I've mentioned before that we attend a wonderful English speaking ward here in Jakarta with incredible diversity. Our Relief Society Presidency hosted an after church social, knowing how hard it is for many women to pay for transportation to church and the time involved. Traffic is pretty heavy so even though we don't live too far from the church building, it can sometimes take us half an hour. Some people travel an hour or longer each way, thus they try to piggyback gatherings. At this social, we got to visit with the dear ladies who hail from all over the world; Indonesia, Taiwan, Congo, Afghanistan, and Iran. One gal is an American but from upstate New York and single, here teaching English. I've loved getting to know them all and whoa, the food they furnished for us felt just like we were back home; chicken salad on croissants, ham sandwiches on rolls, mixed fruit, and yummy desserts! These ladies whose husbands work in the US embassies have access to some items we don't regularly see in the Indonesian grocery stores so this was a real treat for all of us. We came away with our bellies full and our hearts knit together in our mutual faith in Jesus Christ.
Monday was Memorial Day in the States and all my siblings were abuzz about visiting the graves of our parents and other family members and ancestors. Feeling some FOMO, it seemed like the perfect day to go searching for a cemetery here locally. I Googled "cemeteries near me" and lo, and behold, found a War Memorial not too far away from our apartment. The cab dropped us off in a crazy spot and we wandered through a neighborhood and entered in the back way, which actually was a blessing because come to find later, the front gate was locked to the public. Part of it was off limits because it's under renovation but the part they said was open to us was absolutely beautiful and meticulously maintained. As long as we didn't take any video, they said we could take pictures. This at first made no sense, but many people will do photo shoots and wedding videos anywhere there's some beauty so we understood the rule.
While on our mission, I haven't been to a cemetery yet where I don't have to climb up and down the above-ground memorials, and squeeze between spaces, all the while lunging and squatting to get just the right angle for the shot. So far, they've all usually been a little trashed and crammed together in a very haphazard fashion. Moving up and down and around them is the equivalent of a lower body gym workout. How amazed we were to find evenly spaced rows of easily accessible graves. And here's the best part: they were British and Indian soldiers, sailors and airmen! We felt like we were back in India visiting old friends, like they had been waiting for us for a long time to finally find them!
With arms held low and steady and only 3 steps in between each shot, I was able to knock out 605 photos in about an hour. That's a personal record. As we'd read the various ships or regiments they were assigned to, Rob would Google them and find out interesting facts about them. He too was moved by the experience of finding this serene and well kept resting place.
We saved some of the Brits for another visit when we can come back and do the whole Dutch section. They are on white crosses and there are rows and rows of them. I guess I never realized just how far reaching World War 2 was until this moment, that there was even a reason to be fighting in Indonesia, and men engaged in battle from all parts of the world. How did Indonesia even get involved? I'm clueless. Most of these deaths occurred between 1945-46. I stand in awesome wonder at the selflessness of men everywhere who give their lives for the cause of freedom. What a tragic loss of young lives. WAR. What is it good for?, absolutely nothin'. Seriously, if I didn't have the sure knowledge of a merciful, eternal plan of happiness for all of God's children, and that this short life isn't all there is, this would be a depressing and pointless effort. But knowing these young men will have future opportunities for marriage, families, and eternal spiritual progression, fuels my passion to record their lives so ancestors can find them and do the saving ordinances for them. Every life needs a record kept especially these noble and great young men's lives. It's the task we've been commissioned as a church to do.
While wandering in a strange neighborhood, we came across a mall. Malls here are truly gargantuan, maybe 5 times the size of an American mall. I'd been googling to find a Skechers store but the one nearest us we ventured out to find had gone out of business. My original shoes that I bought in St George at the beginning of my mission have walked the streets of Salt Lake City, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Dili, and now Jakarta. They are completely thrashed, far beyond being presentable but they've been such a comfortable pair, finding their comfortable equivalent has been fruitless.
Shod with shoddy shoes
We considered it a miraculous thing to find a Skechers store at this mall that we stumbled onto in a far away section of town and I was able to buy a new pair of comfortable shoes for our remaining 4 months. I walked around the store and it was like walking on clouds!
Rob has also had his share of foot woes on this mission. He is ALWAYS cracking his toes on various bed posts but this last time, he really whacked it good! Would ya look at the size of that thing? And where did it happen?
(Hah! The perfect moment to use that pun!! )
A quick mention of a visit from a visiting general authority. We have managed to be too early or too late for these blessed events during our whole mission. However this Wednesday, Sister Spannaus and her husband and President and Sister Tai of the Asian Presidency came to Jakarta and they spoke to our mission. She is the 2nd Counselor of the YW Presidency. She and her husband are from Argentina and they are wonderful individuals! We weren't given time to talk with them before or after, except to shake their hands before they spoke. They both gave us excellent words of wisdom and encouragement, I remember his talk more than hers, of him being in a missionary branch in the 70's in Tiera Del Fuegos and nobody showed up for church so he and his companion held all 3 meetings with just the 2 of them. Now there is a stake there. It gives me great hope for Timor-Leste. Then after the meeting, they were quickly whisked away with a strict protocol for them to stay on schedule, I guess. 
Proof
So as it happens, tomorrow, we're scheduled to go on a hiking activity with the ward. Rob's swelling has gone down considerably and is no longer in pain and with a little help from some moleskin, I'm hoping I won't be too hampered by my Achilles heel.
24 hours later....
We're back now from our all day long hiking activity. We started out in the wee early hours of the morning at the church.
It took nearly 3 hours to drive to the base of the trailhead up in the mountains of Kowah Ratu, much longer than we ever imagined, on the ruttiest road that challenged the clutch, shock absorbers, and the passengers to their limit. We were pretty frazzled by the end but grateful to finally be there. The air was cool and the flora was lush.
The only fauna to be seen was a strange creature dancing to pop music for donations.
And spiders. Scary huge spiders.
I sure hope these aren't the dropping, jumping variety of spiders.
Everyone was privy to the privvies:
Well here's one, silly!
Maybe 15 minutes into the hiking in earnest, we started slipping on the super slick muddy rocks and logs and the gradation was incredibly steep, a sure recipe for knee and other joint injuries. It was treacherous.
We're reviewing the situation
We know we made the right decision to not hike up but it was a very long day already and still we had the looooong drive back down those same rutty roads. We didn't want the brother who lives in Bogor to drive us all the way back to Jakarta so we bid him adieu. Getting a cab driver that wanted to go an hour and a half further was no easy feat either so we waited for at least a half hour until Andi Sugandi (what a great name) saved the day. It turned into a 14 hour excursion. Ah well. In hindsight we shoulda stayed home and done our laundry and written this blog at a decent hour but we're glad we at least got to see some of the beauty of Indonesia if not the volcano, and forge some deeper bonds with ward members and laugh with complete strangers. Sometimes it's important to just show up.
Catch you by the tail, buddy!
So we live and learn in hindsight that some better decisions in life would save us time and suffering. But isn't that why we're sent to this earth; to experience the good and bad, to learn from our mistakes and to make better choices going forward? So it's all good.
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
(Not us today)
Psalms 24:3
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bringeth good tidings..."
(Our feet are not so beautiful at the moment)
Isaiah 52:7
"Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means..."
(Divine advice from a loving Father)
Doctrine & Covenants 10:4
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You guys are choice and just showing up will prove to be a great decision some day!
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