Merry Christmas!

Selamat Hari Natal semuanya!

This wee was a fun week! We met with some more nice investigators and got a couple more people committed for baptism in the upcoming weeks. The work in Tangerang has been picking up and it is cool to see and be a part of it.

Christmas was awesome, mostly because I got to Skype my awesome family! It was great to see them and hear their voices. Isabelle sounds likes a teenager and Luke sounds like a bear haha. All of my siblings are getting older and changing, well except for Sabrina, she is pretty much the same I think haha. We ended our Skype call with a prayer and it was the first family prayer I have had in a long time and it was really nice. I have such an awesome family and I love them so much! 

Well after we Skyped we took a taxi to the mission office in Jakarta and had a little Christmas party with all the missionaries in Jawa Barat, the mission couple's, and the mission president and his wife. We ate a lot of really good food and played some games. All-in-all Christmas day was great, except that there was no snow again this year.

Yesterday in Church Brother Pri and Sister Veronica got confirmed to be members and received the Holy Ghost. That is always a spiritual experience. 

Yesterday we were out and about and we found a person who learned with missionaries a few years ago and I got her number so we can visit her again, that was pretty cool. Then later we met a man who recognized us and talked to us, turns out he is already a member and was baptized a long time ago in another city far away, but then moved and didn't know there was a church here for a long time. So we reconnected to him and met his non-member wife. We invited them to the New Year's party and to church, hopefully we can meet again with them soon!

Today we are going to go ice skating at one of the malls here and then we might have Carl's Jr for lunch if we feel crazy enough. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

- Elder Hymas

Baptisms, Threesome, I'm Transfering

Hello,

Selamat Hari Natal! Hanya beberapa hari lagi dan aku bisa Skype keluargaku! 

This week was a fun and a busy one! One of the Elders in our house got a call from the APs last Tuesday and they told me he was going to move to Bandung the next day. We were pretty surprised because we thought the moves were happening on the 30th of this month. So Elder McKeon moved last Wednesday and now I am in a threesome with Elder Anderson and Elder Gagarin. We have been working hard and spreading the Gospel.

Last Saturday our ward had a Christmas program get together thing. Usually these programs are at the chruch but the other ward was using the chruch so we did our program at another location. It was a fun time and we just ate and sang songs and hung out. It was way more santai than the Christmas party last year in Solo. We had about 11 non-members come to our christmas party and they all had a great time. We are teaching 2 of them tonight, a girl named Dheandra and her mom.

 It is kind of a cool story how we met Dheandra. Well the first time we met here it was like 4 months ago and we were in the other area in Tangerang. It was late and we were going home, we passed by a convenience store and this girl called to us in perfect English and asked who we were and if we needed like a drink or something, we said we were fine and we were going home and then we went home. We thought we were kind of dumb because we didn't talk to her or get her information but I had a feeling we would see her again. So fast forward about 2 more months and we already changed areas to the Tangerang 1st ward. We were contacting in a mall and this girl comes up to us and says hi and says she knows Elders and wanted to take of picture of us, so we were like okay sure why not. She took a picture of us and then left and we felt dumb again because we should have talked to her more, and we didn't even realize she was the same girl we meet 2 months ago. Okay so fast forward about 2 more months, we are walking in a place called Flavor Bliss, which is a place with a lot of restaurants. It was late and we were about to head home when this girl sees us and stops us. This time I recognized her as the one we met at the mall. Anyway she then tells us that she is actually interested in learning with us about Christians and gave us her info. So she came to our Christmas party and sang for us there and had a great time and now we have an appointment with her tonight, hopefully everything goes well!

We also met with Sathees and Skyped with someone in Australia who is from Sri Lanka and was also a refugee. They mostly spoke in their native language Tamil to each other so I didn't understand much but they talked about temples and the Book or Mormon. Sathees enjoyed that.

Yesterday we had 2 baptisms in the Tangerang 1st ward. Pak P. and Veronica got baptised! It was awesome to see them make that step in their lives. 

This morning I got a call from the missino president and he told me that I will be moving on December 30th. I will be the District Leader in Jakarta. My new companion will be a younger missionary named Elder Atkinson who was in the same MTC group as Elder Anderson. We are going to be white washing that area together haha that will be the 4th time I have white washed an area... I'm pretty much a pro at it now. I will have the APs, the ZLs, and the sister training leaders in my district haha so that pretty much makes me the most powerful missionary in the mission because I am their leader. Anyway so that will be a fun new chapter in my mission. A sad thing is that I will no longer be riding bikes becuase they just ride busses and angkots in Jakarta. So I better start working out. I hear that my new companion Elder Atkinson is a big strong guy so I'll work out with him. 

Well that is about it for this week, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

- Elder Hymas

Mission Tour with Elder Wong and Elder Pon

Hello all,
This was a great week. Last P-day I got a hair cut and sent my family some letters. Today for P-day I don't think we are really doing anything. It looks like it is going to rain soon, it is cooler today because of that so it is nice.

Last Wednesday we went to Jakarta for a Mission Tour meeting with Elder Siu Hong Pon and Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong. It was an awesome meeting! And those too seventies are pretty funny people. Elder Hong has a really dry hilarious humor. I learned so much from them about really focusing on your goals and getting them done! More often than not I make goals but right when I walk out the door I forget about them or other thoughts about food or rain overpower. I am trying to not forget what I went out to do and see it done. I also learned a lot about persistence and relaying on the Lord through prayers if you want something done. They tell us that they have plans to make another Stake in the Jakarta area if we get a few more members. That would be one step closer to getting a temple here! They also talked to us about the importance of working with the members and the church leaders.

Yesterday Brother Sathees got confirmed and is now an official member of the Church. Next week on the 20th of December our ward should have 2 more baptisms. Pak P. and Veronica will be getting baptized and I am really excited for that.

Two days ago one of our investigators was singing and she invited us to go watch so we stopped by. It was actually a nice event and she was really really good. She is putting out an album in a few months. She is a pretty busy person though so hopefully we can find some more time to meet with her soon.

This morning we played basketball in our neighborhood as a district. We played 4v4 and my team wasn't doing so well at the beginning but we pulled out the win at the end with a 3 pointer, pretty sweet.

Well that is about it from me this week I think. I hope everyone has a great week!

- Elder Hymas

Me and Santa and his Friends

A snow box in a mall

Sathees Baptized, and one more is closer

Hello, apa kabar?

Well like every other week, this week was awesome. We started off our week contacting people at malls and on the streets. We were told we can't say we are proselyting anymore, we contact, we don't proselyte haha. We got some good contacts and handed out a few Kitab Mormons. One time we were at a book store looking at these tiny Alkitabs (Bibles) when a worker came up to talk to us. We said we were looking at the mini Alkitab because it was pretty cute and funny. It turns out he is Christian and the only Christian worker in the store. So we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and our Church and he was pretty interested and took a copy. I thought that was a cool experience. Another time we were sitting at a bench in a mall and these two dudes came and sat next to us, they saw our Kitab Mormons on our laps and asked us about them. They ended up liking it and taking two copies from us. They also told us they were members of a band that plays at that mall every Tuesday and invited us to watch them in a bit, so we decided why not and watched them. They were really good. One of them bought us some tea so that was awkward haha.
We also met with an Investigator Pak P. He is progressing really well and he really likes me a lot. We watched the Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration movie with him and he loved that movie, he even cried. He is determined to get baptized either this Sunday or the next because he might be out of town.
Yesterday at church my man Sathees got baptized and I had the honor of baptizing him. This gospel has made him so happy when he really needed it. We also had Pak P. come to church with us and watch the baptism.
We also had a zone meeting in Bogor again last Friday and it was cool. The APs came to the meeting as well and Elder Hayes who was in the same house as me in Solo is an AP and he told me that I will most likely be moving on the 30th of December but don't know quite where. I might be DL in Bakasi. It has felt like my time here in Tangerang went by really fast. But I have seen some cool miracles here.
Today I need to get a haircut, mail a package home, and eat some lunch. We are going to the other Elder's house (My old house) and we might play some games or bake some cookies.  Well have a great week!

- Elder Hymas
.

Elder Anderson getting a drink at IKEA

A band we saw at a mall, we gave Book of Mormons to 2 of them

Me and Sathees from Sri Lanka

Miracles Happen, Thanksgiving at Wendy's, Stake Conference

Hello everyone! This week was pretty cool and also went by super fast! Oh yeah and happy Thanksgiving everyone! I almost forgot it was thanksgiving last Thursday until late afternoon and I was like woah it is Thanksgiving today! So we had a small expensive feast at Wendy's (110,000 Rupiahs = 7.95 US). It was nothing like my past Thanksgiving meals but it was sufficient.

So I will share a few experiences this week. My bike broke and we tried to get it fixed so for a few days we were stuck walking all over. One time we were walking home from an appointment kinda far away and while we were walking this guy tried to pass us by on his motor bike but it broke down right in front of us. We kept walking though and he fixed it and tried to pass up again but it broke down again as he tried to pass us. This happened three times and then we decided to talk to him and he was a really cool guy and was immediately interested in the Book of Mormon and wants to learn.

A month or two ago we meet this girl at a mall who did an exchange trip to Utah and met Mormons there and entered into a church once. Her English is perfect and she sounds like an American. She thought it was cool to see Elders again and took our picture to show her Utah friends and then left. Then a few days ago we met her again at another place and she came up to us. She told us that she actually wants to learn about our church now and wants to meet with us some time. She told us that her father is Muslim and her mother is Christian and they want here to decide on a religion for herself soon. She has already learned about Muslims and Buddhist, but she wants to learn about Mormons before she chooses. We were supposed to meet last Saturday but she couldn't at the last second so hopefully we meet again soon.

We meet with another investigator named Pak P., he is great and always reads the Book of Mormon and prays but has had a tough time coming to church. A few days ago we taught him the law of Chastity and the Spirit was really strong. After that he decided to right away buy himself a new white shirt, tie, shoes, and socks so he can come to church with us the next day.

Yesterday was stake conference at a big place in Jakarta. It was really good and Pak Pri came with us and he really liked it. Conference was great and there was some talks about becoming perfect in Christ, having hope, and unity in family. Elder Gong from the Seventy came to conference and gave a great talk, I shook his hand at then end and he said we look like a fine group of missionaries.

Well we played basketball with the district this morning for P-day and the rest of the day we will just eat and chill.

Have a great week!
- Elder Hymas

Thanksgiving at Wendy's

Elder Anderson

Stake Conference

Cancled appointments, and proselyting

Hello, this week was good. We have had many appointments scheduled for this week and then pretty much all of them for some reason got canceled haha so that was fun. So Elder McKeon and I spent a lot of our time proselyting around and we had okay success but this week was a bit slow.

It is starting to rain here most of the days so that is kinda nice. Last P-day we played paintball at an arena near our house with my district and the Jakarta district. It was pretty fun and I got a few battle wounds. Today for P-day we don't really have much planned. I have to fix my bike for the 5th time because the back tire always goes flat and it is rather annoying.

 Sathees from Sri Lanka decided to get baptized on the 6th of December so hopefully that one goes through. That is really about it this week! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

- Elder Hymas

More splits, new temporary companion, training complete. Happy birthday to me!

Hello y'all,
How has everyone's week been? Mine has been good like usual. Well this week started off good, I gave a lesson in our district meeting about obedience and I felt like it got everyone pumped. But then after that meeting there has been a slight problem in one of the companionships and now I have been with Elder McKeon this last week and this upcoming week. Elder McKeon and I had a good time together and worked hard. I also went on some splits this week. I went on a split with one of my Zone leaders Elder Hansen last Wednesday and it was great. We meet some new people that have good potential and worked hard. Then last Friday I went on another split with one of the new missionaries Elder Supriadi. I went to his area and we rode our bikes far and had some failures and it rained on us a lot but Elder Supriadi kept a good attitude and we had a great day all in all.

Yesterday was the last day of training for Elder Anderson and Elder McKeon! So now they are all grown up and ready to serve!

Yesterday was also my birthday! Thanks to everyone who already wished me a happy birthday! I had a great day. We went to church and went to the farewell meeting of 2 future missionaries in my ward who are leaving on their missions in a few days. Brother Timmy is going to Japan and Sister Mongan is going to Australia. It was an awesome meeting and the spirit was really strong. The 8 missionaries in Tangerang sang the Army of Helaman song at the meeting.

Sathees is progressing great and loves the church, his plan is go get baptized this next Sunday! He just needs to make more friends in the ward.

Well I hope everyone has a great week! Bye!

- Elder Hymas

Sathees and I

my birthday lunch

Military fair, and rainy season might have started?

Selamat Pagi semuanya!

This week has been pretty good. I guess nothing really too exciting happened this week. We just have been meeting with some investigators and members. We have a couple investigators that are really close to baptism they just have to show some faith and come to church with us and keep their commitments. Hopefully soon we shall have some success with them. One thing I want to start focusing on is working more with the members and getting their support. Missionary work is a lot harder then it needs to be when you don't get help from the members. If all the members got excited about missionary work and helped us more the work here would maju!

So it rained a tiny bit last Saturday and it rained a good amount yesterday. So I think/hope that the rainy season is starting here in Tangerang. They tell me that it should have started like a month and a half ago, so it is pretty late this year. The rain has it's ups and downs. The good thing is that it gets a lot cooler and it feels really nice. The bad things are that we get really wet and have to wear rain jackets. And also lots of people will cancel on us because it is raining and that isn't too fun. .

Well Elder Anderson and I are doing great. He is on his 12th week of training so that means that this is his last week and we will be an official missionary trained by Elder Hymas. That is quite an achievement.

Right now we have one investigator with a baptismal date for the 13th of December. If he just goes to church and the members are nice to him I am sure that he can get baptized. Also Sathees (which is the other companionship's investigator) is doing awesome! I love that guy so much. His plan is to get baptized on the 22 of November.

We had a zone meeting in Bogor last Friday and it was great. We learned that we should be more brave and open our mouth more and contact more. So we had a "Real-Play" which is like a role-play but real. they told us to all go outside for like 20 minutes and try to get a contact. Elder Anderson and I got 4 contacts in those 20 minutes, pretty cool. We got the most by the way too. It was cool to see that if we really try, we can gave a lot more success, who knew?

So in at one of the malls in my area there was a military fair thing. So I took a few pictures with the tanks and guns they had there and talked to some people. It is pretty cool, they give people free tank joy rides so maybe I can get one later.

Okay well that is about it for this week I think, I love you guys!

- Penatua Hymas

Splits and Mall Cops

Hello all,
This week was good. We weren't able to get much appointments in with people because some things just didn't work out this week, that's okay. We spent some time proselyting in malls. Proselyting in malls is pretty tough sometimes, but it is air-conditioned so that is nice. Sometimes I wish I could go door to door and knock on everyone's door like they do in America and other places. I is tough to proselyte here sometimes. We just gotta find or make opportunities to talk to random people but we can't make it look to obvious and we gotta be careful. The other day we got in trouble with some guards at a mall because one of the Elders in my house left a Book of Mormon at the ATM in the mall and the management of that mall was not happy at all about it. They accused us of planting it there for people to find and this and that and other trickery. It was just an accident but they didn't believe us. I don't even see how it is wrong if we did want to plant it there in the first place, who cares? All that it is going to do is save souls. Anyway so the management told us that we are not allowed to do that anymore at that mall but I don't care and I still go because I am cool with some of the guards and that is my favorite mall to proselyte in. I think it is pretty silly how people can get just so upset about what we are doing here. Once I gave a flyer for our free English class to a lady after talking with here. Then I went on the escalator to go upstairs. While I was on the escalator I saw this guard running over full speed to that lady and took the flyer from her hand and questioned her a bit, he looked mad too. It was just an FREE ENGLISH CLASS FLYER for goodness sakes. This kind of stuff happens all the time just because some people hate, and if you haven't noticed I don't like it haha. Well anyway this is supposed to be a religiously free country so they can't stop me.

I also went on some splits this week because I am the district leader and that's what they do. I went on a spit with Elder Chou on Friday and we have a fun day. We rode our bikes like mad men but we had a few lessons and met with some members. we probably rode our bikes like 25 miles that day. On Saturday I went on another split with another Elder because he wasn't getting along with is companion and needed some time to get himself together.

Oh yeah and apparently there was a bomb in one of the malls we usually go to at the same time we were there. It didn't go off I think but I heard that someone died. We got pretty lucky. So there is like no one in that mall right now because of that scare haha.

Okay I hope everyone has a great week!

- Elder Hymas

It is hot here

Selamat Sore!
This week has been pretty good, not too eventful but that's okay. Elder Anderson and I are working hard like usual sharing the gospel. Elder Anderson and I get along just fine, we are pals. His language is getting way good, he is improving very fast. He will be fluent like me in no time! :D

On Wednesday I went on a split with one of the new Elders in our district Elder McKeon. He did a great job and we taught well together. We ate some Ketoprak for dinner that night, it is pretty good stuff.

Last Friday was one of our investigator's birthdays so he invited us to eat with him, right after we shared a lesson with him of course. He then took us to a nice Japanese restaurant and bought us a lot and paid for it all. And then he took us to the grocery store and bought a ton of groceries for us haha he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Yesterday at church there was a person that came in by himself and he wasn't a member, so we went and sat next to him. He was a really nice guy named Hilman. He was looking at BYU online and saw our church so he decided to check it out and see what it is all about. Well he liked what he saw and had a good time. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he wants to come again next week! I think he has some great potential so I am excited to meet with him again.

Sathees also came to church again yesterday and had a great time. He doesn't understand much of the Indonesian so I had to help him by translating some. Sathees is such a great guy. I love him.

Today we were invited by this member who lives right in front of our house to eat with him. There was 6 of us that he took out today. He is really rich and has been to most of the countries in the world. We ate at a really nice Chinese restaurant and then ate ice cream afterwards. I am grateful I have had a lot of food bought for me this week because my allowance for this month is already all spent so I would starve otherwise haha.

Oke I hope everyone has a great week!

- Elder Hymas

Week 63 on Mish, PLD

Hello all.

This week has been a pretty good one. We did some proselyting in the malls and teaching people and going to meetings in Jakarta. The malls are actually pretty okay for proselyting. What we do is we sit on the bench in front of a grocery store in the mall. I am on one side and Elder Anderson is on the other. People will go up and sit next to us and we just start talking to them, and sometimes they will start first and talk with us. We gave out some copies of the Kitab Mormon this way and meet some cool people.

We meet this one guy who lives and owns a hotel in Kalimantan and he told us if we ever go there we can stay in his hotel for free haha. I also met and taught a preacher from another church. He was actually a good guy and just wanted to know about Mormons and I corrected some of the lies he has heard. I got his number and will try to meet with him again later this week.

We also talked with the man from Sri Lanka again named Sathees. He was able to get the Book of Mormon in his own language so that was awesome. He opened up to us about his hard life. Well I guess in Sri Lanka there are lots of problems and fighting and it is dangerous. The gangs or the resistance asked Sathees a few times to join them but he wants to be a good person so he refuses. So now they just tell Sathees that if he doesn't want to join them they will just take him and force him, this makes him pretty scared. One day he was riding his motor bike and 2 guys pulled him off and with a gun to his head stole his motorbike. Then a few days later or something that motorbike was used as a bomb to blow up a government building. So now our friend Sathees has a lot of police at his house and they think that bomb was from him, he is telling them he is innocent but they don't believe him. Sathees is then sent to prison and is tortured for some time. After a while he ends up able to leave Sri lanka and go to Malaysia. But he is not about to get a job because they are afraid he is a terrorist and he is scared they will send him back to Sri Lanka. So he moves to Indonesia on boat. But the boat breaks down at sea and he is stuck on the boat in a small room with a lot of people in it for about 6 months. He finally gets to Indonesia but is still unable to get a job and is pretty depressed and lost. He applied to move to Australia but got denied. Then he applied to move to American and have the interview and all and had to wait 3 years and just a few months ago he found out he got denied again. His life is just really sad and unfortunate and full of trials and sorrow. Sathees himself is so genuine and kind it just breaks my heart to see tears running down his face as he tells us about his hard life. He wants nothing more than to just find peace and belong, but he is close to giving up because he has tried and it has been taken from him so many times. He expressed to us that he wants to become a Mormon and is willing to do what it takes because he has felt that peace he has been searching for so badly at the church. Please pray for my dear friend Sathees as he tries to find peace in this world.

We also taught a person named Pak Pri, we have meet with him a few times and he seems pretty interested. We made a goal with for a baptismal date in a few weeks so we will keep working with him.

This week was also had PLD which is the zone meeting with the President. It was awesome like usual and President Donald taught us a lot of stuff. He told us becoming perfect takes some time. We must survey large fields but cultivate small ones. Which means we see the whole picture but work at a little at a time.

Well today we are going bowling again for P-day and I am going to destroy the other elders like usual. I hope everyone has a great week!

Salam kasih,
Elder Hymas

All of my MTC group was at this zone meeting except elder Lieske 

Me and Elder Zollinger meet again at PLD

I founds some wonderful brats and they are delicious. They only cost Rp 107,000 

Going to the mall

This week has been good. I became the new District Leader here a week ago and we are all doing great, I am a born leader. Well we watched conference yesterday and it was amazing like usual. I really liked the talk about the surfers and the barriers in the ocean. At first they were mad at the barriers but once they realized that those barriers are the only thing from keeping them from getting devoured they started to change their minds about them. Very good message I think. And I also liked the talk about covenant keeping women haha.

So we meet with Pak T's family earlier this week and they are doing awesome. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they loved it and had great questions. Pak T told us that he already believed in the Book of Mormon and knows that it is the word of God and it is true. We made a baptismal goal for the 1st of November with them.

I have another cool story about a guy named Sathees. He is a refuge from Sri Lanka and he moved to Indonesia a few years ago and lives here alone. He doesn't really know Indonesian and he is still learning English. It is really hard for him to get a job here too he says. Anyway he wasn't having the easiest time here and got a bit depressed, I think he must have searched about how to be happier and find peace on the Internet or something. But he saw that the Mormon Church is a place where you can get peace and that the Mormons are always happy so he founds our number online I think and started texting us. Well we meet him yesterday and he came to church with us and watched conference with us. He was super happy to meet us and wants to meet again and learn about Jesus Christ because he doesn't know anything because he is Hindu. He lives in the other Elder's area so we will give him to them this week and get him started on the path to peace. A cool miracle this week.

We also spent a lot of time proselyting in malls in our area. Our new area is just a big city and expensive housing complexes that we are not allowed in. So pretty much the only place to proselyte is public places like the mall. The malls are really big and nice and there are a bunch here haha.
Okay well that is about if for this week, take care.

- Elder Hymas

New DL in town

Hello everyone!
This week was great like usual. This is my last week in this area, I was only in this area for one month and now Elder Anderson and I are moving together to the other Tangerang ward in the other mission house and I am going to become the new district leader. I will rule with an iron fist... just kidding haha but I will sure do my best! The new house we are moving to is the nicest mission house in the mission so that is a plus.
I was sick a little this week but now I am feeling better, Elder Green was really sick the other day so I stayed home with him and watched over him. Elder Green is a really awesome missionary and we talked a lot.
We also went to Bogor again for another Zone Meeting there. It was a good meeting and we learned about giving and following up on commitments. Most people will not act or don't know how unless we help them by giving commitments.
Last Thursday I went on splits with Elder Pujianto who is the DL right now and is going home tomorrow. He is a great elder and doesn't seem too sad about going home in a few days haha.
The elders who are replacing us in Tangerang 2 are Elder Chou (who is in Tangerang 1 right now) and a new elder. The new elder is Dede from Magelang who just left on his mission. I knew him in Magelang and he is super cool.
We get to watch conference next Saturday and Sunday so I am excited for that. How was conference? What was your favorite talk?
Well I don't have much more time today to email. I hope everyone has a great week!
- Penatua Hymas

A huge burger!

Elder Green in a packed train

Our Tangerang 2 house

Selamat Tinggal Andre

So this week was pretty good, well expect for yesterday, but I will talk about that in a sec. This week Elder Anderson and I worked hard like usual. We proselyted lots and tired to find some new investigators. We found a few people and we are going to follow up on them this coming week.

This last Wednesday was the Muslim Sacrifice Day. So there were public sacrifices all over the place and we watched one and it was pretty gross and bloody. They will tie the cow down and then slice its neck and drain all the blood. I got a video of it so if you want to see it you can ask to see the video when I get back home haha.

We also had a party at the new home of one of the members in our ward that day and we blessed the house. Then the next day we helped them move in all their stuff into their new house. We have done lots of service lately.

So yesterday my old companion from Magelang called me and told me that my old investigator and newly baptized member named Andre passed away yesterday. I was pretty sad about that and a little shocked. He was only about 30 years old and he was an awesome person. About 2 weeks before I left Magelang he got sick and didn't really get much better until I left. Then I guess once I left he still didn't feel better and went to the hospital with a super high fever and what not. Then I got the word yesterday that he passed away. They tell me he died of Tuberculosis. Pretty sad news.

Okay so that is about it for this week. Hope everyone has a good week!

- Elder Hymas

Teletubbies in front of our house

The Tangerang District 

Some kids following us while proselyting

Me and Elder Green

Elder Anderson and I

Me and Elder Paskett

So the Mission President just called and told me that Elder Anderson and I are going to move areas together to the Tangerang 1 ward and I am going to become the new district leader here. So the moves are going to be next week. These were like last minute moves to haha. So that means that we get to teach those great investigators that we found and had to give to the Elder Tangerang 1 elders haha nice.

Aduh, Punggung Saya Sakit

Hello everyone!
This week was a good week. We meet with Keluarga Tumpak again and they are doing awesome. We gave them over to the other Elders, I am sure they will be fine.

Earlier this week I got a text from someone in English and he said he wanted to meet this week. So of course I told him we can meet. It turns out he is a white guy from America and he was baptized a few years ago but then requested that his records get deleted because of some problems with the members or something. Then He moved to Indonesia to get away or something. But ever since he moved he has had this feeling like he should go to church again and he knows that The Church of Jesus Christ is the true church. So he built up the courage and contacted us. He wants to learn the lessons all again and repent. He was a cool miracle. But he also lives in the other Elder's area haha so we had to give him over to them.

Our focus this week is to find some good investigators in our area so we don't have to keep giving them away.

We went to one of our investigators place the other day and we only met with her for a sec and he husband comes marching over and usually he gets really mad at her and yells at her for meeting with us but this time he came up to me and pretty much told me to get out of here and don't come back. So that was a fun experience and I am scared to go back there now.

We continued helping with the Eagle Scout Project painting the orphanage. It still isn't done yet so they are going to work on it again later, I think they bit off a little more then they can chew haha.

We also played futsal the other day with some members and investigators and that was really fun. But now my back hurts really bad for some reason haha no fun.

Well today for P-day I think we are going to go to a mall that I haven't been to yet and eat at Carl's Jr, so I am pretty excited for that of course. Hope everyone has a great week!

Here is a baby werewolf I met while proselyting.

-Elder Hymas

Lazer Tag Master, Keluarga Tumpak, and the Roach Slayer

Hello all,
My week was really good, besides the fact that it is still super hot here and we bike like 40 miles a day, but that is just the sacrifice I am willing to make for this wonderful service.

Last week for P-day we played Laser Tag at one of the malls here with the 8 elders in my district. We played 3 games and it was pretty fun actually. We were still dressed up in our white shirts and ties so we looked like the Men In Black with our space vest and space gun. So out of those 3 games we totaled up the player with the most points and the highest hit/miss percentage. Anyway needless to say Elder Hymas was number 1 in both categories. All my training at Laser Storm is paying off.

So last week Elder Anderson and I met a nice guy at a convenience store. His name is Pak Tumpak and he was really interested in us and when I told him about the Kitab Mormon and offered to give one to him he received it with a smile on his face. We then went to his house last Wednesday and had a very wonderful lesson with him, his wife, and his 5 year old son Wisdom. We taught them the message of the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was really strong and his family was very happy to hear our message and it all went very well. I invited them to go to church will us on Sunday and he said he would try. Well yesterday he was there at church with us and I believe he had a great time. He is a pretty golden investigator. Okay but here is the somewhat sad news. He doesn't live in our area. He lives very close but not quite in our area. He actually lives in the other wards area, so I told the other elders who are in charge of that area about him and will probably hand Pak Tumpak off to them this week. I would have liked to help teach him but it doesn't really matter who does it, as long as he gets it haha. But that was a cool miracle this week.

Today for P-day we are going to go bowling with the elders in our district. It has been a long time since I have been bowling so I am not expecting to be number 1 this time but we will see.

Training is going well. Elder Anderson is a great elder who has his heart in the right place. He still doesn't quite have the language down yet but that does take time. He has made a lot of progress though.

Oh and this morning some guy gassed out the gutters in front of our house and caused many many cockroaches to escape into the safety of our house, oh how wrong were they. With some Hit spray in one hand and his shoes on his feet, Elder Green took the challenge these roaches presented and came out on top. Those roaches were running around our house in the dozens, it was madness. In the end we prevailed and the number of cockroaches that Elder Green exterminated was 63. Quite a memorable morning this was.

Okay have an awesome week!
- Elder Hymas

Us and the orphans

Elder Green the Roach Slayer

Week 2 In Tangerang

Hello all, wow this week flew by quite fast. We are starting to understand the roads and our area a lot better. It really isn't all that complex just everything is super far and that is what makes things hard. In Magelang we never had to plan for the time it takes to travel from place to place because everything was so close. But here we will spend most of our day on our bikes and it makes us nice and tired and sweaty haha. We have met with some of the Investigators here but not all of them, some of them are hard to meet with and live far away. We have also made some new investigators and hopefully all goes well with them. Elder Anderson was sick this past week, probably from riding bikes all day and the food and the new environment. Pretty much every missionary gets sick the first few weeks in the field here in Indonesia. This ward isn't the biggest ward but it is bigger than the Magelang branch. The members here are awesome and help us out a lot. We have visited a few so far and are trying to visit more. Yesterday we went to a member's house for dinner and to share a message. He lives a good hour or more bike ride away. So the road on the way there is really crowded with a lot of motorbikes and cars. And a motorbike hit Elder Anderson's bike and broke his bike. Elder Anderson is okay but the bike is busted and we are going to try to fix it today. The guy riding the motorbike just rode off and didn't say anything. So we walked to bikes to the nearest Indomaret and called Brother Looky, the member we were going to visit. Luckly he has a big white van he calls the BMW (Big Mormon Wagon) and he picked us up and was able to take our bikes with us too. So anyway that was fun and now we gotta figure out how to fix his bike, hopefully we don't have to buy a new one cause that is expensive.
We keep truckin' along and spreading the gospel while we are doing it.
Oh yeah we also had to go to the mission office again in Jakarta earlier this week because Elder Anderson and his group from his MTC had to get their kitas.
Okay have a great week everyone,
Love,

Me and Elder Anderson

The Elders in my house

Elder Hymas

Chapter 3 Tangerang

Hello,

 Tangerang is great! It is really really big and riding bikes all around and getting lost is tiring haha. Training is a blast! Elder Anderson is awesome and is a great elder. He is from St. George Utah and went on his mission right out of high school. His Indonesian is really good for how new he is. I am trying my best to be a good example to him and help him out the best I can. It is hard training and whitewashing a huge area at the same time but we are figuring it out. Oh and our monthly allowance is having problems so we don't have any money for this month yet haha so that is nice. Out church is in a building that is for stores and stuff. so they just bought a couple of the lots in that building and made a church out of it. It is actually pretty big inside and looks like an actually church... in the inside. But on the outside it just looks like stores or something. And we can't have out church sign out in the front so there are just the letters O S Z A (orang-orang suci zaman akhir) which is the Indonesian version of LDS. 

It takes a good 40 minutes or more to ride our bikes to the church from our house haha and Tangerang is really really hot. Yesterday we wanted to go to a member's house after church. He lives pretty far from the church, it took about 2 hours to ride our bikes from the church to his house I think haha we were pretty tired after that, but the member was awesome! He told me that when I shared our message he saw and heard our mission president, President Donald when I spoke haha that was quite the complement. 

Oh yeah and there is a McDonald's right next to the church so we ate there after English class last Saturday.

We haven't been able to meet with any of the investigators here yet, I have contacted a few and tried to meet up but it just hasn't happened yet. Getting from one place to another here takes a long time too on bikes haha. But according to the area book the investigators we have a pretty new and have potential so we will meet them this week. 

Today for P-day we just went to a mall and ate frostys and Wendy's and I bought a new pen. Pretty fun stuff. We have an appointment at a member's house later tonight for family home evening together, their daughter just got back from her mission in the Philippines yesterday, pretty cool. 

We spent a lot of time lost these past few days here so I would often ask people on the side of the road for directions and then tell them about us and the gospel and our English class. Most of the people were just interested in the English class but they were all really really nice to us and helped us out. 

Well that's about it for this week, 

- Elder Hymas

Last Week in Magelang

Well this was my last full week in Magelang, after a short 7 months here I will be moving. I will be flying a plane to Jakarta on Thursday and then probably taking a bus to Tangerang and I will be serving and training in the Tangerang 1st ward. One thing that I have heard about Tangerang is that it is really hot there haha not like Magelang where it is actually pretty cold compared to the rest of  the cities.
Yesterday was my last time at church in the Magelang branch. I bore my testimony and the Spirit was really strong. Most all the members are pretty sad that I am moving, and I am a little sad too to leave them but I am excited to begin this new chapter of my mission in Tangerang.
My old investigator named Pak Gunawan who I have meet with for many months is planned to be baptized next week. It is too bad that I won't be here to see it but I am happy that he finally decided to get baptized. I have a feeling that Magelang with continue to grow fast and will be a ward and have a church building of its own by next year. That would be awesome for this branch.
This week I am going to visit some members for the last time and say goodbye before I leave. I hope I helped this branch grow.
Today for P-day it is just Elder Setijawan and I because Elder Tufaga and Elder Tubbs have to go to another city to report their visas and passports to the immigration office. So Elder Setijawan and I might hang out with some members and do something but we are not sure what yet.
Well have a great week and choose the right.

- Elder Hymas

President Ari and I

 Sister Tini, Brother Dadang, and Elder Hymas

 Brother Mahar, Sister Debora, and Elder Hymas

Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan! One Year on My Mission!

Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan semuanya! That means Happy Independence day everyone! August 17th is the Indonesian Independence day so there are Indonesian flags everywhere and people are playing games and having parties. This is their 70th year of being independent. The people here prepare for this day like week in advance, they sure like their Independence, who wouldn't? So we are having a little party at the mission couple's house later this afternoon with the members and investigators to celebrate.
Also a few days ago on the 13th of August was the year mark for my mission! So I had to go back to Jakarta to renew my visa. All the missionaries that were in the MTC with me went to Jakarta too. It was nice to see them all again and hear what they have learned and experienced. Some of them I haven't seen this whole year. I had to get to the airport and fly to Jakarta and take a taxi to the mission office all by myself. It was weird having no companion for a bit haha. I saw President Donald in Jakarta and he told me that I am going to be moving to Tangerang in like 2 weeks and I will be training a new missionary named Elder Anderson from St. George Utah. I am pretty excited to move and train.
Elder Tufaga and I worked hard this week. We have been working a lot with an inactive member bringing him around on lessons with us. He is awesome and is glad to help us teach investigators but it is tough for himself to go to church, but we keep working with him.
I heard that Taylor Forsyth and Hunter came back from their missions. Pretty cool, crazy how time flies.
Have a great week!
- Elder Hymas