Arrival in Indonesia!!

 
I am in a love/hate relationship with technology!!!  I love that I can call, text, what's app, facetime etc all of my friends and family back in the USA.  It is so great to be able to connect with all of you.  
That is the love part.  The Hate part is all the computers.  My computer at work broke this week and I am getting it fix. So trying to make do with the other very old computer in the mission office.  It is taking twice as long as it should to do things. Then the printer would not print.  So, I spent hours on the phone with the tech support in Hong Kong- letting them take over my computer to try and get it to work.  Then I had spent about two hours working on this blog post and I closed the draft and then when I went to open it again it was all gone!!!  So now I have to redo the whole blog post.  So, like I said a love/hate relationship!!!

We had a new missionary couple, Rick and Michele Schroedter, come to the Mission this week.  They are working on the humanitarian project team. The Church is heavily involved in Indonesia and many other countries with humanitarian projects.  The Schroedters were in Hong Kong but were move here to Jakarta. Some of the humanitarian project that are happening here in Indonesia are cleft lip (palate) repair, clean water, wheelchairs and limb Prothetics, childhood stunting growth prevention, and school building and renovation.  I didn't understand how bad childhood stunting really was,  I thought it just stunted their growth -so they were shorter than they should be.  But I have come to understand that it is not only their height that is stunted but the brain development and every part of their growth development.   So, it is a big deal! We are happy to be here. The church is helping the Indonesian people with humanitarian projects and helping them to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ.    Many Indonesians don't know about Jesus Christ.  We are happy to able to share the Gospel and Love of Jesus Christ with them.

On our last day off we went to Kota Tua with the Schroedters.  Kota Tua means Old Town.  This is the old colonial Dutch Town.  This is where the Dutch rulers lived and worked.  There are a few old colonial buildings but nothing that great to see.  We were walking around and some teenagers wanted to interview us.  The questions sounded like a school assignment.  Questions like - What is your name?  Where are you from? Why are you here in Indonesia?  I think it was a project for them to practice their English.  They also wanted to take a picture with us.  After that we went over to the Art Museum.  As many of you know, Scott and I love art.  I enjoy seeing the differences is western art and eastern art.  Below are some pictures of the colonial building and the art.  

 

Zone Conference!

We had Zone Conference Wednesday August 20th.  Zone conference is when your zone meets together and have instruction from the Mission leaders.  It was a fun and uplifting day.  Our Mission leader are President and Sister Mak.  The mission is separated into districts and zones.  The districts are a smaller group of missionaries that are working in a certain location.  A zone is a few districts together.  And the mission is all the zones together.  We have 3 zones in our mission.  We are in the Jakarta Zone.    Below are some pictures of our Jakarta District.  All the sisters got matching batik dresses.  The sisters that live in Jakarta have the brown batik and the sister in Bogor have the grey.  Batik fabric originated here in Indonesia especially on the island of Java.  In Indonesia batik has become not just a craft but an art form with symbolic meaning.  The word batik likely comes from the Javanese words (Javanese is the original language on the island of Java -which is where Jakarta is) amba (to write) and titik (dot) referring to the process of writing with dots of wax.  Next time I will have to get a matching dress.  But at least I am wearing batik.

THINGS WE FOUND THIS WEEK!!!

We Found a Gym with a Pool!!!

We have been looking for a gym or place to exercise.  We were so happy to find this place.  The name of the place is ----- wait for it  ----- wait for it!!!.  THE GYM!!!  A very original and deeply thought-out name.  We love The GYM.  It has all the weights and machines that we need and it also has an outdoor swimming pool, hot tubs and a sauna.  It looks out over the city and in the evening, it is a very peaceful place to be. It is located in the Century Place Building (FWD/Citi) building that beautifully lights up each night. (the picture doesn't do it justice) It is about a 5–10-minute walk from our house so it is prefect. 

WE FOUND A CACTUS!!
Missing Arizona!  So, I thought I should hug the Cactus!!!  Sending a hug to all of you from me!!

We found a Yakiniku Restaurant!!

Funny thing I forgot to mention.  Rick Schroedter is a Retired Exxon Mobil employee just like Scott, and he served his first mission to Japan.  So, we have a lot in common.  One of things we have in common is our love for Japanese food.  Scott and I were walking around our area and found this great Yakiniku (Japanese) Restaurant.  We had a lovely lunch there.  

Taman Mini

On Saturday August 23rd we went to Taman Mini.  We took a Grab ride to get there.  (Grab is like Uber.)  It is about 30-40 minutes from our house.  Taman Mini is a place that has all the islands of Indonesia represented.  Each area had the traditional houses of that island.  Some of the areas had dancers, music or a museum to tell you about the different cultures that are found in Indonesia.  I love watching the dancing.  They are so graceful.  They had a men dance; a women dance and a young girls dance.  The performances were accompanied by gamelan music.  Gamelan is the most famous traditional musical ensembles in Indonesia.  A gamelan is not a single instrument, but an orchestra/ensemble made up mostly of percussion instruments especially tuned bronze gongs and metallophone (similar to xylophones).   It is interesting to me that most Asian music uses the minor keys and most European music uses the major keys.   The music is quite interesting.  As you can see from the photos, a cat decided to be part of the performance.  Jakarta has a lot of cats that just roam around the city.  They also had a band that drove around on a pink bus and just played Indonesian Rock music.  That was fun.  In the middle of Taman Mini is a big lake where they have made a map of all the islands of Indonesia.   (It is the last picture is this section)

 

There was a Komodo Dragon area that also had alligators and other animals.  Komodo Dragons are the largest lizards on earth and are mainly found only in Indonesia.  They are apex predators that eat deer, wild pigs, water buffalo and smaller prey.  They can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh more that 150 pounds.  Komodo dragons use stealth and sudden bursts of speed to ambush prey.  They have serrated teeth and a powerful bite.  I am glad they were behind glass so we were safe!!!  

As we were leaving Taman Mini we found this performing group that we got our pictures taken with.

It was a fun day!!  Indonesia is a very interesting and diverse country!

There are protests going on here!
On Monday August 25, 2025 and today (Thursday) August 28, 2025!!

Here in Jakarta, we had a major protest outside the national parliament.  The protest were sparked by reports that around 580 members of Indonesia's House of Representatives were receiving 50 million rupiah (about $3,075 USD) per month in housing allowance, on top of their salaries.  This is roughly 20 times more than the minimum wage in poorer regions.  Activists and demonstrators- including university students, ride-hailing drivers (Grab), and others - demanded the abolition of these lavish benefits, highlighting growing economic hardship, perceptions of corruption and the government's austerity measures.    Protesters also voiced anger at corrupt elites, economic inequality and the increasing influence of the military under President Prabowo Subianto's administration.   I don't know exactly what is going on here, but some people are unhappy with the current situation.  We didn't see any protesters in our area but today the normally crowd streets were pretty bare as most people stay home or worked from home to avoid the protest because on Monday it turned a little bit into a riot.  

That is all for now!

Sampi Jumpa Lagi!!!