Monkey Band

On Saturday we drove out to Gresik to visit a family...takes about an hour to dive there.  While we were in their home two young men with their drum and performing monkey came down the street and stopped for a performance! Of course we had to come out and watch...families living in the the kompon were all out to watch.  The monkey is on a leash and rides a scooter or 'motorcycle' up and own the street with one man loosening then pulling on the leash.  The other young man squats at the side of the street beating a drum and something else that sounds like something between a cymbal and a horn.  At the end of the performance the monkey carries a bucket around to collect money fom the observers!  Quite entertaining :)

Visiting Sister Endang's  family in Gresik

The monkey and his 'motorcycle'

Drum player on the left...monkey at far end of the street

Can't really see it but at different iMessage the monkey puts on some pretty grotesque masks!!

Love Notes

Chinese New Year

Brother and Sister Bench invited us to her mothers home for a traditional Chinese New Years celebration.  From 1966-2000 the Chinese were forbidden to celebrate the New Year in Indonesia.  Their schools were shut down and many were forced to change their names in order to avoid persecution.  All of this in spite of the fact that most had been born in Indonesia....their parents had immigrated to this country.

Sister Bench's father and his first wife.  This shrine was the first thing you saw as you entered the home.  As family arrived they each took three sticks of incense, lit them from the candles, stood in front of the shrine and offered prayers, bowed three times and placed the incense in the silver container.

Family members in traditional Chinese clothing 

A gift brought to the home...everything is made from chocolate (the oranges, the bowl, the plate, the chopsticks, the sign)

Our apartment lobby decorated for Chinese New Year...it's the year of the horse

Traditional Market

On the day of celebration for Chinese New Year Sister Bench took Elder and I to a traditional market...the largest one in Surabaya.  We do not shop at traditional markets because the prices skyrocket when they see a white person!  The market was like a maze...walking down cobblestone streets, weaving in every direction, going on for maybe a mile or so!  We would have been completely lost without a guide!!  One woman reached out and grabbed my arm while speaking Indonesian...Sister Bench said something firmly to her and she finally let go!  Some called out to us, but most simply stared!   We try to be friendly and smile and say 'halo' (hello) to each person we see...and most respond in the same way :)

Couple selling scallions

Baskets full of chickens....they grab a chicken, throw it in a pot of boiling water (pot on right), pull it out of that pot and toss it into another one ( pot on left) where the feathers come off.  Then they pull it out and throw it onto the table where the insides are removed.  A man was sitting on the ground with a bucket of filthy water cleaning the intestines as they came out of the chickens (they sell those separately).  Restaurants, groceries and individuals then come and make their purchases!

Baskets of dried fish and fish parts...you can imagine that the olfactory organs are on overload :)

Women preparing scallions...note the chicken walking through....they are all around!

The fresh fish market...they were waiting for the trucks to arrive with the days catches

Photos do absolutely nothing to actually describe the experience....wish you could be here and go with us!!

The Java Post

We receive a daily newspaper and with the help of a dictionary can get the gist of most of the articles.  It's helpful because here they add illustrations with many news articles....an example from this week:

The Familiar Unfamiliar

Spent the day in Sidoarjo looking for a truck to rent to move one set of elders next Tuesday.  Lunched at McDs and spent the afternoon/evening visiting teaching four sisters.  The sights have become so familiar that sometimes I forget how awesome they are!  Am trying to be better about preserving them through photos....

Stopped at a roadside fruit stand to buy bananas, clementines, and something else that we don't have in the states and I don't know the name of (little round brown fruits pictured above)

This is how we park on the street when stopping at the fruit stand...still on the street...and traffic just moves around you

Cemetery near Sister Santis house

Crowing rooster on other side of cemetery

Roadside nursery

Mohammad's Birthday

Getting set up for Cuci motor...

Elder Suryono

First customer...no water...pump motor burned out...no Cuci motor

Elders Hall and Rogers entertaining themselves

Visiting Cuang family...Bianca and Esther had just returned from YW activity where they learned to crochet

Elders Johnson and Hall reviewing the Plan of Salvation...Bianca and Esther were baptized in November

Elders with Sister Cuang and her two daughters

Next stop...family investigating the church

Elders Johnson and Hall teaching the Restoration

We were walking behind the elders on our way to the appointment