Lonnie and Mary through the Years

Week of April 20th.
Visit from Elder and Sister Lasson, visiting Dr Titi, the Leprosy hospital and fish farm, limb center, wheelchair visits, viewing past and future water projects. And beautiful Mt Merapi. A full week!!

Dr Titi with her husband and Elder and Sister Lasson. Humanitarian missionaries from Hong Kong. Our supervisors. When we have any questions they will help us and give direction. About 3 years ago they served as humanitarian missionaries in Mongolia. Wonderful people who we have enjoyed getting to know and have had the opportunity to showcase Indonesia to them this week.

Dr. Titi is such a fun person, she introduces her husband as her ex-fiancé, she feels that it keeps their marriage at the 'new stage', years later!

Working away in our office at the service center. Of course every project requires administration. Its our least favorite aspect of our mission, but a necessity. The sooner we can get out with the people, the better!!

One of our stops this week was to visit the wheelchair manufacturer. It has been a blessing to have the wheelchairs manufactured in Indonesia. A blessing to the local economy and much less expensive.

Elder Lasson testing out the harmony wheelchair

The leaders at the manufacturing plant hosted us for lunch at a local outdoor restaurant and the opportunity for the Lasson's to have vintage Indonesian food

Nasi Goreng. Fried rice.

One of stops this week was the 'limb center. Two men who were there to receive new prosthetics. A wonderful project supported by the church

It was recess at the Christian school that we visited and the girls had a jump rope. I just had to give it a try, and I found to my surprise I could still jump! It was fun and we all had a go at it to the delight of the children there. We had quite a crowd around us and they even clapped after!

Two of the school leaders that we have been working with

We are quite excited to help with this school, as they have so many needs. Even the playground equipment is old. Notice the yellow slide, it has a huge hole. The kids just play their way around it, grateful that they have some equipment.

Notice the play ground in the foreground. Here they want to clean up and turn into a soccer area for the children. Notice the tire and the wood planks. Currently the children use this area also as a playground. We were horrified to see many nails protruding up through the pieces of wood. So much to do!!

Some of the surroundings to the school

Inspecting the water system as part of the school

The daily life of many here, they are quite amazing how they can load and transport things with their bodies! No gym for her, it's a natural weight lifting program, sadly it wears their bodies down as they get on in years.

Just behind some of the homes was some water. Unfortunately sanitation is still a work in progress

Our next stop was visiting our wheelchair distributor UCP. A wonderful NGO devoted to helping those in need of mobility devices. We just recently changed the logo on the back of each wheel chair to Latter-Day Saint Charities. In a Muslim country it would not be a appropriate to have imprinted 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.'

Sri, is a sweet lady that we have worked with now for many months. She was paralyzed several years ago in a tragic car accident near her home. Receiving a wheelchair and the ability to be mobile and continue to work has made all the difference in her life. She has a wonderful story on utube that is inspiring and uplifting and captures just what a difference a wheelchair can make in the life of a person. We love Sri and have been greatly enriched by her spirit and smile. She believes she can do anything.

First it's jump-roping and then on to a ride on a side seat of a motorcycle that has been built for Sri. She told us that at first after the accident she was despondent and in despair. Bus she overcame her fears and depression and now goes out and meets others who are struggling with disabilities, giving encouragement to so many. She works with UCP as a social worker. She even rode her "bike", from Jakarta to Bali to show that having a disability should never hold one back! She's a great inspiration to us!

One of the people we were able to visit that received her wheelchair from LDS Charities 3 years ago. Refi, age 10, with her parents Puji and Tri. Refi likes to cook, loves science and wants to be a chef someday. She pushes her chair 1 kilometer everyday on her own to go to school.

We spent two days in Central Jawa looking at past and future clean water projects. These next many pictures give you a snapshot of the people in the villages in the country and the natural beauty in this garden wonderland. We couldn't take enough pictures it was so lush and beautiful

When we asked the villagers what were some of the wild animals they might see in this area? They said, "small tigers, snakes and owls."

The cutie below wouldn't let me near her, do you see her concerned scowl? I had to settle for the baby owl. One of the villagers had it in a little cage.

The village and tribal leaders we met with to discuss a future clean water project. Currently many of the women must travel up to 2 kilometers twice /day walking or by motor bike to get clean water. A project would bring it much closer to their homes. LDS charities would pay for the materials and expertise. The village people would do the labor and ensure a system is in place to maintain it once completed.

Checking out the goat barns. Mary thinks their goats are such pretty animals. Below, an old man taking it easy and enjoying the attention we are giving him! He was concerned that we were hiking in a pretty steep area.

A villager bringing vegetation to his goats

The process of harvesting rice, all of it is done manually. Above, after they separate it from the plant they spread it out on mats and let it dry. Below, she stomps on it first to get the rice head to separate from the stem part. It is very similar to wheat, but they do it all by hand, very time consuming and laborious.

The beautiful views as we drive along the rice fields.

Another lady working with the rice, but this time she is separating the rice from the 'tares'.

As we were working our way through the jungle to one of the water sources we noticed this villager in the coconut tree. I at first thought he was strapped to the tree, but he was holding himself solely by his feet!

Their is nothing quite like walking in the forest. It is so beautiful! At the base of this particular tree you can often find fruit that is called 'snake fruit.' Quite tasty

Finally found the water source for this water project that was completed last year. This villager in the yellow shirt is standing on the cement casing that filters the water prior to it being piped through the jungle to the village.

The beautiful Indonesian people from the local village and their beautiful smiles!

A group of Muslim school children all dressed up. Notice that the girls are all in the back of the boys. This is their culture, boys always are in front, even in the classrooms. The girls sit in the back.

Some awesome views of the world's most active volcano, Mt. Merapi. The steam is always coming out of this volcano. It is starting to belch a bit lately. Every 4 years it erupts, and this is the 4th year....we are waiting...hope that it won't cause too much damage!

Check out the terraced rice fields layered up the mountain. Every piece of land possible is used for farming

There is a couple of farmers in those beans somewhere?

We have had a most rewarding week with Elder and Sister Lasson. We are grateful for the opportunities we have had to work with them and better get to know them.