Pacman tire

Weird yet awesome week. Update on the investigators first: We met with A last week and he seemed pretty serious about his baptismal commitment, but he didn't come to church yesterday. So we're going to have to push his date back. And that's okay. Yang penting, dia siap.(Importantly, he is ready.)  Our other investigator with a baptismal commitment seemed really serious about his date last Tuesday when we met. When we tried calling him to make sure he could meet on Saturday, he said he had already moved to Surabaya. Say wha...? He was so golden too! Oh well, we gave his info to the Surabaya Elders and hopefully he still progresses there.

New investigator though! Last Monday, we had two appointments cancel on us. So Elder Sutadiyono and I were scrambling to find someone. We looked through our phone and found a name "Ibu Tidak Tahu Namanya" or "Woman that doesn't have a name." What the heck, we tried anyway. She sent us the address of her "house" which we thought was on the east side of Medan. After biking the 30 minutes out to to what we thought was her address, we called and she said she lived on the west side of Medan. Dang. So we backtracked and tried finding her again. After getting lost and kinda frustrated, I told myself, "Just change your attitude Elder Barrus. Because if she's this hard to find, she'll become that much more of a great investigator." So I did! And we finally found her by 8:45 PM. Enough time to give a Book of Mormon and see her situation. Her name is Ibu M. She used to be Charismatic, but the church moved really far away and she hasn't been to church in a year. She has two sons, Roni and Toyo, who are really interested to learn from us. Her husband passed away 14 years ago. She doesn't seem too interested, but she basically gave her children to us. They're really cool too! I'll fill you in later when we know more after this week.

H received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday! And he's still great! He invited his friend to come to church yesterday and he came!

Elder Sutadiyono is a great companion. We were biking over to Elder and Sister Tucker's apartment to help them set up their internet last Wednesday, when he got clipped by a car and fell to the asphalt. The driver looked out and then drove off. I was in front and turned around to see him walking up the sidewalk with a bent tire and broken pedals. I asked him if he was okay and he said "My tire like Pacman now." Ha ha! And he was right! The rim was all bent. He ended up being okay and there were a bunch of security guys lounging around that helped him fix his bike (because his comp was a bule). And we were off again. Great companion Elder Sutadiyono is.

I think durian is looked at as a challenge for missionaries to like. The stuff is trash. It's 15,000 Rupiah for just one fruit and why anyone would want to spend that much to throw up is beyond me. Even the Indonesians all said after eating it "biasa aja" or "it's normal." Gross. it needs to be against the Word of Wisdom. There's a story that went around the mission where an elder ate a ton of durian and received the sensation like he was "drunk". Needless to say, after 8 pieces of durian, I told my companion to stop. Ha ha!

No matter our position in life, we all can accomplish the things we've been asked to do through strength in the Lord. Romans 4:20-21. There's my spiritual thought.

See you all next week! (We haven't felt any effects from the typhoon. Btw.) Prayers go out to all the people affected by it though.

Elder Seth Michael Bule Barrus

PLD or Zone Conference
President and Sister Donald are in the front on the left after the Indonesian couple
and Elder and Sister Gong are to the right of them.
Can you spot Seth?