President & Sister Rowley Indonesia Jakarta Mission: August 1-13, 2016

August, 2016

August 1--6, 2016

We were busy the first week of August preparing for our first set of new missionaries. They were set to arrive Wednesday, August 3, but only two arrived that day. The rest were delayed because of visa problems. Instead they arrived at 12:10 AM on Saturday, August 6th! It was so great to see them especially as they were also the group we met in Provo in the Missionary Training Center back in June. Enthusiastically they oohed and aahed over the sights of Jakarta at night as they rode in the hired bus to the mission home. We fed them and got them to bed asap so they'd be ready for training in the morning.

First Authentic Indonesian Meal=Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, White Rice, Beef with Broccoli, Whole Fried Gurame Fish, Butter Chicken, Fried Eggs and we also had Fruits and Cookies.

August 7--13, 2016

We attended church in Bogor--a two hour taxi ride to get there and a three hour taxi ride to get back because of vacationers returning to Jakarta Sunday night.

This is an angkut which is a small van with forward facing seats replaced with wooden benches on three sides. You can cram about 10-12 people in these and there's no A/C but great chances to talk to people because everyone is very close!

Crazy traffic in Bogor and bamboo scaffolding which I'm told is extremely strong.

A city park in Bogor decked out for the upcoming Independence Day. Many small free roaming deer behind the fence.-- (they weren't UTAH deer)

Families of our missionaries--bottom family has 10 children. The very young looking mom is in the middle in the back. Church behind us.

Members and missionaries eating Pot Luck Dinner after church. Disposable plates and cups are hard to find and never used--dishes are just continually being washed and set out.

Three of our sister missionaries in their home. From the church we took an ankut, then walked the rest of the way and I nearly died from the heat! These wonderful sisters are all acclimated and used to being sweaty. They live in an area called "Hollywood" --President in front of their neighborhood sign. It in no way resembles Hollywood, CA except maybe the palm trees.

The rest of the week we finished our new missionaries Visa requirements and sent them to their areas with their new companions. On August 12th we flew to Medan on the island of Sumatra to train missionaries and Branch members, for President to call a new Branch President (the current one is moving to Bali) and for the Medan Branch Conference. We also celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Pretty exotic place to celebrate! Thank you President Rowley!

Chandelier in Jakarta airport (above) & Batik Airlines Flight Attendants (below) and views from the high speed train that takes you from Medan airport into town.