Happy Valentines Day!

The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away… and in my case, I’m glad He took people out of my life who only cause problems, and has instead given me blessings beyond what I deserve.

We didn’t meet with Cherie and PJ this week, but PJ got a calling as a Sunday school teacher, so he came on Sunday! But Cherie didn’t, so now I’m gonna hafta start pushing more for her to start coming to church with PJ, and getting her more involved there. The time is just so short…I know I’ll be getting moved soon (possibly after Singapore in March, is my guess), and I want Cherie and PJ in a solid situation before I leave!We met with Chern last week, and had possibly the best discussion yet. It was about Christ’s life, and she really seems to understand things pretty well. I was all hyped up and excited to meet with her this week, but when I called me to make sure that we still had an appointment, I found out that we had had a miscommunication, so we weren’t able to meet…and I was SOOOO mad at myself for that. People…this is why you don’t text. Cuz things are never as clear over text as they are when you talk on the phone. So we weren’t able to meet one more time before she leaves for Malaysia to visit her parents, but she’ll be getting back just in time for Elder Nelson, and we HAVE to meet before that meeting. I’m also worried about leaving Chern anytime soon…she’s SOOO close, it’s only a matter of time. But I’m going to leave her strong if it’s the last thing I do!

We’ve met with this one lady, Ibu Visinsia, a few times, and…well, it’s an interesting situation, but she basically only likes to meet with Sis and me cuz we’re Bules, and her grandson and daughter come to our English class. But we’ve been taking turns going to their house, and I told Sis Lie last week that if we went and all they wanted to do was feed us and talk about who knows what like they always do, we weren’t going back again, cuz it was a waste of time. However, when we went last week, it was Ibu Visinsia, her husband, and her daughter that all sat in with us, and all listened to the Plan of Salvation and seemed to understand it pretty well. I don’t think the other two are reading the BofM, but Ibu Visinsia had read bits and pieces of it, and so she had some fun and interesting questions that we got to try and answer. It ended up being a really good appointment, and hopefully they’ll just get more and more interested (although I have a feeling they might fall into the “Eternigator” category, cuz their church is at the same time as ours, so they basically refuse to come to our church…even tho their church has like 5 times to choose from…) and keep following thru with the commitments. We’ll see!

I think I mentioned last week that we were going to start teaching a girl named Israel that we randomly met (or I should say the Elders did), and we’ve taught her twice since then. We taught her the restoration lesson on Tuesday night, and then today we did the Plan of Salvation. She is GOLD. She has questions, but it’s more or less about who people are, and how it correlates with the Bible, but their still questions that I love! After we taught the Restoration lesson, she wanted to read the full account from Joseph Smith, so we gave her the pamphlet that we have with that in it, and so then today she was asking who Moroni was, and how he fit into the picture, and then a bit about Oliver Cowdery as well…she’s sharp, and she likes it when we explain things to her so it’s more clear. It’s been great teaching her, and we’ll be teaching her again on Monday at the Millecam’s, so I’m excited to see where she goes!

Haha, I almost forgot…so I got my hair cut the other day at a beauty school, and MAN! The haircut isn’t bad, no worries, but the girl that cut my hair looked/acted like she wanted to kill herself the whole time! I felt so bad…here I was, this bule getting my hair cut by a poor little lady from Medan who has probably never cut a bule’s hair before, which can only add more stress…but it turned out fine, and hopefully she’s still alive, haha. It really was funny tho… we walked in, and when Sis Lie told the lady at the front desk that we wanted hair cuts, the lady looked at me, then turned back to Sis Lie and said, “You know this is a SCHOOL, right? These AREN’T professionals.” Haha. I think she was worried about having a bule there. Man alive. It’s crazy being in a country where skin color can mean so much!

So for FHE, we met with Sister Suhendro, a cute little old lady in the branch who reminds me SOOO much of you, Grandma! She is adorable. She joined the church with her husband and kids in the early 70’s, and all are still in the church, and most (if not all…I’m not sure) have served missions when they’re old enough. She also served a senior mission about 10 years ago (after her husband died), and she told me she did that to set the example for her grandkids. She has such the funniest sense of humor…I only wish I could understand her better so I could laugh harder, but everyone else always laughs whenever she says anything, cuz she’s just funny, just like you Grandma. Always loving and ready to help with anything she can. She actually even had her next door neighbor over with her 2 kids on Monday, and afterwards we found out the they’re Muslim, so that was REALLY cool, and she said she’s gonna keep trying to share about the Gospel with them. SO COOL! Just goes to show, you’re never too old to share the Gospel…I believe she’s 78. She told me, but I forgot. All I remember is that she’s a few years younger than Grandma, so 78 is my best guess. So cool!

Well, that’s basically my last week in a nutshell. We’re hopefully going to be meeting with a few of our contacts this week… FINALLY! We haven’t had too much success with our contacts, but I’m gonna try to focus more getting those appointments, cuz we NEED them.

Oh…I thought of one other thing. Sis and Sis Mongan will get an addition in the next few days (or weeks…we’re not quite sure when). One of the missionaries from Bandung is being transferred to Jakarta, so that’ll be an interesting experience. I dunno how they feel about that, since they get along REALLY well, and have a lot of good things going for them, and this other missionary is said to be one of the tougher sisters to be comps with, but I’m sure if anyone can still have success, it’s Sis and Sis Mongan. We’ll see how it goes! But I’m not gonna lie…I’m just glad she’s not joining me and Sis Lie, cuz we’re just starting to get used to each other, and having a third person would only throw things off even more. Phew!

Happy Valentine’s on Sunday! It’s always a good chance to tell the ones you love that you love them…so I want to tell you all how much I love and appreciate all of you and the support, prayers, and letters. I really am blessed beyond what I should have, and I’m immensely grateful for that. I hope you all have a good week, and remember that I love and miss you tons! However, this is the Lord’s work, and I’m beyond happy to do my part in helping move that along. It truly is a great and marvelous work, and although it’s NOT easy, it IS important, and it IS what I’m supposed to be doing right now. I have no doubt in my mind about that, and I’m grateful for the trust that God has put in me to do this for Him…hopefully I don’t let Him down! Loves~
~Sister Sara