I'm Moving to Medan!

Flying from Surabaya to Medan--about 1700 miles!

Exciting news for the day: I'm MOVING TO MEDAN TOMORROW. There's a huge transfer going on all around the Indonesian mission, so when Elder Hendro got a phone call last Saturday that he is moving to Solo, that was no surprise. I'm excited for him too because he is going to be the District Leader there and train again. Haha! He's gonna be great. I really have grown to love and respect him, and am really sad to not work with him anymore. What was the real surprise was when he handed me the phone after he finished speaking and said it was the AP's. Elder Coleman then told me I'm packin' up my stuff and leaving for Medan on Tuesday! 

Complete surprise! Surprise, and yet a bit sad because I have really grown (key word: grown) to love Surabaya. Yah, it's flippin' hot all the time, you only get to ride bikes, and it's about 90% Muslim, but the members are awesome, the investigators we had were really starting to progress and seem more interested, and that means I have to leave Elder and Sister Anderson. Pretty bummed about that. After that, Elder Murphy got a call from the same AP's saying he's moving to Medan too! Seriously, it's like me and Elder Murphy are "soul mate missionaries". We were comps in the MTC, received our first assignment in the same city, same house, and now we're both headed to the same city to work again. That's gonna be like a 1/4th of our missions! His comp is going to be Elder Marsudi and my comp is going to be a bule, Elder Broberg. Don't know a lot about him yet, but I will pretty soon.

Other transfers that I've heard and know about: Elder Kyle (serving in Surabaya Barat) moves to Manado, Elder McCleary (from Solo) moves to Malang, Elder Heiner already moved to Bekasi with Elder Gil too, Elder Hasibuan moves to Magelang, and Elder Rondonuwo moves to Tangerang. Almost our entire zone will be whitewashed. All the members at church yesterday were pretty shocked because it's rarely happened that all the Elders are shipped out from Surabaya at the same time. Indonesia is really a pretty weird mission because it's almost like receiving a new mission call every transfer. The accents are different, the food changes pretty drastically, members work with the missionaries differently, etc. I'm really sad to leave Surabaya, but I know that Medan is where I've been called to serve now. I fly from Surabaya to Jakarta tomorrow morning, pick up Elder Marsudi, and fly to Medan right after at about 3:00 in the afternoon.

I didn't know any of that until last Saturday, so as far as the work went last week, it was great! We didn't have an opportunity to see Mas Wahyu since he was out of town, but we got to go teach Mas William about the Plan of Salvation. And teaching that specific lesson is something I've stressed about the last few weeks because for some reason, I haven't been able to teach it well in Indonesian. I know it's God's plan for everyone and I know every single place that we go and what will happen, but I struggle teaching it effectively. Reminds me of something President Packer said: "A principle or lesson really hasn't been learned until it can be taught clearly and effectively." To remedy that, I wrote down one or two sentences in brief, concise Indonesian for every aspect of the Rencana Keselamatan and practiced going over it again and again with Elder Hendro in companion study. And I feel that it really really helped because the lesson with Mas William went really well. He asked basic, doctrinal questions and seemed interested in what we taught. The Holy Ghost will only step into our lives and our lessons if we've done all we can to prepare first. The Lord expects us to do our part. :)

That's about it from my side of the Earth. I love hearing how all of you are doing! Keep your emails and letters coming. But even if I don't hear from you, I hope you know I love, care, and hope for you. Terus Maju dan Jangan Mundur!

See you all in Medan!

Elder Barrus

Lidya's Baptism

Pictures from a little basketball and dinner at the Andersons

Sister Anderson sent these pictures today. Thanks, Sister Anderson!

Rounding up business for their free motorcycle wash.

"Don't you want a free motorcycle wash?"

A little basketball before the service.

 Elder Barrus on the balcony of our 18th floor apartment overlooking Surabaya.  He and Elder Hendro came to dinner last night :)

What we DO know will always trump what we DO NOT know!

Bagaimana kabar semuanya?

 

First off I wish a very happy Hari Ulang Tahun to Micah! I hope you have a great day and that this year is a good one. I wish I could buy you some pisang keju (cheese bananas) or some es kolapa muda (coconut ice), but it would get all nasty through the mail. I hope this will do. :) I sent a letter in the mail, so hopefully you don't get it too late.

 

Elder Hendro is feeling a lot better and it shows. He is much more enthusiastic about going out now. Before, he just looked dead, so that's a blessing. 

It turns out, Lidya was able to be confirmed this last week! We received permission because the last two weeks she was attending 2 of her Muslim cousins' weddings. She didn't want to create any problems or contention in her family, so she decided to go there instead of to Sacrament Meeting. 

 

This last week was business as usual. Except for that I went on an exchange in Surabaya Barat with Elder Kyle the first day, and Elder Mendrofa the second day. Elder Kyle and I taught one of his investigators, name is Sister Lia, who's been taught for the last 2 years or so from so many missionaries! We taught about forgiveness, shared scriptures, and helped her understand that for a family to truly be united, forgiveness is an attribute that is essential. The lesson went well, but she ended up asking questions. Questions in and of themselves aren't bad, in fact they're great! But the types of questions she asked kinda missed the point. She asked questions like "Do we wear clothes in the Spirit World?" or "Are we ever hungry and can we eat in the Kingdoms of Glory?". We learn from Moroni 10:3-5 that the "Holy Ghost will manifest the truth of all things." And the questions she asked really, if they could be answered, are truth. But they aren't necessary for us.

I found a scripture in D&C 18:18 that says "The Holy Ghost will manifest all things which are expedient." Everything that we need to know to progress in this life can be made manifest to us through the Holy Ghost. But I feel like her small, detracting questions shake her faith in what she already does know to be true, instead of the other way around like Elder Holland explained. "Everything that we DO know will always trump what we DO NOT know." It's really been an answer to prayer for me because sometimes an investigator who's a ton smarter than I am, like Pak Sugiamto for example, asks a question from the Bible about some small, irrevelant thing that he wants to know the answer to before he can progress. When in actuality, they miss the bigger picture. I'm grateful for my own testimony of the Restoration, Jesus Christ, and the Plan of Salvation. Yah, there are some things we don't know. But what we do know is what builds our faith.

 

One other thing that happened last week: There was a funeral for Sister Endang's father, who wasn't a member, but Sister Endang is. We went to the funeral and because she comes from a mixed family, it was a Christian-Chinese-Muslim funeral. Kinda different. But apparently at every funeral in Indonesia, peanuts are a staple. No idea why. It was interesting to see the contrast though. Sister Endang herself was obviously sad, but she seemed different than the rest of her family, because I think she has a testimony about the Plan of Salvation. Her other siblings were quite distraught and visibly depressed. Anytime I think about why I'm here as a missionary or why others need the Gospel, I'm gonna think about this experience. Because the joy, peace of mind, and knowledge that come from the Principles of the Gospel bring the greatest joy a person can find in this life.

 

Thank you all for your example and prayers. Terus Maju dan jangan mundur! (Continue forward and not backward!)

 

Elder Barrus

Elder Kyle and Elder Barrus at the weekly motorcycle wash.
(Photo courtesy Sister Anderson)

Weekly Letter from the Sick House

This is a professional basketball arena in Malang. Yup. Like the NBA, but about high school size.
 And they let us just shoot around too. :) Indonesia's not that big into basketball yet.

 Apa Kabar!

This last week was pretty boring. Elder Hendro got super sick from something last Sunday, and was sick up until about yesterday. We took him to the hospital last Tuesday, they gave him some medicine, and let us go home. But he couldn't go out at all last week. I  was still able to teach Mas Wahyu, Mas William, Steven, and Howard, and go to district meeting. But that's about it. You can tell Brandon that last week I was thankful for the CD's he gave me right before I left. I would've gone a little crazy without them. Even the Kurt Bestor Christmas CD he gave me became pretty entertaining after a while. That's about it from me as far as last week. The Andersons returned from their visa renewal trip to Singapore, which means we have the use of a car once in a while to go places. Don't worry about us though, we'll get back to work this week and I promise to have a better email next week.

One thought real quick: we taught Mas Wahyu half of the Plan of Salvation last week, and it made me think hard about my testimony of the Atonement. He had never heard about it before and I could see him trying to figure out why it was necessary. I wanted soo bad to convey to him my testimony and knowledge about it and how it's not just for members of the church, but for everyone! But I don't quite have that vocabulary yet. Thankfully, Elder Xiong came along too and used some analogies that helped him to start to process the thought of Christ as a Savior, not just a prophet. We gave him Alma 34 to read and pray about, and we'll follow up this week to see how he's doing. But it reminded me of something Elder Christofferson said in last April's conference. He said that "Our greatest redemptive service will be to lead them to Christ. Without His redemption from death and sin, we have only a Gospel of social justice. That may provide some help and reconciliation in the present, but it has no power to draw down from heaven perfect justice and infinite mercy." Jesus Christ is the message of us as missionaries everywhere. And I think it should be a personal rallying cry for saints everywhere. I know that I'm grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know He's my Redeemer and that He lives! 

Sampai jumpa!

Elder Barrus

Seth also answered some questions we sent:

1. Do you have enough money? 

Money-wise I'm good. Stuff here is super cheap and we get more than enough money every month to cover our expenses. It's just when I have to fix my bike, take taxis, or buy something randomly expensive that it gets tight. Also, there's a SUPER crazy tax on any money that I take out from a foreign fund. Could you tell me how much I have in my account right now so I can take it all out if I want to buy some souveniers or batik shirts or something? That way, I'd avoid that crazy deduction. :) Thanks! The sandals were only Rp 20.000, or about $2. The guy wanted Rp 35.000 for them, but bartering is great. :) Brooke would be proud. 

2. Do you have mosquito nets?

We don't use mosquito nets. Just these "Hit" bug repellant stuff that we plug in every night while we sleep. I dunno what Elder Hendro ended up having. We couldn't go out at all last week together, but he's feeling a lot better today.

3. Do you still use your lace up shoes? Do the elastic laces make a difference?

I still use my lace shoes. Only when I know I'm going to places I don't have to take them off. Not a big fan of them... But I still use them. 

4. Where is Elder Xiong from? You said he was a bule, but his name is Hmong--one of the Laotion hill tribes we worked with in Thailand in the refugee camp.

Elder Xiong! He's from Fresno California. He told me he would look up Cody Davis, who's serving there right now as a Hmong missionary, when he gets back. His family lives in Wisconsin now though. Yah! His parents are refugees from Laos and actually went through the Refugee camp in Thailand! I thought maybe there was a chance they met you. But you were a missionary there in 1981 right? They escaped in 1979 or 1980. 

5. Did you ever get your pants repaired?

Pants are fixed. :) 

This is a picture of a bunch of little kids we teach for English class. They're so crazy go nuts! Hehe. Quick story. They're all Muslim, right? And there's one kid there who is super smart and already knows everything I'm teaching. So he wanted to go to the higher class. But the other class hadn't shown up yet. The only other people in the building was the Seminary class across the hall. He didn't know that. He asked if he could go over there, and I said feel free because that class is awesome! You get to learn about Jesus! Oh man! His face just dropped and he wanted nothing of it! He hurried back into my class, sat down, and got out his notes. Some day. He'll learn about Jesus. Just right now, he wants nothing of it.

Surat Mingguan (Weekly Letter)

Hello Semuanya!

I apologize first off for not writing yesterday... We ended up going to Malang for PDay, playing futsal over there, saying goodbye to Elder Heiner who moved to Bekasi, and hanging out there. And Elder Hendro still came even though he was way sick. He ended up throwing up at lunch and he's been really sick ever since. We're hoping he gets well soon, but his symptoms are looking a little like Elder Mocodompis when he had dengue fever.

Other than that, last week was great! We got to teach MW again and explain more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and things like that. Even though he's got such an open mind, we're being really careful with him and making sure that he really is open to receiving Jesus Christ and the Gospel. We teach him Tuesday night, so keep your fingers crossed!

Not a ton of cool things happened last week except for maybe one: two weeks ago, while Elder Xiong and I went to Brother David and Sister Jayanti's house to teach them, we ran into three guys along the way who gave us their number and address and stuff and said we could come over sometime. We agreed and went on our way. I set up an appointment to teach them last week and when I arrived, it was just these three guys, William, Steven, and Howard. They are all Christian and going to school here in Surabaya. They live in this dorm-like room with maybe 10 other roommates and as Elder Hendro and I started teaching, the other roommates started filing in. At the beginning, there was maybe 12 people that we were teaching! Man, it felt like a regular Wilford Woodruff experience! The opportunity to teach more than 1 is an opportunity worth gold in Indonesia! A lot of them had to leave to places and couldn't stay the whole time, but we explained about the Restoration, gave 4 of them a Book of Mormon, and invited them to pray about it. I wish I could say through email how cool it was! They told us to come back and explain more and of course we will.

It's weird how acclimated I've become. We can get lunch off the streets at a street cart or "warung" of rice, fried chicken, vegetables, tempe, tofu, and sambal and a drink for 9000 Rupiah, which is about 90 cents in America. 90 cents! But I've become so used to thinking that's normal that when I went out to buy some "sate kamping", or like goat meat kebab, for Elder Hendro and the ibu asked for 18000 Rupiah, I felt like I was getting ripped off!! But only $1.80 cents for some really good meat and rice is a pretty good deal in America.

Um. Yep. My mind's kinda stuck on this week. And also there wasn't a lot of awesomeness that happened last week. So that's it! But there was one quote that I wanna share real quick from President Eyring in a Worldwide Leadership Training meeting in January of 2003. He said: "Because we love the people we serve, all of us want to do better in lifting our Heavenly Father's children tto the faithfulness and purity they need to have all the blessings of the Lord... You begin by holding up the Lord's sandards clearly and without apology. And the more the world drifts from them and mocks them, the bolder we must be in doing that."

Every member a missionary! Whether you're preaching the Gospel in Indonesia or not, through your example or your words, everybody can be a missionary.

Elder Barrus

Happy Birthday, Indonesia! And Baptism!

(This email was sent August 19, 2013)

Hello Everyone!

This last Saturday we celebrated what is known as Independence Day in Indonesia. I was expecting huge fireworks, big parades, and cool things like that. But it turns out that the only big thing that happened in Surabaya was the closing down of a lot of roads and streets. So it made it crazy difficult to contact or teach anyone because the main roads we usually traveled on were closed. But it made some good opportunties to open our mouths about our purpose as missionaries. 

Yet even cooler than Independence Day was Lidya's Baptism!!! I'm glad we made the decision long beforehand to have Elder Hendro baptize her because I later found out that her baptism was his first opportunity to baptize someone. I know we're not supposed to measure our success by baptisms, lessons, or numbers, and I'm not. But it was super cool to see one of our investigators progress enough and see her make the decision to fully enter into the strait and narrow gate through baptism. I was thinking about a scripture the whole time from the Epistle of James where it says "Faith without works is dead." We have so many investigators that love for us to come to their house, theoretically discuss the Gospel, and even feel the Spirit. But they're not developing true faith until they do something about the faith they've been learning about--come to church, read the Book of Mormon. Super cool!

Our Muslim Investigator, MW, is bagus sekali! Elder Hendro was stuck figuring out some things about helping Sister Yeni move to Sidoarjo, so me and Elder Murphy went to MW's house after English Class to teach him. We had planned to teach according to his needs, most importantly because he's Muslim, but also because that's what you're supposed to do as a missionary, so we sat down on his porch, ate some gado-gado, and started chatting with him. We asked if he had any questions and he asked some of the most golden questions a missionary could ever hear. He asked "where did this Kitab Mormon come from?" and "how did your church come about?" If those two questions don't kickstart a discussion about the Restoration, I don't know what does. 

Usually we start by explaining that God is our loving Heavenly Father. But I learned beforehand that for Muslims, it's not appropriate to use the word "Allah" for anything but worship services. Instead, we had to explain that "the Being who created us is known as our loving Heavenly Father." It's kind of weird to start, but after that, we referred to God as Heavenly Father, so it was chill. We explained about prophets, the purpose of the scriptures, Jesus Christ's ministry and establishment of the Priesthood Authority, Great Apostasy, Joseph Smith, the First Vision, and the Book of Mormon. The whole time we were asking questions if he understood or had any questions, but he really just took it all in. 

After explaining about the Book of Mormon, he did have a question which was "Now, what's the role of the Holy Ghost in all this?" Golden sekali! We read from Moroni 10:5 about the purpose of the Holy Ghost, reviewed about how God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages. We then taught him how to pray and as Elder Murphy said the closing prayer, I thought the whole time how confusing this must be to someone whose been raised Muslim his whole life, never believed in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, never really prayed personally to God, has a different concept of sin than Christians do, and the whole thing about prophets. Yet, at the same time, how simply beautiful it must be to someone whose never felt like this before. We're going to his house this week to follow up how he did, but I have full faith in him that he can come to know for himself, not because we're convincing him, but because he can know the truth, no matter how confusing it may be, through the Holy Ghost.

I've been pondering a quote by Elder Oaks in the 2013 August Liahona where he says "I have learned that most revelation to the children of God comes when they are on the move, not when they are sitting back in their habitations waiting for the Lord to tell them the first step to take." He then shares my mission scripture from D&C 88:63 - "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me." I can pray every single day for investigators to come to us, for people to listen to our message, and for good things to happen. But they can't happen unless I'm outside, opening my mouth and trying to understand God's will.

Things are good in Surabaya! A big group of Indonesian elders just finished up their missions, so Elder Xiong and Elder Mendrofa moved into our Zone last week, and also there's another group of Elders taking off at the end of August too. Elder Xiong thinks there is a pretty big chance that there are going to be some Bule companionships in the next couple months until more Indonesians come in. That's pretty weird to me. The only thing I've seen so far in my mission is an Indonesian-Bule or an Indonesian-Indonesian. But then I think that usually in other missions in the world, it's Bule-Bule. Haha! Made me laugh for a while just to see how acclimated I've become since arriving almost 2 1/2 months ago! Can you believe it's been that long?? I certainly can't. Feels like yesterday. :)

Elder Barrus

Inside an Soviet submarine

PDay tour of Soviet submarine with district

Teaching Lidya a discussion outside 

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri!

(This letter is the one Seth sent on August 12, 2013)

Bagaimana kabar anda semuanya!

Last week was probably the slowest week for missionary work in my entire three months of missionary service. Muslims are awesome! They finished up their fasting month last week with the beginning of a weeklong celebration called "Lebaran". It's where every single person returns home to the "land of their inheritance", wherever that is, and hangs out with their family. It's kind of a mix between Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and New Year. Christmas because of the family thing, Thanksgiving because they eat like crazy (especially after fasting for a month!), Halloween because there's this event on the first day of "Idul Fitri" where all the little kids can go outside, door to door, or just on the street, and people will hand them money, small amounts, like a Rp 2.000 or 5.000 at the most, but after about 20 people, it adds up, and New Year because on Wednesday (the day before Idul Fitri) everybody stays up super late, banging drums, lighting off fireworks, socializing together, and eating. Super cool holiday for Indonesians! 

But really slow week for missionary work since everyone was gone and didn't want us to come over. So we ended up biking an hour and a half to Sidoarjo and eating with a few people there. One was a member of the Sidoarjo unit, and another was a man's family named Pak Aji, who always comes to the English Class on Wednesdays and Saturdays in Surabaya. I tried this weird, but delicious, fruit called "pencit". It's a small, unripe mango that is picked off a tree, is kinda green, and tastes really sour. But it's weirdly delicious. That's pretty much how last week went. :)

Elder Hendro is my hero. We biked back from Sidoarjo one day and my bike has been making these super weird noises lately. So we flipped my bike upside down and took the back tire off when all the gears on the back fell off one by one. Dah.... It's time for my moment of regret: Dad, I wish I would have listened and watched you more to learn how to fix and handle bikes better. Luckily, Elder Hendro is a pro at bike care. After tinkering around with a few spare tires and other gears, we finally found a combination that worked with my bike! Because of that and also his continuing patience with me learning the language. 

I feel like I hit a plateau as far as language goes. I can understand most of what is said in Sacrament meeting. But I taught Priesthood meeting afterwards and couldn't understand their input that they had on the lesson. They still carried the lesson for me about missionary work, and I hope everyone was edified, but I feel like I'm starting to plateau. Which means there's only one cure: work and prayer! It's amazing how many problems and bad feelings can be overcome by the simple combination of Prayer and Work. It reminds me of something President Hinckley said one time. He said something like "When I have a question on my mind, I almost always go to the Lord in prayer. After my prayer, I stand up and get to work!" 

It's drilled into our heads as missionaries that we can't measure our success by how many baptisms we get. But the fact we have a baptism on Sunday for Lidya is a nice little thing for me to look forward to! We've been teaching others, and it's been fun to see their small spiritual progression, but it's super cool to see someone who embraces the truth whole heartedly as soon as she found it! I'll always be grateful for the opportunity to be a part of teaching her and helping her progress towards her first covenant with God. 

Love you all! Saya berdoa setiap hari untuk anda dan saya harap bahwa anda tahu berapa banyak saya mengasihi anda dan juga kerja ini! Dan juga berapa banyak saya suka ikan!

Elder Barrus

Apartment Inspection (passed!)  (Picture courtesy of Elder and Sister Anderson)