Wowie I've officially had 5 p-days and the next time I email I will be in Indonesia. It's crazy to think about how in one week from this exact moment I'll only be half way through the longest flight of my life.
That being said I got my flight plans this week!! On Friday at dinner everyone who is leaving in like 10 days gets their flight plans. I was so excited, but then the Malays got theirs and I didn't get mine... I was kind of freaking out a little because there have been problems before with Visas, but the meeting with the honorable Consul General went so well, so I was confused and still a little worried. They didn't come on Saturday either, so on Monday Brother Rawle and I went to the travel office to see what was up, and the lady said that their program does weird things and doesn't always print off all of them, but they can't tell which ones were missed. She printed them off right away so I am really glad about that :) I leave to go to the Airport at 1 pm on Monday and my flight leaves at 5:45. Then I fly to LA and have a 5 hour layover before I head to HONG KONG! I'm going to China :) Kind of :) that flight is like 15 hours so pray I don't die of craziness. My flight gets to Hong Kong at 6:00 am, then I leave at 9 for another 4 hours to Jakarta. Also good news, I'm not flying by myself!! I'm on the same flight as the Malay Elders all the way to Hong Kong, and then I'm only alone to Jakarta. Thank goodness!! I'm really excited to get there but sometimes I picture myself sitting on a bus and expecting to talk to them and it's not my teacher and that's kind of scary... But Oh well. As for class, this week we did A LOT of role play. I mean ridiculously a lot. We talked about the three big commandments you teach investigators, tithing, the word of wisdom, and chastity. Really the only way to get better at explaining things like that is practicing, so that's what we did. I feel like I am getting better at them but I am still not completely comfortable. There are a lot of new words in those lessons that I forget sometimes and it is hard to help people understand the importance of them if they don't have the faith to keep it simply because it is a commandment. A lot of it is just testifying of its truthfulness and promising them blessings if they have the faith to begin. I have learned so much about faith while being at the MTC more than ever before. The first principles of the gospel are so important. It is so much more important to understand the simple things required for salvation before we worry about how far Kolob is from here. That doesn't matter in the end. What matters is that we have Faith, we repent every day, we receive baptism and keep our covenants, we stay worthy to have the Holy Ghost with us, and endure to the end by continually doing these things for the rest of our lives. Saturday I had TRC again. I taught two brothers who had served in Indonesia a few years ago so it was cool to help strengthen their testimonies of the Book of Mormon. I love TRC because it is so much more of a discussion than a lesson that you teach those who don't know about the gospel. The great thing is that you are recommitting them to do the thing that they committed BANYAK (a lot) of people to do on their missions. We all need to keep the same commitments that we ask others to do as well. You cannot ask someone to do something you aren't willing to do yourself. Something we did in class with Sister Sheffield was read from the Book of Mormon with a questions in mind. We prayed before we read, read half a chapter (in Indonesian of course, and then I just glance at my English one so I can know what is going on) and then we would take breaks to write down our thoughts. Reading from the Book of Mormon in Indonesian is one of my favorite things. It takes forever because Indonesian is just longer than English and I don't know how to pronounce all the words, but sometimes I feel like I can learn more when it is in Indonesian than in English. The Book of Mormon is powerful in all languages and for all people. Since I have committed others to read it searching for an answer to a specific question, I am going to do the same. On Sunday we had the Temple Dedication. Everyone watched the 9:00 sessions with Elder Oaks as the speaker. It was fun to watch the cornerstone ceremony because I haven't ever seen it because we always to go one of the later sessions. Also on Sunday I got called up to give a talk in Sacrament. We do the thing where everyone prepares a talk and then they randomly pick 3 people to come up and give it. I didn't have a lot of time to prepare because Brother Seow in the Branch Presidency gave the Malay Elders and I a departure meeting. I had a few scriptures and quotes from PMG, so I hope I touched someone in our small zone. We only have 14 missionaries in our zone right now, which is tiny, but it can be fun cause we're all pretty close. Definitely one of the hardest things about leaving the MTC will be my teachers. I say it every time but it is so true!! They are such friends to me and I just love them so much!! We joke about Sister Sheffield and Sister Allred coming and doing exchanges with me and I would literally love that so much because I love them and would love to help people with them as a companion. Since next week is Easter they are having a special morning devotional and hopefully an Apostle will come! That would be awesome to have that the day right before I leave. Something I really liked from studying this week is a quote in Preach My Gospel Chapter 1 by President Holland “The first thing you will do when an investigator tells you he or she had not read and prayed about the Book of Mormon is be devastated! … Much of the time we are just too casual about all of this. This is eternal life. This is the salvation of the children of God. Eternity hangs in the balance. … It is the most important path this investigator will ever walk. But if he or she doesn’t know that, at least you do! … So take control of this situation. Teach with power and authority, and then be devastated if the first steps toward commandment-keeping and covenant-keeping have not been successfully begun” This quote is truly inspiring and so true. We have the greatest gift to give everyone. Why are we so afraid to share it sometimes? We literally have the answer to the most happiness and the most love and ETERNAL SALVATION! There is nothing more important in the entire world! Nothing! Jesus Christ is the way to everything anyone could ever want forever, and as a missionary, we need to share it with confidence and boldness because there is nothing greater in this world. I love this gospel and being a missionary is wonderful. Saya sangat bersyukur kepada Bapa Surgawi bagi semua berkat-berkat yang Dia memberi kepada saya setiap hari. Saya mengasihi dia dan saya tahu bahwa dia mengasihi saya dan semua orang. Love you!! Next time I email I'll be in Indonesia!! Kasih, Sister Davis When you are in the MTC for 4 weeks and do the same thing every day, the days start to mesh together and I don't really remember what I did. Most of the time I can't even remember what I ate for lunch at the beginning of the day haha.
Everything is just pretty normal. I love it here. I love my district and I love the people I get to spend time with. Sometimes I think I'm convinced I'm actually going to Thailand because I almost hear Thai just as much as I hear Indonesian haha. But I'm still very grateful that I'm not learning Thai because just script and tones alone is ridiculous, but I have faith in my district and I am amazed what they know and what they can do already. Some of the Elders during their hour of SYL they tried to help me understand Thai and it was pretty funny, but they were genuinely trying to help me come up with ideas for the lesson I had that evening and I could feel that they were genuine. I have also had some kind of deep gospel talks with them which is nice because our goal is to teach with simplicity, so talking deeply is a privilege. This week I will share a lot about what I learned. Mostly I teach my same investigators, Joko and Alexhia. Joko has two children and is more shy. As I teach the lessons, I try to help him understand how this will help his keluarga (family). Alexhia is single and lives by herself. She has learned a lot about many many religions and she started the lessons just because she wanted to learn about Mormons. She has had a hard life with her family, but this week she "came to church" and she loved it. She loves to learn and she loved church and meeting people who were kind and could be her friends because she is mostly lonely. Sometimes her questions are a little harder because she has a good background of knowledge. I also have a new investigator Tante (Aunt) Bella. She loves to study the Bible and she went to church with a friend last week. I have only taught her one lesson, but I'm sure she read a lot of the Book of Mormon between now and then. She is so talkative and it is easy to teach her because it is almost like she leads the discussion and I answer her questions. It is so nice now that I can speak enough to make somewhat normal conversation. I only use a note card when I teach to put new words, like empat (4) main points, and questions and commitments. As my teachers have continually told me so many times, it takes a lot of faith, but as I am teaching my investigators every time, you have to act in faith before the Holy Ghost will testify of truth and help you receive a witness. I am continually trying to have the Holy Ghost in my life. I can really tell the difference in lessons when I ask questions and add in things that I hadn't originally planned on. Most of the time if a new idea comes into my head I hesitate because I'm scared I'll get myself stuck into a corner and a question I can't answer, but as I continually have faith and every time I have built up the courage to go for it it has really helped and the spirit has been there. As I am here longer, my desire to stay increases because I continue to grow to love my teachers so much. They are all my best friends here at the MTC. The greatest learning experiences and times when I have felt the spirit have been with them. Even if it is just in a simple role play, it has been with them. I love Indonesian. It is such a simple language, and teaching the gospel is wonderful in it. I can relate to Teresa when she said she couldn't teach in English because I tried this week with Sister Allred to see what words I wanted to use in English that I didn't know in Indonesian, but it was so hard!! My mind kept switching back to Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian), but eventually I was alright. I was excited to see that there really wasn't anything that I wanted to say in English that I couldn't say in Indonesian. I am so happy with the way the language is progressing and I love that my teachers continually are trying to help me. I wish I could just pack them with me and they could come to Indonesia to be my companions. I literally love them so much and I cherish every class moment with them that I get to speak the language I love. I am so excited to have a companion who speaks Indonesian so we can bond that much more. I still love Sister Dhakal though and she has taught me so much here. I don't know my flight plans yet but I will probably be flying alone, yes. The only thing I would be worried about at all would be the layover somewhere in Asia where I can't read anything, but I'm sure I'll be okay :) There is a possibility that I could fly with the Malays if I had a layover in Singapore or something, but we'll just have to see. My bag did come yesterday!! It is different than what I sent you but I still like it and it will work perfectly! Terima Kasih Banyak! Also Becky sent me those Book of Mormon figures so make sure to tell her thank you so much and I am so excited to share them with people who could really learn from them :) Love you!! I hope you all have a fantastic week and will continually strive to become more like the Savior. Kasih, Sister Davis Kecil Satu (Little one) Today is the end of week three so that means I'm officially halfway done with the MTC!! I can't tell if I feel like I've been here for ages or if I haven't been here very long at all. Sometimes the week goes by so fast but sometimes it goes by slow. The whole MTC experience is kind of crazy haha but I really do love it!!
Last Tuesday after emails I went to the doctor with my companion because she was feeling sick/dizzy. They took some of her blood and cleaned out one of her ears. I felt so bad because she said it hurt really bad and she could barely hear. We didn't go to the temple so she could nap, so I got to write in my journal and write letters. My hand hurt so bad after 3 hours of straight writing haha. We didn't go to choir practice either so we went to devotional a few minutes early while they were still doing practice, and a man asks us if we want to be ushers. So we got to be ushers :) It's actually not that fun because no one wants to listen to you and adults are telling you to tell people where to sit and they don't want to listen haha. It was alright and I got to sit up close so that's pretty cool :) On wednesday we got to Host!! I was so excited! The first one was so nice and good and then there were so many sisters coming in that I had to host TWO! They were in completely different buildings and I had never even been in the building where one of my girls was staying, and then their classrooms were different and their luggage was hard to handle when they walked inside to get books and register and stuff. I feel bad because I couldn't be a really good host when I was trying to figure everything out. Oh well :) Hopefully they're fine now that they've been here a week. On Saturday I had my first TRC! I loved it so much!! I was able to talk about things without having to try to explain it because they were members and understood all the vocab. I talked about how we can get more out of the Book of Mormon if we study with an open and willing heart to apply and do something about what we are learning. The scripture I shared was Alma 12:10 I think... I don't really remember... If it talks about having an open heart and receiving the greater portion of the word then that's the one I shared haha. I taught sister Ingersoll who is going to BYU and she was so nice!! I also taught a sister from Jakarta who is going to BYU right now too! They had great feed back and they said I was doing really good for only being there for two weeks. They really built my confidence and I am so appreciative of that. The days are pretty much all the same. Mondays and Wednesdays I have class in the morning and afternoon and teach my two investigators Joko and Alexhia. I wish I had more time to really prepare and think about what I want to say for my lessons but Sundays are packed with stuff to do and P-day its hard to study, but the spirit always makes in for the rest and I love when I leave a lesson knowing the spirit was there. If the spirit is there, it doesn't matter what I say as long as I testify and help them recognize that the spirit is testifying to them of truth. Surprisingly, It really does feel like a real lesson even though they aren't real investigators. I really try to teach to their needs and I can definitely tell the difference when I ask inspired questions and listen for what the spirit needs me to testify about. The Pi (older) Thai's leave this week and it makes me so sad. They are so fun and I love exercise and meals and breaks with them. They are going to do so well and I am so glad we have gotten so close as a zone. The Mongolians leave next Thursday, and it will only be our district until I leave. Smallest zone ever haha. I am so thankful for my teachers. All they want to do is help me. On Wednesday of last week Brother Rawle and I decided it was time that I only answer questions in Indonesian and my teachers will fill in the words that I don't know. It is so amazing!! I speak for 6 hours a day just in Indonesian, and I don't feel I have to be quiet because I don't know. I can still say everything I want and it is fantastic. I feel I can talk with them about anything and ask any questions and it is so fun just to speak the whole time in Indonesian. I don't get to do it out of class at all so I'm glad I can do so much of it during class. I also memorized the Joseph's Smiths account of the first vision this week and I can say it without mistakes. It is amazing how fast I can learn and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving me the gift of tongues. The thing I have learned the most at the MTC is how to try and forget myself. My whole life I have been focussed on myself. I think that's how most people are before they go away from home. I was always wondering if I was doing what was right for me. Now I have realized that what I really need to ask Heavenly Father for is the gift of discernment to figure out what is needed of me to serve others. If I try to learn this language because I don't want to embarrass myself in front of my teachers, why am I even learning it? What I really need to do is ask to know what to say through the spirit that will most help the people I am teaching. I need to ask for spiritual gifts that will help me be an instrument in His hands to help his children. God loves all his children equally, and we all have the same right to have the knowledge of Jesus Christ in our lives. On Sunday we watched "Becoming a Missionary" by Elder Bednar. I think he is right up there with Elder Holland as my favorite apostle. He says things how they are and doesn't sugar coat anything. What I loved about his talk was when he talked about when we decided to serve a mission. It reminded me of the poem Catherine shared in her talk in her ward in sacrament. In the pre-mortal life, I had best friends. I was promised that I would be born with the gospel, with a family who would teach me all I need to know and more. My friends didn't have that same blessing. I promised I would serve a mission. I promised I would use all my efforts to find my friends through the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I made the decision in the Pre-mortal life. I am so glad the Holy Ghost reminded me of my desire then and gave me that desire now. Really all I want to do is help people. I can't image coming home and worrying about myself again. I can see why people wish they could be missionaries their whole lives, because that is what I want to. Saya suka MTC. Saya tahu (say it like cow with a t) bahwa Yesus Kristus adalah Jurusalamat bagi anak-anak Allah semua. Saya bersaksi bahwa Ingil-nya adalah satu-satu-nya untuk menjadi bahagia dalam kehudupan ini dan kehidupan kekal. Saya berterima kasih bagi kesempatan untuk menjadi misionaris dan untuk membantu orang lain datang kepada Kristus. Saya bersaksi bahwa Kitab Mormon adalah firman dari Allah. I love you all and I love the support I get from everyone!! Gereja Yesus Kristus adalah benar!! Kasih, Sister Davis |
Sister Jacqueline DavisSister Davis is currently serving as a missionary in the Indonesia Jakarta Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. ContactMission Address: Sister Jacqueline Davis Indonesia Jakarta Mission Jalan Senopati 115 Kebayoran Baru Jakarta 12190 INDONESIA Email: [email protected] Prepare to Serve Link: http://preparetoserve.com/indonesia-jakarta-mission Learn more about the LDS Church:www.lds.org
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August 2017
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