Miracles!

Selamat pagi semuanya! This week was so amazing!! So...last week I told the story about Mas Hendra and his family, and how they needed a miracle. Sister Jibson and I were so worried because we hadn't heard anything from them since we left the hospital on Thursday. They were supposed to have to get the money paid by Friday morning. We finally heard from them on Wednesday and we made an appointment to come visit them. We were there for about 20 minutes and they still hadn't said anything and then finally Mas Hendra said...well we had a miracle happen...! Long story short, the doctor didn't reply/contact them until Saturday, and normally if you are given an extra day to get the money, they make you pay even more, but the doctor didn't make them pay any extra money, and somehow with that extra day they were able to find enough to pay the bills! On Thursday night after we had left the hospital, before we went to bed we sent them a text with 2 Nephi 27 : 23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."

Mas Hendra said when he read that, he knew it would all work out...and it did! When we put our trust and faith in the Lord, we truly will see miracles happen. Sister Jibson and I couldn't pray enough, thanking Heavenly Father for answering our prayers and helping that family! Last week I also talked about Pak Yakub and his family. This last week we challenged him to be baptized and he wants to be baptized. We came back on Friday and taught him about the word of wisdom and he told us that was going to be a really big challenge for him. He smokes a pack everyday and about 4 cups of coffee everyday. We promised him that if he had faith, Heavenly Father would give him strength to overcome this addiction. On Saturday morning we ran to their house and gave him a bunch of mints and hot chocolate to help him :). He came to a branch family home evening on Saturday night with his son, Bryon and he had only smoked one. Yesterday him and Bryan came to church and the lesson in gospel principles just happened to be on the word of wisdom and it was perfect for him. He only smoked one yesterday, but he is having a realllly hard time. He is really stressed and his body is kind of freaking out...please pray for him! His son, Bryan in 9 and he is so awesome! He's helping his dad and he wants to be baptized also :). We are hoping the whole family will eventually be baptized, but we are focusing on Pak Yakub and Bryan first. I love my mission so much, and I love my Savior so much! know that Christ lives and is the Savior of the world. I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and has a plan for us. I know that this is the Lords church, led by Jesus Christ himself and I know that he has called a latter day to lead and guide us! There's nothing better than what I'm doing right now! I love you all and am so thankful for you prayers and love!

Please pray for Pak Yakub!

Dengan Kasih,

Sister Reilly

Indonesiaaaaaa

Great week!! We have some of the most awesome investigators right now! First off Pak Yakub. We met him proselyting by asking on of his neighbors if she knew anyone who needed any help that lived around that area and right away she pointed us to his moms house and told us that her husband just died and she was having a really hard time. We met with her and Pak Yakub joined the lesson about half was through. We shared the Book of Mormon and the a set an appointment to come back and that night he texted us and asked if there was life after death and if we would be able to meet our family again...we were pretty stoked. On our next appointment he had read all of what we gave him to read and have a huge page full of awesome questions! Each lesson him and his mom have the best questions and have such a sincere desire to learn. When we taught them the plan of salvation I could just see how much sense it made to them and how much hope it gave them for their father/husband who recently passed away. The mom is about 80 years old and is still suuuper sharp, she answers questions perfectly and just gets it! Yesterday he and his son came to church and loved it! His son is 9 and is also really smart and was asking questions in church and loving it. Ah, they are so awesome! His wife used to be muslim and just followed Pak Yakub after they got married and became Christian, so she's sill kind of confused with it all, but we are trying to work with her and get her to join in on the lessons and come to church also. Okay, Mas Hendra and his family! Long story short, I contacted his brother on the bus about a month and a half ago and then a few weeks ago I just had this feeling to call him. We set up an appointment and went to his house and met all the family. He is muslim, but the rest of his family is Christian. His brother, Hendra is super sharp and has so many questions about the Book of Mormon and an awesome desire to find the truth! Last week the family called us to come to the hospital because one of the sisters had her baby earlier that morning. She was planning on having the baby normally, but because she is so small and skinny they had to do a c-section and hat makes the hospital bills more expensive. They told us that they just did not have the money to pay the bills, and said that they had faith that if we prayed with them, somehow God would provide a way for them. Hendra told us "I know that you told me if I read the Book of Mormon, it would help me with the challenges in my life...and I believe that, but I don't think I'm going to have time to read the whole book by the time we have to pay this bill, so what should we do?" hah. We all went into this tiny hospital room and knelt to pray together, the mom asked me to pray and my heart was pounding so hard. I offered the prayer and just felt such a confidence that with their faith, the Lord would provide a way for their family. Sister Jibson and I started a fast after we left and we have been praying for them everyday..please pray for them! It is so hard to not be able to just give people money...that is seriously one of the hardest things here. You see these people that just have nothing and just want to give them everything you have, but then on the other hand, it is so much more great when you help them have faith and see how the Lord blesses them because of their faithfulness. The hospital bill is $60. To us that seems like nothing, but to a family here, that is everything. Okay, maybe for today I will just share about those two families and next week I will talk about some of our other investigators. I am going to start making a list at the end of my emails of people to pray for, and it you remember, please pray for them :) Sorry this email is so long! My mission is amazing, my companion is awesome, the language is great, and the church is true!! Last week I gave a talk in the Blitar sacrament meeting on developing a testimony and this week I was asked to give a talk in sacrament on KASIH (love). One of the things I used in my talk was how in 3 Nephi11 the Savior has the multitude come up one by one, until the every person in the multitude and felt the prints on his hands. Later is 3 Nephi 17 he blesses and prays for the children one by one. The Savior is the perfect example of of love. He knows and loves each of us, individually, more than we could ever comprehend. Everyday we should be trying to develop the kind of love that he has. Pray for opportunities to serve others. When we are serving others, we are serving God and our capacity to love increases. I have seen a specific change in my life in this short time I have been out on my mission, as I have been devoting all my time to serving the Lord and serving others, I just have this love for people and a desire to help them. I have a long way to go, I am so far from perfect, but I have a testimony that with the Savior and his atonement we can truly be changed and become better than we ever could on our own. I love you all and am so thankful for your love and prayers!

Keep it classy,

Love,

Sister Reilly

People to pray for:

Hendra and his family

Isaak Yakub and his family

Agnus

Ibu Diah

Ibu Ulo

Maria

Heru

Sister Norsium

Sister Sriwahyuni

Pictures

I am not writing a long email this week because I used my time writing people back, but just know that we are continuing to see miracles here. We have met some people this week who I know the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel, and we are really excited! I love my mission! I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be and I know this is the Lord's work. Time is flying by, it is crazy, I don't like it! I will serve God with all my heart, might, mind and strength for these 18 months! Next week I will take pics with our investigators and write about each of them :) I love you all! Sorry for the short email Mom ;)

This is Daniel's aunt and uncle!

The other picture is where we email :)

I will try to take more pictures next week with all of our investigators!

Arema!!

Sid wanted me to tell everyone that she didn't have time to write everyone back, but she read all your emails and will reply next week! 

Awesome week with my new companion! Sister Jibson is awesome, I love her!! I'm in heaven because she likes to run and we've run every morning together since she came in on Monday. She's fired up to work hard and find more people to teach and baptize in Malang! We've had some interesting things happen this week because I've gotten us lost a few times! We've been able to get to all our investigators houses though and have been meeting so many people on the way because we have to ask for directions so much! hah :) Sister Jibson and I got to go out to Blitar yesterday with the mission couple to have a sacrament meeting with the little group out there. It is about 2.5 hours away from church so once every month two missionaries and the mission couple go out there and hold a little sacrament meeting in a members house. There were about 10 members there and it was a really cool thing to be a part of. I also was asked to give a talk on strengthening a testimony, and that was a cool opportunity. The members are so strong and awesome! Daniel also lives in Blitar and so he was there and passed the sacrament! It was such an awesome experience to see him passing the sacrament and giving the opening prayer in the meeting! 

Mom, you asked me to explain a normal day in Indonesia, but the thing is, there are no normal days here, haha! No but honestly, its just riding our bikes from appointment to appointment and using the rest of the time to find new people! And of course crazy floods, crazy people, crazy food, lots of laughing and praying in between! I can truly see the Lord's hand in everything that we do, even when we get lost, we always seem to meet someone who we wouldn't otherwise have met. This week we were proselyting and met Daniel's aunt (who he lived with before in Malang). She was embarrassed to take us to her house because it was so small and wrecked, but we told her that didn't matter to us and so she took us down to her house and we taught her and her husband a lesson and then came back a few days later and taught them again. They are so humble and are looking for change in their lives. She also gave us a referral to her friend who is Muslim and we found and taught her also. Then yesterday they both came to church together! We're really excited about them. 

This really is the best mission ever. We just happened to teach many Muslim families this week...something Sister Jibson has never done before in her mission so far and we can't stop talking about how strong the spirit is when we teach these people about their Savior Jesus Christ. He is the way and the light! He is the center of God's perfect plan for us and the only way to true happiness in this life and in the life to come. I get to serve as His representative in Indonesia, "to stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me." There is no greater calling than this. I know that this gospel is the way, the one and only. I want everyone to have the opportunity to "taste of this fruit." The hardest thing about serving a mission is seeing investigators turn down what you know will bless them more than anything else, but the joy that comes from seeing others embrace our message and not only feel the truth of it in their hearts, but see the truth of it by the blessings that come outweighs that sadness 100%. I love my Savior and know that this truly is His church, and is lead by Him. This truly is the Lord's work, I see His hand in everything that we do! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world or be doing anything else than this right now. I love it!!

Even monkeys love the Book of Mormon!! ;)

Next week I will send more pics with my companion!

Love,

Sister Reilly

Another strange, but good week!

My companion has officially left me :( These past months have been the best of my life and I wouldn't trade the experiences we had together for anything! My new companion is coming in today and I'm excited to get working with her...I'm also a little worried about leading her around Malang. I'm praying that I will be able to remember where all of our investigators houses are!! Sister Suryani with one of the other Sisters here left on Friday and the last few days I've been with Sister Olsen, who is leaving today for Jogja! We've been so busy because we've been visiting investigators in their area and in ours! A lot fast bike riding from place to place! 

I think last week I talked about Mas Heru, one of our investigators. He is so awesome. He's Muslim, but is really seaking for the truth. We gave him a Book of Mormon and a Bible this last week and he has been reading and searching the scriptures. He has been super shy about praying in front of us and he finally did the other day and I wanted to cry! It was such a good prayer...he sounded like a member! I am so thankful for the people we get to teach everyday, I truly feel like they are my brothers and sisters and that the Lord is working through my companion and I to help them. 

So something funny about my time together with Sister Suryani. We always tried to find opportunities to serve on our way to appointments or just anytime. Whenever someone would send us with extra food we would look for someone homeless to give it to. We tried this about 5 times within the last couple weeks and each person was crazy! One lady barked at us, one man started swinging at us and told us to go away, and one man took the crackers we gave him, smashed them, and moved to another place to sit. At least we got a good laugh out of it! 

I love my mission so much, all the craziness included! I can truly see the Lord's hand in the peoples' lives we are teaching. As I pray for inspiration from the spirit to guide me as a study the scriptures, I can see how the spirit truly does lead me to what I need to read each day to help our investigators. I have grown to love the scriptures so much! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that each person who will read and ponder it will grow closer to God than with any other book. I know my Savior lives and works through a modern prophet who guides His church on the Earth today, Thomas S. Monson. I know that this gospel is the answer...any challenge in life can be made right with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have the greatest calling ever, 18 months to declare this to the people of Indonesia, and I will give the Lord all I have everyday so that He will be able to work through me in bringing souls to Him!

New Fav scripture...

Alma 29: 8-9

8 For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their ownnation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that hedseeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lorddoth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory init. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lordhath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps Imay be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul torepentance; and this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent,and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy;then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, eventhat he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember hismerciful arm which he extended towards me.

I love you all!!!!

Notice Daniel at mission prep class!

Us on the front page of paper!

Love, 

Sister Reilly