Bandung Week 20

Selamat Bulan Puasa Semuanya!

As some of you may already know, it is the fasting month for the Islam religion, and in a little bit, the holiday 'Lebaran' will start. This makes the streets really busy in the evening around 6pm, when everyone is breaking their fast. It is pretty cool to see, and I am learning a lot about both Indonesian and Muslim culture. Because of this, it has been fairly difficult to get appointments, but we have been doing our best. Here are a few interesting things that have happened.

Elder Peterson at the church

Last Monday, we got permission to watch the Disney Movie "Frozen" for our P-day activity. We all got together as a District at the church, and four young men watched this Princess Disney movie. Only on a Mission right? The thing is, we loved it! I thought it had a great message of love though service, and putting others problems in front of our own. We now all find ourselves singing the songs from the movie at idle moments.

The very next day, my companion and I went back to work, and got many lessons. We taught a family for the first time that we met by chance while looking for a different address. They listened intently, and promised to try what we said. I really love when people are open to what we have to share, and don't just shut us out without listening at all. If everyone was more like that, I think this world would be a much better place!

Just as we normally do when we can, we visited Thomas and his family on Wednesday. We had a great lesson, and they are that much more ready to be baptized. If they lived near a church, it would have already happened. Thomas is great, and it is so fun teaching him. We will continue to work with him until the end. He will strengthen the church here so much!

This is one of the views from Lembang, north of Bandung.
It's really pretty there!

We were able to go to Lembang, a small city north of Bandung and visit the members that live there. It is a beautiful area in the mountains, and is very cold compared to the rest of Indonesia. Everything is also much cheaper, so we bought some fresh milk to take home, only 50 cents for 1 liter. 

Brother Budi's little baby was very cute, and happy since he just got better from being sick. We also met Sister Silen, who lives very close. It was a fun visit.

This is the crazy traffic we experienced when coming home from Sukabumi.
There is a factory right there, and all the workers were going home -
there were thousands of them!

When Saturday came, we had a lot of plans, but slowly almost all of them failed. This happens sometimes in missionary work, but should not bring us down. I was worried with what we would do, since we had nothing. We started walking around, asking where Christians were, and found a great family. We taught them about families, and it was a great experience. We then went to the Sijanto family's home, and had a great time there. It was great, because what looked like a bad day turned into a great one.

Lauren came to church, and has not missed a day since he was baptized. He is receiving more and more duties as a member, and it is great to see the progress he is making. We helped him download the Gospel Library on his phone with the help of President Joko, and he loved it. Technology is a great blessing sometimes. Seeing him makes me so happy that I have served a Mission.

Well, that is about all for this week. I hope you all are doing well!

-Elder James

Elders Loudon and Peterson at District Meeting

This is one of those portable rides powered by the bicycle.
Little kids love these, and I see them all the time.