well, we got the news today, and it looks like things are really gonna start changing around here...sis is heading to Solo, while Sis Mongan's cousin is coming here. this is the first of many transfers in the next few months, i'm positive. but, this at least helps me know that i now have a 90% chance of being transferred to Malang...which would be awesome, cuz it's cooler there, so summertime there i'm sure is gonna be enak! but, really, i'm the only bule now that hasn't been moved in the last week. i think pres is gonna wait until at least after the fireside that we have planned for next weekend, but...nothing is sure, so we'll only see what happens. sis is pretty upset...they have 2 baptisms planned for next week (we have conference this weekend), and, well, this is the only place we know, so ya. she's not too happy. i'm pretty sad, too...we've never been separated! sis mongan is upset too, cuz she's gonna be with sodjo and her cousin now... sodjo, who is odd and selfish, and her cousin who is about the same from what i've heard. poor thing...we were talking earlier, and she was saying that she just wants to enjoy the end of her mission, but this is gonna a rough way to do that (she's got 3 weeks left...crazy!) also, i just figured something else out...i'm gonna be the only bule in the entire house. so the good news for me is that my language had BETTER improve even faster!
this week has been really good. sis and sis lie were both sick last week, so me and mongan spent friday and saturday basically together the whole time. we visited chern on friday, and WOW. so there were 2 really big things that happened...one, she doesn't understand what a testimony is, and so i tried to explain it, but...well, it's super hard (i found 3 general conference talks for her to read that help explain since then tho...so hopefully that'll help too). but, we discussed it, and we'll keep going over it, and help her see that she really does have one. the other awesome thing was that she was talking about POSSIBLE BAPTISM DATES!!!! however, she wants it just a year before they plan to go to the temple, and her and bro hunter have quite a few disagreements about the weather. she hates cold, but he wants to go New Zealand in the winter for their anniversary. so...ya, we'll see what we can do there. but she's REALLY searching for a baptism date! woohoo!
we got a new investigator last week (valen), and she's really great, but she likes to buy us food. like...A LOT of food. haha. hopefully i don't come home fat just cuz of her...ya ampun! she reads everything that we give her, and has a desire to learn about the church. however, she didn't come to church on sunday cuz it was easter, and she wanted to spend it with her family (which i understand), but the plan is that she'll come to church on sunday, and then we'll teach her after that. so we'll keep moving forward with her!
we watched the restoration with Raz on monday, and she is so cute. she's 21, and really interested in religions and beliefs...and she's quite fascinated with ours, so we're trying to answer all her questions and help her find her testimony. she had this great question about grace and mercy, and how the bible explains that that's all we really need in this life, and if we believed that...so i searched for scriptures, and checked out the bible dictionary, and when she read from the bible dictionary and we discussed it a bit, she suddenly goes, "oooooh...penerangan!" i had no idea what that meant, but i knew it was good...it's like where something just clicks, and it finally makes sense to you. so yay! she said that helped her a lot, and we explained that it's only after all we can do (2 nephi 25:13 i think? it's at least in the chapter...) that the Atonement comes in and takes over so we can return to the presence of God again. she doesn't say a ton when we teach, but when she does, it's always something really intellectual and deep. she's fun, and i'm enjoying teaching her.
we went and got our kitas' renewed yesterday...so i'm good for another year, and don't have (or get?...) to take any more trips outside the country. to answer your question, mom, normally missionaries don't hafta leave the country, they just renew their visas here, but i guess when SL headquarters was doing our paperwork, with just our group they signed us up as extended traveling tourists, and since we were just tourists, we had to leave the country. so...haha, that's just one of the blessings i've gotten to experience because i came here 2 months later than expected. haha...sis rhondea was SOOO jealous. haha, i only laughed.
anywho, while we were at senopati waiting to go to immigration, we got a phone call from the other sisters that sis linda's baby had died that morning...the poor thing had just been born a month ago, but the family is in VERY humble circumstances, to say that least, and linda is a single mother, so...God knows what he's doing. however, the coolest thing is that the baby got her blessing just the day before by the branch president, where he blessed her to be taught the fullness of the gospel by her parents...among other things that were FANTASTIC, but a little odd for the circumstances that poor baby was born into (i only understood/could hear a few things, but i specifically remember hearing the word "parents" and thinking how odd that was, since there's just linda - but one of the sisters in the ward explained it to us while we were at senopati). that's just one more testament to me that the Priesthood is real, and that God knows what he's doing - even when we ourselves are confused by things we say or do, but in the end it's all for the good of His work.
and, well, that's about the basis of my week this week. well, besides the one guy who wanted to marry me (i told him i had a bf in america...i think i might need to start carrying a pic of me with ben or carter everywhere i go...got any at home? that'd help me a bit with some of these guys....haha. harmless, but they really are serious...), one of the elders losing his ring that his mom had given him today at the indoor soccer place we played at (which we spent at least an hour searching before i finally told sis mongan we needed to pray, so she got everyone together, we prayed, and then about another 20 minutes later we finally found the ring..YAY FOR PRAYER!!!), and best of all the man on his phone standing next to me in line telling his friend that i was as tall as a monster (words of sister lie...i didn't know what he was saying, but she told me he called me a monster...i actually found out later that the word actually means GIANT, which is a little bit more fitting, but i still think monster was funnier...we got a good laugh outta that).
i hope you guys enjoyed your trip, conference, and easter! we have conference this weekend, and hopefully we get to watch it all. saturday is for sure gonna be completely in indonesian, but sunday is all english, so i'm looking forward to the insights that i'll get from that. let me know which ones you liked the best! I LOVE CONFERENCE! anywho, i love you all and hope everything is good at home...i love ya! loves,
~Sister Sara
ps when does grandma leave for her trip to scotland? i got a letter from her that she hadn't left yet...
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