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

Threesome no more

Hello all. This week has been a good one and a busy one. The new Elder from America came in last Friday so we are not in a threesome anymore! His name is Elder Tubbs from Idaho. He is going to be with Elder Setijawan and I am with Elder Tufaga.
We worked hard this week and had some success. We ended up having a total of 35 lessons this week which is a lot haha, not to brag or anything but it was the most in our zone.We focused on working with bringing more members to our lessons with Investigators. We have an investigator who has been an investigating for a while now. His name is Pak Abraham. He wasn't interested in being baptized again and didn't want to join us to church because he didn't didn't want to be known as a Christian "Jalan-jalan" which means someone who goes from one church to another and doesn't have a church of his own. Okay well we were about to drop him and work on other people but we visited him one more time with a member. During the lesson he told us that he couldn't sleep one night until he decided to pray and he ended up praying about the Book of Mormon. When he prayed he told us that a voice came to him and told him that the Book of Mormon is a good book and is the same with your Bible and you should read it. So he then agreed to go to church with us, but only as a visitor, he wasn't ready to be a member. Well that's okay for now we thought. So he did end up coming to church with us yesterday and he seemed to enjoy it and he was active in the classes. I believe the member we brought really helped us in ways that we couldn't do ourselves. It is a whole different lesson with members present.
Well today we are in Jogja and we are going to another old Buddhist temple with other missionaries.
Have a great week and choose the right!
- Elder Hymas

Elder Tufaga and I at Mcdonalds in Jogja

These people I met insisted that I hold their baby for a picture

A funny sign in the restroom at Mcdonalds. The proper way to use the toilet

Pertemuan Latihan Daerah (Zone Training Meeting)

Hai selamat siang semunya, gimana kabarnya? Sehat kan?
Well this week has been a pretty good one and it went by really fast too. The weather is great in Magelang, not to hot and pretty chilly sometimes which is really nice and rare in Indonesia haha. We had a zone meeting or a PLD with the mission president and the APs. This meeting happens every 3 months and I always love em.
The meeting is 2 days in Solo, it takes a bunch of time out of the week so we didn't get to visit as many investigators as we usually do.
Well I met with President Donald and he tells me that I am going to be in Magelang for another month and then I will move cities and train. He said I will move around the 27th of August but he didn't tell me where I am going to move too because it is still a month away and it isn't set in stone. That will mean I will be in Magelang for 7 months when I leave haha that is a lot time in one small area, but I loved it here in Magelang and I am happy to serve here. I will be one year on my mission in 10 more days and I will only have been in 2 areas haha, I don't know if that is common or not?
One of our investigators with a baptismal date moved to Tangerang for work so we are no longer teaching him, that was too bad but I think I will be good for him too. We are still working with some other good investigators and I see some big progression in the near future.
So I don't know what's happening, maybe it is all the bike riding but since I have been on my mission I have lost 35 pounds. Haha maybe I will lose another 35 before I go home!
So I hear my family is taking a trip to Mount Rushmore soon, I expect that they will take many trips and eat are more expensive restaurants now that me and Sabrina are out of the house haha.
Well have a great week,
Love Elder Hymas

Elder Hymas and Sister Herman

My companions and I

President Donald and I

The Week That Flew By

Well this week has been packed full of teaching people lessons, playing a little bit of basketball and riding around on our bikes. We made some baptismal commitments with a few investigators so we will continue working with them and help them with their progression.
We had one of our bikes break on us the other day. The petal just snapped off haha. So we used one of our spare bikes but then that one broke too. So then we used another one of our spare bikes but it isn't very good and it is old so I don't know how long that one will last. So we will have some bike repairs to do this week.
Yesterday  we had a fireside at the mission couple's house about the history of the church in Indonesia. It was pretty interesting and it was cool to see the growth of the church, even in a country like Indonesia where it is definitely slow growing.
So honestly this week just flew by, when you are busy working all day everyday the days disappear on you.
I heard that Brandon and Emily are getting sealed in the Denver Temple this Tuesday! That is awesome and I wish them the best! Congratulations!

Have a great week!
- Elder Hymas

New Elder in Magelang, Playing some Basketball.

This week was pretty good. We are in a three some like I have said before. But are getting lots of work done because we now have 2 areas we must go to. We are busy but it is good to be busy. Elder Tufaga came into Magelang last Friday, he is a good guy and a great missionary.
This morning for P-day we woke up and played some basketball with some local kids and Elder Jeffery, a senior missionary. We played for a good 3 house and it was lots of fun. Then we went to the mission couple's house and ate pancakes, played games, and now I am emailing using their laptop.
A few days ago I wen't on splits with Elder Jeffery so the other 2 elders could go somewhere else and we could double our work. It was great and we met a good guy named Wiwin and then taught a really old, almost deaf man haha.
Last Thursday we went to a new investigator's house who has a lot of potential. They are pretty rich too and the guy has a wife and 3 kids. We went there and shared the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them and they loved it. The spirit was so strong with them and they want us back again for sure. It is always great to have those kind of awesome lessons. After the lesson they wanted us to eat with them. We helped them makes some fried rice and noodles and it was fun. After we ate they even drove us back home!
Well the Church is True and the Book is Blue!
Have a great week!
Love,
- Elder Hymas

Me making Nasi Goreng

Pak Arief and his family