November 3, 2014--Another week gone by...

Kabar baik!! Dan dengan Kamu Ibu-ku yang sangat terkasih? 
(I am good! And you, my mother who is very dear?)

In answer to your questions: I have so many mosquito bites I can't even remember to itch them half the time. Every morning I wake up with between 2-10 more mosquito bites than the last day. It's okay though because I really do forget to itch them because they're just a constant presence on my body :) The mosquitoes are annoying. And ants are EVERYWHERE. But, they don't like the cold, so if you don't want ants touching it, you just have to put it in the fridge and everything's safe. I've been keeping up the journal, no worries!! You know, it's really funny that President Figuerres had you recite that in Japan because we all recite that here too: Obedience is the Price, Faith is the Power, Love is the Motive, the Spirit is the Key, and Christ is the Reason. But then we add one more thing after it: One More Contact.

Yeah so they just keep the Indonesian Elders and Sisters out of their home ward, but many of the missionaries already know each other (or have heard of each other) and sometimes are in areas that are pretty close to their house. Elder Sadiyono's house is just a few hours from Bogor by bus. Typically, the Indonesians go to the MTC in the Philippines, and also go through the temple there.

My companion, Elder Sinaga, is originally from Medan which is on the island Sumatra. There's only one church building on the whole island and it's in the city Medan. Actually, his conversion story is really, really cool. He got baptized in high school because his sister introduced him to the gospel. He's the youngest of nine kids, and only he and his sister are members. Part of the problem is that actually, his house is in a village that is about 6 hours from Medan--his parents are farmers. He was only able to join the church because he was living in Medan proper to go to high school. So, only one of his family members is a member (the sister), and it would be really difficult for many of his other siblings to become members. They just live too far away from the church. Also, his sister isn't active right now, according to the most recent word from the 4 Medan Elders. So, that's tough. If I ever go to Medan, first thing I'm gonna do is talk to his sister and get her to start coming back to church. Elder Sinaga began his mission four months ago, but long before that he was helping the missionaries in Medan invite people to come back to church and to learn about the gospel. He was a huge help to them. He's a really cool Elder. Also, he is Bataknese, which means that he has a reputation here. Most Orang (people) Batak are of a fiery disposition, very set in their ways and quick to be offended (at least that's what I feel like the stereotype is; I haven't met any Bataks who are totally like that yet). Elder Sinaga gets some street cred because he's Batak, and then I take it away because I'm a bule.

About Christmas: I've really been craving Swedish Fish. And Skittles. But, don't send me Oreos, because they have those here, and currently I am addicted to them. I am trying to wean myself off them slowly. I buy packs and packs of them a week, it's horrible. So far, I've been 3 days without an Oreo (since Friday, to be exact).

Okay, so, this week was totally insane. I just have to remember to look at everything positively. :) Because there were miracles. But there was also a lot that just plain was not fun. This week, we visited almost everybody from our weekly planning that could be visited on Tuesday and Wednesday, which made Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday all pretty tough. We had one "semi-investigator" who we were meeting with, and we went to her house, and she and Elder Sinaga were saying stuff but I didn't really understand...until next thing I know, she hands us the Book of Mormon we gave her and then I realized she was giving it back because she didn't want to even try reading it. I almost cried; it was so discouraging. We also contacted this guy while we riding an Angkut ("transport"=public transportation)and when we talked about the Book of Mormon he asked us if we were selling it and if so, how much it would cost. He wanted to buy a Book of Mormon from us!!!! that is so rare!!! We told him it was free and gave one to him. But then we found out he was just visiting Bogor and actually lives in some city on Sulawesi where there is not yet a church. Oh man, that was a downer too.

Also, my bike broke. It took 60.000 rupiah to fix it--which is kind of a lot!! We fixed it Friday morning. After that, my stomach started hurting really bad. And then, the remainder of that day, my body used every means available to it to flush out all of the dark matter which resided in my stomach, intestines, and other digestive organs. It was horrendous. Upon my call to Sister Donald, she comforted me with these words: "Just remember Elder, that this too shall pass". And boy did it pass. It passed so well that I was somehow fine the next day.

And on that next day, Saturday, all our plans that we made with some friends of Pak Bernard (who was just baptized a few weeks ago) fell through, and none of our contacts could meet, so we had nothing. But we decided to keep studying and prayed that we would be blessed with someone to go see. And we were! This Batak guy we contacted in the mall called us and said he could meet that day at 1:00. So we went over to his house and had a great talk about the restoration, and he's willing to read from the Book of Mormon and pray about our message. On the way to his house, my bike broke again. It's still not fixed. But it's easier to contact people when we take public transportation so I think that will be better this week anyways. :)

We're hoping for a good week this next week, when we'll receive two more Elders to our ranks; there'll be 6 here in the city of Bogor. Stay faithful, and don't forget I pray for you every single day momma :)

Love you!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Paskett