Meet the Muslim Turned Mormon

I'm thinking about making a movie with that title. Do you think it would be big enough to sell in theaters? It would be based on a true story. After a short 10 months of missionary discussions and over 20 years of patient waiting by his wife and kids, the one and only Brother Wintolo was baptized by his son yesterday. It was a truly humbling and spiritual experience to witness the service. It reminded me of when Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized. Much like the Savior Himself, Brother Wintolo had to humble himself and come unto his own son and someone who in society should be "inferior", but had the authority, to baptize him. Elder Wintolo received permission from President Donald and flew in from Surabaya to do so. I also got permission to do the interview and had a very sacred experience with him. It isn't that easy to change religions, especially from Islam, a religion I respect and love, to Christianity. He hasn't received a huge spiritual outpouring confirming that he needs to be baptized, but he told me he's taking it all in faith. Shouldn't that be the reason for most of our actions too? It was a great experience I'll never forget. I'll be telling that story to my grandkids till the day I die. 

We went to Taman Mini last Pday and I attached some pictures below, including a picture of a real komodo dragon. Elder Booth, I finally found one! We also got to hold a 2 meter long snake. That was fun. :) There were a ton of cool cultural things as well, including houses from Kalimantan, Medan, Padang, Lampung, etc.

Remember Brother E? Elder Sutarno and I were headed to District Meeting after teaching Pak P, and while crossing the street, we got a random call from Bro E's wife, Sister Rawuh. She said that Brother Erwin wants to be baptized on the 25th of October. After we calmed down from our initial rush of excitement, we called Brother E to make sure and he's ready. Yay! That was pretty much the miracle of the week. He's been an investigator for 2 years, receiving baptismal commitments on and off, but never really getting in the water. So to hear this news is definitely humbling and exciting! We have Zone Meeting this week with President Donald, 2 other interviews we need to do in Bekasi and Tangerang, and our own investigator needs to be baptized, so this week is going to be busy, but we're stoked.

We did a split with the Tangerang Elders and again, I am impressed and proud of their dedicated work down there. Elder Troff (from South Jordan--he went to Bingham) and I taught a few people, including this guy named Jeff. He was a large, large man. But he speaks perfect English and we had a great lesson with him. They've done such great work, that the Tangerang district is expanding from just 2 companionships to 4 companionships in the next month. Tangerang has been an area where the work has always been considered "slow" but the Lord is truly hastening His work in every part of the world. 

That's about it for this week. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Elder Seth Barrus