Elder Jeffery, Elder Jeffery, Sister Jeffery, Sister Jeffery

We had Mel's cousin and his wife come to visit.  They are  called as missionaries to take pictures for the church, so they have badges and everything.  It was really cool to introduce Elder and Sister Jeffery to our friends here. People here don't even have family surnames so even Elder and Sister Jeffery having the same name is strange to them. It was double fun for Elder Jeffery, Elder Jeffery, Sister Jeffery, Sister Jeffery.  The implied pun is that in the Indonesian language to pluralize a noun, you repeat it. Ha, ha, ha.

Well it was a week of flashes, for flashy folks, flashing through life, avoiding flashing lights and the Flash.

They took a ton of pictures.  We kept setting up situations to get the photos the church wanted them to photograph.  We have lots of connections and it was fun since most Indonesians love to have their pictures taken.  The selfie culture has made them real hams.  But the Javanese tradition to take family portraits straight faced.  We have had to coach toothy smiles so people looking at the pictures will be convinced that they are enjoying being in the church.  I hope we can get some of the photos.  The quality of our photography is poor when we use the cell phone but it is a lot better than carrying a big camera.  In selfie world it is nothing to pull out the cell phone for a picture.

We started off visiting the tourist site of Borobudur.  It was a good thing we did it first because it is the only real touristy place we went to.  The rest of the week was focused on photos of people.  Missionary people, church member people, investigator people, and people on the street people.  They are all dear friends for us -- and now Elder and Sister Jeffery Dua (dua means the second and Indonesian puts the adjective after the nouns) also.

Elder Jeffery spent time visiting with
the workmen who were busy
cleaning mold from the surface of the carvings.  

We visited Bertha's hydroponic restaurant for lunch.  After the meal Sister Jeffery took on the job of  judging tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Our guide is standing next to a papaya tree.  It grew from a seed and is only three months old!  Elder Jeffery is ready to try growing papayas.  We do have a back yard.

Sometimes taking pictures puts you right in the middle of the action, so taking a picture of Elders Setijawan and Eyre put the Jeffery clickers in the street.  Next they moved to the floor of the Budi Cat family where we held a visiting teaching visit and home teaching visit on different sides of the same room.

A trip to Solo for the missionary zone conference gave us the opportunity to visit the batik studios of Dewi.  It is a fascinating process of painting with wax and then dying the fabric.  It is a signature cultural art form of the Javanese here in Central Java and some of the pieces we have seen are amazingly complex and beautiful.  We took Sister Donald our mission president's wife along for the tour as her husband was busy giving missionary interviews.  We even got to try our own hand at the process.  It is really fun.

Our evening dinner was topped off by ice cream. Now Elder Jeffery is not used to buying ice cream at the mall much less from a store like Baskin Robins, so kids note his fortitude for handling changing circumstances.  But Jim and Celia enjoyed trying all of the flavors before making a choice. 

Presentations at the ZTM  included some enjoyable
antics as they learned about team building

and cooperation in companionships.

Group photo time from the other direction for a change.

This is our Mission President, Christopher Donald
And his wife Sister Cindy Donald.  They are an inspiration for
us as we work here.  They reach out to the missionaries teaching the men and women that they know will be the leadership of the church as it moves forward. The growth of the church is slow here but strong committed leaders will keep the work going forward as we all prepare for the coming of our Savior. 

Institute this week included an object lesson
about how the Lord wants us to take
the raw ingredients that we are
and make the sweet 'cookies' that will
be worthy to enter into His presence.
Mixing and baking will be necessary
but it will produce the changes necessary.

Our lesson focused on the First Vision
of Joseph Smith as God the Father
and Jesus Christ came to the earth
and changes began.  Changes began
in the life of Joseph Smith.
Truths came forth and
the Church of Jesus Christ was restored
and now we all can all receive the 
 blessings of eternity.

Fruits of our labors as one of our piano students plays for church.

The new self reliance class of starting and growing a business have begun in Magelang.  Elder and Sister Jeffery 2 were there to record the events.

Jim and Celia wanted pictures of fathers giving priesthood blessings.  But a blessing is too sacred to take pictures of while it is taking place.  We visited our friend Christo who is suffering from vertigo.  As it was, he had not received a priesthood blessing so one was given.  Then with the sweet spirit of the Holy Ghost around us,  they posed for the photos to share with the church the joy that we can feel as we receive blessings from the priesthood.

Juhartos - gracious new members in Javanese
portrait sty

Elder Jeffery showing recent photos

Visits of the day included our high councilman coming home
from work with his wife on their motorcycle.
We traveled with the full time missionaries to visit a
family that lives a ways out from the church.  We can always
share in the joy that grandchildren bring to our lives.    

And honoring the birthday princess, Jasmine just turning eight, who will be baptized on Saturday.

Jim Jeffery is a retired podiatrist and a few members took advantage of some medical advice.  We hope the exercises he prescribed will add comfort and confidence to their lives.   

A final stop at the pasar to try new fruits and then dropping them off at their hotel in Jogya.  The very early flight was easier to manage with a stay at this quiet hotel that proved to be difficult to find.  But our amazing driver, Ari, stopped and asked enough people to eventually be sent down the narrow streets to find the Omah Sastro Guest House.