Week 63 - Eating Rat, More Baptisms, and Awesomeness

Another just rewarding week of some great missionary work!

Just to keep people on their toes I'll start with a pretty crazy story. This past week we had made an appointment with a member. We showed up at the appointment and right away he invites us to eat before the lesson rather than after the lesson. No Elder is going to turn that down. We sat down and away we went. There was a peculiar dish that I nor my native companion were familiar with. We both asked what it was but the member told us just to eat it.....maybe for the better. Moments later another member had pulled up to the house and the one member calls out the window and says, "come on in, there is fish and rat!" My companion looked at each other with blank stares and continued to ask the member if really the dish we were eating was rat! I can now say I have eaten Rat!!!

Last Monday night was one of the craziest lessons I have ever taught on the mission. We went to the house of a lady that we had contacted. She was home. After shaking her hand, not even joking one-by-one about 17 people filed into the house shaking our hands and the lady was just rambling off, "this is my aunt, this is my cousin, this is my nephew, my brother......" It was NUTS!!! The 18 or so people all found a place in the small house and we began the first lesson. We kind of felt like Jesus Christ in the midst of this small multitude of people! The spirit was super strong and nerves had settled and the spirit just took over! It was awesome!

On Tuesday I caught a plane to Jakarta and came back Wednesday night. There was a meeting there for the leadership as we have our monthly meetings. We talked about setting goals and what we have to do as individuals and companionships to achieve them. It was super spiritual and motivating that really ANY goal that we want to make can be achieved, it's what and how we put our efforts into it! I now have some wild dream ideas running through my mind, but nothing is impossible!! :)

The first of Bro. A's children was baptized on Saturday. Bro. A suffered a stroke about 6 months ago and physically cannot baptize but a member baptized her and it was a wonderful experience to see! Her name is J and turns 17 in October. The church here in Manado is like a rocket! If not mistaken the Sisters have a baptism lined up for this week! Almost every week this last little bit has had a baptism! The Lord's work is just taking off!

A little miracle for Sunday. We had enough food to cook ourselves but both lunch and dinner were provided by just random means by others. It was a mini miracle for us because we didn't have to cook and was able to enjoy some great food! :)

Time is just flying out here!! To be honest, I don't know where most of it has gone! I'm healthy, happy, and wise!! Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. Many of you know that Timur Leste was opened for missionary work in the Indonesia Jakarta Mission. At this point there are no missionaries except 2 humanitarian mission couples there! A fun fact, Timur Leste won its independence from Indonesia so technically it is it's own county but still falls under our mission!

Until next week!

Elder Hayes