Some of the wonders of the world

 We had a mission conference for all of the senior missionaries in the Jakarta Indonesia mission. Cheryl and I were the only humanitarian missionaries. It was in a city in Indonesia called Yogyakarta. We stayed at the Marriott hotel, which was pure luxury compared to Timor-Leste. We had three quarters of a day of meetings and the rest of the two days was sightseeing.

We visited the Hindu temple called Pramban. It is a 9th Century Temple.

There were no significant internal rooms. All of the worship took place outside in the courtyard.

There was intricate carvings on all of the wall panels

Sightseeing was a lot of fun. The area was only a three-hour plane ride from our Island. It was a remarkable blessing to be able to visit such world famous sites with such little effort.

On the next day we visited the Borobudur Temple. It is a Buddhist sanctuary.

The group of missionaries were very remarkable people. There were a few couples that were in their 80s and yet they were still adventurous enough to come to Indonesia. Everyone was pleasant to be with and all were very friendly.

The temple was built in 9th century.

Both temples were located in Jungle regions. Behind Cheryl and I you can see an active volcano

Two Buddhist monks Worshipping

Every portion of the temple was decorated with sculptures

We visited a Muslim School for Orphans. LDS Charities is providing bathroom, shower and lodging facilities here.

To show their appreciation they put on a concert for us.

The open sided floor is the library.  There are never any railings or guardrails to keep you from falling off of high places or down stairs.

 We attended the Ramayana Ballet.  Not so much a ballet but more of a symbolic musical. It has been runing for over 40 years.  In preparation we rented the movie version.  They also gave us an english synopsis.  I was still lost.  It was entirely in Indonesian.

 The story has monkey solders and many different gods.  It was impressive when they shot arrows at each other and then caught them and made it look like they were hit.

Little did the actors know that I had no idea what their performance was about.

 We visited a hydroponic garden that is owned by a member of the church.  She has an onsite restaurant that uses the garden.  She is also the premier expert in the country on hydroponics.

 We stayed at the Marriott.  Hotels are great values here.  A place like this was under $100 a night.  Great restaurant.

This is the church building in Yogyakarta.  It is the standard Indonesian church building.  2 stories with outside walkways.  There are 3 in the city.