13 April 2007 – Friday

Well we made it through the day without any problems – at least not so far.

We were up and out a little early today because we went with the elders and sisters from the zone to see Taman Mini which is rather like the Polynesian Visitor Center. The difference is that while they have representative buildings from all parts of Indonesia, there is not the people in native dress to tell you about the people and culture. We were going to go in the bus with the missionaries, but Sam told us that it was very big and if we did not take the car we would have to walk everywhere. So it would be hot and sweaty and we would have no way to get home except with them. President Jensen said about the same thing so we decided to take the car.

Since the Petersons thought we were going in the bus they had told their driver to take the day off. When we told them about our decision we suggested they ride with us. So Sam drove their car – it is bigger – and off we went.

It is really an amazing place but it is much too big to see in the few hours we had. So we saw a couple of things, watched an I-Max movie on Indonesia, and had a large boa constrictor wrapped around out bodies. The trip was made better by having the Petersons and the Kanes with us. Hopefully we will have some time to sit down with the Kanes and have a good talk. I mentioned having dinner with them tomorrow night.

We took the Petersons back to the mission home and picked up our car. I had a nice talk with brother Tandiman about PEF and found that we could get a set of coupons from Hendra to send to the ‘lost sheep.’ We will send them reminders and try to contact them each month by phone or have the couples drop by.  Nothing new on the financial problem and we are stuck until that is fixed. On the positive side brother Tamdiman said that now that we have the whole thing on a DVD in Indonesian the Planning for Success workbook should not take long to finish.

We then went to the office to do a couple of things that could only be done there. I printed some things we need for the training meeting tomorrow and Mary made an announcement for the CW to be held in Samerang next weekend. The Bennetts had called and asked for something they could hand out on Sunday. They think they will have about 30 people there. That would be wonderful but it also means we need to take lot more workbooks and registration forms with us.

I forgot to mention that earlier Sister Jensen said the Bennetts are doing great. The elder report that they walk down the street and talk to everyone and tell them about the church. The elders just follow along behind and get names and addresses. I would guess the Roberts are going to be about the same kind of missionaries. There is a reason that they were sent to the area that is going to be the first stake in Indonesia.

We came home and ordered pizza – our traditional weekend treat.

I forgot to write on Tuesday that we had a great missionary experience. We were sitting in the office when the phone rang and the person answering tried to talk to me. I realized he did not have enough English and I certainly did not have enough Indonesian so I got Sam. It turned out he had just moved here from Surabaya. He had been taught there but when he said he wanted to be baptized he had some problems with friends and family. When he got to Jakarta he somehow got our number and called to say he wanted to get baptized. Sam got all his information and called the office elders to tell them to contact him. When we checked on Thursday the elders said it looked like he would be baptized. That is truly a golden contact.