A picture for our ex-band students.   We saw this marching band practicing in front of their school.  Notice the girls in headscarves, the big traffic barrier.  This is a busy street and we had a difficult time getting a picture without a vehicle in it.

Sister Jeffery did the bike thing in Yogyakarta again this week.  We pulled up this close in our car, and I whistled to get their attention.  Evidently the sisters told Julie to ignore the whistlers.  They get it too often and don't want to give any undue encouragement.  So no chance to get a better photo.

This 72 year old fellow lives in the apartment behind us.  Inside it looks like the dwelling was added underneath the eaves.  He's a well spoken intelligent servant of God at another church, who has started learning from the missionaries and passes along his new ideas to congregants of his church.  I suggested that his English is good enough that he might enjoy the video, "A Voice from the Dust."

We were commissioned to buy a television for the Magelang Branch to use to watch general conference  this week.  Yes, it;s a week late waiting for translation to be done and files to be uploaded and mailed etc.  Anyway we decided to buy in Yogyakarta.  We found "the" television but the store wanted to add a service fee to use my debit card.  I was insulted so they spent 10 minutes on the phone trying to get up the courage to use it, but finally refused.  Everyplace else I've bought things with my US based debit card hasn't had a problem.  So we went on to a second store nearby.  They had the same television set so we handed them our card.  You can see the selection of 12 credit/debit card authorization machines this cashier has to work with.  Yes, I don't say sales clerk, because in Indonesia the sales clerks help you get the item, then writes up an invoice which you present to the cashier to make the payment.  Then you take the sales receipt with the right stamps on it back to the sales clerk to get the item you purchased.  Anyway evidently none of these devices was good enough for her to get my debit card approved.  I handed her my credit card instead, but that was declined.  I haven't used it here before and I found out later that Chase needs prior notice of travelling abroad to allow one to make such purchases.  Fraud alert texted me to tell me someone had tried to use my card in Indonesia so I called.  Anyway after this mass of machines couldn't process my debit or credit card, I went to the ATM.  No problem getting $250 worth of cash out of that machine.  So after picking up the needed cash, I literally walked 60 feet within the same store to pay this cashier for the television.  

That night after Julie taught English, we walked 75 yards from the church to a sidewalk cafe for this feast.  For <$1 each we ate this deep fried fish with veges and rice.  It looked a little strange to me, but it tasted very good.  The bones were cooked enough that I could just chew on through and the spices were just right.  Hunger really is the best spice though.  Julie wasn't quite as impressed so I finished up her fish, except I didn't eat the heads.

The Yogyakarta missionaries decided to try a sports night.  I'm not sure how well the word got out, but we missionaries had a good time with a handful of youth showing up too.  The blonde is Sister Zabrinski who was sick last week, so you notice she's doing better now.  Sister Manurung who was sick later calls her companion Barbie.  Sister Jeffery who nursed Sister Z is now sick herself and was home fighting a fever that night.

I got to teach Sister's seminary lesson this time.  The teacher was running late so it was a good thing I filled in.  After acting out a short story from the life of Spencer W Kimball, I separated the youth into small groups and handed out a story from SWK's life to each.  Then they came to the front and acted the story out.  They did have fun.

Okay seminary even at 7 pm on a Friday night can begin to resemble the 6 a.m. experience that Julie is used to teaching.

Here's where Julie was while I was teaching.  I've been privileged to take care of her for a few days.  We did enjoy General Conference.  I downloaded all the audio files onto my cellphone and used our bluetooth speakers at home to listen.  We are truly blessed to have the counsel of living prophets and apostles to help us put our lives in tune with the Lord.

The theme of this conference seemed to be families. President Packer emphasized the love in marriage done the right way. Sister Burton explained how important men are and relationships with them are to be treasured. We didn't see the visual so it was fun to learn from our friend Mahar that he appreciated the visual example of a right and left hand working together. Although men and women are different, they are alike in many ways but not all and their complementary nature makes things work best. It's a good analogy to marriage, right and left hands both needed. Elder Perry talked about the international conference on the family held at the Vatican where Pres Eyring gave the final address. He also noted that "a Muslim scholar from Iran quoted two paragraphs verbatim from our very own proclamation on the family." Elder Kristopherson stated that a critical mass of families is a requirement for societies to sustain themselves. He also noted that the unmarried needed to not let fear overcome their faith.  Elder Wilford Anderson talked about how a medicine man asked a doctor if he danced. When asked if he could teach, the medicine man said he could teach the doctor to dance, but it wouldn't do much good unless the doctor could hear the music. We need to teach children and others in the gospel to hear the music of Jesus Christ not just perform the actions.

I liked Dale Renlund telling about Nelson Mandella's definition of a saint=a sinner who keeps on trying.

Another 70 told about how Shiblon is his hero, a young man who without requiring acclaim or high status steadily performed the duties assigned by his father for the Lord. Elder Cook followed the family theme too in telling how families need to be like sunflower buds. These plant turn to follow the sun throughout the day as we much stay turned toward the Son to get our spiritual nourishment. Families need to keep doing those things that follow the commandments: family home evening, family prayer, family scripture study, priesthood blessings, etc. Elder Ballard talked about missionary work, but he also encouraged all returned missionaries not be “Retired Mormons”. He gave us each a GA interview so we can know if we are on track. RM's need to get busy finding wives and onto fatherhood, live balanced lives.

I liked Elder Gibson's talk (he's one of those we met in KL last November and was released from the YM presidency). He told about how he went on a 50/20 with two of his sons. That's 50 miles in 20 hours, so when they returned they collapsed. They each told him they we glad they'd done it but would never do it again, except one said unless his son asked him to. That vision of himself as a future father is cool. It proved that his son is moving in the right direction. For us that's the main reason we are here on the earth, to prepare to be perfect parents. Wow!

The Relief Society session was all about families too and celebrated the 20th anniversary of the presentation of the Proclamation on the Family.