27 February 2007 – Tuesday

I woke very early and so was ready to go to Zone Conference long before Mary. We had breakfast and read Kitab Mormon and then it was time to go. Actually we could have left later because we were the first couple to arrive – the next one did not come for 20 minutes. So much for being there by 8:30.

I did have a spot of trouble – I managed to shut the door with the good key still inside. Mary’s key is hard to turn and I turned a little too hard. I snapped it off in the lock. But I did not panic or get overly mad. I just asked the deskman to get a locksmith to open the door. Then I told Sam to come back, get the key and have two copies made. He was to make sure they worked as well as the original.

Zone Conference was fine. For the couples it is more to tell them what the younger missionaries are being instructed about than what we need to do. Until President Jensen spoke it was not very interesting but he is a good speaker – straight forward with lots of words of wisdom for all missionaries. Lunch was made by the Jensen’s cook and was fantastic. I had a nice talk with Elder VanDongen and what they were doing up at their area. They have made a big difference there – doubling the sacrament attendance, starting a choir, and other things to bring the branch together. They will be missed.

There is a new program for keeping the missionaries here healthy. They are being given pills for killing parasites, stopping diarrhea, and headaches. It seems that too many are going to hospitals and too many days are being lost because of illness. The president pointed out that just as many native elders are getting sick as English speakers – he is concerned with where they eat and what they drink. No wonder people look at us funny when we eat from BYU.

After lunch the AP’s and ZP’s put on a couple of presentations that were actually well done but not very exciting for us. It was about weekly and daily planning – something we do but for very different reasons. But as we expand into looking at more resources and schools – interviewing more people to find out about the job situation in Indonesia, we will have to do more planning.

The meeting ended at 3:15 and since all the couples are heading back to their homes, we just came home. Mary was tired of sitting and I am tired because I have been up for 12 hours without enough sleep.

I almost forgot the exciting part of my day. We got the latest Church News today and I am in one of the pictures in the article about the flood. None of the article is from the one I wrote. It seems President Jensen sent in one and they used almost all of it. I do think he used some of my language in his story, but it is basically all his. Anyway it will be interesting if anyone spots me there among the young elders.

While we were at the conference I asked Elder Decker how his second meeting with the Chinese man we visited last week had gone. He said it went OK but that he thought it was better when we were there and he wondered if we could go the next time. I said sure and felt good that we will have an opportunity to visit him again. I also felt good that the Elders felt we were a good influence while they taught. Hopefully they can make an appointment at a time we can be there.

We are ordering Pizza Hut for dinner – it is only the second time we have tried to have food delivered here. The McDonalds we order was not all that good. So far the only chains we have eaten at that really reminds us of home are KFC and Pizza Hut. Hopefully the home delivery will still be warm if not hot.

I have been trying to read the Indonesian version of Preach My Gospel. I can read quite a lot without getting out the translator – some I can guess at but there are still a lot of words that I have to look up. Sometimes it is just to make sure I got it right. I figure as long as I keep trying to learn and keep praying for help, someday down the road things will really start coming together.

Some of the couples think that the study time is better spent on reading the scriptures and studying the English version of PMG. I am trying to do both but with more emphasis on the Indonesian. Mary and I just feel this is the right thing to do – at least at this time.

I called Brother and Sister Bennett to tell her that she is now famous because president Jensen used one of her stories in zone conference. We had a nice talk. They are doing well and are very busy. She mentioned that they had been asked to teach an English class in a regular school and I passed on the information that I got from the Leishmans and the Petersons that we are not certified to teach a regular class to students. I suggested that perhaps she should talk to the president before getting too involved.