Amazing May

On May 7, we took a train trip to Surabaya, a city of 5 million people on the east coast of Java.  It has 2 branches of the church and another branch about 2 hours away in the mountain city of Malang.  We enjoyed the 4 hour train ride through the rice paddies and the extra leg room available on a train.  The AC went off for awhile and we began to get worried but it wasn't off for too long!  Another senior couple, the Andersons, met us at the train depot and got us to our hotel.  It was fun to meet them and see where they live and what they are up to.  They helped us get around town and had us over for lunch on Sunday.  Nice folks.  They are from Rexburg!  Hurray for Idaho!

 

 While in Surabaya we trained missionaries, District and Branch leaders, family history consultants and had a fireside for the members with a Power Point presentation, a game with prizes, a demo of Family Search and computer time to register for an account. 

 This is a Chinese girl, Lei, who wants to be baptized but her father will not give her permission.  She said she will return to China and teach her father about the Gospel so he will understand why she wants to join the church.  She was such a darling girl.  The white face in the background is another Idahoan, Bro. Bench.  He's from Burley and is married to a lovely Indonesian woman and has lived in Indonesia for 23 years.  He was so helpful as a translator for us.

 Elders Masangcay and Setiawan brought 2 Muslim girls to learn about family history.  Some Muslim women wear a Jilbob, the head covering, while others do not.

This is the Family History Center Director, Ike Aprilyani.  She loves family history and is full of energy!  We loved working with her.  She is expecting twins in August.

Bro. Priyo is the consultant for Surabaya 1 and is a very computer savvy young man.

 

Elder and Sister Williams from Fresno, California met us in Malang and helped us get around.  They invited us to stay with them in their lovely home which was a treat for us.  We had fun meeting the young missionaries and training them and then going out to McDonald's for lunch.  I wish I had some photos of them.  They welcomed us with open arms, literally.  There are four sister missionaries in Malang, Sister Baantjer, Sister Allred, Sister Manalu and Sister Believe.  Darling girls!  I got the best hugs from them!

This is District Pres. Iwan and his family.  They were so gracious to us.  After we trained the leaders they made it possible for us to give a fireside and brought snacks for all.  It was a fun activity.

 

Sister Pontawan and Bro. Ari are experienced consultants.  They required very little training.  Malang is blessed to have them!

 

The members we met with were all so enthusiastic about doing family history.  They recognize that families are sacred and that as we discover who our ancestors are we can offer them the opportunity to receive the crowning blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That is why we do family history! It's not just a hobby.  It is part of the plan of salvation for all of God's children.  We feel so grateful to be involved in this work.  We continuously feel the blessings of our Heavenly Father as we strive to serve these good people.

The train trip home was a little more exciting than the trip there.  We managed to get on the wrong train. . . imagine that . . . so we were dropped off in the little town of Jombang about 9 AM to await the arrival of our train, the Sancaka.

 

 In the "Executive Waiting Room" we meet this friendly couple.

When they asked me where we had stayed the night before, I told them Surabaya.  They looked puzzled and asked, but where did you stay here?  So I had to tell them our story about getting on the wrong train and how we were waiting for the right train.  They got a good laugh out of that.

The week after we got back to Solo we had our Senior Couple Conference in Solo.  We had three days of meetings and a couple of sight seeing trips.

The weather was so windy for this photo.  Front row, left to right, Sisters Groberg, Healy, Lisk, Anderson, Williams, Rasband, Weicher and Greenway.  2nd row, Pres. Groberg, Sisters Barnard and Knorpp, 3rd row, Elders Barnard, Healy, Lisk, Anderson, Williams, Rasband, Weicher and Knorpp.

Stake President Budi with Pres. Groberg.  The Grobergs are a darling

couple and have done a great job overseeing the Indonesian Mission.  They

leave for home next month.  We have learned so much from them.

Our first sight seeing trip was a bit disappointing.

That's Mt. Merapi you can't see in the background. :)  We did have some nice cool weather, though.

We finally got to go hiking in Indonesia!  The day after the conference ended, the Grobergs, the Healys and us drove to the Sukuk temple ruins and then walked about 3 miles on a paved path to the Tawangmangu waterfall.  It was a difficult walk with challengingly steep hills but it was so worth it!  The scenery was unbelievable!

We are on Mt. Lawu, the highest mountain in Indonesia. Three volcanos are behind us.   Mt. Merapi on the left is the only active one.

 It was so interesting to see the terraced farming up close.  It is unbelievable how the people work on these slopes and how beautiful their fields are.  Take note of all the vegetables growing  and how weed free they are!

 Tomatoes on poles!

 Loading cut grass on a motorcycle for his animals.

 Yes, you are looking at pine trees!

 

 Check out the grade of the slope!  How would you like to hoe this garden?  These guys were really friendly.  We threw them up some candy and they loved it!

 Terraces ready to be planted.

 Yes, those are hanging cucumbers.

 This little woman was amazing!  That load looked so heavy, we couldn't believe she could get it up the hill but she never faltered.  At first she did not want her picture taken but Sister Healy visited a little with her and we gave her some candy and some peanuts and she finally said we could take her picture.

 Beautiful children . . . .always happy to have their pictures taken and get a piece of candy.

We made it!  It was an amazingly beautiful hike and we will take you on it when you come to visit!

April in Solo

April started off with Zone Conference in Solo.  President Groberg counseled us that nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach so there was a lot of emphasis on opening our mouths and talking to everyone we meet!  We decided the same is true for our family history work, so we have been trying to talk about family history whenever we get the chance.

We had all of the consultants from the Surakarta Stake gather in Solo for a workshop.  Sis. Widap did some of the training.  We had fun working with the consultants and I think we accomplished our goal of helping them feel like a team.

The stake president reimbursed them for their travel and provided lunch so that really helped get everyone there.  I made carrot cake for dessert, something new for most of them, and they really liked it!  Thanks to GiGi for that wonderful recipe!

We have been trying to figure out how to get documents from the local palace for members so we went with Bro. Didit to the Kings Palace and found out it is almost an impossible task.  You have to have a certificate that has been passed down through the generations proving you are a royal descendant.  Until you can locate that certificate you cannot have access to the royal genealogy.  

 Some of the documents they showed us were in bad shape.  It's a shame they will not let these records be digitized for posterity.

The cart that holds our Microfilm Reader at the center was about to collapse.  We took it over to a member's metal shop to be repaired.

 Bambang recently moved into this new shop.  He did a great job strengthening the legs of the cart.

We were invited to attend a re-interment of the body of Tutut's daughter who died in a motorcycle accident three years ago.  Before the grandfather died in December he had requested that his granddaughter be moved right next to his grave.  It was a once in a lifetime experience as they pulled the shroud holding the body out of the ground, opened it up, removed the bones and the Book of Mormon and replaced them in a nice white cloth and reburied them.  The neighborhood men dug the graves in their bare feet.  It was hot, hard work.

 

 Church leaders were there to support the family.  One of the young missionaries was asked to dedicate the grave.

 A job well done!

The Surakarta Stake held their spring conference in a large assembly hall just across the road from our apartment building.  It was well attended and very inspirational but hot as the dickens!  We know it is really hot when the Indonesians start fanning themselves and Pres. Groberg removes his jacket.

The Saints gathering.  All the Bishops stood in the aisle to shake hands with the members as they entered.

Sister Greenway did an amazing job with the youth choir.  The missionaries were a great support to her!

 Fennie from Semarang with her non-member mother.

 Bro. Tommy and Sister Esti, his daughter-in-law, and Sister Lily

 We had wonderful translators.  Sonia and Aster and the young Elders worked together to make it possible for us bulais to understand the speakers.

 Eko and Evi, who was recently baptized and is working on her family history.
.

Check out the look of the little girl gazing up at the white giant.

Surabaya District President Iwan and his wife Mistri. 

Once again we were invited to another wedding for a couple we did not know.  It seems the family is honored when the missionaries attend but I feel like it is the other way around. . .  .we are honored to be invited!  We had front row seats.  Franky's daughters came with us.

 

 The special guests of the family wear Javanese traditional costumes and all the men had their keris in their waist bands.

 Everyone gets their picture taken with the bride and groom.

We were scouting out sight seeing for the Senior Conference and went to visit the palace of the prince.  He is strictly a figure head who has a day job and lives in a small part of this palace.  

 The local peasants enjoying the royal sofa!

We enjoyed watching a paving project going on outside our apartment the past few weeks.  It was high in man power and low in technology.

 The paving material was heated up with wood fires in these trays.

 Hand pouring the oil for transport.

Stirring the pavement material.

Another exploration trip for the senior misi conference took us here.  While this was a great museum it had very little English explanations of the displays which was basically a history of humankind.  Java Man remains were found very near here but we didn't see them in the museum.  

 

 We enjoy seeing this man napping during the heat of the day on the comfort of the street bench where we walk back and forth to the church.

The youth of the Solo 2 Ward have been coming into the center.  Ayu, the little girl in red was so excited to assign some of her ancestors to the temple to be baptized and sealed together for eternity!  Devara signals victory!

Jojo is very computer savy.  We had fun with these kids.

 Yvonne got a start on her family tree.  Gilang is in the background.  We had about 10 youth register on Family Search from Solo 2.

Yos with the center director, Widap.   We took a video of Yos saying "I love technology" as he added photos to his family tree and sent it to our leaders in Hong Kong.  They asked for his phone number so they can interview him.

The youth here are very proud of their membership in the church.  They recognize it as a great blessing in their lives.  The plan of salvation gives them answers to "Where did I come from?  Why am I here?  Where am I going?"  If you want to know the answers to these questions, check out mormon.org or ask your nearest LDS friend!