Building Relationships of Trust and Cooperation, and a Happy Reunion

As communications specialists, one of our responsibilities is to help foster relationships. This picture was taken during a courtesy visit to the office of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia. The Church has cooperated with them for many years on disaster relief and humanitarian efforts. This was the first time to bring along two of our young full-time missionaries and talk about their service in Indonesia. Elder Chrystiawan on the far left and Elder Tomlinson on the top right spoke to the group briefly as did President Tandiman, the mission president, located in the center. The man standing next to him is the Reverend Golmar Gultom who chairs the interfaith organization. Our church is not a member of this organization because there is a minimum membership requirement which we don't meet, however, they consider us friends and a member of our Church, Brother Poliman, serves on the disaster relief committee of this organization. Brother Poliman is on the back row, second from the right.

This picture is from another visit, the same day, to the government office of Christian Affairs. The gentleman in the center is Mr. Pontus Sitorus, the Director General Christian Affairs. It was also his first opportunity to meet with two of our young missionaries in his office and learn more about their service. He asked them many questions ranging from how they were trained to how often they are transferred. Mr. Pontus has known many members and leaders of our Church for years. If you look closely you will see that everyone is holding a mask in their hands. We always wear masks in public here and sometimes remove them for photos. In case you are wondering, these meetings are mostly conducted in Indonesian and when I speak I use Indonesia. Sister Tandiman and Sister Lambson speak a little bit of Indonesian which they use for greetings, to say thank you, and so on. Many of the officials speak English also and sometimes we switch to English.

We were graciously invited to have dinner the family of Brother Nugroho Eko Putranto who I know from my previous mission here. Everyone did not fit into one photo so I have several others that I won't post here. There were 21 family members in attendance who are all the children, grandchildren, and children-in-law of the sister in yellow who is sitting next to me, her name is Sister Sarjiwa. This was a fun reunion after 45 years apart. I met and taught Sister Sarjiwa and her family in the City of Solo as a young missionary with my companion, Elder van der Vlis, of Holland. Her son, Eko, who was 7 years old at the time, is standing behind her. He is now a bishop here. The sister in the red dress next to Sister Lambson is Marissa. She is expecting her first baby this month. She is a grand-daughter of Sister Sarjiwa and daughter of Bishop Eko. I previously met her on Temple Square in Salt Lake when she was serving her mission there a few years ago. It was great fun to meet them all and renew our friendship. Brother Sarjiwa passed away two years ago.

We miss you all and hope you are doing well. Comments or emails are welcome. We love you all so very much.
E/S Lambson,






 

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