Bandung Week 12

Hello Again!

A lot of changes are happening in the Mission right now, which is what makes it more interesting. It is really nice to get along with all the other Missionaries, and learn from each one of them. Personal progress is an underlying theme for my Mission, because I experience change and progress almost every day. If that alone were all I experienced here, the entire Mission would already be well worth it. Here are a few highlights of this past week.

The beginning of the week was important for Elder Mangum, since he wanted to enjoy his last few days here in Bandung—his first city. We were able to visit a descent amount of investigators and members, but there were a few that we were not able to visit because they were too busy. But the few that we were able to visit were very grateful for Elder Mangum and his service here.

Thursday was pretty crazy because we had to get up at 3am. Elder Mangum took an airport shuttle to the Jakarta airport at 4am, which left me alone for a bit. I got my stuff, and took a 'travel', or big van to Jakarta around 6am. It was so strange to be alone for that entire time, but it was not for very long. I made it to the Mission Home, and was able to meet a lot of the Missionaries who were moving. More than half of the Mission was moving it seemed. Those of us who were training new Missionaries had a special meeting with President, which went very well. I picked up my new companion, Elder Panjaitan, from Medan. He is a great Elder, and I am really excited to work with him.

This was the last time we went to the Secretary school to teach English.
They have a long break/internship, so not many came. We had a fun time.

After coming back from Jakarta, we went right to bed. The next day was Elder Panjaitan's first day, and I really tried to make a good plan so that he had a positive outlook. We had District Meeting, and then taught an English class at the Secretary school for the last time. After that, we tried to visit an investigator, who said she could not meet because of being sick. We still had some plans, so we got going, but it started raining super hard. My companion did not have an umbrella, so we waited for a long time under a nearby restaurant until it calmed down. By that time, we had no time to go anywhere, since English class was about to start at the church. It went well, but I was a little sad that we were not able to teach on his first day.

The missionaries from my MTC group that were at Stake Conference

The next day, we had to go back to Jakarta because of Stake Conference. Saturday night was the adult session, and Sunday morning was the main session. It was really nice to see all the members from around the stake, and investigators as well. 

Elder Sadiyono and his aunt & uncle. He is now serving in Bogor.
It is so funny that he gets to see his entire family at Stake Conference!

We stayed at the Mission home on Saturday night, along with the Elders from Bogor. I was able to see Elder Sadiyono again, since he stayed in Jakarta as well. 

An amazing investigator of the Elders in Jakarta.
He is such a nice guy and one of the best investigators I've ever met!
He knew me from reading my blog.

The Sunday Morning session the next day was really good, and we were so happy to see Lauren, our investigator come. He had to leave his house at 2:30am in order to get to the church on Sunday morning for the bus to Jakarta. He even participated in the choir with us, which went very well. President met with him, and was very happy. After taking pictures with other Missionaries and members, we took a bus home with the rest of the members from Bandung. It was a lot of fun.

I am very happy to be serving here in Bandung, and I am glad to be training Elder Panjaitan. He really will help me stay focused and work hard until the end of my Mission. I will learn a lot from him. Thank you for all your support! Talk to you next week!

-Elder James

Me and the two Missionaries that I have trained or am currently training.
In the Mission, we call them our 'children' and we are their 'father'.