The Promised Land

Seriously, Indonesia is the PROMISE LAND,  Anita got baptized yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WHAT,  and i'm finally finished with training!!!!  Can you believe it's almost been 3 months since i've been in Indonesia?!??!?  3 of my investigators have been baptized the past 3 months, that is seriously MIRACULOUS!! I love it here in Bogor,  and transfers are over and Sister Davis and I are still companions, she's been in bogor for almost 8 months ahahhahaha we were POSTIVE she was going to move!!!  noppee one more transfer with me!

YES ANITA GOT BAPTIZED, it was so amazing and our president let us take a road trip to Bekasi ahahha!!!!  ayyyeeeee road tripppp,  Bekasi is like an hour from Bogor, IT'S SO HOT EVERYWHERE ELSE IN INDONESIA, in Bogor it just rains everyday, literally.  Now, each morning and afternoon it's BURNING HOT, i'm literally turning into Akon WITH 100 SPF SUNSCREEN, and then in the evenings IT THUNDERS AND LIGHTNINGS LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW, on Saturday i LITERALLY thought someone got shot, that's how loud the thunder here is IT'S SICK!!!!!!

So now that Anita's baptized, we're like.... uhhhh... crap... we need to find more investigators!!  So we're gonna keep ourselves super busy this week!  We have to keep finding Heavenly Father's elect, those who are prepared to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Are my emails spiritual enough for yall?  I don't know what else I can tell ya, the work is slow but it's also fast and awesome, what do YOU guys want to hear, because my brain forgets pretty much everything except for awesome events like ANITA'S BAPTISM!  

I'll just bare my testimony,  this work is so real, God is real, and he is our father!! and i know that it's true!!!  I know Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and he loves us too1! isn't that so awesome???  OH I HAVE A SCRIPTURE FOR YALL  Revelation 21: 3-4,  it's my favorite and it's so beautiful, just picture yourself personally while you read it!  The church is true!! I just want to shout it out the world!!!  Especially to the beautiful people of Indonesia who are just a little lost!  I love being a missionary!  Like, this has been my dream for forever!  and it's actually happening!  I know time is just going to fly by! I want to stay here forever lol!!!!  Read your scriptures, say your prayers and know that god really really does love you!!!  Have a good week!!!

(i have soooooooooooooo many pics to send... BUT THIS COMPUTER STINKS AND WONT READ MY CARD)  so these 2 pics are from Sister Davis's camera,  ANITA'S BAPTISM AHH!!!!! <333

Gifts from God

Halo semuanya!  Minggu ini luar biasa...

This week I've experienced sooo many emotions but I've also receieved so many tender mercies and have seen the Lord's hand in my life, and my testimony has strengthened on how much our Father in Heaven knows us individually.

So last monday my sweet mother warned me that my Sweet Great Grandmother wasn't doing too well,  we had a really close bond together, and I hadn't seen Grandmommy Bun since I was 15 or 16.  For some reason, I thought in my head, "oh she'll be okay, she's been kicking butt at 97+ for forever.

Tuesday, I get a phone call from President, I didn't think anything about it, and then he told me the news of my Grandmommy's passing, he read the sweet email from my beautiful mother and at that moment all i wanted to do was call my mom ):  Here I am sitting at a little restuarant waiting for my food and studying bahasa, and at that moment I realized, there was nothing I could do.  I felt so sad, and felt all this regret for not writing my Grandmommy and not doing this and that,  I probably looked ridiculous to all Indonesian's around and poor Sister Davis didn't really know what to do with an upset Sister Rowntree haha,  BUT,  at my deepest time of despair, I received a witness of the truth of the Plan of Salvation.  I kept thinking to myself, "wow , this sucks, how can I just go back to normal and find and teach repentance and invite others to come unto christ right now???? I just want to talk to my mom and see my Grandma one last time"   I felt my Grandmommy's presence, and I felt a warm feeling of God's love in my heart, and I felt my Savior's arms wrapped around me as I sat in this tiny restarant in Indonesia.  It was a very sacred moment for me and it gave me the energy to get back up and keep doing the Lord's will.  I know my grandma is proud of me for my decision to serve the Lord, I know I will see her again, I felt her there with me at the time I learned of her passing,  I know she's finally with Granddaddy again and I know they're watching over me.  I know I have one more angel watching over me especially in times when I feel homesick and sad and feel like giving up.  I know Indonesia is where I'm supposed to be,  there are so many people here that don't know the truth, they have no idea  they can see their loved ones again, and I can't wait to find the people who will listen.

Wednesday:  SISTER LINDA K. BURTON PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL RELIEF SOCIETY CAME TO JAKARTA INDONESIA .  Oh my goodness.  so so sososoooooooooo cool. SO COOL.  She's such a remarkable lady and I know she's called of God.  My ward in Bogor had the opportunity to be the choir, so we were in the front row on the wednesday meeting for all the woman,  AND ME AND THIS CUTE SISTER ANNABELL HAD A DUET SO GUESS WHO SANG IN FRONT OF SISTER BURTON. ya. your girl here, in the front row, it was so scary.  But awesome.  

Thursday:  we had another meeting with Sister Linda K. Burton and Elder Funk of the SEVENTY , he's like the presdient area asia SO COOL, HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES IN INDONESIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH IT WAS SO COOL.  I HAD LUNCH WITH SISTER BURTON, LIKE LITERALLY SAT ON THE SAME SMALL TABLE WITH HER!!!

Okay, and now i'll tell ya some things I learned from her.  There's so many, so i'll try to sum it up.  Wednesday, I learned about Gifts from God,  everything in life is from God, and I promise if we try and look hard to see the lord's hand in our life, we will find little gifts from God everyday.  

Okay, I'm really bad at summarizing, and I have no more time lol whoops, maybe next week i'll share in more detail, here's one quote for all my SISTAS out there wanting to serve.   "Sister Missionaries are CHANGING the church, when they return home with honor, they have so many more experiences and they KNOW how to teach in the Savior's way according to the needs of members."  Sister Burton afterwards BANGED HER FISTS on the table and said ''GO GET EM!"  with the cutest smile, wow, it was so amazing!

The church is true, if you don't know it yet, find out ya?

<3/ Sister Rowntree

OH I FORGOT TO TELL YA,  I DRANK COBRA BLOOD ON P DAY AHHAHAA i'll send the video next week,  

1) Cobra Sate

2) I drank the blood, and some guts and then ate yummy cooked Cobra Sate

3) My cute District in the Cobra place

4) THESE LITTLE NASTY'S CRAWL OUT OF OUR SHOWER DRAIN

Hannah got her birthday pkg and never told us!

We were told when she left that packages were not recommended to be sent as they usually never arrived. We sent her one through the website DearElder.com the 11th of December and she just told me tonight that she did get it about 2 weeks after her January 2nd birthday!! She also got one from our ward! So here is her mission home address again if you'd like to try and send her something.  She requested "real" letters and apologized for FORGETTING to let us know she actually got her mail.

Sister Hannah Breauna Rowntree
Jalan Senopati 115
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta 12190
Indonesia

Puji Tuhan

Halo keluarga dan Teman saya! 

So.  This week was pretty slow, honestly, ever since Febuary started the work has kinda slowed down...  Anita is ready to be baptized, so we're hoping the 29th will be perfect for her!  and other than Anita...we really don't have a lot of progressive investigators...... okay we have none.  wahdu. the struggle is real.  So President wants us to work on FINDING and it's exTREMELY hard to do in a country which the prominent religion isn't ours yeah ahahah.  It's been a trial for me to keep having faith to find those who are ready to listen to our message.  Like, it's SO HARD.   I don't know how else to explain it, we meet someone and we're like OH THEY'RE GOLDEN LETS GO TEACH EM, and they give us wrong numbers or don't answer their phones or we come to their house and they act like they don't know us cuz the parents are there and it's the most PAINFULLY awkward lesson EVER.  ya. that happened. I was so sad ahaha.  orrrrrr we have an experience like this

Puji Tuhan:  (Praise the Lord)  so you know in America we have Southern Christians that are like PRRAIIIISEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE LORD HALLELUJAHHHHH.  Well.  We've got em in Indonesia too.  So the Elders met this 70ish year old lady in an angkot,  her name is Ibu Wenni, and she LOVES Jesus.  Loves him.  Like, she's been baptized 5 times and EVEN GOT BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN RIVER IN JURUSELAM LIKE. LOVES TUHAN.  so we go to her house, hoping we can invite her to read the book of Mormon and come unto Christ even more,   the entire time we're trying to talk and get to know her,  she'll RANDOMLY STOP EVERYTHING and start praying.  OHHH TUHAN MA KASIH MA KASIH PUJI TUHAN TUHAN MEMBERKATI (  oh praise you Jesus all praises to you, God bless you god bless you) seriously it's the funniset thing of my entire life, like we're like trying to bare our testimonies and just starts praying and praising the lord so WE have to stop too and bow our heads, and we're just trying not to die of laughter.  oh my goodness, it was crazy.  So, we HTBT with her and give her a book of mormon, and make a return appointment.  YAY WE HAVE A NEW INVESTIGATOR FINALLY!  and not even an hour later she calls us and asks us for 200,000 rupia -_________________-"  okay. we don't have a new investigator.  (if only you could see my face of irritiation and hear my sigh)  

I have faith though,  we will find Heavenly Father's elect, who are searching for truth.  this is the Lord's work,and it will never stop.  The only thing I need to do is actually talk to everyone, you all know me, I can usually never shut up, but  I still get scared some times to talk to people... it's really hard ahahaha, but I'll keep trying and I'll keep finding and I'll keep having faith and hope for the work to speed up again.  The same goes for you guys in your lives,  "You keep walking, don't you give up!  The Lord loves you"  -(some quote from Elder Jefferey R. Holland) 

OH AND A QUICK FUNNY/ TERRYIFING STORY. Oh my goodness oh my goodens.. OH MY GOODNESS. so.  we're on the train on our way home, and you ALL know that i am TERRIFIED OF BUGS RIGHT!?>!?!?!?!??!?!?!!?  Oh. my goodness.  OH . MY GOODNESS.  It had been a looooooooooong day, and it's night time so i'm already tired ya, the train stops at cibeno,  and I look out the door, and there are these NASTY NASTY NASTY NASTY NASTY NASTY NASTY NASTY N A S T Y flying nasty creatures ,  they're like, ew.  i don't even know how to explain them, but their these huge ugly nasty disgusting flying bugs.  ew.   AND I LOOK OUT. AND I'M LIKE, EW, THEY'RE SO GROSS, I HATE THEM (cuz sometimes random nights they all come out and i have to use my book of mormon to protect me and swat at them when i'm walking anywhere)  AND I'M LIKE. OH. Heavenly father, please please don't let them come in here,  I thought there was only a couple..... BUT NO. THE TRAIN STAYED THEIR FOR LIKE TEN. YEARS. SO ALLLL OF THESE NSATY DISGUSTING NASTY BUGS FLEW INTO THE TRAIN AND GOT TRAPPED INSIDE. IT WAS A LIVING NIGHTMARE, I COULDN'T BREATHE OR THINK MY ANXIETY SHOT OUT THE ROOF BECAUSE I WAS /TRAPPED/ IN TRAIN, WITH MONSTERS OH MT GOODNESS I ALMOST DIED, I LITERALLY ALMOST DIED, it was so awful, and you all know how dramatic i am, so just picture that for awhile, it'll make you laugh ya?  It was so not funny.   Have a good week!  Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and don't get trapped in a train full of bugs! <3

-Sister Rowntree
​​

1)  We teach English class every wednesday night!

2) the stupid lock to our gate for our house rusted so bad we couldn't open it, SO WE LITERALLY CLIMBED OUR FENCE FOR LIKE A WEEK, and guess who broke the lock with a hammer? Your home girl  (me dong)

3) My sweet little Tessa,  she's doing the (Sister Rowntree pose)  I love her so much (':​​

More Sleep! Sent 2/5/17

Halo keluarga dan teman saya!  Minggu ini luar biasa, dan saya mengasihi melayani di Bogor, ada mukjizat di mana mana, dan saya tahu Tuhan Yesus Kristus mengasihi orang orang di Indonesia <3

Woah, so something pretty historical happened this week.  THE MISSIONARY SCHEDULE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DIFFERENT.  It's completely changed and we get MORE SLEEP HAHAHAHAHAHAH WHAT A MIRACLE I AM SO HAPPY SO SO SOS HAPPY.  Like, we don't have to plan at night anymore!!  So if we come home at 8:30 or 9  WE CAN WRITE IN OUR JOURNALS AND THEN SLEEP. WAHT WHAAAAAAAAAAT, I'm so excited, yes we still have to wake up at 6:30 no problem, but we have to be out the door at 10 am instead of 12, it's so cool,  I feel like I have sooo much more time!!!

Okay this week,  Kirei was confirmed!!  It was beautiful, Han2 and none of our investigators came to church )): So that was sad, but while we were in Bogor 1 ward, SISTER RETNO WALKED IN, she hasn't been to church in 5 MONTHS!!!!  So everything was so much better and we still had a miracle!!  ANNNND Anita went to church finally in Bekasi!!!  She's going to get baptized on the 19th, and.... Sister D and I have to beg President to let us go to her baptism cuz Bekasi is not in our area.......... BUT WE'RE STILL TEACHING HER, so pray for a miracle ya? 

lol quick funny story before i talk about PLD,  I'm sitting in a Warnet rn ya...... and all of a sudden, this Indonesian is just sitting right behind Sister D and I ...................... I don't know why......... he's reading this as I type it.... like he's way close.... apa heck ya..... it's really funny cuz he can't understand english.... HOPEFULLY.

OKAY THIS WEEK WAS PLD, we spent 2 days in Jakarta!!! I seriously love jakarta sooo much, since I'm a bule people ACTUALLY want to talk to me in Jakarta, here in Bogor they just think i'm from Papua so no one wants to talk to me, kasihan saya )':  Just kidding it's fine, BUT I GAVE AWAY A BOOK OF MORMON in Jakarta, it was so great, I just love people so much and I hope the missionaries in Jakarta will contact her.  So PLD is like Zone Conference, so we meet with President and his wife and allll the missionaries in our Zone.  It was so great.

We watched the Missionary Broadcast and it was SO COOL,  ya know the church's headquarterrs in SLC,  it was there, and it was in this business looking room and Elder Bednar, and Elder Dallin H. Oaks, and other fancy spiritual people were there, and it was just the COOLEST THING.  They talked about all of my concerns and fears as a missionary, and it wasn't like they said these AMAZING wayyyy spiritual things...  They were just speaking from the heart, and it was so interesting to see Apostles of the Lord speaking like they were in a regular meeting, kinda like... ya know when we're in sunday school and people participate and we just discuss spiritual stuff and it's awesome?  It was like that.  So  I realized that woah, if Heavenly Father calls normal people to be Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going to be just fine here as a Missionary.

I forget what scripture it is.... it says something like,  The Lord calls the simple and the weak to accomplish God's work or something... BUT IT'S SO TRUE, I am not a perfect teacher, my bahasa is not perfect at all, but I do have a testimony!  And even though I feel inadequate, I know that the Lord will make up the rest!  It's so cool,  Our Heavenly Father sees so much potential in us... SO SEE THE POTENTIAL IN YOU.  You're a child of God and He loves you perfectly! So act like it! Stand up for what you believe in, share your testimony often, always have the Savior's name on your lips and represent Him with the way you act and treat others.  

Sorry if this email was weird, the weeks just keep flying by and the days get all mixed up and I can't remember much cuz we're always teaching ya know?  It's great though, and Indonesia is amazing!  And the Indonesian behind me is STILL THERE LIKE HE'S SO CLOSE APA HECK HAHA .  Love you all , thank you for your support and prayers!  You're always in mine <3

1)  PLD/Jakarta Sisters

2) Sister Davis my companion! <3

3) my crazy adorable district! <3