Week 75

Dear Valentines,

I hope you were all feeling the love coming from the Southern Hemisphere this week. When I was a little girl(boy that sounds like an ol'-timer) we would go to our friend's homes with our valentines and kick the door and run. When I got married, my east coast husband thought that sounded like malicious trespass to him. Once we moved away from Spanish Fork, NO ONE HAD HEARD OF THAT TIME HONORED TRADITION, and by the time we hit PA. ... well I just gave up. Alas, I am 61 years old and finally found that Sister Knorpp also spent her Valentine's Day as a child kicking the door and running like mad. How about any one else?!? Last week was Valentines, and Logan's B.day, this week is little rambuncious Anna Marie's first birthday. It's bad enough to have had 4 grandchildren born while we were gone, it's another to have them turn 1 year old!!! Happy, Happy Birthday sweet Anna, tell father, John, you want a fedora for your birthday.

Monday was a great day!!! First of all, we received the care package (it came in a world record 12 days) our sweet Emily sent us. She always includes dark chocolate!... and Country Butcher Beef Jerky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! among the the other wonderful items like fish oil pills. This package also included seeds for Bono, our driver. We asked her to pick up some seeds because you can't just buy seeds here. Well, we all know Emily and her thoroughness at any task. She bought 25 varieties of seeds, with each type having various kinds. For instance 5 kinds of tomatoes. BONO WAS SOOOOOOOOOO THRILLED!!! He cataloged each type and assigned a letter and number to each variety and kind. Emily's kids will be lucky missionaries. That was our first stop on Monday, the Kantor Pos (Post Office). Then we did our Home Teaching for February. We visited Brother Mulyono. He always brings us Sprite pada es, (Sprite on ice). He compared Indonesia to the U.S. He worries because there are people here who wait at the intersections, and when you must stop, they ask for money. He was angry because they are lazy, and he didn't think we had that problem in the U.S. (sigh). Then we were off to Semanggi, an area where there were a number of less active living. We stopped at Friska's home because her mother knows everyone. She helped us so much, and this week we will go visiting the names left on that list. Some had moved (like to Hong Kong), some were active so were on the wrong list, and some were needing a visit.

Tuesday and Wednesday are piano days and Seminary English days. Just a bit about those... Didi, Dandi, and Devara (siblings) will be playing the piano for Sacrament the first week in March! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Tyas, Niken, Katerin, Luki, Lala, and Dinda have all been really progressing on super simplified hymns I have for them... last week was "Come, Come, Ye Saints". And, we brought treats to English on Tuesday and talked about days of the week, and months of the year. We sang, "Today is Monday, today is Monday. Monday wash day, everybody happy? Well I should say". It was soooo fun because after we sang it once, then we did it again cepat!!!! (fast) We also talked about holidays and events for the months. Elder would say, "Valentines! That means CHOCOLATE!!!!" Then he would toss chocolate to them. But he did it for Valentines, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. They were thrilled. Then Wednesday we talked about seasons. We dressed a stick figure who lives in the U.S. in February. So there is the stick figure standing there in his undershirt and boxers. Then I said, okay, now what he must he put on to go to school. Yos raises his hand and tells me to give him a watch! I just cracked up... yeah Yos, that ought to keep him warm. So then Davi said socks, so we were encouraged... then Yos raises his hand and said, a hat. So there is the poor freezing stick figure with his boxers, his undershirt, his watch, socks, and hat. Elder and I were laughing so hard. He was finally dressed, then we showed a power point of the seasons. THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE SNOW. They can identify the seasons now, and appropriate clothing for them.

Thursday we were asked to attend a wedding (on Valentines Day) for Martinus, and his Malaysian bride, Dorothy, he had just met face-to-face for the first time that night. It had been an Internet romance. I've mentioned before that LDS weddings here are like a mini-Sacrament meeting. Now, I don't want you to think that Elder and I spent the whole week laughing, but someone had chosen as the opening hymn for this wedding, "Count Your Many Blessings". We had a difficult time getting through it. But the full-time missionaries sang "Love At Home" right after the marriage ceremony. The couple usually listens to a talk by the Bishop, and then he has them stand and hold hands while he performs the ceremony. At then end, the groom kisses the bride on both cheeks, then they sit up front in two chairs facing the congregation. The missionaries sang, then a counselor in the Bishopric spoke, and then another fellow, then the closing song and prayer. We have had our picture taken at about 10 weddings now, some are with people we will never see again. We feel honored to be there, and represent the Church.

Theeeeeennnn, we came back to Paragon, where the Coral Restaurant was having a "spesial" Valentine Dinner. It included: "Couples Love Photo, Chocolate Pralines, Kissing Fish Soup, Loving Chicken Salad with vinaigrette dressing, main course with love, and creamy pink loving creme." So Knorrps and Greenways took the whole deal. You had to have reservations, and they checked with us as we walked through the lobby the day before to be sure. The food was actually pretty good, but the picture was a crack up. They had a table sitting out in the lobby, all set up as in the restaurant. They had us sit there for the photo. It wasn't until we were sitting there having the picture taken that we noticed the ice bucket with a bottle of wine. Soooooo, if the picture somehow goes viral, we may be home sooner than later.... Our time spent is so varied, from weddings to English, from confirming new apartments for the Elders to purging the ills of sick missionaries. We love the variety, but of course our favorite time is spent with the members.

We are whittling down the Solo 1 less-active list. Jumali is still coming, we are working hard to encourage the members to reach out for others. The missionaries can be more focused now, because they are not running after members that live on another island. We will start on Banjasari next, probably in a couple of weeks. We would still like to see some work done with the Primaries. I think I will just need to start going to Primary as often as possible. But, all in all, when we go to Church each Sunday, we feel the love we have for these members, and they are so generous with their love in return. The most important thing is that it is all worth it. This is Christ's Church, the same Church that was on the earth during His ministry. He did not give up, he taught and loved and ministered, and those near Him saw the miracles. Well, we know when we are near Him , we have seen, and will also see the miracles. We also can feel when we are not putting in enough effort.

It was a great, busy, eventful week. Thank you for your interest in the work. Thank you for your words of encouragement. We LOVE hearing from you. We LOVE hearing about your lives, and works. Please email any time. We will do our best to "reply".

With "kissing fish soup..love"

Elder and Sister G.