Life is just so different here than with other areas. Sometimes I feel like I am in a different mission! A lot of this week has been still trying to contact old people that the Sisters before us taught, which isn't very clear because people are at work and we don't know their schedules so that's been kind of difficult. So our days if we don't have any appointments are full of just going around trying to find new ways to contact. We go to malls or ride the busway or just go anywhere.
On Saturday afternoon we decided to go to a supermarket that we were close by after lunch. It was Saturday so it was fairly busy. We went inside and just would ask people random questions. We asked about shampoo, another time about what oil was the healthiest, and those didn't really work that great, but one time we were in the isle with a ton of snacks and there were lots of wafers in the isle. Sister Xiao asked them which wafer they liked the best, and instead of just giving us a small answer and ignoring us, this lady was so enthusiastic about these wafers! She has so many opinions and would describe why they were better than others and it was so funny. Sister Xiao almost broke face because I was laughing so hard. We got their contact and they even gave us their address. So we are going to try to go there this week and teach them. Starting from scratch definitely is a learning experience, but I've just told myself that it's going to take a while and as long as we are working all day long the Lord will provide for us what we need. I'm really glad Sister Xiao is my companion. We get a long really well and we laugh a lot. She is a really great missionary too and I can learn a lot from her. We are both fairly long on the mission since we came in together, so we both have a lot of experiences to pull from. It's also nice that she understands Indonesian better than me now so I am learning a lot more too. This week is also Zone Conferences again so hopefully we can get some new ideas to try and to explore. Love you! I hope you have a great week! Love, Sister Davis
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Wow this week has been crazy. Just everything haha. Everything is so new I don't even know where to start!
So on Tuesday morning Sister Rowntree got up early to head to the airport to go to Malang. At like 8 I called a taxi and headed to Jakarta. It was weird looking around at Bogor at all the streets and everything and realizing that I'm not going back there, and that I was going to Jakarta to move there, not just for a meeting or something. When I got here in Jakarta we just kind of waited for the other missionaries to come from the flights or wait for their new companions if they were in west Java. When Sister Xiao came I was way excited because it's been almost a year since we have seen each other. It's way easier meeting a new companion when you already have met them multiple times before. Sister Xiao is from New Zealand. She was born in Bandung in Indonesia and then her family moved when she was 7. A lot of her extended family is still in Bandung so she goes there with her family to visit them. We are honestly so alike in our chill ness, in the way we think, in a lot of things. We have already had a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll continue to have fun getting lost all the time here in this massive city. After that we ate and then the miracle happened and Sister Solomon and Sister Hariyadi did weekly planning session for us the next week because they had been in the norther Jakarta area and were being switched to South Jakarta. So that was absolutely amazing because we would have just had to read the area book and guess forever. They explained about all their investigators and members and stuff for a couple hours and then we went home and unpacked our bags. The apartment we live in now was the same apartment I was in the first week I was in Jakarta. It is SO SMALL! There is a tiny bathroom, a counter for a kitchen, our two little desks, our built in dresser, and our bed is a trundle bed so after we sleep we tuck it back under. It's nice to have a nice apartment though where everything works and it's up on the 17th floor so theres not a ton of bugs which is nice. It rained on the first night so it was so cool to look down and see the rain falling in the wind. I forgot to take pictures of the view and of the apartment so I'll send it to you next week. Then on Wednesday was the start of our adventures. We had district meeting and then went on an adventure to ride the busway. The busway is the way we get every where here. You have a card that you put money on and then you tap the card to enter into the busway. You can go anywhere and it is only Rp 3.500, which is like 25 cents probably. They are these massive busses that have routes and you have to make sure you stand in front of the right gate when you get on the bus and find the right route or you will be totally lost. During rush hour it gets WAY crowded haha. Good thing they have places that are only for women at the front of the bus so we always get to go to that section. One day we went to find a members house and the directions from Sister Solomon of where we were supposed to go once we got off the busway weren't that clear, so we ended up riding the wrong angkot the wrong way, and then once we found that out we rode the wrong angkot back, then got on the right angkot, then rode it the wrong way haha. So we spent like 3 dollars just getting lost on angkots which is like 2 meals so that was crazy haha. But eventually we found it. The best lesson we had was with a woman named ______. There is a new member in Jakarta named Sister _______. I taught her once with Sister Jatmiko on splits before she was baptized and have seen her a few times since then. She is so excited and is so brave to contact people even though she isn't even a missionary. She was sitting on the busway one day and sat next to a lady and started talking with her and gave her a Book of Mormon. Then Sister Solomon and Sister Lee came on the busway and saw them and talked to them and now ________ is an investigator. We taught her on Friday about all of the Restoration, since before she only knew some of it. We gave her a baptismal commitment and she said she hopes one day that she will be ready and that would be something she would like to do if she knew it was right. On Sunday she came to church and stayed for Choir practice and for Institute after church, so we are really excited about her. She seems really humble and ready to receive this and to become a great member to add to the ward. We also got to go back to my old area in Depok on Saturday to go to a members house in our ward. Our area is where all of the offices are, so most of the members live in Depok or on the other area, but they don't switch wards once they move out. So if we go to their houses we always have to go out of our area. But it was the one time when we didn't get lost at all haha. When we don't have lessons we can go in malls and contact, or just ride the busway, and we're trying to find more ways to meet people as well. They have the MOST MASSIVE MALLS EVER HERE!! I swear this one mall we went into where I sent that photo was underground and had like 12 levels up and every store you coud imagine, from Europe, America, all the fancy food places, and way out of a missionary price range but it was way fun exploring it haha. I'm sure I'll get tons of more pictures later. The big deal for Easter here is actually Good Friday, because it's an official holiday where people get work off here. So most churches have worship on Friday and then on Sunday it's just normal. So really Easter here felt like almost nothing. I almost forgot it was Easter haha. So on Easter we went to a place called Monas, which is Monumen Nasional, which means National Monument if you could guess. I don't know for what, but it is a huge place where people go hang out on Holidays, so we went and talked to people there for a few hours. I think that's most of what I can think about of Jakarta. I'll try to think of more things to share about later :) I hope you all have a great week! Love, Sister Davis Yep. I'm being transferred. After experiencing 15 missionaries leave Bogor it hasn't been real that this time, I'm actually leaving. Still way weird.
So on Friday we got called by the APs and they told me I was moving to Jakarta 1 like I already knew I was, but then they told me my companion was Sister Xiou (Shee-ow). She is from New Zealand and is way super smart. She grew up in Indonesia because her Dad is Indonesian and her mom is Chinese. She came into the mission with me the first time, so with her as my companion I'm not as scared to white wash, but still a little scared... It's fine :) The crazy thing was that then Elder Poffenbarger asked Sister Rowntree if she wanted to move and of course she said no because President told her and me in our interviews that she wasn't moving, but jokes on us because she is moving too! To Malang! This transfer is way huge and everyone is getting mixed up everywhere. That means Bogor is being whitewashed. So any returned missionary can picture how many hours we spent making the area book so complete with little maps and directions to everyones houses and information about everyone. It took forever and we still aren't done yet today. We have so much to do today with the transfers and really cleaning our house. ______ also made a baptismal commitment this week! Her date is the 7th of May. She didn't come to church this last week which is way disappointing, so hopefully the new Sisters can help her understand the importance of the covenant she will be making and make sure she is ready to keep it. This weekend was General Conference! Yay! But It's still in Indonesian so it's soooo hard with their super intelligent language. Also, I don't get the intent a lot of the time even though I understand most of the words. So I have a few that I really liked that I'll print out now, but I'll just have to wait until the new Ensign that you're sending me comes, and now that I'm in Jakarta I don't have to wait at all for packages. I just have to pick it up at Senopati which is way nice :) It was way sad saying goodbye to all of the members. Sister _______ who is the Relief Society President almost cried and it was so cute because I love her and all of these members so much. I have been here for 8 months, so it is different than just a few months with a few members. Bogor is literally my home in Indonesia and I probably will still feel that way for the rest of my mission. I think that's about it for this week. Love you and I hope you all have a great week too! Love, Sister Davis This week was pretty good :) We had Zone Conferences this past Friday and Saturday so that was good to have an interview with President Rowley and also to hear his counsel on Saturday morning. He also told me I would probably be transferring to Jakarta next week so this is probably my last week and a half in Bogor, which is way sad because Bogor is pretty much my home but I'm also ready for a change in my mission. Last P-day right after emailing we got a call from Sister _____ saying that ____ told her she wants to get BAPTIZED!! Oh my goodness! Crazy miracle! We haven't been able to meet with her for a couple of weeks because of her work but she still has that desire! We taught her on Thursday and she still has a desire but has a long way to go too because we barely finished the first lesson with her. Hopefully she can also get her work schedule fixed so she can come to church on Sunday. She is so cute and I know that if she really reads and really wants to get baptized, the Lord will provide a way. Also, her older Sister isn't a member so she sat in the lesson and listened so we are hoping her Sister's husband can become active again and his wife can be baptized so we can bring a whole family into the church. That would be amazing!! In Bogor, our District Leader Elder Richman planned missionary week! The youth in the ward had to be like a missionary all week. They had to get up at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30, share the gospel, not use their phones for Facebook or games or watch tv or listen to music and there were a couple of other missionary rules they had to follow. There was also a personal study schedule Elder Richman made up with the Christlike Attributes of Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. They also were given companions and had to visit a member family like we do haha. Their testimonies were so cute during Sacrament meeting! Also, a couple moms of the youth shared their testimonies and it was cool to hear how much they loved it too :) We had a little missionary devotional where we gave talks and they shared some of their experiences after church. It was fun and the ones who did it had some pretty cool experiences! I think that's about all for this week! I'm glad catherine and John found a house and I'm also glad that our house didn't sell like sneaky mom thought to trick me with hahaha. Also I got my Easter Package! I literally almost cried when I saw the goldfish because ask Sister Rowntree, I have been craving them for like 2 weeks and I literally almost had tears in my eyes. I haven't opened them yet though because I don't want to be sad when they're gone hahaha. I hope you all have a great week! Love, 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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