I love you more than...

the smell of a new Disneyland hoodie!

(Being cold/wet/tired so you buy a fuzzy/warm/new mickey hoodie and then eat a big ol' ice cream cone from the parlour on main street)

Waiting out the rain (sometimes you just gotta wait)

So! Here's for my week.

Tuesday it rained and then rained and then rained and then after that rained some more. We were riding to an appointment and got to this part of the road where it had flooded over our bike pedals and we were laughing SO HARD! There were almost no people on the road because they were all on the sides taking shelter under the buildings-- I'm sure they all were watching us in awe as we just took off in this monsoon, laughing our heads off and wearing these flimsy lil’ ponchos. 

 

A few if the zone members at ZTM

Wednesday- We went to Jogja for ZTM (zone training meeting) and I got to see Elder Murphy from my MTC group for the first time since we got here! Brings back such memories. We talked about the difference between Abinadi and Ammon as missionaries. Would anyone say that Abinadi wasn't succesfull? Heck no! And we shouldn't be so quick to measure our success by the number of lessons/baptisms either. I also sang “O Divine Redeemer” with some help from Elder Kusumarmanto and I think the spirit was really strong. Lately president has been stressing sacrifice so much. And what are we willing to do gain our hopes/goals. I love how the excitement just pours from all the meetings we have, especially when they share about what President's vision for the mission is. The mission is changing so much all the time and I just pray that I can help it keep growing. 

Thursday- I found out the biggest news... I LEAVE FOR JAKARTA TOMORROW! Yeah they failed to tell me that little detail. And I still, as of 3:30 pm, do not have my airplane ticket for tomorrow. Pokonya, saya agak berstress. Plus I am the worst at packing in the world. But we had a kinda frustring week with Mbah. He is just so dramatic and we haven't quite figured him out yet. We are starting to focus on his granddaughter so hopefully she will drive him to get baptized. But we ended the night with some Roti Bakar (glorified toast) ENAK! :) that fixes everything!

Friday- We taught a potential investigator with the Elders and he refused to go inside the church to be taught so we pulled chairs out to the parking lot. It was funny and a little awkward. PS there is a member in Solo who started a shake stand called “Wisco” and we are obsessed. We go there just about everyday... if it ever comes to Utah I think I would die!

Family Home Evening with the newest members of the Solo 2nd Ward

Saturday- We had a Malam Keluarga (family home evening) with some new members of Solo 2nd ward and it was SOOO sweet. The priesthood holders with the not-yet-baptized-father of the family blessed their home and the mom, Sis Magdelena, was in tears. She has SUCH a great desire to make her home a place to feel the spirit as a family and learn about the gospel together. I can't wait to do that with my future family :)

I am so excited to see what these two do in their life in the church

Sunday- Kartika and Reza got BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! I was in tears as FOUR people were baptized in the Jebres ward. It was already an emotional day to have to say so many good byes but to end it on a baptism was the greatest miracle of all. I love the people in Solo. I hope and pray they will stay strong forever and never lose sight of the importance of the gospel. I hope they get their temple soon! 

Our dearest K. and R.
with my companions Sis. Manurung and Sis. Fisher

You should hear Indonesians sing hymns. They just sing their guts out and it fills the room with power and the Spirit. I'm so worried to go to Jakarta! Big, busy, expensive, hot, crowded city. But you can never deny that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each of us to learn what we are supposed to learn in this life. 

 

Jebres Ward had 4 baptisms in one day
AHHHH Hurrah for Israel!

We were given the talk "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister at our zone conf last week. It is amazing. I have this eternal-internal struggle about being satisfied with myself and my effort and my work but I LOVE this quote from the talk. "I do not think the Lord expects immediate perfection of us, but I do believe He expects immediate progress, and with that progress comes consecration." (I also LOVE that talk because he says that they used to wrestle as part of FHE each week... haha good we're not the only ones!)

I hope that you have a safe and fantastic week! Next time I email you I will be in Jakarta! Are you freaking out? Because I am! I love you lots and I pray for you always. Give my hugs/sloppy-jaloppy-kisses/love-pats/dog-piles and love to everyone for me! Be safe in Mexico Dadio! 

I feel like I didn't really respond to last week's email so I'm gonna do that now too!

Dad- I love your ideas for the trail of faith! I think that is such a cool way to get them prepared! Are you in mexico right now? (Selamat menikmati Meksiko! Hati-hati ya?) Oh and I had to tell you...Dear Dad, I'm turning into a cereal girl!

Andrew- It's called triage... every question on the act is only worth 1 pt so go through and answer the easiest ones first. If it takes you more than 30 sec, pick C and move on and then go back to all the C answers if you have time. Seriously saved me when I tried that! But I think the Jr Prom theme is legit! How was that movie anyways? Ugh I'm turning into such a fuddy duddy... PS Take luck! I heard this week is Tiger Esteem :) don't stress! Just enjoy it and take a million pictures! 

Joshua- I seriously am LOVING your bahasa! It was perfect too! Saya merindukan anda juga dan memang saya takut anda sudah lebih tinggi dari pada saya... Are you playing singles or doubles? 

Samuel- Tell Lucy I'm sorry for eating dog ya? How is she doing? Give her some love for me! Your science experiment sounds so stinkin cool! I want to see how it turns out ok? 

Jbug- when did you get so funny? Oh yeah... since you were born! You are such a hoot. But you are going to be an even better missionary than me someday :) 

Mom- don't scare me like that! I saw the word tumor and about died! Sad to say I’m glad it’s just a migraine. Sheesh... you-knowa-what-imeana? :) Hearing from you lifted my spirits! I am such an ordinary missionary but you make me sound like Sister Superwoman herself. You know what? I have been struggling so much this week with exactly that question you asked me! "How do you not get really GRUMPY when people don’t choose the right? And how do you tell people they need to do better?" But your solution is so much better than mine. Just be the example of how to be better and they can use their agency to follow! I have heard so much about the movie "Frozen" in the last week alone. Sis Fisher said that sometimes we are a little blindly optimistic as missionaries with our investigators like the snowman who says "Summer! I want to have summer! mmm popsicles!" haha I probably slaughtered that quote though. I have no clue!

Kasihmu selalu!

<3 Sis Sheff