Hi Everyone! Another week in Indonesia! This place sure is different than Wickenburg! Last night we had some kind of huge lizard in our yard that screams and is supposed to be poisonous; they are all over the place. Scary!
Monday was p day and we went to the botanical gardens it was way cool! It’s basically a jungle park. We spent about 2 hours there before we left. We were just randomly looking around at all the stuff when suddenly we see a tall white man in the distance?!? And so we walked toward him to see what he was up to . It turned out to be President Donald! How funny right? He and his wife and a mission couple were also touring the gardens that day but neither one of us knew that the other was going! After that we just walked around the town looking at stuff. We went to the store that evening and I bought some "sort of healthy" food. On our way home I bought dinner off the street cause it looked promising (cheese burger). Then it turned out to be a thin slab of bologna with hot sauce called sambol, with a cucumber. Oh well! I tried!
Tuesday- it was dang hot and we had a few lessons fall through so we went looking for new people to teach. No luck. Spent the whole day going back and forth places to find the people that would "be there" but weren't . It was a rough day.
Wednesday - We had a lesson with a lady. She has been taking lessons a while and I had led on the lesson for the first time and I think I spoke very well! I’ve been praying that my Indonesian would get better and it has been! Which is pretty cool. We invited her to church! She said she’d come! She didn’t. Hopefully next week.
Thursday- I forgot ... sorry lol
Friday (way weird)
Ok so we were walking home after teaching English class at the church and its way dark already and the road we walk on behind the church doesn't have street lights that work right?? And it was raining pretty well. Well were walking and no one is out except us... surprising right?? Well out of nowhere we hear like the worst screaming ever! Like someone is getting murdered, it was horrendous and it was a man’s voice and it was coming from a car 30 feet ahead with all its lights out . Hasibuan and I sprint up to it with a flash light hoping to help with whatever was happening, and we can’t see in his windows cause they are limo tinted, so I started yelling HEY?!? ARE YOU OK?? OPEN THE DOOR!! and he is still screaming and Hasibuan was yelling too on the other side but nothing, then we hear sirens go off and we can make out a few of the things he was saying and I didn't understand what he said but Hasibuan did and it wasn't good. So my comp is like we gotta book it outta here! So him, me, Mendrofa and Hobbs got out of there quick! We never found out what actually was the full story... but it was sketchy.
Saturday - So after we got home Hobbs and I went to the store and went to buy some food. When we got to the front of the store this random guy comes up to Hobbs and I and starts speaking English. He wanted us to come to the Indonesian college in Bogor to speak English with the students. While he was talking, his daughter runs up to hear the conversation with the "white boyz" and I’m trying to listen to Elder Hobbs, when this girl, who is about my age, starts touching my arm and shoulder! Weird! She says, “where you from”, in Indonesian. So I turn to her and say, “ America, but why are you touching me? That’s weird!” But the conversation was in Indonesian and when I said, “That’s weird” (Itu sperti ahne) I accidentally confused a word and said " Itu sperti mati" which means, “It’s kind of dead” I felt like an Idiot, so I explained my arm was not dead and I'm new to Indonesia and still learning ha-ha . By this time Elder Hobbs had just finished talking to her dad - then he leaves. Well turns out the dad and the daughter didn’t know each other! So she was some random girl who just came up to us, but she got a pass along card!
Then we were shopping and this guy comes up to me saying, “Photo? Photo? Photo?” (Because I'm white) anyways he got his picture as well as a pass along card ha-ha like all the people who wanted pics after. Then we went home! We got ready for bed and its 10:30 p.m. and I’m not tired at all but everyone else was out! So I kept trying to sleep and kept trying to sleep still not getting tired I look at the clock and its 11:45 p.m. I'm like geeez? Why can’t I sleep so I got up to get a drink then got back in bed. Laid there still for about an hour and a half so it like 2:15 a.m. and I’m still wide awake and I’ve been trying to sing hymns in my head so I fall asleep (just like church) and I have to get up at 6:30 anyways! By 2:15 a.m. I was on the song " Have I done any good" and I’m thinking about that question and I think , Nope I haven’t because this day started two hours ago and I’ve been in the same spot since, so I decide FINE I’ll get up!
So I get everyone’s white shirts and pants and shoes and I take them up stairs quietly so I don’t wake anyone up. I ironed all their shirts and pants and polished and cleaned all their shoes then got each one of their clothes and hung them up on a hanger, with pants and shirt and tie and belt and nametag and their pens.. So they were like little packets for them to just grab and put on! They looked nice! So then I took them down stairs and put them in their closets hung up with shoes under it. By now it’s almost 4:00 a.m. so I still have lots of time, so I went back up stairs and organized each of their desks, then swept upstairs !! Now it’s about 5:30 a.m. and I write a nice note with a scripture for them saying "when you do all you think you can do, you learn you can do so much more" then I put (2 Nephi 32:8) then set each one on their desks!
So then I went down stairs to boil water for the bucket showers (21 pots till it was warm) so they don’t have to take a cold shower. And I made them all oatmeal for breakfast!! Ha-ha and then they finally wake up! And see I’m already up and I say, “hey guys I got you all breakfast!! And I heated water for the showers!! So we don’t have to take cold ones!!”
They said oh... cool. They see the house is spotless and ... no comment, they see the shoes and said... you polish our shoes? I said yeah! If there is mud tell me and I’ll clean it again... I couldn’t see well in the dark... they said “nah”. Anyways no one said anything about anything the whole day. Oh well though, that was my good for the day :) I wasn't tired until 6 p.m. that night.
Well I’ve gtg now, I love you all and I’ll talk to you soon. It will be Monday before you all know it! Have a good night! It’s weird to think I’m already out here and it’s already 3 months since I’ve been gone!! I love you guys! Bye!
-Elder Jones
Questions we asked Tyler
Courtney wants to know what language you think in? Usually English, but then I try and translate that sentence in my head into Indonesian. That goes on for about an hour then I have a mental melt down!
How are the mosquitos? Are you taking malaria pills? Bigger here! No we don’t have them. We can get dengue fever though .
Who lives in the house with you and where are they from? Hobbs is from Slandia Baru New Zealand. Mendrofa is from Medan, Indonesia.
What’s your favorite day of the week? Ha-ha I don’t have one they are all good.
Are you feeling settled in? Yeah a little bit. I cut up a few church magazines for some wall decorations ha-ha
Did you buy a guitar? Yeah I play church songs.
Do you have any pets? Yes we have 4 fish in a pond which I Fish. "Catch and release lol”
What is church like? Same except less people and way more lingering around and talking afterwards.
How is the language coming? Pretty good I think!
What is your favorite Indonesian food? I forgot the name. It’s obviously rice with beef soaked in coconut milk for a few days and this yellow curry poured on it with cucumbers.
What is the thing you miss most about America? Food... girls...my mustang, the temperature (no humidity) , sour candy, Mexican food!)
What are your plans for P-day? Going to this place with all the cultures of Indonesia today!
Did you have Zone conference this week? No, Once a month.
You have the most amazing experiences. How blessed you will be for all the service you perform.
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