DRINKING OUT OF THE FIREHOSE

This week has been both eventful and extremely busy. After arriving on Sunday evening and meeting the mission president we attended a missionary conference on Monday. Russell introduced us in Indonesian and we were asked to bear our testimonies (share our beliefs). Thank goodness we had learned a little bit of the language before we had come. We have received a number of projects to work on. The existing projects that we have ongoing are a water project in central Java, preparation for a hospital ship in Sulawesi, a wheelchair project on Java, and two new projects working with members. We have been asked to help with employment needs and combating pornography. Our language training didn't really cover the vocabulary needed for these subjects. On Friday morning, just when we thought we might avoid drowning we found there was a conference we needed to be at the next day in east Java. Change of plans: won't be finishing unpacking, doing wash, or going to the store on Saturday. We learned in the MTC, "Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape." So off we went. More on the Saturday meeting below.

We are based in Jakarta on the island of Java. Java is smaller than Utah, it's length comparable to Utah from north to south. Jakarta is about the size of the Salt Lake City Valley, however there are approximately 15 million people in the metropolitan area. As you can imagine there are crowds of people everywere. Our office is 3 miles away from our apartment. Travel time is anywhere from 25 minutes to over an hour depending on the traffic. Many people use motorcyles as a means of transportation. We have seen families with as many as 5 people on a motorcycle. Mothers will sit sidesaddle, feed their babies while dad drives. It is amazing what people can do while on a motorcycle. I even saw one lady doing her nails while balancing on the back of the cycle. We hear the sound of motorcycles constantly out our windows. It sounds like a speedway 24 hours/ day. Our question initially was why wouldn't someone just walk the 3 miles to work? The heat and humidity would make you soaking wet by the time you reached the office. It is about 90 degrees here and 85% humidity. Our apartment is on the 20th floor and has a beautiful view of the city. Our first night in the apartment there was a huge thunderstorm. It was beautiful to watch the clouds roll in, see the lightening and hear the thunder. The thunder was so loud it set off car alarms in the parking lot below. The rain came down harder than I have seen for a long time.


We were invited to go to the eastern part of Java to visit with the leaders of a group called the NU an acronym for Nahdlatul Ulama.  They are an Islamic Group that is one of the largest Islamic memberships in the world.  They help to educate and provide medical care for the poor. On a sign on one of their buildings was a saying, "Religion without education, is like a bird without wings."  We were invited in as the only Christian guests there.  It was kind of like something out of movie. Eileen was the only one without a jilbab (headscarf) on.  Cameras were snapping photos everywhere. The man at the end of the table that everyone is looking at is the leader of the organization.  During our visit there, we were able talk to representatives from two different hospitals about medical equipment we would possibly be donating to rural hospitals that were operated by the NU.

President and Sister Groberg and Elder and Sister Healy

WITH ELDER SUBANDRIYO

LEADERS OF THE NU