Yogyakarta - Week 20

Hohoy! Selamat pagi semunya! Apa Kabar?

This week was another week in wonderful, beautiful, amazing Indonesia. Man I love this country and all the people here. I am so lucky to be here and at this time too! Well here's my week...

 

Senin: a pretty laid pack pday. We met with a new investigator. He kind of lives on the streets, riding his bike everywhere and Sister Believe talked to him while we were proselyting the week before. He had already started the Book of Mormon by our first meeting with him and by the second he was already almost done with 2Nefi. He is a really amazing person and I'm excited to get to know him further. 

Selasa: We had FHE with a part member family and the whole district came. The food was great andthe spirit was really strong. The daughter who isn't baptized expressed her feelings about the matter and we really got to know her. Right now the son from that family is serving in Canada!

Rabu: This day felt pretty successful, only one of our appointments didn't happen so we were able to meet with almost everyone we planned for. I got to know a little more about Sister Believe's conversion story. She is a strong and faithful daughter of God. I am learning a lot from her and I'm really grateful for this opportunity to be her companion.

 

Kamis: Thursday was a lot like Wednesday.
We met with a lot of people and had some good lessons. The Spirit was strong and it was an overall good day.

Jumat: DDM was in Magelang but before we left we had an English class at a place called UCP. They make wheel chairs and a lot of them that work there have disabilities themselves. They are all so great! Magelang was good. We gave the magelang Elders one of our investigators because they live a little closer to Magelang than Jogja.

 

Sabtu: we got SO much rambutan (the little red fruit with the spikes). Sister Believe and I got tons and then the other sisters were given some too so there are just bags full of rambutan on the table! Ah enak sekali :) It's basically all I've been eating the past 2 days.

Hari Minggu: Yesterday we went to a different area, Klaten, and held a sacrament meeting in the home of a member family. Our investigators showed and it was a very humbling experience. It was also a testament that this work is growing. There's so much potential in Klaten!! 

 

 Well, have a great week y'all! Sampai nanti! :) 

 Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Yogyakarta - Week 19

Hello World!

Sorry I'm gonna keep it short today. Things are still going well here in Indonesia! Sister Believe and I have been working hard and she's back on her feet after being sick! Woot! This week was good, miracle after miracle happened. One less active member that we had been trying to get in contact with randomly showed up to the church for English class! It was so great to see she was still here haha. She even came to church on Sunday. Also we met with Kel. Beni, the ones that bought us food a couple weeks ago on our miracle day. They are doing great and we went to a restaurant that is all about mushrooms! mom would have enjoyed it. I did too!



Eating with a family at a mushroom restaurant.

I can see the work of God progressing out here. It's so great. And nothing feels better than a lesson where the Holy Ghost is present. I love Indonesia and the people here. I love our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. This church is true, I know it!

Sampai minggu depan!

Sister Sperry :)

A very large snail!

Yogyakarta - Week 18

Howdy ya'll!! (very Indonesian ya?)

This week was a good and bad week. Poor Sister Believe was super sick this week so we couldn't do much but no worries she's feeling a lot better now. She's a very strong and great missionary. So that was the bad part. But the good part was PLD!! (It's zone conference but Indonesian). 

Traveling/studying

WE found out some awesome news too. So there are 4 new sisters coming in Feb which is 2 extra than are going home...which means there's not a spot for them...unless..MANADO IS OPENING TO SISTERS!!! Sister Believe is from Manado and when she found out she became so happy. I'm stoked too!! Now sisters will be allowed in 6 cities instead of just 5. It's just more evidence that the work of God is progressing!

That was a great start to a fantastic PLD. So for our Zone PLD was held in Solo. We left Friday morning from Jogja to Solo for interviews with President Donald (don't worry I passed my interview) then later that night we all played futsol and ha...I got a ball to the face. It didn't hurt but it knocked me right on my backside, legs up and everything. And of course, President was there. It was a little embarrassing but REALLY funny too! I laughed pretty hard. That's what I get for playing without my glasses on. 

Elder Haws and Elder Wood after futsol

The sisters stayed the night in a cheap hotel and then the next day was the actual PLD meeting. IT was wonderful!! The Spirit was so strong the whole time! We talked a lot about goals and how we are going to achieve our goals for this year. The main goal (not for this year but for the future of Indonesia) is a temple! Ok I'm gonna go off on a tangent for a second. I miss the temple so much! And I am grateful I know the blessings of a temple and I have the opportunity to work in an area that doesn't yet have a temple. I have come to appreciate the temple in a completely different way because the opportunity isn't there for me right now. I admire the sacrifices made by the people here to go to the temple. The only thing I had to sacrifice was maybe a little sleep to go back home.
It has also been a huge motivation to do missionary work both for the members and missionaries. The temple is the ultimate goal. It should be in everyone's lives.  Eveyone needs the blessings of the temple. Also your understanding expands so much. The beauty of the Godhead is revealed, the need for a Savior is better understood, and God's love is truly manifest when we go to the temple. So here's a commitment for you all this week...make time and go to the temple! At least 1 time. Do it for me ya? If you can't yet enter for endowments and such, go for baptisms. If you're not quite worthy to enter, start working to become worthy! And just go sit outside for this week and pray to your Heavenly Father. So here, will you go to the temple at least once this week? I promise if you do you will feel the love of Heavenly Father even more in your life this week.

Ok coming back to goals. We have some really great goals that are gonna make us stretch here in Indonesia. And the best part is that each goal helps to accomplish another and puts us on the right path to receiving a temple. President is really excited about these goals and I can't help but feel excited too!! I love how into missionary work President Donald is.

Well that's all for today. I love you all!!

Love,
Sister Sperry :) 

Eating out with the District at Special Sambal - the sisters

The elders at Special Sambal

White dragon fruit

Red dragon fruit

Rambutan

Yogyakarta - Week 17

Hello!!

Well our email time has been cut down a little so I'm not going to be writing much but here's some cool things that happened this week!

  

 

This week Sister Believe has been sick, poor thing. We haven't been able to work quite as effectively has we hoped and we've been dropped by quite a few investigators but it's OK! We had ZTM this week and the Zone Leaders told us about the new goals for the mission this year. I'm really excited about them! I think the are reachable but they also cause us to really stretch. I think this mission is going to grow a lot from these goals, especially if we all focus and do our very best to achieve them. 

 

 

The day after ZTM I have decided to call Hari Mukjizat (Miracle Day). There were crazy things throughout the day that just totally manifested God's love for Sister Believe and I and answered my prayers. We started out early in the morning to meet with a less active member and I noticed that my contribution in the lessons is growing because my language is getting better! Then later that day I felt it again in a lesson with an investigator who told us she wasn't interested and that all churches are the same. Even though I was sad that she didn't accept our message I am grateful that my language is growing and my understanding is growing too. Afterward we met with another member and she brought 3 of her friends!! We taught them all and we hope that at least one of them will return. She seemed interested! 

Then one of the Elder's investigators brought a referral to us and wow she is so sweet and awesome. She even talked about serving a mission. It was really cool to get to know her and we see tons of potential in her. Later that night we met with a family at dinner who invited us over today and they paid for our dinner!! They were so nice and I'm excited to meet with them today. Sister Believe also had her Coke paid for by a previous investigator who we haven't been able to contact for a long time. It really was a miracle day! And I really needed it. I'm so grateful and I want to testify that God really does answer prayers and He loves each and every one of us.

 

Well Until next week! Love you all and Thank you!!!!

Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Yogyakarta - Week 16

Selamat Pagi semuanya! 

This week was awesome and SO needed! Christmas was great and I hope everyone was able to enjoy the holiday. I can't believe that 2014 is really right around the corner! Two more days and it's a new year wow! 

Well here's how my week went:

Senin (Mon): Since Christmas was this week monday was just like a regular day instead of a preparation day. We worked like usual and it was a good day. Except one of the members of the ward passed away. He was a pioneer of that ward too (he was one of the first members if not the first member of the Jogjakarta ward). He's been sick for a while and now at least he's not suffering. 

Selasa (Tues): On the 24th was when the ward had their big celebration together. We had a nice spiritual thought and then afterward we watched a bunch of different talents performed by people in the ward. It was fun to see the talents of different people in the ward. Also on Tuesday I received a package from my Gran! It had a whole bunch of letters from my family (my gran forced them to write me ;) Thanks Gran!) a new shirt, Christmas Tree and Stocking, and of course candy. The letters were EXACTLY what I needed at that moment! Thanks to my family and for my Gran too! You guys are wonderful!

My new shirt from Gran!

 

Rabu: HARI NATAL!! I got to talk to my parents and siblings this day!! Ahh it was so great I was so happy I got to talk to them. I am so grateful I got the chance to see them too through skype. It was so nice to talk and see their faces. 

After skyping we went home, cleaned the house, and then met with the District and Zone Leaders for a Christmas celebration. We got permission to watch "It's a wonderful Life" which was really great and then we ate food and played some games. It was fun to get to know the other missionaries. 

Kamis (thur): Since The Zone Leaders were here we had our district meeting this day. The made an announcement that the church was making a The District 3 and chose our district to film. We were all really confused why they would chose a District in Indonesia and we thought it was just something that President wanted to do. Obviously the Zone Leaders were joking. They said they really did convince one of the districts once that it was true! Haha how funny :) 

Jumat: We had a baptism on Friday! Vero, an 11 year old girl, was baptized! It has been a long time coming. She's been scared to be baptized but with the incouragement of her family and the relationship that Sister Sheffield and Sister Believe made with her she finally was able to realize it's not something to be scared about but to rejoice in! Yay for Vero!!

Vero's Baptism

 

Sat and Sun were just regular days, nothing really special to report. 

Thanks for all of your love and support! The Christmas gifts, letters, emails, prayers, they never go unnoticed or unappreciated! I'm learning a lot here and I hope to return a better person and a great member missionary. Keep up the missionary work in your part of Zion. 

With love,

Sister Sperry :) 

Merry  Christmas!