I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving this week!

Here is a part of my week from my journal:

We were up in Koha today and visited a couple families. We taught about the temple and ordinances. We taught about baptism for the dead, endowment, and eternal marriage. We testified of the joy and happiness that all can receive who go to the house of the Lord. The presence of God is in His holy temples. I have felt it and cannot deny it. After teaching the lesson, I realized how great of a blessing it is to have a temple 15 minutes from my house. I knew it was a blessing, but now I am forever grateful to the Lord for the temple so close to my home. 

  Brother A had tears in his eyes during the lesson and we could tell the spirit was testifying to him about the eternal blessings his family could receive. We shared a quote from President Kimball. "Any of you would go around the world for the sealing ordinance if you knew its importance, if you realized how great it is. No distance, no shortage of funds, not situation would ever keep you from being married in the Holy temple of the Lord." I pray so hard for a temple in Indonesia one day. I can't wait to see that great day.

A guy today asked about our church. He asked us about our missionary work. We told him we are full time missionaries. We work hard every day all day to spread the gospel of the Lord. I gave him and his friend a pass along card. They laughed at us. That is the missionary life. People may laugh, scorn, and mock us. But we are not ashamed. Like in Romans, We are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. this gospel is true and there is no place I would rather be than here. I have great joy, more than I have ever felt in my life. These are His people and now my people. I love them and pray for their welfare. we missionaries are servants of the Lord and the medium by which they may receive the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Litster

Sorry I will send pictures next week! I ran out of time!

Selamat siang semuanya!

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to write to you all today.

This was another one of those fast and busy weeks! Elder Taulu was in Jakarta for another leadership meeting so I was with Elder Kyle and Elder Johnson for a couple days until my companion came back. I truly have the greatest companion and I am so grateful for him. We pray sincerely for each other every day in companion study and in our personal prayers. It is amazing what the Lord can do when you and your companion love each other enough to pray out loud for each other specific things to aid them. Faith power works wonders. The blessings of heaven come when we pray, search, have faith in the blessings we ask for, and if it is God's will, the blessing is given to us. I have been blessed with a fantastic companion.I love my companion and am so happy that I can serve here in Manado with him.

Rainy season has started and some of the huge typhoons from the Philippines keep sending rain and cold our way. But I love it! The rain is much more rare in Utah and Colorado compared to the beautiful country of Indonesia. We constantly get rain and it is so refreshing from the heat. I still cannot believe that there will be no snow in December and January. We will see. I still don't believe that there will be no snow. haha 

One of the coolest things about Manado is the culture, and in particular, the many different religions. There is Advent, Gmim, Catholic, Baptist, Jehova Witness, Pentecostal, Buddha, Muslim, and then our church The Chruch of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. Coming from a Utah background, it is strange to have my religion being the smallest religion on the island and in the neighborhood. It is really humbling and brings forth the great blessing of continual service to our branch. We are growing and the gospel is being spread quickly. We work hard here and we are harvesting much fruit. Once again, I am so grateful for the incredible opportunity to be here in Manado. I know  I have been called of God to be here and be a representative of Jesus Christ. I feel so honored that I can represent Him and be a missionary for Gereja Yesus Kristus Dari Orang-Orang Suci Zaman Akhir.

Elder Litster

Hello everyone! 

Have you ever had ants in your pants?! This morning I was hanging up laundry and I looked down and and saw all these giant red ants on my feet and then I felt something bite my leg! I ran inside screaming "ants in my pants! Ants in my pants!" Inilah kehidupan misionaris. This is the missionary life. haha 

If this week can get any better, I will be a missionary for the rest of my life if I could! We reached our goal and then surpassed it this week! It was incredible and a new record for my companion. We had 0 lessons at the first of the week, and then God blessed us with a bunch for the rest of the week! We always have lessons planned, but most fall through. a bunch fell through this week, but we got a ton of opportunities to teach and serve new people. I am so grateful. I truly believe that God is answering our prayers and blessing us for fasting last week. Out of all the lessons this week, my favorite was with this big priest. usually he won't listen to us and he will just talk and quote the bible the whole time. So today we switched it up on him and watched Finding Faith In Christ. He still talked and quoted a million Bible scriptures, but when we got near the last 10 minutes, he was silent and cried as well. The spirit was strong in the room. It was a miracle! 

So our investigator who lives around the corner from the big priest told us a story. The big priest, who normally doesn't like us and tells everyone to never listen to us, went over to our investigator's house and talked about us with her.  They told her to receive the missionaries and their lessons! They told of their son who works on a ship in America. There son told them that there are Mormons on the ship and that they are good people with strong morals. 

The people on the ship see our church member's good example and it is affecting our missionary work here! I am so grateful to the strong members who live by example the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We pray so hard for the work here, and I have especially prayed hard to see the fruits of our labor. And God has heard our cries. We had 7 investigators at church this week and a bunch of inactive members come as well! We are being rewarded for our efforts. I just wish are branch would be re"ward"ed too. haha (I wish our branch would become a ward) 

I am so happy that God is letting us see the fruit of our labors. I testify that He hears our cries. They are not in vain. We are His children and He is guiding those who obey His commandments. Humility, patience, and diligence is key in the work of a missionary.

Elder Litster

November 3rd, 2013

Selamat siang!

Over Halloween, my district met up with all the districts in the Surabaya region. Surabaya is on a different island than Manado so we had to fly 3 hours to get there. Surabaya is on the island Java and is on the Eastern side.It is supposed to be the hottest area in the whole mission! But we were lucky with good weather and rain so we were blessed! Our meeting was called a PLD. This PLD was special because Elder Gong from the Quorum of the Seventy was there. We prepared all month for this meeting and we were so excited to meet Elder Gong. He taught a ton about the Atonement and about stakes in Zion. The spirit was so strong and I was able to feel and remember what it was like when I first gained a testimony of the Atonement years back. He specifically mentioned the word "tremble" and that Jesus trembled from the pains and sufferings. Elder Gong brought in the sprit so strong and I am glad we had this amazing opportunity with him. We were all introduced to him and he talked and had lunch with us as well. One cool thing that I learned from Sister Gong was that if you are called to serve in the Seventy, you are to fulfill that calling until you are the age of 70 years old. So Elder Gong has served since he was 56 and now he is 60 years old and has 10 years to go. But she also said there are some who are 45 and get called! That's a lot of service! Elder Gong is over all of the asia region except for korea japan and the philippines i think. But he covers half the world's population! 3.5 million! Just him and his wife! So he is traveling all the time everywhere! I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet with him personally and talk to a leader in our church. I know this gospel is true and my testimony is growing continually in this mission. My companion, Elder Taulu, is awesome and we are great friends. I have learned so many things from him and I am so blessed to have such a good companion as my trainer. I know that we are called of God to serve where we are called and that we are serving our brothers and sisters wherever we are. I attached a couple photos of Elder Gong and my companion and I. Thanks for the love and support!

Elder Litster