Lonnie and Mary through the Years

Nov 28-Dec 7th

Hiking in the mountains about 35 kilometers from Jakarta on Saturday November 30th. Who would have thought you could be in this type of beauty just a few miles from a city of 20-25 million?

Very similar to what we experienced in China. The terraced landscape for the rice fields. We were amazed by the impressive irrigation systems that were developed to enable water to flow throughout the terraces.

Almost like Cub River, but a little greener, we almost got homesick!

A close up view of a women working in the rice fields. She was too far away to get a better picture.

A farmer with water buffalos, used to pull the plows, they are a big animal.

The pictures aren't as good as we had hoped but the farmer has the plow hitched to the buffaloes.

Anytime there is an opportunity to get some photo's of children is a good thing. These children were quietly playing on the porch next to mom, who was working. Not sure what she was doing. She showed how she would take these old used parts of a battery cable and after spinning it out, it would be a clean wire to re-sell. Anyway, that is what we think we understood! One never knows for sure about anything!

All these pictures are of families that lived in the hills. Farmers perhaps?

A bamboo bridge that we would eventually cross, Indiana Jones has nothing on us!

The end goal of our hike was this small waterfall and pool. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Our guide, a fellow former Prestonian...Jed Beckstead. He and his family have lived in Jakarta for nearly 6 years. What a surprise when we attended the ward for the first time and Mary met him. It really is a small world. He loves to get out into the outdoors and took us on this hike. After the hot hike in, we rewarded ourselves with a dip in the first clean water we've seen since coming to Jakarta!

I couldn't help it....not sure if we will ever pass this way again , and the water was so inviting and refreshing. It was abit cold at first, but I was used to it in a couple of minutes. At the deepest point I could still clearly see the bottom. Wow was that invigorating!!!! No swimming suit, no problem, Lonnie just swam with his clothes on, even his belt was on. Oh well.

That really felt good!!!! Would have liked to stay longer!

Jed with Naim, our native guide. The father of 3 children and a local farmer, he has taken people up in these mountains for years. His backpack was a spongebob backpack that he was quite proud of. One of Jed's daughters gave it to him and he really likes it! This was a short 3 hour hike. Sometime we would like to take the 8 hour version and go to the tops of the mountains.

This is actually a man-made dam that was built a few years ago. It was impressive, and through it they had developed an electrical system.

Remember seeing the bridge earlier? Well, here we are crossing over. It was a bit wobbley and Mary wanted to know if there were any other options! Nope, this is the only way down. She wasn't sure about it, but did just fine!! Bamboo is much sturdier than it looks. Thank goodness!

The village homes along the way, we kept thinking we were either with Indiana Jones or in Jurassic Park.

Some great looking spiders (laba laba) in the hutan (forest). We once asked what was the difference between the forest (hutan) and the jungle (rimba). They said it was the size of the animals. If not many big animals then it is a hutan. I guess we have been hiking in the hutan (forest). Being near civilization where there is the influence of people makes it a hutan. In the true wild where there is very little civilization, it is a true jungle (rimba).

Even came across a few grave sites along the way, if you look closely, you will see that there are some young bamboo trees growing right up through the graves. They do not use caskets here, so eventually the body buried here goes back to nature. This way the family that owns the gravesite can use it over and over.

Naim was there to help Mary anytime she needed help. And yes I was there too. But someone has to take the pictures? There were a few narrow and slick stretches.

Thanksgiving 2013.
We left our camera at home so we got very few pictures. We decided to celebrate Thanksgiving in the office that we share with the center for church affairs in Indonesia. Outside of the mission president President and Sister Donald, another missionary couple (Elder and Sister Lisk), everyone in the office is Indonesians. It has been several years since they celebrated Thanksgiving. Some who were in attendance had never tasted turkey (Because it is very expensive here). We had a wonderful time and helped to strengthen the bonds with our Indonesian work colleagues. Wonderful people we have begun to cherish and love. Each of them have a story about their lives to share, they all know the exact year they were baptized, some are 2nd generation members, many are not. A few were Muslim before joining the Church. They all are such a happy and patient people. No matter how busy they are, if we have a problem, they drop whatever they are doing and help us.

The cooks...Sister Lucherini, Sister Donald, Sister Lisk.
They did a great job...almost like home (almost).

We enjoy seeing the sunsets, even in Jakarta, if you get it right, the sun going down between the skyscrapers is such a peaceful moment.

This is a school (Rumah Autis which means Autistic House) that serves lower income families that have children with different handicaps such as Autism, motor skill development, down syndrome, and other issues. They teach the children different skills. As they progress, they try to teach them a skill that can help them earn money such as cooking, sewing and even computers. They don't have a lot of resources and are asking what we might be able to help them with? We will need to do some research to find out more about their programs and what kind of help they are requesting. This is a first time visit, and we need to spend some time before making a decision. It was a good visit. They seem to be trying to make a difference with the children.

Learning motor and sensory skills

One of the areas that really caught are attention in considering working with this group is their efforts to help the kids learn skills that can help them work, becoming self reliant, and eventually provide for themselves and family. On the day we were there they were learning how to use a calculator.

In front of the school with the director(the man in the blue shirt) and some of their administration.

Upanayana

We were invited by Sony (far left) the secretary at the Limb Center to attend her sons sacred thread ceremony. Called, "Upanayana." To Hindu's this is a ceremony when a young man becomes of age. Sony's son, Dawi 15 yrs old (to our right), will be invested with a sacred thread, to symbolize the transference of spiritual knowledge. The thread which was like a long piece of clothe, called a sacred thread, has three strands. Which symbolize three debts:
1. The debt to one's teachers
2. The debt to one's parents and ancestors.
3. The debt to God.
The sacred threads are to be worn for the rest of one's life after the ceremony, as a reminder of these debts.

Dawi, Sony and the priest that administered the ceremony

Lots of incense, flowers, oils and things to burn as part of the ceremony.

Vashdev. The director of the Limb Center. They are not only partners in our humanitarian work for people without limbs. But friends that we have enjoyed getting to know and better understand their culture.