Yogyakarta Week 22

Hello Everyone,

At the end of this past week, Yogyakarta has now become the city I’ve been in the longest! I am so grateful that I have had the chance to serve here for so long. President Donald said he really wanted me here for a long time, because he knew I would have fun and do my best. He was right! Part of this past week was a little dull, but we are teaching some amazing people, and that is all that matters! Here are a few things that happened this week.

Last Sunday, I translated for the Thomas family visiting from Kansas. They were here on vacation, but the father was also teaching a few seminars here. They invited all the Missionaries to dinner, so we went on Wednesday night. It was so much fun! They took us to a really good French restaurant, and we had a great time talking to them. 

I had this really good roasted duck, which was the most savory meal I have had in a long time. The Father is a professor of Law, and so I was asking him a lot of questions about Law school, and tips to get in. They were so nice!

Sister Allred and Sister Hasibuan invited us to a Family Home Evening with their Investigator, Gina, and her family. They are from pretty simple circumstances, but offered us so much food. For the Investigator to be baptized, they need the parents' permission, so I helped a little with that. They said that they would come to church to see if the atmosphere was good this week, and the mother came! I am really hoping that they will give permission, because the investigator is amazing!

Elder Sadiyono is sick so he has been sitting
over boiling water with a towel over his head.

Unfortunately, Elder Sadiyono was sick with the flu this week, and since he has asthma, he was very tired. He just took things slow, and we stayed home for three days of the week. He slept most of the time, and got better over time. 

While he was sleeping, I did a lot of studying, cleaning, watching church movies, and eating McDonald's (they deliver here). I'll be honest, I was pretty bored just being at home for so long, but I did get some chores done. I probably gained a lot of weight from eating so unhealthy as well! The Sisters were so nice and brought us church movies and groceries one day since we could not go anywhere. I am so grateful for them!

It has been raining a ton lately, and the weather patterns are very strange. It will be really hot in the morning, and then start pouring rain for 10 minutes, then stop, get hot again, then rain, etc. But one blessing is that we have not got caught in the rain while biking too much. When that happens, we always get soaked, no matter what kind of ponchos we are wearing. There have been a few times where we get to an appointment, and right when we are inside it starts to rain heavily. Then when we are about to leave, it stops or gets much less heavy.

Fajar, on the left, is one of our investigators and he's great!

An investigator {the one that just showed up to the church one Sunday and had requested missionary visit via the website} has a baptismal date and has continued to not smoke. He is preparing for baptism on the 2nd of February. He came to church yesterday to all three hours, met the Bishop, and learned with us and a member after Church. He is great, and has a desire to be baptized. I hope it all goes through!

One interesting thing that has happened this week has to do with the Book of Mormon. In my personal prayers, I have been asking to receive a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon and it's purpose. After a few days, I was just sitting down writing in my journal, and it hit me. I all of the sudden better understood the purpose of the Book of Mormon, and how it is the convincing evidence the Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the true Church has been restored. That is how we know if everything about this Church is true. Every single question or concern, no matter how complex, comes back to the fact that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God, as translated by Joseph Smith. I suppose I already knew this, but recently, my testimony has grown a lot. It was a great experience.

I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week!

-Elder James

It is now the season for my favorite fruit - rambutan - it is so sweet!

I got these coins, which were very cheap, and from the year 1790
VOC is the Dutch East-India Trading Company