Mission Blog of Chuck and Cheri Lambson

  On our P-day (preparation day, or day off) we decided to try to learn how to use public transportation by taking the commuter train to Bogor, about 2 hours away. Just a short walk from the main train station in Bogor is the Botanical Garden. There are 3600 species of plants in this urban forest.  There is an entire section of the garden devoted to various kinds of bamboo. I am standing next to bambu raksasa which is Indonesian for giant bamboo. The lower portion of the stalks are nearly a foot in diameter. I don't know the name of the pugy tree on the right but we think it is super cute. There is a fantastic lily pond in the middle of the garden. Those round lily pads are about three feet across.  The presidential palace in Bogor. There are six presidential palaces in Indonesia. This palace has a driveway going into the botanical garden which is where I took this picture. This is Sister Lambson on a crosswalk on the way to the train station. Can you tell she is hot/melting? On th

The young man in the orange shirt is 21 years old. When he was 17 his leg had to be amputated due to a motorcycle accident. His mother died when he was 2 and his father died when he was 6. The two women to his right are volunteers with a local charity and they brought him to this event which is sponsored by The Foundation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (it used to be called LDS Charities). He is one of 70 people, young and old, who came from the surrounding area to be measured and fitted for prosthetic legs at no charge. We were deeply touched by his story and many others. Each limb was carefully measured and then a casting was made which will be taken back to Jakarta to be used to manufacture a custom-fitted artificial leg by the partner company that makes prothetics. We are standing with Mr. Aji and his cute daughter. Mr. Aji is the head of social services for the district of Garut. He expressed great appreciation for all who have contributed to the foundation for

Here we are coming out of the airport in Jakarta at 2:00 am. We are tired but happy to be here. 24 hours aboard airplanes, 30 hours including transit time. We have a nice apartment on the 19th floor in Jakarta. We have been to the mission office and started to get to know our way around.

  We have finished our week at the MTC in Provo. On Wednesday we will fly to Jakarta via Dallas and Tokyo. These pictures are of our district. Our instructors were these beautiful young folks in the middle. Sister Paul led us in the mornings and Brother Rich in the afternoons. They are both totally awesome. Our grandson, Alvar, thought that we were at the Empty Sea instead of the MTC. He told us to, "have fun at the empty ocean". There happen to be a sculpture of the Apostles and a boat on dry land, and this huge mural of the Red Sea parted for the Israelites. Here is a photo of all of the senior missionaries that entered the MTC with us. I didn't count but they told us 53.