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
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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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