Barat RS Birthday Celebration

Friday, April 18th 2004

Baking Cakes, Sharing Lunch, Women's Health Symposium

Schedule:

9:00 celebration Begins

We arrived at 9...one sister was there, no one from the presidency

I helped Vivi grease and line cake pans

10:00

Four sisters were there

Began making cakes...two mixers and two bowls

11:00

Prepared containers to take cakes to sisters unable to attend

I made some bows...most were remade :)

12:30

Delicious Lunch!!

The oldest sisters were served first...that included me :)

Note the cone of yellow rice in the center...yellow rice is served only on special occasions!

1:30

Left for Zone Conference at the Timur Chapel

Love the Indonesian way of doing things...love, love, love these sisters :)

Chinese Memorial Day

Brother and Sister Bench invited us to join her family to celebrate Chinese Memorial Day.  Traveled to a Chinese cemetery near Malang where Sister Bench's father is buried.  The cemetery is high in the mountains and absolutely beautiful!

Headstone....her father is buried in the mound behind

The family is Buddhist..the food offering is so her father won't be hungry

The family covers the burial mound with paper to keep the body shaded from the sun;  once the papers are placed over the grave flower petals are thrown to cover the paper to keep the body smelling good.

At the side of the gravesite is a shrine to the Land God.  Food offerings, incense and burning candles were placed on the shrine.

At the other side of the gravesite is a pit to make burnt offerings.  A bag of 'money' is burned to assure prosperity to the family of the deceased.

The neighboring grave

View from the gravesite 

Stopped for lunch on our way home :)

Nini and Alex

Sister Nini and President Alex of the Barat Branch invited some of the missionaries to dinner this week.  Their home is beautiful...the most American-like we have been to.  I would assume they are the wealthiest family in the church in Surabaya.  They are a generous, gracious family!   We enjoyed a delicious feast and warm friendship!

From left:  Elder Anderson, President Alex, Alexandra, Sister Nini's mother, Sister Anderson, Amanda

Standing:  Elder Simanungkalit, Elder Gil, Sister Nini

P-Day Part One

Since Surabaya is lacking in sites to explore, and since we can't fit all of the elders in our car, we decided to do p-day in two shifts.  Last Monday we took the Bart Elders to the Taman Safari, about an hour and a half drive from Surabaya.  Monday we will go again with the Timur Elders :). It really was a fun day....beautiful country, vast variety of animals, and entertaining shows!

Elders Gil, Simanungkalit, Green, Johnson (on rock), Peter, Elder Anderson

Baby hippo...two months old and so cute!

Driving through a winding, one-way road with the animals au natural....

Must be mating season...not the only eyeful we saw on our drive!  The young elders were a little flustered :)

Adventurers!

Elder Anderson's First Baptism

We had a baptism yesterday, April 6th, in the Barat Branch.  Sister Kristini's two oldest children were baptized about two months ago and I had the privilege of speaking at their baptism :).  Sister Kristini requested that Elder Anderson baptize her....we have twice been with the young elders during her discussions.  It was a beautiful baptism...the spirit was so strong...and Elder Anderson flawlessly offered the baptismal prayer in Indonesian!  

Elder Simanungkalit, Elder Johnson, Sister Kristini and two of her children, and Elder Anderson

E & S Anderson with Sister Kristini

Service Exchange?

Monday was a Muslim holiday so the Timur Branch arranged a service exchange with the meetinghouse neighbors.  We were going to do a cleaning project in their neighborhood, they would assist with cleaning the meetinghouse grounds, and we would have lunch together.  When we arrived at 9am (the appointed time)  very few members were there.  By 10am those who would be coming had arrived....very typical in Indonesia :).  Unfortunately our Muslim neighbors began their neighborhood cleaning at 6am and were finished by the time we showed up!  They came and helped cut and remove tree branches and washed windows, after which the branch provided lunch for all.  The branch also donated an item to the neighborhood .....

A body carrier to transport the body from the home to the cemetery 

Muslims are not embalmed in Indonesia....the body is washed and wrapped in a shroud then buried either the same day or the following day.  A member was telling me that 'sticks' are placed in the nostrils and ears to prevent the leakage of bodily fluids.  Christians are also not embalmed but dressed and then wrapped for burial....some are buried in caskets.  (All info from local residents :))