Lonnie and Mary through the Years

Weeks of Nov 3-13.

Site seeing Tangkoko forest near Manado and inspecting potential water projects. On the island of Sulawesi.

We came to Manado to look at a couple of potential water projects, but took Monday November 2 as a prep day and went to the Tangkoko forest to see what we had been told was one of the worlds smallest monkey, the Taursis Monkey.

A prep day on the beach and the Tangkoko forest. Pictures from right to left, Elder and Sister Lucherini, Elder and Sister Welch from Manado, Elder and Sister Lewis from Solo, and Elder and Sister Frandsen, water specialists from Heber City, who joined us to check out water sites over the next two weeks.

Beautiful black sand pictures where we had a pretty western style picnic, complements of our hosts, the Welch's. A great start to the day! We tried to go to the water, but the sand was burning hot!

Lots of black monkeys that would let you get pretty close

This is where the road ends and the hiking begins

We are always fascinated by the height of some of the trees and the beautiful canopy they provide overhead.

The alpha male looking over his brood. He sat back under the trees and just watched, never moving

A Kingfisher with some nice close up shots, a beautiful bird with some great coloring. We enjoyed this hike so much. We saw lots of beautiful plants too.

The foliage was spectacular

The Taursis monkey. We were told they are the world's smallest monkey. They supposedly only come out at night. We were fortunate to see these little fellas at about dusk in the small crevices of the trees. They are about 4-6 inches in length and made no sounds. A few would bounce from tree to tree with pretty long tails. They would bounce so fast from tree to tree, it was hard to keep sight of them at times. They would just sit there and stare at us for the longest time and then all of a sudden they were gone to another tree!

Is this cute or slightly spooky? Hmmn, we need a vote!

You cant see this very well in the trees but it is a hornbill bird that made a pretty loud sound like a dog bark. We couldn't see it so we just followed the loud bark until we finally found it. Amazing.

A green viper. He looked like he had just finished off something for lunch some time earlier in the day. Some of us didn't care for this part of the tour! We kept our distance! A great Pday with great friends!

The remainder of the next couple of weeks was checking out potential water projects for 2014 and the future. Clean water is one of the churches major initiatives throughout the world. We looked at two sites in the Manado area. The first was in a village called Molas. A community of about 1700 people.

Check out the makeshift swing

When we first came to the site of the water hole we surprised few ladies that were doing some wash. One had just finished bathing, she just wrapped the sarong around her and came with us to look at the water sights!

Working our way through the underbrush to find the source for the water.

The water source

Women cleaning their dishes from the spring in Bengkol village.

These three ladies were just sitting here when out of the blue, they started to sing. They harmonized beautifully! We clapped and they sang some more for the white visitors. They enjoyed singing for us as much as we loved to listen. They were really good.

Yes, there are modern trucks in the villages, but not everyone can afford one, this is a cheaper way to haul bamboo anyway and makes for a better picture.

Dr Devy, his wife and son, Margaret and Mathew. Missed seeing Mark, their second son,who was home. Such a beautiful family.
Dr Devy has been one of the physicians we have worked with in Manado on our vision projects. A wonderful man that we have enjoyed working with. We will miss him!

From Manado we flew to Surabaya to check out another potential clean water project. While in Surabaya we took advantage of the opportunity to inspect a project we are doing with the local branch there. Helping to renovate a community kindergarten and health center

The children from the kindergarten using the local mosque for their school until the renovations next door are complete

Brother King Wie from the Surbaya 2nd branch and the local community leader that was helping with the renovations Ribut Sukadi. The work of renovating the walls, roof and outside porch should all be completed in about 4 weeks.

The ministry of christian affairs had contacted the church to see if assistance could be given to help provide clean water to the village of Lamongan, located about 60 kilometers from Surabaya. We looked at several sites in various different 'smaller villages. If approved about 3900 people would benefit from clean water.

Meeting with the village leaders to discuss their water proposals. Elder Frandsen pic below discussing different water possibilities

We think that this area is truly in need of access to clean water. As we arrived, a young couple were loading water containers on their motors that they had filled from the water area above. Not too clean!

the orange water tanks at the top were what they hope to use. They need to connect them.

Various different water sources that may be used to capture and begin the process of developing clean water. It is a wonderful blessing to have Elder and Sister Frandsen with us. Water specialist missionaries, here to share his experience and expertise around developing clean water projects. We are so grateful to have them here with us.

Nothing here now, but the village leaders said this is a good site for drilling a well.

In the village of Banyuanyaran, about 65 kilometers from Solo. meeting with the village leaders to discuss their proposed clean water proposal. This project would benefit about 3600 people.

The site where the local university survey team recommended drilling a well. What a difference it will make for these people, many of which travel great distances to get water, once the project is completed.

In the mountain village of Samigaluh about 70 kilometers from Jogja. Beautiful areas but long distances for the families to get water.

A current well that if fully developed could provide water for significantly more of the local people.

Missionaries do many things, but how many get the opportunity to hike in the mountains as part of their work? We do, and it is wonderful!!!!

The last site we went to was the village of Sragen. Outside of Solo. Here meeting with the village leaders to discuss different locations for water sources.

Checking out different water sources

It is always interesting to navigate your way through the landscapes.
Sister Lucherini stayed in the car and enjoyed the view from a air conditioned seat!