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 :)