24 February 2007 – Saturday

I slept fairly well and woke about 6:00. Breakfast is included in the price so we went down at about 7:00 and had breakfast. It was an excellent buffet – especially the watermelon and the pastries. The pastries in Indonesia are not very sweet but they are still very good eating. Lukito joined us and he has been downloading the scriptures and other things on to my palm. The only problem was that it was running out of battery and we did not have any charger with us. Luckily it held out long enough for him to get them all secured on the card.

We got to the chapel soon after 9 and set up the room for the workshop. To make a long 5 hours short – there were 5 members there and the new district specialist. Lukito gave his usual CW – I need to suggest he spends more time with the start and try to get the participants to be more involve. I think Agus does this part better. But Lukito is great when it comes to motivation and the members certainly need to be motivated.

I just remembered something from Friday. Mary and I sat next to a man on the airplane who turned out to be the owner of a big craft shop in Jakarta that hires 700 people. We exchanged cards and Mary and him had a good discussion. When we get back to Jakarta I will have Mary call and see if we can pick his brain for what kind of people he is looking for and how we can get some of our people employed there.

Back to the workshop. When we started to look for lunch to be delivered we found the Benards in the building. I had asked them to drop by so we could meet them and let them know what is going on about the ERS center in Solo, what they could do for us, and just get to know them. They are a great couple from Australia and after a rough start are doing a great job working with the branches and the missionaries. I think they were happy to have another couple to talk to.

The afternoon part went well – we lost two of the participants but that is not unusual here. One of them had his mother stay and get the information while he went to work. They can not afford to give up any work. At the end of the workshop, I spoke for a few minutes about the need to pay tithing and fast offerings. I promised them if they did this, the Lord would bless them. While they might never have a nice house, car, etc., they would always have peace, a roof over their head and food to eat.

After the meeting Lukito and I did some training of the new DS. She is going to be very good. She said that she told the Lord she could give Him two days a week. I told her if she could just give Him Saturdays it should be a great start.

Next up was the leadership training. I was happy to see 4 branch presidents or counselors there. Lukito went through the training – it is really not very much. After that I gave my talk about tithing, fast offerings, etc. I then talked about networking and how everyone needed to help each other find jobs. Finally I talked a little about PEF and then opened it to questions. They were rather reluctant at first to ask but once we got started the floodgates opened and I found out they had a lot of misconceptions about the program. We are going to have to come back and really lay it out for them and the other leaders about what PEF really is and how it works.

When the last meeting was over we cleaned up the room and headed back to the hotel. We took three bicaks – this was the first time Mary got to ride in one. It actually costs more than taking two taxis but it was much more fun. We almost lost Mary because her driver did not really know the way. Luckily my driver did and yelled until her driver turned it around. She ended up beating the other two back.

It was a good day but it could have been a disaster. While we were talking to the DS we found out that the faxes we thought we had sent never came because no one had a fax machine. Lucky for us I had Agus call on Tuesday to try to make sure that someone would come so that the Christensens would have something to see. It was then he found out that we had problems. The DS got busy and arranged for people to come to both the CW and the leadership meeting. I would guess we would have had more if it had been announced in church last Sunday. But now I know not to trust faxing – that the DS has to be made aware at least two weeks in advance so they can get it announced throughout the branches in the area.  So all’s well that ends well.

I feel strongly that ERS needs to push the commandments about tithing and fast offerings. If a person is not keeping the commandments than it is difficult for the Lord to help them. They need to be in tune with the spirit as they look for jobs, etc.

I did not sleep very well…

25 February 2007 – Sunday

I am not going to write much about today. We all went to a branch and other than a very lively SS class where we did not understand anything and a rain storm that came up during PH that made it almost impossible to hear anything, there was nothing much different from any other Sunday since we have been here. I am hearing more words – at least when the speaker does not go too fast – and I think it will only get better.

When the meetings were over the rain was still coming down in buckets so no one was in a hurry to go home. We stood outside and watched the rain. Finally is slowed down to just a normal rain and we called two cabs to take us back to hotel – but then we decided instead to go to lunch. Lukito asked for a recommendation for another good place to have Chinese. He told the taxis to take us there – and what do you know. It was the same place we ate on Friday night. At least we knew what to order this time and it was only $8. The Christensens found it hard to believe things were so cheap here.

When we were finished eating it was still raining so we gathered up three more bicaks – they put plastic over them when it rains – and headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head for the airport.

The Solo airport is quite small and the security is a laugh. Unfortunately the plane was about 30 minutes late getting in so we were about 45 minutes late getting out. While we were waiting I talked to a man from Canaga who is in Indonesia for a NGO and also to teach English. He and his family have been here for 9 years. He and his wife are thinking about moving back home this year. His 15 year old daughter asked what is this home they are thinking about moving back to – to her ‘home’ is Indonesia. I asked him about his family learning Indonesia and he said that they have not learned much because they go to an English school and have English friends. However a couple who were with them sends their young children to an Indonesian school and of course they are fluent.

The flight back to Jakarta had a few good jolts but other than it was routine. We set next to a man who taught auto mechanics. He and Mary had a good discussion but he said I did not speak very good English so he could not understand me. Mary thought that was very funny – so did I.

On the trip home we found out that one of mission cars had been stolen out of the locked yard. It seems that someone knew that no one was at the mission home except for the Petersens who live in the back. It is also suspicious that the camera that watched that part was not working. It is hard to believe that someone associated with the mission would help steal a vehicle but it is possible.

We also found that we had a package of Benadryl come into the postoffice and the government wants to know what it is. They think we may be  smuggling drugs. We must go to three different agencies to get them cleared. We are worried that if we do not they will put our name on some kind of list and not renew our Kitas.

Sam brought us back to the apartment so the Christensen’s could pick up their luggage and I had a surprise for them. Sometime when we were talking I found out that they loved Walls Classic ice cream bars. I knew that I had some in the freezer so when we got home we all had one. They were in 7th heaven.

After they left I called President Jensen to see when the Christensens might meet him. He was rather upset with me because we had the other office vehicle. He wanted to know who Oked that and I did not know who Sam got it cleared by. I apologized and called Sam. He was just coming into the parking garage. I told him he had to go to the mission office and return their vehicle and pick up ours.

I am sure the President thinks I am a real pain in the neck. Oh well I do my best and then apologize. When Sam finally got back I found out that Elder Subandriyo had approved the switch. That made me feel a little better but I am not sure it will do much with President Jensen.

22 February 2007 – Thursday

A rather typical day for us with the only real news being a mistake I made in English class. Normal morning with prayer, study and reading the Kitab Mormon. Off to the office where we mainly worked on our English class material. We have not had a person come in for help with a job in three weeks. But of course much of that time we have been busy doing other things that are not ERS associated. We need to establish more regular hours and stick to them.

About noon we went out to try and get a phone card for the church computer so we can use it to help people in the branches on Saturday. After two futile attempts we gave up. One of the problems is that the  fast program works only in Jakarta and so would do no good anywhere else. After failing to get any real information about the card and services we went to the mission home to take care of some details and to change cars for the weekend. Our car is not big enough to take 5 people and their luggage to the airport.

The evening English classes went well except I made a shy young man – about 6 or 7 I would say – cry. I felt terrible about that and still do. The problem is that I am not sure how to make up for it. I just hope I did not make it so he does not want to come in the future. If he does I am going to be very careful not to even look his way for a couple of weeks.

The trip to Tangerang and back went quickly. It has been a long time since we have not been caught in traffic. When we got home I called the Christensens to set up our day tomorrow.

23 February 2007 – Friday

Normal morning – I am not going to the gym and must re-set my commitment soon or I will never go. It is strange how I can go for weeks without fail and then reach a point where I can hardly force myself to go. Read from the Kitab Mormon. We are in the last chapter of 1st Nephi.

We picked up the Christensens at the Marriott. Wow is that a palace – King Noah would have loved the place. This is the first hotel where I went through a security search to get access. It seems that there was an attempted bombing not too long ago so they have really stepped up security. The Christensens are a little late – it seems at the last minute they managed to dump the contents of their suitcase all over their room. First impression was that they are great people – the next few days proved that this was so.

We all went to the office where we had a meeting for an hour. It was very general and basically was just to find out what was going on in Indonesia. I found the meeting very useful because it helped me to focus on the things that might be most important. One thing they feel strongly about – and I now agree – is that we should be spending more time looking for resources for job opportunities and less sitting in the office. I will start on that next week – we will ask members of the English branch to give us a few minutes to talk about their jobs and employment opportunities.

Agus and Lukito came at 11 and we had our usual meeting to about ERS for the next couple of month. We went over the Career Workshop schedule, talked about new hours for the center, and the Christensens gave us an overview of what they would like to see done here. We set a reporting program – something that we have not had for a long time – and a goal to get 10 job openings from each branch each month. This will not be easy but if we can get it set up over the next three or four months it should be of great help – perhaps I can set up a blog for members to post to and get information from about job opportunities.

As soon as the meeting was over all but Agus headed for the airport. It was nice to see the airport in the daylight. It is beautiful and the grounds are amazing. There is nothing like it – or at least I have not seen it – in America. Unfortunately I did not take pictures but the next time we fly out during the day I certainly will.

The flight was late – nothing unusual there – but we did not have any trouble. When we got to Solo we found that Novotel had a van there to pick up some guests. We squeezed – and I do mean squeezed – on and save the price of two taxis. It was also more fun that taxis.

The hotel was very nice but not as nice as the one in Surabaya. After we had unpacked I called the Christensens and asked if they would like to go for a walk. They said sure – they are game people – and so we walked for about four long blocks which gave them a chance to see, hear, smell and feel Indonesia. We came home in bicaks – peddled taxis. They thought that was great.

We decided to all meet for dinner at about 7:00. When we saw the buffet we were not impressed so Lukito suggested we go out and look for somewhere to eat. We ended up at a clean Chinese restaurant where food for five cost under $10 – the price we would have paid for a single dinner at the hotel. We had a good talk, lots of food, and afterwards a nice walk back to the hotel.