An Attitude of Gratitude

Three random brothers came to church last week. They're from Papua.

President Uchtdorf reminded us in last General Conference that no matter our situation, we should keep an attitude of gratitude.

This last week, even though we didn't experience much success with our investigators, the Lord let me meet and teach so many wonderful Batak people. Brother Exxxxx (Batak) is doing good. He didn't come to church yesterday because he had the flu, but he hardly smokes anymore. The only setback is that his son, Cxxxx, is in Solo until after the major holiday here, Lebaran, which starts July 28. And, in spite of our concerns and gentle persuasions, we're going to have to wait until at least August 10th when he wants to be baptized. I just keep thinking the Lord's time is not our time... And also something Mom and Dad taught me: patience is a virtue. 

We met up with Mas Axxx last week too (Batak) and met his mom, who is Muslim, and had a great lesson about the family. After the lesson, his mom said "I want to share this (Family Proclamation to the World) with my neighbors. Can I make photocopies of it?" Ha ha! We're going back there this week and will give her more copies. Bang Txxxxx (Batak) is still thinking too much with his own logic, rather than getting down on his knees and asking God to help him with his search for the truth. He just thinks our church is a conglomeration (big word points!) of other churches and anytime we talk about one aspect of the Church, he always says it's like this other church he's attended. He's a bit stubborn, but he'll come around. We also met many Batak people on the busway who are interested in meeting with us. I'm thinking about learning Bahasa Batak, just to make learning the Gospel that much more enticing.

We finished up an exchange in Bogor this last week. I went with a relatively new missionary who's had a rough start to his mission, but he has such great desires to turn it around and become a great missionary. He's had kidney stones like every month since he's gotten here. We had a good chat about the mission itself and did some nice proselyting work during the day. We caught the train back to Jakarta and got to experience the atmosphere of a Presidential Election! Everybody had the day off so they could go to their local voting booth and 'coblos' to vote. It's the big talk on the street and we won't know the final results until the 22nd of July. Thank goodness there were no riots or explosions!

Oh yeah! And we met this Swedish guy working on his thesis here in Indonesia until August. His name is Fredrik. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he came and played futsal with us on Saturday. He's cool! We play futsal in the back church lot every Saturday night and we get lots of people that come and play. But man, I am so bad at playing with my feet! It's a great opportunity for investigators and random contacts we've invited from the street to mingle with the members and missionaries here.

That's about it from my side of the world. I end with some advice from the late Brother John Wooden: "Make each day a masterpiece." Don't let a day go by where you don't try to be a little bit better than the day before. Horas! (Live long!)

Elder Seth Barrus

Me pushing the Monas (Indonesian: Monumen Nasional, abbreviated Monas) tower over.

Brother Marcell (member here) and I after playing futsal. Notice the 

drenched shirt and glistening arms of mine. Gotta love that humidity!

MLC and ZTM

Here's a photo from last MLC--suit jackets and all. President doesn't like us wearing them, 

but it gets so darn cold in the mission home, we have to wear them or we'll freeze to death.

It's funny how many acronyms we use on the mission. We had Mission Leader Conference (MLC) last Tuesday, followed up by Zone Training Meeting (ZTM) the following Friday. The wisdom and teachings that come out of President Donald's mouth are amazing! I could listen to him for hours. Some of the things he mentioned, like changing baptismal services to Saturday, teaching Lesson 5 from Preach My Gospel before baptism as well as after, and new pass along cards, were some exciting policy changes. But also he spent a good chunk of time talking about how to motivate missionaries in our zone. 

There is one line he emphasized that I hope to apply the rest of my mission: "The Best Missionary in you is yet to come." So true. We have 15 missionaries going home in August, and just over 20 coming in the next few months, which means a LOT of turnover. It's gonna be so crucial that those who are going home leave on a high note, rather than just packing it in and calling it good. President Donald emphasized the point that we need to repent daily. We should always be looking for ways to improve. It was such an awesome MLC! I just hope Elder Suryono and I are able to convey the same message to the missionaries in our zone--Jawa Barat.

Technology! We also got permission from President and the Area Presidency to start using.... Facebook for proselyting! Pretty cool no? We've been chomping at the bit to use fb because Indonesia is the 2nd largest user of facebook in the world. (United States is first.) That's a pretty big pool we haven't tapped into yet. All the ZL's in the mission have a facebook page that we share and will begin to use to help investigators, new members, and ordinary Indonesians learn more about the gospel and stay strong. #notyettwitter

Elder Suryono's been really sick the last 3 days, but today he's feeling a little bit better. We didn't get to go out and visit with all the investigators we were meaning to, but we did find a new investigator whose name is Mas Exxxxxx. He was contacted by Elder Broberg on a bus about 6 months ago, but no one's been able to follow up with him.  We called him up and met at the church and had an awesome lesson! He still doesn't quite understand why he has to be baptized again, but he came to church yesterday and we're meeting him later today to ask how it went. Brother Exxxx also came to church and he smokes even less now! He hopefully will be baptized earlier than the 26th of July, but we'll be patient with him. We also had 3 friends of a member show up to church yesterday, all from Ambon. There's an air of enthusiasm for missionary work here in Jakarta that's exciting!

We're meeting a lot more people on the buses and busway and angkots who are interested in learning the Gospel. And I believe it's no coincidence. We learn that Alma the younger was restored to health because of the prayers of the righteous. We learn that entire cities are saved from destruction because of the prayers of the righteous. Obedience is the price that brings power to our prayers. It's a small price to pay in consideration for what the Savior did for all of us.

Dengan kasih, (with love)
Elder Barrus

Ramadan Birthday

The 28th of June brought about more than just the beginning of a new age for Elder Barrus, but also the beginning of our favorite fasting month: Ramadan! Which means for an entire month, it will be impossible to find people selling food on the streets at lunchtime. Luckily, we've stocked up on indomie (noodles), oatmeal, and beras (uncooked rice). I think that should tide us over for a while. Last night while trying to catch a bus to an appointment, it took 30 minutes for one to pass by. I've never seen Jakarta's roads so empty.

Thanks for the birthday package! I got it at Senopati (the mission home) on Tuesday, but didn't open it until Friday night. What more does a missionary need than fruit snacks, Lectures on Faith, the conference Ensign, a new journal and new socks? Best Birthday Ever!  Also Mom, thank you for forcing me to learn piano because now I play in the Primary for the Indonesian ward and sometimes for intermediate special musical numbers in sacrament meeting. It's been really fun! Thanks for helping me develop my talents. :)

Tashakor! That's Persian for "thank you". Yep. Tell Maria I met some of her relatives the other day. The sister missionaries here in Jakarta met some Afghans on an angkot and invited them to English class. They're not doing much here, so we invited them to come play futsal with us on Saturday night too, all 5 of them. Their English is not that great yet, and my Persian isn't quite up to par yet, so communication between us is pretty rough, but the ol' body language and hand gestures work. Sometimes. One of them is interested in reading the Book of Mormon because it's about a family that left the Middle East searching for a better life. We've got some in the house we'll give in English, and I know it's already translated into Arabic, but does anybody know if it's translated into Persian yet?

Split of the Week: Tangerang district with Elder Wood from Ogden! It was super fun getting to visit all my old investigators and running around Tangerang again. We met up with Mas Heru too! He still doesn't quite get it yet that he needs to come to church and put all that belief he has about our church to work. But one day he'll come around. Elder Wood is from my MTC group and just a fantastic missionary! He's got such great faith that I hope I can apply in my own work.





Investigators: We got 3 of them out to church yesterday! Txxxxx, Hxxxx and Brother Exxxxx all came and the ward really rallied around them. We took Hxxxxx and his girlfriend out to dinner after meeting at the church. He's Muslim, but he feels that this church has such a deep understanding of God and what He wants of us. He's been an investigator for about 7 months, but just hasn't "gotten it" yet. We're praying with and for him all the time so he'll get his answer. Also! We had an appointment cancel, which made time for us to go visit Brother Erwin. He still smokes 2 cigarettes a day, which is way down from what it used to be, and we went through the baptismal questions and explained how that's the only thing holding him back from feeling ready to be baptized. The Spirit was really strong and he committed to be baptized on the 27th of July! He's got such a strong desire that I know Heavenly Father will help him feel ready. Bryan hasn't picked up his phone. And when we had an English ward member call him, he said he's busy this week, and hopefully he'll come next week. Not sure about that guy yet. 

Thanks so much for the "Lectures on Faith"! Something I really like from that is how everything we do is an act of faith. We use a light switch, having faith that the light will turn on. Sure we've had experience with it before, so that strengthened our faith that it can happen again. We pray with the faith that God will hear and answer our prayers. We eat food with the faith it will give us nourishment. It's especially true as a missionary. Everything we do is an act of faith, and as we continually exercise our agency to do the things God has asked us to do, we will gain experience and more faith. 

Selamat Ramadan!

Elder Seth Michael Barrus

It's the World Cup!

(This post is from last week, June 22.)

Howdy hey everybody! I hope everyone is enjoying the World Cup right now. Indonesia is weird because they get all amped about soccer, yet have never had their own country make it into the World Cup. And since the whole time zone thing throws watching the cup into a loop, beforementioned World Cup is almost nonexistent over here. Oh well. People in the streets give me updates though and tell me that my beloved Yanks are doing pretty well.

Because of the crazy week we had 2 weeks ago, filled with exchanges and travel, we stayed close to home this week and just went on an exchange with the other companionship here in Jakarta Selatan. I went with Elder Rogers, a missionary from Australia who's headed home in August, but isn't trunky at all. We went and taught Brian, the son of a less active member (Brother Tobing). He is aaaawesome! But his Indonesian is pretty shaky so we taught in English. He's met on and off with elders before, but somehow forgot everything about the restoration; so after reviewing it real quick with him, we asked if he would be baptized when he knows its all true. He accepted and is set to be baptized on the 19th of July. He seems super sincere about it, so the fact he wasn't able to make it to church this past Sunday doesn't worry me too much. He'll come this Sunday.

We're getting really excited because the members here in Jakarta are putting in their share of work. We went with a member, Brother Simon Petrus, to visit someone he met on the street and told about the Book of Mormon. That man's name is Pak Txxxxx. He's Batak and was really interested that there's a living prophet, to the point that he's going to "pray and ask the Lord what is actually true." We're cool with that. :) Also, we've gotten a few more referrals from members we haven't had time to teach yet. But this week we'll be sure to do so.

Happy Birthday to Elder Collet! And another random Elder in the Jakarta district! And me! Sister Donald baked us a cake for DDM and make some killer snickerdoodles. I guess I can't be a teenager anymore. I've started to eat healthier too. Every morning I have a bowl of oatmeal and 3 sticks of toast. We usually eat out off the street for dinner and lunch, so we won't focus on the health of that... Ha ha!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true no matter where you go in the world. It's our decision each and every day to stand as witnesses of Christ and have His spirit to be with us.

Elder Seth Barrus

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Selamat Hari Ayah! (Happy Father's Day)

Selamat Hari Ayah all you fathers out there! It's not celebrated here in Indonesia, but that doesn't take away the celebrating going on in my head. Thanks for all you dads do. Especially my own dad! Love you dad!

This last week was crazy!! We planned on going on splits with the Tangerang District, but they called Tuesday night saying Elder Honda was throwing up and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to come down that week. So we ended up going to Bekasi and doing a split with this elder: 

 

His name is Elder Tufaga and he is from Hawaii. He was trained by one of my fellow MTC colleagues, Elder Kyle, and his Indonesian is already great! He weighs about 230 pounds so he definitely slept on the bottom bunk. Schnikies! I look little next to him. And white. But he's a great elder! We taught this preacher from another church and he testified so well that the preacher actually received a Kitab Mormon. It was a fun split! 

While Elder Suryono and I were in Bekasi, we got a phone call from Elder James in Bandung saying that President James wanted their investigator baptized this Sunday, instead of waiting a week. So we hopped on a bus the next day, and after a 3 hour bus ride, arrived in "the Paris of Jawa"- Bandung! We did splits with Elder James and his companion, Elder Pxxxxxxxx. I went with Elder Pxxxxxxxx. (You still remember Axxx from Medan? Yep. Same guy.) It was fun! Elder James has the elders down there doing some great work. And my companion is from Bandung and hopefully when he goes home, he'll be able to help further the work. 

                                                            This is us after English class.

Gross story of the week. Last night Elder Suryono and I were going to an investigator's house. He lives close to some apartment buildings that are being built, but lives in a little shack. It had rained pretty hard that day, flooding the field leading towards his house. We took a roundabout way so we wouldn't be walking in water. It was kinda dark and with the whole "open sewers" thing here in Indonesia, it's also hard to tell the difference between sewers and rivers if there's any flooding. I took one wrong step with my left foot and sunk about shin-deep into some awesome muck. I pulled my leg out and the smell wafted up into our noses. I'm kinda used to the smell after serving in Medan, but  Elder Suryono has a weak stomach. He almost threw up... Our investigator wasn't there, so after quickly hosing off, we took a taxi home and showered immediately. The mission life is Awesome! 

Bang Txxxxxxx is from Medan. He's met with missionaries before, but for whatever reason, stopped meeting with them. We called him up last week, gave him another Kitab Mormon, and he came to church yesterday! The first time we met him, he was completely against being baptized, because he said he's already been baptized in another church. But after church yesterday, we met with him and he said "If it's really what the Lord wants me to do, I'll do it. But I'll need to study first." Sweet! 

Elder Seth Michael Barrus

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Me, Elder Suryono, the AP's,a new member, and an investigator, went roaming around Jakarta last week for PDay. We rode this double decker bus. it was fun! 

Elder James found this Mexican restaurant in Bandung called Perky Pedro's. It had legitimate Mexican food! 

                                                  Doing my best 'garuda' (eagle) impression. 

Here's a fun photo of someone that Grandma, Grandpa, Tad and Michelle would recognize:

                      Her name is Libby Sproats. And she is from West Lafayette, Indiana. Small world!

Eye of the Eiger

This last week was pretty great! The church is phasing out missionaries wearing backpacks and requiring shoulder bags instead. In fact, here in the mission, all the missionaries who arrived after September 2013 have to have shoulder bags. I feel weird telling other missionaries what to do without doing it myself, so I bought a shoulder bag. Check it out! It's from a company called "Eiger", hence the cool title of this email. :)

After Zone Training Meeting, Elder Suryono and I headed on out to Bekasi for a baptismal interview for Elder Costner's investigator. Elder Johnson, and Elder Costner and I have all served in Medan and Elder Sxxxxx (Txxxxx, remember him?) is from Medan. It was fun! The interview went well and he will be baptized next week. 

After Mission Leader Conference, we held ZTM. We got to teach all of the other districts what we learned from President Donald. We have so many investigators in our zone that have baptismal commitments and President wants us to make sure we're doing everything we can to help them get baptized. He also wants us to be more bold in inviting people to be baptized so we can "sift through the nations".

We also went on splits with the AP's and I got to go with Elder Collett and learned so much from him. He teaches with such clarity and power. I hope I can teach like him some day. We tried to give every investigator we taught a baptismal commitment and it helped me see who we should focus on more. 2 investigators straight up said "not yet" and the other, Brother Exxxx just wants to make sure he can stop smoking first. 

Cool! I've heard of Elder Mulia. I never met him, but I heard from other missionaries who served with him. That sounds really fun! (We invited his parents over for dinner after we found out they live 5 minutes away from us.) We'll have to do the same thing once I get back. :) Did you get to practice any of your Indonesian with them? All the old timey members in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta, know them because they do the translations for General Conference. Good family. Super small world. Especially in the Indonesian Jakarta mission world. That's too bad you couldn't meet with Elder Murphy's mom.

Ooh, yeah I could use another journal. I'm just using a regular notebook right now, but a nicer journal would be appreciated. :) No need for hymn arrangements. I've got a couple in Senopati I've not yet used. Oh! I actually got to play for the Primary in the Jakarta 2nd Ward yesterday. Soooo much fun! Even though they've never even seen snow, you should have seen how excited they were to sing "Once There Was A Snowman." Ha ha!

Last thing--we taught a less active member, Brother Txxxxx, last week and he was baptized when he was a student in Fresno, California. Didn't you live in Fresno? Do you know a President Bob Smith? That's who baptized him. He was the stake president at the time. He's cool! Add him to the prayer list. He's less active because something's messed up with his internal clock where he only can't go to sleep at 4 am. And so he sleeps in and can't come to church. He's got a son, Bxxxx, who isn't baptized yet and goes to college in Seattle in September, so we're focusing on him.

That's about it for this week's letter. Hope everyone is doing well and has a great week! 

Elder Barrus

Note from Sharon:  I asked Seth what he wanted me to send for his birthday. This is what he requested:

Hmm.... Fruit snacks

Starbursts.

Socks. 

Jelly Belly's. 

A temple.

People who want to be baptized.

Selamat June!

Selamat pagi everybody! This last week was full of fun experiences. Elder Suryono and I hopped on a train over to Bogor to do a split with the District Leader and his companion. I like to call him Elder McCleary. Here's a picture:

 It was fun to catch up with him and relish about the glory days of when West Jordan beat Riverton. It was a fun split! He's a great missionary and will do awesome work in Bogor. 

I feel bad for not sending any pictures the last couple weeks, so I'm making up for it this week by sending some more. After coming home from Bogor, we went to a wedding at the Jakarta church for Elder Subandriyo's son, Ezra, and his fiance. It was fun because Elder Subandriyo was one of the first church leaders here in Indonesia. He's been great in working with the government here getting the word out about our church. 

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​As for our own investigators go, we have the awesome opportunity to meet and teach Pak Dxxx this last week. Or Doctor Dxxx, I should say. He's an optometrist from Manado who came down to Jakarta for some extra training this last month. He's done a ton of humanitarian work with Elder and Sister Lucherini, in helping with the flood and other projects. He came to church yesterday and also came to a "cottage meeting" that President Donald and the AP's put on at the mission home where a bunch of investigators and new members gathered together to watch "The Restoration" and hear each other's testimonies. The Spirit was really strong! Brother Dxxx goes home to Manado next Sunday, so we're praying that the elders up there are able to continue meeting with him. He's really big about "by their fruits ye shall know them." The Church in Manado gets a lot of bad press just because no one actually knows about it. But Doctor Dxxx is telling all his friends and family back home to give the church a chance and to learn about it. He's willing to try it and see if this is the path the Lord wants him to take. Oh and that's my companion to the left. He's short. Shorter than Elder Hendro, my trainer. Ha ha! But he's hilarious and works hard. 

The Lord is truly hastening his work in Jawa Barat (West Java)! Remember Tangerang? They have a whole family of four that will be baptized this next Sunday! As we do our part to listen, to be humble, listen, and follow the Holy Ghost, we will be lead to those who are searching for the truth. D&C 100:4.

Selamat June!

Elder Barrus 

                               Me in typical Jakarta. Super rich apartments next to super poor shacks.

                                         "Share the gospel with all creatures" including goats.