Where did October go?

This has been a fun month, so different from any October we have ever had!  The weather here continues to be constantly hot but thankfully, we have started having a few rain storms.  No fall colors here just a continuous lush green landscape.

These are rice paddies in the mountains.

The family history training we are doing has been well received!  The Bishops are calling consultants who have the necessary skills to do the work and we are excited about training them. With Family Tree about to be launched, we are going to train all the new consultants on that.  We were happy to hear Elder Richard G. Scott speak in General Conference about the importance of families searching out their kindred dead and performing temple ordinances for them.  As we see missionary work and family history work speading throughout the world, we are  reminded of how much Heavenly Father loves all of his children and desires the fullness of the Gospel to be available to each of them! 

Some of our  missionaries, Elder Xiong, Elder Martoya and Elder Rawle singing at Zone Conference.

The members here are trying hard to do their family history.  It is difficult as a very few have computers or computer skills and very few have records, but many have turned their hearts to their fathers and are doing what they can.  My sweet Indonesian daughter, Yuli, had a wonderful dream about her mother and brother coming to her with smiles on their faces and thanking her for taking their names to the temple so they could receive the fullness of the Gospel.  Another sister felt the presence of her grandfather as we searched on familysearch.org for his name.  She and others are saving their money to go to the temple in the future.  Their earnings are often so meager that it is a great sacrifice to do that.  Pres. Monsen has told us, no sacrifice is too great in order to receive the crowning blessings of the temple ordinances.  These people are wonderful examples to us of obedient, faithful Saints.

Young Single Adult Choir practice.  (What's that gray haired sister doing there?!)  That's Yuli I am sitting next to.

We had the opportunity to go to the Batik factory with two of the young sister missionaries.  It was so fun to see how they create the traditional batik patterns Solo is so famous for.  The factory was unbearably hot to us, but the workers did not appear to be suffering.  Wax is applied by hand to the parts of the pattern they are not to be dyed, then the fabric goes into a vat for dying.  The wax is then removed and a new part of the pattern is waxed and dyed.  This is repeated for however many colors are to be used in the pattern.

First the pattern is stenciled onto the fabric.

   

                              Wax is applied with Tjantings to keep the dye off certain parts of the design.  

The melting pots.

The factory floor.

The dying vats.

The finished product.  Traditionally, the different patterns were representative of a person's status in society. 

Another fun thing this month was the Young Single Adult Conference.  We were asked to come up with some Ice Breaker games and help with the dance. YMCA was a big hit.

 

The young man in the pink tie is Enos from Semarang.  He speaks English well and has translated for us in Semarang.  Nice guy!

We had another Muslim holiday last week.  At Eid al-Adha, many Muslims make a special effort to pray and listen to a sermon at a mosque. They also wear new clothes, visit family members and friends and may symbolically sacrifice an animal in an act known as qurbani. This represents the animal that Ibrahim (Abraham) sacrificed in the place of his son.  In some traditionally Muslim countries, such as Indonesia, families or groups of families may purchase an animal known as udhiya, usually a goat or sheep, to sacrifice.  People also give money to enable poorer members of their local community and around the world to eat a meat-based meal. 

At our local Mosque we found the children playing with the goats.

Beautiful Indonesian children!

They love having their photos taken.  So cute and so friendly.  They always say "Hello sir" to us.

As we walked farther into the neighborhood we met these men outside the prayer meeting.  They motioned us to go right on in.

 The women were seated on their prayer rugs in the back and the men were in the building or up in front.

We think this was the collection box for the poor.  The young girl was putting money in.

Everyone went home after the meeting.  Note the prayer rug on her arm.

I love seeing the Muslim women in their jilbobs.  They are quite the fashion statement and are often decorated with jeweled pins.

 

 We went back to the Mosque about an a hour later where the sacrificing had begun.

 It was not ceremonious in any way and there were very few observers.  Just men with their knives getting the work done.  There was a lot of blood and many children looking on.  They would slit the throats of the goats, we didn't see them do the cows,  and drain the blood into this hole.  We saw two cows and maybe 12 goats.

 Each carcass was hung up and skinned.  The smell was getting pretty strong by then and I was ready to go home.  Billy said it just smelled like a big hunting camp!   The men doing the hanging had some kind of a laugh about us as they looked at Elder and motioned to the hanging ropes.  Made me a little nervous.  I was glad to leave but also glad we had been there!  Another adventure in Indonesia.

 On the way home we passed the ice delivery man and....

....the local tire repair shop.  Solo is full of small businesses!

Not everyone in Indonesia is Muslim as is evidenced by this huge Buddha in the mountains. 

Buddha says:

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly".

Sampai jumpa.  (until we meet again)