Recruiting Help from Jay and Bonnie Jeffery

We have missed blogging for a few weeks as we have been quite busy.  Our institute classes are lots and lots of fun with the youth ready to play at a moment's notice.  Below is a game of wanna be badminton, 3-man net. 

Our institute classes were combined so we could follow the class with a planning meeting for a stake Young Singles activity.   Our stake president asked us to work on this since the singles haven't had an activity for awhile.   We are just the catalyst as the high councilman and the youth took off with planning and we just enjoyed the ride.  They are  a group of very capable people and were quick to come up with a plan they all wanted to do,  go camping!!!  Of course we were on board to chaperon but our stake high council had concerns and nixed the idea.  So, a sad group has reconvened to come up with alternate plans.
Last night a facility was located with sleeping quarters but with a rustic enough feel to utilize their camping agenda.  We are up on the side of Mount Merapi in the forest area and Julie is happy since an evening campfire will begin the activity.
We should have a report of the activity soon as it is in three weeks.  Not a lot of lead time but an eager and active bunch.

As the happily married, romantic missionary couple we were asked to help with this YSA quasi camping trip, since the goal is to get these guys married to members of the church.  We were wondering how we could tiptoe around the topic but they were up front and center.  Theme suggestions were "Ask me out on a Date"  or "Finding Our Other Half".  The trip to the temple is costly as they have to save several months salary and then the Temple Patron Assistance Fund pays for the remaining expenses.  (Consider donating). But Stake President Budi offered to make it a free trip to the temple in Manila for anyone who can get married before the end of the year.   That announcement was met with cheers.  

Another key project for the senior missionaries is to get primary going.   We have some rambunctious boys who are eager to play and love to sing.    But their rowdy demeanor is tough on visitors and we are working on that.  Beans in a jar worked well last week.  Sister J has lots of tactics for classroom activities and hard as it may be to do it in Indonesian, the boys are having a wonderful time feeling the sweet spirit that learning the gospel brings.

Puzzle time and a visit from King Benjamin.

Julie's dear friend and Young Women's President, Debora worked in Jogjakarta for a short while.  We visited and met her co worker in the perfume sales business.  We are happy to have her back in Magelang now. 

Our Magelang elders (Tufaga, Marianus, Setiawan, and Tubbs) worked on a service project cleaning the stairs in our neighborhood.  They are a hard working bunch but showed up in their white shirts for the dirty job.  Elder and Sister J rounded up enough t-shirts from their slim closet to out fit the group and off they went.  

Piano instruction is moving along.  Dede has been helping with our class in Jogya but he has just left this week for his mission.  At least we will have the blessing of his service in Indonesia.   

Elder and Sister Jeffery decided to take a bike ride a few days ago.  It's beautiful out.  This man flagged us down and wanted to talk.  Turns out he's a big time fan of Steven R Covey.  Mel took a class from Covey and we even visited his home as MBA students, so we found it enjoyable to share common values with this devout Moslem family.

Elder Jeffery enjoys going with the Jogya elders (Martineau and Siaaha) on Wednesdays and Fridays each week.  Here they are meeting people on the busy street of Jalan Malioboro.  Anything you can want as an Indonesian souvenir is sold on this busy and crowded avenue.   Lots of people to meet too.

Busy, busy , busy missionaries called in some help for the work and Elder Jeffery's parents arrived for duty.  Jay and Bonnie Jeffery are 85 and 82 years old respectively, but their presence here demonstrated that you are never too old to help out.

One of our first stops was the ancient Buddhist temple Borobudur.  Jay and Bonnie's achievement was making it up the long flights of stairs to the top.  Bonnie was asking for the elevator down.

Bonnie, who has never met a stranger in her life, didn't let language barriers get in the way of meeting new people.  

A trip to Magelang would not be complete without an outing up into the mountains.  We tried to hike to the waterfall but the trail was longer than we had planned and Jay opted to view the scenery form the back seat of the car.

Produce is grown up here in the cooler weather of the
mountains  and we often take advantage
of the roadside stalls.

Bonnie enjoyed the flowers along the way.
But it is near the end of the dry season
and flowers are scarce.
With plenty of rice fields ready for harvest
she asked many questions about this crop, which we of course,
 never having been rice farmers, couldn't answer.

We stopped for a lunch of Javanese duck, this one was already plucked and all parts are eaten.
And Bonnie found a chicken she thought
was beautiful.  There are chickens wandering
everywhere here

We introduced Our parents to some of friends.  Jessica
our branch president's daughter is a gracious
college student and speaks English.  Most of the textbooks
she uses in school are in English

Our neighbor and waitress at the
nearby Gyant Steak restaurant
was eager to say hello

 Suparti, a member of the branch sells
used clothing along the street or at one of
the local pasars.

During our Sunday visit to Jogya, we met up with Brother and Sister Noni and their daughter who is attending college in Jogyakarta.  Unfortunately her school schedule conflicts with Institute.  But it's great to see multiple generations of faithful saints.  Elder Jeffery worked with Brother Noni's father back in 1975.

Jay and Bonnie helped us in our institute classes as the topic was understanding the blessings of the miracles
performed by Jesus Christ.  Jay and Bonnie shared some of the miracles they have experienced in their lives
serving missions, many callings in the church and raising a family of twelve children.
Current count is 57 grand children and 18 great grandchildren.
 Lots of moments of miraculous help as they have served and helped in this great work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Brother and Sister Hendro are preparing to go to the temple.  Jay and Bonnie came along for the visit, tried new foods and shared their testimonies of temple service.  They are currently serving as ordinance workers in the Ogden Utah temple.

A visit for lunch with the Juhartono family led to the opportunity to share their testimony again to help this family set a goal to attend the temple next year.

Here's a couple headed to the temple this week.  The Indonesian government doesn't recognize church performed marriage ceremonies, so the service performed by the bishop in the chapel was first, but really is to show to the family and friends that God is a part of this union.  Next we all moved to the cultural hall where a government official counseled the parents and then the vows and signing of the official certificate.  Unfortunately the power was out for the whole morning due to a transformer being replaced on the block, so we couldn't actually hear this part of the service.  But it was a joyous occasion for us to meet their extended family and make connections with Magelang and Jogya members relatives many of whom came in from Jakarta.

 Jay and Bonnie with us encouraged a visit to the famous Hindu temple complex in our region, Prambanan.  Rather than tour through the ruins in daylight though we decided to take some friends with us to the evening performance of the Ramayana.  Kristin, Pres Ari's wife, had her birthday that day, so we all enjoyed a feast of Italian food together at Koko Joni's then moved on to the performance.  Julie's friend Elen joined us too for a cultural evening of traditional story and dance.  Yeriko, Kristin and Ari's son, is a Javanese dancer, so their understanding and appreciation of the performance enhanced the experience for all of us.  Ironically the whole audience appeared to be filled with foreign tourists, so those that really understand don't necessarily take the opportunity to attend.  Ari noted it's the first time they've been able to see it, so next time we will try to bring Yeriko.  As you can tell from Sister Jeffery's expression, this ex ballet student was enthralled.

Much more to Elder Jeffery's interest he found the BYU football game broadcast on the internet.  Father and son have often enjoyed watching BYU sports together and it was a sweet time together.
  The added bonus was a spectacular last minute win for the BYU over BSU.

Jay led the Happy Game as Julie and Bonnie made fudge for the YSA FHE

Jay was a man of a thousand questions.  We were often taking turns making speculations since we didn’t know enough answers.  Agriculture, architecture, economics, laws, customs, he was here to explore everything intellectually.  

Bonnie however was more interested in shopping. Here we smell cologne options for Jay. 

Our funniest story was shopping for clothes on Jalan Malioboro.  Bonnie wanted some real Indonesian clothes so we looked through the racks to find some dresses.  Then we found the dressing room.  It was a closet affair in the middle of the store and tiny, tiny.  I decided to go in to help.  Maybe that was not a good idea. The first choice was pretty good so we tried the second.  It was tight but she was determined to get it on so she could really look at it.  Wrong move.  She squirmed and wiggled to get into it to conclude it would not work.  Besides it was purple.  Then we began the adventure of taking it off.  She wiggled and squirmed  . . . and wiggled and squirmed as I pulled . . .  wiggled and squirmed and I tugged .  Remember this was in at most a 4' x 4' piece of real estate. She was trapped.  With her arms pinned above her head in the tube of purple fabric I was getting scared.  I wondered if we would ever get it off.   Maybe we would be trapped there forever.  OK, scissors were being considered.  We pulled it back one more time to scrunch and squiggle, pull and twist.  Finally amidst the giggles of school girls we made it out of the dress and out of the dressing room.

Bored husbands and boyfriends.

Bonnie can always find a few children to be her friends too.  She has a magical touch.

On a more sobering topic, we stopped on our way home to visit a young man, Andre who is a recent convert here in the branch.  He has been struggling with typhoid fever and has been sick for nearly two months.  Some of the YSA’s and two of the elders visited Sunday to deliver the sacrament.  They were pretty shaken at how much sicker he was. We spent some time during our YSA FHE talking about priesthood blessings, faith, and prayer. We then took the time to explain about the prayer roll of the temple. Jay and Bonnie will be in the temple as soon as they return home and Bonnie has her list with Andre's name at the top.  

After searching out his home in the back alleys, we found out that his family took him to the hospital.  Turns out he also has TB.  He was in a room, which required each guest to wear a mask to enter.  It was a mask we would have to purchase and the pharmacy was not close.  So we attempted to say hi through the window.  It was really quite scary as he didn’t really acknowledge us. He was too weak and disoriented.  We will be back again as we are making several trips to Jogya this week, and Muntilan is along the way.

Please keep him in your prayers as we fast for him this week.

We just sent Bonnie and Jay off for their long return trip.  They managed to get on the correct flight and not end up on the wrong end of the island.   It has been a grand time together.  Stories of  traffic, stairs at Borobudur and wonderful people will be shared around the campfire for a long time. Their presence has been the testimony that "Keluarga Dapat Kekal Selamanya" or "Families Can Be Together Forever". Thanks for coming, thanks for sharing, thanks for being the wonderful parents that you are.