Due to circumstances beyond our control and outside of any sort of reason, Sister Liljenquist and I got to be companions for a full THREE DAYS last week. Was it the best three days of our mission so far? Were we happy to all ends of joy?
We walked through a bird market. We met a whole mosque full of Muslim girls and took photos together along the wall. We talked to people on angkots and in alleyways and at malls and in parks. We found a public library. We read a chapter of Lemony Snicket in said library. In Indonesian. And gave out English class cards. We taught said English class and then went home to make sandwiches. Sandwiches. I hadn't had a sandwich in eight months. We made ours with chicken nuggets, which I fried in a wok. So it wasn't the same, but it was. Because we made sandwiches. And sometimes life doesn't get much better than a really good sandwich.
We were cat whisperers. We were entrepreneurs. We were best friends and awesome companions. We were happy and strong and also, really great missionaries. We taught with rhythm and reason and With The Spirit. We taught lessons we'll remember for the rest of our lives. The lessons that when people ask, "So how was your mission?" we can say "S'wonderful, s'marvelous." You think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. It (we) really was (were) that good. I extended a baptismal commitment and Mas Kuncoro said "Mau." And maybe this is going to sound silly, but I learned a great lesson in the process---the importance of marrying someone you don't just love, you don't just get along with, but a person with the same vision, the same goals, the same desire to work to get to that dream. Because that's all sorts of Transformation when applied to mission, and that's why SisLily and I felt the flight of angels this weekend.
So it was a good week. Better than the last, which did not begin well nor end well but at least is over. And maybe this is not the place to admit this right now, but EFY songs are kind of okay. Because sometimes He lets it rain, He lets the fierce winds blow/sometimes it takes a storm to lead a heart where it can grow . . .
I will now attempt to answer the emails I received this week. Attempt being the key word here, as I am not certain the Grandpa Ron news has fully been made real to me in this moment. [Steve's dad was just diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.] Not Grandpa Ron, right? Not my Grandpa Ron. He's invincible, right? He's a magician, for goodness' sake. Can't he just stuff this black handkerchief back down into his clenched fist and make it all go away?
And yet, at the same time . . . a quiet calm. A steadfast faith. A perfect brightness of hope. I felt, as I read the news from home, that fervent testimony I shared only yesterday at Mas Kuncoro's, when I bore witness of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I talked about the peace that passeth human understanding, the indescribable light that membership in this Church affords us with such a Companion. I tried to communicate the strength I'd received just that morning while reading the scriptures, the revelation I receive in prayer. Though I did not share from Moses, I remembered verse 61 of chapter 6:
Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter, the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.
I will not pretend to be able to say it any better than the actual Word, but I will add this: I believe in God, I believe that He is. And in His great goodness He has given us this, the plan of salvation unto all men. In it and through the Holy Ghost we are comforted, we are made calm by the peaceable things of immortal glory, assured in this mortality by the truth of all things.
Everything will be okay. Things work out. They always do.
I love you. Til Monday. Well, I love you for forever, but will talk to you again on Monday [Mother's Day phone call. 'Twas lovely.] Which you probably already understood to be my meaning, but I thought I'd clarify. Okay. Love you. Always. Selalu dan selamalamanya.
kia kaha.
Sister E.
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