25 January 2007 – Thursday

It is the Leishmans last full day in Indonesia. I wonder what they were thinking about this morning as they were out walking laps. Even though we have spent quite a bit of time together, we really have not gotten to know them. I am very grateful for what we did learn from them over this last month. I can not imagine what it would have been like to learn everything from scratch.

The alarm woke me – at least it called me out of the semi-sleep I think I was in. I remember hearing some of the morning prayer call and hoping I would go back to sleep. Then I think I went through a period of semi-consciousness before the alarm went off.

I did not do a real workout today. I put time in on both the treadmill and the bike but not a lot on either. It was one of those mornings when I was doing it from habit and my heart was not into exercising at all. I think I managed a total of 30 minutes which is better than sitting on the couch all morning.

Today will be busy. I imagine we will go with the Leishmans over to the mission home, then we have a district meeting and English class. I am not sure I am at all prepared for this evening. I am far from comfortable teaching English to children.

Went to the office with the Leishmans at the regular time. We kept ourselves busy until it was time to go to Sinopati. I asked the Leishmans if they had a picture of the office they basically created. It turned out they had not so I took some pictures of them in the office.

At the mission office I saw a couple of people I needed to see and then Mary and I left. The Leishmans were to be interviewed by the president and then would take a taxi to their apartment. We drove out to Tangeran and found a Carrefour where we could buy some office supplies. Then we went to district meeting – Elder Roper gave a good lesson on Hope. Unfortunately Elder Collins has been sick most of the week. He was only able to go out one day. I would imagine if he does not get better the president may have to transfer him to a clearer environment.

English class went very well tonight. We started on time and quit on time – we are going to teach them that this is how English classes will be in the future. Elder Roper thought that was great. He said he wanted have me for a companion. After a song and prayer we broke into the two classes. In ours we reviewed last week’s lesson about long and short ‘E’. I got elder Tiemann to be the long E and I was short E. I wrote a word on the board and they had to decide if it was a short or long E and point to the right person. It went OK but not great. But the second part went really well. I had them learn how to hold a short conversation with some one. I started with how to ask for a person name and went on from there. I would write the Indonesian and the English on the board and then give them the answer. I then asked someone the question and have them answer.Then they would ask me. I went through a number of simple questions and responses. I think most of the young ones liked it – those without parents less than those who did have them.

When we got home, Sam had to help us get things upstairs. As soon as we got settled, we tried to call the new couple to say hello and offer them any help. We had a hassle getting to them – the Harris told us they were not there. Since we had called Sinopati and had been assured they were there, I called and asked for the manager. He finally checked the nationalities of the guests who had checked in today and got the room number. Unfortunately when I called they did not answer their phone. We will try again tomorrow morning.

We want them to feel welcome and if they want to they can come with us as we meet in district meeting and whatever else they would like to do. I do not want to have them sit around alone all day. That is I do not want them to have the same experience we did. And at least we had the Kanes as company while they are basically alone.

26 January 2007 – Friday

I am actually writing this on Saturday night. Friday was both a good and a bad day.

It was good because we are now on our own – to make our own mistakes. We will have to rely on the Lord and not the Leishmans to give us guidance.

We woke early and went down to say goodbye to the Leishmans. I think they were happy and touched that we cared enough to make the effort. Elder Leishman showed me the last ins and outs of some things and we hugged them before they got in and left for the airport.

On our way back to the apartment we asked the desk man for some help on moving. He agreed to have someone up with a cart at 6:30. I moved all our clothes that were on hangers and then right on time he arrived and helped us move. It took just two loads on his cart and we were moved. It was much easier than we expected.

We then unloaded some of the boxes and suitcases until it was time to shower and get dressed to head out for a busy day. As we got moving around in the apartment we realized that it was quite a bit smaller than the two bedroom one we had over in Dahlia. It is also not in as good of shape. But it will be our home for the next 16 months so we will learn to live with it.

It was also good because we got to meet the Bennetts – the new couple that came to Indonesia on Wednesday. We were determined that they would not have the same experience we had when we first got here, so we picked them up on our way to Jakarta Raya district meeting. It gave them an opportunity to get away from the hotel, meet some of the missionaries, and see how a district meeting is run.

The Bennetts are from Prescott, Arizona and had served a mission to Oakland 10 years ago. They are very different – she is small and thin and he is big and heavy. Both are very nice. I changed some of his large bills to smaller ones and then later at the bank I changed more for even smaller bills. They seem to have come well prepared money wise.

They seemed to enjoy the district meeting and even participated with some comments. Elder Decker – the new district leader – has only been a DL for about three weeks. Two in So Lo and one Jakarta. Elder Thomas gave a good lesson on hope.

After the meeting we went to the bank so we could transfer the rest of the money for our new car. First we tried to do it at ATM and we found out we were above our limit. So we had to go to a teller and them made the transfer. I am slowly learning how the bank functions around here. Next we went to a food court where the Bennetts treated us to lunch at A&W. I must say that it is not my favorite place and the root beer tastes strange. Also they have stopped using real ice cold mugs so I doubt if we will eat there again. KFC is much better and I still want to try Wendy’s and MacDonalds. I also want to try more local foods.

On our way to the University we stopped at the Harris and let the Bennetts get some rest. I am glad we did not take them with us to the University. We got to the University much too early and the wait in the heat was terrible. The class started with about a dozen people and swelled to over 30.

I thought these were all fairly good English speakers but found that is not true. I am sure our first lesson was well above the level for most people. I stayed on my program and gave them Shakespeare – at least one or two people seemed to enjoy it. One woman was brave enough to read part of to be or not to be.

After the class, the head of the University suggested we break the class into two and we quickly agreed. We will have a beginning class and an advance class. Mary is going take the beginners and use what she does on Thursday for her advance class. I will take the advance class and hopefully teach them conversational English.

One man introduced himself and expressed the feeling that while he could read and understand much of what he read, he could not get what he wants to say out into English. I think I will try to spend some time next week talking about that and seeing where we can go with it. Mary and I agreed that we will not rely on the school to make copies of home work or anything else. They do not seem to have a copy center. The level of schooling in their University is well below that of most 2nd world educational systems.

The bad part happened on the way home. I all of a sudden needed a bathroom very badly and there were no public ones on the way home. We rushed to the chapel where the office is and I almost made it but not quite. It is not an experience I care to have again. No permanent damage except to my pride.

I did not feel really sick – but since then my stomach has been just a little off. I am wondering what I might have eaten at A&W disagreed with me. Others had that I had and never had any problem.

By the time we got home I was very tired and the time seemed to pass slowly. We did our reading in the Kitab Mormon. I spent some time cleaning up and putting away more of our stuff.

We plugged in the computer and was thrilled to find that we had a good enough connection to actually skype using the camera. (Just as I was typing that Tom called on Skype! The connection was not very good but it was nice to hear him. He will call back when Kelly is up. It seems that William is ill and not in any condition to talk to us.) We were able to get in contact with Bob for a few minutes and we are to call back on Sunday night or Monday morning because the girls will all be there.

So all in all I guess the good outweighed the bad – and as Shakespeare said: All’s well that ends well.!

27 January 2007 – Saturday

Slept well and woke just before 5. We had to leave early so I did not go to the gym.

We spent the day in the Jakarta Raya branch chapel giving a career workshop. At 9 there was only one person there but we got a call that more were coming. By 9:30 we were up to 5 and 2 missionaries.

Brother Lakito gave the whole thing in Indonesian. They do not do the full 12 hour course. In fact they seem to really only have about 4 hours of content and if no one asks questions or is willing to be video taped doing an interview, it seems he just fills time. The Indonesian people are – at least for the most part – quite shy and it is hard to get them to participate. I think I will suggest that the instructor spends more time on the ‘Me is 30 seconds’ and the ‘Power Statement.’ That is the core of the program and if they do not develop those concepts it will just not work the right way.

Luckily it seems the younger generation is becoming a little more aggressive. It is something that the multi-nationals and the bigger Indonesian companies are looking for. In the past people just wanted a job – the Human Resource director we talked to on Wednesday said that they wanted people who wanted to work hard and rise to the top. They do not want people who just want a job.

Since the whole class is given in Indonesian, I must be honest and say that I was rather bored at times. I did try to listen to what was being said and understand some of the words. I can hear more and more of them but I still do not understand them. I felt better when I talked to Elder Thiemann – a missionary we met in the MTC – and he said he still can not understand a lot of what is being said.

While I was siting in the Workshop, Mary went shopping with Sam. On the way back they stopped and picked up 16 meals from KFC. We feed the participants and often someone just drops in for lunch. We also fed the missionaries. 16 dinners cost a whole $38. I must say that the Original Recipe is the same here as in the states. It is not popular with Indonesians because it is not spicy enough. They have a spicy chicken and then they dip it in lost of hot sauce.

What is most exciting about the day is that we are doing so well reading the Book of Mormon. Of course it helps that it tends to repeat itself – especially in 1st Nephi – but this morning we read and there were some long verses that we could translate completely and others that only had a word or two that we did not know. I think once we get to a point where we can read it, we will be able to speak more and then perhaps we will be able to understand when others talk.

While we were in the workshop, it started to rain. It is much needed but it also means that somewhere people will have their houses flooded. It seems that the debris that people throw into the river – actually more like canals – block up the drains and so the canals back up and flood the same homes again and again.

I heard a story yesterday about one of the A.P.s – Elder Farr – who on his first day in the field left his brand new scriptures and all of his clothes on the bed while they went out to do something. While they were gone it rained and when he got home everything was under water. Despite that start, he turned out to be one of the best missionaries in the mission. The paper often shows people in some part of Jakarta wading through waist deep water.

Earlier in the day we wrote to Bob and asked him to call Gordon Creer and get his e-mail address. When we got home we had a letter from Bob with the address. I immediately sent off a long email telling about what was going on and asking him to send me other address so I could write to them. I am particularly interested in Don Peterson’s so I can ask him why the Power of Attorney we gave to Mike is not working on the sale of the house.

In our short conversation with Tom he said the problem is the new lender’s attorneys who want to make sure we really are selling the house. Lawyers!