Solar Eclipse and a Field Trip

Selamat Pagi! This week was pretty good. We started off our week visiting this place called the Skybar for p-day. It is located on the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Jakarta and we get to see the city from real up high. It was super cool and really hot! Then later on the night we went to an appointment with a member. This member met this guy when she got a ride home from institute and talked about the church with him and he wanted to meet. So we went to his house with this member and visited this guy. He has a lot of problems in his life like getting a divorce and has a really big debt and doesn't have a job and lives with his disabled friend, and is on the run from people that he owes money too. Well ya needless to say he has problems. We told him that we can only help him spiritual through our messages and that Jesus Christ and His Atonement will help him. I think he was a bit disappointed because it seems like he really just wanted help with his money and job problems. A lot of people here get a lot of free stuff from other churches and they expect us to do the same. But church isn't about free door prizes and and stuff. But we do give them the thing that they really need most, even when they don't realize it.
So the next day a class form a Theological school had a field trip to our church because a few students were going to present their project on their research of the "Mormon Church" and then they had a question and answer session with me and another member. We were invited to this by a mission couple here in charge of public relations, so we had to keep it professional and couldn't be too pushy. Their project was actually pretty good and they said they learned a lot. All of the students were really curious and asked really good questions. They all took a Book of Mormon home and a few other materials. They were all really interested in our church and hopefully the seeds planted in their hearts that day will grow.
I finished reading Doctrines of Salvation volume 1 by Joseph Fielding Smith the other day. It was really good and he explained a lot of gospel principles to me really well and it strenghened my faith. I have noticed lately that I have been more assertive and to the point with people when I share with them the gospel. I have become a lot braver to testify of our Savior Jesus Christ and His restored church to everybody and everybody. It feels good to know that my testimony has grown so much on my mission and it is nice to simply know without a doubt that this church is true and be brave to share it to everybody. I am excited to serve in greater callings in the church in my future and help the Lord's kingdom grow.

have a great week everybody!
- Elder Hymas

We went to a place called the skybar, It is on the highest floor on once of the tallest buildings in Jakarta so the view was cool

We felt pretty rich up there

Here is the solar eclipse we watched, pretty awesome... and I head to wear 3 pairs of sunglasses to see it

A good week

Well this week was a good week. Elder Fowler and I were out and about working hard and talking to a lot of people. I am actually finishing Elder Fowler's training so he is my half-son. He was a few more weeks left of his training. His Indonesian is already really good but he still have trouble getting used to the Indonesia food haha.

So nothing too out of the ordinary happened this week. We just rode a lot of buses going to appointments and teaching the restored gospel. We have found a couple new investigators but there really isn't one that is begitu progressive at the moment.

In case you didn't know, Jakarta is full of traffic and nothing but traffic and people. So when we want to go to an appointment somewhere it might take us 2 hours to get there and 5 hours to get back haha. So we can only really plan one appointment a day and go there and talk to people on the way. That is pretty much what we do everyday, I am trying not to get bored of the buses.

I finished the book Doctrines of Salvation by Joseph Fielding Smith the other day and I really enjoyed it. It helped me really understand a lot of gospel points better and strengthen my faith. We also started the 80 day challenge again a few days ago. That is where we read the Book of Mormon as a companionship in 80 days. We are reading it in Indonesia! Anyone want to join us?

Today for P-day we are going to the skybar. I heard it is one of the tallest buildings in Jakarta and we can go to the top and look all around, should be neat.

Well That is about it for this week, thank you everyone for your support!

- Elder Hymas

Me on a crowded train

people dress up like weird things at Kota Tua.... 

kota tua again

Me and some members/investigator

Hola Amigos

Hello all, this week has been great! Elder Fowler and I spent a lot of time on the busways and other places contacting people. We have been to this place called Monas a few times, it is Indonesia's National Monument. They have a basketball court there too so we played some prossball. That's were we just ask them if we can play in our white shirts and ties and contact them while we play, we ended up teaching a couple lessons from it and it was fun! We had a lesson with a Muslim man who has learned from the Bible for a long time and has met with other faiths like JWs. I think he is sincere and is searching for the truth. He just has problems accepting Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and everyone on it. He says Jesus was only sent to the people of Israel and whatnot. We tried to explain but it is not possible to change your beliefs unless you receive a witness through the Spirit that something is true. Hopefully he reads and prays like we told him to do.

We only had one investigator at church yesterday, he has been an investigator for a long time but still comes to church so that is good. hopefully soon we can help him progress in his repentance process. Two weeks ago a lot of non-members had a funeral at our church here and yesterday night they had a last worship service at our church and ate a lot of food. They invited us to come too. The service was really interesting. It is pretty different how other churches worship. They sang a lot and threw their hands up in the air. The preachers spoke really fast and I didn't exactly agree with everything they said haha, then they passed around some big envelopes and people put money in them while they sang. It was a neat experience but the food afterwards was really good, and free. Well that was about all that happened this week I guess. Take care,
- Elder Hymas

Elder Fowler and I

Elder Arthur and Elder Jasperson

traffic

The Barker family and I

the national monument Monas

Well I got robbed and my companion is going home today

Hello everyone. This week has been pretty good. Ya and like the title says my bag got stolen a few days ago... that was pretty annoying. We were at McDonalds and we were eating and enjoying our tripple cheeseburger. I put my bag on the ground next to me, I thought that would be safe and all in a McDonalds. Well when we got up to leave and my bag was gone, I was pretty confused for a second so we walked back to the church to see if I just left it there, but it wasn't at the church either. We watched the film on the security camera at the McDs and ya we saw 4 people come in the resturant and 2 sat behind us, one by the door, and one by the counter. The 2 behind me took my bag with their feet under the tables. One of the workers almost say but their friend by the door called him over to distract him. They then put my bag in their backpack and then they all 4 walked out. It was pretty quick and we didn't even notice. Pretty dumb, hopefully they will read the Book or Mormon or the pamphlets in my bag and repent. I also lost my nice camera and all my photos....
But other than that my week was alright. My companion Elder Widigdo gets released in like 3 more hours so he is pretty excited about that. He was been pretty trunky these past couple of days haha.
A few days ago we met with a new investigator and at the beginning he just wanted to Bible bash with us but after he realized we weren't just any old average Christians he started to humble down and was pretty good. He is a Muslim but is has read the Bible a bunch and has lots of questions. One of the issues he has is that he doesn't believe in the Trinity so once we explained what we believe he started to like us more haha.
I am getting a new companion today, his name is Elder Fowler from Kansas I think. I haven't met him yet but I will in a little bit. From what I hear he is a big guy who likes football and is funny, so I think we should get along.
I know that this church is true and that this gospel is the only way we can obtain everlasting happiness. All the things of the world don't matter, what matters are spiritual things and our relationships with others and our Father in Heaven.

- Elder Hymas

Back with Dodo again!

Halo selamat siang semuanya, ini Elder Hymas.
This week was alright, It was kinda of a slow week for us but that happens occasionally. We had a Zone meeting on Friday and it was good. Oh and my buddy Elder Widigdo came to Jakarta from Medan and he is staying here for a week and a half and then he goes home from his mission. I served with Elder Widigdo for 3 and a half months in Magelang and he is awesome! Well all of a sudden a few days ago I was told that I would be companions with Elder Widigdo until he goes home and then I would get a new companion, so now I am with Elder Widigdo again! I am pretty happy about that.

Yesterday was Valentine's day but don't worry I didn't celebrate it haha, I heard Brock got engaged! That's awesome and about time!

We have some investigators that are doing pretty good but still have some progress to be made. Hopefully in the near future we will see some baptisms. It is just really really tough to get return appointments or meet with people at all here because everyone is so busy and whatnot.

Today for P-day we are planning on going to Sea World Jakarta, so that sounds like a good time! Hopefully not too expensive.

Me at the ocean for the first time in Indonesia

Sea World

At a members house

Some Dragon fruit and carrot juice

Have a great week!
- Elder Hymas

Missionary Broadcast, Pemakaman di gereja, Broncos Win!!

Hello Everyone, Well this week was pretty good, it went by pretty fast. We started off our week with a zone meeting with President Donald. We watched a worldwide broadcast for missionaries from the General authorities. It was super awesome and uplifting. The focus of the conference was to teach us to Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. We have to make sure that our investigators are truly converted when they are baptized so they stay active, we must teach repentance so they bring about a real change in their lives through the Gospel. It was great. Elder Oaks, Elder Bednar, and a few others spoke to us.

Right after that zone meeting I got a call from a member telling us that there will be a funeral at our church for a non-member neighbor of ours. They asked us to use our church building for the funeral. So I thought it was going to be a 3 hour event but that is not what funerals are like here I guess. The funeral actually lasted 4 days straight 24 hours a day. It was crazy and soooo many Christian people showed up to our church. So we used that opportunity to talk to as many people as we could there as they were walking though. So we had a little booth set up with Restoration pamphlets, The Plan of Salvation pamphlets, Book of Mormons, Liahona magazines, and other materials.We ended up giving about 31 Book of Mormons away between all 4 of us and talked to a lot of people. It was great! 

Church was great and we had 2 investigators come. We had an activity at the mission office later that afternoon but it rained super hard and not much people showed up. But is was still good.

Oh ya and the Broncos won the Super Bowl!!! Yay!!!! That makes me happy. 

Semoga minggu ini menyenangkan! Sampai minggu depan!

- Elder Hymas

Our house just flooded.

Hello,

So this week has been pretty good. I told you last week how there were a few Elders who had to go to Singapore for Visa issues and they stayed at our house for a few days while they were getting their new visas. Well they got called last Monday and were told that they had to go back to Singapore again because they got the wrong visa the first time and had to redo it. Haha well those Elders had to go back to Singapore for a couple days again. They got back a few days ago and have been hanging out with us for the time being because they need to process their visa in Jakarta before they are free to go back to their areas so they have been on splits with us. Because of this our week hasn't been quite as organized but it is all fine.

Yesterday our investigator Mondo went to church again with us and he had a great time. He is really progressing fast and is super golden. The only problem is that his parents are going to have a hard time accepting it all, hopefully it will all work out. 

This morning it started to rain super hard and all of a sudden I heard Elder Arthur start screaming and I went to see what was up and ya our house started to flood from the balcony and through the ceiling. It was pretty crazy and we were running around the house yelling and trying to fix it. It turns out some trash was plugging the drain and also the house isn't designed the best. Oh ya and our toilet like exploded a few days ago and brown liquids went everywhere. It smelled super bad. We called the landlord to send a plumber to come and fix it. But she only sent one guy with a screwdriver. He cleaned it up and blocked the drain but the pipes are all clogged and he isn't able to fix it himself. He told us he has to ask his friend to help him but they both work different jobs and it is hard to find a time that works for both of them. So 3 out of our 4 bathrooms don't work yet. 

Tomorrow is PLD, that is the zone meeting with the President. We are just going to watch a broadcast from the General Authorities and talk about it. This also means that even more elders will be staying at our house tonight. Fun stuff. Well that is about it for this week. We will be playing futsal with all the missionaries in West Jawa in a bit.

Have a great week!

Elder Hymas

The sisters got a hold of my camera...

I also taught a guy from Jogja about Families

Elder Atkinson and I also helped a member do a spelling bee for her work. We were pronounces for the words, it was fun.