Konferensi Umum (General Conference)

The Indonesian translation for General Conference arrived last week, so the Branch here in Medan had the opportunity to watch it the last two days. Not without a few problems though.. Senopati (the mission home) sent us all the sessions on a flash drive and we rigged up a projector, a flash drive reader, and a sound system in the chapel of the church building last Friday. It seemed to be working fine when we set it up with the BML, Brother Ronald, but when we started Saturday morning's session, the session got about 10 minutes in when it all of a sudden skipped back to the beginning. Dah. 

Tell Jeff Rollman it made me grateful for my BYUTV training. After some troubleshooting fun, we decided that the flash drive was the problem. We eventually downloaded all the sessions on a new flash drive from the church computer, and it was fine the rest of the sessions, but all 8 of the members that showed up for the Saturday morning session didn't get to watch it in Indonesian. Which was a bummer because it was so good! 

I have no idea how to get my ideas down except by writing a list. So here we go! Thoughts from General Conference:

-Seeing Kelly Dehaan leading the Priesthood choir was weird. I told everyone he was my high school choir teacher in and they were pretty shocked. 

-Elder Bednar's talk on Tithing. "If you aren't, I would have you consider your ways and repent." Ha ha! Pretty darn powerful!

-Elder Oaks: What's holding us back from putting God as our ultimate priority?

-President Monson: Our purpose as members is to become more spiritually refined than we were before.

Conference always rocks. Other than conference though, Elder Broberg and I had a great week!  We had an experience last week with one less active member. His name is A and he's been inactive for just a few months. But he's the one who brought H, our investigator with a baptismal commitment, to church that one time. We've been talking with H since and he's told us he's a little confused why the person who introduced him to the church is inactive. We explained how God ultimately loves us and because he does, he respects our agency above all. 

However, we met up with A last week and just talked with him. He explained that he has to work on Sundays and can't come to seminary or institute. But while we were talking, I got this distinct impression to tell him about Hendra. I don't know exactly what it meant to him, but I told him how grateful we were that he introduced H to the truth. And that we know H is grateful too. I hope it helps him to become active again. If anything, it made me think about the role of the Holy Ghost in the work I do. 

Remember Elder Vinson's talk from Conference? There's a little kid pushing a rock with all his effort and might, but it won't budge. The dad comes over and asks if he's giving it his all and the kid replies with "of course." The dad then tells him "not yet. You haven't asked for my help." As missionaries, we can push and work and teach like crazy, but if we aren't letting the Holy Ghost teach or find as we work, we're like the little kid, getting nowhere with our work. I know that Heavenly Father will help me as I ask, because ultimately, this is His work. Missionary Work isn't missionary work without the Holy Ghost. I know this is His Gospel and His work. The truth that we hold can bless people's lives beyond measure and bring them the most happiness and joy they can't find otherwise.

Elder Barrus

And now, the answers to this week's questions:

1. Medan is much nicer than Surabaya! Little cooler and not as hot. 

2. I actually don't miss the AC. The fans work really well and it saves a ton of money on our monthly electric bill.

3. I don't get bitten a lot by  .

4. I've been finished with my 12 week training program since the middle of September. No longer a greenie! Hooray! 

5. Ha ha! Yeah, I did leave my maple flavoring in Surabaya.  I was thinking about having an Elder send it up here because I miss it. But it seems like Elder Barlow is putting it to good use. So whatevs. Hee hee. That's funny.

Thanks for your email and quote from the Lorenzo Snow lesson where he quoted Joseph Smith. It's just what I needed to hear this week.

We posted this reminder near our kitchen table so we can remember to
pray for the missionaries and their investigators specifically by name.