Monthly Archives: November 2006

Indonesian in Westminister

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November 3, 2006 – I guess it should not be a surprise that Indonesian is consuming more and more of our time. For example, this evening we went to hear a piano recital at Westminister College and as we were waiting for it to start we studied Indonesian in the lobby. I would guess that does not happen everyday. What I thought was interesting was no one paid any attention to our trying to speak this strange language.Actually we did not study as much today as we usually do. That was because we spent most of the day in Salt Lake. Mary went up to see Mike and get new glasses before we leave. After that we had lunch where we read novels instead of Indonesian. Then we went to the distribution center when Mary ordered her garments that she will need to take with us. A trip to downtown SL to see if we could get some things from the closing of The Inn at Temple Square proved useless. It seems that almost everything was sold yesterday – the first day of the sale. We then looked at some art galleries – nothing special – and finally we stopped in at the art spaces on Pierpont avenue. By then it was about time to head up to the college to find where we would be later in the evening. We studied Indonesian for about an hour before getting something to eat and then going back to the college to hear Shostakovich’s first 12 Preludes and Fugues played by Kori Bond.

In the morning I asked Mary for Olivia’s birthdate and she told me it today, so I called and left a message telling her Happy Birthday. On our trip to Salt Lake she realized that today was not the 4th but the 3rd and so I had called a day early. I can not complain since I seldom remember birthdates of our children, let alone our grandchildren. I do wish I had Mary’s memory.



A Day for Indonesian

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Thursday, November 2 – was a day for studying Bahasa Indonesian. I started as soon as I woke up and pretty much continued with doing something with the language until 2:15 when we finished our lesson with sister Tippets. Much of the time was looking up the meaning of words that Mary found in the first discussion plan that she did not know. If I had made the list it would have been much longer. Luckily we have the English version to use along side the Indonesian version so at least I have a starting place to try and figure out what it means. I am sure I am absorbing more and more of the language but it is still frustrating at times. Mainly it comes when I find I can not translate words I should know.

Mary spent much of her time running around doing errands. I am afraid that December 4th is going to rush up on us before we even notice. It is hard to imagine that in just about a month we will be set-apart as missionaries. Personally I could pack up and get on a plane today. But that may be because I would like to just leave without needing to worry about all the details that still need to be worked out.

We got another nice letter from the Leishmans telling us more about house and car rentals. I guess we will spend the first week or so finding an apartment, getting a car and driver, and stocking up with food, etc. It will be something like when we first got married. I can still picture the two cart loads of groceries that totaled an amazing $100. Today I would bet the same load would cost $500.

In the evening I had a group leadership meeting. I am going to miss working with Gordon and Steve. We have been a good team for the last three or four months. Gordon indicated that he had been considering a replacement for me. As we went through the list of the older members of the ward and their illnesses. Steve Gibson asked – “Is this what we have to look forward to?”

One funny thing did happen this morning – Friday. I was reading the Deseret News and came across a heading that started “Meningitis.” Since so many Indonesian words start with ‘me,’ for just a brief second I found myself trying to figure out what the word meant in English. When I told Mary about the experience she had a good laugh. I guess the Indonesian lessons are having some effect on my mind.



A birthday in the MTC

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Wednesday night – November 1 – we went to the MTC to share some time with the Indonesian class. It turned out to be Elder Roper’s 19th birthday and so we got to share his excitement of this special day. We sang his favorite song – Put your shoulder to the wheel – in Indonesian and he read us some of the letter he got from a friend serving in Brazil. From a conversation that took place the Mongolian elders were supposed to sing him the Mongolian Happy Birthday song but their teacher told them it was really boring.

The first part of the class was reading from Preach My Gospel and I am ashamed to say that I did not participate. Mary on the other hand did a great job. I did come up with the meaning of a couple of words that the missionaries asked about. Later we had about an hour with sister Tippets where we developed a very short version of the first part of the first lesson. When we got home I expanded it a little and today – Thursday – we will practice it with Sister Tippets as an investigator.

We spent much of Wednesday morning working on Indonesian. I was working on the first lesson in PMG and developed a new word list. It was about 15 words and that was just from the first two short paragraphs. We later wrote sentences that used those words. We will have sister Tippets check them today. Mary can now translate about 70% of what she reads in Indonesian. I get about 25% but I am determined that with the Lord’s help I will master the language enough that I can be a successful active missionary.

On the home front, it looks like we will be able to sell the property on Main street in Orem before we leave. We will not get what it is worth but since it has been a pain to get the rent – and often not getting it – I think we are better off selling than have the family struggle with it while we are gone. We will take some of the money and pay off the store so that all the rent will come to us. Most of the rest will go to taxes and tithing but we will have a good income that we can depend on.

We got an e-mail from the missionary couple that we will replace. I had sent them one asking a number of questions about the mission. The Leishmans will go home about a month after we get there. This means we will have a month to be trained. Elder Leishman said that it cost them about $2000 a month but in looking over some of the monthly expenses he listed – including renting a car and a driver – I think it will be more like $2500. He assured me that there are good cell-phone and inter-net services in Indonesia.

Yesterday was the day the catalpa tree dropped all it’s leaves. I forgot to go out just as the sun came over the mountain to watch the majority of the leaves fall in just minutes. But later when we left to go shopping the nice clean driveway we had yesterday is not covered with a thick layer of plate sized leaves. Now that it and the maple has dropped their leaves, about the only leaves left are on the fruit trees.

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