Eid Al-Adha

October 26th was a Muslim Holiday called Idul Adha (Indonesian spelling).  It is celebrated at the end of Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca), and is in commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his eldest son Ishmael (not Isaac) in obedience to a command from God and Ishmael's acceptance of this command.  Muslims usually sacrifice an animal and distribute its meat amongst family, friends and the poor.  The meat is distributed one third each to the person who purchased the animal, the mosque, and the poor.  The celebration includes family meals (especially lunches and late breakfasts), eating sweet foods, wearing new clothes, giving gifts or money to children. 
As you travel around the city you see livestock for sale in temporary stalls along the side of the street.  We went to a mosque, a five minute walk from our apartment, and viewed the sacrifice.  The people were very friendly and took time to explain and give us the background for the celebration.

 

Animals for sale--on the way to the mosque. The girl is all dressed up for the Holiday!

 

 



 

Mothers and their daughters all dressed up for the Holiday.

Animals being sacrificed. 

Meat being cut and prepared for distribution.

Young men and women watching the action. 

Little girl in her nice outfit watching with her father.

 

 

Young girl helping her father weigh the meat and bagging it for distribution.

Two young ladies enjoying the day!

 

 

Zone Conference

Zone Conference was held recently.  Elder Watson, President of the Asia Area of the Church which consists of 25 different ncountries, attended.  The focus was on the Book of Mormon.  Each missionary was assigned a person from the Book of Mormon and then ask to prepare a two minute talk about the individual--where he is mentioned in the Book of Mormon, what signifcant thing(s) he did, what can we learn from the individual that will help us be better people and a strength to others.  The missionaries also did roll plays to strengthen their teaching skills.

 

Missionaries serving in West Java

The Sisters!

Some of the Elders

Enjoying a good lunch.

The Senior Missionaries with President and Sister Watson and President and Sister Groberg. 

Humanitarian Aid Project

Saturday we participated in a Humanitarian Aid project at the church sponsored by the Stake, with supplies donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The project was preparing 1200 Personal Hygiene Kits consisting of toothpaste, toothbrushes, blanket, towel, soap, deodorant, and shampoo.  About 40 people helped and had everything done within 3 hours.  The kits will be stored at the church service center and distributed as needed.  With the fires that happen in the city, flooding, earthquakes, etc. that seem to happen fairly often in this country, these kits will all be distributed within 12 months.

The assembly line!

Putting 15 kits in a bag.

Two of the young women that helped--they were good workers and a big help!

Fires in the Jakarta

During September there were a number of fires in several areas of Jakarta, mainly where the poor live.  Some say the fires were intentional, to clear the area for a business or apartment complex, or such.  In some of the areas the people were told they could not rebuild while others were allowed.  The church got involved by providing blankets, sleeping mats, hygeine articles, new underclothing for the children, and wood to rebuilt the walkways for one of the areas.  In this area the houses are built up off the ground.  As you can see there is trash beneath the houses, they have no resources to clear the debris before they rebuild. The area is on the edge of a dump, and the smell is horrible.

One family rebuilding their house.

 

 







Doing laundry.

 

 

Standing by a well where everyone in the area gets water.

 

 







Baptism

Recently had a great experience.  Karisma, a lady who has been attending church and studying with the missionaries for over a year, asked me to  baptized her.  Very special experience.  She has been to our apartment a number of times with the missionaries.  Year to date the church has had 80 baptisms.  The total for all of last year was 79.  Many of those converting to Christianity are single young people in the 20-30 age range.  About an equal number of males and females.  As a general rule, the missionaries only teach those that inquire about the church or are referred by a friend, which was Karisma's situation.

 

 

Myself, Gail, Karisma, the Healys.



Why has it been two months since the last post?

August and early September have not been what we had planned.  Gail had a second surgery on her wrist due to a bad job the first time and while she was recovering, I had some unexpected health issues.  But I am fine and Gail's wrist, based on a recent visit with the surgeon, is healing very well.  So it's time to starting posting!  We have a number of items to share.  Its hard to beleive, but we are down to our last three months--we leave for home Janurary 7th 2013!

 Waiting for surgery number two!

 Leaving the hospital  after surgery number two!

The view out the window of Gail's hospital room.

Another view--this a mosque across the street from the hospital.  As a general rule there is a mosque every 3-4 blocks.