Spencer - Called to Serve: Week 37 - Missionaries are Like Detectives, Service Is Truly An Amazing Thing, and the Novelty of a Tall White Boy in Indonesia.

Because I left it out in my email last week and so that I don't forget today, I did get my Valentine's packet two weeks ago right after emailing and then I forgot to include that bit of information last week....oops!!!

Anyways, all is well here out in the islands!!! It continues to rain and be scorching hot but no worries!!! This week I learned how much the life of a missionary is like the life of a Policeman, here is the story:

Earlier this week my companion and I wanted to find a less active. We had his number and his teaching record and that was about it. We called him and he said that we could maybe meet but he never gave us his address. Days went by and one night we get a text asking when we could meet. We replied and said tomorrow and he agreed. We get there and we walk in prepared to teach a member that was baptized and right away went inactive but we get the questions like, "Is this the Catholic church, Christen, what is this church?" "What kind of message do you have?" We asked him if he has been baptized and even heard of the church, he told us no. We were SOOOO confused out of our minds!! We ended up teaching the first lesson. When we were finished he tried to force us to take money. We talked with a member about the whole situation he told us the truth and turns out he lied about the whole thing to get out of something. So this week we have to return and straighten things out. Moral of the story even with religion people will lie to get out of something! ;)

Earlier this week we were able to package together some rice, noodles, oil, and sugar so that some people who are in need could receive it and be able to eat! We helped a member do that and then we shared Mosiah 2:17 about service and it helped remind me that no matter what service you do you are serving your Heavenly Father. The feelings a person can get from serving others is just incredible and then the people who get served are happy as well. Service is truly an amazing thing.

My new Friday night proselyting activity is going to one of the local parks because thousands of people are there with their families and it is honestly NUTS how many people are there. Well as a white person, you can stand there and people just come up to you and talk to you which makes it SUPER easy to talk to them about religion and why the heck is a white boy doing in Indonesia. We haven't been able to follow up but that was something really funny and fun!!

It's a bummer to hear that the girls basketball team lost! Hopefully they are proud to how far they made it? Has soccer started???

Some of you added translated phrases and I must say, they are translated pretty well jadi saya ingin ucapkan terima kasih dan bahwa aku mengasihi kalian juga!!!

Terima Kasih!!!

Elder Hayes