Selamat Hari Natal! (Merry Christmas!)

Christian's baptism from Jakarta Selatan

I figured I just talked to everybody this past week, so I'm not sure of what else I should say. Except for this: Do you remember Christian from Jakarta Selatan? It's the guy who came to church 3 times before he had time outside of church to meet with us and actually learn about the Restoration? Yea, that guy. He got baptized yesterday!! Because it was still in our district, we got to go and see it. And even though I wasn't a main part of teaching and nurturing him, (that was Elder Wood and Elder Sutarno. Great missionaries), it filled my heart with joy to see him make that covenant with Heavenly Father. That was most definitely the coolest Christmas present ever.

Flooding in Jakarta. It's the rainy season!

On this region of the world, we don't get snow. But we sure do get some heavy rainstorms. We went out to try and follow up on people we found who are interested, but just weren't at there house or didn't have the time to meet right then. We turned onto the street with all their houses and found that the street had becometh a river. The rainy season is well upon us, as is the flooding season here in Jakarta. 

Ingrown toenail surgery. Ouch!

I went to a hospital and had my ingrown toenail removed. That was pretty fun. Picture attached below in the doc's office.

Aleks came back from a vacation to Bali and told us his mother gave him permission to get baptized! Yay! We're on schedule for the 11th of January, so here's praying that it all works out OK. Other than Aleks, a lot of our investigators returned to their hometowns for Christmas and New Years, so we're waiting for them to come back. 

"The Gospel of Jesus Christ opens the path to what we may become. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His grave, our failures to live the celestial law perfectly and consistently in mortality can be erased and we are enabled to develop a Christlike character." - Elder Christofferson. 

The birth of Christ was a miracle. His life was a miracle. And His death along with His resurrection were miracles. And because of Him, our lives can be a miracle. We've been watching "He is the Gift" with investigators and while we proselyte and I really enjoy the invitation at the end to "Embrace the Gift." Each of us decides whether or not to receive it and to be changed by it. The choice is ours. 

Hope everybody had a great Christmas and a great new year this coming week! 

Elder Barrus

Pictures from Christmas Day at the Mission Home, courtesy of Elder and Sister Lucherini and Elder Jones.

Cookies courtesy of Elder and Sister Fryer

Playing the card game, "Presidents"

Not sure what they're doing in this pose. Hot chocolate??