"My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts..."

I love you more than...

... Jann Parry's chocolate topped peanut butter rice krispies!

SO this week...

Monday we got spoiled to death at Uskup Catur's (Bishop Catur) house. Sis Manurung said, "today I feel like I'm someone special and not like a missionary" then I said, "what is that supposed to mean? Aren't missionaries special?!" haha But I’m not gonna lie, a massage chair will make anyone feel like royalty!

 

On our way to an investigators house with Sister Yuli as our fellowshipper... Sis. Yuli is so cool!

Tuesday we taught our solid investigators and finally picked a relatively-solid baptism date with Mbah Siswanta. Sis Manurung also pushed that man's becak all the way up the hill again.

Wednesday we got a lot done and felt busy even though we didn't teach a ton. It has been getting so crazy downtown with Chinese New Years so we tried contacting people there and took a lot of pictures too. 

 

Selamat Tahun BaruCina! Tahun Kuda
Happy Chinese New Year! year of the horse

Thursday we went to Jogja for a zone meeting! Sis Manurung was ecstatic and it felt like another home! I made rice krispies and we pulled a prank on our District Leader by calling him after the train left the station and pretended we missed it with another set of elders while waiting for the bathroom. But we went on a zone activity to Gembira Loka Zoo! Haha gotta love 20 missionaries contacting people, cramming on busses and looking crazy all dressed up and mostly “bule”. 

Remember this? Gembira Loka Zoo in Jojga

Sister Manurng and I at Gembira Loka Zoo

"The Zone" at the Gembira Loka Zoo

Friday we were all over the place from one meeting to the next appointment and in the middle of it all, I fell! Haha like a good, palms bleeding, sprawled over the train track, shoe went flying, skirt half covered in mud, laughing your head off kind of fall. Why do train tracks cause so much trouble?! It made us late and we taught the fastest lesson ever including them feeding us! That night Mbah got a blessing from the Elders and it was really neat to hear him say that he all the sudden felt peace. That is the priesthood!

 

These are the two sisters and their friend who is learning. Kartika, Reza and Ajeng.
They are kids of a new member.

Saturday the highlight was teaching the 10 commandments to Kartika and Reza and Ajeng because they brought three other friends. The elders had an appt next door and walked past and said "whoa that is a lot of little kids reading the Book of Mormon!" Why can't we all be more humble like little kids. They are so teachable and eager to follow the Savior. Then we also had a great chance to go with the Stake President to visit a non-active girl. We shared “Be Meek and Lowly” from Conference last October and near the end she was crying. I think that she is someone who has gone through a lot for only being 24, but she is quietly enduring and still very strong on the inside. It touched me and humbled me. I can't judge or understand anyone perfectly but I can help! Missionaries are here to be the Lord's hands. Which brings me to my spiritual thought of the week. A few months ago President gave us all card to keep with us always that says this:

"My Commission

I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kinds of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and He has chosen me to represent Him: To stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my words are His words and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done; to say what He wants said; to be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work." -Elder Bruce R. McConkie

How Great Is My Calling.

Our deaf investigator, whom we actually have only met once since her family doesn't want us to meet with her.
I wish she knew my American Sign Language or I knew Indonesian sign.

 

Some members from the Solo 1st ward

Don't you love this? I have it about memorized and it is the best motivation to forget yourself and get to work. Serve someone. Use the power that you have been given as His chosen representatives. Aren't we lucky to know the truth?!

Sunday we had a great Fast Sunday and I LOVE getting to take the sacrament 2x every week. It is the best thing about the week. We were asked to fast for the people that were affected by the floods and earthquakes in Indo and also for the missionary work. Then we went out to an investigator's house that is WAY far and felt like a mountain biking trail (I loved it of course!). Then we came back to have a ward mission leader meeting then off to another appt with the elders. That was an awesome lesson to end the night- we taught the Restoration. She was asking all the best questions about the restoration and even though she is catholic, seems to have no problem with all of it. She asked us if she could come to our church... that is a wonderful question to hear as a missionary :) then after we explained the details she said with a smile (in Indonesian) "ok Elder continue your strange story." 

Some ladies who make Sate, then carry them around on their heads to sell on the streets.
They are a hoot!

There is no limit to what fits behind a motorcycle!
There are birds in every single cage too!

Today we are going to meet with that same lady for a church tour and we just got done playing futsol for our Pday. 

LOTS OF LOVE FROM INDO! And rain... I'll try to send some!

(makes me think of one of my fave songs "Gratitude" from One Clear Voice.)

Fixing a member's roof

I'm so glad you got the package I sent! “Purpose” was to help you learn something and feel something. “Sentiment” was to help you make memories (eating haha). And “wonder” was something to wear/show off. Just to clarify, when you wrote that you are going to make... "rumah belanja terpercaya" it is the slogan from the grocery store, "the most trusted grocery store". Tepung kue means cake mix. And about the salak! HAHA so I sent that in October and have since learned that "manisan" actually isn't sugar coated. It's actually like a thing when they pickle the fruit first and even I think it's disgusting! Haha so sorry about that! The corn candy... YES that was my exact reaction too! Haha that could be fun on April fool's though ya? The little cart is what they call a "becak" (bay-chuck). Oh and Samuel looks very sharp with his new haircut!

I also got your and grandma's letters from November with pictures and grandma's full of the best memories. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

PS Dad, thanks for the quote. PPS thanks for the english lesson ;) I'm struggling! PPPS you look so stylin’ with that new button up shirt! 

Kasihmu selalu,

Sis Sheff

Es Pisang Hijau = Ice green banana
ENAK! (Delicious) Have I ever mentioned that Indonesians get way crazier
with drinks then with food? It's true

I love you more than….

Tempe!

Seriously I eat tempe everyday! I even bought some and fried it so that on Sunday I could still eat it :)

 

I was born in the Chinese Year of the Dog

Jan 27, 2014

I'm gonna respond to your email first today. No way! Elder Oaks came and spoke! Was is just for our stake? Or a multi-stake thing? I am always inspired by the way the apostles rely so much on the spirit. And I didn't know he knew Grandma and Grandpa! So wait, he went on dates with Grandma?! Haha that's crazy! 

I'm sorry if I made you worry with saying it feels like a "real mission." I guess I have just gained this opinion of other missions in comparison to Indonesia over the months from hearing and reading about missions from my friends. But it seems that lately, with this mission president, we are closing the gap. I am not trying to say that Indonesia isn't a mission, but it is just very different in the way we do work here and now I feel like we are pushing ourselves more than ever and becoming more successful. 

Piano lessons... haha I am just going to go ahead with it, and teach. I have no idea how I will find the time/means and learn music language but maybe the Lord is trying to make me use my talents to help others too. Yikes-- pray for me!

I decided to order a nice set of Indonesian scriptures since the old ones are a mess from getting wet. Service is a mix. We teach English twice a week, Tuesday and Friday nights. We also clean up a park near the churches on Thursday mornings. No one really knows who started that, but we still go every single Thursday! The only problem is that lately we have been doing so much contacting that we don't get much cleaning done! But what a good problem to have :)

We have new missionaries coming in at the end of February and they are all bule's. We are really down in numbers right now and especially with Indonesian missionaries. My companion, Sister Manurung is really adjusting to the mission life and we have a lot of fun together. Doing training, I think I am learning just as much if not more than her! My past companion Sister Manalu goes home the 11th. She is going home-home to Medan (Lake Toba is actually probably 4 hours from Medan and the church there) for a few months. It has been a while since she has been with her family and I pray her dad is going to be humbled to have her come home.

Haha no way! The one family that I met with in Jakarta and it happens to be one with a connection to Auntie Amy! Is the whole world this small or just Indonesia? Seriously everyone knows everyone here. All the members, all the missionaries, every ward in every city. 

Give Nate extra big hugs for me for his mission! Do you know his email address?

 

Sister Manurung and I are going to Family Home Evening
with Bishop of the Banjarsari Ward

For my week! We have been really focusing on Mbah Siswanta, trying to get him to commit to baptism. Even this morning he texted us about it and we have still been praying and praying and praying for him to decide to go through and get baptized on this Sunday. But we had a really neat experience with him. Last Tuesday he sent us this text saying he doesn't want to learn from the Book of Mormon again since it just confuses him and all that. So we started to pray and asked the elders to pray for him too. Then later we met with him and he explains that his son is a member of another church and says our church is a cult blah, blah, blah. So basically we just throw out our lesson and teach and testify about the Book of Mormon. There was this really tender moment when Sis. Manurung bore her testimony about the first time hearing about the Book of Mormon and how she has grown to understand it. She was crying, I was crying and our penemanan (fellowshipper) was crying because of the Spirit. But poor old Mbah thought we were crying because we were frustrated with his "stupidity and stubborness". So we explained that it was such a spiritual experience and testified some more and all that jazz. Well two days later we went back and he told us that he had a dream that night and it made him "100%, no, 200% sure the Book of Mormon is true" He said he couldn't sleep after thinking about how he made Sis Manurung cry and was praying all night and got that answer. So then we are like "sweet, when do you want to get baptized?" but that is when he gets hesitant again. So now it is up to Heavenly Father's will for him and we are just gonna keep doing what we do!

 

This is what I see...overcast days and beautiful bike rides

We also have been teaching those 2 sweet little girls, Kartika and Reza. But their dad talked to us the other day about them getting baptized. He supports them in learning and even joining the church like their older sister, but he wants them to learn first and thinks that the date we set previously is too early. So long story short, we went from 3 potential baptisms to... 0. BUT I have no doubt that they are all going to be baptized. This just teaches me I need to be more aware of God's time frame than my own. I'll try to get a picture with them all this week.

Weird food of the week? Shark! It was actually really good! Had like this gravy stuff, which I was about to just start drinking by itself. 

Sister Manurung had a tuna steak

 

And I had shark for dinner

Funny stories... ~well the other day I was pushing my bike up this tall curb and once I got to the top I slid all the way back down and into a mud puddle... so I spent the rest of the day with half a brown butt... hahaha but it was already dark so hopefully no one noticed. Mbah Siswanta thought it was pretty funny though! 

~I also was biking past these little kids the other day and one shouts "Sister Jibson!" and that made my day haha!

~So we went on bus to go teach an investigator at her office and got roped into teaching English. It was forever too and when we wanted to go home, there were no more busses! So we get on this angkot (like a shuttle) and he starts going off in Javanese. We had to explain that we don't know Javanese and he says, "well that's why!" Then tells us he can't take us home but he will drop us off at one spot and we can hope for another bus to come by. Haha I was so ready to walk or hitchhike home but eventually a bus came by and we made it home fine. 

 

Came to teach an investigator and ended up teaching an English class

PS Tell Janice that my husband is going to be SOOOO handsome after all the time I've spent in the rain here. ;)

Oh wanna hear the cutest thing? So to get to Mbah's house we have to bike up this huge hill that goes on forever and Sis Manarung has made a goal every week to get better at bike riding. So I get to the top of this hill and turn around to see her push her bike up to mine then ask me to watch her bike while she helps this old man push his "becak" up the hill. I had sped right past him but she goes back and helps him the whole way up. 

 

Sister Manurung helped this oooollllldddd man push his "becak" up the hill. Christlike service right there.

OH! I almost forgot! The other day we felt a 20 second earthquake! Not sure if it made storms in SE Asia but I thought it was pretty crazy! But there might have been a lot of damage in Jakarta and Manado especially with all the floods. 

Last spiritual thought:

I've had this part of the Emma Smith movie on my mind a lot this week. Near the end Joseph tells her to write the blessing she desires and he will sign it before he goes to Carthage. What would you write?! She wrote this, "I desire the spirit of God to know and understand myself. I hope to do all the work that I covenanted to do in the spirit world. That I will be able to comprehend the designs of God without doubting. I hope to be able to acknowledge the hand of God in all things. I desire with all my heart to honor and respect my husband. I hope to be able to retain the place which God has given me at his side." WOW! My new goals. Food for thought ya? What did we covenant to do in the spirit world and are we fulfilling it?

Give everyone my love. I am praying for you all. Grandpa Sheffield especially. 

PSS Joshua I will teach you how to eat like a pro w/o using silverware ok? :)

PSSS I have an announcement... I LOVE MY FAMILY!

~ Sista Sheff

These are pictures from Zone Conference last week. I took pictures for all my missionary friends

Can you find me? And Elder Woody?

Is this where the true personalities show?

I don't remember the "other world" and my mission life has become my "real life"

I love you more than….

Drinking "Sprite-lemonade mix" on road trips together :)

Did you know that I have had my mission call for 1 year and 4 days? Indonesia has been on my mind (our minds) for everyday since a year and 4 days!

People are getting ready for Chinese New Year! Took this
picture on the way home

Last week was incredible and it's true we have seen a total turn-around in our district here (well at least I feel that way) and so I feel like I am actually in a real mission these days! I seriously respect State-side missions sooooooo much. You guys work so hard. Seriously. But we have had three let downs with a baptismal date getting postponed, someone returning a Book of Mormon and our "golden" investigator avoiding/ignoring us and becoming unreachable. Oooo it kills me that he doesn't even know what he is missing out on. BUT! We started teaching the little sisters of a new member and they both want to be baptized next month! I'm so excited and they are so stinkin’ cute and smart and wonderful! With all of these experiences, I'm seeing Heavenly Fathers plan. If He wanted the whole world to be baptized then they would already, but He wants those whom he has prepared and wants us to work to find them.

Haha I love that I've gotten to the point where I don't know/remember the "other world" and my mission life has become my "real life". How great is that!? Even in my dreams, I always have a nametag on, a companion and mission rules.

 

Me and Sis. Manurung at Kraton Surakarta (Solo Palace)

So for the weekly update... Monday we went to the Kraton in Solo (the palace) and I love old things! And doors! And taking a million pictures of everything! (Hmmm who does that sound like? Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree eh?) Then that night we went to one of the bishop's house for a get-together and then to the stake president's house to help him practice his english.

 

Just one door picture (out of many) at Kraton

On Tuesday it was a Muslim holiday so we tried proselyting (which is a great way to contact people... if you want to contact all Muslim people haha) then we biked back and forth going from one appointment to the other. But funny story! We were at a less-active's house and shared a message, got ready to go then they start storytelling... 50 minutes later! We are trying to interrupt every chance we can get, but long story short we ended biking our tails off to get home and still got home like 10 minutes late. I say that's a funny story because it happened 3 times this week! Even with members who know mission rules! Ya ampun! (My goodness!) I think my calves alone have gone up 5 sizes this week!

 

Which one is not like the others?

Wednesday we went to visit an investigator that the elders used to visit and ended up teaching english. But since she is so far we rode the bus. That is one of my favorite things to do in Indo! Riding a bus and just seeing everything. OH! guess what- my favorite primary song is in the hymn book! "Sing Your Way Home" Cool ya? funny story! I was singing it in the house the other day and when I finished, we just hear this voice shout "AMEN!" Bahaha our neighbors live really close but I didn't realize it was that close! So later that day is when we went to go teach a new member but ended up just talking with her 2 little sisters and teaching them the restoration. That night I had the worst thing happen- I got asked to start teaching piano for the ward. I can't even begin to imagine how much time that will take and since I got to Indonesia I have been avoiding "kelas - piano" like the plague but bishop just announced that I was going to start it soooo ya, guess we'll see about that!

Thursday: my 1-year mission call date! We had a good day at service because we met a lot of people. Then we went back to the new member's house to teach her little sisters again. I found this Plan of Salvation outline and turned it into a coloring page for them and it was so cute how excited they were. And they had such awesome questions and basically they are so prepared to get baptized! They were asking us about it! SO we set a date in Februari! Then that night we had the let down when the "golden investigator" was a no show and another investigator gave back the Book of Mormon and said they already have a church. Then I had another let down when this parkir (parker) outside of the place we had dinner, moved my bike into the pouring rain and destroyed my Indonesian scriptures. That has always been my biggest fear, my whole life, that my scriptures would get ruined. So that was another bummer. That day alone could've been terrible if I didn't see the miracles with the two sisters who want to be baptized :) they made my week!

 

Zone Futsal Tradition

Friday I made lemon poppyseed muffins for district meeting! One of our investigators who wants to be baptized, had been feeling so confused lately and said it was hard to think straight (who blames him, he is 81) but we threw out our lesson plans and just started talking with him and he really opened up to us. Sister Manurung shared 1 Nephi 3:7. I seriously underestimate the power of that scripture. How often did I sing about it or quote it in Primary, but here it was helping an 81 y.o. man make the decision to be brave and get baptized!

 

My last time with Sister Manalu before she goes home, but she made me a shirt with our picture!
T-shirt-ception

Saturday: I got some mail which was awesome and then we went off to visit some less actives. The only problem with serving in 4 wards is that we visited 2 people who said that the elders had already been to their house that day... haha whoops! Great minds think alike? But we went to go teach an investigator that the elders gave to us because she is an 18 year old, really pretty and quite lonely girl, but I really am starting to see her potential. She actually used to have the sisters over to teach back in the day too and I think she will be a great member someday. Another highlight was when this lil’ 10 year old member asked if she could be our fellowshipper to visit her neighbors who were just baptized a few months ago (they are 25, 50 and 55). She got on her rain coat and gets our her Book of Mormon and is telling us to be careful with the cars in the road. Ahhh kids are so dang cute. How come we have to get old and boring?

 

McDonalds and local Rambutan, Gotta love it!

Sunday we had a great day because we always get to go to sacrament 2x. The lessons made me Temple Trunky but I plan on going to the temple 1,000x at least, once I get home. Want a good doctrinal question that I was thinking about that day? One of the members gave their opinion about praying to Heavenly Father vs praying to Christ and then later we were reading from Mosiah 5:7 when it says we become as Christ's children when we are baptized.... So how does that work exactly with praying is what the member was trying to explain. I had never really thought of those two things in one context before, so anyways!

 

The sisters of Jawa Tengah with Sister Donald and some great photo bombers!

Today we played starwars monopoly, liars dice, I watched some of Emma Smith that I just ordered with Indonesian Subtitles (that will make any sister missionary trunky haha) and then we went out to run a few errands.

I loved your email! I love that story about Marlene. Don't apologize for not writing! I've been the worst with letters lately! It's one of my goals this week. Jacob and Samuel, I want to see your pinewood derby cars when you get done! Joshua you are going to be the best missionary ever someday! I think you would love BACH and SET at Ogden High. How did grades go? Andrew: been there, done that. I'm sorry that it always comes down to either going crazy or nothing getting done as an officer. One thing I wish I would’ve been better at is just relaxing. Honestly no one really cares what happens as long as it is entertaining. If it is going to be elaborate, take 40 hrs and only make 5 people laugh, ditch it and just go simple. But also remember that there are a million people who want this to go well, so grab a few friends and make them paint with you or whatnot.

Mom: I love your scripture stump! I haven't really thought about it that way before. We study the most basic things on the mission but it is like you can never learn enough. I'll be thinking of that this week!

Give Nate a big wrestle hug for me at his farewell! I am going to miss that kid! But I am so excited for him :)

PS mom you should text Mere and tell her congrats from me ok?

PSS I LOVE YOU GUYS! Hope you have a grand week!

PSSS how is our dog Lucy doing? still not walking?

x 1,000 + 1

~Sis Sheff