Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: COUPLES CONFERENCE AND BOROBUDUR

The past two weeks have been busy. On May 21st we got together as a group of 10 couples in Solo to participate in a well planned couples conference. It was a delight to see the other couples, some that had traveled as far away as a 3&l/2 hour plane ride away. We don't get to see each other frequently and so the conference that is held twice a year is a great opportunity. We also had our new public relations couple, the Weichers attend. They currently live in Malaysia. The theme of the conference was, "What ere thou art, act well thy part." Each couple presented a 30 minute presentation associated with the topic of what they are doing as missionaries here in Indonesia. Topics were varied and included subjects such as: Building positive relationships with non-members, Serving in the community, Member Short term projects, Blessing lives through Family History, Teaching English Effectively, Leading Members to the Temple. It was interesting to hear the ideas of each of the couples.

We were asked to offer a tribute to the Grobergs. We have worked closely with them as we both live and work in Jakarta. They will be leaving as the mission president couple at the end of June. Indonesia is a very large country with many challenges. They have done an excellent job of dedicating their lives to serving the people of Indonesia and trying to juggle the needs of 70+ missionaries at the same time. They have missed the births of 8 grandchildren, hosted visitors that have arrived early in the morning and late and night and stayed for weeks at a time. There have been missionaries with health issues, safety issues, housing issues. They have dealt with all of these problems never losing focus on trying to be the spiritual leaders of this group of missionaries. Every time I have heard them talk they have urged the congregation to always be a good example and never give up hope that our service here may be of some benefit.

On the second day of the conference we took the Weichers and headed to Borobudur (which was a 3&1/2 hour drive) to visit a cataract operation project. The drive was incredibly beautiful with Mount Merapi looming to one side and another large mountain on the other. Terraced fields were built steep up the side of the mountain. In 2010 Mount Merapi exploded and a number of people were killed and thousands were evacuated. Our predecessors were heavily involved in the humanitarian effort in helping the people involved with the explosion of Mount Merapi.

When we arrived at Borobudur we found a large group of patients with various problems under a huge tent at the base of Borobudur (built in 9th century A.D. and one of the largest Buddhist monuments in the world). Apparently this week was a special week celebrating Buddha's birthday. Approximately 4,000 patients with different needs were treated with makeshift operating rooms put up right there at the monument. We never were able to make contact with the people we were supposed to meet and eventually took the ride back home to continue the conference.

Friday the Grobergs, Knorpps and Russell and I went on a 6.2 Km hike. We started at the Sukuh temple and ended up at Tawanmangu Falls. It is truly the only way to see Indonesia, as we were adjacent with the workers in the fields, the children with their parents and were able to see up close how hard the people here work to harvest their food. The terraces literally climb the sides of the mountains. We didn't know that we would be hiking and had not brought appropriate footwear. I (Eileen) was surprised that I could make it in a skirt and sandals. By the end of the hike our calves were aching. Despite exercising on a regular basis, we both felt the after affects for several days.

On Friday, the Weichers, Lisks and we all went to Jogjakarta. Saturday evening we traveled again to Borobudur to the Weisak festival. This occurs once a year with the celebration of Buddha's birthday. Monks travel from Thailand and other places in the world to Borabudur for the celebration. There were parades and ceremonial chantings during the day. We wanted to go to the lighting of 1,000 lanterns in the evening that I had read about online. When we got there we found hundreds of people lined up with only one gate open. It was like a crazy rock concert. Although we were able to visit with people around us, the closer we got to the one security gate the more the crowd started to push and shove. Russell and I really began to become concerned for our safety and the safety of the other missionaries. It took us 1&l/2 hours to get through the security gate. There was no turning back once we started because of the density of the crowds. As I finally got through I saw a monk accompanied by a man in white. I believe he might have been the head monk. He questioned me as to how long I had been in line. He remarked that he was concerned that someone was going to get hurt in the crowd and that the security scanners were not even turned on. It was his desire that everyone be let in that wanted to come in.

By the time we arrived near the temple we were all quite relieved that we had arrived without harm. There was thunder in the distance and lightening in the sky. It was quite a view of the temple. The security guard in front of the temple told us that the lighting of the lanterns would not occur for another two hours. We decided unanimously that we would return home without seeing the lighting. As we climbed in our car the rain came down ferociously. Once again we were grateful for our safety.

Sunday we went to the ward in Jogja. I was pleased to see Koko leading the men's choir. Koko is one of our older engineers on our water projects. I have only seen him in the fields. I had no idea that he had musical talent. He led a large men's chorus in a beautiful song. There was a large family of non-members that had come to church for the first time on Sunday. They had traveled from Klaten-about 1 hour ride away. When I asked the mother how she liked church, she said she liked it very much. It has been the first time in our year in Indonesia that I have seen a non-member family come to church. I hope they will continue to come.