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

Week 8: Great Potential for Change

I’m sorry we don’t have many pictures to post this week. We have been so busy
we often forget to take pictures. Seeing the unique, and usually very difficult living
conditions of many of the families that we meet creates a compelling sense of
urgency to our work.

Every day we wish we could give each family everything they need to lift
themselves out of poverty but not only do we not have the resources but our
responsibility is different. Our work is to enable people to improve their lives by
inviting them to come to Christ. Exercising faith and trusting the Lord motivates
people to lift themselves both spiritually and temporally and builds strength and
hope for the rising generation.

Indonesia has great potential for change. The area where we live may be one of
the poorest and hence the most humble, it is amazing that nearly everyone believes
in God; from the most humble person on the street to the president of the country.
They are not ashamed of their faith in God and church attendance in the Christian
churches is high. Few people drink alcohol and almost no one has a gun. Most cities
have an area that is best avoided by westerners and Solo is no exception but this is a
very small part of a very large population.

The Muslim people, 75% of the population where we live, are very religious, love
their families and are respectful of us. They are very protective of their religion and
we respect their desire to do this by being very careful never to appear in any way
to be intent on converting them to Christianity. Of course, those who approach us
with an interest, we are very happy to talk to about our faith. The majority of our
work is with families where usually the Mother (Ibu) or the Father (Bapak), are
already members of our church. Sometimes the whole family are members but for
any number of reasons have drifted away. We have yet to visit any of these families
and found the Bapak or Ibu to be anything but kind, gracious and grateful that we
found them. The children giggle and hide behind their mothers and Margo always
has a small piece of hard candy and has no trouble coaxing them out.

It is hard to describe the living conditions we see every day without being
disrespectful. Based on the standards that we are accustomed to, our hearts break
for the very, very few possessions. Most do not have furniture and sit, eat and sleep
on the floor on a small pad. Many access water and toilets through a neighborhood
well and washroom, however people are always clean, with hair that is well
groomed and virtually everyone has a beautiful smile and warm handshake
followed by touching their hearts with the hand that shook yours.

No matter how little they have, our visits always prompt some gesture of food or
drink. If they have none to offer, occasionally a neighbor will drop in with
something to give on their behalf. There is a beautiful bakery near our home and

Sister Miller has taken to a daily visit to buy loaves of fresh bread to offer every
where we go. The words to one of our favorite hymns are never far from our minds;

“Because I have been given much, I too must give,
Because of The great love dear Lord each day I live.
My glowing fire my loaf of bread, my roofs safe shelter over head,
That he too may be comforted”

Sister Miller loves the scripture in John 6:48, 51 where Christ says he is the bread of
life and if anyone will eat of that bread he will live forever.

Yesterday we met a beautiful very elderly appearing sister; we had met her
husband a previous day, in a clean simple home. He has a small cart where on the
street he sells inexpensive children’s plastic pocket toys all day long and she sits on
the hard floor of her home and cuts and seals plastic bags for long hours each day.
Her knees and back were bent and painful. In Indonesia it is culturally OK to ask
people how old they are so after we got to know her a bit she asked Sister Miller
how old she was. (She was captivated by her beautiful white skin and blonde hair.)
We were both all shocked to discover they were both 5 years younger than us. Life
is so hard and it ages people much differently than we are accustomed to. His poor
eyesight makes it impossible for him to read his scriptures and very poor hearing,
making it difficult for him to communicate. It was almost impossible to control the
urge to give him my prescription glasses and hearing aids. In fact, I offered him my
glasses but they only made things worse.

My publisher contacted me this week and is actively in the process of editing the
manuscript of my book to be published and available in June 2018. (Hearing the
Voice of the Shingo Principles: How Principles inform a Sustainable Culture of
Excellence) This has been a life-long aspiration and will soon be on the shelves of a
bookstore near you, or amazon.com

Love,
Elder and Sister Miller

Week 7: Steps Leading Us to Christ

Sister Miller is such a great companion to have.  Some days she says she thinks I am losing it and some days I think she is losing it.  But I have evidence.  I know she is definitely “not” Elder Miller and I know she does have another pair of shoes just like the ones she is wearing.  This is only the evidence that we are trying to think of others and not ourselves.  She keeps the young missionaries laughing as they are the ones that seem to notice our funny things.  Usually we don’t do them on the same day thankfully.  

Each week we love the people we are serving with even more.  I guess that is a natural product of service.  Since arriving in Indonesia we have not only seen terrible poverty but we also have been to two funerals and seen many who have suffered strokes as a consequence of diabetes.  It seems that most of the victims of this decease are the men; usually in their forties and early fifties and often with young families.  I think the poverty contributes to the diabetes as for many rice is about the only thing they can afford to eat and white rice turns into sugar in the body. Virtually everything else that is eaten that is cooked is fried.  This picture of the grocery store where we live shows an entire row of cooking oil.  It doesn’t show that also scattered throughout the store are towers of special promotions for more cooking oil.  One of the reasons for this is that very few people have an oven and certainly not a microwave but most have a propane cooktop.  We have a nice apartment and all we have to cook with is a gas burner and a rice cooker. All of the warungs, or small outdoor food stands, fry virtually everything they sell.  Most of this food is very inexpensive and many people eat food every day from the warungs.  If they earn a bit of money that day it buys that days food.  Because the healthcare system is poor and most people cannot afford it, diabetes often goes untreated until it is too late. 

      This week we attended the funeral for the father of one of the young missionaries from Indonesia.  His Father has battled the terrible effects of diabetes for many years.  The elder, shown in the center of the photo is a wonderful missionary and is currently serving on an island almost at the bottom of the Philippines.  He flew home for the funeral and the day after, Sister Miller an I went to their home and together with the two oldest sons, were able to provide some measure of comfort and support to their large family; including the grandmother that also lives with them.  The family culture in this country often revolves around supporting the grandparents when they are old and unable to work.  Their is no social safety net so if you have not saved for retirement most people continue to work until they are unable to work anymore.  Many of the older women take care of grandchildren and often prepare food that is sold during the day on the streets by the parents .

     We are highly motivated to use this time to become more healthy ourselves.  We try to get to the fitness room at our residence most days and I can honestly say that I have not worked out this hard since High School Football days.  Sister Miller looks great and we have the energy to work until eight o’clock each night.  

     Last night the Bishop of the local ward was so kind to invite many of the less active members and several who are not yet members to their home for a “family home evening”.  Sister Miller and I taught the lesson.  We put a picture of Jesus Christ at one end of the room and a picture of a family at the other end then gave everyone a paper foot step and asked what they might do this week that would move them closer to the Savior.  As they shared their proposed actions we made a pathway of following the footsteps that will lead us back.  As it turned out the steps didn’t get us all of the way to the picture which was a great opportunity to remind us that if we have done all that we can do and still come short, the Savior will come to us with open arms.

     We are so very blessed to be in his service and to have nothing but this work to occupy our minds and our time.  We pray the Lord will bless each of you in the many wonderful things you are doing with your lives and in your families.

     Love,  Elder and Sister Miller

Week 6: "People Believe In God!'

This week we attended the ground breaking ceremony of a new Stake Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Solo.  This is an 18 month project which will include a cultural hall that will seat 900 people and a large chapel.  When the new construction is completed on adjacent property of the old chapel, the old church will then be remodeled and redesigned with additional classrooms and offices.  The ceremony was attended by many Muslim community leaders, Christian leaders, and the contractors and project superintendent.   It was an opportunity to see a faith filled community share the enthusiasm for this beautiful new planned building project.  Someone leaned over to me and said,  ”The wonderful thing about the country of Indonesia is that from the people who live in the Gongs to the President of the Country everyone believes in God, people do not drink alcohol and nobody has a gun."   We had a moment of silence at the beginning of the meeting so all faiths could share their personal form of prayer.  There was a unifying ceremony with food called Nasi Tumpeng a yellow rice beautiful food shared that was very interesting.  This is served when something special is to occur. Tumpeng is a way of serving rice and its side dishes in cone form, it is also called “rice cone”.  The stake president served the community leaders.  

We had a great Zone Conference of the Jawatenga Zone. President Rowley and his wife flew to Solo and there were 26 of us together being instructed on best practices of missionary work.  It was a great day.

We teach in many different areas and everywhere we go we meet people we love

We are so blessed to meet and sing and pray with wonderful families

“But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever, and who so is found possessed of it at the last day it shall be well with him.”  Moroni 7:47  “Let us examine our lives and determine to follow the Savior’s example by being kind, loving, and charitable.  And as we do so, we will be in a better position to call down the powers of heaven for ourselves, for our families, and for our fellow travelers in this sometimes difficult journey back to our heavenly home”  Pres. Thomas S. Monson April 2017

Love, Elder and Sister Miller

Week 5: Rural Indonesia

Visiting outside of Solo

Foreclosure in the rural countryside 

Yummy CHicken heads! 

Baby brother sound asleep as this family travels. This is a typical view!

Delivery of rugs 

This sweet woman on her bike wanted to help our driver find the home we were looking for

Mom and I visited the home of this great family that have been members of the church for thirty years but are just coming back into activity. They are beginning to save money to go to the temple. They also have an 18 year old son we will help prepare for a mission. 

Drying laundry is an individual's choice that has many styles

Elder Miller stopped to look at the banana tree 

Our driver was trying to avoid the Billy Goats Gruff! 

After a month of seeing the band every Saturday, they have become our good friends

Preparing materials to teach "Learn English Now" for the Solo community at the Immigration Department. This is a service to the Indonesian community. The class has 19 modules and will take 8 months for Elder Miller and me to teach (2X/week). This is the print shop that copied our materials. 

January 21, 2018. Rural Indonesia. This week we taught outside the city of Solo and it was "post card" beautiful. The sister missionaries taught a lesson for us and they translate for us. 

Week 4: Humble...In Every Way

Sister Miller and I switched roles this week, I will update all of you, and she will write the report to our mission President. 

      Even though we have only been in Indonesia for a few weeks, the people and culture has already changed us in profound ways.  Most of the people we are getting to know are so very humble...in every way.  They love each other and even though they have little of their own they organize their “gongs”, or neighborhoods, so that they can know each other’s needs and offer support. 

Relief Society (women's organization) in the Lingkungan Jebres or Jebres ward

     This week we went to the 40day ceremony for the family of a man that was killed in a car accident early in December.  The small home was filled with people all sitting on the floor and again the streets were lined with friends and neighbors, all offering their support.  

     Sister Miller is organizing to teach beginning piano lessons to many of the children and adults that want to learn. A US foundation will give a keyboard to those who complete the requirements.  The young  missionaries are teaching English classes and we will try to help them by getting some well organized material for them and teaching them how to use it.   The older people speak Javanese and the younger ones that are able to go to good schools are exposed to some English. Many parents want their children to learn to speak English. 

     As much as we can we are visiting the homes of church members that for many reasons have stopped coming.  We are trying to remind them of what they felt when they first joined the church and reacquaint them with the wonderful members. It is so interesting how open and friendly other young Christian men and women are to us and us to them. It is almost like we are drawn to each other in this mostly Muslim country, although we also love the beautiful Muslim people.  

All of our love to each of you, our dear friends and family. 

Elder and Sister Miller

I'm not sure where the bodies went but we have a wide selection of heads and feet

Week 3 in Indonesia: Service & Funeral

We are amazed at the service and continuous work and study evidenced by the young missionaries, ages 18-20 boys “Elders" and the 19-21 year old girls, “Sisters” that serve with us here in Solo.  Many come from Indonesia others from all over the  world.  They  learn the Indonesian language fluently,   They pray for strength from God, ride their bikes through torrential rain storms everyday and arrive soaking wet to invite Christians to learn about our faith. They smile and love the people.  They are so incredible in their outreach and obedience to missionary rules and learning to be great examples of leadership. Parents… they are guided and watched over by our Mission President Rowley.  

We assisted Sister missionaries and Elders teach lessons, helped the Elders teach an English class,  attended institute a religious study class and are making new friends.  We went on our first visit to a very humble Indonesian local family that we supported with love at a difficult time for them.  They offered us hot chocolate and the most delicious Indonesian pancake delicacy, Martabak Manis!  Driving we noticed a huge billboard (see picture)  which reads "Terrorism is the enemy of religion, enemy of the country and enemy together".  What a wonderful message to the people.  Most Javanese are Muslim. 

We bought OPPO Smart phones this week that opened up language ability with Google Translate.  We are studying hard learning the language.  It is difficult to “teach two old dogs new tricks” ha ha!  It was complicated to buy a phone as an immigrant here in Indonesia. We also are still waiting for the internet.  The internet requires not only our official visa documentation, registration photo ID cards and passports but also the ID of an Indonesian sponsor.

We attended a Muslim funeral.  A LDS  woman with a 19 year old daughter and 14 year old son from a local congregation married to a Muslim man.  The father was 44 years old and had a massive stroke on Wednesday.  We learned about him on Thursday evening and  went to the ICU on Friday to support the family.   He was unconscious.  We prayed with the wife and met his Muslim parents.  He died late Friday night.  We had an amazing cultural experience  attending the funeral of this family man.  Javanese Muslim burial rituals normally  should take place as soon as possible, held within 24 hours of death.  We arrived at noon on Saturday.  We went to the gong (the street where they live) and at the time of the ceremony there were 200+ friends lining the 12 foot wide street on which they live.  (see short video)  Some Muslim women offered to shake Elder Miller’s hand, however, there are those who willl not touch the hand of a man so they touch their heart or put their hands together and bow their heads which is beautiful to experience.  It was very hot, I have a little cloth fan that was given to me by the Mission Presidents wife and I used it!  Muslim funerals are an important ritual that takes the spirit of the deceased into the afterworld.  

The body was placed in the families home.  The corpse had been washed and wrapped in white linen.  It is important that the wrapping  be done correctly so the deceased looks presentable to the angels that escort him to heaven. The Kafan is a simple and modest white cloth they wrap the body in. The orifices of his nose were plugged with clean white cloth.  He looked handsome.  A person on the street spoke in Javanese with a microphone so everyone that lined the streets of the gong could hear.  He thanked people for coming and spoke a Javanese prayer then in Arabic.  In conclusion the Imam aligned himself outside the family home with the body and prayed in Arabic. The Javanese believe in continuing ties with the dead and especially ties between parents and children.  Slametans (remembrances) are held at intervals after death at three days, seven days, 40 and 100 day;  the first and second anniversary date of passing  and 1000 days after the death.  This marks the point when the body has completely decayed to dust.  We did not attend the burial it was far away.

Saturday evening we attended the baptism of a young wife.  They were married 3 months ago.  Three generations of a Mormon family at the chapel.  The beautiful little elderly matriarch of this family is an Indonesian pioneer of the LDS faith. This grandmother was baptized in the 1970’s by Elder Funk who is now the Area President for Asia.  (see picture)  The Sisters taught her the lessons about our faith.  She made the decision to be baptized.  She looked beautiful.  Her baptismal dress was simple with little clear beads sewn in a simple design placed conservatively on the sleeves and pockets etc. 

We invite all of you to read the Book of Mormon.  The power from the words if you ask with the desire to know can help you come to know the book is true.   We promise you can come to know that Jesus Christ has restored his church on the earth.    Love Elder and Sister Miller

Week 2 : The Cultural Center of Indonesia

"We have been in Indonesia since Dec 20.  The cultural center of Indonesia here we are living  in the Central Java the city of Solo.  We have a driver who drives us where we must go because the traffic is bumper to bumper at all times with literally hundreds of skooters in and out and between each car.  Our apartment is considered high standards for the country.  We are very blessed.  The weather is very warm and humid and each day there has been a torrential downpour for just a few moments.  Our service in this country is to reach out to those members of our faith who are here and assist them in any way that is appropriate and especially to invite  those who for some reason are not attending worship meetings.  We especially are focused on the rising generation.  

We have not seen one other American in Solo since our move in date of Dec 22.  The families around us in this central location are beautiful.  Beautiful women you can imagine clothed in hijab.  Even many of the tiniest baby girls wear these beautiful head pieces with jewels and sparkles and the most beautiful faces.  We each smile at each other and the spirit of love prevails amongst each of us and this people.  There are Muslim families everywhere and many children.  We see many pregnant women with their families and they dress in batik cloth which are gorgeous.  There is also outside the place where we live much poverty.  We will begin to visit different areas in the coming weeks.  We hope to share the spirit of love with Christian families and the invitation to come unto Christ with those who have found happiness within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  There are many young children members of our faith and we hope to increase the desire for them to serve missions, friends come to church and assist the young missionaries serving in this area to teach those people who are investigating our faith.

There are many fried noodles, ramen type noodles, rice with spices and sauces.  Fried  tofu is abundant and other soy products.  There is much chicken (Ayam) The open market is unbelievable to see the produce and beans and fruit. There are banana trees everywhere.

We are intense about studying the Bahasa Indonesia language. We must be able to communicate with the wonderful people and speak their language. We are trying very hard. Elder Miller and I are learning by situations…we study and write out what we think we will need to communicate in situations we are determined to speak the language!!

Bean strips with corn and bags of brown sugar. 

Traditional Batik fabric

A family in our church

Brown sugar and soy/corn patties found in an open market

Notice the traditional makeup for this beautiful  bride we met in Solo. 

 Margo singing Christmas carols in a church women's choir.

We invite each of you to find faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.  We have shared in many holiday parties at the four wards here in Solo.  The children teenagers and adults sing and dance and love each other.  Everyone in the congregation participates  and there is an outpouring of love in the celebrations of the birth of Jesus Christ.  All sing hymns  with enthusiasm.   We love each of you and look forward to sharing the mission experience in Indonesia.  Love, Elder and Sister Miller