Halo Keluargaku dan temanku, apa kabar?
Okay, so at the end of each night, I write down what happened during the day, so if my grammar is off or the tenses seem weird sorry, I’m too lazy to change (Thanks for the alphasmart mom)
Monday: Had fabulous Mcdonald’s fries cuz I won the challenge from elder subagio, I ended up eating SIX Cabe’s. My next dare from him is to eat Mie Satan. You know it’s hot when the word Satan’s in it. Wish me luck, he’ll buy me lunch if I succeed.
Tuesday: OUR MIRACLE CONTACT COMMITED TO BE BAPTIZED NEXT WEEK I’M FREAKING OUT!!!!! WE JUST HAD THE BEST LESSON EVER, WE HAD 3 MEMBERS PRESENT AND WE COULD FINALLY TEACH HER AT THE CHURCH THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG IN SISTER RATU’S WORDS IT WAS TANGIBLE. GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING.
Also we saw our newish investigators who are from Sumbah, we discussed the Book of Mormon, they are so open to learning, it’s beautiful and it’s so fun to teach them. I love missionary work(: One of them said that they got the goosebumps while reading Joseph Smith’s testimony in the book of mormon! Isn’t that so neat? The holy ghost is awesome and I know they will keep their commitment to read(:
Wednesday: Normal Day #DayinTheLife2
Okay, so, this is gonna get a little weird.. but I’m always getting complaints about not emailing about my normal life, it’s like yall are sick of hearing the spiritual stuff and yall wanna hear the cultural stuff, so don’t complain this is the only thing I could think about for this week, it’s actually hilarious and maybe a bit immature but the struggle is so real here in Indonesia. So..
Getting an upset stomach is just a normal day in the life here, we’re always told to just push through it, like upset tummy not with throwing up.. but… the other way… ya know? Lol sorry.. BUT IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME, the places that we eat everyday probably aren’t the cleanest, so ya, we’re gonna get sick. So we have this saying as CODE RED, cuz sometimes you wake up in the morning and youre like “ohh man I have sakit perut (sick stomach)” but it’s once and you’re fine, BUT THEN there are times when you have CODE RED. Ugh the struggle is so real you guys, cuz sometimes when we’re biking we are far from each other so we have to ring our bells a million times to hear each other, or you get code red and theres NO INDOMARETS OR ALFAMARTS to go to and it’s like “SISTER!!! STOP!!! CODE RED CODE RED!!” and we drop everything and find the nearest bathroom. (I’m sorry I’m trying not to die laughing at this but yall asked for it) and the worst of it all is that here in indonesia they only have squat toilets unless youre in a fancy mall or something. Literally, its just a whole I nthe ground, and you just squat and go. Oh man. Indonesian leg tendants are SO FLEXIBLE ya know when you bend down and the back of your legs kill so your heels have to come up? WELL INDOS DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT, they literally squat with such elegance, I was not born that way, so ya, there’s your probably way to much info about the struggles of being a missionary in indonesia when you GOT TO GO.
Thursday and Friday: We had zone conference in Surabaya! This time our district rode the fire train! It was so much better, usually we ride the bus and I get sO car sick I want to die. We have a new sister in the field too FINALLY. She’s from australia, also Elder Hurt from my MTC group is in my zone now so it’s really hilarious to see him now from time to time. He’s serving in Manado WHERE THEY EAT DOG. AND CAT. AND RAT. AND BAT. YOU THINK I’M JOKING I AINT PLAYIN. He took the saddest picture of dogs getting ready to be butchered L(((( like, there were cages with CUTE friendly lookin dogs and then above them on this thing were the carcuses of the dogs that are getting ready to be sold or eaten or something I don’t know I didn’t look at it at all I was too scared, thank goodness no sisters serve in Manado cuz I could never eat a cat no way jose.
Also I had to TRANSLATE for zone conference. Aka, for each lesson by either President or the zone leaders or Sister Rowley or the STL’s if they used english I’d have to translate it to indonesian for the Indonesians, or if President started randomly using indonesian again I’d have to translate his words into english for sister rowley HOLY COW. SO HARD.it was my first time!
1. The gift of tongues is real. Missionaries are sO not normal it is not normal to live in a foreign country for 6-8 months and be able to SPEAK the language, like. Not normal. This really is god’s work.
2. 2. HOLY COW I NEEED TO IMPROVE MY BAHASA! The poor indonesians probably had no idea what was going on, I’ll have to keep trying harder to improve my language.
3. We talked about how to become better teachers, it was really good.
Saturday: just another normal day, sister ratu did get locked in a bathroom for 10 minutes, annnnd we taught our friends that are from Sumba, it’s like east indonesian islands, they’re all in college so they’re our age, and young and open to learn, one of them, she is acTUALLY doing her homework she has read from the intro of the Book of Mormon and the first chapter of nephi, she has so many beautiful questions oh and she’s read Joseph Smith’s testimony about how he got the plates, she is so willing to learn. It’s so fun teaching them, It’s weird, I’d rather teach missionary lessons to a group of people instead of like teaching a relief society lesson in a ward. (I got asked Saturday afternoon to teach relief society the next day that was fun)((FROM A BOOK THAT WE DIDN’T HAVE IN ENGLISH SO I COULD TRANSLATE IT FIRST THAT WAS FUN)
I mean it’s always a good experience but it’s definitely one of my weaknesses. I like to give talks, even though it’s scary I still feel like I can be myself but when it comes to teaching like in church, wadu I get so nervous, I’m hoping the mission will change that and I’ll be better at teaching in the saviors way (especially when it’s my language)
Sunday: Church was good. Our Miracle Contact came again, we will see her every day this week, her baptismal interview is on Thursday and then SHE’LL GET BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! Life is good! After church we tried to search for referals before our appointments. We found this one lady, it’s always so awkward contacting referals cuz they’re like, “um… who are you… why are you here… I’m already christian byee” so I always get awkward and nervous so here I am trying to stumble out our “door approach” ((missionaries in indonesia aren’t allowed to go tracting ((go door to door)) or we’ll get kicked out of the country)) so we just go around asking people where random people live and we stand outside their gate and yell “Permisi! (excuse me)” and pray someone nice will answer. So ya I’m stumbling through our “Hey we are missionaries please let us in your house for your eternal salvation (; and this ibu says “What church are you from” IN PERFECT. ENGLISH. And I like stop and stutter, and I’m like “wait. YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?!?” and she’s like, “yeah very well, my husband’s american.” “where is he from??” “SALT LAKE CITY UTAH.” “WHAT?!!?!? I’M FROM THERE.” “Oh, are you mormon?” ‘’YEAH HI” “oh, so is my husband.”
BOOM ARE YOU ON THE GROUND DEAD?! CUZ I ALMOST FAINTED AT THIS CONVERSATION. Can you believe that?!?! Literally, here we are in the middle of INDONESIA anad we meet this indonesian lady that speaks english WHO HUSBAND WAS A MORMON AND ALL OF HER FAMILY IN AMERICA IS MORMON WHAT!?!?!?
She goes to a different church but she says we can come back after the 17th(Indonesia’s Independence Day) I’m so excited. Pray that she’ll accept our message ya?
Ya, our neighborhood right now is so lit! Indonesian’s are SO EXCITED for their freedom day! It’s so cute! Our neighbors got US flags to put up in the front of our house! And everyday everyone is outside of their houses painting or just chilling it’s awesome, I cant wait for the 17th I hear there’s so many cool things that happen on that day.
Wow, this email wasn’t very spiritual, sorry, I know this church is true with all my heart though! I wouldn’t still be out here if I didn’t. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so real, I need it, you need it, we all do. I sure hope if you don’t have a testimony you’ll test out this gospel for yourself, what’s it gonna hurt? Eternal Salvation? That sounds nice. I know Joseph Smith was called of God to restore Christ’s church bck on the earth and I’m so grateful for his sacrifice. Jesus is the Christ, and He loves you perfectly, and that is so comforting to know we can always repent and try again. Heavenly Father is aware of you and loves you with all his heart. I hope we can all show our love to Him, all he does is ask us to follow His Son.
Mosiah 2: 20 “I say unto you, my brethern, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to posses to that God who has created you,..”
“…I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.”
22 “and behold, ALL that he requires of you is to keep his commandments”
41 “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold,they are blessed in all things,…. And if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of NEVER ENDING HAPPINESS.”
O remember these things are true (:
<3//: Sister Rowntree
Sister Rowntree
Jalan Senopati 115
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta 12190
Indonesia
(ahem. The class CTR 6 year olds have written me letters COME ON YALL, COME ON I’M STILL HERE (: )
ELDERS from manado
sisters in jawa timur
STAR JUMPS!!
THE New sister rowntree
we teach this cool non christian at a park
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