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.