one more week!

I cannot believe that next week is christmas! i'm SOOO excited to talk to you all! i've been trying to figure out the best way to do things, but you'll get from my other email that i'm not completely sure since the time difference is so huge, and i wanna be able to talk to carter too. but yay! one more week!

things really don't seem like christmas here...there are a few decorations around, but not much. i've only felt like it's actually december in a few of the member's homes that we've been to. so it's kinda weird to think that christmas is only a few days away, but i'm definitely looking forward to it, especially talking to you all!

so this week has been CRAZY. sis was in the hospital for a few days, and then pres took her and sis mongan to senopati to stay...but sis mongan got sick of not doing anything, and so now she's pulling a 3-some with me and sis lie, which has been both good and bad. good for lessons, cuz she actually knows what she's doing, but bad for contacting, cuz the other 2 just talk all the time, and i still get nervous about what other people are going to say back to me that i'm not gonna understand. which is really no excuse, but we're all trying to be better. i told the other 2 that we CANNOT sit by each other when we're in the buses, cuz then we don't talk to anyone else. it's also been good because my language is always improving as i spend more time listening and talking to both of them. my language still has a long ways to go, but i'm also getting more and more confident with myself (but still not enough that i like talking to other people like i'd like to feel).

my english appointments this week were both good and bad. chern's went pretty good, but her nanny lady didn't show up that day, so she was ticked about that, and the baby was good for the most part, but at the end he got really fussy, so i just cut things short so she could go put him down. but it was a pretty good discussion, and we'll continue that at our appointment tonight. i'm also gonna be going to an english class after that that chern's husband is teaching at the hotel he works at, so that's gonna be fun.

my appointment with pj and cherie was AWESOME. sis rhondeau came to jarkarta a day early for the baptism (we'll get to that later), so she came with me to the appointment, and she helped SOOO much. we met at a ward member's house, too, so it was good to get all of his input as well. it was really awesome...we just read an article from one of the old conferences about faith, prayer, and the family, and it was interesting how much pj especially opened up about how he feels about the church. i'm gonna see if i can work with that tomorrow at our appointment...speaking of which, they didn't come to church on sunday (total bummer after the amazing lesson we'd had the night before), so i called them yesterday to wish them a merry christmas and happy new year in the phillipines, and pj ASKED ME if we could meet one more time before they left friday afternoon. i'm taking that as a REALLY good sign. now if i could just get them to church...

Sunday was florentina's baptism, and it went well. i didn't really know what was going on, and what i needed to do, so sis rhondeau and i just talked for most of it. florentina's funny...she has a crush on all the american elders, and always talks about how "cocok" i'd look with them all (that basically means "perfectly matched"). when she was practicing with elder lewis the hand grip and dip into the water, she said "seperti mencium!" ("Like a kiss!")...ya, sister rhondeau and i got a pretty good kick outta that.

monday was zone conference, and it was great for the most part (the rest i didn't understand :P). we sang the olive tree, and it was SOO pretty. i love that song. we also had all the sisters from bandung come stay with us (there are 6 altogether), so it was a bit like a party sunday night. i had fun (altho i didn't understand much...most of them are from java, so they were speaking javanese). at zone conference, i had to lead in our purpose in indonesian...and i think i said 1 word with everyone else. i know it, i just can't say it fast like everyone else. still working on that. i also had to intro myself and tell about my family...that actually went better than i thought it would. there were some good talks given and advice, but the best part to me was when pres went over a few different rules...things i'd always wondered about, but no one knew for sure. we were all given schedules for every day of the week (PRAISES!!! NOW I KNOW WHEN WE CAN AND CAN'T BE IN THE HOUSE!), and we went over a few other rules as well. so...ya, sadly enough, that was my favorite part of the whole day. course it's cuz pres speaks mostly in english, so i understood it, but i'm just glad to have some guidelines now.

we've visited a few members this week, but really most of last week was spent traveling to the hospital and senopati, and back home again. pretty crazy stuff. i did get the christmas package from the AZ allred's (THANK YOU SO MUCH!), but when i realized it was a christmas package, i refused to open anymore of it, and pres walked in at that point, and made fun of me for it ("you're in indonesia, even christmas day isn't gonna feel like christmas day. just open it now."), but i figure the more presents i have to open on christmas day the better. i have all my presents at senopati, so when we go there for lunch i'll be opening them all :) thanks again!

and now it's OFFICIAL....i've been waiting to say this for weeks...CONGRATULATIONS ZACH AND ADDI!!! i'm so excited for you both, and can't wait to see all the fun pictures from the wedding (yes jean, i'm expecting a letter with lots :) i'm not asking too much, am i?). best of luck to you both, i'm excited to get to know you better, addi, when i get home. just know that zach is one of my favorite cousins, and you best be takin care of him, k? oh, side note...last night i was writing in my journal, and guess what i found? my debit card. ya. i didn't think i'd lost it. it was a page behind where i was looking for it before! can you believe that? ugh. total sara moment, but whatevs. at least i know all the money is safe. i dunno if you cancelled the card or just took all the money out, mom? let me know...if it still works, i'll keep using this card, if not i'll keep using my other one.and last but not least.....SELAMAT ULANG TAHUN, BAYI SAYA!!!!! (happy birthday, my baby!). the big one seven, eh? i remember that age...haha, that was a fun year. i hope ya have a good one!

well...thats about it for now. thanks for all the letters of love and support...they really help me so much. thanks also for your prayers...i KNOW they've helped me so much here. there are so many things that could make me frustrated or hold me back from giving my all, but then i think about all of you praying for me, and it reminds me that i hafta do my part, since you're doing yours. i'm so grateful for this gospel and the opportunity i have to share it with the people of indonesia (as far and in between as they are :)! i've already learned so much...i can only imagine what another 14 months (not that i'm counting :P) is going to do for me. loves to you all!

~Sister Sara