Indonesia, Jakarta Mission 3/13 - 3/15

Saturday, March 7, 2015

I'm Loving it!!

Hello!  Wow, I can't believe it is already March!  Time is flying by here!  But things are staying busy and interesting!  And I am loving it!  And glad that I still have time left here!  But it is going away too quickly!  Trying to make it all count!

Well, this week was a pretty good one.  We went on splits to Bekasi at the beginning of the week.  That was fun.  I got to work with Elder Canfield, and that was a lot of fun.  I lived in the same house with him in Tangerang for several months.  He is a great guy and an awesome missionary.  I learned a lot with him, and had a lot of fun and learned a lot of things bouncing ideas back and forth with him and talking about the work here and whatnot.  Fun to have a change of scenery every once in a while.  But splits are always a pain, too, because they take us out of our area for a day and a half, and so we lose a lot of opportunities to spend time proselyting and finding new investigators, because we are then trying to catch up on teaching appointments.  But it is good.

As far as this week goes, we had some cool experiences.  We have an investigator named J.  He promised us last week that he would come to church last Sunday, but then didn't come.  So on Monday we went to his house.  Well, he was totally trying to politely reject us and tell us he didn't need to change churches and whatnot.  But he just couldn't say it.  He was just beating around the bush, and we were just waiting for it.  But he never really got there.  So we just sat and listened and then answered his concerns the best we could, and had him close with prayer and ask God what he needs to do.  Well, during the lesson, we felt we were guided by the spirit, but his attitude wasn't really changing.  And we didn't feel the Holy Ghost during his closing prayer.  So we left thinking that he was gone.  But the next day he texted us and all of a sudden wanted to meet again.  So we met.  And since then, we have met him 3 times this week, and have had some awesome lessons with him, and he really wants to keep learning, and has promised to come to church next week, and almost has said he wants to be baptized.  He just said that after we left that first time, he was ready to put the Book of Mormon away, but he felt a desire and need in his heart to read it, and so he has been, and he has been feeling good about it, and is beginning to gain a testimony of the truth, despite how many people around him (pretty much everyone he knows) telling him that our church is evil and a cult and whatnot.  So that has been a really cool experience to see the Holy Ghost work on him and change his heart so much over such a short time!  A miracle!

We have been teaching D and his friends still, too.  And they are pretty cool.  D is still living with his girlfriend because he hasn't been able to find a place to live yet, but he is looking because he really wants to move out so that he can be baptized!  So he is awesome!  And he came to church this week!

Pak M has stopped drinking coffee and is pretty much all ready, so we are preparing him for the 15th of this month!  Pak B is still smoking just a little, but we visited him today and got him to give us his last pack of cigarettes and commit to stopping fully.  We were pretty blunt with him and his friend that was there, too.  I think his friend got a little offended, but Pak B is awesome and realizes that it really is the Lord wanting him to do it, and he wants to do it too!  So he took it really well!  These are really our most progressive investigators right now, and they seem to be doing well!

We had one guy that some other missionaries contacted show up at church, too, and we taught him afterwards, and he was pretty cool and wants to come back next week as well!  So that was pretty good!  Little miracles!

Today for P Day, we ran into President and Sister Donald when we were going to get lunch, and they invited Elder Barlow and I to go eat lunch with them.  they took us to a nice restaurant and paid for our lunch, and it was so delicious, and so fun to get to sit and talk with them!  They are the most amazing people!  

Well, I think that is most of it for this week!  Things here are awesome and I am loving it!   Mom--for your questions:  My companion is good, my health is good, the weather is hot and humid and the rainy season is ending, and I am good.  The house is pretty good, but they are in a bad habit of talking til way too late sometimes, so we are always tired haha!  We are trying to get a hold on that.

Thanks for all your letters!  I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Wood