Can Ye Feel So Now?

This last week at the two Zone Conferences, Sister Donald asked all the missionaries to reflect back on when we opened our mission calls and remember how excited we were. She then opened up Alma 5:26 and asked "can ye feel so now?" That was the theme of these last two Conferences. We hopped on a plane last Tuesday morning and landed in Surabaya, held interviews, checked all the missionaries' area books, held the meeting the next day, ran over to the train station, took a 4 hour train ride to Solo, held interviews the next day, played futsal, held the meeting, and then got back on a plane and came back to Jakarta last Friday. There's my week!

Surabaya Gubeng Railway Station (picture courtesy of Sister Donald)

My computer's been acting weird these last two days, so it's not registering my memory card from my camera, so I can't show any pictures... But the Zone Conferences were soo good. President Donald talked about how discouragement is the tool of the adversary. Rejection is a part of the mission, and how we deal with it determines our own spiritual and physical growth. 

Elder Wintolo and I grouped all the missionaries together with their districts, tied one of their legs with their companion's leg, and had them walk the length of the parking lot, make two cups worth of Nutrisari (it's like Kool-aid here), walk back to their district and give it to the following companionship who did the same thing for the companionship behind them. We were making the point that our effort as a companionship has an impact on the rest of the district. If it's the best effort you can put out, the district is blessed. If you are lazy, don't want to work with your companion, or don't follow the rules, you'll miss out from the blessings and prevent your district from the blessings they could have as well. We then talked about the importance of the Christlike attribute of unity in our companionships. There's a saying in Indonesian "Bhineka Tunggal Ika" or "Berbeda-beda, tetapi tetap satu" or "Everyone's different, but all stay as one." 

Because we have so many Indonesian-Bule compansionships in our mission, it makes for some interesting dynamics. We referenced a talk by Elder Bednar about the importance of not simply going on a mission, but becoming a missionary. Then we invited each missionary to ponder two questions: 1- What can I learn from this? and 2- How can I change for the better? We're hoping that by asking these two questions, that they'll want to study Chapter 6 from Preach My Gospel on their own. I'm so grateful I have so much time to still learn! If anything, these trainings are more for myself than the other missionaries. :) 

We met Axxx last Saturday once we got back (and once he got back from a fashion show. :P)  and he's still cool as a timun (cucumber). He's been experiencing some difficulty, but still wants to get baptized on May 3rd. We've been throwing everything we know at Nxxxxxxxx, yesterday we taught about the temple, the Priesthood, and family history. And it's easier for him to search out his family history because he's Chinese. Javanese families are harder to search out because they don't have descending family names. 

We still have one more Zone Conference to do, and it's the biggest, here in Jakarta. But I got to see most my MTC group give their final testimonies and it made me realize how much we've bonded these last 24 months, even though we've been serving in places far from each other.   These relationships are some that will last a lifetime I hope. We are the most privileged people in the history of the earth. And it's because of the Gospel. We have every reason to be happy. :D 

Elder Seth Barrus