December 1, 2014--December... but no snow :)

(Editor's note: with the semi-public nature of this blog, I have decided to cut out identifiable names when I post letters here. I hope this doesn't make the reading too awkward, but it seems more courteous to the folks whose names are included.)

My most lovely and wondrousful mother dear,

It's so weird to think about Japanese. I can't remember any of it! All I can think of is the words in Indonesian.

This week was good, but tough at the same time. We didn't have a chance to meet with Pak A or Bu W this week. And the Catholic lady's name is Bu Y. She couldn't meet this week either. It was kind of disappointing. And I think the baptism with Bu W isn't going to happen--she's been kind of avoiding us I think. But hopefully it can still happen! This week though, we got 7 new investigators! The Lord really blessed us. One of them--her name is Mama W (because she's the mom of a son named "W"--which means ****) was taught by the missionaries several years ago, but there is no record for her. It was really a miracle that we found her. We had an investigator, a Pak T, who we tried to meet with and saw him through the window sitting on the couch. But then he got up and went to the back room and his wife then answered the door and told us that he wasn't home right now so we couldn't meet with them. That was really disappointing. After that, we had planned to go to the RT's house. 

(Some explanation about RT's: an RT (pronounced "Err-Tay") is the boss of a neighborhood. Each neighborhood in Indonesia has an RT who makes sure that the neighborhood is safe and monitors who is living in what houses and stuff like that. The RT is just a regular resident of that neighborhood, and I'm not sure if he gets voted on or how often RT's change, but the RT can be a powerful tool. For instance, there are many missionaries who talk to the RT's and ask if there are any Christians in his neighborhood that they can meet with. Sometimes, if the RT is nice, he will give them 5-15 referrals of Christians who live there, their names and addresses. However, it can backfire, because `sometimes he threatens them and/or tells them to never come back to that neighborhood.)

So, we knew that the RT in Pak T's neighborhood was Christian, so we planned to go to his house, ask for referrals, and hopefully teach him and his family too. But, he wasn't home. So, rather dejectedly, we walked back through the neighborhood to the main road. At one point, there was this little boy who started talking to us. His name was S. We stopped and talked to him, and pretty soon, his mom came. She was Muslim and didn't want to learn, but, we asked her if she had any friends who would be interested in our message, and she said, oh yeah, there's one. Her name is Mama W. And then she gave us directions to Mama W's house. If Pak T had met with us, and if the RT had been there, we very likely would never have found Mama W, because her record was gone, and it was just perfect timing that we ran into little S. That was a miracle that was disguised. At first it looked all bad, but the Lord used the bad things for our good. And that really strengthens my testimony that the Lord has power to turn challenges and struggles and heartaches into triumphs and victories and joys. It was really cool.

A little bit about W, Mama W's son: he is about 12 years old, but has some kind of learning defect that is quite severe. He can't yet speak, and he can only walk if he has someone's arm to lean on. He was really sweet...I think it's such a blessing that we have so much access to healthcare and help in America.

I am so excited to get that Christmas package, and I'm very glad G and J's cards made it there quickly :) This week, on Saturday and Sunday, stake conference will be held. The Bogor ward choir will be singing at that, and I'm really excited! Til next week,

Love you to the Atlantic and back and back again :)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXXXXXXXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Keluarga adalah kekal

(Families are forever)

Elder Paskett