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!