well it was sure good to hear everybody's voices on Sunday, although i was sad i didn't get to say goodbye. the call just kinda ended, and that was that. luckily, i was too tired to care too much, but the next morning, when i had my energy back, i was SUPER sad i didn't get to tell you all how much i love you! so i love you, and happy mothers day again, mom!
well my family already knows, but i'll say it again...CHERN IS GETTING BAPTIZED! we've had a bit of fun playing around with WHEN they'll be having the baptism (it seems like there are conflicts with every time they decide on), but i think the final say has been during Sunday school on Sunday. if they wait til after church, the Indo branch is meeting, and if they do it any other day, President Donald is afraid there won't be many people that can make it. so sunday it is, and i'll of course have pics to send home! Pres Donald interviewed chern on sunday, and when i talked to him yesterday, he told me how ready she is...and i told him i already knew :) i really have no idea what happened between 2 weeks ago and last week...but Chern is ready for baptism, and SHE knows it now, which is the most important thing. and now her family will start their journey towards becoming an eternal family!
speaking of baptism, yesterday we met with raz and discussed baptism with her...she still feels like she needs to pray and figure things out for herself, but she said she feels SO RIGHT with our church...she says she knows there's something different about it, and that if she chooses this path, she's going to do it herself, and she's going to hafta stand up for a lot things...so she's going to search within herself to see if she thinks she can do that before she leaves for australia at the end of june. HOPEFULLY SHE FINDS OUT! i've been trying to figure out someone to fellowship with her, but its REALLY hard with her age, so we'll see what else we can do. keep praying for raz tho!
other exciting news for the week...sis mongan has been released. HOLY CRAP. i remember the day we got together, and she was telling me that she had 5 months left on her mission...and now it's been 6 months, and she's really gone! i'm gonna miss her SOOOO much. i know this entire mission is gonna miss having such an incredible missionary who connected with everyone SO well. i just hope i can follow her example...her biggest advice is to always love your companion. so i'll see what i can do about that :) hopefully i can follow it.
we've been SUPER busy this entire last week. i like to keep busy, but it's been a little hard with sis simanjuntak. she's been "homesick" the last few days, so our last few appointments have basically been me teaching everything, while she'll just add in where i look at her and wait for a response. she's a really good missionary, so i'm just hoping that she can get over this homesickness quick so she can continue to teach like she did last week.
so we met with a referral last week, and HOLY COW! she's christian, but she was with her buddhist friend who had her muslim maid (pembantu...i think maid is the best way to describe that word...), and she insisted that they join in the lesson...so we just wanted to get to know the lady and see what she'd learned from the elders who'd reffered her, and she just started going off about Jesus, and how everyone needs Jesus, and that this poor Muslim girl was basically "sesat" for her beliefs (like, lost...), and if she never found Jesus, she'd never be saved, and on and on and on...finally the buddhist friend had to "go to bathroom" and they didn't come back in...which i understood why. at one point, when the lady got REALLY offensiver, i broke in and talked about how in our church, we know the right way to return to God, but that we still need to respect other religions...and then this lady just nodded, and started ripping on the girl again. it was seriously so sad. but we'll be meeting with the lady again on friday, in her house, hopefully without any Muslims in the room. maybe we'll actually be able to teach...i can only hope!
saturday we had a reception for Jesse & Sema...jesse an american in the english branch, has been living here for 10 years, and just married sema, who is muslim and indo, and we've met once or twice with them in VERY informal settings, just to help sema start to gain an interest in the church. i know jesse has a hard time dealing with her not being a member, but i think he also knows if she does get interested, its gonna take a few years. so we'll keep meeting and see what we can do.
and on and on and on. the rest of the appointments weren't too much to talk about...we were at one investigators house, when it started to POUR outside, and sis siman had taken her shoes off in the front, and after we said the opening prayer, the lady JUMPS up, runs to the door, and starts yelling about shoes, and we're both like, oh ya, don't worry about the shoes, they're waterproof...and then we went out, and the shoes were gone cuz there was a huge flood of water coming down the sidewalk area! it was hilarious, and siman had to walk quite a ways before she found them...i stayed in the house laughing my head off. haha it was funny.
so i just read elder eyring's talk from the priesthood session, and i found that if you replace "priesthood" with "missionary," it applies a lot more to me as a missionary! elders can try that as well, and it might be able to help them focus more on their work as a missionary, but i think with sister missionaries that talk is INCREDIBLE if you switch those 2 words. it brings the entire talk right into your heart...everything that you need to do, and the things you need to remember, as you're serving God. i loved it. so maybe for FHE this week you can try that :)
again, it was fun talking...hopefully my indo sounded a tiny bit better. if not, i can at least UNDERSTAND this language better. that's an improvement. the other day i got a text from one of the new APs, and i had no idea what he said, and sis siman said it was SUPER formal indo...i wanna get that good! oh well...keep working at it, right? anywho, i love you all, i pray all is well at home, and always know that i love you so much! i know this work is God's work, and that if i serve Him with my all, He will help me to succeed...which i know is true, because He already has! loves~
~Sister Sara
ps i got zack's announcement this last week...very cute! i'm happy for ya cuz! send me pics!
p.p.s i almost forgot...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ON SUNDAY!!! mom and dad! hope its a good one :) i'd say you've had quite a successful marriage :) love you!
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