Dancing and the rain

Rain rain rain,  Here is Elder Jeffery waiting out the bucktes of water pouring from the sky.  He found a convient spot with noodles and sate.  The day before he was not so fortuanat in staying dry.  Sister Jefery took the car for the sister viits while Elder Jeffey manhandled traffic, ponchos and bikes in the downpour.

We were invited to teach English at a Junior High School in Yogja.  We were concerned about wearing Church of Jesus Christ nametags at a Muslim school, but the school is funded by the No sect which was founded by a friend of the Church, Gus Dur.  Everyone enjoyed our visit.  

A wonderufl 3 hour trip with other branch members including at least 10 investigators to a stake activity in Solo.  Elder Jeffery spent a good portion of the trip explaining the Restoration to the man next to him who's a restaraunt manager in Bali.  His best friend is a member, but this was the first explanation he'd had about our Church so it was fun.

Hundreds of people donned costumes for the event, even several missionaries who sort of stood out.

Yeriko here takes his last opporunity to smile before he puts on a mostache and has to keep a straight face for hours.

Shy Felicia even smiled.   

This man, Pri, was taught as a boy by Elders Jeffery and Bailey 41 years ago.  Now he's preparing to dance with his son. 

Sister Jeffery's companions were dancers too, and later Dede put on a costume.

The event was atended by a whole bunch of Surakata Stake members, but the two in middle seem to stand out in this crowd.

 The stake president took time to honor the Indonesian pioneers of the Church as they celebrated 3 years of being organized as a stake and 45 years of the Gospel being preached in Indonesia.  We were impressed because this event showed us this is not a clone of the Church we have in America, but it's Christ's church throughout the world.

Each ward and branch performed a traditional Indonesian dance from a different culture with an exciting display of costumes, talent, and enthusiasm.  It was thrilling to watch the youth, ward leadership, and missionaries having so much fun putting together this extravganza.

We visited the cherry tree at the mall before heading off to the hospital for a surgery.  Good Elders Keller, Sumanungkalit and Sutadiyono stayed with Elder Z while we kept everyone informed throughout.  We are grateful for their support as we help watch out for missionaries in our area.

 and Happy Birthday to Sister Jeffery.  With missionaries and young single adults that come by, there are lots of young men in Sister Jeffery's life.  So reminicient of the last few years, she is right at home.  Some of them came by to present chocolate treats and necklaces. Wow, they know about her favorites. ElderJeffery splurged at the mall for a new swimsuit.  The deal was 70% off so that assuaged the mall thing.  But now Sister Jeffery feels more comfortable swimming with the women in full body suits and headgear that frequent the pool.  Phone calls from family in the states rounded out the treats.