i loved bandung (the city), but it's certainly time for me to head out :)
so this last week was that...another week in bandung. sis mongan's uncle died, so she and bajodo headed to jakarta to attend his funeral (surprised? haha.... i was too, but that's my mission....) and i was with hasibuan for 2 days, and it was actually lot's of fun. hasi is an incredibly clear teacher, and is good to get the point across, and MAKE SURE they understand (i usually just talk, but she asked a lot of questions, which i liked). we taught one of my newer contacts about the Plan of Salvation, and hasi shared a scripture from the BofM (we hadn't taught the restoration yet, so she didn't know much about it except the short history i gave before they read the scripture), and ibu rosa then said, "wow...i really feel the power of this verse. this really is the Word of God. Can i learn more about it?" totally cool....so i made sure jo and i went there again before i got transferred...yesterday we went and gave the history of Joseph Smith and the BofM, but that wasn't as clear to her, i don't think. she liked the example of Joseph asking for an answer, and then receiving the answer straight from Heavenly Father and Christ (which she said, lol, "Joseph Smith was visited by 2 beings when he prayed for an answer, and i recieved 2 beings when i needed to be spiritually uplifted as well, cuz here you two are!" so cute), but i don't think she quite grasped "the only true church with the keys of the priesthood." hopefully bajodo will do a good job of teaching her and her daughter more...they live DANG far from the church, but are really cool, so hopefully. ibu rosa's daughter, tasya, almost cried when i was leaving, and gave me a bracelet with a pic of her to remember. so sweet. i love the indonesian people!
so a lot of other people i was trying to get in contact with didn't happen, so it wasn't the most exciting week...but we taught Ibu Dina for the last time, and it was a pretty good lesson about the foundation and "building" of the church. i got it from the primary handbook thing (hee hee, they gave it to us as the mtc, but i hadn't looked at it until i had to play the song for the primary program, then i noticed this...it's got some good ideas in there for investigators!), and it's where the foundation is prophets, apostles, and of course, Jesus Christ. above that, you have the Holy Ghost and priesthood, then ordinances and Revelation, and at the top is the scriptures. i think ibu dina is a little at that point of "holy cow, they are getting forceful" but then i have sis bajodo tellin her every week "we're not here to add numbers to our congregation, we're here to let people know about the BofM" so she doesn't get too offended, but then i'm thinking, "no, we ARE trying to get people baptized, and she needs to KNOW what has to be done for her to recieve these blessings"...but ya, that's my life. well not anymore...haha, i'm going to malang!
so i'm happy today, i'm going to malang! this week i've learned that God really does answer prayers, and that there really ARE people out there ready to hear this message IF THE MISSIONARIES WILL GET OFF THEIR BUTTS AND GET TO WORK! it's as simple as that, really. pres groberg this week sent out an email about how we need to start PLANNING where we're going, have a destination in mind, DO things that are worth while...not just wander from here to there. and then find people along the way! i love all that he's doing here to try and change the slump that happens so frequently. a lot of people face challenges on their missions... i've decided mine here is to NOT be able to do all that i know i can to do this work....trying to overcome other people's characteristics while trying to maintain the ones that i have that are so greatly needed in this mission. terlalu semangat untuk melakukan pekerjaan misionaris? bisa ada itu sewaktu di misi? i think not.
so that's my week! next week i'll be writing from malang! i love you all! have a great week, and enjoy getting ready for christmas! from what i've heard, malang has a more Christmassy feel to it than jakarta did last year, or even what i saw in bandung this last week. malang is like the capital city for catholics, so it should feel more like christmas this year...whether that's good or bad, i'm not sure, but either way i'm excited! i love you all, thanks for all you do for me! loves~
~Sister Sara

minggu terakhir di bandung?

2010-12-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

well, another week come and gone - GILA!!!! and you met with steffi! isn't she great? elder subandryo said that she was there, and before i could even get the words out that you guys needed to get together, he said, "hey, she needs to meet your parents!" then he said he still had dad's email, so i'm assuming you guys heard from elder subandryo to know how to get a hold of steffi... so fun, i'm so glad that you guys get to meet the wonderful saints that live here in Indonesia so you get a taste of what who i work with here. sis steffi helped me and sis lie find inactive members when we were first put together (and had no idea how to contact, teach or anything else), and while she deals with health issues that are pretty serious, she's always just so faithful and smiling and always looking for ways to help others. it was hard to get anyone to help us while i was in jakarta, but sis steffi was ALWAYS willing. you were truly blessed to meet her.
so this last week has been another week. we got an appointment with this lady and her teenage daughter, and i was all excited to go and teach them, cuz they seem super cool and LOVED us when we met, but when we got to their house, the mom told us her story (which is good to know), and then told her daughter that she wanted her to tell us her problem with her boyfriend, and get a second opinion on how to handle it...ya, it was a long story and was basically just the usual relationship where the two aren't talking to each other, so they're all confused and crying and hurt feelings and "i think you hate me," "no, you're the one that hates me" (all thru texting, btw, which is ALWAYS the wrong way to handle fights), and i felt like i was back home talking to my friends about their boyfriends....which is FINE, i have no problem with it, but it left us with no time to talk about the restoration or anything else... just give our opinion and advice about how to handle the problem (TALK!!!!), and that was it. i think that happened cuz we now tell people we're "bembina rohani," cuz that's whats on our kitas, which basically means spiritual tutor......but missionaries PREACH....so i think that might be where they were a bit confused, but we're going back this week, and will try to actually get a lesson in this time. and possibly go earlier so we have more time. haha. i love indonesia. anywho...it actually just makes me laugh now, but at the time i was a TINY bit peeved.
saturday was quite a day...we found out that pres groberg was coming to bandung that day, and so we CLEANED....all morning. well, the indos did a lot more than i thought was needed, but the house looked DANG good afterwards. but, after that i tried getting appts, and no one even answered, but we found out that no one had cleaned the church yet (they JUST started the program here where the members clean the church, and the guy who usually organizes it was sick), so me and jo went to the church and cleaned the whole thing ourselves. it was a FULL day of cleaning, but i felt better about that than walking around a mall, so :) the other sisters picked up pres and sis groberg, and then they went to an inactives house, and after that we all met up and had dinner together. it was fun.
sunday was awesome, cuz sis groberg is SUCH a spitfire! she seriously makes me so happy....she's everything a mission president's wife should be - just so excited to go out and do the work, and working hard to try and understand the language. it's not coming as fast as she'd like it to, i know, but by the time she goes home she'll have this language down. as soon as church was over and president had interviewed us all, she was ready to go, "where are we going to go? who can we visit? we have the time, so let's get going so we can visit as many as possible!" haha, seriously, she made me so happy. it's nice to have someone else around who feels like that. so jo and i went with them and the branch president and his wife to visit one of the inactive members, and then they dropped us off to go to ibu dina's while they went to go visit others. my favorite is that they didn't have their own car or driver - they rode cititrans here (thats what we ride when we go to jakarta - it's just a direct route that they have here if you wanna go to jakarta or bandung), and then rode the angkots and walked with us - they wanted to take the angkot to go home saturday night, but sis mongan talked them into taking a taxi so they wouldn't get lost. haha. but ya...thats what i love - they're here WITH us missionaries, they want to know what we DO so they know how to help us. it was fun.
our visit with ibu dina was a bit of an eye opener for me last week - i'm seeing more and more that we've been too soft with her..she doesn't understand the restoration, and that this is GOD'S church on earth, and i tried to be as bold as i could without hurting her feelings when i told her that her baptism was not done with the Priesthood, which means it won't hold later on in Heaven.. after that, she started saying that, according to her, the guy who baptized her had the power of God, and that it's still good.....so me and jo have talked, and we have to go back to trying and explaining about the restoration again. i gave her HW this week to read from an article about joseph smith from the liahona - i'm hoping if she reads that, she'll be able to understand better the role of Joseph smith, and WHY he's so important in the Church Of Jesus Christ of LDS. it's a slow process - but hopefully we can get there.
yesterday we FINALLY just went to one of our inactive's house (i usually call, and there's always an excuse, but we haven't gone to her house yet cuz she works in the hospital as a lab tech and has weird hours), and i prayed the whole way there that she'd be there, cuz that morning had been a bit of a rough one for me, and i just NEEDED to feel the spirit and like i'd accomplished something that day - and my prayers were answered! she was there, and we had a great lesson, and she cried as she told us about her situation (married a Muslim, kids aren't allowed to come to church, got offended by a text from one of the sisters last year and hasn't come to church since), and we just invited her again to remember her testimony and come back to church. she's definitely one that needs strengthening thru the members that live around her - so i'll be talking to pres santoso this week about that. she's awesome, tho, and i was SOOO happy to finally meet her, and again was reminded that i have a loving Heavenly Father in Heaven who knows what i'm doing, and is helping strengthen me every single hard step of the way. i really am SOOO blessed.
monday night we did FHE with the family that was inactive when i first got here, but have since been active almost every single week, and sis hasibuan (we were on splits) talked about the conference talks, and how we need to keep reading those, and not just read from the scriptures, cuz those talks are SPECIFICALLY for us in this day, and are what Heavenly Father has revealed to our prophets today about what WE NEED. it chastized me a bit, and yesterday i started reading the May liahona again (we haven't gotten the november yet), and it really has strengthened me SOOO much. yesterday morning i was NOT in a good mood, and certainly didn't wanna go out or do anything, but then i read julie beck's talk about the handmaid... something like "by my handmaids ye may know me" or something like that, and there was no way i could read that talk and NOT take responsibility for what i'm here to do... and so i got up and got back to work. and MAN ALIVE am i grateful for that. i know Heavenly Father watches over us, i know he sees the hardships we suffer, and while maybe our problems aren't solved the way we want them to be or in the time we want them to be, but He will ALWAYS strengthen us to endure, and to ENDURE WELL, which means still doing what we're supposed to. i'm not sure how much longer i'll be serving here in bandung, but MAN ALIVE am i glad that Heavenly Father sent me here to use talents i never thought i'd be able to use, face problems i never thought i'd have to face, and yet still have the strength to go on and DO HIS WORK. i certainly have had my times where i'm down and it's taken a long time to get back, but i think i needed those humbling times so that i could FEEL that, and so that now i can know that i DON'T want to be like that anymore here. i told president groberg on sunday that i want to work HARD these last few months that i have, and hopefully he'll help me out with that. i know these last few months are going to be a gift from God, cuz REALLY, i should be going home next week if i hadn't gotten hurt, but there's a reason i need to be here, and i'm gonna make sure i work hard to find out what that is.
anywho...sorry, now i'm going off, but anywho i love you all, thanks for the love and support and prayers and everything else. i'm beyond blessed to have the support that i do back home - i've known that for years, but it's even more realistic here. THANK YOU! have a good week, loves~
~Sister Sara

Pernikahan, Ke Jakarta...sibuk terus!

2010-11-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

well...i can hardly breathe right now...i forced jo to come email as soon as we got home so you wouldn't worry going 2 days without an email again...but we're cuttin it short emailing this close to curfew :P but know i love you mom, and this was for you :)
it's been a heck of a week...last thursday was AWESOME and exhausting, and i had a headache at the end of the day. we taught pak johan, whom we haven't taught in about 2 months cuz i don't really see him progressing, he just likes to compare different religions, but i wanted to see how much of the BofM he'd read...and it turns out that he hasn't read any. ugh. but he actually asked us about what our church believes about death, so we bagged what we'd planned to teach, and had a good discussion about the plan of salvation. he was good, talking about how almost every church has the belief of the middle part of what we believe, but the rest is totally just our church - which made it possible for me to bear testimony to him that we only know about the pre mortal life and life after judgment day because of living prophets who live on the earth today. it was probably our best discussion yet.
and then we went straight to bang hapen - who SERIOUSLY gives me a headache every time we teach him....he just has so many questions, and doesn't understand anything that we try to discuss....he's intelligent, and knows his Bible, but he wants too much PROOF from the Bible, and there just isn't any about the BofM....so it's frustrating and just almost too much work to try and discuss things with him. i always just get to a point where i just shut up and stop talking, cuz nothing i say he seems to understand. but it was still good to meet with him, cuz it's been about 2 months since we met with him as well.
i also took team pics with my widyatama girls! and guess what....they gave me my very own, widyatama jersey! we all dressed up in the uniforms, and after i gave them back the jersey i'd borrowed, and they were like, no, this is for you! i'm still touched by them...seriously, they are so cool, and mom and dad we're gonna go out to dinner so you can meet them all!
and then saturday was THE WEDDING....the wedding that millions have waited for for 10 years. haha, mbak ade and mas budi FINALLY tied the knot on saturday, and guess who were the bridesmaids that got to dress up with the bride/? haha, yup, us missionaries. holy cow...it was so fun! i got to dress up in kebaya (the "special event" clothing), and everyone was freaking out about a bule wearing kebaya. and i'm not gonna lie---the other girls had their ridiculous, white make up on that makes them look completely unnatural and not at all as pretty as their natural color is---but i asked to have the "natural" look, and i was quite pleased with the result. you'll be getting the pics around this time next week....i left a package at senopati today that a lady from the english ward is gonna send thru the embassy (which puts it at the same price as sending you a package from cali...sweet, eh?), and it has 2 cds of pics, with the wedding pics on it. you can use that at the ward party, too, if you want :). anyways, mbak ade was beautiful, and after he washed off his white makeup, mas budi didn't look half bad, either, haha. funny story...write that one down for when i get home. he deleted the pic i took, so i don't have proof, but i promise it happened.
sunday was awesome too...we fasted with Ibu Dina, and she was SO proud that she fasted, cuz it's been 6 years since she's done it, but she "felt so strong, and God helped me not feel too hungry all day!" she's seriously such a sweetheart. i love her so much. after we ended our fast together with dinner, we talked a bit about how she felt about the Bofm, and she said she's been reading it, and she knows it has the purpose as bible - so i explained that that's the Holy Ghost, helping her know that, and that sometimes he works in a process, and if she keeps reading, she'll become more and more sure of the divinity of the Bofm, and that along with that will come a knowledge of joseph smith, who she still struggles with. but little by little we're getting along with her! we also talked a lot abotu her family, and what she can do to help them open up more to Christ (that's what she wanted to fast for). she's amazing,a nd i love her so much!
tuesday-thursday was spent in jakarta - and man was it full and awesome and just good to get out of bandung for a few days (which dad, it's BAWN - DUNG, not BANG-DUNG. i dunno why that couple told you that was how you say it, cuz it's definitely said the way it's said). tuesday was great - i went on splits with one of the sisters in jakarta, and we taught raz! she's doing SO good, and it was so great to hear about her trip to australia, and how much she's grown. she said the closing prayer, and i told her i could see an improvement in her prayers even in just 4 months....not that they were "bad" before, just more "flowy" if you will. she was more sure of herself, and it was really cool to see that. she's planning on getting baptized in january in australia, so i'm gonna stay in touch with her, and make sure that happens :)
it was also nice to see in jakarta a lot of what's happening there - the missionaries are using the english branch TONS more now, and almost all their investigators are referrals or girlfriends/boyfriends of members. sis suryono, who is from bandung and left to start her mission about 1 month after i got here, is super excited about the work, and we spent most of the 3 days together - she was telling me all about a lot of the people i helped with, and she said, "what i've noticed from serving here after you left is that EVERYONE knows you - you must be a really good contactor, cuz everyone knows about the church from you." that made me feel good, and like i really did do something with my time in jakarta. she also said it was weird to be with a bule who actually says hi to the creepy guys that always yell stuff at us as we pass by - i told her they're people too, and i don't feel like they should be ignored. i'm not gonna go outta my way to talk to them, but if they say hi to me, the least i can do is say hi back. it made me feel a lot better about how i conduct myself here.
wow, this is getting too long and my time is almost up, but at the meeting we had with elder pratt, i basically got my butt spanked. everything he said, i knew was true - i see it in my own house, i feel it in my heart every day...us missionaries ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH here. i don't have time to go into details, but he certainly opened my eyes, and i'm just hoping i'll be able to apply what he and his wife taught - altho part of me also feels like i just wasted 15 months of my mission riding up and down on buses trying to find people. but i was a really good meeting... i just dunno how much of an effect it'll have here in bandung :(
today was thanksgiving, we gave thanks by having pday at the church, playing american football and soccer, with a tiny bit of basketball at the end. then we ate a SWEET thanksgiving dinner at senopati, complete with apple and pumpkin pie at the end. it was short, sweet, and fun. basically just nice to not be the only bule for a few days.
anywho, we just got back from jakarta, and i'm tired and my time is about up - so i love you all! thanks for being wonderful, and have another great week! loves~
~Sister Sara

ps mom i got both the packages - my chocolate and the cards (holy cow, kel goes to A TON of work for those things!), and my christmas package. i kinda wanna open it now if there's anything i'll be able to use before christmas like you had last year, but i also like to save it for the surprise of having it on christmas day...what do you think? thanks! love you!

Choir picture

2010-11-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

The choir girls! (we only had 4 guys, so this was basically the whole choir :) )

kelemahan manusia sy

2010-11-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

well, last week was a whole bunch of running around getting stuff for the halloween party...and then it rained all morning and almost all afternoon saturday, and i KNEW my numbers were gonna be low...which they were. most of the branch didn't come, only 1 investigator showed up, and half the people at the party were the 2 families of the primary presidency there for the childrens program on sunday. so....ya, i overplanned. A LOT. but for all of us that went, we had fun, and it was good. at first i was pretty disappointed and actually frustrated, but then i had a quote from PMG come to my mind that goes something like, "no effort exerted in service is in vain." so that actually made me feel better, and enjoy the party more. i was a black cat, and jo was an angel. it was fun.
as far as appointments go this week, nothing too exciting...we finished the Family Proclamation with pak siregar and his wife, which he agreed with all of it, so there isn't anything to report on with that....we read 3 nephi 11 with ibu dina, and talked about authority and power - but of course we hafta be soft, so we didn't directly say anything about her own personal baptism, but i think next week i might go into further detail about that. little by little....
monday we met with the prabowohadi family again, and they're good to sit and listen to us, but when we challenged them to pray that night with a prayer of gratitude, not ASKING for anything, only giving thanks, the dad made it perfectly clear again that they're in their church for good. and yet i still feel like if they would just TRY what we give to them for challenges, he'd feel happier in his life....i dunno. they're a GREAT family. but he won't do anything we ask them to. we gave the mom a hymn and childrens songbook, so i'm hoping she'll read and sing those, and that'll help her understand our church and its doctrines more. i feel like if we can touch the mom, the dad'll come along eventually. we'll see. i talk a lot about temples and eternal families while i'm there tho...
so the other day during personal study, i had an idea hit me so hard that i immediately did as it said....draw a pic of the tree of life, and THATS how we can help our inactive members find their testimonies again. which is pretty interesting, cuz 2 of our 5 families are already active again...and the other 3 are hard to meet with. but maybe this'll help me in the future? anywho, so i drew the pic, and then found the references that describe the meaning of each symbol. then, i drew 4 different people - for the 4 different types of people found in 1 nephi 8 - those who are lost the entire time, those who taste of the fruit but are ashamed, those who taste of the fruit and rejoice, and then those who are in the building making fun of those eating of the fruit. it's pretty cool, and i see now that that was certainly the HG working through me. i still don't know when i'll use it, but hopefully it'll be something that'll touch other's lives.
yesterday we tried on shirts for a wedding this weekend - a couple in the branch are getting married (after 10 years together...holy cow! yup, that's not too unheard of here...) on saturday, and us sisters are the welcoming committee, and i'm also helping by playing the piano for it. i'm not gonna lie....you're gonna LOVE pics of these outfits. weddings here use clothes that are STELLAR and BRIGHT and AWESOME. i wanna make myself an outfit before i leave. maybe i'll do that together with making my own jeans....
anywho, thats about it for the week. today we're going to take pics with the widyataman bball team, so i'm excited for that. it's been a few weeks since we've practiced, cuz they're coach is busy with other teams. and next week we're off to jakarta to meet with pres pratt, a member of the 70, and then we'll have a small "thanksgiving lunch" on thursday before we go home. yay!
this week i've learned that the HG is strongest with us when we follow the commandments. when we don't follow those commandments, the blessings are taken from us, along with the HG, and without Him, i can't do this work i'm suppposed to be. so marilah....let's all follow the commandments better this next week so we can be more worthy to recieve of the HG and blessings that come! i love you all, thanks for the support, and I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! loves~
~Sara

Bersiap-siap untuk Halloween!‏

2010-11-10T01:48:00.000-08:00

ah, i'm soooo glad you got to meet so many Indonesians! now you understand why i have so much love for these people - they truly are the salt of the earth. Haha, and good they knew who i was...i think i'll forever more be known as "that tall sister."

this week has been a whole lot of preparations for this halloween party on saturday... we're getting things together, slowly but surely. i started iyt basically been doing most of it myself (because 1-it's too hard to explain games, and supplies and everything so that the others will understand..it's just easier to do it myself, and 2-no one else seemed too excited about things). however, since we've started shopping for things, and i HAVE had to try and explain everything to Jo so that i can get what i need, she's been getting excited as well, and is planning on being an angel, as well as made a "happy halloween" sign to hang up. she's really good to me, and although the language barrier hurts us a lot of the time, she's patient with me, and i especially like to see her getting all excited about this. the other sisters aren't AS excited, but they did buy masks at the store yesterday, so that means they'll at least participate :P haha. today for pday, we're gonna try to make caramel apples and sugar cookies (notice the word "try" - cuz i'm not sure how it's gonna turn out....), so we'll see how that goes. friday and saturday we'll be decorating and getting all the last minute things put together.

sunday, jo and i helped with preparations for the primary program next week... so cute, but CRAZY! only 9 kids, but man there were kids EVERYWHERE. after they were done, we announced the halloween party again, and you should've seen the kids! haha, they were SOOO excited, and one of the kids (Jay...SOOO dang cute) wasn't talking to anyone in specific, just anyone who would listen, how he was going to wear his batman outfit, and his wings were going to look like this, and he'd be able to run around with the wings flying in the air, etc etc....haha, so cute. we were also trying to get them excited about inviting friends to the party...so hopefully they do. i've already got 2 of our close neighbors to come - one is like our mom here, Teh Ita, and then Oma is our landlady, who has 2 little grandsons that live with her....i've also given flyers to all of my english classes! so i told pres santoso (the branch president) i'm hoping for at least 50 people....he raised his eyebrows at that number, but i'm REALLY hoping we reach it. it'll be fun :)

sunday, jo and i helped with preparations for the primary program next week... so cute, but CRAZY! only 9 kids, but man there were kids EVERYWHERE. after they were done, we announced the halloween party again, and you should've seen the kids! haha, they were SOOO excited, and one of the kids (Jay...SOOO dang cute) wasn't talking to anyone in specific, just anyone who would listen, how he was going to wear his batman outfit, and his wings were going to look like this, and he'd be able to run around with the wings flying in the air, etc etc....haha, so cute. we were also trying to get them excited about inviting friends to the party...so hopefully they do. i've already got 2 of our close neighbors to come - one is like our mom here, Teh Ita, and then Oma is our landlady, who has 2 little grandsons that live with her....i've also given flyers to all of my english classes! so i told pres santoso (the branch president) i'm hoping for at least 50 people....he raised his eyebrows at that number, but i'm REALLY hoping we reach it. it'll be fun :)

sunday we met with Ibu Dina, and she's still good...we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, which she agreed with, but this week i want to focus more on the power and authority that's needed, especially with Baptism and recieving the Holy Ghost (yes, things are SUPER slow here, and we have to take things slow so that we don't offend anyone). we'll see how things go...

Wednesday we met with one of my contacts, and she was super cool....she took us to a restaurant she used to work for, and then showed me off to everyone, haha. we didn't really have the environment to REALLY talk about the first discussion, but we did a simple explanation of the BofM...we still hafta follow up on that this week.

thursday was pak siregar.....oh, my favorite of all favorites. lol. we read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and would you believe in 2 1/2 hrs, we only got thru 3 paragraphs? i didn't think it'd be possible, but he wants an explanation for everything. first, it was that the family is central to God's plan for His children (why? how do you get that idea? don't you know that we're here to praise his name?). we read from Genesis, and after about 1/2 hr, he understood and actually agreed with us. woohoo! then it was that we're created in the image of God (don't you know that God doesn't have an image? that what the scriptures say is just symbolism so we can try to comprehend his image?)...ya, that one he could understand our belief, but couldn't agree. THEN, it was the resurrection...which i never realized, is really NEVER explained in the Bible. only in the BofM (i was reading that happiness book from elder ballard friday after we'd met with pak siregar, and so now i have added info to share with him this week). crazy crazy. but he thought our spirits go to some place to wait for the resurrection, and when the resurrection comes, our spirits go up to live with God. no body. cuz the body is not holy enough. so what about Christ? didn't he have a body when he was resurrected? why wouldn't we get the same? cuz He is the Son of God...we're just man. yeah.....like that. however, one of my biggest triumphs was when he actually started to agree with us...that, ya, it DOES make sense that the resurrection would be bodies of a PERFECTED FORM that are returned to our spirits. man alive...so fun, pak siregar. i truly do cherish every opportunity that we have to meet together.

anywho...that really is basically it. what have i learned this week? jangan dengar desas-desus. it was a real happenin' week. i finished Revelations today, and holy cow...the last few chapters are awesome, i understood them cuz it's so flat out, but the middle chapters were hard....i wanna go back and try understanding them better. but hey! i finished the New Testament! woohoo! now i think i might start with the old testament....i've read a bunch of chapters there that have connections with the new testament, and there is SOOOOOO MUCH INFO there. and i've got 4 months to read it! haha. anywho, all is well in paradise here, hope all is well back home (is it cold yet? it rains literally EVERY DAY here, and yesterday it rained all day long...holy cow), know i love you all, and thanks so much for your prayers and support! loves~

Sis Sara

dan kelebayan sedang mulai....‏

2010-11-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

wow...another week has come and gone, and what did i do this week? seriously....time is going by so fast, it's hard to believe i've already been out this long!

this weekend we said goodbye to sister simanjuntak, and hello to sis hasibuan. me and jo are still together, and mongan and hasi have to figure out bandung on mongan's 10 days experience here....haha. but, actually mongan has been sick since last thursday, and jo hasn't been feeling very well most of the week (apparently siman was sick in jakarta too...so i dunno if they all ate something that i didn't, or what, cuz i've felt fine...), so it's actually been me and hasi most of the time since she got here. but it's good...she's fun, and it's nice to have someone new. she was the one sister that i hadn't met before, so now i've met all the missionaries except the new one in malang from Hong Kong. she's very sarcastic, which i like, and she helps the atmosphere in our home be cheerful in a better way than it was before...at least that's my feelings. hopefully things continue to go well :)

at ENHAII last week, i played this stupid game that we'd always play in seminary for "getting to know people," and they LOVED it. it was hilarious. i have video of it....we started with shapes and colors (4 shapes and 5 colors), and the person in the middle would say "i wanna sit in a seat with a GREEN (or star shape, or whatever they wanted) color," and then anyone with a green colored shape had to get up and switch seats....haha. then we moved on to where they had to use their own english, and come up with new things....like, "i wanna sit in a seat of someone with brown eyes." it was hilarious, and they loved it. then, on monday, i gave them a "HUKUMAN" or punishment for speaking anything except english in class....haha, they had to sing, "i'm a little teapot" in front of the class, and THAT was hilarious. one class actually liked singing it, so they did it lots, but the other class was SOOOO careful not to say ANYTHING AT ALL just in case they did say something not in english. it was so funny. i love these classes.

ibu dina was an appointment that hasi came with me to....and she totally took over, and helped give ibu dina another testimony about joseph smith and his divine calling as a prophet of God. it was so great, and the spirit was really strong, and so i invited ibu dina again to church....and got shut down again. she said she wants to, but it's a problem with time, and she's apparently got a lot of service to do with her church right now...so she said hopefully next month. ya, hopefully. but she's still trying to figure things out with joseph smith, and i dunno what else to do to try and help her...but i'll keep praying and hopefully come up with something.

yesterday i taught the 5th and 6th grade classes at a contact's school for an hour each, and that was cute. i'm not gonna lie...i really hate how i get treated like a celebrity just cuz of my skin color, but these kids were SOOOO excited, there's no way i can't not be excited to meet them as well. ALL the kids were running up to me to shake my hand, and the first class i taught had about 40 younger students outside the room, looking in thru the windows and door, taking pictures. ridiculously cute when they're so small. the kids are smart too...i'm always impressed with how well people here know english. it's definitely gonna be a major language spoken here in another 10 years.

now, my major accomplishment for the week...also yesterday was english class at the church, which usually only has 1 or 2 students if i'm lucky (the last 2 weeks there wasn't anyone), but i changed the time for the class, hoping it would allow more people time to get off work and still get to the class in time, plus i've given pass along cards with the info on it to EVERYONE i meet, and yesterday i had 4 students! and then i got home, and had one other guy call and say he'd come, but the door was locked (i have no idea what door he went to, but it obviously wasn't the right one....), so i should've had 5 students! hopefully this'll continue, and i'll build up the class here to have about 10 or 15 students. thats the number that i think is best, so they'll ask questions and can do more activities together. anywho...so ya, i was proud of that.

this week i've been reading Revelations....and the more i read, the more confused i get. but, it's amazing what our church has done to help us understand the scriptures better....footnotes are INCREDIBLY helpful. i also found D&C 77, which made the first few chapters a heck of a lot easier to understand than before. so, my thought for this week is how fortunate, how BLESSED are we to have a living prophet on the earth today? someone who can lead us in the right direction, and help us TRULY understand the Word of God...not with our own, human mind kinda way of thinking, but with the direction from above. joseph smith helped me A TON to better understand with his revelation in D&C 77, and i know that wasn't just given to TELL us what it meant, but to HELP us with the meaning. it also doesn't answer all the questions that you get reading from Revelations, but it helps you start in the right direction...and because of that, i've been led to better understand the rest of the book. i'm still not done, but i've enjoyed searching out the scriptures to find the meanings.

oh, btw, did i mention (no i did not...) that we got our first contact in a month last week? actually, i got 3, but HALLELUJAH! holy cow...mom, remember when you were talking about the different kinds of missionaries, and how every missionary is most likely each kind of missionary at one point or another of their mission? well....ya, i agree. last month was a hard month for me, and i dunno why, but it has taken me this long to really get outta it....hopefully it doesn't happen again. but i can definitely tell that a different atmosphere at our house is helping things. i just hope it continues!

anywho, thats it for me...we got an appointment later, and i still hafta do my college application, so i'll ttyl, and i love you all! have a great week, loves~

Sis Sara

akhirnya...‏

2010-10-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

well, it's certainly been a week! it started with us teaching Ibu Dina last week, and we read 2 Nephi 3 with her, and tried to help her recognize that the seer spoken of in there is Joseph Smith. She doesn't seem to have too hard of a time believing that the Book Of Mormon is scripture, but she still has a hard time with Joseph SMith. so we're trying to help her with that, and our goal when we meet this week is to find out ALL her concerns so we can help her overcome them...and basically to just make sure that she really is interested in the gospel. we passed by her warung (food stand...she makes THE BEST chicken) on tuesday, and so i ate, and then we offered to do the dishes (she won't let us pay), and she always fights us on it, but FINALLY she let us do them....and it was SUCH a personal victory for me! i know that if she can see that we WANT to serve her, we don't just want to come and eat her food and then be full of broken promises...but that we're sincere....oh, i just know if she can see and feel that, that she'll be able to feel Christ's love that comes thru this gospel! so one step down....hopefully we can help her with Joseph Smith now. she went to jakarta last weekend for a nephew's wedding, and i was totally bummed cuz i was hoping she'd stay and go to district conference, but she didn't. we'll see....

friday i got ANOTHER class at ENHAII to teach english to. the teacher who's coordinating everything is combining the other 2 classes (fridays no one comes cuz they all go home for the weekend) into one for fridays, and then after that i'll teach this other class that will be going away for their "training" in international hotels across the world. their english isn't as good as the younger kids i'm teaching, but hopefully we can see some improvement over the next few months.

saturday and sunday we were in jakarta, and man alive! i forgot how much i miss elders and bules! elders are nice to have around cuz they don't create too much drama and are just fun, and i miss REALLY talking to people in english. no need to translate or ask meanings of certain words....just talk, and let it all out. saturday night the choir sang, and they did so good! my piano skills weren't too shabby after 3 months of practicing the same 2 songs over and over again (altho i still messed up a few times, but nothing serious! :P). but i was shaking super bad. we had a lot of people come and tell us how good it was, and especially the bule members were impressed with "count your many blessings" where we did verses 1 &4 in indonesian, but 2&3 in english for them. i had a few tell me that it meant so much to hear a hymn in english sung by indonesians. so i was happy with it :) and yes, we looked TOTALLY awesome in our pink flower skirts and black shirts. i have pics i'll send eventually. it was so fun to see old friends, and catch up on everything! basically i just miss all the fun i had in jakarta, with missionaries coming in and out. but thats life. sis lie stayed at senopati, and is now in malang with the new american sister (she's a highland ram, dad, from sugarhouse....and DARN PROUD TO BE A RAM, in her own words :P haha i laughed. hopefully you get to meet her), and is pretty worried about them going there without knowing the area, the other's language, or anything. haha. sounds like us in jakarta, if you ask me.

tuesday we went to Prabowohadi's house again...and they are SOOO nice, but he was pretty straight forward (in a very indonesian/javanese way :P) that they weren't interested in learning more. as he was talking about how the mormon church seems to be just like the catholic church, i had the distinct feeling that i needed to share with them that our church may SEEM the same on the surface, but when you find out more about us, we're certainly not...and the one thing that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has to offer that no other church can even come close to offering is an ordinance that binds families together for eternity. then we got interrupted, which might've been best cuz the dad was getting a more and more defensive the more i talked, and so while he was getting his new aquarium situated in the front room, we talked to the mom about temples and marriage in the church, and then she asked about songs in our church, and i had just HAPPENED to think that i should bring my little mini hymn book in indo along with me for a different appointment, and so we were able to sit at her piano and sing the 2 songs that we sang at district conference....and then she was all impressed that i could read music, and i was all impressed cuz she plays by feeling, and so it all ended in smiles and all was well. but i'm not gonna lie...i'm pretty frustrated with this guy's little bro thats in america....first he didn't tell the family ANYTHING about his "new religion," and then he calls last week like i requested, but only to ask if we'd come by and then talk about how i live REALLY far from philadelphia, where he lives. ugh. it'd be SOOOOO much easier if he would testify himself, and ask his brother to learn, rather than putting all the weight on us missionaries. we can only do so much! but oh well....we might try again next month.

and thats as exciting as my week gets. sis simanjuntak left this afternoon for jakarta, and she'll be released next week....so right now it's just the 3 of us here in bandung, and sis mongan got a headache from us hiking yesterday, so we've been inside all day. hopefully this isn't my next week. sis hasibuan should be getting here sometime next week, i believe? me and jo'll still be together, while mongan and hasibuan get to figure out bandung together. we'll see how it all goes. yup. i'm still the only bule in bandung. i'm not gonna lie...it's pretty lonely, but i'll just appreciate other bules in my house that much more when i get transferred or someone comes here :)

what i've learned this week is how to repent. i realized that i criticize so many things that the other sisters do, but how much of the white handbook do i not follow? i actually read from the white handbook for my personal study on tuesday, and found A LOT of things in there that i'm not too great at following. so i have a lot progress before i'll become the type of missionary i want to become....but i'm working on it! one of those things was to call the other missionaries by their full name...as you can see, i'm still not perfect. but too lazy to read over this again and change all their names. plus my time is up. anywho...REPENT! become better every day! thats why we have days...so if we fail one day, we can sleep and then have the next day to succeed! i love you all, and have another great week! loves~

~Sister Sara

satu minggu lagi di firdaus :P

2010-10-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

well...haha, another week of highs and lows, and the work keeps pressing forward. things always start with the mornings...usually, if jo and i have good mornings where she gets up and studies and we have a plan for the day thats set, our day goes SOOOO good, and i'm always in a good mood. but those days where i end up doing my studying alone....i always have to work harder to be more patient, and not let satan get the best of me....and that's a glimpse into my life here in bandung :P
so sis christensen moved last wednesday, and i'm not gonna lie....i was scared to death about how things were going to be with me here alone, but it hasn't been too bad. the companionship hasn't changed at all, except they don't have chris to blame everything on....now it's on their own heads, fully. it's actually a lot better, actually...i guess now that i don't have a "friend" (haha) they notice when the 3 of them are having their own conversation, and they'll usually include me in somehow. so while conditions haven't really changed too much, at least they're taking more pity on me :P
ahhh! haha, i just looked at my planner and it reminded me about pak siregar last week....holy cow. he's SOOOO close to the truth, and yet SOOOOO far away! we discussed joseph smith for 3 HOURS!!! it was literally ridiculous, but he's my favorite investigator to discuss things with, cuz he has intellectual questions, and i get to learn from finding the answers; not to mention he's just fun to "discuss" things with, cuz i give him our beliefs, and then he says, "well that makes sense, but that's probably only because of this..." and then comes up with his own reasoning that DOENS'T make sense. like the 3 prophets mentioned in the New Testament in Acts...."well, they were obviously older than John the Baptist, and so they were prophets BEFORE him, but he was still the last NEW prophet before Christ was crucified." haha. seriously? he's just fun. and Joseph Smith is absolutely radical saying that ALL the churches were wrong....and how does he have the guts to say he saw God and Jesus Christ? yup....all fun questions that just make me happy to share the answers with him, and then a tiny bit frustrated when he just doesn't get it, especially because he's using his own reasoning instead of asking God directly (which we've told him i dunno HOW many times to do, not to mention reading the BofM....what is everyone's fear with a book? it's just a book! if you read it, it's not gonna kill you, especially if it really is the Word of God...which is most certainly is!). anywho...he's fun. mom and dad, i might let you meet him just for kicks when ya get here.
so this new English class i'm teaching 2 classes for at a university 2 times a week here is SOOOO fun. we did "news broadcasts" on monday, and they are seriously so hilarious and cute. i LOVE being able to really talk in english (with a nice campur...uh, mix of Indo in there as well). the best was when one of the kids said something about being tired, and i said, oh ya me too, and then he goes, "well let's just sleep together!" AAAAAAAAHAHHAHA i was almost on the floor crying! you have no idea....the culture is SOOO different from america, they're still so pure and that kinda stuff is NOT what usually goes on here, and so to this kid, that's just what he meant, you sleep and i sleep. but in the western world? haha, ya, so i told him to be REALLY careful and probably NEVER EVER say that to any bule he meets. but they're fun, and i'm getting new ideas to apply to the class to keep it fun and entertaining. hopefully it's working!
so we watched general conference this weekend, and WHEW! not gonna lie...the indo wasn't too difficult, but i still just don't get the full meaning outta the talks like i would if it was english. there were so many good talks it's hard to pick any one, but my fave line was elder oaks with his "texting is an addiction"...haha, ya i've used that the last few days with jo, and i've actually noticed her tone down a tiny bit with her texting...hopefully that keeps up. i also had all my questions answered that i had, so that always makes me happy and helps me move forward :)
so we followed up with Ibu Dina on the Plan of Salvation, and i dunno if we just taught it really bad or she just needed a week to digest it or what, but we basically gave the whole thing again... but this time she participated a lot more, and had questions and testimonies and all sorts of input on it, which was really cool. the hardest thing for her right now is that her family is Muslim... pak budi is her only child, plus all her grandkids, so she's scared they're not going to be saved, cuz they don't believe in Christ. she loves them so much, and i have a strong feeling that she likes meeting with us cuz it gives them a chance to see Christianity....better than them only seeing her go to and from church every sunday. i seriously love her so much, and i know she'd be such a strong member of the church, her faith is SOOO strong. but we also have to help the others, and their interest seems to be ever decreasing....so i dunno. i'm praying to know what to do...hopefully that inspiration will come.
as far as things go here, i'm doing TONS of service, but it's all in the middle of the day, so it's hard to get to appointments cuz they're far from the places i'm doing english and basketball at... but our potential investigator list is also decreasing. i dunno if i'm just becoming less and less effective here at contacting or what, but i haven't gotten much these last few weeks. i dunno, but i definitely see now the blessings that Heavenly Father gave us when we first got here, with absolutely NOTHING to start. but i'm also happy with this service, cuz it's fun and hopefully it'll help those we're serving want to learn...if not now, then at least in the future.
i know that this work is important, and that was confirmed by President Monson's call in the saturday morning session to every worthy member of the church to serve a mission. his testimony strengthened my own testimony that this is God's work, but he needs our help....we hafta be willing to do our part. i read a great talk by elder eyring in the january 2009 liahona about our role is sharing the gospel...absolutely inspirational! i just wish i could do more here in bandung....but so many factors apply with that. so i'm learning to be patient, and just pray that Heavenly Father will remember the intents of my heart later. but He will, cuz He's perfect like that.
anywho, i love you all so much, thanks again for the support, love, and prayers, you're all the best and i hope you have a great week!

~Sister Sara

pictures...

2010-10-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

"Yach-Holding a leopard that's real, and alive, and heavy, and growled at me--but was prob too high on drugs to attach me :) ....hopefully...."

"This is possibly as close to Bali as I'll get for a few years :) Taman Mini June '10"

"Me with the "pioneer mothers" of Indonesia--aren't they beautiful?!"

"My new friend Ramah--cute, eh?"

biasa aja....

2010-10-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

well, this week was alright...last week we headed up to jakarta for zone conference, which was GREAT. thanks mom and kel for the packages! the shirts all fit mom, and the hewlett shirt is totally awesome, what's it from? there wasn't a reunion this year, was there? i basically had to say goodbye to sis and elder millecam, since they're going home on the 19th, but hopefully i'll get to see them for a few minutes tomorrow while they're in town for a closing ceremony with one of their projects. i'm really gonna miss them....they've literally been my fill-in parents while i've been here. mom, i dunno if they're gonna have a homecoming or not (elder millecam said they weren't, but i never know with him...) but you can email and find out, but if not the next time you're in roosevelt visiting grandma, you HAVE to meet them. they'll be friends for the rest of my life.
there were 11 missionaries that gave their farewell testimonies at zone conference on thursday....crazy. literally about 1/4 of the mission goes home this month, and there are only a few new missionaries coming, so we'll see how things go with that. us sisters are changing, with 2 going home next week, then 2 more at the end of the month, then there's a new sister coming from provo today. sister chris is going to jakarta today, and she'll spend her last week there. so i'll be the only bule here in bandung with the indos.... :) and that's all i'm gonna say about that.
pres and sis groberg really focused their talks on obedience. they reminded me of a few rules i'm not so good at keeping (carter, i have a hard time not holding little kids too!), and hit on a lot of other problems going on at our house. i said something to sis christensen about how inspired pres groberg must be to hit on them all, and she just said, he's not so inspired as much as he gets told by others whats going on, and so he KNOWS whats going on. but i still think he's inspired.
last week i had a guy call from a university wanting us to come teach english there for about 20 students....so sis chris and i went last week, and it's gonna be a REALLY fun class. they're all students in school to work at hotels (i didn't know you had to go to school for that....), and most of their english is pretty good...so we can actually have fun learning english, not just learn words and repeat them over and over again, like we do with the class at the church. BUT, my time is REALLY gonna be taken up now with english class since i'll be the only bule here...we agreed to teach 2x a week at this college (which i REALLY think we'll get at least 2 or 3 investigators from!), plus once a week at the church, and then i have bball once a week too. so we'll see how things go. i'm just scared of doing too much service, and not having enough time to teach! we'll try it out this week, and then re evaluate if we need to.
i just got an official date for the halloween party from pres santoso, and its gonna be on nov 13....HOPEFULLY i'm still here, haha. if not, oh well....whoever takes my place will hafta head it up. i'm thinking that when siman goes home, another bule will transfer here from jakarta, and then it'll be easier to divide things. we'll see!
this week we taught the plan of salvation to ibu dina....pak budi didn't join in this week. we'll keep trying to help him, but it's hard when one week he's interested but the next he's not. i know ibu dina sure worries about him...she asked us again this week to "help save my son!" i dunno how much of the Plan of Salvation made sense to her...she was pretty quiet the whole time, but this week when we follow up, and hopefully after she's read her HW, she'll be more comfortable with it. she's such a sweetheart, my next goal is to get her to come to church with pak budi....it's really far from their house, and especially if she goes in the angkot, but if pak budi can take her on the motorcycle, it's less than half the time....so i'm gonna work on getting pak budi to come! i know if he'll agree to come, ibu dina will be right there as well. pray for us!
tonight we're going to meet with pak siregar, the preacher...haha, i'm excited. i always love meeting with him, cuz he has GREAT questions that are SOOO easy for us to answer with the BofM and revelation given to us from our latter day prophets. but i just need to help him understand that there ARE prophets after Christ so he'll give Joseph Smith the time of day. we'll see. i know Jo doesn't enjoy us meeting with him too much (she knows he's wrong, but she rarely knows how to answer him cuz he speaks so harshly....she hates batak people, from medan, cuz they are really harsh and hard headed people, but the bataks are my favorite cuz they HAVE QUESTIONS!), but i think even if he doesn't go anywhere, maybe we can help some of his students at that school want to learn more. today may be the last time we meet, but hopefully not.
well, there's not too much else to talk about. i've been learning a lot this week about humbling myself, allowing Heavenly Father to shape me into the person he needs me to be....i always get caught up in this thought of, 'i'm already doing all that i can, there's nothing more i can do,' but then Heavenly Father always wakes me up and shows me where my weaknesses are....and that has happened a few times these last few weeks, so i'm REALLY trying to just do the best that i can do, and especially being more patient and HUMBLE. hopefully it'll become a new characteristic for me....cuz i feel like here i can be patient and humble for a week or two, but then i get fed up, and blow up, and nothing good ever comes from that. so i'll keep working on my patience and humility, and you all can look back at yourselves as well, and see what characteristics of Christ you're missing in your life at this time. i love you all, thanks for all the prayers and support, you're the best! Loves~

~Sister Sara

Minggu yg lebih baik

2010-09-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

This week has been a little tougher on the investigator side of things. we're trying to figure out which of our investigators are the most effective/interested, but it's difficult to know. we met with pak johan on saturday, though, and we officially put him in the "simpan" or in other words, wait a few weeks and see what he thinks after he reads the BofM....he hadn't read it at all since the last time we'd met 2 weeks before cuz he's reading a world religions book that he has to return this week. AND he hates religions that think they're the best, and refuses to go to any church....which, ya, isn't exactly the best foundation for us to build on with Joseph Smith restoring God's one and only church to the earth again. but i still think he's cool.
Pak Budi and Ibu Dina read the BofM!!!!! they read Alma 32, and absolutely loved it, and we had a really good conversation about faith, and being humble, and especially grateful for all the blessings that God's given us. Budi prayed, but not every day...so our challenge for him this week is to pray every day, and we're texting him every day to remind him. it's definitely little steps with this family, but i can already see a huge difference since when we first got there. i feel like every time we show up, they all have the weight of the world on their shoulders, but by the time we leave, they seem so much happier and ready to take on the world....it's amazing to see that kind of a change, and know that you really are helping someone. hopefully they feel that as well.
a guy called our cell phone yesterday to see if i'd teach an english class on fridays for about 20-30 people at a university about 30 minutes away...which i'm excited about. i seriously can't teach english, but i'll do my best....but this is gonna be an awesome place to get referrals, that i'm sure of. the english class at the church is really not doing good....last week there wasn't anybody that showed up, and this week there was only one.....so hopefully with this english class, we can get more to come to the other one.
basketball is a little on the awkward side right now....the coach wanted me to actually PLAY for the team, and was going to go through all the holes to get me permission (and who knows how much money that would've cost), and so when i told him that i couldn't play competitively, i could only help coach if it was for real games, he wasn't very happy about it.....so there we go again. i feel like if i give anything, people always just expect more and don't understand WHY i can't give more. so then they're offended or sad, or whatever ya wanna call it, and things just get awkward. hopefully this doesn't last too long tho.
this week as i've been studying the talk that you sent mom, along with other things i've been reading, i've been noticing how much everyone talks about the House of Israel, and decided to answer those questions she asks, but with my patriarchal blessing instead of the entire BofM. amazing the things that are in there. it really does help to see the importance of the House of Israel, even though i know i still don't understand the importance of it as much as i need to. but i figure thats something that's more in depth, and i can study it more when i get home. but, as i was reading my Patriarchal Blessing, i thought about how it really has shaped my life in the last 7 years. it's been so important in helping me know what to do with this big decisions that i'm making at this time in my life. even with things just like exercising....usually, i start exercising again cuz i've read my patriarchal blessing. so...spiritual thought for the week is get your patriarchal blessing, cuz you have no idea how much it's going to help you in your every day life, and especially with those big decisions that come along. i have a firm testimony just from my PB that Heavenly Father knows and loves me, and i know anyone who reads theirs will be able to feel those same feelings. what a blessing it is to have the knowledge that we have about this restored gospel, and what direction that gives to us!
oh, so funny story real quick...last friday i was doing my laundry, and the dryer was acting all funky, so i had sis lie come and help me figure it out...and as she was fixing the thing, i felt something on my foot, and looked down to see a rat running across my feet!!!!! AHHHHH gross! yes, i immediately screamed, freaked out, ran to the kitchen, continued freaking out, and then washed my feet with soap and water to try and clean the dirty rascal's germs off me. all the while, sis lie and jo had no idea what had happened, and kept asking me what happened, but i was too busy freaking out....so when i finally could control myself enough to talk and told them, they laughed for the next 1/2 hr straight....i think cuz it's not in my nature at all to act like that, and they'd never seen me like that, so it really surprised them. haha. i thought it was hilarious tho.
anywho, that's my week in a nutshell....i love you all so much, and pray things are going well! i think it sounds like from all of our emails we're all missing each other quite a bit....which means we all need to refocus a bit, and work even harder so this precious time we have apart will be all the sweeter when we get back together. i love you all so much, and have a good week! loves~

~Sister Sara

Sedang nanggis...‏

2010-09-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

this week was ok...last week we met with the preacher Pak Siregar, and had a lovely discussion that started with Joseph Smith, and evolved into how prophets were only before Christ, and after Him there's only apostles, and how the Bible says that John the Baptist is the last prophet....it was quite enjoyable. haha. altho at the time i didn't have an answer for why there are only apostles mentioned after Christ, i now know that there are several instances in Acts especially where prophets are mentioned, and for the first time realized the true meaning of an apostle as a "witness that Christ lives" - ya, g'der there's no apostles before Christ cuz he hadn't been born or resurrected yet. and no...there is no verse in the bible anywhere that says John is the last prophet. and yes, i gave him Mormon 9:7-15 as his homework. we were supposed to meet yesterday, but when we went there, he'd just left for some service thing that had just come up, so we met with his wife instead...poor thing has so many problems right now, and she just spilled a whole bunch of them out to us. BUT, she always hears answers to her problems spoken of thru the Bible from her husband, so she wasn't too excited to hear any of our scriptures, but we tried. i had us all pray kneeling together, so maybe that'll help...we'll see.

sunday was awesome...basically, we showed up to Ibu Dina's house, only to find that she had a reception to go to, and they'd tried calling earlier, but we were at church...so while ibu dina and her 2 granddaughters went to the reception, we stayed and talked to Pak Budi...and sis bajodo was totally key in with the spirit, and read a scripture about prayer, which then opened Budi up to explain why he doesn't pray anymore, and we tried to help him see the blessings that START when we pray, and hopefully we helped him. i gave him Alma 32 as his HW, and when i checked up on him yesterday, he'd already read it (which is HUGE), so next week i'm hoping to hear his thoughts and feelings on faith as well as prayer.

the choir sounded awesome on Sunday! i think pres santoso asked a few members to join, cuz we had a 5 more people there than usual, and they made a HUGE difference...the quality and unity exploded, and the notes are FINALLY starting to be where they're supposed to be. Heavenly Father has answered a whole lot of prayers of mine (and i'm sure others) for that to happen.

monday we met with a referral from Temple Square, and she was pretty cool...she's muslim, and basically just wants to know what sets us apart from other churches, even though she doesn't know too much about other churches...but she said all she knows about Mormons are that she's rarely met a Mormon who wasn't a good person, and that the Osmonds were mormons (she said Marie Osmond's kid committed suicide? kasihan sekali...). she went to english class at the church for 3 years while she was in high school over 30 years ago, and when she visited her friend in bountiful in july, her interest in why we "think we're the best" of all churches came up again...so we'll see if we can meet again, and i was thinking sharing the Plan of Salvation with her. she's single, and not too prone to families...but if the Spirit touches, He'll do miracles.

i don't have much else to say....we have zone conference next week, and i'm BEYOND excited to meet with other missionaries, especially bules. a nice, normal conversation in english would be greatly appreciated really soon. anyways...thanks for all the support and love, i miss and love you all~
~Sister Sara

Satu minggu lagi di firdaus‏

2010-09-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

and another week comes and goes :) so Lebaran was great...apparently it's where you go to somebody's house and eat and talk all day. there were other people who brought food over, so i think it's a bit like Christmas, but without the presents. it was fun tho, we went to Sis anas's house, and i found out that 3 people who i thought were all separate families are actually the same family...2 sisters (with a different dad....ya no wonder i didn't know!) and their mom. haha. i felt really retarded after i looked at the photo album, but it was also funny...haha. the food was good, and in bandung especially ive been trying to get a little more used to the spices they use here...and slowly but surely, it's working. i doubt i'll come home a "spicy food lover," but at least i'll be able to eat spices without feeling like my tongue is gonna fall off.

saturday we went to an inactive 10-yr-olds house...whose parents are both non-members. when i heard about san-san, i was surprised to hear someone would let their child get baptized into a church without being a member first, and i'm still really surprised by it,but it's kinda cool. apparently the whole family was learning about the church about 2 years back, and they loved everything the missionaries taught...but they don't "cocok" with the members here (don't fit well...), so when the missionaries asked if San2 wanted to be baptized and he said yes, they were ok with it (the dad told us he still likes to read the BofM, and was happy to get the new improved edition). but after he got baptized, they got sick of the members and it's been a good...year maybe since they've been to church. and they live far, so there's no way san2 can come by himself, so i guess the missionaries go to stay in contact and help san2 remember what he learned with the missionaries before. the parents are really nice, but the dad is batak,and if they like something, they like it, if not....ya, they don't, and that won't change. so we'll see. but interesting story...

sunday we didn't meet with Ibu Dina cuz apparently where she lives is the center point for all the towns around bandung, and one of the members didn't get home until 4 hours after church (usually only 1 hour) because of traffic in that area. so we called and said we'd try for next week. mom, i've been waiting to find someone good to give this testimony from Wes Ridd to, and i'm gonna give it to Ibu Dina this week...and i wanna send a pic, but when they sent the letter they didn't write the return address, so please send me julie's address? thanks! last week we went to help at her warung, and i felt so bad...we got there at noon, but apparently the busy time is in the morning, and so ibu dina had been there by herself all day, and by the time we got there pak budi was coming to switch her...so we washed a few dishes and helped with the one guy that came,but that was it. i just can't wait to meet again this week...she's such a cool lady.

the choir is...coming...along...haha. nah, they're good, but with so few people, and especially inexperienced people, it's a little hard. but we'll keep trying, and hopefully it'll be ready in a month and a half.

sis groberg called this morning (i love the groberg's....they're so awesome, and especially sis groberg is SOOO involved, it's nice to have her if we need anything), and we talked about a few different things going on here in bandung with the work, and i mentioned to her that i wanted to put together a halloween party, and we talked about a few different ideas, and i think i'm gonna go for it. but mom, i need ideas! for food, for games, for everything. i wanna make this something that EVERYONE can come to, and not feel pressured at all with religion. we can invite all our investigators, and the members can invite all their friends to come. just fun and games and food. so now i just gotta get jo excited about it,and we'll be set :) the ideas i have for games are donut eating contest, cake walk, apple dunking, beanbag toss, and a big cardboard picture thing (frankenstein, dracula, etc) where people can put their heads and we can take pictures. we certainly can't do everything, but i'd like to get the best ideas and run with them. it could be really fun!

anywho...that's about my week. we really haven't done a whole lot this week, with rain and stuff, so i just keep plugging along :) thought for this week is... Does God change? ever? no, he's the same. ALWAYS AND FOREVER. and i found the best answer for that question in Mormon 9:7-15. its so true....he is the same, and anyone who preaches differently DOESN'T understand the scriptures. so read the scriptures and figure out for yourself if God changes, or if this truly is the restored gospel brought to this earth again... for the last time, nonetheless. just some food for thought :)

and thats that....thanks for all the support and love and prayers and everything else! i love you all and pray for you. hopefully all is well, and everyone is enjoying the fall time. i am :) it's just like fall here with the rain, and i wear jackets and sweats whenever i'm home :) i love sweats....anywho....loves~

~Sister Sara

Minggu dari neraka....

2010-09-09T00:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been quite a week! last week, i emailed late, but we had some really good lessons friday and saturday that i told you about last week. Ricky was supposed to meet us at 4, but after telling us about 3 different places to meet him at, we finally met, and then he led us to his "bible school" to meet his professor, who wanted to meet with us and find out about the devil worshipping mormons... haha. so ya, that was fun. but it was actually really cool. there were 2 preachers, and then the room was PACKED with young adults around my age (they had a service activity that they were meeting together for), and the 2 preachers (the professor was one of them) questioned each other the whole time about our beliefs, and discussed what they thought....while sister bajodo and i just sat there, waiting for a chance to tell them EXACTLY what they wanted to know. it really was crazy. THEN, they finally gave us a few minutes to explain the BofM a bit, but then they had 20 more questions, so then we were silent again as they discussed, and THEN the other preacher had the nerve to tell us that if we came to this school to help them better understand the BofM, we should've prepared ourselves better, with good explanations and scriptures ready to show them. haha. jo was just silent, but i wasn't gonna let him talk to us like that....so i said, and i quote, "excuse me, i mean this with all respect, but you haven't given us an opportunity to explain ANYTHING, and anything we've tried to explain, you interrupt in the middle with 5 MORE questions! we can only answer one question at a time, and we're willing to do that, but you need to give us the time to do so." i wanted to say more, but i stopped there, and the guy asked us 5 questions about our religion (do you believe Christ is the Savior of the world, and that there is not other way whereby man can return to God?....questions like that), and after we answered yes to them all, he said, well that's good enough for me. they're just like us, and i don't see how they're devil worshippors if thats what they believe. and after that he stopped listening. however, the professor/preacher guy wanted more questions answered, and things were a lot smoother after....but we still didn't get too far cuz he had a lot of questions....so ya, he still doesn't know about Joseph smith, just the BofM. maybe next week?

the other appointment was good, but the guy is non-denominational cuz he doesn't like all the churches thinking they're the best or the true church (i definitely had a thought of "oh crap" when he said that, cuz that's basically what i'm doing....but in a very respectful, loving way :). but he loved the BofM, had already read up to first nephi (he'd read all the witnesses and intro and joseph smith's vision with moroni), and he was excited to read the rest of it. i'm not quite sure if he's serious about finding out if it's all from God, but he's definitely interested. his wife was really cool, too, so hopefully.... we'll see.

anyways, there really isn't much else to write about...this week is crazy because it's Lebaran tomorrow, so EVERYONE goes home to their native town/city to celebrate with their family, and bandung is CLOSED DOWN. it's difficult to get appointments cuz no one is around, and then from what i hear, starting tomorrow it's also gonna be hard to go anywhere, cuz no one is out and about. tomorrow is lebaran, and apparently it's something where you gather together with your friends/family/neighbors, and then just go from house to house eating food and talking and stuff. i'm still really confused, but i'll have more info next week. all i know is that there's gonna be lots of food, and a lot of it is SWEETS, so i'm happy :) and willing to eat and enjoy myself :) so,

anywho...i hope you all had a good labor day weekend, and also hope you have a good lebaran weekend, even tho it's normal for you :) i love you and hope alls well wherever you are and whatever you're doing! loves~

~Sister Sara

ps my spiritual thought for this week is that selfishness REALLY DOES NOT COME FROM CHRIST!!! so don't be selfish. serve those you hate, and you'll learn to love them, and they'll learn to love you. even tho it's not easy. amen.

pps crap i almost forgot!!! so funny story for the week...today we were int he angkot, and we passed a guy who had his bare butt showing...sis jo said he was prob crazy, but i avoided seeing anything after we passed him. haha. i love indo :)

ppss oh and dad, guess what!?!?! there's a lady here from finland who came to church on sunday! her son lives here, and she's here visiting him, but she just joined the church 1 1/2 years ago, so she's the only one from her family,but we wanna meet with the family she's staying with cuz the daughter in law is indo and muslim, but says she's always had a thing for christianity...she just can't join cuzo f her family. but if they move backto finland, i think she'd be ok. so we'll see. her name is Iria Alma Sivia Tammilahti, and her son's name is juhani komulainen....i have a feeling you can say those names a lot better than me. i tried translating for her in church, but her english isn't very church based, and she can talk a lot more than she can understand...so it wasn't very easy. but she's cool. nina rakastan sinua! is that true? haha hopefully...it's supposed to be i love you ...if you have anything you want me to tell or ask her, she's here for 3 more sundays. loves!

Minggu yg baik :)

2010-09-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

sorry this is late...i'm ok, we just ran outta time wednesday and thursday, so this is the first opportunity i've had to get on a computer. well, it's been a good week, and i've done a lot of reflecting and praying, and it seems like Heavenly Father is setting me in the direction i need to go. i LOVE being a missionary!

we met with ibu dina and her family, and they're good but didn't read from the BofM, which we were totally bummed about, but sis bajodo had good scriptures from the bible and bofm that we read and then encouraged them again to read. before we said the closing prayer, however, ibu dina informed us that they're short on money for their house contract, and they need money by this sunday...so we agreed to pray for them, and will fast for them on saturday. my biggest fear with problems like this that arise is them hoping that i'll give them the money they need.....and it breaks my heart to not be able to! but i also have a strong testimony that by giving money to people, i'm really NOT helping them, so i've never done it...but this is the first time i've been truly tempted to. they are such a humble but happy family....i already told jo if they ask, she has to take over, because i dunno that i'll be able to say no. i called pak budi this morning to see how the search for money was going, but he said they were still searching....so we'll see what happens. i REALLY am praying they get the money before sunday when we go there tho...i don't want to offend them or think i don't care...i just can't.

anywho...onto brighter things. so we haven't had an appointment since sunday cuz all the appointments have fallen thru...BUT, we got some good contacts, and i'm SUPER excited about those. we also got rejected by a lady who "already has a church and is perfectly happy with it," whose daughter we met last week...who followed us for about 1 mile before we knew she was behind us. anywho, after her mom rejected us (pretty publicly, actually....), she came and walked out with us, and kept apologizing for her mom judging us (so this girl is like 10 or 11, and i guess someone told her our church was devil worshippers or something...), and she kept going on and on, hoping we weren't offended....i felt so bad for her. but she also kept saying "i know you're good, i know you're not like that, cuz i've met you and i know!" coming from a 10 yr old, i thought that was pretty cool. hopefully when she's a little older, she'll be able to meet with missionaries and know what our church REALLY believes.

so 2 experiences that have been cool while contacting was on sunday night coming home from ibu dina's, a couple got in the angkot and we started talking to them. when we found out they were a theology university, i instantly had a feeling that we HAD to explain the BofM....so i went for it, and they were SO interested! we're actually going to meet with them today, so i'm excited to see how things go. hopefully we're clear enough. i'm always afraid i give too much information when i teach....the simpler the better. but they're really cool. we'll see what happens.

the other contact happened yesterday...we were on the angkot going to bball practice, and i wanted to talk to the guy on my right...but i literally couldn't. no matter what i tried to do to get the words out, nothing would come. i had a few thoughts about other people in the angkot, and how i should know WHO to talk to....but i kept trying to get words outta my mouth with this one guy, but i just couldn't do it. finally, i looked at the book the guy on my left was reading, and i thought i saw the word "prayer." so then i started trying to look even closer, and sure enough it was a christian book....so then i started up a conversation with him (ya, words were FINALLY able to come out), and found out that this guy is non-dominational, but he LOVES to read christian books. when i asked him if he'd ever read the BofM, he said he'd read about mormons in a book, and that he'd actually stayed in a hotel somewhere where they'd had a BofM, so he asked if he could have one, but then never received it. so i pulled out my extra copy, and we explained a little bit, and i'm hoping we can meet this week before he heads to jakarta for lebaran (oh, so btw, it's ramadhan right now, which is the muslim month of fasting, so during the day it's SOOO hard to find food, and it's rude to eat out in public, so we hafta basically hide everytime we wanna eat....crazy, but still totally cool to experience for myself. but once 6 pm hits, the streets are CRAZY filled with HUNGRY people) next week. he was a really sweet guy, and i'm SOOO grateful for the holy ghost stopping me from talking to someone who prob wouldn't have gone anywhere, and leading me to Johan.

and that's what i've really been appreciating this week....the way the holy ghost works thru me. i feel like after a year on the mission, i should know how to follow the Holy ghost better...but i still feel inadequate, and have a hard time disifering (i know that's spelled wrong, but i dunno the right way...) between if what i'm feeling in a lesson is from the holy ghost or myself. so i'm trying to get better and knowing, and those 2 contacts REALLY helped me feel like i AM following the spirit...i just need to be more aware of when he's talking to me, and have the courage to follow those promptings.

things are good. i LOVE sis bajodo. she's nice to have around, cuz she's funny, easygoing, and willing to do whatever we have to for this work. i feel really lucky to have her for a comp. she's also a good partner when my mind goes blank, she's already got a scripture or testimony to explain what needs to be explained. i'm really enjoying bandung, and i think that's mostly because of her.

OOOOH so we're starting practice for the choir for district conference in october, and guess what ? i'm playing the piano, leading the music, and basically organizing the whole thing. holy cow....i've never done even ONE of those things, much less all at once! but the problem is that no one else is willing to help out....they just look at me and expect me to lead....so i do. we have me playing on the electric piano, so i can be in front of them all while they sing, and can hear who needs work. then i'll go to the piano with that group, we'll practice, and then go back to the group. it's exhausting, but i'm grateful for all the times i've been involved in choir so this isn't TOOO new for me to help out with. we're doing count your blessings in indo, and teach me to walk in the light of his love in english. haha. yes, the english was my idea, and the branch pres LOVED it. so that's what we're doing, and i'm excited to see how things go! it's a REALLY small choir (10-15 people), but that'll hopefully only make it better :)

ok, well my time is running low...thanks os much for all your prayers and support! seriously...i'm the luckiest missionary in the world (except maybe carter ties with me :P) to have the kind of support i do. i pray things are going well at home...know i love you! loves~

~Sister Sara

terbakar....dan sakit sekali.

2010-08-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

ok, so this computer is a little slow, and won't bring up all the
email addresses of people i usually send this to, so this is only
going to the 2 that i have memorized.... mom & dad and kel...please
forward to everyone else who i usually send it to. thanks!
this week was slow, but sunday was awesome! i'm not going to
lie...without teaching every day, i'm having a hard time keeping my
spirits really up in the "missionary mode" like they need to be. it's
a lot easier to feel hopeless, and like no one wants to listen to you
here in bandung than i ever experienced in jakarta. but all of these
experiences i know are for my benefit, and mostly to see how i'll
react to them...hopefully i'm reacting the way God wants :)
last week we were rejected by 2 contacts we had...1 referral and one
that we'd met ourselves (the daughter came out and told us that the
family had already found Christ, so they didn't need us). not gonna
lie....we don't get much of that directness from indonesians usually,
so we tried to laugh about it, and just move on...but both times, we
weren't as effective contacting people afterwards. lol...i'm used to
the cold shoulder or not answering the phone when people reject us. oh
well. haha, i guess that's me getting the door slammed in my face the
Indonesian way, ya? haha.
anyways, so sunday was totally awesome, and made me feel SOOO much
better about myself. we visited Ibu Dina and her family, who took care
of me while i was sick a few weeks ago, and it seriously was amazing
how things happened so that they got the message that they needed. ibu
dina is christian, but her son, Budi, switched to islam when he got
married. BUT he's never grasped onto islam cuz he really doesn't
believe it, but his wife and kids are very active. as we started the
plan of salvation (i figured it was a better topic cuz of the muslim
influence in the home), i used a scripture from the BofM, so then i
had to explain about the BofM, and both ibu dina and pak budi's
attention went right to that...and we switched to the restoration
discussion. ibu dina is a sweetheart, and i think would believe
anything and everything we'd say, but pak budi was the most
interesting for me to watch because he understood EVERYTHING we talked
about, and commented on almost all of it...the need for a prophet
today, the need for the BofM as proof that Joseph Smith was called of
God, etc....seriously, soooo cool! and then he was the first one to
agree to pray about Joseph Smith and the BofM that night. as she
walked us out to the angkot, ibu dina explained a bit about pak
budi...apparently his wife (who actually sat in on most of the lesson,
but didn't comment) doesn't mind if he becomes christian again...just
as long as he has some sort of religion that he's active in, and ibu
dina said she's prayed for years that he'd find Christ again, and told
me that maybe this is a church that can interest him in searching
again. man alive....I WANT HIM TO SO BAD! this family really is
incredible....SOOO good, and quick to give everything they have, while
maybe what they have isn't a ton. we're going back this sunday, and
i'm REALLY hoping they've read the BofM and prayed!
we finally met with Ibu Tugina on monday, and she was really quiet
again...like the kind of quiet where i almost feel like she doesn't
want us there, but after we read a chapter out of the BofM together
(which i really think she enjoyed...), we had a good conversation
about her daughter who is Muslim now because of the guy she married,
and how she prays every day that her daughter will find Christ again.
i'm really finding here in Indonesia, the christians and muslims have
such a fear of their family switching religions...which is why most of
them are so strong in whatever religion they are. but ibu Tugina
opened up a lot more towards the end, and invited us back next
week...so hopefully she keeps on warming up to us and we can help her
build her faith and find Christ thru the BofM.
yesterday we had a fireside, or family night, at the church, and it
was PACKED! it was so awesome to see people come who don't normally
show up, and Pres santoso gave an interesting lesson on music...and
singing 'benar"...how to say that in english....singing with real
intent, maybe? not just saying the words, but FEELING the words. it
was something i'd never really thought too much about, but it was
really good, and today when we sang before comp study and weekly
planning, i tried to apply that, and it's interesting how much more
the words mean to you when you actually THINK about what you're
singing. and that's my food for thought for this week :)
well, that's about all the happenings this week...i love you all, and
thank Heavenly Father for the support he's given me back home. i've
been blessed more than i deserve, thats for sure. have a good week,
loves!
~Sister Sara

Sara...

2010-08-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

lol, mom, you are SUCH a worry wart, i love it! yes, i admit....i felt like i wanted to die this last week, but hopefully it's on the rise now. here's the story so you can know that Heavenly Father was looking out for me the whole time....

last saturday i played bball with some college girls, but after i was really exhausted...because i figured my body wasn't used to that much of a workout, since it'd been over a year since i'd played (last june was when i tore my pcl...), but sunday i was REALLY sore. but church was fine, i lasted thru the whole thing without too many complaints, but after church i started to get the chills, so i borrowed someone's coat. but we also had an appointment that was really far that afternoon, so jo and i came home, i grabbed an apple and jacket, and we headed off. and about 20 minutes into the ride, i started to get a headache. and by the time we got to the place, i wasn't cold anymore...i was REALLY hot, and had hardly any energy. jo wanted to home, but i said we were already there, and the poor lady was waiting for us, so we found her house....she got me some warm water, and then she invited me to go lay down on her bed. and from that point on, ibu Dina and her family took care of me....they made a huge meal while i slept, then forced a ton of it down my throat (i eventually just gave the rest of it to jo....i couldn't eat anything else!), and then we waited for a taxi to come pick us up...which never came. then ibu dina's son went and found a becak for us, and so after about 3 hours of being pampered in this poor family's home (i just blabbed on and on, trying to be sociable, but really just tried to get jo more involved in the convo so i could just sit there...but the family was too interested in america), we got hauled by becak to the angkot, which is not a very fun way to travel when you have absolutely no energy,but jo rubbed my back, and we FINALLY made it home....and i just crashed. sis lie had a cold cloth to keep my fever down, and that worked...the next day i didn't have any fever, just a super bad headache, and by tuesday i was just exhausted. and sis chris thinks she has the same thing, so this last week it's been me and chris in the house, wanting to die, while the other 2 go out and do whatever it is they do. friday we went to the hospital to check my platelet count, and i was hoping it'd be an "in n out" visit, but they said my platelets weren't enough, so i had to stay in the hospital until today.
mom, they #'s were 36 friday, 33 saturday, and 45 sunday. i dunno what it is right now,but obviously good enough to come home. and basically this week is going to be a recovery week....so i'm still not sure how much work i'll be able to get done. ugh. but to describe how dengay fever feels like....pres said it's something like getting hit by a train a few times, i thought that was pretty well descriptive. my back hurt quite a bit until just recently... i really just don't have hardly any energy, and right now is possibly the most i've felt since last sunday. my legs were a little red, b ut even thats starting to go away. i have certainly lost weight (NOTHING sounded good....i still get sick everytime i see rice, which is SOOO weird for me), but that'll come back in no time, i'm sure. i lost 5 kilos, which is about 10 lbs. yes, i am feeling better, please don't worry about me anymore! i'm on the mend, and i'll be back to work in a week.
thanks for all who have been praying for me...it means so much to me! i know Heavenly Father has been looking out for me this whole last week, and i know a lot of that has to do with your prayers. now pray for mom to relax and not worry too much about me :P hha, i love you, and thanks again, until wednesday....

~Sister Sara

ps funny story....the other day for comp study we were reading about the spirit world from PmyG, and man alive.....every little thing that that talked about, i kept thinking, "man, that sounds SOOO much better than what i'm feeling right now!" but don't worry.....i never saw any lights, and i especially didn't follow them! i'm here to stay! heck....i only have 6 1/2 months left! :P love you all!

capek, tapi masih hidup!

2010-08-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

well, it's only been 2 days, so there isn't too much to say..but i'll say what's happened. i'm not really allowed to go out and proselyte until the 20th, so we'll be keeping it easy in the house for the next few days. then HOPEFULLY i'll be able to get out and work again....holy cow i'm so sick of that house. yesterday was the indo independence day, and the branch had an activity with lot's of games and contests....i played :) haha. and i won 2nd place in a cruple eating contest (i'm still confused by how that happened...i haven't eaten a full meal in almost 2 weeks). but man, they had some REALLY interesting races....one was where they tied a pencil with a string to the backside of the participant, and then the person had to run to a bottle and try to get the pencil inside the bottle...it was HILARIOUS, and like the person was trying to take a poop or something. haha. indo humor is really funny sometimes.
it was a fun time, but i was exhausted, so we went home and i tried to sleep for a bit while lie showered (it was her bday yesterday, and before we left, one of the members poured flour on her head....lol, she wasn't very happy, but i thought it was a very nice gray color :), then we went out to eat to celebrate lie's bday. after that i was REALLY exhausted, and came home and went to bed.
so this week there have been quite a few new things....sis simanjuntak is on her way here as i type, and will join chris and lie. i'm still not sure how that's gonna work in our little house, but it'll work and hopefully all will be well. pres told me this while he was finding out about how i was doing in the hospital, so when we called to tell lie, she didn't believe us until she called the office. haha. funny.
dad, to answer your questions about bandung....it's like the park city of jakarta...everyone comes here to enjoy the cool mountain air. and it really does feel REALLY good here. it's the shopping center if you want anything, and it's huge. well, by indonesian standards its pretty normal, but to me it's huge. if you look at a map of java, find jakarta, then go to the south, and you'll find bandung. it's the farthest place from jakarta in jawa barat (west java) district, the rest of the branches are fairly close to jakarta. it's a small branch here cuz everyone gets offended easily and refuses to come to church. i'm still very confused here.
ok, well my time is up and i still hafta find carter's address....i love you all very much, and thanks again for all the prayers! you are the support that is my rock while i'm here, and i love each of you so much! have another good week, loves~
~Sister Sara

Pray for Sara

2010-08-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

We got an e-mail from Sara's mission president. She's in the hospital with Dengue Fever, and being monitored for her platelets levels and for IV fluids to keep hydrated. She should be okay but there can never be too many prayers. Here is the e-mail we got:

Dear Brother and Sister Hewlett,

This is President Groberg, Sister Hewlett's mission president. First, I want to tell you what an amazing and outstanding daughter you have. It is truly an honor to work with her. I feel I can trust her with anything. She is totally honest about situations also so I know I will get the truth from her and not a rose colored version.
I wish I could just stop there but unfortunately I am writing to tell you that she has been ill the past few days. She was checked today and it looks like she has Dengue Fever. It is a mosquito bourne virus that causes fever, aches and malaise. It can also drop the platelet count and make it easier to bleed. It is a temporary illness, usually lasting about a week. Several of the western missionaries have had it over the past several months. She will be fine but she is in the hospital in Bandung in order to monitor her bleeding and keep her hydrated. I have spoken to her a few times the past few days and she is doing okay. The last two elders we had with this illness were only in the hospital about 2-3 days, just long enough to see the platelets start to rise again. Her platelets were 36,000 which is low but not dangerously so. I was a Pediatrician for the past 31 years before this calling.
I know this is not the news you want to hear but I am sure she will be okay. We will have someone with her all the time. The medical care is good. Bandung probably has the best care in the nation
We will keep you informed.
Keep her in your prayers and we will do the same.
Sincerely, President Groberg

PIctures of Sara

2010-08-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

On the radio show--all they ever wanna know is if I'm single and want an Indonesian husband! It's a little awkward...but this was fun
Me and Didi--Elder Subandriyo's daughter--at President Marchant's farewell--she did a Balinese Dance
At Taman Mini with Raz
Me and Sis with some of the pioneers in the church here--Josie is over by Sis

minggu pelan di bandung‏

2010-08-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

well, it's been a slow week, since we're starting from ground 0, but things are going to slowly pick up as we learn the area and get teaching.
so last week, while we were still with sis lie and christensen, we went to Pres Hanking's house (in the branch presidency here, and also the first member from Bandung to be baptized, and started learning about the church from Pres Marchant when he was here as a missionary), whose maid, Irma, is learning about the church. she's SUPER shy, so when she didn't want all 4 of us there to teach her, so jo and i waited for her with Pres Hanking, who was sick. it was actually totally awesome...we learned about his conversion, he told a few other stories, and then he read our palms and faces :) haha, yes, he is a bit of a fortune teller, and from what i've heard, he's the most correct fortune teller that they have in Indo as far as members go....he's supposed to be almost dead on every time. which i believed when the first thing he said after looking at my hand was "you like to drive....and you like to drive fast, ya?" ya...i was a little creeped out, but then mom you'll be happy to know that he told me to be careful with that...so i'll work on being more careful when i get home. he didn't say too much about who my future husband would be (whereas with the other sisters he's told which boyfriend they'll get married to), except that i would be hesitant about him, but that things would work out fine between us. he also said that i was gonna have 7 kids...and 2 of those were gonna be twins (haha, mom, i know you're smiling :P). i have it on film tho, so we can watch it when i get home, and i'll translate it for you. pretty interesting.
sunday was a milestone in my life...seriously. they needed someone to play the piano for sacrament. and of course no one else can do it. so i got the privilege of "sharing my talent." i hate to say it, but i do wish i would've practiced more. i was sweating like a pig. i played the 2 songs i can, and then for the sacrament song i just picked a song and only played the right hand, HA. ridiculous, but i did what i could. THEN we had branch counsel, and i was kindly asked to play the songs for the choir for DISTRICT CONFERENCE in october! how i get pulled into these things? yes, i'm stressing quite a bit, and yesterday i was practicing one of the songs over and over and over, until my fingers felt like they were gonna fall off...and it's still not as good as i want it to be. but seriously, district conference? that's the WHOLE west java! ugh. i hate playin in front of people. but....this is God molding me into the person i need to be....right? lol...i sure as heck hope so.
and MONDAY WE GOT OUR FIRST NEW INVESTIGATOR! there was a lady that jo contacted last week while we were walking to an appt with the other sisters, and so we showed up at her house monday (she didn't answer her phone). her daughter was there, and we got to learn about how ibu tunigan (i think that's her name?) went from muslim to christian. they're family seems to be really strong christians, and they don't smoke (we found that out pretty quick when some salespeople came by, trying to sell the new "healthy cigarettes" that have absolutely no side effects, but still give you the sensation of smoking....new from singapore! how do people come up with these things and still get away with it? jo and i just made faces at each other the whole time, and it was hilarious to watch ibu tunigan and rana's reaction to these guys......they were a lot nicer to us, thank goodness). anywho, after we taught the restoration, they were silent...and it was a little awkward, but they finally had a few questions, and agreed to let us come back next week after they read from the BofM and Joseph SMith's testimony. so that was awesome, but as much success as we've had this week with investigators.
i'm still trying to get things figured out with basketball, but after this we're going to head to a college with a friend of Putres to see what kind of service i can do there with bball. i also got permission (PRAISES!!!!!!!!) to play competitively with putres and his friends on friday nights, cuz putres said there's no way anyone is gonna trust me or be interested in the church until after they see me play... so ha! this talent i'm HAPPY to share with anyone and everyone. hopefully i can start talking to people, get them to come to english class, and eventually want to start learning about the church. at least thats the way Putres suggested i try. so today and tomorrow will be the time to see how things get started.
yesterday we went to a place here that's a lot like yellowstone, with hot springs and stuff, and so that was fun...except that it rained the whole time, and so we literally spent the whole day there without planning on it....we just didn't have any other way to get outta there! but it was fun, and we met some nice arabs who didn't talk quite as much to us after they found out we were christian missionaries. lol. i love this place.
so thats the cool stuff that happened this week! i'm still learning a lot here...directions, addresses, street names, the best places to eat....ya know, all those important things. but i'm also learning to work in a new area, and love the people that i meet. bandung has a lot more muslims than jakarta, and they are supposed to be a lot more fanatic than jakarta, so it's gonna be work finding people to teach, but i'm ready for the job. especially when it includes basketball. i love learning from the scriptures...i'm reading the New Testament now, and jordan sprague told me that he gained his testimony of the church when he read the bible...and i'm definitely starting to understand why. there is nothing that i've learned from our church that is contrary to what i'm reading from paul or any of the other apostles. i actually have found far more similarities than i was ready for...and so i have notes all over my bible now (haha, about time...most of the pages have been empty for far too long). this morning i read from 2 corinthians 11:13-15 about false prophets...and i know that what i'm preaching is NOT false. it's the truth, and its what will help anyone who accepts it to know God and Christ, and Their will for us here on earth. i know i have many faults and weaknesses, but my testimony is not one of them. i'll keep "working out my testimony muscles" like you talked about mom, and it will only get stronger. i love you all so much, and pray you all have a great week! be safe, loves~
~Sister Sara

ayo, bandung!‏

2010-07-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

so it's official...i'm in Bandung! and man alive...it's been weird starting over again, but it's good too. i'm excited to see how things go here, but it'll also be weird to not be here 9 months to see how my efforts pay off. we'll see what happens tho...
so last week the highlight was by far the phone call i got from pres groberg...he told me that he'd read my green letter for the week before, and he LOVED my idea about starting up something with basketball in bandung to help with the missionary efforts here! remember when you talked to me about that when i first got here, dad? i talked to pres marchant about it, but he wanted to stick with english classes....but i figured i'd give it another try with the new pres, and i'm glad i did! there's a member here in bandung who is REALLY into basketball, and so my plan is to work with him to find people and a place to play...that would be most effective. the church here only has one hoop and isn't a court at all, but we're thinking if we can find a place....well, we'll see what can happen. i've only been here 4 days, so it's definitely still a work in progress, but that'll definitely be my next project that i'm excited to get started on :) dad, PLEASE let me know what you guys did in finland (preferably separate from your usual email,since i never have time to read that..), and if anyone else has ideas about what to do,PLEASE tell my family members so i can get the information. i really am not at all sure what to do, but i figure if i can at least get it started, Putres (the member) can keep it going when i'm gone.
so friday we had a bit of an unexpected surprise...sis bajodo had just gotten to senopati, and she joined me and siman until jo and i left sunday morning. she's been a good comp... we're still in that first awkward stage of getting to know each other, but every day seems to get better. we've contacted a few times together, and i like how she contacts with me....not overpowering, but also not silent. which is good...cuz we're gonna be doing A LOT of contacting here. yes...she is my new comp, and sis lie and chris are together. so this first week, we are "berempat," or all four together, so that jo and i can get to know the area and members before we get lost here. lol....which i'm not gonna lie, is DEFINITELY gonna happen, i can already tell. i'm totally turned around here, and where in jakarta i could get on busway and always find my way home,here i have NO idea. there is no mass transportation like that, so....ya. it's gonna be quite the experience here.
but i really am excited to start new here....which i'm seriously doing. i loved jakarta, but i'm ready to become a better me, which i feel i can do better here (yes mom, one of those things is to be cleaner and more organized...so far so good! haha....hopefully that lasts). it's been fun being with lie again...we enjoy each other a lot more now :) haha, but again...things are still new, and it's all 4 of us, so of course it's more like "girl's week" than anything else. next week will start the test of companionships and appointments and all that.
i got here on sunday (they had branch conference down here, so pres thought it'd be more efficient if jo and i came down with him, then sis white went home with them), and it was directly meeting the branch members, who LOVE sis white, so...hopefully i find a place in their hearts as well. the branch here is VERY close, which i've already been able to see. everyone is more like family than just friends. i really thought that 2 of the members were brother and sister by the way they were teasing each other, the things they were saying, and how the lady's 2 yr old kid was so close with the guy, but then found out that they'd just grown up together, and with so few members they are REALLY close. so church was good, but next week is going to be A LOT smaller, since this last week had so many visitors. tonight we also have a fireside, so it'll be fun to get to know the members there as well.
well....there's not a whole lot else to say. i'm excited about starting up the work here in bandung, and especially my bball idea! i also know if jo and i work hard, we'll be able to start teaching and find those here who are ready to better their lives through this Gospel. i found out last week that the word "gospel" literally means "good news." isn't that so fitting? so that's what my work here is...to bring the "good news" to the people of indo. thanks so always for the support and love that i always know i have with you all! i love you!
~Sister Sara

1 minggu lagi di Jakarta....‏

2010-07-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

well...by the time i leave jakarta, i'll be one week short of having a baby, haha. we got a phone call on our way home from an appointment monday night, and sister white, the sister that i'm switching with in Bandung, had called president and asked permission to stay until after sunday this week, cuz they have branch conference sunday, and she's in the choir. so...haha, i'm still in jakarta until next monday. which is turning out good, cuz chern is giving a talk on sunday, and i'm going to be here to see it! plus, our neighbor is comin to church on sunday, so i'll get to witness what happens when a muslim, wearing a jilbob, walks into the church, haha. not gonna lie...i'm pretty excited to see everybody's faces. but i'm especially excited to see how she enjoys the meetings.
and well....that's basically my week. i wrote on saturday, so there isn't much else to say. monday we had a full day of appointments, and oh! i almost forgot! i sent home a package, mom, so you should be getting that next week...they said it should take 3-5 days. it's my clothes from singapore, stuff for you guys from singapore (not much...sorry, singapore is A LOT more expensive than indo...), my surprise from taman mini that i bought (you HAVE to tell me what you think...i think it is the CUTEST thing in the world!), and best of all, all my pics on cds from the beginning of the mish til about 2-3 weeks ago. sorry, it doesn't have taman safari, but it's got everything else....more than i'm sure you'll be interested in, but i didn't want to take any chances of losing my pics...so i have my camera card, those cds, and my hard drive. lol. so DON'T LOSE THOSE CDS in case something happens to my hard drive. these pics are my entire mission (well....together with my journal), so that's why i sent it home. kel can use whatever she wants for the blog.
anywho...so ya, i had my final lesson with chern, and she's still so awesome. i'm really REALLY gonna miss her. she's really given me that "reason to keep going" that i think every missionary needs to feel and remember when serving the Lord. when you feel what success feels like, it keeps you going everyday...because you never know who you might talk to that will become that next success. i'm incredibly grateful for her and the meaning that she's given to my mission.
we also had a last minute appointment with Ibu Edi and Iin, and family. they're so awesome...i just wish they'd take the church a little more seriously. which i tried to tell them in a roundabout way. i bore my testimony to them about the importance of scriptures, and finding out about God's secrets, and that we can do that by reading His words (Mosiah 1:5-7), and then i encouraged them to keep reading the scriptures so they'd understand God's secrets...especially with the Book of Mormon. hopefully something keeps clicking with them...i really do love that family, and want them to feel the joy that comes from the restored gospel.
tuesday was another full day....in fact i spent sunday night packing cuz i knew we wouldn't have any time monday or tuesday...and sure enough, tuesday was packed. we had our usual full day, going and visiting sis atika, who is also SOOO cool. she's 7 months along now, and so when i see her again, she'll have had her baby!!!
we also met with a man that lives close to sis atika, and he was complaining about being sick...as he was smoking. which made me and siman have a pretty good convo about the effects of smoking, cuz her dad stopped smoking, but gained weight...so he went back to smoking. i told her thats why kids just can't start, cuz when they start young, thats what happens....later on in life, they have problems all around. sad sad.
there really isn't a whole lot else to say. today sis headed off to solo.....we've been together almost 11 months. crazy. but i'm excited for her, and she's excited for me, so it wasn't too bitter of a farewell. then we waited at senopati until sis lily got here from malang....and while we waited, i watched the movie about pres hinckley, and it was pretty good. i really liked how they focused on the fact that he didn't just become the amazing prophet that we all know and love....it was a long process that started from his birth. which is the same kind of process we're all involved in in our lives. so another push to hang on, endure well, serve as much as you can, and you'll become the person that God needs you to be.
anywho...i love you all, and next week I WILL BE IN BANDUNG! so woohoo for me! lol...a new adventure starts, and i'm ready for it :) hopefully i can do some good down there, that's all i ask. be safe, and know i'm thinking about you all here (especially with the 24th weekend...ugh, jealousy. but there's a reason i'm only missing july once on my mission!),

~Sister Sara

AKHIRNYA NAIK GAJAH & mau ke...‏

2010-07-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

well....i'm only a few days late on this. sorry...hopefully mom wasn't too worried. we didn't have time wednesday cuz we were too busy at TAMAN SAFARI!!!! woo hoo! haha. it was so much fun....and I GOT TO RIDE AN ELEPHANT! it seriously was the coolest thing ever....but we had to ride on the back, so now my new quest is to eventually ride on an elephant's head. i have video of the tour guide getting on the head...and it was amazing. i wanna do it :) Elder & Sis millecam were amazing, and told us that if we could get permission to go, they'd take us sisters before me and sis got transferred. so we asked....and it was a no that became a yes, and IT WAS AWESOME. seriously. i have so many fun pics, i can't hardly wait to show you when i get home!

so...in other news. I'M MOVING TO BANDUNG! i just got a phone call from the office elders a few hours ago, and i'll be down there with sis lie and sis christensen (sis chris was sis's comp when we first got here, if you remember her...), but we'll see what happens. there have been quite a few events happen with the sisters (people going home, coming, etc), and so this transfer is still a lot up in the air until pres figures things out. i'm not gonna lie...bandung was the last place i wanted to go, and it'll be interesting being with sis lie again, especially with sis chris, but i'm excited to see how things go. hopefully my patience has grown a lot since i first got put with sis lie, so we can work more together in bandung, and not so much me pushing her to do everything. but it'll be good....i dunno where everyone else is going yet, but i'm excited to see where sis is going especially. i'll be heading down to bandung next wednesday, so i might email before i leave, or after i get there....we'll see.

so....i had 2 REALLY cool experiences this week that i wanna spend most of my time on. the first starts a few weeks ago...siman and i were on busway, and there was a man across from us who kept looking at our nametags. i had a feeling that i should talk to him, but we were too far from each other (i'm a little weird...i don't like yelling across other people and the aisle to talk to someone about the church...), and there were no seats open. so i sweated over what i should do, and eventually decided to just hand him a namecard before i got off. which is exactly what i did...which was totally awkward, but i felt good about it. sooo....wednesday night i got a phone call from this guy, and he wanted to meet! so i was happy. we met with him on thursday, and altho the meeting was a bit awkward, cuz he didn't know that we were going to share a message (even tho i told him that that was what we did when we met with people on the phone the night before), but we'll see....hopefully we didn't freak him out too bad. we didn't go into too much detail. i'm gonna call him tonight and see how he's doing. anywho....even tho nothing may come from this guy, i was glad to get a confirmation that i'd listened to the Holy Ghost with him.

then.....thursday morning i was out running up and down our street, and one of our neighbors was out fixing a chair. this neighbor is super smiley, and i always say hi to her in the mornings, but i've never had a chance to actually stop and talk to her....mostly cuz i think too much ("if i stop, what do i say? she's gonna think i'm a crazy bule just stopping, sweating and wanting to introduce myself after how many months living here? i can't do that"..........ya, that's what i've been doing for the last 6 or 7 months. lol, i know, i'm retarded), but this finally gave me a chance to stop and ask if she wanted any help. so i did, and as soon as she saw me at her gate, she threw the door open, and we talked for a good 1/2 hour. she wanted to know what we did, what it was that we taught, basically the whole shebang. then she told me that she's read the bible before, trying to compare it with the alquran, and she found that they're mostly the same. then i told her about the book of mormon, and she got so excited...she wanted to read it! so i told her i'd bring it by the next day with sis siman, and we would explain it to her. she's so funny...she likes to talk A LOT, so she tells us tons of stories, like other churches and what they do that she likes and doesn't like (yes...she goes to church with her friends when they invite her....and mind you, this is all while wearing a jilbob. lol she's awesome), and why she believes that Christ is our healer and that thru Him anyone can be healed. soo....ya, we're gonna try to build on that. well, siman'll hafta now, but seriously...this lady is so awesome. her name is ibu yanti, and when i ran past this morning, she said that she'd already read what we'd given her for hw, and she was excited for us to talk some more next week when she gets home from a trip she's taking to surabaya (where she wants to go to our church, but she's going with her friend, so she can only go if her friend wants to...lol, how awesome is she?). so again...i was highly disappointed in myself, waiting this long to stop and talk to ibu yanti after feeling like i needed to talk to her for 7 months, but i'm also so grateful that i finally did, and now she can find out for herself who Christ is, and what direction she wants to take her life. hopefully siman teaches her well :)

and last week...well, i have a new planner, so i have no idea what happened last week, but i'm sure it was fine. lol. nothing too exciting. this last week was full of all the events, and now next week's email is gonna be boring....sorry!

anyways....this week i've learned A LOT! a lot about following the promptings of the spirit, and making sure that i'm worthy to have that spirit. i've learned that, altho i've changed a lot here, i still have a lot of changes that need to be made (which means i need someone brave enough to help me know what changes are needed....) before i head home. i've learned that sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut, even tho it's hard. i've learned that asking for forgiveness is a lot harder for me than forgiving. haha. i'm also learning how to cook indonesian food....now mom, don't get too excited. i just know how to cut stuff...i still hafta learn what stuff to mix in to make anything good. but it's a start :)

it's been a hard but good week. i learn more and more every day that when a storm comes, Heavenly Father will always reward you if you keep a positive attitude and just try to keep doing what you know is right. I know this mission is molding me into the person that God'll need me to be when i get home....i just hafta be more willing to bend, even when i think it's better to stay straight. i love you all so much, and hope that all is well at home. hopefully the reunion is fun...tell the fam hi for me and i love and miss them... especially my GMA!!!!!! loves, yach~

~Sister Sara

satu minggu lagi...

2010-07-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

well, the 4th was a lot harder here than i thought it'd be...i have a feeling this whole month is going to be like that if i don't get busier and with someone who doesn't talk about going home all the time. it's been a long week, but it's still been a good one. we always have our ups and downs, but as long as there are more ups, the downs don't seem as bad :)

thursday i taught english class, and none of the regulars came...instead, it was a class full of new kids that were muslim, and i had a really nice conversation with their moms while they drew pictures of their families. it was different, but it was really fun. hopefully they keep coming.

friday, i finally got to meet pres groberg...and let me tell you, i am SOOO excited! he's exactly what this mission needs. he knows the language REALLY well (i was writing down words that he was saying so i could go home and look them up), and even sis groberg was talking in indo better than i did when i first got here. i guarantee in 3 years she'll be more fluent than me! but he introduced himself, and dad his son is serving his mission in finland right now, and he got to the MTC the same day as me and carter...so small world there. he shared a few things with us, like what he's looking for in the mission, and he really made a positive impression with the indonesian missionaries, which is good cuz thats where it's REALLY gotta start...and friday is zone conference, so we'll learn more about what he wants to do then. but the most exciting part is that sis groberg wants to come teaching with us! i am SOOO excited for that, cuz i love having someone there who can help you know how to teach better. so we'll see how things go, but i think the work is going to progress a bit quicker in the next few years.... :)

we've met with raz a few times this week...fridays was good...she had a problem with her dad, and so we watched a movie called "family answers" that was really good, with tons of advice on how to improve your family relationships...mostly for parents, but raz liked it a lot, and she's going to try apply the things she learned from that and Mosiah 2 (we read that last night together, and she got to write down all the ways that our families can be happier and more united) with her family while she's in australia these next 2 months. we just got back from lunch at her house, and i'm really gonna miss her. hopefully she's around when you guys come out...you'll like her a lot.

we also met with atika and her husband for FHE last week with the 2 office elders (elder silalahi served in Medan where atika was a member, and he's the one that sent me and siman to check up on her) to try and help him get more comfortable with the missionaries, and hopefully more open to atika coming to church after the baby is born. it was a really good lesson on families, and atika said after we left, he was happy with it. we also played an awesome new game that i want to always play for FHE now called James Bond (007)...i'll explain it when i get home, but it was really fun, and i think it helped him get a little bit more outside of his comfort zone. but atika is awesome, and i already told her we're coming to her house when you guys come...so you'll for sure meet her :)

for the 4th of july, we celebrated it with the english branch, and it was really fun...all the families that are here right now are young families, so we get to enjoy their hilarious kids. seriously. some of these kids say the darndest things. like..."what animal am i?" "you're a...........eating a donut!" (a lot funnier if you were there, i'm sure), among others. they're so dang cute. the millecams put on the party, and us missionaries were in charge of the games. then everyone from the different countries got to sing their national anthems, which was SOOO cool...we had sri lanka, australia, new zealand, malaysia, indonesia, and america. so it was really fun, but still not quite the cabin experience. to answer your quesion mom, the people that work here are here cuz of work....for the embassy, or oil companies, etc.....basically those 2 are the main companies, but i'm sure there are a few others.

Chern is still doing awesome. she really does just make me so happy! whenever i feel down about investigators or question different things, all i hafta do is think of her, and i know i was sent here for a reason...one of the main ones being her. she just told us monday that they're considering a job offer in china, and in a few weeks they'll hafta make a decision....so there ya go. between raz and chern, i might not have any reason to stay in jakarta much longer.

so tomorrow we're going to have interviews with pres groberg...and apparently he'll let us know about transfers after that. i hope nobody thinks i wanna get transferred...cuz i really don't completely....its just that 8 months is a lot of time, and i haven't experienced the real indonesian experience yet! so i'm getting excited to finally venture outta the big city, and see green again. oh how i miss green!

this week, i've really tried to focus more on serving sis simanjuntak...altho at times i'm REALLY crappy at it. but i'm trying, and hopefully that helps our relationship so that we can always come together, especially when we're teaching. cuz that's really where it gets important. i'm learning more and more that this mission is REALLY hard if there's only one of you talking at appointments....cuz there should be at least 4 people talking....me, my comp, the investigator, and the Holy Ghost. so it's something i'm working on :)

anywho, i hope you all enjoyed the cabin (ugh...the jealousy. i wanna play ball with the cousins!), and tell al hi and that i love her and that she looked absolutely gorgeous! oh, and to be safe when she heads to scotland...when is that? anywho, i love you all, thanks for everything! loves,

~Sister sara

setidaknya seminggu lagi di Jarkarta‏

2010-07-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

this last week has been a bit of a blur...a lot of plans that got changed, and a lot of appointments that haven't happened...we had all these new investigators, but now we're finding out who really wants to meet with us and who doesn't. so it's been interesting. friday and saturday we basically spent the whole day at the church helping prep and present "Family Day" for the district here...it was a really good idea to help members (and anyone else interested) get more interested in their family history and doing things to preserve their own family's history. it had some really good ideas in it, but if i were in charge, there are a few things i would do differently...mostly stuff that could get the kids more involved. the kids all just ran around the whole day, bored outta their minds...but i think if there had been some games dealing with family history or like coloring or drawing, they would've been more interested, and the parents could've focused more on rest of the activity. but it was fun...mom, there was a guy that brought a few of his plants and did a little presentation on keeping a garden....he apparently makes most his own medicines and food for his little store he runs, and i wanna go to his house to see for myself...it sounded really cool. i think you'd like to go see all his stuff.

we're teaching Raz about the Temple and also using the BofM to help her with her questions that she's having in her life right now. she's not really the type of person that likes to just sit down and read it like a book...she likes to find verses that inspire her, and then that's it...which kinda defeats the purpose of reading the scriptures, but we'll keep trying to help her understand. we just found out yesterday that she'll be leaving next thursday...so this is our last week with her! i'm sad, but then again i'm leaving too...so whatevs. she'll be here the next time i'm back here (sebelum saya pulang! haha, get that translated.... :P), so that's good enough...and she should still be learning when she gets back here in august. so we'll just see what happens with her.

so funny story...monday we were teaching chern about being a missionary as a member of the church, and she told us about her doctor who was in some protestant church, and that when her doctor asked what church she was in, she said she was a mormon, and the lady asked her how many wives her husband had, so then chern explained to her that that wasn't true...and at the end of her story she said, "i don't care what other people say...I'M PROUD TO SAY I'M A MORMON!" lol....she seriously made me so happy, she's so awesome. i can't wait for you to meet her...you'll love her too :)

tuesday we met up with one of our new investigators, and we weren't really sure how she'd take us...if she'd be friendly or not wanna meet again (ya...it happens pretty often here...). at first she was a little reluctant, but after i started asking about her kids and their weddings, and then she pulled out the photo album of her son's wedding and started explaining to me the customs of an indonesian wedding, she got a lot more comfortable and we were able to have a really good lesson with her on how she can help strengthen her family. she's a really cool lady...hopefully she continues to wanna learn, and will gain a desire to come to church...it's a ways from her house, but that'd be really cool.

so yesterday we went to Bro Leo's parent's house! (my mtc teacher, in case you don't remember)...they are a tiny bit wealthy. while everyone else was touring the house, i talked to his dad about the mission and different things with life...he's a really cool guy, very down to earth. it was fun getting to know them and spend time with them.

so,guess what i found!?!?!?!?! i wanna share my happiness with you all...i love jakarta! i finally bought a hard drive here, and guess how much it was? maybe around $70ish for 500 GB...mom, ask sean or jake or paul about what a deal that is...cuz it's a DEAL! then i finally found some nikes that just happened to be on sale, just happened to be the last pair the store had, and just happened to be almost my size (1/2 size too big, but i can handle it), so i bought a new pair of tennis shoes for when i move...cuz my shoes are already getting a little shaggy from the jakarta slime and grime. so this last week i spent over $100 here, but it was all for a good cause :) the most i've spent yet in Indo, by far. but it was well worth it.

this week has been a better week as far things with sis simanjuntak. i think we're both just to the point that we know a change is going to happen soon, so we're done arguing over things we don't agree on. haha. reminds me of sean... "don't sweat the toothpaste." true, my friend, true. but i've really felt this week just how ready i am to get moved...it's time. actually, speaking of getting moved...pres groberg (no i haven't met him yet, so i have nothing to tell you about him...sorry) is interviewing us next week before zone conference to decide who's getting moved, and where they're going...so next week i'll still be here, but the week after that...malang? samoga! i can only hope...but ya...from what the office elders have told the other missionaries, pres groberg is really cool, but very organized...and especially ready to get going on things here...semangat, as they like to say here. so i'm excited to meet him myself.

alright...well i love you all! hopefully all is well at home...let me know if there's anything you want here (like an HD)....or anything else i can do for you. loves!

~Sister Sara

naik, turun, naik, turun‏

2010-06-23T01:06:00.000-07:00

well, it's been a week of wild rides, but since last week, we've found 5 new investigators, and THAT'S HUGE here! i'm a lot happier with appointments, so i've been a lot happier this last week. and the best part is, the people who we've taught really act like they wanna read the BofM, so hopefully they do so they can decide for themselves if this church is true or not.

one of the coolest people we met is sis siman's best friend from high school...who just happens to be living a few blocks from us. small world, eh? she called the other day while we were doing our weekly planning, and apparently she'd gone to the church looking for siman,b ut met a member who told her she'd hafta call us to find her...so she did, and we met with her that night. lol....sis siman must be REALLY different from before, cuz Hana was basically freaked out a lot by her...she kept asking what happened, what changed, and siman just kept saying, "i gained a testimony of this gospel, and now i have my priorities in the right place." it was a good discussion, hana was really interested and had tons of questions, so we should be meeting again this week to keep answering and helping her understand. she's dating a muslim guy, and she even wants him to come meet with us, so he can understand christianity better. so hopefully that happens.

saturday was president marchant's going away party for the indonesians, and it was AWESOME. they had a program with different pictures and talents. us missionaries did a fun little dance that elder silalahi learned in Medan that's from Hawaii...short and sweet, with tons of laughs. i liked it. there were a lot of RMs, so it was fun to see and catch up with them. after, sis marchant didn't wanna leave...pres marchant literally was pulling her away by the arm, and she was still trying to talk as she got pulled away. funny. oh, there's also a new mission couple here, the Grover's, from kennewick WA....carter, what stake are you in? you're IN kennewick, right? i told them you were, but i didn't know what ward. they're cool tho...they'll be in solo, so hopefully i'll get to know them better eventually.

Meity and Sally are sisters that we met with sunday, and they were funny...we walked in, and the first thing sally said to us is, "i like sharing about our beliefs, but the moment you start talking about things that can't be backed up by the Bible, we're done." needless to say, we weren't kicked out, they actually LOVED everything we said, and hopefully we can get them to church soon.

we're starting to teach raz about the temple, and after we'd explained about eternal marriage, she sat back for a minute, and then said, "if this is for eternity, i have to be REALLY careful with who i pick!" haha...we all laughed. she's funny. hopefully she'll be going to australia soon (she's gotta get her visa first), and then she can go walk around the grounds and feel the spirit that's there for herself. and hopefully take her boyfriend too...and help him feel what she feels about the gospel.

so funny story on sunday...we were in gospel principles class, and all of a sudden we hear this huge bang and then shattering... when we walked out, we found out what happened. the wind was really strong, and it blew the back door closed... which shut so hard that the glass from the door fell out of the door, and shattered on the ground. who knew wind was so strong?

yesterday was another day in "Little Batak" as i like to call it (it's FAR from tebet, where we live!). Atika was a great appointment, and she bought us some medan food...that was REALLY GOOD, but apparently is far better in medan. i gave her a pic that i took of the SL temple, and she just STARED at it, talking about how even just looking at it, you could feel something different. she's so cool.we met her husband, and he seems like a good guy...hopefully we can help him support atika so she can come to church after she has the baby.

the simanjuntak appointment was good, except that the dad wasn't feeling good, so he left. but the mom was still good, and wants to read the BofM herself to see if it's really true or not. she then took us to our next appointment, where the husband is a leader in the church thats near this area...but he was cool, and the mom was totally into everything, talking about how everything just made so much sense. so we gave them each their own BofM, and hopefully they'll read this week and want to keep learning next week.

anywho...it's been a busy week, and i like it like that. hopefully we keep finding people who really wanna know for themselves, and are willing to try something new. it's always a whirlwind of emotions at our house, so hopefully this week is a bit calmer, and all goes well. i still can't believe how much i'm learning out here...i dunno if i'll ever get married, i hafta find someone who is SUPER laid back and understanding with me. sometimes, me and siman are a little bit too hard headed with each other, and each have our own opinions and won't back down from them. but that's where we're learning together, and i know she's helping me become a better missionary..hopefully i'm helping her as well.

and that's all folks! have another great week, i love you all!

~Sister Sara

Pictures

2010-06-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Found some pictures I don't think have ever been scanned...

Me with mthe Subandryo Family.

Stefi (mom), Didi (teen), and elder Subandryo

Bro Hunter, Chern, Baby Hunter, Sara and Sister Sim

Sara and the Millecams

Membangun Lagi‏

2010-06-16T03:03:00.000-07:00

So, to be quite honest, last week i was not looking forward to writing this email, cuz it was such an awful week...we had NO appointments until saturday that followed thru! a full week...i felt like a waste of a missionary, but this week has already gotten better. btw, the "t" on this keyboard isn't working very well, so if i get sick of having to waste time on it, jus know here should be a "t" and i'm jus oo lazy.

so ya, last week was quite frustrating for me and siman, but i was super excited saturday cuz we had 3 appointmens, and one was wih ibu edi, and i was he bes one yet! she was actually supporting the BofM, and said that she's noticed it's easier to read han the bible....soooo that was huge.

monday, we had our plan for the day all planned and set to go, and right as we were about to end our comp study, pres called and asked to talk to me...so the whole house went quiet, i walked slowly over to the phone, and i waited to see if i'd hear the words i've been waiting to hear since the day i got here...but i didn't. he told us that THAT DAY he wanted me and Siman to go to the church to interview the Pioneers of Indonesia who were waiting to go to the temple for the first time ... some have been waiting for almost 40 years (since the church was first started here). so, we had to change all our plans around, but it ended up being THE COOLEST day. we got to hear so many stories and so many testimonies...there were tears, there were smiles, there was laughter, and there was the Spirit in that room as we recorded all those histories. one lady was excited to finally wear garments (she'd had a friend who had garments, but didn't wear them cuz it was too hot, and she swore if she'd ever get to the temple, she'd never be like that), another old man was going with his daughter, and they were going to be sealed to his wife and his grand daughter who died last year from a freak accident, and one man who was there without his wife because she hadn't stayed active but he had...and he wasn't going to miss this opportunity. it was seriously the COOLEST thing o be involved in, and it REALLY made me appreciate all the temples that are so close to me...i'm 15 minutes from bountiful and 20 minutes from Ogden and SL...not to mention all the others that are 1 hour away. it's a true blessing!

and then yesterday we had the opportunity to visit a girl from Medan, who got married and moved to jakarta less than a yr ago, but her husband won't let her go to church cuz it's too far and dangerous....but according to Siman (she's from Medan, fyi), Atika was one of the STRONGEST members in Medan, and wanted to serve a mission, but was possibly a little forced into getting married by her family...but we visited her, and altho she's had a rough time, she is SOOO full of faith and her testimony is SO strong...i seriously loved listening o her talk cuz you could justt feel the power in her voice. so it was fun to see her.

then, on our way home, we were walking down the street, and an older guy was outside his house and i told him good afternoon, and then he wanted o know what marga i was (that's like family, and it's the Batak people...they have strong roots to their ancestors, and we were in a Batak neighborhood) in, and i said one of the names of one of the elders that i know is batak, and the guy like freaked ou, and was like, what? and immediaely invited us into his house....so from there, sis siman bsically gave the first discussion to this guy and his wife, and it was AWESOME. they listened, and they had questions, and it was possibly one of the best first discussions i've ever had just cuz it was righ on the spot. bu we're going back next week :)

and today siman and i went to taman mini with raz...it was fun, but i'm EXHAUSED! raz is so good, bu she'll be leaving in another 2 weeks, so we're just taking advantage of the time we have left with her.

so...the lessons i learned this week were many, but what is top on my mind is NEVER BE UNGRATEFUL FOR THE SMALL BLESSINGS IN YOUR LIFE! temples that are so close, being able to go to church without having to fight someone about it (especially when the church is as close as it is in k-town), enduring trials cuz they will open up to many many blessings...there are so many things we have in this life, we need to always be ever grateful for them.

and i know this is kinda short today, but kel sent pics of the weddings so i wanna see them...congrats to zack and addi, and morgan and dave (i think that's his name...right? sorry...i haven't met you yet!)! may you enjoy eternity together :) thanks for everything, i love you, and have a good week! loves~

~Sister Sara

kesabaran....

2010-06-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

well...it's been an exhausting week, but certainly not from appointments. from trying to find people! but i'm getting more and more sick of malls and shopping areas...ugh. i hated shopping at malls before the mish, i'm REALLY gonna hate them when i come home, haha. it's been a learning week... i'm trying to learn how to contact in the malls, but it's REALLY hard for me to find people to talk to. sis siman is stellar at starting up conversations with people, but i was telling sis the other night... i feel like, as a bule, i walk around with this HUGE shield around me that other people have to walk around. that or i have some sort of disease, and people are afraid of getting too close. well, unless they wanna sell something. then they're just fine getting close to me (ESPECIALLY when they find out i can speak indonesian), cuz they think i'll buy whatever they're selling. but besides them, its hard to get close enough to anyone to even try to start a conversation. i did, however, get a referral from a muslim lady and that was HUGE for me! and i had a very nice (or was it tense? i was fine, but i think the other guy was a little tense) conversation about religion with another guy who didn't believe in church, just faith in Christ. so...it's hard, but i'm slowly learning to contact like this. its a bit like starting the mission over again...except this time i don't have the language as an excuse, haha. but i've had a few fun experiences in different places trying to contact people...haha i'll tell ya all about them when i get home. words can't explain it near as well as me acting it out, lol :P

and basically we've had no appointments....all week. it seriously is killing me. we met with raz on friday, and since then we've had NOTHING. we've tried meeting with her monday and tuesday and today, but she always cancels last minute (she's got finals coming up, and is writing all her papers right now). and we dunno who else to try.

i did have an interesting experience tho...i contacted a muslim guy last week, and i tried calling him the other day, but it was busy, and i've just been putting it off since then cuz i figured he wouldn't wanna meet anyways, but then he called yesterday and wanted to meet! he's fluent in english, and works for an oil company. he's a really cool guy, and said he's open to hear our message. but i thought it was cool that HE called ME, and yes...another shove in the face that i need to have more faith in my work here, and the people i meet with. hopefully we'll be able to meet with him on friday.

PLD was last thursday, and it was good. the last one with pres marchant, and i thought it was interesting that the topic of his talk was on decisions...how we need to make decisions before the questions come so that we don't hafta make the decision in the moment. he also emphasized important things to consider when making decisions (like marriage, school, etc). it was really cool. elder subandriyo came and talked to us about "power statements" and how we need to give power statements that are direct and clear when we contact, cuz that'll help us. i'm still working on getting better at that, but we're practicing so we can get better. and sis marchant talked about how we need to literally start counting our blessings...and this talk probably has had the biggest effect on me. i've really been trying to see my blessings more...i know if i start doing that, even when things aren't the way i want them to be (like right now), i can still be grateful for what i have. it's been good for me to do this, especially this week. and i'm especially grateful for sis siman...when she's down, i'm always up enough to help her, and when i'm down, she's always there to lift my spirits. it's definitely helping us become closer as a companionship.

so what have i learned this week? to enjoy this time that i have left in jakarta. i know i'm not gonna be here long, but i really DON'T wanna leave it the way i came to it. and that's REALLY gonna take some work. so i pray every day that Heavenly Father will help me overcome my insecurities and remember that i'm here to TALK to people...and He helps me do better every day. that's for sure. if nothing else, i'm learning more and more, while on this crazy adventure in this amazing country, that i have to rely on Heavenly Father...i can't do ANYTHING on my own. contact, teach...nothing. i'm realizing just how independent i was before...and even tho i had a testimony, there are only a few times in my life that i can REALLY remember specifically having to rely on Heavenly Father for any extended amount of time. now, i know i have to be patient and work hard, and pray every day to be able to do both of those to the best of my abilities (which are greater than i think!). yes...this mission is by far the greatest thing Heavenly Father has ever told me i need to do, and i'm SOO grateful to be here! every day is a learning experience, and makes me a better person with a stronger testimony.

thank you all for your love and support and especially prayers...i love you and hope you have a great week! loves~
~Sister Sara

Hari "hump" Saya!‏

2010-06-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

well...wow. I'm halfway thru, and thats all I'm gonna say about that.

So this week has been a bit interesting, a bit frustrating, a bit rewarding, a bit of everything I guess. We'll start with the frustrating...so I told you last week that I was REALLY looking forward to our appointment with a family that was REALLY interested in learning about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. And it was AWESOME appointment, with the guy begging to tell us about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and telling us why we need prophets on the earth today, and why another book testifying of Christ would help back up the Bible. However..we found out that they live in Tangerang...a suburb of Jakarta, where there are other missionaries. So...yes. I had to reluctantly give them away as investigators. Your welcome, tangerang elders.

The next day, I made an appt. with another lady that I'd talked to, and she was SOO excited to have us come over to her house (i think this one was a bit more focused on having a bule over..but I'll start wherever I can), but then when sister siman was getting directions to her house, we found out that it's in Bogor...another suburb of Jakarta where there are other elders. So ?I had to give that one away too. THEN we went to the mall the next day, and I contacted some guy who was a missionary from his church as well, but wanted to hear what we were teaching...but his family lived somewhere NOT in Jakarta, so I had to give HIM away to the elders in Jakarta, and when I talked to the elder that night, he said this guy was totally amazing, and had been questioning what he was teaching to people, and what the elders taught him made so much more sense, and and he was going to read the BofM and pray about Joseph Smith, but he thought he already had his answer. So ya...there's another strike. Not to mention that Sis Siman had 2 great contacts that day too who were both interested in knowing about the church, but BOTH of them lived in Bekasi...yes, ANOTHER suburb of Jakarta that has its own elders. So life has been great the last week. I 'm rewarded cuz all these people really do wanna learn, but I'm frustrated cuz I can't teach them myself! But, as elder Silalahi told me this week.."don't give up, just keep talking to people." So I"ll try.l..but that's also been hard cuz the times that we have time set aside to proselyte, sis siman has been sick. So I'm trying to be patient, but i REALLY wanna get out and find new people! but all in good time...

We have one new investigator...who is english speaking (haha, I have the knack for finding people who speak english), and altho we've met several times, the only thing that's happened is her telling us her problems about her possibly ex boyfriend...she says all she wants in life is to be happy, and so I've been trying to teach her the Plan of HAppiness, but thats hard when she's no tin a state to learn about stuff like that. So what Sis siman and I think is the best thing is to watch "Charly" with her...so she can see what the Gospel can do for relationships...ti can make them ETERNAL. WE don't have time this week to meet, but we're hoping early next week we'll be able to watch that, and then she'll be more open to learning about new things.

Saturday night we had a going away party for President Marchant with the English Branch, so we went with Raz to try and meet new people in the branch, and get more involved in that way. She's going to Australia at the end of the month, so yesterday we looked up the church closest to her, and also all the temples in Australia. So that was fun.l She really likes out church, and I can't wait to starting talking to her about temples and eternal families there...I think if she gains a testimony of that, she can help her boyfriend in Australia get more interested and they can work to become members together! That'd be sweet.

Alright...so that's basically it for this week, not too many exciting things, except that tomorrow is zone conference and then after that I"M PLAYING BASKETBALL!! haha, elder siregar, my bbal bud out here, is going home next week, so we're getting in our last game before then...and after that, I dunno whos gonna be my competition. There's not much competition out here. Hopefully I'll find someone. oh well.

I love this Gospel, and I love sharing ti with people! there is certainly nothing like seeing the lights go on in someone's head when they FINALLY get what you're trying to help them understand...it's amazing to see the change that happens in their lives when they finally understand and apply what they know...sometimes they don't get too far, but even the little that they got to is enough to help me know that when I'm doing is right, and keep moving forward. This morning I found a new scripture that is awesome...1 peter 2:21, about Christ and how we nee dot follow the example that he already set for us. It's true, and we all need to work a little harder to be a little better. Thanks for everything, loves

Sister Sara

seminggu lagi di firdaus‏

2010-05-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

KeluargaKu~

well, it's been another week here in indo. first off, i just got all the letters talking about Zak's grandma dying a few weeks ago...sorry zak, i just found out, but condolences to you and your family. however, we all know where she is, and that she's been waiting to be reunited with your grandpa for a while, and that is a blessing that only this gospel can bring to us.

we just got done watching "Charly" at the church, and wow....yes, i knew i loved that movie before, but it's put a whole new perspective on things, because that's really what missionaries are all about...spreading that we CAN have the "happily ever after" within the gospel - that when we live worthy of the promises that God makes with us, our families can be together for eternity...with NO doubts about what happens after this life. i love the Plan of Happiness, and all the promises it gives! yesterday we were waiting for an appointment, and one of the elder's investigators was there early, and so we got talking to her, and i asked what they were learning about right now, and she said the temple, and becoming an eternal family (this lady is married with 3 kids, and they're all learning about the church, and want to get baptized, but they're having problems with her mom, who lives with them...so it's been really hard, especially for the mom), and i felt a little inspired to testify to her about what that promise means to me with my family and my future. hopefully it helps her to keep moving forward to work to overcome her challenges right now with her family.

so we met with Chern last week, and she's SOOOO awesome! i was asking her if she feels different now that she has the holy ghost, and she went off about how different she feels when she prays, and that she just LOVES to pray now, cuz she gets "this calm, peaceful feeling that wasn't there before." haha. she also got me some "magic" spray for my mosquito bites to help with the itching. haha, she's awesome. they're in china this week, so we won't meet again til next week, but bro hunter seems VERY happy as well :)

we've met with raz a few times this last week...now that chern's baptized, we're moving our focus to raz, and wanna meet at least twice a week. she's been expressing a need for friends in the church to help strengthen her, and so we've been searching for that...she also informed us that she's really worried about family problems if she gets baptized. her parents live in australia, so it's REALLY hard to try and work with them to help her, but we're working on what we can do to continue to help her. she told us yesterday that she REALLY wants to get baptized, she knows it's the right thing to do, but right now just isn't the time. so for now we're just gonna help her find friends in both the english and indo branch to help strengthen her testimony, and maybe just prepare her for when she leaves for australia in june. she may be moving to australia next year, and she thinks if that happens and she becomes independent from her parents, she'll be more able to do what SHE feels is right. so we'll see what we can do to help her. i just don't want her to fall away...

we have 2 appointments that i'm excited about...one today and one tomorrow, that are contacts of mine. i'm hoping with the one today, we can transition into the plan of salvation. the lady is a single mom with 2 kids (she was married to an englishman, so she's fluent in english, and can't even talk much in indo...i keep telling sis siman, i dunno why the only people i feel like i have any success with are english speakers [chern, raz, cherie, bertha], but whatevs...), and she's looking for happiness in her life right now...she had other questions last time tho that we focused more on, but today i REALLY wanna focus on helping her find out HOW she can find that happiness. so we'll see.

the other appointment is with a guy who thought i was a jehovah's witness. ugh. i always get SOOO offended when people ask that, which i shouldn't, but i do. he really wants to hear what we have to say, so i'm hopeful! we need more progressing investigators...

the other people we're meeting with lately all seem to be people with part of the truth, but they don't want to pray about the truth that we're sharing with them. they're open to hearing it, but they think that what they think is good enough. which is great, but when you have this even GREATER truth out there, wouldn't you just wanna grab ahold and never let go of that? i dunno...i get headaches about halfway thru the lessons, cuz they talk so much about what they believe, which has some truth, but no REAL base, so it's hard. ya...it is REALLY hard. i have this message that i want everyone else to feel, but sometimes i feel like there aren't enough people that care to know about it. it's sad, really. but it also helps strengthen my testimony of what i know is true. haha, then there's raz...who i wanna share EVERYTHING with, but i can't cuz she's gotta learn little by little. lol, so there are the two sides of things. i love indonesia...i love these people, and i want to help them know Christ as He really is! i want them to know that happiness that i know, i want them to feel His love surround them, and help them know that everything is going to be alright! i want them to know they're God IS there, and that He loves them, and that if they are willing to live His commandments and gospel, they WILL return to live with Him again. I love this gospel, i love this chance that i have to share with the people of indonesia, and i love my God for steering my life the way He has. i don't know why i'm so blessed, but i do know that it is my obligation to share what i know and love with others...so here i am :)

this week has been a pretty good one, and i'm so happy to be here, serving my God and Savior, and acting as they would if they were here. i know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that he restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth again...in its FULNESS! i love you all, and as always, thanks for the support and prayers...you're the best! loves,

~Sister Sara

Pembaptisan Chern!‏

2010-05-19T23:18:00.000-07:00

well, i'm sure everyone already knows the biggest news for this last week is that CHERN GOT BAPTIZED!!!! it was seriously the coolest baptism i've ever been involved in...well, technically it's really the only one that i've played any part in, but it was so incredibly full of the Spirit, and she was SOOO excited, and Brother Hunter was possibly the happiest i've ever seen him (altho he TRIED to hold it in...he did a good job of it, too, but there was a different light coming out of his eyes :). pres donald decided to have the baptism during Relief Society/Priesthood so that everyone could be there (things get too crazy after with the Indo branch), and so the auxilary room was PACKED with everyone, and it was very well put together. Brother hunter baptized Chern, and then President Donald confirmed her. PJ & Cherie were there, and it think it was a lot more meaningful for them, since it's more the same situation...but we still didn't get an appointment for this week...ugh. but yes...the most exciting thing i heard, was from sis millecam, who stayed after cuz she wanted a pic of the family, and she said as chern put her arm around bro hunter for the pic, she looked at him and said, "Finally..." how cool is that?!?!?!?! man alive...i'm so happy for that little family! tomorrow will be our first meeting with Chern as a member, so i'm excited :)

so last week i had one of our investigators wanna meet with her two friends from Nigeria...which i was a little weirded out by, but it actually ended up being a super sweet lesson. it was before the english class, and we had the elders join us, cuz i was worried about creepy nigerian men that only wanted to meet with the bule (i think this is proof that i've been in indonesia for too long, and have had far too many experiences with the creepy indo men), but they actually ended up being totally awesome, and i was hopin they'd be at church on sunday, but they had something come up...so we'll see. but they answered all the questions with the perfect answers...like from the bible. it was awesome. and they loved the BofM and Joseph Smith. i REALLY hope things work out there.

friday was a crazy traffic night, cuz of hard rain, so we didn't make it to our last appointment...we spent 4-5 hours in the jakarta transportation, between busway and the micro minis. it was normal to me, but sis siman was freaking out, she couldn't believe how long we had to wait, and how crazy the lines and everything were. haha. made me laugh. apparently jakarta has changed a ton in the last 2 years since she moved away.

OH i almost forgot this story! holy cow...i was seriously SOOO ticked. this last weekend was the "YSA huge activity" where all the YSA from all over indo (even from Manado and Medan) get together for their big activity so that people can hook up and get married, while also having fun! haha. so saturday night we knew that we'd have the girls from Manado staying with us after they got back from the activity...but what we didn't know was that they'd be getting there at 1 in the morning! so sis mongan was with them (she's now Lani, tho, so i will address her as such from now on :P), and there were 3 other girls, and they stayed up til 3 am talking in our kitchen! so i was ticked about that, cuz i am NOT a person who can't get their sleep and still be fine. THEN, when i went to the bathroom the next morning, the bathroom wouldn't flush, and i couldn't figure out what was wrong until i went out to the sink in the kitchen, and there was no faucet...one of the girls broke the faucet! so they had to turn off the water so it wouldn't spray everywhere, and we had 8 girls that had to get ready for church without the easy access of water. it was ridiculous. however, the good news is that we survived, and the faucet has been fixed, and i'm basically back to my sleep schedule again.

there isn't a ton else to talk about. sis siman has been totally awesome, tracting thru the neighborhoods to try and find people (i like that a lot more than shopping to "try and find people" cuz that never works cuz who actually focuses on finding people when you're shopping? ya...i'm not too good at that). so ya, i've really liked that, and i'm enjoying learning from her. we have quite a few differences, but we both know that they other is just trying to help, and so it's been really good to learn from her (i basically mean that she actually tells me things that i could improve on, which i haven't experienced basically at all since i got to indo, so i hafta to humble myself to hear what she says and try to impliment that, cuz generally she's right). oh, i also got another haircut! however, unlike the last one, this one is FAR more drastic, and it was FREE! one of our investigators cuts hair, and so we went to her shop cuz her phone was being retarded, and since i've been talking about cutting my hair for a few weeks now, the lady did it for me, and then wouldn't let me pay. it's pretty cute, but it's gonna take a bit of getting used to for me. i mostly just think it'd look better with bangs, but i'm nervous about that cuz it's taken me so long to grow out my old ones. we'll see. not that any of you cared about any of these thoughts, i know...sorry, i'm thinking as i type.

so what have a learned this week? SOOO many things! one is humility, and having open ears and an open heart to hear others. another is to listen to our investigators and teach to THEIR needs. i thought that was a really good lesson... another is that God truly does know and love each of His children, and so He sets us in the path that we need to be in as long as we do the best we can to follow His commandments...i know me and Chern were placed here in Jakarta because God knew we needed each other. Chern needed something (i'm still not quite sure what...) that possibly only i could give her, and God gave me Chern because He knew if I didn't have her during those first few stressful months of NOTHING here, i really might've very well gone crazy. He's there and He loves each of us! i KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that that is true, and that is my testimony for this week :) i love you all and i hope you have a great week! loves!

~Sister Sara

Selamat Hari Ibu, dan Selamat Ulang Pernikahan!

2010-05-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

well it was sure good to hear everybody's voices on Sunday, although i was sad i didn't get to say goodbye. the call just kinda ended, and that was that. luckily, i was too tired to care too much, but the next morning, when i had my energy back, i was SUPER sad i didn't get to tell you all how much i love you! so i love you, and happy mothers day again, mom!

well my family already knows, but i'll say it again...CHERN IS GETTING BAPTIZED! we've had a bit of fun playing around with WHEN they'll be having the baptism (it seems like there are conflicts with every time they decide on), but i think the final say has been during Sunday school on Sunday. if they wait til after church, the Indo branch is meeting, and if they do it any other day, President Donald is afraid there won't be many people that can make it. so sunday it is, and i'll of course have pics to send home! Pres Donald interviewed chern on sunday, and when i talked to him yesterday, he told me how ready she is...and i told him i already knew :) i really have no idea what happened between 2 weeks ago and last week...but Chern is ready for baptism, and SHE knows it now, which is the most important thing. and now her family will start their journey towards becoming an eternal family!

speaking of baptism, yesterday we met with raz and discussed baptism with her...she still feels like she needs to pray and figure things out for herself, but she said she feels SO RIGHT with our church...she says she knows there's something different about it, and that if she chooses this path, she's going to do it herself, and she's going to hafta stand up for a lot things...so she's going to search within herself to see if she thinks she can do that before she leaves for australia at the end of june. HOPEFULLY SHE FINDS OUT! i've been trying to figure out someone to fellowship with her, but its REALLY hard with her age, so we'll see what else we can do. keep praying for raz tho!

other exciting news for the week...sis mongan has been released. HOLY CRAP. i remember the day we got together, and she was telling me that she had 5 months left on her mission...and now it's been 6 months, and she's really gone! i'm gonna miss her SOOOO much. i know this entire mission is gonna miss having such an incredible missionary who connected with everyone SO well. i just hope i can follow her example...her biggest advice is to always love your companion. so i'll see what i can do about that :) hopefully i can follow it.

we've been SUPER busy this entire last week. i like to keep busy, but it's been a little hard with sis simanjuntak. she's been "homesick" the last few days, so our last few appointments have basically been me teaching everything, while she'll just add in where i look at her and wait for a response. she's a really good missionary, so i'm just hoping that she can get over this homesickness quick so she can continue to teach like she did last week.

so we met with a referral last week, and HOLY COW! she's christian, but she was with her buddhist friend who had her muslim maid (pembantu...i think maid is the best way to describe that word...), and she insisted that they join in the lesson...so we just wanted to get to know the lady and see what she'd learned from the elders who'd reffered her, and she just started going off about Jesus, and how everyone needs Jesus, and that this poor Muslim girl was basically "sesat" for her beliefs (like, lost...), and if she never found Jesus, she'd never be saved, and on and on and on...finally the buddhist friend had to "go to bathroom" and they didn't come back in...which i understood why. at one point, when the lady got REALLY offensiver, i broke in and talked about how in our church, we know the right way to return to God, but that we still need to respect other religions...and then this lady just nodded, and started ripping on the girl again. it was seriously so sad. but we'll be meeting with the lady again on friday, in her house, hopefully without any Muslims in the room. maybe we'll actually be able to teach...i can only hope!

saturday we had a reception for Jesse & Sema...jesse an american in the english branch, has been living here for 10 years, and just married sema, who is muslim and indo, and we've met once or twice with them in VERY informal settings, just to help sema start to gain an interest in the church. i know jesse has a hard time dealing with her not being a member, but i think he also knows if she does get interested, its gonna take a few years. so we'll keep meeting and see what we can do.

and on and on and on. the rest of the appointments weren't too much to talk about...we were at one investigators house, when it started to POUR outside, and sis siman had taken her shoes off in the front, and after we said the opening prayer, the lady JUMPS up, runs to the door, and starts yelling about shoes, and we're both like, oh ya, don't worry about the shoes, they're waterproof...and then we went out, and the shoes were gone cuz there was a huge flood of water coming down the sidewalk area! it was hilarious, and siman had to walk quite a ways before she found them...i stayed in the house laughing my head off. haha it was funny.

so i just read elder eyring's talk from the priesthood session, and i found that if you replace "priesthood" with "missionary," it applies a lot more to me as a missionary! elders can try that as well, and it might be able to help them focus more on their work as a missionary, but i think with sister missionaries that talk is INCREDIBLE if you switch those 2 words. it brings the entire talk right into your heart...everything that you need to do, and the things you need to remember, as you're serving God. i loved it. so maybe for FHE this week you can try that :)

again, it was fun talking...hopefully my indo sounded a tiny bit better. if not, i can at least UNDERSTAND this language better. that's an improvement. the other day i got a text from one of the new APs, and i had no idea what he said, and sis siman said it was SUPER formal indo...i wanna get that good! oh well...keep working at it, right? anywho, i love you all, i pray all is well at home, and always know that i love you so much! i know this work is God's work, and that if i serve Him with my all, He will help me to succeed...which i know is true, because He already has! loves~

~Sister Sara

ps i got zack's announcement this last week...very cute! i'm happy for ya cuz! send me pics!
p.p.s i almost forgot...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ON SUNDAY!!! mom and dad! hope its a good one :) i'd say you've had quite a successful marriage :) love you!

Rekan baru!

2010-05-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

ok, this is gonna be quick...we just got finished teaching Raz, and it's already late, and we're using the computer at the office. so here goes...
thursday sis lie transferred to bandung, and i was with sis mongan and sis okamoto came with me to teach Chern...and she picked a baptism date (may 10)! the problem is, Chern is still unsure about the date, and when i called her yesterday to ask about how she was feeling about it, she didn't sound very confident, so we'll find out tomorrow if it actually happens or not. she's just gotta take the step!
friday, sis simanjuntak got here, and she's awesome. she's also gorgeous....i would say the cutest indo sister missionary. she's batak, tho, so it makes sense. anywho...she's been on her mission for over a year, and altho she has a few minor faults, i've already learned a ton from her...she's a really powerful teacher, and she's already helped me TONS with my language. our personalities are also a lot more compatable, which is great for us, but also hard when we focus on what we're talking about instead of on contacting people...but that'll get better, i'm sure. she's awesome, and i'm really liking our companionship...it's still early, but i REALLY like being with someone who has more experience than me, and will help me know how i can become better.
saturday we met with celine...after walking 3-4 miles, thru a demonstration in the middle of the city. ya...it was great, and i sweating like a warthog, but we got there! and she was even later than us, so it all worked out. after we watched the restoration, she had some questions about us having false doctrine...ya, that happens a lot here. but she was still really open to things, and we told her the Book of Mormon is her proof. so hopefully she'll keep reading and trying to find out the truth for herself.
we also met with Ibu Yuni...she's a freak. and i mean that in the kindest way possible. but seriously...she quotes the bible like no one i've ever met...and she was born Muslim, and has only recently started to read from the Bible. she's basically a "truth-seeker" altho she calls herself a "believer in the faith of Abraham." we taught the first 4 principles in the first lesson, and then she went off... for an hour. there is not a second to even interupt, which is hard, but whatevs. she's cool, and we met again last night, with her neighbor who is an RM and really awesome, and that helped A TON. sis Sim doesn't really like her, but we'll see what happens.
sunday, Ibu Yana became Sister Yana! she's sis and sis mongan's investigator, and she's awesome. i'll tell ya more when i get home, cuz i don't have time right now...but her family will be greatly blessed with this gospel.
monday, everything got cancelled on us, so we went to see some of Sis sim's Christian friends...she lived here for 4 years before she moved back to medan, and so she has a lot of people she wants to try to help as a missionary. i think one of them was pretty promising to at least listen to our message.
well...raz tonight was a good meeting. she really is progressing at a rapid pace, and this gospel starts making more and more sense to her as she keeps learning and coming to church...which is the blessing she gets for her righteousness! so we'll keep teaching and see how things go!
so seriously...i don't have time, sorry, but i know this gospel is true, that we're blessed to have prophets who wrote the word of God for us today thru scriptures, and even more blessed to have prophets on the earth today...i know God and Jesus live, that this gospel was restored thru joseph smith, and that thru faith in this gospel, ANY problem can be overcome. i love you all! loves,

~Sister Sara

Waktu cepat sekali!‏

2010-04-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-04-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

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...‏

2010-04-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

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...

Back home!

2010-03-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well, i'm back in indonesia, and i LOVE it! haha. i missed all the happy and nice faces all over the place. i might've even missed the creepy guys who spend all their time on the side of the street...well, maybe not really, but i am happy to be back :)

as it ended up, sis and i spent the rest of our time in singapore checking out the sites on our own. we tried talking to as many people as we could, but we didn't focus so much on making that our focus like we had on Tuesday. it was fun, we got to see a lot, and people were a lot more open to listening to us when we weren't stalking them, trying to get their phone numbers. i also got a few new shirts, and i wore my chinese one to church on sunday, and the indos FLIPPED, they thought it was totally awesome that a bule was wearing that here (indos wear chinese clothes fairly often here, but rarely do bules). and yes, i also got a few things for you all...i might just send it home by ship in the next few weeks. we'll see...elder subandriyo had already left before i got home, so i didn't get a chance to send anything home with him, but oh well. as is life. some fun things sis and i did in singapore were: Chinatown, Little India (chinatown indian style - where we actually found the coolest lady...we referred her to the office, but she got SO excited when we mentioned that we believe we have a prophet on the earth today - hopefully something comes from that!), and we also got pics with the merlion and rode the huge singapore flyer (biggest carousal in the world...i dunno if that's the name you'd use for it, but it's a bigger version but the same idea as the London Flyer). so ya...we had some fun :) and altho i felt like a bit of an apostate missionary by the end, it's made me work even harder since i've been back.

oh, and funny story...so when we were in the airport in jakarta waiting to get out, the guy behind us was a bule, so i started talking to him, and he was an italian teacher. so, we talked for a bit (the elders helped me out while sis moved to another line...she must've seen what was coming before i did), and after we all got thru the line, we were waiting for sis, and the guy came over to say goodbye - so he shook the elders hands, then shook my hand, and then pulled me in for a cheek to cheek touching thing that they do here, and apparently in italy too....AHH! i seriously had no idea what to do, it happened so dang fast! and of course the rest of the time we're in the airport, elder hall is going off about how i'm going to be sent home, and la la la, but seriously - i've always wanted to go to italy, but THAT was awkward. i hope all italian people aren't like that. ugh.

Saturday was an awesome day to come back to... we had 2 appointments, and one of them was a girl who started talking to me in the busway a few weeks ago, and we've already met with her twice since then, and we have another appointment for next week. she really likes to learn about other religions, but doesn't really have a set religion for herself - however, i think she's pretty fascinated with our church, so hopefully we can continue helping her. she has a few questions - and not just the usual questions, but GOOD questions, like the one from yesterday was about grace and mercy, and if we have grace and mercy, what does it matter what we do in this life? she KNOWS there's more to it, but i think she's just trying to see what we think about that. so i've been doing a bit of scripture searching this morning, and i'm ready to answer her FAR better than i did yesterday (i just stumbled over my words - i hate it when i don't have scriptures to back me up!). but, i also hafta wait until next monday :( but oh well, i'm excited for it, and to see where things go with her. the biggest problem right now with Raz is that she lives so far away - about an hour or two from the church by busway if there isn't any traffic. so we'll see how we can help that...

we also met with ibu edi and her family again, and discussed Joseph Smith a bit more. we wanted to watch the Restoration, but their DVD player is broken, so that didn't work out so well. they're such a good family, and certainly good friends, but right now i'm a bit frustrated with their progress (cuz there is none really). they like to learn about what we believe, but there really isn't any desire to join our church, i think. so we might be dropping them here pretty soon...which is sad, cuz they really are good friends that are REALLY good people.

sunday, cherie came to church! so i taught her gospel principles, but we aren't meeting this week cuz they have their spring break, and her family is here from the Phillipines, so we'll try to set up an appointment for next week. we also had one of the elder's contacts randomly show up to church on sunday, and we have an appointment with her today. she also lives really far away, so we'll see what happens there, but if she came one week simply after only meeting a missionary, hopefully she'll keep coming!

we tried something different on sunday for our tracting...we walked thru OUR neighborhood. i talked to pres marchant last week, and he says we have too many people who live far away from the church, and he wants us to really start focusing more on getting to know people in the area around the church. so i started with our neighborhood, which was REALLY fun to get to know the people better that i see pretty often. i'm just sad to say that it's taken me 5 months and the idea from my mission president to do. we didn't contact anybody, but we did put out there that we're missionaries, and that we're here if anyone needs anything.

monday, we went with the millecams to visit 2 families in the branch that are a little less well off - one of the ladies is a single mom with 6 kids (one a brand new baby), and so they brought food with them. it was a quick trip for the Millecams, but we stayed after they left and shared a message with one, and i helped write a letter in english for the other. so it was productive. then we met with a referral (Siska) from one of the primary kids in our branch (Krisma. they're friends, and Siska has been coming with Krisma to church the last few weeks). i think i told you in my last email that we got permission (almost begging) from Siska's mom to start teaching her, and so we started really simply with God is our Heavenly Father, and your family is important. we then gave her a picture BofM, and read about the stripling warriors with her. she's 10, and she's REALLY smart, but i'm still afraid that the scriptures are a little bit over her head, so we gave her the first 4 stories in the picture BofM to read before we meet again next week. she seems really excited about learning, and once we get her sitting down (she is a VERY active child), she's really on top of things. her mom and older sister also have a lot of questions for us, and although they haven't sat in on our lessons yet (well, lesson...), hopefully they'll start soon, and they can learn right along with Siska. we already gave her sister her own BofM to start reading from, so hopefully she starts and has even more questions next week.

the rest of the week has been pretty quiet. sis lie is sick (from the AC i think in our room - we've been having a bit of a problem with someone liking the room WAY too cold, and now people are getting sick, people's tempers are flying a bit, and life is great! haha...we've found that if we just leave that one person alone, the rest of us can still have fun together, and it's no problem whatsoever :), so yesterday we only met with Raz, and today we're just going to senopati to try and figure out what we wanna do for this fireside in a few weeks, and then we're meeting with Valen after that. and for the rest of the week, i don't wanna start making appointments if sis lie is still sick...so we'll see what happens. but things are good, and i'm loving life in Jakarta again! i'm SOOOO happy to be back here! thanks for all your love and support, i miss you all so much (i even had a tiny bout of homesickness the other day...yes i still get that every once in a while - but it's gone now, so no worries)! LOVES!~Sister Saraoh, real quick, i guess there were MAJOR changes before we got back with the bule sisters getting moved - out of the 7 of us, only 3 of us are still in the same area, and yes that includes me and sis. so...sis and i still hafta get our kitas before we can leave the city, but after that, everything is up in the air. sis mongan goes home this time next month, and sis, me and lie have all been in jakarta long enough that all of us could get moved, altho that'd be stupid after how much success we're finally starting to have here - but yes, we'll see what happens in the next month. i think i'm at least here until after this fireside, since i AM in charge of it, but who really knows. everything in this mission is NEVER sure. but i'm happy where i am now, and that's what's really important :) LOVES!
Sister Sara

The "Fine" City‏

2010-03-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official...i'm here in Singapore writing you all :) as fun as it's been to take a break from Indonesia and experience something different, i'm feeling more and more like it's Heavenly Father's way of saying "Wake up! you're in the best mission in the world!" i mean..as if i didn't already know that, but it's just another wake up call. i'll say more in a bit.

last week was great...we met with Chern, who still is SOOO close to baptism, and had a great lesson with her...the Indo's are altogether this week while sis and i are here in singapore, doing both companionship's appointments, so i'm excited to see how they do with Chern. I told Lie that she was in charge of what to teach and everything (since i always plan everything for our appointments with Chern and Cherie), and so she picked Eternal Families, and i'll find out how that goes. i think it'll be good for Chern to learn from the humble Indonesians who have to work so hard to get to the temple, to maybe appreciate more the opportunity she has to go to the temple with her little family if she'll take the opportunity.

saturday we went to the home of a 10-yr-old girl (Siska) who has been coming to church lately with a member who is her friend, and got permission from her mom to teach her...but her mom wants to learn as well (chee-ya!), because she's already noticed a significant difference in her daughter's attitude just in the last 3 weeks that she's been coming to church. how cool is that? we're pretty excited, and Siska seems pretty excited and loves church. we also met with Celine, who we met last week, and she came to the relief society birthday social thing, and seemed to enjoy that. we taught her the 1st discussion before that started, and everything seemed to make sense to her. i found out that she comes from a Buddhist background, and is basically only Christian cuz her grandma took her to church when she got a little bit older. so she's been looking for a church to join that fits her better, and has been SUPER confused cuz there are so many churches... :) so hopefully she'll keep progressing, and especially reading from the BofM. she's awesome tho. and she went to church on sunday! so we FINALLY have a new progressing investigator! woohoo!!!

Sunday, we packed up all our stuff, and stayed the night at Senopati, then Monday morning we got up early and went to the airport, and here we are in Singapore! here's basically what happened in that short span of our first day here... arrive, wait for and meet sis wing (who was in my MTC group, and had to renew her visa...so it was a fun reunion!), drive to the mission office, meet the elders there...and what do ya know? elder ulrich is serving in Singapore, and will be with elder hall and elder allen from our group this week. it's actually been a lot of fun talking to him about home...yes carter, we've talked LOADS about you, and he says hi. turus, a bunch of the elders left, so we're left up in the air cuz we have no idea what we're doing, one of the elder's invites us to sit in on a Malay discussion he was going to have and MAYBE help teach since his comp doesn't know any Malay yet, and then he leaves 5 minutes into the lesson to give an interview, so Sis and i give the rest of the 1st discussion to this guy. it was AWESOME to be able to give the discussion in a different country with the language we've worked so hard to master, and just feel the testimony that this work really is going forward all across the world, and that i helped it in a small way in another country :) hopefully the guy understood us with our indonesian accents/words.....haha. oh, and i forgot to mention that we got a referral on the plane over! sis and i sat next to a girl from Jakarta who lives in Singapore, but doesn't really go to just one church here cuz she goes by herself, so hopefully the missionaries here will get on top of that one. she was really fun, and i even got to bear a bit of testimony that families can be together eternally.

then we went to the missionary couple's house...which is behind one of the churches here that used to be a mansion, but is now a church....AND the house that we stay in is the "mistresses quarters" from the guy that used to own the mansion. haha. makes me laugh, cuz it's a bit of an oxymoron, but whatevs. it's a SUPER nice house, and the beds are SOOOOOO comfy, and THEY HAVE HOT WATER! i love mandies, but i forgot what it was like to get in the shower and not want to leave cuz it feels so good...

tuesday, we went to the indonesian embassy, and we got to use a bit of our indonesian (I MISS SPEAKING INDONESIAN ALL THE TIME!!!) with the people there. then sis and i went out with the elders contacting...and this is where the fun begins. i HATE contacting here. it is seriously the most ridiculous thing in the world after being in indonesia, where the people LOVE you, and they WANT to talk to you. people here are absolutely cold, and will ignore you as much as possible. it is seriously the saddest thing, and the only people that i talked to were the indonesians! it just happened that the only people that i'd talk to who would talk back were indo...which i think says quite a bit about the people in my mission :) i actually talked to a few other people, but it was mostly just men hitting on me...some things never change, no matter WHAT country you're in. haha, i got invited to go dancing with one guy, and also to spend the week at his house if i ever went to Cambodia. nice guy, eh? lol. but we went back to the house, and met up with the other 2 sisters from our MTC group who are also here for their visa run...so it's been a really fun mtc reunion time. there was also one other elder from our group here, but the rest are coming in next week. there's also a sister that is here from Florida, so she knows emily richardson cuz she did splits with her before she left...so small world.

today was pday for the missionaries here, so we went to the beach out on one of the smaller islands, which was fun, and now i'm SUNBURNED!!!!! i haven't been sunburned in 7 months! because in jakarta, the pollution stops the uv rays from getting to your skin. so...i should've been smarter, but i forget that other places aren't as dirty as jakarta.

anyways, as much as i've enjoyed being here in singapore, I MISS INDONESIA!!!! i miss my people, i miss my language, i miss the food, i miss taking pics with every other person i bump into in the streets, i miss the trash, i miss the smell, i miss my comp. singapore is nice, but i would NEVER want to live here. maybe a few days of vacation time, but seriously...it's such a cold place. whereas, i really think i could live in indonesia at some point in my life. so i told sis last night, i'm here to gain a whole new appreciation for indonesia. and i have it. I'M SERVING IN THE GREATEST MISSION IN THE WORLD! it may not have a whole ton of baptisms, and there might be TONS of Muslims there, but it is such an amazing country, and there ARE people there to be found. we just gotta work hard to find them :)

anywho...i love and miss you all, and hope things are going well at home. i pray for you every night, and know that Heavenly Father is taking care of you guys while carter and i are away serving him. may you all look for opportunities to serve those around you, and PLEASE invite people to come to church with you! i know that you're life, and especially the life of whoever you invite, will be blessed beyond anything you could've imagined. loves!
~Sister Sara

Turut Berduka cita‏

2010-03-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

Another crazy week, but one that was joyfully filled with appointments and new ideas and…man alive, just a good week.

We visited Lena (this is for you, Jackie :P) last week, and she’s doing really good, but when we talked about coming into the fold of Christ (aka the church), she had some really interesting questions, like why does she HAVE to go to our church, since all churches teach good things, along with how come our church is the only church with the BofM. These are very important questions…so hopefully we answered the in a way that Lena could understand and realize that it is VERY important. However she wasn’t at church on Sunday :(

We visited Chern on Friday, and it was another great lesson. I don’t even feel like I’m really teaching Chern…half the time she’s teaching me, she understands the gospel so well. She’s great tho, and we had a great talk. On Sunday, her husband was made the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency, and I’ve heard from a few reliable sources that that was done on purpose…to put an added emphasis on getting Chern baptized. But we’ll see if it works.

I also had pres talk to me on Friday at DDM about putting together a fireside at Senopati for all the investigators in the English branch (which is basically Chern and Cheri, although the branch president says he has a few people he’d like to invite as well), and so I’ve been put in charge of that – woo hoo! Haha, I love stuff like that. I talked to President Donald (branch president), and we picked a date in late April, and I’m trying to decide what else we can do…although we’ll see what happens, and if I’m even still here at that point. But I’m excited!

Saturday, Sis Lie and I were invited, along with Elder & Sister Millecam, to a school that one of the member’s works at, where they had some sort of event…well ,come to find out, it was a celebration of Muhammed’s bday, and we (the Christian, bule missionaries) were the honored guests. Holy cow…this country is CRAZY! But it was awesome, and I had a lot of fun. We did announce our English class, and handed out our pass along cards, and I had one guy who was NOT happy at all, and actually took all my blank pass along cards (we gave all the ones with the info away, so I was filling more out) from me so I’d stop…ya, there was a tiny bit of a miscommunication problem involved, but whatevs. He was NOT happy, and he made it very plain, so I felt pretty bad, but then I had half the school come and apologize after that, so that made me feel better. Now if I could just get Sis Lie to be smarter about the people she tries to become “brave” with, we would’ve been just fine.

I also volunteered to make some new English class cards that have maps on them, so I’ve worked on that a few times this week and they look AWESOME. Definitely putting that in my file of fliers/whatever else I’ve made when I get home. We just gotta get it approved by president now :)

Cherie was at church again on Sunday! So we’re slowly progressing with her, but her mom comes home with the baby this week, along with her brother, and so when we met yesterday I told her the next few weeks are really going to show what’s going to happen with her from now on. It’s such a hard position, and pres just wants me to show her all the examples of people in the bible who chose the gospel over other obstacles, but… well, I just don’t feel right about that. Cuz to me, the family is SOO important, and unless she feels incredibly strong about getting baptized herself, it’s hard to force her to see things the way we see it. Cuz the way we see it is far easier than what it’d mean for her. So we’re praying and fasting for her.

We met a referral Sunday night, and she was really great…she’s going to come to the relief society activity on Saturday, and before that starts we’re going to teach her the first lesson. Sunday, we just met her and gave her the BofM, and kinda tried to explain a bit about that. She seemed pretty excited to read it, and her only question when we were done explaining was, “so does it have stuff in it like the Bible that helps you become a better person?” haha, we answered that of course it does, and she promised she’d read it. So we’ll see where things go with Selin.

We have another appointment tonight with a girl I met last week, Raz, who has PERFECT English and loves to learn about different religions. I’m excited to see how things go with her... she’s only 20 years old, but way more mature than me already, and has great plans for her future with psychology, and helping people understand it better. Yay for new people to teach!

So…funny story about Sis Lie. I mentioned that she broke her tailbone when we went ice skating a few weeks ago right? Well, she did, but it’s been better the last few weeks, until Monday…we were at the church, and she got on the phone to talk to someone, and went to sit down…and missed the chair and landed in a big empty bin….IT WAS THE FUNNIEST THING IN THE WORLD! At first I just asked if she was ok, but then she started laughing…which got me going, and then I couldn’t stop. Actually, I couldn’t do ANYTHING after that. I couldn’t tell the person on the phone to hold on (I finally did, but it took a while of calming down), or help Lie up…although it was an awkward position to try to help her anyways, but still…I felt bad, but it was HILARIOUS. Unfortunately, now I get to hear her every complaint and she walks even slower than before...but maybe that's just Heavenly Father saying that my patience isn't quite where it needs to be yet...joy :)

oh, i almost forgot! we went and visited 2 older members in the branch with Sister Suhendro (my fill-in Grandma here), and we originally planned to do that with regular transportation, which we figured would take all day but whatevs, and then Sister Stefi found out our plan, and volunteered to drive us...cuz she said we'd never get home if we did public transportation. she it actually ended up that Elder Subandryo went with us too, and it was a fun filled ride - but i just hafta say, the gentleman that we visited, with his wife, was the first Indonesian couple to serve a mission, and he'd specifically asked me at the conference with Elder Nelson to come visit him, which of course i promised to do...and he was SOOO grateful for it. he kept telling me how much he appreciated me keeping my promise, and especially for coming with Elder Subandryo (he REALLY looks up to Elder Subandryo a ton)...it was such a fun thing to do. we also visited Sister Suhendro's best friend, so it was cute to see them all excited to see each other, cuz i know that doesn't happen too often. so it was a really well spent 4 hours (vs the whole day :).

well, it's time to head...i love you all, and thanks again for all you do for me. God bless and loves~

~Sara

CANTIK

2010-03-11T04:15:00.000-08:00

Woohoo!This week has been fantastic as far as appointments go…we met with Chern, and although we never get that baptismal date, I always feel like she’s REALLY starting to understand the gospel more and more, which hopefully puts her that much closer to baptism. I actually learned a big lesson this week about following the promptings of the spirit… as I was preparing for the lesson on Friday morning, I had this feeling that we should talk about something else, but since I know Chern (she’s definitely “Asian” if you know what I mean…and if you don’t, ask someone who does), I knew that probably wouldn’t go over too well the day of, so I just went forward with the plan (we're learning from the Gospel Essentials manual, so she reads before we come over, and then we discuss). Well, in the appointment that day, she said something that went back to the subject that I’d been prompted to teach earlier… and I knew then that I had truly ignored the promptings of the Lord, who knows best how to help Chern. And here I am, the messenger who is supposed to be his mouthpiece… so that was disappointing to me, but I have repented, and now we have changed tomorrow’s discussion to what I was prompted in the first place. We’ll see how that goes…

Cherie has been AWESOME this week. We met on Saturday, and had a great lesson about the Restoration with the Orton’s and PJ. The Orton’s basically gave the lesson for me after we watched the movie, saying everything that I’d wanted to…so I just put it in the “challenge” form, and she agreed. Her family is starch Catholic, and her mother lives with them, watching their son, and so…well, we’re finding out that that’s the biggest obstacle for Cherie right now to overcome. She says she knows the church is true, but she doesn’t know if she can face her family, and especially break her mom’s heart. I’ve been putting myself in her situation, and I can definitely understand how hard that’s going to be. Her family (extended included…they’re VERY close) has supported her through school and her entire life (and again… her mom LIVES with them), and so it really is hard for her to overcome that. But her mom is gone with her son for 2 weeks to the Phillipines, so we’re trying to really focus on her knowing where God wants her to go right now, so that when her mom gets back, she’ll know more solidly what God wants, and she’ll hopefully have the strength to do whatever she needs. She came to church on Sunday, and then we met again last night, and discussed the Plan of Salvation. Again…I felt prompted to say a lot of things that I hadn’t planned on (about the PofS AND especially other things), so hopefully there was at least something there that helped her find her answer. They are seriously the cutest little couple…man alive! And PJ’s been really good about church, and he’s really working on doing what he needs to to get to the temple next year. So we’re working with them…

Besides that, all the Indonesian’s we’re teaching have been out of town, so it’s been a bit of a slow week again, EXCEPT FOR ZONE TRIP!!!! Monday we went to the beach, and it was SOOO much fun! I personally still would’ve preferred to ride the elephant at Taman Safari, but the beach was a close second. We went to the beach on Jawa that is closest to Krakatawa (that is totally and completely spelled wrong, but it’s the volcano that erupted and was so huge that it separated Jawa from Sumatera… yes, president told me the whole story. Haha, he’s lucky I love to hear all his stories, cuz all the other missionaries just say “yes president” then leave, but I love to hear about all his knowledge of Indonesia), and it was so nice. Maybe not completely clean, but better than what I’ve heard about Ancol. It was hard to not swim when we first got there, but Heavenly Father is a very understanding and loving Father, so he sent clouds after lunch that cooled things down and helped me to not be tempted to jump in the water. Haha. It was fun tho…funny story. So after all the pics were taken, we went and changed into more comfortable clothes, and when I came out, most of the boys were playing football in the sand while all the girls were just watching. Well…LAME! I was seriously so disappointed, and no one wanted to play…so I watched for about 5 minutes, and then I felt like I was in that scene from the Sandlot, where the nerd jumps off the diving board, and says “I can’t take it anymore!” while watching the lifeguard chick…haha, I just stood up, walked onto the beach, and told the closest elder to me that I was going to play, and which team he wanted me on. Well, it took a bit of warming up (I don’t know if they thought I was serious or what), but they actually started passing the ball to me, and I caught almost all the passes :P haha, but when I caught the ball, I couldn’t go anywhere, cuz they couldn’t touch me… so that was lame, but I got to play so whatevs. It was fun, and I was sweaty and sandy when it was over. I loved it!

Lunch was good…sloppy joes with fried rice, haha. Then somebody started a game of soccer, and some of us got bored, so we took a stroll down the beach…which was TONS of fun. And we got a ton of fun pics with the whole group. It was interesting, tho, cuz about half the elders with us are going home today, and so they were TRUNKY. So we had some fun with that. When we got back to the picnic area, everyone was packing up to go, and we went home. So that was kinda sad…I’m not gonna lie, after a “normal” day, planning for Tuesday was REALLY hard. There were actually a few tears from the sisters in Bandung about the thought, I felt so bad (apparently things are really hard down there right now…), but I’m feeling better today so no worries :) the work moves forward, and the more days I’m here, the more likely I am to meet someone new who is ready and waiting to receive the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am so incredibly grateful for my calling, for my opportunity to serve in Indonesia. I really have been so incredibly blessed here…I have so many new friends who have become my temporary family, and I know that I will always be close to them, even when I’m on the other side of the world again.

I was telling Cherie last night…I KNOW I’m here for a reason. There have been too many “accidents” in the last year to make any doubt in my mind about God’s plan for me vanish (knee, mtc group, visa problems, being comps with Sis Lie, and MANY more). I’m here for a reason, and I’m gonna work hard so that I can look back and KNOW what that reason(s) was. I love you all, and thank you again and again for the support and love. I look at all these people who go through their lives in this gospel without the support of their families, and I have no idea how they do it…I am SOOO blessed. Loves!

~Sister Sara

Elder Nelson

2010-03-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Whew, another week has come and gone, and WOW…time really is going by too fast. I was talking to Sis the other night, and we were talking about how fast march is going to go by…we have our zone trip on Monday, then a week or two after that we should be heading to Singapore, then a week or two after we get back transfers should be happening… and the clock’ll keep ticking, and the time I’ll be spending in this once-in-a-lifetime country will be up…I really need to stop focusing on that tho…sorry! I just can’t believe how fast time really DOES go by when you’re serving God.

So this week was definitely the worst week for us as far as numbers go, but it was SUCH an amazing week! Especially with Elder Nelson…here’s what happened…Friday morning we went to the church early to practice a song we were gonna sing for zone conference, and then it was instructions from President about what was going to happen when Elder Nelson came, and then we waited…and the second Elder Nelson came over to all of us missionaries, I could literally feel the different spirit that was with him. I was talking to someone else at the time, but I felt something different, so I turned and looked, and there he was…it really was an incredible feeling.

After we took a picture, we all got to shake his hand individually, and that was really nice… but I quickly realized that when he looked at me, I couldn’t keep his gaze very well because THE MAN LOOKS INTO YOUR SOUL! LITERALLY! I could feel it! And I felt totally and completely unworthy…the entire weekend, we talked a few times, and each time I would LOVE to hear him speak, but the second his attention was focused on me, I didn’t feel worthy to keep eye contact…which really can be compared to how we’re going to feel in the Lord’s presence at judgment. This was certainly the closest I’ve ever come to feeling that kind of inadequacy, and it has made me better appreciate the gift of every day repentance that we’re given here on earth…something that I REALLY do need to improve on.

Anyways, so all the talks at Zone conference were great…sis Marchent focused on the need for everyone to repent, especially missionaries (which I leaned over to Sis Rhondeau and said that that was an interesting subject to focus on with an apostle there to witness…but then when Elder Nelson talked, he actually focused A TON on her words, which only made me realize that it doesn’t matter what we teach with whomever…it’s what the SPIRIT tells us to teach that’s important…and for sis Marchent, that was repentance), and Pres’s words on being more brave were REALLY great to hear. Elder Nelson was accompanied with the Elder Perkins, a member of the 2nd quorum of the seventy (I think…) who is over the entire Asia area, and who is possibly up there with Elder Holland for one of my favorite speakers…he was INCREDIBLE. I wonder if he’s ever given a talk in Conference…if not, hopefully he will soon, cuz he really was POWERFUL. So he and his wife talked next, then Sis Nelson spoke (mom and Kel, do you remember when she came and talked with Sheri Dew for some relief society thing in the stake? I didn’t realize it was her until she started talking about how her life had been led several times by questions she’s asked at conference…she was supposed to marry some guy, but from conference felt that she shouldn’t, and a few years later found out he was NOT a good person? Remember that? Ya…she’s an incredible speaker too!), and then Elder Nelson. He spoke about so many different things, but basically what both he and Sister Nelson focused on were that miracles COULD be done in Indonesia, and that we needed to believe in them. They both actually shared my 2 favorite scriptures… 3 Nephi 5:13 and D&C 31:3. and that’s how I know I pick good scriptures to be my favorite :)After zone conference, we headed to Ancol to meet with Chern and Bro Hunter…and MAN was I nervous, cuz this was the meeting that I was going to challenge Chern to baptism. We talked about the atonement, and it was REALLY nice to have Bro Hunter there, cuz he knows how to explain things so Chern will understand better, and it was a REALLY productive meeting. And, when the timing felt right, we read from Acts about how we can show Christ that we accept His atonement…and after she answered by being baptized, I LAYED IT OUT THERE. Yup…my first one on the mish, and holy cow, her reaction was actually pretty awesome (even Bro Hunter told me after that it surprised him, and it was the first time she’s ever acted like that before…which I take to be a good thing!). I asked if she would make March 14 her baptism date, and her eyes got HUGE and she said “March 14?” and I said yes, and then she sat up in her chair and said, “oh no… NOW I’m REALLY scared.” I’m not trying to push her, but I wanted to put a date out there so she’d start REALLY thinking about a date, so I told her to pray about the date, then afer that, we went over a few other scriptures, mostly the talk from Alma to the people in Mosiah telling them what is required before you’re ready to be baptized, and when she said that she wanted all those things, we read the scripture that says something along the lines of, then why not be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost? That seemed to calm her down a lot, and she was smiling when we left…so we’ll find out tomorrow when we meet again what she wants to do, and then Sunday Bro Hunter wants us all to fast with her. So that should be good.Saturday night we had relief society meeting with Sister Perkins and Sister Nelson, and it’s really funny how these meetings go with translators, cuz some people don’t understand/answer questions in the way they’re meant, or the translator starts bawling halfway thru the lesson, or someone else answers who just likes to talk and goes on in Indonesian for 20 minutes…to which the translator starts translating into Indonesian. Haha. It was REALLY funny, but also very inspiring. We learned about having questions so we can receive inspiration to answer those questions. It was really good.

At the adult session Saturday night, PJ came but Cherie was “out with friends” and Sister Orton and PJ were both pretty upset about that…but I still feel like PJ needs to keep showing Cherie that he’s serious about becoming active in the church again, and if that means he has to come to meetings alone, so be it. Besides, I think that meeting was almost better for PJ to be there alone to listen to. Chern came with Bro Hunter, but they had Torin there too, so Bro Hunter volunteered to stay downstairs with him so Chern could focus on the talks upstairs…which was SOOO good. I actually made a few people mad making them move around so there would be seats for Chern (one guy said he HAD to sit on the end so he could leave early…then we sat behind him and he stayed the whole time which kinda ticked me off cuz he was so rude about it but…[exhale] it’s over now, so whatevs). She stayed upstairs the whole time until Elder Nelson got up to speak…which was for over an hour, so I was ok with that. I don’t think she would’ve normally done that, but she seemed to REALLY be listening, which I’ve never seen before cuz she’s always so busy with Torin. Who knows there!

Sunday was incredible as well…Cherie came to that, but was taking care of Gale the whole time so said she didn’t get much outta the meeting (but at least she was there?). I talked to her, and we’re now going to meet every week, whether PJ can meet or not. I’d actually prefer to work with her on her own, like I’ve done with Chern, cuz I think she can be more free to ask questions and have the lessons more directed towards her if we do it like that, and she can also feel more free to voice concerns or whatever she’s feeling. So I’m excited to meet with her on Saturday! Chern was there with Bro Hunter too, so it was a good showing. I also had one of the people that I contacted show up… we’ll see how that goes. He is a bit of a “lost boy” – he sings on buses for his living, and lives on the streets. However, from Saturday night to Sunday morning, he said he read the BofM from the beginning to Alma 26. I sure hope the elders are taking good care of him… he was SO excited about everything…but ya know, sometimes I hafta worry about some of the elders, so we’ll see how it goes. Man I wish I could teach men myself sometimes!Yesterday we went ice skating for Pday, and sis lie fell SOOOO hard… I think she broke her tailbone. So that’s been fun the last 24 hours to hear. Haha. Pretty funny actually, but I do feel bad too. I told her to carry around a pillow on the buses, but she wouldn’t…although I feel like that might change tomorrow, cuz today she hasn’t enjoyed going around on buses. The bumpiness isn’t so great for a broken tailbone.

Anywho, that’s about it for the news here. Dad, I had a personal run in with Elder Nelson, where he asked me if I played basketball…to which I replied rushed and nervously (remember what I said about him piercing to your soul with his eyes…I really felt so stupid…) “yes, and you operated on my grandpa, and my dad dated your daughter, Emily.” Haha, he just looked at me, and said something about how he thought I might be “from that line” and then talked about some other things… then before he walked away, he said “Charles Hewlett, right?” I was a bit shocked (changed subjects PLUS remembered the name), and said yes before he was ushered upstairs to start the meetings for the night. He also brought up Margaret Ann Sara Hewlett later that night…after his wife asked what my first name was, and said we were related. Which Margaret Ann is that? Anywho…yes, it was a good weekend, and seems to have carried over pretty well to me and Sis Lie this week. We get along better and better with almost every week, so that’s been really good. This broken tailbone also gives me a good chance to serve her, so I’m grateful for that as well.

Anywho, this is already too long. I love you!

Loves~Sister Sara

Datang dan mendengar suara seorang nabi!‏

2010-02-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

(Come and hear the voice of a prophet)

Well, this week has been a really slow week… mostly cuz the appointments that we have fall through at the last minute, or the people we go to visit aren’t home. So…ya, that’s been a little frustrating, but as is life and I’ve gotten a lot of HOPEFULLY good contacts…so we’ll find out next week.

Ok…so this really is sad, but I’m looking over what all I could write about, but there really isn’t too much. Almost all of our visits have fallen through, and the ones that we did have haven’t been all that exciting. Ah well, I’ll take ya through the few anyways…

We met with an elderly sister in the ward the other day who is the only member in her family who is still active in the church…her husband is REALLY old, and he can get around their house but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t come to church cuz he’s not able. Then all the children have married people in other religions have followed their spouse. So this little old lady comes to church every week alone, and was so happy to have us come visit her. I asked her if there was anything that we could help her with, right then or later, and that if she ever needed anything she could just call, and she actually started tearing up! She kept saying she didn’t need anything, but she must’ve been touched by my offer to help. Sis Lie was then touched by the lady, and she started crying during the visit, and then after we left, we had a good 1/2 hour conversation about her dad, and how she wants her dad to become like that little old lady, and also she was worried when she got old lady, and also she was worried when she got old that she wouldn’t be like that lady. So that was an interesting conversation, and hopefully I had good enough advice for her. But really…I feel incredibly blessed to not have to wonder IF I’ll still be going to church when I’m old cuz I KNOW from the examples of my grandparents that I will. I always feel like the luckiest member in Indonesia, cuz I have such an active ancestry in the church…I don’t have to wonder where I come from or where I’m going, because it’s already there…behind and in front of me. I have no doubts in my mind about that. So thank you family for your wonderful examples to me!

We met with that lady again this week, who I found out is named Ibu Yani (I dunno if I knew that or not last week…), and well…it was a little disheartening after having the Spirit there so strongly last week. We showed up, and there were again tons of people around, but this time she was joining in with them, smoking and everything (which was REALLY disheartening to Sis Lie), and when we asked if she had time to meet with us, she said she was busy and would be until after Easter…don’t ask me why Easter, but that’s what she said. So…ya. That was a bummer, but we’ll try again if we’re still here after Easter.

We didn’t meet with Chern last week (in Malaysia), Cherie (had family in town), or Israel (busy, getting ready for her trip to Malaysia next week). So ya. Like I said…pretty disheartening, but we’re meeting Chern on Friday, so I’m excited to see where that goes. I’m gonna try to set a baptismal date for her. I’m a little scared to do that, but I REALLY think she’s ready, and I don’t think she’s ever going set a date, so I’m just gonna go for it. Pray for her to have a soft heart!So, my bule experiences for this week are: I contacted a lady the other day, and that night she called the house and wanted her daughter to talk to me in English. I was really touched by that, and hopefully we’ll be able to set up an appointment with them next week. I also started to talking to a girl (who I thought was a boy, which was REALLY awkward when I realized she was a girl…she’s from Papua, and they’re basically from Africa…you really wouldn’t be able to tell the difference…anyways, so she had really short hair and a hat on…but when she talked, it was with a high voice. AWKWARD!) on the bus, and it ended up that she was going somewhere with 3 of her roommates, all Christian, and they each took a few pictures with me before I contacted them. So yes… hopefully we’ll have another for sure appointment next week. In a house full of girls, I’m hoping we can help them feel the Spirit and want to keep learning! I’ve come to this conclusion with Indonesians…they either hate or love bules. So, the church is incredibly smart to have both indos and bules here. The bules help get people interested who love bules, and the indos get everyone else who are REALLY just interested in the church. It’s a great system.

Although times get hard sometimes, I’m grateful that Heavenly Father always gives us another day, so things can get easier. The last 6 months (yes, I’m almost officially 1/3 of the way done with my mission…crazy!) have been the greatest roller coaster of emotions I’ve ever experienced, but I would never give a single moment of that up for any amount of money. I’ve always been lucky to have the people who surround me look out for me and help me through those difficult days…even if they didn’t know how to, they were just THERE, and that was enough. I feel like I’ve gained a lot of those friends here on the mission, and I’m so grateful for that. I’m especially excited to hear the voice of a prophet this weekend…3 times! I’ve been trying to prepare myself to be open and ready for any and all that the Holy Ghost will teach me through Elder Nelson, and hopefully I’m ready for this experience. We’ve been trying to get our investigators to come as well, but none of them can, and that makes me REALLY sad, because this really is such a chance of a lifetime almost…it’s been 10 years since President Hinckley came, and he was the last major authority. I’m lucky to be here! Anyways… thank you all so much for the prayers and support…I love you all so much, and know without a shadow of doubt in my mind that God loves each and every one of us, that Joseph Smith restored Christ’s church to the earth, and the Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and I owe everything I am to Him. Loves!
~Sister Sara

Pictures

2010-02-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken and e-mailed to my parents from a couple from the mission:

Bagaimana kabarnya?

2010-02-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

The weeks continue to fly by… and this one was another good one, with a lot of really good lessons. We met with Jesse, a member from California who has basically just been living here for the last 10 years for the heck of it, and his fiancé on Friday night. Jesse’s fiancé is Muslim, and he’s trying to get her interested in the church without forcing it on her. So, we met at the Millecam’s, had a very delicious, American dinner (Elder Millecam made meatloaf with potatoes and rolls…and rice, of course :), and then we talked about spiritual talents from Moroni 10, and hopefully that went ok. I think if she spends more time around the members, she might get more interested…which means Jesse is gonna hafta be patient with her.

We met with a lady who comes to the English class and has taken the discussions before, and well…it was totally and completely the worst lesson I’ve ever been in. she’s one of those people that LOVE to talk, so you’re afraid to ask any questions cuz they’ll go off for 30 minutes before you even get a CHANCE to interrupt and get back to the question that they STILL didn’t answer. Well…basically, she doesn’t believe in prophets (and yet somehow still believes the Bible is the word of God…PLEASE explain that to me? She tried to, but I didn’t understand much, and Sis Lie said she just beat around the bush with her answer anyways, so whatevs), and as soon as she said that, the small amount of the Spirit that had been there completely left the room. It was…oh man, I stuttered over all my words, and literally almost felt like I was gonna pass out. That might’ve been cuz the AC wasn’t working, but I also know it had to do with the loss of the Spirit. Ugh. She wasn’t working, but I also know it had to do with the loss of the Spirit. Ugh. She called later that night to tell us that she didn’t want to meet anymore, which I was ok with. Maybe she just needs some time…

And not Mas Dedewy is Brother Dedewy! Totally awesome, he had his baptism on Sunday, and it was really cool to meet with his parents the day before with all the missionaries from our ward, and hear his own mother testify about how much he’d changed since he started going to our church! I had a very distinct feeling that Brother Dedewy will become a great influence on his family, and they’ll be following soon.

Monday we had splits, and so me and Sis Mongan spent the whole day together. We met with this “crazy” guy who always calls our house with questions, and he was actually TOTALLY cool. He switched religions from Islam to Christianity about 2 or 3 years ago, and he soaks EVERYTHING in. He absolutely loves the New Testament, and if Sister Mongan said anything that he didn’t understand fully, he’d counter with scriptures from the NT, and then we’d read it, and Sis Mongan would explain how that WAS what she said, but he was not understanding completely. It was a really cool “lesson” to be a part of. We started with Lesson 1, but it turned into Sis Mongan giving basically the whole lesson, cuz he had so many questions that I didn’t understand and couldn’t quite help with, and she talked about Joseph Smith and the BofM at the end, and he called today and has already started reading it. So we’ll see how he comes along. He’s got spirit…that’s for sure.

Tuesday we didn’t have anything to do all day, so we were just proselyting the busway when I remembered that there was a lady in a neighborhood close to where we were who had said that we could come teach her…and then we forgot. So Sis Lie and I went and visited her, and had one of the most spiritual lessons I’ve ever had…complete with loud music in the background, people interrupting every few minutes (she owns a little “store” which is really just a few shelves with drinks, snacks, and cigarettes on it) to buy stuff, and quite a few men just coming to check out “the bule.” Hopefully she felt the spirit as well…we’ll find out next week how it goes. Hopefully she comes to church…but again, we’ll see!

That night we met with Israel, and man was that a ride. We watched The Restoration, and she LOVED it. As soon as it ended, she said, “Joseph Smith has inspired me to search out and find my own answer about which church is true!” After we had finished bearing our testimonies, the conversation transitioned into questions about what her friends have been telling her about our church… which just showed to me that Satan is certainly at work all over the world, stopping anyone who won’t seek out their own answer that our church is completely corrupt. It’s disgusting, and apparently the rumors are pretty serious here in Jakarta. However, she asked about polygamy, and THANK GOODNESS Elder Subandryo walked in right then, and so he was able to give the most perfect answer about that part of the history of this church that I’ve ever heard. It was simple, direct, and honest. His testimony after was amazing, as well, and now I have high hopes of becoming as good of a teacher as he is. Hopefully he helped Israel with her questions…I gave her the interenet addresses for the LDS websites, and told her that she can find whatever she wants about our church on the web, but if she wanted what we REALLY believe, that was her best source. We’ll meet next week and find out how that went…

Yesterday we went to Sis Mongan and Sis’s investigators, Ibu Desy, work to join in her aerobics class! Wow…and again, I was reminded of WHY I like running over that. It was so fast and ridiculous…no worries, I have film to prove that I should NEVER be forced to do anything like that in front of other people. After we were done, I had a man start talking to me about where I was from and why I was there, and found out that he owned one of the food places next to Desy. After he left from talking to me, he called Desy’s husband over to him (Desy’s husband was baptized last month, and he’s the reason why Desy got interested in the church, cuz she saw what a change for the better came over him after he started learning), and he told Desy’s husband to be careful with “that church” cuz it wasn’t a good church…luckily, Desy’s husband has become used to hearing that from other people (they haven’t been really closed about their learning about our church, and have the elders come and eat all the time), and just told the man that if he thought that, he was wrong and should learn about what the church is REALLY about. I was really proud of Desy’s husband, and her as well. She was telling us after that she doesn’t understand why everyone speaks so rudely about our church when she’s only seen good things come from it. But that’s just Satan at work…luckily there are people in this world who have been prepared to receive the Gospel, even with all the gossip from other people.

Well, that’s about it for me this week…I love and miss you all loads…but alas, I have been called to a Great and Marvelous work, and I love working in the Lord’s vineyard! AND NEXT WEEK WE MEET ELDER NELSON, so I’m REALLY happy to be here right now :P anywho, I hope all is well at home, and know that I’m always praying for you all. Loves!

~Sister Sara

Pictures

2010-02-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Me and Plaentina

Baptism Day!

December 13, 2009

Zone Conference

Dec '09

West Java

Just FYI--you can't get more Indonesian than this! :) New Years

Our Christmas Tree-A water jug with paper and decorations (provided by Sister Millecam and decorated by Sister Mongan and Okamoto). Dec '09

Me and My new friend--I call him "Batu" (stone) :)

January 13, 2010

Sorry, I know this is blurry, but I think its fun. Its me with Didi, the Subandryo's daughter who is 15-she's fun

Dec 22, 2009

At the zoo on Pday

Me and Sis Lie

January 13, 2010

All us sisters with Sis O's investigator, Iriana @ the RIDICULOUS funeral home--seriously. It was insane what they have here. More of a party house than funeral home.

Jan. 6, 2010

Kesabaran--sorry this is late, sent 2/4

2010-02-12T01:12:00.000-08:00

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

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-12T00:52:00.000-08:00

The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away… and in my case, I’m glad He took people out of my life who only cause problems, and has instead given me blessings beyond what I deserve.

We didn’t meet with Cherie and PJ this week, but PJ got a calling as a Sunday school teacher, so he came on Sunday! But Cherie didn’t, so now I’m gonna hafta start pushing more for her to start coming to church with PJ, and getting her more involved there. The time is just so short…I know I’ll be getting moved soon (possibly after Singapore in March, is my guess), and I want Cherie and PJ in a solid situation before I leave!We met with Chern last week, and had possibly the best discussion yet. It was about Christ’s life, and she really seems to understand things pretty well. I was all hyped up and excited to meet with her this week, but when I called me to make sure that we still had an appointment, I found out that we had had a miscommunication, so we weren’t able to meet…and I was SOOOO mad at myself for that. People…this is why you don’t text. Cuz things are never as clear over text as they are when you talk on the phone. So we weren’t able to meet one more time before she leaves for Malaysia to visit her parents, but she’ll be getting back just in time for Elder Nelson, and we HAVE to meet before that meeting. I’m also worried about leaving Chern anytime soon…she’s SOOO close, it’s only a matter of time. But I’m going to leave her strong if it’s the last thing I do!

We’ve met with this one lady, Ibu Visinsia, a few times, and…well, it’s an interesting situation, but she basically only likes to meet with Sis and me cuz we’re Bules, and her grandson and daughter come to our English class. But we’ve been taking turns going to their house, and I told Sis Lie last week that if we went and all they wanted to do was feed us and talk about who knows what like they always do, we weren’t going back again, cuz it was a waste of time. However, when we went last week, it was Ibu Visinsia, her husband, and her daughter that all sat in with us, and all listened to the Plan of Salvation and seemed to understand it pretty well. I don’t think the other two are reading the BofM, but Ibu Visinsia had read bits and pieces of it, and so she had some fun and interesting questions that we got to try and answer. It ended up being a really good appointment, and hopefully they’ll just get more and more interested (although I have a feeling they might fall into the “Eternigator” category, cuz their church is at the same time as ours, so they basically refuse to come to our church…even tho their church has like 5 times to choose from…) and keep following thru with the commitments. We’ll see!

I think I mentioned last week that we were going to start teaching a girl named Israel that we randomly met (or I should say the Elders did), and we’ve taught her twice since then. We taught her the restoration lesson on Tuesday night, and then today we did the Plan of Salvation. She is GOLD. She has questions, but it’s more or less about who people are, and how it correlates with the Bible, but their still questions that I love! After we taught the Restoration lesson, she wanted to read the full account from Joseph Smith, so we gave her the pamphlet that we have with that in it, and so then today she was asking who Moroni was, and how he fit into the picture, and then a bit about Oliver Cowdery as well…she’s sharp, and she likes it when we explain things to her so it’s more clear. It’s been great teaching her, and we’ll be teaching her again on Monday at the Millecam’s, so I’m excited to see where she goes!

Haha, I almost forgot…so I got my hair cut the other day at a beauty school, and MAN! The haircut isn’t bad, no worries, but the girl that cut my hair looked/acted like she wanted to kill herself the whole time! I felt so bad…here I was, this bule getting my hair cut by a poor little lady from Medan who has probably never cut a bule’s hair before, which can only add more stress…but it turned out fine, and hopefully she’s still alive, haha. It really was funny tho… we walked in, and when Sis Lie told the lady at the front desk that we wanted hair cuts, the lady looked at me, then turned back to Sis Lie and said, “You know this is a SCHOOL, right? These AREN’T professionals.” Haha. I think she was worried about having a bule there. Man alive. It’s crazy being in a country where skin color can mean so much!

So for FHE, we met with Sister Suhendro, a cute little old lady in the branch who reminds me SOOO much of you, Grandma! She is adorable. She joined the church with her husband and kids in the early 70’s, and all are still in the church, and most (if not all…I’m not sure) have served missions when they’re old enough. She also served a senior mission about 10 years ago (after her husband died), and she told me she did that to set the example for her grandkids. She has such the funniest sense of humor…I only wish I could understand her better so I could laugh harder, but everyone else always laughs whenever she says anything, cuz she’s just funny, just like you Grandma. Always loving and ready to help with anything she can. She actually even had her next door neighbor over with her 2 kids on Monday, and afterwards we found out the they’re Muslim, so that was REALLY cool, and she said she’s gonna keep trying to share about the Gospel with them. SO COOL! Just goes to show, you’re never too old to share the Gospel…I believe she’s 78. She told me, but I forgot. All I remember is that she’s a few years younger than Grandma, so 78 is my best guess. So cool!

Well, that’s basically my last week in a nutshell. We’re hopefully going to be meeting with a few of our contacts this week… FINALLY! We haven’t had too much success with our contacts, but I’m gonna try to focus more getting those appointments, cuz we NEED them.

Oh…I thought of one other thing. Sis and Sis Mongan will get an addition in the next few days (or weeks…we’re not quite sure when). One of the missionaries from Bandung is being transferred to Jakarta, so that’ll be an interesting experience. I dunno how they feel about that, since they get along REALLY well, and have a lot of good things going for them, and this other missionary is said to be one of the tougher sisters to be comps with, but I’m sure if anyone can still have success, it’s Sis and Sis Mongan. We’ll see how it goes! But I’m not gonna lie…I’m just glad she’s not joining me and Sis Lie, cuz we’re just starting to get used to each other, and having a third person would only throw things off even more. Phew!

Happy Valentine’s on Sunday! It’s always a good chance to tell the ones you love that you love them…so I want to tell you all how much I love and appreciate all of you and the support, prayers, and letters. I really am blessed beyond what I should have, and I’m immensely grateful for that. I hope you all have a good week, and remember that I love and miss you tons! However, this is the Lord’s work, and I’m beyond happy to do my part in helping move that along. It truly is a great and marvelous work, and although it’s NOT easy, it IS important, and it IS what I’m supposed to be doing right now. I have no doubt in my mind about that, and I’m grateful for the trust that God has put in me to do this for Him…hopefully I don’t let Him down! Loves~
~Sister Sara

Beruntung :)‏

2010-02-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

Whew…where to start this week, huh? Well, zone conference is good. As usual, it was inspiring, and actually EXACTLY what I needed. Pres had Elder & Sister Paul from Honk Kong come and talk to us…a psychiatrist and nurse. They talked about stress and anxiety, and it’s effects on a mission, basically telling us that what we’re feeling is normal (I think maybe cuz pres was sick of telling so many missionaries the same thing, but no one believes him cuz he doesn’t have the PH.d). they talked a lot about how to bring down the stress level…which was basically to just remember that everyone has their agency, and as long as we do our very best, that’s good enough. Which…I think was good, but I also thought they should’ve pointed out that we’re supposed to always STRIVE to become perfect, even tho actually becoming perfect is obviously not possible. But whatevs…it was good. Pres talked about death, cuz his 91 yr old mom died the week before (sorry dad…he already had a pre-need plan for her at another mortuary…but I tried :P). it was good, and definitely gave me a good boost for the last week… cuz I NEEDED it.

The sad news for the week is that Indri’s baptism is off. Hopefully just postponed, but most likely off. I’m not gonna go into details, but we’re not quite sure how much of her story is true, and we’ve spent the last week chasing after her. So now we’re done chasing, and ready to get back to work… which means contacting because we don’t have ANYBODY. I’ve been REALLY frustrated lately because we can’t seem to get ANY appointments with any of our contacts, while Sis and Sis Mongan have at least 2 or 3 every day. I know we’re not supposed to compare ourselves…but it’s kinda hard when we go thru our entire contact list and not a single person will meet with us, and they try 5 people, and get appointments with 4 of them. Ugh. Ya…I’ve been frustrated the last few days, and possibly a little depressed. But I’m trying to push thru that and just keep talking to people, and keep worrking to try and find those people who WILL listen to us. Actually… I have a testimony that that will happen, just from our experience yesterday…here’s the story.

Yesterday we had nothing, so we went to a big mall out by Chern’s house where Sister Mongan said there are a lot of Christians. But, we found that there aren’t any good central places to sit and find people to contact (other malls have fountains in the middle of them or some place that you can just sit and wait for people to sit next to you to start a conversation), altho sis lie did contact one person, which was totally awesome. I think I just hate shopping without a purpose too much to be good at it..but anywho, we left there and were sitting the bus station for about an hour, and I had one Muslim lady who invited me to her house just so she could have a bule there, and another Christian lady who I think I scared somehow (luckily sis lie contacted her later…ugh), which got me thinking about how I’ve been here for 3 months…and I’m totally sick of people who either hate me because I’m a bule, or are just overly excited to be talking to a bule in Indonesian…where all they want is pictures and to touch my skin (yes, skin DOES feel the same, no matter what color it is, people :P). it’s fine if that happens and I get a good contact out of it every once in a while, but…ugh, I was just really frustrated. So I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me to find some good contacts, and find someone who could help bring my spirits up. On the way back to our usual proselyting areas, I had the thought that we were passing by Ibu Agnus’ house, one of the 2 lessons we’ve taught with our contacts, and it’d been over a month since we’d been able to meet with them cuz they’re always busy. So I told Sis Lie we should go there and just drop in. she didn’t like the idea at first, but she finally gave in, and we went…and it was AWESOME. We just followed up with them and shared a scipture, but they had a lot of questions, and the father has been praying about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and he’d read almost all of 3rd Nephi… not to mention that I understood FAR more this time than the last time. So we tried to answer all his questions, and even Ibu Agnus was more involved in this lesson than she had been in the last (she was REALLY quiet in the last one, but this time she read scriptures and asked a few of her own questions, so that was really good!). so then I was able to go home feeling FAR better about things. Thank goodness I have a Heavenly Father who hears and listens to my prayers, especially when I need them the most!

Another funny story…while at this mall, I was looking at movies, and I found CHURCHBALL! And then I freaked out. Lol. Who would’ve thought? Churchball in Indonesia? I was gonna buy it for Sis Lie, but it was a bad copy so I didn’t…but I just thought that was a funny, random thing to find here.Today we went to the national museum for pday, and that was fun. Remember that picture that steve found on the internet right after I got my call, mom? I now know that that is a tribe in Papua, and the reason behind their “dressings.” Haha, I told sis about that, and she just laughed.

I met with Chern last week, and I had Bro Hunter come as well, since I wanted to hear about their trip, and plus I think it’s good for him to be there every once in a while. We had a good discussion on our eternal families. But now we’re going to focus on her testimony of Christ. She comes from a Bhuddist background, so I don’t know that she has a true understanding of Christ and His Atonement…and without that…ya, why would you get baptized? So we’re really gonna be working on that the next few weeks, and hopefully that helps with her. Bro Hunter is such an awesome guy…and I know what her getting baptized would mean to him, so I want to help them as much as I possibly can to become the eternal family that they both want! I’m meeting with both Chern and Cherie this weekend, so hopefully those will keep being regular weekly appointments, and I can help both the families become eternal. I feel like that’s a lot of the reason that I’m still here in Jakarta…to work with these two families, and I’m so grateful for that opportunity. Sis lie is always really nervous to talk in them, but she does a good job, and she understands most of what’s going on.

One of the elders told me that our Singapore “trip” has been moved to March…so I should still be here for both the zone trip AND Elder Nelson! Woohoo! I’m so excited! I especially excited for Elder Nelson. I read a talk by him that I’m going to have Chern read about Christ and His Atonement, and…holy cow. Definitely the words of a man called of God. It’s gonna be a great experience to be here when he comes and visits Indonesia, and I’m grateful I get to be here for that.Well…time is running short. But time is also going by fast. I’m almost at 5 months now…almost 1/3 done! Craziness. But I’m grateful for this experience, and especially for family and friends who support me so much. I know your prayers truly are answered when it comes to me…cuz I’m still here, still kicking, still working hard. There’s no way I would be able to do any of this without the support of all of you. So thank you so much…I love you all so much! Have a good week, loves~

~Sister Sara

almost 5 months out...crazy!‏

2010-02-03T04:42:00.000-08:00

Well, another week. I wish I had a lot of good news, but this is week has been a bit of bummer week, and we haven’t been too busy with anybody except Indri. We’ve tried going to her house 3 times in the last week (which is FAR away, so we don’t make any other appointments), and 2 of the times she cancelled…while we were waiting to meet her. So 2 of the days we just went and proselyted, but the 3rd day was just a bit weird… we went with her, but then she didn’t have the keys, so we waited for a friend, but the friend never came…so we basically wasted a whole day there. But, the one good thing is that our contact list has gotten a ton bigger! So hopefully we’ll be able to make some good appointments for next week. That’s my hope! However…we still hafta go to Indri’s house, so we’ll be doing that on Friday. Yup…another day of traveling. Hopefully this time it works out. However, since we haven’t seen her living conditions/situation, she can’t be baptized until after that, so we had to postpone her baptism until next week… again. She asked Elder Millecam to baptize her, tho, and I think he was pretty relieved to hear that he had another week to try to memorize the prayer in Indonesian… haha, he’s pretty worried about messing up on it, but I’m sure he’ll do great!
SOOO…I did get some big news this week. I finally figured out why Sis and I are still here in Jakarta together…pres told me after district meeting last Friday that all four of us that came together will be going to Singapore sometime mid-late February because of some sort of problem with out visas. He said we could be there 5-7 days. Can you believe that? I was REALLY excited at first (I get to go to ANOTHER Asian country to experience things there!), but now I’m just bummed. Just watch…at that point, we’ll have investigators, and I won’t be able to teach Chern or Cherie. AND we could be gone when they’re having the zone trip to Taman Safari! Where, in case you’re wondering why this is so awful, I would get to ride an elephant! It’s like the funnest place! Everyone tells me that I HAVE to go there, and I’ll love getting to hold all the different animals and (tear) ride an elephant! I’m a total baby about this, I know, but I REALLY AWANNA GO! Then, if we hafta go later in the month, we might miss Elder Nelson coming! So…seriously. January has almost NOTHING in it, and neither does March, but February is full of stuff that we’ll prob hafta miss! Sadness… but I’m expecting to get moved after that to one of the other areas. So I’m kinda excited to get ready for that :)
Well…I really don’t have much else to say. We have zone conference tomorrow, so that should be fun. I haven’t taught Chern or Cherie since they got home, but I have an appointment with Chern, and hopefully I’ll have one with Cherie by tonight. We gotta follow up and see how both their trips were, and just keep on teaching. I have a lot of ideas go thru my mind about what to teach them each to help them gain a better testimony of the church, and hopefully that’ll help. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to share the gospel with the people of Indonesia! It’s certainly not easy, but I am grateful for it. For anyone willing to listen, I will tell them of my firm belief and knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, I know God loves me, and this church is Christ’s church…there is no other way that we can return to God than through this Gospel. Everyone will find that out at one time or another, whether in this life or the next. I’m grateful to be a soldier in His army, and pray everyday that I help His work move forward. I love you all so much, and pray for you everyday! Thanks for all the support and love and prayers for me from you…I know that’s what keeps me moving forward (and especially opening my mouth to find people!) everyday day here in Indonesia. Loves!
~Sister Sara

:)

2010-02-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

Another week has come and gone…man, time is really starting to go by fast. I’m still mad last week’s email didn’t work, but now I’ll be writing my emails in Word before I send, and just pasting and copying…so hopefully there aren’t any more problems with that. This week has been a little bit hard, just cuz I have a head cold now. Saturday it hit me pretty hard, so we came home early, but Sunday we were out ALL day, so I only really had Monday to try to recover…but even that didn’t last long cuz we had an appointment pretty far away, so we had to leave earlier in the day and were gone all night. Yesterday I only got an extra hour to try to get some extra sleep, and then again we were out all day…so it’s good, cuz we’ve been busy, but I might be sick a bit longer than I’d like cuz of it.
Last week was crazy…we had 2 deaths last week (which I wrote about one of them in the other email...ugh). We found out Thursday that a lady from one of the other branches had died, but her daughter and son are in our ward, so everything was done here in Jakarta. It was interesting to see the differences between us and them when it comes to funerals…dad, you’ll be interested in this. They bring the body to the church straight from the hospital, and they have a ton of people come and watch as they prepare the body. I wanted to watch, but we had one of our investigators show up for English class (which was cancelled due to the circumstances), and we thought it was better for us to do some English stuff with them rather than go to the “showing” upstairs, so I missed it. But, here’s another interesting thing…the family stays with the body in the church until the funeral. So the family was at the church nonstop from Thursday until Saturday. The place was an absolute WRECK when we cleaned up after the funeral…it looked like a tornado had gone thru the place. But the funeral was basically the same as a normal mormon funeral, except that at the end they have a line where everyone goes and gives their condolences to the family (they do that at the beginning and end, but the end was the big one rather than a viewing like we have in America). So that was interesting to me.
I’m not the only one who’s been sick…Sis Lie got sick last week after district meeting…like, she was throwing up and had a huge headache, so we stayed in that whole day too. You should’ve seen her face when she woke up and saw all the letters I’d written while she’d been asleep…haha, it was awesome.
Sunday was a crazy day…I was SOOO sick, but Heavenly Father has a funny way of helping us when we think we can’t do something but we do what we know we have to anyways…we’d set up an appointment with Lena, an inactive member who Jackie Larson asked me to go see, and it was FAR, and apparently there’s a bit of drama there, so we HAD to have a member of the relief society presidency go with us, we left after church and were gone all day. But I got 3 contacts…more than I’ve had ever in one night, I’m pretty sure. The appointment went well (hopefully!), but the very last leg coming home, I knew my energy was gone…but it was in perfect timing.
So I’m finding that I have a much easier time contacting men than women… which is really odd. But here’s why…I was telling Sis this the other day… with the guys here, they see me, a Bule, and they’re just excited that I start talking to them, and I can basically force talk about the Gospel and everything that I wanna talk about on them… whereas with girls, they aren’t as open cuz I’m only a bule girl. If I ask for the guys’ numbers, they LOVE it, but the girls get all skeptical and stuff. So… I’ve been getting more contacts lately, but they’re all guys. And we can’t teach guys, so we have to give them to the elders. So it totally stinks, but at least it’s been getting my confidence up. AND….this is wonderful news… I’m FINALLY starting to understand most things that people say on the bus! I’m still not too good in following other people’s conversations (like with members or investigators about things not related to the gospel, their family, or anything that is cute or funny), because my vocab is still so limited, but I have come SOOO far in the last 2 months. Today I was talking to one of the new elders from the MTC, and he’s so frustrated right now…all I could say was, buddy, I know EXACTLY how you feel. But don’t worry…if you endure this, and keep working hard, it WILL get better. I’m not sure if he believed me or not…but it really is true. Hopefully I’m done with my “transition” period, and the language will continue to come!
So the bad news this week is that Indri’s baptism got pushed back another week… so it’s not until January 21 because she didn’t come to church on Sunday, because she worked an all-nighter, and on her way to church she fainted and was taken to a hospital. She came to the church right before we left to see Lena, and she was sad, but she understood why we had to push it back. But she’s still doing great with the lessons, and we’re almost done. Just baptism and confirmation is left, and then I think we’ll start on Lesson 5 with her. Man alive…I love her! We had a lesson yesterday with her, and afterwards she followed us to 2 other appointments with members, and she chimed into the conversation and bore her testimony and everything. She’s also been doing a lot with the other singles in the ward, and she’s really enjoyed having friends that can actually go out and do stuff with her (we’re a little tied up as missionaries…), and they’ve been great influences on her, so that’s been awesome.
Mom, you’ll be proud of this…we had FHE with the first counselor’s family on Monday, and I had inspiration from above to focus the lesson on the 2 little kids in the family. It was AWESOME. Haha, funny, too… we talked to President Parmen about the time and everything, and he said that’d be great, and then we showed up to the house, and his wife had NO IDEA we were coming! Not to mention that President Parmen wouldn’t be home until after we needed to leave to head home, cuz they live quite a ways away. I told sis Lie, he’s a typical man :P haha. Anyways…I had the ideas for the lesson but Sis Lie did an awesome job of carrying it out (she is our mouthpiece most of the time). We read about Ammon and King Lamoni from the kids Book of Mormon, with pics and stuff, and then I bought a coloring book at a Christian store here, and so we copied 2 pics from that for the kids to color while we talked to Sis Parmen and got to know her. As unexpected as it was, I think it went REALLY well. And their little girl is ADORABLE! She is seriously so cute…I need to get her on video. Here’s an example…on Sunday, the Primary sang during sacrament, and she went up (she’s 3 BTW), and she turns around with this huge smile on her face, and her dress is sticking almost completely vertical with the ground…but up instead of down. And she’s just smiling all the while, and after about 20 seconds, someone in the front row went and pulled down her dress for her, but it was ADORABLE. Haha, she makes me laugh.
So today was pday, and we went to the ZOO!!! Holy cow, SOOO much fun! However, sadness mom! We found out that they ride elephants there a few days ago, so I’ve been all excited to do that, but then we get there and they only do it on Sundays and Saturdays! I was so sad! But I took a pic of the “boarding station” area so I could imagine myself getting on an elephant…someday. It WILL happen. But ya, it was tons of fun, and I got some pretty sweet pics and videos that you’ll be getting in the next few weeks, I’m sure.Well my time’s up…which is good, cuz I dunno what else to say. But I love you all so much, and thanks for all the love and support, as always! I hope things are well at home…know that my prayers are with you always~
~Sister Sara

2010-02-03T04:37:00.000-08:00

January 7th
well, i just spent 45 minutes writing a huge email, and it didn't send. so i'm sorry...UGH. no real email this week. that's it...i'm using hotmail from now on. this is ridiculous. big news that i talked about are indri is getting baptized on the 17th, my language is still coming but never as fast as i want it to, and thanks for all the holiday letters everyone has sent. ugh...sorry, i'm really frustrated right now. happy new year.~Sister Hewlett

PICTURES!

2010-01-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry I didn't have access to a scanner but after a few months of collecting these...here they are with Sara's excerpts she wrote on the back of them:

Sis Mongan and I in traffic-possibly one of the worst nights ever. Traffic was so bad, we didn't talk to anyone and I was just in an awful modd-and yet it was still somehow fun :)
Ulang Tahun! Me in a Bajai in Jakarta. They're like mini taxis and they feel GREAT at night with the cool air.

So Sis. Rhandeau saw this advertisement at the Grand Indonesia, and I FREAKED! And this pic just happened to turn out better than I ever would've thought--Don't you love it? I feel like nothing expresses my feelings more than this :)

Pday at Grand Indonesia--it's a huge mall with a level with NYC/Ching/India styled everything. The bathrooms are pretty cool and I have the water/light show on my camera. This the Inda-styled part.

Haha. I get hot sometimes. This was like my 2nd day here :)

This is at Bishop McMullin's fireside with Jean's friend.

Sis. Rhandeau and I with Indri--Love her!

Service project my first Saturday here-These are all the sisters when I frist got here but Sis. Sumarno and Atmi were transferred the next Tuesday. 11/7/09

(L -->R)

Sisters Okamoto, Atmi, Sumarno, Rhondeau, Christiansen, Mongan, and me

Me with Pres and Sister Marchant--First full day in Indo (Nov 5, 2009)

Trampling in Indonesia ... Back Home

My Utah Jazz

My Eavesdropping Dilemma

"I know that God knows and loves me!" experience

Why do YOU work out?

A good day at church

Random Thoughts to Start....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=Pw27dpOw9ps&sns=fb

hee hee....ia, saya pasti agak TRUNKY sekarang.... :P

astajin! waktunya hampir habis...

waktunya GILA!!! hampir sampai....

ini akan agak pendek...

Berada di Solo! ciyaaaa....

Pembaptisan tdk ada, tapi masih baik2 saja :

satu minggu - langsung pembaptisan....jadi begini di amerika selatan?

Rekan baru, dan pekerjaan terus maju :)

Selamat Natal & Tahun Baru!

Sara's return date...

Ee....GROSS!!!!

Selamat Datang ke Malang

KEBEBASAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

minggu terakhir di bandung?

Pernikahan, Ke Jakarta...sibuk terus!

Choir picture

kelemahan manusia sy

Bersiap-siap untuk Halloween!‏

dan kelebayan sedang mulai....‏

akhirnya...‏

satu minggu lagi di firdaus :P

pictures...

biasa aja....

Minggu yg lebih baik

Sedang nanggis...‏

Satu minggu lagi di firdaus‏

Minggu dari neraka....

Minggu yg baik :)

terbakar....dan sakit sekali.

Sara...

capek, tapi masih hidup!

Pray for Sara

PIctures of Sara

minggu pelan di bandung‏

ayo, bandung!‏

1 minggu lagi di Jakarta....‏

AKHIRNYA NAIK GAJAH & mau ke...‏

satu minggu lagi...

setidaknya seminggu lagi di Jarkarta‏

naik, turun, naik, turun‏

Pictures

Membangun Lagi‏

kesabaran....

Hari "hump" Saya!‏

seminggu lagi di firdaus‏

Pembaptisan Chern!‏

Selamat Hari Ibu, dan Selamat Ulang Pernikahan!

Rekan baru!

Waktu cepat sekali!‏

Pictures...

Let the fun begin...‏

Back home!

The "Fine" City‏

Turut Berduka cita‏

CANTIK

Elder Nelson

Datang dan mendengar suara seorang nabi!‏

Pictures

Bagaimana kabarnya?

Pictures

Kesabaran--sorry this is late, sent 2/4

Happy Valentines Day!

Beruntung :)‏

almost 5 months out...crazy!‏

:)

PICTURES!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw27dpOw9ps&sns=fb