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