Bagaimana kabarnya?

The weeks continue to fly by… and this one was another good one, with a lot of really good lessons. We met with Jesse, a member from California who has basically just been living here for the last 10 years for the heck of it, and his fiancé on Friday night. Jesse’s fiancé is Muslim, and he’s trying to get her interested in the church without forcing it on her. So, we met at the Millecam’s, had a very delicious, American dinner (Elder Millecam made meatloaf with potatoes and rolls…and rice, of course :), and then we talked about spiritual talents from Moroni 10, and hopefully that went ok. I think if she spends more time around the members, she might get more interested…which means Jesse is gonna hafta be patient with her.

We met with a lady who comes to the English class and has taken the discussions before, and well…it was totally and completely the worst lesson I’ve ever been in. she’s one of those people that LOVE to talk, so you’re afraid to ask any questions cuz they’ll go off for 30 minutes before you even get a CHANCE to interrupt and get back to the question that they STILL didn’t answer. Well…basically, she doesn’t believe in prophets (and yet somehow still believes the Bible is the word of God…PLEASE explain that to me? She tried to, but I didn’t understand much, and Sis Lie said she just beat around the bush with her answer anyways, so whatevs), and as soon as she said that, the small amount of the Spirit that had been there completely left the room. It was…oh man, I stuttered over all my words, and literally almost felt like I was gonna pass out. That might’ve been cuz the AC wasn’t working, but I also know it had to do with the loss of the Spirit. Ugh. She wasn’t working, but I also know it had to do with the loss of the Spirit. Ugh. She called later that night to tell us that she didn’t want to meet anymore, which I was ok with. Maybe she just needs some time…

And not Mas Dedewy is Brother Dedewy! Totally awesome, he had his baptism on Sunday, and it was really cool to meet with his parents the day before with all the missionaries from our ward, and hear his own mother testify about how much he’d changed since he started going to our church! I had a very distinct feeling that Brother Dedewy will become a great influence on his family, and they’ll be following soon.

Monday we had splits, and so me and Sis Mongan spent the whole day together. We met with this “crazy” guy who always calls our house with questions, and he was actually TOTALLY cool. He switched religions from Islam to Christianity about 2 or 3 years ago, and he soaks EVERYTHING in. He absolutely loves the New Testament, and if Sister Mongan said anything that he didn’t understand fully, he’d counter with scriptures from the NT, and then we’d read it, and Sis Mongan would explain how that WAS what she said, but he was not understanding completely. It was a really cool “lesson” to be a part of. We started with Lesson 1, but it turned into Sis Mongan giving basically the whole lesson, cuz he had so many questions that I didn’t understand and couldn’t quite help with, and she talked about Joseph Smith and the BofM at the end, and he called today and has already started reading it. So we’ll see how he comes along. He’s got spirit…that’s for sure.

Tuesday we didn’t have anything to do all day, so we were just proselyting the busway when I remembered that there was a lady in a neighborhood close to where we were who had said that we could come teach her…and then we forgot. So Sis Lie and I went and visited her, and had one of the most spiritual lessons I’ve ever had…complete with loud music in the background, people interrupting every few minutes (she owns a little “store” which is really just a few shelves with drinks, snacks, and cigarettes on it) to buy stuff, and quite a few men just coming to check out “the bule.” Hopefully she felt the spirit as well…we’ll find out next week how it goes. Hopefully she comes to church…but again, we’ll see!

That night we met with Israel, and man was that a ride. We watched The Restoration, and she LOVED it. As soon as it ended, she said, “Joseph Smith has inspired me to search out and find my own answer about which church is true!” After we had finished bearing our testimonies, the conversation transitioned into questions about what her friends have been telling her about our church… which just showed to me that Satan is certainly at work all over the world, stopping anyone who won’t seek out their own answer that our church is completely corrupt. It’s disgusting, and apparently the rumors are pretty serious here in Jakarta. However, she asked about polygamy, and THANK GOODNESS Elder Subandryo walked in right then, and so he was able to give the most perfect answer about that part of the history of this church that I’ve ever heard. It was simple, direct, and honest. His testimony after was amazing, as well, and now I have high hopes of becoming as good of a teacher as he is. Hopefully he helped Israel with her questions…I gave her the interenet addresses for the LDS websites, and told her that she can find whatever she wants about our church on the web, but if she wanted what we REALLY believe, that was her best source. We’ll meet next week and find out how that went…

Yesterday we went to Sis Mongan and Sis’s investigators, Ibu Desy, work to join in her aerobics class! Wow…and again, I was reminded of WHY I like running over that. It was so fast and ridiculous…no worries, I have film to prove that I should NEVER be forced to do anything like that in front of other people. After we were done, I had a man start talking to me about where I was from and why I was there, and found out that he owned one of the food places next to Desy. After he left from talking to me, he called Desy’s husband over to him (Desy’s husband was baptized last month, and he’s the reason why Desy got interested in the church, cuz she saw what a change for the better came over him after he started learning), and he told Desy’s husband to be careful with “that church” cuz it wasn’t a good church…luckily, Desy’s husband has become used to hearing that from other people (they haven’t been really closed about their learning about our church, and have the elders come and eat all the time), and just told the man that if he thought that, he was wrong and should learn about what the church is REALLY about. I was really proud of Desy’s husband, and her as well. She was telling us after that she doesn’t understand why everyone speaks so rudely about our church when she’s only seen good things come from it. But that’s just Satan at work…luckily there are people in this world who have been prepared to receive the Gospel, even with all the gossip from other people.

Well, that’s about it for me this week…I love and miss you all loads…but alas, I have been called to a Great and Marvelous work, and I love working in the Lord’s vineyard! AND NEXT WEEK WE MEET ELDER NELSON, so I’m REALLY happy to be here right now :P anywho, I hope all is well at home, and know that I’m always praying for you all. Loves!

~Sister Sara