In Jakarta

This place is nuts! The flight over was great, no problems
at all. I slept for like 8 or 9 hours so the flight was
really easy. It was crazy flying from Hong Kong to
Jakarta. We flew over like Laos and Vietnam and stuff.
It was crazy. We went through customs and everything and
when we got out, there was literally like 500 people
crowding the mouth of the hall. We saw a white lady waving
at us so we assumed that was Sister Marchant. It was her
haha. President Marchant and some people that work here
were there too and we all left in 3 vans. Traffic here is
really crazy. They go fast and drive on sidewalks and
in the wrong side of the road haha. There is a system of
busses here called busway and there are pedestrian bridges
over the roads to get to it and motorcyclers drive up and
onto the bridges haha. The mission home is in a really nice
part of town. It is where all of the foreign affairs people
live. The mission home is where the French foreign affairs
person used to live. It is way nice and has granite counters
and stainless steel appliances. In the back is where the
office elders live.
That night, Sister Marchant made us dinner. It was like rice
and noodles and mashed potatoes and tons of good fruit,
including yellow watermelon…it was kinda strange but tasted
good. We went to this market after with the office elders
and bought small side bags for proselyting. President told
us to go to bad when we got home so we went to bed at like
8. I slept through the whole night and for some reason,
haven’t had any problems adjusting to the crazy time change.
It’s good! This morning was only the second time that I’ve
woken up to hear the call to prayer so all is good. Now,
I’m going to write in bullets so that I don’t have to organize
my thoughts.

1. The other day, we saw a tarzan guy run across the street.
He was running through traffic, perhaps looking for his home.
2. For the next few weeks, I’m working in Jakarta Raya, so
like the middle of Jakarta. My companion is Elder Supriyanto.
He is from Bogor, which is about an hour from here if there
isn’t traffic. He speaks a fair bit of English. He is a really
cool guy and he’s pretty good at Indonesian too! Haha. There
are 6 of us in the house, including my comp from the MTC and
one of the Aussies from the MTC. We have a good time so no
worries with that. The natives in our house are Elder
Supriyanto, Elder Effi Yohanto, and another Elder Supriyanto.
They only have one name here so as missionaries, they take
the name of their fathers. Because there are so many of
us, 4 sleep on the floor. It is air conditioned in the room
where we sleep so it’s so nice for sleeping!
3. The food here is so cheap! Everything is so cheap! We go
out to dinner and it’s way cheap, like 60 cents for a big
dinner. I went grocery shopping and bought oatmeal, 8 eggs,
3 packs of ramen stuff, 4 kit kats, tim tams, and 2 cokes and
it was 5 bucks. Do they have tempe (sp?) at home? It’s like a
soy thing but we eat it a lot here. It tastes good if there
is good sauce mixed in.
4. So we go out on busway a lot and try to contact people. We
pass out a lot of pass along cards and get lots of numbers.
Right now, we have about 5 progressing investigators. Manahan
has a baptismal date for a month from now. He is really cool.
He is a security guy so we teach him in his security station.
Another is john. He is like 50’s, and a little different.
He tries to speak English all of the time and I never know
what he’s saying. Last time he told me “I like rainbows!” and
we was shocked and offended that I didn’t study martial arts
as an extracurricular class in college. He is like a little
kid though so he is soaking up everything we teach him
really well. We’re teaching another guy named Daniel and his
wife. They are really cool, but live 2 hours away on a bus.
Last time we taught him, there was a born-again Christian
concert next door so it was really weird Indonesian
Christian techno haha. He kept saying “Mereka domba domba
sesat!” lost sheep haha. Another investigator is named Steven.
He speaks English really well, but I haven’t met him yet. We
are going to teach him tonight. All of the investigators
except him came to church on Sunday so that’s good.
5. Church was good! Fast Sunday in Indonesia. The building is
really nice. It’s like a strip mall so it’s 4 stories and
doesn’t look like a church from the outside. Inside, it is so
nice and just like a church in the states. The only difference
is the chapel has some pillars going down the middle. I guess
that’s the only way they could do it. I went up and bore my
testimony and introduced myself and people were really nice
afterwards and came and talked to me. There were about 60
people at church by the way. After church, was branch break
the fast! We ate rice and chicken and that soy stuff. I
grabbed a chicken and as I was nibbling my way across the
bone, I came across something really soft. Long story short,
it was the food…claws and all. I almost was tricked into
eating it haha.
6. So here, everyone calls us “meester!” haha. Walking down
the street “Meester meester, my name is!” haha. They speak
English a lot like Spanish speakers do.
7. So I’ve been healthy and all that so far. I don’t know
how long it will last! I eat off the streets everyday so stay
tuned! Haha.
8. I don’t know if you were planning on doing this at all,
but if we receive packages, we have to use our money to have
them delivered to the mission office so it would be better
if you just put money into my account, which reminds me…I need
to call B of A.
9. In our little block, there are 2 mosques so we hear the
call to prayer really well haha. We walk past one of them
multiple times a day.  Everyone is super friendly here, even
as we walk past their mosque.
10. This city is really diverse with everything. We’ve been
to some really nice malls here. Almost all of the people
there are Chinese, because they have all of the money in
Indonesia. The Indonesians look like Mexicans generally. They
all look pretty different though.
11. Jakarta is huge and there are really nice sky scrapers
everywhere, and little shacks everywhere. Public transportation
is just like Nicaragua. People yell and sell things and sing and
try to sell weird cards and comics that nobody really wants
haha.
12. I’ve taught a fair bit already. I also teach English every
Friday night! Not very many people show up so we just play games
in English. The people seem to like it was it’s good.
13. The language is coming well enough. I follow conversations
and testimonies during church and stuff. It’s not easy but if I
try, I can follow conversations. It’s really easy to zone it out
but I know that’s not the best idea haha. By the time we talk at
Christmas I should be comfortable with the language.

How is life and Canada and stuff? It’s weird to be so far away.
Life is a little different here but I haven’t been “culturally
shocked” yet haha. I’ve been able to travel around and see some
bits of the world so nothing has phased me yet. Oh yeah! Walking
over here I saw my first rat! It was dead in the gutter thing.
On the sides of all of the roads is where all of the water and
waste goes. It’s about a foot and a half across and about two
feet deep. It’s filled with trash and nasty “water” and
animals and crap and stuff. Kinda strange but I’m ok with it.
It won’t be fun when I fall in though haha. It hasn’t rained
yet really but I’m excited for that. How was Hayley’s birthday?
You will have to tell me all about Canada and all of the fun
there. Have you heard anything about my friends at the MTC/mission
field? Let me know! I gotta run! Don’t worry about me here. It’s
safe and friendly and I have a great companion. Take care!
See you soon!

Love, Elder B-rett.

Ps- All of the kids pet my arm because people here don’t have arm
hair haha.

June 4th

Sorry about the delay in making posting Brett's letters. We've been away traveling.
Enjoy!

Another week down! We're on the downslope now...hopefully. As you've
already heard SWINE FLU IS AT THE MTC! Everyone is panicking! haha
everyday there are announcements on the intercom about this terrible
epidemic and it reminds me of like jurassic park when the dinosaurs
are loose. It's kinda just a big joke I guess. There are 3 confirmed
cases here at the MTC but they "Have been placed in isolation for
8-10 days" haha it's funny. Everyone recovers and it's really not a
big deal. With that being said, people are still getting held back.
Nobody was allowed to leave the MTC this week so 600 that were
supposed to go to their missions are all crying. The english elders
in our zone are being weenies. Heaven forbid they have to be here 1
month! It's been fun to hear about Europe! The Mimi/Stephen letter
was my favorite: Action packed and quite eloquent. Tell me more about
Andorra though. Was it as cool as you thought it would be? It sounds
like a neat place. How were all of the languages in Europe? I heard
European food is nasty, hopefully you all survived. What was the best
part of the trip? Megan said it was fun to see you guys. Be sure and
send pics! That was funny about the girls forgetting about EFY haha.
Did Hayley get there in time? That must've been a big trip for her to
do by herself. She's growing up so fast! I remember when I was her
age...a few years ago haha. Back when Pluto was a planet not a dwarf
moon.  Hey, I received a box of mystery donuts. Krispy Kremes! They
were really good and I don't know who to thank. Did you have something
to do with it? I really don't know haha. How's was your apartment in
Spain? It sounded like a neat idea. Our week was good. We have a
"progressing investigator" thing going on where Elder Craig and I are
assigned to a teacher and he is our progressing investigator. Yesterday,
we met him and walked around the MTC and we spoke to him in Indonesian
and asked him about his family and work and his beliefs. I guess the
goal of it is to teach him all of the discussions and answer all of
his questions over the next month. Once we get back to class, we don't
talk about it at all. He asked us a really weird question and we didn't
know what he was saying. When we got back to class, he wouldn't tell us
what he was asking. It's kinda frustrating but I guess it's realistic
haha. We have the hardest investigator our of the other missionaries.
He's Brother Bindrup, our most intimidating teacher. He is really good
with the language and plays on the BYU soccer team and he's successful
and married haha. It's good for us to have a challenge so it's a good
investigator for us to have. We play sand volleyball lots and it's nice
to get outside. We get drinks and lay in the grass in the shade
afterwards haha. It's way nice to relax. Do you have any questions for
me? I'll answer anything you ask. I better go though! Can't wait to hear
from you tomorrow! Be safe!
Love, Elder B-rett.

Ps- Elder Gonzalez of the 70 spoke to us on Tuesday. He was a
Villalobos-esque kinda guy but he had some good things to say. His wife
had a super thick accent and said some really funny things.

PSS- Could you maybe send a Lez De Azevedo Cd? Also, there are some Poly
guys named Adeaze and they do all church music. I heard it from my
Aussie buds so I don't know how big they are but maybe see what you
can do???
Thanks! Love you all!

May 28 Post

They said the mission would be hard, but I had no idea...this
morning, we went todo laundry and the room was full of new
missionaries! Morning is our time! Next,we went to get
breakfast and the chocolate milk was sour! Upon arrival back
to the laundry room, I found that someone had the nerve to
put their clothes in my dryer!...I was demoralized. Haha all
true tales of the morning, but life is good.

We've been here over 4 weeks now! Time has flown. The language
is coming along really well. We're teaching the second
discussion in Indonesian this coming Saturday. Apparently the
other foreign language missions don't start teaching in their
mission languages until the 5th or 6th week so I guess we're
just kicking butt. I figured out that there are lots of things
that I don't tell you guys...The first devotional we had Elder
Ballard come talk to us. Then Elder Nelson, then Elder
Neuenschwander. Elder Neuenschwander was my favorite so far.
He talked about when he was a mission president in Austria,
but his mission covered Russia, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Greece, and Egypt. Pretty crazy. He had some good
stories and included interviews with the missionaries that
were serving there at the time. On Tuesday Elder Callister
came and talked to us. He's of the 70 and he has quite the
presence. It would not be fun to be interviewed by him if you
intended on keeping a secret haha. He was like Villalobos
times 10...pretty crazy. He talked about Christ and had some
cool things to say. Um...what else can I tell you...Oh!
Thanks for the package! I got the bun things yesterday.
They're good! I want to microwave them and eat them today,
we'll see. I like the food here. It's pretty good. I weighed
myself the 3rd day here and then i weighed myself yesterday
with the same scale and I've only gained a pound or so. My
clothes still fit! For the time being at least. Every
missionary that goes to Indonesia that has some weight to
lose will lose it. So...I'll come back about 100 pounds!
Haha this week we were playing volleyball outside and like
4 Napoleon Dynamites came to play and than 1 guy that
looked like his name could be Han from Scandinavia. He was
tall and white and blonde and he was a disaster in the
sand. He gave us lots of good insights on how we can be
good like him though.

So lately I've been forgetting how to spell English words
which is kinda scary because I haven't even learned
Indonesian yet. It was so frustrating trying to spell
situation yesterday! Sich...sic...? Languages are screwing
me up. So tell me about Italy! You've told me a bit but I
like history and geography so tell me dirty details!
Megan said you guys are meeting for lunch today? Or maybe
met already? I don't know how the time change is there.
Bytheway, I got a huge package from her last week with
tons of stuff! All of my favorite snacks with some nice
little messages on them. She's nice to me haha. I also got
a postcard from her that she sent the second day she was in
Italy. It only took 3 weeks to get here! The mail system in
Indonesia will be abit slow I imagine. One of my buddies
here got an email from the Dudley dude from Canada. He's
from Cardston but he's already in Indonesia. He said he
doesn't understand a thing but it's all going well haha.
Apparently people love to get pictures with white people.
Todd came in yesterday. I've been trying to find him but to
no avail! On Tuesday night, I went to the book store where
all of the materials for the new missionaries are laid out.
I found his pile and wrote him a little note. I was pretty
bummed when I grabbed some stuff so it's the only thing I
thought I could do to make him feel at least a little
happier haha. I can't wait to see him. First week is pretty
crappy but then it's good. I better go finish laundry but I
can't wait to hear about everything! Take lots of pictures!
I'm going to send some pics home this next week so get
excited! haha take care, be safe, pray for me so I don't go
insane! Bytheway, On Saturday nights we have movie night in
the Aussie room. We hang up a towel that says "Samoa" on it
and it's got some poly's in a boat. We got down a line of us
and tell a story of the people on the towel...We're all going
a little bit insane! Haha but it's fun. K love you all!
Be safe!

Ester the 85 yr. old phenom!

Another week! It's gone quick luckily! Thanks for all of the letters and packages! You are the best. I received the bun things on...Friday I think? And then the package with all of the fun stuff a few days after that! You are so great. The allergy meds are wonderful, thanks a lot. The memory cards are the bomb, the little card from dad about "My Calling" is neat too. I took the program from church in SLC that had that and it was neat to get a little laminated one. Dad-Thanks for the article on unity, it was a good one to read and there were lots of good insights. That's neat about Tyson going to Nova Scotia.

It will be good practice. The discussion on Saturday went great. It's crazy to put

your notes under the couch as you're teaching and just hope that it all works out.

Somehow, it all worked out and I was able to say everything I wanted to say and a

bit more.



The language is coming along really well. We are grouped with the Mongolian elders

and their language is nuts. It's hard for them to make sentences. I'm lucky to be

able to learn a language that is pretty reasonable. OHH!!! On Monday night, we went

to the RC and I hadn't really been able to get through to anybody. I called this 85 year old lady

from Indiana, we'll call her Ester for our purposes, anyways Ester had ordered a Book of Mormon.

I asked her if she'd received it and if she'd read it. She said she had but forgot to read it...funny

how that works haha. We started talking about it and she said "well...I don't think it's a bad book...

nobody has told me it's not true!". I'm thinking she was a little crazy haha. We talked about tons of

stuff haha. She asked how many wives I had so I talked to her about polygamy haha. I think she

just wanted someone to talk to and it was great to talk to a real person. I told her I had to go and

she said "One last thing!Do you Mormons believe in birth control?" Woah! Not expecting that from

Ester haha. I told her I was just a little boy and that I didn't know but as far as I knew, it wasn't

frowned upon unless you were like a 30 year old lady that was married and didn't want to deal with

kids. Haha it was kinda strange. I told her I had to go and she asked for my name. "Brett? That's

a nice name! Where's that from?!" ummm I dunno? A baseball player that played during the time

of me in my moms belly? Who knows haha. She asked where my family was originally from and she

was impressed with my good English name haha. I'm going to call her again on Monday so that will

be great! She is a funny old lady that just wants someone to talk to. I'm fine with being her bud. Tell

me about Jake! About his talk and all that jazz. Time here has gone fast though .You better send

me goodies and trinkets from Europe! It's the least you can do... 


I gotta go! Love you all!
  
Love, Elder B-rett!
  
 
 

Soccer and Indonesian

Hello hello! I hope all is well. This passed week flew! Which is nice. All is going well here though. The district and zone are really fun. As far as your questions...Dearelder is great, I prefer it over snailmail. Boring news is better than none at all. Is obama dead yet? How about swine flu? On Sundays, we have sacrament, branch council, study time, interviews, and then we always go to the temple before dinner. It's great to go hang out and walk around! The food is great...ish. haha It's my kind of food so that's good. We play soccer 5 times a week so that's fun. The only bad thing is I get bad allergies and I end up crying for an hour and then having red eye for the rest of the day...It's worth it right? I might lose weight here! The Indonesian first discussion went well on Saturday, we are doing the same thing this Saturday as well. The DL thing is going ok, It's not too much work so that's nice. I kinda want to be impeached though...we'll see what happens! I'm still being a good boy. Ibu! (Mom) Hope mothers day was great. I hope you liked my letter in sacrament meeting haha. It was weird to write it. Thanks for writing me so much! You must really love me afterall. Also, thanks for all of the packages and for buying the cards! I guess I have to be babied while in the MTC because nothing will get to Indonesia. We met a little Indonesian girl yesterday. Her dad was a mission president a bit ago. She bore her testimony and I understood all of it. The language isn't too bad so that's nice. Bapak!(Dad) Thanks for the emails and dear elders and handwritten letters! It is always great to get handwritten letters from you. They always contain good advice so that's wonderful. How is work? Getting excited for Europe? I would be! That will be lots of fun. Be sure to write me and send me hot pics! I better run! I've got laundry to do. Be sure to send me lots of mail and ask any questions that you desire!

Saya tahu bahwa Allah hidup dan Dia mengasihi kita. Saya bersaksi bahwa kita merima berkat-berkat melalui injil Yesus Christ. Saya bahwa kita punya seorang nabi dan bahwa dia berbicara dengan Allah dan mengajar kita. Saya senang dan dalam nama Yesus Kristus, Amin! Love, Elder B-rett.

Pics!

We got some pictures from Elder Steele this weekend...Enjoy!

First MTC email!!

This week has been great! Well, kinda. It's gone by really quickly so that's nice. The food has been good. Lots of chicken sandwiches and chocolate milk and things of that nature. Also, I eat lots of bananas. We already can pray and bare our testimonies in indonesian. It is kinda weird because some of the words are Spanish words but don't mean anything even kinda similar. We have to do the first lesson on Saturday to an "investigator" and in Indonesian so that's pretty scary. I guess we'll be fine. My zone is great. It is compiled of the people going to Indonesia, Singapore, Madagascar, Mongolia, and Carlsbad. Today is P day and we're in the laundry room with the malagasys and mongols so it's all good. This place is alright haha, time is starting to fly so that's nice. I'm excited to leave though. I get stressed out sometimes when our teachers start talking to us in indonesian and then I remember that we've only been learing this language for a week. I can say a lot of things now and I'm starting to put together my own sentences without looking up the words. Enough of me. How's home? Hot? Free? haha. I'm going to send some pics so get excited! Will you send some pics to me? A cute little album? I forgot what you all look like. It's been like a WEEK! haha I gotta go but have everyone write me! Just because I can email, it doesn't mean I don't want dear Elders! By the way, thanks for the package! It was so nice to get that. Anyways, I gotta go! Love you all! Don't forget about me!Love, Elder B-rett.

P.S.- There is a big poly Aussie talking to one of my aussies and theyre talking about how they speak haha. They say "heaps of people..." "heaps of things..." They all talk crap about America and it's good to claim Canadian! haha, I gotta go now! I love you! FHE do dear elder to me! I wanna hear from EVERYONE! Bye! Love, Elder B-rett

Brett loves letters...You can write letters to the following addresses.

Until June 29th!

Elder Brett Robert Steele
Indonesia Jakarta Mission
MTC Mailbox #109
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604


After June 29, 2009!

Elder Brett Robert Steele
Indonesia Jakarta Mission
Jalan Senopati 115
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta 12190
Indonesia

Called to Serve...

Brett has been called to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He entered the Provo Missionary Training Center on April 29, 2009. He will be receiving language and religious instruction for the next two months. After that he will head to the Jakarta Indonesia Mission. Brett will be there for 2 years, and this is the place to receive updates about his progress...