Elder James in Indonesia: Bekasi Week 6

A policeman who wanted his picture with me!

Hello from Bekasi, Indonesia everyone,

Can you all believe that I have been in Bekasi for over a month now? It really has gone by so fast for me! Although the work is pretty difficult here, us Missionaries have really been trying hard to bring others to Christ through his Gospel. One great thing that has happened was in Solo, Mas Parno, my investigator there was baptized! When I heard the news, I was so happy. He has made such great progress, and I was glad to hear that Bishop Catur was the one who baptized him. I loved going to his home and seeing how hard he was trying to make a difference in his own life so his family would be blessed. I am glad that I was able to meet him and learn from his great efforts.

This week has had quite a bit of changes, one of them being a change in companionship! There have been some big moves announced, and new Missionaries coming in, so in preparation, President switched some companionships around. So I am no longer with Elder Mulyono, and my new companion is Elder Mongan. I was pretty sad to not be companions with Elder Mulyono anymore, because we really got along and worked hard. But Elder Mongan is great, and I am excited to learn from him before he goes home in just a little bit. Because of this, I also had to switch wards from Bekasi 2 to Bekasi 1, which will be tough learning a new area, but I am excited to meet some of the members here.

Our house has been really busy lately, since the Zone leaders stayed with us from Tuesday night to Thursday morning, and we had two new American Missionaries staying with us from Thursday night until tomorrow morning! So our house has been pretty crowded. The Zone leaders were great to have over, and we had some great teaching appointments with them.

Getting a ride home in the back of a pickup truck with the new elders!

The new Missionaries are Elder Mccleary and Elder Heiner. Elder Mccleary has been following my companionship, and we have had a good time with him. It is really strange to have new Elders here, because it makes me feel senior, even though I feel relatively new. They are both very hard working, and excited to get to work.

Our regular English class on Friday was great because we had 4 native English speakers! The students that came were so surprised, and a little nervous. But I think they learned a lot.

The new Missionaries have been doing great at every appointment despite the fact that they are experiencing culture shock, jet lag, and many other things. We have done our best to have them try as many cool new things as they can, and they have had a great time.

Before I write this next paragraph, I would like to warn anyone who might be afraid of snakes. Namely, my grandmother James. We took the new Missionaries to Brother Aguswanto's restaurant to eat cobra again.

We got three snakes, and since it was my second time, I asked Brother Aguswanto if I could help prepare the snake. So he let me prepare the cobra for everyone. {I have decided not to share the details!} We all had a great meal.

So sorry to the mothers of the new Missionaries who have to receive such a gruesome email from the first week their sons are in Indonesia.

Other than that, the rest of the week was pretty normal. Church was great, our investigators are doing well, and we are all coming closer to Christ in this great work. I have been so blessed on this Mission, and I have seen such great results because of it. Thank you all for everything you do, and I hope to hear from some of you through letters!

-Elder James