Water Project, Wonders of Nature and PMG Word of the Day
Elder Lee invited us to go along with him for the closing a a water project nearby in Bogor. The project consisted of two small dams with catchments that were built on two nearby streams in the mountains above the kampong (neighborhood). Large pipes were run from the upper a catchments (the mother reservoirs) down to smaller containments like the one shown in the picture above. There were five of these containments constructed at various locations in the kampong. The small pipes you see exiting the containment distribute the water to houses and public restroom and washing facilities. The water must be boiled before drinking but it is much cleaner than the water the people have been using and they are very grateful to have this water. Previously they had been obtaining water from the streams that run through the neighborhood which had a lot of contamination, especially in the dry season when the flow is low. Some residents of the neighboring kampong came to the opening and asked Elder Lee about doing a similar project for them and he has already gone to take a look at thier situation and will make a proposal for them. We really enjoy these types of visits because the people are estremely grateful and tell us how it has changed their lives for the better. I will include some more pictures of this project with captions at the end.
Last week Cheri and I visited the city of Surabaya on the East end of Java to work with the members there to plan next year's public affairs activities of the Church in that district. We had a great meeting with them on Sunday then we stayed over on Monday and went out to see a nearby volcano, which is also a national park, called Bromo. Cheri and I are standing on an overlook above the caldera of the volcano. We are wearing coats because at this elevation it was windy and cold even though we are at the equator. There are two volcanic cones that have arisen within the caldera of a large blown out volcano. The small, well-formed cone, in front is extinct but just behind it you can see another cone with steam rising out of it. That one last erupted in 2016. I will include some more pictures of Bromo later in the blog with captions to tell you more about it. We left our hotel at midnight so that we could watch the sunrise over Bromo so we missed out on most of our sleep that day.
On the way back from Bromo we took a side trip to see the largest waterfall in East Java. We hiked in on a beautiful trail to the bottom of the falls. In most places the water was actually falling on us so we got pretty wet but it was fun.
All of the missionaries in our mission subscribe to a chat where various things are communicated and announcements are posted to the entire group. Each day, if I have time, I post the "PMG word of the day" with definitions and an example sentence from PMG (Preach My Gospel). PMG is a book of gospel topics and guidelines for missionary service that all of the missionaries use. I hope that this, in a very small way, is helping the new foriegn missionareis to add to their Indonesian vocab.
Below are more pictures with captions about the water project and the Bromo volcano visit.
Yellow rice is often used in ceremonial dishes for weddings and other events. Here the Bapak RW (local neighborhood leader) is dishing up the first plate of yellow rice with fixins. He will then present it to the highest government official who attended this opening ceremony for the water project. You can see a ring of quail eggs circling the cone of rice. It was quite beautiful and also delish.
Besides the yellow rice, there was a substantial feast provided for the people of the kampong who came to the ceremony. There were 50 or so people in attendance. Cheri is standing with the ibus who prepared the food.
Elder Lee and Brother Darwin are standing on top of the new dam that spans the river so that the blue reservoir can be filled with water which will then be piped down the mountain to the kampung.
This is a shot of the 6-inch pvc pipe after it exits the reservoir. It follows the course of the river downhill to fill the containments below with clean water.
A view of the extinct cone with Cheri in the foreground
I walked up to the rim of the active volcano cone and took this picture looking down into the cone. You could hear the water boiling and making this cloud of steam.
Tourists can walk about half way around the cone on this narrow path. There is no railing on that part so I didn't go there. One false step and that would be all she wrote.
Looking down the stairs from the rim of the cone. The little tiny group of shacks that can be seen at the bottom are a group of stores where you can buy trinkets, food or drinks. Cheri and our driver, Brother Dwi, waited there while I hiked to the top.
I apologize, I can only put very short video clips in the blog because of space limitations unless I host them on youtube and that takes a lot of time. Cheri took a horse back to the car.
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