So... an update from the Orem Peeps here in Utah.
Joel and I are going crazy! Joel picking up shifts at work, balancing me (as we all know is a full-time job), school, Logan and selling himself (plasma-is this not a legalized form of prostitution?) it gets crazy for him. As for me I'm now cleaning apartments (O.M.G. GROSSNESS), doing inspections for the company that kinda laid me off, my calling (which I absolutely LOVE), Logan, and book club (one of my favorite things). And yet we still are finding time for some fun, which is a necessity.
Funny how you make lists of all the things you are doing and its good knowing you're busy, its a fulfilling feeling!
Logan is crawling and pulling himself up and just wrecking havoc! We love it! He is a happy boy and loves being with mom an/or dad. I love this new phase of our lives!
Joel is almost done with school, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. He has already applied to be a PA State Trooper but haven't heard anything back, we still want to head back to the east coast (anywhere) but understand that we might not end up there. I do have a few states that I have nixed and I think the Lord is ok with these states being nixed off our list: Utah (no offense), Idaho (sorry Sara), and Michigan (known to be the most dangerous state to live in).
All-in-all we are doing good, going to the temple at least 1 a month, saying our prayers together, and daily scripture reading (either by ourselves or with Logan) help us stick together with dealing with each of our stresses and busy lives. I have been wanting to start a Blog (but have been too busy to even start one) to help me relieve my stress and vent about nothing but the good things that are happening to help me keep things in perspective and not focus on the crap of life.... :)
We love reading this blog and love hearing from everyone on here and Facebook!

To the Greenway Grandkids‏:

Dear Nate, Eli, Madelynne, Isaac, Gavin, Cecily, William, Andrew, Jackson, Sadie, Kate, Logan, & ?

Hello all my Super-duper kids! I wanted to tell you a little about Indonesia and the people here. First of all, the people are very, very nice! They don't have alot of things like money, and toys, and toilets, big houses. They do have happiness, and kindness, and the members LOVE to come to church. Most of the people here go to a different church called the Muslim Church. They call Heavenly Father Allah.

They eat lots of rice. Nasi Goreng is a favorite. Nasi is how they say rice. Goreng is how they say fried. They like to make their food spicey! All of the houses have Cicuks. You say that word "cheechuks". Those are little lizards. They eat mosquitoes and other bugs, so you like to have them around. They scamper here and there. They are about 2-3 inches long.

People here don't have cars. Most of them walk, take a bus, or ride motor scooters. THEY ARE CRAZY DRIVERS! They drive the English way, we would think they drive on the wrong side of the road. The children go to school just like you. When they are 10 they learn english in their classrooms and then they have 6 years of english.

Well, I will tell them all about you when we go to the town we will live in. It is called Solo. I will show them your pictures, and tell them how much I love you. Then I will take pictures of the people here and send them to you!!!

Be happy and good children!
We love you!!!!!

Gramma and Grampa G.

Week 3

Dear People not in Indonesia!

We are in beautiful Solo Indonesia. The President sent us to find a place to live. We flew down yesterday and met the Grovers a senior couple who have been here 15 months, and their driver, Bono, who has been driving senior couples for many years. There are a million taxis, many mini-mini-vans (purchased by people and rented then driven by hired drivers), and a gadzillion motor scooters. They have lines painted on the roads, but I don’t think that anyone can see them. There is a reason they will not let us drive. However, Indonesian drivers are very polite, everyone just moves around and helps other to get where they are going.

Most homes here have one room that is used as a “kitchen” (that means a sink, but you can’t drink the water, a propane hot plate, and a teeny fridge), an eating area, and a sitting area. There is also a bedroom (the Grovers has A.C.) and a “bathroom” with a squat hole and a deep basin from which you dip water to pour over you. Grover’s actually has a toilet you can flush. Most of the rooms have decorative cut outs on the walls that go outside(with screens over them) and that is your A.C. We weren’t able to see many apts. because the Sister Missionaries were having a problem with the rats in their apt. So, Brother Greenway and Brother Grover put a drain cover in the kitchen, and two in the bathroom to keep the rats out. I thought of Emily in Equador and I wondered if Sis. Peter’s mother in Twin Falls Idaho had any idea that her daughter was killing rats. However, Sis. Peters is dreading going home in a few months. She and her native companion bike all over Solo in all that crazy traffic.

Late yesterday afternoon we sat in on a discussion with the Elders and Fareeda a 20 year old Muslim girl who wants to be baptized. Her parents are devout Muslim. She has not yet told them of her desire, however the Elders think that they already know. We are praying for her. The Elders in Solo wear batik shirts. Last week there was a suicide bomber that blew himself up about a block from one of our buildings. So our leaders went to the police and asked what we could do to help keep the peace. They said that the white shirts called attention to our Elders. So they now wear the bright and beautiful batik shirts typical of Indonesia, only with their name tags clipped on.

Speaking of Elders, last Friday the Indonesian wards and branches sent out 19 new missionaries to the MTC in Manila. We fed them at the mission home before they left. They were wonderful! They are the future of the Church in Indonesia. Now back to Fareeda! She asked me if Pennsylvania was close to Conn. I said yes. She asked me if Conn. was scary. “???!”, I said. She told me she heard that people rise up out of their graves in Conn. I said no, but that there were many old graveyards, and many old houses. She said that she heard the houses were all haunted! Only in the movies said I. This was all said in her bad English and my bad Indonesian. Wadu! (that means wow!)

Soon after the Fareeda conversation I went to hear the YW & YM practice singing for their Branch Conf. taking place in 3 weeks. They are singing “If the Savior Stood Beside Me” (in parts Sis. Kellis!). It was amazing!!! Indonesian people LOVE to sing and sing well. I think they are related to the Welch. Most of their young people know how to lead music well, too. I told them we had a hard time getting our young people to sing. They were shocked. We had so much fun. They had a hard time pronouncing the English “th”. So they kept asking to do it again and again.

We will be back in Jakarta tonight and stay there until we get out Kitas, (sort of an internal visa). Then we will be off to Solo to live when we are not hopping around the country. We attended two branches today and were asked to introduce ourselves during testimony meeting. General Conf. runs a week late here. Everyone wants to help you with the language. We loved it.

President and Sister Groberg are delightful. We have loved staying here and getting to know them. They have some tremendous responsibilities. We have almost been here a week now. It is amazing how far we’ve come. We hope all is well with you. Keep us posted about your lives. We miss you and love you all so much. We haven’t had time to look at the family blog. I hope tomorrow… We will also try to download some pictures. Well, it is late. I will see you next week. Be happy!!!

Kami doa bagi kami, terimakasih kekal keluarga…
mom

Here at last‏

To all of our kids:

We arived safely in Jakarta. We were met by the President and his wife and an Indonesian brother who works at the Mission Office and drives. We are at the Mission Home/Office with the Grobergs and the Seiters. There is another couple who live at the Office. We'll tell more as time goes on.

Love Dad & Mom

Hong Kong E-mail

Hello Children!!!
We and the Seiters are now seated at gate 22 of the Honk Kong Airport waiting for CX 777 to Jakarta which leaves at 9:20 AM. It is now 6:40 AM and let me tell you 14+ hours on an Air Bus is a REALLY long time!!!!!! Your Mom read and napped and did some Indonesian..and read and napped and watched a little TV... and ate supper (actually prettty good) then read and walked around and ate breakfast - well I think you get the picture. On the other hand I read and read and read and watched a movie (each seat had its own TV with a large variety of options) and read and walked around and read and watched a movie and read and watched a movie .... Going through security in HK your Mom got the thorough going over. Her knitting tote was the culprit. The security guy looked at every knitting needle and got a little frustrated (no smile - at all) trying to get one of the little ones out of its deep pocket. Oh well - It is overcast outside so we can't see the city. I'm guessing that we could if it was clear. The temp outside is 88 F. And I am sweating like crazy sitting here with my jacket off. We had a nice conversation with athe fellow on the end of our row and I gave him a pass-along card for a family video.
I'll send another email when we are settled in the Mission Office/Home or whatever.
Dad & Mom

Week 2 - Grandma

Dear All,

Just when you think it can’t get any better! Last week was all about Preach My Gospel and Perpetual Education Fund, and M. Russell Ballard. This week we spent the whole week on Employment Resources (we are not sure anymore that we will be doing this) which was such wonderful information, toured all of the Welfare Sites in SLC and was taught about the Book of Mormon by Russell M. Nelson. Pinch me!

I’d start with the best first, but it was all so marvelous that I will just go in order. Monday all of the ERS missionaries (16 or so) were bussed to Welfare Square by 8:00 a.m. When we arrived there were 20 or so people lined up for day jobs the Center provides. They are first interviewed by a Transient Bishop, then they are put to work for pay and lunch. The result is a warehouse that is spotless. The statistics were amazing concerning the amount of food prepared, preserved and shared. Dad will probably like to tell you all about that. They fed us a snack of their bread, butter, preserves, and CHEESE ( Yum!) And their milk to wash it all down. We then traveled to the Old Hotel Utah (Joseph Smith Building, gorgeous!) to the 10th floor and were fed lunch. That floor is where they have conference and banquet rooms. Brother Rudd, the Grandfather of the Welfare program spoke to us. He is 91! And delightfully bright and kind. We also got to see the site where they take care of all the humanitarian items, where they keep track of the world, and sort all the stuff for D.I. Amazing! It was a wonderful informative day. The rest of the week we spent in training for Employment Resources with absolutely tremendous trainers. Can you imagine me loving to sit in school!? I tell you it’s the miracle thing again.

Tuesday evening we spent with Elder Russell M. Nelson. You all will be getting the October Ensign dedicated to the Book of Mormon. He saw to it all the missionaries here got ours on Monday, and then he spoke about some interesting facts about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and the Ensign. When he walked in the feeling was amazing and everyone always stands. He was so loving, and kind. He had four missionaries (he just said their names) come and help him. He was so sweet to them and in the end we found out that one was his granddaughter. He told us that by Christmas 13 of his family members will be serving on missions. He is in his eighties now, and I watched him and remembered that he is the one who helped Dad. What a wonderful person.

Well tomorrow is our departure day. We are very excited and not at all nervous. Maybe something is wrong with us……or maybe we just know this is exactly where we should be. I can’t wait to meet Pres. and Sister Groberg, Brother Subandrio (he is the “grandfather” of the Indonesian membership), Elder and Sister Grover (our soon to be neighbors in Solo) and most of all the members of our cbang (pronounced chbang, means branch)! We are so grateful to be going. The more we learn the more we know that this is the right place.

We love you all very much! Please keep us informed of you comings and goings. We pray for our beloved family and dear, dear friends every day.

Saya mau kami semua tahu bahwa saya mengashihi saya Bapa Surgawi. Dia Putra, Yesus Kristus, datang ke dunia membawa kita harapan. Kita adalah semua anak-anak Dia. I love you all…

Mom (Grandma)

Hey all! Gavin's preschool has a blog that posts updates and pictures! If you would like to see it, click the link. You can also find the link on Sara's blog.