:)

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