Catch-up!

I am amazed at how fast the time is passing and how out of the blogging world I have become. I am often tempted to remove myself from Facebook,thinking that I would: 1. save a lot of time and 2. maybe go back to blogging. I think the benefits of #1 would be huge. Kevin now has just under 8 months left! He is currently in Jakarta and is serving as a Zone Leader. This gives him the opportunity to travel the area a little bit and to serve the Elders in the area a little more personally. I can tell he is learning a lot about leadership and other skills necessary to be an effective leader but he is also learning patience. The Indonesian people are wonderful but as in many areas of the world, very non-committal. So appointments are set, travel endured, and then they aren't there! I know this has been a frustration on many levels for Kevin. I am pleased to hear his attitude is staying positive and he is learning to be flexible. Ahh, the lessons we learn as we serve. I am so proud of him. I miss him everyday!!! But I would have him nowhere else! Ok, maybe Kuna (inside joke)!!!! I will do my best to post his emails from the past few months and then add some pictures that he has sent.

July 11, 2012 Hey! How is it going? I am assuming you all are busy this week, dad is probably in the middle of recovery from surgery, hopefully it has gone well, and I forgot when mellie was having her surgery, but hopefully it goes or went well. This has been a very quick week. In some ways it feels like I didn't get a whole lot done, we were busy with a lot of things for zone conference, which is thankfully over! haha. It was really great though. Unfortunately we have had a pretty tough week as far as teaching goes. Pretty much none of our investigators were able to meet this week, either they were out of town or just way too busy. That is kind of the killer in Jakarta, people are often really busy. But we trued, and that is what matters most. We did have a really cool lesson with 3 guys from Papua. I really like teaching people from Papua because they are usually a lot more open minded and don't try to debate. They were pretty excited, and luckily there is another member from Papua that taught them with us and he helped them feel a lot more comfortable. Unfortunately they have been really busy and like true Indonesians never want to make appointments until the day of, so we have not been able to meet with them again. But I know one of them has read the Book of Mormon a little bit which is good. Well I don't really have all that much this week! Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. Earlier today we went ice skating for P-day which was really fun. ANd yesterday all 5 from my MTC group were in Jakarta to renew our KITAS which is like our ID to stay here, so that was really fun to see all of them! It was the first time we'd been together since a year ago! They are all doing really well. Um I was just wondering if I could ask a favor, my companion really wants a small english hymnbook, like what Aunt Diane gave me, is there any chance we could get one for him? He would be super stoked! Even if it were sent later, closer to Christmas I could still easily get it to him... Let me know... Well that's all I have for this week, Hopefully you all are doing great! I love you! The church is true! Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live! sampai nanti, Kevin We actually missed sending him our email this week. I had attached a few pictures and it didn't go through. We felt HORRIBLE!!!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 Hey everybody! This past week has been pretty good, unfortunately we have not seen very much progress with investigators... Denis has been out of town for the past few weeks so we have not been able to meet with him... Hopefully he will be back soon. And the Papuan guys are pretty much missing too... They never can meet, or they just don't answer their phone.Oh yeah, mom asked where papua is, it is not on jawa, it is way to the East. The reason I always say they are Papuan is because most Papuans are very black, they look African, and also they are usually Christian, so we are always really excited when we see Papuans on the street. I remember the first time I saw a papuan in Manado I thought he was from Africa and could speak English! haha. There is no branch there yet, but half of that Island is not part of Indonesia and the Church is thriving, Papua is just politically unstable right now, there are a few members there. It is good to hear that Dad's surgery has gone well! It sounds like ya'll are going to have a lot of cookie eating to do!!! haha! Enjoy each one, there isn't much for good home baked cookies here, except for the when the senior couples bring them to District meeting... It is the best. I will say that Indonesian food is really really good, except for the desserts... The desserts/ cookies here are not good. I think that is probably why I have been able to lose weight... Yes the ice skating was really fun, but to be honest it just made me really want to go skiing... I think that's the closest I will get to skiing while I am here. Oh I forgot one minor detail from last week, the one and only Carl's Jr. in Indonesia just happened to be really close to the ice rink so I was able to get a good old western bacon cheeseburger... It was so good. So, to answer some questions about zone conference, It was for all of Jawa Barat (west java) so there were Elders from bekasi, bandung, tangerang, jakarta and bogor, and also the elders from Medan and Manado, as well as three of the mission couples, President and Sister Groberg nd also the AP's. In total about 25 missionaries... Elder Marsudi and I had to teach about planning, the whole conference was about ch. 8 in PMG which is about using time effectively through planning and goal setting. It went really well and I learned a lot from all of it. I really hope I can get planning and goal setting down because it is something way more important than I understood before zone conference! That is crazy that BSU is playing Michigan! Is it at michigan too? That is so cool. Hopefully we can get it done.. It seems like we rarely play big ten schools, or am I wrong? I cannot even imagine what it feels like to be in a dry place. I think I like humid more! Hopefully the fires and stuff won't get too out of control! Oh ya and for the hymn book, if you could put his name on it that would be really cool, put this on it: Elder Kristianto Utomo Marsudi. I think he will be pretty pumped about it! Last saturday we had a fireside at the church to try to involve the members more... We watched How Rare a Possession which is an awesome movie! And then we had a testimony meeting and stuff. The goal in planning, and also in the announcing of the fireside was that they would bring their family and friends, but not many did, a lot of members invited friends but they said they couldn't come... Which was a shame because the meeting went really well, the members shared some really strong testimonies of the Book of Mormon which got me all fired up about it too! I love that Book! I know I say it a lot, but it is amazing! I was thinking the other day about the introduction where Joseph Smith boldly testifies that man will come closer to God by abiding to its principles than by any other book in the world. I have seen that happen in my life. My life changed when I started reading it each day at BYU. I really hope you all are still reading it often(every day)! I guess the other thing I have learned lately is what it means to be patient. The past few weeks I have been a little bit grumpy because things haven't gone perfectly, but one thing I have learned is that patience is striving to do God's will in all things, like obey His commandments, but accepting His timing, and trusting His promises that He will bless us. I know He is preparing people in Jakarta, we just haven't quite found them yet! Oh yeah, this week we start our round of visits again, so today I am in Bogor until friday... woohoo! Hopefully it doesn't wear me out like it did last time! It is really fun though. Well I love you all! Keep enjoying summer and smiling! Dengan Kasih, Kevin

For those of you who are counting, Kevin is on his last Ramadan! A whole month of fasting, we should never murmur about our monthly fast day again. ;-) iPD Wednesday, July 25, 2012 oh yeah... if it's possible I could use maybe a little bit of money in my account, my jeans don't fit anymore and they are getting kind of ripped in a not so good place to get ripped... if it's no in the options though, no big deal. Ramadhan! The month of fasting started last saturday, and it is way different than how it was in Manado since Jakarta is a Islamic majority city. But it isn't too bad either, there's a little bit less options for food, but it is ok. Unfortunately we had to go to Tangerang a little bit earlier than we had planned, so I actually just got back from there this morning! But maybe ask Tim where he lives in Tangerang, so I can have an idea. Also, how big of a teaching opportunity do you think will come from it? I still need to ask Pres. Groberg about it as well... But yeah I should be going back there in about a month and a half. Well it is good to hear that dad is continuing to heal well! Hopefully it all continues to go well! That fireside sounds like it was way sweet, is Andrew Fales back in Boise again? The messages they shared are way good, I am still on the fence on what dream I want to pursue later, luckily I have lots of time before I need to decide or think too much about it! I miss our ward, there are some really awesome people in it. You will have to tell them all hello for me! It will be interesting to see how the temple looks again, sounds pretty cool! BEETS... yum. I am jealous. Well things are still kind of about the same as far as the work goes, but we are just trying to work through it all! It will get better. The good news is we got ahold of Hendry and Novi again and we have an appointment to teach them tomorrow morning, hopefully they can start progressing. The good thing is that we saw one of the semi active/ part member families we have been working with come to church. Well the mom and her son who are members came, but we met the nonmember dad for the first time last week and he loves the Church, and how it has helped his sons, but is active in a different church. Oh well, at least he knows the Church isn't bad like most people here think it is! I am praying that his heart will be opened. There is this awesome family from Zimbabwe in the English ward that spoke last sunday and the wife shared a really cool idea that I liked, she siad that we need to put off our self-centeredness and put on our Christ-centeredness. I thought it was really good, and something that we can always do better! I am trying to do it but it can be so tough at times! Well... That is pretty much all from this past week, sorry if there's not a whole lot of interesting stuff... I love you all! OH!!!!! I almost forgot, wasn't Maddie's birthday this week?? Happy Birthday Maddie!!!(hopefully I am not too early... ) Have a great week! Kevin

Wednesday, August 01, 2012 Hey! Well hopefully you have gotten the bird out already, but if not here is my suggestion because I have had that happen once before while you were out of town! Turn off all of the lights in the inside of the house, and turn on on the lights outside and it should fly right on out! Last time that worked really well! Good to hear that dad is continuing to heal well!! Hopefully everything continues to go smoothly. I definitely am glad that I am not in young mens anymore, high adventure/ camping is just not my thing! haha though camping might not be worse than living here at times... I might actually like it a lot more now! Ramadhan continues to go well. It is kind of funny how commercial it is. It is a lot like Christmas in the states. Every store has Ramadhan decorations, there are decorations everywhere! sometimes they even have Christmas lights...well i guess now they're called Ramadhan lights... Yesterday I scored one of the perks of Ramadhan because at 6 they break their fast, and we were on a bus and next thing I knew there was a free cup of water and some palm fruit in my lap. It was pretty nice! haha The work is progressing, bit by bit! but we were not able to meet with Hendry and Novi... it was a real bummer but that's how it goes sometimes. This past week has been a little bit tough on me, not gonna lie I was a little down in the dumps at the end of last week, but the past couple of days have been a lot better. We have just been looking for addresses of less actives and former investigators all day and it's been fairly successful so far! We have a really awesome new investigator named Daniel that is a friend of a member, and used to be an investigator in Tangerang. He receives the lessons really well and is really excited about the Gospel. It is nice to teach people who receive the Gospel well! When they really want/ need what it teaches they are willing to do what we tell them will bring them closer to God, and then they feel it and it is awesome. Today the quote from Jeffery R. Holland about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon has come to my mind, how No evil man could write such a book, and no good man would, unless it were true. I think back to the things Joseph Smith and the early saints went through and I know they would not have endured it unless this was true and that Heavenly Father helped them. I am so grateful that they did endure it, and I am grateful for the trials and tests our Father in Heaven has and will give to us to strengthen our faith and testimonies. He is definitely trying to teach me to be patient right now! I know He will lead us to people to teach! Good to hear that Savanah is still doing well, tell her hello, when is she heading to school? And that's also good that Brayden is doing well! I feel bad I didn't get any of their info to try to write them... but I figure it's already awfully late now. I have stayed a little bit in contact with a couple of friends, one is in the Ukraine, Bryan, and the other, my old roommate, Jared, is in Brazil. They are doing great! Well Time is pretty much up, I love you all! Hopefully you are doing great! Love ya! Kevin

Wednesday, August 08, 2012 Howdy Ya'll, Good to hear you're doing well, and that you were able to get the bird out! Hopefully Dad isn't getting too lonely being alone at the house! Everything is going pretty well here, it has been stinking hot and dry here though! Well it really isn't much different than usual except it has been a really long time since it has rained. But then again it is the dry season right now so it's normal. Maybe all of the pollution just makes it feel a little warmer. This week we have been busy trying to go find inactive members and help update the ward list. It is crazy how out of date it is, sometimes the people we have been looking for had moved away ten years ago... Are there problems like that in Boise too? The good thing though is it gives us ways to try to find people as we're looking for the members. That has been our main focus lately... we are just trying to figure out ways to find people! So far we've been able to get some contacts and stuff, the tough thing is the big holiday of the year is coming up at the end of Ramadhan, and a lot of people are busy with preparing for it and also heading out of town. It is really truly the equivalent of Christmas break in the US. So that could slow things down a little bit. This week has definitely yielded some interesting and great experiences, and of course one of them is about the Book of Mormon :] The first was a few days ago as we were waiting for a bus to head home and this guy starts talking to me in English, he has met the missionaries before, and he started asking me questions about the Bible. He asked if I believed that it had been translated correctly or if there were mistakes in it. He then started asking questions about Christ. Then he pulled out his Al Qu'ran (he wasn't dressed like he was fanatic, but turns out he was) and started showing me how it was still in Arabic and that it has never been translated, so it is still perfect. I asked him if he still had a Book of Mormon from when he met the missionaries before, but before I could talk more about it our bus was there so we had to go. After that I was just thinking how nice it is to have the Book of Mormon to back up everything. If there was no Book of Mormon his argument would be fairly valid, but because there is the Book of Mormon it isn't an argument at all. I am so grateful for it. Our Father in Heaven definitely knows what He's doing. The other experience came on fast sunday, after a pretty good and tough month it was really great to see Heavenly Father answer our prayers and send someone to sacrament that was interested in the Church. We are pretty stoked about this new guy named Rian, that just moved to Jakarta from Central Java and is looking for a church to go to. We were able to teach him and give him a Book of Mormon and invite him to pray and ask Heavenly Father what he needs to do, and he said he would. So it was a decent start. It just reminded me that the Lord is preparing people to give them the opportunity to learn about the Restored Gospel, then it is up to them to make the choice. Last week we had zone leader council again which was really good, there are new missionaries here today from the states, so starting tomorrow we will be a threesome with on of them until saturday, it should be pretty fun! And then at the end of the month we are getting 10 or 11 new indonesian missionaries! But I don't think I will be training this time around which is unfortunate... training was fun. Well, that's pretty much it for this week, oh yeah, I was just wondering what the progress is on the hymn book for Elder Marsudi? Thanks! That's pretty much the update!!! I love you all! The Church is true! Kevin oh yeah... these are some pics from the past month, enjoy!!!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 Hola Mi familia! I still remember a little spanish... but most of what little I still remembered has been replaced by Indonesian. Random... sorry. Well the chicken head was definitely not anything special. Elder Marsudi loves it and I promised to eat it with him once. it doesn't taste disgusting, there just is not much meat to eat off of it. I did not eat the eyeballs, but the brain was definitely good! I have a nice video to show you all later of me eating, or in other words sucking it out of the skull. it was cool though. At least I can say I did it! Well hopefully you are staying somewhat safe from all of the fires! Funny that you mentioned smoky air, I am guessing it still isn't close to as bad as the air in Jakarta! The air here is so dirty, but I am used to it now. Right now I am in bogor for exchanges again! We have not left jakarta for the past couple of weeks because we have had lots of stuff going on, oh and mom asked if I met the new missionaries, yes I did, There are two new elders, Elder Broberg and Elder Coleman. It was kind of fun to have the stay with us for a couple of nights, truly the first couple of days are so interesting here, so it was fun to see their culture shock. They are awesome though, they are already pretty good with the language, it is just hard at first to understand the natives speak. unfortunately Rian did not come to church again, we weren't able to meet with him either, but it is ok, we're just praying that Heavenly Father will answer his prayers if he'll read and ask. That's one of the tough things about mission work is there is only so much we can do as missionaries before each person has to act for themselves, and keep their commitments. But I know there's people here who want and need the Gospel that will be willing to act. This week is a little bit crazy because on friday is Indonesia's independence day, then on sunday is Idul Fitri, or the end of the Fasting month, which the holiday for it pretty much goes from saturday through monday. and since most of the people in Jakarta are from other cities outside of Jakarta, most will go home, so Jakarta will be very empty, so they say... So the end of this week will be a little tough as far as the work goes.. But it will be fine. Sorry I do not have much to talk about! Things are just a little slow, but I am optimistic! We are just contacting as much as we can now and it's going pretty well. I am just super grateful for the simplicity of the Gospel. A lot of the Christian people here are so confused, and filled with doctrine that is just ridiculous, it kind of makes me a little sad when they can't look past what they have been taught for so long and consider something new.. but I know one day they will. welp, that is all this week, I love you all! The Church is true!!! Have a great week! Kevin

July 4,2012 Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan! It is crazy that it is already the 4th of July again... This has been a really quick week. The exchange in Bandung was pretty good, it is really nice there because the weather is a lot cooler at night than it is here. I woke up in the morning a little bit too cold! It felt good. That is crazy about all of the surgeries going on! What is up with all of the problems lately!!!??? All will work out, that's for sure! So what is the whole scoop on the work thing, after Dad is done at HP where next or is he just going to retire really early and spend the rest of his time mountain biking!? :] Luckily this week we are not going out of town, but we are busy and a little bit stressing trying to prepare for zone conference next monday! I am excited for it, but it is a little different this time around because Elder Marsudi and I have to teach. So far the prep has gone well though. Unfortunately Hendry and Novi could not come to church again! A family member passed away so we have not been able to meet with them at all... It is a total bummer. But two sundays ago a member brought his nephew, Dennis to church and he is really interested and I am pretty excited about him. He is young, only 16, but his uncle is a super strong new member that is way pumped about missionary work. So Dennis has a pretty good support system. So what are your plans for the 4th of July? Hopefully it is a good day! I am excited for Indonesia's independence next month, I am guessing it should be pretty cool in the capital city! Last sunday we had a really good lesson with a former investigator that we are trying to teach again. WE read together with him Mor. 10 and talked about it. We wanted to commit him to read and pray about the BoM. I hadn't read mor. 10 all the way through with an investigator, usually we just use verse3-5, but this time we read all of it and broke it down and the Spirit was definitely there testifying! It was really good. Moroni 10 is amazing! You all should read it and just ponder the fact that they are Moroni's last word for us, the messages are amazing! Well, my time is up! I love you all, the Church is true! Kevin

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Hey ya'll! Wowzers! That was a lot of big news to get all in one week! Hopefully everything will al work out for the best, it definitely will because it will go according to the Lord's will! I will pray for you all. Unfortunately Hendry and novi didn't come... but this week they said they will come. Something came up and they had to leave town! We had a geat lesson with them on the Plan of Salvation, I think they are starting to feel that the things we teach are true. I have to apologize today I don't have a lot of time, we took a little pday trip to a big zoo kind of like the one I went to in surabaya... It was really fun, I go to feed zebras and elephants and what not! Next week I will hopefully send some pictures! We have been blessed with lots of new contacts this past week and I am really reall excited to be ableto try and meet with them in the next few days. We actually have to leave town tomorrow morning and go to Bandung for another exchange there. I am excited because I will get to see my last companion Elder Yarkasi again! Hopefully it will go well, I have to admit all the traveling is way tiring, I hope I can avoid a job with lots of business trips in the future! But I also enjoy it. Ok sorry, I have to go! I love you all and I pray that all of you will continue to well! I know all will work out for the best! The Church is true! Kevin

Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Hey! I cannot believe you all mentioned bacon.... It has been a long long time since I have had a real piece of bacon. I guess that's what I get for being in an Islamic country... haha Well it has been a pretty great week, a little bit stressful, really dirty (because it's Jakarta), but definitely rewarding! The best news is that on Sunday Hendry and his wife Novi and two of their kids came to church! It was kind of out of nowhere that they came, because we were not able to meet with them all week. They came late, but never late than never and this week we have had two awesome lessons and they want to come again on sunday! So it has been great to teach them, it is really fun too because they are from Manado, and it reminds me of my old stomping grounds! Thanks for the quotes and scriptures! They are great, and definitely reminded me of lots of things. It sounds like Maddie still hasn't quite grown out of being shy yet! that is so funny. I bet they are all so funny! Oh ya! Happy late Father's Day!! It sounds like it went really great. On sunday the sister missionaries' investigator was baptized, I got to baptize her which was a really cool experience. It still just amazes me that the Lord trusts us with the power and authority to perform such important ordinances as Baptism. I think it is such a huge sign of his love for us, as well as his trust in us that we can live worthy of such authority! Because it is such a holy and sacred power that is why it was removed from the Earth for such a long time, because mankind wasn't ready to hold it again. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith, and the Restoration and the truths that we have because of it. God really does love us and He really does want us to return to Him. I guess what I am trying to say is that the Priesthood is amazing! It is good to hear that Mikey is still doing the band thing! I look forward to being able to hear him play again, it will be super neat! That is crazy that Logan has been touring and what not, is Mikey thinking about touring at all?? So right now we are in Bekasi, another "suburb" of Jakarta which was actually the first city I served in when I came to Indonesia, almost exactly one year ago! It is amazing how much different it feels, but also how much it has not changed at all! It seems like just yesterday I was in complete culture shock and had no idea what people were saying or what was going on. Well Mom, I hope you are doing well with your new calling! I bet you are doing such a great job. I have realized here how important reactivation is! It is such an important responsibility that we have as members to reach out and help those that are struggling, and they really do recognize each and every effort we make! It always makes such a huge difference, even if it doesn't seem like it at first! Ok, my time is up! I love you all a bunch! Keep being awesome, and keep enjoying the summer, but don't forget to read your scriptures and pray! Sampai Nanti, Kevin

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 Hey ya'll! I am super sorry, but I dont have a whole lot of time today!! We have to go out to tangerang tonight... I would love to try and meet with your friend tim some time! Maybe you could get me his number or something and I could see what I can do! We will go out there about every 6 weeks or so! This week has been crazy busy and fast!! We are still trying to find people prepared... The people here are a little tough, like that old mission pres. said, they love receiving us but struggle to keep commitments! I know there are people out there who want to though! I hope everything is going great, it sounds like it is! Enjoy the summer!!! For the most part things are going great, I really have no complaints! I love you all! Kevin once again sorry this is so short.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012 Hey everybody! Jakarta is still jakarta, crazy and busy... It has been a very quick week that is for sure. So about the house, it isn't THAT big, it is just throwing me off to have an "upstairs". I still just miss the tiny little house in surabaya, it was great and easy to keep clean. This week has definitely been different than most, in fact right now I am actually not in Jakarta but in Bogor, a little outside of jakarta. We are on exchanges. I am not District Leader anymore, but instead Elder Marsudi and I are serving as zone leaders for Jawa Barat, which includes jakarta, bekasi, tangerang, bogor and bandung. Pretty much every week we go out on exchanges now with one of the districts... Yesterday we had a meeting with President Groberg, the AP's(one of which is my old comp Elder Kujanpaa) and the other ZL's(one of which is my trainer ELder Marijanto). So it was super fun to see them again, especially Elder Marijanto! He is the best.. we had a good time remembering the good ol' times in Manado. I am not the biggest fan of exchanges and meetings, it kind of takes up a lot of time, but it is what it is... That is super sweet about the Baptism in the ward!!! And also way cool that Hayden is home! tell him hello for me! I miss that kid!! haha Also, way cool about the rededication, but I am a little confused what the cultural celebration will be... what exactly does Idaho have for culture?? hehehe just kidding, Idaho is the best. Do we know yet who will do the rededication? It is good to hear all of the kids are doing great! I bet they are growing and getting so big and funny! hopefully I have not been forgotten yet... As far as our area goes, we are trying to just find some more investigators to teach. We have taught this guy from Manado the past couple weeks, but he has been super tough. he is a seventh day adventist, so we have to deal with the whole sabbath day issue... He is kind of having a hard time receiving Joseph Smith, so that is the really big issue right now. The good thing is he loves the BoM and has read til the end of 2nd Nephi. I think he will come around, he is a great guy, and it is fun to throw out some bahasa manado with him every once in awhile. Earlier this morning we taught him, shared Ezekiel 37 with him, I have never realized how powerful that is until now! That is such a sweet prophecy about the Book of Mormon, I could tell it taught/ testified to him as well. So that was cool. Oh yeah, yes I have been able to go to the mission home, we go there once a week for district meeting so I have been using the soap and what not that I brought here. Unfortunately there is a ton of stuff that I did not need to bring, but I am holding on to it all just in case. Well, I don't have much else to say. I am grateful to be serving,as humbling as it often is. There's often days where I feel like I know nothing, but I am grateful to be able to learn and grow each day. The Church and Gospel are true! That one is for sure! I know is we faithfully obey the words of the Prophets we will be blessed with peace and happiness, and what else more could we need. I love you all! Kevin

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 Selamat Pagi! Sorry I probably won't get to read your emails this week, seeings as you haven't sent them yet. We had to do our emailing earlier in the morning today because we are going out to this zoo called taman safari as a zone! I hope you all are doing amazing and have had an excellent week. I am doing great, this past week has been amazing, full of a lot of really great experiences. We were able to have the first group meeting in Sidoarjo! the Turnout was a little less than expected, 3 families came, but next week should be a lot better. The Spirit was very strong in the meeting, I never really imagined I'd be having sacrament meeting in a small A/C repair garage, let alone feel the Spirit as strong as I did there. As the meeting went on I just kept thinking about how the Church started, just a small amount of people in a small house, and now it's grown to more the 14 million people. It is cool to think that this small group will become another branch later, and then hopefully a ward, and after that maybe even it's own stake. It will take some sacrifice from the members out there, but the Lord will bless and strengthen them. I would send pictures of the group, but these computers can't download pictures, minggu depan saja! :] Elder Yarkasi and I also had the chance to go teach this lady and her husband who has been way sick for almost 12 years. I didn't really understand how wick he was from her descriptions until we got to the house and as we walked in the door I saw a skinny skinny man laying on a mattress on the floor. We weren't really expecting what we saw, but what we knew from the man's wife is that he has been losing faith in this trial which would definitely try all of our faith. We decided to teach about the Plan of Salvation, especially about the Purpose of life as described in Alma 34:32. This life really is just a moment in the grand scheme of things, and we can always know and have hope that we will rest from all our suffering and pains after this life if we just keep living righteously. I think what we taught helped him out a lot, it was just another one of those times where I am grateful for Restored truth. Um, I guess I haven't really told you all a lot about my companion, Elder Yarkasi. He is the MAN! He is really really funny and we have a great time working together. We have been able to get a lot of work done, but also we just have fun with it all. He was a little bit shy at first but you know I broke him right out of that! I don't know what else to say about him.. he has been really great to work with. We will probably be companions until june or so because we survived transfers last week. :] Ever since I moved for the first time from Manado I have realized how moving is not fun at all so I am really just hoping somehow I can stay in Surabaya until I go home. haha Yuni and Dian are still doing well, they are pretty much members now, just they haven't been baptized yet... there still hasn't been much of a change with their father. Last night as we were just heading out after teaching them he came home, he isn';t much of a talker but he is very nice. He works really hard for his family and I think he is a great guy and will make a great member of the church later! Well I hope you all are doing great! The Church is true! I love you all a bunch! Kevin Wednesday, May 02, 2012 Hey everybody! Sorry I threw you all off with the early email last week, this week it's all back to normal. The zoo was pretty intense, I got bit by a lion. Pretty sweet huh!? It was just a little cub though so it isn't that sweet... It was a really cool zoo though, I had a lot of fun. Dang, the draft sounds like it was pretty sweet, lots of draftpicks from BSU! I have basically forgotten what football is... It is all soccer here. The meeting in sidoarjo was a lot better this week. A lot more people came and it was great. right now it is not a branch but just a group, and the Branch President in Surabaya Barat is the Priesthood leader. The two senior couples here have been doing most of the work for it, mine nad elder Yarkasi's part has mainly just been teaching some of the members out here about once a week. I was super pumped because one of the families we have been working with who has been inactive for almost 25 years came to the meeting on sunday! It was awesome! Hopefully things continue to grow out there, one family has a couple of friends who want to learn about the Church as well so we could have some more people to teach too. Yuni and Dian are doing great as usual. they are on date for the 3rd of June, so we are pumped about that! Hopefully I will still be here to see their baptism. Still no change in the dad, so that is stilll the big factor in it all. We got also got an awesome referal from a member that is his niece that is really excited about the church. Hopefully we can start finding some potential priesthood holders too becuase that is a huge need here. oh well we teach whoever will receive us! haha Um as far as emailing me, we're not supposed to email anybody outside of the family, sooo i guess if people want ot talk to me they can send letters, it usually only takes 2 weeks and I have them. I got a letter yesterday from Mel and the boys which was super cool! And if anybody writes me I will definitely write them back!! and those questions from those moms about backpacks and what not, a back pack is really nice to have in the mtc, but in indonesia they'll probably only use a backpack if they are in a biking area. I bought a smaller bag once a got here for when I was in Manado because backpacks are a hassle in angkot areas. So yeah it's kind of up to them. Unless they serve as AP they will not have a dryer, just a washing machine/ spinner that is good enough. deodorant is ok here, no matter what they will sweat and they will smell kind of bad by the end of the day, that's just the way it is... The shoes I have are awesome. I ended up leaving one pair in the office and have just been wearing my slip on ones and they are holding up so well. Just tell them to pack very light, I brought way too much stuff and had to leave a lot of it in Jakarta. We might be able to skype on mother's day, but most likely I will just call because I don't trust the Internet connections and the Senior couple in our branch will most likely be going up to Malang that week... I still don't knwo when I will call, next week I will let you know. Well my time is just about up! I hope you all are doing great! The Church is true! Read your scriptures and say your prayers! :] I love you all! Sampai nanti, Kevin Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Howdy Ya'll! Well I guess the big news of the week is that I got transferred! I am now serving in Jakarta and it is INSANE. Traffic is crazy, buildings are huge and there are people everywhere! I just got in yesterday at around 3 so I am still trying to get used to it here. My new companion is Elder Marsudi from Solo. We were in the same zone for awhile in East Java so I already knew him a little bit. I was a little bit shocked and bummed to leave Surabaya but that's just the way it goes and I think I will like it here. It is good to hear everything is going good for everyone over there! I still cannot believe it is already getting towards the end of May! It is a little bit depressing to be honest, and they say time in Jakarta goes even faster because all the time gets sucked up in traffic. Hopefully it doesn't go that way for me. I remember when I first got to Indonesia there was a missionary serving here that had 11 months left named elder quinn.. he just went home today. It has all gone scary fast. It sounds like everyone is ready for Summer over there! Just keep sprinting to the finish!!! I was thrilled to hear the Lakers lost, yesss. as long as the Lakers dont win things are great. My last few days in Surabaya were good. Elder Yarkasi and I both moved from the area, so we had to get things ready for the guys that were coming in. WE just made sure that they knew about Yuni and Dian so they can keep being taught and hopefully be baptized soon.. I can't wait to hear when it happens! I had an awesome experience the other day during some time that we were proselyting in Surabaya. We rode past this guy that was fixing his motorcycle, and decided to stop and help. Luckily Elder Yarkasi knows how to do all that stuff because we all know I am clueless! We were able to talk to the guy a lot, he was coming from Sidoarjo and going to a place called Benowo which is outside of Surabaya. He had left about 4 hours before that and had already stopped to fix his motorcycle 4 or 5 times, i forgot. He has 8 kids and was having a hard time feeding all of them, a lot because his motorcycle breaks down all the time so he gets to work late and gets home at 4 or 5 in the morning! He said it has really made him lose faith because life had been really tough for him. Elder Yarkasi was able to help him get his bike fixed, we both shared a little bit about the Gospel, then we prayed with him before he left. It was a cool experience that taught me how simple acts of service help us become the Lord's hands and also help us share the Gospel! I know the Church is true and that this is the Lord's work that I am doing here. I know that each of us are blessed to know of the Gospel and blessed even more when we share it! I love you all! Have a great week, Kevin P.S. is there any chance I could get some money put in my account... I bought some stuff in Surabaya, and my mission money is running low from paying for taxis and now buses here in Jakarta... Sorry to ask, but it'd be great if I could get it ASAP... Sorry again... Love ya! Wednesday, May 30, 2012 Hey ya'll, It sounds like everyone is doing great! It was good to hear from you all. Jakarta is great. I am still really confused because it is huge, but so far I have really liked it. The ward here is HUGE. there are actually 3 wards in Jakarta, 1 of which is an English speaking ward. There are 8 missionaries in Jakarta, 2 of which are the APs which cover the Jakarta 1 ward, then there are 2 sisters and 4 elders in the Jakarta 2nd and 3rd wards. The Jakarta 2nd ward is the really big one. There were like 150 members that attended last sunday. It was cool. On Friday there was a baptism for this super super awesome guy named defit. Then on sunday the other Elders in the ward had a baptism for this guy named Toni. So it has been good to see some people make covenants and the work will hopefully keep moving along well here! I don't like the house here as well as I did the Surabaya house, but this one is still nice. It is just a little bit too big. It is still good though. I have no complaints. Last night we had a really good meeting with an inactive member. He was baptized in America and when he moved back to Indonesia he didn't know there was a church here so he didn't go. He found the church again, but went inactive after awhile because he felt unworthy... We taught him about repentance and overcoming addictions and it was a very powerful meeting that will hopefully start helping him make the changes he needs to. He is an awesome guy. I learned a lot about the blessings of repentance as we taught him. Repentance is amazing, we can overcome all our weaknesses, and our mistakes can be erased as we have faith, and desire to become like Christ, pray, and try our best! I am so grateful for this Gospel! sorry.. my time is up! Have a great week! Love ya! Kevin oh yeah these are pictures from earlier today, we went to the national monument.

April 13th!!! Forget Tax Day- we hit the ONE YEAR MARK!!! I thought I would take a few minutes and express my feelings as Kevin has hit the year mark of his mission. First of all, it went by so FAST! I can hardly believe that a year has passed me by. I wonder at times if I have used my time wisely...probably not. But as I think back on the past year and all that has happened one thing stands clear... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY MOM...and I am still grateful that this is my last one! It is true, so many wonderful blessings come to families as missionaries are serving, that I cannot deny. I would not want Kevin anywhere else, doing anything different, but this mother heart is very glad that Kevin is my last one to send away and that it is down to the last year! I have a strong testimony that the decision to serve a mission will bless a young man, or woman, EVERYDAY for the rest of their lives. It will make a man out of a boy. My son Jeffrey said it best. It was during his release interview with the Stake President. Pres. Cutler asked him what was different about the boy who left 2 years before, and the man that had returned. Jeffrey's reply went something like this: "I left a teenager, doing teenage things. I soon became a missionary and did missionary things, but then...I became a disciple of Christ, and knew I was changed forever." I believe a mission does that to a young man. I have seen it in my husband, and 2 sons, and a son-in-law and am watching it as Kevin serves. ( I didn't know my other SIL before his mission, but he is a wonderful man, so I am sure it did the same for him.) I will be indebted to the Lord forever, and am so thankful to a loving Father in Heaven for watching over Kevin and strengthening him. I am so humbled to be Kevin's mother, I love him so very much. I know that he is doing his best, that he is obedient and he will RETURN WITH HONOR!!!

President and Sister Groberg on Elder Johnson's first day in Indonesia.

Random pictures that he has sent home.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 Oh yeah! If at all possible could you send me some cds of good music with the package you want to send? Ask mikey if he could make a cd of the most relaxed sigur Ros songs, I am bored of what we have here! He should know which ones are ok! How's it goin Ya'll? 63 degrees? Sounds really really cold. No thanks. It is a very sunny and hot day here in Surabaya, it has been amazingly great, it feels like summer here today after a lot of rain. I am glad you all liked the pictures, sorry there aren't more today, the computer I am using today can't do it. Things are going pretty well here, I have been a little sick this week ( stomach and cold) but I am trying not to let it slow things down. I think the main cause is the very very loud snoring of one of the missionaries in the house. haha. It is the worst I have ever heard. But I found some ear plugs which has helped a lot. Yuni and her daughter Dian came to church again on Sunday, they really liked it. They are very surprised at how nice everyone is and how friendly the members are to each other. So that has been good. She is really starting to get a testimony, but I don't think she quite recognizes it. She is awesome about reading the Book of Mormon which has been the key. I am just praying that her husband and family will start learning too. To answer some of the questions for that mom who asked about what to take here and what not. As far as pictures go, they might not want to risk sending the pictures home, I am just saving my memory cards and I will bring them home with me when I go home. It might be a little expensive but It is safer. AS far as the medicine and stuff goes, the mission book and stuff make it sound like it is a lot harder than it is to find stuff here. Every city here has pharmacies and a good walmart style store that has all that stuff (shaving creme, tooth paste, etc.) But pack floss because it is reallytough to find here. The other thing about that is you are only allowed to bring 20 kilos of stuff in the airplanes here in Indonesia so a lot of stuff has to be left at the mission home. Still bring a little bit of that stuff for at first, but I think I brought way too much. Make sure to tell that mom/guy that he is going to the most amazing place ever! What is his name? So that english service we do at the school is set up with the teachers, every tuesday we teach an hour and a half block.IT is mostly just helping them speak, they are very shy. They are really funny. I make jokes a lot about the music and stuff here. Boy bands and Girl bands are HUGE here. It is terrible. There is one called CherryBelle that is like 10-15 girls that gets played anywhere you go so I make jokes about that. A lot of the time they don't understand but it's ok. They love American culture and music, which unfortunately they only know the lame stuff, Justin Beiber, Avenged Sevenfold other stuff that is lame. But oh well they just don't know better yet! Well I am almost out of time, but I know that this work is the Lord's work. I just see over and over again how He leads us to them. He is always at work. One thing that has been challenging here has just been accepting that all people have Agency. Even though the Lord leads us to to them they have the choice to accept or reject. At times it gets frustrating, but then again I always know that I have done my part, and that someday ;ater that person will get another chance and accept it. I have gotten a stronger testimony this week of the Holy Ghost. It is often whispering to us and as we have faith to pay attention to it and act on it we will be blessed and, in my case here, led to people who have invited us to come share a message with them. I love you all! Thanks for all your prayers and support. Kevin

Wednesday, April 04, 2012 Hey ya'll! Well it definitely feels pretty much the same to be 20. haha But it is a good feeling too. Unfortunately I spent my birthday with some sort of bug, or maybe food poisoning and I could't leave the house... It was pretty rough but I am really healthy now not to mention a few pounds lighter haha. One of the senior couples gave me some chicken noodle soup and brownies though which was super great and delicious. Me and Elder Yarkasi are still waiting to go to eat my birthday lunch because we want to go to the wendy's that they have here and get frosties but we haven't had a reason to be in that part of town yet... Hopefully soon though! It was great to hear from all of you! And huge props go out to Sydnie, the weight losing machine! You are amazing! Today we went out to pretty cool zoo and cave thing and as you'll see in the pictures we got to hold birds which got a little interesting once they started climbing on to my neck and head and tried to eat my glasses... haha it was really fun. The work has gone pretty decent this week but a little slowed down by my health issues and then bike problems again that will hopefully be over today! The bearing for the crank on the bike is basically destroyed and we have gone all over this city looking for a replacement part, most stores didn't have it in stock and finally we found it yesterday so today it just needs to be replaced. Yes... I am so excited to be able to ride a bike that actually works again! Yuni is still doing well, their motorcycle was being repairedo n sunday so she and dian couldn't come to church, but they are going to the branch activity on friday and also this weekend they will come watch some of conference on sunday! I am so excited to watch donference this weekend! It will be awesome. :] Still no progress on her husband though, he is just a busy guy and isn't interested still... I am praying that it will happen soon, or at least some time though! Well I don't have a lot of time left, but I just hope we all recognize how blessed we are to have this Gospel! I know I have really come to love the Gospel and its simplicity. It is such a blessing. Earlier today I was reading in D&C 11 and it was super awesome. Basically the Lord tells Hyrum in that section that His job(and ours) is to obey His commandments! It just kind of hit that That is the Gospel! Obedience. And if we do our part, the Lord will bless us with happiness that we can't get anywhere else! How incredibly simple and amazing is that! Obviously it is often hard to do it, but the blessings will be worth it in the end! I know that trying my best to obey has brought far more happiness than not trying. I am grateful for this Gospel and I am trying my best to live it, and I hope ya'll are too! Love ya! Have an awesome week, Kevin

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 3:43 AM To: Johnson, George (ACSO-Boise) Subject: Re: Mom & Dad Howdy, Woah spring football! Crazy that it is alreadythat time of the year. Sounds like the Broncos and Cougars are looking good. Glad to hear you all are doing awesome. Surabaya is heating up big time!! It has been soo hot lately, from the sounds of it the warm season has started. And no, I did not feel the earthquakes, they were more near Medan, which has 4 missionaries but is very very far from Surabaya, it's on a different island. Yuni and Dian are still doing great. The dad is never home when we are there because of work so we don't ever really get to talk to him. They are continuing to read, come to church, and yeah just the same old same old. IT has been great to have investigators that want to learn, and receive what we teach because a lot of people here always disagree or try to debate with us. They just want to know what they need to do to come closer to Christ. The reason I have been going on exchanges is because I am serving as District Leader here right now... It has been a pretty good experience. I especially just like going out with all of the missionaries in the district and teaching and working with them. it's fun to see how others do the work. I am pretty excited because this past week we were able to teach 13 lessons which has been the most I have taught since moving here. IT is just way nicer when we are busy teaching rather than contacting and proselyting and looking for addresses all day. Oh some other exciting news is that this sunday we are going to be having a group meeting out in Sidoarjo! We finally found a place to have it, in a member's car AC repair shop. It ought to be really interesting to see how many people come! It will be great to see these people have a chance to partake of the sacrament again and to meet together as members of the Lord's Church. Well, I don't have much else to talk about! I am sorry to hear about Trev, poor guy, oh well I guess now there's one less monkey jumping on the bed... hehe :] I love you all a bunch! I am so grateful for this Gospel and this opportunity to serve our Lord. The Church is true! And I know that as we as members try our best to serve others, in our callings, home teaching, families, quorums, that the Lord blesses us and unifies us. That is really a huge part of the Gospel, If we as members aren't willing to serve, we aren't living the Gospel, and the Church is not going to grow and be strengthened. That is the big thing I have learned this past week. I have already told myself that after I return home I am going to be the most diligent home teacher ever! haha IT is SO important!! Love you all! Kevin

Here is a map of Indonesia that shows where the earthquakes were in comparison to where Kevin is. Medan is a totally different island than Surabaya.

These are two very special people that Kevin was able to baptize while serving in Manado. Novita and Sergeyenev have become very dear friends, thanks to Facebook!!! They have been so wonderful to send me pictures of Kevin and other members of the ward there in Manado. As always, Manado will be a very special place, as it was Kevin's first area.

January, February, March= 11 Months!!!!!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Hey Ya'll
Sorry today is going to be super short. We had a zone trip today for
pday. We went to this pretty cool volcano called bromo. It was
FREEZING cold but still awesome. We got home kind of late and so we
have to write quick emails.
The work is going pretty well. We are working right now on trying to
get a small new group of church members to meet in sidoarjo which is a
little bit outside of surabaya. There are like 15-18 families that
live out there, a lot of them haven't been to church in over 10 years
because of transportation/ money issues. We almost had it set up to go
on sunday, but then it fell through at the last second. it was a
bummer! But it should be ready to go in Ferbruary. We have this
awesome investigator that lives out there named Yohanes. He has been
taught like 4 times and he already has a really strong testimony. He
will be a huge help to the work there if it can all work out!
The work keeps goin on! The Church is true!
I love you all, I hope all is well.
Love,
Kevin

This is a picture I found online of the Bromo volcanos. It looks amazing. I am hoping that Kevin took pictures of his own while he was there.


Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Hey everyone!
Things are goin pretty good over here. So I am not sure how cold it really was, I think probably like 45-50 degrees but I was FREEZING. It was so cold. I will try to attach some pictures from it so you can see it. The weather wasn't great so we couldn't see the views but it was still really really cool. It was really cloudy and windy but there was still some really awesome things to see. The couple of pictures are of some of the elders in the district.
So I can't even imagine 100 baptisms... WOW. I think last year the whole Indonesian mission had 74. That is ridiculous. I guess The people in Madagascar are just prepared and Indonesians aren't yet. But that is incredible.
Well the Sidoarjo thing is slowly falling through. Our investigator out there doesn't want to meet anymore, well more lie we don't want to waste the time going out there to have him not want to listen to us because he already knows everything... And it seems like there are members who are excited about it, and a lot who don't want to leave the churches they go to now. So we are kind of like trying to re-convert them which is tough. The other big problem out there is there are a number who are Muslim now and don't want to go back to church. A few of them are returned missionaries which just kills me... It really goes to 3 things, they stopped reading, praying and going to church, once we stop those things we will fall away.
The best thing of the past week was some good finding that happened! So the bikes that we have are pieces of junk and constantly break or have problems and it gets annoying but on thursday we were riding to go to sidoarjo, and we were just goin along when my chain got stuck and couldn't move, so we start trying to fix it, which took awhile when this lady walks up and starts talking to us and first thing I noticed was that she was wearing a cross, which is always a great thing to see. we invited her to learn about the Restoration and she was excited about it. so we got her number and address. I think it was about the 1st time I have been happy that that was my bike. haha There's no doubt that the Lord had it all planned out! It was cool. Unfortunately she is super busy and hard to meet.
We teach a ton of English here, Right now we have our weekly class at the church, and then every tuesday I teach two classes at a junior high school. English is the worst language ever! It is so hard to teach! I get confused. haha I feel bad for anyone trying to learn english. Yesterday we talked about weather and I taught them the snowman song which was pretty funny. It is really funny here because a lot of the english teachers here cannot speak a lick of english. They are SO bad. but it is a bummer for the students who want to learn but their teacher teaches them a lot of wrong stuff. So yeah hopefully we help them.
Welp, that is pretty much all this week. Thanks for all your love and support. I love you all!
Love,
Kevin
P.S. Mikey needs to write me. IT has been too long! I guess he is too busy being married. hahaha

Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Howdy!
Well the rain has kind of started to slow down a little bit but has been replaced by a little taste of the infamous Surabaya heat! Yesterday was a lot of bike riding in hot weather which was tough but good also!
Sorry I never rewally explained my companion/ house situations. There are 4 people in our house which is new and super nice. it is tiny but really good. WE have ac in our bedroom which has been a real treat but still it gets a little too cold in the middle of the night... My companion Elder Mulyono is a pretty good kid. I am not gonna lie we have had some rough spots here and there but we're getting things figured out and having more fun together. The work was really good last week, but the start of this week has been a little rough and slow...
WE had an awesome lesson with some former investigators from a year and half ago that we started meeting with. Their names are Donatus and Ita and they are so awesome! They haveone child too but she lives back at their home city which is off of jawa. They are really really humble people and just want to learn the truth which is really nice for a change. We often teach very hard headed people, but they are different. WE taught them along with our BML, Bro Alex and we talked about baptism and Donatus said he wasn't ready yet to make a choice... and then Bro. Alex shared about the need to be confident in our beliefs because the Lord knows our thoughts and needs and will help us. I am not sure exactly what he said or how we said it but it helped the Spirit testify to Donatus and then he asked when he can get baptized. So him and his wife are on date right now for the 18th of March. The hard thing is they have to work most sundays, and Donatus' boss is Advent so he believes the Sabbath day is saturday so Donatus only gets saturdays off. SO hopefully the Lord will open a way for them!
This week I got to go out on exchanges with Elder Smith, my MTC comp. IT was super fun to go out and work with him for a day. He is doing awesome. I love that guy. And yes, I do know Elder Peter Johnson, he is really cool, skis, and lives in park city, so we have already talked about a skiing trip. He is in the group that came before me so just about 2 months older than me as far as mission goes.
Well, I don't have much else to say! I hope you all are well! I love you all and it is great to hear from you.
Oh yeah, one question, how is BYU basketball doing??
Ok, The Church is true! Don't forget it!
Love,
Kevin


Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Howdy Howdy,
It has been a very different week this week. Ridiculously fast, unusually dry, and hot. haha I am guessing rainy season must be over because it doesn't rain much at all now. Good things surabaya is a very big city, with hills and i get to ride a bike! I really enjoy the bike riding in the heat, I think it is helping me slim down. I am anxious to find a scale so i can see if I have lost anything, the problem is that food here is really good and really cheap.
As far as the work goes it has been a pretty rough week. I think my goal is to have an investigator at church once in my time here in surabaya! Our investigators just don't seem to want to come. Donatus and Ita weren't able to meet at all this week so we don't really know what is going on with them, but we are trying to stay hopeful and just keep trying to find more people to teach. A couple of our investigators told us they didn't want to meet anymore and asked us to come pick up the BoM from them when we have a chance. Of course we're not going to, hopefully a few months from now they will find it lying around and read it and be prepared for the Restored Gospel! So that was kind of the extent of meetings with investigators this week.
I went on exchanges on monday and tuesday with some elders in the other house which was super fun. One of them is named Elder Widodo and his area right now is really struggling, they don't have any investigators right now, so we went out and contacted like crazy. It is really hard to contct since we can't really bring up the church, but we ended up talking to about 20 people about the Gospel which was awesome! The funniest one was this guy that was sitting at a warung drinking tea and he yelled "hello mister, where are you from" so we went and talked to him. He asked my name, then I asked his name and in English he replied, "I'm Mr. Crocodile!" and then he opened up his shirt to show his crocodile tattoo on his chest. He has made it into the top 5 weiredest people I have talked to. But he is also Christian and said missionaries can come teach him. so it turned out well.
It sounds like Jeff's thing with Mitt turned out awesome! That is super cool! Hopefully Mitt can get the job done and get elected. Happy birthday to callie as well! That is nuts that she is already 2. Crazy!!!
Mom made a comment about how fun BYU will be with mission buddies. IT is going to be hilarious. we are already making plans! There will be a lot of guys in the Provo area for college so it will be fun, and we will be able to keep up on the language (hopefully).
I guess I will end with a good experience last sunday. I was asked to speak last sunday in sacrament meeting about faith in Jesus Christ, and one of the things I talked about was how Joseph Smith and the First Vision should strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ, especially if we read his testimony in D and C 76 verse 22. I love that scripture because when I read it there is no doubt in my mind that He saw and spoke to Jesus Christ. Christ really does live and love each of us. I remember in the MTC when Richard G. Scott bore his testimony he said that he doesn't believe that Jesus Christ lives, but rather, he knows the Jesus Christ lives. We are led by Prophets and Apostles who speak to the Savior and receive revelation to help us to live happy lives and to receive eternal life after we die. We just need to have faith to live their teachings.
I love you all,
Have a great week!!!
Dengan Kasih,
Kevin

D&C 76:22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the atestimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!


Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Hey everybody,
Another week has flown by hasn't it! Things are still going about the same in Surabaya. There has been a bunch of moves though yesterday and today so all of the Elders in my house except me moved. My new companion hasn't gotten here yet, but I know his name is Elder Yarkasi and he is from jogjakarta. The other two elders in my house now are Elder Radianto and Earls and then Elder Garnett from my MTC group just moved into the other house here in surabaya so now there are three of the five people in my MTC group here! So that ought to be pretty fun.
As far as the work goes it has been pretty much about the same as last week. We have a few pretty good potential investigators that we will be trying soon so hopefully we will have more people to teach soon. I feel bad I haven't really had much to talk about lately, mostl ikely it will be this way the rest of the mission as well so don't get bored with me! haha
It sounds liek that new member in your ward is awesome! The branch here is trying to get home teaching set up again which will hopefully start helping the members grow. There are many who are still struggling. We are working a lot still with the families out in Sidoarjo. We still have not made a lot of progress with them. Their testimonies just aren't there yet to make the sacrifice to come back to the Church. We had a good opportunity to give a blessing to an inactive member who just had a stroke, her son, Konfernas, is also an inactive member and we have just recently contacted and started meeting with him to try to reactivate him. He is really nice guy, his financial situation makes it very hardo n him to be able to go to church though.
Dad asked about what I usually eat here, I really like to eat tempe penyet which is 4,000 rupiah which is like 50 cents and it is soo good. It is just tempe( I don't know whati ti s in english) sambal, a fried egg and rice. It is sooo good. That is my favorite by far right now. but we eat a lot of nasi campur too which is just rice with noodles, meat or eggs, and other stuff all mixed together. it is really good too and cheap, 6,000 rupiah.
Well, I know that the church is true! I know that the work I am doing is the Lord's work and that these are His children that I am serving and teaching. I know he will prepre hearts to be receive the Gospel and I just have to have stronger faith to find them.
Love you all!
Kevin

I tried to find a few pictures of the meals Kevin has described. I'm not sure these are the exact ones but I thought they gave an idea what the food might look like.

Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Hey hey!
Wow! Sounds like a pretty intense week over there! 20 inches of POW! I am super jealous. Good to hear that Mitt got the W as well in Idaho. I really want to come home to him as president. hehe
Things are going well here, my new comp is the man! He is hilarious. the work is still really slow but he has helped a lot to make it more enjoyable and we are working hard to get it to speed up again. We have been riding all over the place in the past few days and I think things sshould get going here sooner or later. It has been a really humbling experience to serve in this country, that is for sure. It has really strengthened my testimony and helped me understand the importance of working, even when it feels like no difference is being made. There are often days where we have absolutely no clue where to go, but we still just go and try. We go try to find an inactive member or a former investigator and hope that someone along the way will be prepared for the Gospel. As hard as Surabaya has been I would be fine if I never moved from this city the rest of my mission. I know that there are people somewhere in this place the the Lord has prepared. If it weren't so, He wouldn't have sent us as missionaries here.
WE were able to meet with one investigator this week, Ibu yuni, and she is awesome. I love that lady. She is so funny, and has a really good desire to just learn about Christ. She committed to come to church on sunday along with her daughter so I really really hope that will happen.
I got a great couple of emails from Ryan and Laura/ Jeff. Sorry I don't have time to day to reply to those! They were really great though Thanks a bunch!
I hope all of you are doing really great! I love you all so much! I guess the big thing I have learned lately is to just be grateful for all of the blessings we get and also be grateful for the trials! It's all about having a positive attitude!
The Church is true!!
Love,
Kevin
P.S.
the Mission office has my card, so I should have it this week sometime. So next week you can send the PIN.


Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Selamat kegilaan Maret! (happy march madness)
Haha it doesn't really translate well but oh well!
It was great to hear from you, and also good to hear that BYU squeaked out a win. awesome! And also sounds like Mitt is still doing ok. he needs to win!
Surabaya is as awesome as ever. It has been pretty rainy lately but it hasn't phased me a bit because of the awesome new rain poncho I got that makes me look totally dorky but it gets the job done. Ibu Yuni came to church on sunday with her daughter and I think it was way different than what they were used to but I think the experience was good for them. Hopefully they will come again this week too. this past week has been one of my favorite weeks in surabaya though, it was just a lot of good work that is starting to result in finding more people. The best experience was on sunday when we went out to look for an inactive members house and we had no idea where it was so we just kept asking for directions and then finally we asked this guy, daniel and his wife where we needed to go and they were heading the same way so we followed them there. As we were going along there was kind of this bump in the road that was hard enough to make my heavy body( which I thought was already a lot lighter) break the bolt in half on my seat. haha That family was really nice though and they helped us get it fixed and it gave us a lot of time to talk with them and invite them to learn about the Gospel and they said we could come share a message. So later this week we will be meeting them. they are a new family and expecting their first child soon. Elder Yarkasi and I were just super stoked about the whole experience because it was awesome! haha
Overall I am doing great, it really is pretty crazy that it has already been 11 months, it doesn't feel like it at all, Yesterday at about noon I realized that it was the 13th and I was like woah, already another month! haha Hopefully these next 13 months can go a little bit more slow! Wow the kids look awesome. So funny! I miss them a bunch! There are a ton of kids in our neighborhood that are super funny and one of them reminds me a ton of maddie and they always come stand in front of our gate and yell at us. haha it is great.
I attached some pictures, one of them is after Elder Yarkasi and I figured out that the pads inside our helmets make awesome fake moustaches, one of them is from about a month ago at a Buddhist temple in Surabaya that we went to for Pday, ( I am not sure if I already sent that) and the last one is a picture with me, Elder Mulyono and some of the teachers at the school we have been doing English service at. That has been a fun English service, and about all of the teachers are Muslim but a lot have been curious with what we do which has given us opportunities to share a little bit about the Church with them. I think I will go ahead and attach a picture of the kids we teach too. They are a combo of 8th, 9th and 10th graders.
Well that is pretty much all I have to say this week! The church is true! I hope you all are continuing to read your scriptures.
Saya mengasihi anda semua!
Kevin

Where Has the Time Gone?!

I am so behind in posting Kevin's emails. I guess Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a wedding will do that to you!
Kevin has now been out over 9 months. I cannot believe how fast time is passing. I miss him terribly, but I wouldn't have him anywhere else. His time in Manado was wonderful. Thanks to modern tecnology, I was able to "friend" several members of the branch and they were so kind to keep me informed of what was going on and to send me pictures of Kevin. I will post a few here and hope that you will see the joy Kevin has, as he is serving his mission in Indonesia.
But first I will post past emails.

November 30, 2011
Howdy!
First off, WHAT IS THAT NASTY THING GROWING ON MIKEY'S FACE??? eeish, he needs to shave!!! hahaha
It looks like Thanksgiving was awesome. Dad was rockin the rec specs again. The rolls looked amazing as well. Good to hear the Broncos are still rollin, the hail mary sounded sweet! The trip to Bunaken was awesome, it was the first time I have ever seen white sandy beaches and clear ocean water my life, it was definitely worth the trip.
I have finally got the pictures of our house sent, hopefully you all enjoy them. sweet toilet eh!?I also sent a picture of me playing soccer with some kids last tuesday as we were waiting to teach.
This week has been great. Novita's mom has pretty much said it is fine if she gets baptized, so the week before christmas is the planned baptismal date! The Lord has really blessed and strengthened Novita through all of this, and she is super excited.
Om Fery is comin along... we tried watching the Joseph Smith movie with him to help him understand about Joseph Smith, I think it helped out, he came to church again. The smoking thing is still really hard for him, but he has gone from 2 packs a day to one pack which is definitely an improvement.
Hendra and Moviyani are doing great as well. I love their family. They have a desire to change and do what is right, and they are working hard to make those changes.
I am excited for my Christmas package!! I am not sure when I will get it either... But either way it will be enjoyed.
I am super excited for next monday, hahaha, I can't remember if I told you all last week, come I get to be santa claus on monday!! it is going to be so funny. We are going to go visit less active members, members and investigators! There will definitely be some pictures sent next week from it.
We had a wild monday night this week. We got done with one teaching appoitment and we had to head straight to another one right after it that was like an hour away. The traffic was SO BAD, and so it took forever to get to where we needed to ride the next angkot. We finally got there, and realized that all of the angkots were already full, and that everyone was walking because of it, so we had to speed walk for like 2 miles to get to the next spot we could ride an angkot, then we finally got to Hendra's house, but a member needed us to come to her house that was another 20 minute walk, so we walked ther and met with her for 20 minutes, and then we walked 20 minutes back to hendra's house and taught them... Ugh we were sweating like crazy and worn out. It was definitely an awesome day, hopefully that's a good story of how awesome the missionary work is in Indonesia!!! I love it.
Welp, I hope you all are doing great, The church is true, Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. Don't forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers.
I love you all,
Have a great week!
Kevin

These pictures show his kitchen and bathroom. As he said previously in an email, he showers from a bucket, and that IS his toilet! Those are pretty good living conditions in that area!


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Howdy Ya'll!
First off, I have to say that the football bowl games this year are super lame, except that Alabama is in the National championship. looks like this was a good year to miss. It sounds like the last game for that senior class was pretty cool, I cried a little bit inside at the thought that Kellen Moore will never play again on the blue... :[
It's also lame that BYU turned down the Big East bid... That could have been a lot of fun to watch BSU and BYU play every year, but oh well they still will next year right?
I am glad you liked the pictures of the house, I am pretty much a complete convert to the Indonesian toilet, I especially don't miss TP... haha sorry if that is a little gross. there is an american style toilet in the house but I already pretty much gave that one up unless I am feeling super lazy, I prefer the squatter.
The Santa Claus event was sooo hilarious. The culture here with santa claus is that they decorate a pick up truck and then santa claus rides in the back of it with a bunch of other people, some of them painted in all black. a lot of People here actually call santa claus, senter claus (not sure why), and the black people are senter pete. most kids are deathly afraid of the senter petes, so we didn't have one. Nonetheless it was still a day full of tears, as well as laughter and smiles and in true Indonesian fashion, rain. We got soaked. We went all over the place and visited a lot of members/ investigators and gave the kids some candy/ snacks. I will send fotos next week because this computer isn't letting me upload fotos.
The work has gone pretty well this week too. Novita is still set for baptism, she is very excited as are a lot of the members. It will be a great day for sure. Some other great news is that I have survived another round of transfers!!! Hopefully I will be here until january, but 4 american missionaries are going home the 19th so I might get moved. But I am liking my chances of staying here. OH! One of my friends from my BYU ward just got here too last week! His name is Mardi Mulia, I am super pumped that he is serving here, he is actually 1/2 or maybe 100% indonesian but grew up in Utah. We already planned on serving here together when I got my call. haha
Om Ferry is still doing the same... It is the worst though when we come to his house for a lesson and he is playing chess with his friends and smoking cigarettes like crazy. He still wants to get baptized, I think this will be a huge challenge for him to quit, because he has been smoking since around the age of 15, and everyone here smokes, so when people just relax, they smoke, and they give their friends cigarettes as well. He is still not doing as well with church attendance which makes it even harder.
We taught a less active member this past week that has a pretty amazing story about her baptism, when she got baptized, she was taken into the police office and questioned about the Church, the BoM, and they made her pray with them to make sure this wasn't satan's church or something... The missionaries were often prohibited from coming to her house when she was an investigator too. It is amazing to me how much a lot of these members have gone through to join the Lord's church, and yet they fall away and become less active so quickly. Undoubtedly it all returns to scripture study, prayer and going to church every week. Once we justify not going to church for one week, it become easier to miss the week after that, and then we just won't go at all. So don't quit reading, praying and going to church!!!
I love you all, have a great week.
p.s. I am excited to hear about the changes in the stake!!
Love,
Kevin

December 14, 2011
Howdy ya'll.
Hopefully it has been a great past week for you!!! BSU in the big east?? SWEET!
As far as the phone call goes, President Groberg said we can call on the 24th, 25th or the 26th. Also, our pday is getting moved next week until saturday the 24th so we can finalize it then. I already kind of forgot what the time difference is sooo sorry if I mess up and call at like 7 in the morning your time. I was thinking on christmas day ya'll have church early in the morning so it might be better if I called on the night of the 24th here, or morning for you. I am not sure what system I will use, but it will probably involve me just calling you all, me and elder kujanpaa might buy an international sim card together that can be used for cell phones here which should be pretty inexpensive. Oh yeah, we can talk for one hour so hopefully that is enough time! haha :]
This week has been a little different, wednesday night until saturday Elder Subadi was sick so we spent a lot of time in the house... I definitely did not enjoy that. So the mission work was a little bit slow this week, so forgive me for not having much to report on! The good news is that this sunday will be novita's baptism! It should be super awesome. Everyone is really really excited. The Lord has really known what was best for her in all of this, and hopefully her faith has strengthened from all of this as much as mine has. I have really seen first hand the fulfilling of 1 Nephi 3:7. The Lord always prepares a way for those who want to keep his commandments. On saturday night Novita was still a little unsure that her mom approved, we invited her to pray before asking her mom again, the next morning we got an SMS saying her mom was in full support. It was awesome.
The names of the Stake Presidency sound familiar, but I can't seem to remember the faces. I bet it is kind of weird to have a new stake presidency! I am sure they will do great.
I am glad that the family is still doing awesome. I miss you all, but I don't want to come home so it is the good kind of miss. haha
OH! here are some of the Santa Claus pictures, as you can see, smiles and tears... :]
Welp I love you all, I don't know how to express how grateful I am for our family. In the words of Hot Rod "You are number one!"
The Church is true, don't forget it.
Dengan Kasih,
Kevin

December 21,2011
Howdy ya'll!
So it turns out the Office told us wrong, and our P day is normal. But I dont have very much time today, and also we get to talk soon, so this one will be kind of short.
Yes! on Sunday Novita got baptized, it was super awesome. We had a lot of leaders from Jakarta here too for a christmas event at the church the friday before it too, so there was a lot of people at church on sunday to support her as well. It was just a really great experience. She is going to be a huge strength for this branch.
Ok, I will call you all on the night of the 25th, morning of the 26th for me around 7 pm your time! I am also very excited! I got my package this week too and I kinda already started eating some of the candy... hehe :] Hopefully I don't get fatter this week.
Welp, sorry this is very short, but I love you all! Oh! there are also some pictures on here from our P day today, we went to a member's sister's garden, orchard, I am not sure what the word is, and ate as much durian and manggis as we wanted. IT was awesome. we also got a pineapple and a bunch of rambutan out of it. and bananas.
The Church is True!
Love,
Kevin

This is Novita- on her baptism day- I think.

This is Kevin playing Santa ( rather scary beard) to the children and neighborhoods. It is quite the tradition and he had a BLAST, as you can tell by the look on his face!

December 28, 2011
Howdy!
Well, my email will be super short today too since we talked on monday. It was great to hear all of your voices. Everyone sounded super great. I was in complete shock that the little kids actually talked to me and weren't shy... but then again I am the favorite uncle so hehehe.
No word on transfers yet, I might know by next wednesday, but I am not completely sure. I am about 90 percent sure I will be moving though.
Things are still just going great. Christmas was a little rough on the missionary work, but it is picking up again this week.
The Church is so true, it is just amazing to me how blessed we are to be able to be members of Christ's Church and be able to following the teachings of a living prophet who receives revelation daily. We truly are on the path to Eternal Life and it that confidence brings great joy.
I love you all,
Selamat tahun baru and have fun preparing for Mikey's wedding!!! GILA!
Kevin


January 04, 2012
Hey hey hey,
Sounds like things are getting pretty busy again for you all with the wedding and what not! How exciting!! BYU's game sounded pretty sweet. Super cool finish. So the first news, as far as I know I am not moving yet. so probably another month or so here! I am very excited if that is the case, if I do in fact move, I will still be excited. We are actually going to surabaya this weekend for PLD so it should be nice to se what Java is like again, I have pretty much forgotten it. The work has still been a little slow, but stil good. and for the record, I never want to eat cookies again! A cultural thing here is that from christmas until the end of january, anyone that comes to someone's house has to eat cookies... Meeting at about 3 houses a day means eating a lot of cookies and also drinking a lot of soda, which has resulted in the addition of 4 kilos to my body, not to mention that last sunday we got fed 4 lunch/dinner 4 times. yeah... it has kind of been killing me! Oh and New Years was rediculous here. About 2,5-3 hours of fireworks and music starting at 12. I could not sleep at all. haha
Besides the over eating and stuff things have been great, we are just tryin to keep on keepin on. Hendra is doing well. he came to church on sunday and it was super awesome because Moviyani (his wife) bore her testimony and it was awesome. both of them are trying to make changes in their lives and I think the "new year resolution" thing has kind of motivated them to do so. Hopefully they continue to do well.
Om Fery is still comin along... slowly but surely is the secret with him. WE are trying to invite him to have his wife meet with us too, but no success yet. Hopefully he will be better with coming to church now that the holidays are over.
Well... I don't really have much to say today... the Church is true, Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet, and the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. Hopefully you all will continue to read it!
I love you all,
Kevin

Oh yeah, selamat pernikahan Mikey dan Valerie!

For those of you who know Kevin, he is a HUGE Alabama fan. I am sure having his "Tide" in the National Championship game while on his mission was tough. I am not much of a Bama fan, but have to admit, amidst the controversy of that game, I cheered for the Crimson Tide, for my son!

January 11, 2012
The national champion is...
Roll Tide!
That is sweet that they won. I was pretty excited, I am also glad that Mikey's marriage and what not was good. I will be honest it was a little bit of a bummer not to be there, but I had a super great weekend too. On Sunday after church we headed to Surabya, and when we got there I found out that I was not moving to Tangerang but staying in Surabaya. My new companion is Elder Mulyono from Solo. He is a stud. He just finished getting trained. On Monday we had PLD, it was super good, it was a ll about developing Christlike attributes. It was really refreshing and there was a lot of things taught that I am going to need in this new area, especially patience. I am not sure how big zones were for Mikey and Jeff or Dad, but our zone conference consisted of 4 elders from manado, 8 from surabaya, 2 from Malang and 2 sisters from malang as well as 2 senior couples, So not really a lot of people, but it was fun to get together with a lot of missionaries after not really seeing anyone else for 6 months. Jawa is so much different than Manado, so I am trying to adjust to that. It is just way more like what you would expect in Asia. haha I don't know how to explain it, it is just different. Oh yeah, I am on a bike now too. Surabaya is the second biggest city in Indonesia, so we have a lot of area to cover each day too. There are about 7 million people in Surabaya and 8 missionaries. Tuesday was the first day of bike riding in over a year and a half and it kicked my trash. I am so sore today. pretty much everyone here is Muslim, of all the people we talked to yesterday maybe one was Christian, well only one asked what church we were from. So that will make things pretty interesting. It is definitely going to take a lot of hard work and patience in finding people to teach. From the sounds of it the best tool is service, we are supposed to do 4 hours of service each week, a lot of which is teaching english. There are 2 branches here, and each branch has its own building.

I am sorry to hear that mom is not feeling well, cepat sehat! I bet it is fun having mel and the boys around, say hello to them for me!! My last few days in Manado were nice and busy, it was definitely a little hard to leave that place, but I am also very excited for change. Luckily Elder Jameson from my MTC group is heading up there so I know the investigators up there are in good hands. Oh yeah... I almost forgot to say that I am also in the same house as my friend from BYU, Elder Mulia.
Welp I don't really know what else to say... The Church is true. I know that I am doing the Lord's work, and even though this new area is not going to be easy, I know that He is preparing people to receive the Gospel, so I will just have to patiently work hard to find them. The Book of Mormon is true, Don't be lazy and miss out on the blessings of reading it!
Love,
Kevin

These are pictures of Kevin on his last day in Manado. I know that all the people he met there will forever be in his heart. This was an amazing place to begin his missionary journey. I want to thank all the people who treated him so kindly, and became my friends through Facebook. I will never forget you, and pray that we can stay in contact.

January 18, 2012
Wow, this week really has flown by. Thanks a bunch for the pictures! Everyone looks so good. and really different too, especially the little kids! They are HUGE! I probably won't even recognize them when I come home again. Mikey and Valerie look good. I am super pumped for them! I am still confused how he pulled of such a great girl like that. haha
Surabaya has been great this past week. The work here is soooo slow right now, and from the sounds of a lot of the missionaries here it is going better than usual right now, Haha. I don't want to make it sound like I am complaining or anything, but lets just say we taught less lessons than the amount of days in a week. It is definitely a lot different than Manado in that aspect as well as almost every other aspect haha.
The weather has been very very rainy lately, we spent two afternoons in a row looking for the addresses of old investigators in the pouring rain. That is kind of tricky way of finding new people to teach, because it is so islamic here, we definitely cant go door to door and we can't really say much about the church unless were asked about it first. So we ask a lot of people for directions and try to start up conversations with them, and then hope they ask us why we're here. A lot of the muslim people will tell us where christian people live too, which is really great. We two new investigators through that.
So mom asked what are the major differences between here and Manado. Surabaya is a lot more city, Manado was a lot more country/ hills/ green. Manado in a few ways had a lot of people that were not well off, Surabaya has it's fair share of wealthy wealthy people. I have seen a lot of BMW's and Mercedes, I don't think I ever saw one in Manado. The local language here is javanese... I don't think I will ever get it figured out. It is ridiculous. But pretty much everyone here speaks indonesian just as well so it isn't a problem, except their accent threw me off for the first little while but I am almost used to it now.
The branch here is kind of struggling. It was shocking how empty church was on sunday. There was probably about 25 people. So there is a lot of work to be done here, with investigators as well as less active members.
Well, I am sorry if my emails seem like they are getting shorter and shorter, each week is just a blur, it goes too fast. I am already planning to extend if I can....
Haha that was just a joke, i don't think mom would like that too much. But then again I might do it if i could. hehe
I just love the mission, it is so hard, but I just get so much satisfaction from doing the Lord's work. The Church is so true! Each day as I read the Book of Mormon I just feel my testimony grow so much stronger and it just gets me excited to go out and share with others. I really hope you all are reading the scriptures each day, even if it is just for a minute. JUST DO IT!
I love you all so much!
Kevin

I don't find the humor in his remark about extending! Am I missing something? I am kidding. I suppose if it works out and is the right thing to do, I would support it. I am not convinced that extending is always the right thing, but we shall see. We have 15 months to think about it:)
So that's it, I am caught up for now. Kevin is growing and maturing and I look forward to his emails each week. I am excited to see how things go in this new area.