Where Is Winter?

Selamat Pagi Semuanya!

The sun is shining. And it's not snowing. That's about it for the weather report from Medan today. As far as a missionary report, things are going great! It's funny how the Lord blesses His missionaries as they do what they're supposed to be doing. 

I told you about Txxxx and Rxxxx last week right? Total miracle that we found them. It's been another miracle in the sense that they have been prepared by God to receive the restored Gospel. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and The Gospel of Jesus Christ last week and the whole time we've been teaching them, it's like we're teaching an "investigator" from the MTC. Seriously. They both keep their commitments, read their homework, and say "Yes" to anything we want them to do. It's awesome! Elder Sutadiyono gave them a baptismal commitment for the 15th of December. Even though BP moved and things aren't working out with Axxxxxx (our other investigators), the Lord still blesses His missionaries with people to teach. With Jonathan, Josh, and Micah all in Utah right now, I really feel like Txxxxx and Rxxxxx are my little brothers. I've grown to love and appreciate them so much especially since their situation is so difficult. Yet they make the best out of their situation and even smile about it. I'll take a picture of them this week and send it the next. 

Do you remember Sxxxxxx from Surabaya? Elder Hendro and I gave him a baptismal commitment for the 27th of September but it never happened because he never came to church, that rebel. But, I got a phone call last week from his mom, Ibu Yxxxxx, who said he wants to be baptized and wants me to fly back to Surabaya and do it! I asked President Donald and he said "nope". No surprise there, but some fun news to get.

Fun story: we met up with this guy who is a self proclaimed "pengInjil" or preacher. He hasn't been to church in 14 years because he believes that churches are built by man and when the Savior comes again, all the churches will be destroyed. So what's the point of coming to church? He's a little weird. We got to talking with him and he said he had just gotten out of prison. We were kinda surprised to hear that. He explained that he tried preaching about Jesus to our good friends, the Muslims, and that he preached with such great power and testimony, they had no other choice but to throw him in jail. Ha ha! There's some weird people here in Medan. But they're mostly good people, I promise.

I've been thinking a lot about the doctrine explained in Alma 37:6-7 about small and simple things. Sometimes we get so caught up in thinking about the big picture we get depressed and forget about the little things we should be doing. It's great to have a goal in mind to give you motivation. But if we expect to see the big things happen automatically, we'll constantly fall short. We hear this ALL THE TIME. Yet, it's so important to our well-being. Read your scriptures every day. And pray every day.

Makasih banyak atas dukungan anda dan doa-doa anda! Saya tahu bahwa kerja ini adalah akibat dari saya, Allah, dan bantuan anda. Sampai minggu depan! (Thank you so much for your support and your prayers! I know that this work is a result of my God, and your help. Until next week!)

Elder Seth Michael Barrus