Last week's activities were a "fine-tuning" of the Family History Presentation Program on 29 October.
For weeks now Mom/Oma/Sister Schmid has been prodding me that she felt strongly to make a "return" trip to the "Makam Belanda Penelem" It's the ancient civilian cemetery some 30 (if traffic is not too crowded) minutes’ drive. Finally, we had a window of opportunity to get away for some 2 hours. We were welcomed by the staff of maintaining the place where, most likely, some 2000 people have their final resting place. Among them the 10 Schmid ancestors. Mom searched the computer records in the small old office building. Last time & we were guided to a numbered but "head stone-less" double grave site. No names or any information. According to the records, Schmids were buried there. Nevertheless, we took some pictures & I dedicated the graves as the final resting place for those buried.
Mom researched the records again and after finding some new information we started our second visit. She, Personal Assistant Ari & 2 Staff members guided us to the recorded & numbered grave sites again. I was held up in a conversation with a guard in uniform with engaged in my usual "Double English/Indonesian" conversation, it was pretty hilarious. Since the guy chuckled after seeing the photo of Emelia Loffman, my great-great-grandmother, who was a full-blooded Indonesian Lady married to Charles Alexis Francois Schmid. I reiterated that 3 of my 4 paternal Generations were born in Surabaya, starting with my father & that I was born in Sukabumi, not too far from here. At one point, I realized I was about a football field length behind Mom & the 3 guys. I stopped the conversation & started to catch up. Since it was about 23 degrees Celsius by now & the paths are not really smooth my foot speed was limited. I was just about halfway catching up when some force made me lose my balance, other than tripping. In order not to hit a gravestone on my right of pointy concrete & granite material & dirt, I quickly stuck out my arms to prevent potentially getting hurt or worse. After regaining my balance, I faced the grave and to astonishment noticed the granite plague clearly exposing information as to the person's final resting place. My emotions hit me like a brick causing tears in my eyes running in streams down my face. I loudly asked Mom to join me and she carefully trotted back. When she finally reached me, I could not utter one word since emotions peaked & just stared at the well-preserved headstone. It reads: "Gewijd aan de nagedachtenis van onzen lieven doode........Charles Alexis Francois Schmid. Geb. 25 12 1859 - Overleden 30 1 1903."
Underneath those words and in old Dutch: "Wie in de gedachten zijner geliefde blijft, is niet dood, hij is slechts afwezig" (traslation: "Who remains in the memory of his loved one is not dead, but just absent".
His wife, Emilia Loffman, who died later in Holland must have loved Charles very much. The additional Loffman names Mom picked up are buried at this same site, as the picture shows although the headstone gone. The names are of Loffman members we do not know, a Petronella Loffman . Another Petronella Loffman, Petronella Eugenie Eleon & two, most likely related to Loffman or Schmids: Jean Henri Victor Strikt Linschoten (1863) Albertina Wilhelmina Maria Strikt Linschoten.
Finally, after all these years a Schmid Family member was able to dedicate this grave site as well. After Mom & I regained our composure, the proverbial pictures were taken. From that moment forward the forces that made Mom encourage me to make a second trip to this place and me following her, had left us completely & instantly. We felt empty of sorts and were ready to leave. We just went on to the previously visited graves, cleaned them up and left. Nothing more to be done.
Yesterday, Sunday, we were part of an exciting day of a full house due to a baptism (done here on Sundays, so the whole Branch became part of the celebration) as well as a farewell service in honor of a new young missionary. The day started at the usual 9 am and ended at about 3.20 pm. The members here rise to the occasion when baptisms & missionary farewells are celebrated. They have cultivated the "linger longer" after meetings to perfection. It includes that after all is said and done "makanan" Indonesian food. The choice was feasting on "Hot" or "Not Hot" Indonesian food cooked by a couple of sisters. I took the hot food. "Enak Sekali". I learned from other sweating profusely members that you can extinguish the fire by eating some of the seedless red melon> Works> Fire was gone, sweating luckily under control. Today we are going to check out the gym on floor one. The only "flip side" of Indonesian food is the minimal fresh veggies. So, Mom cooks at home a lot & we add the incredibly fresh & inexpensive mixed & other lettuce, veggies & super quality fruit of many kinds. Including very sweet pisang (bananas) apples & more.
Underneath those words and in old Dutch: "Wie in de gedachten zijner geliefde blijft, is niet dood, hij is slechts afwezig" (traslation: "Who remains in the memory of his loved one is not dead, but just absent".
His wife, Emilia Loffman, who died later in Holland must have loved Charles very much. The additional Loffman names Mom picked up are buried at this same site, as the picture shows although the headstone gone. The names are of Loffman members we do not know, a Petronella Loffman . Another Petronella Loffman, Petronella Eugenie Eleon & two, most likely related to Loffman or Schmids: Jean Henri Victor Strikt Linschoten (1863) Albertina Wilhelmina Maria Strikt Linschoten.
Finally, after all these years a Schmid Family member was able to dedicate this grave site as well. After Mom & I regained our composure, the proverbial pictures were taken. From that moment forward the forces that made Mom encourage me to make a second trip to this place and me following her, had left us completely & instantly. We felt empty of sorts and were ready to leave. We just went on to the previously visited graves, cleaned them up and left. Nothing more to be done.
Yesterday, Sunday, we were part of an exciting day of a full house due to a baptism (done here on Sundays, so the whole Branch became part of the celebration) as well as a farewell service in honor of a new young missionary. The day started at the usual 9 am and ended at about 3.20 pm. The members here rise to the occasion when baptisms & missionary farewells are celebrated. They have cultivated the "linger longer" after meetings to perfection. It includes that after all is said and done "makanan" Indonesian food. The choice was feasting on "Hot" or "Not Hot" Indonesian food cooked by a couple of sisters. I took the hot food. "Enak Sekali". I learned from other sweating profusely members that you can extinguish the fire by eating some of the seedless red melon> Works> Fire was gone, sweating luckily under control. Today we are going to check out the gym on floor one. The only "flip side" of Indonesian food is the minimal fresh veggies. So, Mom cooks at home a lot & we add the incredibly fresh & inexpensive mixed & other lettuce, veggies & super quality fruit of many kinds. Including very sweet pisang (bananas) apples & more.
Take care, Elder & Sister Schmid.
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| Don't get too excited. Just remember folks; a 10,000 Rupiahs is a mere $0.75. Like in: " It's easy to get caught up in the zeros 000000 & imagine you're a millionaire. |
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| Fresh veggie & awesome fruit section at our fav neighborhood grocery store named; "Papaya" in walking distance. |
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| More Veggies |
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| Great selection of fresh fruit |
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| Clean Hyermart |
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| Mom shopping at Hypermart |
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| The large "Walmart - like" department store called: "Hypermart." I imagine why. You get hyper from the loud music & the enormous selection of goods stacked up high & down to the floor. Just pictures of the grocery section. It's part of an enormous mall. |
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| Mom doing serious Missionary missionary work. Talking "LDS Church, while waiting for our ride. We are handing out our business cards like "hot cakes". The front shows, in official fo nt; Gereja Yesus Kristus dari Orang-Orang Suci Zaman Akhir. On the back, we print: mormon.org & invite them to check us out |
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