Indonesia Jakarta Mission: November 2017

Waiting in Surabaya Genealogy Office. Same here. Kids are too busy with "eectronic gadgets". Result: Oma bored.

A mural in an Indonesian Government Bldg. We visited the Genealogy Dept. They are going to research Emilia Loffman. Potential parents, siblings etc. The thought is, among others, she was adopted as a native girl ( she is 100 % Indonesian) by a Loffman & given a Euro name. Her brother is Gustav Loffman. We do not know if Gustav is a native Indonesian. Hopefully, research will get us some answers. Emilia must have been a very respected Schmid Family member since my Father Emile was named after her. Her husband, Charles Alexis Francois, is the Schmid I "accidentally" just about fell into his grave here in Surabaya.

Look at the Dutch way Soerabaja is spelled & in the top left corner "Oranje" spelled in Dutch. The whole building is an in renovation former Dutch bldg. as well.

We have moved on to the next "Phase" of our Mission in Cabang Surabaya Dua.
After a very successful Family History 4Generation Asia Initiative Presentation on 29 Oct. We are adding in "tandem" with Family History; Proselyting efforts. We fasted. We set a date that from 4 weeks from now we have become acquainted with 3 "Simpatisan Baru" to be handed over to the young fulltime Missionaries for teaching. We decided to pray daily to be brought in contact with investigators. Be inspired to listen. Know how to respond with what to say. Start a conversation. Be able to convey a message that leads to be invited for follow up visits. Sharing information that leads to teaching appointments. We do not ride bikes like the young Missionaries do. We are bound to our driver to take us places. He, from now on, drives us & drops us off only. We let him know how long we stay at one place and when to pick us up again. We have decided that our "Theme" for Family History, and the in "tandem" working with Proselyting will be: "Bagikan" (Sharing).
Our ability to converse in Bahasa Indonesia is still limited. Mom came up with a brilliant idea. After introducing ourselves and settle for a conversation, we hand the person (s) a flyer titled: "Bagikan" and a short explanation of the message we are sharing. One of the highlighted messages is: " Kesaksian Yesus Kristus" (Testimony of Jesus Christ). We end the visit with handing out our business card with contact information & referral to mormon.org and lds.or.id the Indonesian language page. Ask for their contact information & ask if we are allowed to offer a prayer.

The 2nd Phase includes a Missionary style haircut. Mom made a visit to the hair dresser in the mall downstairs as well.
Our request to make a Home Teaching style visit once a month to a family way outside of Surabaya has been granted. It includes that the YM President will make regular contacts with the 14 year old son Ayra. That request is also been Okayed by the Branch President, we have also received a Branch member list with "checked" names of strong members to get better acquainted with. In so doing we add members to our "Cabang2" action team. Translates into more "boots" on the ground for Bagikan. I have a personal conviction that when Home Teaching & Visiting Teaching gets better, the strength of the Branch will improve in concert. Both HT & VT are hampered & limited for a variety of members because of economic reasons, distance & having transportation means available.

Our Family History "Team" has now some 12 + Members being actively involved in Family History & Family Indexing. During the Fridaynight badminton "fest" I have been able to guide several members upstairs to be taught by Mom and a very energetic & skilled member who hails from the Philippines. He is the only High Priest member in this Branch & served, among others, as the Bishop in his home town Ward in the Philippines. Our weekly FH "Workshops" are held on Saturday afternoon. At this moment at the request of members & when we have members respond positive to invitations. Initiating visits to our FH "Workshop" by members does not work as yet. Most likely due to the fact that in Indonesia a "Jam" (clock) is just that. Timing is like with a rubber band. Can & often is being stretched. That situation offers us the opportunity to remedy it & call them instead from our end and patiently keep reminding them about their initially enthusiastically offer to participate. It works fine that way here. Things just take longer. The visits to the "checked off" members will hopefully result in some offered ( at our request) Referrals for FH & Investigators as well as "Simpatisan Baru".

The equipment in the FH Room has been improved. Also, we bought the (rather inexpensive) "HotSpot" gadget that allows us extra WiFi Service. We can add a maximum of 32 additional PCs,LapTops, NoteBooks and I-pads to the present 2 PCs. The small room only allows for four extra connected devices. Thirty two would make the connection too slow anyway.

Last Friday, Mom & I had lengthy conversations with a Brother Jemmy Mongan from Bogor ( formerly Buitenzorg) who is a Public Relations person for the Church. He is also President Director of a Real Estate company in Bogor. He visits Surabaya from time to time for business as well. Members here know him. He is going to introduce me to folks in the business as a Tennis Pro. Mission President Rowley asking me to bring my Tennis "sticks" starts to make sense now. I will, if it all works out, be able to offer tennis services in return of introducing The Gospel in a variety of ways. Teaching is one.
Mom completely surprised the 4 young Fulltime Elders on last week's DTM. (District Training Meeting) After the training was over, she "Trunk to Treated" them with each one receiving a bag filled with goodies. The response was hilarious & spontaneous. They could not stop taking selfies & pictures of each other. Translates into: "A very excited & happy 4 Elders.

Lots of action from now on. We have to plan & watch carefully. There are only 24 hours in a day. Perhaps too many activities would not allow solid attention. Fatigue could be a potential set back. Compounding factor, during travel & due to traffic here we lose a lot of time on the road. It has proven enormously tiring as well !