This is what we thought Indonesia should look like!!!

We had a chance to travel to Central Java and get out of the city ! It was beautiful. Rice fields, mountains, and sugar cane - rather than pavement, buildings, and motorcycles.

This first picture is a few minutes from Borabudur Temple, an ancient Buddhist temple. The other photos are at Prambanan Temple, an ancient Hindu temple. The last picture is at sunrise overlooking Yogyakarta (or Jogjakarta).

Rainy Adventure out of town....

The top photo is an aisle at the huge souvenir shop on the way home from our mountainous adventure. Delicious looking huh? Everything is fried. It's pretty crazy.

We planned to go to an outdoor theme type park but it rained ALL day. We ended up visiting a museum that is brand new to the area (the dinosaur photo).

Birthday Party with study group!

Well, it was time again to party. We sat at the end of a looong table to attend a birthday party of our sister in Him. The food was set in front of us and Josh looked at his friend and said "Ya'll go ahead, take out." -translation - Go ahead and start eating, and eat PLENTY! (Okay, I made that story up... Josh really made a comment like that to me ... we laughed and talked about how weird it would have been if he'd said it and how much it made us miss home to think of silly phrases southern people say.)

We had a great time at the party though, regardless of how different the food was from Birthday Food at home.

Post-game party

New Year's Eve

We were invited by Ken (a teammate) to stay with his friends at their uncle's villa in the mountain(ish) town of Tretes. We just sat around, read, talked and played cards for 2 days and 2 nights. The temperature was quite a bit cooler and the view was much better than in the city; however, it was no less busy at higher altitudes. The town was packed! Bumper to bumper cars and motor bikes honked and hummed until the wee hours of the morning...so did the fireworks! Fireworks began to pepper the night sky around 7:30pm and exploded into a 270 degree spectacle of fire by...you guessed it...midnight. It was a sight to see! A truly unique experience. (Photos: See how the city just creeps up the mountain - we couldn't get away! We had a pretty sweet view of a volcano; the 5-story villa we stayed in; fireworks; firecrackers.)

Christmas

It sure didn't feel like Christmas, but we weren't about to wait around til it cooled off! We had a sweet Christmas celebration. The Guffy's invited us to spend Christmas morning at their house, so we watched their precious children open gifts. It was great. The team put in the hard work to put together a fantastic meal...NO RICE!!! We were so thankful for a big, wonderful family to celebrate with. (Top to bottom: the Ladner boys; da feast; Betty with the Guffy girls and their new slippers; the scene in the Guffy living room on Christmas morning; honorary members of the Guffy family...officially.)

Study Group

Each Thursday night we study with this group about His Word and commands for us. Josh is doing a great job leading and using at least 50% bahasa Indonesia! This group of guys is hilarious, always keeping us laughing. They rarely leave our house before 11:00 pm, love drinking coffee, and are ever-impressed with my ability to make brownies and cookies. We'd appreciate your speaking to the Father about these guys!

(There is a copy of the Word on their cellphones.... technology!)