To begin conference was that BEST! All of the talks were amazing but the one that just hit me straight to the heart and filled me with the spirit was Elder Eyring's opening talk on fasting and our fast offerings! I'm serving in a country that may benefit highly from our willingness to pay a generous fast offering! I had the opportunity to listen to conference throughout the week in English and then watched it in Indonesian. I will say that my Indonesian is a whole heck of a lot better than last conference! WIth that being said, I've learned the importance of communication and language. I understood almost all of conference in Indonesian, but the feelings are just way different than hearing it in English. However, the spirit was abundant while listening.
The picture of the Ocampos is amazing!!! A family that can be together forever is the eternal happiness and I think that Elder L. Tom Perry hit that one hard in conference that maybe a good portion of the world has some of the same views as the Latter-Day Saints do. However, other people don't have the authority and don't look at anything in the eternal view as we do. I think that talk helped me out as a missionary teaching people that think everything is the same, it may help them to see why this is important in the eternal perspective rather than just an important decision now. This is something I'll change. Twas I but Tis not I.
On Tuesday, we were able to get a short break from the heat with a light drizzle all day long and it felt great!! My companion hasn't gotten his rain jacket, but it may come tomorrow as we have our PLD meeting. We will be having our interviews and instruction from the the leadership in the mission.
As for other experiences this week, we went to an investigator's house who had given a copy of the Book of Mormon to his friend who lives just a couple houses down so we went there and he just started going off and didn't stop. He ended up saying, "It's not Godlike to change people's beliefs." Well as a missionary you move and and find people who have been prepared. He isn't prepared yet but the seed has been planted. On the other hand, when we first moved to Surabaya Timur, we had an investigator who didn't come to church because he spent 2 hours trying to find it. After that we hadn't been able to meet with him. This past week, we swung by lo and behold there he was and he was very excited to see us. He was not able to come to conference because of a family thing but said that this up coming week he should be able to come now that he knows where the church is! He is such a humble man and I totally believe he is prepared!!
There was a question about food here in Surabaya. There is 2 sets of Elders in our branch so our area is split and all of the members really live in the other area except like 2 or 3 families. So we don't have that many dinner appointments just because there isn't a lot of members so we are by ourselves most of the time here. But no worries, stopping on the side of the road paying a dollar for a full meal is well worth it!!! :) At times we get adventurous and cook for ourselves and my companion is actually a great cook and likes to cook so that is a bonus!! :)
Hopefully Kiersten has fun! Those events were always a good time! WHOA, dad turns into a soccer coach......what's up with that!?! Hopefully all the sports go well and we see success in them!
I love you all and the atoning sacrifice is real! We can be forgiven and I feel forgiven every single day of my life as I am so not perfect. Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf made that clear that the Lord will stretch out his all powerful hands when we are willing and in the end we will be able to say
Twas I but Tis not I
Elder Hayes
No comments:
Post a Comment