Learning Experiences, Teaching, and having the Faith of a Child

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Howdy!
Welp this week has been a very interesting one. I guess I can start off with the bad news. Let's just say there was a meeting today in Jakarta, but the Manado district wasn't there because we really messed up and missed our flight. I don't think I have ever felt as crappy as I did last night and today as I have in a really long time. I guess it was a good opportunity for the Lord to teach our district and myself some important lessons though, mostly me though. I have been taking maybe a little too much of a role as a follower the past couple of months but what I learned from this is I need to be a leader even though I am still the new elder in the district.
But besides that whole disaster it has really been an excellent week! I think Elder MArijanto and I are really going to see the work start to pick up in our area in the next couple of weeks. IT has been a very tough two months in this area because we werent really left with much which meant finding and finding and finding. This week we finally starting finding and recognizing the people who have been prepared for this Gospel. But even with all of that happening we still keep having problems with the other churches and things. I would say at least once a week we will teach a new contact, they will receive the message really well, and the next time we try to meet with them they reject us because they talked to members of their church or their pendeta about our church and they told them it is apostate. It gets really annoying and frustrating but oh well, there's not much we can do about it.
I think some of the best experiences we have had has been with inactive members. Here it is pretty much all our responsibility to meet with them, and there have been a lot of really good things that have come from it. Since we have started meeting them their activity has picked up quite a bit, and they definitely seem a whole lot happier now than when we first met with them. One in particular is Ferry who I think i have talked about before. He came to church for the first time in over 2 years a few weeks ago, missed last week because he hurt his back at work, but is planning to come this week. We are starting to invite him out to teaching appointments with us too and it has been amazing to see him change. He is really awesome.
Novita is still comin along, turns out her mother isnt really too supportive of it all, but novita knows it is true, she just doesnt want to upset her mom and things. It is going to take a lot of prayers and faith, thats for sure. All I am going to say about how to stay active is three easy things: Read the Book Of Mormon often, Pray often and Go to Church. It isnt possible to fall no matter what hardship comes if these three things are done.
I am sorry to hear about Carrie... eeish but that is really good that they were able to find that, and I know everything will work out fine. Give her a big hug and hello from her favorite Uncle Kevin! Along with all of the kids, I miss those kids a bunch, I bet they are getting so hilarious!
That is some craziness about Mikey... Not sure I can picture him as a married man. Hopefully it doesn't interfere with brother time in the future, because sometimes I miss him so much it hurts (hopefully he reads this, he will understand the joke, while everyone else judges me and thinks i am weird.) hehe.
I have still not gotten the rain jacket, there hasnt really been time to do so... it will be done soon. And the HP camera is just about at its' end. The first problem is that it won't except any memory card besides the HP ones that came with it, and then the other problem is that half the time there are errors with the pictures and I have to turn it off, and try again. So maybe it might be time for a new one... Not sure if it can happen now, but if it could that would be swell! I have seen some decent deals on solid cameras... around 1.250.000 Rp soo about 130 dollars maybe a little more for a really really good digital camera that will last a long long time. I should be fine on money if i could get help with like 40 or 50 dollars of it... jsut let me know it is really a priority right now.
I am excited for football season, well excited to hear about it from all of you! Capital is picked 2nd eh? Maybe this can be the year we finally get it done. And Boise State is ranked where now? Who is the team to beat this year?
Welp, I am sorry to hear that school is back in session now. I honestly think school sounds pretty nice in comparison to how hard missionary work is, but needless to say I like being here a whole lot more than being at school!
The church is true! I love you all! Have a great week!
Kevin

Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Selamat Idul Fitri!
The fasting month is over now. last night and today have been very interesting. Last night, people we driving around in mobs on their motorcycles and cars and bumping Islamic music and yelling and what not, mosques were going off all night until this morning and it is still kind of going right now. We actually just got done eating with some friends of a member here that are muslim as well. a ton of food, I do not feel so hot right now. haha and to think in about an hour we are invited to an inverstigators house for a birthday party with more food. this week might be a little bit of a weight gaining week, rather than losing. but it has definitely been an interesting experience, and this is in the most Christian area of Indonesia, who knows what it will be like next year when I am somewhere in Jawa!
T-minus 4 days til the big games yeah?? Hopefully both end up well. Oklahoma is number 1? another year of them being overrated at the start eh? definitely let me know about all of the big games!
It has been a good week, busy. Ferry is doing super well. He is excited about Church, helping the missionaries and what not. Hopefully he will go to institute every saturday night now too which will help him strengthen his friendship a bit with other younger ward members. he is such a goofy guy. We havent been able to meet with Novita again... she went out of town the day we usually visit. we should be able to meet again on sunday though. She knows it is true, she just dopesnt want to upset her mom.
I dont really have too much to report on this week... sorry! We got some pretty awesome training from elder perkins which we missed the meeting but we got a chance to hear what it was all about. he talked about was the language of faith, and also becoming like a little child. Missionary work requires a positive attitude and faith like a Child's faith. When we want something to happen, pray for it and have faith that it will happen because we know that God loves us and will help us. Maybe not right away, but it will happen. It was very timely and helped Elder Marijanto and I out a lot.
I know the Church is true, this is God's Kingdom being built right now, a prophet lives and speaks the word of God right now! what a great blessing it is to know this!
I love you all, I hope all is well with life, school and family. Hopefully they get things figured out with Carrie as well!
Love,
Kevin