Solo, home sweet home for the next 18 months!

We are living in the apartments above The Paragon Hotel.  While the entrance to the hotel is very beautiful, you can see that the apartment is very spartan.  When we arrived on Friday the 20th we had no refrigerator, no table, no chairs, no dishes, etc.  By the evening of the 21st we had installed the fridge, a washer, a folding table from Lotto Mart, kind of like Costco and a few kitchen items as well as some groceries.  We have one small round sink in the back corner, virtually no counter space, no hot water in any of the sinks, only the shower.  It is not safe to drink the water so we have a water cooler for drinking.

We have about 700 sq. feet, not very effectively organized but clean, kind of, and cool.  We are using the second bathroom as a laundry room where the sink is leaking.  We need our family plumber!  Jason where are you when we need you? This is the snoring room complete with yellow cow sheet and pillows.

The master bedroom is great with a king bed that pretty much takes up all the space.  Interestingly enough our little nest has a nice flat screen tv in this bedroom and in our little kitchen, family room area.

Here is the best part of our nest, the view!  This is the city of Solo as we see it from our windows.

Isn't it beautiful!  The green dome is our local mosque which calls Muslims to prayer over loud speakers 6 times a day.  We really only notice the 4:30 AM call which comes through loud and clear!  We can actually see 3 other domes from our window as well. 

  

We went to church today with the Greenways who have been helping us get settled.  The members of the Solo and the Banjarsari Wards welcomed us warmly and invited us to the pulpit to introduce ourselves and share our testimonies!  The young missionaries helped by translating.  We could speak some in Bahasa Indonesian and they liked that!  After church we attended a baptism with an Indo. style pot luck afterwards.  We loved the food.  "Kami suka makanan Indonesian." (We like Indonesian food.)

We also had our first request for Family History help.  We will meet with a group during Sunday School next week who are planning on a temple trip to Manila in September.

Indonesian