Monday, June 20, 2016

Week 102 - Final Thoughts, Last Words and Remarks and the End of Two Great Years

Halo untuk terakhir kali, 

Two years of missionary service in the beautiful islands of Indonesia quickly comes to a close. Many life long lessons and memories were made and have prepared me for the beginning of a new future. I thank all who followed along on the journey whether in the field or reading the letters. It all truly means a lot to me. The mission has taught me that "when you are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are truly in the service of your God." Heavenly Father has a unique plan for all of us. For me, part of that plan was to serve his children in Indonesia to bring them the sweet Gospel. His plan is perfect and when we are obedient to His commandments we will receive the blessings that we want. I am a first witness to this eternal principle.

As I reflect on what has taken place over the course of the time, lots of fond and precious memories come to mind; the food, the people, the heat, the hardships, the lessons learned, the floods, the fixing of bikes, the ridiculous traffic, the studying, the stress, the joy, and much more. Not in a second would I replace what went on these past 2 years for anything in this world!

Over the past two years, I have developed life-long relationships with others and caught a glimpse of what is really out in the world. The world is a place that can be scary and tough. When we follow the council of a Book of Mormon prophet, we don't need to worry. "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty stormshall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

This whole journey started several years ago with the decision to serve and commenced officially on July 2nd, 2014 where I met one of the greatest groups of missionaries in the Provo Missionary Training Center. We struggled with the language together and prepared ourselves but with full faith, left to help others. Upon arrival in Indonesia until the date we came home we served with not even looking back one second, in other words, "full heart. might, mind, and strength." All of us saw many miracles that became very personal to each of us. 

Occasionally, the miracle of the day was the fact that it rained or that Golden person that asks, "when is my baptism, Elder? Or maybe that saving McD's meal that was delivered." Whatever the miracle may be, they are tender mercies from the Lord and we learn form Elder David A. Bednar that the tender mercies of the Lord are never late and never too early. We have been the tender mercies to so many people.

I will indeed miss my time as a missionary especially in Indonesia which now holds a big place in my heart. However, these 2 years have prepared me for what is up next. I know that this Gospel has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith in these the latter days. We have a living Prophet this day in age to lead and guide us pointing us in the direction of Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ performed his infinite Atonement so that every person in the entire world could have the opportunity to become washed clean of their sins. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love us. I love this work and all of you! 

Terima kasih semuanya! Sampai Jumpa!

Elder Hayes


Sunday, June 12, 2016

Week 101 - Couldn't have asked for a better week!!

Couldn't have asked for a better week!! 

I have felt the love of the Lord and his guidance as we have gone out and preached the Gospel! Elder Tuttle and I set some pretty high goals this week and just went out and achieved them. No discouragement, just pure hard work......now Elder Tuttle is dead and not feeling well.

Last Monday, the leaders came in for the MLC meeting which was held on Tuesday. We found a new MLC tradition and that is sock wrestling!!! It was such a blast! I am still sore but for sure needed a work out like that. It was also nice to spend some time with the other leaders around the mission. 

Tuesday we had the MLC which went great! We talked about making ourselves busy. In other words effective planning. It was great and the ZL's did a great job of re-teaching it in ZTM which happened on friday. 

Many miracles happened this past week. On friday night, we hold our english class. As usual, we invited many people in anticipation for a lot to show up. We got a call from somebody who is interested in learning about the Gospel but wanted to come to english class. He said, "Elder is it okay if I bring friends like 2 or 3 or 5 or 9?!" We replied with a yes........30 mintues later about 9 people showed up! They stayed until the end of englush class and for the spiritual thought. We offered a church tour and all of them were super excited!! The spirit was so strong as we walked with them through the church and taught them about the restored church. It was a busy night.

Other miracles that happened......as a district we had a "cuci motor graits" (free motor wash) We put the sign out on the street and within 5 minutes, TONS of people came in. We had the opportunity to talk to them and found lots of interested people. There were some that asked to see inside of the church so we gave them church tours and it was just an awesome experience.

Alexander, our new member, brought a friend to church yesterday and he is GOLDEN!! We met with him after church and just talked about the Book of Mormon. He wants to come back next week and really was touched at church! There are so many people ready to receive the Gospel, we just have to find the right ones!

We met tons of great people this week and just witnessed the Lord guiding and blessing us! The Lord will guide and lead those that are obedient in this life. We have so much potential to achieve!

Love you all!

Elder Hayes

Happy Member!!! and a little bit of a height difference :)

Bro. A. and his friend who is GOLDEN!!!!!!

 a member and some investigators that we have been working with!!!
nobody to talk to on the bus  :(

how is this thing still running!!!

i killed my companion! ;)
Last MLC

Last MLC

Last MLC

Last MLC

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Week 100 - The Start of Ramadan, Miracles, and Splits in Bogor

ﺍﻟﺴﻠﺎﻡ ﻋﻠﻴﻜﻢ ﻭﺭﺣﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻠﻪ ﻭﺑﺮﻛﺎ ﺗﻪ

 (assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh)

I figured that the Arabic greeting would be appropriate as today officially starts the first day of Ramadan! Food might be a little scarce for the next little while! :)

So many awesome and things happen in a week that it is hard to fit it all into words. A was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints yesterday and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! He was stressing himself out because he ended up being a little late after waiting for the bus for around 45 minutes, but all went smoothly! 

One of the spiritual miracles and highlights happened on Saturday night! Elder Tuttle and I have a strong desire to find a family so that is what we fasted for. In our prayer, we were very specific on what this family would be like. We prayed that there would be 4 members in the family, there would be a dad, a mom, a son, and a daughter. On Saturday we sent out to start finding them. We went to a place that is buzzing with families on Saturday night! We sat down and Elder Tuttle says, "That is them Elder." I was super confused. As we looked across the walk way path, there was an awesome family of 4 that was all matching. How did we know they were the right ones??? It was their shirts that gave it away. The shirts said, " Dad," "Mom," Son," and "Daughter." HAHA We stood up and went over and talked to them about families. They are Buddhist but were open to us coming to visit them and share more about our message! Just in case that doesn't work out, we will keep searching! This is the same spot where we found that awesome family from Canada about a month ago if you remember!

There were 10 baptisms across the mission this past weekend!! 3 of them were in the 3rd ward here in Jakarta which is the English branch! One of the guys baptized was from Africa and the other two were from the Middle East. The spirit was so strong and it was such a wonderful experience for all who attended and witnessed. There are a lot of refugees here in Indonesia and so many of them are willing to listen to the Gospel! We cannot baptize them however if they do not have a permanent residence. It was cool to see that ward grow a little more!!  the church is growing little by little here in Indonesia!

Another thing that happened this past week was finding a less active in a very interesting way. We were walking into a busy mall and lots of people were sitting just outside as we passed a few men that were from England, one says, "How are you doing today, Elders?" We did not expect those words to come from his mouth as they were smoking a drinking. We stopped and spent some time there and got to know these guys. They are from Manchester here for work. One of them used to be an active member of the church. Since, he has gone off the right path. His friend had a lot of questions and he answered them all. We spent about 10 minutes there just sharing things that were coming to our heads. It was an interesting experience. How blessed we are to have the Gospel in our lives.

One of our investigators right now is Buddhist and has known about the church for 20 years! He invited us over and we entered a Yugoslavic styled apartment complex. He had lots of questions and we answered them and almost all of them were answered by the message of the restoration or in the Book of Mormon. He is really interested and is interested in coming to church. His name is Chao Ming (晁麋嗯, taken from google translate).

The rest of the week we were on splits in Bogor where we just worked and worked and worked to see miracles. We split with all 3 companionships that are there and had a blast!! Also, Bogor is such a beautiful city!

Lots of great things that have happened and many more bound to come. We will be holding the MLC meeting tomorrow so all the Zone leaders and 2 district leaders are flying in for that. Love you all and wish that best!

Elder Hayes

The line to get into the bus!!!!!

 Last line reads, "Pray, before you are prayed for!" HAHA

down by the banks of the river!

working in the depths!

Bogor!
KILLER BEES!!

working with Elder Martineau 
 just the classic Indonesia bathroom if you have forgotten :)

Massive map of an area!! 

Just a little bit of Jakarta!