08 February 2007 – Thursday

I guess it was too much to expect two normal days in a row. The alarm went off at 5:30 and I turned it off and rolled over for another hour’s sleep. When I finally got up I had no desire at all to go to the gym. Actually all I could think of was how much the area around my mouth hurt. It seems that I must have gotten the juice from some of the chilies I was cutting on my hands and then I wiped my mouth. Yesterday it was just starting to blister but this morning it is really bad. Thankfully it looks worse than it feels but it is definitely not a fun thing. I will have Mary take a picture so we can send it to our kids.

I was just getting going when my cell rang and it was Elder Subandriyo asking me to write another article about the kitchen and include some pictures. So I spent well over an hour on that. This meant I had no time for reading Kitab Mormon. I think the article is pretty good but doubt if it will get printed the way it is written.

Why I say that is because when we got into the office, there was an e-mail directing us to an article on LDS.org that is a well edited version of what I had written on Monday. It does include all of my pictures. No byline of course but it was nice to see my story out there for everyone to read.

We spent the morning catching up on e-mail and getting ready for our English classes tonight. We made a list of things that we need to get accomplished at Sinopati. What I thought was interesting was that after I decided to work on learning patience, almost everything we need to do is to find out why something is not done when or how it should.

I got a call from someone at the Toyota dealership saying the reason I do not have my license is because the police station that is supposed to be processing it was flooded and no one was working there. Who knows when that will get straightened out. I am sure that $20 in the right hands would do wonders in getting it done.  But I am going to be patient – or at least try to be.

I did forget one thing that happened before we left the apartment. I was at the computer and a Skype call came through from the Mitchells. I tried to answer it but I could not hear anything. I tried everything I could think of and then I remembered that I had put the sound on mute last night – by the time I had things worked out it was too late to get back to them. I was bummed.

About noon we left for Sinopati and of course when we got there everyone was out for lunch. Eventually most people showed up but it turned out very few things got done. Another chance to practice patience.

To make a long day short, we went to Tangeran’s district meeting. They have a difficult area and usually have a lot of reasons why the work is not going well. We are trying to get them to come up with new ideas on how to get things moving. I am thinking that the President take the missionaries out of the area for a couple of months so the members realize that they need to support them. As we were sitting there I wondered if we need to spend some of our time going around with them – at least we could visit members.

We started English class right at 6:00 and other than the 6 elders we only had 2 people there. But I am determined that the classes will not wait until people get there. Actually my class did have to wait because there were no children there at all. At 6:10 three came and then at about 6:25 Agus’ family came. We learned about colors and time. I do not think it was great but the children seem to have had a good time.

The trip home went faster than I expected – the traffic is back to normal and that means slow. But Sam took some back streets and got around the main jams.

The good news of the day is that the apartment seems to have closed today. That means Mike no longer has to keep hounding the renters for money. Now if we can get Herb Bergman to put in the furnace, things will be much better.

I am feeling my age tonight – I do not know if it is because it has been a long and busy day or if the rash on my lips is starting to bug me – or perhaps both. Anyway I look forward to crawling into bed and getting some sleep.

Patience Elder Pier – Patience.