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...

Sunsets on the Ocean

Hello, this week was great. We have some new investigators with potential but they are still new so hopefully as we keep meeting with them they will progress more. This week I went on Splits with Elder Shaner on Wednesday and Elder Lieske on Friday, I went to their area for both of the splits. While I was with them we went to this place in the middle of the jungle. It was really cool and like nothing I have ever seen before. Just straight up jungle all around you, pretty sweet. A few days ago Elder Setijawan and I when up a mountain to a village with a few members, we stayed a little later than planned and the public transportation was already done going down the mountain for the day... so we ended up having to walk down and down and down until we got to a place where we could hop on another angok. But on the way down we saw a really awesome sunset over the ocean so it made the trip worth it, it was like hiking and I like hiking.
I found out today that 2 of my investigators in Jakarta, the ones that are refugees from Iran, are planning on getting baptized on the 4th of July. I was really happy when I found that out. The gospel really blessed their lives and I know it can bless every single person's life in ways they can't imagine. The Gospel is amazing and has the power to heal every soul and answer any question.
Oh ya and I also ate bat and boar the other day haha it was pretty good, maybe soon I can try rat out.
Love you all! Have a great week!
-Elder Hymas-

brother Rilly and I

a birthday party!

 bat and rat meat at the local grocery store

Livin' the Life

Hello all.
Well this week in Manado has been good, I am just livin' the life here in paradise, teaching people the Gospel and eating yummy foods.

My companion Elder Setijawan recovered from his illness so I was not trapped in the house this week! This week we taught a few new investigators about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the church. One of them accepted a baptismal commitment and is excited to tell his wife and child about our church and he wants to invited them to go to church next Sunday. Manado is mostly Christian but was still cannot go knocking door to door. That is just something you can't do in Indonesia. You'd think because Manado is mostly Christian that it would make the missionary work a lot easier but it just makes it different I guess. Most of the people here belong to the church called GMIM, Gereja Masehi Injili di Minahasa. Every neighbor hood is organized into groups like wards for their church and everybody has strong roots in that church. So teaching people is easy but helping them act and come to our church is the hard part. But it can be done!

So the other day we ate lunch by the ocean. We ate sate tuna (tuna on a stick) it was really really good. There was a man from Papua behind us and I talked to him and gave him the Restoration pamphlet. He is cool but he is like touring Indonesia for a few days and then going back to Papua, and there is not church there yet. He left while we were eating and then when we left later we found out that he paid for our meals, what a nice guy! It wasn't that cheap either. Being a missionary has it's perks because we get food bought for us randomly a lot haha.

Today I got a haircut and after we email I don't really know what we will do, maybe eat somewhere nice. I am thankful I get to serve here in Manado and I love it! I love my Savior Jesus Christ and am just so blessed to have it in my life and to have such an amazing family. Have a great week!

fried bananas, lansa

boiled bananas with sambal

The public transportation here haha

sate tuna

-Elder Hymas-

My companion was sick

Hello! It was awesome to Skype my family for the last time on the mission! Luke, Isabelle, and Chloe have grown so much! Well this week wasn't too exciting, my companion got sick on Wednesday and for 5 days straight he was fevering and sick. So I was stuck in the house for 5 days straight. Just today he is feeling better. We went to the Hospital twice to check up on him and get meds, we spent quite a lot of money at the hospital. So pretty much this week I read lots of church books at home and watched the restoration video a few times, I might have went a little crazy. So yup that was my week! Fun fun. Well I hope Everyone has a good week! Love ya all!
- Elder Hymas

Drinks at pizza hut

Elder Setijawan sakit

Langsa

The 5th and Last City: Manado

So I moved to Manado last Tuesday, it was a 3 hour flight and I landed on time and safely. Manado is significantly different than any of the other cities in my mission. Pretty much everyone in Manado is Christian and there might be more churches here than there is in Utah haha, they are all over the place. The church here is literally right next to the ocean and I live about a 5 minute walk away from the ocean. There are also some mountains and the jungle close by. Oh and at night I can see stars! The first time I have seen stars since I left America!

So the branch has about 60 or 70 people at church each week. Manado is growing and they are looking at changing buildings soon to get a bigger place. We do not ride bikes here in Manado, we would die if we did haha my area is really big and there are sooo many huge hills everywhere, it makes it impossible to ride bikes. So we walk and ride small blue minivans called an angkot. Manado is pretty funny because they pimp out their angkots here with lights and speakers and big subs and they all play loud music haha so I pretty much know most of the new songs out there.

There are 4 Elders here and 2 sisters, Elder Setijawan and I in in charge of the south part of Manado. We visited a lot of non-active and active members this week. They are all awesome and gave us a lot of food. I still don't have my personal card anymore and probably just have to wait until I go home to get a new one, I will have to be hemat from now on. We don't have many progressive investigators right now but I will try to change that soon.

Well the internet here is really slow and I don't have much more time left to email. I am excited to Skype my family next week! Have a great week!
- Elder Hymas

Flying to Manado

My second to last transfer.

Streets of Manado

The Manado District

Our house

Of course if found the McDonalds

My Breakfast