Mingu Kedua

Week two was much better!  I'm getting used to the food, and I wasn't sick at all this week. I feel like this week I really started my mission.  We had more lessons this week, and I was actually able to do some teaching in them, rather than just bearing a testimony at the end. Its crazy how much I have been able to learn in the last two weeks.
 

At the moment we don't have any new investigators, and it is kind of hard to find people. We talk to a lot of refugees from the middle east, and we use English because they know even less Indonesian than I do. It's really cool to hear their stories and how they had to give everything up. I don't know how open they are to our message, but they just seem like they need a friend.  This week we plan to teach a lot of them, and who knows, maybe we found a group of people who are ready to accept our message.
 

We also taught a man who competed in the 2008 Olympics this week. He's a very interesting guy, and his house is full of statues from papua which they all looked like easter island statues. I don't know I just have loved the opportunity this week to meet so many new people with cool stories.  Missionary work really is the coolest thing, think about it, for two years I have the opportunity to go to a completely different place, and only worry about trying to make the people around me happy.

Like I said earlier we've had a hard time finding new people to teach so we've been trying new places in our area, that my comp who's been here forever hasn't been before. That's how we ran across the community of refugees.  The first guy I talked to, and asked why he had come here, laughed and asked if I was aware of world news, then he talked about how hard it is to gain refugee status, and then I asked him where he wanted to go after Indonesia, and he said he didn't know. So I said that he should come to America, and he just laughed and said that they would never let him in! We also tried contacting in a place where they're are so many prostitutes. We collected like 10 contacts before we realized that it was unusual that only skimpy dressed 20 something year old women wanted to talk to us! But we are told to talk to everybody, so I think we didn't do anything wrong ;)
 

Other than that I'm doing much better, and I can honestly say that I love it here. I'm learning so much, and I don't have a worry in the world, I just wake up and pray that the street food doesn't wreck my stomach!

Selemat Tahun Barru

Hello from Indonesia!!! I'm can't believe that I'm actually emailing y'all from the other side of the world. This past week was probably the hardest week of my life.  First off I've been sick the whole time, and haven't eaten much.  It's been so hard because I feel so weak and I know that I need food but I just haven't been able to keep much down. The food is interesting, to say the least. I like how it tastes, but the thought that it sits out all day in the food cards kind of makes me sick. I really like something called tempe, which is fermented soy beans, its very tastey.  I also really like tahu or tofu.  They fry everything here, and pretty much everything that we eat is from street venders. But they do sell peanut butter and jam and the bread is good, so thats what I've mainly survived off of the last couple of days.

I'm in the city of Bogor, it's about an hour or hour and a half from Jakarta.  It's up in the mountains and rains every day.  They say its cooler here, but I'm still hot all of the time.  Our house is ok, we have toilets, but still no TP so I've had to get used to that, but it reallly is ok!  We only have AC in one room which is the bedroom, thank goodness cause I know I wouldn't sleep without it.  Our city is very Muslim, but the church is strong here, they recently split the wards to make 2.  The church building is very nice, and I'll send a picture of it next week.  But yeah, its great here!  We get around on somthing called an angkot, which it like a hippie van, they are sooooooo hot. The driving here is so weird, they honestly follow no traffic rules here, and everyone drives a scooter, its very slow getting around town.  The malls here are so nice, and everything is honestly soooo cheap.  Like they have a polo store here and everything is like 200.000 rupiah which is expensive for them, but when you think of american dollars its way cheap.
 

My companion is Elder Bills, his dad works for the US embassy so he lived here before the mission.  He knows the language very well, and he's been in Bogor for like 4 months so he knows where everything is. My first couple of days I didn't understand anything, but everyday I understand more and more.  Yesterday I said the opening prayer in sacrament meeting, and had to introduce myself and bear my testimony, which was so scary but, I got through it, and then last night I had to teach a portion of the a lesson, but it all went well.
 

I kind of feel like a celebrity because everyone wants to take a pic with me, and they take pictures of my walking.  And when we're walking in the streets there is always a little group of kids following us calling me big, and practicing their English.
 

Other than that, I'm starting to learn to love Indonesia.  It is very hot and hard to understand people, but I know that if I have enough faith heavenly father will help me with anything I need.

Indonesia

Elder Monson has arrived safely in Indonesia. We received this email from his mission presidents:

Here is a photo of all our missionaries last night. They were tired after such a long flight.  I am sure there will be lots of news to share in their first emails from the mission field on Monday.

Regards

 

President and Sister Donald

Indonesia Jakarta Mission

Memaliki Natal Nakal

Selamat Natal!!!! It's so close now!!! We received our flight plans last week.  We leave the MTC at 11:30 on monday then we leave the Salt Lake airport at 5:27 and arrive in Los Angeles at 6:35 their time. Then we leave LA at 10:35 and arrive in Hong Kong at 6:00 am on the 30th. Then our final flight leaves at 9:25 and we arrive in Jakarta at 1:20.  I'm so excited, even though it's a ton of travel time.

Last week on Friday my district received emails saying that our visa's weren't here yet and that we would be reassigned state side until they came. So I was assigned to the San Fernando California Mission. So then my whole district received emails right after that saying it was a mistake except me!  So all weekend I thought for sure I was going stateside, but then on Monday I went to the travel office and they said that they had forgotten to send that email to me! So I am leaving on Monday!!!!

Other than that everything is winding down. I believe that I have learned all that I can at the MTC and I can't wait to get out in the field.  I'm not yet fluent in my language but I'm very confident that I'm at least conversational.  But we will see, it's kind of scary because they all speak differently on every island, so I'll have to learn how to repronounce everything depending on what city I'm called to!!! But I know that as long as I continue to strive to be the best missionary I can be the lord will bless me, and I know that he wants me to succeed in my mission even more that I want to.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and know that I'm praying for you all, and the next time I'll be writing home I'LL BE IN INDONESIA.

Sebalas Hari Lebi

Ahhhh I can't believe that my time at the MTC is coming to an end!!!! I'm way excited though.  Yesterday I was able to host incoming missionaries and it seemed like it was just yesterday that I was arriving here. I will get my flight plans tomorrow!!!!

The language is coming so fast. I barely speak any bahasa ingris now, its crazy how fast I'm learning the language now.  We've been teaching girls from Indonesia every Thursday and at first I couldn't understand a word they said because they speak so fast, but last week I could understand just about everything.  But I'm still very nervous to get to Indonesia because they speak so different in every area.

Other than that everything is about the same.  I'm getting along with my companions more and more, and our zone is getting along super well.  One of the Sisters, who is going to Albania had to stay another two weeks because she hurt her foot has honestly been such a good example to me.  I'm glad that she has stayed here cause when you spend 12 hours in a class room with the same people it's nice to have some one else to talk to. Plus she's handled this trial so well.  Even though she's on week 12 of the MTC she still has the biggest smile and you can tell she's just so happy to be here.

Anyways everything here is just about winding down. The next time I speak to y'all I'll be packing my bags and getting ready to fly halfway around the world.  Anyways saya mengasihi anda semua, dan semoga berhasil mingu depan ini!!!!

 

Halo Keluarga Saya

Hey Guyzzzzzz

 

Ahhh I can't believe that I only have 18 days left!!!!! I'm getting so excited to get out of here!!!! We got Chick-Fil-A on Monday again, so I was super happy about that! But other than that everything is about the same here.  I was made zone leader on Sunday, so now I have a cell phone!! But everything is blocked, so I can only receive calls and call MTC numbers.  But it's still cool to have. It's been pretty lonely since everyone left on Monday and Tuesday.  But I am getting along better with my comps, so that is good.  We now call our zone, Zone Monson, and they refer to me as Raja Monson.

 

Language wise I kind of hit a wall on Tuesday. I had spent so much time studying Rencanna Selamatan and preparing for our lesson with one of our investigators, then when we got into the lesson I completely forgot Sumua Bahasa Indonesian.  So our lesson was super awkward for about the first 5 minutes, but then I just started talking about Kitab Mormon cause that's the only topic I could remember how to speak about, and our lesson went super well.  It was so weird cause I've been terrified to bring up Kitab Mormon with our simpatisan because he's muslim. but that just was a real kesaksian to me that it doesn't matter what I think a person needs, cause our Heavenly Father has a plan for everyone, and I'm just a mouthpiece for him.  Ever since then I'm picking up the language faster than ever. Like I'm starting to forget the English words for certain things a say all day (Hence the Indonesian words scattered throughout my email today).  After I had such a rough time on Tuesday I really have improved my focus during study time. I've decided to mempertanggungjawabkannya (25 letters meaning take responsibility) for my progress. Before this week I wasn't really doing my part, I asked for the gift tongues every day but I wasn't doing my part. But every since I've been focused on diligently studying I'm picking up the language so quickly.

I just can't wait to get to Indonesia though. I think that I get my travel plans tomorrow!!!! Both of my teachers speak about what Indonesia is like for the first hour of class and I just get so excited.  Brother Rawle has had us practicing squatting so that when we get there we can go to the bathroom.  It's so hard, your feet are supposed to be closer than shoulder width apart, and your heels have to stay on the ground and you try to get enam inches from the hole to reduce splashing. And he just talks about how the makanan is pedas sekali. But there are Micky D's Banyak and he said they're way good. I just am so excited for the new experiences I will have.

Saya mau anda sumua tahu bahwa saya mengasi anda!! dan saya berdoa menganai anda semua, dan saya fickir menganai anda semua jam semua.

Damai Dan Cinta

Sorry that I still haven't sent home any letters, I'm just always so busy! The schedule here has me doing something at all hours of the day, except for personal time, which is only an hour at the very end of the day. And in that hour I spend time writing in my journal, and then hanging with the guys in my zone. I really have made some great friends in my zone and I will be so sad when they all leave on Monday. They really are my best friends that are here, like at lunch and during personal time I just talk with them and not really my comps. My zone of I think 18 people will shrink to 7 and remain that way until I leave.

 

Its crazy that in 25 days I will hop on a plane and be gone for the next two years.  The MTC has gone by so quickly, and I really have enjoyed my time here.  I honestly have the coolest experiences here, and I can feel the spirit so strongly.  The food isn't any better, and I even found a scripture explaining my feelings about it, Jeremiah 4: 19-21.  I really can tell that he had received personal revelation of what the MTC would be like, and I can see him when I read that speaking directly to me!!!!

The language is honestly such a roller coaster, I'd say 40 percent of the time I think that I'm the smartest man alive, and the other 60 percent I can't understand a thing.  Yesterday was super hard, and I couldn't remember anything.  I got so discouraged when I had to teach Sister Soloman that I sat down at my desk and just about cried, I had the most discouraging thoughts, but then just 5 minutes later I was able to do such a good job teaching my teacher! So I don't know.

 

I"m starting to like my companions more which is good.  I really do love Elder Thompson (Madagascar) but he really is the weirdest kid I know.  Plus he farts more that anyone I know, and that can get pretty annoying. But we get along super well, every night we stay up until almost 12 just talking. And then elder Bell burps just about every other breath he takes, and still his breath hasn't improved. Plus he has no drive. So I'm left to plan our lessons and do all the speaking in the lesson and its just super hard.

 

Other than that everything is just about the same here, so Damai dan Cinta 

Saya megasihi anda