Last Week in Manado.

Hello all,
Well last week was my last full week in Manado, I only have 2 more days here after today. I will fly to Surabaya on Thursday morning for a zone meeting with the new mission president and then on Saturday I will fly to Jakarta with them and stay there until the 28th. I am sad that I will be leaving Manado soon, this place and the people here have been so good to me, I will never forget Manado.

Today for P-day we went to Lake Lenow in Tomohon up in the mountains and that was fun! We just got back a little bit ago and we are already a little late for a farewell party for me and Elder Lieske haha... being late to your own farewell party is probably bad.

Man did it rain a lot today.

Sorry I can't write to much more, we really got to get going!

This Gospel is so true and I love it! Share it with everyone!

Love, Elder Hymas

I am going to miss this..

Hello!
This week hasn't been too crazy other than the fact that I am spreading the Everlasting Gospel in a foreign land to a people who really want to hear it! The fact that I am doing that still amazes me even up to now. It is really an awesome experience and the most rewarding! Sure the work is often hard and you can go through some emotional ups and downs but it is all worth it. I have seen some great success in my mission but I know that I planted even more seeds, and those seed will grow without me seeing it. We won't really understand the effect that we have on people while we serve but I believe that that effect is larger than we imagine.

A few days ago a member had a birthday party and she had a cool minion cake. Here in Indonesia, or at least in Manado, they have like little worship meetings for their birthdays haha. They will be a preacher to talk and they will pray and stuff. It is interesting and pretty different from my birthdays where we party and open presents haha. While we were eating dinner there I sat next to a man whose wife works with the member who is having a birthday. I talked to him and his name is Stanley. I was able to share some of our beliefs about family and I shared the Family: A Proclamation to the World. He really liked it and agreed with it. The branch president was sitting near us and helped a bit on sharing the gospel. I got his number and I will try to meet with him and his family again this week. I can never get bored of sharing this Gospel. This restored gospel is truth, plain, simple, truth. And because it is truth we can always learn and be uplifted by it. It is impossible to be bored of it. And the best thing we can do with this truth is share it and live it!

Well today after we email we will eat a nice lunch and then I will get my last haircut in Indonesia haha. It only costs about 15,000 Rupiah to get your hair cut here so it is a lot cheaper :) I am going to miss all the cheap things in Indonesia haha. Well Have a great week! Love ya all!

- Elder Hymas

Elder Lieske and I

Me and the Minion have the same smile :)

July: the last month on the mish..

Hello!
Happy birthday America! the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays but it is just another normal day here in Manado haha I even forgot that it was the 4th of July until I opened up my email and I was like... oh ya today is the 4th... yay! Well next year I will make up for 2 years I have missed and celebrate hard!
So my old mission president President Donald went back home to Australia on the 30th and President Rowley came in to replace him. President Donald was a wonderful mission president and I will always treasure the counsel and everything I have learned from him and his example. President Rowley seems like a nice guy too but I have yet to meet him or even hear his voice haha being all the way out in Manado might be the reason why.
This week was good, we had some success but a lot of our investigators are still have trouble meeting with us, it is starting to get on my nerves a little bit but I gotta stay patient and love them. A few days ago we waited at a member's house for an investigator for like 3 house. The investigator kept telling us he was on his way but he never came and it was too late and we had to go home. It was sad, especially considering that I only have a few weeks left on my mission and all I want to do is teach these people and help them, but if they never show up how can I do that? It is tough but it is reality and we gotta make the best of it. I know that the Lord sees our effort and will help us!
I made some goals yesterday to not count down the days until the end of my mission and just have the mind set that I am still in the middle of my mission, that will help me focus and just work.
That being said the work is still going strong here in Manado and people here are learning the Gospel. A few days ago we went to an investigators house with a member named Sergey along with us. Well once we got to the investigators house the investigator had a work buddy over and it turned out that that work buddy is cousins with Sergey haha small world. So he stayed and joined in on the lesson with us and really liked our message, he was excited to meet again and go to church with us. So we set up an appointment for Saturday night at Sergey's house and then once Saturday night finally came we waited for about 3 hours at Sergeys house and he never came even though he kept saying he was on the way... yeah he was the one I was talking about earlier. He also didn't make it to church with us the next day which was too bad. We will try to meet with him again this week though and hopefully have more success. Well I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!
- Elder Hymas

money

some investigators

pretty good Sirsak/buah naga juice

some goo I ate

Rain, Rain, Rain

Hello!
Yeah it rained a lot this week! For like 3 days straight it rained and rained. Indonesians have this strange fear of rain, it is like poison that will get them sick, especially if it gets on their head. As for me though, I am fine in the rain, just get a little wet haha. But when it rains it makes it hard to meet with people because they don't want to go out. So we made due with what we had. We were still able to met with some of our Investigators tho. So this week was kind of a less productive week but I am sure this next week will be blazing hot like usual so we should be fine.

Some people from the mission office came to Manado yesterday to check out the new church building and all that, I knew one of them from my service in Jakarta.

We played Futsal on Thursday and I have noticed that I am actually not that bad anymore at soccer haha, it was fun and we had a new investigator come play with us, he is a friend of a new member.

On Saturday we had a family night gathering thing with some of the members, it was fun and I gave the lesson about The Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End). It was a good lesson of course and I ate a lot of food afterwards.

There is an inactive couple who we visit every week, they live on a house on stilts and have like 6 dogs and a cat. They are nice but have a hard time going to church because the husband works a lot. Well yesterday they went to church together! That was the first time they have been to church together since I have been here and it was awesome! The husband got a new job I guess and it looks like it will be easier for them to go to church now. Good stuff!

My new mission president will come in on the 29th of June. He will only be my mission president for a month though.

Well I hope everyone has a great week!
-Elder Hymas

A family home evening activity

Us with Mama Lang (Branch President's wife)

New Church Building

Hello! This week we moved into the new church building. We weren't planning on moving this week but the church offices in Jakarta called the branch president here and told him that they have to move this week so we worked hard to get the new place ready for Sunday. I helped out a lot with lifting the heavy objects up the stairs because I am two times larger than the average Indonesian. Needless to say they were happy I was there. The new place is newer and a bit bigger, it is not as close to the ocean anymore though.
We met with some new investigators this week, one is a referral from a member and he is cool. He wants to find the right path, because he knows from experience that there is a lot of wrong ones and they are easy to find. I was really hoping he would come to church this week but he didn't come, but no worries, we shall meet with him again!
Another one we met at Alfamart a few weeks ago, we met with him and his wife at their house, we brought a member along too which helped a lot. Him and his wife accepted our message and it was a great lesson. He was Muslim like 11 years ago but then changed to Christian, he wants to go to church with us, he couldn't go yesterday because his kid was having a birthday party, but he said he will go next week. I hope they come!
A member had a birthday party a few days ago and invited us, they had a wide assortment of meat available haha I don't really know what they all were. They also had a nice pig head there too yummy! Would you have eaten it??

I know this church is true and I love being a missionary! See you in 38 more days ;)
-Elder Hymas

The new church building

 pig head

Sister Norma's birhtday

a huge spider in the back of our house

Pantai Pal

Today we went to a beach called Pantai Pal, it was a super awesome beach we had it pretty much all to ourselves. The water was so clear and blue, and the sand was soft and white. There are not many beaches like that in Colorado that is for sure! I haven't eaten yet today though and it is 4:20 PM here, so I am pretty hungry and will most likely eat something after we email. Earlier this week we met with some investigators and members. We didn't get blown off as much this week as we did last week so that's good.
We had a referral a few days ago and they lived in Amurang, which is pretty far from Manado. It is a good hour and a half car ride to get there but we met with the referral there and it is a family. They liked our message and want to read the Book of Mormon. The only problem for them might be to get to church in the morning because they life pretty far from the church. Hopefully this obstacle won't be to tough from them to overcome.
We also met with another investigator again who also lives far away from Manado in a small village in the jungle called Lolah. He is super super smart and we had a great lesson with him. We watched the short Restoration video and then taught the Plan of Salvation. We ended up talking about some pretty deep doctrine as well because he is so smart and asks good questions. His challege will be to come to church in Manado in the mornings as well.
I am working on talking to more people on the road as I go along. I am not the best at talking to strangers, but I know the Lord will be with me and support me. Have a great week!
-Elder Hymas

Manado is not the place to diet.

Hello!

This week was a pretty good one. Elder Setijawan and I worked hard like usual. We have had a lot of our appointments flake out on us this week. Yeah that is a normal part of missionary life but this week we had a lot of investigators flake out on us for some reason. And then when we try to call them they never answer their phone or anything. It probably happened like 6 times this week, toward the end of the week we were pretty annoyed but ya such is life. It is tough going somewhere to meet someone and then they never come and you wait and they still never come and you call them and their phone is inactive and then you are confused haha. Well It has tested my patience and love but I think that I am a better person because of it. Hopefully this week we shall be able to meet with more of them because I really really want to help them and teach them about this wonderful gospel and it hurts when they don't meet with us.

We went to a member appointment a few days ago and they gave us a lot of food, like usual. I told them I was trying to eat less and watch my weight and then the member said to me that he wants to make a plaque that says "Manado is not the place to diet" haha it is true because the food is so good and the members always give us so much when we go to their house. So yeah I ended up eating a lot of rice and fish at that member's house. Hopefully I can fit in my new suit when I go home.

We are in the processes of moving church buildings. So there is no doors, sounds system and other decorations at the church right now as they are moving it all to the new place. Pretty excited because the new place is bigger because the Manado Branch is getting bigger.

So we meet this guy from Papua the other day and he came to church yesterday with his friend. They were cool and want to learn more. People from Papua are pretty different from other Indonesians but they are all nice and Christian. There are a lot of Papua people here for college.

Have a great week!
-Elder Hymas-

A big fly

How indonesians fill up their motorbikes with gas

waiting in the bathroom...

Mountain in the distance

Koha

Koha

Indonesian Baby

The Papuans and I

2 other investigators and I

The power of commitments

This week was great, we met with and taught a lot of new investigators this week. We taught them the message of the Restoration with the Spirit and boldly invited them to be baptized. This week we helped 3 people make the commitment to be baptized and set a goal with them. We don't have to be scared or nervous to give investigators the commitment to be baptized, especially when it is the first time meeting with them. Baptism is what missionaries want to help the investigator accomplish. We should often speak about it and put it into the investigator's mind. If we never invited them to act or make commitments, they won't be able to repent and come unto God. I have gotten a lot better at helping my investigator make commitments and that has blessed my mission. We brought a new member named Rilly along with us to help us teach. His added testimony was essential in the lesson and make the meeting so much better. Members make all the different in lessons! Lately it is easier to get my investigators to make the baptismal commitment than to get them to come to church. Satan just makes it soooo hard for investigators to come to church, it is tough.
A few days ago the power went out on the whole north half of the Island. It went out in the afternoon and didn't turn back on until about midnight. That was a fun experience. People where using candles to light up their houses and restaurants. The power often goes out in Manado so a lot of people have generators. Our water does not work if we don't have any power and when we got home there was only a little water left in our tub, so we took really short showers and I ended up trying to sleep in the cold floor because the A/C can't turn on. But then the power came back and we quickly turned on the A/C and were able to sleep. A fun experience. I heard that before I got here the power once went off for 3 days, that was probably not to fun haha. Electricity is a blessing. Well I hope everyone has a great week!

The Church building in Manado

- Elder Hymas

Food that I ate...