Just pictures this week. (Written on 3/4/18)

 hey fam! i am the worst and didnt write a group email and only have 10 minutes left lol. it was a good week i swwear!  solo is great!  My cmpanion is aweseome!  and I love the Lord!!  itu saja!  sorry!  i will jsut send pics ya? (:

1) Sister Cardon emailed me before she got on the mission adn now we're in the same zone!

2) me and shiu

3) Sisters in Jawa Tengah

4) we matched with the Zone Leaders for PLD!

5) Solo Squad

1) this family is AMAZING.  the father wants to be baptized!

i'll tell ya story later

2) lol i am vain and am feeling myself this dress was only 7 dollars yall!  

have a nice week! <3

Rain rain go away.

Halo Keluarga dan Teman terkasihku <3

 lol this email lhas nothing to do with rain 

Let me tell yall of one miracle from this week.  It was monday and we were on our way to the mall to celebrate sister wasitosari's 20th birthday and my tire bocor(ed)!  bocor means like... i actuallly dont know the translation in english but my tire was flat.  so we found this bengkel (tire fixing thingy) and a lady came out, she put air in my tire and usually i would just give her her seribu (1000) rupia (which is like equivelant to less than 10 cents) and go but then i started talking to her and it turns out she was catholic!  she said we could come back.

we went back on wednesday i think, and she just POURED out her soul to us.  Her life is so sad and she has so many trials to overcome, but that's exactly what the gospel is for!  to help us overcome our burdens and come unto christ!  we didn't even share the restoration, she had soo many good questions!  she's like "when i go to this church, the pastor says "descend holy ghost!"(sorry it makes more sense in indonesian)  and everyone around me starts "speaking in the language of the spirit" or dancing and crying, and I am just sitting there, why dont I feel the spirit like them?" and we discusseed about how the holy spirit truly feels like,  He's not this gust of wind that enters into us like most of the christians believe here,  in order to feel the spirit we need to  be reverent because he speaks through a still small voice.  we promised her if she came to church she would feel the Holy Ghost, she would feel peace and all of the fruits of the spirit that's described in Galatians 5.  she accepted a book of mormon too.  

we went to see her again on saturday and we taught her the restoration, she is so open about it, and I know she is the elect of God, because she acts, she reads what we give her and she listens with a sincere heart, she is trying to find the truth.  turns out she couldnt coome to church yesterday lol, she was sick, but she is still a miracle to me <3  she listened to us, and she wants to find Christ, and that's why I'm here, to invite others to come unto Him.

Next week is zone conferences again, which i am stoked for! so i'm sure my next email will be more spiritual and exciting lol. sorry yall,  it was a normal week again.  it rains all the time, the food is so good here too, apa ya... we're just doing the usual ya know?  Just pray for Sister Shiu and I and for our investigators that they'll be ready to follow Jesus Christ fully and enter the waters of baptism!  

I know Russel M. Nelson is our living Prophet today. I have no doubts about that.  I heard Him speak in the MTC and his words saved my life, saved my mission.  He said "The Lord is not disappointed in those who continuously and consciously try to repent evereyday." It gave me so much hope and to this day still does.  We will never be perfect in this life, but we can turn from evil and change our hearts and turn to God and walk with Him everyday.  I love Heavenly Father and I know that He loves me, and I know that you and I are enough, we just have to try!  Love yall!  Have a good week! <3  Sister Rowntree

1) here are our messy desks

2) these cute kids like to learn english

3) lol this is our SASSIEST investigator so we probably look more like this when we teach him xD

4) just kidding we love him

5)  we were playing DONT EAT PETE

1&2) studying face

3) i dont even know

4) THIS STORY IS CRAZY YALL. so.  i bought a way crappy bike lock, like the key youo have to SHOVE to get it to work so iwas trying to unlock our bikes NAD I BROKE THE KEY IN HALF IT JSUT SNAPPED we were soooooooooooo far form our house and we're like OH MY GOSH. WE'RE STUCK HERE WERÉ GONNA DIE HERE OUR BIKES OUR LOCKED FOR FOREVER AND THENNNN

5) these two men came and saved us xDDDD soooo funny!!! 

Normal week

Hey fam!

I dont have a lot to say this week... sorry.... it was a normal week, it was kind of hard, so my faith just needs to be boosted and next week will be better.  we did have this cool experience where we taught the seminary kids how to be missionaries with technology.  there were 6 kids, and we ended up getting 40 names from them who have potential to receive the gospel!  it was so cool, but it's not us that are going to their friends, it's them, we're teaching them not to be afraid and learnr how to share what matters most to them to their friends!

I know the gospel has been restored, I know Joseph Smith really was called by God.  I know Heavenly Father loves us and cares about us, and I'm so grateful for His Son Jesus Christ and for all He's done for each and every one of us.  I want to challenge all of you as well, think of your friends and family memebers who haven't received the gospel, or who are going through a rough time, i know sometimes it's scary to share our testimonies in person or we feel nervous.. but through social media we can light the world!  there are HUNDREDS of beautiufl mormon messages that are for everybody, and sharing something like that with our friends on facebook or instagram or through texting will help them feel the holy ghost!  I know we can all be missionaries and it's what the Lord wants us to do, help our brothers and sisters come closer to Him.  Love you all!

-Sister Rowntree

) my ward is the best and sent me this cute christmas card

2)  the best comp ever!

No subject LOL

Hey fam!  

Gimana kabarnya?

My heart goes out to President Thomas S. Monsons family..  When President Rowley called me and told me the news it didnt really hit me until later that night, we have a picture of the prophet in our room hanging up.  and i just cried, I will miss our beloved Prophet, He was an amazing man, so full of love and righteousness.  He was my childhood Prophet, it's still so shocking,  I have been used to saying for the past 14 months that I know that Thomas S. monson is God's living prophet.  I will substain Him forever and I love him dearly.  I will support and substain the new prophet in April as well, I know this is Christ church, and I know that God has always called prophets to help His children and He still does today <3

I'm trying my best to remember all that has  happened this week....

It was just another normal week, we found 8 new investigators, 2 want to be baptized in February, they're miracles.

It still rains like crazy almost everyday, sometimes I feel like it gets as cold as malang at night here.

OH YA.  I went to MLC on Tuesday and got to see 3 of my past companions! <3  they all gave me birthday presents too it was so sweet.  :')  Sister Bourelle gave me a CAT MIRROR SO CUTE!!!  It's weird cuz sister Bourelle and I are the oldest of the STL's now..  my MTC companion Sister Fuglsang and Malang comapnion Sister Ratunuman are the new STL's in Jakarta, it was so good to see everyone. AND MY CHILD SHOWED UP, so that was so cool to see Sister Toala again.

MLC is basically a realllly long meeting (from 1-9) of President roasting us (;  I'm just kidding, we discuss the needs of our mission and what we can do as leaders to help our young missionaries. It's so fun!

OH ya oh ya, so the zone leaders and I, when we got back from Jakarta we had to immediately go to the church (luggage and all) for DTM (District Training Meeting(which is held every Wedneseday))  we were STARVING so we just grabbed a crap piece of fried  chicken to eat before the meeting started, and when the sisters got there,  They started singing and brought out A SPONGEBOB CAKE FOR MY BDAY!!  i literally cried it was so beautiful.  I'll attach a pic of the beautiful master piece!

seriously yall should see my BR (book of rememberance)  sooo many missionaries have drawn BEAUTIFUL pictures of spongebob and patrick for me bc eVERYONE knows how much i love spongebob and sometimes I worry i quote spongebob more in a day than i do scriptures..  it was a good day.

oh ya!  and then!  my ibu (sister jatmiko(who trained me))  is home for the holidays and she gave me this cute gold necklace with a bike on it from like a called to serve store or something SO SWEET (':  and yummy cheese bread.  she is the best and sister Shiu Kumar and I are finding her friends and her parents friends to teach!  they're an amazing family and they're always ready to help share the gospel with us.

Have yall heard the new song There is Peace in Christ for the youth theme this year? It's my new favorite song (i made a video of me singing it with the ukelele and hopefully it will load :P  )  but seriously the words are so beautiful and bring me peace to my soul.  as i sing it in my head throughout the day it really helps me stay focused on my purpose and who i am serving.  like for example, if we're trying to ask for directions and the person is not helping at all and just being irritating usually ya, i would get irritated lol.  BUT THEN,  the words come into my head and I ask myself, okay, what would christ do in this situation how would he treat this person.. or in teaching situations when the natural man in  me wants to become frustrated when our investigators arent' keeping their commitments etc..  I have to stop and thnk, and listen to the spirit, and see them the way christ does.  He truly does bring us peace in life. I am so grateful for our Savior, I've been trying to reflect more often and be grateful for his atoning sacrifice, to feel the love He felt for me as He bore my sins.  Repentance is real yall, all because of Him,  He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind.  If we just come unto Him He truly will heal your sorrows, mend your broken heart and give you strength when you can't go on.  I love Him and I'm so grateful to be serving Him in this beautiful country of Indonesia.  

I hope you all can find little ways to share the gospel with your friends, maybe like, sharing a cute mormon message that can warm the heart of a friend who's not a member, or is having a hard time. Heavenly Father has given us so much and so many different ways we can share our faith with others!  Give it a try!  Love you all and have a nice week! <3

-Sister Rowntree

1)  me and my amazing comapnion!! <3

2)  I'm 21 and cant drink, but i can drink chattime (:

3) the necklace my ibu gave me

4)  SPONGEBOB CAKE!!!

WEEEEE BIRTHDAYYY

Happy New Year (written on 12/31/17)

Hey yall happy new year!

I dont haave much to say for this week, and yall are gonna get my christmas email from last week anyways!  

this week was great, i love solo, my companion is amazing, i went on splits with the other sisters in solo and we learned a lot about faith this week.

Sister Shiu and i have noticed we need a lot more faith lol.  we will keep working hard tho even when the rejections come.  hmmm... apa lagi ya..?   

ya that's pretty much it,  thanks for all the birthday wishes!  tomorrow is MLC so i hope there's cake there (;  Indonesia rules,  the church is true, read your scriptures, do the little things to strengthen your testimony and develop a better relationship with your Heavenly Father, I know He loves us all just try to draw near to Him just a little bit more and you'll feel His love!  The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it will change your life! 

oh ya i just remembered. I'm trying to memorize The Living Christ, it is so beautiful and such an inspired document. I want to challenge you all to ponder it, you don't have to memorize it, but studying it will help you understand the Savior more, i testify that's true.  as i ponder the words each morning or recite them while biking through solo I feel closer to Him.  I love Him.

Have a great week yall! <3

1) cute sisters in solo jebres

2) sister wasitosari dari Indonesia and Sister Daclan dari the phillipines!!

3) christmas morning breakfast!

4) sister Shiu and i snuck out on christmas mornign at 5:30 am to surpriise the other sisters with breakfast!

 1) these sweet muslim girls helped us when we got lost for an hour to get back to chruch ahah!!

2&3) beautiful solo!!!

4)  WE FOUND A DUCK WHISPERER IT WAS HILARIOUS

 

 

Christmas Email (written on 12/24/17)

• HEY FAM MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
  

  This will be a quick one, I want to skype with my fam. 

  
  

  I jsut want to testify of how much Heavenlly Faher Loves us. this last week was the best week ever!  we are white washing but that didnt dimmer our faith we found 16 new investigators this week! i've never found that many before in a week and we only did that in FOUR DAYS (bc of the way transfers were) SO LEGIT, and THEN we fasted too for our investigaors (if yall know me i am a terrible faster i complain wayy to much, but i tried not to this time) and by the end of the day we found out we actually had TWO investigators at church!!!!  YALL.  MY WARD HERE IN SOLO IS THE BIGGEST WARD IN INDONESIA!!!  I'M IN A WARD AGAIN!! It's been sooo long! IT WAS PACKED LIKE LITERALLY PACKED WE LITERALLY DIDNT KNOW OUR INVESTIGATORS WERE THERE!!! SO CRAZY THE LORD IS GOOD MERRY CHRISTMAS YALL!

  
  

  I do hope we can all remember what's truly important this Christmas season.  and it's the birth of our beloved Savior.  I love Him so much and i'm so grateful i'm serving Him here in Indonesia.  

  Have a nice week yall! <3 Sister Rowntree

  
  

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Last Area! (Written on 12/17/17)

woah. what a week yall.

1. my poor child has TYPHOID FEVER!!! kasihan sekali, she's been out all week.

2. I'M BEING TRANSFERED!!!!!!!!!

suuuuch a surprise i truly thought i had a least one more transfer here in surabaya before i moved to my last area... o.o  I'm surprised I'm not finishing my child's training, i'm going to miss Sister Toala so much. ):

so... i'm moving to SOLO!  I'm finally going to serve in Jawa Tengah! (central java)  I've been in Jawa Timur (East Java) since APRIL (besides that one month in Jakarta)  I will be the only  Sister Training Leader in jawa tengah, Sister Bourelle will be the only one in jawa timur and sister tanner will be the only one in jawa barat as far as I know.  So there's only 3 which will be so weird for MLC, but if it's the Lord's will, let it be.

My new companion: Sister Shu Ku Mar

from:  Australia

Ethnicity: Samoan!  (another one!!)

She was trained by Sister Hyde! I think she's already been on her mission for 6 months.. i'm not 100% sure, I'll find out Tuesday when I get there!

I think she'll be my last companion, which is so weird to think about, like, it's freaking me out O.o didn't  i just get to indonesia?  we will also be white washing (aka not having a CLUE where ANYTHING is!)  so exciting! Miracles are gonna happen! and get this.  I'm moving into my IBU'S HOME WARD!!!!  (mission mom)  Sister Jatmikko!!  I'm soOO PUMPED!

I am so grateful for the time i have had here in Surabaya, it was such a fast 3 months, I'm truly going to miss the beloved members here, (i couldn't say goodbye to them bc hi my poor child is dying in bed)  but the elders sent them my love.  Surabya is a city just full of miracles, I'm leaving sister bourelle and toala an areabook PACKED full of new PROGRESSIVE investigators.  I'm just so excited for them to find more miracles and to help all the people we've found the last 3 months enter the waters of baptism.  There was a time I felt like we were working so hard and it seemed like nothing good was happening, but because we never gave up, the Lord blessed us with the priveldge to teach Sister Tutuk and Vero for about a month before they were baptized.  so beautiful.

So president rowley has asked us all to make personal goals for 2018 regarding  baptisms.  when i first started thinking and pondering what I and the Lord could do together personally for the 4 short months in 2018, the first number that popped into my head was 8.

when you compare the Indonesia Jakarta mission to let's say... the phillipines or south america... ya maybe our baptisms aren't as high. our goal for the year of 2017 was 180 baptisms, i know of countries taht baptize 200 a month.  but numbers don't put a damper on the faith of us missionaries here in indonesia, i have learned so much this past year+ and have grown so much that I was confident with the lord's help 8 baptisms is possible before I go.  and then i get a transfer call, that i'm moving to solo.  (earlry this week iwas in jakarta on tuesday to renew my visa ((I GOT TO SEE THE OLD MTC CREW!!) But also President showed us a chart of the highest baptizing cities and the lowest.))  do you know what city is the lowest?  yup the one i'm moving to, and at first i was like. oh crap. I'm gonna have to change my personal goal, make it lower,  BUT WHAT KIND OF FAITH IS THAT??  I know that even tho sister Shu and I will be new and we only have a couple of weeks left before the new year begins we will find those people who will want to follow jesus christ.  They're out  there, i just know if we work our hardest and do everything we can with Lord we can achieve our goals!  I'm pumped for solo and the new challenges to come.  I dont want to walk away from the mission with any regrets, we're going to give it our all.

hmm.. i dont think there's much else to say,  I just want to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon again. holy cow, reading the book of mormon  with our investigators is so cool, like we give em homework right, invite them to read it and pray, and when they dont instead of going into our next planned lesson we read with them.  we did that with this one family and it was just so beautiful, you could literally feel the power coming from the words in the Book of Mormon, and it softened Pak M's heart<3 I love the book of Mormon and I know it's the word of God and I think we should all do everything we can to share the happiness we feel from the book of Mormon with our friends.

2 Nephi 32:3  "Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."  I know that's true, I know we can all become more in tuned with the spirit when we take the time to read and ponder and apply the teachings of Christ from the Book of Mormon in our lives.  Have a nice week yall, Saya mengasihi anda semua<3

-Sister Rowntree

1)ibu tutuk's and mbak Vero's baptism (:  (we went to their house on saturday and it was sooo hard to say goodbye ): )

2) ibu tutuk tells me to tell my mom that i have another mama in indonesia (':

3)  lol hot and sweaty and tired missionaries

lol we just took this in the angkot, we cant walk or bike anywhere cuz siter toala is still dying! xD

HIDE YO KIDS READ YO SCRIPTURES AND REPENT (Written on 12/10/17)

HEY YALL

What a week!  I can't believe the transfer is coming to an end!  This transfer just FLEW by and now I'm stressed cuz I think I have only 3 transfers left................ like....... what.  I remember when my home girl Caitlin was at that point when she was still the the Phillipines and i was like, oh wow i have sooooo long until that point.  o.o um.... k. 

this also means my child is half way done iwth her training!  I'm so proud of her,  tonight (sunday night) i had to pipis at indomaret and when i came out she was CONTACTING someone by herself! i was so proud!! annnnnd yesterday

IBU TUTUK AND MBAK VERO WERE BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!  and today that got confirmed (':  You can just see the LIGHT in their eyes!  it's the most beautiful heart warming thing in this world i am so happy for them.

and i CANNOT believe i've already been in surabaya for 3 month!  nggak terasa sama sekali!!  time is so weird and now i'm kinda stressed cuz my 21st birthday is coming up and i'm like, wait, wasn't i just 18 yesterday?  i'm old now.  and years go by so fast.  it's way stressful and you dont realize (well at leasat i never have) how fast time goes by until you're serving the Lord and everything is like a blink of an eye.

okay sorry for the rant.  we had really cool miracles this week!  we met this AMAZING man on tuesday i think.  Here's his background.

He used to not be christian  and then he got married and became christan, but at church he would just sleep and he said he wanted to find the right one that would bring him peace. he said i've tried them all.  i found one (the one he's at) but i'm still searching.  COOL. and 2.  He's like, Oh ya i know who you are, i've been looking for the book of mormon ever since i saw a sister missionary preaching about it to a bunch of people at indomaret.  "saya menarik"  like "i was drawn towards it, or interested"  but i was with my friend and didnt want tto start anything. i asked myself, wow is waht she is saying true? i want to read it for myself to know.  but if it's the lord's time he'll lead me to it again.

AND THEN HE SAID  "I knew who you were when you were standing outside by my house (oh ya, btws, we had his wife's name as a referal so we went to find her, but they werent home, and then the holy ghsot spoke through our stomachs again and we ate this yummy unhealthy banana bread stuff by his house and got distracted instead of leaving and then he and his daughter showed up.)  I wanted to say something, but i said no, if it's the Lord's time he'll bring you to me."  now pause.  right after we saw his motorcycle enter into his house, sister toala and i were like, "aw crap, this is akward, mabye next time what if he thinks were weird." aka, satan came and tried to convince us not to knock again,  but we said to ourselves, "really? is awkwardness going to stop you frmo bringing salvation to this family."  so we knocked, he comes out and i try to spill out the schpeel all awkwardly cuz i was feeling sheepish and i didn't even finish whatever the crud i was saying and he's like. "come in."  (((: so long story short, this man is so prepared and he loves readin about other religions and he's been searching for the book of mormon for like 5 months, he's so humble and amazing.  this was just such a testimony builder for me becvause we can apply this to real life.  When the holy ghost tells us to do something we need to follow that first prompting.  If sister toala and i gave into our natural man and said eh maybe next time we would've never met him!! I know that heavenly father puts us places for a reason, everything we do in life should be to help others come to know the true gospel of jesus chrsit, so when you're traveling by bus or plane or you're in line at subway, open your mouth and be friendly and let other people see the light of christ in you. He needs you. just trust in Him he's always with you.

also.  HIDE YO KIDS, HIDE YO WIVES, READ YO SCRIPTURES AND REPENT YALL. JESUS IS COMIN. did you hear the news???? ISRAEL HAS MOVED IT'S CAPITAL TO JERUSALEM!!  i swear on my life this is another sign of Christ's second comin yall for real for real.  we were even warned here cuz hi we're in the largest Islamic country in the world so we have to take caution on who we try to invite to repent and come unto christ ya know, not a big deal, but what is a big deal is that YALLS BEST BE GETTIN YO LIVES TOGETHA HE'S ON HIS WAY YALL. It just makes calling people to repentance even more fun! 

hmmm.. what else exciting happened this week.... oh i know.  so much drama, goodness gracious, we are having to drop so many of our investigators that we've been teaching since like september, and i've been having such  a hard time, I just cried and cried, and to be honest, i'm not that much of a charitable person, it's been a weakness of mine my whole mission of not completely having that pure love of christ inside 100% example... soometimes i let the sass out with invesigators that irritate me or are sassy with me... ya christ would never do that i need to fix that.   but MAN sister toala and i havent prayed so hard and planned so prayerfully before and it seems like all of the people we love are just following into the abyss of darkness bc they've stopped reading the book of mormon so they're not feeling the spirit anymre and they refuse to come to church and it's like.  what else can we do if they're not willing to act?  I just cried and cried, knowing we'd have to just leave it in heavenly father's hands and take that leap of faith and leave them for the other missionaries in the future.  i surprised myself, i'm like, woah i guess i do really care about these people and i really care for their salvation..

well. that's pretty much it for this week.  I love the mission, I love serving the Lord, I'm trying everyday to become closer to him, to strengthen my testimony of His reality and love.  I'm so grateful for His atonement.  His grace is real and it's sufficient for all of us who try our best and repent everyday.  I love you all, have a good week!

<3/ Sister Rowntree

1) sister tutuk (:

2) new followers of Jesus Christ (:

3) typical tired sweaty sister missionaries

4) lol this is sister toala's words "this is a typical sister rowntree pose, on the phone looking at her nails with sass." 

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