Week 66

Oh the weather outsides delightful, so I think I'll be insightful, it's so hard to feel disdain...

 E'er it rains, e'er it rains, e'er it rains!

 How are all of you this Christmas season?! Do you have family coming? Are you going to visit family? We think we'll spend Christmas in Indonesia. Why not? I think we have plenty to keep us busy. We would love to run home for John' birthday (remember to take a picture in your Christmas Stocking, John), and Emily's anniversary, and niece, Katie's birthday... All tomorrow!!! But alas, we will just wish you all a happy, happy, day!

Monday is our preparation day. So we had the Elders and Sisters, and the Knorpps to our apartment for some District bonding time. It is easy to bond when we are all smushed into our tiny space. Some Prep. days they spend cleaning, some they spend playing "foosball", some they spend traveling close by to see the sights, and every so often they come to our apartment to watch a movie. We haven't had this new group of Elders for just a movie day, so we watched "Scrooge" the musical. Elder and I watch it every year. Last year we watched it with all the Young Singles Adults from Solo. Remember we told you that for weeks we heard "Thank you very much", and "Bah humbug" in the hallways at the buildings. These wonderful Missionaries, especially the Indonesian missionaries, loved the movie; but then, what's not to love. However, we were all laughing so hard as they are all trying to walk (it's really sort of a dancy walk) like Scrooge does at the end when they are all singing "Father Christmas". Add to that "I Hate People", and you have our great Elders and Sister singing all the time. (I told them that "I Hate People" may only be sung when we are all together)! After the movie we ate taco soup, grated cheese, bread, and olives and punch, and for dessert... Snicker Bars!!! I love to fix food for ravenous consumers. Sooooo fun!

Tuesday and Wednesday are our piano days, and that's exactly what we did with a Jebres Ward Youth singing practice thrown in. We also did some shopping for the...

2012 Young Single Adult Christmas Party that was held Thursday evening. But before we could have the party, Elder Greenway headed for Boyalali. This week he took Sister Neis and Manalu, and Elders Yim, Mendrofa, and Townsend. Elder Townsend's companion was in Jakarta getting his Kitas renewed. His name is Elder Masangcay (Masangchay or kay depending on who your around). He is from the Philippines and he went all the way to Provo to the MTC to come to Indonesia, because he had to learn Indonesian! He is amazing. He speaks English, his native language, and Indonesian. But anyway, back to the story. So Elder is in Boyalali and he drops off all the missionaries at the appropriate places, and then he meets Kowo (one of the Water Project managers) to take a look at how the people are using the recently finished water projects near Boyalali. They ran into some problems visiting with the Village Chiefs because they were all in Jakarta protesting the fact they don't get paid. So the inspection was kind of a bust, but Elder always enjoys Kowo.

The whole car-full hurried home, Elder took them to lunch at "Raja Ayam", and then he took Elder Mendrofa to the Eye Doctor! Elder Mendrofa told us he could only see clearly to about a meter in front of his face. Well, the Eye Doctor agreed wholeheartedly. He is now in the process of getting glasses. All this time I was home sewing Christmas stocking (shhhh, that's a secret), and making treats for the YSA party. Poor Elder, after the eye doctor, he dashed home to get me and the projector, then we were off to the Supomo building to have a party. We ate pizza, and watched "Princess Bride" in English with English subtitles. They did great. They missed the whole Miracle Max part... they just couldn't get it, but they loved the "nearly dead all day" stuff. The cracked up at how his head kept flopping around, it was so fun to watch them. They are a great group of young people.

Friday was DDM, and Missionary song practice, AND the Solo 1 Ward had a Relief Society Social. They had a great lesson on Service, then Sister Wati (the lady who makes Spicy Dog) taught them to make Spaghetti Bolognese. Oh my... They don't ever think about "fat" here. Everything is fried, so...

She started with about 2 cups of Blue Band (sort of a combination of Crisco and margarine). She sauteed the onions in the fat until they were soft and then she added about 3 lbs. of raw hamburger. So the fat wasn't rendered out of it by cooking it before. All the fat joined with the Blue Band. In the end it was tasty, but Sister Neis, Elder and I decided we lost another year of our lives. After Spaghetti we headed to Gospel English. We were getting ready in the classroom, when in walked Suwarti, a taxi driver we know and encouraged to come to English, with his 3 daughters and a neighbor girl ages 5 - 8. Then he walks out..... AND LEAVES TO DRIVE TAXI FOR AN HOUR!!!! He doesn't realize we aren't the English teachers for the building, nor does he realize the Elders can't teach 4 little girls without someone else around. Well, thankfully Ratmini offers to go to their class and help the girls (who only speak Indonesian), and to tell the father when he comes that he must arrange for an adult to be with them. I don't know... we might have to figure this one out....

We finished the week, tonight, with another missionary song practice. I arranged some easy renditions (just 2 part harmony) of "Oh Holy Night" and "The Drummer Boy" because they will have to sing at all 4 Ward Parties. They are sounding pretty good. Ya gotta love Christmas music! Today at Banjasari they asked if I could find an easy Christmas song for the R.S. to sing (one that is fun) that they can learn in.... ONE PRACTICE!!!!!...... in English!!!.....something short..... Oh Man! Oh well, it is the season of miracles...

We've had an exciting week, as we are sure (being so close to Christmas) you did. Please write and let us know about all your "goings" on. We miss you and love you. We were sad to miss Gramma Fern's and Grampa Roy's annual festivities. We saw a few pictures on Facebook from Adam, but would love to see more. Family is everything, and you are everything to us. Have a festive week....

With tender feelings,

Sister Mom and Elder Dad