Sister Vanessa Ratunuman : August 2017

Sunday, August 27, 2017

ALL YA NEED IS LOVE! 27 August 2017

Sugeng enjang homedoges yg terkasihku,

Yg pertama, BRENBREN, kakaku, happy 25^th birthday! I love you with my whole heart and wish you a day filled with pizookies and laughter. Happy 1 year to my big sis Bren and brother in law Mac of MARRIAGE too! LOVE YOU GUYS!! :””)

This week in AREMA-

1- Met (3) 82 year olds this week. One of them gladly adopted me as his child. Pak Yohanes Bakar. He is a good man.. “INI ANAKKU!!!”

2- Mystery meat on the daily. A golden nugget of advice I received before the mish was “Whatever meat they give you, don’t question it. Just eat it.” This week, I did not heed to that counsel. I asked what it was.. it was cow tongue. It was good though, just add sambal and everything is all good in the hood!!

3- Just feelin super thankful to be here in Indonesia. I have felt my Savior’s love in every crazy, subtle, or large, weird, happy ways. Like the smiling faces on the street, and through every person I meet. God’s love for each of us is soooo real and so tangible!

Sis Yandel, our angotta baru, is wayy luar biasa. She is already an impecable missionary- giving us her friends we can visit, and talking about the Book of Mormon and testifying of it to her neighbors and all. We have three new investigators who are so solid because of her! And the Elders have one too!

Something that touched my heart that she told us this week- “Sisters, I know God sent me you two. I know He already arranged it all out. It was His Plan. Because through you two, I felt God’s love. Through you, I was able to find truth. Through you, I was reminded that- wow, of course God loves me! Of course He knows me. He has not forgotten me.”

OH, MY HEART! I was like- NO way, we needed you!! I have learned soo much from her, and the Lord is already using her as a tool to continue His work in sharing the gospel! She ROCKS. Love her TONS!! It just made me think of how important our responsibilty is to truly just love the way that Christ does. We as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, have taken a covenant to literally stand as a witness of God at all times and all places- so what better way to represent Him and our Savior than through love!?

Malang is the best, and I am lovin life here J

THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS AND SUPPORT! I feel it all and I am soo thankful.

HOPE UR WEEK AS AS HAPPY AS PUPPIES AND THE INDO PEOPLE MAKE ME!

LOVE YA DENGAN SEGENAP HATIKU,

Sis Ratu J

Quotes:

“The love you show them will be their first experience with Christlike love.”- Russell M Ballard

“Your English is really good!”-bule

“Thanks, I’m from California!”-me

(This happens to me almost everyday when I talk to tourists/foreigners)

“Jangan malam2, gak bisa kelihatan. Chuman bisa lihat mata dan gigi ya??” (Don’t be out too late, or you won’t be seen. Only your eyes and teeth!”- Pak Waluyo to my homecomp & I (we are a very dark companionship HAHAHAhahah)

“Janganlah takut, percaya saja!”- Der Sawg (Don’t be scared, just believe!)

“Asli mana? (where are you from)?”-him

“Amerika.”- me

“Tapi.. (But..)”- him

“Ya, orangtuaku asli Indone..(My parents are from Indo..)”- me

“OH MAKANYA. BEGITULAH. Roh Kudus barusan kasihtahu aku itu.”- him (OH YA, the Holy Ghost actually just told me that).

Sunday, August 20, 2017

MERDEKA 20 August 2017

On the 4th of Juli in America, we say MURICA. On the 17th of Agustus in Indo, we say MERKEKA!! so HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO INDONESIA!!

What a time to be alive. Red and white banners, flags, people, food, very loud music and fireworks, going off allll week long, and even after too. As I bike down the streets here, I can't help but quote my beloved childhood friend, Hilary Duff- "Hey now, hey now. This is what dreammmmsss, are made of." Yes, dreams are all made in Indonesia ;;))

A very clasisc Indo tradition on the 17th of Agu is to have 'lomba lomba's which are like contests and they are wayyy fun. I proudly participated in a watermelon eating contest- where you pick out all the seeds and eat the rest of the watermelon. And as you know SIS RATU LOVES HER WATERMEL
ON AND YE aku menang! haha I won! #callmesissemankaaja

On a spiritual note- we found a man who is 'haus untuk kebenaran'. It was truly a miracle, the way we found him. He just poured out alll of the questions of his soul like- "There's the Bible, but shouldnt there be more, or something to support it, for us in these days?" and "There was Adam and Eve, but I think that we were somewhere before that.. do you know what I mean? What do you think?" and the coolest- "I feel like I only have a snippet of truth, but I don't feel like I have the fullness of it."

AND WE'RE LIKE.. UHH.. YA... WE KNOW THE ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS! YOU CAN FIND THEM IN THE KITAB MORMON!! It was a really intense, very spiritual lesson with him. and I know with my whole heart that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. That it answers the most sincere questions of our soul, IF we follow Moroni's promise. In which, we need to- read with a sincere heart and real intent, ponder, and ask the source of all truth, God. And through the power of the Holy Ghost, you WILL recieve an answer to those questions.

THE WORK IS ALIVE & THRIVING HERE IN INDO AND ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Sending you all my love and prayers!

dengan kasih & makan nasi-

SIS RATU :)

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Ajarku jalan dalam kasihnya! - August 13

And it all started with..

7 Juni: *recieves transfer call to move to Malang*

9 Juni: No idea what/where/who to see, so we contact at Alun2- huge park with tons of people. Homecomp Sis Rowntree is still new here too. We end up talking to a Mas who gives us a referral to visit his Christian friend.

10 Juni: We look for the street, and get there, and the Bu RT says no one by that name lives on that street. So we end up eating at a Mie place, and we see this woman across the street, and it was almost like she was glowing. We felt the need to cross the street and talk to her, so right after, we did. She greeted us with a huge smile, and was so excited to hear we were missionaries. And then we ask for her name.. it was.. the name we were looking for!! Yandel!! But there was NO way it was the Yandel that the Mas at the park told us to find.

*3 weeks later* We see the Mas at the park, show him a picture of her, and he goes- yep, that’s my friend!! AH! It was a miracle- seriously led by the Spirit to find her. No other way since we had literally no idea where we were or what she looked like or how to find her!

(insert a lot of appointments in between, a couple of rejections at first of Kitab Mormon, and baptism, and then slowly but surely seeing her testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ grow stronger and stronger)

12 Agustus, Sabtu: Our beloved friend entered the waters of baptism, and the following Sunday she received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, making her officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Our hearts were filled with so much joy and so much love as we watched two of our great friends take a step closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We sang ‘Teach Me to Walk in the Light’ and a line that reallly made my heart swell up to the point where it was real hard for me to sing ha ha ha:””)

Come little child and together we’ll learn

Of his commandments that we may return

HOME to His presence, to live in His sight

Always, always, to walk in the light

After her baptism, she bore here simple yet profound testimony: “I know that God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus is the Christ. I know that Joseph Smith restored the fulness of this gospel. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Thomas S Monson is the prophet today and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.”

MY HEART exploded with joy, and peace, and along with my heart exploding of course my eye bladders were too;) The Spirit indeed did fill my soul up with joy! Happy tears to the max, my fam and friends. It really is such a blessing to watch God’s children- our brothers and sisters- come unto Christ, and change their lives for Him. We really are all just walking each other home to our Father in Heaven and what a joyful responsibility, and work we have to do here on Earth. The gospel is true, I love being a missionary, and I love Indonesia, and let the Lord’s work go on!

Also, Indo is so #lit right now, in preparation for 17 Agustus- KEMERDEKAAN! Their independence day! America really needs to step it up with the 4^th cuz Indo knows how to celebrate independence!!!

Enjoy your week and I am sending you all my love and fotos lol

YOUR BROWN SISTA LOVES YOU SO MUCH!!

Dengan segenap hatiku,

Sister RATU <3

HAPPY DAY:)

two amazing souls!

lunch celebration

when you pick your investigator and he wants to bike w us HAHA MY HEART

AND AGAIN HAPPY DAY! the first baptism on the mish!!! :)

DONT FORGET UR STARJUMPS LADIES AND GENTS

rekanku!

dat angle tho ;)

I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH HARRY POTTER ARMS HAHAHA if u really knew me you'd know about this special gift of mine :)

Merinding: Indo Edition - August 6

Homedoges yg terkasihku<3

The weather is still really nice in Malang- it reminds me exactly of mah hood in Orange County California. Everyday feels like a great 73 degree day with the sun and a slight breeze, a great day for the beach kinda day! And the smiling people are still so wonderful, and sate ayam is still so good. Parkir friends, the kaki lima friends, becak friends, the Indomaret friends. Indonesia is just filled with good, good people. My love for this place and the people and our Savior burns right through my skin, making me lebih hitam (more black) by the minute. I am happy here J)

Word of the week: merinding. I first heard this word as Pak Joko was trying to explain to us how he felt when he reads the Book of Mormon.. In his words: “Apa ya, I feel ‘merinding’. Like my skin, and my hair, itu berdiri.. (uhh it stands up)! And then my heart feels at peace. I feel happy!” And the second time this week, was a lovely Mbak who described her feelings as the same, as she read from the Intro and Testimony of Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon. Merinding, ladies and gents, means GOOSEBUMPS!! Hahahaha how LEGIT!!! Goosebumps, goose pimples, the heebee jeebees, whatever you call them, waadddu. When your investigators tell you that they get the goosebumps when they read the Book of Mormon, and that their heart feels peace and joy, it is the ultimate testament that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. And everyday, introducing the Kitab Mormon, is an absolute pleasure because I know with all of my heart that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! It is God’s way of providing safety and strength for the soul, and the fruits of the Spirit- joy, love, peace, goodness- are constantly felt as we read the Book of Mormon.

Quicky update;

Yang pertama, we had Zone Conference in Jawa Timor this last weekend, and it was wayyy legit as always. I am in the smallest zone- only Surabaya, Malang, and Manado missionaries- so it’s super neat to get to know everyone and work and grow together.The biggest thing I got from PLD is how on the mission, it is up to us to decide- who do I want to become? Not only with life on the mission, but after too, who do I want to become? It is not a matter of comparing ourselves to other people, but it is a matter of becoming like our Savior Jesus Christ. We can all change! That is why I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement, in which He enables us to change. *que ch ch ch ch channngeeeesss by david bowie..*

“You are the sum total of all you have thought, done, said, seen, heard, and felt in this life and before. You change immediately with each good thought, each good act, every good word changes you for the better. When you willingly obey the principles of the gospel, you are changed by the Spirit of God to become like Jesus Christ.”

Yang kedua, our wonderful Mbak Yandel will soon enter the waters of baptism! We had the most amazing, seriously, the coolest lesson, with her on Tuesday. And she really is so luar biasa. I love her tons, and I am short w/time but next week I will really tell you her story, because she really is one of the Lord’s elect. We are so stoked for her!! Our ward plays volleyball together on Saturdays, and when we invited her she says: “Oh, I want to so badly! But I can’t, I don’t want to get sick or hurt before my baptism yeah?” SO CUTE:”)

Yang ketiga, we got a referral the other day who described this Ibu as ‘one who is Christian, and speaks English bc her husband is a bule’, and so we went and found her. Turns out, this Ibu’s husband passed away awhile ago, but she lived in America for 31 years.. and her husband is from.. wait for it.. SALT LAKE CITY!!?! Her husband is MORMON!! Here we are, in the middle of Malang, meeting a woman who’s husband & whole fam in Utah is Mormon. Crazzzy small world and SO LEGIT, we are way stoked to teach her again next week.

Time is flyin, I am cryin!! Happy 8 months to those who entered the MTC on Dec 7 2016, you all know who you are<3 Shoutout to my Indo, Malay, Thai, Cambodian Elders and Sisters. Keep on keeping on!!!

Don’t forget your brown sister is lovin you and praying for you from afar! Catch ya up next week!

Dengan kasih, Sister Ratu minuman (indonesians think this is the funniest joke cuz ratu means queen and minuman is drink.. queen drink?? Ha ha ha, gotta love indonesian humor ;)) )

greatest people! members & yandel <3

the Elders, also my good pals, in Manado who are teaching my family there! Such a miracle :))

Sistas in Jawa Timor Zone

district fam

starjump.. attempt..

Gereja dengan Yandel :)

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, happy 8 months to the MTC FAM!! You all ROCK.

aku anak siapa?? ALLAH! - July 30

Piye kabare homedoges yang terkasihku<3

Another week in the land of Arema and loving it as much as I love sate and sambal.This week has been on the rougher side, but nevertheless, the Lord’s work must go on, and He continues to bless us unceasingly.

HAHA I actually have time to write a real email hashtag bless the freak up!!

On the 25^th of Juli,I realized that a year ago, I joyfully opened my call to the INDONESIA JAKARTA mission! One year ago! Buset, time flies. I will never forget that day and all the feelings I felt. I will never forget the way my heart was so filled with peace, and joy, and excitement as I read my call. I feel so blessed, soo blessed to be here. It is an undescribable kind of joy to help people feel of our Savior’s love and to find everlasting happiness through His gospel. Without a doubt, I have a testimony that Heavenly Father, He knows each of us personally. He knows every detail in each of our lives. I know that our prophet, Thomas S Monson, is called of God, and His apostles as well. There is no way that anyone could have known my life in such depth and detail, besides Heavenly Father, and I feel as He sent me to Indonesia to not only preach the restored gospel and remind His children who they are, where they come from, and where they’re going, but to also remind me the same- who I am, where I come from, and where I am going.I am here on a mission because once missionaries knocked on my door, 12 years ago, and changed my family’s life by introducing us to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And once, a dear friend, went on a mission 7 or so years ago, and introduced the gospel to my grandparents in Indonesia. And now, I have only seen countless blessings that have come from missionary work, and I am forever thankful and forever indebted to the Lord’s goodness to my family and I!

RENCANA ALLAH

Who are you? A child of God! Where did you come from? And where are you going? Questions that seem to poke at all of our souls. One of my favorite moments this week was during a lesson the other day with one of our investigators. When we talked about the Pre Earth Life, he seemed to have a feeling of confusion on his face, and then a feeling of peace when we described that we lived there as spirits, with our God and Christ, and with our family and friends. Then he asked, “So you're saying we all knew each other before this? And we knew God and Christ too?” and we said that of course we did. And then he asked “And He made this Plan for us, so that we can go home?” And then we said again, “Yes, yes He did!”

At this moment, it made me really think and my heart was filled with joy because how wonderful! God loves us so much, He has literally prepared a way for us to return to Him- a way for us to come home. After all, we really are all just walking each other home- to our Father in Heaven and to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

ANGKOT MOMENT

We are heading over to our investigator’s house who lives jauh bangeeett. And as we are talking to those around us, we soon ended up with an angkot filled with a family who wasn’t very interested in our message. So my homecomp, Sis Rowntree and I are sitting there, a little in the dumps, and thinking of the couple of investigators we might have to stop seeing since they are not keeping commitments.The huge family gets off, and one girl ends up staying on the angkot with us.. score..totally thought she was a part of that family. SHE WASN’T! She was glowing. The Spirit punched me in the gut and told me to ask her, “Mau ke mana?”(where are you going?) and then instead she smiles at me and says “Mau ke mana?”

*que choir of angels*

(If you have seen the Best 2 Years, during his prayer he gets his call from his investigator right after he prayed for him to call. It was that kind of a Hallelujah moment)

And after, without me saying anything about that golden contact, my homecomp looks at me and said “Sister, I felt that too.” The Spirit was begggging us to talk to her, better yet she contacted us instead!We are way excited to teach her. True indeed that Heavenly Father places people in our paths.

That’s a lil snippet of the week in the life. Lovin it and livin it and never forget that the Lord has a Plan much bigger than yours! I have absolute faith that when things seem to fall apart, that they are only falling into place of Heavenly Father’s great plan for the each of us.

1 nefi 9:6 !!

La la la loooooveee youu!!!

Selemat summer! Jump in the ocean for me and eat Thrifty’s ice cream!!

Sister Ratu minuman ;)

Quotes of the week:

“Ibu! Anda cantik banget!”-me

“Kok, kapan???”- Ibu

“They’re waving us over like angkots.”- Sis Rowntree

“I’m a banana. Kenapa kacang? (why NUT hahahah)”- Elder Subagio

Permisi Mbak.. Bagaimana anda bilang PUG di Bahasa Indonesian?? - July 23

"Excuse me Miss.. How do you say PUG in Indonesian?"

If you ever wonder how Sister Ratunuman contacts people.. there you have it. We are biking down the streets and LOW AND BEHOLD, Sis Rowntree screams and says.. 'Sister.... there's a..PUG' and so we bike over to the house, and I am crying tears of joy because it has been 7 long months without seeing an actual, real, pug. And of course, missionary work isn't missionary work until you talk to someone and teach them.. and we contacted the lady that lives there. Who is actually Christian and way cool!

Anotha week in Malang, living the life in the land of 85 degrees and below.

Sister Rowntree and I are loving it here and we are working hard! We have lovely investigators who are progressing and we are meeting wonderful people who are interested in hearing the beautiful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't get me wrong, we have been rejected a fair amount of times this week, but we have also seen so many blessings from those rejections, for we know that there are TOMATOES out there, red and ripe and ready to harvest. HAHA as in we know there are people who are ready to receive the Gospel! Forgive my stupid analogy in an attempt of being spiritual yet humorous at the same time.

WELL FAM I LOVE YOU AND PRAY FOR YOU ALWAYS.

Jesus Christ is there, and He loves you. He will never ever ever leave you comfortless.

kasih anda semua,

Sister Ratu :)

fotos- enjoy my shameless selfies with my pug friend and the pug portraits i took afar thanks to my zoom feature on my camera

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splits in SURABAYA for the day! shoutout to sis nukes<3 they love her here

english class! love them so much

our favorite, ES DEGAN

our 36 kilo simpatisan whom we love sooo much (36 kilos is about 80 pounds HAHA no wonder americans are considered fat here)

Assalamu'alaikum - July 16

I would like to announce that my spirits are constantly lifted because the Indonesian children are the best children- rollerblading the streets like no other. THIS IS MAH COUNTRY!!!!! Sepatu roda atau MATI!!! ya dong.

And also because our lovely investigators came to church this Sunday, which indeed was a miracle. A couple tears of joy might have been shed :"")))

And as for a very serious reason as to why my spirit is always lifted up, it is because of my Savior Jesus Christ. Without a doubt!

Please take the time to read the talk attached below, I promise you that He is always reaching out towards us, but it is us that needs to turn our hearts to Him.

"When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.²¹

When you spiritually stretch beyond anything you have ever done before, then His power will flow into you."

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/05/saturday-morning-session/drawing-the-power-of-jesus-christ-into-our-lives?lang=eng

love you SMUCH more than pugs and roller bladez <3

xo sister ratu :)

new bikes, NEW ME - July 9

First and foremost, the sister missionaries in malang finally got... NEW BIKES!! HAHA YES! HOW GLORIOUS! Along with our new bikes, came with many renditions of bike songs, including-

my bike.. talkin bout, my bike... MY BIKE (my girl by the temptations)

there's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna have to bike it through... itsss myyy bikkkkkeeee (the climb by miley cyrus)

anyways, we are absolutely grateful and we are locking them up like no other haha BUT YAY NEW BIKES NEW US!

our MUKJIZAT- we usually teach out dear simpatisan at her juice place, and one of her neighbors, asked her for a liahona, and a kitab mormon! so we had the chance to talk to him, and he is wayyy interested in the book of Mormon. Him and his wife are so amazed that there is literally another book that also testifies of Christ, and they langsung started to read it. SO COOL. we are meeting with them later this week!!!

and as for a typical Sis Rowntree and Ratu story- the other day we were on angkots, and totalllly thought we had enough money to get by. Turns out, I ended up having no money. Sis Rowntree had just a coin after we got off the last angkot. AND WE WERE LOST. IN AN AREA WE HAVE NEVER BEEN TO, SO FAR AWAY FROM OUR HOME. with no money. It was actually hilarious, and miracles happened because we ended up getting to our inactive member's home safely, and found some money hidden in our bags.

As for me selfs, I am doing well, loving being a missionary, and enjoying the ups and downs. Through it all, I have found great strength in the Book of Mormon, and I know without a doubt, that it is the word of God. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ, and His Atonement. I am so thankful that when feelings of inadequacy and frustration get in the way, I can simply turn to my Father in Heaven and get on my knees and pray. ALMA 7:11-12

I love you, pray for you, and think of you often!

SENDIN YA ALL MY LOVE FAMBAM & FRIENDS

xo Sister Ratu