He sounds so happy and I just know that he is going to do so well!!
So here is the first of MANY emails. Can't wait to see the growth that takes place as he serves the Lord. I have to say that sending the third missionary out is amazing, but knowing it is the LAST...AWESOME!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Well it has been one crazy busy week! It has definitely flown by but it has been so great. hmm where to start. Well my companion's name is Elder Smith from Cache Valley, UT. He is a pretty goofy guy, we have had a good time so far. There are 3 other Elders in my district, Elders Wagstaff, Garnett and Janeson. So yes Mom, I do know Elder Wagstaff! We are the only 5 missionaries in the MTC right now going to Indonesia, but there is a district of sister missionaries that are going to the Singapore-Malaysia mission, so they sort of speak Indonesian, even though it is the Malay form of it. They only have about a week and a half left, so they are way better than us at speaking.
So A typical day for me is waking up at 630, then we go to our classroom for personal study at 7. At 745 we go eat breakfast and at 815 we start class. Our teacher in the morning is Brother Ross. We usually cover a little bit of Indonesian, or like yesterday A TON of Indonesian. Then we usually do some sort of teaching practice in English. However we have started learning the 1st lesson in Indonesian, so I think our days of getting to teach in Enlish are numbered. At 11 we have gym time, so that is always great. I usually only play basketball. The big thing for the group of elders and sisters in my gym time is to play volleyball but it is really lame. So I stick to the basketball. At 1230 we have lunch, then from 115-530 we are back in class for more of the same things as the morning. Unfortunately the person who usually teaches our afternoon class, Brother Merrill, is graduating so He can't teach us anymore. We are all super bummed about this. At 530 we eat dinner, then from 615-900 we have comp. study and personal/ district language study. Last night we went for about 1 hour speaking only Indonesian.
Ok... So the spiritual highlight of the week. ELDER SCOTT SPOKE TO US ON TUESDAY!!!! it was so awesome! Wow, it was so powerful. He talked a lot about how to recognize and allow the spirit into teaching and learning, and the importance of doing so! Another powerful thing he did was he asked all of the Missionaries who were learning a language to raise their hands. After that he gave us the gift of tongues in an apostolic blessing! I cannot even describe how amazingly powerful the spirit was at that moment! It was unbelievable. I think every single missionary that received that blessing felt completely blown away as well as comforted. He said of course we still need to work extremely hard, but things should be easier to remember.
So, there is the Spiritual highlight!
Umm lets see, the MTC food tastes good but does not make me feel so good. I am trying to eat healthy though, i just cant eat very much salad, it is so boring after awhile. Um I have seen a lot of people that I knew from school. I have seen one of my best friends from school, Elder Frandsen, who will be heading to russia in about 3 weeks. I have also seen Elder clark who is going to thailand. It has been fun to be able to talk to them!
Hmm... now for the things I need sent to me! first off, I need a bigger towel! The ones i have are tiny, a glorified hand towel and do not get the job done! If you remember the movie starsky and hutch, that is what it looks like when I have my towel around my waste! but besides that theres nothing i need, I got your dear elders, they were great and I sent you a letter last saturday, I guess things are running a bit slow! That is awesome about geraldo!! Hopefully it is a sign of great things to come!
well hopefully I have covered all you wanted to hear! I tried my best!
I guess i will just give you all my testimony in Indonesian for fun!
Saya tahu bahwa Yesus Kristus Hidup dan adalah juruselamat kit. Saya tahu bahwa injil ini adalah benar dan dapat menjadi kita bahagia. saya tahu bahwu kitab mormon adalah firman allah dan adalah benar. dalam nama yesus kristus, amin.
It was just a short one because I am almost out of time!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sampai Nanti!
Jakarta Time
