Solo (Week 48)

Selamat Pagi!! 

 

We're on earlier than usual because we are going to an old temple and a waterfall. AND get this, there may be references back to the Book of Mormon from this temple. Sister Lewis (she's the sister from the new mission couple here) was really excited and telling us all about it! I'll write about it when I get more information. Cool stuff!!!!

Senin: We cleaned the house, Sister Fisher packed, and then we went to a family night for the Banjasari ward and visited an investigator but I'm not sure she's very interested...

Selasa: Not much happened, not very many people could meet, which was a bummer. But we still had a good day! Life goes on! 

Rabu: This was a pretty busy day. We went and saw the cutest old lady, Sister Keksie. She's just 77 and laughs like she's 6 and it's the cutest giggle you've ever heard! She has a strong testimony and she always says if you don't have faith you are dead, spiritually. That's always fun. Then we got rejected a couple times #missionarylife and ended the day with visiting some inactive members and talking about the temple. The stake is pushing and trying to really get more people to the temple! They are hopefully going to get a program going soon to help people make it there. We taught them the importance of the temple and all that and that was good! but...they weren't at church on sunday. We'll just have to try again!

Kamis: We got denied hard core. This was the first time someone told me my church was evil. Usually people, especially polite, soft Javenese people, just say every church is the same and that we all have one purpose and just different ways to get there...I'm not sure which is worse. My church is evil or everyone is the same...Wes. We at our sorrows in Es Teler (which is a really yummy drink with jellies in it and fruit) and then worked! Working is fun and always helps :) 

Jumat: Sister Zabriskie made it!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's so cute, pure and anxious to do this work! I love her spirit and I feel good things coming our way!! She's from the St. George area (washington) and went to USU for a semester. AGGIES! Also the new mission couple, Elder and Sister Lewis, shared what their mission is here and I'm so excited to work with them! They are the family history couple and so they are helping with work on the other side of the veil which is JUST AS IMPORTANT IF AS THE LIVING!! Go, do you family history! Ayo! I have an appointment with them next pday to get me started. WOOT! 

 

Sabtu: It was hard to say good bye to Sister Fisher, times have been good, but I had to. Sister Zabriskie and I got to know each other and worked and it was great.

Hari Minggu: The coolest thing happened. I got a text from someone asking where the church was because they want to come to church...WHAT?! That never happens! I was stoked! Turns out he's the Jogja Sister's investigator that has moved to the Solo area and we went over there later that day and I have never met with someone so ready!!! The spirit has really prepared him! He completely cold turkey stopped drinking Coffee, after drinking like 13 cups a day, and he says he thinks he's going to be able to stop smoking completely within the next couple of days. WOW! His will power and his want to be clean is so strong and WONDERFUL! We are super excited for him and he should be baptized on the 23rd :) 

I hope you all have a great week full of finding ancestors and furthering God's work. It's just amazing!!!!!!! Happy birthday to my mom Last week! I hope you had a great day mom :) 

Love you all!

Love, 

Sister Sperry :) 

 

Solo (Week 47)

Wow...

Another week has flown by! I had a dream last night that it was already time to go home and I was really, really sad. I'm not ready yet!! I love this place and this whole experience! AHH time is just going by way too fast! But...Here's my week :)

Senin: As Elder Kus's last p-day he took us all out for Pizza and basketball. That was fun like always and yummy! Then we went to visit Ibu Rini who can't come to church because she started working on Sundays again (her month long break is over and has to return). We hope we'll be able to find a way around that! Then we went with an active member to non active member's home and they were...very old! But funny. He just spoke javenese to the sister we were with the whole time. Haha old people are great ;) 

 

Selasa: We had a FULL day planned and...none of it happened! But this week we were more goal driven than usual. We had a goal to achieve more lessons than I have in a week. God blessed us with a couple to get our ball rolling. It was hard because it was a holiday so everyone went home to the "desa" or country. But we managed! We met some more people, the husband is an organ player and would not stop talking and the wife is a retired Elementary school teacher and wouldn't stop feeding Sister Fisher. HAHA! They were quite the pair ;) 

Rabu: We met a princess! She's 32 out of 35 kids............yeah just chew on that for a second....she has 6 moms. But her dad was the king of Kraton! Now her brothers are fighting for the crown and all that jazz and really it just sounds like something from the Book of Mormon. Maybe that'll help her be excited to read it! We also met with the bishop from Solo that night and that was fun. He and his wife are hilarious and his parents live in Jogja so I know them. We all had a good family night together.

Kamis: We went on splits with two young women who are wanting to serve missions and that REALLY helped us get a lot closer to our goal! They were such a blessing!!! 

 oh...and...it was my year mark...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jumat: Heavenly Father provides! We went out and proselyted a ton and found people to teach and they all have a lot of good potential! To be continued!

 abtu: We were busy the WHOLE day. But we got exactly what we planned for. We also met an old lady who is 93 years old and still has a cute sense of humor and can walk around and everything. She wears these HUGE coke-bottle glasses and is just super cute. I love people :) 

 

 

Hari Minggu: unfotunately...none of our investigators came to church :( Ibu Ima was in Jawa Timur (East Java) so they couldn't come and they are thinking about moving out there. (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!) But we still had a good day and we achieved our goal!!The really big one!!!!! Now it's time to just benchmark from it and get better and better.

Goal setting is so important! When you set a goal and then focus on it God will really help you to achieve it. That could be anything, weight, school, etc. Setting goals and then working to get them is so important and then you will look back and say hey wow! Look what I can do! We all have such great potential. Learn your potential! Don't let what God gave you go to waist.

Well I love you all! Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

 

Solo (Week 46)

Selamat Idul Fitri! 

Today is the Muslim's equivalent to Christmas! The Masjids were singing ALL NIGHT last night, fireworks were going off, and I'm almost convinced these people are nocturnal  because now there's not a soul around! They'll all come back out when the sun goes down :) It's a really cool cultural experience! 

Bare with me...my planner got destroyed because of the rain this week so I'm going off my memory...

Senin: It rained super hard so we weren't able to make it to our appointment. It's pretty far, it was dark and it just would have been really dangerous! But after the rain finally stopped we were able to get some good proselyting in! 

Selasa: Tuesday was good. It was a hard working day and then that night we went to Uskup Catur's home. (Uskup means bishop). IT'S HUGE!!!! I mean it's nice for like a western home so for an Indonesian home it was SUPER NICE!! Their grandmother passed away so we went over for the one week remembrance. It's also the grandmother of Elder Sadiyono (I served with him in Jogja) so I got to meet his parents. Isn't this mission cool, I've served in the ward of 3 Missionaries I've served with and I'm able to meet the parents of another missionary. I love this place :) 

Rabu: We visited one of our new investigators who is really open to us and really wants to learn! The only problem is that she doesn't know how to read and that makes things really hard...also her comprehension is not quite were it should be but it's all good, we're helping her out! Her kids are hilarious and all the neighborhood kids always yell SISTER SISTER when we come over. We're so popular ;) 

 

Kamis: Normal missionary day. Worked hard, had fun, shared the gospel :) 

Jumat: Same old Same old. It rained SUPER hard again and my stuff got soaked but it was fun so no worries ;)  

Sabtu: Nothing we planned actually happened but it was still a good day! We met with one investigator who opened up to us and told us how he used to be a robber and had been to prison and that's where he came to know Christ. We were going to teach the Restoration when Sister Fisher leaned over and she said maybe we should do The Plan of Salvation. She was totally in tune with the Spirit! When we got to the Spirit World and talked about paradise and prison he was really able to open up and said he could relate to prison because he's been. He said he was a lost sheep and Christ was calling for him. He said he knew he could either make the choice to follow the Good Sheperd or he could run further away but decided to come unto Him. It was an awesome story! The Spirit was definitely there! We tried really hard to get him to agree to come to church and he said he would try. 

Hari Minggu: None of our investigators came to church...that was a bummer for sure. But just means we gotta work even harder! We'll get them there soon!! 

The Good Sheperd is calling. He knows His sheep, no matter what part of the world they live in. Answer to the call!! Turn to Him, come unto Him because He truly will take care of His sheep, all of us. I know Christ lives and loves us all. He is the Good Sheperd and He is Calling, "Come Home."

I hope you all have a great week! Sampai minggu depan!

Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

 

Solo (Week 45)

Halo semuanya! Apa kabar?! 

We this week was really nice weather wise, it actually got kind of cold at night, but it's back to hot! 

We had an awesome week this week, especially because PLD (a big zone meeting with President and Sister Donald) has come just in time! Here's how the week went!

Senin: The district went to this pasar (market) and we got matching parkir shirts (the shirts that the guys on the side of the road that park cars wear). We all thought we were pretty awesome. This district is so cool!

 

Selasa: Usually Tuesdays are kinda iffy...I've never liked them but today was a good Tuesday! We got quite a few lessons in, a couple first timers, and a really good lesson with a member present! We were talking about the temple with our investigator, Ibu Rini, and then Sister Ratmini, who is the seminary teacher here, was AWESOME to help us explain the blessings and just why the temple is so great. Man members really do make ALL the difference in a lesson! Go help the missionaries!! THEY NEED YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rabu: Unfortunately Wednesday was not as successful as Tuesday but still good! I got to hold an owl that looks like a creepy furby and a bat! There's just a guy that owns a ton of owls and this bat, a couple cats, and a little puppy. He says it's a hobby...it's a stinky one! And, he wasn't super interested in Church. But that's OK! We'll try again later :) 

 

 

Kamis: We had our weekly planning session which turned into an eternity planning session when Sister Fisher asked about the millennium and eternity and jazz. I've got eternity planned out now, no worries! We also were trying to get to an appointment when this guy driving a becak rode past us, blowing his whistle and yelled something that sounded like CHARGE! He went through the stop light and then we ended up passing him and again, at the next stop light, he did it again. CHARGE BERTIGA! (which meant that we were supposed to follow him in this charge through the stop light.) It was hilarious! I love these people!  

Jumat: We had interviews with President Donald and the Sisters got to hang out with Sister Donald, which is always a blast! She's great :) Sister Olsen and I went on splits and visited an investigator's home. Unfortunately she wasn't there but her mom was! We helped her get ready to sell some food and then shared a message about Family; A Proclamation to the World. It was really good and of course I loved being with Sister Olsen again! Always so great to see her. Then we played Futsol as a zone and ate at our favorite Ayam Bakar, Pak Jon's. (Burnt chicken...that's literally translated. It's like BBQ. SO GOOD!)

 

Sabtu: We had an AWESOME PLD with President and Sister Donald. I have SO MUCH I need to work on but it's OK! I have the power to do it and I'm excited to do so. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and the opportunity to better myself each day. We had another good lesson with Ibu Rini about Nabi, Prophets. 

Hari Minggu: We had THREE, count em, THREE investigators at church!!!! APA?! Ibu Rini FINALLY came to church and she seemed to like it! Then Ibu Ima and Lia (that has the boyfriend in Utah) came to church. That was awesome! We had an awesome lesson with Pak Bagus and Ibu Ima later that night and Ibu Ima is so prepared for baptism it's crazy! She keeps talking about how we need to share the gospel and jazz. We also talked about the Temple and Eternal families. She says she really wants one. AH I love her! 

I'm so grateful for temples and priesthood power. I know that families can be together forever, and I am so grateful that mine is. I'm so grateful my parents got married in the temple by that authority. Boy am I blessed!

Have a great week! go out with the missionaries and feel the joy that comes from Bring souls unto Christ. Love you all!\

love,

Sister Sperry :)

A big snake...I didn't eat it!

 

  

Solo (Week 44)

....I ate dog

and I kinda liked it...

AHHH!!!! There I got the confession out right away! I'll tell you the story when I get to Sunday. It was surprisingly not as gross as I thought it would be. But the thought of JoDee's dog Buster kept me from going back for seconds! 

Well here's how my week went! 

Senin: We played basketball for p-day which was awesome. But Sister Fisher and I left our bikes at the bengkel for too long (bike garage) and then it closed...so we went without bikes for the rest of the night. Which actually turned out to be a blessing because we met with a promising investigator! I just had a feeling to go down this one street while we were contacting and then Sister Fisher had the feeling to contact this one lady and before you know it we're in there hearing about her sorrows and worries and teaching about how the Book of Mormon can help! It was really cool and such great team work especially with our 3rd team member, the Holy Ghost.

 

 

Selasa: For some reason lessons just have a hard time working out on Tuesdays. Well...We were able to see a few people though and ended up having an ok day! God blesses you with things to do when He sees us working! OH and I almost forgot...WE LOST OUR PHONE! When we found out we were both a little stressed. That would happen to us! Luckily we bumped into the Jebres Elders and they let us use their phone to call ours/ let the office know. Elders are pretty great like that. We thought we left it in the taksi that we took to the bengkel to get our bikes but turns out...

Rabu: After going a day with the excuse "sorry we lost our phone we couldn't SMS you before hand" OUR PHONE WAS FOUND!! The elders (Solo our beloved ZLs) kept calling it and finally someone picked up! Turns out it wasn't in a Taksi but we had left it at the bike shop. Oh there are good people in this world :) The Elders brought it back to us and we were so happy! Then, the Elders bought us pizza. That was pretty great too! They really take care of their sisters here in Indonesia :) 

Kamis: We had a nice weekly planning session and then we went to a few contacts we had made a week or so ago. They were awesome! We invited the mom to kneel and pray and ask about joining the church and she did and she said she felt good about it! Unfortunately...she didn't make it to church yesterday. But there's a ton of potential and it was just such a great testimony builder! 

Jumat: after trying for AGES we finally met with one of our investigators who has stopped progressing. We think she just doesn't quite grasp the importance of acting and coming to church. We are working hard to try and help her but we can only do so much. We also met Sister Keksi who is just one of the CUTEST old ladies I have ever met! The poor thing has a really bad cough but she was able to come to church the other day! YAY! 

 

Sabtu: So...last week or so we got this referral from a member and went and thought we found the referal! But that referral didn't know the member who gave us the referral but did know one of the bishops...we were confused because the member said they were good friends. This week we asked that member to explain where the referral lives again and turns out we were WAY off track! JAUH BANGET! Like, off by a good 20 min bike ride! But how crazy?! Then we met people with a dog who's name is Sydney. I thought that was cool :) 

Hari Minggu: We tried have a little fireside thing at a members home (but none of our investigators came...:( ) and I don't know why but the members are always trying to get us bules to eat dog! They told me it was snake and I was so excited because I've wanted to try snake for a long time! I took a bite and looked at the bone I was eating off of and thought, man that was a huge snake. Then I see Elder Kus looking at me suspiciously and I said, "This is dog, isn't it." YEP!!! AHHHHH.......the worst part is...it was actually kinda good! It's a little like cow meat. I just can't believe how gullable I was! EVERYONE knew that I thought it was snake so nobody said anything...ya weslah! Also, the was a talk given in church and it was apparently really funny but I didn't understand anything because it was mostly in Javanese...this is how the language is for me

indonesian^-^-^-^jawa____^______Indonesian again^-^-^-^-^-^ (the one little bump is when they say a word I've learned in Javanese)

Well I love my life and I love being a missionary. I feel my testimony grow everyday and I witness miracles everyday. I know that miracles have never ceased! I also know that God loves us all and that we all have such great potential. Live up to your potential! 

Have a great week everyone :D Love ya!

Love,

Sister Sperry :) 

 

 

 

Solo (Week 43)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!

I hope everyone had a great fourth of July. My district celebrated with service and for companionship study Sister Fisher and I sang The Star Spangled Banner. I hope the festivities were a blast for all of you in the great country I call home. Now on to news about another great country that I love, INDONESIA! 

Senin: We did one of the best things ever for P-day...nothing!! Oh it was so nice to just relax and not worry about much. Later that night we went to a member's home where the Grandma is helping her grandchildren to grow up in the church. The oldest girl was just baptized a year ago and the love having the missionaries over. It was really fun and the kids were so cute! Then we proselyted and did that missionary work thing that I absolutely love.

 

Selasa: This was a hard day because almost ALL of our appointments failed... and then to top it off, the investigator that told us they had stopped with tea, smoking, and all this...was drinking tea and smoking when we got to her house. That was a stab in the heart if I've ever felt one. But we had a good lesson about following the commandments and we are going to help them out! 

Rabu: Normal day of missionary work. Taught lessons, met people, and my testimony grew. I feel my testimony grow every day and I love it. There really isn't a doubt in my mind this church is true. 

Kamis: We got to go to ZTM in Magelang so we woke up at the sweet hour of 4 in the morning and made our trek up there by bus. It was an awesome meeting where the spirit was strong. We made good goals and I think this zone is going to grow a lot! 

6 of the 10 of us that were in the MTC together!

Jumat: God Bless AMERICA! It was a good Juli 4th even though not much happened. We worked hard and had fun and I got called Sister Sperel...that's a new one! 

Sabtu: Oh for some reason everything just wasn't going for me on Saturday. My stomach was killing me, just a bunch of little things happened until finally, the cherry on top, my bike tire went flat! We got it fixed and were on our way to try and get in one more appointment before the day ended when I just really felt that we needed to go to a different investigators home which was the completely opposite direction. I told Sister Fisher and she agreed and we headed over there. Then...my tire went flat again! Oh I was dying...we stopped and tired to get it fixed again. But by the time we got it fixed there wasn't time to go to that persons home. I was confused at why I had such a strong impression when we weren't able to make it over there. Sister Fisher kept reminding me, and I reminded myself, God has a plan and we got sent this way for a reason. Then as we were riding home Sister Fisher found our reason! There were a group of bule girls who where a little lost. We asked if we could help them out and they said yes. There were looking for a park area to watch a puppet show and we were able to take them over to that area all while answering their questions about the church and our missions. It TOTALLY made my day and boy was I humbled. I'm so grateful for the love that God has for all of His children, me included. :) 

Hari Minggu: Well...none of our investigators came to church which kinda was sad...really sad but no worries! This week is a new week!!!

I love Indonesia! I love these people and most importantly I love My Savior Jesus Christ and my God. I know this is His work! I hope you all have a great week full of missionary experiences. Make them happen!!! 

I love you all and thank you for your love and support! 

With Love,

Sister Sperel ;) Sperry :) 

Solo (Week 42)

Selamat hari Senin!! 

Apa kabar?

Hopefully everyone is doing well. I had a pretty great week this week! here's how it went,.

Senin: We went to Kraton as a District. There wasn't much there but it's fun to spend time as a district and see the cool king stuff. It was a pretty laid back pday, except for we all got interviewed a million times. There are college kids that are majoring in English and as an assignment they have to interview an English speaker. Well there were 7 at Kraton the other day with all of us missionaries so they were following us and ya... I felt like a celebrity. It kinda stinks, you can't go anywhere! 

Selasa: Just a normal day. Not much happened except work, work, work. 

Rabu: We rode FAR! And up and down a bunch of hills. We had a good lesson where we didn't do much of the teaching but I learned a lot, and we met a person who has read my blog! That was pretty neat :) His english is awesome and he's super receptive to our message. 

Kamis: me and Sister Fisher hit our 1000th contact today! Wow I can officially say I have met 1000s of people. It just took around 5 weeks to meet 1000 so the whole span of my mission? wow...it's probably safe to say I've been rejecedt about that many times too ;) We celebrated with JCO doughnuts and more contacting. Woot!

Jumat: My birthday!!! I can't believe I'm 20!? We met with a person who we thought was an investigator and turns out to be a member..awkward. We hadn't met him at church before but don't worry we did this Sunday. Then we had DDM and the Elders all wished me a happy birthday. After DDM we went to our friends in Baliwarti and they had an awesome traditional Solo Lunch ready for me and Sister Fisher. We ate a took pictures and shared a message about faith. It was so fun! Later that night after English class the whole district went to Pak Jons and I got to treat them all ;) And they caked me! I got flour and water poured all over me (that's part of the tradition here. Usually there's eggs too). It was awesome and I couldn't stop smiling the whole way home ;) unfortunately it wasn't my camera that got the pictures so bare with me as we wait to get those from other people. I'm so grateful for such a great day and a cool way to spend my 20th! serving a mission in Indonesia...I couldn't hope for a better birthday! 

Getting "caked" for my birthday!

Sabtu: We worked hard and had a long day but a good day! We met with Ibu Ima and she's really progressing. Then On sunday...

Hari Minggu: we were learning about the Plan of Salvation and Ibu Ima said "so many people don't know about this and the revelation from Joseph Smith and they need to know." Me and Sister Fisher were thinking YA! We agree and that's why we're here!!! We were so happy with her response to that and she's been so well prepared to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then she said she wanted to be a missionary (she's too old to serve a full time mission but everymember a missionary!). AHH! Sister Fisher and I were on cloud nine!!! So happy :) 

I know this church is true! I know it with my whole heart and there isn't anything that can convince me otherwise. I know Christ lives. He loves us. and He always provides opportunities for us to come back to Him and our Father in Heaven. 

I love you all! Thank you for the birthday wishes and the love!

Love,

Sister Sperry :)