Elder Seth Barrus

Elder Seth Barrus
Jakarta Indonesia Mission May2013-2015

Monday, November 10, 2014

Jakarta Raya

I packed up all my stuff, hopped in a taxi last Wednesday, got to Senopati at 12, and the new missionaries arrived by 4. Meeting new missionaries is always fun, mostly because of the lack of knowledge about the mission. It's fun filling them in. It was a fun mix, too. A group of 10 Indonesian missionaries came from the Philippines MTC, and then there were the 7 foreigners coming from the Provo MTC. We just got back from playing futsal earlier this morning, so that's why we're emailing later.

Elder Simanungkalit in the office at Senopati
Thus life in the mission office has begun. I attached a picture below of my new companion, Elder Simanungkalit and I. 20 points for whoever can pronounce his name correctly when I Skype at Christmas. It's definitely a change being here, sending out letters and packages, meeting with President Donald more often, and using hot water for showers. Seriously, I'm worried I might get spoiled here. If somebody could send me a cockroach in a package or something, that would be appreciated. Ha ha!

We ride the busway a looot more than Jakarta Selatan, which is nice, because we only have to pay one time to go pretty much anywhere in our area.The problem is waiting for buses mostly. We waited at Tanjung Priok last night for 35 minutes for a bus to pass by. But the principle of finding on public transportation has stayed the same: You meet some weird people. And you meet some great people. Like last week I was looking on my left at the person's tablet which was opened to her facebook. (Is it okay to be a bit nosy as a missionary...?) And the page she was opened to happened to be a "Sister something" and the background picture was a photo from "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." What are the odds? After asking how she knew about that church, she immediately asked for a Kitab Mormon and hopefully we get to meet her this week and find out. We're teaching a few people who aren't yet progressing, excepting a super cool brother named Alex. He's been an investigator for almost 2 years now, and he is more solid than a member. He's just waiting to turn 18 so he can get baptized without permission from his parents, who haven't given it yet... But he comes to church every Sunday and can speak fluent Polish. Pretty cool, eh? 

We also met a guy named Himas. When we started teaching him, a motorcycle pulled up and 2 missionaries from the Jehovah Witnesses came into the room. We didn't debate at all, but eventually our investigator Himas just started debating with one of the JW's. We were just bored and ready to get out of there, when one of the JW missionaries turned to us and started asking questions about the Kitab Mormon. We shared the first lesson with him and felt the Spirit really strong. He agreed to pray, and we asked him if he got his answer from God that the Kitab Mormon was true, would he join our church. He said "Tidak." or "No". Ha ha! Oh well. It still was pretty fun testifying to a Jehovah's Witness about the truth. 

Church is a bit different. It's smaller than Jakarta Selatan. And there aren't very many Primary age kids, mostly just an older ward. But guess who I get to meet each week?? Brother Tri! Remember him? He was my investigator in Tangerang, and then got baptized when I was in Jakarta Selatan. He's doing good! He's going to bless the Sacrament next week. Oh yea, and Elder Wood told me that Derry got confirmed yesterday. Woot!

Brother John S. Tanner and Brother Larry Gibbons along with Elder Funk are coming to the Jakarta Stake this Wednesday for a meeting with the youth and also the missionaries. That's gonna be fun. And then there's Mission Leader Conference on Friday. Busy week, but I'm stoked. :) And also freezing. Because the AC here is freezing. Serious. It's like an ice box over here. I miss my kipas angin...  (electric fan)

Semoga minggu ini bagus buat anda semua! (Hopefully this is a good week for you all.)

Elder Seth Barrus



Last chance for dinner with Ivan last Monday. I'm gonna miss that guy...
To answer your questions: Sundays are probably our busiest days. After church, we usually meet with investigators, our Ward Mission Leader, and then usually can find a couple of appointments because nobody works on Sundays. I used to get home and just crash, but now we get to take stats... Blessings!

Whoa. Lauren Page is already home? That's kinda weird... Sister Sheffield and Sister Jibson should be home by now, but their release date is on the 26th of November for some reason, so they're staying an extra 3 weeks. They say it's "overtime blessings" at this point. Who else from the ward is leaving or coming home? Anybody getting married?

Our schedule as an AP is pretty much the same, but a little different. We have personal study at 8, companion study at 9, but then usually head straight up to the office to finish stuff. Like laminating missionaries' permission papers, putting missionaries' mail in their boxes, and cleaning up the office. Then we usually head out to eat at 12 or so and then we're out for the day by 1. We will help with transfer decisions when the time comes, but President Donald just finished a pretty big transfer, so there probably won't be another one for some time. I loooove my new companion. He's a champion of a missionary. His dad actually works here in Senopati so it's pretty funny. Their interaction consists mostly of just saying "good morning". 

Ahhh yes. And my trusty electric razor has finally called it quits. Even after charging it, it doesn't switch on. Not sure what happened. But I'm shaving using a normal razor and some shaving cream. That's probably why my face looks extra scruffy... I can buy another electric razor here. Would that just be best? I haven't looked at prices yet though. 


1 comment:

  1. nice to see ur Blog.. Good Blog... kamu selalu menulis hari-hari kamu di Blog kamu.. Good Job sir :) (Y)

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