Brandon and Jessica Come to Indonesia!!!

 It was a HAPPY day when Brandon and Jessica arrived at Bali and met us at the Monkey Forest.  Our driver took us to the beautiful Pura Tamah Lor, one of the 5 big Hindu temples in Bali. We timed it to arrive when the tide was out so we could walk fairly close and at the same time watch the sun set over the ocean.

Fresh coconut drinks and snacks

Different groups of Indonesians kept asking to get
their picture taken with Jessica.  Star status!

We spent the night in Sanur, on the beach, and made full use of our one day together on Bali by

bike riding, a ride in a glass-bottom boat over the reef, the orchid garden, and great beach food!

Corn never tasted so good!

 

Friday morning, May 11, 2012, our Java Island tour began with a tour of the largest Muslim mosque in Surabaya. There was a wedding party in progress in the parking lot where the bride, groom and several other men of the party were riding old-fashioned bikes.  We asked if it would be okay if we took some photos and then they asked if we would stand in their photos. 

Way to crash a wedding party!

 

The Lapindo Mud Volcano afforded us the opportunity to circle it
on motorcycles and watch some of the 100,000sq. meters of mud that
are expelled every day. The water is hot even this far from the action.

Taman Safari offers such exciting options as viewing
the animals up nice and close! Brandon was a little worried...

Ever smelled the breath of a camel?  Come to Indonesia!

The end of the day brought us to Bromo Cottages in the village of Tosari.
Next "morning" we were awakened at 3:15 a.m. to load into our jeep for
the trip up Guning Penanjakan for the sunrise, with about a million others.

Mount Semeru is puffing away in the background--just a bunch of volcanoes!

Overlooking the 10 km crater with 3 smaller volcanoes inside. Bromo is far left.

After our jeep ride down and across the crater, I chose the
horseback ride to the stairway up Bromo (just trying to help
the local economy). 

253 stairs to the top!

We even saw action in Bromo--the first time in 3 visits!

 

We were back at the Bromo Cottages in time for breakfast by 9:00a.m! The trip down the mountain into Malang took a good long time, but the scenery was fabulous.

The bird market in Malang is always delightful.

Sunday was a day of church services and hunting for lost sheep.
We traveled to Batu to look for 3 members there.  Another adventure!

Jatim Park is another large zoo in Batu--delightfully fun. Of course, Jessica was the star of the show

again, with many groups wanting their pictures taken with our blond beauty. We were the only white

people in the park that day.

Becak ride in to see Karliah

The last day was spent in Surabaya, visiting a member in the branch, buying some vegies and fruit and sampling the local cuisine.  Jessica and Brandon enjoyed the small neighborhoods, as we do everyday here in paradise!

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!).