seminggu lagi di firdaus‏

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!‏

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!

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!

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!‏

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Loves~

~Sister Sara

Pictures...

OMIGOSH!! It's Elder Ulrich!!

Fancy meeting him in Singapore...

What're the chances?

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

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

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

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

This is me with the Millecam's.

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

Let the fun begin...‏

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~Sister Sara

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