Week 9: "As I Have Loved You"

There is a scripture commandment in John 13:34  “ As I have loved you love one another.” One responsibility as part of our missionary service is to support members of our faith through planned activities held throughout the Surakarta Stake in Indonesia.  It was Chinese New Year this week so the schools had a holiday on Friday.   The Young Girls 12-17 years old traveled by train and cars and came from all areas of the Stake to a Water Park in Yogyakarta.  There were 60 girls who had a fun time playing on the water slides, wave pools and lazy river etc.  After watching them enjoy the park for 4 hours we decided that teenage girls seem to find the same enjoyment being together in Indonesia as in the United States.  We traveled on this adventure to strengthen friendship with the girls, the leaders, and their friends.  In the late afternoon after the girls returned to their homes, we went to the Yogyakarta LDS Church and taught with the Elders a young married woman searching for Christ and religion.   We then participated in an English language class with 6 students and it was a lot of leaning and fun!  The Elders did a great job.

 Elder Miller and I  stayed overnight in a hotel and Saturday morning we drove by car to Magelang and waved goodbye as 40 Young Single adults ages 18-30 river rafted.  It was so much fun to talk and laugh together as they hurried off on the river adventure with life jackets, helmets and ores.
Finding ourselves close to a World Heritage Site we went to Borobudur Buddhist temple with our driver.  It was amazing.  This was our first adventure out of the Solo city area and it was quite dramatic to see the temple site.  We climbed the stairs to the top and while there we responded to two different  groups who called out to us “Hey Elder and Sister”.  We are easily recognized by the wearing of name tags that identify missionaries around the world.  We greeted the two women and we shared where we all  were from. The woman told us she was born in central Java but had left the country as a child.   They were on a cruise and had docked and were visiting   I looked at her face and my daughter in law gave me a book “As I Have Loved You”  before we left  for Indonesia about a woman telling her story as a child about living in a privileged home In Java,  but during WWII she was separated from her family and was in a concentration camp. The story illustrates strength from strong faith.   I remembered in my mind a picture on the inside cover and I asked her, “Did you write a book about a story of a little girl and a doll?”    She answered ‘Yes, I did”.  It was her story and  her childhood.   It was a little miracle.  The story is dramatic and touching written by  Kitty DeRuger. it was such a pleasure to meet her.

 A few moments later another two couples traveling together called,  “Elder and Sister’ and it turns out they were the parents and grandparents of our good friends Luanne and Mike Callahan’s son’s wife.   They live in Alaska and Idaho.  It is a  small world!   More little amazing miracles in the country of Indonesia. Elder Miller baptized a young mother who had been taught the gospel lessons by the Sisters and our help since we arrived.  Her husband is a member.   She accepted the invitation to be baptized by immersion, and wants to live God’s commandments.  It was a special day.

All our days are filled with meeting, greeting, assisting, and teaching and loving the people here in the Surakarta Stake.  We miss you and want you to know that we know God lives and He knows each of us by name.  We invite you to get to get to know our Heavenly Father through His son Jesus Christ and promise your prayers will be answered through the Holy Spirit.  

Love Elder and Sister Miller