This has been Ramadan month for the Muslin's. They fast from sun up - to sun down. That means the work on our projects has slowed down some because they say they don't have the strength to work hard. Last year Ramadan month was during the month of October, this year is month of September. We understand the Muslins work on the lunar calendar thus the reason for the September Ramadan. Next year it will in August. At the end of the fasting period is Idil Fitri which is something like our Christmas Celebration. They buy gifts for one another and go to the homes of their families to visit with family and friends. The nice thing about this is that 2/3 of the population of Jakarta has left to go to their homes in other parts of the island of Java and now we can drive around Jakarta without traffic jams. This has been nice, but will only last until Monday and everything will be back to normal.
We have had our Second Region FEP seminar which was held in Makassar, in the Region of South Sulawesi. We were not able to go due to a conflict with a wheelchair ceremony in Menado which is in North Sulawesi. That is on the same island but on opposite ends of the island. Elder and Sister Anderson from Provo who are the new Public Affairs missionaries living in Singapore went to this seminar in our place. They are a real strength to this program. The new FEP simplified manual was ready and first introduced at this seminar. This will be a great booklet for the poor and less educated Indonesians and villagers in the rural areas. Soeryo keeps talking about this special feeling that is inside of him when he works on this program. He mentioned the last time when he was preparing a power point presentation for the Sulawesi Seminar that he lost track of time and it was midnight when his wife came to him and pleaded with him to come to bed. He said that he has energy he as never had before. His wife has come to him with tears in her eyes thanking him for the FEP program and what it has done for their family. In response to an E-mail to Wendy Sheffield (author of the FEP) he has said this, "Just to share with you, my own family are doing the Family Night regularly now and it is just like a tradition in the family, …and amazingly the "Magic/vibration" of togetherness, family spirit, kids confidence and their achievement in school as well the care/understanding among us, ..all of those make me and my wife truly blessed and surprising…thank you so very much for your FEP. I make the FEP vision here in Indonesia "Strong Family – Strong Nation INDONESIA 2015" (I just have a wish one day I could talk/share in Faculty of social work of BYU about FEP development in Indonesia)." We have shared with Soeryo the Joseph Smith story and given him a copy of the Book of Mormon. We do not know if any thing will come of it but there always has been a special spirit when we are around him and we know the Lord has prepared him to help us with the advancement of the FEP in Indonesia. He is truly committed to the need of strengthening the family in Indonesia.
On September 6 through the 8th we went with Soeryo to present the FEP program to the Ministry of Education of Indonesia in a seminar where the experts from all 33 Regions came together to discuss different ways to strength the educational system in Indonesia. They had 9 areas to review to help strengthen, one of which was FEP. In the opening they only mentioned of the FEP to strengthen and the eight others were not mentioned. They divided the participated into these nine areas and each group was to present their ideas on how to develop a program for presentation into the school system. There were six people assigned to the FEP and we sat at their table to answer any questions. One lady asked about the importance of prayer in the Family night gathering, all agreed about prayer being very important. Then we asked how they felt about singing in family night and this same lady said that it was not important. Then We (Sister Walker and I) began sing the Indonesia folk song "Di Sini Si senung" and everyone joined and sang and clap their hands as be sang. We then asked how they felt after singing the song, there was no argument the songs make one feel good and that it needs to a part of Family Night. We then separated ourselves from them so they could do their work of developing the curriculum. As we watch we would see more participants gathering around the table, sometimes eight or nine. They then would send them away, only for more to show up. It was obvious that FEP had the attention of the seminar group. The end result is that the FEP program will be used to strengthen the family and thus strengthen the education system. We now have two Ministries of the Government budgeting funds to be used the strengthening families, the Ministry Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education. The year 2009 will be a good year for Indonesia and for the family.
We traveled to Menado on Friday Sept 12, for the wheelchairs ceremony for 50 wheelchairs LDS charities gave to a Christian church to use for charity. The Christian Association in Menado has combined to fight against the Mormon Church in Menado and thus our branch in Menado is very small and does not grow much. Our intent in developing a relation with Ricko Giroth is because he is a powerful leader and has a lot of influence on the Christian Assocation and perhaps we can change their perception of the Church. We think that it will work. We were received very well, The Government leaders were there and members of this church. We were also invited to go from retirement home to retirement home to give out wheelchairs to the aged. We went early so we could see some different things or places there. We made arrangements to rent a large boat and we invited the missionaries and branch members to go with us to Bunakan Island, a beautiful island about one hour north of Menado. It was a beautiful day; just off the coast of the island is a coral reef which is spectacular. All but three of us went on to shore to see the island. We went snorkeling on and around the reef. It was the most beautiful snorkeling we have ever done. Millions of fish and many colors of fish and coral we have ever seen. We went to church there on Sunday and were asked to speak. There church is very small but they have a good spirit.
We got back from Menado on the evening of 16th and boarded the plane again for Medan where on the morning of the 17th we travel 10 hours by car to Lake Toba and stayed over night there before going onto Parlilitan for the opening of a Clean Water Project by 10:00 AM the next day. This happens to be close to the western side of Sumatra. Living conditions are very difficult there for these people, they are very poor. The land doesn't seem to be very productive for them. Most all this area we traveled through was Christian area. They seem to make things work for them. We have noticed that Christian people seem to be closer to the Lord than the Muslin. We do not know why but it seems to be true. We met with the village leaders and the religious leaders whom were very anxious for our help in making a clean water system. As we participated in the Opening Ceremony we laid the first brick for the inside wall of the cement tank which will hold 50 cubic meters of water. That's big. Then they had a feast. Sister Walker and I being the guest of honor were given the pig's head to carve. This was not a pretty sight. We thought we were going to get sick from the food we ate that day, for we eat dog, horse, fox and pig, and pig's liver. The pig's liver was the best of all that was there to eat. This clean water system will be a blessing to these people and it is really needed. At about 2:00 pm we left to return to Lake Toba which is a resort city there with a good hotel. The next morning we were chaffered by Vera and Sihol Munallung who are brother and sister and recently returned missionaries. They are converts to the church of not many years. Sihol joined the church first and went on a mission and during his mission was allowed to come home to baptize his parents. We toured the Lake Toba area even taking a ferry across the lake to the island where Vera and Sihol's mother was born. We swim in a hot spring, and we mean hot spring. This is Batak culture which is different. The buildings structure is different and customs are different. The houses are built on stilts and the pigs are raised under the house, see pictures. What an experience we are having here in Indonesia, the people, language, and culture in each area are so different, but the people are good people, good looking people, friendly people, people who want to shake our hands and say something to us even though we can not understand them, but it is understood with feeling and with the heart. We love the gospel and we know it is true.
