07 Febraury 2007 – Wednesday
I woke at 5 and did the gym thing. Still losing a little weight each day. I would have thought as much as I have been sweating each day at the kitchen, I would be down two or three pounds a day. But of course I replace it as fast as I can. I have come to appreciate clean water – even warm clean water.
Mary sounds terrible this morning but says she feels much better. I am going to go into the office at 10:00 and she will join me after lunch. We have a meeting with Agus and Lukito today at 1 to try and settle what we are going to do about CW over the next couple of months. I think that any plans beyond that is just speculation.
My skin does not like Indonesia. Last night when I got home I realized I have some kind of rash around my lips. At first I thought they were cold sores but I think that I am reacting to the garlic chiles and onion that I have been getting on my hands each day. I probably then wipe my mouth with them or with a rag that are covered with the juices. It is probably just luck I do not have sores all over my face. They are annoying but I am sure they are not fatal. Otherwise I am hot but in good shape.
We listened to Elder Bednar’s CES fireside talk about reading and pondering the scriptures. As I listened I realized I have not done that in a long time – that is search and absorb a subject. Also he made the point that most of our choices are not between good and evil but between two goods. As he said this I wondered if I was going to the office because I really do need to get some ERS work done or so I did not have to go out and get sweaty working in the kitchen. My guess it is a combination of both.
When I left for the office, Mary stayed home to wait and see if the air conditioner repair person would come. I spent the morning fighting with the printer and trying to find some charts that seem to have disappeared in one of the computers. I did manage to come up with and agenda for our meeting at 1 and some activities for my English class on Thursday. About the time I was getting everything wrapped up, Mary arrived by taxi. We are getting brave enough that we felt it safe for her to come by herself.
Agus arrived right at one – Lukito had called to say he would not be at the meeting because he had to take care of his flooded house. I told him that I hoped things would quickly dry out. I do not think he has been flooded before.
The meeting went well. We decided that a month was about as far we could plan in advance for CW. There were just too many things that are likely to come up for us to plan any further into the future. Agus is very effective. He always gets things done, has many good ideas, and even with his cancer he seems to keep a cheerful outlook.
After he left, we headed for So Go market to buy our luxury items. We ran into Sister Jensen just as she was checking out. She said that the President was going crazy with everything that is going on and his getting ready to head for Hong Kong for the big Area meeting. She said that he would come back invigorated enough to make it through the next 5 months.
When we got home we were very tired but did not take naps. I spent some time on the computer d/l Total Recorder and Real Player so I can record some music from the web. However I did not spend any time actually listening to music. Instead I started my program of trying to study from PMG or the scriptures for an hour each evening.
I read the chapter on developing Christ like attributes and decided I really needed to work on gaining the attributes of Patience and Charity. I spent a good hour on reading and thinking about Patience. I studied what the scriptures say about this attribute and then started putting the thoughts together. One thing I soon decided was that I can not really have any one attribute alone. I can not have really have patience with out faith, hope and charity. I can not really have any of those without having virtue. One of the special thing about Christ was that he had developed all of these attributes and so he was able to very close to His Father. As we develop Christ like attitude it allows us to draw close to Christ and our Father in Heaven. As we do this we are at peace and it is easy for us to have patience.
It is not going to be easy for me to develop patience and charity – especially not patience. But I am sure that if I truly desire that attribute and try my best to achieve it, the Lord will help me. I believe that only by developing patience will I really be able to help the Indonesian people and at the same time help myself.