:)

Well...I don't even know where to start with this email. i guess i could just start by saying that, yes, it was ANOTHER whirlwind of emotions this week, but of course wednesdays always seem to make me feel better about things.I feel like just as i'm starting to be ok with not speaking this language fluently, something happens that makes me wish i did, and i get frustrated all over again. i was better this week than last week, and i try to listen to people as much as possible, but my vocab is just SOOO intensely limited, and i rarely get time for language study cuz of different things that come up, which only frustrates me more. but it is coming. i really do just need to be patient and keep working on expanding my vocabulary (altho i should probably learn more useful words rather than "curse" so that i can say "curse you" to my companions :P...kutuk anda, in case any of you were wondering)... but it'll all come in time, i know it.

last friday we taught florentina, and we set a baptism date! hopefully she'll keep all the commandments, and come to church twice so she can be baptized on December 13...and hopefully i'm still here for that. we taught her again yesterday, and i taught about prophets, and it was AWFUL! i was absolutely embarrassed by the time i was done cuz i just kept saying the same things over and over again, and none of it was what i wanted to say. luckily, she asked a question at the end of the lesson about prophets, so i got to sort of redeem myself with my answer, and sis mongan really helped with the explaining. THEN after the lesson, sis r told me that my testimony at the end was really powerful, and she knew i'd been talking with the gift of tongues, because she's never heard me speak that well or powerfully before. so there's another testimony that Heavenly Father DOES bless us when we're trying to be what he needs us to be, and we humble ourselves. she's great, and i'm excited to see her become a member.

Indri is actually here at the warnet place with us...we've been trying to meet with her ALL week, but traffic was bad or she couldn't meet up with us...stuff was happening, and she's been crazy busy just getting ready to go, so we didn't think we'd get to see her again, but last night her flight got cancelled so we met up today, and got to bear our testimonies one last time before she heads to America. She's so awesome. she bore her testimony for us, and afterwards sis r told me that she said she had to go home last week to share the Book of Mormon with her family, because she wants them to feel the happiness and change that she's felt thru reading it, and she wants to become a missionary so that she can help other people feel that happiness as well. like i said...she is SOOO cool. while we were at the church, a crew filming some video for missionaries coming to Indo were there, and they interviewed all of us, and i guess Indri's testimony was really strong about Joseph Smith...something that we didn't even really know about. ugh...she is so awesome. i'm gonna miss her, and THE MISSIONARIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA HAD BETTER TAKE CARE OF HER!

Thanks for the email about spencer dad, but yes...it was too late. however, luckily for spencer, we share the same name AND i'm tall, so when they saw my name at the end when they were shaking our hands, they said they had a tall missionary in their mission named hewlett, and when i asked if his name was spencer they said yes, and we were all joyous in happiness of both knowing the same person. it was a precious moment. spencer...you were a VERY lucky missionary. bishop mcmullin was absolutely inspiring, and so was sis. mcmullin. it was great being able to listen to them.

speaking of people that are here who other people know, jean i met your friend and we took a picture together. haha she's totally awesome and cute, but she won't tell me any bad stories about you cuz she says friends as good as you guys don't share that kinda of stuff... so be happy you have a good friend like that ;)

So a sister left our mission this week after travelling around indo with her mom, and they came and visited us on monday...oh mom. she was just SOOO american and definitely a mom, and it really made me miss you! plus it's always nice to know EVERY WORD that someone is saying to you. haha.

speaking of transfers...so get this. we found out that sis r and sis christensen are getting transferred, and that sis lei, who is the phillipines mtc right now, will be joining us this week when she gets home. so...let's count...1,2,3 BRAND NEW missionaries in jakarta with sis mongan. and 2 of us CANNOT speak indonesian worth a crap, because we've been living in a house with 4 americans and 1 indo for the last 2 weeks. yeah...i'm not happy about it, i don't understand it, but i have faith that i will learn from this experience, and if nothing else, at least my language will get better cuz i'll always be with a native. but i'm still not happy about it. it's just retarded when there are 18 sister missionaries (thats the record for indo btw :), and only 7 of them are american...why not split us up a little more? i will learn great things from this...

so tomorrow is thanksgiving, and i'm SOOO excited for it. we're going to senopati (mission home/office) at 7 am, and all the missionaries will be playing soccer, then we'll all go back to the mission home to shower and have a huge thanksgiving lunch with all the missionaries in the zone. all of us newbies are still in this zone, so it'll be good to see all elder hall and allen again. plus i have a few other friends that i've made over the last few weeks... i don't understand much of what they say, but i know they're talking about me when they say "tinggi" so that helps. i just nod my head, and say "ya, saya tahu saya tinggi." (yes, i know i'm tall). all the guys here think i'm the coolest thing in the world...partly cuz i'm tall and play basketball, partly cuz they can say whatever they want about me in indo or with slang and i'll have no idea what they're saying, but i'll still just smile and nod my head. now i know what it's like to unintentionally be the ignorant blonde.

alright...so i think that's all for this week. PLEASE keep praying for me. especially for the trials that i KNOW lay ahead with our little group here in jakarta. there are days that all i can think about is how long 18 months is, but then other times i think to myself how i need to enjoy every minute i have here because it's really not gonna last long enough in the end. i love you all very much and pray for you every day. I know this church is God's church, and that the only way that we can truly become happy is thru following its teachings. Loves!

~Sara

What a week

Keluarga Saya~

Man alive, seriously...where do i start? sorry i'm gonna write in no caps because i'm lazy. this week has been such a whirlwind of emotions and experiences, but i'm grateful for each and every one of them.

Last week i started feeling homesick whenever i looked at pictures of the family or anything. i got dad's letter on friday, and when he talked about taking a walk around the neighborhood i literally started crying. yes...that's how bad it was. however, i think of a lot of it had to do with the language and the feelings of inadequacy that i feel as i try to learn it...i've found that's it's really hard to have no idea what's going on around you, especially in lessons where you know if you knew what they were asking or saying you would have so much to share with them. i just didn't feel like i was progressing one bit, even though i've been working really hard to learn it. but, hopefully i've moved past that point and i feel a lot better about things. it really is true that Heavenly Father helps us when we're doing the things that we should be and we look to him for help. i prayed more in those days than ever before in my life, and i've seen a huge difference in my ability to remember words and understand more of what other people are saying.

This last week we've been working a lot with Indri, and we're hoping that we can have her basically ready for baptism by the time she leaves here on the 24th for South Carolina. Catherine said she'd make sure she was taken care of, so i'm excited to hear what happens with her! Indri is really amazing...she's even been bringing her cousin (we think...) with her to the last few lessons, and i think they're both progressing very well. We had her and her cousin come with us to FHE at Elder Subandrio's house (he's a member of the quorum of the 70, and he seems like a really amazing guy...sis Rhondeau thinks he's the future of indonesia, and that if this country experiences anything good, it's because of his faith. so ya...i'd like to get to know him a bit more :). we watched the Finding Faith in Christ with her on friday, and after when i was supposed to bear my testimony, i just bawled. literally.. my face in my lap, bawling. the spirit was so strong, and after the rough few days before that i'd had, i felt God's love for me and God's love for Indri, to the point that my emotions were again all over the place. i finally calmed down and bore my testimony, but wow...it was such a testimony to me that i AM where i'm supposed to be right now, and that i'm NOT alone. anyways, indri really loves learning about the church, and loves everything we teacher her. oh....i seriously love her so much, i pray every day that she won't get lost in South Carolina. We don't talk a whole ton cuz my indo is bad and her english isn't great, but i give her a big hug every time i see her to try and let her know that i care. hopefully she feels my love with that :)

Sis. Rhondeau had another lady she'd taught a few months ago that just randomly showed up to church one sunday, but she hadn't heard from her for a few weeks, but we finally met with her yesterday, and apparently she just wants to join the church ASAP. I guess everytime we meet with her, she just wants to know how quickly she can join. we're gonna teach her the 3rd lesson this week, and then we'll see what happens after. hopefully that'll be a baptism tho...Jakarta needs it. they haven't had a baptism here for about 6-12 months.

the girls in our house have been sick a lot (except me and sis mongan...we've managed to stay healthy the whole time) and it's been raining a lot here, so i've had a lot of time to study words and write a few letters. mom...bad news. that expensive umbrella we got doesn't hold heavy rain AT ALL. i was soaked the other day when we got back cuz it just leaked all over me. but oh well. i still thought it was fun :)

this weekend we have the bishop mcmullin coming, so that'll be good. indri and florentine are both hopefully coming, and all the missionaries from the zone are coming as well, so i'll get to meet all the other missionaries. i really like the missionaries that are here, they're a lot of fun and they like me cuz i'm tall and play basketball. haha, they all wanna play now. that's one thing i've learned here...the indos LOVE basketball, which makes me even cooler to them. haha.

next week is thanksgiving, which thank goodness we haven't gone to grandma's for a few years, otherwise i'd prob get SUPER homesick (we'll see how christmas goes... i'm gonna miss my family!), but it's gonna be lots of fun. pres and sis marchant aren't going to be here, so the service missionaries are in charge of dinner (sister millicam is SOOO awesome...oh and btw they're from vernal and know clark and they say hi :), and it's gonna be a ton of fun. i hope i'm here for christmas too.

so funny story...i was putting my pics of our family up, and i had the pic that jean sent me of the whole hewlett bunch, and one of the indo sisters yells out "that's a WHOLE branch? she thought it was branch, so when she realized it was my family and they were all active in the church, she kinda freaked out. but i thought that was totally awesome. sis mongan also wants me to bring that pic to our new member's houses when we teach about the temple because i told her about the temple trip we do every year. mom...read my patriarchal blessing and you'll see that this is fulfillment of prophesy :) anyways...just thought was cool. i love my family!

so i realized on sunday that tryouts were prob last week. how are my little sophs (now juniors...ah i can't believe they're growing up so fast!) doing? i'm guessing their first game was either this week or next? also, fill me in on the coaching situation. ugh...i still feel awful about the timing of things with that, but let the girls know that i'm thinking about them all the time.

Today we went and did "service" at a hotel, handing out translation headphones. all day. 5 sisters. ya...we basically just sat and ate food the entire day. lol, welcome to service in indonesia, ya? haha it was fun though, and i worked on a lot of vocab. between sis mongan and sis rhondeau, i'm learning SO much. sis mongan is such a great trainer, and has been teaching me everything i'll need to know to become the best missionary possible, and sis rhondeau helps me understand the language a lot better. again..heavenly father is looking out for me, and there's no way i can let a single moment of this transfer slip by me because they could make or break me later on.

Well...i think that's all. it's been a whirlwind of emotions of a week, but the last few days have been SOO good. emily richardson told me that the best part of her mission was at night when she'd be so dead tired that she'd just fall on her pillow and not remember hitting it sometimes. last night was one of those nights...i was so out of it cuz we'd worked/taught all day long, and it was definitely one of the best feelings i've had thus far on the mish. i love this place...i love the people, i love the girls i live with, and i'm really starting to love the language. there is no place i'd rather be than here (altho coaching does come FAIRLY close ;). this is where i'm supposed to be, and i can already tell that i've become a better person for everything i've learned thus far...and we're only 2 weeks into the field. haha. thanks again for all the support and love. i know i've always been blessed, and it's something that i'll never take for grantite. i hope everyone has a great week. LOVES~
Sister Sara :)

November 11th--add on

My first day in the house, i did 2 of the things i was looking the most forward to doing...i ate dinner with my hands (it's wonderful...i never wanna use utensils again!) and squatted to go to the bathroom. i also got to "shower," which is just dumping water over your head, and that's definitely my favorite part of the day. every morning and night i have my "mandi" and dump water all over myself. holy cow....i dunno any better feeling with this heat. it's really not as hot as i'd expected, but i've heard it's worse in the other cities cuz the pollution here is so bad. so we'll see what happens. i actually wouldn't mind staying here til after Christmas, but again...we'll see what happens once we have transfers. It's pouring outside right now, and apparently that's what i have to look forward to for the next 4-6 months...yay! haha. it's gonna be awesome tho, i'm excited.

Indonesia Address

Sister Sara Hewlett
Indonesia Jakarta Mission
Jalan Senopati 115
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta 12190
Indonesia

INDONESIA!‏

Oh Keluarga Saya...I am in Indonesia!

I'll start from the beginning...SOooo the flight was SOOO long. However, we talked to a few people on the different planes, and handed out a few pass along cards, so that was still awesome. The flight from San Fran to Hong Kong was MISERABLE tho. Let me explain...I honestly felt like I was in a Seinfield episode where everything bad happens to jerry on the plane...the only thing i was missing was the TWO fat guys on either side of me. so i was in the middle of sis and some really big fat asian guy...and the guy was seriously huge. and he hung over his seat onto me, he slept so he was facing me and breathing all over me, he snored, he played video games and didn't notice anyone around him (the flight attendent got really ticked off a few times), he watched annoying tv shows and laughed about everything...it was seriously ridiculous. but in the end, it was fine and i lived and i still made it to Indo!

anyways...so we were picked up in Jakarta by Pres & Sis Marchant, who seem pretty chill, and we spent the night there with them, then went to our first areas in Jakarta (we have to stay here until we get our "green cards" or whatever they call them that allow us to stay in the country). My comp is Sis Mongan from Selawesi...totally awesome, right? she's from the small branch they have up there, and her family was the only LDS family in the entire area for YEARS. but its growing a lot now. there were 7 girls in our house when we first got here, but now there are only 5 because two of the girls left, and Sis. Rhondeau is with me and sis m now. which is great, cuz sis r knows the language basically magically, and so she's a nice happy medium for me and sis m. we all get along great, and have a lot of fun together. sis is with just sis christensen now (they were in a 3-sum before), and really...we have fun.

as far as this mission goes...HOLY COW. its gonna take a bit of time to get used to, but people...i am definitely not in any normal mission. we hafta work for people to get to know us, so things are actually pretty chill. we can shop and go do whatever we want basically, because then we have a reason to go to that place, and when we talk to people on the way, it's not some awkward convo about where they're going, and when they ask you where you're going alls you can say is "oh, i'm just out talking to anyone and everyone that will accept a pass along card and give me their phone number so i can call them and hopefully set up an appointment later." cuz that's REALLY what we're doing. but it's good. the language barrier is definitely the hardest part with that, tho, cuz even if i just ask them where they're going, i have no idea what they say back. however...i am seeing lots of results in actually using this language. but i do hafta say... PLEASE PRAY FOR ME! i'm gonna need all the prayers i can get with learning the language, because in Indonesia it's basically impossible to do this work without knowing the language. we have to talk to people in order to get to the point that we can start talking about the gospel, and alls i can do right now is start the conversation. then i let sis m or sis r take over. so please pray!

we only have 1 investigator right now, and it totally blows. she's moving to south carolina next week, and she is GOLDEN. she knows the gospel is true, and we've only taught her up to the 2nd lesson. we taught her the plan of salvation, and i found out after (cuz i have no idea what she says when she answers questions) that she said that the bible talks about all those things, but she's noticed that the BofM EXPLAINS all those things, and she knows it's the Word of God. how cool, ya? so we'll be referring her to South Carolina, which is where Catherine Guyman (my old roommate from Roosevelt) is serving her mission, so i'm hoping that works out. PRAYING ACTUALLY.

the work is hard here Jakarta cuz 1)most people are muslim and 2)if they're not muslim, then they just don't have time to learn about the Gospel cuz they're so busy trying to provide for their family. plus they're a little caught up in their own lives, but, i've heard in all the other areas the work is a lot better, you teach a lot more. that Plan of Salvation plan is the only lesson i've taught thus far. crazy, i know.

alright, well i know this is super short but i have a lot of emails to read and i only have a bit more time left, so i'm gonna send this off, but know that i love you and very much and pray for you EVERY DAY! I know this gospel is Christ's, and that it is our duty to share that knowledge with anyone and everyone that we can. Please don't forget that. Loves~

~Sara

Goodbye MTC

Iblis (Devil) Day--we were dressing up for Halloween :)
Sisters: Okamoto, Viehwig, me, Goodwin, Wing
Oct 22, 2009

District 52-C
Me, Sis O, Elders Hall, Simon, Parrish, Allen, Lang, Blissett


Indo-speaking perempuam (chicks)
Oct. 22, 2009

The District after our temple walk going back to the MTC
Oct. 22, 2009

Normal Mish pic with a new kinda style :)
First Sunday in the MTC

Me and Sis O. Our 2nd Sunday here

We got a phone call from Sara around 7pm while she was awaiting her flight from SLC to San Francisco. From San Francisco she was flying to Hong-Kong and then to Indonesia. Please, keep her in your prayers! She injured her knee and then had those blood clots earlier this summer so we're praying she won't have any blood clotting problems with her long flights.