29 January 2007 – Monday

Another Monday that was not a P-Day. Regular morning with the gym, study, etc. We did get to talk to Jim and his family via Skype, but the connection is just not very good. I do not know if it has to do with broadband width or what. Whatever the problem at least we got to see Olivia and she got to see us for a short time. I also spent some time getting the files organized.

We picked up the Bennetts before 10 and we all went over to the mission home where we had a PEF meeting. Elder Bennett set in with us. The committee includes the CES director for the country brother Tandiman, President Jensen, Elder Subandriyo, and Hendra who is head of finance. The meeting was not very productive. The problem with the bank has not been solved and may not be solved. The bank feels they must issue the check to the student and the church is not going to go for that. Elder Bennett suggested the check be issued to the student and the school so that both must sign. Of course there is no check it is a direct deposit and I am not sure how that might be worked out.  There are some things we need to do – mainly sending e-mails to get permission for translation.

After that meeting the other folks went off to shop and have some lunch. I stayed at the office and sat in on the Career Workshop for Elder Ng and Elder Go who are being released. I could not understand most of what was being said but I noticed that once again Lukito talks a lot and the participants do not do a lot of work. I was reading the teacher’s manual and it suggested that it should be 20% talk and 80% work. I am going to have to figure out some way to get more activity and less talking without offending Lukito.

The workshop got over at about 4:15 and we headed back to the Harris’ hotel and then Sam dropped us off at the apartment. We had a lot of stuff to carry up – hopefully some day we will get down to only needing to buy food each week.

Our missionary work seems to be mainly working with the elders assigned to our branches, teaching English and putting on workshops. There is little real missionary work done. I believe once we get settled in, we will spend more time going out to visit the less actives at night. Of course since we can not yet communicate with the people, I am not sure how effective we will be. I think I call the Van Dongans and ask them how they do it. They have been very successful in their area getting members to start coming out again.

30 January 2007 – Tuesday

An interesting day – kind of P-day to make up for yesterday.

I was up at 5:15 – it is really great to sleep a full 7 hours – and headed for the gym at the regular time. Unfortunately it was not open so I decided to walk some laps. As I was walking a middle-aged lady went past me in a power walk. I picked up the pace for a while but did not really want to work up a sweat until I got to the gym. However later she went jogging past me. So I decided I would jog some and then walk some. By the time the gym had opened I had managed to put in about a mile on the track.

In the gym I did some sit-ups, did time on the bike and then switched to the treadmill to get my heart rate up above 120. The bike is great for my legs but it does not get my heart above about 115. After the gym we had a pretty normal morning except I had to go to the complex office to get a form for checking in to the new apartment and then to the cashier to try and work out the problem with return of the deposit. Do to my running around we did not get as much read in the Kitab Mormon as usual.

We picked up the Bennetts at about 9:50 and took them into the office. While we waited for the man from Jakarta Raya to show up Sister Bennett got on the Family History computers. The member arrived about 10:45 and Sam got his e-mail account set up. It turned out he was not really interested in a job – he needed an e-mail address so he could get some money from his brother in the Netherlands. He did ask for some help with setting up a business to export coconut oil. But since he only can produce about 2.5 gallons a day I do not see how he can get enough to be worth exporting. I suggested he get in contact with brother Lukito from his branch and ask for some help. I will check the web to see what the demand for it might be. Maybe we can come up with some way to make it different.

After he left at about 11 we took the Bennetts and went out to Bogor. We went to the Wild Animal Zoo which is much like the San Diego Wild Animal Park. That is you stay in your car and drive through the animal’s habitats. We were able to get within a few feet of tigers and lions. We took a couple of hundred pictures – so many we filled the card and I had to delete some of the ones we will not want to keep.

The Bennetts seemed to enjoy it and I found it OK. I did not have the best seat in the house – I was riding in the back so everyone else would have plenty of room. I prefer that to sitting three across in the middle seat.

We had thought we could also go to the botanical gardens but by the time we had toured the driving part and then went through the walking section it was a little too late. So instead we headed back to Jakarta. As we drove out of the park we came to a section of business that are aimed at the visitors to the WAZ. One of them is a nursery which had nice looking bouganvileas. I had Sam stop and I got one for $6 – half the $12 he first asked.  Mary was looking at a bowl and I can kick myself for not buying it. I think we will go back and look at the wood pieces someday before we leave. I just have to remember to have a good selection of bills with me. They do not like to give change. They always claim to not have any.

Once we were there we dropped off the Bennetts and came home only long enough to drop off things and get some money changed. Then we went back to the Harris Hotel and had dinner with the Bennetts. The buffet but not great. They do not seem to believe in keeping food hot and the fish was not as good as usual. But the desserts were great.

We then waited with them until Ari brought their passports, their kitas, and the contract for the lease on their new home. At least they will have a driver, a car and a roof over their head tomorrow night. They have to leave for the apartment by 5:15 a.m. I told them we would not be there to wish them goodbye.

I am really glad we got to know the Bennetts before they disappear into central Java. I do not imagine we will see them very often but we will keep in touch. I think we did the right thing by making sure they did not have to sit in their hotel room for the better part of a week. They said they appreciated our taking them along and they had a good time. They are going to be great for getting people active and boasting the missionary work. They are will be much better at that than we would have been. The certainly knows the strengths of the missionaries and sends them to the place where they can do the most good.

While we did not do much work in our area of missionary work today, I think we did do some good work in helping the Bennetts start to adjust to Indonesia.
31 January 2007 – Wednesday

The Bennetts should be just getting on a plane to head for their area. I am sure they will have many great experiences there. I woke at 4:30 but dozed a little until 5:30. Worked hard on the bike for 30 minutes. My legs are getting stronger. I seemed to have lost a few ounces and seemed to have hit the goal for the end of January. Hopefully I will do as well in February. I wish they sold Ultra Slim Fast here.

I spent much of the morning organizing what needed to be done today. It turned out to be a lot. It took so long that we only had about 20 minutes to read from the Kitab Mormon before Sam arrived. The first step was to go to the Mission home where we found out that our car would not be ready until Friday or Monday. We also found out that we could not exchange our rental for one of the mission vehicles because they were needed to pick up the new missionaries from the states. We did manage to pay for our weeks rental of the old car we turned in.

So from there we went to Global Doctors to see a dentist about getting my tooth re-cemented. Unfortunately she was not going to be in today so I had to set an appointment for tomorrow. From there Sam drove us to the American Embassy where I got the Power of Attorney notarized. It was getting into Fort Knox. There are a number of steps the car and people must get through just to get near the embassy. I am not sure we ever made it but for about $30 we got it done. The trip back out was just about as difficult.

Next we stopped by BCA where we picked up our code unit that allows us to pay bills by computer. After that we went to Post Office so we could send a letter to Kaden. Their stamps have no glue on them so you get nice looking pieces of paper and use your finger to put glue on them. The PO was not busy at all and the people were very nice. If it was a little cleaner it could be anywhere in the US.

As we were walking in to the building a man who was helping with parking called us Elder and Sister. Since my badge says Penatua and not Elder we decided he might be a member who was not active. Sam is going to tell the missionaries about him and ask them to drop by and talk to him. Maybe we found a lost sheep. It seems like missionary opportunites come up all the time.

After the PO it was time to go to the office where we put in a couple of hours. Mary worked on her English class work and I went through the files looking for things that I might need to know about. I also made the changes to the Career Workshop schedule. I have decided it will be hard to plan more than three months in advance.

At about 2:30 we headed back to the Mission home again. This time we had to wait until the President and Sister Jensen came back with the new missionaries. It turned out there were only 4 instead of the expected 5. One of the Elders got sick at the MTC and did not come with this group. I suppose he will come later – but I do not know if they let them travel alone. We got a chance to say hello to the Elders – they kind of remember us visiting them at the MTC but not really. We were also able to send the Power of Attorney off via DHL and it should be in the Utah by some time early next week.

While we were there waiting I talked to Elder Subandriyo about the pilot for the English class and he said that we would give it a try with the next group to go home. That will be in early May and there will be two elders and one sister. I am really excited about this but there are still a number of things that will need to be worked out. Including where they will live and who will teach them. But if the program is truly inspired and we do all we can do, I am sure the Lord will help us make it a success. Over the weekend I will do more work on the idea and then get both the President and Elder Subandriyo to sign off. I am glad I have over three months to work on it.

We got home about 4:30 or 5 and have spent the evening reading the Kitab Mormon,posting some of my journal on the blog, and other interesting things. We never did get around to really eating dinner.

I was surprised to get a call from Sister Bennett saying that they arrived safely and were in their new home. It turned out that they were immediately put to work by the Elders to help them visit a new member that had not been coming to church. They were introduced to the humble homes of the members – there was only one chair so most of them sat on the floor – and had success by getting him to commit to coming to Church on Sunday. They are going to be a great asset in that area.

They did find one problem. Their driver does not speak very good English and so it is hard to communicate with him. But they found a member who has really good English and he went with them. There is also the Elders who can help out. I am sure they will learn Indonesian rather rapidly. I will call them on Sunday and see how they are doing.

Now it is after 10:30 and it is raining really hard. This apartment is set in a way that the rain hits the bedroom windows so we will be serenaded to sleep tonight. A perfect end to a very busy day. Wow the thunder is really rolling across the landscape and the rain is getting heavier. This means that more humble homes will be flooded tonight.