05 February 2007 – Monday

Mary woke with a sore throat so she is staying home today. Hopefully a good day’s rest will help her feel better. I woke at 5:45 and did not go to the gym. Instead I caught up with some of the e-mail, put in a load of laundry and ironed some pants to wear today. Cotton cords are really wrinkled in our washing machine – but then so is everything else. I would really like to have our Kenmore washer and dryer here.

When I went to USA Today I saw that the Superbowl was on. I must say that I did not realize that it was today. I was somewhat surprised to find that it was being broadcast live here on ESPN. I got to watch about 10 minutes of the game before Sam arrived and it was time for me to leave for the kitchen.

Today I tried to be helpful while not getting too hot. I became an expert on peeling onions. I got good enough that the older man who told me I was not doing it correctly yesterday, said today that I was doing it perfectly.

Elder and Sister Kane came down from Bogor and helped out for about 4 hours before heading back home to sign the lease on their new house. Elder Kane and I did onions together and then he left to do other things. Later he went with us on the first delivery – that was back to the University where I am a big man on campus because the manager knows me by name. The sister missionaries also went along and the children loved them. Indonesian children also love to have their picture taken and so I took lots of pictures and then let them see themselves. If I did not see laundry drying on the fences and knew that they were all homeless I could have thought they were a school yard full of happy kids. Another thing I noticed was that they were all clean and had on clean clothes. They do not allow tragedy to be an excuse for looking ragged. I mentioned to Elder Kane that New Orleans during their flooding did not look like this.

In the afternoon I would help for a while and then go out in the yard and cool off some. About  I tried to call Mary and found that phones were not working so I had Sam drive me over to make sure she was OK. She was still sick and was feeling poorly. I took enough time to cool off and headed back.

I must write about the Elders and Sister missionaries. They showed up at about 11:00 and were a great help all day. Without them there would not have been enough people to really keep things moving along. They are great about pitching in and doing whatever needs to be done. At about 5:00 I heard some of the elders say that all the internet lines they could use to write home were down. I called Mary and had her check to make sure ours was still working. It was, so I loaded up 6 missionaries took them back to the apartment. They got to check their mail and write to their families. Two of the elders just got here 5 days ago and this was the first time they could tell their families that they were OK and doing well. As they were doing this, I realized I should have called President Jensen and got his permission to do this – I may get another call tonight asking me if I was ever going to learn that he is the mission president and needs to be called when missionaries are going to do anything different.

When we got back they were loading up for another delivery. I really did not want to go because deliveries are really just a way for me to get away from sweating. But Sam wanted to go and so did some of the Elders and Sisters who had not gone earlier so away we went. The way there was twisting and filled with areas where we had to go through large puddles. At one of these a motorcycle hit a water covered pot-hole and almost fell under the wheels of Elder Peterson’s vehicle. Luckily he was missed by about a foot but he was not happy and really wet. Amazingly his bike started right up and off he went.

This stop was in the area around where John – the Peterson’s driver – and his family lives. We were able to go out on a bridge and watch the river run past and through a street of homes. The people there told us that the day before the water was about 2 feet higher and covered many more homes. I think I have seen enough waterlogged homes for one week. I doubt if I will go on any more deliveries except to the University.

When we got back – it took much less time than going – the work was done for the day. Sam ate his dinner and then we headed to KFC to get some dinner. Mary was really happy to see KFC because the cheese and crackers she was eating was not really what she wanted.

If the rains continue, the mess here in Jakarta are only going to get worse. They say that it is still not as bad as it was in 2002 but it could get that way.