another week has come and gone...and holy crap, time really is just totally flying here. i have moments where i get all trunky and ready to go home asap, but then i meet with investigators or inactive members, and i think, "how can i leave you?" i also went shopping today, and again thought, "how can i leave this place? the prices are just TOO good!" haha...as long as i have an american wage coming into my bank account :P it's been a bit of a roller coaster week.
so i'm really realizing how many problems this world creates for members of the church...well, for people in general, but because of the knowledge we have, i think it means a LOT more to us....ok...so the wording in this is kinda awkward, but hopefully you know what i mean. last week we visited one member whose son dropped out of college and just sits at home all day until his gf calls and picks him up, and he lives off her, and the mom is so stressed cuz they can hardly afford food much less their rent....and yet she has a perfectly capable son who is too lazy to work. her and her husband work hard, but they are VERY humble people, and if you would add in a 3rd income, it would help them a ton. so she was crying about that while we were there, and my heart just broke for her...i wanted to help, but how do you change someone who doesn't wanna be changed? you can't. so we just tried to help her the best we knew how....
then there's another member whose son has ditched school for the last 20 days....each of those days, she thought he was at school, cuz he'd leave for school in his school uniform, then come home around the usual time, and she had no idea til the principal called and started telling erik (the son) that if he kept up like this, he was a shame to Christianity, which made sis Indira just cry harder...now i'm working with him, trying to catch up on his english and math that he's missed so he can graduate his grade this year...and all because he was ashamed (holy crap my english is so bad...its malu in indonesian, but it has so dang many meanings in english i forget which one is best here!) because he didn't have books, but he was too shy to ask his mom for money to buy the books....but now it's all out in the open, and i think it's actually been good cuz it's really waken up his mom, who isn't active, and now she's decided to come back to church. she sent me a text this morning about how she usually wakes up and cooks breakfast and is just go-go-go all morning long, but this morning she woke up, prayed, felt really peaceful, then read from the scriptures which only helped, and then when her husband was getting ready to go to work, she asked him if he wanted to pray first, and he actually wanted to! so they prayed together for the first time in a LONG time. i got her text, and i literally screamed a little, and threw the phone to sari, saying READ IT, READ IT! haha. i was SOOO happy when i heard that. she's been away from the Lord for too long, and now her kids are getting to the age where she's REALLY gonna feel that. and she knows it. so now she's working to change it.
then ANOTHER inactive member has 5 kids under the age of 15, and we went to her house and SHE started crying because she gets no help from them, and she's basically a single mother (her husband is on another island working, and rarely gets time off to come home) with her own bread business that keeps her cooking and delivering ALL day, then she has to pick up and drop off her kids, and she was just EXHAUSTED. i felt so bad. her 2 oldest kids don't have the best of friends, and she never believes anything they say, she tries to help them but she says its just gotten to the point that she's better off not thinking at all, cuz if she thinks she just worries and then she can't take care of the younger 3....ugh. it's just a tough situation, with no help.
so then, the other day we were talking about the members in the branch, and how if they would help visit inactives, show they care, have a little Christlike love, a lot of our problems and worries as missionaries wouldn't be there cuz the members would take care of it. but they don't do ANY visits, so we have to deal with everything, and it's just ridiculous. this week, i actually wanna meet with the branch presidency and district president to discuss how to help us as missionaries....we spend so much time visiting inactives that go no where that sometimes it all just feels like it's for nothing. even if they do come to church once, they don't have any members that befriend them, so then they don't wanna come again. it's just....ya, a sad situation.
bro paulus was in charge of the activity for the priesthood quorum yesterday, and that just added to my frustration with the branch... he had a few people come and talk to him, but for the most part it was me and sari. THEN, before all the food was ready to go, everyone left to go play soccer....literally, EVERYONE, without any explanation. and we were all left wondering what was going on, and i don't think he was too impressed with it at all. not to mention that the new members (bro jon and sis pegi from sis rhondeau) were with the missionaries the whole time as well, cuz they have no friends in the branch either. it's just hard...no one even really TRIES to talk to anyone they don't know. i understand how they feel, but...at the same time, TALK! sometimes i think about getting a Temple here, and i think, if the work keeps going like this, it's NEVER gonna happen. anyone who joins immediately goes inactive, and then what? no progression. so ya...sorry, i've been pretty worked up about this the last few days.
we did get a new investigator this week who seems pretty cool. we're meeting again saturday. i told sari i think that was the best first lesson i'd ever been apart of. it was pretty good, and he had a lot of really good questions. hopefully he keeps the interest :)
anywho...this week i've been reading about Moses in the Old Testament, and it's funny how i've seen all the movies and stuff, but never actually read it all...it comes together a lot better if you read it :)
and that's my week...i love you all so much! ben, clean my car for me...and my room....and make sure my phone is still in good condition. cuz baby.....you're only getting one more email from me :P haha, loves!~
~Sister Sara
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