Great Christmas week!

This week of Christmas was amazing here in Malang! It was so awesome to have the opportunity to just focus on the Savior and others during Christmas time. On Christmas eve we made a bunch of huge bags filled with rice, noodles, and other food and we went around and took them to members and less active members who really don't have much at all. We also sang Silent Night to each of them. That was such an awesome experience. So many of them just started crying, they were so grateful. I love these people so much, they hardly have anything, but they are so happy, kind and humble! The members here are so strong and they truly put the Savior first in their lives and it blesses them! We also got to watch the Christmas devotional and it was so good!! The whole time I was watching Elder Nelsons talk on the Savior and how we can find peace through Him I was thinking about one of our investigators, Ibu Diah. He taught us how to care about others more than we care about ourselves. He taught us about mercy and kindness—making real changes in our lives through His power. He taught us how to find peace of heart and mind. I felt like that talk was specifically for her, she has a lot of struggles in her life and her husband recently passing away is one of them. Yesterday at church they showed the christmas devotional to everyone and the day before we had invited Ibu Diah to come...she came, but she was really late and missed the whole thing, we were so sad! I figured out a way to get it on my flash drive though so we are going to watch it with her this week!! It has been so cool to see a change in her as we have taught her just 3 lessons. When we first met her she was so sad and the gospel has brought happiness into her life! Last week we invited her to be baptized and she wants to be baptized! January 19th!! We are so excited for her. Daniel is still awesome!! The branch loves him! He comes to all the activities and he even sat in on a lesson we were teaching at the church with a new investigator and gave an amazing testimony of how he received a testimony of the Book of Mormon! He's already being a missionary! We are all so excited for his baptism in a couple weeks!! Also, after church we had a branch meeting and they gave us the goal of 4 baptisms for all of next year...what?! I said that in the month of January us 6 missionaries (2 Elders and 2 sets of Sisters) would have the 4! I think the branch is getting more excited about missionary work and it's awesome! Suddenly for this coming week 4 members invited us over to their house and up until now we haven't even really been invited to any! The work is picking up! Everything is still awesome! It is amazing to see what can happen if we put all our trust in the Lord and let him work through us! I love this gospel and I love the Savior. There is nothing better than seeing the change that can come into peoples lives as they grow closer to him and choose to follow him. I love it! And I love my fam! Skying on Christmas was the best!!! I have the best family ever :). And HAPPY BIRTHDAY REGS!!! I love you!!

Love,

Sister Reilly

Amazing Week!!!

Amazing things have happened this week! This past week we spent most of our Pday and pretty much all of Tuesday just proselyting and finding people to teach and we have found so many amazing people! We taught 20 lessons this past week. When we reported our stats to our District leader last night he didn't believe us. That is the most Sister Suryani has ever taught in a week and she's been out a year! Okay...DANIEL! I think it was like the 3rd day here when I met Daniel, he is 21 and is so nice and humble! We live on a long street and I do sprints up and down the street to workout in the morning. I saw Daniel and when I was done I went and gave him a pass along card, I didn't get his number or anything. He texted us later that night (which almost never happens) and we set up a time to meet with him on Thursday after we taught English class. Daniel is amazing. He had met missionaries once before and they gave him a Book of Mormon, and his family actually took it and burned it. They are very strong in their chruch and really don't like Mormons. Right now he actually is just living with his cousin here in Malang and working, but his cousin is also really against Mormons. After what happened with the Book of Mormon, he downloaded The Restoration video on his phone and watched it and he knew that we were not the way everyone has been telling him we are. When we taught him about the restoration of the gospel the spirit was so strong. After the lesson he walked all the way home in the rain (he lived really really far from the chruch) and was reading Moroni 10 like we invited him to. He texted us while walking and told us "I love this book." He had to wrap the Book of Mormon in a plastic bag and hide it in a rice at home. He takes it with him to work everyday and reads. On Saturday a brother in our ward who just got off his mission took him to a young adults Christmas party, and yesterday he came to Church and we taught him the Plan of Salvation after. We also gave him a baptisimal date for the 12th of January!! I know the Lord put Daniel in my path because He had been prepairing him to recieve this gospel. We are so excited for him!! He has so much faith and desire to follow Jesus Christ. 

I wish I had more time so I could talk about each of the people we are teaching, but I will just talk a little bit about a few more. Ibu Diah is a single mom who has many struggles in her life right now and we are helping her find hope through Jesus Christ, we are meeting with her tonight and hoping to give her a date to be baptized. Pak Yanto is about the same age as Daniel and we are teaching him and his mom and Yanto has a problem with smoking. He has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized and we want to help him overcome that addiction and prepair him to be able to. All I can say is the Lord had blessed us with so many amazing people to teach as we have deticated 100% of our effort to this work. I have never worked so hard in my life and I have never felt so much joy in my life. This in Jesus Christ's chruch restored on the Earth. We have a prophet and 12 apostles who live today. True joy comes through Jesus Christ and following His gospel. We can be strengthened to endure any trial through the atonement of Jesus Christ. This is the Lords work and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to be a part of it!! Mosiah 16:9 "He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death."

Salamat Hari Natal! Merry Christmas! I love you!

Love,

Sister Reilly

Salamat Datang Ke Malang!

First week in Malang! Okay I'm sorry if this email is a little short, but this email place is really sketchy and I'm literally slamming on the keys to type haha! Malang is awesome! The members here are so awesome and it's so green here...definitely not a big city like Jakarta! It is still pretty hot here, but definitely cooler than Jakarta. It rains here ALOT..like it will be perfect one second and then it will start pouring rain haha! If I said this week was easy I would be lying, but I'm excited about being here and I love it! My companion and I are pretty much starting from scratch here. I think there were some issues in her last companionship for her last 4 months here and not much got done. I was a little shocked our first planning session...there are no progressing investigators and only a couple potential investigators...but that has already changed since we've been working together and will it keep getting better! 

My companion, Sister Suryani is so awesome, she is a convert and she used to be muslim. Her family basacally rejected her after she was baptized and if she returned back to her village here in Indonesia after her mission, she would probably be killed. People from her village are very strong Muslims and they are very angry about her being baptized. She has a lot of faith and I love working with her. 

There has not been a baptism here is Malang for over a year. There are two Elders here and 5 Sisters, but Sister Hunt is finishing her mission next week, so she is leaving tomorrow...I already love her! She is a really good missionary and she works hard! I am excited to be here! I know that there are people in Malang that are ready to accept the gospel and we will find them. 

The first day here Sister Suryani and I fasted and prayed that we would be able to find people that are ready to accept the gospel. We decided on an area to go and we rode our bikes there and it started pouring rain on the way haha. We got to the area and decided to walk down this small street and there was a lady outside her house and she had a big Christmas tree. We started talking to her and she invited us in. We got to know her and taught her about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She had a son that died and she told us about his story and we taught her that families can be together forever. The spirit was strong and she was really accepting of our message! We are going to come back and teach her again. I know that was our prayers being answered! We have been trying to just talk to everyone and it has been great. A lot of people are already wondering what a tall white person with yellow hair is doing in their town and how I can speak Indonesian...so that helps haha. We are going to change the work around here in Malang! I know that if we are exactly obedient and have the spirit with us, we can see miracles here in Malang! 

The last two days we were in Surabaya for District conference and one of the apostles, Elder Wilson was there and he talked about what needed to happen to have a temple in Indonesia. Right now there are two stakes and we need our District to become a stake. He said if we have three stakes he thinks we will be able to have a temple (there is no ward in Malang, it is just a branch). I get to be a part of helping the people of Indonesia have a temple. We have such an amazing and important work to do here! I know all things are possible in the strength of the Lord! I love the Savior so much. I would encourage you all to read "The Living Christ" (a message from living prophets and apostles called by God about the Savior). I know that this is Jesus Christ's church restored to the Earth by the prophet Joseph Smith. Last night we met with an investigator that is a girlfriend of a member, her name is Tadi. She is 24 and Muslim. We watched the restoration video with her and shared more about the Book of Mormon with her after the movie. The spirit was so strong while we were watching that movie and I know she felt it. She really wants to learn more and we are really excited about her! I love this work...I love it here! I have nothing to complain about...I get to be on a mission!! I love you all and I hope everyone is taking time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas as it approaches! :) Saya tahu bahwa Penebus saya hidup!

I LOVE Indonesia!!!

First week in Indonesia was AMAZING! I love it here so much!! The people here are so awesome, they are all so nice and friendly! I've been in Jakarta since I got here because I'm waiting for my Kitas (it's like an ID card that you have to have before you can travel around), but I will be flying to Malang on Wednesday or Thursday. My companion is flying in today, her name is Sister Suryani and I hear she is awesome! My mission president told me she works really hard and is a "baptizer" so I'm so excited!! He also said the work in Malang is pretty slow right now, so we're going to go there and pick it up!! My mission president and his wife are great!! Their accents are the best (they are from Australia)! I've been staying at the mission home and going out with the Sister trainer leaders and also some of the other Sisters serving in Jakarta and it has been amazing!! Ah, I love it so much! I've just been talking to everyone, especially on all the bus rides (which are crazy!)!! Sometimes I have no idea what people are saying to me, but somehow they end up with a pass along card and I end up with their number! haha! Dang, I love being on a mission and I love Indonesia! It is SO HOT here..like crazy hot haha but it's all good! The food is soo good! I love it! 

Alright back to the people..they are so awesome. On Friday we taught an investigator Ibu Leli about faith in Jesus Christ and repentence and it was great. Her house was so tiny and she hardly has anything. She is so humbling and has a sincere desire to follow Christ and do what is right. When I got to testify to her about the atonement and how it can help her in her life it was one of the coolest experiences ever. This is the greatest work ever. I love getting to wear my name tag everyday and represent Jesus Christ. I can't help but talk to everyone! The language is crazy! People talk so fast and there's soo much I still need to learn, but I can understand a lot and say what I need. Not being able to understand everything just motivates me to study even harder...I want to be fluent! haha! The people here are amazed to see a tall, white girl with blonde hair here...and then I start speaking their language and they think it is crazy haha! It's so funny! They call white people "bules" and I can't count how many times I've heard that! The kids know a few English phrases and they will say stuff like..."hey Mister" "what your name" "were you go" hahah it is hilarious! The other day we were waiting for the bus and a bunch of kids ran by and jumped up to touch my hair (they all think my blonde hair is interesting)! 

The members here are so amazing! We ate at a member house the other day and their house was the size of my room at home. They fed us all and wanted us to keep eating and then take home stuff too (everyone here wants to feed you)...they had a whiteboard out and on it I could see they had written out their monthly expenses and calculated out their tithing for the month. These people hardly have anything but they are so happy and have so much faith. It is so humbling. We are so blessed. Seriously I have so much...I just want to give these people everything I have. This gospel is true. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and restored the true church to the Earth. We have a living prophet of God on the Earth today. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. There is nothing better than what I am doing right now! I love these people! I love Indonesia...the heat and the complete craziness included!!! Sampai nanti! 

Love,

Sister Reilly