Week 13: Magelang, Piano & Pare

This missionary picture was taken at our recent Zone Training meeting that is held
every six weeks. These young and women are remarkable in so many ways; they
are young and really enjoy being together and being instructed by their mission
president. Zone conference is wonderful for Margo and I as well. These young
people are devoting two full years, at their own expense to serve others. It is truly a
miracle to witness. We just try to keep up!

One of the many significant differences in our service from the young
missionaries is that they get transferred to other cities while we will spend our
entire mission in the same area of Solo and Central Java. This week we experienced
our first transfer of two young missionaries we serve with and love so much; the
Sister is from the Philippines and the Elder is from Georgia.

We do many different things during the course of a week. I love this picture
where Margo put stickers on each of their fingers of her piano students indicating
fingers 1-5 . I thought the older kids and parents would think it was silly but
everyone had a great time…I even had fun with mine until they pulled the hair of my
fingers trying to get them off!

Margo cooked an American tasting version of an Indonesian vegetable “pare” for
a church women’s group cooking contest and won fourth place. It was fun for her a
reminder that everything here is very different, especially food. Even though we
enjoy some of the Javanese foods and many spices we still love a good KFC and Pizza
Hut from time to time.

On Saturday we flew to Jakarta, about a one-hour flight, and a fifty dollar fare, to
listen to one of our Church leaders from Salt Lake City, an Apostle, Elder Stephensen,
and the Area President from Hong Kong, Elder Funk. They spoke of how the church,
is now reaching into the fourth generation in Indonesia since the first members
were baptized in the early 70’s. Faith is becoming stronger and lifting each
succeeding generation.

The highlight of the week was a visit to Magelang, a city about three hours away
on the other side of the volcano. We visited our small church building on the way to
an amazing Muslim boarding school we were asked to visit to see how we might be
able to help them.

The school has about fifty permanent students from a wide variety of
circumstances that live on site from first grade through high school with some
college classes even offered to the older students. They currently have a few more
boys than girls. The young missionaries teach English classes there twice a week
and the students love them! The leaders and teachers couldn’t say enough good
things about them.

 We volunteered to teach 6 special workshops over the next 15 months for the students on topics related to life skills. We are excited to develop warm and lasting relationships with these
beautiful children, their leaders and the many volunteer teachers and coaches.
Here are a few pictures of the children, the school and their devoted teachers.

The school is self-reliant and consists of all volunteer teachers. They mix
teaching with traditional Javanese life style including the students building all of
their own buildings, raising all of the food that they eat, and teaching the young men
and women academically and how to succeed in the world. They boys collect
firewood for cooking from the jungle and the girls cook all of the meals in traditional
Javanese ovens. They raise fish and have semi-hydroponic gardens to raise herbs
and greens for cooking. They make their own soap, traditional medicine and other
basic necessities use and sell on the streets. They are learning basic computer skills
from old technology but have no access to TV’s or cell phones. Each student is given
a bank account and all of the money they earn from selling their products on the
street is deposited into their accounts so that when they are finished school they
will have capital to start their own businesses.

LDS Charities funded the construction of new toilets for the school which the
students are building under the direction of an LDS project manager and coach. The
picture below shows the toilet before the tile is applied.

Week 12: "We Really are Serving as Missionaries!"

Today during the worship service, Sacrament Meeting, a striking young 19 year old girl spoke quoting verses of scripture found in I Corinthians Chapter 12 about the diversity of “Gifts of the Spirit “. I thought deeply about what she was presenting and about as individuals we are all unique. Life really is a project of learning how to love, accept and serve each other no matter how different we are. She was excited about leaving to serve a mission in Brisbane Australia . After she concluded speaking, the congregation sang “Called to Serve” “Kita Dipanggil ‘Tuk Melayani.” I barely understand the language but I felt the spirit of the message as we sang, and tears ran down my cheeks because at that moment …..it really hit me …. after all the years of my life thinking about being a missionary we were sitting on the other side of the world, really serving as missionaries and doing whatever we can to make a difference in the lives of others. Missionary service is incredible! We talk frequently and communicate with our children at home, but daily life is different for us because we are immersed with the desire to invite others to hear the gospel of Christ, serve, and for us to be an example of a believer.

We were in Yogyakarta for a baptism.  A really nice girl we have visited and taught with the missionaries and developed a friendship with who has a Muslim background asked to be baptized.  Her mother passed away and she cares for her father who suffers disabilities from a stroke.  She is married to an American she met on line and it is very difficult for him to get a visa and get legal re-entry into Indonesia. It is just like the US it is not easy to cross borders.  She hopes to go to America this year for a short visit.  She texts me because she lives in a different city.   She studies English with the Elders in Yogyakarta and is learning!  It is really wonderful to watch how the gospel of Jesus Christ  strengthens and lifts people in so many ways.

We often visit the sick. We see what we describe as a crisis in the number of stroke victims and the evidence of diabetes.  With shortened life-spans and long term care in many homes we see generational Christ-like service in combination with the financial burdens and stress resulting from death and illness. We helped to organize a support type group for Widows and shared a theme from Mosiah 18:21 “having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another”.  It was a great beginning and we learned so much from women who have recently lost their husbands. They taught us what strengthens them and the kinds of positive support that is helpful.  Tonight, we attended the 100 day “Remembrance” of the loss of one husband/ father.  We gathered and sat together on the floor in her home with many friends and neighbors lining the Gong and it was beautiful! It was amazing to me because not long ago we were in the same home on the 40 day “Remembrance” which I remember as somber.  There was last night a feeling of the beginnings of healing!  The Javanese tradition of “Remembrance” of the passing of a loved one we shared with her at the  40 day , now 100 day ,  and we look forward to sharing the 1 year.  Additional remembrance will continue at  2 year, and 1,000 day remembrance.

We feel so fortunate to work with all the young Elders and Sisters.  There are many people in Indonesia that the young missionaries meet every day and have abundant opportunities to teach and serve.  We often meet the young missionaries and assist with teaching and they translate for us.  We are often helpful as a Senior couple because of  our mature  “age” and lifetime of experience.   Many  view us as the “Grandma and Grandpa”  which can be a comfortable friendship.  Our white skin is also of great interest because in Solo there are very very few white skinned people.

It seems that everyone in Indonesia, like America, has a cell phone in their hand.  Many have very old technology and others have smart phones.  Even as we walk in very humble Gongs we see many phones. The young missionaries will soon have smart phones to be able to keep up and communicate with those they teach and serve.  That will be a great help.  Most of us use a service called  “Whatsapp” and apps are only available with a smart phone.

We had zone conference this week and we had great leadership training.  It is fun to be together.  The young Sisters who we each reimbursed bought enough of the same fabric for ties, skirts and dresses that we each had made for all of us in the Zone.  In central Java it is the culture and shows unity to wear matching fabric.  The color and design of traditional Batik is unique and a very important form of art in every city so if you are dressed in the traditional color and design of Batik someone would be able to identify the city you lived in by the Batik fabric.  Before we leave the country I hope to have a shirt for Elder Miller and a dress for me made in the traditional Solo Batik fabric design and colors.

We went to a spectacular waterfall Tawangmangu  with the young 4 Elders and 4 Sisters and it was such a great day off from Missionary work.  We hiked and ate and laughed and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors. There were little monkeys everywhere and they were kinda creepy they will  try to steal any food in your hand and  actually open a back pack looking for food if its set down.  We do not have an oven in our apartment.  We have two propane burners and a rice cooker.  I made chocolate chip cookie batter and Robert fried them in a pan with a lid to take on our picnic it was hilarious watching him fry the cookies ha ha but oh they were delicious!!

We Really ARE Serving as Missionaries!!!  Love Sister and Elder Miller

Week 11: The Power of Honest & Hard Work

 Indonesia is such an interesting place to live.  There is much that can be learned from a country who’s economy significantly lags that of many western countries.  We see evidence of the emergence of a larger middle class but the majority of people still cling to a delicate balance between subsistence and poverty.  We have seen a few neighborhoods made up mostly of families who we might call well-off but mostly the larger homes are surrounded by the homes of the poor.  Life is hard for most people and they work very, very hard.  Even for those fortunate enough to receive some post high school education it is very hard to get good paying jobs with a reasonable life style.  The daughter of someone we recently met graduated, at great sacrifice by the family, from a program in the hospitality industry.  Sadly, the only job she has been offered is that of making beds twelve hours a day with only one day off in a month for very very little pay,  

     The amazing thing to see however are all of the incredible things that people do to support themselves.  Most people live without most of the things that we might think are basic necessities.  Homes are very very small with little of no furniture.  Most people have a small mat that they put down on the hard floor for us to sit on while we are visiting.  One man we meet with regularly borrows chairs from his neighbors so we do not have to sit on the floor.  Beyond the receiving room there is usually limited lighting and even less furniture.  Most have what is called a “wet” bathroom which consists of a squat toilet with a large barrel of water next to it and a ladle to pour water into the toilet to wash it into the gutter outside the home.  The streets fortunately have mostly open gutters to collect and channel waste out an away from the homes.  In the wet season, which is all we know so far, this system works pretty well as it rains very hard most every day and the system is constantly cleared out.  Not sure what will happen in the summer. 

This man is a professional motorcycle parker

     People are willing to do almost anything to work and the entire system is set up to provide the maximum opportunity for people to do something.  Having very few traffic lights provides work for people to stand in the middle of intersections and try to make some order out of the chaos.  They get paid by people who appreciate not having to sit in a traffic jam by handing small amounts of money into their palms as they pass.  If you want to park somewhere you just turn on your signal light and someone emerges from the side of the road to guide you inch by inch into a small space then stand in the street to stop traffic while you back out.  This is done for a small fee of 2000 rupia (rp) or about 15 cents.  This system even applies in the McDonalds parking lot.  Many many people prepare food in their homes for sale to the warungs which are the small omnipresent and portable food stands.  A meal sold from these stands is very affordable for local residence, often as low as 25 cents, so many get their primary meal of the day from the street.  This may consist of a small bowl or rice, steamed or fried, with perhaps a small vegetable and/or a small portion chicken and a watered down drink.  

     Sister Miller and I often talk about the conflict between raising salaries and the value of keeping them low and providing the self respect that comes from having work.  Ultimately for the standard of living to be raised, incomes must increase faster than the cost of living.  We of course already knew this from our home in America but it somehow seems much more real when people are starting at such a different place than most of us enjoy at home.  This week we met in a neighborhood or gong, where every family lives by making shuttlecocks  or badminton birdies.  Badminton is a favorite sport in Indonesia.  This is done starting with a large bag of chicken feathers and is all done while sitting on the porch of their homes.  Another lady sits a home every day and folds plastic bags.  Many men collect used items and sell them on the streets, including second, third or even fourth hand motorcycle parts.  We are learning a great lesson about the power and dignity of honest hard work.  No matter how hard life can be, people are always lifted by knowing they are taking care of themselves.  In America we often kid about the burden of children living at home after getting married but in Indonesia almost every home is filled to the brim and overflowing with three and in some cases four generations.  With a very limited social safety net, parents naturally give everything they have to help their children then the children feel a huge responsibility for the care of their elderly parents when they are no longer able to care for themselves.  When this happens at both ends of the life cycle this creates many hard challenges, in other ways it keeps families close together and family values are easier to develop and maintain.

     One small but very interesting observation is that at home it is often  a struggle for many parents to get their children to go to piano lessons and to practice.  Sister Miller offered to help a few children learn to play the piano after school.  Two weeks into the process she now has 17 students in a group lesson with ages ranging from four to 40.  It a lot of work and even though none have a piano in their home, they want to learn, practice on a plastic printed keyboard and share a few keyboards in the church to share during the lesson.  We have made application to a foundation for a donation of keyboards for those that stick to it long enough to complete the required program.  They have a great deal of fun learning to keep time, understand rhythms, and to recognize half notes, quarter notes, full notes and dotted half notes, etc.  Sister Miller bought two sets of children’s tambourines, shakers and triangles to help them keep time.  I told her it was more like professor Harold Hill’s “think system” from the music man.

Week 10: Two Strangers and a Miracle!

Since October 2017 the missionaries have been teaching a man I will call Pak P.  He knows the Bible stories well.  He has a very keen mind.  In his early twenties he was in a  serious accident with a train and he lost his left leg below the knee.  Life has been rich to him at times and right now life is a struggle on the streets for Pak P.   He speaks very good English.  At one time  his employment centered around teaching the  English language.  Elder Miller and l met him soon after our arrival and would assist the Sister Missionaries in the lessons they taught.  Pak P  was immersed in a deep and searching investigation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He has a thorough understanding of the Bible and asked many  thought provoking questions surrounding the principles of the gospel and doctrines along with his increasing desire to live God's commandments and live the Word of Wisdom.  Elder Miller enjoyed responding many evenings to Pak P's questions by SMS. 

Friday, Pak was interviewed and his conversion was profound and he asked to be baptized the following Sunday.  On Saturdayafternoon Elder Miller received a call from Pak that he was walking across the street and his artificial leg broke in half.  A few moments after they finished speaking an SMS message read,  "I'm finished it's completely broken".  We turned around and cancelled an appointment and had our driver take us to his home, we called the Elders to assist in supporting Pak  and they met us there to begin to access the situation.  It was 2:30 on a Saturday and many stores close at 4. It was a moment I will not forget to see the distress on Pak's face and the horrible condition of the prosthesis.  He removed the leg and it was ruined, not from this day but from years of wear and repairs with tape and cloths etc.  Pak had a plan.   "Please Elder can you  find a cobbler to repair with some leather pieces "  he felt that was a solution.   Elder Miller said he would bring the leg back before bedtime repaired and asked to take the leg and see what he could do to repair so Pak could walk, so he could go on with his every day life skills,  ride his scooter and it was important for him to be able to make it to his baptism.  

Our driver took us to a hardware store, we called other stores, more stores closed and no luck. No cobblers were available after a search on our smart phones.  Elder Miller could not buy the materials he needed.  The best he could do was to purchase  two rolls of strong black tape and we went home to do the best he could with the tape.   When we walked into our apartment  building the absolute first person that we met as we walked in the door was the Engineer over the entire apartment and hotel complex building who is our friend.  Elder Miller walking and  approaching him holding the leg in his hand. Pak S was shocked to see the leg in his hand and  Elder Miller explained the urgent situation.  Pak S without one second of hesitation took the leg and studied the completely damaged prothesis and said "I will repair"  Margo said to him, "We need this in a few hours".  His response was that it would be completed! It was now 5:30 pm.  At 7:30 we returned and the leg was repaired and the leg  was now inthe  best condition it has been in for many years. of weakness. Resin, glue, hard plastic, rivets and even flesh colored waterproof tape, it was a miracle! 

Our testimony is that God works through  strangers and many different people and ways to bring about His work of ministering.  Pak S we have no idea if he is Muslim, Christian, or his faith  but he is a man who saw a need and without being asked served a stranger.  When we asked him how much he charged for the repair.  He said' Oh Sir nothing, it was my pleasure".  Two strangers and a miracle.  Our emotions were overflowing.  This was a tender mercy and we cannot describe in words the joy it was to give Pak P his refurbished leg at 8;30 pm.  Pak P rode his scooter to the church today and was baptized. He called Elder Miller tonight and said to him " I just realized what happened today has impact for eternity.  I am so happy and he asked that we might find a way to teach his family who live on the Island of Batam near Singapore"

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