Reaching Out

Well another week of fun and excitement or weekend I should say. We flew out again on Sat. Morning. Elder Subandriyo's who is the area authority sent his 17 year old son Ezra with us to translate. It is so beautiful over there and the country is so green. He took us back to the same hotel that we had stayed in before. It is an OK hotel, but the bathroom stinks really bad. It's hard to be in the room. They gave us time to unload our suitcases and we were off again. We went to the rice broker place again. The Police truck came and they loaded up the rice. Then went to the home of the Christian Church to pick up 300 more packets of food for 3 villages. It takes and 1 1/2 hours to get there and there were 8 of us in a car. We went to the 1st village and had the same incredible experiences as last week. These people are so grateful for the help and the treat us so good. We have to shake every hand in the village about 2 or 3 times. The 2nd village we passed through was virtually destroyed. No one was there they had moved up on the mountain and were living in tents. About 5 big tents for the whole village. They said they were never going back to their homes because of their fear of a Tsaumai that they almost experienced. The 3rd village was the same except they were trying to live in their homes or what was left of them with cracks all over and tarps on parts of the roof. They all are so poor. We give the kids all candy,

One little boy was so afraid of us. I tried to give him a piece of candy and he wouldn't even come close to me. All the kids were laughing at him because he would run away from me every time I tried to give him the candy. I finally threw him a piece right at his feet. Then as we were going though the people I would look around and he was really close by, but if I tried to interact with him he would run. Finally he got brave and I got him to take a piece of candy from me and he would quickly run away. Before long he let us touch his hand. By the time we were ready to leave I could give him a high five. We had to really coax him to let us take his picture, but when he saw the picture it made him smile.





On Sunday we were still in Bengkulu but we didn't want to go to the Christian Church again like we did last week. One of those sermons is enough to last us for a year. Ralph suggested that we have our own Sacrament Meeting. They wrote down the Sacrament songs and prayers. We got bread and we each brought a glass of water from our room. I never have been in a better church meeting. There were nine of us. From the opening song to the closing song the spirit was so strong that you could feel it. We had the sacrament and then one of the men gave a talk on families and working toward the Celestrial Kingdom with especially our husband or wife. Then everyone bore their testimonies. Ezra had been sick the night before, but he started to get really sick. Someone took him to the "hospital" they came back and got all the men to go and give him a blessing. When they came back they said, "that they think he had malaria. They had some pills for us all to take. He had to fly back home. Since he has got home they are saying it wasn't malaria. We went back up to Lias to survey where and what we needed to do on Monday. We met a lot of poor people who have lost their homes and everything that they have. Some were living in their homes even though their were cracks all around and part of the roofs and even walls were missing. At one village they had just cut down a coconut tree and they opened the coconut and gave us some of the liquid to drink. It was actually pretty good. Then they gave us the coconut to eat. It was good.





On Monday we put some kits together for the little children. It had a pencil, pen, ruler, eraser, a little pencil box and a note book. We made 500 of these. They always give us a Police escort and their were 10 Police to help us today. We again went to visit 3 different villages. On the way we went passed rubber trees. It was interesting to learn about how they get the rubber from the trees. One man in the village told us he has to gather rubber from 150 trees a day to get $3.00. We again had a great experience in each village. This time we added a few things like some towels and some balls for the kids to play with. In one of the villages we run into a little red headed boy. it was so strange to see him there. We decided that he must be an albino. His parents both had the dark hair and brown eyes. He was a cute little boy.

We love you all. Wish we could send you some of this heat.

Earthquake at Benglulu

These are pictures of a house that went down into the ground 4 feet. You can see the driveway.

We had a lot of good experiences when distributing items to the earthquake victims. We saw a lot of destruction and poverty and a lot of people stepping up to help us. Everyone wanted their picture with us and the kids loved dad's mouse made out of a handkerchief. One woman told us it was not a mouse it was a frog because it jumps.

A makeshift Emergency Room

Earthquake

There have been several earthquakes in Indonesia during the last week. We are being flown to Sumatra early in the morning to inspect the damage and see what has to be done for the people. We won't be coming back until Sunday and we had to buy raisins, crackers, cookies, etc to keep us alive because we probably won't be able to find food. It will be interesting. We did not feel any of the earthquakes and did not know it had happened until the area authority contacted us and asked us to make sure all the members and elders in the area are okay and to find out if there has been any damage to any of the church buildings. We made a few phone calls and everyone and everything is okay.

(NOTES FROM DAD): One week to the day after we arrived in Jakarta the earthquake struck in Bengkulu on the West coast of Sumatra. Two days latter we found ourselves in Bengkulu with a team of volunteers with LDS Charities. The things that happened during the next two and a half weeks surely showed us that the Lord’s hand was in this work. We were met by leaders of a Christian Organization which were determined before hand and they drove us to their church board room and we met the leadership of their church and then to lunch at a Indonesian restaurant (the beginning of a new experience) and then to a motel, a nice motel with a great view of the Indian ocean. They were full and no room at the inn. A reference was made to a motel down the road, not quite as nice but ok. The hotel owner had a car that could be of use and his son would drive and we were on our way north to Lais this is about one and half hour drive. On our way seeing some earthquake damage here and there, but as we approached Lais the damage was great. Nearly every home was damage to some degree or other. Once we stopped at a home who was completely destroyed was living under a tiny tarp with not much protection. We gave them a large trap and told them that we would be back with some food the next day. Then just down the road a kilo another house was caved in and as we visited with the owner of the house he said pointing to the area of his bedroom,” this is where my family would have been sleeping if it had happened later at night and they would have been killed”. We saw home after home in the same situation, we gave out several tarps until we ran out. On one occasion there a dispute over who would get the tarps and the woman who ended up with the tarps came over to me and kissed my one cheek and then the other and then again, finally I put my arms around her and picked her off the ground and hugged her with her feet dangling from the ground. Everybody laughed. She was a short fat woman.

We traveled back to Bengkulu late at night, went right to a market place to buy food, had it shipped to the home of the Christian leader Mr. Hassn, We then met with Muhammadiyah and made arrangements to supply him food which he would take to Mukomuko which is further north. Then later that night we meet at the Hassn home where they had member of their Christian church prepared bags of food for 250 families.

The next morning we got up early went to the lobby of the hotel where we had been meeting and having our planning meetings, and we notice this lady there asking us question about what we were doing. Ummi and her husband quickly volunteered to help us. She lived in Bengkulu as a child, knew the area and could help us buy food at cheaper prices than we were getting, and sure enough she took us to a rice warehouse and to other food distributors where we found all our needs. She left the next day to return to Jakarta she helped to buy supplies that could not be purchased in Bengkkulu and arranged for a truck to deliver them to Bengkulu. And by 1:00 PM that day we had loaded a truck for Muhammadiyah and sent him of to Mukomuko and had rice and food packages for five hundred for another truck load to Lais.

The next two weeks were full of activity in preparing packets of food and delivering to the different villages in the North Bengkulu region. Greeting the people, shaking the hands, having pictures taken with bula’s in their pictures and singing a folk song in Indonesian which we learned, and seeing there strained faces turn to smiles and laughter. We often heard from the local residents “that nobody has ever done this for us”!!

Truly, the hand of the Lord was in the work that was done during that two and half weeks. We are not alone in this work. On one occasion as were meeting the people and shaking their hands, one Indonesian lady held up her arm and place next to Sister Walker’s arm and was saying something that we couldn’t understand and Bertha who interpreted for us, “she said even though our skin is different we are sisters.” I realized more at this time, more than any time that these are our brothers and sisters. They are children of our Father in Heaven; we are indeed brothers and sisters. As I pondered this I realized that those who have joined the church in Indonesia are strong in the faith and are like the Lamanites who were taught by the sons of Mosiah, they were strong in the faith. These Indonesians are like unto them, strong in the faith, and they are our brothers and sisters in the Gospel. Those whom we were meeting in these villages are our brother and sister whom I believe will join the church in due time. May be not in this life but in next life they will join, and we are setting the stage for that conversion. Now I have grown to love these people because they are the children of our Heavenly Father and I know this is true.

Getting Involved

On Monday we went to Borgar to see a water project. Then on Tuesday we drove up into the mountains, it was such a beautiful day. They were picking tea all the way up.

Tea Pickers

When we got so high we were on a dirt road and had to have 4 wheel drive. It was really a rough road and we went for miles and miles. I thought my teeth were going to fall out. Anyway we finally got there and then we had to walk 2 miles down into this little village. It was mostly down hill. We passed rice fields. There were lots of big trees where they were picking cloves (spice). It was so interesting. Then we saw where they laid them all out and were drying them. We got down to where they were showing us the water project. They had piped water from the mountains and to this little village to get water. They were in such poor circumstances small houses, but they were so happy and the whole village welcomed us. They had boiled some water of the new water it was still hot and they brought it out to us to drink. They brought us out all different kinds of treats for us. Fried bananas, fried sweet potatoes etc. We ate it all. The kids followed us around we we gave them all a high five. Dad showed them have to do it on the other side and some of them would let him tickle them. It was so cute. We were wishing we had Dad's little mouse. We also taught the kids how to sing head, shoulder, knees and toes and they all lined up and sang it with us. We had so much fun. Then we took pictures and they all wanted to be in the pictures and then we would show it to them and they would get so excited. they said, this is the first time they have seen white ladies. There are 2 young missionaries working there. These children are so beautiful with their brown skin and there dark eyes. They are so happy and they don't have anything. We started the trek back up. It was a hard climb, but it was worth it. When we got to the top. Sister Kane had fixed a lunch for everyone. The Elders that are working on that project get to wear tan shirts, Levis and no ties. When we got down off the mountain we toured an area that had some fun houses. It is a huge area and each section has a different architect. There is Dutch, English, french, American log houses, etc. It was really different.

DAD'S NOTES: We visited a clean water project in Borgar, and what a remarkable thing this is. Villages that have never had clean water all their lives are now getting clean water right into their homes. There are well over a 100,000 who are affected by these projects. We visited villages that have never seen a bula before, and treat us as special guest, offering us their desserts and foods. We felt as a King and Queen in their mist.

Our First Sunday

Yesterday was Sunday. We had to be ready by 7:30 to get to church by 8:00. We went to the English branch first. Everyone greeted us. It was a very good Sacrament Meeting. Then we went to Sunday School. The teacher was a very capable woman. Just before 10:00 we went back up to the Jakarta Branch Sacrament Meeting. They all speak Indonesia. We went in and everyone there was so anxious to greet us and wanted to shake our hand. The women all greet cheek to cheek and some of the men. It was almost over whelming how friendly they were to us. When the meeting was ready to start Sam one of the drivers came and sat next to me and to my surprise and delight he translated the whole meeting to me. Dad couldn't hear him. He had a hand held device and when there was a scripture he would pull it up and show it to me in English. John our driver is not too great in English. He gets by, but he can't translate like Sam. Then we went to Sunday School and the Missionaries and someone else helped to translate again. In Relief society the sister missionary tried to translate, but she really had a hard time. Then there was a baptism and the whole branch stayed for the baptism.

Our driver and his family invited us to their home for a get together. We went to that home and it was John and his wife and son. Her mother and Dad. His brother in law and wife, her mother and their 4 children. First they gave us some punch and cookie and we were thinking fine. Then they had us eat watermelon and some kind of a set salad. Then they had rice and noodles and some beef with sauce on several kinds of meat. something that looked like green beans and spinach that you put a really hot sauce on. some boiled meat balls. It was quite a feast. They wanted us to eat and eat. At 4:30 we had to leave because we were suppose to be at the presidents house by 5:00 for dinner. We got there and they were ready to eat. OH Boy. They had a chicken with a sauce on rice, watermelon, pineapple, a green salad, veg and bread. It is hard to eat so much.

Our Arrival

We got here and so did all our luggage. We looked lost and this young man latched onto us and said he knew where we needed to go and he was determined to get us there. We finally got out the phone # and he helped us to call the mission home. They said someone was on their way to get us. This boy kept trying to convince us that he could get us where we needed to be. When another young man came up and said, "Elder and Sister Walker and we knew he was the right help. Dad got his wallet and not knowing his money very good paid the kid $10 for helping us. He thought he was giving him $2. There was a Brother and Sister Pier there to meet us their driver was the one that found us. We just hadn't got far enough in the airport yet to find them. They had got a call from the mission home letting them know we were here.

(NOTES FROM DAD) The drive started on a two lane highway, sitting in the back seat with Sister Walker, all of a sudden we saw cars driving on the shoulder of the road which made it a three lane highway then we saw motorcycles, about ten to one in ratio converge on us driving between the cars making the road a 5 lane highway. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Talk about confusion and a driver’s night mare, but Sam was taking things in stride as if this was something he expected, and it was. It takes about one hour to get to the mission home. On a good day the drive can be made in a half hour. There are not many good days. The only way to drive in a car in Jakarta is having a driver and just about everyone has a driver. Just to drive to get office supplies or groceries is a major project, however we do have a grocery store behind the mission home, where we go through a questionable neighbor about a 10 minute walk, which we do all the time. We have become to know many of them by face and we greet with Pagi, siang, or sore, and they all respond by with a smile. We have found that the Indonesian people are good people and are friendly. They like to talk to bula’s and some who speak a little English will stop you and want to find out where you’re from and talk a little bit.