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.

November Emails!

Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Mom & Dad,
Hey Hey!
Dang, it sounds like halloween was pretty great!! The kids are so dang cute. And Jeff and Laura were looking pretty awesome as well! There isn't any halloween here, I think it is the greatest thing ever! haha, I am glad that it was good for you all! speaking of holidays, there has been christmas music playing here since the beginning of october, and every day it seems like it is played more and more often. It is ridiculous. WAY TOO EARLY.
Things have been decent here, hot but finally there was a little rain today. The bad news of the week is that Novita's mom did not give permission for her to get baptized. Novita was really bummed, we were really bummed, but this isn't the end we are going to keep working and doing what we can so she can be baptized. It is really going to come down to having faith that the Lord will open her mom's heart. We'll see how it goes. Novita is going to try to keep sharing her testimony with her mom about the Church, and that should help out a lot too.
Om Fery finally came to church. Haha. He still has a lot to learn to be ready for baptism. Ugh, we have been working hard with him on the Word of Wisdom, we call him each day and remind him about it, and last week we walk around the corner to his house and he was playing chess with some buddies, one of them our old investigator Om Poltje( long story on him, maybe later) and they were smoking cigarrettes like crazy. ugh... oh well he will get there.
I really liked what you sent me dad about just loving the work. I absolutely love Manado, and the people, and the culture. The people here are so nice, but then again so tough. It is a completely church centered area. Each family usually has been members of the same church for a very long long time, so inviting people to join a different one is tough. Nonetheless the thing I have learned is I can't make the decisions for them but I can invite them and do my part and no matter what feel good about it, even if the success doesn't come. I'm responsible for the work, not the success.
OH yeah, I am a trainer now. It is pretty fun. Elder Subadi is a goof, but i love the kid. We are having fun together.
Some other good news is that I am now 91 kilos. So I have lost about 20 - 25 lbs since coming to Manado. Who knows how low I will drop if my next area is a biking area too!
I have been trying not to eat as much as I did when I first got here, especially not the really fattening foods. I am a huge fan of eating rice, a fried egg and sambol right now, that's probably why I have dropped about 8 kilos in the past two and a half weeks!
Welp, that is just about it for this week. OH! as far as the package thing goes, if you could send me some pictures, like already printed out pictures, that would be awesome. People really like to see pictures of our families here. And don't send too much food and stuff, maybe just a little bit of beef jerky and some peanut butter m&m's!
I love you all! I know the church is true! Keep reading the scriptures!!! They are so important!
Love,
Elder "Kevbot" Johnson
haha


Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Mom & Dad,
Howdy Ya'll!
Well this week was a pretty lame week, not gonna lie, but some weeks have to be less good so the rest can be great.
Novita still doesn't have permission to get baptized, but it sounds like things are starting to get a little better with her Mom so it really is just a matter of prayer and patiently and faithfully waiting. I know everything will work out. She is the bomb though, her testimony is so strong, she is going to help this branch out so much here.
I am super super jealous that it snowed... It is getting a little more windy here and rains a bunch more. But I like the rain a lot, it is soooo nice, way better than the heat.
Ugh... Om Fery is killing me!!! He is the coolest guy ever but he is having such a hard time coming to church. He is doing really well with everything else, He is handling quitting smoking well, and still reads the Book of Mormon he just doesn't understand the need to come to church, Hopefully we can figure something out to help him.
So I guess the best news of the week came from an awesome lesson that we had with Geyli, who has been an investigator for a while but not really progressing at all until this past week. Her dad is a very high up leader at her church (GMIM of course), and we have almost stopped meeting with her a number of times. She has been really good about reading the Book of Mormon though and on Monday she started asking what she needs to do if she knows it is true, unfortunately she doesn't believe she needs to be baptized again haha she says if knowing the BoM is true means coming this church she has no problem with itas long as she can do it without Baptism. But I guess the point of the story is that the Book of Mormon is the best!!! I guess maybe this is qhat you could share with Brother Featherstone, that the most important and quickest way to have a testimony of this Church is to read the Book of Mormon. Anyone that reads the Book of Mormon will know that it is the Word of God, translated through His power given to man because He loves His children and wants them to come unto him. Every investigator I have taught that reads the Book of Mormon has some feeling that it is true. I know for myself it was the same thing, about a year ago I started reading the BoM more diligently and then I saw the blessings of peace and happiness in my life, and then I prayed and asked if it was true, and the answer came in sort of a " why are you even questioning if it is true?" answer. The Blessings that the BoM brings into our lives is what strengthens our testimonies of it, especially when we live it's teachings.
Welp, Thats pretty much it this week, sorry I don't have much to share! I am doing great though, healthy, happy and loving Manado, as stubborn as the people are!
The Church is true!
Elder Johnson


Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Mom & Dad.
I was in shock that BSU lost.... but then I saw the orange uniforms and realized that is why. Dang. What a bummer, but oh well, life goes on.
Things are going super great here. I am learning quickly the idea of patience with Om Fery, the good news is he has quit smoking! the bad news he is still not coming to church, but I am so pumped that he has quit smoking and is trying to make more changes in his life. I love that guy, he is the best.
Novita is doing super well, she is really committed to coming to church now because she wants to show her mom the importance of this to her. It really is just a matter of time with her.
I don't know if I have ever talked about Sis. Uli before, but she has been an investigator for over a year now, and is super good friends with Novita, but she is doing super great as well. I was really impressed with what she said last week when we met with her. Last sunday she came to church, and that evening her penatua and another leader from her church came and asked her where she was. She has a super funny son and so she asked him where they went and he answered, " Torang masuk di gereja OSZA!!!" We went to the LDS church! Her parents and also her church leaders weren't thrilled, told her that the church is sesat (apostate/ false). But she told us she doesn't care because she knows that this is true and what is right for her. I was super pumped when she said that. For her it all starts once again with the BoM. We started really focusing on the BoM with her, she started reading it, and her testimony was noticeably stronger.
So Mom asked a little bit about where we live, we have a little house in the wildest kampung ever. Our neighbors are hilarious, very loud, but just awesome. There is a grocery store like 5 minutes away from the house, it is just like an american grocery store so it's nice. We usually bring dinner home with us when we head home for the night, there is a super good warung on our way home that has Ayam goreng, sate ayam, nasi goreng, gado gado. All of the good stuff! We rarely eat at members houses because it isn't exactly effective to do so, we eat maybe once or twice a week with members. it is always sooo good, but It is hard because everyone lives so spread out from each other.
Sounds like it is getting to be that great time of year in Boise, nice and cold... I have forgotten what it feels like to be that cold... I get cold here at night time and it is maybe 75 degrees... eeish.
Last week I think dad asked for anything that Elder Subadi does that is goofy... In Manado there are A TON of dogs everywhere... Elder Subadi is super scared of dogs, so anytime there is one in our way he goes to the other side of the street, or like the other day he asks if we can just not walk down the street... It always makes me laugh. My trainer, ELder marijanto went and played with any dog he saw, now it is the opposite. Elder Subadi is suuuuper javanese, so that adds a little humor into everything, the cultures of java and Manado are pretty different.
We are having a super good time together, I love the guy, he is a good hard worker. I am in awe that I have already almost been here for 5 months, and I am really bummed at times because that means I probably only have another month or so in Manado, but hopefully I am here until after Christmas!
Welp, I know the Church is true, I know God loves us, that's why he sent Jesus Christ, and that's why they have restored their Gospel on Earth again.
Don't forget to read the BoM every day!
Saya mengasihi anda semua!
Sampai Minggu depan!
Kevin


Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Mom & Dad,
Selamat Pengucapan syukur!
It is crazy that it is thanksgiving for you all tomorrow! I am jealous! Make sure to eat lots and lots and lots of rolls!
But first off, I need to ask a super huge favor. So tomorrow we got permission form pres. Groberg to go to Bunaken, which is an island off the coast of manado, for Pday ( We still email on our usual day, don't worry I am not apostate and taking two Pdays). But the thing is that the boat to go there is a little more pricy than we thought, and I thought i had enough in my personal account but I actually dont... Is there any chance I could get like 100 dollars put into my account ASAP so we can go tomorrow? Sorry to drop that kid of a request out of nowhere... I promise my second one hundred dollars (the first bit is for tithing) I earn when I come back home will be given to you to pay it back!!
Hopefully that is ok... Could you put it in my checking account?
Well this week has been super awesome. We have had a lot of really cool teaching experiences, plus it is indonesia so it is always a little interesting. Christmas season is in full swing here... gila so much fireworks. But yeah everyone is pretty excited. The branch here is having a christmas thing next saturday which should be pretty...different, haha. I will let you all know how it goes. Mom asked if there are any cool christmas traditions or things and I don't really know yet. And as far as good indonesian treats, there arent really any, the snack foods/desserts here aren't all that great (hence the loss of weight), just the real food is what is amazing. Hopefully i can learn how to cook some of it so you all can taste it... and hopefully I can find sambal in america because I cannot eat without it now. Sambal is tomato, onion and cabe smashed up and fried together. It is kind of like spicy ketchup and we eat it with everything. SO GOOD.
The rainy season is also in full swing... it has poured just about every day for at least an hour and a half in the afternoon after a very very hot morning/ mid day. I am still enjoying the rain, but if this keeps up my opinion might be a little different.
I was going to send some pictures of the house, but time is a wee bit short so not until next week..
Novita is getting closer and closer and closer... not much more to do but wait and pray, I am thinking this week or next week she will be baptized.
We had an awesome couple of lessons with a part member family. The father is hendra, he isnt a member, and his wife is a less active member. They are really awesome people, but have had rough pasts as far as the commandments go, and I think a lot of people have treated them in a way that has made them feel like they can't get better. We invited hendra to get baptized, and he accepted it right away, and was super excited about it. Then yesterday we invited them to live the word of wisdom, after watching hendra smoke two cigarettes, and they accepted to start quitting smoking. It is just great to see their desire to change and do what is pleasing to the Lord. Hopefully they will have the faith and strength to do it.
That was the best experience of the week by far, I am just loving this time to serve, I am getting a little worried that I will be moving soon though... Hopefully not until after Christmas, so I can enjoy it in a christian city where it will feel like christmas haha. But Whatever happens, happens.
I hope ya'll still know the Church is true, because it is! God loves each of us and wants us to be happy, that's why He has given us His Church.
Keep reading your scriptures and being awesome, and for reals, everyone has to eat one extra roll for me. :]
Happy thanksgiving,
Saya mengasihi anda semua!
Kevin

A Picture Says a Thousand Words...I was Speechless!

As you can tell I am doing another catch-up session with Kevin's emails. He is doing very well and seems to be happy. I am so grateful that he is having positive experiences and I can see so much growth in him.
When I saw this picture for the first time, I was taken back by the sheer joy on his face. That smile says it all.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Selamat Siang Keluarga!
Gmana kabarnya?
First off, sorry the email is a day late! There was a problem at the warnet yesterday... the internet was not working, so there's my reason for not sending anything yesterday!
Things are going pretty well over here! IT has been another busy week. It has also been very very wet. On sunday we had a lesson with Novita, and her house is pretty tough to get to, we have to walk up a steep dirt trail to get there, right after already walking for a while on the pavement. the bad thing this time around was that it was pouring rain the whole time we were walking there, and we didnt bring anything for the rain. So we got soaked, and then we get to the dirt trail to see it is completely muddy. Nonetheless we made the trek and I think i only almost fell once or twice! haha Novita is doing well, unfortunately her mom still has given her permission to get baptized, but we all have faith and are praying that it will happen.
We taught good ol' om fery again, he is seriously the funniest guy ever, the best thing is he loves the book of mormon. Now he just needs to come to church again and he will be all set! We finally have him on date to be baptized in early desember. IT was awesome, right after we talked about it he grabbed his calendar and put a big circle around desember 4th. ITs been amazing to me how powerful the book of mormon is in this work. Only when investigators read that book do they make changes. If they are lazy about reading, they make no progress.
Om deni is doing great, we met his family last week, he has an awesome family, his wife is pregnant with their 4th child. It is pretty funny because they live in an almost completely Muslim neighborhood, and the people love seeing two white christian guys walking through the neighborhood, the kids especially loved it, you'll see in the picture I sent we had about 20 kids following us! Om Deni is really loving this Church/ Gospel. He was super pumped after church on sunday, and hopefully he will come watch conference this weekend!
IT really sounds like ya'll are doing well! Busy as usual. How long are you going to be in India dad? I wonder how similar India and Indonesia are... Hopefully you have a good safe trip! I was pumped to hear Geraldo had a good game, hopefully he willbe a big help. All your talk of the temple makes me so jealous! I havent been in 4 months, and I wont get to go for another year and half. Enjoy those experiences! Have they started building the one in Meridian yet?
So really what else has been going on with the family!? Carrie sounds like she is doing great, how excellent, Mel said spencer is showing number two who's boss, and mikey is gonna get married( I still don't believe it). It just seems like things are awesome over there.

That's totally lame about the whole mormons arent christian thing... People are so ignorant. The only way to find out if we're christian or not is read the Book of Mormon and figure ito ut for yourself, not a chance anyone can think we're not Christian after reading it.
Well I hope ya'll know the Church is true, Because I do! We're blessed to have the fulness of the Gospel, which answers all our questions, and we can look forward in faith and live knowing that we'll live as a family after this life. What a blessing it is.
I love you all!
Have a great week!
Oh ya! Selamat setengah tahun untuk saya! Sudah 6 bulan di misi. :]
Dengan Kasih,
Elder Johnson

HARD TO BELIEVE HE HAS BEEN OUT 6 MONTHS!!!!!!!


Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Hello Everyone!
How are you all doing?? It sounds like it has been a very busy week for you all! I am glad to hear that Carrie's surgery went well, hopefully the recovery is still going well for her. Mikey is actually engaged!! Oh my goodness! That is pretty insane. I guess in true Johnson fashion he is engaged within a year of being home from his mission right? Don't expect the same from me!!
Good to hear Geraldo is cleared, hopefully he can be a contributor, sounds like the receivers were horrible last game! Whati s BYU's deal!!!! They should be killing Utah State at home, not barely queaking out a win!! Eeish... Alabama/ Boise State sound freaking awesome this year. Sounds like the Non- AQ teams are weak this year... bummer. Oh well hopefully BSU can just keep it going.
I of course have not yet had an opportunity to watch conference, it was little weird going to a normal sacrament meeting the first sunday in october...
Indonesia is still amazing!! I love this place more and more each day. In Manado it is the "rainy season" now which means still hot but maybe two or three times a week there is rain. Luckily it is terribly hot here, there is usually a nice ocean breeze! The people here are still so funny. The branch is hilarious, goodness, so funny.
This place is just so ready to explode as far as missionary work goes. It really could be just like the Phillipines here in Manado. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to work here, and when it does start to boom here it will be great to know I have had a part in helping it grow.
Om Poltje is still doing super well! I just want to teach his family now too! He is a really smart guy, jsut ridiculously busy with his couch/ chair business sometimes meeting with him is hard. He is continuing to progress though, it is great to see his excitement and testimony about the Gospel grow.
Om Deni is doing awesome as well. I am excited to finally meet/ and teach his family today as well! He had an awesome/ funny experience while he prayed about the Book of Mormon, he had a pack of cigarettes right next to where he was at and he had the feeling he should get rid of them. He said he had a really hard doing it, i am still not sure if he did, but he has a great heart and definitely wants to do what the Lord wants him to do.
I am still jsut in shock that Mikey is getting married... what a goof! Sounds like he really did do it in true mikey fashion. I love that kid!
How are Jeff, Laure, Jack, Luke, Mel, Dave, Trevor, Spencer and everyone doing?? I am sure they are just doing great.
Hmm what else, Is Capital doing well this year in football??
Welp I don't really have anything else to say, I am doing great. The Church is true! Don't ever forget it!!!
Love,
Elder Johnson



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Selamat Oktober! (hampir)
It has been a petty awesome week! We have some pretty great investigators right now! Om Poltje is still doing very well, He is pretty much on date for baptism, he just wasn't sure on the exact date last week! he is the man though, super humble and super faithful and hopefully his wife and kids will start meeting with us too. Oh just in case you are wondering why a lot of our investigators' names start with om or tante, it is kind of like the title mrs. or mr, except in Bahasa Manado om is uncle and tante is aunt, it is just a respect type of thing, just in case anyone was wondering! We have a new investigator named Om Deni that is on date for baptism now too, he has been Christian for like 5-10 years but has not been active in any church for a very long time. He is a very great guy and wants us to meet with his wife as well. Novita is still doing pretty well, her mom is never home when we go there, so it has been difficult to try to discuss with her mom at all about the church. Oh well Novita has a strong testimony and Heavenly Father will prepare a way for her.
On Sunday there was 5 investigators from the South area that got baptized! One of them is a family of four that is so awesome! They are such cool people. They each asked one of us to baptize them because they wanted all four of us to have to get wet. haha It was a pretty amazing experience for sure, I figured I would send a few pictures of that to you all, even though they werent my investigators, haha.
The other picture is some random home builders that want a picture with us! haha
I am super duper excited for conference too!!! Except i will probably have to wait a few weeks to a month for the translations and what not! so you all will have to fill me in on all of the good talks and all that good stuff! So Mikey is popping the big question??? that DOG! how exciting. In a selfish way i am excited for him because it means i wont have to stand around at the wedding reception! but besides that i am just excited for him, I still cant picture the skinny boy getting married!
Sounds like a good week of football. Eeish I remember at the start of this month I had a little bit of trunkiness because I thought to myself, football is starting, and it was a killer. And now I pretty much dont remember about it until I read the emails. Hopefully BSU will put a whippin on Nevada! What is BSU's ranking right now???
Carrie has and will continue to be in my prayers, just let me know how all of it goes next week!
Hmmm I dont really know what else to talk about! It is crazy that I am probably about half way done with my time in Manado... This place is really really really awesome. My Indonesian is getting better each day, at times it is a little tough to understand people and having an American companion can make it tough at times to get better at the language, but oh well we are doing well. elder Kujanpaa is the man. So this past week President Groberg came to Manado and in our interview I prayed in English for like the first time in almost 4 months... It was a little rough I felt weird. Hopefully all of my English will be that way after awhile here! haha
Welp I am doing well, I know the Church is true, I am grateful I can be doing the Lord's work, and I know that when I faithfully and diligently work, I am happiest and things go the best.
I love you all!
Have a great week,
sampai minggu depan,
Kevin

PS Hayden looks so different and Skinny. that is nuts.


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Hello family!
It sounds like you all are doing very well! It has been a very good week in Indonesia, like always!
We were able to meet with Om Poltje again, he is so awesome, his brother was there too for our lesson and his brother Petrus was super excited about it too. It was funny because right before that we had a lesson with this really lame guy that was not open at all, and we were a little frustrated, but after meeting Om Poltje we were just so pumped. It is great when someone actually reads the Book of Mormon. haha
So Mom asked if we teach English, the answer is yes we do, every friday night. It isn't always my favorite thing to do but it usually ends up pretty fun. The people here are all so shy that they don't like to talk so it gets a little awkward but it is understandable. We actually have a lot of investigators that come, so it gives us more opportunites to talk with them.
Sounds like a rough week for BYU... eeish that is such a bummer, hopefully they will bounce back. I can only imagine t he depression on campus right now. Glad to hear BSU got another win, hopefully Geraldo can get cleared soon, that is really lame that he can't play yet! Sounds like the soccer is a fun thing to see the kids play. haha
So sounds like your havin a little trouble with the long hair in Priest Quorum. Hmm i guess you could read together about Captain Moroni and ask them if a stud like him would have long curly locks, because the answer is NO!
Novita is still kind of the same, we are just trying to be patient and having faith that all will work out. Om ferry is doing better, we were pumped because he read the BoM and was super pumped about it! He is so funny, just a goofy dude, his son Boris is pretty interested in the Church now too. We are excited about them, hopefully Ferry will invite his wife to attend/ learn as well.
Well I sent a few pictures. Apparently i am a little famous here because there are advertisements for my website on the back of the angkots! haha I thought it was pretty sweet. The other few pictures are from a nearby town, just a little outside manado that we went to today for Pday.
Welp The work is great here in Manado, I know it is the Lord's work, I know he blesses us as missionaries each day and I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is the most important part in gaining and maintaining a strong testimony! Never slack off in your reading of it!!!
I love you all, I will continue to pray for all of you, and I am glad to hear that Carrie's Surgery will happen soon so all of that can be corrected! Tell hello to all the little kids from their favorite uncle!!
Love,
Elder Johnson


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Another week has flown by!
It has been a really awesome week here. WE have been working really hard, meeting with our investigators and trying to be way more bold with them! That was one thing Elder Kujanpaa wanted to do, start pushing our investigators a little bit more. A little more about Elder Kujanpaa, he is from Highland, Ut. He played hockey in high school, his dad was born in finland, hence the funky last name. He is a way awesome missionary though. It is pretty rare to get to serve with another american, but it wont last too long, a whole bunch of new Indo missionaries will be coming in.
Novita is doing well, it is just so frustrating that her mom is tough on her coming to church and stuff. She really wants to come, her mom just wont let her. Oh well, it is just going to take a lot of prayer and faith and all will work out! It was pretty funny because the last meeting we had with her, we had no idea what to teach her because she pretty much knows it all already!
We have this awesome investigator, Ferry, that is hilarious. He is probably 45-50 years old, married, not too active at his church, and likes to learn. The hardest thing is how simply we have to teach for him to understand. his son Boris comes to english class a lot, and now he wants to come to church too, so hopefully that will help his dad out a little bit too. Their family is super awesome, very quiet and humble and so nice.
As far as investigators go we just taught this awesome guy, Poltje on monday. It was our first meeting and the Spirit was so so strong as we taught the Restoration with him. It was really cool because he said he felt it too, and hopefully when we meet with him again this weekend we can have a good meeting with him again.
It is just so nervewracking after a good first lesson with someone because probably 50 percent of the time we never see the person again because they ask their friends or pendeta about the Church and are told lies about it. Hopefully Om Poltje will remember how he felt as we met, and hopefully he has already prayed too!
Hmm sounds like BYU had a typical cruddy 2nd half, it always seems like they do. oh well sounds like their defense is pretty awesome, and they will get it together for sure!
I really hope they get the Geraldo thing settled, that is really annoying, I dont think the mcmartin family has done anything wrong in that, just loved the kid!
Mom, here is the deal with packages, if you want to send a package it needs to be SOO light. If it is heavy at all, the mission office has to pay a fine for it and stuff. I cant remember the exact weight, i know it needs to be light though.
Oh! we met again with Ferry, all is well again, he is such a good guy. He is still excited about coming to church more and stuff.
The kids sound like they are doing awesome! The kids are playing soccer?? AWESOME! Soccer is HUGE here, pretty much everyone loves it so much. Jack scored 3 goals!!! Awesome!
mmm Marinated chicken sounds sooo good. Food here is great, I think I am in love with rice now though, it is so good. We eat it almost 2 times a day.
Welp, I dont really know what else to say, I am loving the mission, it is hard, but the more and more I think about it I wouldnt rather be anywhere else, Inviting people to come to Christ is an amazing thing to be able to focus on!
I love you all!!!
Kevin

New Companion- from Utah

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

GO ORANGE GO BIG BLUE!

Sounds like it has been an awesome opening weekend of football! BYU got it done too! Awesome!! I liked the all white jerseys, way cool!!! Sounds like Kellen tore it up too. hopefully there are plenty more great things to come this football season!

Well, I have a new companion now, Elder Marijanto moved to Bogor today. My new companion is from Highland, Utah his name is Elder Kujanpaa. WE will probably be comps for about 6 weeks and then the next group of Indonesian elders will be ready to be trained so he will probably be a trainer and I will be with the Indonesian elder that came to Manado with me. He seems like a pretty cool guy. He is super tall, which will get a ton of laughs from the people here.

This week has been pretty good, a little confusing at times. Unfortunately Ferry doesnt want to talk with us anymore, it is really a bummer. Plus we always seem to lose investigators out of nowhere and dont know why, most likely because they've talked to their friends from church about this church and were told not to meet with us again. It is a bummer.

Novita is doing really well. She is still set on getting baptized in November and is starting to find the courage to talk with her mom about how she feels about this Church and stuff. It really is a matter of having faith and praying and knowing that Heavenly Father will prepare her way to follow his commandments. From Nephi 3:7 we know He always does!

Please keep sending me lots of info about football and stuff, it doesnt make me trunky, but if you stopped it probably make it worse! haha
I think it was Dad that asked if I have gotten any mail from friends- the answer is not yet. But it's not that big of a deal. Oh and what if you sent like 60 -70 dollars for the camera?

Sorry I havent talked much about what the city is like and stuff! I see the ocean everyday! The church is right next to it! It is pretty awesome. Sunsets are pretty amazing here because of it. Manado is pretty much a busy busy city, but my area is the northern part which is more neighborhoods and stuff. The living conditions are pretty rough in those areas, but I am pretty much used to it. The people are really funny, and for the most part almost always happy. I love this place for sure, except for days like monday where we get fed WAY too much and I feel sick all the next day because of it. But usually after a day or so I feel fine. I have definitely lost some weight here but I am not sure how much, there's no scale at our house. Maybe 10-15 punds? Hayden sounds like he is a skinny kid now! How funny!

The branch here is really small, and the branch president has been in the same calling for over 20 years. A very very long time. He is a really great guy, but at times it easy to see he is burnt out with being branch president. He has done a lot for the Church here though, and endured a lot of criticism from the newspapers and people here.

Well, sorry I dont have a whole lot to say! I always forget what to say in my emails! I know the Church is true and I know this is the Lord's work. I am learning more and more to just love these people and the importance of being myself right off the bat so they feel comfortable too. I have had a tough time with that, but hopefully it will get better with time! I really love this experience and that I could be a part in the most important work on the Earth.

I love you all! I hope you know it!
You are always in my prayers!
Elder Johnson

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

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

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

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

Three Emails...Got a little behind! Kevin is doing GREAT!!!!

August 3, 2011
Selamat Agustus!
I hope you all are enjoying the last bit of summer. I cant believe it is already august. craziness!
SO first off, what the heck mountain west conference!? I still am not a big fan of that conference. but oh well, no worries, it doesnt matter what jerseys we wear for sure!
And the deal with mail here is that you cant send it through the Pouch mail thing the Church has, it has to be sent normally!
So the guy who told me that the Islam fast startted last week was incorrect it actually started on monday. It is a pretty huge deal here for sure. for the most part muslims are happy about all of it, but I am thinking at about midway through the month they'll be a little crankier, no food and even worst no cigarettes while the sun is up. I dont know if I have said this before, but EVERYONE, at least amolst all the males, smoke. and from what I saw yesterday they start young, around 12. IT is very very sad.
So, Dad asked about whether or not we teach Muslims, it is a pretty difficult situation. We cant really ask if they want to learn or anything, they have to approach us and ask. And if they want to learn it has to be cleared first by the head of their house and then by President Groberg. I am yet to teach any Muslims, it is just such a big no-no in that religion to enter into a different religion.
Our biggest finding method here is by far the angkots but also we often go into neighborhoods and try to make conversation with people. My personal favorite is when the person is sitting outside just asking " Ada istirahat sekarang?"- basically it is are you resting right now? and then they often get excited about a white person speaking indonesian and then we talk from there. It is a very different way of proselyting here, , but we usually talk with them for a while before we bring up the Church, unless they ask then we can just go for it. the most we can really say is we're missionaries from the Church and then hopefully they ask about it.
The big news this week is that Novita is now on date to baptized... but unfortunately she wants to wait quite awhile, so we can teach her mom a little bit too, and ease concerns. but we are excited about that, even though it is three months away!
one of the biggest problems in the branch here is keeping members active, it is also very very hard to find those that are already inactive to try and see if there is anything we can help with. But one member we have met with every week is a guy named Fery, who has been inactive fore about 2 years. Noone realyl knew why. but he finally opened up to us and we're now starting to help him get back into the Church and keeping the commandments. He is an awesome guy, and I could already tell he was happy to commit to start living righteously again.
Something I have really come to know here in Manado is how special this Church is because it teaches true doctrine and principles and focuses on Family and helping families be strong. I know this is the one true church, and I know it is led by Jesus Christ through a living prophet.I know that through Priesthood authority, ordinances of salvation are done so that we can become closer with Heavenly Father through covenants. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve and help others learn how great our Father's love is for us.
I love you all!
Have an excellent week!
Sampai minggu depan!
Kevin

August 10, 2011
howdy howdy!
Another week has flown by! It has been a good, hard week that is for sure. It sounds like all is well in the US of A. Indonesia just seems to get crazier and crazier every week. It has really really been a harder week. We just can't really seem to get anywhere with our investigators. Mostly because we can never meet with them because they're busy. I often ask myself " Why do people have to have lives? why can't they just always meet with us!" but I am learning quickly to be patient with everyone, with investigators, myself, members, and our district.
I think i have said it before, but the people here are hilarious! a few days ago, we were teaching this guy named cornelius, and he has a ton of chickens and his house is more of just like a roof and it is all open so the chickens just kind of roam... well as we were teaching him, and trying to help him understand the restoration, because earlier he told us he is so grateful for the prophet mormon that is in America right now who wrote the Book of Mormon... So as we were teaching him, it was really quiet and then out of nowhere one of the chickens was right behind me and started trying to fly up and land on a rafter for the roof but got stuck... It scared me half to death and then Cornelius says " OH! it was the Holy Ghost!!" eeeish... so funny. He is a very very interesting fellow.
Novita is still doing well as is her friend Olivia, who we're teaching now and she already has a testimony about the Book of Mormon! The biggest thing they are going to have to overcome is being willing to switch churches, because their church right now- Gereja Bethel Indonesia, is almost right next to ours. So they are a little bit shy about it and things like that. But as their testimonies get stronger it won't be a problem for them.
One of the highlights of the week for me was yesterday when we met with Sister Novita, who was recently baptized. Brother Novan her husband is out of town on business, so we missed out on him. But their family is SO strong. It strengthens my testimony every time we meet with them. They are just so humble, but yet so happy and they have already see nthe blessings of the Gospel in their lives. On Sunday she bore her testimony and it was just great- It gave me a lot of hope too. Even though things are pretty tough right now in this area, and it is easy to let myself get down a little bit here and there, There really are people who are ready and need the Restored Gospel. now, If only we can get around the junk churches here to find them! People here are just too filled by churches here with things that are good, somewhat true, but not completely true. But they dont understand that so they don't really want to hear from us.
Needless to say I have learned quite a few things thus far, first be patient and love the people, second be a little more patient, be obedient and just work hard because I can control my effort and if I worked my hardest, I can go to sleep at night feeling good.
And the last thing is something the president Groberg said about 2 months ago at zone conference- it is ok to be disappointed, just never let yourself be discouraged.
I love this place, I am loving this opportunity to serve, and I am learning and growing so much every day.

I love you all! The Church is true, don't ever forget it! Read your scriptures, say your prayers and go to church! :]
Kevin

August 17, 2011
Kemerdekaan!
Haha today is the Indonesian independence day! So everyone has been all fired up about that!
First off, I am sad to hear about Carrie... Needless to say all will work out as we continue to pray and exercise faith with it! Tell her I love and miss her! And of course say the same to all the rest as well! SOunds like the campout was a blast! I bet those kids are just getting so hilarious. I am also sorry to hear that school is already starting again... you poor souls! The kids here have already been back in schol for a month or so now. It really is the worst feeling though, going back to school. And if the summer went as fast for you as it has for me, it hasnt felt like summer at all.
I was disappointed when BSU joined the WAC because I have already witnessed first hand that it is a joke of a conference. All of those reasons are why BYU left it. Hopefully BSU wont have to stay for long though, or maybe some changes will be made. Oh well, it sounds like this year will be interesting but also pretty good! The Georgia game should be amazing, hopefully it is better than the last time we played georgia... eeish. Let me know how it goes!
AS far as the work goes, it is still goin! We are just continuing to try to find and teach at any opportunity we get. we have some pretty god investigators right now. One, Alicia has met with the missionaries before with her husband. unfortunately her husband recently left her for other pursuits regarding religion. but she is very open and we know this Gospel will bless her greatly to know the fulness of our Father in Heaven's love for her. Novita is still the same, doing great. She has a very strong testimony already. The other investigator that is awesome is this guy named Eko who is 23 years old, hasnt attended GMIM for 3 years( Elder MJ and I are pumped about that part) and is very smart so he understands pretty well. The hard part is meeting with him, he is so busy always with musical pursuits, work, school. But he is awesome and the other day as we were proselyting after an appointment fell through we just decided to pick a street and walk, next thing we knew it was Eko's street and he saw us and called us over. The Lord really does lead his missionaries. We had been trying to meet with him again for about 3 weeks, and finally were able to! It was great.
The language is coming along... my companion always tells me i am already fluent... but I definitely dont feel like it yet. IT gets better everyday, it is really nice to have a companion that doesnt speak very much english at all, Elder MArijanto really helps me out a ton. He is such a stud. He is so humble and has taught me a ton already about how to serve. I really don't like to think that in a month and a half or so I will probably have a new companion... He is just the man.
It has started to rain here a lot lately... already three times in one week, and I have not yet bought a rain jacket, i think i am god on money but I might need more for it... IT RAINS SO HARD HERE. One hour and the roads were flooded the other day. It was nuts. I think it is the most rain I have ever seen. definitely awesome though.
On SUnday I have to speak in the branch... I had a hard enough time speaking for 15 minutes in English, Indonesian is going to be a whole diferent story. it will be interesting for sure...
Well, sorry I dont have much this week, But I know that this is the Lord's work. SOmething crazy about Manado is it is one of the newest branches in Indonesia, also the farthest from Jakarta which is the center of the Church in indonesia, and indonesia is about as far as you can get from Salt Lake City. Needless to say this is kind of the frontier of mission work! I know I am here to help these people by sharing the Restored GOspel with them and I am loiving this opportunity!
I love you all!
Have a great week, enjoy school! :]
Kevin

Fruit that SMELLS like GARBAGE? Sounds Yummy!

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