Floods, a startled horse, a baptism, and a temple.

Hello,

This week was a good week. It has also rained pretty steady here all day everyday this week. On Tuesday it flooded lots and we really needed to get to an investigator's house so we hopped on a carriage pulled by a little horse, I think the horse was a little surprised when I climbed on the carriage haha.

On Saturday we had a fireside meeting with the mission couple form Solo about Family History. It was really good and we had a lot of people come and learn about family history. On Sunday, yesterday, we broke the record of church attendance again! We had 41 people come to sacrament meeting. A few months about we would usually get around 25 or so people but now we are doing much better!

So we had some trouble with the police here this week because we don't have the right papers to be a church in the city. The thing is, we didn't really need the papers before because the branch was so small, but now that it is getting bigger they have started to notice. And we can't get permission to be a church here because the place the church is at is meant for stores and storage, so we had to take the sign down that says, "Gereja Yesus Kristus Dari Orang-orang Such Zaman Akhir" Our goal is to get 50 active people to church and 15 active Melchizedek priesthood holders so that we can get a new building and become a ward. We still got some work to do here.

On a brighter note, I baptized our investigator Hendrik yesterday. It went really well and I am really happy and proud of him. It is always great to see another one of God's children join the church.

Today for P-day we went to the biggest Buddhist temple in the world called Borobudur. It was really big and cool. There was a lot of people there, especially girls from high school haha, and they all asked me if I could take pictures with them and I am nice so I did. I probably ended up taking close to like 150 pictures with people there haha, mostly girls. There were a few white people there too haha, it is weird to see other white people, I bet that isn't a problem in America. It was really hot today too and I got sunburned :(

That's too bad about the earthquake in Nepal, I'll keep them in my prayers. Hopefully nothing that extreme happens to me here.

Oh yeah and I got my package like 2 weeks ago. Thanks for the game and the harmonica. I am getting pretty good at the harmonica and should be a pro by the time I get home.
Okay have an awesome week! love you all!

- Elder Hymas

PLD House arrest

Hello,

This week was pretty good. PLD was good and we learned lots about being good missionaries. we learned that attitute is very important and also that your relationships with others is vital, especially with members in the ward you are serving in.

I am not moving cities, I had my interview with President Donald and that went good. I am staying In Magelang for probably another 3 months, but I am getting a new companion because Elder Widigdo is become the new Zone Leader in Solo. 

The plan was that our investigator Hendrik to get baptized yesterday, but there were some problems that arose. Hendrik and his family own a small billiards place and they take turns managing it. On the morning of his baptism all of Hendrik's family went out and he was left with the responsibility to watch over the billiards place. He was stressed and didn't know what to do because his family needs the money that the billiards place brings in. But then he decided that he has to just close down the billiards place so that he could go to church and get baptized. It was a great sacrifice on his part and all was going well. But then right after church another problem came. Right when church ended about 11 people from the Jawa Tengah immigration office and the Magelang Police Department came to our church and started taking a bunch of pictures and demanding our passports and temporary ID cards of all the white people there. We gave them what we had, which was just copies. They weren't quite satisfied with the copies though and wanted our originals which were kept in Jakarta. We told them that they could get here but it would take a day maybe. So until we got the originals we were put under house arrest and Elder Zollinger and I stayed at the mission couple's house last night. Also if the originals didn't come in by 11 o'clock in the morning today, we would be taken to another city where their office is to wait there. 

Jakarta sent some big wigs of the church here in Indonesia with our original passports and ID cards early this morning and they came in time with the originals before 11. So we met with the immigration people again today and showed them all of the original paperwork and talked about a lot of stuff. They seemed happier with that and I am free again. 

I guess this is kind of abnormal behavior by the immigration people. We are thinking that someone isn't happy with the growth of the church here or something. Anyway it was all a fun little adventure and hopefully there isn't any more problems in the future. 

Hendrik's baptism with happen next Sunday and he has asked me to baptize him, so I am looking forward to next week, hopefully it all goes a bit more smoother than yesterday haha.

Okay have a great week, 

- Elder Hymas

New socks and conference

HI,

My week was pretty good, and that's cool that the girls are in Disney World, that place is a fun place full of magic and happiness. I haven't gotten any packages from you guys yet so maybe in the next few weeks I will get it. Brock sent me a letter a while ago and I got it yesterday, that was nice of him.

Our investigator Hendrik is getting baptized this Sunday and Andre should be getting baptized the week after that. He has to break it to his Muslim family first that he wants to join a Christian church haha so hopefully that goes well.

PLD is this week on Thursday and Friday. That is the meeting with the President Donald and we find out if we are moving and getting new companions. That's always exciting so maybe I will move and maybe I won't, I'm not too sure. I'm good with either one, I'll go where ever the Lord wants me to go.

We watched General Conference yesterday on Saturday and Sunday at church with the members. It was really good and uplifting like usual. We watched it all in Indonesian but I pretty much understood everything so it wasn't a big deal haha. Maybe I'll try watching it in English one of these days. I really liked Holland's talk and I liked the one in the priesthood session about fatherhood is our eternal destiny.

I also bought some new socks a few days ago and they are really comfy. I made a wise choice buying those socks.

I am glad that everyone is doing well and that my taxes got done with ease.
Love ya!

- Elder Hymas

Selamat Hari Paskah

Hello everyone and Happy Easter! This week was a pretty good week for me. I had to wear sandals and hobble around for the first couple days because I got my toenail removed last week. It is a lot better now and I can walk normally but I still have to wear sandals and my toe looks gross because there is no toenail and whatnot. We had a little activity/party for Easter at he church and at the mission couple's house on Friday. During the activity we sang in a choir, searched for eggs, played games, and ate pancakes. It was all good fun and some of our investigators and in-actives came so that was great. In the choir we sang Dia Hidup Sang Penebusku, which in English is I Know that My Redeemer Lives. We did a great job and it was fun.
I spent lots of money at the hospital for my toenail and arm, but it gets reimbursed so it's all good haha. We had a lot of people at church yesterday. We had 35 people come, which is the most that has ever come to the Magelang branch haha. We are working hard to help the branch grow, our goal is that it can turn into a ward next year. Hari Paskah was good. The stake president came to our branch for church and then we had a family home evening with the members at the mission couple's house later that night.
I was told that Paskah means Pasti Aku Selamat Karena Allah Hidup. Which means something like, definitely I am saved because God Lives. I don't know how accurate that actually is haha because we still got to do our part in order to be saved, it isn't pasti.

We are planning on having a baptism for our Investigator Hendrik on the 19th of April. We also set a goal for our other investigator Andre for the 26th of April. So wish them luck!

I heard that conference was pretty good, we get to watch it next Sunday at church in Indonesian, but the mission couple also are going to download conference in English so we can watch it in English too. I am super excited to heard the words or a living prophet of God.

I hope everyone has a great week!

- Elder Hymas

Hari Paskah