NEW STAKE (NOT STEAK) IN INDONESIA

After over 40 years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints being in Indonesia the first stake was formed last year in West Java. A stake is a unit of members which comprises multiple congregations and is comparable to a Catholic diocese. Today the second stake in Indonesia was formed in Central Java. It was a glorious day for the members of the church here. Some of the members of the church traveled 3 hours by bus to get here. It was estimated that there were over 800 people at the meeting today. The meeting was presided over by Elder Perkins, (a member of the Seventy-a leader in our church) over South East Asia. There was an adult meeting last night. Both meetings had a beautiful spirit to them. Last night there was a choir from Jogja. The Indonesians really enjoy singing. Although I (Eileen), could not understand the words to the song, I felt the spirit conveyed so strongly by watching the chorister. She was like watching a dancer or actress on stage. Her whole body moved with the music. Her face constantly changed expression with the lyrics. It was truly moving to watch her and listen to the music. For Russell it was a touching experience meeting with people from Semarang, where he served as a missionary 36 years ago. He talked to a man that was branch president at the time he served there. Russell was able to find out a little about a deceased member of our church that he had taught and baptized years ago.

 In order to get to the Solo (Central Java) we took a 9 hour train ride. Overall it wasn't bad for comfort. It was a great experience. We saw the beauty of the local landscape, the villages as we passed through each town and the farmers working in their fields. When the train would stop at a location, food vendors would descend on the train trying to sell their wares to us. We saw other trains with people riding on top of the train as it was traveling at a high rate of speed.

This cute man pedaled both Russell and I in this becak.  We tipped him a lot!

Augus Riyadi and family- he is our go to man in addition to working with visas for the mission

 With the formation of the second stake on Java it was decided by the mission president to form a branch for those members of the church not residing in one of the two stakes, the East Java district, or the established branches outside of Java in Bali, Medan or Manado. A branch is a small congregation of members, usually less than 100. Russell has been asked to be a counselor(there is only one) in the branch presidency. Due to the vast area which this branch covers, communication with the members will have to be over the internet. Russell will have to get used to using facebook. Occassionally we may visit some of the members when we are working on humanitarian projects in their area.

 Elder Healy (1st Counselor), President Kusumarmanto (Branch President) and Elder Beaman (Branch Clerk)

 This past week I (Eileen) was shopping with a fellow senior missionary. There are a variety of places to shop here. The place she took me to was an upscale store that caters to foreigners. It had a beautiful seafood display with lots of kind of fish and large live fish in a tank. We were looking at the fish tank when two of the live fish started to fight. All of a sudden two fish flopped out and landed at my feet. We were cracking up. We couldn't believe it. They must have been the fighters because when they left the tank the rest of the tank became calm. They were flopping around on the grocery store floor for a few minutes until the fish man came over, picked them up and threw them back in the tank. I think they must have been dazed, because they both lay on their backs for a while. That night Russell and I had fish for dinner, served complete with the head. It was delicious.

Fish Display

The fish wouldn't stay in the tank

Fish for dinner-Yummy mango sauce and eyeballs

 Russell really needed a haircut this week. We decided to go after work. After 70 minutes we had only traveled 2l/2 miles. We could see the mall in sight where we needed to go however we were on the wrong side of the highway. The cab would need to take a U-turn. Traffic was at a dead standstill. In frustration, we paid the cab driver, hopped out of the cab, crossed the bus lane, climbed over a short wire fence, (yes in my dress), crossed through several lanes of cars and motorcycles going really slowly in the opposite direction, and Russell got one of the best haircuts in his life for 4 dollars. Russell was so happy, he gave the guy a dollar tip, and made the guy's day.