First week in Mission

24 June13

Where to even start?! Short synopsis of my week.

First pictures in Indonesia with Sister Jibson

Food: WONDERFUL! I love love love it! I think I have tried something new at every meal like papaya or sate or snake fruit or chocolatey jelloy stuff or guava or landeng (not sure how to spell any of those). I have had a few spicy things and one of the members got me to try this spice you pour on top and look at me, I am handling it fine ya!

People: SAYA MENGASIHI MEREKA! (I love them) They are so cool. Like seriously they are nice and funny and unique and have cool style and smart... the members are rock solid. My favorite times are with the members. The rest of the people of Jakarta (all millions of them) are so awesome! They usually just stare at me but if you ask them something then they become your best friend and want to help you. The little kids on the streets always shout Buleh! Buleh! (white person {ps hahaha family... we aren't gringo's here, that's a spanish word}) And when I say hi to them they get shy and try to say something in english. "Haaroo" I think means "how are you" ya? :) We have met some realllllly poor people and some really classy people but the craziest thing is that I am SO TINGGI! (tall) Like seriously I tower over everyone ya! I have never been this tall and it makes me so self conscious! Whoops this isnt very short.

Travel: I love just walking around. The traffic is always crazy and you are always shoulder to shoulder (more like elbow to head since I'm like a giant). It usually takes about an hour and a half to go anywhere with all the traffic. I have traveled in a busway (think subway surfing), a taxi, a bagai (little three wheeler motorized carts), a enkot (a tiny van that I always hit my head in because they are so short) and a bis (the bus rides are so entertaining because every ride is basically a ride on the knight bus on Harry Potter). The only thing left is a motorcycle and it's a good thing you're not allowed to ride in them because people here are AMAZING at driving them ya? I am surprised no one ever crashes.

Jakarta: The air here is really sweet and has this mix of a million other smells-- delicious food, old things, b.o., fruit, smoke, sewage, bread, smog and people. The streets are so colorful that I want to take a million pictures (like dad) and send them to mom to have her watercolor them. Waduh!

Now to answer some questions. I have been on exchanges with all of the sisters in Jakarta (so has sis Jibson) and all of the elders are either nearby or two of them are with the AP's. We got all of our luggage but get this! Funny story- I opened my bag of extra everything and there was this notice saying that my bag had been inspected and there was an empty ziploc bag BUT I have no clue what they took! Haha oh well! After living without luggage for a couple nights, I think I packed waaay to much stuff. Packing for my transfer though I still am always shoving as much in as possible and barely under weight limit. We have been staying with some of the sisters in their apartment which is small. And maybe something is wrong with me, but it hasn't really phased me that much to sleep on a floor and shower in a bucket and all that. I might be eating my words in a few weeks ya?

View from Sister Trainers' apartment

OH! I should probably tell you my first area....  Drumroll please.... I'm going to Yogyakarta!!!! (Pronounced like Jokjakarta or just jokja for short). I'm so excited! They tell me that my trainer is great too. But get this. I can't even believe this. Elder Wood is also going to Yogya! Ha. So did you know that we basically are the same person? Ya! Sister Jibson in gonna be in Solo which is like an hour away and I don’t know if you want to know where everyone else is transferred to but I'll tell you later if you want.  I LOVED your email. I loved dad's talk and I love the updates on everything with you and with the ward. I want to know the big things and the home things. I want to know it all :) It is long but I am getting faster... mungkin (maybe)...

 Weird : I keep having the strangest dreams! They have all my family and friends in them and I am usually at home or something but Sister Jibson is always there and I always have on my name tag and I always still have to follow mission rules! Like last night when Gaylin and Teresa and Jus and Alyss came to my mission in my dream and I had to go to bed like 10 minutes after they showed up!

I love you all and always think of everyone back home but I have to be honest, there is no place I would rather be than my mission, here in Indonesia. The Lord has blessed me (and I think most missionaries) with the feeling that my mission is home now. The second I stepped off the plane in Jakarta, I felt comfortable. I was sitting on the floor with Sister Treyes in this tiny house in this area near train tracks that was a maze to get into and there was no sun or light in this 'street' and there were stray cats and little kids running around without shoes and everyone smokes in Jakarta and everything is worn out BUT I felt happy. I felt the spirit when those little members bore their testimony about the temple. The people are darling and so generous. I cannot believe that we were sitting on the floor at the house of this old blind lady who lives with her older brother who can't read and she just went out on the street and bought a huge plateful of food from a cart and asked us (Sis Hickman and I) to eat the whole thing. She probably has no money and yet she wanted to make sure she took care of us. We just read the Book Of Mormon with them since they can't do that for themselves and it was so tender to watch the brother try to read with us and to have her help correct my pronunciation of words. And when we sang Aku Anak Allah (I am a Child of God) with them, nothing else mattered.

Oh I have so many stories I want to share but I have no time left and I still have to email all my friends and of course President Groberg! I know I am leaving out big things too! Let me think. This will be very scatterbrained... Oh we did the musical number in sacrament on Hari Minggu. (sunday ya?) Um my fave Indo foods are sate, nasi gorang and something that we had at a members house but I have no clue what it was called. President Groberg's older brother is the Elder Groberg from The Other Side of Heaven! I LOVE President and Sister Groberg. I am so grateful that I got to know them even just for a couple weeks. I want to make a jump rope out of rubberbands tied together like these little kids I stopped and played with the other day. I am really clumsy here and the best word to describe myself is an oaf (I just feel so tall and gangly and oblivious here hahaha).

Yesterday was the first time I really heard the call to prayer and it goes on for HOURS. Non stop. And it's funny because there will be a few of them going at once and they all just sound like "eraaaohaieeeooohaaareehhhhooooooohah" all at once for hours ya! It's unreal how funny and true that is. Everything here is so picturesque. Did you know that I live in a movie set now? Ya any second now Tom Cruise is going to whizz past on a motorcycle. It honestly feels like that! I love that there are basically no rules here but everyone gets along and is so kind that no one ever gets hurt. (I shouldn't say always and never because I know things happen and I know it's not perfect.)

Last thing. It was day five yesterday. Day five is notorious for being the day when everyone gets sick. Your stomach starts to rebel and you start to notice bug bites and you feel like you want to go home and your language is terrible. But as far as the list goes, I just felt a little sick yesterday and have had a few mosquito bites, but all is well! (I can't speak for all the other missionaries yang baru (new missionaries) though). WADUH! I always write too much! Maaf! (sorry) I really have to get off now. I thought we would get 1.5 hours to email out in the field but apparently it is still 1. So I will have to talk to you all later! Pray for me as I head to my first area! I pray for you always. Kasihmu selalu! (Love you always!)

-Sis Pemasak Ladang (Chef Field)

PS My name is SO hard to pronounce in Indonesian! Everyone ends up saying "Sefeld" ya!