10 January 2007 – Wednesday

No gym this morning. Instead we were out of the apartment by 7:15 and went to a university to observe an English class being taught. We were picked up by two sister members who work for the school. The class was taught in a non-air conditioned room and it did not take us long to be very warm. The teacher has quite good English but his class is so varied that he seems to be handicapped in what he can teach. My only real criticism was that he needed to have the students do more and him less. I found out that they do not give homework – I think that is a real mistake. At least for those who really want to learn English.

Mary and I were asked to speak to the class so they could hear American speech. Mary told them about our family and I talked to them about the importance of learning English well. I gave them some tips – such as reading English out loud at least 30 minutes a day. I suggested that any time they spend on improving there English will make a great difference in how much they would be paid. One young woman was obviously taking in everything I said. You could almost see the spirit of desire in her eyes.

After the class we met with the manager of the school and told him we would be willing to teach the teachers and the staff for one hour each Friday. They said that would be fine. I also told them that anyone coming to the class would have homework to do to be prepared for the class. I said that they would be getting some Shakespeare. Luckily I can go on line and download and get just about anything. I will start with the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet or something like that.

After the meeting we were driven to the office where we spent the next 3 ½ hours doing almost nothing useful. Elder Leishman tried to work on the internet problem but nothing seemed to help. We can not get to PEF so we can not do much with that aspect until they get the line fixed across the Pacific or we get the Leishman’s apartment.

Speaking of that I got an e-mail from Mr Rees saying that the terms of the lease is acceptable and we can sign the lease whenever we can get together. That takes a load off of my mind.

At about 2:45, the two Indonesian members who go are in charge of Employment for the district and area came in for a meeting. We have rough out the schedule for Career Workshops for the year and talked about some other things. They are both great men – Lokita seems to be of Chinese descent and Agus is Indonesian. Both speak very good English. They do the workshops for everyone except the English missionaries.

We got back to the apartment at 3:30 and went over the Leishman’s an hour later. Mary sent a long e-mail off to our list while I talked to the Leishmans. Later Mary joined us and we had a good time talking about their adventures during their mission. They are really a fun couple and have been excellent missionaries. I hope we can do as well. Of course it helps that they have been  here for almost two years and know everyone. Elder Leishman told me it took him a good 6 months to get comfortable. I am hoping it does not take us that long.

We came home to have a simple dinner of instant noodles and then watched a repeat of a ‘Numbers’ episode. I called the Kanes and had a really nice talk with them. They are having a high adventure and are the most positive people I think I know. They have each had a couple of bouts of diarrhea – I guess one of those was quite bad. Elder Kane is determined to bear his testimony in Indonesian next fast Sunday. I am sure he will do that. We are going to ask the Petersons if we can ride out to Bogor with them on Saturday – I would love to see the Kanes and their house.

Now I need to do some Indonesian – I have not really done any today.

11 January 2007 – Thursday

I slept until after morning prayer call – about 4:15 – and after a futile try to go back to sleep I read from the Book of Mormon in English. I am just getting into Alma and the rule of Judges. I know that Mosiah felt that the Lord wanted the Nephites to have judges instead of kings but it seems to me that they would have been better off with a king.

I got to the gym just as it was opening and put in a strong 30 minutes on the treadmill, did 50 sit-ups, put 10 minutes on the bike, and did some upper body work. By the time I was done I felt like I had put in a good hours of exercise. The scale is still not moving downward – but I will keep at it. One thing I have done is to stop drinking real root beer and have gone back to diet Coke. I figured that I was drinking 2 to 3 root beers a day for a total of 500 to 750 calories. With diet Coke I only get 4 or 5. I think that will help.

Breakfast was a glass of orange juice. It is now time to read from the Kitab Mormon.

It was a wonderful and not so wonderful morning. It was wonderful because the internet is again working at the office so we could get the information we needed from PEF files and we could read and send e-mail. It was not so wonderful because there are a number of problems with our property in Orem and Provo. The Orem property has not closed escrow and the people are not paying their rent. The Provo property has some work that needs to be done and it is causing some problems for Mike. Add to this that for some reason the bank does not think our complete power of attorney that we gave Mike includes our bank accounts and it adds up to a big mess. Unfortunately I can do little at this distance so I can only hope Mike and Bob can work it out. I am really sorry that this is putting so much on Mike’s shoulders but I am sure he can take care of it.

We went to the mission home so that Sister Leishman could teach the English class. Mary and I went to BCA to get our debit card, sign up for on line banking, and for online transfers. The latter takes 10 working days to get going but at least now we have a real bank account and a way to easily access it. I will write or call Tom tomorrow and ask him to transfer some money – a sample just to make sure he has everything right and then a major one to get us enough money to buy a car, pay our debt to the mission office and live for a few months. I figure once the car is bought we will need about $1700 or less a month for mission expenses certainly under $2000. At least that is what I am hoping will happen.

After we were finished with banking and sister Leishman was finished with her class we headed off to Tanggeran for district meeting and English class. It was good to see Elders Roper and Thiemann – they are in a tough district but seem to be keeping their spirits up. Elder Thiemann gave a very good lesson on prayer and missionary work.

The English class is a simple one – at least the one for the beginners. Elder Leishman is a very good and patient teacher. I am not sure I will do as well. I do think we need to start the classes on time – it is a bad example for the members to start whenever they get there. But it seems they try to get to the class on time but the traffic makes a big difference.
When the class was on Friday night they use to get more people to class. They changed because Sam was supposed to start a computer class. Maybe we will change it back to Friday night and not open the office at all on that day. I hate to think of the traffic on the way home – it will be terrible. I wonder how classes after church on Sunday would be? We could do it every Sunday because the Raya branch gets out early enough for us to get to Tanggeran before the last meeting was over at one. If we are going to put on classes we need to have them when people will come.

The trip home seemed like it took forever. It did not help that the classes did not end until 7:30. Anyway we came home had ice cream for dinner and headed for bed. I am going to read some from the Book of Mormon – English version – before going to sleep. Hopefully I will not wake until at least 5:00 tomorrow.

12 January 2007 – Friday

We have now been in Indonesia for 3 weeks and I still have not solved the sleeping problem. I woke at 2:30 and did not go back to sleep until sometime after 4. I know this because the morning prayer was being broadcast as I finally dropped off.

The problems at home that Mike has run into kept running through my mind. I really can not let them get to me as I have too many things to do and learn before the Leishmans leave in two weeks. I will call Tom and see if he can figure out some way to help even from 800 miles away. I can hardly wait until we get an internet connection so we can use e-mail and Skype from our apartment.

From the looks of this morning we are in for another bright and hot day. It has been bright enough that even native Indonesians have been trying to cover their head from the direct sunlight.

I did not go to the gym this morning – that is two days this week that I have missed. I decided I would set my alarm for 5:30 so I have time to get to the gym when it opens. I must work out each morning if I ever hope to lose this weight.

Other than that a regular morning with a glass of orange juice for breakfast. We had a good companionship study reading more than 10 verses from the Kitab Mormon. Mary reads about 70% and I do the other 30%. She is getting really good at reading and translating. We are trying to remember to say Kah instead of Kay for Ke – Sah instead of Say for Se – etc. Unfortunately that was not corrected back in the states. People still know what you mean but it give you a non-Indonesian accent. Not that people are likely to mistake us for Indonesians.

We were at the office for only about 40 minutes and then everyone headed for Sinopati and the Raya District Meeting. The meeting went well. Elder Matier gave us our lost translator so now we can each have one. Elder Thomas gave a good lesson about over coming concerns. Since this will be the last time he will be at a district meeting Elder Matier bore his testimony.

After district meeting we went down to BYU for some lunch. I had told the missionaries we would buy them lunch. The Leishmans went with us but when they saw that there were flies around the food they decided not to eat there. I did not care if we got sick or not – I wanted to experience street food. They take a piece of coated paper and make a cone. They lay down a base of rice and then you chose what to put on top. I chose potatoes, green beans and beef. Mary had the same plus something that looked like a big won-ton.

We decided to take the food back to the mission home to eat at a clean table. I started to eat with my hand but switched to a spoon. Some of the Indonesians that work there noticed that we were eating street food and they that was cool. Elder Matier said that when we eat from the street and try to speak Indonesian that we gain respect from the people. We really want to have the Indonesian saints to know that we are here to help them and that we respect their land and it’s customs. Elder Matier said the next time we ate together he expected me to eat with my hand.

The potatoes were quite spicy and the green beans were quite good. The beef was a little tough but it had a good taste. Mary said her won-ton was more like an egg roll. We both ate almost all of our food and now will wait to see if we get sick. Elder Matier said we would not because BYU was one of the best places to eat. From the amount of flies there I can not imagine what the other places are like. We could not linger after dinner so we said goodbye to the missionaries – including sister Larson who we know from the MTC – and headed back to the office.

Suzy our steady employment customer came in and spent something over an hour to send out more resumes. It will take some time for her to find a job because she is over 40 and most jobs are for people under 27.

After we closed up the office we dropped the Leishmans off at Casablanca and had Sam drive us to So Go to shop. The traffic there was light, parking was easy, and there was no waiting in line. We loaded up with goodies from the bakery and from Krispy Kreme as well as necessities before heading home. Unfortunately by that time the traffic had become heavy and it took us 45 minutes to get home when it only took 15 minutes to get there. But I have become accustomed to this and since I do not have to drive in it, I just take it in stride. Of course if the air-conditioner ever goes out that would quickly change.

It was really nice to come into the apartment and have it nice and cool. As long as the rent includes the utilities there is no reason to conserve. But once we start paying the bill, we will turn it off when we leave in the morning.

I forgot to mention that because of Bishop Burton’s visit next Wednesday, there is a lot activity around the chapel where the office is located.  They are cleaning, trimming, etc. I would guess that everything that has needed fixing for the last 6 months will get taken care of before he comes.

It is now just two weeks before the Leishman’s leave and we will be doing everything by ourselves. I am sure it will take some time before we get fully up to speed but I do look forward to getting a chance to try some new things. I feel the Lord sent us here for a special purpose. I do not know if that is to get PEF established, find a way to get more people to come to Career Workshops, find a way for members to find better jobs, or perhaps to find a way to help native Elders get into BYU Hawaii. Whatever it is I pray, that we will be able to fulfill our call and leave Indonesia feeling that have been instruments in His hands for good.