First week in INDONESIA!

HALO KELUARGA DAN TEMAN SAYA!!!

Okay, I only have 20 more minutes before this computer shuts off so I can't email every detail.

YES I have made it to Indonesia and I LOVE IT!!  it's amazing here and it's soooooooooo different!!  I was not expecting everything that I see and smell and hear ahaha!!  

Okay, so I'm in Bogor, which is 2 hours away from Jakarta without traffic... (there's always traffic)  OUR MISSION HOUSE IS SO NICE, we have a TOILET, but we can't flush toilet paper,  and we have a SHOWER,  try taking cold showers everyday y'all, it's fun (;

Bogor is actually one of the cooler cities here, it rains EVERYDAY and when it rains it POURS.  Hopefully I can get the pictures and videos up.......

MY COMPANION IS AMAZING. I love her so much.  Her name is Sister Jatmiko, she's from Solo Indonesia and she only has 5 more weeks here!! So I'll be getting a new trainer soon.  She's a literal angel and I hope I can learn so so much from her!!

It's hot here, I'm always sweating,  the people here are AMAZING, they're so sweet!!  I can't understand ANYTHING that ANYBODY is saying.  The struggle is real.  The members in Bogor are AMAZING.  They;'re so humble and faithful and they help us soooo much with our investigators.  I swear on my life I will never complain about going to church ever again, there's only one church here in Bogor with two wards, and some people live so far away they have to wake up at FOUR IN THE MORNING, to get to church on time at 8 or 10.  INSANE DEDICATION. but they know what this life is about.  Our every actions and thoughts should be centered on Christ.  Everything we have is because of our Loving Heavenly Father,  and all he asks us to do is to live like His Son.  I'm so grateful for my Savior,  the struggle is real here and it's been hard to adjust, but I know I can do this because I have a Savior who loves me and knows exactly what I'm feeling.  I'm just happy that I can testify about my Savior here, I may not understand a lot.... I may not be able to speak a lot of bahasa, but I can testify of Our Saviors love for us.  Which I think is awesome!

Sorry this email is short,  take care, and remember your Savior!  IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!  Serve like Him every single day of this month!  LDS.org can help you come up with ideas!  As we strive to serve others and forget ourselves we really can become more like Him! 

hati hati

-Sister Rowntree

Off to Indonesia!

Last picture at the MTC on Dec 5, 2016, some pics at the airport and the first pic in her in Indonesia after almost 24 hrs of travel!

Lebih fotos

1) more christmas lights

2) sister patton taught me a Korean hand sign thing.  It's supposed to be a heart <3 

3) I think this was on Thanksgiving too btw

1) this was from the first week, YES I HAVE SEEN SISTER ROBERTS AND SISTER RINDLISBACHER! 

2)  The first week was so hard lol, so I definitely was crying when we finally saw eachother 

3)  Wolverine Crossing friends:  Here's sister Weaver and I, and yes I saw Sister Page,  Sister Black, but they've all left now )':  

6 days and counting!

THIS WEEK IS MY LAST WEEK IN AMERICA! As much as I love the MTC, I can't WAIT to get out of here!!!  I'm PUMPED to finally meet real people in the world and to not be locked away in a classroom anymore (;

THANK YOU FOR THE LETTERS AND PACKAGES, Mom when you see President Howell or Lori will you please tell them thank you for the cookies!!!!

Apa kabar semua orang?

I don't have too much time to email... but I do want to share with you the amazing experiences and what I learned from this week!

So... the days here literally feel like years... but the weeks feel like days... I really can't remember what happened on what day so sorry if I share something I've already shared lol

Tuesday:  Brent H. Neilson came and the two quotes that I LOVED were this

"Every time we meet with the Prophet each week in the temple,  He tells us 2 things.  1. He whom the Lord calls the Lord qualifies.  and 2.  when you're on the Lord's errand, you're entitled to His help."  As a missionary, I'm literally one of Lord's representatives, and fear and faith cannot work together.  I'm trying to strengthen my faith everyday by going to work and doing my best.  I always have to remind myself to have hope that the Savior WILL help me, whenever I need Him, sometimes I don't even realize it's Him that's carrying me along.  I think it's really important to consciously think of how the Savior is helping you through out the day, to recognize the amazing blessings that Heavenly Father is constantly pouring out to us.

Quote 2,  "Walk forward everyday with out fear.. and remember Lot's Wife,  she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt,  DON'T LOOK BACK.  The gospel of Jesus Christ helps us always look forward.  Who wants you to look back, to doubt and to have fear?  Satan does.   the Savior wants you to always look forward,  to come unto Him so He can heal you.  Don't worry about what mistake you made yesterday,  repentance means to improve, to change, to progress, to move forward.  leave behind the things you've done and move FORWARD!"  I know that Heavenly Father knows our concerns and imperfections, and He will bless us to move forward if we just ASK and then ACT.

THANKSGIVING WAS AMAZING.  I'm sure all of yours were great too... but I had an Apostle to listen to so... it was DOUBLE AWESOME.  Elder Neil L. Anderson came,  He talked about how we are ALWAYS going to have afflictions on our mission (and in life)  but we have to see the blessings in every moment!  Think about it, everything that we have is because our Heavenly Father gave it to us.  You're able to move, to blink, to breathe, your heart is able to beat because of Him.  That's a blessing. Your families are a gift, and the ultimate gift He gave to us was the sacrifice of His Beloved perfect Son.  For you.  That's something to always be grateful for too.  We had to read "Living in Thanksgiving Daily"  for the week, and I learned so much from it.  It's so easy to forget everything we have,  especially here in Utah,  how often do we really appreciate our majestic mountains?  There just there right?  That's something to notice every single day and to thank our Heavenly Father for.  HOT SHOWERS??  Carpet in the house?  In 6 days,  I'm going to be teaching HAPPY people sitting on a rug with dirt floors,  I'm going to be "showering" with a cold bucket and laddle,  how often do you thank your Heavenly Father daily for the AMAZING things we're blessed to live with?  I know our country isn't perfect right now, I have no idea who the crud is our new terrible president... but either way you're still blessed to be able to drive to a church that's only 3 minutes from your house.  To go to temples that literally surround us whenever we want, and you don't have to save up all your money to go to.

I also learned that the more grattitude you have, the happier you'll be.  Let go of grudges, everyday when you wake up,  drain all the negative energy, and bitterness from your heart, and replace it with love and encouraging feelings.  Lift others from their burdens.  Forgive others who have hurt you.  

Last week my Christlike attribute I was working to develop and study was Charity.  Oh boy, it was hard,  there's a reason Christ is the only Begotten Son.   Charity means to love those who hurt your feelings,  who are rude to you,  who hate you.  Charity means you're patient with companions you become irritated with easily.  Charity means you forgive those who REALLY leave a scar on your heart.  I know that it's not easy.  But that's why we have a Savior to turn to, who can literally change our hearts if we let Him.

Sorry this email is short, this time next week I'll be in INDONESIA.... and I have no idea what my PDAY is....  so maybe I'll email you guys again in a week and a half or something... IF YOU WANNA WRITE ME A CUTE LETTER SINCE I CAN'T RECEIVE ANY IN INDO MOST LIKELY THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE YALL.  I'd really really REALLY appreciate some I can take to Indo.

Once I'm in the field, if you'd like to try to send letters the address is:

Sister Hannah Breauna Rowntree

Jalan Senopati 115

Kebayoran Baru

Jakarta 12190

Indonesia

same for packages... but those cost 100$ so don't worry about it (:

I LOVE YOU ALL, I WILL BE FINE,  THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES YOU!!!  <3

1) CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!!!

2)MOM OUR COUSIN JENNY MADE THIS FOR ME!!!!!  (Phil's wife)  HOW SWEET (we're pen pals) (SO YES I'M WRITING HER A THANK YOU CARD DON'T WORRY)

3) Sister Fuglsang drew these and made copies for us!!  *heart eyes emoji*

4) More christmas lights!

PS: Watch the new Christmas video AND MAKE GOALS to be more Christlike everyday this December!!  You can do it! (:

Hannah and her companion sing a hymn in Indonesian.

HALOOO! Kabar baru? Nov 22, 2016

HALOOO!  Kabar baru?

This past week has FLOWN BYE!  I can't believe I only have two weeks left in the MTC,  I think I have 2 Pdays left.... I'm not for sure,  I can't remember if we leave on Monday or Tuesday.... or Wednesday....... OH WELL.

I'm going to start with Tuesday:  ELDER GARY E. STEVENSON and his beautiful wife came for the Devotional!!!  and...........  I SHOOK HIS HAND!   It's all thanks to Sister Patton, we were in choir which is pretty far from where He spoke, but he came back into the room and we BOOKED IT..  It was awesome!!  ANYWAYS,  Him and his wife spoke to us about a Missionary's Thanksgiving.  (I think it applies to everyone though)

1)  We should have Thanksgiving for the change of heart wrought by the gospel.  I sure hope I've experienced and continue to experience this mighty change.  I know I have, I've never been this close to my Savior before in my entire life.  It's so funny, I thought before entering the MTC  I knew what I was talking about.  I was like "Oh yeah,  my testimony is so strong!! I've got this in the bag!"  I don't think I knew what I was talking about 😂   I've learned SO MUCH here in the MTC,  and I continue to learn and grow everyday.  It's insane, it feels like I'm in primary/ young womens/ seminary ALL over again but times 100.  I don't know if that makes sense, but I'm so grateful that I decided to serve a mission, not just for the people, but truly converting myself to the gospel and the Lord's will.  

2) Have Thanksgiving for the Lord and His Gospel

3)  Thanksgiving for the Spirit

4) Thanksgiving for the Restoration.  We have SUCH a unique message to share!!  We should always be searching for opportunities to share that message!  Don't be shy,  don't be scared,  the Lord will help you!  

It was a very simple Devotional, but it was also a great reminder of how blessed I am to have this gospel in my life and how AWESOME this opportunity is to share this message!!!

Wednesday WE GOT TO BE HOSTS!!!!  It was so fun!!! but also SO sad to watch all the missionaries cry and say goodbye to their families.  I was like "WOAH TOO SOON TOO SOON" and I felt super homesick remembering saying goodbye to my fam bam.  It was great to reassure the sisters though and tell them that they're families going to be taken care of.  OH YEAH, and the title of this email says I cna't speak japanese or english.  It's getting so bad you guys, you can probably notice from my emails, my english grammar is AWFUL LOL  AND  the first sister Sister Patton hosted was from JAPAN!!  so we were eating lunch with her,  and I was trying SO HARD to speak some japanese. Nope.  Everytime I tried to say "Watashi wa" (I)  I'd say "Saya" (i)  I CAN'T SPEAK ANYTHING ANYMORE HAHA.  but speaking of language, it's coming along great!!!  TRC was a lot better and I could understand one of the RM's well even though he was speaking fast.  THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS REAL.  But you have to work your butt off!!  The Lord's not going to just hand it to ya on a silver platter.  I have  to try everyday to speak as much as I can!

SUNDAY:  AMAZING AS ALWAYS.  I hope you guys really truly enjoy the Sabbath day,  try to keep it holy,  read your scriptures, watch some mormon messages, serve someone, visit someone...  and always remember your Savior.  So for Sunday Devotional we had the District president and his wife speak,  IT WAS SO AWESOME.  It was all about Charity and devoloping Christlike attributes.  So this week, I'm working on Charity, and every week of my mission I'll choose a different Christlike attribute and do my best to learn and grow as I follow the Savior's example.  I've realized I really need to tone down the sass!  My natural man immediately gets irritated when things don't go my way... or I don't understand something right away... and I can get annoyed so easily with people.  NO MORE, I'm really REALLY trying hard to think before I speak too.  my mom has always told me to work on that my entire life and I never realized how important that is until NOW LOL sorry mom love you! (;  So everyday for personal study I really really study my scriptures, I start in the topical guide under Charity, and I read each scripture there and apply it to myself,  y'all should see my spiritual journal it's FILLED.  Scriptures are so awesome, everytime I read the same scripture, it applies to me in a different way.

OH AND THEN, we watched a talk from Elder Holland.  HE'S SO SCARY HOLY COW.  Here's a little taste,  "If you plan to go out on your mission and waste time, THEN GO HOME NOW"  but it was also so awesome,  I learned that I really need to take my mission seriously.  That every waking moment, every thought, every action I do needs to be in tuned with the spirit.  He said "You won't ever have this chance again to ever be so close/like the Quorum of the 12, DO NOT MISS ANY opportunity you have to be APOSTALIC,  it won't ever be like this again.  Make your mission apart of your soul."   You should've seen my face,  I was in awe, He was quite scary... but also empowering.  Like YEAH I CAN DO THIS.  

I'm gonna quickly share one more experience I had.  So at the beginning of this week, I still felt like I had no idea what I was doing when I was teaching.  I kept feeling waves of discouragement, and I was listening to those feelings of "You suck,  you can't teach with the spirit etc..."  I was feeling so down because I try my best everyday, and I felt like Heavenly Father wasn't listening to my prayers.  So after we teach Alfred ( oh yeah we have 2 new investigators, Joko and Rianah)  Bro. Blazer comes back in,  and asks us how we feel,  and I told him the same thing I just told you.  So he's like, Okay let's read in the book of mormon,  We Read Alma 32: 41-43  (it's about faith and it becoming a tree, when you nourish the seed)  BOOM, there I am crying again in class haha... but I felt chills run through my body, and the spirit warm my heart, and I knew that feeling was God's love.  HE was not not answering my prayers,  I wasn't SEARCHING for them.  I learned that 1) I wasn't having enough FAITH.  2)  Heavenly Father will answer your prayers in sooooo many different ways!  For me,  Heavenly Father wants me to read the Book of Mormon more, when I feel discouraged or down or lost,  that's when the Holy Ghost testifies to me, that's when I feel close to the Lord.  If I want Alfred, or Joko, or Rianah to read the Book of Mormon more and pray about it,  I NEED TO READ THE BOOK OF MORMON MORE AND PRAY ABOUT IT.  

I challenge you guys,  whenever you feel down, or lost , or confused.  Like Heavenly Father has abandoned you.  I want you to ask yourself "Can't you have a little faith?"  also, read Alma 5:26 and ask yourself that question. If it's a no,  what are you missing in your life?  Do you need to pray more with all the energy of heart?  Or do you need to read your scriptures more and diligently search for the answers of your soul?  Heavenly Father will never abandon you.  Christ is always there for you on the other side of the door knocking.  YOU HAVE TO LET HIM IN.  

I LOVE being a missionary, as soon as I figured out what I was lacking in my life, I've been able to teach so much better, I have better confidence to go into each lesson without writing everything I want to say down in my tiny little planner.  This week I heard,  "Preach YOUR gospel (yes it's the Lord's) but bare testimony of what YOU KNOW is true"  I love learning everyday, I love my Savior and I know that's He's always there for me even when I feel lost or confused, and I KNOW He's always there for you too,  Trust in him.  Love Him.  And let Him in.  

HAVE A GREAT WEEK HAPPY THANKSGIVING EAT LOTS OF GOOD FOOD FOR ME (I'm trying to cut down, cuz heaven KNOWS I've gained at least 10 pounds lol)  Sampai nanti ya!