Fruit that SMELLS like GARBAGE? Sounds Yummy!

July 26, 2011
Siang!
I can't believe it is already P-day again, this past week has flown by! Yes, It is true, you might need to hide the dogs from me when I get home, only kidding of course! But seriously, if they get too annoying... I know a good recipe! :]
Today I have attached some photos from the past month. I found out I probably shouldnt send memory cards back to you because they will likely get torn out of the envelopes or be lost, so this will have to do. First I guess I will give a little background on the photos, one of them is of the ocean and a nearby volcano from the beach that is about a 5 minute walk from behind the church! Manado is so beautiful! There is one of me holding some durian, which is a very interesting fruit here. It has a different smell to it, it is kind of like a mix between garbage and something sweet. I tried it for the first time a few nights ago, and it is so good! Very different but very good!
There is one of Elder Marijanto and I with a family that the father was reacvtivated about 3 months ago and the wife was just baptized a month ago- Novan, Novita, and their son Stiv (Steve). They are awesome and are now preparing for the temple, which is a huge sacrifice for members here it means travelling out of the country and saving up a lot of money. They have the desire though and are willing to work hard for it, so The Lord will help them with it!
Hmm So a typical day here in Manado is usally like this:
wake up 630, have an upset stomach until about 645 ( I wont go into details) haha.
Then I usually jump rope, and do some weights for 20-30 minutes. Shower, eat breakfast which lately has been grilled cheese sandwiches, so good. Breakfast food here like cereal is expensive, and eggs arent exactly too good on the stomach soo yeah I stick to the gilled cheese sandwich.
After all that is study time, until 11 then we head out for the day or eat lunch then head out. After that it kind of depends on if we were able to get appointments set up, people are hard t o make set appointments with, it is always- "oh call back tomorrow morning" and then in the morning, " Already busy today." the bottomline is the people here do not like to set appointments up in advance, or if we do set one, at least one falls through every day.
But when they dont work out we go find people to teach either by just walking around the markets and talking to people or going into neighborhoods and trying to teach lessons.
At 830-9 we pick up dinner and head home!
One of the biggest things I have learned this week has been that when we work hard, time flies by, the work is fun, and we are all happy. The other thing I have learned is that GMIM (the biggest church here) is the worst!
We had an awesome family to teach, the first lesson was great, they seemed really prepared and interested, but on monday we had an appointment and Joseph's friend was there who is not a pendeta but is in leadership at the local GMIM church. He basically started off by saying "I respect you all so much but I already know about your Church, the Book of Mormon and it is false and I don't believe any of it, and neither does this family. They are members of GMIM." It was a real bummer, and the family didn't even say anything the whole time. So we just shared a message about Faith and how a testimony is obtained and then left. It was a real bummer, but hopefully they will meet with us again without that guy there.
So that was the big story for the last week. I think it was Dad that asked what percentage of Manado is Christian, and that is a very good question, because we have heard that Manado is actually primarily Muslim as well but the areas outside of it are majority Christian. Not really sure what it is, but in the North where I am serving it is very Muslim.
Which reminds me, Selamat Puasa! The fasting month started today for Muslims. haha.
Well, The Church is true, Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is the word of God.
I love you all!
Kevin

Visit from Pres. and Sister Groberg

July 21, 2011

Hello Brother and Sister Johnson,

President and I made a visit to Manado last weekend.
We were able to be with the elders on Saturday, their branch on Sunday, and be with them when they taught a new investigator after church.
Elders Johnson and Marijanto are working hard and working well together.
Elder Johnson took part in the lesson and gave the first vision in Indonesian. We were so impressed. That's not easy-especially with the added pressure of having president there!
You can be proud. Elder Marijanto is young, faithful and a patient trainer. Elder Johnson has probably told you that both of Elder Marijanto's parents are deceased. He has 3 older siblings but only one-a married sister- is a member. I don't think he receives many letters.
I took a few pictures and will attach them.
Thanks for raising a great son.
Love, President and Sister Groberg
1-Elders with President, and Elias at Bukit Kasih
2-Manado Elders: Brown, Go, Johnson, Marijanto in front of metal doors of the church which is held in a Ruko (short for Rumah Toko= house store)

Bathing in a BUCKET? That's one BIG Bucket!!!

I have to preface this with a little history. Kevin has ALWAYS been a very picky eater. When he was young he did not like pizza or spaghetti. When we would get fast food we would most likely have to go somewhere completely different for Kevin. He also does not like to be dirty, sweaty, or stinky!While playing sports, it was not unusual for him to shower at least twice a day if not three! So hearing that he has eaten dog and is showering out of a bucket is quite surprising! My what a year away from home can do and especially a mission call from the Lord! I am so proud of the man he has become!
July 20, 2011

Hello!
Another interesting, busy but great week over here!
First off, yes I have eaten dog. And no it does not taste like Chicken, it tastes better! Just a little bit bony. Dont hate me forever for saying it, but it was really good. The food is all very spicy here, and up until last week I was yet to have a post- sambol filled meal stomach ache that was unbearable. But last week it ended as I ate just a little too much sambol, which is mashed up peppers and stuff, and I did not feel so great for the next day or so. For the most part I can handle it though, It is so hot but it tastes so good.
A little bit about my companion! Elder Marijanto is from Semarang which is on Java. He has been a member since he was young, but his family is a little interesting. About half of his family is Muslim, and the others are members. Pretty interesting. It is interesting because the way it works with the Indonesian missionaries is that they start their mission right after the graduate, so at age 18. He started his mission last october but his birthday is only 3 months before mine. Pretty interesting, He is awesome though, such a humble person. I have learned a ton from him already.
This past weekend President Groberg and his wife came up to Manado, which is pronounced kind of how it looks, in Indonesian the letter A is always pronounced like it is in the word All. AHHH. like that. haha. But it was good to have them up here because it helped the branch out a lot to have them come and ensure them that the church is strong. The branch here is really struggling, it is hard when the church is so small here but there are a ton of other churches that are Huge. The big ones are pentacostal, GMIM which is just an evangelical- protestant church, tiberias which is apostate to the extreme, it is very charismatic and Catholic. Also there are many advent churches too. With so many churches and things we meet a lot of different doctrinal understandings and things too. It is amazing what some people believe because their pendeta told them.
The language is still coming along, I am starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with it. The hardest thing is I struggle more with hearing than speaking and when an investigator is speaking about something really important that helps us know their needs, i miss it sometimes. But it really is getting better.
This week has been pretty challenging, people here are not very good about showing up for appointments and things! often they want to meet at the church, but then they dont show up, it gets very frustrating especially when it happens often. But even though it has been hard it is great when finally you find someone who is interested and willing. We got a referral from an investigator the other elders are teaching, it is the girl's relatives, and we met them on friday and on sunday one fo them came to church, usually they are very reluctant to come to church right away. So that was very exciting!
Novita is getting closer, we really just want to meet with her and her family and teach them all and just help a little bit. The thing is that her mom doesnt dislike this church, she just doesnt understand what is different about it that makes Novita want to join it. So yeah, we are just trying to help with all of that.
But It was great to hear from you!
I am doing well, I am now pretty much used to very different living conditions, no AC, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, showering with a bucket and being dirty all the time. now that I am used to all of that I am starting to love it here!!
Well I love you all! have another great week, Enjoy summer and all the fun that comes with it!
Kevin

Worst Mom Eh--VER!!!

I am feeling like the worst mom ever. We had been visiting Melissa and family in Houston, I had some sort of virus, and on top of everything we were traveling to San Antonia for a little side trip. WELP, as Kevin would say, I FORGOT to email him! There was also confusion because he said that his Pday was Wednesday but they moved it to Saturday because they were also traveling but that email day would be the same.
Bottom line...I blew it and missed emailing him for the week. I am committed to never letting that happen again! I guess you should "never say never" but I will do my best!
He sounds so good, and HAPPY! Does my heart a lot of good to hear him upbeat and positive. The area he is in sounds interesting too. I can't wait to learn more about it and the experiences he will be having.
I LOVE having a missionary out and appreciate the love I feel from my Heavenly Father that Kevin is in HIS good hands and will be taken care of.


Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Selamat Siang!
first off happy birthday America!!! Hopefully your fourth of july was most excellent, mine was great. It has been a good week here. we found out the last elders left us with no investigators so that means finding our own! In Manado it is a lot easier to find because we can get away with door to door without complaints. Unfortunately there is a downside- everybody that is Christian wants to talk with us and hear a message but they often dont want to exercise their faith and read, pray and come to our Church. part of the problem is the Church has a poor reputation here because the main church here tells everyone we're false. Soo that scares people often.
The other big problem is that the churches here threaten to kick families out of their church if members of their family continue learning from us. The missionaries before us had to stop teaching two investigators who were ready for baptism because of this. Right now, we have one that is similar to that but it is mostly with her family. Her name is Novita and she is definitely ready to be baptized but doesnt know how to tell her family because they dont want her to join a different church. it is a very tough situation, but hopefully our next meeting will go well with her on Friday.
the Branch here is pretty tiny, there was maybe about 20 to 30 people at Church on Sunday. Very very small. the nice thing about the branch is there are some very strong members under the age of 30, so the future looks good for the branch.
So how are things in Boise?? has it been a hot summer or not too bad yet? Whats the big news on Boise State football thus far?? I guess probably not much yet but usually the news is already full with stuff about that.
Lets see... there was a volcanic eruption on sunday near Manado, so there has been quite a bit of ash in the air and whatnot. It hasnt really been a problem for me though luckily. The air in Manado is so much cleaner than jakarta/bekasi but with the ash it was probably about the same.
this saturday, we are actually having our p day. Wednesday is the real p day but we are going to visit a member that lives way far in a pretty awesome area so we got permission from President to use that as our p-day but still to email on the normal day. It should be pretty cool, I dont know exactly what it is but I am excited. I will probably send home one of the memory cards next week sometime. It will take like 2 or 3 weeks to get there so be lookin for that.
I dont really know what else to write! I love you all and I hope you're having an excellent summer!
Kevin

The Asian Version of Dave? Who next?!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Howdy Howdy!
First off, sorry my email is a day late, we were travelling most of the day to manado! But we are here safe and sound and I already love it here. It is so much different from bekasi. Ocean, hills, volcanoes, Christians, a little cooler at night.It is pretty funny because there are so many Christians there is seemingly always Christian rock music playing everywhere... it just cracks me up. I have loved it thus far here, and we had zone conference two days ago and everybody said I am super lucky to get to come to manado, so far it has lived up to the hype. My companion is elder marijanto from... I cannot remember right now. It is on jawa though. I am not going to lie to you all, he really looks like the asian version of dave. No joke. At least i think so. He is awesome though. We are actually in a white washed area, he has been serving in manado selatan(south) but we are now in Manado utara(north). So it should be a bit of an adventure the first couple of weeks figuring stuff out here! From the sounds of it this will be my area possibly until Christmas, usually if you serve off of jawa you are there for a while!
So, I am already about 8 pounds lighter over here but it is possibly going to go in reverse because everyone says i will get fed a lot here by members. But luckily i found a new best friend in bekasi- the jump rope. however there isnt one here in manado so i might need to buy one. The other thing i need to buy is some new shoes for running and p-day things because i didnt have room/ weight to bring the pair i brought here. The weight thing is a killer for travel. So is there any chance i could have some money put into my personal account? I am not really sure how much is in there but the shoes will probably only cost like 10 bucks and i am not sure about the jump rope but another elder here said he would go halvsies on it with me.
I am staying healthy for the most part, usually every morning i wake up with a bad stomach ache... just kind of the nature of indonesia, spicy food, and germs i suppose. It was a little different last night/ this morning using a bucket to shower. I definitely enjoyed it though, nothing has woken me up better than a cold bucket of water on my head!
Well I dont really have much more to say except I had kind of a rare experience the other night in bekasi that was a faith builder for me. We had an appointment with a member go a little late, and there was a ton of traffic also which made us very late getting home. However after we got on our last angkut to go home a lady got on, and after about five minutes starting talking to me, and from what i could understand she was very interested in the church, and we were able to get her number and give her a card and what not. I will probably never know what became of it, but it just showed me that the Lord really does prepare people to meet and speak with us! so hopefully something can happen with her.

Oh yeah, the language is starting to get better for me, i would say in another two weeks i should be alright with it all, except they speak a little different language here, bahasa manado, but they also speak bahasa indonesia so i should be fine and i will pick up the manadonese while i am here and hear it.

Welp I hope all is well, it sounds like things are going well for you! Enjoy texas, and i think houston might be a little hotter than here, it is usually around 90-95 degrees and very humid. I love the humidity though and as long as i dont think about it, the heat is good too. Tell hello to trevor and spencer and jack, luke, maddie mia carrie and callie for me!
Love you all!
Kevin

oh yeah one more thing, a member in bekasi that i got to know while i was there wants a BSU shirt. I was wondering if maybe you could send one to me if you send something for christmas, it doesnt need to be anything special he just really wanted something from idaho!