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

Yogyakarta Week 21

Elder Sadiyono was so tired on the train and totally fell fast asleep!

Hello Everyone,

First off, I am really sorry that this will be short. President gave me permission to work on college applications and such, and I wanted to get it all done today. But I should not have to do a lot more after today, so the next emails will be better. But this week was pretty interesting, so I am sad I cannot tell you all more about it. I am so grateful that I have been in this city for so long. It has been my favorite by far, and I really feel like I have made a difference here. That is what brings great joy to us Missionaries. Here are a few cool things that happened.

We were able to teach a decent amount this week, and we have two investigators with baptismal dates in February. I really hope they will all make it, and keep doing what we ask them. I know that once they are baptized, they will receive a much greater testimony. One of these two investigators is the one that just came to church a few weeks ago, and the other is the son of a member, who is about 15, and is learning with us. He has a strong desire to learn, but could not get permission before from his father to be baptized. We kept praying and working with him, and just a few days ago, his father gave permission for him to learn and be baptized! It was a very real answer to many prayers.

The sisters on the train, coming back from Solo. 

On Friday and Saturday, we were in Solo for Zone Conference with President Donald. On Friday, we had interviews with him, which went great, and then we played futsal together. There were a lot of Missionaries playing, and we all had a really good time. I was so active that I did not have time to take pictures! We all slept in the Solo Elders' houses, and it was fun to get to know some of the new Elders.

Another great picture of my companion asleep...
{I'm sure he loves Elder James for taking these!}

The next day, we had the Zone Conference early in the morning. The various leaders gave many lessons, and we made many new goals for this new year. I really think that by these new goals, we will be able to have a lot of success in 2014. After the meeting, we watched a movie about the pioneers (I forget the name of the film) and their struggles. It was a great movie, and very spiritual. It showed perfectly how much the pioneers gave for God and his restored church. We all said goodbye to each other, and then left to our various cities.

I am sorry once again that this is so short. But I had a really great week, which gave me the desire to become even better and follow these goals. I am so happy to serve in this city, and help others receive the Gospel. Everyone is so nice to us, and I am building my own life in incredible ways. I love you all!

-Elder James

Elder Sadiyono riding his bike - I can't believe he can wear that sweater in the heat!

This restaurant was amazing! They serve pork,
which is really rare in Indonesia and it was so tasty!

The fried pork was Elder Sadiyono's favorite dish

The best fried rice I've ever had!!

Yogyakarta Week 20

Me in front of H.S. Silver, where I purchased my custom-made ring.
Yogyakarta is known for it's silver.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I cannot believe that it is already 2014! This year has gone by really fast, and as I look back, I remember all the great things that happened and the experiences that I have had. I am so glad that I made the decision to come out on a Mission. It has been a great experience. I really like celebrating the new year, because I can make new goals and resolutions for my personal progress. Making goals is such an important part of Missionary work, and I have really learned the importance of making goals if we want to improve. I really hope all my goals are achieved this year! Here are a few cool things that happened this past week.

A random parade we saw on New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve, we were obviously not allowed to be out late, but we still went to our Ward's party for a few hours. Many members came, and there were some cool activities. 

The food for the New Year's party... DOG!!

They brought food for everyone, and the main dish was dog. I tried a little bit, but eating too much of it just makes me feel really weird! So I mostly just ate rice with some sauce. 

Tugu, the center of Yogyakarta on New Year's night.
This is around 9 pm, as we were heading home, and it was already so crowded!

We headed home a little after nine, but to get to our home, we had to pass the busiest area in Jogja. The roads were full of people, and we basically had to walk with our bikes in some areas. When we finally got home, our power was out. But it was only our house, so we had to call the electricity service to help. Since it was New Years, they did not come until 1:30am, and I had to stay up and wait for them. Without power, we do not have any way to escape the heat, so I could not sleep anyway. But they got it fixed, and I went right to bed with the AC. It was a unique New Year's Eve for sure!

Our District playing 'ninja warrior' when our
Ward Mission Leader didn't show up for the meeting.

One funny thing that happened on New Years day, was that our Ward Mission Leader slept through our scheduled meeting with him, so we played games instead at the church for a little bit before getting back to work. That night, we ate with the Sisters at Raminten, my favorite restaurant here, to celebrate the New Year. It was really crowded, but we still had a fun time. It was really hard to teach our investigators on that day, because they were all busy for the holiday.

The ring that I got myself for Christmas.

My Christmas present to myself was finally finished this week! I had a custom ring made with Javanese writing engraved on it. It is near pure silver (92.5% silver and the rest copper), and really cool. Jogja is actually known for it's silver, and I thought that would be a cool souvenir from my favorite city so far. I had it engraved with my initials on the inside, and Javanese writing on the outside. I was originally going to do CTR in Javanese, but it was way too long, so I had them engrave a word that means "honor." I got a few other little things for others, and myself- but I don't want to buy too much, because I worry about taking it all home!

Wearing our Christmas shirts

With the investigator I mentioned last week, he is doing really good. We taught him about the word of Wisdom the other day, and he committed to follow it. If he continues to learn, come to church, and not smoke, he will be baptized this month! I know he has been prepared by the Lord to receive this gospel. He has already introduced a friend to us who wants to learn, and he has a desire to become a Missionary like us later in life! I am so amazed by him.

Eating with Sister Sheffield and the other Solo missionaries at ZTM

Another cool thing that happened was the Zone Training Meeting in Solo. We took a train there, and were able to meet with all the Missionaries from the Zone. It was really nice to see them all, and there were some new faces as well. We made a lot of goals for this new year, and I have really been trying to focus on those this week. President Donald is really good with giving us goals, and helping us progress. This year will be a good one for Missionary work!

Elder Sadiyono and I at Raminten

I hope you all have a great week. I am so glad that I am able to email you all every week! Sampai minggu depan!

-Elder James

Elder Sadiyono and I paid for the massage chairs at the train
station while waiting for our train to Solo.

On the train to Solo

Yogyakarta Week 19

Our District Christmas picture before the party

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope you all had a good Christmas week. Although Christmas here is very different from Christmas in the United States, I still had a lot of fun. In comparison to my last Christmas here, this one was much more meaningful and nice. Even though we were pretty busy with Christmas activities this past week, we were still able to teach a few of our investigators, and get some work in. We actually were quite successful this past week, because we met with more people to teach. Here are a few cool things that happened.

The crowd before the ward Christmas party started

For Christmas Eve, there was a ward party at night time. We invited all our investigators to come, but I was doubtful that they any would show up. I should not have thought that way, because we had an investigator come with his two grandchildren. He lives very far away, but he wanted to do something special for his grandchildren, so he came. It was great to see him there! The members all did different things, like singing, acting, and dancing. There were a few acts that showed the Javanese culture, and it was cool to see.

Elder Sadiyono with his Christmas presents

On Christmas day, I was able to open my package from my family, and see the cool things they got me. My companion loved all the things my family sent him, and he was really surprised that he got that much stuff. I also was able to call my family through Skype, and that was by far the best present of them all. 

Our District watching "It's a Wonderful Life"

We had a District party with the Elders from Magelang, and I got approval from President Donald to show 'It's a Wonderful Life'. We used the church's projector and a member's speakers. I was able to find the movie with Indonesian subtitles. Everyone loved the movie. We drank hot chocolate, played games, and visited. It was a fun party!

Elder Waltman & Elder Sadiyono when we all ate at McDonalds

The Zone Leaders, Elder Waltman and Elder Hasibuan stayed for three days and two nights to do exchanges with us. It was good to see Elder Waltman again, and work with him and his companion. We got a good amount of lessons done, and were able to eat at McDonald's together. I am glad they spent Christmas with us.

The Sugiyanto family came to visit!

On Friday morning, we received a surprise phone call from Sister Sugiyanto, who wanted to visit us. We directed her to our house, and they gave us food. They were in Jogja for a few days, and it was fun to see them. That night, they took all the Missionaries out to eat pizza, and we were able to visit. They are such a nice family! I have been able to see them in almost every one of my cities so far!

Sister Hasibuan with Gina, the sister's investigator.

An investigator of the Sisters, Fero, was baptized this week as well, and confirmed the following Sunday. A while ago, she was very scared of the Missionaries, and would not come to Church. But after getting to know the Sisters, and learning a little bit, she felt more comfortable. It has been really cool to see the progression she has made. The Gospel really does help people change, and I am so glad that I have the chance to bring that to the lives of others.

My companion and I with our Christmas ties

On Sunday, something really cool happened. Right when we got to the Church, members told us that there were a few people visiting. There was one family here on vacation, and then a single young man sitting in the chapel. My companion and I split up, and sat next to them. The family left right after sacrament meeting, but they said they had a really good experience. Apparently they were just looking for the closest Church. But the young man that came followed us to all classes, and then we taught him after Church. He had many questions, but we were able to help him understand a lot of things, and he said he wanted to be a member of this church! We gave him a baptismal date, and he is preparing for that. It was such a miracle! President called me after we taught him, and said he had a referral from the church website. It was that same guy! I told President that we had already taught him, and he was very impressed. I hope everything will go well!

Me with my new Broncos t-shirt, in front of the Christmas tree

In my personal studies, I have finished the Old Testament, and am now reading in the New Testament. I already love reading it so much! The teachings of Jesus are so clear and explicit, but also deep and thought provoking. I am very happy that I will be able to finish my goal of reading all the standard works by the end of my Mission. My testimony of the scriptures has grown so much! I wish I had studied them more before my Mission. I feel so much peace when I read.

I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder James

A member doing a traditional Javanese dance for the Christmas party

Relaxing in front of our house

Us with Sister Dewi

My Christmas gifts from my family