Lonnie and Mary through the Years

Week of November 25th

Bandung

A city about 2 1/2 hours by bus (on a good travel day) from Jakarta. About 2 1/2 million people located in the mountains and a favorite travel destination for the Jakarta people on the weekends and holidays. An opportunity to get out of the city, get near the mountains, in a slightly cooler area. The weekends become very crowded much like Jakarta. We have been asked by our mission president to attend the Bandung Branch once per month to offer fellowship and support. So we will get here quite often.

Branch President Joko Prasetyo, his wife Annie, and daughters Andrea and Michala (was only 1 month when we took this picture). The next day they were all in church traveling an hour on a motorcycle each way.

Very proud new mothers

The Unang family. They don't speak very good Indonesian but we find ways to communicate through our broken Indonesian. We often will sing with them," I Am A Child of God." They in Indonesian and us in English. It blends very well and then we have a prayer. There is always a wonderful spirit and we leave humbled by these special moments.

The sunset in Bandung shortly after we left the Unang family

The Primary of the Bandung Branch. The best sacrament meeting of the year was the Primary Program and just like every ward in the church, they were wonderful. The primary president said it best. "This has been a good program and there are times when it is funny because of the kids, it is a good time to feel the spirit when the children bear their testimonies and sing to us."

Sister Yanti and her daughters Lauren and Evelyn. For the past 3 years her husband has been working in Las Vegas at a restaurant to help support the family. They communicate through Skype. They were hopeful that he would be able to come home in a few months to visit. It is the price they pay to be able to survive.

This family was one of the first we met in Bandung. Joseph, Taruni and their son Marisal. We were thrilled to see them walk in to church as they had not been for a couple of years. Like many they must travel for an hour to get to church and most often by motorcycle. In very humble circumstances. When we met them in their home it was one room, but they were very welcoming and we were grateful to them for their kindness and cheerfulness despite what we would perceive as challenging circumstances.

May be the closest thing we ever see to Halloween decorations. It's so random, they don't really celebrate Halloween, yet here it is, a restaurant named Karnivor. Sounds like a fun place, huh? The trees looked like they'd just been TP'd. Meant to look like spiderwebs, I think.

Tangkuban Perahu.

While in Bandung we took a prep day to do some site seeing. A dormant volcano 30 km from Bandung. The volcano erupted as recently as Feb 21,2013. The name roughly translates to "upturning of a boat." You can actually hike down in to the crater to view the hot water springs and boiling mud up close and buy eggs cooked on the hot surface.

Our sightseeing group, Elder Lucherini, Sister Lucherini, Elder Waltman, Elder Simanungkalit and our driver, Pres.Edi, the 1st counselor in the branch presidency in Bandung.