OBEDIENCE AND SACRIFICE

On Wednesday this past week we had the wonderful opportunity of having a Zone Conference with the other missionaries in West Java area.  This area encompasses over 1/3 of the missionaries in Indonesia, most from metropolitan Jakarta but also including those from Bandung and Medan (Sumatra).  It was the spiritual highlight of our mission.  In addition to President Groberg leading the conference, Elder and Sister Watson traveled from Hong Kong to speak to us. Elder Watson is a Seventy (General Authority) for our church and presides over the Asia area.  This means he has ecclesiastical authority over 25 countries in the Asia Area from China on the east to Afghanistan on the west.  This area encompasses 1/2 of the world's population.  In addition to being a deeply spiritual and dedicated man, he also has a delightful sense of humor.  In the conference we were brought together to be taught, spiritually uplifted, and to grow united as a group.  The themes of the conference were being obedient and using the Book of Mormon to teach of Christ.

Early in the conference, President Watson called upon a young missionary who he knew spoke very little English.  He asked the young man if he knew any English.  After having the question translated, the young man said no. He looked very nervous.  President Watson explained that we were going to learn how the Holy Spirit can confirm to others that which we say.  President Watson asked the young man to say two sentences in English about his mother.  The young man named Daniel, started talking.  In extremely slow vocabulary he said these three sentences.  "I love my mother.  My mother is amazing.  My mother taught me about Jesus."  Then he was invited to sit down.  President Watson had not looked my (Eileen) way at all that I could tell. But after Daniel sat down he said these words, "I took a risk and it paid off.  I wanted someone in here to feel the Spirit and I know that Sister Healy did because I can see her crying."  I was startled because I had not seen him look towards me, but he was right.  I was very touched by the words of a young man that could say such kind words about his mother.  A lesson was taught.  Words don't need to be articulate or even in one's own language for someone else to feel through the Holy Spirit the truth of the message.

Each of us had been asked to prepare a two minute talk about a previously assigned Book of Mormon character.  A light was put on the podium that would flash red at the 1 minute 50 second mark.  The purpose was to teach us that talks can be prepared in a concise manner and still be spiritually uplifting.  Daniel (the young man mentioned previously) was asked to speak on the "armies of Helaman."  This is a story of two thousand young men led by their leader Helaman who fought in defence of their country and freedom.  This is what was said about them.  "Now they never had fought yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto Moroni the word of their mothers saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."  Daniel was, as those young men in the Book of Mormon, following the teachings of his mother.

On Friday, the holiday Idul Adha was celebrated.  This holiday commemorates Abraham's sacrifice.  According to the Koran it was Ishmael, not Issac who Abraham took to the mount that day.  We spent an hour and went to a nearby mosque to witness the sacrificing of goats and cattle.  Other than the use of the meat as a gift to others (usually the poor) rather than being burnt on an alter, the process follows that noted in the Old Testament.  We have omitted the pictures showing the actual sacrifice in an effort to maintain our "PG rating," but Eileen was close enough that she got blood splattered on her skirt.

MISSIONARIES OF JAKARTA ZONE CONFERENCE WITH ELDER AND SISTER WATSON (L-MIDDLE) AND PRESIDENT AND SISTER GROBERG (R-MIDDLE)

GOAT FARMER READY TO SELL GOATS

COW HOPING HE WON'T BE SOLD 

THIS FAMILY BOUGHT A GOAT TO BE SACRIFICED

NOT ENOUGH ROOM TO TAKE IT HOME ON THEIR MOTORCYCLE SO  A YOUNG MAN LED THE GOAT HOME FOR THEM. IT  WOULD BE PART OF THE SACRIFICES THE NEXT DAY.

MOSQUE WITH APARTMENTS IN BACKGROUND
SACRIFICES TOOK PLACE ON THE PREMISES

CHILDREN OBSERVING SACRIFICES

COW TIED FOR SACRIFICING

GOATS BEING SKINNED AND CUT UP

NOTE NEWS REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER IN BACKGROUND

MEAT BEING PREPARED FOR THE POOR

IMAM EXPLAINING PROCESS TO EILEEN

ISLAMIC STUDENTS FROM GERMANY AND INDIA EXPLAINING BELIEFS TO SENIOR MISSIONARIES