Misi Couples Retreat, October 2018

Right after the last session of General Conference on Sunday, we ordered a car that dropped us by the apartment to pick up our bags, then off to the airport.  We flew into Jakarta's smaller airport (Halim) that was only a 30-minute ride from our hotel (another Amaris property quite close to the mission office).  I like the breakfast at the Amaris hotels because they are very nutritious, omelette station and veggies, but no Western pastries to tempt me. It was a fairly quick trip to the mission office, where the 17-seater bus was already parked.  Turns out those seat estimates were for Indonesians, who tend to be smaller.

Fewer couples were at this conference because two bule couples and a local couple had been released from their missions since our last get-together.  Our numbers were further reduced because the Lees, the humanitarian missionaries who live in Bogor, were busy coordinating our church's disaster response to the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Sulawesi.  Our church had nine large truckloads that were loaded on to an Indonesian Navy ship and delivered to the affected area around Palu.  

We arrived at the Aston Hotel on Anyer Beach, and did some walking across the coral through the low tide.  About 5:30 we headed out to a pavillion on the water.  We had it to ourselves, and before and after a wonderful dinner, we shared about what each of us are doing on on various missions, which are all so very different.  It was a very thought-provoking and helpful.  

One couple had the opportunity to take a group to the temple in Manila, and they are going again in April!  They shared a lot about the logistics and the need to start giving the temple preparation lessons six months in advance.  Elder Porter and I met with them personally on Wednesday morning and they were kind enough to share their powerpoint presentations with us.

Another sister is great friends with the sisters in her branch; they call her up to invite her out to a movie or whatever.  One couple are humanitarian missionaries in Timor Leste, another country.

 The next morning we got up early and most of us hopped back on the bus and then on a boat for a trip headed into the Sunda Straits between Java and Sumatra.  The goal was supposed to be the Anak Krakatoa island, with hiking up the side of the volcano.  The island had emerged from the ocean in 1927 in an area that had been part of the original island of Krakatoa before it erupted in 1883.  However, the Anak Krakatoa volcano had recently become active again, and so hiking was out.  We did see several large belches of smoke but no lava.  The word for volcano is gunung api, literally "fire mountain."  Also, they pronounce the last two vowels in the mountain name as one syllable:  Krak-a-tauw.

We were blessed with no rain during our day on the water.  The boat was comfortable, and with two motors going it was pretty stable.  Unfortunately, within half an hour there was a problem with one of the motors and we were occasionally stopped in the water, tossed from side to side.  We think one of the workers had to manually pump gas into the motor for the rest of the trip (and the mission president tipped him well).  As we approached the active volcano, Elder Porter and I climbed up to the very front of the boat for great views.

However, it was nice to have a cabin to get out of the sun and to lie down when sea sickness hit me, when the engines weren't working properly and we were sloshing.  Yes, there is an air conditioning unit above those windows, but it  didn't work unless the generator was turned on.  We were more worried about the motors, so we tolerated the stuffiness and only went in there now and then.  Elder Porter also took a nap on the way home.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a beach on part of the original Krakatoa that exploded in 1883. If one consults the map, it is clearly WEST of Java and not east as the famous movie proclaims.

Indonesian volcanic eruptions played a key role in the history of our church.  When Mt. Tambora exploded on April 10, 1815, it created a major weather event, a "year without a summer."  This caused massive crop failures and the family of Joseph Smith lost their farm in Norwich, Vermont and moved to Palmyra, New York.

This is taken at our lunch spot.  Elder Porter also did some snorkeling nearby, because the delays meant that people didn't want to make a separate stop for snorkeling.

We may have used up the last of our sunscreen on that trip and it is not really sold here because the Indonesians have such perfect skin for dealing with the sun.

While we were having lunch, some fishermen landed in their traditional boats.  They were from Sumatra, our island!  But since our island is so big, we would have to had to drive continuously for 39 hours to get home from the southern tip of Sumatra.

One of the fishermen showed off this beauty, which should sell for about half a million rupiah (still not much).



After we arrived back at the hotel, we showered and got dressed for dinner.  We had all agreed to meet at 5:30 so that we could see the sunset further down the beach, which was wonderfully red.

Then we continued down the beach road to a place that would barbecue our selections from the days catch.  It was really fresh and good, and served with rice and veggies.

The next morning I got up early and walked on the beach for half an hour.  We had breakfast and boarded the bus again.

They dropped off the two of us at a mall on the way to Jakarta, at a spot on the way where Elder Porter and I could catch a car to the airport for our flight home.  They had an Ikea store there!