Motorcycle loads can be found anywhere in Indonesia. This is an interesting one because the rider is carrying it himself. Usually there is a passenger who handles the load so the driver can use both hands. The craft fair was not much but I thought this lady’s booth was very rich and beautiful. Too bad there were not many people who got to see it. There are horse drawn carriages everywhere in Jogya. This is one of the nicer ones and the owner obviously takes good care of it and his horse. This is not always the case and some of the horses look under nourished.
Our missionary group photo. Elder Torrens and Elder McMillian will have more baptisms on June 6th than the branch has had in 3 years and there are more progressive investigators in the system. The Taylors love these two missionaries. We had the privilege of working with both of them for a short time while they were in Jakarta. President Marchant and Elder Taylor at the Taylor’s before we left for the chapel on Friday. The Jogya chapel is having a major face lift. The ever present bamboo scaffolding makes an interesting design.
17 May 2008 – Saturday
I slept very well and longer than usual. I did not even wake up once. Before breakfast I took a walk around the neighborhood to see what there was to see. After breakfast we read from the Kitab Mormon while the Taylors got things together for the fireside tonight. They are going to have banana splits.
Since President Marchant needed the Taylors car and driver, we took a cab to drop off our pictures to be printed. Then we went to see a craft fair. It turned out to be a rather pathetic thing but when the Marchants and Toones joined us they found some things they really liked and made the day for one of the merchants. I bought a shirt and Mary got a very colorful mat.
They then dropped us off at Malioboro street so we could get a couple of things we wanted to take back to give to people. They then went to the Taylors house to pick up the food. We quickly found what we wanted but it took a while to negotiate the right price. It is rather fun once you get the idea of what you can get things for. Once we had them, we went to the hotel where the others are staying and used the President’s key to rest for a while in the cool of their room.
Then we caught a couple of pedi-cabs to the chapel. That took longer than expected but it was certainly faster than walking and a lot more fun. The cab drivers were really friendly and one spoke pretty good English. It is amazing how they work their way through the traffic.
The fireside was pretty well attended and I think I did well telling about my conversion and giving the youth a challenge to bring friends to English class so they could learn English and see how the gospel brings joy to each of the youth. They do not have to really preach the gospel – just live it. I will be interested in if they will actually do this or not.
After the meeting I scooped the ice cream for the banana splits. The youth went through almost all the 8 liters of ice cream. While we were doing this President Marchant, the Toones and Hendra from the office had a meeting about financial keeping and auditing.
When all the meetings were over, we all went to dinner at a hotel. Elder McMillan and Elder Torrens joined us. As usual the food was excellent and I ate way too much food. But the best part was sitting around the table talking about our mission experiences. It is rather amazing how the Lord takes people from different backgrounds, with different talents and with different ideas and makes them one in His service.
By the time we got back to the Taylors’ we were very tired but I decided I needed to pack as much as I could before going to bed. I was able to pack just about everything that we had bought and that which we would not need tomorrow in the big suitcase. We should be able to pack rather quickly tomorrow morning.
I have not mentioned that Elder Taylor has dropped over 20 pounds and looks great. He wants to lose more and I am sure he will. I had forgotten that Sister Taylor was a diabetic and so she has to be careful about her diet. So here is a couple where the husband has had three hernia operations in less than two years and a wife that has diabetes having a great influence on the people in Jogya Indonesia. As we talked to the Taylors about their plans they say that they are going to continuing serving missions as long as they are able.