Elder Seth Barrus

Elder Seth Barrus
Jakarta Indonesia Mission May2013-2015

Monday, October 21, 2013

Pindahan (Relocating)



President Donald told me in my weekly email last week that some changes would happen soon, but I didn't expect it to happen as soon as it did. The phone call came while we were in Rodalink getting my brakes fixed-- Elder Broberg will be taking his talents to Jakarta. He and Elder Xiong (remember him--Zone Leader from Surabaya?) are going there to replace Elder Prasetyo and Elder Adhjidarma, the Zone Leaders there who are heading home this week. He leaves Wednesday and I'll miss him very much. 

After Elder Broberg was done talking to the AP's, he handed me the phone and Elder Coleman told me I'll be one of the missionaries that gets to train a new missionary from Tangerang. I'll fly in to Jakarta with Elder Broberg on Wednesday for a training meeting with the other trainers, pick up Elder Sutadiyono, and we'll fly back Thursday night and start working. Dang. This last month went by too fast! Elder Broberg is an incredible missionary and will succeed at whatever he puts his mind to because he's such a hard worker and listens to the Spirit. I'll miss him tons.

We still worked hard last week and as a result, sangat memberkati kami (we were very blessed). We still have an investigator with a baptism set for October 27th, but we had to teach a few lessons first. Like Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, Tithing, no problem right? We've been praying really hard he would gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon first. Because if that happens, everything else will fall into place. We showed up in his Kos (or little room he rents out) and after praying, asked about his reading. After explaining where he was at in his reading, he said, "saya yakin bahwa Kitab Mormon benar." Or "I'm absolutely certain the Book of Mormon is true." Ah man! God does answer prayers! We started teaching the Word of Wisdom, but he had already read the pamphlet and stopped drinking tea and coffee weeks ago. We taught tithing the next time, but he had already learned about it in the Gospel Principles class and already started paying it. As a result, we were able to cover and make sure he has a testimony of all the commandments last week, which means we get to focus on his baptism and other doctrinal things this week. It was a testimony builder to me! God is in charge. Our responsibility as missionaries and member missionaries is to just simply guide through the Spirit. He's ready for his baptism on Sunday. Can't wait! 

As far as other investigators go, we're starting to get a lot of help from the members. And as we teach with them, I'm beginning to see the value of having members bring friends in. It's much more effective because they can answer the questions we can't as Bule missionaries. Sister Novitha, a convert about 3 years ago from the main church here--HKBP, helped us teach three 22 year old ladies who came to the church building one day and wanted to know more. She could explain why we take the sacrament in a way that they could understand.Be a member missionary! The Elders and Sisters will appreciate it. It invites the Spirit and as the investigator progresses, they already have a friend. This work will roll forward because it is God's work. The blessings that come from the strait and narrow path are much greater than from staying on the wide and easy path. Church is true!


Hari  Raya Idul Adha--a Muslim holiday where they sacrifice a cow at the local
masjid (mosque).  Here I am with the cow sacrificers (is sacrificer even a word?).


1 comment:

  1. Great letter! Amazed, but not surprised that Seth will be training so quickly!! What a fantastic missionary!

    ReplyDelete