"Freed From the Burden of Sin"

President Donald called last week, right after we finished emailing to give me my reassignment news. I'll be moving about 20 kilometers--from South Jakarta to Central Jakarta and will be serving in the Harmoni Ward. I'll be living in Senopati at the mission home there and will be living the rest of my days of my mission life as an assistant to the president. My new companion is Elder Simanungkalit. (Out of all my mission companions, I think his name might be the most difficult to say. Have fun!) 

Elder Wood will move up from Tangerang and fill the Zone Leader position in Jakarta. It's actually quite exciting because Jawa Barat is splitting into 2 zones now--Jakarta and Bekasi will be one zone, and Tangerang, Bogor, and Bandung will make up the other zone. It's different, but it will be a great opportunity to have a lot more "hands on" work for the Zone Leaders. The transfers happen on Thursday. 

Derry's Baptism

The Lord has been blessing us sooo much in the last couple weeks and we're quite humbled by it actually. Derry got baptized yesterday!!! I needed to do some quick repenting the other week because I didn't have the faith that he would make the sacrifices necessary to become a member. He lives a train ride plus a bus ride away from the church in South Jakarta, so I had some doubts about whether he could keep that up. Last week in his interview with Elder Sutadi, he committed to coming to church every week after his baptism. He has to work til late at night, so we baptized him after church Sunday. Do you remember Elder Suryono (my old companion)? He came up from Bandung the night before just to see him get baptized. It was really fun seeing him again! I've attached a picture below. Just before going into the font, we did the pre-baptism run through and I noticed a brown wristband I hadn't noticed before on Derry's wrist. He said it's a wristband he's worn for the past 10 years and never taken off. So it was all hard and impossible to slip off, so after asking if it was okay, Bishop grabbed a small knife and cut it off.  While changing afterwards, I asked how he was feeling and he said "Free from the burden of sin". I said, "Kinda like your wristband, eh?" It was a fun little symbol of the commitment he's making for the rest of his life and the life to come. Derry's been such a testimony to me about sacrifice. There's no distance too far, no economical problem too big, no sacrifice too great to know the truth.

Ivan came to the baptism as well. He's progressing sooo well. All the members already consider him a full member, and now when we teach him, we ask him to teach us. And then we fill in whatever's missing from the D&C or words from living prophets. I seriously will miss Ivan so much. I wish everyone could have a chance to meet him.

We went to Brother Erwin's house last week as well and there was a different light about him. I don't how to explain it any other way. You could just feel it. He wore a white shirt and tie to church for the second time too and should shortly begin blessing the sacrament. 

 We did a split in Bogor last week. Beautiful city! I went with Elder Sadiyono. Great missionary. :) 

I'm definitely going to miss Jakarta Selatan. I would have to say I've been the happiest here so far on my mission, Sampai jumpa lagi! (See you again!)

Elder Seth Barrus

Minus the Whole "Writing a Girl Back Home" Part

We meet some interesting people in Jakarta. And some people who just want to speak English and show off to a bule (foreigner) like myself. Elder Sutarno and I were riding the train back home after a baptismal interview in Tangerang and this middle aged man came up to me and said "Sir, where are you from?" After replying with one word "America", he just went off for 10 minutes about how he's been to Orlando, Washington DC, Boston, and other places. And how he has 3 houses in Jakarta and owns 2 Porsches. I offered him a chance to hear a message about the Kitab Mormon and restoration of the Gospel, but he wanted none of it. He just kept going on how his wealth has allowed him to do so many things in this vast world. I felt bad for him really. To think that he's trading his chance at salvation for a Porsche seems like mixed up priorities to me.

This last week was full of  miracles. It seems that ever since Brother I's baptism back in September, the work has just exploded here in Jakarta Selatan. Brother E's baptism on Saturday, culminating with his confirmation yesterday at church, finished up a long 2 year process of many many elders and lessons. I wish I could say we did something special to help him overcome his doubts, but in all honesty, it was his own desire and choice to make that covenant at this time. Everybody just has their own timing. 

After his baptism, the Jakarta District put on a movie in front of the church, complete with popcorn. We probably had about 60 people show up to watch the thriller "The Other Side of Heaven." When I get home, I'm telling people my mission was exactly like the movie. Well, minus the whole "writing a girl back home" part. All the members came up and said how great the event was, too.

Mas D, Brother I and Jakarta District

Mas D! He came to church yesterday, and solidified his testimony of the divinity and coolness of our church, and we got him all ready to be baptized next week. His parents are still not in full support of his decision, but he has decided to go ahead and do it because it's what the Lord wants. He's soooo cool. And I's fellowshipping is helping out so much too. So here's to hoping for another baptism by next week's email as well. Horas!

Speaking of I, after much coaxing and prodding, he finally went up to bless the sacrament for the first time yesterday! It always fills a missionary's heart with joy to see a new member do something like that. I is an incredible new member and will be wonderful in helping the work grow in the coming months and years. 

A kid from Nias also came to church yesterday and after calming his fears that drinking coffee and tea is something he can overcome (he heard about that before we taught him anything about the Word of Wisdom), he also committed to be baptized on the 15th of November. His name is A. Which means "cloud" in Indonesian. I dunno, don't ask me. :) He lives here in Jakarta alone, his family is all in Nias, but he had a great time at church and we're going over there later today to follow up with him.

Aaaaand we had Pertemuan Latihan Daerah (Zone Training Meeting) last week with President Donald and the AP's. We learned many a things like how to teach for understanding, how to effectively find, and how to become "full purpose missionaries". President Donald also told me where I'm moving, but I'm not at liberty to tell until next week. Mwahahaha... 

In closing, just a quick thought from Elder Ballard in "Our Search For Happiness". It says "That's the way it is when Jesus Christ becomes a reality in your life. It isn't that he somehow makes you do things that you wouldn't do otherwise. Rather, you find yourself wanting to do what He would do and respond as He would respond in an effort to bring your life into harmony with His." 

Love you all! Thanks for the prayers and thoughts on my behalf. You all are also in my prayers and thoughts. 

Elder Barrus

Konferensi Umum Yang Ketiga

That translates to "The Third General Conference", since he's been out, I guess.

How about General Conference? Pretty good eh? OK fine, we get to feel the spirit and wonderful talks from inspired leaders 1 week after the rest of you. But can I still talk about how awesome it was? The nice thing about watching it in Jakarta is that there was an entire separate set up in the cultural hall for the English members who wanted to come and watch. The only problem was, all of the English members stayed at home and watched it on their computers, which left Elder Campbell and I watching it by ourselves. We had a blast! I attached a picture below showing what fun we had together this weekend. Quick overview of my thoughts:

- So many talks about sustaining prophets and the apostles. 

- President Ucthdorf's talk was so perfect about how we need to look in and ask "Lord, is it I?" rather than pointing fingers at our neighbors saying they need this talk more than I do. 

- Are we not all beggars? 

Despite all our efforts to get investigators to come to conference, nobody came. They pretty much said they all were "too busy". And then there was Ivan, who was recently baptized. He had to go to his university in the morning on Saturday, but he rushed over to the church as soon as it was over because "I want to hear the word of God." It was a fun perspective to think of that this is the first time he's heard from living prophets and apostles. Sometimes it's something I take for granted. 

We went on an exchange this past week to the "Paris of Jawa", also known as the city of Bandung. While there, I met Elder Widigdo and his trainee, Elder Williamson. Elder Widigdo was trained by the one and only Elder Broberg, my comp in Medan, and much like his father, Elder Widigdo is an awesome missionary.  I did an exchange with Elder Petersen. He's new to the mission 7 months or so, but was made a District Leader and is doing miracles down there in Bandung.  

In other news, I received an invitation from a former investigator in Tangerang to go to his baptism next Sunday. President Donald gave his permission, so I get to travel back to my old area and see Brother Wintolo get baptized. I'm so stoked! It's been such a long process and journey for him. I know his son, Elder Wintolo, is flying in from Surabaya to come and baptize his dad, and it's going to be such a cool experience. I'm excited, to say the least. :) 

That's about it from me this week. But remember that most of the personal revelation and application of God's word comes after conference. Here's to the November issue of the Liahona! 

Elder Barrus

Last picture is of  Elder Sutarno and I at Brother Bob Hasibuan's house. He's been a member for the last 42 years, and has a little shop in the front of his house. Hence the "Toko Liahona". 

Meet the Muslim Turned Mormon

I'm thinking about making a movie with that title. Do you think it would be big enough to sell in theaters? It would be based on a true story. After a short 10 months of missionary discussions and over 20 years of patient waiting by his wife and kids, the one and only Brother Wintolo was baptized by his son yesterday. It was a truly humbling and spiritual experience to witness the service. It reminded me of when Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized. Much like the Savior Himself, Brother Wintolo had to humble himself and come unto his own son and someone who in society should be "inferior", but had the authority, to baptize him. Elder Wintolo received permission from President Donald and flew in from Surabaya to do so. I also got permission to do the interview and had a very sacred experience with him. It isn't that easy to change religions, especially from Islam, a religion I respect and love, to Christianity. He hasn't received a huge spiritual outpouring confirming that he needs to be baptized, but he told me he's taking it all in faith. Shouldn't that be the reason for most of our actions too? It was a great experience I'll never forget. I'll be telling that story to my grandkids till the day I die. 

We went to Taman Mini last Pday and I attached some pictures below, including a picture of a real komodo dragon. Elder Booth, I finally found one! We also got to hold a 2 meter long snake. That was fun. :) There were a ton of cool cultural things as well, including houses from Kalimantan, Medan, Padang, Lampung, etc.

Remember Brother E? Elder Sutarno and I were headed to District Meeting after teaching Pak P, and while crossing the street, we got a random call from Bro E's wife, Sister Rawuh. She said that Brother Erwin wants to be baptized on the 25th of October. After we calmed down from our initial rush of excitement, we called Brother E to make sure and he's ready. Yay! That was pretty much the miracle of the week. He's been an investigator for 2 years, receiving baptismal commitments on and off, but never really getting in the water. So to hear this news is definitely humbling and exciting! We have Zone Meeting this week with President Donald, 2 other interviews we need to do in Bekasi and Tangerang, and our own investigator needs to be baptized, so this week is going to be busy, but we're stoked.

We did a split with the Tangerang Elders and again, I am impressed and proud of their dedicated work down there. Elder Troff (from South Jordan--he went to Bingham) and I taught a few people, including this guy named Jeff. He was a large, large man. But he speaks perfect English and we had a great lesson with him. They've done such great work, that the Tangerang district is expanding from just 2 companionships to 4 companionships in the next month. Tangerang has been an area where the work has always been considered "slow" but the Lord is truly hastening His work in every part of the world. 

That's about it for this week. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Elder Seth Barrus

The Boar's head in hand I raise, Bedecked with Baize!

I shall give 100 points to whomever catches that reference. If you paid any attention to our Madrigal songs my senior year, you would know. 

Living goats. Obviously not sacrificed yet.

The area close by our house has started smelling like an animal farm the last couple days which means it's time for sacrifice day! The only problem is that Hari Raya Idul Fitri happens to fall on a Sunday this year, so while walking to church yesterday, the cows and goats were still living and walking around the masjid by our house, but by the time we were heading home, the deed had been done. Nothing remained but a few carcasses and lots of blood.

We keep meeting new investigators, but for some reason, are having a tough time helping them stick around to keep meeting with us more than once. One of the fun experiences we had this past week was meeting Pak P. (Although probably distantly related to Elder P, there is no evidence of close family). We decided to start proselyting around members' homes because it will be easier to bring fellowshippers to future lessons, and after 2 solid hours of talking to people on the streets, asking anybody where someone might be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ or the Kitab Mormon, we had pretty much nothing to show for it except for a few irritated folks who told us to bug off. We finally tracted into a Batak kampung and it so turned out that they all were Batak Tapanuli, which meant they weren't Christian. But they said one of their neighbors happened to be Christian, so we gave it a try. As soon as Pak P saw "Yesus Kristus" on our name badges, he let us in. After sharing a quick message about the Kitab Mormon, he said "I like you guys. Come back next week and teach me more about this. But come when my family is here too." So we set an appointment for this Tuesday. Yay! 

As for other investigators, we met with a guy named Mas O. I've taken for granted the overall ability of Indonesians to read and be literate. It was kind of like talking to a rock while teaching Mas O. He kind of just nodded his head with everything we said and when we asked him to repeat what we said using his own words, he couldn't do it. Turns out, he can't really read either. Hmm. So we toned our Bahasa Indonesian down and taught according to what he could understand. After the lesson, we asked how he felt and he said "I didn't understand most of what you said, but all the bad feelings I had before I met you went away." The Gospel has to be taught to everybody right? In their own language and all, even if that language is really informal Indonesian.

Whiteboard after Zone Training Meeting, along with my cousin, Sister Sheffield

Zone Training Meeting! Elder Sutarno and I taught about how to become "Full Purpose Missionaries" in not only finding, teaching, and baptizing, but in retaining and reactivating, too. Hopefully it went well. We're well on target to reach our goals by December 31st so here's me getting excited!

After much prodding and poking, we got Ivan to bear his testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday! And it was aaaaawesome! He said the things that every missionary wants to hear. He said something along the lines of "I commit to enduring in this Church and keeping my covenant I made at baptism."

I've been thinking a lot about sacrifice (in honor of Hari Raya Idul Fitri) and how others around me have sacrificed in one way or another for the benefit of others. But ultimately, it made me think about the Savior's atoning sacrifice for all of us as children of God. We don't need to cut up cows or burn goats anymore to show our willingness to God. But rather, we need to come unto Him with a broken heart and contrite spirit, and offer our whole souls as a sacrifice to Him. 

We get to listen to Conference this Saturday and Sunday and because there's an English ward that meets in the Jakarta Selatan building, it means I get to watch the proceedings in English!!! Needless to say, I'm pumped. :) 

Elder Seth Barrus

The only thing I could think of when I saw this was "Meow..."
It means "want" in Indonesian.  But sounds too much like a cat. 

New Missionaries!

We played some mighty fun futsal with the zone earlier this morning, and after eating and showering, we walked some 1.5 hours to try and find a warnet to send this email. The usual internet cafe, "Snappy", made an unexpected move and closed its doors on us. Pretty bummed about that.

Quick story to show what kind of people you find in Indonesia. Elder Campbell and Elder Sutadi were going out for the day from Kampung Melayu and we're standing in line, when all of a sudden, this man fully dressed in the Islamic clothing, cap and all, pushes his way to the front of the line and begins to prophesy "Busway Kampung Melayu... Datanglah!!" or "The bus at Kampung Melayu, come right now!" He then waved his hands around in some pattern and waited. 10 minutes passed. So he said it again. "Busway Kampung Melayu... Datanglah!!" 5 minutes pass. And he says it again. Still nothing. A bus starts coming down the lane and he points to everyone saying "See?? I told you it would come!" Another guy looked down the lane and said "That's a minibus. Not a busway." Embarrassed, the prophesying man made his way to the exit. Ha ha!

New missionaries! A group of 9 new missionaries came in to Indonesia to being their missions, which means that they have to stay in Jakarta for that first week. I've been split with an Elder Lieske from St. George. He's a funny guy! His Bahasa Indonesian's still a work in progress, but we still were able to teach quite a few lessons together. We haven't met with Pak F yet, but we did meet a new investigator. His name is Pak F M. He's Batak. We were looking for another guy who lives in the same house, but wasn't there at the time. But Pak F M let us in and we shared our message about the Restoration. We finally met with Brother E too! He even told us, "The faster I get baptized, the better." So we're working with him to set a earlier date than the 9th of November. D hasn't answered our texts or phone calls yet. I's still doing wonders. :) That's about it from an investigator standpoint. We spent most of the week last week finding. It's quite fun! 

Mission Leader Conference was once again an inspiring meeting full of spiritual promptings and inspired guidance. President had us give a 10 minute report on our zones, and the Jawa Barat zone is doing quite well. President Donald educated us on how to help teach our Indonesian church leaders here how to handle new members because he said there's a lot of investigators getting baptized, and leaving the church way too fast. He wants us as missionaries to take some extra steps to ensure their activity. 

Something President said is something I've heard maybe a million times. But I really like the way he said it. He said "It's not about numbers of baptisms. Many baptisms will come, if people do what they're supposed to do." I support that sentence entirely. We can find a few people who want to get baptized on our own. But if we do it the Lord's way, everything will just work out. 

Because we're emailing at a shady warnet where a bunch of little kids are just playing video games, I don't trust the computers. So no pictures again this week... Sorry about that. But I hope everybody has a great week! 

Elder Seth Barrus

Preparing to live forever in a celestial culture

It's always fun to try and squeeze a weeks worth of activities in just a short hour at the local warnet. But I'll try my best. This past week, we experienced our first rain in Jakarta in the last 3 months. 

Christians in Indonesia are the most conflicted people I know. I love and respect them all. But they don't quite understand their own beliefs. We met a lady through proselyting who was confined to a wheelchair because of a broken shin who let us in to share a message about our church. She said the same thing that most Christian Indonesians say: "All churches are the same. They all lead to Jesus and salvation." Yet, when we invited her to attend our church, she said "Nope. I'm comfortable in my church. They get closest to the teachings of Jesus. Other churches don't." Ha ha! Gotta love it. She didn't receive our Kitab Mormon, but she said we can come back sometime. It's sad. But we've still been able to find some people who are willing to experiment on the word. 

Like Pak F! I met him on the busway maybe 2 weeks ago, lent him a Kitab Mormon, and just this past week had time to meet up with him. He lives in East Jakarta so it was about a 2 hour ride out to his house, but he was totally open to our message. He's from Papua, and something fun about Papuans is that they all look like LeBron James' family. Dang, I wish I had a photo! This guy could pull it off that he was Bron's dad. Serious, Josh you should pray that you get your mission call to Papua New Guinea. Anyway, he received a baptismal commitment for the 18th of October, and promised to come to church the next day. But the Saturday before, he texted us and said "I will come to church. If you give me 50.000 Rupiah (about $5) for the transportation." Nooooo.... We explained that we couldn't do that, but that the Lord would bless his sacrifice if he came to church first. Needless to say, he didn't come. It's funny how most people believe in the scriptures and the miracles that happened in them, but don't believe that the same thing could happen to them if they have faith first. Maybe we ourselves do that sometimes.

Mas D came to church. But he left right after sacrament meeting. So did Brother E. We have an appointment with him this Friday. C was out of town again. And Ivan is, once again, the rock solid new member I know and love. This last week was kind of odd because every single one of the people we contacted on the streets or in the bus were Muslim, except for 3. The Muslim people are great and we always try to give them a chance to learn about the Gospel. But they always just think we're another church. And there are some crazy churches here. That's pretty much our purpose though: Invite. Can't do much to force them to receive the Gospel.

I just finished reading a book written by Elder Neal A. Maxwell just before he passed away, and he said some awesome things, but I picked this one to end my email this week. He said "If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves. No wonder so many mortals are strangers to themselves as they twist and turn to avoid facing their true identity." ... "We become so locked into the cadence of the cares of the world. We should be preparing to live forever in a celestial culture." 

Hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Seth Michael Barrus