Goodbye Java. You taught me Indonesian. You taught me the culture.
Goodbye Elder Putra. You taught me patience. With you I trained for the first time, and got to lead us as a District Leader.
Hello Manado. I am really excited to serve all the people here. I am really excited to see the beach each and every day. Although I had to travel some 1400 miles by myself to get here, I know that I will never be left alone.
Hello Sulawesi. I have no idea what you have in store for me. I am moving from a 'cold' city, to one of your hottest cities (no parenthesis needed).
Hello Elder Sutadi. You are also from Solo, and you can speak English. I know I will learn a lot from you before you go home in three months.
Questions:
Q: How comfortable do you feel speaking Indonesian?
A: I will answer with another question: How comfortable do you feel driving your car. You probably feel comfortable driving under normal conditions, but under poor weather, racing, or extreme off-roading you probably wouldn't fair too well. And if your car broke down you would probably have to ask someone who knows a bit more than you for help. I feel the same with my Indonesian. I do good under normal circumstances, but there is still a lot of stuff that can through me off. I study a lot by reading from the Book of Mormon in Indonesia.
Q: Do you have any superstores like Walmart in Indonesia?
A: There is no one huge store in Indonesia that sells everything from home goods, to auto supplies, to fishing poles. Although we do have supermarkets, but they only sell food.
Q: How involved are members in missionary work?
A: It depends on the member, but most are pretty willing to help if we give them a good heads up, and it isn't too far from their house, and granted it doesn't rain. So ya, I guess fairly normal.
Q: What's the biggest change you've seen in yourself?
A: Loading........... I hope everyone else will be able to figure this one out when I get back home.
