14 February 2007 – Wednesday – Valentine Day

I slept well – waking only once. My mouth is getting much better and my cold seems to be progressing in my usual manner. Which means I should be much better by the time we fly out on Saturday.

I spent my personal time reading from Book of Mormon Stories. I am using them to learn words but I really need to start trying to speak phrases – even if they are simple and wrong. It is the only way I am going to gain enough confidence to try and talk to members in Indonesian.

Talked briefly with Tom – Kelli Ann had her hair cut to her shoulders. At first I thought she had cut it herself but she had the beautician cut it. I guess Shauna was rather surprised when she saw it. Her little girl is growing up.

We read from Kitab Mormon – I am not sure how much this is helping to learn Indonesian. What is said and how they say it does not have much in common with everyday conversation. I now know how the Indonesians who learn grammar and vocabulary but not how to talk to others feel when they come to English class.

Just as we were leaving, Elder Subandriyo called and asked if I was coming in. He said that they were busy doing hygiene kits and there were some Moslem sisters helping. So when we got to the chapel, I started taking pictures so that I could use them in an article. There was someone from a newspaper or magazine already there taking notes. Mary and I pitched in and either I sweated out some of my sickness or I am going to be dead tomorrow.

I went on one distribution run and must say that it was much better than the ones to flooded areas. At least the destination was different. We unloaded in a small shop area – Indonesian shops that is there version of a strip mall – and a cart took them down narrow streets to where they would be distributed. The district chairman was not there so we could not hand any out to people – I want to find out how this ‘district chairman’ thing works. I was surprised at how neat the small family homes seemed – at least from the outside. The ‘street’ was about 3 feet wide with the usual water gutters running along them. What made the streets seem so nice was all the plants lining them. They may not have a lot of money but they still find enough to buy plants to give the outside of their home some individuality and beauty.

Just as we were getting ready to leave the shop area it started to rain – actually to pour. It still amazes me how much water can come down so quickly. It went from a rather nice day to water running everywhere in a minute. Soon water was pouring off roofs and running down in rivers to the street. After 10 minutes of trying to wait out the storm, someone got us some umbrellas so we could get to the cars. We only drove about 300 yards and we were out of the storm which was still pouring behind us. It was like two different worlds.

When we got back to the chapel I thought about going back to the apartment, but there was lots of work going on and they needed to load for another delivery so I helped with that. There was so much to go that we filled three cars and if I had gone, Elder Petersen would have had to stay back. Since he is the Country Director I made myself scarce so he could go.

While we were finishing up the loading, the Moslem group – which was larger than I realized – left. Instead of going to the office and sitting down until Sam came back with our car, I went up and helped the now greatly reduced crew make kits. I got really good at wrapping crackers in a towel while John’s wife did the rest. We got so that we were producing as much or more than the larger groups.

By the time Sam came back I was soaking again – hopefully I sweated out the cold – and I had him bring me back to the apartment. I tried to take a nap but had just dropped off – or so it seemed  – when Mary came home. I had made the mistake of dropping the inside latch so she could not get in without waking me.

I spent part of the night reading from BofM stories in Indonesian. I hope that I will learn some more vocabulary this way and remember the easy words that keep repeating themselves. I went back and read the story I did this morning to see how many words I remembered. I only had to look up 2 or 3. I do not think I really know the words so that I can use them in speaking, but I know what they mean when I see them.

13 February 2007 – Tuesday

I slept in a semi-sitting position in one to two hour segments throughout the night. It really was not bad as I would get up, numb my lips, coat them with medicine and then go right back to sleep. This morning they are much better – hopefully the next two days should see the redness disappear. My cold did not seem to bother me – when I would wake up, I would cough to clear my throat and that seemed to be that. I am sure that over the next couple of days my cold will get worse – at least that has been the pattern in the past – and then clear up. If this is the worse thing that I catch in Indonesia it will be a good 16 months.

I rather dragged through the morning in the apartment and I think it is going to be a long day. I really do not feel all that sick it is just everything takes too much energy. We had a good time reading from the Kitab Mormon – Mary knows most of the words but I am able to add some things from time to time. My reading out loud is improving but has a long way to go. What I am not doing is learning vocabulary each day…truly my greatest weakness – or at least when it come to language.

We went into the office and although no one came in for help we were able to do some work on other things. Mary got ready for her Thursday English class, I worked on reports and caught up with the church e-mail.

I had a nice talk with Elder Bennett – he and Sister Bennett are pretty much settled in. He was able to get his car quickly because of the things I had told him about the temporary license and insurance. I think I will write up a sheet for new senior couples telling them what to expect and how to get some of the things that we all need to do done with minimum fussing around.

Also while we were there the supplies for the kits that they are going to be making started showing. Truckloads of blankets, towel, and crackers came in – more items will be delivered through the day.

We left at 12:30 to go to the mission home and get our new car. While there Elder Subandriyo asked me to re-write my last article on the floods and that Deseret News would be doing a story on the floods. I will just add some statistics about the hours, how many LDS families were affected and such. I am also going to do a story on the kits and their distribution.

A funny thing happened while we were there. Elder Subandriyo showed us a letter from Elder Packer asking him if he could chose a second name – it seems that they are having problems with him just having one. Elder Packer said that if he could not come up with one, Elder Packer had some suggestions. Elder Subandriyo wrote back and asked if he took a second name did he need to get re-baptized. Mary asked him what his friends called him in school and he told us ‘Yoyo.’ I suggested that would be a great first name – or perhaps second name since when you only have one name who is to say it is which. It is not a family name – it is just what he was called by his parents.

Sam got the new car, the paperwork and transferred our stuff. At first he had a little trouble because he has been driving an automatic for a couple of weeks and it took him a while to get use to the stick shift. The new car is great – it is shorter and narrower than what we had before but it should get better milage and except when we need to carry 7 people it will be fine. The important thing it is ours for the rest of the mission and there will be no monthly payment.

By the time we got home I was very tired but service men started arriving to fix some of the problems and I doubt if I will get to nap until after they all leave. I read in today’s paper that those who took a 30 minute nap at least three times a week were 37% less likely to have a heart attack than those who did not. I wonder how those who take 2 hour naps every day can expect to gain? Anyway I plan to make sure I get my naps in …

It is like grand central station in here right now. One group is fixing the bathroom problems while another is cleaning the air-conditioners. It is the latter that are the noisiest but ever so often the plumbers manage to let us know they are working.

I open up AOL and found a lead story about a man killing people at Trolley Square. Immediately I wonder if Cindy or Bob’s family was there – or anyone else we might know. It was on Monday night – family night – when it would be full of families from the area having a night out together. There is little in the way of details about who was killed or wounded. Now all we can do is wait to hear from our family to make sure everyone is OK.

I try to nap but the cold will not let me sleep – I can not imagine what tonight will be like. I try to read some Indonesian but can not concentrate for more than a few minutes. I don’t want to watch TV all night so I must find something useful to do – maybe get Mary to read some more in Kitab Mormon.

Patience – I am really doing better here. Whenever I start to get worked up over something I remind myself that it is not worth getting upset about and back off. I am sure that I will do some backsliding along the way but hopefully I will be able to continue to work on this attribute.

Charity fits right in with Patience – by looking for the good and not what is wrong is not easy and I have a long ways to go here. But I think that is part of the reason the Lord sent me here – to see the positive instead of the negative in the people and ways of Indonesia.

We got good news – the apartment finally closed. That means we have money to pay off some loans and the last of our credit cards, Mike no longer has to worry about collecting rent there, and we will have more income.

12 February 2007 – Monday

I only slept until 5:00 and could feel that my cold was moving up to my nose – I got up and got a glass of orange juice and took some Vitamin C. I am not sure that it will help but with that and continuing my praying for relief, I at least felt better. I did not go to the gym because I just did not feel like doing any exercise.

However I started reading the Indonesian Book of Mormon Stories and find that I can move through them fairly well. I am not sure how good this is for teaching me patience – I get rather disturbed when I have to look up the same word three times in the space of two or three pages. My short term memory does not seem to exist – at least not this morning. It also helps that I have a picture to look at and the stories are familiar. However I remember that not long ago I could not get through even a page in 15 minutes and had to look up every second or third word. So I am progressing and learning patience – what more can I ask at that time of the morning.

Also on the positive side – I think my mouth is getting better. It still looks terrible but except for that ones on my lips, the blisters seem to be healing and not itching as much.

It was a good day – at least it was for the way I have felt. We had short conversations with Cindy, Bob and Tom – with Bob we also got to see Rachel. With Tom we got a naked William and a clothed Kelli Ann. Everyone seems to be fine. It is a shame that we do not get a better connection. Maybe we should try MSN chat or something like that. But I think the problem is that our connection here is just too slow.

The cleaning lady came at 8:30 – Mary left with Sam to go shopping for the items needed by the missionaries at about 10:00. This meant I had to leave the door to the apartment open because I could not be in the apartment with a woman and I could not leave and let her just work. She did a good job and finished right at three hours – she deep cleaned the bathroom and did surface cleaning everywhere else. I think once a week will keep the apartment looking good. The bill came to 60,000 rp and I gave her a 10,000 rp tip. – a whole $1.

When Mary and Sam got home from their shopping we headed off to see two of the three houses we are responsible for. When we got to the first one – it took forever to get there – we found one of the elders was so ill that he needed to go to the doctor. So we dropped off the supplies, took a quick tour of the house, gave the elder a blessing and then took them to the doctor.

We then headed to the second house where we found that none of the elders were home. We called and found one pair was nearby so we went and got them. We took a much longer look at this home and found that there was a lot of things that need repairing. The elders keep it quite well but we need to do a real through inspection with everyone there. Then we need to clean one area to show them how and let them clean the rest. I am not going to be too hard on them until some of the problems that were not caused by them has been repaired. Once they know we will get things fixed I expect them to help by doing their part.

One of the major problems with the houses is that the owners have used the cheapest water based latex paint made by man. It is pretty much like chalk and just can not be cleaned at all. I have suggested to the president that they re-paint with good scurbable water based enamel and then hold the elder responsible for keeping it clean. It is unfortunate that these homes had not been inspected in a long time. The program has always been in place but I guess it was felt by some senior missionaries that it was not really important to continue inspections.

The trip home also took forever – the Jakarta traffic is certainly back to normal. I think it took 75 minutes to travel less than 15 miles…but I did sleep part of that time so at least the last part went fast.

We got home just in time to have the air-conditioning repair folks come in. They of course did not get everything done so they have to come back tomorrow. The story of work here in Jakarta. But I am learning patience.

Speaking of that it seems the car is ready, licensed, and insured – however I decided to wait until tomorrow to go get it. I just want to make sure everything is OK this time. I will not be excited about getting the car until we actually get to drive it out of the compound for the first time.

We got an e-mail from the next couple – the Roberts – that is coming to Indonesia in March. They had lots of questions and I answered them and gave them some thoughts. They later wrote back with more thoughts and questions which I also answered. I prepared the two reports on the inspections and sent them to the president.

Dinner was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for me. Mary had noodles – simple meals work here. Especially when neither of us feels near 100%.

We spent part of the evening reading from Kitab Mormon but for the most part all I wanted to do was stay awake long enough that I might sleep during the night. I could not really concentrate on studying and I was not interested in watching TV, so I pretty much wandered between reading, TV and the computer. Not what I would call an profitable missionary night. It is like Mary has always said- I am a real pain when I am sick and she is correct. Luckily that is not all that often.

11 February 2007 – Sunday

I slept in until almost 6 – it is getting to be a habit. My mouth looks really bad – it should draw a lot of comments today. Yesterday I forgot to mention that both of us got our hair cut. They tend to cut hair a little shorter here but I like the way mine looks. Mary statement was that ‘it will grow out.’ One thing is for sure it is a lot easier to take care of this way.

We read for about 45 minutes from Kitab Mormon. Mary is able to pretty much translate what is being said – sometimes we miss key indicators of who is talking or the tense which throws us off but other than that and forgetting words we really should know it goes well. It is harder to translate articles or talks because, unlike the KM, they do not often repeat thoughts or phrases.

We went to church at Jakarta, Raya. Elder Cheney was there in place of elder Thomas. When we met on Friday as a district, I missed that they had changed. Everyone of course asked me about my sore lips. I am not sure everyone understood but they appeared sympathetic. Sacrament meeting was about obedience. I asked Elder Decker not to translate but to be available so we could ask him the basic idea of what was being said. It worked out pretty good but I think I should asked for a few more ideas.

As I listen more words are starting to stand out. The problem is that they do not instantly – or even very quickly translate into something I understand. However each week gives me hope that in the future I will at least be able to pick up enough to understand what is the core of the message.

We then went to the Gospel Principle’s class. They had two investigators and that is great. I wish Tangerang would get a few. Elder Decker taught the class by having individuals read part of the lesson. When it was over I mentioned to him that on Friday he had taught a good lesson on asking questions so that you know if an investigator understands what is being taught but he did not put it into practice for his lesson.

What made this more interesting is that for PH they had the WW Leadership meeting for all the branch leaders and it was on being a good teacher. It was in Indonesian but I could follow much of it because Elder Holland wrote things on the board. One of the important things that he mentioned was to make sure the class members had a chance to participate by asking good questions.

It lasted for 90 minutes and was going to go on after that but since it was in Indonesian I decided I should come home and watch the whole thing in English. I am sure that the mission must have a copy of text – or perhaps they have an actual DVD.

I have been praying today that I would not come down with the cold that it seems like I am getting. There is too much to do for me to be sick. The problem with my mouth is enough challenge – I am hoping that by next Sunday it will be pretty much cleaned up. Unfortunately I do not think my faith is strong enough because I can feel the cold moving up my throat to my nose. I wonder why colds are often announced that way – they germinate in the throat?

We took naps – I took a fairly long one and Mary took her normal short nap. When I woke my mouth was itching and my so was my throat. I think that is not fair!

Mary fixed spaghetti – it was really good to have a homemade dinner. We also finally took the time to go through the receipts and divide them between those we need to be reimbursed for and those that are personal and can be taken off our taxes. I still find it hard to believe we are allowed to take all of our expenses from our mission as a tax deduction.

We spent some time cleaning up the apartment so that when the cleaners come tomorrow they can give the all the surfaces a good cleaning. It will be interesting to see how they can spend 3 hours cleaning – but for a total of $6 no matter what they do I can hardly complain.

It really does not seem right to be around the apartment for so long. If it was not necessary to give Sam time off to attend his own branch – they seem to be busy all day Sunday – and do personal things, I would just as soon spend Sunday visiting less-actives or something. Maybe in the future we can go to the office – we can take a taxi that far – and be there in case anyone would like some help looking for a job. That sounds like a good idea – at least we can give it a try.

10 February 2007 – Saturday

A full day off before us – it should be interesting. I woke at about 5:45 and decided I really did not want to go to the gym. I know that it is not the right attitude to take about exercise but it is how I have been feeling. I say to myself that I will go later in the day – but later never comes.

Not only did I not feel like exercising but after being up only a short time I wanted to go back to bed and sleep some more. I think that comes from not exercising. I did get up and make a word list that I am determined to learn today. One of the sisters at the mission home told Elder Cheney – one of the new missionaries – that he needed to learn 10 new words each day. I think Elder Cheney is the type of missionary who will have no trouble doing that. I would be happy to really learn 5 new words a day.

There are things we need to do today. We need to go through our piles of receipts and put them into personal and those that should be reimbursed by the mission. I then need to learn how to fill out an expense sheet so that I can get reimbursed. Also we need to pay some bills. President Jensen said they would like us to pay off our lease in 13 months instead of 16 so we are going to pay 10 million a month instead of 8.25 million. I am not sure why that is but it does mean the last three months we will not have much in the way of expenses.

It was a strange day – it never felt quite right. We spent a lot of time during the day studying Indonesian, paid some bills, and got a few other things done, but we never really did anything that was really missionary work. I do not plan to have this kind of Saturday again. In the future I think we will at least take a cab to the office and be available just in case someone drops in for help. We could also work on our English lessons.

The problem is that at the apartment it is too easy to turn on the TV or get on the computer. I know that we should have better discipline and as our mission goes on I imagine we will but all in all I think it would be better to go into the office on the Saturdays we are not traveling.

Olivia’s blog is great – it becomes a living scrapbook. From what I saw there, I think she learned to clean her room from one of her relatives.

09 February 2007 – Friday

Our first really peaceful day in a couple of weeks. I slept in again until 6:30 and so no gym. That is 7 hours of good sleep and I think I needed it. About 7:00 I was at the computer when a call came through from the Mitchells and of course while we were talking to them, Bob called. It is great to see and kind of talk to our family. We must however be careful not to let our Skyping them turn our minds away from why we are in Indonesia. I do not think that will happen because even with some stressful moments we are truly enjoying serving here.

We spent 45 minutes reading from Kitab Mormon. Each day we seem to be able to understand more and more. I also think my ability to read the Indonesian out loud is improving. After companion study I did some more personal study on Patience and Charity.

Sam came for us at about 10:30 and we went over to the mission home. One thing about our call is that, other than those missionaries who live there, we get to the mission home more often than any other couple. This gives us a chance to meet with all the wonderful Indonesian people who work there and of course with the A.P.s and the office missionaries.

Today we were there for the Jakarta, Raya district meeting and for Mary to meet with Sister Jensen and the district music committee. We also were able to make sure that Cliff Rees did get paid today.

The district meeting went well. If we are there, Jakarta, Raya usually conducts their meeting in English. One of the Indonesian missionaries does not have very good English but they translate for him. I gave the spiritual thought – I told how I was studying the lesson on obtaining Christ like attributes and that I discovered that I could not just have one of them. That to have any one of the attributes I needed to develop all of them.

Elder Decker gave a short lesson on how to ask good questions when teaching the gospel. I pointed out that while it is important to follow the directions in TMG that the first three lessons should be taught in order, that the missionary must be also open to changing the order if moved by the spirit. Elder Decker read a section from PMG that said exactly that. I also mentioned that we must have the spirit to truly teach the Gospel – that when we do not have the spirit we become Gospel salesmen and not missionaries.

While we were there I met with President Jensen and asked him for some help in how I could help the Tangerang district to stop being negative. He shared some thoughts from TMG and said that he was going to talk about that in the next Zone Conference. I asked if it would be OK for me to go out with the missionaries and actually experience what they experience on the street. He said that would be fine and that since he was president, that I was the first senior couple to ask to do that. I am sure that some senior couples are already doing that in other areas – he just has not heard about it. However maybe I will be the first in Jakarta to spend some time riding the buses with them. I do not plan to spend a full day – just two or three hours to get the flavor of what they do each day.

Later he asked us both to come in and talked to us about inspecting one of the Tangerang missionary residences. He wanted us to make sure that some modifications that were supposed to be done by the owner had been done. We mentioned that we would be going out on Monday and would not only check but bring back pictures so he can see for himself.

For lunch I had Sam walk down to BYU and got lunch for us. It is only the second time we have eaten off the street but I think that as we find more places that are safe to eat that we will do it more often. Total cost of two very filling meals – neither of us could eat all of our food – was a total of 70 cents.

While Mary met with the music committee I tried to study, but I kept falling asleep. Since it pretty much out in public I felt strange so I got up and walked around. I can not understand how I can be sleepy so soon after sleeping for 7 hours.

We went to the University to teach English but they did not know we were coming. I think that many of the staff was still trying to clean up from the flood – the elevators were all under repair – and so there were not enough people there for classes. David – the manager was there and said that there would be one next week. I told him that it was good of the University to provide shelter for the flood victims and he in turn thanked us for providing some meals. I told him that it was really Elder Subandriyo and President Jensen he should thank.

With the cancellation of the class, there was little to do but come back to the apartment. On the way into the apartments, I picked up a free copy of a new English newspaper that seems to have started up. In it was an account of the finding yesterday of a body of a murdered woman among the trash under a bridge. It was almost across from our office in the Selatan chapel and we had seen the crowd gathered around the body on our way in. Mary did not actually see the body, but I did. At the time I supposed that she had died from the stress of the flood. Other than when Dona died it is the only recently dead body I have seen. I am pretty sure it is the only murder victim that I have seen. There are few reported murders in the papers. I do not know if that means there are few murders or that they are so numerous that unless something is unusual about the murder they are not news.

It was strange to be home so early. I took a nap – not a very restful one. By the time I got up it was time for dinner. Mary fixed omelets – about the only meal we actually cook it seems – while I heated up some rolls that sister Leishman left in the freezer. She makes great rolls. After dinner I washed the dishes that had accumulated.

The rest of the night I tried to work on Indonesian and PMG – I can not say that I learned a lot but I did try to not just sit around all night. I think the hardest part of our mission will be times like this when we have hours to fill – we must learn to fill them with activities that causes us to grow and become better missionaries. It is too easy to fill them with watching TV or being on the computer. At least it is too easy for me. In PMG it says that what we do when we are alone tells us what kind of person we are. I think that it could be modified to what we do with our spare time tells us what kind of a missionary we are. I think I would give myself a B for tonight.

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.

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.

06 February 2007 – Tuesday

Since I went to bed early last night I was surprised to find that it was 5 when I woke up. I thought I would be up at 3 or 4 at the latest. Maybe I am finally adjusted to Indonesian time. Last night it rained with lots of thunder and lightening. I know this because it woke me up a few times. I was afraid that all that rain would mean more flooding but it was only here in Jakarta – the major flooding comes when it rains really long and hard up in the mountains to the West.

Mary was still not feeling well so I went in alone. I tried to keep from doing anything that really caused me to sweat. So I did garlic and odd jobs all day. I also went on two deliveries. The traffic is getting back to normal in volume but there are still streets that can not be used so at times it is really a mess. Luckily because we are carrying food, they make way for us when they can.

After the first delivery – which went to an area where a member lives – I came home and had lunch with Mary. She is not as tired but still does not feel that she can go back and work in the hot kitchen. I went back and once again picked my jobs carefully. There is no way to avoid the heat – the day was clear and sunny so the outside temperature was already high and when you add the heat from the stove it becomes terrible.

Two elders from another area came in to work this morning and Elder Subrandriyo got them cooking. I told them that this was a great honor because it was the first time I can remember any Elders actually doing the cooking. Elder Stewart – from Tennessee I believe – got so good at cooking rice that Elder Subandriyo let him decide when it was done.

The second run was interesting because we took the raft that had been made to make a delivery and launched it where a large intersection was flooded and very few people could get from one side to the other. Hopefully it will be used to get needed supplies over the flood but the last time we saw it, a group of children were playing Tom Sawyer.

The food delivery was very interesting. We somehow got down a street that was just packed with motorcycles and a few cars. Once again they made a way for us because we were delivering food. We stopped in the middle of the street – effectively blocking all traffic – and quickly unloaded the food. It went so fast that I could not even get a picture of the elders handing along the food. We really need to get better photo-ops.

As we drove along the others in the car spoke both Indonesian and English. It was interesting to listen as the new elder – I forget his name – tried to absorb some of the new words and phrases. He also tried to answer in Indonesian whenever possible and asked how to say something when he did not know. It turned out that he knew the Subandriyo’s daughter  at BYU Hawaii. So when he got his call, he told her that he would be coming and she wrote to her parents.

Also while we were driving the Subandriyo’s sang a song that was written by an American missionary back in 1979 about the gospel coming to Indonesia. It includes a section that says that due to the introduction of the Gospel  the darkness that was over Indonesia has been lifted and it will never come back again. They said that only the first generation of members know that song and so it is dying out. As they were singing I thought perhaps the author of the song might be the next mission president – he would be in his middle 50’s now.

We did not go on the last delivery. Elder Subandriyo wanted to get back to the kitchen and we had already dropped off our part of the food. When we got back the kitchen was humming. Some more elders and sisters had arrived. Also there was a contingent from the University there working. I think they were staff – David brought them to help so that we could get more food to the 600 homeless at the University. We did not deliver any food there today.

I decided there was really no reason for me to stay any longer so I came back to the apartment. I had a cold Big Mac for dinner. They had them for lunch and since I had already eaten, I saved it for this evening. It was really as good as any from the US. In fact it might have been better because it was not crushed down like so many are at home. The meat was perfect. Now I know that I can eat KFC and McDonalds if I want to feel at home. I also have found that I really like the fried egg combination they cook for almost every meal that we send out. Sometimes it is egg with vegetables and some times eggs with corn. It always has fresh garlic and onion but the secret is crushed fresh ginger root.

I am very tired – even being careful I get too much heat and it saps all of my strength. We need to read the Kitab Mormon and I need to read from Preach My Gospel before I can go to bed.

After I wrote that I tried to do as I said, but just could not think so I took a short nap. When I woke up I needed to go to the store to get some milk and other things. It was a good way to wake up enough to try and get some Indonesian in. I did learn a new phrase today – Senang bertemu dengan anda – “nice to meet you.”

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.