We were able to participate in the third regional seminar in Semarang which is the capital of Central Java. This presentation was made to a group of Christian's educators, about 75. They receive the FEP program so well. At the end a retired protestant minister gave the closing prayer not understanding the prayer we didn't ask for any translation because a prayer is a prayer, but Elder Anderson a missionary who was present, came up after and said did you hear that prayer. Well yes, we said but we didn't understand and he said that the minister prayed for our church that we would grow in Indonesia and we would be successful in taking the FEP all over Indonesia. We went and visited with him. He was one that had vocally participated quite a bit in the seminar and contributed much to the discussion. He was very complimentary to what was presented. Soeryo then said, that we shouldn't go home that night because we needed to stay a while and interact with these people, which we did and we stayed then changed our flight plans. This turned out to very positive. That night we went out to dinner on the ocean front and Soeryo invited his mother-in-law to come with us. This was a sweet lady who spoke very good English, we had the missionaries with us and as we sat at dinner that night they both asked so many questions about the Church. Soeryo's mother-in-law is Muslin and wears her Jil-bop and she had one question after another for the missionaries. It was good. Now, prior to this we had the opportunity to tell Soeryo the Joseph Smith story and introduce him to the Book of Mormon which he found to be very interesting but not much comment at that time. We went back to our hotel room and planned to get up early and tour the town the next day before our flight back to Jakarta. Soeryo became our official tour guide. We rented a car and went to see a China Muslin temple, to a large Mosque, a Christian Dutch Church build in 1753, China town, and old town Semarang, and before we left to the airport we had dinner at an old restaurant which was build in 1937, before the Japanese occupation, not much different than when it was built except for the electricity. Each time we would get into the car to see the next attraction he would ask several questions about the church, we would talk some time to answer his question, then a quiet moment before the next question. This went on for the whole day. We had the opportunity to tell him about the church being the same organization that existed in Christ church when he was upon the earth in the medium of time. We told him about our young men's and young women's program, primary for the children, that our young men take upon themselves the priesthood starting at the age of 12 and by the time they are 16 can bless the sacrament before the congregation then at 19 are able to serve on a mission which he knows about because he has met many of our missionaries. We talked about our temple some of the sacred work that goes on there. He immediately started to compare with his holy sanctuary at Mecca. At one point in the conversation he said that he couldn't change that he needed to stay the course and pray five times daily. We have never talked to him about change but in his mind those thoughts were being entertained. Now we don't proselyte Muslins, but if he asks to be taught and it is approved by president we could teach and baptize him. However with the political ambition he has and all the friends he has in high places it would destroy his temporal life and career. We know that the Lord has placed him here to help us promote the Family Enrichment Program, and he can do that and be more effective as Muslin than as a member of our Church. As we boarded the airplane, he sat in the first class section and we were in economy and as we arrived in Jakarta he asked if we had a way to get home and we said we will call a taxi, but he insisted on bringing us home and more conversation took place as we traveled home. He commented that he enjoyed being with us and for that reason wanted to take us home as well as saving gas and pollution. We can't help but think that our being ordained as Minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have His Spirit with us, and having been endowed with power from on high is the reason for Soeryo's desire to be with us.
The last week of the month we traveled to Parlilitan, North Sumatra to do our second clean water inspection of the project in process. We found that they are have problems getting supplies into that remote area so we took a list of supplies they needed and were able to purchase them here in Jakarta and ship to Medan where they will pick them up for use in the project. On our way home and after looking at a map we decided to take a different way home. We soon found out that with the lay of the land and mountain terrain that this was longer than the way we took to get there. However, as we approached Lake Toba we found ourselves on top of a mountain range looking down on Lake Toba with such beauty. We were four thousand feet high looking down on the lake. We thought that someone in a hang glider would enjoy that ride better than us. The beauty of Indonesia is incredible and pictures don't do it justice.
The next day as we left the mountain region near Lake Toba we travel through a couple hundred miles of palm tree plantations (these are trees having clusters of berries that are harvested for palm oil, the largest export crop for Indonesia) we received a phone call from President Marchant announcing to us that our replacements had been called and they will be arriving in the mission field about February 15. We were not ready for that phone call! In fact as we reviewed our call and timing of our call, this is a month earlier than our call. Upon our return to Jakarta on Friday President Marchant asked that we call Elder and Sister Millecam from Vernal, Utah and talk to them about the work and Indonesia. We have found that when mission calls are made to Indonesia many couples have reluctant feelings about Indonesia, which after being here we find they are unfounded. We found, as expected, that they were overwhelmed with their call. Well, we knew how that feeling was like. We relieved their feelings by telling them of the great work that is being accomplished here. Its sounds like they are a great couple and they will be able to accomplish great things. It leaves us with the feeling now of transition and thinking about how we can leave things which will help them get into their work. It's for sure that we are going to leave them with plenty of things to do.
Upon arriving back at Medan we were invited by Parlindungan Purba to visit an area next to the sea where a village was in need of clean water. As we arrived we could not believe the conditions which these people live. They were poor! Parlin told us that these were fishermen and that fishermen are the poorest people in Indonesia. We could see the channel near their homes where they docked their boats and it appeared that their boats were not sea worthy. It hurts to see the way some of our brothers and sister have to live. All this makes us grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we know he lives and loves all his children regardless of where they may be on this earth.
