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
Thursday, October 28, 2010
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
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Minggu yg lebih baik
This week has been a little tougher on the investigator side of things. we're trying to figure out which of our investigators are the most effective/interested, but it's difficult to know. we met with pak johan on saturday, though, and we officially put him in the "simpan" or in other words, wait a few weeks and see what he thinks after he reads the BofM....he hadn't read it at all since the last time we'd met 2 weeks before cuz he's reading a world religions book that he has to return this week. AND he hates religions that think they're the best, and refuses to go to any church....which, ya, isn't exactly the best foundation for us to build on with Joseph Smith restoring God's one and only church to the earth again. but i still think he's cool.
Pak Budi and Ibu Dina read the BofM!!!!! they read Alma 32, and absolutely loved it, and we had a really good conversation about faith, and being humble, and especially grateful for all the blessings that God's given us. Budi prayed, but not every day...so our challenge for him this week is to pray every day, and we're texting him every day to remind him. it's definitely little steps with this family, but i can already see a huge difference since when we first got there. i feel like every time we show up, they all have the weight of the world on their shoulders, but by the time we leave, they seem so much happier and ready to take on the world....it's amazing to see that kind of a change, and know that you really are helping someone. hopefully they feel that as well.
a guy called our cell phone yesterday to see if i'd teach an english class on fridays for about 20-30 people at a university about 30 minutes away...which i'm excited about. i seriously can't teach english, but i'll do my best....but this is gonna be an awesome place to get referrals, that i'm sure of. the english class at the church is really not doing good....last week there wasn't anybody that showed up, and this week there was only one.....so hopefully with this english class, we can get more to come to the other one.
basketball is a little on the awkward side right now....the coach wanted me to actually PLAY for the team, and was going to go through all the holes to get me permission (and who knows how much money that would've cost), and so when i told him that i couldn't play competitively, i could only help coach if it was for real games, he wasn't very happy about it.....so there we go again. i feel like if i give anything, people always just expect more and don't understand WHY i can't give more. so then they're offended or sad, or whatever ya wanna call it, and things just get awkward. hopefully this doesn't last too long tho.
this week as i've been studying the talk that you sent mom, along with other things i've been reading, i've been noticing how much everyone talks about the House of Israel, and decided to answer those questions she asks, but with my patriarchal blessing instead of the entire BofM. amazing the things that are in there. it really does help to see the importance of the House of Israel, even though i know i still don't understand the importance of it as much as i need to. but i figure thats something that's more in depth, and i can study it more when i get home. but, as i was reading my Patriarchal Blessing, i thought about how it really has shaped my life in the last 7 years. it's been so important in helping me know what to do with this big decisions that i'm making at this time in my life. even with things just like exercising....usually, i start exercising again cuz i've read my patriarchal blessing. so...spiritual thought for the week is get your patriarchal blessing, cuz you have no idea how much it's going to help you in your every day life, and especially with those big decisions that come along. i have a firm testimony just from my PB that Heavenly Father knows and loves me, and i know anyone who reads theirs will be able to feel those same feelings. what a blessing it is to have the knowledge that we have about this restored gospel, and what direction that gives to us!
oh, so funny story real quick...last friday i was doing my laundry, and the dryer was acting all funky, so i had sis lie come and help me figure it out...and as she was fixing the thing, i felt something on my foot, and looked down to see a rat running across my feet!!!!! AHHHHH gross! yes, i immediately screamed, freaked out, ran to the kitchen, continued freaking out, and then washed my feet with soap and water to try and clean the dirty rascal's germs off me. all the while, sis lie and jo had no idea what had happened, and kept asking me what happened, but i was too busy freaking out....so when i finally could control myself enough to talk and told them, they laughed for the next 1/2 hr straight....i think cuz it's not in my nature at all to act like that, and they'd never seen me like that, so it really surprised them. haha. i thought it was hilarious tho.
anywho, that's my week in a nutshell....i love you all so much, and pray things are going well! i think it sounds like from all of our emails we're all missing each other quite a bit....which means we all need to refocus a bit, and work even harder so this precious time we have apart will be all the sweeter when we get back together. i love you all so much, and have a good week! loves~
~Sister Sara
Pak Budi and Ibu Dina read the BofM!!!!! they read Alma 32, and absolutely loved it, and we had a really good conversation about faith, and being humble, and especially grateful for all the blessings that God's given us. Budi prayed, but not every day...so our challenge for him this week is to pray every day, and we're texting him every day to remind him. it's definitely little steps with this family, but i can already see a huge difference since when we first got there. i feel like every time we show up, they all have the weight of the world on their shoulders, but by the time we leave, they seem so much happier and ready to take on the world....it's amazing to see that kind of a change, and know that you really are helping someone. hopefully they feel that as well.
a guy called our cell phone yesterday to see if i'd teach an english class on fridays for about 20-30 people at a university about 30 minutes away...which i'm excited about. i seriously can't teach english, but i'll do my best....but this is gonna be an awesome place to get referrals, that i'm sure of. the english class at the church is really not doing good....last week there wasn't anybody that showed up, and this week there was only one.....so hopefully with this english class, we can get more to come to the other one.
basketball is a little on the awkward side right now....the coach wanted me to actually PLAY for the team, and was going to go through all the holes to get me permission (and who knows how much money that would've cost), and so when i told him that i couldn't play competitively, i could only help coach if it was for real games, he wasn't very happy about it.....so there we go again. i feel like if i give anything, people always just expect more and don't understand WHY i can't give more. so then they're offended or sad, or whatever ya wanna call it, and things just get awkward. hopefully this doesn't last too long tho.
this week as i've been studying the talk that you sent mom, along with other things i've been reading, i've been noticing how much everyone talks about the House of Israel, and decided to answer those questions she asks, but with my patriarchal blessing instead of the entire BofM. amazing the things that are in there. it really does help to see the importance of the House of Israel, even though i know i still don't understand the importance of it as much as i need to. but i figure thats something that's more in depth, and i can study it more when i get home. but, as i was reading my Patriarchal Blessing, i thought about how it really has shaped my life in the last 7 years. it's been so important in helping me know what to do with this big decisions that i'm making at this time in my life. even with things just like exercising....usually, i start exercising again cuz i've read my patriarchal blessing. so...spiritual thought for the week is get your patriarchal blessing, cuz you have no idea how much it's going to help you in your every day life, and especially with those big decisions that come along. i have a firm testimony just from my PB that Heavenly Father knows and loves me, and i know anyone who reads theirs will be able to feel those same feelings. what a blessing it is to have the knowledge that we have about this restored gospel, and what direction that gives to us!
oh, so funny story real quick...last friday i was doing my laundry, and the dryer was acting all funky, so i had sis lie come and help me figure it out...and as she was fixing the thing, i felt something on my foot, and looked down to see a rat running across my feet!!!!! AHHHHH gross! yes, i immediately screamed, freaked out, ran to the kitchen, continued freaking out, and then washed my feet with soap and water to try and clean the dirty rascal's germs off me. all the while, sis lie and jo had no idea what had happened, and kept asking me what happened, but i was too busy freaking out....so when i finally could control myself enough to talk and told them, they laughed for the next 1/2 hr straight....i think cuz it's not in my nature at all to act like that, and they'd never seen me like that, so it really surprised them. haha. i thought it was hilarious tho.
anywho, that's my week in a nutshell....i love you all so much, and pray things are going well! i think it sounds like from all of our emails we're all missing each other quite a bit....which means we all need to refocus a bit, and work even harder so this precious time we have apart will be all the sweeter when we get back together. i love you all so much, and have a good week! loves~
~Sister Sara
Friday, September 24, 2010
Sedang nanggis...
this week was ok...last week we met with the preacher Pak Siregar, and had a lovely discussion that started with Joseph Smith, and evolved into how prophets were only before Christ, and after Him there's only apostles, and how the Bible says that John the Baptist is the last prophet....it was quite enjoyable. haha. altho at the time i didn't have an answer for why there are only apostles mentioned after Christ, i now know that there are several instances in Acts especially where prophets are mentioned, and for the first time realized the true meaning of an apostle as a "witness that Christ lives" - ya, g'der there's no apostles before Christ cuz he hadn't been born or resurrected yet. and no...there is no verse in the bible anywhere that says John is the last prophet. and yes, i gave him Mormon 9:7-15 as his homework. we were supposed to meet yesterday, but when we went there, he'd just left for some service thing that had just come up, so we met with his wife instead...poor thing has so many problems right now, and she just spilled a whole bunch of them out to us. BUT, she always hears answers to her problems spoken of thru the Bible from her husband, so she wasn't too excited to hear any of our scriptures, but we tried. i had us all pray kneeling together, so maybe that'll help...we'll see.
sunday was awesome...basically, we showed up to Ibu Dina's house, only to find that she had a reception to go to, and they'd tried calling earlier, but we were at church...so while ibu dina and her 2 granddaughters went to the reception, we stayed and talked to Pak Budi...and sis bajodo was totally key in with the spirit, and read a scripture about prayer, which then opened Budi up to explain why he doesn't pray anymore, and we tried to help him see the blessings that START when we pray, and hopefully we helped him. i gave him Alma 32 as his HW, and when i checked up on him yesterday, he'd already read it (which is HUGE), so next week i'm hoping to hear his thoughts and feelings on faith as well as prayer.
the choir sounded awesome on Sunday! i think pres santoso asked a few members to join, cuz we had a 5 more people there than usual, and they made a HUGE difference...the quality and unity exploded, and the notes are FINALLY starting to be where they're supposed to be. Heavenly Father has answered a whole lot of prayers of mine (and i'm sure others) for that to happen.
monday we met with a referral from Temple Square, and she was pretty cool...she's muslim, and basically just wants to know what sets us apart from other churches, even though she doesn't know too much about other churches...but she said all she knows about Mormons are that she's rarely met a Mormon who wasn't a good person, and that the Osmonds were mormons (she said Marie Osmond's kid committed suicide? kasihan sekali...). she went to english class at the church for 3 years while she was in high school over 30 years ago, and when she visited her friend in bountiful in july, her interest in why we "think we're the best" of all churches came up again...so we'll see if we can meet again, and i was thinking sharing the Plan of Salvation with her. she's single, and not too prone to families...but if the Spirit touches, He'll do miracles.
i don't have much else to say....we have zone conference next week, and i'm BEYOND excited to meet with other missionaries, especially bules. a nice, normal conversation in english would be greatly appreciated really soon. anyways...thanks for all the support and love, i miss and love you all~
~Sister Sara
sunday was awesome...basically, we showed up to Ibu Dina's house, only to find that she had a reception to go to, and they'd tried calling earlier, but we were at church...so while ibu dina and her 2 granddaughters went to the reception, we stayed and talked to Pak Budi...and sis bajodo was totally key in with the spirit, and read a scripture about prayer, which then opened Budi up to explain why he doesn't pray anymore, and we tried to help him see the blessings that START when we pray, and hopefully we helped him. i gave him Alma 32 as his HW, and when i checked up on him yesterday, he'd already read it (which is HUGE), so next week i'm hoping to hear his thoughts and feelings on faith as well as prayer.
the choir sounded awesome on Sunday! i think pres santoso asked a few members to join, cuz we had a 5 more people there than usual, and they made a HUGE difference...the quality and unity exploded, and the notes are FINALLY starting to be where they're supposed to be. Heavenly Father has answered a whole lot of prayers of mine (and i'm sure others) for that to happen.
monday we met with a referral from Temple Square, and she was pretty cool...she's muslim, and basically just wants to know what sets us apart from other churches, even though she doesn't know too much about other churches...but she said all she knows about Mormons are that she's rarely met a Mormon who wasn't a good person, and that the Osmonds were mormons (she said Marie Osmond's kid committed suicide? kasihan sekali...). she went to english class at the church for 3 years while she was in high school over 30 years ago, and when she visited her friend in bountiful in july, her interest in why we "think we're the best" of all churches came up again...so we'll see if we can meet again, and i was thinking sharing the Plan of Salvation with her. she's single, and not too prone to families...but if the Spirit touches, He'll do miracles.
i don't have much else to say....we have zone conference next week, and i'm BEYOND excited to meet with other missionaries, especially bules. a nice, normal conversation in english would be greatly appreciated really soon. anyways...thanks for all the support and love, i miss and love you all~
~Sister Sara
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Satu minggu lagi di firdaus
and another week comes and goes :) so Lebaran was great...apparently it's where you go to somebody's house and eat and talk all day. there were other people who brought food over, so i think it's a bit like Christmas, but without the presents. it was fun tho, we went to Sis anas's house, and i found out that 3 people who i thought were all separate families are actually the same family...2 sisters (with a different dad....ya no wonder i didn't know!) and their mom. haha. i felt really retarded after i looked at the photo album, but it was also funny...haha. the food was good, and in bandung especially ive been trying to get a little more used to the spices they use here...and slowly but surely, it's working. i doubt i'll come home a "spicy food lover," but at least i'll be able to eat spices without feeling like my tongue is gonna fall off.
saturday we went to an inactive 10-yr-olds house...whose parents are both non-members. when i heard about san-san, i was surprised to hear someone would let their child get baptized into a church without being a member first, and i'm still really surprised by it,but it's kinda cool. apparently the whole family was learning about the church about 2 years back, and they loved everything the missionaries taught...but they don't "cocok" with the members here (don't fit well...), so when the missionaries asked if San2 wanted to be baptized and he said yes, they were ok with it (the dad told us he still likes to read the BofM, and was happy to get the new improved edition). but after he got baptized, they got sick of the members and it's been a good...year maybe since they've been to church. and they live far, so there's no way san2 can come by himself, so i guess the missionaries go to stay in contact and help san2 remember what he learned with the missionaries before. the parents are really nice, but the dad is batak,and if they like something, they like it, if not....ya, they don't, and that won't change. so we'll see. but interesting story...
sunday we didn't meet with Ibu Dina cuz apparently where she lives is the center point for all the towns around bandung, and one of the members didn't get home until 4 hours after church (usually only 1 hour) because of traffic in that area. so we called and said we'd try for next week. mom, i've been waiting to find someone good to give this testimony from Wes Ridd to, and i'm gonna give it to Ibu Dina this week...and i wanna send a pic, but when they sent the letter they didn't write the return address, so please send me julie's address? thanks! last week we went to help at her warung, and i felt so bad...we got there at noon, but apparently the busy time is in the morning, and so ibu dina had been there by herself all day, and by the time we got there pak budi was coming to switch her...so we washed a few dishes and helped with the one guy that came,but that was it. i just can't wait to meet again this week...she's such a cool lady.
the choir is...coming...along...haha. nah, they're good, but with so few people, and especially inexperienced people, it's a little hard. but we'll keep trying, and hopefully it'll be ready in a month and a half.
sis groberg called this morning (i love the groberg's....they're so awesome, and especially sis groberg is SOOO involved, it's nice to have her if we need anything), and we talked about a few different things going on here in bandung with the work, and i mentioned to her that i wanted to put together a halloween party, and we talked about a few different ideas, and i think i'm gonna go for it. but mom, i need ideas! for food, for games, for everything. i wanna make this something that EVERYONE can come to, and not feel pressured at all with religion. we can invite all our investigators, and the members can invite all their friends to come. just fun and games and food. so now i just gotta get jo excited about it,and we'll be set :) the ideas i have for games are donut eating contest, cake walk, apple dunking, beanbag toss, and a big cardboard picture thing (frankenstein, dracula, etc) where people can put their heads and we can take pictures. we certainly can't do everything, but i'd like to get the best ideas and run with them. it could be really fun!
anywho...that's about my week. we really haven't done a whole lot this week, with rain and stuff, so i just keep plugging along :) thought for this week is... Does God change? ever? no, he's the same. ALWAYS AND FOREVER. and i found the best answer for that question in Mormon 9:7-15. its so true....he is the same, and anyone who preaches differently DOESN'T understand the scriptures. so read the scriptures and figure out for yourself if God changes, or if this truly is the restored gospel brought to this earth again... for the last time, nonetheless. just some food for thought :)
and thats that....thanks for all the support and love and prayers and everything else! i love you all and pray for you. hopefully all is well, and everyone is enjoying the fall time. i am :) it's just like fall here with the rain, and i wear jackets and sweats whenever i'm home :) i love sweats....anywho....loves~
~Sister Sara
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