Modern day Pioneers

 Some more of the same to report this week. We have enjoyed more time and fellowship with the Iranian members of our ward and the bonds of friendship are strengthening deeper as we share time together; our hopes, fears, laughter, and tears. And good food too! We can't possibly untangle now!

                       We're entwined for life!

We were going to bring in Pizza Hut but Nahid insisted hers was better. And boy, was it! 

Mmm..homemade yogurt! 

None of these friends of ours live in the business city district where we live or by the church building either, so we take a taxi out to their homes or invite them over to our apartment after church since we live only a 15 minute taxi ride to the church. 

We were overjoyed when Hiresh came to church this week. We'd never met him in person before, only through texting in the past. It only took him 3 scooter rides and a train to get to church.  

                         Now that's dedication! 

We invited him over for lunch after church. He brought with him 15 pieces he had painted that illustrated the stories in the Book of Mormon. His hope was that we could make an exhibition for his paintings. Wow. I know nothing about displaying artwork. But it so happens that there is an upcoming Stake Cultural Night of music and dance that the wards have been preparing for all summer. I wonder if we could showcase them there?  It seems like the perfect venue if we can get the logistics figured out. So he entrusted the paintings to us and after a nice lunch and hearing his life story, he hopped on a Grab Scooter for the long ride home.

 

Hiresh graduated from the University of Arts in Tehran but was targeted because his artwork was deemed too Western, too Christian in style. Despite his great talent, he had to leave his country for fear of persecution or worse, and thus became a refugee here in Indonesia. He then joined the church here and learned English, partly from the children's illustrated version of the Book of Mormon. He speaks fluently with the Gift of Tongues. We want so much to bring him to America where his talent can flourish. He wants to find a wife and have a family. 

I'd love to show you some of his artwork. I just think it's so unique and wonderful that someone from a Muslim country living as a refugee in another Muslim country would convert to Christianity and be inspired to understand the stories in a book about Jesus Christ enough to illustrate them so beautifully. 

Lehi preaching in Jerusalem, and commanded to leave in a vision. 

                   Obtaining the Brass Plates

      The Liahona guiding Lehi's family through the wilderness

Lehi's vision of The Tree of Life

The Book of Mormon coming forth to the young prophet Joseph Smith in latter days.

We feel so blessed to know these chosen individuals. It seems that the Lord chooses very special souls to be his pioneers in countries where the gospel has not yet penetrated its borders. He gives them visions and dreams so they will respond to the truth when they hear it. And because of their refugee status, they are like the Zoramites, who are humble enough to accept it. Our friends are truly the cream of the crop. They will blaze the trail for others to follow in their country someday.  For now, we can nurture them and be sort of like what Isaiah calls nursing fathers and mothers to bring them to Zion. It's going to be a long process. Nothing in bureaucracy ever goes quickly but we will not give up on them and plan to continue our quest to become sponsors for those we feel closest to. Because we have been blessed by our Savior through our whole lives and especially while serving Him in India, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, we feel to share our rich blessings with them. Because we have been given much, we too must give. 

Besides Sunday, the happiest part of our week is our online English classes with Mahdi, Nahid, and Kourosh. They are highly motivated students and want more than anything to integrate into American life so they study hard. The hardest sound of all for them is ih, "this is" instead of saying "theese ees." Isn't language just nutty? It's embarrassing how little Bahasa we remember when it's taught to us. Our brains just aren't absorbing new info these days. So we empathize with how hard it is. Every lesson in English Connect finishes with a gospel quote or theme or story so we always end up a little teary and choked up as we share our testimonies of God's goodness. The Spirit is such a good teacher and the Gift of Tongues is real! I hope to continue to be an ESL teacher after we return, even unofficially. All of my life experiences have prepared me to do this kind of work. 

Other great things happened this week. The Jakarta 3rd ward Relief Society had a service project making blankets and stuffed plushies for a children's hospital for the Women and Children's Initiative given worldwide from the church to every ward and branch. Did your ward do something too? We had fun cutting out the pieces to sew together. Rebecca invited her co-worker Dehka to come and see what our church is all about. Because the husbands of the senior missionaries were there, he didn't feel out of place being the only male attending.  He seemed to love the feeling of working together on a project for others..

                Many hands make light work

Afterwards, we introduced the Rorings to Billiongraves work. Because they are here as Family History Specialist missionaries, they were very excited to learn how to put the Billiongraves app on their phone and take photos. We took them to the War Memorial Cemetery. With the three  of us working, we finally finished the last of the graves! Hurrah! We took the time to look at the chapel again. Many historical photos had been put on the wall since we were there last. 

                     Preparing the grave sites

      A whole city has built around this gravesite

               Construction of the memorial 

                     Here's how it turned out 

   Beautiful etched glass and metal work doors

     Elder Dunlap preaching his fiery sermon 

Because we finished the last of the Dutch graves so quickly, we went and looked at the Commonwealth section where the British and Indian graves were. Inadvertantly I had missed 16 graves that were tucked in an area I had overlooked the first two visits. I bet those men were so glad we had a reason to come back with the Rorings! Then we went across the street and knocked out a whole section of Christian Indonesian graves. I loved working in a threesome! The work went so quickly.  And of course, I found some favorites again:

       Somebody obviously loved Hollywood 

                        No country bumpkin

    How could you not love your Grampa Geek?

 You know, I'm beyond thrilled to pass on the baton of this family history work to the Rorings as our time is coming to an end and theirs just begins. They love this work too and will continue to help the people of Indonesia find their ancestors and build their family trees.  I hope it will inspire any of you too when you go traveling to places all around the world, if you have some free time, download the app and visit a cemetery and take some photos. It's pretty easy to do. It's gotta get done. Our church has been given the behemoth task of finding and recording every single soul who has ever lived on this earth so that that person can be attached to a family and sealed to them in holy temple ordinances. We are 3 little drops of water in the Indonesian ocean but we have made a difference for those people we have found and recorded. (You know, the starfish story!). Find out where you can make an eternal difference for someone. Do some family history work! Invite a friend to a service project! Sponsor a pioneer refugee and give him the freedom to work and marry! Find out what the Lord has called you to do, and do it today! 

"...They did receive all the poor of the Zoramites that came over unto them; and they did nourish them, and did clothe them, and did give unto them lands for their inheritance; and they did administer unto them according to their wants"

Alma 35: 9