The Two Bule-s

Mormonism is something quite foreign in many non English speaking countries, especially in places where Catholics are already a minority, like where I come from.

I grew up in what people might call a small town, although it was really just a cluster of rural neighborhoods. To give you a sense of how underdeveloped my “town” was, Catholicism only started to grow in the past 30 years, and we didn’t even have our first ATM machine until 2009.

In a place like that, the idea of mormonism felt completely distant, let alone meeting a mormon. Years ago, meeting a catholic felt unusual for kids from my village because we kinda used to homogeneity. 

Things started to change when I moved to a bigger city for junior high school. The city was relatively bicycle friendly, and I often rode around using a bike borrowed from my school whenever I needed to run errands or just explore. During those rides, especially when passing through Ahmad Dahlan or Sudirman Street, I frequently noticed something unique : two ‘bule’s men riding bicycles, dressed in neat black and white uniforms.

At the time, I simply assumed they were expats working in Yogyakarta. Their formal attire and the fact that I often saw them around 4 pm, which is a typical time for people to head home from work, made that assumption seem reasonable.

That assumption stayed with me until I went to university. And no, my uni didn’t teach me anything about mormonism. In fact, it wasn’t a very diverse environment compared to other universities. We didn’t even have a buddhist student organization at the time. Yes….. Buddhism, one of Indonesia’s official religions, and there was still no student group for it.

One day, I came across something familiar again on the Jogja’s northern ringroad: two men riding bicycles, wearing the same neat black and white shirts. Just like before, I assumed they were simply heading home from work and maybe just environmentally conscious.

That assumption lasted until I happened to watch a youTube video about Mormonism. At first, I thought it was just a small group based somewhere in the southern United States. But it turned out to be much more than that.

They were a global religious community.

After watching the video, I had a realization. The two foreigners I kept seeing on bicycles were likely Mormon missionaries. After further reading, I then understand that these missionaries are called “elder”.

Curious, I looked into it further and discovered that their church was actually quite close to my school. Only about a 10 minute ride away. I also learned that riding bicycles wasn’t just about being ecofriendly. It’s part of their missionary practice. They often choose simple, modest ways of living and traveling, which can include biking instead of relying on cars or other conveniences.