Mission Couples' Conference--Bali!

May 7-9 was a very inspiring time. The couples of the mission converged on the beautiful island of Bali. It is so neat to be reunited with couples you have grown to love by serving together in the work of the Lord!  We had four different sessions of classes, taught by all the couples and President and Sister Groberg.  I was responsible for choosing the classes and assigning the teachers, so I loved the presentations :) Brother Poliman of Bali arranged the vehicles, drivers, hotel, restaurants and suggested many of the extracurricular activities we engaged in. Elder and Sister Beaman were the overall chairmen, taking care of all the final arrangements, schedule and finances.

Front: Sister Healy, Pres. & Sister Groberg, Sister Kusumarmanto, Sister Seiter
Middle: Elder Healy, Sister Beaman, Sister Rasband, Sister Greenway, Elder Kusumarmanto, Elder Seiter
Back: Elders Beaman, Rasband, Greenway, Kepler, Sisters Kepler, Bernard, Elder Bernard 

Monkey Forest, Ubud Bali

Ready, Set...

Tarzan!

A small Hindu temple within Monkey Forest

Beautiful Ulundanu Temple on Bratan Lake with cloud covered volcano, Gunung Catur, behind.

These picturesque rice fields are a UNESCO project at Jati Luwih.

Are missionary couples allowed to white water raft on a mission????

Of course!

This was a real kick!

The scenery was just unbelievably spectacular!  The only
way to truly appreciate Bali.

This was the half-way point of the 16 km river
ride and one of the 20 or so waterfalls (we
swished under two of them!).

I'd include pictures of all the classes and instruction too, but ...

Truly, the Indonesia Mission Couples' Conference sent us all back to our small branches renewed, refreshed and inspired to try harder. It was fabulous to see more of beautiful Indonesia too.

The Start of a New Unit of the Church!

While visiting all the less active members one to one and a half hours south of Surabaya, we discovered that there were 15 households in Sidoarjo.  As we and Keplers visited them, we felt that if a group could be organized nearer, many would become active. With the blessing of the mission president and the district and branch presidents, a place was finally identified and the group was officially organized.

On April 21, 2012, all the Surabaya elders and couples traveled to Sidoarjo
to thoroughly clean the auto A/C repair shop belonging to Hendi and
Christin Silalahi.  Four of the elders and the two drivers took invitations
around to all the members in the area while these four cleaned.  Elders Radianto, Smith
and Mongan are in the foreground, Hendi, Elders Kepler and Earls are in the back.

Elder Earls cheerfully tackled the bathroom.

Elders Yarkasi, Mongan, Johnson and Seiter recovered
a couple of the shop folding chairs so we could use them
for the church meetings.

Figuring out the length to hem the drapes

Sisters Seiter and Kepler finished the drapes and arranged lunch.  

April 23rd, getting ready for the meeting: Sister Kepler, Elder
Johnson and President Soewardi

Back row: Priyo, Ofni, Elder Kepler, President Soewardi, Hendi, Elder Seiter, Hartanto, Elders Johnson & Yarkasi
Front: Sister Seiter, Pipit, Santi, Ephraim, Sister Kepler, Susi, and Christin
The historic start of the next branch in Indonesia (we hope!). 

Beautiful Indonesia with the Missionaries

Once a month the missionaries are allowed to take most of a P-day for a cultural-enriching sightseeing outing. We're encouraged to see historical or nature sites. Below are pictures from several of our outings.

Masjid Nasional Al-akbar is the 2nd largest mosque in Indonesia, we are told.
The photo was taken from the 68-meter tower. Sidoarjo is in the far background.

Outside a smaller mosque we were tempted to mix up all the shoes. Hee hee...

Trowulan was the capital of the largest Hindu empire in Indonesian history. It was founded in 1294, but fell in 1478.
The several monuments and sculpture were rediscovered in 1815 and later restored.

And we thought we invented Halloween!  Wouldn't this
be the greatest for a Trick or Treat candy holder?

Steve has promised to start trimming the bushes
at our home better when we get back :)

And this is what our front lawn will look like! Trowulan, thanks for the inspiration!
We visited here before we looked for a few more lost members, 2 1/2 hours from Surabaya.

Entrance to Malapan Cave and Zoo, on the northern coast of Java.

Left to right: Elders Kevin Johnson, Smith, Sister Kepler, Elders Rondonuwu, Kepler, Garnett, Widodo, Yarkasi, Sister
Seiter, Elders Radianto, Seiter and Earls.  What a great group!

  Elder Seiter, below, the fierce Lamanite?

Elder Widodo and Elder Rondonuwu doing a 

little companionship study

Feeding the Sun Conures--never so much fun!

Malapan Cave and Zoo was a real hit with all of us.

Elder Yarkasi, Elder Johnson and Elder Seiter interacting with the natives.
Another great P-Day in beautiful Indonesia!