Sunday, April 13, 2014

Passover Sunday - A very Special Sunday Morning at Church!

It was decided that we were going to have a Seder meal - a Passover Supper.  Nick & I have attended one together back home (Toni!!!!!)  and it is a very special meal indeed!  It has a lot of meaning - every part in this meal has significance! 

The preparation was wonderfully organized by Linda & Amanda and everyone brought something & participated as well...to make this a wonderful morning and preparing our hearts for this week as Easter approaches.  

I had committed to bringing e charoset - a apple dish - 




There it is...Apples, Raisins, cinnamon, walnuts and grape juice.

We were all to bring our own plates and cutlery, and there would be provided a catered lunch afterwards offered Biztro!  Wow...how nice!

Parsley for bitter herbs, and matzah was baked by the ladies, Shelly made beautiful bouquets of flowers for the tables"Thank you Shelly - you did a beautiful job...so colorful!"...most everyone chipped in and it made it a very special morning!  Linda had just returned from the island of Nias...spending a very special time with good friends there!  Linda has been in Indonesia 40 yrs this month!  WOW! Linda! ( I still want to see that picture of you when you first arrived!!!)

Thank you for providing the lunch for us!  Linda - had the "birthing" thought of doing a Passover meal for this Sunday morning!  Thank you Linda - for listening to the Lord and following through with it...so many had not yet participated in a Passover meal before! 
 Amanda was the girl..yes organized it, got us all doing this and that...and did a wonderful job this morning getting everything ready!  Oh Amanda...Thank you so' very much Amanda!  You are a blessing to us all!  And prepared out hearts for this very special week!


 Setting up everything...pitchers, bowls,

 There comes Pam, and Ruth....
 The Bryant family....

Beppie arrived with all the bowls...from Kawan Kitchen! Thanks Bep!

 There is Jeremy & Mindy with the kids...




 The Passover begins...we said a prayer and sang a few songs...and then we read the steps...everyone read along.  



 It sure was a great turn-out....so many had come! 
 Hi There Aan, Kelly, Rio, Jess, Joy & Novee is there someplace at the table too - I see your warm smiley faces!!!!
 Amanda took a little rest from all the preparations...bless you Amanda!  "Bless the work of your hands"!  And God did...just look!

We all had a very very special morning...with a great lunch afterwards - Thank you Everyone - 

May our hearts be prepared as we enter into this Easter week! From Salatiga to all around the world! 

A Saturday ~ Ride on the motor bikes to a Waterfall Sekarlangit / School Play

 The Plan for Saturday was to go riding with Kris & Lianne, Beppie ....what fun!  Wow......cross your fingers it does not rain!  

So we met a Kris & Lian house ...(Dutchies) enjoyed a cup of coffee and a stropwafel (Dutch) and then off we went...to Kopeng!  "Yes we"ll show you a waterfall" they said.  Neither Bep, Nick & I had been there before...so it will be great to go & discover it and of course the ride itself is already a big treat!  "Gotta get on that bike!"

We came upon a lovely sawah and vegetable gardens along the way. 


Cute villages built along the mountain side. 
Love the views...kept wanting to stop!  Hey Guys,,,,gotta stop.......HONK! HONK!
Don't you love those cabbages - right here?  The farmers cut them..and drop them here on the road side...clean them for the market, and then a truck comes to pick them up...it is completed loaded down (FULL) of cabbages...FULL!

Like on overload full!

We turned of the main  Kopeng road (this road also takes you to Yogyakarta) and into the sawah's!  Up & down into small villages and around and left & right...we kept going...it seemed from one village to the next one.  How I love this kind of riding...so fun!
Stretched our legs - it took about an hour....I would think to get here!  
So much fun though following one another along these cute little roads!  

Kristian & Lianne had recently brought both sets of parents here that had come to visit them from Holland.  So they were pretty familiar by this time how to get to this waterfall!

The guy inside is taking a picture of us and I am taking one of him!  (Loket~ Dutch for ticket booth!)
See the sign?  In English...Welcome to Sekarlangit! 

We were glad to have a little walk...going down into the canyon below.  We had dropped down quite a bit already on our  bikes to get here...so our walk was really short just 20 min.. 

The pathway was very nice..going down! 
Came across the bamboo trees clustered together....so many of them!
I leaned against it so you could get an impression of the height of these trees...enormous huh???! Gerrit & Lis..you had some growing in your backyard in Modesto...did they get this big?  I  know it took a lot of work to take them out before you moved!
Hey who's that guy? My Nico!


A woman was cutting branches below for her cooking fire.  Finding scraps of wood is a common daily need.



Beppie pointed out the coffee tree to us! Not much flavor to them until they are roasted..she said!  Fun to see the beans on the trees though!  Java Coffee...GOOD!!!!
I
I hear the river!!!!!!




Oh there it is up ahead...!
We came to the river...and we asked someone to take a picture of us on the bamboo bridge?
So we crossed over and continued up the pathway again until we heard the rushing of the water from the Fall!



It was pretty but regretfully there is always debris.  Not all people know to keep their trash with them and not to liter.

It is sad to see that.  These are beautiful surrounding and we all need to do our own part...not throw our trash on the ground!

That way we can all enjoy this beauty and take pride of this beautiful country and teach our children as well  not to throw their cups, wrappers on the ground so that everyone - Yes -  so that the next person coming here to visit this waterfall....will also  enjoy this special place too!

I am very proud of Beautiful Indonesia and we must all work together to keep it beautiful!
Some school girls arrived and they started jumping rocks....and then....one fell in....brrrr cold! 
...as Darma would say...."with Expression!" Good - you got it!

It was relaxing - just enjoyed the weather and surrounding for a little while.  We were thankful that the weather was working with us

We had a snack and then head back up to the bikes again...and then decided we would go have some lunch somewhere.  "Anyone know of a place to do so?"  Beppie said she did! 
"On the road again"........ as  Willie Nelson would say! 

As we got out of the canyon we were in...climbing back up ......it began to get darker & the wind picked up too!  This is always a sign the rain is coming!!! Oh Oh!  We stopped to put on our jackets - and then....as we headed back to the main road.....well it began to rain...first just a few drops ...and then more drops....oh oh ...you guys...."I think it is going to come down!!!"

Lunch?  Well not so sure now?! We got the rain...full shower...and we have quite a ride back too down to Salatiga...lots of cars, motorbikes, the road - potholes, lots to look at all around you...we kept dropping down, through lots of over spill of water on the roads...and passing cars, on the way down.... and then,  when we got back to the signal light intersection on the outskirts of town- Salatiga...we all decided (soaking wet!) to head home...and go get changed...a much better idea huh?  

"All right everyone...thanks for a great ride...and a pretty waterfall it was!  A continued safe ride home ...and YES! let's do this again OK?  Hartelijk dank - Kris & Lianne en Beppie ook"

There's no place like home ....when you are drenched....! 

************** 
We rested for a while and freshened up and then we had a nice dinner at Elisha & Beppie's and the four of us went to the Mountainview International School annual play! 

The kids did a tremendous job...amazing!  They had worked so hard - a great story too!  Angie directed it - "Great Job Angie!" and the stage was amazing too! There was even a "Coney Island" food sale! 

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU! 1938 STORY! check out this link on it!  A great story and message!

A terrific play & evening with great music - and the costumes so sharp!