04 March 2007 – Sunday

Standard Sunday morning. We read the Kitab Mormon an hour earlier than a weekday because we need to be at church by 9. We are now moving through it fairly fast – at least for us. The day may come when we can read a whole chapter in one sitting.

The traffic is so light that we are among the first to arrive at the chapel. We get to greet all the PH leaders, members, etc. Testimony meeting is good because when they bear their testimony we can understand many of the words. President Kentjana of the mission presidency shares a strong but simple testimony. No extra stories, just the things he knows are true. Elder Decker gives us a synopsis of each one – that is just what we like. Mary and I smile at each other when the elders read the whole lesson in Gospel Principles. This is something we just talked about on Friday. I give one of the recent converts my extra pair of reading glasses – his mother and him were sharing a pair. He does not want to take it but I tell him that I brought many extras. In PH I really wished I could speak Indonesian. They discussed and shared testimonies. I finally bore part of mine in English. I probably could have come close in Indonesian but I chickened out. I shared the story of praying in the Sacred Grove and getting a testimony of the First Vison.

After church they had a baptism service for two sisters. They had a recent convert give a talk and she was so overcome with feelings that she went on and on until the branch president slipped her a note suggesting she should stop. I hope her feelings are not hurt because she is young and bright.

As we stood watching the baptism, I thought of how simple the ordinance is. How there is nothing showy about it – just a simple prayer by someone with authority and the immersion in water of the candidate. Simple but oh so powerful – opening the gate and setting the person’s feet on the path that leads to Eternal Life. A new birth – a new life – a new opportunity and it only takes a minute or less. From simple things….

As we waited for the new members to change their clothes, we went back to the chapel and sang. The young lady who played for sacrament needs to practice each song so Mary volunteered to play so that the members could choose their favorite songs. It was a big success. The Indonesian saints love to sing so they put a lot into each song.

We were home by 2:30 and after praying to end our fast we had omelets. I have spent the rest of the day mainly sleeping – my naps are much too long – and being on the computer. Mary took a short nap and then spent a long time creating some things for an English class the elders are going to teach. She also watched most of ‘Contact.’ She did not remember much about it so the twist at the end was new.

Our evening reading is chapter 5 of 2nd Nefi – we read the whole chapter which is a first for us. We are now reading two verses or more at a time. Mary can often pretty much translate it as we read. I can do parts but there are too many words that I don’t know to really get what is going on – at least most of the time. I have learned not to be frustrated – at least not to be too frustrated – at my progress. At least there is some progress.

03 March 2007 – Saturday

I woke up just before 5:30 and after a short discussion with myself, I headed for the gym. It is not open so I did three laps around the track – about 3/4 of a mile – until it does. Sit-ups, treadmill and then the bike for a short time – that is about all I can take. I know it is good for me but it is still boring.

When I get back to the apartment I wrote in my journal for yesterday and then posted it. I am sure that most of what I write is not really interesting to others. I always find it interesting to go back and read what I wrote a month or two ago – most of the time I have a hard time remembering why I wrote what I wrote.

We got another letter from Sister Roberts asking a question about tithing. It will be nice to meet them in a couple of weeks. She sounds really excited but I know nothing about him.

We have nothing to do today – our first real day off in a long time. We spend over an hour on reading the Kitab Mormon – we do well in general but can not get the nuances of what is being said. When we read the English we often realize we missed a key indicator of what is going on or when it is going on or who is doing the action. But we are doing much better in knowing basically what is being talked about.

The weather is typical Jakarta weather. Which why I seldom write about it. At this time of the year there are almost always clouds and the only difference is if they are dropping rain or not. Recently there has been a lot of wind and it goes on for hours. It is nice because it cools things down a bit and anything that does that is a bonus.

The only problem with our apartment that has not been solved is the lack of enough hot water so Mary can take a bath and I can take a shower. We finally had the engineer come by and we found that when they originally installed the hot water heater they put in a 30 liter tank instead of a 100 liter tank. Now that they know this it should be corrected but my guess is that it will take some time. At least we have some hot water until they do. This is another chance for me to practice patience.

The Petersens stopped by to drop off the baptism clothing that is needed at Jakarta Raya tomorrow. They are busy with helping the sister missionaries move today. They told about the Bakasi missionaries houses being flooded. One to about 4 ½ feet and the other to about a foot. It is another experience that they can write home about.

I was just telling Mary that this sitting around does not feel right. Even if we are studying Indonesian, having a whole day to ourselves does not feel right. It seems like we are wasting our time which is now the Lord’s time. A little later I am going to try writing a story about the making of Hygiene Kits. Maybe that will be OK.

Never got to the story – I do have Sunday and Monday to do that. I started to re-read 1st Nephi in English. I am going to try to read concentrate on getting to know just one book at a time. To go through and ponder the writing. To try and feel what is being, how it is being said, and why it is being said. To gain the spirit of the writing and to see what it means in my own life. I am hoping study as PMG suggests. That is to pray before starting, to read carefully, and to take notes. I will not write much about this in my journal. However the first thing that stood out as I started was how after hearing the prophets call the people of Jerusalem to repent, he went and prayed for them. Not for himself and not for his family, but for others. I thought of Enos who when he had his sins forgiven, immediately prayed to the Lord to bless the Lamanites. Also the sons of Mosiah after their conversion gave up everything – including becoming king – and went to preach to the Lamanites because they could not stand the thought that one of them should perish in unbelief.

In the evening we read from Kitab Mormon for another hour, watch some TV, and I work on vocabulary. I keep praying for my mind to absorb at least some of the things we read and study. It almost as if my mind is a hard disk that has reached 99% capacity and so anything I want to store takes a long time to find a place to be filed. Unfortunately it also seems that some word must be  erased when a new word is added. But I am trying hard to be patient and just let it come. I refuse to be discouraged – at least not for long.