hee hee....ia, saya pasti agak TRUNKY sekarang.... :P

well...i don't have much time cuz i took it all making sure we're set for next week, but in short, this last week has been pretty good.... we had goals as a district, and last week i said i was sick of us having goals but then never really trying to accomplish them, so this week if we all reached them, i'd take us out for lunch....i can honestly say that we all worked a lot harder this week, and we all reached the goals, and so friday we're going out to eat as a district. YAY!!! we had to get 2 new investigators, 2 lessons with a member, and find a new place or way to proselyte. it was good.

sister indira or effendi has been SOOO great this last week...i see a whole new light in her now that's she's decided to come back to church. she came on sunday, sat with the members, then after church hung around with them and ate lunch together....she's also been trying to help her family get more involved, inviting them to different activities and coming herself (she came to english class on thursday with her youngest son who came to my elementary class). she's so awesome....i seriously have come to love her SOOO much, and wish i could stay here as a regular member just to help her stay strong...but i guess i'll hafta do that from afar.

one of our new investigators was yesterday, and woman and her husband (who actually just happened to come home when we were talking about joseph smith). we had a nice (haha....) conversation about prophets, and the husband agreed to read the book, and decide for himself if the "fruits" of joseph smith prove him to be a prophet of God or not. with so many of our investigators, they don't go anywhere with the gospel (the interest level just IS NOT there...), but i love them all, and they love me too...which makes it hard when i wanna talk about the gospel, and they switch right back to obama....ya. i'm pretty sick of obama. but that's what's hard about leaving... i feel like all i've given them is a few minutes to talk to a bule....but what they really need is KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE RESTORED GOSPEL!!! ya...mom and dad, you'll see what i mean later.

we FINALLY met with vivi again, and i have some worries with her...not exactly with her testimony, just with how things are at home. i know it's hard for her to live with her mother-in-law, and that sometimes makes it hard for her to really want to focus on learning (she wants to learn for herself, not her m-i-l). but mom n dad, you'll meet her yourselves too. her stomach looks like kel's :)

bro paulus was a bit of joke last week. we had a member come with us to discuss the WofW, but as soon as we started talking about it, he came up with all kinds of reasons why that WASN'T something that jesus REQUIRED from us. it was a super hard lesson, especially cuz my comp "lost the spirit" and refused to say anything the whole time, so it was just me trying to help him. i dunno how much longer missionaries can work with him if he has an attitude like that...which i plan on telling him this week.

saturday is homemaking, and i'm gonna teach how to make caramel :) hopefully it goes well. sunday, i'm "allowed" to go to sacrament, but then i hafta go straight to the airport to go to jakarta....and that's that. tuesday you'll be here, and this dream of mine for the last 1 1/2 years will be over....the dream i NEVER thought i'd dream. so many friends, so many experiences, so much joy, so much pain, so much growth....so much a better person. how does God do it? we think this time we give to Him is so much, but by the end, we're the ones begging for more time, for more growth....because we haven't quite become the person we want to ... there's still so much more growth needed! and yet...when all is said and done, we are what we have become, we are what we have allowed Him to shape us to become....and then the real test starts. the test of, "can you keep this up in the REAL world, where you DON'T wear a nametag and carry around the white handbook and have someone checking on your every move?" i remember elder holland talking in the MTC, pounding on the pulpit and into my heart that "YOU CANNOT COME HOME THE SAME PERSON YOU LEFT! IF YOU DO, THEN YOUR MISSION HAS FAILED!" well...i'm not the same person, so i guess that means my mission has been a success. i'm so grateful for it. for anyone pushing aside this opportunity, DON'T. it will be the best decision you'll ever make. there is nothing that will compare to the time you give to the Lord, there is nothing that will compare to the blessings you recieve, and there is NOTHING that will compare to joy you feel. SERVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, MIGHT, MIND AND STRENGTH, AND YOU WILL COME OFF CONQUORER! (is that a scripture? i know the first part is, but i think i made up the last part.... :P).

and that's that. peace out my friends and family.... i'll be seeing ya'll soon. dalam nama Yesus Kristus, AMIN!

~Sister Sara Hewlett
Indonesia Jakarta Mission, 2009-2011