Hari Natal, the Gifts of Fellowship and Family Visits

Welcome back to Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.  This post covers about a month of activities, many of which include (left to right) Ammon, Mel, Julie, Jennifer, and Jay Jeffery, posing here in front of the sign of the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

We had a party on Christmas Eve in Magelang but no pictures.  These are the visual aids Julie made to be displayed as we sang with the branch choir "The Nativity Song".
This is the season, beloved of the year
Sing a rhyme, Christmas time soon will be hear,
Tell the true story of Jesus Birth
When as a baby, he came to the Earth.

The Jogyakarta ward Christmas party was mostly a collection of performances by the various ward organizations.  Here the Melchizedek Priesthood brethren sing a rousing Christmas carol.

Santa Djajanto made a visit.

Missionaries: Lovelock, Antonio, Subagio, Nanggolan, Setiajawan,
Stringham

Dinner came in a box.

A visit to Christine's family on
Christmas day  was tasty 
(the whole chicken perfectly
spiced was the best) 

Nurse Jeffery diagnoses a bruise, not a break, in Elder Martineau's back after a biking accident. Elder Tubbs points out the participant that got the worst treatment from the curb and pavement.

Said goodbye to all the Magelang district missionaries at one time, Siahaan, Marianus, Martineau, and Tubbs.  They are all good missionaries and are missed here.

Jay, Jenn and Ammon arrived and our first stop was to find vegetables.
Shopping at the local markets was a must.  Spiral shapes in snack were
interesting, but the flavor really wasn't.

One of our favorite fruits, Salak or as us westerners like to refer to it, Snake fruit.  Jenn ate everyone she could find for a couple of days.

No visit to Magelang would be complete without visiting the largest Buddhist relic in the world, Borobudur. Beautiful and fun as the following pics show, I'll skip the thousands of words.

 Julie's been there enough times to be the tour guide.  Here Buddha fires and arrow through seven trees.

Jenn shares a view westward

Buddha shares the view eastward towards
 the volcanoes Merbabu and Merape

Of course tall and blond women are
particularly admired so the Jeffery women
 did the celebrity thing many times.

Ammon went with the missionaries a few days later and it took them a few extra hours to get out of the park.  We didn't get any of those pictures, but thousands of tourists from other parts of Indonesia did.

New missionaries arrived the
same day as our visitors.
 So Ammon joined them for a
day to serve and prepare him for his
 own mission.  

Perhaps Jay's favorite food here was sate.  Grilled outside this happens to be pork at the only place available in Magelang.  Usually it's chicken served with peanut sauce like Jenn enjoys below. This is our favorite spot just outside the church.  It is a parking lot by day.  Then as evening arrives the carts arrive with food, tables, stools, and the cooking begins.

When we wanted a crowd, we found it at the town square for the New Years Eve celebration.

Ammon likes krumpuks.

Jenn's now favorite food is
gado-gado, veggies in peanut sauce.

Jay and Jenn joined in visiting families
up in the higher mountain valleys.
The trip afforded the opportunity to also
visit the area of Dieng.

Elder Jeffery makes "one more contact" at Dieng where small Hindu candi's attract visitors.  The area also boasts mud pots and hot springs.

The Moslems also have many beautiful mosques throughout Central Java.  Here's one in a out of the way spot.

The trip to Indonesia is toughening me up!!!

At a meeting of missionaries in Surakata (Solo) we met the look-a-like of an old friend.  This is Elder Shaner who is a dead ringer in looks and mannerisms of David Turinetti. Ammon enjoyed meeting him, then E Shaner translated for him at church meetings too.  

As tourists our family did their share of shopping for things from the unusual like masks to fabric so they could have tailor made clothes where the prices are very reasonable.

Eating of course is a major sport for tourists.  We introduced them to the savory flavors of roadside eateries.  One of our favorites is in front of the stake center in Solo where Elder Eyre returned to feast to overflowing again for less that a dollar.  And no we don't worry about our hearts very much.

Elders Paskett and Vandianto take to the Jeffery tradition of playing games
while traveling.  Mostly we play Apples to Apples with religious themes
and Liar's Dice, but here they are trying Monopoly Deal, the
Indonesia mission favorite.

Prambanan is another popular Central Java tour sight.  These reconstructed Hindu temples gave Jay a chance to take more pictures and hear more stories.  Afterwards they attended a performance of the Ramayana at a venue close-by while Elder and Sister Jeffery continued to teach English and Institute.

 The temples have suffered from the earthquakes through the years.  The 1000 temples surrounding the main temples have not been reassemble yet.  It is a massive jigsaw puzzle.  But below is the tale of Prambanan temple

Here is photo of Elder Jeffery Circa 1974 meeting up with Princess Roro Jonggrang.
This statue was destroyed in the 2006 earthquake.

Once, there was a beautiful Javanese princess whose name was Roro Jonggrang whose beauty was very famous in the land was the daughter of Prabu Baka, an evil king.

One day, a handsome young man with super natural power, named Bandung Bondowoso, defeated and killed Prabu Baka. On seeing Princess Roro Jonggrang’s beauty, Bandung Bondowoso fell in love and wanted to marry her.

Meanwhile, Princess Roro Jonggrang felt sad due to the death of her father. She did not want to marry Bandung because he had killed her father. But she was also afraid of Bandung. So to refuse politely, she made a condition. “I will marry you but you have to build one thousand temples in one night as a wedding gift.” Requested Roro Jonggrang. Bandung agreed with this condition.

Helped by the spirits of demons, Bandung Bondowoso started building the temples. Approaching midnight, the work was nearly done. Roro Jonggrang knew and thought, “ What shall I do ? Bandung is smarter than me. I will lose against Bandung.”

Suddenly she got an idea. She woke up all the women in the palace and ordered them to make the noisy sounds of grinding rice so that the roosters would think it had already dawn.

Bandung Bondowoso got frustrated because he failed to complete the thousandth temple. “The princess has deceived me!” Following his anger, he cursed Roro Jonggrang, “You have cheated me. Now, the thousandth temple is you!”

At once, the princess turned into a statue. Knowing this, Bandung Bondowoso regretted this and he went away into a far land. From then, people called the temple Prambanan Temple and the princess statue, Roro Jonggrang Statue.

Posted in: narrative text

Prambanan also depicts the story
of the Ramayana.  It is a story
 of a beautiful princess named Sita.  

The handsome young prince, Rama
wins her hand at marriage
by being the strongest archer

Politics in the palace soon banish
the young couple to the forest
and the princess is kidnapped by
the evil king Ravana

Rama sets out to reclaim his princess

The wicked king wants to marry
 beautiful Sita and kill Rama

The princess is strong and refuses to marry
knowing her prince will save her

The monkey king comes to help with his army

Rama enlists the support of his trusted adviser
Lakshaman

The great battle ensues and the princess Sita and
Prince Rama are reunited and rule the kingdom

TaaaaDaaaaaa!!!!

Jay's bucket list included a hike through the jungle and a swim in the Indian Ocean, so here we are.

A day at the beach was part of the tour for our American family too.  We saw three, but this one had a river running into it, with rocks along the side to play on.  Jay cut up his feet and hands climbing.  We just can't keep those Jeffery boys from climbing when they can.  Then he jumped down into the fresh water flowing into the ocean.  Just don't read the signs right next to him warning that swimming isn't recommended, they seemed to have a good time.

The views from the top of the lighthouse took in all three beaches.  It was quite a climb, but worth it. 

Eating on this trip added some larvae which tasted like ...... larvae.  No health repercussions that we know of.

Mel and Julie decided to wait out the excursion to jump off the waterfall, so no pictures of that one either. Time to catch up on lesson preparations

A visit to Sugeng Pribadi for a piano lesson,
 plus an invitation to join us at Church.
They are ready to help the Jogya Ward split into two.
 That's our goal.

Grandma Tika with her sweet grandchild.
Sister Jeffery is jealous

Almost every church meeting here has
refreshments, this one was followed
with dinner in a box too.

Institute in Magelang.

Stir fry at Blenggers after institute, which was tasty,
but we took it out to avoid eating
with all the noise from the cooking
enthusiastically banging the woks
which is a show in itself.

Indra accompanied the Texans on their tour
of the Jogya kings' former water resort/ castle.

Julie and Jenn took a hike up Bukit Tidar,
Jenn tried climbing the tower.  

Meanwhile the boys had an early start for Mt Merapi, a volcano which erupted in 2010.  An aggressive 4 hour climb with a simplistic trail system.  Okay not exactly a system, just a couple of paths each one leading pretty much straight up.  The views were magnificent, but well earned with perhaps the most challenging scree field we ever tried.

But this is the peak they were aiming for

Views of the surrounding volcanoes were superb

Elder Jeffery found some locals to visit with

And have their picture taken together at the map.
This map is quite accurate as the trail goes
straight up the mountain with
no switchbacks

OK not important to the story
but Jay is a great photographer

We were told to not hang around the crater of the volcano very long as perhaps this prior climber did.  He reportedly died taking a selfie and falling inside.  We threw rocks into the crater and heard them impact after several seconds, so a person wouldn't survive that kind of fall.  Poor Joker!

This last stopping point before attempting the summit is named Pasar Subrah.  Pasar is market in Indonesian, but Subrah means devil or ghost in Javanese.  It's not much of a place to put a market so probably the name refers to a ghostly marketplace.  Maybe Joker knows for sure.

Folks this is a real live volcano

No selfies, not a time for a dive.

Although we were in the clouds sometimes,
 this is the smoke from the volcano crater.

Can't believe we made it,
Feels like we are on the tip of the world
Looking down on an entrance to
Jurassic park 

The only way down is to ski through the skree
field which has plenty of sand.
Of course Ammon got a little in his shoes, perhaps 5 lbs each.

Victory also for the downward climb

In Jakarta we stopped off for Ayam Bubur with Hdika, formerly Elder Sadiyono.  He drove us to Taman Safari in Bogor.  The trip from the airport took at least 3 hours, then about 4.5 hours back.  A great trip in the park and a chance to catch up with our friends the Sadiyono family while in their car most of the day.  But the Texans enjoyed the critters too.  Lions and Tigers and bears oh my!

All together for the cowboy show of Tombstone, Arizona -- in the Jungle

A bunch of us missionaries came to Jakarta to renew our documents to stay in Indonesia.  It was like old home week as we reconnected with missionaries that we have served with during the past year.  Elders Anderson, Martineau, Hales, Keller, Cravens.  Plus Sisters Chua and Romero.

Jay and Jenn spent the night in the JW Marriott.  We endured all the security checks to get into the place and hangout for a few hours.  The next day there was a terrorist attack in downtown Jakarta, literally while we were touring places like the National Mosque (below).  It created traffic jams for us to deal with, but we didn't personally see any carnage nor feel threatened by the experience.  We've been counseled to stay clear of American restaurants and gathering spots for a while, so we will just have to do so.  We found out the Marriott had been the scene of another terrorist attack 6 years ago.  The Lord has and will protect us as we apply common sense to our efforts to stay safe.

Inside the National Mosque we watched as about a thousand people came for prayer.  During the special days of prayer for Islam they can accommodate 200,000 people for prayer in the Mosque complex.

The mosque is across the street from this awe inspiring Catholic Cathedral.

Brother Tekad is a worker of metal for objects of art. Jay used his connection to this art world in Jogya to commission the building of models of his work projects.  So hopefully in our next blog we will have pictures of the next generation of helicopters at least the wooden models.  Below is Tekad's wife and son who arrived as we placed the order. 

We went to Pak Asto's place where we met his daughter. Asto died on Christmas Day, but we hadn't had an opportunity to return to his house to express our condolences. As we were talking with his daughter, Mel turned to Alma 40 to read to her about the spirit world, paradise where here dad is now. Sister Jeffery mentioned that Bro Asto often expressed his love for his wife who died several years ago. Then we felt prompted regarding doing the temple work for him and his wife. So we taught the principles and asked if the daughter would agree to us doing this work. She agreed knowing how much her dad loved the church and her mom.  If we hadn't made that challenge, possibly no one else would.

Elders Eyre and Wijaya visiting
Sister Dian, Pak Wahyu, Tafita, and Kevin.
We are working on bringing families into the church

Mel's former missionary companion from 1975, Elder Keith Williams, came to visit us for a long weekend.  Here he presents an evening fireside at our house.  Dadang, Wartini, Deborah, Vincewati.

Gunawan, Mahar, Ana, Kathy Williams,
  Vandianto, Paskett, Julie

Kelik and Keith Williams

A second expedition to hike Mt Merapi a week apart but new hiking companions.  Elders Williams, Eyre, Vandianto, Wijaya, Paskett.

Our church building again.  Can you tell which one is the Mormon Church in Magelang?  We think that's a problem so we are excited that we will probably get it replaced with another rented but larger facility in a few months.  Keep us in your prayers.