Thanksgiving Blessings

November has been a fun month for us with many things to be thankful for.  As we are preparing to return home we have been busy wrapping up our mission assignment as well as enjoying this beautiful land as much as we can.  We feel so grateful for the opportunity we have had to be in Indonesia.  Our experience here has been "life changing"!  

 We had the opportunity to travel to the island of Bali, east of Java, with another missionary couple, the Andersons, from Rexburg, Idaho.  We rode the train to Surabaya and they picked us up at the train station and took us to the local family history center to install a computer and then to their apartment to spend the night.  They are great people and we loved having time with them.  We were all excited about our adventure trip to Bali the next morning which was just a one hour flight away.  We had arranged to stay at a beach hotel, the Nusa Dua which was a most amazing hotel. 

 

This was the scene at the front of the hotel.  The structure behind us is representative of the thousands of Hindu temples on the island.

 The open air lobby was so gorgeous!

The view from our balcony.  Paradise.....

 At an evening dinner show we watched the Ramayan drama, Balinese style.  The men sitting on the floor were the orchestra, similar to BYU's Vocal Point group.  This was so fun!

 Part of our hotel package was a car and driver.  Molja brought with him an offering made by his wife to one of his Hindu gods.  He placed it on the dash board for blessings for our trip.  All over the island we found a variety of Hindu temples, large and small, with similar offerings of food and flowers that are replaced daily!

 The first temple we stopped at required that we wear a traditional sarong into the temple.

 

The stone work was amazing!

That evening we met with the Bali Branch which has about 10 active members.  President Heru, in the red and black plaid, is the only church member in his family.  Bro. Sihol is the young father who arranged our meeting.  His English and computer skills were great!  He had used Family Search and will serve as the family history consultant for the branch.  These fine people were so kind and welcoming to us.  We loved being with them!

 Front row:  Sister Arinta, Michael (son of the branch president), Sister Lina

Back row:  Bro. Fadlin (Sihol's brother), Pres. Heru and Bro. Sihol.

 Sister Arinta prepared a yummy Balinese meal for us.  Unlike Java, pork and beef are readily available here.  Notice the delicious layered chocolate pudding dessert in the foreground.

 We took a fun cruise with the Andersons to the island of Lembongan.  The water was so clear and blue!  We did a little snorkling near the island but found it difficult in the strong current.

 One of the exports of the island is dried seaweed.  It is sold as far away as Japan.

 We watched this islander climb the tree bare foot, seemingly effortlessly. The tour guide invited us to give it a try..haha! 

It was interesting watching the labor force at work.  Everywhere we go in Indonesia we are  amazed at the heavy loads and hot, back breaking work that goes on.

Back on the island of Bali, we visited Tanah Lot, which means land in the sea, a 15th century temple carved by the tide and prepared as a temple to worship the Balinese sea gods.  We were not allowed to enter because there was a ceremony of some sort being held.

 Food for the ceremony?

 Our last excursion was to Ulu Watu.  We were warned that although it would be beautiful it would also be very hot and we should visit it at sunset. We did not have a sunset available so we went any way and found it most beautiful and hot as blazes!  It is a Balinese sea temple built in the 11th century and is one of nine temples built along the coast meant to protect Bali from evil spirits.

 This guard, priest, caretaker...not sure who he was....was at the end of the path.  We were not allowed to go beyond him to the temple itself.

 The umbrellas saved us from the hot sun!

 Along the path we met this vendor woman who sold us bracelets for the grandchildren.  She was so cute and delighted to have us buy her wares!  The stick on the floor was to fight off the monkeys who were professional thieves along the path.  One grabbed a bag of peanuts out of Sister Anderson's hand before she knew what had happened. 

 The views were spectacular!

The sashes were required to enter the temple grounds.

 On our way back to the airport we stopped at this magnificent statue in Denpasar.  It represents part of the epic story of Mahābhārata ,one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.  

We parted ways with the Andersons in Bali and flew to Jogja where our driver picked us up and drove us back to Solo for our next adventure which came a day later with a consultant workshop for the Surakarta family history consultants.  We've come to know these people well and we love them appreciate their continued efforts to serve their wards and branches.  Training was presented by Widap Asmadi, Ari Wahyu and us.  We had lunch together, the traditional rice and chicken lunch box, and the requested carrot cake that was such a big hit last spring!

 Yuli, Aster, Omni, Widap, Tommy, Ari, Joko

Our next road trip found us in Semarang again to do a final training with Agus and Hendro and to help the Elders get a new bed and figure out why their water supply was dirty.

 Elder Knorpp has had some challenges playing plumber this month.  The one I didn't get a photo of was when he tried to unplug the Sister's toilet in Solo when the plumber failed to do so.  He went out and bought a plunger, rolled up his pants, traded his shoes and socks for rubber sandals and basically made a stinking mess of himself and the bathroom but solved the problem!  Plumbing leaves a lot to be desired here.  Jason would be appalled at some of the plumbing we have seen.

 Elder Norris and Elder Canfield really got a workout at this house inspection.   We borrowed the ladder from the chapel to replace the light bulbs so it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of those cob webs.

We had a Thanksgiving dinner a few days early for the missionaries in Solo.  They couldn't believe we could actually have turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing in Indonesia!

Later in the week we traveled to Magalang where we dined at KFC on Thanksgiving Day1

Elder Watson is from Spanish Fork, Utah.  He is a Zone Leader and a very nice young man.  All the missionaries like him.  He is a gentle but strong leader.

Elder Hasibuan is one of the funniest Elders in the mission.  He is always trying to improve his English and when he was District Leader in Solo he became famous for his expression...nice good!

We met with this group of members and one investigator while we were in Magalang.  The Branch President's Counselor, 2nd row, 2nd from the right, is the only member in his family.  He was anxious to start his family history!  We all had dinner together afterwards and carrot cake for dessert!  When we were there last month somehow they found out about our carrot cake and asked us to bring some.

Bro. Sumadyo passed away on Nov. 20.  He had suffered a stroke awhile back and had been in the care of Didit and Ima, his son and daughter-in-law, when he died in the early morning hours.  They had  a nice service for him later in the morning.  Everyone received a little cloth bag with a cup of water, a hankie and a sweet roll in it when they arrived.  There was a viewing and then everyone waited for the service which was directed by the Bishop in the home.

Everyone sits on the floor at these type of gatherings.  The young missionaries do it much more gracefully than the senior missionaries.

 We were all given flower petals to spread over the grave.  This is Ima, the daughter-in-law.  She is also the Stake Relief Society President and a lovely woman.  We have really enjoyed getting to know her and her husband, Didit and their three children.

This is an eternal family.  They have been sealed together in the temple and  know their relationship with one another will continue on when they leave this earth.  What a blessing of peace and comfort this is to them and can be to all of us.  We are so thankful for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that offers the fullness of the plan of salvation to all of God's children. 

Mixing It Up In Indonesia

D. Todd  Sibley, a private member of the church held an Entrepreneur Seminar for members and non-members of the church in one of the buildings here in Solo.  He volunteers his time and pays all his own expenses.  His purpose is to help build the economy here and to help people out of poverty.  The seminar was excellent. He helped them understand what it means to be a real Entrepreneur.  There are many people here who have tiny little businesses in which they sell food or other items on the streets as well as other businesses of all sorts, but some do not understand what it takes to build them into businesses that would increase their income.  He seemed to really open the eyes of many of the people.  He even had the author of "EMyth," Michael Gerber, speak to them on Skype.  It was great!  

A couple of weeks ago I was standing in the hall of the Soepomo building outside the Family History Center on a Sunday morning waiting for Sonia, the family history consultant.  Lily, a very tiny single sister started chatting with me and was going on and on about some problems with her home.  Lily speaks some English, is very eccentric, very poor and seems to be quite alone in the world.  She has always been friendly to me and I have enjoyed her.  Today she just wanted to talk and talk so I finally invited her into the center to see if we could help her.  She was a bit hesitant but we got her started on Family Search.  She didn't know much about her family but she did enjoy sharing what she knew.  I hope she will be able to find some additional information.  I could see that just that little bit of participation was meaningful to her.  

That same day we ran into some people we met in Jakarta who were visiting in Solo.  The young man is Leon, a consultant in Jakarta 2.  He and his aunt from Bogor wanted help resolving some problems with their line.  Leon is a great strength to his ward.  He has good computer skills and his English is excellent so he understands Family Search quite well.  It was fun seeing them.

Here they are again with the other members of their family.

We finally got to visit the botanical gardens in Bogor.  They were awesome!  There were many different trees and plants from all over the world.  It dates back to the years of the Dutch or the Belanda as they are called here.  The Javenese continue to keep it beautiful despite the strange visitors that frequent it. :)

Check out the size of this bamboo!

The old Dutch graveyard was really interesting.  We hope someone has identified Captain Drury as their ancestor and invited him to enjoy the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the background you can see the old Dutch governor's mansion.  In the foreground you can see an old American missionary getting the scoop on the Dutch from a Dutch tourist.  He was rather biased on who had done the most good for Indonesia, the Dutch or the Indonesians.  Elder Knorpp talked to him about the Family Search website and all the Netherland family records available there!

This was a really cool tree.  I could have used a pair of pants for climbing in and out of it!

Widap and Ari were kind enough to give me a cooking lesson on Nasi Goreng, one of our favorites, at our apartment.  It's prepared like any fried rice with chicken, onions, garlic, etc. and even has an egg in it, but the chili peppers give it a real kick!  

Yummy!

The warm welcome people have given us in Indonesia has been so appreciated.  Everyone needs a friend and we've found some great ones here.

Manila Temple Trip

On September 10 we arrived in Manila, Philippines to attend the temple with five families from the Surakarta Stake.  Indonesian saints travel to the Manila Temple even though they are in the Hong Kong temple district because it costs less than traveling to Hong Kong.  Some have saved for years and years in order to attend.  One family has been using bicycles for their only transportation so they could go to the temple.  It was an honor to be a part of this dedicated group of Saints.

 

 The two grandmothers of the trip were pretty tired as we waited to board the plane.  Sister Djing is from the Medan Branch in Sumatra, traveling with her son, Jimmy Bazuki and his family from Semarang.

 Brother Parjono and wife Sister Ini, Banjarsri Ward.

Jimmy and Heny Bazuki family, Semarang Ward

 Bambang Muryanto, Jebres Ward

Parjono and young daughter with Aster, Jebres Ward FH Consultant.  Dwi with her son.

 

 Untung, Muryono, Choki, Ratmini and Ezra.  Choki organized the trip.  He is the son of Tommy Simanungkalit whose family names some of you have been helping with.

We left Jakarta at 12:30 AM and arrived 4 hours later in Manila.  Needless to say, we were all pretty tired but in order to make the most of their time, the families were in their first temple session by 1:00 PM.

 Untung and family from Solo 1 Ward

 Bambang Muryanto, Jebres Ward

 Aster, Ratmini, Muryono, Ezra, Jeberes Ward.  Aster and Ezra both have their mission calls.  Aster to the Manila Philippines Mission and Ezra to Sydney Australia.

These families will be together forever! 

Many of their ancestors have also been offered the same blessing through the ordinances completed by these good people in behalf of their kindred dead in this holy temple.  Our Heavenly Father has provided a plan of salvation for all of His children.