Pernikahan, Ke Jakarta...sibuk terus!

well...i can hardly breathe right now...i forced jo to come email as soon as we got home so you wouldn't worry going 2 days without an email again...but we're cuttin it short emailing this close to curfew :P but know i love you mom, and this was for you :)
it's been a heck of a week...last thursday was AWESOME and exhausting, and i had a headache at the end of the day. we taught pak johan, whom we haven't taught in about 2 months cuz i don't really see him progressing, he just likes to compare different religions, but i wanted to see how much of the BofM he'd read...and it turns out that he hasn't read any. ugh. but he actually asked us about what our church believes about death, so we bagged what we'd planned to teach, and had a good discussion about the plan of salvation. he was good, talking about how almost every church has the belief of the middle part of what we believe, but the rest is totally just our church - which made it possible for me to bear testimony to him that we only know about the pre mortal life and life after judgment day because of living prophets who live on the earth today. it was probably our best discussion yet.
and then we went straight to bang hapen - who SERIOUSLY gives me a headache every time we teach him....he just has so many questions, and doesn't understand anything that we try to discuss....he's intelligent, and knows his Bible, but he wants too much PROOF from the Bible, and there just isn't any about the BofM....so it's frustrating and just almost too much work to try and discuss things with him. i always just get to a point where i just shut up and stop talking, cuz nothing i say he seems to understand. but it was still good to meet with him, cuz it's been about 2 months since we met with him as well.
i also took team pics with my widyatama girls! and guess what....they gave me my very own, widyatama jersey! we all dressed up in the uniforms, and after i gave them back the jersey i'd borrowed, and they were like, no, this is for you! i'm still touched by them...seriously, they are so cool, and mom and dad we're gonna go out to dinner so you can meet them all!
and then saturday was THE WEDDING....the wedding that millions have waited for for 10 years. haha, mbak ade and mas budi FINALLY tied the knot on saturday, and guess who were the bridesmaids that got to dress up with the bride/? haha, yup, us missionaries. holy cow...it was so fun! i got to dress up in kebaya (the "special event" clothing), and everyone was freaking out about a bule wearing kebaya. and i'm not gonna lie---the other girls had their ridiculous, white make up on that makes them look completely unnatural and not at all as pretty as their natural color is---but i asked to have the "natural" look, and i was quite pleased with the result. you'll be getting the pics around this time next week....i left a package at senopati today that a lady from the english ward is gonna send thru the embassy (which puts it at the same price as sending you a package from cali...sweet, eh?), and it has 2 cds of pics, with the wedding pics on it. you can use that at the ward party, too, if you want :). anyways, mbak ade was beautiful, and after he washed off his white makeup, mas budi didn't look half bad, either, haha. funny story...write that one down for when i get home. he deleted the pic i took, so i don't have proof, but i promise it happened.
sunday was awesome too...we fasted with Ibu Dina, and she was SO proud that she fasted, cuz it's been 6 years since she's done it, but she "felt so strong, and God helped me not feel too hungry all day!" she's seriously such a sweetheart. i love her so much. after we ended our fast together with dinner, we talked a bit about how she felt about the Bofm, and she said she's been reading it, and she knows it has the purpose as bible - so i explained that that's the Holy Ghost, helping her know that, and that sometimes he works in a process, and if she keeps reading, she'll become more and more sure of the divinity of the Bofm, and that along with that will come a knowledge of joseph smith, who she still struggles with. but little by little we're getting along with her! we also talked a lot abotu her family, and what she can do to help them open up more to Christ (that's what she wanted to fast for). she's amazing,a nd i love her so much!
tuesday-thursday was spent in jakarta - and man was it full and awesome and just good to get out of bandung for a few days (which dad, it's BAWN - DUNG, not BANG-DUNG. i dunno why that couple told you that was how you say it, cuz it's definitely said the way it's said). tuesday was great - i went on splits with one of the sisters in jakarta, and we taught raz! she's doing SO good, and it was so great to hear about her trip to australia, and how much she's grown. she said the closing prayer, and i told her i could see an improvement in her prayers even in just 4 months....not that they were "bad" before, just more "flowy" if you will. she was more sure of herself, and it was really cool to see that. she's planning on getting baptized in january in australia, so i'm gonna stay in touch with her, and make sure that happens :)
it was also nice to see in jakarta a lot of what's happening there - the missionaries are using the english branch TONS more now, and almost all their investigators are referrals or girlfriends/boyfriends of members. sis suryono, who is from bandung and left to start her mission about 1 month after i got here, is super excited about the work, and we spent most of the 3 days together - she was telling me all about a lot of the people i helped with, and she said, "what i've noticed from serving here after you left is that EVERYONE knows you - you must be a really good contactor, cuz everyone knows about the church from you." that made me feel good, and like i really did do something with my time in jakarta. she also said it was weird to be with a bule who actually says hi to the creepy guys that always yell stuff at us as we pass by - i told her they're people too, and i don't feel like they should be ignored. i'm not gonna go outta my way to talk to them, but if they say hi to me, the least i can do is say hi back. it made me feel a lot better about how i conduct myself here.
wow, this is getting too long and my time is almost up, but at the meeting we had with elder pratt, i basically got my butt spanked. everything he said, i knew was true - i see it in my own house, i feel it in my heart every day...us missionaries ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH here. i don't have time to go into details, but he certainly opened my eyes, and i'm just hoping i'll be able to apply what he and his wife taught - altho part of me also feels like i just wasted 15 months of my mission riding up and down on buses trying to find people. but i was a really good meeting... i just dunno how much of an effect it'll have here in bandung :(
today was thanksgiving, we gave thanks by having pday at the church, playing american football and soccer, with a tiny bit of basketball at the end. then we ate a SWEET thanksgiving dinner at senopati, complete with apple and pumpkin pie at the end. it was short, sweet, and fun. basically just nice to not be the only bule for a few days.
anywho, we just got back from jakarta, and i'm tired and my time is about up - so i love you all! thanks for being wonderful, and have another great week! loves~
~Sister Sara

ps mom i got both the packages - my chocolate and the cards (holy cow, kel goes to A TON of work for those things!), and my christmas package. i kinda wanna open it now if there's anything i'll be able to use before christmas like you had last year, but i also like to save it for the surprise of having it on christmas day...what do you think? thanks! love you!