It is definitely time to let you know that we are still here and doing well in Indonesia. We have had a very interesting week and are learning more and more about the Indonesian people.
 
First, Indonesians celebrate any and every holiday that is available. Thursday, May 17, was Ascension Day, the day Christ ascended into heaven. It was a national holiday. The post office was closed, The Jakarta Post did not publish a newspaper, the schools were closed for the weekend, and except for stores and restaurants, most businesses were closed.
 
On Wednesday we drove up to Bogor which is in the hills south of Jakarta. It was a very easy drive with little traffic and only took about 45 minutes. There we drove further up into the hills with our friends Elder and Sister Kane to visit an orphanage. The Kane’s are Humanitarian missionaries and became involved with this orphanage through a project in which the  Church paid for an autoclave for the orphanage. It is used to sterilize the medium in which mushrooms are grown. When the medium is sterilized the mushroom spores are introduced and then it is kept until the mushrooms are ready to grow. At that point it is sold producing money to run the orphanage. We were interested in observing this project to see if it is something that we can recommend to older women who need employment. Most employers here in Indonesia are looking for employees who are in their twenties. It is very difficult for anyone over 35 or 40 to find a new job.
 
Now back to the orphanage, which is an amazing operation. It is run by a young woman and her husband. They are parents of three children. There are 40 orphans there. Seventeen are true orphans. The other 23 still have at least one parent living, but for one reason or another they are unable to support them. They finance the orphanage through a variety of projects. They rent party supplies and cater parties. They have a sewing business. They run a kindergarten for neighborhood children. They manufacture rough boxes for carrying fruit and now they have the mushroom project. I have attached pictures of children at the school, the owner by the autoclave, and mushrooms growing out of the small plastic bags containing the mushroom-growing medium. This is truly an example of what can be accomplished by one young woman who has a vision and a desire to help others. She has gone out and found a need and learned how to make her dreams a reality.
 
We then visited a Textile School to see if we could recommend it as a good place for PEF Students to study. They have a first class operation. They train their students in manufacturing and merchandising. They finish as qualified line supervisors for garment manufacturers or are  qualified to work in merchandising. Some students never finish school because they are hired away before the end of the course!
 
When we left Bogor we had a very easy drive back to Jakarta but then ran into one of the infamous Jakarta traffic jams. We got off the Jalan Tol (Toll Road) at about 5:15. It should have taken about 15 minutes to get the rest of the way home to our apartment. It took two hours! This was one of the worst we have ever been in. You never really know what the cause of a traffic jam is, but this appeared to be caused by the fact that the next day was a holiday and everyone was just trying to get somewhere else! Usually if there is a traffic jam on the main roads our driver, Sam, is able to turn off onto a small (just barely two cars wide) road which winds through a kampung and avoids the worst part of the jam. This time it was a major mistake. When we got about a block down the side road we came to a dead stop. Everyone else was trying the same thing! We finally got home at 7:15.
 
Last week we attended a birthday celebration for a School for the Blind. It was established 34 years ago. Each student there is blind and has at least one other handicap. Many of them are deaf and some are mentally handicapped. This school is supported by a board of people who raise funds for it by looking for donations. It is supported mainly by Christian churches, but many of the students are Muslim. The parents of the students who can afford to send their children to the school pay some money, but those who have no money are not turned away. One of the students there was found on the streets of Jakarta being used as a beggar by other people. She is an orphan and now lives at the school.
 
The birthday celebration was a delightful experience with several of the students singing and performing. The performance by the band and the bell choir was outstanding. Everyone was very enthusiastic and had a great time. We even learned to sing a few Indonesian songs. We were invited to the celebration because last year Elder and Sister Leishman, whom we replaced in the Employment Office, oversaw two projects where the Church paid for a new larger water tank for the school and a new stove and cupboards for the kitchen, allowing them to be able to feed lunch to all the students each day and to have clean water for everyone.
 
On Thursday we attended a branch outing with the Tangerang 2 Branch. We took buses up to a Tea Plantation near Bogor.  We went on a five kilometer walk through the tea plantation and then had lunch and watched everyone sing and play games. The highlight (or lowlight) of my day was falling down because of a loose rock in a pathway after I had completed the five kilometer walk. Luckily the only damage was a small cut near my eye (no stitches needed but enough blood to worry everyone) a bruise on my chin and a couple scratches on my knee. No other problems at all. While we were there we figured out how to take movies with our camera and we have a fun one of the kids chasing bubbles and a hilarious one of the adults and teenagers playing a game. They are running around flapping their arms and “cheeping” looking for the rest of their bird family. Everyone was very tired on the way home.

As I reflect on these experiences and others, I think about the many problems facing the country of Indonesia and know that somehow they will meet the challenges. There is great poverty here but there are many people trying to fight it. For over 300 years they were treated as second-class citizens in their own country. Now they are forming a new identity. They have been thrust into a new industrial world with its related problems of traffic, over-crowding, trash, etc. with nothing in place to deal with these things. It will be interesting to see the solutions they come up with. One suggestion put out by the government to alleviate part of the traffic problem in Jakarta is to abolish the sale of new cars in Jakarta. That will be really interesting to see what happens if that takes place. Right now during parts of the day on some streets only cars that have three people in them are allowed. As a consequence, you have people standing near those streets waiting to be hired as a passenger.

I have included with this letter a picture of a monkey which lives across the street from us. His owner sells carvings which are not very good. I think the monkey is his principle model.

Well, enough for now. This has taken all day to write. Bill just said that he is sure Gone With The Wind was written in about the same time. We love you all and welcome lots of letters. It’s always good to know that home is still there and all is well. Please let us know what is happening in your families.