10 January 2007 – Wednesday

No gym this morning. Instead we were out of the apartment by 7:15 and went to a university to observe an English class being taught. We were picked up by two sister members who work for the school. The class was taught in a non-air conditioned room and it did not take us long to be very warm. The teacher has quite good English but his class is so varied that he seems to be handicapped in what he can teach. My only real criticism was that he needed to have the students do more and him less. I found out that they do not give homework – I think that is a real mistake. At least for those who really want to learn English.

Mary and I were asked to speak to the class so they could hear American speech. Mary told them about our family and I talked to them about the importance of learning English well. I gave them some tips – such as reading English out loud at least 30 minutes a day. I suggested that any time they spend on improving there English will make a great difference in how much they would be paid. One young woman was obviously taking in everything I said. You could almost see the spirit of desire in her eyes.

After the class we met with the manager of the school and told him we would be willing to teach the teachers and the staff for one hour each Friday. They said that would be fine. I also told them that anyone coming to the class would have homework to do to be prepared for the class. I said that they would be getting some Shakespeare. Luckily I can go on line and download and get just about anything. I will start with the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet or something like that.

After the meeting we were driven to the office where we spent the next 3 ½ hours doing almost nothing useful. Elder Leishman tried to work on the internet problem but nothing seemed to help. We can not get to PEF so we can not do much with that aspect until they get the line fixed across the Pacific or we get the Leishman’s apartment.

Speaking of that I got an e-mail from Mr Rees saying that the terms of the lease is acceptable and we can sign the lease whenever we can get together. That takes a load off of my mind.

At about 2:45, the two Indonesian members who go are in charge of Employment for the district and area came in for a meeting. We have rough out the schedule for Career Workshops for the year and talked about some other things. They are both great men – Lokita seems to be of Chinese descent and Agus is Indonesian. Both speak very good English. They do the workshops for everyone except the English missionaries.

We got back to the apartment at 3:30 and went over the Leishman’s an hour later. Mary sent a long e-mail off to our list while I talked to the Leishmans. Later Mary joined us and we had a good time talking about their adventures during their mission. They are really a fun couple and have been excellent missionaries. I hope we can do as well. Of course it helps that they have been  here for almost two years and know everyone. Elder Leishman told me it took him a good 6 months to get comfortable. I am hoping it does not take us that long.

We came home to have a simple dinner of instant noodles and then watched a repeat of a ‘Numbers’ episode. I called the Kanes and had a really nice talk with them. They are having a high adventure and are the most positive people I think I know. They have each had a couple of bouts of diarrhea – I guess one of those was quite bad. Elder Kane is determined to bear his testimony in Indonesian next fast Sunday. I am sure he will do that. We are going to ask the Petersons if we can ride out to Bogor with them on Saturday – I would love to see the Kanes and their house.

Now I need to do some Indonesian – I have not really done any today.

11 January 2007 – Thursday

I slept until after morning prayer call – about 4:15 – and after a futile try to go back to sleep I read from the Book of Mormon in English. I am just getting into Alma and the rule of Judges. I know that Mosiah felt that the Lord wanted the Nephites to have judges instead of kings but it seems to me that they would have been better off with a king.

I got to the gym just as it was opening and put in a strong 30 minutes on the treadmill, did 50 sit-ups, put 10 minutes on the bike, and did some upper body work. By the time I was done I felt like I had put in a good hours of exercise. The scale is still not moving downward – but I will keep at it. One thing I have done is to stop drinking real root beer and have gone back to diet Coke. I figured that I was drinking 2 to 3 root beers a day for a total of 500 to 750 calories. With diet Coke I only get 4 or 5. I think that will help.

Breakfast was a glass of orange juice. It is now time to read from the Kitab Mormon.

It was a wonderful and not so wonderful morning. It was wonderful because the internet is again working at the office so we could get the information we needed from PEF files and we could read and send e-mail. It was not so wonderful because there are a number of problems with our property in Orem and Provo. The Orem property has not closed escrow and the people are not paying their rent. The Provo property has some work that needs to be done and it is causing some problems for Mike. Add to this that for some reason the bank does not think our complete power of attorney that we gave Mike includes our bank accounts and it adds up to a big mess. Unfortunately I can do little at this distance so I can only hope Mike and Bob can work it out. I am really sorry that this is putting so much on Mike’s shoulders but I am sure he can take care of it.

We went to the mission home so that Sister Leishman could teach the English class. Mary and I went to BCA to get our debit card, sign up for on line banking, and for online transfers. The latter takes 10 working days to get going but at least now we have a real bank account and a way to easily access it. I will write or call Tom tomorrow and ask him to transfer some money – a sample just to make sure he has everything right and then a major one to get us enough money to buy a car, pay our debt to the mission office and live for a few months. I figure once the car is bought we will need about $1700 or less a month for mission expenses certainly under $2000. At least that is what I am hoping will happen.

After we were finished with banking and sister Leishman was finished with her class we headed off to Tanggeran for district meeting and English class. It was good to see Elders Roper and Thiemann – they are in a tough district but seem to be keeping their spirits up. Elder Thiemann gave a very good lesson on prayer and missionary work.

The English class is a simple one – at least the one for the beginners. Elder Leishman is a very good and patient teacher. I am not sure I will do as well. I do think we need to start the classes on time – it is a bad example for the members to start whenever they get there. But it seems they try to get to the class on time but the traffic makes a big difference.
When the class was on Friday night they use to get more people to class. They changed because Sam was supposed to start a computer class. Maybe we will change it back to Friday night and not open the office at all on that day. I hate to think of the traffic on the way home – it will be terrible. I wonder how classes after church on Sunday would be? We could do it every Sunday because the Raya branch gets out early enough for us to get to Tanggeran before the last meeting was over at one. If we are going to put on classes we need to have them when people will come.

The trip home seemed like it took forever. It did not help that the classes did not end until 7:30. Anyway we came home had ice cream for dinner and headed for bed. I am going to read some from the Book of Mormon – English version – before going to sleep. Hopefully I will not wake until at least 5:00 tomorrow.

12 January 2007 – Friday

We have now been in Indonesia for 3 weeks and I still have not solved the sleeping problem. I woke at 2:30 and did not go back to sleep until sometime after 4. I know this because the morning prayer was being broadcast as I finally dropped off.

The problems at home that Mike has run into kept running through my mind. I really can not let them get to me as I have too many things to do and learn before the Leishmans leave in two weeks. I will call Tom and see if he can figure out some way to help even from 800 miles away. I can hardly wait until we get an internet connection so we can use e-mail and Skype from our apartment.

From the looks of this morning we are in for another bright and hot day. It has been bright enough that even native Indonesians have been trying to cover their head from the direct sunlight.

I did not go to the gym this morning – that is two days this week that I have missed. I decided I would set my alarm for 5:30 so I have time to get to the gym when it opens. I must work out each morning if I ever hope to lose this weight.

Other than that a regular morning with a glass of orange juice for breakfast. We had a good companionship study reading more than 10 verses from the Kitab Mormon. Mary reads about 70% and I do the other 30%. She is getting really good at reading and translating. We are trying to remember to say Kah instead of Kay for Ke – Sah instead of Say for Se – etc. Unfortunately that was not corrected back in the states. People still know what you mean but it give you a non-Indonesian accent. Not that people are likely to mistake us for Indonesians.

We were at the office for only about 40 minutes and then everyone headed for Sinopati and the Raya District Meeting. The meeting went well. Elder Matier gave us our lost translator so now we can each have one. Elder Thomas gave a good lesson about over coming concerns. Since this will be the last time he will be at a district meeting Elder Matier bore his testimony.

After district meeting we went down to BYU for some lunch. I had told the missionaries we would buy them lunch. The Leishmans went with us but when they saw that there were flies around the food they decided not to eat there. I did not care if we got sick or not – I wanted to experience street food. They take a piece of coated paper and make a cone. They lay down a base of rice and then you chose what to put on top. I chose potatoes, green beans and beef. Mary had the same plus something that looked like a big won-ton.

We decided to take the food back to the mission home to eat at a clean table. I started to eat with my hand but switched to a spoon. Some of the Indonesians that work there noticed that we were eating street food and they that was cool. Elder Matier said that when we eat from the street and try to speak Indonesian that we gain respect from the people. We really want to have the Indonesian saints to know that we are here to help them and that we respect their land and it’s customs. Elder Matier said the next time we ate together he expected me to eat with my hand.

The potatoes were quite spicy and the green beans were quite good. The beef was a little tough but it had a good taste. Mary said her won-ton was more like an egg roll. We both ate almost all of our food and now will wait to see if we get sick. Elder Matier said we would not because BYU was one of the best places to eat. From the amount of flies there I can not imagine what the other places are like. We could not linger after dinner so we said goodbye to the missionaries – including sister Larson who we know from the MTC – and headed back to the office.

Suzy our steady employment customer came in and spent something over an hour to send out more resumes. It will take some time for her to find a job because she is over 40 and most jobs are for people under 27.

After we closed up the office we dropped the Leishmans off at Casablanca and had Sam drive us to So Go to shop. The traffic there was light, parking was easy, and there was no waiting in line. We loaded up with goodies from the bakery and from Krispy Kreme as well as necessities before heading home. Unfortunately by that time the traffic had become heavy and it took us 45 minutes to get home when it only took 15 minutes to get there. But I have become accustomed to this and since I do not have to drive in it, I just take it in stride. Of course if the air-conditioner ever goes out that would quickly change.

It was really nice to come into the apartment and have it nice and cool. As long as the rent includes the utilities there is no reason to conserve. But once we start paying the bill, we will turn it off when we leave in the morning.

I forgot to mention that because of Bishop Burton’s visit next Wednesday, there is a lot activity around the chapel where the office is located.  They are cleaning, trimming, etc. I would guess that everything that has needed fixing for the last 6 months will get taken care of before he comes.

It is now just two weeks before the Leishman’s leave and we will be doing everything by ourselves. I am sure it will take some time before we get fully up to speed but I do look forward to getting a chance to try some new things. I feel the Lord sent us here for a special purpose. I do not know if that is to get PEF established, find a way to get more people to come to Career Workshops, find a way for members to find better jobs, or perhaps to find a way to help native Elders get into BYU Hawaii. Whatever it is I pray, that we will be able to fulfill our call and leave Indonesia feeling that have been instruments in His hands for good.

07 January 2006 – Sunday

I had my first real night’s sleep since being in Indonesia. I turned off the light before 10 and woke about 5:30. I hope this is the first of many nights to come.

It is fast Sunday and we are going to Tangaran so we left at 7:15. We went to two sacraments, 2 Sunday Schools and one Priesthood/RS meetings. We were asked to bear our testimonies in both sacrament meetings. Mary did really well and I was able to struggle through. In both cases I felt very good about bearing my testimony in Indonesian and I think we surprised people to do even the little we did. One member asked where we learned to speak Indonesian – it turned out that is what he does. I told him we should make a trade – we would teach him more English and he could teach us Indonesian.

We did not use the elders to interpret – I did not understand much of anything but just the effort to understand kept me wide awake and interested. Hopefully in a few months we will be closer to understanding and able to express ourselves better – lebih baik.

They kept a nice pace of testimony sharing. Most obviously had something to say – spiritual experiences, love for their Heavenly Father, Jesus and their families. It felt right to be there sharing the spirit.

I noticed that they do not have a member of the branch presidency stand in the circle when they bless a baby. I mentioned to the district president – President Richey – that I thought the manual called for this. He said he would check to see if that was correct.

When we got home we had a simple lunch of fruit and bread. After that Mary went off to take a nap and I am sitting here watching the Colts – Chiefs game. I am not sure when it was played in the US but it is fun to watch a real football game after seeing so much soccer.

As I was thinking about the importance of Indonesian missionaries learning English so they could go to BYU Hawaii to get an education that would allow them to obtain good jobs, I had what I think is an inspired idea.

I am going to propose that each Indonesian missionary have the opportunity to take a one month intensive English course as an extension of their mission. It would concentrate on preparing them to take the Michigan test, but it would do more than that. It would teach them to read, comprehend, speak and write quality English.

Mary points out that this is a strange proposal from a person who can not really do any of that. She said that my written proposal does not appear to be from someone who has a quality knowledge of English. I pointed out that I am well aware of my weaknesses and that is why I married her. I come up with the ideas and the rough plan and she puts it into acceptable language.

I am excited to show this to Subandriyo and get his reaction. Since he was the one who told me the story that got me to thinking about the subject, I believe he will see the merit in the basic plan.

Mary went through the proposal and made some corrections. I am not sure exactly what she changed but hopefully they were all for the better. I started another page with thoughts about the actual course. Hopefully as time goes on, the plan will evolve into a full blown program.

Elder Leishman called this afternoon and said the missionaries at Raya had found our electronic dictionary and they will bring it to the district meeting on Friday. Now we will have two so we will each have one.

08 January 2007 – Monday

Because I was awake for an hour or more during the early morning, I slept in until 6:30. I almost did not go to the gym but decided that even 20 minutes was better than just sitting around the apartment. I ended up doing about an hour of exercises. I found that if I start relatively slow and build up to 6.3 or so, I do not sweat as much and so I am willing to put in more time. While I was on the treadmill I tried to memorize D&C 4 in English. We have about a week to learn it both in English and Indonesian. Mary will of course do that but I will be happy to be able to do it in English.

As I was finishing up at the gym, an Indonesian man started talking to me. It turned out he is a member of a Christian church that has branches throughout Indonesia. He is a retired politician who was a member of Suharto’s government and helped train the current president. He does not think they learned very well. He has an apartment in Casablanca which he rents out at a very reasonable rate but unfortunately it will not be available until next January.

It has a fairly lazy day. We are sitting here watching the Dallas – Seattle game with the knowledge of how it will end with Dallas fumbling in the last minute of play. But we are also translating Indonesian. I am working my way through the first lesson from the Priesthood manual. Mary is over half way through the Stories from the Book of Mormon.

Earlier we went for our afternoon walk – Mary made it up to a full mile which is good with her knee problem. It did not help that it was really hot.

We did a dozen verses from 1st Nephi – sometimes we can go through a compete short verse without needing to question a word. Often there are just a couple of words we need to look up. I try to look up any word that we are not sure of, even if the meaning can be figured out by context. I like to see the root of the words that the translator chose.

If I could just absorb 20% of the new words that I learn each day into my vocabulary, I would soon be able to understand more of what I read without turning to a dictionary. I could also compose sentences. I think I will set a goal of writing 20 new sentences each day. In that way I will learn by using. Someday I hope to reach a point where I do not have to translate from Indonesian to English to understand what is written or said.

It is now just after 9 pm – it seems like it has been a long day.

09 January 2007 – Tuesday

I woke at about 3:15 and sometime between then and 5:30 I went back to sleep. Batch sleeping seem to still be my fate while in Indonesia.

Arrived at the gym to find it very busy. All the treadmills were filled so I put 30 minutes on the reclining bike. According to the figures, 30 minutes on it uses more calories than 50 minutes on the treadmill. It is possible that is true since I actually have to provide the energy to move the bike and on a treadmill all I need to do is to keep moving. After that I tried to do some sit-ups but my lower back hurt when I tried to stretch out. I think sitting and pushing for the first time in a long time took a toll. So instead I got on the treadmill so I could run my heart rate up to about 130 for at least a while. I only did 10 minutes but it felt good. Unfortunately there was no change over the weekend as far as weight is concerned. I have to remember that it usually comes off in chunks not gradually.

Back at the apartment I went through the normal routine – I had Frosted Flakes for breakfast while watching Indonesian TV and trying to catch at least a few words that I knew. It could be frustrating if I let it worry me.

We had an appointment with a university this morning to discuss how we could help with their English program. Elder Subandriyo set it up and went with us and the Leishmans. Once the meeting got started – there were 6 of us and 8 or 9 from the university, it soon became plain that we were not on the same page. They wanted us to come in and teach their students and we want to come in and work with their staff. Since we are not certified teachers it would be illegal for us to teach students. But we can work with the staff.

I volunteered for Mary and I to go in tomorrow morning and sit in on one of the English classes to see how they teach. Until we see what and how they teach I see no way to make suggestions of how we can help. The Leishmans reminded us that because of our mission responsibilities, we had to be careful about how much time we became committed to the school. My thought was that we had lots of time if we did it early in the morning or on most afternoons. Not to mention Saturday and Monday.

After the school we went to the office where we had a new applicant. I do not feel that we did him much good but hopefully we will get better at this. I am afraid that some applicants have wishes that do not fit with reality. I am all for dreaming but I also believe we need to help them realize that sometimes we are not qualified for the job we would like to have.

After he left we went to the mission office. Elder Leishman had to sign some papers and we turned in a receipt. We found out from President Jensen that the Zone conference had been changed to Wednesday the 17th. Everyone else seemed to know except us.

Now we are back at the apartment and quite tired. Mary is already lying down and I think I will join her for a short nap.

I took my nap but Mary never fell asleep. Even though she nods off in the office at times, she does not seem to need a nap as much as I do.

Sister Leishman sent over a nice pasta salad and some rolls. They made an excellent dinner. She must truly enjoy cooking because she always has something to share. They are both wonderful people. I wish we could get to know them better – maybe when we get back from the mission we can get together.

I have not been able to print out my proposal for the Indonesian missionaries because it is in Word Perfect and of course everyone else uses Word. If I had an internet connection I could paste it into an e-mail and send it to myself and print it that way. But I am not sure when we will be able to do that.  Tomorrow I will take the computer to the office and have Mary re-type it into Word.

After dinner we just sat around watching some TV. Before turning off the lights I am going to read from the Book of Mormon and translate some more of the PH lesson for Sunday.

04 January 2007 – Thursday

It is almost 10 pm – at the end of a long if not very busy day.

This morning I woke very early and never went back to sleep. So I was out of the apartment and walking by about 5:30. When the gym opened I spent 50 minutes on the treadmill and did some sit-ups and arm reps. Not much yet but at least a start. I need to get some tank tops so I can cut down on my sweating.

When I left the gym I took another man’s keys and did not realize it until I tried to open our door with them. I then had to take them back and apologize. The morning went about normal after that except I took a nice 45 minute nap before getting ready to go to work.

Other than review some of the reports that we will be using, we did not do much. Elder Leishman and I walked to the local store and got some apples. I think we will be doing quite a bit of shopping there. The selection is pretty good and the prices see to be OK.

We then went over to the mission office. Mary watched sister Leishman teach English to some of the office staff, elder Leishman and I took care of some business. Subandrya set me up to buy a new Toyota. It is going to cost us about $12,000 and we should get back at least $9K and we should get back $10K. So it should cost us between $150 to $180 a month for our car instead of $400. But even if we only get $8K back it is still less than leasing.

I talked to Sabandrya about the 15 loans we have in PEF and explained that we had to find them and see what they had done with the loans. I mentioned that Elder Carmack had asked us personally to see it got done and so I intend to do my best. Later he talked to me about personal tutoring so motivated young people could pass the Michigan test. I said we would love to do that – but only if he chose truly motivated students. I think we will work well together – at least I am hoping so.

After the ladies were done, we headed off to Tangaraan for district meeting. Traffic was very good so we got there almost on time. This is the district with our friends elders Roper and Tihman. The district seems to be on an upturn with a more positive attitude. Elder Roper and his companion had a number of weeks when they had 5 contacts. I told them that they were the missionaries that were going to change the reputation for Tangarran as being the worse district in the mission to the best.

We were supposed to have English lessons after the meeting but only 4 young people showed up by 6:30 so we had an abbreviated version that was OK but not much English was learned. I am thinking about introducing Shakespeare to the class – I think having them read it and perhaps even put on an abridged version of one of the plays might be fun. If it works for 3rd grade students in the states, it just may work here.

We were on the road by 7:15 and home just after 8. I turned on the TV and we got to see most of The Amazing Race – Asia. It is a little less exciting than the US one and the people are way more polite. Maybe a little too polite? After that Mary went to bed but I watched the end of Get Shorty II.  It is a fun movie but I must say the acting is not as good as the first one.

Now it is time for me to read a little from the Indonesian Kitab Mormon and try to get some sleep. I am rather surprised that I have not collapsed from lack of sleep.

05 January 2007 – Friday

I woke about 4 a.m. but managed to go back to sleep until almost 6. I quickly dressed and headed for the gym. Met elder and sister Leishman as they were doing their morning stroll. Sister Leishman’s knee must be feeling better.

This morning I never really got into being on the treadmill. I put in 40 dull minutes and then did some sit-ups. I think on mornings when I have to rush to get there near 6, I am less likely to enjoy myself. I believe I finally managed to remember Memilih, Bertambah and Bertahan – I came up with Saya memilih pertambahan  ketahanan saya – I take that to mean I choose to increase my endurance.

After that it was the normal getting showering, cooling off and having breakfast. I splurged and had frosted flakes with banana. I am sure I used up all of my exercise calories with that. But at least it is better than eating without exercising.

Now it is time to study Indonesian…Kitab Mormon.

Once we got to the office elder Leishman and I tried to hardwire the internet connection but without any luck. I left him with the problem because Mary and I had to head for Raya to join the district meeting. The drive went fairly fast but I think in the future we will leave earlier so we are never late.

Elder Metier has been told he will be transferred in two weeks, but he will be able to be part of the two baptisms before he goes. Elder Thomas will leave at the end of the month. We had a very good meeting. They are doing well, teaching 15 discussions a week, and they seem to be working well as companions. We got to take part in all of the meeting. I gave the spiritual thought and some gave some comments about the need for the English speaking elders to work hard with their companion. I explained that the ability of the Indonesian missionaries to speak English may well effect their whole life. Elder Metier said that he never heard it that way. I feel the district is doing well but much of it has to do with their district leader. Working with the missionaries will be some of the highlights of our mission.

We got back to the office at about 1:15 and not do much before the woman came to continue her job search. She chose 8 more jobs to apply for and we are hoping she will get some responses by next Friday.

We then closed up the office and went grocery shopping. While we were at Carrafour I bought a new translator to replace the one I lost last Sunday. We have really missed having one and felt the money well spent. Because it is Friday I expected the store to be really crowded but it was no more so than usual and we got out quite quickly.

I took my afternoon nap – it seems to be something I do whenever I get a chance – and then we went over to the Park Hotel to eat dinner. It is our first ‘date night’ since we got here. It is a beautiful location – the flower arrangements are spectacular – and the food was good but not great. It certainly was not worth the $35 it cost and the $9 hamburger was not as good as what I would get at Wendy’s for $5. Unless it is for their seafood buffet, I doubt if we will go there again.

We came home and watched The Thomas Crown Affair. It is really a good movie – it must be because I have watched it at least four times and each time I have been entertained. Only a good movie with good acting can hold up like that.

06 January 2007 – Saturday

I just realized that we have passed the first month of our mission. We went into the MTC on Monday, December 4. It seems like we have been serving much longer than that. I think that is a good thing. I do wish that we had a good internet connection so we could write and talk to our children and grandchildren. Hopefully by the time we move into our permanent apartment the internet will be back to 100% and will stay that way for the next 16 months.

Speaking about the apartment, I called Mr. Rees this morning and he agreed to lease us the Leishman’s apartment with just a 10% increase in rent. From what I have found from other ads in the paper that is very fair. I will write up a lease on Monday and try to get him to sign it as soon as he gets home from Bali. I feel that this is an answer to my prayers – this morning I asked the Lord to help us contact Mr. Rees and have him agree to rent to us at a reasonable rate. Everyone else I have contacted want about $1350 to $1550 a month while this will cost us about $1100 with utilities. That may seem high but for a nice, secure place in Jakarta it is very reasonable.

I had a normal morning – waking at about 5:15 and getting to the gym soon after it opened. I spent over 50 minutes on the treadmill. Most of it was spent trying to memorize D&C chapter 4 in English. Next comes Indonesian – we need to know it for district meetings with Raya and for mission conferences. It seems they always repeat it in English and Indonesian at these meetings. I seem to be still losing at a regular rate. Hopefully this will continue until I reach my goal and then I can maintain it without so much sweating.

By the time I got back to the apartment and cleaned up, I was really tired so I took a nice nap. I would feel guilty but until we get control of the car, keys and the office there is little else for us to do on Saturday. After I woke up we spent some time reading from the Book of Mormon. I would be surprised if we made it through even once during our mission. But perhaps I am being too hard on myself. Sooner or later the language should start to make sense – at least reading it should. Speaking will come next and finally hearing what native say. I am hoping to reach that stage in a year.

After our Kitab Mormon reading, we went for a walk around the grounds. We really need to do this every day. Mary lasted for 3/4 of a mile – which is good in the heat – and I decided to also call it quits. Between the treadmill and the walk I did about 4 miles today.

Mary really wanted to go to the book store at the mall, so I agreed. The trip there costs about $1.30 – the trip home costs 80 cents. Once there we went up to the bookstore where I got a number of How to Teach English books and Mary got some children’s books. The part of the mall we were in was mostly electronics and furniture. Lots of store selling computer notebooks – all of them much more expensive than in the US. $600-$800 gets you only 256K of memory – 1 to 2 G costs $1200 to $1800.  There does not seem to be any real bargains.

There are a number of stores that sell what is obviously pirated DVD games and movies. $5 gets you the latest and greatest. I avoided the temptation of buying some of the movies that we have not seen.

Before we left the mall we stopped and had ice cream at a shop selling Australian ice cream. It was pretty good but not as smooth as Baskin Robbins and about as expensive. Mary pointed out that the only other white faces we saw while in the mall was at that store. I think it is too expensive for most Indonesian families. We needed a cab to come home and a very nice security guard went out of his way to find us a Bluebird cab. It is the only kind we are told to use. It is a very reputable firm and the driver do not try to rip off the Europeans and Americans. The guard knew that was what we wanted and waved off anyone else.

When we got home we went through the books I bought and found some were poorly done but will make good examples of how not to speak English. There is one excellent book that did not seem to have any mistakes. Of course it is the most expensive but it is the one I would use for teaching advanced English. One of the books is filled with games and activities which we can use. Even the not very good books for teaching English have value for us. They usually have the correct Indonesian example so we can use them to help us with our Indonesian.

Mary took a nice nap – I tried to but was not successful. We watched the end of a StarTrek movie and then had dinner. Omelets and fruit – very good. The fruit here is excellent – the watermelon tonight was delicious – and inexpensive.

I forgot to mention that we did laundry this morning. I am still trying to get use to the idea that we must manually hang the clothes out to dry. While Mary fixed dinner I brought in the laundry and then iron one of mine and one of Mary’s shirts. After dinner I hand washed the dishes. All of these would not be necessary at home. However it is hard to complain since we are living in a beautiful high-rise apartment and for at least one month have complete maid service. I must take pictures of the maid’s sleeping and bathrooms. I can not imagine having someone living here with us.

We did not really do anything after dinner except study some Indonesian – not with much dedication – and watch some TV. I did review some PEF training and looked through some info on a DVD but all in all it was less than a productive night.

As I try to read in the Kitab Mormon I find that I can read about 50 – 60% of the words which is a pretty good improvement over a month ago. Hopefully I will continue to improve. Mary is to a point where she gets about 80% of the words – part of this is because she has been reading Stories from the Book of Mormon in Indonesian and of course some of the same words are used.

It is now 9 p.m. and I am going to try to stay up until 10 so that I will not wake up at 3 in the morning. We do have to get up early so we can be ready by 7:15 to be at our first meeting at 8:00. It is going to be a rather long day at the Tangarang branches.