HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TO ALL OF YOU... JOEL, REBEKAH, LOGAN, SARA, KYLE, GAVIN, ANDREW, THE DOGS, THE CAT, JOHN, LYNN, WILLIAM, KATE, ANNE MARIE, MATT, TANYA, MADELYNNE, JACKSON, SNOOCKLEFRITZ, ADAM, AMY, NATE, ELI, CECILY, ELIA, EMILY, TY, ISAAC, SADIE ROWE, THE SPIRITS OF WINSTON, TESS, AND NEHOR (and the squirrel iinn Adam's pear tree...)
Just so you know, we will be another year older before you! (I am sure a whole years worth wiser, too!
We will be partying big time...in our apartment, with no shrimp dip, watching Aljazeera, playing "Go Fish" with Dad.
But, we will be thinking of all of you, probably doing about the same thing we are, since all of you are such party animals! But mostly we'll be thinking about all the experiences of the past year...some joyful and exciting and some painful and sad... and yet knowing that this new year will bring more blessings unnumbered (it always does - even when we don't yet recognize them), and more experiences that will help us grow. The other day Dad pulled up some pictures that included some from my PA. kitchen, some of Tess, and some of the deck at home. I was surprised by them. I had forgotten what they looked like. And I realized then, that it certainly isn't the "things" I have that are important to me. It is by far all of you, and our relationships one to another. It is knowing that each of us have a relationship with our Heavenly Father that is sound. You are all, every single one of you, more important to me than any earthly possession. I love every daughter and son, whether born to me or brought to me, with all the different personalities that color our family that have helped me grow and learn. We are humbled by our amazing grandchildren. You are all doing a tremendous job teaching them to be good people. They are a great blessing to us.
We are an amazing family, despite some unusual quirks, ( I would list them but I have to be somewhere in an hour).
We should gladly celebrate our differences, and compliment our ability to get along. I hope I will think about this, and try to see our family as Heavenly Father sees us. I do love you all so very much, each one. I hope this 2012 will be a good year, and that we will recognize each blessing and be grateful.
Please, take care of each other,
Mothermelly (and Dad)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Week 15 Photos 5
Tegah helping to load the taksi with dinner stuff for Christmas 2011.
The kitchen and work space for preparing the Christmas lunch after District Meeting.
The tables are set and ready to go!!!
Dinner - the Indonesian and Philippino elders took small portions because they weren't sure about that huge chicken and the other stuff - like the dressing and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. BUT they heaped their plates when they went for seconds!!!!
Letters from home!!!
Farida came, too.
Ricko - getting ready to go to SLC on his mission. [Elder Greenway] has been working with him with Preach My Gospel in English.
The kitchen and work space for preparing the Christmas lunch after District Meeting.
The tables are set and ready to go!!!
Dinner - the Indonesian and Philippino elders took small portions because they weren't sure about that huge chicken and the other stuff - like the dressing and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. BUT they heaped their plates when they went for seconds!!!!
Letters from home!!!
Farida came, too.
Ricko - getting ready to go to SLC on his mission. [Elder Greenway] has been working with him with Preach My Gospel in English.
Week 15 Photos 4
CHRISTMAS - Jebres Branch Plus the Melchizadek Priesthood provided some more.
The requisite Police presence ant any "large" affair. Always very friendly and they get a free meal to boot!
Sister Greenway providing Member Support to the Branch Presidents wife and little boy.
Even something for Elder & Sister Greenway.
The Jebres Branch
I don't know - They just wanted their pictures taken.
Week 15 Photos 3
How about some more food? This is snake fruit. I don't know if it has a
real name, but everyone calls it snake fruit and I haven't heard the
Indonesian name.
Can you guess where it gets its name?
It's very easy to peel - just pull down from the point and ...
... the inside is really good, with an interesting flavor, and you eat around the seed.
Can you guess where it gets its name?
It's very easy to peel - just pull down from the point and ...
... the inside is really good, with an interesting flavor, and you eat around the seed.
Week 15 Photos 2
Then it was time for refreshments - no red punch here! You can see the rambutan there in the front, the white crock pot hold a milky maccaroni and cheese dish, and the silver pot was Rover! (See Week 15 letter.) All of the bowls lined up in the back are for...
...the Bakso (meatball soup cart) with rice noodles. Pak (short for bapak - Mr.) Jono.
Pak Jono's kitchen. You can see the uncooked meatballs above the uncooked rice noodles. Plus his herbs and spices. The bowles are ready for the soup.
OK - I've mentioned Jak Fruit - well the older guys ate all the Jak Fruit before I found out they had some but I didn't miss the Durian (sp?). Jak is kind of football shaped (see older photos of it still in the tree) And durian is similar except its shape is more irregular. Because it smells like old socks soaked in diesel it's banned in a lot of places (like where we live). No Kidding!!!! I watched these guys attack this thing with a machete and their hands and they even bounced it off the ground oncemto get it open, which they eventually did. Inside were large seeds covered with a white slimy membrane with the consistance of over-ripe pumpkin guts. This was the delicacy. Brother Grover - it wasn't that sweet and I won't be buying any for personal consumption.
...the Bakso (meatball soup cart) with rice noodles. Pak (short for bapak - Mr.) Jono.
Pak Jono's kitchen. You can see the uncooked meatballs above the uncooked rice noodles. Plus his herbs and spices. The bowles are ready for the soup.
OK - I've mentioned Jak Fruit - well the older guys ate all the Jak Fruit before I found out they had some but I didn't miss the Durian (sp?). Jak is kind of football shaped (see older photos of it still in the tree) And durian is similar except its shape is more irregular. Because it smells like old socks soaked in diesel it's banned in a lot of places (like where we live). No Kidding!!!! I watched these guys attack this thing with a machete and their hands and they even bounced it off the ground oncemto get it open, which they eventually did. Inside were large seeds covered with a white slimy membrane with the consistance of over-ripe pumpkin guts. This was the delicacy. Brother Grover - it wasn't that sweet and I won't be buying any for personal consumption.
Week 15 Photos
Where to start? How about some fun. We just picked up our package from the Tandor Pos (Main Post Office for Solo) and the school next door was out for lunch. I joked with the boys that they were hanging out to watch the girls - to which I got a lot of laughs and yesses, and hoots.
So here they are:
And the objects of their affections:
OK a little more serious: Sister Greenway mentioned Moko's farewell. Well here are a few photos of the event. Here are Arif, Nanda, and Moko. They were apparently the Three Muskateers growing up. Arif you've seen before - he was a trranslater at District Conference and is married with a new little baby. Nanda is still single but looking and going to school. Then there's Moko. He finished College in engineering and is now going on his mission to Australia. We were so impressed with the testimonies borne on behalf of Moko at his Farewell. To hear of the trials and faith experienced by them all - old and young. Sutarno and the District Presiddent were missionary companions when the church was in its infancy in Indonesia. And to see their faith and efforts brought back stories of Kirtland, Ohio. These brethren are cut from that same cloth.
Here is Sutarno - Moko's father. He's retired military (we think) and is a stalward member - and kind of a no non-sense guy. He's great. He was very instrumental in working with the local chief, and mayor of Jenawi to accomplish the water project.
One of the presidents Budi. A young man and one of the District Presidency (the other counselor is President Budi).
Moko's sister Astri.
The Young Men and Young Women who sang. The young man, Yost, with the glasses played the piano.
So here they are:
And the objects of their affections:
OK a little more serious: Sister Greenway mentioned Moko's farewell. Well here are a few photos of the event. Here are Arif, Nanda, and Moko. They were apparently the Three Muskateers growing up. Arif you've seen before - he was a trranslater at District Conference and is married with a new little baby. Nanda is still single but looking and going to school. Then there's Moko. He finished College in engineering and is now going on his mission to Australia. We were so impressed with the testimonies borne on behalf of Moko at his Farewell. To hear of the trials and faith experienced by them all - old and young. Sutarno and the District Presiddent were missionary companions when the church was in its infancy in Indonesia. And to see their faith and efforts brought back stories of Kirtland, Ohio. These brethren are cut from that same cloth.
Here is Sutarno - Moko's father. He's retired military (we think) and is a stalward member - and kind of a no non-sense guy. He's great. He was very instrumental in working with the local chief, and mayor of Jenawi to accomplish the water project.
One of the presidents Budi. A young man and one of the District Presidency (the other counselor is President Budi).
Moko's sister Astri.
The Young Men and Young Women who sang. The young man, Yost, with the glasses played the piano.
Week 15
Merry, Merry Christmas good family and friends!
This is such a great day! We got to finish our beautiful advent calendar, and we got to have Christmas on Sunday. That is double good. But before I get to that, I'd better start back a ways in the week. Now, I would not be silly enough to think that any of you are going to read this before,...let's see, oh maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. Life is pretty busy right now for all of us, and I would think doing all the Christmasy stuff is pretty important. This is always news that can wait.
First of all, Tuesday piano got rained out AGAIN, so there will be three weeks where we do not have piano. But we did have piano on Wednesday, well at least Agus and Yos came. They want to play a duet, I gave them, at their branch Christmas party on Tuesday. The problem was, that the secondo part of the duet is in 6/8 time, while the primo part is in 6/4 time. So it was giving Agus a heart attack that Yos would play two measures to Agus' one measure. Anyway, finally I grabbed the part, and re-wrote Agus' part in 6/8 time and WALLAH!,....they were much better. We counted to 6 about a hundred times, but he finally got it. I am very proud of them.
While I was counting to 6 over and over and over and over, Elder was working with Ari on her Toefl test material. By the end of the evening, he had her reading and finding info. and implied info. However this is going to take some time. She has a ways to go because this test is pretty hard. I read through the practice question, and while I figured it out, at first it seemed that all the answers were correct. I am glad that part of life is behind me. Ron and sometimes I will be meeting with her twice a week, until she is ready. Her goal is April or May.
Thursday was a big event in our week. We will have a number of events until the new year but this was the first. We have spoken of Moko many times over the weeks. He is the son of Sutarno, he was a driver for the Senior Conference held ages ago, he has been called to Australia on his mission, and he has been meeting with Ron and Riko (the young man going to SLC on a mission) twice a week for a month or so. They have been working on Preach My Gospel and their english. Now, in Solo, when a young man is getting ready to leave, the family has a farewell. This is held on a day other than Sunday and they call it a special Family Home Evening for the Branch. They set up chairs in a big oval about 3 rows deep, and they sing hymns, and they have friends and family bear testimony, and at this event the YM and YW sang a couple of songs, one being "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again". Moko asked Elder Greenway to be one of the speakers. It was a very nice event, and lasted about 1 1/2 hrs. Now that being said, it was to start at 6, so if you think Mormon Standard Time (always late) is a problem you should experience INDONESIAN Mormon Standard Time. Moko didn't get to the building until 6:20! When we got there, the Elders were there and that was it! I didn't start until about 6:45!!!!! Afterward, they had a buffet outside that included, Bakso (or something like that) which is a brothy meatball soup, macaroni (sort of a mild milky casserole that they put sambal (hot!!!) all over, fried bananas, rice and........ stewed, spicy, (sort of like stew meat) DOG! Yup, only they don't have a little sign that states "dog", but they all know. So I'm standing in line behind Elder Garnett (who by the way would eat anything and everything) and I pick up my folded paper cup, and scoop about 1/2 cup rice into it, and just as Sister Gustaco (Goostaycho) ladles the gravied meat onto my rice, the District Pres. bursts out laughing. Then others standing near him join in, so I know immediately that it is dog. He wants to know if I know what it is. I tell him I do now... Ha Ha Ha, then I take my first bite of dog. A bit gristly, and very bony, but very, very, very spicy! That I think is to hide the dog flavor. Now I was NOT going to be the prudish American lady who wouldn't eat her dog, so I ate every bit, but the bones and the gristle. Soon everyone came to watch me eat it. Elder Garnett loves it and told me it has made him see his beloved Golden Retriever in a whole different way. So that was a new milestone for me. I ate dog. Elder Greenway declined. He was busy eating Hairy Fruit (see pictures). Jack Fruit ( sort of like a hard cantaloupe) and Diulangi (okay Bro. & Sis. Grover, we cannot remember the name for sure) which you can smell you are having BEFORE you are having it. They have to use machetes to get into the last two, and as soon as the machete gets through the outer casing of the diulangi, you can smell it from afar. It smells like petroleum and cough syrup mixed. No thank you, I'll stick with dog.
Friday we finally held our big Christmas dinner for the Elders and Sisters. We also invited Fareeda, Widap, and Bono & Dia, his wife. Dia had to work, but we set a place for her anyway. All in all, we fed 15 wonderful people Turkey, Stuffing, Gravy, Sweet Potatoes, Homemade Rolls, mixed vegetables, Carrot cake, Spice Cookies, and Candy. Now I must tell you that the church kitchen in Indonesia consists of a stove with oven (yea!), a sink, no pots, no pans, no dishes, no serving items, and many, many, many ants. So to start, we had to disinfect the kitchen area with Clorox water. Elder Greenway will send the picture of us leaving the hotel with everything you would need to have a Christmas dinner, except the table and chairs. All this was loaded into a taxi, whose driver couldn't believe his eyes. I even took my easy-bake oven along. We put many of the loose things in our old maroon suitcase (which I called my cupboard), our refrigerator was a green squishy cooler that the Grovers left with us (thank you again Grovers). Elder Greenway and I got there early, then the Missionaries came and held their weekly DDM while dinner was cooking. Finally the pop-up-timer on the turkey popped, and we feasted. Soon it was clean up time, you know that because the ants are back, and so the dishes were done and everything put back in the "cupboard". It was a wonderful day, and it ended with the Elders and Sisters practicing the 12 Days of Christmas and Rudolph to take along caroling. They left and we left about 2:30 in the afternoon. Fun! Fun!
So Bishop Kellis, they Church might eliminate the calling, but once a Christmas Party Planner always a Christmas Party Planner!
So, Saturday brought Christmas Eve. We cleaned the apartment, and baked Wacky Cake for the doormen, guards, reception desk people, and other employees of the Hotel Paragon (where we live). We have tried to learn their names and we talk about what we are doing. They love to ask about our family, and are amazed that we are still here. I think they are slowly getting that we will not leave for a while. They worry about our family at home. Christmas Eve evening the Sopomo Building showed the First Presidency Christmas Devotional in bahasa. Luckily we had already watched it on the computer, so we listened hard and tried to improve our language. We had invited Fareeda, and when we got there she was there. But her mother had just SMSed her and wanted her home. They keep her pretty close. So a group of young people stayed and talked to her and then we all hugged her and loved her and sent her on her way. Someday..... After, Elder and I went to Oobonk, a "steak and ribs" place that President Ipung told us about. He is the Branch Pres. of Benjasari, and takes the missionaries to this place. It had checkered tablecloths, and plastic lawn chairs, but it was busy. The steak tastes like steak and isn't breaded and fried, and the ribs (although beef ribs) were actually ribs. It was fun, and we paid 93,800 for it. Which is $9.38 for steak and ribs, and 2 drinks. We walked home, because this place is just a couple of blocks away.
So that brings us to MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! We attended the Kapatihan building. The Jebres branch started at 8 and showed the Christmas Devotional.
We came a bit late because we were delivering the cake to all the people at Paragon. Then the Benjasari branch also showed the Christmas Devotional, but it was also Sacrament Meeting. Then, after the devotional, they have their Christmas Celebration. Some of the members sang solos, the Elders sang (impromptu), and then they handed out Christmas presents. Yup, that's right. Someone had wrapped a bunch of presents that were then handed out to all the members. This is a tradition for this branch. Pres. Ipung likes to see the children happy. Then the feast! It was a full Indonesian dinner, minus the dog,
Well, that bring us to now. We just want to say that we are so grateful to be here. We know that time is passing very quickly, and we are anxious to do all that we can for these amazing, wonderful, loving, dear, dear people. We are constantly reminded how blessed we are to be here. We are so thankful for our call, for our experiences, and for our many, many blessings. At this time of year everyone is so thankful for friends and family, and that includes us. First of all, and I have told them this many times, Heavenly Father blessed us with wise and wonderful children who have raised us well as parents. They are our shining stars, our delight, our joy and our blessing. However, they knew they had better do something amazing to keep us happy, so they had a big bunch of the most beautiful grandchildren ever created. (I know some of you may argue this point, but we are here and you are there so I can say it). We miss them, and we love them each one, and we will have some catching up to do, but that will come. Heavenly Father also knew we would need help, because, well everyone needs help raising such "perfect" children. So he sent all of the rest of you to be our example, our teachers, our comrades, our substitutes, and to encourage us through life. Thank you, thank you, for being there, and for your friendship. We pray that you have had a joyous Christmas time, that you have felt that gift of Spirit, and have had time to remember our Brother, and those many fragile Sheep that he loves so dearly. Thank you for your support. We love to hear from you and would love to hear about your Christmas celebrations. (Again, we would love to see any pictures of Great's Christmas Party. Thank you Sara, for sending yours!) Merry Christmas dear Brothers and Sisters!
With all our love,
Elder and Sister Greenway
This is such a great day! We got to finish our beautiful advent calendar, and we got to have Christmas on Sunday. That is double good. But before I get to that, I'd better start back a ways in the week. Now, I would not be silly enough to think that any of you are going to read this before,...let's see, oh maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. Life is pretty busy right now for all of us, and I would think doing all the Christmasy stuff is pretty important. This is always news that can wait.
First of all, Tuesday piano got rained out AGAIN, so there will be three weeks where we do not have piano. But we did have piano on Wednesday, well at least Agus and Yos came. They want to play a duet, I gave them, at their branch Christmas party on Tuesday. The problem was, that the secondo part of the duet is in 6/8 time, while the primo part is in 6/4 time. So it was giving Agus a heart attack that Yos would play two measures to Agus' one measure. Anyway, finally I grabbed the part, and re-wrote Agus' part in 6/8 time and WALLAH!,....they were much better. We counted to 6 about a hundred times, but he finally got it. I am very proud of them.
While I was counting to 6 over and over and over and over, Elder was working with Ari on her Toefl test material. By the end of the evening, he had her reading and finding info. and implied info. However this is going to take some time. She has a ways to go because this test is pretty hard. I read through the practice question, and while I figured it out, at first it seemed that all the answers were correct. I am glad that part of life is behind me. Ron and sometimes I will be meeting with her twice a week, until she is ready. Her goal is April or May.
Thursday was a big event in our week. We will have a number of events until the new year but this was the first. We have spoken of Moko many times over the weeks. He is the son of Sutarno, he was a driver for the Senior Conference held ages ago, he has been called to Australia on his mission, and he has been meeting with Ron and Riko (the young man going to SLC on a mission) twice a week for a month or so. They have been working on Preach My Gospel and their english. Now, in Solo, when a young man is getting ready to leave, the family has a farewell. This is held on a day other than Sunday and they call it a special Family Home Evening for the Branch. They set up chairs in a big oval about 3 rows deep, and they sing hymns, and they have friends and family bear testimony, and at this event the YM and YW sang a couple of songs, one being "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again". Moko asked Elder Greenway to be one of the speakers. It was a very nice event, and lasted about 1 1/2 hrs. Now that being said, it was to start at 6, so if you think Mormon Standard Time (always late) is a problem you should experience INDONESIAN Mormon Standard Time. Moko didn't get to the building until 6:20! When we got there, the Elders were there and that was it! I didn't start until about 6:45!!!!! Afterward, they had a buffet outside that included, Bakso (or something like that) which is a brothy meatball soup, macaroni (sort of a mild milky casserole that they put sambal (hot!!!) all over, fried bananas, rice and........ stewed, spicy, (sort of like stew meat) DOG! Yup, only they don't have a little sign that states "dog", but they all know. So I'm standing in line behind Elder Garnett (who by the way would eat anything and everything) and I pick up my folded paper cup, and scoop about 1/2 cup rice into it, and just as Sister Gustaco (Goostaycho) ladles the gravied meat onto my rice, the District Pres. bursts out laughing. Then others standing near him join in, so I know immediately that it is dog. He wants to know if I know what it is. I tell him I do now... Ha Ha Ha, then I take my first bite of dog. A bit gristly, and very bony, but very, very, very spicy! That I think is to hide the dog flavor. Now I was NOT going to be the prudish American lady who wouldn't eat her dog, so I ate every bit, but the bones and the gristle. Soon everyone came to watch me eat it. Elder Garnett loves it and told me it has made him see his beloved Golden Retriever in a whole different way. So that was a new milestone for me. I ate dog. Elder Greenway declined. He was busy eating Hairy Fruit (see pictures). Jack Fruit ( sort of like a hard cantaloupe) and Diulangi (okay Bro. & Sis. Grover, we cannot remember the name for sure) which you can smell you are having BEFORE you are having it. They have to use machetes to get into the last two, and as soon as the machete gets through the outer casing of the diulangi, you can smell it from afar. It smells like petroleum and cough syrup mixed. No thank you, I'll stick with dog.
Friday we finally held our big Christmas dinner for the Elders and Sisters. We also invited Fareeda, Widap, and Bono & Dia, his wife. Dia had to work, but we set a place for her anyway. All in all, we fed 15 wonderful people Turkey, Stuffing, Gravy, Sweet Potatoes, Homemade Rolls, mixed vegetables, Carrot cake, Spice Cookies, and Candy. Now I must tell you that the church kitchen in Indonesia consists of a stove with oven (yea!), a sink, no pots, no pans, no dishes, no serving items, and many, many, many ants. So to start, we had to disinfect the kitchen area with Clorox water. Elder Greenway will send the picture of us leaving the hotel with everything you would need to have a Christmas dinner, except the table and chairs. All this was loaded into a taxi, whose driver couldn't believe his eyes. I even took my easy-bake oven along. We put many of the loose things in our old maroon suitcase (which I called my cupboard), our refrigerator was a green squishy cooler that the Grovers left with us (thank you again Grovers). Elder Greenway and I got there early, then the Missionaries came and held their weekly DDM while dinner was cooking. Finally the pop-up-timer on the turkey popped, and we feasted. Soon it was clean up time, you know that because the ants are back, and so the dishes were done and everything put back in the "cupboard". It was a wonderful day, and it ended with the Elders and Sisters practicing the 12 Days of Christmas and Rudolph to take along caroling. They left and we left about 2:30 in the afternoon. Fun! Fun!
So Bishop Kellis, they Church might eliminate the calling, but once a Christmas Party Planner always a Christmas Party Planner!
So, Saturday brought Christmas Eve. We cleaned the apartment, and baked Wacky Cake for the doormen, guards, reception desk people, and other employees of the Hotel Paragon (where we live). We have tried to learn their names and we talk about what we are doing. They love to ask about our family, and are amazed that we are still here. I think they are slowly getting that we will not leave for a while. They worry about our family at home. Christmas Eve evening the Sopomo Building showed the First Presidency Christmas Devotional in bahasa. Luckily we had already watched it on the computer, so we listened hard and tried to improve our language. We had invited Fareeda, and when we got there she was there. But her mother had just SMSed her and wanted her home. They keep her pretty close. So a group of young people stayed and talked to her and then we all hugged her and loved her and sent her on her way. Someday..... After, Elder and I went to Oobonk, a "steak and ribs" place that President Ipung told us about. He is the Branch Pres. of Benjasari, and takes the missionaries to this place. It had checkered tablecloths, and plastic lawn chairs, but it was busy. The steak tastes like steak and isn't breaded and fried, and the ribs (although beef ribs) were actually ribs. It was fun, and we paid 93,800 for it. Which is $9.38 for steak and ribs, and 2 drinks. We walked home, because this place is just a couple of blocks away.
So that brings us to MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! We attended the Kapatihan building. The Jebres branch started at 8 and showed the Christmas Devotional.
We came a bit late because we were delivering the cake to all the people at Paragon. Then the Benjasari branch also showed the Christmas Devotional, but it was also Sacrament Meeting. Then, after the devotional, they have their Christmas Celebration. Some of the members sang solos, the Elders sang (impromptu), and then they handed out Christmas presents. Yup, that's right. Someone had wrapped a bunch of presents that were then handed out to all the members. This is a tradition for this branch. Pres. Ipung likes to see the children happy. Then the feast! It was a full Indonesian dinner, minus the dog,
Well, that bring us to now. We just want to say that we are so grateful to be here. We know that time is passing very quickly, and we are anxious to do all that we can for these amazing, wonderful, loving, dear, dear people. We are constantly reminded how blessed we are to be here. We are so thankful for our call, for our experiences, and for our many, many blessings. At this time of year everyone is so thankful for friends and family, and that includes us. First of all, and I have told them this many times, Heavenly Father blessed us with wise and wonderful children who have raised us well as parents. They are our shining stars, our delight, our joy and our blessing. However, they knew they had better do something amazing to keep us happy, so they had a big bunch of the most beautiful grandchildren ever created. (I know some of you may argue this point, but we are here and you are there so I can say it). We miss them, and we love them each one, and we will have some catching up to do, but that will come. Heavenly Father also knew we would need help, because, well everyone needs help raising such "perfect" children. So he sent all of the rest of you to be our example, our teachers, our comrades, our substitutes, and to encourage us through life. Thank you, thank you, for being there, and for your friendship. We pray that you have had a joyous Christmas time, that you have felt that gift of Spirit, and have had time to remember our Brother, and those many fragile Sheep that he loves so dearly. Thank you for your support. We love to hear from you and would love to hear about your Christmas celebrations. (Again, we would love to see any pictures of Great's Christmas Party. Thank you Sara, for sending yours!) Merry Christmas dear Brothers and Sisters!
With all our love,
Elder and Sister Greenway
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Week 14
Seasons Greetings Dear Family and Friends!
We know that every missionary has a week that is almost totally disappointing. Well, we just had our first. We had some major cancellations come in late, which really put a chink in our plans, and because we don't have a car, we can't just take off and do something else in place of the cancellation. We have also found out that knowing the City is not a prerequisite to being hired as a Taxi driver. More often than not, we end up telling the cab how to get to a location, and that is with limited language, & time spent here in Solo. So, frustration was the name of the game. BUT, we made it and there were a few highlights that became tender mercies! First of all, Adam and John had birthdays, and Emily had an anniversary, so we did some wonderful skyping. Wait 'til January when half of our family was born.
The week began with our planning our two big Christmas activities. One, the Christmas Turkey Dinner for the Elders and Sisters, and two, the Christmas YSA Taco Soup and Movie night. We really got organized on Mon. with food list, shopping list, turkey moved from freezer to 'fridge, and battle plan. Then, UNS called (the civil engineering students) and canceled our Mon. night class time. Tues. we found out that our Zone Leaders that are heading home, and the whole reason we were having the Christmas dinner a week early, had to go to Samarang Thurs. and Friday, so no Friday dinner. We were so glad we had not gone shopping for that dinner!!!!! Then it rained very hard Tues. so no Tues. evening piano lessons because understandably they do not ride their scooters (they call them motors) in the rain.
Joy of Joys! Wed. brought our weekly trip to UNISRI to teach the English Students, and because we never know which class we will have, we always prepare 2 lessons. We're sure you remember that last week we did "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and had sooooo much fun! So that lesson went in the bag, but just in case it was the same class we had to prepare a 2nd lesson. I had found "Twas the Night Before Christmas" in printable story form, on-line. I printed that (already in color!) and mounted the separate pages so that 9 groups could each practice and then read a stanza. I also found "The Little Match Girl", but it was not in color and only had 2 pictures. But... I really like that story, so I printed the story and pictures...edited the story into 10 sections, and using the 2 pictures, drew 8 more. Now, in case you think I am an artist, I will assure you that I held the originals up to the window and traced some things, and then just threw the rest together. But, I now have severely worn my only box of crayons way down, and I wished I had listened better when we had Judy Shiffler come and teach the Activity Day girls about drawing, and shading. By the way, crayons are comparatively expensive here, over a dollar for a tiny box that you can get for free at Red Robin. It took a while to draw, color, and then type up the edited story, plus retype the 12 days of Christmas from last week, because I was not smart enough to save it!. I finally crawled in bed at about 1 a.m Wed. morning.
Since we have not had a car, the University has been sending a car to fetch us. So when we got to UNISRI at 8 a.m., the driver took us to a completely different building, into a room that was padded...(okay all of you that know me stop snickering right now! Even I was a little nervous.) and we just followed blindly, (we do that a lot here), and stayed where we were told. Soon, our usual liaison, Upik (Oopick) arrived. She is the nicest person you have ever met and we have met a gadzillion nice people here. The reason for our reassignment had nothing to do with padded, sound stage rooms, but that they were taking pictures for the yearbook and needed our other room. She also told us that the group we had that day was the lowest level of English students, and that we might have a problem with teaching them. WRONG! We did the 12 days lesson and they were just as much fun, just as eager and able, as the 5th level students we had the week before. Plus! they came and took us all outside for pictures, so now we will be in the yearbook. Amazing...
That night was the usual Soepomo piano lessons, and another new student arrived. Her name is Ari, and she wants to do piano, plus she wants us to help her with the T0EFL test, which is an English Lang. test you must pass to get into BYU - Hawaii. She is from Jakarta, and has moved here to live with her sister, and get ready to take the test. We would like to see a number of the young people from Solo attending BYUH. It is a wonderful opportunity, but there is some cost innvolved getting there, and PEF does not pay for BYUH. Speaking of PEF, it is finally starting to move along in force here in Central Java. Elder Greenway has had the Branch Clerks print off all of the young people 18 - 30 from the 4 branches here. The PEF Committee, is working to get the Workshop Teachers called, and then we will have a huge fireside inviting all of those listed that they can find. From that fireside, those who desire will commit to taking the workshops, and those who successfully complete the 4 weeks of workshop, will apply for PEF. It is a process, but it does help to find those who are truly committed.
As we have discussed, the Missionary Christmas Dinner was postponed until Friday the 23rd, and today Elders Ward and Brown left for the Mission Home, to depart for SLC on Monday. The remaining Elders and Sisters were a bit trunky seeing them leave. So it will be a good thing to have the dinner, seems like things always work out for the best. On my new Butterfly (made in China brand) sewing machine, We made about 30 Christmas stockings for piano students and Missionaries. I sewed and Elder turned and clipped. We gave Ward and Brown their socks with stuff for the plane ride home inside. They said they were going to stay up all night tonight, so they will sleep on the plane. Yea, right. Anyway, The YSA Taco Soup and Movie Night was NOT CANCELED. So last night we had about 24 YSA's from 4 branches come. Friday night sweet Elder G. helped make a boat load of homemade tortilla chips, because you can't get them here. Then at about 2:30 p.m. Sat. we headed to Kepatihan. Now Aster had promised us that there was "gas" for the stove. There wasn't. And on top of that, there was no water at all in the building. So, while Elder G. and Elders Garnett and Dalilis got the movie ready to show.... I panicked! I had thought I should make the soup ahead, but I did not. So, we did what we always do when there is nothing else we can do.... We called Bono! We had already invited him to come with his wife Dia, but he came zooming in with a small gas canister, and stayed and helped set up, and then went back to get Dia. In the mean time the usual Super-people showed up from the branch to fix the water, Bro. Sukros (?), Aster, Aster's mom and dad, Pres. Awi and wife Endah, etc. etc. etc. And soon things were hopping. We invited them all to stay for soup, and then we watch "SCROOGE" a wonderful musical adaptation of "Christmas Carol" that came out in the '70's, starring Albert Finney. We were a bit worried because of the British and Cockney accents, and the "old" English, but we put up the English subtitles, like the Grover's told us to, and they really loved the story and the music. Today, our sweet Widap came up to us singing the beginning of one of the songs, "Thank You Very Much"! These are amazing youth. As soon as the movie was over, they cleaned up and set up the chairs for Sunday Sacrament Services without any prodding. Some of the youth don't attend in that building, but they stayed. We love them dearly.
So you can see that all-in-all it was a good week. We made it through, and we enjoyed everything accomplished. We are (not so patiently) waiting to find out about a car. We mentioned to Bono that it had been suggested that we take trains and buses. He laughed and said no, no, no! I guess it is an unreliable, very crowded and shaky was to go shorter distances. We will see..... Thank you for your emails, notes, e-cards, and for just being wonderful people. We love to hear from you, and if anyone has pictures from "Great's" Christmas party they would like to send, along with a play by play, WE WOULD LOVE THEM! Have a jolly week, take time to love, and serve, and remember the "least of these".
Take care of Christmas, and each other, with great love.
Elder and Sister, (alias Dad and Mom)
P.S.
What I didn't want to tell everyone is...YOUR FATHER BROKE THE MISSION RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Tuesday, well really early Wednesday morning at 1:00 a.m. Sister Peters called and she had just thrown - up. She wanted a blessing. Now, you have to understand, as stated in the earlier post, that the taxi's here do not know where they are going. So to venture out in one in the middle of the night, to go to where the Sisters live, down a minor road, off to a smaller road, then down an alley, would have been dumb. We told her that, so then she wanted to call the full time Elders! No way! So Elder G. did what we always do in a pinch..... yup!!! called Bono, who zipped in on his scooter, and DAD HOPPED ON THE BACK! Bono, WHO KNOWS THE RULES, said "On the motor Elder?!?!" Dad said yup! So, wearing Dia's helmet, they zoomed over to the Sisters. (by the way, Bono knows where EVERYTHING is in Solo and most of the rest of Indonesia). As President Groberg stated, just last weekend, scooters would be handy if they were'nt so strictly "forbodden" (with a german accent!). Just thought you might want to know for future amunition!?!
What a guy... such a rebel.
mom
p.p.s. When Sister Groberg found out that Sister Peters called because she threw up, she told her never to call in the middle of the night unless "you have to go to the hospital!" Poor Sister Peters. (They don't know about the scooter ride.)
We know that every missionary has a week that is almost totally disappointing. Well, we just had our first. We had some major cancellations come in late, which really put a chink in our plans, and because we don't have a car, we can't just take off and do something else in place of the cancellation. We have also found out that knowing the City is not a prerequisite to being hired as a Taxi driver. More often than not, we end up telling the cab how to get to a location, and that is with limited language, & time spent here in Solo. So, frustration was the name of the game. BUT, we made it and there were a few highlights that became tender mercies! First of all, Adam and John had birthdays, and Emily had an anniversary, so we did some wonderful skyping. Wait 'til January when half of our family was born.
The week began with our planning our two big Christmas activities. One, the Christmas Turkey Dinner for the Elders and Sisters, and two, the Christmas YSA Taco Soup and Movie night. We really got organized on Mon. with food list, shopping list, turkey moved from freezer to 'fridge, and battle plan. Then, UNS called (the civil engineering students) and canceled our Mon. night class time. Tues. we found out that our Zone Leaders that are heading home, and the whole reason we were having the Christmas dinner a week early, had to go to Samarang Thurs. and Friday, so no Friday dinner. We were so glad we had not gone shopping for that dinner!!!!! Then it rained very hard Tues. so no Tues. evening piano lessons because understandably they do not ride their scooters (they call them motors) in the rain.
Joy of Joys! Wed. brought our weekly trip to UNISRI to teach the English Students, and because we never know which class we will have, we always prepare 2 lessons. We're sure you remember that last week we did "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and had sooooo much fun! So that lesson went in the bag, but just in case it was the same class we had to prepare a 2nd lesson. I had found "Twas the Night Before Christmas" in printable story form, on-line. I printed that (already in color!) and mounted the separate pages so that 9 groups could each practice and then read a stanza. I also found "The Little Match Girl", but it was not in color and only had 2 pictures. But... I really like that story, so I printed the story and pictures...edited the story into 10 sections, and using the 2 pictures, drew 8 more. Now, in case you think I am an artist, I will assure you that I held the originals up to the window and traced some things, and then just threw the rest together. But, I now have severely worn my only box of crayons way down, and I wished I had listened better when we had Judy Shiffler come and teach the Activity Day girls about drawing, and shading. By the way, crayons are comparatively expensive here, over a dollar for a tiny box that you can get for free at Red Robin. It took a while to draw, color, and then type up the edited story, plus retype the 12 days of Christmas from last week, because I was not smart enough to save it!. I finally crawled in bed at about 1 a.m Wed. morning.
Since we have not had a car, the University has been sending a car to fetch us. So when we got to UNISRI at 8 a.m., the driver took us to a completely different building, into a room that was padded...(okay all of you that know me stop snickering right now! Even I was a little nervous.) and we just followed blindly, (we do that a lot here), and stayed where we were told. Soon, our usual liaison, Upik (Oopick) arrived. She is the nicest person you have ever met and we have met a gadzillion nice people here. The reason for our reassignment had nothing to do with padded, sound stage rooms, but that they were taking pictures for the yearbook and needed our other room. She also told us that the group we had that day was the lowest level of English students, and that we might have a problem with teaching them. WRONG! We did the 12 days lesson and they were just as much fun, just as eager and able, as the 5th level students we had the week before. Plus! they came and took us all outside for pictures, so now we will be in the yearbook. Amazing...
That night was the usual Soepomo piano lessons, and another new student arrived. Her name is Ari, and she wants to do piano, plus she wants us to help her with the T0EFL test, which is an English Lang. test you must pass to get into BYU - Hawaii. She is from Jakarta, and has moved here to live with her sister, and get ready to take the test. We would like to see a number of the young people from Solo attending BYUH. It is a wonderful opportunity, but there is some cost innvolved getting there, and PEF does not pay for BYUH. Speaking of PEF, it is finally starting to move along in force here in Central Java. Elder Greenway has had the Branch Clerks print off all of the young people 18 - 30 from the 4 branches here. The PEF Committee, is working to get the Workshop Teachers called, and then we will have a huge fireside inviting all of those listed that they can find. From that fireside, those who desire will commit to taking the workshops, and those who successfully complete the 4 weeks of workshop, will apply for PEF. It is a process, but it does help to find those who are truly committed.
As we have discussed, the Missionary Christmas Dinner was postponed until Friday the 23rd, and today Elders Ward and Brown left for the Mission Home, to depart for SLC on Monday. The remaining Elders and Sisters were a bit trunky seeing them leave. So it will be a good thing to have the dinner, seems like things always work out for the best. On my new Butterfly (made in China brand) sewing machine, We made about 30 Christmas stockings for piano students and Missionaries. I sewed and Elder turned and clipped. We gave Ward and Brown their socks with stuff for the plane ride home inside. They said they were going to stay up all night tonight, so they will sleep on the plane. Yea, right. Anyway, The YSA Taco Soup and Movie Night was NOT CANCELED. So last night we had about 24 YSA's from 4 branches come. Friday night sweet Elder G. helped make a boat load of homemade tortilla chips, because you can't get them here. Then at about 2:30 p.m. Sat. we headed to Kepatihan. Now Aster had promised us that there was "gas" for the stove. There wasn't. And on top of that, there was no water at all in the building. So, while Elder G. and Elders Garnett and Dalilis got the movie ready to show.... I panicked! I had thought I should make the soup ahead, but I did not. So, we did what we always do when there is nothing else we can do.... We called Bono! We had already invited him to come with his wife Dia, but he came zooming in with a small gas canister, and stayed and helped set up, and then went back to get Dia. In the mean time the usual Super-people showed up from the branch to fix the water, Bro. Sukros (?), Aster, Aster's mom and dad, Pres. Awi and wife Endah, etc. etc. etc. And soon things were hopping. We invited them all to stay for soup, and then we watch "SCROOGE" a wonderful musical adaptation of "Christmas Carol" that came out in the '70's, starring Albert Finney. We were a bit worried because of the British and Cockney accents, and the "old" English, but we put up the English subtitles, like the Grover's told us to, and they really loved the story and the music. Today, our sweet Widap came up to us singing the beginning of one of the songs, "Thank You Very Much"! These are amazing youth. As soon as the movie was over, they cleaned up and set up the chairs for Sunday Sacrament Services without any prodding. Some of the youth don't attend in that building, but they stayed. We love them dearly.
So you can see that all-in-all it was a good week. We made it through, and we enjoyed everything accomplished. We are (not so patiently) waiting to find out about a car. We mentioned to Bono that it had been suggested that we take trains and buses. He laughed and said no, no, no! I guess it is an unreliable, very crowded and shaky was to go shorter distances. We will see..... Thank you for your emails, notes, e-cards, and for just being wonderful people. We love to hear from you, and if anyone has pictures from "Great's" Christmas party they would like to send, along with a play by play, WE WOULD LOVE THEM! Have a jolly week, take time to love, and serve, and remember the "least of these".
Take care of Christmas, and each other, with great love.
Elder and Sister, (alias Dad and Mom)
P.S.
What I didn't want to tell everyone is...YOUR FATHER BROKE THE MISSION RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Tuesday, well really early Wednesday morning at 1:00 a.m. Sister Peters called and she had just thrown - up. She wanted a blessing. Now, you have to understand, as stated in the earlier post, that the taxi's here do not know where they are going. So to venture out in one in the middle of the night, to go to where the Sisters live, down a minor road, off to a smaller road, then down an alley, would have been dumb. We told her that, so then she wanted to call the full time Elders! No way! So Elder G. did what we always do in a pinch..... yup!!! called Bono, who zipped in on his scooter, and DAD HOPPED ON THE BACK! Bono, WHO KNOWS THE RULES, said "On the motor Elder?!?!" Dad said yup! So, wearing Dia's helmet, they zoomed over to the Sisters. (by the way, Bono knows where EVERYTHING is in Solo and most of the rest of Indonesia). As President Groberg stated, just last weekend, scooters would be handy if they were'nt so strictly "forbodden" (with a german accent!). Just thought you might want to know for future amunition!?!
What a guy... such a rebel.
mom
p.p.s. When Sister Groberg found out that Sister Peters called because she threw up, she told her never to call in the middle of the night unless "you have to go to the hospital!" Poor Sister Peters. (They don't know about the scooter ride.)
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Week 13 photos - 4
District Conference
This weekend we participated in the Surakarta District Conference held Saturday in the Soepomo Building and Sunday (Hari Minggu) in the Novotel Hotel grand ballroom. Our visiting authority was Elder Victor Chan from Hong Kong. Interesting to participate with a Chinese native speaking to an Indonesian congregation in English and translated to bahasa Indonesia. I couldn't get too many photos because of its being a priesthood function, but I got some before and after shots.
This weekend we participated in the Surakarta District Conference held Saturday in the Soepomo Building and Sunday (Hari Minggu) in the Novotel Hotel grand ballroom. Our visiting authority was Elder Victor Chan from Hong Kong. Interesting to participate with a Chinese native speaking to an Indonesian congregation in English and translated to bahasa Indonesia. I couldn't get too many photos because of its being a priesthood function, but I got some before and after shots.
 |
| Elder Chan |
 |
| The dais. |
 |
| Sonia translating for Elder Chan |
 |
| By the time we started it was SRO! |
 |
| Especially for Bro & Sis Grover: Arif, wife and new baby (Raya Angel) |
Week 13 photos - 3
From the 4th or 5th floor of PGS you can see the Best Western Hotel to the west, but no photos - well I took one but it ain't gettin' posted!!! But across the street and to the south is an old, derelict fortress built by the Dutch and last used by the Japanese during WWII as a prisoner compound, POWs and Dutch citizens and whomever. The walls are about 3 meters wide at the top, much wider at the base. You can tell by the detail that it was build the late 1700s early 1800s. I had some trouble getting many details: apparently the Dutch ware not the kindest colonial power and the period of Japanese occupation and its brutality is still a very sore point. Oh - its not a total waste, someone pastures their goats inside. If you Google Earth this is in the western part of the city at the west end of Jalan Slamat Riyadi (Main Street).
Week 13 photos - 2
Photos from around Surakarta
This is a model of PGS. The whole building is a clothing and material market similar to Pasar Gede, which was mostly meats and produce. Sister Groberg, the wife of the mission president wanted to do some shipping while here for District Conference. Sister Greenway knew her way around the pasar so she was Sister Grover's guide and I was the fifth wheel, body guard, shadow, clock watcher, taksi gettter, wanderer and pass-along card hander-outer.
Here are some views from inside the pasar. Just a side note ... It is about 90 F outside and about 95 F in the pasar. Note the long sleeved shirts, jilbabs, and jackets. I am literally dripping sweat!
Anytime you go to a pasar - you have to check out the Food Court!
And if you need to get somewhere faster than walking but slower and less scary than a taksi - take a Becak (bay-chock). It'll cost you though ... usually about 10,000 to 15,000 rupia. (about $1.50) If its raining the driver will cover you with plastic so you don't get wet. (Well, not too wet.)
Oh and standing guard at the entrance ..... A couple of these bad boys! (I don't know what that cartoon represents. I hope it isn't a Santa's Helper!!!!)
This is a model of PGS. The whole building is a clothing and material market similar to Pasar Gede, which was mostly meats and produce. Sister Groberg, the wife of the mission president wanted to do some shipping while here for District Conference. Sister Greenway knew her way around the pasar so she was Sister Grover's guide and I was the fifth wheel, body guard, shadow, clock watcher, taksi gettter, wanderer and pass-along card hander-outer.
Here are some views from inside the pasar. Just a side note ... It is about 90 F outside and about 95 F in the pasar. Note the long sleeved shirts, jilbabs, and jackets. I am literally dripping sweat!
And if you need to get somewhere faster than walking but slower and less scary than a taksi - take a Becak (bay-chock). It'll cost you though ... usually about 10,000 to 15,000 rupia. (about $1.50) If its raining the driver will cover you with plastic so you don't get wet. (Well, not too wet.)
Oh and standing guard at the entrance ..... A couple of these bad boys! (I don't know what that cartoon represents. I hope it isn't a Santa's Helper!!!!)
Week 13 photos - 1
Hello all: I have some wonderful pictures this week (though Lala's baptism will be hard to beat! Let's start with...
These beautiful, friendly young faces. I was at a little local Mom & Pop (literally) store. Part of their business is making photo copies. While I was waiting, they started asking questions in English (they wanted to practice speaking English) and they were a wonder .. and all smiles and giggles!
This was the batik Christmas tree in the lobby of the Novotel (the district uses their grand ballroom for their conferences).
And this was the statuary of a traditional Javanese dancer beside the "tree." (Remember the celebration at the water project.)
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