Surabaya (Week 62)

Hey everyone!!

Thanksgiving is coming soon! From what it sounds I won't be having turkey but pizza hut pizza this year, which is HIGH CLASS in Indonesia! 

Well I have no time because there's this thing called college that I have to sign up for...AH!

Here's my testimony:

I've learned SO much on my mission! My knowldge about the gospel has increased, my self confidence to talk to anyone has increased, and the love I feel for my Savior and for Heavenly Father has increased. I know that missionary work is so important and that it's not just the full time missionaries that do it. We all do it! SO DO IT!I know that Christ lives and I know that God the Father is watching over all of us. I know when we really hand our lives over to Him everything will be ok (I'm still working on handing over everything and not stressing, it's process!). I know that He knows best for you and for me. Follow Him and do what He wnats done because untimately that is the smartest thing to do with your life. Dalam nama Yesus Kristus, amin. 

Love you all! 

love,

Sister Sperry :)

Surabaya (Week 61)

WOW!

So I can't even believe a week has already passed by.... here it is

Me and my new companion Sister Aryanto.

Senin: We played some futsol and worked hard and all is well :) 

 

Selasa: We went on splits with Sister Williams from the Mission couple here, that was awesome! She does really well in inviting the Spirit and is just full of Spiritual knowledge. We had a good chat in the back of the car about life and the Gospel. We are so blessed to have such great mission couples here in Indonesia!!! Mission couples make such a difference and I am so grateful for each and every one of them in any position in the world THANK YOU!!!!

Rabu: We had a really rough time teaching at one of the lessons because the kids were...being rough. But we know this Gospel is going to help that family!!! Luckily they all made it to church on Sunday and the kids behaved themselves. Such a blessing and I know that this gospel is going to bless their lives.

Kamis: Just a regular missionary day. We met with a new member who has 32 kids and 70 grandkids....She adopted a lot :) She used to be a nun, then got an answer from the Lord that she needed to get married...and now she's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! There's more to the story than that but she's awesome and it was so fun to meet her!

 

Jumat: ONE of the lessons we planned worked out. All of the rest were referrals we got as we were proselyting! That was a miracle and huge blessing. 

Sabtu: Just a great missioanry day! 

Hari Minggu: We had quite a few investigators at church! That was great! One of them, with a baptismal date, brought a friend!! She's already doing missionary work :) 

I love this work!! Everyone else keep working hard and having fun! love you all!\

love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Surabaya (Week 60)

Selamat Pagi from SUROBOYO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yopp I've been moved from my Jawa Tengah Kingdom to this awesome city in the Eastern Jawa! I can now say I've been to Jawa Barat, Tengah and Timur (West, central and East!). I already love Surabaya. It's the second biggest city after Jakarta but not as crazy as Jakarta so we're still able to ride bike (my new bike is SO NICE!). So Here's the week!

My new area!

Senin: we did a lot, I said bye to people, and all that fun jazz. 

 

Selasa: Did I tell you about how there was a guy that knows REALLY good english and it was so good he sounded like an Easterner and then he followed us and we stopped at someones house and they just so happened to be Christian? Well...we went to go see that person again :) She was Christian but then "left Christ" and now feel likes she's sinned and is very confused. We listened to her and tred to help her realize the importance of the Atonement and Christ's love. It was a good lesson and helped me to remember Christ loves me too :) 

Then we had a super intense lesson with a nonactive member...that wasn't fun. It made me so frustrated! She's just letting these wonderful blessings for her and her kids just pass by her!!! STOP! JUST COME GET YOUR BLESSINGS!! YOUR LIFE WILL BE SO MUCH BETTER IF YOU DO!!  It just makes me sad to think that people wont act to take what God is giving to them. Sister Zabriskie went and got Snickers afterward as a comfort...you know it's intense when there's snickers involved afterward.

 

BUT My day was made better when we met with an awesome investigator that  is a friend of one of the Elders in the mission. He has been so well prepared! I'm super excited for him and for his older brother's family that is learning. Their story is awesome but I have no time...so ask me later ya ;) 

Rabu: last day in Solo...:'''''(   That was a bummer...But we had good lessons and my love for these people just grew even more! They have no idea the kind of impact they've had in my life. I can't wait to meet them in Heaven so I can really really express how grateful I am for them all!

Kamis: I moved to SURABYA! We went out and gave the baptismal commitment right away! Surabaya is going places I can feel it! 

Jumat: I'm just falling in love with this city and it's not nearly as hot as I thought it was going to be so that's a blessing ;) We met lots of people and you can just feel the excitment of the work progressing here.

Sabtu: I got to meet some of the progressing investigators here and they are just so cool. I also got to meet with Elder Headrick again which was awesome. We are from the same MTC group and were in Jakarta together so it's fun to see him again. Our bahasa is SO much better than it was back then ;) 

Hari Minggu: it's a branch instead of a ward here so that was way different. But there's this strength and excitment that's in a branch that you dont get in a ward which is just pumping me up! We were able to give another commitment for Baptism and it was just great! 

 Alright well...Sampai jumpa! I hope you have the opportunity to eat a snickers that's partly melted (JUST A LITTLE) on a bike becuase it always tastes better like that.

love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Solo (Week 59)

Selamat Datang November! I remember this time last year and guess what... I was already in Indonesia. Cool right?! 

Well I'm a bit stressed today because it's the pday before transfers so it's super busy. I'm getting moved to Surabya (which the members were telling me yesterday it is so hot I can just break an egg over my head and let it cook there on my way to church and by the time I make it to church it's ready to eat! PANAS BANGET!)  and I'll be companions with Sister Ariyanto, which is awesome because I already know her! I served in her ward in Jogja before she came out to the field. She's come out with us before in Jogja and I'm stoked to see her in full action now! I'm also going to get the chance to see Sister L. Fisher again which will be awesome but I will for sure miss Sister Zabriskie a ton and also SOLO!!!! I love Solo and all the people here. There's so much potential it's amazing!

Well I don't have time to email a ton but I just wanted to leave you with this. I read the Fourth Missionary this week which I think should actually be changed to The Fourth Person. Go, find it, read it. It has completely changed my thinking. I am working on giving up EVERYTHING to the Lord. His way is the intelligent way and in the end the easiest way, I know that for sure. And I'm not saying give up everything world like to Him, but give Him your hopes and dreams and concerns. He will help you with them if you just give them to Him. He loves us and we will never be able to repay Him for the wonderful things He does in each of our lives. 

We only have one thing that is really ours, and that's ourselves. Give up all you HAVE to God. and He will give you so much more. 

I know these things are true. I know God lives. I know I haven't done nearly as much in my mission to help other as God has done to help me. I am forever and for always in His debt. 

And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Have a great week everyone and may God Bless You :) 

love,

Sister Sperry :) 

For Halloween Me and Sister Zabriskies Dressed up!  I was sister Zabriskie and She was me :) She does a good job, the mouth is open and everything! 

Solo (Week 58)

SELAMAT ULANG TAHUN SISTER ZABRISKIE!!!

Today is Sister Zabriskie's birthday and you should all know that she is an AWESOME AND AMAZING PERSON/MISSIONARY!! I love her and so does everyone else because there's no possible way that anyone could not love her. Happy 20th rekan!

Man this week was AWESOME! So many miracles and culture and just pure amazingness! I love this country! Here's how it went...

Senin: we had an awesome shopping day:D we got to see how batik was made and I am finished with my Christmas shopping. BAM!

Selasa: We learned some more awesome things about Family History from Elder and Sister Lewis. We went over to help them with a project that they are going to show in front of a ton of important people about family search and getting our families traced back to Adam. It was super neat and I think ALL of you should do indexing because getting these records sorted out is so important for our salvation. We cannot be perfect without our ancestors and they cannot be perfect without us! (D&C 128) So lets all get to work!!! Indonesia espeically needs help in clearing up records. iyo semuanya kita bersama2 berusaha untuk menrapikan catatan2 indonesia supaya bisa menemukan leluhur kita! belajara tentang keluarga kita adalah SANGAT penting! Sy berjanji anda akan dapat berkat dari Tuhanmu. 

Also 4 missionaries, 3 from Solo and 1 from Jogja got set apart. It was a big deal and so cool to see and be apart of! I can't wait to meet them all in the mission field; Something unique about this mission is a lot of the time you serve in the wards of the missionaries you serve with! So I know them all and know that Indonesia is going to be greatly blessed by their hard work and great spirits!

Rabu: We got to watch a really cute parade with our friends in Baluwarti. It was like just a local parade to celebrate the Javanese/Muslim New year. It was so cute! I love the culture here and we really enjoyed ourselves. We also had some great lessons where I really felt the Spirit. I can feel myself improving and it's easier to feel the promptings of the Spirit and it has been such a blessing! 

Kamis: We got to see some more traditional stuff and picked some cool cherry looking things off a tree in front of a less active member's house. Really yummy and SWEET! The less active hasn't come to church for a long while because of conditions at home but I feel that he's going to come back soon. I know Heavenly Father is going to help him through this trial if HE (the brother) really actually truly wants it! 

Jumat: The elders put together an AWESOME fireside about social media! I'm pumped to use Facebook when I get home! And I learned somethinga bout myself. I think dulu (before) I was more of a hearer of the word and not much of a doer,. BUT NOW I AM ALL HEAR AND DO!! Action is so important! I just was looking around and asked some of the youth that was there if they were on their phones because they were suggesting friends to the facebook page or sharing their testimonies like we were talking about and they said no (don't worry they did latter and it was awesome!) I just KNOW it is so important to act to DO! And now is the time to find out if anyone really actually does read my emails ;) a few weeks ago I tried to get you all to post your testimony to facebook and then send it to me. I got 1.........C'MON YALL!! Lets work together and be doers of the word! lets "flood the earth" (as elder Bednar put it) with our light and the gospel and help these people out. Please DO and don;t just read. I promise what I ask to do is not just I want to ask you for funsies but because this is my duty and my purpose as a missionary. Eventhough I was not called to your area of the world, this is what I am supposed to me doing, calling you all to Christ. Lets come to Him together and bring the rest of the world with us!

Sabtu: WADUH MIRACLES RIGHT AND LEFT!! We just had an AWESOME day and there is too much to write but it all ended in some referrals, less actives coming to church and role playing with us, 3 more commitments to baptism, hilarious investigators becoming our friends, gross javanese food that felt like luggies and boogers (I didn't finish it...), and a family that I fully believe will make it to the temple one day! I love these people so much and Man Sister Zabriskie and I are blessed missionaries! 

Hari Minggu: we had 150 epople come to church (when I first got here it was like 70) (mind you it was ward conference BUT still it happened AND THAT IS A MIRACLE), 5 COUNT EM 5 investigators to church, 3 less actives, and to top it all off there was even a wedding!!! BEST DAY EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I love being a missionary! I love my life and I love my God. He is full of mercy and grace and He is just wonderful. I am so blessed beyond belif and I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve God. I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support. Now go put your testimony on facebook and tell Sister Zabriskie happy birthday! 

with love,

Sister Sperry :)

Solo (Week 57)

 

WOW!!!!!!! Oktober is almost done...where is the time going!?!?!?!?!! This week was awesome with PLD and a baptism and we are just stoked to keep working hard! Unfortunately I found out I'm going to be moving  come early November but it'll be a good change and a new opportunity to work hard! Well here's the week :) 

Senin: just a normal nice pday. We went and saw a none active member who's kid is SO SMART, He's three and already knows a little english. nuts! 

Selasa: we tried going to all sorts of places but not many worked out...that's ok people have agency. We did get to meet with the Sigit family and they are just awesome. The father has so many awesome questions! Now we just got to get them to come to church to get answers to all those questions! 

Rabu: We had interviews with President Donald. It's always so great to see him and Sister Donald. They are such great people and I know for a fact they were called of God to serve these amazing people in Indonesia :D The bules got to play basketball which was way fun even though they were all 6 feet taller than me....I'm a lot more comfortable playing with the Indonesians who are more my height  :) 

Kamis: We had our PLD meeting with the president and the aps. It was really good and we learned how to be "Full Purpose Missionaries." We are working hard to find, teach, baptize and confirm, RETAIN and reactivate! Retention and reactivation are two of the hardest parts of being a full purpose missionary. But we are working hard here in  Indonesia! The members really make all the difference in these areas of missionary work. So DEAR MEMBERS...WORK WITH THE MISSIONARIES!!! Help us out! We all need to come together to help our brothers and sisters stay on the true and right path. The path that leads to eternal happiness. They need our help!!!! We have to work together to bring God's kingdom to all. EVERYONE NEEDS THIS GOSPEL!!!!! God loves all His children, that has been manifest to me SO many times on my mission...please help Him to spread that love. 

Jumat: We went and taught the park again :) Those people are so great, really. So humble. We also went to a missionary farewell for 3 missionaries that will be coming to Indonesia. They leave for the MTC this week :D at the end of November we will have 98 missionaries!! WE ARE GROWING!! It's so exciting to see this work grow :) Also we learned in PLD, that the mission has gotten 104 baptisms so far this year, compared to around 70 last year. WOOT! TEMPLE IN INDONESIA HERE WE COME!! God remembers His children even on the isles of the sea in this wonderful country :) And this growth is why it is so important to have help from the members for retention and reactivation.

Sabtu: Regular hard working day :) I could really feel the Spirit in our lessons and that is always such a great feeling :) 

Hari Minggu: we got denied 6 times but I wasn't even mad becasue IBU SUMARSIH GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We thought we would still have to wait untli next week so it was a great surprise to learn that she would be able to be baptized this week. She was so happy she said she wanted to do it again :) We love her so much and it was such a blessing to see her get baptized :D 

 

I love missionary work! I love my life! I love this country and I love God. I know this church is true and God the Father loves you too!MAJU TERUS GEREJA INI BENAR!!

LOVE,

GO AGGIES!!!

Sister Sperry :) 

 

Solo (Week 56)

WOW! Another week...gone. Well we'll never see that one again!

It's still hot but the word is that the rainy season should start here soon. Sister Zabriskie and I are so excited we can hardly stand it....PLEASE!!!!! 

In other news CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!!!!! There were spiritual round house kicks and karate chops and it was just all great. That was really the highlight of my entire week and I don't have much time so I'm just going to write about that...

I Have two favorite talks. 1 was from Jorg K. (I don't know how to spell his name). He was one of the 70 who spoke and he was the one who talked about having confidence before God. That was an awesome talk! And I feel like it's pretty easy to apply. I like how blunt he was and how he just was all, hey, just do it! He spoke with a lot of power and it was just awesome. I really felt a lot more enlightened after hearing that talk.

Then there was another one that was given in Portuguese I think? It was the one about patriarchal blessings. I loved it!! Are you living in a way that you are fulfilling your patriarchal blessing? Wow what a question! That's one I'm going to keep asking myself throughout my life. Patriarchal blessings are special gifts given to us for our benefit. They are like maps for our lives and will give us the little extra guidance we need. I've received a lot of guidance from my blessing even here on my mission. I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that has provided us with ways to know His will in our lives. He cares about us, loves us all, and knows who we TRULY are. Who we truly are! Have you ever thought about that? He knows who you truly really are. He remembers things about you in the premortal world that you've forgotten. He knows you truly and you can bet He is going to provide the way to fulfill your true potential as long as you stay true to His teachings. He really is our loving Heavenly Father and we are in reality His children. 

I hope everyone enjoyed conference and are now enjoying what we've learned into our lives. have a great week everyone full of spiritual punches and round house kicks.!

"Everybody was kongfu fighting....WAH!!!!!"

love,

Sister Sperry :) 

 

Solo (Week 55)

Sugeng enjeng! (I don't know if my spelling is right but that's good morning in javanese!)

I hope you all absolutely loved conference!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to hear it :D like really...Sister Zabriskie and I are pumped. 

SELAMAT IDUL ADHA!! Or happy sacrifice day...yesterday! The masjids were full of stinky cows and goats and they were singing all night. I tried to stay as far away from the masjids as I could so I didn't have to see any of the sacrifices but a masjid is hard to avoid here. We did get to taste a little afterward though and I have to admit it was really good! 

Hey how many of you put your testimony of facebook? hmmm?!

Senin: We watched women's session of conference which was AWESOME! it was such a great session and I can't wait to hear everything else.

Selasa: While we were with Sister Donald the other week we found a family that had an old Kitab Mormon. We gave them the new translation and then visited them again this week. The first thing their kid said to us when she came into the house was "I really like the stories from the Book of Mormon." ...US TOO!!!! We were so shocked but overjoyed! They were a bit busy with work at the time but we made an appointment to go back the next day. And...the power went out everywhere in the city and I think Jogja and Semarang too! I don't know why...I just went with it ;)

Rabu: The family we visited were awesome! The father had some really awesome questions and we are so excited to get to know them! Like I said before, Solo has so much potential it stresses me out sometime. We gotta help these people!!!!! Also we had a teaching like Alma moment. Alma 32 is where he preaches to the poor. Well we found ourselves in the park this week, preaching to the poor! It was very humbling. I want to help these people so badly and I know that the gospel can help them! We're praying for The Park!

Kamis: We had an AWESOME zone meeting in Jogja that got us super pumped. We made great goals and are super excited for good things to come. Good things are happening in Indonesia!!

Jumat: Mukjizat demi mukjizat! (Miracle after Miracle) It all started with an Oreo run and led to...

-someone asking for a Kitab Mormon
-someone willingly giving us a referral without us asking
-Sister Lisa came with us and was just awseome (she leaves for her mission here in Okt 22)
-Ibu Eni, without us really pressing the matter that hard, said she wants to be baptized (she's the one that starting thinking about it right after we invited her...and she says her family supports her! it was a shocker but it just shows you we don't do this work, we don't convert these people, God does!)

And one of the ladies from The Park got shoes so she could come to church. I about cried.

Sabtu: just more miracles. E'ry day! God is Great!!!

Hari Minggu: 2 people came to church! The lady that got shoes and she thought that we might have forgotten so when we showed up to pick her up for church she started to cry. It was so tender and I am so blessed to be here at this time and meet these people. She's getting over a stroke so she can't really walk or speak very well. But she's such a sweet lady and I know God loves her dearly and boy so do we!

Man, missionary work is just so great. I'm so grateful for this opportunity. If you haven't posted your testimony to facebook yet don't worry I'm giving you a second chance ;) (because God gives me second chances all the time!!!) Post it and send me a picutre ya?! 

Thank you for all the support and love and have a great week!

love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Solo (Week 54)

Dear World,

Wow another week has flown by! I thought I got the virus fixed on my memory card for fotos but...I apparently didn't...so once again there will be no picutres even though I got some good ones...sorry ya?! Well here's how the week went...

Senin: We went over to the Lewis's and wrote about our Grandmas. I have some pretty cool Grandmas so that was fun :) I love learning about family history work and doing so!! Get on family search and do it ya?! 

Selasa: It was a good day! The woman that doesn't understand all that great is progressing pretty well! It's so fun to meet with her because she gets so excited about things and then she's SO excited to be baptized because she knows she'll be clean just like her shirts when she washes them ;) She's just too cute!

Rabu: I went to Jakarta!! I flew out with a couple of Elders from Solo and got to meet some of the new elders that came in. It's a good looking group and this mission is going to thrive. I think we've hit 90 missionaries!!! WOOT!!!! The mission is growing!!! I also got to meet up with my twin, Sister Olsen and hear about life in Jakarta. She says Jakarta is hard and it's even harder because she's a sister training leader and has to travel all over the mission! But it sounds like she's up for the challenge and her and Sister Sheffield are doing well. So good to see all them!

Kamis: I got my visa renewed, spent the afternoon with the old MTC gang, and no one has changed a bit! Haha we all just picked right back up where we were before. It was fun to hear mission stories from everyone and just to be "a district" again even if it was just a couple hours. Then I headed back to Solo and I'm glad to be back :) 

Jumat: Awesome miracle! So we've been going to this nonactive members barber shop to try and help him come back to church. He's served a mission and he's just an all around great guy, but he likes to joke around. Luckily I have always been picked on for being gullable and have learned to overcome it and can outsmart his jokes! HA! He thinks I'm really smart, even though I'm not all that smart. Anyway there was one of his friends at the barber shop too and the friend just so happens to be Christian who is looking to answers to a very important question. And we so happen to be representatives of Christ serving to try and help people find those answers...coincidence I THINK NOT!!! We explained the Book of Mormon to him and the best part was the member HELPED us explain church and the Book of Mormon. IT WAS SO COOL!!!!!!!! Even though a lot of it was in Javanese I could still understand the member's testimony of the Book of Mormon and was happy to see that he still has one and knows where truth is. We are still working on trying to get an appointment with the friend but I have faith he'll find his answer through reading the Book of Mormon. It's such an amazing and great book! It's the word of God! 

Sabtu: We ran out of bread and peanutbutter and us bules can't live without the two so we went out to buy some. Before leaving we prayed we would be able to find someone who wants to hear our message. Not even 5 minutes later, before we even walked into the store, a lady starts speaking to us and invites us over to share a message! God answers prayers!!!! He was just waiting for us to ask and then He would provide. Man prayer is cool! We met with her and she had some good questions and some odd questions but overall it was a good meeting. :) We are such blessed missionaries! 

Hari Minggu: Church was not quite as heartbreaking as normal because we had people come!! YAY! The woman who is slow to learn actually was able to participate in sunday school and boy was she excited to do so! Good things are happening in Solo. :) 

I want to just invite you all to do a little missionary work, because it's fun. And here's how...

So the mission has been pushing a lot to use facebook. Facebook is acutally a great tool for finding people to teach. The Bishop gave a talk on this a little and asked the members to be careful with what they post on the internet so people can see that they are members of the church. And I want to invite you all to do the same. As members of the church I want to ask you to post your testimony on facebook, take a picture, and then send it to me! It doesn't need to be long and beautiful, just what you believe. Stand as a witness of Christ! And Helps others find Him. I know that when you do this, your testimony will be strengthened. And so will mine, and possibly many others! Go ahead, try it :) 

I love this work! I hope to get tons of pictures of testimonies this upcoming week. Go share the gospel!

with love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Solo (Week 53)

Halo semuanya!

So not much news this week because poor Sister Zabriskie was sick most of the week. She was throwing up and all that fun jazz. But no worries because she's all better now! 

Even though we didn't go out much this week I realized that my teaching and my missionary skills are actually progressing!! I've reached a year in Indonesia now and I went back and read my journal from when I first got here, and I can actually see progress! I know it's come by studying the things of the gospel and when our knowledge of the gospel deepens and gets better so does our testifying. I can tell that I testify with a lot more strength now! 

Saturday was the first day we could really go out and we worked hard! And all of our lessons felt AWESOME! Sister Zabriskie and I have reached a new level in our missionary work and it's exciting. The Spirit was present and Solo is filled with so much potential it's ridiculous! We are working really hard to accomplish our goals. 

There's one miracle that I'd like to share. We've started teaching a woman that can't read and knows better Javanese than Indonesian so it's really hard to teach her! Us and the Elders have switched off going to see her every day and guess what...she can pray! It's like a really short simple prayer but she can do it!!!!!!!! We are working hard to help her understand the importance of the gospel. Also members are AWESOME! They know javanese so they explain everything we can't. It's been a huge blessing to have willing members around.

Well I hope everyone has a great week! Learn the gospel, study the scriptures each day, pray each day and I know you testimony will deepen and you will feel closer to Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. 

I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

 

Solo (Week 52)

Selamat Pagi dan Selamat Hari Senin! 

It's been a pretty great week! Same ol' same ol' lovin the missionary life. Some of the silly highlights of the week are:

We have a new breakfast favorite, it's Salju Pelangi (Rainbow Snow (snow rainbow if literally translated)) It's yogurt with granola (ya it's taken me a year to find granola) and fruit loops :D enak! 

There are therapy fish here that eat the dead skin off the bottom of your feet and IT TICKLES SO MUCH!! I couldn't help but scream!

Apparently I just live in a world of analogies. Sister Zabriskie says I have really good analogies. Hey thanks :) 

The week has just been the same old but I wanted to talk about a few things that I've learned. 

1) FAMILY IS SO IMPORTANT!!! Man we have learned a lot about temple work, family history work, eternal families and all that these past couple weeks and it's just amazing! I've really come to appreciate the hope that comes from God's perfect plan for us and our families and that we really can live together forever when we are righteous and do these ordinances with the power and authority of God. Family is such a beautiful thing and Satan is going to do all he can to destroy it! As long as we keep centered on Jesus Christ and His teachings I promise our families will be fortified and will achieve eternal glory together. There is a bright hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even for those family members that might seem lost. Never give up on them! Trust in the Lord in all you do and He will guide you. Love those that may be swaying from the path and I promise they will remember that love here and in the next life and if they chose to come back that's going to be a huge helping factor! 

2) SATAN IS REAL! He is evil. He will do everything he can to keep us away from the Beautiful and Perfect Plan of Happiness that God has created for us. He speaks to us through the gaddianton robbers in 3 Nephi 3-5 (especially ch 3. It's kinda really creepy and gave me the heebie geebies...). I like these chapters because good wins and I hope all of you know that even though satan is tough and evil and has a power that is strong his power doesn't even compare to the power and goodness of God. Good will always win! I know that to be true and I know the FULL truth will always be stronger than satan's half lies. 

3) Missionary life is not for these 18 months aja. It goes BEYOND that to the rest of our lives! My time here as a fully time missionary is just training for the rest of my life. Missionary work doesn't stop after this!

I know all of these things are true and I say them in the Name of Our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ, amin. 

I hope you all have a great week! Try Salju Pelangi...it's so good!

With love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Solo (Week 51)

Wow is it really September already!! Time flies when you are serving the Lord. And having fun! I wonder how the 3 Nephites feel about time...? well here's how the week went!

Senin: Us and the other Sisters made Gado-Gado for our pday and cookies which we absolutely enak sekali (Thank you mother of Sister L Fisher for the recipe!). Then we had a family night at Sister Tuti's house with her and her familiy. I don't know if I got this story in my email last week but it's a pretty cool one! So they are preparing to go on the big temple trip next week (I'm so excited for these people and wnat to go SO BAD!) and she had a problem with trying to get ordinances for her siblings. Sister Lewis, one of the Family History Missionaries here, put me on the case to try and figure things out. She also said that if I did it I would get on her expert list and then I'll for sure be called as a Family History Consultant when I get home...Well I figured it out!! It took a while but I finally was able to figure everything out and got the ordinances printed so she can take them to the temple. I've never felt like such a hero before! Sister Tuti thanked me about a million times and then invited us over for dinner, and I could really see how much this meant to her. Eternal Families are so important! And I've really gained a testimony about temple work and missionary work being the same great work. So lets all go work!!! 

Selasa: We went on a "Anggota Tidak Aktif" hunt (nonactive members). We found a lot of members! That was nice since me and my companion are still learning the area. All the members helped us out a lot! Man am I grateful for the Solo Members. 

Rabu: We went on splits with two girls from the different wards here. They are awesome! I went with Novi who is waiting for her call to come. She is going to be an AWESOME missionary and I am so excited for her to get her call. I hope she gets called to Indonesia so we have an opportunity to work together.

Kamis: Just one of those hard working days where God gives you blessing and sends you people to teach! We are really working towards are goal to help the mission with it's goal and God is really helping us! It's amazing. We are just meeting people right and left that we believe we can help recieve this gospel. Man are we blessed missionaries! I imagine it's from the prayers at home so THANK YOU!

Jumat: We started out the day right with singing the Aggie's fight song on our run. That got us pumped for the day. Then we got a call that a new member, my investigator from Jogja, was in Solo! Pak Darno! It was so great to see him but he had some sad news, he is moving to Sematra in an area that doesn't have a church yet. But I have faith that he'll be just fine and he'll move back here! We also met with one of our favorite people, Gabrella. She's preparing herself for baptism too and is really turning her life around. We really admire her!

Sabtu: Man Saturday was busy! But that's just how we like it! The funny story of the day was our "hit and run" Book of Mormon. We were visiting a person that we had contacted before and asking her if she read the pamflet we gave her. She said ya and then we tried to give her the Book of Mormon but she didn't really want it. We finally convinced her to read a few verses. Now you need to understand the teaching style with her is WAY different so what we did after was totally appropriate. We opened to the verses, handed her the book, and then ran! She laughed but didn't try and give it back. That's a good sign! Hopefully she'll read more of it after that :) Haha the funny ways God works ;) 

Hari Minggu: sundays are hard! You put so much effort on trying to get people to come to church and then...they don't come. But no worries! We'll just work harder to get them there this week!! 

If you don't want to go to church, then that means that you REALLY need to go! Going is not hard! You just have to swallow your laziness, pride and anything else that's keeping you and go! I cannot even describe the blessings that come through church attendance. Trust me, you'll feel a lot better because you went!

sorry for the long email. Have a great week yall!

Love,

sister SPerry :) 

This is Elder Hayes from my parents stake. Here's to Ashburn! 

 

Solo (A note from one of the missionary couples serving in Indonesia; Bro. & Sis. Lewis)

Dear Parents,  

I sent you the picture of your daughters earlier but I should have included the story of the young man they were teaching.  I've promised the Sisters I would send them this story so I decided to take time to write it.  Please note how much we love working with the missionaries in Solo.  They are all amazing, but we are becoming very fond of our sister missionaries.  They are truly dedicated to this work and are doing such an wonderful job teaching investigators.

 
Two weeks ago, we left for church at 7:30 am and attend both meetings in Solo and then return home.  After the second meeting,  the sister missionaries called and needed a ride to an investigator’s home and asked if we would give them a ride - an hour and a half drive each way.  Six hours of church isn't much in the mission field, as Sunday's are always our busiest day. We did have pressing matters to organize the temple trip for ward members, but we always love to be with the Sisters.  Besides that, the spirit whispered, “This is the reason you are here; you need to help.”   Our driver, Bono, always makes us feel safe, and he was willing to give up his Sunday evening, so we headed to Sragen.  The streets seemed extra congested with loaded trucks and endless motor bikes, but we enjoyed the visit with the sisters.

Let me introduce you to Afif. Afif walked towards us down the crowded ally of Sragen, bare-footed, dressed in tight denim jeans and a black tee-shirt with the words “Two Evils” bold displayed above a a snarling tiger and a skeleton.  I wasn’t sure what to think as the sisters told us there was a lady in the next town who had worked with the sisters in another area and was ready to be baptized before she had to move for her work.  All of that was correct except the lady really was Afif, a twenty-two year old young man.  You would want to call him a boy, as his 5 foot form belied his age.  He appeared more like a high-school student with his slim build, his  beautiful, Javanese skin and thick black hair.  It was his friendly, beautiful smile and honest gratitude that we had traveled so far to meet him, really caught my attention and helped me to fall in love with him immediately.  In Indonesia, we are really not able to go in Muslim homes to teach investigators and the sisters cannot teach a male alone, so we were glad we had traveled with them; Afif’s invited us into his apartment.

Afif really didn’t have a home; he lived in a cost or rented room.  These are like small, storage units about ten feet by ten feet that rent for about $10-$20 per month.  The room was almost totally bare except for a 8 foot by 8 foot by 4 inch pad on the floor, a small, twin bed, and a stool in one corner.  We left our shoes at the door and knelt on the floor.  Afif introduced himself to the sisters with his story.  He came from a Muslim family in Sumatra, a neighboring island to the northwest.  That island is almost totally Muslim and in the village where he was raised, all women (including Christians) must wear the traditional jilbob, or Muslim veil to cover their faces. In 2004, the third largest earthquake ever recorded on this planet hit his island of Sumatra and caused one of the largest tsunami’s ever recorded.  Twelve-year old Afif’s mother was killed by that tsunami leaving him with his father and brother.  Although Afif’s family and the entire community were Muslims, sometime after 2007, he learned about Christianity and he decided wanted to be Christian; he was immediately kick out of family and the community.   

Afif has not been home since then and only communicates with his brother.  He told us he has been through many dark periods of his life where he robbed, drank and smoked.  He remembers stealing some items on January 3, 2014, hurting someone, and feeling so badly. He was found by authorities and taken to jail.  In jail he learned about Christ and Christians.  He stressed how he wanted to repent and was learning about how Christ made that possible.  While on vacation, he was helping at a restaurant and met the sister missionaries.  He spoke with them and they shared a message about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and gave him a Book of Mormon.

Afif testified that the Book of Mormon was giving  him everything he was looking for and helping him to repent.  He used to drink about 13 cups coffee day.  Since the first day he met the sisters, he has had no coffee.  (I was in shocked that he quit drinking coffee.  In this country, the water is filthy.   Coffee at least boils away the impurities.)  I looked around his scantily furnished apartment.  There was a bag of coconut milk by his bed with two straws.  Coconut milk really doesn’t taste great.  Next to it was an empty bottle of water.  As the sisters interviewed Afif about his worthiness to be baptized, I continued to glance around the room.  There was a big Marlborough sign across his closet and above the door, probably 40 packs of empty Marlborough cartons lined an open cupboard.  The sisters asked him about smoking and he said he was down to 1 cigarette a day.  He said, “ Only one today and I will stop.”

I couldn’t help but stare at Afif as he spoke with enthusiasm to the sisters.  He seemed to love to talk.  I pictured as small, twelve-year old mother-less boy looking for someone who cared about him, someone he could talk with and share life.  It really touched my heart as I began to view Afif as God would view him.  As he talked about reading the Book of Mormon he stated he worked until 6:00pm daily, returns home to eat and then studys the book each night.  It was changing his life; it was what he had been looking for.  When he changed areas with work, it worried him that he would lose contact with the missionaries.  He texted them and then waited all day to hear from them.  He explained how thrilled he was to have someone contact him.  He declared his desire to be baptized.  The sisters asked him to pray and he gave about 8 minute prayer that was sweet and sincere.  He is scheduled for baptism August 23rd.  Afif touched my heart in a way it has never been touched before.  I can't get him off my mind and I am praying he will come to church and let the gospel fill the void he has had since his mother's death. 

The next Sunday, Sister Sperry paced back and forth in the hall between meetings, scanning the court yard in hopes Afif would show up for the meeting.  She had been texting him all morning and he told her he was on his way.  I could tell she cared so deeply about the young man, even though we had only met him the week before.  All of us at the first meeting had a pit in our stomach as we watched the door of the church hoping he would appear.  Where was he?  He lead us all to believe he would be at church so he could be interviewed for baptism.  After our meetings Sister Sperry let me know Afif had texted that he was in an accident and been thrown from his scooter.  He was OK but a little shook up an returned home.  It wrenched our hearts and we prayed he would be alright.

On Friday, Sister Sperry, Sister Zabriskie, Sister Ingersol and Sister Toegono (the Sister who orginally taught Afif before he transferred to our area) lined up another lesson in Sragen with Afif.  The road was crazy busy with weekend traffic, but again, Bono is cautious and makes us feel safe, even with the "kamikaze" motor scooter drivers who have no fear and no concern other than beating out the next scooter.  We must seem quite a spectacle as we approach the inner sanctuary where Afif lives.  His apartment is in a courtyard adjacent to a Muslim Mosque or community center.  It was a busy Friday evening with activites going on in the center and the five "Christian" women got a lot of curious stares as we walked resolutely passed towards the open door looking for Afif. He wasn't in his room, although the door was open and the light welcomed us.   He soon appeared from around the corner with his shy, yet gracious grin.  He seemed pleased to see Sister Toegono again and we introduced him to Sister Ingersol.  What young man wouldn't love four beautiful sisters visiting him?  Afif had changed his shirt and was in a clean, batik patterned cotton button up shirt with skinny black jeans.  He seemed even smaller and more frail than I remembered, yet everything about the room was etched in my memory.  Even the gecko in upper corner seemed to remember we had visited before.  We welcomed us into his home and it seemed totally natural for everyone to just sit down on the tile floor and appear as comfortable as if we were on someone's living room couch.  There was a fellowship in the room that night, and although I didn't understand all that was said, I could understand the feelings.  I could tell when Afif was talking about his family.  There is a sorrow in his voice and he explained he does have one sister (it was a brother as we originally thought) who he does keep in touch with.  You can feel his need for family, just as we all need our family around us.  

We are so impressed with our sisters and the spirit with which they teach.  They have learned the language so well and converse so fluently.  It is great to have Sister Toegono with us, especially if we can't understand a word or phrase as we all immediatley turn to her.  But this evening, Sister Sperry lead the discussion and kept us focused.  Even though Elder Lewis and I can't speak the language, the spirit taught all of us again about the love the Savior has for his children as we all felt his love in that room.  Afif apologized for missing church and told us more of the story.  He had helped someone that Sunday morning put out a fire, which was very dangerous and must have scared him. After as he traveled the crazy, busy highway, heading to Solo, a scooter cut him off and he was flipped from his bike.  He said he injured his arms and legs and didn't feel up to attending church; he just wanted to return home.  He listened as the sisters taught, each adding their thoughts and testimony as they discussed the importance of attending church, partaking of the sacrament, interviewing for baptism, and preparing for the temple.  We read from Mosiah Chapter 18, and he told us again how he loves to read from the Book of Mormon.  Elder Lewis asked him what stories he enjoyed reading and he said, "All of them.  They answer my questions."  Afif closed the lesson with prayer and he prayed with sincerity and gratitude.  You could feel his love for the Savior.

Tomorrow is Sunday and all four sister and Elder Lewis and I again will be watching the door of the church and hoping that our Afif will join us.  We love that young man and pray he is strong enough to overcome his addictions and join us in this glorious gospel.

Hope your Missionary will fill you in on the rest of the story.

 

Solo (Week 50)

Howdy Ya'll!

Man...what a week! We had two floods in our home (that was my fault) and a bunch of miracles. Here's how the week went!

Senin: We went over to Elder and Sister Lewis's apartment and did work for people on the other side of the veil! that was SO FUN!! I found 3 names and they are ready to get their ordinances done. Family History is so fun!! I loved doing it. Sister and Elder Lewis say that Sister Zabriskie and I are pros. Not yet! But you know what I'll be doing a lot of when I get home. The Spirit of Elijah is so powerful and just amazing. I can't wait to do it again!

 

Selasa: We looked basically the whole afternoon for less active members. Since the new sisters came this week we are cut down to 2 wards and we are really starting to focus and strengthening these 2 wards. Members are awesome and they really helped us to find some of these houses. Then we met with an awesome family, Keluarga Ibu Sri. They just ate everything we said up! they are the people that invited us in last week. We taught the dad how to pray and just had a real great lesson. We're excited for these people!
 

Rabu: The new sisters came!! It's so fun to be with Sister Toegono again :D Her companion is Sister Ingersoll from Idaho (Boisie!). They are going to be an awesome companionship. We also met with the investigator that texted us and said he believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. He's progressing nicely and just working on not drink tea or coffee! I also bocang the whole day (were you pedal the bike and the other person sits on the back) since the other sisters didn't have bikes yet and needed help getting around. Cape ma! (tired!) 

Kamis: Did a little more bocang and we met with a girl who thought the the Lord hated her. She's had a lot of trial in her life, and is friends with Keluarga Ibu Sri so she texted us and we were able to set up an appointment and help her. She wants to be baptized and is also working hard to follow the word of Wisdom.

Jumat: bocang again...man I got quite the work out this week! We also got to go see the investigator who moved from Jogja who was doing really well until sunday! He's in the hospital because of a relapse with a tumor I think? Hopefully he'll be released soon. Sister Toegono says it was a problem with how much coffee he used to drink. Man my testimony of the Word of Wisdom has really grown this week!!! IT's such a blessing!

Sabtu: good hard working day! 

Hari Minggu: We didn't have very many investigators come to church because they are all sick because they are trying to follow the word of wisdom and they stopped doing the things they shouldn't do. At least there's progress!!! Hopefully next week :) We did have one and she was awesome as usual :)  

I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!!!!!!! Indonesia is great, and I have never been happier!

I hope you all have a great week full of Family History work because man is it fun!

 

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Solo (Week 49)

Happy Anniversary two days ago to my awesome parents!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you had a great day and I'm so grateful that you decided to get married in the temple for all eternity! You two are great :) 

Anyway hey ya'll! This week was awesome! I love my companion, the work is going well, and Solo is wonderful! Here's the week:

 

 

Senin: We got to go to this cool temple and waterfall! The is believed to have some ties back to the Book of Mormon (more information coming to you after I serve the mission because it's too much to write) and that was awesome! We saw some tea fields and the waterfall and the places were SO pretty and SO nice. Not hot at all! Perfect! It was a super fun day. Thank you Elder and Sister Lewis!

Selasa: We got partly denied partly not by a Catholic woman. She was telling us she doesn't need to read the scriptures everyday so we tried to get her to at least read a verse from the Bible each day. We worked hard and had an overall good day!

Rabu: We found out that the investigator from Jogja who is just AWESOME quite smoking today!!!!!!!! We are so happy!! He is on his way to baptism and the temple :) Unfortunately, it made him sick, but he's getting through it. His faith and will power is amazing and we're super proud of him.

Kamis: We went to Jogja for ZTM and we made some awesome goals as a zone. It's going to be hard but fun! I'm really excited to see where these goals take us and watch the zone and mission grow. We already have TONS more baptisms than we did last year and that's because everyone is working hard and staying obedient and focused. We have such a great mission. Look out Indonesia, temple going soon! 

Jumat: We had gotten a text from someone that Sister Manarung and Sister Fisher contacted before I was here that said he believed the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. SWEET!!!!!!!!! We met with him and he had some great questions and just took everything we had to say and teach in. He's awesome! We are blessed missionaries!

Sabtu: We met with a none active investigator who is sick and had a good lesson about families and motherhood. then...

Hari Minggu: she came to church!!!!!!!! That was awesome! Unfortunately the investigator from Jogja couldn't make it because he was sick. Then he was feeling well and wanted to meet us in Solo but got in a small accident and wasn't able to make it...that was really sad. We were going to meet at the Lewis's for the lesson and after waiting for 2 hours they still let us come over and eat dinner with them. They are so kind! Oh we also celebrated Indonesia's Independent day! INNNNDOOOOONEEESSIIIIAAAAAAKKUUUUU!!!!!

We are seeing miracles right and left! I love this work it's just so great! I hope you all have a great week! Watch for the miracles and be grateful!

Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

My Siblings Colin and Taytum...;) They just loook so alike!