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
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Bersiap-siap untuk Halloween!
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
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
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
dan kelebayan sedang mulai....
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
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
Thursday, October 28, 2010
akhirnya...
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
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
Thursday, October 14, 2010
satu minggu lagi di firdaus :P
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
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
Monday, October 11, 2010
pictures...
"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?"
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
biasa aja....
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
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
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