Big News

I've been sitting on some big news for the past few weeks, but haven't decided to share it until this week. Two weeks ago, the day after Zone Conference, my companion's father  died in a car crash. His parents were in a car with 4 other passengers coming home from a wedding late at night. The driver of the car fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed, resulting in the immediate death of Elder Putra's father and the hospitalization of the five other passengers. So far all five have returned home from the hospital and are expected to make a complete recovery.

The morning of the accident my companion and I awoke to our mission president banging on our front gate. He told us the news, and then asked both of us to pack a small suitcase. We moved to Solo for a week, so the Elder Putra could be with his family during this difficult time. I was on splits with the local missionaries there while Elder Putra stayed with his family.

Throughout this experience I have recognized the many tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. God in his infinite greatness and wisdom has prepared a way so that our family relationships in this life can be brought into the eternities. How loving is our Father in Heaven!

Returning from Solo, Elder Putra and myself have renewed our commitment, as the great missionaries of old, to lose ourselves in the work of saving souls. No sooner on our arrival back to Surabaya have we committed an investigator to baptism, then learned that we would be moving this Tuesday, together, to Malang.

Malang is a two hour train ride away from Surabaya, but a very different place. For one I will be moving from the hottest city in my mission, to the coldest, but still missing out on the chances of a white Christmas. I am excited for the opportunities this transfer will bring me, and anxious to experience more of Indonesia outside of my first and only city, Surabaya.

In other news, I will be leaving behind three amazing investigators who all have baptismal dates (one of which is pictured below), a sister in my district recently contracted Salmonella, it continues to rain every day and occasionally flood (also pictured below), that one volcano in Bali finally decided to erupt, everyone is talking about Jerusalem, and my love for this work continues to grow.

I apologize in advance for the lack of responses in the coming week. The next time I will be using the computer I will be using my time to facetime my family. But don't get discouraged if I don't write you back. I love all of your letters and I read all of them.

Elder Allen and Elder Putra

From the Streets of Surabaya

Here are some random photos Justin captured from the streets of Surabaya.

Rain and House

Two weeks ago marked the start of rain season. It is now my pleasure to return home every night completely soaked. Rain obviously makes contacting people more difficult, but I have come to learn that the more we sacrifice for something, the more we are put in a position to receive.

This week while out contacting I had an interesting experience. A man I met with asked me two simple questions:

"Where did you come from, and where are you going?"

I ask all of us to take a moment and ponder on this. Do you know where you came from? Do you know where you are going? Examine the doctrine of Christ and seek answers to these questions. Become a student of the scriptures, ask God in prayer, and find a greater self identity.

I have had some people ask about my living conditions here in Indonesia, so here are photos of my the house we rent. This house has been by far the best home owned by the mission that I have been in so far. Most of the homes here are two stories. The second story in my house only has a small bathroom and some drying racks, because there are no drying machines here.

Front of the house

Front entrance

Bedroom

Kitchen

Laundry room

 Main room

 Study room