Parties and Pedagogy

Thanksgiving may be over, but we are Americans, so we look for reasons to celebrate this time of the year.  Here we are making a Christmas decorations with friends and sending our invitations to a going away party for Elder Tufaga. Below is the food prepared for the 25 of us that came to wish him Bon Voyage.

Everyone listened with rapt attention to
Elder Tufaga as he read the advice he received
from the party participants.   The top
three guys are basketball buds, who joined
 another 9 who aren't yet members of our congregation to tell Elder Tufaga he will be missed here. 

The district leader is gone, so the 3 remaining
 missionaries are having fun
getting home on two bikes.

We still have contact with America though.  Here Christi Prayitno and Sister Jeffery check Facebook to see what the Lansing Michigan Ward Young Women's page looks like.  Bethany Jeffery Skyped with us to set up a connection between their ward and the Yogyakarta Ward Young Women.  Hopefully both sides will learn, and grow from having sisters from across the world. 

Elder Wong from the Church's Area Presidency came to teach all the missionaries.  We enjoyed a day with him learning about how to teach the gospel and support each other.  He taught the story from Mark chapter 2.  The friends of a man with palsy opened the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching to lower the invalid to Jesus.  Elder Wong told us how that truly is an example of how church members should work together to perform acts of service.  If any one of those lowering the palsied man through the roof had done so either too fast or too slow, the man would have fallen probably to his and others injury.  Instead by a coordinated effort of service the man was healed by the Savior, both physically and spiritually.
We are trying to be part of a coordinated effort of service here in Indonesia.

Sister Jeffery runs a fun English class, but we call it an English Corner now.  Everyone learned the song from Toy Story, "You've got a friend in me."  Here all the students paired up to roleplay how friends can help each other solve problems, but of course they had to do so in English.

Our two latest piano students.  With the keyboard in his  home, 8 yearold Tian wants to learn too.
Elder Jeffery really prefers to sing, so he led us all in a song.  Pak Harman found the legs of a table that was being discarded to be the perfect fit for the keyboard we brought him a few weeks ago.
As we've been looking at our list of students, we are finding that almost all are either preparing with their families to go the temple or the bishop thinks they should be.  So piano lessons have put us into the homes of those we feel most inspired to teach spiritually.  It's been a great fit. 

Sister Chandra saw this piece of bread that came out of the loaf looking like a rabbit's head, maybe Micky Mouse.  She is the gracious hostess for piano lessons for our east side of town group.  Our visits are accompanied by delicious food and sometimes odd shaped bread. Some of these students are already accompanying the congregation and we are thrilled at their progress.  Below she proudly stands with Julie in front of her business.  Her husband died a few years ago and she took over management.  The workmen who generally build interior furnishings like cabinets and doors are now expanding the production facilities to double the size of the business.  Unfortunately this project has meant that Chandra hasn't had time to practice the piano, but her niece who lives with her is taking lessons now.

Sister Vince is not getting as many lessons in either these days as her husband, Petrus, is working out of town.  Getting her two boys to all their activities is keeping her quite busy too.

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Pak Selamat poses here in front of the wall
 built by the government to protect
his house from being swept away in a mudslide.  
Last year the hill there pushed the house a few feet
 sidewards, and the graves from the cemetery
 at the top were set to replace his home, 
but now the rains aren't a threat anymore.  
The wall ends just out of sight on  this picture,
 so his neighbors may yet get visitors
 before the wall is extended, hopefully next dry season.

As always Ari found the dogs, here he holds one of 6 pups Timatius is helping raise.

Our little town of Magelang had a parade last week.  It was made up of 26 marching bands ranging from elementary age children to a military group.  The rhythms were great, but the unusual part for us was the composition of the bands.  The pink band shown here was at lease 50% drums, followed by another 30% xylophones, with a few brass instruments at the rear, with the color guard.